not for Conscience sake satisfie his covetous and unrighteous desire but chose rather to suffer than to come forth by yielding to such a horrid oppression yet were we willing to have given him to the full value of all the things we made use of in the Chamber and it being the highest room in a lofty Tower and all the Windowes open it was not fit for men to Lodge in by reason of the Wind and Rain beating in until we had gotten them Glassed without any charge to the Sergeant and we had so little of his in our Chamber that we offered this to wit that if two reasonable men would prise the things we would pay him for them and give him the Things also or if he would not stand to that then we would give him two shillings and six pence a week for the time we had been there We also told our Keepers that if we denyed to give them any thing that they could recover by Law the Law was open but they ought not according to their own Law to keep us upon that account but to tutn us out and then take their course at Law And so we demanded our Liberty several times but notwithstanding all this the Sergeant detained us still And the day before the PARLIAMENT Adjourned our Names in a List with other Prisoners in his Custody was given in to the Parliament who notwithstanding their Act of Indempnity and Oblivion and their former Order for our being forthwith Released and set at Liberty they made another Order That it should be Referred to the Kings Privy Counsel to consider of us and to give such Order touching us as to our Liberty or to continue under constraint as they should find Consistent with the Publick Peace and the mean time we are to remain in the Sergeants Custody so by this Order we are still detained and nothing is yet done by the Privy Council touching us Now let the Reader consider how unreasonably and contrary to Law we have been used who have been kept seventeen Weeks in this Prison and never brought to any examination Besides the time that I was kept in Harwich Now if the PARLIAMENT had rightly weighed and considered the matter when they Ordered the thanks of the House to be given to the Mayor and Magistrate of Harwich for their care in that business touching us truly they might have found more cause to have reproved them for their folly than to have given them thanks For if it had been true that we had made some Disturbance at Harwich as it is said in the Order for our Release yet if the Magistrates of Harwich had rightly understood their duty and if they had not been blinded with the mad zeal of Persecution they might have seen that it belonged to their place to have ended the matter of a disturbance and not to have troubled a Parliament with such a frivilous thing But it is certain that Persecutors in all Ages were blind And what a thing is this cannot three Justices of the Peace so called nor a Parliament determine in the matter of a Disturbance if it had been so that we had made one which we did not but that such a thing â—s that must be turned over to the Kings Privy Council to be considered of or is it because they would keep the innocent in Prison and are ashamed to bring them to an examination having nothing justly to charge them withal I leave this to be answered by that of God in all who shall read this And seeing there have been many false Reports touching the cause of our imprisonment and also that some of our enemies have reported that we may come out of Prison if we will it was upon me to publish the manner of our Imprisonment and of our being kept and by whom that the truth of the matter may plainly be seen which being truly considered People may see that it is even now as it was in the Prophets dayes of old For Judgement is now turned backward and Justice standeth afar off Truth is fallen into the Streets and Equity cannot enter yea Truth faileth and he that departeth from Evil maketh himself a prey and the Lord hath seen it and it displeaseth him because there is no true Judgement Isaiah 59.14 15. and as they did in the dayes of Amos even so do this Generation yea They now turn Judgement into Wormwood and leave off Righteousness in the Earth they hate him that rebuketh in the Gate and abhor him that speaketh uprightly Therefore will the Lord break forth like fire Amos 5. Lambeth-house the 21st of the 7th Month 1660. G. F. HIS FAITH Touching Four Particulars DEMONSTRATED I. Concerning Jesus Christ the Saviour of the World II. Concerning Justification III. Concerning the Resurrection IV. Concerning Everlasting Glory and Eternal Misery Written for the satisfaction of some tender consciencious Persons who had heard false Reports of Him and others of his Judgement touching the things above Written First AS concerning Iesus Christ that was supposed to be Joseph the Carpenter's Son who as concerning the Flesh was Crucified and put to Death at Jerusalem between two Thieves upon the Cross at Mount Calvary I do believe he was the Son of God and that that very Body that the Souldier pierced was the very Body that was prepared by the Father for Christ the true Saviour to come in to do the Will of the Father that sent Him And I do believe that by the Grace of God he tasted Death for every man that as many as believe in and obey him whose Soul was made an Offering for sin might have Eternal Life through him who gave his precious Life a Ransom for many Secondly I do believe that no man can be Iustified by the Works of the Law nor by any VVork of his own but He or She that is Iustified in the sight of God it is freely by his Grace through Faith in Christ Iesus who creates such unto Good VVorks which God hath ordained that they that are justified should walk in Now God through his Free Love hath made Me a Witness of true Iustification And I testifie in the Lord That it is not my Works that Iustifie me but it is the LORD alone who worketh my Works in me and for me according to his own good pleasure who loved me before I loved him and manifested his Love to me in the Covenant of Light whereby he drew me after himself and gave me strength to obey and follow him in the manifestation and drawings of his Love which whilst I did reject I was justly condemned of the Lord and could not witness Iustification in that State although I sought it and talked much of it as many Professors now do but GOD who is rich in Mercy and Love shewed me how he had given me Power and Ability to receive his Truth in the Love of it through which I am now Saved and Iustified Thirdly Touching the Resurrection It is a
Immortal So dear hearts let the living Measure of the Eternal Father of Life and Power and Wisdom be your continual Stay and Habitation that so if any shall come among you that are out of the true savour and feeling of the Life in themselves and shall act or speak any thing among you that is out of the Life that ye then may not be drawn out of the savour and feeling thereby but wait ye singly in the innocent patient long-suffering Spirit of Christ and that will preserve you out of the fretting and murmuring and thoughts and reasoning and out of the enmity and it will keep you settled and quiet and in Unity with God and with all who abide in his Life and this will reach the Witness in them who are turned from it into the rambling unsettled state and if ye feel the Seed burdened then wait in the true Patience in the fervent Love to the Truth and then the Lord's Counsel you will know and his Wisdom you will receive and his Power you will feel whereby as you are obedient thereto the burden will be removed and the evil will be judged that caused the burden and the Seed will be refreshed and the Unity of the Faith will be known and the weak there will be preserved and so the Peace will be Witnessed and the Truth will be adorned and its Enemies shall be ashamed Oh my Friends dear is the everlasting unchangeable Truth of God unto me which he hath made known in and among us in this his Day and dear and precious are all ye unto me who abide in it for therein is no Schisms nor Parties nor Rents nor Envy for who goe into those first goes from the simplicity of the naked Truth in which they that abide in it the Patience and Forbearance and Unity is felt by them and such as go out of it must feel the Judgement but all who abides in the Faith shall not come into Condemnation So the LORD GOD Almighty of Heaven and Earth preserve and keep you all in Patience in Innocency in Uprightness and in Obedience unto the living measure of his Power manifested in you Amen Now Friends that which ministreth unto the Seed Immortal know that Ministration in your selves for that is profitable and that is durable and fadeth not away and let the exercise of your minds be in that which is living of God when you are met together and at other times that so ye may be kept out of that which comes to an end in the feeling of the Power of an endless Life that so the Seed of Life may be raised up in you all and ye established in it to live in it for ever in which Seed the end of words is witnessed Oh Friends there cannot be another Truth or Power or Saviour Preached unto you that you are to mind than that ye have already heard and felt but the same you are to wait to feel an enlargement in Therefore be valiant for the Lord and prize the worth of his unchangeable Truth and watch and be diligent that his Spirit of Life and Power may quicken you and that his Virtue and Nourishment may be felt and lived in whereby Fruits of Eternal Righteousness and Praises over all may be given unto him and that ye may be preserved fervent unto your first Love in him whose Eternal Day is dawned and broke forth of Salvation of Life of Power of Immortality Glory Eternal Praises everlastingly be rendred unto Him from the meek lowly quiet peaceable Spirit which is risen and arising in his Babes and tender Plants whereby he stayes and settles and satisfies them even in the day of Tryal and in the day of Prosperity I am your Dear and tender Friend and Brother in the Power of God in which I labour for the gathering of the Seed for the bringing into and keeping in the Unity of the Spirit which is the bond of Peace George Fox the younger TO THE Called of God Who Believe in the Light of the LAMB To be read in their Assemblies in the Pure Dread of the Lord. DEar Children and People of the Eternal God who have known the working of his Mighty Power and have been exercised in the Operations of his Eternal Spirit whereby he hath begotten your minds out of the world in a great measure and hath brought you into a feeling of his Eternal Presence which filleth Heaven and Earth wherein is the Joy unspeakable unto them that are reconciled to God by the Lord Jesus Christ the Immortal Word Friends you unto me are exceeding precious and my Desires and Breathings to the Lord for you are exceeding strong that ye may be preserved in the sence and feeling of the Power of an endless life and that you may be all kept in the true Faith and obedience of the truth which lives for ever all minding to answer its requirings in every particular and waiting to feel its Springings arising in you whereby you may feel it quickning you up to God that so your Faith and trust and Confidence may onely stand in him who is able to deliver For Friends this know the Lord will assuredly try you to the uttermost and you must come through the fire which will consume your enemies Therefore dear Babes be stedfast in the Lord according as he hath made manifest himself unto you and wait and watch in that measure of his Life in you which onely is able to keep your minds and hearts out of the Earth and the things thereof and as ye singly wait upon the Lord you will feel the growth of that Birth in you which is not of this world which can endure the fire Oh my Friends wait to feel your growth and Translation into this Birth which doth the will of the Father naturally this is the Seed unto which the Promises are this is the Elect which obtains and cannot be deceivid this is the Heir of the Kingdom without end this will God Crown with Victory when the measure of it's Sufferings is fulfilled this Seed must work through all it's Enemies and work them under it's feet Oh! wait in the Eternal Power to feel and witness it in the particular and be patient till God bring forth his Work outwardly Look not out neither be dismayed at the strange transactions of the times but look to the Lord who onely can save by what means he pleaseth and let the Lord alone to appear as he pleaseth onely be you watchful that when he appears you may be ready for his appearance and watch in the Light which will give you clearly to see his appearance and what he requires of you that so living obedience unto him may be yielded Oh Friends Take heed that the things of this World draw not away any of your hearts Remember it is them that are redeemed from the Earth that must Reign in and with the Lamb upon the Earth Take heed that your love stands not in any thing or
of his Glorious Truth and Gospel which is the Power of God and you have abode in his fear and singly given up to his will you have mightily been preserved and you have felt the hand of a tender Father upholding you and giving you Peace and content when you have lost much of this world and the honour and pleasures thereof for his Name sake Oh Friends He hath not been wanting unto you he hath seen your sufferings and hath looked upon your afflictions and hath ministred strength proportionable thereunto that you might not faint nor be weary Oh! let not his Mercies and Fatherly care and loving kindness be forgotten by any of you but let them for ever be had in remembrance so shall the reward be witnessed Now Friends the Lord hath suffered a Cloud and a Mist as it were to spread it self in these Nations whereby an evil savour is gone forth which by fire must be taken away in which he will yet further try his People that they may be as gold separated clearly from the dross and that they may indeed be truly gathered and redeemed from the Earth and all earthly things and that they may wholly look unto him for deliverance and know that he indeed is the alone refuge and hiding-place in the day of distress Therefore let all who know the Power of God retire inward and watch in the Light of the Lamb that you may feel the movings of the Life in your own Vessels and be kept in obedience to its drawings and leadings in this day of Tryal Temptation and Darkness which is spreading it self for a Moment mark that lest any of you be scattered for the Enemies work is anâ— will be to seek to draw you from your strength and true guide which where he attains it great will be the sorrow and loss of such Therefore my dearly beloved Friends who have tasted how good the Lord is in the tender bowels of Christ I beseech you be fervent in love to God and one towards another and be watchful in the Light and therein watch one over another and strengthen and comfort and encourage and build up one another in the work and service of the Lord And if any through the temptation of the Enemy hath at any time spoken or done any wrong to another even as God in Christ forgave you so freely forgive ye one another and be ye plain-hearted one to another and â—e ye reconcilâ—d in that which destroys all prejudice and purges out all hard thoughts that so the Unity may be witnessed in that Love which thinks no evil and the one Head and Master over all submitted unto and let the gathering be unto him alone that so the blessing may be multiplyed in and amongst you unto the Glory and Praise of him that gives the encrease And be diligent in Meeting together whilst you may in the Name and Power of the Lord and be watchful in the measure of the Life of God that you may feel your strength renewed and encreased in the inward man For Friends this is a day which will try every one's strength therefore dwell in the Power in which the true gathering is that ye may not scatter abroad for he that gathers not scatters abroad and he that goes from the drawings of the Power gathers not Now Friends as ye keep in the drawings and springings of the Invisible Life ye will be knit together in one Life and there will be no striving who shall be greatest but every one will be serving the Lord in their several places and measures and one another in Love and as this is abode in the weak in somethings and at sometimes may help the strong and the stronger in other things may help the weak Oh Friends be as Children of one Father dwelling in Innocency and Love together helping one another Be ye indeed as Members of one Body knowing that the nourishment to the several Members thereof comes frome one Head and considering that every Member hath not the same Office yet of exceeding Service as each moves and acts in true Love to the Body and therefore ought to be born and owned in their respective places and if any Member would act any thing that might hurt the Body or any part of it either through being out of the sence what is of Service to the Body or otherwise then if another Member or Members be made sensible of the same it or they are bound in Love to the Body to seek to hinder the same and in tender love to restore the erring Member that so the Body may be kept in true Order and every Member seeking the good one of another Oh Friends consider how the Members even of the true natural Body serve one another in Love how does one cover another how does one bear and strain and labour for the good of each other to help one another and how much more ought these things to abound in the Spiritual Body of which Christ is the Head And now that which chiefly lyes upon me at present to you is this That ye all in the feeling of the pure Life and Power of God may keep and that where there hath been any watching for advantage by any among you against one another or strife of words or prejudice or striving to Lord it one over another or strangeness one towards each other that these things be utterly laid aside and resisted for where these things or any of them take place they eat as doth a canker and devour the Babe which should inherit the Promises and receive the Blessing and that in tender Bowels of Love ye receive and embrace one another and that all whatsoever hath tended to the contrary in any may dye and be forgotten as if it had never been that so the Birth Immortal which hath been quenched in some may spring and grow in the Vertue of the Father that its strong cryes both in the Male and in the Female may pierce through the Clouds and reach unto the Father of Life and Power and wrestle with him until the Blessing be given abundantly yea until he make bare his Arm in the sight of his Enemies that the Oppressor may cease and the Land may be swept of evil doers that so a way may be made for the further spreading of his everlasting Name and Truth and for the exalting of the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus over all the Kingdoms of the World Ah Friends the Unity the Unity in the Spirit the Love the Love from a pure heart is exceeding precious the yearning of Bowels one toward each other in the Lord the Faith the Patience the Watching and Breathing and Groaning and Sighing and Praying and Crying in the Spirit and Power of Emanuel is able to astonish the Heathen and to confound Armies and Powers that withstand the Kingdom of the Lord Christ and to cause Vengeance to come upon such as will not Repent and turn to the Lord in the day of
