from men and to receive the Gospel from him and their Vnction from him the Word and as they receive him they declare him freely as his Command was to his Disciples and is so still to the Learners and Receivers of him For he Lord God and his Son Jesus Christ is come to teach his People and to bring them from all the Worlds Ways to Christ the Way the Truth and the Life who is the Way to the Father and from all the Worlds Teachers and Speakers to him the Speaker and Teacher as Hebr. 1.1 and from all the Worlds Worshippers to worship God in the Spirit and in the Truth which the Devil the Destroyer is out of which Worship Christ set up above Sixteen hundred years ago when he put down the Jews Worship at the Temple at Jerusalem and the Worship at the Mountain where Jacob's Well was and to bring People from all the World's Religions which they have made since the Apostles days to the Religion that was set up by Christ and his Apostles which is Pure and Undefiled before God and keeps from the Spots of the World And to bring them out of all the Worlds Churches and Fellowships that they have made and set up since the Apostles days to the Church that is in God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Thess 1.1 and to bring to the Unity and Fellowship in the holy Spirit that doth mortifie and circumcise and baptise to plunge down Sin and Corruption that has got up in Man and Woman by Transgression and in this holy Spirit there is a holy Fellowship and Unity yea it is the Bond of the Prince of Princes and King of Kings and Lord of Lords Peace which heavenly Peace all the true Christians are to maintain with Spiritual Weapons not with Carnal And now my Friend the holy Men of God did speak forth the Scriptures as they were moved by the holy Ghost and all Christendom are on heaps about those Scriptures because they are not led by the same holy Ghost as they were that gave forth the Scriptures which holy Ghost they must come to in themselves and be led by if they come into All the Truth of them and to have the Comfort of God and Christ and Them For none can call Jesus Lord but by the holy Ghost and all they that do call Christ Lord without the holy Ghost take his Name in vain And likewise all that name his Name are to depart from Iniquity then they name his Name with Reverence in Truth and Righteousness And O therefore feel the Grace and Truth in thy heart that is come by Jesus Christ which is a Teacher that will teach thee how to live and what to deny and it will establish thy heart and season thy words and bring thy Salvation and will be a Teacher unto thee at all times and by it thou may'st Receive Christ from whence it comes and as many as Receive him to them he gives power not only to stand against sin and evil but to become the Sons of God if Sons then Heirs of a Life and a World and Kingdom that is Everlasting without end and of the Eternal Riches and Treasures thereof So in haste with my Love in the Lord Jesus Christ that has tasted death for every man and bruises the Serpents head that has been betwixt Man and God that through Christ Man may come to God again and so can praise God through Jesus Christ the Amen who is the spiritual and heavenly Rock and Foundation for all God's People to build upon to the praise and glory of God who is over all blessed for Evermore Amsterdam the 7th of 6th Month 1677. George Fox POSTSCRIPT THE Bearer hereof is a Daughter-in-law of mine that comes with Gertrude Dirick Nieson and George Keith's Wife to give thee a Visit G. F. The Princess Elizabeth her Answer to the aforesaid LETTER Dear Friend I Cannot but have a tender Love to those that love the Lord Jesus Christ and to whom it is given not only to believe in him but also to suffer for him Therefore your Letter and your Friends Visit have been both very welcome to me I shall follow their and your Counsel as far as God will afford me Light and Unction Remaining still Hertfort the 30th of August 1677. Your loving Friend ELIZABETH Buyckslote Purmerent Next day John Claus and I took Boat and passed to Buyckslote and thence to Purmerent where having stayed awhile and refreshed our selves at an Inn we went by Wagon through the Country to Alcmaer Alcmaer about Thirty Miles from Amsterdam We went to a Friend's house there whose name was Willem Willems where I had a Meeting that night I had also another Meeting there next day which was larger for several Professors came to the Meeting and all was quiet and well When the Meeting was done I went and visited some Friends and then taking Boat Hoorn North-Holland passed-by several places to Hoorn which is counted the chief City in North-Holland We lodged at an Inn there that night and taking Wagon again early next Morning we passed through the Country to Enckhuysen Enckhuysen Friezland Workum where we took Ship for Friezland and landing in the Afternoon at Workum took Wagon there again and rode along upon the high Bank of the Friezen Seas till we met Two Friends coming with a Wagon to meet us Mackum with whom discharging our Wagon at Mackum a Village hard by we went Harlingen in their Wagon to Harlingen the chief Sea-port-Town in Friezland We went to a Friend's house whose Name was Hessel Jacobs whither several Friends came to Visit us that night Next day we went among the Friends of the place and Visited them and I wrote a Paper directed To all them that persecute Friends for not observing their Fast-day The day following was the First-day of the Week and Friends had a Meeting there to which we went and many Professors came to it I declared the Everlasting Gospel amongst them John Claus interpreting and they were all very Civil and heard attentively and when the Meeting was done departed peaceably without making any Opposition After Meeting I went to Hessel Jacobs his house again whither after a while came a Calvinist to ask me some Questions which I answered to his satisfaction and he departed friendly Soon after he was gone a Preacher of the Collegians came to discourse with me 1677. Harlingen and he seemed well satisfied also and we parted lovingly That Evening I had another Meeting with the Friends there and next Morning when we had taken our Leave of them we passed to Leuwarden the chief City in Friezland Leuwarden and lodged that night at a Friend's house there whose Name was Sybrand Dowes Next Morning early taking Boat we passed to Dockum Dockum Strobus and walking through the City took Boat again to Strobus which is the utmost part of Friezland There we baited at a
that To be bred at Oxford or Cambridge was not enough to make a Man fit to be a Minister of Christ So that which opened in me I saw struck at the Priest's Ministry But my Relations were much troubled at me that I would not go with them to hear the Priest For I would get into the Orchard or the Fields with my Bible by my self And I told them did not the Apostle say to Believers That they needed no Man to teach them but as the Anointing teacheth them And though they knew this was Scripture and that it was true yet they would be grieved because I could not be subject in this Matter to go to hear the Priest with them For I saw that a true Believer was another thing than they looked upon it to be And I saw that being bred at Oxford or Cambridge did not qualifie or fit a Man to be a Minister of Christ and what then should I follow such for So neither them nor any of the Dissenting People could I join with but was as a Stranger to all relying wholly upon the Lord Jesus Christ At another time it was opened in me That God who made the World did not dwell in Temples made with Hands This at the first seemed a strange Word because both Priests and People use to call their Temples or Churches dreadful Places and Holy Ground and the Temples of God But the Lord shewed me so that I did see clearly that he did not dwell in these Temples which Men had commanded and set up but in People's Hearts For both Stephen and the Apostle Paul bore Testimony That he did not dwell in Temples made with Hands not even in that which he had once commanded to be built since he put an End to it But that his People were his Temple and he dwelt in them This opened in me as I walked in the Fields to my Relations House And when I came there they told me That Nath Stevens the Priest had been there and told them He was afraid of me for going after New Lights And I smiled in my self knowing what the Lord had opened in me concerning him and his Brethren But I told not my Relations who though they saw beyond the Priests yet they went to hear them and were grieved because I would not go also But I brought them Scriptures and told them There was an Anointing within Man to teach him and that the Lord would teach his People himself And I had great Openings concerning the Things written in the Revelations and when I spake of them the Priests and Professors would say That was a sealed up Book and would have kept me out of it But I told them Christ could open the Seals and that they were the nearest things to us For the Epistles were written to the Saints that lived in former Ages but the Revelations were written of things to come After this I met with a sort of People that held Women have no Souls adding in a light manner no more than a Goose But I reproved them and told them that was not right For Mary said My Soul doth magnify the Lord and my Spirit hath rejoyced in God my Saviour And removing again to another Place I came among a People that relied much on Dreams And I told them Except they could distinguish between Dream and Dream they would mash or confound altogether For there were Three sorts of Dreams for Multitude of Business sometimes caused Dreams And there were Whisperings of Satan in Man in the Night-Season and there were Speakings of God to Man in Dreams But these People came out of these Things and at last became Friends Now though I had great Openings yet great Trouble and Temptation came many Times upon me so that when it was Day I wished for Night and when it was Night I wished for Day And by reason of the Openings I had in my Troubles I could say as David said Day unto Day uttereth Speech and Night unto Night sheweth Knowledge And when I had Openings they answered one another and answered the Scriptures For I had great Openings of the Scriptures And when I was in Troubles one Trouble also answered to anothâ—â— About the beginning of the Year 1647. I was moved of the Lord to go into Darbyshire Darbyshire where I met with some Friendly People and had many Discourses with them Then passing further into the Peak-Country I met with more friendly People Peak-Country Leicesterâ—â—ire Nottinghamshire and with some in empty high Notions And travelling on through some Parts of Leicestershire and into Nottinghamshire there I met with a tender People and a very Tender Woman whose Name was Eâ—â—â—beth Hootton and with these I had some Meetings and Discourses Bâ—â— my Troubles continued and I was often under great Temptations and I fasted much and walked abroad in solitary Places many Days and often took my Bible and went and sate in hollow Trees and lonesome Places till Night came on and frequently in the Night walked mournfully about by my self For I was a Man of Sorrows in the Times of the first Workings of the Lord in me Now during all this Time I was never joined in Profession of Religion with any but gave up my self to the Lord having forsaken all evil Company and taken leave of Father and Mother and all other Relations and travelled up and down as a Stranger in the Earth which Way the Lord inclined my Heart taking a Chamber to my self in Town where I came and tarrying sometimes a Month sometimes more sometimes less in a Place For I durst not stay long in any Place being afraid both of Professor and Profane lest being a tender Young-Man I should be hurt by conversing much with either For which Reason I kept my self much as a Stranger seeking heavenly Wisdom and getting Knowledge from the Lord and was brought off from outward Things to rely wholly on the Lord alone And though my Exercises and Troubles were very great yet were they not so continual but that I had some Intermissions and was sometimes brought into such an Heavenly Joy that I thought I had been in Abraham's Bosom As I cannot declare the Misery I was in it was so great and heavy upon upon me so neither can I set forth the Mercies of God unto me in all my Misery Oh! the everlasting Love of God to my Soul when I was in great Distress when my Troubles and Torments were great then was his Love exceeding great Thou Lord makest a fruitful Field a barren Wilderness and a barren Wilderness a fruitful Field thou bringest down and settest up Thou killest and makest alive all Honour and Glory be to thee O Lord of Glory The Knowledge of thee in the Spirit is Life But that Knowledge which is fleshly works Death And while there is this Knowledge in the Flesh Deceit and Self will conform to any thing and will say Yes yes to that it doth not know The Knowledge which
the Stature of the Fulness of Christ when they cannot bear to hear that any shall come whilst upon Earth into the same Power and Spirit that the Prophets and Apostles were in Though it be a certain Truth that none can understand their Writings aright without the same Spirit by which they were written Now the Lord God hath opened to me by his invisible Power how that Every Man was enlightned by the Divine Light of Christ and I saw it shine through all And that they that believed in it came out of Condemnation and came to the Light of Life and became the Children of it But they that hated it and did not believe in it were Condemned by it though they made a Profession of Christ This I saw in the pure Openings of the Light without the help of any Man neither did I then know where to find it in the Scriptures though afterwards searching the Scriptures I found it For I saw in that Light and Spirit which was before Scripture was given forth and which led the Holy Men of God to give them forth That all must come to that Spirit if they would know God or Christ or the Scriptures aright which They that gave them forth were led and taught by But I observed a Dulness and Drowzy Heaviness upon People which I wondred at For sometimes when I would set my self to sleep my Mind went over all to the Beginning in that which is from Everlasting to Everlasting And I saw Death was to pass over this sleepy heavy State And I told People they must come to witness Death to that sleepy heavy Nature and a Cross to it in the Power of God that their Minds and Hearts might be on things above And on a certain Time as I was walking in the Fields the Lord said unto me Thy Name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life which was before the Foundation of the World And as the Lord spake it I believed and saw it in the New Birth Then sometime after the Lord commanded me to go abroad into the World which was like a briary thorny Wilderness And when I came in the Lord 's mighty Power with the Word of Life into the World the World swelled and made a Noise like the great raging Waves of the Sea Priests and Professors Magistrates and People were all like a Sea when I came to proclaim the Day of the Lord amongst them and to preach Repentance to them Now I was sent to turn People from Darkness to the Light that they might receive Christ Jesus For to as many as should receive him in his Light I saw that he would give Power to become the Sons of God Which I had obtained by receiving Christ And I was to direct People to the Spirit that gave forth the Scriptures by which they might be led into all Truth and so up to Christ and God as they had been who gave them forth And I was to turn them to the Grace of God and to the Truth in the Heart which came by Jesus that by this Grace they might be taught which would bring them Salvation that their Hearts might be established by it and their Words might be seasoned and all might come to know their Salvation nigh For I saw that Christ had died for all Men and was a Propitiation for all and had enlightned all Men and Women with his divine and saving Light And that none could be a true Believer but who believed in it I saw that the Grace of God which brings Salvation had appeared to all Men and that the Manifestation of the Spirit of God was given to every Man to profit withal These Things I did not see by the help of Man nor by the Letter tho' they are written in the Letter but I saw them in the Light of the Lord Jesus Christ and by his immediate Spirit and Power as did the Holy Men of God by whom the Holy Scriptures were written Yet I had no slight esteem of the Holy Scriptures but they were very precious to me For I was in that Spirit by which they were given forth and what the Lord opened in me I afterwards found was agreeable to them I could speak much of these things and many Volumes might be written but all would prove too short to set forth the Infinite Love Wisdom and Power of God in prepairing fitting and furnishing me for the Service he had appointed me to letting me see the Depths of Satan on the one Hand and opening to me on the other Hand the divine Mysteries of his own Everlasting Kingdom Now when the Lord God and his Son Jesus Christ did send me forth into the World to preach his Everlasting Gospel and Kingdom I was glad that I was Commanded To turn People to that Inward Light Spirit and Grace by which all might know their Salvation and their Way to God even that divine Spirit which would lead them into all Truth and which I infallibly knew would never deceive any But with and by this divine Power and Spirit of God and the Light of Jesus I was to bring People off from all their own ways to Christ the new and living Way and from their Churches which Men had made and gathered to the Church in God the general Assembly written in Heaven which Christ is the Head of And off from the World's Teachers made by Men to learn of Christ who is the Way the Truth and the Life of whom the Father said This is my beloved Son hear ye him and off from all the Worlds Worships to know the Spirit of Truth in the inward Parts and to be led thereby that in it they might Worship the Father of Spirits who seeks such to Worship him Which Spirit they that Worshipped not in knew not what they Worshipped And I was to bring People off from all the World's Religions which are vain that they might know the pure Religion and might visit the Fatherless the Widows and the Strangers and keep themselves from the Spots of the World And then there would not be so many Beggars the sight of whom often grieved my Heart to see so much Hard-heartedness amongst them that professed the Name of Christ And I was to bring them off from all the World's Fellowships and Prayings and Singings which stood in Forms without Power that their Fellowships might be in the Holy Ghost and in the Eternal Spirit of God that they might Pray in the Holy Ghost and Sing in the Spirit and with the Grace that comes by Jesus making Melody in their Hearts to the Lord who hath sent his beloved Son to be their Saviour and caused his heavenly Sun to shine upon all the World and through them all and his heavenly Rain to fall upon the Just and the Unjust as his outward Rain doth fall and his outward Sun doth shine on all which is God's unspeakable Love to the World And I was to bring People off from Jewish Ceremonies and from
Wither And this sows to the Spirit which is in Prison and of the Spirit reaps Life to you this is the VVord of the Lord God and the other sows to the Flesh and of the Flesh reaps Corruption And this you may see all the World over amongst these Seeds-Men what may be reaped in the Field that is the VVorld Therefore in the Spirit of the Lord God VVait which cuts down and casts out all this the Root and Branches of it So in that wait to receive Power and the Lord God Almighty preserve you in it whereby you may come to feel the Light that comprehends Time and the VVorld and fathoms it which believed in gives you the Victory over the VVorld And here the Power of the Lord is received which subdues all the contrary and puts off the Garments that will stain and pollute With which Light you come to reach the Light in every Man which Christ enlightens every Man that cometh into the world with-all And here the things of Christ come to be known and the Voice of Christ heard Therefore keep in the Light the Covenant of Peace and walk in the Covenant of Life There is that which maketh Merry over the Witness of God and there is that which maketh Merry in the Lord which rejoyceth over that which hath made merry over it of that take notice you who be in the Light Such the Lord doth beautify whose Trust is in his Strength and the Lord doth see such and them that be in his Light But such as be from the Light whose Eyes be after their Abominations and Idols their Eyes are to be blinded and their beautiful Idols and their Abominations to be destroyed and by the Light condemned which they have made from the Life in their own Strength which with the Light is seen and overthrown by the Power of God If you can change my Covenant saith the Lord which keeps the Day in its Season and the Night in its Season mark my Covenant the Light If you can change this then may you change the Covenant of God with his Seed So all Friends that be turned to the Light which cometh from him by whom the VVorld was made who was before it was made Christ Jesus the Saviour of your Souls abide in the Light and you will see your Salvation to be VValls and Bulwarks against that which the Light discovers to be contrary to it Waiting in the Light you will receive the Power of God which is the Gospel of Peace that you may be shod with it And know that in one another which raiseth up the Seed of God and sets it over the VVorld and the Earth and Crucifies the Affections and Lusts and then the Truth comes to reign which is the Girdle G. F. About this time Rice Jones of Nottingham who had been a Baptist and was turned Ranter the same that came to me in Darby-Jail he and his Company began to prophesy against me giving out That I was then at the highest and that after that time I should fall down as fast And he sent a bundle of Railing Papers from Nottingham to Mansfield Clauson and the Towns thereabouts Judging Friends for declaring the Truth in the Markets and in the Steeple-houses which Papers I Answered But his and his Company 's Prophecies came upon themselves for soon after they fell to Pieces and many of his Followers came to be Friends and continued so And through the Lord's blessed Power Truth and Friends have increased and do increase in the increase of God And I by the same Power have been and am preserved and kept in the Everlasting Seed that never fell nor changes But Rice Jones took the Oaths that were put to him and so disobeyed the Command of Christ Many such false Prophets have risen up against me but the Lord hath blasted them and will blast them all who rise against the blessed Seed and me in that My Confidence is in the Lord for whosoever did I saw their End and how the Lord would Confound them before the Lord sent me forth Synder-hill-Green Now was I at Synder-hill-Green where I had had a large Meeting in the day-time and at Night we had a great Meeting again in Thomas Stacy's House for People came from far and could not soon depart The High-Sheriff of the County told Captain Bradford that he intended to have come up with half a dozen of his Troopers to the Meeting but the Lord prevented him and stopt him When I had stayed some Meetings thereabouts Yorkshire Holderness Land'send I traveled up and down in Yorkshire as far as Holderness and to the Lands-End that way visiting Friends and the Churches of Christ which were finely settled under Christ's Teaching At length I came to Captain Bradford's house whither many Ranters came from York to wrangle but they were confounded and stopped Thither came she also who was called the Lady Mountague who was then Convinced and lived and died in the Truth Hallifax Then I came again to Thomas Taylor 's within three Miles of Hallifax where there was a large Meeting of about Two hundred People amongst which were many rude People and divers Butchers several of whom had bound themselves with an Oath before they came out that they would kill me as I was told One of those Butchers had been Accused for killing a Man and a Woman They came in a very rude manner and made a great Disturbance in the Meeting The Meeting being in a Close Thomas Taylor stood up and said unto them If you will be Civil you may stay but if not I charge you to be gone from off my Ground But they were the worse and said They would make it like a Common and they yelled and made such a Noise as if they had been come to a Bear-baiting And they thrust Friends up and down and Friends being peaceable the Lord's Power came over them Several times they thrust me off from the place I stood on by the Crowding of the People together against me but still I was moved of the Lord to stand up again as I was thrust down At last I was moved of the Lord to say unto them If they would discourse of the things of God let them come up to me one by one and if they had any thing to say or to Object I would Answer them all one after another 1654. Near Hallifax at T. B ' s. Then they were all silent and had nothing to say And then the Lord's Power came so over them all and Answered the Witness of God in them that they were bound by the Power of God and a glorious powerful Meeting we had and his Power went over all and the Minds of People were turned by the Spirit of God in them to God and to Christ their Teacher And the powerful Word of Life was largely declared that day and in the Life and Power of God we brake up our Meeting and that Rude
against them But it is manifest that you walk in the steps of your Fore-fathers that persecuted the Prophetâ— Habakâ—uk the Prophet of the Lord trembled and Joel the Prophet of the Lord said Blow the Trumpet in Sion and let all the Inhabitants of the Earth Tremble The People shall Tremble and all Faces shall gather Blackness and the People shall be much pained And now this Trembling is witnessed by the Power of the Lord This Power of the Lord is come the Trumpet is sounding the Earth is shaking the Inhabitants of the Earth are trembling the Dead is arising and the Living is praising God And the World is Raging and the Scoffers are Scorning and they that witness Trembling and Quaking wrought in them by the Power of the Lord can scarce pass up and down the Streets but with Stones and Blows and Fists and Sticks or Dogs set at them or pursued with Mocks and Reproaches Thus you vent forth your Malice against them that witness the Power of the Lord as the Prophets did who are come to the broken Heart and contrite Spirit and who Tremble at the Word of the Lord whom the Lord regards These you stone these you stock these you set your Dogs at these you scoff and scorn these you revile and reproach but those Reproaches are our Riches praised be the Lord who hath given us power over them And if you see one as Habakkuk whose Lips quivered whose Belly shock who said Rottenness was entred into his Bones and who trembled in himself if you see such an one in this Condition now ye say He is Bewitched Here again you shew your selves Strangers to that Power to that Life that was in the Prophet Therefore for shame never make a Profession of his Words nor a Trade of his Words nor of Joel's who witnessed Trembling which ye scorn and scoff at Ye proud Scoffers and Scorners Misery Misery is your End except you speedily Repent Daniel a Servant of the most-high God he Trembled his Strength and his Breath was gone He was Prisoned He was hated he was persecuted they laid Baits and Snares for him in whom the holy Spirit of God was Now for shame all you that make a Profession of Daniel's Words give over your Profession Priests and People who scoff and scorn at Trembling with the Light you are seen to be out of Daniel's Life and by the same Power you are judged at which you scorn and scoff And so here again be ye Witnesses against your selves that you are Scorners and Scoffers against the Truth And with the Scripture you are judged to be contrary to the Life of the holy Men of God Paul a Minister of God made by the Will of God a Messenger of the Lord Jesus a Vessel of the Lords to carry his Name abroad into several Nations when the dark blind World have got some of his Words and Epistles you filthy Teachers make a Trade of them and get great Sums of Money for it and so destroy Souls for dishonest Gain making a Trade of his Words and of the rest of the Apostles and Prophets and of Christ's Words but denying the Spirit and Life that they were guided by and that Power which shook the Flesh and the Earth which the Apostle witnessed who said When he came among the Corinthians he was then with them in weakness and fear and in much Trembling that their Faith might not stand in the Wisdom of Words but in the Power of God in that Power which made him to Tremble This Power it is that the World and all the scoffing Teachers scoff at and scorn in your Towns in your Villages in your Assemblies in your Ale-houses for shame lay away all your Profession of the Apostle's Words and Conditions And some of them that scoff at this Power call it the Power of the Devil and some persecute them and Stone and Stock Imprison and Whip them in whom that Power is made manifest and lade them with Reproaches as not worthy to walk on the Earth hated and persecuted as the Off-scouring of all things Here you may see you are in the steps of your Fore-Fathers who persecuted the Apostles and acted so against them stocked them mocked them prisoned them stoned them whipped them haled them out of the Synagogues reproached them and shamefully entreated them Do not you here fulfil the Scripture and Christ's saying who said If they kill you they will think they do God Service Yet you make a Profession of Christ's Words of the Prophets and Apostles Words and call your selves Churches and Ministers of the Gospel I charge you in the presence of the Living God to be silent who act such things And mind the Light in your Consciences ye Scoffers and Scorners which Christ hath enlightened you withall that with it ye may see your selves what ye Act and what ye have Acted for who Act such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God for all such things are by the Light condemned And who come to witness Trembling and Quaking the Powers of the Earth to be shaken the Lustful Nature come to be destroyed the scorning and scoffing Nature judged by the Light In it Wait to receive Power from him who shakes the Earth That Power we own and our Faith stands in it which all the World scoffs at the Lofty Ones the Proud Ones the Presumptuous Ones which live in Presumption and yet make a Profession of the Scriptures as your Fathers the Pharisees did who were painted Sepulchres and Serpents and as the Scribes did who had the Chiefest Places in the Assemblies stood praying in the Synagogues and were called of Men Masters which Christ cried WO against who are not come so far as the Trembling of Devils who believed and trembled Let that Judge you The Light and Life of the Scripture is seen and made manifest and with it all you Scoffers and all you Scorners and all you Persecutors and Railers are seen Take Warning all ye Powers of the Earth how ye persecute them whom the World Nick-name and call Quakers who dwell in the Eternal Power of God lest the Hand of the Lord be turned against you and ye be all Cut off To you this is the Word of God Fear and Tremble and take Warning For this is the Man whom the Lord doth regard who trembles at his Word which you who are of the World scoff and scorn stock persecute and imprison Here ye may see ye are contrary to God contrary to the Prophets and are such as hate what the Lord regards which we whom the World scorns and calls Quakers own And we exalt that Power and honour that Power that makes the Devils tremble and shakes the Earth and throws down the Loftiness of Man and the Haughtiness of Man and which makes the Beasts of the Field to Tremble and makes the Earth Reel to and fro and cleaves the Earth asunder and over-turneth the World This Power we own and honour and preach up whom
the World scornfully calls Quakers But all Scoffers and Persecutors Railers and Scorners Stockers and Whippers we deny by that Power which throweth down all that Nature as seeing that all who act such things without Repentance shall not inherit the Kingdom of God but are for Destruction So Rejoice all ye Righteous ones who are persecuted for Righteousness sake for great is your Reward in Heaven Rejoice ye that suffer for Well-doing for ye shall not lose your Reward And wait you in the Light that you may grow up in the Life that gave forth the Scriptures that with it ye may see the Saints Conditions and with it ye may see all that which they testified against and there with it ye will see the state of those that did reproach and scoff them and did mock them and persecute them and did whip and stock them and haled them out of the Synagogues before Magistrates So to you who are in the same Light and Life the same things do they now that they may fill up the measure of their Fathers With the Light now they are seen where the Light and Life and Power of God is made manifest for as they did unto them so will they do unto you Here is our Joy and the Scripture is fulfilled and fulfilling and with the Light which was before the World was which is now made manifest in the Children of Light with it they see the World and comprehend it and the Actions of it for he that loves the World and turns from the Light is an Enemy to God he turneth into VVickedness for the whole VVorld lieth in VVickedness He who turns from the Light turns into the VVorks of Evil which the Light of Christ testifies against And by this Light where it is made manifest all the VVorks of the VVorld are seen and made manifest G. F. This is to go abroad among the scattered Ones and among the World Great was the Rage and Enmity of the People Professors as well as Prophane against the Truth and People of God at this time and great the Contempt and Disdain they shewed of Friends plainness Wherefore I was moved to write the following Paper and send it forth directed as An Epistle to gathered Churches into outward Forms upon the Earth ALL ye gathered Churches into outward Forms upon the Earth the Son of God is come to Reign and he will tread and trample and will shake and make you Quake and Quiver you that be found without his Life out of his Light and without his Power His Day hath appeared Morter and Clay will you be found Breaking and Shaking and Quaking is coming among you Your high Building is to be laid desolate your professed Liberty shall be your Bondage the Mouth of the Lord of Hosts hath spoken it Tremble ye Hypocrites ye Notionists The fenced Cities shall be laid desolate the fruitful Fields shall become a VVilderness your false Joy shall become your Heaviness the time of VVeeping and Desolation draweth nigh Come ye witty Ones see how ye can stand before the Almighty who is now come to plead with you you 'll fall like Leaves and wither like VVeeds Come you that have boasted of my Name saith the Lord and have gloried in the Flesh ye shall fade like a Flower who have slain my VVitness yet boast of my VVords which have been as a Song unto you Come ye Novelty-Ones who love Novelties changeable Suits of Apparel who be in the Fashions outward and inward putting on one thing this day and another the other day I 'll strip thee saith the Lord I 'll make thee bare I 'll make thee naked and thou shalt know that I am the Lord. What! hast thou profest the Prophets words hast thou profest the Apostles words and my Son's words hast thou Covered thy self with their Expressions thinkest thou not that I see thee out of my Life thinkest thou thou witty One to hide thy self where none can see thee thinkest thou if thou fliest to the uttermost parts of the Earth that I am not there Is not the Earth mine and the fulness of it saith the Lord Come all ye that have trusted in your own conceited Notions and Knowledge and VVisdom who were never yet out of the Earth and the Lusts of it and never yet got the Load of thick Clay off you and never were out of the drunken Spirit whose Imperfection appears who must be come upon as a Potter's Vessel broken Cisterns and ye that have been made VVise in your own Conceit and wise in your own Eyes in which Pride hath lifted you up and not the Humility you must be Abased You have run on with every one after his own Invention and every Man hath done that thing that was right in his own Eyes and that which did please himself This hath been the Course of People upon Earth Ye have run on without a King without Christ the Light of the World which hath enlightened every one that is come into the World but now is Truth risen now are your Fruits withering And you that are fortified and have fortified your strong Houses called your Churches make you your Cords strong the Lord will break you asunder ye that are gathering in and ye that are gathered For the Lord is risen to scatter you his Witness is risen in the Hearts of his People they will not be fed with dead Words nor with that which dies of it self nor will they be satisfied with the Husk which the Swine seeds upon And all ye Priests in the Nation and Teachers that now stand against the Light your Envy shews that ye be in Cain's Way your Greediness shews that ye be in Balaam's Way your standing against the Light which hath enlightned every man that cometh into the world doth manifest that you are in Core's Way that spoke the great high Words of Vanity ye whose Consciences are seared as with an hot Iron whose Judgment doth not linger whose Damnation doth not slumber who serve not the Lord Jesus Christ but your own Bellies who are the Evil Beasts spoken of which have destroyed many Families taken away their Cattel their Horses their Goods even their Household-Goods destroyed many poor men even whole Families taking their whole Estates from them whom you do no Work for O! the grievous Actions that are seen done by you the Ministers of Vnrighteousness whose fruits declare to the whole Nation that you are the Devil's Messengers your Actions declare it your taking Tithes Augmentations treble Dammages Midsummer-Dues as ye call them of them ye do no Work for nor Minister to And all ye Powers of the Earth beware of holding such up that be Vnrighteous Let not the Words of the Vnrighteous overcome you lest the righteous Judge the righteous God the Judge of Heaven and Earth upon you take hold whose Judgment is according to that of God in you which will let you see when you Transgress Come you proud and lofty ones who
tread over them in that which lets you see to the VVorlds End and the utmost Parts of the Earth Reign and Rule with Christ whose Scepter and Throne is now set up whose Dominion is over all to the Ends of the Earth whose Dominion is an everlasting Dominion Throne an everlasting Throne Kingdom an everlasting Kingdom Power above all Powers Therefore this is the Word of the Lord God to you all Keep in the wisdom of God that spreads over all the Earth the wisdom of the Creation that is Pure from Above not destructive For now shall Salvation go out of Zion to Judge the Mount of Esau and now shall the Law go forth from Jerusalem to Answer the Principle of God in all to hew down all Inventors and Inventions For all the Princes of the Earth is but as Air to the Power of the Lord God which you are in and have tasted of Therefore Live in it that is the Word of the Lord God to you all and do not Abuse it And keep down and Low and take heed of false Joys that will Change Bring all into the Worship of God Plow up the fallow Ground thresh and get out the Corn that the Seed the Wheat may be gathered into the Barn that to the Beginning all People may come to Christ that was before the VVorld was made For the Chaff is come upon the VVheat by Transgression he that treadeth it out is out of Transgression and fathoms Transgression and puts a difference between the precious and the vile and can pick out the Wheat from the Tares and gather into the Garner so brings to the lively Hope the Immortal Soul into God out of which it came And none worships God but who comes to the Principle of God which they have transgressed and none are plowed up but who comes to the Principle of God in him that he hath transgressed then he doth service to God then is the planting and the watering and the Increase from God cometh So the Ministers of the Spirit must minister to the Spirit that is in Prison which hath been in Captivity in every one that with the Spirit of Christ People may be led out of Captivity up to God the Father of Spirits and do service to him and to have Vnity with him with the Scriptures and one with another And this is the Word of the Lord God to you all and a Charge to you all in the presence of the living God Be Patterns be Examples in all Countries Places Islands Nations where-ever you come that your Carriage and Life may preach among all sorts of People and to them then you will come to walk Chearfully over the World Answering that of God in every one whereby in them ye may be a Blessing and make the Witness of God in them to bless you Then to the Lord God you will be a sweet Savour and a Blessing Spare no Deceit lay the Sword upon it go over it Keep your selves clear of the Bloods of all Men either by Word or Writing or Speaking and keep your selves clean that you may stand in your Throne and every one have his Lot and stand in the Lot in the Ancient of Days And so the Blessing of the Lord be with you and keep you over all the Idolatrous Worships and Worshippers let them know the Living God for Teachings Churches Worships must be thrown down with the power of the Lord God set up by Man's earthy Vnderstanding Knowledge and Wills For this all must be thrown down with that which gave forth Scripture and who be in that Reigns over it all That is the Word of the Lord God to you all In that is God Worshipped that brings to declare his Will and brings to the Church in God the Ground and Pillar of Truth for now is the mighty Day of the Lord appeared and the Arrows of the Almighty gone forth which shall stick in the Hearts of the Wicked Now will I Arise saith the Lord God Almighty to trample and Thunder down Deceit which hath long reigned and stained the Earth Now will I have my Glory out of every one The Lord God Almighty over all in his Strength and Power you keep to his Glory that you may come to Answer that of God in every one in the World Proclaim the mighty Day of the Lord of Fire and Sword who will be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth and keep in the Life and Power of the Lord God that the Inhabitants of the Earth may tremble before you That the Lord God's Power and Majesty may be Admired among the Hypocrites and Heathens and ye in the Wisdom Dread Life Terror and Dominion Preserved to his Glory that nothing may Rule or Reign but Power and Life it self and in the Wisdom of God ye may be preserved in it And this is the Word of the Lord God to you all and the Call is now Out of Transgression the Spirit bids Come and the Call is now from all false Worships and Gods and from all Inventions and dead Works to serve the living God and the Call to Repentance to the Amendment of Life whereby Righteousness may be brought forth which shall go throughout the Earth Therefore ye that be Chosen and Faithful which are with the Lamb go through your Work faithfully and in the Strength and Power of the Lord and be obedient to the Power for that will save you out of the Hands of unreasonable Men and preserve you over the World to himself hereby you may live in the Kingdom that stands in Power which hath no end where glory and life is For Tho. Mounts G. F. After the Assize the Sheriff with some Souldiers came to guard a Woman to Execution that was sentenced to die and we had a great deal of Discourse with them One of them wickedly said That Christ was as passionate a Man as any that lived upon the Earth for which wicked Saying we rebuked him Another time we asked the Jailer what Doings there were at the Sessions and he said Small Matters only about Thirty for Bastardy We thought it very strange that they who professed themselves Christians should make small Matters of such things But this Jailer was very bad himself and I often admonished him to Sobriety but he would Abuse People that came to Visit us Edward Pyot had a Cheese sent him from Bristol from his Wife and the Jailer took the Cheese from him and carried it to the Mayor to search it for Treasonable Letters as he said And though they found no Treason in the Cheese they kept it from us This Gaoler might have been made Rich if he had carried himself Civilly but he sought his own Ruin Which soon after came upon him For the next Year he was turned out of his Place and for some wickedness was cast into the Jail himself and there begged of our Friends And for some Vnruliness in his Carriage he was by the succeeding Jailer put into Doomsdale and
in the Power and Spirit which they were in that gave them forth That was to be turned away from by them that came into the Power and Spirit which they were in that gave forth the Scriptures Seventhly They that sit down in the heavenly Places in Christ Jesus these sit down in him that never fell nor never changed Here is the safe sitting for all his Elect his Church his Spiritual Members of which he is the living Head his living Stones the Houshold of Faith of which House he is the Corner-stone that stands and abides all Weathers For as the Apostle said He hath quickned us who were dead in Sins and Trespasses c. and made us to sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus that in the Ages to come he might shew the exceeding Riches of his Grace in his Kindness towards us through Jesus Christ. Now the Ages are come that his Kindness and exceeding Riches towards us through Jesus Christ is truly manifested in us as it was in the Apostles days even in us who have been dead in Sins and Trespasses as they were but now are quickned and made alive and made to sit together in the heavenly Places in Christ Jesus the First and the Last by whom all things were created who is ascended above all and is over all and whose glorious presence is now known And all that sit down here in Christ Jesus they see where all other People sit and in what So the Promise of God being to the Seed which is one Christ Jesus every Man and Woman must come to witness this Seed Christ in them that they may be Heirs of the Promise and inheriting that they will inherit Substance These things were largely declared of and the state of the Church and the state of the false Church since the Apostles days opened and how the true Church fled into the Wilderness and the state of the false Prophets which Christ said should come and John saw were come and how all the World wondred after them and how they had filled the World with false Doctrines Ways Worships and Religions and how the Everlasting Gospel was now preached again to all Nations Kindreds Tongues and People for all Nations Kindreds Tongues and People had drunk the Whore's Cup and she was over them and sate upon them And in this Night of Apostacy the pure Religion and Worship in Spirit which was in the Apostles days and the way of Life and living Faith and the Power and Holy Ghost were lost but now they came to be set up again by Christ Jesus and his Messengers and Ministers of the Gospel as in the Apostles days For as Christ sent his Disciples to go and preach the Gospel into all the World and after that the false Prophets and Antichrists went over the World and preached their false Doctrines and Traditions and Heathenish and Jewish Rudiments So now again the Everlasting Gospel must be preached to all Nations and to every Creature that they may come into the pure Religion to worship God in the Spirit and Truth and may know Christ Jesus their Way to God and him to be the Author of their Faith and may receive the Gospel from Heaven and not from Men in which Gospel received from Heaven is the Heavenly Fellowship which is a Mystery to all the Fellowships in the World Now after these things had been largely opened with many other things concerning Christ Jesus and his Kingdom and the People were turned to the divine Light of Christ and his Spirit by which they might come both to know God and Christ and the Scriptures and to have Fellowship with them and one with another in the same Spirit I was moved to declare and open divers other things to those Friends who had received a part of the Ministry concerning the Exercise of their Spiritual Gifts in the Church Which being taken in writing by one that was present was after this manner Friends TAke heed of destroying that which ye have begotten for that which destroys goes out and is the Cast-away And though that be true yea and may be the pure Truth which such an one speaks yet if he doth not remain in that and live in that in his own particular but goes out the same which he is gone out from cometh over him So that that calms the Spirits and cools the Spirits that goes over the World and brings to the Father to inherit the Life Eternal and reaches to the Spirits in Prison in all Therefore in the living immoveable Word of the Lord God dwell and in the Renown thereof and remain on the Foundation that is pure and that is sure for whosoever goes out from the Pure and Ministers not in and from that he comes to an End and doth not remain though he may have had a Time and may have been serviceable for a Time while he lived in the Thing And take heed of many Words but what reacheth to the Life that settles in the Life That which cometh from the Life and is received from God that reacheth to the Life and settles others in the Life For the Work is not now as it was at first but the Work now is to settle and stay in the Life For as Friends have been led to minister in the Power and the Power hath gone through so that there hath grown an Vnderstanding among both People of the World and Friends so Friends must be kept in the Life which is pure that with that they may answer the pure Life of God in others For if Friends do not live in the pure Life which they speak of to answer the Life in those that they speak to the other part steps in and so there comes up an Outward Acquaintance and he lets that come over him But as every one is kept living in the Life of God over all that which is contrary they are in their places then they do not lay Hands on any suddenly which is the Danger now for if any one do he may lose his Discerning and may lay Hands on the wrong Part and so let the Deceit come too near him and the Deceit will steal over so that it will be an hard thing for him to get it down There is no one strikes his Fellow-servants but first he is gone from the pure in his own particular for when he goeth from the Light he is enlightned withal then he strikes and then he hath his Reward the Light which he is gone from Christ he comes and gives him his Reward This is the state of the evil Servants the boisterous and the hasty and rash beget nothing to God but the Life which doth reach the Life is that which begets to God Now when all are settled in the Life they are in that which remains for ever and what is received there is received from the Lord and what one receiveth from the Lord he keepeth and so he sitteth still and cool and quiet in his
your Principle and then you will sell your Coat and buy a Sword and Fight for the Kingdom of Christ Answ As for this we say to you that Christ said to Peter Put up thy Sword in his place though he had said before he that had no Sword might sell his Coat and buy one to the fulfilling of the Law and Scripture yet after when he had bid him put it up he said He that taketh the Sword shall perish with the Sword And further Christ said to Pilate Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father and he shall presently give me more than twelve Legions of Angels And this might satisfie Peter Luke 22.36 after he had put up his Sword when he said to him He that took it should perish by it which satisfieth us Mat. 26.51 52 53. And in the Revelation it 's said He that kills with the Sword shall perish with the Sword and here is the Faith and the Patience of the Saints And so Christ's Kingdom is not of this World therefore do not his Servants Fight as he told Pilate the Magistrate who Crucified him and did they not look upon Christ as a Raiser of Sedition and did not he say Forgive them But thus it is that we are numbred amongst Transgressors and numbred amongst Fighters 1660. London that the Scriptures might be fulfilled That Spirit of Christ by which we are guided is not changeable so as once to command us from a thing as Evil and again to move unto it and we do certainly know and so testifie to the World That the Spirit of Christ which leads us into all Truth will never move us to Fight and War against any Man with outward Weapons neither for the Kingdom of Christ nor for the Kingdoms of this World First Because the Kingdom of Christ God will exalt according to his Promise and cause it to grow and flourish in Righteousness Not by Might nor by Power of outward Sword but by my Spirit saith the Lord Zech. 4.6 So those that use any Weapon to Fight for Christ or for the establishing of his Kingdom or Government both the Spirit Principle and Practice in that we deny Secondly We do earnestly desire and wait That by the Word of God's Power and its effectual Operation in the Hearts of Men the Kingdoms of this World may become the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ that he might Rule and Reign in Men by his Spirit and Truth that thereby all People out of all different Judgments and Professions might be brought into Love and Vnity with God and one with another and that they might all come to witness the Prophets Words who said Nation shall not lift up Sword against Nation neither shall they learn War any more Isa 2.4 Mich. 4.3 So we whom the Lord hath called into the Obedience of his Truth have denied Wars and Fightings and cannot again any more learn it And this is a certain Testimony unto all the World of the Truth of our Hearts in this particular that as God perswadeth every Man's Heart to believe so they may receive it For we have not as some others gone about cunningly with devised Fables nor have we ever denied in Practice what we have professed in Principle but in Sincerity and Truth and by the Word of God have we laboured to be made manifest unto all Men that both we and our ways might be witnessed in the Hearts of all People And whereas all manner of Evil hath been falsly spoken of us we hereby speak forth the plain Truth of our Hearts to take away the occasion of that Offence that so we being Innocent may not suffer for other Men's Offences nor be made a Prey upon by the Wills of Men for that of which we were never Guilty but in the Uprightness of our Hearts we may under the Power ordained of God for the Punishment of Evil-doers and for the Praise of them that do well live a peaceable and godly Life in all Godliness and Honesty For although we have always suffered and do now more abundantly suffer yet we know that it 's for Righteousness sake For our rejoycing is this the Testimony of our Consciences that in Simplicity and godly Sincerity not with fleshly Wisdom but by the Grace of God we have had our Conversation in the World 2 Cor. 1.12 Which for us is a Witness for the convincing of our Enemies For this we can say to all the World we have wronged no Man's Persons or Possessions we have used no Force nor Violence against any Man we have been found in no Plots nor guilty of Sedition when we have been wronged we have not sought to revenge our selves we have not made resistance against Authority but wherein we could not obey for Conscience-sake we have suffered even the most of any People in the Nation We have been counted as Sheep for the Slaughter Persecuted and Despised Beaten Stoned Wounded Stocked Whipped Imprisoned Haled out of Synagogues cast into Dungeons and Noisom Vaults where many have died in Bonds shut up from our Friends denied needful Sustenance for many days together with other the like Cruelties And the Cause of all these our Sufferings is not for any Evil but for things relating to the Worship of our God and in obedience to his Requirings of us For which Cause we shall freely give up our Bodies a Sacrifice rather than disobey the Lord For we know as the Lord hath kept us Innocent so he will plead our Cause when there is none in the Earth to plead it So we in Obedience unto his Truth do not love our Lives unto Death that we may do his Will and wrong no Man in our Generation but seek the Good and Peace of all Men. And he that hath commanded us That we shall not Swear at all Matth. 5.34 hath also commanded us That we shall not Kill Matth. 5. So that we can neither Kill Men nor Swear for nor against them And this is both our Principle and Practice and hath been from the Beginning so that if we suffer as suspected to take up Arms or make War against any it is without any Ground from us For it neither is noâ— ever was in our Hearts since we owned the Truth of God neither shall we ever do it because it is contrary to the Spirit of Christ his Doctrine and the Practices of his Apostles even contrary to him for whom we suffer all things and endure all things And whereas Men come against us with Clubs Staves Drawn Swords Pistols cock't and do beat cut and abuse us yet we never resisted them but to them our Hair Backs and Cheeks have been ready But it is not an Honour to Manhoood or Nobility to run upon harmless People who lift not up an Hand against them with Arms and Weapons Therefore consider these things ye Men of Understanding For Plotters Raisers of Insurrections Tumultuous Ones and Fighters running with Swords Clubs Staves and Pistols one
with us for Interpreters When this was concluded on William Bingley and Samuel Waldenfield took shipping for Friezland and Jacob Claus their Interpreter Alexander Parker and George Watts remained with me and we tarried a few days longer at Amsterdam where I had further Service And before I left Amsterdam I went to visit one Galenus Abrahams a Teacher of Chief Note among the Mennonites or Baptists I had been with him when I was in Holland about seven Years before and William Penn and George Keith had disputes with him then He was then very high and very shy so that he would not let me touch him nor look upon him by his good will but bid me Keep my Eyes off him for he said they pierced him But now he was very loving and tender and Confessed in some measure to Truth his Wife also and Daughter were tender and kind and we parted from them very lovingly Soon after this feeling our Spirits drawn towards Friezland Alexander Parker George Watts and I having John Claus of Amsterdam with us for our Interpreter took shipping at Amsterdam for Friezland and having sailed some Nine or Ten Leagues we left the Ship Friezland and travelled through Friezland sometimes by Boat sometimes by Wagon visiting Friends and tender People in the Towns and Villages where we came and having commonly one sometimes two Meetings in a day After we had been at Leuwarden Leuwarder Franeker Harlingen in West-Friezland we passed by Franeker to Harlingen in West-Friezland which was the furthest Place we went to that way And having been out six days from Amsterdam and had very good Service in that time in visiting Friends and publishing Truth amongst the People we took Ship at Harlingen for Amsterdam on the 26th of the fourth Month and arrived there that night Amsterdam The First-day following we were at the Meeting at Amsterdam which was very large and precious Many of the World's People were there and some of their Teachers some great Persons also and they seemed very attentive and a good opportunity we all had one after another to declare the Word of the Lord unto them and open the Way of Truth amongst them John Claus interpreting for us I tarried the next day at Amsterdam but George Watts went to a Burial at Harlem where many hundreds of People were amongst whom he had a good opportunity and came back at night to us 1684. Waterland-Osan-overton Lansmeer Amsterdam The day following we went by Boat to Osan-overton in Waterland and from thence in another small Boat about a League over a small River where we passed over and by above an hundred Bridges and so went to Lansmeer to a Friend's house whose name was Timon Peters and there we had a very good Meeting After which we returned to Amsterdam at Night and were at the Meeting there next day There were many at this Meeting besides Friends and among the rest the great Baptist-Teacher Galenus who was very attentive to the Testimony of the Truth and when the Meeting was done came and got me by the hand very lovingly Sardam Alkmaer We went next day by Boat to Alkmaer about eight Leagues from Amsterdam passing through Sardam the great Town of Ship-Carpenters and several other Towns in the way At Alkmaer which is a pretty City we stay'd and had a Meeting there next day at one William Williams his house There were besides Friends many very sober People at this Meeting who were very attentive to the Testimonies of Truth that were born both by Alexander Parker George Watts and my self John Claus being our Interpreter This was on the Sixth-day of the Week and on the seventh we returned to Amsterdam Amsterdam partly by Wagon partly by Draw-boat being willing to be at the Meeting at Amsterdam on the First-day because it was like to be the last Meeting we should have there Accordingly we were at it and a very large and open Meeting it was Many great Persons were at it some Earls we were told with their Attendants out of Germany very grave and sober and the everlasting Gospel was preached unto them After this Meeting we took our leave of the Friends of Amsterdam Harlem and the next morning departed thence to Harlem where we had a Meeting at a Friend's house whose name is Abraham Frondenberg There were great Numbers of People at this Meeting and of great Service it was And after the Meeting a Watch-maker of Amsterdam who with his Wife was come from Amsterdam to the Meeting desired to speak with me concerning Religion I had pretty much discourse with him and both he and his Wife were very Low and Tender and received with gladness what I spake to them and seemed well satisfied when they went away Roterdam Briel We went next day to Rotterdam where we tarried two Meetings and on the sixteenth day of the fifth Month went to the Briel to take Ship for England It was about the fourth hour in the Afternoon that we went on Board the Pacquet Boat of which one William Sherman was Master and set Sail from the Briel But when we had gone over the Maes about a League we cast Anchor at the place called The Pitt The Pitt because it is near unto the Sands and there we tarried till about the fourth hour next morning when having a pretty fair Wind and the Tide with us we weighed Anchor and by the fourth hour next day were got within five Leagues of Harwich over against Alborough-Castle but the Wind falling short and the Tide growing weak 1684. Harwich it was the first hour in the Afternoon before we came so near to Harwich that Boats could come to receive the Passengers and Goods There were on Board about forty Passengers in all of which some were English some Scots some Dutch some French some Spanish some Flemish and some Jews I spent a day with Friends at Harwich while Alexander Parker and George Watts went by water to visit Friends at Ipswich and returned at night Next morning early we all took Coach for Colchester and were at the Meeting there Colchester which was large and peaceable And after the Meeting and that we had refreshed our selves we travelled on to Witham Witham about Ten Miles on the Road towards London and lodged there that night Next day we went on towards London and William Mead meeting us on the way at Harestreet I went with him to his House Harestreet the other Friends going on for London Here being Weak with Travel and continual Exercise I spent some time to rest my self and recover my Health visiting in the mean time the Friends in that part of the Country as I was able to get abroad And when I was a little recovered I went from thence to Enfield Enfield visiting Friends there and thereabouts and so to Dolston to see the Widow Stot Dolston And from thence to London London there being
him ye are happy and his Blessings will rest upon you God Almighty keep and preserve you all his true Believers in Christ your Rest and Peace this day Amen London the 18th of the 12th Month 1684 5. G. F. About a Month after this I got a little out of London visiting Friends first at South-street then at Ford-Green and Enfield where I had Meetings South-street Ford-green Enfield Waltham-Abbey Enfield Edmunton side and afterwards I went to Waltham-Abbey and was at the Meeting there on a First-day which was very large and peaceable Then returning through Friends at Enfield and about Edmunton-side I came back to London in the Third Month to Advise with and Assist Friends in laying Friends Sufferings before the Parliament then sitting and we drew up a short Account of our Sufferings which we caused to be printed and spread amongst the Parliament-men London Yearly-Meeting The Yearly-Meeting now coming on I was much concerned for the Friends that came up to it out of the Countries lest they should meet with any Trouble or Disturbance in their Passages up or down and the rather for that about this time there began to be great bustles in the Nation upon the Duke of Monmouth's landing in the West But the Lord according to his wonted goodness was graciously pleased to preserve and keep Friends in safety and gave us a blessed Opportunity to Meet together in peace and quietness and accompanied our Meeting with his living refreshing Presence blessed for ever be his holy Name Now considering the Hurries and Bustles that were in the Nation it came upon me at the Close of this Meeting to write a few Lines to Friends to Caution all to keep out of the Spirit of the World in which the Trouble is and to dwell in the peaceable Truth Wherefore I writ as followeth Dear Friends and Brethren WHom the Lord hath called and chosen in Christ Jesus your Life and Salvation in whom ye have all rest and peace with God The Lord God by his mighty Power which is over all hath preserved you and supported you to this day to be a peculiar holy People to himself so that by his Eternal Spirit and Power ye might be all preserved and kept out of the World for in the World is the Trouble And now in this great Day of the Lord God Almighty he is shaking the Heavens and the Earth of outward Professions and their Elements are in a heat and their Sun and their Moon are darkened and the Stars falling and the Mountains and Hills shaking and tottering as it was among the Jews in the Day of Christ's appearing And therefore all Dear Friends and Brethren dwell in the Seed Christ Jesus who is the Rock and Foundation 1685. London that cannot be shaken that ye may see with the Light and Spirit of Christ that ye are the fixed Stars in the â—irmament of God's Power and in this his Power and Light you 'l see over all the wandring Stars and Clouds without water and Trees without fruit And that which may be shaken will be shaken as will all they that are wandred from the Firmament of God's Power Now Dear Friends and Brethren you that are redeemed from the Death and Fall of Adam by Christ the second Adam in him ye have Life Rest and Peace for Christ saith In me ye shall have Peace but in the World Trouble And the Apostle saith They that believe are entred into their Rest namely Christ who hath overcome the World who bruiseth the Serpent's Head and destroys the Devil and his Works and fulfils the Types Figures and Shadows of the Old Testament and the Prophets In whom the Promises are Yea and Amen who is the First and Last Beginning and Ending Yea and Amen who is the eternal Rest So keep and walk in Christ your Rest every one that have received him your Eternal Rest And now Dear Friends and Brethren whatever Bustlings and Trouble or Tumults or Outrages Quarrels and Strife should arise and be in the World keep out of them all and concern not your selves with them but keep in the Lord's Power and peaceable Truth that is over all such things in which Power ye seek the peace and good of all men And live in the Love which God hath shed abroad in your hearts through Christ Jesus in which Love nothing is able to separate you from God and Christ neither outward Sufferings Persecutions nor any outward thing that is below and without nor to hinder or break your heavenly Fellowship in the Light and Gospel and Spirit of Christ nor your holy Communion in the Holy Ghost that proceeds from the Father and the Son which leads you into all Truth And in this Holy Ghost in which is your holy Communion that proceeds from the Father and the Son you have fellowship with the Father and the Son and communion and fellowship one with another And this is it which links and joins Christ's Church or Body together to him the heavenly and spiritual Head and in Unity in his Spirit which is the Bond of Peace of all his Church and living Members in whom they have Eternal and Everlasting Rest and Peace in Christ and with God everlasting who is to be blessed and praised for ever Amen Now Dear Friends forsake not the Assembling of your selves together who are gathered in the Name of Jesus who is your Prophet that God has raised up in the New Testament to be heard in all things who opens to you and no man can shut and shuts and no man can open Who is your Priest made higher than the Heavens by the Power of an endless Life by him you are made a Royal Priesthood to offer up to God spiritual Sacrifice Who is the Bishop of your Souls to oversee you that ye do not go astray from God Who is the good Shepherd that hath laid down his Life for his Sheep and they hear his voice and follow him and he gives to them eternal Life And now Dear Friends and Brethren abide in Christ the Vine that ye may bring forth fruit to the glory of God And as every one hath received Christ walk in him who is not of the World that lies in wickedness so that ye may be preserved out of the Vain Fashions and Customs of the World which satisfie the Lust of the Eye the Lust of the Flesh and the Pride of Life which are not of the Father but are of the World that passes away And who joins to that which is not of the Father or encourages it draws the mind from God the Fathâ—r and the Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore Let Christ rule in your hearts that your Minds Souls and Spirits may be kept and preserved out of the Vanities of the World both in their words ways and actions so that ye may be a peculiar People zealous of good works serving the Lord God through Jesus Christ in whom is life and may be a peculiar People to
the praise and glory of God and by the word of his Grace your words may be gracious and in your Lives and Conversations ye may shew forth Righteousness Holiness and Godliness That so God Almighty may be glorified in you all and through you all who is above all blessed and praised for ever Amen London the 11th of the 4th Month 1685. G. F. Several other Letters also I writ at this time to Friends in divers Forreign Countries from whom I had received Letters about the Affairs of Truth Which when I had dispatched the Yearly-Meeting being over and the Country-Friends for the most part gone out of Town I got a little way out of Town also being much spent with the Heat of the Weather South-street Throngs in Meetings and continual Business I went at first but to South-street where I abode some days And among other Services that I had there a great sense entred me of the Growth and Increase of Pride Vanity and Excess in Apparel and that not only amongst the People of the World but too much also amongst some that came among us and seem'd to make a Profession of the Truth And in the sense I had of the Evil thereof it came upon me to give forth the following Paper as a Reproof and Check thereunto THE Apostle Peter saith in 1 Pet. 3. of the Womens Adorning Let it not be mark Let it not be this is a positive Prohibition that outward adorning of plaiting the Hair and of wearing of Gold or of putting on of Apparel But let it be the hidden Man of the heart in that which is not corruptible even the Ornament of a meek and quiet Spirit which is in the sight of God of a great price for after this manner in the old time the holy women also who trusted in God adorned themselves Here ye may see what is the Ornament of the holy Women 1685. South-street which was in the sight of God of a great price and which the holy Women who trusted in God adorned themselves with But the unholy Women that trust not in God their Ornament is not a meek and a quiet Spirit They adorn themselves with plaiting the Hair and putting on of Apparel and wearing of Gold which is forbidden by the Apostle in his general Epistle to the Church of Christ the true Christians And the Apostle Paul saith 1 Tim. 2.9 10. In like manner also that Women adorn themselves in modest Apparel with shamefacedness and sobriety not with broidered Hair or Gold or Pearls or costly Array but which becometh Women professing Godliness with good Works Now here ye may see what the Women were not to Adorn themselves with who professed Godliness They were not to adorn themselves with broidered Hair nor Gold nor Pearls nor costly Array for this was not looked upon to be modest Apparel for holy Women that profest Godliness and good Works But this Adorning or Apparel is for the immodest and unshamefaced and unsober Women that profess not Godliness neither follow those good Works that God commands And therefore it doth not become Men and Women who profess true Christianity and Godliness to be adorned with Gold or Chains or Pearls or costly Array with broidered Hair for these things are for the Lust of the Eye the Lust of the Flesh and Pride of Life which is not of the Father And therefore all the holy Men and Women are to mind that which is more precious than Gold who are Redeemed not with corruptible things as Silver and Gold from your vain Conversation but with the precious Blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot Therefore as obedient Children to God not fashioning your selves according to your former Lusts in your Ignorance but as he which hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of Conversation 1 Pet. 1.14 15. Christ saith The Life is more than Meat and the Body is more than Raiment Luke 12.23 I read of a Moral-wise Philosopher who meeting a Woman with her Neck and Breast bare laid his hand upon her and said Woman wilt thou sell this Flesh and she replying No. Then pray said he shut up your Shop meaning her bare Breasts and Neck So they were looked upon as Harlots that went with their Necks Breasts and Backs bare and not Civil People even among the Moral Heathens Therefore they that profess the Knowledge of true Christianity should be ashamed of such things You may see a Book written by the very Papists and another by Baxter the Presbyterian against bare Breasts and bare Backs and them that shewed their Flesh Vncovered They that were but in an outward Profession did declare against such things and therefore they which are in the Possession of Truth and true Christianity should be ashamed of such things Read I pray you the Third of Isaiah and there you may see how that holy Prophet was grieved with the foolish Womens vain Attire and how he was sent by the Lord to reprove them And envious persecuting Jezabel her Attired Head and Bravery like a painted Harlot out of the Truth did not keep her from the Judgments of God when the Lord stirred up Jehu against her Doth not Pride go before a Fall and a haughty Mind before Destruction And God resisteth the Proud and giveth Grace to the Humble And Solomon saith The Lord will destroy the House of the Proud Prov. 15.25 For the Day of the Lord shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty c. and he shall be brought low Isa 2.12 and Mal. 4. Therefore take heed of calling the Proud happy for The Lord will scatter the Proud in the Imaginations of their own hearts and exalt them of low degree And you may read in the Revelations Chap. 17.4 and 18.16 of the false Church how she was outwardly decked but full of Abomination and came to a Downfal at last And therefore it is good for all that profess the Truth to use this World as not abusing it for the fashion of this World passeth away but the Word of the Lord endureth for ever The Lord taketh pleasure in his People he will beautifie the Meek with Salvation Psal 149.4 Therefore all that know the Truth as it is in Jesus are to be beautified and cloathed with this Salvation which Salvation is a strong Wall or a Bulwark against that Spirit that would lead you down into the Fall from God or into those things which the fallen Man and Woman delight in and beautifie or adorn themselves with And therefore all that profess the Truth be circumspect sincere and fervent following the Lord Jesus Christ who is not of this World in whom ye have Life and Peace with God South-street the 24th of the 4th Month 1685. G. F. After I had been some weeks in the Country at Southstreet and at and about Enfield in which time I had several Meetings with Friends I returned to London Enfield London And
A JOURNAL OR Historical Account OF THE Life Travels Sufferings Christian Experiences and Labour of Love in the Work of the Ministry OF THAT Ancient Eminent and Faithful Servant of JESUS CHRIST George Fox Who departed this Life in great Peace with the LORD the 13th of the 11th Month 1690. The First Volume Dan. 12.3 And they that turn many to Righteousness shall shine as the Stars for ever and ever Verse 4. Many shall run to and fro and Knowledge shall be Encreased 2 Tim. 2.12 If we suffer we shall also reign with him i. e. with Christ LONDON Printed for Thomas Northcott in George-Yard in Lombard-Street MDCXCIV THE TESTIMONY OF Margaret Fox Concerning her Late Husband GEORGE FOX TOGETHER With a brief Account of some of his Travels Sufferings and Hardships endured for the Truth 's sake IT having pleased Almighty God to take away my Dear Husband out of this Evil Troublesome World who was not a Man thereof being Chosen out of it and had his Life and Being in another Region and his Testimony was against the World that the Deeds thereof were evil and therefore the World hated him So I am now to give in my Account and Testimony for my Dear Husband whom the Lord hath taken unto his blessed Kingdom and Glory And it is before me from the Lord and in my View to give a Relation and leave upon Record the Dealings of the Lord with us from the Beginning He was the Instrument in the Hand of the Lord in this present Age which he made use of to send forth into the World to preach the Everlasting Gospel which had been hid from many Ages and Generations the Lord Revealed it unto him and made him open that New and Living Way that Leads to Life Eternal when he was but a Youth and a Stripling And when he Declared it in his own Country of Leicestershire and in Darbyshire Nottinghamshire and Warwickshire and his Declaration being against the Hireling-Priests and their Practices it raised a Great Fury and Opposition amongst the Priests and People against him yet there was always some that owned him in several places but very few that stood firm to him when Persecution came on him There was he and one other put in Prison at Darby His first Imprisonment but the other declined and left him in Prison there where he continued almost a whole Year and then he was Released out of Prison And went on with his Testimony abroad Second Imprisonment and was put in Prison again at Nottingham and there he continued a while and after was Released again And then he Travelled on into Yorkshire and passed up and down that Great County and several received him as William Dewsbury Richard Farnsworth Thomas Aldam and others who all came to be faithful Ministers of the Spirit for the Lord. And he continued in that Country and Travelled thorow Holderness and the Wowlds and abundance were Convinced and several were brought to Prison at York for their Testimony to the Truth both Men and Women So that we heard of such a People that were Risen and we did very much inquire after them And after a while he Travelled up farther towards the Dales in Yorkshire as Wensdale and Sedbur and amongst the Hills Dales and Mountains he came on and Convinced many of the Eternal Truth And in the Year 1652. it pleased the Lord to draw him towards us so he came on from Sedbur and so to Westmorland as Firbank-Chappel where John Blaykling came with him and so on to Preston and to Grarig and Kendal and Vnder-barrow and Poobank and Cartmel and Staveley and so on to Swarthmore my Dwelling-House whither he brought the blessed Tideings of the Everlasting Gospel which I and many Hundreds in these parts have cause to praise the Lord for My then Husband Thomas Fell was not at home at that time but gone the Welch Circuit being one of the Judges of Assize And our House being a Place open to entertain Ministers and Religious People at one of George Fox his Friends brought him hither where he stayed all Night And the next day being a Lecture or a Fast-day he went to Ulverston-Steeple-house but came not in till People were gathered I and my Children had been a long time there before And when they were singing before the Sermon he came in and when they had done singing he stood up upon a Seat or Form and desired That he might have liberty to speak And he that was in the Pulpit said he might And the first words that he spoke were as followeth He is not a Jew that is one outward neither is that Circumcision which is outward But he is a Jew that is one inward and that is Circumcision which is of the heart And so he went on and said How that Christ was the Light of the World and ligheth every Man that cometh into the World and that by this Light they might be gathered to God c. And I stood up in my Pew and I wondered at his Doctrine for I had never heard such before And then he went on and opened the Scriptures and said The Scriptures were the Prophets words and Christ 's and the Apostle 's words and what as they spoke they enjoyed and possessed and had it from the Lord And said Then what had any to do with the Scriptures but as they came to the Spirit that gave them forth You will say Christ saith this and the Apostles say this but what canst thou say Art thou a Child of Light and hast walked in the Light and what thou speakest is it inwardly from God c. This opened me so that it cut me to the Heart and then I saw clearly we were all wrong So I sat me down in my Pew again and cried bitterly And I cried in my Spirit to the Lord We are all Thieves we are all Thieves we have taken the Scriptures in Words and know nothing of them in our selves So that served me that I cannot well tell what he spake afterwards but he went on in declaring against the false Prophets and Priests and Deceivers of the People And there was one John Sawrey a Justice of Peace and a Professor that bid the Churchwarden Take him away And he laid his hands on him several times and took them off again and let him alone and then after a while he gave over and came to our House again that night And he spoke in the Family amongst the Servants and they were all generally Convinced as William Caton Thomas Salthouse Mary Askew Anne Clayton and several other Servants And I was stricken into such a sadness I knew not what to do my Husband being from home I saw it was the Truth and I could not deny it and I did as the Apostle saith I Received the Truth in the Love of it And it was opened to me so clear that I had never a Tittle in my Heart against it but I desired the Lord that
for and shall be given by the Lord the Righteous Judge to all them that love his Appearance Ages to come and Peoples yet unborn shall call him Blessed and bless the Lord for raising of him up And Blessed shall we also be if we so walk as we had him for an Example for whom this Testimony lives in my Heart He liv'd and died the SERVANT of the LORD T. E. Advertisement FOrasmuch as many other Testimonies from divers Counties and Friends concerning George Fox and his Great Service for the Truth are sent up to London which cannot conveniently be printed with the Journal lest they should swell it too Bigg and many of them being of the same Import Therefore they are reserved for further Consideration to be disposed of as a future Service may be seen in the Wisdom of God for them when Way is made for his Epistles or any of his other Works to be published The Appearance of the Lord 's Everlasting Truth and Breaking forth again in his Eternal Power in this our Day and Age in ENGLAND WHerein the Lord 's mighty Power and Word of Life hath been Richly and Freely preached to the Gathering of many into Reconciliation with God by it to the Exaltation and Glory of the great God through the bringing forth of the Heavenly and Spiritual Fruits from such as have been Gathered by his Eternal Light Power and Spirit unto himself And by the Sowing to the Spirit in the hearts of People Life Eternal hath been Reaped That the Flocks have been Gathered which have the Milk of the Word plenteously That the Riches of the Word have flourished and mightily abounded and God's Heavenly Plow with his Spiritual Men hath gone on chearfully to the Overturning the Fallow Ground of the Hearts that had not borne Heavenly Fruit to God And God's Heavenly Threshers with his Heavenly Flail have with Joy and Delight Thresht out the Chaff and the Corruptions that have been a-Top of God's Seed and Wheat in Man and Woman And thus have they Thresht in Hope and are made Partakers of their Hope through which God's Seed is come into his Garner Oh! the Unutterable Glory and the Unexpressible Excellency of the Everlasting Glorious Truth Gospel and Word of Life that the Infinite Invisible and Wise God who is over all hath Revealed and Manifested And how have the Professors Priests and Powers risen up in Opposition against his Children that are born of the Immortal Seed by the Word of God! And Oh! how great have the Persecutions and Reproaches and Spoiling of Goods been that have been Executed upon them But they that have Touched them and Touches them which are as Dear to God as the Apple of his Eye how hath the Lord Manifested himself to stand by them in Overthrowing Powers Priests and States What Changes have there been since 1644 and 1650 and 1652 How have the Gaols been filled since then in this Nation with the Heirs of Life God's Chosen Ones who had no Helper in the Earth but the Lord and his Christ So that Truth 's Faithful Witnesses were scarcely to be found but in Gaols and Prisons where the Righteous were Numbred among the Transgressors who had neither Staff nor Bag from Man but the Staff the Bread of Life and the Bag that holds the Treasure that waxes not old But the Lord Jesus Christ that sent them forth was their Exceeding great Supporter and Upholder by his Eternal Power and Spirit both then and now G. F. THE PREFACE BEING A SUMMARY ACCOUNT Of the DIVERS Dispensations of God TO MEN FROM The Beginning of the World to That of our present Age by the Ministry and Testimony of his Faithful Servant George Fox as an Introduction to the ensuing Iournal DIVERS have been the Dispensations of God since the Creation of the World unto the Sons of Men But the Great End of all of them has been the Renown of his own Excellent Name in the Creation and Restauration of Man Man the Emblem of himself as a God on Earth and the Glory of all his Works The World began with Innocency All was then good that the good God had made And as he blessed the Works of his hands so their Natures and Harmony magnified him their Creator Then the Morning Stars Sang together for Joy and all parts of his Works said Amen to his Law Not a Jarr in the whole Frame but Man in Paradise the Beasts in the Field the Fowl in the Air the Fish in the Sea the Lights in the Heavens the Fruits of the Earth yea the Air the Earth the Water and Fire Worshipped praised and exalted his Power Wisdom and Goodness O Holy Sabbath O Holy Day to the Lord But this Happy State lasted not long For Man the Crown and Glory of the Whole being tempted to aspire above his place unhappily yielded against Command and Duty as well as Interest and Felicity and so fell below it lost the Divine Image the Wisdom Power and Purity he was made in By which being no longer fit for Paradise he was expelled that Garden of God his proper Dwelling and Residence and was driven out as a poor Vagabond from the presence of the Lord to wander in the Earth the Habitation of Beasts Yet God that made him had pitty on him for He seeing he was deceived and that it was not of Malice or an Original Presumption in him but through the Subtilty of the Serpent that had first fallen from his own State and by the Mediation of the Woman man 's own Nature and Companion whom the Serpent had first deluded in his infinite Goodness and Wisdom found out a way to Repair the Breach Recover the Loss and Restore fallen Man again by a Nobler and more Excellent Adam promised to be born of a Woman that as by means of a Woman the evil one had prevailed upon Man by a Woman also He should come into the World who would prevail against him and bruise his Head and deliver Man from his Power And which in a signal manner by the Dispensation of the Son of God in the Flesh in the fullness of Time was personally and fully accomplished by him and in him as Man's Saviour and Redeemer But his Power was not limitted in the Manifestation of it to that time for both before and since his blessed Manifestation in the Flesh He has been the Light and Life the Rock and Strength of all that ever feared God Present with them in their Temptations followed them in their Travels and Afflictions and supported and carried them through and over the Difficulties that have attended them in their Earthly Pilgrimage By this Abel's heart excelled Cains and Seth obtained the preheminence and Enoch walked with God It was this that strove with the Old World and which they rebelled against and which sanctified and instructed Noah to Salvation But the outward Dispensation that followed the benighted State of Man after his Fall especially among the Patriarcks was generally
rested also too much upon their Watry Dispensation instead of passing on more fully to the Fire and Holy Ghost which was his Baptism who came with a Fan in his Hand that he might throughly and not in part only purge his Floor and take away the Dross and the Tin of his People and make a Man finer than Gold Withall they grew High Rough and Self-righteous opposing further attainment too much forgetting the Day of their Infancy and Littleness which gave them something of a real Beauty in so much that many left them and all visible Churches and Societies and Wandred up and down as Sheep without a Shepherd and as Doves without their Mates seeking their Beloved but could not find Him as their Souls desired to know Him whom their Souls loved above their chiefest Joy These People were called Seekers by some and the Family of Love by others because as they came to the knowledge of one another they sometimes met together not formally to Pray or Preach at appointed times or Places in their own Wills as in times past they were accustomed to do but waited together in Silence and as any thing rose in any one of their Minds that they thought Savoured of a Divine Spring so they sometimes Spoke But so it was that some of them not keeping in Humility and in the Fear of God after the Abundance of Revelation were exalted above Measure and for want of staying their Minds in an humble Dependance upon him that opened their Vnderstandings to see great things in his Law they run out in their own Imaginations and mixing them with those Divine Openings brought forth a Monstrous Birth to the Scandal of those that feared God and waited daily in the Temple not made with Hands for the Consolation of Israel the Jew inward and Circumcision in Spirit This People obtained the Name of Ranters from their extravagant Discourses and Practices For they interpreted Christ's fullfilling of the Law for us to be a discharging of us from any Obligation and Duty the Law required instead of the Condemnation of the Law for sins past upon Faith and Repentance and that now it was no Sin to do that which before it was a Sin to commit the slavish Fear of the Law being taken off by Christ and all things good that Man did if he did but do them with the Mind and Perswasion that it was so Insomuch that divers fell into Gross and Enormous Practices pretending in excuse thereof that they could without Evil commit the same Act which was Sin in another to do thereby distinguishing between the Action and the Evil of it by the Direction of the Mind and Intention in the doing of it Which was to make Sin Super-abound by the aboundings of Grace and to turn from the Grace of God into Wantonness a securer way of Sinning than before As if Christ came not to take away Sin but that we might Sin more freely at his Cost and with less Danger to our selves I say this ensnared Divers and brought them to an utter and lamentable Loss as to their Eternal State and they grew very troublesome to the better sort of People and furnished the looser with an occasion to Prophane It was about that very same time as you may see in the ensuing Annales that the Eternal Wise and Good God was pleased in his Infinite Love to Honour and Visit this benighted and bewildred Nation with his Glorious Day-spring from on High yea with a most sure and certain sound of the Word of Light and Life through the Testimony of a Chosen Vessel to an effectual and blessed purpose can many thousands say Glory be to the Name of the Lord for ever For as it reached the Conscience and broak the Heart and brought many to a Sense and Search so what People had been vainly seeking without with much Pains and Cost they by this Ministry found within where it was they wanted what they sought for viz. The right way to Peace with God For they were directed to the Light of Jesus Christ within them as the Seed and Leven of the Kingdom of God near All because in All and God's Talent to All. A Faithful and True Wâ—â—ness and Just Monitor in every Bosom The Gift and Grace of God to Life and Salvation that appears to all though few regard it This the Traditional Christian conceited of himself and strong in his own Will and Righteousness and overcome with blind Zeal and Passion either dispised as a low and common thing or opposed as a Novelty under many hard Names and opprobrious Terms denying in his ignorant and angry Mind any fresh Manifestation of God's Power and Spirit in Man in these days though never more needed to make true Christians Not unlike those Jews of Old that rejected the Son of God at the very same time that they blindly professed to wait for the Messiah to come because alas he appeared not among them according to their Carnal Mind and Expectation This brought forth many abusive Books which filled the greater sort with Envy and lesser with Rage and made the way and progress of this Blessed Testimony Straight and Narrow indeed to those that received it However God owned his own Work and this Testimony did effectually Reach Gather Comfort and Establish the Weary and Heavy Leaden the Hungry and Thirsty the Poor and Needy the Mournful and Sick of many Maladys that had spent all upon Phisitians of no Value and waited for Relief from Heaven Help only from above Seeing upon a serious Tryal of all things nothing else would do but Christ himself the Light of his Countenance a Touch of his Garment and Help from his Hand who cured the poor Womans Issue raised the Centurions Servant the Widows Son the Rulers Daughter and Peter's Mother and like Her they no sooner felt his Power and Efficacy upon their Souls but they gave up to obey him in a Testimony to his Power and with resigned Wills and faithful Hearts through all Mockings Contradictions Beatings Prisons and many other Jeopardies that attended them for his Blessed Name Sake And truly they were very many and very Great so that in all Humane Probabiliâ—â— they must have been swallowed up Quick of the Proud and Bosterous Waves that swelled and beat against them but that the God of all their tender Mercies was with them in his Glorious Authority so that the Hills often Fled and the Mountains melted before the Power that filled them working mightily for them as well as in them one ever following the other By which they saw plainly to their exceeding great Confirmation and Comfort that all things were possible with him with whom they had to do And that the more that which God required seemed to cross Man's Wisdom and expose them to Man's Wrath the more God appeared to help and carry them through all to his Glory Insomuch that if ever any People could say in Truth Thou art our Sun and our Shield our
Rock and Sanctuary and by thee we have leaped over a Wall and by thee we have run through a Troop and by thee we have put the Armies of the Aliens to Flight these People had Right to say it And as God had delivered their Souls of the warisom Burthens of Sin and Vanity and enriched their poverty of Spirit and satisfied their great Hungar and Thirst after Eternal Righteousness and filled them with the Good Things of his own House and made them Stewards of his Manifold Gifts so they went forth to all Quarters of these Nations to Declare to the Inhabitants thereof what God had done for them what they had found and where and how they had found it viz. The way to Peace with God Inviting them to come and see and taste for themselves the Truth of what they Declared unto them And as their Testimony was to the Principle of God in Man the precious Pearl and Leven of the Kingdom as the only blessed means appointed of God to Quicken Convince and Sanctifie Man so they opened to them what it was in it self and what it was given to them for How they might know it from their own Spirit and that of the Subtil appearance of the Evil one and what it would do for all those whose minds are turned off from the Vanity of the World and its Lifeless ways and Teachers and ad-hear to this blessed Light in themselves which discovers and condemns Sin in all its appearances and shows how to overcome it if minded and obeyed in its holy Manifestations and Convictions Giving Power to such to Avoid and Resist those things that do not please God and to grow Strong in Love Faith and Good Works That so Man whom Sin hath made as a Wilderness over-run with Briers and Thorns might become as the Garden of God cultivated by his divine Power and replenisht with the most Virtuous and Beautiful Plants of God's own Right Hand Planting to his Eternal Praise But these Experimental Preachers of Glad Tydings of God's Truth and Kingdom could not run when they List or Pray or Preach when they Pleased But as the Christ their Redeemer prepared and moved them by his own Blessed Spirit for which they waited in their Services and Meetings and Spoak as that gave them utterance and which was as those having Authority and not like the Dreaming Dry and formal Pharisees And so it plainly appeared to the serious Minded whose Spiritual Eye the Lord Jesus had in any measure opened so that to one was given the Word of Exhortation to another the Word of Reproof to another the Word of Consolation and all by the same Spirit and in the good Order thereof to the Convincing and Edifying of many And truly they waxed Strong and Bold through Faithfulness and by the Power and Spirit of the Lord Jesus became very Fruitful thousands in a short time being turned to the Truth through their Testimony in Ministry and Sufferings insomuch as in most Counties and many of the considerable Towns of England Meetings were settled and daily there were added such as should be saved For they were Diligent to Plant and to Water and the Lord blessed their Labours with an Exceeding great Increase notwithstanding all the opposition made to their blessed Progress by false Rumors Calumnies and bitter Persecutions not only from the Powers of the Earth but from every one that listed to injure and abuse them So that they seemed indeed to be as poor Sheep appointed to the Slaughter and as a People killed all the Day long It were fitter for a Volumn than a Preface but so much as to repeat the Contents of their cruel Sufferings from Professors as well as from Prophaine and from Magistrates as well as the Rabble that it may well be said of this abused and despised People they went forth Weeping and sowed in Tears bearing Testimony to the Precious Seed the Seed of the Kingdom which stands not in Words the Finest the Highest that Man's Wit can use but in Power the Power of Christ Jesus to whom God the Father hath given all Power in Heaven and in Earth that he might rule Angels above and Men below who impowred them as their Work witnesseth by the many that were turned through their Ministry from Darkness to the Light and out of the Broad into the Narrow Way bringing People to a Weighty Serious and God-like Conversation the Practice of that Doctrine which they Taught And as without this Secret Divine Power there is no Quickning and Regenerating of dead Souls so the want of this Generating and begetting Power and Life is the Cause of the little Fruit that the many Ministrys that have been and are in the World bring forth O that both Ministers and People were sensible of this My Soul is often troubled for them and Sorrow and Mourning compass me about for their Sakes O! that they were Wise O! that they would consider and lay to Heart the things that truly and substantially make for their lasting Peace Two things are to be briefly toucht upon the Doctrine they Taught and the Example they lead among all People I have already toucht upon their Fundamental Principle which is as the Corner stone of their Fabrick And to speak eminently and properly their Characteristick or main distinguishing Point or Principle viz. the Light of Christ within as God's Gift for Man's Salvation This I say is as the Root of the goodly Tree of Doctrines that grew and branched out from it which I shall now mention in their Natural and Experimental Order First Repentance from dead Works to serve the Living God Which comprehends three Operations First a sight of Sin Secondly A Sense and Godly Sorrow for it Thirdly An Amendment for the Time to come This was the Repentance they preached and pressed and a Natural result from the Principle they turned all People unto For of Light came Sight and of Sight came Sense and Sorrow and of Sense and Sorrow came Amentment of Life Which Doctrine of Repentance leads to Justification that is Forgiveness of the Sins that are past through Christ the alone Propitiation and the Sanctification or Purgation of the Soul from the defiling Nature and Habits of sin present which is justification in the compleat Sense of that Word comprehending both justification from the Guilt of the Sins that are past as if they had never been commited through the Love and Mercy of God in Christ Jesus and the Creatures being made inwardly just through the Cleansing and Sanctifying Power and Spirit of Christ revealed in the Soul which is commonly called Sanctification .. From hence sprang a Second Doctrine they were led to declare as the Mark of the Price of the High Calling of all true Christians viz. Perfection from sin according to the Scriptures of Truth which testifie it to be the end of Christ's coming and the Nature of his Kingdom and for which his Spirit was given But they never held a Perfection
which the word begets them again to God which is the Regeneration and New Birth without which there is no coming unto the Kingdom of God and which whoever comes to is greater than John that is than John's Dispensation which was not that of the Kingdom but the Consummation of the Legal and Forerunning of the Gospel Times Accordingly several Meetings were gathered in those Parts and thus his Time was employed for some Years In 1652. He being in his usual Retirement to the Lord upon a very High Mountain in some of the hither parts of Yorkshire as I take it his Mind exercised towards the Lord he had a Vision of the great Work of God in the Earth and of the way that he was to go forth to begin it He saw People as thick as Motes in the Sun that should in time be brought Home to the Lord that there might be but one Shepherd and one Sheepfold in all the Earth There his Eye was directed Northward beholding a great People that should receive him and his Message in those Parts Upon this Mountain he was moved of the Lord to sound out his Great and notable Day as if he had been in a great Auditory and from thence went North as the Lord had shown him and in every place where he came if not before he came to it he had his particular Exercise and Service shown to him so that the Lord was his Leader indeed for it was not in vain that he Travailled God in most places sealing his Commission with the Convincement of some of all sorts as well Publicans as sober Professors of Religion Some of the first and most Eminent of them which are at Rest were Richard Farnsworth James Nayler William Dewsberry Francis Howgil Edward Burroughs John Camm John Audland Richard Hubberthorn T. Taylor John Aldam T. Holmes Alexander Parker William Simpson William Caton John Stubbs Robert Widders John Burnyeat Robert Lodge Thomas Salthouse and many more Worthies that cannot be well here Named together with divers yet living of the first and great Convincement who after the knowledge of God's purging Judgments in themselves and some time of waiting in silence upon him to feel and receive Power from on High to speak in his Name which none else rightly can though they may use the same Words They felt the Divine Motions and were frequently drawn forth especially to visit the Publick Assemblies to reprove inform and exhort them sometimes in Markets Fairs Streets and by the High-way-side calling People to Repentance and to turn to the Lord with their Hearts as well as their Mouths directing them to the Light of Christ within them to see and examine and consider their ways by and to eschew the Evil and do the Good and Acceptable Will of God And they suffered great Hardships for this their Love and Good-will being often Stockt Stoned Beaten Whipt and Imprisoned though Honest Men and of Good Report where they lived that had left Wives and Children and Houses and Lands to visit them with a living Call to Repentance And though the Priests generally set themselves to oppose them and write against them and insinuated most False and Scandalous Stories to Defame them stirring up the Magistrates to suppress them especially in those Northern Parts yet God was pleased so to fill them with his living Power and give them such an open Door of utterance in his Service that there was a mighty Convincement over those Parts And through the tender and singular Indulgence of Judge Bradshaw and Judge Fell who were wont to go that Circuit in the Infancy of things the Priests were never able to gain the point they laboured for which was to have proceeded to Blood and if possible Herod like by a Cruel exercise of the Civil Power to have cut them off and rooted them out of the Country Especially Judge Fell who was not only a Check to their Rage in the Course of Legal Proceedings but otherwise upon occasion and finally countenanced this People for his Wife receiving the Truth with the First it had that Influence upon his Spirit being a Just and Wise Man and seeing in his own Wife and Family a full Confutation to all the popular Clamours against the Way of Truth that he covered them what he could and freely opened his Doors and gave up his House to his Wife and her Friends not valuing the Reproach of Ignorant or Evil Minded People which I here mention to His and her Honour and which will be I believe an Honour and a Blessing to such of their Name and Family as shall be found in that Tenderness Humility Love and Zeal for the Truth and People of the Lord. That House was for some Years at first till the Truth had opened its way in the Southern parts of this Island an Eminent Receptacle of this People Others of good Note and Substance in those Northern Countrys had also opened their Houses with their Hearts to the many Publishers that in a short time the Lord had raised to declare his Salvation to the People and where Meetings of the Lord's Messengers were frequently held to communicate their Services and Exercises and Comfort and Edify one another in their Blessed Ministry But least this may be thought a Digression having touched upon this before I return to this Excellent Man And for his Personal Qualities both Natural Moral and Divine as they appeared in his Converse with Brethren and in the Church of God take as follows I. He was a Man that God endued with a Clear and Wonderful Depth a discerner of others Spirits and very much a Master of his own And though the side of his Vnderstanding which lay next to the World and especially the Expression of it might sound Vncouth and Vnfashionable to Nice Ears his matter was nevertheless very profound and would not only bear to be often considered but the more it was so the more Weighty and Instructing it appeared And as abruptly and brokenly as sometimes his Sentences would fall from him about Divine Things it is well known they were often as Texts to many fairer Declarations And indeed it showed beyond all Contradiction that God sent him that no Arts or Parts had any share in his matter or manner of his Ministry and that so many Great Excellent and Necessary Truths as he came forth to Preach to Mankind had therefore nothing of Man's Wit or Wisdom to recommend them So that as to Man he was an Original being no Man's Copy And his Ministry and Writings show they are from one that was not Taught of Man nor had Learned what he said by Study Nor were they Notional or Speculative but sensible and Practical Truths tending to Conversion and Regeneration and the setting up the Kingdom of God in the Hearts of Men and the way of it was his Work So that I have many times been overcome in my self and been made to say with my Lord and Master upon the like Occasion I thank
thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth that thou hast hid these things from the Wise and Prudent of this World and revealed them to Babes For many times hath my Soul bowed in an Humble Thankfulness to the Lord that he did not choose any of the Wise and Learned of this World to be the first Messenger in our Age of his blessed Truth to Men but that he took one that was not of High Degree or Elegant Speech or learned after the way of this World that his Message and Work he sent him to do might come with less Suspicion or Jealousie of Humane Wisdom and Interest and with more Force and Clearness upon the Consciences of those that sincerely Sought the way of Truth in the Love of it I say beholding with the Eye of my mind which the God of Heaven had opened in me the Marks of God's Finger and Hand visibly in this Testimony from the Clearness of the Principle the Power and Efficacy of it in the Exemplary Sobriety Plainness Zeal Steadiness Humility Gravity Punctuality Charity and Circumspect care in the Government of Church Affairs which shined in his and their Life and Testimony that God employed in this Work it greatly confirmed me that it was of God and engaged my Soul in a Deep Love Fear Reverence and Thankfulness for his Love and Mercy therein to Mankind in which Mind I remain and shall I hope to the end of my Daies II. In his Testimony or Ministry he much laboured to open Truth to the Peoples Vnderstandings and to bottom them upon the Principle and Principal Christ Jesus the Light of the World that by bringing them to something that was of God in themselves they might the better know and judge of him and themselves He had an Extraordinary Gift in opening the Scriptures He would go to the Marrow of things and show the Mind Harmony and Fullfilling of them with much Plainness and to great Comfort and Edification The Mistery of the first and second Adam of the Fall and Restoration of the Law and Gospel of Shadows and Substance of the Servant and Sons State and the fullfiling of the Scriptures in Christ and by Christ the True Light in all that are his through the Obedience of Faith were much of the Substance and Drift of his Testimonies In all which he was witnessed to be of God being sensibly felt to speak that which he had received of Christ and was his own Experience in that which never Ers nor Fails But above all he excelled in Prayer The Inwardness and Weight of his Spirit the Reverence and Solemnity of his Address and Behaviour and the Fewness and Fulness of his Words have often struck even Strangers with Admiration as they used to reach others with Consolation The most Awfull Living Reverent Frame I ever Felt or Beheld I must say was his in Prayer And truly it was a Testimony he knew and lived neerer to the Lord than other Men for they that know him most will see most reason to approach him with Reverence and Fear He was of an Innocent Life no Busie Body nor Self Seeker neither Touchy nor Critical What fell from him was very Inoffensive if not very Edifying So Meek Contented Modest Easie Steady Tender it was a pleasure to be in his Company He exercised no Authority but over Evil and that every where and in all but with Love Compassion and Long Suffering A most Merciful Man as ready to Forgive as unapt to take or give an Offence Thousands can truly say he was of an Excellent Spirit and Savour among them and because thereof the most Excellent Spirits loved him with an unfained and unfading Love He was an Incessant Labourer for in his Younger time before his many great and deep Sufferings and Travels had enfeebled his Body for Itinerant Services he laboured much in the Word and Doctrine and Discipline in England Scotland and Ireland turning many to God and confirming those that were convinced of the Truth and setling Good Order as to Church Affairs among them And towards the Conclusion of his Travelling Services between the Years Seventy One and Seventy Seven he Visited the Churches of Christ in the Plantations in America and in the Vnited Provinces and Germany as his following Journal Relates to the Convincement and Consolation of many After that time he chiefly resided in and about the City of London and besides the Services of his Ministry which were Frequent and Serviceable he writ much both to them that are within and those that are without the Communion But the care he took of the Affairs of the Church in General was very great He was often where the Records of the Affairs of the Church are kept and the Letters from the many Meetings of God's People over all the World where settled come upon Occasions which Letters he had read to him and Communicated them to the Meeting that is Weekly held there for such Services he would be sure to stir them up to discharge them especially in Suffering Cases Showing great Sympathy and Compassion upon all such Occasions carefully looking into the Respective Cases and endeavouring Speedy Relief according to the Nature of them So that the Churches and any of the Suffering Members thereof were sure not to be forgotten or delayed in their Desires if he were there As he was Vnwearied so he was Vndaunted in his Services for God and his People he was no more to be moved to Fear than to Wrath. His Behaviour at Darby Litchfield Appleby before Oliver Cromwell at Launston Scarborough Worcester and Westminster-Hall with many other Places and Exercises did abundantly evidence it to his Enemies as well as his Friends But as in the Primitive Times some rise up against the blessed Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ even from among those that they had turned to the Hope of the Gospel and who became their greatest Trouble so this Man of God had his share of Suffering from some that were convinced by him who through prejudice or mistake run against him as one that sought Dominion over Conscience because he prest by his Presence or Epistles a ready and zealous compliance with such good and wholesome things as tended to an Orderly Conversation about the Affairs of the Church and in their walking before Men. That which contributed much to this ill Work was in some a begrudging of this Meek Man the love and esteem he had and deserved in the Hearts of the People and weakness in others that were taken with their groundless Suggestions of Imposition and blind Obedience They would have had every Man Independent that as he had the Principle in himself he should only stand and fall to that and no Body else not considering that the Principle is One in all and though the Measure of Light or Grace might differ yet the Nature of it was the same and being so they struck at the Spiritual Vnity which a People guided by the same Principle are
that our Fellowship stood In this we desired to have a Sense one of another acted towards one another and all Men in Love Faithfulness and Fear In the feeling of the Motions of this Principle we drew near to the Lord and waited to be prepared by it that we might feel those Drawings and Movings before we approached the Lord in Prayer or open'd our Mouths in Ministry And in our Beginning and Ending with this stood our Comfort Service and Edification And as we run faster or fell short we made Burthens for our selves to bear our Services finding in our selves a Rebuke instead of an Acceptance and in lieu of Well done who has required this at your Hands In that day we were an Exercised People our very Countenances and Deportment declared it Care for others was then much upon us as well as for our selves especially the Young Convinced Often had we the Burthen of the Word of the Lord to our Neighbours Relations and Acquaintance and sometimes Strangers also We were in Travail for one anothers Preservation Not seeking but shunning Occasions of any Coldness or Misunderstanding treating one another as those that believed and felt God present Which kept our Conversation Innocent Serious and Weighty guarding our selves against the Cares and Friendships of the World We held the Truth in the Spirit of it and not in our own Spirits or after our own Wills and Affections They were bowed and brought into Subjection in so much that it was visible to them that knew us we did not think our selves at our own Dispose to go where we List or say or do what we List or when we List Our Liberty stood in the Liberty of the Spirit of Truth and no Pleasure no Profit no Fear no Favour could draw us from this retired strict and watchful Frame We were so far from seeking occasions of Company that we avoided them what we could persuing our own Business with Moderation instead of medling with other Peoples Vnnecessarily Our Words were Few and Savoury our Looks Composed and Weighty and our whole Deportment very Observable True it is that this Retired and strict sort of Life from the Liberty of the Conversation of the World exposed us to the Censures of many as Humourists Conceited and Self-righteous Persons c. But it was our Preservation from many Snares to which others were continually exposed by the Prevalency of the lust of the Eye the lust of the Flesh and the Pride of Life that wanted no Occasions or Temptations to excite them abroad in the Converse of the World I cannot forget the Humility and Chast Zeal of that Day Oh! how Constant at Meetings how Retired in them how firm to Truth 's Life as well as Truth 's Principles and how Entire and Vnited in our Communion as indeed became those that profess One Head even Christ Jesus the Lord. This being the Testimony and Example the Man of God before mentioned was sent to Declare and Leave amongst us and we having Embraced the same as the Merciful Visitation of God to us the Word of Exhortation at this time is that we continue to be found in the Way of this Testimony with all Zeal and Integrity and so much the more by how much the Day draweth near And First as to you my Beloved and much Honoured Brethren in Christ that are in the Exercise of the Ministry Oh feel Life in the Ministry Let Life be your Commission your Well-spring and Treasury in all such Occasions else you well know there can be no begetting to God since nothing can quicken or make People alive to God but the life of God And it must be a Ministry in and from Life that enlivens any People to God We have seen the Fruit of all other Ministrys by the few that are turned from the Evil of their Ways It is not our Parts or Memory the repetition of former Openings in our own will and time that will do God's Work A dry Doctrinal Ministry however sound in Words can reach but the Ear and is but a Dream at the Best There is another Soundness that is soundest of all viz. Christ the power of God This is the Key of David that Opens and none Shuts and Shuts and none can Open as the Oil to the Lamp and the Soul to the Body so is that to the best of Words Which made Christ to say My Words they are Spirit and they are Life that is they are from Life and therefore they make you alive that receive them If the Disciples that had lived with Jesus were to stay at Jerusalem till they received it so must we wait to receive before we Minister if we will turn People from Darkness to Light and from Satan's power to God I fervently bow my Knees to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that you may always be like minded that you may ever wait Reverently for the coming and opening of the Word of Life and tend upon it in your Ministry and Service that you may serve God in his Spirit And be it little or be it much it is well for much is not too much and the least is enough if from the motion of God's Spirit and without it verily never so little is too much because to no profit For it is the Spirit of the Lord immediately or through the Ministry of his Servants that teacheth his People to profit and to be sure so far as we take him along with us in our Services so far we are profitable and no farther For if it be the Lord that must work all things in us and for our selves much more is it the Lord that must work in us for the Conversion of others If therefore it was once a Cross to us to Speak though the Lord required it at our Hands let it never be so to be silent when he does not It is one of the most dreadful Sayings in the Book of God That he that adds to the Words of the Prophecy of this Book God will add the Plagues written in this Book To keep back the Counsel of God is as Terrible for he that takes away from the Words of the Prophecy of this Book God shall take away his part out of the Book of Life And truly it has great Caution in it to those that use the Name of the Lord to be well assured the Lord Speaks that they may not be found of the Number of those that add to the Words of the Testimony of Prophecy which the Lord giveth them to bear nor yet to mince or diminish the same both being so very offensive to God Wherefore Brethren let us be careful neither to out-go our Guide nor yet loiter behind him since he that makes Haste may miss his Way and he that stays behind loose his Guide For even those that have Received the Word of the Lord had need wait for Wisdom that they may see how to divide the Word aright which plainly implieth that it
