his Church did charge it to be Blasphemy for any to say That Man could do contrary to the Will of God and when it was offered to be proved in an hundred places of Scripture and more where the Will of God was manifest and that Men did contrary to it for if it were not so we should not have Sin committed for in the Scripture all sorts of Sin are forbidden After this was offered he still affirm'd it And further discoursing of what benefit the Reprobate could have by the coming of Christ he said the Devil had a benefit by it but being much desired to shew wherein he could make nothing out Iames Barry makes a Boast of his Hearers most of them being in a state of Grace but if they be not founded upon better Principles than these they are far from being in a state of Grace and Happiness Therefore in Charity we desire they may look to their standing and not to be setled upon such unsound Principles as Iames Barry the Independent Minister as he calls himself labours to settle them in which is opposite to God's Free Grace which brings Salvation Iames Barry also with some of his Hearers did account it an Errour in the Quakers to own Immediate Revelation and said they did disown it Now seeing it is so that the immediate Spirit of Christ and its Immediate Revelation is denied by him we demand of him how he came to be a Minister and whence he hath his Ability and that Knowledge of God he pretendeth to have and from whom he hath received his Gospel that he Preacheth It s evident enough not from Christ for indeed it is not like his nor him who would have gathered the Children of Jerusalem as a Hen gathereth her Chickens and they would not therefore were they rejected because they would not be gathered The Apostle saith 2 Cor. 3. 6. They were made able Ministers of the New Testament not of the Letter but of the Spirit and verse 5. saith Their sufficiency was of God and Gal. 1. 11 12. the Gospel which Paul Preached It was not after Man for he neither received it of Man neither was taught it but by the Revelation of Iesus Christ Eph. 3. he declares That he was made a Minister according to the gift of the Grace of God given unto him by the effectual working of his Power and Peter saith 1 Pet. 4. 11. If any Man speak let him speak as the Oracles of God if any Man Minister let him do it as of the ability which God giveth that God in all things may be glorified c. Now how is this Ability received from God if not by his Spirit and therefore he gave different Gifts of the Spirit for the work of the Ministry and by that they were opened and inlarged and made able But Iames Barry denying this from whom hath he his Call and whence hath he his Gospel and Ability If he saith from God We desire to know how he received it being not by the Spirit he having denied that and if it be not by the Spirit it cannot be from God For what a Man receives of Spiritual Benefit it must be by the Spirit either immediately or mediately by its working through an Instrument Therefore let him make out how he comes by his Call Ability and that Necessity he pretends to be upon him for the Divine Spirit being denied it must be from Man or else from his own corrupt Heart for Self-interest which is most probable that he might get Gain and live upon the People For it is evident his Necessity is not the same that was upon the Apostle 1 Cor. 9. 16. He owns not his way of receiving it nor doth follow his Example in Preaching it And to his Hearers this Advice we give Consider well your State and whether you profit under his Ministry or no For of old they that ran and the Lord did not send them did not profit the People for he denying Revelation by which the Father and the Son is savingly known no other Knowledge is come to without it but by Hear-say which is not that Knowledge Christ speaks of which is Life Eternal And for your satisfaction read the following Scriptures Mat. 11. 27. Christ saith Neither knoweth any Man the Father but the Son and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him So Christ is positive that no Man knows God but by his Revelation Mat. 16. 17. Christ saith it was the Father that Revealed him unto Peter and Gal. 1. 15 16. There you may see the Father Revealed his Son in Paul 1 Cor. 2. 10. The Apostle speaking of the great things God had prepared for them that love him saith God hath Revealed them unto us by his Spirit and in Eph. 1. 17. you may see how the Apostle prayed for the Saints That God the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ the Father of Glory would give unto them the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the Knowledge of the Son and 1 Cor. 14. 30. he saith If any thing be Revealed to another that sits by let the first hold his Peace Here you may see that from the Testimony of the Holy Scripture which your Minister said should be the Standard to try every thing by in the true Church Revelation was expected and to be given way to in the Church and by the Apostle was prayed for that God would give the Spirit and Revelation unto the Church for he knew they could not Worship Pray Preach nor Sing aright without it And what Is this accounted an Error now by your Minister or you Where is your Standard Will you not come to the Scriptures nor to the Spirit neither Where is your Bottom and Foundation that you Build upon What 's your Root that bears you You have got a foolish Builder he will not follow the Example of Paul a wise Master-Builder 1 Cor. 14. 15. Paul said He would pray with the Spirit c. and sing with the Spirit c. Eph. 5. 18. There the Apostle exhorts them To be filled with the Spirit and Rom 8. 26. he saith They knew not what to pray for as they ought but the Spirit helped their Infirmities c. And Christ in the 4 th of Iohn saith That God is a Spirit and they that Worship him must Worship him in Spirit and Truth and such doth the Father seek to Worship him Now let your Minister clear these things up to you how in your Church or Families either he and you denying Revelation can Worship aright Preach Pray or Sing aright and by what you have Ability and know what to Pray for without the Spirits help What! are you so strong of your selves in your Self-Ability that you do not need that which the Apostles and all true Christians sought the help of and could not do without Nay it was that by which they knew what to Pray for and therefore they waited for its Assistance And Paul said he would Pray with