A Collection Of the Several BOOKS AND WRITINGS Given forth by that FAITHFUL SERVANT OF GOD and his PEOPLE GEORGE FOX the Younger LONDON Printed for Robert Wilson at the Sign of the Black-spread Eagle and Windmil in Martins Le Grand 1662. The EPISTLE to all true friendly READERS LEt the Works and Words of the Lord wrought in and spoken by and through his holy Servants be of everlasting Memory to all Ages and Generations to come that the Lord God which formed all Mankind may have glory in all the Works of his Hands even for ever and ever Surely Friends for sundry righteous Causes my Spirit could desire a Recordance of the ensuing Writings One in that they are the Fruits of the Labours of a Valiant Souldier yet Meek Follower of the Lamb of God who through Travels Trials and Exercises in divers manners in Faithfulness Boldness Courage and Undantedness Persevered in the Power of God Kept the Faith to the End and Finished his Course in that which the Lord Almighty accepts of and now Rests in Glory with the Lamb and his Troops of Angels which I signifie unto you as is sealed unto me by the Spirit of Life and Immortality Another is in that the Work it self to euery true understanding Heart may plainly appear to be of God In one respect by his Prophesies certain of which became fulfilled whilst yet he bore the Body about him in another respect by his plain pure clear candid and righteous dealing with all sorts without respect of persons to whom he directed his Sayings viz. Thunders to the Rocks and Mountains and Streams of sweet milk wine and honey to the Blessed Living Babes of the Blessed living God Yet not by this do I appear before any clear Eye as a person promoting a person in the seat of the hearts of People for alas the dust is already returned to earth again and the Spirit to God who gave it but though the Creature is fallen flatted and converted to its proper center I cannot but in remembrance of that Spirit which once bore it as its Tabernacle in that Vessel to walk and wade through many trials afflictions and sorrows for the seeds sake of its own Father since it s now entred into the Bosom of the Father as a Life lept out of a lump of clay I say I cannot but in a Recordance of it and in a Concordance with it even in the self same substance say though the Name of the Wicked shall rot yet let the Memory of the Righteous live let his day be as a blessedness in every eye and the testimony of his Life a rejoycing in the hearts of the upright Surely I need not study a Motto nor dive into Invention to fetch up an Inscription to be engraven on the Tombe since the Names of the Faithful are in the Book of God and their glory is in him for ever But this I may say to the livers and as yet remainers in the Power of the same testimony which he with others have held as a Pattern and Example to those which follow after to the end He that hath finished his Course in faithfulness hath this advantage of him that yet remaineth and hath his Testimony to finish viz. In that he is redeemed from all causualties which might happen by temptation or otherwise yea and from all possibilities of losing the Crown of immortal Life and Reward of the Kingdom of everlasting Glory and Joy being already possessed of the unchangable Inheritance even where causualties and temptations reach not the which causualties and temptations are incident in some respect or other to the pure upright and faithful whilst yet in the body of flesh or tabernacle of clay where it can be felt and senced And therefore to all such I say fear and dread the living God to the end of your days that in the same life you may all finish a testimony for God as he that is gone before you Yea again I say fear the same God whilst yet you bear a Testimony for him lest by any means you should fall from the Life of the Testimony and the last of your day become the least glorious unto you And I in the fear of my Father do live in the love to you which often breatheth forth my heart in the Spirit of supplication and prayer constraining me to put up requests to the Throne for you the which as the Spirit breaths is desired may also by you be done in the behalf of your Brother in the innocency of the Lamb J. P. A TABLE Of the Principles Heads contained in this Book 1. COmpassions to the Captives wherein is shewed that the Way of God is but one pag. 3. 2. Something in plainness to the Officers and Souldiers p. 13. 3. A strong and Terrible Alarm to the Inhabitants of the Earth pag. 21. 4. A Visitation of Love unto all People p. 26. 5. An Exhortation to all Families p. 42. 6. The words of the Everlasting true Light p. 47. 7. A word to the People of the World who hate the Light with a few Queries to such Professors as stumble at the Light p. 57. 8. Honest Upright Faithful and plain dealing with thee O Army of the Common-wealth of England so called p. 73. 9. A few plain words to the Army and others about the choice of a Parliament by the voyces of the People p. 92. 10. His Message predicting the down-fall of the Parliament directed to the Parliament and their Army so called p. 101. 11. A Noble Salutation and faithful greeting unto Thee Charles Stuart c. Wherein is contained First several wholsome sound Exhortations and weighty things opened unto thee O King p. 105. 2. Concerning the Overturning of thy Father c. Pag. 108. 3. Concerning thy coming so far into Power again c. p. 113. 4. Concerning the great danger thou art in p. 115. 5. Concerning Religion and the Spirit of Persecution p. 121. 6. Concerning what Government and Governours the People of the Lord called Quakers stand for and what they stand against p. 124. 7. How we resolve in the strength of the Lord to stand for that which is Righteous and against that which is Unrighteous p. 125. 8. Concerning a Government and Governours wherein there may be something seen to be good and something bad p. 126. 9. Concerning Plotting or using a Carnal Weapon and from whom we expect deliverance p. 227. 10. Concerning Revenge p. 129. 12. Honest plain down-right dealing with the People called Episcopal men and Presbyterians p. 135. 13. A Few Queries to the Teachers of the Espiscopal Society p. 140. 14. The Testimony of God To those Rulers Teachers and People of this Present Age where the Headship of the Church is given to man p. 143. 15. The Dread of God's Power uttering its voyce through man unto the heads of the Nation p. 155. 16. A Message of Tender Love unto such Professors as have retained any true Sincerity Simplicity and Zeal
it not been just with the Lord to have suffered your Enemies to have destroyed you because of your grievous back-slidings and wickedness O consider it consider it while ye have time and prize the Lord's loving kindness that he should yet spare you and yet give you time to repent And seeing the Lord hath shewed you your back-slidings with his eternal Witness in you and hath begun to frustrate the designs of those that would have cut you off in your back-slidings and ye confess some of you that you are willing to take shame also to your selves wherein you have back-slidden therefore seeing it is thus all mind that of God in you which sheweth you your back-slidings and believe and wait in that to feel that nature judged and destroyed in you wherein all this Wickedness and Deceit hath lodged and keep in the fear and dread of the Lord God that so ye may receive his pure Wisdom whereby ye may be ordered in the particular and that ye in God's Wisdom and Fear may come to Rule in your places for God to be a terror to evil-doers and an encouragement to them that do well And take heed of a selfish earthly spirit in the particular and of the Honour and Glory and Gain of the World for that the Lord is against Oh! there is a strong deep root of it in many of you which the Spirit of Judgement and burning and the Ax of God is to destroy therefore wait to feel its Work in you O Army in thee was I several years together in which time I saw the mighty appearance of God with thee even in the time of the outward War and when the War was ended I left thee in obedience to the appearance of the living God unto me who called me out of thee by his Powerful Word in my heart through which he hath sanctified me and hath brought me into the life of that Truth which I and many of you in the Army professed in Words And I can truly say in the Fear of the Lord That my love hath been and yet is tender towards you for the good of your souls and I have seen your conditions and have considered them in the Spirit of the Lord and I cannot flatter any of you but must deal plainly and truly with you and all People Truly in many of you there is an exceeding lofty proud covetous deceitful nature and in others of you there is a lofty proud lustful devouring wanton vain nature though many of you I know have felt a measure of the Power of God yet verily ye have so back-slidden that iniquity hath gotten a strong hold and root in most of you therefore ye must keep down to the Witness of God in you which searcheth your hearts and will let you see what is there that so the Lord 's righteous Judgement ye may all feel and own it upon that nature in you which is contrary to the living God for if ye keep not to the Spirit of Judgement I know whatever you have declared in words that a selfish Spirit will get up more and more to act in you And verily Friends if you keep not your minds to the measure of the pure God in you a secret boasting will be ready to get up in you of what you have done and then you will soon forget where you are and your minds will run further and further into your Commissions and into your great Houses and Lands which many of you have got and others minds will run into your Souldiers places and ease and idleness and these things will beguile you if take not heed and you will soon forget the Oppressions then that others suffer under and if ye should do thus verily the Lord God would soon overturn you and break you to pieces Therefore all wait in the Light which shews you sin and evil that so by it ye may be brought to deny your selves and to come out of the loftiness that ye have been in into the true humility which goes before the true honour and come into moderation both in your Diet and Apparel and in all things and this would answer the Witness of God in all People and that being answered it would beget again a love in them towards you which you lost when you went into the excess Therefore be sober and watch in the Light of the Lord Jesus Christ which he hath enlightned you withal and believe in it that so ye may be preserved by it out of the deceitfulness of this World and that ye may be kept faithful in your places for the preserving of the outward Peace and Liberty of the Nation while ye feel a Freedom in that which convinceth you of evil for the bearing a carnal Weapon and know the manifestation of God's Spirit in you and wait to feel the motions of it and be obedient thereto and this will bring you to do violence to no man nor to accuse any falsly but it will bring you out of all such things if you keep to it and it will make you to be content with such wages as may find you Food and Raiment and things necessary and convenient for your Places and this you would then be worthy of So know the Lord hath a mighty Work to do therefore wait in his Light that ye may be kept truly sensible of your Places and go not beyond them but keep in the Fear of the Lord and wait to know what God requireth of you in your places lest the Lord cast you out So remember you are warned and it is in tender love to your Souls This following more particularly concerneth the Officers of the Army and Rulers of this Nation than the Army in general Take heed of raising or continuing War with other Nations in your own wills for to get your selves a Name and to get their earthly Treasures as some of you have been instruments to do for the Lord's hand hath been and yet is against that and he will not prosper you therein therefore be you warned and know that this is a warning unto you from the Lord God and seek peace and eschew evil and learn to do well that the Blessing of the Lord ye may come to feel and that this destroying of Creatures about Religion and the Honour and Gain of this World may cease And take heed how ye meddle with Religion for that hath split and broken many Rulers before you therefore set not up one Sâ—ct and throw not down another by an outward Law and force for that is wrong and the Lord is against that but wait in his Light to receive his Counsel that so ye may be kept in God's Wisdom and that therein ye may be instruments in the hand of the Lord for the keeping of the outward Peace of these Nations which are under your Command And take heed of hearkning unto such who in the King's time cryed him up and ran to him to give them a Law to settle them
in chusing of Parliaments according to England's Custom and how unlike it is that a Parliament so chosen should make England a free Nation seeing the great Oppressors of the Land viz. Priests and Lawyers and the great wicked covetous persecuting men are so much concerned in the chusing them so that if Parliaments so chosen should continue the People of the Lord are not like to be set free from their Oppression though Parliaments and Rulers have been made to do many good things by a Power which many of them scarce knew but the Lord hath a further thing yet to do in the Nations than either Protectors or Parliaments would submit unto therefore the Lord hath thrown them by but they had first a day of tryal given them and now is the Lord trying others and if they will not do his Work in breaking every yoke and letting the oppressed go free God will assuredly break them with a greater destruction than came upon those before them Therefore let your moderation be known unto all men for the Lord is at hand and thirst not after blood lest the Lord give ye blood to drink and we know that Kings and Protectors and Parliaments have made fair pretences and have given themselves fine Titles and have pleaded that they had a just right to and a necessity for their Authority and sought to get into the affections of the People by smooth words and large promises to carry on their own design but their hearts were not right before the Lord and therefore he broke them and their Titles and know that the People that fear God they matter not Titles and high Names but they look for righteous actions to be brought forth and many see that a Parliament that was chose by the most voices of the outwardly rich People were not like to act righteously and therefore they are willing to wait to see what the Lord will do by others and we see that People have been in great Blindness in contending for Parliaments so chosen so let this Wisdom be learned and lived in which is better than the strength of fools who oft perish in their passion and folly And now Friends in the Army and Committee that have turned out the Parliament Dread ye the Lord God and mind the equal just noble Principle of God in you which hath stirred against Tyranny and Oppression and make it not your business to declare only for Freedom as some before you did and did not the thing they declared for but in the Fear and Wisdom of the Lord go ye on to act for the good of all his Creatures and seek not your own Honours but singly do the same both for your Friends and Enemies that you would have them do for you if they were in Authority as ye are and until ye come to this ye are not like to prosper the Lord abhorreth the lying flattering double deceitful tongue and heart and the People also have been wearied with fair words because the actions have been wanting that should have accompanied the said words Remember how you have cryed out against the Oppression of a forced Maintenance for Teachers and now ye are tryed and have Power given you to break that Oppression down which some of you I say have desired others to do therefore abuse not your Power but leave the People free to maintain their own Teachers mark The Ministers that Christ sends forth they have no need of you in this particular as to provide Food and Raiment for them for their Heavenly Father knows that they have need of those things and provides it for them without an outward Law to compel it that so they lack not any thing and that Teacher that will not consent to this he serveth not the Lord Jesus but his own Belly and that is his God and such a one can never profit the People and mark if ye should take away Tythes and Command by a Law any other Maintenance from us for Teachers that would be the same Tyranny and Oppression in the nature and ground of it that Tythes were and we must bear our Testimony against it also and our Lives or Estates or both must yet suffer therefore if ye do thus you leave Us in the same Bondage as before And let Laws be provided that are righteous just and equal according to that of God in the Conscience and let such be impowered to execute them that will hear and determine Causes freely according to righteousness and let causes of difference between man and man be heard in every County and when by plain proof of two or three witnesses without transgressing Christ's doctrine it come to be manifested who have done the wrong then let the Executioners of the Law be impowered to cause the party or parties to restore for the wrong that is done according to Equity that so this abominable Oppression about the Law and Lawyers may be broken down and thunder down all ungodly gaming 's and shews whereby the foolish wild People are cheated of their moneys and spend away their precious time to the dishonour of the pure God And let the People of the Lord have their Liberty to speak his Word freely where and when his Spirit leads them and gives them utterance and let the Law take hold on such as would wrong any man's Person or Estate And let the dread of the Lord be upon your Spirits and wait in his Light to receive his Wisdom that therein you may be ordered in the particular and in it order all things to his Glory that ye may remove all that which is standing which is contrary to the Will of God And meddle not to establish Religion and Teachers by an outward Law for verily if ye do ye will be broken let that alone to Christ whose work it is Consider all that went before you of late years that would be medling with such things the Lord broke them to pieces and they were warned in their day as ye are now And let not your many Victories which ye have obtained nor your being preserved in so many overturnings wherein ye have been made instrumental nor your strength courage nor wisdom puff ye up for thus saith the Lord God even as earthen vessels are in the hands of a Potter who hath power to dash them one against another until they be broken or to break them in pieces with another thing that appears more weak than they even so are you in my hand saith the Lord and I can confound your Wisdom and take away your Courage and smite you with faintness and dauntedness of Spirit in the twinkling of an eye therefore seek not your selves for if you do your day shall be but short Remember you of the Army had Power once before to have acted for the good of your Nation but the subtilty in some who sought themselves whom God hath since blasted beguiled you and mark some of you sold your power for Commissions and others
for nothing but flattering words so betrayed your own integrity and the Cause of your Country now you have power again do not abuse it serve not the lusts nor the self-interest of any man or men whatsoever but serve the Lord and your Generation faithfully Mark if you consent to deceit and make an agreement with death through fear or any self-end whatsoever God will break that agreement and bring shame upon you for it And Friends there is a lofty proud self-seeking Spirit yet amongst many of you which if you cease not from it will be the cause of your destruction and truly if you provoke the Lord to break you it will be more heavy and terrible than the breaking of those that were before you therefore let the Lord be minded and linger not about things but be valiant and act faithfully for the just Liberty of all without respect of persons and let revenge be forgotten and this will overcome your Enemies and make you truly honourable in the hearts of all People This is your day prize it and let your deeds make it manifest to the People that you have not sought your selves in this which you have done but the general good of all and then you will need the fewer words to prove your Enemies lyars who have accused you to be self-seekers And now wo is coming both upon Teachers Rulers and People that are in the good words but out of the good deeds and Life and the Eternal God who is the Light will break shatter confound and overturn untill the good Life come up and be set on the top of all and now the name of Truth only will be too narrow a covering for it is the nature of Truth it self that will be able to cover and to be a sure hiding-place in this the day of the Wrath of the Lamb. From a lover of the Truth of God and all his Creatures GEORGE FOX the Younger For the PARLIAMENT of England and their ARMY so Called YOur day into darkness is turned the Sun is gone down over you you have had a large day and Power given unto you to have done the Will of God but you have abused the Power and slighted your day and you have refused to do the Lord's work and have sought to serve your selves and not the Lord Therefore in Justice and Righteousness is the day wherein you might have wrought for God taken from you and the thick dark night of confusion is come upon you wherein you are groping and stumbling and cannot work the Decree is gone out and sealed against you and it cannot be recalled you are not the men as ye stand in whom God will appear to work Deliverance for his People and Creatures and yet deliverance shall come but nor according to mans expectation But as for you ye have rejected the Counsel of the Lord and grieved his Spirit and he hath long born you yea you are departed from the Lord and his presence is departed from you indeed he hath hewed with you and if you had been faithful to the End he would have honoured and prospered you and would have been your sufficient reward ye were his Ax but you have boasted your selves against him therefore as you have Beaten and Hewed and Broken others Even so must you be Beaten Hewed and Broken for you have grievously provoked the Lord And if he should now suffer that Tree which ye have cut to fall upon you and to break part of you it were just O ye Treacherous Wilful Proud Self-seeking People who have despised the Counsel of the Lord and would not take warning though he hath sent his Prophets and Servants early and late among you some of whom you have imprisoned and despitefully used what will ye do now whom will ye now flee unto for help seeing ye are departed from the Lord are now rending and tearing biting and devouring one another for proud ambitious self ends Mark if ye would now build again the thing that you once destroyed That shall not be able to hide or shelter you from the wrath of the Lamb that way whereby you think to strengthen your selves thereby shall you make your selves much weaker and help forward your own destruction you are now but a rod remember your end which hastens greatly now breach upon breach insurrection upon insurrection overturning upon overturning heaps upon heaps division upon division shall there be until he come to Reign whose right it is and all Nations must bow before him else he will break them with his Iron Rod. They that trust in or lean upon you for help it is as if they leaned upon a broken Reed which is not able to help it self nor others indeed you have been made to do many good things but you would not go through with the work which God will have accomplished and therefore are these things come upon you Therefore tremble and dread before the Lord ye who have been as strong Oakes and tall Cedars for now shall your strength fail you and you shall be weak even as the weakest of men but if you would yet believe in the Light and truely submit to God's Righteous Judgements many of you might come to witness your Souls saved in the day of the Lord though many of your bodies are to be thrown by because of your grievous backslidings as not counted worthy to be the Lord's workmen There is a small remnant yet among you for whom my Soul breaths who may be winnowed out and if they will own the Judgements of the Lord and truly and throughly deny themselves and follow his leadings he will heal their back-slidings and purge them that so they may be instruments in his hand But they that will continue with you in your sins shall partake with you of your Judgements The Rod of the wicked shall not alwayes rest upon the back of the Righteous yet even as gold is tryed so shall they be that they may be White and without Spot before the Lamb but God will avenge their cause and wo then will be to their Oppressors and then shall the Majesty and Glory of the Lord fill his People who have long been troden under and they shall be the dread of all Nations the zeal of the Lord of Hosts shall perform this A Copy of this in Print was given to each Parliament Man before General Monck came into London with his Army from Scotland And it is now reprinted that People may see that the Lord hath fulfilled already many of the words which he gave unto his Servant and Prophet to declare unto them and that they may see that there hath been a true Prophet's Message among them and that People may take heed that they slight not the Lord's Prophets as they did whom he hath now broken 11th Month 59 From one who am made willing both to suffer and to Reign with Christ even to follow him whithersoever he goeth George Fox the
