Religion Such as be in the Religion that is Vain whose Tongues are not bridled I believe the Quakers are a Grief to but are not a Grief to such as be in the pure Religion which keepeth unspotted of the World which sets not up Bills nor Watches to maintain it by the World for they are not of the World which be in the pure Religion which keeps them unspotted of the World Mark the pure Religion which keeps unspotted of the World But such as be in the Religion that is not pure which have a Form of Godliness and not the Power such as you call Pious the Truth it self to such was always a Grief and so it is in this Age. And now your Fruits do appear the End of your Religion and Profession and what you do possess But you are in the Error and have been but in the Profession out of the Possession of the Spirit who are not in the Spirit of Truth For where did ever it set Stints and Bounds and number the Just and Innocent with the Wicked But the Wicked set Stints and Bounds and Limits to the Just and number them among the Wicked yea speak all manner of Evil they did of them as ye are doing now of us they did so who did profess that which ye do profess in Words Nay according as it was foretold in the Scripture such as tremble at the Word of God you cast out and hate you that have your Temple-worship and you say The Quakers come to disturb you in your Churches as you call them Was it not the Practice of the Apostles to go into the Synagogues and Temples to witness against the Priesthood that took Tithes And was it not the Practice of the Jews to hale them out and persecute them and stone them that witnessed Christ the Second Priest and went to bring People off from the First Priesthood Was it not the practice of the Prophets to go and cry against the High Places And was it not the Practice of the Jews when they were back-slidden and of the Heathen to Imprison and Persecute the Prophets and send after them into other Countries And is not this the Practice of you now who are holding up your High-Places which the Papists set up which ye now call your Churches where ye beat and persecute What Religious People are you that are filled with so much Madness Did not Paul Confess he was Mad while he was in your Practice haling beating prisoning putting out of the Synagogues having his Authority from the Chief Priests And are not the Chief Priests the cause of this Was there ever such a Cry made in any Age past as there is now in the Pulpits Railing against an Innocent People whom ye in scorn call Quakers who lift not up an Hand against you and who are indeed the Pious that are of the pure Religion who fear God and worship him in the Spirit and in the Truth but cannot Join with you in your Religion And do not the Ministers of God say That the Scriptures are a Declaration which you call the Word Do not you rob Christ of his Title and of his Honour and give it to the Letter and shew your selves out of the Doctrine of the Ministers of God who called the Scriptures by the name of Writings and Treatises and Declarations and said Christ's Name is called the Word of God Are not you here in the Error you speak of which is your Common Talk among you There was talk among some of you of your Gospel-shining Doth your Gospel which you profess persecute Did ever any of them that did possess it cast into Prison and not suffer others to go to Visit them Are you like Christians in this or like Heathen who set Bounds and Watches over the Land that they should not pass to Visit them that be in Prison Was ever the like heard in any Age Search and see if you have not out-stript them all in your Watches if not in your manner of Persecution and in your Imprisonments And oh never talk that we are a Grief to them that are in the pure Religion And whereas in your Warrant we are represented as Dis-affected to Government I say the Law that is a Terror to the Evil-Doer we own the Higher Power to which the Soul must be subject But we deny the Evil-Doer the malicious Man reigning and the Envious Man seeking for his Prey whose Envy is against the Innocent who raiseth up the Country against honest Men and so becomes a Trouble to the Country in raising them up to take the Innocent but that we leave to the Lord to Judge Your false Accusations of Heresy and Blasphemy we do deny you should have laid them down in Particulars what they had been that People might have seen them and not have slandered behind our Backs The Law saith The Crime should be mentioned in the Warrant Then for your saying We deny the godly Ministers to be a true Ministry of Christ that is false for we say that the Godly Ministers are the Ministers of Christ But which of your Ministers dare say that they are truly Godly And for your charging us with seducing many weak People that is false also for we seduce none But you that deny the Light which lighteth every Man that cometh into the World are seduced from the Anointing which should Teach you and if ye would be Taught by it ye would not need that any Man should Teach you But such as are taught by the Anointing which abideth in them and deny Man's Teaching these ye call Seducers quite contrary to John's Doctrine 1 Joh. 2. You speak quite contrary to him that which is Truth ye call Seducing and that which he calls Seducing you call Truth Read the latter part of the Chapter And beware I warn you all from the Lord God of Glory set not any Bound against him Stint him not Limit not the Holy one of Israel for the Lord is rising in Power and great Glory who will rule the Nations with a Rod of Iron which to him are but as the drop of a Bucket he that measures the Waters in the Hollow of his Hand will dash Nations together as a Potter's Vessel And know you that are found in this his day blaspheming his Work that God hath brought forth calling it Blasphemy fighting against it setting up your Carnal Weapons making your Bonds strong God will break asunder that which your Carnal Policy hath invented and which by your Carnal Weapons ye would uphold and make you to know there is a God in Heaven who carries his Lambs in his Arms which are come among Wolves and are ready to be torn in pieces in every place yea in your Steeple-houses where are People without Reason and that have not natural Affection Therefore all ye Petty-Constables Sheriffs and Justices take Warning and take heed what ye do against the Lambs of Christ for Christ is come and coming who will give to every
me but went their Way in a Rage When I came into the House Friends were very glad to see them so confounded and that I had escaped them Next day I passed from thence and after I had visited Friends in several places as I went I came to London the Lord's Power accompanying me and bearing me up in his Service London I had not been long come to London before I heard that a Jesuit who came over with an Embassador from Spain had challenged all the Quakers to dispute with them at the Earl of Newport's House whereupon some Friends let him know That we would meet him Then he sent us word He would meet with Twelve of the Wisest Learned-Men we had A while after he sent us word He would meet with but Six and after that he sent us word again He would have but Three to come We hast'ned what we could lest for all his great Boast he should put it quite off at last When we were come to the House I bid Nicholas Bond and Edward Burrough go up and enter the Discourse with him and I would walk a while in the Yard and then come up after them I advised them to state this Question to him Whether or no the Church of Rome as it now stood was not degenerated from the true Church which was in the Primitive Times from the Life and Doctrine and from the Power and Spirit that they were in They stated the Question accordingly and the Jesuit affirmed That the Church of Rome now was in the Virginity and Purity of the Primitive Church By this time I was come to them Then we asked him Whether they had the Holy Ghost poured out upon them as the Apostles had and he said No. Then said I If ye have not the same Holy Ghost poured forth upon you and the same Power and Spirit that the Apostles had then ye are degenerated from the Power and Spirit which the Primitive Church was in So there needed little more to be said to that Then I asked him What Scripture they had for setting up Cloisters for Nuns Abbies and Monasteries for Men and for all their several Orders and for their Praying by Beads and to Images and for making Crosses and for forbidding of Meats and Marriages and for putting People to Death for Religion If said I ye are in the Practice of the Primitive Church 1658. London in its Purity and Virginity then let us see by Scriptures where-ever they practised any such things For it was agreed on both hands that both he and we should make good by Scriptures what we said Then he told us of a written Word and an unwritten Word I asked him What he called his unwritten Word He said The written Word is the Scriptures and the unwritten Word is that which the Apostles spake by Word of Mouth which said he are all those Traditions that we practise Ibid him Prove that by Scripture Then he brought that Scripture where the Apostle says 2 Thess 2.5 When I was with you I told you these things That is said he I told you of Nunneries and Monasteries and of putting to death for Religion and of Praying by Beads and to Images and all the rest of the Practices of the Church of Rome which he said was the unwritten Word of the Apostles which they told then and have since been continued down by Tradition unto these Times Then I desired him to read that Scripture again that he might see how he had perverted the Apostle's Words for that which the Apostle there tells the Thessalonians he had told them before is not an unwritten Word but is there written down namely That the Man of Sin the Son of Perdition shall be revealed before that great and terrible Day of Christ which he was writing of should come so this was not telling them any of those things that the Church of Rome practises In like manner the Apostle in the third Chapter of that Epistle tells the Church of some disorderly Persons he heard were amongst them busie-bodies who did not work at all concerning whom he had commanded them by his unwritten Word when he was among them that if any would not work neither should he eat which now he commands them again in his written Words in this Epistle 2 Thess 3. So this Scripture afforded no Proof for their invented Traditions and he had no other Scripture-Proof to offer Therefore I told him This was another Degeneration of their Church into such Inventions and Traditions as the Apostles and primitive Saints never practised After this he came to his Sacrament of the Altar beginning at the Paschal Lamb and the Shew-bread and so came to the Words of Christ This is my Body and to what the Apostle writ of it to the Corinthians Concluding That after the Priest had Consecrated the Bread and Wine it was Immortal and Divine and he that received it received the whole Christ I followed him through the Scriptures he brought till I came to Christ's Words and the Apostle's and I shewed him That the same Apostle told the Corinthians after they had taken Bread and VVine in Remembrance of Christ's Death that they were Reprobates if Christ was not in them But if the Bread they ate was Christ he must of necessity be in them after they had eaten it Besides if this Bread and this VVine which the Corinthians ate and drank was Christ's Body then how hath Christ a Body in Heaven I observed to him also That both the Disciples at the Supper and the Corinthians afterwards were to eat the Bread and drink the VVine in Remembrance of Christ and to shew forth his Death till he come which plainly proves the Bread and VVine which they took was not his Body For if it had been his Real Body that they ate then he had been Come and was then there present and it had been improper to have done such a thing in Remembrance of him if he had been then present with them as he must have been if that Bread and VVine which they ate and drank had been his Real Body Then as to those Words of Christ This is my Body I told him Christ calls himself a Vine and a Door and is called in Scripture a Rock Is Christ therefore an outward Rock Door or Vine O said the Jesuit Those words are to be interpreted So said I are those words of Christ This is my Body Now having stopt his Mouth as to Argument I made the Jesuit a Proposal thus That seeing he said The Bread and VVine was Immortal and Divine and the very Christ and that whosoever received it received the whole Christ Let a Meeting be Appointed between some of them whom the Pope and his Cardinals should Appoint and some of us and let a Bottle of VVine and Loaf of Bread be brought and divided each into two Parts and let them Consecrate which of those Parts they would And then set the Consecrated and the
accept any man's Person neither let me give flattering Titles unto Man for I know not to give flattering Titles in so doing my Maker would soon take me away Job 32. Job did not say Sirrah hold thy Tongue nor gave him any unsavoury Expression Then for the Words of David and Solomon and other Kings and Officers see in the Books of the Kings and Chronicles the Savoury Language that they gave to them that were brought before them Nay though Shimei cursed David the King yet neither did David then or afterward nor Solomon when he caused him to be put to Death give him any reproachful Language or so much as call him Sirrah 2 Sam. 16. and 1 Kings 2. Read the Prophecies of Isaiah and Micha Jeremiah Ezekiel and the rest of the Prophets who Prophesied to several Peoples and against Rulers Kings and Magistrates yet where can it be found that they had any bad Language given them as Sirrah or the like by any Ruler either of the Jews or Heathens Nay though Jeremiah was cast into the Prison and into the Dungeon yet there was no such Word as Sirrah or Knave given to him Jer. 37. Then for the Words and Carriage of the Heathens When Abraham was brought before Abimelech who was a King he gave Abraham no unsavoury Expressions Gen. 20. And when Isaac came before Abimelech he gave him no taunting Language neither Gen. 26. When Joseph was cast into Prison and that in Egypt we do not read that he had any railing Language given him Gen. 39. Neither did Pharaoh when Moses and Aaron went before him give them bad Language as Sirrah Knave or the like When Nebuchadnezzar Sentenced the Three Children to the Fiery Furnace there was no such Language given them as Sirrah Knave Rascal but called them by the Names they were known by Dan. 3. And when Daniel was brought before King Darius and sentenced to be cast into the Lions Den he had no such Ill Names given him as many give now who call those Heathen Rulers but themselves Christians If ye look into the New Testament there in the Parable of the Wedding-Supper the King that came to view his Guests did not say unto him that was found without a Wedding-Garment Sirrah how camest thou in hither but Friend how camest thou in hither c. though he was one that was to be bound hand and foot and cast into utter Darkness Matth. 22. Nay when Judas had betrayed his Master Christ Jesus the Lord of Life and had sold him to the Priests Christ did not call him Sirrah when he came to apprehend him but Friend Matth. 26.50 Stephen in his Examination Sentence and Death had no such reproachful Word given him as Sirrah or Knave Acts 6. 7. Chapt. When the Apostles Peter and John were brought before the High-Priest and Rulers of the Jews and commanded not to preach in the Name of Jesus Acts 4. they were not called Sirrah or Knaves nor had any such Ill Names given them And when Paul and Silas were cast into Prison by the Magistrates there was no such Word given them in their Examination nor in their Sentence Acts 16. They called them Men not Rogues Sirrahs nor Knaves And when the Magistrates had done contrary to Law they feared So ye may see how short of this Example many are that call themselves Christian Rulers who are not afraid to cast Innocent People into Prison and give them Ill Names besides below both Jews and Heathens When the Vproar was at Ephesus about Diana's Shrine Demetrius who bore great Sway among the Crafts-men did not call Paul Sirrah but called him by his Right Name Paul Acts 19. And when Paul was brought Prisoner before the High-Priest Ananias and the Council of the Jews and told them He had lived in all good Conscience towards God until that day though they who professed the Scriptures but lived out of the Life of them could not abide to hear of Living in a good Conscience as Professors of the Scriptures now that live not in the Life cannot abide to hear of living in a good Conscience now-a-days But Ananias caused Paul to be smitten on the Mouth yet he did not call him Knave nor Sirrah Acts 23. The Apostate-Jews indeed who though they professed Scripture were out of the Life thereof and had rejected Christ in their accusing Paul before the Roman Magistrates did once call him a Pestilent Fellow Acts 24. as the Accusing Professors who live out of the Life will sometimes call us now But Felix gave Paul no such Language neither did Festus nor King Agrippa in all their Examinations of him give Paul any such Words as Sirrah Rascal Knave or the like but heard him patiently So now Christians may see through all the Scriptures that when any Persons were brought before Rulers Kings or Magistrates whether Jews or Heathen they did not use to call them Evil Names as Sirrah Rascal Knave and the like they had no such foul-mouth'd Language in their Courts Nor did they use to say to them Sirrah put off your Hat Now ye that profess Christianity and say the Scripture is your Rule may see that more Corrupt Words proceed out of your Mouths than either out of the Jews or Heathens if ye will Try your Practice by the Scriptures And doth not the Apostle tell you that no Corrupt Communication should proceed out of your Mouths and that your Words should be gracious Now I query Where and whence ye that call your selves Christians have got all these bad Words and Names seeing neither God nor Christ nor the Prophets nor the Judges nor Kings nor Rulers ever gave any such Names so far as appears by Scripture either amongst the Heathens Jews or Christians G. F. Before the next Assizes came there was a Quarter-Sessions holden at Lancaster by the Justices To which though we were not brought yet I put Friends upon drawing up an Account of their Sufferings and laying them before the Justices in their open Sessions For Friends had suffered deeply by Fines and Distresses the Bayliffs and Officers making great Havock and Spoil of their Goods But no Redress was made And because some Evil-minded Magistrates would be telling us sometimes of the late Plot in the North we gave forth the following Paper to stop their Mouths and to clear Truth and Friends therefrom Which was as followeth A Testimony from us the People of God whom the World call Quakers To all the Magistrates and Officers of what sort soever from the Highest to the Lowest WE are peaceable and seek the Peace and Good and Welfare of all Men and Women upon the Earth as in our Lives and peaceable Carriages is manifested and we desire the Eternal Good and Welfare of all and their Souls everlasting Peace We are Heirs of the Blessing before the Curse was and of the Power of God before the Devil was and before the Fall of Man We are Heirs of the Gospel of Peace which is the
