by which you will feel his blessed and refreshing Presence among you and in you to your Comfort and God's Glory And now all Friends All your Meetings both Mens and Womens Monthly and Quarterly and Yearly c. were set up by the Power and Spirit and Wisdom of God and in them you do know that you have felt both his Power and Spirit and Wisdom and blessed refreshing Presence among you and in you to his Praise and Glory and your Comfort So that you have been a City set on a Hill that cannot be hid And although many loose and unruly Spirits have risen betimes to Oppose you and them both in Print and other ways but you have seen how they have come to Nought and the Lord hath blasted them and brought their Deeds to Light and made them Manifest to be the Trees without Fruit and Wells without Water and Wandering Stars from the Firmament of God's Power and the Raging Waves of the Sea casting up their Mire and Dirt And many of them are like the Dog turn'd to his Old Vomit and the Sow that was washed turned again to the Mire And this hath been the Condition of many God knoweth and his People And therefore all to stand Stedfast in Christ Jesus your Head in whom you are all one Male and Female and know his Government and of the Encrease of his Government and Peace there shall be no End but there will be an End of the Devil 's and of all them that be out of Christ and do Oppose it and him whose Judgment doth not linger and their Damnation doth not slumber And therefore in God and Christ's Light Life Spirit and Power live and walk that is over all and the Seed of it in Love and in Innocency and Simplicity and in Righteousness and Holiness dwell and in his Power and Holy Ghost in which God's Kingdom doth stand All Children of New and Heavenly Jerusalem that is from above and is free with all her Holy Spiritual Children To her keep your Eyes And as for this Spirit of Rebellion and Opposition that hath risen formerly and lately it is out of the Kingdom of God and Heavenly Jerusalem and is for Judgment and Condemnation with all its Books Words and Works And therefore Friends are to live and walk in the Power and Spirit of God that is over it and in the Seed that will bruise and break it to pieces In which Seed you have Joy and Peace with God and Power and Authority to Judge it and your Unity is in the Power and Spirit of God that doth Judge it and all God's Witnesses in his Tabernacle go out against it and always have and will And let no Man live to Self but to the Lord as they will die in him and seek the Peace of the Church of Christ and the Peace of all Men in him for Blessed are the Peace-makers And dwell in the pure peaceable Heavenly Wisdom of God that is Gentle and Easie to be entreated that is full of Mercy all striving to be of one Mind Heart Soul and Judgment in Christ having his Mind and Spirit dwelling in you building up one another in the Love of God which doth edifie the Body of Christ his Church who is the holy Head thereof So Glory to God through Christ in this Age and all other Ages who is the Rock and Foundation and the Emanuel God with us Amen over all the Beginning and the Ending in him Live and Walk in whom you have Life Eternal in whom you will feel me and I you All Children of New Jerusalem that descends from above the Holy City which the Lord and the Lamb is the Light thereof and is the Temple in it they are born again of the Spirit So Jerusalem that is above is the Mother of them that are born of the Spirit And so they that come and are come to Heavenly Jerusalem are them that receive Christ and he giveth them Power to become the Sons of God and are born again of the Spirit So Jerusalem that is their Mother And such do come to Heavenly Mount Sion and the innumerable Company of Angels and to the Spirits of just Men made perfect and are come to the Church of the Living God written in Heaven and have the Name of God and the City of God written upon them So here is a New Mother that bringeth forth a Heavenly and a Spiritual Generation There is no Schism nor Division nor Contention nor Strife in Heavenly Jerusalem nor in the Body of Christ which is made up of living Stones a Spiritual House And Christ is not divided for in him there is Peace Christ saith In me you have Peace And he is from above and not of this World but in the World below in the Spirit of it there is Trouble therefore keep in Christ and walk in him Amen G. F. And Jerusalem was the Mother of all the true Christians before the Apostacy and since the outward Christians are broken into many Sects and they have gotten many Mothers But all they that are come out of the Apostacy by the Power and Spirit of Christ Jerusalem that is above is their Mother and none below her who doth nourish all her Spiritual Children Read at the Yearly-Meeting in London 1691. G. F. Reader please to note That these following Papers and Epistles some of which being mention'd in the Journal page 452 c. and there omitted are found meet to be here inserted and are as followeth A Warning to the Magistrates and People of the City of Oldenborg Friends HAve you not seen and felt the Judgments of God upon your City the Lord sending Lightning from Heaven Amsterdam that destroy'd and burnt it And as I passed thorow your City on a First-day of the Week which you call your Sabbath To pag. 448 I saw some drinking and Soldiers playing at Shuffle-board and others with their Shops open and Trading when they should have been Waiting upon God and Worshipping him And your People were light and vain without any sense of God's Judgments or Repentance O therefore Repent lest the All-seeing God who sees all your Actions and is over all do bring swift Judgment upon you in his Wrath and Fury and Indignation And so Repent and lay away all manner of Evil and Wickedness and Ungodliness and Vnrighteousness for the Day of the Lord will come upon all that do Evil and the Workers of Iniquity and this mighty Day of the Lord will find them all out and will burn as an Oven and burn up all the Proud and Wicked and neither leave them Root nor Branch And therefore all ye Magistrates Priests and People search in your selves to find out the Cause and what Wickedness and Evil it has been you have Committed that has brought the Wrath and Vengeance and Judgments of God upon you and upon your City in burning of it And therefore all Return and come to the Light of Christ in your hearts
Power thereof out of the Order thereof such have turned to Janglings and vain Disputings This sort of Spirit you have been acquainted with who have kept your habitations in Christ Jesus the First and the Last And you are not unsensible of the scurrilous and filthy Books of Lies and Defamations which have been spread abroad in this Nation and beyond the Seas against the Faithful And it is very well that the Lord hath suffered them to publish their own shame in print that Truth 's Enemies may be discovered that their Fruits and Spirits have appeared and manifested themselves both in print and otherwise And I do believe that the Lord will yet suffer this Spirit that it shall so publish forth its Fruits to its publick Shame and Nakedness to Professor and Prophane and to all sober moderate and innocent People that its Shame and Nakedness shall more fully appear And though for a time it hath been hid and covered with the Fig-leaves and an Outward Profession and sometimes with fawning and flattering words as at other times it hath discovered it self by rough lying and defaming words yet the Lord God will blast all such vain Talkers that do not walk in the Order of Life Truth and the Gospel And therefore ye that are Faithful stand fast in the Liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free in his Government It is upon his Shoulders he bears it up Of the Increase of it and of its peace there is no end For all the Quarrellers against his Order and Government are without him and without his heavenly spiritual Government and Peace And therefore ye Faithful Ones who have had the Trial through many Persecutions Imprisonments Spoilings of Goods you know that there is a Crown of Glory laid up for you and you that Suffer with Christ shall Reign with him in his Kingdom of Glory and ye that die with Christ shall live with Christ in the Eternal Life in the World that hath no End Who have gone through the Sufferings without and within by false Brethren by Comers and Goers that have caused the Way of Truth to be evil spoken of and have been the Persecuters of the Faithful with their Tongues though they have not had power to do it with their Hands And by printing and publishing their lying defaming Books against the Faithful they have stirred up the Magistrates and Priests who were willing to get any occasion to speak evil of the right Way and precious Truth of Christ by which his People are made free Such had better they had never been born But God hath brought them to light and their Fruits and ravenous Spirit is seen savoured and known who are become Judases and Sons of Perdition to betray Christ now within where he is made manifest to the Priests Magistrates and Prophane as Judas did betray Christ without to the Priests and Pilate Though some of the Magistrates and sober People do see their Envy and Folly and that they have more Malice than Matter against the Faithful But the Lord will consume this Judas or Son of Perdition The Lord will consume him with the Spirit of his Mouth and shall destroy him with the brightness of his Coming And so let all the Faithful look unto the Lord. And let that wicked Son of Perdition know though he may be got as high as Judas without who was partaker of the Ministry with the Apostles The Lord will consume him with the Spirit of his Mouth and destroy him with the brightness of his Coming That is his portion So the brightness of the Lord will destroy him and the Spirit of his Mouth will consume him And when he is destroyed and consumed there will not be a Son of Perdition to betray Christ in his People and his People that live and walk in Christ who hath all power in Heaven mark in Heaven and in Earth given to him and with his holy and glorious Power he limits and orders so that nothing shall be done against his People but what is suffered for their Trial and for their Good neither by Apostates Persecutors with the Tongue Judases Sons of Perdition to betray or the outward Powers to Imprison or spoil Goods All these are limited by Christ's Power who hath all Power in Heaven and Earth given to him And every ones Faith is to stand in him and his power and rejoice in his power and see the increase of his righteous holy heavenly spiritual peaceable Government in which the glorious holy order of life is lived and walked in by all his Sons and Daughters And in his Spirit is the holy Unity and Bond of Peace Though ye be absent in the Body or Flesh one from another yet all joying and rejoicing being present in his Spirit and beholding in the same Spirit your spiritual Order Unity and Fellowship and the steadfastness of your Faith in Christ Jesus who is steadfast for ever the First and the Last whose Presence is among his People and who is their Head Here is heavenly Sion known and heavenly Jerusalem and the innumerable Company of Angels which are Spirits and the Spirits of the just men made perfect Here is the general