we Meet together on the First Day of the Week for to Meet is our Duty and also upon other Days and for this Practice we have both Command and Example The Saints were commanded not to forsake the assembling of themselves together Heb. 10. 25. and we account every day is the Lord's and He that regardeth a Day ought to regard it to the Lord and he that regardeth not the Day to the Lord he doth not regard it Rom. 14. 6. But what Scripture have ye for all such Days as you observe which are called such and such Saints Days Thou sayst Thou hast been the longer on this particular because thou findest it galls us most Answ. When thou hast read our Answer which by reason of thine being so long hath caused ours to be so too thou mayst consider of it and of thy impertinency in quoting the Scriptures to prove your Practice which being well observed doth witness against you and then we doubt not but it will prove that which will gall thee and thy Brethren who are so found in such Covetous practices as the Scriptures plentifully testifie against And for a further Testimony against your Practices read these following Scriptures of which for brevity's sake having been so long already we shall forbear to write the Words they that can may read them in the Bible Isa. 59. 9 10 11 12. Ier. 5. 30 31. Ezek. 13. 19. Ezek. 34. ch Mich. 3. 5 11. Ioh. 10. 12. Tit. 1. 10 11. 1 Tim. 3. 1 2 3. 2 Pet. 2. 14 15 16. Iud. 11 12 13. In the next place thou undertakest to inform him of some Defects in that Religion he had chosen and first thou sayst Our Teachers have no lawful Call to Preach the Gospel and quotest the Apostle's saying Rom. 10. 15. How shall they Preach except they be sent That is sayst thou how can they Preach the true Doctrine of Christ unless they be sent by him or by those Apostles of Christ who received immediate Commissions from him c. Answ. We grant what the Apostle saith How can they Preach except they be sent c But that our Teachers are not so sent thou neither undertakest to prove by Argument nor Scripture although thou hast the confidence to affirm that they have no lawful Call or Commission to Preach the Gospel which we turn back upon thee as a false Accusation and demand of thee to prove and make it appear to be true if thou canst For we do believe that none can be true Ministers but such as are sent by Christ and have their Call and Commission from him and also receive the Gospel which they Preach and their Ability from him For the Scripture is plain that the Gospel-Ministers were sent by him and received the Gospel they Preached and Ability to Preach it from him and not from Men as in Gal. 1. 11 12. And in 2 Cor. 3. 6. the Apostle saith They were made able Ministers of the New Testament not of the Letter but of the Spirit and in the foregoing verse he saith Our sufficiency is of God And Ephes. 3. 7. he declares That he was made a Minister according to the Gift of the Grace of God given unto him by the effectual working of his Power And Peter saith 1 Pet. 4. 11. If any Man speak let him speak as the Oracles of God if any Man Minister let him do it as of the Ability which God giveth that God in all things may be glorified c. And so from him we say we have received our Call by his Eternal Spirit and do wait upon him to receive our Ability daily that what we do may be by the Gift of the Grace of God given unto us that God in all things may be Glorified And if this be not according to the Scripture and the way of God do thou in thy next shew what is And prove your way of being bred up at Schools and Learning your Tongues and taking your Degrees there and observing your Ceremonies in your Ordination and coming forth according to your Traditions and then looking for a Benefice the greatest you can get and then setling in a Parish for so much a Year until you can hear of a Place with a greater Benefice and then remove for Greater Gain and Preferment And while you stay in a Parish take such Lordship upon you that none of your Church or Hearers may have Liberty to Speak or Preach but such as are so Ordained as you are Clear these things in thy next to be according to Scripture if thou canst In the mean while we charge this Method and these doings not to be according to the Rule of the Gospel or Example of the Primitive Ministers That this is your Practice we believe thou canst not deny But in the true Church this Order and Liberty was Ordained by the Apostle as in 1 Cor. 14. 30 31 32. If any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by let the first hold his peace for you may all Prophesie one by one that all may learn that all may be comforted and the Spirits of the Prophets are subject to the Prophets But this Liberty which the Apostle Ordained you do not admit of no more than you do of other things which were the practice of the true Church and Christ's Ministers but instead thereof are gone into things which are of Man's Ordaining and setting up And therefore Robert Lacky and all in whom God hath opened an understanding to see you a right have reason enough to forsake you and your Church And as for those Scriptures thou quotest to prove a successive Power to send others They make nothing for your method of Ordination at all for Matth. 28. he said He would be with them c. doth not say They should send others In Acts 1. the Apostles desired one in the place of Iudas to be numbered with them and he was chosen by Lot So here was the Lord's Lot And in Acts 14. 23. it is said They Ordained Elders in every Church Now how these Scriptures do prove a true Succession to your Call and Ordination let all that are wise in heart judge Secondly Thou sayst We have no Sacraments administred in our Religion neither that of Baptism whereby People are admitted into the Christian Church nor that of the Lord's Supper by which they are strengthned and preserved in it Ans. First We demand whence thou hast this Term Sacraments and what is the proper Signification of it We are sure thou hast it not from Scripture And Secondly We put it upon thee to prove whence you have your Authority for that which thou callest Baptism by which thou sayst People are admitted into the Christian Church viz. Sprinkling Infants We deny that you have any Authority from Scripture either by Command or Example for it For we never read in all the Scriptures of either Baptising or Sprinkling Infants There is no such thing in that Scripture by thee quoted Therefore thou