Younger A Noble Salutation And a Faithful GREETING Unto THEE Charles Stuart Who art now PROCLAIMED KING OF England Scotland France and Ireland I. Several wholesom sound Exhortations c. LET thy Moderation be known unto all men for the Lord is at hand whose presence filleth Heaven and Earth and let such a Nobility appear in Thee as to try all things and to hold fast that which is good and either to read or to hear with patience before thou judgest for Wisdom becometh a King and true Reason Solidness and Patience him that is a Ruler of the People Mark The God of Heaven hath put into my heart to write unto Thee and in tender love both to thy Soul and Body to lay before Thee several things whereby thou mayest come to see and consider how the mighty Hand and Justice of the Invisible God hath been in these overturnings and changes which have happened in these Nations of late years therefore consider these things The Mighty God the Everlasting Father He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and the whole Earth is his and the fulness thereof and he Ruleth over the Kingdoms of men and giveth them unto whomsoever he pleaseth Yea he pulleth down one and setteth up another and there is no overturning or changing the Kingdoms but it is either by his Commission or Permission and the Lord doth not do any thing neither suffereth he any thing to be done unto persons or Kingdoms without a Cause though he may do whatsoever he pleaseth and who shall call him to an account Yet all his doings are righteous and his wayes are just and equal altogether And it is for the unrighteousness sometimes of a King or Kings and sometimes of a People and other times of both that the Lord doth break or suffer a Nation or Nations to be broken and when he determines to break a People or to change Governments or to suffer such to be done in vain do men strive to preserve or uphold them and the Lord may and doth make whomsoever he pleaseth his Instruments for to do his determined Work and when they have done his Work then he may do whatsoever he pleaseth with them and many times his Instruments when they begin his determined Work appear very contemptible unto many Yet such speak foolishly and without understanding who say That such Instruments are too weak and cannot prevail seeing all power is in the hand of God who can give Wisdom and Strength and Courage unto whomsoever he pleaseth Yea so much as may accomplish his Work and he very oft-times by that which appeareth foolish weak and contemptible confoundeth and bringeth to naught that which appeareth to be Mighty and wise that no flesh should glory in his presence And when his Instruments have done his Work and he determines to break or suffer them to be broken again let them appear never so Wise Bold and Mighty yet vainly do they speak who say Such a Wise Bold and Mighty People cannot be broken seeing the Lord can do whatsoever he pleaseth who suddenly can turn man's Wisdom into folly his strength into weakness and his boldness into dauntedness of Spirit Now such things as these O King come oft to pass and none of them without a Cause and they that are truly Wise learn further and get understanding through all these things Therefore is true Wisdom better than Strength and a right Understanding is better than an earthly Crown Therefore O King wait to feel the noble Principle of Wisdom which God hath inspired Thee withal for there is a measure of it in Thee though it hath been hid and that measure is the Light which Christ the Wisdom of God hath enlightned Thee withal which Light in Thee is that which never had fellowship with darkness in Thee or its deeds nor concord with the Devil or his Works but makes manifest and reproves all such things which Light being received in the love of it and believed and waited in man becomes a child of it and so it gives him a good understanding and opens an eye in him whereby he comes to see the hand and workings and appearances of the invisible God and this Light is the free Gift of God which is come upon all men which being rejected and a man not liking to retain it in his knowledge he profesing himself then to be wise becomes a fool and brings condemnation upon himself for rejecting that which should minister all things unto him pertaining unto Life and Godliness Therefore O King give all diligence to receive the Gift which God hath placed in thy heart that so thou mayest be acquainted with Wisdom and that thou mayest be filled with moderation gravity and patience and come to a right understanding and discerning that so thou mayest rightly look upon things past present and to come and see them as they were are and shall be II. Concerning the overturning of thy Father c. COncerning thy Father and those that took his Part There was an eminent hand of God in breaking them down and bringing them under and God did it not without a Cause for the Iniquity in them provoked the holy God to anger and the hight and pride of their spirits grieved and pressed the Spirit of the Just God and after he had a long time born with them and warned them with his Eternal Light in their Consciences yet they repented not but still grieved his good Spirit by many provocations and waxed higher and higher against him in disobedience his anger then was kindled against them and his indignation waxed hot and he arose in the fiery spirit of his jealousie to ease himself of his Adversaries and avenge himself of his Enemies and because the Living Wise Eternal God who made all the Nations of the earth of one blood and is no respecter of persons saw that those that took part with thy Father were generally according to outward appearance accounted the wisest richest noblest and stoutest men mark and that they did glory in their Wisdom Riches Nobility Stoutness and Strength and vaunted themselves over those that were made of the same Blood He the living God did then appear in contemptible Instruments as to outward appearance as in Trades-men Plough-men Servants and the like with some others whom I know thy Father's Party made a mock at and even scorned them as it were and thought it too low and too base a thing to engage War with such a contemptible People yet in such I say did the Lord appear to carry on that Work which he had determined even to bring down the loftiness of man and to stain the pride and glory of flesh and that thy Father's Party might have come to see that they were but men made of the same earth and blood that others were And the Lord God appeared mightily in those his Instruments giving them Wisdom Courage and Strength to mannage a War against a far more Mighty and Wise
People as to outward appearance than themselves and they prevailed daily against their Enemies And the affections of the People run forth and inclined towards them And God struck thy Father's Party with dauntedness of Spirit and turned their wisdom backwards and prospered them not in the Field but sometimes caused them to Flee before their Enemies and other times gave them into their hands and yet they repented not neither did they humble themselves before the Lord and some fretted and strove and some Blasphemed and Cursed even for madness to see how they were Defeated yet they strove in vain for God was against them and they grew weaker and weaker until they were even wholly subdued and brought under their Enemies and given into their hands for a Prey That so they durst not scarce act or speak any thing against their Enemies And God suffered Thy Father to be delivered into their Hands And thus the Lord stained the glory and pride of that People which took part with Thy Father and Thee by a low and contemptible means as to outward appearance Though I do verily believe that those in whom God did appear against thy Father thy Self and those that took that part did act several things against you beyond their Commission they had from God yet he did permit them And in several of them who did engage against Thy Father and his Party there was once a tender honest good Principle in the day wherein they were low and there were true desires in some of them after a just Liberty both as appeartaining to Conscience and in things betwixt man and man and they were truly sensible of many Oppressions that were in the Nations both in matters of Religion and in the Laws and Customs of the Land and they cryed unto God when they were low and Vowed unto him and engaged unto man That if he would deliver their Enemies into their hands that then they would remove all Oppressions and make the People of these Nations a Free People and that they should have their Just Rights and Liberties both as Men and as Christians Now after Thou hadst also stroven against them with a perfidious People to wit the Scots and ye were defeated the Lord gave their Enemies so into their hands that they had as much outward Power in these three Nations as they could desire and they also became a Dread and a Terror to some Nations about them And they had Power and Opportunity to have removed all Oppressions out of the Land but alas Covetousness and self-seeking Lusts sprang up in most of them and leavened them And when they had Rest and Fulness they forgot the Lord who had raised them from a low degree and they forgot the Oppression of their Brethren also and regarded not to pay their Vows to God and Man But after a time the Chief of them got into thy Father's Houses and Lands and into Thine and into some of those that took your parts and others they sold and so thereby became great in the Earth And then their Lusts encreased and they grew wanton against the Lord also and boasted themselves over those whom they had conquered And some of them began to creep into those Places and Things themselves which they had cryed out against in others And so built and set up the same Thing in and among themselves which they had thrown down and destroyed in another only in Deceit and Hypocrisie they got other Names for them Then several of the Army that were amongst them when they saw their Deceit and Wickedness and that they did not intend the thing which they did pretend durst not for Conscience sake continue any longer amongst them but left them several years ago and declared against them And others since that feared the Lord were turned out by them so that in a short time many of them became greater Oppressors and Persecutors than those whom they conquered and so provoked the Lord to anger Then the Lord raised up many Prophets and Servants and sent them amongst those who had acted thus treacherously and some also wrote unto them and laid their Abominations plainly before them and shewed them wherein they had erred and exhorted them to Repentance and plainly shewed unto them what the Lord required at their hands And sometimes were made to Reprove them sharply and plainly and prophesied unto them That the Lord would confound and break them to pieces one against another and suffer them to be destroyed if they repented not speedily but they would not hearken but grew stiff-necked against the Lord and his People and suffered many of them to be Oppressed and their Goods spoyled and some of them to be Imprisoned unto death in their Names And thus they Rebelled against the Lord more and more and boasted of their Strength and Wisdom and Valour and so forgot how that it was the Lord that raised them up from a low degree and gave them Power over their Enemies And thus they wrought grievous provocations in his sight so that then the anger of the Lord was kindled against them and as they forsook him so he forsook them and at length he gave them up to the Counsels of their own Hearts because they had rejected his Counsel And then they began to divide and split amongst themselves and to betray one another for self-ends and their courage began to fail and faintness and deadness of Spirit seized upon them And having plunged themselves so far in Covetousness and Lusts the Cloud of Error grew so thick upon them that they could not see the Cause that they once were so zealous for And when Confusion fell upon them and they groped like blind men and knew not at what they stumbled neither knew they for whom nor for what to stand but sometimes cryed up and engaged for one Thing and shortly after cryed against it and threw it down again and some of them cryed for one thing and others brought forth another thing and so like Babel's builders whom God determined to scatter they acted and their Eye being blinded they wrought their own Destruction and few of them saw it until it was come upon them and them that did were as men amazed and knew not how to help themselves And thus the just hand of the Lord came upon an Hypocritical Deceitful professing People who in Words have made a great professing that they knew God but in Works they have denied him and therefore hath the Lord taken away their strength for the present and turned their wisdom backwards and stained their glory that they also might come to see what they were and what the Lord did for them and what they are fallen from that so haply some of them may come to find repentance and to be humbled under the Mighty Hand of God and the Lord may heal their backslidings and may raise up his own Eternal Witness in them the Tabernacle of David which hath been fallen down III. Concerning
either in things Religious or in things Civil betwixt man and man than we desire all others might enjoy And if such a Government as this be set up then if he that is Chief in taking care and seeing that Justice may be done to all without respect of persons if he be called a King a Judge a Protector or a General we shall not be against either or any of the Names Or if the care and trust be laid upon more if they be called by the Name of a Parliament or a Council or a Committee or King and Parliament or any we are content and shall willingly submit unto Righteousness from them or any of them as our duty And it is that which is unrighteous which is called a Government wherein Oppression Partiality and Cruelty is exercised either in things relating unto conscience in matter of Worship or in things civil betwixt man and man that we stand against and if such a thing be set up and called a Government and if the chief in it be called a King or a Judge or a Protector or a General or a Parliament or a Council or a Committee or King and Parliament we cannot stand for any of the Names nor submit unto the unjust things commanded by them any other wayes than through a patient suffering under it And this according to the strength of the Lord we shall be willing to do VII How we resolve in the strength of the Lord to stand for that which is righteous and against that which is unrighteous c. THe way how we shall stand for the Righteous Government and Governours is by yielding all due lawful obedience unto them and their Commands and by labouring in the Power of the Lord to bring down and to keep under the evil lust in People which is the cause of all Wars and Rebellions and Transgression And as much as in us lies we shall endeavour to live peaceably with all men and perswade others unto the same And so by a Godly Conversation we shall be patterns unto others And this will be an adorning of good Government and Governors and a help unto them And this we resolve in the strength of the Lord to do Also the manner how we shall stand through the Power of the Lord against that which is unrighteous though it be called a Government and against unrighteous Governours is by bearing our Testimony against them in the Power of the Lord and by yielding no other obedience to them than in submitting patiently to suffer and endure whatsoever punishment the Lord shall suffer them to lay upon us And this shall turn against them daily and weaken them and bring shame upon them For Persecution is to them that persecute us a token of Perdition but unto Us of Salvation and that from the Lord. VIII Concerning a Government and Governours wherein there may be something seen to be good and something bad c. ANd as concerning a Government or Governours wherein there may be something good and something bad This I say in such a case whatsoever is good in either we shall be ready through the Lord's strength to submit unto and own and we shall labour to preserve and cherish that And as the Lord shall move us we shall be willing to shew the Governours in plainness what is wrong in them and in the Government and if they refuse to hear us and afflict us we shall in patience yield our Bodies to suffer under that which is bad in either however we shall discountenance it and labour through the Power of the Lord in a Spiritual Warfare to destroy it that so it may further appear that we are not against Magistracy but for it it being God's Ordinance and that we are only against that in Magistrates and People which would and which doth defile and pollute the place of Magistracy IX Concerning Plotting or using a Carnal Weapon and from whom we expect Deliverance c. ANd I further testifie in the Lord that I do not intend neither have I any such thought in my heart either to plot for or against Thee or any other upon the Earth for I do not expect deliverance by a carnal Sword and yet I know deliverance shall come with or without the help of man and in vain have been and shall be all the strivings compellings and murderings about Religion Church and Worship for man may as well say to the Sun in the Firmament Stand thou still Or to the Sea Be thou dryed up as hinder one jot of the Lord 's mighty workings in this his day for his Work yea his strange work shall be brought to pass and mine eye sees it and not any mortal shall be able to hinder it And into the belief of this I know that the Lord hath gathered several thousands into the same mind with me that are called by the name of Quakers and we could desire if it were the Will of God even that all men were of the same mind And those that are otherwise minded we shall leave them unto the Lord to do what he pleaseth with them And we are freely given up unto the Will of God and we have committed our Cause unto Him and He shall bring it to pass that so it may plainly be made manifest that we are a People saved by our God from whom we expect deliverance And he hath made us willing to wait until he bring it to pass And this we are confident of that the Everlasting Gospel which is the Power of God shall again be Preached unto all Nations Kindreds Tongues and People and that the Whore of Babylon the Beast and his Horns and his Names which have prevailed against the Bodies of the Holy People in the night of Apostacy shall cease to prevail against the Saints and that Babylon and her Merchants shall be thrown down and confounded and then shall the Saints of the most High possess the Kingdom And we do believe that God will overturn and overturn until he hath brought to pass the thing that he hath decreed which is to establish Righteousness in the earth and then shall there be Judges as at the first and Counsellors as at the beginning and Kings shall become Nursing-Fathers and Queens shall become Nursing-Mothers and the Kingdoms of this VVorld shall become the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ and hereof we have an assurance in the Spirit of Truth and yet we never expect to know Christ after the flesh to reign but he shall reign over all the Earth whose Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom and all Powers shall serve and obey him who is King of Saints X. Concerning Revenge and what may follow if it be sought and what if not c. TAke heed of seeking Revenge O let not the Enemy of thy Soul within or without get Thee into Blood Vengeance is the Lords and he will repay it Therefore wherein thy Enemies went beyond their Commission against thy Father or