Assembly or general Meeting and a general heavenly holy and spiritual joy and rejoicing lauding and praising the Lord the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb that lives for evermore Amen London the 14th of the 8th Month 1683. G. F. Read this in your Assemblies amongst the Faithful I tarried yet a little while in London visiting Friends and Meetings and labouring in the Work of the Lord there And being on a First-day at the Bull and Mouth Bull and M. Meeting where the Meeting had long been kept out but was that day in the House peaceable and large the People were so affected with the Truth and refreshed with the powerful Presence of the Lord that when the Meeting was ended they were loth to go away After some time having several things upon me to write I went to Kingston Kingston that I might be free from Interruptions And when I came there I understood the Officers had been very Rude at the Meeting there nipping and abusing Friends and had driven them out of the Meeting-Place and very abusive they continued to be for some time Among other things that I writ whilst I was there one was a little Book printed soon after the Title whereof was The Saints heavenly and spiritual Worship Vnity and Communion c. wherein is set forth what the true Gospel-worship is and in what the true Vnity and Communion of the Saints stands with a discovery of those that were gone from this holy Unity and Communion and were turned against the Saints that abode therein When I had finished the Services for which I went thither and had visited the Friends there I returned to London and visited most of the Meetings in and about the City Essex Dolston Afterwards I went to visit a Friend in Essex and returning by
of Blood running down the Streets and the Market-Place appeared like a Pool of Blood Now when I had declared what was upon me and felt my self Clear I went out of the Town in Peace and returning to the Shepherds gave them some Money and took my Shoos of them again But the Fire of the Lord was so in my Feet and all over me 1651. Lichfield that I did not matter to put on my Shoos any more and was at a stand whether I should or no till I felt freedom from the Lord so to do and then after I had washed my Feet I put on my Shoes again After this a deep Consideration came upon me Why or for what reason I should be sent to Cry against that City and call it THE BLOODY CITY For though the Parliament had the Minster one while and the King another while and much Blood had been shed in the Town during the Wars between them yet that was no more than had befallen many other Places But afterwards I came to understand that in the Emperor Diocletian's Time a Thousand Christians were Martyred in Lichfield So I was to go without my Shoos through the Channel of their Blood and into the Pool of their Blood in the Market-Place that I might Raise up the Memorial of the Blood of those Martyrs which had been shed above a Thousand Years before and lay Cold in their Streets So the Sense of this Blood was upon me and I obeyed the Word of the Lord. Ancient Records testify how many of the Christian Britains suffered there And much I could write of the Sense I had of the Blood of the Martyrs that hath been shed in this Nation for the Name of Christ both under the Ten Persecutions and since but I leave it to the Lord and to his Book out of which all shall be Judged For his Book is a most certain true Record and his Spirit a true Recorder Then passed I up and down through the Countries having Meetings amongst friendly People in many Places But my Relations were offended at me Nottinghamshire Mansfield Darbyshire Yorkshire Doncaster Balby Wakefield So after some Time I came into Nottinghamshire again and to Mansfield and went into Darbyshire visiting Friends Then passing into Yorkshire I preached Repentance through Doncaster and several other Places and after came to Balby where Richard Farnsworth and several others were convinced So traveling through the Countries to several Places preaching Repentance and the Word of Life to the People I came into the Parts about Wakefield where James Naylor lived and he and Thomas Goodyear came to me and were both Convinced and received the Truth William Dewsbury also and his Wife with many more came to me who were Convinced and received the Truth From thence I passed through the Country towards Captain Pursloe's house by Selby Selby and visited one John Leek who had been to visit me in Darby-Prison and was Convinced I had an Horse but was fain to leave him not knowing what to do with him for I was moved to go to many great Houses to admonish and exhort the People to turn to the Lord Thus passing on Beverly I was moved of the Lord to go to Beverly-Steeple-house which was then a Place of high Profession And being very Wet with Rain I went first to an Inn and as soon as I came to the Door a Young-woman of the House came to the Door and said What! is it you Come in said she as if she had known me before for the Lord's Power bowed their Hearts So I refreshed my self and went to Bed And in the Morning my Cloaths being still wet I got ready and having paid for what I had had in the Inn I went up to the Steeple-house where was a Man preaching And when he had done I was moved to speak to him and to the People in the mighty Power of God and turned them to their Teacher Christ Jesus 1651. Yorkshire And the Power of the Lord was so strong that it struck a mighty Dread amongst the People And the Major came down to me and spake a few Words to me but none of them had any Power to meddle with me So I passed away out of the Town And in the Afternoon went to another Steeple-house about Two Miles off And when the Priest had done I was moved to speak to him and to the People very largely shewing them the Way of Life and Truth and the Ground of Election and Reprobation The Priest said he was but a Child and could not dispute with me I told him I did not come to dispute but to hold forth the Word of Life and Truth unto them that they might all know the One Seed which the Promise of God was to both in the Male and in the Female Here the People were very loving and would have had me come again on a Week-day and preach among them But I directed them to their Teacher Christ Jesus and so passed away and the next Day went to Crantsick Crantsick to Captain Pursloe's who accompanied me to Justice Hotham's This Justice Hotham was a pretty tender Man one that had had some Experiences of God's Workings in his Heart After I had had some Discourse with him of the things of God he took me into his Closet where sitting together he told me he had known that Principle these Ten Years and was glad that the Lord did now publish it abroad to the People After a while there came a Priest to visit him with whom also I had some Discourse concerning Truth But his Mouth was quickly stopt for he was nothing but a Notionist and not in Possession of what he talked of While I was here there came a Great Woman of Beverly to speak with Justice Hotham about some Business and in Discourse she told him That the last Sabbath-day as she called it there was an Angel or Spirit came into the Church at Beverly and spake the wonderful things of God to the astonishment of all that were there And when it had done it passed away and they did not know whence it came nor whither it went But it astonished all both Priest Professors and Magistrates of the Town This Relation Justice Hotham gave me afterwards and then I gave him an Account how I had been that Day at Beverly-Steeple-house and had declared Truth to the Priest and People there There was in the County thereabouts some Noted Priests and Doctors that Justice Hotham had acquaintance with and he would fain have them speak with me and offered to send for them under pretence of some Business he had with them but I wish'd him not to do so Now when the First Day of the Week was come Justice Hotham walked out with me into the Fields and then Captain Pursloe coming up after us Justice Hotham left us and returned home but Captain Pursloe went with me into the Steeple-house And when the Priest had done I spake to
of the Synagogues when they came to speak Judge your selves what an Antichristian Spirit you have Never talk of defending Truth with that which is against Truth For are you not setting up the Rabble of the World against it Do they not Join with you with Swords and Staves against it And is this the Life of Christians Is not this the Life of Error and of the Evil Seeds-man Surely ye would find Work enough if ye were in the Fear of the Lord to turn your Swords against the Prophaneness the Oaths and Wickedness that is in your Streets and High-ways How do they ring like Sodom and give a sound like Gomorrah But they are become a Prey in this your Age that Reprove in your Gate Sin Wickedness and Prophaneness They are become your By-word Against them your Councils are gathered and them you cast into Prison and hale them out of your Synagogues and cast them likewise into Prison that write against it and speak against it and set your Guards to stop and hinder any from Visiting them whom you cast into Prison and give them the Names of Vagabonds and Wanderers Was ever the like heard in the days of the Heathen against the Apostles who witnessed the Gospel Did they set Guards and Watches in every Town in every City to take the Disciples the Brethren the Believers that heard that the Apostles were cast into Prison and came to see what they wanted Shew ye not as much Rage and Fury now in your Age as was in those that were in that Age And how can you talk of the Gospel and of defending the Gospel when you are setting Guards and Watches against it and are defending that which stands against it and the Lambs of Christ are almost torn to pieces amongst you who are like Wolves for the Lord hath now sent his Lambs amongst Wolves And have not you profest the words of Christ and of the Prophets and Apostles as the Jews had long profest the Scriptures the words of Moses and of the Prophets that prophesied of Christ that was to come and stood against him when he was come as you do in this Day of his Reign and in this Day of his glorious Gospel who are persecuting the Messengers of it imprisoning them persecuting them in your Streets and High-ways and now setting up your VVatches against them who bring you the glad Tidings of Peace to your Souls whose Feet are beautiful a Top of the Mountains Mark a Top of the Mountains that against which the Mountains rage and swell but God will make them to melt the Sun is risen which will make them to melt And God will cleave the Rocks and Mountains asunder and make the Hills to bow perpetually for his Son he will exalt and his Glory he will give to him and not to another Therefore be awakened ye Rulers of the Earth and take Counsel of the Lord and take not Counsel together against him Make not your Bonds strong and set not your selves in Battel against him for ye will be found but as Briers and Thorns before him which the Fire shall consume Therefore be awakened all ye that be Talkers of the Scripture and that gather your selves together by your Multitudes and Meetings and have had your Teachers but not having the Spirit that gave forth the Scriptures the Lord God of Glory the Father of Spirits will scatter you