Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	according_a	righteousness_n	zion_n	28	3	9.1444	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A52921	New-England's ensigne it being the account of cruelty, the professors pride, and the articles of their faith, signified in characters written in blood, wickedly begun, barbarously continued, and inhumanly finished (so far as they have gone) by the present power of darkness possest in the priests and rulers in New-England ... : this being an account of the sufferings sustained by is in New-England (with the Dutch) the most part of it in these two last yeers, 1657, 1658 : with a letter to Iohn Indicot, Iohn Norton, Governor, and chief priest of Boston, and another to the town of Boston : also, the several late conditions of a friend upon the Road-Iland, before, in, and after distraction : with some quæries unto all sorts of people, who want that which we have, &c. / vvritten at sea, by us whom the vvicked in scorn calls Quakers, in the second month of the yeer 1659 ; this being a confirmation of so much as Francis Howgill truly published in his book titled, The Popish inquisition newly erected in New-England, &c.	Norton, Humphrey, fl. 1655-1659.; Rous, John, d. 1695.; Copeland, John, 17th cent.	1659 (1659)	Wing N636; ESTC R3600	97,400	124

thee the report as from any other man besides my self that thou mayst know the truth thereof O Theophilus whatsoever thou art it was unto me as the Angell of his presence and caused me to carry the Ark back again into Aegypt and charged me there to abide until he brought the word for he that travels before strives in his owne strength There was I constrained in Mezech to cry Woe is me as one delivered unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the soul might be saved in the day of the Lord He that can receive it let him There left I the leaven of the Pharisees and kneading of do●gh and making of cakes and baking them upon the Altars made unto sin and fed only upon Angels food which I reaped a●tending at the Altar of Incense to receive the Word in the strength whereof Reader to the death of all flesh and self I have obtained mercy peace with God redemption from all filthiness of flesh and spirit an heir of his kingdom a member of his Body a Minister of his Spirit and an inheritor of his Eternal Rest blessed for ever Betwixt this death and this life this heavinese and this help this desolation and restoration are all the Families Kindreds and People upon earth be of what notion or profession they will and having past through the Dragons den and the most vainest and beast liest place of all Bruits the most publikely prophane and the most covertly corrupt the English in New England is the worst especially their Priest and Rulers for for all their feigned and whining profession there we found the Fiery Tryals as from men having past through all their Pattents so called bearing the testimony of the VVord of God of the Indians never received I any harm but freely entertained with such as they had Moreover by such as were by the English accounted the basest of men whom many of them they had barbarously banished from amongst them whom we found in Road-Iland Long-Iland Provindence and elswhere also in Plimouth-Pattent were we received and in severall other places as the Messengers of God and Sephas And what we with these also who have believed our report have reaped from their cruel hands hereafter f●lloweth with the places and parties thus intreated And also a true Copy of the Law whereby they acted thus against us such a one as I am sure never proc●eded out of Sion Shall David want a King to sit upon his Throne for ever Shall not God raise up Judges in righteousness who shall plead his cause with the men of this generation that they may be judged as men in the flesh and their reward given them according to God in the Spirit Shall innocent blood lye buried in the dust for ever Surely nay thou wilt revenge thine own Elect who cries unto thee day and night against these who builds up Sion with blood and Jerusalem with oppression cruelty and iniquity So after the discharging of my conscience towards God in the committing these things to publike view recommending them to the consciences and considerations of all that are in Authority the chief Magistrate and his Assistants who sits in Council with him and who ought in righteousness so much as in them lies to see these grievances and abuses regulated or otherwise these things at their hands will be required for let them be assured that that spirit which hath attempted unto blood in such a high nature as they have done not being called to an account for it will attempt to take away life if still suffered as you may further understand their cruel intent by a Law set forth in this present yeer 1658. and this as surely they seek after as the enemies of God doth after thine or did after thy father O. C. for as little art thou esteemed by the one as by the other further then base and self-ends leads them to seek unto thee for when we were moved of the Lord to make our appeal once and again that our cause might be heard and tryed by the chief Magistrate or whom he pleased to appoint we were utterly denyed it and his Name sleighted and never so much as made mention of in their proeeedings in that bloody and cruel place of Boston and as the least principle of the law of Love bears rule in thee it will lead thee to do for thy neighbors and friends as for thy self and if this thou do not thou canst not be justified in the sight of God nor from our blood cleer in the day of thine account and least thou or any one should question the truth hereof we the Sufferers are the Subscribers who are all of us by name and nature free-born English people whom if thou or any by thy appointment shall call us to question concerning the truth hereof I am satisfied we shall be as ready