a Lordly Judicature over the Conscience for by this all Professions have been split before us and it is observed that when the Spirit of Lordship enters a People over their Fellows the Lord doth disappoint the Undertakers thereof by the withdrawing of his pure Spirit My Soul's desire is That the Spirit of Lordship and Exaltedness which hath entred the Body may be crusht for ever that the little Ones may serve the Lord without fear and be found in the Exercise of nothing in the Worship of God but what his pure Spirit leads unto and out of that Truth may spring up in the hearts of thousands by enjoying of this holy Liberty and that God may ãâã exalted in the Farth that the Horn of all Oâpressions may be broken and dasht to pieces ãâã the praise of the Name of the Lord that the Ligââ of his Glory may shine in our Temples in ãâã strength and lustre not wanting a proud Lord ãâã Body to rule over us nor a proud wanton ãâã Ministry to monopolize his ' precious Truth froââ us but that every one may sit under his own Viâââ without fear and eat his Bread at his own Tabâââ And God bears me this Testimony That his Tâââ as it hath been declared is dear unto me and ãâã Principles delivered my Soul doth own and theââfore according to my Measure ought to have ãâã place in the Body but from the Body of Chrisââ and the Unity of his Spirit they cannot excluââ me and therefore my Soul is abundantly satisâââ and refreshed in my solitary Retirements and ãâã not to join hands to oppress any nor yet to give up my neck unto the Yoke of Bondage nor ãâã Back to the Oppression nor my Judgment and Eyââ to the Body Though I can give my Back to thâ Smiter and my Cheeks to the pulling off of thâ Hair yet it is through a patient suffering and noâ a sordid slavish subjection And altho' they daily exercise the Oppressions before-mentioned yet by their deceitful flatteries they make people believe That they are a harmless innocent and peaceable People suffering anâ bearing wrong but not doing any or if any persons Write or Speak their Grief that the Publicâ take notice of they will represent them under such terms as may render them odious and the more âffectually to weaken their Testimonies they will ãâã upon them scurrilous and contemptible Appellaââon as Scotch-men Welch-men Tinker Taylor c. ââme of them utterly untrue and to prevent an inââââisition into the truth of the matter they would âake people believe that they are envious maliciâââ and discomposed Spirits bad dirty factious ãâã ranting Spirits who are gone from Truth and ãâã out of Truth Such is the portion of those that appear in the least ââinst their imperious tyrannical and lascivious ââtions and what-ever Man detected the fallacies ãâã destructive Cheats of imperious disdainful men ãâã was thus reproached Must it be justice in ââm to complain of their Oppressions and Envy ââd Malice c. in us to complain of ours their âârs are but few yet verily they have been exceedââ expert in learning of the Papists subtilties If I have any interest in a Burial-place and disâase the Body by discharging of a good Consciâââe I shall be deprived thereof and be necessitaâââ to seek a place for my dead else-where albeit ãâã Truth as it hath been declared is dear unto ãâã precious with me for say they Thou opposest âiends who are in the Truth Let the Spiritual ââan judge whether this is not a setting up themââlves yea let the reasonable Man judge whether ãâã is not to dispose of my Right and Propriety Will and Pleasure they are like the Pharisees old who were more zealous to keep up their ââây are more zealous to keep up their power as body than the Truth it self It appears plainly unto the Just and Righteâ ãâã Man that G. F. and the rest of his Councel haââ endeavoured to subvert the Royal Law of Liberty and to introduce an Arbitrary and Tyrannical ââvernment over the Conscience over the Flock ãâã God These are the ravening Wolves which prey ãâã the little Ones in a Lordly Spirit This is that ãâã venomed spirit which hath tainted their Judgmâââ poysoned their Hearts and blinded their ãâã how hainous it is in the Nature how mischieââ in the Effects of it which will best appear ãâã be examined by that infallible Law To do ãâã would be done unto This is the Foundation of ãâã Laws out of which they are derived this ãâã Supream Law and the Health of the People ãâã end of all Laws to which they are designed ãâã how far this Spirit in them stands in opposition this Law I shall further manifest They pretend and claim an Infallibility in âââment c. not that I am against Infallibility ãâã that it is in a special manner peculiar to theââ they are a Body this I am against yet who ãâã fallible in Judgment than they who more paâââ in Justice And what can be more dangerous ãâã destructive to the well-being of a People than ãâã a claim without it If they were in it assuâââ they would boast less be more humble and ãâã more self-denying and mortified in their Conâââtions I shall be liable to transgress by breaking aâââ hidden in their Breasts that must be a Crime ãâã they are pleased to say is so all must be error ãâã ââey please to call so What say they dost thou ãâã dost thou feel that which the Body doth not ãâã art in an exalted Spirit the Body hath not unity âââth