Truth Exalted IN THE WRITINGS OF THAT Eminent and Faithful Servant of CHRIST Iohn Burnyeat COLLECTED Into this Ensuing Volume as a MEMORIAL to his Faithful Labours in and for the TRUTH Prov. 10. 7. The Memory of the Iust is Blessed Psal. 112. 6. The Righteous shall be had in Everlasting Remembrance LONDON Printed for Thomas Northcott in George-Yard in Lumbard-Street 1691. THE PREFACE TO THE READER READER AS the Tree is known by its Fruits so I desire thee to Taste of these which are here presented to thee with a Serious and Unprejudiced Mind which are but Some of the Many Testimonies of the Love and Labour of the Deceased Author for the General Good of Mankind and particular Edification of the Churches of Christ that are Gathered in our Day by the Eternal Spirit in and among whom he was a Faithful Able and Successful Labourer The End of Books is the End of Preaching viz. Informing the Inquirer Stirring up the Careless Stopping the Gainsayer and Comforting and Building up those whose Faces are turned already Sion-ward and that are Attended with many Exercises in their Iourney to Everlasting Habitations And as the End is the same so where the Servants of Christ cannot come Books may that are the Testimony of their Care and Ministry for others They remain also with us and are a Memorial of those that writ them when they are Gathered to their Fathers and by them the Living often Converse with the Dead who yet Die not but Live in their Labours in the Children they beget to God in their Writings they leave behind them as Pledges of their Love and Care for the Flock and in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus with the Spirits of the Just To whom and to God the Judge of all the Dispensation of our Day has brought Thousands Blessed be his Eternal Name for ever These following Writings I Recommend the more Earnestly and Pleasingly to thy Solemn Perusal Serious Reader because they are very little Controversial they chiefly Refer to Practice to an Holy and Divine Life and Walking with God The First is an Account of his own Convincement the Path he trod-in to Peace with God out of a Wicked World where the Heavenly Call found him It is Sweet Lively Instructive and Perswading to others to Try as he did and to Embrace the Holy Truth Then follows a Relation of his Travels and Ministry in these Nations and beyond the Seas as Luke presented the Churches with the Acts or Travels of the Apostles in their Infancy A Pleasant and Seasoning Lecture both for the Young who love to hear of Voyages to Excite them to seek the Lord his Way and Kingdom and to Journey towards the New and Heavenly Ierusalem and to Quicken those more Aged to shake off their Dust the Earth that is too Apt to Contract and Stick upon them in the Daily Attention they give to their Temporal Affairs and to Lift up their Eyes and see the Fields how White they are to Harvest and how few Labourers there are to Take it in and what need there is of an Holy Care and Oversight of those that are already Gathered especially Considering how many Eminent Ones of late are Taken from us His Next Writings are Epistles of divers sorts to several Places and upon different Occasions containing Divine Truths and Strong Perswasives to Faithfulness Love Holiness and Perseverance in the Way of God Revealed to them in the Light of Iesus Christ the Great Light of the World that Enlightens every one that comes into the World Those that have any Spiritual Savour will Taste a Sweet Savour in them and God will Witness to them as he is wont to do to the Labours and Writings of his Servants in the Hearts of those that with Seriousness shall peruse them His last Two Tracts in this Book saving Two Epistles that by coming too late are misplaced are in Defense of the Truth against some Opposers of it and the only Controversy in the Book The Soundness of his Answers and Moderation of his Spirit in delivering of them are no small Commendation to the Truth he defends whose Faithful Servant he was for it shews the Power it had over him how well he knew what he writ and that he was not only a Professor but a Possessor of the Living and Saving Faith that was once deliver'd to the Saints and is now again Restored by the Operation of the same Holy Spirit I shall Conclude with saying That as the Author was one of the Most-Eminent of the Second Stock of Ministers the Lord Anointed and Sent forth in this his Glorious Day and was so Generally Witnessed in his Services in the Hearts of his People It is tenderly hoped that those who loved him will prize his Remaining Testimonies and be Good Examples to their Families in Reading such Edifying Labours of the Brethren that their Children and Servants may be brought up and Instructed in the Religious Tradition of our Day according to the Testimony of the Blessed Truth in the Inward Parts Unto which they are all left and the holy Teachings and Guidings of it and Thou Reader likewise that leads into the Way of Holiness and into the Path of Endless Peace ON IOHN BURNYE AT ' s Book GO Little Book speak out the Praise Of him that did thy Author Raise An Eminent Apostle of our Days May He that Blest him Bless thee too That thou the Way of Truth may shew To the Vain Gentile and Benighted Iew Thee Who spake through him can speak by And make thy Readers Hear and See The Saving Truths of thy Divinity A TESTIMONY Concerning the Life and Death OF OUR Dear Friend and Brother in the Lord John Burnyeat HE was a faithful Friend and Brother and an able Minister of Christ Jesus who freely preacht the Everlasting Gospel and laboured to keep it without Charge who was a True Apostle of Iesus Christ and preacht him Freely both by Sea and Land He received the Truth in 1653. in Cumberland and died in the Lord in Ireland in the Year 1690. after he had stood those great Troubles Storms and Trials there and was a great Strength to Friends in the time of their late great Sufferings He stood it out when many were Ruined and fled to England for Succour and remained till after King William came in and King James went out of Ireland And then he went up and down Visiting Friends Meetings that were gathered in the Name of Jesus And after he had intended to come for England but there he died in the Lord and is Blessed and Rests from his Labours and his Works follow him He travelled and Preacht the Gospel in Ireland Scotland Barbadoes Virginia Maryland New-Jerseys Long-Island Road-Island and up and down in New-England and had many Disputes with many Priests and Professors that opposed the Truth but the Lord gave him Dominion over all and to stop the Mouths of the Gainsayers and he turned many to the Lord