abroad through the Island Whereupon I with some other Friends drew up a Paper to go forth in the Name of the People called Quakers for the clearing Truth and Friends from those false Reports It was directed thus For the Governour of Barbados with his Council and Assembly and all others in Power both Civil and Military in this Island from the People called Quakers WHereas many scandalous Lies and Slanders have been cast upon us to render us odious as that We do deny God and Christ Jesus and the Scriptures of Truth c. This is to Inform you that all our Books and Declarations which for these many Years have been published to the World do clearly testifie the contrary Yet notwithstanding for your Satisfaction we do now plainly and sincerely declare That we do Own and Believe in God the only-Wise Omnipotent and Everlasting God who is the Creator of all things both in Heaven and in the Earth and the Preserver of all that he hath made who is God over all blessed for ever To whom be all Honour and Glory Dominion Praise and Thanksgiving both now and for evermore And we do Own and Believe in Jesus Christ his beloved and only begotten Son in whom he is well-pleased Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary in whom we have Redemption through his Blood even the Forgiveness of Sins Who is the Express Image of the Invisible God the First-born of every Creature by whom were all things created that are in Heaven and that are in Earth visible and invisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions or Principalities or Powers All things were created by him And we do Own and Believe that he was made a Sacrifice for Sin who knew no Sin neither was Guile found in his Mouth And that he was Crucified for us in the Flesh without the Gates of Jerusalem and that he was Buried and Rose again the Third Day by the Power of his Father for our Justification And we do Believe that he Ascended up into Heaven and now sitteth at the Right Hand of God This Jesus who was the Foundation of the Holy Prophets and Apostles is our Foundation and we do believe that there is no other Foundation to be laid but that which is laid even Christ Jesus who we believe tasted Death for every Man and shed his Blood for all Men and is the Propitiation for our Sins and not for ours only but also for the Sins of the whole World According as John the Baptist testified of him when he said Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the Sins of the World Joh. 1.29 We believe that he alone is our Redeemer and Saviour even the Captain of our Salvation who saves us from Sin as well as from Hell and the Wrath to come and destroys the Devil and his Works who is the Seed of the Woman that bruises the Serpent's Head to wit Christ Jesus the Alpha and Omega the First and the Last That he is as the Scriptures of Truth say of him our Wisdom and Righteousness Justification and Redemption neither is there Salvation in any other for there is no other Name under Heaven given among Men whereby we may be saved It is he alone who is the Shepherd and Bishop of our Souls He it is who is our Prophet whom Moses long since testified of saying A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your Brethren like unto me him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you And it shall come to pass that every Soul that will not hear that Prophet shall be destroyed from among the People Acts 2.22 23. He it is that is now Come and hath given us an Vnderstanding that we may know him that is true and he rules in our Hearts by his Law of Love and of Life and makes us free from the Law of Sin and Death and we have no Life but by him for he is the quickning Spirit the Second Adam the Lord from Heaven by whose Blood we are cleansed and our Consciences sprinkled from Dead Works to serve the Living God And he is our Mediator that makes Peace and Reconciliation between God offended and us offending he being the Oath of God the New Covenant of Light Life Grace and Peace the Author and Finisher of our Faith Now this Lord Jesus Christ the Heavenly Man the Emanuel God with us we all own and believe in him whom the High-Priest raged against and said he had spoken Blasphemy whom the Priests and the Elders of the Jews took Counsel together against and put to Death the same whom Judas betrayed for Thirty Pieces of Silver which the Priests gave him as a Reward for his Treason who also gave large Money to the Souldiers to broach an Horrible Lie namely That his Disciples came and stole him away by Night whilst they slept And after he was Risen from the Dead the History of the Acts of the Apostles sets forth how the Chief-Priests and Elders persecuted the Disciples of this Jesus for Preaching Christ and his Resurrection This we say is that Lord Jesus Christ whom we own to be our Life and Salvation And as concerning the Holy Scriptures we do believe That they were given forth by the Holy Spirit of God through the Holy Men of God who as the Scripture it self declares 2 Pet. 1.21 spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost We believe they are to be Read Believed and Fulfilled He that fulfils them is Christ and they are profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction and for Instruction in Righteousness that the Man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good Works 2 Tim. 3.16 and are able to make wise unto Salvation through Faith in Christ Jesus And we do believe that the Holy Scriptures are the Words of God for it s said in Exod. 20.1 God spake all these Words saying c. meaning the Ten Commandments given forth upon Mount Sinai And in Rev. 22.18 saith John I testifie to every man that heareth the Words of the Prophecy of this Book If any man addeth unto these and if any Man shall take away from the Words of the Book of this Prophecy not the Word c. So in Luke 1.20 Because thou believest not my Words And so in John 5.47 and John 15.7 John 14.23 John 12.47 So that we call the Holy Scriptures as Christ and the Apostles called them and Holy Men of God called them viz. the Words of God Another Slander and Lye they have cast upon us namely That we should teach the Negroes to Rebell A thing we utterly abhor and detest in our Hearts the Lord knows it who is the Searcher of all Hearts and knows all things and so can witness and testifie for us that this is a most Abominable Vntruth For that which we have spoken and declared to them is To exhort and admonish them to be sober and to fear God and
of the Land of Egypt for before that time the Lord had not given to Man and Woman his outward Sabbath-day to keep neither in the Old World nor after in Abraham's time nor in Isaac's nor in Jacob's time until the Jews came out of Egypt to Mount Sina in the Wilderness And then there the Lord gave the Law and his Sabbath as a Sign in the Old Covenant of Christ the Eternal Rest in the New Covenant and they that believe do enter into Christ their Rest. Adam the first Man is the Root from whence we all spring naturally And Christ is called the last or second Adam because he is the Beginning and Root of all them that are spiritual The first Adam was made a living Soul And Christ the last Adam was made a quickening Spirit Christ by the Grace of God tasted death for every Man that they might all come into Favour with God and that every Tongue should Confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father I writ also a Paper there Concerning the Two Seeds distinguishing the Seed wherein the Blessing is received from the Seed which the Curse remains upon Of that Paper the following is a Copy THE Lord said to Abraham In thy Seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be blessed Gen. 22.18 And thy Seed shall be as the Stars of Heaven and as the Sand which is upon the Sea-shore and as the Dust of the Earth that cannot be numbred Chap. 13.16 and 15.5 and 22.17 Now in this Seed all Nations and Families of the Earth are blessed but not in the Seed of Evil Doers and of Falshood nor in the Seed of the Adulterer and the Whore Isa 1.4 and 57.3 4. for the Seed of the Wicked shall be cut off 1687. Kingston saith the Lord Psal 37.28 The Lord said to David That his Seed should endure for ever Psal 89.36 And again it is said Psal 102.28 The Children of thy Servants shall continue and their Seed shall be established before thee Now ye may see that here is a Distinction betwixt the Two Seeds for the Seed of Evil Doers and of the Adulterer and Whore and of the Wicked shall be Cut off and so it is not blessed But Christ bruises the Head of the Serpent and his Seed which he soweth in them that do disobey and transgress God's Command and rebel against God's good Spirit This Wicked Seed of the Serpent is Curst and is an Enemy to the Seed in whom all are blessed But Christ bruises the Head of this cursed Seed of Enmity and destroys the Devil and his Works and in his Seed are all blessed and all are in Unity in this Seed And all the Children of the Seed are the Children of the Kingdom of God and of Christ and are blessed with faithful Abraham and who are of the saving divine precious Faith are of Abraham and walk in the Steps of the Seed and Faith of Abraham and are blessed with him yea all Nations and all the Families of the Earth And the Lord said to Abraham Thy Seed shall be a stranger in a Land that is not theirs and shall serve them and they shall afflict them Four hundred years and that Nation whom they shall serve will I judge and afterwards shall they to wit God's Seed come out with great Substance Gen. 15.13 14. Here ye may see That which Afflicts God's Seed he will judge and did judge for he did destroy the First-birth of Pharaoh and overthrew him and his Host And an holy Man said Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a Seed or Remnant we had been as Sodom c. that is destroyed and burnt But in the Seed which destroys the Devil and his Works and bruises the Head of the Serpent and his Seed are all Nations and Families of the Earth blessed Christ according to the flesh was of Abraham and of David for he took not on him the Nature of Angels but the Seed of Abraham in which Seed all Nations and Families of the Earth are blessed And so they that are of his Seed are of the Generation of Christ and so are Flesh of his Flesh and Bone of his Bone Now all Nations and Families of the Earth must be in this holy Seed if they have the Blessings and are blessed And out of the Mouth of this Seed's Seed shall not God's Word depart but shall Remain and abide in the Mouth of this Seed's Seed in which they are blessed Isa 59.21 So it is not the First-birth's talking of the Words of Christ the Seed in whose Mouth the Word of God doth not abide that makes an outward Profession like the Jews that did kill and persecute the Prophets and crucified Christ the Seed and Substance of the Law and Prophets which the Jews professed in words but they denied Christ the Seed and Life And all the Christians so called that do profess the Scriptures in Words and are not in the Seed Christ they are in the Confusion and are like the Jews And so neither Jews nor Christians are blessed except they be in Christ the Seed of Life But though Christ is said to be of the Seed of David and of Abraham as his Generation is declared by Matthew and Luke yet Christ was not born of the Will of the Flesh nor of the Will of Man but of God For he was Conceived by the Holy Ghost and not by the Will of Man but by the Will of God born of the Virgin and supposed to be the Son of Joseph but was the Son of God and his Name was called Jesus because he should save his People from their sins and Emanuel God with us And Christ took not upon him the Nature of Angels but the Seed of Abraham as I said before and so was made of the Seed of David according to the Flesh and declared to be the Son of God with Power according to the Spirit of Holiness by the Resurrection from the dead Rom. 1.4 So the Generation of Christ is a Mystery And Christ saw his Seed or Word to grow up in his Disciples And Christ in you the hope of Glory the Apostle calls The Mystery which hath been hid from Ages and Generations but now is made manifest to the Saints or sanctified Ones Col. 1.26 27. Whom we preach warning every Man and teaching every Man in all Wisdom that we may present every Man perfect in Christ Jesus v. 28. For in Christ the second Adam all are made perfect and compleat and in Adam in the Fall all are deformed and made imperfect So out of Christ all Mankind are Imperfect and Deformed Let them paint and dress themselves with the Sheep's Clothing and with the Form of Godliness of the Prophets and Christ's and his Apostles Words never so much yet if Christ be not in them they are Uncompleat Imperfect Deformed Reprobates But the Apostle tells the Church of Christ Ye are compleat in Christ which is the Head of all