to do the second as we have been to suffer for the first And it being the honor of a King to finde out a cause finde out this as thou art Noble and if any man can contradict the truth of one passage in this particular I shall freely bear the blame and shame thereof who hath been and am an eye and ear-witness unto them all Called amongst men Humphrey Norton Reader Thou mayst further understand that varietie of Lawes they invent and establish at the least two times every yeer and if occasion seem to present they can do it two times a week as they did by John Rous and Humphrey Norton and severall others having whipt us once according to their former Law soon after our imprisonment as thou wilt further understand in what followeth In the week following their malice was so great against us that they made a second whereby to whip us two times a week but this they read unto us and put in execution upon our bodies but would not suffer us to have a copy of it and I knowing that there is an everlasting Law established and given forth with Statutes and Ordinances attending on it recorded in the book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel and Judah against all transgressions whatsoever committed and uncommitted I could do no less but smile at their blindness So that Reader finding their Lawes not worthy of losing or wasting thy time in I shall commit no more to thy view then necessity puts me upon to certify unto thee the truth and nakedness o● the things herein mentioned And that thou with us may judge of the Tree by its fruits here followeth one of them At a Council held at Boston the 11. of July 1656. VVHereas there are several Lawes long since made and published in this Jurisdiction bearing testimony against Hereticks and erroneous persons yet notwithstanding Simon Kempthorn of Charls-Town Master of the Ship-Swallow of Boston hath brought into this Jurisdiction from the Iland of Barbados two Women who name themselves Anne the Wife of one Austin and Mary Fisher being of that sort of people commonly

known by the Name of Quakers who upon examination are found not onely to bee transgressors of the former Laws but do hold many very dangerous heretical and blasphemous Opinions and they also acknowledge that they came here purposely to propagate their said errors and heresies bringing with them and spreading here sundry Books wherein are contained many most corrupt heretical and blasphemous Doctrines contrary to the truth of the Gospel professed amongst us the Council therefore tendering the preservation of the Peace and Truth enjoyed and professed among the Churches of Christ in this Countrey do here by order First That all such corrupt books as shall be found upon search to be brought in and spread by the foresaid persons be forthwith burned and destroyed by the common executioner Secondly That the said Anne and Mary be kept in close prison and none admitted communication with them without leave from the Governor Deputy-Governor or any two Magistrates to prevent the spreading of their corrupt Opinions untill such time as they be delivered by Authority aboard some Vessel to be transporte● out of the Countrey Thirdly the said Simon Kempthorne is hereby injoyned spéedily and directly to ●ransport or cause to be transported the said persons from hence unto the Barbado's from whence they came he defraying all the charge of their imprisonment and for the effectual performance hereof hée is to give security to the Secretary in a Bond of a hundred Pounds sterling and on his refusal to give such security he is to be committed to prison till he do it By the Council Edward Rawson Secretary The Sufferers under this Law Reader Thou mayst understand That besides what I am to give thee an account of concerning their proceedings in these two last years to wit 57 and 58. That as a Preface to this their work they thus began in 56 there being two of the servants of God called Mary Fisher and Anna Austin moved from Barbadoes to the Town of Boston which when there arrived they having notice of it the deputy Governour Richard Bellingham sent to stop them from coming ashore until they saw their own time in sending their Marshal for them and to search for what Books they had which being done thou maist understand by their order that their common Executioner was appointed to destroy them O learned and malicious cruelty as if another man had not been sufficient to have burnt a few harmless Books who like their Masters can neither fight strike nor quarrel but the common Executioner must have the honour of it and they committed to close Prisor none to come at them to confer with them but whom they had a mind to suffer for the abusing or ensnaring of them as apparently doth appear by their reviling language in that which they call their Law as cursed Hereticks Adamites Blasphemers c. and accusing them for Witches whereupon they took upon them to appoint women to search them who also took men along with them which if they had denied or refused to have bound and constrained them but such was their innocency that they suffered all whatsoever they attempted to do unto them which inhumanely was in the manner following Stript them stark naked not missing head not feet searching betwixt their toes and amongst their hair t●wing and abusing their bodies more then modesty can mention in so much that Anne who was a married woman and had born 5 children said That she had not suffered so much in the birth of them all as she had done under their barbarous and cruel hands who also amongst other lyes and slanders reported that one of them before their search was a man in womans apparrel but lyes are licensed amongst them both by Priest and Ruler for in Court and Pulpit I have heard it without resraint or limit of theirs and after five weeks imprisonment or thereupon with these and the like abuses which are too tedious to mention they sent them away without the making manifest against them the transgression of any known Law in the least as thou mayest perceive by their Order but what is against us all crying out as with one consent Away with this people and give us a troop of Robbers Hosea 6. 