I spake something in Exhortation unto Friends and prayed unto the Lord as he enlarged my Heart that we might be comforted and edified together the Magistrates were offended and sent the Under-Goaler to take me away and put me in the Dungeon from among my Fellow-Prisoners who came at three several times and every time haled me from my knees when I was at Prayer and put me in the Dungeon a little dark Room where I was one time two days and nights another time three days and nights and the last time seven days and nights There was a Bowling-Alley before the Prison-door where several of the Magistrates and others did use to come to their Game and hearing my voice were offended and so sent to take me away So after fourteen Weeks I was set at liberty and in some little time I had freedom to return home and then did as at other times follow my outward Calling and kept to our Meetings at home but when I was moved to go forth to visit Friends sometimes in our own Country and sometimes into Yorkshire and Bishoprick and would sometimes be Two Months away or thereabouts and then return home to my Calling or Trade and so thus continued till about the fore-end of Summer in the Year 1664. And then that which had been opened unto me four years before began again to arise in my Heart in that Word which lives for ever and the living motion of it began to press upon my Spirit towards the fulfilling thereof and then I saw the Time drew near and the Season was coming upon me wherein the Lord would have me go and fulfil his Word that I had yielded unto in Spirit so long ago And then I began to prepare and set my Heart to leave all things behind and give up all things else that I might follow him and so his Power wrought my Spirit into a right frame that I could easily leave all things and then he gave me time to settle and order my outward Concerns and leave all things clear And then that Summer I took shipping for Ireland and passed through most Friends and did visit them And about the Seventh Month 1664. I took shipping at Galloway in Ireland for the Barbadoes and was seven weeks and two days in sailing to the Barbadoes and I stayed there about three or four Months and did visit Friends and travelled and laboured in the Work of the Gospel both for the Confirmation of those that were gathered and for the gathering of others unto the Truth that they might partake with us of the like precious Faith And there I met with many that had been hurt by Iohn Parrot and carried away with his Imaginations who lead out of the Power and from the true Cross into high Notions and vain Conceits and so into a fleshly Liberty and ease therein from the true Spiritual Travel and right Exercise both in Spirit and outwardly pretending to be against Forms and under that pretence led out of the faithful and diligent practice which Friends had been gathered into as to their meeting together and waiting upon the Lord counting that a Form which he did lead into a slight of and so caused many both there and in Virginia and other places to neglect or in a great measure to forsake the Assembling of themselves together contrary to Friends practice and the Counsel and Advice of the faithful Labourers who first laboured amongst us as also contrary to the Advice of the Apostle Hebr. 10. 25. And also he in his new Notion led many to keep on their Hats in the time of Prayer when any Friend prayed and condemned our reverend practice of putting off our Hats at such times and so in many things led such as were taken with his Notion out of true Order into Loosness and such a Liberty that the Cross in most things was laid down by them and their own Wills followed and Truth 's Testimony let fall But he ran out of the Truth so far at last that many began to see him and what his Spirit led to and so came to see their own loss and returned back unto their first love and the Power of the Lord went over that dark Spirit with all the vain Imaginations they had been led into thereby and so Friends were gathered into their former Unity Now because of the prevalency of this Spirit I had the greater travel and exercise among Friends in that Island and in other places of America both in withstanding such as were high and hard and also to gather back and preserve such as had in some measure been betrayed and yet were more innocent and tender And so when I had travelled and laboured as I said before about three or four Months in that Island and was clear I took shipping for Maryland about the latter end of the first Month and landed there about the latter end of the second Month 1665. and so I travelled and laboured in the Work of the Gospel in that Province that Summer and large Meetings we had and the Lord's Power was with us and Friends greatly comforted and several Convinced But a sore Exercise I had with one Tho. Thurston and a Party he drew after him for a while so that both I and faithful Friends were greatly grieved not only with his Wickedness but also his Opposition that he made against us and the Disturbance that he brought upon us in our Meetings and great was the exercise and travel that was upon my Spirit both Day and Night both upon the Truth 's account that suffered by him and also for the People that were betrayed by him to their hurt who were under a great mistake But through much labour and travel in the Lord's Wisdom and Power that both I and other faithful Friends of that Province had to search things out and to clear things to their Understandings both as to