yet I could not but publish it because its service reacheth so far in several Particulars unto those also that have been engaged in the late Wars on both sides as in declaring the Mighty Hand and working of the Invisible God therein and for what cause these things have been suffered and how they have been effected which being truly considered may cause many to bow before the Lord and henceforward cease rejoycing in the destroying one of another and rather admire the Lord's mighty and strange workings whereby he hath taken away the cause of boasting in the Arm and Wisdom of flesh on both Sides that so none might glory but in the Lord And many other things are declared in this Book as a Testimony both against Hypocrisie and Prophaneness and what God will do if Repentance be not come unto speedily and also the Innocency and Just and Equalness of the Way and Order of the Truth and such as live in the Life of it both in many things appertaining to Religion and in things Civil is here Demonstrated with many wholesom Exhortations tending to Righteousness and Peace and the safety both of King and Nation and the contrary witnessed against which may be of great service to many if they in the Fear of God will read it and receive his Witness in them the Light of Christ which will answer to the Truth and for no other ause do I Publish it but that if it be the Will of the Lord Truth and Peace may be encreased which this directs unto and that Violence and Wars which this bears witness against might cease and that so God may have the honour of all unto whom it doth belong From the Counsel and Nobility of the Royal Seed the Lyon of the Tribe of Judah the Everlasting King of Righteousness who reigneth in George Fox the Younger A Coppy of this was delivered in Writing by Richard Hubberthorn into the Kings hand at White-Hall the 4th day of the 4th Month 1660. And this may be of service to any of those called Royallists or others if they in Moderation will Read it and for that Cause it is upon me to send it abroad in Print Honest Plain Down-right-Dealing WITH THE PEOPLE CALLED Episcopal-Men and Presbyterians In this Seasonable ADVICE given unto them and their TEACHERS FRIENDS YOu both pretend in Words to be Friends to the KING now let your actions shew forth the same lest ye in this Cause concerning the King be found like those who in words professed to know or love another King but in Works denyed him Tit. 1.16 Therefore labour not to perswade the King to set up either of your Forms of Worship in this manner mark as to compel by outward Force all others to conform thereunto or else to persecute them for if you do thus and if the King should hearken unto either of you and fulfill either of your wills in this particular mark you to whom he so consents unto would shortly be made manifest to be the greatest Enemies to the King in the Nations And not only the Kings Enemies but Enemies to your selves also even to the endangering of the destruction both of the King and Your selves for if the King shall set up either of your Forms and compel all others thereunto or else Persecute them mark you two are so inverate one against another and have acted already so cruelly one against another that thus it will be with you mark you that the King so sets up will seek to avenge your selves and to Lord it over the other Mat. 5.44 46. and neither of you are able to suffer in patience and to forgive your Enemies as the Ministers of Christ were to do Mat. 6.15 that so which-soever of you were put under the other you will be watching to Plot both against the King and them that are set over you and if you that are put under can but get an advantage against the other which-soever of you it be mark even the Mercies of you would be cruelty towards those that kept you under And if either of your Forms should be set up as before mentioned you who be set up in that manner will be in great danger of being destroyed and that for these reasons First Because it is not owned by the Lord that any should set up a Worship and compel others to it by outward force or Persecution and this is the way in which either of you would proceed if ye had Power and thereby you would Engage the Lord against you and your Worship for the worship which he owns is in the Spirit and in the Truth John 4.23 24. and nothing but the Power of his Spirit can compel thereunto and they that rebel against this Power in matter of Worship are for it to be punished thereby Secondly Because the Lord hath decreed to remove Oppression and Persecution and to judge and blast that spirit which hath exercised cruelty against the Saints and to set up Righteousness and to give his People their just Liberty to worship him according to the leadings and requirings of his Eternal Spirit in them mark and if either of your Forms should be set up as before mentioned it would strongly oppose this Decree of God which cannnt be broken and therefore it would engage the Lord to destroy you Thirdly If one of you be set up and ye be impower'd by the King to compel by outward force all others to your Worship or else to Persecute them mark this will exasperate the spirits of most of the other Sects against the King and you that shall be so set up and it will engage all them of the Sects that are in the fighting nature and can use a carnal Weapon for their own defence to joyn together as one man against the King and either of you that he should so set up Therefore if you would be true Friends either to the King or your selves and your Nation labour not with the King to establish either of your Forms or any other as before-mentioned but if ye own CHARLES STUART to be King be content that HE may Rule over all as one keeping the outward Peace among you all by providing just Laws to punish any that would hurt any mans Person or Estate upon any unjust account whatsoever or any that shall run into open prophaneness Mat 7.12 and be content that others may have as much Liberty to Worship their God in that way they are perswaded to be right as ye desire to have in that ye think is right and lay by all these Carnal Weapons as Prisons Fires Gallows Stocks Whips and all outward violence and use none of them mark about compelling to a Worship 2 Cor. 10.4 But you that are Teachers come forth with your Spiritual Weapons if you have them and smite at the Spiritual Wickedness that is Exalted in the Creatures if ye be able wrestle with that and not with the Creatures and if without using outward force and compulsion
things in the Childs name mark that it shall forsake the Devil and all his works mark that the pomps and vanities of this World and all the sinful lusts of the flesh and that it should keep God's holy Will and Commandments now if you say they may forsake all these things and keep God's Holy Will and Commandments then will it not overthrow what you Teach your selves at other times and if People do not or cannot forsake the Devil and all his works the pomps and vanities of this wicked World and the sinful lusts of the flesh and keep God's Holy Will and Commandments then do you not cause them you call God-Fathers and God-Mothers to Promise and Vow lies and impossibilities in Childrens Names Now Answer these things in Plainness and Moderation without fleeing to your Carnal Weapons and be not like those that instead of answering have raged and persecuted those that have Queried them There are many things more appertaining to your Worship which I cannot own to be Right but I would see how you will get through these things and what satisfaction you are able to give concerning these few and then as the Lord moves you may hear of many things more which are to be Queried The 22 d. of the 4th Month 1660. From a Faithful Souldier of the Army of the Lamb which must get the Victory for whose Testimony I suffer in Lambeth-House George Fox the Younger THE Testimony of God To those Rulers Teachers and People of this present Age where the Headship of the Church is given to Man and to such as strive to have it so and to those that set themselves in the seat of God by taking upon them that which properly belongs to God and Christ who are one Wherein God's Controversie with them is plainly Demonstrated Opened and given by the Spirit of Truth which is made manifest in that earthen vessel which is called George Fox the younger HEarken O ye Kings and Give ear ye Rulers Teachers and People of all sorts who are striving against the Spirit of God in its workings The Lord's Controversie is great this day and few there be that rightly understand it Therefore are ye confounded broken and breaking one of another and cannot be healed until you return to and receive and obey that which will shew you with what God's Controversie is Therefore consider this The inspiration of the Almighty giveth understanding Job 32.8 Yea the life of the Immortal Word which is the Light of men John 1.4 giveth to understand the mind of the Eternal God Therefore to the Light which the Word hath enlightned you withal Take heed John 1.9 for that is the faithful Witness of God and to that in you all who shall hear the Testimony which God hath given me to bear shall I be made manifest for that shall answer to the words of the most High which I have to utter Therefore let all flesh be silent that Truth may take place and that the words of the Holy One may be heard and received Thus saith the Lord God My Controversie hath not been nor is not with man any further than as he is departed from me and joyned to and become one with the man of sin that wicked one the Son of Perdition who is exalted in man above me the Eternal God and opposeth me and sitteth in my Temple shewing himself to be God in taking upon him that which properly belongeth unto me for he commands and leads them with whom my Controversie is into whatsoever and whithersoever he pleaseth and they are become subjects unto his Kingdom so that they will not that I should Reign over them but they have taken Counsel of my Adversary who hath taught them also to take as it were my Honour which I will not give to another unto themselves and so they are become one with my Adversary And by his Power they also in many things have set themselves in my stead in taking upon them to do things which did properly belong unto me and they in thus doing have slighted and rejected the thing that I have done and thus the Abomination which maketh desolate standeth in the place where it ought not For which cause I will visit saith the Lord God And now You with whom God's Controversie is who have given the headship of the Church to man that you may further see your Error Mark and consider these things It did properly belong to the Mighty Eternal God to Ordain a Head for his Church and he unalterably Ordained one Head thereof which is Christ the second Adam the Lord from Heaven the quickening Spirit Yea he gave him to be Head of the Body which is the Church the fulness of him that filleth all in all that he in all things might have the preheminence in whom all fulness dwells Col 1.18 19. Ephes 5.23 and 1.22 23. And by the appointment of the Father he giveth forth all the Laws and Ordinances which his Church that is the Congregation of the Righteous are now to observe and whosoever will not hear him in all things and follow his leadings and obey his voice are to be cut off For all Judgement is committed unto him John 5.22 27. But many of you who in several Nations are called Christians with whom the Lord's Controversie is great unto the dishonour of God You have taken upon you to Ordain other Heads of the Church then Christ and they shall give forth Laws and Ordinances for the Church to observe and they that will not hear your Heads and observe their Laws and Ordinances you will cut them off or Persecute them and in thus doing you have slighted and rejected the thing that God hath done and ye have set your selves in his stead And this is a great Cause of God's Controversie with this Age and until this abomination be removed and broken down God will remove and break down all in whomsoever it doth reside and all such as would uphold it whatsoever their names be called For whosoever will strive to uphold that Authority in themselves or others which properly belongs to God and Christ who are one shall not be able to stand in this the day of God's Controversie neither can the Nations be setled in true Peace until that be given up to Christ which properly unto him belongs and is his Right for though the Lord hath long born with great patience yet now the time hasteth that the Heir must be Possest of that which the Father hath given unto him and they that will not freely give up to him his due must be broken And now O England to Thee I speak mark this did not serve to end the Controversie of God with Thee when thou didst take the Headship of the Church from the Pope and gave it to the outward King Neither did that end God's Controversie with Thee when thou didst take it from thy King again and gave the Nature or Power of the Headship though not the Name
a prey to this Generation Isa 59.14 15. And though several overturnings have been yet is iniquity still at a great height and increaseth exceedingly And what will it advantage a Child to flee from a Bear and joyn to a Lyon Verily the day is come wherein there is no hiding place of safety for the Righteous but purely in the Name of the Lord and blessed are they that alone trust therein For the help of the meek standeth in the Name of the Lord Psal 124.8 Hos 13.9 And happy are they that abide in it for the day will be terrible and dreadful unto all that have not a habitation in the Name of the Lord the King of Saints For Violence and Oppression shall come to the full and then shall the Lord Roar out of his Habitation and he shall strike the Inhabitants of the Earth with Astonishment and Faintness and Deadness of Spirit shall seize upon the mighty men and weakness and fear upon thâ— strong and bold of the Earth for the Lord will appear in his mighty Power to take the Kingdom and to relieve the oppressed and to help the needy and they shall be strong in him Be wise therefore O ye Kings and learn Wisdom ye Iudges and Rulers of the Earth Return unto the Lord and serve him with fear Tremble before the Glory of his Presence and Kisse the Son lest he be angry and you perish by the way For his wroth shall suddenly burn then blessed are all they that trust in Him Read Psal 2. Therefore strive not with the Lord any longer by withholding his Right from Him but give unto him his due and resign up to him and his anointed the things that he doth require for the Lamb must get the victory and he must have the Preheminence in all things yea he must be the Supream Head in all Spiritual things and the only Law-giver to his People yea he with the Higher Power must ordain and send forth Ministers and Labourers into his Church Vineyard and Harvest for he only can fit them for the work and not man and he will take care that they shall not lack any thing Luke 22.35 For the Earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof Psal 24.1 And he will constrain People with his love which is better than outward force to give his Ministers Food and Raiment when they have need thereof and they will be contented there-withal 1 Tim. 6.8 Therefore meddle not with these things any more I warn and exhort you in the Love of God For it belongs not unto you but unto God and Christ who are one and let Christ only be acknowledged to be the defender of the Faith who is able to perform that Office to the full which man is not And let the one Law-giver be minded and owned in man to give forth Laws to punish Transgressors that so the Judgement may be the Lord's and not man's for so it ought to be and he that Ruleth over men must be Just ruling in the Fear of God 2 Sam. 23.3 And they that Fear the Lord and hate Covetousness ought to be Judges and Rulers Exod. 18.21 to see and take care that the Law of God be put in due execution judging righteously without respect to persons Prov. 24.23 doing to all men as they would they should do unto them keeping out of Bribes and Gifts that the eye may not be blinded Exod. 23.6 7 8. And such Rulers as these will the Lord set up and Honour unto whom he will plainly shew his Righteous just Law which he wil have executed upon Transgressors and men shall be subject unto them for Conscience sake and they only shall be a terror to evil doers and encouragers of them that do well and they shall be guarded with Righteousness and the Lord shall bless them with the dew of Heaven and they shall send forth a good savour into the Earth and then shall the Inhabitants of the Earth learn Righteousness For Judgement shall run down as Water and Righteousness as a mighty stream for the Judgments of the Lord shall be rightly executed and self-ends shall be denyed and then shall Praises Dominion Honour and Obedience and all that is the Lord's be yielded unto him the King of Saints And until this come to pass God's Controversie shall not cease But there will be Breaking and Overturning Oppressing and Spoyling and Insnaring one of another and they that come uppermost and will not give unto the Lord his due but set themselves in his Seat whatsoever words they profess or let them appear never so strong in the arm of flesh yet they shall be broken down with dishonour and Plagues and Torments shall be the Portion of the Hypocrite that bows to deceit and Babylon must fall and perish for strong is the Lord which judgeth her Rev. 18.8 And in vain do men seek to establish themselves in that which the Lord is against and wo will be unto them that are found in the State of Capernaum and Edom Read Obediah 3.4 Mat. 11.23 And now ye Rulers Teachers and People remember you are warned and it is in true love to your Souls and Bodies therefore Repent whilst you have time left you that you may be saved though it be so as by fire and speedily resign up to the Lord that which properly belongeth unto Him for verily the day dawneth apace which shall reveal that man of sin more and more who hath set himself in the Seat and stead of God whom the Lord shall consume with the Spirit of his Mouth and abolish and destroy with the Brightness of his coming 2 Thes 2.3 4 5 6 7 8. And the day of the Lord shall even so come as a Thief in the night And when the wicked shall say Peace and safety then shall come upon them sudden destruction even as the travel of a woman with Child which by no means can be escaped 1 Thes 5.2 3. Be still O ye Saints of the most High God keep clear of Babylon take heed of being ensnared dy her cleave not to her flatteries in any wise but follow the Lamb whithersoever he leadeth you and hold fast the Word of his Patience in the true Integrity of your hearts that so ye may stand and endure the Tryal to the end and whatsoever you suffer for the Testimony of God you shall have a full reward for it if you faint not This in the Word of the Lord is unto you Lambeth-House the 28th of the 4th Month 1660. POSTSCRIPT ANd if I could write no more yet this is the Testimony of Truth to the Rulers Teachers and People of this present Age in what Nation soever this may come Mark you must all come to the Light of the Lord Jesus Christ the Lamb of God who hath enlightned you that with the Light you may come to see what is contrary to the mind and will of God both in your Laws and Governments and in the constitutions thereof and in