and was a Peace-maker and he preacht in his Life and Conversation as well as his Words And he travelled with me from Maryland through the Wilderness and through many Rivers and Desperate Bogs where they said never English Man nor Horse had Travelled before where we lay out at Nights and sometimes in Indian Houses and many times were very hard put to it for Provisions but the Lord by his Eternal Arm and Power did support us and carry us through all Dangers Blessed be his Name for ever And he was an Elder and a Pillar in the House of God and the Name of the Righteous shall be had in Everlasting Remembrance but the Name of the Wicked will Rot. He was a Man Endued much with the Wisdom of God and in it had a Care of the Welfare of the Church of Christ to keep in Peace out of Strife and Contention and laboured with the Apostates and Back-sliders to turn them to Christ and his peaceable Truth So that they might Study to be Quiet and keep in the Unity of the Spirit which is the Bond of the King of Kings and Lord of Lord's Peace And much more I might write concerning our Dear Brother in the Lord I knowing him very well and his Travels and Service in the Lord's Power and Truth and so doth the Church of Christ among whom he will be missed But he is gone to his Rest and the Lord by his Eternal Arm and Power is able to Raise up others in his place The 13th of the 9th Month 1690. G. F. The Testimony of Friends in Cumberland COncerning that Faitful Servant of the Lord John Burnyeat belonging formerly to Pardsay-Meeting in Cumberland he was born at Crabtreebeck in the Parish of Lows-water in the said County his Parents were of good Repute and his Education was according to his Parentage The Lord visited him in his young and tender Years and inclined his heart after good things whereupon he gave himself to Reading the Scriptures that thereby he might be informed of those things that made for his Soul's Peace and going from one Man to another who were counted Men of Experience yet found no true Satisfaction until it pleased the Lord to send his Ministers to turn his Mind to the Invisible Word of Life which he gladly received into his heart and came to Wait in Humiliation to feel the Operation of it So that he was brought forth Early in the Day of the breaking forth of God's Light and Power in our Age when it pleased God to Visit many People in divers Nations of the World and to make known his Everlasting Truth in the North-Country which Day of Light and Truth and Grace many waited for and were in a readiness to Receive with Ioy and Gladness of Heart amongst whom this our Dear Friend J. B. being called by Grace to the Knowledge of the Lord his Truth and Power and receiving the same in Love Faith and Obedience he came to Witness the Effectual working thereof to his Sanctification and so became a Vessel of Honour fitted for his Master's Use even Christ and learned to Rule his own House well in washing first the Inside and the Outside appearing clean also Then his Light began to shine before Men to the Glory of God that called him And this being first done in him and for him to his particular peace and satisfaction in the Lord 's Eternal Truth then the Lord opened his Mouth in a few words in much tenderness which tended greatly to the comforting of his People he always being careful to wait for the Motion of the Word and to keep close with it whereby he grew in his Gift and was drawn forth to visit Friends in this County where we dearly loved him He was faithful in the discharge of his Duty when called to give Testimony against the Hireling-Priests in the Steeple-Houses to gather People from the Mouths of those Greedy Shepheards that feed themselves and not the Flock and did not profit the People at all And for these things he suffer'd Imprisonment a long time under a severe Goaler in a close nasty place For the Lord sent him forth in his joyful opening Power and Spirit to preach glad Tidings of Salvation by Christ Iesus sometimes to the Spirits in Prison and to them coming out of Prison and entring into the Glorious Liberty of the Sons of God and to them who walked stedfastly in that Glorious pure Liberty he that hath an Ear to hear let him hear whereby he was a blessed Instrument in the Hand of the Lord both for Convincing and Converting to God and for the Refreshing Comforting and Strengthening of them in the Faith Grace and Truth that they might be built on the Rock Christ the Foundation for all the Chosen of God in him throughout all Generations that Man might answer the End for which he was made even to Glorify God who is worthy of Glory and Praise for ever He was a Man of an Excellent Spirit and of deep Experience in the things of God and Mysteries of his Kingdom which were richly made manifest unto him And it was his Delight to be Meditating therein whereby his Experience was daily increased unto the Conclusion of his Days He was a Man tender of God's Glory and Earnestly sought the spreading and propagating of the Truth The Lord made his Travels successful and he saw the Fruit of his Labour and the Lord blessed him with the Fruits of his holy Spirit whereby he became well qualified for the Work of the Ministry a Nursing Father lending a hand of help to the feeble of the Flock and comforting the Mourners in Sion For his Doctrine did drop as the Dew and his Speech as the small Rain He was a Pattern of Righteousness to the Young Generation over whom he was very Tender and to the Aged he could give Counsel so that God made him a strong Pillar in his Church and cloathed him with Divine Wisdom that he was capable of speaking a Word in Season to all which was as a Nail fastned in a sure place He was one of the Lord's Worthies in his day of a quick Sight and clear Discerning of a strong Arm and skilful Hand whose Bow abode in strength and carried the Arrows to the Mark aimed at like as the Men of Benjamin that could sling Stones to a Hair's breadth so he fixed Judgment upon the head of the Transgressor And his Arrows returned not in vain particularly against that Wicked Spirit of Separation where-ever he met with it He was often concerned in Testimony against those that profess the Truth and Way of God and yet did incline to suit themselves to the vain Fashions and Customs of the World as Inlets to a wrong Spirit and became evil Precedents to others especially Young People that are too much employed in their Minds with foolish Dresses and Fashions that never knew the weighty Work of Truth and Power of God in their Hearts to work a Change