what related to the Truth and also Matter of Fact which he was guilty of it pleased the Lord so to assist us and bless our endeavours in manifesting the Wickedness and Wrongness of the Heart and Spirit of the Man that most of the People came to see him and in the love of God to be restored into the Unity of the Truth again to our great comfort Truth 's honour and their Everlasting happiness But he himself was lost as to the Truth and became a Vagabond and Fugitive as to his Spiritual Condition and little otherwise as to the outward So in the Winter following I went down to Virginia and when I came there Friends there the greatest part of them were led aside by Iohn Parrot who had led them into his Notions as before is related and they had quite forsaken their Meetings and did not meet together once in a Year and had lost the very form and language of the Truth many of them and were become loose and careless and much one with the World in many things so that the Cross of
to draw near with and therefore could not have full assurance but was compassed with fears horrours and amazements and yet came to know that there was no other way but to dwell in these Judgments and wait in the way thereof understanding that we must be redeemed with Judgment for as was said of Zion Isaiah 1. 27. and so waiting therein we began to learn Righteousness and strongly to desire to walk therein and could no longer be satisfied with a talk thereof and thus waiting for and seeking after the Lord though greatly ignorant of him in a deep sense of our own unworthiness and unpreparedness to meet him because of the polution of our Hearts which was seen by his Light that did shine therein we were still bowed down in spirit and afflicted and tossed in Soul and not comforted and our Hearts unstable like waters and the waves going over our Heads and our Souls in jeopardy every moment and our Faith so little we were ready to sink like Peter often crying out in the danger and in that Distress and vail of Tears we walked through our Hearts became quite dead to the World and all its Pleasure and Glory and also to all our former dead Profession for we saw there was no Life in it nor Help nor Salvation from it though some of us had tried it throughly we saw it was in vain to look to such Hills or Mountains for Salvation and then when we began to forsake all on both hands as seeing the Emptiness of all both the Glory Vanity and Pleasure of the World and the dead Image of Profession which we had set up in our Imaginations and Inventions and worshipped with our unprepared Hearts and unsanctified Spirits being Slaves and Captives to Sin as all must needs be that obeys it in the Lust thereof according to Romans the 6 th and 16. I say when we had thus through the sight and sense of the unsufficiency of all we either had or could do to give ease help or salvation denied all and as we had been directed turned our Minds unto the Light of Christ shining in our Hearts and believed therein according to Christ's command Iohn 12. 36. and so met together to wait upon the Lord therein Then began the Prophane to mock scoff and abuse us and our very Relations and old Familiars to be strange to us and offended at us and did hate us and began to speak evil of us and did think it strange that we would not run with them to the former excess of Riot as it was of old 1 Pet. 4. 4. And also the Professor even such as we had formerly walked in fellowship with in our lifeless Profession began to reproach us and vilifie us and speak evil against us and charge us with Errour and Schism and departing from the Faith and also began to reproach the Light of Christ as natural and unsufficient and a false Light and false Guide And thus Christ in his Spiritual Appearance was reproached vilified slighted and undervalued and set at nought by the Carnal Professors of Christianity as he was in his Appearance in the Flesh by the Jews the Carnal Professors of the Law who saw not through the Vail unto the end And in this our weak state were we beset on every hand and greatly distressed tossed and afflicted as poor Israel was when the Sea was before them and the Egyptians behind and their hope so little that they looked for nothing but death and said to Moses Because there were no Graves in Egypt hast thou taken us away to dye in the Wilderness c. Exod. 14. 11. Thus through many Tribulations must the Kingdom be entred by all that strives rightly to enter according to Christ's command Luke 13. 24. And when we were thus in our deep fears and our Minds not well acquainted with either right striving out of self in the light and seed of Life that doth prevail and give the entrance or true waiting or standing still out of our own thoughts willings and runnings which doth not obtain the Lord sent his Servants who had learned of him to direct us in what to wait and how to stand still out of our own thoughts and self-strivings in the Light that did discover who often did exhort us to abide and dwell in the Judgment that we received therein and by them as we had been turned to the Light so was our Understandings informed and we got to some degree of staidness in our Minds which before had been as the troubled Sea and a hope began to appear in us and we met together often and waited to see the Salvation of God which we had heard of that he would work by his own power And after we had met together for some time as we had seasons and opportunities and also sought the Lord with travelling Spirits both night and day when we were at our Callings and upon our Beds for we could not cease our Souls were so afflicted being in our Assemblies exercised in the living Judgment that sprung in the Light in our Souls and looking for the Salvation of God the wonderful Power from on High was revealed amongst us and many Hearts reached therewith and broken and melted before the God of the whole Earth and great dread and trembling fell upon many and the very Chains of Death was broken thereby the Bonds loosed and many Souls eased and set at liberty and the Prisoners of hope began to come forth and they that had sitten in darkness to shew themselves and the Promises of the Lord came to be fulfilled unto many spoken of by Isaiah the Prophet Isa. 49. 