9. to wit Priests About two daies after these two were had out of prison to be shipt away for Barbadoes from whence they came we eight to wit Christopher Holder Thomas Thriston William Brend John Copeland Mary Prince Sarah Gibbens Mary Weatherhead Dorothy Waugh who when according to the will of God we were come to an anchor in Boston in New England being made sensible of the cryes and groans of his seed which cryed unto him for help and deliverance from under the cruel bondage it served and the captivity it was held in by the cruel Lords which bear rule ouer it the Ministers and Magistrates so called but rather bloody Masters and oppressors for so they are in truth which cryes and groans having entred into the ears of the Lord God of Sabbaths whose compassion is great towards his seed and whose love is large to satisfie those who desire after the knowledge of his ways i● sincerity for the deliverance of which seed he is risen in great majesty and power the arm whereof is stretched forth doth evidently appear in raising up and gathering to himself his servants sons and daughters whom he hath made true witnesses of his Name according to the working of which mighty power which hath subdued all things to himself in us and hath made us obedient to the command of his Spirit and who brought us to the place of his appointment which when there we came Robert Lock Commander of the Ship would not suffer us to go ashore untill he had given in our names to the Governour which being done the Marshal with the Constable was sent aboard with a Warrant to search the Boxes Chests and Trunks of the Quakers for Erronious Books and hellish Pamphlets as they called them and take them from us Oh! what will become of you in that day when a dog dare not lift his tongue against the quakers the which they did taking away what they found having an Order to bring us eight with one Richard Smith whom they ●alled our Proselite before the Court then sitting at Boston which thing being done and we going in the strength of our God to bear witnes unto his name and truth before all sorts of people being called thereunto but by the Rulers thereof rejected and we the messengers thereof evilly intreated after so great a travel and so long a passage in stead of being entertained according to the Scriptures they profess which saith Be not forgetful to entertain strangers which thing these who witnessed the power of godliness and lived in it ever did but they having a form but deny and speak evill of the power thereof ●id heap false accusations upon us and send us to prison and that their wickedness might the more appear and

they themselves made manifest gave order that none should visit us which if these actions of their be to do as they would be done unto and so fulfil the royal Law let the wise in heart judge Again after a friv●lous examination once and again the greatest part thereof being touching the Trinity unto which we answered according to the Scriptures That the Father Son and Spirit we own but a Trinity the Scripture speaks not of and so the Father who then was with us preserved us by his power as in the hollow of his hand so that they could not touch us before whom the hearts of the people failed for fear yea greatly was these Hypocrites surprized the Magistrates and Priests being bent together against us one of which was John Norton by name their chief Priest going about to prove the Scriptures to be the rule and guide of life brought Rom. 106 7 8. but stayed not there but turned to the 2 Pet. 1. 19. and being asked by us what that light was there spoken of which shined in a dark place he said i● was the eternal VVord And being asked what the dark place was William Brend having his hand on his breast he said he thought it was under his hand who said to him Then thou means the heart he answered Yea We asked whether the Eternal word was not a sufficient guide He said Yea And being asked whether it was his rule and guide he said it was when he was guided aright Then said some of the Magistrates what difference is there between us and you if we ●old the same thing then the Governor cryed out he could not say so and John Norton would have denyed what he had said but some of the Magistrates affirmed he did say so then was there a division among themselves some affirming and some contradicting so they sent us to prison and the day following called us forth again in publike asking us questions to which we had answered the day before in private which they had written down and we called to them to have our answers read but they refused so to do Upon which we refused to answer seeing they lay in wait to insnare We asked them what Law wee had broken for which we had been imprisoned The Governor said he would have us to take heed we broke none of their Ecclesiastical Laws for it we did we were sure to stretch by a halter mark Reader what savour there is in their expressions So they proceeded to sentence us to banishment which they grounded upon fals● accusations ordering us to be sent to prison again there to bee kept without Bail or Mainprise untill such time as we be sent away to the place from whence we came in the ship that brought us for which end they sent for Robert Lock before them the Commander of that ship and did require of him to carry us back again upon his own charge and also to give in his bond to them to land us no where but in England which he refusing they forthwith cast him into prison where he lay four dayes and seeing he was likely to lose his voyage entred into reason and thereupon st●●ped to their unrighteous yoke and gave in bond so to do then was he set