of all People to turn from the Vanities Pleasures and Oppression and from the Deceits of this World And there will come a time that you shall know it Therefore take heed of Pleasures and Deceits and Pride and look not at Man but at the Lord for Look unto me all ye Ends of the Earth and be ye saved saith the Lord. Some little time after I writ to them again thus Friends WOuld you have me to be bound to my Good Behaviour from Drunkenness or Swearing or Fighting or Adultery and the like The Lord hath Redeemed me from all these things and the Love of God hath brought me to loath all Wantonness blessed be his Name They who are Drunkards and Fighters and Swearers have their Liberty without Bonds And you lay your Law upon me whom neither you nor any other can justly accuse of these things praised be the Lord I can look at no Man for my Liberty but at the Lord alone who hath all Mens Hearts in his Hand And after some time not finding my Spirit clear of them I writ to them again as followeth Friends HAD you known who sent me to you ye would have received me for the Lord sent me to you to warn you of the Woes that are coming upon you and to bid you Look at the Lord and not at Man But when I had told you my Experience what the Lord had done for me then your Hearts were hardened and you sent me to Prison where you have kept me many Weeks If the Love of God had broke your Hearts then would ye see what ye have done Ye would not have Imprisoned me had not my Father suffered you and by his Power I shall be loosed For he openeth and shutteth to him be all Glory In what have I misbehaved my self that any should be bound for me All Mens Words will do me no good nor their Bonds neither to keep my Heart if I have not a Guide within to keep me in the upright Life to God But I believe in the Lord that through his Strength and Power I shall be preserved from Ungodliness and worldly Lusts The Scripture saith Receive Strangers but you Imprison such As you are in Authority take heed of Oppression and Oaths and Injustice and Gifts or Rewards for God doth loath all such But love Mercy and true Judgment and Justice for that the Lord delâ—ghts in I do not write with Hatred to you but to keep my Conscience Clear Take heed how you spend your time I was moved also to write again to the Priests of Darby which I did after this manner Friends YOU do profess to be the Ministers of Jesus Christ in Words but you shew forth by your Fruits what your Ministry is Every Tree doth shew forth its Fruit The Ministry of Jesus Christ is in Mercy and Love to unloose them that be bound and to bring out of Bondage and to let them that are Captivated go free Now Friends where is your Example if the Scriptures be your Rule to Imprison for Religion Have you any Command for it from Christ If that were in you which you do profess you would walk in their Steps who spake forth those Words the Scriptures which you do profess But he is not a Jew who is one outward whose Praise is of Men but he is a Jew who is one inward whose Praise is of God But if you do build upon the Prophets and Apostles in Words and pervert their Life remember the Woes which Jesus Christ spake against such They that spake the Prophets words but denied Christ they professed a Christ to come but had they known him they would not have Crucified him The Saints whom the Love of God did Change were brought thereby to walk in Love and Mercy for he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God But where Envy Pride and Hatred doth rule the nature of the World doth rule and not the nature of Jesus Christ. I write with no hatred to you but that you may weigh your selves and see how you pass on your Time Thus having cleared my Conscience to the Priests it was not long before a Concern came upon me again to write again to the Justices which I did as followeth I am moved to Warn you to take heed of giving way to your own Wills Love the Cross and satisfy not your own Minds in the Flesh but prize your Time while you have it and walk up to that you know in Obedience to God and then you shall not be Condemned for that you know not but for that you do know and do not obey Consider betimes and weigh your selves and see where you are and whom you serve For if ye blaspheme God and take his Name in vain if ye Swear and Lie if ye give way to Envy Hatred Covetousness and Greediness Pleasures and Wantonness or any other Vices be assured then that ye do serve the Devil But if ye fear the Lord and serve him ye will loath all these things He that loveth God will not blaspheme his Name but where there is Opposing of God and serving the Devil that Profession is sad and miserable O prize your Time and do not love that which God doth forbid Lying Wrath Malice Envy Hatred Greediness Covetousness Oppression Gluttony Drunkenness Whoredom and all Vnrighteousness God doth forbid So Consider and be not deceived Evil Communication corrupts good Manners Be not deceived God will not be mocked with vain Words The Wrath of God is Revealed from Heaven against all Ungodliness Therefore Obey that which doth Convince you of all Evil and telleth you that you should do no Evil It will lead to Repentance and keep you in the Fear of the Lord. O look at the Mercies of God and prize them and do not turn them into Wantonness O Eye the Lord and not earthly things Besides this I writ the following to Colonel Barton who was both a Justice and a Preacher as was hinted before Friend DO not Cloak and Cover thy self there is a God who knoweth thy Heart and will Vncover thee He seeth thy Way Wo be to him that Covereth and not with my Spirit saith the Lord. Dost thou do contrary to the Law and then put it from thee Mercy and true Judgment thou neglectest look what was spoken against such My Saviour said to such I was Sick and in Prison and ye visited me not I was hungry and ye fed me not I was a Stranger and ye took me not in And when they said When saw we thee in Prison and did not come to thee c. He replied Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of these little ones ye did it not to me Friend thou hast Imprisoned me for bearing Witness to the Life and Power or Truth and yet professest to be a Minister of Christ But if Christ had sent thee thou wouldest bring out of Prison and out of Bondage and wouldest receive Strangers Thou hast been wanton upon Earth thou hast lived plenteously
there a while 1651. Darby-Prison and then I was taken down again Then after a while the Constables fetched me up again and then I was brought before the Commissioners and they said I should go for a Souldier But I told them I was dead to it They said I was Alive I told them where Envy and Hatred is there is Confusion They proffered me Money twice but I would not take it Then they were Wroth and I was Committed Close Prisoner without Bail or Mainprize Whereupon I writ to them again directing my Letter to Colonel Barton who was a Preacher and the rest that were concerned in my Commitment And I writ thus YOU who are without Christ and yet use the Words which he and his Saints have spoken Consider neither he nor his Apostles did ever Imprison any but my Saviour is Merciful even to the Vnmerciful and Rebellious He doth bring out of Prison and Bondage But Men while the carnal Mind doth rule do Oppress and Imprison My Saviour saith Love your Enemies and do good to them that hate you and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you For the Love of God doth not persecute any but loveth all where it dwelleth He that hateth his Brother is a Murderer You profess to be Christians and one of you a Minister of Jesus Christ yet you have Imprisoned me who am a Servant of Jesus Christ The Apostles never Imprisoned any but were Imprisoned themselves Take heed of speaking of Christ in Words and denying him in Life and Power O Friends the Imprisoning my Body is to satisfy your Wills but take heed of giving way to your Wills for that will hurt you If the Love of God had broken your Hearts ye would not have Imprisoned me but my Love is to you as to all my Fellow-Creatures and that you may Weigh your selves and see how you stand is this written About this Time I was moved to give forth the following Lines to go amongst the Convinced and Tender People to manifest the Deceits of the World and how the Priests have deceived the People To all you that love the Lord Jesus Christ with a pure and naked Heart amd the Generation of the Righteous CHRIST was ever hated and the Righteous for his sake Mind who they were that did ever hate them He that was born after the Flesh did persecute him that was born after the Spirit and so it is now And mind who were the Chiefest against Christ even the great Learned Men the Heads of the People Rulers and Teachers that did profess the Law and the Prophets and looked for Christ. They looked for an outwardly-Glorious Christ to hold up their outward Glory But Christ spake against the Works of the World and against the Priests and Scribes and Pharisees and their hypocritical Profession He that is a Stranger to Christ is an Hireling but the Servants of Jesus Christ are Freemen The false Teachers always laid Burdens upon the People and the true Servants of the Lord did speak against them Jeremiah did speak against Hirelings and said It was an horrible thing and said What will ye do in the End for the People and Priests were given to Covetousness Paul did speak against such as did make Gain upon the People and exhorted the Saints to turn away from such as were Covetous Men and Proud Men such as did love Pleasures more than God such as had a Form of Godliness but denied the Power thereof For of this sort said he are they that Creep into Houses and lead Captive silly Women who are ever learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the Truth Men of corrupt Minds Reprobate concerning the Faith and as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses so said he do these Resist the Truth but they shall proceed no further for their folly shall be made manifest unto all Men. Moses forsook Honours and Pleasures which he might have enjoyed The Apostle in his time saw this Corruption entring which now is spread over the World of having a Form of Godliness but denying the Power Ask any of your Teachers whether you may ever Overcome your Corruptions or Sins None of them doth believe that but as long as Man is here he must they say carry about with him the Body of Sin Thus Pride is kept up and that Honour and Master-ship which Christ denied and all Unrighteousness Yet Multitudes of Teachers Heaps of Teachers the Golden Cup full of Abominations Paul did not preach for Wages but laboured with his Hands that he might be an Example to all them that follow him O People see who follow Paul The Prophet Jeremiah said The Prophets prophesie falsly and the Priests bear rule by their means but now the Priests bear Rule by the Means they get from the People take away their Means and they will bear Rule over you no longer They are such as the Apostle said Intruded into those things which they never saw being vainly puffed up with a fleshly Mind and as the Scriptures declare of some of old They go in the way of Cain who was a Murderer and in the way of Balaam who coveted the Wages of Vnrighteousness The Prophet Micah also cried against the Judges that Judged for Reward and the Priests that taught for Hire and the Prophets that prophesied for Money and yet leaned on the Lord saying Is not the Lord amongst us Gifts do blind the Eyes of the Wise And the Gift of God was never purchased with Money All the holy Servants of God did ever cry against Deceit and where the Lord hath manifested his Love they do loath it and that Nature which holdeth it up Again a Concern came upon me to write unto the Magistrates of Darby which I did as followeth Friends I desire you to consider in time whom ye do Imprison for the Magistrate is set for the punishment of Evil-Doers and for the Praise of them that do well But when the Lord doth send his Messengers unto you to warn you of the Woes that will come upon you except you Repent then you persecute them and put them into Prison and say We have a Law and by our Law we may do it For you indeed Justifie your selves before Men but God knoweth your Hearts He will not be worshipped with your Forms and Professions and Shews of Religion Therefore Consider ye that talk of God how ye are subject to him for they are his Children that do his Will What doth the Lord require of you but To do Justice to love and shew Mercy to walk humbly with him and to help the Widows and Fatherless to their Right But instead thereof ye Oppress the Poor Do not your Judges Judge for Rewards and your Priests Teach for Hire The time is coming that he who seeth all things will discover all your Secrets And know this assuredly The Lord will deliver his Servants out of your Hands and he will recompence all your unjust Dealings towards
rested also too much upon their Watry Dispensation instead of passing on more fully to the Fire and Holy Ghost which was his Baptism who came with a Fan in his Hand that he might throughly and not in part only purge his Floor and take away the Dross and the Tin of his People and make a Man finer than Gold Withall they grew High Rough and Self-righteous opposing further attainment too much forgetting the Day of their Infancy and Littleness which gave them something of a real Beauty in so much that many left them and all visible Churches and Societies and Wandred up and down as Sheep without a Shepherd and as Doves without their Mates seeking their Beloved but could not find Him as their Souls desired to know Him whom their Souls loved above their chiefest Joy These People were called Seekers by some and the Family of Love by others because as they came to the knowledge of one another they sometimes met together not formally to Pray or Preach at appointed times or Places in their own Wills as in times past they were accustomed to do but waited together in Silence and as any thing rose in any one of their Minds that they thought Savoured of a Divine Spring so they sometimes Spoke But so it was that some of them not keeping in Humility and in the Fear of God after the Abundance of Revelation were exalted above Measure and for want of staying their Minds in an humble Dependance upon him that opened their Vnderstandings to see great things in his Law they run out in their own Imaginations and mixing them with those Divine Openings brought forth a Monstrous Birth to the Scandal of those that feared God and waited daily in the Temple not made with Hands for the Consolation of Israel the Jew inward and Circumcision in Spirit This People obtained the Name of Ranters from their extravagant Discourses and Practices For they interpreted Christ's fullfilling of the Law for us to be a discharging of us from any Obligation and Duty the Law required instead of the Condemnation of the Law for sins past upon Faith and Repentance and that now it was no Sin to do that which before it was a Sin to commit the slavish Fear of the Law being taken off by Christ and all things good that Man did if he did but do them with the Mind and Perswasion that it was so Insomuch that divers fell into Gross and Enormous Practices pretending in excuse thereof that they could without Evil commit the same Act which was Sin in another to do thereby distinguishing between the Action and the Evil of it by the Direction of the Mind and Intention in the doing of it Which was to make Sin Super-abound by the aboundings of Grace and to turn from the Grace of God into Wantonness a securer way of Sinning than before As if Christ came not to take away Sin but that we might Sin more freely at his Cost and with less Danger to our selves I say this ensnared Divers and brought them to an utter and lamentable Loss as to their Eternal State and they grew very troublesome to the better sort of People and furnished the looser with an occasion to Prophane It was about that very same time as you may see in the ensuing Annales that the Eternal Wise and Good God was pleased in his Infinite Love to Honour and Visit this benighted and bewildred Nation with his Glorious Day-spring from on High yea with a most sure and certain sound of the Word of Light and Life through the Testimony of a Chosen Vessel to an effectual and blessed purpose can many thousands say Glory be to the Name of the Lord for ever For as it reached the Conscience and broak the Heart and brought many to a Sense and Search so what People had been vainly seeking without with much Pains and Cost they by this Ministry found within where it was they wanted what they sought for viz. The right way to Peace with God For they were directed to the Light of Jesus Christ within them as the Seed and Leven of the Kingdom of God near All because in All and God's Talent to All. A Faithful and True Wâ—â—ness and Just Monitor in every Bosom The Gift and Grace of God to Life and Salvation that appears to all though few regard it This the Traditional Christian conceited of himself and strong in his own Will and Righteousness and overcome with blind Zeal and Passion either dispised as a low and common thing or opposed as a Novelty under many hard Names and opprobrious Terms denying in his ignorant and angry Mind any fresh Manifestation of God's Power and Spirit in Man in these days though never more needed to make true Christians Not unlike those Jews of Old that rejected the Son of God at the very same time that they blindly professed to wait for the Messiah to come because alas he appeared not among them according to their Carnal Mind and Expectation This brought forth many abusive Books which filled the greater sort with Envy and lesser with Rage and made the way and progress of this Blessed Testimony Straight and Narrow indeed to those that received it However God owned his own Work and this Testimony did effectually Reach Gather Comfort and Establish the Weary and Heavy Leaden the Hungry and Thirsty the Poor and Needy the Mournful and Sick of many Maladys that had spent all upon Phisitians of no Value and waited for Relief from Heaven Help only from above Seeing upon a serious Tryal of all things nothing else would do but Christ himself the Light of his Countenance a Touch of his Garment and Help from his Hand who cured the poor Womans Issue raised the Centurions Servant the Widows Son the Rulers Daughter and Peter's Mother and like Her they no sooner felt his Power and Efficacy upon their Souls but they gave up to obey him in a Testimony to his Power and with resigned Wills and faithful Hearts through all Mockings Contradictions Beatings Prisons and many other Jeopardies that attended them for his Blessed Name Sake And truly they were very many and very Great so that in all Humane Probabiliâ—â— they must have been swallowed up Quick of the Proud and Bosterous Waves that swelled and beat against them but that the God of all their tender Mercies was with them in his Glorious Authority so that the Hills often Fled and the Mountains melted before the Power that filled them working mightily for them as well as in them one ever following the other By which they saw plainly to their exceeding great Confirmation and Comfort that all things were possible with him with whom they had to do And that the more that which God required seemed to cross Man's Wisdom and expose them to Man's Wrath the more God appeared to help and carry them through all to his Glory Insomuch that if ever any People could say in Truth Thou art our Sun and our Shield our
Times that so Self-love and Honour to which the proud Mind of Man is incident in his fallen Estate might not be Indulged but Rebuked They also used the Plain Language of Thou and Thee to a single Person whatever was his Degree among Men. And indeed the Wisdom of God was much seen in bringing forth this People in so Plain an Appearance for it was a Close and Distinguishing Test upon the Spirit of those they came among shewing their Insides and what predominated notwithstanding their High and Great Profession of Religion This among the rest sounded so harsh to many of them and they took it so ill that they would say Thou me Thou my Dog If thou thouest me I 'le thou thy Teeth down thy Throat forgetting the Language they use to God in their own Prayers and the common Stile of the Scriptures and that it is an absolute and essential Propriety of Speech And what good had their Religion done them who were so sensibly toucht with Indignation for the use of this Plain Honest and True Speech VI. They recommended Silence by their Example having very few words upon all Occasions They were at a Word in Dealing nor could their Customers many Words tempt them from it having more regard for Truth than Custom to Example then Gain they sought Solitude but when in Company they would neither use nor willingly hear Vnnecessary as well as Vnlawful Discourses whereby they preserved their Minds pure and undisturbed from unprofitable Thoughts and Diversions Nor could they humour the Custom of Good Night Good Morrow God Speed for they knew the Night was Good and the Day was Good without wishing of either and that in the other Expression the Holy Name of God was too lightly and unthinkingly used and therefore taken in Vain Besides they were Words and Wishes of Course and are usually as little meant as are Love and Service in the Custom of Cap and Knee and superfluity in those as well as in other things was Burthensom to them and therefore They did not only decline to use them but found themselves often prest to reprove the Practice For the same reason they forbore Drinking to People or Pledging of them as the manner of the World is A Practice that is not only Unnecessary but they thought Evil in the Tendencies of it being a Provocation to Drinking more than did People Good as well as that it was in it self Vain and Heathenish VII Their way of Marriage is peculiar to them and is a distinguishing Practice from all other Societies professing Christianity They say that Marriage is an Ordinance of God and that God only can rightly join Man and Woman in Marriage Therefore they use neither Priest nor Magistrate but the Man and Woman concern'd take each other as Husband and Wife in the presence of divers Credible Witnesses promising unto each other with God's Assistance to be Loving and Faithful in that Relation till Death shall separate them But antecedent to all this They first present themselves to the Monthly Meeting for the Affairs of the Church where they reside There declaring their Intentions to take one another as Man and Wife if the said Meeting have nothing material to object against it They are constantly askt the necessary Questions as in Case of Parents or Guardians if they have acquainted them with their Intention and have their Consent c. The Method of the Meeting is to take a Minute thereof and to appoint Proper Persons to enquire of their Conversation and Clearness from all others and whether they have discharged their Duty to their Parents or Guardians and make report thereof the next Monthly Meeting where the same Parties are desired to give their Attendance In case it appears they proceeded Orderly the Meeting passes their Proposal and so Records it in their Meeting Book and in Case the Woman be a Widow and hath Children due care is there taken that Provision also be made by her for the Orphans before the said Marriage advising the Parties concerned to appoint a convenient Time and place and to give fitting Notice to their Relations and such Friends and Neighbours as they desire should be the Witnesses of their Marriage Where they take one another by the Hand and by Name promising Reciprocally after the Manner before expressed Of all which Proceedings a Narative in a way of Certificate is made to which the said Parties first set their Hands thereby making it their Act and Deed and then divers of the Relations Spectators and Auditors set their Names as Witnesses of what they Said and Signed Which Certificate is afterward Registred in the Record belonging to the Meeting where the Marriage is Solemnized Which Regular Method has been as it deserves adjudged in Courts of Law a good Marriage where it has been Disputed and Contested for want of the accustomed Formality of Priest and Ring c. which Ceremonies they have Refused not out of Humour but Conscience reasonably grounded in as much as no Scripture Example tells us that the Priest had any other part of Old Time than that of a Witness among the rest before whom the Jews used to take one another And therefore this People look upon it as an Imposion to advance the Power and Profits of the Clergy And for the use of the Ring it is enough to say that it was an Heathen and vain Custom and never in Practice among the People of God Jews or Primitive Christans The words of the Usual form as With my Body I thee Worship c. are hardly defensible In short they are more Careful Exact and Regular than any Form now used and it is Free of the inconveniencies other Methods are attended with Their Care and Checks being so many and such as no Clandestine Marriages can be perform'd among them VIII It may not be unfit to say something here of their Births and Burials which make up so much of the Pomp and Solemnity of too many called Christians For Births the Parents Name their own Children which is usually some days after they are Born in the presence of the Midwife if she can be there and those that were at the Birth c. who afterward sign a Certificate for that purpose prepared of the Birth and Name of the Child or Children which is Recorded in a proper Book in the Monthly Meeting to which the Parents belong avoiding the accustomed Cerimonies and Feastivals IX Their Burials are performed with the same Simplicity If the Corps of the Deceased be near any publick Meeting Place it is usually carried thither for the more convenient Reception of those that Accompany it to the Ground they Bury in and it so falls out sometimes that while the Meeting is gathering for the Burial some or other have a Word of Exhortation for the sake of the People there met together After which the Body is borne away by the Young Men or those that are of their Neighbourhood or that were most of the
