Gospel-Order and it belongs to them Then take your Possessions and Practise in it and be not Talkers only but Live and Walk in the Gospel the Power of God which is the Authority of your Meetings Swarthmore the 28th of the Third Month 1676. G. F. Read at the Yearly Meeting in London the 17th of the Third Month 1676. During this time also I Collected together as many as I could of the Epistles I had written in former Years to Friends I made a Collection too of the several Papers that I had written to O. Cromwel and his Son Richard in the time of their Protectorships and to the Parliaments and Magistrates that were in their times And after I had gathered them together I Collected also the Papers I had written to King Charles the Second since his Return and to his Council and Parliaments and the Justices or other Magistrates under him I made also another Collection of Certificates which I had received from divers Governours of Places Judges Justices Parliament-Men and others for the Clearing of me from many Slanders which the Envious Priests and Professors both here and beyond the Seas had cast upon me And this I did for the Truth's-sake as knowing that their Design in Slandering me was to defame the Truth published by me and hinder thereby if they could the Spreading thereof amongst the People Besides these I made Two Books of Collections the one was A List or Catalogue of the Names of those Friends who went first forth out of the North of England when Truth first brake forth there to proclaim the Day of the Lord through this Nation The other was of the Names of those Friends that went first forth to Preach the Gospel in other Nations Countries and Places and in what Years and to what Parts they went I made also another Collection in Two Books one of Epistles and Letters from Friends and others on several Occasions to me The other of Letters of mine to Friends and others I writ also a Book of the Types and Figures of Christ with their Significations and many other things which will be of Service to Truth and Friends in times to come I took notice also of those who had run out from Truth and drawn others out after them and turned against Truth and Friends at several times since the First Breaking forth of Truth in this latter Age and what became of them noting particularly the Repentance and Return of such of them as came back to Truth again But some ran quite out and never returned again but were Cut off in their Gainsaying and Rebellion for the Word and Power of God hath blasted and is blasting them and the Holy Seed hath ground and is grinding them to pieces And this I have observed that they who have been Convinced and have not lived and walked in the Truth have been the Worst Enemies to the Truth and done most Hurt amongst Friends in the Truth and to others And in these I have seen fulfilled what the Lord did long since shew me That such should be greater Deceivers than all the Priests and Professors For such as came as far as Cain and Balaam and Corah and Dathan and could preach Christ and say They had preached in his Name and such as came to be Apostles and had tasted of the Power of Christ and then turned from it such could yet speak their Old Experiences and have the good Words like Corah and Balaam but not keeping in the Life and Truth such Deceived the Hearts of the Simple both then and now and such come to be of the Devil who abode not in the Truth as Cain and and all the Jews that abode not in the Truth were For though Cain did Sacrifice to God and did talk with God and the Jews could talk of Abraham Moses and the Prophets yet Christ told them They were of their Father the Devil In like manner though they who are called Christians can talk of Christ and use his and his Apostles and Disciples Words yet not abiding in the Truth and Power and Spirit that the Apostles were in they are of the Devil out of Truth and do his Work And so are all these that have been Convinced of God's Eternal Truth since it sprang up in this Nation that have not abode in the Light and in the Spirit and Power of Christ Jesus but have turned against the Power and have opposed the Work thereof though they may retain their former Experiences and be able to speak many good Words yet not living in the Life and Power that gave them those Experiences they live in the Power of Darkness which is of the Devil and by the Light and Truth both he and they are Condemned and must own their Condemnations if ever they come to Truth again For to Resist the Heavenly Power and to oppose the Workings and Divine Manifestations thereof through any is not a light Matter And as I had been moved of the Lord to travel in his Power round about this Nation and in other Parts to preach the Everlasting Gospel and to declare the Word of Life which was in the Beginning through many Imprisonments Hardships Sufferings and Trials so I was afterwards moved to Travel in the same Heavenly Power about the Nation again and to write to such Places where I came not to recommend unto Friends the setting up of the Quarterly and Monthly Meetings in all Counties for the looking after the Poor and taking Care for Orderly Proceedings in Marriages and other matters relating to the Church of Christ Though some Meetings for this end were settled in the North of England in the Year 1653. And after this also Truth still spreading further over the Nation and Friends encreasing in number I was moved by the same Eternal Power to recommend the setting up the Womens-Meetings also that all both Male and Female that had received the Gospel the Word of Eternal Life might come into the Order of the Gospel brought forth by the Power of God and might act for God in the Power and therein do Business and Service for him in his Church All the Faithful must labour in God's Vineyard they being his Hired Servants and he having given them the Earnest of his Spirit For a Master that hires a Servant and gives him the Earnest of his Hire expects he should do his Work after he knows his Will in the outward Creation So all God's Prople that be of the new Creation and have received the Earnest of his Spirit ought to labour with by and in his Spirit Power and Grace and Faith in the Light in God's Vineyard that they may have their Wages every one Male and Female when they have done God's Work and Business in his Day which is Eternal Life But none can labour in his Vineyard and do his Work and Will but as they walk in the Heavenly Divine Light Grace and Spirit of Christ which is hath been and is my Travel and
the Author of your Faith And them that loves to be Popular would have People's Faith to stand in them and such do not preach Christ but themselves But such as preach Christ and his Gospel would have every Man and Woman to be in the Possession of it and so to have every Man and Woman's Faith to stand in Christ the Author of it and in the Power of God which was before the Devil was and it will be when he is gone And their Faith standing in the Power of God then nothing can get betwixt them and God For if any should fall amongst us as too many have done then that leads its Followers either into the Waters or into the Earth And if any should go from the Spirit of Prophecy that did open to them and from the Power they may speak their Experiences which the Power hath opened to them formerly And so might Adam and Eve speak of what they saw and enjoyed in Paradise and so might Cain and Balaam of what they saw and also the Jews and Corah and Dathan who praised God on the Banks and saw the Victory over Pharaoh and they ate of the Manna and drank of the Rock and came to Mount Sinai and saw the Glory of the Lord. And so also might the false Apostles speak of their Experiences and all those false Christians that turned from the Apostles and Christ And so may such do now that err from the Spirit that are come out of Egypt in Spirit and Sodom and have known the Raging of the Sodomites as Lot did the outward and the Pursuit of the Spiritual Egyptians as the outward Jew did of the outward Egyptians yet if they do not Walk in the Spirit of God and in the Light and in the Grace which keeps their Hearts stablished and their Words seasoned and also their Faith to stand in the Power of God in which the Kingdom stands they may go forth like the false Christians and like the Jews and like Adam and Eve and Cain and Corah and Balaam and be wandring Stars Trees without Fruit and Wells without Water and Clouds without Rain and so come to be Vnsavoury and trodden down And as Adam who lost Paradise and the Jews who lost the Holy Land not walking in the Law and keeping the Command of God and as the Christians who lost the City and the Hill and the Salt and the Light since the Apostle's Days and came to be unsavoury and to be trodden under foot of Men. And therefore let every one's Faith stand as I said before in the Lord's Power which is over all through which they may be built upon the Rock and the Foundation of God the Seed Christ Jesus that bruises the Head of the Serpent who was before he was and will be when he is gone who is the Head of his Church So that all in Christ may be always fresh and green for he is the green Tree that never withers and all are fresh and green that are grafted into him and abide in him fresh and green and bring forth heavenly fresh Fruits to the Praise of God And though Adam and Eve fell from Paradise and the Jews fell from the Law of God and many of the Christians fell from their Prophecies and erred from the Faith and the Spirit and the Grace and the Stars have fallen as was spoken of in the Revelations yet the Spirit Grace Faith and Power of God remains And many such States have I seen within this Twenty Eight Years though there is a State that shall never fall nor be deceived in the Elect before the World began who are come to the End of the Prophecies and are in him where they end and renewed up into the Image of God by Christ which Man was in before he fell in that Power where he had Dominion over all that God made and not only so but Attain to a perfect Man unto the measure of the Stature of the fulness of Christ who never fell And in him is the Sitting down in Life Eternal where their Feet stand sure and fast in the Gospel his Power and here their Bread is sure and he that ears this Bread lives for ever And all Friends and Brethren that do Declare God's Eternal Truth and Word of Life live in it and be seasoned with Grace and salted with the Heavenly Salt that your Lives and Conversations may preach where-ever you come That there be no Rawness nor no Quenching of the Spirit nor despising Prophecy neither in Men nor Women For all must Meet in the Faith that Jesus is the Author of and in the Light that comes from Jesus and so grafted into the Life that your Knowledge may be there one of another in Christ And that there may be none Slothful nor sitting down in Earthly Things and minding them like Demas of old lest you Cloath your selves with another Clothing than you had at first but all to keep Chaste for the Chaste do follow the Lamb. And Friends that are settled in Places that be Ministers possess as if ye did not married as if ye were not and be loose to the World in the Lord's Power for God's Oil will be a-top of all Visible things which makes his Lamps to burn and to give Light afar off And none strive nor covet to be Rich in this World in these Changeable things that will pass away but your Faith to stand in the Lord God who changes not that Created all and gives the Increase of all And now Friends Concerning Faithful Men and Womens-Meetings which were set up in God's Counsel whoever should oppose them and the Authority and Tenure of them I say They oppose the Power of God which is the Authority of them and they are no Ministers of the Gospel nor of Christ that opposes his Power which all are to possess For the true Ministers of Christ that preach Christ and his Gospel which is to be preacht to all Nations as Deceit is gone over all Nations and all Nations have drunk the Whore's Cup and she hath them in her Cage her unclean Power from the Beast and Dragon out of the Power of God and out of Truth and the Spirit of God the Apostles were in the Power of God must come over all this again and all the true Ministers that preach the Gospel the Power of God must bring all People into the Possession of it again I say whosoever preaches the Gospel of Christ and him to People or Nations and those People and Nations receiving the Gospel they receive the Power of God that brings Life and Immortality to Light in them and they see over the Devil that hath darkned them and the Beast and the Whore and her Cage And so by the Power of God Life and Immortality is brought to Light in them then all these Men and Women being Heirs of this Power the Gospel they are Heirs of Authority and Power over the Devil Beast Whore and Dragon So all
business upon them they were hindred from doing the good they would so that the Sufferings upon Friends were Continued But that which added much to the Grief and Exercise of Friends was that some who made a Profession of the same Truth with us being gone from the Simplicity of the Gospel into a fleshly Liberty and labouring to draw others after them did Oppose the Order and Discipline which God by his Power had set up and established in his Church and made a great noise and clamour against Prescriptions Whereby they easily drew after them such as were loosly Inclined and desired a broader Way than the Path of Truth to walk in Some also that were more simple but young in Truth or weak in Judgment were apt to be betrayed by them not knowing the Depths of Satan in these Wiles For whose sakes I was moved to write the following Paper for the undeceiving the Deceived and the opening the Understandings of the Weak in this matter ALL you that do deny Prescriptions without distinction you may as well deny all the Scriptures which were given forth by the Power and Spirit of God For do not they prescribe how men should Walk both to God and Man both in the Old Testament and in the New Yea from the very first Promise of Christ in Genesis what People ought to believe and trust in and all along till ye come to the Prophets Did not the Lord prescribe to his People both by the Fathers and then by his Prophets did he not prescribe to the People how they should Walk though they turned against the Prophets in the Old Covenant for declaring or prescribing to them the Way how they might Walk to please God and keep in favour with him And then after in the days of Christ did not he prescribe and teach how People should walk and believe And after him the Apostles did not they prescribe unto People how they might come to believe and receive the Gospel and the Kingdom of God directing unto that which would give them the Knowledge of God and how they should walk in the New-Covenant in the days of the Gospel and by what way they should come to the holy City And did not the Apostles send forth their Decrees by faithful Chosen Men them that had hazarded their Lives for Christ's sake to the Churches by which they were established And so you that deny Prescriptions given forth by the Power and Spirit of God do thereby oppose the Spirit that gave them forth in all the holy Men of God And were there not some all along in the days of Moses and in the days of the Prophets and in the days of Christ and in the days of his Apostles who did withstand that which they gave forth from the Spirit of God And hath there not been the same since the days of the Apostles And how many have risen since Truth appeared to oppose the Order which stands in the Power and Spirit of God who are but in the same Spirit which hath opposed the Spirit of God all along from the beginning And see what Names or Titles the Spirit of God gave that Opposing Spirit in the Old Covenant and also in the New which is the same now as was for after the Lord had given forth the Old Covenant there were some among themselves that did Oppose which were worse than publick Enemies And likewise after in the days of the New Covenant in the Gospel-times you may see what sort did Oppose both Christ and the Apostles after they came to some Sights of the Truth and how they turned against Christ and his Apostles And see what Liberty they pleaded for and ran into in the Apostles days who could not abide the Cross the Yoke of Jesus And therefore we see the same rough and high Spirit cries now for Liberty which the Power and Spirit of Christ cannot give and cries Imposition and yet is Imposing and cries Liberty of Conscience and yet is opposing Liberty of Conscience And cries against Prescriptions and yet is prescribing both in Words and Writing So with the Everlasting Power and Spirit of God this Spirit is fathomed its Rise Beginning and End and it is Judged And this Spirit cries We must not judge Conscience we must not judge Matters of Faith and we must not judge the Spirits nor Religions c. Yes They that be in the pure Spirit and Power of God which the Apostles were in they Judge of Conscience whether it be a seared Conscience or a tender Conscience They Judge of Faith whether it be a dead one or a living one They Judge of Religion whether it be vain or pure or undefiled They Judge of Spirits and try them whether they be of God or no They Judge of Hope whether it be of Hypocrites or the true Hope that purifies even as God is pure They Judge of Belief whether it be that which is born of God and overcometh the World or that which runs into the Spirit of the World which lusts to Envy and doth not overcome the World And they Judge of Worships whether they be Will-worships and the Worship of the Beast and Dragon or the Worship of God in Spirit and in Truth They Judge of Angels whether they be fallen or them that keep their Habitation And they Judge the World that grieves and quenches the Spirit and hates the Light and turns the Grace of God into wantonness and resists the Holy Ghost They Judge of the Hearts Ears and Lips which are Circumcised and which are Uncircumcised They Judge of Ministers and Apostles and Messengers whether they be of Satan or of Christ They judge of Differences in outward things in the Church or elsewhere yea the least Member of the Church hath Power to Judge of such things having the One true Measure and true Weight to weigh things and measure things withal without respect to Persons And this Judgment is given and all these things are done by the same Power and Spirit the Apostles were in And also such can Judge of Election and Reprobation and who keep their Habitation and who not And who are Jews and who are of the Synagogue of Satan And who are in the Doctrine of Christ and who are in the Doctrines of Devils And who prescribes and declares things from the Power and Spirit of God to preserve all in the Power and Spirit of God and who prescribes and declares things from a loose Spirit to let all loose from under the Yoke of Christ the Power of God into Loosness and Liberty And likewise can Judge and Discern who brings People into the Possession of the Gospel of Light and Life over Death and Darkness and into the Truth where the Devil cannot get in and who brings them into the Possession of Death and Darkness out of the glorious Liberty of the Gospel and of Jesus Christ and his Faith and Truth and Spirit and Light and Grace For there is no true Liberty but in
Idolatry of the Jews who forsook the Lord and compares them to an Harlot And in Chap. 8. ye may see the Destruction threatned against the Jews for their Impiety and Idolatry In Chap. 9. also the Distress and Captivity of the Jews is threatned for their sins and Idolatry And again they are reproved and threatned for their Impiety and Idolatry Hos 10. And this was for forsaking the Lord and his Way and following the ways of their own Inventions and the Ways of the Heathen And doth not Isaiah say That the Lord would visit Tyre and that she should commit Fornication with all the Kingdoms of the World upon the face of the Earth and therefore the Lord threatned Destruction upon her Chap. 23. And in Chap. 57. you may see how the Lord reproved the Jews for their Whorish Idolatry and said Vpon an high and lofty Mountain hast thou set thy Bed even thither wentest thou up to offer Sacrifices Thou hast enlarged thy Bed and made a Covenant with them thou lovedst their Bed where thou savest it This was a Joining to the Heathens Religions Altars and Sacrifices and a forsaking the Lord's Altar and Sacrifices which he commanded in the Law And therefore that was committing Whoredom with the Heathen and a going into their Beds from the Living God that made them And now in the New Testament God having poured his Spirit upon all Flesh that by his Spirit all might come to be a Royal Priesthood to offer up spiritual Sacrifices to God by Jesus Christ All that err from the Spirit of God and rebel against it they are not like to offer spiritual Sacrifices to God and such their Sacrifice God doth not accept no more than he did the Heathens and the Jews who rebelled against his good Spirit that he gave them to Instruct them And ye may see in the 17th 18th and 19th Chapters of the Revelation the Punishment of the great Whore Babylon the Mother of Harlots and the Victory of the Lamb and how he calleth God's People out of Babylon For in her was found the Blood of the Prophets and of the Saints and of all that were slain upon the Earth But there ye may read her Judgment and her Downfal And this Whore are they that are whored from the Spirit of God and so from God and from his holy Worship in Spirit and Truth and from the pure undefiled Religion that keeps from the Spots of the World and from the new and living Way Christ Jesus and so are whored from the Spirit of God into false Religions Ways and Worships and so corrupted the Earth with her Abominations But her Judgment and Downfal is seen over whom Christ hath the Victory And the Marriage of the Lamb is come Glory to the Lord for ever And God's pure Religion and pure Worship in Spirit and Truth Christ hath set up as it was in the Apostles days Hallelujah G. F. London I soon returned to London but made no long stay there at this time my Body not being able to bear the Closeness of the City long together While I was in Town besides the usual Services of visiting Friends and taking care about their Sufferings to get them eased I Assisted the Friends of the City in distributing certain Sums of Money which our Friends of Ireland had charitably and very liberally raised and sent over hither for the Relief of their Brethren who suffered for the Testimony of a good Conscience here which Monies were distributed amongst poor suffering Friends in the several Counties in proportion according as we understood their Need. Before I left the City also I heard of a great Doctor that was lately come from Poland whom I invited to my Lodging and had a great deal of discourse with him And after I had informed my self by him of such things as I had a desire to know I writ a Letter to the King of Poland on behalf of Friends at Dantzick a Town belonging to him who had long been under grievous Sufferings A Copy whereof here follows To JOHN the Third King of Poland 1685. London Great Duke of Lithuania Russia and Prussia Defender of the City of Dantzick c. Concerning the Innocent and Afflicted People in scorn called Quakers who are now fed with Bread and Water in Bridewell of the aforesaid City under close Confinement where their Friends Wives and Children are hardly suffered to come to see them O King THE Magistrates of the City of Dantzick say That it is thy Order and Command that these Innocent and Afflicted People should suffer such Oppression Now this Punishment is Inflicted upon them only and alone because they come together in the Name of Jesus Christ their Redeemer and Saviour who died for their Sins and is risen from the dead for their Justification who is their Prophet whom God hath raised up like unto Moses whom they ought to hear in all things in this day of the Gospel and the New Covenant who went astray like scattered Sheep but now are returned to the Chief Shepherd and Bishop of their Souls 1 Pet. 2.25 Who has given his Life for his Sheep and they hear his Voice and follow him who leads them into his Pastures of Life John 10. And now O King I understand that thou openly professest Christianity and the great and mighty Name of Jesus Christ who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords To whom is given all Power in Heaven and in Earth who rules all Nations with a Rod of Iron Therefore O King it seems hard to us that any that openly confesses Christ Jesus yea the Magistrates of Dantzick do the same should Inflict those Punishments upon an Innocent and Harmless People by reason of their Tender Consciences only and alone because they come together to serve and worship the Eternal God who made them in Spirit and in Truth which worship Christ Jesus has set up Sixteen hundred years ago as we read in John 4.23 24. Therefore I beseech the King that he would Consider Whether Christ in the New Testament ever gave such a Command to his Apostles that they should shut up any in Prison and feed them with Bread and Water who was not Conformable in every particular to their Religion Faith and Worship Or where did the Apostles exercise such things in the true Church after Christ's Ascension For is not this the Doctrine of Christ and the Apostles that Christ's Followers should Love their Enemies and pray for them that hate them and persecute and despitefully use them Matth. 5. And now Is it not a shame to Christendom among the Turks and others That one Christian should persecute another for the Doctrine of Faith Worship and Religion And they cannot prove that Christ ever gave them such a Command whom they profess to be their Lord and Master For Christ says that his Believers and Followers should love one another and by this they shall be known to be his Disciples And did not Christ
A JOURNAL OR Historical Account OF THE Life Travels Sufferings Christian Experiences and Labour of Love in the Work of the Ministry OF THAT Ancient Eminent and Faithful Servant of JESUS CHRIST George Fox Who departed this Life in great Peace with the LORD the 13th of the 11th Month 1690. The First Volume Dan. 12.3 And they that turn many to Righteousness shall shine as the Stars for ever and ever Verse 4. Many shall run to and fro and Knowledge shall be Encreased 2 Tim. 2.12 If we suffer we shall also reign with him i. e. with Christ LONDON Printed for Thomas Northcott in George-Yard in Lombard-Street MDCXCIV THE TESTIMONY OF Margaret Fox Concerning her Late Husband GEORGE FOX TOGETHER With a brief Account of some of his Travels Sufferings and Hardships endured for the Truth 's sake IT having pleased Almighty God to take away my Dear Husband out of this Evil Troublesome World who was not a Man thereof being Chosen out of it and had his Life and Being in another Region and his Testimony was against the World that the Deeds thereof were evil and therefore the World hated him So I am now to give in my Account and Testimony for my Dear Husband whom the Lord hath taken unto his blessed Kingdom and Glory And it is before me from the Lord and in my View to give a Relation and leave upon Record the Dealings of the Lord with us from the Beginning He was the Instrument in the Hand of the Lord in this present Age which he made use of to send forth into the World to preach the Everlasting Gospel which had been hid from many Ages and Generations the Lord Revealed it unto him and made him open that New and Living Way that Leads to Life Eternal when he was but a Youth and a Stripling And when he Declared it in his own Country of Leicestershire and in Darbyshire Nottinghamshire and Warwickshire and his Declaration being against the Hireling-Priests and their Practices it raised a Great Fury and Opposition amongst the Priests and People against him yet there was always some that owned him in several places but very few that stood firm to him when Persecution came on him There was he and one other put in Prison at Darby His first Imprisonment but the other declined and left him in Prison there where he continued almost a whole Year and then he was Released out of Prison And went on with his Testimony abroad Second Imprisonment and was put in Prison again at Nottingham and there he continued a while and after was Released again And then he Travelled on into Yorkshire and passed up and down that Great County and several received him as William Dewsbury Richard Farnsworth Thomas Aldam and others who all came to be faithful Ministers of the Spirit for the Lord. And he continued in that Country and Travelled thorow Holderness and the Wowlds and abundance were Convinced and several were brought to Prison at York for their Testimony to the Truth both Men and Women So that we heard of such a People that were Risen and we did very much inquire after them And after a while he Travelled up farther towards the Dales in Yorkshire as Wensdale and Sedbur and amongst the Hills Dales and Mountains he came on and Convinced many of the Eternal Truth And in the Year 1652. it pleased the Lord to draw him towards us so he came on from Sedbur and so to Westmorland as Firbank-Chappel where John Blaykling came with him and so on to Preston and to Grarig and Kendal and Vnder-barrow and Poobank and Cartmel and Staveley and so on to Swarthmore my Dwelling-House whither he brought the blessed Tideings of the Everlasting Gospel which I and many Hundreds in these parts have cause to praise the Lord for My then Husband Thomas Fell was not at home at that time but gone the Welch Circuit being one of the Judges of Assize And our House being a Place open to entertain Ministers and Religious People at one of George Fox his Friends brought him hither where he stayed all Night And the next day being a Lecture or a Fast-day he went to Ulverston-Steeple-house but came not in till People were gathered I and my Children had been a long time there before And when they were singing before the Sermon he came in and when they had done singing he stood up upon a Seat or Form and desired That he might have liberty to speak And he that was in the Pulpit said he might And the first words that he spoke were as followeth He is not a Jew that is one outward neither is that Circumcision which is outward But he is a Jew that is one inward and that is Circumcision which is of the heart And so he went on and said How that Christ was the Light of the World and ligheth every Man that cometh into the World and that by this Light they might be gathered to God c. And I stood up in my Pew and I wondered at his Doctrine for I had never heard such before And then he went on and opened the Scriptures and said The Scriptures were the Prophets words and Christ 's and the Apostle 's words and what as they spoke they enjoyed and possessed and had it from the Lord And said Then what had any to do with the Scriptures but as they came to the Spirit that gave them forth You will say Christ saith this and the Apostles say this but what canst thou say Art thou a Child of Light and hast walked in the Light and what thou speakest is it inwardly from God c. This opened me so that it cut me to the Heart and then I saw clearly we were all wrong So I sat me down in my Pew again and cried bitterly And I cried in my Spirit to the Lord We are all Thieves we are all Thieves we have taken the Scriptures in Words and know nothing of them in our selves So that served me that I cannot well tell what he spake afterwards but he went on in declaring against the false Prophets and Priests and Deceivers of the People And there was one John Sawrey a Justice of Peace and a Professor that bid the Churchwarden Take him away And he laid his hands on him several times and took them off again and let him alone and then after a while he gave over and came to our House again that night And he spoke in the Family amongst the Servants and they were all generally Convinced as William Caton Thomas Salthouse Mary Askew Anne Clayton and several other Servants And I was stricken into such a sadness I knew not what to do my Husband being from home I saw it was the Truth and I could not deny it and I did as the Apostle saith I Received the Truth in the Love of it And it was opened to me so clear that I had never a Tittle in my Heart against it but I desired the Lord that
that of Angels as the Scriptures of the Old Testament do in many places express as to Abraham Jacob c. The next was that of the Law by Moses which was also delivered by Angels as the Apostle tells us This Dispensation was much outward and suited to a low and servil State called therefore that of a School-Master to point out and prepare that People to look and long for the Messiah who would deliver them from the servitude of a Ceremonious and imperfect Dispensation by knowing the Realities of those Misterious Representations in themselves In this time the Law was written on Stone the Temple built with Hands attended with an outward Priest-hood and External Rites and Ceremonies that were Shadows of the Good Things that were to come and were only to serve till the Seed came or the more excellent and general manifestation of Christ to whom was the Promise and to all Men only in him in whom it was Yea and Amen even Life from Death Immortality and Eternal Life This the Prophets foresaw and comforted the believing Jews in the certainty of it which was the Top of the Mosaical Dispensation and which ended in John's Ministry the Forerunner of the Messiah as John's was finished in him the Fullness of all And God that at sundry Times and in divers manners had spoken to the Fathers by his Servants the Prophets Spoak then by his Son Chrâ—st Jesus Who is Heir of all things being the Gospel-Day which is the Dispensation of Sonship Bringing in thereby a nearer Testament and a better hope even the beginning of the Glory of the latter days and of the Restitution of all things yea the Restoration of the Kingdom unto Israel Now the Spirit that was more sparingly communicated in former Dispensations began to be Poured forth upon all Flesh according to the Prophet Joel and the Light that shined in Darkness or but dimly before the most gracious God caused to Shine out of Darkness and the Day-star began to arise in the Hearts of Believers giving unto them the knowledge of God in the Face or Appearance of his Son Christ Jesus Now the Poor in Spirit the Meek the true Mourners the Hungry and Thirsty after Righteousness the Peace-makers the Pure in Heart the Merciful and the Persecuted came more especially in Remembrance before the Lord and were sought out and blessed by Israel's true Shepherd Old Jerusalem with her Children grew out of Date and the New Jerusalem into Request the Mother of the Sons of the Gospel-Day Wherefore no more at Old Jerusalem nor at the Mountain of Samaria will God be worshipped above other places for behold he is declared and preached a Spirit and he will be known as such and worshipped in the Spirit and in the Truth He will come nearer then of old time and he will write his Law in the Heart and put his Fear and Spirit in the inward parts according to his promise Then Signs Types and Shadows flew away the Day having discovered their Insufficiency in not reaching to the inside of the Cup to the cleansing of the Conscience and all Elementary services were expired in and and by him that is the substance of all And to this Great and Blessed End of the Dispensation of the Son of God did the Apostles Testifie whom he had chosen and anointed by his Spirit to turn the Jews from their Prejudice and Superstition and the Gentiles from their Vanity and Idolatry to Christ's Light and Spirit that shined in them that they might be quickned from the Sins and Trespasses in which they were Dead to serve the Living God in the Newness of the Spirit of Life and walk as Children of the Light and of the Day even the Day of Holiness For such put on Christ the Light of the World and make no more Provision for the Flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof So that the Light Spirit and Grace that comes by Christ and appears in Man was what the Apostles ministred from and turned Peoples Minds unto and in which they gathered and built up the Churches of Christ in their Day For which cause they advised them not to quench the Spirit but wait for the Spirit and Speak by the Spirit and Pray by the Spirit and Walk in the Spirit too as that which approved them the truly begotten Children of God born not of Flesh and Blood or of the will of Man but of the will of God by doing his will and denying their own by drinking of Christ's Cup and being Baptized with his Baptism of Self-denial The Way and Path that all the Heirs of Life have trod to Blessedness But alas even in the Apostles Days those bright Stars of the first Magnitude of the Gospel Light some Clouds foretelling an Eclipse of this Primitive Glory began to appear and several of them gave early Caution of it to the Christians of their Time that even then there was and yet would be more and more a falling away from the Power of Godliness and the Purity of that Spiritual Dispensation by such as sought to make a fair shew in the Flesh but with whom the offence of the Cross ceased Yet with this comfortable Conclusion that they saw beyond it a more glorious Time than ever to the true Church Their sight was true and what they foretold to the Churches gathered by them in the Name and Power of Jesus came so to pass For Christians degenerated a-pace into outsides as Days and Meats and divers other Cerimonies And which was worse they fell into Strife and Contention about them separating one from another then Envying and as they had Power Persecuting one another to the shame and scandal of their common Christianity and grievous stumbling and offence of the Heathen among whom the Lord had so long and so marvellously preserved them And having got at last the Worldly Power into their Hands by Kings and Emperors embracing the Christian Profession they changed what they could the Kingdom of Christ which is not of this World into a Worldly Kingdom or at least stiled the Worldly Kingdom that was in their Hands the Kingdom of Christ and so they became Worldly and not true Christians Then Humane Inventions and Novelties both in Doctrine and Worship crowded fast into the Church a Door being opened thereunto by the Grossness and Carnality that appeared then among the generality of Christians who had long since left the Guidance of God's meek and heavenly Spirit and given themselves up to Superstition Will-worship and Voluntary Humility And as Superstition is Blind so it is Heady and Furious for all must stoop to its blind and boundless Zeal or Perish by it In the Name of the Spirit persecuting the very appearance of the Spirit of God in others and opposing that in them which they resisted in themselves viz. the Light Grace and Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ but always under the Notion of Innovation Heresie Schism or some such plausible Name Though Christianity
Friends in several Places were then gathered to Gods Teaching by his Light Spirit and Power For the Lord's Power brake forth daily more and more wonderfullly Now was I come up in Spirit through the flaming Sword into the Paradise of God All things were New and all the Creation gave another Smell unto me than before beyond what Words can utter I knew nothing 1648. Mansfield but Pureness and Innocency and Righteousness being renewed up into the Image of God by Christ Jesus so that I say I was come up to the State of Adam which he was in before he fell The Creation was opened to me And it was shewed me how all things had their Names given them according to their Nature and Vertue And I was at a stand in my Mind whether I should practise Physick for the good of Mankind seeing the Nature and Vertues of the Creatures were so opened to me by the Lord. But I was immediately taken up in Spirit to see into another or more stedfast State than Adam's in Innocency even into a State in Christ Jesus that should never fall And the Lord shewed me that such as were faithful to him in the Power and Light of Christ should come up into that State in which Adam was before he fell In which the admirable Works of the Creation and the Vertues thereof may be known through the Openings of that divine Word of Wisdom and Power by which they were made Great things did the Lord lead me into and wonderful Depths were opened unto me beyond what can by Words be declared But as People come into subjection to the Spirit of God and grow up in the Image and Power of the Almighty they may receive the Word of Wisdom that opens all things and come to know the hidden Vnity in the Eternal Being Thus traveled I on in the Lord's Service as the Lord led me And when I came to Nottingham Notingham Leicestershire Clauson Vale of Beavor the mighty Power of God was there among Friends From thence I went to Clauson in Leicestershire in the Vale of Beavor and the mighty Power of God was there also in several Towns and Villages where Friends were gathered While I was there the Lord opened to me Three Things relating to those Three great Professions in the World Physick Divinity so called and Law And he shewed me that the Physicians and Doctors of Physick were out of the Wisdom of God by which the Creatures were made and so knew not the Vertues of the Creatures because they were out of the Word of Wisdom by which they were made And he shewed me that the Priests were out of the true Faith which Christ is the Author of the Faith which purifies and gives Victory and brings People to have Access to God by which they please God Which Mystery of Faith is held in a pure Conscience He shewed me also that the Lawyers were out of the Equity and out of the true Justice and out of the Law of God which went over the first Transgression and over all Sin and answered the Spirit of God that was grieved and transgressed in Man And that these three the Physicians the Priests and the Lawyers ruled the World out of the Wisdom out of the Faith and out of the Equity and Law of God the one pretending the Cure of the Body the other the Cure of the Soul and the third the Property of the People But I saw they were all out out of the Wisdom out of the Faith out of the Equity and perfect Law of God And as the Lord opened these things unto me I felt his Power went forth over all by which all might be Reformed if they would receive and bow unto it The Priests might be Reformed and brought into the true Faith which was the Gift of God The Lawyers might be Reformed and brought into the Law of God 1648. Vale of Beavor which answers that of God that is transgressed in every one and brings to love one's Neighbour as himself This lets Man see If he wrongs his Neighbour he wrongs himself and this teaches him To do unto others as he would they should do unto him The Physicians might be Reformed and brought into the Wisdom of God by whick all things were made and Created that they might receive a right Knowledge of the Creatures and understand the Virtues of them which the Word of Wisdom by which they were made and are upheld hath given them Abundance was opened concerning these things how all lay out of the Wisdom of God and out of the Righteousness and Holiness that Man at the first was made in But as all believe in the Light and walk in the Light which Christ hath enlightned every Man that cometh into the World withal and so become Children of the Light and of the Day of Christ in his Day all things are seen Visible and Invisible by the Divine Light of Christ the Spiritual Heavenly Man by whom all things were made and Created Then I saw concerning the Priests that although they stood in the Deceit and acted by the dark Power which both they and their People were kept under yet they were not the greatest Deceivers spoken of in the Scriptures For these were not come so far as many of them had come But the Lord opened to me who the greatest Deceivers were and how far they might come even such as came as far as Cain to hear the Voice of God and such as came out of Egypt and through the Red Sea and to praise God on the Banks of the Sea-shore such as could speak by Experience of God's Miracles and Wonders such as were come as far as Corah and Dathan and their Company such as came as far as Balaam who could speak the Word of the Lord who heard his Voice and knew it and knew his Spirit and could see the Star of Jacob and the goodliness of Israel's Tent the Second Birth which no Enchantment could prevail against These that could speak so much of their Experiences of God and yet turned from the Spirit and the Word and went into the Gainsaying These were and would be the great Deceivers far beyond the Priests Likewise among the Christians such as should preach in Christ's Name and should work Miracles cast out Devils and go as far as a Cain a Core and a Balaam in the Gospel-times These were and would be the great Deceivers they that could speak some Experiences of Christ and God but lived not in the Life These were they that led the World after them who got the Form of Godliness but denyed the Power who inwardly ravened from the Spirit and brought People into the Form but persecuted them that were in the Power as Cain did and ran greedily after the Error of Balaam through Covetousness loving the Wages of Unrighteousness as Balaam did These Followers of Cain Core and Balaam have brought the World since the Apostles Days to be like a Sea
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
the Stature of the Fulness of Christ when they cannot bear to hear that any shall come whilst upon Earth into the same Power and Spirit that the Prophets and Apostles were in Though it be a certain Truth that none can understand their Writings aright without the same Spirit by which they were written Now the Lord God hath opened to me by his invisible Power how that Every Man was enlightned by the Divine Light of Christ and I saw it shine through all And that they that believed in it came out of Condemnation and came to the Light of Life and became the Children of it But they that hated it and did not believe in it were Condemned by it though they made a Profession of Christ This I saw in the pure Openings of the Light without the help of any Man neither did I then know where to find it in the Scriptures though afterwards searching the Scriptures I found it For I saw in that Light and Spirit which was before Scripture was given forth and which led the Holy Men of God to give them forth That all must come to that Spirit if they would know God or Christ or the Scriptures aright which They that gave them forth were led and taught by But I observed a Dulness and Drowzy Heaviness upon People which I wondred at For sometimes when I would set my self to sleep my Mind went over all to the Beginning in that which is from Everlasting to Everlasting And I saw Death was to pass over this sleepy heavy State And I told People they must come to witness Death to that sleepy heavy Nature and a Cross to it in the Power of God that their Minds and Hearts might be on things above And on a certain Time as I was walking in the Fields the Lord said unto me Thy Name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life which was before the Foundation of the World And as the Lord spake it I believed and saw it in the New Birth Then sometime after the Lord commanded me to go abroad into the World which was like a briary thorny Wilderness And when I came in the Lord 's mighty Power with the Word of Life into the World the World swelled and made a Noise like the great raging Waves of the Sea Priests and Professors Magistrates and People were all like a Sea when I came to proclaim the Day of the Lord amongst them and to preach Repentance to them Now I was sent to turn People from Darkness to the Light that they might receive Christ Jesus For to as many as should receive him in his Light I saw that he would give Power to become the Sons of God Which I had obtained by receiving Christ And I was to direct People to the Spirit that gave forth the Scriptures by which they might be led into all Truth and so up to Christ and God as they had been who gave them forth And I was to turn them to the Grace of God and to the Truth in the Heart which came by Jesus that by this Grace they might be taught which would bring them Salvation that their Hearts might be established by it and their Words might be seasoned and all might come to know their Salvation nigh For I saw that Christ had died for all Men and was a Propitiation for all and had enlightned all Men and Women with his divine and saving Light And that none could be a true Believer but who believed in it I saw that the Grace of God which brings Salvation had appeared to all Men and that the Manifestation of the Spirit of God was given to every Man to profit withal These Things I did not see by the help of Man nor by the Letter tho' they are written in the Letter but I saw them in the Light of the Lord Jesus Christ and by his immediate Spirit and Power as did the Holy Men of God by whom the Holy Scriptures were written Yet I had no slight esteem of the Holy Scriptures but they were very precious to me For I was in that Spirit by which they were given forth and what the Lord opened in me I afterwards found was agreeable to them I could speak much of these things and many Volumes might be written but all would prove too short to set forth the Infinite Love Wisdom and Power of God in prepairing fitting and furnishing me for the Service he had appointed me to letting me see the Depths of Satan on the one Hand and opening to me on the other Hand the divine Mysteries of his own Everlasting Kingdom Now when the Lord God and his Son Jesus Christ did send me forth into the World to preach his Everlasting Gospel and Kingdom I was glad that I was Commanded To turn People to that Inward Light Spirit and Grace by which all might know their Salvation and their Way to God even that divine Spirit which would lead them into all Truth and which I infallibly knew would never deceive any But with and by this divine Power and Spirit of God and the Light of Jesus I was to bring People off from all their own ways to Christ the new and living Way and from their Churches which Men had made and gathered to the Church in God the general Assembly written in Heaven which Christ is the Head of And off from the World's Teachers made by Men to learn of Christ who is the Way the Truth and the Life of whom the Father said This is my beloved Son hear ye him and off from all the Worlds Worships to know the Spirit of Truth in the inward Parts and to be led thereby that in it they might Worship the Father of Spirits who seeks such to Worship him Which Spirit they that Worshipped not in knew not what they Worshipped And I was to bring People off from all the World's Religions which are vain that they might know the pure Religion and might visit the Fatherless the Widows and the Strangers and keep themselves from the Spots of the World And then there would not be so many Beggars the sight of whom often grieved my Heart to see so much Hard-heartedness amongst them that professed the Name of Christ And I was to bring them off from all the World's Fellowships and Prayings and Singings which stood in Forms without Power that their Fellowships might be in the Holy Ghost and in the Eternal Spirit of God that they might Pray in the Holy Ghost and Sing in the Spirit and with the Grace that comes by Jesus making Melody in their Hearts to the Lord who hath sent his beloved Son to be their Saviour and caused his heavenly Sun to shine upon all the World and through them all and his heavenly Rain to fall upon the Just and the Unjust as his outward Rain doth fall and his outward Sun doth shine on all which is God's unspeakable Love to the World And I was to bring People off from Jewish Ceremonies and from