all your Bonds will not hold you together who are out of the Spirit which is the Bond of Peace The Threshing Instrument is gone forth which will beat the Hills to pieces Sion is risen to Thresh out of the holy Mountain is the Trumpet sounded Stand not up against the Lord for all Nations are with the Lord as the Drop of a Bucket He that measures the VVaters in the hollow of his Hand and weighs the Earth in Scales the Lord of Hosts is his Name who is now risen and rising to plead the Cause of the Innocent who is exalting his Son and bringing his Sheep to him Now are they seen and known that feed upon wind that are lifted up given up to believe Lies who report and say Report and we will report it Now are they seen who have a Form of Godliness but the Power is denied by them so Christ is denied the Power it self is denied for Christ is the Power of God And the Power being denied by you that have a Form of Godliness that have the words of the Scriptures the Gospel is denied for the Gospel is the Power of God And thus it is among you that have the Knowledge and VVisdom that is sensual earthly and devilish Doth it not appear so Let your Gaols and VVatches witness your Fruits in every Town Your VVisdom is earthly sensual and Devillish so you have a Knowledge and VVisdom but not that which is from above for that is pure and gentle and so is not your knowledge But to know Christ is Life Eternal Now your Fruits have manifested that you are not of this and so out of the Power of God which is the Cross of Christ For you are found in the VVorld out of the Power of God out of the Cross of Christ persecuting So that which doth persecute and send forth VVritings and Decrees to stop all and take up all and set VVatches and prepare Bonds to stint the Lord to Imprison and persecute and suffer none to go to visit them This shews you are not Christians but stand against a Christian's Life which is to love your Enemies Where is your Heaping up Coles of Fire your Love to your Enemies who are thus persecuting your Friends He came to his own and his own received him not Here is a turning the Sword against the Just. Do you shew here a Christian's Life or your selves Christians who are filling your Gaols with the Christians in the Spirit you that be in the Letter in Shadows as the Jews in the Letter did put the Jews in the Spirit into Prison Is not this the Fruit in our Days of the Christians in the Letter to put the Christians in the Spirit into Prison And doth not this shew that your Decrees which you have sent forth proceed from Death who thus Act against the Life and them that be in it which the Scriptures were given forth from Is it not here as it was with Saul when he went to persecute to hale to Prison and bind all that he could find calling upon that Name who were Christians in the Life the Spirit such as now you are persecuting because they are in the Life though you profess their Words Are not your Decrees gone forth from the same Spirit of Envy against the same Spirit of Christ they were in Is it not manifest to all that fear God and to the sober-minded and honest-hearted People that see your Practices your Decrees your Letters to stop to molest to hinder to Imprison them that are moved of the Lord to do his Will or to go to
Everlasting And in this neither Powers Principalities nor Thrones Dominions nor Angels nor things present nor things to come nor Heights nor Depths nor Death Mockings nor spoiling of Goods nor Prisons nor Fetters were able to separate them from the Love of God which they had in Christ Jesus And Friends Quench not the Spirit nor despise Prophesying where it moves neither hinder the Babes and Sucklings from crying Hosannah for out of their Mouths will God ordain Strength There were some in Christ's Day that were against such whom he reproved And there were some in Moses his Day who would have stopt the Prophets in the Camp whom Moses reproved and said in Way of Incouragement to them Would God that all the Lord's People were Prophets So I say now to you Therefore ye that stop it in your selves do not quench it in others neither in Babe nor Suckling for the Lord hears the Cries of the Needy and the Sighs and Groans of the Poor Judge not that nor the Sighs and Groans of the Spirit which cannot be uttered lest ye judge Prayer for Prayer as well lies in Sighs and Groans to the Lord as otherwise So let not the Sons and Daughters nor the Hand-maidens be stopt in their Prophesyings nor the Young-men in their Visions nor the Old-men in their Dreams but let the Lord be glorified in and through all who is over all God blessed for ever So that every one may improve their Talents and every one exercise their Gifts and every one speak as the Spirit gives them Vtterance Thus every one may minister as he hath received the Grace as a good Steward to him that hath given it him so that all Plants may bud and bring forth Fruit to the glory of God for the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every one to profit withal So see that every one hath profited in heavenly things Male and Female look into your own Vineyards and see what Fruit ye bear to God look into your own Houses see how they are decked and trimmed and see what Odors Mirrh and Frankincense ye have therein and what a Smell and Savour ye have to ascend to God that he may be glorified So bring your Deeds all to the Light which ye are taught to believe in by Christ your Head the heavenly Man and see how they are wrought in God And every Male and Female let Christ dwell in your Hearts by Faith Christ in the Male and in the Female and let your Mouths be opened to the Glory of God the Father that he may rule and reign in you We must not have Christ Jesus the Lord of Life put any more in a Stable amongst the Horses and Asses but he must now have the best Chamber the Heart and the rude debauched Spirit must be turned out Therefore let him reign whose Right it is who was conceived by the Holy Ghost by which Holy Ghost ye call him Lord in which Holy Ghost ye pray and by which Holy Ghost ye have Comfort and Fellowship with the Son and with the Father Therefore know the Triumph in it and in God and his Power which the Devil is out of and in the Seed which is first and last the beginning and ending the Top-and Corner-stone in which is my Love to you and in which I rest Your Friend G. F. POSTSCRIPT And Friends be careful how ye set your feet among the tender Plants that are springing up out of God's Earth lest ye do tread upon them and hurt them and bruise them or crush them in God's Vineyard Now after I had tarried two first-Days at Swarthmore and had visited Friends in their Meetings thereabouts I passed from thence into Westmorland visiting Friends Meetings there Westmorland till I came to John Audland's where there was a general Meeting The Night before I had a vision of a desperate Creature that was coming to destroy me but I got Victory over it And the next Day in the Meeting-time there came one Otway with some rude fellows with him and he rode round about the Meeting with his Sword or Rapier and would fain have gotten in through the Friends to me but the Meeting being great the Friends stood thick so that he could not easily come at me Then when he had rid about several Times raging and found he could not get in being limited by the Lord's Power he at length went away It was a glorious Meeting and ended peaceable and the Lord 's everlasting Power came over all But this wild Man went home and became distracted and not long after died I sent a Paper to John Blaykling to read to him while he lay ill shewing him his wickedness and he did acknowledge something of it Going from hence I went through Kendal Kendal where a Warrant had long lain to apprehend me and the Constables seeing me ran to fetch their Warrant as I was riding through the Town but before they could come with it I was gone past the Town and so escaped their Hands I travelled on Northwards visiting Friends Meetings as I went till I came to Strickland-head where I had a great Meeting Strickland head And most of the Gentry of that Country being gathered to an Horse-Race not far off from the Meeting I was moved to go and declare the Truth unto them 1657. Strickland head and a Chief-Constable that was there did also admonish them Our Meeting was quiet and the Lord was with us and by his Word and Power Friends were settled in the Eternal Truth Cumberland From hence we passed into Cumberland where we had many precious living Meetings And after we had travelled through to Gilsland Gilsland Carlisle and had a Meeting there we came to Carlisle where they had used to put Friends out of the Town but there came a great Flood while we were there that they could not put us out of the Town so we had a Meeting there on the first-Day After which we passed through the Country to Abby-holm Abbey-holm and had a little Meeting there This is a Place where I told Friends long before there would a great People come forth to the Lord which hath since come to pass and a large Meeting there is gathered to the Lord in those Parts Langlands I passed from hence to a general Meeting at Langlands in Cumberland which was very large for most of the People had so forsaken the Priests that the Steeple-houses in some places stood empty And John Wilkinson a Preacher that I have often named before who had three Steeple-houses had so few Hearers lest that giving over preaching in the Steeple-houses he first set up a Meeting in his House and preached there to them that were left Afterwards he set up a silent Meeting like Friends to which came a few for most of his Hearers were come off to Friends Thus he held on till he had not past half a Dozen left the rest still forsaking him and