me for weighty was the Dread and Majesty of the Power of the Word of Life that lived and as a Fire burned in my Heart that I could not stay And when the first day of the Week came in Obedience unto the word of the Lord I went to Aspetry the Place which the Lord set before me to speak to one Warwick a Priest who when I came was preaching in their Bell-house who soon after I came in with a Friend with me began to put forth some subtil Questions to provoke us to speak that he might have an opportunity to cause us to be haled out and sent to Prison but I resolved not to mind his Temptation but to wait upon the Lord and when he could not prevail with his Questions to get his end upon us he spoke to the Constable to put us forth who answering bid him go on and said They do not disturb us c. Then the Priest went on with his Sermon and finished And when he had done I began to speak to the People and the Priest he got away and the People hurried me out and kept me and the Priest asunder so that I got not to speak to him that Fore-noon So I came away with my Friend and thought to have returned home but immediately after I was got out of the Town the wrath and displeasure of the Lord in his Word sprung dreadfully in my Heart and a dreadful Cry was in me from the same Cursed is he that doth the Work of the Lord negligently c. And then I saw how I had let in a Fear upon me in which I had shunned the Priest and spared him for fear I should be sent to Prison for speaking to him the Law being such at that day That whosoever did disturb a Minister as they termed it should be sent to Prison c. And when I found out my Weakness in this that I had spoke to the People and spared the Priest that I was sent to cry against then was I sore afraid and my Heart filled with horrour and a sore cry in me still Cursed is he that doth the Work of the Lord negligently c. then I knew not what to do for the wrath of God was upon me and another Cry from the same Word was sounded in my Heart saying Babylon hath sinned all ye that bend the Bow shoot at her spare no Arrows for she hath sinned c. Now when it was thus with me and I saw that I had not been faithful but had mist my Service after I had come so far as the Common above Plumland I sate me down and there I mourned before the Lord whom I had so grieved and humbly desired of the Lord that he would but grant me liberty to go again to clear my self that I might come into Peace with him again and then let Life or Liberty outwards go I did not value So waiting upon him in this humble bowed frame of Spirit the Word of Life rose in me again and opened my Heart and sealed to me I might go Then I arose with boldness and went with speed till I came there at the Worship house and the Priest was preaching again in the After-noon and I went in and stood before him till he had done and then was my Heart filled with Peace and I resolved in the Name of the Lord not to spare but speak the Word of the Lord faithfully whatever I might suffer for it for in comparison thereof I valued neither Life nor Liberty So when he had done I spoke unto him what the Lord put in my Mouth He immediately got away and gave me no Answer But I followed him so quick and cried out after him so that he turned again to me in the Grave-yard and then I did clear my Conscience to him and a great Dispute we had for I did not spare him At last he went away and would stay no longer Then I spoke to the People and did clear my Conscience amongst them and then I came away in peace and my Heart was filled with unspeakable Joy and my Soul with Gladness Then I saw it was good to be faithful unto the Lord and to trust in him and to obey his Voice and then I came to feel and see more and more the woful and dreadful state that the Priests and Hirelings were in who for their own earthly gain made Merchandise of People although they were defended by the Laws of Men yet I found the Laws of God they were in the transgression of and so were in Cain's Corah's and Baalam's way in Envy and Gainsayers of the Truth and Lovers of the Wages of Unrighteousness and so such as Peter and Iude wrote of 2 Peter 2. 15. and Iude cried Wo against Iude 10 11 12. Then some time after I was moved by the Spirit of the Lord to go to Lorton to speak to one Fogoe a Priest who was preaching to the People in their Worship-house and I stayed till he had done and there he did affirm in his preaching to the People that both he and they was without the Life of both the Law and the Gospel And then I spoke to him and questioned him what he had to preach or to pray that was without the Life of both Law and Gospel But after a few words he fell into a rage and stirred up the People and they fell upon me and haled me out of the House and did beat me and the Priest did threaten to put me in the Stocks So I came away and that day two Weeks I was moved to go again to speak to the same Priest at Louswater the Parish where I did then dwell and when I came in the People beginning to look at me and take notice the Priest bid them let me alone if I would be quiet he would discourse with me when he had done So I stood still and quiet waiting upon the Lord the Priest he prepared to go to Prayer but when he saw that I did not put off my Hat for I could not so do because I could not joyn with him in his dead lifeless Prayers Then instead of going to Prayer he fell a railing against me and said I should not stand there in that posture At last I spoke to him and did ask him What he had to pray with that was without the Life of both Law and Gospel But he continued calling out to the People to take me away so that at last my Father being there and displeased with me for troubling their Minister came himself and haled me out of the House and was very angry with me Then I stayed in the Grave-yard till the Priest and People came out and then I got to him and spoke to him again but he soon began to be in a rage and to threaten me with the Stocks and got away And then I cleared my Conscience to the People of what I had to say and so came away in great peace with the Lord.