it if it had been a true motion the Body would ãâã a sence thereof behold the Touch-stone and ââtainly in their degenerated Natures as many ââat enormities have been so greater will be proââd Lust will become a Law Envy will beââne a Law Ambition and Covetousness will beââne Laws What Dictates what Divisions such ââws will produce may easily be discerned by the ãâã Vicissitudes to dispose of all to the mainteâââce of it self The bounds of the Royal Law they ãâã removed and broken and this mischief must ââds ensue in the stead thereof Tyranny establishââ and yet they will tell us It 's for the honour of ââuth and its service from the Spirit of Truth What greater dishonour can there be to the ãâã God of Heaven and Earth than to pretend ãâã Holy Pure Spirit in the practice of Injustice ãâã Oppression and to make use of his great ââme and Power to patronize their pride and exââted Spirits Such arbitrary courses have an ill Operation upon ãâã Spirits of Men it weakens their Hearts and âââls their Courage and begets in them a slavish ââmper and Disposition and where this arbitraââând unlimited Power is set up a way is open not ââly for the security but for the Advancement and ãâã couragement of Evil and a means to Increase âââterers Such Men are aptest to cry up the body in all respects and are the only
was wonderfully with them in this Dispensation that very many came off from the barren Mountains and out of the sandy Deserts and were here refreshed without Money without Price and the Bread was broken freely to the Hungry and Water given freely to the Thirsty And not only so but likewise our Vessels were filled with the same whereby our Hearts were made glad and caused the Springs of Life to break forth out of our Bellies and the Bread of Life to dwell within us that we needed not to go forth out of our own Houses having an Holy Anointing within us to supply the wants of our Souls and lead us into aââ Truth And the Lord did daily add unto the Church and raised up many to go forth in the Power to Preach the Everlasting Gospel whereby the Church multiply'd and encreased to the astonishment of the Nations How low and humble were they in their Spiritâ how few were they in Words Their yea was yea and their nay nay Ah! let me take up a Lamentation How are the Mighty fallen How have the Stars ceased to give their Light How are the Poor distressed and the Young Ones bruised by the High Mountains and Lofty Cedars whose Habitations were once in Heaven but now upon the High Places of the Earth to impose upon the Conscience and to Establish an Arbitrary Power by a Law these are the armed Beasts and the many Antichrists which break the Unity in Spirit and the Bond of Peace This brings in Divisions causeth Differences contentions and Emulations It roots up the good and eats as doth a Canker whereby the Unity is divided and the Peace broken But the Unity that the Lord approves of is for every one to act acâording to his measure and growth in the Truth All are not strong therefore all cannot be in the ââme Exercise no more than a Child can be found ãâã the Exercise of a Man So that the disuniting-Spiâit doth not barely lie in being of another Mind ând Judgment but in the imposing of its Judgâent and Practice which appears plainly by Paul ââo clearly judged that the ground of the Diffeâânces in the Church lay very much in the judging ââe another in Meats and Drinks c. It 's the great Promise of the Father in these latter âays That he will write his Laws in our Hearts ââd put his Spirit into our inward Parts to lead us ââto all Truth and out of all appearances which ââs Spirit manifests in us to be in the Imitation ând after the Traditions of Men. Is it then reasonable for the Spiritual Man to be âound in the practice of doing before a Law writâen but rather wait at the Feet of Jesus till God âeveals And he that walks according to this Rule ãâã all know his Doctrine and be led to behold his âlory and Witness an Unity in Spirit with his ârother though in a different Exercise How doth this differ from the World's and the ââxoman-Unity which is to yield subjection to ãâã Order of the Body so called though no âanifestation within And this Unity they glory ãâã by this is their Kingdom upheld from this they ââe able to boast Who is able to make War with ãâã Who can stand before us Do not all fall that ââve risen up against us Are not these the high âelling Words of proud Babel whose towring thoughts must be abased Whose practice hath been to Crush the Tender Ones in their Bodies Souls and Spirits This Language hath minâ Ears heard this practice hath mine Eyes seen to the grief and wounding of my Soul This combined Unity I have no pleasure in its Nature is known by its Image its Birth by the exercise of its Power My Friend Observe What difference is there in these things between George Fox and the Papists The one saith No Liberty out of the Church The other No Liberty out of the Power Saith the Papist What Liberty to the Sectary No What Liberty to the Heretick No. And George Fox saith What Liberty to the Presbyter No What Liberty to the Independant No What Liberty to the Baptist No. Liberty saith he is in the Truth The difference lies only here The one hath greater Power to compel than