purifies our hearts and brings us to have Access to God without which we cannot please him by which Faith all the Just lives as the Scripture declares And so that which we desire of Thee O King is that we may have the Liberty of our Consciences to serve and worship God and to pray unto him in our Meetings together in the Name of Jesus as he Commands with a promise that he will be in the midst of them The King we do hope cannot but say that this Duty and Service is due to God and Christ and we give Caesar his due and pay our Tribute and Custom equal with our Neighbour according to our proportion And we never read in all the Scriptures of the New Testament That ever Christ or his Disciples did Banish or Imprison any that were not of their Faith or Religion and would not hear them or gave any such Command but on the Contrary Let the Tares and the Wheat grow together till the harvest and the harvest is the end of the World And then Christ will send his Angels to sever the Wheat from the Tares c. And also he Rebuked such that would have had fire to come down from Heaven to consume such that would not receive Christ and told them That they did not know what Spirit they were of he came not to destroy mens lives but to save them And therefore we desire the King to consider how much Persecution has been in Christendom since the Apostles days concerning Religion And Christ said They should go into Everlasting punishment that did not visit him in Prison then what will become of them that Imprison him in his Members where he is Manifest And now none can say that the World is ended And therefore how will all Christendom answer the dreadful and terrible God at his Day of Judgment that have persecuted one another about Religion before the end of the World under a pretence of plucking up Tares which is not their Work but the Angels at the end of the World And Christ Commands men to Love one another and to Love Enemies and by this they should be known to be his Disciples And therefore Oh! 1677. London that all Christendom had lived in Peace andVnity that they might by their Moderation have Judged both Turks and Jews and let all have their Liberty that do own God and Jesus and Walk as becomes the glorious Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ And so our desires are that the Lord God of Heaven may soften the King 's heart to all tender Consciences that do fear the Lord and are afraid of disobeying him And now we intreat the King to read over some of the Noble Expressions of several Kings and others concerning Liberty of Conscience and especially Stephanus King of Poland his sayings viz. It belongeth not to me to Reform the Consciences I have always gladly given that over to God which belongeth to him and so shall I do now and also for the future I will suffer the Weeds to grow till the time of harvest for I know that the Number of Believers are but small Therefore said he when some were proceeding in Persecution I am King of the People not of their Consciences He also affirmed that Religion was not to be planted with Fire and Sword Chron. Liberty of Religion Part. 2. Also a Book wrote in French by W. M. Anno 1576. hath this Sentence viz. Those Princes that have ruled by Gentleness and Clemency added to Justice and have exercised Moderation and Meekness towards their Subjects always prospered and reigned long but on the Contrary those Princes that have been Cruel Unjust Prejudiced and Oppressors of their Subjects have soon fall'n they and their Estates into danger or total ruin Veritus saith Seeing Christ is a Lamb whom you profess to be your Head and Captain then it behoveth you to be Sheep and to use the same Weapons which he made use of for he will not be a Shepherd of Wolves and Wild-beasts but only of Sheep Wherefore if you lose the Nature of Sheep said he and be changed into Wolves and Wild-beasts and use fleshly Weapons then will you exclude your selves out of his Calling and forsake his Banner and then will he not be your Captain c. And also we find it asserted by King James in his Speech to the Parliament in the Year 1609. That it is a pure Rule in Divinity that God never planted his Church with Violence of Blood And furthermore he said It was usually the Condition of Christians to be persecuted but not to persecute And also King Charles in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pag. 61. said in his Prayer to God Thou seest how much Cruelty amongst Christians is acted under the Colour of Religion as if we could not be Christians unless we crucified one another And pag. 28. Make them at length seriously to Consider that nothing violent nor injurious can be Religious Pag. 70. Nor is it so proper to hew out Religious Reformation by the Sword as to polish them by fair and equal Disputations among those that are most Concerned in the Differences whom not force but reason must Convince And pag. 66. Take heed that outward Circumstances and Formalities in Religion devour not all And pag. 91 92. 1678. London In point of true Conscientious tenderness I have so often declared how little I desire my Laws and Scepter should intrench on God's Soverainity who is the only King of Conscience Pag. 123. Nor do I desire any man should be further subject unto me then all of us may be subject unto God Pag. 200. O thou Soveraign of our Souls the only Commander of our Consciences Pag. 346. In his Meditations on Death It is indeed a sad state to have his Enemies to be his Accusers Parties and Judges The Prince of Orange testified Anno 1579. That it was impossible the Land should be kept in Peace except there was a free Toleration in the Exercise of Religion And further Where hast thou read in thy day said Menno in the Writing of the Apostles that Christ or the Apostles ever cried out to the Magistrate for their power against them that would not hear their Doctrine nor obey their Words I know certainly said he that where a Magistrate shall banish with the Sword there is not the right Knowledge Spiritual Word nor Church of Christ it is Invocare Brachium Seculare to Invoke the Secular Arm. It is not Christian-like but Tyrannical said D. Philipson to banish and persecute People about Faith and Religion and they that so do are certainly of the Pharisaical Generation who resisted the Holy Ghost Erasmus said That though they take our Monies and Goods they cannot therefore hurt our Salvation they afflict us much with Prisons but they do not thereby separate us from God In de Krydges wrede fol. 63. Lucernus said He that Commandeth any thing wherewith he bindeth the Conscience this is an Antichrist In
business upon them they were hindred from doing the good they would so that the Sufferings upon Friends were Continued But that which added much to the Grief and Exercise of Friends was that some who made a Profession of the same Truth with us being gone from the Simplicity of the Gospel into a fleshly Liberty and labouring to draw others after them did Oppose the Order and Discipline which God by his Power had set up and established in his Church and made a great noise and clamour against Prescriptions Whereby they easily drew after them such as were loosly Inclined and desired a broader Way than the Path of Truth to walk in Some also that were more simple but young in Truth or weak in Judgment were apt to be betrayed by them not knowing the Depths of Satan in these Wiles For whose sakes I was moved to write the following Paper for the undeceiving the Deceived and the opening the Understandings of the Weak in this matter ALL you that do deny Prescriptions without distinction you may as well deny all the Scriptures which were given forth by the Power and Spirit of God For do not they prescribe how men should Walk both to God and Man both in the Old Testament and in the New Yea from the very first Promise of Christ in Genesis what People ought to believe and trust in and all along till ye come to the Prophets Did not the Lord prescribe to his People both by the Fathers and then by his Prophets did he not prescribe to the People how they should Walk though they turned against the Prophets in the Old Covenant for declaring or prescribing to them the Way how they might Walk to please God and keep in favour with him And then after in the days of Christ did not he prescribe and teach how People should walk and believe And after him the Apostles did not they prescribe unto People how they might come to believe and receive the Gospel and the Kingdom of God directing unto that which would give them the Knowledge of God and how they should walk in the New-Covenant in the days of the Gospel and by what way they should come to the holy City And did not the Apostles send forth their Decrees by faithful Chosen Men them that had hazarded their Lives for Christ's sake to the Churches by which they were established And so you that deny Prescriptions given forth by the Power and Spirit of God do thereby oppose the Spirit that gave them forth in all the holy Men of God And were there not some all along in the days of Moses and in the days of the Prophets and in the days of Christ and in the days of his Apostles who did withstand that which they gave forth from the Spirit of God And hath there not been the same since the days of the Apostles And how many have risen since Truth appeared to oppose the Order which stands in the Power and Spirit of God who are but in the same Spirit which hath opposed the Spirit of God all along from the beginning And see what Names or Titles the Spirit of God gave that Opposing Spirit in the Old Covenant and also in the New which is the same now as was for after the Lord had given forth the Old Covenant there were some among themselves that did Oppose which were worse than publick Enemies And likewise after in the days of the New Covenant in the Gospel-times you may see what sort did Oppose both Christ and the Apostles after they came to some Sights of the Truth and how they turned against Christ and his Apostles And see what Liberty they pleaded for and ran into in the Apostles days who could not abide the Cross the Yoke of Jesus And therefore we see the same rough and high Spirit cries now for Liberty which the Power and Spirit of Christ cannot give and cries Imposition and yet is Imposing and cries Liberty of Conscience and yet is opposing Liberty of Conscience And cries against Prescriptions and yet is prescribing both in Words and Writing So with the Everlasting Power and Spirit of God this Spirit is fathomed its Rise Beginning and End and it is Judged And this Spirit cries We must not judge Conscience we must not judge Matters of Faith and we must not judge the Spirits nor Religions c. Yes They that be in the pure Spirit and Power of God which the Apostles were in they Judge of Conscience whether it be a seared Conscience or a tender Conscience They Judge of Faith whether it be a dead one or a living one They Judge of Religion whether it be vain or pure or undefiled They Judge of Spirits and try them whether they be of God or no They Judge of Hope whether it be of Hypocrites or the true Hope that purifies even as God is pure They Judge of Belief whether it be that which is born of God and overcometh the World or that which runs into the Spirit of the World which lusts to Envy and doth not overcome the World And they Judge of Worships whether they be Will-worships and the Worship of the Beast and Dragon or the Worship of God in Spirit and in Truth They Judge of Angels whether they be fallen or them that keep their Habitation And they Judge the World that grieves and quenches the Spirit and hates the Light and turns the Grace of God into wantonness and resists the Holy Ghost They Judge of the Hearts Ears and Lips which are Circumcised and which are Uncircumcised They Judge of Ministers and Apostles and Messengers whether they be of Satan or of Christ They judge of Differences in outward things in the Church or elsewhere yea the least Member of the Church hath Power to Judge of such things having the One true Measure and true Weight to weigh things and measure things withal without respect to Persons And this Judgment is given and all these things are done by the same Power and Spirit the Apostles were in And also such can Judge of Election and Reprobation and who keep their Habitation and who not And who are Jews and who are of the Synagogue of Satan And who are in the Doctrine of Christ and who are in the Doctrines of Devils And who prescribes and declares things from the Power and Spirit of God to preserve all in the Power and Spirit of God and who prescribes and declares things from a loose Spirit to let all loose from under the Yoke of Christ the Power of God into Loosness and Liberty And likewise can Judge and Discern who brings People into the Possession of the Gospel of Light and Life over Death and Darkness and into the Truth where the Devil cannot get in and who brings them into the Possession of Death and Darkness out of the glorious Liberty of the Gospel and of Jesus Christ and his Faith and Truth and Spirit and Light and Grace For there is no true Liberty but in