house shall be established in the top of the Mountains and shall be exalted above the Hills and all Nations shall flow unto it Isa 2.2 Is not that a great House Now is not this Mountain Christ who is over his House in the New Testament and New Covenant And to this Mountain and House all the Children of the New Testament and New Covenant slow in these latter days so that it is come to pass which was prophesied of by Isaiah For he said Many People shall go and say Come ye and let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of his ways and we will walk in his paths for out of Zion shall go forth the Law and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem And he shall judge among the Nations and shall rebuke many People and they shall beat their Swords into Plon-shares and their Spears into Pruning-hooks Nation shall not lift up Sword against Nation neither shall they learn War any more O house of Jacob come ye and let us walk in the Light of the Lord ver 3 4 5. Here ye may see They that come to the Mountain of the house of God and to God's Teaching they must walk in the Light of the Lord yea the House of Jacob. Jacob signifies a Supplanter he supplanted profane Esau who is hated and Jacob is loved Now these Two Births must be known within And they that walk in the Light of the Lord and come to Christ the Mountain of the house of the Lord established above all Mountains and Hills they break their Swords into Plow-shares and their Spears into Pruning-hooks and in Christ this Mountain and House of the Lord there are no Spears nor Swords to hurt one another withal And Christ the Son of God is over his House and great Family the Children of the Light them that believe in it and walk in it who are the Children of the Day of Christ and are of his Holy and Royal Priesthood that offer up spiritual Sacrifice to God by him All such are of Christ's the spiritual Man's house who are born of God and led by his Spirit They are of the Lord of Lords and King of King's House and Family which he is over and are of the Houshold of the holy divine pure and precious Faith which Christ is the Author and Finisher of And they that be of the Son's house they are pure righteous and holy and can do nothing against the Truth but for it in their Words Lives and Conversations and so are a chosen Generation a holy Nation a peculiar People that they should shew forth the Praise of him who hath called them out of Darkness into his marvellous Light And these are Christ's lively Stones that build up a spiritual House which he Christ the spiritual Man the King of Kings and Lord of Lords is over London the 10th Month 1688. G. F. 1688. Essex Gooses Sometime after this my Body continuing Weak I went down with my Son Mead to his House in Essex where I staid some Weeks In which time I Writ many things relating to the Service of Truth of which some were printed soon after others were spread abroad in Manuscript And amongst other things ' there were a few Lines to this purpose THat while Men are contending for Thrones here below Christ is on his Throne and all his holy Angels are about him who is the Beginning and the Ending the First and Last over all And that the Lord will make way and room for himself and for them that are born of his Spirit which are heavenly Jerusalem's Children to come home to their free Mother A few Words also I writ concerning the World's Teachers and the Emptiness of their Teaching Which were thus DOth not all that which is called Christendom live in Talking of Christ's and of the Apostles and Prophets Words and the Letter of the Scriptures And do not their Priests minister the Letter with their own Conceptions thereupon to them for Money though the holy Scriptures were freely given forth from God and Christ and his Prophets and Apostles Yet the Apostle saith The Letter killeth but the Spirit giveth Life 2 Cor. 3.6 And the Ministers of the New Testament are not Ministers of the Letter but of the Spirit And they do sow to the Spirit and of the Spirit do reap Life Eternal But Peoples spending their time about Old Authors and their Talking of them and of the outward Letter this doth not feed their Souls For Talking of Victuals and Cloaths doth not clothe the Body nor feed it except they have Victuals to eat and Cloaths to put on No more are their Souls and Spirits fed and clothed except they have the Bread and Water of Life from Heaven to feed them and the Righteousness of Christ to clothe them So only Talking of Outward things and Spiritual things and not Having them they may starve both their Bodies and their Souls Therefore quench not the Spirit of God which will lead to be diligent in all things With this I writ another short Paper shewing the hurt that they did and the danger they run into who turned People from the inward Manifestation of Christ in the heart THE Jews were commanded by the Law of God Not to remove the outward Land-mark Deut. 19.14 And they that did so or that caused the Blind to wander were Cursed in the Old Covenant Deut. 27.17 In the New Covenant the Apostle saith Let him be Accursed that preacheth any other Gospel than that which he had preached Gal. 1.8 Now the Gospel that he preached was The Power of God unto Salvation 1688. Gooses to every one that believeth Rom. 1.16 And the Gospel that was preached to Abraham was That in his Seed all Nations and all the Families of the Earth should be blessed And in order to bring Men to this blessed state God poureth out of his Spirit upon all Flesh and Christ doth enlighten every one that cometh into the World and the Grace of God which bringeth Salvation hath appeared unto all Men and teacheth the Christians the true Believers in Christ and God doth write his Law in the true Christians hearts and putteth it in their minds that they may all know the Lord from the greatest to the least and he giveth his Word in their hearts to obey and do and the Anointing within them so that they need not any Man to Teach them but as the Anointing doth Teach them Now all such as turn People from the Light Spirit Grace Word and Anointing within remove them from their heavenly Land-mark of their Eternal Inheritance and make them blind and cause the Blind to wander from the living way to their Eternal House in the Heavens and from New and Heavenly Jerusalem So they are Cursed that cause the Blind to wander out of their way and to remove them from their heavenly Land-mark G. F. I writ also a
Rock and Sanctuary and by thee we have leaped over a Wall and by thee we have run through a Troop and by thee we have put the Armies of the Aliens to Flight these People had Right to say it And as God had delivered their Souls of the warisom Burthens of Sin and Vanity and enriched their poverty of Spirit and satisfied their great Hungar and Thirst after Eternal Righteousness and filled them with the Good Things of his own House and made them Stewards of his Manifold Gifts so they went forth to all Quarters of these Nations to Declare to the Inhabitants thereof what God had done for them what they had found and where and how they had found it viz. The way to Peace with God Inviting them to come and see and taste for themselves the Truth of what they Declared unto them And as their Testimony was to the Principle of God in Man the precious Pearl and Leven of the Kingdom as the only blessed means appointed of God to Quicken Convince and Sanctifie Man so they opened to them what it was in it self and what it was given to them for How they might know it from their own Spirit and that of the Subtil appearance of the Evil one and what it would do for all those whose minds are turned off from the Vanity of the World and its Lifeless ways and Teachers and ad-hear to this blessed Light in themselves which discovers and condemns Sin in all its appearances and shows how to overcome it if minded and obeyed in its holy Manifestations and Convictions Giving Power to such to Avoid and Resist those things that do not please God and to grow Strong in Love Faith and Good Works That so Man whom Sin hath made as a Wilderness over-run with Briers and Thorns might become as the Garden of God cultivated by his divine Power and replenisht with the most Virtuous and Beautiful Plants of God's own Right Hand Planting to his Eternal Praise But these Experimental Preachers of Glad Tydings of God's Truth and Kingdom could not run when they List or Pray or Preach when they Pleased But as the Christ their Redeemer prepared and moved them by his own Blessed Spirit for which they waited in their Services and Meetings and Spoak as that gave them utterance and which was as those having Authority and not like the Dreaming Dry and formal Pharisees And so it plainly appeared to the serious Minded whose Spiritual Eye the Lord Jesus had in any measure opened so that to one was given the Word of Exhortation to another the Word of Reproof to another the Word of Consolation and all by the same Spirit and in the good Order thereof to the Convincing and Edifying of many And truly they waxed Strong and Bold through Faithfulness and by the Power and Spirit of the Lord Jesus became very Fruitful thousands in a short time being turned to the Truth through their Testimony in Ministry and Sufferings insomuch as in most Counties and many of the considerable Towns of England Meetings were settled and daily there were added such as should be saved For they were Diligent to Plant and to Water and the Lord blessed their Labours with an Exceeding great Increase notwithstanding all the opposition made to their blessed Progress by false Rumors Calumnies and bitter Persecutions not only from the Powers of the Earth but from every one that listed to injure and abuse them So that they seemed indeed to be as poor Sheep appointed to the Slaughter and as a People killed all the Day long It were fitter for a Volumn than a Preface but so much as to repeat the Contents of their cruel Sufferings from Professors as well as from Prophaine and from Magistrates as well as the Rabble that it may well be said of this abused and despised People they went forth Weeping and sowed in Tears bearing Testimony to the Precious Seed the Seed of the Kingdom which stands not in Words the Finest the Highest that Man's Wit can use but in Power the Power of Christ Jesus to whom God the Father hath given all Power in Heaven and in Earth that he might rule Angels above and Men below who impowred them as their Work witnesseth by the many that were turned through their Ministry from Darkness to the Light and out of the Broad into the Narrow Way bringing People to a Weighty Serious and God-like Conversation the Practice of that Doctrine which they Taught And as without this Secret Divine Power there is no Quickning and Regenerating of dead Souls so the want of this Generating and begetting Power and Life is the Cause of the little Fruit that the many Ministrys that have been and are in the World bring forth O that both Ministers and People were sensible of this My Soul is often troubled for them and Sorrow and Mourning compass me about for their Sakes O! that they were Wise O! that they would consider and lay to Heart the things that truly and substantially make for their lasting Peace Two things are to be briefly toucht upon the Doctrine they Taught and the Example they lead among all People I have already toucht upon their Fundamental Principle which is as the Corner stone of their Fabrick And to speak eminently and properly their Characteristick or main distinguishing Point or Principle viz. the Light of Christ within as God's Gift for Man's Salvation This I say is as the Root of the goodly Tree of Doctrines that grew and branched out from it which I shall now mention in their Natural and Experimental Order First Repentance from dead Works to serve the Living God Which comprehends three Operations First a sight of Sin Secondly A Sense and Godly Sorrow for it Thirdly An Amendment for the Time to come This was the Repentance they preached and pressed and a Natural result from the Principle they turned all People unto For of Light came Sight and of Sight came Sense and Sorrow and of Sense and Sorrow came Amentment of Life Which Doctrine of Repentance leads to Justification that is Forgiveness of the Sins that are past through Christ the alone Propitiation and the Sanctification or Purgation of the Soul from the defiling Nature and Habits of sin present which is justification in the compleat Sense of that Word comprehending both justification from the Guilt of the Sins that are past as if they had never been commited through the Love and Mercy of God in Christ Jesus and the Creatures being made inwardly just through the Cleansing and Sanctifying Power and Spirit of Christ revealed in the Soul which is commonly called Sanctification .. From hence sprang a Second Doctrine they were led to declare as the Mark of the Price of the High Calling of all true Christians viz. Perfection from sin according to the Scriptures of Truth which testifie it to be the end of Christ's coming and the Nature of his Kingdom and for which his Spirit was given But they never held a Perfection
And such as these I saw might deceive now as they had in former Ages But it is impossible for them to deceive the Elect who were chosen in Christ who was before the World began and before Deceiver was Though others may be deceived in their Openings and Prophecies not keeping their Minds to the Lord Jesus Christ who doth Open and Reveal to his And I saw the State of those both Priests and People who in reading the Scriptures cry out much against Cain Esau and Judas and other wicked Men of former Times mentioned in the Holy Scriptures but do not see the Nature of Cain of Esau of Judas and those Others in themselves And these said It was They They They that were the bad People putting it off from themselves But when some of these came with the Light and Spirit of Truth to see into themselves then they came to say I I I it is I my self that have been the Ishmael and the Esau c. For then they came to see the Nature of wild Ishmael in themselves the Nature of Cain of Esau of Corah of Balaam and of the Son of Perdition in themselves sitting above all that is called God in them So I saw it was the fallen Man that was got up into the Scriptures and was finding Fault with those before-mentioned and with the back-sliding Jews calling them the sturdy Oaks and tall Cedars and fat Bulls of Bashan wild Heifers Vipers Serpents c. And charging them that it was They that closed their Eyes and stopped their Ears and hardned their Hearts and were dull of Hearing And that it was They that hated the Light and rebelled against it and that quenched the Spirit and vexed and grieved it and walked despightfully against the Spirit of Grace and turned the Grace of God into Wantonness And that it was They that resisted the Holy Ghost and They that got the Form of Godliness and turned against the Power And that They were the inwardly Ravening Wolves that had got the Sheep's Cloathing And that They were the Wells without Water and Clouds without Rain and Trees without Fruit c. But when these who were so much taken up with finding Fault with others and thought themselves clear from these Things came to look into themselves and with the Light of Christ throughly to search themselves they might see enough of this in themselves and then the Cry could not be It is He or They as before but I and We are found in these Conditions I saw also how People Read the Scriptures without a right Sense of them and without duly applying them to their own States For when they read that Death reigned from Adam to Moses and that the Law and the Prophets were until John and that the least in the Kingdom is greater than John they read these things without them and applyed them to others without them and the Things were true of others without them but they did not turn in to find the Truth of these things in themselves But as these things came to be opened in me I saw Death reigned over them from Adam to Moses from the Entrance into Trangression till they came to the Ministration of Condemnation which restrains People from Sin that brings Death Then when the Ministration of Moses is passed through the Ministry of the Prophets comes to be read and understood which reaches through the Figures Types and Shadows unto John the greatest Prophet born of a Woman whose Ministration prepares the Way of the Lord by bringing down the exalted Mountains and making strait Paths And as this Ministration is passed through an Entrance comes to be known into the Everlasting Kingdom So I saw plainly that none could read Moses aright without Moses's Spirit by which Moses saw how Man was in the Image of God in Paradice and how he fell and how Death came over him and how all Men have been under this Death And I saw how Moses received the pure Law that went over all Transgressors and how the clean Beasts which were Figures and Types were offered up when the People were come into the righteous Law that went over the first Transgression And both Moses and the Prophets saw through the Types and Figures and beyond them and saw Christ the great Prophet that was to come to fulfil them And I saw that none could read John's Words aright and with a true Understanding of them but in and with the same Divine Spirit by which John spake them and by his burning shining Light which is sent from God For by that Spirit their Crooked Natures might be made strait and their Rough Natures smooth and the Exacter and violent Doer in them might be thrown out And they that had been Hypocrites might come to bring forth Fruits meet for Repentance and their Mountain of Sin and Earthliness might be laid low in them and their Valley exalted in them that there might be a Way prepared for the Lord in them And then the least in the Kingdom is greater than John But all must first know the Voice crying in their Wilderness in their Hearts which through Transgression were become as a Wilderness Thus I saw it was an easie matter to say Death reigned from Adam to Moses and That the Law and the Prophets were until John and That the least in the Kingdom is greater than John But none could know how Death reigned from Adam to Moses c. but by the same Holy Spirit which Moses and the Prophets and John were in They could not know the Spiritual Meaning of Moses the Prophets and John's Words nor see their Path and Travels much less see through them and to the end of them into the Kingdom unless they had the Spirit and Light of Jesus Nor could they know the Words of Christ and of his Apostles without his Spirit But as Man comes through by the Spirit and Power of God to Christ who fulfills the Types Figures Shadows Promises and Prophecies that were of him and is led by the Holy Ghost into the Truth and Substance of the Scriptures sitting down in him who is the Author and End of them then are they read and understood with profit and great Delight Moreover the Lord God let me see when I was brought up into his Image in Righteousness and Holiness and into the Paradise of God the State How Adam was made a Living Soul And also the Stature of Christ the Mystery that had been hid from Ages and Generations Which things are hard to be uttered and cannot be born by many For of all the Sects in Christendom so called that I discoursed withal I found none that could bear to be told that any should come to Adam's Perfection into that Image of God and Righteousness and Holiness that Adam was in before he fell to be so clear and pure without Sin as he was Therefore how should they be able to bear being told that any should grow up to the Measure of