which the word begets them again to God which is the Regeneration and New Birth without which there is no coming unto the Kingdom of God and which whoever comes to is greater than John that is than John's Dispensation which was not that of the Kingdom but the Consummation of the Legal and Forerunning of the Gospel Times Accordingly several Meetings were gathered in those Parts and thus his Time was employed for some Years In 1652. He being in his usual Retirement to the Lord upon a very High Mountain in some of the hither parts of Yorkshire as I take it his Mind exercised towards the Lord he had a Vision of the great Work of God in the Earth and of the way that he was to go forth to begin it He saw People as thick as Motes in the Sun that should in time be brought Home to the Lord that there might be but one Shepherd and one Sheepfold in all the Earth There his Eye was directed Northward beholding a great People that should receive him and his Message in those Parts Upon this Mountain he was moved of the Lord to sound out his Great and notable Day as if he had been in a great Auditory and from thence went North as the Lord had shown him and in every place where he came if not before he came to it he had his particular Exercise and Service shown to him so that the Lord was his Leader indeed for it was not in vain that he Travailled God in most places sealing his Commission with the Convincement of some of all sorts as well Publicans as sober Professors of Religion Some of the first and most Eminent of them which are at Rest were Richard Farnsworth James Nayler William Dewsberry Francis Howgil Edward Burroughs John Camm John Audland Richard Hubberthorn T. Taylor John Aldam T. Holmes Alexander Parker William Simpson William Caton John Stubbs Robert Widders John Burnyeat Robert Lodge Thomas Salthouse and many more Worthies that cannot be well here Named together with divers yet living of the first and great Convincement who after the knowledge of God's purging Judgments in themselves and some time of waiting in silence upon him to feel and receive Power from on High to speak in his Name which none else rightly can though they may use the same Words They felt the Divine Motions and were frequently drawn forth especially to visit the Publick Assemblies to reprove inform and exhort them sometimes in Markets Fairs Streets and by the High-way-side calling People to Repentance and to turn to the Lord with their Hearts as well as their Mouths directing them to the Light of Christ within them to see and examine and consider their ways by and to eschew the Evil and do the Good and Acceptable Will of God And they suffered great Hardships for this their Love and Good-will being often Stockt Stoned Beaten Whipt and Imprisoned though Honest Men and of Good Report where they lived that had left Wives and Children and Houses and Lands to visit them with a living Call to Repentance And though the Priests generally set themselves to oppose them and write against them and insinuated most False and Scandalous Stories to Defame them stirring up the Magistrates to suppress them especially in those Northern Parts yet God was pleased so to fill them with his living Power and give them such an open Door of utterance in his Service that there was a mighty Convincement over those Parts And through the tender and singular Indulgence of Judge Bradshaw and Judge Fell who were wont to go that Circuit in the Infancy of things the Priests were never able to gain the point they laboured for which was to have proceeded to Blood and if possible Herod like by a Cruel exercise of the Civil Power to have cut them off and rooted them out of the Country Especially Judge Fell who was not only a Check to their Rage in the Course of Legal Proceedings but otherwise upon occasion and finally countenanced this People for his Wife receiving the Truth with the First it had that Influence upon his Spirit being a Just and Wise Man and seeing in his own Wife and Family a full Confutation to all the popular Clamours against the Way of Truth that he covered them what he could and freely opened his Doors and gave up his House to his Wife and her Friends not valuing the Reproach of Ignorant or Evil Minded People which I here mention to His and her Honour and which will be I believe an Honour and a Blessing to such of their Name and Family as shall be found in that Tenderness Humility Love and Zeal for the Truth and People of the Lord. That House was for some Years at first till the Truth had opened its way in the Southern parts of this Island an Eminent Receptacle of this People Others of good Note and Substance in those Northern Countrys had also opened their Houses with their Hearts to the many Publishers that in a short time the Lord had raised to declare his Salvation to the People and where Meetings of the Lord's Messengers were frequently held to communicate their Services and Exercises and Comfort and Edify one another in their Blessed Ministry But least this may be thought a Digression having touched upon this before I return to this Excellent Man And for his Personal Qualities both Natural Moral and Divine as they appeared in his Converse with Brethren and in the Church of God take as follows I. He was a Man that God endued with a Clear and Wonderful Depth a discerner of others Spirits and very much a Master of his own And though the side of his Vnderstanding which lay next to the World and especially the Expression of it might sound Vncouth and Vnfashionable to Nice Ears his matter was nevertheless very profound and would not only bear to be often considered but the more it was so the more Weighty and Instructing it appeared And as abruptly and brokenly as sometimes his Sentences would fall from him about Divine Things it is well known they were often as Texts to many fairer Declarations And indeed it showed beyond all Contradiction that God sent him that no Arts or Parts had any share in his matter or manner of his Ministry and that so many Great Excellent and Necessary Truths as he came forth to Preach to Mankind had therefore nothing of Man's Wit or Wisdom to recommend them So that as to Man he was an Original being no Man's Copy And his Ministry and Writings show they are from one that was not Taught of Man nor had Learned what he said by Study Nor were they Notional or Speculative but sensible and Practical Truths tending to Conversion and Regeneration and the setting up the Kingdom of God in the Hearts of Men and the way of it was his Work So that I have many times been overcome in my self and been made to say with my Lord and Master upon the like Occasion I thank
thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth that thou hast hid these things from the Wise and Prudent of this World and revealed them to Babes For many times hath my Soul bowed in an Humble Thankfulness to the Lord that he did not choose any of the Wise and Learned of this World to be the first Messenger in our Age of his blessed Truth to Men but that he took one that was not of High Degree or Elegant Speech or learned after the way of this World that his Message and Work he sent him to do might come with less Suspicion or Jealousie of Humane Wisdom and Interest and with more Force and Clearness upon the Consciences of those that sincerely Sought the way of Truth in the Love of it I say beholding with the Eye of my mind which the God of Heaven had opened in me the Marks of God's Finger and Hand visibly in this Testimony from the Clearness of the Principle the Power and Efficacy of it in the Exemplary Sobriety Plainness Zeal Steadiness Humility Gravity Punctuality Charity and Circumspect care in the Government of Church Affairs which shined in his and their Life and Testimony that God employed in this Work it greatly confirmed me that it was of God and engaged my Soul in a Deep Love Fear Reverence and Thankfulness for his Love and Mercy therein to Mankind in which Mind I remain and shall I hope to the end of my Daies II. In his Testimony or Ministry he much laboured to open Truth to the Peoples Vnderstandings and to bottom them upon the Principle and Principal Christ Jesus the Light of the World that by bringing them to something that was of God in themselves they might the better know and judge of him and themselves He had an Extraordinary Gift in opening the Scriptures He would go to the Marrow of things and show the Mind Harmony and Fullfilling of them with much Plainness and to great Comfort and Edification The Mistery of the first and second Adam of the Fall and Restoration of the Law and Gospel of Shadows and Substance of the Servant and Sons State and the fullfiling of the Scriptures in Christ and by Christ the True Light in all that are his through the Obedience of Faith were much of the Substance and Drift of his Testimonies In all which he was witnessed to be of God being sensibly felt to speak that which he had received of Christ and was his own Experience in that which never Ers nor Fails But above all he excelled in Prayer The Inwardness and Weight of his Spirit the Reverence and Solemnity of his Address and Behaviour and the Fewness and Fulness of his Words have often struck even Strangers with Admiration as they used to reach others with Consolation The most Awfull Living Reverent Frame I ever Felt or Beheld I must say was his in Prayer And truly it was a Testimony he knew and lived neerer to the Lord than other Men for they that know him most will see most reason to approach him with Reverence and Fear He was of an Innocent Life no Busie Body nor Self Seeker neither Touchy nor Critical What fell from him was very Inoffensive if not very Edifying So Meek Contented Modest Easie Steady Tender it was a pleasure to be in his Company He exercised no Authority but over Evil and that every where and in all but with Love Compassion and Long Suffering A most Merciful Man as ready to Forgive as unapt to take or give an Offence Thousands can truly say he was of an Excellent Spirit and Savour among them and because thereof the most Excellent Spirits loved him with an unfained and unfading Love He was an Incessant Labourer for in his Younger time before his many great and deep Sufferings and Travels had enfeebled his Body for Itinerant Services he laboured much in the Word and Doctrine and Discipline in England Scotland and Ireland turning many to God and confirming those that were convinced of the Truth and setling Good Order as to Church Affairs among them And towards the Conclusion of his Travelling Services between the Years Seventy One and Seventy Seven he Visited the Churches of Christ in the Plantations in America and in the Vnited Provinces and Germany as his following Journal Relates to the Convincement and Consolation of many After that time he chiefly resided in and about the City of London and besides the Services of his Ministry which were Frequent and Serviceable he writ much both to them that are within and those that are without the Communion But the care he took of the Affairs of the Church in General was very great He was often where the Records of the Affairs of the Church are kept and the Letters from the many Meetings of God's People over all the World where settled come upon Occasions which Letters he had read to him and Communicated them to the Meeting that is Weekly held there for such Services he would be sure to stir them up to discharge them especially in Suffering Cases Showing great Sympathy and Compassion upon all such Occasions carefully looking into the Respective Cases and endeavouring Speedy Relief according to the Nature of them So that the Churches and any of the Suffering Members thereof were sure not to be forgotten or delayed in their Desires if he were there As he was Vnwearied so he was Vndaunted in his Services for God and his People he was no more to be moved to Fear than to Wrath. His Behaviour at Darby Litchfield Appleby before Oliver Cromwell at Launston Scarborough Worcester and Westminster-Hall with many other Places and Exercises did abundantly evidence it to his Enemies as well as his Friends But as in the Primitive Times some rise up against the blessed Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ even from among those that they had turned to the Hope of the Gospel and who became their greatest Trouble so this Man of God had his share of Suffering from some that were convinced by him who through prejudice or mistake run against him as one that sought Dominion over Conscience because he prest by his Presence or Epistles a ready and zealous compliance with such good and wholesome things as tended to an Orderly Conversation about the Affairs of the Church and in their walking before Men. That which contributed much to this ill Work was in some a begrudging of this Meek Man the love and esteem he had and deserved in the Hearts of the People and weakness in others that were taken with their groundless Suggestions of Imposition and blind Obedience They would have had every Man Independent that as he had the Principle in himself he should only stand and fall to that and no Body else not considering that the Principle is One in all and though the Measure of Light or Grace might differ yet the Nature of it was the same and being so they struck at the Spiritual Vnity which a People guided by the same Principle are
naturally led into So that what is an evil to One is so to All and what is Vertuous Honest and of good Report to One is so to All from the Sense and Savour of the one Vniversal Principle which is common to all and which the disaffected profess to be the Root of all True Christian Fellowship and that Spirit into which the People of God drink and come to be Spiritually Minded and of one Heart and one Soul Some weakly mistook good Order in the Government of Church Affairs for Discipline in Worship and that it was so prest or recommended by Him and other Brethren And they were ready to reflect the same things that Dissenters had very reasonably objected upon the National Churches that have coercively pressed Conformity to their Respective Creeds and Worships Whereas these things related wholly to Conversation and the Outward and as I may say Civil part of the Church that Men should walk up to the Principles of their Belief and not be wanting in Care and Charity But though some have stumbled and fallen through Mistakes and an unreasonable Obstinancy even to a Prejudice yet blessed be God the Generality have returned to their First Love and seen the Work of the Enemy that looses no Opportunity or Advantage by which he may check or hinder the Work of God and disquiet the Peace of his Church and chill the Love of his People to the Truth and one to another and there is hope of divers that are yet at a Distance In all these Occasions though there was no Person the Discontented struck so sharply at as this Good Man he bore all their Weakness and Prejudice and returned not Reflection for Reflection but forgave them their weak and bitter Speeches praying for them that they might have a Sense of their hurt and see the Subtilty of the Enemy to Rend and Devide and return into their First Love that thought no Ill. And truly I must say that though God had visibly cloathed him with a Divine Preference and Authority and indeed his very Presence exprest a Religious Majesty yet he never abused it but held his Place in the Church of God with great Meakness and a most engaging Humility and Moderation For upon all Occasions like his blessed Master he was a Servant to all holding and exercising his Eldership in the Invisible Power that had gathered them with Reverence to the Head and Care over the Body And was received only in that Spirit and Power of Christ as the First and Chief Elder in this Age who as he was therefore worthy of double Honour so for the same Reason it was given by the Faithful of this day because his Authority was inward and not outward and that he got it and kept it by the Love of God and Power of an Endless Life I write my Knowledge and not Report and my Witness is True having been with him for Weeks and Months together on divers Occasions and those of the nearest and most exercising Nature and that by Night and by Day by Sea and by Land in this and in Foreign Countrys And I can say I never saw him out of his Place or not a Match for every Service or Occasion For in all things he acquitted himself like a Man yea a strong Man a New and Heavenly minded Man A Divine and a Naturalist and all of God Almighty's making I have been surprised at his Questions and Answers in Natural things that whilst he was Ignorant of useless and Sophistical Science he had in him the Foundation of useful and commendable Knowledge and cherisht it every where Civil beyond all Forms of Breeding in his Behaviour Very Temperate eating Little and sleeping Less though a Bulky Person Thus he Lived and Sojourned among us and as he lived so he died feeling the same Eternal Power that had raised and preserved him in his last Moments So full of assurance was he that he Triumpht over Death and so even to the last as if Death were hardly worth Notice or a Mention Recommending to some with him the Dispatch and Dispersion of an Epistle just before Written to the Churches of Christ throughout the World and his own Books but above all Friends and of all Friends those in Ireland and America twice over Saying mind poor Friends in Ireland and America And to some that came in and enquired how he found himself he answered Never heed the Lord's Power is over all Weakness and Death the Seed reigns Blessed be the Lord Which was about Four or Five Hours before his Departure out of this World He was at the great Meeting near Lombard-street on the First day of the Week and it was the Third following about Ten at Night when he left us being at the House of H. Goldney in the same Court. In a good Old Age he went after having lived to see his Childrens Children to many Generations in the Truth He had the Comfort of a short Illness and the Blessing of a clear Sense to the last and we may truly say with a Man of God of Old that being Dead he yet Speaketh and though absent in Body he is Present in Spirit neither Time nor Place being able to interrupt the Communion of Saints or dissolve the Fellowships of the Spirits of the Just His Works praise him because they are to the Praise of him that worked by him for which his Memorial is and shall be Blessed I have done as to this part of my Preface when I have left this short Epitaph to his Name Many Sons have done virtuously in this Day but Dear George thou Excellest them All. And now Friends you that profess to walk in the way this Blessed Man was sent of God to turn us into suffer I beseech you the word of Exhortation as well Fathers as Children and Elders as Young Men. The Glory of this Day and Foundation of the Hope that has not made us ashamed since we were a People you know is that Blessed Principle of Light and Life of Christ which we Profess and Direct all People to as the great Instrument and Agent of Man's Conversion to God It was by this we were first Touched and effectually enlightned as to our Inward State which put us upon the Consideration of our Latter End causing us to set the Lord before our Eyes and to Number our Days that we might apply our Hearts to Wisdom In that Day we judged not after the Sight of the Eye or after the Hearing of the Ear but according to the Light and Sense this Blessed Principle gave us we judged and acted in reference to Things and Persons our selves and others yea towards God our Maker For being quickned by it in our Inward Man we could easily discern the difference of things and feel what was Right and what was Wrong and what was Fit and what not both in reference to Religion and Civil Concerns That being the ground of the Fellowship of all Saints it was in
Preserve you to God's Everlasting Kingdom So will you be Possessors as well as Professors of the Truth embracing it not only by Education but Judgment and Conviction from a Sense begotten in your Souls through the operation of the Eternal Spirit and Power of God in your hearts by which you may come to be the Seed of Abraham through Faith and the circumcision not made with Hands and so heirs of the promise made to the Fathers of an Incorruptible Crown That as I said before a Generation you may be to God holding up the Profession of the blessed Truth in the Life and Power of it For Formality in Religion is Nauseous to God and good Men and the more so where any Form or Appearance has been new and peculiar and begun and practised upon a Principle with an Uncommon Zeal and Strictness Therefore I say for you to fall flat and formal and continue the profession without that Salt and Savour by which it is come to obtain a good Report among Men is not to answer God's Love nor your Parents Care nor the mind of Truth in your selves nor in those that are without who tho' they will not obey the Truth have Sight and Sense enough to see if they do that make a Profession of it For where the Divine Virtue of it is not felt in the Soul and waited for and lived in imperfections will quickly break out and shew themselves and detect the Unfaithfulness of such Persons and that their insides are not seasoned with the Nature of that holy Principle which they profess Wherefore Dear Children let met intreat you to shut your Eyes at the Temptations and Allurements of this low and perishing World and not suffer your affections to be captivated by those Lusts and Vanities that your Fathers for Truths Sake long since turned their Backs upon But as you believe it to be the Truth receive it into your Hearts that you may become the Children of God So that it may never be said of you as the Evangelist Writes of the Jews of his time That Christ the true Light came to his own but his own received him not but to as many as received him to them he gave Power to become the Children of God which were born not of Blood nor of the Will of the Flesh nor of the Will of Man but of God A most close and comprehensive Passage to this occasion You exactly and peculiarly answer to those professing Jews in that you bear the Name of God's People by being the Children and wearing of the Form of God's People So that he by his Light in you may be said to come to his own and if you obey it not but turn your Back upon it and walk after the Vanities of your Minds you will be of those that receive him not which I pray God may never be your Case and Judgment but that you may be throughly sensible of the many and great Obligations you lie under to the Lord for his Love and your Parents for their Care And with all your Heart and all your Soul and all your Strength turn to the Lord to his Gift and Spirit in you and hear his Voice and obey it that you may Seal to the Testimony of your Fathers by the Truth and Evidence of your own Experience that your Childrens Children may bless you and the Lord for you as those that delivered a faithful Example as well as Record of the Truth of God unto them So will the Gray Hairs of your Dear Parents yet alive go down to the Grave with Joy to see you the posterity of Truth as well as theirs and that not only their Natures but Spirit shall live in you when they are gone I shall conclude this Preface with a few Words to those that are not of our Communion into whose hands this may come especially those of our own Nation Friends As you are the Sons and Daughters of Adam and my Brethren after the Flesh often and earnest have been my Desires and Prayers to God on your behalf that you may come to know him that has Made you to be your Redeemer and Restorer to the Image that through Sin you have lost by the power and Spirit of his Son Jesus Christ whom he hath given for the Light and Life of the World And Oh that you who are called Christians would receive him into your Heart for there it is you want him and at that Door he stands knocking that you should let him in but you do not open to him You are full of other Guests so that a Manger is his Lot among you Now as well as of Old Yet you are full of Profession as were the Jews when he came among them who knew him not but rejected and evilly intreated him So that if you come not to the Possession and Experience of what you profess all your Formality in Religion will stand you in no stead in the Day of God's Judgment I beseech you ponder with your selves your Eternal Condition and see what Title what Ground and Foundation you have for your Christianity If more than a Profession and an Historical Belief of the Gospel Have you known the Baptism of Fire and the Holy Ghost and the Fan of Christ that winnows away the Chaff The Carnal Lusts and Affections That Divine Leven of the Kingdom that being received Levens the whole Lump of Man sanctifying him throughout in Body Soul and Spirit If this be not the Ground of your Confidence you are in a Miserable Estate You will say perhaps that though you are Sinners and live in the daily Commission of Sin and are not Santified as I have been Speaking yet you have Faith in Christ who has borne the Curse for you and in him you are Compleat by Faith his Righteousness being imputed to you But my Friends let me intreat you not to deceive your selves in so Important a Point as is that of your Immortal Souls If you have true Faith in Christ your Faith will make you Clean it will Sanctifie you for the Saints Faith was their Victory By this they over came Sin within and Sinful Men without And if thou art in Christ thou walkest not after the Flesh but after the Spirit whose Fruits are Manifest Yea thou art a New Creature New Made New Fashioned after God's Will and Mold Old things are done away and behold all things are become New New Love Desires Will Affections and Practices It is not any longer Thou that livest Thou Disobedient Carnal Worldly One but it is Christ that liveth in thee and to live is Christ and to die is thy Eternal Gain because thou art assured That thy Corruptible shall put on Incorruption and thy Mortal Immortality and that thou hast a Glorious House Eternal in the Heavens that will never wax Old or pass away All this follows being in Christ as Heat follows Fire and Light the Sun Therefore have a Care how you presume to Rely upon such a