is possible for one that hath received the Word of the Lord to miss in the Division and Application of it which must come from an Impatiency of Spirit and a Self-working which makes an unsound and dangerous Mixture and will hardly beget a right minded living People to God I am earnest in this above all other Considerations as to publick Brethren well knowing how much it concerns the present and future State and preservation of the Church of Christ Jesus that has been gathered and built up by a Living and Powerful Ministry that the Ministry be held preserved and continued in the Manifestations Motions and Supplies of the same Life and Power from time to time And where ever it is observed that any one does Minister more from Gifts and Parts than Life and Power though they have an Inlightned and Doctrinal Vnderstanding let them in time be advised and admonished for their Preservation because insensibly such will come to depend upon a Self-sufficiency to forsake Christ the living Fountain and to hew out unto themselves Cisterns that will hold no living Waters and by degrees draw others from waiting upon the Gift of God in themselves and to feel it in others in order to their Strength and Refreshment to wait upon them and to turn from God to Man again and so to make Shipwrack of the Faith once delivered to the Saints and of a good Conscience towards God which are only kept by that Divine Gift of life that begat the one and awaken'd and sanctified the other in the Beginning Nor is it enough that we have known the Divine Gift and in it have reached to the Spirits in Prison and been the Instruments of the Convincing of others of the way of God if we keep not as low and poor in our selves and as depending upon the Lord as ever since no Memory no Repetitions of former Openings Revelations or Enjoyments will bring a Soul to God or afford Bread to the Hungry or Water to the Thirsty unless Life go with what we say and that must be waited for O that we may have no other Fountain Treasury or Dependence that none may presume at any rate to Act of themselves for God! Because they have long acted from God that we may not supply want of waiting with our own Wisdom or think that we may take less Care and more liberty in speaking than formerly and that where we do not feel the Lord by his Power to open us and enlarge us whatever be the Expectation of the People or has been our Customary Supply and Character we may not exceed or fill up the time with our own I hope we shall ever Remember who it was that said Of your selves you can do nothing our sufficiency is in Him And if we are not to speak our own Words or take Thought what we should say to Men in our Defence when exposed for our Testimony surely we ought to speak none of our own Words or take Thought what we shall say in our Testimony and Ministry in the Name of the Lord to the Souls of the People for then of all Times and of all other Occasions should it be fulfilled in us for it is not you that speak but the Spirit of my Father that speaketh in you And indeed the Ministry of the Spirit must and does keep its Analogy and Agreement with the Birth of the Spirit that as no Man can Inherit the Kingdom of God unless he be born of the Spirit so no Ministery can beget a Soul to God but that which is from the Spirit For this as I said before the Disciples waited before they went forth and in this our Elder Brethren and Messengers of God in our Day waited visited and reached to us And having begun in the Spirit let none ever hope or seek to be made perfect in the Flesh For what is the Flesh to the Spirit or the Chaff to the Wheat And if we keep in the Spirit we shall keep in the Vnity of it which is the ground of true Fellowship For by Drinking into that one Spirit we are made one People to God and by it we are continued in the Vnity of the Faith and the Bond of Peace No Envying no Bitterness no Strife can have place with us We shall watch always for Good and not for Evil over one another and rejoice exceedingly and not begrudge at one anothers increase in the Riches of the Grace with which God replenisheth his Faithful Servants And Brethren as to you is committed the Dispensation of the Oracles of God which give you frequent Opportunities and great Place with the People among whom you Travail I beseech you that you would not think it sufficient to declare the Word of Life in their Assemblies however Edifying and Comfortable such opportunities may be to you and them But as was the Practice of the Man of God before mentioned in great Measure when among us inquire the State of the several Churches you Visit who among them are Afflicted or Sick who are Tempted if any are Vnfaithful or Obstinate and endeavour to Issue those things in the Wisdom and Power of God which will be a glorious Crown upon your Ministry As that prepares your way in the Hearts of the People to receive you as Men of God so it gives you Credit with them to do them good by your Advice in other Respects The Afflicted will be Comforted by you the Tempted Strengthened the Sick Refreshed the Vnfaithful Convicted and Restored and such as are Obstinate Softned and fitted for Reconciliation which is Clenching the Nail and applying and Fastning the general Testimony by that particular Care of the several Branches of it in reference to them more immediately concerned in it For though Good and Wise Men and Elders too may reside in such places who are of Worth and Importance in the general and in other Places yet it does not always follow that they may have the Room they deserve in the hearts of the People they live among or some particular occasion may make it unfit for him or them to use that Authority But you that Travail as God's Messengers if they receive you in the Greater shall they refuse you in the Less And if they own the general Testimony can they withstand the particular Application of it in their own Cases Thus ye will shew your selves Workmen indeed and carry your Business before you to the praise of his Name that hath called you from Darkness to Light that you might turn others from Satan's Power unto God and his Kingdom which is within And Oh that there were more of such Faithful Labourers in the Vineyard of the Lord Never more need since the day of God! Wherefore I cannot but Cry and Call aloud to you that have been long Professors of the Truth and know the Truth in the convincing Power of it and have had a sober Conversation among Men yet content your selves only to know Truth for your selves
to go to Meetings and Exercise an ordinary Charity in the Church and an honest Behaviour in the World and limit your selves within those Bounds feeling little or no concern upon your Spirits for the Glory of the Lord in the prospirity of his Truth in the Earth more than to be glad that others succeed in such Service Arise ye in the Name and Power of the Lord Jesus Behold how white the Fields are unto Harvest in this and other Nations and how few Able and Faithful Labourers there are to work therein Your Country Folks Neighbours and Kindred want to know the Lord and his Truth and to Walk in it Does nothing lie at your Door upon their Account Search and see and loose no time I beseech you for the Lord is at Hand I do not Judge you there is one that Judgeth all Men and his Judgment is true You have mightily increased in your outward Substance may you equally increase in your inward Riches and do good with both while you have a day to do Good Your Enemies would once have taken what you had from you for his Names Sake in whom you have believed wherefore he has given you much of the World in the Face of your Enemies But Oh let it be your Servant and not your Master your Diversion rather than your Business Let the Lord be chiefly in your Eye and ponder your Ways and see if God has nothing more for you to do and if you find your selves short in your Account with him then wait for his Preparation and be ready to receive the word of Command and be not weary of well doing when you have put your Hand to the Plow and assuredly you shall Reap if you faint not the Fruit of your Heavenly Labour in God's Everlasting Kingdom And you Young Convinced Ones be you Entreated and Exhorted to a Diligent and Chast waiting upon God in the way of his Blessed Manifestation and appearance of himself to you Look not out but within Let not anothers Liberty be your Snare Neither Act by Imitation but Sense and Feeling of God's Power in your selves Crush not the tender Buddings of it in your Souls nor over run in your desires and your warmness of Affections the Holy and Gentle Motions of It. Remember it is a still Voice that Speaks to us in this Day and that it is not to be heard in the Noises and Hurries of the Mind but is distinctly understood in a retired Frame Jesus loved and chose out Solitudes often going to Mountains to Gardens and Sea-sides to avoid Crowds and Hurries to shew his Disciples it was good to be Solitary and sit loose to the World Two Enemies lie near your States Imagination and Liberty but the plain practical Living Holy Truth that has convinced you will preserve you if you mind it in your selves and bring all Thoughts Imaginations and Affections to the Test of it to see if they are wrought in God or of the Enemy or your own selves So will a true Tast Discerning and Judgment be preserved to you of what you should do and leave undone And in your diligence and Faithfulness in this way you will come to inherit Substance and Christ the Eternal Wisdom will fill your Treasury And when you are Converted as well as Convinced then confirm your Brethren and be ready to every good Word and Work that the Lord shall call you to that you may be to his Praise who has chosen you to be partakers with the Saints in Light of a Kingdom that cannot be shaken an Inheritance incorruptible in Eternal Habitations And now as for you that are the Children of God's People a Great Concern is upon my Spirit for your good and often are my Knees Bowed to the God of your Fathers for you that you may come to be partakers of the same Divine Life and Power that has been the Glory of this Day that a Generation you may be to God an Holy Nation and a Peculiar People Zealous of Good Works when all our Heads are laid in the Dust Oh you Young Men and Women let it not suffice you that you are the Children of the People of the Lord you must also be born again if you will inherit the Kingdom of God Your Fathers are but such after the Flesh and could but beget you into the likeness of the first Adam but you must be begotten into the likeness of the second Adam by a Spiritual Generation And therefore look carefully about you Oh ye Children of the Children of God Consider your Standing and see what you are in Relation to this Divine Kindred Family and Birth Have you obeyed the Light and received and walked in the Spirit that is the incorruptible Seed of the Word and Kingdom of God of which you must be born again God is no respecter of Persons The Father cannot save or answer for the Child the Child for the Father but in the Sin thou Sinnest thou shalt die and in the Righteousness thou doest through Christ Jesus thou shalt live for it is the Willing and Obedient that shall eat the Good of the Land Be not deceived God is not mocked such as all Nations and People Sow such they shall reap at the hand of the just God And then your many and great Priviledges above the Children of other People will add weight in the scale against you if you choose not the way of the Lord. For you have had Line upon Line and Precept upon Precept and not only good Doctrine but good Example and which is more you have been turned to and acquainted with a Principle in your selves which others have been ignorant of and you know you may be as Good as you please without the Fear of Frowns and Blows or being turned out of doors and forsaken of Father and Mother for God's Sake and his Holy Religion as has been the Case of some of your Fathers in the day they first entred into this Holy Path And if you after hearing and seeing the Wonders that God has wrought in the deliverance and perservation of them through a Sea of Troubles and the manifold Temporal as well as spiritual Blessings that he has filled them with in the sight of their Enemies you should neglect and turn your backs upon so great and so near a Salvation you would not only be most ungreatful Children to God and them but must expect that God will call the Children of those that knew him not to take the Crown out of your Hands and that your lot will be a dreadful Judgment at the hand of the Lord. But Oh that it may never be so with any of you The Lord forbid saith my Soul Wherefore Oh ye Young Men and Women look to the Rock of your Fathers chuse the God of your Fathers There is no other God but him no other Light but his no other Grace but his nor Spirit but his to Convince you Quicken and Comfort you to Lead Guide and
Notion as that you are in Christ whilst in your old fallen Nature For what Communion hath Light with Darkness or Christ with Belial Hear what the beloved Disciple tells you If we say we have fellowship with God and walk in Darkness we lie and do not the Truth That is if we go on in a sinful way are Captivated by our Carnal Affections and are not Converted to God we walk in Darkness and cannot possibly have any fellowship with God Christ Cloths them with his Righteousness that receive his Grace in their Hearts and deny themselves and take up his Cross daily and follow him Christ's Righteousness makes Men inwardly Holy of Holy Minds Wills and Practices It is nevertheless Christs because we have it for it is ours not by Nature but by Faith and Adoption It is the Gift of God But still tho' not ours as of or from our selves for in that Sense it is Christ's for it is of and from him yet it is ours and must be ours in Possession Efficacy and Enjoyment to do us any Good or Christ's Righteousness will profit us nothing It was after this manner That he was made to the primitive Christians Righteousness Sanctification Justification and Redemption and if ever you will have the Comfort Kernel and Marrow of the Christian Religion thus you must come to learn and obtain it Now my Friends by what you have Read and will Read in what Follows you may perceive that God has visited a Poor People among you with this saving Knowledge and Testimony whom he has upheld and encreased to this Day notwithstanding the fierce opposition they have met withal Despise not the meanness of this Appearance It was and yet is we know a day of small things and of small Account with too many and many hard and ill Names are given to it but it is of God it came from him because it leads to him This we know but we cannot make another know it as we know it unless he will take the same way to know it that we took The World talks of God but what do they do They pray for Power but reject the Principle in which it is If you would know God and Worship and serve God as you should do you must come to the means he has ordained and given for that purpose Some seek it in Books some in Learned Men but what they look for is in themselves but they overlook it The Voice is too still the Seed too small and the Light shineth in Darkness They are abroad and so cannot divide the Spoil but the Woman that lost her Silver found it at Home after she had light her Candle and swept her House Do you so too and you shall find what Pilate wanted to know viz. Truth The light of Christ within who is the Light of the World and so a Light to you that tells you the Truth of your Condition leads all that take heed unto it out of Darkness into God's marvellous Light for Light grows upon the Obedient It is sown for the Righteous and their way is a shining Light that shines forth more and more to the perfect day Wherefore O Friends Turn in Turn in I beseech you Where is the Poison there is the Antidote There you want Christ and there you must find him and blessed be God there you may find him Seek and you shall find I testifie for God But then you must seek aright with your whole Heart as Men that seek for their Lives yea for their Eternal Lives Diligently Humbly Patiently as those that can taste no Pleasure Comfort or Satisfaction in any thing else unless you find him whom your Souls want and desire to know and love above all O it is a Travail a Spiritual Travail Let the Carnal Profane World think and say as it will And through this Path you must walk to the City of God that has Eternal Foundations if ever you will come there Well! And what does this blessed Light do for you Why 1. it sets all your sins in order before you It detects the Spirit of this World in all its Bates and Allurements and shews how Man came to fall from God and the fallen Estate he is in 2. It begets a Sense and Sorrow in such as believe in it for this fearful Laps You will then see him Distinctly whom you have Pierced him and all the Blows and Wounds you have given him by your Disobedience and how you have made him to serve with your Sins and you will Weep and Mourn for it and your Sorrow will be a Godly Sorrow 3. After this it will bring you to the Holy Watch to take Care that you do so no more that the Enemy surprise you not again Then Thoughts as well as Words and Works will come to Judgment which is the way of Holiness in which the Redeemed of the Lord do Walk Here you will come to love God above all and your Neighbours as your selves Nothing Hurts Noâ—hing Harms Nothing makes Afraid on this Holy Mountain Now you come to be Christ's indeed for you are his in Nature and Spirit and not your own And when you are thus Christ's then Christ is yours and not before And here Communion with the Father and with the Son you will know and the Efficacy of the Blood of Cleansing even the Blood of Jesus Christ that Immaculate Lamb which speaketh better things than the Blood of Abel and which cleanseth from all Sin the Consciences of those that through the living Faith come to be sprinkled with it from dead Works to serve the living God To Conclude Behold the Testimony and Doctrine of the People called Quakers Behold their Practice and Discipline And behold the blessed Man and Men that were sent of God in this Excellent Work and Service All which will be more particularly expressed in the Ensuing Annals of the Man of God which I do heartily recommend to my Readers most serious Perusal and beseech Almighty God that his Blessing may go along with it to the Convincing of many as yet Strangers to this Holy Dispensation and also to the Edification of the Church of God in General Who for his manifold and repeated Mercies and Blessings to his People in this day of his great Love is worthy ever to have the Glory Honour Thanksgiving and Renown and be it rendred and ascribed with Fear and Reverence through him in whom he is well pleased his bloved Son and Lamb our Light and Life that fits with him upon the Throne World without End Amen Says One that God has long since Mercifully favoured with his Fatherly Visitation and who was not Disobedient to the Heavenly Vision and Call to whom the Way of Truth is more Lovely and Precious than ever and that knowing the Beauty and Benefit of it above all Worldly Treasure has chosen it for his Chiefest Joy and therefore recommends it to thy Love and Choice because he is with great Sincerity and Affection thy
and some Years I continued in that Condition in great Troubles and fain I would have put it from me And I went to many a Priest to look for Comfort but found no Comfort from them From Barnet I went to London where I took a Lodging London and was under great Misery and Trouble there For I looked upon the great Professors of the City of London and I saw all was dark and under the Chain of Darkness And I had an Uncle there one Pickering a Baptist and they were tender then Yet I could not impart my Mind to him nor join with them For I saw all Young and Old where they were Some tender People would have had me stayed but I was fearful and returned homewards in Leicestershire again Leicestershire having a Regard upon my Mind unto my Parents and Relations lest I should grieve them who I understood were troubled at my Absence When I was come down into Leicestershire my Relations would have had me Married But I told them I was but a Lad and I must get Wisdom Others would have had me into the Auxiliary Band among the Soldiery Coventry but I refused and I was grieved that they proffered such Things to me being a tender Youth Then I went to Coventry where I took a Chamber for a while at a Professor's House till People began to be acquainted with me for there were many tender People in that Town And after some time I went into my own Country again Leicestershire and was there about a Year in great Sorrows and Troubles and walked many Nights by my self Then the Priest of Drayton the Town of my Birth whose Name was Nathaniel Stevens would come often to me and I went often to him and another Priest sometimes would come with him And they would have given place to me to hear me and I would ask them Questions and reason with them And this Priest Stevens asked me a Question viz. Why Christ cryed out upon the Cross My God my God why hast thou forsaken me And why he said If it be possible let this Cup pass from me yet not my Will but thine be done And I told him At that time the Sins of all Mankind were upon him and their Iniquities and Transgressions with which he was wounded which he was to bear and to be an Offering for them as he was Man but died not as he was God And so in that he died for all Men and tasted Death for every Man he was an Offering for the Sins of the whole World This I spake being at that time in a measure sensible of Christ's Sufferings and what he went through And the Priest said It was a very good full Answer and such an one as he had not heard And at that time he would applaud and speak highly of me to others And what I said in Discourse to him on the Week-days that he would Preach of on the First-days for which I did not like him And this Priest afterwards became my great Persecutor Mansetter in Warwick-shire After this I went to another Ancient Priest at Mansetter in Warwick-shire and reasoned with him about the Ground of Despair and Temptations but he was ignorant of my Condition And he bid me Take Tobacco and Sing Psalms Tobacco was a thing I did not love and Psalms I was not in an Estate to Sing I could not Sing Then he bid me come again and he would tell me many Things But when I came again he was angry and pettish For my former Words had displeased him And he told my Troubles and Sorrows and Griefs to his Servants so that it was got among the Milk-Lasses which grieved me that I should open my Mind to such an one I saw they were all Miserable Comforters And this brought my Troubles more upon me Tamworth Then I heard of a Priest living about Tamworth who was accounted an Experienced Man and I went Seven Miles to him But I found him but like an Empty hollow Cask Then I heard of one called Doctor Cradock of Coventry and I went to him and I asked him the Ground of Temptations and Despair and how Troubles came to be wrought in Man He asked me Who was Christ's Father and Mother I told him Mary was his Mother and that he was supposed to be the Son of Joseph but he was the Son of God Now as we were walking together in his Garden the Ally being narrow I chanced in turning to set my Foot on the side of a Bed at which the Man was in such a Rage as if his House had been on Fire And thus all our Discourse was lost and I went away in Sorrow worse than I was when I came I thought them Miserable Comforters And I saw they were all as Nothing to me for they could not reach my Condition After this I went to another one Macham a Priest in high Account And he would needs give me some Physick and I was to have been let Blood But they could not get one drop of Blood from me either in Arms or Head though they endeavoured it my Body being as it were dried up with Sorrows Grief and Troubles which were so great upon me that I could have wished I had never been born to see Vanity and Wickedness or that I had been born Blind that I might never have seen Wickedness nor Vanity and Deaf that I might never have heard vain and wicked Words or the Lord's Name blasphemed And when the time called Christmas came while others were Feasting and Sporting themselves I would have gone and looked out poor Widows from House to House and have given them some Money And when I was invited to Marriages as I sometimes was I would go to none at all but the next day or soon after I would go and visit them And if they were Poor I gave them some Money for I had wherewith both to keep my self from being Chargeable to others and to administer something to the Necessities of Others About the beginning of the Year 1646. as I was going to Coventry and entring towards the Gate a Consideration arose in me how it was said That All Christians are Believers Coventry both Protestants and Papists And the Lord opened to me that if all were Believers then they were all born of God and passed from Death to Life and that none were true Believers but such And though Others said they were Believers yet they were not At another time as I was walking in a Field on a First-day Morning the Lord opened unto me That being bred at Oxford or Cambridge was not enough to fit and qualifie Men to be Ministers of Christ And I stranged at it because it was the common Belief of People But I saw it clearly as the Lord opened it to me and was satisfied and admired the Goodness of the Lord who had opened this thing unto me that Morning Which struck at Priest Stevens his Ministry namely
And how I in the Seed came forth and what the Promise was to Yet it was so with me that there seemed to be Two Pleading in me and Questionings arose in my Mind about Gifts and Prophecies and I was tempted again to Despair as if I had sinned against the Holy Ghost And I was in great Perplexity and Trouble for many Days Yet I gave up my self to the Lord still And one day when I had been walking solitarily abroad and was come home I was taken up in the Love of God so that I could not but admire the greatness of his Love And while I was in that Condition it was opened unto me by the Eternal Light and Power and I therein clearly saw That all was done and to be done in and by Christ and how he conquers and destroys this Tempter the Devil and all his Works and is a top of him And that all these Troubles were good for me and Temptations for the Trial of my Faith which Christ had given me And the Lord opened me that I saw through all these Troubles and Temptations My living Faith was raised that I saw All was done by Christ the Life and my Belief was in him And when at any time my Condition was vailed my secret Belief was stayed firm and Hope underneath held me as an Anchor in the bottom of the Sea and Anchored my Immortal Soul to its Bishop causing it to swim above the Sea the World where all the raging Waves foul Weather Tempests and Temptations are But oh then did I see my Troubles Trials and Temptations more than ever I had done As the Light appeared all appeared that is out of the Light Darkness Death Temptations the Vnrighteous the Vngodly all was manifest and seen in the Light Then after this there did a pure Fire appear in me Then I saw how he sate as a Refiner's Fire and as the Fuller's Sope. And then the Spiritual Discerning came into me by which I did discern my own Thoughts Groans and Sighs and what it was that did vail me and what it was that did open me And that which could not abide in the Patience nor endure the Fire in the Light I found to be the Groans of the Flesh that could not give up to the Will of God which had vailed me and that could not be patient in all Trials Troubles and Anguishes and Perplexities and could not give up Self to die by the Cross the Power of God that the Living and Quickned might follow him and that that which would cloud and vail from the Presence of Christ that which the Sword of the Spirit cuts down and which must die might not be kept alive And I discern'd the Groans of the Spirit which did open me and made Intercession to God In which Spirit is the true Waiting upon God for the Redemption of the Body and of the whole Creation And by this true Spirit in which the true Sighing is I saw over the false Sighings and Groanings And by this Invisible Spirit I discerned all the false Hearing and the false Seeing and the false Smelling which was a top above the Spirit quenching and grieving it and that all they that were there were in Confusion and Deceit where the false Asking and Praying is in Deceit and a top in that Nature and Tongue that takes Gods holy Name in vain and wallows in the Egyptian Sea and asketh but hath not for they hate his Light and resist the Holy Ghost and turn the Grace into Wantonness and rebel against the Spirit and are erred from the Faith they should ask in and from the Spirit they should pray by He that knoweth these things in the true Spirit can witness them The divine Light of Christ manifesteth all things and the spiritual Fire tryeth all things and severeth all things Several things did I then see as the Lord opened them to me For he shewed me that which can live in his holy Refining Fire and that can live to God under his Law And he made me sensible how the Law and the Prophets were until John and how the least in the Everlasting Kingdom of God is greater than John The pure and perfect Law of God is over the Flesh to keep it and its Works which are not perfect under by the perfect Law And the Law of God that is perfect answers the perfect Principle of God in every one And this Law the Jews and the Prophets and John were to perform and do None knows the Giver of this Law but by the Spirit of God neither can any truly read it or hear its Voice but by the Spirit of God He that can receive it let him John who was the greatest Prophet that was born of a Woman did bear Witness to the Light which Christ the Great heavenly Prophet hath Enlightned every Man that cometh into the World withal that they might believe in it and become the Children of Light and so have the Light of Life and not come into Condemnation For the true Belief stands in the Light that condemns all Evil and the Devil who is the Prince of Darkness who would draw out of the Light into Condemnation And they that walk in this Light come to the Mountain of the House of God established above all Mountains and to God's Teaching who will teach them his ways These things were opened to me in the Light And I saw the Mountains burning up and the Rubbish and the rough and crooked Ways and Places made smooth and plain that the Lord might come into his Tabernacle These things are to be found in Man's Heart But to speak of these things being within seemed strange to the rough and crooked and mountainous Ones Yet the Lord saith O Earth hear the Word of the Lord The Law of the Spirit crosseth the fleshly Mind Spirit and Will which lives in Disobedience and doth not keep within the Law of the Spirit And I saw this Law was the pure Love of God which was upon me and which I must go through though I was troubled while I was under it For I could not be dead to the Law but through the Law which did judge and condemn that which is to be condemned I saw many talked of the Law who had never known the Law to be their School-master And many talked of the Gospel of Christ who had never known Life and Immortality brought to Light in them by it You that have been under that School-master and the Condemnation of it know these things for tho' the Lord in that day opened these things unto me in secret they have since been published by his Eternal Spirit as on the House top And as you are brought into the Law and through the Law to be dead to it and witness the Righteousness of the Law fulfilled in you ye will afterwards come to know what it is to be brought into the Faith and through Faith from under the Law And abiding in the Faith which Christ
I was made to speak and open things to them There was one Brown who had great Prophecies and Sights upon his Death-bed of me And he spake openly of what I should be made Instrumental by the Lord to bring forth And of others he spake that they should come to nothing Which was fulfilled on some that then were something in shew And when this Man was buried a great Work of the Lord fell upon me to the admiration of many who thought I had been Dead And many came to see me for about fourteen Days time for I was very much altered in Countenance and Person as if my Body had been New-moulded or changed And while I was in that Condition I had a sense and discerning given me by the Lord 1647. Nottinghamshire through which I saw plainly that when many People talked of God and of Christ c. the Serpent spake in them But this was hard to be born Yet the Work of the Lord went on in some and my Sorrows and Troubles began to wear off and Tears of Joy dropped from me so that I could have wept Night and Day with Tears of Joy to the Lord in Humility and Brokenness of Heart And I saw into that which was without End and things which cannot be uttered and of the Greatness and Infinitness of the Love of God which cannot be exprest by Words For I had been brought through the very Ocean of Darkness and Death and through the Power and over the Power of Satan by the Eternal Glorious Power of Christ even through that Darkness was I brought which covered-over all the Word and which chained down all and shut up all in the Death And the same Eternal Power of God which brought me through these Things was that which afterwards shook the Nations Priests Professors and People Then could I say I had been in Spiritual Babylon Sodom Egypt and the Grave but by the Eternal Power of God I was come out of it and was brought over it and the Power of it into the Power of Christ And I saw the Harvest WHITE and the Seed of God lying thick in the Ground as ever did Wheat that was sown outwardly and none to gather it And for this I mourned with Tears And a Report went abroad of me That I was a Young Man that had a discerning Spirit Whereupon many came to me from far and near Professors Priests and People and the Lord's Power brake forth And I had great Openings and Prophecies and spake unto them of the Things of God and they heard with Attention and Silence and went away and spread the Fame thereof Then came the Tempter and set upon me again charging me That I had sinned against the Holy Ghost But I could not tell in what And then Paul's Condition came before me how after he had been taken up into the Third Heavens and seen things not lawful to be uttered a Messenger of Satan was sent to buffet him again Thus by the Power of Christ I got over that Temptation also In the Year 1648 as I was sitting in a Friend's House in Nottinghamshire for by this time the Power of God had opened the Hearts of some to receive the Word of Life and Reconciliation I saw there was a great Crack to go throughout the Earth and a great Smoke to go as the Crack went and that after the Crack there should be a great Shaking This was the Earth in People's Hearts which was to be shaken before the Seed of God was raised out of the Earth And it was so for the Lord's Power began to shake them and great Meetings we began to have and a mighty Power and Work of God there was amongst People to the Astonishment of both People and Priests And there was a Meeting of Priests and Professors at a Justice's House and I went among them And there they discoursed how Paul said He had not known Sin but by the Law which said Thou shalt not lust And they held that to be spoken of the outward Law But I told them Paul spake that after he was Convinced For he had the outward Law before and was bred up in it when he was in the Lust of Persecution but this was the Law of God in his Mind which he served and which the Law in his Members warred against For that which he thought had been Life to him proved Death So the more sober of the Priests and Professors yielded and consented that it was not the Outward Law but the Inward which shewed the Inward Lust which Paul spake of after he was Convinced For the outward Law took hold upon the outward Action but the Inward Law upon the Inward Lust After this I went again to Mansfield Mansfield where was a great Meeting of Professors and People And I was moved to Pray And the Lord's Power was so great that the House seemed to be shaken And when I had done some of the Professors said It was now as in the Days of the Apostles when the House was shaken where they were After I had prayed one of the Professors would pray which brought Deadness and a Vail over them And others of the Professors were grieved at him and told him It was a Temptation upon him Then he came to me and desired that I would pray again But I could not pray in Man's Will Soon after there was another great Meeting of Professors and a Captain whose Name was Amor Stoddard came in And they were discoursing of the Blood of Christ And as they were discoursing of it I saw through the immediate Opening of the Invisible Spirit the Blood of Christ And I cryed out among them and said Do ye not see the Blood of Christ See it in your Hearts to sprinkle your Hearts and Consciences from Dead Works to serve the Living God For I saw it the Blood of the New Covenant how it came into the Heart This startled the Professors who would have the Blood only without them and not in them But Captain Stoddard was reached and said Let the Youth speak hear the Youth speak when he saw they endeavoured to bear me down with many Words There were also a Company of Priests that were looked upon to be tender one of their Names was Kellet and several People that were tender went to hear them And I was moved to go after them and bid them Mind the Lord's Teaching in their inward Parts That Priest Kellet was against Parsonages then but afterwards he got a great One and turned a Persecutor Now after I had had some Service in these Parts Derbyshire Leicestershire I went through Derbyshire into my own Country Leicestershire again and several tender People were Convinced And passing thence I met with a great Company of Professors in Warwickshire who were Praying Warwickshire and Expounding the Scriptures in the Fields and they gave the Bible to me and I opened it on the Fifth of Matthew where Christ expounded
the Law And I opened the Inward State to them and the Outward State and they fell into a feirce Contention and so parted But the Lord's Power got Ground Then I heard of a great Meeting to be at Leicester for a Dispute Leicester wherein both Presbyterians Independents Baptists and Common-Prayer-Men were said to be all concerned The Meeting was in a Steeple-house and thither I was moved by the Lord God to go and be amongst them 1648. Leicester And I heard their Discourse and Reasonings some being in Pews and the Priest in the Pulpit abundance of People being gathered together At last one Woman asked a Question out of Peter What that Birth was viz. A being born again of Incorruptible Seed by the Word of God that liveth and abideth for ever And the Priest said to her I permit not a Woman to speak in the Church though he had before given liberty for any to speak Whereupon I was wrapt up as in a Rapture in the Lord's Power and I stepped up in a Place and asked the Priest Dost thou call this Place the Steeple-house a Church Or dost thou call this mixt Multitude a Church For the Woman asking a Question he ought to have answered it having given liberty for any to speak But he did not answer me neither but asked me What a Church was I told him The Church was the Pillar and Ground of Truth made up of living Stones living Members a spiritual Houshold which Christ was the Head of But he was not the Head of a mixt Multitude or of an old House made up of Lime Stones and Wood This set them all on Fire The Priest came down out of his Pulpit and others out of their Pews and the Dispute there was marr'd But I went to a great Inn and there disputed the thing with the Priests and Professors of all sorts and they were all on a Fire But I maintained the true Church and the true Head thereof over the Heads of them all till they all gave out and fled away And there was one Man that seemed loving and appeared for a while to join with me but he soon turned against me and joined with a Priest in pleading for Infant 's Baptism tho' he himself had been a Baptist before And so left me alone Howbeit there were several Convinced that day and the Woman that asked the Question aforesaid was Convinced and her Family And the Lord's Power and Glory shined over all Nottingham-shire After this I returned into Nottingham-shire again and went into the Vale of Beavor And as I went I preached Repentance to the People Vale of Beavor And there were many Convinced in the Vale of Beavor in many Towns for I stayed some Weeks amongst them And one Morning as I was sitting by the Fire a great Cloud came over me and a Temptation beset me And I sate still And it was said All things come by Nature And the Elements and Stars came over me so that I was in a manner quite clouded with it But inasmuch as I sate still and said nothing the People of the House perceived nothing And as I sate still under it and let it alone a living Hope arose in me and a true Voice arose in me which said There is a living God who made all things And immediately the Cloud and Temptation vanished away and Life rose over it all and my Heart was glad and I praised the living God And after some time I met with some People that had such a Notion That there was no God but that all things came by Nature And I had great Dispute with them and overturned them and made some of them Confess that there was a Living God Then I saw that it was good that I had gone through that Exercise And we had great Meetings in those Parts Nottingham-shire for the Power of the Lord broke through in that side of the Country And returning into Nottingham-shire I found there a Company of shattered Baptists and Others 1648. Nottingham-shire Mansfield Darbyshire Eton. and the Lord's Power wrought mightily and gathered many of them Then afterwards I went to Mansfield and there-a-way where the Lord's Power was wonderfully manifested both at Mansfield and other Towns thereabouts And in Darby-shire the mighty Power of God wrought in a wonderful manner At Eton a Town near Darby there was a Meeting of Friends where there was such a mighty Power of God that they were greatly Shaken and many Mouths were opened in the Power of the Lord God And many were moved by the Lord to go to Steeple-houses to the Priests and to the People to declare the Everlasting Truth unto them And at a certain time when I was at Mansfield Mansfield there was a Sitting of the Justices about hiring of Servants and it was upon me from the Lord to go and speak to the Justices That they should not oppress the Servants in their Wages So I walked towards the Inn where they sate but finding a Company of Fidlers there I did not go in but thought to come in the Morning when I might have a more serious Opportunity to discourse them not thinking that a seasonable time But when I came again in the Morning they were gone and I was struck even blind that I could not see And I inquired of the Inn-keeper where the Justices were to sit that day And he told me At a Town eight Miles off And my Sight began to come to me again and I went and Ran thitherward as fast as I could And when I was come to the House where they were and many Servants with them I exhorted the Justices Not to oppress the Servants in their Wages but to do that which was Right and Just to them And I exhorted the Servants To do their Duties and serve honestly c. And they all received my Exhortation kindly for I was moved of the Lord therein Moreover I was moved to go to several Courts and Steeple-houses at Mansfield and other Places to warn them to leave off Oppression and Oaths and to turn from Deceit and to turn to the Lord and do justly Particularly at Mansfield after I had been at a Court there I was moved to go and speak to one of the Wicked'st Men in the Country one who was a Common Drunkard a noted Whore-master and a Rime-maker And I reproved him in the dread of the Mighty God for his evil Courses And when I had done Speaking and left him he came after me and told me That he was so smitten when I spake to him that he had scarce any Strength left in him So this Man was Convinced and turned from his Wickedness and remained an honest sober Man to the Astonishment of the People who had known him before Thus the Work of the Lord went forward and many were turned from the Darkness to the Light within the compass of these three Years 1646 1647 and 1648. And divers Meetings of
Friends in several Places were then gathered to Gods Teaching by his Light Spirit and Power For the Lord's Power brake forth daily more and more wonderfullly Now was I come up in Spirit through the flaming Sword into the Paradise of God All things were New and all the Creation gave another Smell unto me than before beyond what Words can utter I knew nothing 1648. Mansfield but Pureness and Innocency and Righteousness being renewed up into the Image of God by Christ Jesus so that I say I was come up to the State of Adam which he was in before he fell The Creation was opened to me And it was shewed me how all things had their Names given them according to their Nature and Vertue And I was at a stand in my Mind whether I should practise Physick for the good of Mankind seeing the Nature and Vertues of the Creatures were so opened to me by the Lord. But I was immediately taken up in Spirit to see into another or more stedfast State than Adam's in Innocency even into a State in Christ Jesus that should never fall And the Lord shewed me that such as were faithful to him in the Power and Light of Christ should come up into that State in which Adam was before he fell In which the admirable Works of the Creation and the Vertues thereof may be known through the Openings of that divine Word of Wisdom and Power by which they were made Great things did the Lord lead me into and wonderful Depths were opened unto me beyond what can by Words be declared But as People come into subjection to the Spirit of God and grow up in the Image and Power of the Almighty they may receive the Word of Wisdom that opens all things and come to know the hidden Vnity in the Eternal Being Thus traveled I on in the Lord's Service as the Lord led me And when I came to Nottingham Notingham Leicestershire Clauson Vale of Beavor the mighty Power of God was there among Friends From thence I went to Clauson in Leicestershire in the Vale of Beavor and the mighty Power of God was there also in several Towns and Villages where Friends were gathered While I was there the Lord opened to me Three Things relating to those Three great Professions in the World Physick Divinity so called and Law And he shewed me that the Physicians and Doctors of Physick were out of the Wisdom of God by which the Creatures were made and so knew not the Vertues of the Creatures because they were out of the Word of Wisdom by which they were made And he shewed me that the Priests were out of the true Faith which Christ is the Author of the Faith which purifies and gives Victory and brings People to have Access to God by which they please God Which Mystery of Faith is held in a pure Conscience He shewed me also that the Lawyers were out of the Equity and out of the true Justice and out of the Law of God which went over the first Transgression and over all Sin and answered the Spirit of God that was grieved and transgressed in Man And that these three the Physicians the Priests and the Lawyers ruled the World out of the Wisdom out of the Faith and out of the Equity and Law of God the one pretending the Cure of the Body the other the Cure of the Soul and the third the Property of the People But I saw they were all out out of the Wisdom out of the Faith out of the Equity and perfect Law of God And as the Lord opened these things unto me I felt his Power went forth over all by which all might be Reformed if they would receive and bow unto it The Priests might be Reformed and brought into the true Faith which was the Gift of God The Lawyers might be Reformed and brought into the Law of God 1648. Vale of Beavor which answers that of God that is transgressed in every one and brings to love one's Neighbour as himself This lets Man see If he wrongs his Neighbour he wrongs himself and this teaches him To do unto others as he would they should do unto him The Physicians might be Reformed and brought into the Wisdom of God by whick all things were made and Created that they might receive a right Knowledge of the Creatures and understand the Virtues of them which the Word of Wisdom by which they were made and are upheld hath given them Abundance was opened concerning these things how all lay out of the Wisdom of God and out of the Righteousness and Holiness that Man at the first was made in But as all believe in the Light and walk in the Light which Christ hath enlightned every Man that cometh into the World withal and so become Children of the Light and of the Day of Christ in his Day all things are seen Visible and Invisible by the Divine Light of Christ the Spiritual Heavenly Man by whom all things were made and Created Then I saw concerning the Priests that although they stood in the Deceit and acted by the dark Power which both they and their People were kept under yet they were not the greatest Deceivers spoken of in the Scriptures For these were not come so far as many of them had come But the Lord opened to me who the greatest Deceivers were and how far they might come even such as came as far as Cain to hear the Voice of God and such as came out of Egypt and through the Red Sea and to praise God on the Banks of the Sea-shore such as could speak by Experience of God's Miracles and Wonders such as were come as far as Corah and Dathan and their Company such as came as far as Balaam who could speak the Word of the Lord who heard his Voice and knew it and knew his Spirit and could see the Star of Jacob and the goodliness of Israel's Tent the Second Birth which no Enchantment could prevail against These that could speak so much of their Experiences of God and yet turned from the Spirit and the Word and went into the Gainsaying These were and would be the great Deceivers far beyond the Priests Likewise among the Christians such as should preach in Christ's Name and should work Miracles cast out Devils and go as far as a Cain a Core and a Balaam in the Gospel-times These were and would be the great Deceivers they that could speak some Experiences of Christ and God but lived not in the Life These were they that led the World after them who got the Form of Godliness but denyed the Power who inwardly ravened from the Spirit and brought People into the Form but persecuted them that were in the Power as Cain did and ran greedily after the Error of Balaam through Covetousness loving the Wages of Unrighteousness as Balaam did These Followers of Cain Core and Balaam have brought the World since the Apostles Days to be like a Sea
from the highest Bishop to the lowest Priest What one Trade else in the World is Comparable to it Notwithstanding that the Scriptures were given forth freely and Christ commanded his Ministers to Preach freely and the Prophets and Apostles denounced Judgment against all Covetous Hirelings and Diviners for Money But in this free Spirit of the Lord Jesus was I sent forth to declare the Word of Life and Reconciliation freely that all might come up to Christ who gives freely and who renews up into the Image of God which Man and Woman were in before they fell that they might sit down in the heavenly Places in Christ Jesus Nottingham Now as I went towards Nottingham on a First-day in the Morning with Friends to a Meeting there when I came on top of a Hill in sight of the Town I espied the great Steeple-house and the Lord said unto me Thou must go cry against yonder great Idol and against the Worshippers therein So I said nothing of this to the Friends that were with me but went on with them to the Meeting where the mighty Power of the Lord God was amongst us In which I left Friends sitting in the Meeting and I went away to the Steeple-house And when I came there all the People looked like Fallow Ground and the Priest like a great Lump of Earth stood in his Pulpit above And he took for his Text these Words of Peter We have also a more sure Word of Prophecy whereunto ye do well that ye take heed as unto a Light that shineth in a dark Place until the day dawn and the Day-star arise in your Hearts And he told the People that this was the Scriptures by which they were to Try all Doctrines Religions and Opinions Now the Lord's Power was so mighty upon me and so strong in me that I could not hold but was made to cry out and say Oh no It is not the Scriptures But I told them what it was namely the Holy Spirit by which the Holy Men of God gave forth the Scriptures whereby Opinions Religions and Judgments were to be tried For it led into all Truth and so gave the knowledge of all Truth For the Jews had the Scriptures and yet resisted the Holy Ghost and rejected Christ the bright Morning-Star and persecuted Christ and his Apostles and took upon them to Try their Doctrines by the Scriptures but erred in Judgment and did not try them a-right because they tried without the Holy Ghost Now as I spake thus amongst them the Officers came and took me away and put me into a nasty stinking Prison the smell whereof got so into my Nose and Throat that it very much annoyed me But that day the Lord's Power sounded so in their Ears that they were amazed at the Voice and could not get it out of their Ears for some time after they were so reached by the Lord's Power in the Steeple-house At Night they took me out of Prison and had me before the Major Aldermen and Sheriffs of the Town And when I was brought before them the Major was in a peevish fretful Temper but the Lord's Power allay'd him Then they examined me at large and I told them how the Lord had moved me to come Then after some Discourse had passed between them and me they sent me back to Prison again But sometime after 1649. Nottingham the Head-Sheriff whole Name was John Reckless sent for me to his House And when I came in his Wife met me in the Hall and said Salvation is come to our House ☜ And she took me by the Hand and was much wrought upon by the Power of the Lord God And her Husband and Children and Servants were much changed for the Power of the Lord wrought upon them And I lodged at the Sheriff's House and great Meetings we had in his House and some Persons of considerable Condition in the World came to them and the Lord's Power appeared eminently amongst them And this Sheriff sent for the other Sheriff and for a Woman they had had Dealings with in way of Trade and he told her before the other Sheriff that they had wronged her in their Dealings with her for the other Sheriff and he were Partners and that they ought to make her Restitution This he spake chearfully But the other Sheriff denied it and the Woman said She knew nothing of it But the friendly Sheriff said it was so and that the other knew it well enough And then having discovered the Matter and acknowledged the Wrong done by them he made Restitution to the Woman and exhorted the other Sheriff to do the like And the Lord's Power was with this Friendly Sheriff and wrought a mighty Change in him and great Openings he had And on the next Market-day following as he was walking with me in the Chamber in his Slippers he said I must go into the Market and preach Repentance to the People And accordingly he went in his Slippers into the Market and into several Streets and preached Repentance to the People Several others also in the Town were moved to speak to the Major and Magistrates and to the People exhorting them to Repent Hereupon the Magistrates grew very Angry and sent for me from the Sheriff's House and Committed me to the Common Prison Nottingham Prison When the Assize came on there was one moved to come and offer up himself for me Body for Body yea Life also But when I should have been brought before the Judge the Sheriff's Man being somewhat long in fetching me to the Sessions-house the Judge was risen before I came At which I understood the Judge was somewhat offended and said He would have admonished the Youth if he had been brought before him For I was then Imprisoned by the Name of A YOVTH So I was returned to Prison again and put into the Common Goal And the Lord's Power was great among Friends but the People began to be very Rude Wherefore the Governour of the Castle sent down Souldiers and dispersed them and after that they were quiet But both Priests and People were astonished at the wonderful Power that brake forth And several of the Priests were made tender and some did Confess to the Power of the Lord. Now after I was set at Liberty from Nottingham-Goal where I had been kept Prisoner a pretty long time I traveled as before in the Work of the Lord. And coming to Mansfield-Woodhouse Mansfield Wood-house there was a distracted Woman under a Doctor 's Hand with her Hair loose all about her Ears and he was about to let her Blood she being first bound and many People being about her holding her by Violence But he could get no Blood from her And I desired them to unbind her 1649. Mansfield Woodhouse and let her alone for they could not touch the Spirit in her by which she was tormented So they did unbind her And I was moved to speak to her and in the
Name of the Lord to bid her Be quiet and still And she was so And the Lord's Power setled her Mind and she mended and afterwards Received the Truth and Continued in it to her Death And the Lord's Name was honoured To whom the Glory of all his Works belongs Many great and wonderful Things were wrought by the heavenly Power in those Days For the Lord made bare his Omnipotent Arm and manifested his Power to the Astonishment of many by the healing Vertue whereof many have been delivered from great Infirmities and the Devils were made subject through his Name Of which particular Instances might be given beyond what this unbelieving Age is able to receive or bear But blessed for ever be the Name of the Lord and everlastingly Honoured and over all Exalted and Magnified be the Arm of his Glorious Power by which he hath wrought gloriously and let the Honour and Praise of all his Works be ascribed to him alone Now while I was at Mansfield-Woodhouse I was moved to go to to the Steeple-house there and declare the Truth to the Priest and People But the People fell upon me in great Rage and struck me down and almost stifled and smothered me and I was cruelly beaten and bruised by them with their Hands Bibles and Sticks Then they haled me out though I was hardly able to stand and put me into the Stocks where I sate some Hours and they brought Dog-whips and Horse-whips threatning to Whip me And after some time they had me before the Magistrate at a Knight's House where were many great Persons who seeing how evilly I had been used after much Threatning set me at Liberty But the rude People stoned me out of the Town for Preaching the Word of Life to them And I was scarce able to go or well to stand by reason of the Ill Vsage I had received Yet with much ado I got about a Mile from the Town and then I met with some People that gave me something to Comfort me because I was inwardly bruised But the Lord's Power soon healed me again And that day some People were Convinced of the Lord's Truth and turned to his Teaching at which I rejoiced Leicester-shire Then went I out of Nottingham-shire into Leicester-shire several Friends accompanying me And there were some Baptists in that Country whom I desired to see and speak with because they were separated from the publick Worship So one Oats who was one of their Chief Teachers and others of the Heads of them with several others of their Company Barrow came to Meet us at Barrow and there we discoursed with them One of them said What was not of Faith was Sin Whereupon I asked them What Faith was And how it was wrought in Man But they turned off from that and spake of their Baptism in Water Then I asked them Whether their Mountain of Sin was brought down and laid low in them And their rough and crooked Ways made smooth and strait in them For they looked upon the Scriptures as meaning Outward Mountains and Ways But I told them they must find them in their own Hearts Which they seemed to wonder at And we asked them Who baptized John the Baptist and who baptized Peter 1649. Barrow John and the rest of the Apostles and put them to prove by Scripture that these were baptized in Water But they were silent Then I asked them Seeing 〈◊〉 who betrayed Christ and was called the Son of Perdition had Hâ—â—ged himself what Son of Perdition was that which Paul spake of that sâ—te in the Temple of God exalted above all that is called God And â—hat Temple of God that was in which this Son of Perdition sate And whether he that betrays Christ within in himself be not one in Nature with that Judas that betrayed Christ without But they could not tell what to make of this nor what to say to it So after we had had some Discourse together we parted and some of them were loving to us On the First Day of the Week following we came to Bagworth Bagworth and went to a Steeple-House where some Friends were got in and the People locked them in and themselves too with the Priest But after the Priest had done they opened the Door and we went in also and had a Service for the Lord amongst them Afterwards we had a Meeting in the Town amongst several People that were in high Notions Then passing from thence I heard of a People that were in Prison in Coventry for Religion Coventry And as I walked towards the Jail the Word of the Lord came to me saying ☜ MY LOVE WAS ALWAYS TO THEE AND THOV ART IN MY LOVE And I was ravished with the Sense of the Love of God and greatly strengthned in my Inward Man But when I came into the Jail where those Prisoners were a great Power of Darkness struck at me and I sate still having my Spirit gathered into the Love of God At last these Prisoners began to Rant and Vapour and Blaspheme at which my Soul was greatly grieved They said They were GOD But another of them said We could not bear such Things So when they were calm I stood up and asked them Whether they did such things by Motion or from Scripture and they said from Scripture Then a Bible lying by I asked them for that Scripture and they shewed me that Place where the Sheet was let down to Peter and it was said to him What was sanctified he should not call Common or Vnclean Now when I had shewed them That that Scripture made nothing for their purpose they brought another Scripture which spake of God's Reconciling all Things to himself Things in Heaven and Things in Earth I told them I owned that Scripture also but shewed them that that was nothing to their purpose neither Then seeing they said They were GOD I asked them If they knew whether it would Rain to Morrow They said They could not tell I told them God could tell Again I asked them If they thought they should be always in that Condition or should change And they answered They could not tell Then said I unto them God can tell and God doth not change You say you are God and yet you cannot tell whether you shall Change or no. So they were Confounded and quite brought â—own for the time Then after I had Reproved them for their blasphemous Expressions I went away For I perceived they were Ranters and I had met with none before And I admired the Goodness of the Lord in appearing so unto me before I went amongst them Not long after this 1649. Coventry one of these Ranters whose Name was Joseph Salmon put forth a Paper or Book of Recantation upon which they were set at Liberty Atherstone From Coventry I went to a Place called Atherstone and it being their Lecture-day I was moved to go to their Chappel to speak to the Priests and People
And they were generally pretty quiet Only some few raged and would have had my Relations to have bound me I declared largely to them how that God was come to Teach his People himself and to bring them off from all their Man-made Teachers to hear his Son And some were Convinced there Market-Bossoth Then went I to a Place called Market-Bossoth and there was a Lecture there also And he that preached there that day was Nathaniel Stevens who was Priest of the Town where I was born And he raged much when I spake to him and to the People and told the People I was Mad tho' he had said before to one Colonel Purfoy That there was never such a Plant bred in England and he bid the People they should not hear me So the People being stirred up by this deceitful Priest fell upon us and stoned us out of the Town Yet they did not do us much hurt Howbeit some People were made Loving that day and others were Confirmed seeing the Rage of both Priests and Professors And some cried out that the Priest durst not stand to prove his Ministry And as I traveled through Markets Fairs and divers Places I saw Death and Darkness in all People where the Power of the Lord God had not shaken them Leicester-shire Twy-Cross And as I was passing on in Leicester-shire I came to a Place called Twy-Cross where there were Excise-Men and I was moved of the Lord to go to them and warn them to take heed of Oppressing the Poor And People were much affected with it Now there was in that Town a great Man that had long lain sick and was given over by the Physicians and some Friends in the Town desired me to go to see him And I went up to him in his Chamber and spake the Word of Life to him and was moved to Pray by him and the Lord was entreated and Restored him to Health But when I was come down the Stairs into a lower Room and was speaking to the Servants and to some People that were there a Serving-Man of his came Raving out of another Room with a naked Rapier in his Hand and set it just to my side But I looked stedfastly on him and said Alack for thee poor Creature what wilt thou do with thy carnal Weapon It is no more to me than a Straw The Standers by were much troubled and he went away in a Rage and full of Wrath But when the News of it came to his Master he turned him out of his Service Thus the Lord's Power preserved me and raised up the Weak Man who afterwards was very Loving to Friends And when I came to that Town again both he and his Wife came to see me After this I was moved to go into Darbyshire where the mighty Power of God was among Friends Darbyshire Chesterfield And I went to Chesterfield where one Britland was Priest He was one that saw beyond the common sort of Priests for he had been partly Convinced and had spoken much on behalf of Truth before he was Priest there But when the Priest of that Town died he got the Parsonage and choked himself with it 1649. Chesterfield So I was moved to speak to him and the People in the great Love of God that they might come off from all Mens Teaching unto God's Teaching and he was not able to gainsay But they had me before the Major and threatned to send me with some others to the House of Correction and kept us in Custody till it was late in the Night And then the Officers with the Watchmen put us out of the Town leaving us to shift as we could So I bent my Course towards Darby having a Friend or two with me And in our way we met with many Professors Kidsey-park and at Kidsey-Park many were Convinced Then coming to Darby I lay at a Doctor 's House 1650. Darby whose Wife was Convinced and so were several more in the Town And as I was walking in my Chamber the Bell rung and it struck at my Life at the very hearing of it So I asked the Woman of the House What the Bell rung for And she said There was to be a great Lecture there that day and many of the Officers of the Army and Priests and Preachers were to be there that Day and a Colonel that was a Preacher Then was I moved of the Lord to go up to them And when they had done I spake to them what the Lord Commanded me and they were pretty quiet But there came an Officer and took me by the Hand and said I must go before the Magistrates and the other Two that were with me It was about the First Hour Afternoon that we came before them They asked me Why we came thither I said God moved us so to do and I told them God dwells not in Temples made with Hands I told them also All their Preaching Baptism and Sacrifices would never sanctifie them and bid them Look unto Christ in them and not unto Men For it is Christ that sanctifies Then they ran into many Words but I told them They were not to Dispute of God and Christ but to Obey him And the Power of God thundred amongst them and they did fly like Chaff before it They put me in and out of the Room often hurrying me backward and forward often For they were from the First Hour till the Ninth at Night in Examining me And sometimes they would tell me in a deriding manner That I was taken up in Raptures At last they asked me Whether I was Sanctified I answered Yes for I was in the Paradise of God Then they asked me If I had no Sin I answered Christ my Saviour has taken away my Sin and in him there is no Sin They asked How we knew that Christ did abide in us I said by his Spirit that he hath given us They temptingly asked If any of us were Christ I answered NAY ☜ we were nothing Christ was all They said If a Man steal is it no Sin I answered All Unrighteousness is Sin So when they had wearied themselves in Examining me they Committed me and one other Man to the House of Correction in Darby for six Months as Blasphemers as may appear by the Mittimus a Copy whereof here followeth To the Master of the House of Correction in Darby Greeting WE have sent you herewithal the Bodies of George Fox late of Mansfield in the County of Nottingham and John Fretwell late of Staniesby in the County of Darby Husbandman brought before us this present Day and charged with the avowed uttering and broaching of divers blasphemous Opinions contrary to a late Act of Parliament which upon their Examination before us they have Confessed These are therefore to require you forthwith upon sight hereof to receive them the said George Fox and John Fretwell into your Custody and them therein safely to keep during the space of
Covetousness and Extortion God doth forbid that Wo be to the Man that Coveteth an Evil Covetousness that he may set his Nest on high and cover himself with thick Clay O do not love that which God doth forbid His Servant thou art whom thou dost obey whether it be of Sin unto Death or of Obedience unto Righteousness Think upon Lazarus and Dives the one fared sumptuously every Day the other was a Beggar See if thou be not Dives Be not deceived God is not mocked with vain Words Evil Communication corrupteth good Manners Awake to Righteousness and sin not G. F. That to Justice Barton was in these Words Friend THou that preachest Christ and the Scriptures in Words when any come to follow that which thou hast spoken of and to live the Life of the Scriptures then they that speak the Scriptures but do not lead their Lives according thereunto persecute them that do Mind the Prophets and Jesus Christ and his Apostles and all the Holy Men of God what they spake was from the Life But they that had not the Life but the Words Persecuted and Imprisoned them that lived in the Life which they had back-slidden from G. F. Now as I had written to the Justices and to the Priests so it was upon me to write to the Major of Darby also who though he did not sign the Mittimus had a Hand with the rest in sending me to Prison And to him I writ after this manner Friend THou art set in Place to do Justice but in Imprisoning my Body thou hast done contrary to Justice according to your own Law O take heed of pleasing Men more than God for that 's the way of the Scribes and Pharisees They sought the Praise of Men more than God Remember who said I was a Stranger and ye took me not in I was in Prison and ye visited me not O Friend thy Envy is not against me but against the Power of Truth I had no Envy to you but Love O take heed of Oppression for The Day of the Lord is coming that shall burn as an Oven and all the Proud and all that do wickedly shall be as Stubble and the Day that cometh shall burn them up saith the Lord of Hosts It shall leave them neither Root nor Branch O Friend if the Love of God were in thee thou would'st love the Truth and hear the Truth spoken and not Imprison unjustly The Love of God beareth and suffereth and envieth no Man If the Love of God had broken your Hearts you would shew Mercy but you do shew forth what ruleth you Every Tree doth shew forth its Fruit you do shew forth your Fruits openly For Drunkenness Swearing Pride and Vanity rule among you from the Teacher to the People O Friend Mercy and true Judgment and Justice are Cried for in your Streets Oppression Vnmercifulness Cruelty Hatred Pride Pleasures Wantonness and Fulness is in your Streets but the Poor is not regarded O take heed of the Wo Wo be to the Crown of Pride Wo be to them that drink Wine in Bowles and the Poor is ready to perish O remember Lazarus and Dives One fared deliciously every Day and the other was a Beggar O Friend Mind these Things for they are near and see whether thou be not the Man that is in Dives his State I writ also to the Court at Darby thus I Am moved to write unto you to take heed of Oppressing the Poor in your Courts or laying Burdens upon poor People which they cannot bear And of false Oaths or making them to take Oaths which they cannot perform The Lord saith I will come near to Judgment and will be a swift Witness against the Sorcerers against the false Swearers and against the Idolaters and against those that do oppress Widows and Fatherless Therefore take heed of all these things betimes The Lord's Judgments are all true and righteous and he delighteth in Mercy So love Mercy Dear People and Consider in Time Likewise to the Ringers who used to Ring the Bells in the Steeple-house called S. Peter's in Darby I sent these few Lines Friends TAke heed of Pleasures and prize your Time now while you have it and do not spend it in Pleasures nor Earthliness The Time may come that you will say You had Time when it is past Therefore look at the Love of God now while you have Time for it bringeth to loath all Vanities and worldly Pleasures O Consider Time is precious Fear God and rejoyce in him who hath made Heaven and Earth Now while I was there in Prison divers of the Professors came unto me to discourse with me And I had a Sense before they spake that they came to plead for Sin and Imperfection And I asked them Whether they were Believers and had Faith and they said Yes Then I asked them In whom and they said In Christ Then I replyed If ye are true Believers in Christ you are passed from Death to Life and if passed from Death then from Sin that bringeth Death And if your Faith be true it will give you Victory over Sin and the Devil and purify your Hearts and Consciences for the true Faith is held in a pure Conscience and it will bring you to please God and give you Access to him again But they could not endure to hear of Purity and of Victory over Sin and the Devil For they said They could not believe that any could be free from Sin on this Side the Grave Then I bid them give over babling about the Scriptures which were Holy Mens Words whilst they pleaded for Vnholiness And at another Time another Company of Professors came and they also began to plead for Sin And I asked them Whether they had Hope And they said Yes God forbid but we should have Hope Then I asked them What Hope is it that you have Is Christ in you the Hope of your Glory Doth it purify you as he is Pure But they could not abide to hear of being made pure here Then I bid them forbear talking of the Scriptures which were the Holy Men's Words For the Holy Men that writ the Scriptures pleaded for Holiness in Heart Life and Conversation here but since you plead for Impurity and Sin which is of the Devil what have you to do with the Holy Men's Words Now the Keeper of the Prison being an high Professor was greatly enraged against me and spake very wickedly of me But it pleased the Lord one Day to strike him so that he was in great Trouble and under great Terrors of Mind And as I was walking in my Chamber I heard a doleful Noise and standing still I heard him say to his Wife Wife I have seen the Day of Judgment and I saw GEORGE there and I was afraid of him because I had done him so much wrong and spoken so much against him to the Ministers and Professors and to the Justices and in Taverns and Ale-houses After this towards the Evening
he came up into my Chamber and said to me I have been as a Lion against you But now I come like a Lamb and like the Jailer that came to Paul and Silas trembling And he desired that he might lie with me I told him that I was in his Power he might do what he would But he said Nay he would have my Leave and he could desire to be always with me but not to have me as a Prisoner And he said He had been plagued and his House had been plagued for my sake So I suffered him to lie with me and then he told me all his Heart and said He believed what I had said of the true Faith and Hope to be true And he wondred that the other Man that was put into Prison with me did not stand to it and said That Man was not right but I was an honest Man He confessed also to me that at those Times when I had asked him to let me go forth to speak the Word of the Lord to the People and he had refused to let me go and I had laid the weight thereof upon him that then he used to be under great Trouble amazed and almost distracted for some time after and in such a Condition that he had little Strength left him When the Morning came he arose and soon after went to the Justices and told them That he and his House had been plagued for my sake and one of the Justices replied as he reported to me that the Plagues were on them too for keeping me This was Justice Bennet of Darby who was the first that called us Quakers because I bid them Tremble at the Word of the Lord. And this was in the Year 1650. After this the Justices gave leave That I should have Liberty to walk a Mile I perceived their End and I told the Jailer If they would set down to me how far a Mile was I might take the liberty of walking it sometimes For I had a Sense they thought I would go away And the Jailer Confest afterwards that they did it with that Intent to have me go away to ease them of their Plague But I told him I was not of that Spirit This Jailer had a Sister who was a sickly young Woman and she came up into my Chamâ—er to Visit me and after she had stay'd some time and I had spoken the Words of Truth to her she went down and told them That we were an Innocent People and did none any hurt but did good to all even to them that hated us And she desired them to be Tender towards me Now forasmuch as by reason of my Restraint I had not the Opportunity of Traveling about to declare and spread Truth through the Countries it came upon me to Write a Paper and send it forth to be spread abroad both amongst Friends and other tender People for the Opening of their Understandings in the Way of Truth and directing them to the true Teacher in themselves And it was as followeth THE Lord doth shew unto Man his Thoughts and discovereth all the secret Workings in Man A Man may be brought to see his evil Thoughts and running Mind and vain Imaginations and may strive to keep them down and to keep his Mind in but cannot Overcome them nor keep his Mind within to the Lord. Now in this State and Condition submit to the Spirit of the Lord that shews them and that will bring to Wait upon the Lord and he that hath discovered them will destroy them Therefore stand in the Faith of the Lord Jesus Christ who is the Author of the true Faith and mind him for he will discover the Root of Lusts and evil Thoughts and vain Imaginations and how they are begotten conceived and bred and then how they are brought forth and how every evil Member doth work He will discover every Principle from its own Nature and Root So mind the Faith of Christ and the Anointing which is in you to be taught by it which will discover all Workings in you And as he teacheth you so obey and forsake else you will not grow up in the Faith nor in the Life of Christ where the Love of God is received Now Love begetteth Love it s own Nature and Image And when Mercy and Truth do meet what Joy there is And Mercy doth Triumph in Judgment And Love and Mercy doth bear the Judgment of the World in patience That which cannot bear the World's Judgment is not the Love of God for Love beareth all things and is above the World's Judgment for the World's Judgment is but Foolishness And though it be the World's Judgment and Practice to cast all the World's Filthiness that is among themselves upon the Saints yet their Judgment is false Now the Chaste Virgins follow Christ the Lamb that takes away the Sins of the World But they that are of that Spirit which is not Chaste will not follow Christ the Lamb in his Steps but are disobedient to him in his Commands So the fleshly Mind doth mind the Flesh and talketh fleshly and its Knowledge is fleshly and not spiritual but savours of Death and not of the Spirit of Life Now some Men have the Nature of Swine wallowing in the Mire And some Men have the Nature of Dogs to bite both the Sheep and one another And some Men have the Nature of Lions to tear devour and destroy And some Men have the Nature of Wolves to tear and devour the Lambs and Sheep of Christ And some Men have the Nature of the Serpent that old Adversary to sting envenom and poison He that hath an Ear to hear let him hear and learn these things within himself And some Men have the Natures of other Beasts and Creatures minding nothing but earthly and visible things and feeding without the fear of God Some Men have the Nature of an Horse to praunce and vapor in their Strength and to be swift in doing Evil. And some Men have the Nature of Tall sturdy Oaks to slourish and spread in Wisdom and Strength who are strong in Evil which must perish and come to the Fire Thus the Evil is but one in all but worketh many Ways and whatsoever a Man's or Woman's Nature is addicted to that is Outward the Evil one will fit him with that and will please his Nature and Appeâ—ite to keep his Mind in his Inventions and in the Creatures from the Creator O therefore let not the Mind go forth from God 〈◊〉 it do it will be stained and venomed and corrupted And if the Mind go forth from the Lord it is hard to bring it in again Therefore take heed of the Enemy and keep in the Faith of Christ O! therefore mind that which is Eternal and Invisible and him who is the Creator and Mover of all things For the things that are made are not made of things that do appear for the visible covereth the invisible Sight in you But as the Lord who
is Invisible doth open you by his Invisible Power and Spirit and brings down the carnal Mind in you so the Invisible and Immortal things are brought to Light in you O therefore you that know the Light walk in the Light For there are Children of Darkness that will talk or the Light and of the Truth and not walk in it but the Children of the Light love the Light and walk in the Light But the Children of Darkness walk in Darkness and hate the Light and in them the earthly Lusts and the carnal Mind choke the Seed of Faith and that bringeth Oppression on the Seed and Death over them O therefore mind the pure Spirit of the Everlasting God which will reach you to use the Creatures in their right place and which iudgeth the Evil. To thee O God be all Glory and Honour who art Lord of all Visibles and Invisibles To thee be all Praise who bringest out of the Deep to thy Self O powerful God who art worthy of all Glory For the Lord who created all and gives Life and Strength to all is over all and Merciful to all So thou who hast made all and art over all to thee be all Glory In thee is my Strength Refreshments and Life my Joy and my Gladness my Rejoycing and Glorying for evermore So to live and walk in the Spirit of God is Joy and Peace and Life but the Mind going forth into the Creatures or into any Visible Things from the Lord this bringeth Death Now when the Mind is got into the Flesh and into Death then the Accuser gets within and the Law of Sin and Death that gets into the Flesh and then the Life suffers under the Law of Sin and Death And then there is straitness and failings For then the Good is shut up and then the Self-Righteousness is set a top and then Man doth work in the outward Law and he cannot Justify himself by the Law but is Condemned by the Light For he cannot get out of that State but by abiding in the Light and resting in the Mercy of God and believing in him from whom all Mercy doth flow For there is Peace in resting in the Lord Jesus This is the Narrow Way that leads to him the Life but few will abide in it Therefore keep in the Innocency and be obedient to the Faith in him And take heed of Conforming to the World and of Reasoning with Flesh and Blood for that bringeth Disobedience and then Imaginations and Questionings do arise to draw from Obedience to the Truth of Christ But the Obedience of Faith destroyeth Imaginations and Questionings and Reasonings and all the Temptations in the Flesh and Buffetings and lookings forth and fetching up things that are past But not keeping in the Life and Light and not crossing the Corrupt Will by the Power of God the Evil Nature grows up in Man and then Burdens will come and Man will be stained with that Nature But Esau's Mountain shall be laid waste and become a Wilderness where the Dragons lie But Jacob the second Birth shall be fruitful and shall arise For Esau is hated and must not be Lord but Jacob the second Birth which is perfect and plain shall be Lord for he is beloved of God G. F. I writ another Paper also much about the same time and sent it forth amongst the Convinced People as followeth THE LORD is KING over all the Earth Therefore all People praise and glorifie your King in the true Obedience in the Uprightness and in the beauty of Holiness O Consider in the true Obedience the Lord is known and an Understanding from him is received Mark and consider in silence in the Lowliness of Mind and thou wilt hear the Lord speak unto thee in thy Mind His Voice is sweet and pleasant His Sheep hear his Voice and they will not hearken to another And when they hear his Voice they Rejoice and are Obedient they also sing for Joy Oh their Hearts are filled with everlasting Triumph They sing and praise the Eternal God in Sion their Joy shall never Man take from them Glory to the Lord God for Evermore But many that had been Convinced of the Truth turned aside because of the Persecution that arose Whereupon I writ a few Lines for the Comfort and Encouragement of the Faithful thus COme ye Blessed of the Lord and Rejoice together Keep in Unity and Oneness of Spirit Triumph above the World Be joyful in the Lord reigning above the World and above all things that draw from the Lord that in Clearness Righteousness Pureness and Joy you may be preserved to the Lord. O hear O hearken to the Call of the Lord and come out of the World and keep out of it for evermore And come Sing together ye Righteous Ones the Song of the Lord the Song of the Lamb which none can learn but they who are Redeemed from the Earth and from the World Now while I was in the House of Correction my Relations came to see me and being troubled for my Imprisonment they went to the Justices that cast me into Prison and desired to have me home with them offering to be bound in One hundred Pounds and others of Darby in fifty Pounds a piece with them that I should come no more thither to declare against the Priests So I was had up before the Justices and because I would not consent that they or any should be bound for me for I was Innocent from any Ill Behaviour and had spoken the Word of Life and Truth unto them Justice Bennet rose up in a rage and as I was kneeling down to Pray to the Lord to forgive him he ran upon me and struck me with both his Hands Crying Away with him Jailer Take him away Jailer Whereupon I was had back again to Prison and there kept until the time of my Commitment for Six Months was Expired But I had now the Liberty of walking a Mile by my self which I made use of as I felt freedom And sometimes I went into the Market and Streets and warned the People to Repent of their Wickedness and so returned to Prison again And there being Persons of several sorts of Religion in the Prison I sometimes went and visited them in their Meetings on the First-days After I had been before the Justices and they had required Sureties for my good Behaviour which I could not Consent should be given to blemish my Innocency It came upon me to write to the Justices again which I did as followeth Friends SEE what it is in you that doth Imprison and see who is Head in you and see if something do not Accuse you Consider you must be brought to Judgment Think upon Lazarus and Dives the one fared sumptuously every day the other a Beggar And now you have time prize it while you have it Would you have me to be bound to my Good Behaviour I am bound to my Good Behaviour And do Cry for Good Behaviour
of all People to turn from the Vanities Pleasures and Oppression and from the Deceits of this World And there will come a time that you shall know it Therefore take heed of Pleasures and Deceits and Pride and look not at Man but at the Lord for Look unto me all ye Ends of the Earth and be ye saved saith the Lord. Some little time after I writ to them again thus Friends WOuld you have me to be bound to my Good Behaviour from Drunkenness or Swearing or Fighting or Adultery and the like The Lord hath Redeemed me from all these things and the Love of God hath brought me to loath all Wantonness blessed be his Name They who are Drunkards and Fighters and Swearers have their Liberty without Bonds And you lay your Law upon me whom neither you nor any other can justly accuse of these things praised be the Lord I can look at no Man for my Liberty but at the Lord alone who hath all Mens Hearts in his Hand And after some time not finding my Spirit clear of them I writ to them again as followeth Friends HAD you known who sent me to you ye would have received me for the Lord sent me to you to warn you of the Woes that are coming upon you and to bid you Look at the Lord and not at Man But when I had told you my Experience what the Lord had done for me then your Hearts were hardened and you sent me to Prison where you have kept me many Weeks If the Love of God had broke your Hearts then would ye see what ye have done Ye would not have Imprisoned me had not my Father suffered you and by his Power I shall be loosed For he openeth and shutteth to him be all Glory In what have I misbehaved my self that any should be bound for me All Mens Words will do me no good nor their Bonds neither to keep my Heart if I have not a Guide within to keep me in the upright Life to God But I believe in the Lord that through his Strength and Power I shall be preserved from Ungodliness and worldly Lusts The Scripture saith Receive Strangers but you Imprison such As you are in Authority take heed of Oppression and Oaths and Injustice and Gifts or Rewards for God doth loath all such But love Mercy and true Judgment and Justice for that the Lord delâ—ghts in I do not write with Hatred to you but to keep my Conscience Clear Take heed how you spend your time I was moved also to write again to the Priests of Darby which I did after this manner Friends YOU do profess to be the Ministers of Jesus Christ in Words but you shew forth by your Fruits what your Ministry is Every Tree doth shew forth its Fruit The Ministry of Jesus Christ is in Mercy and Love to unloose them that be bound and to bring out of Bondage and to let them that are Captivated go free Now Friends where is your Example if the Scriptures be your Rule to Imprison for Religion Have you any Command for it from Christ If that were in you which you do profess you would walk in their Steps who spake forth those Words the Scriptures which you do profess But he is not a Jew who is one outward whose Praise is of Men but he is a Jew who is one inward whose Praise is of God But if you do build upon the Prophets and Apostles in Words and pervert their Life remember the Woes which Jesus Christ spake against such They that spake the Prophets words but denied Christ they professed a Christ to come but had they known him they would not have Crucified him The Saints whom the Love of God did Change were brought thereby to walk in Love and Mercy for he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God But where Envy Pride and Hatred doth rule the nature of the World doth rule and not the nature of Jesus Christ. I write with no hatred to you but that you may weigh your selves and see how you pass on your Time Thus having cleared my Conscience to the Priests it was not long before a Concern came upon me again to write again to the Justices which I did as followeth I am moved to Warn you to take heed of giving way to your own Wills Love the Cross and satisfy not your own Minds in the Flesh but prize your Time while you have it and walk up to that you know in Obedience to God and then you shall not be Condemned for that you know not but for that you do know and do not obey Consider betimes and weigh your selves and see where you are and whom you serve For if ye blaspheme God and take his Name in vain if ye Swear and Lie if ye give way to Envy Hatred Covetousness and Greediness Pleasures and Wantonness or any other Vices be assured then that ye do serve the Devil But if ye fear the Lord and serve him ye will loath all these things He that loveth God will not blaspheme his Name but where there is Opposing of God and serving the Devil that Profession is sad and miserable O prize your Time and do not love that which God doth forbid Lying Wrath Malice Envy Hatred Greediness Covetousness Oppression Gluttony Drunkenness Whoredom and all Vnrighteousness God doth forbid So Consider and be not deceived Evil Communication corrupts good Manners Be not deceived God will not be mocked with vain Words The Wrath of God is Revealed from Heaven against all Ungodliness Therefore Obey that which doth Convince you of all Evil and telleth you that you should do no Evil It will lead to Repentance and keep you in the Fear of the Lord. O look at the Mercies of God and prize them and do not turn them into Wantonness O Eye the Lord and not earthly things Besides this I writ the following to Colonel Barton who was both a Justice and a Preacher as was hinted before Friend DO not Cloak and Cover thy self there is a God who knoweth thy Heart and will Vncover thee He seeth thy Way Wo be to him that Covereth and not with my Spirit saith the Lord. Dost thou do contrary to the Law and then put it from thee Mercy and true Judgment thou neglectest look what was spoken against such My Saviour said to such I was Sick and in Prison and ye visited me not I was hungry and ye fed me not I was a Stranger and ye took me not in And when they said When saw we thee in Prison and did not come to thee c. He replied Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of these little ones ye did it not to me Friend thou hast Imprisoned me for bearing Witness to the Life and Power or Truth and yet professest to be a Minister of Christ But if Christ had sent thee thou wouldest bring out of Prison and out of Bondage and wouldest receive Strangers Thou hast been wanton upon Earth thou hast lived plenteously
him How Did nor Christ suffer without the Gates of Jerusalem through the Professing Jews and Chief Priests and Pilate And he denied that ever Christ suffered there outwardly Then I asked him Whether there were not Chief Priests and Jews and Pilat there outwardly And when he could not deny that then I told him As certainly as there was a Chief Priest and Jews and Pilat there outwardly so certainly was Christ persecuted by them and did suffer there outwardly under them Yet from this Man's Words was a Slander raised upon us That the Quakers should deny Christ that suffered and died at Jerusalem Which was all utterly false and the least Thought of it never entred our Hearts but it was a meer Slander cast upon us and occasioned by this Person 's Words The same Person also said That never any of the Prophets nor Apostles nor Holy Men of God suffered any thing Outwardly but all their DunSufferings were Inward 1651. Darby-Dungeon But I instanced to him many of the Prophets and Apostles how they suffered and by whom they suffered And so was the Power of the Lord brought over his wicked Imaginations and Whimsies There came also another Company to me that pretended They were Triers of Spirits And I asked them What was the first Step to Peace And what it was by which a Man might see his Salvation And they were presently up in the airy Mind and said I was Mad. Thus they came to Try Spirits who did not know themselves nor their own Spirits In this Time of my Imprisonment I was exceedingly exercised about the Proceedings of the Judges and Magistrates in their Courts of Judicature And I was moved to write to the Judges concerning their putting Men to Death for Cattel and Money and small Matters and to shew them how Contrary it was to the Law of God in old Time for I was under great Suffering in my Spirit because of it and under the very Sense of Death but standing in the Will of God an heavenly Breathing arose in my Soul to the Lord. Then did I see the Heavens opened and I rejoiced and gave Glory to God So I writ to the Judges as followeth I Am moved to write unto you to take heed of putting Men to Death for stealing Cattel or Money c. for the Thieves in the old Time were to make Restitution and if they had not wherewith they were to be sold for their Theft Mind the Laws of God in the Scriptures and the Spirit that gave them forth and let them be your Rule in executing Judgment And shew Mercy that you may receive Mercy from God the Judge of all And take heed of Gifts and Rewards and of Pride for God doth forbid them and they do blind the Eyes of the Wise I do not write to give liberty to Sin God hath forbidden it But that you should Judge according to his Laws and shew Mercy For he delighteth in true Judgment and in Mercy I beseech you to mind these Things and prize your Time now you have it and Fear God and Serve him for he is a Consuming Fire Besides this I writ another Letter to the JUDGES to this effect I Am moved to write unto you That ye do true Justice to every Man and see that none be Oppressed nor Wronged nor no Oaths Imposed for the Land mourneth because of Oaths and Adulteries and Sorceries and Drunkenness and Prophaneness O Consider ye that be Men set in Authority Be moderate and in Lowliness Consider these things Shew Mercy to the Fatherless and to the Widoâ—s and to the Poor And take heed of Rewards or Gifts for they do blind the Eyes of the Wise The Lord doth loath all such Love Mercy and true Judgment Justice and Righteousness for the Lord delighteth in such Consider these Things in Time and take heed how ye do spend your Time Now ye have Time prize it and shew Mercy that ye may receive Mercy from the Lord For he is coming to Try all Things and will plead with all Flesh as by Fire Moreover I laid before the Judges what an hurtful thing it was that Prisoners should lie so long in Jail shewing how that they learned Badness one of another in talking of their bad Deeds and therefore speedy Justice should be done For I was a tender Youth and dwelt in the Fear of God and I was grieved to hear their bad Language and was often made to reprove them for their wicked Words and evil Carriage towards each other And People did admire that I was so preserved and Kept for they could never catch a Word or Action from me to make any thing of against me all the time that I was there For the Lord 's Infinite Power upheld and preserved me all that time to him be Praises and Glory for ever Now while I was here in Prison there was a young-Woman in the Jail for Robbing her Master of some Money and when she was to be Tried for her Life I writ to the Judge and to the Jury about her shewing them How contrary it was to the Law of God in old Time to put People to Death for Stealing and moving them to shew Mercy Yet she was Condemned to die and a Grave was made for her and at the Time appointed she was carried forth to Execution Then I writ a few Words Warning all People to beware of Greediness or Covetousness for it leads from God but that all should Fear the Lord and avoid all Earthly Lusts and prize their Time while they have it This I gave to be read at the Gallows And though they had her upon the Ladder with a Cloath bound over her Face ready to be turned off yet they did not put her to Death but brought her back again to Prison And in the Prison she afterwards came to be Convinced of God's Everlasting Truth There was also in the Jail while I was there a Prisoner a Wicked Vngodly Man who was reputed a Conjurer and he threatned how he would talk with me and what he would do to me but he never had Power to open his Mouth to me And on a time the Jailer and he falling out he threatned the Jailer That he would Raise the Devil and break his House down so that he made the Jailer afraid Then I was moved of the Lord to go in his Power and Rebuke him in it and to say unto him Come let 's see what thou canst do and do thy worst And I told him The Devil was Raised high enough in him already but the Power of God Chained him down So he sluâ—k away and went from me Now the Time of Worcester-Fight coming on Justice Bennet sent the Constables to press me for a Souldier seeing I would not voluntarily accept of a Command And I told them That I was brought off from outward Wars They came down again to give me Press-Money but I would take none Then I was brought up to Sergeant Holes and kept
his People I desire you to Consider of these things and search the Scriptures and see whether any of the People of God did ever Imprison any for Religion but were themselves Imprisoned I desire you to Consider how it is written that when the Church is met together they may all Prophesy one by one that all may hear and all may learn and all may be comforted And then If any thing be Revealed to him that sitteth by let the first hold his Peace Thus it was in the true Church and thus it ought now to be But it is not so in your Assemblies but he that Teaches for Hire may speak and none may Contradict him Again Consider the Liberty that was given to the Apostles even among the unbelieving Jews when after the reading of the Law and the Prophets the Rulers of the Synagogue said unto them Ye Men and Brethren if ye have any Word of Exhortation for the People say on I desire you to Consider in Stilness and strive not against the Lord for he is stronger than you Though ye hold his People fast for a time yet when he cometh he will make known who are his for his Coming is like the Refiner's Fire and like Fuller's Sope. Then the Stone that is set at nought of you Builders shall be the Head-Stone of the Corner O Friends lay these things to Heaâ—t and let them nor seem light things to you I wrote unto you in Love to mind the Laws of God and your own Souls and do as the Holy Men of God did Great was the Exercise and Travel in Spirit that I went under during my Imprisonment here because of the Wickedness that was in this Town for though there were some Convinced there yet for the generality they were an hardened People And I saw the Visitation of God's Love pass away from them and I mourned over them And it came upon me to give forth the following Lines as a Lamentation for them O Darby As the Waters run away when the Flood-Gates are up so doth the Visitation of God's Love pass away from thee O Darby Therefore look where thou art and how thou art grounded and Consider before thou art utterly forsaken The Lord moved me Twice before I came to Cry against the Deceits and Vanities that are in thee and to warn all to look at the Lord and not at Man The Wo is against the Crown of Pride and the Wo is against Drunkenness and vain Pleasures and against them that make a Profession of Religion in Words and are high and lofty in Mind and live in Oppression and Envy O Darby thy Profession and Preaching stinks before the Lord. Ye do profess a Sabbath in Words and Meet together dressing your selves in fine Apparel and you uphold Pride Thy Women go with stretched-forth Necks and wanton Eyes c. which the true Prophet of old Cryed against Your Assemblies are odious and an Abomination to the Lord Pride is set up and bowed down to Covetousness abounds and he that doth wickedly is honoured So Deceit doth bear with Deceit and yet they profess Christ in Words O the Deceit that is within thee It doth even break my Heart to see how God is dishonoured in thee O Darby Now after that I had seen the Visitation of God's Love pass away from this Place I knew that my Imprisonment here would not continue long But I saw that when the Lord should bring me forth it would be as the letting of a Lion out of a Den amongst the Wild Beasts of the Forrest For all Professions stood in a Beastly Spirit and Nature pleading for Sin and for the Body of Sin and Imperfection as long as they lived And they all kick'd and yelled and roar'd and raged and ran against the Life and Spirit which gave forth the Scriptures which they professed in words And so it was as will appear hereafter There was a great Judgment upon the Town and the Magistrates were uneasie about me and could not agree what to do with me One while they would have sent me up to the Parliament another while they would have Banished me to Ireland At first they called me a Deceiver and a Seducer and a Blasphemer afterwards when God had brought his Plagues upon them then they said I was an Honest Vertuous Man But their good Report and bad Report their well-speaking or their ill-speaking was nothing to me for the one did not lift me up nor the other cast me down Praised be the Lord At length they were made to turn me out of Jail about the beginning of Winter in the Year 1651 after I had been a Prisoner in Darby almost a Year whereof Six Months in the House of Correction and the rest of the Time in the Common Jail and Dungeon Thus being set at Liberty again I went on as before in the Work of the Lord passing through the Country first into my own Country of Leicestershire and had Meetings as I went Leicestershire and the Lord's Spirit and Power accompanied me Afterwards I went near to Burton upon Trent where some were Convinced Burton upon Trent Bushel-House and so to Bushel-House where I had a Meeting And I went up into the Country where there were friendly People But there was an outragious wicked Professor who had an intent to have done me a Mischief but the Lord prevented him Blessed be the Lord And as I was walking along with several Friends I lifted up my Head and saw Three Steeple-house-Spires and they struck at my Life And I asked Friends What Place that was and they said Lichfield Lichfield Immediately the Word of the Lord came to me that I must go thither So being come to the House we were going to I wish'd Friends that were with me to walk into the House saying nothing to them whither I was to go And as soon as they were gone I stept away and went by my Eye over Hedge and Ditch till I came within a Mile of Lichfield where in a great Field there were Shepherds keeping their Sheep Then was I commanded by the Lord to pull off my Shoos And I stood still for it was Winter And the Word of the Lord was like a Fire in me So I put off my Shoos and left them with the Shepherds and the poor Shepherds trembled and were astonished Then I walked on about a Mile till I came into the City and as soon as I was got within the City the Word of the Lord came to me again saying Cry Wo unto the bloody City of Lichfield So I went up and down the Streets Crying with a loud Voice WO TO THE BLOODY CITY OF LICHFIELD And it being Market-Day I went into the Market-Place and to and fro in the several Parts of it and made stands Crying as before WO TO THE BLOODY CITY OF LICHFIELD And no one laid Hands on me But as I went thus Crying through the Streets there seemed to me to be a Channel
of Blood running down the Streets and the Market-Place appeared like a Pool of Blood Now when I had declared what was upon me and felt my self Clear I went out of the Town in Peace and returning to the Shepherds gave them some Money and took my Shoos of them again But the Fire of the Lord was so in my Feet and all over me 1651. Lichfield that I did not matter to put on my Shoos any more and was at a stand whether I should or no till I felt freedom from the Lord so to do and then after I had washed my Feet I put on my Shoes again After this a deep Consideration came upon me Why or for what reason I should be sent to Cry against that City and call it THE BLOODY CITY For though the Parliament had the Minster one while and the King another while and much Blood had been shed in the Town during the Wars between them yet that was no more than had befallen many other Places But afterwards I came to understand that in the Emperor Diocletian's Time a Thousand Christians were Martyred in Lichfield So I was to go without my Shoos through the Channel of their Blood and into the Pool of their Blood in the Market-Place that I might Raise up the Memorial of the Blood of those Martyrs which had been shed above a Thousand Years before and lay Cold in their Streets So the Sense of this Blood was upon me and I obeyed the Word of the Lord. Ancient Records testify how many of the Christian Britains suffered there And much I could write of the Sense I had of the Blood of the Martyrs that hath been shed in this Nation for the Name of Christ both under the Ten Persecutions and since but I leave it to the Lord and to his Book out of which all shall be Judged For his Book is a most certain true Record and his Spirit a true Recorder Then passed I up and down through the Countries having Meetings amongst friendly People in many Places But my Relations were offended at me Nottinghamshire Mansfield Darbyshire Yorkshire Doncaster Balby Wakefield So after some Time I came into Nottinghamshire again and to Mansfield and went into Darbyshire visiting Friends Then passing into Yorkshire I preached Repentance through Doncaster and several other Places and after came to Balby where Richard Farnsworth and several others were convinced So traveling through the Countries to several Places preaching Repentance and the Word of Life to the People I came into the Parts about Wakefield where James Naylor lived and he and Thomas Goodyear came to me and were both Convinced and received the Truth William Dewsbury also and his Wife with many more came to me who were Convinced and received the Truth From thence I passed through the Country towards Captain Pursloe's house by Selby Selby and visited one John Leek who had been to visit me in Darby-Prison and was Convinced I had an Horse but was fain to leave him not knowing what to do with him for I was moved to go to many great Houses to admonish and exhort the People to turn to the Lord Thus passing on Beverly I was moved of the Lord to go to Beverly-Steeple-house which was then a Place of high Profession And being very Wet with Rain I went first to an Inn and as soon as I came to the Door a Young-woman of the House came to the Door and said What! is it you Come in said she as if she had known me before for the Lord's Power bowed their Hearts So I refreshed my self and went to Bed And in the Morning my Cloaths being still wet I got ready and having paid for what I had had in the Inn I went up to the Steeple-house where was a Man preaching And when he had done I was moved to speak to him and to the People in the mighty Power of God and turned them to their Teacher Christ Jesus 1651. Yorkshire And the Power of the Lord was so strong that it struck a mighty Dread amongst the People And the Major came down to me and spake a few Words to me but none of them had any Power to meddle with me So I passed away out of the Town And in the Afternoon went to another Steeple-house about Two Miles off And when the Priest had done I was moved to speak to him and to the People very largely shewing them the Way of Life and Truth and the Ground of Election and Reprobation The Priest said he was but a Child and could not dispute with me I told him I did not come to dispute but to hold forth the Word of Life and Truth unto them that they might all know the One Seed which the Promise of God was to both in the Male and in the Female Here the People were very loving and would have had me come again on a Week-day and preach among them But I directed them to their Teacher Christ Jesus and so passed away and the next Day went to Crantsick Crantsick to Captain Pursloe's who accompanied me to Justice Hotham's This Justice Hotham was a pretty tender Man one that had had some Experiences of God's Workings in his Heart After I had had some Discourse with him of the things of God he took me into his Closet where sitting together he told me he had known that Principle these Ten Years and was glad that the Lord did now publish it abroad to the People After a while there came a Priest to visit him with whom also I had some Discourse concerning Truth But his Mouth was quickly stopt for he was nothing but a Notionist and not in Possession of what he talked of While I was here there came a Great Woman of Beverly to speak with Justice Hotham about some Business and in Discourse she told him That the last Sabbath-day as she called it there was an Angel or Spirit came into the Church at Beverly and spake the wonderful things of God to the astonishment of all that were there And when it had done it passed away and they did not know whence it came nor whither it went But it astonished all both Priest Professors and Magistrates of the Town This Relation Justice Hotham gave me afterwards and then I gave him an Account how I had been that Day at Beverly-Steeple-house and had declared Truth to the Priest and People there There was in the County thereabouts some Noted Priests and Doctors that Justice Hotham had acquaintance with and he would fain have them speak with me and offered to send for them under pretence of some Business he had with them but I wish'd him not to do so Now when the First Day of the Week was come Justice Hotham walked out with me into the Fields and then Captain Pursloe coming up after us Justice Hotham left us and returned home but Captain Pursloe went with me into the Steeple-house And when the Priest had done I spake to
both Priest and People and declared to them the Word of Life and Truth and directed them where they might find their Teacher the Lord Jesus Christ Some of the People were Convinced there that Day and received the Truth and stand fast in it and have a fine Meeting there-a-ways to this Day In the Afternoon I went to another Steeple-house about Three Miles off where preached a great High-Priest called a Doctor being one of them whom Justice Hotham would have sent for to have spoken with me So I went into the Steeple-house and stayed till the Priest had done Now the Words which he took for his Text were these Ho every One that Thirsteth come ye to the Waters and he that hath no Money come ye buy and eat yea come buy Wine and Milk without Money and without Price Then was I moved of the Lord God to say unto him Come down thou deceiver Dost thou bid People Come freely and take of the Water of Life freely and yet thou takest Three hundred Pounds a Year of them for preaching the Scriptures to them Mayest not thou blush for shame Did the Prophet Isaiah and Christ do so who spake the Words and gave them forth freely Did not Christ say to his Ministers whom he sent to preach Freely ye have received freely give So the Priest like a Man amazed hastned away And after he was gone and had left his Flock I had as much Time as I could desire to speak to the People And I directed them from the Darkness to the Light and to the Grace of God that would Teach them and bring them Salvation and to the Spirit of God in their Inward Parts which would be a free Teacher unto them Then having Cleared my self amongst that People I returned to Justice Hotham's House that Night who when I came in took me in his Arms and said His House was my House for he was exceeding glad at the work of the Lord and that his Power was Revealed Then he told me Why he went not with me to the Steeple-house in the Morning and what Reasonings he had in himself about it for he thought if he had gone with me to the Steeple-house the Officers would have put me to him and then he should have been so put to it that he should not have known what to have done But he was glad he said when Captain Pursloe came up to go with me Yet neither of them was drest nor had their Bands about their Necks And it was a strange thing then to see a Man come into a Steeple-house without a Band Yet Captain Pursloe went in with me without his Band the Lord's Power and Truth had so affected him that he minded it not From hence I passed on through the Country and came at Night to an Inn where was a Company of rude People and I bid the Woman of the House if she had any Meat to bring me some But because I said Thee and Thou to her she looked strangely on me Then I asked her if she had any Milk and she said No. I was sensible she spake falsly And seeing a Churn standing in the Room and being willing to try her further I asked her If she had any Cream she denied that she had any Now there stood a Churn in the Room and a little Boy playing about it put his Hands into it and pulled it down and threw all the Cream on the Floor before my Eyes Thus was the Woman manifested to be a Liar The Woman was amazed and blest her self and took up the Child and whipt it sorely But I reproved her for her Lying and Deceit After the Lord had thus discovered her Deceit and Perversness I walked out of the House and went away till I came to a Stack of Hay and lay in the Hay-Stack that Night in Rain and Snow 1651. York it being but Three Days before the Time called Christmas The next day I came into York where were several People that were very tender And upon the First-Day of the Week following I was Commanded of the Lord to go to the great Minster and speak to Priest Bowles and his Hearers in their great Cathedral Accordingly I went and when the Priest had done I told them I had something from the Lord God to speak to the Priest and People Then say on quickly said a Professor that was among them for it was Frost and Snow and very Cold Weather Then I told them This was the Word of the Lord God unto them that they lived in Words but God Almightly looked for Fruits amongst them As soon as the Words were out of my Mouth they hurried me out and threw me down the Steps but I got up again without hurt and went to my Lodging again and several were Convinced there For the very Groans that arose from the Weight and Oppression that was upon the Spirit of God in me would open People and strike them and make them Confess That the Groans which brake forth through me did reach them For my Life was burthened with their Profession without Possession and Words without Fruit. Now after I had done my present Service in York and that several were Convinced there and received the Truth of God and were turned to his Teaching I passed out of York and looked towards Cleaveland And I saw there was a People that had tasted of the Power of God and I saw then there was a Seed in that Country and that God had an humble People there So I passed onwards that Night and a Papist overtook me and talked to me of his Religion and of their Meetings and I let him speak all that was in his Mind That Night I stayed at an Ale-house and the next Morning I was moved of the Lord to speak the Word of the Lord to this Papist So I went to his House and declared against his Religion and all their Superstitious Ways and told him that God was come to teach his People himself This put the Papist into such a Rage that he could not then endure to stay in his own House The next day I came to Burraby where there was a Priest Burraby and several Friendly People Met together Many of the People were Convinced and have continued faithful ever since and there is a great Meeting of Friends in that Town The Priest also was forced to Confess to Truth though he Came not into it The day following I passed to Cleaveland amongst those People Cleaveland that had tasted of the Power of God They had formerly had great Meetings but were then all shattered to pieces and the Heads of them turned Ranters I told them That after they had had such Meetings they did not Wait upon God to feel his Power to gather their Minds Inward that they might feel his Presence and Power amongst them in their Meetings to sit down therein and Wait upon him for they had spoken themselves dry they had spent their Portions