at liberty and we continued under their cruelty nigh eleven weeks having these following Orders executed upon us and was on the one and twentieth of the eighth month forced from prison a shipboard in a violent manner An Order to the Keeper of the Prison You are by vertue hereof to keep the Quakers formerly ●●mmitted to your custody as dangerous persons industrious to ●●●prove all their abilites to seduce the people of this Iurisdiction both by words and letters to the abominable tenent of the Quakers and to kéep them close prisoners not suffering them to speak or confer with any person not permitting them to have paper or ink The 18. of the 6 moneth 1656. Edward Rawson Secretary An Order to the Goalor for to search as oft as he sees meet the Boxes Chests and Things of the quakers formerly committed to your custody for pen ink and paper papers and books and take them from them This last being subscribed by Iohn Indicot Governor Richard Bellingham de Governor Dated the 27. of the 7 month 1656. Another to the Marshal-General Edward Michelson or his Deputy You are by vertue of an Order of the Generall Court sitting at Boston the twentieth of October 1656. required and hereby impowred forthwith to impress a sufficient Boat with sufficient and convenient help and take out of prison William Brend John Copeland Thomas Thi●ston and Christopher Holder Mary Prince Sarah Gibbens Mary Weatherhad and Dorothy Waugh and carry them and deliver them aboard Mr. Lock 's ship now at Nantaschit according to Order and hereof not to fail Dated at Boston the 10. of October 1656. By the Court Edward Rawson Secretary To the Marshal-General Edward Michelson or his Depury You are by vertue hereof required to levy on the goods and chattels of William Brend and John Copeland the value of 10. s. and deliver the same to William Salter Kéeper of the Common Prison in Boston in satisfaction of so much due to him for his fees by Order of Court in their commitment together with 2 s. for this Execution whereof you are not to fail Dated at Boston the 20 of October 1656. Edward Rawson Secretary There was four of these copies for every two one by which they took our bedding and sent us away without it and also a Bible the Goalor took although he said we denyed the Scriptures yea so great was his envy against us as that he took away our candles not suffering us to have light in the night-season because as he said we should not see to write to trouble the Magistrates and infect the people whose cruel dealing and inhumane carriage towards us was much more then what is here related it being too tedious to mention this being in short the truth of what then passed betwixt us and was acted upon us which we in patience did suffer committing our cause to him who judgeth righteously who is at hand to give unto every man according to his deeds the Truth of what is here related we whose names are here before mentioned are true witnesses of it which if those that have been herein most deeply engaged against God and us his Servants shall go about to gainsay in the day wherein the righteous judgments of God shall be made manifest upon all unrighteousness of men shall their mouths be stopt when they come to receive a due recompence of reward for all unrighteousness and inherit the wrath due unto them for resisting so great love of God whose love is large and long-suffering great of which I am a Witness glory to the Lord God for ever who of their blood is cleer if they perish I having by the power of God stood a witness agains● their wickedness by which

appear in the presence of that people That Jesus was both the Author and Finisher of Faith and Rule and Guide of life which made a flut in the House Aftervvards the Governor proffered me in words their Oath of Fidelity the which I put upon him to prove by Scripture that ever he heard of such an Oath and so it was left And vvhereas they speak of divers persons residing amongst them not having taken the oath c. All those persons to the best of my knowledge who have been often amongst them is this forementioned Ralph Allin vvhose Father so far as I know dyed in that Township vvhere this his eldest Son vvith six Brethren and Sisters all or most of them have continued in the same Town and Collony above twenty years their Father and they being both of good report yet have they endeavoured to banish ruinate and undo him vvho hath at least eight nine or ten children and all this for rising up and cannot lye at the feet of their god Mammon Their fourth part also I shall leave to the consciences of the Rulers therein concerned to take notice how they labour to cast the innocent who are engrafted into Christ out of Court and Countrey finding Jesus such an Instrument of Justice and such an Enemy to Hell and the Powers therof the Devil doth what he can that he may not have the oversight of his proceedings therefore saith he being assembled in the first place Take notice of the Members c. Again their fift part also I commit to the same consideration what an ancient and wholesome pill it is bearing date neither from time nor place so that its rise is neither from beginning nor end and its intent is accordingly vvho will not suffer a forreigner to have a rest in their borders neither place in House Court nor Countrey vvithout the consent of such as in their Act is mentioned the whole World lying in Wickedness the Devil being god and guide therein the Rulers are bent that the ends thereof shall never be redeemed to become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ therefore do they establish such ancient Antidotes as this which they have digged out of the bottomless pit for which they are ashamed to bring their black proof These several persons again herein mentioned is this same Ralph Allin whom for several years they have envied and maliciously used having renewed this last year against him this Antidote thinking