the World hath of what the Prophets and Apostles spake is a fleshly Knowledge and the Apostates from the Life in which the Prophets and Apostles were have gotten their Words the Holy Scriptures in a Form but not in their Life nor Spirit that gave them forth And so they all lie in Confusion and are making Provision for the Flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof but not to fulfil the Law and Command of Christ in his Power and Spirit For that they say they cannot do but to fulfil the Lusts of the Flesh that they can do with Delight Now after I had received that Opening from the Lord that To be bred at Oxford or Cambridge was not sufficient to fit a Man to be a Minister of Christ I regarded the Priests less and looked more after the Dissenting People And among them I saw there was some Tenderness And many of them came afterwards to be Convinced for they had some Openings But as I had forsaken all the Priests so I left the Separate Preachers also and those called the Most-Experienced People For I saw there was none among them all that could speak to my Condition And when all my hopes in them and in all Men was gone so that I had nothing outwardly to help me nor could tell what to do Then O! then I heard a Voice which said ☞ There is one even Christ Jesus that can speak to thy Condition And when I heard it my Heart did leap for Joy Then the Lord did let me see why there was none upon the Earth that could speak to my Condition namely that I might give him all the Glory For all are concluded under Sin and shut up in Vnbelief as I had been that Jesus Christ might have the Pre-heminence who enlightens and gives Grace and Faith and Powe◠Thus when God doth work who shall let it And this I knew experimentally My Desires after the Lord grew stronger and Zeal in the pure knowledge of God and of Christ alone without the help of any Man Book or Writing For though I read the Scriptures that spake of Christ and of God yet I knew him not but by Revelation as he who hath the Key did open and as the Father of Life drew me to his Son by his Spirit And then the Lord did gently lead me along and did let me see his Love which was Endless and Eternal and surpasseth all the Knowledge that Men have in the natural State or can get by History or Books And that Love did let me see my self as I was without him and I was afraid of all Company For I saw them perfectly where they were through the Love of God which let me see my self And I had not Fellowship with any People Priests nor Professors nor any sort of separated People but with Christ who hath the Key and opened the Door of Light and Life unto me And I was afraid of all Carnal Talk and Talkers for I could see nothing but Corruptions and the Life lay under the Burden of Corruptions And when I my self was in the Deep under all shut up I could not believe that I should ever Overcome my Troubles my Sorrows and my Temptations were so great that I thought many times I should have despaired I was so tempted But when Christ opened to me how he was tempted by the same Devil and had Overcome him and bruised his Head and that through him and his Power Light Grace and Spirit I should Overcome also I had Confidence in him So he it was that opened to me when I was shut up and had not hope nor Faith Christ it was who had enlightened me that gave me his Light to believe in and gave me Hope which is himself Revealed himself in me and gave me his Spirit and gave me his Grace which I found sufficient in the Deeps and in Weakness Thus in the deepest Miseries and in the greatest Sorrows and Temptations that many times beset me the Lord in his Mercy did keep me And I found that there were Two Thirsts in me the one after the Creatures to have gotten Help and Strength there and the other after the Lord the Creator and his Son Jesus Christ And I saw all the World could do me no good If I had had a King's Diet Palace and Attendance all would have been as nothing For nothing gave me Comfort but the Lord by his Power And I saw Professors Priests and People were whole and at ease in that Condition which was my Misery and they loved that which I would have been rid of But the Lord did stay my Desires upon himself from whom my help came and my care was cast upon him alone Therefore all Wait patiently upon the Lord whatsoever Condition you be in wait in the Grace and Truth that comes by Jesus For if ye so do there is a Promise to you and the Lord God will fulfil it in you And Blessed are all they indeed that do indeed hunger and thirst after Righteousness they shall be satisfied with it I have found it so praised be the Lord who filleth with it and satisfieth the desires of the hungry Soul O let the House of the Spiritual Israel say His Mercy endureth for ever It is the great Love of God to make a Wilderness of that which is pleasant to the outward Eye and fleshly Mind and to make a fruitful Field of a barren Wilderness This is the great Work of God But while People's Minds do run in the Earthly after the Creatures and changeable Things and changeable Ways and Religions and changeable uncertain Teachers their Minds are in Bondage and they are brittle and changeable and tossed up and down with windy Doctrines and Thoughts and Notions and Things their Minds being from the unchangeable Truth in the inward Parts the Light of Jesus Christ which would keep their Minds to the Unchangeable who is the Way to the Father who in all my Troubles did preserve me by his Spirit and Power praised be his Holy Name for ever Again I heard a Voice which did say Thou Serpent Thou dost seek to destroy the Life but canst not For the Sword which keepeth the Tree of Life shall destroy thee So Christ the Word of God that bruised the Head of the Serpent the Destroyer preserved me my inward Mind being joined to his good Seed that bruised the Head of this Serpent the Destroyer And this inward Life did spring up in me to answer all the Opposing Professors and Priests and did bring in Scriptures to my Memory to refute them with At another time I saw the great Love of God and I was filled with admiration at the Infiniteness of it And then I saw what was Cast out from God and what Entred into God's Kingdom And how by Jesus the Opener of the Door by his Heavenly Key the Entrance was given And I saw Death how it had passed upon all Men and oppressed the Seed of God in Man and in me
that I have sought your Eternal Good and written this in dear Love to you And then will you own your Condemnation which you must all own before ye can come into that blessed Life of which there is no End But ye who hate the Light because your Deeds are evil this Light is your Condemnation and will be And when your Condemnation is come upon you remember ye were warned O that ye would love this Light and hearken to it It would teach you both as you walk up and down about your Occasions and as you lie upon your Beds and would never let you speak a vain VVord In loving it you love Christ in hating it you bring the Condemnation thereof upon your selves And to you this is the VVord of God from under which you can never pass nor ever escape the Terror of the Lord in the state you are in who hate the Light G. F. Amongst those who were the Chief Hearers and Followers of this Priest Lampitt of Vlverston there was one Adam Sands who was a very wicked false Man and would have destroyed Truth and its Followers if he could To him I was moved to write thus Adam Sands TO the Light in the Conscience I appeal thou Child of the Devil thou Enemy of Righteousness the Lord will strike thee down though now for a while in thy wickedness thou may'st Reign And the Plagues of God are due to thee who hardenest thy self in thy wickedness against the pure Truth of God With the pure Truth of God which thou hast resisted and persecuted thou art to be threshed down which is Eternal and doth Comprehend thee and with the Light which thou despisest thou art seen and it is thy Condemnation Thou as one bruitish and thy VVife as an Hypocrite and you both as Murderers of the Just in that which is Eternal are seen and comprehended and your Hearts searched and tried and condemned by the Light The Light in thy Conscience will witness the Truth of what I write to thee and will let thee see that thou art not born of God but art from the Truth in the Beastly Nature And if ever thy Eye see Repentance thou wilt witness me a Friend of thy Soul and a seeker of thy Eternal Good G. F. This Adam Sands afterwards died miserably I was moved also to write to Priest Tatham THE Word of the Lord to thee Priest Tatham who art found out of the Doctrine of Christ having the chiefest Place in the Assembly and being called of Men Master and standing Praying in the Synagogue in the Steps of the Pharisees which our Lord Jesus Christ cried VVo against In his VVay thou art not but in the Way of the Scribes and Pharisees as thou mayest read Matth. 23. There Christ's VVords Judge thee and the Scriptures of Truth Condemn thee For thou art such an one as sues Men at the Law for Tithes and yet professest thy self to be a Minister of Christ which Christ never impowered his to do Neither did any of his Apostles or Ministers ever do so Here I charge thee in the presence of the Living God to be out of their Doctrine and that thou art one of those evil Beasts the Scripture speaks of that mindest Earthly Things which the Life of the Scriptures is against Thou art for Destruction in the State wherein thou standest and it will be thy Portion eternally if thou dost not Repent To that of God in thy Conscience I speak which will witness the Truth of what I say Thou art one that goest in Cain's Way in Envy an Enemy to God and from the Command of God Thou art one that goest in Balaam's Way from the Spirit of God for Gifts and Rewards the Wages of Unrighteousness Thou Son of Balaam thou art worse than thy Father for though he loved the VVages of Vnrighteousness yet he durst not take it but thou not only takest it but suest Men at the Law if they will not give it thee which never did Minister of Jesus Christ Therefore stop thy Mouth for ever and never make mention of them or profess thy self one of them With the Light thou art seen and comprehended who art light and vain and speakest a Divination of thy own Brain and deceivest the People That in thy Conscience will witness what I say and will Condemn thee who art one that bearest Rule by thy Means which the Lord sent Jeremiah to cry against Jer. 5. and so thou holdest up the horrible and filthy thing that is committed in the Land And they that do not Tremble at the VVord of the Lord they are the foolish People that hold thee up they are sottish Children and have no Understanding They are Wise to do Evil but not to do Good who are deceived by thee And such an one thou art that seekest for thy Gain from thy Quarter a greedy dumb Dog that never hath enough as thy Practice makes manifest which the Lord sent Isaiah to cry against Isa 56.11 12. And thou art such an one as the Lord sent Ezekiel to cry against who feedest of the Fat and Clothest with the VVooll and makest a Prey upon the People But the Lord is gathering his Sheep from thy Mouth that to thee they shall be a Prey no longer Thou Enemy of God here this Prophecy is fulfilled upon thee Ezek. 34. and thou art one of them I charge it upon thee in the presence of the living God A Hireling thou art and they that put not into thy Mouth thou preparest War against them Thou hatest the Good and lovest the Evil which the Lord sent Micah to cry against Mic. 3. Cover thy Lips and stop thy Mouth for ever thou Child of Darkness for with the Light thou art comprehended and seen to be among them which the holy Men of God cryed W O against and by the Spirit of the living God thou art judged In the Light which is thy Condemnation thou art comprehended thy Race is seen and thy Compass known who art out of the Commands of Christ and out of the Doctrine and Life of the Apostles Thou art proved and tryed and to thee this is the VVord of the Lord and to thee it shall be as an Hammer a Fire and a Sword and from under it thou shalt never come unless thou Repent who art with the Light to be Condemned in that State wherein thou standest And if ever thy Eye see Repentance this thy Condemnation thou must own G. F. I writ also to Burton Priest of Sedbergh much what to the same purpose he being in the same evil Ground Nature and Practice which the other Priests were in Many other Epistles also and Papers I writ about that Time as the Lord moved me thereunto which I sent abroad among the Priests Professors and People of all sorts for the laying their Evil ways open before them that they might see and forsake them and opening the Way of Truth unto them that they might come to walk therein which
old so that they were able to confound a Priest that might come to the Grates to dispute But the Jailer was very Cruel and the Vnder-Jailer very abusive both to me and to Friends that came to see me For he would beat Friends with a great Cudgel that did but come to the Window to look in upon me I could get up to the Grate where sometimes I took in my Meat at which the Jailer was often offended One Time he came in a great Rage and fell a beating me with his great Cudgel though I was not at the Grate at that time and as he beat me he cried Come out of the Window though I was then far enough from it Now while he struck me I was made to sing in the Lord's Power and that made him Rage the more Then he went and fetched a Fiddler and brought him in where I was and set him to play thinking to vex me thereby But while he played I was moved in the everlasting Power of the Lord God to sing and my Voice drowned the Noise of the Fiddle and struck and confounded them and made them give over Fiddling and go their ways Justice Benson's Wife was moved of the Lord to come to visit me and to Eat no Meat but what she Eat with me at the Bars of the Dungeon-Window She was afterwards herself Imprisoned at York when she was great with Child for speaking to a Priest and was kept in Prison and not suffered to go out when the time of her Travail was come so she was delivered of her Child in the Prison She was an honest tender Woman and continued faithful to the Truth until she died Whilst I was in the Dungeon at Carlisle one James Parnel a little Lad of about Sixteen Years of Age came to see me and was Convinced And the Lord quickly made him a powerful Minister of the Word of Life and many were turned to Christ by him though he lived not long For travelling into Essex in the Work of the Ministry in the Year 1655 he was Committed to Colchester-Castle where he endured very great Hardships and Sufferings being put by the Cruel Jailer into a Hole in the Castle-wall called the Oven so high from the Ground that he went up to it by a Ladder which being six Foot too short he was fain to climb from the Ladder to the Hole by a Rope that was fastned above And when Friends would have given him a Cord and a Basket to have drawn up his Victuals in the Inhuman Jailer would not suffer them but forced him to go down and up by that short Ladder and Rope to fetch his Victuals which for a long time he did or else he might have famished in the Hole At length his Limbs being much benummed with lying in that Place yet being constrained to go down to take up some Victuals as he came up the Ladder again with his Victuals in one hand and catched at the Rope with the other he missed the Rope and fell down from a very great height upon the Stones by which Fall he was exceedingly wounded in his Head and Arms and his Body much bruised and he died in a short Time after And when he was dead the wicked Professors to cover their own Cruelty writ a Book of him and said He fasted himself to Death Which was an abominable Falshood and was manifested so to be by another Book which was written in Answer to that and was called The Lamb's Defence against Lies Now when I saw that I was not like to be brought forth to a publick Hearing and Trial although I had before Answered in Writing the particular Matters charged against me at the Time of my first Examination and Commitment I was moved to send forth the following Paper as a publick Challenge to all those that did belie the Truth and me behind my Back to come forth and make good their Charge IF any in Westmorland or Cumberland or elswhere that profess Christianity and pretend to love God and Christ are not satisfied concerning the things of God which I who am called George Fox have spoken and declared let them declare and publish their Dissatisfaction in Writing and not back-bite nor lie nor persecute in secret This I demand of you all in the presence of the living God as ye will answer it to him For the Exaltation of the Truth and the Confounding of the Deceit is this given forth To that of God in your Consciences I speak declare or write your Dissatisfactions to any of them whom you call Quakers that Truth may be exalted and All may come to the Light with which Christ hath enlightned every one that cometh into the World that nothing may be hid in Darkness in Prisons Holes or Corners but that all things may be brought to the Light of Christ and by the Light of Christ may be tried This am I moved of the Lord to write and send forth to be set upon the Market-Crosses in Westmorland and elswhere To the Light of Christ in you I speak that none of you may speak evil of the things of God which you know not nor act contrary to the Light that gave forth the Scriptures lest you be found Fighters against God and the Hand of the Lord be turned against you G. F. While I thus lay in the Dungeon at Carlisle the Report that was raised at the time of the Assize That I should be put to Death was gone out far and near insomuch that the Parliament then sitting which I think was called the Little-Parliament hearing That a Young-man at Carlisle was to die for Religion caused a Letter to be sent down to the Sheriff and Magistrates concerning me And much about the same Time I writ also to the Justices at Carlisle that had cast me into Prison and that persecuted Friends at the Instigation of the Priests for Tithes expostulating the Matter with them thus Friends Thomas Craston and Cuthbert Studholm YOur Noise is gone up to London before the sober People What Imprisoning what Gagging what Havock and Spoiling the Goods of People have you made within these few Years unlike Men as though you had never read the Scriptures or had not minded them Is this the End of Carlisle's Religion is this the End of your Ministry and is this the End of your Church and of your Profession of Christianity you have shamed it by your Folly and Madness and blind Zeal Was it not always the Work of the blind Guides Watchmen Leaders and false Prophets to prepare War against them that would not put into their Mouths And have not you been the Priests Pack-horses and Executioners When they spur you up to bear the Sword against the Just do not you run on against the Creatures that cannot hold up such as the Scriptures did always testify against Yet will you lift up your unholy Hands and call upon God with your polluted Lips and pretend a Fast who are full of Strife and
from even that Temple and those Tithes and Offerings which God had for a time Commanded And the Apostles Met in several private Houses being to Preach the Gospel in all Nations which they did freely as Christ had commanded them And so do we who bring People off from these Priests Temples and Tithes which God never Commanded to Meet in Houses or on Mountains as the Saints of old did who were gathered in the Name of Jesus and Christ was their Prophet Priest and Shepherd There was present with the Parliament-Man that I discoursed with one Major Wiggan a very envious Man yet he bridled himself before the Parliament-Man and some others that were there in Company He took upon him to make a Speech and said Christ had taken away the Guilt of Sin but had left the Power of Sin remaining in us I told him that was strange Doctrine For Christ came to destroy the Devil and his Works and the Power of Sin and so to cleanse Men from Sin So Major Wiggan's Mouth was stopt at that time But the next day desiring to speak with me again I took a Friend or two with me and went to him Then he vented a great deal of Passion and Rage beyond the Bounds of a Christian or Moral Man 1658. London Whereupon I was made to reprove him And having brought the Lord's Power over him and let him see what Condition he was in I left him After some time I passed out of London and had a Meeting at Sergeant Birkheads at Twitnam to which many People came Twitnam and some of considerable Quality in the World A glorious Meeting it was wherein the Scriptures were largely and clearly opened and Christ exalted above all to the great Satisfaction of the Hearers But there was great Persecution in many places both by Imprisoning and breaking up of Meetings At a Meeting about Seven Miles from London the Rude People usually came out of several Parishes round about to abuse Friends and did often beat and bruise them exceedingly One day they beat and abused about Eighty Friends that went to that Meeting out of London tearing their Coats and Cloaks from off their Backs and throwing them into Ditches and Ponds and when they had besmeared them with Dirt then they said They look'd like Witches The next First-day after this A Meeting near London I was moved of the Lord to go to that Meeting though at that time I was very weak When I came there I bid Friends bring a Table and set it in the Close where they used to Meet to stand upon According to their wonted course the Rude People came and I having a Bible in my hand shewed them theirs and their Priests and Teachers Fruits and the People came to be ashamed and was quiet And so I opened the Scriptures to them and our Principles agreeing therewith and I turned the People from the Darkness to the Light of Christ and his Spirit by which they might understand the Scriptures and see themselves and their Sins and know Christ Jesus to be their Saviour So the Meeting ended quietly and the Lord's Power came over all to his Glory But it was a time of great Sufferings for besides the Imprisonments through which many died in Prisons our Meetings were greatly disturbed For they have thrown Rotten Eggs and Wild-fire into our Meetings and have brought in Drums beating and Kettles to make Noises with that the Truth might not be heard and among these the Priests as Rude as any as may be seen in the Book of the Fighting Priests wherein a List is given of some of the Priests that had actually beaten and abused Friends Many also of our Friends were brought up to London Prisoners to be Tried before the Committee where Henry Vane being Chair-man would not suffer Friends to come in except they would put off their Hats but at last the Lord's Power came over him so that through the Mediation of some others that perswaded him they were admitted Now many of us having been Imprisoned upon Contempts as they called them for not putting off our Hats it was not a likely thing that Friends who had suffered so long for it from others should put off their Hats to him But the Lord's Power came over them all and wrought so that several Friends were set at Liberty by them Now inasmuch as Sufferings grew very sharp I was moved of the Lord to write a few Lines and send abroad amongst Friends to encourage them to go on faithfully and boldly through the Exercises of the day of which a Copy here follows My Dear Friends every where abroad scattered in Prison or out of Prison Fear not because of the Reports of Sufferings let not the Evil Spies of the Good Land make you afraid if they tell you the Walls are high and that there be Anakims in the Land For at the blowing of the Ram's-Horns did the Walls of Jericho fall down and they that brought the Evil Report perished in the Wilderness But dwell ye in the Faith Patience and Hope having the Word of Life to keep you which is beyond the Law and having the Oath of God his Covenant Christ Jesus which divides the Waters asunder and makes them to Run all on Heaps in that stand and ye will see all things work together for good to them that love God And in that Triumph when Sufferings come what-ever they be Your Faith your Shield your Helmet your Armour you have on ye are ready to skip over a Mountain or a Wall or an Hill and to walk through the deep Waters though they be Heaps upon Heaps For the Evil Spies of the good Land may preach up hardness but Caleb which signifies an Heart and Joshua a Saviour Triumph over all G. F. Now after a while I passed into the Country and went to Reading Reading and was there under great Sufferings and Exercises and in a great Travel in my Spirit for about Ten Weeks time For I saw there was great Confusion and Distraction amongst the People and that the Powers were plucking each other to pieces And I saw how many Men were destroying the Simplicity and betraying the Truth and a great deal of Hypocrisie and Deceit and Strife was got uppermost in the People so that they were ready to sheath their Swords in one anothers Bowels There had been a Tenderness in many of them formerly when they were low but when they were got up and had killed and taken Possession they came to be as bad as others So that we had much to do with them about our Hats and saying Thou and Thee to them For they turned their Profession of Patience and Moderation into Rage and Madness and many of them would be like distracted Men for this Hat-Honour For they had hardned themselves by persecuting the Innocent and were at this time Crucifying the Seed Christ both in themselves and others till at last they fell a biting and devouring one another