And they were generally pretty quiet Only some few raged and would have had my Relations to have bound me I declared largely to them how that God was come to Teach his People himself and to bring them off from all their Man-made Teachers to hear his Son And some were Convinced there Market-Bossoth Then went I to a Place called Market-Bossoth and there was a Lecture there also And he that preached there that day was Nathaniel Stevens who was Priest of the Town where I was born And he raged much when I spake to him and to the People and told the People I was Mad tho' he had said before to one Colonel Purfoy That there was never such a Plant bred in England and he bid the People they should not hear me So the People being stirred up by this deceitful Priest fell upon us and stoned us out of the Town Yet they did not do us much hurt Howbeit some People were made Loving that day and others were Confirmed seeing the Rage of both Priests and Professors And some cried out that the Priest durst not stand to prove his Ministry And as I traveled through Markets Fairs and divers Places I saw Death and Darkness in all People where the Power of the Lord God had not shaken them Leicester-shire Twy-Cross And as I was passing on in Leicester-shire I came to a Place called Twy-Cross where there were Excise-Men and I was moved of the Lord to go to them and warn them to take heed of Oppressing the Poor And People were much affected with it Now there was in that Town a great Man that had long lain sick and was given over by the Physicians and some Friends in the Town desired me to go to see him And I went up to him in his Chamber and spake the Word of Life to him and was moved to Pray by him and the Lord was entreated and Restored him to Health But when I was come down the Stairs into a lower Room and was speaking to the Servants and to some People that were there a Serving-Man of his came Raving out of another Room with a naked Rapier in his Hand and set it just to my side But I looked stedfastly on him and said Alack for thee poor Creature what wilt thou do with thy carnal Weapon It is no more to me than a Straw The Standers by were much troubled and he went away in a Rage and full of Wrath But when the News of it came to his Master he turned him out of his Service Thus the Lord's Power preserved me and raised up the Weak Man who afterwards was very Loving to Friends And when I came to that Town again both he and his Wife came to see me After this I was moved to go into Darbyshire where the mighty Power of God was among Friends Darbyshire Chesterfield And I went to Chesterfield where one Britland was Priest He was one that saw beyond the common sort of Priests for he had been partly Convinced and had spoken much on behalf of Truth before he was Priest there But when the Priest of that Town died he got the Parsonage and choked himself with it 1649. Chesterfield So I was moved to speak to him and the People in the great Love of God that they might come off from all Mens Teaching unto God's Teaching and he was not able to gainsay But they had me before the Major and threatned to send me with some others to the House of Correction and kept us in Custody till it was late in the Night And then the Officers with the Watchmen put us out of the Town leaving us to shift as we could So I bent my Course towards Darby having a Friend or two with me And in our way we met with many Professors Kidsey-park and at Kidsey-Park many were Convinced Then coming to Darby I lay at a Doctor 's House 1650. Darby whose Wife was Convinced and so were several more in the Town And as I was walking in my Chamber the Bell rung and it struck at my Life at the very hearing of it So I asked the Woman of the House What the Bell rung for And she said There was to be a great Lecture there that day and many of the Officers of the Army and Priests and Preachers were to be there that Day and a Colonel that was a Preacher Then was I moved of the Lord to go up to them And when they had done I spake to them what the Lord Commanded me and they were pretty quiet But there came an Officer and took me by the Hand and said I must go before the Magistrates and the other Two that were with me It was about the First Hour Afternoon that we came before them They asked me Why we came thither I said God moved us so to do and I told them God dwells not in Temples made with Hands I told them also All their Preaching Baptism and Sacrifices would never sanctifie them and bid them Look unto Christ in them and not unto Men For it is Christ that sanctifies Then they ran into many Words but I told them They were not to Dispute of God and Christ but to Obey him And the Power of God thundred amongst them and they did fly like Chaff before it They put me in and out of the Room often hurrying me backward and forward often For they were from the First Hour till the Ninth at Night in Examining me And sometimes they would tell me in a deriding manner That I was taken up in Raptures At last they asked me Whether I was Sanctified I answered Yes for I was in the Paradise of God Then they asked me If I had no Sin I answered Christ my Saviour has taken away my Sin and in him there is no Sin They asked How we knew that Christ did abide in us I said by his Spirit that he hath given us They temptingly asked If any of us were Christ I answered NAY ☜ we were nothing Christ was all They said If a Man steal is it no Sin I answered All Unrighteousness is Sin So when they had wearied themselves in Examining me they Committed me and one other Man to the House of Correction in Darby for six Months as Blasphemers as may appear by the Mittimus a Copy whereof here followeth To the Master of the House of Correction in Darby Greeting WE have sent you herewithal the Bodies of George Fox late of Mansfield in the County of Nottingham and John Fretwell late of Staniesby in the County of Darby Husbandman brought before us this present Day and charged with the avowed uttering and broaching of divers blasphemous Opinions contrary to a late Act of Parliament which upon their Examination before us they have Confessed These are therefore to require you forthwith upon sight hereof to receive them the said George Fox and John Fretwell into your Custody and them therein safely to keep during the space of
Considerable Men and the Truth was powerfully declared amongst them and the Scriptures wonderfully opened and the Parables and Sayings of Christ were expounded and the State of the Church in the Apostles Days was plainly set forth and the Apostacy since from that State discovered And the Truth had great Dominion that Day so that those Great Men that were present did generally Confess to it saying They believed that this Principle must go over the whole World There were at this Meeting James Naylor Thomas Goodyear and William Dewsbury who had been Convinced the Year before and Richard Farnsworth also And the Constable stay'd with Thomas Aldam till the Meeting was over And then went towards York-prison but did not meddle with me Wakefield From hence I went to Wakefield and on the First Day after I went to a Steeple-house where James Naylor had been a Member of an Independent-Church but upon his receiving Truth he was Excommunicated When I came in and the Priest had done the People called upon me to come up to the Priest which I did But when I began to declare the Word of Life to them and to lay open the Deceit of the Priest they rushed upon me on a suddain and thrust me out at the other Door and fell a punching and beating me and Cried Let us have him to the Stocks But the Lord's Power was over them and restrained them that they were not suffered to put me in So I passed away to the Meeting where were a great many Professors and friendly People gathered and a great Convincement there was that Day For the People were mightily satisfied that they were directed to the Lord 's Teaching in themselves Here we got some Lodging for Four of us had lain abroad under an Hedge the Night before there being then few Friends in that Place The same Day Richard Farnsworth went to another great Steeple-house belonging to a great High-priest and declared the Word of Truth unto the People and a great Service he had amongst them For the Lord 's Dread and Power was mightily over all The Priest of that Church which James Naylor had been a Member of whose Name mas Marshal raised many Wicked Slanders upon me as That I carried Bottles about with me and made People drink of my Bottles and that made them follow me And That I rid upon a great Black Horse and was seen in one Country upon my Black Horse in one Hour and in the same Hour in another Country Threescore Miles off and That I should give a Fellow Money to follow me when I was on my Black Horse With these Hellish Lies he fed his People to make them think Evil of the Truth which I had declared amongst them But by these Lies of his he preached many of his Hearers away from him For I was then on Foot and travelled on foot and had no Horse at that Time and that the People generally knew But the Lord soon after met with this Envious Priest 1652. High-town and Cut him off in his Wickedness After this I came to a Town called High-Town where dwelt a Woman who had been Convinced a little before and we went to her House and had a Meeting and the Towns-people gathered together and we declared the Truth to them and had some Service for the Lord amongst them and they passed away again peaceably But there was a Widow-woman in the Town whose Name was Green who being filled with Envy went to one that was called a Gentleman in the Town who was reported to have killed Two Men and One Woman and Informed him against us though he was no Officer The next Morning we drew up some Queries to be sent to the Priest And when we had done and were just going away some of the Friendly People of the Town came running up to the House where we were and told us That this Murdering Man had sharpened a Pike to stab us and was coming up with his Sword by his Side We were just passing away and so missed him But we were no sooner gone but he came to the House where we had been and the People generally Concluded If we had not been gone he would have murdered some of us That Night we lay in a Wood and were very Wet for it Rained exceedingly In the Morning I was moved to come back to that Town again and then they gave us a full Relation of this wicked Man From hence we passed to Bradford and came to an House Bradford where we met with Richard Farnsworth again from whom we had parted a little before When we came in they set Meat before us but as I was going to Eat the Word of the Lord came to me saying Eat not the Bread of such as have an Evil Eye Immediately I arose from the Table and ate nothing The Woman of the House was a Baptist So after I had exhorted the Family To turn to the Lord Jesus Christ and hearken to his Teachings in their own Hearts We departed thence And as we travelled through the Country preaching Repentance to the People we came into a Market-town on the Market-day and there was a Lecture there that Day And I went into the Steeple-house where were many Priests and Professors and People The Priest that preached took for his Text those Words of Jeremiah Chap. 5. ver 31. My People love to have it so Leaving out the foregoing Words viz. The Prophets prophesy falsly and the Priests bear Rule by their Means So I shewed the People his Deceit and directed them to Christ the true Teacher within declaring unto them that God was come to Teach his People himself and to bring them off from all the World's Teachers and Hirelings that they might come to receive freely from him Then warning them of the Day of the Lord that was coming upon all Flesh I passed from thence without much Opposition At Night we came to a Country-house and there was no Ale-house near They desired us to stay there all Night which we did and had good Service for the Lord declaring his Truth amongst them 1652. Yorkshire The next Day we passed on For the Lord had said unto me If but one Man or Woman were Raised up by his Power to stand and live in the same Spirit that the Prophets and Apostles were in who gave forth the Scriptures ☞ that Man or Woman should shake all the Country in their Profession for Ten Miles round For People had the Scriptures but were not in that same Light and Power and Spirit which they were in that gave forth the Scriptures and so they neither knew God nor Christ nor the Scriptures aright nor had they Vnity one with another being out of the Power and Spirit of God Therefore as we passed along we Warned all People where-ever we met them of the Day of the Lord that was coming upon them Pendle-hill As we travelled on we came near a very great and high
Priests came up to me and I warned them to Repent One of them said I was Mad and so they turned away But many People were Convinced there that day and were glad at the hearing of the Truth declared and received it with Joy Amongst these was one called Captain Ward who received the Truth in the love of it and lived and dyed in it Westmorland Firbank-Chappel The next First-day I came to Firbank-Chappel in Westmorland where Francis Howgill before named and one John Audland had been preaching in the Morning The Chappel was full of People so that many could not get in And Francis Howgill said He thought I lookt into the Chappel and his Spirit was ready to fail the Lord's Power did so surprize him But I did not look in They made haste and had quickly done at that time and they and some of the People went to their Dinners but abundance stay'd till they came again Now John Blakelin and others came to me and desired me not to Reprove them publickly for they were not Parish-Teachers but pretty Tender Men. I could not tell them whether I should or no though I had not at that time any Drawings to declare publickly against them but I said They must leave me to the Lord's Movings So while the others were gone to Dinner I went to a Brook and got me a little Water and then came and sate down on the Top of a Rock hard by the Chappel In the Afternoon the People gathered about me with several of their Preachers it was judged there were above a Thousand People amongst whom I declared God's everlasting Truth and Word of Life freely and largely for about the space of three Hours directing all to the Spirit of God in themselves that they might be turned from the Darkness to the Light and believe in it that they might become the Children of it and might be turned from the Power of Satan which they had been under unto God and by the Spirit of Truth might be led into all Truth and sensibly understand the words of the Prophets and of Christ and of the Apostles and might all come to know Christ to be their Teacher to instruct them their Counsellor to direct them their Shepherd to feed them their Bishop to oversee them and their Prophet to open divine Mysteries to them and might know their Bodies to be prepared sanctified and made fit Temples for God and Christ to dwell in And in the openings of the heavenly Life I opened unto them the Prophets and the Figures and Shadows and directed them to Christ the Substance 1652. Westmorland Firbank-Chappel Then I opened the Parables and Sayings of Christ and things that had been long hid shewing the intent and scope of the Apostles Writings how that their Epistles were written to the Elect. And when I had opened that State I shewed also the State of the Apostacy that hath been since the Apostles days how the Priests have gotten the Scripture but are not in that Spirit which gave them forth and have put them into Chapter and Verse to make a Trade of the Holy Mens Words And how that the Teachers and Priests now are found in the steps of the false Prophets Chief Priests Scribes and Pharisees of old and are such as the true Prophets Christ and his Apostles cried against and so are judged and condemned by the Spirit of the true Prophets and of Christ and of his Apostles and that none who was in that Spirit and guided by it now could own them Now there were many old People who went into the Chappel and looked out at the Windows thinking it a strange thing to see a Man preach on an Hill or Mountain and not in their Church as they called it whereupon I was moved to open to the People That the Steeple-house and the Ground whereon it stood was no more holy than that Mountain and that those Temples which they called the dreadful Houses of God were not set up by the Command of God and of Christ nor their Priests called as Aaron's Priesthood was nor their Tithes appointed by God as those amongst the Jews were but that Christ was come who ended both the Temple and its Worship and the Priests and their Tithes and all now should hearken unto him for he said Learn of me and God said of him This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear ye him So I declared unto them that the Lord God had sent me to preach the Everlasting Gospel and Word of Life amongst them and to bring them off from all these Temples Tithes Priests and Rudiments of the World which had gotten up since the Apostles days and had been set up by such as had erred from the Spirit and Power that the Apostles were in Very largely was I opened at this Meeting and the Lord 's Convincing Power accompanied my Ministry and reached home unto the Hearts of the People whereby many were Convinced that day and all the Teachers of that Congregation who were many were Convinced of God's everlasting Truth that day After the Meeting was over I went to John Audland's and from thence to Preston-Patrick-Chappel Preston-Patrick-Chappel where a great Meeting was appointed to which I went and had a large opportunity amongst the People to preach the Everlasting Gospel to them opening to them as to others on the like occasion that the End of my coming into that Place was not to hold it up no more than the Apostles going into the Jewish Synagogues and Temple was to uphold those But to bring them off from all such things as the Apostles brought the Saints of old from off the Jewish Temple and Aaron's Priesthood that they might come to witness their Bodies to be the Temples of God and Christ in them to be their Teacher 1652. Kendal From this Place I went to Kendal where a Meeting was appointed in the Town-Hall in which I declared the Word of Life amongst the People shewing them How they might come to the saving knowledge of Christ and to have a right Understanding of the Holy Scriptures and opening to them what it was that would lead them into the way of Reconciliation with God and what would be their Condemnation After the Meeting I stay'd a while in the Town and several were Convinced there and many appeared loving One whose Name was Cock met me in the Street and would have given me a Roll of Tobacco for People then were much given to smoking Tobacco I accepted his love but did not receive the Tobacco Under-barrow From thence I went to Vnder-barrow to one Miles Bateman's and several People going along with me great Reasonings I had with them especially with Edward Burrough At Night the Priest came and many Professors to the House and a great deal of Disputing I had with them Supper being provided for the Priest and the rest of the Company I had not freedom to eat with them
their way and did no harm Lancaster The time for the Sessions at Lancaster being come I went to Lancaster with Judge Fell who on the way told me He had never had such a Matter brought before him before and he could not well tell what to do in the Business I told him when Paul was brought before the Rulers and the Jews and Priests came down to Accuse him and laid many false things to his Charge Paul stood still all that while And when they had done Festus the Governour and King Agrippa beckned to him to speak for himself which Paul did and cleared himself of all those false Accusations And so he might do by me Being come to Lancaster and Justice Sawrey and Justice Thompson having granted a Warrant to apprehend me though I was not apprehended by it Lancaster Sessions yet hearing of it I appeared at the Sessions where there appeared against me about Forty Priests These had chosen one Marshal Priest of Lancaster to be their Orator and had provided one young Priest and two Priests Sons to bear Witness against me who had sworn before-hand that I had spoken Blasphemy When the Justices were set they heard all that the Priests and their Witnesses could say and charge against me their Orator Marshal sitting by and explaining their Sayings for them But the Witnesses were so Confounded that they discovered themselves to be false Witnesses For when the Court had Examined one of the Witnesses upon Oath 1652. Lancaster Sessions and then began to Examin another of them he was at such loss he could not Answer directly but said the other could say it Which made the Justices say to him Have you sworn it and given it in already upon your Oath and now say That he can say it It seems you did not hear those words spoken your self though you have sworn it There were then in Court several People who had been at that Meeting wherein the Witnesses swore I spake those blasphemous Words which the Priests accused me of and these being Men of Integrity and Reputation in the Country did declare and affirm in Court That the Oath which the Witnesses had taken against me was altogether false and that no such Words as they had sworn against me were spoken by me at that Meeting For indeed most of the serious Men of that side of the County that were then at the Sessions had been at that Meeting and had heard me both at that Meeting and at other Meetings also This was taken notice of by Colonel VVest who being a Justice of the Peace was then upon the Bench and having long been weak in Body blessed the Lord and said The Lord had healed him that day adding That he never saw so many sober People and good Faces together in all his Life And then turning himself to me he said in the open Sessions George If thou hast any thing to say to the People thou may'st freely declare it And I was moved of the Lord to speak and as soon as I began Priest Marshal the Orator for the rest of the Priests went his way That which I was moved to declare was this That the Holy Scriptures were given forth by the Spirit of God and all People must first come to the Spirit of God in themselves by which they might know God and Christ of whom the Prophets and the Apostles learnt and by the same Spirit know the Holy Scriptures for as the Spirit of God was in them that gave forth the Scriptures so the same Spirit of God must be in all them that come to know and understand the Scriptures By which Spirit they might have Fellowship with the Son and with the Father and with the Scriptures and with one another And without this Spirit they can know neither God nor Christ nor the Scriptures nor have right Fellowship one with another I had no sooner spoken these Words but about half a dozen Priests that stood behind my Back burst out into a passion and one of them whose Name was Jackus amongst other things that he spake against the Truth said That the Spirit and the Letter were inseparable I replied Then every one that hath the Letter hath the Spirit and they might buy the Spirit with the Letter of the Scriptures This plain discovery of Darkness in the Priest moved Judge Fell and Colonel VVest to Reprove them openly and tell them That according to that Position they might carry the Spirit in their Pockets as they did the Scriptures Upon this the Priests being Confounded and put to silence rusht out in a Rage against the Justices because they could not have their bloody Ends upon me So the Justices seeing the Witnesses did not agree and perceiving that they were brought to Answer the Priests Envy and finding that all their Evidences were not sufficient in Law to make good their Charge against me they discharged me And after Judge Fell had spoken to Justice Sawrey and Justice Thompson concerning the VVarrant they had given forth against me and shewed them the Errors thereof He and Colonel West granted a Supersedeas to stop the Execution thereof Thus was I cleared in open Sessions of all those lying Accusations which the malicious Priests had laid to my Charge And Multitudes of People praised God that day for it was a joyful Day to many There was Justice Benson out of Westmorland who was Convinced and Major Ripan that was Mayor of the Town of Lancaster who was Convinced also It was a day of Everlasting Salvation to hundreds of People for the Lord Jesus Christ the Way to the Father and the free Teacher was exalted and set up and his Everlasting Gospel was preached and the Word of Eternal Life was declared over the heads of the Priests and all such Money-Preachers For the Lord opened many Mouths that Day to speak his Word to the Priests and several friendly People and Professors reproved the Priests in their Inns and in the Streets so that they fell like an old rotten House and the Cry was among the People That the Quakers had got the day and the Priests were fallen Many People were Convinced that day amongst whom Thomas Briggs was one who before had been averse from Friends and Truth insomuch that discoursing on a time with John Lawson a Friend concerning Perfection Thomas Briggs said to him Dost thou hold Perfection and therewithal lift up his Hand to have given the Friend a Box on the Ear. But this Thomas Briggs being Convinced of the Truth that day declared against his own Priest Jackus and afterwards became a faithful Minister of the Gospel and stood so to the End of his Days When the Sessions were over James Naylor who was present thereat gave a brief Account of the Proceedings thereof in a Letter which soon after he writ to Friends which is here added for the Reader 's further satisfaction in this Matter DEar Friends and Brethren in the Lord Jesus Christ my
that I have sought your Eternal Good and written this in dear Love to you And then will you own your Condemnation which you must all own before ye can come into that blessed Life of which there is no End But ye who hate the Light because your Deeds are evil this Light is your Condemnation and will be And when your Condemnation is come upon you remember ye were warned O that ye would love this Light and hearken to it It would teach you both as you walk up and down about your Occasions and as you lie upon your Beds and would never let you speak a vain VVord In loving it you love Christ in hating it you bring the Condemnation thereof upon your selves And to you this is the VVord of God from under which you can never pass nor ever escape the Terror of the Lord in the state you are in who hate the Light G. F. Amongst those who were the Chief Hearers and Followers of this Priest Lampitt of Vlverston there was one Adam Sands who was a very wicked false Man and would have destroyed Truth and its Followers if he could To him I was moved to write thus Adam Sands TO the Light in the Conscience I appeal thou Child of the Devil thou Enemy of Righteousness the Lord will strike thee down though now for a while in thy wickedness thou may'st Reign And the Plagues of God are due to thee who hardenest thy self in thy wickedness against the pure Truth of God With the pure Truth of God which thou hast resisted and persecuted thou art to be threshed down which is Eternal and doth Comprehend thee and with the Light which thou despisest thou art seen and it is thy Condemnation Thou as one bruitish and thy VVife as an Hypocrite and you both as Murderers of the Just in that which is Eternal are seen and comprehended and your Hearts searched and tried and condemned by the Light The Light in thy Conscience will witness the Truth of what I write to thee and will let thee see that thou art not born of God but art from the Truth in the Beastly Nature And if ever thy Eye see Repentance thou wilt witness me a Friend of thy Soul and a seeker of thy Eternal Good G. F. This Adam Sands afterwards died miserably I was moved also to write to Priest Tatham THE Word of the Lord to thee Priest Tatham who art found out of the Doctrine of Christ having the chiefest Place in the Assembly and being called of Men Master and standing Praying in the Synagogue in the Steps of the Pharisees which our Lord Jesus Christ cried VVo against In his VVay thou art not but in the Way of the Scribes and Pharisees as thou mayest read Matth. 23. There Christ's VVords Judge thee and the Scriptures of Truth Condemn thee For thou art such an one as sues Men at the Law for Tithes and yet professest thy self to be a Minister of Christ which Christ never impowered his to do Neither did any of his Apostles or Ministers ever do so Here I charge thee in the presence of the Living God to be out of their Doctrine and that thou art one of those evil Beasts the Scripture speaks of that mindest Earthly Things which the Life of the Scriptures is against Thou art for Destruction in the State wherein thou standest and it will be thy Portion eternally if thou dost not Repent To that of God in thy Conscience I speak which will witness the Truth of what I say Thou art one that goest in Cain's Way in Envy an Enemy to God and from the Command of God Thou art one that goest in Balaam's Way from the Spirit of God for Gifts and Rewards the Wages of Unrighteousness Thou Son of Balaam thou art worse than thy Father for though he loved the VVages of Vnrighteousness yet he durst not take it but thou not only takest it but suest Men at the Law if they will not give it thee which never did Minister of Jesus Christ Therefore stop thy Mouth for ever and never make mention of them or profess thy self one of them With the Light thou art seen and comprehended who art light and vain and speakest a Divination of thy own Brain and deceivest the People That in thy Conscience will witness what I say and will Condemn thee who art one that bearest Rule by thy Means which the Lord sent Jeremiah to cry against Jer. 5. and so thou holdest up the horrible and filthy thing that is committed in the Land And they that do not Tremble at the VVord of the Lord they are the foolish People that hold thee up they are sottish Children and have no Understanding They are Wise to do Evil but not to do Good who are deceived by thee And such an one thou art that seekest for thy Gain from thy Quarter a greedy dumb Dog that never hath enough as thy Practice makes manifest which the Lord sent Isaiah to cry against Isa 56.11 12. And thou art such an one as the Lord sent Ezekiel to cry against who feedest of the Fat and Clothest with the VVooll and makest a Prey upon the People But the Lord is gathering his Sheep from thy Mouth that to thee they shall be a Prey no longer Thou Enemy of God here this Prophecy is fulfilled upon thee Ezek. 34. and thou art one of them I charge it upon thee in the presence of the living God A Hireling thou art and they that put not into thy Mouth thou preparest War against them Thou hatest the Good and lovest the Evil which the Lord sent Micah to cry against Mic. 3. Cover thy Lips and stop thy Mouth for ever thou Child of Darkness for with the Light thou art comprehended and seen to be among them which the holy Men of God cryed W O against and by the Spirit of the living God thou art judged In the Light which is thy Condemnation thou art comprehended thy Race is seen and thy Compass known who art out of the Commands of Christ and out of the Doctrine and Life of the Apostles Thou art proved and tryed and to thee this is the VVord of the Lord and to thee it shall be as an Hammer a Fire and a Sword and from under it thou shalt never come unless thou Repent who art with the Light to be Condemned in that State wherein thou standest And if ever thy Eye see Repentance this thy Condemnation thou must own G. F. I writ also to Burton Priest of Sedbergh much what to the same purpose he being in the same evil Ground Nature and Practice which the other Priests were in Many other Epistles also and Papers I writ about that Time as the Lord moved me thereunto which I sent abroad among the Priests Professors and People of all sorts for the laying their Evil ways open before them that they might see and forsake them and opening the Way of Truth unto them that they might come to walk therein which
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
the Deceit Sing the Song of the Lamb Triumph over the World spread the Truth abroad Come ye Captive ones out of Prison and Rejoice with one accord for the Joyful Days are coming Let us be glad and Rejoice for ever Singleness of Heart is come Pureness of Heart is come Joy and Gladness is come The glorious God is exalting himself and Truth hath been talked of but now it is possessed Christ hath been talked of but now he is come and possessed The Glory hath been talked of but now it is possessed and the Glory of Man is defacing The Son of God hath been talked of but now he is come and hath given us an Understanding Vnity hath been talked of but now it is come Virgins have been talkt of but now they are come with Oil in their Lamps He will be glorified alone Where Pride is thrown down Earth and the fleshly Will is thrown down and the Pure is raised up there alone is the Lord Exalted Let the Heavens Bow down to him and the Earth Reel to and fro and Stagger up and down The Lord is setting up his Throne and his Crown and throwing down the Crown of Man and he alone will be glorified To whom be all Honour and Glory all Praises and all Thanks Who gives his Children Wisdom and Strength Knowledge and Vertue Power and Riches Blessings and durable Substance and an Eye to discern and an Ear to hear things singly and brings down the Pride of Man's Heart and turns the Wicked out of the Kingdom The Righteous Ones inherit Righteousness the Pure Ones Pureness the Holy Ones Holiness Praises Praises be to the Lord whose Glory now shines whose Day is broken forth which is hid from the World hid from all worldly wise Ones and from all the Prudent of this World hid from the Fowls of the Air hid from all Vultures Eyes and all venemous Beasts and all Liars and all Dogs and all Swine But to them that fear his Name the Secrets of the Lord are made manifest the Treasures of Wisdom are opened and the Fulness of Knowledge For thou O Lord dost make thy self manifest to thy Children G. F. My Spirit was greatly burdened to see the Pride that was got up in the Nation even amongst the Professors and in the sense thereof I was moved to give forth the following Paper directed To such as follow the World's Fashions WHAT a World is this How doth the Devil garnish himself and how obedient are People to do his Will and Mind that they are altogether carried away with Fooleries and Vanities both Men and Women that they have lost the hidden Man of the Heart and the meek and quiet Spirit which with the Lord is of great price They have lost the Adorning of Sarah they are putting on Gold and gay Apparel Women plaiting the Hair Men and Women powdering it making their Backs look like Bags of Meal They look so strange that they can scarce look at one another they are so lifted up in Pride Pride is flown up into their Head and hath so lifted them up that they Snuff up like Wild Asses and like Ephraim they seed upon Wind and are gotten to be like Wild Heifers who feed upon the Mountains Pride hath puffed up every one of them They are out of the Fear of God Men and Women Young and Old one puffs up another They must be in the Fashion of the World else they are not in esteem else they shall not be respected if they have not Gold or Silver upon their Backs or if his Hair be not powdered But if he have store of Ribbands hanging about his Waste and at his Knees and in his Hat of divers Colours Red or White or Black or Yellow and his Hair be powdered then he is a brave Man then he is accepted then he is no Quaker because he hath Ribbands on his Back and Belly and Knees and his Hair powdered This is the Array of the World But is not this from the Lust of the Eye the Lust of the Flesh or the Pride of Life Likewise the Women having their Gold their Spots on their Faces Noses Cheeks Fore-heads having their Rings on their Fingers wearing Gold having their Cuffs double under and above like unto a Butcher with his white Sleeves having their Ribbands tied about their Hands and three or four Gold-Laces about their Cloths This is no Quaker say they This is that that pleaseth the World this Array this Attire pleaseth the World and if they cannot get these things they are discontented But this is not the Attire of Sarah whose Adorning was in the hidden Man of the Heart of a quiet and meek Spirit This is the Adorning of the Heathen not of the Apostle nor of the Saints whose Adorning was not wearing of Gold nor plaiting of Hair but a meek and quiet Spirit which was and is of great price with the Lord. And here was the Sobriety and good Ornament which was of the Lord accepted This was Paul's Exhortation and Preaching But we see the Talkers of Paul's Words live out of Paul's Command and out of the Example of Sarah and are found in the steps of the great Heathen who comes to examin the Apostles in his gorgeous Apparel Now are not all these that have got their Ribbands hanging about their Arms Hands Back Waists Knees Hats like unto Fidlers-Boys Which shews that you are gotten into the basest and most contemptible Life who be in the Fashion of the Fidlers-Boys and Stage-Players quite out of the Paths and Steps of solid Men and in the very Steps and Paths of the wild Heads who give themselves up to every Invention and Vanity of the World that appears and is inventing how to get it upon their Backs Heads Feet and Legs and say If it be out of the Fashion it is nothing worth Are not these the Spoilers of the Creation who have the fat and the best of it and waste and destroy it Do not these Cumber God's Earth Let that of God in all Consciences Answer and who are in the Wisdom judge And further If one get a pair of Britches like a Coat and hang them about with Points and up almost to the Middle a pair of double Cuffs upon his Hands and a Feather in his Cap here 's a Gentleman bow before him put off your Hats bow get a Company of Fidlers a set of Musick and Women to dance This is a brave Fellow up in the Chamber up in the Chamber without and up in the Chamber within Are these your fine Christians Yea say they They are Christians Yea but say the serious People They are out of Christ's Life and out of the Apostles Command and out of the Saints Ornament And to see such as are before described as are in the Fashions of the World before-mentioned a Company of them playing at Bouls or at Tables or at Shovel-Board or Each taking his Horse that hath Bunches of Ribbands on his Head as
having been broken up upon the Seventh Day before at Night as they said We told them We were honest and innocent Men and abhorred such things Yet they Apprehended us 1655. Norfolk and set a Guard with Halberts and Pikes upon us that Night making some of those Friendly People with others to watch us Next Morning we were up betimes and the Constable with his Guaâ— â—arried us before a Justice of Peace about five Miles off and we took Two or three of the sufficient men of the Town with us who had been with us at the great Meeting at Captain Lawrence's and could testify that we lay both the seventh Day Night and the first Day Night at Captain Lawrence's and it was the seventh Day Night that they said the House was broken up Now the Reader is to be Informed that during the time that I was a Prisoner at the Mermaid at Charing-Cross of which an Account is given before this Captain Lawrence brought several Independent-Justices to see me there with whom I had a great deal of Discourse which they took Offence at For they pleaded for Imperfection and to Sin as long as they lived but did not like to hear of Christ's Teaching his People himself and making People as Clear whilst here upon the Earth as Adam and Eve were before they fell Now these Justices had plotted together this mischief against me in the Country pretending an House was broken up that so they might send their Hue and Cry after me so great was their Malice against the Righteous and the Just They were vexed also and troubled to hear of the great Meeting at John Lawrence's aforesaid for there was a Colonel Convinced there that Day that lived and died in the Truth But Providence so ordered it that the Constable carried us to a Justice about five miles onward in our way towards Lyn who was not an Independent-Justice as the rest were When we were brought before him he began to be angry because we did not put off our Hats to him I told him I had been before the Protector and he was not offended at my Hat and why should he be offended at it who was but one of his Servants Then he read the Hue and Cry And I told him That that Night wherein the House was said to be broken up we were at Captain Lawrence's House and that we had several Men here present could Testify the Truth thereof Thereupon the Justice having Examined us and them said He believed we were not the men that had broken the House but he was sorry he said that he had no more against us We told him He ought not to be sorry for not having Evil against us but rather to be glad for to Rejoice when he got Evil against People as for house-breaking or the like was not a good mind in him It was a good while yet before he would Resolve Whether to let us go or send us to Prison and the wicked Constable stirred him up against us telling him We had good Horses and that if it pleased him he would carry us to Norwich-Jail But we took hold of the Justice's Confession That he believed we were not the men that had broken the House and after we had admonished him to Fear the Lord in his Day the Lord's Power came over him so that he let us go and so their Snare was broken A great People were after ward gathered to the Lord in that Town where I was moved to speak to them in the Street and from whence the Hue and Cry came Lyn. Being set at Liberty we travelled to Lyn whither we came about the third Hour in the Afternoon And having set up our Horses we met with Joseph Fuce who was an Ensign and we wisht him to speak to as many of the People of the Town as he could 1655. Lyn. that feared God and to the Captains and Officers to come together which he did And we had a very glorious Meeting amongst them and turned them to the Spirit of God by which they might know God and Christ and understand the Scriptures and so learn of God and of Christ as the Prophets and Apostles did Many were Convinced there that Day and a fine Meeting there is of them that are come off from the Hirelings Teaching and sit under the Teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lyn being then a Garrison we desired Joseph Fuce to get us the Gate opened by the third hour next Morning for we had forty Miles to ride next day And by that means getting out early we came next Day by the Eleventh or Twelfth hour to a Town near the Isle of Ely called Sutton where Amor Stoddart Sutton and the Friends that were with him met us again A multitude of People was gathered thither and there were no less than four Priests The Priest of the Town made a great Jangle but the Lord's Power so confounded him that he went away The other three Priests stayed and one of them was Convinced One of the other Two whilst I was speaking came to lean upon me but I bid him Sit down seeing he was so slothful A great Convincement there was that Day and many hundreds were turned from the Darkness to the Light and from the Power of Satan unto God and from the Spirit of Error to the Spirit of Truth to be led thereby into all Truth People came to this Meeting from Huntington and beyond and the Mayor's Wife of Cambridge was there also A glorious Meeting it was and many were settled under Christ's Teaching and knew him their Shepherd to feed them for the Word of Life was freely declared and gladly received by them The Meeting ended in the Power of the Lord and in Peace and after it was done I walked out and went into a Garden where I had not been long before a Friend came to me and told me Several Justices were come to break up the Meeting But many of the People were gone away so they missed of their Design and after they had stayed a while they went away also in a Fret That Evening I passed to Cambridge Cambridg And when I came into the Town the Scholars hearing of me were up and were exceeding Rude I kept on my Horse's Back and rid through them in the Lord's Power but they Vnhorst Amor Stoddart before he could get to the Inn. When we were in the Inn they were so rude there in the Courts and in the Streets that the Miners the Colliers and Carters could never be Ruder The People of the House asked us What we would have for Supper as is the usual way of Inn-keepers Supper said I were it not that the Lord's Power is over them these Rude Scholars look as if they would pluck us in pieces and make a Supper of us They knew I was so against their Trade the Trade of Preaching which they were there as Apprentices to learn that they raged as had as ever
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