Then not long after in the same Year I was moved of the Lord by his Spirit to go to Briggham to speak to one Priest Denton who then was preaching in the Steeple-house to the People who in his Sermon which he had before hand prepared had many false Accusations Lyes and Slanders against Friends and the Principles of the Truth I stayed till he had done and then did speak to him but got little Answer but immediately some of his Hearers fell upon me and did beat me with their Bibles and with a Staff or Staffs all along out of the House and also out of the Grave-yard that the next day I was sore with the Blows and so the Priest commanded the Constable to secure me and a Friend that was with me and next day did cause him to carry us to Lancelot Fletcher of Talantyre who did order a Warrant to be written for us and so sent us from Constable to Constable to the common Goal in Carlisle where I was Prisoner three and twenty Weeks And when I wrote a Paper to the Priest wherein I answered his false Accusation and sent it to him by a Friend he would not read it but as I was told put it in the fire and burnt it Now while I was in Prison something came upon me for Scotland but I being a Prisoner and not yet deeply acquainted with the way and work of the Lord's Power and Spirit as in relation to such a Service great was the Exercise of my Spirit that I went under and for want of Experience and a clear Understanding I was swallowed up and for a time quite lost in the Deep where great was the Distress of my Soul beyond utterance but the merciful God by his powerful Arm and healing saving Word of Life did restore and bring up my Soul out of the Deep where it was for a time buried and renewed Life and Understanding and caused the Light of his Countenance to shine and the Sweetness of his Peace to spring so that I may truly say he caused the Bones that he had broken to rejoyce And then when he had thus crushed and humbled and let me see how he could make all things become as nothing again and so hide all Glory from Man then in his Goodness he revealed his Glory and Power and Presence and reviving Life and so opened to my Understanding his good Pleasure which with all readiness and willingness of mind I gave up unto in my Heart and Spirit So after my being kept about three and twenty Weeks in Prison I had my Liberty and so came home and followed my outward Calling that Summer and grew more and more into the Understanding of the Mind and Will of the Lord in that which I had a Sight of while I was in Prison And so keeping to Meetings and waiting upon the Lord in a true travel of Spirit after more acquaintance with him and more enjoyment of his Power and Word I grew not only into an Understanding but also into a degree of Strength and Ability sit to answer that Service which the Lord had called me unto And so then in the Faith that stood in God's Power about the beginning of the Eighth Month 1658. I took my Journey into Scotland and travelled in that Nation about Three Months and was both in the North and West of it as far North as Aberdeen and back again to Edinborough and so down West to Lithcow Hamilton Aire and as far as Port-Patrick and back to Aire and Duglass and our Service was at their Steeple-Houses and Markets and other places where we met with People and sometimes at Friends Meetings where there was any And our work was To call People to Repentance out of their lifeless hypocritical Profession and dead Formalities wherein they were setled in the Ignorance of the true and living God and so to turn them unto the true Light of Christ Iesus in their Hearts that therein they might come to know the Power of God and so come to know Remission of Sins and receive an Inheritance amongst the Sanctified And being thus clear of that Nation we returned into England and came over the water to Bowstead-hill the first day of the Eleventh Month 1658. Then returning home I followed my Calling or Trade again from that time until the Third Month 1659. and then I took shipping for Ireland according to what had been Opened unto me in the Truth when I was in Scotland and grew mightily in me through the Strength of the Power and Word of Life while I stayed at my Calling at home and kept to Meetings For the Lord often filled and enriched my Heart and Soul with his glorious Power and so sanctified and prepared me for that which he set before me For often in Spirit was I carried thither and had it sealed unto me that it was my place to go into that Nation to serve the Lord and bear witness unto the Truth and call People to Repentance and hold forth the Way of Life and Salvation unto them So I waited till the full Season came according to the blessed Counsel of God in which I found his leading Power with me and to go before me and so at the time aforesaid I took shipping at Whitehaven and landed at Dunacadee in the North of Ireland and travelled up to Lisbourne and so up to Lorgan and on to Kilmore in the County of Armagh and so up and down in the North for some time amongst Friends and had Meetings And many People came to Meetings and many Convinced and turned to God from the evil and vanity of their ways And then from thence I travelled up to Dublin and thence to Mountmeleck and so forward to Kilkenny and so on to Caperqueen and Tallow and so to Cork and Bandon and back to Cork and then to Toughal and to Waterford and to Ross and to Waxford and had Meetings along as I travelled and according to that Ability I received of God I was faithful and preached the Truth and true Faith of Jesus From Waxford I came to Carlough and Mountmeleck and so down into the North and spent some time there And so having gone through and in the fear of God published his Name and Truth as I had opportunity I then was willing to return home to England and for that end as I intended came down to Carrickfergus but before I got thither it came upon me that I should return back again to Lorgan and Kilmore and from thence to Londonderry And so I sent word to appoint a Meeting at Lorgan and went on to Carrickfergus and got a Meeting where there was many People at it and I did clear my self unto them in the fear of the Lord and then returned to Lorgan as I had appointed And there I met with Robert Lodge newly come out of England who had something in his Heart also to go to Londonderry this was about or near the beginning of the Seventh Month 1659.