9. and Isa. 42. 7. and 61. 23. and some taste of the Oyl of Joy came to be witnessed and a heavenly Gladness entered the Hearts of many who in the Joy of their Souls broke forth in Praises unto the Lord so that the Tongue of the Dumb which Christ the healer of our Infirmities did unloose began to speak and utter the wonderful things of God and great was the Dread and Glory of that Power that one Meeting after another was graciously and richly manifested amongst us to the breaking tendering and melting of our Hearts Souls and Spirits before the Lord then our Hearts began to delight in the Lord and in his way that he had cast up and with great servency and zeal then we began to seek after him and to meet oftner together than before our Hearts being so affected with the presence of that blessed Power that daily broke forth amongst us in our Meetings through which we were greatly comforted strengthened and edified for it was that same Comforter our blessed Lord promised he would pray the Father for and which the Father should send Iohn 14. 16 and 26. And then this being come and received did teach us to know the Father and the Son and as we came into Acquaintance with it and into the Unity of it we came to be taught by it
and so taught of the Lord according to that New Covenant promise They shall be all taught of the Lord Isa. 54. 13. Iohn 6. 4 5. Then was our Hearts inclined to hearken unto the Lord and our Ears which he had opened to hear was bent to hear what the Spirit 's Teaching was and what he said unto the Church who was the chief Shepherd and Bishop of the Soul And thus were we gathered into a right Gospel Exercise and Gospel Worship by him and through whose Name we had received Remission of Sins past and whose Blood had sprinkled our Hearts from an evil Conscience and who gave the pure Water that washed and made clean so that with true Hearts many began to draw nigh unto God in the full assurance of Faith as the ancient Saints did and was accepted and had access by that one Spirit by which we came to be baptized in one Body and so came to drink into one Spirit and was refreshed and greatly comforted and grew up together in the Mystery of the Gospel fellowship and so worshipped God who is a Spirit in the Spirit received from him which is the Gospel Worship according to Christ's appointment Iohn 4. 24. And then we came to see over all the Worships in the World which were set up either by Imitation or man's Invention and saw it to be in vain to worship God and teach for Doctrines the Commandments of men as our Lord had said Matth. 15. 9. and therefore were we constrained to withdraw from them and also many of us to go and bear witness against them in their invented and traditional Worships where they were ignorant of the Life and Power of God And thus being gathered by the Lord Jesus Christ that great Shepherd and Bishop of our Souls we became his Sheep and did learn to know his Voice and to follow him and he gave unto us Eternal Life and manifested the Riches of his Grace in our Hearts by which we were saved through Faith and delivered from that wrath fear and terrour which had been so weighty upon our Souls and in measure from the power of that Death that had reigned and made us miserable and wretched and came to partake of that Life wherein the blessedness doth consist and so then the Lord becoming our Shepherd he taught us and led us forth into green Pastures where we did feed and rest together with great delight O the Joy the Pleasure and the great Delight that our Hearts was overcome with many times in our reverent and holy Assemblies how was our Hearts melted as Wax and our Souls poured out as Water before the Lord and our Spirits as Oyl Frankincense and Myrrhe offered up unto the Lord as sweet Incense when not a word outwardly in all our Assembly has been uttered And then did the Lord delight to come down into his Garden and walk in the midst of the Beds of Spices and he caused the North-wind to awake and the South-wind to blow upon his Garden and the pleasant Showers to descend for the refreshing of his tender Plants that they might grow still more and more And now unto them that had known the Night of Sorrow was the joyful Morning come according to that ancient experience of David Psal. 30. 5. and such as had been in the foregoing deep Afflictions Tossings and Distresses came to witness the fulfilling of that great Gospel Promise O thou afflicted tossed with tempest and not comforted behold I will lay thy stones with fair colours and lay thy foundations with Saphires and I will make thy windows of Agates and thy gates of Carbuncles and all thy borders of pleasant Stones and all thy Children shall be taught of the Lord and great shall be the peace of thy Children In righteousness shalt thou be established thou shalt be far from oppression for thou shalt not fear and from terrour for it shall not come near thee Isa. 54. 