Name of the Lord to bid her Be quiet and still And she was so And the Lord's Power setled her Mind and she mended and afterwards Received the Truth and Continued in it to her Death And the Lord's Name was honoured To whom the Glory of all his Works belongs Many great and wonderful Things were wrought by the heavenly Power in those Days For the Lord made bare his Omnipotent Arm and manifested his Power to the Astonishment of many by the healing Vertue whereof many have been delivered from great Infirmities and the Devils were made subject through his Name Of which particular Instances might be given beyond what this unbelieving Age is able to receive or bear But blessed for ever be the Name of the Lord and everlastingly Honoured and over all Exalted and Magnified be the Arm of his Glorious Power by which he hath wrought gloriously and let the Honour and Praise of all his Works be ascribed to him alone Now while I was at Mansfield-Woodhouse I was moved to go to to the Steeple-house there and declare the Truth to the Priest and People But the People fell upon me in great Rage and struck me down and almost stifled and smothered me and I was cruelly beaten and bruised by them with their Hands Bibles and Sticks Then they haled me out though I was hardly able to stand and put me into the Stocks where I sate some Hours and they brought Dog-whips and Horse-whips threatning to Whip me And after some time they had me before the Magistrate at a Knight's House where were many great Persons who seeing how evilly I had been used after much Threatning set me at Liberty But the rude People stoned me out of the Town for Preaching the Word of Life to them And I was scarce able to go or well to stand by reason of the Ill Vsage I had received Yet with much ado I got about a Mile from the Town and then I met with some People that gave me something to Comfort me because I was inwardly bruised But the Lord's Power soon healed me again And that day some People were Convinced of the Lord's Truth and turned to his Teaching at which I rejoiced Leicester-shire Then went I out of Nottingham-shire into Leicester-shire several Friends accompanying me And there were some Baptists in that Country whom I desired to see and speak with because they were separated from the publick Worship So one Oats who was one of their Chief Teachers and others of the Heads of them with several others of their Company Barrow came to Meet us at Barrow and there we discoursed with them One of them said What was not of Faith was Sin Whereupon I asked them What Faith was And how it was wrought in Man But they turned off from that and spake of their Baptism in Water Then I asked them Whether their Mountain of Sin was brought down and laid low in them And their rough and crooked Ways made smooth and strait in them For they looked upon the Scriptures as meaning Outward Mountains and Ways But I told them they must find them in their own Hearts Which they seemed to wonder at And we asked them Who baptized John the Baptist and who baptized Peter 1649. Barrow John and the rest of the Apostles and put them to prove by Scripture that these were baptized in Water But they were silent Then I asked them Seeing 〈◊〉 who betrayed Christ and was called the Son of Perdition had Hâ—â—ged himself what Son of Perdition was that which Paul spake of that sâ—te in the Temple of God exalted above all that is called God And â—hat Temple of God that was in which this Son of Perdition sate And whether he that betrays Christ within in himself be not one in Nature with that Judas that betrayed Christ without But they could not tell what to make of this nor what to say to it So after we had had some Discourse together we parted and some of them were loving to us On the First Day of the Week following we came to Bagworth Bagworth and went to a Steeple-House where some Friends were got in and the People locked them in and themselves too with the Priest But after the Priest had done they opened the Door and we went in also and had a Service for the Lord amongst them Afterwards we had a Meeting in the Town amongst several People that were in high Notions Then passing from thence I heard of a People that were in Prison in Coventry for Religion Coventry And as I walked towards the Jail the Word of the Lord came to me saying ☜ MY LOVE WAS ALWAYS TO THEE AND THOV ART IN MY LOVE And I was ravished with the Sense of the Love of God and greatly strengthned in my Inward Man But when I came into the Jail where those Prisoners were a great Power of Darkness struck at me and I sate still having my Spirit gathered into the Love of God At last these Prisoners began to Rant and Vapour and Blaspheme at which my Soul was greatly grieved They said They were GOD But another of them said We could not bear such Things So when they were calm I stood up and asked them Whether they did such things by Motion or from Scripture and they said from Scripture Then a Bible lying by I asked them for that Scripture and they shewed me that Place where the Sheet was let down to Peter and it was said to him What was sanctified he should not call Common or Vnclean Now when I had shewed them That that Scripture made nothing for their purpose they brought another Scripture which spake of God's Reconciling all Things to himself Things in Heaven and Things in Earth I told them I owned that Scripture also but shewed them that that was nothing to their purpose neither Then seeing they said They were GOD I asked them If they knew whether it would Rain to Morrow They said They could not tell I told them God could tell Again I asked them If they thought they should be always in that Condition or should change And they answered They could not tell Then said I unto them God can tell and God doth not change You say you are God and yet you cannot tell whether you shall Change or no. So they were Confounded and quite brought â—own for the time Then after I had Reproved them for their blasphemous Expressions I went away For I perceived they were Ranters and I had met with none before And I admired the Goodness of the Lord in appearing so unto me before I went amongst them Not long after this 1649. Coventry one of these Ranters whose Name was Joseph Salmon put forth a Paper or Book of Recantation upon which they were set at Liberty Atherstone From Coventry I went to a Place called Atherstone and it being their Lecture-day I was moved to go to their Chappel to speak to the Priests and People
have my Liberty he said if I would not go to nor keep Meetings I told him I could not promise any such thing Several times upon the Road did he ask and try me after the sâ—me manner and still I gave him the same Answers So he brought me to London London Charing-Cross and lodged me at the Mermaid over against the Mews at Charing-Cross And on the way as we traveled I was moved of the Lord to Warn People at the Inns and Places where I came of the day of the Lord that was coming upon them And William Dewsberry and Marmaduke Stor being in Prison at Northampton he let me go and visit them After Captain Drury had lodged me at the Mermaid he left me there and went to give the Protector an Account of me And when he came to me again he told me The Protector did require that I should promise not to take up a carnal Sword or Weapon against him or the Government as it then was and that I should write it in what words I saw good and set my Hand to it I said little in Reply to Captain Drury But the next Morning I was moved of the Lord to write a Paper To the Protector by the name of Oliver Cromwel wherein I did in the presence of the Lord God declare that I did deny the wearing or drawing of a carnal Sword or any other outward Weapon against him or any Man And that I was sent of God to stand a Witness against all Violence and against the Works of Darkness and to turn People from the Darkness to the Light and to bring them from the Occasion of War and Fighting to the peaceable Gospel and from being Evil-Doers which the Magistrates Sword should be a Terror to When I had written what the Lord had given me to write I set my Name to it and gave it to Captain Drury to give to O. Cromwel which he did Then after some time Captain Drury brought me before the Protector himself at Whitehall Whitehall It was in a Morning before he was dressed and one Harvey that had come a little among Friends but was disobedient waited upon him When I came in I was moved to say Peace be in this House and I bid him Keep in the Fear of God that he might receive Wisdom from him that by it he might be ordered and with it might order all things under his Hand to God's Glory I spake much to him of Truth and a great deal of Discourse I had with him about Reliâ—ion wherein he carried himself very moderately But he said We quarrelled with the Priests whom he called Ministers I told him I did not quarrel with them but they quarrelled with me and my Friends But said I If we own the Prophets Christ and the Apostles we cannot hold up such Teachers Prophets and Shepherds 1654. Whitehall as the Prophets Christ and the Apostles declared against but we must declare against them by the same Power and Spirit Then I shewed him That the Prophets Christ and the Apostles declared freely and declared against them that did not declare freely such as preached for filthy Lucre and divined for Money and preached for Hire and were covetous and greedy like the dumb Dogs that could never have enough And that they that have the same Spirit that Christ and the Prophets and the Apostles had could not but declare against all such now as they did then As I spake he would several times say It was very good and it was Truth I told him That all Christendom so called had the Scriptures but they wanted the Power and Spirit that they had who gave forth the Scriptures and that was the reason they were not in Fellowship with the Son nor with the Father nor with the Scriptures nor one with another Many more words I had with him but People coming in I drew a little back And as I was turning he catched me by the Hand and with Tears in his Eyes said Come again to my House for if thou and I were but an hour of a day together we should be nearer one to the other adding That he wisht me no more Ill than he did to his own Soul I told him If he did he wronged his own Soul And I bid him hearken to God's Voice that he might stand in his Counsel and obey it and if he did so that would keep him from hardness of Heart but if he did not hear God's Voice his Heart would be hardened And he said It was true Then went I out G. F. set at Liberty And when Capt. Drury came out after me he told me His Lord Protector said I was at Liberty and might go whither I would Then I was brought into a great Hall where the Protector 's Gentlemen were to dine and I asked them What they did bring me thither for They said It was by the Protector 's Order that I might dine with them I bid them Let the Protector know I would not eat a bit of his Bread nor drink a sup of his Drink When he heard this he said Now I see there is a People risen and come up that I cannot win either with Gifts Honours Offices or Places but all other Sects and People I can But it was told him again That we had forsook our own and were not like to look for such things from him Now I being set at Liberty went up to the Inn again where Capt. Drury had at first lodged me This Capt. Drury though he sometimes carried fairly was an Enemy to me and to Truth and opposed it and when Professors came to me while I was under his Custody and he was by he would scoff at Trembling and call us Quakers as the Independents and Presbyterians had Nick-named us before But afterwards he came on a time to me and told me That as he was lying on his Bed to rest himself in the day-time a sudden Trembling seized on him that his Joints knocked together and his Body shook so that he could not rise from his Bed he was so shaken that he had not strength enough left to rise But he felt the Power of the Lord was upon him and he tumbled off his Bed and cried to the Lord and said He would never speak against the Quakers more such as Trembled at the Word of God During the Time that I was Prisoner at Charing-Cross 1654. Charing-Cross there came abundaâ—ce to see me People almost of all Sorts Priests Professors Officers of the Army c. And one Time a Company of Officers being with me desired me to pray with them I sate still with my Mind retired to the Lord. At last I felt the Power and Spirit of God move in me and the Lord's Power did so shake and shatter them that they wondred though they did not live in it Among those that came thither to see me there was one Colonel Packer with several of his Officers and while they
against them But it is manifest that you walk in the steps of your Fore-fathers that persecuted the Prophetâ— Habakâ—uk the Prophet of the Lord trembled and Joel the Prophet of the Lord said Blow the Trumpet in Sion and let all the Inhabitants of the Earth Tremble The People shall Tremble and all Faces shall gather Blackness and the People shall be much pained And now this Trembling is witnessed by the Power of the Lord This Power of the Lord is come the Trumpet is sounding the Earth is shaking the Inhabitants of the Earth are trembling the Dead is arising and the Living is praising God And the World is Raging and the Scoffers are Scorning and they that witness Trembling and Quaking wrought in them by the Power of the Lord can scarce pass up and down the Streets but with Stones and Blows and Fists and Sticks or Dogs set at them or pursued with Mocks and Reproaches Thus you vent forth your Malice against them that witness the Power of the Lord as the Prophets did who are come to the broken Heart and contrite Spirit and who Tremble at the Word of the Lord whom the Lord regards These you stone these you stock these you set your Dogs at these you scoff and scorn these you revile and reproach but those Reproaches are our Riches praised be the Lord who hath given us power over them And if you see one as Habakkuk whose Lips quivered whose Belly shock who said Rottenness was entred into his Bones and who trembled in himself if you see such an one in this Condition now ye say He is Bewitched Here again you shew your selves Strangers to that Power to that Life that was in the Prophet Therefore for shame never make a Profession of his Words nor a Trade of his Words nor of Joel's who witnessed Trembling which ye scorn and scoff at Ye proud Scoffers and Scorners Misery Misery is your End except you speedily Repent Daniel a Servant of the most-high God he Trembled his Strength and his Breath was gone He was Prisoned He was hated he was persecuted they laid Baits and Snares for him in whom the holy Spirit of God was Now for shame all you that make a Profession of Daniel's Words give over your Profession Priests and People who scoff and scorn at Trembling with the Light you are seen to be out of Daniel's Life and by the same Power you are judged at which you scorn and scoff And so here again be ye Witnesses against your selves that you are Scorners and Scoffers against the Truth And with the Scripture you are judged to be contrary to the Life of the holy Men of God Paul a Minister of God made by the Will of God a Messenger of the Lord Jesus a Vessel of the Lords to carry his Name abroad into several Nations when the dark blind World have got some of his Words and Epistles you filthy Teachers make a Trade of them and get great Sums of Money for it and so destroy Souls for dishonest Gain making a Trade of his Words and of the rest of the Apostles and Prophets and of Christ's Words but denying the Spirit and Life that they were guided by and that Power which shook the Flesh and the Earth which the Apostle witnessed who said When he came among the Corinthians he was then with them in weakness and fear and in much Trembling that their Faith might not stand in the Wisdom of Words but in the Power of God in that Power which made him to Tremble This Power it is that the World and all the scoffing Teachers scoff at and scorn in your Towns in your Villages in your Assemblies in your Ale-houses