Friends were glad of the Prosperity of Truth and the manifestation of the Lord 's glorious Power that had delivered us and carried us through many dangers and difficulties and I was glad to find Truth prosper in the City and all things well amongst Friends there Only there was one man whose Name was John Toldervey that had been Convinced of Truth and run out from it and the envious Priests took occasion from thence to write a wicked Book against Friends which they stuffed with many Lies to render Truth and Friends odious in People's Eyes and Minds and they Intituled their Book The Foot out of the Snare But this poor man came to see his Folly and returned and Condemned his Back-sliding and answered the Priests Book and manifested all their Lies and Wickedness Thus the Lord's Power came over them and his Everlasting Seed reigned and reigns to this Day Now after I had tarried some time in London and had visited Friends in their Meetings there I went out of Town again leaving James Nayler in the City And as I passed from him I cast my Eyes upon him and a Fear struck into me concerning him But I went away and rode down to Rygate in Surrey Surrey Rygate where I had a little Meeting There the Friends told me of one Thomas Moore a Justice of Peace that lived not far from Rygate and was a friendly moderate man whereupon I went to visit him at his House and he came to be a serviceable man in Truth We passed on to one Thomas Pachin's where we had a Meeting unto which several Friends came from London and John Bolton and his Wife came thither on foot in frost and snow After we had parted with Friends there we went towards Horsham-park Horsham-park Arundel Chicester and having visited Friends there we passed on to Arundel and Câ—â—chester where we had Meetings At Chichester many Professors came in and some jangling they made but the Lord's Power was over them The Woman of the House where the Meeting was though she was Convincâ—d of Truth yet not keeping her Mind close to that which Convinced her she fell in love with a man of the World that was there that time When I knew it I took her aside and was moved to speak to her and to pray for her But a light thing got up in her Mind and she slighted it Afterwards she Married that man and soon after went distracted for the Man was greatly in Debt and she greatly disappointed Then was I sent for to her and the Lord was intreated and Raised her up again and settled her Mind by his Power And afterwards her Husband died and she acknowledged the just Judgments of God were come upon her for slighting the Exhortation and Counsel I had given her After we left Chichester we travelled on through the Countries till we came to Portsmouth Portsmouth There the Souldiers had us to the Governour 's House and after some Examination the Lord's Power came over them and we were set at Liberty and had a Meeting in the Town Ringwood After which we passed away and came to Ringwood where in the Evening we had a Meeting at which several were Convinced and turned to the Spirit of the Lord and to the Teaching of Christ Jesus their Saviour Pool From Ringwood we came to Pool and having set up our Horses at an Inn we sent into the Town to inquire for such as feared the Lord and such who were worthy and we had a Meeting there with several sober People And William Baily a Baptist-Teacher was convinced there at that time The People received the Truth in the inward Parts and were turned to the Lord Jesus Christ their Rock and Foundation their Teacher and Saviour And there is become a great Gathering in the Name of Jesus of a very tender People who continue under Christ's Teaching Southampton We went also to Southampton and had a Meeting there and several were Convinced there also Edward Pyot of Bristol travelled with me all this Western Journey Dorchester From thence we went to Dorchester and alighted at an Inn that was a Baptist's house And we sent into the Town to the Baptists to let us have their Meeting-house to meet in and to invite the sober People to the Meeting but they denied it us And we sent to them again to know Why they would deny us their Synagogue so the thing was noised in the Town Then we sent them Word If they would not let us come to their house They or any People that feared God might come to our Inn if they pleased But they were in a great Rage and their Teacher and many of them came up and they flapped their Bibles on the Table I asked them Why they were so Angry were they Angry with the Bible But they fell into a Discourse about their Water-Baptism I asked them Whether they could say they were sent of God to baptize People as John was And whether they had the same Spirit and Power that the Apostles had And they said They had not Then I asked them How many Powers there are Whether there are any more than the Power of God and the Power of the Devil And they said There was not any other Power than those Two Then said I If you have not the Power of God that the Apostles had then you act by the Power of the Devil There were many sober People present who said They have thrown themselves on their Backs Many substantial People were Convinced that Night and a precious Service we had there for the Lord and his Power came over all Next Morning as we were passing away the Baptists being in a Rage began to shake the Dust from off their Feet after us ' What said I in the Power of Darkness We who are in the Power of God shake off the Dust of our feet against you Thus leaving Dorchester we came to Weymouth 1655. Weymouth where also we inquired after the sober People and about four score of them gathered together at a Priest's House all very sober People and most of them received the Word of Life and were turned to their Teacher Christ Jesus who had enlightned them with his Divine Light by which they might see their Sins and him who saved them from their Sins A blessed Meeting we had with them and they received the Truth in the Love of it with gladness of Heart The Meeting held for several Hours and the state of their Teachers and the Apostacy was opened to them and the state of the Apostles and of the Church in their Days and the state of the Law and of the Prophets before Christ and how Christ came to fulfil them and how he was their Teacher in the Apostles Days and how he was come now to teach his People again himself by his Power and Spirit All was quiet and the Meeting brake up peaceably and the People were very loving and
turned him to the Spirit of God in his Heart and to the Light of Christ Jesus and he was throughly Convinced and continued so to his Death and was very serviceable to us There came also to see us one Colonel Rouse a Justice of Peace with a great Company with him and he was as full or Words and Talk as ever I heard any Man in my Life so that there was no speaking to him At length I asked him ' Whether he had ever been at School and knew what belonged to Questions and Answers this I said to stop him At School said he yes At School said the Souldiers Doth he say so to our Colonel that is a Scholar Then said I If he be so let him be still and receive Answers to what he hath said Then I was moved of the Lord so speak the Word of Life to him in God's dreadful Power which came so over him that he could not open his Mouth his Face swelled and was red like a Turkey and his Lips moved and he mumbled something but the People thought he would have fallen down I stept to him and he said He was never so in his Life before For the Lord's Power stopt the Evil Power and Air in him so that he was almost choked The Man was ever after very Loving to Friends and not so full of Airy Words to us though he was a Man full of Pride but the Lord's Power came over him and the rest that were with him Another time there came another Officer of the Army a very malicious bitter Professor whom I had known in London And he was full of his airy Talk also and spake slightly of the Light of Christ and against the Truth as Colonel Rouse had done and against the Spirit of God being in Men as it was in the Apostles Days till the Power of God that bound the Evil in him had almost Choked him also as it did Colonel Rouse for he was so full of Evil Air that he could not speak but blubbered and stuttered But from that time that the Lord's Power struck him and came over him he was ever after more Loving to us Now the Assize being over and we settled in Prison upon such a Commitment as we were not likely to be soon Released we broke off from giving the Gaoler Seven Shillings a Week a piece for our Horses and Seven Shillings a Week for our selves and sent our Horses out into the Country Upon which the Gaoler grew very Wicked and Devilish Dooms-Dale and put us down into Dooms-dale a nasty stinking Place where they used to put Witches and Murderers after they were Condemned to Die The Place was so Noisom that it was observed few that went in did ever come out again in Health for there was no House of Office in it and the Excrements of the Prisoners that from time to time had been put there had not been carried out as we were told for many Years So that it was all like Mire and in some Places to the Top of the Shoes in Water and Piss and he would not let us Cleanse it neither would he let us have Beds or Straw to lie on At Night some friendly People of the Town brought us a Candle and a little Straw and we went to burn a little of our Straw to take away the Stink The Thieves lay over our Heads and the Head-Gaoler lay in a Room by them over our Heads also Now it seems the Smoke went up into the Room where the Gaoler lay which put him into such a Rage that he took the Pots of Excrements of the Thieves and poured them down through a Hole upon our Heads in Dooms-dale so that we were so bespattered with the Excrements that we could not touch our selves nor one another And the Stink Increased upon us so that what with Stink and what with Smoke we had like to have been choked and smothered in Dooms-dale For we had the Stink under our Feet before but now we had it on our Heads and Backs also And he having quenched our Straw with the Filth he poured down had made a great Smother in the Place Moreover he railed on us most hideously calling us Hatchet-faced Dogs and such strange Names as we had never heard of In this manner were we fain to stand all Night for we could not sit down the Place was so full of filthy Excrements And a great while he kept us after this manner before he would let us cleanse it or suffer us to have any Victuals brought in but what we got through the Grate One time a Lass brought us a little Meat and he Arrested her for breaking his House and sued her in the Town-Court for breaking the Prison and a great deal of Trouble he put the Young-woman to whereby others were so discouraged that we had much a do to get Water or Drink or Victuals Near this Time we sent for a Young-woman one Ann Downer from London that could write 1656. Lanceston Doomsdale and take things well in Short-hand to buy and dress our Meat for us which she was very willing to it being also upon her Spirit to come to us in the Love of God and she was very serviceable to us This Head-Gaoler we were Informed had been a Thief and was burnt both in the Hand and in the Shoulder His Wife too had been burnt in the Hand The Vnder-Gaoler had been burnt both in the Hand and in the Shoulder and his Wife had been burnt in the Hand also And Colonel Bennet who was a Baptist-Teacher having purchased the Gaol and Lands belonging to the Castle had placed this Head-Gaoler therein The Prisoners and some wild People would be talking of Spirits that haunted Doomsdale and walked there and how many had died in it thinking perhaps to terrify us therewith But I told them and Friends That if all the Spirits and Devils in Hell were there I was over them in the Power of God and feared no such thing for Christ our Priest would sanctify the Walls and the House to us he who bruised the Head of the Devil The Priest was to cleanse the Plague out of the Walls of the House under the Law which Christ our Priest ended who sanctifies both inwardly and outwardly the Walls of the House and the Walls of the Heart and all things to his People By this time the General Quarter-Sessions drew nigh and the Gaoler still carrying himself basely and wickedly towards us we drew up our Sufferings and sent it to the Sessions at Bodmin upon the reading of which the Justices gave Order That Doomsdale-Door should be opened and that we should have liberty to Cleanse it and to buy our Meat in the Town We sent up a Copy also of our Sufferings to the Protector setting forth how we were taken and Committed by Major Ceely and how we were abused by Capt. Keat as aforesaid and the rest in Order Whereupon the Protector sent down an
coming away to Friends At last when he had so very few left he would come to Pardsey-Crag where Friends had a Meeting of several hundreds of People who were all come to sit under the Lord Jesus Christ's Teaching and he would walk about the Meeting on the first-Days like a man that went about the Commons to look for Sheep Now during this time I came to this Pardsey-Crag-meeting and he with three or four of his followers that were yet left to him came to the Meeting that Day and they were all throughly Convinced After the Meeting was done Priest Wilkinson asked me two or three Questions which I answered him to his Satisfaction and from that time he came amongst Friends to their Meetings and became an Able Minister and preached the Gospel freely and turned many to Christ's free Teaching And after he had continued many Years in the free Ministry of Christ Jesus he died in the Truth SCOTLAND I had for some time felt Drawings on my Spirit to go into Scotland and had sent to one Colonel William Osborn of Scotland desiring him to come and meet me and he with some others with him were come out of Scotland to this Meeting So after the Meeting was over which he said was the most-glorious Meeting that ever he saw in his life I passed with him and those others that were with him into Scotland having Robert Widders with me who was a Thundring man against Hypocrisy and Deceit and the Rottenness of the Priests The first Night we came into Scotland we lodged at an Inn and the Inn-keeper told us There was an Earl lived about a Quarter of a Mile off who had a desire to see me and had left word at his House that if ever I came into Scotland he should send him word He told us there were three Draw-bridges to his House and that it would be Nine a Clock before the third Bridge was drawn So finding 1657. Scotland we had time in the Evening we walked down to his House He received us very lovingly and said He would have gone with us on our Journey but that he was before engaged to go to a Funeral After we had spent some time with him we parted very friendly and returned to our Inn. Next Morning we travelled on and passing through Dumfreeze Dumfreez Douglass we came to Douglas where we met with some Friends and from thence we passed to the Heads Heads where we had a blessed Meeting in the Name of Jesus and felt him in the midst Leaving Heads we went to Badcow and had a Meeting there Badcow to which abundance of People came and many were Convinced amongst whom there was one that was called a Lady Convinced Highlands From thence we passed towards the High-lands to William Osburn's House where we gathered up the Sufferings of Friends and the Principles of the Scotch Priests which may be seen in a Book called The Scotch-Priests Principles Afterwards we came back again to Heads and Badcow Heads Badcow Garshore and Garshore where the said Lady Margaret Hambleton was Convinced who afterwards went to warn O. Cromwel and Charles Fleetwood of the Day of the Lord that was coming upon them On the First-day we had a great Meeting and several Professors came to it Now the Priests had frighted the People with the Doctrine of Election and Reprobation telling them That God had ordained the greatest part of Men and Women for Hell and that let them Pray or Preach or Sing and do what they could it was all to no purpose if they were ordained for Hell And that God had a certain Number which were Elected for Heaven and let them do what they would as David an Adulterer and Paul a Persecutor yet elected Vessels for Heaven So the fault was not at all in the Creature less or more but God had ordained it so Now I was lead to open to the People the falseness and folly of their Priests Doctrines and shewed them How the Priests had abused those Scriptures which they had brought and quoted to them as in Jude and other Places For whereas they said There was no fault at all in the Creature I shewed them that they who Jude speaks of to wit Cain Core and Balaam who he says were ordained of old to Condemnation the fault was in them For did not God warn Cain and Balaam and gave a Promise to Cain If he did well he should be accepted And did not the Lord bring Core out of Egypt and his Company And yet did not he gainsay both God and his Law and his Prophet Moses So here People might see that there was a fault in Cain Corah and Balaam and so there is in all them that go in their ways For if they who are called Christians resist the Gospel as Core did the Law and err from the Spirit of God as Balaam did and if they do Evil as Cain did is not here a fault Which fault is in themselves and is the Cause of their Reprobation and not God Doth not Christ say Go preach the Gospel to all Nations Which is the Gospel of Salvation He would not have sent them out into all Nations to preach the Doctrine of Salvation if the greatest part of Men had been ordained for Hell Was not Christ a Propitiation for the sins of the whole World for those that become Reprobates as well as for the Saints He died for all Men the Vngodly as well as the Godly as the Apostle bears witness 2 Cor. 5.15 Rom. 5.6 And he enlightens every Man that cometh into the World that through him they might all believe And Christ bids them believe in the Light But all they that hate the Light which Christ bids all believe in they are Reprobated Again The Manifestation of the Spirit of God is given to every Man to profit withal But they that vex quench and grieve it are in the Reprobation and the fault is in them as it is also in them that hate his Light The Apostle saith The grace of God which brings Salvation hath appeared unto all Men teaching us saith he that denying Vngodliness and worldly Lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present World Tit. 2.11.12 Now all those Men and Women that live Vngodly and in the Lusts of the World that turn this grace of God into Wantonness and walk despitefully against it and so deny God and the Lord Jesus Christ that bought them the fault is in all such that turn the grace into Wantonness and walk despitefully against that which would bring their Salvation and save them out of the Reprobation But the Priests it seems can see no fault in such as deny God and the Lord Jesus Christ that hath bought them such as deny his Light which they should believe in and his grace which should teach them to live godly and which should bring them their Salvation Now all that believe in the Light of
in the Power and Spirit which they were in that gave them forth That was to be turned away from by them that came into the Power and Spirit which they were in that gave forth the Scriptures Seventhly They that sit down in the heavenly Places in Christ Jesus these sit down in him that never fell nor never changed Here is the safe sitting for all his Elect his Church his Spiritual Members of which he is the living Head his living Stones the Houshold of Faith of which House he is the Corner-stone that stands and abides all Weathers For as the Apostle said He hath quickned us who were dead in Sins and Trespasses c. and made us to sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus that in the Ages to come he might shew the exceeding Riches of his Grace in his Kindness towards us through Jesus Christ. Now the Ages are come that his Kindness and exceeding Riches towards us through Jesus Christ is truly manifested in us as it was in the Apostles days even in us who have been dead in Sins and Trespasses as they were but now are quickned and made alive and made to sit together in the heavenly Places in Christ Jesus the First and the Last by whom all things were created who is ascended above all and is over all and whose glorious presence is now known And all that sit down here in Christ Jesus they see where all other People sit and in what So the Promise of God being to the Seed which is one Christ Jesus every Man and Woman must come to witness this Seed Christ in them that they may be Heirs of the Promise and inheriting that they will inherit Substance These things were largely declared of and the state of the Church and the state of the false Church since the Apostles days opened and how the true Church fled into the Wilderness and the state of the false Prophets which Christ said should come and John saw were come and how all the World wondred after them and how they had filled the World with false Doctrines Ways Worships and Religions and how the Everlasting Gospel was now preached again to all Nations Kindreds Tongues and People for all Nations Kindreds Tongues and People had drunk the Whore's Cup and she was over them and sate upon them And in this Night of Apostacy the pure Religion and Worship in Spirit which was in the Apostles days and the way of Life and living Faith and the Power and Holy Ghost were lost but now they came to be set up again by Christ Jesus and his Messengers and Ministers of the Gospel as in the Apostles days For as Christ sent his Disciples to go and preach the Gospel into all the World and after that the false Prophets and Antichrists went over the World and preached their false Doctrines and Traditions and Heathenish and Jewish Rudiments So now again the Everlasting Gospel must be preached to all Nations and to every Creature that they may come into the pure Religion to worship God in the Spirit and Truth and may know Christ Jesus their Way to God and him to be the Author of their Faith and may receive the Gospel from Heaven and not from Men in which Gospel received from Heaven is the Heavenly Fellowship which is a Mystery to all the Fellowships in the World Now after these things had been largely opened with many other things concerning Christ Jesus and his Kingdom and the People were turned to the divine Light of Christ and his Spirit by which they might come both to know God and Christ and the Scriptures and to have Fellowship with them and one with another in the same Spirit I was moved to declare and open divers other things to those Friends who had received a part of the Ministry concerning the Exercise of their Spiritual Gifts in the Church Which being taken in writing by one that was present was after this manner Friends TAke heed of destroying that which ye have begotten for that which destroys goes out and is the Cast-away And though that be true yea and may be the pure Truth which such an one speaks yet if he doth not remain in that and live in that in his own particular but goes out the same which he is gone out from cometh over him So that that calms the Spirits and cools the Spirits that goes over the World and brings to the Father to inherit the Life Eternal and reaches to the Spirits in Prison in all Therefore in the living immoveable Word of the Lord God dwell and in the Renown thereof and remain on the Foundation that is pure and that is sure for whosoever goes out from the Pure and Ministers not in and from that he comes to an End and doth not remain though he may have had a Time and may have been serviceable for a Time while he lived in the Thing And take heed of many Words but what reacheth to the Life that settles in the Life That which cometh from the Life and is received from God that reacheth to the Life and settles others in the Life For the Work is not now as it was at first but the Work now is to settle and stay in the Life For as Friends have been led to minister in the Power and the Power hath gone through so that there hath grown an Vnderstanding among both People of the World and Friends so Friends must be kept in the Life which is pure that with that they may answer the pure Life of God in others For if Friends do not live in the pure Life which they speak of to answer the Life in those that they speak to the other part steps in and so there comes up an Outward Acquaintance and he lets that come over him But as every one is kept living in the Life of God over all that which is contrary they are in their places then they do not lay Hands on any suddenly which is the Danger now for if any one do he may lose his Discerning and may lay Hands on the wrong Part and so let the Deceit come too near him and the Deceit will steal over so that it will be an hard thing for him to get it down There is no one strikes his Fellow-servants but first he is gone from the pure in his own particular for when he goeth from the Light he is enlightned withal then he strikes and then he hath his Reward the Light which he is gone from Christ he comes and gives him his Reward This is the state of the evil Servants the boisterous and the hasty and rash beget nothing to God but the Life which doth reach the Life is that which begets to God Now when all are settled in the Life they are in that which remains for ever and what is received there is received from the Lord and what one receiveth from the Lord he keepeth and so he sitteth still and cool and quiet in his
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
we perswade Men but we are made manifest unto God and shall be made manifest in all your Consciences which ye shall witness G. F. Divers times both in the time of the Long Parliament and of the Protector so called and of the Committee of Safety when they proclaimed Fasts I was moved to write to them and tell them their Fasts were like unto Jesabels For commonly when they proclaimed Fasts there was some Mischief contrived against us And I knew their Fasts were for Strife and Debate to smite with the Fist of Wickedness as the New-England-Professors soon after did who before they put our Friends to Death proclaimed a Fast also Now was it a time of great Suffering and many Friends being in Prisons many other Friends were moved to go to the Parliament to offer up themselves to lie in the same Dungeons where their Friends lay that they that were in Prison might go forth and not perish in the stinking Dungeons and Goals And this we did in Love to God and our Brethren that they might not die in Prison and in love to them that cast them in that they might not bring Innocent Blood upon their own Heads which we knew would cry to the Lord and bring his Wrath Vengeance and Plagues upon them But little Favour could we find from those Professing Parliaments but instead thereof they would be in a Rage and sometimes threaten those Friends that thus attended them that they would whip them and send them home Then commonly soon after the Lord would turn them out and send them home who had not an Heart to do good in the Day of their Power But they went not off without being forewarned For I was moved to write to them in their several turns as I did to the Long-Parliament unto whom I declared before they were broken up That thick Darkness was coming over them all even a Day of Darkness that should be felt And because the Parliament that now sate was made up mostly of high Professors who pretending to be more Religious than others were indeed greater Persecutors of them that were truly Religious I was moved to send them the following Lines as a Reproof of their Hypocrisie O Friends do not cloak and Cover your selves There is a God that knoweth your Hearts and that will Vncover you He seeth your way Wo be to him that Covereth but not with my Spirit saith the Lord. Do ye do contrary to the Law and then put it from you Mercy and true Judgment ye neglect Look what was spoken against such My Saviour spake against such I was sick and ye visited me not I was hungry and ye fed me not I was a Stranger and ye took me not in I was in Prison and ye visited me not But they said When saw we thee in Prison and did not come to thee Inasmuch as ye did it not unto one of these Little Ones ye did it not unto me Friends ye Prison them that be in the Life and Power of Truth and yet profess to be the Ministers of Christ But if Christ had sent you ye would bring out of Prison and out of Bondage and receive Strangers 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 G. F. After this as I was going out of Town having two Friends with me when we were gone little more than a Mile out of the City there met us Two Troopers belonging to Col. Hacker's Regiment and they took me and the Friends that were with me and brought us back to the Mews and there kept us Prisoners a little while But the Lord's Power was so over them that they did not have us before any Officer but after a while set us at liberty again The same Day taking Boat I went down to Kingston Kingston and from thence went afterward toward Hampton-Court Hampton-Court to speak with the Protector about the Sufferings of Friends I met him Riding into Hampton-Court-Park and before I came at him as he rode in the Head of his Life-guard I saw and felt a Waft or Apparition of Death go forth against him and when I came to him he look'd like a dead Man After I had laid the Sufferings of Friends before him and had warned him according as I was moved to speak to him he bid me come to his House So I went back to Kingston and the next day went up to Hampton-Court again to have spoken further with him But when I came he was sick and Harvey who was one that waited on him told me The Doctors were not willing I should come in to speak with him So I passed away and never saw him any more 1658. Bucks London Essex From Kingston I went to Isaac Penington's in Buckinghamshire where I had appointed a Meeting and the Lord's Truth and Power was preciously manifested amongst us After I had Visited Friends in those parts I returned to London And soon after went into Essex where I had not been long before I heard that the Protector was dead and his Son Richard made Protector in his Room Whereupon I came up to London again London And before this time the Church-Faith so called was given forth which was said to be made at the Savoy in Eleven Days time I got a Copy of it before it was published and writ an Answer to it And when their Book of Church-Faith was sold up and down the Streets my Answer to it was sold also This angred some of the Parliament-Men so that one of them told me They must have me to Smithfield I told him I was over their Fires and feared them not And reasoning with him I wish'd him to consider Had all People been without a Faith these Sixteen hundred Years that now the Priests must make them one Did not the Apostle say that Jesus was the Author and Finisher of their Faith And since Christ Jesus was the Author of the Apostles Faith and of the Churches Faith in the Primitive Times and of the Martyrs Faith should not all People look unto him to be the Author and Finisher of their Faith and not unto the Priests A great deal of work we had about the Priests made Faith For they called us House-creepers leading silly Women Captive because We Met in Houses and would not hold up their Priests and Temples which they had made and set up But I told them that it was they that Led silly Women Captive and Crept into Houses who kept People always Learning under them who were Covetous and had got a Form of Godliness but denied the Power and Spirit which the Apostles were in Such began to Creep in the Apostles Days but now they had got the Magistrates on their side who upheld those Houses for them which they had Crept into their Temples with their Tithes Whereas the Apostles brought People off
so know a Kingdom which hath no end and fight for that with Spiritual Weapons which takes away the occasion of the Carnal and there gather Men to War as many as ye can and set up as many as ye can with these Weapons G. F. Now after I had staid some time in London and had visited Friends Meetings there and there-abouts and the Lord's Power was set over all I travelled into the Countries again Essex Suffolk Norfolk Norwich passing through Essex and Suffolk into Norfolk visiting Friends till I came to Norwich where we had a Meeting about the time called Christmas The Mayor of Norwich having got notice before-hand of the Meeting I intended to have there granted out a Warrant to apprehend me Wherefore when I was come thither and heard of the Warrant I sent some Friends to the Mayor to Reason with him about it His Answer was The Souldiers should not Meet and did We think to Meet He would have had us gone out and Met without the City For he said the Towns-People were so rude that he could hardly order them and he feared that our Meeting would make Tumults in the Town But our Friends told him we were a peaceable People and that he ought to keep the Peace for we could not but Meet to Worship God as our manner was So he became pretty moderate and did not send his Officers to the Meeting A large Meeting it was and abundance of rude People came with an intent to have done Mischief But the Lord's Power came over them so that they were Chained by it though several Priests were there and Professors and Ranters Among the Priests one whose Name was Townsend stood up and Cryed Error Blasphemy and an Vngodly Meeting I bad him not burden himself with that which he could not make good and I asked him what was our Error and Blasphemy For I told him he should make good his Words before I had done with him or be shamed As for an Vngodly Meeting I said I did believe there were many People there that feared God and therefore it was both Unchristian and Uncivil in him to charge Civil Godly People with an Vngodly Meeting He said My Error and Blasphemy was in that I said that People must wait upon God by his Power and Spirit and feel his Presence when they did not speak Words I asked him then Whether the Apostles and Holy Men of God did not hear God speak to them in their Silence before they spake forth the Scripture and before it was written He replied Yes David and the Prophets did hear God before they did Pen the Scriptures and felt his Presence in Silence before they spake them forth Then said I All People take notice he said this was Error and Blasphemy in me to say these Words and now he hath confessed it is no more than the Holy Men of God in former times witnessed So I shewed the People that as the Holy Men of God who gave forth the Scriptures as they were moved by the Holy Ghost did hear and learn of God before they spake them forth So must They all hearken and hear what the Spirit saith which will lead them into all Truth that they may know God and Christ 1659. Norwich and may understand the Scriptures O said the Priest this is not that George Fox I would speak withal this is a subtile Man said he So the Lord's Power came over all and the rude People were made moderate and were reached by it and some Professors that were there called to the Priests saying Prove the Blasphemy and Errors which ye have charged them with Ye have spoken much against them behind their Backs but nothing ye can prove now said they to their Faces But the Priest began to get away Whereupon I told him we had many things to charge him withal therefore let him set a time and place to answer them which he did and went his ways A glorious Day this was For Truth came over all and People were turned to God by his Power and Spirit and to the Lord Jesus Christ their free Teacher who was Exalted over all And as we passed away generally Peoples Hearts were filled with Love towards us yea the Ruder sort of them desired another Meeting For the evil Intentions that they had against us were thrown out of their Hearts At Night I passed out of Town to a Friend's House Col. Dennis and from thence to Col. Dennis's where we had a great Meeting And afterwards travelled on through the Countries visiting Friends up and down in Norfolk Norfollk Hunts. Cambridgeshire Huntingtonshire and Cambridgeshire But George Whitehead and Richard Huberthorn staid about Norwich to meet the Priest who was soon Confounded and down the Lord's Power came so over him After I had travelled through many Countries in the Lord's Service and many were Convinced notwithstanding that in some places the People were very Rude I returned to London again when General Monk was come up thither London and the Gates and Posts of the City were pulling down Long before this I had a Vision wherein I saw the City lie in heaps and the Gates down and it was then reprepresented to me just as I saw it several Years after lying in heaps when it was burned Divers times had I both by Word and Writing forewarned the several Powers both in Oliver's time and after of the Day of Recompence that was coming upon them But they rejecting Counsel and slighting those Visitations of Love to them I was moved now before they were quite overturned to lay their Back-sliding Hypocrisie and Treacherous Dealing before them thus Friends Now are the Prophecies fulfilled and fulfilling upon you which have been spoken to you by the People of God in your Courts in your Steeple-houses in your Towns Cities Markets Highways and at your Feasts when ye were in your Pleasures and puffed up that ye would neither hear God nor Man when ye were in your Highness and Height of Authority though raised up from a mean State none might come nigh you without bowing or the Respect of Persons for ye were in the World's Way Complements and Fashions which for Conscience sake towards God they could not go into being redeemed there from Therefore they were by you hated for that Cause But how are ye to be brought Low who Exalted your selves above your Brethren and threw the Just and Harmless less from among you until at last God hath thrown you out 1658. London And when ye cast the Innocent from among you then ye fell a biting one another until ye were Consumed one of another And so the Day is come upon you which before to you was told though before ye would not believe it And are not yet your Hearts so hardned that ye will hardly yet believe though ready to go into Captivity Was it not told you when ye spilt the Blood of the Innocent in your Steeple houses in
Professors who pleaded for Imperfection I was opened to declare and manifest unto them how that Adam and Eve were perfect before they fell and all that God made he saw that it was good and he blessed it But the Imperfection came in by the Fall through Man's and Woman's hearkening to the Devil who was out of Truth And though the Law made nothing perfect yet it made way for the bringing in of the better Hope which Hope is Christ who destroys the Devil and his Works that made Man and Woman Imperfect Now Christ saith to his Disciples Be ye perfect even as your Heavenly Father is perfect And he who himself was perfect comes to make Man and Woman perfect again and brings them again to the State which God made them in So he is the Maker up of the Breach and the Peace betwixt God and Man That this might the better be understood by the lowest Capacities I used a Comparison of Two Old People that had their House broken down by an Enemy so that they with all their Children were liable to all Storms and Tempests And there came some to them that pretended to be Workmen and offered to build up their House again if they would give them so much a Year But when they had gotten their Money they left their House as they found it After this manner came a First Second Third Fourth Fifth and Sixth each with his several pretence to build up the Old House and each got the Peoples Money and then cried They could not rear up the House nor the Breach could not be made up For there is no Perfection here Cry they the House can never be perfectly built up again in this Life Though they have taken the Peoples Money for the doing of it For all the Sects in Christendom so called have pretended to build up Adam's and Eve's fallen House and when they have got Peoples Money they tell them the Work cannot be perfectly done here and so their House lies as it did But I told the People Christ was come to do it freely who by one Offering hath perfected for ever all them that are sanctified and renews them up into the Image of God which Man and Woman were in before they fell and makes Man's and Woman's House as perfect again as God had made them at the first And this Christ the Heavenly Man has done freely Therefore all are to look unto him and all that have received him are to walk in him the Life the Substance the First and the Last The Rock of Ages and Foundation of many Generations Largely were these and many other things opened and declared unto the People and the Word of Life was Preached which doth live and abide and all were Exhorted to hear and obey that which did live and abide that by it all might be born again of the Immortal Seed and feed of the Milk of the Word A glorious Meeting there was wherein the Lord 's Everlasting Seed Christ Jesus was set over all and Friends parted in the Power and Spirit of the Lord in Peace and in his Truth that is over all About this time the Souldiers under General Monk's Command were rude and troublesome at Friends Meetings in many places Whereof Complaint being made to him he gave forth the following Order which did somewhat restrain them St. James's the 9th of March 1659. I Do Require all Officers and Souldiers to forbear to disturb the peaceable Meetings of the Quakers they doing nothing prejudicial to the Parliament or Common-wealth of England GEORGE MONK Oldeston Nailsworth After this Meeting at Edward Pyott's I passed through the Countries to Oldeston and to Nailsworth and to Nathaniel Crisp's where there was a large Meeting and several Souldiers at it but quiet And from thence we passed through Friends to Gloucester Gloucester visiting their Meetings And in Gloucester we had a Meeting that was peaceable though the Town was very rude and divided For one part of the Souldiers were for the King and another for the Parliament 1660. Glouceser And as I passed out of the Town over the Bridge Edward Pyott being with me the Souldiers there said They were for the King But after we were gone past them and they understood it was I they were in a great rage that I had scaped them and said Had they known it it had been I they would have shot me with Hail-shot rather than I should have escaped them But the Lord prevented their Devilish Design and brought me safe to Col. Grimes his House where we had a large general Meeting Col. Grimes and the Lord's Truth and Power was set over all and Friends were established upon the Rock and settled under the Lord Jesus Christ's Teaching We passed from thence to Tewksburg and so to Worcester Tewksbury Worcester visiting Friends in their Meetings in the Towns as we went And in all my time I never saw the like Drunkenness as then in the Towns For they had been then chusing Parliament-Men But at Worcester the Lord's Truth was set over all and People were finely settled therein and Friends praised the Lord Nay I saw the very Earth Rejoiced Yet great fears and troubles were in many People and a looking for the King 's Coming in and that all things should be altered and they would ask me what I thought of Times and Things I told them the Lord's Power was over all and his Light shined over all and that the Fear would take hold only on the Hypocrites such as had not been faithful to God and on our Persecutors For in my Travel and Sufferings at Reading when People were at a stand and could not tell what might Come in and who might Rule I told them the Lord's Power was over all for I had travelled through in it and his Day shined whosoever should come in and whether the King came in or no all would be well to them that loved the Lord and were faithful to him Therefore I bid all Friends Fear none but the Lord and keep in his Power that was over all From Worcester I came through the Countries Badgely Leicestershire Drayton visiting Friends in their Meetings till I came to Badgely and from thence I went to Drayton in Leicestershire to visit my Relations While I was there one Burton a Justice hearing that I had a good Horse sent forth a Warrant to search for me and my Horse But I was gone before they came and so he missed of his wicked End I passed on to Twy Cross Twy-Cross Swanington Darby and Swanington and so to Darby where I visited Friends and found my old Goaler amongst them who had formerly kept me in the House of Correction there and was now Convinced of the Truth which I then suffered under him for Passing still further up into Darbyshire Darbyshire Nottinghamshire Synderhill-green Yorkshire Balby Yearly Meeting and Nottinghamshire I came to Synderhill-green visiting Friends through all
your Principle and then you will sell your Coat and buy a Sword and Fight for the Kingdom of Christ Answ As for this we say to you that Christ said to Peter Put up thy Sword in his place though he had said before he that had no Sword might sell his Coat and buy one to the fulfilling of the Law and Scripture yet after when he had bid him put it up he said He that taketh the Sword shall perish with the Sword And further Christ said to Pilate Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father and he shall presently give me more than twelve Legions of Angels And this might satisfie Peter Luke 22.36 after he had put up his Sword when he said to him He that took it should perish by it which satisfieth us Mat. 26.51 52 53. And in the Revelation it 's said He that kills with the Sword shall perish with the Sword and here is the Faith and the Patience of the Saints And so Christ's Kingdom is not of this World therefore do not his Servants Fight as he told Pilate the Magistrate who Crucified him and did they not look upon Christ as a Raiser of Sedition and did not he say Forgive them But thus it is that we are numbred amongst Transgressors and numbred amongst Fighters 1660. London that the Scriptures might be fulfilled That Spirit of Christ by which we are guided is not changeable so as once to command us from a thing as Evil and again to move unto it and we do certainly know and so testifie to the World That the Spirit of Christ which leads us into all Truth will never move us to Fight and War against any Man with outward Weapons neither for the Kingdom of Christ nor for the Kingdoms of this World First Because the Kingdom of Christ God will exalt according to his Promise and cause it to grow and flourish in Righteousness Not by Might nor by Power of outward Sword but by my Spirit saith the Lord Zech. 4.6 So those that use any Weapon to Fight for Christ or for the establishing of his Kingdom or Government both the Spirit Principle and Practice in that we deny Secondly We do earnestly desire and wait That by the Word of God's Power and its effectual Operation in the Hearts of Men the Kingdoms of this World may become the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ that he might Rule and Reign in Men by his Spirit and Truth that thereby all People out of all different Judgments and Professions might be brought into Love and Vnity with God and one with another and that they might all come to witness the Prophets Words who said Nation shall not lift up Sword against Nation neither shall they learn War any more Isa 2.4 Mich. 4.3 So we whom the Lord hath called into the Obedience of his Truth have denied Wars and Fightings and cannot again any more learn it And this is a certain Testimony unto all the World of the Truth of our Hearts in this particular that as God perswadeth every Man's Heart to believe so they may receive it For we have not as some others gone about cunningly with devised Fables nor have we ever denied in Practice what we have professed in Principle but in Sincerity and Truth and by the Word of God have we laboured to be made manifest unto all Men that both we and our ways might be witnessed in the Hearts of all People And whereas all manner of Evil hath been falsly spoken of us we hereby speak forth the plain Truth of our Hearts to take away the occasion of that Offence that so we being Innocent may not suffer for other Men's Offences nor be made a Prey upon by the Wills of Men for that of which we were never Guilty but in the Uprightness of our Hearts we may under the Power ordained of God for the Punishment of Evil-doers and for the Praise of them that do well live a peaceable and godly Life in all Godliness and Honesty For although we have always suffered and do now more abundantly suffer yet we know that it 's for Righteousness sake For our rejoycing is this the Testimony of our Consciences that in Simplicity and godly Sincerity not with fleshly Wisdom but by the Grace of God we have had our Conversation in the World 2 Cor. 1.12 Which for us is a Witness for the convincing of our Enemies For this we can say to all the World we have wronged no Man's Persons or Possessions we have used no Force nor Violence against any Man we have been found in no Plots nor guilty of Sedition when we have been wronged we have not sought to revenge our selves we have not made resistance against Authority but wherein we could not obey for Conscience-sake we have suffered even the most of any People in the Nation We have been counted as Sheep for the Slaughter Persecuted and Despised Beaten Stoned Wounded Stocked Whipped Imprisoned Haled out of Synagogues cast into Dungeons and Noisom Vaults where many have died in Bonds shut up from our Friends denied needful Sustenance for many days together with other the like Cruelties And the Cause of all these our Sufferings is not for any Evil but for things relating to the Worship of our God and in obedience to his Requirings of us For which Cause we shall freely give up our Bodies a Sacrifice rather than disobey the Lord For we know as the Lord hath kept us Innocent so he will plead our Cause when there is none in the Earth to plead it So we in Obedience unto his Truth do not love our Lives unto Death that we may do his Will and wrong no Man in our Generation but seek the Good and Peace of all Men. And he that hath commanded us That we shall not Swear at all Matth. 5.34 hath also commanded us That we shall not Kill Matth. 5. So that we can neither Kill Men nor Swear for nor against them And this is both our Principle and Practice and hath been from the Beginning so that if we suffer as suspected to take up Arms or make War against any it is without any Ground from us For it neither is noâ— ever was in our Hearts since we owned the Truth of God neither shall we ever do it because it is contrary to the Spirit of Christ his Doctrine and the Practices of his Apostles even contrary to him for whom we suffer all things and endure all things And whereas Men come against us with Clubs Staves Drawn Swords Pistols cock't and do beat cut and abuse us yet we never resisted them but to them our Hair Backs and Cheeks have been ready But it is not an Honour to Manhoood or Nobility to run upon harmless People who lift not up an Hand against them with Arms and Weapons Therefore consider these things ye Men of Understanding For Plotters Raisers of Insurrections Tumultuous Ones and Fighters running with Swords Clubs Staves and Pistols one