thereby to cover their malice and wickedness for which God will plague them if there be any more it is such as are one with him who cannot bow their knee to Baal You may also understand by their last clause that it is one with all the rest that no place nor peace nor comfort union nor society must the people of God have under their Government it being altogether against God Christ true Church and its order life power and spirit This Testimony have I sealed amongst them with my blood and God is my record at this day it is true therefore as the Wicked make void the Law of the Righteous even so doth the righteous make void the Law of the Wicked and reconciliation betwixt them there cannot be saith H. N. Again here follows the practice and exercise of this Law with the Parties and Causes which suffered under it if this Law had had so much as the shew of good things to come they had put an end to it before its beginning for before this they had left sacrifcing Goats and Calves and offered up two poor sheep in sacrifice upon their Altar-Stocks to wit William Brend and John Copeland as by what is written before you may understand The Sufferings of Humphrey Norton and John Rous at their June-Court 1658. I Humphrey Norton being in Road-Island certain dayes after my sufferings at New-Haven the Lord God did accompany me with this cry two dayes together or more Bonds abides thee Bonds abides thee and presented before me Plymouth Patent and their Court which according to his Will and in obedience to his Spirit I went with my beloved Brother John Rous into that Patent and seeing and hearing of the sufferings inflicted upon the people of God inhabiting there with the wrongs sufferings and abuses sustained by me and others of the servants of God I drew up these particulars following and sent them before me to the Governor and other of his Assistants the day before that so they might not be unacquainted with the matter which when I came there according to the Will of God as he had shewed me I was taken up in the street and cast into Bonds according to the malice of the Devil And when I came before them with my yokefellow John Rous they asked us upon what grounds we came into their Collony and would neither acknowledge nor deny the receiving of my grounds neither would they receive them from me and cause them to be read nor suffer me to read them but sent us back to prison without Mittimus as they call it Bill of Charge or Copy of their Law no Justice could we have from them no more then two sheep that is to be judged by a company of Wolves but we have learned to bear it with patience knowing that our fore-runner was so dealt with before us by the same generation and having pass●d their unjust Sentence on us according to their Wills they brought us to the Stocks where after prayer and saluting each other in publick the people gave reverence with astonishment the Executioner coming to put off our Clothes was bid to have patience and he should see that we could give our backs to the smiter which being done he laid upon us thirty eight stripes being told by the standers by After this was done saluting the life which appeared in the least measure in any we returned in the glory of true sufferers kept far from transgression but in truth for not departing out of their Colony when their Constable so called commanded us having the grounds here following to make good 1. I who am called and chosen of God to bear the Testimony of Jesus the Word of God against all unrighteousness and oppression in all sorts of people whatsoever having formerly been in this Colony and before your Court held at Plymouth and being cleared so far as I remember without the least clause of the transgression of any Law of God whatsoever laid to my Charge the which I charged upon you after my Tryal by vvay of false Imprisonment and required thereupon to know who might discharge the house vvhereunto I was confined the answer was made as I remember by John Alden Magistrate after asking me if I had Silver told me it should be left to my freedom whether I vvould do it or leave it unto them since which time and in my absence I am informed that I am recorded in your Court Book for being convicted of several Errors and at that time neither

the latter far surmounting the former several times have they endeavoured to starve us to death by famine at the Town of Boston several times under restraint vvhich herein is not mentioned several of us lost in the Wilderness in the Winter-season several nights vvading deep Waters in frost snovv and cold vvhen none could be had to guide us because of the season one of vvhich S●rah Gibbins by Name lost tvvo nights in this nature being alone vvithout man or Woman to comfort her seized on by an Indian vvhich sorely attempted her but the Lord delivered her the English also endeavouring to stirr up the Indians against us all this have vve born and suffered through his strength and for his love vvho hath chosen us vvhereby vve have heaped Coles upon the heads of our Adversaries vvho hath thus entreated us vvho vvas sent unto them for their souls sake vvho hath caused us to say Oh how are the precious sons of Sion comparable to fine Gold esteemed as Earthen Pitchers the Clay of the Potter H. N. A Letter to John Indicot and John Norton Governor and chiefe Priest in Boston which yet is not answered FRiends I heard a great noise about a litttle Note I writ to Iohn Indicot after the Brethrens Ears were cut be it known unto you that it was onely unto such as sits in counsel to shed innocent blood with such as votes them up and upholds them therein who deserves the greatest curse of all Crimes as for all such into whose hands my Paper comes let them compare it with the Laws which they of Boston made against us as cursed Blasphemers and Hereticks and Adamites c. as if they made a Libel of their Law And consider how much ever any