do not fight Therefore Fighters are not of Christ's Kingdom but are without Christ's Kingdom For his Kingdom stands in Peace and Righteousness but Fighters are in the Lust And all that would destroy Men's Lives 1659. London are not of Christ's Mind who came to save Men's lives Christ's Kingdom is not of this World it is peaceable and all that be in Strife are not of his Kingdom And all that pretend to fight for the Gospel are deceived For the Gospel is the Power of God which was before the Devil or Fall of Man was and the Gospel of Peace was before Fighting was Therefore they that pretend Fighting and talk of Fighting so are Ignorant of the Gospel And all that talk of Fighting for Sion are in Darkness For Sion needs no such Helpers And all such as profess themselves to be Ministers of Christ or Christians and go about to beat down the Whore with outward carnal Weapons the Flesh and the Whore are got up in themselves and they are in a blind Zeal For the Whore got up by the Inward Ravening from the Spirit of God and the beating down of the Whore must be by the inward Stroke of the Sword of the Spirit within All such as pretend Christ Jesus and confess him and yet run into the use of Carnal Weapons wrestling with Flesh and Blood throw away the Spiritual Weapons They that would be Wrestlers with Flesh and Blood throw away Christ's Doctrine and Flesh is got upon them and they are weary of their Sufferings And such as would Revenge themselves be out of Christ's Doctrine And such as being stricken on the one Cheek would not turn the other be out of Christ's Doctrine And such as do not love one another and love Enemies be out of Christ's Doctrine Therefore ye that be Heirs of the Blessings of God which were before the Curse and the Fall was come to Inherit your Portions And ye that be Heirs of the Gospel of Peace which was before the Devil was live in the Gospel of Peace seeking the Peace of all Men and the Good of all Men and live in Christ who came to save men's lives out of Adam in the Fall where they destroy men's lives and live not in him For the Jews Sword outwardly by which they cut down the Heathen was a Type of the Spirit of God within which cuts down the Heathenish Nature within So live in the peaceable Kingdom of Christ Jesus and live in the Peace of God and not in the Lusts from whence Wars arise and live in Christ the Prince of Peace the Way of God who is the Second Adam that never fell but live not in Adam in the Fall in the Destruction where they destroy one another Therefore come out of Adam in the Fall into the Adam that never fell and so live in Love and Peace with all Men and keep out of all the Buslings in the World and meddle not with the Powers of the Earth but mind the Kingdom the Way of Peace Ye that be Heirs of Grace and Heirs of the Kingdom and Heirs of the Gospel and Heirs of Salvation and Saints of the most-High and Children of God whose Conversations are in Heaven that is above the Combustions of the Earth let your Conversation Preach to all Men and your Innocent Lives that they which speak Evil of you beholding your Godly Conversation may glorifie your Father which is in Heaven And all Friends every where this I charge you which is the Word of the Lord God unto you all Live in Peace in Christ the way of Peace and therein seek the Peace of all Men and no Man 's Hurt As I said before in Adam in the Fall is no Peace but in Adam out of the Fall in him is the Peace So ye being in Adam which never fell it is Love that overcomes and not Hatred with Hatred nor Strife with Strife Therefore live all in the peaceable Life doing good to all Men and seeking the Good and Welfare of all Men. G. F. It was not long after this before George Booth rose in Arms in Cheshire and Lambert went down against him At which time some foolish rash Spirits that came sometimes amongst us were ready to have taken up Arms But I was moved of the Lord to warn them and forbid them and they were quiet In the time of the Committee of Safety so called we were Invited by them to have taken up Arms and great Places and Commands were offered some of us but we denied them all and declared agâ—â—â—st it both by Word and Writing testifying that our Weapons and Aâ—â—â—â—r were not Carnal but Spiritual And lest any that came amongâ—â—â—s should be drawn into that Snare it came upon me from the Lord to write a few Lines on that occasion and send them forth as a Caution to all amongst us Of which this is a Copy All Friends every where Take heed to keep out of the Powers of the Earth that Run into the Wars and Fightings which make not for Peace but go from that such will not have the Kingdom And Friends take heed of Joining with this or the other or medling with any or being busie with other Mens matters but mind the Lord and his Power and his Service And so let Friends keep out of other Mens matters and keep in that which answers the Witness in them all out of the Mans-matters-part where they must expect Wars and the Dishonour And all Friends every where dwell in your own in the Power of the Lord God to keep your Minds up to the Lord God from falling down to the Strength of Egypt or going thither for Strength after ye are come out of it like the Children of Israel after they were come out of outward Egypt But dwell in the Power of the Lord God that ye may keep over all the Powers of the Earth amongst whom the just Hand of God is come For they have turned against the Just and disobeyed the Just in their own particulars and so gone on in one against the Just therefore the Just sets them one against another Now he that goes to help among them is from the Just in himself in the mad and unstay'd state and doth not know by the All-seeing Eye that beholdeth him that recompenseth and rewardeth and lives not in the Hand in the Power that mangles and overturns which vexeth the Transgressors that come to be blind and zealous for they do not know what Therefore keep in Peace and in the Love and Power of God and in Unity and Love one to another lest any go out and fall with the Vncircumcised That is they that are from the Spirit in themselves and they that go from it go into the Pit together Therefore stand in that it is the Word of the Lord God to you all in the Fear and Dread of the Lord God his Power Life Light Seed and Wisdom by which ye may take away the occasion of Wars and
are settled under the Teaching of Christ Jesus their Saviour who hath bought them After I was clear of Wales I turned towards England again and came to a Market-Town betwixt England and Wales where was a great Fair that day and several Friends being at the Fair we went to an Inn and Friends came to us And after we had had a fine Opportunity with Friends we parted from them and went on our way The Officers of the Town took notice it seems of our being there and Friends gathering together to us and they began also to get together to Consult among themselves how to ensnare us though it was the Fair-time but before they could do any thing we were gone on our Journey and so escaped them From thence we came into Shropshire Shropshire where we had a large and precious Meeting And after we had had many Meetings in those parts we came into Warwickshire and visited Friends there Warwickshire Darbyshire Staffordshire White-Haugh At Captain Lingard ' s. and so came into Darbyshire and Staffordshire visiting Friends Meetings as we went At a place called White-Haugh we had a large blessed Meeting and quiet And after the Meeting was done we took Horse and rode about Twenty Miles that Night to one Captain Lingard's We heard afterwards that when we were gone the Officers came to have seized on us and were much disturbed that they mist us but the Lord disappointed them and delivered us out of their wicked Hands and Friends were joyful in the Lord that we escaped them At Captain Lingard's we had a blessed Meeting the Lord's Presence being wonderfully amongst us After this Meeting we passed through the Peak-Country in Darbyshire Darbyshire Peak Country Sunderhil-Green and after we had been at a Friend's House there we went on to Sunderhill-Green where we had a large Meeting Here John Whitehead came to me and several other Friends and then I passed through the Country visiting Friends till I came into Holderness We went to the farther End of Holderness Holderness Scarborough Whitby Malton and so passed down by Scarborough and Whitby and near Malton and then to York having many Meetings in the way and the Lord 's everlasting Power was over all At York I heard of a Plot York whereupon I was moved to declare against all Plots and Plotters both in publick and private and also to give forth a Paper against Plotting of which a Copy here followeth ALL Friends every where Keep out of Plots and Buslings and the Arm of Flesh for all that is among Adam's Sons in the Fall where they are destroying Mens Lives like Dogs and Beasts and Swine Goring rending biting and destroying one another and wrestling with Flesh and Blood From whence riseth Wars and Killings but from the Lusts And all this is in Adam in the Fall out of Adam that never fell in whom there is Peace and Life And ye are called to Peace therefore follow it and Christ is that Peace for all that pretend to Fight for Christ they are deceived and are in Adam in the Fall for Christ's Kingdom is not of this World therefore his Servants do not Fight Therefore Fighters are not of Christ's Kingdom and are without Christ's Kingdom for his Kingdom stands in Peace and Righteousness 1663. York And so Fighters are in the Lust and all that would destroy Mens Lives are not of Christ's Mind who comes to save Men's Lives Christ's Kingdom is not of this World it is peaceable and all that be in Strifes are not of his Kingdom nor any such as pretend to Fight for the Gospel The Gospel is the Power of God which was before the Devil or Fall of Man was or Fighters either which is the Gospel of Peace and they that pretend to Fighting and talk so for Fighting are Ignorant of the Gospel of Peace And all that talk of Fighting for Sion are in Darkness for Sion needs no such Helpers And all such as profess themselves to be Ministers of Christ and Christians and to beat down the Whore with outward Carnal Weapons the Flesh and the Whore are got up in themselves in a blind Zeal That which beats down the Whore which got up by the Inward Ravening from the Spirit of God the Beating down of the Whore must be by the Inward Rising of the Sword of the Spirit within All such as pretend Christ Jesus and Confess him and run into Carnal Weapons wrestling with Flesh and Blood throw away the Spiritual That are Wrestlers with Flesh and Blood they throw away Christ's Doctrine and Flesh is got up in them and they are weary of their Sufferings And such as would Revenge themselves be out of Christ's Doctrine and such as would be stricken on the one Cheek and would not turn the other be out of Christ's Doctrine and such as do not love one another and Love Enemies be out of Christ's Doctrine And therefore you that be Heirs of the Blessings of God which was before the Curse and the Fall was come to Inherit your Portions And you that be Heirs of the Gospel of Peace before the Devil was live in the Gospel of Peace seeking the Peace of all Men and the Good of all Men. And Live in Christ which comes to save Men's Lives out of Adam in the Fall where they destroy Men's Lives and live not in him For the Jews Sword outwardly by which they cut down the Heathen was a Type of the Spirit of God within which Cuts down the Heathenish Nature within So live in the Peaceable Kingdom of Christ Jesus and in the Peace of God and not in the Lusts from whence Wars arise And Live in Christ the Way of God who is the Second Adam who never fell and live not in Adam in the Fall in the Destruction where they destroy one another Therefore come out of Adam in the Fall into that Adam that never fell and so live in Love and Peace with all Men. And keep out of all the Buslings in the World and meddle not with the Powers of the Earth but mind the Kingdom and the way of Peace You that be Heirs of Grace and Heirs of the Kingdom and Heirs of the Gospel and Heirs of Salvation and Saints of the Most-High and Children of God whose Conversations are in Heaven that is above the Combustions of the Earth let your Conversations preach to all Men and your Innocent Lives that they beholding your Godly Conversation may glorifie your Father which is in Heaven And all Friends every where this I charge you which is the Word of the Lord God unto you all Live in Peace in Christ the way of Peace in which seek the Peace of all Men and no Man 's Hurt as I said before In Adam in the Fall is no Peace but in Adam out of the Fall in him is the Peace So you being in Adam that never fell it 's Love that overcomes the Evil and not Hatred with Hatred nor
where Friends had never had any Meeting before And the Meeting was very large for the Country generally came in and People came also from Connecticut and other parts round about There were amongst them four Justices of the Peace and most of these People were such as had never heard Friends before but they were mightily affected with the Meeting and a great Desire there is after the Truth amongst that People So that our Meeting was of very good Service blessed be the Lord for ever The Justice at whose House the Meeting was and another Justice of that Country invited me to come again but I was then clear of those parts and was going off towards Shelter-Island But John Burnyeate and John Cartwright being come back out of New-England into Road-Island before I was gone I laid this place before them and they felt Drawings thither and went to visit them At another place I heard some of the Magistrates should say among themselves If they had Money enough they would hire me to be their Minister This was where they did not well understand Vs and our Principles But when I heard of it I said It was time for me to be gone for if their Eye was so much to Me or any of Vs they would not come to their own Teacher For this thing of hiring Ministers had spoiled many by hindring them from improving their own Talents whereas our Labour is to bring every one to their own Teacher in themselves Now after we had had very good Service for the Lord in Road-Island and the Parts adjacent and that John Burneyate with the other Friends that went from the General Meeting here into New-England were returned hither again I went off from hence to Shelter-Island having with me Robert Widders James Lancaster George Pattison and one John Jay a Planter in Barbados and leaving John Stubbs and John Burneyate in Road-Island to Water 1672. Road-Island what had been Planted by the Lord there and there-aways who expected John Cartwright whom they had left at Piscataway to come and join shortly with them in the same Service We that were for Shelter-Island went off in a Sloop and passing by Point-Juda and Block-Island Point Juda Block Island Fisher's Island came to Fishers Island where at Night we went on Shore but were not able to stay for the Muschetos a sort of Gnats or little Flies which abound there and are very troublesom Wherefore we went into our Sloop again and put off from the Shore and cast Anchor and so lay in our Sloop that Night Next day we went into the Sound The Sound but finding our Sloop was not able to live in that Water we turned in again for we could not pass that way and so came to Anchor again before Fisher's-Island where we lay in our Sloop that Night also There fell abundance of Rain that Night and our Sloop being open we were exceeding wet The Two Horse-Races Garner's Island Gull 's Island Shelter Island Next day we passed over the Waters called the two Horse Races and then by Garner's Island after which we passed by the Gull's-Island and so got at length to Shelter-Island which though it was but about Twenty seven Leagues from Road-Island yet through the Difficulty of Passage we were three Days in getting thither The Day after we came thither being the First Day of the Week we had a Meeting there Afterwards in the same Week I had a Meeting among the Indians there at which were their King with his Council and about an hundred Indians more They sate down like Friends and heard very attentively while I spake to them by an Interpreter an Indian that could speak English well After the Meeting they appeared very loving and confessed that what was said to them was Truth On the next First-Day we had a great Meeting on the Island to which came many of the World's People that had never heard Friends before They were very well satisfied with the Meeting and would not go away when the Meeting was done till they had spoken with me Wherefore I went amongst them and found they were much taken with the Truth and good Desires were raised in them and a great Love Blessed be the Lord his Name spreads and will be great among the Nations and Dreadful among the Heathen While we were in Shelter-Island William Edmundson came to us who had been labouring in the Work of the Lord in Virginia From whence he travelled through the Desert-Country through Difficulties and many Trials till he came to Roan-Oak where he met with a tender People And after Seven Weeks Service in those parts sailing over to Mary-land and so to New-York he came from thence to Long-Island and so to Shelter-Island where we met with him and were very glad to hear from him the good Service he had had for the Lord in the several Countries and Places wherein he had travelled since he parted from us We staid not long in Shelter-Island but entring our Sloop again At Sea put forth to Sea for Long-Island We had a very rough Passage for the Tide did run so strong for several Hours that I have not seen the like and being against us we could hardly get forwards though we had a Gale We were upon the Water all that Day and the Night following but found our selves next Day driven back near unto Fisher's-Island For there was a great Fog and towards Day it was very dark 1672. New-England so that we could not see what way we made and besides it rained much in the Night which in our open Sloop made us very wet Next day a great Storm arose so that we were fain to go over the Sound and did get over with much ado When we had gotten from Fisher's-Island Faulcon Island we passed by Faulcon-Island and came to the Main where we cast Anchor till the Storm was over Sound and then we came over the Sound being all very wet and much difficulty we had to get to Land the Wind being strong against us But blessed be the Lord God of Heaven and Earth and of the Seas and Waters Long Island Oister-bay all was well and we got safe to Oister-Bay in Long-Island on the Seventh Day of the Sixth Month very early in the Morning which they say is about two hundred Miles from Road-Island At Oister-Bay we had a very large Meeting and the same day James Lancaster and Christopher Holder went over the Bay to Rye on the Continent in Governour Winthrop's Government and had a Meeting there Flushing From Oister-Bay we passed about Thirty Miles to Flushing where we had a very large Meeting many Hundreds of the People of the World being there some or whom came about Thirty Miles to it A glorious and heavenly Meeting it was praised be the Lord God! and the People were much satisfied Mean while Christopher Holder and some other Friends went to a Town in Long-Island called
to set forth the Way whereby Man and Woman might come into that happy Estate again The Priest an ancient grave Man stood up just as I had done speaking and putting off his Hat said I pray God to prosper and confirm that Doctrine for it is Truth and I have nothing against it He would willingly have stay'd longer until the Meeting had been ended but being a Parish-Priest and to preach that Evening he could not stay longer the time for his own Worship being come Wherefore when he had made Confession to the Truth he hastned away that he might come to the Meeting again and did come it seems to the Meeting-place but the Meeting was ended first After Meeting we went to Hessel Jacobs where I had a Meeting with Friends and the Doctor of Physick came thither to discourse with William Penn who had a good opportunity to open Truth to him By this Doctor the Priest sent his Love to me wishing him to tell me that he had left Preaching that Evening half an hour sooner than he used to do that he might have come to our Meeting again 1677. Harlingen to have heard more of that good Doctrine I heard afterwards that his Hearers questioned him for what he had said in our Meeting and that he standing by his words they had Complained of him for it to the other Priests of the City who called him to Account about it but the Result I could not learn Early next Morning William Penn taking John Claus with him passed from Harlingen for Leuwarden where he had appointed a Meeting intending after that to Travel into some other parts of Germany to visit a tender People there I with those Friends that were with me Amsterdam took Ship the same day for Amsterdam where we arrived a little after Midnight but the Gates being shut we lay on Board till Morning then went to Gertrude Dirick Nieson's where many Friends came to see us being glad of our safe Return Next day feeling a Concern upon my mind with relation to those seducing Spirits that made Division among Friends and being sensible that they endeavoured to insinuate themselves into the affectionate part I was moved to write a few Lines to Friends concerning them as followeth ALL these that do set up themselves in the Affections of the People set up themselves and the Affections of the People and not Christ But Friends your peaceable Habitation in the Truth which is Everlasting and changes not will out-last all the Habitations of those that be out of the Truth although they be never so full of words And so they that be so keen for J. S. and J. W. let them take them and the Separation And you that have given your Testimony against that Spirit stand in your Testimony till they Answer by Condemnation And do not strive nor make Bargains with that which is out of the Truth nor save that alive to be a Sacrifice for God which should be slain lest you lose your Kingdom Amsterdam the 14th day of the 7th Month 1677. G. F. On the First-day of the Week following I was at Friends Meeting at Amsterdam to which many People came and were very civil and attentive hearing Truth declared several hours and John Roeloffs Interpreted for me Before this time several of the Friends that came over with me were returned to England again as Robert Barclay George Keith's Wife and others and now my Daughter Yeomans went back also so that I was now left alone at Amsterdam And while I was here it came upon me to visit my suffering Friends at Dantzick with a few Lines to encourage and strengthen them in their Sufferings as followeth Dear Friends TO whom is my Love in the Lord's Truth that is over all 1677. Amsterdam and by which all God's People are made free Men and Women being thereby set free from him that is out of the Truth that walking in the Truth they may Answer the Witness of God in all People which Truth all must come to if they be made free Therefore be faithful unto what the Lord manifests and makes known unto you I am glad that the Lord hath Witnesses in that City to stand for his Glory and Name and to stand up for Christ Jesus the great Prophet whom God hath raised up who is to be heard in all things so that ye need none of the Prophets which men have raised up Therefore stand faithful to Christ Jesus your Shepherd that he may feed you and hear his voice and follow him who has laid down his Life for you but follow none of the Shepherds and Hirelings that are made by men though they be angry because ye will not follow them to their dry and barren Mountains who have been and are the Thieves Persecutors and Robbers that Clime up another way than by Christ So set up Christ to be your Counsellor and Leader and then ye will have no need of any of the Counsellors and Leaders of the World for Christ is sufficient whom God has given you And also set up Christ Jesus to be your Bishop and Overseer who is sufficient to Oversee you that ye go not astray from God by which ye may see over all the Hireling-Overseers made by men which do keep the People that they do not go astray from the Rudiments and Formalities Fashions and Customs of the World which hath been and is their Work And I am glad that ye are come to own Christ Jesus your High-Priest who is holy and harmless and separate from Sinners and made higher than the Heavens as the Church and the Apostle did own him in their days Hebr. 7. who is the High-Priest over the houshold of Faith which Faith Jesus Christ is the Author and Finisher of and this do all the Children of the New Covenant witness who walk in the new and living Way And therefore my desire is that ye all may be stedfast whether in Bonds or out in the Faith of Christ Jesus which is the Gift of God by which Faith all the Valiants overcame the Devil and all their Enemies in which Faith they had Victory and Access to God and in that was their Unity which Mystery of Faith is held in a pure Conscience hidden from the World And I do believe that your Imprisonments and Sufferings in that Place will be for Good in the end as it hath been in other Places ye standing faithful to the Lord who is All-sufficient For your Sufferings and Trials will Try their Teachers and Religions Churches and Worships and make manifest what Birth they are of even that which persecutes him that is born of the Spirit for ye know that there is no Salvation by any other Name under the whole Heaven but by the Name of Jesus and therefore it is time to leave them when there is no Salvation by or in any of them Now Friends I desire that you would take a List of the Names of all those Persons