let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all Wisdom teaching and admonishing one another c. Col. 3. And whatsoever ye do in Word or Deed do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ giving thanks to God and the Father by him And above all things put on Charity which is the Bond of Perfectness And the Apostle saith to Timothy Be not thou ashamed of the Testimony of our Lord nor of me his Prisoner but be thou Partaker of the Afflictions of the Gospel according to the Power of God who hath saved us and called us with an holy Calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began 2 Tim. 1.8 9. So here it concerns every one not to be ashamed of the Testimony of our Lord who hath called them by his Grace and not to be ashamed of any of Christ's Prisoners and afflicted Ones for Christ's and his Gospels sake who abolishes Death and brings Life and Immortality to Light through his Gospel You that believe in the Light know it And Peter saith in his General Epistle to the Church of Christ As every man mark every man hath received the Gift so minister the same one to another as good Stewards of the manifold Grace of God If any man speak let him speak as the Oracles of God so not of Men If any man minister let him do it as of the Ability which God gives so not of the Ability of mens Arts and Sciences that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ c. For these Gifts and Grace come from Jesus into the hearts of the Members of his Church whom he is in the midst of And if any man suffer as a Christian let him not be ashamed but let him glorifie God c. And every true Christian hath the presence of Christ who hath all power in Heaven and in Earth given him to support them with his power light and life And Christ saith to his Believers Beware of men for they will deliver you up to the Councils and they will scourge you in the Synagogues and you shall be brought before Governours and Kings for my Names sake for a Testimony against them and the Gentiles But when they deliver you up take no thought how or what ye shall speak for it shall be given you in the same hour what ye shall speak for it is not you that speak but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you And ye shall be hated of all men for my Names sake but he that endureth to the end shall be saved The Disciple is not above his Master nor the Servant above his Lord It is enough for the Disciple that he be as his Master and the Servant as his Lord for if they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub what will they do to his Servant Fear not them which kill the Body but are not able to kill the Soul c. A Sparrow shall not fall to the ground without your heavenly Father c. The hairs of your head are all numbred ye are of more value than many Sparrows Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven But whosoever shall deny me before Men him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven And whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed c. Matth. 10. And again Christ saith Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful Generation of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in the Glory of his Father with his holy Angels Mark 8.38 And Christ saith to his Disciples He that receiveth you receiveth me and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me He that receiveth a Prophet in the name of a Prophet shall receive a Prophet's reward And he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a Cup of cold water only in the name of a Disciple verily I say unto you he shall in no wise lose his reward Matth. 10.40 41 42. Here ye may see how Christ encourages his Disciples and them that receive them And John saith Among the chief Rulers of the Jews many believed in Christ but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him lest they should be put out of the Synagogue John 12.42 Too many such Believers are now a-days who dare not Confess Christ lest they should lose the favour of men But Christ encourages the faithful Disciples and told them They would put them out of their Synagogues yea that the time should come that whosoever killed them would think they did God service And these things said he will they do unto you because they have not known the Father nor me But these things have I told you that when the time shall come ye may remember that I told you of them John 16.2 3 4. Here ye may see what Christ told his Disciples should come to pass to them And Saul before he was Converted did Compel the Christians to blaspheme and made havock of the Church of Christ Acts 8. and chap. 22. and 26. And did not the Beast in the Revelations Compel both small and great to worship him and his Image And did not all worship it but they who had their Names written in the Lamb's Book of Life before the Foundation of the World And did not Nebuchadnezzar set up an Image sixty Cubits high and six Cubits broad And then did not he cause an Herauld to cry aloud It is commanded that all People and Nations and Languages fall down and worship the golden Image that Nebuchadnezzar hath set up And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of the fiery Furnace And were not Shadrach Meshach and Abednego cast into the Furnace Dan. 3. But God delivered them Therefore it is good to be faithful to God and his Worship in Spirit and Truth And the Jews had agreed that if any man should Confess Christ he should be put out of their Synagogue John 9.22 So it was for Christ's sake they were Excommunicated out of their Synagogues But as it is written Behold I lay in Sion a Stumbling-stone and a Rock of Offence and who so believes on him shall not be ashamed So Christ is a Stumbling-stone and a Rock of Offence to all the Unbelievers in the Light which is the Life in Christ whether they be Jews Christians or Gentiles The Jews did believe a Christ was To come from the Scriptures And the Christians believe He is come by the Scriptures but do not believe in the Light which is the Life in Christ as Christ commands and so do not become the
Reprove those who would have fire to come down from Heaven to destroy them who would not receive him and did not he tell them They did not know what spirit they were of And therefore all who have persecuted Men or taken away their Lives because they would not receive their Religion have they known what spirit they were or are of Therefore is it nor good for all to know by the Spirit of Christ what spirit they are of For the Apostle says Rom. 8.9 If any Man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his And does not the Apostle say 2 Cor. 10.4 The Weapons of our Warfare are not Carnal but Spiritual c. And we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against spiritual wickedness c. Thus we can see here that the Fight of the first Christians and their Weapons in the days of the Apostles were spiritual in matters of Faith Religion and Worship in the Church of Christ Now would not the King and the Magistrates of Dantzick think that it was contrary to their Consciences if they should be forced by the Turk to his Religion Would it not in like manner seem hard to the Magistrates of Dantzick and contrary to their Consciences if they should be forced to the Religion of the King of Poland or the King of Poland if he should be compelled to the Religion of the Magistrates of Dantzick And if they would not be subject thereunto that then they should be banished from their Wives and Families and out of their Native Country or otherwise be fed with Bread and Water under a strict Confinement Therefore we beseech the King with all Christian Humility and the Magistrates of Dantzick that they would order their proceedings in this matter according to the Royal Law of God which is To do unto others as they would have others do unto them and to love their Neighbour as themselves For we have this Charity that we hope and believe that the King of Poland and his People with the Magistrates of Dantzick own the Writings of the New Testament as well as of the Old And therefore we beseech the King and the Magistrates of Dantzick to take heed that their Work of Imprisoning an Innocent People for nothing but their meeting together in Tenderness of Conscience to serve and worship God their Creator may not be contrary and opposite to the Royal Law of God and to the Glorious and Everlasting Gospel of Truth So we desire the King in Christian Love earnestly and weightily to Consider these things and to give Order to set the Innocent Prisoners our Friends called Quakers at Liberty from their strict Confinement in Dantzick that they may have freedom to serve and worship the living God in Spirit and in Truth and go home to their outward Habitations and follow their Trades and Calling to maintain their Wives Children and Families And we believe that the King in doing such a Noble Glorious yea Christian Work will not go unrewarded from the Great God who made him whom we serve and worship who has the hearts of Kings and their lives and length of days in his hands From him who desires that the King and all his Ministers may be preserved in the Fear of God and receive his Word of Wisdom by which all things were made and created that by it he may come to order all things to the Glory of God which God has put under his hand That the King both He and They may enjoy the Comforts and Blessings of the Lord in this Life and in that which is to come Life Eternal Amen London in England the 10th of the 3d Month commonly called May 1684. G. F. Post-script The King may please to Consider that His and all Mens Consciences is the Prerogative of God After this I went to Enfield where Enfield and in the Country thereabouts several Friends had Country-houses not very far from one another amongst whom I tarried some time visiting and being visited by Friends and having Meetings with them Several things I writ in this time relating to the Service of Truth One whereof was concerning Judging For some who were departed from the Truth were so afraid of Truth 's Judgment that they made it much of their business to Cry out against Judging Wherefore I writ a Paper proving by the Scriptures of Truth that the Church of Christ hath power and ability to Judge those that profest to be of it not only with respect to outward things relating to this World but with respect to Religious Matters also A Copy of which follows Concerning Judging THE Natural Man receiveth not the Things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned but he that is spiritual judgeth all things mark all things yet he himself is judged of no Man 1685. Enfield 1 Cor. 2.14 15. So here the Natural Man cannot judge of those things he receives not for they are foolishness to him but he is comprehended by the Spiritual Man and his foolishness and is Judged though he cannot judge the Spiritual Man Do not ye judge them that are within saith the Apostle this Power the Church had and hath therefore put away from amongst your selves that wicked person And did not this Wicked person think you profess and plead for Liberty for his Wickedness and his Freedom as he was a Christian who was lookt upon as a Member of the Church And the Apostle saith For I verily as absent in body yet present in spirit have judged already as though I were present concerning him that hath done this wicked deed 1 Cor. 5.3 12. Here the Apostle did Judge though afar off and set up Judgment in the Church against false Liberty under what pretence soever it was And the Apostle saith Dare any of you having a matter against a Brother go to Law before the Vnjust and not before the Saints Here the Saints the Church are to Judge of things amongst themselves and not for the Unjust to Judge of their Matters Do ye not know the Saints shall judge the World So the Saints are to judge the Unjust and not the Vnjust to judge their Matters And farther the Apostle saith If the World shall be judged by you to wit the Saints are you unworthy to judge the smaller matters amongst you So here it is clear that the Saints have a Judgment given them of Christ by his Power and Spirit Light and Wisdom to judge the World and not to carry their Matters before the Vnjust but to judge of them amongst themselves and if they carry them before the Unjust they shew their unworthiness of the Saints Judgment And further the Apostle saith Know ye not that we shall Judge the Angels and Angels are Spirits how much more the things which pertain to this life If ye then have Judgment of things pertaining to this life set them up to judge who have least