of you have seen or heard us troubled a● it and I having sent forth but one few lines wherein is laid upon them that which is but their due and see how the Beast roars as if he were wounded in his secret parts and cryed out unto all the Earth for ease and mind you Reader whether their Curses or ours is of more force and whether it 's they or we that lyes under the power of a plague and whether in all ages it was the innocent or the guilty who cried out Help O men of Israel help Humph. Norton John Indicot Cursed is that man which causeth any to be dismembered of the members that God hath formed made given them before he that made them doth remove them sad wil it go with thee if the loss of that member cost any one his life Remember that Scripture thou brought That he that sheds mans blood by man shall his blood be shed Think not O miserable man that thou canst cover or hide thy self by saying thou persecutest not nor thou sheds no mans blood for in the condition thou art none of these things can be done without thee or thy consent and at thy hand will all this blood and cruelty be required thou knowest that they are but Officers imployed by thee that executes it thou art the foreman in forging of them of this take warning from the Lord God that in the day wherein thou begins with that bloody Work of dismembering the cry of blood will enter into thy house and the curse of God will be more grievous to thy heart for so doing then all the Earth can add thee comfort As thou tenders pitty to thy poor soul take warning before-hand least thou have cause to repent when it is too late least of these thy actions and proceedings will be unto thee as a burdensome stone in the day of thy account Thou maist remember that thou asked me how thou should know that I was sent of God c. I say Many examples might be giveu thee if thou couldst believe As first The Scripture is fulfilled in hurling and pulling me out of your Affembly in such a manner as never any was out of the Church of God and haling me before the Magistrates and casting me into prison according to that Scripture mentioned by John Norton The Devil shall cast some of you into prison Doth not thou believe that he prophesied what would become of us And is it not now as it was then that he that lives after the flesh persecutes him that lives after the Spirit so that this is no new thing but if there be in him any manhood for God or love to the souls of his people let him come forth and give proof thereof in performing but this reasonable request and if he be a Herdsman either of Abraham or Lot and in his thoughts hath gone all this time to the right hand let him now turn to the left and take his Compass through Piymouth-Patten Road-Island Providence Long-Island and else where they have believed and received our report whom you account and call deluders and I shall freely engage my body for his unto this Patten that he shall not be imprisoned whipped nor dismembred by any of them and the same time that he hath there with any one or more accompanying him let me have the like Liberty in this Town and Collony with my yokefellow and let the fruit shew the effect who is the deceiver the false Prophet the Earthly Epicure or the Worldly belly-god if this he deny let him be ashamed and never more owned by you his hearers to be a Minister of the Spirit of truth Let me have his or thy Answer on his behalf directed unto me who is a friend to thy soul called Hump. Norton but by the scorners a quaker Let him subscribe the Answer and let not these deluded Flocks as you account them be lost for want of his labour Again thou maist remember thou charged me with Blasphe● my against John Norton Whereunto I say Had he been a Minister of Christ and I had hit him on the one che●k or under the fifth rib he should have turn'd unto me the other also and let me have had both place and time with him and the people that he might the more have laid me open and not to have suffered one of his chief members as if it were his heart to have cast me into prison but this and such as this doth but the further make thee and him manifest Dated from Boston prison this 16. of the 5. Month 1658. Another LETTER to the Town of Boston BOSTON is a withered Branch the sap of the Vine is departed from it your profession is become barren and your glory is become withered ye are departed from the Lord and have followed your own inventions How is thy beauty faded thou who was famous among the Nations for thy zeal towards God! But now thy zeal is turned to hypocrisie and envy hath eaten you out and malice is as a Canker among you and the way of peace you know not but are following that which makes desolate therefore return while you have time and let God be truly minded by you lest he break forth with

an unresistable flood which you cannot be able to escape Be not proud for thy beauty thou hast lost and thy glory is stained but seek after him who is pure whose Worship stands in the Spirit and no longer worship the Works of your own hands least in the day of your distress your house be left unto you desolate and your habitation waste and then you may wish that while you had time you had minded the things which belongs unto your peace and so cease from your boasting and search your hearts with the light of Christ and let hypocrisie dwell no longer in them least being double minded you be shut out with hypocrites in utter darkness where shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth So while you have time prize it and while you have time repent of your ungodliness and cruelty acted on the Lambs of Christ least you following the Way you now walk in do fall into the pit of perdition out of which there is no redemption And this is written by one who sees thy withered state and hath suffered in thee for the testimony of a good conscience called John Rous. A true discovery and relation of the dealings of