and not living in that which they spake of they were now become DRY They had some kind of Meetings still but they took Tobacco and drank Ale in their Meetings and were grown light and loose But my Message unto them from the Lord was 1651. Cleaveland That they should all come together again and Wait to feel the Lord's Power and Spirit in themselves to gather them to Christ that they might be taught of him who says Learn of me For when they had declared that which the Lord had opened to them then the People were to receive it and both the Speakers and Hearers were to live in that themselves But when these had no more to declare but went to seek Forms without Life that made themselves dry and barren and the People also and from thence came all their Loss for the Lord renews his Mercies and his Strength to them that Wait upon him The Heads of these People came to nothing but most of the People came to be Convinced and received God's everlasting Truth and continue a Meeting to this day sitting under the Teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ their Saviour Upon the First day of the next Week the Word of the Lord came to me to go to the Steeple-house there which I did And when the Priest had done I spake the Truth to him and the People and directed them to their Teacher within Christ Jesus their free Teacher that had bought them The Priest came to me and I had a little Discourse with him but he was soon stopt and silent Then being Clear of the Place I passed away having had several Meetings amongst those People Though at this time the Snow was very deep yet I kept traveling And going through the Country came to a Market-Town where I met with many Professors with whom I had much Reasoning and I asked them many Questions which they were not able to Answer but said They had never had such deep Questions put to them in all their Lives Stath From them I went to another Place called Stath where also I met with many Professors and some Ranters I had great Meetings amongst them and a great Convincement there was and many received the Truth amongst whom One was an Ancient Man of an hundred Years of Age Another was a Chief Constable and a third was a Priest whose Name was Philip Scafe Him the Lord by his free Spirit did afterwards make a free Minister of his free Gospel The Priest of this Town was a lofty Priest and did much Oppress the People for his Tithes for if they went a Fishing many Leagues off he would make them pay the Tithe-Money of what they made of their Fish though they catched them at a great distance and carried them as far as Yarmouth to sell Now I was moved to go to the Steeple-house there to declare the Truth and lay open the Priest And when I had spoken to the Priest and laid his Oppressing of the People upon him he fled away The Chief of the Parish were very light and vain So after I had spoken the Word of Life to them I turned away from them because they did not receive it and left them But the Word of the Lord which I had declared amongst them stuck with some of them so that at Night some of the Heads of the Parish came to me and most of them were Convinced and satisfied and confest to the Truth Thus the Truth began to spread up and down that Country and great Meetings we had at which the Priest began to rage 1651. Stath and the Ranters began to be stirred and they sent me word that they would have a Dispute with me both the Oppressing Priest and the Leader of the Ranters A day was set and the Ranter came with his Company and another Priest a Scotch Man came but not the Oppressing Priest of Stath Philip Scafe who had been a Priest and was Convinced was with me and a great Number of People were met When we were setled the Ranter whose Name was T. Bushel told me He had had a Vision of me that I was sitting in a great Chair and that he was to come and put off his Hat and bow down to the Ground before me and he did so and many other flattering Words he spake I told him It was his own Figure and said unto him Repent thou Beast He said it was Jealousy in me to say so Then I asked him the Ground of Jealousy and how it came to be bred in Man And the Nature of a Beast what made it And how that was bred in Man For I saw him directly in that Nature of the Beast and therefore I would have known of him how that Nature came to be bred in him I told him He should give me an Account of things done in the Body before we came to discourse of things done out of the Body So I stopt up his Mouth that he could say no more and all his Fellow Ranters were silenced for he was the Head of them Then I called for the Oppressing Priest but he came not Only the Scotch Priest came but his Mouth was soon stopt with a very few Words he being out of the Life of what he did profess Then had I a good Opportunity with the People and I laid open the Ranters ranking them with the old Ranters in Sodom And the Priests I manifested to be of the same stamp with their Fellow Hirelings the false Prophets of old and the Priests that then bore rule over the People by their Means seeking for their Gain from their Quarter Divining for Money and Teaching for filthy Lucre and so I brought all the Prophets and Christ and the Apostles over the Heads of the Priests shewing how the Prophets Christ and the Apostles had long since discovered them by their Marks and Fruits Then I directed People to their Inward Teacher Christ Jesus their Saviour and I preached up Christ in the Hearts of his People when all these Mountains were laid low The People were all quiet and the Gainsayers Mouths were stopped for though they broiled inwardly yet the Power bound them down that they could not break out After the Meeting was over this Scottish Priest desired me to walk with him a top of the Cliffs Whereupon I called a Brother-in-Law of his who was in some measure Convinced and desired him to go with me telling him I was willing to have some Body by to hear what we said lest the Priest when I was gone should report any thing of me which I did not say So we went together and as we walked the Priest asked me many things concerning the Light and concerning the Soul To all which I answered him fully When he had done questioning we parted and he went his way and as he wâ—nt meeting with the other Priest Philip Scafe that was Convinced he brake his Cain against the Ground in Madness and said If ever he met with me
of God in themselves by which they might come to him and by which they might also come to know 1651. Pickering who the false Prophets were So having had a large time among them I departed in Peace After some time traveling in the Country I came to Pickering where in the Steeple-house the Justices held their Sessions Justice Robinson being Chairman and I had a Meeting in the School-house at the same time and abundance of Priests and Professors came to it asking Questions which were Answered to their Satisfaction And it being Sessions-time four Chief-Constables and many other Poople were Convinced that day And word was carried to Justice Robinson that his Priest was Overthrown and Convinced whom he had a Love to more than to all the Priests besides After the Meeting was done we went to an Inn and Justice Robinson's Priest was very lowly and loving and would have paid for my Dinner but I would by no means suffer it Then he offered that I should have his Steeple-house to preach in But I denied it and told him and the People That I came to bring them off from such things to Christ. The next Morning I went up with the Four Chief-Constables and some others to visit Justice Robinson who met me at his Chamber-door I told him I could not honour him with Man's Honour and he said He did not look for it So I went into his Chamber and opened te him the State of the false Prophets and of the true Prophets and set the true Prophets and Christ and the Apostles over the other and directed his Mind to Christ his Teacher and opened to him the Parables and how Election and Reprobation stood as that Reprobation stood in the first Birth and Election stood in the second Birth I shewed also what the Promise of God was to and what the Judgment of God was against He Confessed to it all and was so opened with the Truth that when another Justice that was present made some little Opposition he Informed him At our parting he said It was very well that I did exercise that Gift which God had given me And he took the Chief-Constables aside and would have given them some Money to have given me saying He would not have me be at any Charge in their Country but they told him That they themselves could not get me to take any Money and so accepting his Kindness refused his Money From thence I passed up into the Country and the Priest that called me Brother in whose School-house I had the Meeting at Pickering went along with me When we came into a Town to bait the Bells rang Whereupon I asked What the Bells rang for And they said for me to preach in the Steeple-house After some Time I felt Drawings that way And as I walked to the Steeple-house I saw the People were gathered together in the Steeple-house-yard The Old Priest would have had me gone into the Steeple-house but I said Nay it was no matter But it was something strange to the People that I would not go into that which they called the House of God Then I stood up in the Steeple-house-yard and declared to the People That I came not to hold up their Idol-Temples nor their Priests nor their Tithes nor their Augmentations nor their Priests-wages nor their Jewish and Heathenish Ceremonies and Traditions for I denyed all these and told them that that piece of Ground was no more Holy than another Piece of Ground 1651. Yorkshire And I shewed them that the Apostles going into the Jews Synagogues and Temples which God had Commanded was To bring People off from that Temple and those Synagogues and from the Offerings and Tithes and Covetous Priests of that Time And that such as came to be Convinced of the Truth and Converted to it and believed in Jesus Christ whom the Apostles preached they met together afterwards in Dwelling-Houses And that all who preach Christ the Word of Life ought to preach freely as the Apostles did and as he had Commanded So I was sent of the Lord God of Heaven and Earth to preach freely and to bring People off from these outward Temples made with Hands which God dwelleth not in that they might know their Bodies to become the Temples of God and of Christ And to draw People off from all their Superstitious Ceremonies and Jewish and Heathenish Customs Traditions and Doctrines of Men and from all the World's Hireling-Teachers that take Tithes and great Wages preaching for Hire and divining for Money whom God and Christ never sent as themselves confess when they say They never heard God's Voice nor Christ's Voice Therefore I exhorted the People to come off from all these things and directed them to the Spirit and Grace of God in themselves and to the Light of Jesus in their own Hearts that they might come to know Christ their Free Teacher to bring them Salvation and to open the Scriptures to them Thus the Lord gave me a good Opportunity amongst them to open things largely unto them and all was quiet and many were Convinced Blessed be the Lord. I passed on to another Town where there was another great Meeting and the Old Priest before-mentioned went along with me and there came Professors of several sorts to it Now I sate on an Hay-stack and spake nothing for some Hours for I was to famish them from Words And the Professors would ever and anon be speaking to the Old Priest and asking him When I would begin and when I would speak And he bad them Wait and told them That the People waited upon Christ a long while before he spake At last I was moved of the Lord to speak and they were struck by the Lord's Power and the Word of Life reached to them and there was a General Convincement amongst them From hence I passed on the Old Priest being still with me and several others And as we went along some People called to the Old Priest and said Mr. Boyes We owe you some Money for Tithes pray come and take it But the Old Priest threw up his Hands and said He had enough he would have none of it they might keep it And he praised the Lord he had enough At length we came to this Old Priest's Steeple-house in the Moors And when we were come into it the Old Priest went before me The Moors and held open the Pulpit-Door but I forbad him and told him I should not go into it This Steeple-house was very much painted and I told him and the People That the painted Beast had a painted House Then I opened to them the Rise of all those Houses and their Superstitious Ways shewing them that as the End of the Apostles going into the Temple and Synagogues which God had Commanded was not to hold them up 1651. Yorkshire in the Moors but to bring them to Christ the Substance So the End of my coming there was not to hold up these
He is not a Vagrant by his Linnen and then he set me at Liberty Then I went back to Patrington again with that Man that had ridden before me to the Justice for he lived at Patrington When I came there he would have had me have had a Meeting at the Cross But I said It was no matter his House would serve Then he desired me to go to Bed or lie down upon a Bed Which he did that they might say they had seen me in a Bed or upon a Bed for they had got up a Report that I would not lie on any Bed because at that time I lay many times without Doors Now when the First-day of the Week was come I went to the Steeple-house and declared the Truth to the Priest and People and the People did not molest me for the Power of God was come over them Then presently after I had a great Meeting at that Man's House where I lay And many that day were Convinced there of the Lord 's Everlasting Truth who stand faithful Witnesses for it to this day And they were exceeding sorry and grieved that they did not Receive me nor give me Lodging when I was there before York-shire From hence I Traveled through the Country even to the furthest part thereof Warning People both in Towns and in Country-Villages to Repent and directing them to Christ Jesus their Teacher On the First-day of the Week I came to one Colonel Overton's House and had a great Meeting of the Prime of the People of that Country where many things were opened out of the Scriptures which they had never heard before in all their Lives and many were Convinced and received the Word of Life and were settled in the Truth of God Patrington Then I returned to Patrington again and visited those Friends that were Convinced there by whom I understood that a Taylor and some wild Blades in that Town had occasioned my being carried before the Justice The Taylor came to ask me forgiveness fearing I would Complain of him The Constables also were afraid lest I should trouble them But I forgave them all and warned them to turn to the Lord and to amend their Lives Now that which made them the more afraid was this When I was in the Steeple-house at Oram not long before there came a Professor and gave me a Push on the Breast in the Steeple-house and bid me Get me out of the Church Alas poor Man said I dost thou call the Steeple-house the Church The Church is the People whom God hath purchased with his Blood and not the House It happened that Justice Hotham came to hear of this Man's Abuse done to me and sent his Warrant for him and bound him over to the Sessions So affected was he with the Truth and so Zealous to keep the Peace And indeed this Justice Hotham had asked me before whether any People had meddled with me or abused me But I was not to tell him any thing of that kind but was to forgive all From Patrington I went to several Great Men's Houses warning them to Repent Some Received me lovingly and some slighted me Thus I passed on through the Country And at Night came to another Town where I desired Lodging and Meat and I would pay for it But they would not Lodge me except I would go to the Constable which was the Custom they said of all Lodgers at Inns if Strangers I told them I should not go for that Custom was for suspicious Persons but I was an Innocent Man So after I had warned them to Repent and declared unto them the Day of their Visitation and directed them to the Light of Christ and Spirit of God that they might come to know Salvation I passed away and the People were something tendered and troubled afterwards But when it grew dark I spied an Hay-Stack and went and sate under it all Night till Morning The next Day I passed into Hull Hull admonishing and warning People as I went to turn to Christ Jesus that they might receive Salvation That Night I got a Lodging but was very sore with traveling on Foot so far Afterward passing through the Country I came to Balby Balby and visited Friends up and down in those Parts And then passed into the Edge of Nottinghamshire visiting Friends there Nottinghamshire Lincolnshire Trent and so passed into Lincolnshire and visited Friends there And on the First-day of the Week I went to a Steeple-house on this side of Trent and in the Afternoon I went to another Steeple-house on the other side of Trent declaring the Word of Life to the People and directing them to their Teacher Christ Jesus who died for them ☜ that they might hear him and receive Salvation by him Then I went further into the Country and had several Meetings there-aways And at one Meeting where I was there came a Great Man and a Priest and many Professors but the Lord's Power came over them all and they went their ways peaceably And there came a Man to that Meeting who had been at a Meeting before and he raised a false Accusation against me and made a Noise up and down the Country reporting that I said I was Christ which was utterly false And when I came to Gainsborough Gainsborough where a Friend had been declaring Truth in the Market the Town and Market-People was all in an Uproar So I went into a Friendly Man's House and the People rushed in after me so that the House was filled with Professors and Disputers and rude People And this false Accuser came in before them all and accused me openly before all the People That I said I was Christ and he had got Witnesses to prove the same Which set the People into such a Rage that they had much ado to keep their Hands off me Then was I moved of the Lord God to stand up upon the Table in the Eternal Power of God and tell the People That Christ was in them except they were Reprobates and that it was Christ the Eternal Power of God that spake in me at that time unto them NOT that I was CHRIST And the People were generally satisfied except himself and a Professor and his own false Witnesses And I called the Accuser Judas and was moved to tell him That he was Judas and Judas his End should be his and that that was the Word of the Lord and of Christ through me to him So the Lord's Power came over all 1652. Gainsborough and quieted the Minds of the People and they departed in Peace But this Judas went away and shortly after hanged himself and a Stake was driven into his Grave And afterwards the Wicked Priests raised a Scandal upon us and reported That a Quaker had hanged himself in Lincolnshire and had a Stake driven through him This Falshood they printed to the Nation adding Sin to Sin which the Truth and we were clear of for he was no
Considerable Men and the Truth was powerfully declared amongst them and the Scriptures wonderfully opened and the Parables and Sayings of Christ were expounded and the State of the Church in the Apostles Days was plainly set forth and the Apostacy since from that State discovered And the Truth had great Dominion that Day so that those Great Men that were present did generally Confess to it saying They believed that this Principle must go over the whole World There were at this Meeting James Naylor Thomas Goodyear and William Dewsbury who had been Convinced the Year before and Richard Farnsworth also And the Constable stay'd with Thomas Aldam till the Meeting was over And then went towards York-prison but did not meddle with me Wakefield From hence I went to Wakefield and on the First Day after I went to a Steeple-house where James Naylor had been a Member of an Independent-Church but upon his receiving Truth he was Excommunicated When I came in and the Priest had done the People called upon me to come up to the Priest which I did But when I began to declare the Word of Life to them and to lay open the Deceit of the Priest they rushed upon me on a suddain and thrust me out at the other Door and fell a punching and beating me and Cried Let us have him to the Stocks But the Lord's Power was over them and restrained them that they were not suffered to put me in So I passed away to the Meeting where were a great many Professors and friendly People gathered and a great Convincement there was that Day For the People were mightily satisfied that they were directed to the Lord 's Teaching in themselves Here we got some Lodging for Four of us had lain abroad under an Hedge the Night before there being then few Friends in that Place The same Day Richard Farnsworth went to another great Steeple-house belonging to a great High-priest and declared the Word of Truth unto the People and a great Service he had amongst them For the Lord 's Dread and Power was mightily over all The Priest of that Church which James Naylor had been a Member of whose Name mas Marshal raised many Wicked Slanders upon me as That I carried Bottles about with me and made People drink of my Bottles and that made them follow me And That I rid upon a great Black Horse and was seen in one Country upon my Black Horse in one Hour and in the same Hour in another Country Threescore Miles off and That I should give a Fellow Money to follow me when I was on my Black Horse With these Hellish Lies he fed his People to make them think Evil of the Truth which I had declared amongst them But by these Lies of his he preached many of his Hearers away from him For I was then on Foot and travelled on foot and had no Horse at that Time and that the People generally knew But the Lord soon after met with this Envious Priest 1652. High-town and Cut him off in his Wickedness After this I came to a Town called High-Town where dwelt a Woman who had been Convinced a little before and we went to her House and had a Meeting and the Towns-people gathered together and we declared the Truth to them and had some Service for the Lord amongst them and they passed away again peaceably But there was a Widow-woman in the Town whose Name was Green who being filled with Envy went to one that was called a Gentleman in the Town who was reported to have killed Two Men and One Woman and Informed him against us though he was no Officer The next Morning we drew up some Queries to be sent to the Priest And when we had done and were just going away some of the Friendly People of the Town came running up to the House where we were and told us That this Murdering Man had sharpened a Pike to stab us and was coming up with his Sword by his Side We were just passing away and so missed him But we were no sooner gone but he came to the House where we had been and the People generally Concluded If we had not been gone he would have murdered some of us That Night we lay in a Wood and were very Wet for it Rained exceedingly In the Morning I was moved to come back to that Town again and then they gave us a full Relation of this wicked Man From hence we passed to Bradford and came to an House Bradford where we met with Richard Farnsworth again from whom we had parted a little before When we came in they set Meat before us but as I was going to Eat the Word of the Lord came to me saying Eat not the Bread of such as have an Evil Eye Immediately I arose from the Table and ate nothing The Woman of the House was a Baptist So after I had exhorted the Family To turn to the Lord Jesus Christ and hearken to his Teachings in their own Hearts We departed thence And as we travelled through the Country preaching Repentance to the People we came into a Market-town on the Market-day and there was a Lecture there that Day And I went into the Steeple-house where were many Priests and Professors and People The Priest that preached took for his Text those Words of Jeremiah Chap. 5. ver 31. My People love to have it so Leaving out the foregoing Words viz. The Prophets prophesy falsly and the Priests bear Rule by their Means So I shewed the People his Deceit and directed them to Christ the true Teacher within declaring unto them that God was come to Teach his People himself and to bring them off from all the World's Teachers and Hirelings that they might come to receive freely from him Then warning them of the Day of the Lord that was coming upon all Flesh I passed from thence without much Opposition At Night we came to a Country-house and there was no Ale-house near They desired us to stay there all Night which we did and had good Service for the Lord declaring his Truth amongst them 1652. Yorkshire The next Day we passed on For the Lord had said unto me If but one Man or Woman were Raised up by his Power to stand and live in the same Spirit that the Prophets and Apostles were in who gave forth the Scriptures ☞ that Man or Woman should shake all the Country in their Profession for Ten Miles round For People had the Scriptures but were not in that same Light and Power and Spirit which they were in that gave forth the Scriptures and so they neither knew God nor Christ nor the Scriptures aright nor had they Vnity one with another being out of the Power and Spirit of God Therefore as we passed along we Warned all People where-ever we met them of the Day of the Lord that was coming upon them Pendle-hill As we travelled on we came near a very great and high
Hill called Pendle-hill and I was moved of the Lord to go up to the Top of it which I did with much ado it was so very Steep and High When I was come to the Top of this Hill I saw the Sea bordering upon Lancashire And from the Top of this Hill the Lord let me see in what Places he had a Great People to be gathered As I went down I found a Spring of Water in the Side of the Hill with which I refreshed my self having eaten or drunk but little in several Days before At Night we came to an Inn and declared Truth to the Man of the House and writ a Paper to the Priests and Professors declaring the Day of the Lord and that Christ was come to teach People himself by his Power and Spirit in their Hearts and to bring People off from all the World's Ways and Teachers to his own free Teaching who had bought them and was the Saviour of all them that believed in him The Man of the House spread the Paper abroad and was himself mightily affected with the Truth Here the Lord opened unto me and let me see a Great People in white Raiment by a River-side coming to the Lord And the Place that I saw them in was about Wentzerdale and Sedbergh The next Day we travelled on and at Night got a little Fern or Brakins to lay under us and lay upon a Common Next Morning we reached to a Town and there Richard Farnsworth parted from me and then I travelled alone again Wentzerdale So I came up Wentzerdale and at the Market-Town in that Dale there was a Lecture on the Market-day and I went into the Steeple-house And after the Priest had done I Proclaimed the Day of the Lord to the Priest and People Warning them to turn from the Darkness to the Light and from the Power of Satan unto God that they might come to know God and Christ aright and to receive his Teaching who teacheth freely And largely and freely did I declare the Word of Life unto them and had not much Persecution there Afterwards I passed up the Dales Warning People to fear God and preaching the Everlasting Gospel to them And in my way I came to a Great House where there was a School-master and they got me into the House And I asked them Questions about their Religion and Worship and afterward I declared the Truth to them They had me into a Parlour and lockt me in pretending that I was a Young Man that was Mad and had got away from my Relations and that they would keep me till they could send to my Relations 1652. Wentzerdale But I soon Convinced them of their Mistake in that and they let me forth and would have had me to stay there But I was not to stay there Then having exhorted them to Repentance and directed them to the Light of Christ Jesus that through it they might come unto him and be saved I passed from them and came in the Night to a little Ale-house on a Common where there was a Company of Rude Fellows drinking And because I would not drink with them they got up their Clubs and were striking at me but I reproved them and brought them to be somewhat Cooler and then I walked out of the House upon the Common in the Night After some time one of these drunken Fellows came out and would have come close up to me pretending to whisper to me but I perceived he had a Knife wherefore I kept off from him and bid him Repent and fear God So the Lord by his Power preserved me from this Wicked Man and he went into the House again The next Morning I went on through other Dales Yorkshire Dales Warning and Exhorting People every where as I passed to Repent and turn to the Lord and several were Convinced At one House that I came to the Man of the House whom I afterwards found to be a Kinsman of John Blakelin's would have given me Money but I would not Receive it As thus I traveled on through the Dales I came to another Man's House whose Name was Tennant And I was moved to speak to the Family and declare God's Everlasting Truth to them And as I was turning away from them I was moved to turn again and speak to the Man himself And he was Convinced and his Family and lived and died in the Truth Thence I came to Major Bousfield's who received me as did also several others and some that were then Convinced have stood faithful ever since Grysedale I went also thro' Grysedale and several other of those Dales in which some were Convinced And I went into Dent where many were Convinced also Dent. But from Major Bousfield's I came to Richard Robinson's and declared the Everlasting Truth to him The next day I went to a Meeting at Justice Benson's where met a a People that were separated from the publick Worship This was the place that I had seen where a People came forth in white Raiment A large Meeting it was and the People were generally Convinced and continue a large Meeting still of Friends near Sedburgh Near Sedburgh Which was then first gathered through my Ministry in the Name of Jesus In the same Week there was a great Fair at which Servants used to be hired And I went and declared the day of the Lord through the Fair. And after I had done so I went into the Steeple-house-Yard and many of the People of the Fair came thither to me and abundance of Priests and Professors There I declared the Everlasting Truth of the Lord and the Word of Life for several Hours shewing that the Lord was come to Teach his People himself and to bring them off from all the World's Ways and Teachers to Christ the true Teacher and the true Way to God I laid open their Teachers shewing that they were like them that were of Old condemned by the Prophets and by Christ and by the Apostles And I exhorted the People to come off from the Temples made with Hands 1652. Near Sedburgh and Wait to receive the Spirit of the Lord that they might know themselves to be the Temples of God Not one of the Priests had power to open his Mouth against what I declared But at last a Captain said Why will you not go into the Church for this is not a fit place to preach in said he But I told him I denied their Church Then stood up one Francis Howgill who was a Preacher to a Congregation He had not seen me before yet he undertook to Answer that Captain and soon put him to Silence Then said this Francis Howgill of me This Man speaks with Authority and not as the Scribes After this I opened to the People That that Ground and House was no holier than another Place and that that House is not the Church but the People whom Christ is the Head of Then after a while the
but told them If they would appoint a Meeting for the next day at the Steeple-house and acquaint the People with it I might meet them They had a great deal of Reasoning about it some being for it and some against it In the Morning I walked out after I had spoken again to them concerning the Meeting and as I walked upon a Bank by the House there came several poor People Travellers asking Relief who I saw were in Necessity and they gave them nothing but said they were Cheats It grieved me to see such hard-heartedness amongst Professors whereupon when they were gone in to their Breakfast I ran after the Poor People about a quarter of a Mile and gave them some Money Mean while some of them that were in the House coming out again and seeing me a quarter of a Mile off said I could not have gone so far in such an Instant if I had not had Wings Hereupon the Meeting was like to have been put by for they were filled with such strange Thoughts concerning me that many of them were against having a Meeting with me I told them I ran after those poor People to give them some Money being grieved at their hard-heartedness who gave them nothing Then came Miles and Stephen Hubbersty and they being more simple-hearted Men would have the Meeting held So to the Chappel at Vnder-barrow I went and the Priest came and a great Meeting there was and the Way of Life and Salvation was opened and after a while the Priest fled away And many of Crook and Vnder-barrow were Convinced that day and received the Word of Life and stood fast in it under the Teaching of Christ Jesus Now after I had declared the Truth to them for some Hours and the Meeting was ended the Chief-Constable and some other Professors fell to Reasoning with me in the Chappel-Yard Whereupon I took a Bible and opened to them the Scriptures and dealt tenderly with them as one would do with a Child And they that were in the Light of Christ and Spirit of God knew when I spake Scripture though I did not mention Chapter and Verse after the Priest's Form unto them From hence I went along with an ancient Man 1652. Under-barrow whose Heart the Lord had opened and he invited me to his House His Name was James Dickinson He was Convinced that day and received the Truth and lived and died in it From his House I came the next day to James Taylor 's of Newton in Cartmell in Lancashire And on the First-day of the Week Lancashire Newton in Cartmell I went to the Chappel wheâ—e one Priest Camelford used to preach and after he had done I began to speak the Word of Life to the People But this Priest Camelford was in such a Rage and did so fret and was so peevish that he had no patience to hear but stirred up the rude Multitude and they rudely haled me out and struck and punched me and threw me Headlong over a Stone-Wall yet blessed be the Lord his Power preserved me He that did this Violence to me was a wicked Man one John Knipe whom afterwards the Lord cut off But there was a Youth in the Chappel writing after the Priest and I was moved to speak to him and he came to be Convinced and received a part of the Ministry of the Gospel His Name was John Brathwait Then went I up to an Ale-house whither many People resorted betwixt the time of their Morning and Afternoon-Preaching and I had a great deal of Reasoning with the People there declaring to them That God was come to Teach his People himself and to bring them off from all false Teachers such as the Prophets Christ and the Apostles cryed against And many received the Word of Life at that time and abode in it In the Afternoon I went about two or three Miles to another Steeple-house or Chappel called Lyndal And when the Priest had done I spake to him and the People what the Lord commanded me and there were great Opposers but afterwards they came to be Convinced After this I went to one Captain Sands who with his Wife seemed somewhat affected with Truth and if they could have held the World and Truth together they would have received it but they were Hypocrites and he a very Chaffy light Man Wherefore I reproved him for his Lightness and for his Jesting telling him It was not seemly in a great Professor as he was Thereupon he told me He had a Son who upon his Death-bed had also reproved him for it and warned him of it But he neither regarded the Admonition of his dying Son nor the Reproofs of God's Spirit in himself From hence I went to Vlverstone Ulverstone Swarthmore and so to Swarthmore to Judge Fell's whether came up one Lampitt a Priest who I perceived had been and still was an high Notionist With him I had a great deal of Reasoning for he would talk of high Notions and Perfection and thereby deceived the People He would have owned me but I could not own nor join with him he was so full of Filth He said He was above John and made as though he knew all things But I told him Death reigned from Adam to Moses and that he was under Death and knew not Moses for Moses saw the Paradise of God but he knew neither Moses nor the Prophets nor John For that crooked and rough Nature stood in him and the Mountain of Sin and Corruptions and the Way was not prepared in him for the Lord. 1652. Swarthmore He confessed he had been under a Cross in things but now he could sing Psalms and do any thing I told him Now he could see a Thief and join Hand in Hand with him But he could not preach Moses nor the Prophets nor John nor Christ except he were in the same Spirit that they were in Now Margaret Fell had been abroad in the Day-time and at Night her Children told her that Priest Lampitt and I had dis-agreed which did some-what trouble her because she was in a Profession with him but he hid his dirty Actions from them At Night we had a great deal of Reasoning and I declared the Truth to her and her Family The next day Lampitt came again and I had a great deal of Discourse with him before Margaret Fell who then clearly discerned the Priest and a Convincement of the Lord's Truth came upon her and her Family Within a day or two there was a day to be observed for an Humiliation and Margaret Fell asked me to go with her to the Steeple-house at Vlverstone Ulverstone for she was not wholly come off from them I replied I must do as I am ordered by the Lord. So I left her and walked into the Fields and the Word of the Lord came to me saying Go to the Steeple-house after them When I came the Priest Lampitt was singing with his People But his Spirit was so foul
and the Matter they sung so Vnsuitable to their States that after they had done singing I was moved of the Lord to speak to him and the People The Word of the Lord to them was He is not a Jew that is one Outward but he is a Jew that is one Inward whose Praise is not of Man but of God Then as the Lord opened further I shewed them That God was come to Teach his People by his Spirit and to bring them off from all their old Ways and Religions Churches and Worships for all their Religions and Worships and Ways was but talking of other Mens Words but they were out of the Life and Spirit which they were in who gave them forth Then cried out one called Justice Sawrey Take him away But Judge Fell's Wife said to the Officers Let him alone Why may not he speak as well as any other Lampitt also the Priest in Deceit said Let him speak So at length when I had declared a pretty while this Justice Sawrey caused the Constable to put me out and then I spake to the People in the Grave-yard Aldenham Upon the First-Day after I was moved to go to Aldenham-Steeple-house And when the Priest had done I spake to him but he got away Then I declared the Word of Life to the People and warned them to Return to the Lord. Ramside From thence I passed to Ram-side where was a Chappel in which one Thomas Lawson used to preach who was a high sort of a Priest and he very lovingly spake to his People in the Morning of my Coming in the Afternoon by which means very many People were gathered together When I came I saw there was no Place so Convenient to declare to the People there as the Chappel wherefore I went into the Chappel and all was quiet And the Priest Thomas Lawson went not up into his Pulpit but left all the Time to me And the Everlasting Day of the Eternal God was proclaimed that Day and the Everlasting Truth was largely declared which reached and entred into the Hearts of People and many received the Truth in the Love of it And this Priest came to be Convinced and left his Chappel 1652. Firbank Chappel and threw off his Preaching for Hire and came to preach the Lord Jesus and his Kingdom freely After that some rude People cast Scandals upon him and thought to have done him a Mischief but he was carried over all and grew in the Wisdom of God mightily and proved very serviceable in his Place Then returned I to Swarthmore again Swarthmore Dalton Steeple-house and on the next First-Day went to Dalton-Steeple-house where after the Priest had done I declared the Word of Life to the People that they might be turned from the Darkness to the Light and from the Power of Satan to God and might come off from their Superstitious Ways and from their Teachers made of Man to Christ the true and living Way to be taught of him From thence I went into the Island of Walnah Island of Walnah and after the Priest had done I spake to him but he got away Then I spake to the People and declared the Truth unto them but they were something Rude Then went I to speak with the Priest at his House but he would not be seen The People said he went to hide himself in the Hay-mow and they went to look for him there but could not find him Then they said he was gone to hide himself in the standing Corn but they could not find him there neither So I went to James Lancaster's who was Convinced in the Island and from thence I returned to Swarthmore again Swarthmore where the Lord's Power seized upon Margaret Fell and her Daughter Sarah and several of them Then I went to Becliff where Leornard Fell was Convinced Becliff and became a Minister of the Everlasting Gospel And several others were Convinced there and came into obedience to the Truth Here the People said They could not tell how to dispute and would fain have put on some other to hold Talk with me but I bid them Fear the Lord and not in a light way hold a Talk of the Lord's Words but put the Things in practice And I directed them to the Divine Light of Christ and his Spirit in their Hearts which would let them see all the Evil Thoughts Words and Actions that they had thought spoken and acted by which Light they might see their Sin and by which Light they might also see their Saviour Christ Jesus to save them from their Sins This I told them was their first Step to Peace even to stand still in the Light that shewed them their Sins and Transgressions by which they might come to see how they were in the fall of Old Adam in the Darkness and Death Strangers to the Covenant of Promise and without God in the World And by the same Light they might see Christ that died for them to be their Redeemer and Saviour and their Way to God After this I went to a Chappel beyond Gleaston which was built Chappel beyond Gleaston but never Priest had preached in it Thither all the Country up and down came and a quiet peaceable Meeting it was in which the Word of Life was declared amongst the People and many were convinced of the Truth about Gleaston 1652. Swarthmore Westmorland on Kendal-side From thence I returned to Swarthmore again where after I had staid a few Days and most of the Family were Convinced I went from thence back again into Westmorland where Priest Lampitt had been amongst the Professors on Kendal-Side and had mightily Incensed them against me telling them I held many strange Things So I met with them that he had so Incensed and sate up all Night with them at James Dickinson's and answered all their Objections And then they were both throughly satisfied with the Truth that I had declared and dissatisfied with him and his Lies that he had divulged so that he clearly lost the best of his Hearers and Followers who hereby came to see his Deceit and forsook him Then I passed on to John Audland's and Gervase Benson's and had great Meetings amongst those People that had been Convinced before And to John Blakelin's and Richard Robinson's and had mighty Meetings there and so up towards Grisedale Soon after Judge Fell being come home Margaret Fell his Wife sent to me desiring me to return thither And I feeling Freedom from the Lord so to do Swarthmore went back through the Country to Swarthmore Where when I came I found the Priests and Professors and that envious Justice Sawrey had much Incensed Judge Fell and Captain Sands against the Truth by their Lies But when I came to speak with him I answered all his Objections and so throughly satisfied him by the Scriptures that he was Convinced in his Judgment Then he asked me If I was that George Fox whom Justice
they do come to be renewed again into the Image of God they come out of the Natures of these things and so out of the Names thereof Many more such things were declared to them and they were turned to the Light of Christ by which they might come to know Christ and to receive him and might witness him to be their Substance and their Way their Salvation and true Teacher And many were Convinced at that Time Now after I had travelled up and down in those Countries and had had great Meetings Swarthmore Ulverston I came to Swarthmore again And when I had visited Friends a while in those Parts I heard of a great Meeting the Priests were to have at Vlverstone on a Lecture-Day Whereupon I went down to it and went into the Steeple-house in the Dread and Power of the Lord And when the Priest had done I spake among them the Word of the Lord which was as an Hammer and as a Fire amongst them And though Lampit the Priest of the Place had been at variance with most of the Priests before yet against the Truth he and they all joined together But the mighty Power of the Lord was over all and so wonderful was the Appearance thereof that Priest Bennet said The Church shook Insomuch that he was afraid and trembled and after he had spoken a few Confused Words he hastened out for fear the Steeple-house would fall on his Head There were many Priests got together there yet they had no Power as yet to Persecute When I had cleared my Conscience amongst them I went up to Swarthmore again whither came up four or five of the Priests 1652. Swarthmore And coming to discourse I asked them Whether any one of them could say he ever had the Word of the Lord to go and speak to such or such a People None of them durst say He had But one of them burst out into a Passion and said He could speak his Experiences as well as I. I told him Experience was one thing but to receive and go with a Message and to have a Word from the Lord as the Prophets and Apostles had and did and as I had done to them this was another thing And therefore I put it to them again Could any of them say he had ever had a Command or Word from the Lord immediately at any time but none of them could say so Then I told them The false Prophets and false Apostles and Antichrists could use the Words of the true Prophets and true Apostles and of Christ and would speak of other Mens Experiences though they themselves never knew nor heard the Voice of God and Christ and such as They might get the good Words and Experiences of others This puzzled them much and laid them open For at another time when I was discoursing with several Priests at Judge Fell's House and he was by I asked them the same Question Whether any of them ever heard the Voice of God or Christ to bid him go to such or such a People to declare his Word or Message unto them for any one I told them any that could but read might declare the Experiences of the Prophets and Apostles which were recorded in the Scriptures Hereupon one of them whose Name was Thomas Taylor an ancient Priest did ingenuously Confess before Judge Fell That he had never heard the Voice of God nor of Christ to send him to any People but he spake his Experiences and the Experiences of the Saints in former Ages and That he preached This very much Confirmed Judge Fell in the Perswasion he had That the Priests were wrong for he had thought formerly as the generality of People then did That they were sent from God This Thomas Taylor was Convinced at this time Westmorland Cross-land and traveled with me into Westmorland And coming to Crossland-Steeple-house we found the People gathered together there And the Lord opened Thomas Taylor 's Mouth amongst the People though he was Convinced but the day before so that he declared amongst them How he had been before he was Convinced and like the good Scribe that was Converted to the Kingdom he brought forth things new and old to the People and shewed them how the Priests were out of the Way Which did torment the Priests Some little discourse I had with them but they sled away and a precious Meeting there was wherein the Lord's Power was over all and the People were directed to the Spirit of God by which they might come to know God and Christ and to understand the Scriptures aright After this I passed on visiting Friends and had very large Meetings in Westmorland Now began the Priests to Rage more and more and as much as they could to stir up Persecution Whereupon James Naylor and Francis Howgill were cast into Prison in Appleby-Jail at the instigation of the malicious Priests some of whom prophesied That within a Month we should be all scattered again and come to nothing But blessed for ever be the Worthy Name of the Lord the Work of the Lord went on and prospered 1652. Westmorland For about this time John Audland and Francis Howgill and John Camm and Edward Burrough and Richard Hubberthorn and Miles Hubbersty and Miles Halhead with several others being endued with Power from on high came forth into the Work of the Ministry and approved themselves faithful Labourers therein traveling up and down and preaching the Gospel freely by means whereof Multitudes were Convinced and many effectually turned to the Lord. Amongst these Christopher Taylor was one who was Brother to Thomas Taylor before-mentioned and had been a Preacher to a People as well as his Brother But after they had received the knowledge of the Truth they soon came into Obedience thereunto and left their Preaching for Hire or Rewards And having received a part of the Ministry of the Gospel they preached Christ freely being often sent by the Lord to declare his Word in Steeple-houses and in Markets and great Sufferers they were Lancashire Ulverstone After I had visited Friends in Westmorland I returned into Lancashire and went to Vlverstone where Lampitt was Priest who though he had preached of a People that did own the Teachings of God and had said That Men and Women should come to declare the Gospel yet afterwards when it came to be fulfilled he persecuted both it and them To this Priest's House I went where abundance of Priests and Professors â—ere got together after their Lecture with whom I had great Disputings concerning Christ and the Scriptures for they were loth to let their Trade go down which they made of preaching Christ's and the Apostles and Prophets Words But the Lord's Power went over the Heads of them all and his Word of Life was held forth amongst them though many of them were exceeding Envious and Devillish Yet after this many Priests and Professors came to me from far and near of whom they that were
Innocent and Simple-minded were satisfied and went away refreshed but the fat and full were fed with Judgment and sent empty away for that was the Word of the Lord to be divided to them Now when Meetings were set up and we Met in private Houses then began Lampitt the Priest to Rage And he said We forsook the Temple and went to Jeroboam 's Calves-houses So that many Professors began to see how he was declined from that which he had formerly hâ—ld and preached Hereupon the Case of Jeroboam's Calves was opened to the Professors Priests and People and it was declared and manifested unto them That their Houses which they called Churches were more like Jeroboam's Calves-houses even the Old Mass-houses which were set up in the darkness of Popery and which they who called themselves Protestants and professed to be more enlightned than the Papists did still hold up although God had never commanded them Whereas that Temple which God had commanded at Jerusalem Christ came to end the Service of and they that received and believed in him their Bodies came to be the Temples of God and of Christ and of the Holy Ghost to dwell in them and to walk in them And all such were gathered into the Name of Jesus whose Name is above every Name 1652. Ulverstone and there is no Salvation by any other Name under the whole Heaven but by the Name of Jesus And they that were thus gathered met together in several Dwelling-houses which were not called the Temple nor the Church but their Bodies were the Temples of God and the Believers were the Church which Christ was the Head of So that Christ was not called the Head of an Old House which was made by Mens Hands neither did he come to purchase and sanctify and redeem with his Blood an Old House which they called their Church but the People which he is the Head of Much work I had in those Days with Priests and People concerning their Old Mass-houses which they called their Churches for the Priests had persuaded the People that it was the House of God whereas the Apostle says Whose House we are c. Heb. 3.6 So the People are God's House in whom he dwells And the Apostle saith Christ purchased his Church with his own Blood and Christ calls his Church his Spouse and his Bride the Lamb's Wife So that this Title Church and Spouse was not given to an Old House but to his People the true Believers After this on a Lecture-day I was moved to go to the Steeple-house at Vlverstone where were abundance of Professors Priests and People I went up near to Priest Lampitt who was blustering on in his Preaching And after the Lord had opened my Mouth to speak John Sawrey the Justice came to me and said If I would speak according to the Scriptures I should speak I stranged at him for speaking so to me for I did speak according to the Scriptures and I told him I should speak according to the Scriptures and bring the Scriptures to prove what I had to say for I had something to speak to Lampitt and to them Then he said I should not speak Contradicting himself who had said just before I should speak if I would speak according to the Scriptures which I did Now the People were quiet and heard me gladly until this Justice Sawrey who was the first Stirrer up of cruel Persecution in the North incensed them against me and set them on to hale beat and bruise me Then on a sudden the People were in a Rage and they fell upon me in the Steeple-house before his Face and knock'd me down and kicked me and trampled upon me he looking on And so great was the Vproar that some People tumbled over their Seats for fear At last he came and took me from the People and led me out of the Steeple-house and put me into the Hands of the Constables and other Officers bidding them Whip me and put me out of the Town Then they led me about a quarter of a Mile some taking hold by my Collar and some by my Arms and Shoulders and shook and dragg'd me along And there being many Friendly People come to the Market and some of them come to the Steeple-house to hear me divers of these they knocked down also and brake their Heads so that the Blood ran down from several of them And Judge Fell's Son running after to see what they would do with me they threw him into a Ditch of Water some of them crying Knock the Teeth out of his Head Now when they had haled me to the Common-Moss-side a Multitude of People following the Constables and other Officers gave me some Blows over my Back with their Willow-Rods and so thrust me among the rude Multitude who having furnished themselves some with Staves some with Hedge-stakes Common and others with Holm or Holly-bushes fell upon me and beat me on my Head Arms and Shoulders till they had amazed me so that I fell down upon the Wet Common And when I recovered my self again and saw my self lying in a Watry Common and the People standing about me I lay still a little while And the Power of the Lord sprang through me and the Eternal Refreshings refreshed me so that I stood up again in the strengthening Power of the Eternal God And stretching out my Arms amongst them I said with a loud Voice Strike again here are my Arms my Head and my Cheeks There was in the Company a Mason a Professor but a rude Fellow He with his walking Rule-Staff gave me a Blow with all his might just over the back of my Hand as it was stretched out with which blow my Hand was so bruised and my Arm so benummed that I could not draw it unto me again so that some of the People cried out He hath spoil'd his Hand for ever having any use of it more But I looked at it in the Love of God for I was in the Love of God to them all that had persecuted me and atter a while the Lord's Power sprang through me again and through my Hand and Arm so that in a Moment I recovered Strength in my Hand and Arm in the fight of them all Then they began to fall out among themselves and some of them came to me and said If I would give them Money they would secure me from the rest But I was moved of the Lord to declare to them all the Word of Life and shewed them their false Christianity and the Fruits of their Priest's Ministry telling them they were more like Heathens and Jews than true Christians Ulverstone Market Then was I moved of the Lord to come up again through the midst of the People and go up into Vlverstone-Market And as I went there met me a Man a Souldier with his Sword by his Side Sir said he to me I see you are a Man and I am ashamed and grieved that you should be thus
their way and did no harm Lancaster The time for the Sessions at Lancaster being come I went to Lancaster with Judge Fell who on the way told me He had never had such a Matter brought before him before and he could not well tell what to do in the Business I told him when Paul was brought before the Rulers and the Jews and Priests came down to Accuse him and laid many false things to his Charge Paul stood still all that while And when they had done Festus the Governour and King Agrippa beckned to him to speak for himself which Paul did and cleared himself of all those false Accusations And so he might do by me Being come to Lancaster and Justice Sawrey and Justice Thompson having granted a Warrant to apprehend me though I was not apprehended by it Lancaster Sessions yet hearing of it I appeared at the Sessions where there appeared against me about Forty Priests These had chosen one Marshal Priest of Lancaster to be their Orator and had provided one young Priest and two Priests Sons to bear Witness against me who had sworn before-hand that I had spoken Blasphemy When the Justices were set they heard all that the Priests and their Witnesses could say and charge against me their Orator Marshal sitting by and explaining their Sayings for them But the Witnesses were so Confounded that they discovered themselves to be false Witnesses For when the Court had Examined one of the Witnesses upon Oath 1652. Lancaster Sessions and then began to Examin another of them he was at such loss he could not Answer directly but said the other could say it Which made the Justices say to him Have you sworn it and given it in already upon your Oath and now say That he can say it It seems you did not hear those words spoken your self though you have sworn it There were then in Court several People who had been at that Meeting wherein the Witnesses swore I spake those blasphemous Words which the Priests accused me of and these being Men of Integrity and Reputation in the Country did declare and affirm in Court That the Oath which the Witnesses had taken against me was altogether false and that no such Words as they had sworn against me were spoken by me at that Meeting For indeed most of the serious Men of that side of the County that were then at the Sessions had been at that Meeting and had heard me both at that Meeting and at other Meetings also This was taken notice of by Colonel VVest who being a Justice of the Peace was then upon the Bench and having long been weak in Body blessed the Lord and said The Lord had healed him that day adding That he never saw so many sober People and good Faces together in all his Life And then turning himself to me he said in the open Sessions George If thou hast any thing to say to the People thou may'st freely declare it And I was moved of the Lord to speak and as soon as I began Priest Marshal the Orator for the rest of the Priests went his way That which I was moved to declare was this That the Holy Scriptures were given forth by the Spirit of God and all People must first come to the Spirit of God in themselves by which they might know God and Christ of whom the Prophets and the Apostles learnt and by the same Spirit know the Holy Scriptures for as the Spirit of God was in them that gave forth the Scriptures so the same Spirit of God must be in all them that come to know and understand the Scriptures By which Spirit they might have Fellowship with the Son and with the Father and with the Scriptures and with one another And without this Spirit they can know neither God nor Christ nor the Scriptures nor have right Fellowship one with another I had no sooner spoken these Words but about half a dozen Priests that stood behind my Back burst out into a passion and one of them whose Name was Jackus amongst other things that he spake against the Truth said That the Spirit and the Letter were inseparable I replied Then every one that hath the Letter hath the Spirit and they might buy the Spirit with the Letter of the Scriptures This plain discovery of Darkness in the Priest moved Judge Fell and Colonel VVest to Reprove them openly and tell them That according to that Position they might carry the Spirit in their Pockets as they did the Scriptures Upon this the Priests being Confounded and put to silence rusht out in a Rage against the Justices because they could not have their bloody Ends upon me So the Justices seeing the Witnesses did not agree and perceiving that they were brought to Answer the Priests Envy and finding that all their Evidences were not sufficient in Law to make good their Charge against me they discharged me And after Judge Fell had spoken to Justice Sawrey and Justice Thompson concerning the VVarrant they had given forth against me and shewed them the Errors thereof He and Colonel West granted a Supersedeas to stop the Execution thereof Thus was I cleared in open Sessions of all those lying Accusations which the malicious Priests had laid to my Charge And Multitudes of People praised God that day for it was a joyful Day to many There was Justice Benson out of Westmorland who was Convinced and Major Ripan that was Mayor of the Town of Lancaster who was Convinced also It was a day of Everlasting Salvation to hundreds of People for the Lord Jesus Christ the Way to the Father and the free Teacher was exalted and set up and his Everlasting Gospel was preached and the Word of Eternal Life was declared over the heads of the Priests and all such Money-Preachers For the Lord opened many Mouths that Day to speak his Word to the Priests and several friendly People and Professors reproved the Priests in their Inns and in the Streets so that they fell like an old rotten House and the Cry was among the People That the Quakers had got the day and the Priests were fallen Many People were Convinced that day amongst whom Thomas Briggs was one who before had been averse from Friends and Truth insomuch that discoursing on a time with John Lawson a Friend concerning Perfection Thomas Briggs said to him Dost thou hold Perfection and therewithal lift up his Hand to have given the Friend a Box on the Ear. But this Thomas Briggs being Convinced of the Truth that day declared against his own Priest Jackus and afterwards became a faithful Minister of the Gospel and stood so to the End of his Days When the Sessions were over James Naylor who was present thereat gave a brief Account of the Proceedings thereof in a Letter which soon after he writ to Friends which is here added for the Reader 's further satisfaction in this Matter DEar Friends and Brethren in the Lord Jesus Christ my
Religion to the Simple and Babes and brought thy Deeds to Light How is thy Habitation fallen and become the Habitation of Devils How is thy Beauty lost and thy Glory withered How hast thou shewed thy End that thou hast served God but with thy Lips and thy Heart far from him and thou in the Hypocrisy How hath the Form of thy Teaching declared it self to be the Mark of the false Prophets whose Fruit declares it self for by their Fruits they are known How are the Wise Men turned backward View thy Ways and take notice with whom thou hast taken part That of God in thy Conscience will tell thee 1652. Swarthmore The Ancient of Days will reprove thee How hath thy Zeal appeared to be the Blind Zeal a Persecutor which Christ and his Apostles forbad Christians to follow How hast thou strengthened the Hands of Evil-doers and been a Praise to them and not to them that do well How like a Mad-man and a Blind-man didst thou turn thy Sword backward against the Saints against whom there is no Law How wilt thou be gnawed and burned one Day when thou shalt feel the Flame and have the Plagues of God poured upon thee and thou begin to gnaw thy Tongue for Pain because of the Plagues Thou shalt have thy Reward according to thy Works Thou canst not escape the Lord 's righteous Judgment will find thee out and the Witness of God in thy Conscience shall answer it How hast thou caused the Heathen to Blaspheme and gone on with the Multitude to do Evil and joined hand in hand with the wicked How is thy latter End worse than thy Beginning who art come with the Dog to bite and art turned as a Wolf to devour the Lambs How hast thou discovered thy self to be a Man more fit to be kept in a place to be nurtured than to be set in a Place to nurture How wast thou exalted and puffed up with Pride And now art thou fallen down with Shame that thou comest to be covered with that which thou stirredst up and broughtest forth Let not John Sawrey take the VVords of God into his Mouth till he be Reformed Let him not take his Name into his Mouth till he depart from Iniquity Let not him and his Teacher make a Profession of the Saints VVords except they intend to proclaim themselves Hypocrites whose Lives are so contrary to the Lives of the Saints whose Church hath made it self manifest to be a Cage of Vnclean Birds You having a Form of Godliness but not the Power have made them that be in the Power your Derision your By-word and your Talk at your Feasts Thy ill Savour John Sawrey the Country about have smelled and of thy unchristian Carriage all that fear God have been ashamed and to them thou hast been a Grief In the Day of Account thou shalt know it even in the Day of thy Condemnation Thou wast mounted up and hadst set thy Nest on high but never gottest higher than the Fowls of the Air But now thou art run amongst the Beasts of Prey and art fallen into the Earth so that Earthliness and Covetousness hath swallowed thee up and thy Conceitedness would not carry thee through in whom was found the selfish Principle which hath blinded thy Eye Thy Back must be bowed down always for thy Table is already become thy Snare G. F. This Justice Sawrey who was the first Persecutor in that Country was afterward drowned I writ also to VVilliam Lampit who was the Priest of Vlverston and thus it was upon me to write unto him THE Word of the Lord to thee O Lampitt who art a Deceiver surfetted and drunk with the Earthly Spirit rambling up and down in the Scriptures and blending thy Spirit amongst the Saints Conditions who hadst a Prophecy as thy Father Balaam had but art erred from it as thy Father did One whose Fruit hath withered of which I am a Witness and many who have known thy Fruit have seen the End of it that it is withered and do see where thou art in the blind World a blind Leader of the Blind a Beast wallowing and tumbling in the Earth and in the Lust one that is erred from the Spirit of the Lord who art of old ordained for Condemnation Who art in the Seat of the Pharisees art called of Men Master standest Praying in the Synagogues and hast the Chief Seat in the Assemblies a right Hypocrite in the steps of the Pharisees and in the way of thy Fathers the Hypocrites which our Lord Jesus Christ cried Wo against Such with the Light thou art seen to be and by the Light art Comprehended which is thy Condemnation who hatest it and will be so Eternally except thou Repent To thee this is the Word of God for in Christ's Way thou art not but in the Pharisees as thou may stread Mat. 23. and all that own Christ's Words may see thee there Christ who died at Jerusalem cried Wo against such as thou art and Christ is the same yesterday to day and for ever The Wo remains upon thee and from under it thou canst never come but through Judgment Condemnation and true Repentance To thee this is the VVord of God To that of God in thy Conscience I do speak which will witness the Truth of what I write and will Condemn thee And when thou art in thy Torment though now thou swellest in thy Vanity and livest in Wickedness remember thou wast warned in thy Life-time when the Eternal Condemnation is stretched over thee thou shalt witness this to be the VVord of the Lord God unto thee And if ever thy Eye should see Repentance thou would'st witness me to have been a Friend of thy Soul G. F. Having thus cleared my Conscience to the Justice and to the Priest of Vlverstone who had raised the first Persecution in that Country it was upon me to send this VVarning in Writing to the People of Vlverstone in general COnsider O People who be within the Parish of Vlverston I was moved of the Lord to come into your Publick Places to speak among you being sent of God to direct your Minds to God that you might know where you might find your Teacher that your Minds might be stayed alone upon God and you might not gad abroad without you for a Teacher for the Lord God alone will Teach his People and he is coming to Teach them and to gather his People from Idols-Temples and from the customary Worships which all the World is trained up in And God hath given to every one of you a Measure of his Spirit according to your Capacity Liars Drunkards Whoremongers and Thieves and who follow filthy Pleasures you all have this Measure in you And this is the Measure of the Spirit of God that shews you Sin and shews you Evil and shews you Deceit which lets you see Lying is Sin Theft Drunkenness and Vncleanness all these to be the Works of Darkness Therefore mind your Measure for
nothing that is Unclean shall enter into the Kingdom of God and prize your Time while you have it lest the Time come that you say with Sorrow We had Time but it is past Oh why will ye die Why will ye chuse your own Ways Why will ye follow the Course of the World and why will ye follow Envy Malice Drunkenness and foolish Pleasures Know ye not in your Consciences that all these are Evil and Sin and that such as act such things shall never enter into the Kingdom of God Oh that ye would Consider and see how you have spent your Time and mind how ye do spend your Time and observe whom ye do serve for the Wages of Sin is Death Do not ye know that whatsoever is more than Yea and Nay cometh of Evil Oh ye Drunkards who live in Drunkenness do ye think to escape the Fire and the Judgment of God! Though ye swell in Venom and live in Lust for a while yet God will find you out and bring you to Judgment Therefore love the Light which Christ hath enlightened you withal who saith I am the Light of the World and who doth enlighten every one that cometh into the World One loves the Light and brings his Works to the Light and there is no occasion at all of stumbling the other hates the Light because his Deeds are Evil and the Light will reprove him Thou that hatest this Light thou hast it Thou knowest Lying is Evil Drunkenness is Evil Swearing is Evil Whoredom Theft and all Vngodliness and all Vnrighteousness is Evil Christ Jesus hath given thee Light enough to let thee see this is Evil. And this Light if thou lovest it will teach thee Holiness and Righteousness without which none shall see God but if thou hatest this Light it is thy Condemnation And thus are Christ's Words found to be true and fulfilled among you You that hate this Light set up Hirelings and Idols-Temples and such Priests as bear rule by their means and such Shepherds as hold up such things and such as are called of Men Masters and have the chiefest Place in the Assemblies whom Christ cried Wo against Matt. 23. And such as go in the way of Cain in Envy and after the Error of Balaam for Wages Gifts and Rewards These have been your Teachers and these you have held up But who love the Light are taught of God and the Lord is coming to teach his People himself and to gather his from the Hirelings and from such as seek for their Gain from their Quarter and from such as bear Rule by their Means The Lord is opening the Eyes of foolish People that they shall see such as bear Rule over them But all whose Eyes are shut are such as the Prophet spake of That have Eyes and see not but are foolish upholding such things Therefore poor People as ye love your own Souls consider the Love of God to your Souls while ye have time and do not turn the Grace of God into Wantonness That which shews you Vngodliness and worldly Lusts that should and would be your Teacher if ye would hearken to it for the Saints of Old witnessed the Grace of God to be their Teacher which taught them to live Soberly and Godly in this present World And ye that are not sober this Grace of God hath appeared unto you but you turn it into Wantonness and so set up Teachers without you who are not sober not holy not godly Here you are left without Excuse when the Righteous Judgment of God shall be revealed upon you all who live Ungodlily Therefore to the Light in you I speak and when the Book of Conscience shall come to be opened then shall you Witness what I say to be true and you all shall be judged out of it So God Almighty direct your Minds such of you especially as love Honesty and Sincerity that you may receive Mercy in the time of Need. Your Teacher is within you look not forth It will Teach you both lying in Bed and going Abroad to shun all Occasion of Sin and Evil. G. F. As the foregoing was directed To all the Inhabitants of Ulverston in general so it was upon me to write also to those more particularly that did most constantly follow W. Lampitt the Priest there And unto these I writ thus THE Word of the Lord God to all the People that follow Priest Lampitt who is a blind Guide Ye are such as are turned from the Light of Christ within which he hath enlightned you withal Ye are such as follow that which Christ cried Wo against that goes not in Christ's Way but in the Pharisees Way as ye may read Matt. 23. which our Lord Jesus Christ cried Wo against He is the same yesterday to day and for ever but him ye own not while ye follow such as he cried Wo against though under a Colour ye make a Profession and Lampitt your Priest makes a Trade of Christ's and the Saint's Words as his Fathers the Pharisees did make a Profession of the Prophets Words and of Moses his Words Wo was unto them who had not the Life so VVo is unto you who have not the Life that gave forth the Scriptures as your Fruits have made manifest For when the Lord hath moved some to come amongst you to preach the Truth freely you have knock'd them down beat and punch'd and haled them out of your Assemblies Such a People serves thee O Lampitt to make a prey upon and these are thy Fruits O let Shame Shame strike thee and you all in the Faces who make a Profession of Christ's Words thou and they and yet are Stoners and Strikers and Mockers and Scoffers Let all see if this be not a Cage of Vnclean Birds spoken of in the Scriptures which they who had the Life of the Scriptures spake of And such a Company of People thou deceivest and feedest them with thy Fancies and makest a Trade of the Scriptures and takest them for thy Cloak But thou art manifest to all the Children of Light for that Cloak will not cover thee but thy Skirts are seen and thy Nakedness appears And the Lord made one to go Naked among you a Figure of thy Nakedness and of your Nakedness and as a Sign amongst you before your destruction cometh that you might see that you were Naked and not covered with the Truth To the Light in all your Consciences I do speak which Christ Jesus doth enlighten you withal It will shew you the Time you have spent and all your Evil Deeds you have done in that Time who follow such a Teacher that acts contrary to this Light and leads you into the Ditch And when you are in the Ditch together both Teacher and People remember ye were warned in your Life time And if ever your Eye come to see Repentance and you obey the Light of Jesus Christ in you you will witness me to have been a Friend of your Souls and
that I have sought your Eternal Good and written this in dear Love to you And then will you own your Condemnation which you must all own before ye can come into that blessed Life of which there is no End But ye who hate the Light because your Deeds are evil this Light is your Condemnation and will be And when your Condemnation is come upon you remember ye were warned O that ye would love this Light and hearken to it It would teach you both as you walk up and down about your Occasions and as you lie upon your Beds and would never let you speak a vain VVord In loving it you love Christ in hating it you bring the Condemnation thereof upon your selves And to you this is the VVord of God from under which you can never pass nor ever escape the Terror of the Lord in the state you are in who hate the Light G. F. Amongst those who were the Chief Hearers and Followers of this Priest Lampitt of Vlverston there was one Adam Sands who was a very wicked false Man and would have destroyed Truth and its Followers if he could To him I was moved to write thus Adam Sands TO the Light in the Conscience I appeal thou Child of the Devil thou Enemy of Righteousness the Lord will strike thee down though now for a while in thy wickedness thou may'st Reign And the Plagues of God are due to thee who hardenest thy self in thy wickedness against the pure Truth of God With the pure Truth of God which thou hast resisted and persecuted thou art to be threshed down which is Eternal and doth Comprehend thee and with the Light which thou despisest thou art seen and it is thy Condemnation Thou as one bruitish and thy VVife as an Hypocrite and you both as Murderers of the Just in that which is Eternal are seen and comprehended and your Hearts searched and tried and condemned by the Light The Light in thy Conscience will witness the Truth of what I write to thee and will let thee see that thou art not born of God but art from the Truth in the Beastly Nature And if ever thy Eye see Repentance thou wilt witness me a Friend of thy Soul and a seeker of thy Eternal Good G. F. This Adam Sands afterwards died miserably I was moved also to write to Priest Tatham THE Word of the Lord to thee Priest Tatham who art found out of the Doctrine of Christ having the chiefest Place in the Assembly and being called of Men Master and standing Praying in the Synagogue in the Steps of the Pharisees which our Lord Jesus Christ cried VVo against In his VVay thou art not but in the Way of the Scribes and Pharisees as thou mayest read Matth. 23. There Christ's VVords Judge thee and the Scriptures of Truth Condemn thee For thou art such an one as sues Men at the Law for Tithes and yet professest thy self to be a Minister of Christ which Christ never impowered his to do Neither did any of his Apostles or Ministers ever do so Here I charge thee in the presence of the Living God to be out of their Doctrine and that thou art one of those evil Beasts the Scripture speaks of that mindest Earthly Things which the Life of the Scriptures is against Thou art for Destruction in the State wherein thou standest and it will be thy Portion eternally if thou dost not Repent To that of God in thy Conscience I speak which will witness the Truth of what I say Thou art one that goest in Cain's Way in Envy an Enemy to God and from the Command of God Thou art one that goest in Balaam's Way from the Spirit of God for Gifts and Rewards the Wages of Unrighteousness Thou Son of Balaam thou art worse than thy Father for though he loved the VVages of Vnrighteousness yet he durst not take it but thou not only takest it but suest Men at the Law if they will not give it thee which never did Minister of Jesus Christ Therefore stop thy Mouth for ever and never make mention of them or profess thy self one of them With the Light thou art seen and comprehended who art light and vain and speakest a Divination of thy own Brain and deceivest the People That in thy Conscience will witness what I say and will Condemn thee who art one that bearest Rule by thy Means which the Lord sent Jeremiah to cry against Jer. 5. and so thou holdest up the horrible and filthy thing that is committed in the Land And they that do not Tremble at the VVord of the Lord they are the foolish People that hold thee up they are sottish Children and have no Understanding They are Wise to do Evil but not to do Good who are deceived by thee And such an one thou art that seekest for thy Gain from thy Quarter a greedy dumb Dog that never hath enough as thy Practice makes manifest which the Lord sent Isaiah to cry against Isa 56.11 12. And thou art such an one as the Lord sent Ezekiel to cry against who feedest of the Fat and Clothest with the VVooll and makest a Prey upon the People But the Lord is gathering his Sheep from thy Mouth that to thee they shall be a Prey no longer Thou Enemy of God here this Prophecy is fulfilled upon thee Ezek. 34. and thou art one of them I charge it upon thee in the presence of the living God A Hireling thou art and they that put not into thy Mouth thou preparest War against them Thou hatest the Good and lovest the Evil which the Lord sent Micah to cry against Mic. 3. Cover thy Lips and stop thy Mouth for ever thou Child of Darkness for with the Light thou art comprehended and seen to be among them which the holy Men of God cryed W O against and by the Spirit of the living God thou art judged In the Light which is thy Condemnation thou art comprehended thy Race is seen and thy Compass known who art out of the Commands of Christ and out of the Doctrine and Life of the Apostles Thou art proved and tryed and to thee this is the VVord of the Lord and to thee it shall be as an Hammer a Fire and a Sword and from under it thou shalt never come unless thou Repent who art with the Light to be Condemned in that State wherein thou standest And if ever thy Eye see Repentance this thy Condemnation thou must own G. F. I writ also to Burton Priest of Sedbergh much what to the same purpose he being in the same evil Ground Nature and Practice which the other Priests were in Many other Epistles also and Papers I writ about that Time as the Lord moved me thereunto which I sent abroad among the Priests Professors and People of all sorts for the laying their Evil ways open before them that they might see and forsake them and opening the Way of Truth unto them that they might come to walk therein which
are too many and large to be inserted in this Place Now after I had cleared my Conscience at that Time to the Priests and People in those Parts near Swarthmore I went again into Westmorland Westmorland And a Company of Men with Pikes and Staves laid wait for me at a Bridge in the Way and they light on some Friends but missed me Afterwards they came to the Meeting with their Pikes and Staves But Justice Benson being there and many considerable People besides they were prevented from doing that Mischief they intended So they went away in a great Rage but did not hurt any Body 1652. Grayrigg I went from the Meeting to Grayrigge and had a Meeting there at Alexander Dixon's House where the Priest who was a Baptist and a Chappel-Priest came to the Meeting to oppose but the Lord Confounded him by his Power And some of the Priest's People tumbled down some Milk-Pales which stood upon the Side of the House the House being much crowded whereupon the Priest after he and his Company were gone away raised a Slander That the Devil frighted him and took away a Side of the House while he was in the Meeting And though this was an apparent and known Falshood yet it served the Priests and Professors to feed on for a while And so shameless they were that they Printed it in a Book Another Time this Priest came to another Meeting and fell to Jangling First he said The Scriptures were the Word of God I told him They were the Words of God but not Christ who is the Word and bid him prove by Scripture what he said Then he said It was not the Scripture that was the Word and setting his Foot upon the Bible he said It was but Copies bound up together Many unsavory Words came from him But after he was gone we had a blessed Meeting and the Lord's Power and Presence was preciously manifested and felt among us Soon after he sent me a Challenge to meet him at Kendal I sent him Word He need not go so far as Kendal for I would meet him in his own Parish So the Hour being set we Met and abundance of rude People were gathered there together besides the baptized People who were his own Members and they had intended to have done Mischief that Day but God prevented them Now when we were Met I declared the Day of the Lord to them and directed them to Christ Jesus Then the Priest out with his Bible and said It was the VVord of God I told him it was the VVords of God but not God the VVord His Answer was He would prove the Scriptures to be the God before all the People So I let him go on having a Man there that could take down in writing both what he said and what I said And when he could not prove it for I kept him to Scripture-Proof Chapter and Verse for it the People gnashed their Teeth for Anger and said He would have me anon But in going about to prove that one Error he run into many And when at length he saw he could not prove it then he said He would prove it a God So he toiled himself afresh till he sweat again but could not Prove what he had Affirmed And he and his Company were full of wrath For I kept his Assertions on the Head of him and them all and told them I owned what the Scriptures said of themselves namely That they were the Words of God but Christ was the Word So the Lord's Power came over all and they being confounded went away and the Lord disappointed their mischievous Intentions against me and Friends were established in Christ and many of the Priests Followers saw the Folly of their Teacher After this as I came through the Country visiting Friends Priest Bennet of Cartmel sent a Challenge to dispute with me Whereupon I came to his Steeple-house on the First-Day and there found him Preaching When he had done I spake to him and his People but the Priest would not stand the Trial but went his Way After he was gone I had a great deal of Discourse with the People And when I was come forth into the Steeple-house-yard and was discoursing further with the Professors and declaring Truth unto them One of them set his foot behind me and Two of them ran against my Breast and threw me down backwards against a Grave-stone wickedly and maliciously seeking to have spoiled me But I got up again and was moved of the Lord to speak to them Then I went up to the Priest's House and desired him to come forth that I might discourse with him seeing he had Challenged me But he would not at all come out or be seen So the Lord's Power came over them all which was greatly manifested at that Time There was amongst the Priest's Hearers one Richard Roper one of the bitterest Professors the Priest had and he was very fierce and hot in his Contention but afterwards he came to be Convinced of God's Eternal Truth and became a Minister thereof and continued faithful to his Death It was now about the beginning of the Year 1653 when I returned to Swarthmore And going to a Meeting at Gleeston Swarthmore a Professor there challenged a Dispute with me Whereupon I went to the House where he was and called him to come forth but the Lord's Power was over him so that he durst not meddle Then I departed thence and went and visited the Meetings of Friends in Lancashire Lancashire and so came back to Swarthmore again Swarthmore And great Openings I had from the Lord not only of Divine and Spiritual Matters but also of Outward Things relating to the Civil Government For being one Day in Swarthmore-Hall when Judge Fell and Justice Benson were talking of the News in the News-Book and of the Parliament that then was sitting which was called the Long-Parliament I was moved to tell them That before that Day Two Weeks the Parliament should be broken up and the Speaker pluck'd out of his Chair And that Day Two Weeks Justice Benson coming thither again told Judge Fell That now he saw George was a true Prophet for Oliver had broken up the Parliament by that Time About this Time I was in a Fast for about Ten Days my Spirit being greatly exercised on Truth 's behalf for James Milner and Richard Myer went out into Imaginations and a Company followed them This James Milner and some of his Company had true Openings at the first but getting up into Pride and Exaltation of Spirit they run out from Truth I was sent for to them and was moved of the Lord to go and shew them their Goings forth And they came to see their Folly and Condemned it and came into the Way of Truth again After some Time I went to a Meeting at Arn-side Arnside where Richard Myer was Now he had been long Lame of one of his Arms And I was moved
thither before me And when I came there I found James Lancaster speaking under a Yew-Tree which was so full of People that I feared they would break it down I looked about for a place to stand upon to speak unto the People for they lay all up and down like People at a Leaguer But after a while that I was discovered a Professor came to me and asked If I would not go into the Church I seeing there was no place abroad convenient to speak to the People from told him Yes Whereupon the People rushed in so that when I came in the House and Pulpit was so full of People that I had much ado to get in and they that could not get in stood abroad about the VValls 1653. A Meeting near Cockermouth When the People were settled I stood up upon a Seat And the Lord opened my Mouth to declare his Everlasting Truth and his Everlasting Day and to lay open all their Teachers and their Rudiments Traditions and Inventions that they had been in in the Night of Apostacy since the Apostles days And I turned them to Christ the true Teacher and to the true Spiritual VVorship directing them where to find the Spirit and Truth that they might Worship God therein I opened Christ's Parables unto them and directed them to the Spirit of God in themselves that would open the Scriptures unto them And I shewed them how all might come to know their Saviour and sit under his Teaching and come to be Heirs of the Kingdom of God and know both God's and Christ's Voice by which they might discover all the false Shepherds and Teachers they had been under and be gathered to the true Shepherd Priest Bishop and Prophet Christ Jesus whom God commanded all to hear So when I had largely declared the VVord of Life unto them for about the space of three Hours I walked forth from amongst the People and the People passed away very well satisfied Among the rest a Professor followed me praising and commending me and his Words were like a Thistle to me At last I turned about and bid him Fear the Lord Whereupon one Priest Larkham of Cockermouth for several Priests were got together on the Way who came after the Meeting was done said to me Sir why do you judge so you must not judge said he But I turned to him and said Friend dost not thou discern an Exhortation from a Judgment for I admonished him to fear God and dost thou say I judge him So this Priest and I falling into Discourse I manifested him to be amongst the false Prophets and covetous Hirelings And several People being moved to speak unto them he and two other of the Priests soon got away When they were gone John VVilkinson who was Preacher of that Parish and of two other Parishes in Cumberland began to dispute against his own Conscience for several hours till the People generally turned against him for he thought to have Tired me out but the Lord's Power tired him out and the Lord's Truth came over him and them all And Many hundreds were Convinced that day and received the Lord Jesus Christ and his free Teaching with Gladness of whom some have died in the Truth and many stand there faithful Witnesses thereof The Souldiers also were Convinced and their VVives and continued with me till the First-day Cockermouth On the First-day I went to the Steeple-house at Cockermouth where Priest Larkham lived And when the Priest had done I began to speak and the People began to be Rude but the Souldiers told them We had broken no Law and then they were quiet Then I turned me to the Priest and laid him open among the false Prophets and Hirelings At which word the Priest went his way and said He calls me Hireling which was true enough and all the People knew it Then some of the Great Men of the Town came to me and said Sir We have no learned Men to dispute with you I told them I came not to dispute but to declare the way of Salvation to them and the way of Everlasting Life And so I declared largely the way of Life and Truth to them 1652. Brigham and directed them to Christ their Teacher that had died for them and bought them with his Blood When I had done I passed away about Two Miles to another great Steeple-house of said John Wilkinson's called Brigham where the People having been at the other Meeting were mightily affected and would have put my Horse into the Steeple-house-Yard but I said No the Priest claims that have him to an Inn. When I came into the Steeple-house-Yard I saw the People coming in great Companies as to a Fair and abundance were already gathered in the Lanes and about the Steeple-house I was very Thirsty and walked about a quarter of a Mile to a Brook where I got some Water and refreshed my Self And as I came up again I met the said Wilkinson who as I passed by him said Sir will you preach to day If you will said he I will not Oppose you in Word or Thought I replied Oppose if thou wilt I have something to speak to the People And said I thou carried'st thy self foolishly the other day and spakest against thy Conscience and Reason insomuch that thy Hearers cried out against thee So I left him and went on for he saw it was in vain to Oppose the People were so affected with the Lord's Truth When I came into the Steeple-house-Yard a Professor came to me and asked If I would not go into the Church as he called it And I seeing no convenient Place abroad to stand to speak unto the People from went in and stood up in a Seat after the People were settled The Priest came in also but did not go up to his Pulpit So the Lord opened my Mouth and I declared his Everlasting Truth and Word of Life to the People directing them to the Spirit of God in themselves by which they might know God and Christ and the Scriptures and come to have heavenly Fellowship in the Spirit And I declared to them that Every one that cometh into the World was enlightened by Christ the Life by which Light they might see their Sins and Christ who was come to save them from their Sins and died for them And if they came to walk in this Light they might therein see Christ to be the Author of their Faith and the Finisher thereof their Shepherd to feed them their Priest to teach them and their great Prophet to open divine Mysteries unto them and to be always present with them I opened also unto them in the Openings of the Lord the first Covenant shewing them the Figures and the Substance of those Figures and so bringing them on to Christ the New Covenant I also manifested unto them that there had been a Night of Apostacy since the Apostles days but that now the Everlasting Gospel was preached again which brought
Life and Immortality to Light And the day of the Lord was come and Christ was come to teach his People himself by his Light Grace Power and Spirit A fine opportunity the Lord gave me to preach Truth among the People that day for about three hours time and all was quiet And Many hundreds were Convinced that day And some of them praised God and said Now we know the first step to Peace The said Preacher also said privately to some of his Hearers that I had broken them and overthrown them 1653. A Village After this I went to a Village and many People accompanied me And as I was sitting in an House full of People declaring the Word of Life unto them I cast mine Eye upon a Woman and I discerned an Vnclean Spirit in her And I was moved of the Lord to speak sharply to her and told her she was a Witch Whereupon the Woman went out of the Room Now I being a Stranger there and knowing nothing of the Woman Outwardly the People wondred at it and told me afterwards that I had discovered a great thing for all the Country looked upon her to be a Witch The Lord had given me a Spirit of discerning by which I many times saw the States and Conditions of People and could Try their Spirits For not long before as I was going to a Meeting I saw some Women in a Field and I discerned them to be Witches and I was moved to go out of my way into the Field to them and declare unto them their Conditions telling them plainly They were in the Spirit of Witchcraft At another time there came such an one into Swarthmore-Hall in the Meeting-time and I was moved to speak sharply to her and told her she was a Witch And the People said afterwards she was generally accounted so There came also at another time another Woman and stood at a distance from me and I cast mine Eye upon her and said Thou hast been an Harlot for I perfectly saw the Condition and Life of the Woman The Woman answered and said Many could tell her of her Outward Sins but none could tell her of her Inward Then I told her Her Heart was not right before the Lord and that from the Inward came the Outward This Woman came afterwards to be Convinced of God's Truth and became a Friend From the aforesaid Village we came up to Thomas Bewley's near Coldbeck Coldbeck and from thence having had some Service for the Lord there At a Market-Town I passed to a Market-Town where I had a Meeting at the Cross and all was pretty quiet and when I had declared the Truth unto them and directed them to Christ their Teacher some received the Truth Then we passed further and had another Meeting upon the Borders in a Steeple-house-Yard to which many Professors and Contenders came but the Lord's Power was over all and when the Word of Life had been declared amongst them some received the Truth there also Carlisle From thence passing on we came to Carlisle and the Pastor of the Baptists with most of his Hearers came to me there to the Abbey where I had a Meeting and declared the Word of Life amongst them and many of the Baptists and of the Souldiers were Convinced After the Meeting was done the Pastor of the Baptists being an high Notionist and a flashy Man came to me and asked me What must be damned I was moved immediately to tell him That which spake in him was to be damned This stopt the Pastor's Mouth and the Witness of God was raised up in him and I opened to him the States of Election and Reprobation so that he said He never heard the like in his Life He also came afterward to be Convinced Then went I up to the Castle among the Souldiers who beat a Drum and called the Garrison together And I preached the Truth amongst them Directing them to the Lord Jesus Christ to be their Teacher and to the measure of his Spirit in themselves 1653. Carlisle by which they might be turned from the Darkness to the Light and from the Power of Satan unto God And I warned them all that they should do no Violence to any Man but should shew forth a Christian-Life telling them that he who was to be their Teacher would be their Condemnation if they were disobedient to him So I left them having no Opposition from any of them except the Serjeants who afterwards came to be Convinced On the Market-day I went up into the Market to the Market-Cross Now the Magistrates had both threatned and sent their Serjeants And the Magistrates Wives had said That if I came there they would pluck the Hair from off my Head and that the Serjeants should take me up Nevertheless I obeyed the Lord God and went upon the Cross and there declared unto them That the day of the Lord was coming upon all their deceitful Ways and Doings and deceitful Merchandize and that they should put away all Cozening and Cheating and keep to Yea and Nay and speak the Truth one to another So the Truth and the Power of God was set over them And after I had declared the Word of Life to the People the Throng being so great that the Serjeants could not get to me nor the Magistrates Wives come at me I passed away quietly Many People and Souldiers came to me and some Baptists that were bitter Contenders amongst whom one of their Deacons being an envious Man and finding the Lord's Power was over them Cried out for very Anger Whereupon I set my Eyes upon him and spake sharply to him in the Power of the Lord and he cried Do not pierce me so with thy Eyes keep thy Eyes off me On the first day following I went into the Steeple-house And after the Priest had done I preached the Truth to the People and declared the Word of Life amongst them The Priest got away and the Magistrates desired me to go out of the Steeple-house But I still declared the VVay of the Lord unto them and told them I came to speak the word of Life and Salvation from the Lord amongst them The Power of the Lord was dreadful amongst them in the Steeple-house so that the People trembled and shook and they thought the Steeple-house shook and some of them feared it would have fallen down on their Heads The Magistrates VVives were in a Rage and strove mightily to have been at me but the Souldiers and friendly People stood thick about me At length the rude People of the City rose and came with Staves and Stones into the Steeple-house crying Down with these Round-headed Rogues and they threw Stones Whereupon the Governour sent a File or two of Musketeers into the Steeple-house to appease the Tumult and commanded all the other Souldiers out So those Souldiers took me by the Hand in a friendly manner and said They would have me along with them then When we came
unstopped the deaf Ears hath let the Oppressed go free and hath raised up the Dead out of the Graves Christ is now preached in and among the Saints the same that ever he was and because his heavenly Image is born up in this his faithful Servant therefore doth fallen Man Rulers Priests and Peopleâ— persecute him because he lives up out of the Fall and testifies against the Works of the VVorld that the Deeds thereof are Evil he suffers by you Magistrates not as an Evil-Doer For thus it was ever where the Seed of God was kept in Prison under the cursed Nature that Nature sought to imprison them in whom it was raised The Lord will make him to you as a burdensom Stone for the Sword of the Spirit of the Almighty is put into the Hands of the Saints which shall wound all the Wicked and shall not be put up till it hath cut down all corrupt Judges Justices Magistrates Priests and Professors till he hath brought his wonderful thing to pass in the Earth which is to make New Heavens and a New Earth wherein shall dwell Righteousness which now he is about to do Therefore fear the Lord God Almighty ye Judges Justices Commanders Priests and People ye that forget God suddenly will the Lord come and destroy you with an utter Destruction and will sweep your Names out of the Earth and will restore his People Judges as at the First and Counsellors as at the Beginning And all Persecutors shall partake of the Plagues of the VVhore who hath made the Kings of the Earth and the great Men drunk with the VVine of her Fornications and hath drunk the Blood of the Saints and therefore shall you be Partakers of her Plagues We are not suffered to go see our Friend in Prison whom we witness to be a Messenger of the Living God Now all People mind Whether this be according to Law oâ— from the wicked perverse envious Will of the envious Rulers and Magistrates who are of the same Generation that persecuted Jesus Christ for said he as they have done to me so will they do to you And as he took the love the kindness and service that was shewed and performed to any of his Afflicted Ones in their Sufferings and Distress as done unto himself so the Injuries and Wrongs that were done by any to any of his Little Ones he resented as done unto himself also Therefore you who are so far from visiting him your selves in his suffering Servant that ye will not suffer his Brethren to visit him ye must depart ye Workers of Iniquity into the Lake that burns with Fire The Lord is coming to thresh the Mountains and will beat them to Dust And all corrupt Rulers corrupt Officers and corrupt Laws the Lord will take Vengeance on by which the tender Consciences of his People are oppressed And he will give his People his Law and will judge his People himself not according to the sight of the Eye and hearing of the Ear but with Righteousness and with Equity Now are your Hearts made manifest to be full of Envy against the living Truth of God which is made manifest in his People who are contemned and despised of the World and scornfully called Quakers You are worse than the Heathens that put Paul in Prison for none of his Friends or Acquaintance were hindred to come to him by them therefore they shall be Witnesses against you Ye are made manifest to the Saints to be of the same Generation that put Christ to death and that put the Apostles in Prison on the same pretence as you act under in calling Truth Error and the Ministers of God Blasphemers as they did But the day is dreadful and terrible that shall come upon you ye Evil Magistrates Priests and People who profess the Truth in Words outwardly and yet persecute the Power of Truth and them that stand in and for the Truth While ye have Time prize it and remember what is written Isa 54.17 George Benson Anthony Pearson Not long after this the Lord's Power came over the Justices and they were made to set me at Liberty But sometime before I was set at Liberty the Governour and the said Anthony Pearson came down into the Dungeon to see the Place where I was kept and understand what Vsage I had And when they were come down to me they found the place so bad and the savour so ill that they cried shame of the Magistrates for suffering the Jailer to do such things And they called for the Jailers into the Dungeon and required them to find Sureties for their good Behaviour and the Vnder-Jailer who had been such a Cruel Fellow they put into the Dungeon with me amongst the Moss-Troopers 1653. Cumberland At T. B's Now after I was set at Liberty I went to Thomas Bewley's where there came a Baptist-Teacher to Oppose me and he was Convinced And Robert Widders being with me was moved to go to Coldbeck-Steeple-house and the Baptist-Teacher went along with him the same day And the People fell upon them and almost killed Robert Widders and took the Baptist's Sword from him and beat him sorely This Baptist had the Inheritance of an Impropriation of Tithes and he went home and gave it up freely Robert VVidders was sent to Carlisle-Jail where having lain a while he was set at Liberty again VVilliam Dewsberry also went to another Steeple-house hard by and the People almost killed him they beat him so but the Lord's Power was over all and healed them again At that day many Friends went to the Steeple-houses to declare the Truth to the Priests and People and great Sufferings they underwent but the Lord's Power sustained them Now I went into the Country and had mighty great Meetings and the Everlasting Gospel and VVord of Life flourished and Thousands were turned to the Lord Jesus Christ and to his Teaching And several that took Tithes as Impropriators denied the receiving of them any longer Westmorland and delivered them up freely to the Parishioners Then passing on into VVestmorland I had many great Meetings and at Strickland-Head I had a large Meeting Strickland head where a Justice of Peace out of Bishoprick whose Name was Henry Draper came up and many Contenders were there The Priests and Magistrates were in a great Rage against me in Westmorland and had a VVarrant to apprehend me which they renewed from time to time for a long time Yet the Lord did not suffer them to serve it upon me So I traveled on amongst Friends visiting the Meetings till I came to Swarthmore Swarthmore where I heard that the Baptists and Professors in Scotland had sent to me to have a Dispute with me Whereupon I sent them word Cumberland that I would meet them in Cumberland at Thomas Bewley's House whither accordingly I went but none of them came Some dangers at this time I underwent in my Travels to and fro Wighton for at one time as
Rejoyce in Iniquity but leads to Repent of it So this is the WORD OF THE LORD GOD to you all Friends every where abroad scattered Know the Power of God in one another and in that Rejoyce for then you Rejoyce in the Cross of Christ who is not of the World which Cross is the Power of God to all them that are saved So you that know the Power and feel the Power you feel the Cross of Christ you feel the Gospel which is the Power of God unto Salvation to every one that believeth Now he that believes in the Light believes in the Everlasting Covenant in the one Offering comes to the Life of the Prophets and Moses comes to see Christ the Hope the Mystery which Hope perisheth not but lets you see the Hope that perisheth which is not that Mystery and the Expectation in that perishing Hope fades And where this never-failing Hope is witnessed the Lord comes to be sanctified in the Heart and you come to the Beginning to Christ the Hope which perisheth not but the other Hope and the other Expectation that perisheth So all of you know the perishing of the Other and the failing of the Expectation therein and know that which perisheth not that you may be ready to give a Reason of this Hope with Meekness and Fear to every Man that asketh you Christ the Hope the Mystery that perisheth not the End of all perishing things the End of all changeable things the End of the decaying Covenant the End of that which waxeth old and doth decay the End of the first Covenant of Moses and of the Prophets the Righteousness of God Christ Jesus the Son his Throne ye will know Heirs with him ye will be who makes his Children Kings and Priests to him and brings them to know his Throne and his Power There is no Justification out of the Light out of Christ Justification is in the Light in Christ Here is the Doer of the Will of God here 's the Entring into the Kingdom He that believes in the Light becomes a Child of Light and here the Wisdom is received that is justified of her Children Here believing in the Light you shall not abide in Darkness but shall have the Light of Life and come every one to witness the Light that shines in your Hearts which Light will give you the Light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God in the Face of Jesus Christ With which Light you will see him reign who is the Prince of Life and of Peace which Light turns from him that is out of the Truth and abode not in it where the true Peace is not Friends Be not hasty For he that believes in the Light makes not Haste Here the Grace is received by which you come to be saved the Election is known which obtains the Promise The Will is seen that wills the Mind is known that runs which obtains not but stops and dulls Now that with the Light being seen and judged and stopt the Patience is here known which obtains the Crown and the Immortality is come to Light So all they now that act contrary to the Light and do not believe in it they do not come to Justification And all Friends if you go from the Light from wanting to have the Promise of God fulfilled to the Seed whereby you may know Christ Reign you thereby bring on your selves Changable Garments and come to wear the Changable Garments and the strange Flesh which leads to Adultery which the Law goes upon which shuts out of the Kingdom And out of this Will doth proceed the Work or Building that is for the Fire whereby you may come to suffer Less Therefore the Light love which doth that Condemn and receive the Power from the Lord with which you stand over that and do it Condemn feeling and seeing that which gives you the Victory over the World and to see out of Time to before Time And again Friends Know Abraham that must obey the Voice of Sarah that bears Seed which casts forth the Bond-woman and her Son Do not go forth there will the Wildness lodge Know that which bears the Wild Son and its Mother who is not Sarah for the Promise is to the Seed not of many but one which Seed is Christ And this Seed now you come to witness stand on the Top of all yea on the Head of the Serpent And so all as I said before who this come to feel and witness ceme to the Beginning and this to all the Seed of God the Church that it you all may come to know where there is no blemish nor spot nor Wrinkle nor any such thing which is that which is purchased by the Blood of Jesus and to the Father presented out of all that does defile which is the Pillar and Ground of Truth And none comes to this but such who come to the Light which doth come from Christ who purchased this Church They who go from the Light are shut out and condemned though they profess all the Scriptures declared forth from it Therefore walk in the Light that you may have Fellowship with the Son and with the Father and come all to witness his Image and his Power and his Law which is his Light which hath converted your Souls and brought them to submit to the higher Power above that which is out of the Truth that you may know here the Mercy and Truth and the Faith that works by Love which Christ is the Author of who lighteth every one of you which Faith gives the Victory Now that which gives the Victory is perfect and that which the Ministers of God received from God is that which is perfect and that which they are to Minister is for the perfecting of the Saints till they all come in the Unity of the Faith unto a Perfect Man So this is the Word of the Lord God to you all every one in the Measure of Life Wait that with it all your Minds may be guided up to the Father of Life the Father of Spirits all to receive Power from him and Wisdom that with it you may be ordered to his Glory to whom be all Glory for ever All keep in the Light and Life that judgeth down that which is contrary to the Light and Life So the Lord God Almighty be with you all And keep your Meetings every where being guided by that of God by that you may see the Lord God among you even him who lighteth every Man that cometh into the World by whom the World was made that Men that be come into the World might believe He that believeth not the Light condemns him He that believeth cometh out of Condemnation So this Light which lighteth every Man that cometh into the World which they that hate it stumble at this is the Light of Men. All Friends that speak abroad see that it be in the Life of God for that begets to God the Fruits of that shall never