themselves to be high Christians and took a great Liberty to go into Balaam's Doctrine and Nicholas's Doctrine which was hated by Christ but the Church was to keep a Spiritual and Divine Judgment upon the Heads of all these And to the Church of Thyatira saith Christ I have a few things against thee because thou sufferest the woman Jezabel to teach which seduces my people c. So here was a Suffering which should have been a Judgment by Christ's Spirit upon that Jezabel which was erred from his Spirit and so from Christ and such as these were high Preachers And is not the Church to beware of suffering such now lest they come under the Reproof of Christ for not passing to Judgment against the false Teacher and Seducer And the Church of Sardis that had a name to live but was dead and their works were not found perfect before God Therefore here is a Judgment to be set up in the Church to Judge all Imperfect Works and such as would have a Name but not the Nature or a name to live but are dead And therefore the Living must be in Christ of all Christ's Church living Members and live to his Name Though this Church had a few Names that had not defiled their Garments that did walk in White But such as had a Name to live but are dead whilst they are in the dead state they cannot walk in White nor Judge in Divine Matters And behold saith Christ I will make them of the Synagogue of Satan which say they are Jews but are not but do lie behold I will make them to come and to worship before my feet And to the Church of Laodicea that was neither hot nor cold but lukewarm I would thou wert either cold or hot I will spew thee out of my mouth because thou said'st thou wast rich and wanted nothing when they were wretched miserable poor blind and naked Now this was for want of living in the Power and Spirit of Christ these could talk of high Experiences and great Injoyments but was naked miserable and blind So lived not in the Power and Spirit and Light and Righteousness of Christ by which they might be cloathed and have the Eternal Riches So the Church of Christ had a spiritual Judgment given to them that are faithful in his Power and Spirit and Light to Judge of Temporal things and the things of this Life and to Judge of Eternal and Divine things and States and of Angels and Wicked men and such as goes from Truth and of the states of Election and Reprobation yea and of the Devils who is out of Truth being in Christ Jesus who is the First and Last from whom they have the Eternal Judgment to Judge Eternal Spiritual and Divine things And this Word of Power and Wisdom by which all things were made and by which all things are upheld in this Word of Wisdom to order all things to God's Glory and to Judge of all things in Righteousness And the Apostle Judged and set up a Judgment in the Church of Gifts of Prophecies of Mysteries of Faith and of giving the Body to be burnt and of giving Goods to the Poor and of speaking with Tongues of Men and Angels And yet if they had not Love all this was nothing but as a sounding Brass and tinkling Cymbal Therefore they are to be tried by the Fruits of the good Spirit which is Love So here the Apostle not only Judged himself in Divine Matters but set up a Judgment in the Church in those Spiritual and Divine Matters And the Apostle James here Judges of Fountains and of the Fig-trees and of the Wisdom below and of the Wisdom from above and the Fruits of both Jam. 3. And Paul Judged in Divine Matters when he said The Spirit spake expresly that in the latter times some should depart from the Faith 1 Tim. 4. And he Judged in Divine Matters when he judged all those Teachers that was high-minded and had got the Form of Godliness but denied the Power and termed them like unto Jannes and Jambrâ—s which withstood Moses coming out of outward Egypt as these with their Form of Godliness opposes Christ and his Power that brings them out of spiritual Egypt now And was not he a Judge here in Divine Matters who judged such as had gotten the Form of Godliness but denied the Divine Power 2 Tim 3. And when the Apostle said The Priesthood of Aaron was changed and the Law was changed and the Commandment disanulled that gave them their Tithes did not he Judge here in Divine and Spiritual Matters and was not the Law spiritual which served till the Seed came And did not the Apostle Judge in Divine and Spiritual Matters in the Sixth of the Hebrews where he saith Let us go on to perfection not laying again the foundation of Repentance from dead works and of Faith towards God and of the Doctrine of Baptisms and of laying on of Hands and of the Resurrection of the Dead and of Eternal Judgment and this will we do if God permit c. And so does not the Apostle Judge of such here That it was impossible for those who was once enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift and were partakers of the Holy Ghost and had tasted of the good Word of God and of the power of the World to come if they shall fall away to renew them again unto Repentance seeing they crucifie to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to open shame Hebr. 6. And was not these Spiritual Eternal and Divine Matters and States that the Apostle Judged of and have not the Saints the same Judgment given unto them in the same Spirit Now has not the Apostles and the Church a Spiritual Judgment to Judge of Prophets Mysteries Faith Apostles Angels World and the Devil and is not this Judgment given them of God in Divine Matters besides the Judgment given them in Matters pertaining unto this Life And had not they Judgment to discern the true Gospel from the false and all such as had a Profession of the Form and did not live in the power and such as spoke the things of God in the words that Man's wisdom did teach which things of God were not to be spoken in the wisdom which Man's words taught but in the Word which the Holy Ghost taught And therefore did not the Apostle exhort to know the Power and their Faith to stand in the Power of God for the Kingdom of God stood not in Word but in Power And had not all the Prophets a Divine Judgment to Judge in Divine Matters as see Jeremiah when he Judged the Prophets And Ezekiel Judged all such as came with a pretence of the Word of the Lord using their Tongues and saying Thus saith the Lord when the Lord never spoke unto them as in Jeremiah the 23th and in Ezekiel the 13th and in many other places might be Instanced And did not he judge Hananiah who prophesied
of the Land of Egypt for before that time the Lord had not given to Man and Woman his outward Sabbath-day to keep neither in the Old World nor after in Abraham's time nor in Isaac's nor in Jacob's time until the Jews came out of Egypt to Mount Sina in the Wilderness And then there the Lord gave the Law and his Sabbath as a Sign in the Old Covenant of Christ the Eternal Rest in the New Covenant and they that believe do enter into Christ their Rest. Adam the first Man is the Root from whence we all spring naturally And Christ is called the last or second Adam because he is the Beginning and Root of all them that are spiritual The first Adam was made a living Soul And Christ the last Adam was made a quickening Spirit Christ by the Grace of God tasted death for every Man that they might all come into Favour with God and that every Tongue should Confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father I writ also a Paper there Concerning the Two Seeds distinguishing the Seed wherein the Blessing is received from the Seed which the Curse remains upon Of that Paper the following is a Copy THE Lord said to Abraham In thy Seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be blessed Gen. 22.18 And thy Seed shall be as the Stars of Heaven and as the Sand which is upon the Sea-shore and as the Dust of the Earth that cannot be numbred Chap. 13.16 and 15.5 and 22.17 Now in this Seed all Nations and Families of the Earth are blessed but not in the Seed of Evil Doers and of Falshood nor in the Seed of the Adulterer and the Whore Isa 1.4 and 57.3 4. for the Seed of the Wicked shall be cut off 1687. Kingston saith the Lord Psal 37.28 The Lord said to David That his Seed should endure for ever Psal 89.36 And again it is said Psal 102.28 The Children of thy Servants shall continue and their Seed shall be established before thee Now ye may see that here is a Distinction betwixt the Two Seeds for the Seed of Evil Doers and of the Adulterer and Whore and of the Wicked shall be Cut off and so it is not blessed But Christ bruises the Head of the Serpent and his Seed which he soweth in them that do disobey and transgress God's Command and rebel against God's good Spirit This Wicked Seed of the Serpent is Curst and is an Enemy to the Seed in whom all are blessed But Christ bruises the Head of this cursed Seed of Enmity and destroys the Devil and his Works and in his Seed are all blessed and all are in Unity in this Seed And all the Children of the Seed are the Children of the Kingdom of God and of Christ and are blessed with faithful Abraham and who are of the saving divine precious Faith are of Abraham and walk in the Steps of the Seed and Faith of Abraham and are blessed with him yea all Nations and all the Families of the Earth And the Lord said to Abraham Thy Seed shall be a stranger in a Land that is not theirs and shall serve them and they shall afflict them Four hundred years and that Nation whom they shall serve will I judge and afterwards shall they to wit God's Seed come out with great Substance Gen. 15.13 14. Here ye may see That which Afflicts God's Seed he will judge and did judge for he did destroy the First-birth of Pharaoh and overthrew him and his Host And an holy Man said Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a Seed or Remnant we had been as Sodom c. that is destroyed and burnt But in the Seed