People And said It was great pity that they did not return to the Holy Mother Church Thus they made a Busz among the People and said They would willingly discourse with Friends But Friends were loth to meddle with them because they were Jesuits looking upon it to be both dangerous and scandalous But when I understood it I said to Friends Let us discourse with them be they what they will So a time being appointed at Gerrard Roberts his House there came two of them like Courtiers When we were come together they asked our Names which we told them But we did not ask their Names for we understood they were called Papists and they knew we were called Quakers I asked them the same Question that I had formerly asked a Jesuit namely Whether the Church of Rome was not degenerated from the Church in the Primitive Times from the Spirit and Power and Practice that they were in in the Apostles times He to whom I put this Question being subtile said He would not Answer it I ask'd him Why But he would shew no Reason His Companion said he would answer me and he said They were not degenerated from the Church in the Primitive times I asked the other Whether he was of the same Mind And he said Yes Then I told them that for the better understanding one another and that there might be no Mistake I would repeat my Question over again after this manner Whether the Church of Rome now was in the same Purity Practice Power and Spirit that the Church in the Apostle's time was in When they saw we would be exact with them they flew off and denied that saying It was Presumption in any to say they had the same Power and Spirit which the Apostles had But I told them It was Presumption in them to meddle with the Words of Christ and his Apostles and make People believe they succeeded the Apostles and yet be forced to Confess They were not in the same Power and Spirit that the Apostles were in This said I is a Spirit of Presumption and rebuked by the Apostles Spirit Then I shewed them how different their Fruits and Practices were from the Fruits and Practices of the Apostles Then got up one of them and said Ye are a Company of Dreamers Nay said I ye are the filthy Dreamers who dream ye are the Apostles Successors and yet Confess Ye have not the same Power and Spirit which the Apostles were in And are not they Defilers of the Flesh who say It is Presumption for any to say they have the same Power and Spirit which the Apostles had Now said I if ye have not the same Power and Spirit which the Apostles had then it is manifest that ye are led by another Power and Spirit than the Apostles and Church in the Primitive times were led by Then I began to tell them how that Evil Spirit which they were led by had led them to Pray by Beads and to Images and to set up Nunneries and Frieries and Monasteries and to put People to Death for Religion and this Practice of theirs I shewed them was below the Law and far short of the Gospel in which is Liberty They were soon weary of this Discourse and went their way and gave a Charge as we heard to the Papists That they should not dispute with us nor read any of our Books So we were rid of them But we had Reasonings with all the other Sects as Presbyterians Independents Seekers Baptists Episcopal-men Socinians Brownists Lutherans Calvinists Arminians Fifth-Monarchy-Men Familists Muggletonians and Ranters none of which would Affirm they had the same Power and Spirit that the Apostles had and were in So in that Power and Spirit the Lord gave us Dominion over them all As for the Fifth-Monarchy-Men I was moved to give forth a Paper to them to manifest their Error to them For they looked for Christ's Personal Coming in an outward Form and Manner and they fixed the time of it to the Year 1666 at which time some of them did prepare themselves when it Thundered and Rained thinking Christ was then come to set up his Kingdom and then they imagined they were to kill the Whore without them But I told them the Whore was alive in them and was not burnt with God's Fire nor judged in them with the same Power and Spirit the Apostles were in And their looking for Christ's Coming outwardly to set up his Kingdom was like the Pharisees Lo here and Lo there But Christ was come and had set up his Kingdom above Sixteen Hundred Years ago according to Nebuchadnezzar's Dream and Daniel's Prophecy and he had dash'd to pieces the Four Monarchies the great Image with its Head of Gold Breast and Arms of Silver Belly and Thighs of Brass Legs of Iron and Feet part of Iron part of Clay and they were all blown away with God's Wind as the Chaff in the Summer-threshing-Floor And when Christ was on Earth he said his Kingdom was not of this World If it had been his Servants would have fought but it was not therefore his Servants did not fight And therefore all the Fifth-Monarchy-Men that be Fighters with Carnal Weapons are none of Christ's Servants but the Beast's and the Whore's Christ said All Power in Heaven and in Earth is given to me So then his Kingdom was set up above Sixteen Hundred Years ago and he Reigns And we see Jesus Reign said the Apostle and he shall Reign till all things be put under his Feet though all things are not yet put under his Feet nor subdued This year several Friends were moved to go beyond the Seas to publish Truth in Forreign Countries John Stubbs and Henry Fell and Richard Costrop were moved to go towards China and Prester John's Country but no Masters of Ships would carry them With much ado they got a Warrant from the King but the East-India-Company found ways to avoid it and the Masters of their Ships would not carry them Then they went into Holland hoping to have got Passage there but no Passage could they get there neither Then John Stubs and Henry Fell took Shipping to go to Alexandria in Egypt intending to go by the Carravans from thence Mean while Daniel Baker being to go to Smirna he drew Richard Costrop contrary to his own Freedom to go along with him And in the passage Richard falling sick D. Baker left him sick in the Ship where he died But that hard-hearted Man afterwards lost his own Condition John Stubbs and Henry Fell got to Alexandria in Egypt but they had not been long there before the English Consul banished them from thence Yet before they came away they dispersed many Books and Papers there for the opening the Principles and Way of Truth to the Turks and Grecians They gave the Book called The Popes Strength broken to an Old Frier for him to give or send to the Pope which Book when the Frier had perused he clapped his Hand
would have done with his Knife and she said He would have stabbed her Stab thee said I what would he have Stabbed thee for thy Religion Yes said she It is the Principle of the Papists if any turn from their Religion to kill them if they can This Story I told those Papists and told them I had it from one that had been one of them but had forsook their Principles and had discovered their Practices They did not deny this to be their Principle but said What! would I declare this abroad I told them Yes such things ought to be declared abroad that it might be known how contrary their Religion was to true Christianity Whereupon they went away in a great Rage Another Papist came to discourse with me and he said All the Patriarchs were in Hell from the Creation till Christ came and that when Christ suffered he went into Hell and the Devil said to him What comest thou hither for to break open our Strong Holds And Christ said To fetch them all out And so he said Christ was three days and three Nights in Hell to bring them out I told him that was false for Christ said to the Thief This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise And Enoch and Elijah were translated into Heaven And Abraham was in Heaven for the Scripture saith Lazarus was in his Bosom and Moses and Elias were with Christ upon the Mount before he suffered These Instances stopt the Papist's Mouth and put him to a stand Another time there came one called Doctor Witty who was esteemed a great Doctor of Physick He came with him that was called the Lord Falconbridge with whom came also the Governour of Tinmouth-Castle and several Knights And I being called to them this Witty undertook to discourse with me and asked me What I was in Prison for I told him Because I would not disobey the Command of Christ and Swear He said I ought to swear my Allegiance to the King Now he being a great Presbyterian I asked him Whether he had not Sworn against the King and House of Lords and taken the Scotch-Covenant And had he not since Sworn to the King And what then was his Swearing good for But my Allegiance I told him did not consist in Swearing but in Truth and Faithfulness So after some further Discourse I was had away to my Prison again And afterwards this Dr. Witty boasted in the Town amongst his Patients That he had Conquered me When I heard of his Boasting I told the Governour It was a small Boast in him to say He had conquered a Bondman And I desired to bid him come to me again when he came to the Castle He came again a while after with a matter of Sixteen or Seventeen great Persons and then he ran himself worse on ground than before For in Discourse he affirmed before them all That Christ had not enlightned every Man that cometh into the World and That the Grace of God that brought Salvation had not apppeared unto all Men and That Christ had not died for all Men. I asked him ' What sort of Men those were which Christ had not enlightned and whom his Grace had not appeared to and whom he had not died for He said Christ did not die for Adulterers and Idolaters and Wicked Men. Then I asked him Whether Adulterers and Wicked Men were not Sinners And he said Yes ' And did not Christ die for Sinners said I Did he not come to call Sinners to Repentance Yes said he Then said I Thou hast stopt thy own Mouth So I proved That the Grace of God had appeared unto all Men though some turned it into Wantonness and walked despightfully against it and that Christ had enlightned all Men though some hated the Light Several of the People that were present confess'd it was true but he went away in a great Rage and came no more at me Another time the Governour brought a Priest but his Mouth was soon stopt Not long after he brought two or three Parliament-Men and they asked me Whether I did own Ministers and Bishops I told them Yes such as Christ sent forth such as had freely received and would freely give and such as were qualified and were in the same Power and Spirit that they were in in the Apostles days But such Bishops and Teachers as theirs were that would go no further than they had a great Benefice I did not own for they were not like the Apostles For Christ saith to his Ministers Go ye into all Nations and preach the Gospel But ye Parliament-men that keep your Priests and Bishops in such great fat Benefices ye have spoiled them all for do ye think they will go into all Nations to preach or will go any further than they have a great fat Benefice Judge your selves whether they will or no. There came another time the Widow of him who was called the Old Lord Fairfax and with her a great Company and one of the Company was a Priest I was moved to declare the Truth to them and the Priest asked me Why we said Thou and Thee to People for he counted us but 〈◊〉 and â—â—iots for speaking so I asked him Whether they that Transâ—â—â—◠〈◊〉 Scriptures and that made the Grammar and Accidence were Fools and Idiots seeing they translated the Scriptures so and made the Grammar so Thou to one and You to more than one and left it so to us And if they were Fools and Idiots then why had not He and such as he that looked upon themselves as Wise Men and that could not bear Thou and Thee to a Singular alter'd the Grammar Accidence and Bible and put the Plural instead of the Singular But if they were Wise Men that had so translated the Bible and had made the Grammar and Accidence so then I wisht him to consider Whether they were not Fools and Idiots themselves that did not speak as their Grammars and Bibles taught them but were offended with us and called us Fools and Idiots for speaking so Thus the Priest's Mouth was stopt and many of the Company did acknowledge the Truth and were pretty loving and tender and some of them would have given me Money but I would not receive it After this came one called Doctor Cradock with three Priests more and the Governour and his Lady so called and another that was called a Lady and a great Company with them Dr. Cradock asked me What I was in Prison for I told him For obeying the Command of Christ and the Apostle in not Swearing But if he being both a Doctor and a Justice of Peace could Convince me that after Christ and the Apostle had forbidden Swearing they commanded Christians to Swear then I would Swear Here was the Bible I told him He might if he would shew me any such Command He said It is written Ye shall Swear in Truth and Righteousness Ay said I it was written so in Jeremiah's time but that was many Ages
Friends came thither to me from London and I told them That I should be as a Sign to such as would not see and such as would not hear the Truth In this Condition I continued a pretty while and several People came about me and though I could not see their Persons yet I felt and discerned their Spirits who of them was honest-hearted and who was not Divers Friends that practised Physick came to see me and would have given me Physick but I was not to meddle with any of their Medicines For I was sensible I had a Travel to go through and therefore spake to Friends to let none but solid weighty Friends be about me And under great Sufferings and Groanings and Travels and Sorrows and Oppressions I lay for several Weeks whereby I was brought so Low and Weak in Body that few thought I could have lived and some that were with me went away saying They would not see me die and it was reported both in London and in the Country that I was deceased 1670. Stratford But I felt the Lord's Power inwardly supporting me And when they that were about me had given me up to die I spake to them to get a Coach to carry me to Gerrard Roberts's about Twelve Miles off For I found it was my place to go thither I had now Recovered a little Glimmering Sight so that I could discern the People and Fields as I went and that was all When I came to Gerrard's he was very Weak and I was moved to speak to him and encourage him And after I had staid about Three Weeks there it was with me to go to Enfield Friends were afraid of my Removing but I told them I might safely go And when I had taken my leave of Gerrard and was come to Enfield Enfield I went first to visit Amor Stoddart who lay there very Weak and almost Speechless I was moved to tell him He had been faithful as a Man and faithful to God and that the Immortal Seed of Life was his Crown And with many more Words I was moved to speak to him though I my self was then so Weak I was hardly able to stand and within a few days after Amor died I went to the Widow Dry's at Enfield and there I lay all that Winter warring in Spirit with the Evil Spirits of the World that Warred against Truth and Friends For there were great Persecutions at this time some Meeting-houses were pluck'd down and many were broken up by Souldiers who would come sometimes a Troop of Horse or a Company of Foot and they would break their Swords Carbines Muskets and Pikes with beating Friends and many Friends they wounded so that their Blood lay in the Streets Amongst others that were Active in this Cruel Persecution at London my Old Adversary Col. Kirby was one who with a Company of Foot went to break up several Meetings and he would often Inquire for me at the Meetings he brake up But one time as he went over the Water to Horsly-Down there happening some Scuffle between some of his Souldiers and some of the Watermen he bid his Men Fire at them and they did so and Killed some But I was under great Sufferings at this time beyond what I have words to declare For I was brought into the Deep and saw all the Religions of the World and People that lived in them and the Priests that held them up who were as a Company of Men-Eaters eating up the People like Bread and gnawing the Flesh from off their Bones But as for True Religion and Worship and Ministers of God Alack I saw there was none amongst those of the World that pretended to it For they that pretended to be the Church were but a Company of Men-Eaters Men of Cruel Visages and of long Teeth who though they had cried against the Men-Eaters in America yet I saw they were in the same Nature And as the great professing Jews did eat up God's People like Bread and the False Prophets and Priests then preached Peace to People so long as they put into their Mouths and fed them but if they fed them not they prepared War against them they ate their Flesh off their Bones and chopped them for the Caldron so these that profess themselves Christians now both Priests and Professors and were not in the same Power and Spirit that Christ and the Holy Prophets and Apostles were in were in the same Nature that the old professing Jews were in and were Men-Eaters as well as they These stirred up Persecution and set the wicked Informers on work so that a Friend could hardly speak a few Words in a private Family 1670. Enfield before they sate down to eat Meat but some were ready to Inform against them A particular Instance of which I have heard as followeth At Droitwich Jo. Cartwright came to a Friend's House and being moved of the Lord to speak a few Words before he sate down to Supper there came an Informer and stood heark'ning under the Window And when he had heard the Friend speak hoping to get some Gain to himself he went and Informed and got a Warrant to Distrain the Friend's Goods under pretence that there was a Meeting at his House Whereas there was none in the House at that time when the Friend spake before Supper but himself the Man of the House and his Wife and their Maid-Servant But this Evil-minded man as he came back with his Warrant in the Night Example fell off of his Horse and brake his Neck So there was a Wretched End of a Wicked Informer who hoped to have enriched himself by spoiling Friends but the Lord prevented him and Cut him off in his Wickedness and spoiled him Now though it was a Cruel Bloody Persecuting Time yet the Lord's Power went over all and his Everlasting Seed prevailed and Friends were made to stand firm and faithful in the Lord's Power And some of the Sober People of the World would say If Friends did not stand the Nation would run into Debauchery And though by reason of my Weakness I could not travel about amongst Friends as I used to do yet in the Motion of Life I sent the following Lines as an Encouraging Testimony amongst them My Dear Friends THE Seed is above all in it Walk in which ye all have Life Be not amazed at the Weather for always the Just suffered by the Vnjust but the Just had the Dominion And all along ye may see by Faith the Mountains were subdued and the Rage of the Wicked and his Fiery Darts were quenched And though the Waves and Storms be high yet your Faith will keep you to Swim above them for they are but for a Time and the Truth is without Time Therefore keep on the Mountain of Holiness ye who are led to it by the Light where nothing shall hurt And do not think that any thing will outlast the Truth which standeth sure and is over that which is
out of the Truth for the Good will Overcome the Evil and the Light Darkness and the Life Death and Vertue Vice and Righteousness Vnrighteousness The False Prophet cannot overcome the True but the True Prophet Christ will overcome all the False So be Faithful and live in that which doth not think the time long G. F. But after some time it pleased the Lord to allay the Heat of this Violent Persecution and I felt in Spirit an overcoming of the Spirits of those Men-Eaters that had stirred it up and carried it on to that Height of Cruelty though I was outwardly very Weak And I plainly felt and those Friends that were with me and that came to Visit me saw and took notice that as the Persecution Ceased I came from under the Travels and Sufferings that had lain with such Weight upon me So that towards the Spring I began to Recover and to walk up and down beyond the Expectation of many who did not think I could ever have gone abroad again I had been so exceeding Weak through the Travel and Exercise that was upon my Spirit Whilst I was under this Spiritual Travel and Suffering the State of the City New Jerusalem which comes down out of Heaven was opened to me which some Carnal-minded People had looked upon to be like an outward City or Town that had dropt out of the Elements But I saw the Beauty and Glory of it the Length the Breadth and the Height thereof all in Compleat Proportion And I saw that all who are within the Light of Christ and in his Faith which he is the Author of and in the Spirit the Holy Ghost which Christ and the Holy Prophets and Apostles were in and within the Grace and Truth and within the Power of God that was before the Devil was which was the Walls of the City such are within the City such are Members of this City and have right to Eat of the Tree of Life which yields her Fruit every Month and whose Leaves are for the healing of the Nations But they that are out of the Grace out of the Truth out of the Light Spirit and Power of God such as Resist the Holy Ghost quench vex and grieve the Spirit of God and hate the Light and turn the Grace of God into Wantonness and do Despight to the Spirit of Grace such as have erred from the Faith and made Ship-wrack of it and of a Good Conscience and abuse the Power of God and despise Prophesying Revelation and Inspiration these are the Dogs and Vnbelievers that are without the City And these make up the great City Babylon Confusion and her Cage the Power of Darkness and the Evil Spirit of Error surround and cover them over And in this great City Babylon are the False Prophets in the false Power and false Spirit and the Beast in the Dragon's Power and the Whore that is gone a Whoring from the Spirit of God and from Christ her Husband But the Lord's Power is over all this Power of Darkness Cage Whore Beast Dragon False Prophets and their Worshippers who are for the Lake which burns with Fire Many things more did I see concerning the Heavenly City the New Jerusalem which are hard to be uttered and would be hard to be received But in short This Holy City is within the Light and all that are within the Light are within the City the Gates whereof stand open all the Day for there is no Night there that all may come in and Christ's Blood being shed for every Man and he tasted Death for every Man and enlightneth every Man that cometh into the World and his Grace that brings Salvation having appeared to all Men there is no Place or Language but there his Voice may be heard The Christians in the Primitive Times were called by Christ A City set upon an Hill and they were also called The Light of the World and The Salt of the Earth But when the Christians lost the Light and Salt and Power of God then they came to be trodden under foot like unsavoury Salt Even as the Jews who while they kept the Law of God were kept above all Nations but when they turned their Backs on God and his Law then were they trodden under foot of other Nations So Adam and Eve while they obeyed God were kept in his Image and in the Paradise of God in Dominion over all the Works of God's Hands but when they disobeyed God they lost the Image of God the Righteousness and the Holiness in which they were made they lost their Dominion and were driven out of Paradise and so fell under the dark Power of Satan and came under the Chains of Darkness But the Promise of God was That the Seed of the Woman Christ Jesus should bruise the Serpents Head should break his Power and Authority which had led into Captivity and had held Man in it So Christ who is the First and Last sets Man free and is the Resurrection of the Just and Vnjust the Judge of the Quick and Dead and they that are in him are invested with everlasting Rest and Peace out of all the Labours and Travels and Miseries of Adam in the Fall So he is sufficient and of Ability to Restore Man up into the State that Man was in before he fell and not into that State only but up into that State also that never fell even to himself I had also in this time a great Exercise and Travel of Spirit upon me concerning the Powers and Rulers of these Nations from the sense I had of the many tender Visitations and faithful Warnings that had been given them and of their great Abuse thereof who had refused to hear and had rejected the Counsel of the Lord. And though I knew Friends would be Clear of their Blood yet I could not but Mourn over them and gave forth these few Lines following concerning them WE have given them a Visitation and have faithfully Warned them and have declared to them our Innocency and Vprightness and that we never did any Hurt to the King nor to any of his People We have nothing in our Hearts but Love and Good-will to him and his People and desire their Eternal Welfare But if they will not hear then the Day of Judgment and of Sorrow of Torment and Misery and sudden Destruction will come from the Lord upon them that have been the Cause of the Sufferings of many Thousands simple innocent harmless People that have done them no hurt nor have had any Ill Will towards him or them but have desired their Eternal Good for the Eternal Truth 's sake Destruction will come upon them that turn the Sword backward Therefore do not blind your Eyes the Lord will bring swift Destruction and Misery upon you Surely he will do it and will relieve his Innocent People who have groaned for Deliverance from under your Oppression and have also groaned for your Deliverance out of Wickedness Blessed be
nor of the Form for I was against the Pope and Popery and did acknowledge and should set my Hand to that Then the Judge told the Jury what they should say and what they should do and what they should write on the Back-side of the Indictment and as he said they did But before the Jury gave in their Verdict I spake to them and told them That it was for Christ's sake and in Obedience to his and his Apostle's Command that I could not swear and therefore said I take heed what ye do for before his Judgment-Seat ye shall all be brought The Judge said This is Canting a base Word I said If to Confess Christ our Lord and Saviour and to obey his Command be called Canting by a Judge of a Court it is to little purpose for me to say more among you Yet ye shall see that I am a Christian and shall shew forth Christianity and my Innocency shall be manifest So the Jailer led me out of the Court and the People were generally Tender like as if they had been in a Meeting Soon after I was brought in again and the Jury found the Bill against me which I Traversed and then I was asked to put in Bail till the next Sessions and the Jailer's Son offered to be bound for me But I stopped him and warned Friends not to meddle for I told them ' There was a Snare in that Yet I told the Justices that I could promise to Appear if the Lord gave Health and Strength and I were at Liberty Some of the Justices were loving and would have stopped the rest from Indicting me or putting the Oath to me but Judge Street who was the Chair-man said He must go according to Law So I was sent back to Prison again Worcester Prison yet within two Hours after through the Moderation of some of the Justices I had Liberty given me to go at large till next Quarter-Sessions These moderate Justices it was said desired Justice Parker to write to the King for my Liberty or for a Noli prosequi as they called it because they were satisfied I was not such a dangerous Person as I had been represented and this it was said he promised them to do but did it not After I had gotten a Copy of the Indictment against me I went up to London visiting Friends as I went And when I came there London some that were Earnest to get me out of the Hands of those Envious Justices that sought to Premunire me at Worcester would needs be tampering again to bring me before the Judges of the King's-Bench Whereupon I was brought again by an Habeas Corpus before them King's-Bench-Bar And I tendred them a Paper in which was contained what I could say instead of the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy as followeth THis I do in the Truth and in the Presence of God declare that King Charles the Second is lawful King of this Realm and of all other his Dominions and that he was brought in and set up King over this Realm by the Power of God and I have nothing but Love and Good Will to him and all his Subjects and desire his Prosperity and Eternal Good And I do utterly abhor and deny the Pope's Power and Supremacy and all his Superstitions and Idolatrous Inventions and do affirm that he hath no Power to Absolve Sin And I do abhor and detest his Murthering of Princes or other People by Plots or Contrivances And likewise I do deny all Plots and Contrivances and Plotters and Contrivers against the King and his Subjects knowing them to be the Works of Darkness and the Fruits of an Evil Spirit and against the Peace of the Kingdom and not from the Spirit of God the Fruit of which is Love I dare not take an Oath because it is forbidden by Christ and the Apostle but if I break my Yea or Nay then let me suffer the same Penalty as they that break their Oaths George Fox But the Business being so far proceeded in at Worcester they would not meddle in it but left me as I was to Appear again before the Justices at the next General Quarter-Sessions at Worcester 1674. London Yearly-Meeting Mean while the Yearly Meeting of Friends came on at which through the Liberty granted me till the Sessions I was present and exceeding glorious the Meetings were beyond Expression blessed be the Lord. After the Yearly Meeting was over and Friends out of the Countries were pretty generally returned home Worcester I set forward again for Worcester the Sessions drawing on which were held in the Fifth Month. And when I was called to the Bar Worcester Sessions and the Indictment read some Scruple arising among the Jury concerning it the Judge of the Court who was Justice Street caused the Oaths to be read and tendred to me again I told him I came now to Trie the Traverse of my Indictment and that his tendring me the Oaths a-new was a new Snare Then I desired him to Answer me a Question or two and I asked him Whether the Oaths were to be tendred to the King's Subjects or to the Subjects of Foreign Princes He said To the Subjects of this Realm Then said I You have not named me a Subject in the Indictment and therefore have not brought me within the Statute The Judge cried Read the Oath to him I said I require Justice Again I asked him Whether the Sessions ought not to have been holden for the King and the Body of the County He said Yes Then said I You have there left the King out of the Indictment how then can you proceed upon this Indictment to a Trial between the King and me seeing the King is left out He said The King was in before But I told him ' The King's Name being left out here was a great Error in the Indictment and sufficient as I was informed to quash it Besides I told him that I was Committed by the Name of George Fox of London but now I was Indicted by the Name of George Fox of Tredington in the County of Worcester And I wished the Jury to consider how they could find me Guilty upon that Indictment seeing I was not of the Place in the Indictment mentioned The Judge did not deny but there were Errors in the Indictment but said I might take my Remedy in their proper place I answered Ye know we are a People that suffer all things and bear all things and therefore ye thus use us because we cannot revenge our selves but we leave our Cause to the Lord. The Judge said The Oath hath been tendered to you several times and we will have some Satisfaction from you concerning the Oath I offered them the same Declaration instead of the Oath which I had offered to the Judges above but it would not be accepted Then I desired to know Seeing they put the Oath a-new to me whether the Indictment was quashed or no Instead
punishing Sin in the Kingdom neither then need Kings or Princes fear any of their Subjects if they all walked in the Spirit of Christ For the Fruits of the Spirit are Love Righteousness Goodness Temperance c. And if all that profess themselves Christians did walk in the Spirit of Christ and by it did mortifie Sin and Evil it would be a great Ease to the Magistrates and Rulers and would free them from a great deal of Trouble For it would lead all Men and Women To do unto all others as they would have others do unto them and so the Royal Law of Liberty would be fulfilled For if all that are called Christians did walk in the Spirit of Christ by it to have the Evil Spirit and its Fruits mortified and cut down in them then not being led by the Evil Spirit but by the good Spirit of Christ the Fruits of the good Spirit would appear in all Men and Women for as People are led by the good Spirit of Christ it leads them out of Sin and Evil which the Magistrate's Sword takes hold upon and so would be an Ease to the Magistrates But as People err from this good Spirit of Christ and follow the Evil Spirit which leads them into Sin and Evil that Spirit brings the Magistrate into a great deal of Trouble to Execute the Law upon the Sinners and Transgressors of the good Spirit That Spirit that leads People from all manner of Sin and Evil is one with the Magistrate's Power and with the righteous Law for the Law being added because of Transgression that Spirit that leads out of Transgression must needs be One with that Law that is against Transgressors So that Spirit that leads out of Transgression is the good Spirit of Christ and is One with the Magistrates in the Higher Power and owns it and them But that Spirit that leads into Transgression is the bad Spirit and is against the Law and against the Magistrates and makes them a great deal of Troublesome Work Now the Manifestation of the good Spirit is given to every Man to profit withall and no Man can profit in the Things of God but by the Spirit of God which brings to deny all Sin and Evil. It is said of Israel Nehem. 9. The Lord gave them his good Spirit to instruct them yet they rebelled against it But if all People did mind this Manifestation of the Spirit which God hath given to instruct them it would lead them to forsake all manner of Sin and Evil Enmity Hatred Malice and all manner of Vnrighteousness and Vngodliness and to mortifie it And then in the Spirit of Christ they would have Fellowship and Vnity which is the Bond of Peace and then would Love and Peace which are the Fruits of the good Spirit flow among all them that are called Christians Now we are a People who in Tenderness of Conscience to the Command of Christ and of his Apostle cannot Swear for we are commanded in Matth. 5. and James 5. to keep to Yea and Nay and not to Swear at all not by Heaven nor by Earth nor by any other Oath lest we go into Evil and fall into Condemnation The Words of Christ are these Ye have heard that it hath been said by or to them of old time Thou shalt not forswear thy self but shalt perform unto the Lord thine Oaths These were true and solemn Oaths which they who made ought to perform in Old Time But these Christ and his Apostle forbids in the Gospel-times as well as false and vain Oaths Now if we could take any Oath at all we could take the Oath of Allegiance as knowing that King Charles was by the Power of God brought into England and set up King of England c. over the Heads of our Old Persecutors And as for the Pope's Supremacy we do utterly deny it But Christ and the Apostle having commanded us Not to Swear but to keep to Yea and Nay we dare not break their Commands and therefore many have put the Oaths to us as a Snare that they might make a Prey of us So our denying to Swear is not in Wilfulness Stubbornness or Contempt but only in Obedience to the Command of Christ and his Apostle And we are content if we break our Yea and Nay to suffer the same Penalty as they should that break their Oaths We desire therefore that the King would take this into his Consideration and how long we have Suffered in this Case This is from one who desires the Eternal Good and Prosperity of the King and of all his Subjects in the Lord Jesus Christ. G. F. About this time I had a fit of Sickness which brought me very low and weak in my Body and I continued so a pretty while insomuch that some Friends began to doubt of my Recovery and I seemed to my self to be amongst the Graves and dead Corpses Yet the Invisible Power did secretly support me and conveyed refreshing Strength into me even when I was so Weak that I was almost Speechless And one Night as I was lying awake upon my Bed in the Glory of the Lord which was over all it was said unto me That the Lord had a great Deal more Work for me to do for him before he took me to himself Endeavours were used to get me Released at least for a Time till I was grown stronger but the Way of Effecting it proving difficult and tedious for the King was not willing to Release me by any other way than a Pardon being told he could not Legally do it and I was not willing 〈◊〉 be Released by a Pardon which he would readily have given me because I did not look upon that way as agreeable with the Innocency of my Cause a Friend one Edward Pitway having Occasion to speak with Justice Parker upon some other Business desired him to give Order to the Jailer That in regard of my Weakness I might have Liberty to go out of the Jail into the City Whereupon Justice Parker wrote the following Letter to the Jailer and sent it to the Friend to deliver Mr. Harris I Have beeen much importuned by some Friends to George Fox to write to you I am informed by them that he is in a very weak Condition and very much Indisposed What lawful Favour you can do for the Benefit of the Air for his Health pray shew him I suppose the next Term they will make Application to the King I am Sir Your loving Friend HENRY PARKER Evesham the 8th of Octob. 1674. After this my Wife went to London and spake with the King laying before him my long and unjust Imprisonment with the Manner of my being taken and the Justices Proceedings against me in tendring me the Oath as a Snare whereby they had Premunired me so that I being now his Prisoner it was in his Power and at his Pleasure to Release which she desired The King spake kindly to her and referr'd her to the Lord-Keeper to
now which Christ is the Author of it must stand in the Power of God in which Power of God the Everlasting Kingdom stands and so as every one's Faith stands in the Power of God this keeps all in the Power of Godliness For as it was in the Days of the Apostles when some was crying up Paul and Apollos and so forth he judged them as Carnal and exhorted them and admonished them that their Faith should stand in the Power of God So it was not to stand in Men nor in the Words of Man's Wisdom but in the Power of God And he said He would not know the Speech of them but the Power amongst them for the Kingdom of God is not in Word but in Power And so it is to be now Every one's Faith must stand in the Power of God and not in Men nor their Speeches of the good Words For we have seen by Experience when they begin to cry up Men and their Faith to stand in them such Men as would have Peoples Faith stand in them loves Popularity and brings not People's Faith to stand in the Power of God and such cannot exalt Christ And when such fall they draw a great Company after them And therefore the Apostle would not know such after the Flesh but would know them that were in the Power and Spirit and struck down every one's Faith that stood in the Words of Man's Wisdom that they might stand in the Power of God And so it must be now And all whose Faith doth not stand in the Power of God they cannot Exalt his Kingdom that stands in Power and therefore every one's Faith must stand in the Power of God And the Apostle denied Popularity when he Judged the Corinthians for looking at Paul and Apollos to be Carnal and such are Carnal still And therefore all should know one another in the Spirit Life and Power and look at Christ and this keeps all low and down in the Humility And they whose Faith stands in Men will make Sects as in the Days of J. N. and J. P. and since in others And such their Faith Christ is not the Author of and if he be they have erred from it and made Shipwrack of it And all those that are in the True Faith that stands in the Power of God they will Judge them as Carnal and Judge down that Carnal Part in them that cries up Paul or Apollos that their Faith may stand in the Power of God and that they may Exalt Christ the Author of it For every one's Eye ought to be to Jesus the Author and Finisher of their Faith and every Just Man and Woman may live by their Faith which Jesus Christ is the Author and Finisher of And by this Faith every Man and Woman may see God who is Invisible which Faith gives the Victory by which he hath Access to God And so every one's Faith and Hope standing in the Power of God in it they all have Vnity and Victory and Access to God's Throne of Grace in which Faith they do please God which Christ is the Author of And so by that Faith they are Saved and by this Faith they obtain the good Report and subdue all the Mountains that have been betwixt them and God So that Power hath kept and preserved Friends over their Persecutors and over the Wrath of Men and above the Spoilings of their Goods and Imprisonments as seeing God that hath created all and gives the Encrease of all and upholds all by his Word and Power Therefore let every one's Faith be in his Power And here in this no Schism or Sect can come for it is over them and before they were and will be when they are gone But perfect Vnity is in the Truth and in the Spirit that does Circumcise the Body of Death and that puts off the Sins of the Flesh and plunges it down with the Spirit And in the Spirit of God there is a perfect Fellowship and Christ is the Minister of this Circumcision and Baptism So this is upon me from the Lord to write unto you all that every one of your Faith that Jesus is the Author of may stand in the Power of God and from the Lord I do warn you and all every where to the same For if a Star should fall which has been a Light either the Earth or the Sea does receive it that is the Earthly Mind or the foaming raging People Though neither the Seed nor Light nor Power nor Truth ever fell nor the Faith it self the Gift of God but Men going from it then they become Vnsavoury For Adam whilst he kept in Truth and obeyed the Command of God he was happy but when he disobeyed the Lord he fell under the Power of Satan and became unhappy though he might talk after of his Experiences in Paradice but he had lost his Image and his Power and Dominion that God Created him in And the Jews after they received the Law of God as long as they kept the Law of God which was just holy good and perfect it kept them good just and holy and savoury but when they turned their Backs off the Lord and forsook his Law then they came under the Power of Darkness and under the Powers of the Earth and were trodden under as unsavoury And so the Christians they were called a City set on a Hill The Light of the World and the Salt of the Earth but when they forsook the Power of God and their Faith stood in Words and Men and not in the Power then their Walls fell down though the Power in it self stood and they lost their Hill and their Saltness and their Shining And so as Christendom now does confess they are not in the same Power and Spirit as the Apostles were in so not in the same Salt nor upon the same Hill So they came to be trodden under and the Beast and the Whore and the false Prophet are uppermost the unsavoury So their Dead Faith is in Men and in Words and therefore they are full of Sects and one against another And now the Everlasting Gospel the Power of God is preacht again which was before the Devil was that had darkned Man and by this Power of God the Gospel Life and Immortality is come to light again And therefore every one's Faith is to stand in this Power the Gospel that hath brought Life and Immortality to Light in them and so to be Heirs of the Power of God the Gospel And here have all Men and Women a Right to the Power of God before the Devil was and the Power of God is the Authority of the Mens and the Womens-Meetings and of all the other Meetings set up thereby But now as the Gospel is preacht again if your Faith doth not stand in the Power but in Men and in the Wisdom of Words you will grow Carnal and such are for Judgment who cry up as they did Paul and Apollos and not Christ
Labour in the Lord to turn all to But some that professed Truth and had made a great Shew therein being gone from the Simplicity of the Gospel into Jangling Division and a Spirit of Separation endeavoured to discourage Friends especially the Women from their Godly Care and Watchfulness in the Church over one another in the Truth opposing their Meetings which in the Power of the Lord were set up for that End and Service Wherefore I was moved of the Lord to write the following Epistle and send it forth among Friends for the discovering of that Spirit by which those Opposers were acted and its Work and Way in and by which it wrought and to warn Friends of it that they might not be betrayed by it ALL my Dear Friends Live in the Seed of Peace Christ Jesus in whom ye have all Life And that Spirit that comes amongst you to raise up Strife is out of Christ for it is the Spirit that is not easie to be intreated nor gentle so not of the Wisdom of God which is justified of her Children And so they that follow that Spirit are none of Wisdom's Children Now there is a Spirit that hath made a Separation and has been against Men and Womens-Meetings yet has set up one of their own whom they have given Power to and that none shall sit amongst them but whom they give Power to but shall be looked upon as Vsurpers of Authority Now this Spirit and its Work is not of God though it has made some Jumble amongst some and the Path it may travel in is through the earthly Affections or the Vnestablished or Apostates But all that are in the Life and Spirit and Light and Grace and Truth and the Power of God bar it out and such as sit under their own Vine Christ Jesus and are grafted into him have no need of their Exhortation or Counsel for the true Believers are entred into their Rest And therefore all keep in the Gospel of Peace and they that be Heirs of the Kingdom and of it keep in your Possession of it Now some that are of this Spirit have said to me They see no Service in Womens-Meetings My Answer is and hath been to them and such If they be blind and without Sight they should not oppose others for there is none Imposes any thing upon them for God never received the Blind for a Sacrifice neither can his People But Christ has enlightned all and to as many as receive him he gives Power to become the Sons of God And such as be Heirs of his Power and of his Gospel which brings Life and Immortality to Light they can see over him that has darkned them and all such do keep the Order of the Gospel the Power of God and their Meetings in it which preserves them in Life and in Immortality And all these do see the great Service of the Mens and of the Womens-Meetings in the Order of the Gospel which is the Power of God For they are Meet-helps in this Power which is the Authority of their Meetings And now I say to all you that be against Womens-Meetings or the Mens and say You see no Service for the Womens-Meetings and oppose them you are therein out of the Power of God and his Spirit you live not in For God saw a Service for the Assemblies of the Women in the Time of the Law about those things that appertained to his Worship and Service and to the holy things of his Tabernacle and so do they in the same Spirit see now their Service in the Gospel many things in those Meetings being more proper for the Women to see into than the Men and they in the Power and Wisdom of God may inform the Men of such things as are not proper for them and the Men may inform the Women of such things as are not proper for them as Meet helps each unto another For in the Time of the Law by the Law of God the Women were to Offer as well as the Men and so in the Time of the Gospel much more are they to Offer their Spiritual Sacrifices for they are all called both Men and Women a Royal Priesthood and they are of the Houshold of Faith and they are the Living Stones that make up the Spiritual Building which Christ is the Head of and are to be encouraged in their Labour in the Gospel For all things that they do both Men and Women are to be done in the Power of God And all such as see no Service for these Womens-Meetings or the Mens but do oppose them and make Strife amongst Friends are in the same Spirit of the World that is against and forbids our other Meetings and are in the same Spirit of the World that hath been and is against Womens Speaking in Meetings and says They must be silent c. though the same Apostle commands That Men should keep Silence as well as the Women if there were not an Interpreter And therefore all Friends you may see that the Spirit of the World hath entred such Opposers though they come under another Colour for They would not have us to Meet at all And These are against the Womens-Meetings and some of them against the Men's also and say They see no Service for them Then they may hold their Tongues and not oppose them that do see their Service for God in these Meetings Therefore all you that feel the Power of God and your Service for God as aforesaid in them you Men and Women keep your Meetings in the Power of God the Authority of them as they were settled in it and then ye will be preserved both over this Spirit that opposes them and over the Spirit of the World that opposes your other Meetings For it is all one in the Ground and would bring you into Bondage For such are out of the Peaceable Gospel who oppose its Order and out of the Faith that Works by Love and out of the Wisdom that is gentle and easie and peaceable c. and out of the Kingdom that stands in Peace and Joy Therefore keep over that Spirit that sows Discord or Dissension and would draw you from your Habitation and Possession in the Order of the Gospel For it is the same Spirit that deceived Adam and Eve by which they lost their Habitation in the Righteousness and Holiness and their Dominion and so that Spirit got over them and so it would get over you One while it will tell you It sees no Service for your Meetings and another time Oppose you But I say This is the blind Spirit which is out of the Power of God and which the Power of God is over And therefore keep in the Power that ye may stand up for your Liberty in Christ Jesus Males and Females Heirs of him and of his Gospel and his Order and so stand up for your Liberty in the Gospel and in the Faith which Christ Jesus hath been the Author of for