Company went their way to Hallifax The People asked them Why they did not kill me according to the Oath they had sworn And they maliciously Answered That I had so bewitched them that they could not do it Thus was the Devil chained at that time Friends told me that they used to come at other times and be very rude and unruly and sometimes break their Stools and Seats and make fearful work amongst them But the Lord's Power had now bound them Shortly after this that Butcher that had been accused of killing a Man and a Woman before and who was one of them that had then bound himself by an Oath to kill me killed another Man and was thereupon sent to York-Jail Example Another of those rude Butchers who had also sworn to kill me having accustomed himself to Thrust his Tongue out of his Mouth in derision of Friends when they passed by him had his Tongue so swollen out of his Mouth that he could never draw it in again but died so Several strange and sudden Judgments came upon many of these Conspirators against me which would be too large here to declare God's Vengeance from Heaven came upon the Blood-thirsty who sought after Blood for all such Spirits I laid before the Lord and left them to him to deal with them who is stronger than them all in whose Power I was preserved and carried on to do his Work The Lord hath raised a fine People in those Parts whom he hath drawn to Christ and gathered in his Name who feel Christ amongst them and sit under his Teaching After this I passed through the Countries till I came to Balby Balby Lincolnshire from whence several Friends went with me into Lincolnshire where I had formerly been of whom some went to the Steeple-houses and some to private Meetings There came to the Meeting where I was the Sheriff of Lincoln and several with him who made a great Contention and Jangling for a time But at length the Lord's Power struck him that he was Convinced of the Truth and received the Word of Life as did several others also that did Oppose and continued among Friends till they died Great Meetings there were and a large Convincement in those Parts Many were turned to the Lord Jesus and came to sit under his Teaching leaving their Priests and their superstitious Ways and the Day of the Lord flourished over all Amongst them that came to our Meetings in that Country there was one called Sir Richard Wrey and he was Convinced as was also his Brother and his Brother's Wife who abode in the Truth and died therein though he afterwards Run out Having visited those Countries I came into Darbyshire Darbyshire and the Sheriff of Lincoln who was lately Convinced came with me In one Meeting we had some Opposition 1654. Derbyshire but the Lord 's glorious Power gave dominion over all At Night there came a Company of Bayliffs and Serving-men and called me out so I went out to them having some Friends with me When I was come out they were exceeding Rude and Violent for they had it seems Complotted together and intended To have Carried me away with them in the dark of the Evening by force and then to have done me a Mischief But the Lord's Power went over them and chained them so that they could not effect their Design and at last they went away The next day Thomas Aldam understanding that the Serving-men belonged to one called a Knight who lived not far off went to his House and laid before him the bad Carriage of his Servants And the Knight seemed to Rebuke them and did not allow of their Evil Carriage towards us Nottingham-shire Skegby After this we came into Nottinghamshire to Skegby where we had a great Meeting of all sorts of People and the Lord's Power went over them and all was quiet and the People were turned to the Spirit of God by which many came to receive his Power and to sit under the Teaching of Christ their Saviour A great People the Lord hath that a ways Kidsley-Park Then I passed towards Kidsley-park where there came many Ranters but the Lord's Power checkt them From thence I went up into the Peak-Country Peak Country towards Thomas Hammersly's where there came the Ranters of that Country and many high Professors The Ranters opposed me and fell a Swearing And when I reproved them for Swearing they would bring Scripture for it and said Abraham and Jacob and Joseph swore and the Priests and Moses and the Prophets swore and the Angels swore Then I told them I did confess all these did so as the Scripture records but said I Christ who said Before Abraham was I am saith Swear not at all And Christ ends the Prophets and the Old Priesthood and the Dispensation of Moses and reigns over the House of Jacob and of Joseph and he says Swear not at all And God when he bringeth in the First-begotten into the World saith Let all the Angels of God worship him to wit Christ Jesus who saith Swear not at all And as for the Plea that Men make for Swearing to end their Strife Christ who says Swear not at all destroys the Devil and his Works who is the Author of Strife for that is one of his Works And God said This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear ye him So the Son is to be heard who forbids Swearing And the Apostle James who did hear the Son of God and followed him and preached him forbids all Oaths Jam. 5.12 So the Lord's Power went over them and his Son and his Doctrine was set over them and the Word of Life was fully and richly preached and many were Convinced that day This Thomas Hammersly being summoned to serve upon a Jury was admitted to serve without an Oath and he being Fore-man of the Jury when he brought in the Verdict the Judge did declare That he had been a Judge so many Years but never heard a more upright Verdict than that Quaker had then brought in Much might be written of things of this nature which time would fail to declare But the Lord's blessed Power and Truth was exalted over all who is worthy of all Praise and Glory for ever Thus travelling through Darbyshire I visited Friends Leicestershire Swanington till I came to Swanington in Leicestershire where there was a General Meeting to which many Ranters came and Baptists and other Professors for great Contests there had been with them and with the Priests in that Town To this Meeting several Friends came from several Parts as John Audland and Francis Howgil and Edward Pyot from Bristol and Edward Burrough from London and several were Convinced in those Parts The Ranters that came to the Meeting made a disturbance and were very rude but at last the Lord's Power came over them and they were Confounded The next Day Jacob Bottomley a great Ranter came from
have my Liberty he said if I would not go to nor keep Meetings I told him I could not promise any such thing Several times upon the Road did he ask and try me after the sâ—me manner and still I gave him the same Answers So he brought me to London London Charing-Cross and lodged me at the Mermaid over against the Mews at Charing-Cross And on the way as we traveled I was moved of the Lord to Warn People at the Inns and Places where I came of the day of the Lord that was coming upon them And William Dewsberry and Marmaduke Stor being in Prison at Northampton he let me go and visit them After Captain Drury had lodged me at the Mermaid he left me there and went to give the Protector an Account of me And when he came to me again he told me The Protector did require that I should promise not to take up a carnal Sword or Weapon against him or the Government as it then was and that I should write it in what words I saw good and set my Hand to it I said little in Reply to Captain Drury But the next Morning I was moved of the Lord to write a Paper To the Protector by the name of Oliver Cromwel wherein I did in the presence of the Lord God declare that I did deny the wearing or drawing of a carnal Sword or any other outward Weapon against him or any Man And that I was sent of God to stand a Witness against all Violence and against the Works of Darkness and to turn People from the Darkness to the Light and to bring them from the Occasion of War and Fighting to the peaceable Gospel and from being Evil-Doers which the Magistrates Sword should be a Terror to When I had written what the Lord had given me to write I set my Name to it and gave it to Captain Drury to give to O. Cromwel which he did Then after some time Captain Drury brought me before the Protector himself at Whitehall Whitehall It was in a Morning before he was dressed and one Harvey that had come a little among Friends but was disobedient waited upon him When I came in I was moved to say Peace be in this House and I bid him Keep in the Fear of God that he might receive Wisdom from him that by it he might be ordered and with it might order all things under his Hand to God's Glory I spake much to him of Truth and a great deal of Discourse I had with him about Reliâ—ion wherein he carried himself very moderately But he said We quarrelled with the Priests whom he called Ministers I told him I did not quarrel with them but they quarrelled with me and my Friends But said I If we own the Prophets Christ and the Apostles we cannot hold up such Teachers Prophets and Shepherds 1654. Whitehall as the Prophets Christ and the Apostles declared against but we must declare against them by the same Power and Spirit Then I shewed him That the Prophets Christ and the Apostles declared freely and declared against them that did not declare freely such as preached for filthy Lucre and divined for Money and preached for Hire and were covetous and greedy like the dumb Dogs that could never have enough And that they that have the same Spirit that Christ and the Prophets and the Apostles had could not but declare against all such now as they did then As I spake he would several times say It was very good and it was Truth I told him That all Christendom so called had the Scriptures but they wanted the Power and Spirit that they had who gave forth the Scriptures and that was the reason they were not in Fellowship with the Son nor with the Father nor with the Scriptures nor one with another Many more words I had with him but People coming in I drew a little back And as I was turning he catched me by the Hand and with Tears in his Eyes said Come again to my House for if thou and I were but an hour of a day together we should be nearer one to the other adding That he wisht me no more Ill than he did to his own Soul I told him If he did he wronged his own Soul And I bid him hearken to God's Voice that he might stand in his Counsel and obey it and if he did so that would keep him from hardness of Heart but if he did not hear God's Voice his Heart would be hardened And he said It was true Then went I out G. F. set at Liberty And when Capt. Drury came out after me he told me His Lord Protector said I was at Liberty and might go whither I would Then I was brought into a great Hall where the Protector 's Gentlemen were to dine and I asked them What they did bring me thither for They said It was by the Protector 's Order that I might dine with them I bid them Let the Protector know I would not eat a bit of his Bread nor drink a sup of his Drink When he heard this he said Now I see there is a People risen and come up that I cannot win either with Gifts Honours Offices or Places but all other Sects and People I can But it was told him again That we had forsook our own and were not like to look for such things from him Now I being set at Liberty went up to the Inn again where Capt. Drury had at first lodged me This Capt. Drury though he sometimes carried fairly was an Enemy to me and to Truth and opposed it and when Professors came to me while I was under his Custody and he was by he would scoff at Trembling and call us Quakers as the Independents and Presbyterians had Nick-named us before But afterwards he came on a time to me and told me That as he was lying on his Bed to rest himself in the day-time a sudden Trembling seized on him that his Joints knocked together and his Body shook so that he could not rise from his Bed he was so shaken that he had not strength enough left to rise But he felt the Power of the Lord was upon him and he tumbled off his Bed and cried to the Lord and said He would never speak against the Quakers more such as Trembled at the Word of God During the Time that I was Prisoner at Charing-Cross 1654. Charing-Cross there came abundaâ—ce to see me People almost of all Sorts Priests Professors Officers of the Army c. And one Time a Company of Officers being with me desired me to pray with them I sate still with my Mind retired to the Lord. At last I felt the Power and Spirit of God move in me and the Lord's Power did so shake and shatter them that they wondred though they did not live in it Among those that came thither to see me there was one Colonel Packer with several of his Officers and while they
were with me came in one Cob and a great Company of Ranters with him The Ranters began to call for Drink and Tobacco but I desired them to forbâ—ar it in my Room telling them If they had such a Mind to it they might go into another Room One of them cried All is ours and another of them said All is well I replied How is all well while thou art so peevish and envious and crabbed for I saw he was of a peevish Nature and so I spake to their Conditions and they were sensible of it and looked upon one another wondring Then Colonel Packer began to talk with a light chaffy Mind concerning God and Christ and the Scriptures That was a great Grief to my Soul and Spirit when I heard him talk so lightly so that I told him He was too light to talk of the things of God for he did not know the solidity of a Man Thereupon the Officers raged and said Would I say so of their Colonel This Packer was a Baptist and he and the Ranters bowed and scraped to one another very much for it was the manner of the Ranters to be exceeding Complemental as they call it so that Packer bid them Give over their Complements But I told them They were fit to go together for they were both of one Spirit This Colonel Packer lived at Theobald's near Waltham and was made a Justice of Peace He set up a great Meeting of the Baptists at Theobald's Park for he and some other Officers had purchased it They were exceeding High and railed against Friends and Truth and threatned to apprehend me with their Warrants if ever I came there Yet after I was set at Liberty I was moved of the Lord God to go down to Theobalds and appoint a Meeting hard by them Theobalds to which many of his People came and divers of his Hearers were Convinced of the Way of Truth and received Christ the free Teacher and came off from him and that made him Rage the more But the Lord's Power came over him so that he had not Power to meddle with me Then I went to Waltham hard by him Waltham and had a Meeting there but the People were very rude and gathered about the House and brake the Windows Whereupon I went out to them with the Bible in my Hand and desired them to come in and told them I would shew them Scripture both for our Principles and Practices And when I had done so I shewed them also That their Teachers were in the Steps of such as the Prophets and Christ and the Apostles cryed against Then I directed them to the Light of Christ and Spirit of God in their own Hearts that by it they might come to know their free Teacher the Lord Jesus Christ. The Meeting being ended they went away quieted and satisfied and a Meeting hath since been settled in that Town 1654. London But this was sometime after I was set at Liberty by O. Cromwel For when I came from White-hall to the Mermaid at Charing-Cross which had been my Prison I staid not long there but went into the City of London where we had great and powerful Meetings and so great were the Throngs of People that I could hardly get to and from the Meetings for the Crouds of People And the Truth spread exceedingly Thomas Aldam and Robert Craven who had been Sheriff of Lincoln and divers Friends came up to London after me but Alexander Parker abode with me Then after a while I went to White-hall again and was moved to declare the Day of the Lord amongst them White-Hall and that the Lord was come to teach his People himself So I preached Truth both to the Officers and to them that were called Oliver's Gentlemen who were of his Guard But there was a Priest that Opposed while I was declaring the Word of the Lord amongst them For Oliver had several Priests about him of which this was his News-monger an envious Priest and a light scornful chaffy man I bid him Repent and he put it in his News-book the next Week That I had been at White-hall and had bid a Godly Minister there Repent When I went thither again I met with him and abundance of People gathered about me Then I manifested the Priest to be a Liar in several things that he had affirmed and so he was put to Silence He put in the News-book That I wore Silver-Buttons which was false for they were but Alchimy Afterward he put in the News-book That I hung Ribbands on People's Arms which made them to follow me This was another of his Lies for I never wore nor used Ribbands in my Life Three Friends went to examine this Priest that gave forth this false Intelligence and to know of him where he had that Information He told them It was a Woman that told him so and that if they would come again he would tell them the Woman's Name When they came again he said It was a Man but would not tell them his Name then but if they would come again he said he would tell them his Name and where he lived They went the Third Time and then he would not tell who told him but offered If I would give it under my Hand that there was no such thing he would put that into the News-book Thereupon the Friends carried it to him under my Hand but when they came he brake his Promise and would not put it in but was in a Rage and threatned them with the Constable This was the deceitful doing of this Forger of Lies And these Lies he spread over all the Nation in the News-books to render Truth Odious and to put Evil into People's Minds against Friends and Truth of which a more large Account may be seen in a Book printed soon after this time for the clearing of Friends and Truth from the Slanders Lies and false Reports raised and cast upon them These Priests the News-Mongers were of the Independent Sect like them in Leicester But the Lord's Power came over all their Lies and swept them away and many came to see the Naughtiness of these Priests The God of Heaven carried me over all in his Power and his blessed Power went over the Nation Insomuch that many Friends about this time were moved to go up and down to sound forth the Everlasting Gospel in most parts of this Nation and also into Scotland 1654. White-Hall and the Glory of the Lord was felt over all to his Everlasting Praise And a great Convincement there was in London and some in the Protector 's House and Family I went to have seen him again but could not get to him the Officers were grown so Rude The Presbyterians Independents and Baptists were in a great Rage for many of their People came to be turned to the Lord Jesus Christ and sate down under his Teachings and received his Power and felt it in their Hearts and then they were
moved of the Lord to declare against the rest of them I appointed a Meeting in the Fields near Acton in which the Word of Life and the Saving Truth was declared freely and the Lord's Power was eminently manifested and his blessed Day exalted over all About this time I was moved to write a Paper and send it forth among the Professors a Copy of which here followeth To all Professors of Christianity ALL they that professed Jesus Christ in Words and yet heard him not when he was come they said he was a Deceiver and a Devil The Chief Priests were they that called him so So the Jews said He hath a Devil and is mad why do ye hear him But others said These are not the Words of him that hath a Devil Can a Devil open the Eyes of the Blind The Jews then doubted whether he were the Christ or no and so all like the Jews in the Knowledge in the Notion that profess a Christ without only where Christ is risen within they do not own him but do doubt of him though Christ be the same now and for ever Jesus Christ said I and my Father are one then the Jews took up Stones to stone him And where Jesus Christ is now spiritually come and made manifest the Jews such as are Christians in outward Profession only have the same hard Hearts inwardly now as they had then and do Cast Stones at him where he is Risen Jesus said For which of these good works do ye stone me The Jews answered for thy good works we stone thee not but for Blasphemy in that thou being a Man makest thy self God Jesus answered them Is it not written in your Law I said you are Gods and the Scripture cannot be broken Say ye of him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the World Thou blasphemest because I said I am the Son of God The Jews said to him say we not well that thou hast a Devil Jesus answered I honour my Father and ye dishonour me And they that were in the Synagogue rose up and thrust him out of the City and took him up to the edge of the Hill whereon their City was built to cast him down head-long The Pharisees said of him He casteth out Devils by the Prince of Devils Jesus Christ was called a Glutton and a Wine-bibber a Friend of Publicans and Sinners But Wisdom is justified of her Children The Officers when the High-priests and Pharisees asked them Why have ye not brought him said Never Man spake like this Man The Pharisees said Are ye also deceived Do any of the Rulers or of the Pharisees believe on him 1654. London but this People which know not the Law are accursed Nicodemus said unto them he that came unto Jesus by Night doth our Law judge any Man before it hear him When Stephen confessed Jesus the Substance of all Figures and Types and was brought before the Chief-Priests to his Trial he told them The Most-High dwelleth not in Temples made with Hands and brought the Prophets Words to witneâ—s and told them They were stiff-necked and uncircumcised in Heart and Ears and always resisted the Holy Ghost as their Fathers had done Stephen was full of the Holy Ghost and said he saw Jesus and they ran upon him and stoned him to Death as he was calling upon the Lord. When Paul Confessed Jesus Christ and his Resurrection Festus said he was Mad When Paul preached the Resurrection some mocked The Jews perswaded the People and they stoned him and drew him out of the City thinking he had been dead The Jews stirred up the Gentiles to make their Minds Evil-affected towards the Brethren The Jews stirred up the Devout and Honourable Women and the Chief of the City and raised up Persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them out of their Coasts And there was an Assault made both of the Gentiles and of the Jews with their Rulers to use them despitefully and to stone them In like manner all in the nature of those Jews now whose Religion stands in Notions do stir up the Rulers and do stir up the ignorant People and incense them against Jesus Christ where he is risen to stone them all with one Consent in whom he is risen This is that the Scripture might be fulfilled and the blindness of the People might be discovered And the same Power now is made manifest and doth overturn the World as did overturn the World to the exalting of the Lord and to the pulling down of the Kingdom of Satan and of this World and setting up his own Kingdom to his everlasting Praise The Lord is now exalting Himself and throwing down Man's self The Proud one 's Head is aloft fearing he should lose his Pride and his Crown the Priests they incense the ignorant People for fear their Trade should go down and the Professors they shew forth what is in them being full of Rage which shews that Jesus Christ the Substance is not there but a stony Heart to stone the Precious where it is risen The Carnal Mind feeds upon the outward Letter and Earth feeds upon Earth and that Vine-yard is not dressed but is full of Briars and Nettles and Ravenous Beasts Swine and Dogs Wolves and Lions and all venemous Creatures lodge in that Habitation That House is foul and is not swept And these are the Persecutors of the Just and Enemies of the Truth and the Enemies of Christ These are Blasphemers of God and his Truth These are they that call upon God with their Lips but their Hearts are far from him These are they that feed on Lies Priests and People These are they that Incense all the People and stir up Envy for it begets its own one like it self These are they that are the Waves of the Sea foaming out their own Shame These are they that have double Eyes whose Bodies are full of Darkness These are they that paint themselves with the Prophets with Christ's and with the Apostles Words most fair whited Walls you are painted Sepulchres you are Murderers of the Just you are Your Eyes are double your Minds are double your Hearts are double Ye Flatterers Repent from your carnal Ends who are full of Mischief pretending God and Godliness taking him for your Cloke But he will uncover you and he hath uncovered you to his Children He will make you bare and discover your Secrets and take off your Crown and take away your Mantle and your Vail and strip you of your Cloathing that your Nakedness may appear and how you sit deceiving the Nations Your Abomination and your Falseness is now made manifest to them who are of God who in his Power Triumph over you Rejoice over you the Beast the Dragon the false Prophet the Seducer the Hypocrite the Mother of all Harlots now thou must have thy Cup double Give it to her double Sing over her ye Righteous Ones sing over them all ye Saints Triumph in Glory Triumph over
could not make good by Scripture that which he had said So he was shamed and fled out of the House and his People were generally Convinced for his Spirit was discovered and he came no more amongst them And when his People were Convinced and settled in God's Truth they gave forth a Book against him and denied his Spirit and his false Discoveries Many were turned to Christ Jesus that day and came to sit under his Teaching insomuch that the Judges were in a great Rage and many of the Magistrates in Bedford-shire because there were so many turned from the Hireling-Priests to the Lord Jesus Christ's free Teaching But John Crook was kept by the Power of the Lord Yet he was turned out from being a Justice After some time I turned up through the Country to London again where Friends were finely established in the Truth and great Comings in there were And about this time several Friends went beyond the Seas to declare the everlasting Truth of God Now when I had stay'd a while in the City Kent Rochester I went into Kent And when I came to Rochester there was a Guard kept to examin Passengers Cranbrook but we passed by and were not stopped So I went to Cranbrook where there was a great Meeting and several Souldiers were at it and many were turned to the Lord that day After the Meeting some of the Souldiers were somewhat Rude but the Lord's Power came over them One Thomas Howsigoe an Independent-Preacher who lived not far from Cranbrook was Convinced and became a faithful Minister for the Lord Jesus Some Friends had traveled into Kent before as John Stubbs and William Caton and the Priests and Professors had stirred up the Magistrates at Maidstone to Whip them for declaring God's Truth unto them as may be seen at large in the Journal of William Caton's Life There was also one Captain Dunk Convinced in Kent Sussex Ry. and he went with me to Ry where we had a Meeting to which the Mayor and Officers and several Captains came and they took what I said in Writing which I was well pleased with All was quiet and the People affected with the Truth Rumney From Ry I went to Rumney where the People having had notice of my Coming some time before there was a very large Meeting Thither came Samuel Fisher who was an Eminent Preacher among the Baptists and had had a Parsonage reputed worth about Two hundred Pounds a Year which for Conscience-sake he had given up And there was also the Pastor of the Baptists and abundance of their People And the Power of the Lord was so mightily over the Meeting that many were reached by the Power of God and one greatly shaken and the Life sprang up in divers One of the Pastors of the Baptists being amazed at the Work of the Lord's Power bid one of our Friends that was so wrought upon Have a good Conscience Whereupon I was moved of the Lord to bid him Take heed of Hypocrisy and Deceit and he was silent A great Convincement there was that day and many were turned from the Darkness to the divine Light of Christ and came to see their Teachers Errors and to sit under the Lord Jesus Christ's Teaching and to know him their Way and the Covenant of Light which God had given to be their Salvation And they were brought to the One Baptism and to the One Baptizer Christ Jesus When the Meeting was done Samuel Fisher's Wife said Now we may discern this day betwixt Flesh and Spirit and distinguish Spiritual Teaching from Fleshly The People were generally well satisfied with what had been declared but the Two Baptist-Teachers and their Company when they were gone from the Meeting fell to Reasoning amongst the People Samuel Fisher with divers others reasoned for the Word of Life which had been declared that day and the other Pastor and his Party reasoned against it So it divided them asunder and cut them in the midst A Friend came and told me that the Baptists were disputing one with another 1655. Rumney and desired me to go up to them but I said Let them alone the Lord will divide them and they that Reason for Truth will be too hard for the other And so it was This Samuel Fisher received the Truth in the Love of it and became a faithful Minister of it and preached Christ freely and laboured much in the Work and Service of the Lord being moved of the Lord to go and declare the word of Life at Dunkirk and in Holland and in divers parts of Italy as Leghorn and Rome it self And yet the Lord preserved him and his Companion John Stubbs out of their Inquisitions From Rumney I passed to Dover and had a Meeting there Dover where several were Convinced And near unto Dover there was a Governour and his Wife Convinced who had been Baptists and the Baptists thereabouts were much offended and grew very envious but the Lord's Power came over all Luke Howard of Dover was Convinced sometime before and became a faithful Minister of Christ Returning from Dover I went to Canterbury Canterbury where there were a few honest-hearted People turned to the Lord who sate down under Christ's Teaching Thence I passed to Cranbrook again Cranbrook where I had a great Meeting A Friend that was with me went to the Steeple-house and was cast into Prison But the Lord's Power was manifested and his Truth spread From thence I passed into Sussex and lodged near Horsham Sussex Horsham where there was a great Meeting and many were Convinced Also at Stenning we had a great Meeting in the Market-House Stenning and several were Convinced there and thereaways for the Lord's Power was with us Several Meetings I had thereabouts and among the rest there was a Meeting appointed at a Great Man's House and he and his Son went to fetch several Priests that had threatned to come and dispute But when the time came none of them came for the Lord's Power was mighty in us A glorious Meeting we had and the Man of the House and his Son were vext because none of the Priests would come So the Hearts of People were opened by the Spirit of God and they were turned from the Hirelings to Christ Jesus their Shepherd who had purchased them without Money and would feed them without Money or Price Many that came expecting to hear a Dispute were Convinced that day amongst which Nicholas Beard was one Thus the Lord's Power came over all and his Day many came to see There were abundance of Ranters in those parts and Professors that had been so Loose in their Lives that they began to be Weary of it and had thought to have gone into Scotland to have lived privately But the Lord's Net catched them and their Understandings were opened by his Light Spirit and Power through which they came to receive the Truth and to be settled upon the Lord and so
became very sober Men and good Friends in the Truth And great Blessing and Praising the Lord there was amongst them and great Admiration in the Country Out of Sussex I traveled through the Country till I came to Reading Reading where I found a few that were Convinced of the Way of the Lord. There I stay'd 1655. Reading till the First-day and then had a Meeting in George Lamboll's Orchard and a great part of the Town came to it A glorious Meeting it was and a great Convincement there was that day and the People were mightily satisfied Thither came Two of Judge Fell's Daughters to me and George Bishop of Bristol came with his Sword by his side for he was a Captain After the Meeting many Baptists and Ranters came privately reasoning and discoursing but the Lord's Power came over them The Ranters pleaded That God made the Devil But I denied it and told them I was come into the Power of God the Seed Christ which was before the Devil was and bruised the Head of him And he became a Devil by going out of Truth and so became a Murderer and a Destroyer So I shewed them That God did not make the Devil for God is a God of Truth and he made all things good and blessed them But God did not bless the Devil And the Devil is bad and was a Liar and a Murderer from the beginning and spoke of himself and not from God And so the Truth stopt them and bound them and came over all the highest Notions in the Nation and Confounded them For by the Power of the Lord God I was manifest and sought to be made manifest to the Spirit of God in all that by it which they vexed and quenched and grieved they might be turned to God as many were turned to the Lord Jesus Christ by the Spirit of God and were come to sit under his Teaching London After this Meeting at Reading I passed up to London where I stay'd a while and had large Meetings and then went into Essex and came to Cogshall Essex Cogshall And there was a Meeting of about Two Thousand People as it was judged which lasted several hours and a glorious Meeting it was for the Word of Life was freely declared and People were turned to the Lord Jesus Christ their Teacher and their Saviour the Way the Truth and the Life Near Colchester On the sixth day of that Week I had a Meeting near Colchester to which many Professors and the Independent-Teachers came After I had done speaking and was stept down from the place on which I stood One of the Independent-Teachers began to make a Jangling which Amor Stoddart who was with me perceiving he said to me Stand up again George for I was going away and did not at the first hear them But when I heard the Jangling Independent I stood up again and after a while the Lord's Power came over him and his Company and they were confounded and the Lord's Truth went over all And a great Flock of Sheep hath the Lord Jesus Christ in that Country that feed in his Pastures of Life On the First-day following we had a very large Meeting at another place not far from Colchester wherein the Lord's Power was eminently manifested and the People were very well satisfied for they were turned to the Lord Jesus Christ's free Teaching and they received it gladly Many of these People had been of the Stock of the Martyrs As I passed through Colchester I went to visit James Parnel in Prison but the Cruel Gaoler would hardly let us come in or stay with him Very Cruel they were unto him The Gaoler's Wife threatned to have his Blood and in that Jail they did destroy him 1655. Colchest as the Reader may see at large in a Book printed soon after his Death giving an Account of his Life and Death and also in an Epistle printed with his Collected Books and Writings From Colchester I went to Ipswich where we had a little Meeting Ipswich and very rude but the Lord's Power came over them After the Meeting I said If any had a desire to hear further they might come to the Inn And there came-in a Company of Rude Butchers that had abused Friends but the Lord's Power so chained them that they could not do Mischief Then I writ a Paper and gave it forth to the Town warning them of the Day of the Lord that they might Repent of the Evils they lived in and directing them to Christ their Teacher and Way exhorting them to forsake their hireling-Teachers We passed from Ipswich to Mendlesham where Robert Duncon lived Suffolk Mendlesham in Suffolk where we had a large Meeting that was quiet and the Lord's Power was preciously felt amongst us Then we passed to a Meeting at one Captain Lawrence's in Norfolk where it was judged Norfolk were above a Thousand People and all was quiet Many Persons of Note were there and a great Convincement there was for they were turned to Christ their Way and their Teacher and many of them received him and sate down under him their Vine Here we parted with Amor Stoddart and some more Friends who intended to meet us again in Huntingtonshire About the Second Hour in the Morning we took Horse for Norwich Norwich where Christopher Atkins that dirty Man had run out and brought dishonour upon the blessed Truth and Name of the Lord. But he had been judged and denied by Friends and afterwards he gave forth a Paper of Condemnation of his Sin and Evil. So we came to Yarmouth yarmouth and there stayed a while where there was a Friend one Thomas Bond in Prison for the Truth of Christ There we had some Service for the Lord and some were turned to the Lord in that Town From thence we rode to another Town about Twenty Miles off where were many tender People and I was moved of the Lord to speak to the People as I sate upon my Horse in several Places as I passed along We went on to another Town about Five Miles from thence and set up our Horses at an Inn having travelled Five and forty Miles that Day Richard Hubberthorn and I. There were some friendly People in the Town and we had a tender broken Meeting amongst them in the Lord's Power to his Praise We bid the Hostler have our Horses ready by the Third Hour in the Morning for we intended to ride to Lyn about three and Thirty Miles next morning But when we were in Bed at our Inn about the Eleventh Hour at Night came the Constable and Officers with a great Rabble of People into the Inn and said They were come with an Hue and Cry from a Justice of Peace that lived near that Town about five Miles off where I had spoken to the People in the Streets as I rode along to search for two Horsmen that rid upon gray Horses and in gray Cloaths an House
having been broken up upon the Seventh Day before at Night as they said We told them We were honest and innocent Men and abhorred such things Yet they Apprehended us 1655. Norfolk and set a Guard with Halberts and Pikes upon us that Night making some of those Friendly People with others to watch us Next Morning we were up betimes and the Constable with his Guaâ— â—arried us before a Justice of Peace about five Miles off and we took Two or three of the sufficient men of the Town with us who had been with us at the great Meeting at Captain Lawrence's and could testify that we lay both the seventh Day Night and the first Day Night at Captain Lawrence's and it was the seventh Day Night that they said the House was broken up Now the Reader is to be Informed that during the time that I was a Prisoner at the Mermaid at Charing-Cross of which an Account is given before this Captain Lawrence brought several Independent-Justices to see me there with whom I had a great deal of Discourse which they took Offence at For they pleaded for Imperfection and to Sin as long as they lived but did not like to hear of Christ's Teaching his People himself and making People as Clear whilst here upon the Earth as Adam and Eve were before they fell Now these Justices had plotted together this mischief against me in the Country pretending an House was broken up that so they might send their Hue and Cry after me so great was their Malice against the Righteous and the Just They were vexed also and troubled to hear of the great Meeting at John Lawrence's aforesaid for there was a Colonel Convinced there that Day that lived and died in the Truth But Providence so ordered it that the Constable carried us to a Justice about five miles onward in our way towards Lyn who was not an Independent-Justice as the rest were When we were brought before him he began to be angry because we did not put off our Hats to him I told him I had been before the Protector and he was not offended at my Hat and why should he be offended at it who was but one of his Servants Then he read the Hue and Cry And I told him That that Night wherein the House was said to be broken up we were at Captain Lawrence's House and that we had several Men here present could Testify the Truth thereof Thereupon the Justice having Examined us and them said He believed we were not the men that had broken the House but he was sorry he said that he had no more against us We told him He ought not to be sorry for not having Evil against us but rather to be glad for to Rejoice when he got Evil against People as for house-breaking or the like was not a good mind in him It was a good while yet before he would Resolve Whether to let us go or send us to Prison and the wicked Constable stirred him up against us telling him We had good Horses and that if it pleased him he would carry us to Norwich-Jail But we took hold of the Justice's Confession That he believed we were not the men that had broken the House and after we had admonished him to Fear the Lord in his Day the Lord's Power came over him so that he let us go and so their Snare was broken A great People were after ward gathered to the Lord in that Town where I was moved to speak to them in the Street and from whence the Hue and Cry came Lyn. Being set at Liberty we travelled to Lyn whither we came about the third Hour in the Afternoon And having set up our Horses we met with Joseph Fuce who was an Ensign and we wisht him to speak to as many of the People of the Town as he could 1655. Lyn. that feared God and to the Captains and Officers to come together which he did And we had a very glorious Meeting amongst them and turned them to the Spirit of God by which they might know God and Christ and understand the Scriptures and so learn of God and of Christ as the Prophets and Apostles did Many were Convinced there that Day and a fine Meeting there is of them that are come off from the Hirelings Teaching and sit under the Teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lyn being then a Garrison we desired Joseph Fuce to get us the Gate opened by the third hour next Morning for we had forty Miles to ride next day And by that means getting out early we came next Day by the Eleventh or Twelfth hour to a Town near the Isle of Ely called Sutton where Amor Stoddart Sutton and the Friends that were with him met us again A multitude of People was gathered thither and there were no less than four Priests The Priest of the Town made a great Jangle but the Lord's Power so confounded him that he went away The other three Priests stayed and one of them was Convinced One of the other Two whilst I was speaking came to lean upon me but I bid him Sit down seeing he was so slothful A great Convincement there was that Day and many hundreds were turned from the Darkness to the Light and from the Power of Satan unto God and from the Spirit of Error to the Spirit of Truth to be led thereby into all Truth People came to this Meeting from Huntington and beyond and the Mayor's Wife of Cambridge was there also A glorious Meeting it was and many were settled under Christ's Teaching and knew him their Shepherd to feed them for the Word of Life was freely declared and gladly received by them The Meeting ended in the Power of the Lord and in Peace and after it was done I walked out and went into a Garden where I had not been long before a Friend came to me and told me Several Justices were come to break up the Meeting But many of the People were gone away so they missed of their Design and after they had stayed a while they went away also in a Fret That Evening I passed to Cambridge Cambridg And when I came into the Town the Scholars hearing of me were up and were exceeding Rude I kept on my Horse's Back and rid through them in the Lord's Power but they Vnhorst Amor Stoddart before he could get to the Inn. When we were in the Inn they were so rude there in the Courts and in the Streets that the Miners the Colliers and Carters could never be Ruder The People of the House asked us What we would have for Supper as is the usual way of Inn-keepers Supper said I were it not that the Lord's Power is over them these Rude Scholars look as if they would pluck us in pieces and make a Supper of us They knew I was so against their Trade the Trade of Preaching which they were there as Apprentices to learn that they raged as had as ever
Diana's Crafts-men did against Paul At this Place John Crook met us When it was within Night the Mayor of the Town being friendly came and fetched me to his House and as we walked through the Streets there was a Bustle in the Towm but they did not know me it being darkish But they were in a Rage not only against me but against the Mayor also 1655. Cambridg so that he was almost afraid to walk the Streets with me for the Tumult We sent for the Friendly People and had a fine Meeting there in the Power of God and I stay'd there all Night Next Morning having ordered our Horses to be ready by the sixth Hour we passed peaceably out of Town and the Destroyers were disappointed for they thought I would have stay'd longer in the Town and intended to have done us Mischief but our passing away early in the Morning frustrated their Evil-Purposes against us Bishop-Starford Hertford Then rode we through the Countries to Bishop-Starford where were some Convinced And so to Hertford where also there were some Convinced and where now there is a large Meeting London From thence we returned to London where Friends received us gladly the Lord's Power having carried us through many Snares and Dangers And great Service we had for the Lord for maâ—y hundreds were brought to sit under the Teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ their Saviour and to praise the Lord through him James Nailer also was come up to London and Richard Hubberthorn and I stay'd sometime in the City visiting Friends and Answering Gain-sayers for we had great Disputes with Professors of all sorts Many Reproaches they cast upon Truth and lying slanderous Books they gave forth against us But we Answered them all and cleared God's Truth and set it over them all and the Lord's Power was over all Amongst other Services for the Lord which then lay upon me in the City I was moved to give forth a Paper to those That made a scorn at Trembling and Quaking of which a Copy here followeth THE Word of the Lord to all you that scorn Trembling and Quaking who scoff at them and scorn them and throw Stones at them and belch forth Oaths against them who are Trembling and Quaking threatning them and beating them Strangers ye are to all the Apostles and Prophets and are in the Generation that stoned them and mocked them then in those Ages Now ye are the Scoffers which they spake of that are come in the last times Be ye Witnesses against your selves To the Light in all your Consciences I speak that with it you may see your selves to be from the Life of the holy Men of God Moses who was a Judge over all Israel he trembled feared and Quaked when the Lord said unto him I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob then he trembled and durst not behold This which makes to Tremble now ye Teachers and People scoff at and scorn them in your Streets who witness the Power of the Lord. Moses forsook the Pleasures of the World which he might have enjoyed for a Season He might have been called the Son of Pharaoh's-Daughter he refused it and forsook Pharaoh's House yet was no Vagabond And David a King he trembled he was mocked they made Songs on him they wagged their Heads at him Will you profess David's Words and Moses his Words who are in the Generation of your Fathers 1655. London Mockers Scoffers Wonderers and Despisers which are to perish O blush and be ashamed of all your Profession and be Confounded Job trembled his Flesh trembled and they mocked him So do you now mock them in whom the same Power of God is made manifest and yet you profess Job's Words O deceitful Hypocrites will ye not own Scripture O for shame never profess Scripture-words and deny the Power which according to the Scripture makes the Keepers of the House to tremble and the strong Man to bow himself These things both Priests Magistrates and People scoff at but with the Power ye are judged and by the Power and Life condemned The Prophet Jeremiah trembled he shook his Bones quaked he reeled to and fro like a drunken Man when he saw the Deceits of the Priests and Prophets who were turned from the way of God and they were not ashamed neither could they blush Such were gone from the Light and such were they that ruled over the People But he was brought to Cry O foolish People that had Eyes and could not see that had Ears and could not hear that did not fear the Lord and tremble at his Presence who placed the Sands for Bounds to the Sea by a perpetual Decree that the Waves thereof cannot pass And he said A horrible thing is committed in the Land The Prophets prophesy falsly and the Priests bear rule by their means Shall not I arise for these things saith the Lord Shall not my Soul be avenged upon such a Nation as this They were such as did not Tremble at the Word of the Lord therefore he called them a foolish People Hear all ye the Word of the Lord ye foolish People who scorn Trembling and Quaking and Shaking Give over professing the Prophet Jeremiah's Words and making a Trade of them for with his Words you are judged to be among the Scoffers and Scorners and Stockers For he was stocked by your Generation and you now stock them that tremble at the word of the Lord at the Power of the Mighty God which raises up the Seed of God and throws down the Earth which hath kept it down So you that are in the Fall where Death reigneth Enemies of the Truth despising the Power of God as those of your Generation ever did Wo and Misery is your Portion except you speedily Repent Isaiah said Hear the Word of the Lord all ye that Tremble at his Word And he said This was the Man that God did regard that was of a broken and contrite Heart and trembled at his Word When their Brethren hated them and persecuted them saying Let the Lord be glorified he shall appear to your Joy but they shall be ashamed Isa 66.5 Now all ye Scoffers and Scorners that despise Trembling you regard not the Word of the Lord They are not regarded by you that Tremble at the Word which are regarded by the Lord therefore you are contrary to Isaiah's Words Therefore profess him and his Words no more for shame nor make a Trade of his Words Ye that seek for your Gain from your Quarter ye greedy dumb Dogs that never have enough ye are they that despise Trembling ye are such as Isaiah cried against who himself witnessed Trembling Here therefore be ye Witnesses against your selves that with the Light in your Consciences ye may see ye are out of the Prophet Isaiah's Spirit and are Haters of them that Tremble whom the Lord regards but such you regard not but hate and persecute mock and rail
have not considered the handy-works of the Lord but have destroyed them nor have regarded the way of the Lord but have had plenty of the Creatures and have therewith fatted up your selves and forgot the Lord and his way O let Shame cover your Faces here upon Earth Come ye that are given to Pleasures and spend your Time and Days in Sports and Idleness and Fulness your Fruits declare the Sins of Sodom yet you will make a Talk of my Name and of my Saints Words But I behold you afar off saith the Lord you are Proud and Lofty you are bad Patterns and bad Examples that be full and rich and Idle who say Others are Idle that cannot maintain your Lusts Oh! the unrighteous Ballances that are among People Oh the Iniquity in Measuring Oh the Oppression in Ruling and Governing Therefore because of these things my Hand shall come upon you saith the Lord. For the Oppression is entred into the Ears of the Lord who gives Rest to the wearied to the burdened to the oppressed who feeds the Hungry and cloaths the Naked who brings the Mighty from their Seats and beats the Lofty to Ground and makes the Haughty to bend Come saith the Lord ye Mockers and Scorners and Rebellious ones light and wild People vain and heady you have had your Day of Joy you have Scoffed you have Mocked and derided my Messengers and my Ambassadors who have preached in your Streets and cried in your Synagogues and Temples a Day of Trembling and Lamentation shall on you come when you are not aware I 'le take away your Pride and your Height I 'le shake you as a Leaf and bring you to be as Men distracted I 'le distract you and make you that you shall not trust one another in the Earth who have joined hand in hand against my Servants in the Truth I 'le smite you with Terrors and bring Frets and Fears upon you the Cup of my Indignation and Fury shall you drink Where will you appear when Repentance is hid from your Eyes when prophane Esau your Father it set before you and Ishmael and Cain wild and envious whose Fruits declare the Stock Come ye proud Priests who have eaten up the Fat of the Nation who by Violence have taken other Men's Goods whose Envy hath slain many whose Wickedness and Darkness hath abounded and whose Vnrighteousness daily appears Your Fruits every day declare it in summoning up by Writs and Subpoena's from most parts of the Nation for Wages and Tithes such as you do no work for Oh the Abominable Vnrighteousness how is the State of Man lost that these things they do not take to Heart to feel them What havock is made in most parts of the Nation with such And all ye Priests and Teachers who are railing and brawling in the Pulpit setting People at variance one against another Haters and Hateful provoking People to Hate one another here is the Seed of Enmity seen which you have sown and are sowing whose Seed must be bruised by the Seed of the Woman which a top of your Heads is set G. F. This Year came out the Oath of Abjuration by which many Friends suffered and several Friends went to speak with the Protector about it but he began to harden And Sufferings increasing upon Friends by reason that envious Magistrates made use of that Oath as a Snare to catch Friends in who they knew could not swear at all I was moved to write to the Protector about it and other suffering Friends as followeth THE Magistrate is not to bear the Sword in vain which ought to be a Terror to the Evil-doers but the Magistrate that doth bear the Sword in vain as he is not a Terror to the Evil-doers so he is not a Praise to them that do well Now hath God raised up a People by his Power whom People Priests and Magistrates who are out of the Fear of God scornfully call Quakers who do cry against Drunkenness for Drunkards destroy God's Creatures and do cry against Oaths for because of Oaths the Land mourns and they Drunkards and Swearers to whom the Magistrate's Sword should be a Terror are we see at liberty but for crying against such many are cast into Prison and for crying against their Pride and Filthiness their deceitful Merchandize in Markets their Cozening and their Cheating their Excess and Naughtiness their playing at Bouls and Shovel-boards at Cards and at Dice and their other vain and wanton Pleasures for who live in Pleasures are dead while they live and who live in Wantonness kill the Just This we know by the Spirit of God which gave forth the Scriptures which God the Father hath given to us and hath placed his Righteous Law in our Hearts which Law is a Terror to Evil-doers and answers that which is of God in every Man's Conscience They which act contrary to the Measure of God's Spirit in every Man's Conscience cast the Law of God behind their Backs and walk despitefully against the Spirit of Grace The Magistrate's Sword we see is born in vain whilst the Evil-doers are at Liberty to do Evil and they that cry against such are for so doing punished by the Magistrate who hath turned his Sword backward against the Lord. And now the Wicked one fenceth himself and persecutes the Innocent as Vagabonds and Wanderers for crying against Sin and against Vnrighteousness and Vngodliness openly in the Markets and in the High-ways or as Railers because they tell them what Judgment will follow them that follow such Practices And here they that depart from Iniquity are become a Prey and few lay it to heart But God will thresh the Mountains and beat the Hills and cleave the Rocks and cast into his Press which is trodden without the City and will bathe his Sword in the Blood of the Wicked and Vnrighteous So they that have drunk the Cup of Abominations an hard Cup have you to drink you who are the Enemies of God and of you he will be avenged who be his Enemies Now ye in whom something of God is remaining consider If the Sword was not born in vain but turned against the Evil-doers then the Righteous would not suffer and be cast into Holes Dungeons Corners and Prisons and Houses of Correction as Peace-Breakers for crying against Sin openly as they are commanded of the Lord and for crying against the Covetousness of the Priests and their false Worships who exact Money now of poor People whom they do no work for Oh! where will you appear in the Day of the Lord or how will you stand in the Day of his righteous Judgment How many Jails and Houses of Correction are now made Places to put the Lambs of Christ in for following him and obeying his Commands which are too many to mention The Royal Law of Christ To do as ye would be done by is trodden down under foot So that Men can profess him in Words and Talk but Crucify him wheresoever he appears
and his Marshal to the Meeting and were Convinced for the glorious powerful Day of the Lord was exalted over all and many were Convinced that day at that Meeting There were at that Meeting Two 1655. Whetston that came out of Wales who were Justices of Peace their Names were Peter Price and Walter Jenkin who came both to be Ministers of Christ I went from thence to Sileby to William Smith's Sileby where was a great Meeting to which several Baptists came and one of them a Baptist-Teacher was Convinced and came to sit under the Lord 's Teaching by his Spirit and Power This Baptist said he had Baptized Thirty in a day From thence I went to Drayton my Native Town Drayton where so many Priests and Professors had formerly gathered together against me but now never a Priest nor Professor did appear I asked some of my Relations Where were all the Priests and Professors now They said The Priest of Non-Eaton was dead and there were Eight or Nine of them seeking to get into his Benefice They will let you alone now said they for they are like a Company of Crows when a rotten Sheep is dead they all gather together to pull out the Puddings and so do the Priests for a fallen Benefice These were some of their own Hearers that said so of them But they had spent their Venom against me and the Lord delivered me by his Power out of their Snares Then I went to Badgley Badgley where there was a great Meeting from many parts many came far to it and many were Convinced and turned to the Lord And they that were Convinced came under Christ's Teaching and were settled upon him their Foundation and their Rock From thence I passed into Nottinghamshire Nottingham-shire Darbyshire and had large Meetings there and so into Darbyshire where the Lord's Power came over all and many were turned from the Darkness to the Light and from the Power of Satan unto God and came to receive the Holy Ghost And great Miracles were wrought in many Places by the Power of the Lord through several In Darbyshire James Nailer met me and told me Seven or Eight Priests had challenged him to a Dispute I had a Travel in my Spirit for him and the Lord answered me and I was moved to bid him Go on and God Almighty would be with him and give him the Victory in his Power And the Lord did so insomuch that the People saw the Priests were foiled and they cried A Nailer a Nailer hath confuted them all After the Dispute was over he came to me again praising the Lord. Thus was the Lord's Day proclaimed and set over all their Heads and People began to see the Apostacy and Slavery they had been under to their Hireling-Teachers for Means and they came to know their Teacher the Lord Jesus who had bought them and purchased them and made their Peace betwixt God and them While we were here Friends came out of Yorkshire to see us and were glad of the Prosperity of Truth After this I passed into Warwickshire through Friends Warwickshire Worcestershire Birmingham visiting their Meetings and so into Worcestershire and had a Meeting at Brummingham as I went where several were Convinced and turned to the Lord. At length I came to one Cole's House in Worcestershire near Chattan 1655. Near Chattan This Cole had given an Independent-Preacher a Meeting-place and the Independent came to be Convinced and after he was Convinced he laid aside his Preaching Whereupon the Old Man Cole gave him an hundred Pounds a Year I had a Meeting at that Meeting-place and a very great Meeting it was insomuch that the Meeting-place would not hold the People and many were turned to the Lord that day Afterwards when the time of Trials came this Independent did not stand to that which had Convinced him but turned back Whereupon the Old Man took away his 100 l. a Year from him again But this Old Man Cole himself died in God's Truth Now I heard that at Evesholme the Magistrates had cast several Friends into Prison in several Prisons and that hearing of my coming they made a pair of high Stocks So I sent for Edward Pittaway a Friend that lived near Evesholme and asked him the Truth of the thing and he said It was so Then I went that Night with him to Evesholme Evesholme and in the Evening we had a large precious Meeting wherein Friends and People were refreshed with the Word of Life and with the Power of the Lord. Next Morning I got up and rid to one of the Prisons and visited Friends there and encouraged them Then I rid to the other Prison where there were several Prisoners and amongst them one Friend that had been a Priest but was now become a free Minister of Christ his Name was Humphrey Smith So when I had visited the Friends at both Prisons and was turned away from the Prison to go out of Town I espied the Magistrates coming up the Town to have seized me in Prison But the Lord frustrated their Intents that the Innocent escaped their Snare and the Lord God's blessed Power came over them all But exceeding Rude and Envious were the Priests and Professors about this time in those Parts Worcester I went from Evesholme to Worcester and had a precious Meeting there and quiet But after the Meeting as we came down the Street towards our Inn some of the Professors fell to discourse with Friends and were like to have made a Tumult in the City and as we went into the Inn they all cluttered into the Yard but I went among them and got them quieted The next day I walked forth into the Town and had a great deal of Discourse with some of the Professors concerning Christ and the way of Truth One of them denied That Christ was of Abraham according to the Flesh and that he was declared to be the Son of God according to the Spirit But I proved from Rom. 1. that he was of the Seed of Abraham being made of the Seed of David according to the Flesh and that according to the Spirit he was declared to be the Son of God Afterwards I writ a Paper concerning it Tewksbury From Worcester we went to Tewksbury where in the Evening we had a great Meeting And there came in the Priest of the Town with a great Rabble of rude People and the Priest boasted That he would see whether he or I should have the Victory I turned the People to the Divine Light which Christ the heavenly and spiritual Man had enlightned them withal that with that Light they might see their Sins and that they were in Death and Darkness and without God in the World 1655. Tewksbury And with the same Light they might see Christ from whom it came their Saviour and Redeemer who had shed his Blood for them and died for them and who was the Way to God
the Truth and the Life Here the Priest began to Rage against the Light and denied it for neither Priest nor Professor could endure to hear the Light spoken of So the Priest having railed at the Light went away and left his rude Company amongst us but the Lord's Power came over them though Mischief was in their Hearts Leaving Tewksbury we passed back through the Country and came to Warwick Warwick where in the Evening we had a Meeting at a Widow-woman's House whither many sober People came together and a precious Meeting we had in the Lord's Power and several were Convinced and turned to the Lord. After the Meeting was done and I was walking out a Baptist in the Company began to Jangle and the Bayliff of the Town with his Officers came in and said What do these People here at this time of the Night So he secured John Crook and Amor Stoddart and Gerrard Roberts and me but we had leave to go to our Inn all that were Strangers and to be forth-coming in the Morning The next Morning there came many rude People into the Inn and into our Chambers desperate Fellows but the Lord's Power gave us Dominion over them Gerrard Roberts and John Crook went up to the Bailiff to speak with him and to know What he had to say to us He said We might go our ways for he had little to say to us Then as we rid out of Town it lay upon me to ride to his Hâ—â—se to speak to him and to let him know That the Protector having given forth an Instrument of Government in which Liberty of Conscience was granted it was very much that contrary to that Instrument of Government he would trouble peaceable People that feared God The Friends went with me but the rude People gathered about us with Stones And one of them took hold of my Horse's Bridle and brake it but the Horse drawing back threw him under him Though the Bayliff saw this yet did he not stop nor so much as Rebuke the Rude Multitude so that it was much we had not been slain or hurt in the Streets amongst them for the People threw Stones and struck at us as we Rode along the Town When we were come quite out of the Town I told Friends It was upon me from the Lord that I must go back into the Town again and if any one of them felt any thing upon him from the Lord he might follow me and the rest that did not might go on to Dun-Cow So I passed up through the Market in the dreadful Power of God declaring the Word of Life to them and John Crook followed me Some struck at me but the Lord's Power was over them and gave me Dominion over all And I shewed them their Vnworthiness of the Name of Christians and the Vnworthiness of their Teachers that had not brought them into more Sobriety and what a shame they were to Christianity Having cleared my self I turned back out of the Town again and passed to Coventry but when we came thither Coventry we found the People closed up with Darknâ—ss I went to a Profâ—ssor's House that I had formerly been at 1655. Coventry and he was drunk which grieved my Soul so that I did not go into any House in the Town but rode into some of the Streets of the Town and into the Market-place and I felt the Power of the Lord God was over the Town Duncow Then I went on to Duncow and had a Meeting there in the Evening and some were turned to the Lord by his Spirit as some also were at Warwick and Tewksbury before-mentioned We lay at the Duncow that Night and there we met with John Cham a faithful Minister of the Everlasting Gospel In the Morning there was gathered together a Rude Campany of Priests and People who behaved themselves more like Beasts than Men for some of them came Riding on Horseback into the Room where we were But the Lord gave us Dominion over them Leicestershire Warwickshire Badgley From thence we passed into Leicester-shire where we had a great Meeting again at the place where I had been taken formerly And after that we came back into Warwickshire to Badgley Here William Edmundson a Friend that lived in Ireland having some drawings upon his Spirit to come over into England to see me met with me and by him I writ a few Lines to those few Friends that were then Convinced in the North of Ireland as followeth Friends IN that which Convinced you Wait that you may have that removed you are Convinced of And all my Dear Friends dwell in the Life and Love and Power and Wisdom of God in Vnity one with another and with God and the Peace and Wisdom of God fill all your Hearts that nothing may rule in you but the Life which stands in the Lord God G. F When these few Lines were read amongst the Friends in Ireland at their Meeting the Power of the Lord seized upon them all that were in the Room Swannington Higham Northamptonshire Bedfordshire Hertfordshire Baldock From Badgley we passed to Swannington and Higham and so through the Countries into Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire having great Meetings and many were turned to the Lord by his Power and Spirit When we came to Baldock in Hertfordshire I asked If there was nothing in that Town no Profession and it was Answered me There were some Baptists and a Baptist-woman sick John Rush of Bedfordshire went along with me to visit her and when we came in there were many People in the House that were Tender about her And they told me She was not a Woman for this World but if I had any thing to comfort her concerning the World to come I might speak to her So I was moved of the Lord God to speak to her ☞ and the Lord raised her up again to the astonishment of the Town and Country Her Husband 's Name was Baldock This Baptist-woman and her Husband came to be Convinced and many hundreds of People have been at Meetings at their House since Great Meetings and Convincements there were up and down in those Parts afterwards and many People received the Word of Life 1655. Baldock and sate down under the Teaching of Christ their Saviour When we had visited this sick Woman we went back to our Inn and there were Two desperate Fellows fighting so furiously that none durst come nigh them to part them But I was moved in the Lord's Power to go to them and when I had loosed their Hands I held one of them by one Hand and the other by the other Hand and I shewed them the Evil of their doings and reconciled them one to the other that they were loving and very thankful to me so that People admired at it From thence I passed through the Country to Market-street Market-street Albans London where God had a People and so through Albans to London where
they saying they had none we told them we should not go along with them without a Warrant Upon the Return of the Constables without us they sent their Serjeants and we asked them for their Warrant and they said they had none but they told us the Mayor and Aldermen stay'd for us We told them the Mayor and his Company did not well to trouble us in our Inn and we should not go with them without a Warrant So they went away and came again and when we asked them for their Warrant one of them pluckt his Mace from under his Cloak We asked them Whether this was their Custom to molest and trouble Strangers in their Inns and Lodgings After some time Edward Pyot went to the Mayor and Aldermen and a great deal of Discourse he had with them but the Lord's Power gave him Dominion over them all When he came back there came several of the Officers to us and we laid before them the Incivility and Vnworthiness of their Carriage towards us who were the Servants of the Lord God thus to stop and trouble us in our Inns and Lodgings and what an Vnchristian Act it was Before we left the Town I writ a little Paper to be sent to the seven Parishes at the Land's End to declare ' That the Lord was come to teach his People himself by his Son Christ Jesus A Copy of which Paper here followeth THE mighty Day of the Lord is come and coming wherein all Hearts shall be made manifest and the Secrets of every one's Heart shall be revealed by the Light of Jesus which cometh from Jesus Christ who Lighteth every Man that cometh into the World that all Men through him might believe and that the World might have Life through him who saith Learn of me and of whom God saith This is my beloved Son hear ye him And Christ is come to teach his People himself and every one that will not hear this Prophet which God hath raised up and which Moses spake of when he said Like unto me will God raise you up a Prophet him shall you hear Every one I say that will not hear this Prophet is to be Cut off They that despised Moses's Law died under the Hand of two or three Witnesses but how much greater Punishment will come upon them 1655. Market-Jew that neglect this great Salvation Christ Jesus who saith Learn of me I am the Way the Truth and the Life who lighteth every Man that cometh into the World which Light lets him see his evil Ways and his evil Deeds that he hath done But if you hate that Light and go on in Evil this Light will be your Condemnation saith Christ Therefore now ye have Time prize it for this is the Day of your Visitation and Salvation profer'd to you Every one of you hath a Light from Christ which lets you see you should not lie nor do wrong to any nor Swear nor Curse nor take God's Name in vain nor Steal It is the Light that shews you these evil Deeds which if you love and come unto it and follow it it will lead you to Christ who is the way to the Father from whence it comes where no Vnrighteousness enters nor Vngodliness But if you do this Light hate this Light will be your Condemnation but if you do it love and come to it you will come to Christ and it will bring you off from all the World's Teachers and VVays to learn of Christ and will preserve you from the Evils of the VVorld and all the Deceivers in it G. F. This Paper a Friend who was then with me had and when we were gone some three or four Miles from Market-Jew towards the VVest he meeting with a Man upon the Road gave him a Copy of the Paper That Man proved to be a Servant to one Peter Ceely who was Major in the Army and a Justice of Peace in that County and he riding before us to a Place called St. Ives shewed the Paper to his Master Major Ceely Ives When we came to Ives Edward Pyot's Horse having cast a Shoe we staid there to have a Shoe set and while he was getting his Horse shod I walked down to the Sea-side When I came back I found the Town in an Vproar and they were haling Edward Pyot and the other Friend before Major Ceely I followed them into the Justice's House though they did not lay Hâ—nds upon me When we came in the House was full of Rude People Whereupon I asked Whether there were not an Officer among them to keep the People Civil Major Ceely said he was a Magistrate I told him He should shew forth Gravity and Sobriety then and use his Authority to keep the People Civil for I never saw any People ruder The Indians were more like Christians than they After a while they brought forth the Paper aforesaid and asked Whether I would own it I said Yes Then he tendered the Oath of Abjuration to us Whereupon I put my Hand in my Pocket and drew forth the Answer to it which had been given to the Protector After I had given him that he Examined us severally one by one He had with him a silly young Priest who asked us many frivolous Questions and amongst the rest he asked To cut my Hair which then was pretty long and I was not to Cut it though many times many were Angry at it I told them I had no Pride in it and it was not of my own putting on At length the Justice put us under a Guard of Souldiers who were hard and wild 1655. Ives like the Justice himself Nevertheless we Warned the People of the day of the Lord and declared the Truth to them On the next day he sent us guarded with a Party of Horse with Swords and Pistols and they carried us to Redruth Redruth On the First-day the Soldiers would have carried us away but we told them It was their Sabbath and it was not usual to Travel on that day Several of the Town 's People gathered about us and whilst I held the Souldiers in Discourse Edward Pyot spake to the People and afterwards Edward Pyot held the Souldiers in Discourse whilst I spake to the People And in the mean time the other Friend got out into the Backside and went to the Steeple-house to speak to the Priest and People there and the People were exceeding desperate in a mighty Rage against him and Abused him The Souldiers also missing him were in a great Rage ready to kill us But I declared the Day of the Lord and the Word of Eternal Life to the People that gathered about us In the Afternoon the Souldiers were Resolved and would have us away from thence so we took Horse And when we were rid to the Towns-end I was moved of the Lord God to go back again to speak to the Old Man of the House The Souldiers drew out their Pistols and swore that I should
the contrary at your Perils Given under my Hand and Seal at St. Ives the Eighteenth day of January 1655. P. Ceely When it was read I spake thus to the Judge and Justices Thou that say'st thou art Chief-Justice of England and you that be Justices ye know that if I had put in Sureties I might have gone whether I pleased and have carried on the Design if I had had one which Major Ceely hath charged me with And if I had spoken those Words to him which he hath here declared then judge ye whether Bail or Mainprize could have been taken in that Case Then turning my Speech to Major Ceely I said When or where did I take thee aside Was not thy House full of rude People and thou as Rude as any of them at our Examination so that I asked for a Constable or some other Officer to keep the People civil But if thou art my Accuser why sittest thou on the Bench That is not a place for thee to sit in for Accusers do not use to sit with the Judges Thou oughtest to come down and stand by me and look me in the Face Besides I would ask the Judge and Justices this Question Whether or no Major Ceely is not guilty of this Treason which he charges against me in Concealing it so long as he hath done Dos he understand his place either as a Souldier or a Justice of the Peace For he tells you here That I went aside with him and told him what a Design I had in hand and how serviceable he might be for my Design That I could raise Forty Thousand Men in an Hour's time and bring in King Charles and involve the Nation in Blood He saith moreover He would have aided me out of the Country but I would not go and therefore he committed me to Prison for want of Sureties for the good Behaviour as the Mittimus declares Now do not you see plainly that Major Ceely is guilty of this Plot and Treason that he talks of and hath made himself a Party to it by desiring me to go out of the Country and demanding Bail of me and not charging me with this pretended Treason till now nor discovering it But I deny and abhor his Words and am Innocent of his Devilish Design So that Business was let fall for the Judge saw clear enough that instead of Ensnaring me he hath Ensnared himself Then this Major Ceely got up again and said If it please you my Lord to hear me This Man struck me and gave me such a Blow as I never had in my Life At this I smiled in my Heart and said Major Ceely art thou a Justice of Peace and a Major of a Troop of Horse and tells the Judge here in the Face of the Court and Country That I who am a Prisoner struck thee and gave thee such a Blow as thou never had'st the like in thy Life What! Art thou not ashamed Prithee Major Ceely said I where did I strike thee and who is thy Witness for that who was by He said It was in the Castle-green and that Captain Bradden was standing by when I ' struck him I desired the Judge to let him produce his Witness for that And I called again upon Major Ceely to come down from off the Bench telling him It was not fit that the Accuser should sit as Judge over the Accused Now when I called again for his Witness he said Captain Bradden was his Witness Then I said speak Captain Bradden Did'st thou see me give him such a Blow and strike him as he saith Captain Bradden made no answer but bowed his Head towards me I desired him to speak up if he knew any such thing but he only bowed his Head again ' Nay said I speak up and let the Court and Country hear and let not bowing of the Head serve the Turn If I have done so let the Law be Inflicted on me I fear not Sufferings nor Death it self for I am an Innocent Man concerning all his Charge But Captain Bradden never Testified to it And the Judge finding those Snares would not hold cried Take him away Gaoler and then when we were taken away he fined us Twenty Marks a piece for not putting off our Hats and to be kept in Prison till we paid it and so sent us back to the Gaol again At Night Captain Bradden came to see us and Seven or Eight Justices with him who were very Civil to us and told us They did believe neithâ—r the Judge nor any in the Court did believe those Charges which Major Ceely had charged upon me in the Face of the Country And Capt. Bradden said Major Ceely had an Intent to have taken away my Life if he could have got another Witness But said I Captain Bradden why did'st not thou witness for me 1656. Lanceston Prison or against me seeing Major Ceely produced thee for a Witness that thou sawest me strike him And when I desired thee to speak either for me or against me according to what thou sawest or knewest thou wouldst not speak Why said he when Major Ceely and I came by you as you were walking in the Castle-green he put off his Hat to you and said How do you Mr. Fox your Servant Sir Then you said to him Major Ceely take heed of Hypocrisy and of a rotten Heart for when came I to be thy Master and thou my Servant Do Servants use to cast their Masters into Prison This was the great Blow he meant that you gave him Then I called to mind that they walked by us and that he spake to me as aforesaid and I spake those Words to him before-mentioned which Hypocrisy and Rotten-heartedness he manifested openly when he complained or this to the Judge in open Court and in the Face of the Country and would have made them all believe that I struck him outwardly with my Hand Now were we kept in Prison and divers People came from far and nigh to see us of whom some were People of Account in the World for the Report of our Trial was spread abroad and our Boldness and Innocency in our Answers to the Judge and Court was talked of in Town and Country Among others that came to visit us there was one Humphry Lower a grave sober ancient Man who had been a Justice of Peace formerly and he was very sorry we should lie in Prison telling us how serviceable we might be if we were out of Prison But we reasoned with him concerning Swearing and having acquainted him how they tendered the Oath of Abjuration to us as a Snare because they knew we could not swear we shew'd him That No People could be serviceable to God if they disobeyed the Command of Christ and that they that Imprisoned us for the Hat-Honour which was of Men and which Men sought for they prisoned the Good and vexed and grieved the Spirit of God in themselves which should have turned their Minds to God So we
turned him to the Spirit of God in his Heart and to the Light of Christ Jesus and he was throughly Convinced and continued so to his Death and was very serviceable to us There came also to see us one Colonel Rouse a Justice of Peace with a great Company with him and he was as full or Words and Talk as ever I heard any Man in my Life so that there was no speaking to him At length I asked him ' Whether he had ever been at School and knew what belonged to Questions and Answers this I said to stop him At School said he yes At School said the Souldiers Doth he say so to our Colonel that is a Scholar Then said I If he be so let him be still and receive Answers to what he hath said Then I was moved of the Lord so speak the Word of Life to him in God's dreadful Power which came so over him that he could not open his Mouth his Face swelled and was red like a Turkey and his Lips moved and he mumbled something but the People thought he would have fallen down I stept to him and he said He was never so in his Life before For the Lord's Power stopt the Evil Power and Air in him so that he was almost choked The Man was ever after very Loving to Friends and not so full of Airy Words to us though he was a Man full of Pride but the Lord's Power came over him and the rest that were with him Another time there came another Officer of the Army a very malicious bitter Professor whom I had known in London And he was full of his airy Talk also and spake slightly of the Light of Christ and against the Truth as Colonel Rouse had done and against the Spirit of God being in Men as it was in the Apostles Days till the Power of God that bound the Evil in him had almost Choked him also as it did Colonel Rouse for he was so full of Evil Air that he could not speak but blubbered and stuttered But from that time that the Lord's Power struck him and came over him he was ever after more Loving to us Now the Assize being over and we settled in Prison upon such a Commitment as we were not likely to be soon Released we broke off from giving the Gaoler Seven Shillings a Week a piece for our Horses and Seven Shillings a Week for our selves and sent our Horses out into the Country Upon which the Gaoler grew very Wicked and Devilish Dooms-Dale and put us down into Dooms-dale a nasty stinking Place where they used to put Witches and Murderers after they were Condemned to Die The Place was so Noisom that it was observed few that went in did ever come out again in Health for there was no House of Office in it and the Excrements of the Prisoners that from time to time had been put there had not been carried out as we were told for many Years So that it was all like Mire and in some Places to the Top of the Shoes in Water and Piss and he would not let us Cleanse it neither would he let us have Beds or Straw to lie on At Night some friendly People of the Town brought us a Candle and a little Straw and we went to burn a little of our Straw to take away the Stink The Thieves lay over our Heads and the Head-Gaoler lay in a Room by them over our Heads also Now it seems the Smoke went up into the Room where the Gaoler lay which put him into such a Rage that he took the Pots of Excrements of the Thieves and poured them down through a Hole upon our Heads in Dooms-dale so that we were so bespattered with the Excrements that we could not touch our selves nor one another And the Stink Increased upon us so that what with Stink and what with Smoke we had like to have been choked and smothered in Dooms-dale For we had the Stink under our Feet before but now we had it on our Heads and Backs also And he having quenched our Straw with the Filth he poured down had made a great Smother in the Place Moreover he railed on us most hideously calling us Hatchet-faced Dogs and such strange Names as we had never heard of In this manner were we fain to stand all Night for we could not sit down the Place was so full of filthy Excrements And a great while he kept us after this manner before he would let us cleanse it or suffer us to have any Victuals brought in but what we got through the Grate One time a Lass brought us a little Meat and he Arrested her for breaking his House and sued her in the Town-Court for breaking the Prison and a great deal of Trouble he put the Young-woman to whereby others were so discouraged that we had much a do to get Water or Drink or Victuals Near this Time we sent for a Young-woman one Ann Downer from London that could write 1656. Lanceston Doomsdale and take things well in Short-hand to buy and dress our Meat for us which she was very willing to it being also upon her Spirit to come to us in the Love of God and she was very serviceable to us This Head-Gaoler we were Informed had been a Thief and was burnt both in the Hand and in the Shoulder His Wife too had been burnt in the Hand The Vnder-Gaoler had been burnt both in the Hand and in the Shoulder and his Wife had been burnt in the Hand also And Colonel Bennet who was a Baptist-Teacher having purchased the Gaol and Lands belonging to the Castle had placed this Head-Gaoler therein The Prisoners and some wild People would be talking of Spirits that haunted Doomsdale and walked there and how many had died in it thinking perhaps to terrify us therewith But I told them and Friends That if all the Spirits and Devils in Hell were there I was over them in the Power of God and feared no such thing for Christ our Priest would sanctify the Walls and the House to us he who bruised the Head of the Devil The Priest was to cleanse the Plague out of the Walls of the House under the Law which Christ our Priest ended who sanctifies both inwardly and outwardly the Walls of the House and the Walls of the Heart and all things to his People By this time the General Quarter-Sessions drew nigh and the Gaoler still carrying himself basely and wickedly towards us we drew up our Sufferings and sent it to the Sessions at Bodmin upon the reading of which the Justices gave Order That Doomsdale-Door should be opened and that we should have liberty to Cleanse it and to buy our Meat in the Town We sent up a Copy also of our Sufferings to the Protector setting forth how we were taken and Committed by Major Ceely and how we were abused by Capt. Keat as aforesaid and the rest in Order Whereupon the Protector sent down an
Order to Capt. Fox Governour of Pendennis-Castle to Examin the Matter about the Souldiers abusing us and striking me There were at that time many of the Gentry of the Country at the Castle and Capt. Keat's Kinsman that struck me was sent for up before them and much Threatned They told him That if I should change my Principle I might take the Extremity of the Law against him and might recover sound Damages of him Capt. Keat also was checkt for suffering the Prisoners under his Charge to be abused This was of great Service in the Country for afterwards Friends might have spoken in any Market or Steeple-house thereabouts and none would meddle with them I understood that Hugh Peters who was one of the Protector 's Chaplains told him They could not do George Fox a greater Service for the spreading of his Principles in Cornwall than to Imprison him there And indeed my Imprisonment there was of the Lord and for his Service in those parts For after the Assizes were over and it was known we were likely to continue Prisoners several Friends from most parts of the Nation came into the Country to visit us And those parts of the West were very dark Countries at that time But the Lord's Light and Truth brake forth and shined over all and many were turned from Darkness to the Light and from Satan's Power unto God And many were moved to go to the Steeple-houses and several were sent to Prison to us and a great Convincement there began to be in the Country For now we had Liberty to come out and to walk in the Castle-Green and divers People came to us on the First-days to whom we declared the Word of Life and great Service we had among them and many were turned to God here and there up and down the Country but a great Rage got up in the Priests and Professors against the Truth and us One of the envious Professors had gathered together many Scripture-Sentences to prove That we ought to put off our Hats to the People and he invited the Town of Lanceston to come into the Castle-Yard to hear him read them Amongst other Instances that he there brought one was That Saul bowed to the Witch of Endor When he had done we got a little Liberty whether the Gaoler would or no to speak and we shewed both him and the People That Saul was gone from God and had disobeyed God like them when he went to the Witch of Endor That neither the Prophets nor Christ nor the Apostles ever taught People to bow to a Witch The Man went away with his rude People but some of the People staid with us and we shewed them That this was not Gospel-Instructions to teach People to bow to a Witch For now People began to be affected with the Truth and now the Devil's Rage increased so that we were in great dangers many times One time there came a Souldier to us and one of our Friends was admonishing of him and exhorting him to Sobriety c. and I saw him begin to draw his Sword at him Whereupon I stept to him and told him What a shame it was to offer to draw his Sword upon a naked Man and a Prisoner and how unfit and unworthy he was to carry such a Weapon and that if he should have offered such a thing to some Men they would have taken his Sword from him and have broken it to pieces So he was ashamed and went his way and the Lord's Power preserved us Another time about the Eleventh Hour at Night the Gaoler being half-drunk came and told me That he had gotten a Man now to dispute with me this was when we had leave to go a little into the Town As soon as he spake those Words I felt there was Mischief intended to my Body All that Night and the next day I lay down on a Grass-plat to slumber and I felt something still about my Body and I started up and struck at it in the Power of the Lord and yet still it was about my Body Then I arose and walked into the Castle-green and the Vnder-Keeper came to me and told me There was a Maid would speak with me in the Prison I felt a Snare in his Words too therefore I went not into the Prison but went to the Grate and looked in and there I saw a Man that was lately brought to Prison for being a Conjurer and he had a naked Knife in his Hand So I spake to him and he threatned to cut my Chaps as his Expression was but he being within the Gaol could not come at me This was the Gaoler's great Disputant I went soon after into the Gaoler's House and found him at Breakfast and he had then gotten his Conjurer out with him So I told the Gaoler his Plot was discovered Then he got up from the Table and cast his Napkin away in a Rage and I left them and went away to my Chamber for at this time we were out of Doomsdale At the time the Gaoler had said 1656. Lanceston Gaol the Dispute should be I went down and walked in the Court the place appointed till about the Eleventh Hour but no Body came then I went up to my Chamber again and after a while I heard one call for me I stept to the Stairs-head and there I saw the Gaoler's Wife upon the Stairs and the Conjurer at the bottom of the Stairs holding his Hand behind his Back and in a great Rage I asked him Man what hast thou in thy Hand behind thy Back Pluck thy Hand before thee said I Let 's see thy Hand and what thou hast in it Then in a Rage he pluckt forth his Hand with a naked Knife in it Then I shewed the Gaoler's Wife the wicked Design of her Husband and her against me for this was the Man they had brought to dispute of the things of God But the Lord discovered their Plot and prevented their Evil Design and they both raged and the Conjurer threatned Then I was moved of the Lord to speak sharply to him in the dreadful Power of the Lord and the Lord's Power came over him and bound him down so that he never after durst appear before me to speak unto me I saw it was the Lord alone that did preserve me out of their bloody Hands for the Devil had a great Enmity to me and stirred up his Instruments to seek my hurt But the Lord prevented them and my Heart was filled with Thanksgivings and Praises unto him Now while I was exercised with People of divers sorts that came some out of good will to visit us some out of an envious carping Mind to wrangle and dispute with us and some out of Curiosity to see us Edward Pyot who before his Convincement had been a Captain in the Army and had a good Understanding in the Laws and Rights of the People being sensible of the Injustice and Envy of Judge Glyn to us at our Trial and
Ye would have Honour before ye have Humility Did not all the Persecutors that ever were upon the Earth want this Humility And so they wanted the Honour and yet would have the Honour before they had the Humility and had learned that And so ye that be out of the Humility be out of the Honour and ye are not to have the Honour who have not the Humility for before Honour is Humility mark before it Now ye pretend Liberty of Conscience yet shall not one carry a Letter to a Friend nor Men visit their Friends nor visit Prisoners nor carry a Book about them either for their own Use or for their Friends and yet ye pretend Liberty of Conscience Men shall not see their Friends but Watches are set up against them to catch and stop them and these must be Well-armed Men too against an Innocent People that have not so much as a Stick in their Hâ—nds who are in scorn called Quakers And yet â—mâ—ng such as set up these Watches is pretended Liberty of Conscience who take up them whose Consciences are exercised towards God and Men who worship God in their Way which is the Truth which they that be out of the Light call Heresy Now these who set up the Watches against them whom they in scorn call Quakers it is Because they confess and witness the true Light that lighteth every one that cometh into the World amongst People as they pass through the Country or among their Friends This is the dangerous Doctrine which the Watchmen are set up against to subdue Error as they call it which is the Light that doth enlighten every Man that cometh into the World Hâ—m by whom the World was made who was glorified with the Father before the VVorld began For them whom they in scorn call Quakers have they set up their VVatches Able Men well-Armed to take up these that bear this Testimony either in VVords Books or Letters So that is the Light you hate that doth Enlighten every man that cometh into the VVorld and these that witness to this Light are they that you put in Prison And after you have Imprisoned them you set up your VVatches to take up all that go to Visit them and to Imprison them also So that by setting up your VVatches ye would stop all Relief from coming to Prisoners Therefore this is the VVord of the Lord God to you and a Charge to you all in the presence of the living Goâ— of Heaven and Earth Every Man of you being enlightned with a Light that cometh from Christ the Saviour of People's Souls from whom the Light cometh that enlightens you To the Light all take heed that with it you may all see Christ from whom the Light cometh you may all see him to be your Saviour by whom the VVorld was made who saith Learn of me But if ye hate this Light which Christ hath enlightned you withal ye hate Christ who doth Enlighten you all that you all through him who is the Light might believe But not believing in the Light nor bringing your Deeds to the Light which will make them manifest and reprove them this is your Condemnation even the Light Remember you are warned in your Life-time for this is your VVay to Salvation the Light if you walk in it And this is your Condemnation the Light if you reject and hate it And you can never come to Christ the Second Priest unless you come to the Light which the Second Priest hath enlightned you withal So ye that come not to the Light ye go to the Priests that take Tithes as did the First Priesthood and so hale out of your Synagogues and Temples as some call them as that Priesthood did that took Tithes which they that were of the Second Priesthood did not Was there ever such a Generation Or ever did such a Generation of Men appear as doth now in this Age who are so full of Madness Envy and Persecution that they stand up in VVatches with Bills and VVeapons against the Truth to persecute it as the Towns and Countries do declare which Rings as Sodom and like Gomorrah And this hath its Liberty and Truth is stood against And to Reprove Sin is accounted a Breach of the Peace as they say who be out of the Truth and set up their VVatches against it G. F. Besides this General VVarning there coming to my Hand a Copy of a VVarrant Issued out from the Sessions of Exon in express Terms For the apprehending of all Quakers wherein Truth and Friends were reproached and vilified I was moved to write an Answer thereunto and send it abroad for the Clearing of Truth and Friends from the Slanders therein cast upon them and to manifest the wickedness of that persecuting Spirit from whence it proceeded And that which I writ was after this manner WHereas there was a VVarrant granted forth the last Sessions holden at Exon on the Eighteenth Day of the Fifth Month 1656. which VVarrant is For the Apprehending and taking up all such as are Quakers or call themselves Quakers or go under the Notion of Quakers And is directed to the Chief-Constables to be sent by them to the Petty-Constables requiring them to set VVatches able Men with Bills to take up all such Quakers as aforesaid And whereas in your said VVarrant you speak of the Quakers spreading Seditious Books and Papers I Answer They whom ye in scorn call Quakers have no Seditious Books or Papers but their Books are against Sedition and Seditious Men and Seditious Books and Seditious Teachers and Seditious VVays And so ye have numbred them who are honest Men Godly Men holy Men Men that fear God among Beggars Rogues and Vagabonds Thus putting no Difference between the Precious and the Vile you are not fit to judge who have set up your Bills and armed your Men to stand up together in Battel against the Innocent People the Lambs of Christ which have not lifted up an Hand against you But if ye were sensible of the State of your own Country your Cities your Towns your Villages how the Cry of them is like Gomorrah and the Ring like Sodom and the Sound like the Old World where all Flesh had Corrupted its way which God overthrew with the Flood If you did this consider with your selves you would find something to turn the Sword against and not against the Lambs of Christ and not make a Mock upon the Innocent that stand a Witness against all Sin and Vnrighteousness in your Towns and Steeple-houses Noah the Eighth Person a Preacher of Righteousness was grieved with the filthy Conversation of the Wicked So are we now So likewise Just Lot was grieved with their unmerciful Deeds and the filthy Conversation of Sodom And were not these hated of the World and of them that lived in Filthiness And whereas you speak of those whom you in scorn call Quakers that they are a Grief to those whom you call Pious and Religious People and their
Visit Prisoners whom you have Imprisoned Doth this shew you to have a Spirit like Paul yea or nay or are you not quite contrary like to them that persecuted Paul The Day hath declared it To that of God in you all I speak which shall witness it at the Last Day in the Day of Judgment Persecution was blind in all Ages and Madness and Folly led it Yet Persecution got always a Form or Presence of Godliness or to talk of Religion as in the Days of Moses in the Days of Jeremy in the Days of Christ and of the Apostles Come saith the Council Let us crush them while they are Young they have almost over-spread the Nation in every Corner This is as much as to say Let us put this Birth to Death as Pharaoh and Herod did the Children But the Lord caused his Truth the more to spread For you may read what Numbers came out of Egypt and what Multitudes followed Christ Therefore with Consideration read these Lines and not with Fury and let not Foolishness appear But consider in Humility your Ways you act in and your Paths you go in and what Spirit you are of and what the End of your Conversation is now see For in Love to your Souls I write that in the Day of your Visitation you may consider it From him who loveth Righteousness and the establishing of it and Truth and Peace and Faith which is by Christ Jesus Mercy and Peace be multiplied among such But a Witness against all Hypocrites and all who have a Profession but live out of the Possession who are in an Hypocritical Religion in the Lusts and Fashions of the World having a Form of Godliness but standing against the Power with might and main Sword and Staff Which things declare your Conversation and Practices to be out of Christ 's Life against the Gospel-practice and contrary to the Manner and Order of the Saints G. F We were continued in Prison till the next Assize 1656. Lanceston Assize before which time divers Friends both Men and Women were sent to Prison that had been taken up by the Watches When the Assize was come several of these were called before the Judge and Indicted and tho' the Jailer brought them into Court yet they Indicted them that they came in by Force of Arms and in an hostile manner And the Judge fined them because they would not put off their Hats But we were not called before the Judges any more but they let us alone Great Work we had and Service for the Lord both between the Assizes and after amongst the Professors and People of all sorts for many came to see us and to reason with us And Elizabeth Trelawny of Plimouth who was the Daughter of one called a Baronet being Convinced as was formerly mentioned the Priests and Professors and some great Persons of her Kindred were in a great Rage concerning her and writ Letters to her And she being a Wise and Tender Woman and fearing to give them any Advantage sent their Letters to me and I answered them and returned them to her again for her to send the Answers to them Which she did till growing in the Power and Spirit and Wisdom of God she came her self to be able to Answer the wisest Priest and Professor of them all and had a Dominion over them all in the Truth through the Power of the Lord by which she was kept faithful to her Death Now while I was in Prison here Lanceston Gaol the Baptists and Fifth-Monarchy-Men prophesied That this Year Christ should come and Reign upon Earth a Thousand Years And they looked upon this Reign to be Outward When as he was come inwardly in the Hearts of his People to Reign and Rule there and these Professors would not Receive him there So they failed in their Prophecy and Expectation and had not the Possession of him But Christ is come and doth dwell in the Hearts of his People and Reigns there And Thousands at the Door of whose Hearts he hath been knocking have opened to him and he is come in and doth Sup with them and they with him the heavenly Supper with the heavenly and spiritual Man So many of these Baptists and Monarchy-People turned the greatest Enemies to the Possessors of Christ But he Reigns in the Hearts of his Saints over all their Envy At the Assize divers Justices came to us and were pretty Civil and Reasoned of the things of God pretty soberly expressing a Pity to us There came also Capt. Fox who was Governour of Pendennis-Castle and lookt me in the Face and said never a word but went his ways to his Company and told them He never saw a simpler Man in his Life I called after him and said Stay Man we will see who is the simpler Man But he went his way A light Chaffy Man There came also at the Assize one Thomas Lower to Visit us and he offered to give us Money which we refused accepting nevertheless of his Love He asked us many Questions concerning our denying the Scriptures to be the Word of God and concerning the Sacraments and such like To all which he received Satisfaction And I spake unto him and he afterwards said 1656. Lanceston Gaol My Words were as a flash of Lightning they ran so through him And he said He never met with such wise Men in his Life for they knew the Thoughts of his Heart and were as the wise Master-Builders of the Assemblies that fastned their Words like Nails He came to be Convinced of the Truth and remains a Friend to this Day When he came home to his Aunt Hambley's where he then lived and made Report to her concerning us She with her Sister Grace Billing hearing the sound of Truth came afterwards to Visit us in Prison and was Convinced also And great Sufferings and Spoilings of Goods both he and his Aunt have undergone for the Truth 's sake About this time I was moved to give forth the following Paper to Friends in the Ministry Friends IN the Power of life and wisdom and dread of the Lord God of life and Heaven and Earth dwell that in the wisdom of God over all ye may be preserved and be a Terror to all the Adversaries of God and a Dread answering that of God in them all spreading the Truth abroad awakening the VVitness confounding the Deceit gathering up out of Transgression into the Life the Covenant of Light and Peace with God Let all Nations hear the sound by Word or Writing Spare no Place spare no Tongue nor Pen but be obedient to the Lord God go through the VVork and be valiant for the Truth upon Earth tread and trample all that is Contrary under Ye have the Power do not Abuse it and Strength and Presence of the Lord eye it and the VVisdom that with it you may all be ordered to the Glory of the Lord God Keep in the Dominion keep in the Power over all Deceit
open your Understandings that you may see this great Power of the Lord which he is now manifesting among his Children in this his Day that ye may not withstand it in our Friends that are come into the Power of God and to God and know him by whom the world was made by whom all things were Created that were created and there was not any thing made of all that was made but what was made for him and to him and by him who is the Power of God who doth Enlighten every Man that cometh into the world Now our Friends being come to this Light which cometh from Christ and having received Power from him by whom all things were Created who hath all Power in Heaven and Earth given to him who is the wisdom of God we have received wisdom and power from him by which the Lord doth give us to know how to use and order the Creatures to the glory of him who is the Creator of all things So our Friends here are taught of the Lord to be diligent serving him and who come into the Life the Scriptures were given forth from are given up to serve the Lord And of this I have in all your Consciences a Witness So if thou open the Prison-Door we shall not stay there If thou send a Liberate and set us free we shall not stay in Prison for Israel is to go out free whose freedom is purchased by the Power of God and the Blood of Jesus But who goeth out of the Power of God loseth his Freedom The 13th of the 6th Month. 1656. George Fox and the rest who are Sufferers for the Truth in Lanceston-Gaol After this Major Desborow came to the Castle-green and there plaid at Bowles with the Justices and others And several Friends were moved to go to him and admonish him and them of their spending their Time so vainly bidding them Consider That though they professed themselves to be Christians yet they gave themselves up to their Pleasures and kept the Servants of God mean while in Prison and told them The Lord would plead with them and visit them for such things But notwithstanding what was writ or said unto him he went away and left us in prison Yet we understood afterwards that he left the Business to Colonel Bennet who had the Command of the Gaol For sometime after Bennet would have set us at Liberty if we would have paid his Gaoler's Fees But we told him We could give the Gaoler no Fees for we were innocent Sufferers and how could they expect Fees of us who had suffered so long wrongfully After a while this Colonel Bennet coming to Town sent for us to an Inn and insisted again upon Fees which we refused And at last the Power of the Lord came so over him that he freely set us at Liberty It was on the Thirteenth Day of the Seventh Month 1656. that we were set at Liberty and we had been Prisoners Nine Weeks at the first Assize called the Lent-Assize which was in the Spring of the Year Observing while I was here a Prisoner how much the People they especially who were called the Gentry were addicted and given to Pleasures and vain Recreations I was moved before I left the Place to give forth several Papers as a Warning unto them and unto all that so Mispend their Time One of which was thus directed This to go abroad among them who are given to Pleasures and Wantonness SOdom and Gomorrah their Sins were Pride Fulness of Bread and abundance of Idleness whose filthy Conversation vexed the righteous Soul of the Just Lot Day by Day and would not take Warning on whom God sent Fire and turned them into Ashes And in Spiritual Sodom and Egypt was our Lord Jesus Christ crucified And it is written The People sate down to eat and to drink and rose up to play with whom God was not well-pleased and there fell three and twenty thousand in one Day These the Apostle commanded the Saints that they should not follow for these things happened to them for Examples and are written for our Admonition And God spared not the Old World but reserving Noah a Preacher of Righteousness brought the Flood upon the World of the Ungodly making them an Example to all that after should live Vngodly Mark ye Vngodly ones who are as natural brute Beasts who speak great swelling Words of Vanity alluring through the Lusts of the Flesh through much Wantonness as they that count it Pleasure to Riot in the Day-time sporting your selves with your own deceivings ye shall receive the Reward of Vnrighteousness Ye are as Dogs and Swine turned to the Vomit and wallowing in the Mire speaking evil of things that ye know not and unless ye Repent ye shall utterly perish in your own Corruptions Ye have lived in Pleasure on the Earth and been wanton ye have nourished your Hearts as in a Day of Slaughter ye have condemned and killed the Just and he doth not resist you Go to Weep and Houl for the Misery that is coming upon you and she that liveth in Pleasures is dead while she liveth God condemned the Cities of Sodom and Gomorrah making them an Example to all those that after should live Vngodly in the wicked filthy Conversation Mark here is your Example Hear this ye that are given to Pleasures and read your Examples G. F. Another Paper upon my taking Notice of the Bowlers that came to sport themselves in the Castle-green was as followeth THE VVord of the Lord to all you vain and idle-minded People who are Lovers of Sports Pleasures and foolish Exercises and Recreations as you call them Consider of your Ways what it is you are doing Was this the End of your Creation Did God make all things for you and you to serve your Lusts and Pleasures Did not the Lord make all things for you and you for himself to fear and worship him in Spirit and in Truth in Righteousness and true Holiness But where is your Service of God so long as your Hearts run after Lusts and Pleasures ye cannot serve God and the foolish Pleasures of the World as Bowling Drinking Hunting Hawking and the like If these have your Hearts God will not have your Lips Consider for 't is true Therefore from the Lord must you all witness VVo and Misery Tribulation and VVrath who continue in the Love and Practice of your vain Sports Lusts and Pleasures Now is the Day when all every-where are exhorted to Repentance O foolish People wicked and slow of Heart to believe the Threatnings of the Great Jehovah against the wicked What will you do in the Day of the Lord 's fierce wrath that makes haste to Come upon the world of ungodly Men And what good have your foolish Sports and Delights done you now they are past Or what good will they do you when the Lord calls for your Souls Therefore all now Awake from Sleep and see where you are And let the Light
of Jesus Christ that shines in every one of your Consciences search you throughly and it will let you clearly see for all your Profession of God Christ and the Scriptures you are Ignorant of them and Enemies to them all and your own Souls also And being found living in Pleasures you are dead while you live And therefore doth the Lord by many Messengers forwarn you and calls you to Repentance and deep Humiliation that you may forsake the Evil of your Doings and so own this Day of your Visitation and while you have Time to prise it lest the things which belong to your Peace be hid from your Eyes for your Disobedience and Rebellion against the Holy One. And then had it been good that you never had been born Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand again I say Repent To the Bowlers in the Green Given forth in Lanceston-Gaol in Cornwall Being Released we got Horses Cornwall and rid up into the Country towards Humphry Lower's and met him upon the Road coming towards us He told us He was much troubled in his Mind concerning us and could not rest at home but was going to Colonel Bennet to seek our Liberty But when we told him VVe were set at liberty and were going to his House he was exceeding glad So to his House we went and there we had a fine precious Meeting and many were Convinced and turned by the Spirit of the Lord to the Lord Jesus Christ's Teaching From his House we went to Loveday Hambleys where also we had a fine large Meeting and the Lord's Power was over all and many were Convinced there also and turned to the Lord Jesus Christ their Teacher After we had tarried there Two or Three Days we came to Thomas Mounce's where we had a general Meeting for the whole County which being very large was held in his Orchard Friends from Plimouth were there and from many Places and the Lord's Power was over all and a great Convincement there was in many Places of the County And all their Watches were down in all those Countries and all was plain and open 1656. Cornwall for the Lord had let me see before I was set at Liberty that he would make all the Country plain before us Now Thomas and Ann Curtis with another an Alderman of Reading who was Convinced had come to Lanceston to see us while I was a Prisoner And when Ann and the other man returned Thomas Curtis staid behind in Cornwall and did good Service for the Lord there at that Time Lanceston From Thomas Mounce's we passed to Lanceston again and visited that little Remnant of Friends that had been raised up there while we were there in Prison and the Lord's Plants grew finely and were established on Christ their Rock and Foundation As we were going out of Town again the Constable of Lanceston came running to us with the Cheese that had been taken from Edward Pyot which they had kept from us all this while and were tormented with it But we being now set at Liberty would not receive it Okington From Lanceston we came to Okington and lay at an Inn which the Mayor of the Town kept He had stopt and taken up several Friends but was very Civil to us and was Convinced in his Judgment Exeter From thence we came through the Countries to Exeter where many Friends were in Prison and amongst the rest James Nayler For a little before the Time that we were set at Liberty James run out into Imaginations and a Company with him and they raised up a great Darkness in the Nation And he came to Bristol and made a Disturbance there And from thence he was coming to Lanceston to see me but was stopt by the Way and Imprisoned at Exeter As were also several others that were coming to see me one of whom an honest tender Man died in Prison there whose Blood lieth on the Heads of his Persecutors That Night that we came to Exeter I spake with James Nayler for I saw he was out and wrong and so was his Company The next day being the First-day of the week we went to the Prison to visit the Prisoners and had a Meeting with them in the Prison but James Nayler and some of them could not stay the Meeting There came a Corporal of Horse into the Meeting and was Convinced and remained a very good Friend The next day I spake to James Nayler again and he slighted what I said and was dark and much out yet he would have come and kissed me But I said Since he had turned against the Power of God I could not receive his shew of Kindness So the Lord God moved me to slight him and to set the Power of God over him So after I had been warring with the World there was now a wicked Spirit risen up amongst Friends to war against and I admonished him and his Company And when he was come to London his Resisting the Power of God in me and the Truth that was declared to him by me became one of his greatest Burdens but he came to see his Out-going and to Condemn it and after some Time he returned to Truth again as in the printed Relation of his Repentance Condemnation and Recovery may be more fully seen We passed from Exeter through Collumpton and Taunton 1656. Collumpton Taunton Puddimoor visiting Friends and had Meetings amongst them and declared the Word of Life unto them And from thence we came to Puddimoor to William Beaton's and on the First-day we had a very large Meeting there For a great Convincement there was all up and down that Country and many Meetings we had and the Lord's Power was over all and many were turned by the Power and Spirit of God to the Lord Jesus Christ who died for them and they came to sit under his free Teaching From thence we went to John Dandy's where we had another precious Meeting and the Lord's Power was over all and many were Convinced of God's Eternal Truth Some Contention was raised by Professors and Baptists in some Places but the Lord's Power came over them near Bristol From thence we came to Edward Pyot's house near Bristol It was the Seventh-day at Night that we came thither And it was quickly noised over the Town that I was come Now I had never been there before On the First-day Morning I went to the Meeting in Broadmead at Bristol and a great Meeting there was and quiet Bristol Meeting Notice was given of a Meeting to be in the Afternoon in the Orchard There was at Bristol a rude Baptist named Paul Gwin who had used before to make great disturbance in our Meetings being encouraged and set on by the Mayor who as it was reported would sometimes give him his Dinner to Incourage him And such multitudes of rude People would he gather after him that it was thought there had been sometimes Ten thousand people