for shame lay away all your Profession of the Apostle's Words and Conditions And some of them that scoff at this Power call it the Power of the Devil and some persecute them and Stone and Stock Imprison and Whip them in whom that Power is made manifest and lade them with Reproaches as not worthy to walk on the Earth hated and persecuted as the Off-scouring of all things Here you may see you are in the steps of your Fore-Fathers who persecuted the Apostles and acted so against them stocked them mocked them prisoned them stoned them whipped them haled them out of the Synagogues reproached them and shamefully entreated them Do not you here fulfil the Scripture and Christ's saying who said If they kill you they will think they do God Service Yet you make a Profession of Christ's Words of the Prophets and Apostles Words and call your selves Churches and Ministers of the Gospel I charge you in the presence of the Living God to be silent who act such things And mind the Light in your Consciences ye Scoffers and Scorners which Christ hath enlightened you withall that with it ye may see your selves what ye Act and what ye have Acted for who Act such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God for all such things are by the Light condemned And who come to witness Trembling and Quaking the Powers of the Earth to be shaken the Lustful Nature come to be destroyed the scorning and scoffing Nature judged by the Light In it Wait to receive Power from him who shakes the Earth That Power we own and our Faith stands in it which all the World scoffs at the Lofty Ones the Proud Ones the Presumptuous Ones which live in Presumption and yet make a Profession of the Scriptures as your Fathers the Pharisees did who were painted Sepulchres and Serpents and as the Scribes did who had the Chiefest Places in the Assemblies stood praying in the Synagogues and were called of Men Masters which Christ cried WO against who are not come so far as the Trembling of Devils who believed and trembled Let that Judge you The Light and Life of the Scripture is seen and made manifest and with it all you Scoffers and all you Scorners and all you Persecutors and Railers are seen Take Warning all ye Powers of the Earth how ye persecute them whom the World Nick-name and call Quakers who dwell in the Eternal Power of God lest the Hand of the Lord be turned against you and ye be all Cut off To you this is the Word of God Fear and Tremble and take Warning For this is the Man whom the Lord doth regard who trembles at his Word which you who are of the World scoff and scorn stock persecute and imprison Here ye may see ye are contrary to God contrary to the Prophets and are such as hate what the Lord regards which we whom the World scorns and calls Quakers own And we exalt that Power and honour that Power that makes the Devils tremble and shakes the Earth and throws down the Loftiness of Man and the Haughtiness of Man and which makes the Beasts of the Field to Tremble and makes the Earth Reel to and fro and cleaves the Earth asunder and over-turneth the World This Power we own and honour and preach up whom
one of you a Reward according to your Works you which have the Letter which speaks of Christ but now ye are persecuting that which the Scripture speaks of so your Fruits make you manifest Therefore every one Sheriff Justices Constables c. see what ye do possess Consider what ye do possess and what a Profession ye are now in that all these Carnal Weapons are now set up against the Innocent yea against the Truth Which shews that ye have not the Spiritual Weapons that they are not among you and that ye want the Counsel of Gamaliel yea ye want the Counsel of such a Man among you who said Let the Apostles alone If it be of God it will stand if it be not it will come to nought But ye may see your selves on the Contrary in the Spirit of them that came with Judas with Swords and Staves from the Chief-Priests against Christ still it is against Christ where he is made manifest Paul while Saul went against him though he professed a Christ that was to come and the Jews professed a Christ that was to come Yet Paul persecuted him where he was manifested in his Saints So ye profess a Christ that is come but persecute him where he is manifest You that have the Letter the High-Places the Synagogues you persecute him where he is made manifest in his Saints as the Jews did They who were in the Letter out of the Life persecuted them that were in the Life of that which they profess in the Letter So now do you persecute them that are in the Life and are your selves Strangers to it as your Fruits make appear You have numbred the People of God amongst Transgressors but have you prisoned any of the Rogues and Transgressors you speak of you have prisoned the Innocent and let the others go free G. F. When I had sent abroad the fore-going Papers concerning the Watches that were then set up to Intercept and Stop Friends in their Travels in the Work of tho Lord so great a sense came upon me of the Darkness and Vail that was over the Priests and Professors of Christianity that I was moved to give forth the following Paper as An Awakening Warning to them BLindness hath happened to the professed Christians of the Letter now a days as Blindness happened to the Jews who professed the Letter but owned not the Life which the Letter speaks of As the Christians now to whom this Blindness hath hap'ned who profess the Scripture but own not the Life which the Scripture speaks of For against the Life the Jews stood who profest the Letter of the Scripture but they were Blind they gathered Counsel against the Life they were in an Vproar when the Babe was born in Bethlehem Herod and all the Chief Priests And Herod sought to destroy all the young Children in Bethlehem yet missed the Babe Herod that Fox though he slew John and put him to death And you may here see how the Literal Professors did stand up not for the Truth but quite against it Furthermore the Chief-Priests consulted together how they might take Jesus by Subtilty and put him to death mark by their Subtilty The Professors of a Christ that was to come they preached of a Messias of a Christ of a Saviour but denied the Life when he was made manifest The Chief-Priests and the Council gathered together they profest his words and the Chief-Priests who were gathered together with the Council said That his Disciples had stolen him away by Night and gave large Monies to the Souldiers to declare this Likewise in the day when the Children of Israel were in Egypt and they with their Children began to spread and multiply Come said the Egyptians Let us deal wisely with them to Afflict them and tax them Which held until the Lord overthrew their Oppressors and brought out his Seed by his mighty Power from under the Oppressor and exalted his Son above all though the Heathen raged and the People imagined vain things and he made his Power known that all might see that there was no God upon the Earth but himself This Power now hath brought forth the Work of the Lord Many who be turned to the Light Christ have received the Power of God and are thereby become the Sons of God Now this Birth that is born of God are all the Powers of the World joined together to Crucify to put to Death those Jews in the Spirit as they did put Christ to Death in the Flesh formerly This is the Birth that all the Wicked World is enraged against and mad at Against this they set their Watches this Birth brought forth by the Mighty God of Jacob who rides upon the High-places of the Earth This is the Birth that the profest Christians without the Life in our Days and Age rage against and lay out all their Wisdom about Are not the Chief-Priests and Wise Men of the Earth consulting together how they might destroy this Birth Is not this the Birth that is banished out of your Hearts you that profess the Scripture and are Talkers of it but do not own the Light and Life which the Scripture speaks of as the Jews would not and so will not have Christ to Reign over you as they would not Do you not hale out of your Synagogues and before Magistrates Do you not herein fulfil Christ's Words who said to his Disciples They should be haled out of the Synagogues and before Rulers Do you not Persecute them from City to City Do you not almost fill your Prisons with them And now set your Watches that none should go to Visit them whom ye have put into Prison Is not this an Vnchristian Spirit How can you for shame say You are Vpholders of Truth Or how can you for shame say that Truth hath been profest among you Yet we say We Grant that you have talked of it And how can you for shame say The Gospel shines among you when you will not own it the Life of it when you call it Error and the evil Seed Yea the very Truth yea the very Life of Truth ye have blasphemed against now as the Jews did against Christ calling him a Devil you now call it Error and the Evil Seed and stand up against it and turn the Sword against it As it was in the days of the Jews who turned the Sword against Christ so it is in these days of the Professed Christians of the Scripture but out of the Life that gave it forth as it was with the Jews outward in the Flesh who were not the Jews in the Spirit And is it not a shame to all the Ministers of the Gospel as they are called that they can find no better Way to maintain that which they call the Truth and their Gospel than by Carnal Weapons Stocks and Prisons and Whips Watches and Wards and Powers of the Earth Were these the Apostles Weapons Carnal Watches and Wards Stocks and Prisons and haling out
yet therein do they exercise themselves to have always a Conscience void of Offence towards God and Man as ye may read the Saints of Old did Acts 24.14 15 16. not wronging any Man neither giving any just Cause of Offence only being obedient to the Commands of the Lord to declare as they are moved by the Holy Ghost and standing for the Testimony of a Good Conscience speaking the Truth in Christ their Consciences bearing them witness that they lie not For this do they suffer under you who in Words profess the same thing for which they suffer Now see if any Age or Generation did ever persecute as ye do For ye profess Christ Jesus who Reveals the Father and persecute them that witness the Revelation of the Father by Christ Jesus unto them Ye profess Christ Jesus who is the Light of the World that enlightens every one that cometh into the World and yet persecute them that bear Witness and give Testimony to this Light Ye profess that the Word is become Flesh and yet persecute them that witness it so Ye profess that whosoever confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the Flesh is an Antichrist and yet persecute them that do Confess him come in the Flesh and call them Antichrists and Deceivers Ye profess that the Kingdom of Christ is come and yet persecute them that witness it come Ye profess Christ Jesus the Resurrection and the Life and yet persecute them that witness him to be so If ye say How shall we know that these People who say they witness these things do so or no I answer Turn your Minds to the Light which Christ Jesus hath enlightned you withal which is one in all and if ye walk in the Light ye shall have the Light of Life and then ye will know and see what ye have done who have persecuted the Lord of Glory in his People in whom is Life and the Life is the Light of Men. To no other Touchstone shall we turn you but into your own Consciences and there shall ye find the Truth of what we have declared unto you and of what we bear Testimony to according to the Holy Scriptures And when the Books of Consciences are opened and all judged out of them then shall ye Witness us to be of God and our Testimony to be true though now ye may stop your Ears and harden your Hearts while it is called to day But then ye shall know what ye have done and whom ye have transgressed against and then ye will see that no Persecutors in any Age or Generation that ever went before you did ever Transgress against that Light and Measure of God made manifest in such manner as ye have done For though Christ and the Apostles were persecuted in their times the Jews for the most part of them did not know that he was the Christ when he came notwithstanding that they had the Scriptures which prophesied of him neither did they believe that he was Risen again when the Apostles preached his Resurrection But ye say Ye believe he is come and ye say Ye believe his Resurrection and yet ye persecute those that witness him come in the Flesh those that are buried with him in Baptism those that are conformable to his Death and know the Power of his Resurrection those ye persecute those ye hale before Magistrates and suffer to be beaten in your Synagogues those ye cause to be whipt and stock't and shamefully entreated and into Prison cast and kept as many Goals in this Nation at this day testifie to your Faces Therefore honestly consider what ye are doing while ye are taking notice of others Cruelties lest ye over-look your own There is some difference in many things between the Popish Religion and that which ye call the Protestant but in this Persecution of yours there is no difference For ye will Confess that the Foundation of your Religion is grounded upon the Scriptures and yet now ye are persecuting them that be in the same Life which they were in who spake forth the Scriptures your selves being the mean while under a Profession of the Words they spake and this ye shall one day witness So ye have a Profession and Form and persecute them that are in the Possession Life and Power Therefore know assuredly that ye must come to Judgment for he is made manifest to whom all Judgment is committed Therefore to the Light of Christ Jesus in your Consciences which searcheth and trieth you turn your Minds and stand still and wait there to receive the Righteous Law which is according to that of God in the Conscience which is now rising and is bearing witness against all Ungodliness and Unrighteousness of Men and they whom ye persecute are manifest to God and that of God in all Consciences shall bear witness for us that we are of God And this ye shall one day witness whether ye will hear or forbear Our Rejoycing is in the Testimony of our Consciences that in Simplicity and Godly Sincerity not with Fleshly Wisdom but by the Grace of God we have had our Conversation in the World not handling the Word of God deceitfully but in the Manifestation of the Truth commending our selves to every Man's Conscience in the sight of God and if our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost And for the witnessing the holding the Mystery of Faith in a pure Conscience do we suffer and are subject for Conscience sake This is thank-worthy if a Man for Conscience sake endure Griefs and Suffering wrongfully And in this is our Joy and Rejoicing having a good Conscience that whereas we are evil spoken of as Evil-Doers they may be ashamed that falsly accuse our good Conversation in Christ which is not only the putting away of the Filth of the Flesh but the Answer of a good Conscience towards God by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ And this we Witness made manifest Eternal Praises to the Living God and bear Testimony to that which spake it in the Apostle in Life and Power And therefore do we bear witness and testifie against those who being got into a Form and Profession of it do persecute the Life and Power Therefore to the Eternal Light of Christ Jesus the Searcher and Trier of all Hearts turn your Minds and see what ye are doing lest ye overturn your Foundation and Bottom whereon ye pretend to stand while ye are professing the Scriptures and persecuting the Life Light and Power which they were in who gave them forth For the Stone cut out of the Mountains without Hands is now striking at the Feet of the Image the Profession which is set up and stands in the Will of Man Now is that made manifest unto which all must answer and appear before the Judgment-Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his Body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad Knowing therefore the Terror of the Lord