11 12 13 14. Thus then came we by him to be gathered into Covenant with God and to witness the fulfilling of the Promises of God in whom all the Promises are Yea and Amen and so come to sit together in heavenly places in him and so come to feed upon the heavenly food the Bread of Life that came down from Heaven which Christ the heavenly Shepherd did give unto us who had gathered us from amongst the Shepherds that fed themselves with Temporal Things from the Flock but knew not how to feed the Flock with Spiritual Food for they had it not And now we coming to be acquainted with the Power of the Lord Jesus Christ in our Hearts became great Lovers of it and Delighters in the Enjoyment thereof having already counted all things but as Dross and Dung in comparison of the Excellency that we saw therein and therefore was willing to suffer the loss of all that we might win him as it was with the Apostle of old and blessed be the Lord many obtained their desire they found their Beloved met with their Saviour witnessed his Saving health by which their Souls was healed and so became his Flock and Family or Houshold of Faith And thus then as his Children and blessed Family we still did continue to meet together twice in the Week or oftner and in his Name and holy Fear being gathered together his Promise we did witness according to Matth. 18. 20. he was in the midst of us and did honour our Assemblies with his heavenly Power and Presence and that was our great delight and the sweetness of it did wonderfully engage our Souls to love him and our Hearts to wait upon him for we did find the ancient experience of the Church true as testified in the Scripture because of the savour of thy good Ointments thy Name is as Ointment poured forth therefore do the Virgins love thee And growing thus into this Experience of the Goodness of the Lord and of the Sweetness Glory and Excellency of his Power in our Assemblies we grew in Strength and Zeal for our Meetings more and more and valued the benefit thereof more than any worldly Gain yea it was unto some more then our appointed Food And thus continuing we grew more and more into an understanding of Divine Things and Heavenly Mysteries through the Openings of the Power that was daily amongst us and wrought sweetly in our Hearts which still united us more and more unto God and knit us together in the perfect Bond of Love of Fellowship and Membership so that we became a Body compact made up of many Members whereof Christ himself became the Head who was with us and did rule over us and so further gave Gifts unto us by which we still came to be enlarged and further opened that we might answer the end for which he had raised us up and so far blessed us and sanctified us through his Word that dwelt in our Souls and so we keeping still in our Zeal and unto our first Love and
and worshipped I say when my heart was thus fitted and filled then did I endeavour to keep down my Spirit to the meltings of it and great was the care of my Soul that I might no ways miss nor abuse this Power nor let up a wrong thing into my Mind to be betrayed thereby and then I knew if I kept all that was wrong down sound Wisdom and a true Understanding would be grown into even of those Mysteries that the World was ignorant of for the Son of God being come it was he that did give the Understanding to know him that was true as Iohn said of old in his first Epistle and he was made Wisdom as Paul said 1 Cor. 1. 30. So I often observed and that with great care and diligence in those blessed and pleasant Seasons wherein the Lord did so wonderfully appear amongst us and filled our Hearts with the glorious Majesty of his Power how it was with my own Spirit and whether that was subject as it ought or no for I clearly saw the Enemy might beguile and lead up into the hights and unnecessary pride and vain-glorying in that which the Soul might soon be deprived of if it kept not humble for it 's the humble the Lord teacheth and the meek he guides in Judgment And thus in the greatest Enjoyments I saw there was need of care and fear to be kept in for as those that grew sluggish idle and careless in waiting in a Meeting for the Power did sit without the sense of it in a dead dry barren state even so such as weer not diligent to mind to keep low humble and tender and so to mind the Nature of the working of the Power and the Nature of their own Spirits under the Powers exercise and also to watch against the Enemies subtilty who lay in wait to betray might easily be led aside out of the Powers way by the Stranger even while the Power was a working and Joy was in the Heart And thus for want of true Fear and Care might the Soul come into a loss e're it be aware and I believe some have so done and can scarcely find the reason of it Great is the Mystery of Godliness it may truly be said even the great Mystery which Paul writes of in Colossians the first Christ in us the hope of glory c. And as he is there great is the Mystery of his working by his Spirit to the opening and clearing of the Understandings of all that rightly wait upon him and it is the Soul in the Sanctification and Oneness with the Life the true Unction that comes to be a Priest and so of the Royal Priesthood chosen and elected in God's Covenant that comes rightly and lawfully to eat of those holy things and so to partake of the sanctified holy Food This I did observe and therefore the Stranger is not to come nigh this was in the Figure signified the Stranger was not to eat of the Passover Exod. 12. 