purifies our hearts and brings us to have Access to God without which we cannot please him by which Faith all the Just lives as the Scripture declares And so that which we desire of Thee O King is that we may have the Liberty of our Consciences to serve and worship God and to pray unto him in our Meetings together in the Name of Jesus as he Commands with a promise that he will be in the midst of them The King we do hope cannot but say that this Duty and Service is due to God and Christ and we give Caesar his due and pay our Tribute and Custom equal with our Neighbour according to our proportion And we never read in all the Scriptures of the New Testament That ever Christ or his Disciples did Banish or Imprison any that were not of their Faith or Religion and would not hear them or gave any such Command but on the Contrary Let the Tares and the Wheat grow together till the harvest and the harvest is the end of the World And then Christ will send his Angels to sever the Wheat from the Tares c. And also he Rebuked such that would have had fire to come down from Heaven to consume such that would not receive Christ and told them That they did not know what Spirit they were of he came not to destroy mens lives but to save them And therefore we desire the King to consider how much Persecution has been in Christendom since the Apostles days concerning Religion And Christ said They should go into Everlasting punishment that did not visit him in Prison then what will become of them that Imprison him in his Members where he is Manifest And now none can say that the World is ended And therefore how will all Christendom answer the dreadful and terrible God at his Day of Judgment that have persecuted one another about Religion before the end of the World under a pretence of plucking up Tares which is not their Work but the Angels at the end of the World And Christ Commands men to Love one another and to Love Enemies and by this they should be known to be his Disciples And therefore Oh! 1677. London that all Christendom had lived in Peace andVnity that they might by their Moderation have Judged both Turks and Jews and let all have their Liberty that do own God and Jesus and Walk as becomes the glorious Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ And so our desires are that the Lord God of Heaven may soften the King 's heart to all tender Consciences that do fear the Lord and are afraid of disobeying him And now we intreat the King to read over some of the Noble Expressions of several Kings and others concerning Liberty of Conscience and especially Stephanus King of Poland his sayings viz. It belongeth not to me to Reform the Consciences I have always gladly given that over to God which belongeth to him and so shall I do now and also for the future I will suffer the Weeds to grow till the time of harvest for I know that the Number of Believers are but small Therefore said he when some were proceeding in Persecution I am King of the People not of their Consciences He also affirmed that Religion was not to be planted with Fire and Sword Chron. Liberty of Religion Part. 2. Also a Book wrote in French by W. M. Anno 1576. hath this Sentence viz. Those Princes that have ruled by Gentleness and Clemency added to Justice and have exercised Moderation and Meekness towards their Subjects always prospered and reigned long but on the Contrary those Princes that have been Cruel Unjust Prejudiced and Oppressors of their Subjects have soon fall'n they and their Estates into danger or total ruin Veritus saith Seeing Christ is a Lamb whom you profess to be your Head and Captain then it behoveth you to be Sheep and to use the same Weapons which he made use of for he will not be a Shepherd of Wolves and Wild-beasts but only of Sheep Wherefore if you lose the Nature of Sheep said he and be changed into Wolves and Wild-beasts and use fleshly Weapons then will you exclude your selves out of his Calling and forsake his Banner and then will he not be your Captain c. And also we find it asserted by King James in his Speech to the Parliament in the Year 1609. That it is a pure Rule in Divinity that God never planted his Church with Violence of Blood And furthermore he said It was usually the Condition of Christians to be persecuted but not to persecute And also King Charles in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pag. 61. said in his Prayer to God Thou seest how much Cruelty amongst Christians is acted under the Colour of Religion as if we could not be Christians unless we crucified one another And pag. 28. Make them at length seriously to Consider that nothing violent nor injurious can be Religious Pag. 70. Nor is it so proper to hew out Religious Reformation by the Sword as to polish them by fair and equal Disputations among those that are most Concerned in the Differences whom not force but reason must Convince And pag. 66. Take heed that outward Circumstances and Formalities in Religion devour not all And pag. 91 92. 1678. London In point of true Conscientious tenderness I have so often declared how little I desire my Laws and Scepter should intrench on God's Soverainity who is the only King of Conscience Pag. 123. Nor do I desire any man should be further subject unto me then all of us may be subject unto God Pag. 200. O thou Soveraign of our Souls the only Commander of our Consciences Pag. 346. In his Meditations on Death It is indeed a sad state to have his Enemies to be his Accusers Parties and Judges The Prince of Orange testified Anno 1579. That it was impossible the Land should be kept in Peace except there was a free Toleration in the Exercise of Religion And further Where hast thou read in thy day said Menno in the Writing of the Apostles that Christ or the Apostles ever cried out to the Magistrate for their power against them that would not hear their Doctrine nor obey their Words I know certainly said he that where a Magistrate shall banish with the Sword there is not the right Knowledge Spiritual Word nor Church of Christ it is Invocare Brachium Seculare to Invoke the Secular Arm. It is not Christian-like but Tyrannical said D. Philipson to banish and persecute People about Faith and Religion and they that so do are certainly of the Pharisaical Generation who resisted the Holy Ghost Erasmus said That though they take our Monies and Goods they cannot therefore hurt our Salvation they afflict us much with Prisons but they do not thereby separate us from God In de Krydges wrede fol. 63. Lucernus said He that Commandeth any thing wherewith he bindeth the Conscience this is an Antichrist In
the Lord laid it upon me to write to both the great Turk and the King of Algier severally to Warn them both and the People under them to turn from their wickedness and fear the Lord and do justly lest the Judgments of God came upon them and destroyed them without Remedy But to the Algerines I writ more particularly concerning the Cruelty they exercised towards Friends and others whom they held Captives in Algiers Now when I had finished that Service and visited Friends in their Meetings at Kingston I went on further into the County and had Meetings amongst Friends in many places Worplesdon Guildford Eshing Capell Patchgate Worminghurst Bletchington Horsham Ifield Rygate Gaton c Kingston Hammersmith Battersea Wansworth Kensington Hendon London Edmunton Hartford as at Worplesdon Guildford Eshing Capell Patchgate Worminghurst Bletchington Horsham Ifield Rygate Gaton c. and so came back to Kingston again and from thence to Hammersmith And having spent some days in the Service of Truth amongst Friends at Hammersmith Battersea Wansworth and thereabouts I crossed over by Kensington to Hendon where I had a very good Meeting on the First-day of the Week And having spent about two Months time in this Journey went from thence to London When I had been about Ten days in London I was drawn forth again to visit Friends in the Country and went down to Edmunton to Christopher Taylor 's who kept a School in his House for the educating of Friends Children I had some Service here amongst the Youths and then went on towards Hartford visiting several Friends in the way At Hartford I met with John Story and some others of his Party but the Testimony of Truth went over them and kept them down so that the Meeting was quiet It was on a First-day of the week and the next day being the Mens and Womens Meeting for business I visited them also and the rather because some in that place had let in a Dis-esteem of them Wherefore I was moved to open the Service of those Meetings and the Usefulness and Benefit thereof to the Church of Christ as the Lord opened the thing in me and it was of good Service to Friends 1680. Hartford I had a Meeting also with some of them there that were gone into Strife and Contention to shew them wherein they were wrong and having cleared my self of them I left them to the Lord. Then after I had had another publick Meeting in the Town Waltham-Abby I returned towards London by Waltham-Abby where I had a publick Meeting on the First-day following and another with Friends in the Evening Next day I went to Christopher Taylor 's at Edmunton and stay'd there a day or two Edmunton having some things upon me to write which were for the Service of Truth When I had finished that Service Schacklewell I went to London by Shacklewell where was a School kept by Friends for the breeding up Young Maidens that were Friends Daughters I abode at London most part of this Winter London having much Service for the Lord there both in Meetings and out For as it was a time of great Sufferings upon Friends I was drawn forth in Spirit to visit Friends Meetings more frequently to encourage and strengthen them both by Exhortation and Example The Parliament also was sitting and Friends were diligent to wait upon them to lay their Grievances before them of which we received fresh Accounts almost every day of the sad Sufferings Friends underwent in many parts of the Nation In this Service of seeking Relief for my suffering Brethren I spent much time together with other Friends who were freely given up to that Service attending at the Parliament-House day by day for many days together and watching all Opportunities to speak with such Members of either House as would hear our just Complaints And indeed some of the Members of each House were very Courteous to us and appeared willing to help us if they could But the Parliament being then earnest in Examining the Popish Plot and contriving ways to discover such as were Popishly Affected our Adversaries took advantages against us because they knew we could not Swear nor Fight to Expose us to those Penalties that were made against Papists though they knew in their Consciences that we were no Papists and had had Experience of us that we were no Plotters Wherefore to clear our Innocency in those Cases and to stop the Mouths of our Adversaries I drew up a short Paper to be delivered to the Parliament which was as followeth IT is our Principle and Testimony to deny and renounce all Plots and Plotters against the King or any of his Subjects for we have the Spirit of Christ by which the have the Mind of Christ who came to save mens lives and not to destroy them and we would have the King and all his Subjects to be safe Wherefore we do declare that we will endeavour to our power to save and defend him and them by discovering all Plots and Plotters which shall come to our knowledge that would destroy the King or his Subjects This we do sincerely offer unto you But as to Swearing and Fighting which in tenderness of Conscience we cannot do ye know that we have suffered these many years for our Consciencious Refusal thereof 1680. London And now that the Lord hath brought you together we desire you to Relieve us and free us from those Sufferings and that ye will not put upon us to do those things which we have suffered so much and so long already for not doing for if you do ye will make our Sufferings and Bonds stronger instead of Relieving us G. F. About this time I received Two very envious Books written against Truth and Friends one of them by a Doctor so called of Bremen in Germany the other by a Priest of Dantzick in Poland They were both full of gross Falshoods and â—ad in them many reproachful Slanders I found it upon me to Answer them both and that I might not be over-much interrupted therein by other Business and Company I got out of London for a little while Kingston upon Thames and went down to Kingston upon Thames were I writ an Answer to each of them And also an Answer to some other Scandalous Papers which had been printed and scattered about to mis-represent Friends by While I was there I writ also the following Paper to perswade the Magistrates to Moderation towards Dissenters and take off their Edge to Persecution And because it should have its full Service I directed it To all the Rulers Magistrates and them that are in Authority and Law-makers in England Scotland and Ireland from the Highest to the Lowest and to all other Magistrates every where in that which is called Christendom Desiring their Health and Peace and Tranquillity and Life and Salvation in Christ Jesus the Lord of Glory and Lamb of God that takes away the Sins of the
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
fine Opportunity to open the Way of Truth amongst them After I was come to London London I was moved to write the following Paper concerning that Spirit which had led some who profest Truth into Strife and Division and to oppose the Way and Work of the Lord. Friends YOU that do keep your habitations in the Truth that is over all do see that it is the same Spirit that doth lead the Backsliders and Apostates now from the Spiritual Fellowship and Unity of God's People and the Church of Christ that led out Adam and Eve from God and the Jews from God and his Law to Rebel against his Spirit and so to turn against God and his Prophets And this Spirit was the same that was in the World which was got into the Jews when they were gone from the Spirit of God and then they turned against God and his Prophets and against Christ and his Apostles And that Spirit led them to be as bad as Pilate or worse The Enmity or Adversary was got within them against the Truth and them that walked in it and the Spirit of the Lord so that they killed and destroyed the Just. And this was the Spirit of the Devil the Destroyer who would seek not only to destroy the Truth but the Order of it and them that walk in it when true Christianity was planted among the Possessors of the Light 1681. London Grace and Truth and the Gospel-holy Faith and Spirit and they did enjoy Christ in their hearts But when some did begin to Err from the Spirit and Faith and hate the Light and disobey the Gospel and to turn the Grace of God into Wantonness and walk despitefully against the Spirit of Grace and turn from the Truth and Crucifie to themselves Christ afresh and put him to open shame These were they that let in the Spirit of the World who held the Form of Godliness but denied the Power thereof which troubled the Churches in the Apostles days And when the Spirit of Satan had got into such they were more troublesome to the Church than the open Persecutors that were without And these got into the Assemblies to deceive the hearts of the Simple having the good Words and fair Speeches and Sheep's-Cloathing Paul Peter John Jude and James had much to do with such and to keep them from troubling the Church of Christ For they are out of the Light Power and Spirit and therefore the Apostles of Christ did exhort the Saints to keep to the Word of Life within and to the Anointing and to the Grace and Truth and holy Spirit in their hearts This foul Spirit will profess all the Scriptures in words but by the Spirit of God which is holy that Spirit is tried and its fruits And so the Apostates went from the Power and Spirit of God and turned against the Prophets and the Martyrs of Jesus and became the Whore whose Cup all Nations drunk of And the Dragon with his Tail threw down many of the Stars and would have devoured the Woman with his Flood but the Woman the true Church was preserved and the Gates of Hell cannot prevail against her And then the Dragon made war with her Seed So the Dragon and the Whore and Beast and false Prophets all made war against the Lamb and the Saints but the Lamb and the Saints will overcome them all and will have the Victory And now the Everlasting Gospel is preached again to all Nations Tongues and Peoples and many are gathered into the Gospel the Power of God and are turned to the Light which is the Life in Christ and are grafted into him and are come to walk in the Order of the New Covenant of Light and Life in the Gospel of Peace and Salvation The same Spirit that opposed the Apostles and the Churches in their days opposes now yea it is the same that opposed Christ and disdained him that disdaineth God's Servants now And the same that did oppose the Prophets and rebelled against Moses opposes and rebels against God's Servants and People now And it is the same dark blind and disobedient faithless wilful jealous Spirit that doth persecute some with the Hands and others with the Tongue And it is the same Spirit of Enmity the Adversary and Destroyer that tempted Adam and Eve to disobey God and did deceive them which deceived the Jews and tempted them and deceived all those that went from the Church in the Apostles days And it is the same Spirit that is now going about sometimes like a roaring Lion sometimes like a twisting Serpent to tempt and to deceive 1682. London and to devour having the fair Speeches and good Words and Sheeps-Cloathing in a Form of Godliness and in pretence of the Light and Liberty but denies the Power thereof and inwardly are ravening Wolves and if it were possible they would deceive the very Elect. But the Elect are in the Covenant of Light and Life and in the Power of God over them and in Christ who will grind them to pieces and will slay all his Enemies with his spiritual Sword who will not have him to rule over or in them In Christ all his People have Rest and Peace who is their Sanctuary over all Storms and Tempests And in Christ the Sanctuary no Deceiver nor Destroyer can come for he is a place of sweet Rest and Safety Hallelujah Praise the Lord for his Sanctuary Amen G. F. Sufferings continuing still hard upon Friends at London I found my Service lay mostly here Wherefore I went but a little out of Town and not far being frequent at the most publick Meetings to encourage Friends both by Word and Example to stand fast in the Testimony to which God had called them And at other times I went about from house to house visiting those Friends that had their Goods taken away for their Testimony to Truth And because the wicked Informers were grown very audacious by reason that they had too much Countenance and Encouragement from some Justices who trusting wholly to their Information proceeded against Friends without hearing them whereby many Friends were made to suffer not only contrary to Right but even contrary to Law also I advised with some Friends about it and we drew up a Paper which was afterwards delivered to most of the Magistrates in and about the City which was as followeth WHereas some Informers have obtained Warrants of some Justices of Peace and have Convicted many of us without hearing us or once Summoning us to Appear before them by which proceedings many have had their Goods seized and taken away being generally fined Ten Pounds a piece for an unknown Speaker and some of those Persons so fined have not been that day at the Meetings they were fined for and the Speaker notwithstanding hath himself been fined for the same Meeting the same day the others were fined for the unknown Speaker By which the Justices may see the Wickedness of these Informers by whose false
Oaths we have been Convicted for an unknown Preacher when the Preacher hath been both known and fined And also in their swearing such Persons to have been at such a Meeting such a day when indeed they whom they have so sworn against have not been at that Meeting that day By which proceedings several Families of the King 's peaceable Subjects are like to be ruined if there be not a speedy stop put thereunto Therefore we do both hope and desire that you who are the King's Justices for the time to come when any Informers shall come to any of you with an Information against any of us will Summon such as are Accused to Appear before you and hear us and our Accusers face to face that so none for the time to come may suffer for that they are not guilty of For Pilate the Governour heard Christ and his Accusers face to face before he Condemned him John 19. And the Council and Chief Priests heard Stephen and his Accusers with the Witnesses that were brought against him face to face before they Condemned him Acts 7. The Roman Captain heard Paul and his Accusers face to face Acts 23. And Felix the Governour heard Paul and Ananias the High Priest and the Elders that accused Paul face to face Acts 24. And when the High Priests and Chief of the Jews accused Paul to Festus he heard Paul and his Accusers and them that witnessed against him face to face Acts 25. Doth the Law of God or did the Roman Law or doth the Law of the Land judge any man before he and his Accusers and they that Witness against him be heard face to face This somewhat moderated the Justices and after this several Friends that had been Illegally prosecuted and fined entred their Appeals upon Trial whereof they were Acquitted and the Informers Cast which was a great discouragement to the Informers and some Relief to Friends A little before the time came for the Chusing new Sheriffs for the City they who stood to be Chosen desiring our Friends to give their Voices for them I writ a few Lines tending to discover what Spirit they were of and how they stood affected to true Liberty and it was by way of Inquiry thus DO any here in London who stand to be Chosen Sheriffs own That Christ that was Crucified without the Gates of Jerusalem to be the Light of the World that doth Inlighten every Man that cometh into the World who saith Believe in the Light that ye may become Children of the Light And is any of you against persecuting People for their Religion and Worship of God in Spirit and Truth as Christ commandeth For Christ said I am not of this World nor my Kingdom And therefore he doth not uphold his spiritual Worship and pure Religion with worldly and carnal Weapons And Christ said Swear not at all And his Apostle James saith the same But will not you force us to swear and so to break Christ's and his Apostle's Commands in putting Oaths to us And Christ saith to his Apostles Freely ye have received freely give Will not you force us to give Tithes and Maintenance to such Teachers as we know God hath not sent Shall we be free to serve and worship God and keep his and his Son's Commands if we give our Voices freely for you for we are unwilling to give our Voices for such as will Imprison and persecute us and spoil our Goods But whatever they were that stood to be Chosen I observed there was a Heat and Strife in the Spirits of the People that were to Choose wherefore I writ a few Lines to be spread amongst them directed thus To the People who are Choosing Sheriffs in London People ALL keep in the gentle and peaceable Wisdom of God which is above that that is earthly sensual and devillish And live in that Love of God that is not puffed up nor is unseemly which envieth not but beareth and endureth all things And in this Love ye will seek the good and peace of all men and the hurt of no man Keep out of all heats and be not hot-headed but be cool and gentle that your Christian Moderation may appear to all men for the Lord is at hand who beholds all mens words thoughts and actions and will reward every one according to their works And what every man soweth that shall he reap Now had I some Inclination to have gone into the Country to a Meeting But hearing that there would be a Bussle at our Meetings and feeling a great disquietness in Peoples spirits in the City about Choosing Sheriffs it was upon me to stay in the City and go to the Meeting in Gracious-street upon the First-day of the Week William Penn went with me and spake in the Meeting Grac-Meâ—â— and while he was declaring the Truth to the People a Constable came in with his great Staff and bid him give over and come down but William Penn held on declaring Truth in the Power of God After a while the Constable drew back and when William Penn had done I stood up and declared to the People the Everlasting Gospel which was preached in the Apostles days and to Abraham and which the Church in the Apostles days did receive and came to be Heirs of This Gospel I declared was sent from Heaven by the holy Ghost in the Apostles days and is so now and was not of man neither by man but by the Revelation of the Holy Ghost And now this Gospel is preached again as John saw and said it should be to all Nations Tongues and Peoples and all People now are to hear Christ the Prophet in this his Gospel of the New Covenant For as Moses said Like unto me will God raise up a Prophet and him shall ye hear in all things so said I this Prophet Christ is come and all the Jews in spirit the true believing Christians in the Light who have the Law of God written in their hearts and put into their minds are to hear Christ in his Gospel New Testament and New Covenant which is the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus who bruises the Serpent's head which is the head of Enmity and makes free from the Law of Sin and Death And I shewed that all whom Christ quickens and makes alive he makes them to sit together in the heavenly places in himself So that they do not wander up and down like the Fool 's eye in the Corners of the Earth nor are their Eyes abroad in the World to sit down in the World 's invented Seats of Religion but they sit together in him as the Saints did in the Apostles days and so Christ was and is their Treasure of Wisdom Life Knowledge and Salvation Now as I was thus speaking two Constables came in with their great Staves and bid me give over speaking and come down But I feeling the Power of the Lord with me spake on therein both to the Constables
one another in Vertue and in that Love that doth bear all things and doth edifie the Body of Christ the Body of the second Adam For the Body of old Adam in the Fall is full of Malice Envy and Vice And therefore you that are called out of Old Adam in the Fall and have put on Christ the second Adam that never fell Walk in him who is the Treasure of Life Wisdom and Knowledge in whom ye have peace with God who is the First and Last the Beginning and the Ending So let all be gathered up to God into him who reconcileth all things in one both things in Heaven and things in the Earth who is the faithful and true Witness both in Male and Female And in him sit down who is above the subtle Foxes in their holes and the Fowls of the Air in their nests I say sit down in Christ who hath no place among them to lay his head he is your rest So in him is my Love to you all London the 20th of the 11th Month 1682. G. F. It was not long after this that I received an Account by Letter from some Friends that were Prisoners in Denby in Wales by which I understood that many Friends there were under great Sufferings for the Testimony of a good Conscience In the tender sense whereof I was moved in the Love of God to Visit them with a few Lines as a Word of Consolation to them in their Sufferings and of Exhortation to stand fast in the Testimony committed to them And that which I writ was thus DEar suffering Lambs for the Name and Command of Jesus Be valiant for his Truth and faithful and ye will feel the Presence of Christ with you And look at him who suffered for you and hath bought you and will feed you who saith Be of good Comfort I have overcome the World who destroys the Devil and his Works and bruises the Serpent's head I say Look at Christ who is your Sanctuary in whom ye have rest and peace To you it is given not only to believe but to suffer for his Name 's sake And they that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer Persecution by the ungodly Professors of Christ Jesus who live out of him And therefore be valiant for God's Truth upon the Earth and look above that Spirit that makes you suffer up to Christ who was before it was and will be when it is gone Consider all the Prophets Christ and the Apostles who suffered and were persecuted but they never persecuted them as true men but as Deceivers and yet true And Christ is the same to day as he was yesterday a Rock and Foundation for your Age and Generation for you to build upon I have written concerning you after I heard your Letter to Friends in Cheshire to Visit you understanding that you belong to their Quarterly Meeting And therefore I desire that some Friends of your County would go and lay your suffering Condition before the Monthly or Quarterly Meeting in Cheshire I have written likewise to Richard Davis that some of that side may go and visit you and see how your Condition is So my Love is to you in the Lord who is your alone Support London the 27th of the 11th Month 1682. G. F. Now because the Magistrates were many of them unwilling to have Fines laid upon Meeting-houses they kept Friends out in many places setting Officers and Guards of Soldiers at the Doors and Passages And yet sometimes Friends were fined for Speaking or Praying though it were abroad One First-day it was upon me to go to Devonshire-house-Meeting in the Afternoon Dev. Meet and because I had heard Friends were kept out there that Morning as they were that Day at most Meetings about the City I went somewhat the sooner and got into the Yard before the Soldiers came to guard the Passages but the Constables were got there before me and stood in the Door-way with their Staves I asked them to let me go in They said They could not nor durst not for they were commanded the contrary and were sorry for it I told them I would not press upon them so I stood by and they were very Civil I stood till I was weary and then one gave me a Stool to sit down on and after a while the Power of the Lord began to spring up among Friends and one began to speak The Constables soon forbad him and said he should not speak and he not stopping they began to be wroth But I gently laid my hand upon one of the Constables and wisht him to let him alone The Constable did so and was quiet and the Man did not speak long When he had done after a while I was moved to stand up and speak and in my Declaration I said They need not come against us with Swords and Staves for we were a peaceable People and had nothing in our Hearts but Good-will to the King and Magistrates and to all People upon the Earth And we did not Meet under pretence of Religion to plot and contrive against the Government or to raise Insurrections but to worship God in Spirit and in Truth And we had Christ to be our Bishop and Priest and Shepherd to feed us and oversee us and he ruled in our hearts so we could all sit in silence enjoying our Teacher So to Christ their Bishop and Shepherd I did recommend them all And after I had spoken what was upon me at that time I sate down and after a while I was moved to pray and the Power of the Lord was over all Friends and the People and the Constable and Soldiers put off their Hats And when the Meeting was done and Friends began to pass away the Constable put off his Hat and desired the Lord to bless us for the Power of the Lord was over him and the People and kept them under After this I went up and down visiting Friends at their houses who had had their Goods taken from them for worshipping God and we took an account of what had been taken from them and some Friends met together about it and drew up the Case of the Sufferings of our Friends in writing and gave it to the Justices at their Petty-Sessions Whereupon they made an Order That the Officers should not sell the Goods of Friends which they had in their hands but keep them until the next Sessions which gave some discouragement to the Informers and put a little stop to their proceedings The next First-day it was upon me to go to the Meeting at the Savoy and by that time the Meeting was gathered Savoy Meet the Beadle came in and after him came in the wild People like a Sea but the Lord's Power chained them all The Spirit of the Lord went through and over all and they were quiet and we had a glorious peaceable Meeting blessed be the Lord for his unspeakable goodness This was in the Twelfth Month 1682. In the
were many loose Spirits there yet they were bound down by the Power and Spirit of the Lord that they could not get up to make disturbance About this time I was moved to write the following Epistle Friends and Brethren WHO have received the peaceable Truth let the fruits of its peaceableness and of your quiet Spirit appear in all your Meetings and in all your Words and Actions for he that inhabits Eternity dwells with an humble heart and he gives Grace to the humble and resisteth the proud Heaven is his Throne and the Earth ye walk upon is his Foot-stool happy are ye that see and know him that is Invisible And now Friends ☞ Let all things be done in your Meetings and otherways in Love without strife or vain-glory For Love fulfils the Law and Love overcomes and edifies the Body of Christ and builds it up and there is neither Self nor Envy in Love neither is it pufft up but abides and bears all things So see that this Love of God have the sway in you all and over you all Christ saith Blessed are the Poor in Spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted Blessed are the Meek for they shall inherit the Earth Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after Righteousness for they shall be filled Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain Mercy Blessed are the Pure in heart for they shall see God Blessed are the Peace makers for they shall be called the Children of God Blessed are they that are Persecuted for Righteousness sake for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsly for my sake rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in Heaven For so persecuted they the Prophets which were before you Now Friends here is a great deal in these words And all must be in these States and Conditions if they have these Blessings And the Children of God are Peace-makers and strive to make Peace in the Truth and to live in Peace with all men if it be possible So live in the Peace and the Good-will to all men which Good-will is both for their Sanctification and Salvation And Friends consider The Wisdom of God which is from above is pure peaceable and gentle and easie to be entreated full of mercy and good fruits without Partiality and without Hypocrisie And now Dear Friends let this pure peaceable gentle Wisdom that is from above that is easie to be entreated 1683. London and is full of mercy and good fruits be exercised and practised in all the true Churches of Christ so that Wisdom may be justified of her Children For the Works of the Flesh or fleshly Spirit are Hatred Variance Wrath Strife Envyings Drunkenness Revilings Adultery Fornication Lasciviousness Uncleanness c. and they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God But the Fruits of the Spirit of God are Love Joy Peace Long-suffering Gentleness Goodness Faith Meekness Temperance c. And so Dear Friends and Brethren strive to exceed one another and all People upon the Earth in Humility in Meekness in Gentleness in Temperance in Love and in Patience in Pureness and in Mercy and then ye will shew forth the Fruits of the Spirit of God and of his heavenly Wisdom that is from above And in this Wisdom will be justified of her Children and ye will be the Salt of the Earth and the Light of the World set on an Hill that cannot be hid and your Moderation will appear to all men And be ye just and righteous and faithful and true in all your Words Dealings and Conversations so that ye may answer the Truth in all People For Christ saith his Father is glorified by such as bring forth Fruits when men do see their good Works for he that doth Righteousness is accepted with God And he that dwells in Love dwells in God for Love is his Habitation And let that be the Habitation of every one that hath received the Truth for if it be not such do not dwell in God let them profess what they will And therefore my desire is that all you who have received Christ the Seed which bruises the Serpent's head may walk in him your Sanctuary Life and Salvation your Rest and Peace Amen London the 14th of the 6th Month 1683. G. F. I continued yet at London labouring in the Work and Service of the Lord both in Meetings and out sometimes visiting the Friends that were in Prison for the Testimony of Jesus encouraging them in their Sufferings and exhorting them to stand faithful and stedfast in the Testimony which the Lord had committed to them to bear sometimes also visiting those that were sick and weak in Body or troubled in Mind helping to bear their Spirits up from sinking under their Infirmities Sometimes our Meetings were quiet and peaceable sometimes they were disturbed and broken up by the Officers One First-day it was upon me to go to the Meeting at the Savoy Sav. Meet and it was a large Meeting for many Professors and sober People were there And the Lord opened many precious weighty things in me to the People which I declared amongst them and directed them to the Spirit of God in themselves which the Lord had given them a measure of that all by the Spirit might understand the Scriptures which were given forth from the Spirit of God And that by the Spirit of God they might know God and Christ whom God hath sent whom to know was Eternal Life And that by the Spirit they might all come into Christ and know him to be their Sanctuary who destroys the Devil the Destroyer and his works and bruises the Serpent's head For Christ was a Sanctuary to them to whom he was a Saviour whom he saved from the Destroyer And Christ did baptize them with the holy Ghost and with Fire and did thorowly purge his floor and burn up their Chaff with unquenchable fire that is Sin and Corruption which is got into Man and Woman by their Transgression But Christ gathereth his Wheat into his Garner So all that are baptized with Christ's Baptism their Wheat is in God's Garner and no Spoiler can get into God's Garner to meddle with the Wheat there though they may be permitted to meddle with the outward Goods c. Now as I was speaking in the power of the Lord and the People were greatly affected therewith on a sudden the Constables with the rude People came in like a Sea and one of the Constables said to me Come down and he laid hands on me I asked him Art thou a Christian We are Christians He had hold on my hand and was very fierce to pluck me down but I stood still and spake a few words to the People desiring of the Lord that the Blessings of God might rest upon them all
Power thereof out of the Order thereof such have turned to Janglings and vain Disputings This sort of Spirit you have been acquainted with who have kept your habitations in Christ Jesus the First and the Last And you are not unsensible of the scurrilous and filthy Books of Lies and Defamations which have been spread abroad in this Nation and beyond the Seas against the Faithful And it is very well that the Lord hath suffered them to publish their own shame in print that Truth 's Enemies may be discovered that their Fruits and Spirits have appeared and manifested themselves both in print and otherwise And I do believe that the Lord will yet suffer this Spirit that it shall so publish forth its Fruits to its publick Shame and Nakedness to Professor and Prophane and to all sober moderate and innocent People that its Shame and Nakedness shall more fully appear And though for a time it hath been hid and covered with the Fig-leaves and an Outward Profession and sometimes with fawning and flattering words as at other times it hath discovered it self by rough lying and defaming words yet the Lord God will blast all such vain Talkers that do not walk in the Order of Life Truth and the Gospel And therefore ye that are Faithful stand fast in the Liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free in his Government It is upon his Shoulders he bears it up Of the Increase of it and of its peace there is no end For all the Quarrellers against his Order and Government are without him and without his heavenly spiritual Government and Peace And therefore ye Faithful Ones who have had the Trial through many Persecutions Imprisonments Spoilings of Goods you know that there is a Crown of Glory laid up for you and you that Suffer with Christ shall Reign with him in his Kingdom of Glory and ye that die with Christ shall live with Christ in the Eternal Life in the World that hath no End Who have gone through the Sufferings without and within by false Brethren by Comers and Goers that have caused the Way of Truth to be evil spoken of and have been the Persecuters of the Faithful with their Tongues though they have not had power to do it with their Hands And by printing and publishing their lying defaming Books against the Faithful they have stirred up the Magistrates and Priests who were willing to get any occasion to speak evil of the right Way and precious Truth of Christ by which his People are made free Such had better they had never been born But God hath brought them to light and their Fruits and ravenous Spirit is seen savoured and known who are become Judases and Sons of Perdition to betray Christ now within where he is made manifest to the Priests Magistrates and Prophane as Judas did betray Christ without to the Priests and Pilate Though some of the Magistrates and sober People do see their Envy and Folly and that they have more Malice than Matter against the Faithful But the Lord will consume this Judas or Son of Perdition The Lord will consume him with the Spirit of his Mouth and shall destroy him with the brightness of his Coming And so let all the Faithful look unto the Lord. And let that wicked Son of Perdition know though he may be got as high as Judas without who was partaker of the Ministry with the Apostles The Lord will consume him with the Spirit of his Mouth and destroy him with the brightness of his Coming That is his portion So the brightness of the Lord will destroy him and the Spirit of his Mouth will consume him And when he is destroyed and consumed there will not be a Son of Perdition to betray Christ in his People and his People that live and walk in Christ who hath all power in Heaven mark in Heaven and in Earth given to him and with his holy and glorious Power he limits and orders so that nothing shall be done against his People but what is suffered for their Trial and for their Good neither by Apostates Persecutors with the Tongue Judases Sons of Perdition to betray or the outward Powers to Imprison or spoil Goods All these are limited by Christ's Power who hath all Power in Heaven and Earth given to him And every ones Faith is to stand in him and his power and rejoice in his power and see the increase of his righteous holy heavenly spiritual peaceable Government in which the glorious holy order of life is lived and walked in by all his Sons and Daughters And in his Spirit is the holy Unity and Bond of Peace Though ye be absent in the Body or Flesh one from another yet all joying and rejoicing being present in his Spirit and beholding in the same Spirit your spiritual Order Unity and Fellowship and the steadfastness of your Faith in Christ Jesus who is steadfast for ever the First and the Last whose Presence is among his People and who is their Head Here is heavenly Sion known and heavenly Jerusalem and the innumerable Company of Angels which are Spirits and the Spirits of the just men made perfect Here is the general Assembly or general Meeting and a general heavenly holy and spiritual joy and rejoicing lauding and praising the Lord the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb that lives for evermore Amen London the 14th of the 8th Month 1683. G. F. Read this in your Assemblies amongst the Faithful I tarried yet a little while in London visiting Friends and Meetings and labouring in the Work of the Lord there And being on a First-day at the Bull and Mouth Bull and M. Meeting where the Meeting had long been kept out but was that day in the House peaceable and large the People were so affected with the Truth and refreshed with the powerful Presence of the Lord that when the Meeting was ended they were loth to go away After some time having several things upon me to write I went to Kingston Kingston that I might be free from Interruptions And when I came there I understood the Officers had been very Rude at the Meeting there nipping and abusing Friends and had driven them out of the Meeting-Place and very abusive they continued to be for some time Among other things that I writ whilst I was there one was a little Book printed soon after the Title whereof was The Saints heavenly and spiritual Worship Vnity and Communion c. wherein is set forth what the true Gospel-worship is and in what the true Vnity and Communion of the Saints stands with a discovery of those that were gone from this holy Unity and Communion and were turned against the Saints that abode therein When I had finished the Services for which I went thither and had visited the Friends there I returned to London and visited most of the Meetings in and about the City Essex Dolston Afterwards I went to visit a Friend in Essex and returning by