which destroys the Devil and his Works and bruises the Head of the Serpent and his Seed are all Nations and Families of the Earth blessed Christ according to the flesh was of Abraham and of David for he took not on him the Nature of Angels but the Seed of Abraham in which Seed all Nations and Families of the Earth are blessed And so they that are of his Seed are of the Generation of Christ and so are Flesh of his Flesh and Bone of his Bone Now all Nations and Families of the Earth must be in this holy Seed if they have the Blessings and are blessed And out of the Mouth of this Seed's Seed shall not God's Word depart but shall Remain and abide in the Mouth of this Seed's Seed in which they are blessed Isa 59.21 So it is not the First-birth's talking of the Words of Christ the Seed in whose Mouth the Word of God doth not abide that makes an outward Profession like the Jews that did kill and persecute the Prophets and crucified Christ the Seed and Substance of the Law and Prophets which the Jews professed in words but they denied Christ the Seed and Life And all the Christians so called that do profess the Scriptures in Words and are not in the Seed Christ they are in the Confusion and are like the Jews And so neither Jews nor Christians are blessed except they be in Christ the Seed of Life But though Christ is said to be of the Seed of David and of Abraham as his Generation is declared by Matthew and Luke yet Christ was not born of the Will of the Flesh nor of the Will of Man but of God For he was Conceived by the Holy Ghost and not by the Will of Man but by the Will of God born of the Virgin and supposed to be the Son of Joseph but was the Son of God and his Name was called Jesus because he should save his People from their sins and Emanuel God with us And Christ took not upon him the Nature of Angels but the Seed of Abraham as I said before and so was made of the Seed of David according to the Flesh and declared to be the Son of God with Power according to the Spirit of Holiness by the Resurrection from the dead Rom. 1.4 So the Generation of Christ is a Mystery And Christ saw his Seed or Word to grow up in his Disciples And Christ in you the hope of Glory the Apostle calls The Mystery which hath been hid from Ages and Generations but now is made manifest to the Saints or sanctified Ones Col. 1.26 27. Whom we preach warning every Man and teaching every Man in all Wisdom that we may present every Man perfect in Christ Jesus v. 28. For in Christ the second Adam all are made perfect and compleat and in Adam in the Fall all are deformed and made imperfect So out of Christ all Mankind are Imperfect and Deformed Let them paint and dress themselves with the Sheep's Clothing and with the Form of Godliness of the Prophets and Christ's and his Apostles Words never so much yet if Christ be not in them they are Uncompleat Imperfect Deformed Reprobates But the Apostle tells the Church of Christ Ye are compleat in Christ which is the Head of all
Principality and Power Col. 2.10 for he hath all Power in Heaven and Earth given to him Matth. 28.18 And so all the Saints are made Perfect and Compleat in Christ Jesus blessed be the Lord God over all for ever through Jesus Christ Amen Amen Kingston the 15th of the 1st Month 1686 7. G. F. Quickly after this I returned to London London and continued there a Month in the Service of the Lord being daily exercised either in publick Meetings or more particular Services relating to the Church of Christ as visiting such as were sick or afflicted and writing Books or Papers for the spreading of Truth or refuting of Error Now as it was a time of general Liberty the Papists appeared more open in their Worship than they were formerly wont to do and many unsettled People going to view them at it a great Talk there was of their Praying to Saints and by Beads c. Whereupon I writ a short Paper concerning Prayer which was as followeth CHrist Jesus 1687. London when he taught his Disciples to pray said unto them When ye do pray say Our Father which art in Heaven hallowed be thy Name c. Christ doth not say that they should pray to Mary the Mother of Christ nor doth he say that they should pray to Angels or to Saints that were dead Christ did not teach them to pray to the Dead nor for the Dead Neither did Christ or his Apostles teach the Believers to pray by Beads nor to sing by Outward Organs but the Apostle said he would Sing and Pray in the Spirit for the Spirit it self maketh Intercession and the Lord that searcheth the heart knoweth the mind of the spirit To take Counsel of the Dead was forbidden by the Law of God but they were to take Counsel of the Lord And he hath given Christ in the New Covenant in his Gospel-Day to be a Counsellor and a Leader to all his Believers in his Light And Men are not to run to the Dead for the Living for the Law and Testimony of God forbids it Those Jews that refused the running Waters of Shiloh the Floods and Waters of the Assyrians and Babylonians came over them and carried them into Captivity And they that refuse the Waters of Christ they are overflown with the Flood of the World that lieth in Wickedness They that asked Counsel of Stocks and Stones their state was in the Spirit of Error and Whoredom and they were gone a whoring from God Hos 4.12 And they that joined themselves to Baal-Peor and ate the Sacrifices of the Dead provoked the Lord's Anger and brought the Lord's Displeasure upon them Psal 106.28 29. So here ye may see The Sacrifices of the Dead were forbidden The Living know that they shall die but the Dead know not any thing neither have they any more a Reward for the Memory of them is forgotten Eccles 9.5 Wo to the rebellious Children saith the Lord that take Counsel but not of me and that cover with a Covering but not of my Spirit that they may add sin to sin Isa 30.1 G. F. When I had stay'd about a Month in London I got out of Town again For by reason of the many Hardships I had undergone in Imprisonments and other Sufferings for Truth 's sake my Body was grown so Infirm and Weak that I could not bear the Closeness of the City long together but was fain to go a little into the Country where I might have the benefit of the fresh Air. At this time I went with my Son-in-Law William Mead to his Country-House called Gooses in Essex about thirteen miles from London Essex Gooses where I stay'd about Two Weeks and among other Services that I had there I writ the following Paper being A Distinction between the True Offering and Sacrifice 1687. Gooses and the False in the Old and New Covenant THE Lord saith He that sacrificeth to any God save unto the Lord only he shall be utterly destroyed Exod. 22.20 So no God is to minded nor sacrificed to but the Lord God It is death to Sacrifice to any other God save the Lord. The Lord saith also Thou shalt not offer the blood of my Sacrifice with leavened Bread Exod. 23.18 So that sour heavy Leaven must not be offered with the Lord's Sacrifice And again the Lord saith Thou shalt not build an Altar of hewen stone for if thou lift up thy Tool upon it thou hast polluted it Exod. 20.25 Therefore have a care of polluting the Altar with your own Tools you that profess to offer the Spiritual Sacrifice Jonah said He would sacrifice unto the Lord with the voice of Thanksgiving when he was in the Fish's belly and there he prayed unto the Lord Jonah 2. For Jonah in the Whale's belly had no Lambs nor Rams nor outward Sacrifices to offer The Lord forbids his People to Sacrifice with Harlots Hosea 4.14 And the Lord forbids his People to offer Sacrifice of the Blind Lame Sick or that which was deformed or had any blemish as in Mal. 1. and many other places So they that offer Spiritual Sacrifice must not offer the blind lame blemished or deformed Sacrifice to God The Scribe saith unto Christ To love God with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the soul and with all the strength and to love his Neighbour as himself is more than all whole burnt Offerings and Sacrifices Mark 12.33 And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly he said unto him Thou art not far from the Kingdom of God v. 34. Now ye may see to Love God and their Neighbour as themselves was more than their whole Burnt-Offerings and Sacrifices in the time of the Law And therefore all Offerings and Sacrifices in the time of the Gospel if there be not love to God and to their Neighbour as themselves avails nothing David said Let them sacrifice a Sacrifice of Thanksgiving and declare his Works with rejoycing Psal 107.22 These are the Sacrifices that the Lord requires of his People more than Outward Sacrifices And David said Let my Prayer be set forth before thee as Incense and the lifting up of mine Hands as the Evening Sacrifice Psal 141.2 So here David looks upon his Prayer to the Lord and the lifting up of his Hands to him to be accepted with the Lord as much as the Outward Incense and the Outward Evening Sacrifice Again David says The Sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise Psal 51.17 See also Isa 57.15 and chap. 66.2 These be the Sacrifices that David said God would accept and not despise which are beyond the unbroken Spirit and uncontrite heart with Outward Offerings and Sacrifices The Adversaries of the Jews would have joined with them towards the building of the Temple saying unto them Let us build with you for we seek your God as ye do and we do sacrifice unto him But the Jews refused them and
house shall be established in the top of the Mountains and shall be exalted above the Hills and all Nations shall flow unto it Isa 2.2 Is not that a great House Now is not this Mountain Christ who is over his House in the New Testament and New Covenant And to this Mountain and House all the Children of the New Testament and New Covenant slow in these latter days so that it is come to pass which was prophesied of by Isaiah For he said Many People shall go and say Come ye and let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of his ways and we will walk in his paths for out of Zion shall go forth the Law and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem And he shall judge among the Nations and shall rebuke many People and they shall beat their Swords into Plon-shares and their Spears into Pruning-hooks Nation shall not lift up Sword against Nation neither shall they learn War any more O house of Jacob come ye and let us walk in the Light of the Lord ver 3 4 5. Here ye may see They that come to the Mountain of the house of God and to God's Teaching they must walk in the Light of the Lord yea the House of Jacob. Jacob signifies a Supplanter he supplanted profane Esau who is hated and Jacob is loved Now these Two Births must be known within And they that walk in the Light of the Lord and come to Christ the Mountain of the house of the Lord established above all Mountains and Hills they break their Swords into Plow-shares and their Spears into Pruning-hooks and in Christ this Mountain and House of the Lord there are no Spears nor Swords to hurt one another withal And Christ the Son of God is over his House and great Family the Children of the Light them that believe in it and walk in it who are the Children of the Day of Christ and are of his Holy and Royal Priesthood that offer up spiritual Sacrifice to God by him All