that belong to the King of Poland and where they do live and how ye may send Books or Epistles to them and keep a Correspondence with them and also the Name of the Bishop or Cardinal that I heard was with you And if ye can get any of them that belong to the King that are his Attendants to come and visit the Prisoners that they may Inform the King of their Cruel Sufferings Also I desire you to get as many Books of mine as you can dispose of that set forth your Sufferings and the Cruelty of the Magistrates of Dantzick and give them to the King and his Council and Attendants and his Bishops And some of the Women may speak to the Queen if they can that she may signifie to the King their Cruel Sufferings and especially some of the Sufferers Wives if there be any of a Capacity to do it You may likewise give his Attendants any other Friends Books and what Books ye lack send for them to Amsterdam where ye may be furnished with them to Answer every tender Desirer and Inquiring mind after the Lord. So let all your Minds be bended with the Lord's Power to spread his Truth abroad and where ye hear of any or have any Correspondence in outward Trading with any sober People far or near send them Books that their Understandings may be opened after the Lord. So the Lord God Almighty preserve you and to his Protection in his Eternal Power do I Commend you all in Bonds or at Liberty with my Love to you in the Everlasting Seed of God Christ Jesus who bruises the Head of the Serpent that make you to suffer But Christ is over him and will be when he is gone who is First and Last over all from Everlasting to Everlasting in whom ye have both Life Knowledge Wisdom and Salvation and through him live to the Praise and Glory of God who is blessed for evermore Amen Amsterdam the 18th of the 7th Month 1677. English stile G. F. The next day being the Fourth day of the Week and 19th of the Month I had a large Meeting at Amsterdam many Professors being at it and Truth was largely opened to them in the demonstration of the heavenly Power The day following I went by Boat from Amsterdam Waterland Landsmeer many Friends going with me to Landsmeer in Waterland a Town in which they say there are above an hundred Bridges where I had a very good Meeting to which several Professors came And after the Meeting I returned with Friends to Amsterdam again Amsterdam where I stay'd with Friends till the First-day following and went to their Meeting which was large for many Professors of several sorts were at it and heard the Truth declared with great Attention I tarried amongst Friends there next day and in the night following had a great Exercise upon my Spirit concerning that loose Spirit that was run out into Strife and Contention among Friends and had drawn some after it into Division and Separation the way work and end whereof the Lord opened to me wherefore feeling the Motion of Life upon me I got up in the Morning and wrote the following Epistle to Friends My Dear Friends KEep your First Love in the Truth and Power and Seed of Life in Christ Jesus for this last night as I was lying in my Bed at Amsterdam I had a great Travel in the holy Seed of Life and Peace and my Spirit was troubled with that Spirit of Strife and Separation I saw it was a Destroying Spirit and did seek not only to get over the Seed but to destroy it and to Eat out the minds of People from it by Strife and Contention and under pretence of standing for the Antient Truth its work is to root it out and destroy the Appearance of it to set up it self And it is a Creeping Spirit seeking whom it can get into and what it cannot do it self it stirreth up others to do and setteth up their Spirits on float with the dark Wisdom to destroy the Simple And this Spirit is managed by the Prince of the Air and leadeth some to do such things which they would have been ashamed to have done as men which doth Unman them and they would not have suffered them if they had kept to the tender Principle of God which leadeth to Peace And it is a despising backbiting and a secret-whispering Spirit and a Sower of Dissension and a taker of advantage of all prejudiced Spirits that are disobedient to their first Principle and Love of Truth and begetteth into hatred so it begetteth all into that Spirit whose work is to destroy both the Good within and the good Order without Nay it would if it could destroy the Government of Christ and the Order of the Gospel to set up its own Will and Spirit which is not of God and under pretence of crying down Man are setting up Man and are gathering into a Separation of disobedient Men who float above their Conditions And this Spirit which neither liveth in the Truth nor its Order but opposeth them that do I cannot express it as I do see it and its work whose end will be accordingly And therefore Friends I am to warn you all that have not lost your Simplicity not to touch it nor to have any Vnity with it lest you be defiled and lose your Conditions of your Eternal Estate and your Everlasting Portion and that your Inward man which is after God may be preserved and Christ may reign in all your hearts And they that are joined with them it will be very hard for them ever to come down to Truth in themselves and to see their own Conditions and to have that Spirit of Strife and Contention which eateth as a Canker to be brought down in them which is carnal and slayeth the tender Babe which was once begotten in themselves and the Philistine is got up in them that stoppeth the Wells and Springs and maketh a great Busle and are crying up Men and pleading for them instead of Christ And so Friends strive not with them but let them take them that cry them up and keep you to the Lord Jesus Christ with his Light that cometh from him that he may be your Lord and ye in him may be all in Vnity in one Light Life Power and Dominion in Christ your Head And so the God of Peace and Power preserve you all in Christ Jesus your Saviour and out of and from that mischievous Spirit which is idle and slothful as to the Work of the Power and Spirit and Light of God and Christ and its very Act is that which worketh strife and disturbance against the Peace of the Church of Christ and thinks in its wilfulness and stubbornness and unruliness to set up it self and in that to have peace but Destruction will be the end of it and it is sealed for the Fire and Eternal Judgment And therefore let Christ the Seed be the Head and
at Finchcomb where were several of the Opposit Spirit who it was thought Intended to have made some disturbance amongst Friends but the Lord's Power was over and kept them down and good Service for the Lord we had at that Meeting We returned from Finchcomb to Nailsworth again Nailsworth and had another very precious Meeting there to which Friends came from the several Meetings thereabouts which made it very large also We went from Nailsworth on the First day of the First Month 1677 8 and travelled through the Country visiting Friends and having many Meetings amongst them at Cirencester Crown-Allins Cirencester Crown-Allins Cheltonham Stoke-Orchard Tewksbury c. Worcester Parshow Evesham Warwickshire Ragley Cheltonham Stoke-Orchard Tewksbury c. so went to Worcester where I had formerly suffered Imprisonment above a Year for the Truth 's sake and Friends rejoiced greatly to see me there again Here I stay'd several days and had many very precious Meetings in the City and much Service amongst Friends After which travelling through the Country I had Meetings at Parshow and Evesham and then struck to Ragley in Warwickshire to visit her that was called the Lady Conway who I understood was very desirous to see me and whom I found tender and loving and willing to have detained me longer than I had freedom to stay About Two miles from hence I had Two Meetings at a Friend's house whose name was John Stangley Stratford Lamcoat Armscott Oxfordshire Sibbard North-Newton Banbury Adderbury c. Buckinghamshire Long-Crendon Ilmer Mendle Weston Cholsberry Chesham c. Hartfordshire Charlewood Watford Hempsted Market-street Bedfordshire Luton Albans South-Mims Barnet Hendon London whither William Dewsbury came to me and stay'd with me about half a day Afterwards I visited Friends in their Meetings thereabouts at Stratford Lamcoat and Armscott from whence it was that I was sent Prisoner to Worcester in the Year 1673 and thence passed into Oxfordshire visiting Friends and having Meetings at Sibbard North-Newton Banbury Adderbury c. Then visiting Friends through Buckinghamshire at Long-Crendon Ilmer Mendle Weston Cholsberry Chesham c. having several Meetings amongst them I came to Isaac Pennington's where I stay'd a few days And then turning into Hartfordshire visited Friends at Charlewood Watford Hempstead and Market-street at which places I had Meetings with Friends From Market-street I went in the Morning to Luton in Bedfordshire to see John Crook with whom I spent good part of the day and went towards Evening to Albans where I lay that night at an Inn. And visiting Friends at South-Mims and at Barnet and Hendon where I had Meetings I came to London on the Eighth day of the Third Month. And it being the Fourth-day of the Week I went to Gracious-street-Meeting which was peaceable and well and many Friends not knowing I was come to Town were very Joyful to see me there and the Lord was present with us refreshing us with his living Vertue blessed be his holy Name The Parliament was sitting when I came to Town and Friends having laid their Sufferings before them were Waiting on them for Relief against the Laws made against Popish Recusants which they knew we were not though some malicious Magistrates took Advantages against us 1678. London to prosecute us in several parts of the Nation upon those Statutes So Friends being Attending on that Service when I came I Joined with them therein and some probability there was that something might have been obtained towards Friends Ease and Relief in that Case many of the Parliament-men being tender and loving towards us as believing we were much mis-represented by our Adversaries But when I went down one Morning with George Whitehead to the Parliament-house to Attend upon them on Friends hehalf on a sudden they were Prorogued though but for a short time Yearly Meeting About two weeks after I came to London the Yearly Meeting began to which Friends came up out of most parts of the Nation and a glorious heavenly Meeting we had Oh the Glory Majesty Love Life Wisdom and Vnity that was amongst us the Power reigned over all and many Testimonies were born therein against that ungodly Spirit which sought to make Rents and Divisions amongst the Lord's People but not one Mouth was opened amongst us in its defence or on its behalf Good and Comfortable Accounts also we had for the most part from Friends in other Countries of which I find a brief Account in a Letter which soon after I writ to my Wife the Copy whereof here follows Dear Heart TO whom is my Love in the Everlasting Seed of Life that reigns over all Great Meetings here have been and the Lord's Power hath been stirring through all the like hath not been And the Lord hath in his Power knit Friends wonderfully together and the glorious Presence of the Lord did appear among Friends And now the Meetings are over blessed be the Lord in quietness and peace From Holland I hear that things are well there Some Friends are gone that way to be at their Yearly Meeting at Amsterdam At Embden Friends that were banished are gotten into the City again At Dantzick Friends are in Prison and the Magistrates threatned them with harder Imprisonment but the next day the Lutherans rose and plucked down or defaced the Popish Monastery so they have work enough among themselves The King of Poland did receive my Letter and read it himself and Friends have since printed it in High-Dutch By Letters from the Half-yearly-Meeting in Ireland I hear that they be all in Love there And at Barbados Friends are in quietness and their Meetings settled in peace At Antego also and Nevis Truth prospers and Friends have their Meetings orderly and well Likewise in New-England and other places things concerning Truth and Friends are well and in those places the Mens and Womens-Meetings are settled blessed be the Lord. So keep in God's Power and Seed that is over all in whom ye all have Life and Salvation for the Lord reigns over all in his Glory and in his Kingdom Glory to his Name for ever Amen So in haste with my Love to you all and to all Friends London the 26th of the 3d Month 1678. G. F. The Letter to the King of Poland before mentioned is as followeth To Johannes III. KING of Poland c. O King WE desire thy Prosperity both in this Life and that which is to come And we desire that we may have our Christian Liberty to Serve and Worship God under thy Dominion For our Principle leads us not to do any thing prejudicial to the King or his People For we are a People that do exercise a good Conscience towards God through his holy Spirit and in it do serve and worship and honour him and towards Men in the things that be equal and just doing to them as we would have them do unto us and looking unto Jesus who is the Author and Finisher of our Faith which Faith
the Lambs but they are in the hand of the Lord which is his Power that is over all And such do good in his Power unto all for they have the Mind of Christ who would have all to come to the knowledge of the Truth and be saved And they that do good unto all do hurt unto none for that Spirit that doth hurt unto any is not of God but that Spirit which doth good unto all and especially to the Houshold of Faith is of God Christ came not to destroy mens Lives but to save them And it is the Devil that is the Destroyer of mens Lives about Religion and that blinds and corrupts Men and Women and makes them deaf and blind to the things of God and to halt out of God's way They that obey the Evil one and forsake the Lord such the Destroyer doth destroy But Christ doth destroy that Destroyer and in Christ all have Life G. F. I writ another Paper also concerning Meditation Delight Exercise and Study shewing from the Scriptures of Truth what the true Christians ought to Meditate upon and to Exercise their minds in and what they should take Delight in and what they should study to do For in these things not the prophane and loose People only but even the great Professors of Religion are very much mistaken taking Delight in earthly fading perishing things whereas they ought to Meditate on heavenly things and to delight in the Law of God after the inward man and exercise themselves to have always a Conscience void of Offence towards God and towards Men as the Apostle Paul did And inasmuch as Sufferings continued very sore and heavy up on Friends not only in the City but in most parts of the Nation I drew up a Paper to be presented to the King setting forth our Grievances therein and desiring Redress from him in those Particular Cases which I understood were in his power But not having Relief from him it came upon me to write an Epistle to Friends to Encourage them in their Sufferings that they might bear with patience the many Exercises that were brought upon them both from the outward Magistrates and by false Brethren and Apostates whose wicked Books and filthy Slanders did grieve the upright-hearted This Epistle I writ at Dolston Dolston whither I went to visit an ancient Friend that lay sick FRiends and Brethren in Christ Jesus whom the Lord hath called and gathered into him In him abide for without him to wit Christ ye can do nothing and through him ye can do all things who is your strength and support in all your Trials Temptations Imprisonments and Sufferings who for Christ's sake are accounted as Sheep for the slaughter and in all these things we are more than Conquerours through Christ who hath loved us And therefore Friends though ye do suffer by the Outward Powers ye know that the Prophets Christ and the Apostles suffered by the Unconverted And though ye do suffer by false Brethren and false Apostates for a time and by their filthy Books and Tongues whose Tongues indeed are become no Slander let them speak write or print what they will for the sober People even of the World hardly regard it And it is well they have manifested themselves to the World that their folly may proceed no farther though to the utmost of their power they have shewed their Wicked Intent to stir up the Magistrates Professors and Prophane against us and to speak evil of the way of Truth But God's Judgments will overtake them and come upon them as sure as they have come upon those that are gone before them Let their pretence be never so high mark their End for they will fall like untimely Figs and wither like the Grass on the top of the House Though they may seem to flourish and make a Boast and a Noise for a time yet the Seed is on the head of such which will grind them to powder which Seed bruises the Serpent's head Therefore in this Seed Christ who is your sanctuary rest peace and quiet habitation who is the First and Last and over all in him walk for the Lord taketh pleasure in his People that are faithful and that serve and worship him And therefore let the Saints be Joyful in Glory and the God of Peace the God of all Grace who hath called us into his Eternal Glory by Jesus Christ after that ye have suffered a while make you perfect stablish strengthen and settle you casting all your Care upon the Lord for he careth for you And Dearly Beloved think it not strange concerning the fiery Trial 1682. Dolfon which is to Try you s though some strange thing had hap'ned unto you for it is â—etter if the Will of God be so that ye suffer for Well-doing than for Evil-doing and Rejoice inasmuch as ye are made Partakers of Christ's Sufferings Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their Souls to him in well-doing as unto a faithful Creator for unto you is given in the behalf of Christ not only to believe in him but also to suffer for his sake So it is given or is a gift from Christ to suffer for his Name and therefore as I said before Rejoice inasmuch as ye are made Partakers of Christ's sufferings And if ye be Reproached or evil spoken of for the Name of Christ happy are ye for the Spirit of Glory and of God resteth upon you On their part he is evil spoken of but on your part he is glorified And therefore if any suffer as Christians let them not be ashamed but let them glorifie God on this behalf Though now for a season ye are in Sufferings and Trials and Temptations that the Trial of your Faith being much more precious than that of Gold which perishes though it be tried with Fire may be found unto praise honour and glory who are kept by the power of God through Faith unto Salvation Therefore mind your Keeper where-ever ye are or what sufferings soever ye be in and mind the Example of the Apostle how he suffered trouble as an Evil-doer unto Bonds But the Word of God is not bound which is Everlasting and endures for ever And they who are in that which is not Everlasting and doth not endure for ever cannot bind the Word And the Apostle said I endure all things for the Elects sake that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with Eternal Glory mark with Eternal Glory And if we suffer with Christ we shall reign with Christ who abide faithful Therefore strive not about words to no profit but shun prophane and vain Babblings for they will encrease unto more ungodliness So that ye may be Vessels of Honour sanctified and meet for Christ your Master's use and prepared unto every good work Follow after Righteousness Godliness Faith Love Patience and Meekness and fight the good Fight of Faith with your heavenly
one another in Vertue and in that Love that doth bear all things and doth edifie the Body of Christ the Body of the second Adam For the Body of old Adam in the Fall is full of Malice Envy and Vice And therefore you that are called out of Old Adam in the Fall and have put on Christ the second Adam that never fell Walk in him who is the Treasure of Life Wisdom and Knowledge in whom ye have peace with God who is the First and Last the Beginning and the Ending So let all be gathered up to God into him who reconcileth all things in one both things in Heaven and things in the Earth who is the faithful and true Witness both in Male and Female And in him sit down who is above the subtle Foxes in their holes and the Fowls of the Air in their nests I say sit down in Christ who hath no place among them to lay his head he is your rest So in him is my Love to you all London the 20th of the 11th Month 1682. G. F. It was not long after this that I received an Account by Letter from some Friends that were Prisoners in Denby in Wales by which I understood that many Friends there were under great Sufferings for the Testimony of a good Conscience In the tender sense whereof I was moved in the Love of God to Visit them with a few Lines as a Word of Consolation to them in their Sufferings and of Exhortation to stand fast in the Testimony committed to them And that which I writ was thus DEar suffering Lambs for the Name and Command of Jesus Be valiant for his Truth and faithful and ye will feel the Presence of Christ with you And look at him who suffered for you and hath bought you and will feed you who saith Be of good Comfort I have overcome the World who destroys the Devil and his Works and bruises the Serpent's head I say Look at Christ who is your Sanctuary in whom ye have rest and peace To you it is given not only to believe but to suffer for his Name 's sake And they that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer Persecution by the ungodly Professors of Christ Jesus who live out of him And therefore be valiant for God's Truth upon the Earth and look above that Spirit that makes you suffer up to Christ who was before it was and will be when it is gone Consider all the Prophets Christ and the Apostles who suffered and were persecuted but they never persecuted them as true men but as Deceivers and yet true And Christ is the same to day as he was yesterday a Rock and Foundation for your Age and Generation for you to build upon I have written concerning you after I heard your Letter to Friends in Cheshire to Visit you understanding that you belong to their Quarterly Meeting And therefore I desire that some Friends of your County would go and lay your suffering Condition before the Monthly or Quarterly Meeting in Cheshire I have written likewise to Richard Davis that some of that side may go and visit you and see how your Condition is So my Love is to you in the Lord who is your alone Support London the 27th of the 11th Month 1682. G. F. Now because the Magistrates were many of them unwilling to have Fines laid upon Meeting-houses they kept Friends out in many places setting Officers and Guards of Soldiers at the Doors and Passages And yet sometimes Friends were fined for Speaking or Praying though it were abroad One First-day it was upon me to go to Devonshire-house-Meeting in the Afternoon Dev. Meet and because I had heard Friends were kept out there that Morning as they were that Day at most Meetings about the City I went somewhat the sooner and got into the Yard before the Soldiers came to guard the Passages but the Constables were got there before me and stood in the Door-way with their Staves I asked them to let me go in They said They could not nor durst not for they were commanded the contrary and were sorry for it I told them I would not press upon them so I stood by and they were very Civil I stood till I was weary and then one gave me a Stool to sit down on and after a while the Power of the Lord began to spring up among Friends and one began to speak The Constables soon forbad him and said he should not speak and he not stopping they began to be wroth But I gently laid my hand upon one of the Constables and wisht him to let him alone The Constable did so and was quiet and the Man did not speak long When he had done after a while I was moved to stand up and speak and in my Declaration I said They need not come against us with Swords and Staves for we were a peaceable People and had nothing in our Hearts but Good-will to the King and Magistrates and to all People upon the Earth And we did not Meet under pretence of Religion to plot and contrive against the Government or to raise Insurrections but to worship God in Spirit and in Truth And we had Christ to be our Bishop and Priest and Shepherd to feed us and oversee us and he ruled in our hearts so we could all sit in silence enjoying our Teacher So to Christ their Bishop and Shepherd I did recommend them all And after I had spoken what was upon me at that time I sate down and after a while I was moved to pray and the Power of the Lord was over all Friends and the People and the Constable and Soldiers put off their Hats And when the Meeting was done and Friends began to pass away the Constable put off his Hat and desired the Lord to bless us for the Power of the Lord was over him and the People and kept them under After this I went up and down visiting Friends at their houses who had had their Goods taken from them for worshipping God and we took an account of what had been taken from them and some Friends met together about it and drew up the Case of the Sufferings of our Friends in writing and gave it to the Justices at their Petty-Sessions Whereupon they made an Order That the Officers should not sell the Goods of Friends which they had in their hands but keep them until the next Sessions which gave some discouragement to the Informers and put a little stop to their proceedings The next First-day it was upon me to go to the Meeting at the Savoy and by that time the Meeting was gathered Savoy Meet the Beadle came in and after him came in the wild People like a Sea but the Lord's Power chained them all The Spirit of the Lord went through and over all and they were quiet and we had a glorious peaceable Meeting blessed be the Lord for his unspeakable goodness This was in the Twelfth Month 1682. In the