some Friends come over from New-Jersey in America about business which I was desired to be present at It was the latter end of the Summer when I came to London and I stay'd there the Winter following saving that once or twice my Wife being in Town with me this Winter I went down with her to her Son Rouse's at Kingston And though my body was very weak yet was I in continual Service either in publick Meetings when I was able to bear them or in particular Businesses amongst Friends and visiting those that were Sufferers for Truth either by Imprisonment or Loss of Goods Many things also in this time I Writ some for the Press and some for particular Service as Letters to the King of Denmark and Duke of Holsteyn on behalf of Friends that were Sufferers in their Dominions whereof the following is a Copy For the Duke of HOLSTEYN THIS Whom I do Intreat in the Love of God to read over which is sent in Love to him I Understand that formerly by some Evil-minded persons it was reported to thee when one Elizabeth Hendricks came to Fredrickstadt to visit the People called Quakers there in thy Country That it was a Scandal to the Christian Religion that a Woman should be suffer'd to preach in a publick Assembly religiously gathered together 1684. London c. Upon which thou didst grant forth an Order to the Rulers of Fredrickstadt aforesaid To make the said People leave that place forthwith or to send them away But the said Rulers being Arminians and they or their Fathers being come to live there as a persecuted People in Holland not much above threescore years ago made Answer to the Duke They were not willing to persecute others for Conscience sake who had looked upon Persecution on that Account in their own Case as Antichristian c. But after that the said People of God in scorn called Quakers did write unto thee O Duke from Fredrickstadt and since that time they have had their Liberty and their Meetings peaceable to serve and worship God almost these twenty years at Fredrickstadt aforesaid and thereabout freely without any molestation which Liberty they have acknowledged as a Great Favour and Kindness from thee And now O Duke Thou professing Christianity from the great and mighty Name of Christ Jesus who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords and the holy Scriptures of Truth of the Old and New Testament Do not you use many Womens words in your Service and Worship out of the Old and New Testament And because the Apostle saith Let your Women keep Silence in the Churches and that he did not permit a Woman to speak but to be under obedience and if she will learn any thing to ask her husband at home For it is a shame for a Woman to speak in the Church And 1 Tim. 2.11 12. Women are to learn in silence and not suffered to Teach nor to usurp Authority over the Man but to be in silence 1 Cor. 14.34 Now here the Duke may see what sort of Women they be that were to be in silence and in subjection which the Law Commands to be silent and not to usurp Authority over the Man nor to speak in the Church These were Vnruly Women And in the same Chapter he Commands Women not to plate or broider their hair nor to wear Gold Pearls or costly Array These things were forbidden by the Apostle and such Women that wear such things are to Learn in silence and to be subject and not to usurp Authority over the Men for it is a shame for such to speak in the Church But do not such Women as these that were Gold and Silver and Pearls and Gaudy Apparel or Costly Array and plates and broiders their hair speak in your Church when your Priest sets them to sing Psalms Don't they speak when they sing Psalms Consider this O Duke And yet you say Your Women must keep silence in the Church and must not speak in the Church but when they sing Psalms in your Churches are they then silent And though the Apostle forbids such Women before-mentioned to speak in the Church yet in another place the Apostle encourages the good or holy Women to be Teachers of good things as in Tit. 2.3 4. And John 2 John 1. writes to the Elect Lady and her Children And John rejoiced greatly that he found her Children walk in the Truth Surely this Elect Lady had Taught and Instructed those Children that walked in the Truth and John who was an Apostle of Christ commended her And the Apostle said I intreat thee true Yoke-fellow help those Women which laboured with me in the Gospel and with other my Fellow-labourers whose names are written in the Book of Life Here the Apostle owns these holy Women and encourages them Women that laboured in the Gospel which laboured with him in the Gospel and did not forbid them Philip 4.2 3. And the Apostle Paul commended Phoebe unto the Church of the Romans and calls her a Servant unto the Church of Cenchrea and sends his Epistle by her to the Romans from Corinth and desires the Church at Rome to receive her in the Lord as becometh Saints And that they were to Assist her in whatsoever business she had need of for she had been a succourer of many and of him also And said Greet Priscilla and Aquila my Helpers in Christ Jesus who have for my life laid down their necks unto whom not only I give thanks but also all the Churches of the Gentiles Now here the Duke may see these were good holy Women the Apostle did not forbid such speaking Rom. 16.1 2 3 4. but commended them And Priscilla and Aquilae Instructed and Expounded unto Apollo the way of God more perfectly Acts 18.26 So here Priscilla was an Instructor as well as Aquila which holy Women the Apostle doth not forbid Neither did the Apostle forbid Philip's four Daughters which were Virgins to prophesie as in Acts. And Women might pray and prophesie in the Church 1 Cor. 11.5 And the Apostles said to the Jews and shewed them the fulfilling of Joel's Prophecy That in the last days God would pour out of his Spirit upon all flesh and their Sons and Daughters should prophesie c. and Servants and Handmaids they should prophesie with the Spirit of God And so the Apostle encourages Daughters and Hand-maids to prophesie as well as Sons and if they do prophesie they must speak to the Church or People Joel 2.28 Acts 2.17 18. And Miriam the Prophetess did not she sing unto the Lord and all the Women with her when the Lord had delivered the Children of Israel from Pharaoh did not she praise the Lord and prophesie in the Congregation of the Children of Israel and was not this in the Church Exod. 15.21 Moses and Aaron did not forbid her prophesying or speaking but Moses said Would God all the Lord's People were Prophets And the Lord's People are Women as
well as Men. And Deborah was a Judge and a Prophetess and do not You make use of Deborah's and Miriam's words in your Service and Worship as you may see Judg. 5. v. 1 31. Deborah's large Speech or Song And Barak did not forbid her nor none of the Jewish Priests And did not she make this Speech or Song in the Congregation or Church of Israel And in the Book of Ruth there are good Speeches of those good Women which were not forbidden And Hannah prayed in the Temple before Ely and the Lord Answered her prayer And see what a Speech Hannah makes and a praising of God before Ely the High-Priest and he did not forbid her 1 Sam. 2. v. 1. to 10. And Josiah the King sent his Priest with several others to Ask Counsel of Huldah the Prophetess who dwelt at Jerusalem in the Colledge 2 King 22.14 2 Chron. 34.22 So here the King and his Priests did not despise the Counsel of this Prophetess and she did prophesie to the Congregation of Israel as may be seen in these Chapters And in Luke 1.41 to 55. there see what a godly Speech Elizabeth made to Mary and what a large godly Speech Mary made also And Mary said That the Lord did regard the Low Estate of his Hand-maid c. And don't you make use in your Worship and Service of Mary's and Elizabeth's words from Luke 2.41 to 55. who were holy Women in your Churches and yet forbid Womens speaking in your Churches and to be in silence yet all sorts of Women speak in your Churches when they sing and say Amen And in Luke the second there was one Anna a Prophetess she was a Widow of about fourscore and four years which departed not from the Temple but served God with Fasting and Prayer night and day Did not she Confess Christ Jesus in the Temple and gave thanks to the Lord and spake of Christ to all that looked for Redemption in Jerusalem Luke 2.36 37 38. So such holy Women were not forbidden to speak in the Church neither in the Law nor Gospel And was it not Mary Magdalen and other Women that first preached Christ's Resurrection to the Apostles The Woman indeed namely Eve was first in Transgression and so they were Women that first preacht the Resurrection of Christ Jesus for Christ said to Mary c. Go to my Brethren and say unto them I Ascend unto my Father and to your Father and to my God and to your God John 20.17 And Luke 24.10 it was Mary Magdalen and Johanna and Mary the Mother of James and other Women that were with them which told the Apostles that Christ was risen from the dead and their words and these Womens words were as Idle Tales to the Apostles and they believed them not Ibid. vers 11. And vers 22. Certain Women also of our Company made us astonished they said So here it may be seen that the Womens preaching the Resurrection of Christ did Astonish the Apostles and Christ sent these Women to preach his Resurrection so it is no shame for such Women to preach Christ Jesus neither were they to be silent when Christ sends them And the Apostle says Every Tongue shall Confess to God Rom. 14.11 and Every Tongue shall Confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the Glory of God the Father Philip. 2.11 So Here 't is Clear that Women must Confess Christ as well as men if Every Tongue must Confess And the Apostle saith There 's neither Male nor Female for ye are all one in Christ Jesus Gal. 3.28 And whereas 't is said Women must ask their Husbands at home c. Now the Duke knows very well Virgins have no Husbands nor Widows for Anna the Prophetess was a Widow And if Christ be the Husband Men must ask Counsel of him at home as well as Women before they Teach And set the Case that a Turk's Wife should be a Christian or a Papist's Wife should be a Lutheran or a Calvinist must they Ask and Learn of their Husbands at home before they confess Christ Jesus in the Congregation of the Lord Their Counsel will be to them to turn Turks or Papists I Intreat the Duke to Consider these things And again I Intreat him to mind God's Grace and Truth in his heart that is come by Jesus that by his Spirit of Grace and Truth he may come to serve and worship God in his Spirit and Truth so that he may serve the Living Eternal God that made him in his Generation and have his Peace in Christ that the World cannot take away And I do desire his Good Peace and Prosperity in this World and his Eternal Comfort and Happiness in the World that is Everlasting without End Amen London the 26th of the 8th Month 1684. G. F. Besides the fore-going I writ also Epistles to Friends one of which the following is a Copy FRiends and Brethren in the Lord Jesus Christ in whom you have all life peace and salvation Walk in him who is your heavenly Rock and Foundation that stands sure who hath all Power in Heaven and Earth given unto him So his Power is over all And let your Faith stand in his Power which is over all from everlasting to everlasting and so is over the Devil and his power that in the holy heavenly Wisdom of God ye may be all preserved and kept to God's glory out of all snares and temptations so that God's Wisdom may be justified of all his Children in this day of his power and they all may be faithful serving and worshipping God in his Spirit and Truth and valiant for it upon the Earth For as the Apostle saith They that believe are entred into their rest and have ceased from their own works as God did from his Now this Rest is an Eternal Rest in Christ the Eternal Son of God in whom every true Believer hath everlasting Life in Christ Jesus their Rest and everlasting Day For Christ the Rest bruiseth the Serpent's head and through Death destroyeth Death and the Devil the power of Death and his works And he is the eternal Rest that giveth eternal Life to his Sheep And Christ fulfilleth the Prophets and all the Figures Shadows and Ceremonies as in the Old Testament and all the Promises are Yea and Amen in Christ their and our Eternal Rest who was the Eternal Rest to all the true Believers in the Apostles days and ever since and is so now And Christ is the Beginning and the Ending the First and Last who is ascended above all Principalities Powers Thrones and Dominions that he might fill all things For by Jesus Christ all things were made and created whether they be things in Heaven or things in the Earth and he is the eternal Rest and they that believe are entred into Christ their Eternal Rest in whom they have as I said before Eternal Life and peace with God Wherefore I say again in him who is your Rest live and abide for in
the praise and glory of God and by the word of his Grace your words may be gracious and in your Lives and Conversations ye may shew forth Righteousness Holiness and Godliness That so God Almighty may be glorified in you all and through you all who is above all blessed and praised for ever Amen London the 11th of the 4th Month 1685. G. F. Several other Letters also I writ at this time to Friends in divers Forreign Countries from whom I had received Letters about the Affairs of Truth Which when I had dispatched the Yearly-Meeting being over and the Country-Friends for the most part gone out of Town I got a little way out of Town also being much spent with the Heat of the Weather South-street Throngs in Meetings and continual Business I went at first but to South-street where I abode some days And among other Services that I had there a great sense entred me of the Growth and Increase of Pride Vanity and Excess in Apparel and that not only amongst the People of the World but too much also amongst some that came among us and seem'd to make a Profession of the Truth And in the sense I had of the Evil thereof it came upon me to give forth the following Paper as a Reproof and Check thereunto THE Apostle Peter saith in 1 Pet. 3. of the Womens Adorning Let it not be mark Let it not be this is a positive Prohibition that outward adorning of plaiting the Hair and of wearing of Gold or of putting on of Apparel But let it be the hidden Man of the heart in that which is not corruptible even the Ornament of a meek and quiet Spirit which is in the sight of God of a great price for after this manner in the old time the holy women also who trusted in God adorned themselves Here ye may see what is the Ornament of the holy Women 1685. South-street which was in the sight of God of a great price and which the holy Women who trusted in God adorned themselves with But the unholy Women that trust not in God their Ornament is not a meek and a quiet Spirit They adorn themselves with plaiting the Hair and putting on of Apparel and wearing of Gold which is forbidden by the Apostle in his general Epistle to the Church of Christ the true Christians And the Apostle Paul saith 1 Tim. 2.9 10. In like manner also that Women adorn themselves in modest Apparel with shamefacedness and sobriety not with broidered Hair or Gold or Pearls or costly Array but which becometh Women professing Godliness with good Works Now here ye may see what the Women were not to Adorn themselves with who professed Godliness They were not to adorn themselves with broidered Hair nor Gold nor Pearls nor costly Array for this was not looked upon to be modest Apparel for holy Women that profest Godliness and good Works But this Adorning or Apparel is for the immodest and unshamefaced and unsober Women that profess not Godliness neither follow those good Works that God commands And therefore it doth not become Men and Women who profess true Christianity and Godliness to be adorned with Gold or Chains or Pearls or costly Array with broidered Hair for these things are for the Lust of the Eye the Lust of the Flesh and Pride of Life which is not of the Father And therefore all the holy Men and Women are to mind that which is more precious than Gold who are Redeemed not with corruptible things as Silver and Gold from your vain Conversation but with the precious Blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot Therefore as obedient Children to God not fashioning your selves according to your former Lusts in your Ignorance but as he which hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of Conversation 1 Pet. 1.14 15. Christ saith The Life is more than Meat and the Body is more than Raiment Luke 12.23 I read of a Moral-wise Philosopher who meeting a Woman with her Neck and Breast bare laid his hand upon her and said Woman wilt thou sell this Flesh and she replying No. Then pray said he shut up your Shop meaning her bare Breasts and Neck So they were looked upon as Harlots that went with their Necks Breasts and Backs bare and not Civil People even among the Moral Heathens Therefore they that profess the Knowledge of true Christianity should be ashamed of such things You may see a Book written by the very Papists and another by Baxter the Presbyterian against bare Breasts and bare Backs and them that shewed their Flesh Vncovered They that were but in an outward Profession did declare against such things and therefore they which are in the Possession of Truth and true Christianity should be ashamed of such things Read I pray you the Third of Isaiah and there you may see how that holy Prophet was grieved with the foolish Womens vain Attire and how he was sent by the Lord to reprove them And envious persecuting Jezabel her Attired Head and Bravery like a painted Harlot out of the Truth did not keep her from the Judgments of God when the Lord stirred up Jehu against her Doth not Pride go before a Fall and a haughty Mind before Destruction And God resisteth the Proud and giveth Grace to the Humble And Solomon saith The Lord will destroy the House of the Proud Prov. 15.25 For the Day of the Lord shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty c. and he shall be brought low Isa 2.12 and Mal. 4. Therefore take heed of calling the Proud happy for The Lord will scatter the Proud in the Imaginations of their own hearts and exalt them of low degree And you may read in the Revelations Chap. 17.4 and 18.16 of the false Church how she was outwardly decked but full of Abomination and came to a Downfal at last And therefore it is good for all that profess the Truth to use this World as not abusing it for the fashion of this World passeth away but the Word of the Lord endureth for ever The Lord taketh pleasure in his People he will beautifie the Meek with Salvation Psal 149.4 Therefore all that know the Truth as it is in Jesus are to be beautified and cloathed with this Salvation which Salvation is a strong Wall or a Bulwark against that Spirit that would lead you down into the Fall from God or into those things which the fallen Man and Woman delight in and beautifie or adorn themselves with And therefore all that profess the Truth be circumspect sincere and fervent following the Lord Jesus Christ who is not of this World in whom ye have Life and Peace with God South-street the 24th of the 4th Month 1685. G. F. After I had been some weeks in the Country at Southstreet and at and about Enfield in which time I had several Meetings with Friends I returned to London Enfield London And
Reprove those who would have fire to come down from Heaven to destroy them who would not receive him and did not he tell them They did not know what spirit they were of And therefore all who have persecuted Men or taken away their Lives because they would not receive their Religion have they known what spirit they were or are of Therefore is it nor good for all to know by the Spirit of Christ what spirit they are of For the Apostle says Rom. 8.9 If any Man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his And does not the Apostle say 2 Cor. 10.4 The Weapons of our Warfare are not Carnal but Spiritual c. And we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against spiritual wickedness c. Thus we can see here that the Fight of the first Christians and their Weapons in the days of the Apostles were spiritual in matters of Faith Religion and Worship in the Church of Christ Now would not the King and the Magistrates of Dantzick think that it was contrary to their Consciences if they should be forced by the Turk to his Religion Would it not in like manner seem hard to the Magistrates of Dantzick and contrary to their Consciences if they should be forced to the Religion of the King of Poland or the King of Poland if he should be compelled to the Religion of the Magistrates of Dantzick And if they would not be subject thereunto that then they should be banished from their Wives and Families and out of their Native Country or otherwise be fed with Bread and Water under a strict Confinement Therefore we beseech the King with all Christian Humility and the Magistrates of Dantzick that they would order their proceedings in this matter according to the Royal Law of God which is To do unto others as they would have others do unto them and to love their Neighbour as themselves For we have this Charity that we hope and believe that the King of Poland and his People with the Magistrates of Dantzick own the Writings of the New Testament as well as of the Old And therefore we beseech the King and the Magistrates of Dantzick to take heed that their Work of Imprisoning an Innocent People for nothing but their meeting together in Tenderness of Conscience to serve and worship God their Creator may not be contrary and opposite to the Royal Law of God and to the Glorious and Everlasting Gospel of Truth So we desire the King in Christian Love earnestly and weightily to Consider these things and to give Order to set the Innocent Prisoners our Friends called Quakers at Liberty from their strict Confinement in Dantzick that they may have freedom to serve and worship the living God in Spirit and in Truth and go home to their outward Habitations and follow their Trades and Calling to maintain their Wives Children and Families And we believe that the King in doing such a Noble Glorious yea Christian Work will not go unrewarded from the Great God who made him whom we serve and worship who has the hearts of Kings and their lives and length of days in his hands From him who desires that the King and all his Ministers may be preserved in the Fear of God and receive his Word of Wisdom by which all things were made and created that by it he may come to order all things to the Glory of God which God has put under his hand That the King both He and They may enjoy the Comforts and Blessings of the Lord in this Life and in that which is to come Life Eternal Amen London in England the 10th of the 3d Month commonly called May 1684. G. F. Post-script The King may please to Consider that His and all Mens Consciences is the Prerogative of God After this I went to Enfield where Enfield and in the Country thereabouts several Friends had Country-houses not very far from one another amongst whom I tarried some time visiting and being visited by Friends and having Meetings with them Several things I writ in this time relating to the Service of Truth One whereof was concerning Judging For some who were departed from the Truth were so afraid of Truth 's Judgment that they made it much of their business to Cry out against Judging Wherefore I writ a Paper proving by the Scriptures of Truth that the Church of Christ hath power and ability to Judge those that profest to be of it not only with respect to outward things relating to this World but with respect to Religious Matters also A Copy of which follows Concerning Judging THE Natural Man receiveth not the Things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned but he that is spiritual judgeth all things mark all things yet he himself is judged of no Man 1685. Enfield 1 Cor. 2.14 15. So here the Natural Man cannot judge of those things he receives not for they are foolishness to him but he is comprehended by the Spiritual Man and his foolishness and is Judged though he cannot judge the Spiritual Man Do not ye judge them that are within saith the Apostle this Power the Church had and hath therefore put away from amongst your selves that wicked person And did not this Wicked person think you profess and plead for Liberty for his Wickedness and his Freedom as he was a Christian who was lookt upon as a Member of the Church And the Apostle saith For I verily as absent in body yet present in spirit have judged already as though I were present concerning him that hath done this wicked deed 1 Cor. 5.3 12. Here the Apostle did Judge though afar off and set up Judgment in the Church against false Liberty under what pretence soever it was And the Apostle saith Dare any of you having a matter against a Brother go to Law before the Vnjust and not before the Saints Here the Saints the Church are to Judge of things amongst themselves and not for the Unjust to Judge of their Matters Do ye not know the Saints shall judge the World So the Saints are to judge the Unjust and not the Vnjust to judge their Matters And farther the Apostle saith If the World shall be judged by you to wit the Saints are you unworthy to judge the smaller matters amongst you So here it is clear that the Saints have a Judgment given them of Christ by his Power and Spirit Light and Wisdom to judge the World and not to carry their Matters before the Vnjust but to judge of them amongst themselves and if they carry them before the Unjust they shew their unworthiness of the Saints Judgment And further the Apostle saith Know ye not that we shall Judge the Angels and Angels are Spirits how much more the things which pertain to this life If ye then have Judgment of things pertaining to this life set them up to judge who have least
esteem in the Church 1 Cor. 6. So here it is clear the Church of Christ has a Judgment in the Power and Spirit of God not only to Judge in things that pertain to this life but are also to Judge of things betwixt Brethren without Brother going to Law with Brother before Unbelievers which was a fault and to be Judged if they did so But also the Saints have a Judgment to judge Angels that kept not their Habitations and the World And as in Jude He judged the Angels that kept not their habitations their first state And did not he Judge in Divine Matters here and judged the state of Cain and Balaam and Core and such like Christians that were gotten into their steps and were gone as far as they was though they professed themselves Christians And here again he judged in Divine Matters and of their States and Beings who stood in the Divine Principle and who were fallen from it And the Apostle saith Try the spirits and believe not every spirit 1 John 4. And here again was a Judgment in Divine Matters And he judged such as went out from them which whilst they were with them they had sight of things and openings but when they went from them they went from the Anointing and therefore he exhorts the Saints to keep to the Anointing And such as went from them that had the Anointing came to be the Seducers and false Prophets that went into the World And John had a Judgment to try Sacrifices and distinguished Cains from Abels and by the Spirit of God knew which God accepted and which he did not accept as in 1 John 3.12 And the Apostle Paul judged and tried such Messengers and Apostles and Transformers of themselves like to the Apostles of Christ and would have the Church to try such and have the same Judgment as he had 2 Cor. 11. And the Apostle Peter Judged Ananias and Sapphira and judged the Thoughts of Simon Magus who would have been a worker of Miracles for money and was not all this Judgment in Divine Matters And the Apostle Paul Judged the Preachers of Circumcision both in the Romans and in the Galatians For it was the Faith and Liberty of those Preachers to preach up Circumcision though it was a wrong Faith And here did not the Apostle again Judge in Divine Matters And James Judged in Matters of Faith and manifested the living Faith from the dead one And also he Judged in Matters of Religion the vain Religion from the pure Religion and distinguished them And Paul Judged of the false Brethren that would spy out the liberty of the true to whom he would give no place by subjection no not for an hour that the Truth of the Gospel might continue with the Saints as in Gal. 2. And did not the Apostle here Judge in Divine Matters And he Judged concerning the Matters of the Gospel when some came to pervert them with another Gospel and said The Gospel which I received is not of Man neither was I taught it but by the Revelation of Jesus Christ Gal. 1.12 So here was a Judgment to distinguish the Gospel of Christ from all other Gospels which was Accursed which is after Man and received of Man and taught of Man and not by the Revelation of Jesus Christ Gal. 1. And he had a Judgment to know Who made the Gospel Chargeable and who kept it without Charge And he set up a Judgment in the Church that the Believers should not be unequally yoked and to see when Men had a Communion in the Light and when they had it in the Darkness and when with Christ and when with Baal and with the Believer and Vnbeliever and with the Temple of God and with Idols as in 2 Cor. 6. And did he not set up a clear Judgment here in Divine Matters in the Church And the Apostle Judged such Libertines through their knowledge that could sit at Meat in the Idol-Temple which caused the weak Brother to perish through his knowledge and liberty for whom Christ died Now these it 's like did profess it was their Faith and their Liberty but did not keep in the Unity of the true Faith but went about to destroy it 1 Cor. 8. And Peter he gives Judgment upon the Angels that sinned and were cast down into Hell and the state of the Old World and of Sodom and the state of the false Prophets then amongst them that could speak great swelling words of vanity and whilst they promised themselves liberty they themselves were the Servants of Corruptions And had not Peter here a Judgment in Divine Matters These were such whose work was to bring into bondage and these was like the Dog and Sow that was washed which shews that they had been washed but was turned into the Mire again And the Apostle Paul had a Judgment upon such with their fair words and mens wisdom that deceived the hearts of the simple and upon such as served not the Lord Jesus Christ but their own Bellies and were Enemies to the Cross of Christ And therefore he had a Judgment and Discerning who lived in the Cross of Christ and who did not and exhorted all to live in the Cross of Christ the righteous Power of God that slew all Deceit and the Deeds of the Old Man agreeable to Christ's words He that will be my Disciple must take up my Cross and follow me And was not here a Judgment again in Divine Matters and of such as walk in the Divine Power and such as did not And Christ sets up a Judgment in his seven Churches and commends them that did keep in his Judgment and had tried them which said They were Apostles which might pretend they were sent of God and Christ and were not But the Church of Christ had found them Liars And Christ Commended this Judgment of the Church of Ephesus because they had Not born with them that was evil but had tried those false Apostles And Christ commends this Church for that they had hated the deeds of the Nicholaitans which he also hated And had not these Nicholaitans sprung from Nicholas one of the Deacons and was not these become a Sect of Christians though they might talk and preach of Christ but Christ hated them And likewise Christ saith to the Church of Smyrna I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews but are not but are of the Synagogue of Satan So the Church is to have a Judgment upon these blasphemers and are to distinguish from the Jews in the Spirit and such as are not but of the Synagogue of Satan And to the Church in Pergamos Christ had a few things against them because thou hast there them that hold the Doctrines of Balaam c. And also them that hold the Doctrine of the Nicholaitans which I hate Now these that held the Doctrine of Balaam and the Doctrine of the Nicholaitans were got into the Church and might have lookt upon
themselves to be high Christians and took a great Liberty to go into Balaam's Doctrine and Nicholas's Doctrine which was hated by Christ but the Church was to keep a Spiritual and Divine Judgment upon the Heads of all these And to the Church of Thyatira saith Christ I have a few things against thee because thou sufferest the woman Jezabel to teach which seduces my people c. So here was a Suffering which should have been a Judgment by Christ's Spirit upon that Jezabel which was erred from his Spirit and so from Christ and such as these were high Preachers And is not the Church to beware of suffering such now lest they come under the Reproof of Christ for not passing to Judgment against the false Teacher and Seducer And the Church of Sardis that had a name to live but was dead and their works were not found perfect before God Therefore here is a Judgment to be set up in the Church to Judge all Imperfect Works and such as would have a Name but not the Nature or a name to live but are dead And therefore the Living must be in Christ of all Christ's Church living Members and live to his Name Though this Church had a few Names that had not defiled their Garments that did walk in White But such as had a Name to live but are dead whilst they are in the dead state they cannot walk in White nor Judge in Divine Matters And behold saith Christ I will make them of the Synagogue of Satan which say they are Jews but are not but do lie behold I will make them to come and to worship before my feet And to the Church of Laodicea that was neither hot nor cold but lukewarm I would thou wert either cold or hot I will spew thee out of my mouth because thou said'st thou wast rich and wanted nothing when they were wretched miserable poor blind and naked Now this was for want of living in the Power and Spirit of Christ these could talk of high Experiences and great Injoyments but was naked miserable and blind So lived not in the Power and Spirit and Light and Righteousness of Christ by which they might be cloathed and have the Eternal Riches So the Church of Christ had a spiritual Judgment given to them that are faithful in his Power and Spirit and Light to Judge of Temporal things and the things of this Life and to Judge of Eternal and Divine things and States and of Angels and Wicked men and such as goes from Truth and of the states of Election and Reprobation yea and of the Devils who is out of Truth being in Christ Jesus who is the First and Last from whom they have the Eternal Judgment to Judge Eternal Spiritual and Divine things And this Word of Power and Wisdom by which all things were made and by which all things are upheld in this Word of Wisdom to order all things to God's Glory and to Judge of all things in Righteousness And the Apostle Judged and set up a Judgment in the Church of Gifts of Prophecies of Mysteries of Faith and of giving the Body to be burnt and of giving Goods to the Poor and of speaking with Tongues of Men and Angels And yet if they had not Love all this was nothing but as a sounding Brass and tinkling Cymbal Therefore they are to be tried by the Fruits of the good Spirit which is Love So here the Apostle not only Judged himself in Divine Matters but set up a Judgment in the Church in those Spiritual and Divine Matters And the Apostle James here Judges of Fountains and of the Fig-trees and of the Wisdom below and of the Wisdom from above and the Fruits of both Jam. 3. And Paul Judged in Divine Matters when he said The Spirit spake expresly that in the latter times some should depart from the Faith 1 Tim. 4. And he Judged in Divine Matters when he judged all those Teachers that was high-minded and had got the Form of Godliness but denied the Power and termed them like unto Jannes and Jambrâ—s which withstood Moses coming out of outward Egypt as these with their Form of Godliness opposes Christ and his Power that brings them out of spiritual Egypt now And was not he a Judge here in Divine Matters who judged such as had gotten the Form of Godliness but denied the Divine Power 2 Tim 3. And when the Apostle said The Priesthood of Aaron was changed and the Law was changed and the Commandment disanulled that gave them their Tithes did not he Judge here in Divine and Spiritual Matters and was not the Law spiritual which served till the Seed came And did not the Apostle Judge in Divine and Spiritual Matters in the Sixth of the Hebrews where he saith Let us go on to perfection not laying again the foundation of Repentance from dead works and of Faith towards God and of the Doctrine of Baptisms and of laying on of Hands and of the Resurrection of the Dead and of Eternal Judgment and this will we do if God permit c. And so does not the Apostle Judge of such here That it was impossible for those who was once enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift and were partakers of the Holy Ghost and had tasted of the good Word of God and of the power of the World to come if they shall fall away to renew them again unto Repentance seeing they crucifie to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to open shame Hebr. 6. And was not these Spiritual Eternal and Divine Matters and States that the Apostle Judged of and have not the Saints the same Judgment given unto them in the same Spirit Now has not the Apostles and the Church a Spiritual Judgment to Judge of Prophets Mysteries Faith Apostles Angels World and the Devil and is not this Judgment given them of God in Divine Matters besides the Judgment given them in Matters pertaining unto this Life And had not they Judgment to discern the true Gospel from the false and all such as had a Profession of the Form and did not live in the power and such as spoke the things of God in the words that Man's wisdom did teach which things of God were not to be spoken in the wisdom which Man's words taught but in the Word which the Holy Ghost taught And therefore did not the Apostle exhort to know the Power and their Faith to stand in the Power of God for the Kingdom of God stood not in Word but in Power And had not all the Prophets a Divine Judgment to Judge in Divine Matters as see Jeremiah when he Judged the Prophets And Ezekiel Judged all such as came with a pretence of the Word of the Lord using their Tongues and saying Thus saith the Lord when the Lord never spoke unto them as in Jeremiah the 23th and in Ezekiel the 13th and in many other places might be Instanced And did not he judge Hananiah who prophesied
falsly and did not this Hananiah pretend to speak the Word of the Lord to the Priests and People as in Jeremiah the 28th And did not Isaiah judge in Divine Matters when he judged the Watchmen and the Shepherds Isa 56. And did not Micah judge in Divine and Spiritual Matters when he said he was full of the Power by the Spirit of the Lord and of Judgment did not he Judge both of Priests and Prophets and Judges though they would lean upon the Lord and say Is not the Lord amongst us and no evil can come unto us yet did not he let them see their States and Conditions and divided the precious from the vile Mich. 3. And so the rest of the Prophets you may see here they Judged for God in his Divine Matters who served him and who served him not and who lived in truth and who not and likewise the Apostles And this Divine Spiritual Heavenly Judgment was given of God to his holy Men and Women And they that do Judge in God's Divine Matters must live in his Divine Spirit and Power and Light now as they did then which Spiritual and Divine Judgment Christ has given to his Church that be the living Stones and living Members that makes up his spiritual Houshold to try Jews and to try Apostles and to try Prophets and to try Faith and to try Religions and to try Trees and Fruits and to try Shepherds and Teachers and to try Spirits So the living Members have a living and divine Judgment in the Church of Christ which he is the Head of the Judge of all Nay the Church has a Power given them which is farther then a Judgment for what they bind on Earth is bound in Heaven by the Power of God and what they loose on Earth is loosed in Heaven by the Power of God and this Power has Christ given to his living Members the Church The 20th of the 12th Month 1685 6. G. F. to Friends 1686. London I came back to London in the First Month 1686. and set my self with all diligence to look after Friends sufferings which we had now some hopes of getting Relief for The Sessions came on in the Second Month at Hicks's Hall where many Friends had Appeals to be Tried with whom I was from Day to Day to advise and see that no Opportunity were slipt nor Advantage lost and they generally succeeded well Soon after also the King was pleased upon our often laying our Sufferings before him To give order for the Releasing of all Prisoners that were imprisoned for Conscience sake and which were in his power to discharge Whereby the Prison doors were opened and many hundreds of Friends some of whom had been long in Prison were set at Liberty and some of them who had for many years been restrained in Bonds Yearly Meeting came now up to the Yearly-Meeting which was in the Third Month this Year Which caused great Joy to Friends to see our Ancient Faithful Brethren again at Liberty in the Lord's Work after their long Confinements And indeed a precious Meeting we had the refreshing Presence of the Lord appearing plentifully with us and amongst us After the Meeting I was moved to write a few Lines to be sent abroad amongst Friends the tenor whereof was thus Dear Friends MY Love is to you all in the holy Seed Christ Jesus that bruises the Serpent's head and destroys the Devil and his Works and who hath all Power in Heaven and Earth given to him Let every ones Faith stand in him and in his Power who is the Author and Finisher of your Faith And now ye who have been Partakers of his Power and are sensible of it in this Day of his Power that is over all whose day and power is over darkness and its power And by his Power the hearts of the King and Rulers have been opened by which your outward Prison-doors have been set open for your Liberty And therefore my desires are that all may be preserved in Humility and Thankfulness in the sense of the Mercies of the Lord and live in the peaceable Truth that is over all that ye may answer God's Grace and his Light and Spirit in all in a righteous godly Life and Conversation And let none be lifted up by their outward Liberty nor let none be cast down by Suffering for Christ's sake but all live in the Seed which is as Wheat which is not shaken nor blown away by the Winds and Storms as the Chaff is Which Seed of Life none below can make higher or lower for the Children of the Seed are the Children of the everlasting unchangeable Kingdom of Christ and God So in Christ Jesus whom God hath given you for a Sanctuary God Almighty keep you in whom ye have Life Everlasting and Wisdom which is from above pure peaceable gentle and easie to be intreated full of Mercy and good Fruits 1686. London Yearly Meeting that ye all now may be exercised in it and may practise this Wisdom in your godly holy Lives and Conversations so that this Wisdom may be justified of all her Children and they I say exercised and preserved in it in this day of the Power of Christ in which all his People are made a willing People to serve and worship God in Righteousness and Holiness and in the Spirit and Truth So that none may abuse the Power of the Lord nor grieve his Spirit by which you are sealed and kept to the day of Salvation and Redemption But always exercise your selves to have a good Conscience void of Offence towards God and towards all men being exercised in Holiness Godliness and Righteousness and in the Truth and in the Love of it that ye may all study to be approved unto God in Innocency Vertue Simplicity and Faithfulness and so labouring and studying to be quiet in the Will of God in all Conditions And whatsoever ye do in Word or Deed do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus giving Thanks to God the Father by him That he who is over all may have the Praise for all his Mercies and Blessings with which he doth and hath refreshed his People and by his Eternal Arm and Power hath kept and preserved his People to this day Glory to his Name over all for ever Amen! For Christ hath called you by his Grace into One Body to him the holy Head And therefore live in Charity and in the Love of God which is the Bond of Perfectness in his Body which Love edifies the Body of Christ which Body and all his Members are knit together and increased with the Increase of God from whom they receive Nourishment For by one Spirit we are all baptized into one Body and have been made all to drink into one Spirit in which Spirit the Body and all his Members have Fellowship with Christ the Head and one with another And so the Vnity of this holy Spirit is the Bond of Peace of all the living
together in the heavenly places in him And so are clothed with Christ Jesus the Sun who is the Mountain that filleth the whole Earth with his Divine Power and Light And so all his People see him and feel him both by Sea and Land so he is in all places of the Earth felt and seen of all his And Christ Jesus saith to the outward Professors the Jews I am from above ye are from below or beneath ye are of this World to wit that is beneath And so their Religions Worships Ways Teachers Faiths Beliefs and Creeds are made of Men and are below and of this World that changeth like the Moon and ye may see their Religions Ways Worships and Teachers they are all changeable like the Moon but Christ the Sun with which the Church is clothed doth not change nor his Church for they are spiritually minded and their Way Worship and Religion is spiritual from Christ who is from above and not of this World For Christ hath redeemed you from the World and their changeable Rudiments and Elements and old things and their changeable Teachers and from their changeable Faiths and Beliefs For Christ is the Author and Finisher of his Churches Faith who is from above and saith Believe in the Light that ye may become Children of the Light And it is given them not only to believe but to suffer for his Name So this Faith and Belief is above all Faiths and Beliefs which change like the Moon And God's People are an holy Nation a peculiar People a spiritual Houshold and Royal Priesthood offering up spiritual Sacrifice to God by Jesus Christ and are zealous of righteous godly good works and their Zeal is for that which is of God against the Evil which is not of God And Christ took upon him the Seed of Abraham he doth not say the corrupt Seed of the Gentiles So according to the Flesh he was of the holy Seed of Abraham and of David and his holy Body and Blood was an Offering and a Sacrifice for the Sins of the whole World as a Lamb without blemish whose Flesh saw no Corruption And so by the one Offering of himself in the New Testament and New Covenant he has put an end to all the Offerings and Sacrifices amongst the Jews in the Old Testament And Christ the holy Seed was crucified dead and buried according to the Flesh and raised again the third day and his Flesh saw no Corruption Though he was crucified in the Flesh yet quickned again by the Spirit and is alive and liveth for evermore and hath all Power in Heaven and Earth given to him and reigneth over all and is the One Mediator betwixt God and Man even the Man Christ Jesus And Christ said He gave his flesh for the life of the World And the Apostle saith His Flesh saw no Corruption So that which saw no Corruption he gave for the life of the corrupt World to bring them out of Corruption And Christ said again He that eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood hath eternal life for my Flesh is Meat indeed and my Blood is Drink indeed And he that eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood dwelleth in me and I in him And he that eats not his Flesh and drinks not his Blood which is the life of the Flesh hath not Eternal Life Now as the Apostle saith All died in Adam Then all are dead Now all coming spiritually to eat the Flesh of Christ the second Adam and drink his Blood his Blood and Flesh gives all the Dead in Adam life and quickens them out of their sins and trespasses in which they were dead and so they come to sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus and so are living Members of the Church of Christ that he is the Head of and are clothed with the Sun the Sun of Righteousness the Son of God that never changes and have the changeable Moon under their feet and all changeable worldly things and inventions and works of mens hands and do see the People how that they do change from one Worship to another and from one Religion to another and from one Way to another and one Church to another and yet their hearts are not changed And the Letter of Scripture is read by the Christians like the Jews but the Mystery is hid They have the Sheeps-clothing the outside but are inwardly ravened from the Spirit which should bring them into the Lamb's and Sheep's Nature The Scripture saith All the Vncircumcised must go down into the Pit And therefore all must be Circumcised with the Spirit of God which puts off the Body of Death and Sins of the Flesh that came into Man and Woman by their Disobedience and transgressing of God's Commands I say all must be Circumcised with the Spirit which puts off the Body of Death and Sins of the Flesh before they come up into Christ their Rest that never fell and be clothed with him the Sun of Righteousness G. F. Kingston Towards the latter End of this Year I went down to Kingston to visit Friends there and stay'd some time at my Son Rouse's near Kingston While I Was there I writ a Paper concerning the Falling away foretold by the Apostle Paul 2 Thess 2.3 Which Paper was as followeth THE Apostle saith that there must be a Falling away first before the Wicked one and Man of sin the Son of Perdition be Revealed which betrayeth Christ within as the Son of Perdition betrayed Christ without And they that betray Christ within crucifie to themselves Christ afresh and put him to open shame Before the Apostles deceased this Man of Sin and Son of Perdition was revealed for they saw the Antichrist come and false Prophets and false Apostles and Deceivers come having a Form of Godliness but denied the Power thereof They saw the Wolves dressed in the Sheep's Clothing and such as went in Cain's Corah's and Balaam's way and Jezabel's and the Whore of Babylon the Whore of Confusion the Mother of Harlots and such as were Enemies to the Cross of Christ that served not the Lord Jesus Christ but their own Bellies These Christ saw should come and said If it were possible they should deceive the Elect and commanded his Followers not to go after them And the Apostle said Turn away from such and Christ and his Apostles warned the Church of Christ of such And now in this day of Christ and his Gospel after the long Night of Apostacy from the Light and Grace and Truth and Life and Spirit of Christ Jesus the Son of Perdition the wicked One the Man of Sin is revealed again and the inwardly ravening Wolves in Sheeps clothing and the Spirit of Cain Corah Balaam Jezabel the Antichrists false Prophets and false Apostles and such as are Enemies to the Cross of Christ who serve not the Lord Jesus but their own Bellies and crucifie Christ to themselves and put him to open shame This Spirit have we seen in