at our Meeting in the Orchard As I was going along into the Orchard the People told me That Paul Gwin the rude jangling Baptist was going to the Meeting But I bid them Never heed It was nothing to me who went to it When I was come into the Orchard I stood upon the Stone that Friends used to stand on when they spake and I was moved of the Lord to put off my Hat and to stand a pretty while and let the People look at me for some Thousands of People were there While I thus stood silent this Rude Baptist began to find Fault with my Hair but I said nothing to him Then he run on into Words and at last Ye wise men of of Bristol said he I strange at you that you will stand here and hear a Man speak and affirm that which he cannot make good Then the Lord opened my Mouth for as yet I had not spoken a Word And I asked the People Whether they ever heard me speak before or ever saw me before And I bid them ' Take notice what kind of Man this was amongst them that should so Impudently say That I spake and Affirmed that which I could not make good and yet neither he nor they ever heard me or saw me before Therefore that was a lying envious malicious Spirit that spake in him and it was of the Devil and not of God Therefore I charged him in the Dread and Power of the Lord to be silent And the Mighty Power of God came over him and all his Company And then a glorious peaceable Meeting we had and the Word of Life was divided amongst them and they were turned from the Darkness to the Light and to Jesus their Saviour And the Scriptures were largely opened to them and the Traditions and Rudiments and ways 1656. Bristol and Doctrines of Men were laid open before the People which they had been in and they were turned to the Light of Christ that with it they might see them and see him to lead them out of them I opened also to them the Types and Figures and Shadows of Christ in the time of the Law and shewed them That Christ was come and had ended the Types and Shadows and Tithes and Oaths and put down Swearing and had set up Yea and Nay instead of it and a free Ministry for he was now come to Teach People himself and his heavenly Day was springing from on high So for many hours did I declare the Word of Life amongst them in the Eternal Power of God that by him they might come up into the Beginning and be Reconciled to him And having turned them to the Spirit of God in themselves that would lead into all Truth I was moved to pray in the mighty Power of God and the Lord's Power came over all But when I had done this Fellow began to babble again and John Audland was moved to bid him Repent and fear God So his own People and Followers being ashamed of him he passed away and never came again to disturb the Meeting And the Meeting brake up quietly and the Lord's Power and Glory shined over all a blessed Day it was and the Lord had the Praise After a while this Paul Gwin went beyond the Seas and many Years after I met with him again at Barbado's of which in its Place From Bristol we returned to Edward Pyot's where we had a great Meeting and the Lord's Power was over all and Truth was declared and spread abroad and many were turned to Christ Jesus their Life their Prophet to teach them their Shepherd to feed them and their Bishop to oversee them After the Meeting was done I had some Reasoning with some Professors and the Lord's Truth and Power came over them Slattenford From Edward Pyot's we passed to Slattenford where we had a very large Meeting Edward Pyot and another Friend being still with me and a great turning of People there was to the Lord Jesus Christ their Teacher and People were glad that they were brought to know their Way and their free Teacher and their Saviour Christ Jesus Wiltshire On the First-day following we went to Nathaniel Crips his House who had been a Justice of Peace in Wiltshire where it was supposed there were between Two and Three Thousand People at a Meeting and all was quiet And the mighty Power of God was manifest and People were turned to the Grace and Truth in their Hearts that came by Jesus Christ which would Teach them to deny all Vngodliness and wordly Lusts and to live soberly and godly in this present world So that every Man and Woman might know the Grace of God which had appeared to all Men and which was saving and sufficient to bring their Salvation This was to be their Teacher the Grace of God which would teach them how to live what to do and what to deny and would season their Words and establish their Hearts And this was a free Teacher to every one of them so that they might come to be Heirs of this Grace and of Christ by whom it came who hath ended the Prophets and the Priests that took Tithes and the Jewish Temple And as for these Hireling-Priests that take Tithes now 1656. Wiltshire and their Temples which Priests were made aâ— Schools and Colledges of Man's setting up and not by Christ they with all their Inventions were to be denied For the Apostles denied the true Priesthood and Temple which God had commanded after Christ had put an End thereto So the Scriptures and the Truths therein contained were largely opened and the People turned to the Spirit of God in their Hearts that by it they might be led into all Truth and understand the Scriptures and know God and Christ and come to have Unity with them and one with another in the same Spirit And the People went away generally satisfied and were glad that they were turned to Christ Jesus their Teacher and Saviour The next day we went from thence to Marlborough Marleborough where we had a little Meeting And the Sessions being in that Town that day they were granting forth a Warrant to send for me But one Justice Stooks being at the Sessions stopt them telling them There was a Meeting at his House yesterday at which were several Thousands So the Warrant was stopt and our Meeting was quiet and several received Christ Jesus their Teacher and came into the New Covenant and abode in it From hence we went to Newberry where we had a large Newberry blessed Meeting and several were Convinced there Thence we passed on to Reading where we had a large Reading precious Meeting in the Lord's Power amongst the Plants of God and many of the World came in and were reached and added to the Meeting and all was quiet and the Lord's Power was over all Kingston upon Thames We went from Reading to Kingston upon Thames where a few came in to
Wickedness where was Debate where was bowing down the Head like a Bulrush for a day lifting their Voice on high and the bonds of wickedness yet standing and the Burthens unloosed and the Oppressed not let go free and the Yoke not broken the Nakedness not cloathed the Bread not dealt to the Hungry and this foundation of many Generations not raised up until these things before-mentioned be broken down on such the Light breaks not forth as the Morning and the Lord hears them not And such have their Reward and their Iniquities have separated them from their God and their Sins have hid his Face from them that he will not hear and such their Hands are defiled with Blood and their Fingers with Iniquity whose Lips have spoken Lies and Tongues have muttered Perversness None calleth for Justice nor any Plead for Truth they trust in Vanity and speak Lies they conceive Mischief and bring forth Iniquity They hatch Cockatrice-Eggs and weave the Spiders-Web he that eateth of their Eggs dies and that which is crushed breaks out into a Viper their Webbs shall not become Garments neither shall they cover themselves with their Works Mark and take notice Their works are works of Iniquity and the Act of Violence is in their Hands Their Feet run to do evil and they make haste to shed innocent Blood Their Thoughts are Thoughts of Iniquity Wasting and Destruction are in their Paths the way of Peace they know not and there is no Judgment in their Doings They have made them a crooked Path whosoever goes therein shall not know Peace Mark Such go from the Light therefore is Judgment far neither doth Justice overtake And here is Obscurity and here is the walking in Darkness and here is the groping like blind Men as though they had no Eyes and their stumbling at Noon-day in the desolate Places like blind Men. And here is the roaring like Bears and mourning sorely like Doves and here Judgment is looked for but there is none and Salvation is put far off For the Light is denied which gives to see it But here the multiplying of Transgression and their Sins testifying against them and the Transgression that was within them and their Iniquities which they knew in transgressing and lying against the Lord speaking the things they should not when that they knew with that of God in them they should not speak it So departing from the way of God speaking Oppression revolting conceiving and uttering forth from the Heart words of Falshood here is Judgment turned away backward and Justice stands afar off Truth is fallen in the Streets and Equity cannot enter Yea Truth faileth and he that departeth from Evil makes himself a Prey Yea the Lord saw it and it displeased him These are such that are in the Fast which God doth not accept and are not in the true fast whose Light breaks forth as the Morning but these are such that be in the false fast who grope like blind Men. And that which gives to know the true fast and the false fast is the Light which is the Eye that gives to see each fast where the true Judgment is and the Iniquity standeth not nor the Transgressor nor the Speaker of Lies but that is judged and condemned with the Light which makes it manifest And who be in this fast when they call upon the Lord the Lord will answer them here am I and here Truth is pleaded for and Falshood flies away But who be out of this fast in the Perverseness Tongues uttering perverse things are stumbling and groping like blind Men which be from the Light in the Iniquity which separates from God who hides his Face from them that he will not hear going from the Light goes from the Lord and his Face So this is it which must be fasted from for this is it which separates from God and here comes the Reward openly which condemns all that before-mentioned which is contrary to the Light Injustice Iniquity Transgression Vanity and that which brings forth Mischief which hatcheth the Cockatrice-Eggs and weaves the Spiders Web he that eateth of these Eggs dies Mark That which is crushed breaks out into a Viper mark again Their Web shall not become Garments neither shall they cover themselves with their Works of Vanity Acts of Violence are in their Hands This is all from the Light in the wickedness Their Feet run to do evil and they make haste to shed innocent blood their thoughts are thoughts of Vanity wasting and destruction is in their Path This is all from the Light Again The way of Peace they know not there is no Judgment in their Goings they have made them crooked Paths whosoever goes therein shall not know Peace Mark who goes in their way that know not the way of Peace shall they know Peace Whose Path is crooked where there is no Judgment in their Goings Take notice No Judgment in their Goings And this is all from the Light which manifesteth that which is to be judged where the Covenant of Peace is known where all that which is contrary to it before-mentioned is kept out Which all who live in those things before-mentioned contrary to the Light in the false fast they may mark their Path and behold their Reward who be out of the Light stumbling and groping like blind Men. Which they that be in the true fast are from all them separated their words their actions and fruits and their fast whose fast breaks the bonds of Iniquity and whom the Lord hears and to whom Righteousness springs forth and goes before them the Glory of the Lord is the Re-reward G. F. We passed up into Wales through Montgomeryshire Montgomeryshire Radnorshire and so into Radnorshire where there was a Meeting like a Leaguer for Multitudes I walked a little aside whilst the People were gathering and there came to me John ap John a Welch-man whom I spake to to go up to the People and if he had any thing upon him from the Lord to speak to them he might speak to them in Welch and thereby gather them more together Then came Morgan Watkins to me who was then become loving to Friends And said he the People lie like a Leaguer and the Gentry of the Country is come in I bad him go up also and leave me for I had a great Travel upon me for the Salvation of the People When they were well gathered together I passed up into the Meeting and stood upon a Chair about three Hours And I stood a pretty while before I began to speak After some time I felt the Power of the Lord went over the whole Assembly and the Lord 's Everlasting Life and Truth shined over all and the Scriptures were opened to them and the Objections they had in their Minds were Answered And they were every one directed to the Light of Christ the heavenly Man that by it they might all see their Sins and Christ Jesus to be their Saviour their
and his Wife and several others of the Chief of the Town came in about the tenth Hour and stay'd all the Time of the Meeting and a glorious Meeting it was John ap John being then with me left the Meeting and went to the Steeple-house and the Governour cast him into Prison On the Second-day Morning the Governour sent one of his Officers to the Justice's House to fetch me which grieved the Mayor and the Justice for they were both with me in the Justice's House 1657. Tenby when the Officer came So the Mayor and the Justice went up to the Governour before me and a while after I went up with the Officer When I came in I said Peace be unto this House And before the Governour could Examin me I asked him Why he did cast my Friend into Prison He said For standing with his Hat on in the Church I said Had not the Priest two Caps on his Head a black one and a white one and cut of the brims of the Hat and then my Friend would have but one and the brims of the Hat were but to defend him from Weather These are frivolous things said the Governour ' Why then said I dost thou cast my Friend into Prison for such frivolous things Then he asked me Whether I owned Election and Reprobation Yes said I and thou art in the Reprobation At that he was in a Rage and said He would send me to Prison till I proved it But I told him I would prove that quickly if he would confess Truth Then I asked him Whether Wrath Fury and Rage and Persecution were not Marks of Reprobation for he that was born of the Flesh persecuted him that was born of the Spirit but Christ and his Disciples never persecuted nor imprisoned any Then he fairly Confest That he had too much Wrath Haste and Passion in him And I told him Esau was up in him the first-Birth not Jacob the second-Birth The Lord's Power so reached the Man and came over him that he confess'd to Truth and the other Justice came and shook me kindly by the Hand As I was passing away I was moved to speak to the Governour again and he Invited me to Dinner with him and set my Friend at Liberty I went back to the other Justice's House And after some time the Mayor and his Wife and the Justice and his Wife and divers other Friends of the Town went about half a Mile out of Town with us to the Water-side when we went away and there when we parted from them I was moved of the Lord to kneel down with them and pray to the Lord to preserve them So after I had recommended them to the Lord Jesus Christ their Saviour and free Teacher we passed away in the Lord's Power and the Lord had the Glory And there is a Meeting continues in that Town to this Day Pembrockshire Pembrock Haverford west So we travelled through the Country to Pembrockshire and in Pembrock Town we had some Service for the Lord. From thence we passed to Haverford-west where we had a great Meeting and all was quiet and the Lord's Power came over all and many were settled in the New Covenant Christ Jesus and built upon him their Rock and Foundation and they stand a precious Meeting to this Day The next day being their Fair-day we passed through their Fair and sounded the Day of the Lord and his Everlasting Truth amongst them After this we came into another County and at Noon came into a great Market-Town and went into several Inns before we could get any Meat for our Horses At last we came to an Inn where we did get some Meat for our Horses and then John ap John being with me went and spake through the Town declaring the Truth to the People and when he came to me again he said he thought All the Town was as people asleep After a while he was moved to go and declare Truth in the Streets again and then the Town was all in an Vproar 1657. WALES and cast him into Prison Presently after several of the Chief of the Town came down with others to the Inn where I was and said They have cast your Man into Prison For what said I He preached in our Streets said they Then I asked them What did he say Had he reproved some of the Drunkards and Swearers and warned them to Repent and leave off their evil Doings and turn to the Lord I asked them Who cast him into Prison And they said The High-Sheriff and the Justices and the Mayor I asked the Names of them and whether they did understand themselves And whether that was their Carriage to Travellers that passed through their Town and to Strangers that did admonish them and exhort them to fear the Lord and reproved Sin in their Gates So these went back and told the Officers what I said And after a while they brought down John ap John guarded with Halberts to the Inn-door in order to put him out of the Town I being at the Inn-door bid the Officers take their Hands off of him They said The Mayor and Justices had commanded them to put him out of Town I told them I would talk with their Mayor and Justices anon concerning their uncivil and unchristian Carriage towards him So I spake to John to go look after the Horses and get them ready and charged the Officers not to touch him And after I had declared the Truth to them and shewed them the Fruits of their Priests and their Incivility and unchristian-like Carriage they went away and left us They were a kind of Independents but a very wicked Town and false We bid the Inn-keeper give our Horses a Peck of Oats and no sooner had we turned our Backs but the Oats were stolen from our Horses After we had refresht our selves a little and were ready we took Horse and rode up to the Inn where the Mayor and Sheriff and Justices were And I called to speak with them and asked them the Reason Wherefore they had Imprisoned John ap John and kept him in Prison two or three hours But they would not answer me a Word only looked out at the Windows upon me So I shewed them how unchristian their Carriage was to Strangers and Travellers and manifested the Fruits of their Teachers and I declared the Truth unto them and warned them of the Day of the Lord that was coming upon all the Evil-Doers and the Lord's Power came over them that they looked ashamed but not a Word could I get from them in Answer So when I had warned them to Repent and Turn to the Lord we passed away And at Night came to a little Inn very poor but very cheap for our own Provision and our two Horses cost but Eight Pence But the Horses would not eat their Oats We declared the Truth to the People of the Place and sounded the Day of the Lord through the Countries Travelling from thence we
forth and spake through the Streets which were so strait and short that one might stand in the Midst of the Town and see both the Gates I followed John ap John and a multitude of People were soon gathered about him amongst whom a very dark Priest began to babble but his Mouth was soon stopped So when John had cleared himself I declared the word of Life amongst the People directing them to the Light of Christ in their Hearts that by it they might see all their own Ways Religions and Teachers and might come off from them all to Christ the true and living Way and the Free Teacher Some of the People were rude but the greater part were civil and told us They had heard how we had been persecuted and abused in many places but they would not do so to us there I commended their Moderation and Sobriety and warned them of the Day of the Lord that was coming upon all Sin and Wickedness testifying unto them that Christ was now come to Teach his People himself by his Spirit and by his Power Beaumorris From hence we went to Beaumorris a Town wherein John ap John had formerly been Preacher to a Congregation After we had put up our Horses at an Inn John went forth and spake through the Street and there being a Garrison in the Town they took him and put him into Prison The Inn-keeper's Wife came and told me That the Governour and Magistrates were sending for me to send me to Prison also I told her They had done more than they could answer already and had acted contrary to Christianity in Imprisoning him for Reproving Sin in their Streets and Gates and for declaring the Truth Soon after came other friendly People and told me If I went out into the Street they would Imprison me also and therefore they desired me to keep within the Inn. Upon this I was moved to go and walk up and down in the Streets and told the People What an uncivil and un-Christian thing they had done in casting my Friend into Prison And they being high Professors I asked them If this was the Entertainment they had for Strangers And if they would willingly be so served themselves And whether they who looked upon the Scriptures to be their Rule had any Example in the Scriptures from Christ or his Apostles for what they had done So after a while they set John ap John at Liberty again Next Day being Market-day we were to cross over a great Water and not far from the place where we were to take Boat many of the Market-People drew to us amongst whom we had good Service for the Lord declaring the word of Life and Everlasting Truth unto them and proclaiming the Day of the Lord amongst them which was coming upon all wickedness and directing them to the Light of Christ which he the heavenly Man had enlightned them withal by which they might see all their sins and all their false Ways Religions Worships and Teachers and by the same Light might see Christ Jesus who was come to save them and lead them to God So after the Lord's Truth had been declared to them in the Power of God and Christ the free Teacher set over all the Hireling-Teachers I bid John ap John get his Horse into the Boat which was then ready But there being a Company of wild Gentlemen as they called them got into it whom we found very rude and far from gentleness they with others kept his Horse out of the Boat So I rode to the Boat's-side and spake to them shewing them What an unmanly and unchristian Carriage it was and told them they shewed an unworthy Spirit below Christianity or Humanity As I spake unto them I leapt my Horse into the Boat amongst them thinking John's Horse would have followed when he had seen mine go in before him but the Water being pretty deep John could not get his Horse into the Boat Wherefore I leapt out again on Horseback into the Water and staid with John on that side till the Boat returned There we tarried from the Eleventh Hour of the Fore-noon to the Second in the Afternoon before the Boat came to fetch us and then had we forty and two Miles to ride that Evening and by that time we had paid for our Passage we had but one groat left between us both in Money We rode about sixteen Miles and then got a little Hay for our Horses and setting forward again we came in the Night to a little Ale-house where we thought to have staid and baited But finding we could have neither Oats nor Hay there we travelled on all Night And about the fifth Hour in the Morning got to a place within six Miles of Rexam Near Rexam where that Day we met with many Friends and had a glorious Meeting and the Lord 's Everlasting Power and Truth was over all and a Meeting is continued there to this day Very weary we were with travelling so hard up and down in Wales and in many places we found it difficult to get meat either for our Horses or Our selves The next Day we passed from thence into Flintshire Flintshire Rexam sounding the Day of the Lord through the Towns and came into Rexam at Night Here many of Floyd's People came to us but very rude wild and airy they were and little Sense of Truth they had Yet some were Convinced in that Town Next Morning one called a Lady sent for me who kept a Preacher in her House I went to her House but found both her and her Preacher very light and airy too light to receive the weighty Things of God In her Lightness she came and asked me If she should cut my Hair But I was moved to reprove her and bid her Cut down the Corruptions in her self with the Sword of the Spirit of God So after I had admonished her to be more grave and sober we passed away and afterwards in her frothy mind she made her Boast That she came behind me and cut off the Curl of my Hair but she spake falsly From Rexam we came through the Country to West-chester West-Chester and it being the Fair-time we stay'd there a while and visited Friends For I had travelled through every County in Wales preaching the Everlasting Gospel of Christ and a brave People there is now which hath received it and sitteth under Christ's Teaching But before I left Wales I writ a Paper to the Magistrates of Beaumorris concerning their Imprisoning of John ap John letting them see their Conditions and the Fruits of their Christianity and of their Teachers And afterwards I met with some of them near London but oh how ashamed they were of their Action From West-chester we came through the Country to Leverpool Liverpool where was at that time a Fair also And as I rode through the Fair there stood a Friend upon the Cross declaring the Truth to the People Who seeing me ride
by and knowing I had appointed a Meeting to be the next Day upon an Hill not far off gave Notice to the People That George Fox the Servant of the Lord would have a Meeting next day upon such an Hill and if any feared the Lord they might come there and hear him declare the Word of Life to them We went that Night to Richard Cubban's who himself was Convinced but not his Wife 1657. Liverpool but at that time his Wife was Convinced also Next Day we went to the Meeting on the Top of the Hill which was very large and some Rude People with a Priest's Wife came and made a Noise for a while but the Lord's Power came over them and the Meeting became quiet and the Truth of God was declared amongst them And many were that Day settled upon the Rock and Foundation Christ Jesus and under his Teaching who made Peace betwixt God and them Malpoth We had a small Meeting with a few Friends and People at Malpoth And from thence we came to another place where we had another Meeting and there came a Bailiff with a Sword and was rude but the Lord's Power came over him and Friends were established in the Truth Manchester From thence we came to Manchester and the Sessions being there that Day many rude People were come to the Town out of the Country In the Meeting they threw at me Coals and Clods and Stones and Water Yet the Lord's Power bore me up over them that they could not strike me down At last when they saw they could not prevail by throwing Water Stones and Dirt at me they went and Informed the Justices in the Sessions who thereupon sent Officers to fetch me before them The Officers came in while I was declaring the Word of Life to the People and they plucked me down and haled me up into their Court. When I came there all the Court was in a Disorder and a Noise Wherefore I asked Where were the Magistrates that they did not keep the People civil Some of the Justices said They were Magistrates I asked them Why then they did not appease the People and keep them sober For one cried I 'le swear and another cried I 'le swear So I declared to the Justices How we were abused in our Meeting by the rude People who threw Stones and Clods and Dirt and Water and how I was haled out of the Meeting and brought thither contrary to the Instrument of Government which said None should be molested in their Meetings that professed God and owned the Lord Jesus Christ which I did So the Truth came over them that when one of the rude Fellows cried He would swear one of the Justices checked him saying What will you swear hold your Tongue At last they bid the Constable Have me to my Lodging and there I should be secured till to morrow Morning that they sent for me again So the Constable had me to my Lodging And as we went the People were exceeding rude but I let them see the Fruits of their Teachers and how they shamed Christianity and dishonoured the Name of Jesus which they professed At Night we went to a Justice's House in the Town who was pretty moderate and I had a great deal of Discourse with him Next Morning we sent to the Constable to know If he had any thing more to say to us And he sent us Word He had nothing to say to us but that we might go whither we would The Lord hath since raised up a People to stand for his Name and Truth in that Town over those chaffy Professors We passed from Manchester through the Country 1657. Preston having many precious Meetings in several Places till we came to Preston between which and Lancaster I had a general Meeting From which I went to Lancaster There at our Inn I met with Colonel West Lancaster who was very glad to see me and he meeting with Judge Fell told him That I was mightily grown in the Truth when as indeed he was come nearer to the Truth and so could better discern it We came from Lancaster to Robert Widders and on the First-Day after I had a general Meeting near the Sands-side Sands-side of Friends of Westmorland and Lancashire where the Lord 's Everlasting Power was over all in which the Word of Eternal Life was declared and Friends were settled upon the Foundation Christ Jesus under his free Teaching And many were Convinced and turned to the Lord. Next day I came over the Sands to Swarthmore Swarthmore where Friends were glad to see me and I stay'd there two first Days visiting Friends in their Meetings there-aways who rejoiced with me in the Goodness of the Lord who by his Eternal Power had carried me through and over many Difficulties and Dangers in his Service to him be the Praise for ever Having gotten a little Respit from Travel I was moved to write an Epistle to Friends as followeth ALL Friends of the Lord every where whose Minds are turned in towards the Lord take heed and hearken to the Light within you which is the Light of Christ which as ye love it will call your Minds inward that are abroad in the Creatures so your Minds may be renewed by it and turned to God in this which is pure to worship the living God the Lord of Hosts over all the Creatures That which calls your Minds out of the Lusts of the World it will call them out of the Affections and Desires and turn you to set your Affections above The same that calls the mind out of the World will give judgment upon the World's Affections and Lusts that which calls out your Minds from the World's Teachers and the Creatures and so to have your minds renewed There is your Obedience known and found and there the Image of God is renewed in you and ye come to grow up in it That which calls your minds out of the Earth turns them towards God where the pure Babe is born of the Virgin and the Babe's food is known the Children's Bread which comes from the living God and nourishes up to Eternal Life Which Babes and Children receive their Wisdom from above from the pure living God and not from the Earthly Ones for that is trodden under Foot with such And all who hate this Light whose minds are abroad in the Creatures in the Earth and in the Image of the Devil get the Words of the Saints that received their Wisdom from above into the old Nature and their corrupted minds Such are they that are Murderers of the just Enemies to the Cross of Christ in whom the Prince of the Air lodgeth Sons of perdition Betrayers of the just Therefore take heed to that Light which is opprest with that Nature which Light as it arises shall condemn all that cursed Nature and shall turn it out and shut it out of the House 1657. Swarthmore And so ye will come
of the Lord came over them So I stayed there till William Osburn and Robert Widders came up and then we passed on together But it is likely that if we two had gone away before they would have robbed Robert Widders when he had come after alone there being three or four of them We went to William Osburn's House where we had a good Opportunity to declare the Truth to several People that came in there And then we went among the Highlanders Highlands who were so Devillish they had like to have spoiled us and our Horses for they run at us with Pitch-forks but through the Lord's Goodness we escaped them being preserved by his Power From thence we passed to Starling where the Soldiers took us up Starling and had us to the Main-guard and after a few Words with their Officers the Lord's Power coming over them we were set at Liberty But no Meeting could we get amongst them in the Town they were so closed up in Darkness Next Morning there came a Man with an Horse that was to run a Race and most of the Town 's People and the Officers went to see it As they came back from the Race I had a brave Opportunity to declare the Day of the Lord and his Word of Life amongst them Some Confessed to it and some Opposed but the Lord's Truth and Power came over them all Leaving Starling we travelled through the Country till we came to Burnt-Island Burnt-Island where I had two Meetings at one Captain Pool's House one in the Morning and the other in the Afternoon Whilst they went to Dinner I walked to the Sea-side not having freedom to eat with them Both he and his Wife were Convinced and became good Friends afterward and several Officers of the Army came in and received the Truth We passed from thence through several other Places in the Country till we came to Johnston's where were several Baptists Johnstons that were very bitter and came in a Rage to dispute with us Vain Janglers and Disputers indeed they were And when they could not prevail by disputing they went and informed the Governour against us and next Morning they raised a whole Company of foot and banished me and Alexander Parker and James Lancaster and Robert Widders out of the Town As they guarded us through the Town James Lancaster was moved to Sing with a Melodious Sound in the Power of God and I was moved to proclaim the Day of the Lord and preach the Everlasting Gospel to the People For the People generally came forth so that the Streets were filled with them and the Souldiers were so ashamed that they said They had rather have gone to Jamaica than have guarded us so But we were put into a Boat with our Horses and carried over the Water and there left And the Baptists who were the Cause of our being thus put out of this Town were themselves not long after turned out of the Army and he that was then Governour was turned out also when the King came in Being thus thrust out of Johnstons we went to another Market-Town where Edward Billing and many Souldiers quartered We went to an Inn and desired to have a Meeting in the Town that we might preach the Everlasting Gospel amongst them The Officers and Souldiers said We should have it in the Town-hall but the Scotch Magistrates in spight appointed a Meeting there that Day for the Business of the Town Which when the Officers of the Souldiery understood and perceived that it was done in Malice they would have had us to have gone into the Town-hall nevertheless But we told them No by no means for then the Magistrates might inform the Governour against them and say They took the Town-hall from them by force when they were to do their Town-business therein But we told them ' We would go to the Market-place They said It was Market-day We replied ' It was so much the better for we would have all People to hear the Truth and know our Principles So Alexander Parker went up and stood upon the Market-cross with a Bible in his Hand and declared the Truth amongst the Souldiers and Market-people but the Scots being a dark carnal People gave little heed nor hardly took notice what was said After a while I was moved of the Lord God to stand up at the Cross and to declare with a loud Voice the Everlasting Truth and the Day of the Lord that was coming upon all Sin and Wickedness Whereupon the People came running out of the Town-hall and they gathered so together that at last we had a large Meeting for they sate in the Court but only for a Colour to hinder us from having the Hall to Meet in When the People were come away the Magistrates followed them and some walked by but some staid and heard and the Lord's Power came over all and kept all quiet And the People were Turned to the Lord Jesus Christ who died for them and had enlightned them that with his Light they might all see their evil Deeds and be saved from their Sins by him and might come to know him to be their Teacher But if they would not receive Christ and own him it was told them that this Light which came from him would be their Condemnation Several of them were made loving to us especially of the English People and some came afterwards to be Convinced But there was a Souldier that was very envious against us and hated both us and the Truth and spake Evil of the Truth and very despitefully against the Light of Christ Jesus which we bore Testimony to and mighty Zealous he was for the Priests and their Hearers As this Man was hearing the Priest holding his Hat before his Face while the Priest prayed ☞ one of the Priest's Hearers stabbed him to Death So he who had rejected the Teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ and cried down the Servants of the Lord was murdered amongst them whom he had so cried up and by one of them Leith We travelled from this Town through the Country to Leith warning and exhorting People as we went to turn to the Lord. At Leith the Inn-keeper told me that the Council had granted forth Warrants to apprehend me because I was not gone out of the Nation after the seven Days were expired that they had ordered me to depart the Nation in several friendly People also came and told me the same To whom I said What do ye tell me of their Warrants against me if there were a Cartload of them I do not heed them for the Lord's Power is over them all Edenborough So I went from Leith up to Edenborough again where they said the Warrants from the Council were out against me and I went to the Inn where I had lodged before and no Man offered to meddle with me After I had visited the Friends in the City I desired those Friends that travelled with me
to get ready their Horses in the Morning and we rode out of Town together There were with me at that time Thomas Rawlinson Alexander Parker and Robert Widders When we were come out of Town they asked me Whether I would go I told them It was upon me from the Lord to go back again to Johnston the Town Johnstons out of which we had been lately thrust and to set the Power of God and his Truth over them also Alexander Parker said he would go along with me and I wisht the other Two to stay at a Town about three Miles from Edenborough till we returned Then Alexander Parker and I got over the Water Johnstons which was about three Miles over and rid on through the Country but in the Afternoon his Horse being weak and not able to hold up with mine I put on and got into Johnston's just as they were drawing up the Bridges the Officers and Souldiers never questioning me So I rid up the Street to Capt. Davenport's House from which House we had been banished before There were many Officers with him and when I came amongst them they lifted up their Hands admiring that I should come again but I told them The Lord God had sent me amongst them again So they went their Way And the Baptists sent me a Letter by way of Challenge That they would discourse with me the next day I sent them Word I would Meet them at such an House about half a Mile out of the Town at such an Hour For I considered if I should stay in Town to discourse with them they might under pretence of discoursing with me have raised Men to put me out of the Town again as they had done before At the Time appointed I went to the Place appointed Capt. Davenport and his Son accompanying me and there I stay'd some Hours but never a one of them came But while I stay'd there waiting for them I spied Alexander Parker coming who not being able to reach the Town had lain out the Night before and when I saw him I was exceeding glad that we were met again This Captain Davenport was then loving to Friends but afterwards coming more into the Obedience to Truth he was turned out of his Place for not putting off his Hat and for saying Thou and Thee to them Now when we had waited beyond reasonable Ground to expect any of their Coming we departed And Alexander Parker being moved to go again to the Town where we had the Meeting at the Market-Cross I passed alone through the Country to Lieutenant Foster's Quarters where there were several Officers that were Convinced From thence I went up to the Town where I had left the other two Friends and they and I went back to Edenborough together When we were come to the City I bid Robert Widders follow me and in the Dread and Power of the Lord we came up to the two first Sentries and the Lord's Power came so over them that we passed by them without any Examination Then we rode up the Street to the Market-place and by the Main-guard out at the Gate by the third Sentry and so clear out at the Suburbs and there came to an Inn and set up our Horses it being the seventh Day of the Week Now I saw and felt that we had rid as it were against the Canon's Mouth or the Sword 's Point but the Lord's Power and immediate Hand carried us over the Heads of them all Next day I went up to the Meeting in the City Friends having notice that I would be at it There came many Officers and Souldiers to it and a glorious Meeting it was and the Everlasting Power of God was set over the Nation and his Son reigned in his glorious Power and all was quiet and no Man offered to meddle with me 1657. Edenborough When the Meeting was ended and I had visited Friends I came out of the City to my Inn again and the next day being the second day of the Week we set forward through the Country towards the Borders of England As we travelled along the Country I spied a Steeple-house and it struck at my Life I asked what Steeple-house it was and was Answered Dunbar that it was Dunbar When I came thither and had set up at an Inn I walked up to the Steeple-house having a Friend or two with me When we came into the Steeple-house-yard one of the chief Men of the Town was walking there So I spake to one of the Friends that was with me To go to him and tell him that about the Ninth Hour next Morning there would be a Meeting there of the People of God called Quakers of which we desired he would give notice to the People of the Town He sent me Word That they were to have a Lecture there by the Ninth Hour but that we might have our Meeting there by the Eighth Hour if we would We concluded so and desired him to give Notice of it Accordingly in the Morning both Poor and Rich came And there being a Captain of Horse quartered in the Town He and his Troopers came also so that we had a large Meeting And a glorious Meeting it was the Lord's Power being set over all After some time the Priest came and went into the Steeple-house but we being in the Steeple-house-yard most of the People staid with us And Friends were so full and their Voices so high in the Power of God that the Priest could do little in the Steeple-house but came quickly out again and stood a while and then went his Way For after I had opened to the People Where they might find Christ Jesus having turned them to the Light which he had enlightned them withal that in the Light they might see Christ that died for them and turn to him and know him to be their Saviour and free Teacher and had let them see that all the Teachers they had hitherto followed were Hirelings who made the Gospel chargeable and had shewed them the wrong Ways they had walked in in the Night of Apostacy and had directed them to Christ the new and living Way to God and had manifested unto them how they had lost the Religion and Worship which Christ set up in Spirit and Truth and had hitherto been in the Religions and Worships of Mens making and setting up and after I had turned the People to the Spirit of God which led the holy Men of God to give forth the Scriptures and shewed them that they must also come to receive and be led by the same Spirit in themselves a Measure of which was given unto every one of them if ever they came to know God and Christ and the Scriptures aright perceiving the other Friends that were with me to be full of the Power and Word of the Lord I stepped down giving way for them to declare what they had from the Lord to say unto the People Towards the latter End of
own Spirit and gives it forth as he is moved but to the Harlots Judgment So Friends this is the Word of the Lord to you all be Watchful and Careful in all Meetings ye come into for where Friends are sitting together in silence they are many times gathered into their own measures Now when a Man is come newly out of the World from ministring to the World's People he cometh out of the Dirt and then he had need take heed that he be not Rash For now when he comes into a Silent Meeting that is another State then he must come and feel his own Spirit how it is when he comes to them that sit silent for if he be Rash they will judge him that having been in the World and amongst the World the Heat is not yet off him For he may come in the Heat of his Spirit out of the World whereas the others are still and cool and his Condition in that not being agreeable to theirs he may rather do them Hurt by begetting them out of the Cool State into the Heating State if he be not in that which commands his own Spirit and gives him to know it There is a great Danger too in Travelling abroad in the World The same Power that moves any to go forth is that which must keep them For it is the greatest Danger to go abroad except a Man be moved of the Lord and go in the Power of the Lord for then he keeping in the Power is kept by it in his Journey and in his Work and it will enable him to answer the Transgressed and keep above the Transgressor And every one feeling the Danger to his own particular in Travelling abroad there the pure Fear of the Lord will be placed and kept in For now though they that Travel may have Openings when thâ—y are abroad to Minister to others yet as for their own particular Growth they must dwell in the Life which doth open and that will keep down that which would boast For the Minister comes into the Death to that which is in the Death and in Prison and so returns up again into the Life and into the Power and into the Wisdom to preserve him clean So this is the Word of the Lord God to you all Feel that ye stand in the Presence of the Lord for every Man's Word shall be his Burden but the Word of the Lord is pure and answers the pure in every one The word of the Lord is that which was in the Beginning and brings to the Beginning It is an Hammer to beat down the Transgressor not the Transgressed and as a Fire to burn up that which is contrary to it So Friends come into that which is over all the Spirits of the world and fathoms all the Spirits of the world and stands in the Patience with that ye may see where others stand and reach that which is of God in every one So here is no Strife no Contention out of Transgression for he that goeth into the Strife and into the Contention he is from the ' pure Spirit For where any goeth into the Contention if any thing hath been begotten by him before then that contentious Nature doth get a top and spoil that which was begotten and qâ—encheth his own Prophesying So if that be not subjected by the Power in the Particular which would arise into the Strife that is dangerous Now if any one have a Moving to any Place and have spoken what they were moved of the Lord let them return to their Habitation again and live in the pure Life of God and in the Fear of the Lord and so will ye in the Life and in the solid and seasoned Spirit be kept and preach as well in Life as with Words for none must be light or wild For the Seed of God is weighty and brings to be solid and leads into the Wisdom of God by which the Wisdom of the Creation is known But if that Part be up which runs into the Imaginations and that Part be standing in which the Imaginations come up and the pure Spirit be not throughly come up to rule and reign then that will run out and that will glory and will boast and vapor and so will such an one spoil that which opened to him And this is for Condemnation So every one mind that which feels through and commands his Spirit whereby every one may know what Spirit he is of for he should first Trie his own Spirit and then he may Trie others and he should first know his own Spirit and then he may know others Therefore that which doth command all these Spirits where the Heats and Burnings come in and get up in that wait which chains them down and cools That is the Elect the Heir of the Promise of God For no hasty rash brittle Spirits though they have Prophecies have held our and gone through they not being subjected in the Prophecy The Earthly will not abide for it is brittle and in that State the Ministry was another's not the Son 's for the Son hath Life in himself and the Son hath the Power which Man being obedient to he may be serviceable but if he go from the pure Power then he falls and abuseth it Therefore let your Faith stand in the pure Power of the Lord God and do not abuse it but let that search through and work through and let every one stand in the Power of the Lord God which reacheth the Seed of God which is the Heir of the Promise of Life without End And let none be hasty to speak for ye have Time enough and with an Eye ye may reach the witness Neither let any be backward when ye are moved for that brings Destruction Now Truth hath an Honour in the Hearts of People which are not Friends so that all Friends being kept in the Truth they are kept in the Honour they are honourable and that will honour them but if any lose the Power they lose the Life they lose their Crown they lose their Honour they lose the Cross which should crucify them and they crucify the Just and by losing the Power the Lamb comes to be slain And as it is here so will it be in other Nations for all Friends here and there are as one Family the Seed the Plants they are as a Family Now all being kept in that which subjects all and keeps all under to wit the Seed it self the Life it self that is the Heir of the Promise and that is the Bond of Peace for there is the Vnity in the Spirit with God and with one another For he that in the Life is kept hears God and sees Man's Condition and with that he answers the Life in others that hear God also Thus one Friend that is come into that comprehends the world But that which Friends do speak they must live in so may they look that others may come into that which they speak to live in
the same For the Power of the Lord God hath been abused by some and the worth of Truth hath not been minded there hath been a Trampling on and Marring with the Feet and that abuseth the Power But now every Friend is to keep in the Power and to take heed to that for that must be kept down which would trample and marr with the Feet and the pure Life and Power of God is to be lived in over that that none with the Feet might foul or marr but every one may be kept in the pure Power and Life of the Lord Then the water of Life cometh in then he that Ministreth drinketh himself and giveth others to drink Now when any shall be moved to go to speak in a Steeple-house or Market turn in to that which moves and be Obedient to it that that which would not go may be kept down for that which would not go will be apt to get up And take heed on the other Hand that the lavishing Part do not get up for it is a bad Savour therefore that must be kept down and be kept subject So wait in the Light of the Lord God that ye may be all kept in the wisdom of God For when the Seed is up in every particular then there is no Danger But when there is an Opening and Prophecy and the Power stirs before the Seed comes up then there is something that will be apt to run out rashly there 's the Danger and there must be the Patience in the Fears For it is a weighty Thing to be in the work of the Ministry of the Lord God and to go forth in that It is not as a customary Preaching but it is to bring People to the End of all outward Preaching For when ye have declared the Truth to People and they have received it and are come into that which ye spake of the uttering of many Words and long Declarations out of the Life may beget them into a Form And if any should run on rashly into Words again without the savour of Life then they that are come into the Thing that he spake of will judge him whereby he may hurt again that which he had raised up before So Friends ye must all come into the Thing that is spoken in the Openings of the heavenly Life among you and walk in the Love of God that ye may answer the Thing spoken to And take heed all of running into Inordinate Affections For when People come to own you then there is Danger of the wrong Part to get up There was a Strife among the Disciples of Christ who should be the Greatest Christ told them The Heathen exercise Lordship and have Dominion over one another but it shall not be so among you For Christ the Seed was to come up in every one of them so then where is the Greatest For that part in the Disciples which looked to be Greatest was the same that was in the Gentiles But who comes here to liue in the Word that sanctified him having the Heart sanctified the Tongue and Lips sanctified living in the Word of Wisdom that makes clean the Heart and reconciles to God all things being upheld by the Word and Power as there is an abiâ—ing in the Word of God that upholds Times and Seasons and gives all things Increase here dwelling in the Word of Wisdom if there be but Two or Three agreed in this on Earth it shall be done for them in Heaven So in this must all things be ordered by the Word of Wisdom and Power that upholds all things the Times and the Seasons that are in the Father's Hand to the glory of God whereby his Blessing may be felt among you and this brings to the Beginning So this is the Word of the Lord God to you all Keep down Keep low that nothing may rule nor reign in you but Life it self Now the Power being lived in the Cross is lived in and where-ever Friends come in this they draw the Power and the Life over and they leave a Witness behind them answering the Witness of God in others And where this is lived in there is no want of Wisdom no want of Power no want of Knowledge but he that Ministreth in this seeth with the Eye which the Lord openeth in him what is for the Fire and what is for the Sword and what must be fed with Judgment and what must be nourished This brings all down and to be Low every one keeping to the Power for let a Man get up never so high yet he must come down again to the Power where he left and what he went from he must come down again to that So new before all these wicked Spirits be got down which are rambling abroad Friends must have patience and must wait in the Patience and in the cool Life and who is in this doing the work of the Lord he hath the Tasting and the Feeling of the Lamb's Power and Authority Therefore all Friends keep cool and quiet in the power of the Lord God and all that is contrary will be subjected the Lamb hath the victory in the Seed through the Patience If any have been moved to speak and have quenched that which moved them let none such go forth afterward into Words until they feel the Power to arise and move them thereto again for after the first Motion is quenched the other part will be apt to get up and if any go forth in that he goeth forth in his own and the Betrayer will come into that And all Friends be Careful not to meddle with the Powers of the Earth but keep out of all such things and as ye keep in the Lamb's Authority ye will answer That of God in them and bring them to do Justice which is the End of the Law And keep out of all Jangling for all that be in the Transgression they be out from the Law of Love but all that be in the Law of Love come to the Lamb's Power in the Lamb's Authority who is the End of the Law outward For the Law being added because of Transgression Christ who was glorified with the Father before the world began is the End of the Law bringing them that live in the Law of Life to live over all Transgression which every Particular must feel in himself More was then spoken to many of these Particulars which were not taken at large as they were delivered After this Meeting was over and most of the Friends gone away as I was walking in John Crook's Garden there came a Party of Horse with a Constable to seize on me I heard them ask Who was in the House And some-body made them Answer I was there They said I was the Man they looked for and went forthwith into the House where they had many Words with John Crook and some few Friends that were with him But the Lord's Power so confounded them that they never came into the Garden to look for
Vnconsecrated Bread and VVine in a safe Place with a sure VVatch upon it and let Trial thus be made VVhether the Consecrated Bread and VVine would not lose its Goodness and the Bread grow dry and mouldy and the VVine turn dead and sour as well and as soon as that which was Vnconsecrated By this means said I the Truth of this matter may be made manifest And if the Consecrated Bread and VVine change not but retain their Savour and Goodness this may be a Means to draw many to your Church If they change decay and lose their Goodness then ought you to confess and forsake your Error and shed no more Blood about it for much Blood hath been shed about these things as in Queen Mary's Days To this the Jesuit made this Reply Take said he a piece of New Cloth and cut it into two pieces and make two Garments of it and put one of them upon King David 's Back and the other upon a Beggar 's and the one Garment shall wear away as well as the other Is this thy Answer said I Yes said he Then said I by this the Company may all be satisfied that your Consecrated Bread and VVine is not Christ Have ye told People so long that the Consecrated Bread and VVine was Immortal and Divine and that it was the very and real Body and Blood of Christ and dost thou now say it will wear away or decay as well as the other I must tell thee Christ remains the same to day as yesterday and never decays but is the Saints heavenly Food in all Generations through which they have Life He replied no more to this being willing to let it fall for the People that were present saw his Error and that he could not defend it Then I asked him Why their Church did persecute and put People to Death for Religion He replied It was not the Church did it but the Magistrates I asked him Whether those Magistrates were not counted and called Believers and Christians He said Yes Why then said I Are they not Members of your Church Yes said he Then I left it to the People to judge from his own Concessions Whether the Church of Rome doth not persecute and put People to Death for Religion Thus we parted and his Subtilty was comprehended by Simplicity Now during the Time that I was at London I had many Services lay upon me for it was a Time of much Suffering And I was moved to write to O. Cromwell and lay before him the Sufferings of Friends both in this Nation and in Ireland There was also a Talk about this time of making Cromwel King Whereupon I was moved to go to him and warned him against the same and of divers Dangers which if he did not avoid I told him He would bring a Shame and Ruin upon himself and his Posterity He seemed to take well what I said to him and thanked me Yet afterwards I was moved to write unto him more fully concerning that matter About this time the Lady Claypool so called was sick and much troubled in Mind and could receive no Comfort from any that came to her which when I heard of I was moved to write unto her this following Letter Friend BE Still and Cool in thy own Mind and Spirit from thy own Thoughts and then thou wilt feel the Principle of God to turn thy Mind to the Lord God from whom Life comes whereby thou mayest receive his Strength and Power to allay all Blustrings Storms and Tempests That is it which works up into Patience into Innocency into Soberness into Stilness into Stayedness into Quietness up to God with his Power Therefore mind that is the Word of the Lord God unto thee that the Authority of God thou mayst feel and thy Faith in that to work down that which troubles thee For that is it which keeps Peace and brings up the Witness in thee which hath been transgressed to feel after God with his Power and Life who is a God of Order and Peace When thou art in the Transgression of the Life of God in thy own particular the Mind flies up in the Air and the Creature is led into the Night and Nature goes out of its Course and an old Garment goes on and an uppermost Clothing and thy Nature being led out of its Course it comes to be all on a Fire in the Transgression and that defaceth the Glory of the First Body Therefore be still a while from thy own Thoughts searching seeking Desires and Imaginations and be stayed in the Principle of God in thee that it may raise thy Mind up to God and stay it upon God and thou wilt find Strength from him and find him to be a God at hand a present Help in the time of Trouble and of Need. And thou being come to the Principle of God which hath been transgressed it will keep thee humble and the humble God will teach his way which is Peace and such he doth Exalt Now as the Principle of God in thee hath been transgressed come to it that it may keep thy Mind down low to the Lord God and deny thy self and from thy own Will that is the Earthly thou must be kept Then thou wilt feel the Power of God which will bring Nature into its Course and give thee to see the Glory of the First Body And there the Wisdom of God will be received which is Christ by which all things were made and Created to be thereby preserved and ordered to God's Glory There thou wilt come to receive and feel the Physician of Value who cloaths People in their right Mind whereby they may serve God and do his Will For all Distractions Unruliness and Confusion is in the Transgression which Transgression must be brought down before the Principle of God which hath been Transgressed against be lifted up whereby the Mind may be seasoned and stilled and a right understanding of the Lord may be received whereby his Blessings enter and are felt over all that is contrary in the Power of the Lord God which raises up the Principle of God within and gives a feeling after God and in time gives Dominion Therefore keep in the Fear of the Lord God that is the Word of the Lord God unto thee for all these things happen to thee for thy Good and for the Good of those concerned for thee to make you know your selves and your own Weakness and that ye may know the Lord's Strength and Power and may trust in him Therefore Let the time that is past be sufficient to every one who in any thing hath been lifted up in Transgression out of the Power of the Lord For he can bring down and abase the Mighty and lay them in the Dust of the Earth Therefore all keep low in his Fear that thereby ye may receive the Secrets of God and his Wisdom and may know the Shadow of the Almighty and sit under it in all Tempests and Storms
and Heats For God is a God at hand and the Most-High rules in the Children of Men. So then this is the Word of the Lord God unto you all what the Light doth make manifest and discover as Temptations Distractions Confusions do not look at the Temptations Confusions Corruptions but at the Light which discovers them and makes them manifest And with the same Light you may feel over them to receive Power to stand against them The same Light which lets you see Sin and Transgression will let you see the Covenant of God which blots out your Sin and Transgression which gives Victory and Dominion over it and brings into Covenant with God For looking down at Sin and Corruption and Distraction ye are swallowed up in it But looking at the Light which discovers them ye will see over them That will give Victory and ye will find Grace and Strength and there is the first Step to Peace That will bring Salvation and by it ye may see to the beginning and the Glory that was with the Father before the World began and so come to know the Seed of God which is the Heir of the Promise of God and of the World which hath no end and which bruises the Head of the Serpent who stops People from coming to God That ye may feel the Power of an endless Life the Power of God which is Immortal which brings the Immortal Soul up to the Immortal God in whom it doth rejoice So in the Name and Power of the Lord Jesus Christ God Almighty strengthen thee G. F. When the foregoing Paper was read to her she said It stay'd her Mind for the present Afterwards many Friends got Copies of it both in England and Ireland and read it to People that were Troubled in Mind and it was made useful for the setling of the Minds of several About this time came forth a Declaration from O. Cromwel the Protector for a Collection towards the Relief of divers Protestant Churches so called driven out of Poland and of Twenty Protestant-Families driven out of the Confines of Bohemia And there having been a like Declaration published some time before to invite the Nation to a Day of Solemn Fasting and Humiliation in Order to a Contribution to be made for the suffering Protestants of the Valleys of Lucern Angrona c. who were persecuted by the Duke of Savoy I was moved to write to the Protector and Chief Magistrates on this occasion both to shew them the Nature of a true Fast such as God requires and accepts and to make them sensible of their Injustice and Self-Condemnation in blaming the Papists for persecuting the Protestants abroad while they themselves calling themselves Protestants were at the same time persecuting their Protestant Neighbours and Friends at home That which I writ to them was after this manner To the Heads and Governours of this Nation who have put forth a Declaration for the keeping of a Day of Solemn Fasting and Humiliation for the Persecution as you say of divers People beyond the Seas professing the Reformed Religion which ye say hath been transmitted unto them from their Ancestors A Profession of the Reformed Religion may be transmitted to Generations and so holden by Tradition and in that wherein the Profession and Tradition is holden is the Day of Humiliation kept which stands in the Will of Man which is not the Fast that the Lord requires To bow down the Head like a Bulrush for a Day and the Day following be in the same Condition as they were the Day before To the Light of Christ Jesus in your Consciences do I speak which testifieth for God every Day and witnesseth against all Sin and Persecution which Measure of God if ye be guided by it doth not limit God to a Day but leads to the Fast which the Lord requires which is To loose the Bonds of Wickedness to undo the heavy Burdens to break every Yoak and to let the oppressed go free Isa 58.6 7. This is the Fast the Lord requires and this stands not in the Transmission of Times nor in the Traditions of Men But this stands in that which was before Times were and which leads out of Time and shall be when Time shall be no more And these that teach for Doctrine the Commandments of Men are they that ever persecuted the Life and Power when it came And whereas ye mention a Decree or Edict that was made against the said Persecuted Protestants all such Decrees or Edicts proceed from the Ground of the Pope's Religion and Supremacy and therein stands his Tyranny and Cruelty acted in that Will which is in that Nature which exerciseth Lordship over one another as ye may read Mark 10.42 Luke 22.25 as all the Heathen do and ever did and in the Heathenish Nature is all the Tyranny and Persecution exercised by them that are out of the Obedience to the Light of Christ Jesus in the Conscience which is the Guider and Leader of all who are tender of that of God in the Conscience But who are not led by this know not what it is to suffer for Conscience sake Now whereas ye take into your Consideration the sad Persecution Tyranny and Cruelty exercised upon them whom ye call your Protestant Brethren and do Contribute and Administer to their Wants outwardly this is good in its place and we own it and see it good to administer to the Necessities of others and to do good to all and we who are Sufferers by a Law derived from the Pope are willing to join and to contribute with you to their outward Necessities For the Earth is the Lord's and the Fulness thereof who is good to all and gracious to all and willing that all should be saved and come to the Knowledge of the Truth But in the mean time while ye are doing this and taking notice of others Cruelty Tyranny and Persecution turn your Eye upon your selves and see what ye are doing at home To the Light of Christ Jesus in all your Consciences I speak which cannot Lie nor cannot Err nor cannot bear False Witness but doth bear Witness for God and cries for Equity and Justice and Righteousness to be executed See what ye are doing who profess the Scriptures which were given forth by the Saints in Light who dwelt in the Light and in the Life of them For them who do now witness the same Light the same Life and the same Power which gave forth the Scriptures which ye in Words profess them ye persecute them ye hale out of your Synagogues and Markets them ye beat stock and Imprison Now let that of God in your Consciences which is just and righteous and equal examin and try whether ye have any Example or Precedent to exercise this Persecution which now many in this Nation suffer under who are a People harmless and innocent walking in Obedience towards God and Man And though ye account the way of Truth they walk in Heresie
do not fight Therefore Fighters are not of Christ's Kingdom but are without Christ's Kingdom For his Kingdom stands in Peace and Righteousness but Fighters are in the Lust And all that would destroy Men's Lives 1659. London are not of Christ's Mind who came to save Men's lives Christ's Kingdom is not of this World it is peaceable and all that be in Strife are not of his Kingdom And all that pretend to fight for the Gospel are deceived For the Gospel is the Power of God which was before the Devil or Fall of Man was and the Gospel of Peace was before Fighting was Therefore they that pretend Fighting and talk of Fighting so are Ignorant of the Gospel And all that talk of Fighting for Sion are in Darkness For Sion needs no such Helpers And all such as profess themselves to be Ministers of Christ or Christians and go about to beat down the Whore with outward carnal Weapons the Flesh and the Whore are got up in themselves and they are in a blind Zeal For the Whore got up by the Inward Ravening from the Spirit of God and the beating down of the Whore must be by the inward Stroke of the Sword of the Spirit within All such as pretend Christ Jesus and confess him and yet run into the use of Carnal Weapons wrestling with Flesh and Blood throw away the Spiritual Weapons They that would be Wrestlers with Flesh and Blood throw away Christ's Doctrine and Flesh is got upon them and they are weary of their Sufferings And such as would Revenge themselves be out of Christ's Doctrine And such as being stricken on the one Cheek would not turn the other be out of Christ's Doctrine And such as do not love one another and love Enemies be out of Christ's Doctrine Therefore ye that be Heirs of the Blessings of God which were before the Curse and the Fall was come to Inherit your Portions And ye that be Heirs of the Gospel of Peace which was before the Devil was live in the Gospel of Peace seeking the Peace of all Men and the Good of all Men and live in Christ who came to save men's lives out of Adam in the Fall where they destroy men's lives and live not in him For the Jews Sword outwardly by which they cut down the Heathen was a Type of the Spirit of God within which cuts down the Heathenish Nature within So live in the peaceable Kingdom of Christ Jesus and live in the Peace of God and not in the Lusts from whence Wars arise and live in Christ the Prince of Peace the Way of God who is the Second Adam that never fell but live not in Adam in the Fall in the Destruction where they destroy one another Therefore come out of Adam in the Fall into the Adam that never fell and so live in Love and Peace with all Men and keep out of all the Buslings in the World and meddle not with the Powers of the Earth but mind the Kingdom the Way of Peace Ye that be Heirs of Grace and Heirs of the Kingdom and Heirs of the Gospel and Heirs of Salvation and Saints of the most-High and Children of God whose Conversations are in Heaven that is above the Combustions of the Earth let your Conversation Preach to all Men and your Innocent Lives that they which speak Evil of you beholding your Godly Conversation may glorifie your Father which is in Heaven And all Friends every where this I charge you which is the Word of the Lord God unto you all Live in Peace in Christ the way of Peace and therein seek the Peace of all Men and no Man 's Hurt As I said before in Adam in the Fall is no Peace but in Adam out of the Fall in him is the Peace So ye being in Adam which never fell it is Love that overcomes and not Hatred with Hatred nor Strife with Strife Therefore live all in the peaceable Life doing good to all Men and seeking the Good and Welfare of all Men. G. F. It was not long after this before George Booth rose in Arms in Cheshire and Lambert went down against him At which time some foolish rash Spirits that came sometimes amongst us were ready to have taken up Arms But I was moved of the Lord to warn them and forbid them and they were quiet In the time of the Committee of Safety so called we were Invited by them to have taken up Arms and great Places and Commands were offered some of us but we denied them all and declared agâ—â—â—st it both by Word and Writing testifying that our Weapons and Aâ—â—â—â—r were not Carnal but Spiritual And lest any that came amongâ—â—â—s should be drawn into that Snare it came upon me from the Lord to write a few Lines on that occasion and send them forth as a Caution to all amongst us Of which this is a Copy All Friends every where Take heed to keep out of the Powers of the Earth that Run into the Wars and Fightings which make not for Peace but go from that such will not have the Kingdom And Friends take heed of Joining with this or the other or medling with any or being busie with other Mens matters but mind the Lord and his Power and his Service And so let Friends keep out of other Mens matters and keep in that which answers the Witness in them all out of the Mans-matters-part where they must expect Wars and the Dishonour And all Friends every where dwell in your own in the Power of the Lord God to keep your Minds up to the Lord God from falling down to the Strength of Egypt or going thither for Strength after ye are come out of it like the Children of Israel after they were come out of outward Egypt But dwell in the Power of the Lord God that ye may keep over all the Powers of the Earth amongst whom the just Hand of God is come For they have turned against the Just and disobeyed the Just in their own particulars and so gone on in one against the Just therefore the Just sets them one against another Now he that goes to help among them is from the Just in himself in the mad and unstay'd state and doth not know by the All-seeing Eye that beholdeth him that recompenseth and rewardeth and lives not in the Hand in the Power that mangles and overturns which vexeth the Transgressors that come to be blind and zealous for they do not know what Therefore keep in Peace and in the Love and Power of God and in Unity and Love one to another lest any go out and fall with the Vncircumcised That is they that are from the Spirit in themselves and they that go from it go into the Pit together Therefore stand in that it is the Word of the Lord God to you all in the Fear and Dread of the Lord God his Power Life Light Seed and Wisdom by which ye may take away the occasion of Wars and
the Lands-End Now it was the Custom of that Country that at such a time both Rich and Poor went out to get as much of the Wrack as they could not caring to save the Peoples Lives And in some parts of the Country they called Shipwracks God's Grace These things troubled me and grieved my Spirit to hear of such unchristian Actions considering how far they were below the Heathen at Melita who received Paul and made him a Fire and were courteous towards him and them that had suffered Shipwrack with him Wherefore I was moved to write a Paper and send it to all the Parishes Priests and Magistrates High and Low to reprove them for such greedy Actions and to Warn and Exhort them that if they could assist to save Peoples Lives and preserve their Ships and Goods they should use their Diligence therein and consider if it had been their own Condition they would judge it hard if they should be upon a Wrack and People should strive to get what they could from them and not matter their Lives A Copy of that Paper here follows All Friends and People TAke heed of Greediness and Covetousness for that is Idolatry and the Idolater must not enter into the Kingdom of God Take heed of Drunkenness and Oaths and Cursings for such are Destroyers of the Creation and make it to groan Lay away all Fightings and Quarrellings and Brawlings and Evil Speakings which are the Works of the Flesh and not of the Spirit for who follow such things are not like to have the Kingdom of God Put away all Corrupt Words which be unsavoury and misnaming one another for ye must give an Account for every idle Word Lay aside all Profession and Religion that is vain and come to the Possession and the pure Religion which is to visit the Fatherless the Widow and the Stranger and receive them For some thereby may entertain Angels unawares and the Servants of the Lord as Paul was entertained after the Shipwrack at Melita And do not ye take Peoples Goods from them by force out of their Ships which be the Seamens or others neither covet ye after them but rather endeavour to preserve their Lives and their Goods for them For that shews a Spirit of Compassion and a Spirit of a Christian But if ye be greedy and covetous after other men's Goods 1659. â—ands End not mattering what becomes of the Men would ye be served so your selves If ye should have a Ship cast away in other places and the People should come to tear the Goods and Ship in pieces not regarding to save the Men's Lives but be ready to fight one with another for your Goods do not ye believe such Goods would become a Curse to them And may ye not as well believe such kind of Actions will become a Curse unto you When the Spoil of one Ships Goods is idly spent and consumed upon the Lusts in Ale-houses Taverns and otherwise then ye gape for another Is this to do as ye would be done by which is the Law and the Prophets Therefore Priest Hull Are these thy Fruits What dost thou take Peoples Labour and Goods for Hast thou taught the People no better Manners and Conversation who are so Brutish and Heathenish Now all such things we judge in whomsoever But if any Friend or others do preserve Mens Lives and endeavour to save their Goods and Estates and restore what they can save of a Wrack to the Owners and then if they consider them for their Labour doing in that case unto them what they would have done unto themselves that we own And if they buy or sell and do not make a Prey that is allowed of still in the way of doing as ye would be done by keeping to the Law and to the Prophets that is that if ye should be in another Country ye would have other People to save your Lives and Goods and have your Goods restored to you again and you to consider them for so doing All ye that do otherwise that wait for a Wrack and get the Goods for your selves not regarding the Lives of the Men but if any of them escape drowning let them go a begging up and and down the Country and if any scape with a little sometimes they are robbed of it in the Country All such that do so are not for the preserving of the Creation but for the destroying of it And those Goods which are so gotten shall be a Curse and a Plague and a Judgment to them and them the Judgments of God will follow for acting such things The Witness in your Consciences shall Answer it Therefore all ye who have done such things do so no more lest a worse thing come unto you But that which is good do to preserve Men's Lives and Estates and labour to restore the Loss and Breach that the Lord requires Be not like a Company of Greedy Dogs and worse than Heathens as if ye had never heard tell of God nor Christ nor the Scriptures nor pure Religion And Priest Hull Have People spent their Money upon thee for that which is no Bread For a thing of nought that thou hast such Fruits All such Teachers that make a Trade of the Scriptures which are given forth from the Spirit of God to be believed and read and practised and Christ whom they testifie of enjoyed we utterly deny who own Christ and are come off from all your Steeple-houses which were the Old Mass-houses For there are their bad Fruits harboured those are the Cages of them But come to the Church which is in God 1 Thess 1. and come all to the Light which Christ Jesus hath enlightned you withal which shews you all the Vngodly Words ye have spoken the ungodly Thoughts which ye have thought the ungodly Actions which ye have done This will be your Teacher if ye love it your Condemnation if ye hate it For the mighty Day of the Lord is coming upon all Wickedness and Ungodliness Therefore your Whoredoms and Fornications lay aside And ye Magistrates who are to do Justice think ye not that the Hand of the Lord God is against you and that his Judgments will come upon you who do not look after these things and stop them with the Law which is To do unto all men as they would have done unto them whereby ye might be a good Savour in your Country Is not the Law to preserve Mens Lives and Estates Doing unto all Men as they would Men should do unto them For all Men would have their Lives and Estates preserved Therefore should not ye preserve others and not suffer them to be devoured and destroyed The Evil of these things will lie upon you both Priests and Magistrates G. F. POSTSCRIPT ALL Dear Friends which fear the Lord God keep out of the Ravenous World's Spirit whose Spirit is to Raven and Destroy which is out of the Wisdom of God That when Ships are wrackt ye do not run to destroy and
Professors who pleaded for Imperfection I was opened to declare and manifest unto them how that Adam and Eve were perfect before they fell and all that God made he saw that it was good and he blessed it But the Imperfection came in by the Fall through Man's and Woman's hearkening to the Devil who was out of Truth And though the Law made nothing perfect yet it made way for the bringing in of the better Hope which Hope is Christ who destroys the Devil and his Works that made Man and Woman Imperfect Now Christ saith to his Disciples Be ye perfect even as your Heavenly Father is perfect And he who himself was perfect comes to make Man and Woman perfect again and brings them again to the State which God made them in So he is the Maker up of the Breach and the Peace betwixt God and Man That this might the better be understood by the lowest Capacities I used a Comparison of Two Old People that had their House broken down by an Enemy so that they with all their Children were liable to all Storms and Tempests And there came some to them that pretended to be Workmen and offered to build up their House again if they would give them so much a Year But when they had gotten their Money they left their House as they found it After this manner came a First Second Third Fourth Fifth and Sixth each with his several pretence to build up the Old House and each got the Peoples Money and then cried They could not rear up the House nor the Breach could not be made up For there is no Perfection here Cry they the House can never be perfectly built up again in this Life Though they have taken the Peoples Money for the doing of it For all the Sects in Christendom so called have pretended to build up Adam's and Eve's fallen House and when they have got Peoples Money they tell them the Work cannot be perfectly done here and so their House lies as it did But I told the People Christ was come to do it freely who by one Offering hath perfected for ever all them that are sanctified and renews them up into the Image of God which Man and Woman were in before they fell and makes Man's and Woman's House as perfect again as God had made them at the first And this Christ the Heavenly Man has done freely Therefore all are to look unto him and all that have received him are to walk in him the Life the Substance the First and the Last The Rock of Ages and Foundation of many Generations Largely were these and many other things opened and declared unto the People and the Word of Life was Preached which doth live and abide and all were Exhorted to hear and obey that which did live and abide that by it all might be born again of the Immortal Seed and feed of the Milk of the Word A glorious Meeting there was wherein the Lord 's Everlasting Seed Christ Jesus was set over all and Friends parted in the Power and Spirit of the Lord in Peace and in his Truth that is over all About this time the Souldiers under General Monk's Command were rude and troublesome at Friends Meetings in many places Whereof Complaint being made to him he gave forth the following Order which did somewhat restrain them St. James's the 9th of March 1659. I Do Require all Officers and Souldiers to forbear to disturb the peaceable Meetings of the Quakers they doing nothing prejudicial to the Parliament or Common-wealth of England GEORGE MONK Oldeston Nailsworth After this Meeting at Edward Pyott's I passed through the Countries to Oldeston and to Nailsworth and to Nathaniel Crisp's where there was a large Meeting and several Souldiers at it but quiet And from thence we passed through Friends to Gloucester Gloucester visiting their Meetings And in Gloucester we had a Meeting that was peaceable though the Town was very rude and divided For one part of the Souldiers were for the King and another for the Parliament 1660. Glouceser And as I passed out of the Town over the Bridge Edward Pyott being with me the Souldiers there said They were for the King But after we were gone past them and they understood it was I they were in a great rage that I had scaped them and said Had they known it it had been I they would have shot me with Hail-shot rather than I should have escaped them But the Lord prevented their Devilish Design and brought me safe to Col. Grimes his House where we had a large general Meeting Col. Grimes and the Lord's Truth and Power was set over all and Friends were established upon the Rock and settled under the Lord Jesus Christ's Teaching We passed from thence to Tewksburg and so to Worcester Tewksbury Worcester visiting Friends in their Meetings in the Towns as we went And in all my time I never saw the like Drunkenness as then in the Towns For they had been then chusing Parliament-Men But at Worcester the Lord's Truth was set over all and People were finely settled therein and Friends praised the Lord Nay I saw the very Earth Rejoiced Yet great fears and troubles were in many People and a looking for the King 's Coming in and that all things should be altered and they would ask me what I thought of Times and Things I told them the Lord's Power was over all and his Light shined over all and that the Fear would take hold only on the Hypocrites such as had not been faithful to God and on our Persecutors For in my Travel and Sufferings at Reading when People were at a stand and could not tell what might Come in and who might Rule I told them the Lord's Power was over all for I had travelled through in it and his Day shined whosoever should come in and whether the King came in or no all would be well to them that loved the Lord and were faithful to him Therefore I bid all Friends Fear none but the Lord and keep in his Power that was over all From Worcester I came through the Countries Badgely Leicestershire Drayton visiting Friends in their Meetings till I came to Badgely and from thence I went to Drayton in Leicestershire to visit my Relations While I was there one Burton a Justice hearing that I had a good Horse sent forth a Warrant to search for me and my Horse But I was gone before they came and so he missed of his wicked End I passed on to Twy Cross Twy-Cross Swanington Darby and Swanington and so to Darby where I visited Friends and found my old Goaler amongst them who had formerly kept me in the House of Correction there and was now Convinced of the Truth which I then suffered under him for Passing still further up into Darbyshire Darbyshire Nottinghamshire Synderhill-green Yorkshire Balby Yearly Meeting and Nottinghamshire I came to Synderhill-green visiting Friends through all
those parts in their Meetings and so passed on to Balby in Yorkshire where our Yearly Meeting at that time was holden in a great Orchard of John Killams where it was suppos'd some Thousands of People and Friends were gathered together In the Morning I heard that a Troop of Horse was sent from York about Thirty Miles off to break up our Meeting and that the Militia newly raised was to join with them So I went into the Meeting and stood up on a great Stool and after I had spoken sometime Two Trumpeters came up sounding their Trumpets pretty near me and the Captain of the Troop cried Divide to the Right and Left and make way Then they rid up to me 1660. Balby Yearly Meeting Now I was declaring the Everlasting Truth and Word of Life in the mighty Power of the Lord. The Captain bid me Come down for he was come he said to disperse our Meeting After some time I spake to him and told him He and they all knew we were a peaceable People and that we used to have such great Meetings But if he did question that we Met in an hostile Way I desired him to make search among us and if he found either Sword or Pistol about any there let such suffer He told me he must see us dispersed for he came all Night on purpose to disperse us I asked him What Honour it would be to him to Ride with Swords and Pistols amongst so many Vnarmed Men and Women as there was But if he would be still and quiet our Meeting probably might not continue above two or three Hours and when it was done as we came Peaceably and Civilly together so we should part For he might perceive the Meeting was so large that all the Country thereabouts could not entertain them but that they intended to depart towards their Homes at Night He said He could not stay to see the Meeting ended but must disperse them before he went I desired him then if he himself could not stay that he would let a dozen of his Souldiers stay and see the Order and Peaceableness of our Meeting He said He would permit us an Hour's time and left half a dozen Souldiers to stay with us Then went the Captain away with his Troop and Friends of the House gave those Souldiers that staid and their Horses some Meat When the Captain was gone the Souldiers that were left told us We might stay till Night if we would But we staid but about three Hours after and had a glorious powerful Meeting For the presence of the Living God was manifest amongst us and the Seed Christ was set over all and Friends were built upon him the Foundation and settled under his glorious heavenly Teaching And after the Meeting was done Friends passed away in Peace greatly refreshed with the Presence of the Lord and filled with Joy and Gladness that the Lord's Power had given them such Dominion For many of the Militia-Souldiers staid also and were much vexed that the Captain and Troopers had not broken up our Meeting and Cursed the Captain and his Troopers For it was reported that they intended to have done us some Mischief that day but the Troopers instead of Assisting them were rather Assistant unto us in not joining with them as they expected but preventing them from doing the Mischief they designed And yet this Captain was a desperate Man For it was he that had said to me in Scotland That he would obey his Superiors Commands and if it were to Crucifie Christ he would do it or execute the Great Turk's Commands against the Christians if he were under him So that it was an Eminent Power of the Lord which chained down both him and all his Troopers and those envious Militia-Souldiers also so that they went away not having power to hurt any of us nor to break up our Meeting Warmsworth The next day we had an heavenly Meeting at Warmsworth of Friends in the Ministry and several others and then Friends parted And as they passed through the Countries several were taken up For that day that our first Meeting was on Lambert was Routed and it made a great Blunder in the Country but Friends were not kept long in Prison at that time 1658. Nottinghamshire Skegby As I went to this Meeting at Balby there came several to me at Skegby in Nottinghamshire that were then going to be Souldiers under Lambert and would have bought my Horse of me and because I would not sell him to them they were in a great Rage against me using many Threatning Words But I told them God would confound and scatter them and within two or three Days after they were scattered indeed From Warmsworth I passed in the Lord's Power to Barton-Abby Barton-Abby T. Taylor 's Skipton General Meeting of Men-Friends where I had a great Meeting and from thence to Thomas Taylor s and so to Skipton where there was a General Meeting of Men-Friends out of many Counties concerning the Affairs of the Church There was a Friend went Naked through the Town declaring Truth and he was much beaten Some other Friends also came to me all bloody And as I walked in the Street there was a desperate Fellow had an Intent to have done me a Mischief But he was prevented and our Meeting was quiet To this Meeting came many Friends out of most parts of the Nation for it was about Business relating to the Church both in this Nation and beyond the Seas Several Years before when I was in the North I was moved to recommend to Friends the setting up of this Meeting for that Service For many Friends suffered in divers parts of the Nation and their Goods were taken from them contrary to the Law and they understood not how to help themselves or where to seek Redress But after this Meeting was set up several Friends that had been Justices and Magistrates and others that understood something of the Law came thither and were able to Inform Friends and to assist them in gathering up the Sufferings that they might be laid before the Justices Judges or Parliament Now this Meeting had stood several Years and divers Justices and Captains had come to brake it up but when they have understood the Business Friends Met about and have seen Friends Books and Accompts of Collections for Relief of the Poor how we took Care one County to help another and to help our Friends beyond the Seas and provide for our Poor that none of them should be chargeable to their Parishes c. The Justices and Officers would Confess that we did their Work and would pass away peaceably and lovingly Commending Friends Practices And sometimes there would come Two hundred of the World 's Poor People and wait there till the Meeting was done for all the Country knew we met about the Poor and then after the Meeting was over Friends would send to the Bakers for Bread and give every one of
the Spirit of God He said We cry'd against their Ministers I told him While we were as Saul sitting under the Priests and running up and down with their Packets of Letters we were never called Pestilent Fellows nor Makers of Sects but when we were come to exercise our Consciences towards God and Man then we were called Pestilent Fellows as Paul was He said We could Express our selves well enough and he would not Dispute with me but he would restrain me I deslred to know for what and by whose Order he sent forth his Warrant for me And I complained to him of the Abuse of the Constables and other Officers to me after they had taken me and in their bringing me thither He would not take notice of that but told me He had an Order but would not let me see it for he would not reveal the King 's Secrets he said And besides A Prisoner he said was not to see for what he was Committed I told him That was not Reason For how should he make his Defence then I said I ought to have a Copy of it 1660. Lancaster But he said there was a Judge once that fined one for letting a Prisoner have a Copy of his Mittimus And said he I have an Old Clerk though I am a young Justice Then he called to his Clerk saying Is it not ready yet Bring it meaning the Mittimus But it not being ready he told me I was a Disturber of the Nation I told him I had been a Blessing to the Nation in and through the Lord's Power and Truth and the Spirit of God in all Consciences would answer it Then he charged me to be an Enemy to the King that I endeavoured to raise a new War and imbrue the Nation in Blood again I told him I had never learned the Postures of War but was Clear and Innocent as a Child concerning those things and therefore was bold Then came the Clerk with the Mittimus and the Goaler was sent for and commanded to take me and put me into the Dark-House and to let none come at me but to keep me there a Close Prisoner until I should be delivered by the King or Parliament Then the Justice asked the Constables where my Horse was For I hear said he that he hath a good Horse have ye brought his Horse I told him where my Horse was but he did not meddle with him As they had me to the Jail the Constable gave me my Knife again and then asked me to give it him But I told him Nay he had not been so civil to me So they put me into the Jail and the Under-Goaler one Hardy a very wicked Man was exceeding Rude and Cruel and many times would not let me have Meat brought in but as I could get it under the Door Many of the World's People came to look at me some in great Rage and very uncivil and rude One time there came Two Young Priests and very abusive and rude they were the worst of People could not be worse Amongst those that came in this manner old Preston of Howker his Wife was one and she used many abusive Words to me telling me my Tongue should be cut out and that I should he hanged shewing me the Gallows But the Lord God Cut her off and she died in a miserable Condition Lancaster Jail Being now a Close Prisoner in the Common Jail at Lancaster I desired Two Friends Thomas Cummings and Tho. Green to go to the Goaler and desire of him a Copy of my Mittimus that I might know what I stood Committed for They went and the Goaler answered them He could not give a Copy of it for another had been Fined for so doing but he gave them liberty to read it over And to the best of their remembrance the Matters therein charged against me were That I was a Person generally suspected to be a common Disturber of the Peace of the Nation an Enemy to the King and a chief Vpholder of the Quakers Sect And that I together with others of my Fanatick Opinion have of late endeavoured to raise Insurrections in these parts of the Country and to imbroil the whole Kingdom in Blood Wherefore the Goaler was commanded to keep me in safe Custody till I should be released by Order from the King and Parliament When I had thus gotten the Heads of the Charge contained in the Mittimus by which I stood committed I writ a plain down-right Answer in Vindication of my Innocency to each Particular as followeth I am a Prisoner at Lancaster committed by Justice Porter 1660. Lancaster Jail A Copy of the Mittimus I cannot get but such like Expressions I am told are in it which are very untrue As that I am generally supected to be a common Disturber of the Nations Peace an Enemy to the King and that I with others should endeavour to raise Insurrections to imbroil the Nation in Blood All which is utterly false and I do in every part thereof deny it For I am not a Person generally suspected to be a Disturber of the Nations Peace nor have given any Cause for any such Suspicion For through the Nation I have been tried of these things formerly In the days of Oliver I was taken up on pretence of Raising Arms against him which was also false for I medled not with Raising Arms at all Yet I was then carried up Prisoner to London and kept Prisoner till I was brought before him and then I cleared my self and denied the drawing of a Carnal Weapon against him or any Man upon the Earth For my Weapons are Spiritual which take away the occasion of War and lead into Peace And upon my declaring this to Oliver I was set at liberty by him After this I was taken and sent to Prison by Major Ceely in Cornwall who when I was brought before the Judge informed against me That I took him aside and told him that I could raise Forty Thousand Men in an hours time to involve the Nation in Blood and bring in King Charles This also was utterly false and a Lie of his own inventing as was then proved upon him For I never spake any such Word to him I never was found in any Plot I never took any Engagement or Oath nor ever learned War-Postures And as those were False Charges against me then so are these which come from Major Porter now who is lately appointed to be Justice but wanted Power formerly to exercise his Cruelty against us Which is but the Wickedness of the Old Enemy For the Peace of the Nation I am not a Disturber of nor ever was but seek the Peace of it and of all Men and stand for all Nations Peace and all Men's Peace upon the Earth and wish that all Nations and Men knew my Innocency in these things And whereas Major Porter saith I am an Enemy to the King this is false For my Love is to him and to all Men
were of do these who have persecuted about Church and Religion since the Apostles days who would Compel Mens Bodies Goods Lives Souls and Estates into their hands by a Law or make them suffer else Those that destroy Mens Lives are not the Ministers of Christ the Saviour And seeing they know not what Spirit they be of the Lives Bodies and Souls of Men are not to be trusted in their hands And ye that do persecute shall have no Resurrection to Life with God except ye repent But they that do know what Spirit they are of themselves they are in the unrebukable Zeal and by the Spirit of God they offer up their Spirits Souls and Bodies to the Lord which are his to keep them G. F. While yet I was kept in Lancaster-Jail I was moved to give forth the following Paper For the Staying the Minds of any such as might be burried or troubled about the Change of Government ALL Friends Let the Dread and Majesty of God fill you And as concerning the Changing of Times and Governments let not that trouble any of you for God hath a mighty Work and Hand therein And he will yet Change again until that come up which must Reign and in vain shall Powers and Armies withstand the Lord for his determined Work shall come to pass But what is now come up it is just with the Lord that it should be so and he will be served by it Therefore let none murmur nor distrust God for God will provoke many to Zeal against Vnrighteousness and for Righteousness through things which are suffered now to work for a Season yea many whose Zeal was even dead shall revive again and they shall see their Backslidings and bewail them bitterly For God shall thunder down from Heaven and break forth in a mighty Noise and his Enemies shall be astonished and the Workers of Iniquity confounded and all that have not on the Garment of Righteousness shall be amazed at the mighty and strange Work of the Lord which shall be certainly brought to pass But my Babes look ye not out but be still in the Light of the Lamb and he shall fight for you So the Almighty Hand which must break and split and divide your Enemies and take away Peace from them preserve and keep you whole and in Vnity and Peace with itself and one with another Amen G. F. I was moved also to write To the King both to Exhort him to exercise Mercy and Forgiveness towards his Enemies and to warn him to Restrain the Prophaneness and Looseness that was gotten up in the Nation upon his Return It was thus To the KING King Charles THou camest not into this Nation by Sword nor by Victory of War but by the Power of the Lord Now if thou dost not live in it thou wilt not prosper And if the Lord hath shewed thee Mercy and forgiven thee and thou dost not shew Mercy and forgive the Lord God will not hear thy Prayers nor them that pray for thee And if thou do not stop Persecution and Persecutors and take away all Laws that do hold up Persecution about Religion but if thou do persist in them and uphold Persecution that will make thee as blind as them that have gone before thee For Persecution hath always blinded those that have gone into it And such God by his Power overthrows and doth his Valiant Acts upon and bringeth Salvation to his Oppressed ones And if thou dost bear the Sword in vain and let Drunkenness Oaths Plays May-games with Fidlers Drums Trumpets to play at them with such like Abominations and Vanities be encouraged or go unpunished as setting up of May-poles with the Image of the Crown a top of them c. the Nations will quickly turn like Sodom and Gomorrah and be as bad as the Old World who grieved the Lord till he overthrew them And so he will you if these things be not suddenly prevented Hardly was there so much Wickedness at Liberty before now as there is now at this day as though there was no Terror nor Sword of Magistracy which doth not grace a Government nor is a Praise to them that do well Our Prayers are for them that are in Authority that under them we may live a Godly Life in which we have Peace and that we may not be brought into Ungodliness by them So hear and consider and do good in thy time whilst thou hast Power and be Merciful and forgive that is the way to Overcome and obtain the Kingdom of Christ G. F. It was long before the Sheriff would yield to Remove me to London unless I would Seal a Bond to him and bear their Charges which I still refused to do Then they Consulted how to convey me up and at first concluded to send up a Party of Horse with me And I told them If I were such a Man as they had represented me to be they had need send a Troop or two of Horse to Guard me When they considered what a Charge it would be to them to send up a Party of Horse with me they alter'd their purpose and concluded to send me up guarded only by the Jailer and some Bayliffs But upon further Consideration they found that would be a great Charge to them also and thereupon sent for me down from the Prison into the Jailer's House and told me If I would put in Bail that I would be in London such a Day of the Term I should have leave to go up with some of my own Friends I told them I would neither put in any Bail nor give one piece of Silver to the Jailer for I was an Innocent Man and they had Imprisoned me wrongfully and laid a false Charge upon me Nevertheless I said If they would let me go up with one or two of my Friends to bear me Company I might go up and be in London such a Day if the Lord did permit and if they desired it I or any of my Friends that went with me would carry up their Charge against my self So at last when they saw they could do no otherwise with me the Sheriff yielded and came under consenting that I should come up with some of my Friends without any other Engagement than my Word as aforesaid to appear before the Judges at London such a day of the Term if the Lord did permit Swarthmore Whereupon I was set out of Prison and went to Swarthmore where I stay'd two or three days and from thence went to Lancaster again Lancaster Preston Cheshire and so to Preston having Meetings amongst Friends in the way till I came into Cheshire to William Gandy's where was a large Meeting without Doors the House not being sufficient to contain it That Day the Lord's everlasting Seed was set over all and Friends were turned to it who is the Heir of the Promise Thence passing on Staffordshire Warwickshire Non-Eaton I came into Staffordshire and Warwickshire till I came to Anthony
Prisoner in Lancaster-Goal and commanded hither by an Habeas Corpus And this signification of his Majesty's Pleasure shall be your sufficient Warrant For Sir Thomas Mallet Kt. one of the Justices of the King 's Bench. Dated at Whitehall the 24th of October 1660. EDWARD NICHOLAS When this Order was delivered to Judge Mallet he forthwith sent his Warrant to the Marshal of the King's-Bench for my Release Which Warrant was thus Worded BY Vertue of a Warrant which this morning I have received from the Right Honourable Sir Edward Nicholas 1660. King's Bench-Prison Kt. one of his Majesty's Principal Secretaries for the releasing and setting at Liberty of George Fox late a Prisoner in Lancaster-Jail and from thence brought hither by Habeas Corpus and yesterday committed unto your Custody I do hereby require you accordingly to Release and set the said Prisoner George Fox at Liberty For which this shall be your Warrant and Discharge To Sir John Lenthal Knight Marshal of the King's-Bench or his Deputy Given under my Hand the 25th day of October in the Year of our Lord God 1660. THOMAS MALLET Thus London after I had been a Prisoner somewhat more than Twenty Weeks I was freely set at liberty by the King's Command the Lord's Power having wonderfully wrought for the clearing of my Innocency and Porter who committed me not daring to Appear to make good the Charge he had falsly suggested against me But after it was known I was discharged there was a Company of envious wicked Spirits that were troubled I was set at Liberty and Terror took hold of Justice Porter For he was afraid I would take the advantage of the Law against him for my wrong Imprisonment and thereby undo him his Wife and Children And indeed I was put on by some in Authority to have made him and the rest Examples But I said I should leave them to the Lord if the Lord did forgive them I should not trouble my self with them Now did I see the End of the Travel which I had had in my sore Exercise at Reading for the everlasting Power of the Lord was over all and his blessed Truth Life and Light shined over the Nation and great and glorious Meetings we had and very quiet and many flocked in unto the Truth For Richard Hubberthorn had been with the King and the King said None should molest us so long as we lived peaceably and promised this to us upon the Word of a King telling him We might make use of his Promise Some Friends also were admitted to go into the House of Lords before them and the Bishops and had liberty given them to declare their Reasons Why they could not pay Tithes nor Swear nor go to the Steeplehouse-Worship or join with others in Worship and they heard them moderately And there being about Seven Hundred Friends in Prison in the Nation who had been committed under Oliver's and Richard's Government upon Contempts as they call them when the King came in he set them all at Liberty For there seemed at that time an Inclination and Intention in the Government to have granted Friends Liberty because they were sensible that we had suffered as well as they in the former Power 's days But still when any thing was going forward in order thereunto some dirty Spirits or other that would seem to be for us threw something in the way to stop it It was said there was an Instrument drawn up for Confirming our Liberty and that it only wanted Signing when on a suddain that wicked Attempt of the Fifth-Monarchy-People brake forth 1660. London and put the City and Nation in an Uproar This was on a First-Day Night and very glorious Meetings we had had that Day wherein the Lord's Truth shined over all and his Power was exalted above all But about Mid-night or soon after the Drums beat and the Cry was Arm Arm. I got up out of Bed and in the Morning took Boat and Landing at Whitehall Stairs walked through Whitehall Whitehall They looked strangely on me there but I passed through them and went to the Pell-Mell Pell-mell whither divers Friends came to me though it was now grown dangerous passing the Streets For by this time both the City and Suburbs were up in Arms and exceeding rude the People and Souldiers were insomuch that a Friend Henry Fell going to a Friends House the Soldiers knockt him down and he had been killed if the Duke of York had not come by Great Mischief was done in the City this Week and when the next First-Day came that Friends went to their Meetings as they used to do many were taken Prisoners I stay'd at the Pell-mell intending to be at the Meeting there But on the Seventh-Day at Night a Company of Troopers came and knockt at the Door The Maid letting them in they rushed into the House and strait laid hold upon me and there being amongst them one that had served under the Parliament he clapt his Hand to my Pocket and asked Whether I had any Pistols I told him He knew I did not use to carry Pistols why therefore did he ask such a Question of me whom he knew to be a Peaceable Man Others of the Souldiers run up into the Chambers and there found in Bed that Squire Marsh before mentioned who tho' he was one of the King's Bed-Chamber out of his love to me came and lodged where I did When they came down again they said Why should we take this Man away with us We will let him alone Oh said the Parliament-Souldier he is one of the Heads and a chief Ring-leader Upon this the Souldiers were taking me away but Marsh hearing of it he sent for him that Commanded the Party and desired him to let me alone for he would see me forth-coming in the Morning In the Morning before they could fetch me and before the Meeting was gathered there came a Company of Foot to the House and one of them drawing out his Sword held it over my Head I asked him Wherefore he drew his Sword at a Naked Man At which his Fellows being ashamed bid him put up his Sword These Foot-Souldiers took me away to Whitehall G F. taken Prisoner Whitehall before the Troopers came for me As I was going out several Friends were coming in to the Meeting whose Boldness and Chearfulness I commended and encouraged them to persevere therein When I was brought to Whitehall the Soldiers and People were exceeding rude yet I declared Truth to them But some great Persons coming by who were very full of Envy What said they do ye let him Preach Put him into such a place where he may not stir So into that place they put me and the Soldiers watched over me I told them Though they could confine my Body and shut that up yet they could not stop up the Word of Life Some thereupon came and asked me What I was I told them I was a Preacher of
those Fifth-Monarchy-Men But when those of them that were taken came to be executed they did us that Right to clear us openly from having any hand in or knowledge of their Plot. And after that the King being continually Importuned thereunto Issued forth a Declaration That Friends should be set at liberty without paying Fees But great Labour and Travel Care and Pains was taken in it before this was obtained for Thomas Moor and Margaret Fell went often to the King about it Much Blood was shed this Year many of them that had been the Old King's Judges being hanged drawn and quartered And amongst them that so suffered Col. Hacker was one he who sent me Prisoner from Leicester to London in Oliver's time of which an Account is given before A sad Day it was and a Repaying of Blood with Blood For in the time of O. Cromwel when several Men were put to Death by him being hanged drawn and quartered for pretended Treasons I felt from the Lord God that their Blood would not be put up but would be required And I said as much then to several And now upon the King's Return when several of them that had been against the King were put to Death as the others that were for the King had been before by Oliver This was sad Work destroying of People contrary to the Nature of Christians who have the Nature of Lambs and Sheep But there was a Secret Hand in bringing this Day upon that Hypocritical Generation of Professors who being got into Power grew Proud Haughty and Cruel beyond others and persecuted the People of God without pity Therefore when Friends were under cruel Persecutions and Sufferings in the Common-wealth's time I was moved of the Lord to write unto Friends to draw up their Sufferings and lay them before the Justices at their Sessions And if they would not do them Justice then to lay it before the Judges at the Assize And if they would not do them Justice then to lay it before the Parliament and before the Protector and his Council that they might all see what was done under their Government And if they would not do Justice then to lay it before the Lord who would hear the Cries of the Oppressed and of the Widows and Fatherless that they had made so For that which we suffered for and which our Goods were spoiled for it was for our Obedience to the Lord in his Power and in his Spirit who was able to help and to succour and we had no Helper in the Earth but him And he did hear the Cries of his People and did bring an overflowing Scourge over the Heads of all our Persecutors which brought a Quaking and a Dread and a Fear amongst and on them all So that they who had nick-named us who are the Children of Light and in scorn called us Quakers the Lord made them Quake and many of them would have been glad to have hid themselves amongst us and some of them through the Distress that came upon them did at length come to Confess to the Truth Oh! the daily Reproaches Revilings and Beatings we underwent amongst them even in the High-ways because we could not put off our Hats to them and for saying Thou and Thee to them Oh! the Havock and Spoil the Priests made of our Goods because we could not put into their Mouths and give them Tithes Besides casting into Prisons and besides the great Fines laid upon us because we could not Swear But for all these things did the Lord God plead with them Yet some of them were so hardened in their Wickedness that when they were turned out of their Places and Offices they said If they had Power they would do the same again And when this Day of overturning was come upon them they said It was all long of us Wherefore I was moved to write to them and to ask them Did we ever resist them when they took away our Ploughs and Plough-Gears our Carts and Horses our Corn and Cattel our Kettles and Platters from us and whipt us and set us in the Stocks and cast us into Prison and all this only for serving and worshipping God in Spirit and Truth and because we could not Conform to their Religions Manners Customs and Fashions Did we ever resist them Did we not give them our Backs to beat and our Cheeks to pull off the Hair and our Faces to spit on Had not their Priests that prompted them on to such Work plucked them with themselves into the Ditch Why then would they say It was all long of us when it was long of themselves and their Priests their blind Prophets that followed their own Spirits and could fore-see nothing of these times and things that were come upon them which we had long forewarned them of as Jeremiah and Christ had forewarned Jerusalem And they thought to have wearied us out and undone us but they undid themselves Whereas we could praise God notwithstanding all their plundering of us that we had a Kettle and a Platter and an Horse and Plow still Many ways were these Professors warned both by Word by Writing and by Signs but they would believe none till it was too late William Sympson was moved of the Lord to go at several times for Three Years Naked and Bare-foot before them as a Sign unto them in Markets Courts Towns Cities to Priest's Houses and to Great Men's Houses telling them So should they be all stripped Naked as he was stripped Naked And sometimes he was moved to put on Hair-Sack-cloth and to besmear his Face and to tell them So would the Lord God besmear all their Religion as he was besmeared Great Sufferings did that poor Man undergo sore Whippings with Horse-whips and Coach-whips on his bare Body grievous Stonings and Imprisonments in three years time before the King came in that they might have taken Warning but they would not but rewarded his Love with cruel Vsage Only the Major of Cambridge did nobly to him for he put his Gown about him and took him into his House Another Friend one Robert Huntington was moved of the Lord to go into Carlisle-Steeple-house with a White Sheet about him amongst the great Presbyterians and Independents there to shew them that the Surplice was coming up again and he put an Halter about his Neck to shew them That an Halter was coming upon them which was fulfilled upon some of our Persecutors not long after Another whose Name was Richard Sale living near West-Chester and being Constable of the place where he lived had a Friend sent to him with a Pass whom those wicked Professors had taken up for a Vagabond because he travelled up and down in the Work of the Ministry and this Constable being convinced by the Friend that was thus brought to him gave him his Pass and Liberty and was afterwards himself cast into Prison After this on a Lecture-day this Richard Sale was moved to go to the Steeple-house in the time