the other The Papists say Believe as the Church Believes So likewise saith G. Fox But I say Nay I am not to believe a thing barely because the Church believes it but because it 's manifested in me else ãâã am to wait till God Reveals it I was told the abovesaid by two there present The Church of Rome claims a Power of Excommunication of them that will not submit to their decent and comely Order though in it self the thing be meerly Circumstantial Ceremonial or as they term it indifferent and their reason is It Judgeth the Power and smites at the Authority and say they it 's an Inlet to Division and thereby is Unity violated Behold a resemblance thereof it hath been often said unto me The Hat is nothing but it is out of the comely Order it judgeth Friends who are in the Power who testifie against it and it breaks the Unity and therefore we cannot suffer such to Marry or Bury nor to partake of any Priviledge as a Member of the Body and this is in the substance Excommunication For Excommunication chiefly lies in a Man's being deprived of the Benefits and put out of the Protection of the Law as also from being a Member of the Church The Severity is the same with us for where âould I Marry or Bury if we were an intire Nation Or how can I take a Wife without a Witness Or how can I have a Witness if to be one is lyable to the same Misery Selected Bodies ought to be found in the Exercise of Moderation Tenderness and Mercy as if they were a Nation I always find when once such put forth their Hands to afflict for Conscience sake as their Power groweth strong so doth their Oppression But perhaps they would say We do not eject for Conscience sake but because of an obstinate Will which opposeth Friends The Papists justifie themselves by saying of the same I remember a Judge likewise made the same reply when a Friend mentioned Conscience Certainly it cannot be an Evil in one and Right in the other no more than it is Cruelty in the Papists Persecutions and Just in the Protestants It will be a noble Example in those that stand upon the Advantage-ground to Act in Moderation Tenderness and Mercy And although it is the Policy of the World's Churches c. under a pretence for Unity not to hear the tender Conscience yet the Church of Truth will and where they are found will account them as Brethren and not to think it a sufficient ground to refuse them after Admonition if they persist but to wait till God perswades them And this is the Royal Law of Liberty the other is the Yoke of Bondage from which we are not to be entangled after the
good Friends âât others though exemplary in their Conversations who cannot yield and comply against ãâã light in their Consciences to some of their proâings are subject to their Jealousie Censure ãâ¦ã an Ejection In days past the Lord raised up a Moses to ãâã Ruler and Leader to his People Israel who ãâã then under Types Figures and Shadows and ãâã Lord spake to his People by his Servant Moses But another Administration more glorious is eââblished to wit The Dispensation of the Soâââ God whom Moses prophesied of who speakâ from Heaven who is the end of all Figure Types and Shadows he who is the substance of ãâã Types c. is now the Great Captain and Leaââ of his People makes use of and lays by what ââstruments he pleaseth reveals his Mind sometime to one sometimes to another without respect ãâã Persons or Bodies as he pleaseth That there may ãâã no glorying but in the Lord He abaseth the proââ and exalteth the humble hides his mind from ãâã High and Mighty from the Wise and Prudent ãâã reveals himself unto Babes and therefore he neâeth not a Fox nor a Body to conveigh his ãâã unto his People he being himself their Teach ãâã and hath planted his Laws in their Hearts and ââven them an holy Anointing to know the Spirit of Truth from the Spirit of Error And albeit the Kings of the Earth exercise Lordship and Authority over their People yet it oughâ not to be so among the Disciples of Christ being ãâã Brethren But for the greatest to be well contented to serve in the meanest employment if the Loââ requires it as to be served to hearken and suââââ to the Voice of his Spirit in the least Babe ãâã in the greatest or as in the Body And I affirm the Lord did not raise them up to âring us off from the barren Mountains to feed âpon them who are now become a Deâart nor ââom under our Oppressors to turn Oppressors themselves Let them remember the Army it is ââeir Figure and if the Lord's anger waxed hot against them for their Unfaithfulness what will be ââe Portion of these who have so deeply Apostaâzed fram clearer Manifestations Many of the most Eminent have had potent Imâââses to give forth solid and sound Arguments or Liberty of Conscience and have pleaded ââongly for the same yet George Fox was heard to ãâã in a selected great Assembly thus Though many friends have writ for Liberty of Conscience I never âââd the Word it is not a good Word no Liberty to the Presbyterians no Liberty to the Papists no Liberty to the Independants no Liberty to the Baptists ãâã Liberty is tââe only in the Truth and saith ãâã no Liberty out of the Power In Answer unââ this Truth gives Liberty unto the weak yet ãâã weakness in the Truth Since the Spirit is withdrawn they do greatly âoast