were a People that fled out of Old England thither from the Persecution of the Bishops here But when they had got Power into their hands they so far exceeded the Bishops in Severity and Cruelty that whereas the Bishops had made them pay Twelve Pence a Sunday so called for not coming to their Worship here they imposed a Fine of Five Shillings a Day upon such as should not conform to their Will-Worship there and spoiled the Goods of Friends that could not pay it Besides many they Imprisoned divers they Whipt and that most Cruelly of some they Cut off Ears and some they Hanged as the Books of Friends Sufferings in New-England largely shew particularly A Book written by Geo. Bishop of Bristol Entituled New-England judged In Two Parts Some of the old Royalists were earnest with Friends to have prosecuted them but we told them we left them to the Lord to whom Vengeance belonged and he would Repay it And the Judgments of God have since fallen heavy on them For the Indians have been raised up against them and have Cut off many of them About this time I lost a very good Book being taken in the Printer's Hands It was a useful teaching Book containing the Signification and Explanation of Names Parables Types and Figures in the Scriptures They who took it were so affected with it that they were loth to have destroyed it but thinking to have made a great Advantage of it they would have let us have had it again if we would have given them a great Sum of Money for it which we were not free to do And some time before this while I was Prisoner in Lancaster-Castle the Book called the Battledoor came forth which was written to shew that in all Languages Thou and Thee is the proper and usual Form of Speech to a Single Person and You to more than one This was set forth in Examples or Instances taken out of the Scriptures and out of Books of Teaching in about Thirty Languages John Stubbs and Benjamin Furly took great Pains in the Compiling of it which I put them upon and some things I added to it When it was finished some of them were presented to the King and his Council to the Bishops of Canterbury and London and to the Two Vniversities one a piece and many bought of them The King said It was the proper Language of all Nations And the Bishop of Canterbury being asked what he thought of it was so at a stand that he could not tell what to say to it For it did so Inform and Convince Pâ—ople that few afterward were so Rugged towards us for saying Thou and Thee to a single Person which before they were exceeding fierce against us for For this Thou and Thee was a sore Cut to proud Flesh and them that sought Self-honour who though they would say it to God and Christ would not endure to have it said to themselves So that we were often Beaten and Abused and sometimes in danger of our Lives for using those Words to some proud Men who would say What you ill-bred Clown do you Thou me as though there lay Breeding in saying You to one which was contrary to all their Grammars and Teaching-Books by which they had taught and instructed their Youth Now the Bishops and Priests being busie and eager to settle and 〈◊〉 up their Form of Worship and Compel all to come to it I was mâ—â—â—d to give forth the following Paper to open unto People the Nature of the True Worship which Christ set up and which God accepts Thus CHrist's Worship is free in the Spirit to all Men and such as Worship in the Spirit and in the Truth are they that God seeks to Worship him for he is the God of Truth and is a Spirit and the God of the Spirits of all Flesh And he hath given to all the Nations of Men and Women Breath and Life to live and move and have their Being in him and hath put into them an Immortal Soul So all the Nations of Men and Women are to be Temples for him to dwell in and they that defile his Temple them will he destroy Now as the outward Jews while they had their outward Temple at outward Jerusalem were to go up thither to Worship which Temple God hath long since thrown down and destroyed that Jerusalem the Vision of Peace and cast off the Jews and their Worship and in the room thereof hath set up his Gospel-Worship in the Spirit and in the Truth so now all are to Worship in the Spirit and in the Truth And this is a free Worship for where the Spirit of the Lord is and ruleth there is Liberty and the Fruits of the Spirit are seen and will manifest themselves and the Spirit is not to be limited but to be lived and walked in that the Fruits of it may appear The Tares are such as hang upon the Wheat to weigh it down and thereby to draw it down to the Earth yet the Tares and the Wheat must grow together till the Harvest lest they that take upon them to pluck up the Tares should pluck up the Wheat with the Tares The Tares are such as Worship not God in the Spirit and in the Truth but do grieve the Spirit and vex it and quench it in themselves and walk not in the Truth yet will scraul and hang about the Wheat the true Worshippers in the Spirit and in the Truth Christ's Church was never established by Blood nor held up by Prisons neither was the Foundation of it laid by Carnal Weaponed Men nor is it preserved by such But when Men went from the Spirit and Truth then they took up Carnal Weapons to maintain their outward Forms and yet cannot preserve them with their Carnal Weapons For one plucketh down another's Form with his outward Weapons And this Work and Doing hath been among the Christians in Name since they lost the Spirit and Spiritual Weapons and the true Worship which Christ set up that is in the Spirit and in the Truth which Spirit and Truth they that Worship in are over all the Tares All that would be plucking up the Tares are forbidden by Christ who hath all Power in Heaven and Earth given to him for the Tares and the Wheat must grow together till the Harvest as Christ hath commanded The Stone that smote the Image became a great Mountain and filled the whole Earth Now if the Stone do fill the whole Earth all Nations must be Temples for the Stone And all that say they do travel for the Seed and yet bring forth nothing but a Birth of Strife and Contention and Confusion their Fruit shews their Travel to be wrong for by the Fruit the End of every one's Work is seen of what sort it is G. F. About this time many Papists and Jesuits began to fawn upon Friends and talk'd up and down where they came that of all the Sects the Quakers were the best and most self-denying
him Upon this occasion I writ a Letter to the Justices and to the Judge of the Assize which was then at hand And I imployed some Friends to carry it to the Justices first The Justice to whom the Clerk belonged rebuked his Clerk and the others also for disturbing and abusing us upon the High-Way So that those Men were glad to come and make Intreaty to Friends not to appear against them at the Assize which upon their Submission and Acknowledgment of their Fault Friends granted And this thing was of good Service in the Country for it stopt many rude People that before had been forward to abuse Friends 1667. Herefordshire We passed into Herefordshire where we had several blessed Meetings and we had a General Mens-Meeting also where all the Monthly Meetings were settled There was about this time a Proclamation against Meetings and as we came through Herefordshire we were told of a great Meeting there was of the Presbyterians who had engaged themselves to stand and give up all rather than forsake their Meetings But when they heard of this Proclamation the People came but the Priest was gone and then they were at a loss Then they met in Lemster privately and provided Bread and Cheese and Drink in readiness that if the Officers should come they would put up their Bibles and fall to Eating The Bayliff found them out and came in among them and said Their Bread and Cheese should not cover them but he would have their Speakers They cried What then would become of their Wives and Children But he took their Speakers and kept them a while This the Bayliff told our Friend Peter Young and said They were the veriest Hypocrites that ever made a Profession of Religion The like Contrivance they had in other places For there was one Pocock at London that married Abigail Darcy who was called a Lady and she being Convinc'd of Truth I went to his House to see her This Pocock had been one of the Triers of the Priests and being an high Presbyterian and envious against us he used to call our Friends House-Creepers Now I going to visit his Wife and he being present she said to me I have something to speak to thee against my Husband ' Nay said I thou must not speak against thy Husband Yes said she but I must in this Case The last First-Day said she He and his Priests and People the Presbyterians met and they had Candles and Tobacco-Pipes and Bread and Cheese and Cold Meat on the Table and they agreed before-hand that if the Officers should come in upon them then they would leave their Preaching and Praying and would fall to their Cold Meat Oh said I to him is not this a Shame to you who Persecuted and Imprisoned us and spoiled our Goods because we would not follow you and be of your Religion and called us House-Creepers and now ye do not stand to your own Religion your selves Did ye ever find our Meetings stufft with Bread and Cheese and Tobacco-pipes Or did ye ever read in the Scriptures of any such Practice among the Saints Why said the Old Man We must be as wise as Serpents Then said I This is the Serpent's Wisdom indeed But who said I would ever have thought that you Presbyterians and Independents who persecuted and imprisoned others and spoiled their Goods and whipped such as would not follow your Religion should now flinch your selves and not dare to stand to and own your own Religion but cover it with Tobacco-pipes Flagons of Drink Cold Meat and Bread and Cheese But this and such like deceitful Practices I understood afterwards were too Common amongst them in times of Persecution Now after we had travelled through Herefordshire and Meetings were well settled there Monmouthshire we passed into Monmouthshire where I had several blessed Meetings and at Walter Jenkins who had been a Justice of the Peace we had a large Meeting where were some Convinced This Meeting was quiet But at another Meeting that we had before this there came the Bayliff of the Hundred 1667. Monmouthshire almost drunk pretending he was to take up the Speakers There was a mighty Power of God in the Meeting so that although he raged the Power of the Lord limited him that he could not break up the Meeting When the Meeting was over I staid a while and he staid also but after some time I spake to him and so passed quietly away At Night some rude People came and shot off a Musket against the House but did not hurt any body Thus the Lord's Power came over all and chained down the unruly Spirits so that we escaped them and came to Ross that Night and had a Meeting there at James Merricks Ross After this we came into Gloucestershire Glouâ—estershire and had a General Mens-Meeting at Nathaniel Crips's House where all the Monthly Meetings were settled in the Lord 's Everlasting Power and the Heirs of Salvation were exhorted to take their Possessions of the Gospel the Power of God which was and is the Authority of their Meetings Many blessed Meetings we had up and down in that Country before we came to Bristol whither also we went Briâ—tol And after we had had several powerful Meetings there the Mens and Womens-Meetings were settl'd there also Now as I was lying in Bed at Bristol the Word of the Lord came to me that I must go back to London Next Morning Alexander Parker and several others came to me and I asked them What they felt They in like manner asked me What was upon me I told them I felt I must return to London and they said the same was upon them So we gave up to return to London for which Way the Lord moved and led us thither we went in his Power Wherefore leaving Bristol we passed into Wiltshire Wiltshire and established the Mens-Monthly-Meetings in the Lord's Power there and then passed through the Countries visiting Friends till we came to London London After we had visited Friends in the City and had staid there a while I was moved to exhort them to bring all their Marriages to the Mens and Womens-Meetings that they might lay them before the Faithful there that so Care might be taken to prevent those Disorders that had been committed by some For many had gone together in Marriage contrary to their Relations minds and some young raw People that came among us had mixed with the World and Widows had married and had not made provision for their Children by their former Husbands before their Second Marriage And although I had given forth a Paper concerning Marriages about the Year 1653 when Truth was but little spread over the Nation Advising Friends who might be concerned in that Case That they might lay it before the Faithful in time before any thing were Concluded and afterward publish it in the end of a Meeting or in a Market as they were moved thereto
whom she went but could not obtain what she desired for he said The King could not Release me otherwise than by a Pardon And I was not free to receive a Pardon knowing I had not done Evil. And if I would have been freed by a Pardon I needed not have lain so long for the King was willing to have given me a Pardon long before and told Thomas Moore that I need not scruple being Released by a Pardon for many a Man that was as Innocent as a Child had had a Pardon granted him Yet I could not Consent to have one For I had rather have lain in Prison all my Days than have come out in any way dishonourable to Truth Wherefore I chose to have the Validity of my Indictment Tried before the Judges And thereupon having first had the Opinion of a Counsellor upon it one Thomas Corbet of London whom Richard Davis of Welchpool was well acquainted with and recommended to me an Habeas Corpus was sent down to Worcester to bring me up once more to the King's-Bench-Bar for the Trial of the Errors in my Indictment The Vnder-Sheriff set forward with me on the Fourth Day of the Twelfth Month there being with us in the Coach the Clerk of the Peace and some others The Clerk had been my Enemy all along and now sought to Ensnare me in Discourse but I saw and shunned him He asked me What I would do with the Errors in the Indictment I told him They should be Tried and every Action should Crown it self He quarrelled with me for calling their Ministers Priests I asked him ' If the Law did not call them so Then he asked me What I thought of the Church of England Was there no Christians among them I said They are all called so and there are many tender People amongst them London We came to London on the Eighth of the Twelfth Month and on the Eleventh I was brought before the Four Judges at the King's-Bench King's-Bench-Bar where Counsellor Corbet pleaded my Cause He started a New Plea for he told the Judges That they could not Imprison any Man upon a Premunire Whereupon the Chief Justice Hales said Mr. Corbet You should have come sooner at the beginning of the Term with this Plea He Answered We could not get a Copy of the Return and of the Indictment The Judge replied You should have told us and we would have forced them to have made a Return sooner Then said Judge Wild Mr. Corbet you go upon General Terms and if it be so as you say we have Committed many Errors at the Old Baily and in other Courts Corbet was positive that by Law they could not Imprison upon a Premunire The Judge said There is Summons in the Statute Yes said Corbet but Summons is not Imprisonment for Summons is in Order to a Trial. Well said the Judge We must have time to look in our Books and consult the Statutes So the Hearing was put off till the next Day The next Day they chose rather to let this Plea fall and begin with the Errors of the Indictment and when they came to be opened they were so many and gross that the Judges were all of Opinion That the Indictment was quash'd and void and that I ought to have my Liberty There were that Day several Great Men Lords and others who had the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy tendered unto them in open Court just before my Trial came on and some of my Adversaries moved the Judges that the Oaths might be Tendered again to me telling them I was a dangerous Man to be at Liberty But Judge Hales who was then Chief-Justice of England 1674. King's-Bench-Bar said He had indeed heard some such Reports of me but he had also heard many more good Reports of me and so he and the rest of the Judges ordered me to be freed by Proclamation Thus after I had suffered Imprisonment a Year and almost Two Months for nothing I was fairly set at Liberty upon a Trial of the Errors in my Indictment without receiving any Pardon or coming under any Obligation or Engagement at all and the Lord 's Everlasting Power went over all to his Glory and Praise and to the magnifying of his Name for ever Amen Counsellor Corbet who pleaded for me got great Fame by it for many of the Lawyers came to him and told him He had brought that to Light which had not been known before as to the not Imprisoning upon a Premunire And after the Trial a Judge said to them You have attained a great deal of Honour by Pleading George Fox 's Cause so in Court During the time of my Imprisonment in Worcester notwithstanding my Ilness and Want of Health and my being so often hurried to and fro to London and back again I writ several Books for the Press one whereof was called A Warning to England Another was To the Jews proving by the Prophets that the Messiah is come Another Concerning Inspiration Revelation and Prophecy Another Against all vain Disputes Another For all Bishops and Ministers to trie themselves by the Scriptures Another To such as say We love none but our selves Another Entituled Our Testimony concerning Christ. And another little Book concerning Swearing being the first of those Two that were given to the Parliament Besides these I writ many Papers and Epistles to Friends to Encourage and strengthen them in their Services for God which some who had made Profession of Truth but had given way to a Seducing Spirit and were departed from the Vnity and Fellowship of the Gospel in which Friends stand endeavoured to Discourage them from especially in their diligent and watchful Care for the well-ordering and managing the Affairs of the Church of Christ Which may be read amongst the rest of my Epistles London Now after I was set at Liberty I visited the Friends in London and having for some time been very Weak and not yet well recovered I went down to Kingston for a little Season Kingston But I did not stay long there London but having visited the Friends there I returned to London again and writ a Paper to the Parliament and sent several Books to them And a great Book against Swearing had been delivered to them a little before the Reasonableness whereof had so much Influence upon many of them that it was thought they would have done something towards our Relief therein if they had sate longer I staid in and near London London-Yearly-Meeting until the Yearly Meeting came on to which Friends came up from most Parts of the Nation and some from beyond the Seas and a glorious Meeting we had in the Everlasting Power of God After this Meeting was over the Parliament being also risen who had done nothing for nor against Friends I was Clear of my Service for the Lord at London And having taken my Leave of Friends there and had a Glorious Meeting with some of them