occasion Wherefore I desired William Smith to go speak with the Woman and let her know if she would let us have a Room and let our Friends come up out of the Dungeon and leave it to us and them to give her what we would it might be better for her He went and after some reasoning with her she consented and we were had into a Room Then we were told that the Jailer would not suffer us to fetch any Drink out of the Town into the Prison but that what Beer we drank we must take of him I told them I would remedy that if they would for we would get a Pale of Water and a little Wormwood once a day and that might serve us So we should have none of his Beer and the Water he could not deny us Before we came there when those few Friends that were Prisoners there did Meet together on the First-Days if any of them was moved to pray to the Lord the Jailer would come up with his great Quarter-staff in his Hand and his Mastiff-Dog at his Heels and would pluck them down by the Hair of the Head and strike them with his Staff but when he struck Friends the Mastiff-Dog instead of falling upon Friends would take the Staff out of his Hand Now when the First-Day came after we came in I spake to one of my Fellow-Prisoners to carry down a Stool and set it in the Yard and give notice to the Debtors and Fellons that there would be a Meeting in the Yard and they that would hear the Word of the Lord declared might come thither So the Debtors and Prisoners went into the Yard and we went down and had a very precious Meeting the Jailer not meddling Thus every First-Day we had a Meeting there as long as we stay'd in Prison and several came in out of the City and Country and many were Convinced and some received the Lord's Truth there who stood faithful Witnesses for it ever since When the Sessions came we were had up before the Justices Leicester Sessions with many more Friends that were sent to Prison whilst we were there to the number of about Twenty Being brought into the Court the Jailer put us into the Place where the Thieves were put and then some of the Justices began to tender the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy to us I told them I never took any Oath in my Life and they knew we could not Swear because Christ and his Apostle forbad it and therefore they put it but as a Snare to us But we told them if they could prove that after Christ and the Apostle had forbid Swearing they did ever command Christians to Swear then we would take these Oaths otherwise we were resolved to obey Christ's Command and the Apostle's Exhortation They said We must take the Oath that we might manifest our Allegiance to the King I told them I had been formerly sent up a Prisoner by Col. Hacker from that Town to London under pretence that I held Meetings to plot to bring in King Charles I also desired them to read our Mittimus which set forth the Cause of our Commitment to be that we were To have a Meeting and I said he that was called Lord Beaumont could not by that Act send us to Jail unless we had been taken at a Meeting and found to be such Persons as the Act speaks of therefore we desired they would read the Mittimus 1662. Leicester Sessions and see how wrongfully we were Imprisoned They would not take notice of the Mittimus but called a Jury and Indicted us for Refusing to take the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy When the Jury was Sworn and Instructed as they were going out one that had been an Alderman of the City spake to them and bid them Have a good Conscience and one of the Jury being a peevish Man told the Justices There was One affronted the Jury Whereupon they called him up and tendred him the Oath also and he took it While we were standing in the Place where the Thieves used to stand there was a Cut-Purse had his Hand in several Friends Pockets and Friends declared it to the Justices and shewed them the Man They called him up before them and upon Examination he could not deny it yet they set him at Liberty It was not long before the Jury Returned and brought us in Guilty and then after some Words the Justices Whispered together and bid the Jailer take us down to Prison again But the Lord's Power was over them and his Everlasting Truth which we declared boldly amongst them And there being a great Concourse of People most of them followed us so that the Cryer and Bayliffs were sain to call the People back again to the Court We declared the Truth as we went down the Streets all along Leicester Jail till we came to the Jail the Streets being full of People When we were in our Chamber again after some time the Jailer came to us and desired all to go forth that were not Prisoners And when they were gone he said Gentlemen it is the Court's Pleasure that ye should all be set at liberty except those that are in for Tithes and you know there are Fees due to me but I shall leave it to you to give me what you will Thus were we all set at Liberty on a sudden And being thus set at Liberty the rest passed every one into their Services only Leonard Fell being come thither stay'd with me and we two went again to Swanington Swanington I had a Letter from him they called the Lord Hastings who hearing of my Imprisonment had written from London to the Justices at the Sessions to set me at Liberty Now I had not delivered this Letter to the Justices but whether they had any knowledge of his Mind from any other hand which made them discharge us so suddenly I know not But this Letter I carried to him called the Lord Beaumont who had sent us to Prison and when he had broken it open and read it he seemed much troubled but at last came a little lower yet threatned us if we had any more Meetings at Swanington he would break them up and send us to Prison again But notwithstanding his Threats we went to Swanington and had a Meeting with Friends there and he came not nor sent not to break it up From Swanington we passed through the Country and came to a Place called Twy-Cross Twy-Cross where that Great Man formerly mentioned whom the Lord God had raised up from his Sickness in the Year 1649 and whose Serving-man came at me with a Drawn Sword to have done me a Mischief He and his Wife came to see me From thence we travelled through Warwickshire Warwickshire where we had brave Meetings and so into Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire visiting Friends 1662. Northamptonshire Bedfordshire London Essex Norfolk Norwich Sutton Cambridgeshire till we came to London I stay'd
me that Question and I told them No for all that God made was good and was blest so was not the Devil And he was called a Serpent before he was called a Devil and an Adversary and then he had the Title of Devil given to him And afterward he was called a Dragon because he was a Destroyer The Devil abode not iâ— the Truth and by departing from the Truth he became a Devil and so the Jews when they went out of the Truth were said to be of the Devil and were called Serpents Now there is no Promise of God to the Devil that ever he shall return into Truth again but to Man and Woman who have been deceived by him the Promise of God is that The Seed of the Woman shall bruise the Serpent's Head shall break his Power and Strength to pieces Now when these things were opened more at large to the satisfaction of Friends those Two who had let up the Spirit of that Ranting Woman were judged by the Truth and one of them viz. Joseph Hellen run quite out from Truth and was denied by Friends But George Bewly was recovered and came afterwards to be serviceable to Truth We passed from Loveday Hambley's to Francis Hodges Falmouth Penryn Helstone near Falmouth and Penryn where we had a large Meeting and from thence we went to Helstone that Night where some Friends came to visit us and the next day we passed to Thomas Teage's where we had another large Meeting at which many were Convinced for I was led to open the state of the Church in the Primitive Times and the state of the Church in the Wilderness and the state of the False Church that was got up since and to shew that now the Everlasting Gospel was preached again over the Head of the Whore Beast and false Prophets and Antichrists which had got up since the Apostles days and now the Everlasting Gospel was received and receiving which brought Life and Immortality to Light that they might see over the Devil that had darkned them And the People received the Gospel and the Word of Life gladly and a glorious blessed Meeting we had for the exalting the Lord's everlasting Truth and his Name After the Meeting was done I walked out and as I was coming in again I heard a Noise in the Court and coming nearer I found the Man of the House speaking to the Tinners and others of the World's People and telling them It was the Everlasting Truth that had been declared there that day and the People generally confessed to it From thence we passed to the Land's End to John Ellis's house Lands End where we had a precious Meeting and there was a Fisherman one Nicholas Jose that was Convinced and he spake in Meetings and declared the Truth amongst the People and the Lord's Power was over all I was glad that the Lord had raised up his Standard in those dark parts of the Nation where since there is a fine Meeting of honest-hearted Friends and many there are come to sit under Christ's Teaching and a great People the Lord will have in that Country From thence we returned to Redruth and the next day to Truro Redruth Truro where we had a Meeting Next Morning some of the Chief of the Town desired to speak with me and I went to them amongst whom was Col. Rouse 1663. Truro A great deal of Discourse I had with them concerning the things of God and in their Reasoning they said The Gospel was the Four Books of Matthew Mark Luke and John and they called it Natural But I told them the Gospel was the Power of God which was preached before Matthew Mark Luke and John or any of them were printed or written And it was preached to Every Creature of which a great part might never see nor hear of those Four Books so that Every Creature was to obey the Power of God for Christ the Spiritual Man would Judge the World according to the Gospel that is according to his Invisible Power When they heard this they could not gain-say for the Truth came over them So I directed them to their Teacher the Grace of God and shewed them the Sufficiency of it which would teach them how to live and what to deny and being obeyed would bring them their Salvation And so to that Grace I recommended them and left them Then returned we through the Country visiting Friends and had Meetings at Humphrey Lower's again and at Thomas Mount's And afterwards at George Hawkins at Stoke we had a large Meeting Stoke to which Friends came from Lanceston and several other places and a living precious Meeting it was in which the Lord's Presence and Power was richly manifested amongst us and I left Friends there under the Lord Jesus Christ's Teaching Example In Cornwall I was Informed that there was one Col. Robinson a very wicked Man who after the King came in was made a Justice of the Peace and became a Cruel Persecutor of our Friends of whom he sent many to Prison And hearing that they had some little Liberty through the Favour of the Jailer to come home sometimes to visit their Wives and Children he made a great Complaint thereof to the Judge at the Assize against the Jailer Whereupon the Jailer was fined an Hundred Marks and Friends were kept very strictly up for a while After he was come home from the Assize he sent to a Neighbouring Justice to desire them to go a Fanatick-hunting with him So on the Day that he intended and was prepared to go a Fanatick-hunting he sent his Man about with his Horses and walked himself on Foot from his Dwelling-House to a Tenement that he had where his Cows and Dairy were kept and where his Servants were then milking When he came there he asked for his Bull and the Maid-Servants said They had shut him into the Field because he was Vnruly amongst the Kine and hindred their Milking Then went he into the Field to his Bull and having formerly accustomed himself to play with the Bull he began to fence at him with his Staff as he used to do But the Bull snufft at him and passed a little back and then turning upon him again ran fiercely at him and struck his Horn into his Thigh and heaving him upon his Horn threw him over his Back and so tore up his Thigh to his Belly And when he came to the Ground again he gored him with his Horns and would run them into the Ground in his Rage and Violence and roared and licked up his Master's Blood The Maid-Servant hearing her Master Cry out came running into the Field and came to the Bull and took him by the Horns to pull him off from her Master The Bull without hurting her put her gently by with his Horns but still fell to goring of him 1663. Cornwal and licking up his Blood Then she ran and got some Work-men that were at Work not
are settled under the Teaching of Christ Jesus their Saviour who hath bought them After I was clear of Wales I turned towards England again and came to a Market-Town betwixt England and Wales where was a great Fair that day and several Friends being at the Fair we went to an Inn and Friends came to us And after we had had a fine Opportunity with Friends we parted from them and went on our way The Officers of the Town took notice it seems of our being there and Friends gathering together to us and they began also to get together to Consult among themselves how to ensnare us though it was the Fair-time but before they could do any thing we were gone on our Journey and so escaped them From thence we came into Shropshire Shropshire where we had a large and precious Meeting And after we had had many Meetings in those parts we came into Warwickshire and visited Friends there Warwickshire Darbyshire Staffordshire White-Haugh At Captain Lingard ' s. and so came into Darbyshire and Staffordshire visiting Friends Meetings as we went At a place called White-Haugh we had a large blessed Meeting and quiet And after the Meeting was done we took Horse and rode about Twenty Miles that Night to one Captain Lingard's We heard afterwards that when we were gone the Officers came to have seized on us and were much disturbed that they mist us but the Lord disappointed them and delivered us out of their wicked Hands and Friends were joyful in the Lord that we escaped them At Captain Lingard's we had a blessed Meeting the Lord's Presence being wonderfully amongst us After this Meeting we passed through the Peak-Country in Darbyshire Darbyshire Peak Country Sunderhil-Green and after we had been at a Friend's House there we went on to Sunderhill-Green where we had a large Meeting Here John Whitehead came to me and several other Friends and then I passed through the Country visiting Friends till I came into Holderness We went to the farther End of Holderness Holderness Scarborough Whitby Malton and so passed down by Scarborough and Whitby and near Malton and then to York having many Meetings in the way and the Lord 's everlasting Power was over all At York I heard of a Plot York whereupon I was moved to declare against all Plots and Plotters both in publick and private and also to give forth a Paper against Plotting of which a Copy here followeth ALL Friends every where Keep out of Plots and Buslings and the Arm of Flesh for all that is among Adam's Sons in the Fall where they are destroying Mens Lives like Dogs and Beasts and Swine Goring rending biting and destroying one another and wrestling with Flesh and Blood From whence riseth Wars and Killings but from the Lusts And all this is in Adam in the Fall out of Adam that never fell in whom there is Peace and Life And ye are called to Peace therefore follow it and Christ is that Peace for all that pretend to Fight for Christ they are deceived and are in Adam in the Fall for Christ's Kingdom is not of this World therefore his Servants do not Fight Therefore Fighters are not of Christ's Kingdom and are without Christ's Kingdom for his Kingdom stands in Peace and Righteousness 1663. York And so Fighters are in the Lust and all that would destroy Mens Lives are not of Christ's Mind who comes to save Men's Lives Christ's Kingdom is not of this World it is peaceable and all that be in Strifes are not of his Kingdom nor any such as pretend to Fight for the Gospel The Gospel is the Power of God which was before the Devil or Fall of Man was or Fighters either which is the Gospel of Peace and they that pretend to Fighting and talk so for Fighting are Ignorant of the Gospel of Peace And all that talk of Fighting for Sion are in Darkness for Sion needs no such Helpers And all such as profess themselves to be Ministers of Christ and Christians and to beat down the Whore with outward Carnal Weapons the Flesh and the Whore are got up in themselves in a blind Zeal That which beats down the Whore which got up by the Inward Ravening from the Spirit of God the Beating down of the Whore must be by the Inward Rising of the Sword of the Spirit within All such as pretend Christ Jesus and Confess him and run into Carnal Weapons wrestling with Flesh and Blood throw away the Spiritual That are Wrestlers with Flesh and Blood they throw away Christ's Doctrine and Flesh is got up in them and they are weary of their Sufferings And such as would Revenge themselves be out of Christ's Doctrine and such as would be stricken on the one Cheek and would not turn the other be out of Christ's Doctrine and such as do not love one another and Love Enemies be out of Christ's Doctrine And therefore you that be Heirs of the Blessings of God which was before the Curse and the Fall was come to Inherit your Portions And you that be Heirs of the Gospel of Peace before the Devil was live in the Gospel of Peace seeking the Peace of all Men and the Good of all Men. And Live in Christ which comes to save Men's Lives out of Adam in the Fall where they destroy Men's Lives and live not in him For the Jews Sword outwardly by which they cut down the Heathen was a Type of the Spirit of God within which Cuts down the Heathenish Nature within So live in the Peaceable Kingdom of Christ Jesus and in the Peace of God and not in the Lusts from whence Wars arise And Live in Christ the Way of God who is the Second Adam who never fell and live not in Adam in the Fall in the Destruction where they destroy one another Therefore come out of Adam in the Fall into that Adam that never fell and so live in Love and Peace with all Men. And keep out of all the Buslings in the World and meddle not with the Powers of the Earth but mind the Kingdom and the way of Peace You that be Heirs of Grace and Heirs of the Kingdom and Heirs of the Gospel and Heirs of Salvation and Saints of the Most-High and Children of God whose Conversations are in Heaven that is above the Combustions of the Earth let your Conversations preach to all Men and your Innocent Lives that they beholding your Godly Conversation may glorifie your Father which is in Heaven And all Friends every where this I charge you which is the Word of the Lord God unto you all Live in Peace in Christ the way of Peace in which seek the Peace of all Men and no Man 's Hurt as I said before In Adam in the Fall is no Peace but in Adam out of the Fall in him is the Peace So you being in Adam that never fell it 's Love that overcomes the Evil and not Hatred with Hatred nor
be put to him and that he would refuse to Swear But when the Assize came and the Oath was tendered him he desired Time to consider of it and that being granted him till the next Assize he got leave to go to London before the Assize came again and came no more back but staid at London till the Plague brake forth and there both he and his Wife were Cut off He was a very Wicked Man and the Judgments of God came upon him For he had published a very wicked Book against Friends full of Lies and Blasphemies the Occasion of which was this Whilst he was in Lancaster-Castle he challenged Friends to have a Dispute with them Whereupon I got leave of the Jailer to go up to them And entring into Discourse with him he affirmed That some Men never had the Spirit of God and that the true Light which enlightneth every one that cometh into the world is natural For Proof of his first Assertion he instanced Balaam affirming That Balaam had not the Spirit of God I affirmed and proved That Balaam had the Spirit of God and that Wicked Men have the Spirit of God else how could they quench it and vex it and grieve it and resist the Holy Ghost like the stiff-necked Jews To his Second Assertion I answered That the true Light which enlightneth every Man that cometh into the World was the Life in the Word and that was Divine and Eternal and not Natural And he might as well say that the Word was Natural as that the Life in the Word was Natural And Wicked Men were enlightned by this Light else how could they hate it Now it is expresly said that they did hate it And the Reason given why they did hate it was because their Deeds were evil and they would not come to it because it reproved them and that must needs be in them that reproved them Besides that Light could not be the Scriptures of the New-Testament for it was testified of before any part of the New-Testament was written So it must be the Divine Light which is the Life in Christ the Word before Scriptures were And the Grace of God which brought Salvation had appeared unto all Men and taught the Saints but they that turned it into Wantonness and walked despitefully against the Spirit of Grace were the Wicked Again the Spirit of Truth the Holy Ghost the Comforter which leads the Disciples of Christ into all Truth the same should Reprove the World of Sin of Righteousness and of Judgment and of their Vnbelief So the Wicked World had it to reprove them and the true Disciples and Learners of Christ that believed in the Light as Christ commands they had it to lead them But the World that did not believe in the Light though they were lighted but hated the Light which they should have believed in and loved the Darkness rather than it this World had a Righteousness and a Judgment which the Holy Ghost reproved them for as well as for their Vnbelief So having proved that the Good and the Bad were enlightned and that the Grace of God had appeared unto them all and that all had the Spirit of God else they could not vex and grieve it I told Major Wiggan The least Babe there might see him and presently stood up one Richard Cubham and proved him an Anti-christ and a Deceiver by Scripture Then the Jailer had me away to my Prison again And afterwards Wiggan wrote a Book of this Dispute and put in abundance of abominable Lies But his Book was soon Answered in Print and he himself not long after was cut off as afore is said This Wiggan was poor and while he was a Prisoner at Lancaster he sent into the Country and got Money gathered for Relief of the Poor People of God in Prison and many People gave freely thinking it had been for Vs when-as indeed it was for himself But when we heard of it we laid it upon him and writ also into the Country that ' Friends might let the People know the Truth of the Matter that it was not our manner to have Collections made for us and that those Collections were only for Wiggan and another a drunken Preacher of his Society who would be so drunk that once he lost his Britches After this it came upon me to write a Paper to the Judges and other Magistrates concerning their Giving Evil Words and Nick-names to such as were brought before them And that which I writ was after this manner and thus directed To all you that be Judges or other Officers whatsoever in the whole World who profess your selves to be Christians Friends HErein and by reading the Scriptures ye may see both your own Words and Carriage and the Words Carriage and Practice of both Jews and Heathens and of the great King of Kings the great Law-giver and Judge of the whole World First For the Words and Carriage of the Jews when such as were worthy of Death were brought before such as were Rulers amongst them When Achan had taken the Babylonish Garment and the two hundred Shekels of Silver and the Wedge of Gold of Fifty Shekels weight and Joshua who was then Judge of Israel had by the Lot found him out he did not say unto him Sirrah nor You Rascal Knave Rogue as some that are called Christian Magistrates are too apt to do But Joshua said unto Achan My Son Mark his clean Language and Savoury Expression and gracious Words My Son said he give I pray thee Glory to the Lord God of Israel and make Confession unto him and tell me now what thou hast done hide it not from me Then Achan confessed that he had sinned against the Lord God of Israel and thus and thus he had done And then Joshua the Judge said Why hast thou troubled Israel The Lord shall trouble thee this day and they stoned him and his with Stones and burnt his Goods with Fire But there was no unsavoury Word given to him that we read of though he was worthy of Death Josh 7. So when the Man that gathered Sticks upon the Sabbath-day was taken and brought before Moses the Judge in Israel and put in Ward until the Mind of the Lord was known concerning him We read not of any reviling Language given him but the Lord said to Moses and Moses to the People The Man shall surely be put to Death Numb 15.35 So likewise in the Rebellion of Corah Dathan and Abiram where Moses called them to Trial he did not Sirrah them or mis-call them but said to Corah and the rest Hear I pray you ye Sons of Levi Numb 16.8 And when he gave the Sentence against them he said If these Men die the common Death of all Men c. He did not say If these Rascals or Knaves as many that profess themselves Christians will now do When Elihu spake to Job who was a Judge and to his Friends and said Let me not I pray you
Power of God and we are Heirs of Christ who have inherited him and his Everlasting Kingdom and do possess the Power of an Endless Life Knowing this our Portion and Inheritance this is to take off all Jealousies out of your Minds and out of the Minds of all People concerning us That all Plots and Conspiracies Plotters and Conspirators against the King and all Aiders or Assisters thereunto we always did and do utterly deny to be any of us or to be of the Fellowship of the Gospel or to be of Christ's Kingdom or to be his Servants For Christ said His Kingdom was not of this World if it were his Servants would fight And therefore he bid Peter Put up his Sword for said he he that taketh the Sword shall perish by the Sword Here is the Faith and Patience of the Saints to bear and suffer all things knowing as we know that Vengeance is the Lord's and he will repay it to them that hurt his People and that do wrong to the Innocent Therefore cannot we avenge but suffer for his Name 's sake And we do know that the Lord will judge the World in Righteousness according to their Deeds and that when every one shall give an Account to him of the Deeds done in the Body then will the Lord give every Man according to his Works whether they be Good or whether they be Evil. Christ saith he came not to destroy Men's Lives And when his Disciples would have had Fire to come down from Heaven to have consumed them that did not receive him he told them They knew not what Spirit they were of that would have Mens Lives destroyed and therefore he rebuked them and told them That he came not to destroy Men's Lives but to save them Now we are of Christ's Mind who is the great Prophet whom all ought to hear in all things who saith to his If they strike thee on one Cheek turn the other and render to no Man Evil for Evil. This Doctrine of his have we learned and do not only confess him in Words but follow his Doctrine and therefore have and do we suffer all manner of Reproaches Scandals and Slanders and spoiling of Goods Buffetings and Whippings Stripes and Imprisonments for these many years and can say The Lord forgive them that have thus served us and lay not these things to their Charge And we know that the Jews outward Sword by which they cut down the Heathen outwardly was a Type of the inward Sword of the Spirit which cuts down the inward Heathen the raging Nature in People And the Blood of Bulls Lambs Rams and other Offerings and that Priesthood that offered them together with other things in the Law were Types of Christ the one Offering and of his Blood who is the Everlasting Priest and Covenant Christ our Life and Way to God and who is the great Prophet and Shepherd that looks to his Flock and the Head of his Church and the great Bishop of our Souls whom we witness come and he doth oversee and keep his Flock For in Adam in the Fall we know the striving quarrelling unpeaceable Spirits are in the Enmity one with another and not in Peace But in Christ Jesus the Second Adam that never fell is Peace Rest and Life And the Doctrine of Christ who never sinned is to love one another and who be in this Doctrine hurt no man in which we are in Christ who is our Life Therefore it is well for you to distinguish betwixt the Precious and the Vile between them that fear God and serve him and them that do not and to put a difference between the Innocent and the Guilty and between him that is Holy and Pure and the Ungodly and Prophane for they that do not so bring Troubles Burdens and Sorrows upon themselves And this we write in Love to your Souls that ye may consider these things for they that hate Enemies and hate one another we cannot say they are of God nor in Christ's Doctrine but are Opposers of it And such as wrestle with Flesh and Blood with Carnal Weapons are gone into the Flesh out of the Spirit They are not in our Fellowship in the Spirit in which is the Bond of Peace neither are they of Vs nor have we Vnity with them in their fleshly state and with their Carnal Weapons For our Unity and Fellowship stands in the Gospel which is the Power of God before the Devil was the Liar and the Murderer the Man-slayer and the Envious Man Now Christ's Mind and his Doctrine being to save Men's Lives we who are of Christ's Mind are out of and above these things And our desire is 1664. Lancaster Castle that in the Fear of the Lord ye may all Live that in that ye may all receive God's Wisdom by which all things were created that by it all may be ordered to God's Glory This is from them that love all your Souls and seek your Eternal Good Being now a Prisoner in Lancaster Castle a deep sense came upon me of a Day of sore Trial and Exercise that was come and coming upon all that had been high in Profession of Religion And I was moved to give forth the following Paper as a Warning unto such NOw is the Day that every one's Faith and Love to God and Christ will be Tried and who are Redeemed out of the Earth and who are in the Earth will be manifested and who is their Master they serve and whether they will run to the Mountains to Cover them Now will it appear who are the Stony Ground who are the Thorny Ground and who are the High-way-Ground in whom the Fowls of the Air take away the Seed and the Thorns and Cares of the World Choke and the Heat of Persecution scorches and burns up your green Blade For the Day trieth all things Therefore let not such as forsake Truth for saving the Earth say that your Brother Priest only serveth not the Lord Jesus Christ but his own Belly and mindeth Earthly things for such themselves also do the same and do hug and embrace Self and not the Lord. Now it will be made manifest who is every ones God and Christ and Saviour and their Love will be manifest whether it be of the World or the Love of God for if it be the Love of the World it is Enmity and the Enmity will manifest it self what it is and the Day will Try every Spirit and his Fruits Therefore all my dear Friends In the Everlasting Seed of God live that is over all the House of Adam and his Works in the Fall and so dwelling in the Seed Christ that never fell in him you all have Vertue and Life and Peace and through him ye will overcome all that is in the Fall G. F. I writ also another Short Epistle to Friends to Warn them to keep out of that Spirit that wrought in John Perrot and his Company against the Truth Dear Friends DWell in
Night I asked the Souldiers Whither they intended to carry me and whither I was to be sent Some of them said Beyond Sea others said To Tinmouth-Castle And a great Fear there was amongst them lest some should Rescue me out of their hands but that Fear was needless Next Night we came to York where the Marshal put me up into a great Chamber York where there came most part of Two Troops to see me One of those Troopers being an envious Man and hearing that I was Premunired asked me What Estate I had and whether it was Copy-hold or Freee-Land I took no notice of his Question but was moved to declare the Word of Life to the Souldiers and many of them were very loving At night the Lord Frecheville so called who commanded those Horse came to me and was very Civil and Loving and I gave him an Account of my Imprisonment 1665. York and declared many things to him relating to Truth They kept me at York two days and then the Marshal and Four or Five Souldiers were sent to convey me to Scarborough-Castle Indeed these were very Civil Men and carried themselves civilly and lovingly to me Malton On the way we baited at Malton and they permitted Friends to come and visit me When we were come to Scarborough Scarborough they had me to an Inn and gave notice to the Governour and he sent half a dozen Souldiers to be my Guard that Night Next day they conducted me up into the Castle Scarborough Castle and there put me into a Room and set a Centry on me and I being so very weak and subject to fainting they for a while let me go out sometimes into the Air with the Centry They soon removed me out of this Room and put me into an Open Room where the Rain came in and the Room smoked exceedingly which was very offensive to me One day the Governour who was called Sir Jo. Crosland came to see me and brought with him one called Sir Francis Cobb I desired the Governour to go into my Room and see what a Room I had Now I had got a little Fire made in it and the Room was so filled with Smoke that when they were in they could hardly find their way out again And he being a Papist I told him That was his Purgatory which they had put me into I was forced to lay out a matter of Fifty Shillings to stop out the Rain and keep the Room from smoking so much But when I had been at that Charge and made the Room somewhat tolerable they removed me out of it and put me into a worse Room where I had neither Chimney nor Fire-Hearth And the Room being to the Sea-side and lying much open the Wind drove in the Rain forcible so that the Water came over my Bed and ran about the Room that I was fain to skim it up with a Platter And when my Cloaths were wet I had no Fire to dry them so that my Body was nummed with Cold and my Fingers swell'd that one was grown as big as two and though I was at some Charge on this Room also yet I could not keep out the Wind and Rain Besides they would suffer few Friends to come at me and many times not any no not so much as to bring me a little Food but I was forced for the First-Quarter to hire one of the World to bring me Necessaries and sometimes the Souldiers would take it from her and then she would scuffle with them for it Afterwards I hired a Souldier to fetch me Water and Bread and something to make a Fire of when I was in a Room where a Fire could be made Commonly a Three-penny-Loaf served me Three Weeks and sometimes longer and most of my Drink was Water that had Wormwood steeped or bruised in it But one time when the Weather was very sharp and I had taken great Cold I got a little Elicampane-Beer and I heard one of the Souldiers say to the other That they would play me a pretty Trick for they would send for me up to the Deputy-Governour and in the mean time they would drink my Strong-Beer out and so they did When I came back one of the Souldiers came to me in a Jeer and asked me for some Strong Beer I told him they had play'd their pretty Trick and so I took no further notice of it But inasmuch as they kept me so very strait not giving Liberty for Friends to come to me I spake to the Keepers of the Castle to this effect I did not know till I was removed from Lancaster-Castle and brought Prisoner to this Castle of Scarborough 1665. Scarborough Castle that I was Convicted of a Premunire for the Judge did not give Sentence upon me at the Assizes in open Court But seeing I am now a Prisoner here if I may not have my Liberty and Enlargement let my Friends and Acquaintance have their Liberty to come and visit me as Paul's Friends had among the Romans who were not Christians but Heathens For Paul's Friends had their Liberty and all that would might come to him and he had his Liberty to preach to them in his hired House But I cannot have Liberty to go into the Town nor for my Friends to come to me here So you that go under the Name of Christians are worse in this respect than those Heathens were But though they would not let Friends come to me they would often bring others either to Gaze upon me or to Contend with me One time there came a great Company of Papists to discourse with me and they affirmed The Pope was Infallible and had stood Infallible ever since Peter 's time But I shewed them the contrary by History For one of the Bishops of Rome Marcellinus by Name denied the Faith and Sacrificed to Idols and therefore he was not Infallible And I told them If they were in the Infallible Spirit they need not have Jails Swords and Staves Racks and Tortures Fires and Faggots Whips and Gallows to hold up their Religion by and to destroy Men's Lives about Religion for if they were in the Infallible Spirit they would preserve Men's Lives and use none but Spiritual Weapons about Religion I told them also what one that had been of their Society told me It was a Woman who lived in Kent and had not only been a Papist her self but had brought over several to that Religion but she coming to be Convinced of God's Truth and turned by it to Christ her Saviour exhorted the Papists to the same And one time having one of them a Tailor at work at her House while she opened to him the Falseness of the Popish Religion and endeavoured to draw him from it to the Truth he drew his Knife at her and got between her and the Door But she spake boldly to him and bid him put up his Knife for she knew his Principle I asked the Woman What she thought he
know How long I had lain in Prison and for what and he did so And when he came down again he told me that Esq Marsh said He would go an Hundred Miles bare-foot for my Liberty he knew me so well And several others he said spake well of me From which time the Governour was very Loving to me There were amongst the Prisoners that were there Two very bad Men that would often sit drinking with the Officers and Souldiers and because I would not sit and drink with them too that made them the worse against me One time when these Two Prisoners were drunk one of them whose Name was William Wilkinson who was a Presbyterian and had been a Captain came to me and challenged me to fight with him I seeing what Condition he was in got out of his way and next Morning when he was grown more sober told him How unmanly a thing it was in him to challenge a Man to fight whose Principle he knew it was not to strike but if he was stricken on one Ear to turn the other And I told him If he had a mind to fight he should have challenged some of the Souldiers that could have answered him in his own way But however I told him seeing he had Challenged me I was now come to Answer him with my Hands in my Pockets and reaching my Head towards him Here said I here is my Hair here are my Cheeks here is my Back With that he skipt away from me and went into another Room At which the Souldiers fell a laughing and one of the Officers said You are a happy Man that can bear such things Thus he was Conquered without a Blow But after a while he took the Oath and gave Bond and got out of Prison and not long after the Lord cut him off There were great Imprisonments in this and the former Years while I was Prisoner at Lancaster and Scarborough At London many Friends were crowded into Newgate and other Prisons where the Sickness was and many Friends died in Prison Many Friends also were Banished and several sent on Ship-board by the King's Order Some Masters of Ships would not carry them but set them on Shore again yet some were sent to Barbados and to Jamaica and to Mevis and the Lord blessed them there There was one Master of a Ship was very wicked and cruel to Friends that were put on Board his Ship for he kept the Friends down under Decks though the Sickness was amongst them so that many died of it But the Lord plagued him for his Wickedness for he lost most of his Sea-men by the Plague and lay several Months crossed with Contrary Winds though other Ships went out and made their Voyages At last he came before Plimouth and there the Governour and Magistrates would not suffer him nor any of his Men to come ashore though he wanted many Necessaries for his Voyage but Thomas Lower and Arthur Cotton and John Light and some other Friends went to the Ship's-side and carried Necessaries for the Friends that were Prisoners on Board The Master being thus crost and plagued and vext he cursed them that put him upon this Freight and said He hoped he should not go far before be was taken And the Vessel was but a little while gone out of sight of Plimouth but she was taken by a Dutch-man of War and carried into Holland When they came into Holland the States there sent the Banished Friends back to England with a Letter of Pasport and a Certificate That they had not made an Escape but were sent back by them But in time the Lord's Power wrought over this Storm and many of our Persecutors were Confounded and put to shame After I had lain Prisoner above a Year in Scarborough-Castle I sent a Letter to the King in which I gave him an Account of my Imprisonment and the bad Vsage I had had in Prison and also that I was Informed no Man could deliver me but he After this John Whitehead being at London and having Acquaintance also with him that was called Esq Marsh he went to Visit him and spake to him about me And he undertook if John Whitehead would get the State of my Case drawn up to deliver it to the Master of Requests whom he called Sir John Birkenhead he would endeavour to get a Release for me So John Whitehead and Ellis Hookes drew up a Relation of my Imprisonment and Sufferings and carried it to Marsh and he went with it to the Master of Requests who procured an Order from the King for my Release The Substance of the Order was That the King being certainly Informed that I was a Man principled against Plotting and Fighting and had been ready at all times to discover Plots rather than to make any c. that therefore his Royal Pleasure was that I should be discharged from my Imprisonment c. As soon as this Order was obtained John Whitehead came down to Scarborough with it and delivered it to the Governour Who upon Receipt thereof gathered the Officers together and without requiring Bond or Sureties for my peaceable Living being satisfied that I was a Man of a peaceable Life he discharged me freely and gave me the following Pasport PErmit the Bearer hereof George Fox late a Prisoner here and now discharged by His Majesty's Order quietly to pass about his Lawful Occasions without any Molestation Given under my hand at Scarborough-Castle this First Day of September 1666. JORDAN CROSLANDS Governour of Scarborough-Castle After I was Released I would have given the Governour something Scarborough for the Civility and Kindness he had of late shewed me but he would not receive any thing but said Whatever Good he could do for me and my Friends he would do it and never do them any hurt And afterwards if at any time the Mayor of the Town sent to him for Souldiers to break up Friends Meetings if he sent any down he would privately give them a Charge Not to meddle and so he continued Loving to his Dying-Day The Officers also and the Souldiers were mightily changed and grown very Respectful to me and when they had occasion to speak of me they would say He is as stiff as a Tree and as pure as a Bell for we could never bow him The very next day after I was Released from Scarborough-Prison the Fire brake out at London and the Report of it came quickly down into the Country Then I saw the Lord God was true and just in his Word which he had shewed me before in Lancaster-Jail when I saw the Angel of the Lord with a glittering drawn Sword Southward as is before expressed And the People of London were forewarned of this Fire yet few laid it to Heart or believed it but rather grew more Wicked and higher in Pride For we had a Friend that was moved to come out of Huntington-shire a little before the Fire and to scatter his Money up and down the
Streets and to turn his Horse loose in the Streets and to untie the Knees of his Britches and let his Stockings fall down and to unbutton his Doublet and told the People So should they run up and down scattering their Money and their Goods half undrest like mad People as he was a Sign to them And so they did when the Fire brake out and the City was burning Thus hath the Lord exercised his Prophets and Servants by his Power and shewed them Signs of his Judgments and sent them to fore-warn the People but instead of Repenting they have beaten and cruelly entreated some and some they have Imprisoned both in the former Power 's days and since 1666. Scarborough But the Lord is just and happy are they that obey his Word Some have been moved to go Naked in their Streets in the other Power 's days and since as Signs of their Nakedness and have declared amongst them That God would strip them out of their Hypocritical Professions and make them as bare and naked as they were But instead of considering it they have many times whipt or otherwise abused them and sometimes Imprisoned them Others have been moved to go in Sack cloth and to denounce the Woes and Vengeance of God against the Pride and Haughtiness of the People But few regarded it And in the other Powers days the Wicked Envious Professing Priests put up several Petitions both to Oliver and Richard called Protectors and to the Parliaments Judges and Justices against us stuft full of Lies and vilifying Words and Slanders but we got Copies of them and through the Lord's Assistance answered them all and cleared the Lord's Truth and our selves of them But oh the Body of Darkness that rose against the Truth in them that made Lies their Refuge But the Lord swept them away and in and with his Power Truth Light and Life hedged his Lambs about and did preserve them as on Eagle's Wings Therefore we all had and have great Encouragement to Trust the Lord whom we did see by his Power and Spirit how he did overturn and bring to nought all the Confederacies and Counsels that were hatched in the Darkness against his Truth and People and by the same Truth gave his People Dominion that in it they might serve him And indeed I could not but take notice how the Hand of the Lord turned against those my Persecutors who had been the cause of my Imprisonment or had been Abusive or Cruel to me in it For the Officer that fetched me to Houlker-Hall wasted his Estate and soon after fled into Ireland And most of the Justices that were upon the Bench at the Sessions when I was sent to Prison died in a while after as Old Tho. Preston Rawlinson and Porter and Matthew West of Borwick And though Justice Fleming did not die yet his Wife died and left him thirteen or fourteen Motherless Children who had Imprisoned Two Friends to Death and thereby made several Children Fatherless Col. Kirby never prospered after And the Chief Constable Richard Dodgson died soon after and Mount the Petty-Constable and the other Petty-Constable John Ashburnham his Wife who railed at me in her House died soon after And William Knipe that was the Witness they brought against me died soon after also And Hunter the Jailer of Lancaster who was very wicked to me while I was his Prisoner he was cut off in his Young Days And the Vnder-Sheriff that carried me from Lancaster-Prison towards Scarborough he lived not long after And one Joblin the Jailer of Durham who was Prisoner with me in Scarborough-Castle and had often incensed the Governour and Souldiers against me though he got out of Prison yet the Lord cut him off in his Wickedness soon after When I came into that Country again most of these that dwelt in Lancashire were dead and others ruined in their Estates So that though I did not seek Revenge upon them for their actings against me contrary to the Law yet the Lord had executed his Judgments upon many of them Being now set free from my Imprisonment in Scarborough-Castle I went about three Miles to a large General Meeting at a Friend's House that had been a Chief-Constable and all was quiet and well On the Fourth Day after I came into Scarborough again and had a Meeting in the Town at Peter Hodgson's House To this Meeting came one called a Lady and several other Great Persons also a Young-man that was Son to the Bayliff of the Town and had been Convinced while I was there in Prison That Lady so called came to me and said I spake against the Ministers I told her Such as the Prophets and Christ declared against formerly I declared against now From hence I went to Whitby and having visited Friends there Whitby I passed thence to Burlington where I had another Meeting Burlington Oram and from thence to Oram where I had another Meeting and from thence to Oram where I had another Meeting and from thence to Marmaduke Stor's and had a large Meeting at a Constable's House Mar. Stor on whom the Lord had wrought a great Miracle Next Day Two Friends being to take each other in Marriage there was a very great Meeting which I was at And I was moved to open to the People the State of our Marriages declaring How the People of God took one another in the Assemblies of the Elders and how that it was God that did Join Man anâ— Woman together before the Fall And though Men had taken upon them to Join in the Fall yet in the Restoration it was God's Joining that was the right and honourable Marriage But never any Priest did Marry any that we read of in the Scriptures from Genesis to the Revelations Then I shewed them the Duty of Man and Wife how they should serve God being Heirs of Life and Grace together After the Meeting I passed from thence to Grace Barwick G. Barwick where I had a General Meeting which was very large and when that was over I came to Richard Shipton's where I had another Meeting Whitby and so to a Priest's House whose Wife was Convinced and himself grown very Loving and glad to see me This was that Priest that in the Year 1651. threatned If ever he met with me again he would have my Life or I should have his and said He would lose his Head if I were not knockt down in a Month But now he was partly Convinced and become very kind I went from his House towards the Sea where several Friends came to visit me and amongst others one Philip Scarff who had formerly been a Priest but having received the Truth was now become a Preacher of Christ freely and continued so Passing on I called to see an Ancient Man who was Convinced of Truth and was above an Hundred Years old Then came I to a Friend's House where I had a great Meeting and quiet Near Malton And
Fair at which I met with many Friends Then passing through the Forrest in a mighty thundering and rainy day Nottingham I came to Nottingham and so great was the Tempest that day that many Trees were torn up by the Roots and some People killed but the Lord preserved us On the First-Day following I had a large Meeting in Nottingham very quiet and Friends were come to sit under their Teacher the Grace of God which brought them Salvation and were established upon the Rock and Foundation Christ Jesus After the Meeting I went to visit the Friend that had been Sheriff about the Year 1649 whose Prisoner I had then been 1666. Leicestershire Syleby Leicester From Nottingham I passed into Leicestershire and came to Syleby where we had a large blessed Meeting After which I went to Leicester to visit the Prisoners there and then came to John Penford's where we had a General Meeting large and precious From thence I passed through the Country visiting Friends and my Relations till I came into Warwickshire and to Warwick where having visited the Prisoners Warwickshire Warwick Badgley Northamptonshire Bedfordshire Buckinghamshire Oxfordshire London I passed from thence to Badgley and had a precious Meeting there Then I travelled through Northamptonshire Bedfordshire Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire visiting Friends in each County In Oxfordshire the Devil had laid a Snare for me but the Lord brake it and his Power came over all and his blessed Truth spread and Friends were Increased therein Thus after I had passed through many Counties visiting Friends and had had many large and precious Meetings amongst them I came at last to London But I was so weak with lying almost Three Years in cruel and hard Imprisonments and my Joints and my Body were so stiff and benummed that I could hardly get on my Horse or bend my Joints nor well bear to be near the Fire or to eat Warm Meat I had been kept so long from it Being come to London I walk't a little among the Ruins and took good notice of them and I saw the City lying according as the Word of the Lord came to me concerning it several Years before Now after I had been a time in London and had visited Friends Meetings through the City I went into the Country again and had large Meetings in the Countries Kingston Reading Wiltshire Bristol as I went at Kingston Reading and in Wiltshire till I came to Bristol At Bristol also I had many large Meetings and Thomas Lower came thither out of Cornwal to meet me and Friends were there from several parts of the Nation it being then the Fair-time After I was clear of Bristol I left that City and went to Nath. Crips's N. Crips's London and so through the Countries till I came back to London again having large Meetings in the way and all quiet blessed be the Lord. And thus though I was very Weak yet I travelled up and down in the Service of the Lord and the Lord enabled me to go through in it About this time some that had run out from Truth and clashed against Friends were reached unto by the Power of the Lord which came wonderfully over and made them Condemn and Tear their Papers of Controversies to pieces Several Meetings we had with them and the Lord 's Everlasting Power was over all and set Judgment on the Head of that that had run out And in these Meetings which lasted whole Days several that had Run out with John Perrot and others came in again and Condemned that Spirit that led them to Keep on their Hats when Friends prayed and when they themselves prayed and some of them said That Friends were more righteous than they and that if Friends had not stood they had been gone and had fallen into Perdition And thus the Lord's Power was wonderfully manifested and came over all Then was I moved of the Lord to recommend the setting up of Five Monthly Meetings of Men and Women in the City of London besides the Womens-Meetings and the Quarterly Meetings to take care of God's Glory and to admonish and exhort such as walked disorderly or carelesly and not according to Truth For whereas Friends had had only Quarterly Meetings now Truth was spread 1667. London and Friends were grown more Numerous I was moved to Recommend the setting up of Monthly Meetings throughout the Nation And the Lord opened to me and let me see What I must do and how the Mens and Womens Monthly and Quarterly Meetings should be ordered and established in this Nation and in other Nations and that I should Write to them where I came not to do the same So after things were well settled at London and the Lord's Truth and Power and Seed and Life reigned and shined over all in the City then I passed forth into the Countries again and went down into Essex Essâ—x Suffolk Norfolk And after the Monthly Meetings were settled in that County I went from thence into Suffolk and Norfolk Thomas Dry being with me And when we had Visited Friends in their Meetings in those parts and the Monthly Meetings were settled there we pass'd from thence and went into Huntingtonshire Huntingtoâ—shire where we had very large and blessed Meetings and though we met with some Opposition there yet the Lord's Power came over all and the Monthly Meetings were established there also Bedfordshire When we came into Bedfordshire we had great Opposition but the Lord's Power came over it all Afterwards we went into Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire where we had many precious Meetings and the Monthly Meetings were settled there Then passing into Lincolnshire Lincolnshire we had a Meeting of some Men-Friends of all the Meetings in the County at his House who had been formerly Sheriff of Lincoln and all was quiet Trent Nottinghamshire After this Meeting we passed over Trent into Nottinghamshire again he that had been the Sheriff of Lincoln being with me where we had some of all the Meetings in that County together and our Meeting was glorious and peaceable And many precious Meetings we had in that County At that time William Smith was very Weak and Sick and the Constables and others had seized upon all his Goods to the very Bed he lay upon for Truth 's sake These Officers threatned to come and break up our Meeting but the Lord's Power chained them so that they had not power to meddle with us blessed be his Name After the Meeting was over I went to visit William Smith and there were the Constables and others watching his Corn and his Beasts that none of them might be Removed From thence we passed into Leicestershire and so into Warwickshire Leicestershire Warwickshire where many blessed Meetings we had and the Order of the Gospel was set up and the Men's Monthly Meetings established in all those Counties Then we went into Darbyshire Darbyshire where we had several
him Upon this occasion I writ a Letter to the Justices and to the Judge of the Assize which was then at hand And I imployed some Friends to carry it to the Justices first The Justice to whom the Clerk belonged rebuked his Clerk and the others also for disturbing and abusing us upon the High-Way So that those Men were glad to come and make Intreaty to Friends not to appear against them at the Assize which upon their Submission and Acknowledgment of their Fault Friends granted And this thing was of good Service in the Country for it stopt many rude People that before had been forward to abuse Friends 1667. Herefordshire We passed into Herefordshire where we had several blessed Meetings and we had a General Mens-Meeting also where all the Monthly Meetings were settled There was about this time a Proclamation against Meetings and as we came through Herefordshire we were told of a great Meeting there was of the Presbyterians who had engaged themselves to stand and give up all rather than forsake their Meetings But when they heard of this Proclamation the People came but the Priest was gone and then they were at a loss Then they met in Lemster privately and provided Bread and Cheese and Drink in readiness that if the Officers should come they would put up their Bibles and fall to Eating The Bayliff found them out and came in among them and said Their Bread and Cheese should not cover them but he would have their Speakers They cried What then would become of their Wives and Children But he took their Speakers and kept them a while This the Bayliff told our Friend Peter Young and said They were the veriest Hypocrites that ever made a Profession of Religion The like Contrivance they had in other places For there was one Pocock at London that married Abigail Darcy who was called a Lady and she being Convinc'd of Truth I went to his House to see her This Pocock had been one of the Triers of the Priests and being an high Presbyterian and envious against us he used to call our Friends House-Creepers Now I going to visit his Wife and he being present she said to me I have something to speak to thee against my Husband ' Nay said I thou must not speak against thy Husband Yes said she but I must in this Case The last First-Day said she He and his Priests and People the Presbyterians met and they had Candles and Tobacco-Pipes and Bread and Cheese and Cold Meat on the Table and they agreed before-hand that if the Officers should come in upon them then they would leave their Preaching and Praying and would fall to their Cold Meat Oh said I to him is not this a Shame to you who Persecuted and Imprisoned us and spoiled our Goods because we would not follow you and be of your Religion and called us House-Creepers and now ye do not stand to your own Religion your selves Did ye ever find our Meetings stufft with Bread and Cheese and Tobacco-pipes Or did ye ever read in the Scriptures of any such Practice among the Saints Why said the Old Man We must be as wise as Serpents Then said I This is the Serpent's Wisdom indeed But who said I would ever have thought that you Presbyterians and Independents who persecuted and imprisoned others and spoiled their Goods and whipped such as would not follow your Religion should now flinch your selves and not dare to stand to and own your own Religion but cover it with Tobacco-pipes Flagons of Drink Cold Meat and Bread and Cheese But this and such like deceitful Practices I understood afterwards were too Common amongst them in times of Persecution Now after we had travelled through Herefordshire and Meetings were well settled there Monmouthshire we passed into Monmouthshire where I had several blessed Meetings and at Walter Jenkins who had been a Justice of the Peace we had a large Meeting where were some Convinced This Meeting was quiet But at another Meeting that we had before this there came the Bayliff of the Hundred 1667. Monmouthshire almost drunk pretending he was to take up the Speakers There was a mighty Power of God in the Meeting so that although he raged the Power of the Lord limited him that he could not break up the Meeting When the Meeting was over I staid a while and he staid also but after some time I spake to him and so passed quietly away At Night some rude People came and shot off a Musket against the House but did not hurt any body Thus the Lord's Power came over all and chained down the unruly Spirits so that we escaped them and came to Ross that Night and had a Meeting there at James Merricks Ross After this we came into Gloucestershire Glouâ—estershire and had a General Mens-Meeting at Nathaniel Crips's House where all the Monthly Meetings were settled in the Lord 's Everlasting Power and the Heirs of Salvation were exhorted to take their Possessions of the Gospel the Power of God which was and is the Authority of their Meetings Many blessed Meetings we had up and down in that Country before we came to Bristol whither also we went Briâ—tol And after we had had several powerful Meetings there the Mens and Womens-Meetings were settl'd there also Now as I was lying in Bed at Bristol the Word of the Lord came to me that I must go back to London Next Morning Alexander Parker and several others came to me and I asked them What they felt They in like manner asked me What was upon me I told them I felt I must return to London and they said the same was upon them So we gave up to return to London for which Way the Lord moved and led us thither we went in his Power Wherefore leaving Bristol we passed into Wiltshire Wiltshire and established the Mens-Monthly-Meetings in the Lord's Power there and then passed through the Countries visiting Friends till we came to London London After we had visited Friends in the City and had staid there a while I was moved to exhort them to bring all their Marriages to the Mens and Womens-Meetings that they might lay them before the Faithful there that so Care might be taken to prevent those Disorders that had been committed by some For many had gone together in Marriage contrary to their Relations minds and some young raw People that came among us had mixed with the World and Widows had married and had not made provision for their Children by their former Husbands before their Second Marriage And although I had given forth a Paper concerning Marriages about the Year 1653 when Truth was but little spread over the Nation Advising Friends who might be concerned in that Case That they might lay it before the Faithful in time before any thing were Concluded and afterward publish it in the end of a Meeting or in a Market as they were moved thereto
Liberty the Friends that were with me asked me Grac. Meet Whether I would go I told them To Gracious-Street-Meeting again if it were not over When we came there the People were generally gone only some few stood at the Gate We went into Gerrard Roberts his House and from thence I sent out to know how the other Meetings in the City were And I understood that at some of the Meeting-places Friends were kept out and at others they were taken but set at Liberty again a few days after A glorious time it was for the Lord's Power came over all and his Everlasting Truth got Renown For as fast as some that were speaking were taken down others were moved of the Lord to stand up and speak to the admiration of the People and the more because many Baptists and other Sectaries left their Publick Meetings and came to see how the Quakers would stand As for the Informer aforesaid he was so frighted 1670. London that there durst hardly any Informer appear publickly again in London for some time after But the Mayor whose Name was Samuel Starling though he carried himself smoothly towards us proved afterwards a very great Persecutor of our Friends many of whom he cast into Prison as may be seen in the Books of the Trials of W. Penn W. Mead and others at the Old Baily this Year After some time the Heat of Persecution in the City began to abate and Meetings were quieter there and I being then clear of the City went to visit Friends in the Country having several Meetings as I went in Middlesex Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Middlesez Buckinghamshire Oxfordshire Reading which were quiet though in some places there was much Threatning At Reading most of the Friends were in Prison and I went thither to Visit them And when I had been a while with them the Friends that were Prisoners gathered together and several other Persons came in so that I had a fine Opportunity amongst them and declared the Word of Life encouraging them in the Truth and they were Refreshed in feeling the Presence and Power of the Lord amongst them When the Meeting was ended the Jailer understanding that I was there the Friends were troubled and concerned how to get me out safe again for they feared lest he should stop me But after I had staid a while and Eaten with them I went down the Stairs and the Jailer being at the Door I put my hand in my Pocket which he had such an Eye to hoping to get something of me that he asked me no Question So I gave him something and bad him Be kind and civil to my Friends in Prison whom I came to Visit And he let me pass out without Interruption But soon after Isaac Pennington coming to Visit them he stopt him and caused him to be made a Prisoner Next Morning I rid about Fourteen Miles to a Meeting Hampshire Baghurst at a place called Baghurst in Hampshire Thomas Brigges being with me When we came into the Parish some sober People came to us and told us That the Priest of the Town was an Envious Man and did Threaten us We went on to the Meeting which was large and after some time Thomas Brigges stood up and spake Now it seems the Priest had got a Warrant and sent the Constables and other Officers with it And they came to the House and stay'd a while and then went away again but did not come into the Meeting So we in the Meeting did not know of their being there But after Thomas Brigges had done speaking I was moved of the Lord to stand up and declared the Word of Life to the People and a precious Meeting we had When I had done speaking and the Meeting was ended and risen I heard a great Clutter in the Yard and when we came forth the Man of the House told us That the Officers had been in the House before but did not come into the Meeting but went away without doing any thing And that now the Priest in a great Rage had sent them again and his own Servant with them But the Meeting being ended before they came they could do nothing now And thus the good Providence of the Lord preserved us from the Wicked Design of the Envious Priest and out of his Snare but the Priest was in a great Rage 1670. Barkshire Surrey Guilford From thence We went to a Friend's House on the Edge of Barkshire where several Friends came to visit us And afterwards we passed into Surrey visiting Friends and had many precious Meetings till we came to Stephen Smiths near Guilford where great Persecution had been and very much Goods had been taken away from Friends thereabouts for their Meetings and under great Threatnings they were at that time yet we had several blessed Meetings there and thereabouts and the Lord's Power was over all in and by which we were preserved Sussex We went out of Surrey into Sussex by Richard Baxe's where we had a large precious Meeting and quiet though the Constables had given out Threatnings before Afterwards I had many more Meetings up and down in that County and though there were some Threatnings yet Meetings were peaceable and Friends were refreshed and established upon the Foundation of God that stands sure When I had throughly visited Sussex Kent I went into Kent and had many glorious and precious Meetings in several parts of that County I went up into East-Kent to a Meeting near Deal Deal which was very large and returning from thence to Canterbury Canterbury Isle of Sheppy visited Friends there and then passed into the Isle of Sheppy where I staid Two or Three Days and thither came Alexander Parker George Whitehead and John Rouse to me The next day after they came finding my Service for the Lord finished there we passed away towards Rochester And on the way as I was walking down an Hill a great Weight and Oppression fell upon my Spirit I got on my Horse again but the Weight remained so heavy on me that I was hardly able to Ride At length we came to Rochester Rochester but I was much spent being so extreamly loaden and burdened with the World's Spirits that my Life was oppressed under them I got with difficulty to Graves-End Gravesend and lay at an Inn there but could hardly either Eat or Sleep The next day John Rouse and Alexander Parker went for London and John Stubbs being come to me he and I went over the Ferry into Essex Essex We came to a place called Horne-Church Horne-Church Stratford where was a Meeting on the First-Day And after the Meeting I rode with great Vneasiness to Stratford Three Miles from London to a Friend's House there whose Name was Williams and who had formerly been a Captain Here I lay exceeding Weak and at last lost both my Hearing and my Sight so that I could neither hear nor see Several
Friends came thither to me from London and I told them That I should be as a Sign to such as would not see and such as would not hear the Truth In this Condition I continued a pretty while and several People came about me and though I could not see their Persons yet I felt and discerned their Spirits who of them was honest-hearted and who was not Divers Friends that practised Physick came to see me and would have given me Physick but I was not to meddle with any of their Medicines For I was sensible I had a Travel to go through and therefore spake to Friends to let none but solid weighty Friends be about me And under great Sufferings and Groanings and Travels and Sorrows and Oppressions I lay for several Weeks whereby I was brought so Low and Weak in Body that few thought I could have lived and some that were with me went away saying They would not see me die and it was reported both in London and in the Country that I was deceased 1670. Stratford But I felt the Lord's Power inwardly supporting me And when they that were about me had given me up to die I spake to them to get a Coach to carry me to Gerrard Roberts's about Twelve Miles off For I found it was my place to go thither I had now Recovered a little Glimmering Sight so that I could discern the People and Fields as I went and that was all When I came to Gerrard's he was very Weak and I was moved to speak to him and encourage him And after I had staid about Three Weeks there it was with me to go to Enfield Friends were afraid of my Removing but I told them I might safely go And when I had taken my leave of Gerrard and was come to Enfield Enfield I went first to visit Amor Stoddart who lay there very Weak and almost Speechless I was moved to tell him He had been faithful as a Man and faithful to God and that the Immortal Seed of Life was his Crown And with many more Words I was moved to speak to him though I my self was then so Weak I was hardly able to stand and within a few days after Amor died I went to the Widow Dry's at Enfield and there I lay all that Winter warring in Spirit with the Evil Spirits of the World that Warred against Truth and Friends For there were great Persecutions at this time some Meeting-houses were pluck'd down and many were broken up by Souldiers who would come sometimes a Troop of Horse or a Company of Foot and they would break their Swords Carbines Muskets and Pikes with beating Friends and many Friends they wounded so that their Blood lay in the Streets Amongst others that were Active in this Cruel Persecution at London my Old Adversary Col. Kirby was one who with a Company of Foot went to break up several Meetings and he would often Inquire for me at the Meetings he brake up But one time as he went over the Water to Horsly-Down there happening some Scuffle between some of his Souldiers and some of the Watermen he bid his Men Fire at them and they did so and Killed some But I was under great Sufferings at this time beyond what I have words to declare For I was brought into the Deep and saw all the Religions of the World and People that lived in them and the Priests that held them up who were as a Company of Men-Eaters eating up the People like Bread and gnawing the Flesh from off their Bones But as for True Religion and Worship and Ministers of God Alack I saw there was none amongst those of the World that pretended to it For they that pretended to be the Church were but a Company of Men-Eaters Men of Cruel Visages and of long Teeth who though they had cried against the Men-Eaters in America yet I saw they were in the same Nature And as the great professing Jews did eat up God's People like Bread and the False Prophets and Priests then preached Peace to People so long as they put into their Mouths and fed them but if they fed them not they prepared War against them they ate their Flesh off their Bones and chopped them for the Caldron so these that profess themselves Christians now both Priests and Professors and were not in the same Power and Spirit that Christ and the Holy Prophets and Apostles were in were in the same Nature that the old professing Jews were in and were Men-Eaters as well as they These stirred up Persecution and set the wicked Informers on work so that a Friend could hardly speak a few Words in a private Family 1670. Enfield before they sate down to eat Meat but some were ready to Inform against them A particular Instance of which I have heard as followeth At Droitwich Jo. Cartwright came to a Friend's House and being moved of the Lord to speak a few Words before he sate down to Supper there came an Informer and stood heark'ning under the Window And when he had heard the Friend speak hoping to get some Gain to himself he went and Informed and got a Warrant to Distrain the Friend's Goods under pretence that there was a Meeting at his House Whereas there was none in the House at that time when the Friend spake before Supper but himself the Man of the House and his Wife and their Maid-Servant But this Evil-minded man as he came back with his Warrant in the Night Example fell off of his Horse and brake his Neck So there was a Wretched End of a Wicked Informer who hoped to have enriched himself by spoiling Friends but the Lord prevented him and Cut him off in his Wickedness and spoiled him Now though it was a Cruel Bloody Persecuting Time yet the Lord's Power went over all and his Everlasting Seed prevailed and Friends were made to stand firm and faithful in the Lord's Power And some of the Sober People of the World would say If Friends did not stand the Nation would run into Debauchery And though by reason of my Weakness I could not travel about amongst Friends as I used to do yet in the Motion of Life I sent the following Lines as an Encouraging Testimony amongst them My Dear Friends THE Seed is above all in it Walk in which ye all have Life Be not amazed at the Weather for always the Just suffered by the Vnjust but the Just had the Dominion And all along ye may see by Faith the Mountains were subdued and the Rage of the Wicked and his Fiery Darts were quenched And though the Waves and Storms be high yet your Faith will keep you to Swim above them for they are but for a Time and the Truth is without Time Therefore keep on the Mountain of Holiness ye who are led to it by the Light where nothing shall hurt And do not think that any thing will outlast the Truth which standeth sure and is over that which is
out of the Truth for the Good will Overcome the Evil and the Light Darkness and the Life Death and Vertue Vice and Righteousness Vnrighteousness The False Prophet cannot overcome the True but the True Prophet Christ will overcome all the False So be Faithful and live in that which doth not think the time long G. F. But after some time it pleased the Lord to allay the Heat of this Violent Persecution and I felt in Spirit an overcoming of the Spirits of those Men-Eaters that had stirred it up and carried it on to that Height of Cruelty though I was outwardly very Weak And I plainly felt and those Friends that were with me and that came to Visit me saw and took notice that as the Persecution Ceased I came from under the Travels and Sufferings that had lain with such Weight upon me So that towards the Spring I began to Recover and to walk up and down beyond the Expectation of many who did not think I could ever have gone abroad again I had been so exceeding Weak through the Travel and Exercise that was upon my Spirit Whilst I was under this Spiritual Travel and Suffering the State of the City New Jerusalem which comes down out of Heaven was opened to me which some Carnal-minded People had looked upon to be like an outward City or Town that had dropt out of the Elements But I saw the Beauty and Glory of it the Length the Breadth and the Height thereof all in Compleat Proportion And I saw that all who are within the Light of Christ and in his Faith which he is the Author of and in the Spirit the Holy Ghost which Christ and the Holy Prophets and Apostles were in and within the Grace and Truth and within the Power of God that was before the Devil was which was the Walls of the City such are within the City such are Members of this City and have right to Eat of the Tree of Life which yields her Fruit every Month and whose Leaves are for the healing of the Nations But they that are out of the Grace out of the Truth out of the Light Spirit and Power of God such as Resist the Holy Ghost quench vex and grieve the Spirit of God and hate the Light and turn the Grace of God into Wantonness and do Despight to the Spirit of Grace such as have erred from the Faith and made Ship-wrack of it and of a Good Conscience and abuse the Power of God and despise Prophesying Revelation and Inspiration these are the Dogs and Vnbelievers that are without the City And these make up the great City Babylon Confusion and her Cage the Power of Darkness and the Evil Spirit of Error surround and cover them over And in this great City Babylon are the False Prophets in the false Power and false Spirit and the Beast in the Dragon's Power and the Whore that is gone a Whoring from the Spirit of God and from Christ her Husband But the Lord's Power is over all this Power of Darkness Cage Whore Beast Dragon False Prophets and their Worshippers who are for the Lake which burns with Fire Many things more did I see concerning the Heavenly City the New Jerusalem which are hard to be uttered and would be hard to be received But in short This Holy City is within the Light and all that are within the Light are within the City the Gates whereof stand open all the Day for there is no Night there that all may come in and Christ's Blood being shed for every Man and he tasted Death for every Man and enlightneth every Man that cometh into the World and his Grace that brings Salvation having appeared to all Men there is no Place or Language but there his Voice may be heard The Christians in the Primitive Times were called by Christ A City set upon an Hill and they were also called The Light of the World and The Salt of the Earth But when the Christians lost the Light and Salt and Power of God then they came to be trodden under foot like unsavoury Salt Even as the Jews who while they kept the Law of God were kept above all Nations but when they turned their Backs on God and his Law then were they trodden under foot of other Nations So Adam and Eve while they obeyed God were kept in his Image and in the Paradise of God in Dominion over all the Works of God's Hands but when they disobeyed God they lost the Image of God the Righteousness and the Holiness in which they were made they lost their Dominion and were driven out of Paradise and so fell under the dark Power of Satan and came under the Chains of Darkness But the Promise of God was That the Seed of the Woman Christ Jesus should bruise the Serpents Head should break his Power and Authority which had led into Captivity and had held Man in it So Christ who is the First and Last sets Man free and is the Resurrection of the Just and Vnjust the Judge of the Quick and Dead and they that are in him are invested with everlasting Rest and Peace out of all the Labours and Travels and Miseries of Adam in the Fall So he is sufficient and of Ability to Restore Man up into the State that Man was in before he fell and not into that State only but up into that State also that never fell even to himself I had also in this time a great Exercise and Travel of Spirit upon me concerning the Powers and Rulers of these Nations from the sense I had of the many tender Visitations and faithful Warnings that had been given them and of their great Abuse thereof who had refused to hear and had rejected the Counsel of the Lord. And though I knew Friends would be Clear of their Blood yet I could not but Mourn over them and gave forth these few Lines following concerning them WE have given them a Visitation and have faithfully Warned them and have declared to them our Innocency and Vprightness and that we never did any Hurt to the King nor to any of his People We have nothing in our Hearts but Love and Good-will to him and his People and desire their Eternal Welfare But if they will not hear then the Day of Judgment and of Sorrow of Torment and Misery and sudden Destruction will come from the Lord upon them that have been the Cause of the Sufferings of many Thousands simple innocent harmless People that have done them no hurt nor have had any Ill Will towards him or them but have desired their Eternal Good for the Eternal Truth 's sake Destruction will come upon them that turn the Sword backward Therefore do not blind your Eyes the Lord will bring swift Destruction and Misery upon you Surely he will do it and will relieve his Innocent People who have groaned for Deliverance from under your Oppression and have also groaned for your Deliverance out of Wickedness Blessed be
the Lord God that he hath a People in this Nation that seeks the Good of all Men upon the Face of the Earth For we have the Mind of the Lord Jesus Christ that desires not the Death of a Sinner but the Salvation and Good of all Blessed be the Name of the Lord our God for ever G. F. While I continued at Enfield a sense came upon me of an Hurt that sometimes hap'ned by Persons coming under the Profession of Truth out of one Country into another to take an Husband or Wife amongst Friends where they were Strangers and it was not known whether they were Clear and Orderly or no. And it Opened in me to recommend the following Method unto Friends for preventing such Inconveniences Whereupon I writ the following Lines ALL Friends that do Marry whether they be Men or Women if they come out of another Nation Island Plantation or County let them bring a Certificate from the Men's-Meeting of that County Nation Island or Plantation from which they come to the Men's Meeting where they do propound their Intention of Marriage for the Men's-Meeting being made up of the Faithful this will stop all bad and raw Spirits from Roving up and down And then when any come with a Certificate or Letter of Recommendation from one Men's-Meeting to another one is refreshed by another and can set their Hands and Hearts to the thing and this will take away a great deal of Trouble And then what ye have to say to them in the Power of God in Admonishing and Instructing them ye are left to the Power and Spirit of God to do it and to let them know the Duty of Marriage and what it is that there may be an Vnity and a Concord in the Spirit and Power and Light and Wisdom of God throughout all the Men's-Meetings in the whole World in One in the Life Let Copies of this be sent to every County and Nation and Island where Friends are that so all things may be kept holy and pure and righteous in Vnity and Peace and God over all may be glorified among you his Lot his People and Inheritance who are his Adopted Sons and Daughters and Heirs of his Life So no more but my Love in that which changeth not The 14th of the First Month 1670 1. G. F. When I had recovered so much Strength that I could Walk a little up and down I went from Enfield to Gerrard Roberts's again and from thence to the Womens School at Shacklewell and so to London Shacklewell London Grac. Meet to the Meeting at Gracious-Street where though I was yet but Weak yet the Lord's Power upheld and enabled me to Declare his Eternal Word of Life And about this time I was moved to pray to the Lord as followeth O Lord God Almighty 1670. London Prosper Truth and Preserve Justice and Equity in the Land and bring down all Injustice and Iniquity Oppression and Falshood and Cruelty and Vnmercifulness in the Land and that Mercy and Righteousness may flourish And O Lord God! Establish and set up Verity and Preserve it in the Land And bring down in the Land all Debauchery and Vice and Whoredoms and Fornication and this Raping Spirit which causeth and leadeth People to have no Esteem of Thee O God! nor their own Souls or Bodies nor of Christianity Modesty or Humanity And O Lord Put it in the Magistrates Hearts to bring down all this Vngodliness and Violence and Cruelty Prophaness Cursing and Swearing and to put down all these Whore-houses and Play-houses which do Corrupt Youth and People and lead them from the Kingdom of God where no Vnclean Thing can Enter neither shall come but such Works lead People to Hell And the Lord in Mercy bring down all these things in the Nation to stop thy Wrath O God! from coming on the Land This Prayer was writ the 17th Day at Night of the 2d Month 1671. G. F. I mentioned before that upon the Notice I received of my Wife 's being had to Prison again I sent two of her Daughters to the King and they procured his Order to the Sheriff of Lancashire for her Discharge But though I expected she would have been set at Liberty thereby 1671. London yet this Violent Storm of Persecution coming suddenly on upon it the Persecutors there did not Release her but found means to hold her still in Prison But now the Persecution a little ceasing I was moved to speak to Martha Fisher and another Woman-Friend to go to the King about her Liberty They went in the Faith and in the Lord's Power and the Lord gave them Favour with the King so that he granted a Discharge under the Broad-Seal to Clear both her and her Estate after she had been Ten Years a Prisoner and Premunired The like whereof was scarce to be heard in England I sent down the Discharge forthwith by a Friend by whom also I writ to her both to Inform her how to get it delivered to the Justices and also to Acquaint her that it was upon me from the Lord to go beyond the Seas to visit the Plantations in America and therefore desired her to hasten up to London as soon as she could conveniently after she had obtained her Liberty because the Ship was then fitting for the Voyage In the mean time I got down to Kingston Kingston and staid at John Rous his House till my Wife came up and then I began to prepare for the Voyage But the Yearly Meeting being near at hand London-Yea Meet I tarried till that was over A very large Meeting it was for many Friends came up to it from all parts of the Nation and a very precious Meeting it was for the Lord's Power was over all and his glorious everlastingly-renowned Seed of Life was exalted above all Now after this Meeting was over and I had finished my Services for the Lord here in England the Ship also and the Friends that intended to go with me being ready I went down to Graves-end on the 12th day of the Sixth Month my Wife and several Friends accompanying me to the Downs We went from Wapping in a Barge to the Ship Wapping which lay a little below Graves-end and there we found the Friends Gravesend that were bound for the Voyage with me who went down to the Ship the Night before Their Names were Thomas Brigges William Edmundson John Rouse John Stubbs Solomon Eccles James Lancaster John Cartwright Robert Widders George Pattison John Hull Elizabeth Hooton and Eliz. Miers The Vessel we were to go in was a Yatch and it was called The Industry the Master's Name was Thomas Forster and the number of Passengers about Fifty I lay that Night on Board but most of the Friends lay at Graves end Early next morning the Passengers and those Friends that intended to accompany us to the Downs being come on Board we took our Leave in great Tenderness of those Friends that came with
us to Graves-End only and were to return from thence and set Sail about the Sixth Hour in the Morning for the Downs and having a Fair Wind we Out-sailed all the Ships that were outward bound The Downs and got thither by the Evening Some of us went a-shore that Night and lodged at Deal where we understood Deal that an Officer had Order from the Governour to take our Names in Writing which he did the next Morning though we told him they had been taken at Graves-End In the Afternoon the Wind serving I took my leave of my Wife and the other Friends both that came down from London with us and that came from Dover and other parts of the Country to visit us and went on Board But before we could set Sail The Downs there being two of the King's Frigats riding in the Downs the Captain of one of them sent his Press-master on Board us who took off Three of our Sea-men This had certainly delayed 1671. The Downs if not wholly lost our Voyage had not the Captain of the other Frigat being Informed of the Leakiness of our Vessel and Length of our Voyage in Compassion and much Civility spared us Two of his own Men. And before this was over an Officer of the Custom-house came on Board us to peruse Pacquets and get Fees So that what with the one and the other we were kept from Sailing till about Sun-set during which Stop a very considerable number of Merchant-Men outward bound were got several Leagues before us But being now Clear At Sea we set Sail in the Evening and by next Morning overtook part of that Fleet about the height of Dover We soon reach'd the rest and in a little time left them all behind us for our Yatch was counted a very swift Sailer But she was very Leaky so that the Sea-men and some of the Passengers did for the most part Pump Day and Night One day they observed that in Two Hours time she suck't in Sixteen Inches of Water in the Well When we had been about Three Weeks at Sea one Afternoon we espied a Vessel about four Leagues a-stern of us Our Master said It was a Sally-man of War and he seemed to give us Chase Our Master said Come let us go to Supper and when it grows dark we shall lose him But this he spake to please and pacifie the Passengers some of whom began to be very apprehensive of the Danger But Friends were well satisfied in themselves having Faith in God and no Fear upon their Spirits When the Sun was gone down I saw the Ship out of my Cabbin and I saw she made towards us When it grew dark we altered our Course to miss her but she altered also and gained upon us At Night the Master and others came into my Cabbin and asked me What they should do I told them ' I was no Mariner and I asked them ' What they thought was best to do They said There were but two Ways either to Outrun him or Tack about and hold the same Course we were going before I told them If he were a Thief they might be sure he would Tack about too And as for Outrunning him it was to no purpose to talk of that for they saw he Sailed faster than we Then they asked me again What they should do for they said if the Mariners had taken Paul 's Counsel they had not come to the Damage they did I told them It was a Trial of Faith and therefore the Lord was to be Waited on for Counsel So retiring in Spirit the Lord shewed me That his Life and Power was placed between us and the Ship that pursued us I told this to the Master and the rest and that the best way was to Tack about and steer our Right Course I wished them also to put out all their Candles but that they steered by and to speak to all the Passengers to be still and quiet About the 11th hour in the Night the Watch called and said They were just upon us That disquieted some of the Passengers whereupon I sate up in my Cabbin and looking through the Port-hole the Moon being not quite down I saw them very near us I was getting up to go out of the Cabbin but remembring the Word of the Lord That his Life and Power was placed between us and them I lay down again The Master and some of the Sea-men came again and asked me If they might not steer such a Point I told them They might do as they would By this time the Moon was gone quite down and a fresh Gale arose and the Lord hid us from them and we sailed briskly on and saw them no more The next day being the First-Day of the Week 1671. At Sea we had a publick Meeting in the Ship as we usually had on that Day throughout the Voyage and the Lord's Presence was greatly among us And I desired the People To mind the Mercies of the Lord who had delivered them for they might have been all in the Turks Hands by that time had not the Lord's Hand saved them About a Week after the Master and some of the Seamen endeavoured to persuade the Passengers That it was not a Turkish Pirate that chased us but a Merchant-man going to the Canaries But when I heard of it I asked them Why then did they speak so to me and why did they trouble the Passengers And why did they Tack about from him and alter their Course And I told them They should take heed of slighting the Mercies of God Afterwards while we were at Barbados there came in a Merchant from Sally and told the People ☜ That one of the Sally-men of War saw a Monstrous Yatch at Sea the greatest that ever he saw and had her in Chase and was just upon her but that there was a Spirit in her that he could not take This did Confirm us in the Belief that it was a Sally-Man we saw make after us and that it was the Lord that delivered us out of his Hands I was not Sea-sick during the Voyage as many of the Friends and other Passengers were But the many Hurts and Bruises I had formerly received and the Griefs and Infirmities I had contracted in England by extream Cold and Hardships that I had undergone in many long and sore Imprisonments returned upon me now that I came to Sea so that I was very Ill in my Stomach and full of Violent Pains in my Bones and Limbs This was after I had been at Sea about a Month for during the space of about Three Weeks after I came first to Sea I sweat abundantly chiefly my Head and my Body brake out into Pimples and my Legs and Feet swelled extreamly so that my Stockings and Slippers could not be drawn on without Difficulty and great Pain Then on a sudden the Sweating ceased So that when I came into the hot Climate where others Sweat most
is a Change of the Nature of the Mind and of the Heart and of the Spirit and Affections which have been below which come to be set above and so receive the things that are from Above and have the Conversation in Heaven above not that Conversation which is according to the Power of the Prince of the Air that now rules in the Disobedient So all be faithful This is the Word of the Lord God unto you all See that Godliness do flow and Holiness and Righteousness and Truth and Vertue and the Fruits of the Good Spirit over the Bad and its Fruits that ye may answer that which is of God in all for your Heavenly Father is glorified in that you bear and bring forth much Fruit to God Therefore ye who are Plants of his planting and his Trees of Righteousness see that every Tree be full of Fruit. And all keep in the true Humility and in the true Love of God which doth edify his Body that the true Nourishment from the Head the Refreshings and Springs and Rivers of Water and Bread of Life may be plenteously known and felt amongst you that so Praises may ascend to God So all be faithful to the Lord God and just and true in all your Dealings and Doings with end towards Men. And be not negligent in your Men's Meetings to admonish and to exhort and to reprove in the Spirit of Love and of Meekness and to seek that which is lost and to bring back again that which hath been driven away So let all Minds and Spirits and Souls and Hearts be bended down under the Yoke of Christ Jesus the Power of God Much I could write but am Weak and have been very Weak mostly since I left you and Burdens and Travels I have been under and gone through many ways but it is well And the Lord Almighty knows my Work which he hath sent me forth to do by his everlasting Arm and Power which is from Everlasting to Everlasting blessed be his Holy Name which I am in and in which my Love is to you all G. F. After I had recovered so much Strength that I was able to go abroad and had been a little amongst Friends I went to visit the Governour at his House Lewis Morice Thomas Rouse and some other Friends being with me And indeed he received us very Civilly and treated us very kindly making us Dine with him and keeping us most part of the Day before he let us go away Bridge-Town The same Week I went down to the Bridge-Town where I had not been before save as I passed through it when I first came into the Island There was to be a General Meeting of Friends that Week and the Visit I had newly made to the Governour and kind Reception I had with him being generally known to the Officers both Civil and Military there came many of them to this Meeting from most parts of the Island and those not of the meanest Rank divers of them being Judges or Justices Colonels or Captains so that a very great Meeting we had both of Friends and others The Lord 's Blessed Power was plentifully with us in this Meeting And although I was somewhat straitned for Time three other Friends having spoken before me yet the Lord opened things through me to the general and great Satisfaction of them that were present Col. Lewis Morice came to this Meeting and with him a Neighbour of his a Judge in the Country whose Name was Ralph Fretwell who was very well satisfied with the Meeting and received the Truth After the Meeting I went home with Lewis Morice to his House that Night being about Nine or Ten Miles going part of the way by Boat the rest on Horse-back This place where Lewis Morice his Plantation was I thought to be the finest Air of the Island The next day Thomas Briggs and William Edmundson came thither to see me they intending to leave the Island the day following and to go upon the Lord's Service to Antego and Mevis Lewis Morice went with them and at Antego they had several good Meetings to which there was a great Resort of People and many were Convinced there at that time But when they had finished their Service there and went thence to Mevis the Governour of Mevis who was an old Persecutor sent Souldiers on Board the Vessel to stop them from coming on Shore and would not suffer them to Land Wherefore after Friends of the Place had been on Board the Vessel and with them and they had been sweetly Refreshed together in feeling the Lord's Power and Presence amongst them they returned to Antego again Where having staid a while longer they came back again to Barbados Thomas Brigges being very Weak and Ill. Of the other Friends that came over with me from England James Lancaster John Cartwright and Geo. Pattison were gone some time before to Jamaica and others to other places so that few remained in Barbados with me Yet we had many great and precious Meetings both for Worship and for the Affairs of the Church to the former of which many of the World came At one of these Meetings there came amongst others one Col. Lyne a sober Person who was so very well satisfied with what I declared that he afterward said Now I can gainsay such as I have heard speak evil of you who say you do not own Christ nor that he died whereas I perceive you exalt Christ in all his Offices beyond what I have ever heard before This Man observing one to take in Writing the Heads of what I delivered desired him to let him have a Copy of it and afterward staid another day with us before he went away so great a Love was raised in him to the Truth And indeed a very great Convincement there was in most parts of the Island which made the Priests and some Professors fret and rage Our Meetings were very large and full and free from disturbance from the Government though the envious Priests and Professors endeavoured to stir up the Magistrates against us And when they found they could not prevail that way some of them that were Baptists came to the Meeting at the Town which was very large and full of People of several Ranks and Qualities A great Company came also with them and they brought with them a malicious slanderous Paper written by John Pennyman with which they made a great Noise But the Lord gave me Wisdom and Vtterance to Answer their Cavils So that the Auditory generally received Satisfaction and those quarrelsome Professors lost ground by their coming When they had wearied themselves with Clamour they went away but the People staying the Meeting was continued and the things they cavilled about were further opened and cleared and the Life and Power of God came over all But the Rage and Envy in our Adversaries did not cease but they endavoured to defame Friends with many false and scandalous Reports which they spread
abroad through the Island Whereupon I with some other Friends drew up a Paper to go forth in the Name of the People called Quakers for the clearing Truth and Friends from those false Reports It was directed thus For the Governour of Barbados with his Council and Assembly and all others in Power both Civil and Military in this Island from the People called Quakers WHereas many scandalous Lies and Slanders have been cast upon us to render us odious as that We do deny God and Christ Jesus and the Scriptures of Truth c. This is to Inform you that all our Books and Declarations which for these many Years have been published to the World do clearly testifie the contrary Yet notwithstanding for your Satisfaction we do now plainly and sincerely declare That we do Own and Believe in God the only-Wise Omnipotent and Everlasting God who is the Creator of all things both in Heaven and in the Earth and the Preserver of all that he hath made who is God over all blessed for ever To whom be all Honour and Glory Dominion Praise and Thanksgiving both now and for evermore And we do Own and Believe in Jesus Christ his beloved and only begotten Son in whom he is well-pleased Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary in whom we have Redemption through his Blood even the Forgiveness of Sins Who is the Express Image of the Invisible God the First-born of every Creature by whom were all things created that are in Heaven and that are in Earth visible and invisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions or Principalities or Powers All things were created by him And we do Own and Believe that he was made a Sacrifice for Sin who knew no Sin neither was Guile found in his Mouth And that he was Crucified for us in the Flesh without the Gates of Jerusalem and that he was Buried and Rose again the Third Day by the Power of his Father for our Justification And we do Believe that he Ascended up into Heaven and now sitteth at the Right Hand of God This Jesus who was the Foundation of the Holy Prophets and Apostles is our Foundation and we do believe that there is no other Foundation to be laid but that which is laid even Christ Jesus who we believe tasted Death for every Man and shed his Blood for all Men and is the Propitiation for our Sins and not for ours only but also for the Sins of the whole World According as John the Baptist testified of him when he said Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the Sins of the World Joh. 1.29 We believe that he alone is our Redeemer and Saviour even the Captain of our Salvation who saves us from Sin as well as from Hell and the Wrath to come and destroys the Devil and his Works who is the Seed of the Woman that bruises the Serpent's Head to wit Christ Jesus the Alpha and Omega the First and the Last That he is as the Scriptures of Truth say of him our Wisdom and Righteousness Justification and Redemption neither is there Salvation in any other for there is no other Name under Heaven given among Men whereby we may be saved It is he alone who is the Shepherd and Bishop of our Souls He it is who is our Prophet whom Moses long since testified of saying A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your Brethren like unto me him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you And it shall come to pass that every Soul that will not hear that Prophet shall be destroyed from among the People Acts 2.22 23. He it is that is now Come and hath given us an Vnderstanding that we may know him that is true and he rules in our Hearts by his Law of Love and of Life and makes us free from the Law of Sin and Death and we have no Life but by him for he is the quickning Spirit the Second Adam the Lord from Heaven by whose Blood we are cleansed and our Consciences sprinkled from Dead Works to serve the Living God And he is our Mediator that makes Peace and Reconciliation between God offended and us offending he being the Oath of God the New Covenant of Light Life Grace and Peace the Author and Finisher of our Faith Now this Lord Jesus Christ the Heavenly Man the Emanuel God with us we all own and believe in him whom the High-Priest raged against and said he had spoken Blasphemy whom the Priests and the Elders of the Jews took Counsel together against and put to Death the same whom Judas betrayed for Thirty Pieces of Silver which the Priests gave him as a Reward for his Treason who also gave large Money to the Souldiers to broach an Horrible Lie namely That his Disciples came and stole him away by Night whilst they slept And after he was Risen from the Dead the History of the Acts of the Apostles sets forth how the Chief-Priests and Elders persecuted the Disciples of this Jesus for Preaching Christ and his Resurrection This we say is that Lord Jesus Christ whom we own to be our Life and Salvation And as concerning the Holy Scriptures we do believe That they were given forth by the Holy Spirit of God through the Holy Men of God who as the Scripture it self declares 2 Pet. 1.21 spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost We believe they are to be Read Believed and Fulfilled He that fulfils them is Christ and they are profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction and for Instruction in Righteousness that the Man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good Works 2 Tim. 3.16 and are able to make wise unto Salvation through Faith in Christ Jesus And we do believe that the Holy Scriptures are the Words of God for it s said in Exod. 20.1 God spake all these Words saying c. meaning the Ten Commandments given forth upon Mount Sinai And in Rev. 22.18 saith John I testifie to every man that heareth the Words of the Prophecy of this Book If any man addeth unto these and if any Man shall take away from the Words of the Book of this Prophecy not the Word c. So in Luke 1.20 Because thou believest not my Words And so in John 5.47 and John 15.7 John 14.23 John 12.47 So that we call the Holy Scriptures as Christ and the Apostles called them and Holy Men of God called them viz. the Words of God Another Slander and Lye they have cast upon us namely That we should teach the Negroes to Rebell A thing we utterly abhor and detest in our Hearts the Lord knows it who is the Searcher of all Hearts and knows all things and so can witness and testifie for us that this is a most Abominable Vntruth For that which we have spoken and declared to them is To exhort and admonish them to be sober and to fear God and
to love their Masters and Mistresses and to be faithful and diligent in their Master's Service and Business and then their Masters and Overseers would love them and deal kindly and gently with them And that they should not beat their Wives nor the Wives their Husbands neither should the Men have many Wives And that they should not Steal nor be Drunk nor commit Adultery nor Fornication nor Curse nor Swear nor Lie nor give bad Words to one another nor to any one else For there is something in them that tells them they should not practise those nor any other Evils But if they notwithstanding should do them then we let them know There are but Two Ways the one that leads to Heaven where the Righteous go and the other that leads to Hell where the Wicked and Debauched Whoremongers and Adulterers Murderers and Liars go To the one the Lord will say Come ye Blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the World but to the other he will say Depart ye Cursed into everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels So the Wicked go into everlasting Punishment but the Righteous into Life Eternal Matth. 25. Now consider Friends It is no Transgression for a Master of a Family to instruct his Family himself or for some others to do it in his behalf but rather it is a very great Duty incumbent upon them Abraham and Joshua did so of the first we read the Lord said Gen. 18.19 I know that Abraham will command his Children and his Houshold after him and they shall keep the Way of the Lord to do Justice and Judgment that the Lord may bring upon Abraham the things that he hath spoken of him And the latter we read said Josh 24.15 Chuse ye this day whom ye will serve But as for me and my House we will serve the Lord. We do declare that we do esteem it a Duty incumbent on us to Pray with and for to Teach Instruct and Admonish those in and belonging to our Families this being a Command of the Lord the Disobedience whereunto will provoke the Lord's Displeasure as may be seen in Jer. 10.25 Pour out thy Fury upon the Heathen that know thee not and upon the Families that call not upon thy Name Now Negroes Tawnies Indians make up a very great part of the Families in this Island for whom an Account will be required by him who comes to Judge both Quick and Dead at the great Day of Judgment when every one shall be Rewarded according to the Deeds done in the Body whether they be good or whether they be evil At that Day I say of the Resurrection both of the Good and of the Bad of the Just and the Vnjust when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming Fire taking Vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting Destruction from the Presence of the Lord and from the Glory of his Power when he shall come to be glorified in his Saints and admired in all them that believe in that day 2 Thess 1.8 c. See also 2 Pet. 3.3 c. This wicked Slander of our endeavouring to make the Negroes Rebell our Adversaries took occasion to raise from our having had some Meetings with and amongst the Negroes For both I and other Friends had several Meetings with them in several Plantations wherein we exhorted them to Justice Sobriety Temperance Chastity and Piety and to be subject to their Masters and Governours Which was altogether contrary to what our envious Adversaries maliciously suggested against us As I had been to visit the Governour as soon as I was well able after I came thither so sometime after when I was at Thomas Rouse's the Governour came thither to see me carrying himself very courteously Having now been Three Months or more in Barbados and in that time having visited Friends throughly settled Meetings and dispatched that Service for which the Lord brought me thither I felt my Spirit clear of that Island and Drawings to Jamaica Which when I had communicated to Friends I acquainted the Governour also and divers of his Council That I intended shortly to leave the Island and go to Jamaica which I did that as my Coming thither was open and publick so my Departure also might be But before I left the Island I writ the following Letter to my Wife that she might understand both how it was with me and how I proceeded in my Travels My Dear Heart TO whom is my Love and to all the Children in the Seed of Life that changeth not but is over all blessed be the Lord for ever I have gone under great Sufferings in my Body and Spirit beyond Words but the God of Heaven be praised his Truth is over all I am now well and if the Lord permit within a few days I pass from Barbados towards Jamaica and I do think to stay but little there I desire that ye may be all kept free in the Seed of Life out of all Cumbrances Friends are generally well Remember me to Friends that enquire after me So no more but my Love in the Seed and Life that changeth not Barbados the 6th of the 11th Month 1671. G. F. I set Sail from Barbados to Jamaica on the Eighth Day of the Eleventh Month 1671. Robert Widders William Edmundson At Sea Solomon Eccles and Elizabeth Hooton going with me James Lancaster John Cartwright and George Pattison were gone thither some time before and Thomas Briggs and John Stubbs remained yet longer in Barbados with whom were John Rouse and William Baily We had a quick and easie Passage to Jamaica JAMAICA where we met with our Friends James Lancaster John Cartwright and George Pattison again who had been labouring there in the Service of Truth into which we forthwith entred with them travelling up and down through the Island which is large And a brave Country it is though the People are many of them debauched and wicked We had much Service there for there was a great Convincement 1671. Jamaica and many received the Truth some of which were People of Account in the World We had many Meetings there which were large and very quiet For indeed the People were Civil to us so that not a Mouth was opened against us I was twice with the Governour and some other of the Magistrates who all carried themselves lovingly towards me About a Week after we landed in Jamaica Elizabeth Hooton who went with us from England to Barbados and from Barbados thither being a Woman of a great Age and who had travelled much in Truth 's Service and suffered much for it departed this Life She was well the Day before she died and departed in Peace like a Lamb bearing Testimony to Truth at her Departure When we had been about Seven Weeks in Jamaica and had brought
were over we parted Company dividing our selves into several Coasts for the Service of Truth James Lancaster and John Cartwright went by Sea for New-England William Edmundson and three Friends more with him sailed for Virginia where things were much out of Order John Burneyate Robert Widders George Pattison and I with several Friends of the Province went over by Boat to the Eastern Shore Eastern-Shore and had a Meeting there on the First Day where many People received the Truth with Gladness and Friends were greatly refreshed A very large and Heavenly Meeting it was and several Persons of Quality in that Country were at it two of which were Justices of the Peace And it was upon me from the Lord to send to the Indian-Emperor and his Kings to come to that Meeting The Emperor came and was at the Meeting but his Kings lying further off could not reach thither time enough Yet they came after with their Cockarooses I had in the Evening for they staid all Night two good Opportunities with them and they heard the Word of the Lord willingly and did confess to it What I spake to them I desired them to speak to their People and let them know That God was setting up his Tabernacle of Witness in their Wilderness-Country and was setting up his Standard and glorious Ensign of Righteousness They carried themselves very courteously and lovingly and inquired Where the next Meeting would be and they would come to it Yet they said They had had a great Debate with their Council about their Coming before they came now Tredaven-Creek Miles River Wye River Chester River The next Day we began our Journey by Land to New-England a tedious Journey through the Woods and Wilderness over Boggs and great Rivers We took Horse at the Head of Tredaven-Creek and travelled through the Woods till we came a little above the Head of Miles-River by which we passed and rode on to the Head of Wye-River and so got to the Head of Chester-River where making a Fire we took up our Lodging in the Woods 1672. Saxifrax River Bohemia River Next Morning setting forward again we travelled through the Woods till we came to Saxifrax-River which we went over in Canoos which are Indian-Boats causing our Horses to swim by Then we rode on to Bohemia-River where in like manner swimming our Horses we our selves went over in Canoos We rested a little at a Plantation by the Way but could not stay long for we had Thirty Miles to ride that Afternoon if we would reach a Town which we were willing to do and therefore rid hard for it And I with some others whose Horses were stronger got to the Town that Night exceedingly tired and withal wet to the Skin But George Pattison and Robert Widders being weaker-horsed were fain to fall short and lie in the Woods that Night also making themselves a Fire The Town we went to was a Dutch Town called New-Castle New-Castle whither Robert Widders and George Pattison came to us next Morning We departed from thence and got over the River Delaware not without great Danger of some of our Lives Delaware River and when we were over we were troubled to get new Guides which were hard to get and very chargeable Then had we that Wilderness-Country to pass through which is since called West-Jersey WEST-JERSEY which was not then inhabited by English so that we have travelled a whole Day together without seeing Man or Woman House or Dwelling-place and sometimes we lay in the Woods by a Fire â—nd sometimes in the Indians Wigwams or Houses In this Journey we came one Night to an Indian Town and lay at their King's House who was a very pretty Man and both he and his Wife received us very lovingly and his Attendants such as they were were very respectful to us they laid us Mars to lie on but Provision was very short with them having caught but little that day At another Indian Town where we staid their King came to us and he could speak some English wherefore I spake to him much and also to his People and they were very Loving to us At length we came to a Town called Middle-Town East-Jersey Middle-Town which is an English Plantation in East-Jersey and there were some Friends but we could not stay to have a Meeting there at that time being earnestly pressed in our Spirits to get to the Half-Years-Meeting of Fâ—â—◠〈◊〉 Oister-Bay in Long-Island which was very near at hand Wherefore we went down with a Friend whose Name was Richard Hartshorn Brother to Hugh Hartshorn the Upholster in London who received us gladly to his House where we refreshed our selves for we were wear and then he carried us and our Horses in his own Boat over a great Water which held us most part of the day in getting over and set us upon Long-Island LONG-ISLAND So we got that Evening to Friends at Gravesand with whom we tarried that Night Gravesand Flushing Oister-bay half-years-Meeting and the next Day we got to Flushing and the day following we reached to Oister-Bay several Friends both of Gravesand and Flushing accompanying us The Half-Years-Meeting began next Day which was the first day of the Week and lasted four Days The first and second Days we had Publick Meetings for Worship to which the People of the World of all sorts might and did come On the third Day of the Week were the Mens and Womens-Meetings wherein the Affairs of the Church were taken Care of Here we met with some of the Bad Spirits who were run out from Truth into Prejudice Contention and Opposition to the Order of Truth 1672. Oister-bay-half-years-Meeting and to Friends therein These had been very troublesom to Friends in their Meetings there and thereabouts formerly and 't is like would have been so now But I would not suffer the Service of our Mens and Womens-Meetings to be interrupted and hindred by their Cavils Wherefore I let them know That if they had any thing to Object against the Order of Truth which we were in we would give them a Meeting another Day on purpose And indeed I laboured the more and travelled the harder to get to this Meeting where it was expected many of these contentious People would be because I understood they had reflected much upon me when I was far from them So the Mens and Womens Meetings being over on the fourth Day we had a Meeting with those discontented People to which as many of them as would did come and as many Friends as had a desire were present also And the Lord's Power brake forth gloriously to the Confounding of the Gain sayers And then some of those that had been Chief in the mischievous Work of Contention and Opposition against the Truth began to fawn upon me and to cast the matter upon others but the deceitful Spirit was judged down and condemned and the glorious Truth of God was exalted