your Ministry and Worship and in the constitutions thereof and in all your Conversations And that which you see with the Light to be contrary to the mind and will of God in any of these things before-mention you must deny and give it up to be consumed by the Spirit of Judgement and burning and you must give your full consent that the Lamb of God the Light of the World the second Adam the Lord from Heaven the quickning Spirit who is one with the Eternal Father may have the preheminence in all things And that he may Rule in you all over you all and lead and guide you all in all things before you can witness that God's Controversie with you is fully come to an end And all them of the Nations that are saved must walk in the Light of the Lamb Therefore let every particular in their several stations come to a true honest search speedily and cast off and deny that which the Light will let you see that God is against that so haply God may stay the mighty Judgement which otherwise must come which is nigh at the door which will sweep away the ungodly These are faithful and true sayings and things which must shortly be fulfilled therefore blessed will every one be that will hear and obey the Counsel of the most High for the day of the Lord draweth nigh And now ye Rulers if ye resolve to build up that which God hath thrown down by an out-stretched Arm and if you strive to establish your selves in that which God's Controversie hath been and yet is against you will undo your selves for ever for you will engage the Lord against you who assuredly will be too strong for you and break and confound you as opposers of his mighty work therefore take heed what you do the Lords decree shall stand George Fox the younger THE DREAD Of Gods Power UTTERING ITS VOICE Thorow MAN unto the HEADS of the NATION OH ye Mighty men who sit upon the THRONE that are Exalted into Power and brought into great Authority Do you indeed know the Hand that brought you up thither And do you rightly understand the End of your coming into Power again And do you certainly know the Work which God requires at your hands And do you indeed see the true Leader which is to lead in the Way and Work of the Lord And do you Feel and Witness that your Hearts are truly Enclined and Prepared towards the Work of the Lord Or are you not ignorant of these Things And do you not rather feel your Hearts enclined towards REVENGE and to make your selves Great and to get your selves a Name and to follow that which is pleasing to your own Eyes and to Condemn that which God hath Justified and to Justifie that which God hath Condemned and doth Condemn Let there be an honest search made with the Witness of God in your own hearts which will shew you the thoughts and the intents thereof and think not to flatter your selves as others have done before you by conceiving that you are safe enough because the Arm of Flesh is with you and at your Command For verily verily Thus saith the Lord God I will yet make the Powers of the Earth to know that I am God and there is no other and that I can do whatsoever I please and my Purpose and Decree shall stand unalterable And I will bring to pass the thing that is in my Heart and none shall let it for in its season it shall be accomplished Oh! Hear ye Rebellious and live be not so stiff-necked and wilful like those that went before you who would not hear Reproof lest I make you a hissing and scatter you with more dishonour that any that went before you for my Anger is kindled and my Jealousie is waxed hot against the Man of Sin My Decree is to Dis-throne him and to take the Kingdom my self and to slay his Subjects that will not turn at my Reproof and be subject to my Government Therefore seek not your selves neither follow the Devices and Iniquity of your own hearts any longer for I the LORD am coming to plead with all flesh and I will make mine Enemies know that I have Power to accomplish my own Work though I should find all the Armed men and the men in Authority against me Now this is my Decree I will set up Righteousness in the Earth and I will establish Equity and Mercy amongst the People I will remove Oppression from off the Earth and I will Search out and overthrow the Ground and Foundation thereof in whomsoever or in whatsoever it stands even as I overthrew Sodom in the dayes of old and they that will not haste out of it shall certainly be destroyed saith the Holy One who will break the Potsherds of the Earth that withstand him and consume the Stubble the Thorns and the Bryars that set themselves in Baâ—tel against him who is a consuming Fire Therefore Oh ye Heads of the People Consider your Wayes and weigh your Actions in that equal ballance the Word of God which will shew you the thoughts and the intents of your hearts for verily the Lord God is highly displeased and your hearts are seen not to be right before him Therefore consider your Foundation upon which you build lest your building fall with great dishonour and loss when the Storm comes which shall come to try it Mark Were You or your Fathers and Friends able to keep your selves in Power when the Lord formerly appeared against you to cast you out before your Enemies because of your Rebellion against him Or were your Enemies able to keep you out of Power and themselves in when the Lord appeared against them to Split and Confound them and to turn their day into darkness and to bring you in as a Flood over them because of their treacherous dealing with the Lord and because they perverted the Cause and Power that was put into their hands serving themselves and their Lusts and not the Lord Verily as they were not able to stand no more will you be able to stand and keep your Places except you repent and own that your Enemies had a a just Cause put into their hands against you And so put a difference betwixt the Cause and That which perverted it and not judge and condemn both together for if you do verily I say unto you when you have filled up your measures you will assuredly fall without recovery though you were ten thousand times stronger than you are and although not one man appeared against you with a Carnal Weapon Consider Was it a Carnal Weapon that brought you in Were you not brought in without a stroke outward And is not the Lord the same Is his hand shortned Hath not he the hearts of all Flesh in his Power And can he not turn them as he pleaseth Can he not root out and overthrow whomsoever he will And if he will do it without outward
means can any resist his Will Or if he will do it by outward means cannot he provide it himself contrary to man's expectation Therefore Dread ye the Maiesty and Power of the Lord and fear before his Dreadful Name Friends I must deal plainly with you in the sight of God who hath made me a Prophet to the Nation I may not flatter any of you My Life is in the hand of my Maker and not one hair of my Head can fall to the ground without his Providence He hath redeemed my Soul from Hell and my Mind from the Earth and he hath given me his good Spirit to lead me I am henceforth no more my own but I am the Lord 's who hath formed me for his Praise and hath brought me forth that I may sound forth his powerful Truth amongst the People Therefore must I not fear Man neither must I be afraid of the Sons of Men. Verily your Spirits are seen to be too high for the Work which God will have to be wrought in the Earth and you are found in that your selves which the Lord will work against And he is loaded with the pride and excess that ye and many in the Nation are in and his Soul abhors the Vanity Musick and Pleasures which ye delight in Oh how hath Iniquity abounded since ye came into place and how is Oppression and Cruelty encreased and continued upon them that seek the good of all Now consider this That which the Lord was wroth with you for and threw you and your friends out for before he will not own that now nor that you should revive and establish that again For the Lord's Controversie is yet against those things though he hath thrown out a treacherous People who perverted his Cause Therefore try your Foundation before you build and settle for verily whatsoever is not founded upon CHRIST JESUS the Rock of Ages whether it be in things Religious or in things Civil the higher it is built the greater will its fall be and every ones work must be tryed by fire what Foundation soever they build upon and great will be the Destruction and Consumation for nothing but what can abide the fire shall remain And verily there is exceeding much both in Governours and Governments Laws Ministry Profession Trades and in the Constitution of them as they now stand and in the Conversations of the People which is to be utterly destroyed by the fire of the Lord's Jealousie and the day hastens which will try every man's work of what sort it is and that which is for the fire neither high words nor outward strength shall be able to save it Oh! The Spirit of the Lord is grieved and pressed with the Iniquities and Whoredoms of this Generation Oh! the Waste and the Spoyl that is made of the Lord's Creatures excess in Apparel excess in Diet and deceitful Feastings and Banquetings and each strive to exceed one another not scarce knowing what to invent to eat and to drink or to put on or what Musick or Images and Vanities to invent to please the Carnal Eye and Ear and in the mean time your own flesh or them of the same blood lye go sit or stand in your streets crying for a piece of Bread and many of your Lame and Blind and Sick and others both in Prisons and other places are ready to Famish Oh! Consider these things speedily and mock not at the Lord's Menssengers as some before you have done when they have been warned as you now are lest your bonds be made strong also and lest the Lord smite you with a Curse and send you Famine or Want in the room of your Abundance and Superfluity and Rags instead of Ribbons Feathers Gold and Silver Lace and Gorgious Attire and howling and mourning instead of your Musick Songs and Oaths Oh! It 's hard to utter the abomination that flows and swells in this Nation it is a shame to the Rulers to suffer these Stage-playes Mount-banks and vain Sports and Shows whereby the Lord is greatly dishonoured and foolish People are cheated of their money and the Creation is devoured and wasted and Mens lives sometimes endangered Oh! How have men invented mischief and vanity to stir up lightness and vanity one in another Oh ye Rulers is not this a horrible wickedness that a man who hath his right natural senses should be suffered to feign himself to be a Natural Fool and that he should be suffered to speak any light vain words he pleaseth even what he can invent to stir up lightness and vain laughter among you Have you not manifested your selves to be slighters of the Apostles Doctrine read Eph. 4.29 5.4 And is this an honour for the Chief of you to have a company of Men and Boys drest up with Ribbons and Bells about their legs and one acting like a Fool with a Ladle in in his hand dancing before you even like a company of mad distracted men making a noise like a company of Carriers Horses Oh! the Life of God is grieved with these things and all that fear his Name loath them and it is a shame that ever such things should be suffered in a Land Therefore O ye Rulers let all this ungodliness and superfluity of naughtiness be laid aside and receive with meekness the ingrafted Word which is able to save your souls Jam. 1.21 and that will teach you to love even your Enemies and to forgive them and to put a difference between the pretious and the vile And it will keep your hands from blood and your hearts from desiring after it if you will obey it and it will shew you with what God's Controversie is both in your Government and Worship and Conversations and it will teach you to deny it Yea if you will own its Teachings it will teach you to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live godly righteously and soberly in this present world Tit. 2.11 12. But if you will not return to the Word which is nigh in your mouths and in your hearts that you may obey it and do it Deut. 30.14 Rom. 10.8 verily this know that neither your Strength nor Wisdom shall be able to deliver you from the just hand of the Lord which shall find out all his Enemies Therefore if you would escape the overturning hand of the Lord Repent speedily and humble your selves before the Lord and forgive your Enemies love Mercy Compel none to your Worship nor to uphold your Teachers and be willing that the Lord alone should send forth Labourers into his Harvest and that he may lead them by his own Spirit that they may speak as that gives them utterance and limit or quench it not but let all have their Freedom to Worship God in the Spirit who know it according to the manifestation of it which is given to every man to profit withal Joh. 4.23 24. 1 Cor 12.7 for such a Worship the Lord owns And take away that grievous Oppression
Power when you have seen your loathsom state Oh! how oft hath he begotten true Tender desires and breathings in you after the Knowledge of his Will And how hath he appeared unto you and shewed you the Darkness Ignorance and Idolatry that many of you were formerly in And how oft hath he begotten loathings in you against those things that you saw with his Light to be evil And how oft hath he kindled a zeal in many of you against the works of the Devil And how have you felt his Tender Love sometimes opening your understandings and drawing you into that which is good Oh! How hath he sometimes brought some of you into lowliness of mind and given you to see the vanity of this world And how hath he opened a door of hope unto you given you a measure of faith sometimes concerning your Eternal Salvation And how have some of you then felt a willingness begotten in you to deny your selves and the glory and vanity of this world and to take up that and to bear that which appeared to cross your carnal minds and to do unto others as ye would they should do unto you And how did the Pride and Glory and vanity of this World become a burden to many of you in that day Oh! How have some of you cryed out and said you had rather cease to live than not cease to Sin Oh Friends This was a good beginning and some of you came further than others in the way that was good yea surely a good sweet Presence of God was among many of you in the day when you were low and tender and several of you were sensible of his love in that day while sincerity and simplicity abode in your hearts Oh! How did the Lord hear your cryes in that day when many of you cryed unto him for deliverance Oh! How did he overturn your Enemies before you which oppressed your consciences And how did he give you outward rest and peace and Liberty to worship him according as he had made himself manifest unto you But Oh Friends there hath been a sad day of Apostacy among many of you and many of your Teachers have caused you to err for as they went from the simplicity and Tender Life in themselves that once had stirred in some of them against the worship of the Beast they then ran into many words out of the Power and Life that had stirred in them and so lost the simplicity and true zeal they once had for God And then they also drew you from that Tender Life and Power that had visited you into many words of other men's Conditions and so the true simplicity that had been in you soon decayed And as you were drawn from the Life and Power and Spirit of God in your selves the subtilty within and without drew your minds after the Tree of Knowledge and as you reached forth to that and received and fed of that you dyed as to God and became more and more alive unto sin and grew rich in knowledge and that puffed many of you up and so poorness in Spirit and the hungerings and thirstings after the Life of God which sometimes in you had been felt you lost And such of you were oft sent empty away from your Worships mark empty of the vertue and refreshments and sweetness which the Lord fills such with as are poor in Spirit and lowly in mind and hunger and thirst after his Righteousness But others among you I know went oft from your Worship full though it were but of the declaration of others conditions and their own conceivings and a false joy And several of you who had seen the Lords mighty hand and had been witnesses of his Power both within and without when you got into outward ease and peace you soon forgot his goodness and some of you growing great in the Earth were lifted up in your minds you then turned back and licked up that which you had formerly vomited out and then hardness and dryness came upon many of you and then that which the Lord had wounded in many of you to wit the lustful nature which should have been crucified by the immortal Power revived and became healed again And then a false liberty you run into and so into excess and then several of you become Oppressors and Despisers even of such as the Lord by his mighty Power had gathered from your dead Forms and Wayes And many of you provoked the Lord unto anger several wayes for which cause he hath now sent a rod to scourge the back-sliders and them that were more faithful must also be proved by the same Oh friends much might truly be said unto many of you concerning your great Apostacy and your bringing of this Day of Tryal or causing it to be brought upon you But although I may hint something unto you concerning those things yet that is not the thing which is chiefly upon me at this time But this is that which lay much upon me to wit to bring to your remembrance something of the former loving kindness of the Lord unto you and to exhort you who have back-slided to return to the first love that was begotten in you towards the Lord and to keep to that Principle of Life which did begin a good work in you to strengthen and encourage you to go on in the work of the Lord. For as concerning your Apostacy I hope many of you are convinced of that in a great measure by the witness of God in your own Consciences and it is not my desire to upbraid you with that which I hope in some measure is already become loathsom unto your selves neither would I add to your sufferings in whom there is now a true tenderness towards the Lord in this the Day of Tryal for I believe many of you have or will have as much of them as you can well bear but my tender desire is that you may be brought to feel so much of the Power of God in your selves as may support you and keep you in patience in all your Tryals until such time as the Lord shall make you fit for deliverance Now I do believe that some of you have retained a greater integrity and simplicity in your Profession than others and have not so deeply Apostatized from that which God made known unto you of himself as others have done and some of you I know have long been burdened with the Apostacy that others among you have fallen into And I know several of you also have long gone under a burden even concerning your own deadness barrenness and unprofitableness you being made sensible thereof by the VVitness of God in your own Consciences And when ye have heard others rejoycing and telling forth their experiences as they called them which was much of it the Saints experiences of old which these had not attained unto any otherwise but by gathering their words out of the Letter or from man then hath
Truly many of you have mightily provoked the Lord unto anger and grieved his Spirit in this particular Mark in your applying Promises as you have termed it for many of you have stollen the words which declare of the Promises which are to the Seed of Life and you have applyed them unto the wrong Seed or Birth yea you have gathered the good words out of the Scriptures that were written unto them who were born again of the incorruptible Seed and you have applyed them unto your selves in the corruptible unregenerate state and when you have done thus the Witness of God in your own Consciences hath oft arose and condemned you and broke the false peace joy which you had created to your selves by stealing the Saints conditions and experiences and applying them to your selves calling them yours and saying it was so with you when it was not yea many of you have said your sins were washed away in the Blood of Christ and that you were freely justified in the sight of God by his Grace and your Teachers also have told you it was so yea they have Preached peace unto you because you put into their mouths even while you lived in your sins But the pure Grace of God hath appeared in your hearts and condemned you And when you have been thus judged by the Witness of God your false peace hath been broken and then some of you have run to your Teachers who had cryed peace unto you and daubed you up with untempered Morter and told them your conditions how you were condemned in your selves and how you had lost the peace and joy that you formerly had and how judgement was felt in the room of it Then some of your blind Guides have told you that that was the Devil that condemned you and brake your Peace and thus they have brought themselves under the Wo Putting Darkness for Light and Light for Darkness and then they have told you you must apply the Promises and act Faith as they call it upon the Promises in the Scriptures and keep unto them And thus they have sought to daub you up again and to draw you from the pure Spirit of Judgement and some of you who have received their words have then strove against the pure Witness which condemned you and counted it the Tempter and have laboured in your wills to get from under its pure Judgement and to force your selves into a belief and perswasion again that those things to wit the Promises belonged unto you And thus have you fought against the Witness of God and denied its Testimony and strangled it and so got into a false peace again but others of you have been kept more sensible of its judgement and have not dared to deny it because you have seen that ye were not fit for the Promises for you have seen with the Light that you were out of the condition which is required of such as come to be partakers of the Promises Now it hath been a great saying among many of you That you must act Faith upon a bare Promise in the Scriptures as your Teachers have taught you and they have told you That Abraham believed God upon a bare Promise and so must you Oh consider this well The Word of the Lord came unto Abraham saying unto him Fear not Abraham I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward And again the Lord spake unto him saying I will bless thee and make thy name great and thou shalt be a blessing and Abraham believed God in these Promises and others and he obeyed him So Abraham's Faith was reckoned unto him for Righteousness and he was called the Friend of God because he believed and obeyed him Now if you were come to hear the Lord speak unto you as Abraham did then you ought to believe whatever the Lord promised unto you that he would perform the same But if you only get these Promises or others out of the Scriptures and then apply them unto your selves and say you believe it is or shall be so with you as it is expressed in those Promises and yet you never heard the Lord say any such thing unto you Mark you do but deceive your selves for such a belief or acting of Faith upon the Promises as you call it will never be accounted unto you for Righteousness Neither will you come to find such Promises so gotten fulfilled unto you by the Lord. And you are also to consider this That many of the Promises in the Scriptures were given forth upon Conditions and except you come to witness the conditions fulfilled in you by the Power you are not like to witness such Promises made good unto you And also there are some Promises spoken of in the Scriptures which naturally belong to the Immortal Seed that were by the Lord given forth unto it without expressing any conditions because the Seed is free and doth the Will of God naturally Now all that come to have right to such Promises and to witness them fulfilled unto them by the Lord they first must be converted into the nature of the Seed by the working of the Immortal Word in them Therefore you that have true desires after the Lord wait to feel the work of the Word of Life in your own hearts that so by it you may be made meet as I said before to be partakers of the Promises Verily Friends Many of you have much to pass through before you can come to feel and witness the Lord ministring his precious Promises of Life and Peace freely unto you Oh! He waiteth to be gracious unto you yea he hath long waited Oh! That you would now turn unto him in the drawings of his Power and Life and cease willing and running and striving in your own wills and wayes and wait to be guided and led by his Spirit into those things which he requireth at your hands Oh Friends It is the inside it is the inside that must be cleansed for whilst that is polluted and unclean the Lord regardeth not the Worship It is he that searcheth the heart and tryeth the inward parts you cannot hide any thing from him For he beholdeth all your goings and actings and thoughts Now I know many of you will oft make large confessions of your sins but Friends there is a further thing to be minded Mark you must also come to forsake them or else you cannot find the mercy Therefore hearken diligently unto the call of the Lord and believe and wait in that which makes manifest sin and calleth you out of the same for this is holy and consenteth not unto sin it hath no fellowship with darkness nor concord with the Devil Now this is the living Truth by this you may know it mark it is contrary to whatsoever is not of the Truth and it opposeth evil in the very appearance thereof Oh that you would hearken unto this and receive this in the love of it when it appeareth in you that so by the