World Who is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and all Power in Heaven and in Earth is given to him who will reward every Man according to his Words and Works ALL you bearing the Name of Christian Magistrates my desire is that you may all be found in Christ and not only have the Name but be made Partakers of his Divine Nature that ye may be not only Sayers of the Word but Doers of the Word not only Professors of Christ and Talkers of Christ but let Christ rule in your hearts by Faith and be Walkers in Christ For as Christ's great Apostle saith As every one hath received the Lord Jesus Christ so let him walk in him 1680. Kingston for in him there is peace And if all that do Profess Christ did Walk in Christ they would all Walk in Peace and be in Unity For the Apostle exhorted the Christians in his day to keep the Vnity of the Spirit which is the Bond of Peace yea of Christ the King of Kings Peace And all Christians who have the Scriptures and are not in this Spirit of Christ they are not in Unity one with another and so have broken this Bond of Peace which should knit and unite them together And likewise all that do profess the Truth of Christ should live in it for it is peaceable and the Gospel is the Gospel of Peace which if all Christians that do profess it lived in they would be at peace one with another and in the glorious Fellowship of the Gospel And also if all Christians kept in the Fear of God which is the beginning of the pure heavenly peaceable and gentle Wisdom which is easie to be entreated above that Wisdom which is earthly sensual devillish and destroying then there would be no difference and destroying about Matters of Religion I do declare the mighty Day of the Lord is Come and Coming and the Lord God is come to Teach his People himself by his Son Hebr. 1. whose Son Christ Jesus bruises the Serpent's Head that false Teacher that led Adam and Eve from God their Teacher So God will Teach his People by his Son who was the Teacher of Adam and Eve in Paradise before they fell and disobeyed the Lord and forsook him and followed the Serpent whose Head Christ does bruise and renews Man and Woman up again into the Image of God which Adam and Eve was in before they fell Glory and Honour be to God through Jesus Christ who hath called us by his Son into his glorious Image to serve and worship him in his Spirit and Truth which holy Spirit and Truth the Devil is out of and cannot come into it And now I desire all Christian Magistrates to take heed of Persecuting any though they differ from you in Matters of Faith Worship and Religion For Christ saith Let the Tares and the Wheat grow together till the Harvest and he forbad such as would be plucking up Tares The Reason was Lest they should pluck up the Wheat also for that Christ said should be his Angels work to separate the Tares from the Wheat Moreover Christ said They should go into everlasting Punishment that did not Visit him in Prison in his Members Then what will become of them that Cast him into Prison where he is made manifest in his Members Oh lay these things to heart A Day of Judgment will come Vengeance and Recompence upon every one according to their Works And Christ said to his Disciples who would have had Fire to come down from Heaven to consume them that would not receive him He turned him about and rebuked them and told them They did not know what spirit they were of for he came not to destroy mens Lives but to save them And therefore let all the Magistrates and the Priests in that which is called Christendom consider who have destroyed Mens and Womens Lives since the Apostles days because they could not Receive their Religions Ways and Worships or Conform to them which they have made and set up Have they known what Spirit they have been of Are they not all reproved by and come under the Judgment of Christ Therefore let all Persecution be laid away concerning Religion and let Love bear the sway to overcome Evil and Enemies and let Patience over-sway Passion in all such doings that all may retain the heavenly Reason and the pure Understanding that your Moderation in true Christianity may be known to all Men. For have you not the Turks Jews Tartars Indians and Atheists Eyes upon you and upon Christendom And therefore be in Unity and let not the Name of God and Christ be blasphemed amongst them by means of any that bear the Name of Christians So that God may be glorified by all and in all through Jesus Christ who is over all who calls all to Peace who is blessed for ever And now I would have you to be as Noble as the Bereans and search the Scriptures of Christ and the Apostles where-ever he or they did give any Command to Imprison Banish Persecute or put to Death any that would not receive or conform to them or that were contrary-minded to them in Religion or differ'd from them in Matters of Worship Again I desire all Christian Magistrates to search both Scriptures and Chronicles and see what was the End of all Persecutors and what Judgments came upon them What came to Cain who was the first Persecutor for Matters of Faith and Sacrifice Did not he become a Runnagade a Vagabond and a Fugitive in the Earth What became of the Old World that grieved God and Noah a Preacher of Righteousness What became of Sodom that vex'd Just Lot What became of Pharaoh that persecuted God's People in Egypt though the more he persecuted them the more they grew What became of Ahab and Jezabel that persecuted the Lord's Prophets And what became of Haman that would have destroyed the Jews What became of the Jews and Jerusalem that persecuted Christ and the Apostles What was the End of all these Are they not become Vagabonds in the Earth and driven away from their native Country Therefore I beseech you in the Love and Fear of God be so Noble as to search both Scripture and History and let not your divine understanding be clouded What will become of the Beast and Whore spoken of in the Revelations with their false Prophets that have drunk the blood of the Saints Martyrs and Prophets of Jesus must they not all go with the Devil who is a Murderer Destroyer an Enemy and Adversary of Mankind into the Lake of Fire that burns with Brimstone And ye may be sure that Spirit that stirs you up to Persecution let it be in whomsoever it will is not of Christ and of his Lamb-like Nature who takes away the Sins of the World not the Lives of Men. Paul was a Persecutor and a Haler to Prison before he was converted to Christianity but never after And therefore are not all
open your Understandings that you may see this great Power of the Lord which he is now manifesting among his Children in this his Day that ye may not withstand it in our Friends that are come into the Power of God and to God and know him by whom the world was made by whom all things were Created that were created and there was not any thing made of all that was made but what was made for him and to him and by him who is the Power of God who doth Enlighten every Man that cometh into the world Now our Friends being come to this Light which cometh from Christ and having received Power from him by whom all things were Created who hath all Power in Heaven and Earth given to him who is the wisdom of God we have received wisdom and power from him by which the Lord doth give us to know how to use and order the Creatures to the glory of him who is the Creator of all things So our Friends here are taught of the Lord to be diligent serving him and who come into the Life the Scriptures were given forth from are given up to serve the Lord And of this I have in all your Consciences a Witness So if thou open the Prison-Door we shall not stay there If thou send a Liberate and set us free we shall not stay in Prison for Israel is to go out free whose freedom is purchased by the Power of God and the Blood of Jesus But who goeth out of the Power of God loseth his Freedom The 13th of the 6th Month. 1656. George Fox and the rest who are Sufferers for the Truth in Lanceston-Gaol After this Major Desborow came to the Castle-green and there plaid at Bowles with the Justices and others And several Friends were moved to go to him and admonish him and them of their spending their Time so vainly bidding them Consider That though they professed themselves to be Christians yet they gave themselves up to their Pleasures and kept the Servants of God mean while in Prison and told them The Lord would plead with them and visit them for such things But notwithstanding what was writ or said unto him he went away and left us in prison Yet we understood afterwards that he left the Business to Colonel Bennet who had the Command of the Gaol For sometime after Bennet would have set us at Liberty if we would have paid his Gaoler's Fees But we told him We could give the Gaoler no Fees for we were innocent Sufferers and how could they expect Fees of us who had suffered so long wrongfully After a while this Colonel Bennet coming to Town sent for us to an Inn and insisted again upon Fees which we refused And at last the Power of the Lord came so over him that he freely set us at Liberty It was on the Thirteenth Day of the Seventh Month 1656. that we were set at Liberty and we had been Prisoners Nine Weeks at the first Assize called the Lent-Assize which was in the Spring of the Year Observing while I was here a Prisoner how much the People they especially who were called the Gentry were addicted and given to Pleasures and vain Recreations I was moved before I left the Place to give forth several Papers as a Warning unto them and unto all that so Mispend their Time One of which was thus directed This to go abroad among them who are given to Pleasures and Wantonness SOdom and Gomorrah their Sins were Pride Fulness of Bread and abundance of Idleness whose filthy Conversation vexed the righteous Soul of the Just Lot Day by Day and would not take Warning on whom God sent Fire and turned them into Ashes And in Spiritual Sodom and Egypt was our Lord Jesus Christ crucified And it is written The People sate down to eat and to drink and rose up to play with whom God was not well-pleased and there fell three and twenty thousand in one Day These the Apostle commanded the Saints that they should not follow for these things happened to them for Examples and are written for our Admonition And God spared not the Old World but reserving Noah a Preacher of Righteousness brought the Flood upon the World of the Ungodly making them an Example to all that after should live Vngodly Mark ye Vngodly ones who are as natural brute Beasts who speak great swelling Words of Vanity alluring through the Lusts of the Flesh through much Wantonness as they that count it Pleasure to Riot in the Day-time sporting your selves with your own deceivings ye shall receive the Reward of Vnrighteousness Ye are as Dogs and Swine turned to the Vomit and wallowing in the Mire speaking evil of things that ye know not and unless ye Repent ye shall utterly perish in your own Corruptions Ye have lived in Pleasure on the Earth and been wanton ye have nourished your Hearts as in a Day of Slaughter ye have condemned and killed the Just and he doth not resist you Go to Weep and Houl for the Misery that is coming upon you and she that liveth in Pleasures is dead while she liveth God condemned the Cities of Sodom and Gomorrah making them an Example to all those that after should live Vngodly in the wicked filthy Conversation Mark here is your Example Hear this ye that are given to Pleasures and read your Examples G. F. Another Paper upon my taking Notice of the Bowlers that came to sport themselves in the Castle-green was as followeth THE VVord of the Lord to all you vain and idle-minded People who are Lovers of Sports Pleasures and foolish Exercises and Recreations as you call them Consider of your Ways what it is you are doing Was this the End of your Creation Did God make all things for you and you to serve your Lusts and Pleasures Did not the Lord make all things for you and you for himself to fear and worship him in Spirit and in Truth in Righteousness and true Holiness But where is your Service of God so long as your Hearts run after Lusts and Pleasures ye cannot serve God and the foolish Pleasures of the World as Bowling Drinking Hunting Hawking and the like If these have your Hearts God will not have your Lips Consider for 't is true Therefore from the Lord must you all witness VVo and Misery Tribulation and VVrath who continue in the Love and Practice of your vain Sports Lusts and Pleasures Now is the Day when all every-where are exhorted to Repentance O foolish People wicked and slow of Heart to believe the Threatnings of the Great Jehovah against the wicked What will you do in the Day of the Lord 's fierce wrath that makes haste to Come upon the world of ungodly Men And what good have your foolish Sports and Delights done you now they are past Or what good will they do you when the Lord calls for your Souls Therefore all now Awake from Sleep and see where you are And let the Light