such are of Christ's the spiritual Man's house who are born of God and led by his Spirit They are of the Lord of Lords and King of King's House and Family which he is over and are of the Houshold of the holy divine pure and precious Faith which Christ is the Author and Finisher of And they that be of the Son's house they are pure righteous and holy and can do nothing against the Truth but for it in their Words Lives and Conversations and so are a chosen Generation a holy Nation a peculiar People that they should shew forth the Praise of him who hath called them out of Darkness into his marvellous Light And these are Christ's lively Stones that build up a spiritual House which he Christ the spiritual Man the King of Kings and Lord of Lords is over London the 10th Month 1688. G. F. 1688. Essex Gooses Sometime after this my Body continuing Weak I went down with my Son Mead to his House in Essex where I staid some Weeks In which time I Writ many things relating to the Service of Truth of which some were printed soon after others were spread abroad in Manuscript And amongst other things ' there were a few Lines to this purpose THat while Men are contending for Thrones here below Christ is on his Throne and all his holy Angels are about him who is the Beginning and the Ending the First and Last over all And that the Lord will make way and room for himself and for them that are born of his Spirit which are heavenly Jerusalem's Children to come home to their free Mother A few Words also I writ concerning the World's Teachers and the Emptiness of their Teaching Which were thus DOth not all that which is called Christendom live in Talking of Christ's and of the Apostles and Prophets Words and the Letter of the Scriptures And do not their Priests minister the Letter with their own Conceptions thereupon to them for Money though the holy Scriptures were freely given forth from God and Christ and his Prophets and Apostles Yet the Apostle saith The Letter killeth but the Spirit giveth Life 2 Cor. 3.6 And the Ministers of the New Testament are not Ministers of the Letter but of the Spirit And they do sow to the Spirit and of the Spirit do reap Life Eternal But Peoples spending their time about Old Authors and their Talking of them and of the outward Letter this doth not feed their Souls For Talking of Victuals and Cloaths doth not clothe the Body nor feed it except they have Victuals to eat and Cloaths to put on No more are their Souls and Spirits fed and clothed except they have the Bread and Water of Life from Heaven to feed them and the Righteousness of Christ to clothe them So only Talking of Outward things and Spiritual things and not Having them they may starve both their Bodies and their Souls Therefore quench not the Spirit of God which will lead to be diligent in all things With this I writ another short Paper shewing the hurt that they did and the danger they run into who turned People from the inward Manifestation of Christ in the heart THE Jews were commanded by the Law of God Not to remove the outward Land-mark Deut. 19.14 And they that did so or that caused the Blind to wander were Cursed in the Old Covenant Deut. 27.17 In the New Covenant the Apostle saith Let him be Accursed that preacheth any other Gospel than that which he had preached Gal. 1.8 Now the Gospel that he preached was The Power of God unto Salvation 1688. Gooses to every one that believeth Rom. 1.16 And the Gospel that was preached to Abraham was That in his Seed all Nations and all the Families of the Earth should be blessed And in order to bring Men to this blessed state God poureth out of his Spirit upon all Flesh and Christ doth enlighten every one that cometh into the World and the Grace of God which bringeth Salvation hath appeared unto all Men and teacheth the Christians the true Believers in Christ and God doth write his Law in the true Christians hearts and putteth it in their minds that they may all know the Lord from the greatest to the least and he giveth his Word in their hearts to obey and do and the Anointing within them so that they need not any Man to Teach them but as the Anointing doth Teach them Now all such as turn People from the Light Spirit Grace Word and Anointing within remove them from their heavenly Land-mark of their Eternal Inheritance and make them blind and cause the Blind to wander from the living way to their Eternal House in the Heavens and from New and Heavenly Jerusalem So they are Cursed that cause the Blind to wander out of their way and to remove them from their heavenly Land-mark G. F. I writ also a
you may have the Blessing For you read that Christians were called the Houshold of Faith the houshold of God a holy Nation a peculiar People and they are commanded to be Zealous for good Works not for bad and Christians are also commanded not to bite and devour one another lest they be consumed one of another And is it not a sad thing for Christians to be biting and consuming one another in the sight of the Turks Tartars Jews and Heathens when they should Love one another and do unto all Men as they would have them do unto them And such Work and Devouring as this will open the Mouths of Jews and Turks Tartars and Heathens to Blaspheme the Name of Christ who is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and cause them to speak evil of Christianity for them to see how the Unity of the Spirit is broken among such as profess Christ and Christ's Peace And therefore all Christians are to mind God and Christ's Teaching who teacheth Christians to Love one another yea Enemies and perswade all Kings and Princes to give Liberty to all tender Consciences in Matters of Religion and Worship they living peaceable under every Government so that for the time to come there may be no more Imprisonment and Persecution among the Christians for Matters of tender Consciences about Matters of Faith Worship and Religion that the Jews Turks Tartars and Heathens may not see how Christians are Persecuting one another for Religion And seeing from Christ and the Apostles Christians have no such Command but on the contrary to Love one another and knowing that Christ said to such as would have been plucking up Tares Let the Tares and the Wheat grow together till the Harvest which is the End of the World lest they plucked up the Wheat and at the End of the World Christ would send forth his Angels and they should sever the Wheat from the Tares So Christ tells you that it is the Angels work at the End of the World and not Mens work before the Harvest at the End of the World Hath not all this Persecution Banishing and Imprisoning and putting to Death concerning Religion been the pretence of plucking up Tares and hath not all this been before the Harvest and before the End of the World And therefore have not all these been the Actors against the Express Command of Christ the King of Heaven which all Kings and Rulers especially they that call themselves Christians should obey their Lord and Saviour's Command which he expresly Commands Let the Tares and the Wheat grow together till the Harvest and the Harvest is the End of the World and then Christ will send his Angels and they shall sever the Wheat from the Tares c. And also Christ told some of his Disciples that would have had Fire to come down from Heaven to destroy such as would not receive him in their Zeal That they did not know what Spirit they were of and rebuked them and said He came not to destroy Mens Lives but to save them And therefore all such that have destroyed Mens Lives concerning Religion and Worship of God have they known what Spirit they have been of Have they not done that they should not do and done that which Christ forbad who saith Lest ye should pluck up the Wheat with the Tares and saith It is the Angels work at the End of the World And hath not God shewed unto Man what is Good and his Duty To Love Mercy and to do Justly and to walk Humbly with his God which Man is to mind And the Apostle exhorts the Christians to Follow Peace with all Men and Holiness without which no Man shall see the Lord Hebr. 12.14 And why should Christians War and Strive one with another seeing they all do own in words one King and Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus whose Command is That they should Love one another which is a Mark that they shall be known by to be Christ's Disciples as I said before And Christ who is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords saith As I have Loved you so love one another John 15.12 and John 13. And the Apostle saith Christians ought to be patient towards all Men 1 Thess 5.14 From him who is a Lover of Truth and Righteousness and Peace and desires your Temporal and Eternal Good and desires that in the Wisdom of God that is pure and gentle and peaceable from above with that you may be Ordered and Order all things that God hath Committed to you to his Glory and stop those things among Christians so far as you have power which dishonour God Christ and Christianity Amsterdam the 21th of the 7th Month 1677. G. F. THE FIRST TABLE CONTAINING The Names of the Countries Cities Towns and Places mentioned in the Author's Journal of his Travels and Labours on Truth 's Account in England c. and beyond the Seas Note The Pages with a Star refer to the like Pages with a Star to begin p. 189* 190* 200* 201* c. these Pages being double A. ABbyholm 268* Aberdeen Scotl. 407 Acton 141 Adderbury 388. 457 Addingworth 430 Albans 171. 430. 457. 479 Alborough Castle 522 Aldenham 78 Alexandria in Egypt 248. 253 Alkmaer Holl. 438. 522 America 408 Amersham 455 Amoroca River Amer. 380 Ampthill 430 Amsterdam 433-438 446-451 452. 520-522 594. 617-619 627-632 Anamessy River Amer. 380 Anderigo Friezl 444 Antego 356 357. 458 Apledon 318 319 Appingdalen F. 439 Applebye 91 Apre Denmark 440 Arnside 103. 215 216. 269. 470 Armscot 388 389. 457 Arundel 171 Ashford 259 Ashwell 469 Atherston 30. 132 Aylesbury 388 B. BAdcow Scotl. 269* 271* 276* Badgesley 167. 170. 225* 213. 310. 325. 429 Baghurst 341 Bagworth 29 Balby 54. 67. 69. 129. 213 214. 326. 429 Baldock 170 171. 316. 469 Ballowfield 429 Banbury 316 Bandon Irel. 328 Bandon-Bridge Irel. ibid. Barbados 351-361 379. 382. 599 Barking 570 Barnet 3. 430. 457. 479. 584 Barnet-hills 254 255 Barnstaple 318 Barrow 28. 254 Barton 423 Barton-Abbey 215 Basingstoke 244* Battersea 480 Beavor Vale 16. 18-26 Becliff 79 Bedall 423 Bedfordshire 149. 166. 170. 282* 259. 310 311. 430. 457. 469. 479 Bednalgreen 536-538 550 Bentham 297 Berkshire 254. 335. 342. 456 Berry-street 568 569 Berwick 281* Beverley 54 Beumaris Wales 258* 259* Biddlesden 479 Birmingham 167. 325 Bishopsdale 423 Bishop-starford 156 Black-Rock Chesh 327 Bletchington 480 Block-Island Amer. 369 Bodmin 178 179 Bohemia-River Amer. 365. 372 Bonners-Creek Amer. 376 377 Boston Lincolnsh 225* Boston New Eng. 242. 379 Boulton 280 Bowden mag 469 Bowtell 104 105 Bradforth 71 Braintrie 457 Brecknock 246* 247* Bremen Germ. 440 443 Bremer-Haven Germ. 443 Bridge-Town Barb. 356 Bridport 244 Briell Holl. 433. 453. 520. 522 Brigflats 423 Bristol 221* 222* 245* 210. 212. 253 254. 266. 310. 315. 332. 334. 456 Bristol-Harbour 383-386 Buckinghamshire 3. 224* 196. 310. 316. 341. 387. 430. 455. 457. 479 488 489 Bugbrook 479 Bullocks-Hill 430 Burlington 307 Burnt-Island 276* Burroby 57.