another Meeting we had on the Ninth wherein the Glory of the Lord shined over all blessed and magnified be his Holy Name for ever From hence we intended to go to Anamessy and on the Twelfth Day of the Twelfth Month we set forward in our Boat And travelling by Night as well as by Day in the Night we run our Boat on Ground in a Creek near Manaco-River Manaco River There we were fain to stay till Morning that the Tide came and lifted her off again And in the mean time sitting in an open Boat and the Weather being bitter-cold some had like to have lost the Vse of their Hands they were so frozen and benummed with Cold. But in the Morning when the Tide had set our Boat a-float again we got to Land and made us a good Fire at which we warmed our selves well and then went to our Boat again and passed on about ten miles further to a Friend's House where next day we had a very precious Meeting at which some of the Chief of the Place were I went after the Meeting to a Friend's House about four miles off Anamessy River at the Head of Anamessy-River where on the Day following the Judge of the Country and a Justice with him came to me and were very loving and much satisfied with Friend's Order The next Day we had a large Meeting at the Justice's House but it was in his Barn for his House could not hold the Company There were several of the Great Folks of that Country and among the rest there was an Opposer but all was preserved quiet and well and a precious Meeting it was and the People were much taken and affected with the Truth blessed be the Lord. We went next Day to see one Capt. Colburn who was also a Justice of the Peace and there we had some Service Then returning again we had a very glorious Meeting at the same Justice's where we met before and there were many People of Account in the World Magistrates Officers and others at it It was a large Meeting and the Power of the Lord was much felt so that the People were generally well satisfied and taken with the Truth and there being several both Merchants and Masters of Ships from New-England the Truth was spread abroad blessed be the Lord A Day or two after departing from this place we travelled about sixteen miles through the Woods and Bogs heading Anamessy-River and Amoroca-River Amoroca River Manaoke part of which last we went over in a Canooe and came to Manaoke to a Friendly Woman's House where on the Twenty fourth of the Twelfth Month we had a large Meeting in a Barn and the Lord's living Presence was with us and among the People blessed be his Holy Name for ever-more Friends had never had a Meeting in those Parts before 1673. Mary-land Wicocomaco-River After this Meeting we passed over the River Wicocomaco and through many bad and watry Swamps and Marish Way and came to James Jones a Friend who was a Justice of the Peace where we had a large and very glorious Meeting praised be the Lord God Then passing over the Water in a Boat we took Horse and travelled about Twenty four Miles through Woods and troublesom Swamps and came to another Justice's House where we had a very large Meeting much People of the World being at it and many of Considerable Account amongst them and the living Presence of the Lord was amongst us praised for ever be his holy Name This was on the Third Day of the First Month 1672 3. And on the Fifth Day of the same we had another living and heavenly Meeting at which divers of the Justices with their Wives and many others of the World's People were amongst whom we had very good Service for the Lord blessed be his Holy Name At this Meeting was a Woman that lived at Anamessy who had been many Years in Trouble of Mind and sometimes would sit moping near two Months together and hardly speak or mind any thing When I heard of her I was moved of the Lord to go to her and tell her ' That Salvation was come to her House And after I had spoken the Word of Life to her and intreated the Lord for her she mended and went up and down with us to Meetings and is since well blessed be the Lord Being now clear of these parts we left Anamessy on the Seventh Day of the First Month and passing by Water about Fifty Miles came to a Friendly Woman's House at Hunger-River Hunger River We had very rough Weather in our Passage to this Place and were in great Danger for the Boat had like to have been turned over and I lost both my Hat and Cap yet we recovered them again with much ado and through the good Providence of God got safe thither praised be his Name At this place we had a Meeting where we had never any before and amongst the People that were at it there were two Papists a Man and a Woman the Man was very tender and the Woman confessed to the Truth This Meeting was not so large as it would have been if many who intended to have been at it could have got to it but the Weather was so foul and the Water by reason of high Winds so rough that it was not safe to pass upon it I had no Friend now with me but Robert Widders the rest having dispersed themselves into several parts of the Country in the Service of Truth So soon as the Wind would permit we passed from hence about Forty Miles by Water rowing most part of the way and came to the Head of little Choptanck-River to Dr. Winsmore's Choptanck River who was a Justice of Peace and lately convinced Here we met with some Friends with whom we staid a while and then went on by Land and Water and had a large Meeting abroad for the House we were at could not receive the People There were divers of the Magistrates and their Wives at this Meeting and a good Meeting it was blessed be the Lord who is making his Name known in that Wilderness-Country We went back from thence to a Friend's House whose Name is William Stephen's where we met with those other Friends that had been travelling in other parts and were much refreshed in the Lord together when we imparted to each other the good Success we had had in the Lord's Work 1673. Mary-land and the Prosperity and spreading of Truth in the places where we travelled John Cartwright and another Friend had been at Virginia where were great Desires in People after the Truth and being now returned they staid but a little with us here and then set forward for Barbados But before we left this place we had a very glorious Meeting here at which were very many of the World's People and some of the Chief of them For there was the Judge of that Country and three Justices of the Peace
into the Court of the King's-Bench and sate there among the Lawyers almost an Hour till the Judges came in When the Judges came in the Sheriff took off my Hat and after a while I was called and the Lord's Presence was with me and his Power I felt was over all I stood and heard the King's Attorney whose Name was Jâ—nes who indeed spake notably on my behalf as did also another Counsellor after him and the Judges who were Three were all very moderate not casting any reflecting Words at me So I stood still in the Power and Spirit of the Lord seeing how the Lord was at Work and the Earth was helping the Woman 1673. London King's-Bench-Bar But when they had done I applied my self to the Chief Justice desiring That I might speak and he said I might Then I related the Cause of our Journey the Manner of our being Taken and Committed and the Time of our Imprisonment until the Sessions with a brief Account of our Trial at the Sessions and what I had offered to the Justices then as a Declaration that I could make or sign instead of the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy When I had done the Chief Justice said I was to be turned over to the King's-Bench and the Sheriff of Worcester to be discharged of me He said also That they would consider farther of it and if they found any Errour in the Record or in the Justices Proceedings I should be set at Liberty So a Tipstaff was called to take me into Custody and he delivered me to the Keeper of the King's Bench who let me go to a Friend's House where I lodged and appoâ—nted to meet me at Edward Man's in Bishopsgate-Street next Day But after this Justice Parker or some other of my Adversaries moved the Court That I might be sent back to Worcester Whereupon another Day was appointed for another Hearing and they had Four Counsels that pleaded against me and there was one George Stroud a Counsellor that pleaded for me and was pleading before I was brought into the Court but they bore him down King's-Bench-Bar and prevailed with the Judges to give Judgment That I should be sent down to Worcester-Sessions Only they told me I might put in Bail to Appear at the Sessions and to be of the good Behaviour in the mean time But I told them I was never in Ill Behaviour in my Life and that they the Four Judges might as well put the Oath to me there as send me to Worcester to be ensnared by the Justices in their putting the Oath to me and then premuniring me who never took Oath in my Life But I told them if I brake my Yea or Nay I was content to suffer the same Penalty which they should that break their Oaths This Alteration of the Judges Minds in my Case proceeded as was thought from some false Informations that my Adversary Justice Parker had given against me For between the times of my former Appearance and this he had spread abroad a very false and malicious Story viz. That there were many substantial men with me out of several parts of the Nation when he took me and that we had a Design or Plot in hand and that Thomas Lower stayed with me in Prison long after he was set at Liberty to carry on our Design This was spoken in the Parliament-House insomuch that if I had not been brought up to London when I was I had been stopped at Worcester and Thomas had been Recommitted with me But although these Lies were easily disproved and laid open to Parker's Shame yet would not the Judges alter their last Sentence but remanded me to Worcester-Jail only this Favour was granted that I might go down my own Way and at my own Leisure provided I would be without fail there by the Assize which was to begin on the Second Day of the Second Month next following So I stayed in and about London till toward the latter End of the First Month 1674 and then went down leisurely for I was not able to abide hasty and hard Travel Worcester and came into Worcester on the last Day of the First Month 1674 being the Day before the Judges came to Town 1674. Worcester Jail On the Second Day of the Second Month I was brought from the Jail to an Inn near the Hall that I might be in Readiness if I should be called But not being called that Day the Jailer came to me at Night and told me I might go home meaning to the Jail Whereupon Gerrard Roberts of London being with me he and I walked down together to the Jail without any Keeper Next Day being brought up again they set a little Boy of about eleven Years old to be my Keeper I came to understand that Justice Parker and the Clark of the Peace had gived Order that I should not be put into the Calendar that so I might not be brought before the Judge Wherefore I got the Judge's Son to move in Court That I might be called And thereupon I was called Worcester Assizes and brought up to the Bar before Judge Turner my old Adversary who had tendered me the Oaths and Premunired me once before at Lancaster After Silence made he asked me What I did desire I answered My Liberty according to Justice He said I lay upon the Oath and asked If I would take it I desired he would hear the Manner of my being Taken and Committed and he being silent I gave him an Account thereof at large as is before set down letting him also know ' That since my Imprisonment I had understood that my Mother who was an Ancient Tender Woman and had desired to see me before she died hearing that I was stopped and imprisoned in my Journey so that I was not likely to come to see her it struck her so that she died soon after which was a very hard thing to me When I had done speaking he again asked me To take the Oaths I told him I could not take any Oath for Conscience-sake and I did believe he and they all knew in their Consciences that it was for Conscience-sake I could not Swear at all But I did declare amongst them what I could say and what I could sign in owning of the King 's Right to the Government and in denying the Pope and his pretended Power and all Plotters Plots and Conspiracies against the Government Some thought the Judge had a mind to have set me at Liberty for he saw they had nothing Justly against me but Parker who Committed me endeavoured to incense him against me telling him That I was a Ring-leader that many of the Nation followed me and he knew not what it might come to with many more envious Words which some that stood near took notice of who also observed that the Judge gave him never a Word in Answer to it However the Judge willing to ease himself referred me and my Case to the Sessions
nor of the Form for I was against the Pope and Popery and did acknowledge and should set my Hand to that Then the Judge told the Jury what they should say and what they should do and what they should write on the Back-side of the Indictment and as he said they did But before the Jury gave in their Verdict I spake to them and told them That it was for Christ's sake and in Obedience to his and his Apostle's Command that I could not swear and therefore said I take heed what ye do for before his Judgment-Seat ye shall all be brought The Judge said This is Canting a base Word I said If to Confess Christ our Lord and Saviour and to obey his Command be called Canting by a Judge of a Court it is to little purpose for me to say more among you Yet ye shall see that I am a Christian and shall shew forth Christianity and my Innocency shall be manifest So the Jailer led me out of the Court and the People were generally Tender like as if they had been in a Meeting Soon after I was brought in again and the Jury found the Bill against me which I Traversed and then I was asked to put in Bail till the next Sessions and the Jailer's Son offered to be bound for me But I stopped him and warned Friends not to meddle for I told them ' There was a Snare in that Yet I told the Justices that I could promise to Appear if the Lord gave Health and Strength and I were at Liberty Some of the Justices were loving and would have stopped the rest from Indicting me or putting the Oath to me but Judge Street who was the Chair-man said He must go according to Law So I was sent back to Prison again Worcester Prison yet within two Hours after through the Moderation of some of the Justices I had Liberty given me to go at large till next Quarter-Sessions These moderate Justices it was said desired Justice Parker to write to the King for my Liberty or for a Noli prosequi as they called it because they were satisfied I was not such a dangerous Person as I had been represented and this it was said he promised them to do but did it not After I had gotten a Copy of the Indictment against me I went up to London visiting Friends as I went And when I came there London some that were Earnest to get me out of the Hands of those Envious Justices that sought to Premunire me at Worcester would needs be tampering again to bring me before the Judges of the King's-Bench Whereupon I was brought again by an Habeas Corpus before them King's-Bench-Bar And I tendred them a Paper in which was contained what I could say instead of the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy as followeth THis I do in the Truth and in the Presence of God declare that King Charles the Second is lawful King of this Realm and of all other his Dominions and that he was brought in and set up King over this Realm by the Power of God and I have nothing but Love and Good Will to him and all his Subjects and desire his Prosperity and Eternal Good And I do utterly abhor and deny the Pope's Power and Supremacy and all his Superstitions and Idolatrous Inventions and do affirm that he hath no Power to Absolve Sin And I do abhor and detest his Murthering of Princes or other People by Plots or Contrivances And likewise I do deny all Plots and Contrivances and Plotters and Contrivers against the King and his Subjects knowing them to be the Works of Darkness and the Fruits of an Evil Spirit and against the Peace of the Kingdom and not from the Spirit of God the Fruit of which is Love I dare not take an Oath because it is forbidden by Christ and the Apostle but if I break my Yea or Nay then let me suffer the same Penalty as they that break their Oaths George Fox But the Business being so far proceeded in at Worcester they would not meddle in it but left me as I was to Appear again before the Justices at the next General Quarter-Sessions at Worcester 1674. London Yearly-Meeting Mean while the Yearly Meeting of Friends came on at which through the Liberty granted me till the Sessions I was present and exceeding glorious the Meetings were beyond Expression blessed be the Lord. After the Yearly Meeting was over and Friends out of the Countries were pretty generally returned home Worcester I set forward again for Worcester the Sessions drawing on which were held in the Fifth Month. And when I was called to the Bar Worcester Sessions and the Indictment read some Scruple arising among the Jury concerning it the Judge of the Court who was Justice Street caused the Oaths to be read and tendred to me again I told him I came now to Trie the Traverse of my Indictment and that his tendring me the Oaths a-new was a new Snare Then I desired him to Answer me a Question or two and I asked him Whether the Oaths were to be tendred to the King's Subjects or to the Subjects of Foreign Princes He said To the Subjects of this Realm Then said I You have not named me a Subject in the Indictment and therefore have not brought me within the Statute The Judge cried Read the Oath to him I said I require Justice Again I asked him Whether the Sessions ought not to have been holden for the King and the Body of the County He said Yes Then said I You have there left the King out of the Indictment how then can you proceed upon this Indictment to a Trial between the King and me seeing the King is left out He said The King was in before But I told him ' The King's Name being left out here was a great Error in the Indictment and sufficient as I was informed to quash it Besides I told him that I was Committed by the Name of George Fox of London but now I was Indicted by the Name of George Fox of Tredington in the County of Worcester And I wished the Jury to consider how they could find me Guilty upon that Indictment seeing I was not of the Place in the Indictment mentioned The Judge did not deny but there were Errors in the Indictment but said I might take my Remedy in their proper place I answered Ye know we are a People that suffer all things and bear all things and therefore ye thus use us because we cannot revenge our selves but we leave our Cause to the Lord. The Judge said The Oath hath been tendered to you several times and we will have some Satisfaction from you concerning the Oath I offered them the same Declaration instead of the Oath which I had offered to the Judges above but it would not be accepted Then I desired to know Seeing they put the Oath a-new to me whether the Indictment was quashed or no Instead
punishing Sin in the Kingdom neither then need Kings or Princes fear any of their Subjects if they all walked in the Spirit of Christ For the Fruits of the Spirit are Love Righteousness Goodness Temperance c. And if all that profess themselves Christians did walk in the Spirit of Christ and by it did mortifie Sin and Evil it would be a great Ease to the Magistrates and Rulers and would free them from a great deal of Trouble For it would lead all Men and Women To do unto all others as they would have others do unto them and so the Royal Law of Liberty would be fulfilled For if all that are called Christians did walk in the Spirit of Christ by it to have the Evil Spirit and its Fruits mortified and cut down in them then not being led by the Evil Spirit but by the good Spirit of Christ the Fruits of the good Spirit would appear in all Men and Women for as People are led by the good Spirit of Christ it leads them out of Sin and Evil which the Magistrate's Sword takes hold upon and so would be an Ease to the Magistrates But as People err from this good Spirit of Christ and follow the Evil Spirit which leads them into Sin and Evil that Spirit brings the Magistrate into a great deal of Trouble to Execute the Law upon the Sinners and Transgressors of the good Spirit That Spirit that leads People from all manner of Sin and Evil is one with the Magistrate's Power and with the righteous Law for the Law being added because of Transgression that Spirit that leads out of Transgression must needs be One with that Law that is against Transgressors So that Spirit that leads out of Transgression is the good Spirit of Christ and is One with the Magistrates in the Higher Power and owns it and them But that Spirit that leads into Transgression is the bad Spirit and is against the Law and against the Magistrates and makes them a great deal of Troublesome Work Now the Manifestation of the good Spirit is given to every Man to profit withall and no Man can profit in the Things of God but by the Spirit of God which brings to deny all Sin and Evil. It is said of Israel Nehem. 9. The Lord gave them his good Spirit to instruct them yet they rebelled against it But if all People did mind this Manifestation of the Spirit which God hath given to instruct them it would lead them to forsake all manner of Sin and Evil Enmity Hatred Malice and all manner of Vnrighteousness and Vngodliness and to mortifie it And then in the Spirit of Christ they would have Fellowship and Vnity which is the Bond of Peace and then would Love and Peace which are the Fruits of the good Spirit flow among all them that are called Christians Now we are a People who in Tenderness of Conscience to the Command of Christ and of his Apostle cannot Swear for we are commanded in Matth. 5. and James 5. to keep to Yea and Nay and not to Swear at all not by Heaven nor by Earth nor by any other Oath lest we go into Evil and fall into Condemnation The Words of Christ are these Ye have heard that it hath been said by or to them of old time Thou shalt not forswear thy self but shalt perform unto the Lord thine Oaths These were true and solemn Oaths which they who made ought to perform in Old Time But these Christ and his Apostle forbids in the Gospel-times as well as false and vain Oaths Now if we could take any Oath at all we could take the Oath of Allegiance as knowing that King Charles was by the Power of God brought into England and set up King of England c. over the Heads of our Old Persecutors And as for the Pope's Supremacy we do utterly deny it But Christ and the Apostle having commanded us Not to Swear but to keep to Yea and Nay we dare not break their Commands and therefore many have put the Oaths to us as a Snare that they might make a Prey of us So our denying to Swear is not in Wilfulness Stubbornness or Contempt but only in Obedience to the Command of Christ and his Apostle And we are content if we break our Yea and Nay to suffer the same Penalty as they should that break their Oaths We desire therefore that the King would take this into his Consideration and how long we have Suffered in this Case This is from one who desires the Eternal Good and Prosperity of the King and of all his Subjects in the Lord Jesus Christ. G. F. About this time I had a fit of Sickness which brought me very low and weak in my Body and I continued so a pretty while insomuch that some Friends began to doubt of my Recovery and I seemed to my self to be amongst the Graves and dead Corpses Yet the Invisible Power did secretly support me and conveyed refreshing Strength into me even when I was so Weak that I was almost Speechless And one Night as I was lying awake upon my Bed in the Glory of the Lord which was over all it was said unto me That the Lord had a great Deal more Work for me to do for him before he took me to himself Endeavours were used to get me Released at least for a Time till I was grown stronger but the Way of Effecting it proving difficult and tedious for the King was not willing to Release me by any other way than a Pardon being told he could not Legally do it and I was not willing 〈◊〉 be Released by a Pardon which he would readily have given me because I did not look upon that way as agreeable with the Innocency of my Cause a Friend one Edward Pitway having Occasion to speak with Justice Parker upon some other Business desired him to give Order to the Jailer That in regard of my Weakness I might have Liberty to go out of the Jail into the City Whereupon Justice Parker wrote the following Letter to the Jailer and sent it to the Friend to deliver Mr. Harris I Have beeen much importuned by some Friends to George Fox to write to you I am informed by them that he is in a very weak Condition and very much Indisposed What lawful Favour you can do for the Benefit of the Air for his Health pray shew him I suppose the next Term they will make Application to the King I am Sir Your loving Friend HENRY PARKER Evesham the 8th of Octob. 1674. After this my Wife went to London and spake with the King laying before him my long and unjust Imprisonment with the Manner of my being taken and the Justices Proceedings against me in tendring me the Oath as a Snare whereby they had Premunired me so that I being now his Prisoner it was in his Power and at his Pleasure to Release which she desired The King spake kindly to her and referr'd her to the Lord-Keeper to
Northampton Olney in Buckinghamshire Bedfordshire Turry After this Meeting I went with Thomas Charles to his house at Adingworth and from thence next day to Northampton where I stayed the First-day-Meeting which was very large and peaceable and had much Service among Friends besides Next day Edward Cooper of Northampton accompanied me to Olney in Buckinghamshire where I stay'd at James Brierlie's several Friends coming thither to see me in the Evening Next day I went to a Meeting at Turry in Bedfordshire to which Friends came from several Parts so that it was a very large Meeting Here I met with William Dewsberry who after the Meeting took me along with him to his Son-in-law John Rush's of Kempston Kempston where I stayed with William that night and most part of the next day passing thence towards Evening through Ampthill Ampthill Bullocks-hill to Thomas Gambolls of Bullocks-hill William Dewsberry went along with me thither and there also several Friends came to visit us Next day Luton Market-street Kensworth passing through Luton I went to Market-street William Dewsberry accompanying me part of the way and the day following Leonard Fell and I had a Meeting at Kensworth which was pretty large and peaceable After the Meeting we went to Albans Albans South-Mims Barnet Middlesex Gutters-hedge in Henden where we visited Friends and next day passing through South-Mims and Barnet where also we visited Friends we came that night to the Widow Haylye's at Guttershedge in Hendon in Middlesex Next day being the First-day of the Week we had a very large Meeting there several Friends coming from London I stayed there on the Second-day and on the Third went to William Mead's house at High-gate Highgate with whom next day I went to London London and it being the Fourth-day of the Week I went to the Meeting at Gracious-street where Friends and I were greatly refreshed in each other in the Lord and the Lord's Power and Seed was set over all blessed be his Name for ever Thus it pleased the Lord to bring me safe to London though much wearied with Travel for though I rode not very far in a day yet having had much weakness of Body continual Travel was hard to me Besides I had not much rest a-nights to refresh Nature for I often sate late up with Friends where I lodged to Inform and Advise them in things wherein they were wanting and when I was in bed I was often hindred of sleep by great pains which I felt in my Head and Teeth occasioned as I thought by Cold I had taken by riding often in the Rain But the Lord's Power was over all and carried me through all to his praise In my Journey I observed a slackness and shortness in some that professed Truth in keeping up the antient Testimony of Truth against Tithes for where-ever that Spirit got Entrance which wrought Division in the Church and opposed the Mens and Womens Meetings it weakned those that received it in their Testimony against Tithes Wherefore I was moved of the Lord to give forth a short Paper by way of an Epistle to Friends to stir up the pure Mind in them and to encourage and strengthen them in their Christian Testimony against that Antichristian Yoke and Oppression My dear Friends BE faithful to the Lord in your Testimony for Jesus 1677. London who hath ended the Levitical Priesthood of Aaron that took Tithes and sent his Ministers forth freely to give freely that which they had received of him freely without a Bag or a Staff So Christ's Disciples could not join with those that made a Trade of Preaching And as there was a Testimony to be born against those Tithes which were commanded in the Law for Levi and Aaron So there is a Testimony to be born against these Tithes which have been set up by Man in the dark time of Popery and not set up by God nor Christ Now for any to cry against the Priests in words and yet to give them Means and put into their Mouths that they may not prepare War against you this is a Contradiction And therefore take heed for if the Lord God do bless you with outward Creatures and you do bestow them upon Baal's Priests the Lord may justly require the Outward things from you again which he hath given you who saith That his Christian Ministers should freely give as they have freely received of Christ Jesus So all the Preachers for Tithes and Money and the Takers and Payers of Tithe must be testified against in the Lord's Power and Spirit so that all Men and Women may stand up in their Testimony for Jesus Christ in his Power and Spirit against the Tithe-mongers Consider how many faithful Servants and Valiants of the Lord have laid down their Lives against them in this day of the Lord and in the days of the Martyrs they did then witness against them Consider also what Judgments have come upon them that have spoiled Friends Goods and have cast them into Prison for Tithes and Maintenance And therefore in the Power of the Lord maintain the War against the Beast and do not put into his Mouth lest he cry Peace to you which Peace you must not receive but it must be broken and thrown out by the Spirit of God And then in the same Spirit ye will receive the Peace from the Son of Peace which the Beast and the Whore and the World with all their earthly Teachers for the Earth which are made by Man cannot receive nor bereave you of And therefore keep your Authority and Dominion in the Power and Spirit and Name of Jesus in whom my love is to you 3d Month 1677. G. F. I came to London on the 23th of the Third Month some Ten or Twelve days before the Yearly Meeting in which time I fell in with Friends there in the Service of Truth visiting them at the Meetings And the Parliament then sitting we prepared something to lay before them concerning the seizing of the Third part of Friends Estates as Popish Recusants which was a great Suffering and a Grievance we Complained of but no Redress we got To the Yearly Meeting many Friends came from most parts of the Nation 1677. London Yearly Meeting and some out of Scotland Holland c. and very glorious Meetings we had wherein the Lord 's powerful Presence was very largely felt and the Affairs of Truth were sweetly carried on in the Unity of the Spirit to the Satisfaction and Comfort of the upright-hearted blessed be the Lord for ever Then after the Yearly Meeting was over and I had stay'd a Week or Two with Friends in London I went down with William Penn to his house in Sussex Sussex John Burnyeat and some other Friends went with us Surrey and as we passed through Surrey hearing that the Quarterly Meeting for that County was that day William Penn John Burnyeat and I went from the Road to it and
Crown of every one of you that nothing may be between you and the Lord God And be not deceived with vain Words or fained Words or rough for Satan is transforming himself as an Angel of Light to deceive but God's Foundation standeth sure and God knoweth who are his and will preserve his upon the Rock and Foundation of Life in his peaceable Truth and Habitation that in the same they may grow And so keep out of Strife and Contention with it after that ye have born your Testimony in the Lord's Power and Truth against it and then keep in the Truth for it hath a life in scribling strife and jangling because it would enlarge its Hell and bring others into its Misery with the airy Power and would get Power over the Good and disjoin People from it and so to make Rapes upon the Simplicity by its Subtilty But I do believe the Lord will defend his People though he may try them and exercise them with this Spirit for a time as he hath done by it in days past in other Vessels it hath made use of as it doth of these now who have a more seeming fair Outside but foul and rough and rugged enough within against the Seed Christ as ever were the Pharisees to destroy it And they under a pretence of Preaching Christ are the men that are the Destroyers and Crucifiers of him and Killers of the Just not only in themselves but endeavouring with all their might to destroy it in others where it is born Pharaoh and Herod to slay the young Jews in the Spirit as the Old did I do feel it Worrying of them and it is got up to be King which knew not suffering Joseph But God will plague him and the Seed will have more rest and be better entertained in Egypt than under Herod into whom Old Pharaoh's Spirit is entred He that hath an Ear to hear let him hear and an Eye to see let him see how this Spirit hath Transformed in all Ages against the Just and Righteous but mark what hath been its end But the Seed reigneth Glory to the Lord God over all for ever and his Truth spreadeth and Friends here are in Unity and Peace and of good Report answering the good or that of God in People And so my desires are that all God's People may do the same in all places where-ever they be so that the Lord may be glorified in their bringing forth much Fruit that is heavenly and spiritual Amen Amsterdam the 25 of the 7th Month 1677. G. F. After I had given forth the fore-going Epistle whereby my Spirit was in some measure eased of the Weight that lay upon it I went in the Afternoon to the Monthly Meeting of Friends at Amsterdam where the Lord was present with us and refreshed our Spirits together in himself I thought to have gone next day to Harlem but there being a Fast appointed to be kept that day I was stopped in my Spirit and moved to stay at Friends Meeting that day at Amsterdam We had a very large Meeting a great Concourse of People coming to it and amongst them many great Persons The Lord's Power was over the Meeting and in the Openings thereof I was moved to declare to the People That no man by all his wit and study nor by reading History in his own Will could declare or know the Generation of Christ who was not begotten by the Will of Man but by the Will of God After I had largely opened this unto them I shewed them the Difference between the true Fast and the false manifesting unto them that the profest Christians Jews and Turks were out of the true Fast and fasted for strife and debate being under the Band and Fists of Iniquity and Oppression wherewith they were smiting one another but the pure hands were not lifted up to God And though they did all appear to men to Fast and did hang down their Heads for a day like a Bulrush yet that was not the Fast which God did accept but in that state all their Bones were dry and when they called upon the Lord he did not Answer them neither did their Health grow for they kept their own Fast and not the Lord 's And there I exhorted them to come and keep the Lord's Fast which was to fast from Sin and Iniquity from Strife and Debate from Violence and Oppression and to abstain from every Appearance of Evil. These things were opened to the astonishment of the Fasters and the Meeting ended peaceably and well I went to Harlem the day following Harlem having before appointed a Meeting to be there that day Peter Hendricks and Gertrude Dirick Nieson went with me and a blessed Meeting we had There were at the Meeting Professors of several sorts and a Priest of the Lutherans who sate very Attentive for several hours while I declared the Truth amongst them Gertrude Interpreting When the Meeting was done the Priest said That he had heard nothing but what was according to the Word of God and desired That the Blessing of the Lord might rest upon us and our Assemblies Others also confessed to the Truth saying They had never heard things so plainly opened to their understandings before We stayed that night at Harlem at a Friend's house whose name was Dirick Klassen and returning next day to Amsterdam went to Gertrude's house where we had not been long come in before there came a Priest of great note who had formerly belonged to the Emperor of Germany and with him another German Priest desiring to have some Conference with me So I took the Opportunity to declare the Way of Truth unto them opening unto them how they might come to know God and Christ and his Law and Gospel and shewing them that they could never know it by study nor by Philosophy but by Divine Revelation through the Spirit of God opening unto them in the stilness of their Minds The men were tender and went away well satisfied On the First-day of the Week following I was at Friends Meeting at Amsterdam where amongst the several sorts of Professors that were present there was a Doctor of Poland who for his Religion was banished from the place he lived in and he being affected with the Testimony of Truth that was born in the Meeting came after the Meeting to have some Discourse with me and after we had been some time together and I had opened things further to him he went away very Tender and Loving Now while I was at Amsterdam I spent most of my time except it were when I was at Friends Meetings or when People came to speak with me in Writing Books Papers or Epistles on Truth 's behalf For I writ several Epistles from Amsterdam to Friends in England and elsewhere on several Occasions as the Lord moved me by his Spirit thereunto I writ also from thence A Warning to the Inhabitants of the City Oldenburgh which was lately burnt down Also A Warning to
the Inhabitants of the City of Hamborough I writ also an Epistle to the Ambassadors that were treating a Peace at Nimmeguen To the Magistrates and Priests of Embden I writ a Book shewing them their Vnchristian Practices in persecuting Friends And several other Books I writ there in Answer to Priests and others of Hamborough Dantzick and other places to Clear the Truth and Friends from their false Charges and Slanders After some time George Keith and William Penn came back from Germany to Amsterdam and had a Dispute with one Galenus Abrahams one of the most noted Baptists in Holland at which many Professors were present But not having time to finish the Dispute then they met again two days after and the Baptist was much Confounded and Truth gained ground Between these Two Disputes we had a very great Meeting at Friends Meeting-Place at which many hundreds of the World's People were and some of high Rank in the World's Account for there was an Earl and a Lord and divers other Eminent Persons who all behaved themselves very Civilly But when the Meeting was ended some Priests began to make some Opposition which when William Penn understood he stood up again and answered them to the great satisfaction of the People who were much affected with the several Testimonies that they had heard declared And after the Meeting several of them came to Gertrude's where we were with whom George Keith had much Discourse in Latin Having now finished our Service at Amsterdam we took Leave of the Friends there and passed by Wagon to Leyden Leyden which is about 25 Miles where we stayed a day or two seeking out and visiting some tender People that we heard of there We met there with a German who was partly Convinced and he Informed us of an Eminent Man that was inquiring after Truth Some sought him out and visited him and found him a Serious Man and I spake to him and he owned the Truth William Penn and Benjamin Furly went to visit another Great Man that lived a little out of Leyden who they said had been General to the King of Denmark's Forces and he and his wife were very loving to them and heard the Truth with Joy From Leyden we went to the Hague Hague where the Prince of Orange then kept his Court and we visited one of the Judges of Holland with whom we had pretty much Discourse He was a Wise Tender man and put many Objections and Queries to us which when we had answered he was satisfied and parted with us in much Love Then leaving the Hague we went to Delft and from thence that night to Rotterdam Delft Rotterdam where we stay'd several days and had several Meetings there While I was here I gave forth a Book for the Jews with whom when I was at Amsterdam I had a desire to have had some Discourse but they would not Here also I reviewed several other Books and Papers which I had given forth before and were now Transcribed And now finding our Spirits Clear of the Service which the Lord had given us to do in Holland we took Leave of Friends of Rotterdam and passed by Boat to the Briel in order to take Passage that day in the Packet-Boat for England several Friends of Rotterdam accompanying us and some of Amsterdam who were come to see us again before we left Holland But the Packet-Boat not coming in till night we were fain to lodge that night at the Briel and next day being the One and twentieth of the Eighth Month and the First-day of the Week we went on Board and set Sail about the Tenth hour viz. William Penn George Keith and I and Gertrude Dirick Nieson with her Children We were in all about sixty Passengers and had a long and hazardous Passage for the Winds were contrary to us and the Weather stormy the Boat also very leaky insomuch that we were fain to have two Plumps continually going both day and night so that it was thought there was twice as much Water plumped out as the Vessel would have held But the Lord who is able to make the stormy Winds to cease and the Raging Waves of the Sea to be calm yea to raise them and stop them at his pleasure he alone did preserve us praised be his Name for ever Though our Passage was hard yet we had a fine time and good Service for Truth on Board among the Passengers some of whom were a sort of great Folks and they were very kind and loving 1677. Harwich We arrived at Harwich on the 23th of the 8th Month at night having been Two Nights and almost Three Days at Sea Next Morning William Penn and George Keith took Horse for Colchester but I stay'd and had a Meeting at Harwich and there being no Colchester-Coach there and the Post-masters Wife being Unreasonable in her Demands for a Coach and deceiving us of it also after we had hired it we went to a Friend's House about a mile and an half off in the Country and hired his Wagon which we bedded well with Straw and rode in it to Colchester Colchester I stay'd in Colchester till the First-day of the Week having a desire to be at Friends Meeting there that day and a very large and weighty Meeting it was for Friends hearing of my Return from Holland flocked in thither from several parts of the Country and many of the Towns People coming in also it was thought there were about a Thousand People at the Meeting and all was peaceable Then having stay'd a day or two longer at Colchester having Service amongst the Friends there I travelled through Essex Essex Halsted Braintree Felsted Saling â—helmsford London visiting Friends at Halsted Braintree Felsted and Saling and having Meetings with them At Chelmsford I had a Meeting in the Evening and there being many Friends Prisoners they got liberty and came to the Meeting and we were well refreshed together in the Lord. Next day being the 9th of the 9th Month I got to London where Friends received me with great Joy and on the First-day following went to Gracious-street Meeting where the Lord visited us with his refreshing Presence and the Glory of the Lord surrounded the Meeting praised be the Lord After I had been a little while in London I writ the following Letter to my Wife whom though I had written to her several times out of Holland I had not written to since I came into England Dear Heart TO whom is my Love and to the Children and to all the rest of Friends in the Lord's Truth Power and Seed that is over all Glory to the Lord and blessed be his Name for ever beyond all words who hath carried me through and over many Trials and Dangers in his Eternal Power I have been Twice at Gracious-street-Meeting and though the opposite Spirits were there yet all was quiet and the Dew of Heaven fell upon the People and the Glory of the Lord
de Bemise Disp fol. 71. Irenaeus affirmed That all forcing of Conscience though it was but a forbidding of the Exercise which is esteemed by one or another to be necessary to Salvation is in no wise right nor fitting He also affirmed That through the diversity of Religions the Kingdom should not be brought into any disturbance Constantius the Emperour said That it was enough that he preserved the Vnity of the Faith that he might be excusable before the Judgment-seat of God and that he would leave every one to his own Vnderstanding according to the Account he will give before the Judgment-seat of Christ Here-to may we stir up People said he not Compel them beseech them to come into the Unity of the Christians but to do Violence to them we will not in any wise Sebast Frank Chron. fol. 127. Augustinus said Some disturbed the Peace of the Church while they went about to root out the Tares before their time and through this Error of Blindness said he are they themselves separated so much the more from being united unto Christ Retnaldus testified That he who with Imprisoning and Persecuting seeketh to spread the Gospel and greaseth his hands with Blood shall much rather be looked upon for a wild Hunter than a Preacher or a Defender of the Christian Religion I have for a long season determined said Henry the IV. K. of France in his Speech to the Parliament 1599. to Reform the Church which without Peace said he I cannot do and it is impossible to Reform or Convert People by Violence I am King as a Shepherd said he and will not shed the Blood of my Sheep but will gather them through the Mildness and Goodness of a King and not through the Power of Tyranny and I will give them that are of the Reformed Religion right Liberty to live and dwell free without being examined perplexed molested or compelled to any thing contrary to their Consciences for they shall have the free Exercise of their Religion c. Vid. Chron. Van de Underg 2. deel p. 1514. Ennius said Wisdom is driven out when the Matter is acted by Force And therefore the best of Men and most glorious of Princes were always ready to give Toleration Euseb in his Second Book of the Life of Constantine reports these words of the Emperour Let them which err with Joy receive the like fruition of Peace and Quietness with the Faithful sith the restoring of Communication and Society may bring them into the right Way of Truth let none give Molestation to any let every one do as he determines in his Mind And indeed there is great reason for Princes to give Toleration to disagreeing Persons whose Opinions cannot by fair means be altered for if the Persons be Confident they will serve God according to their Perswasions and if they be publickly prohibited they will privately Convene and then all those Inconveniencies and Mischiefs which are Arguments against the permission of Conventicles are Arguments for the publick permissions of differing Religions c. they being restrained and made miserable endears the discontented Persons mutually and makes more hearty and dangerous Confederations The like Counsel in the Divisions of Germany at the first Reformation was thought reasonable by the Emperour Ferdinand and his excellent Son Maximilian for they had observed that Violence did exasperate was unblest unsuccessful and unreasonable and therefore they made Decrees of Toleration The Duke of Savoy repenting of his War undertaken for Religion against the Piedmontans promised them Toleration and was as good as his Word Also it is remarkable that till the time of Justinian the Emperour Anno Domini 525. the Catholicks and Novatians had Churches indifferently permitted even in Rome it self And Paul preached the Kingdom of God teaching those things which concerned the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence and no man forbad him and this he did for the space of two years in his own hired house at Rome and received all that came to him NOW O KING seeing these Noble Testimonies concerning Liberty of Conscience of Kings Emperours and others and the Liberty that Paul had at Rome in the days of the Heathen-Emperour our desire is that we may have the same Liberty at Dantzick to Meet together in our own hired Houses which cannot be any prejudice either to the King and the City of Dantzick for us to meet together to wait upon the Lord and pray unto him and to serve and worship him in Spirit and Truth in our own hired Houses seeing our Principle leads us to hurt no Man but to Love our Enemies and to pray for them yea them that do persecute us And therefore O King Consider and the City of Dantzick would you not think it hard for others to force you from your Religion to another contrary to your Consciences And if it be so that you would think it hard to you then do you unto others as you would have them do unto you do not you that unto others which you would not have men do unto you for that is the Royal Law which ought to be obeyed And so in Love to thy Immortal Soul and for thy Eternal Good this is written G. F. POST-SCRIPT BLessed be the Merciful for they shall obtain Mercy And remember O King Justin Martyr's two Apologies to the Roman Emperours in the Defence of the persecuted Christians and that notable Apology which was written by Tertullian upon the same Subject which are not only for the Christian Religion but against all Persecution for Religion Dear Peter Hendricks and John Claus and J. Rawlins and all the rest of Friends in Amsterdam Friezland and Rotterdam to whom is my Love in the Seed of Life that 's over all I Received thy Letter with a Letter from Dantzick I have written something to you to the King of Poland which you may translate into High-Dutch and send it to Friends there to give it to the King or you may print it after it be delivered in Manuscript which may be serviceable to other Princes So in haste with my Love And the Lord God Almighty over all give you dominion in his Eternal Power and in it over all preserve you and keep you to his Glory that you may answer that of God in all People Amen London the 13th of 9th Month 1677. George Fox I continued yet in and about London some Weeks the Parliament sitting again and Friends Attending upon them to get some Redress of our Sufferings which about this time were very great and heavy upon many Friends in divers parts of the Nation they being very unduly prosecuted upon the Statutes made against Popish Recusants Though our Persecutors could not but know that Friends were utterly against Popery having born Testimony against it in Word and Writing and suffered under it But though many of the Members of Parliament in either House were kind to Friends and willing to have done something for their Ease yet having much
that and that Liberty answers the Grace the Truth the Light the Spirit the Faith the Gospel of Christ in every Man and Woman and is the Yoke to the Contrary in every Man and Woman And that makes it rage and swell and puff up for that is restless and unruly and out of patience and is ready to curse his God and that which reigns over him because it hath not its Will And it works with all Subtilty and Evasion with its restless Spirit to get in and defile the minds of the Simple and to make Rapes upon the Virgin Minds But as they receive the heavenly Wisdom by which all things were made which Wisdom is above that Spirit through this Wisdom they will be preserved over that Spirit And Christ hath given Judgment to his Saints in his Church though he be Judge of all and the Saints in the Power and Spirit of God had and have Power to Judge of Words and Manners of Lives and Conversations and Growths and States from a Child to a Father in the Truth and to whom they are a Savour of Death and to whom they are a Savour of Life And who serve the Lord Jesus Christ and preach him and who preach themselves and serve themselves And who Talk of the Light and of Faith and of the Gospel and of Hope and of Grace and preach such things and in their Works and Lives deny them all and God and Christ and preach up Liberty from that in themselves to that in Others which should be under the Yoke and Cross of Christ the Power of God And so the Saints in the Power and Spirit of Christ can discern and distinguish who serves God and Christ and who serves him not and so can put a distinction between the Prophane and the Holy But such as have lost their Eye-salve and their Sight is grown dim lose this Judgment Discerning and Distinction in the Church of Christ and such come to be spewed out of Christ's mouth except they Repent and if not they come to Corrupt the Earth and burden it that it Vomits them out of it And therefore all are Exhorted to keep in the Power and Spirit of Christ Jesus and in the Word of Life and the Wisdom of God which is above that that is below in which they may keep their heavenly Understandings and heavenly Discernings and so set the heavenly Spiritual Judgment over that which is for Judgment which dishonours God which leads into loose and false Liberty out of the Unity which stands in the heavenly Spirit which brings into Conformity and to be Conformable to the Image of the Son of God and his Gospel the Power of God which was before the Devil was and his Truth which the Devil is out of in which all are of one Mind Heart and Soul and come to drink into one Spirit being baptized into one Spirit and so into one Body which Christ is the Head of and so keep one Fellowship in the Spirit and Unity in the Spirit which is the Bond of Peace the Prince of Princes Peace And they that Cry so much against Judging and are afraid of Judgment whether they be Apostates Professors or Prophane they are the Most-judging with their censorious false Spirits and Judgment and yet cannot bear the true Judgment of the Spirit of God nor stand in his Judgment This hath been manifest from the beginning they having the false Measures and the false Weights for none have the true Measure and the true Weight but who keep in the Light Power and Spirit of Christ And now there is a loose Spirit that cries for Liberty and against Prescriptions and yet is prescribing ways both by Words and Writings And the same Spirit cries against Judging and would not be Judged and yet is Judging with a wrong Spirit And this is given forth in Reproof to that Spirit London the 9th of the 4th Month 1678. G. F. When I had finished what Service I had for the Lord at this time here I left London and went towards Hartford visiting Friends and having several Meetings in the way At Hartford I stay'd several days having much Service for the Lord there both amongst Friends in their Meetings and in Conferences with such as having let in evil surmisings and jealousies concerning Friends stood in Opposition to the Order of Truth And in Answering some Books that had been written against Truth and Friends And while I was here it came upon me to write a few Lines and send them abroad amongst Friends as followeth Dear Friends LET the holy Seed of Life reign over Death and the unholy Seed in you all that in the holy Seed of the Kingdom ye may all feel the everlasting holy Peace with God through Christ Jesus your Saviour and sit down in him your Life and glorious Rest the holy Rock and Foundation that standeth sure over all from Everlasting to Everlasting in whom all the fulness of Blessedness is so that ye may glory in him that liveth for evermore Amen! Who is your Eternal Joy Life and Happiness through whom you have Peace with God 1678. Hartford Which holy Seed bruiseth the Head of the Serpent and will out-live all his Wrath and Rage Malice and Envy who was before He and It was and remains when He and It is gone into the fire that burns with brimstone The Seed Christ will reign and so will ye as ye do live and walk in him and sit down in Christ and build up one another in the Love of God Hartford the 10 of the 5th Month 1678. G. F. Next day a fresh Exercise came upon me with respect to those unruly and disorderly Spirits which were gone out from us and were labouring to draw others after them into a false Liberty And in the sense I had of the hurt and mischief these might do where they were given way to I was moved to write a few Lines to Warn Friends of them as followeth All Friends KEep in the tender Life of the Lamb over that unruly puffed up and swelling Spirit whose work is for Strife Contention and Division drawing into Loosness and false Liberty under a pretence of Conscience and dangerous to the Spoiling of Youth They that do encourage them will be guilty of their Destruction and set up a sturdy Will instead of Conscience in their Rage and Passion which will quench the universal Spirit in themselves and in every Man and Woman and so that Spirit shall not have the Liberty in themselves nor in Others and so shut up the Kingdom of Heaven in themselves and also in Others And so a loose Spirit getting up under a pretence of Liberty of Conscience or a stubborn Will making a Profession of the Words of Truth in a Form without Power all Loosness and Vileness will be sheltered and covered under this pretence which is for Eternal Judgment for that doth dishonour God Therefore keep to the tender Spirit of God in all humility that
I had not been long at Swarthmore e're a Concern came upon me to visit the Churches of Christ in London and elsewhere by an Epistle which was as followeth Dear Friends TO whom is my Love in the heavenly Seed in whom all Nations are blessed Oh keep all in this Seed in which ye are blessed and in which Abraham and all the Faithful were blessed without the Deeds of the Law for the Promise was and is to and with the Seed and not with the Law of the First Covenant In this Seed all Nations and ye are blessed which bruiseth the Head of the Seed that brought the Curse and separated between Man and God This is the Seed which reconciles you to God and this is the Seed in which ye are blessed both in Temporals and Spirituals through which ye have an Inheritance among the Sanctified that cannot be defiled neither can any defiled thing enter into its Possession for all defilements are out of this Seed This is that which leavens up into a New Lump and bruiseth the Head of the Wicked Seed that leavens into the Old Lump upon whom the Sun of Righteousness goes down and sets but never goes down and sets to them that walk in the Seed in which all Nations are blessed by which Seed they are brought up to God which puts down that Seed which separated betwixt them and God so that there comes to be nothing betwixt them and God Now all my Dear Friends my desires are that ye may all be Valiant in this heavenly Seed for God and his Truth upon the Earth and spread it abroad answering that of God in all that with it the Minds of People may be turned towards the Lord that he may come to be known and served and worshipped and that ye may all be the Salt of the Earth to make the unseasoned savoury And in the Name of Jesus keep your Meetings who are gathered into it in whose Name ye have Salvation he being in the midst of you whose Name is above every Name under the whole Heaven And so ye have a Prophet and Bishop Shepherd Priest and Counsellor above all the Counsellors and Priests Bishops Prophets and Shepherds under the whole Heaven to exercise his Offices among you in your Meetings that are gathered in his Name For Christ's Meeting and Gathering is above all the Meetings and Gatherings under the whole Heaven And his Body his Church and he the Head of it is above all the Bodies and Churches and Heads under the whole Heaven And the Faith that Christ is the Author of and the Worship that he hath set up and his Fellowship in the Gospel is above all Historical Faiths and the Faith 's that Man hath made together with their Worships and Fellowships under the whole Heaven And now Dear Friends keep your Men and Womens-Meetings in the Power of God the Gospel the Authority of them which brings Life and Immortality to Light in you and this Gospel the Power of God will preserve you in Life and in Immortality which hath brought it to Light in you that ye may see over him that hath darkned and kept from the knowledge of the things of God for it is he and his Instruments which hath darkned you from Life and Immortality that would throw down your Men and Womens-Meetings which were set up in the Power of God the Gospel and would darken you again from this Life and Immortality which the Gospel hath brought to Light and will preserve you in as your Faith stands in this Power of God the Gospel in which every one sees your Work and Service for God And every Heir in the Power of God the Gospel hath right to this Authority which is not of Man nor by Man which Gospel the Power of God is everlasting an everlasting Order an everlasting Fellowship and in the Gospel is everlasting Joy Comfort and Peace which will out-last all those Joys Comforts and Peaces that will have an end and that Spirit also that opposes its Order and the glorious Fellowship Peace and Comfort in it And My Dear Friends my desire is that ye may keep in the Unity of the Spirit that baptizes you all into one Body which Christ is the heavenly and spiritual Head of so that ye may see and bear witness to your heavenly and spiritual Head and so all drink into the One Spirit Which all People upon the Earth are not like to do while they grieve quench and rebel against it nor to be baptized into one Body and to keep the Unity of the Spirit which is the Bond of Peace yea the King of Kings and Lord of Lords his Peace which it is the duty of all true Christians to keep who are inwardly united to Christ So with my Love to you all in the everlasting Seed Swarthmore the 26th of the 7th Month 1678. G. F. There were about this time several Friends in Prison for bearing Testimony to the Truth To whom I was moved to write a few Lines to comfort strengthen and encourage them in their Sufferings having a true sense of their Sufferings upon my spirit and a sympathizing with them therein And that which I writ was after this manner My Dear Friends WHO are Sufferers for the Lord Jesus sake and for the Testimony of his Truth the Lord God Almighty with his Power uphold you and support you in all your Trials and Sufferings and give you Patience and Content in his Will that yâ— may stand valiant for Christ and his Truth upon the Earth over the persecuting and destroying Spirit which makes to suffer in Christ who bruises his Head in whom ye have both Election and Salvation And for God's Elect sake the Lord hath done much from the Foundation of the World as may be seen throughout the Scriptures of Truth and they that touch them touch the Apple of God's Eye they are so tender to him And therefore it is good for all God's suffering Children to trust in the Lord and to wait upon him for they shall be as Mount Sion that cannot be removed from Christ their Rock and Salvation who is the Foundation of all the Elect of God of the Prophets and the Apostles and of God's People now and to the End Glory to the Lord and the Lamb over all Remember my dear Love to all Friends and do not think the time long for all Time is in the Father's hand his Power And therefore keep the Word of Patience and exercise that Gift and the Lord strengthen you in your Sufferings in his holy Spirit of Faith Amen Swarthmore the 5th of the 12th Month 1678. G. F. I abode in the North at this time above a year having Service for the Lord amongst Friends there and being much taken up in writing Books and Papers some in Defence of Truth in Answer to Books published by Adversaries and some for the opening the Principles and Doctrines of Truth to the World that they might come to have a
all your Sacrifices will be a sweet savour to the Lord and ye will be as the Lilies and Roses and Garden of God which gives a sweet smell unto him Whose Garden is preserved by his Power that is the Hedge that hedges out all the unruly and unsavoury and the Destroyers and Hurters of the Vines Buds and Plants and God's tender Blade which springs up from his Seed of Life who waters it with his heavenly Water and Word of Life every moment that they may grow and be fruitful that so he may have a pleasant and fruitful Garden And so here all are kept fresh and green being watered every moment with the everlasting holy Water of Life from the Lord the Fountain So my dear Friends my desire is that this heavenly Seed that bruises down the Head of the Serpent both within and without may be all your Crowns and Lifes and ye in him one another's Crown and Joy to the praise of the Lord God over all blessed for evermore This holy Seed will out-last and wear out all that which the evil Seed since the Fall of Man hath brought forth and set up And as every one hath received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk in him in the Humility which he teaches and shun the occasions of Strife vain Janglings and Disputings with Men of Corrupt Minds who are destitute of the Truth for the Truth is peaceable and the Gospel is a peaceable Habitation in the Power of God which was before the Devil was and his Wisdom is peaceable and gentle c. And his Kingdom stands in Peace Oh! his Glory shines over all his Works And in Christ Jesus ye will have Peace who is not of the World yea a Peace that the World cannot take away for the Peace which ye have from him was before the World was and will be when it is gone So they are not like to take his Peace away from his People This keeps all in that which is weighty and substantial over all Chaff and will be when it is gone Glory to the Lord God over all for ever and ever Amen! And now My dear Friends the Lord doth require more of you than he doth of other People because he hath committed more to you He requires Fruits of his Spirit and of the Light and of the Gospel and of the Grace and of the Truth for herein is he glorified as Christ said in your bringing forth much Fruit Fruits of Righteousness â—liness Godliness Vertue Truth and Purity so that ye may answer that which is of God in all People And be ye valiant for his everlasting glorious Gospel in God's holy Spirit and Truth keeping in the Vnity and in the holy Spirit Light and Life which is over Death and Darkness and was before Death and Darkness was In this Spirit ye have the Bond of Peace which cannot be broken except ye go from the Spirit and then ye loose this Unity and Bond of Peace which ye have from the Prince of Peace The World also does expect more from Friends than from other People because you profess more Therefore you should be more Just than Others in your Words and Dealings and more Righteous Holy and Pure in your Lives and Conversations so that your Lives and Conversations may preach For the Worlds Tongues and Mouths have preached long enough but their Lives and Conversations have denied what their Tongues have professed and declared And Dear Friends strive to excel one another in Vertue and that ye may grow in Love that excellent Way which unites all to Christ and God And that all may stand up for God's Glory and mind that which concerns the Lord's Honour and Glory that in no wise his Power may be abused nor his Name evil spoken of by any evil Talkers or Walkers but that in all things God may be honoured and ye may glorifie him in your Bodies Souls and Spirits the little time ye have to live So my Love to you all in the holy Seed of Life that reigns over all and is the First and Last in whom ye all have Life and Salvation and your Election and Peace with God through Jesus Christ who destroys him that hath been betwixt you and God so that nothing may be betwixt you and the Lord but Christ Jesus Amen My Life and Love is to you all and amongst you all And the Lord God Almighty by his mighty Power by which he hath preserved all his People unto this day preserve and keep you all in his power and peaceable holy Truth in Unity and Fellowship one with another and with the Son and the Father Amen The 24th of the 3d Month 1679. G. F. Divers other Epistles and Papers I writ unto Friends during my stay in the North One whereof was in a few Lines To Encourage Friends to be bold and valiant for the Truth which the Lord had called them to bear witness to and it was thus worded Dear Friends ALL be Valiant for the Lord's Truth upon the Earth which the Serpent Satan and the Devil is out of and in the Truth keep him out in which you all have Peace and Life and Vnity with God and his Son and one with another And let the Love of God fill all your hearts that in it ye may build up one another and edifie one another in the Light Life and holy Spirit and Power of God the glorious comfortable Gospel of Christ the heavenly Man who is your Lord and Saviour who will fill all your Bottles and Vessels with his heavenly Wine and Water of Life and cloath you with his heavenly Cloathing his fine Linnen that never waxeth old And will arm you with his heavenly Weapons and Armour that ye may stand faithful Witnesses for God and his Son who is come and hath given you an understanding to know him and ye are in him And so walk in him in whom ye all have Life and Salvation and Peace with God So my Love to you all in the Lord Jesus Christ in whom I have laboured and God Almighty in his eternal Power and Wisdom preserve you all to his Glory Amen Swarthmore the 29th of the 10th Month 1679. G. F. The next day having a sense upon me how some that had received the Truth and had Openings thereof for want of keeping low had run out there-from I was moved to give forth the following Epistle as a Warning and Exhortation to all to dwell in Humility My Dear Friends VVHom the Lord in his tender Mercies hath visited with the Day-spring from on high and hath opened you to confess and bow to his Name keep low in your minds and learn of Christ who teacheth you Humility and to keep in it so that in no wise ye that be younger be exalted or puffed up or conceited through your Openings and by that means lose your Conditions by being carried up into Presumption and then fall into Despair and so abuse the Power of God For it was the Apostles care
World Who is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and all Power in Heaven and in Earth is given to him who will reward every Man according to his Words and Works ALL you bearing the Name of Christian Magistrates my desire is that you may all be found in Christ and not only have the Name but be made Partakers of his Divine Nature that ye may be not only Sayers of the Word but Doers of the Word not only Professors of Christ and Talkers of Christ but let Christ rule in your hearts by Faith and be Walkers in Christ For as Christ's great Apostle saith As every one hath received the Lord Jesus Christ so let him walk in him 1680. Kingston for in him there is peace And if all that do Profess Christ did Walk in Christ they would all Walk in Peace and be in Unity For the Apostle exhorted the Christians in his day to keep the Vnity of the Spirit which is the Bond of Peace yea of Christ the King of Kings Peace And all Christians who have the Scriptures and are not in this Spirit of Christ they are not in Unity one with another and so have broken this Bond of Peace which should knit and unite them together And likewise all that do profess the Truth of Christ should live in it for it is peaceable and the Gospel is the Gospel of Peace which if all Christians that do profess it lived in they would be at peace one with another and in the glorious Fellowship of the Gospel And also if all Christians kept in the Fear of God which is the beginning of the pure heavenly peaceable and gentle Wisdom which is easie to be entreated above that Wisdom which is earthly sensual devillish and destroying then there would be no difference and destroying about Matters of Religion I do declare the mighty Day of the Lord is Come and Coming and the Lord God is come to Teach his People himself by his Son Hebr. 1. whose Son Christ Jesus bruises the Serpent's Head that false Teacher that led Adam and Eve from God their Teacher So God will Teach his People by his Son who was the Teacher of Adam and Eve in Paradise before they fell and disobeyed the Lord and forsook him and followed the Serpent whose Head Christ does bruise and renews Man and Woman up again into the Image of God which Adam and Eve was in before they fell Glory and Honour be to God through Jesus Christ who hath called us by his Son into his glorious Image to serve and worship him in his Spirit and Truth which holy Spirit and Truth the Devil is out of and cannot come into it And now I desire all Christian Magistrates to take heed of Persecuting any though they differ from you in Matters of Faith Worship and Religion For Christ saith Let the Tares and the Wheat grow together till the Harvest and he forbad such as would be plucking up Tares The Reason was Lest they should pluck up the Wheat also for that Christ said should be his Angels work to separate the Tares from the Wheat Moreover Christ said They should go into everlasting Punishment that did not Visit him in Prison in his Members Then what will become of them that Cast him into Prison where he is made manifest in his Members Oh lay these things to heart A Day of Judgment will come Vengeance and Recompence upon every one according to their Works And Christ said to his Disciples who would have had Fire to come down from Heaven to consume them that would not receive him He turned him about and rebuked them and told them They did not know what spirit they were of for he came not to destroy mens Lives but to save them And therefore let all the Magistrates and the Priests in that which is called Christendom consider who have destroyed Mens and Womens Lives since the Apostles days because they could not Receive their Religions Ways and Worships or Conform to them which they have made and set up Have they known what Spirit they have been of Are they not all reproved by and come under the Judgment of Christ Therefore let all Persecution be laid away concerning Religion and let Love bear the sway to overcome Evil and Enemies and let Patience over-sway Passion in all such doings that all may retain the heavenly Reason and the pure Understanding that your Moderation in true Christianity may be known to all Men. For have you not the Turks Jews Tartars Indians and Atheists Eyes upon you and upon Christendom And therefore be in Unity and let not the Name of God and Christ be blasphemed amongst them by means of any that bear the Name of Christians So that God may be glorified by all and in all through Jesus Christ who is over all who calls all to Peace who is blessed for ever And now I would have you to be as Noble as the Bereans and search the Scriptures of Christ and the Apostles where-ever he or they did give any Command to Imprison Banish Persecute or put to Death any that would not receive or conform to them or that were contrary-minded to them in Religion or differ'd from them in Matters of Worship Again I desire all Christian Magistrates to search both Scriptures and Chronicles and see what was the End of all Persecutors and what Judgments came upon them What came to Cain who was the first Persecutor for Matters of Faith and Sacrifice Did not he become a Runnagade a Vagabond and a Fugitive in the Earth What became of the Old World that grieved God and Noah a Preacher of Righteousness What became of Sodom that vex'd Just Lot What became of Pharaoh that persecuted God's People in Egypt though the more he persecuted them the more they grew What became of Ahab and Jezabel that persecuted the Lord's Prophets And what became of Haman that would have destroyed the Jews What became of the Jews and Jerusalem that persecuted Christ and the Apostles What was the End of all these Are they not become Vagabonds in the Earth and driven away from their native Country Therefore I beseech you in the Love and Fear of God be so Noble as to search both Scripture and History and let not your divine understanding be clouded What will become of the Beast and Whore spoken of in the Revelations with their false Prophets that have drunk the blood of the Saints Martyrs and Prophets of Jesus must they not all go with the Devil who is a Murderer Destroyer an Enemy and Adversary of Mankind into the Lake of Fire that burns with Brimstone And ye may be sure that Spirit that stirs you up to Persecution let it be in whomsoever it will is not of Christ and of his Lamb-like Nature who takes away the Sins of the World not the Lives of Men. Paul was a Persecutor and a Haler to Prison before he was converted to Christianity but never after And therefore are not all
in Saul's nature let them be of what Name or Profession soever they be that are Persecutors and unconverted into Paul's Life of Christianity He said the Life that he did live after he was Converted was by the Faith in the Son of God And that He lived yet not He but Christ lived in him who came to save mens Lives and not to destroy them Which Life should be the Life of all Christians now which Paul in his converted state lived in And the Apostle saith The Law is good if a man use it lawfully knowing this that the Law is not made for a righteous man but for the Lawless and for the Ungodly and Sinners and for Unholy and Prophane and for Murtherers of Fathers and Mothers and for Manslayers for Whoremongers and for them that defile themselves with Mankind for Menstealers Liars and Perjured Persons 1 Tim. 1. So the Law in its place is good against such Again the Apostle says The Law was added because of Transgression Gal. 3.19 Now here all Magistrates may see what the Law in its place is good against and what it was made for and against and what Evils the Apostle says it takes hold upon He does not say the Law should be laid upon Men that differed from them in their Religion and Judgment nor upon the Righteous men And so you may see in what condition the Law is good and what it was made against not against Righteous men against whom they have nothing in their Lives and Conversations only because they differ from them in Matters of Religion and let Manslayers Whoremongers Perjured Persons Vngodly Prophane Persons Liars c. go unpunished Such do not use nor execute the Law lawfully as the Apostle says The Law is good if a man use it lawfully Therefore it ought to be used lawfully which Law the Apostle says is for the punishment of the Evil-Doers and a praise for them that do well as may be seen Rom. 13. And so as the Apostle said We do not break the Law nor make it void but we establish the Law Rom. 3.31 Kingston upon Thames the 4th of the first Month 1680 1. This is from him who desires the Eternal Good and Salvation of you all in Christ Jesus Amen G. F. After I had finished these Services there I returned to London where I stay'd about a Month London labouring amongst Friends in the Work of the Lord both in publick Meetings for Worship and in the Meetings relating to the outward Affairs of the Church Waltham-Abbey Flamsteadend Edmunton Enfield Winchmore-hill Then feeling my Spirit drawn to visit Friends about Enfield-side I went down to Waltham-Abbey where I had a very precious Meeting and another at Flamstead-Heath not far from thence And having spent some time amongst Friends there and thereabouts and had divers good Meetings at Edmunton Enfield Winchmore Hill 1681. London Yearly Meeting and other places there aways I came back to London a little before the Yearly Meeting which was in the Third Month 1681 it was a very precious Meeting in which the Glorious Presence and Power of the Lord was eminently felt and enjoyed Some time after the Yearly Meeting was over it came upon me to write the following Epistle which I directed To the Quarterly Mens and Womens Meetings that are gathered in the Name and Power of Jesus CHrist the second Adam who is both Head and Husband of his Church and Redeemer and Purchaser and Saviour and Sanctifier and Reconciler of his Sons and Daughters his Church to God I say his Presence to wit Christ's feel among you to exercise his Prophetical Office in opening of you with his Light Grace Truth Power and Spirit and to exercise his Office as he is a Bishop to Oversee you with his Light Grace Power and Spirit that ye do not go astray from God And as Christ is a Shepherd feel see and hear him exercising that Office who has laid down his Life for his Sheep and is feeding them in his living Pastures of Life and makes them to drink of his living Eternal Springs And let him rule and govern in your Hearts as he is King that his heavenly and spiritual Government all may live under as true Subjects of his righteous peaceable Kingdom which stands in Righteousness and Power and Joy in the Holy Ghost over Satan and his Power and the unclean unholy Ghost and all unrighteousness So all ye Subjects to Christ's Kingdom of Peace if ye want Wisdom or Knowledge or Life or Salvation Christ is the Treasure feel him the Treasure among you And every one among you as ye have received Christ walk in him in whom ye have all Peace who bruises the Head of the Serpent that is the Author of all Strife Distraction and Confusion yea you have Peace with God and one with another though the Trouble be from the World and the World's Spirit And therefore My dear Friends Brethren and Sisters Love one another with the Love that is of God shed in your hearts that ye may bear the Maâ—ks of Christ's Disciples and it may appear that Christ is in you and ye in him so that God Almighty may be glorified among you And whatever ye do let it be done in the Name of Jesus to the praise of God the Father keeping in Vnity in the Holy Spirit of God which was before the unholy Spirit was Which holy Spirit is your Bond of Peace yea the holy King of Kings and Lord of Lords his peace And in this holy pure Spirit is your eternal Vnity and Fellowship in which Spirit of Truth ye do serve and worship the God of Truth who is God over all blessed for ever Amen So the Lord guide you all with his Word of Patience Word of Life Power and Wisdom in all your Actions Lives Conversations and Meetings to God's glory 1681. London My Love to you all in the Lord Jesus Christ by whom all things were made and who is over all the First and the Last London the 9th of the 4th Month 1681. G. F. About this time I had occasion to go to several of the Judges Chambers upon a Suit about Tithes For both I and my Wife and several other Friends were sued in Cartmel-Wapentake-Court in Lancashire for small Tithes and we had demurred to the Jurisdiction of that Court. Whereupon the Plaintiff prosecuted us into the Exchequer-Court at Westminster where they run us up to a Writ of Rebellion for not Answering the Bill upon Oath and got an Order of Court to the Sergeant to take me and my Wife into Custody This was a little before the Yearly Meeting at which time it was thought they would have taken me up and according to outward appearance it was likely indeed that he would and very easie for him to have done it I lodging at the same places where I used to lodge and being very publick in Meetings But the Lord's Power was over them and restrained them so
First Month 1683. I went to Kingston upon Thames and it being then a time of Persecution as I went to the Meeting I met the Chief Constable who had been at the Meeting-Place Kingston upon Thames and had set Watchmen there to keep us out yet he was pretty Civil and the Watchmen let Friends have a couple of Forms out to sit upon in the High-way so Friends met together there and a very precious Meeting we had for the refreshing Presence of the Lord was with us in which we parted in peace Having visited and encouraged Friends there I returned to London and went to the Meeting at Bull and Mouth London Bull and M. Meeting where the Constables with their Watchmen kept a Guard to keep Friends out of the House So we met in the Street and when any Friend spake the Officers and Watchmen made a great bustle to pull him down and take him into Custody After some other Friends had spoken it was upon me to speak and I said Heaven is God's Throne and Earth is his Footstool and will ye not let us stand upon God's Footstool to worship and serve the living God While I spake they were quiet and after I had cleared my self of what was upon me to speak we brake up our Meeting in peace This was on the Sixth-day of the Week On the First-day of the Week following I was moved to go to the Meeting at Gracious-street and when I came there Grac. Meet I found a Guard set at the Entrance in Lumbard-street and another at the Gate in Gracious-street to keep Friends out of the Meeting-Place so that we were fain to meet abroad in the Street After some time I got a Chair and stood up in it and spake largely to the People Opening the Principles of Truth to them and declaring many weighty Truths concerning Magistracy and concerning the Lord's Prayer There was besides Friends a great Multitude of People and amongst them many Professors and all was very quiet for the Lord's Power was over all and in the Lord's time we broke up our Meeting and departed in peace The next day I went down to Guilford in Surrey Surrey Guilford Sussex Worminghurst and having visited Friends there I passed from thence to Worminghurst in Sussex where I had a very blessed Meeting among Friends and free from disturbance While I was there James Claypoole of London who with his Wife was there also was suddenly taken very ill with so violent a Fit of the Stone 1683. Worminghurst that he could neither stand nor lie but through the extremity of pain cried out like a Woman in Travel When I heard it I was much exercised in Spirit for him and went to him and after I had spoken a few words to him to turn his mind inward I was moved to lay my hand upon him and prayed the Lord to rebuke his Infirmity And as I laid my hand on him the Lord's Power went through him and through Faith in that Power he had speedy Ease so that he quickly fell into a sleep And when he awaked the Stone came from him like dirt and he was so well that the next day he rode with me five and twenty miles in a Coach though he used formerly as he said to lie sometimes two weeks sometimes a month with one of those Fits of the Stone But the Lord was intreated for him and by his Power soon gave him Ease at this time blessed and praised be his holy Name therefore Now after I had had some Meetings in Sussex and Surrey and had visited Friends there aways I returned to London by Kingston Kingston where I had a Meeting on the First-day of the second Month being the First-day of the Week also We were kept out of the Meeting-House by a Constable and Watchmen as before and so were fain to meet in the High-way But it being the Monthly-Meeting-day and many of the World's People being there the Meeting was pretty large and very quiet and the Lord's blessed Presence was amongst us blessed be his Name for ever London Wheel Meet Being come to London I went to the Meeting at Wheeler-street near Spittle-fields which that day proved very large For besides that there were more Friends there that day than usually there came also many Professors to the Meeting that day and a glorious blessed Meeting it was for the Lord's Power and Truth was over all and many deep and weighty things were opened to the People to their great Satisfaction I tarried now in and near about London visiting Friends Meetings and labouring in the Service of the Gospel until the Yearly-Meeting came on which began on the 28th of the third Month this Year It was a time of great Sufferings and much concerned I was lest Friends that came up out of the Countries on the Churches-Service should be taken and imprisoned at London But the Lord was with us and his Power preserved us and gave us a sweet and blessed Opportunity to wait upon him and be refreshed together in him and to perform those Services for his Truth and People for which we met Now inasmuch as it was a time of great Persecution and we understood by our Friends who came out of the several parts of the Nation that in most Counties Friends were under great Sufferings either by Imprisonments or spoilings of Goods or both a concern was weightily upon me lest any Friends that were Sufferers especially such as were Traders and Dealers in the World should hazard the losing of other mens Goods or Estates through their Sufferings Wherefore as the thing opened in me 1683. London I drew an Epistle of Caution to Friends in that Case which I communicated to the Brethren at the Yearly-Meeting and from thence it was sent forth among Friends throughout the Nation A Copy of which here followeth DEar Friends and Brethren in the Lord Jesus Christ who is your only Sanctuary in this day of Storm and Persecution Spoiling of Goods and Imprisonments Let every ones Eye be unto him who has all Power in Heaven and Earth given unto him so that none can touch an hair of your head nor you nor any thing ye have except it be permitted or suffered in this day to Try his People whether their minds be with the Lord or in the Outward things And now Dear Friends take care that all your Offerings may be free and of your own that has cost you something so that ye may not offer of that which is another man's or that which ye are intrusted withal and not your own or Fatherless or Widows Estates but all such things ye may settle and establish in their places You may remember many years ago in a time of great Persecution there were divers Friends who were Traders Shop-keepers and others who had the Concerns of Widows and Fatherless and other Peoples Estates in their hands And when a great Suffering Persecution and Spoiling of Goods
let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all Wisdom teaching and admonishing one another c. Col. 3. And whatsoever ye do in Word or Deed do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ giving thanks to God and the Father by him And above all things put on Charity which is the Bond of Perfectness And the Apostle saith to Timothy Be not thou ashamed of the Testimony of our Lord nor of me his Prisoner but be thou Partaker of the Afflictions of the Gospel according to the Power of God who hath saved us and called us with an holy Calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began 2 Tim. 1.8 9. So here it concerns every one not to be ashamed of the Testimony of our Lord who hath called them by his Grace and not to be ashamed of any of Christ's Prisoners and afflicted Ones for Christ's and his Gospels sake who abolishes Death and brings Life and Immortality to Light through his Gospel You that believe in the Light know it And Peter saith in his General Epistle to the Church of Christ As every man mark every man hath received the Gift so minister the same one to another as good Stewards of the manifold Grace of God If any man speak let him speak as the Oracles of God so not of Men If any man minister let him do it as of the Ability which God gives so not of the Ability of mens Arts and Sciences that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ c. For these Gifts and Grace come from Jesus into the hearts of the Members of his Church whom he is in the midst of And if any man suffer as a Christian let him not be ashamed but let him glorifie God c. And every true Christian hath the presence of Christ who hath all power in Heaven and in Earth given him to support them with his power light and life And Christ saith to his Believers Beware of men for they will deliver you up to the Councils and they will scourge you in the Synagogues and you shall be brought before Governours and Kings for my Names sake for a Testimony against them and the Gentiles But when they deliver you up take no thought how or what ye shall speak for it shall be given you in the same hour what ye shall speak for it is not you that speak but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you And ye shall be hated of all men for my Names sake but he that endureth to the end shall be saved The Disciple is not above his Master nor the Servant above his Lord It is enough for the Disciple that he be as his Master and the Servant as his Lord for if they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub what will they do to his Servant Fear not them which kill the Body but are not able to kill the Soul c. A Sparrow shall not fall to the ground without your heavenly Father c. The hairs of your head are all numbred ye are of more value than many Sparrows Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven But whosoever shall deny me before Men him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven And whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed c. Matth. 10. And again Christ saith Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful Generation of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in the Glory of his Father with his holy Angels Mark 8.38 And Christ saith to his Disciples He that receiveth you receiveth me and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me He that receiveth a Prophet in the name of a Prophet shall receive a Prophet's reward And he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a Cup of cold water only in the name of a Disciple verily I say unto you he shall in no wise lose his reward Matth. 10.40 41 42. Here ye may see how Christ encourages his Disciples and them that receive them And John saith Among the chief Rulers of the Jews many believed in Christ but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him lest they should be put out of the Synagogue John 12.42 Too many such Believers are now a-days who dare not Confess Christ lest they should lose the favour of men But Christ encourages the faithful Disciples and told them They would put them out of their Synagogues yea that the time should come that whosoever killed them would think they did God service And these things said he will they do unto you because they have not known the Father nor me But these things have I told you that when the time shall come ye may remember that I told you of them John 16.2 3 4. Here ye may see what Christ told his Disciples should come to pass to them And Saul before he was Converted did Compel the Christians to blaspheme and made havock of the Church of Christ Acts 8. and chap. 22. and 26. And did not the Beast in the Revelations Compel both small and great to worship him and his Image And did not all worship it but they who had their Names written in the Lamb's Book of Life before the Foundation of the World And did not Nebuchadnezzar set up an Image sixty Cubits high and six Cubits broad And then did not he cause an Herauld to cry aloud It is commanded that all People and Nations and Languages fall down and worship the golden Image that Nebuchadnezzar hath set up And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of the fiery Furnace And were not Shadrach Meshach and Abednego cast into the Furnace Dan. 3. But God delivered them Therefore it is good to be faithful to God and his Worship in Spirit and Truth And the Jews had agreed that if any man should Confess Christ he should be put out of their Synagogue John 9.22 So it was for Christ's sake they were Excommunicated out of their Synagogues But as it is written Behold I lay in Sion a Stumbling-stone and a Rock of Offence and who so believes on him shall not be ashamed So Christ is a Stumbling-stone and a Rock of Offence to all the Unbelievers in the Light which is the Life in Christ whether they be Jews Christians or Gentiles The Jews did believe a Christ was To come from the Scriptures And the Christians believe He is come by the Scriptures but do not believe in the Light which is the Life in Christ as Christ commands and so do not become the
were many loose Spirits there yet they were bound down by the Power and Spirit of the Lord that they could not get up to make disturbance About this time I was moved to write the following Epistle Friends and Brethren WHO have received the peaceable Truth let the fruits of its peaceableness and of your quiet Spirit appear in all your Meetings and in all your Words and Actions for he that inhabits Eternity dwells with an humble heart and he gives Grace to the humble and resisteth the proud Heaven is his Throne and the Earth ye walk upon is his Foot-stool happy are ye that see and know him that is Invisible And now Friends ☞ Let all things be done in your Meetings and otherways in Love without strife or vain-glory For Love fulfils the Law and Love overcomes and edifies the Body of Christ and builds it up and there is neither Self nor Envy in Love neither is it pufft up but abides and bears all things So see that this Love of God have the sway in you all and over you all Christ saith Blessed are the Poor in Spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted Blessed are the Meek for they shall inherit the Earth Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after Righteousness for they shall be filled Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain Mercy Blessed are the Pure in heart for they shall see God Blessed are the Peace makers for they shall be called the Children of God Blessed are they that are Persecuted for Righteousness sake for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsly for my sake rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in Heaven For so persecuted they the Prophets which were before you Now Friends here is a great deal in these words And all must be in these States and Conditions if they have these Blessings And the Children of God are Peace-makers and strive to make Peace in the Truth and to live in Peace with all men if it be possible So live in the Peace and the Good-will to all men which Good-will is both for their Sanctification and Salvation And Friends consider The Wisdom of God which is from above is pure peaceable and gentle and easie to be entreated full of mercy and good fruits without Partiality and without Hypocrisie And now Dear Friends let this pure peaceable gentle Wisdom that is from above that is easie to be entreated 1683. London and is full of mercy and good fruits be exercised and practised in all the true Churches of Christ so that Wisdom may be justified of her Children For the Works of the Flesh or fleshly Spirit are Hatred Variance Wrath Strife Envyings Drunkenness Revilings Adultery Fornication Lasciviousness Uncleanness c. and they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God But the Fruits of the Spirit of God are Love Joy Peace Long-suffering Gentleness Goodness Faith Meekness Temperance c. And so Dear Friends and Brethren strive to exceed one another and all People upon the Earth in Humility in Meekness in Gentleness in Temperance in Love and in Patience in Pureness and in Mercy and then ye will shew forth the Fruits of the Spirit of God and of his heavenly Wisdom that is from above And in this Wisdom will be justified of her Children and ye will be the Salt of the Earth and the Light of the World set on an Hill that cannot be hid and your Moderation will appear to all men And be ye just and righteous and faithful and true in all your Words Dealings and Conversations so that ye may answer the Truth in all People For Christ saith his Father is glorified by such as bring forth Fruits when men do see their good Works for he that doth Righteousness is accepted with God And he that dwells in Love dwells in God for Love is his Habitation And let that be the Habitation of every one that hath received the Truth for if it be not such do not dwell in God let them profess what they will And therefore my desire is that all you who have received Christ the Seed which bruises the Serpent's head may walk in him your Sanctuary Life and Salvation your Rest and Peace Amen London the 14th of the 6th Month 1683. G. F. I continued yet at London labouring in the Work and Service of the Lord both in Meetings and out sometimes visiting the Friends that were in Prison for the Testimony of Jesus encouraging them in their Sufferings and exhorting them to stand faithful and stedfast in the Testimony which the Lord had committed to them to bear sometimes also visiting those that were sick and weak in Body or troubled in Mind helping to bear their Spirits up from sinking under their Infirmities Sometimes our Meetings were quiet and peaceable sometimes they were disturbed and broken up by the Officers One First-day it was upon me to go to the Meeting at the Savoy Sav. Meet and it was a large Meeting for many Professors and sober People were there And the Lord opened many precious weighty things in me to the People which I declared amongst them and directed them to the Spirit of God in themselves which the Lord had given them a measure of that all by the Spirit might understand the Scriptures which were given forth from the Spirit of God And that by the Spirit of God they might know God and Christ whom God hath sent whom to know was Eternal Life And that by the Spirit they might all come into Christ and know him to be their Sanctuary who destroys the Devil the Destroyer and his works and bruises the Serpent's head For Christ was a Sanctuary to them to whom he was a Saviour whom he saved from the Destroyer And Christ did baptize them with the holy Ghost and with Fire and did thorowly purge his floor and burn up their Chaff with unquenchable fire that is Sin and Corruption which is got into Man and Woman by their Transgression But Christ gathereth his Wheat into his Garner So all that are baptized with Christ's Baptism their Wheat is in God's Garner and no Spoiler can get into God's Garner to meddle with the Wheat there though they may be permitted to meddle with the outward Goods c. Now as I was speaking in the power of the Lord and the People were greatly affected therewith on a sudden the Constables with the rude People came in like a Sea and one of the Constables said to me Come down and he laid hands on me I asked him Art thou a Christian We are Christians He had hold on my hand and was very fierce to pluck me down but I stood still and spake a few words to the People desiring of the Lord that the Blessings of God might rest upon them all
The Constable still called upon me to Come down and at length pluckt me down and bid another Man with a Staff Take me and carry me to Prison That Man had me to another Officer's house who was more Civil and after a while they brought in Four Friends more whom they had taken I was very Weary and in a great Sweat and several Friends hearing where I was came to me in the Constable's house but I bid them all go their ways lest the Constables and Informers should stop them After a while the Constables had us almost a Mile to a Justice who was a fierce passionate Man who after he had asked me my Name and his Clerk had taken it down in writing upon the Constable's informing him That I preached in the Meeting said in an angry manner Do not you know that it is contrary to the King 's Laws to preach in such Conventicles contrary to the Liturgy of the Church of England There was present one Shad a wicked Informer who was said to have broken Gaol at Coventry and to have been burnt in the hand at London who hearing the Justice speak so to me stept up to him and told him That he had Convicted them on the Act of the 22d of King Charles the Second What! You Convict them said the Justice Yes said Shad I have Convicted them and you must Convict them too upon that Act. With that the Justice was Angry with him and said You Teach me What are you I 'le Convict them of a Riot The Informer hearing that and seeing the Justice Angry went away in a Fret and so he was disappointed of his purpose I thought he would have sworn some body against me whereupon I said Let no man swear against me for it is my Principle Not to swear and therefore I would not have any man Swear against me The Justice thereupon asked me If I did not preach in the Meeting I told him I did Confess what God and Christ had done for my Soul and did praise God and I thought I might have done that in the Streets and in all Places viz. Praise God and Confess Christ Jesus and this I was not ashamed to Confess Neither was this contrary to the Liturgy of the Church of England The Justice said The Laws were against such Meetings as were contrary to the Liturgy of the Church of England I said I knew no such Laws against our Meetings but if he did mean that Act that was made against such as did Meet to Plot and Contrive and raise Insurrections against the King we were no such People but did abhor all such Actions and did bear true Love and Good-will to the King and to all Men upon the Earth The Justice then asked me If I had been in Orders I told him No. Then he took his Law-books and searched for Laws against us bidding his Clerk take the Names of the rest the mean time But when he could find no other Law against us the Clerk sware the Constable against us Some of the Friends bid the Constable Take heed what he swore lest he were perjured for he took them in the Entry and not in the Meeting Yet the Constable being an Ill Man swore That they were in the Meeting However the Justice said Seeing there was but one Witness he would discharge the rest but he would send me to Newgate and I might preach there he said I asked him If it stood with his Conscience to send me to Newgate for praising God and for Confessing Christ Jesus He cried Conscience Conscience but I felt my words toucht his Conscience He bid the Constable Take me away and he would make a Mittimus to send me to Prison when he had dined I told him I desired his peace and the good of his Family and that they might be kept in the fear of the Lord So I passed away And as we went the Constable took some Friends word that I should come to his house the next Morning by the ' eighth hour Accordingly I did go with those Friends and then the Constable told us That he went to the Justice for the Mittimus after he had dined and the Justice bid him Come again after the Evening-Service which he did and then the Justice told him He might let me go So said the Constable you are discharged I blamed the Constable for turning Informer and swearing against us and he said He would do so no more Next day the Justice meeting with Gilbert Laty asked him If he would pay Twenty pounds for George Fox 's Fine He said No. Then said the Justice I am disappointed for being but a Lodger I cannot come by his Fine and he having been brought before me and being of ability himself I cannot lay his Fine on any other After I was discharged I went up into the City And the same Week the Sessions coming on where many Friends were concerned some as Prisoners and some on Trials of Appeals upon the Conventicle-Act I went to a Friend's house not far off that I might be in readiness to Assist those Friends with Counsel or otherwise as occasion should offer and I found Service in it But as my Spirit was concerned on behalf of Friends with respect to their outward Sufferings by the Persecutors without so an Exercise also came weightily upon me at this time in the sense I had of the Mischievous Working of that Adulterated Spiritâ— which being gone out from the heavenly Vnity and having drawn out some that profest Truth into Enmity and Opposition against Friends endeavoured to trouble the Church of Christ with their janglings and contention And as a further discovery of the working of that seducing Spirit and a Warning to all Friends to beware of it I was moved to write the following Epistle directed thus To all the Elect Faithful Called and Chosen of God who are the Flock and Heritage of God who have been acquainted with the Dealings of the Lord and have kept your habitations in his Life Power and Truth being built upon the holy and heavenly Rock and Foundation Christ Jesus who was the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles which Foundation stands sure MAny Foundations have been laid since the Apostles days by such as have gone from Christ the true and sure Foundation and their Foundations have proved rotten and come to nought and they themselves have come to Loss And many since the day of Christ and the Truth hath appeared in this Nation have come out and have had some Openings and Sights and come among us for a time and then gone out from us again who have been the Comers and Goers like such as were in the Apostles days Such have had an outward Profession of the Truth and such have gone from the true Foundation Christ Jesus and so from the heavenly Society and Unity of the Saints in Light And then they set up Foundations of their own and having a Form of Godliness but out of the
Power thereof out of the Order thereof such have turned to Janglings and vain Disputings This sort of Spirit you have been acquainted with who have kept your habitations in Christ Jesus the First and the Last And you are not unsensible of the scurrilous and filthy Books of Lies and Defamations which have been spread abroad in this Nation and beyond the Seas against the Faithful And it is very well that the Lord hath suffered them to publish their own shame in print that Truth 's Enemies may be discovered that their Fruits and Spirits have appeared and manifested themselves both in print and otherwise And I do believe that the Lord will yet suffer this Spirit that it shall so publish forth its Fruits to its publick Shame and Nakedness to Professor and Prophane and to all sober moderate and innocent People that its Shame and Nakedness shall more fully appear And though for a time it hath been hid and covered with the Fig-leaves and an Outward Profession and sometimes with fawning and flattering words as at other times it hath discovered it self by rough lying and defaming words yet the Lord God will blast all such vain Talkers that do not walk in the Order of Life Truth and the Gospel And therefore ye that are Faithful stand fast in the Liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free in his Government It is upon his Shoulders he bears it up Of the Increase of it and of its peace there is no end For all the Quarrellers against his Order and Government are without him and without his heavenly spiritual Government and Peace And therefore ye Faithful Ones who have had the Trial through many Persecutions Imprisonments Spoilings of Goods you know that there is a Crown of Glory laid up for you and you that Suffer with Christ shall Reign with him in his Kingdom of Glory and ye that die with Christ shall live with Christ in the Eternal Life in the World that hath no End Who have gone through the Sufferings without and within by false Brethren by Comers and Goers that have caused the Way of Truth to be evil spoken of and have been the Persecuters of the Faithful with their Tongues though they have not had power to do it with their Hands And by printing and publishing their lying defaming Books against the Faithful they have stirred up the Magistrates and Priests who were willing to get any occasion to speak evil of the right Way and precious Truth of Christ by which his People are made free Such had better they had never been born But God hath brought them to light and their Fruits and ravenous Spirit is seen savoured and known who are become Judases and Sons of Perdition to betray Christ now within where he is made manifest to the Priests Magistrates and Prophane as Judas did betray Christ without to the Priests and Pilate Though some of the Magistrates and sober People do see their Envy and Folly and that they have more Malice than Matter against the Faithful But the Lord will consume this Judas or Son of Perdition The Lord will consume him with the Spirit of his Mouth and shall destroy him with the brightness of his Coming And so let all the Faithful look unto the Lord. And let that wicked Son of Perdition know though he may be got as high as Judas without who was partaker of the Ministry with the Apostles The Lord will consume him with the Spirit of his Mouth and destroy him with the brightness of his Coming That is his portion So the brightness of the Lord will destroy him and the Spirit of his Mouth will consume him And when he is destroyed and consumed there will not be a Son of Perdition to betray Christ in his People and his People that live and walk in Christ who hath all power in Heaven mark in Heaven and in Earth given to him and with his holy and glorious Power he limits and orders so that nothing shall be done against his People but what is suffered for their Trial and for their Good neither by Apostates Persecutors with the Tongue Judases Sons of Perdition to betray or the outward Powers to Imprison or spoil Goods All these are limited by Christ's Power who hath all Power in Heaven and Earth given to him And every ones Faith is to stand in him and his power and rejoice in his power and see the increase of his righteous holy heavenly spiritual peaceable Government in which the glorious holy order of life is lived and walked in by all his Sons and Daughters And in his Spirit is the holy Unity and Bond of Peace Though ye be absent in the Body or Flesh one from another yet all joying and rejoicing being present in his Spirit and beholding in the same Spirit your spiritual Order Unity and Fellowship and the steadfastness of your Faith in Christ Jesus who is steadfast for ever the First and the Last whose Presence is among his People and who is their Head Here is heavenly Sion known and heavenly Jerusalem and the innumerable Company of Angels which are Spirits and the Spirits of the just men made perfect Here is the general Assembly or general Meeting and a general heavenly holy and spiritual joy and rejoicing lauding and praising the Lord the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb that lives for evermore Amen London the 14th of the 8th Month 1683. G. F. Read this in your Assemblies amongst the Faithful I tarried yet a little while in London visiting Friends and Meetings and labouring in the Work of the Lord there And being on a First-day at the Bull and Mouth Bull and M. Meeting where the Meeting had long been kept out but was that day in the House peaceable and large the People were so affected with the Truth and refreshed with the powerful Presence of the Lord that when the Meeting was ended they were loth to go away After some time having several things upon me to write I went to Kingston Kingston that I might be free from Interruptions And when I came there I understood the Officers had been very Rude at the Meeting there nipping and abusing Friends and had driven them out of the Meeting-Place and very abusive they continued to be for some time Among other things that I writ whilst I was there one was a little Book printed soon after the Title whereof was The Saints heavenly and spiritual Worship Vnity and Communion c. wherein is set forth what the true Gospel-worship is and in what the true Vnity and Communion of the Saints stands with a discovery of those that were gone from this holy Unity and Communion and were turned against the Saints that abode therein When I had finished the Services for which I went thither and had visited the Friends there I returned to London and visited most of the Meetings in and about the City Essex Dolston Afterwards I went to visit a Friend in Essex and returning by