of Jesus Christ that shines in every one of your Consciences search you throughly and it will let you clearly see for all your Profession of God Christ and the Scriptures you are Ignorant of them and Enemies to them all and your own Souls also And being found living in Pleasures you are dead while you live And therefore doth the Lord by many Messengers forwarn you and calls you to Repentance and deep Humiliation that you may forsake the Evil of your Doings and so own this Day of your Visitation and while you have Time to prise it lest the things which belong to your Peace be hid from your Eyes for your Disobedience and Rebellion against the Holy One. And then had it been good that you never had been born Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand again I say Repent To the Bowlers in the Green Given forth in Lanceston-Gaol in Cornwall Being Released we got Horses Cornwall and rid up into the Country towards Humphry Lower's and met him upon the Road coming towards us He told us He was much troubled in his Mind concerning us and could not rest at home but was going to Colonel Bennet to seek our Liberty But when we told him VVe were set at liberty and were going to his House he was exceeding glad So to his House we went and there we had a fine precious Meeting and many were Convinced and turned by the Spirit of the Lord to the Lord Jesus Christ's Teaching From his House we went to Loveday Hambleys where also we had a fine large Meeting and the Lord's Power was over all and many were Convinced there also and turned to the Lord Jesus Christ their Teacher After we had tarried there Two or Three Days we came to Thomas Mounce's where we had a general Meeting for the whole County which being very large was held in his Orchard Friends from Plimouth were there and from many Places and the Lord's Power was over all and a great Convincement there was in many Places of the County And all their Watches were down in all those Countries and all was plain and open 1656. Cornwall for the Lord had let me see before I was set at Liberty that he would make all the Country plain before us Now Thomas and Ann Curtis with another an Alderman of Reading who was Convinced had come to Lanceston to see us while I was a Prisoner And when Ann and the other man returned Thomas Curtis staid behind in Cornwall and did good Service for the Lord there at that Time Lanceston From Thomas Mounce's we passed to Lanceston again and visited that little Remnant of Friends that had been raised up there while we were there in Prison and the Lord's Plants grew finely and were established on Christ their Rock and Foundation As we were going out of Town again the Constable of Lanceston came running to us with the Cheese that had been taken from Edward Pyot which they had kept from us all this while and were tormented with it But we being now set at Liberty would not receive it Okington From Lanceston we came to Okington and lay at an Inn which the Mayor of the Town kept He had stopt and taken up several Friends but was very Civil to us and was Convinced in his Judgment Exeter From thence we came through the Countries to Exeter where many Friends were in Prison and amongst the rest James Nayler For a little before the Time that we were set at Liberty James run out into Imaginations and a Company with him and they raised up a great Darkness in the Nation And he came to Bristol and made a Disturbance there And from thence he was coming to Lanceston to see me but was stopt by the Way and Imprisoned at Exeter As were also several others that were coming to see me one of whom an honest tender Man died in Prison there whose Blood lieth on the Heads of his Persecutors That Night that we came to Exeter I spake with James Nayler for I saw he was out and wrong and so was his Company The next day being the First-day of the week we went to the Prison to visit the Prisoners and had a Meeting with them in the Prison but James Nayler and some of them could not stay the Meeting There came a Corporal of Horse into the Meeting and was Convinced and remained a very good Friend The next day I spake to James Nayler again and he slighted what I said and was dark and much out yet he would have come and kissed me But I said Since he had turned against the Power of God I could not receive his shew of Kindness So the Lord God moved me to slight him and to set the Power of God over him So after I had been warring with the World there was now a wicked Spirit risen up amongst Friends to war against and I admonished him and his Company And when he was come to London his Resisting the Power of God in me and the Truth that was declared to him by me became one of his greatest Burdens but he came to see his Out-going and to Condemn it and after some Time he returned to Truth again as in the printed Relation of his Repentance Condemnation and Recovery may be more fully seen We passed from Exeter through Collumpton and Taunton 1656. Collumpton Taunton Puddimoor visiting Friends and had Meetings amongst them and declared the Word of Life unto them And from thence we came to Puddimoor to William Beaton's and on the First-day we had a very large Meeting there For a great Convincement there was all up and down that Country and many Meetings we had and the Lord's Power was over all and many were turned by the Power and Spirit of God to the Lord Jesus Christ who died for them and they came to sit under his free Teaching From thence we went to John Dandy's where we had another precious Meeting and the Lord's Power was over all and many were Convinced of God's Eternal Truth Some Contention was raised by Professors and Baptists in some Places but the Lord's Power came over them near Bristol From thence we came to Edward Pyot's house near Bristol It was the Seventh-day at Night that we came thither And it was quickly noised over the Town that I was come Now I had never been there before On the First-day Morning I went to the Meeting in Broadmead at Bristol and a great Meeting there was and quiet Bristol Meeting Notice was given of a Meeting to be in the Afternoon in the Orchard There was at Bristol a rude Baptist named Paul Gwin who had used before to make great disturbance in our Meetings being encouraged and set on by the Mayor who as it was reported would sometimes give him his Dinner to Incourage him And such multitudes of rude People would he gather after him that it was thought there had been sometimes Ten thousand people
and to God's Spirit and to the Grace and Truth in your hearts that comes by Jesus Christ that with it ye may search your hearts And so do not grieve nor vex nor quench God's good Spirit in your hearts and walk not despitefully against the Spirit of Grace nor turn from it into Wantonness and yet make a Profession of God and Christ in Words 1677. Amsterdam when your hearts are afar off and living in Pleasures and wantonly upon the Earth sporting your selves killing the Just and Crucifying to your selves Christ afresh and putting him to open shame And so dishonouring God and Christ and Christianity and making a Profession and a Trade of the Scriptures keeping People always Learning that they may be always paying Therefore Cease from Man whose Breath is in his Nostrils and look unto the Lord all ye ends of the Earth and be saved for the Lord God of Heaven and Earth is come to teach his People himself by his Light Spirit Grace and Truth and to bring them off all the World's Teachers And God hath raised up Christ Jesus his Prophet whom People should hear and saith This is my beloved Son hear ye him and Christ saith Learn of me I am the Way the Truth and the Life and no Man comes to the Father but by me And there is no Salvation by any other Name under the whole Heaven but by the Name of Jesus who saith I am the good Shepherd and have laid down my Life for my Sheep and my Sheep hear my voice and follow me and will not follow the Hireling For Christ feeds them in the Pastures of Life that will never wither And God hath anointed Christ Jesus to preach if you will hear him and God hath given Christ for a Counsellor and a Leader if you will be Led and Counselled by him and God hath given Christ for a Bishop to Oversee you and a King to Rule you if you will be Overseen and Ruled by him And you that will not have Christ to Rule over you who never sinned nor Guile was found in his Mouth you may read his Sentence in the New Testament upon such And is not Christ a sufficient Teacher whose Blood was shed for you and tasted Death for every Man And doth not Christ say to his Ministers Freely ye have received freely give And the Apostle saith We covet no Man's Gold Silver or Apparel but Laboured with their Hands and kept the Gospel without Charge Have they that are called Ministers amongst you done the same and kept this Command of Christ Jesus Let them be Examined and Examine themselves And have you not trimmed your Outsides but look within with the Light and Spirit of Christ Jesus and see if your Insides be not black and foul For Christ Jesus who doth Enlighten every Man that cometh into the World with the Life in himself who is the Word he saith Believe in the Light that ye may become Children of the Light and with the Light ye may see all the Evil Deeds ye have done and all your ungodly Deeds that ye have acted and committed and all your ungodly Words you have spoken and all your ungodly Thoughts ye think that ye may turn from them and turn to Christ from whence the Light comes who is your Saviour and Redeemer who hath given you a Light to see your Sin and how that you are dead in Adam that with the same Light you may see Christ the quickening Spirit who makes you alive to God and saves you from your sin But if you hate the Light which is the Life in Christ the Prince of Life and Love the Darkness and the Prince of Darkness more than the Light or the Life in Christ whose Deeds be Evil and because it will Reprove you Christ tells you This Light will be your Condemnation John 3. And therefore be Warned now in your Day and while you have Time turn to the Lord and do not quench the Spirit of the Father by which he draws to his Son nor hate the Light of Christ for if you do you hate the Life in Christ and so remain under Condemnation from God and Christ with the Light who now speaks to his People by his Son as he did in the Apostles Days so the same God that was the Speaker by the Prophets to the Fathers and Speaker to Adam and Eve in Paradise And happy had Adam and Eve and the Jews and all Christians been if they had kept to this Speaker and not have followed the Serpent that false Speaker and his Instruments And now God is the true Speaker by his Son who bruises the Head of the Serpent the false Teacher who is the Head of all false Ways and false Prophets and false Churches and false Religions and Worships And so God and Christ is bringing People to the pure and undefiled Religion that will keep them from the Spots of the World and into the new and living Way Christ Jesus and to the Church in God which Christ is the Head of as he was in the Apostles Days and to worship God in the Spirit and Truth which Worship Christ set up above Sixteen hundred years since And therefore must all People come to the Grace and Spirit of Truth in their own hearts to know the God of Truth who is a Spirit and in the Spirit and Truth to worship and serve and honour and glorifie the Living God who is over all and Worthy of all Blessed for evermore Amen And ye Magistrates and Officers read this in all your Assemblies and cause all your Priests to read it in their Churches that they and you and all People may hear and fear the God of Heaven as you will Answer it at the Great and Terrible Day of Judgment and Vengeance of the Lord God Almighty And this is in Love to your Souls and for your Temporal and Eternal Good Amsterdam the 19th of the 7th Month 1677. G. F. 1677. Harlingen in Friezland An Epistle concerning true Fasting true Prayer true Honour and against Persecution and for the true Liberty in Christ Jesus To pag. 438 and that all may have a care that the Apostle hath not bestowed his Labour in vain upon you in your observing of Days Months Times Feasts and Years and of coming under the beggarly Elements and the Yoke of Bondage again and of bringing and forcing People into them WHere did ever Christ or his Apostles Command any Believers or Christians to observe Holy-Days or Feast-Days and let us see where it is written in the Scriptures of the New Testament in the Four Evangelists or the Epistles or the Revelation that ever Christ or his Apostles gave the Christians any such Command that they should observe the Time called Christmas or a Day for Christ's Birth or that they should observe the Time called Easter or Whitsuntide or Peter or Paul's or Mark or Luke's Days or any other Saints Day Now you that profess your selves to be
the Reformed Churches from the Papists Jews and Heathen and the Scriptures to be your Rule and are Professors of the New Covenant where do you prove out of the Scriptures of the New Testament that the Apostles and the Primitive Church practised or forced any such thing or that Christ and his Apostles gave any such Command to the Churches that they should practise and observe any such Days Let us see where this Command is written For did not the Apostle say unto the Galatians in the fourth Chapter But now after that ye have known God or rather ye are known of God how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly Elements whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage Ye observe Days and Months and Times and Years I am afraid of you lest I have bestowed upon you Labour in vain And in the Third of Galatians it is said O foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the Truth c. And in Galatians the Fifth the Apostle exhorts them to stand fast in the Liberty wherewith Christ had made them free and moreover said Be not entangled again with the Yoke of Bondage Now doth not this manifest that there were some Teachers that were drawing the Church of the Galatians into these beggarly Elements and bringing them again into Bondage in observing of Days Months Times and Years for it was the Apostle's Work to bring them out of those Bondages and beggarly Elements and therefore when they were going back again into observing Days Months Times and Years he was afraid that he had bestowed his Labour upon them in vain and he Exhorts them to stand fast in the Liberty wherewith Christ Jesus hath made them free and not to be entangled again with the Yoke of Bondage and Again signifies That they had been once entangled with that Yoke of Bondage and beggarly Elements But O! how are People called Christians since the Apostles Days gone again under this Yoke of Bondage and these beggarly Elements in observing Days Months Times and Years let their practice declare Nay do not both Papists and Protestants force People to observe Days Months and Times c. And therefore is not the Apostle's Labour and Travel bestowed upon Christendom in vain which was to bring People from under such beggarly Elements and that Yoke of Bondage which the Law did require to stand fast in the Liberty wherewith Christ hath made them free and not to be entangled again with the Yoke of Bondage So it was and is Christ that hath made and doth make his People free from these things and beggarly Elements And therefore they that are Redeemed are to stand fast in that Liberty wherewith Christ hath made them free And this Liberty which all true Christians are to stand fast in they are made free by Christ and not by Man for Man with out the Spirit and Mind of Christ seeks to force and compel Christ's Followers and such as he hath made free from the Yoke of Bondage to outward things that the Law commanded and to the observing of Days Months Times Feasts and Years such weak beggarly Elements them that know God or are known of God and Christ are to stand fast in their Liberty and not come under nor be entangled with the Yoke of Bondage of such things again seeing he hath made them free For they that are in such things and would force others to them are gone from that which gives them the knowledge of God and have not stood fast in the Liberty wherewith Christ makes free And now concerning Prayer we do not read that ever Christ or his Apostles did Compel by force any to Fast or Pray and make a Law to strain the Goods of such as would not observe Days to fast and pray with them But Christ taught them how they should pray and be distinct from the Hypocrites and Christ's words are as followeth When thou prayest thou shalt not be as the Hypocrites are for they love to stand praying in the Synagogues and in the Corners of the Streets that they may be seen of Men c. But when thou prayest enter into thy Closet and when thou hast shut thy door pray to thy Father which is in secret and thy Father that seeth in secret will Reward thee openly But when you pray use not vain Repetitions as the Heathen do for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking Be not ye therefore like them for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask him c. So as the Apostles and Saints did so do we we pray in secret and we pray in publick as the Spirit gives us utterance which helps our Infirmities as it did the Apostles and true Christians and after this manner we pray for our selves and pray for all Men both high and low Concerning Fasting Christ saith Moreover when ye fast be not as the Hypocrites of a sad Countenance for they disfigure their Faces that they may appear unto Men to fast But when thou fastest anoint thy Head and wash thy face that thou appear not unto Men to fast 1677. Harlingen in Frietzland but unto thy Father which is in secret and thy Father which seeth in secret shall Reward thee openly And likewise you may see in Isaiah the 58th what the true Fast is the Lord requires where it is said to the Prophet Cry aloud and spare not lift up thy Voice like a Trumpet and shew my People their Transgression and the House of Jacob their sins yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways as a Nation that did Righteousness and forsook not the Ordinance of their God they ask of me the Ordinances of Justice they take delight in approaching to God Wherefore have we fasted say they and thou seest not wherefore have we afflicted our Soul and thou takest no knowledge Behold in the day of your Fast ye find pleasure and exact all your Labours Behold ye fast for strife and debate and to smite with the Fist of Wickedness ye shall not fast as ye do this day to make your Voice to be heard on high Is it such a Fast that I have chosen A day for a Man to afflict his Soul Is it to bow down his Head as a Bull-rush and to spread Sackcloth and Ashes under him Wilt thou call this a Fast and an acceptable Day to the Lord Is not this the Fast that I have chosen saith the Lord To loose the Bands of Wickedness to undo the heavy Burdens and to let the Oppressed go free and that ye break every Yoke ' So this Fast that the Lord requires is not to lay Yokes and Oppress and lay Heavy Burdens and to make fast the Bands of Wickedness but to loose and to break such things And further Concerning the true Fast the Lord requires Is it not to deal thy Bread to the Hungry and that thou bring the Poor that are cast out to thy