came upon Friends there was especial Care taken that all Friends that did suffer what they did offer up to the Lord in their Sufferings might be really their own and not any others Estates or Goods which they had in their hands and were not really their own so that they might not offer up another body's but that which was really their own which they had bought and paid for or were able to pay for And afterwards several Letters came out of the Country to the Meeting at London from Friends that had Goods of the Shop-keepers here at London upon Credit which they had not paid for who writ to their Creditors whom they had their Goods of intreating them to take their Goods again And some Friends came to London themselves and treated with their Creditors letting them understand how their Conditions were That they lay liable to have all that they had taken from them and told them They would not have any man to suffer by them neither would they by suffering offer up any thing but what was really their own or what they were able to pay for Upon which several took their Goods back again that they had sent down And this wrought a very good Savour in the hearts of many People when they saw that there was such a righteous just and honest Principle in Friends that would not make any to suffer for their Testimony but what they did suffer for the Testimony of Jesus it should be really and truly their own not other Peoples And in this they owed nothing to any but Love So in this every Man and Woman stands in the free Offering a free People whether it be Spiritual or Temporal which is their own and in that they wrong no man neither inwardly nor outwardly Ornan said unto David I give thee the Threshing-floor c. and the Oxen for Burnt-offerings and the Threshing-Instruments for Wood and the Wheat for the Meat-offering I give it all But King David said unto Ornan Nay but I will verily buy it for the full price for I will not take that which is thine for the Lord nor offer Burnt-offerings without cost 1 Chron. 21 22 c. So it should be his own and so should it be every man's that offers So you may see here that David would not accept of another man's Gift for an Offering to the Lord he would not offer up that which cost him nothing but it should be really his own Psal 112.5 A good man will guide his affairs with discretion Let this be read in your Monthly and Quarterly Mens and Womens Meetings London the 2d of the 4th Month 1683. G. F. Kingston upon Thames Some time after the Yearly-Meeting I went down to Kingston upon Thames to visit Friends there and while I was there it came upon me to write the following Epistle to Friends in general as a Salutation of Love unto them and to stir up the pure Mind in them DEar Friends and Brethren who are turned from Darkness to Light and from the Power of Satan to God who are the Believers in the Light which is the Life in Christ and are become the Children of the Light and of the Day and are grafted into Christ the second Adam the Lord from Heaven and so are gathered in the Name of Jesus in whom ye have Salvation and not in any other Name under the whole Heaven For Christ Jesus saith Where two or three are gathered together in my Name there am I in the midst of them Matth. 18.20 So here you being gathered in the Name of Jesus he is in the midst of you a Saviour a Mediator a Prophet a Shepherd a Bishop a Leader a Counsellor the Captain of your Salvation who bruises the Serpent's head and destroys the Devil and his Works Therefore Brethren in Christ Jesus exhort one another daily while it is called to day lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin For you are made Partakers of Christ if ye hold fast the beginning of your Confidence steadfast to the end Hebr. 3.14 Therefore hear Christ's voice for he is in the midst of you a Teacher And take heed lest there be in any of you an Evil heart of Vnbelief in departing from the living God as there is in too many in this Day of Provocation and Temptation But while it is day hear his Voice and let us consider one another to provoke unto Love and to good Works Let us hold fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering for he is faithful 1683. Kingston upon Thames that hath promised and that hath called you not forsaking the Assembling of our selves together as the manner of some is mark as the manner of some is that did and do forsake the Assembling of themselves together but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the Day of Light appearing For if we sin wilfully after we have received the Knowledge of the Truth there remains no more Sacrifice for sins but a certain fearful looking for of Judgment and fiery Indignation which shall devour the Adversaries Hebr. 10. And therefore it is good not to forsake the Assembling of our selves together but exhort one another daily for Christ is in the midst of his People a Teacher and a Prophet who saith Learn of me who is the Way the Truth and the Life And we being many are one Body in Christ who are gathered in his Name and every one Members one of another Having then Gifts differing according to the Grace that is given us whether they be Prophecy let us prophecy according to the proportion of Faith and let those that do Minister wait on their Ministery and those that be Teachers on their Teaching and he that Exhorteth on Exhortation he that gives let him do it with simplicity and he that ruleth with diligence and he that sheweth Mercy he is to do it with Cheerfulness Abhor that which is evil cleave to that which is good Be kindly affectioned one towards another with brotherly love in honour preferring one another Rejoice in hope be patient in tribulations be not overcome with Evil but overcome Evil with God and if it be possible as much as lieth in you live peaceably with all men Rom. 12. This is and was the practice of the Church of Christ And now the God of Hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that ye may abound in hope through the Power of the holy Ghost And I my self also am perswaded of you my Brethren that ye also are full of Goodness filled with all Knowledge and are able also to admonish one another Rom. 15.13 14. Here the Church of Christ in which Christ was in the midst a Teacher and the Head of the Church they were and are able through him to admonish one another And let the peace of God rule in your hearts to which Peace of God ye are also called into one Body to wit of Christ. And
Children of the Light Therefore ye that are the Believers in the Light and are become the Children of the Light walk in Christ your Way Life and Salvation Kingston the 5th Month 1683. G. F. Before I left Kingston something further opened in me which I was moved to write and send forth amongst Friends and it was as followeth Dear Friends MY Love is to you all in the holy Seed that reigns over all And my desire is that every one both Male and Female may feel the Seed Christ in you which is Heir of the Promise of Life Eternal so that ye may all grow up in Christ Jesus your Head and be built upon him the Rock and Foundation that God hath laid which stands sure over all Rocks and Foundations in the World That ye may eat and drink of this Spiritual Rock the Spiritual Water and Food so that ye may truly and inwardly say that your Rock and Foundation and Bread of Life and Water of Life is from Heaven and your Bread and Water is sure and that ye know his voice that feeds you and that leads you into the Pastures of Life which are always fresh and green In this your Affections are set on things that are above and seeking that which comes down from above above that which is from below where Christ sits at the right Hand of God making Intercession for you and is your Mediator making Peace betwixt God and you and is your heavenly Bishop to oversee you that ye keep in his Light Life and Power that ye do not go astray from his heavenly Fold and Pasture but he your Shepherd may feed you in it Who is your Prophet to open to you the fulfilling of the Promises and Prophecies himself being the Substance That ye may live in him and he in you yea and reign in your hearts and there to exercise his Offices his Prophetical and Priestly and Kingly Office who is heavenly and spiritual That ye may know the Three that bear Witness in the Earth viz. The Spirit the Water and the Blood which is the Life of Christ which cleanseth from all sin and the Water that washes you and refreshes you and the Spirit that baptizes you and circumcises you and leads you into all Truth And that ye may come all to drink into one Spirit and keep the Unity of the Spirit which is the Bond of the heavenly Peace So being led by the Spirit of God ye are his Sons and Daughters and by his Spirit will come to know the Three that bear Witness in Heaven viz. the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost These are the Three Witnesses that are in Heaven that bear record of all things for he is God in the Heaven and God in the Earth And therefore I desire that ye may all feel his Love shed in your hearts and in it live in Love above the love of the World which is Enmity and in that you will keep in the excellent Way For Love edifies the Body of Christ and builds his Church up and keeps out of the Enmity for it is above it and brings and keeps all in true Humanity and in the true Divinity and to be courteous and kind and tender one towards another And to shew forth the nature of Christ and true Christianity in all your Lives and Conversations so that the Blessings of the Lord may rest upon you as ye all live in the Seed of the Gospel the Seed of the Kingdom of God in which all Nations are blessed And in that ye will all have a Care of God's glory And there is the Hill or Mountain where the Light shines to the answering the Witness of God in all and the Salt that is a good Savour to the witness of God in the hearts of all And that Savour and Salt being kept in it doth not come under the feet of men So my Love to you all in Christ Jesus whom God hath given to be a Sanctuary for all his People who is from above and not of this World in whom you all have Life Peace and Salvation And in him God Almighty keep and preserve you all to his Glory Amen And as you all live in the peaceable Truth of God it keeps you under and within his protection But they that make a Profession of the Scriptures of Truth and yet live out of the Truth in the Spirit of Strife Vnquietness and Discontent in a contriving plotting ravenous destroying Spirit which is of the Devil and not of God that Spirit is judged out of the Truth and to be of him in whom there is no Truth whose Portion is in the Lake and in the Fire that burns Kingston the 27th of the 5th Month 1683. G. F. Having visited Friends at and about Kingston London I returned to London for it being a Suffering time with Friends there I had not freedom to be long from the City Being come back I went to the Meeting at the Peel Peel-Meet which but a little before the Justices and Constable had broken up and had carried themselves very roughly But that day the Meeting was in the House and quiet and a glorious Meeting it was blessed be the Lord. On the First-day following I went to the Meeting at Gracious-street When I came there Grac-Meet I found three Constables in the Meeting-house who kept Friends out so that we met in the Court. After I had been some time in the Meeting I stood up and spake to the People and continued speaking a pretty while Then one of the Constables came and took hold of my hand and said I must come down I desired him to be patient and went on speaking to the People but after a little time he pluckt me down and had me into the Meeting-house I asked them if they were not Weary of this Work and one of them said Indeed they were They let me go into the Widow Foster's house which joined to the Meeting-house where I stay'd being hot When the Meeting was ended for one prayed after I was taken away the Constables asked some Friends Which of them would pass their words that I should Appear if they should be questioned about me But the Friends telling them They need not require that for I was a man well known in the City to be one that would neither fly nor shrink They came not to me but went their ways 1683. London Sav. Meet and left me at Liberty and I heard no further of it The same Week I was at the Meeting at the Savoy which used to be kept out and disturbed but that day it was within doors and peaceable and a precious Meeting it was The First-day after Westm Meet it was upon me to go to the Meeting at Westminster where used to be great disturbances But there also the Meeting was within doors that day and it was very large The Lord's Power was over all there and kept all quiet and still for though there
were many loose Spirits there yet they were bound down by the Power and Spirit of the Lord that they could not get up to make disturbance About this time I was moved to write the following Epistle Friends and Brethren WHO have received the peaceable Truth let the fruits of its peaceableness and of your quiet Spirit appear in all your Meetings and in all your Words and Actions for he that inhabits Eternity dwells with an humble heart and he gives Grace to the humble and resisteth the proud Heaven is his Throne and the Earth ye walk upon is his Foot-stool happy are ye that see and know him that is Invisible And now Friends ☞ Let all things be done in your Meetings and otherways in Love without strife or vain-glory For Love fulfils the Law and Love overcomes and edifies the Body of Christ and builds it up and there is neither Self nor Envy in Love neither is it pufft up but abides and bears all things So see that this Love of God have the sway in you all and over you all Christ saith Blessed are the Poor in Spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted Blessed are the Meek for they shall inherit the Earth Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after Righteousness for they shall be filled Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain Mercy Blessed are the Pure in heart for they shall see God Blessed are the Peace makers for they shall be called the Children of God Blessed are they that are Persecuted for Righteousness sake for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsly for my sake rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in Heaven For so persecuted they the Prophets which were before you Now Friends here is a great deal in these words And all must be in these States and Conditions if they have these Blessings And the Children of God are Peace-makers and strive to make Peace in the Truth and to live in Peace with all men if it be possible So live in the Peace and the Good-will to all men which Good-will is both for their Sanctification and Salvation And Friends consider The Wisdom of God which is from above is pure peaceable and gentle and easie to be entreated full of mercy and good fruits without Partiality and without Hypocrisie And now Dear Friends let this pure peaceable gentle Wisdom that is from above that is easie to be entreated 1683. London and is full of mercy and good fruits be exercised and practised in all the true Churches of Christ so that Wisdom may be justified of her Children For the Works of the Flesh or fleshly Spirit are Hatred Variance Wrath Strife Envyings Drunkenness Revilings Adultery Fornication Lasciviousness Uncleanness c. and they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God But the Fruits of the Spirit of God are Love Joy Peace Long-suffering Gentleness Goodness Faith Meekness Temperance c. And so Dear Friends and Brethren strive to exceed one another and all People upon the Earth in Humility in Meekness in Gentleness in Temperance in Love and in Patience in Pureness and in Mercy and then ye will shew forth the Fruits of the Spirit of God and of his heavenly Wisdom that is from above And in this Wisdom will be justified of her Children and ye will be the Salt of the Earth and the Light of the World set on an Hill that cannot be hid and your Moderation will appear to all men And be ye just and righteous and faithful and true in all your Words Dealings and Conversations so that ye may answer the Truth in all People For Christ saith his Father is glorified by such as bring forth Fruits when men do see their good Works for he that doth Righteousness is accepted with God And he that dwells in Love dwells in God for Love is his Habitation And let that be the Habitation of every one that hath received the Truth for if it be not such do not dwell in God let them profess what they will And therefore my desire is that all you who have received Christ the Seed which bruises the Serpent's head may walk in him your Sanctuary Life and Salvation your Rest and Peace Amen London the 14th of the 6th Month 1683. G. F. I continued yet at London labouring in the Work and Service of the Lord both in Meetings and out sometimes visiting the Friends that were in Prison for the Testimony of Jesus encouraging them in their Sufferings and exhorting them to stand faithful and stedfast in the Testimony which the Lord had committed to them to bear sometimes also visiting those that were sick and weak in Body or troubled in Mind helping to bear their Spirits up from sinking under their Infirmities Sometimes our Meetings were quiet and peaceable sometimes they were disturbed and broken up by the Officers One First-day it was upon me to go to the Meeting at the Savoy Sav. Meet and it was a large Meeting for many Professors and sober People were there And the Lord opened many precious weighty things in me to the People which I declared amongst them and directed them to the Spirit of God in themselves which the Lord had given them a measure of that all by the Spirit might understand the Scriptures which were given forth from the Spirit of God And that by the Spirit of God they might know God and Christ whom God hath sent whom to know was Eternal Life And that by the Spirit they might all come into Christ and know him to be their Sanctuary who destroys the Devil the Destroyer and his works and bruises the Serpent's head For Christ was a Sanctuary to them to whom he was a Saviour whom he saved from the Destroyer And Christ did baptize them with the holy Ghost and with Fire and did thorowly purge his floor and burn up their Chaff with unquenchable fire that is Sin and Corruption which is got into Man and Woman by their Transgression But Christ gathereth his Wheat into his Garner So all that are baptized with Christ's Baptism their Wheat is in God's Garner and no Spoiler can get into God's Garner to meddle with the Wheat there though they may be permitted to meddle with the outward Goods c. Now as I was speaking in the power of the Lord and the People were greatly affected therewith on a sudden the Constables with the rude People came in like a Sea and one of the Constables said to me Come down and he laid hands on me I asked him Art thou a Christian We are Christians He had hold on my hand and was very fierce to pluck me down but I stood still and spake a few words to the People desiring of the Lord that the Blessings of God might rest upon them all
him ye are happy and his Blessings will rest upon you God Almighty keep and preserve you all his true Believers in Christ your Rest and Peace this day Amen London the 18th of the 12th Month 1684 5. G. F. About a Month after this I got a little out of London visiting Friends first at South-street then at Ford-Green and Enfield where I had Meetings South-street Ford-green Enfield Waltham-Abbey Enfield Edmunton side and afterwards I went to Waltham-Abbey and was at the Meeting there on a First-day which was very large and peaceable Then returning through Friends at Enfield and about Edmunton-side I came back to London in the Third Month to Advise with and Assist Friends in laying Friends Sufferings before the Parliament then sitting and we drew up a short Account of our Sufferings which we caused to be printed and spread amongst the Parliament-men London Yearly-Meeting The Yearly-Meeting now coming on I was much concerned for the Friends that came up to it out of the Countries lest they should meet with any Trouble or Disturbance in their Passages up or down and the rather for that about this time there began to be great bustles in the Nation upon the Duke of Monmouth's landing in the West But the Lord according to his wonted goodness was graciously pleased to preserve and keep Friends in safety and gave us a blessed Opportunity to Meet together in peace and quietness and accompanied our Meeting with his living refreshing Presence blessed for ever be his holy Name Now considering the Hurries and Bustles that were in the Nation it came upon me at the Close of this Meeting to write a few Lines to Friends to Caution all to keep out of the Spirit of the World in which the Trouble is and to dwell in the peaceable Truth Wherefore I writ as followeth Dear Friends and Brethren WHom the Lord hath called and chosen in Christ Jesus your Life and Salvation in whom ye have all rest and peace with God The Lord God by his mighty Power which is over all hath preserved you and supported you to this day to be a peculiar holy People to himself so that by his Eternal Spirit and Power ye might be all preserved and kept out of the World for in the World is the Trouble And now in this great Day of the Lord God Almighty he is shaking the Heavens and the Earth of outward Professions and their Elements are in a heat and their Sun and their Moon are darkened and the Stars falling and the Mountains and Hills shaking and tottering as it was among the Jews in the Day of Christ's appearing And therefore all Dear Friends and Brethren dwell in the Seed Christ Jesus who is the Rock and Foundation 1685. London that cannot be shaken that ye may see with the Light and Spirit of Christ that ye are the fixed Stars in the â—irmament of God's Power and in this his Power and Light you 'l see over all the wandring Stars and Clouds without water and Trees without fruit And that which may be shaken will be shaken as will all they that are wandred from the Firmament of God's Power Now Dear Friends and Brethren you that are redeemed from the Death and Fall of Adam by Christ the second Adam in him ye have Life Rest and Peace for Christ saith In me ye shall have Peace but in the World Trouble And the Apostle saith They that believe are entred into their Rest namely Christ who hath overcome the World who bruiseth the Serpent's Head and destroys the Devil and his Works and fulfils the Types Figures and Shadows of the Old Testament and the Prophets In whom the Promises are Yea and Amen who is the First and Last Beginning and Ending Yea and Amen who is the eternal Rest So keep and walk in Christ your Rest every one that have received him your Eternal Rest And now Dear Friends and Brethren whatever Bustlings and Trouble or Tumults or Outrages Quarrels and Strife should arise and be in the World keep out of them all and concern not your selves with them but keep in the Lord's Power and peaceable Truth that is over all such things in which Power ye seek the peace and good of all men And live in the Love which God hath shed abroad in your hearts through Christ Jesus in which Love nothing is able to separate you from God and Christ neither outward Sufferings Persecutions nor any outward thing that is below and without nor to hinder or break your heavenly Fellowship in the Light and Gospel and Spirit of Christ nor your holy Communion in the Holy Ghost that proceeds from the Father and the Son which leads you into all Truth And in this Holy Ghost in which is your holy Communion that proceeds from the Father and the Son you have fellowship with the Father and the Son and communion and fellowship one with another And this is it which links and joins Christ's Church or Body together to him the heavenly and spiritual Head and in Unity in his Spirit which is the Bond of Peace of all his Church and living Members in whom they have Eternal and Everlasting Rest and Peace in Christ and with God everlasting who is to be blessed and praised for ever Amen Now Dear Friends forsake not the Assembling of your selves together who are gathered in the Name of Jesus who is your Prophet that God has raised up in the New Testament to be heard in all things who opens to you and no man can shut and shuts and no man can open Who is your Priest made higher than the Heavens by the Power of an endless Life by him you are made a Royal Priesthood to offer up to God spiritual Sacrifice Who is the Bishop of your Souls to oversee you that ye do not go astray from God Who is the good Shepherd that hath laid down his Life for his Sheep and they hear his voice and follow him and he gives to them eternal Life And now Dear Friends and Brethren abide in Christ the Vine that ye may bring forth fruit to the glory of God And as every one hath received Christ walk in him who is not of the World that lies in wickedness so that ye may be preserved out of the Vain Fashions and Customs of the World which satisfie the Lust of the Eye the Lust of the Flesh and the Pride of Life which are not of the Father but are of the World that passes away And who joins to that which is not of the Father or encourages it draws the mind from God the Fathâ—r and the Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore Let Christ rule in your hearts that your Minds Souls and Spirits may be kept and preserved out of the Vanities of the World both in their words ways and actions so that ye may be a peculiar People zealous of good works serving the Lord God through Jesus Christ in whom is life and may be a peculiar People to