43. and the Command of God was to Aaron by Moses that no Stranger should eat of the holy things c. Lev. 22. 10. And Solomon saith The heart knoweth his own bitterness and a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy Prov. 14. 10. Much might be said but this is the matter its Wisdom for the Heart that hath known his own bitterness in the Judgment and Distress and through it is come to this Peace and Joy to keep it and not to let that which would have no share with it there come to intermeddle with the Joy for if it do it will soon overthrow the Joy of the Soul and bring to another state and then have no more pity in the Day of Distress than the Iews had of Iudas when they bad him look to it what was that to them when he had betrayed his Master And thus I continued as I have said before for these four Years mostly following my outward Calling and attending and waiting upon the Lord in the workings of his holy Power in my Heart both in Meetings and at other times where-ever I was or whatever I had to do for I found that as my Heart was kept near the Power it kept me tender soft and living And besides I found as I was diligent in eying of it there was a constant sweet Stream that run softly in my Soul of Divine Peace Pleasure and Joy which far exceeded all other Delights and Satisfactions and this became the great Engager of my Soul to watch with such diligence for I did find the love of God to constrain And furthermore I did observe that if I neglected or let my Mind out after any thing else more than I ought and so forgot this I began to be like a Stranger and saw that I soon might lose my Interest in these Riches and Treasure and true Common-wealth of God's Spiritual Israel which Christ had purchased for me and given me the earnest of to inherit And thus being mindful of the opening Wisdom of God which was from above and heavenly and not from below earthly I was preserved and helped and succoured in the needful time and because of the Blessings and rich Mercies of the Lord that my Soul enjoyed I was willing to serve him in what I might and willingly received upon me a share of that Concern that became proper for me with others to take upon us in the Church that I might be helpful in all necessary things And thus I went on in the holy Fellowship of the Gospel of Life and Salvation with the rest of my Brethren and Sisters and many joyful Day we had together in the Power of the Holy Ghost that was richly and graciously continued amongst us and daily poured out upon us so that we still grew in favour with God and unity one with another and received daily strength from the Lord and an increase of his Divine Wisdom and Spirit which did greatly comfort us And in this our pleasant state I do well remember my Heart was satisfied and setled into a content where I was willing to abide but the Lord that had so dealt by me in Mercy as I have said began to stir in my Heart by his Spirit to arise and go forth in the strength of his Word and declare against the Hirelings that feed themselves and not the People and kept the People ignorant of those good things that he had made me and others Witnesses of And when the Word of the Lord came unto me with this Message it became a great Exercise unto me and I would willingly have shunned it and have dwelt in that Ease Peace and Pleasure the Lord had brought me into but there was none but in obeying the Lord and giving up to do his Will that I soon came to know for I was sure it was the Word of the Lord and then I yielded in Spirit and longed for the Day that I might clear my self and be eased of the Charge that was upon
did visit Friends And then took shipping at Whitehaven for Ireland and landed at Belfast in the North and spent that Winter in Ireland in the travels and labour of the Gospel and had blessed Service for the Lord and his People in that Nation and was richly comforted and refreshed amongst them in the gracious presence of the Lord that was with us who is the Recompencer and rich Rewarder of all that are given up in Faithfulness to serve him So that now none doth lose their Reward under the Ministration of the Gospel no more then they did under the Law in the Figure when he said Who is thère among you that would shut the Doors for nought neither do you kindle fire on mine Altar for nought Mal. 1. 10. To him be Glory and Honour and Praise over all for ever for he is worthy And when I was clear of that Nation I took shipping at Dublin and landed at Whitehaven in Cumberland and stayed a little time in Cumberland and then took my Journey for London to the yearly Meeting that was in the Spring of the Year 1670. and so spent a part of that Summer in London and thereabouts in the Service of the Truth until I could have a Conveniency to go for Barbadoes that being upon me And in the fifth Month all things being ready I and William Simpson went down to Gravesend with many Friends from London that did accompany us and staying there but a few days we set Sail from Gravesend the eighth day of the fifth Month 1670. and came to the Downs and stayed there some days and then set Sail from the Downs the twentieth day of the same Month and because of contrary Winds we put in at Falmouth and stayed two Nights there and then put to Sea again and so set Sail for the Barbadoes and arrived there the