So Robert Lodge and I became concerned in one Work Service and Travel together and were truly united in Spirit in the Unity of the Faith and Life of Christ in which blessed Unity and Fellowship of the Gospel of the Son of God we laboured and travelled in that Nation of Ireland for Twelve Months after we met together not often parting but sometimes we were moved to part for the Service's sake for a little time and came together again and the Lord gave us sweet Concord and Peace in all our Travels for I do not remember that we ever were angry or grieved one at the other in all that time And so we went down to Londonderry together and when we came there were soon discovered what we were and then the People were unwilling to receive us or let us have Lodging for our Money We were at their great Steeple-house on the first day and had a large time among the People to declare the Truth but at last the Major sent his Officers who would not suffer us to stay any longer but forced us out of the City and down to the Boat and commanded the Boat-man to carry us over and not to bring us back again So being clear we took our Journey towards Coalraine and then to the Grange and so to Antrim and so up to Lorgan and so through Friends in the North. And then after some time we took our Journey into the South and did travel through a great part of the Nation as to Dublin Mountmeleck and to Arthlone and Galloway Limmerick Cork and Bandon and so through the South and again into the North. And thus we spent our time with diligent Labour and hard Travel often in cold hunger and hardships in that County which then was in many Parts uninhabited And in Prison several times once in Armagh once in Dublin twice in Cork besides other Abuses we received from many because of our Testimony which we had to bear for the Lord in their Towns and in their Steeple-houses and against their Hireling-Priests which sought their Rewards and loved the Wages of Unrighteousness like Baalam and worse then he forces it from the People like the Sons of Eli whose Sin was very great 1 Sam. 2. 16 17. And thus having travelled and laboured in the Gospel together for Twelve Months and many being Convinced and gathered to the Truth we were clear of our Service there and in the Seventh Month 1660. we took shipping at Carrickfergus and intended for Whitehaven in England but by contrary Wind were driven to Kirkowbry in Scotland and from thence came over Land into Cumberland and to Cockermouth and then I again returned to my outward Calling and followed that and kept diligently to Meetings for it was still my Delight so to do and there to be diligent in waiting upon the Lord for I always found that therein I received an increase of Strength Life and Wisdom from the Lord. And as I found any motion upon me from the Lord to go to any Meeting abroad either in our Country or any other I went and cleared my self as the Lord gave Ability and so did return again to my Calling and so to our own Meeting where I did delight to wait in Silence upon the Lord for I loved that much because I found an inward growth thereby through the Teachings and Openings of his Spirit in my Heart and when something did open in me for that end to speak in our Meeting I gave up for the most part sometimes ready to quench through backwardness but that was hurtful but I grew over it by degrees and increased in Faith and holy Confidence more and more Now from the Seventh Month 1660. unto about the First or Second Month 1662. I was very much at home at my Calling and then I was moved of the Lord to go to London to see George Fox and others of the Elders and to acquaint him with what was upon me from the Lord to go to America which came weightily upon me in Ireland when I was there so that I had a great travel in Spirit and deep Exercise in Mind before I gave up But when I had given up in belief that it was the Word of the Lord and so gone through it in my Spirit and submitted unto his Will the weight and exercise was removed and I with my former Openness again restored into my Service and no more of that remained but a remembrance of the Prophecy or Opening which I had received and Faith in the Word which I was satisfied was sure for ever And therein I rested as to that matter until the time aforesaid that it came upon me to go and and acquaint G. F. as also Ed. Burrough who were then at London and Richard Hubberthorn for I loved to have the Counsel and Countenance of my elder Brethren who were in Christ before me And then I did return through Yorkshire home and had some Meetings as I came along and stayed at home but a little time and was moved to go again into Yorkshire and went through divers Meetings to visit Friends And being as I thought clear to return home I came to Rippon to see some Friends that were then Prisoners for meeting together to worship God and going into Prison to see them and in the Love of God speaking some words of Exhortation unto them the Goaler took me and had me to a House in the Town where the Major and the Chancellor and several of the Aldermen were together and there the Chancellor chiefly took in hand to examine me and sought to ensnare me that he might get occasion to Commit me to Prison And first he would have my going to Prison to my Friends to have been an Offence but I pleaded in so doing I had broken no Law Then he said I spoke in Prison I answered There was no Law that forbid us to speak to our Friends when we came to visit them Then he asked me when I was at Church and when I took the Sacrament according to the Laws of England I answered I knew no Law I had broken nor no evil I had done to any man if any man had evil against me let him bear witness of the evil Then he began to be in a rage and said He would have an Answer e're we had done c. But when he could not get an Advantage that way he reached for a Book and asked me if I would take the Oath of Allegiance and Supremacy And when I answered Not in Contempt to the King or his Authority but in Obedience to Christ's Command I could not swear Then he commanded the Clerk to write a Mittimus and sent me to the Prison to the rest of my Friends who were four and twenty before and there I was kept Prisoner fourteen Weeks And because when we sate down to wait upon the Lord for we fate down once every day together and many times Friends with us that came to see us