themselves to be high Christians and took a great Liberty to go into Balaam's Doctrine and Nicholas's Doctrine which was hated by Christ but the Church was to keep a Spiritual and Divine Judgment upon the Heads of all these And to the Church of Thyatira saith Christ I have a few things against thee because thou sufferest the woman Jezabel to teach which seduces my people c. So here was a Suffering which should have been a Judgment by Christ's Spirit upon that Jezabel which was erred from his Spirit and so from Christ and such as these were high Preachers And is not the Church to beware of suffering such now lest they come under the Reproof of Christ for not passing to Judgment against the false Teacher and Seducer And the Church of Sardis that had a name to live but was dead and their works were not found perfect before God Therefore here is a Judgment to be set up in the Church to Judge all Imperfect Works and such as would have a Name but not the Nature or a name to live but are dead And therefore the Living must be in Christ of all Christ's Church living Members and live to his Name Though this Church had a few Names that had not defiled their Garments that did walk in White But such as had a Name to live but are dead whilst they are in the dead state they cannot walk in White nor Judge in Divine Matters And behold saith Christ I will make them of the Synagogue of Satan which say they are Jews but are not but do lie behold I will make them to come and to worship before my feet And to the Church of Laodicea that was neither hot nor cold but lukewarm I would thou wert either cold or hot I will spew thee out of my mouth because thou said'st thou wast rich and wanted nothing when they were wretched miserable poor blind and naked Now this was for want of living in the Power and Spirit of Christ these could talk of high Experiences and great Injoyments but was naked miserable and blind So lived not in the Power and Spirit and Light and Righteousness of Christ by which they might be cloathed and have the Eternal Riches So the Church of Christ had a spiritual Judgment given to them that are faithful in his Power and Spirit and Light to Judge of Temporal things and the things of this Life and to Judge of Eternal and Divine things and States and of Angels and Wicked men and such as goes from Truth and of the states of Election and Reprobation yea and of the Devils who is out of Truth being in Christ Jesus who is the First and Last from whom they have the Eternal Judgment to Judge Eternal Spiritual and Divine things And this Word of Power and Wisdom by which all things were made and by which all things are upheld in this Word of Wisdom to order all things to God's Glory and to Judge of all things in Righteousness And the Apostle Judged and set up a Judgment in the Church of Gifts of Prophecies of Mysteries of Faith and of giving the Body to be burnt and of giving Goods to the Poor and of speaking with Tongues of Men and Angels And yet if they had not Love all this was nothing but as a sounding Brass and tinkling Cymbal Therefore they are to be tried by the Fruits of the good Spirit which is Love So here the Apostle not only Judged himself in Divine Matters but set up a Judgment in the Church in those Spiritual and Divine Matters And the Apostle James here Judges of Fountains and of the Fig-trees and of the Wisdom below and of the Wisdom from above and the Fruits of both Jam. 3. And Paul Judged in Divine Matters when he said The Spirit spake expresly that in the latter times some should depart from the Faith 1 Tim. 4. And he Judged in Divine Matters when he judged all those Teachers that was high-minded and had got the Form of Godliness but denied the Power and termed them like unto Jannes and Jambrâ—s which withstood Moses coming out of outward Egypt as these with their Form of Godliness opposes Christ and his Power that brings them out of spiritual Egypt now And was not he a Judge here in Divine Matters who judged such as had gotten the Form of Godliness but denied the Divine Power 2 Tim 3. And when the Apostle said The Priesthood of Aaron was changed and the Law was changed and the Commandment disanulled that gave them their Tithes did not he Judge here in Divine and Spiritual Matters and was not the Law spiritual which served till the Seed came And did not the Apostle Judge in Divine and Spiritual Matters in the Sixth of the Hebrews where he saith Let us go on to perfection not laying again the foundation of Repentance from dead works and of Faith towards God and of the Doctrine of Baptisms and of laying on of Hands and of the Resurrection of the Dead and of Eternal Judgment and this will we do if God permit c. And so does not the Apostle Judge of such here That it was impossible for those who was once enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift and were partakers of the Holy Ghost and had tasted of the good Word of God and of the power of the World to come if they shall fall away to renew them again unto Repentance seeing they crucifie to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to open shame Hebr. 6. And was not these Spiritual Eternal and Divine Matters and States that the Apostle Judged of and have not the Saints the same Judgment given unto them in the same Spirit Now has not the Apostles and the Church a Spiritual Judgment to Judge of Prophets Mysteries Faith Apostles Angels World and the Devil and is not this Judgment given them of God in Divine Matters besides the Judgment given them in Matters pertaining unto this Life And had not they Judgment to discern the true Gospel from the false and all such as had a Profession of the Form and did not live in the power and such as spoke the things of God in the words that Man's wisdom did teach which things of God were not to be spoken in the wisdom which Man's words taught but in the Word which the Holy Ghost taught And therefore did not the Apostle exhort to know the Power and their Faith to stand in the Power of God for the Kingdom of God stood not in Word but in Power And had not all the Prophets a Divine Judgment to Judge in Divine Matters as see Jeremiah when he Judged the Prophets And Ezekiel Judged all such as came with a pretence of the Word of the Lord using their Tongues and saying Thus saith the Lord when the Lord never spoke unto them as in Jeremiah the 23th and in Ezekiel the 13th and in many other places might be Instanced And did not he judge Hananiah who prophesied
falsly and did not this Hananiah pretend to speak the Word of the Lord to the Priests and People as in Jeremiah the 28th And did not Isaiah judge in Divine Matters when he judged the Watchmen and the Shepherds Isa 56. And did not Micah judge in Divine and Spiritual Matters when he said he was full of the Power by the Spirit of the Lord and of Judgment did not he Judge both of Priests and Prophets and Judges though they would lean upon the Lord and say Is not the Lord amongst us and no evil can come unto us yet did not he let them see their States and Conditions and divided the precious from the vile Mich. 3. And so the rest of the Prophets you may see here they Judged for God in his Divine Matters who served him and who served him not and who lived in truth and who not and likewise the Apostles And this Divine Spiritual Heavenly Judgment was given of God to his holy Men and Women And they that do Judge in God's Divine Matters must live in his Divine Spirit and Power and Light now as they did then which Spiritual and Divine Judgment Christ has given to his Church that be the living Stones and living Members that makes up his spiritual Houshold to try Jews and to try Apostles and to try Prophets and to try Faith and to try Religions and to try Trees and Fruits and to try Shepherds and Teachers and to try Spirits So the living Members have a living and divine Judgment in the Church of Christ which he is the Head of the Judge of all Nay the Church has a Power given them which is farther then a Judgment for what they bind on Earth is bound in Heaven by the Power of God and what they loose on Earth is loosed in Heaven by the Power of God and this Power has Christ given to his living Members the Church The 20th of the 12th Month 1685 6. G. F. to Friends 1686. London I came back to London in the First Month 1686. and set my self with all diligence to look after Friends sufferings which we had now some hopes of getting Relief for The Sessions came on in the Second Month at Hicks's Hall where many Friends had Appeals to be Tried with whom I was from Day to Day to advise and see that no Opportunity were slipt nor Advantage lost and they generally succeeded well Soon after also the King was pleased upon our often laying our Sufferings before him To give order for the Releasing of all Prisoners that were imprisoned for Conscience sake and which were in his power to discharge Whereby the Prison doors were opened and many hundreds of Friends some of whom had been long in Prison were set at Liberty and some of them who had for many years been restrained in Bonds Yearly Meeting came now up to the Yearly-Meeting which was in the Third Month this Year Which caused great Joy to Friends to see our Ancient Faithful Brethren again at Liberty in the Lord's Work after their long Confinements And indeed a precious Meeting we had the refreshing Presence of the Lord appearing plentifully with us and amongst us After the Meeting I was moved to write a few Lines to be sent abroad amongst Friends the tenor whereof was thus Dear Friends MY Love is to you all in the holy Seed Christ Jesus that bruises the Serpent's head and destroys the Devil and his Works and who hath all Power in Heaven and Earth given to him Let every ones Faith stand in him and in his Power who is the Author and Finisher of your Faith And now ye who have been Partakers of his Power and are sensible of it in this Day of his Power that is over all whose day and power is over darkness and its power And by his Power the hearts of the King and Rulers have been opened by which your outward Prison-doors have been set open for your Liberty And therefore my desires are that all may be preserved in Humility and Thankfulness in the sense of the Mercies of the Lord and live in the peaceable Truth that is over all that ye may answer God's Grace and his Light and Spirit in all in a righteous godly Life and Conversation And let none be lifted up by their outward Liberty nor let none be cast down by Suffering for Christ's sake but all live in the Seed which is as Wheat which is not shaken nor blown away by the Winds and Storms as the Chaff is Which Seed of Life none below can make higher or lower for the Children of the Seed are the Children of the everlasting unchangeable Kingdom of Christ and God So in Christ Jesus whom God hath given you for a Sanctuary God Almighty keep you in whom ye have Life Everlasting and Wisdom which is from above pure peaceable gentle and easie to be intreated full of Mercy and good Fruits 1686. London Yearly Meeting that ye all now may be exercised in it and may practise this Wisdom in your godly holy Lives and Conversations so that this Wisdom may be justified of all her Children and they I say exercised and preserved in it in this day of the Power of Christ in which all his People are made a willing People to serve and worship God in Righteousness and Holiness and in the Spirit and Truth So that none may abuse the Power of the Lord nor grieve his Spirit by which you are sealed and kept to the day of Salvation and Redemption But always exercise your selves to have a good Conscience void of Offence towards God and towards all men being exercised in Holiness Godliness and Righteousness and in the Truth and in the Love of it that ye may all study to be approved unto God in Innocency Vertue Simplicity and Faithfulness and so labouring and studying to be quiet in the Will of God in all Conditions And whatsoever ye do in Word or Deed do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus giving Thanks to God the Father by him That he who is over all may have the Praise for all his Mercies and Blessings with which he doth and hath refreshed his People and by his Eternal Arm and Power hath kept and preserved his People to this day Glory to his Name over all for ever Amen! For Christ hath called you by his Grace into One Body to him the holy Head And therefore live in Charity and in the Love of God which is the Bond of Perfectness in his Body which Love edifies the Body of Christ which Body and all his Members are knit together and increased with the Increase of God from whom they receive Nourishment For by one Spirit we are all baptized into one Body and have been made all to drink into one Spirit in which Spirit the Body and all his Members have Fellowship with Christ the Head and one with another And so the Vnity of this holy Spirit is the Bond of Peace of all the living
preach at Damascus and at Jerusalem and throughout all the Coasts of Judea and then to the Gentiles turning them from Darkness to the Light of Christ and from the Power of Satan to God that they should Repent and turn to God and do works meet for Repentance Acts 26.20 Now here ye may see that People must Repent before they do believe and are baptized and before they receive the Holy Ghost and the Kingdom of God And they must Repent of their vain Life and Conversation before they do receive the Gospel and must be turned from Darkness to the Light of Christ and from the power of Satan unto God before they do receive his Holy Spirit and his Gospel of Life and Salvation The Lord doth command all Men every where to Repent and do works meet for Repentance So they must shew forth 1687. Gooses that their Lives and Conversations and Tongues are changed and that they do serve God in the Newness of Life with new Tongues and new Hearts Gooses the 6th Month 1687. G. F. Another short Paper I writ about the same time shewing Wherein God's People should be like unto him It was thus GOD is Righteous and he would have his People to be righteous and to do righteously And God is Holy and he would have his People holy and to do holily And God is Just and he would have his People to be just and to do justly to all God is Light and his Children must walk in his Light And God is an eternal infinite Spirit and his Children must walk in the Spirit God is Merciful and he would have his People to be Merciful God's Sun shines upon the Good and the Bad and he causes the Rain to fall upon the Evil and the Good so should his People do good unto all God is Love and they that dwell in love dwell in God Love worketh no Ill to his Neighbour therefore Love is the fulfilling of the Law Rom. 13.10 And the Apostle saith All the Law is fulfilled in one word even in this Thou shalt love thy Neigbour as thy self Gal. 5.14 As the Father hath loved me so I have loved you continue ye in my love John 15.9 This should be the practice of all God's People Gooses the 6th Month 1687. G. F. And because most People would own and Confess that God's People should be thus but few knew how to come to this state Therefore in the Openings of the Spirit of Truth I writ another short Paper directing to The right Way and Means whereby People might come unto Christ and so be made like unto God That was thus CHrist saith I am the Way the Truth and the Life no Man cometh unto the Father but by me John 14.6 And again No Man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him John 6.44 Now what is the Means by which God doth draw People to his Son but by his holy Spirit who poureth out of his Spirit upon all Flesh that is all Men and Women And by this holy Spirit the holy and righteous God doth draw People from their Unrighteousness and Unholiness to Christ the righteous and holy One the great Prophet in his New Covenant and New Testament whom Moses in the Old Covenant and Testament said God would raise up like unto him and whom People should hear in all things and they that would not hear him should be Cut off Now they that do not hear the Son of God the great Prophet do not mind the drawing of the Father by his holy Spirit to his Son But they that do mind the drawings of the good Spirit of the Father to his Son the Spirit doth give them Understanding to know God and Jesus Christ which is Eternal Life And then they do know that Jesus Christ is the Way the Truth and the Life and that none can come unto God but by and through his Son Jesus Christ who is their Shepherd to feed them at his Pastures and Springs of Life and his Sheep do know his holy Voice in whom there was no sin and in whose mouth there was no guile and an Hireling they will not hear for he careth not for the Sheep for they are not the Hireling's but Christ's who hath laid down his Life for his Sheep And he that robs and steals his Neighbour's Words and climeth up another way and entereth not by the Door he is a Thief and a Robber But Christ is the Door into his Sheepfold for his Sheep to enter in by And so they know that Christ is the Bishop of their Souls to see that they do not go astray from God nor out of his Pastures of Life And they do know that Christ is their Mediator and makes their Peace with God And they do know that Christ is their High-Priest made higher than the Heavens and hath died for their sins and doth cleanse them with his Blood and is risen for their Justification and is able to the utmost to save all that come to God by him Gooses the 6th Month 1687. G. F. Before I left this place I writ another Paper the Scope whereof was to shew by many Instances taken out of the holy Scriptures That the Kingdom of God which most People talk of at a distance and refer altogether to another life is in some measure to be known and entred into in this life but that none can know an Entrance thereinto but such as are Regenerated and Born again Of that Paper the following is a Copy CHrist saith Except a Man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God John 3.3 That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit ver 6. So Except a Man be born of Water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God ver 5. And John writing to the seven Churches in Asia calls himself their Brother and Companion in Tribulation and in the Kingdom and Patience of Jesus Christ Rev. 1.9 Here you may see that John was in the Kingdom so he was born again for he did not only see the Kingdom but was in it And John saith Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the Sons of God therefore the World knoweth us not because it knew him not 1 John 3.1 And Beloved now are we the Sons of God ver 2. And If ye know that he is Righteous ye know that every one that doth Righteousness is born of him Chap. 2.29 And Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin for his Seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God Ch. 3.9 Again John saith Let us love one another for love is of God and every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God He that loveth not knoweth not God for God is love Ch. 4.7 8. Again Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God Ch. 5.1 And
Yearly-Meeting was over which this Year was about the beginning of the Fourth Month. A precious Meeting it was and a very refreshing Season Friends had together the Lord vouchsafing to honour our Assemblies with his living and glorious Presence in a very plentiful manner At the Conclusion of the Meeting I felt a Concern upon my Spirit to give forth the following Paper to be dispersed abroad amongst Friends ALL you Believers in the Light that are become Children of the Light walk as Children of the Light and of the Day of Christ and as a City set on a Hill that cannot be hid and so let your Light shine that People may see your good Works and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven For a good Tree bringeth forth good Fruit and therefore be ye Trees of Righteousness the planting of the Lord having Fruits unto Holiness and then your End will be Everlasting life And such are the Wells and Cisterns that hold the living Water of life which springs up in them to Eternal life so ye may all drink Water out of your own Cisterns and running Water out of your own Wells and eat every one of his own Fig-tree and of his own Vine having Salt every one in your selves to season every one's Sacrifice acceptable to God by Jesus Christ and like unto the Wise Virgins that have Oil in their Lamps and follow the Lamb and enter in with the Bridegroom 1688. London Yearly-Meeting And now is the time to Labour while it is day yea the Day of Christ and to stir up every one's pure Mind and the Gift of God that is in them and to improve your Talents that Christ hath given you that ye may profit And to walk every one according to the Measure that Christ hath given you for the Manifestation of the Spirit of God is given to every one to profit withal Now consider what you have profited in spiritual and heavenly things with the heavenly Spirit of God and be not like the wicked and slothful that hid his Talent from whom it was taken and he cast into Utter darkness And a Dwarf or one that had any blemish was not to come nigh to Offer upon God's Altar And therefore mind the Word of Wisdom to keep you out of that which will Corrupt you and Blemish you and that ye may grow in Grace and in Faith and in the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ and feeding upon the Milk of the Word may grow by it that ye may not be Dwarfs and so to Offer your spiritual Sacrifice upon God's holy Altar For the Field or Vineyard of the slothful grows over with Thorns and Nettles and his Walls go down such are they that are not diligent in the Spirit of God and the Power which is the Wall a sure Fence and the Spirit of God will Weed out all both Thorns and Thistles and Nettles out of the Vineyard of the heart And you that are Keepers of others Vineyards see that you keep your own Vineyard clean with the Spirit and Power of Christ and sanctifie your selves and sanctifie the Lord in your hearts that ye may be a holy People to the Lord who saith Be ye holy for I am holy that ye may be the holy Members of the Church of Christ that is clothed with the Sun and hath the Moon under her feet the changeable World with all her changeable Worships Religions Churches and Teachers And be ye new and heavenly Jerusalem's Children for new and heavenly Jerusalem that is above is the Mother of all the Children of the Light and that are born of the Spirit and these be they that have been persecuted and have suffered by the false Church Mystery Babylon and Mother of Harlots And now all heavenly Jerusalem's and Sion's Children that are from above labour in the Gospel the Power of God and the Seed in which all Nations and all the Families of the Earth are blessed which Seed Christ bruises the Serpent's head and destroys the Devil and his Works and overcomes the Whore the false Church and the Beast and the false Prophet And takes away the Curse and the Vail that is spread over all Nations and over all the Families of the Earth and brings the Blessing upon all Nations and upon all the Families of the Earth if they will receive it saying In thy Seed shall all Nations and all the Families of the Earth be blessed And this is the Gospel of God preached to Abraham before Moses writ his Five Books and was preached in the Apostles days and is now preached again Which Gospel brings Life and Immortality to light and is the Gospel of Peace Life and Salvation to every one that believes it And so all Nations and all the Families of the Earth must be in Christ the Seed if they be blessed and be partakers of the Blessing in the Seed which Gospel God did preach and reveal to Abraham as in Gal. 3.8 And this Gospel was revealed and preached by Christ unto his Apostles who preached it which is not of Man nor from Man And now God and Christ hath Revealed the same Gospel unto me and many others in this Age I say the Gospel and the Seed in which all Nations and Families of the Earth are blessed in which Gospel I have laboured and do labour that all may come into this blessed Seed Christ who bruises the head of the Serpent that in it they might have peace with God And this Everlasting Gospel is preached again to them that dwell upon the Earth and they that believe it and receive it receive the Blessing and the Peace and Joy and Comfort of it and the stability in it and the life and immortality which it brings to light in them and to them And such can praise the Everlasting God in his Everlasting Gospel And Friends all seek the peace and good of all in Christ for Truth makes no Cains Corahs Balaams nor Judasses for they come to be such that go out of the peaceable Truth And therefore walk in the peaceable Truth and speak the Truth in the love of it as it is in Jesus G. F. Sometime after the Yearly-Meeting was over I went to my Son Mead's House Essex Gooses called Gooses in Essex and abode there some Weeks often visiting Friends Meeting near there and sometimes at Barking And after I had been a while there I went to visit Friends at Waltham-Abbey and at Hodsdon Waltham-Abbey Hodsdon Eâ—field South-street Ford-green Winchmore-hill and about Enfield South-street Ford-Green and Winchmore-Hill where I had several very serviceable Meetings amongst Friends the Lord opening many deep and weighty things through me both for the Informing the Understandings of Inquirers and building up those that were gathered into the Truth and establishing them therein It was in the Seventh Month that I returned to London having been near Three Months in the Country for my health's sake which now was very much Impaired so that