find some tender-hearted ones cannot bow unto and so with good words and fair speeches they will thus seek to deceive the hearts of the simple and all this is but for their Bellies Therefore take heed of such And take heed of joyning any longer to such as are settled upon their Lees who as one might say are even glued to a Form which is void of the Power For seeing they were to be turned from who had the Form of godliness because they denyed the Power much more are they to be turned from who stick in a Form which cannot he truly called a Form of godliness and therein contend and fight and strive against the Light which is the Power And of this sort there are many in several of the Sects whose searedness dryness hardness is exceeding great though they profess much of godliness in words yet in much perversness wilfulness and crookedness they oppose the Life and Power of the same and will neither enter the Kingdom themselves nor suffer those that gladly would but in a ridgid austere manner seek to keep the People subject to them that they may be Lords over their Consciences Oh Friends you that are tender-hearted come out from among such for the Lord's hand will be stretched out against them in a terrible manner And all wait in the tender Principle of the Fathers Love and Life which hath visited you and begotten sincere desires in you after himself and the Knowledge of his wayes that so you may be strengthned in the inner man and feel your Faith Hope and Patience increased that so you may be able to stand in the Tryal without fainting feeling the Lord to be your strength and continual Preserver This is the sincere and hearty desire of him who is a sufferer with the true Seed where ever it suffers and yet I am gathered in the Spirit into the everlasting Kingdom and Covenant of Peace rest and quietness where nothing can make me afraid By a Prisoner for the Testimony of Jesus who am freely given up to his Will and in patience do wait to see his Kingdom set up over all the Kingdoms of the Earth that he over all may Reign whose Right it is GEORGE FOX the Younger A TRUE RELATION Of the unlawful and unreasonable Proceedings of the Magistrates of HARWICH in ESSEX against the People of the Lord called QUAKERS Also the manner of their Imprisoning of GEORGE FOX the younger whom they with ROBERT GRASSINGHAM accused to the PARLIAMENT And also the manner of the PARLIAMENTS Proceedings against them IN the Year 1656 it was so ordered of the Lord that there came unto the Town of HARWICH some of the People called Quakers and one of them spoke a few words to the People as they were coming from the Steeple-house and so they passed into an Inn but the then MAYOR hearing thereof sent unto them commanding that they should depart the Town which they had not freedom in the Lord presently to do but after a short space they went out And it being upon them to return again they did so and lodged at that Inn all night and the next day they peaceably passed away so not long after the Woman that kept the Inn was commanded to come before the Magistrates of the Town who appeared to be offended with her for lodging of those People and made her to promise them that she would lodge no more such Persons by threatning to take away her License if she did so great was their envy at the appearance of the Truth in that Town But it pleased the Lord that shortly after some of the Inhabitants thereof were convinced of the Truth and so a way was made for Meetings there and several received the Truth in the Love of it in and about that Town so that they could not for Conscience sake pay to the repairing of the Steeple-house any longer and therefore had not freedom to Bury their dead in the ground belonging thereunto but they joyned together and bought a parcel of ground to Bury their dead in as did Abraham the Father of the Faithful So in the Year 1659. it was so ordered of the Lord that one who lived a little out of that Town died and several People were accompanying the dead Body to bury it in the place purchased for that end but one of the Magistrates hearing of it sent the Constables with a Guard commanding them not to suffer the dead Body to be laid in that place though the grave was made and by the command of that Magistrate the dead Body was taken away by force and buried in the Steeple-house Yard Also in the eleventh Month of the same Year there dyed another Friend near the same Town and several Friends came along with the dead Body to have buried it in the place afore-mentioned a Grave also being made but Miles Hubburd the now MAYOR and the other Rulers would not suffer the dead Body to be laid therein but caused it to be taken away by force and so they carried it and set it by the Sea-side where it lay above ground part of two dayes and one night and then it was covered over with small stones but by whom I know not Of these things a Record is kept by Friends in Harwich Also in the 3d. Month in the Year 1660. I being in Essex in the work and service of the Lord whereunto he hath called me by his mighty Power and therein sent me forth to publish his Everlasting Truth which he is spreading abroad in this the day of his Power by which he is gathering those that breath and thirst after his Rightcousness out of the dark Wayes and Worships of this World into the true and living Way and Worship which Christ Jesus the true Light in the dayes of his flesh spoke of which is in the Spirit and in the Truth I say as I was labouring in the Work of the Gospel in that County I had much drawings in the Spirit of Truth to appoint a Meeting in the Town of Harwich and that such thereabout who had desires to hear the Truth of God declared might have notice given them that in the Will of the Lord I purposed to be there on the 13th day of the Month aforesaid it being the first day of the Week so notice was given of the Meeting some dayes before and upon the first Day in the Morning there were about forty peaceable People as Men Women and Children coming in a Boat over a River which runs by the Town unto the Meeting but the Magistrates of the Town hearing thereof sent some Officers to the water-side to hinder them from coming on shore who were peaceably come to wait on the Lord and to hear the Truth declared so these Officers with a great number of rude People did hinder those peaceable People from coming on shore and forced them back again also the same Morning Robert Grassingham sent two of his Servants with a Boat to have
Mystery which the carnal mind can never comprehend but they that come to Witness a part in the first Resurrection which is Christ Iesus the Light of Life they in his Light may come to perceive the Mystery of the Resurrection but if Truth can be received and understood then it will appear and be manifested to such that I do not deny the Resurrection For I do verily believe that the hour is coming in which all that are in the Graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God and shall come forth They that have done good unto the Resurrection of Life and they that have done evil unto the Resurrection of Condemnation But to fools that say That this Body of natural flesh and bones shall be raised I say That Body which is sown is not that Body that shall be but God giveth a Body as it pleaseth him yet to every Seed it s own Body Now there is the Seed of the Serpent and the Seed of Christ and they that can discern the Body of each Seed are not the Fools which are questioning how the dead shall be raised and with what Bodies they shall come for they know all mankind will be found to be one of these Seeds and that every Seed shall have its own Body Fourthly Truly if I did not believe that there was a Glory to come more than what is here surely although the good Presence Peace and Consolation of God is in me and his Glory rests richly upon me yet I should think my self to be in a more miserable condition than very many but for the Glory that is set before me which Christ in me is the hope of which anchors and stayes my soul I am content to endure the Cross and patiently to bear the affliction and sufferings of this present Life not counting them worthy though ever so great to be compared to that Eternal Weight of Glory which I do believe shall be revealed and given unto me in the World to come And as I do stedfastly believe That there is a Glorious State to be entred into after this Life by all them that shall be found in the Immortal Seed wherein they shall be swallowed up of Life Glory and Immortality so I certainly believe that there is a Woful Dreadful Horrible State to be entred into after this Life by all them that shall be found in the Seed of the Serpent wherein they shall be swallowed up of Perpetual torment and Misery where the Worm dyeth not but shall gnaw everlastingly and the Fire goeth not out Westminster Pallace-yard Gate-house the 12th of the 1st Month 1661. A Prisoner for the Word of God yet a Free-man in the Lord Jesus Christ Glory to him in the highest George Fox the Younger ENGLANDS SAD Estate and Condition lamented IN THIS Just Complaint Taken up against the greatest part of her Inhabitants because of their great Abominanations and Treacherous Dealings both with God and Man for which Cause the Terrible and Righteous Judgements of the Lord are coming upon them and the Land Wherein is also contained some PROPHECIES and EXHORTATIONS OH England England The Abominations of the greatest part of thy Inhabitants who can declare them They have reached Heaven so as they are come up before the Lord the Jealous God and Wo unto that part of thy Inhabitants who have sinned out the Day of their Visitation and have wholly slighted the Day of God's Patience and long Forbearance and would have none of his Reproof but have altogether rejected the same and have made a mock at Sin and have sported themselves with their own Deceivings and Lusts and have gone a Whoring from under the God of their Lives Wherefore thus saith the Lord the only God I will make such become a Hissing and Reproach and my Anger they shall not be able to Escape because of their provoking Abominations and Treacherous Dealings both with Me and Man Oh England England How have and yet do a great part of thy Inhabitants rush into Idolatry and all manner of Profaneness and grievous Abominations even as the Horse and Mighty rush into the Battel How do they drink in Iniquity even as the Ox or Parched Ground drinketh in Water Oh! What manner of Lamentation shall I make for thee my Native Country Or What manner of Complaint may I take up against a great part of thine Inhabitants who have long sought and yet seek thy Ruine and Destruction Verily their Actions have declared them to be like the Inhabitants of Sodom Yea their sins have rendred them to be as bad as those of Gomorrah O they have Vexed the Righteous Soul Yea and they have grieved the Spirit of the Lord from Day to Day with their Unjust Conversations They have multiplyed their Transgressions and heaped up their Iniquities till they are become as the Sand on the Sea-shore without Number Oh! The Lord hath long striven with them yea he hath also long born their Iniquities he would have gathered them to himself out of their Abominations yea he would oft have healed them but they would not but they have stiffned their Necks and hardned their Hearts against the Lord and his Counsel day after day and have chosen their own wayes and works even to their own hurt and would by no means be reclaimed for when the Lord hath reproved them by the Light of his Son in their own Consciences and set their sins in order before their eyes they have stopped their Ears and closed their Eyes and wilfully Rebelled against the Power of God and trampled upon his Witness the Light in them as a thing of naught counting it not worth the taking notice of And when the Lord hath raised up Prophets Children and Servants and sent them out commanding them to lift up their Voices like Trumpets and to shew the People their Transgressions and to Preach Repentance and Amendment of Life Yea to warn and exhort them to turn from their Sins to God and to lay before them their great Abominations and to Prophesie what should come upon them if they would not turn from the evil of their Doings Oh! how have a great part of thy Inhabitants Scorned and Derided these Yea how have many of thine Inhabitants Beaten Whipt Stockt Stoned and Imprisoned some of these till Death for bearing their Testimony for the Lord against a crooked and perverse Generation who hate such as speak uprightly and abhor such as reprove Sin in the Gate that so it is even thus come to pass in thee O England That he that departeth from Iniquity maketh himself a Prey to this Generation of Evil doers whose hearts are set upon their Lusts Idolatry and grievous Abominations and the Lord hath beheld it it displeaseth him because there is no true Judgement for these Evil doers are all gone out of the way yea there is none of them that regard to do the thing that 's Just and Good any further than it may be advantagious to their own Corrupt
strives with you to shew you your abominations and to draw and lead you out of the same O be not still Stiff-necked but hearken to the Word of the Lord which sheweth you the thoughts and Intents of your Hearts and hearken and be obedient to the Call thereof that so by its Power you may Hasten out of Babylon both Young and Old Rich and Poor High and Low Noble or Ignoble Professor or Profane who yet are there For the Lord's Controversie is great with Babylon her Merchants and Inhabitants and he will not much longer spare but he will suddenly smite and none shall be able to hinder his stroak Yea yea he will wound and none shall be able to heal For the measure of her Iniquities Idolatries and Whoredoms are nigh full and the Wine of her Fornications hath caused the Fatts to overflow and she is come up into remembrance before the Lord the Just God who will Plague her and all her Merchants and Inhabitants according to their Abominations whereby they have grievously provoked Him Therefore come out of her whilst Mercy and Time is offered lest you perish with her in her Judgements which the Lord is Strongly and Swiftly bringing upon her Oh England England A day of Sorrow and Calamity is coming upon many of thy Inhabitants I have long been sensible of it even a day of such Breaking Confusion and Judgement as hath not been for a long space For thy People have wearied out the Lord with their Iniquities and grieved his holy Spirit with their Abominations dayes without number Oh England England The Lord hath a Precious and Holy Seed in thee Yea He hath a Remnant which he hath Raised by his Power to and for himself which are exceeding precious in his sight and these a great part of thine Inhabitants have Shamefully entreated and grievously Oppressed and Persecuted And they have Patiently born the same and have laboured in the Life of Innocency and Spirit of Emanuel to Inform thy Rulers and People in the Things that are Just and True and have shewn them the Wayes which have and do Displease the Lord and have Exhorted and Warned thy Inhabitants Time after Time But notwithstanding their Doctrine Lives and Conversations have manifested their Innocency and Uprightness of Heart before God and Man Yet have many of thy Rulers Priests and People Oppressed them more and more Some Spoiling their Goods others Imprisoning their Bodies in filthy Holes and Dungeons till several of them have Sealed their Testimony for the Lord with their Blood which cryeth for Vengeance in the Ears of the Almighty and the Lord hath heard the Cry thereof and hath looked down and beheld the Actings of the sons of men and he is near to Visit Yea the Lord hath beheld and doth behold the Snares that have been and are laid for the Innocent who have no other Helper but him alone and therefore they have Committed their Cause unto Him who shall bring it to pass Yea he hath taken Notice how several of thy Rulers have combin'd together and endeavoured to Force His Babes to Violate his Royal Law and to Break his Command who saith Swear not at all to Uphold and Obey theirs which is Contrary to his Yea He hath taken Notice of the Cruel Sufferings and great Temptations of his People who many of them are yet Imprisoned and both their Bodies and Estates threatned to be Destroyed by some evil men if they will not break the Royal Law and Commandment of Christ which he hath placed in their hearts to Obey and Do. Oh! The Lord hath seen the Partiality and Evil Intents of several of the Judges and Rulers of this Land who have had Power to let the Innocent go free and yet keep many of his Ministers and Servants many of which have outward Estates Prisoners in many places although they have no more against them than against those whom they have turned forth which is nothing else but for their Obeying the Command of Christ in them who this day saith unto his People Swear not at all as he said to his Disciples formerly and for meeting together and Speaking and Praying in his Name for the Edifying Comforting and Building up one another in their most holy Faith The Lord hath also taken notice that when some of the Rulers might Relieve the Innocent and let the Oppressed go free they will not and then to cover themselves they will say They cannot act contrary to the Law But when a Ruler will act that which he hath no Law for he can then plead a Prerogative Royal for that and thus are the Innocent Lambs of Christ made a Prey upon Oh! the Oppressions of his People and others are great this day in thee O Land and the Crying of the Fatherless the Widows and the Needy is come up before the Lord God of Compassion who will thorowly plead the Cause of his People and the Poor and Needy of the Land Oh England England I have oft heard and treasured up what the Lord hath said in me concerning thy Inhabitants but now must I declare it in the Appointed Season Thus hath the Lord spoken in me for a long time concerning thy Inhabitants saying The People are too many the People are too many I will thin them I will thin them Mark that is He will make them fewer for they cumber the Ground And the Spirit of the Lord hath oft signified unto me for a long time That an Over-flowing Scourge yea even an exceeding great and terrible Iudgement is to come upon thee O Land and that many in thee shall fall and be taken away in the Judgement and the Spirit of the Lord signifieth unto me that the time draweth nigh and that the Decree of the Lord is so firm that though some of the Lords Children and Prophets could appear so as to stand in the Gap yet should not that alter his Decree onely in the Righteousness of the Lamb they shall be hid and saved from his Wrath whatever may be done to any of their Bodies but his fierce Wrath and Indignation shall be poured forth upon the Ungodly and a great Desolation and Destruction shall there be for he will overturn and overturn till he hath dis-throned and thrown down the Man of Sin and exalted and established the Kingdom of his Dear Son over all the Kingdoms of the World and the Kingdom and Dominion and the Greatness of the Kingdom under the whole Heaven shall be given to the Holy People the Saints of the Most High whose Kingdom is an Everlasting Kingdom and all Dominions shall serve and obey him who is King of Saints Behold ye Despisers and Wonder This is the Work which the Lord will accomplish by his own Power though you will in no wise believe it but you shall feel even both Hypocrites and Prophane that the Lord is able to bring to pass the thing that is in his heart And you now think to set up and establish your