God with Goodworth Horndall Wife to John Horndall in Newport upon Road-Island in New-England it being written for the information of the weak and for the help and comfort of all such as may taste of the like distempers and also a warning unto all such as may strive after salvation and the knowledge of the things of God according to the working of their own wills and imaginations wherein it is not to be obtained SHe being formerly a Woman of a discontented mind and inclinable to be led aside with a fretting earthly spirit and of a peevish nature when therein she was crossed as many others in the first birth and nature are and seeing the tryals and travels and emptiness of these transitory things was disquieted in her spirit groaning after that which is more durable and fadeth nor away and I being a Traveller appointed by the Father for that very end to seek out the lost sheep of the house of Israel and so much as in me lyes to gather together and bring home that seed which the Serpent in his servants hath scattered and laid as wast and laboureth to destory and I being drawn by the Father into remote places where his seed lay hid and suffered according to the seed which suffered and that spirit that moved me forth I preached liberty unto the captivated Seed and glad tydings of an acceptable day of deliverance unto the whole House of Israel the which glad tydings the beforementioned Goodworth Horndall as one distrest and opprest in spirit gladly received believed with many more in that place which she as one that had long offended a just terrible God would willingly have acted any thing whereby she might have obtained his Favour and appeased his Wrath but the Serpent being more subtil then any beast in the Field overcame the simplicity in her his power having had place and dominion over her and all flesh in that first nature and birth whereby he led her aside into the imaginations to act strange things yea even such as were beyond her natural strength that such as did labor to withdrawher from did admire at she being convinc't in her own conscience that in and after the course of her former conversation she had been led aside and grievously had offended although in nothing beyond what others in the same nature have been led into which if not repented of they must all likewise perish and she being fearful to offend further then already she had done went about to act in her own Will and in the same spirit whereby she had been captivated such things as were presented to her mind which by the Serpents subtilty was and is always seemingly good whereby the simple hath been led aside to tast although bitter hath been and is the end thereof yet contrary altogether to her knowledge of the evil that therein was these things she did expecting thereby to reap or merit peace and satisfaction but none there was to be had but on the contrary further thraldom so that after information and further advice from such as had travelled through the like tryals and temptations she was prettily setled and savour began to arise in her again so that after hearing the truth further declared she said we spake the language of the heavenly Land and it being so that the servant of God at that present was called away into other remote places where he laboured and suffered a certain space in which time the said Goodworth being of a fretting disconted mind not having been exercised with the patience and faith of the Saints in the midst of such tryals was again led aside into a second relapse which the wise in heart knows is the worst part of a second sorrow She being then in the mixture of the Powers I speak unto them that are wise let them judge what I say the one having long had place and the other having now entered to take place and she not knowing the operation of those powers and being too forward in acting the simplicity suffered a second sorrow and withall such coming about her as was not able to judge of these two powers there being judgement due to the one and mercy and help to the other which they willingly would have made help to her in this distress like the servants of the Lord or housholder Matt. 13. would willingly have been doing dasht down the Wheat with the Cockle which caused the poor creature to say in my hearing although at that time senceless That the blood was spilt upon the Earth When according to the will of the Father I came to that place again and she gone distracted so far that she could not govern nor guide her selfe at that present which troubled me very much and I would gladly have seen her but might not without the drawings of the Father for which I waited and in due time it came upon me and I went to her and sate by her waiting to minister if it were the Fathers will but there was nothing to receive me the ground being barren and altogether left desolate at which instant I was struck exceeding sorrowful being made sensible what the loss of one soul was even as if I had lost so much ou● of my own side and so in plain words from under that sence I spoke it forth withall signifying what a loss it was where the power had reached to the Seed raised the soul out of death which long it had laid under and then to be deprived of it and utterly frustrated and lost by the wiles and subtiltie of the Devil and Satan more then over many who had never tasted of the like power and love and also spoke it forth to the brethren and sisters that she should be visited so often as there