together in the Name of Jesus and Serving and Worshipping God their Creator No they must not Breathe in their Natural Air neither Natural nor Spiritual in your Dominions I pray where had you these Commands from neither from Christ nor his Apostles And do not you profess the Scriptures of the New Testament to be your Rule but I pray you what Scripture have you for this your practice It is good for you to be Humble and do Justly and love Mercy and Call home your Banished and Love them and Cherish them yea though they were your Enemies you are to obey the Command of Christ and Love them I wonder how you and your Wives and Families can sleep quietly in your Beds that do such Cruel Actions without thinking the Lord may do to you the same Yout cannot be without Sense and Feeling except you be given over to Reprobation without Sense and Feeling and your Consciences seared with a hot Iron But Christian Charity doth hope that you are not all in that state but that there may be some Relenting or Consideration of your Actions among some of you either according to the Law of God or his Gospel From him that desires your Temporal and Eternal Good and Salvation and not Destruction Amen Middlesex the 28th of the 2d Month 1688. G. F. Peter Thou may'st Translate this into High-Dutch and send them and you may print it if you will and spread it abroad and Translate that part of the Letter that is to Friends into High-Dutch and send to them Having stay'd in the Country about Three Weeks 1689. London Yearly-Meeting I return'd to London a little before the Yearly-Meeting which was in the Third Month this Year and was a very Solemn Weighty Meeting the Lord as formerly visiting his People and honouring the Assembly with his glorious Presence to the great Satisfaction and Comfort of Friends After the Business of the Meeting was over it was upon me to add a few Lines to the Epistle which went from the Meeting to Friends after this manner Dear Friends and Brethren WHO have known the Lord's Eternal Arm and Power that hath preserved you upon the heavenly Rock and Foundation and hath built your House upon it you have known many Winds Tempests and Storms that have risen out of that Sea where the Beast rose and many raging Storms that have risen by Apostates of several sorts but the Seed that bruises the Serpent's head and is the Foundation of God's People stands sure And therefore Dear Friends and Brethren though there be great Shakings in the World the Lord's Power is over all and his Kingdom cannot be shaken And therefore all ye Children of God Children of the Light and Heirs of his Kingdom a Joyful Peaceable Habitation keep in keeping out of all the Heats Contentions and Disputes about things below And Lay hand on no man nor no thing suddenly lest they should be puffed up with that which fades and so come to loss but mind the Lord's Power that keeps open your heavenly Eye to see things present and to come and in that ye will see and handle the Word of Life And Dear Friends every where Have power over your own Spirits As God hath blessed you with his Outward things have a care of Trusting in them or falling into Difference one with another about these Outward Things that are below which will pass away But all live in the Love of God and in that live in peace with God and one with another And follow the Works of Charity and overcome the Evil with the Good to all For what Good have all the Tinklers done with their Cymbals and sounding Brass They always bred Confusion and never did Good in any Age Tinkling with their Cymbals and sounding with their Brass to draw out the Simple to follow them And therefore it is good for all the Children of God to keep in their Possessions of Life and in the Love of God that is Everlasting And as for all the Tumults of the World and the Apostates from the Truth the Lord's Power is over them all and Christ reigns and the Lord saith No Weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper Isa 54.17 And now Friends you are not unsensible how many Weapons have been formed against us who are the Sons and Daughters of God and the Lord hath restrained them according to his Promise they have not prospered And the Lord said Every Tongue that shall rise up in Judgment against thee thou shalt Condemn so God hath given such a Power to his Children to Condemn all the Tongues that shall rise up in Judgment against them and this is the Heritage of the Servants of the Lord Their Righteousness is of me saith the Lord. And you are not unsensible of the many Tongues that have risen up against us in Judgment yea of Apostates and Prophane But in and with the Truth and the Power of God according to the Promise of God Every Tongue that riseth against thee thou shalt Condemn So it is not one Tongue only thou shalt Condemn but Every Tongue that shall rise up in Judgment against thee thou shalt Condemn So the Lord giveth this Power to his Servants and Children to judge the Evil Tongues and he doth restrain the Weapons formed against them so that they shall not prosper against his Children that he hath begotten Praises and Honour be to his holy Name for ever Amen G. F. Soon after this Meeting was over the Yearly Meeting began at York which because of the Largeness of that County and for the Conveniency of Friends in the Northern parts had for some Years been held there And inasmuch as there had been some Hurt done in that place as some Division made there by some that were gone out of the Vnity of Friends It was upon me to write a few Lines to Friends of that Meeting to Exhort them to keep in the pure heavenly Love which brings into and keeps in the true Unity And that which I writ was thus Dear Friends and Brethren in Christ Jesus WHom the Lord by his Eternal Arm and Power hath preserved to this day all walk in the Power and Spirit of God that is over all in Love and Vnity For Love overcomes and builds up and unites all the Members of Christ to him the Head for Love keeps out of all strife and is of God And Love and Charity never fails but keeps the Mind above all outward things or strife about outward things and is that which overcomes Evil and casts out all false Fears And it is of God and unites all the hearts of his People together in the heavenly Joy Concord and Unity The God of Love preserve you all and settle and establish you in Christ Jesus your Life and Salvation in whom ye have all Peace with God And so Walk in him that ye may be ordered in his peaceable heavenly Wisdom to the Glory of God and the Comfort one of another
Amen London the 27th of the 3d Month 1689. G. F. Being much Wearied and Spent with being at many large Meetings 1689. Kingston and in much Business with Friends during the time of the Yearly-Meeting and finding my health much impaired thereby I went out of Town with my Daughter Rouse to their Country-house near Kingston and tarried there most of the remaining part of the Summer In which time I sometimes visited Friends Meetings at Kingston and writ divers things for the Service of Truth and Friends Amongst those things that I writ there one was an Epistle to Friends in Barbados and it was as followeth To all Friends in Barbados that are Convinced of God's Truth MY Desires are that ye may live and walk in his peaceable Truth and shew forth that ye are Children of the Light and of the Truth for the heavenly gentle and peaceable Wisdom is justified of her Children But Debate Strife Wilfulness and laying open one another's Nakedness and Weakness that is not heavenly Wisdom's Children's doing but Ham's nor from the Spirit of Christ nor such as bite and tear one another That 's from a devouring Spirit and not from the Spirit of Jesus which cloaths and covers that which is uncomely and can forgive And now my Friends you profess that Truth which is beyond all the World's ways therefore see that you do Excel them in the heavenly gentle Wisdom that is easie to be intreated for the Wisdom of the World is not easie to be intreated and sometimes will not be intreated at all And now pray see how you do excel the World in Wisdom in Vertue in Kindness in Love that is over hatred in Meekness and Lowliness and Humility and in Sobriety Civility and Modesty and in Temperance and Patience and in all that which is called Morality and Humanity which will not act any thing below Men or unmanly and to shew forth true Christianity and that ye are the Converted and Translated Believers in Christ dwelling in the Love of God that beareth all things and endureth all things and is not puffed up and envies not For they that be out of this Love of God and Christian Charity are nothing but as a tinkling Cymbal and a sounding Brass and are discontented Murmurers and Complainers full of Doubts Questions and false Jealousies Keep that Spirit out of the Camp of God for do not you read in the Scriptures both of the New and Old Testament that the End of such was Misery Therefore in the Love of God build up one another for Love edifies the Body of Christ and he commands his Believers to love Enemies and to love one another By this they are known to be the Disciples of Christ But to live in Envy Strife and Hatred is a Mark they are no Disciples of Christ For he that loveth not his Brother abides in Death and whosoever hates his Brother is a Murderer and ye know that no Murderer hath eternal life abiding in him But they that do love the Brethren are passed from death to life 1 John 3.14 15. And If a Man say I love God and hateth his Brother he is a liar for he that loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen And this Commandment have we from God that he who loveth God loveth his Brother also Chap. 4.20 21. Therefore love one another for Love is of God and Hatred is of the Devil and every one that loveth is born of God and knows God Now all are Children of God by Creation and therefore in that state they are to love their Neigbours as themselves and to do unto all Men as they would have them do unto them Secondly God pouring his Spirit upon all Flesh or all Men and Women all that are led by the Spirit of God are the Sons of God and Heirs of God and Joint-heirs with Christ and so are in Fellowship in the Everlasting Gospel and so are in Vnity in the Spirit the Bond of Peace And they that go out of this Unity and out of the Bond of Peace and do not keep it they break the King of Kings Peace but they that keep in the Unity and Fellowship in the Spirit and walk in the Light have Fellowship one with another and with the Father and the Son So it is not every one that talks of the Light and talks of the Word and of Righteousness and talks of Christ and of God but he that Doth the will of God And therefore My Friends all strive to excel one another in Love and in Vertue and in good Life and Conversation and strive all to be of one Mind Heart and Judgment in the Spirit of God for in Christ all are one and are in peace in him The Lord God Almighty preserve you in him who is your holy Rock and Foundation that is heavenly and stands sure that ye may all be Valiant for the Truth upon the Earth and for the Lord and his glorious Name so that ye may all come to serve him in your Generation and in his New Creation in Christ Jesus Amen And now that you are come into so much Favour with the Magistrates and Powers that they let you serve the Office of a Constable c. without swearing or taking any Oaths hereby Christ's Doctrine and Command and his Apostle's is set up And therefore I desire that you may double your diligence in your Offices in doing that which is just and true and righteous so that ye may excel and exceed all them that are tied shack'led or bound by Swearing or Oaths to perform their Offices and you can do it at Yea and Nay so say and so do according to Christ's Doctrine and Command For Adam and Eve by disobeying the Command of God fell under Condemnation and they that disobey the Command of Christ in taking Oaths and Swearing go into Evil and fall into Condemnation Matth. 5. and Jam. 5. So my Love in the Lord is to you all Kingston upon Thames the 10th of the 5th Month 1689. G. F. I stay'd at Kingston till the beginning of the Seventh Month where not only many Friends came to visit me but some Considerable People of the World with whom I discoursed about the Things of God Then leaving Kingston I went to London by Water visiting Friends as I went Hammersmith and taking Hammersmith-Meeting in my way And having recovered some strength by being in the Country when I was come to London London I went from Meeting to Meeting labouring diligently in the work of the Lord and opening the Divine Mysteries of the heavenly things as God by his Spirit opened them in me But I found my Body would not long bear the City wherefore when I had travelled amongst Friends there about a Month Tottenham-High-Cross Winchmore-hill Enfield I went to Tottenham-High-Cross and from thence to Edward Man's Country-house near Winchmore-hill and to Enfield spending a matter of Three Weeks
worship God in Spirit and in Truth which Christ set up above Sixteen hundred years since So all Men and Women must come to the Spirit and Truth in their hearts by which they must know the God of Truth who is a Spirit and then in the Spirit and Truth they will Worship him and know what and who they Worship And also the Lord is come to bring his People off all the World's Temples that with the Spirit they may know â—â—at their Bodies are the Temples of the Holy Ghost And the Lord is come to bring his People off all the World's Crosses and Pictures and Images and Likenesses to know that the Power of God is the Cross of Christ which Crucifies them to the World and brings them up into the Likeness and Image of God as Man and Woman was in before they fell and so to Christ that never fell And this Work of Christ must all know in their hearts by the Light of Christ Jesus who is the true Light that lighteth every Man that cometh into the World It is called the Light in Man and Woman and the Life in Christ the Word and Christ saith Believe in the Light that ye may become Children of the Light And the Light lets you see all your Evil Actions that you have done and committed and your ungodly Ways you have walked in and your ungodly Words and Thoughts and now if you do hate this Light and love the Darkness and the Prince of it more than this Light which is the Life in Christ the Prince of Life and will not come to it because your Deeds be Evil and it will reprove you Christ tells you This Light is your Condemnation And then what is all your Profession good for when you remain under the Condemnation of the true Light in which you should believe and so become Children of Light and out of Condemnation And therefore every one must believe in the Light if they do receive Christ Jesus and as many as receives him he gives them Power to become the Sons of God So he that hath the Son of God hath Life and they that have not the Son of God have not Life and then if you have not Life what good doth all your Profession of the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelations do you any more than the Jews Scribes and Pharisees that would not receive Christ the Life upon whom God brought his overflowing Scourge And therefore do you take heed of that for your Strength will be no better than theirs if you have not God and Christ's supporting Power when God's Scourge comes upon you and you are filled with Horrours and Fears But my desires are that you may all Repent even from the Highest to the Lowest and not grieve nor quench nor vex nor rebel against God's good Spirit in you nor walk despitefully against the Spirit of Grace nor turn from it unto Wantonness which would teach you and bring your Salvation Which if you do how can you escape the over-flowing Scourge of the Almighty and the Wrath of the Lamb But my desires are that you may all obey God's good Spirit of Truth which will lead you out of all Evil into all Truth and reprove you for your Righteousness and for your own Judgment and Sin c. and it will bring you to cleave to that which is good and forsake that which is evil and to turn to the Lord who will receive you in his Mercy and Kindness By which Means you may escape the over-flowing Scourge in the Day of Vengeance which dreadful Day is coming upon all Evil-doers And this as a Warning to you both for your Temporal and Eternal Good and for you to Read it in your Assemblies and your Priests to Read it in their Churches so that all People may hear and fear as you will Answer it at the Terrible and Dreadful Day of Judgment Amsterdam the 19th of the 7th Month 1677. G. F. For the Embassadors that are Met to Treat for Peace at the City of Nimmeguen in the States Dominions To pag. 448 CHrist Jesus saith Blessed are the Peace-makers for they shall be called the Children of God Matth. 5.9 so all Christian men are to forsake Evil and do Good and seek Peace and follow it if they will love Life and see good Days 1 Pet. 3.11 for God hath called all true Christians unto Peace 1 Cor. 7. and therefore all Christians ought to follow this Peace which God calls them to and they should let the Peace of God rule in all their Hearts which is above the Peace of this World that is so soon broken For the Apostle Commands the Christians to let the Peace of God rule in their Hearts to which all Christians should be subject Now the Practice of this should be among Christians that profess Christianity and this Peace is above that which Christ takes from the Earth Rev. 6. which is the Peace of the Wicked And the Apostle saith to the Christians Be at Peace among your selves 1 Thess 5. Now all Christians should obey this Command and be at Peace among themselves and not in Wars and Strife And further the Apostle exhorts the Christians to keep the Vnity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace so this Vnity and this Bond of Peace should be kept and not be broken by all that bears that Noble Name Christian and they should keep the Unity of the Spirit of Christ in the Bond of the Prince of Princes and King of Kings and Lord of Lords Peace which is the Duty of all true Christians to keep In which they may honour Christ in bringing forth the Fruits of Peace which is Love and Charity For the Apostle tells you The fruits of the good Spirit is Love Joy and Peace Long-suffering Gentleness Goodness c. Gal. 5. And the Apostle exhorts the Christians and saith If it be possible as much as lieth in you live peaceable with all Men and this should be the Endeavour of all Christians For it is no honour to Christ that Christians should war and destroy one another that do profess the Name of Christ who saith He came to save Mens lives and not to destroy them For Christians have Enemies enough abroad without them and therefore they should Love one another as Christ commands who saith By this ye shall be known to be my Disciples if ye Love one another For Christians are commanded to love Enemies therefore much more one another And Christ saith As the Father hath loved me so I have loved you Continue ye in my Love John 15.8 and By this shall all Men know that ye are my Disciples if ye Love one another John 13.35 But if Christians do war and destroy one another this will make both Jews Turks Tartars and Heathens to say That you are not Disciples of Christ. And therefore as you love God and Christ and Christianity and its Peace All make Peace as far as you have power among Christians that
you may have the Blessing For you read that Christians were called the Houshold of Faith the houshold of God a holy Nation a peculiar People and they are commanded to be Zealous for good Works not for bad and Christians are also commanded not to bite and devour one another lest they be consumed one of another And is it not a sad thing for Christians to be biting and consuming one another in the sight of the Turks Tartars Jews and Heathens when they should Love one another and do unto all Men as they would have them do unto them And such Work and Devouring as this will open the Mouths of Jews and Turks Tartars and Heathens to Blaspheme the Name of Christ who is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and cause them to speak evil of Christianity for them to see how the Unity of the Spirit is broken among such as profess Christ and Christ's Peace And therefore all Christians are to mind God and Christ's Teaching who teacheth Christians to Love one another yea Enemies and perswade all Kings and Princes to give Liberty to all tender Consciences in Matters of Religion and Worship they living peaceable under every Government so that for the time to come there may be no more Imprisonment and Persecution among the Christians for Matters of tender Consciences about Matters of Faith Worship and Religion that the Jews Turks Tartars and Heathens may not see how Christians are Persecuting one another for Religion And seeing from Christ and the Apostles Christians have no such Command but on the contrary to Love one another and knowing that Christ said to such as would have been plucking up Tares Let the Tares and the Wheat grow together till the Harvest which is the End of the World lest they plucked up the Wheat and at the End of the World Christ would send forth his Angels and they should sever the Wheat from the Tares So Christ tells you that it is the Angels work at the End of the World and not Mens work before the Harvest at the End of the World Hath not all this Persecution Banishing and Imprisoning and putting to Death concerning Religion been the pretence of plucking up Tares and hath not all this been before the Harvest and before the End of the World And therefore have not all these been the Actors against the Express Command of Christ the King of Heaven which all Kings and Rulers especially they that call themselves Christians should obey their Lord and Saviour's Command which he expresly Commands Let the Tares and the Wheat grow together till the Harvest and the Harvest is the End of the World and then Christ will send his Angels and they shall sever the Wheat from the Tares c. And also Christ told some of his Disciples that would have had Fire to come down from Heaven to destroy such as would not receive him in their Zeal That they did not know what Spirit they were of and rebuked them and said He came not to destroy Mens Lives but to save them And therefore all such that have destroyed Mens Lives concerning Religion and Worship of God have they known what Spirit they have been of Have they not done that they should not do and done that which Christ forbad who saith Lest ye should pluck up the Wheat with the Tares and saith It is the Angels work at the End of the World And hath not God shewed unto Man what is Good and his Duty To Love Mercy and to do Justly and to walk Humbly with his God which Man is to mind And the Apostle exhorts the Christians to Follow Peace with all Men and Holiness without which no Man shall see the Lord Hebr. 12.14 And why should Christians War and Strive one with another seeing they all do own in words one King and Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus whose Command is That they should Love one another which is a Mark that they shall be known by to be Christ's Disciples as I said before And Christ who is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords saith As I have Loved you so love one another John 15.12 and John 13. And the Apostle saith Christians ought to be patient towards all Men 1 Thess 5.14 From him who is a Lover of Truth and Righteousness and Peace and desires your Temporal and Eternal Good and desires that in the Wisdom of God that is pure and gentle and peaceable from above with that you may be Ordered and Order all things that God hath Committed to you to his Glory and stop those things among Christians so far as you have power which dishonour God Christ and Christianity Amsterdam the 21th of the 7th Month 1677. G. F. THE FIRST TABLE CONTAINING The Names of the Countries Cities Towns and Places mentioned in the Author's Journal of his Travels and Labours on Truth 's Account in England c. and beyond the Seas Note The Pages with a Star refer to the like Pages with a Star to begin p. 189* 190* 200* 201* c. these Pages being double A. ABbyholm 268* Aberdeen Scotl. 407 Acton 141 Adderbury 388. 457 Addingworth 430 Albans 171. 430. 457. 479 Alborough Castle 522 Aldenham 78 Alexandria in Egypt 248. 253 Alkmaer Holl. 438. 522 America 408 Amersham 455 Amoroca River Amer. 380 Ampthill 430 Amsterdam 433-438 446-451 452. 520-522 594. 617-619 627-632 Anamessy River Amer. 380 Anderigo Friezl 444 Antego 356 357. 458 Apledon 318 319 Appingdalen F. 439 Applebye 91 Apre Denmark 440 Arnside 103. 215 216. 269. 470 Armscot 388 389. 457 Arundel 171 Ashford 259 Ashwell 469 Atherston 30. 132 Aylesbury 388 B. BAdcow Scotl. 269* 271* 276* Badgesley 167. 170. 225* 213. 310. 325. 429 Baghurst 341 Bagworth 29 Balby 54. 67. 69. 129. 213 214. 326. 429 Baldock 170 171. 316. 469 Ballowfield 429 Banbury 316 Bandon Irel. 328 Bandon-Bridge Irel. ibid. Barbados 351-361 379. 382. 599 Barking 570 Barnet 3. 430. 457. 479. 584 Barnet-hills 254 255 Barnstaple 318 Barrow 28. 254 Barton 423 Barton-Abbey 215 Basingstoke 244* Battersea 480 Beavor Vale 16. 18-26 Becliff 79 Bedall 423 Bedfordshire 149. 166. 170. 282* 259. 310 311. 430. 457. 469. 479 Bednalgreen 536-538 550 Bentham 297 Berkshire 254. 335. 342. 456 Berry-street 568 569 Berwick 281* Beverley 54 Beumaris Wales 258* 259* Biddlesden 479 Birmingham 167. 325 Bishopsdale 423 Bishop-starford 156 Black-Rock Chesh 327 Bletchington 480 Block-Island Amer. 369 Bodmin 178 179 Bohemia-River Amer. 365. 372 Bonners-Creek Amer. 376 377 Boston Lincolnsh 225* Boston New Eng. 242. 379 Boulton 280 Bowden mag 469 Bowtell 104 105 Bradforth 71 Braintrie 457 Brecknock 246* 247* Bremen Germ. 440 443 Bremer-Haven Germ. 443 Bridge-Town Barb. 356 Bridport 244 Briell Holl. 433. 453. 520. 522 Brigflats 423 Bristol 221* 222* 245* 210. 212. 253 254. 266. 310. 315. 332. 334. 456 Bristol-Harbour 383-386 Buckinghamshire 3. 224* 196. 310. 316. 341. 387. 430. 455. 457. 479 488 489 Bugbrook 479 Bullocks-Hill 430 Burlington 307 Burnt-Island 276* Burroby 57.