in your Forms without Power neither Flee the Cross any longer but wait in the True Simplicity to feel God's hand of Tender Love which he reacheth sorth to and manifesteth in you to lead and guide your minds into his Pure Worship which is in the Spirit and in the Truth Oh People This is the Worship that he will set up He will be LORD and LAW-GIVER in the Consciences of his People and those that will not be content that EMANUEL should Reign over them he will Slay them with the Sword of the Spirit The words of his Mouth Oh! Hearken hearken a little and stand still that you may hear the voice of the True Shepherd in your own hearts who calleth for Truth in the Inward Parts he will discover what lodgeth Within and He will shew you the Way wherein you should walk and he will let you see what the Cross is unto and He will teach you when you are alone in your Beds or where-ever you are if you will receive Him who giveth you Life and Breath whose gentle Reproofs and Instructions are the Way of Life Therefore you in whom the Breathings and Desires after the Lord are Consult not with Flesh and Blood neither reason against the Cross but submit to every Appearance of God's Power in you which appeareth to Crucifie the Fleshly Birth and Nature which hath stood and doth stand in Rebellion and Emnity against the Pure and Precious Life and Requirings of the Lamb of God that so that Mind which is at enmity against God and that Nature in you which is Disobedient to his Commands in Spirit may come to be Crucified that so there may be a Change Inwardly felt and witnessed by the working of the might Power of Christ in your Inward Parts and then the Desires and Breathings which are Begotten in you after Righteousness they will be strengthned and the Teachings of the Almighty will be truly known and you believing in the Power you will receive Power to obey and Practice whatsoever the Lord shall make known unto you by his Spirit to be his Will and Requirings Oh People Let the Dread of the Lord Seize upon your Spirits in this the Day of his Power wherein he is Trying Sifting and Winnowing the Nations and wait to feel that Life arise within you which beareth Testimony against all evil within and without that so ye may become more and more acquainted with the Teachings Drawings and Leadings thereof that thereby you may be drawn and led out of those things which have kept your Souls in the Death hindred you from enjoying the Pure Peace of God And this know and consider that all that come to witness their Souls raised out of Death and brought to enjoy the Peace of God they must Believe in the Life of the Quickning Spirit which is the Second Adam the Lord from Heaven who for Sin Condemneth Sin in the Flesh and appeareth in the Inward Parts of man to work out Sin and Transgression which hath Separated from God and so to make clean the heart and inside of Male and Female Oh People This is the Work of Christ the Son of God even to make manifest and destroy the Works of the Devil and so to reconcile man unto God by the Virtue of his own Life which he gave a Ransom for many and blessed are all those that believe in the Life of the Son of God and feel and know it manifested in their mortal flesh for they shall witness the Power of it to make all things new and so their Souls will come up in the hand of God and his Peace will be Received and Enjoyed Oh People Wait to know and feel this Work of Christ within you that so you may be made able to Stand in the Judgement and to Endure the Tryal and that you may be Hid from the Wrath of the Lamb which is nigh to come upon the Rebellious Oh! Consider this Those that are his Followers they come thorow many Tribulations and their overcoming their Enemies is by His Blood not by a talk of it but by the Virtue and Power of it sprinkled in their Hearts which washeth and maketh them White Clean and without Fault before God Oh People my Bowels yearn my Bowels yearn towards you whose Desires in any measure are after the Lord O that you would now Return with all your hearts unto Him and obey the Voice of his Power in you then should you be made able to stand and endure the fiery Tryal which is come and coming Oh! the Day hastens wherein all Profession that is not grounded in the Life and Power of the Lord Jesus Christ whatever the shew of it be it will be so shaken that an utter Blasting and withering shall come upon it and for that cause the Lord doth and will yet suffer great Tryals to come both upon the Professors and Possessors of his Name that so his Children the Possessors may be manifested unto all and discerned from all that are but Professors though never so fair and seemingly Covered For all Coverings but what is of the Power and Spirit it self shall be too Narrow and all that are not Covered with the Spirit and Power of Emanuel their Shame and Nakedness shall appear more and more This is the Testimony which the Spirit and Word of Truth giveth therefore He that hath an ear to hear let him hear before the day of his Visitation be wholly past and the things belonging to his Peace he hid from his Eyes For yet a little while and the Voice shall be He that is filthy let him be filthy still For the Spirit of the Lord shall not alwayes strive with Flesh but his Plagues and Indignation shall be poured out upon such as will be gathered in the Day of his Patience long Forbearance and Free-Love and He or She that Loveth Father Mother Husband Wife Children House or Land Liberty Honour or any Thing more than the Life of the Lamb shall be counted not worthy of him and plainly manifested so to be Read this who can and he that can receive it let him For the Time draweth nigh that these Sayings must be fulfilled Printed the 13th of the Second Month 1661. GEORGE FOX the Younger SEVERAL EPISTLES To FRIENDS Who are GATHERED into the Light of Life A General EPISTLE and a tender Greeting sent unto the Flock of Christ who meet together to Worship the Father and the Son in the Spirit of Truth to be read in the Fear and Wisdom of God amongst them DEAR and tenderly beloved Friends and â—hildren of the most High God who have felt and tasted of his eternal Word of Life and have been acquainted with the workings and operations thereof whereby you are begotten again unto a lively Hope and are brought to know that Life which you were alienated from and that Covenant of Promise which ye were strangers unto Oh Friends unto you is my Love in the Lord Jesus Christ exceeding great
and for you do I oft Pray to the Father of Life that ye may be kept stedfast in that Life which ye have felt and tasted of and that nothing may move you from that hope and confidence which God hath begotten in you by the working of his mighty Power Oh dear Babes let the Love of our God break and melt you into the meek tender Spirit of the Lamb and let the consideration of his Mercy and Grace which to you he hath shewn overcome you and make you sick of Love Oh how can I express his Goodness for it is beyond utterance yea his loving kindness to you-ward hath been exceeding large who in an acceptable time hath appeared and visited you with his tender Love the Light of the World and by his unresistable Power hath he caused you to feel the day spring from on High even the breaking forth of Light in your hearts and inward parts yea this did he do for you who were as Sheep without a Shepherd scattered upon the Mountains in the cloudy and dark day Oh Friends how did his Love reach unto you when ye were Enemies unto him how plainly did he shew unto you the evil of your wayes which had separated you from his presence and how tenderly did he hold forth his hand of Love to lead you out of that which had made you miserable and how did he give you strength to walk when ye were lame and inclined your hearts after that which he shewed unto you to be Good and how did he manifest his eternal Power and Righteous Judgement in you against the body of sin and how did he beget and quicken a Righteous Seed in you which cannot live but in his presence and how mightily hath he opened the eye of your understandings by his eternal Spirit that ye are brought to see the false Wayes and Worships of the World wherein ye were once intangled and he hath also given you to see the Way to himself and the Worship which he regards in the Spirit of Truth wherein you are come to know that which only can give satisfaction and make you eternally free Oh let the unexpressable Love of the Father never be forgotten by you my dear Friends but all keep to and dwell in that eternal Immortal Power of an endless Life which ye have felt and tasted or and let your minds be kept to the workings and operations of the same that so none of you may be daunted by the enemy within or without but all wait in the eternal Light the Foundation of God which can never be shaken that so your minds may be girded up and you kept upon your watch and your ear kept open to the Lord that so when he calls ye may answer and when he teaches ye may observe and obey that so your souls may live and that ye may see his eternal Will in all conditions and be contented therewithal then will you feel the peace which none can take away And Friends give all diligence to obey the Word of Wisdom that ye may be known to be its Children and that ye may feel and witness your growth into the nature of the Immortal Seed whose Kingdom is not of this World that so your Redemption from the earth and all earthly things you may know through the blood of the unspotted Lamb of God which blood is the Life which he gave a Ransom for many which Life is manifested in your mortal bodies that through Faith in it ye may be saved And know this my Friends henceforth you are not your own for you are bought with a price and you are called with an holy calling that you might glorifie the Lord in your Bodies and Spirits which are the Lord 's Oh my Friends let not your delight be placed in the things of this World for then will you be intangled but wait in the feeling of the pure Power of the Lord God that ye may be kept and preserved thereby that so ye that marry may be as if you married not and that ye that have of this world as if ye possessed not and that ye may be kept in the living Wisdom of God in the ordering of all things that are given unto you that so the Glory of God and the honour of his Eternal Truth may be minded in all things and that your minds and hearts may be drawn out of all created things and ye kept single and chast unto the Lord that so if it were his Will that ye should be separated either from Wife or Husband outwardly or Children or Houses or Lands or any outward thing for his Name sake that ye may be kept in that temper and frame of mind and Spirit that ye may resign up all freely without murmuring that so ye may be known to be followers of the Lamb whithersoever he goeth for my Babes it is given unto you as well to suffer for his Names sake as to believe and hereby shall the World know that ye are redeemed from the earth if ye in patience and innocency give up to the Will of God in all things Therefore dear hearts wait in the Power and Life of God that ye may feel your strength and courage and boldness for the Lord increased that when you are tryed ye may stand in that Spirit of Life and Meekness which will give you eternal Peace in all your sufferings and Tryals for the Lord will try you that ye may see and know him alone to be your strength and that the world may know that ye are a People saved by the Almighty God And this know that ye that are faithful shall not be proved beyond your strength for the Lord will be with you in all your Tryals and the more that you are persecuted for his Name the greater shall his power be felt in you and the more your Enemies afflict you the greater shall be your joy and this shall torment your Enemies So Friends let patience have its perfect work that ye may be perfect and entire wanting nothing for the Lord will make up his Jewels and he will take away all the dross and nothing shall remain but that which will abide the Tryal in the fire for the Lord hath been loaded with the sacrifices of many who have professed his Name but have not been subject to the leadings of his Spirit but have grieved it from day to day Therefore will the Lord God try all Professions and the chaff shall be blown away and all false coverings shall be stript off and men shall appear as they are yea the chaff which some time seemed to joyn to the Wheat shall be driven to and fro until the fire consume it or until it mix it self with the mire where the Swine wallow but God will have regard unto his Seed which is weighty And Friends a day of Calamity will come upon â—hem who have worshipped and do Worship 〈◊〉 â—â—known God at a distance and pretend the Worship of
the 〈◊〉 God for they shall call but their God shall not answer and they shall fret themselves and fear and terror shall sieze upon them and many shall joyn to and fall under that which they have called and esteemed Babylonish But there is a remnant yet to be gathered both from among the Professors and Profane Therefore dear hearts let your circumspect walking in the Life of Righteousness reach the Witness of God in all Consciences and let your soberness and patience smite your Enemies And you that are strong in the Lord and in the Power of his Might are Able to endure much bear ye with the weak and encourage and strengthen the feeble and let your tender love and care be over such as ye feel have true breathings after the Lord though they have had little of a knowledge of the Declaration of Truth and let your words to and before them and all men be seasoned with Grace that ye may minister unto the Grace in the Hearers And ye that are weak and yet have a true Love begotten in you towards the Lord all wait in the feeling of the Truth in your inward parts that your minds may be wrought into subjection to the Lord through the working of his eternal Power in you and when you are tempted heed not the temptation but heed the Light that makes manifest the temptation and believe in the Light and keep to it and ye will feel the Lord's presence and strength breaking forth to deliver you and to make a way for you to escape the temptation and if at at any time ye be overcome by the subtilty of the Devil and then the Light arise in you to make manifest the Transgression and to judge you for it then joyn to the Light and love the Judgement and Will not but be still until it works through and breaks forth into Victory and if ye see Iniquity abound then take heed that your Love wax not cold and if ye see some fall from the Truth and turn back with the Dog to the Vomit and with the Swine that was washed to the wallowing again in the mire and if ye see some for fear of persecution start aside or for the love of this World depart from the Faith or turn from the holy Commandment which was delivered unto them upon any account whatsoever let none of these things move or trouble you for such things will come to pass but blessed are they that are not offended with the Light but suffer and endure all things unto the end for they shall be saved But this know Friends that the Lord God will try you and you must pass through Perils and Tryals not only among the open prophane ones but also among such as have known the Truth and turn from it yet know my Friends that God will not try you further than he will give you strength to endure the Tryal if ye be faithful unto him Therefore watch and be sober and wait in the Life that ye may have salt in your selves to savour withal and be not weary neither faint in your minds nor let not in distrust but hope to the end and be confident that God will appear and work deliverance for his People but if it be his Will that ye must yet be further tryed and that he will yet suffer the wicked to flourish and spread forth themselves as a green Bay-Tree and that ye must yet bear your Testimony for the Lord by greater sufferings Oh Friends murmur not but hold fast your integrity and know certainly that whatsoever any suffer for the Lord they shall not lose their reward Therefore all Friends be valiant and strong and bold for the Truth upon earth and walk humbly with the Lord and wisely before your Enemies that so ye by doing the thing that is right in the sight of God may put to silence the foolish and ignorant for this is the Will of God And Friends walk patiently towards all men knowing that ye sometimes were ignorant and foolish and disobedient therefore let your pitty and patience towards them that be disobedient be known and wait that ye may be ready to shew them the thing that is Good and to instruct them concerning the way of Righteousness or if you have not words given you then let your Conversation Preach forth Righteousness that so haply God may give some of them Repentance and that ye may be made instruments for the bringing them unto the acknowledgement and knowledge of the Truth and live in the VVisdom and Power of God that so your Enemies may have nothing against you justly but if they will persecute you for any thing appertaining to a good Conscience be not dismaid or if they falsly accuse you and falsly swear against you and so ye become reckoned among the Transgressors by them be not troubled but be patient and keep to the VVitness of God for thus the wicked served your Master who gave his back to the smiter and his cheecks unto them that plucked off the Hair and the Servant is not greater than his Lord So let nothing be too dear to be given up for the Lord and bow not to any thing but to the Name of Jesus whose Name is called the VVord of God by which we must overcome and break through all this ungodliness Oh the Lord keep you faithful and patient in your Tryals for much have we to pass through and to overcome through the patience and long-suffering of the Lamb. So let none be exalted above their measures nor cast down by letting in of fears but all dwell in the living Nobility of the Immortal King of Righteousness and keep in subjection to his Government and meet together oft in his Name though the Sea and the Heathen Rage and the People imagine vain things and though the Kings of the Earth and the Rulers rise up together and take Counsel against the Lamb and his followers and though the rude multitude may persecute you and the VVhore may drink some of your Blood yet be not dismaid neither fear ye at all for in vain do they strive for the Lamb shall get the victory glory to him in the Highest And so Friends keep your garments unspotted ye who have washed them in the Blood of the Lamb and be exceeding tender toward such Professors as have a tenderness in them towards God in what Sect soever they be in for poor Creatures they are to be pittied and the Way of Truth is to be shewn unto them and this day will bring some of them unto the Principle of God in themselves and they must come unto that before they can find a true stay to their minds and them that come not to that and keep not to that will wither as the grass upon the house top Oh Friends I can even rejoyce and sing for joy notwithstanding the rage and strength of the Enemies for I see the day that approacheth will be exceeding good for Truth and
for Friends that dwell in it for they that stand approved shall be made manifest and the upright shall not lose but gain through all these things and certainly when our God hath tryed us to the full he will appear for us and though our Enemies were as the sand of the Sea and as strong as Gyants yet shall they fall as untimely fruit and our GOD shall consume and weaken them by the Majesty of his Power and an exceeding desolation shall come upon the Earth and a Besom of destruction shall sweep away many Therefore dear Hearts be stedfast in the Lord and keep the Word of his Patience and know that not one hair of your Heads shall perish nor any thing shall be done unto any of you but what the Lord will be glorified by and you shall receive a full and a sufficient reward for it if ye continue faithful So live in the Power and Seed of God that ye may possess the Kingdom the eternal Peace Joy and Righteousness which stands in the Power And love fervently Oh Friends let that abound more and more one towards another and by this shall men also know that ye are taught of Christ if ye love one another and wait that ye may feel the springs of Life in your selves and feed upon that which proceeds from God that ye may grow up in the Power and Life and Wisdom of God and therein be established So the Almighty Power Life and Wisdom of God keep and preserve your for ever Amen The Lord God Almighty keep you fresh and lively meek tender and innocent and fill you with every good word and work which accompanieth Peace and Godliness if any Decree unrighteous Decrees heed them not for the Decree of God shall stand which is to establish Righteousness in the Earth and in the Power of the Lord we shall break the bonds of the ungodly and cast their cords from us So the Spiritual Weapon war withal and stand in the Faith and hold fast the Word of Truth that through it you may feel and witness your sanctification and the Birth Immortal raised up over all which is the Heir of the Kingdom without end and assuredly God will do mighty things for his Poples therefore be ye comforted and strengthened in the Lord and dwell in and keep his Covenant and answer his requirings in the Light of Life and live in the retiredness and in the Wisdom of God that your Enemies may have no just occasion against you and that ye may be preserved out of their snares and if they Imprison you and falsely accuse you or spoyle your Goods or Persecute you any manner of wayes keep in Patience and freely forgive them and suffer as Lambs in the true Innocency that so your Peace with the Lord may be preserved in all conditions And 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 's 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 unrighteousness 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 back-slidings and bewail them bitterly and 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 Unity and in Peace with it self and one with another Lambeth-House the 3 d. day of the 4 th Month 1660. I am your Dear Friend and Brother in the Kingdom and Patience of Christ who am a Prisoner for his Testimony and keep his Word and am made as willing to suffer bonds or to dye for his Name as to declare and publish it amongst men Eternal living Praises and Hallelujahs over all be unto him for evermore Amen George Fox the Younger AN EPISTLE UNTO All who love the Lord Jesus Christ in Sincerity who are made partakers of the riches of his Grace and meet together to wait upon him therein to be read in their Meetings in the Fear of the Lord. DEAR Friends whom the eternal God hath visited with his own Life and Power and thereby hath called you out of the Darkness of the World into his Marvellous Light and hath begotten and quickned a Seed in you unto which pertaineth the Promises of Life and Peace and also hath opened a good understanding in you by the measure of his Eternal Spirit and hath brought you into a feeling and a sensibleness and a savour of that which ministers and reacheth to and refresheth his own Seed Oh Friends great is the Love of the Lord God unto you and large is his Eternal Riches let not his everlasting Love be forgotten by any of you neither slight nor neglect his rich Mercy but dear Friends dwell in the living measure of his Grace and hearken diligently unto the Voice of the Lamb so shall you be refreshed with the living Presence of the Father and the Fountain of Life shall be enlarged unto you whereby the Babe of God shall be strengthned and grow up in stature And when you are met together to wait upon the Lord Oh! feel his living Gift in your selves and be obedient to the motions and operations thereof that so the Presence and Power of the Eternal God may be felt and enjoyed in your Meetings and at other times for the bringing down and working out of all that which is contrary to himself in you and for the working you into the express Image of his own Glory and for the bringing you into the perfect Obedience of his own Life and Power that the Nature of the Lamb which takes away the sins ye may all grow into that so the Patience of Christ may be felt and witnessed in you all and that it may have its perfect Work in you that therein you may possess your Souls then shall the Lord enlarge your understandings and ye shall grow into the meek quiet Spirit wherein your savour and discerning shall be encreased and ye shall feel the gentle leadings of the invisible Life whereby satisfaction and refreshment shall be received unto the Seed