the Power is as much and as fresh as ever it so they would be more refreshed with it and ãâã with Sleep in their Assemblies and their Unity as entire as ever Yet verily sharper Contentions ãâã seldom found amongst any People To prove his I will set down two notable Examples it is between four famous and eminent Elders First Tho. Salthouse and John Balton T. S. bâââg a man of some Moderation and Tenderness used his endeavours to beget a Reconcilement between the Practicers and Forbearers of the Hat in Prayer and to receive each other as Brethren though they differ in that particular thing but that high and hot-spirited Elder J. B. called him false Prophet reputed him worse than the Forbearers and opposed his Ministry untill with much ado a Reconcilement was made by a condescention on both parts The other is between G. Fox and Sam. Newton who being a man of some Honesty and Cleanness in his Spirit was against having of a Person to Act in their behalf as in relation to Sufferings whose Conversation Preached not Righteousness but G. F. opposed him with so much wrath and violence that some there present thought he would have strucken him he being a person so rightâ qualified and accomplished for George's Interest Such is the swelling Pride of this Luciferian that he gave forth a Paper That his Marrirge with Margaret Fell was a Figure of the Marriage between Christ and the Church I may more justly believe it to be a Figure of the great Apostacy from the Truth and barrenness in the Truth He likewise declared That his Marriage was above the state of Adam in his Innocency in the state of the second Adam who never fell This Paper was so ill Resented and so much dislik'd that it was called in again and a rare thing it was to get a sight there of albeit through an accident I had a View of it The abovesaid Samuel Newton and John Bolton to give them their due have not taken a little Pains Labour and Travel to bring to Light and to Judgement such unheard of Practises of beastly wantonness and filthy uncleanness that it is hard to believe the excess thereof But John Bolton hath or had a Confession in Writing from one or two of the Female Persons concern'd of the Debauched Actions to declare the truth thereof yet notwithstanding they met with such great Obstructions and Opposition that they cannot accomplish a thorow Examination of it because it toucheth many Eminent Ones in the Ministry who from day to day resorted unto them and giving them these Appellations Innocent Lasses and Daughters of Sion Sometimes it comes to pass that two approved of in the Ministry will oppose and Judge each other in publick Assemblies in the Name of the Lord but to prevent the evil effects therof the next day Persons shall be appointed to declare the Greatness of their Unity and the Oneness in their Spirits But least there should be a misapplication of what I have Written when I express the Body I do declare my meaning is The Second Days Meeting at Devonshire-house with some other Principals in other Countries who are their Abettors and not the whole Body of the People called Quakers for I am assured and well know that very many have not bowed to this Golden Image with whom my Soul hath Unity and with whom I am Refreshed And moreover I meet with many who will freely open their Hearts to me with grieved and sorrowful Spirits to behold what Domineering and what partial Judgment is practised what Severity and Tyrany is Exercised at this Meeting but especially against Dissenters But say they it is out of our Power to Redress it until God doth Change their Hearts or give ãâã more Power reckoning themselves at present toâ weak to grapple with these Goliah's unless thââ little Stone be given them to smite them on their Foreheads or Words to this purpose Let us trust in the Lord and wait upon him with patience in Faith which overcomes the World that he will thresh the Mountains and rebuke the High and Mighty who are Exalted above their Measures and exalt his Truth over all that Justice and Righteousness may flow as a River to the rejoycing of his Oppressed People and to the Praise and Glory of his Name for ever From a deep Mourner in Israel to behold how the Earth is filled with Violence and the Righteous Seed Oppressed Dear Friend It hath pleased the Lord to raise thee up to bear a Testimony against an Adulterous Tyrannical and an Hypocritical Generation let the Word of the Lord therefore have a free passage in and through thee and Consult not with Flesh and Blood Watch against the Enemy lest he darken thy Understanding that thou canst not distinguish between the Precious and the Vile Mix not thy own Thoughts with the Motions of the Spirit keep in the Fear and in the Humility that an exalted Spirit may be kept out Build thy House upon the Rock of Ages and stand in the unchangeable without wavering that thy Conversation may be without Blemish thy Judgment withot Error and thy Love unto the Truth without Dissimulation Be Faithful unto the Lord's Requirings that Disobedience may not enter Rember the Root bears the Tree and the Tree the Branches if the natural Branches were cut off through unbelief and thou with thousands grafted in be not high minded but fear From a Little hidden One of the Flock of Jesus