was drawings to see if it were possible to beget a Seed where there was none by the vertue of that power wherein we stood and of that Faith I was and am and in it do remain this is as Food fetcht from far to the pure and wise in heart and unto such only this is communicated and told them further that their Image would beget and it put me in minde of Jacobs laying speckled sticks before his fathers stock and at several times I gave them such figures as these that she was like unto a vessel heaving in the Sea whose compass was cast off the needle and there was nothing to steer it by neither could it move but as it was heaved to and again with the winde for to order her self in any thing that was good she could not or like as over-worn ground whose strength is destroyed so that it was capable neither of seed nor weed yet after a while let it alone and it will gather strength and bring forth something but as concerning her I am jealous that the evill will come forth first being sensible of the nature of all mankind thus it remained a certain space wherein we did visit her time after time in which time again I compared her unto a body or carcase which the Doctors and Apothecaries of the Egyptian world begs or buyes to anatomize or abuse from whence to reap vvisdome to add to their rotten art so that the vvise in heart may see that they conjure their vvisdome and knowledge and art from amongst the dead but we being Physitians chosen of the Father and by him made partakers of his nature and name he gave us a body whereupon to exercise our gifts which from him we had received and to that end was applyed and being often drawn forth in visiting of her her sences being lost and filled with winde and air her tongue running in useless and senceless words only in some agonies wherein she was not sensible she would have cryed out against her self and said I am that bloody Whore and the blood is spilt upon the earth and there is no salvation for me and sitting waiting by her I was made to take hold of such words and beat them back upon her so much as she was able to bear to bring her to the sence of them and one time I taxed her with a lie for there was salvation for her she suddenly asked me where I told her in God and she being full of Scripture words told me That the fool hath said in his heart there is no God I asked her and said What will you beleeve a fool Nay by no means there is a God and there is salvation for thee and beat it upon her so much as she was able to bear and put it upon her to remember what had past betwixt us until I came again that so she might have something of savour wherewithall to exercise her senses and sometimes she did and sometimes I hastened considering the weakness of her brain and thus laboured again to raise the dead which after some short time coming in this manner Horror at times took hold upon her and much temptation to make her self away in which time I coming to her she asked me If I could not cast out Devils through Beelzebub the Prince of Devils I told her nay the Devils said so of Christ which was false but I can cast out Devils through Christ Jesus the power of God then said she Cast the Devils out of me yea if thou wilt do what I require of thee she told me yea she would but at that time did not but according to my expectation the weed came up first for when I told her that God is a meek and quiet spirit and that she might learn to know him within her and to be guided by him vvho taught not to speak such foolish vvords as she did and joyn her members to him and I would joyn with Christ both in me and her and through his strength the Devil shall be dispossest which at that time she could not bear but broke forth into foolish laughter which vainness continued with her a certain space vvhich when that was off her temptations straitly followed her still to make her self avvay which thing increased my confidence in her and all vvho may beled into the like for such are they that Satan hath little confidence in that they will do him service but if they can by any means escape his Wiles they will follow the example of my forerunner and me his servant who was led of the Spirit to be tempted in the Wildernes which vainness she hath confessed to me since that after my reproof in telling her and giving the example that she was more vain then her child that something in her shewed her that it was not fit for her to laugh and was in such a sad condition After which she got forth a doors into the woods to have made her self avvay having also been at the water-side to have done it before and both through the love and power of God was prevented for when she vvas in the vvoods vvith an intent to have done it she told me that something spake unto her and told her That it was not the destroying other self that could satisfie God for the dishonor she had done him After vvhich she savv that it was the love and power of God that did and had prevented her from doing of it and from that time she setled and amended and I perceived by her Sister that her earnest desire was to speak with me and said That she did beleeve she should be restored the which was accomplished and after our meeting she earnestly begged of me to tell her Whether she had not sinned the sin against the Holy Ghost yea or nay I told her nay then she put it strongly upon me to make it forth unto her the vvhich I did and told her Thou hast not yet received the Holy Ghost and that there vvas many Disciples vvho knew not vvhether there vvere any Holy Ghost yea or nay the which she saw and confessed then hovv can thou have sinned against it Moreover in that vvhich thou hast done against that vvhich thou hast received thou did it not wilfully for hadst thou known better thou wouldst not have done it and she told me vvith tears that the Lord knew that she had not done it wilfully and if she had known better she would not have done it and trusted in God that he would shew mercy upon her and the next time I came again she told me the same words and was still the more setled and her child being lying sick by her I asked her if she did not pity that poor child knowing that in her distemper neither it nor any other thing was regarded and she cryed out alas shal I not pity my own poor child and I was moved to tell her that even so the Lord had pitied her and his bowels