upon or think of any of Us above what we are lest thereby you should hurt your selves or any of us but according as God hath distributed unto us of his Heavenly Treasure even so know us and feel us and receive us in the Lord and know no man after the flesh neither admire any thing but the pure Life of God and the Birth born of him and know that what of God's treasure we have in our earthen Vessels we have received it from the Lord that none might glory or boast in what they have over another And what we have received it is partly for your sakes that we might impart of the same unto you as good Stewards of the manifold Grace of God and although we are become the Lord's Free-men through the work of his eternal Power and Spirit yet are we your Servants in Christ and so let us be accounted among you for that is our place and duty even to serve you in the Lord and to stand given up to spend and be spent for you and if we should not so walk among you in all humility of mind I know the Lord would soon withdraw his glorious Power and Presence from us and then what should we be more than others nay how much less and weaker So dear Friends keep in the pure Fear and live in the true favour that ye may have a true sensible feeling one of another in your present conditions and that ye may be able to strengthen one another in the Lord. And if at any time any be felt not to be in so clear and living a condition as they formerly have been in Oh! take heed how you judge of those things and beware of prejudice or of a Spirit that would rejoyce because advantages at such a time may easily be taken for that is accursed in the sight of God But keep ye in the dread and Wisdom of the Lord And they that reprove or exhort such as are come to loss in their conditions let it be in that Spirit which can bear and suffer all things that are to be born for the Seeds sake in the true patience and meekness Oh Friends this is the restoring healing strengthening consolating Spirit which is of great price with the Lord and in this live and you will feel the Blessing the Peace and Mercy upon the Israel of God and you will be meet helps one to another And now dear Friends and Babes you who watch for Peace and Unity in Righteousness and can bear and endure all things that may be born for the Elects sake my Life is bound up with you in the overcomings of God's Love and I am refreshed in you and I partake of your Peace and Joy and meet and kiss you in the meek Spirit and rejoyce with you in the work of the Lord my Friends go on in the power of God and build up one another in the living Faith and wait therein together that in the eternal Power ye may feel Dominion over all the cruelty of the Enemy for it 's the Faith in the power that must break through all this wickedness and bring down all this ungodliness that is spreading it self as if there were no end of it But Friends as in the dread of the Lord ye keep you will see the power of Darkness vanish away and they that act in it shall be chained under though for a moment they have liberty for the Tryal of our Faith But verily in the Power of the Lord God I can truly rejoyce over all these things because I see the Lord's presence and loving kindness in a wonderful manner amongst those that truly wait upon him and trust alone in him for deliverance even in the time of their Tryals and because he hath given me stedfastly to believe That he will bring deliverance for his People and set them over all the Powers of the Earth by his own arm Therefore let none murmur not think that the Lord is slack concerning his appearing for his People but let every one that knows the Truth in that patiently wait and endure whatsoever the Lord suffers the wicked to do unto you in the day of his long Patience and Forbearance which he in compassion grants unto them that they might come to repentance and amendment of Life which if they wholly slight and will not be gathered in their day he hath power enough and will execute it to destroy them and to deliver his People that trust in him So in the pure Life and Power and Vertue of the Father be ye stayed and quiet in your minds and wait to receive your daily Bread and Water of Life from him that ye may grow up in the eternal and be established for ever in the Power of an endless Life Oh Friends if any look out in this day they will let in weakness and whosoever feels weakness let them abide and believe in that which makes them sensible of their weakness and they will gather strength and be able to stand And as for you my dearly beloved Friends who are come to witness your Redemption from the earth by the Blood of the Covenant and are now following of the Lamb whithersoever he goeth leads draws or commands you I know you are come to the Anointing and have received it and that abides in you and you into it are comprehended so that you need not any man to teach you but as the same anointing that abideth in you doth teach you for that is true and there is no lye of it and that teacheth you of all things which are suitable to your conditions and it sheweth you things to come and with it you are able to try Spirits and Doctrines and even as it hath taught you ye shall abide in him the Lord that Spirit And where this is felt and witnessed there is liberty and sitting and waiting in this you are fed with the Bread from above which giveth life and refreshed with the springs from beneath which makes its way through the Rocks and Mountains to the pleasant Valleys and you that are come to this seat you are able to judge of things within and without and although you have not need to be taught by letters yet I know you that are come to this state can bear the Word of Exhortation to be sounded among you that so it may reach unto them to whom it is of service for the stirring up of their pure minds that so the Life and Power immortal may in the freshness and purity of it be felt in and amongst all the Flock and that in the sweetness and vertue thereof you all may be kept and preserved in pure Unity and Peace with God and one with another So the Blessing and Mercy of the Almighty rest and abide for ever upon you all who delight in the Truth which is eternal And Friends take heed how you receive reports and report them again for there is a great danger in those things and there
and singleness and uprightness of heart in that love which thinks no Evil even in obedienae unto the Spirit of the Lord which also saith Try all things and hold fast that which is good Friends IN several of you I know there hath stirred and doth oft stir a pure true living Principle of God which hath begot and doth beget true honest and upright Desires and Breathings in you after Righteousness true Liberty and Freedom and loathings of Oppression and Tyranny and it hath been in the hearts of some of you and much upon you to break down Oppression and Tyranny and to remove Oppressors and to make void all such Laws as make provision for Tyranny and Oppression whereby the Oppressors have long been strengthened in their Oppressing the People of this Nation and some of you have felt the weight and burden of Oppression and Tyranny under which the Innocent suffer and it hath been much in your hearts to set up Righteous Laws whereby all People might have Equity and Justice done to them and for them by such as you have had thoughts to put in Authority which would do just and equal things between Man and Man without respect to persons These things the Lords witness in you hath shewed unto you that they ought to be done by you and some of you have breathed and desired much to do these things when ye have owned the pure movings and stirrings of the measure of the Life and Power God in you which hath stirred and moved in you towards Righteousness Equity Mercy and Justice But hitherto ye have been much hindred in this work And truly Friends there are many things yet remaining in and among you mark that which hinder and stop you in this work of true Reformation and they will stop you therein mark that so long as they bear rule in and among you and are consented to and regarded by you many of those things are as followeth First There are many that pretend that they are of you mark that which have joyned unto you in some outward appearance but it is more for fear of loosing their places and the riches and honour of this world than for to the Cause of Equity Justice and true Liberty And these are in the Priests nature who for covetousness and self ends can change with the times and Governments and pretend they are for them so long as they will hold them up and such are neither true to God nor their Country for they can lay down their Religion which they have pretended to stand for and deny the Cause of their Country if it will make most for their own Gain and then say it was the Lords doing and they are satisfied in it though it be quite contrary to that which they have formerly contended for and of this sort there are many among you which stop the work you ought to do And several of you also in whom the Truth of God hath stirred against Oppression and Tyranny verily your minds are yet so much in your Commissions and Places and in the love and honour and Wisdom of this World that this stops you in the work ye ought to do And some of you have so many relations mark that that have such a great gain in those very things which greatly Oppresse the People of this Nation and also some of your selves are concerned in these things that so ye cannot tell how to take away Oppression wholly without taking away their and your own gain and these things being looked at by you they exceedingly stop you in the work you ought to do because herein private self ends and respect to Persons by you are preferred before the general good of all Now Friends whilst your minds and thoughts and hearts run into or after any of these things They with the Enemy of your Souls will not suffer you to do that which is equal no further to be sure then it will stand safe for the upholding and preferring of yout relations and your own private particular self ends Therefore all wait in that which is pure and living of God in you which will shew you all Deceit if ye keep to it that so by it your minds may be redeemed out of all self and respect to Persons that so all particular private self ends and respects to Persons may be denyed and utterly trampled upon by you and that the general good and freedom of all without respect of Persons may be minded and acted for by you that so ye may serve the Lord God and your Generation in singleness and uprightness of heart and then the Lord will honour you and he will be your sufficient reward Verily it is a mighty thing and it is highly to be prized by you especially ye of the Army that ever the Lord God should make use of you again and again put an opportunity into your hands to do that which you formerly promised and vowed unto the Lord and your Nation to do seeing ye so slighted mark that the former opportunities which the Lord God gave you and acted so Treacherously and Deceitfully as ye did in your back-slidings and if ye should slight this opportunity also do not expect another be not deceived God will not be mocked therefore consider these things and mind to answer the Lords love yet continued unto you But if ye look out at or suffer your minds to run into mark the greatness of your Places or after your gain or the honour of the World or if ye look out at love or hatred of your Friends or known Enemies or at any particular self end whatsoever These things will strangle the Principle of God in you which moves to do that which is equal and just unto all and then the tender Seed in you which feels the weight and burden of Oppression that will be murdered and then the deadness and hardness of heart will come upon you more and more and ye will settle deeper and deeper in the death and verily if ye should do thus ye would become even as Sodom and Gomorah unto the Lord and he would overturn you with a great and mighty destruction as he did them therefore remember you have been warned So look at none of these things but look ye to the Lord God and mind the movings of his Life in you and be obedient thereto and as Oppression and Tiranny and Injustice is made manifest unto you by the Light of the Lord in you in the Power of the Lord committed unto you break it down and overturn it and set up and establish Righteous Laws Equity Mercy and Justice and true Liberty in its Place and then you neeâ— not fear what Man can do unto you for the Lord will then be your preserver So the Lord God hath once more tryed you Now if you love Father Mother Wife Children Houses Lands Commissions Honours of the World or any particular self end whatsoever more then the work of the Lord or if ye
prefer any of them so as thereby to stop the Lords work or if you do the Lords work negligently which he hath once more put into your hands verily ye shall not be counted worthy to be the Lords workmen So remember Saul who was made an example that others might take warning who slew but part of that which was to be distroyed and saved a part alive and therein he was stubborn and disobedient Now if ye should destroy but part of the Trranny and Oppression which is utterly to be distroyed mark that and preserve part of it take heed lest the Lord rent you from your places for your stubborness and disobedience as he rent Saul from his Kingdom for his Therefore Awake Awake and wait in the Light to feel the Lord's strength that therein your zeal and courage for him may be renewed and linger not in things as ye have done but dwell in the Power of the Lord ye who have felt it and do not abuse it or resist it any longer and in his Power act for the Freedom and just Liberty of all his Creatures this will bring honour unto the Lord that so ye in whose hearts there is a singleness an honesty an uprightness unto the Lord may keep your selves from being defiled with the corruptness of others and so be preserved in his Wisdom and Power in the Breakin gs Overturnings or Purging â—nd Separating that yet must be in the Nation And Friends in the Army when will the Spirit of â—â—â—hteousness and Equity be clearly manifested among you to rule you thus that so long as ye bear an outward Sword it might be onely turned against Evil Doers and not for the upholding any Oppression whatsoever but for the breaking down of all Oppression and Tyranny wheresoever it is found and for keeping the outward Peace whilst equal and Just Laws be established whereby the Just Liberties and outward Freedom of the Nation might be enjoyed and not to make a trade of using your Swords to enrich your selves by them by heaping up outward riches and to feed your lusts But whilst ye use your Swords to be content with such wages as might but even find you things necessary and convenient for your Places Now if this Spirit lead you then self denyal will be manifested in you indeed and they that called you a mercenary Army then should be ashamed for if Tyranny and Oppression were destroyed and Equity true outward Liberty and Freedom were established and the Enemies of it so brought to nought that so there were no need of you this Spirit if it ruled you would make you as freely willing then to lay down your Places and Swords as ever any of you were made free to take them up and then to fall upon improveing the Creation in the fear and Wisdom of the Lord and to be content to enjoy an equal proportion and share of the Liberty with your fellow Creatures which you have fought for and if it were thus then ye might truly be called the Common-wealths Men or servants But if ye carry a Sword expect and desire still to carry or uphold a sword to make a Trade of mark that then I know you will not utterly bring down Oppressors and Oppression and firmly establish outward Liberty though ye could lest your Trade should fall Now if you do not act singly for your Nations good stand out of all self ends whatsoever but still continue making a Trade of using your Swords then you cannot truly be called the Common-wealths servants but such as serve your selves and such as are their Masters though you receive wages of them And Friends there are many things done lately in the name of the Keepers of the Liberty of England Now mark ye should first make England a free Nation and set it at Liberty from all its Oppression and bondage that it is in befoâ—e ye take such a name upon you and then in the fear and Wisdom of the Lord see to preserve and keep its Liberty and then ye might truly be called the Keepers of the Liberty of England But if ye do not first set it at Liberty and then keep it and ye be called the Keepers of the Liberty of it ye will be but like unto those which had a name that they lived and yet were dead and like the false Christians who are puffed up with a name but are out of the nature which belongs to the name This from me who have a tender love going forth unto all both in Parliament Army and others who have any true Breathings or Desires in them after Righteousness Truth Equity Mercy Justice and true Judgement which I wait to see set up and Establiâ—hed And I honour the higher Power and am subject thereunto where ever or in whomsoever it doth appear which Power hath made me a watchman unto you to warn you to watch for your Souls and for Peace And in obeying this Power I am clear of and free from the blood of all men Given forth by Geo. Fox the Younger The Ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth among the Wise He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own Soul But he that heareth reproof getteth understanding Friends the reason why this comes last is because a Copy of it could not be obtained till such time as the foregoing writings were Printed otherwise it had come in order with the Rest of his Books THE END * Since the writing of this before it could be delivered we have seen a Declaration put forth by Thee by which in part this is answered which as this and the rest comes to be fulfilled the Lord will bless prosper Thee †This Abomination have I beheld several times out of my Prison Window * So that none shall be able in the day of the Lord to plead or say Lord because our first Parents fell from thee and became dead unto thee and so were driven out from thy presence and we being brought forth in this unreconciled state there was no way left unto us to approach or come near unto thee to lay hold of the Grace that thou offerest unto all by reason of thine Anger I say none shall be able thus to plead For Christ the Fathers Love hath consecrated a way by his freely giving up himself a Propitiatory Sacrifice which appeaseth God and therefore it is said that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself not imputing sin unto them So he that perisheth it shall be for his own sins not for his parents but because he believed not in Christ who hath freely made a way for him to come unto God and by the power of his life visiting him puts him in a capacity to receive the free grace which bringeth salvation which to all men hath appeared * As for the Government and Ministry of the Town of Harwich their streets like Sodom have shewn its effects And the Angels and Lot might as justly have been charged with making a disturbance in Sodom when the ungodly thronged Lot's Door as RG and I in Harwich as the sober Reader may see Also when I was in Prison there I have seen out at the Window many go staggering with Drunkenness in the street and both in the day and in the night they have come to the Gate and cursed me bitterly and stammered our Oaths by reason of Drunkennes and then cryed God save KING CHARLES saying He would hang the Quakers and the Anabaptists and these have gone unpunished But when sober People have come to the Gate to hear the Truth declared them the Goalors Company hath thrown water upon and the MAYOR hath come and commanded them to depart from the Window and the Goalor hath come and shut it up and threatned me