this Gospel-day of Christ but Christ will consume them with the Spirit of his Mouth and destroy them with the Brightness of his Coming But God's People whom he hath chosen unto Salvation in Christ from the beginning through the Sanctification of the Spirit and the belief of the Truth stand stedfast in Christ Jesus and are thankful to God by and through his Son their Rock and Salvation who is their Happiness and eternal Inheritance The Apostle saith Ye were as Sheep going astray but are now returned to the Shepherd and Bishop of your Souls So when People are returned to Christ their Shepherd they do know his Voice and follow him and are returned to the Bishop of their Souls and then they do believe in him 1686. Kingston and receive Wisdom and Vnderstanding from him who is from above heavenly and spiritual Then they do Act like spiritual and holy Men and Women and come to be Members of the Church of Christ and then a spiritual Care cometh upon the Elders in Christ that all the Members do walk in Christ and in his Light Grace Spirit and Truth that they may adorn their Confession and Profession of Christ and see that all do walk in the Order of the holy Spirit and the everlasting Gospel of Peace Life and Salvation And this Order keeps out of Confusion for the Gospel of Peace the Power of God was before Confusion was And all the Heirs of the Gospel are Heirs of its Order and are in this Gospel which brings Life and Immortality to Light in them by which all Men and Women may see their Work and Services in it to look after the Poor Widows and Fatherless and to see that nothing be lacking and that all do honour the Lord in their Lives and Conversations When the whole House of Israel were in their Graves and Sepulchres and were called The scattered dry Bones yet they could speak and say Their Bones were dry their Hope was lost or they were without Hope and they were cut off so that they were Alive outwardly and could speak outwardly So that which is called Christendom may very well be called The scattered dry Bones and they be said to be in their Graves and Sepulchres dead from the heavenly Breath of Life and from the Spirit and Word of Life that gathereth to God Though they can speak and are Alive outwardly yet they remain in the Congregations or Churches of the Dead that want the vertue of Life For the Jews whom God poured his Spirit upon and gave them his Law when they rebelled against the Spirit of God and turned from God and his Law then they came to be dry scattered Bones and were turned into their Graves and Sepulchres And so Christendom that is turned from the Grace and Truth and Light of Christ and the Spirit that God poureth upon all flesh they are become the scattered dry Bones and are in their Graves and Sepulchres and are the Congregations or Churches of the Dead though they can speak and are Alive outwardly Christ saith I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly And he gave his flâ—sh for the life of the World And he saith I am the Resurrection and the Life and I am the Way the Truth and the Life No man cometh unto the Father but by me And Christ is the quickening Spirit All being dead in Adam they are to be quickened and made alive by Christ the second Adam And when they are quickned and made alive by him then they do Meet together in the Name of Jesus Christ their Saviour who died for their Sins and is risen for their Justification and so was dead and is alive again and liveth for evermore And all whom he hath quickened and made alive even all the living do Meet in the Name of Jesus who is alive and he their living Prophet Shepherd and Bishop is in the midst of them and is their living Rock and Foundation and a living Mediator between them and the living God And so the Living do praise the living God through Jesus Christ through whom they have Peace with God And so all the Living have Rest in Christ their Life and he is their Sanctification and their Righteousness and their Treasure of Wisdom Knowledge and Vnderstanding which is spiritual and heavenly And he is the spiritual Tree and Root which all the Believers in the Light the Life in Christ that do pass from the death in Adam to the Life in Christ and overcome the World and are born of God are grafted into even Christ the heavenly Tree which beareth all the spiritual Branches or Grafts So these do Meet in his Name and are gathered in him and do sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus their Life who hath quickened and made them alive And so all the Living do worship the living God in his holy Spirit and Truth in which they Live and Walk And into this Worship the foul unclean Spirit the Devil cannot get for the holy Spirit and Truth is over him and he is out of it This is the standing Worship which Christ set up in his New Covenant And they that are quickened and made alive by Christ are the living Stones and living Members and spiritual Houshold and Church or Congregation of Christ who is the living Head and Husband And they that are quickened and made alive by Christ are a living Church and have a living Head and are come from the Congregations or Churches of the Dead in Adam where Death and Destruction talks of God and of his Prophets and Apostles in their Wisdom that is below and earthly and devilish and in the knowledge that is bruitish and in the understanding that comes to naught For what they know is natural by their natural Tongues and Arts and Sciences in which they corrupt themselves This is the state of the Dead in Adam But the Quickened and they that are made alive by Christ do discern between the Living and the Dead Kingston upon Thames the 12th Month 1686 7. G. F. While I was at Kingston I writ also another Paper shewing That the Lord in all Ages called the Righteous out from amongst the Wicked before he destroyed them Which Paper here follows NOah and his Family were called into the Ark before the Old World was destroyed with the Flood of Water And all the Faithful Generation that lived before were taken away and died in the Faith before that Flood of Destruction came upon the wicked Old World The Lord did call Lot out of Sodom before he did destroy and consume it and the Wicked there Christ said It cannot be that a Prophet perish out of Jerusalem and he said O Jerusalem Jerusalem which killest the Prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee how often would I have gathered thy Children together as a Hen gathereth her Brood under her Wings but ye would not Luke 13.33 34. And Christ said unto
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
said You have nothing to do with us to build an House unto our God Ezra 4.2 3. So here ye may see that God's People refused their building with them and their sacrifice And Solomon saith The Sacrifice of the Wicked is an Abomination to the Lord Prov. 15.8 See also Isa 1.11 and chap. 66.3 Solomon also saith Better is a dry Morsel and quietness therewith than an house full of Sacrifices with strife Prov. 17.1 Now let all People Consider what Good your house full of Sacrifices doth with strife when a dry Morsel and Quietness therewith is better And Consider all People If ye live in Wickedness your Sacrifice is an Abomination to the Lord. Again Solomon speaking of the Sacrifice of Fools saith They consider not that they do evil Eccles 5.1 Fools are such as do not walk in the Spirit of God or begin in the Spirit and end in the Flesh like the foolish Galatians for the Spirit of God is the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding and cannot Join with the Sacrifices of the Dead nor of the Fools nor of the Wicked whose Sacrifice is Abominable who grieve and quench the Spirit of God by which Spirit of God the Spiritual and Righteous offer up Spiritual Sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ The Apostle Paul saith he was the Minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles ministring the Gospel of God that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable being sanctified by the Holy Ghost Rom. 15.16 So ye may see that all the acceptable Offerings and Sacrifices to God must be sanctified by the Holy Ghost The same Apostle saith to the Corinthians Ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your Body and in your Spirit which are God's 1 Cor. 6.20 And to the Romans he saith I beseech you Brethren by the Mercies of God that you present your Bodies a living Sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable Service Rom. 12.1 Now this is the duty of all true Christians Peter also saith in his general Epistle to the Church of Christ Ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house an holy Priest-hood to offer up spiritual Sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 2.5 So every Man and Woman must come to the Spirit of God in their own hearts if they do offer up spiritual Sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ For as Christ saith Every Sacrifice shall be salted with salt Mark 9.49 And in the Old Testament ye may see All their outward Offerings they were to season them with salt Levit. 2.13 a Type and Figure of Christ who gave himself for us an Offering and a Sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour Ephes 5.2 Therefore all his People must be baptized with the Holy Ghost and with Fire that they may be salted with Fire and every Sacrifice salted with salt with the Spirit of Grace that is poured upon all so that they may offer up this spiritual Sacrifice acceptable to God by Jesus Christ Samuel said to King Saul Hath the Lord as great delight in Burnt-offerings and Sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord behold to obey is better than Sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of Rams 1 Sam. 15.22 So ye may see All Offerings and Sacrifices are nothing if there be not an hearkening to the Lord in his Spirit and an obeying of his voice And Christ told the Jews that were outward Sacrificers that he would have Mercy and not Sacrifice and bid them Go and learn what that meaneth Matth. 9.13 Gooses the 28th of the 2d Month 1687. G. F. The beginning of the Third Month I returned to London London Yearly-Meeting and continued there till after the Yearly-Meeting which began on the sixteenth of the same and was very large Friends having more freedom to come up out of the Countries to it by reason of the general Toleration and Liberty now granted The Meeting lasted several days and at the Close thereof it was upon me to write the following Lines to be dispersed amongst Friends every where as A Word of Counsel and Caution to them to walk circumspectly in this time of Liberty Dear Friends and Brethren in the Lord Jesus Christ THE Lord by his Eternal Arm and Power having supported you in all your Sufferings and great spoiling of Goods and tedious Imprisonments only for serving and worshipping the living God that made you who gave up Wife and Children and Goods and suffered the spoil of them and Imprisonment for his Truth and Name 's sake And now the Lord by his Infinite Power and Mercy having been pleased to open the King's heart towards you by which you are set at Liberty from the Gaols and the Spoilers of your Goods are stopt whereby ye may follow your Callings and Husbandry and confess Christ Jesus and call him Lord by the Holy Ghost in your Assemblies and Meetings without being cast into Gaols or having your Goods spoiled And now Dear Brethren a great Concern lies upon me from the Lord to Write unto you That none may abuse this Liberty nor the Mercies of the Lord but prize them for there is great danger in time of Liberty of getting up and getting into Ease and Looseness and false Liberty And now seeing that ye have not the outward Persecutors to War withal in sufferings with the spiritual Weapons keep down that which would not be subject to Christ that he the Holy One may reign in your hearts So that your Lives Conversations and Words may preach Righteousness and Truth 1687. London Yearly-Meeting That ye may all shew forth good Ensamples of true Believers in Christ in Vertue and Holiness Answering that which may be known of God in all People that ye are the Sons and Daughters of God Standing fast in that righteous holy Liberty in Christ that just and holy One that has made you free over the loose or false shunning the occasions of vain Disputes and foolish Questions of Men of corrupt Minds For the Serpent was the first Questioner of Eve who drew her and Adam out of the Truth Therefore as ye have received Christ all Live and Walk in him who bruises the Serpent's Head who is your safe Sanctuary in whom ye have Election Reconciliation and Peace with God And therefore live in the Peace which ye have from Christ which is not of this World and be at peace one with another and seek the peace of all Men in Christ Jesus for blessed are the Peace-makers And labour to exercise a good Conscience towards God in obedience to him in what he requires and in doing to all Men the thing that is just and honest in your Conversations and Words giving no Offence to Jew nor Gentile nor to the Church of God So that ye may be as a City set on God's Sion-Hill which cannot be hid and may be Lights to the dark World that they may see your good Fruits and Works Righteous and
Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the World and this is the Victory that overcometh the World even our Faith ver 4. Were not these that were Born of God in the Kingdom of God And seeing John says Every one that doth Righteousness is born of God do not such see the Kingdom of God that stands in Righteousness and enter into it Peter in his first general Epistle to the Church of Christ saith As new-born Babes desire the sincere Milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby 1 Pet. 2.2 And he tells them they were a Chosen Generation a Royal Priesthood an holy Nation a peculiar People that they should shew forth the praises of him who had called them out of darkness into his marvellous light ver 9. And that as lively stones they were built up a spiritual house an holy Priesthood to offer up spiritual Sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ ver 5. Did not these New-born Babes these lively Stones spiritual Houshold Royal Priesthood holy Nation and chosen Generation who were called out of darkness into Christ's marvellous light see and enter into his holy Kingdom being Heirs of the same who were Born again not of corruptible Seed but of incorruptible by the Word of God which liveth and abideth for ever 1 Pet. 1.23 And had not such an Entrance ministred to them into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ James in his general Epistle to the Church of Christ saith Hath not God chosen the poor of this World rich in Faith and Heirs of the Kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him James 2.5 The Apostle Paul saith God sent forth his Son made of a Woman c. to redeem them that were under the Law that we might receive the Adoption of Sons And because ye are Sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Abba Father Wherefore thou art no more a Servant but a Son and if a Son then an Heir of God through Christ Gal. 4.4 5 6 7. The same Apostle saith As many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the Sons of God And tells the Saints at Rome Ye have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father The Spirit it self beareth witness with our spirit that we are the Children of God And if Children then Heirs Heirs of God and Joint-heirs with Christ if so be we suffer with him that we may be also glorified together namely with Christ Rom. 8.14 15 16 17. Now seeing they are the Sons of God that are led by the Spirit of God and the Spirit beareth witness unto their Spirit that they are the Children of God and Heirs of God and Joint-heirs with Christ Are not all these Children of God Heirs of the righteous glorious Kingdom of God and do they not see it and enter into it The Lord saith in Hosea 1.10 Where it was said unto them Ye are not my People there it shall be said unto them Ye are the Sons of the living God Did not this relate to the Gospel-days of the New Covenant see Rom. 9.26 And what the Lord said by the Prophet Jeremiah Ch. 31.1 the Apostle applies to the Gospel-days and says Be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the Unclean thing and I will receive you and will be a Father unto you and ye shall be my Sons and Daughters saith the Lord Almighty 2 Cor. 6.18 Are not these the Children that see and enter into the righteous Kingdom of God that seperate from that which is Vnclean and touch it not The Lord saith also by Isaiah I will say to the North Give up and to the South Keep not back Bring my Sons from far and my Daughters from the ends of the Earth Isa 43 6. Then doth not he bring them to his Kingdom of Glory that stands in Righteousness and Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost And the Lord said to Job When the Morning-stars sang together and all the Sons of God shouted for Joy Job 38.7 Where did these Sons of God shout for joy Was it not in his Kingdom of Glory Christ saith The least in the Kingdom of God is greater than John Luke 7.28 And in Chap. 16.16 he says The Law and the Prophets were until John since that time viz. since the Law and the Prophets and John the Kingdom of God is preached and every Man presseth into it The good Seed are the Children of the Kingdom Matth. 13.38 And the righteous shall shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father ver 43. And Christ said unto his Disciples Vnto you it is given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of God Mark 4.11 And Christ lifted up his Eyes upon his Disciples and said Blessed be ye poor for yours is the Kingdom of God Luke 6.20 And the Apostles preached the Kingdom of God These were Born again that saw and knew the Kingdom of God preached it Christ said to his Disciples Fear not little Flock for it is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the Kingdom Luke 12.32 And I appoint to you a Kingdom said Christ as my Father hath appointed to me Chap. 22.29 The Lord said He that overcometh shall Inherit all things and I will be his God and he shall be my Son Rev. 21.7 And John saith I have written unto you Young men because ye are strong and the Word of God abideth in you and ye have overcome the wicked One 1 John 2.14 And Christ by whom are all things is said To bring many Sons to Glory Hebr. 2.10 Christ said Wo unto you Scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites for ye shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against Men for ye neither go in your selves neither suffer ye them that are entring to goin Matth. 23.13 He also said Wo unto you Lawyers for ye have taken away the Key of Knowledge ye entred not in your selves and them that were entring in ye hindred Luke 11.52 Christ gives unto his Children the Keys of the Kingdom his Spirit but the Scribes and the Pharisees and the Lawyers great Professors who were erred from the Spirit like the great Professors in our Age that scoff at the Spirit and draw People from the Spirit of God within these shut up the Kingdom from Men and draw People from the Key of Knowledge and the Key of the Kingdom For no Man knows the things of God but by the Spirit of God for the Things of God are spiritually discerned So the Spirit is the Key by which the Kingdom of God and the Things of God are revealed and discerned and known according to 1 Cor. 2.10 11 13 14. The Apostle names some in his Epistle to the Colossians and says These are my Fellow-workers unto the Kingdom of God Col. 4.11 And he tells that Church that God hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the Kingdom of his dear Son Chap. 1.13 So ye may see these
were born again that were translated into the Kingdom of Christ and were Fellow-workers unto the Kingdom of God Christ exhorts his Disciples to Love and to do Good that they might be the Children of their Father which is in Heaven Matth. 5.45 And he bids them be perfect even as their Father which is in Heaven is perfect ver 48. And the Apostle saith to the Church at Philippi That ye may be blameless and harmless the Sons of God without Rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse Nation amongst whom ye shine as Lights in the World holding forth the Word of Life c. Phil. 2.15 16. And writing to the Church of the Thessalonians he puts them in mind how he had exhorted them That they would Walk worthy of God who had called them into his Kingdom and Glory 1 Thess 2.12 The Lord had promised by the Prophet Joel that he would Pour out his Spirit upon all Flesh and that Sons and Daughters should Prophesie Old men should dream Dreams and Young-men see Visions Joel 2.28 Now the Cause that Sons and Daughters Hand-maids Servants Young-men and Old men have not these heavenly Visions Dreams and Prophecies is because they are Erred from the Spirit of God which he poureth upon them but as many as are led by the Spirit of God are the Sons of God John saith Christ was the True Light which lighteth every Man that cometh into the World John 1.9 And that As many as received him to them gave he power to become the Sons of God ver 12. which were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God ver 13. Now the Reason why People do not become the Sons of God is because they do not receive Christ The Jews the great Professors which had the Promises Prophecies Figures and Shadows of him they would not receive him when he came And now the Priests and high Professors of Christ they are so far from receiving the Light of Christ and believing in it that they have hated the Light and scoff at it calling it a Natural Conscience and some have called it Jack in the Lanthorn Such are not like to become the Sons of God nor to see the glorious Kingdom of Christ which stands in Righteousness Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost For the Light that shines in the heart gives the Light of the Knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus And they that do not receive Christ Jesus but hate his Light which is the Life in him and yet profess him in words such neither know the Children of the Light nor true Fellowship in the Light nor the Kingdom of God that stands in Righteousness Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost but by the Light they are condemned And this is the Condemnation that Light is come into the World and Men love Darkness rather than Light because their deeds are evil For every one that doth evil hateth the Light neither cometh to the Light lest his deeds should be reproved John 3.19 20. But the Children of the Light that walk in the Light they come to heavenly Jerusalem and to the City of the living God and to the innumerable Company of Angels and to the general Assembly and Church of the First born that are written in Heaven and can sing Hallelujah Gooses the 2d of the 7th Month 1687. G. F Having now been somewhat more than a quarter of a Year in the Country London I returned to London somewhat better in health than formerly having received much benefit by the Country-Air And it being now a time of General Liberty and great Openness amongst the People I had much Service for the Lord in the City being almost daily at Publick Meetings and frequently taken up in Visiting Friends that were sick and in other Services of the Church I continued at London about Three Months and then finding my strength much spent with continual labouring in the Work of the Lord and my Body much stopped for want of fresh Air Kingston I went down to my Son Rouse's by Kingston where I abode some time and visited Friends at Kingston While I was there it came upon me to write a Paper concerning the Jews shewing How by their Disobedience and Rebellion they lost the holy City and Land By which Example the prosest Christians may see what they are to Expect if they continue to disobey and provoke the Lord. Of that Paper the Copy here followeth THE Lord gave the Jews in the Old Testament the Land of Canaan and they built the Temple at Jerusalem to worship in and it was called The Holy Temple and Jerusalem was called The Holy City and Canaan The Holy Land But when the Jews rebelled against the good Spirit which God gave them to instruct them and rebelled against his Law 1687. Kingston and set up Idols and Images and defiled the Land and the City the Lord sent his Prophets to Cry against them and to bring them back again to his Spirit and to his Law and so to God to serve and worship him that they might not worship Images and Idols the works of their own hands But instead of hearkening to God's Prophets they persecuted them and at last killed his Son Christ Jesus and persecuted his Apostles But Christ told the Jews that both their City and Temple should be laid Waste and they should be scattered over all Nations And it was so when Titus the Roman Emperour came and took Jerusalem and destroyed the City and Temple which was a Day of Vengeance upon the Jews for all their Idolatries and their Wickedness and for the Innocent blood they had shed both in City and Country And they were driven out of their own City and Land and scattered over all Nations And the Jews had never power to get the â—and since nor to build Jerusalem nor the Temple But the Turk hath both the Land of Canaan and that which is called The City Jerusalem Now the Turk neither makes Images nor Worships Images And so it is a just Hand of the Lord that he should be over the persecuting Idolatrous Jews so that they cannot defile the Land of Canaan now with Images and Idols for the Turk hath it who neither makes Images nor Idols nor worships them And the Jews must never hope believe nor expect that ever they shall go again into the Land of Canaan to set up an outward Worship at Jerusalem and there for their Priests to offer outward Sacrifices of Rams Sheep and Heifers c. for Burnt-Offerings for Christ the one Offering hath offered himself once for all and by this one Offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified And Christ hath changed the Priesthood of Aaron that offered Sacrifices which was made after the power of a Carnal Commandment but Christ was made after the power of an endless Life a Priest for ever who was holy and
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
all to be shaken and removed and broken to pieces though they do not see it nor him that doth it But his Elect and Faithful do both see it and know him and his Power that cannot be shaken and which changeth not The 5th of the 1st Month 1688 9. G. F. 1689. London About the middle of the First Month 1688 9. I went to London the Parliament then sitting and being then about the Bill for Indulgence And though I was but Weak in Body and not well able to stir to and fro yet so great a Concern was upon my Spirit on behalf of Truth and Friends that I Attended continually for many days with othet Friends at the Parliament-House labouring with the Members thereof that the thing might be done Comprehensively and Effectually In this and other Services at Meetings and amongst Friends I continued till towards the end of the Second Month when being much spent with continual Labour I got out of Town for a little while South-gate as far as South-gate and thereabouts And while I was there I writ a Letter to Peter Hendricks a Friend at Amsterdam in Holland in which I inclosed an Epistle to the Friends at Dantzick in Poland who at this time were under great Persecution And as I writ unto them to Incourage and Strengthen them in their Testimony and to Comfort them in their Sufferings for the Truth so also I writ a Paper to their Persecutors the Magistrates of Dantzick laying before them the Evil of Persecution and perswading them to Christian Moderation and To do unto others in Matters of Religion as they would be done unto Which Papers were as followeth To Peter Hendricks at Amsterdam and to Friends at Dantzick who are under Persecution Dear Friend P. H. WIth my Love to thee and thy Wife and J. Clause and J. Roeloffs and all the rest of Friends every where in Christ Jesus who Reigns over all And I am glad to hear that Friends are well in all those Provinces and Places every where except Dantzick and that you were so diligent in spreading my Papers to the strengthening of Friends I have lately printed the Life of William Caton but not made a Collection of his Books and I think to send some of them to you which you may Translate and Print if you will it may be serviceable among Friends especially them that knew him Now concerning Dear Friends at Dantzick whom the Lord hath supported by his Eternal Arm and Power to this Day I hope by the same Arm and Power he will support them and in it they will feel his Blessed Presence with them in all their Sufferings who is over the Cruelty of their Persecutors who will hardly let them breathe neither Outwardly nor Inwardly in the Common Air of their Natural Soil Which shews both their Immorality Inhumanity and Vnchristianity and that they want the Counsel of a Gamaliel amongst them whose Actions are below the Law of God To do unto others as they would have them do unto them And God will not Bless the Doings of such 1689. Southgate And however I desire that Friends may mind the Lord's Power that is over all and be valiant for his Truth and keep upon their Rock and Foundation Christ Jesus that stands sure in this time of the heat of the Sun of Persecution which is so hot upon you who will not let you nor suffer you to have so much as your Natural Houses to work and sleep in nor meet nor serve God in And the Lord doth behold all such Actors and their Actions And therefore look over all such Actors and Actions to him who is able to Deal with them and Reward them according to their Works And so God Almighty preserve you all in Christ Jesus in whom you have Rest Life and Peace Amen Southgate the 28th of the 2d Month 1689. G. F. To the Magistrates of Dantzick Christian Shroder President of the Council and Emanuel Dilger N. Gadecken and N. Fraterus Deputies of the Council and the Rest of the Magistrates and Priests WE have seen your Order and of your Breathing out Persecution against that Little Flock the Lambs of Christ that lived under your Jurisdiction in the City of Dantzick and how that you have Imprisoned and Banished Two by the Hangman out of the Government of your City and others you threaten to do the same to with great punishment if they Return And likewise you threaten them with punishment that they Rent their Houses of if they let them have their Houses either to Live in or Meet in to Serve and Worship the Lord that made them Truly I am heartily sorry for both your Magistrates and Priests that go under the Name of Christians and shew such Immoral and Inhuman Vnchristian Actions below the Royal Law of God which is To do to others as you would have them do unto you For would you think it was Moral Human or Christian or according to the Law of God if the King of Poland who is of another Religion than you should Banish you out of your City by the Hangman and call you Murderers of Souls Could you say but this was according to the Law of God To do unto you as you have done unto others But if you say That you have the Sword and the Horn and the Power but blessed be the Lord that hath shortened your Sword and your Power and your Horn that it reaches no further than your Jurisdiction of Dantzick and you do not know how long God may suffer you to have your Horn and your Power and your Sword We are sure you have not the Mind nor Spirit of Christ and the Apostle saith They that have not the Spirit of Christ are none of his as in Rom. 8. And Christ bids Peter Put up his Sword They that draw the Sword concerning him to Defend him and his Worship and Faith should perish with the Sword And Peter and the Apostles never drew the outward Sword after but said Their Weapons were Spiritual not Carnal and they did not wrestle with flesh and blood And Christ never gave forth any such Command that they should Banish any by the Hangmen that were not of their Religion nor would not receive it Are not you worse than the Turks who let many Religions be in their Country yea Christians and to Meet peaceably Yea the Turkish Patroons let our Friends that were Captives Meet together at Algiers and said It was good so to do And at Sally those barbarous People who do not profess Christianity you are worse than they for you profess Christ in Words but in Works deny him And did you ever know either in Scripture or History that any Persecutors prospered long And you are worse than they are in the Mogul's Country who they say permits Sixty Religions in his Dominions and many others might be mentioned which you are worse than them all in your Cruelty and Persecution of God's People only for Meeting
time amongst Friends thereabouts and had Meetings at all those places Then being a little refreshed with being in the Country I went back to London where I tarried labouring in the Work of the Ministry till the middle of the Ninth Month at which time I went down with my Son Mead to his House in Essex and abode there all the Winter Essex Gooses During which time I stirred not much abroad unless it were sometimes to the Meeting to which that Family belonged which was about half a Mile from thence but I had Meetings often in the House with the Family and those Friends that came thither Many things also I writ while I was there some of which follow here One was an Epistle to the Quarterly and Yearly-Meetings of Friends in Pensylvania New-England Virginia Maryland the Jerseys Carolina and other Plantations in America And it was thus MY Dear Friends and Brethren in the Lord Jesus Christ who by believing in his Light are become Children of his Light and of his Day my desires are that you may all walk in his Light and in his Day and keep the Feast of Christ our Passover who is sacrificed for us not with Old Leaven neither with the Leaven of Malice and Wickedness but let all that be purged out that ye may be a New Lump keeping the Feast of Christ our Passover with the unleavened Bread of Sincerity and Truth Therefore let no leavened Bread be found in your Houses nor in your Meetings nor in the Camp of God or Houshold of Faith which are the Houshold of Christ But all that sour old Leaven which makes Peoples hearts sour and to burn one against another all that must be purged out of the Camp of God and kept out For the Feast of Christ our Passover must be kept in the New Covenant with his heavenly unleavened Bread of Life The Jews in the Old Testament their Feast was kept with outward unleavened Bread And now in the New Testament in the Gospel-Day our Feast is to be kept with the heavenly unleavened Bread of Sincerity and Truth Therefore Friends I desire you seriously to consider and to keep this Feast which the Apostle directed the Church of Christ to keep Do not you see Christendom 1689. Gooses so called keep their Feasts with the leavened Bread of Malice and Wickedness which makes them so sour and their hearts to burn one against another that they have destroyed and do destroy one another about Religion Therefore all live in the love of God which keeps above the love of the World so that none of your Hearts may be choaked or surfeited with these outward Things or with the Cares of the World which will pass away But mind ye the World and the Life that is without end that ye may be heirs of it And Friends you should strive to Excel all both Professor and Prophane both in Morality Humanity and Christianity Modesty Sobriety and Moderation and in a good godly righteous Life and Conversation shewing forth the Fruits of the Spirit of God and that you are the Children of the living God and Children of the Light and of the Day and not of the Night And serve God in Newness of Life for it is the Life and a living and walking in the Truth that must Answer the Witness of God in all People that they seeing your good Works may glorifie our Father which is in Heaven Therefore be valiant for God's holy pure Truth and spread it abroad among both Professors and Profane and the Indians And you should write over once a year from all your Yearly-Meetings to the Yearly-Meeting here concerning your Diligence in the Truth and of its spreading and of Peoples receiving it both Professors and Profane and the Indians and concerning the Peace of the Church of Christ amongst your selves For blessed be the Lord Truth doth get ground in these Parts and many are made very loving to Friends and the Lord's Power and Seed is over all In which God Almighty keep all his People to his Glory Amen Gooses the 28th of the 11th Month 1689. G. F. While I was in the City I had a Concern upon my Spirit with respect to a Twofold Danger that attended some who profest Truth one was of Young Peoples running into the Fashions of the World and the other was of Old Peoples going into the Earth And that Concern coming now again weightily upon me I was moved to give forth the following Paper as a Reproof to such and an Exhortation and Warning to all Friends to beware of and keep out of those Snares To all that do Profess the Truth of God MY desires are that you may walk in Humility in it For when the Lord first called me forth he let me see That Young People grew up together in Vanity and the Fashions of the World and Old People went downwards into the Earth raking it together and to both these I was to be a stranger And now Friends I do see too many Young People that do profess the Truth 1690. Gooses do grow up into the Fashions of the World and too many Parents indulge them And amongst the Elder some are growing downwards and raking after the Earth Therefore take heed that you are not making your Graves while you are Alive outwardly and loading your selves with thick Clay Hab. â— 6 For if you have not power over the Earthly Spirit and that which leadeth into a Vain Mind and the Fashions of the World and into the Earth though you have often had the Rain fall upon your Fields you will but bring forth Thistles Briars and Thorns which is for the Fire And such will become brittle peevish fretful Spirits that will not abide the heavenly Doctrine and the Admonitions Exhortations and Reproofs of the Holy Ghost or heavenly Spirit of God which would bring you to be Conformable to the Death of Christ and to his Image that ye might have Fellowship with him in his Resurrection And therefore it is good for all to bow to the Name of Jesus their Saviour and that all may Confess him to the Glory of God the Father For I have had a Concern upon me in a sense of the Danger of Young Peoples going into the Fashions of the World and Old Peoples going into the Earth and many going into a loose and false Liberty till at last they go quite out into the Spirit of the World as some have done Such their House hath been built upon the Sand on the Sea shore not upon Christ the Rock that they are so soon in the World again under a pretence of Liberty of Conscience But it is not a pure Conscience nor in the Spirit of God nor in Christ Jesus for in the Liberty in the Spirit there is the Vnity which is the Bond of Peace and all are one in Christ Jesus in whom is the true Liberty And this is not of the World for He is not of the World And
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
House When thou seest the Naked that thou cover him and that thou hide not thy self from thy own Flesh Do you keep this true Fast Then shall thy Light break forth as the Morning and thine Health shall spring forth speedily and thy Righteousness shall go before thee the Glory of the Lord shall be thy Re-reward Then shalt thou call and the Lord shall Answer thou shalt cry and he shall say here I am If thou take away from the midst of thee the Yokes the putting forth of the Finger and speaking Vanity And if thou draw out thy Soul to the Hungry and satisfie the afflicted Soul then shall thy Light arise out of obscurity and thy Darkness be as the Noon-day And the Lord shall guide thee continually and satisfie thy Soul in drought and make fat thy Bones and thou shalt be like a watered Garden and like a Spring of Water whose Waters fail not c. Now here is the practice of the true Fast the Lord requires of his People and they that observe this Fast the Lord saith When they call he will Answer And you may see what glorious and happy Comforts they do receive from the Lord that keep this true Fast but such as fast for Strife and Debate and smite with the fists of Wickedness to make their Voices to be heard on high and afflict their Souls for a day and bow down their Head as a Bull-rush and looses not the Bands of Wickedness and does not undo every heavy Burden and break off every Yoke and let the Oppressed go free and does not deal his Bread to the Hungry and clothe the Naked and bring the Poor to his House but hides himself from his own Flesh and cloaths not the Naked Such Fasts and Fasters the Lord doth not accept neither hath he chosen them But these appear to Men with their disfigured Faces and hanging down their Heads as a Bull-rush for a Day like the Hypocrites to fast as Christ speaks of in Matth. 6. And is it not the Command of Christ that in their Fast they should not appear unto Men to Fast And now you that would force us to shut up our Shops on Fasting-days or for a Day does not this Fast appear to Men and is not this the Fast that the Lord saith in Isaiah he doth not accept for he saith Is this the Fast that I have chosen a Day for a Man to afflict his Soul and bow down his Head as a Bull-rush c. Wilt thou call this a Fast and an acceptable Day to the Lord Isai 58. And therefore all God's People are to keep the true Fast of the Lord from Debate and Strife and the Fists of Wickedness and that Fast that breaks the Bands of Wickedness and undoes every heavy Burden and breaks every Yoke and lets the Oppressed go free and deals Bread to the Hungry and cloaths the Naked and brings the Poor that are cast out to his own House So every one that keeps this true Fast their Health shall grow and when they Call the Lord will hear them and the Lord will be their Guide continually and satisfie their Souls in drought and make their Bones fat and shall be like a watered Garden and like a Spring of Water whose Waters fail not Now you that keep not this true Fast when you call upon the Lord on your own Fasting-days does the Lord Answer you and say Here I am doth the Lord guide you continually and is your Bones made fat by him and your Souls satisfied in drought and are you like a watered Garden and like a Spring whose Waters fail not But you that keep not this true Fast do you not want these Waters which fail not so your Souls are not satisfied in drought but your Bones are lean and you hear not the Voice of the Lord who saith Here I am and so you lose the Heritage of Jacob and ride not upon the High-places there but come under And therefore every Man and Woman shut your hearts against all manner of Evil whatsoever and trade not with Babylon's Merchants of Confusion but keep the Supernatural Day of Christ that is sprung from on high that is by believing and walking in the Light of Christ and being grafted into him and this will bring you to the true Fast from feeding upon any Evil and to the true praying in the Spirit as Christ and the Apostles have taught which Fruits of the Spirit is Love c. which Birth of the Spirit is not a persecuting Birth But he that is born of the Flesh will persecute him that is born of the Spirit because he will not follow the Birth of the Flesh with its weak beggarly Elements that entangles with its Yoke of Bondage and its observing of Days Months Times Fasts Feasts and Years which the Birth of the Spirit is to stand fast against in the Liberty wherewith Christ hath made it free And do you not know that the very Turks keep their Sabbath on the Sixth Day and the Jews upon the Seventh Day and the Christians meet together on the First Day of the Week And that Day which the Turks keep the Jews and Christians Shops are open and that Day the Jews keep Christians and Turks Shops are open and the First-Days that the Christians keep both Jews and Turks Shops are open and so the Turk does not force the Jews nor the Christians to shut up their Shops on their Meeting-Days but lets them have their Liberty in the Turks Country And where do you read that ever the Turks forced any Christians to observe any of their Holy-Days or Fasts or Feasts And if not should not Christians be beyond the Turks in giving Liberty to all tender Consciences to serve God seeing Christ and the Apostles command not nor force People to observe Holy-Days or Times or Months or Years but should Pray always in the Spirit and Fast always from Strife and Debate from all manner of Sin and Evil and that will keep down the Fist of Wickedness and the Bond of Iniquity c. And why should not People that be of a tender Conscience have their Liberty to exercise their Consciences towards God that they may have a good Conscience always towards God and Man to that which God requires and to do unto all Men as they would have them to do unto them and to love their Neighbours as themselves seeing that there are so many debauched evil and seared Consciences as with an hot Iron have the Liberty in their loose Lives and Conversations and in their loose Words whose Tongues are at Liberty to Swear and Curse and their Spirits are at Liberty in Drunkenness and Uncleanness So let the Magistrates look and see how this evil seared Conscience hath its Liberty to be Exercised in all manner of evil things yea all Christendom over which is a great shame and dishonour to God and Christ and Christianity yea and Humanity And therefore why should not God's People have
not Banish him and Persecute him out of your Cities and Corporations And how can you enter into his Kingdom and have a share of his Kingdom though you may profess him in Words And do not they go into Everlasting Punishment that did not visit Christ in Prison Then what will become of you that do Banish and Imprison him where he is manifest in his Members nor suffer them to Meet together to enjoy him amongst them according to his Promise And therefore you that will not let Christ Reign in his People and have his Liberty in them in your Cities and Countries to Exercise his Offices you will not have your Liberty in Heaven and you that will not let Christ Reign in your Hearts nor suffer him to Reign in his People here upon the Earth in this World in your Kingdoms you will not Reign with Christ in Heaven in his Kingdom nor in the World without end And so you that banish the Truth out of your Cities or Countries or his People for its sake you do banish the Truth and Christ out of your hearts from Ruling there and so you your selves are not the Temples of God And then when you have banished Christ and his Truth out of your own hearts then you do banish such in whom he Rules out of your Estates and Country and then see what Judgments the Lord doth bring upon you when you are left to your selves yea Fears and Troubles and one Judgment after another that come upon you you are even filled with them But the Banished and Sufferers for Truth and Christ's sake have a peaceable habitation in the Truth which the Devil is out of and cannot get in which habitation will out-last all the habitations of the Wicked and Persecutors though they be never so full of Words without Life and Truth So the Life and the Truth will out-last all Airy Notions and Christ the Lamb and patient Seed will overcome the Devourer and the unpatient Seed and they that have the Garments the Righteousness of Christ which is the fine Linnen it will out-last all the Rags and Inventions of Men. For Christ saith to his Learners Be of good chear I have overcome the World the persecuting World and so he said unto his Disciples Marvel not if that the World hate you for it hated me before you And therefore let all that profess themselves Christians lay away Persecution about Religion Churches or Worship Fasting or Praying-Days for you have no Command from Christ and his Apostles to Persecute any For Christ who is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords when they called him a Deceiver and blasphemed him and said He had a Devil he did not Persecute any of them for it nor force or compel any to hear and believe him nor the Apostles after him but he bad them that would have been plucking up the Tares Let the Tares and the Wheat grow together until the Harvest So you have no Command from Christ or his Apostles to Persecute Imprison or Banish or Spoil the Goods of any for matter of pure Conscience and Religion Worship Faith and Church in the Gospel-times Harlingen in Friezland the 11th of the 6th Month 1677. G. F. A Warning to the Magistrates Priests and People of the City of Hamborough to Humble themselves before the Lord and not to be High-minded Friends YOU have painted and garnished the Inside of your outward Houses and High-places but look within your Hearts with the Light of Christ Amsterdam which he hath enlightned you and every Man that cometh into the World withal and with it you may see To pag. 448 how foul your Hearts and Insides are with Sin and Evil which Christ tells you ye should make clean who told the Pharisees how they painted the Sepulchres of the Righteous and they themselves were full of Rottenness and Corruption Therefore look into your selves 1677. Amsterdam and your own hearts what you are full of to paint out the Sepulchres of the Righteous Apostles and making a Trade and a Profession of their words without the same Holy Ghost and Power and Light and Truth which they were in will not stand at the Day of God's Vengeance And therefore Repent while you have Time and turn to the Lord with your whole hearts and do not think your selves to be secure without his Immediate Almighty Protection For it is not all your Works nor all your own Strength and Power and Defence that can protect you and you to look at them and think your selves secure and to sit down in your Security and in it let your hearts be merry and at rest and ease But then when the Lord brings a Scourge upon you that you are filled with Terrours and Fears remember you were Warned that you were set down but not in the true Rest and then all your own Strength and Force will stand you in no stead and you will acknowledge that it must be God that must protect you And therefore take Warning for your Priests and People are too high and are swallowed up too much in this World and the Vanities of it carry your Minds away from God and your Care is more for the World than for God and more after the Riches of the World than after the Riches of the World that has no end For know you not that all your Heaps of outward Treasure must have an end and that you must Leave them all behind you Therefore I am to Warn and Advice you both High and Low Priests and People to come to the Grace Light and Truth that comes by Jesus Christ and also to come to the Manifestation of the good Spirit of God which is given to you to profit withal that with This Grace and Truth and Light and Spirit of Christ you may turn to Christ Jesus from whence it comes who saith Learn of me and God saith This is my beloved Son hear ye him And so all the Children of the New Covenant that walk in the New and Living Way do hear Christ their Prophet that God has raised up who is their Teacher and Priest whom God hath anointed to Preach And so now God doth speak to his People by his Son as he did in the Apostles Days And so the Lord is come to Teach his People himself by his Grace Light Truth and Spirit and to bring them off all the Worlds Teachers that are made by Men since the Apostles days who have kept People always Learning that they may always be paying of them And is come to bring them off all the Worlds Religions to the Religion that he set up in the Apostles Days in the New Covenant which is pure and undefiled before God in his sight and keeps from the Spots of the World c. And the Lord is come to bring them off all the World's Churches to the Church in God which Christ the heavenly Man is Head of and to bring them off all the World's Worships to