it You may make long Prayers like the Pharisees but what will it avail it being done without that in which the Saints had access to God So here your Praying and Worship and Separation or Gathering being without the Spirit what can it be but from self and in self And so like them spoken of in Iude 19. These be they who separate themselves sensual not having the Spirit And we desire you to read the 8th Chapter to the Romans and consider what you are to walk after as Christians and to be led by and to live after and with what you are to mortify the Flesh or the deeds of the Flesh if you own a Mortification needful to Salvation and whether you can be Christ's and not have his Spirit and whether you can be the Sons of God and not be led by his Spirit And whether you are Children but by Adoption And if by Adoption whether this Adoption is not by the Spirit And whether it was not the Spirit it self that bore witness with the Saints Spirits that they were the Children of God As verse the 16. And then consider what your Evidence is or whether ye have any or no You considering these things weightily will certainly find your selves at a loss while ye are denying the Spirits discovery or Revelation whatever Iames Barry may tell you of your being in a State of Grace And therefore ought all People to be turned unto the Spirit and Light of Christ Jesus in their Hearts and if your Minister do not direct and turn you thereunto he is no Minister of Christ nor will ever bring you to Christ your Saviour and then how can you be saved And if he turn you to the Light and Spirit of Christ then he must own the Revelation thereof in the Church or else he denies Christ in his Offices to teach his People who is both King Priest and Prophet in his Church and if he turn People to the Light then he must not Preach against it but if this be not a part of his Message that God is Light and Christ is spiritually the Light of the World and so a part of his work to turn to this Light he is no Minister of Christ. And for your Satisfaction read these Scriptures Paul a true Minister Acts 26. 18. speaking of God's sending him to the Gentiles said It was to open their blind Eyes and to turn them from Darkness to Light and from the Power of Satan to God And 1 Iohn 1. 5. he said their Message which they had heard of him and declared was That God is Light So then they that turn People to the Light turn them to God and Christ as is further evident from Christ's own Words Ioh. 8. 12. Then spake Iesus again unto them saying I am the Light of the World he that followeth me shall not walk in Darkness but shall have the Light of Life And Iohn the Baptist's Testimony concerning him who was the Eternal Word by whom all things were made was That he was the true Light which lighteth every Man that cometh into the World John 1. 9. And Christ commanded to believe in the Light Iohn 12. 36. saying While ye have the Light believe in the Light that ye may be Children of the Light c. So People are both to be turned to the Light and to believe in the Light and to walk in it or else whatever be professed People can be but Children of Darkness and such as know not whither they go And in Isa 42. 6. and Isa. 49. 6. you may see how God promised that he would give Christ for a Light c. so that they that deny and slight the Light deny Christ God's Light and Salvation And Eph. 5. 13. the Apostle saith That all things that are reproved are made manifest by the Light for whatsoever doth make manifest is Light So that you may see what need People have to mind the Light or else they must be ignorant of their States and also of the Glory of God for in the Light is the Knowledge of God's Glory received as may be seen in 2 Cor. 4. 6. and also you may see where this Light is to shine For God who commanded Light to shine out of Darkness hath shined in our Hearts to give the Light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God in the Face of Iesus Christ. Much might be said in the Vindication of this Testimony for the true Light wherewith Christ hath lighted every Man but this may suffice to all that will believe the Scriptures and accordingly turn their Minds to the true Light of Christ that he may give them a right understanding to know him that is True according to 1 Iohn 5. 20. seeing Iames Barry in his last Paper seems to accuse us as if we would bring Texts of Scripture neither understood nor rightly applied therefore when he sends forth his Answer upon the back of our Vindication according to his promise let him give his Applications upon the fore-cited Scriptures which are quoted for the Proof of our Principles and as an Evidence against his and so let him prove us grand Hereticks as he said he would or otherwise let him leave off his boasting and cease from belying and abusing of us as formerly he hath done Written in Vindication of the Truth our selves and the rest of our Traduced Friends Dublin the 20th of the first Month 168â— Iohn Burnyeat Amos Strettell POSTSCRIPT JAmes Barry's Answer to two Letters sent him by Anthony Sharp which by way of Postscript was in his last Paper to us in the following Words viz. I do acknowledge my self indebted to your Scribe viz. Anthony Sharp in two most exquisite and polite Letters the which I hope to answer when I have little else to do So begging his Worships Patience may bear a little longer with my slowness in this Business I bid him Farewell J. B. For Answer Anthony Sharp being abused and belied in particular as well as we and our Principles in general when Iames Barry finds leisure to answer his Letters we shall leave Anthony Sharp to reply who doubtless therein will further manifest both him and his folly without either such delays or using such vain and scornful flouts improper to have come from the Pen of a Christian much less a pretended Minister Memorandum If any be desirous to see the several Papers that have past betwixt Iames Barry and Us the Originals may be seen with Amos Strettell at the Band and Hood in Back-Lane and true Copies thereof with Thomas Ashton at the Three Kidds and Gloves in Cavan-Street Dublin THE Holy TRUTH AND ITS Professors Defended In an Answer to a LETTER writ by Lawrence Potts Priest of Staplestown near Catherlough unto Robert Lackey a Parishioner and formerly Hearer of the said Priest Occasioned by his forsaking his Ministry and embracing the blessed Truth herein vindicated By Iohn Burnyeat and Iohn Watson Take Counsel together and it shall come to nought