Dolston I made some stay at the Widow Stots and there I writ an Epistle to Friends 1683. Dolston declaring the Word of the Lord unto them which Epistle being then printed may be read amongst my other printed Books I came from Dolston to London London and the next day was sent for in haste to my Son Rouse's at Kingston Kingston whose daughter Margaret lay very sick and had a desire to see me I tarried now at Kingston about a week and then returned to London London where I continued for the most part of the Winter and the Spring following until the General Meeting in the Year 1684. save that I went once as far as Enfield to visit Friends thereabouts And in this time I ceased not to labour in the Work of the Lord being frequent at Meetings and visiting Friends that were Prisoners or that were sick and in writing Books for the spreading of Truth and opening the Understandings of People to receive it The Yearly-Meeting was in the Third Month and a blessed weighty Meeting it was wherein Friends were sweetly refreshed together for the Lord was with us Yearly Meeting and opened his heavenly Treasures amongst us And though it was a time of great difficulty and danger by reason of Informers and persecuting Magistrates yet the Lord was a Defence and Place of Safety to his People Now had I drawings in Spirit to go into Holland to visit the Seed of God in those Provinces And as soon as the Yearly Meeting was over and most of the Country-Friends gone out of Town I prepared for my Journey There went with me from London Alexander Parker George Watts and Nathaniel Brassey who also had drawings into that Country We took Coach on the 31th of the Third Month 84. and got to Colchester that night Colchester The next day being the First-day of the Week we went to the Meeting there and though there was no notice given of my coming thither yet our being there was presently spread over the Town and in several places in the Country at seven and ten Miles distance so that abundance of Friends came in double-horsed which made the Meeting very Large I had a Concern and Travel in my mind lest this great Gathering should have stirred up the Town and been more than the Magistrates could well bear but it was very quiet and peaceable and a glorious Meeting we had to the settling and stablishing of Friends both in Town and Country for the Lord's Power was over all blessed be his Name for ever Truly the Lord's Power and Presence was beyond words for I was but Weak to go into a Meeting and my Face by reason of a Cold I had taken was sore but God was strong and manifested his strength in us and with us and all was well the Lord have the Glory for evermore for his supporting Power After the Meeting there came I think above an hundred Friends of the Town and Country to see me at John Furley's and very glad we were to see one another and greatly refreshed we were together being filled with the Love and Riches of the Lord blessed be his Name for ever 1684. Colchester We tarried at Colchester two days more which we spent in visiting Friends there both at their Meetings for Business and at their Houses Then early in the Morning on the Fourth-day of the Week Harwich we took Coach for Harwich where we met with William Bingley and Samuel Waldenfield who also went over with us About the eighth hour at night we went on board the Pacquet-Boat of which one Richard Gray was Master but by reason of Contrary Winds it was the first hour in the morning before we sailed We had a very good Passage and about the fifth hour in the Afternoon next day we landed at the Briel in Holland HOLLAND Briel and there we stay'd that night Early next morning we went to Rotterdam Rotterdam where we abode some days The next day after we came to Rotterdam one Wilbert Frouzen a Burgomaster and Kinsman of Aarent Sunneman's hearing that I was there Invited me to his Country-house having a desire to speak with me about some business relating to Aarent Sunneman's Daughters I took George Watts with me and a Brother of Aarent Sunneman's had us thither The Burgomaster received us very kindly and was very glad to see me and entring into discourse about his Kinsman's Daughters I found he was apprehensive that their Father being dead and having left them considerable Portions they might be stollen and married to their disadvantage Wherefore I told him That it was our Principle and Practice that none should Marry amongst us unless they had a Certificate of the Consent of their Relations or Guardians for it was our Christian Care to watch over and look after all young People that came among us especially those whose natural Relations were dead And as for his Kinsman's Daughters we should take care that nothing should be offered to them but what should be agreeable to Truth and Righteousness and that they might be preserved in the Fear of God according to their Father's Mind This seem'd to give him great satisfaction While I was with him there came many great People to me and I exhorted them all to keep in the Fear of God and to mind his good Spirit in them to keep their Minds to the Lord. After I had stay'd two or three hours and had had discourse with him of several things I took my leave of him and he very friendly set me to Rotterdam in his Chariot The next day being the First-day of the Week we were at the Meeting at Rotterdam which was pretty large and we de-declared to the People by an Interpreter The day following one Alderman Gaul came to speak with me and with him I and the other Friends had much discourse about Religious Matters wherewith he seemed to be well satisfied and was very Tender Several other Persons of Account intended to have come to speak with me that day but being hindred by extraordinary business as I understood they came not Amsterdam We went next day from Rotterdam to Amsterdam where we had a large and very precious Meeting And in the Afternoon I was at another Meeting with the Friends there about Business There is a Yearly-Meeting at Amsterdam for the Friends of Holland and Germany c. 1684. Amsterdam which begun now on the Eighth day of the Fourth Month and ended on the Twelfth Here we had a fine Opportunity of seeing Friends from divers parts and of being refreshed together in the Love of God And after this Meeting before the Friends that came out of the several Provinces were gone we had a Meeting with some particular Friends about the Places and Countries into which we who came out of England in the Work of the Ministry were to travel and to understand who among them were suitable Persons to go along
amongst other Services that I found there one was to assist Friends in drawing up Testimony to Clear our Friends from being concerned in the late Rebellion in the West and from all Plots against the Government Which accordingly we did and delivered them to the Chief-Justice who was then to go down into the West with Commission to Try Prisoners I tarried some time in London visiting Meetings and labouring among Friends in the Service of Truth But finding my Health much impaired for want of fresh Air I went a little way out of Town to Charles Bathurst's Country-house at Epping-Forrest Epping-Forrest where I stay'd a few days And while I was there it came upon me to write the following Epistle to Friends Dear Friends WHO are called chosen and faithful in this Day of Trial 1685. Epping-Forest and Temptations and Sufferings whom the Lord by his right Hand hath upholden in all your Sufferings and some to Death for the Lord and his Truths sake Christ saith Be of good cheer I have overcome the World In me ye have peace but in the World ye have trouble The Children of the Seed which be Heirs of the Kingdom know this is true And though ye have Trials by false Brethren Judasses and Sons of Perdition that are got into the Temple of God and exalted above all that is called God whom the Lord will destroy with the breath of his Mouth and the brightness of his Coming And though ye be Tried by Powers or Principalities yet there is nothing able to separate you from the Love of God which ye have in Christ Jesus In that Love dwell which bears all things and fulfils the Law in which edifie one another and be courteous and kind and humble for to such God giveth his Grace plentifully and such he teacheth And pray in the Holy Ghost which proceeds from the Father and the Son and in it keep your holy Communion and Unity in the Spirit the Bond of Peace which is the King of Kings heavenly Peace In that you are all bound to good behaviour and keeping Peace among your selves and seeking the Peace of all men and shewing forth the heavenly gentle and peaceable Wisdom to all men in Righteousness and Truth answering the good in all People in all your Lives and Conversations for the Lord is glorified in your bringing forth spiritual fruit that ye may eye and behold the Lord in all your actions that the Blessings of the Lord ye may all feel to rest upon you Whether ye be the Lord's Prisoners for his Name and Truth 's sake or at Liberty in all things labour to be Content for that is a Continual Feast and let no Trouble move you then ye will be as Mount Sion that cannot be removed And in all things exercise the Word of Patience which Word will sanctifie all things to you And study to be Quiet and do the Lord's business that he requires of you and your own in Truth and Righteousness and whatsoever ye do let it be done to the praise and glory of God in the Name of Jesus Christ All they that do make God's People to suffer they make the Seed to suffer in their own particulars and Imprison the Just there And such will not visit the Seed in themselves but cast it into Prison in Others and not visit it in Prison You may read that Christ saith Such must go into Everlasting Punishment That is a sad punishment and prison And all such as are become Apostates and Backsliders that do crucifie to themselves Christ afresh and put him to open shame and trample under feet the blood of the Son of God by which they were cleansed and then come to be Vnclean such grieve vex and quench and rebel against the Spirit of God in themselves and then such rebel against them that walk in the Spirit of God Such are Vnfaithful to God and Man and are Enemies to every good Work and Service of God But their End will be according to their works who are like unto the Earth that hath often received Rain but brings forth Briars and Thorns which are to be rejected and are for the fire Therefore Dear Friends in all your Sufferings feel the Lord's Eternal Arm and Power which hath upheld you and supported you to this day and will to the end as your Faith stands in it and as you are settled upon the Rock and Foundation Christ Jesus that cannot be removed in whom ye have life and peace with God And so the Lord God Almighty in him give you Dominion and preserve and keep you all to his Glory that in all your Sufferings ye may feel his presence and that when ye have finished your Testimony ye may receive the Crown of Glory which God hath laid up for them that fear and serve him Amen The 15th of the 7th Month 1685. G. F. Having spent about a week at this time among Friends in the Country London I returned to London Where I continued about Two Months visiting Friends Meetings and labouring to get Relief for Friends from their Sufferings which yet lay heavy upon them in many parts of the Nation Several Papers also I writ relating to the Service of Truth one of which was concerning Order in the Church of God which some that were gone out of the Unity of Friends did much oppose And that was as followeth AMong all Societies or Families or Nations of People in the World they have among them some sort of Order There was the Order of Aaron in the Old Testament and there was the Order of Melchizedeck before that after whose Order Christ Jesus came and he did not despise that Order So God is a God of Order in his whole Creation and in his Church And all the Believers in the Light the Life in Christ that do pass from death to life they are in the Order of the holy Spirit Power Light Life and Government of Christ Jesus of the Increase whereof there is no End And this is a Mystery to all those disorderly People who have written and printed so much against Orders which the Lord's Power and Spirit hath brought forth among his People And you that cry so much against Orders is it not manifest that you are gone into a Land of Darkness thick as darkness it self and of the shadow of death into disorder and where the Light is as Darkness And is not this your Condition seen by all them that live and walk in the Truth and whose Conversations are according to the Gospel of Life and Salvation The Devil Satan Dragon and the first and second Beast 1685. London and the Whore and false Prophets and their Worshippers and Followers all these are out of the Truth and abode not in it nor in the Order of it And the Truth is over them all In Salem is God's Tabernacle a peaceable Tabernacle and his Tabernacle is in Shiloh And these are far beyond the Tabernacles of Ham Psal
Reprove those who would have fire to come down from Heaven to destroy them who would not receive him and did not he tell them They did not know what spirit they were of And therefore all who have persecuted Men or taken away their Lives because they would not receive their Religion have they known what spirit they were or are of Therefore is it nor good for all to know by the Spirit of Christ what spirit they are of For the Apostle says Rom. 8.9 If any Man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his And does not the Apostle say 2 Cor. 10.4 The Weapons of our Warfare are not Carnal but Spiritual c. And we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against spiritual wickedness c. Thus we can see here that the Fight of the first Christians and their Weapons in the days of the Apostles were spiritual in matters of Faith Religion and Worship in the Church of Christ Now would not the King and the Magistrates of Dantzick think that it was contrary to their Consciences if they should be forced by the Turk to his Religion Would it not in like manner seem hard to the Magistrates of Dantzick and contrary to their Consciences if they should be forced to the Religion of the King of Poland or the King of Poland if he should be compelled to the Religion of the Magistrates of Dantzick And if they would not be subject thereunto that then they should be banished from their Wives and Families and out of their Native Country or otherwise be fed with Bread and Water under a strict Confinement Therefore we beseech the King with all Christian Humility and the Magistrates of Dantzick that they would order their proceedings in this matter according to the Royal Law of God which is To do unto others as they would have others do unto them and to love their Neighbour as themselves For we have this Charity that we hope and believe that the King of Poland and his People with the Magistrates of Dantzick own the Writings of the New Testament as well as of the Old And therefore we beseech the King and the Magistrates of Dantzick to take heed that their Work of Imprisoning an Innocent People for nothing but their meeting together in Tenderness of Conscience to serve and worship God their Creator may not be contrary and opposite to the Royal Law of God and to the Glorious and Everlasting Gospel of Truth So we desire the King in Christian Love earnestly and weightily to Consider these things and to give Order to set the Innocent Prisoners our Friends called Quakers at Liberty from their strict Confinement in Dantzick that they may have freedom to serve and worship the living God in Spirit and in Truth and go home to their outward Habitations and follow their Trades and Calling to maintain their Wives Children and Families And we believe that the King in doing such a Noble Glorious yea Christian Work will not go unrewarded from the Great God who made him whom we serve and worship who has the hearts of Kings and their lives and length of days in his hands From him who desires that the King and all his Ministers may be preserved in the Fear of God and receive his Word of Wisdom by which all things were made and created that by it he may come to order all things to the Glory of God which God has put under his hand That the King both He and They may enjoy the Comforts and Blessings of the Lord in this Life and in that which is to come Life Eternal Amen London in England the 10th of the 3d Month commonly called May 1684. G. F. Post-script The King may please to Consider that His and all Mens Consciences is the Prerogative of God After this I went to Enfield where Enfield and in the Country thereabouts several Friends had Country-houses not very far from one another amongst whom I tarried some time visiting and being visited by Friends and having Meetings with them Several things I writ in this time relating to the Service of Truth One whereof was concerning Judging For some who were departed from the Truth were so afraid of Truth 's Judgment that they made it much of their business to Cry out against Judging Wherefore I writ a Paper proving by the Scriptures of Truth that the Church of Christ hath power and ability to Judge those that profest to be of it not only with respect to outward things relating to this World but with respect to Religious Matters also A Copy of which follows Concerning Judging THE Natural Man receiveth not the Things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned but he that is spiritual judgeth all things mark all things yet he himself is judged of no Man 1685. Enfield 1 Cor. 2.14 15. So here the Natural Man cannot judge of those things he receives not for they are foolishness to him but he is comprehended by the Spiritual Man and his foolishness and is Judged though he cannot judge the Spiritual Man Do not ye judge them that are within saith the Apostle this Power the Church had and hath therefore put away from amongst your selves that wicked person And did not this Wicked person think you profess and plead for Liberty for his Wickedness and his Freedom as he was a Christian who was lookt upon as a Member of the Church And the Apostle saith For I verily as absent in body yet present in spirit have judged already as though I were present concerning him that hath done this wicked deed 1 Cor. 5.3 12. Here the Apostle did Judge though afar off and set up Judgment in the Church against false Liberty under what pretence soever it was And the Apostle saith Dare any of you having a matter against a Brother go to Law before the Vnjust and not before the Saints Here the Saints the Church are to Judge of things amongst themselves and not for the Unjust to Judge of their Matters Do ye not know the Saints shall judge the World So the Saints are to judge the Unjust and not the Vnjust to judge their Matters And farther the Apostle saith If the World shall be judged by you to wit the Saints are you unworthy to judge the smaller matters amongst you So here it is clear that the Saints have a Judgment given them of Christ by his Power and Spirit Light and Wisdom to judge the World and not to carry their Matters before the Vnjust but to judge of them amongst themselves and if they carry them before the Unjust they shew their unworthiness of the Saints Judgment And further the Apostle saith Know ye not that we shall Judge the Angels and Angels are Spirits how much more the things which pertain to this life If ye then have Judgment of things pertaining to this life set them up to judge who have least
esteem in the Church 1 Cor. 6. So here it is clear the Church of Christ has a Judgment in the Power and Spirit of God not only to Judge in things that pertain to this life but are also to Judge of things betwixt Brethren without Brother going to Law with Brother before Unbelievers which was a fault and to be Judged if they did so But also the Saints have a Judgment to judge Angels that kept not their Habitations and the World And as in Jude He judged the Angels that kept not their habitations their first state And did not he Judge in Divine Matters here and judged the state of Cain and Balaam and Core and such like Christians that were gotten into their steps and were gone as far as they was though they professed themselves Christians And here again he judged in Divine Matters and of their States and Beings who stood in the Divine Principle and who were fallen from it And the Apostle saith Try the spirits and believe not every spirit 1 John 4. And here again was a Judgment in Divine Matters And he judged such as went out from them which whilst they were with them they had sight of things and openings but when they went from them they went from the Anointing and therefore he exhorts the Saints to keep to the Anointing And such as went from them that had the Anointing came to be the Seducers and false Prophets that went into the World And John had a Judgment to try Sacrifices and distinguished Cains from Abels and by the Spirit of God knew which God accepted and which he did not accept as in 1 John 3.12 And the Apostle Paul judged and tried such Messengers and Apostles and Transformers of themselves like to the Apostles of Christ and would have the Church to try such and have the same Judgment as he had 2 Cor. 11. And the Apostle Peter Judged Ananias and Sapphira and judged the Thoughts of Simon Magus who would have been a worker of Miracles for money and was not all this Judgment in Divine Matters And the Apostle Paul Judged the Preachers of Circumcision both in the Romans and in the Galatians For it was the Faith and Liberty of those Preachers to preach up Circumcision though it was a wrong Faith And here did not the Apostle again Judge in Divine Matters And James Judged in Matters of Faith and manifested the living Faith from the dead one And also he Judged in Matters of Religion the vain Religion from the pure Religion and distinguished them And Paul Judged of the false Brethren that would spy out the liberty of the true to whom he would give no place by subjection no not for an hour that the Truth of the Gospel might continue with the Saints as in Gal. 2. And did not the Apostle here Judge in Divine Matters And he Judged concerning the Matters of the Gospel when some came to pervert them with another Gospel and said The Gospel which I received is not of Man neither was I taught it but by the Revelation of Jesus Christ Gal. 1.12 So here was a Judgment to distinguish the Gospel of Christ from all other Gospels which was Accursed which is after Man and received of Man and taught of Man and not by the Revelation of Jesus Christ Gal. 1. And he had a Judgment to know Who made the Gospel Chargeable and who kept it without Charge And he set up a Judgment in the Church that the Believers should not be unequally yoked and to see when Men had a Communion in the Light and when they had it in the Darkness and when with Christ and when with Baal and with the Believer and Vnbeliever and with the Temple of God and with Idols as in 2 Cor. 6. And did he not set up a clear Judgment here in Divine Matters in the Church And the Apostle Judged such Libertines through their knowledge that could sit at Meat in the Idol-Temple which caused the weak Brother to perish through his knowledge and liberty for whom Christ died Now these it 's like did profess it was their Faith and their Liberty but did not keep in the Unity of the true Faith but went about to destroy it 1 Cor. 8. And Peter he gives Judgment upon the Angels that sinned and were cast down into Hell and the state of the Old World and of Sodom and the state of the false Prophets then amongst them that could speak great swelling words of vanity and whilst they promised themselves liberty they themselves were the Servants of Corruptions And had not Peter here a Judgment in Divine Matters These were such whose work was to bring into bondage and these was like the Dog and Sow that was washed which shews that they had been washed but was turned into the Mire again And the Apostle Paul had a Judgment upon such with their fair words and mens wisdom that deceived the hearts of the simple and upon such as served not the Lord Jesus Christ but their own Bellies and were Enemies to the Cross of Christ And therefore he had a Judgment and Discerning who lived in the Cross of Christ and who did not and exhorted all to live in the Cross of Christ the righteous Power of God that slew all Deceit and the Deeds of the Old Man agreeable to Christ's words He that will be my Disciple must take up my Cross and follow me And was not here a Judgment again in Divine Matters and of such as walk in the Divine Power and such as did not And Christ sets up a Judgment in his seven Churches and commends them that did keep in his Judgment and had tried them which said They were Apostles which might pretend they were sent of God and Christ and were not But the Church of Christ had found them Liars And Christ Commended this Judgment of the Church of Ephesus because they had Not born with them that was evil but had tried those false Apostles And Christ commends this Church for that they had hated the deeds of the Nicholaitans which he also hated And had not these Nicholaitans sprung from Nicholas one of the Deacons and was not these become a Sect of Christians though they might talk and preach of Christ but Christ hated them And likewise Christ saith to the Church of Smyrna I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews but are not but are of the Synagogue of Satan So the Church is to have a Judgment upon these blasphemers and are to distinguish from the Jews in the Spirit and such as are not but of the Synagogue of Satan And to the Church in Pergamos Christ had a few things against them because thou hast there them that hold the Doctrines of Balaam c. And also them that hold the Doctrine of the Nicholaitans which I hate Now these that held the Doctrine of Balaam and the Doctrine of the Nicholaitans were got into the Church and might have lookt upon
themselves to be high Christians and took a great Liberty to go into Balaam's Doctrine and Nicholas's Doctrine which was hated by Christ but the Church was to keep a Spiritual and Divine Judgment upon the Heads of all these And to the Church of Thyatira saith Christ I have a few things against thee because thou sufferest the woman Jezabel to teach which seduces my people c. So here was a Suffering which should have been a Judgment by Christ's Spirit upon that Jezabel which was erred from his Spirit and so from Christ and such as these were high Preachers And is not the Church to beware of suffering such now lest they come under the Reproof of Christ for not passing to Judgment against the false Teacher and Seducer And the Church of Sardis that had a name to live but was dead and their works were not found perfect before God Therefore here is a Judgment to be set up in the Church to Judge all Imperfect Works and such as would have a Name but not the Nature or a name to live but are dead And therefore the Living must be in Christ of all Christ's Church living Members and live to his Name Though this Church had a few Names that had not defiled their Garments that did walk in White But such as had a Name to live but are dead whilst they are in the dead state they cannot walk in White nor Judge in Divine Matters And behold saith Christ I will make them of the Synagogue of Satan which say they are Jews but are not but do lie behold I will make them to come and to worship before my feet And to the Church of Laodicea that was neither hot nor cold but lukewarm I would thou wert either cold or hot I will spew thee out of my mouth because thou said'st thou wast rich and wanted nothing when they were wretched miserable poor blind and naked Now this was for want of living in the Power and Spirit of Christ these could talk of high Experiences and great Injoyments but was naked miserable and blind So lived not in the Power and Spirit and Light and Righteousness of Christ by which they might be cloathed and have the Eternal Riches So the Church of Christ had a spiritual Judgment given to them that are faithful in his Power and Spirit and Light to Judge of Temporal things and the things of this Life and to Judge of Eternal and Divine things and States and of Angels and Wicked men and such as goes from Truth and of the states of Election and Reprobation yea and of the Devils who is out of Truth being in Christ Jesus who is the First and Last from whom they have the Eternal Judgment to Judge Eternal Spiritual and Divine things And this Word of Power and Wisdom by which all things were made and by which all things are upheld in this Word of Wisdom to order all things to God's Glory and to Judge of all things in Righteousness And the Apostle Judged and set up a Judgment in the Church of Gifts of Prophecies of Mysteries of Faith and of giving the Body to be burnt and of giving Goods to the Poor and of speaking with Tongues of Men and Angels And yet if they had not Love all this was nothing but as a sounding Brass and tinkling Cymbal Therefore they are to be tried by the Fruits of the good Spirit which is Love So here the Apostle not only Judged himself in Divine Matters but set up a Judgment in the Church in those Spiritual and Divine Matters And the Apostle James here Judges of Fountains and of the Fig-trees and of the Wisdom below and of the Wisdom from above and the Fruits of both Jam. 3. And Paul Judged in Divine Matters when he said The Spirit spake expresly that in the latter times some should depart from the Faith 1 Tim. 4. And he Judged in Divine Matters when he judged all those Teachers that was high-minded and had got the Form of Godliness but denied the Power and termed them like unto Jannes and Jambrâ—s which withstood Moses coming out of outward Egypt as these with their Form of Godliness opposes Christ and his Power that brings them out of spiritual Egypt now And was not he a Judge here in Divine Matters who judged such as had gotten the Form of Godliness but denied the Divine Power 2 Tim 3. And when the Apostle said The Priesthood of Aaron was changed and the Law was changed and the Commandment disanulled that gave them their Tithes did not he Judge here in Divine and Spiritual Matters and was not the Law spiritual which served till the Seed came And did not the Apostle Judge in Divine and Spiritual Matters in the Sixth of the Hebrews where he saith Let us go on to perfection not laying again the foundation of Repentance from dead works and of Faith towards God and of the Doctrine of Baptisms and of laying on of Hands and of the Resurrection of the Dead and of Eternal Judgment and this will we do if God permit c. And so does not the Apostle Judge of such here That it was impossible for those who was once enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift and were partakers of the Holy Ghost and had tasted of the good Word of God and of the power of the World to come if they shall fall away to renew them again unto Repentance seeing they crucifie to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to open shame Hebr. 6. And was not these Spiritual Eternal and Divine Matters and States that the Apostle Judged of and have not the Saints the same Judgment given unto them in the same Spirit Now has not the Apostles and the Church a Spiritual Judgment to Judge of Prophets Mysteries Faith Apostles Angels World and the Devil and is not this Judgment given them of God in Divine Matters besides the Judgment given them in Matters pertaining unto this Life And had not they Judgment to discern the true Gospel from the false and all such as had a Profession of the Form and did not live in the power and such as spoke the things of God in the words that Man's wisdom did teach which things of God were not to be spoken in the wisdom which Man's words taught but in the Word which the Holy Ghost taught And therefore did not the Apostle exhort to know the Power and their Faith to stand in the Power of God for the Kingdom of God stood not in Word but in Power And had not all the Prophets a Divine Judgment to Judge in Divine Matters as see Jeremiah when he Judged the Prophets And Ezekiel Judged all such as came with a pretence of the Word of the Lord using their Tongues and saying Thus saith the Lord when the Lord never spoke unto them as in Jeremiah the 23th and in Ezekiel the 13th and in many other places might be Instanced And did not he judge Hananiah who prophesied
falsly and did not this Hananiah pretend to speak the Word of the Lord to the Priests and People as in Jeremiah the 28th And did not Isaiah judge in Divine Matters when he judged the Watchmen and the Shepherds Isa 56. And did not Micah judge in Divine and Spiritual Matters when he said he was full of the Power by the Spirit of the Lord and of Judgment did not he Judge both of Priests and Prophets and Judges though they would lean upon the Lord and say Is not the Lord amongst us and no evil can come unto us yet did not he let them see their States and Conditions and divided the precious from the vile Mich. 3. And so the rest of the Prophets you may see here they Judged for God in his Divine Matters who served him and who served him not and who lived in truth and who not and likewise the Apostles And this Divine Spiritual Heavenly Judgment was given of God to his holy Men and Women And they that do Judge in God's Divine Matters must live in his Divine Spirit and Power and Light now as they did then which Spiritual and Divine Judgment Christ has given to his Church that be the living Stones and living Members that makes up his spiritual Houshold to try Jews and to try Apostles and to try Prophets and to try Faith and to try Religions and to try Trees and Fruits and to try Shepherds and Teachers and to try Spirits So the living Members have a living and divine Judgment in the Church of Christ which he is the Head of the Judge of all Nay the Church has a Power given them which is farther then a Judgment for what they bind on Earth is bound in Heaven by the Power of God and what they loose on Earth is loosed in Heaven by the Power of God and this Power has Christ given to his living Members the Church The 20th of the 12th Month 1685 6. G. F. to Friends 1686. London I came back to London in the First Month 1686. and set my self with all diligence to look after Friends sufferings which we had now some hopes of getting Relief for The Sessions came on in the Second Month at Hicks's Hall where many Friends had Appeals to be Tried with whom I was from Day to Day to advise and see that no Opportunity were slipt nor Advantage lost and they generally succeeded well Soon after also the King was pleased upon our often laying our Sufferings before him To give order for the Releasing of all Prisoners that were imprisoned for Conscience sake and which were in his power to discharge Whereby the Prison doors were opened and many hundreds of Friends some of whom had been long in Prison were set at Liberty and some of them who had for many years been restrained in Bonds Yearly Meeting came now up to the Yearly-Meeting which was in the Third Month this Year Which caused great Joy to Friends to see our Ancient Faithful Brethren again at Liberty in the Lord's Work after their long Confinements And indeed a precious Meeting we had the refreshing Presence of the Lord appearing plentifully with us and amongst us After the Meeting I was moved to write a few Lines to be sent abroad amongst Friends the tenor whereof was thus Dear Friends MY Love is to you all in the holy Seed Christ Jesus that bruises the Serpent's head and destroys the Devil and his Works and who hath all Power in Heaven and Earth given to him Let every ones Faith stand in him and in his Power who is the Author and Finisher of your Faith And now ye who have been Partakers of his Power and are sensible of it in this Day of his Power that is over all whose day and power is over darkness and its power And by his Power the hearts of the King and Rulers have been opened by which your outward Prison-doors have been set open for your Liberty And therefore my desires are that all may be preserved in Humility and Thankfulness in the sense of the Mercies of the Lord and live in the peaceable Truth that is over all that ye may answer God's Grace and his Light and Spirit in all in a righteous godly Life and Conversation And let none be lifted up by their outward Liberty nor let none be cast down by Suffering for Christ's sake but all live in the Seed which is as Wheat which is not shaken nor blown away by the Winds and Storms as the Chaff is Which Seed of Life none below can make higher or lower for the Children of the Seed are the Children of the everlasting unchangeable Kingdom of Christ and God So in Christ Jesus whom God hath given you for a Sanctuary God Almighty keep you in whom ye have Life Everlasting and Wisdom which is from above pure peaceable gentle and easie to be intreated full of Mercy and good Fruits 1686. London Yearly Meeting that ye all now may be exercised in it and may practise this Wisdom in your godly holy Lives and Conversations so that this Wisdom may be justified of all her Children and they I say exercised and preserved in it in this day of the Power of Christ in which all his People are made a willing People to serve and worship God in Righteousness and Holiness and in the Spirit and Truth So that none may abuse the Power of the Lord nor grieve his Spirit by which you are sealed and kept to the day of Salvation and Redemption But always exercise your selves to have a good Conscience void of Offence towards God and towards all men being exercised in Holiness Godliness and Righteousness and in the Truth and in the Love of it that ye may all study to be approved unto God in Innocency Vertue Simplicity and Faithfulness and so labouring and studying to be quiet in the Will of God in all Conditions And whatsoever ye do in Word or Deed do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus giving Thanks to God the Father by him That he who is over all may have the Praise for all his Mercies and Blessings with which he doth and hath refreshed his People and by his Eternal Arm and Power hath kept and preserved his People to this day Glory to his Name over all for ever Amen! For Christ hath called you by his Grace into One Body to him the holy Head And therefore live in Charity and in the Love of God which is the Bond of Perfectness in his Body which Love edifies the Body of Christ which Body and all his Members are knit together and increased with the Increase of God from whom they receive Nourishment For by one Spirit we are all baptized into one Body and have been made all to drink into one Spirit in which Spirit the Body and all his Members have Fellowship with Christ the Head and one with another And so the Vnity of this holy Spirit is the Bond of Peace of all the living
said You have nothing to do with us to build an House unto our God Ezra 4.2 3. So here ye may see that God's People refused their building with them and their sacrifice And Solomon saith The Sacrifice of the Wicked is an Abomination to the Lord Prov. 15.8 See also Isa 1.11 and chap. 66.3 Solomon also saith Better is a dry Morsel and quietness therewith than an house full of Sacrifices with strife Prov. 17.1 Now let all People Consider what Good your house full of Sacrifices doth with strife when a dry Morsel and Quietness therewith is better And Consider all People If ye live in Wickedness your Sacrifice is an Abomination to the Lord. Again Solomon speaking of the Sacrifice of Fools saith They consider not that they do evil Eccles 5.1 Fools are such as do not walk in the Spirit of God or begin in the Spirit and end in the Flesh like the foolish Galatians for the Spirit of God is the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding and cannot Join with the Sacrifices of the Dead nor of the Fools nor of the Wicked whose Sacrifice is Abominable who grieve and quench the Spirit of God by which Spirit of God the Spiritual and Righteous offer up Spiritual Sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ The Apostle Paul saith he was the Minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles ministring the Gospel of God that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable being sanctified by the Holy Ghost Rom. 15.16 So ye may see that all the acceptable Offerings and Sacrifices to God must be sanctified by the Holy Ghost The same Apostle saith to the Corinthians Ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your Body and in your Spirit which are God's 1 Cor. 6.20 And to the Romans he saith I beseech you Brethren by the Mercies of God that you present your Bodies a living Sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable Service Rom. 12.1 Now this is the duty of all true Christians Peter also saith in his general Epistle to the Church of Christ Ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house an holy Priest-hood to offer up spiritual Sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 2.5 So every Man and Woman must come to the Spirit of God in their own hearts if they do offer up spiritual Sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ For as Christ saith Every Sacrifice shall be salted with salt Mark 9.49 And in the Old Testament ye may see All their outward Offerings they were to season them with salt Levit. 2.13 a Type and Figure of Christ who gave himself for us an Offering and a Sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour Ephes 5.2 Therefore all his People must be baptized with the Holy Ghost and with Fire that they may be salted with Fire and every Sacrifice salted with salt with the Spirit of Grace that is poured upon all so that they may offer up this spiritual Sacrifice acceptable to God by Jesus Christ Samuel said to King Saul Hath the Lord as great delight in Burnt-offerings and Sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord behold to obey is better than Sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of Rams 1 Sam. 15.22 So ye may see All Offerings and Sacrifices are nothing if there be not an hearkening to the Lord in his Spirit and an obeying of his voice And Christ told the Jews that were outward Sacrificers that he would have Mercy and not Sacrifice and bid them Go and learn what that meaneth Matth. 9.13 Gooses the 28th of the 2d Month 1687. G. F. The beginning of the Third Month I returned to London London Yearly-Meeting and continued there till after the Yearly-Meeting which began on the sixteenth of the same and was very large Friends having more freedom to come up out of the Countries to it by reason of the general Toleration and Liberty now granted The Meeting lasted several days and at the Close thereof it was upon me to write the following Lines to be dispersed amongst Friends every where as A Word of Counsel and Caution to them to walk circumspectly in this time of Liberty Dear Friends and Brethren in the Lord Jesus Christ THE Lord by his Eternal Arm and Power having supported you in all your Sufferings and great spoiling of Goods and tedious Imprisonments only for serving and worshipping the living God that made you who gave up Wife and Children and Goods and suffered the spoil of them and Imprisonment for his Truth and Name 's sake And now the Lord by his Infinite Power and Mercy having been pleased to open the King's heart towards you by which you are set at Liberty from the Gaols and the Spoilers of your Goods are stopt whereby ye may follow your Callings and Husbandry and confess Christ Jesus and call him Lord by the Holy Ghost in your Assemblies and Meetings without being cast into Gaols or having your Goods spoiled And now Dear Brethren a great Concern lies upon me from the Lord to Write unto you That none may abuse this Liberty nor the Mercies of the Lord but prize them for there is great danger in time of Liberty of getting up and getting into Ease and Looseness and false Liberty And now seeing that ye have not the outward Persecutors to War withal in sufferings with the spiritual Weapons keep down that which would not be subject to Christ that he the Holy One may reign in your hearts So that your Lives Conversations and Words may preach Righteousness and Truth 1687. London Yearly-Meeting That ye may all shew forth good Ensamples of true Believers in Christ in Vertue and Holiness Answering that which may be known of God in all People that ye are the Sons and Daughters of God Standing fast in that righteous holy Liberty in Christ that just and holy One that has made you free over the loose or false shunning the occasions of vain Disputes and foolish Questions of Men of corrupt Minds For the Serpent was the first Questioner of Eve who drew her and Adam out of the Truth Therefore as ye have received Christ all Live and Walk in him who bruises the Serpent's Head who is your safe Sanctuary in whom ye have Election Reconciliation and Peace with God And therefore live in the Peace which ye have from Christ which is not of this World and be at peace one with another and seek the peace of all Men in Christ Jesus for blessed are the Peace-makers And labour to exercise a good Conscience towards God in obedience to him in what he requires and in doing to all Men the thing that is just and honest in your Conversations and Words giving no Offence to Jew nor Gentile nor to the Church of God So that ye may be as a City set on God's Sion-Hill which cannot be hid and may be Lights to the dark World that they may see your good Fruits and Works Righteous and
Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the World and this is the Victory that overcometh the World even our Faith ver 4. Were not these that were Born of God in the Kingdom of God And seeing John says Every one that doth Righteousness is born of God do not such see the Kingdom of God that stands in Righteousness and enter into it Peter in his first general Epistle to the Church of Christ saith As new-born Babes desire the sincere Milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby 1 Pet. 2.2 And he tells them they were a Chosen Generation a Royal Priesthood an holy Nation a peculiar People that they should shew forth the praises of him who had called them out of darkness into his marvellous light ver 9. And that as lively stones they were built up a spiritual house an holy Priesthood to offer up spiritual Sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ ver 5. Did not these New-born Babes these lively Stones spiritual Houshold Royal Priesthood holy Nation and chosen Generation who were called out of darkness into Christ's marvellous light see and enter into his holy Kingdom being Heirs of the same who were Born again not of corruptible Seed but of incorruptible by the Word of God which liveth and abideth for ever 1 Pet. 1.23 And had not such an Entrance ministred to them into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ James in his general Epistle to the Church of Christ saith Hath not God chosen the poor of this World rich in Faith and Heirs of the Kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him James 2.5 The Apostle Paul saith God sent forth his Son made of a Woman c. to redeem them that were under the Law that we might receive the Adoption of Sons And because ye are Sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Abba Father Wherefore thou art no more a Servant but a Son and if a Son then an Heir of God through Christ Gal. 4.4 5 6 7. The same Apostle saith As many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the Sons of God And tells the Saints at Rome Ye have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father The Spirit it self beareth witness with our spirit that we are the Children of God And if Children then Heirs Heirs of God and Joint-heirs with Christ if so be we suffer with him that we may be also glorified together namely with Christ Rom. 8.14 15 16 17. Now seeing they are the Sons of God that are led by the Spirit of God and the Spirit beareth witness unto their Spirit that they are the Children of God and Heirs of God and Joint-heirs with Christ Are not all these Children of God Heirs of the righteous glorious Kingdom of God and do they not see it and enter into it The Lord saith in Hosea 1.10 Where it was said unto them Ye are not my People there it shall be said unto them Ye are the Sons of the living God Did not this relate to the Gospel-days of the New Covenant see Rom. 9.26 And what the Lord said by the Prophet Jeremiah Ch. 31.1 the Apostle applies to the Gospel-days and says Be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the Unclean thing and I will receive you and will be a Father unto you and ye shall be my Sons and Daughters saith the Lord Almighty 2 Cor. 6.18 Are not these the Children that see and enter into the righteous Kingdom of God that seperate from that which is Vnclean and touch it not The Lord saith also by Isaiah I will say to the North Give up and to the South Keep not back Bring my Sons from far and my Daughters from the ends of the Earth Isa 43 6. Then doth not he bring them to his Kingdom of Glory that stands in Righteousness and Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost And the Lord said to Job When the Morning-stars sang together and all the Sons of God shouted for Joy Job 38.7 Where did these Sons of God shout for joy Was it not in his Kingdom of Glory Christ saith The least in the Kingdom of God is greater than John Luke 7.28 And in Chap. 16.16 he says The Law and the Prophets were until John since that time viz. since the Law and the Prophets and John the Kingdom of God is preached and every Man presseth into it The good Seed are the Children of the Kingdom Matth. 13.38 And the righteous shall shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father ver 43. And Christ said unto his Disciples Vnto you it is given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of God Mark 4.11 And Christ lifted up his Eyes upon his Disciples and said Blessed be ye poor for yours is the Kingdom of God Luke 6.20 And the Apostles preached the Kingdom of God These were Born again that saw and knew the Kingdom of God preached it Christ said to his Disciples Fear not little Flock for it is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the Kingdom Luke 12.32 And I appoint to you a Kingdom said Christ as my Father hath appointed to me Chap. 22.29 The Lord said He that overcometh shall Inherit all things and I will be his God and he shall be my Son Rev. 21.7 And John saith I have written unto you Young men because ye are strong and the Word of God abideth in you and ye have overcome the wicked One 1 John 2.14 And Christ by whom are all things is said To bring many Sons to Glory Hebr. 2.10 Christ said Wo unto you Scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites for ye shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against Men for ye neither go in your selves neither suffer ye them that are entring to goin Matth. 23.13 He also said Wo unto you Lawyers for ye have taken away the Key of Knowledge ye entred not in your selves and them that were entring in ye hindred Luke 11.52 Christ gives unto his Children the Keys of the Kingdom his Spirit but the Scribes and the Pharisees and the Lawyers great Professors who were erred from the Spirit like the great Professors in our Age that scoff at the Spirit and draw People from the Spirit of God within these shut up the Kingdom from Men and draw People from the Key of Knowledge and the Key of the Kingdom For no Man knows the things of God but by the Spirit of God for the Things of God are spiritually discerned So the Spirit is the Key by which the Kingdom of God and the Things of God are revealed and discerned and known according to 1 Cor. 2.10 11 13 14. The Apostle names some in his Epistle to the Colossians and says These are my Fellow-workers unto the Kingdom of God Col. 4.11 And he tells that Church that God hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the Kingdom of his dear Son Chap. 1.13 So ye may see these
were born again that were translated into the Kingdom of Christ and were Fellow-workers unto the Kingdom of God Christ exhorts his Disciples to Love and to do Good that they might be the Children of their Father which is in Heaven Matth. 5.45 And he bids them be perfect even as their Father which is in Heaven is perfect ver 48. And the Apostle saith to the Church at Philippi That ye may be blameless and harmless the Sons of God without Rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse Nation amongst whom ye shine as Lights in the World holding forth the Word of Life c. Phil. 2.15 16. And writing to the Church of the Thessalonians he puts them in mind how he had exhorted them That they would Walk worthy of God who had called them into his Kingdom and Glory 1 Thess 2.12 The Lord had promised by the Prophet Joel that he would Pour out his Spirit upon all Flesh and that Sons and Daughters should Prophesie Old men should dream Dreams and Young-men see Visions Joel 2.28 Now the Cause that Sons and Daughters Hand-maids Servants Young-men and Old men have not these heavenly Visions Dreams and Prophecies is because they are Erred from the Spirit of God which he poureth upon them but as many as are led by the Spirit of God are the Sons of God John saith Christ was the True Light which lighteth every Man that cometh into the World John 1.9 And that As many as received him to them gave he power to become the Sons of God ver 12. which were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God ver 13. Now the Reason why People do not become the Sons of God is because they do not receive Christ The Jews the great Professors which had the Promises Prophecies Figures and Shadows of him they would not receive him when he came And now the Priests and high Professors of Christ they are so far from receiving the Light of Christ and believing in it that they have hated the Light and scoff at it calling it a Natural Conscience and some have called it Jack in the Lanthorn Such are not like to become the Sons of God nor to see the glorious Kingdom of Christ which stands in Righteousness Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost For the Light that shines in the heart gives the Light of the Knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus And they that do not receive Christ Jesus but hate his Light which is the Life in him and yet profess him in words such neither know the Children of the Light nor true Fellowship in the Light nor the Kingdom of God that stands in Righteousness Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost but by the Light they are condemned And this is the Condemnation that Light is come into the World and Men love Darkness rather than Light because their deeds are evil For every one that doth evil hateth the Light neither cometh to the Light lest his deeds should be reproved John 3.19 20. But the Children of the Light that walk in the Light they come to heavenly Jerusalem and to the City of the living God and to the innumerable Company of Angels and to the general Assembly and Church of the First born that are written in Heaven and can sing Hallelujah Gooses the 2d of the 7th Month 1687. G. F Having now been somewhat more than a quarter of a Year in the Country London I returned to London somewhat better in health than formerly having received much benefit by the Country-Air And it being now a time of General Liberty and great Openness amongst the People I had much Service for the Lord in the City being almost daily at Publick Meetings and frequently taken up in Visiting Friends that were sick and in other Services of the Church I continued at London about Three Months and then finding my strength much spent with continual labouring in the Work of the Lord and my Body much stopped for want of fresh Air Kingston I went down to my Son Rouse's by Kingston where I abode some time and visited Friends at Kingston While I was there it came upon me to write a Paper concerning the Jews shewing How by their Disobedience and Rebellion they lost the holy City and Land By which Example the prosest Christians may see what they are to Expect if they continue to disobey and provoke the Lord. Of that Paper the Copy here followeth THE Lord gave the Jews in the Old Testament the Land of Canaan and they built the Temple at Jerusalem to worship in and it was called The Holy Temple and Jerusalem was called The Holy City and Canaan The Holy Land But when the Jews rebelled against the good Spirit which God gave them to instruct them and rebelled against his Law 1687. Kingston and set up Idols and Images and defiled the Land and the City the Lord sent his Prophets to Cry against them and to bring them back again to his Spirit and to his Law and so to God to serve and worship him that they might not worship Images and Idols the works of their own hands But instead of hearkening to God's Prophets they persecuted them and at last killed his Son Christ Jesus and persecuted his Apostles But Christ told the Jews that both their City and Temple should be laid Waste and they should be scattered over all Nations And it was so when Titus the Roman Emperour came and took Jerusalem and destroyed the City and Temple which was a Day of Vengeance upon the Jews for all their Idolatries and their Wickedness and for the Innocent blood they had shed both in City and Country And they were driven out of their own City and Land and scattered over all Nations And the Jews had never power to get the â—and since nor to build Jerusalem nor the Temple But the Turk hath both the Land of Canaan and that which is called The City Jerusalem Now the Turk neither makes Images nor Worships Images And so it is a just Hand of the Lord that he should be over the persecuting Idolatrous Jews so that they cannot defile the Land of Canaan now with Images and Idols for the Turk hath it who neither makes Images nor Idols nor worships them And the Jews must never hope believe nor expect that ever they shall go again into the Land of Canaan to set up an outward Worship at Jerusalem and there for their Priests to offer outward Sacrifices of Rams Sheep and Heifers c. for Burnt-Offerings for Christ the one Offering hath offered himself once for all and by this one Offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified And Christ hath changed the Priesthood of Aaron that offered Sacrifices which was made after the power of a Carnal Commandment but Christ was made after the power of an endless Life a Priest for ever who was holy and
Yearly-Meeting was over which this Year was about the beginning of the Fourth Month. A precious Meeting it was and a very refreshing Season Friends had together the Lord vouchsafing to honour our Assemblies with his living and glorious Presence in a very plentiful manner At the Conclusion of the Meeting I felt a Concern upon my Spirit to give forth the following Paper to be dispersed abroad amongst Friends ALL you Believers in the Light that are become Children of the Light walk as Children of the Light and of the Day of Christ and as a City set on a Hill that cannot be hid and so let your Light shine that People may see your good Works and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven For a good Tree bringeth forth good Fruit and therefore be ye Trees of Righteousness the planting of the Lord having Fruits unto Holiness and then your End will be Everlasting life And such are the Wells and Cisterns that hold the living Water of life which springs up in them to Eternal life so ye may all drink Water out of your own Cisterns and running Water out of your own Wells and eat every one of his own Fig-tree and of his own Vine having Salt every one in your selves to season every one's Sacrifice acceptable to God by Jesus Christ and like unto the Wise Virgins that have Oil in their Lamps and follow the Lamb and enter in with the Bridegroom 1688. London Yearly-Meeting And now is the time to Labour while it is day yea the Day of Christ and to stir up every one's pure Mind and the Gift of God that is in them and to improve your Talents that Christ hath given you that ye may profit And to walk every one according to the Measure that Christ hath given you for the Manifestation of the Spirit of God is given to every one to profit withal Now consider what you have profited in spiritual and heavenly things with the heavenly Spirit of God and be not like the wicked and slothful that hid his Talent from whom it was taken and he cast into Utter darkness And a Dwarf or one that had any blemish was not to come nigh to Offer upon God's Altar And therefore mind the Word of Wisdom to keep you out of that which will Corrupt you and Blemish you and that ye may grow in Grace and in Faith and in the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ and feeding upon the Milk of the Word may grow by it that ye may not be Dwarfs and so to Offer your spiritual Sacrifice upon God's holy Altar For the Field or Vineyard of the slothful grows over with Thorns and Nettles and his Walls go down such are they that are not diligent in the Spirit of God and the Power which is the Wall a sure Fence and the Spirit of God will Weed out all both Thorns and Thistles and Nettles out of the Vineyard of the heart And you that are Keepers of others Vineyards see that you keep your own Vineyard clean with the Spirit and Power of Christ and sanctifie your selves and sanctifie the Lord in your hearts that ye may be a holy People to the Lord who saith Be ye holy for I am holy that ye may be the holy Members of the Church of Christ that is clothed with the Sun and hath the Moon under her feet the changeable World with all her changeable Worships Religions Churches and Teachers And be ye new and heavenly Jerusalem's Children for new and heavenly Jerusalem that is above is the Mother of all the Children of the Light and that are born of the Spirit and these be they that have been persecuted and have suffered by the false Church Mystery Babylon and Mother of Harlots And now all heavenly Jerusalem's and Sion's Children that are from above labour in the Gospel the Power of God and the Seed in which all Nations and all the Families of the Earth are blessed which Seed Christ bruises the Serpent's head and destroys the Devil and his Works and overcomes the Whore the false Church and the Beast and the false Prophet And takes away the Curse and the Vail that is spread over all Nations and over all the Families of the Earth and brings the Blessing upon all Nations and upon all the Families of the Earth if they will receive it saying In thy Seed shall all Nations and all the Families of the Earth be blessed And this is the Gospel of God preached to Abraham before Moses writ his Five Books and was preached in the Apostles days and is now preached again Which Gospel brings Life and Immortality to light and is the Gospel of Peace Life and Salvation to every one that believes it And so all Nations and all the Families of the Earth must be in Christ the Seed if they be blessed and be partakers of the Blessing in the Seed which Gospel God did preach and reveal to Abraham as in Gal. 3.8 And this Gospel was revealed and preached by Christ unto his Apostles who preached it which is not of Man nor from Man And now God and Christ hath Revealed the same Gospel unto me and many others in this Age I say the Gospel and the Seed in which all Nations and Families of the Earth are blessed in which Gospel I have laboured and do labour that all may come into this blessed Seed Christ who bruises the head of the Serpent that in it they might have peace with God And this Everlasting Gospel is preached again to them that dwell upon the Earth and they that believe it and receive it receive the Blessing and the Peace and Joy and Comfort of it and the stability in it and the life and immortality which it brings to light in them and to them And such can praise the Everlasting God in his Everlasting Gospel And Friends all seek the peace and good of all in Christ for Truth makes no Cains Corahs Balaams nor Judasses for they come to be such that go out of the peaceable Truth And therefore walk in the peaceable Truth and speak the Truth in the love of it as it is in Jesus G. F. Sometime after the Yearly-Meeting was over I went to my Son Mead's House Essex Gooses called Gooses in Essex and abode there some Weeks often visiting Friends Meeting near there and sometimes at Barking And after I had been a while there I went to visit Friends at Waltham-Abbey and at Hodsdon Waltham-Abbey Hodsdon Eâ—field South-street Ford-green Winchmore-hill and about Enfield South-street Ford-Green and Winchmore-Hill where I had several very serviceable Meetings amongst Friends the Lord opening many deep and weighty things through me both for the Informing the Understandings of Inquirers and building up those that were gathered into the Truth and establishing them therein It was in the Seventh Month that I returned to London having been near Three Months in the Country for my health's sake which now was very much Impaired so that
house shall be established in the top of the Mountains and shall be exalted above the Hills and all Nations shall flow unto it Isa 2.2 Is not that a great House Now is not this Mountain Christ who is over his House in the New Testament and New Covenant And to this Mountain and House all the Children of the New Testament and New Covenant slow in these latter days so that it is come to pass which was prophesied of by Isaiah For he said Many People shall go and say Come ye and let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of his ways and we will walk in his paths for out of Zion shall go forth the Law and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem And he shall judge among the Nations and shall rebuke many People and they shall beat their Swords into Plon-shares and their Spears into Pruning-hooks Nation shall not lift up Sword against Nation neither shall they learn War any more O house of Jacob come ye and let us walk in the Light of the Lord ver 3 4 5. Here ye may see They that come to the Mountain of the house of God and to God's Teaching they must walk in the Light of the Lord yea the House of Jacob. Jacob signifies a Supplanter he supplanted profane Esau who is hated and Jacob is loved Now these Two Births must be known within And they that walk in the Light of the Lord and come to Christ the Mountain of the house of the Lord established above all Mountains and Hills they break their Swords into Plow-shares and their Spears into Pruning-hooks and in Christ this Mountain and House of the Lord there are no Spears nor Swords to hurt one another withal And Christ the Son of God is over his House and great Family the Children of the Light them that believe in it and walk in it who are the Children of the Day of Christ and are of his Holy and Royal Priesthood that offer up spiritual Sacrifice to God by him All such are of Christ's the spiritual Man's house who are born of God and led by his Spirit They are of the Lord of Lords and King of King's House and Family which he is over and are of the Houshold of the holy divine pure and precious Faith which Christ is the Author and Finisher of And they that be of the Son's house they are pure righteous and holy and can do nothing against the Truth but for it in their Words Lives and Conversations and so are a chosen Generation a holy Nation a peculiar People that they should shew forth the Praise of him who hath called them out of Darkness into his marvellous Light And these are Christ's lively Stones that build up a spiritual House which he Christ the spiritual Man the King of Kings and Lord of Lords is over London the 10th Month 1688. G. F. 1688. Essex Gooses Sometime after this my Body continuing Weak I went down with my Son Mead to his House in Essex where I staid some Weeks In which time I Writ many things relating to the Service of Truth of which some were printed soon after others were spread abroad in Manuscript And amongst other things ' there were a few Lines to this purpose THat while Men are contending for Thrones here below Christ is on his Throne and all his holy Angels are about him who is the Beginning and the Ending the First and Last over all And that the Lord will make way and room for himself and for them that are born of his Spirit which are heavenly Jerusalem's Children to come home to their free Mother A few Words also I writ concerning the World's Teachers and the Emptiness of their Teaching Which were thus DOth not all that which is called Christendom live in Talking of Christ's and of the Apostles and Prophets Words and the Letter of the Scriptures And do not their Priests minister the Letter with their own Conceptions thereupon to them for Money though the holy Scriptures were freely given forth from God and Christ and his Prophets and Apostles Yet the Apostle saith The Letter killeth but the Spirit giveth Life 2 Cor. 3.6 And the Ministers of the New Testament are not Ministers of the Letter but of the Spirit And they do sow to the Spirit and of the Spirit do reap Life Eternal But Peoples spending their time about Old Authors and their Talking of them and of the outward Letter this doth not feed their Souls For Talking of Victuals and Cloaths doth not clothe the Body nor feed it except they have Victuals to eat and Cloaths to put on No more are their Souls and Spirits fed and clothed except they have the Bread and Water of Life from Heaven to feed them and the Righteousness of Christ to clothe them So only Talking of Outward things and Spiritual things and not Having them they may starve both their Bodies and their Souls Therefore quench not the Spirit of God which will lead to be diligent in all things With this I writ another short Paper shewing the hurt that they did and the danger they run into who turned People from the inward Manifestation of Christ in the heart THE Jews were commanded by the Law of God Not to remove the outward Land-mark Deut. 19.14 And they that did so or that caused the Blind to wander were Cursed in the Old Covenant Deut. 27.17 In the New Covenant the Apostle saith Let him be Accursed that preacheth any other Gospel than that which he had preached Gal. 1.8 Now the Gospel that he preached was The Power of God unto Salvation 1688. Gooses to every one that believeth Rom. 1.16 And the Gospel that was preached to Abraham was That in his Seed all Nations and all the Families of the Earth should be blessed And in order to bring Men to this blessed state God poureth out of his Spirit upon all Flesh and Christ doth enlighten every one that cometh into the World and the Grace of God which bringeth Salvation hath appeared unto all Men and teacheth the Christians the true Believers in Christ and God doth write his Law in the true Christians hearts and putteth it in their minds that they may all know the Lord from the greatest to the least and he giveth his Word in their hearts to obey and do and the Anointing within them so that they need not any Man to Teach them but as the Anointing doth Teach them Now all such as turn People from the Light Spirit Grace Word and Anointing within remove them from their heavenly Land-mark of their Eternal Inheritance and make them blind and cause the Blind to wander from the living way to their Eternal House in the Heavens and from New and Heavenly Jerusalem So they are Cursed that cause the Blind to wander out of their way and to remove them from their heavenly Land-mark G. F. I writ also a
Paper to shew by Instances taken out of the Holy Scriptures That many of the holy Men and Prophets of God and of the Apostles of Christ were Husbandmen and Tradesmen by which People might see how unlike to them the World's Teachers now are RIghteous Abel was a Shepherd a Keeper of Sheep Gen. 4.2 Noah was an Husbandman and he was a Just man and perfect in his Generation and walked with God Gen. 9.20 and 6.9 Abraham the Father of the Faithful was an Husbandman and had great Flocks of Cattel And just Lot was an Husbandman also and had great Flocks and Herds Gen. 13. Isaac also was an Husbandman and had great Flocks and Herds of Cattel and great store of Corn Gen. 26.12 14. And the Promise was with Isaac for the Lord said to Abraham In Isaac shall thy Seed be called Gen. 21.12 Jacob was an Husbandman and his Sons Keepers of Flocks of Cattel Gen. 46.32 34. and God loved Jacob. Moses kept Sheep Exod. 3 1. and the Lord spake to him when he was keeping Sheep ver 4. and sent him to Pharaoh to bring God's People or Sheep out of Egypt And by the hand and power of the Lord he and Aaron his Brother brought them out of Egypt a Land of Anguish Bondage Darkness and Perplexity And Moses kept the Lord's People or Sheep forty years in the Wilderness A Meek Shepherd of God he was and kept his great Flock of Sheep though some of them were scabbed with the Leprosie of Contention and Murmuring and were destroyed in the Wilderness David though he afterwards came to be a King was a Keeper of his Father's Sheep in the Wilderness 1 Sam. 17.15 28. And the Lord God called him from the Sheep-Cotes to feed his Sheep the House of Israel and to defend them from the spiritual Wolves Bears and Lions and he did it to purpose who was a Man after God's own heart Elisha was a Plowman 1 Kings 19.19 and he was called from the Plow that was outward to Teach God's People the Children of Israel to plow up the Fallow ground of their hearts that they might bring forth Seed and Fruits to God their Creator And the Word of the Lord came to Amos when he was among the Herdsmen of Tekoa Amos 1.1 And Amaziah the Priest of Bethel said to Amos Prophesie not again any more at Bethel for it is the King's Chappel and it is the King's Court Chap. 7.13 Then answered Amos and said to Amaziah I was no Prophet neither was I a Prophet's Son but I was an Herdsman and a gatherer of Sycomore-fruit and the Lord took me as I followed the Flock And the Lord said unto me Go prophesie unto my People Israel ver 14 15. Here ye may see how the Lord made use of a poor man and how he called him from following the outward Flock and from gathering of outward Fruits to gather his Fruits and to follow his People or Flock the Children of Israel Christ called Peter and Andrew his Brother when they were Fishing and casting their Net into the Sea for they were Fishers and he said unto them Follow me and I will make you Fishers of Men Matth. 4.18 19. And likewise Christ called James and John his Brother when they were in a Ship with Zebedee their Father mending their Nets And they immediately left the Ship and their Father and followed him ver 21 22. And he gave them power a Net that will hold and not want mending and made them Fishers of Men to fish them out of the great Sea the World of Wickedness And we read that when Peter and Thomas and Nathaniel and the Sons of Zebedee and other Disciples went a Fishing together and that Night caught nothing And in the Morning Jesus appeared to them and said Cast the Net on the right side of the Ship and ye shall find and they did so and catched so great a Multitude that they were not able to draw them to the shore And when thereupon one of the other Disciples said unto Peter It is the Lord Peter hearing that it was the Lord Girded his Fisher's Coat unto him John 21.2 3 4 5 6 7. And this was after Christ was risen So here ye may see Peter had not laid away his Fisher's Coat all this while that he had been preaching before Christ's Death and after he was Risen And Jesus saw Matthew sitting at the Receipt of Custom and he said unto him Follow me And he arose and followed him Matth. 9.9 And Christ imployed Matthew to gather his People that were scattered from God another manner of Treasure than the outward Custom of the Romans 1689. Gooses Luke was a Physician whom Christ made a Physician spiritual which was better than Outward Paul was a Tent-maker and being of the same Craft with Aquila and Priscilla he abode with them at Corinth and wrought for by their Occupation they were Tent-makers Acts 18.3 And did not Paul and Priscilla and Aquila bring many to their heavenly Tents and to be settled upon Christ the heavenly Rock and Foundation Joseph the Husband of Mary was a Carpenter And the Jews said of Christ Is not this the Carpenter the Son of Mary c. Mark 6.3 The Jews meant only an outward Carpenter not knowing that Christ was also a spiritual Carpenter who doth build up the fallen Estate of Man and Woman into the Image of God which they were first made in and had shod them with the Gospel of Peace the Power of God which will never wax old and Clothed them with fine Linnen that never will wear out and armed them with Armour and Weapons that will never rust which all the Weapons of the Wicked can never blunt nor pierce The Saints have tried it Gooses the 1st Month 1688 9. G. F. It was now a time of much Talk and People too much busied their minds and spent their time in hearing and telling News To shew them the Vanity thereof and to draw them from it I writ the few following Lines IN the Low Region in the Airy Life all News is Vncertain there is nothing stable But in the Higher Region in the Kingdom of Christ there all things are stable and sure and the News always good and certain For Christ who hath all Power in Heaven and in Earth given unto him ruleth in the Kingdoms of Men And he who doth inherit the Heathen and possess the utmost parts of the Earth with his Divine Power and Light he Rules all Nations with his Rod of Iron and dashes them to pieces like a Potter's Vessels the Vessels of Dishonour and the leaky Vessels that will not hold his living water of Life And he doth preserve his Elect Vessels of Mercy and Honour And his Power is certain and sure and doth not change by which he doth remove the Mountains and Hills and shakes the Heavens and the Earth And leaky dishonourable Vessels and the Hills and Mountains and the Old Heavens and the Earth they are
therefore all are to stand fast in him as they have received him for in him there is peace who is the Prince of Peace but in the World there is Trouble For the Spirit of the World is a Troublesome Spirit but the Spirit of Christ is a Peaceable Spirit and in it God Almighty preserve all the Faithful Amen Gooses the 1st of the 2d Month 1690. G. F. Another Paper that I writ while I was here was concerning the Ensign which Isaiah prophesied the Lord should set up for the Gentiles which I shewed was Christ. Of that Paper this which follows is a Copy THE Lord saith They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy Mountain for the Earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the Waters cover the Sea Isa 11.9 And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse which shall stand for an Ensign of the People to it shall the Gentiles seek and his Rest shall be glorious ver 10. And he shall reign over the Gentiles and in him shall the Gentiles trust Rom. 15.12 This Ensign is Christ which was prophesied of by the Prophet which Prophecy the Apostle who was a Minister to the Gentiles sheweth was fulfilled in the New Testament And in this Day of Christ Isaiah saith The Lord shall set his hand again the second time to Recover the Remnant of his People which shall be left from Assyria and from Egypt c. And he shall set up an Ensign for the Nations and shall assemble the Outcasts of Israel and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four Corners of the Earth ver 11 12. This is in the Day of Christ and his Gospel of Life and Salvation which is preached to every Creature under Heaven who Enlighteneth every Man that cometh into the World both Jews and Gentiles that by his heavenly divine Light they may see Christ their Ensign and Captain of their Salvation So Christ is one Ensign both to the Jews and Gentiles And Isaiah saith The Redeemer shall come to Sion c. Isa 59.20 And This is my Covenant with them saith the Lord my Spirit that is upon thee to wit Christ and my Words which I have put in thy Mouth shall not depart out of thy Mouth nor out of the Mouth of thy Seed nor out of the Mouth of thy Seed's Seed saith the Lord from hence-forth and for ever ver 21. Arise shine for thy Light is come and the Glory of the Lord is risen upon thee Chap. 60.1 And the Gentiles shall come to thy Light ver 3. And the abundance of the Sea shall be converted unto thee ver 5. the Sea is the World The Lord shall be thy everlasting Light ver 20. And Thou shalt call thy Walls Salvation and thy Gates Praise ver 18. And the Lord saith I will make the place of my Feet glorious ver 13. Heaven is his Throne and Earth is his Footstool Chap 66.1 And he that puts his trust in me saith the Lord shall possess the Land and shall inherit my holy Mountain Chap. 57.13 Which Mountain is Established above all the Mountains and Hills Isa 2.2 The Lord saith speaking of Christ I have put my Spirit upon him he shall bring forth Judgment to the Gentiles Isa 42.1 And he saith of him I will give thee for a Covenant of the People for a Light of the Gentiles To open the blind Eyes to bring out the Prisoners from the Prison and them that sit in Darkness out of the Prison-house I am the Lord that is my Name and my Glory will I not give to another neither my Praise to graven Images ver 6 7 8. So Christ the Light is come and the Glory of the Lord is risen and the Gentiles are come to the Light of Christ and this Prophesie of Isaiah concerning Christ many of the Gentiles witness fulfilled that Salvation is come to the Gentiles Rom. 11.11 And God gave his Glory to his Son And Christ saith The Glory which thou gavest me I have given them namely his Believers and Followers that they may be one even as we are one John 17.22 Now here you may see how the Promises and Prophecies are fulfilled in Christ Jesus whom God hath given for an Ensign both to the Jews and Gentiles and the Captain of their Salvation and he doth enlighten every one that cometh into the World that with his heavenly divine Light they might see Christ the Lord from Heaven their Captain and Ensign and trust in him who is their Conqueror who bruises the Serpent's head and destroys the Devil and his Works And Christ and his Followers overcome the Dragon Beast and false Prophet And therefore all Jews Gentiles and Christians that come to believe in Christ are to stand to their Ensign Christ who is also the Captain of their Salvation who is above all Ensigns and Captains below For he is from above and therefore all are to trust in him for he is certain and able to save to the utmost c. and is the same Ensign and Captain to day as he was yesterday and so for ever the First and Last the Beginning and Ending and Lord of all Lords and King of all Kings upon the Earth and there is nothing certain to be trusted in below Christ Jesus who is from above You see in the Scriptures there were many Ways and Religions among the Heathen as there were many Sects among the Jews when Christ came And now there are many Sects or Religions among the Christians who believe from the Scriptures that he is come as the Jews believed he was to come But they that close their Eyes and stop their Ears to the Light of Christ they are not like to see Christ who hath enlightened them to be their Ensign and the Captain of their Salvation that see not with the heavenly Eye nor hear with the heavenly Ear to see and hear their heavenly Ensign and Captain of their Salvation to convert them and heal them that they might follow him and be of his holy Camp and be his heavenly Soldiers to whom he gives spiritual Arms and Armour the Helmet of Salvation the Breast-plate of Righteousness the Armour of Light and the Shield of Faith which will quench all the fiery Darts of Satan and give Victory and the Sword of the Spirit the Word of God which shall cut and hammer down and burn up all the Strong holds of Satan Also he cloatheth his Soldiers with fine Linnen white and clean his Righteousness and shooeth them with the everlasting Gospel of Peace the Power of God which Cloths and Shooes will never wax Old And all that are shod with the Everlasting Gospel the Power of God they will never wax Old but will stand all Storms and Tempests in the World And they that are shod with the Gospel the Power of God can in it tread upon Serpents Vipers and Scorpions and all the venemous Beasts upon the Earth and all the Thorns Briars Brambles
and Vnity and in him they are strong and in a full Perswasion and in him who is the First and Last they are in a heavenly Resolution and Confidence for God's Everlasting Honour and Glory Amen From him who is Translated into the Kingdom of his Dear Son with all his Saints a heavenly Salutation And salute ye one another with a holy Kiss of Charity that never faileth G. F. Ford Green the 25th of the 9th Month 1690. Another Epistle I writ soon after more particularly to the Friends in the Ministry that were gone into America which was thus DEar Friends and Brethren that are Ministers and Exhorters and Admonishers that are gone into America and the Islands there-aways Stir up the Gift of God in you and the pure Mind and improve your Talents that ye may be the Light of the World a City set upon an Hill that cannot be hid and let your Light shine among the Indians and the Blacks and the Whites that ye may answer the Truth in them and bring them to their Standard and Ensign that God hath set up Christ Jesus For from the Rising of the Sun to the Going down of the same God's Name shall be great among the Gentiles and in every Temple or sanctified Heart Incense shall be offered up to God's Name And have Salt in your selves that ye may be the Salt of the Earth that ye may salt it that it may be preserved from Corruption and Putrefaction so that all Sacrifices offered up to the Lord may be salted and seasoned and be a good Savour to God And all grow in the Faith and Grace of Christ that ye may not be like Dwarfs for a Dwarf shall not come near to Offer upon God's Altar though he may eat of God's Bread that he may grow by it And Friends Be not negligent but keep up your Negroes-Meetings and your Family-Meetings and have Meetings with the Indian Kings 1690. Tottenham and their Councils and Subjects every where and with others and bring them all to the Baptizing and Circumcising Spirit by which they may know God and serve and worship him And all take heed of sitting down in the Earth and having your Minds in the earthly Things Coveting and Striving for the Earth for to be carnally minded brings death and Covetousness is Idolatry There is too much Strife and Contention about that Idol which makes too many go out of the Sense and Fear of God so that some have lost Morality and Humanity and the true Christian Charity O therefore be awakened to Righteousness and keep awakened for the Enemy soweth his Tares while Men and Women sleep in Carelesness and Security Therefore so many slothful Ones go in their filthy Rags and have not the fine Linnen the Righteousness of Christ but are stragling and plowing with their Ox and their Ass in their woollen and linnen Garments mixt Stuff feeding upon Torn food and that dieth of it self and drinking of the dregs of their old Bottle and eating the sour leavened Bread which makes their hearts burn one against another But all are to keep the Feast of Christ our Passover with the unleavened Bread of Sincerity and Truth And this unleavened Bread of Life from Heaven makes all Hearts and Souls glad and joyful and lightsome and cheerful to serve and love God and to love and serve one another in the peaceable Truth and to keep in the Vnity of God's Spirit which is the Bond of the Lord of Lords and the King of all Kings his Peace In this Love and Peace God Almighty keep and preserve all his People and make them valiant for his Truth upon the Earth to spread it abroad both in Doctrine and good Life and Conversation Amen All the Members of Christ have need one of another For the Foot hath need of the Hand and the Hand hath need of the Foot The Ear hath need of the Eye and the Eye of the Ear. So that all the Members are serviceable in the Body which Christ is the Head of and the Head sees their Service Therefore let none despise the least Member And have a Care to keep down that greedy earthly Mind that raveneth and coveteth after the Riches and Things of this World lest ye fall into the low Region like the Gentiles or Heathen and so lose the Kingdom of God that is Everlasting But seek that first and God knows what things ye have need of who takes care for all both in Heaven and in the Earth Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable Gifts both Temporal and Spiritual Tottenham the 11th of the 10th Month 1690. G. F. Not long after this I returned to London and was almost daily with Friends at Meetings 1690. London And when I had been near Two Weeks in Town The sense of the great Hardships and sore Sufferings that Friends had been and were under in Ireland coming with great weight upon me I was moved to write the following Epistle as a Word of Consolation unto them DEar Friends and Brethren in the Lord Jesus Christ whom the Lord by his Eternal Arm and Power hath upheld through your great Sufferings Exercises Trials and Hardships more I believe then can be uttered up and down that Nation which I am very sensible of and the rest of the faithful Friends that have been Partakers with you in your Sufferings and cannot but suffer with the Lord's People that suffer And my Confidence hath been in the Lord that he would and will support you in all your Sufferings and that he would preserve all the Faithful in his Wisdom that they would give no just Occasion to one nor other to make them suffer And therefore if that you did suffer wrongfully or unjustly the righteous God would assist you and uphold you and reward them according to their Works that opprest or wronged you And now my desire is unto the Lord that in the same holy and heavenly Wisdom of God ye may all be preserved to the End of your days to the Glory of God minding God Almighty's supporting Hand and Power who is God Al-sufficient to strengthen help and refresh in time of Need. And let none forget the Lord's Mercies and Kindnesses which endure for ever but always live in the sense of them And truly Friends when I consider the thing It is the great Mercy of the Lord that ye have not been all swallowed up seeing with what Spirits ye have been compassed about But the Lord carrieth his Lambs in his Arms and they are as tender to him as the Apple of his Eye And his Power is his Hedge about his Vineyard of heavenly Plants And therefore it is good for all his Children to be given up to the Lord with their Minds and Souls Hearts and Spirits who is a faithful Keeper that never slumbers nor sleeps but is able to preserve and keep you and to save to the utmost and none can hurt so much as an hair of your Heads except he suffer
not Banish him and Persecute him out of your Cities and Corporations And how can you enter into his Kingdom and have a share of his Kingdom though you may profess him in Words And do not they go into Everlasting Punishment that did not visit Christ in Prison Then what will become of you that do Banish and Imprison him where he is manifest in his Members nor suffer them to Meet together to enjoy him amongst them according to his Promise And therefore you that will not let Christ Reign in his People and have his Liberty in them in your Cities and Countries to Exercise his Offices you will not have your Liberty in Heaven and you that will not let Christ Reign in your Hearts nor suffer him to Reign in his People here upon the Earth in this World in your Kingdoms you will not Reign with Christ in Heaven in his Kingdom nor in the World without end And so you that banish the Truth out of your Cities or Countries or his People for its sake you do banish the Truth and Christ out of your hearts from Ruling there and so you your selves are not the Temples of God And then when you have banished Christ and his Truth out of your own hearts then you do banish such in whom he Rules out of your Estates and Country and then see what Judgments the Lord doth bring upon you when you are left to your selves yea Fears and Troubles and one Judgment after another that come upon you you are even filled with them But the Banished and Sufferers for Truth and Christ's sake have a peaceable habitation in the Truth which the Devil is out of and cannot get in which habitation will out-last all the habitations of the Wicked and Persecutors though they be never so full of Words without Life and Truth So the Life and the Truth will out-last all Airy Notions and Christ the Lamb and patient Seed will overcome the Devourer and the unpatient Seed and they that have the Garments the Righteousness of Christ which is the fine Linnen it will out-last all the Rags and Inventions of Men. For Christ saith to his Learners Be of good chear I have overcome the World the persecuting World and so he said unto his Disciples Marvel not if that the World hate you for it hated me before you And therefore let all that profess themselves Christians lay away Persecution about Religion Churches or Worship Fasting or Praying-Days for you have no Command from Christ and his Apostles to Persecute any For Christ who is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords when they called him a Deceiver and blasphemed him and said He had a Devil he did not Persecute any of them for it nor force or compel any to hear and believe him nor the Apostles after him but he bad them that would have been plucking up the Tares Let the Tares and the Wheat grow together until the Harvest So you have no Command from Christ or his Apostles to Persecute Imprison or Banish or Spoil the Goods of any for matter of pure Conscience and Religion Worship Faith and Church in the Gospel-times Harlingen in Friezland the 11th of the 6th Month 1677. G. F. A Warning to the Magistrates Priests and People of the City of Hamborough to Humble themselves before the Lord and not to be High-minded Friends YOU have painted and garnished the Inside of your outward Houses and High-places but look within your Hearts with the Light of Christ Amsterdam which he hath enlightned you and every Man that cometh into the World withal and with it you may see To pag. 448 how foul your Hearts and Insides are with Sin and Evil which Christ tells you ye should make clean who told the Pharisees how they painted the Sepulchres of the Righteous and they themselves were full of Rottenness and Corruption Therefore look into your selves 1677. Amsterdam and your own hearts what you are full of to paint out the Sepulchres of the Righteous Apostles and making a Trade and a Profession of their words without the same Holy Ghost and Power and Light and Truth which they were in will not stand at the Day of God's Vengeance And therefore Repent while you have Time and turn to the Lord with your whole hearts and do not think your selves to be secure without his Immediate Almighty Protection For it is not all your Works nor all your own Strength and Power and Defence that can protect you and you to look at them and think your selves secure and to sit down in your Security and in it let your hearts be merry and at rest and ease But then when the Lord brings a Scourge upon you that you are filled with Terrours and Fears remember you were Warned that you were set down but not in the true Rest and then all your own Strength and Force will stand you in no stead and you will acknowledge that it must be God that must protect you And therefore take Warning for your Priests and People are too high and are swallowed up too much in this World and the Vanities of it carry your Minds away from God and your Care is more for the World than for God and more after the Riches of the World than after the Riches of the World that has no end For know you not that all your Heaps of outward Treasure must have an end and that you must Leave them all behind you Therefore I am to Warn and Advice you both High and Low Priests and People to come to the Grace Light and Truth that comes by Jesus Christ and also to come to the Manifestation of the good Spirit of God which is given to you to profit withal that with This Grace and Truth and Light and Spirit of Christ you may turn to Christ Jesus from whence it comes who saith Learn of me and God saith This is my beloved Son hear ye him And so all the Children of the New Covenant that walk in the New and Living Way do hear Christ their Prophet that God has raised up who is their Teacher and Priest whom God hath anointed to Preach And so now God doth speak to his People by his Son as he did in the Apostles Days And so the Lord is come to Teach his People himself by his Grace Light Truth and Spirit and to bring them off all the Worlds Teachers that are made by Men since the Apostles days who have kept People always Learning that they may always be paying of them And is come to bring them off all the Worlds Religions to the Religion that he set up in the Apostles Days in the New Covenant which is pure and undefiled before God in his sight and keeps from the Spots of the World c. And the Lord is come to bring them off all the World's Churches to the Church in God which Christ the heavenly Man is Head of and to bring them off all the World's Worships to
you may have the Blessing For you read that Christians were called the Houshold of Faith the houshold of God a holy Nation a peculiar People and they are commanded to be Zealous for good Works not for bad and Christians are also commanded not to bite and devour one another lest they be consumed one of another And is it not a sad thing for Christians to be biting and consuming one another in the sight of the Turks Tartars Jews and Heathens when they should Love one another and do unto all Men as they would have them do unto them And such Work and Devouring as this will open the Mouths of Jews and Turks Tartars and Heathens to Blaspheme the Name of Christ who is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and cause them to speak evil of Christianity for them to see how the Unity of the Spirit is broken among such as profess Christ and Christ's Peace And therefore all Christians are to mind God and Christ's Teaching who teacheth Christians to Love one another yea Enemies and perswade all Kings and Princes to give Liberty to all tender Consciences in Matters of Religion and Worship they living peaceable under every Government so that for the time to come there may be no more Imprisonment and Persecution among the Christians for Matters of tender Consciences about Matters of Faith Worship and Religion that the Jews Turks Tartars and Heathens may not see how Christians are Persecuting one another for Religion And seeing from Christ and the Apostles Christians have no such Command but on the contrary to Love one another and knowing that Christ said to such as would have been plucking up Tares Let the Tares and the Wheat grow together till the Harvest which is the End of the World lest they plucked up the Wheat and at the End of the World Christ would send forth his Angels and they should sever the Wheat from the Tares So Christ tells you that it is the Angels work at the End of the World and not Mens work before the Harvest at the End of the World Hath not all this Persecution Banishing and Imprisoning and putting to Death concerning Religion been the pretence of plucking up Tares and hath not all this been before the Harvest and before the End of the World And therefore have not all these been the Actors against the Express Command of Christ the King of Heaven which all Kings and Rulers especially they that call themselves Christians should obey their Lord and Saviour's Command which he expresly Commands Let the Tares and the Wheat grow together till the Harvest and the Harvest is the End of the World and then Christ will send his Angels and they shall sever the Wheat from the Tares c. And also Christ told some of his Disciples that would have had Fire to come down from Heaven to destroy such as would not receive him in their Zeal That they did not know what Spirit they were of and rebuked them and said He came not to destroy Mens Lives but to save them And therefore all such that have destroyed Mens Lives concerning Religion and Worship of God have they known what Spirit they have been of Have they not done that they should not do and done that which Christ forbad who saith Lest ye should pluck up the Wheat with the Tares and saith It is the Angels work at the End of the World And hath not God shewed unto Man what is Good and his Duty To Love Mercy and to do Justly and to walk Humbly with his God which Man is to mind And the Apostle exhorts the Christians to Follow Peace with all Men and Holiness without which no Man shall see the Lord Hebr. 12.14 And why should Christians War and Strive one with another seeing they all do own in words one King and Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus whose Command is That they should Love one another which is a Mark that they shall be known by to be Christ's Disciples as I said before And Christ who is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords saith As I have Loved you so love one another John 15.12 and John 13. And the Apostle saith Christians ought to be patient towards all Men 1 Thess 5.14 From him who is a Lover of Truth and Righteousness and Peace and desires your Temporal and Eternal Good and desires that in the Wisdom of God that is pure and gentle and peaceable from above with that you may be Ordered and Order all things that God hath Committed to you to his Glory and stop those things among Christians so far as you have power which dishonour God Christ and Christianity Amsterdam the 21th of the 7th Month 1677. G. F. THE FIRST TABLE CONTAINING The Names of the Countries Cities Towns and Places mentioned in the Author's Journal of his Travels and Labours on Truth 's Account in England c. and beyond the Seas Note The Pages with a Star refer to the like Pages with a Star to begin p. 189* 190* 200* 201* c. these Pages being double A. ABbyholm 268* Aberdeen Scotl. 407 Acton 141 Adderbury 388. 457 Addingworth 430 Albans 171. 430. 457. 479 Alborough Castle 522 Aldenham 78 Alexandria in Egypt 248. 253 Alkmaer Holl. 438. 522 America 408 Amersham 455 Amoroca River Amer. 380 Ampthill 430 Amsterdam 433-438 446-451 452. 520-522 594. 617-619 627-632 Anamessy River Amer. 380 Anderigo Friezl 444 Antego 356 357. 458 Apledon 318 319 Appingdalen F. 439 Applebye 91 Apre Denmark 440 Arnside 103. 215 216. 269. 470 Armscot 388 389. 457 Arundel 171 Ashford 259 Ashwell 469 Atherston 30. 132 Aylesbury 388 B. BAdcow Scotl. 269* 271* 276* Badgesley 167. 170. 225* 213. 310. 325. 429 Baghurst 341 Bagworth 29 Balby 54. 67. 69. 129. 213 214. 326. 429 Baldock 170 171. 316. 469 Ballowfield 429 Banbury 316 Bandon Irel. 328 Bandon-Bridge Irel. ibid. Barbados 351-361 379. 382. 599 Barking 570 Barnet 3. 430. 457. 479. 584 Barnet-hills 254 255 Barnstaple 318 Barrow 28. 254 Barton 423 Barton-Abbey 215 Basingstoke 244* Battersea 480 Beavor Vale 16. 18-26 Becliff 79 Bedall 423 Bedfordshire 149. 166. 170. 282* 259. 310 311. 430. 457. 469. 479 Bednalgreen 536-538 550 Bentham 297 Berkshire 254. 335. 342. 456 Berry-street 568 569 Berwick 281* Beverley 54 Beumaris Wales 258* 259* Biddlesden 479 Birmingham 167. 325 Bishopsdale 423 Bishop-starford 156 Black-Rock Chesh 327 Bletchington 480 Block-Island Amer. 369 Bodmin 178 179 Bohemia-River Amer. 365. 372 Bonners-Creek Amer. 376 377 Boston Lincolnsh 225* Boston New Eng. 242. 379 Boulton 280 Bowden mag 469 Bowtell 104 105 Bradforth 71 Braintrie 457 Brecknock 246* 247* Bremen Germ. 440 443 Bremer-Haven Germ. 443 Bridge-Town Barb. 356 Bridport 244 Briell Holl. 433. 453. 520. 522 Brigflats 423 Bristol 221* 222* 245* 210. 212. 253 254. 266. 310. 315. 332. 334. 456 Bristol-Harbour 383-386 Buckinghamshire 3. 224* 196. 310. 316. 341. 387. 430. 455. 457. 479 488 489 Bugbrook 479 Bullocks-Hill 430 Burlington 307 Burnt-Island 276* Burroby 57.
Righteousness After I had been kept there two or three Hours Marsh spake to him that was called the Lord Gerrard and he came and bid them set me at liberty Then the Marshal when I was discharged demanded Fees I told him 1660. Whitehall I could not give him any neither was it our Practice And I asked him How he could demand Fees of me who was Innocent Nevertheless I told him in my own Freedom I would give him Two Pence to make him and the Souldiers drink But they shouted at that and took it disdainfully So I told them If they would not accept it choose they for I should give them no Fees Then went I through the Guards the Lord s Power being over them and after I had declared Truth to the Guards and Souldiers I went up the Streets with two Irish Colonels that came from Whitehall and went to an Inn where many Friends were at that time Prisoners under a Guard I desired those Colonels to speak to the Guard to let me go in to visit my Friends that were Prisoners there but they would not Then I stept to the Centry and desired him to let me go up and he did so While I was there the Souldiers went to the Pell-Mell again to search for me there but not finding me they turned towards the Inn and bid all come out that were not Prisoners so they went out But I asked the Souldiers that were within Whether I might not stay there a while with my Friends And they said Yes I stay'd a while and so escaped their Hands again Towards Night I went down to the Pell-Mell to see how it was with the Friends there and after I had stay'd a while I went up into the City London Great Rifling of Houses there was at this time to search for People but I went to a private Friend's House and Richard Huberthorn was with me There we drew up a Declaration against Plots and Fightings to be presented to the King and Council But when we had finished it and sent it to the Press it was taken in the Press Upon this Insurrection of the Fifth Monarchy-Men great Havock was made both in City and Country so that it was dangerous for sober People to stir abroad for several Weeks after and hardly could either Men or Women go up and down the Streets to buy Provisions for their Families without being abused In the Countries they dragged Men and Women out of their Houses and some Sick Men out of their Beds by the Legs Nay one Man that was in a Fever the Souldiers dragged out of his Bed to Prison and when he was brought thither he died His Name was Thomas Pachyn Margaret Fell went to the King and told him what sad Work there was in the City and in the Nation and shewed him that we were an Innocent peaceable People and that we must keep our Meetings as we used to do whatever we suffered but that it concerned him to see that Peace was kept that so no Innocent Blood might be shed Now were the Prisons every where filled with Friends and others in City and Country and the Posts were so laid for the searching of Letters that none could pass unsearched Yet we heard of several Thousands of our Friends that were cast into Prison in several places throughout the Nation and Margaret Fell carried an Account of them to the King and Council The next Week we had an Account of several Thousands more that were cast into Prison and she went and laid them also before the King and his Council They wondered how we could have such Intelligence seeing they had given such strict Charge for the intercepting of all Letters But the Lord did so order it that we had an Account notwithstanding all their Stoppings For in the deep Sense I had of the grievous Sufferings Friends underwent and of their Innocency towards God and Man I was moved to send the following Epistle to them as a Word of Consolation and to put them upon sending up their Sufferings My Dear Friends IN the Immortal Seed of God which will plead its own Innocency who be Inheritors of an Everlasting Kingdom that is Incorruptible and of a World and Riches that fade not away Peace and Mercy be multiplied amongst you in all your Sufferings who never feared them whose Backs were not unready but your Hair and Cheeks prepared who never feared Sufferings as knowing it is your Portion in the World from the Foundation of which the Lamb was slain who reigns in his Glory which he had with his Father before the World began who is your Rock in all Floods and Waves upon which ye can stand safe with a chearful Countenance beholding the Lord God of the whole Earth on your side So in the Seed of God which was before the Unrighteous World in which the Sufferings are live and feed wherein the Bread of Life is felt and no cause of Complaint of Hunger or Cold. Friends your Sufferings all that are or have been of late in Prison I would have you send up an Account of them and how things are amongst you that it may be delivered to the King and his Council for things are pretty well here after the Storm London the 28th of the Eleventh Month 1660. G. F. Having lost our former Declaration in the Press we made haste and drew up another against Plots and Fighting and got it Printed and sent some of them to the King and Council others of them were sold up and down the Streets and at the Exchange Which Declaration was some Years after Re-printed and is as followeth A Declaration from the Harmless and Innocent People of God called Quakers against all Sedition Plotters and Fighters in the World For the removing of the Ground of Jealousie and Suspicion from both Magistrates and People in the Kingdom concerning Wars and Fightings Presented unto the King upon the 21th day of the 11th Month 1660. OUR Principle is and our Practices have always been to seek Peace and ensue it and to follow after Righteousness and the Knowledge of God seeking the Good and Welfare and doing that which tends to the Peace of All. We know that Wars and Fightings proceed from the Lusts of Men as Jam. 4.1 2 3. out of which Lusts the Lord hath redeemed us and so out of the Occasion of War the occasion of which War and the War itself wherein envious Men who are lovers of themselves more than lovers of God Lust Kill and desire to have Men's Lives or Estates ariseth from the Lust All Bloody Principles and Practices We as to our own particular do utterly deny with all outward Wars and Strife and Fightings with Outward Weapons for any end or under any pretence whatsoever and this is our Testimony to the whole World And whereas it is Objected But although you now say That you cannot Fight nor take up Arms at all yet if the Spirit do move you then you will change
and the High-Sheriff with their Wives and several others And of Indians there was he who was called their Emperor and one of the Indian Kings and their Speaker who all sate very attentive and carried themselves very lovingly and an establishing settling Meeting it was This was on the Twenty third of the First Month. And on the Twenty fourth we went by Water ten Miles to the Indian Town where this same Emperor dwelt whom I had acquainted before with my Coming and desired him to get their Kings and Councils together In the Morning the Emperor came himself and had me to the Town and they were generally come together and had their Speaker and other Officers with them and the Old Empress sate among them And to give them their due they sate very grave and sober and were all very Attentive beyond many that are called Christians I had some with me that could interpret to them and we had a very good Meeting with them and of very good Service it was for it gave them a good Esteem of Truth and Friends blessed be the Lord After this we had many Meetings in several parts of that Country one at William Stephens's which was a general Meeting once a Month another at Tredhaven-Creek another at Wye another at Reconow-Creek and another at Thomas Taylor 's in the Island of Kent Most of these Meetings were large there being many of the World's People at them and divers of them of the most Considerable in the World's Account And the Lord's Power and living Presence was with us and plenteously manifested amongst the People by which their Hearts were tendred and opened to receive the Truth which had a good Savour amongst them blessed be the Lord God over all for ever Then being clear of that side we passed over the Bay about Fourteen Miles to a Friend's House where we met with several Friends and I sent for Thomas Thurston thither and had a Meeting with him to bring the Truth over his bad Actions Now having travelled through most parts of that Country and visited most of the Plantations thereabouts and had very good Service for the Lord in America having alarm'd the People of all sorts where we came and proclaimed the Day of God's Salvation amongst them we found our Spirits began to be clear of those parts of the World and to draw towards Old England again Yet we were desirous and felt Freedom from the Lord to stay till the General Meeting for that Province of Mary-land was over which drew nigh that we might see Friends generally together before we departed Wherefore spending our time in the interim partly in visiting Friends and Friendly People Clifts Pottuxon and in having Meetings about the Clifts and Pottuxon and partly in writing Answers to some Cavilling Objections which some of Truth 's Adversaries had raised and spread abroad to hinder People from receiving the Truth we were not idle but laboured in the Work of the Lord until that General Provincial Meeting came on which began on the Seventeenth Day of the Third Month The General Provincial Meeting and lasted four Days On the First of these days the Men and Women had their Meetings for Business wherein the Affairs of the Church of God were taken Care of and many things relating thereunto were opened unto them to their Edification and Comfort The other Three Days were spent in Publick Meetings for the Worship of God at which divers of considerable Account in the Government and many others of the World's People were present who were generally satisfied and many of them reached for it was a wonderful glorious Meeting and the mighty Presence of the Lord was seen and felt over all blessed and praâ—â—ed be his Holy Name for ever who over all giveth Dominion After this Meeting we took our Leave of Friends parting in great Tenderness in the sense of the Heavenly Life and vertuous Power of the Lord that was livingly felt amongst us and went by Water to the place where we were to take Shipping many Friends accompanying us thither and tarrying with us that Night Next Day which was the Twenty first of the Third Month 1673 and the Day following we set Sail for England At Sea The same Day Richard Covell came on Board our Ship having had his own taken from him by the Dutch We had foul Weather and contrary Winds which caused us to cast Anchor often so that we were till the Thirty first of the Third Month e'er we could get past the Capes of Virginia and come out into the main Sea But after this we made good Speed ENGLAND King's-Road and on the Twenty eighth of the Fourth Month cast Anchor at Kings-road which is the Harbour for Bristol We had in our Passage very high Winds and Tempestuous Weather which made the Sea exceeding rough the Waves rising like Mountains so that the Masters and Sailers wondred at it and said They never saw the like before But though the Wind was strong it sate for the most part with us so that we sailed away before it and the Great God who commands the Winds who is Lord of Heaven of Earth and the Seas and whose Wonders are seen in the Deep he steered our Course and preserved us from many imminent Dangers The same good Hand of Providence that went with us and carried us safely over watched over us in our Return and brought us safely back again Thanksgivings and Praises be to his holy Name for ever Many sweet and precious Meetings we had on Board the Ship during this Voyage commonly two a Week wherein the blessed Presence of the Lord did greatly refresh us and did often break in upon and tender the Company Bristol Harbour And when we came into Bristol Harbour there lay a Man of War and the Press-master came on Board us to press our men We had a Meeting at that time in the Ship with the Sea-men before we went to Shore and the Press-master sate down with us and staid the Meeting and was very well satisfied with it After the Meeting I spake to him to leave two of the Men he had Pressed in our Ship for he had pressed four one of which was a lame Man and he said At my Request he would We went on Shore that Afternoon and got to Shear-hampton Shear-hampton where we got Horses and rode to Bristol that Night where Friends received us with great Joy 1673. Bristol In the Evening I writ a Letter to my Wife to give her Notice of my Landing as followeth Dear Heart THis Day we came into Bristol near Night from the Seas Glory to the Lord God over all for ever who was our Convoy and steered our Course who is the God of the whole Earth and of the Seas and Winds and made the Clouds his Chariots beyond all Words blessed be his Name for ever Who is over all in his great Power and Wisdom Amen Robert Widders and James Lancaster
are with me and we are well Glory to the Lord for ever who hath carried us through many Perils Perils by Water and in Storms Perils by Pirates and Robbers Perils in the Wilderness and amongst false Professors Praises to him whose Glory is over all for ever Amen Therefore mind the fresh Life and live all to God in it I do intend if the Lord will to stay a while this-away it may be till the Fair. So no more but my Love to all Friends Bristol the 28th Day of the 4th Month 1673. G. F. Between this and the Fair my Wife came out of the North to Bristol to me and her Son-in-Law Thomas Lower with two of her Daughters came with her And her other Son-in-Law John Rouse and W. Penn and his Wife and Gerrard Roberts came down from London and many Friends from several parts of the Nation came to the Fair and glorious powerful Meetings we had there at that time for the Lord 's Infinite Power and Life was over all In the fresh Openings whereof I was moved to declare of Three Estates and Three Teachers viz. That God was the first Teacher of Man and Woman in Paradise And as long as they kept to and under God's Teaching they kept in the Image of God and in his Likeness in Righteousness and Holiness and in Dominion over all that God had made in the blessed State in the Paradise of God But when they heark'ned to the Serpent's false Teaching who was out of Truth and disobeyed God and obeyed the Serpent in feeding upon that which God forbad them then they lost the Image of God the Righteousness and Holiness and came under the Power of Satan and were turned out of Paradise out of the Blessed into the Cursed State And then the Promise of God was That the Seed of the Woman should bruise the Serpent's Head and break his Power that Man and Woman were under and destroy his Works So here were Three States and Three Teachers God was the first Teacher in Paradise and whilst Man kept under his Teaching he was happy The Serpent was the Second Teacher and when Man followed his Teaching he came into Misery and into the Fall from the Image of God and Righteousness and Holiness and from the Power that he had over all that God had made and came under the Serpent whom he had Power over before Christ Jesus was the Third Teacher of whom God saith This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear ye him and who himself saith Learn of me This is the true Gospel-Teacher who bruises the Head of the Serpent that is the False Teacher and the Head of all False Teachers and of all False Religions False Ways False Worships and False Churches Now Christ who said Learn of me and of whom the Father said Hear ye him he said I am the Way to God I am the Truth I am the Life and the true Light So as Man and Woman come up again to God and are renewed up into his Image Righteousness and Holiness by Christ thereby they come up into the Paradise of God the State which Man was in before he fell and into an higher State than that to sit down in Christ that never fell Therefore the Son of God is to be heard in all things who is the Saviour and the Redeemer and hath laid down his Life and bought his Sheep with his precious Blood And we can challenge all the World Who hath any thing to say against our Way our Saviour our Redeemer who is our Prophet whom God hath raised up that we may hear and whom we must hear in all things Who hath any thing against our Shepherd Christ Jesus who leads and feeds us and we know his Heavenly Voice And who hath any thing against our Bishop in whose Mouth was never Guile found who doth Oversee us in his Pasture of Life that we do not go astray from God and out of his Fold And who hath any thing against our Priest Christ Jesus made higher than the Heavens who gives us freely and commands us to give freely And who hath any thing to say against our Leader and Counsellor Christ Jesus who never sinned but is holy and harmless and separate from Sinners God hath commanded us to hear him and he saith Learn of me and if we should disobey God's and Christ's Command we should be like our Father Adam and Mother Eve who disobeyed God's Command and hearkned to the Serpent's Teaching Now Man commands and would force us to hear the Hirelings who plead for Sin and the Body of Death to the Grave which Doctrine savours of the Devil 's Teaching not of Christ's But we resolve to hear the Son as both he and the Father command and in hearing the Son we hear the Father also as the Scripture testifies For the Author to the Hebrews says God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son Mark that God hath spoken unto us his Apostles Disciples Church by his Son And whereas some have objected That although Christ did speak both to his Disciples and to the Jews in the days of his Flesh yet since his Resurrection and Ascension he doth not speak now The Answer is That as God did then speak by his Son in the Days of his Flesh so the Son Christ Jesus doth now speak by his Spirit Wherefore John saith in the Revelations He that hath an Ear let him hear what the Spirit saith to the Churches Rev. 2. And Christ is said to speak from Heaven Heb. 12.25 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on Earth much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from Heaven They that resisted Moses his Law who spake on Earth died for it without Mercy which was a Natural Death but they that refuse him that speaks from Heaven neglect and slight their own Salvation and so die a Spiritual Death through Unbelief and Hardness of Heart Therefore was the Exhortation given of old To day if ye will hear his Voice harden not your Hearts as in the Provocation c. Heb. 3.15 c. So that they who neglect or refuse to hear the Voice of Christ now speaking from Heaven in this his Gospel-Day harden their Hearts Therefore let all mark well thâ—se three States and Teachers The God of Truth was the first Teacher wâ—â—â—e Man was in Paradise and in Innocency The Serpent was the second Teacher the false Teacher who by his false Teaching came to be the God of the World which lies in Wickedneâ—s Christ Jesus that bruises the Serpent's Head is the third Teacher who saith Learn of me and of whom God saith This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Hear ye him and of whom the Testimony of the Saints of Old was That