worship God in Spirit and in Truth which Christ set up above Sixteen hundred years since So all Men and Women must come to the Spirit and Truth in their hearts by which they must know the God of Truth who is a Spirit and then in the Spirit and Truth they will Worship him and know what and who they Worship And also the Lord is come to bring his People off all the World's Temples that with the Spirit they may know â—â—at their Bodies are the Temples of the Holy Ghost And the Lord is come to bring his People off all the World's Crosses and Pictures and Images and Likenesses to know that the Power of God is the Cross of Christ which Crucifies them to the World and brings them up into the Likeness and Image of God as Man and Woman was in before they fell and so to Christ that never fell And this Work of Christ must all know in their hearts by the Light of Christ Jesus who is the true Light that lighteth every Man that cometh into the World It is called the Light in Man and Woman and the Life in Christ the Word and Christ saith Believe in the Light that ye may become Children of the Light And the Light lets you see all your Evil Actions that you have done and committed and your ungodly Ways you have walked in and your ungodly Words and Thoughts and now if you do hate this Light and love the Darkness and the Prince of it more than this Light which is the Life in Christ the Prince of Life and will not come to it because your Deeds be Evil and it will reprove you Christ tells you This Light is your Condemnation And then what is all your Profession good for when you remain under the Condemnation of the true Light in which you should believe and so become Children of Light and out of Condemnation And therefore every one must believe in the Light if they do receive Christ Jesus and as many as receives him he gives them Power to become the Sons of God So he that hath the Son of God hath Life and they that have not the Son of God have not Life and then if you have not Life what good doth all your Profession of the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelations do you any more than the Jews Scribes and Pharisees that would not receive Christ the Life upon whom God brought his overflowing Scourge And therefore do you take heed of that for your Strength will be no better than theirs if you have not God and Christ's supporting Power when God's Scourge comes upon you and you are filled with Horrours and Fears But my desires are that you may all Repent even from the Highest to the Lowest and not grieve nor quench nor vex nor rebel against God's good Spirit in you nor walk despitefully against the Spirit of Grace nor turn from it unto Wantonness which would teach you and bring your Salvation Which if you do how can you escape the over-flowing Scourge of the Almighty and the Wrath of the Lamb But my desires are that you may all obey God's good Spirit of Truth which will lead you out of all Evil into all Truth and reprove you for your Righteousness and for your own Judgment and Sin c. and it will bring you to cleave to that which is good and forsake that which is evil and to turn to the Lord who will receive you in his Mercy and Kindness By which Means you may escape the over-flowing Scourge in the Day of Vengeance which dreadful Day is coming upon all Evil-doers And this as a Warning to you both for your Temporal and Eternal Good and for you to Read it in your Assemblies and your Priests to Read it in their Churches so that all People may hear and fear as you will Answer it at the Terrible and Dreadful Day of Judgment Amsterdam the 19th of the 7th Month 1677. G. F. For the Embassadors that are Met to Treat for Peace at the City of Nimmeguen in the States Dominions To pag. 448 CHrist Jesus saith Blessed are the Peace-makers for they shall be called the Children of God Matth. 5.9 so all Christian men are to forsake Evil and do Good and seek Peace and follow it if they will love Life and see good Days 1 Pet. 3.11 for God hath called all true Christians unto Peace 1 Cor. 7. and therefore all Christians ought to follow this Peace which God calls them to and they should let the Peace of God rule in all their Hearts which is above the Peace of this World that is so soon broken For the Apostle Commands the Christians to let the Peace of God rule in their Hearts to which all Christians should be subject Now the Practice of this should be among Christians that profess Christianity and this Peace is above that which Christ takes from the Earth Rev. 6. which is the Peace of the Wicked And the Apostle saith to the Christians Be at Peace among your selves 1 Thess 5. Now all Christians should obey this Command and be at Peace among themselves and not in Wars and Strife And further the Apostle exhorts the Christians to keep the Vnity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace so this Vnity and this Bond of Peace should be kept and not be broken by all that bears that Noble Name Christian and they should keep the Unity of the Spirit of Christ in the Bond of the Prince of Princes and King of Kings and Lord of Lords Peace which is the Duty of all true Christians to keep In which they may honour Christ in bringing forth the Fruits of Peace which is Love and Charity For the Apostle tells you The fruits of the good Spirit is Love Joy and Peace Long-suffering Gentleness Goodness c. Gal. 5. And the Apostle exhorts the Christians and saith If it be possible as much as lieth in you live peaceable with all Men and this should be the Endeavour of all Christians For it is no honour to Christ that Christians should war and destroy one another that do profess the Name of Christ who saith He came to save Mens lives and not to destroy them For Christians have Enemies enough abroad without them and therefore they should Love one another as Christ commands who saith By this ye shall be known to be my Disciples if ye Love one another For Christians are commanded to love Enemies therefore much more one another And Christ saith As the Father hath loved me so I have loved you Continue ye in my Love John 15.8 and By this shall all Men know that ye are my Disciples if ye Love one another John 13.35 But if Christians do war and destroy one another this will make both Jews Turks Tartars and Heathens to say That you are not Disciples of Christ. And therefore as you love God and Christ and Christianity and its Peace All make Peace as far as you have power among Christians that
Richard Esq 129 John and their Wives 224* Y. YArrow William Maryland 375 Yeomans William 318 Isabella 334. 433. 444. 446 York Duke 230 Young Peter 314 THE THIRD TABLE CONTAINING Some of the Subject Matters and Things occurring in this Volume A. ABuses done to G.F. 70. 85 86 by Professors c. 103 104. 118. 132 133. 169. 244* Friends abused 118. 197. 216. 257. 313. at Meetings 197 c. Action in the Fields near London where Friends had been much abused G. F. had a Meeting 197 Adam the First and Second compared 561 Affections Lusts and Desires mortified 261* 262* 285* Aged Friend of 100 years old 58. one of 122 years old 269 Allegiance to the King 277. 279. 300. 325. and Supremacy 399. see Oath America G. F's c. Travels there from Maryland to New-England c. through the Woods and Wilderness over Bogs and great Rivers not without great Danger of some of their Lives and lying a-nights in the Woods by a Fire in a very cold Season the Wolves howling about them 364-380 Truth 's prosperity there 458. G. F's Epistle to those places 601 602 Anointing within teacheth the Believers 5 6. 436 Anti-Christs see False Prophets Apostasy entred since the days of the Apostles 227* 282** Apostates back-sliders and false Brethren are got into the Temple of God 533 534. 556. 597 598 Apostles were Trades-men 591-593 Apparel for Pride judged 530-532 Apparition of the Death of O. C. seen by G. F. 195 Appeals of London-Friends Tried 548 Apprentices put forth by Monthly Meetings 335 Arminians strangers to the Spirit of the Apostles 147 Assizes of G. F's Trials at Carlisle 110 111. Lancaster 92. 276-278 288-295 Lanceston 179 180. Nottingham 249 250. Worcester 396. See Sessions Astrologers see Stargazers B. BAcksliders warned 535-538 see Apostates Banishment of G. F's in Scotl. 274* 275* 277* Banishing and Imprisoning for Religion is not Christ's Doctrine 459 460. 594-396 Friends Banished in England 304. at Dantzick 595 Baptism 172. 229* 237* Baptist-Meetings 13. 109 139. Baptists discoursed by G. F. 28 29. 108 109. 149. a Teacher convinc'd 118. 150. 167. Baptists in Warwick 169. in Nottinghamshire 16 17. Baptists and Fifth-Monarchy-men Prophesied of Christ to come that Year to reign 211. A Baptist-Woman restored 170 171. Baptists deny G. F. their Meeting-house 172. Particular Baptists 173. Battledore the Author's Account thereof 245. 272 Believers are born of God 5 Bible given to G. F. to swear upon which forbids Swearing 291 292. and teaches the plain Language 301 Blacks or Negro's to be trained up in the fear of God 352. 359 361. 377 Bond for Appearance refused 260. for good behaviour 395 Book see Bible Books writ and answer'd by G.F. 295. 308. 406. 408 Bowling and foolish Exercises denied 218* 219* Bread and Wine see Papists Brown's Prophecy of G. F. 13 Brownists 247. 435 Butchers and rude People bind themselves with an Oath to kill G. F. 128 129 C. CAlvinists 247. 483 Cambridge-Scholars rudeness 155 Captain much given to laughter Convinc'd 173. A Captain 's in Scotland impious saying 214 Carlisle in an uproar 109. G. F. in Carlisle-Dungeon 111-117 Cartmeil Wapentake-Court 487 Certificates to be brought by Friends proceeding to Marriage 315 316. 347 A Cheat discovered by G. F. 318 Christ the Teacher of his People 107. 628 629. the Rest 527-530 Sun of Righteousness 554 555. a quickning Spirit 557 558. who can speak to Mens Conditions 8. 10. 13. 175. and is known by Revelation 8. c. Church the true and the false 283* the Church of Christ clothed with the Sun 553-556 Church of Rome degenerated 246 247. 286. persecuting 288* Church of England's Faith 196 Climates sudden change and variety in America 378-380 Cloisters Monasteries c. there is no Scripture for them 286* 287* Coldbeck-Steeple-house Robert Widders going thither c. was almost killed by the People 118 Colledges cannot make Ministers of Christ 281* Collegians 435. 439 Committee of Safety c. their Proclaiming Fasts is like Jezabel's 194 Conjurer so reputed reproved by G. F. in Jail 48 Conscience a Witness to Truth 192-194 is not to be forced 539-541 must be void of Offence 549 Contentions not to be in Meetings 469 470 Conventicle-Act is not To do as they would be done by 337-340 Convincements in the Nation in the beginning 12. 15 16 c. 118. 120. 123. 129. 135. London 140. In O. C's House and Family 141. 147 c. Cromwel Oliver his Discourse with G. F. 137 138. 169. A Friend offers himself to O. C. to lie in Doomsdale for G.F. 214 The Cross the Power of God 10. 12. 282* 285* Covetousness of Wracks reproved 207 208. 611 A Cutpurse at Sessions searching Friends Pockets is set at liberty 258 D. DAngers and Perils of G. F. 24. 30. 258. 71. 73. 81. 86-88 92-94 101. 105. 110-113 128. 130. 139. 177-179 184. 188 189. 224* 225* 246* 256* 267* 286* 210. 213-215 259. 266 267. 269 307 308. 313. 318. 329. At Sea 350 c. by Knives Rapiers rude Multitudes Beatings Bruisings and binding themselves with an Oath to kill him c. Day of Judgment coming upon Persecutors 346. the Day of the Lord's Wrath is kindling upon them 146 Deceivers beyond the Priests that stand in Deceit described 19 Declaration of G. F's offer'd by him to the Court instead of the Oath 399 400 Devil he was not made of God 152. 263 Differences about outward things to be shunned 597 Disputes at Leicester 15 16. with the Priest of Grarigg c. 102. at Drayton 131 132. G.F. with Priest Wilkinson 120 A Dispute of James Naylor with 8 Priests 167. A vain Disputer answered 272* Vain Janglings to be shunned 414 Dogs did not move their Tongues against them 377 Do unto others as you would c. 25. 275* 208 209. 539-541 595 596. 600 Dreams relied upon by a People 6 Drought was great in England 247* Drunkenness testified against by G.F. at Inns in his Travels 174. 225* 313. Great Drunkenness at the Choosing of Parliament-men 213 Dwarfs not to come nigh the Altar of God 581. 585. 610. Out of Christ all Mankind are Imperfect and Deformed 563 E. EGyptians afflict Israel till the Lord overthrows them 207* Election and Reprobation 62. 108. 173. 254* 269* 270* 330 331 Embassador with Irish-men came to disturb the Meeting 240 241 Embassadors at Nimmeguen G. F. his Epistle to them 630-632 Enemies who are the worst to Truth 418 Episcopal-mea cannot affirm they have the same Spirit the Apostles had 247 Errors pleaded in Margaret Fell's Indictment 289 290 Errors in G. F's Indictment pleaded by himself 290 291. and the second Indictment quasht by Errors 294 Examples see Judgments Excise-man warned 30 Excommunicated Friends in Scotland none was to buy or sell with them 276* in England 301 302 Experiences formerly had or other mens spoken and preached from 83. 411. 418 419 F. FAith gives Victory over Sin 271* Christ is the Author of 196. Faith stands in the Power of
Vision before its Destruction 559 Voice coming to G. F. 8 9. see Openings the Voice of the Lord to a Trooper 45 Voyages of G. F.'s to Ireland 327. for England 332. to Barbadoes 349-351 c. W WAiting upon God 203 204 Wales The Governor of Tenby must yield to Truth 253* 254* and Magistrates in other Places 255* 256* the Moderation of a Town in Wales 257* 258* A Lady and her Preacher send for G. F. 259* Wars and Fightings denied by G.F. 3 4. 46. 48 49. They arise from the Lusts in the Fall 200 201. None to go down to Egypt for help 202 203. It is not our Principle 235. but do testifie against it 285-287 and is not becoming Christianity 630-632 being a Work of Darkness 137 Warrants against G. F. 118. 188. 267* 278* 203. 213. 216 217 c. 271. 308. 326. 341. for Tithes 487. Warrant against all Quakers 203* 223* Watches set up in the Streets and Highways in Cornwall c. to stop Friends from Travelling 200*-203* 206* 208* 209* Weakness of G. F.'s Body 310. by long and close Imprisonment 295 296. 407. 564. by continual Travel 430. and spent at Meetings c. 568. his Health being much impaired 586. A great Exercise came upon him 588 Wicked Man cut off 303. another plagued 304 Worship the World's 23 24. Will Worship 213* The Dragon's and the Beast's 227* The Worship in the Spirit 245 246 Wrong see Restitution Y YEA and Nay 2. 121. is more binding than an Oath to many 292 293. 403 404. Z. ZEal against Unrighteousness many will God provoke unto 224 The FOURTH TABLE Being a Catalogue of the Epistles Letters and Papers of G. F.'s and others contained in this Volume THE Appearance of the Lord 's Everlasting Truth c. Testim p. xviij 1650. G. F. his Mittimus by Bennet and Barton Just 32 To the Priests of Darby 33 To the Magistrates of Darby ibid. To Barton and Bennet Just 34 To Justice Bennet ibid. To Justice Barton 35 To the Mayor of Darby ibid. To the Court at Darby 36 To the Ringers ibid. To Friends and others 38 To the convinced People 40 To the Faithful an Encourage 41 To the Justices of Darby ibid. To the same 42 To the same ibid. To the Priests of Darby 43 To the Justices of Darby ibid. To Col. Barton Justice 44 1651. To the Judges 47 To the same ibid. To Justice Barton and Bennet 49 To the convinc'd and tender People 50 To the Magistrates of Darby 51 A Lamentation over Darby 52 1652. J. Naylor's Account of Lancaster Sessions 90 To Justice Sawrey 94 To William Lampit 96 To the People of Vlverstone ibid. To the Followers of P. Lampit 98 To Adam Sands 100 1653. A. P. To the Judges of Assize 111 G. F.'s Challenge to Professors 113 To T. Craston and C. Studholm 114 G.B. To the Mag. at Carlisle 116 1654. To Friends in the Ministry 124 To all Professors of Christ 141 To such as follow the World's Fashions 144 To the Just Trying Ministers 147 1655. To those that Scorn at Trembling and Quaking 156 To the Churches in outward Forms 161 To Friends to offer themselves for their Brother c. 165 An Encouragement to Friends 166 To Fr. in the N. of Ireland 170 To the 7 Parishes at Landsend 175 1656 Concerning Swearing 180 Peter Ceely's Mittimus 183 E. Pyot to J. Glyn C. Just 189* To Magistrates of Watches 201* Answer to Exon-Warrant 203* To Priests and Professors 207* To Friends in the Ministry 212* E.P. To M. Gen. Desborow 215* G. F. To the same 216* Concerning Pleasures 218* To the Bowlers ibid. To all the Elect 232* To Fr. to keep up Meetings ibid. Judging any in Meetings 233* An Answer to a Professor 235* Profes Priests c. Darkness 238* 1657 The true Fast and false 248* Of Lusts Affections Desires 261* To try all things c. 263* Be valiant for the Truth 265* Order of Council in Scotl. 273* To the Council of Edenburg 274* 1658 Bedfordshire yearly Meeting 283* To the Lady Claypool 189 Concerning Fasting 191 To the Parliament of Profes 195 To Friends to go on faithfully 197 About the Image of O. C. 200 1659 To keep from Plots c. ibid. To keep out of Powers c. 202 Of the day of Recompence 204 Concerning Shipwracks 207 1660 G. Monk's Order 212 G. F's Ans to his Mittimus 219 M. Fell to all Magistrates 221 Concerning true Religion 223 Against Persecution 224 Concerning Change of Gov. ibid. To K. Charles the Second 225 The Sheriff of Lancast Return 228 The K.'s Order for G. F.'s Rel. ibid Judge Mallet's Warrant 239 To Friends to send up Suffr 232 A Declar. against Plotters 233 The K.'s Mandamus to N. E. 243 1661. Of the true Worship 245 Keeping on Hat in Prayer 249 The World saith Kiss the Book 250 1662. To the K. Friends Sufferings ibid. T. Sharman's Letter to G.F. 251 The Grounds of Persecution 252 Conc. E. Burrough's Decease 259 1663. Of Ol. Atherton's Death 276 Lanc. Prisoners to J. Flem. 278 1664. G. F. To Dan. Flemming 281 To Judges giving Nicknames 282 A Testimony against Plotting 285 A day of Trial and Exercise 287 To keep out of J. P.'s Spint ibid. 1665. Concerning Tithes 295 1666. G. F.'s Discharge and Pasport 305 1668. Against the Dark Spirits 318 1669. Is Lindley's Letter to G. F. 326 Sound sound abroad you faithful Servants of the Lord 329 Of putting Children to Trades 335 1670. To Margaret Fox 336 Conc. the Act against Meet 337 Friends to stand to their Test 338 Encouragement under Suffr 344 Visitations abused c. 346 All Friends that do Marry 347 1671. G. F.'s Prayer to the Lord 348 From Barb. to Fr. in Engl. 353 Another Epist to Fr. in Engl. 355 For the Governor of Barbados 359 To Margaret Fox 361. 362 1673. To the same 384 G. F.'s Mittimus to Worc. Pris 389 To Margaret Fox ibid. To the L. Windsor G. F.'s Case ibid. G. F.'s Habeas Corpus 394 G. F.'s Allegiance and Suprem 399 1674. To the K. the Qu.'s Principle 402 H. Parker to the Gaoler 404 1675. To Friends in Westmorland 408 1676. To Friends at Yearly Meet 409 Spirit of Opposers and Work 402 1677. To Margaret Fox 428 A Testimony against Tithes 431 The Spirit of Separation 434 To Princess Eliz. Herwerden 435 The Princess her Ans to G.F. 438 Fasting Prayer c. 620 Getting the Affections of Peo 446 To Friends at Dantzick 447 To Mag. and Peo of Oldenb 617 To Magist Priests c. Hamb 627 To the Embas at Nimeguen 630 The Spirit of Separation 449 To Margaret Fox 454 1678. To the same 458 To John III. King of Poland 459 To Friends in Amsterdam 463 Concerning Prescriptions 464 Let Life reign over Death 467 The hurt of Disorderly Spirits 468 To Qu. and Monthly Meetings 469 To the Churches of Christ 471 To Friends in Prison 472 1679. To Fr. of the yearly Meeting 473 Be Valiant for the Truth 477 To dwell in Humility 478 1680. To the Parliam against Plots 481 To Magist to be moderate 482 1681. To the Quarterly Meetings 486 Spirit of Strife and Division 489 1682. Informers convicting Friends 491 To the Sheriffs to be chosen 492 To the Pople that chuse them 493 To distinguish Truth and Err. 496 Exercises from Mag. and Apo. 497 Feel the power of God in you all 500 Be Valiant for Truth 501 1683. To the Yearly Meet in Lond. 505 To Friends a Salutation 506 My Love is to you all 510 Fruits of Peace and Quietness 512 To all the Elect c. 516 1684. To the Duke of Holstein 523 To Friends an Epistle 527 1685. Keep out of the World's Spirit 528 Excess in Apparel 530 To Friends who are called 533 Among all Societies c. 534 Here you may see when 536 To John III. King of Poland 539 Concerning Judging 541 1686. Antient Pris at the Y. Meet 548 The King opening Prisons 550 In Christ is no Separation 551 Men and Women Q. Meet 552 Church clothed with the Sun 553 The Falling away c. 556 Noah and his family were call'd 558 The First and Second Adam 561 1687. Concerning the two Seeds ibid. Concerning Prayer 564 True and false Offering 565 Caution in time of Liberty 567 God's Goodness to Mankind 569 Repentance before Baptism 570 God's People to be like him 571 The right Way to Christ ibid. Except a man be born again 572 The Jews Rebel their Loss 576 God so loved the World that he 578 The stone became a mountain 579 Regeneration and Sanctifica 58â— 1688. All you Believers in the Light 584 An approaching Storm 587 Moses and Christ's House 588 Thrones on Earth contended 590 The World 's Empty Teachers ibid. Not to remove the Landmark ibid. Apostles Husbandmen c. 59â— 1689. Hearing and telling News 593 To P. H. and Fr. at Dantzick 594 To the Magist of Dantzick 595 Great Shakings in the World 597 To keep in Love and Unity 598 To Friends in Barbados 599 To Q. and Y. Meet in America 60â— 1690. Against Fashions c. 602 Christ the Ensign c. 603 Stand still and see Salvation 606 To Friends in the Ministry 609 To Fr. in the Minist in Amer. 610 To suffering Friends in Irel. 612 G. F.'s Death and Burial 613 His Epistle left sealed up c. 615 OMitted p. 356. line 41. viz. Paul Gwin came into the Meeting and began to Babble and asked me How I spelt Cain And whether I had the same Spirit as the Apostles had And I told him Yes And he had the Judge take Notice of it And I told him He that had not a measure of the same Holy Ghost as the Apostles had was possest with an unclean Ghost And then he went his ways See p. 221* 222* The Letter against Plotting is printed p. 200. and the same over again p. 267. by a mistake
that To be bred at Oxford or Cambridge was not enough to make a Man fit to be a Minister of Christ So that which opened in me I saw struck at the Priest's Ministry But my Relations were much troubled at me that I would not go with them to hear the Priest For I would get into the Orchard or the Fields with my Bible by my self And I told them did not the Apostle say to Believers That they needed no Man to teach them but as the Anointing teacheth them And though they knew this was Scripture and that it was true yet they would be grieved because I could not be subject in this Matter to go to hear the Priest with them For I saw that a true Believer was another thing than they looked upon it to be And I saw that being bred at Oxford or Cambridge did not qualifie or fit a Man to be a Minister of Christ and what then should I follow such for So neither them nor any of the Dissenting People could I join with but was as a Stranger to all relying wholly upon the Lord Jesus Christ At another time it was opened in me That God who made the World did not dwell in Temples made with Hands This at the first seemed a strange Word because both Priests and People use to call their Temples or Churches dreadful Places and Holy Ground and the Temples of God But the Lord shewed me so that I did see clearly that he did not dwell in these Temples which Men had commanded and set up but in People's Hearts For both Stephen and the Apostle Paul bore Testimony That he did not dwell in Temples made with Hands not even in that which he had once commanded to be built since he put an End to it But that his People were his Temple and he dwelt in them This opened in me as I walked in the Fields to my Relations House And when I came there they told me That Nath Stevens the Priest had been there and told them He was afraid of me for going after New Lights And I smiled in my self knowing what the Lord had opened in me concerning him and his Brethren But I told not my Relations who though they saw beyond the Priests yet they went to hear them and were grieved because I would not go also But I brought them Scriptures and told them There was an Anointing within Man to teach him and that the Lord would teach his People himself And I had great Openings concerning the Things written in the Revelations and when I spake of them the Priests and Professors would say That was a sealed up Book and would have kept me out of it But I told them Christ could open the Seals and that they were the nearest things to us For the Epistles were written to the Saints that lived in former Ages but the Revelations were written of things to come After this I met with a sort of People that held Women have no Souls adding in a light manner no more than a Goose But I reproved them and told them that was not right For Mary said My Soul doth magnify the Lord and my Spirit hath rejoyced in God my Saviour And removing again to another Place I came among a People that relied much on Dreams And I told them Except they could distinguish between Dream and Dream they would mash or confound altogether For there were Three sorts of Dreams for Multitude of Business sometimes caused Dreams And there were Whisperings of Satan in Man in the Night-Season and there were Speakings of God to Man in Dreams But these People came out of these Things and at last became Friends Now though I had great Openings yet great Trouble and Temptation came many Times upon me so that when it was Day I wished for Night and when it was Night I wished for Day And by reason of the Openings I had in my Troubles I could say as David said Day unto Day uttereth Speech and Night unto Night sheweth Knowledge And when I had Openings they answered one another and answered the Scriptures For I had great Openings of the Scriptures And when I was in Troubles one Trouble also answered to anothâ—â— About the beginning of the Year 1647. I was moved of the Lord to go into Darbyshire Darbyshire where I met with some Friendly People and had many Discourses with them Then passing further into the Peak-Country I met with more friendly People Peak-Country Leicesterâ—â—ire Nottinghamshire and with some in empty high Notions And travelling on through some Parts of Leicestershire and into Nottinghamshire there I met with a tender People and a very Tender Woman whose Name was Eâ—â—â—beth Hootton and with these I had some Meetings and Discourses Bâ—â— my Troubles continued and I was often under great Temptations and I fasted much and walked abroad in solitary Places many Days and often took my Bible and went and sate in hollow Trees and lonesome Places till Night came on and frequently in the Night walked mournfully about by my self For I was a Man of Sorrows in the Times of the first Workings of the Lord in me Now during all this Time I was never joined in Profession of Religion with any but gave up my self to the Lord having forsaken all evil Company and taken leave of Father and Mother and all other Relations and travelled up and down as a Stranger in the Earth which Way the Lord inclined my Heart taking a Chamber to my self in Town where I came and tarrying sometimes a Month sometimes more sometimes less in a Place For I durst not stay long in any Place being afraid both of Professor and Profane lest being a tender Young-Man I should be hurt by conversing much with either For which Reason I kept my self much as a Stranger seeking heavenly Wisdom and getting Knowledge from the Lord and was brought off from outward Things to rely wholly on the Lord alone And though my Exercises and Troubles were very great yet were they not so continual but that I had some Intermissions and was sometimes brought into such an Heavenly Joy that I thought I had been in Abraham's Bosom As I cannot declare the Misery I was in it was so great and heavy upon upon me so neither can I set forth the Mercies of God unto me in all my Misery Oh! the everlasting Love of God to my Soul when I was in great Distress when my Troubles and Torments were great then was his Love exceeding great Thou Lord makest a fruitful Field a barren Wilderness and a barren Wilderness a fruitful Field thou bringest down and settest up Thou killest and makest alive all Honour and Glory be to thee O Lord of Glory The Knowledge of thee in the Spirit is Life But that Knowledge which is fleshly works Death And while there is this Knowledge in the Flesh Deceit and Self will conform to any thing and will say Yes yes to that it doth not know The Knowledge which
the World hath of what the Prophets and Apostles spake is a fleshly Knowledge and the Apostates from the Life in which the Prophets and Apostles were have gotten their Words the Holy Scriptures in a Form but not in their Life nor Spirit that gave them forth And so they all lie in Confusion and are making Provision for the Flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof but not to fulfil the Law and Command of Christ in his Power and Spirit For that they say they cannot do but to fulfil the Lusts of the Flesh that they can do with Delight Now after I had received that Opening from the Lord that To be bred at Oxford or Cambridge was not sufficient to fit a Man to be a Minister of Christ I regarded the Priests less and looked more after the Dissenting People And among them I saw there was some Tenderness And many of them came afterwards to be Convinced for they had some Openings But as I had forsaken all the Priests so I left the Separate Preachers also and those called the Most-Experienced People For I saw there was none among them all that could speak to my Condition And when all my hopes in them and in all Men was gone so that I had nothing outwardly to help me nor could tell what to do Then O! then I heard a Voice which said ☞ There is one even Christ Jesus that can speak to thy Condition And when I heard it my Heart did leap for Joy Then the Lord did let me see why there was none upon the Earth that could speak to my Condition namely that I might give him all the Glory For all are concluded under Sin and shut up in Vnbelief as I had been that Jesus Christ might have the Pre-heminence who enlightens and gives Grace and Faith and Powe◠Thus when God doth work who shall let it And this I knew experimentally My Desires after the Lord grew stronger and Zeal in the pure knowledge of God and of Christ alone without the help of any Man Book or Writing For though I read the Scriptures that spake of Christ and of God yet I knew him not but by Revelation as he who hath the Key did open and as the Father of Life drew me to his Son by his Spirit And then the Lord did gently lead me along and did let me see his Love which was Endless and Eternal and surpasseth all the Knowledge that Men have in the natural State or can get by History or Books And that Love did let me see my self as I was without him and I was afraid of all Company For I saw them perfectly where they were through the Love of God which let me see my self And I had not Fellowship with any People Priests nor Professors nor any sort of separated People but with Christ who hath the Key and opened the Door of Light and Life unto me And I was afraid of all Carnal Talk and Talkers for I could see nothing but Corruptions and the Life lay under the Burden of Corruptions And when I my self was in the Deep under all shut up I could not believe that I should ever Overcome my Troubles my Sorrows and my Temptations were so great that I thought many times I should have despaired I was so tempted But when Christ opened to me how he was tempted by the same Devil and had Overcome him and bruised his Head and that through him and his Power Light Grace and Spirit I should Overcome also I had Confidence in him So he it was that opened to me when I was shut up and had not hope nor Faith Christ it was who had enlightened me that gave me his Light to believe in and gave me Hope which is himself Revealed himself in me and gave me his Spirit and gave me his Grace which I found sufficient in the Deeps and in Weakness Thus in the deepest Miseries and in the greatest Sorrows and Temptations that many times beset me the Lord in his Mercy did keep me And I found that there were Two Thirsts in me the one after the Creatures to have gotten Help and Strength there and the other after the Lord the Creator and his Son Jesus Christ And I saw all the World could do me no good If I had had a King's Diet Palace and Attendance all would have been as nothing For nothing gave me Comfort but the Lord by his Power And I saw Professors Priests and People were whole and at ease in that Condition which was my Misery and they loved that which I would have been rid of But the Lord did stay my Desires upon himself from whom my help came and my care was cast upon him alone Therefore all Wait patiently upon the Lord whatsoever Condition you be in wait in the Grace and Truth that comes by Jesus For if ye so do there is a Promise to you and the Lord God will fulfil it in you And Blessed are all they indeed that do indeed hunger and thirst after Righteousness they shall be satisfied with it I have found it so praised be the Lord who filleth with it and satisfieth the desires of the hungry Soul O let the House of the Spiritual Israel say His Mercy endureth for ever It is the great Love of God to make a Wilderness of that which is pleasant to the outward Eye and fleshly Mind and to make a fruitful Field of a barren Wilderness This is the great Work of God But while People's Minds do run in the Earthly after the Creatures and changeable Things and changeable Ways and Religions and changeable uncertain Teachers their Minds are in Bondage and they are brittle and changeable and tossed up and down with windy Doctrines and Thoughts and Notions and Things their Minds being from the unchangeable Truth in the inward Parts the Light of Jesus Christ which would keep their Minds to the Unchangeable who is the Way to the Father who in all my Troubles did preserve me by his Spirit and Power praised be his Holy Name for ever Again I heard a Voice which did say Thou Serpent Thou dost seek to destroy the Life but canst not For the Sword which keepeth the Tree of Life shall destroy thee So Christ the Word of God that bruised the Head of the Serpent the Destroyer preserved me my inward Mind being joined to his good Seed that bruised the Head of this Serpent the Destroyer And this inward Life did spring up in me to answer all the Opposing Professors and Priests and did bring in Scriptures to my Memory to refute them with At another time I saw the great Love of God and I was filled with admiration at the Infiniteness of it And then I saw what was Cast out from God and what Entred into God's Kingdom And how by Jesus the Opener of the Door by his Heavenly Key the Entrance was given And I saw Death how it had passed upon all Men and oppressed the Seed of God in Man and in me
the Jailer went to wait on him after he was come back from London he was very blank and down and asked how I did pretending that he would find a way to set me at Liberty But having overshot himself in his Mittimus by ordering me to be kept Prisoner till I should be delivered by the King or Parliament he had put it out of his Power to Release me if he would He was the more down also upon reading a Letter which I sent him For when he was in the height of his Rage and Threats against me and thought to ingratiate himself into the King's Favour by Imprisoning me I was moved to write to him and put him in mind How fierce he had been against the King and his Party though now he would be thought zealous for the King And among other Passages in my Letter I called to his remembrance how when he held Lancaster-Castle for the Parliament against the King he was so rough and fierce against those that favoured the King that he said He would leave them neither Dog nor Cat if they did not bring him in Provision to his Castle I asked him also Whose great Bucks-Horns those were that were in his House and where he had both them and the Wainscot that he Ceiled his House withal Had he them not from Hornby-Castle About this time Ann Curtis of Reading came to see me and understanding how I stood Committed it was upon her also to go to the King about it For her Father who had been Sheriff of Bristol was hanged near his own Door for endeavouring to bring the King in Upon which Consideration she had some hopes that the King might hear her on my behalf Accordingly when she returned to London she and Margaret Fell went to the King together Who when he understood whose Daughter she was received her kindly And her Request to him being To send for me up and hear the Cause himself he promised her he would and commanded his Secretary to send down an Order for the bringing me up But when they came to the Secretary for the Order he being no Friend to us said It was not in his Power but that he must go according to Law and I must be brought up by an Habeas Corpus before the Judges So he writ to the Judge of the King's-Bench signifying That it was the King's Pleasure that I should be sent for up by an Habeas Corpus Accordingly a Writ was sent down and delivered to the Sheriff but because it was directed to the Chancellor of Lancaster the Sheriff put it off to him On the other hand the Chancellor would not make the Warrant upon it but said the Sheriff must do that At length both Chancellor and Sheriff were got together But being both Enemies to Truth they sought occasion for Delay and found they said an Error in the Writ which was that being directed to the Chancellor it said Geo. Fox in Prison under YOVR Custody whereas the Prison I was in was not they said in the Chancellor's Custody but in the Sheriff's So the Word YOVR should have been HIS Upon this they Returned the Writ to London again only to have that one Word altered When it was altered and came down again the Sheriff refused to carry me up unless I would Seal a Writing to him and become bound and pay for the Sealing and the Charge of carrying me up Which I denied telling them I would not Seal any thing to them nor be Bound So the matter rested a while and I continued in Prison Mean while the Assize came on But inasmuch as there was a Writ come down for removing me up I was not brought before the Judge At the Assize many People came to see me and I was moved to speak out at the Jail-Window to them and shew them How uncertain their Religion was and that every sort that had been uppermost persecuted the rest For when Popery was uppermost People had been persecuted for not following the Mass and they that did hold up the Mass cried then It was the Higher Power and People must be subject to the Higher Power Afterwards they that held up the Common-Prayer persecuted others for not following that and they said It was the Higher Power then also and we must be subject to that Since that the Presbyterians and Independents cried each of them We must be subject to the Higher Power and submit to the Directory of the one and the Church-Faith of the other Thus all like the Apostate-Jews have cried Help Men of Israel against the True Christians So People might see how uncertain they are of their Religions But I directed them to Christ Jesus that they might be built upon him the Rock and Foundation that changeth not Much on this wise I declared to them and they were quiet and very attentive Afterwards I gave forth a little Paper concerning True Religion as followeth TRue Religion is the True Rule and right way of serving God And Religion is a pure Stream of Righteousness flowing from the Image of God and is the Life and Power of God planted in the Heart and Mind by the Law of Life in the Heart which bringeth the Soul Mind Spirit and Body to be Conformable to God the Father of Spirits and to Christ so that they come to have Fellowship with the Father and the Son and with all his Holy Angels and Saints And this Religion is pure from Above undefiled before God and is to visit the Fatherless and Widows and Strangers and keeps from the Spots of the World So this Religion is above all the defiled spotted Religions in the World that keep not themselves from Defilement and Spots but are Impure and below and spotted whose Fatherless and Widows and Strangers do beg up and down the Streets G. F. Soon after this I gave forth another Paper against Persecution as followeth THe Papists Common-Prayer-Men Presbyterians Independents and Baptists persecute one another about their Inventions which they have invented their Mass their Common-Prayer their Directory their Church-Faith which they have made and framed their Inventions and Handy-works and not for the Truth For they know not what Spirit they be of who persecute and would have Mens Lives destroyed about Church-Worship and Religion as saith Christ who also said He came not to destroy Men's Lives but to save them Now they that know not what Spirit they be of but will persecute and destroy Men's Lives and not save them we cannot trust our Bodies Souls nor Spirits into their hands They know not what Spirit they be of themselves and therefore they are not fit to be trusted with others They would destroy by a Law as the Disciples once would have done by Prayer who would have commanded Fire to come down from Heaven to destroy them that would not receive Christ But Christ rebukes them and tells them They did not know what Spirit they were of And if they did not know what Spirit they
were of do these who have persecuted about Church and Religion since the Apostles days who would Compel Mens Bodies Goods Lives Souls and Estates into their hands by a Law or make them suffer else Those that destroy Mens Lives are not the Ministers of Christ the Saviour And seeing they know not what Spirit they be of the Lives Bodies and Souls of Men are not to be trusted in their hands And ye that do persecute shall have no Resurrection to Life with God except ye repent But they that do know what Spirit they are of themselves they are in the unrebukable Zeal and by the Spirit of God they offer up their Spirits Souls and Bodies to the Lord which are his to keep them G. F. While yet I was kept in Lancaster-Jail I was moved to give forth the following Paper For the Staying the Minds of any such as might be burried or troubled about the Change of Government ALL Friends Let the Dread and Majesty of God fill you And as concerning the Changing of Times and Governments let not that trouble any of you for God hath a mighty Work and Hand therein And he will yet Change again until that come up which must Reign and in vain shall Powers and Armies withstand the Lord for his determined Work shall come to pass But what is now come up it is just with the Lord that it should be so and he will be served by it Therefore let none murmur nor distrust God for God will provoke many to Zeal against Vnrighteousness and for Righteousness through things which are suffered now to work for a Season yea many whose Zeal was even dead shall revive again and they shall see their Backslidings and bewail them bitterly For God shall thunder down from Heaven and break forth in a mighty Noise and his Enemies shall be astonished and the Workers of Iniquity confounded and all that have not on the Garment of Righteousness shall be amazed at the mighty and strange Work of the Lord which shall be certainly brought to pass But my Babes look ye not out but be still in the Light of the Lamb and he shall fight for you So the Almighty Hand which must break and split and divide your Enemies and take away Peace from them preserve and keep you whole and in Vnity and Peace with itself and one with another Amen G. F. I was moved also to write To the King both to Exhort him to exercise Mercy and Forgiveness towards his Enemies and to warn him to Restrain the Prophaneness and Looseness that was gotten up in the Nation upon his Return It was thus To the KING King Charles THou camest not into this Nation by Sword nor by Victory of War but by the Power of the Lord Now if thou dost not live in it thou wilt not prosper And if the Lord hath shewed thee Mercy and forgiven thee and thou dost not shew Mercy and forgive the Lord God will not hear thy Prayers nor them that pray for thee And if thou do not stop Persecution and Persecutors and take away all Laws that do hold up Persecution about Religion but if thou do persist in them and uphold Persecution that will make thee as blind as them that have gone before thee For Persecution hath always blinded those that have gone into it And such God by his Power overthrows and doth his Valiant Acts upon and bringeth Salvation to his Oppressed ones And if thou dost bear the Sword in vain and let Drunkenness Oaths Plays May-games with Fidlers Drums Trumpets to play at them with such like Abominations and Vanities be encouraged or go unpunished as setting up of May-poles with the Image of the Crown a top of them c. the Nations will quickly turn like Sodom and Gomorrah and be as bad as the Old World who grieved the Lord till he overthrew them And so he will you if these things be not suddenly prevented Hardly was there so much Wickedness at Liberty before now as there is now at this day as though there was no Terror nor Sword of Magistracy which doth not grace a Government nor is a Praise to them that do well Our Prayers are for them that are in Authority that under them we may live a Godly Life in which we have Peace and that we may not be brought into Ungodliness by them So hear and consider and do good in thy time whilst thou hast Power and be Merciful and forgive that is the way to Overcome and obtain the Kingdom of Christ G. F. It was long before the Sheriff would yield to Remove me to London unless I would Seal a Bond to him and bear their Charges which I still refused to do Then they Consulted how to convey me up and at first concluded to send up a Party of Horse with me And I told them If I were such a Man as they had represented me to be they had need send a Troop or two of Horse to Guard me When they considered what a Charge it would be to them to send up a Party of Horse with me they alter'd their purpose and concluded to send me up guarded only by the Jailer and some Bayliffs But upon further Consideration they found that would be a great Charge to them also and thereupon sent for me down from the Prison into the Jailer's House and told me If I would put in Bail that I would be in London such a Day of the Term I should have leave to go up with some of my own Friends I told them I would neither put in any Bail nor give one piece of Silver to the Jailer for I was an Innocent Man and they had Imprisoned me wrongfully and laid a false Charge upon me Nevertheless I said If they would let me go up with one or two of my Friends to bear me Company I might go up and be in London such a Day if the Lord did permit and if they desired it I or any of my Friends that went with me would carry up their Charge against my self So at last when they saw they could do no otherwise with me the Sheriff yielded and came under consenting that I should come up with some of my Friends without any other Engagement than my Word as aforesaid to appear before the Judges at London such a day of the Term if the Lord did permit Swarthmore Whereupon I was set out of Prison and went to Swarthmore where I stay'd two or three days and from thence went to Lancaster again Lancaster Preston Cheshire and so to Preston having Meetings amongst Friends in the way till I came into Cheshire to William Gandy's where was a large Meeting without Doors the House not being sufficient to contain it That Day the Lord's everlasting Seed was set over all and Friends were turned to it who is the Heir of the Promise Thence passing on Staffordshire Warwickshire Non-Eaton I came into Staffordshire and Warwickshire till I came to Anthony