thirtieth day of the seventh Month so that we were twelve Weeks from Gravesend e're we got Barbadoes And then I stayed in the Barbadoes six Months and had great and weighty Service in that Island before I could be clear And my dear Companion William Simpson after he had been there was taken sick of a violent Fever that was very much among People at that time and very many died he was sick but about six days and then was taken away At his Death a very little before his Departure he gave a living heavenly Testimony unto the Truth with wholesome Advice unto them that were about him and departed in the Peace and Joy of the Lord an Account whereof may be further seen in a Book writ by one that was with him from his beginning to be sick until he departed I was with him very much but sometimes was constrained to leave him for the Service sake that was upon me He was a very Innocent man and full of fear and reverence and ordinarily very open in his Testimony and very sweet and pleasant we walked in great love and unity together for he was a humble man and had very low thoughts of himself and always under dread He had gone through great Sufferings and Afflictions and cruel Persecutions for his Testimony and Service sake that he was called unto he likewise had met with hard Buffetings from Satan's Messenger and sore Temptations by which he had been wounded and sore hurt through the wiles of Satan and his cunning slights of which he would be often speaking to me in our brotherly Fellowship and Communication wherein we would open our hearts and states one unto another and in the remembrance of things he was kept very low and tender and near the Lord and took great delight in his Power by which he had been redeemed and his Soul delivered and he raised up into a good degree of Dominion in which he reigned at the last and with great triumph departed this Life and is blessed for ever My Heart is well satisfied that it is even so and when he was taken away from me my Heart was broken within me my Spirit was bowed down greatly in the sense of my loss and I could not but mourn though not as such that have no hope for my hope was firm concerning his well-being and gain that he had obtained but great was my loss for I was left as one alone as I had been often before to bear the burthen my self which was very weighty upon me at that time considering the state of the Church in that Island and the care of it was upon me but the Lord was with me and his Power did assist me to go through my Charge and clear my self and free my self from the Blood of all Men and Women And so through all being guided by his Spirit in his Wisdom the Lord's Children and People were comforted and my Soul and Spirit refreshed and revived and so in peace clearness and gladness I came away and took shipping for New-England and set Sail the first of the second Month 1671. and arrived at New-York the 27 th day of the same Month and so did go from New-York unto Long-Island and did visit Friends on the Island and other places there-aways and was with them at their Half-years-Meeting at Oyster-Bay And so being clear of those Parts took shipping for Road-Island and was there at their Yearly-Meeting in 1671. which begins the ninth of the fourth Month every Year and continues for much of a Week and is a General Meeting once a year for all Friends in New-England And after that Meeting when I was clear of those Parts I took my Journey towards Sandwich and so did visit Friends all along at Tewkesbury Marshfield and Cittuate and so on to Boston and there had a Meeting and so on to Salem and Hampton and Piscataway all along visiting Friends and had many pretious Meetings and the Lord was with us and his Power was over all And from Piscatoway I returned back again the same way and had blessed Service and so through I came to Road-Island again and there I spent some time and went up to Providence and did visit Friends there and so returned again And when I was clear of those Parts I took shipping back again for Long-Island and landed at Oyster-Bay and had some Meetings and then went down to Flushing and so to Gravesand and had some Meetings And then went over to East-Iersey to visit Friends there and had some Meetings and then returned back again to Gravesand and from thence went back again to Oyster-Bay and was there at their Half-years-Meeting which began about the eighth day of the eighth Month and had a blessed time But in our Meeting for Business we had an Exercise with several that rose up in a wrong Spirit against the blessed Order of the Truth which by the Power of God Friends were gathered into and sweetly setling in And chiefly their Envy and Bitterness was against George Fox and his Papers of Wholsome Advice which he in the Love of God had sent amongst Friends and in
wear out because that life and power which is eternal is known and that love which changes not is injoyed in which I am one with you and remain Your Brother in the Covenant where Sin is blotted out and Everlasting Righteousness is brought forth in which we worship the Father acceptably I. Burnyeat Barbadoes the 30th of the 11th Month 1670. Dear Friends I Have had a great Exercise upon my Spirit concerning this late Observation of a Day or Fast which was set forth and pretended unto and seeing the pride and vanity that people was in not like true Mourners and Fasters and such as would have the Iudgment removed and also seeing the bitter Cruelty that appeared as a part of the fruits of it and furthermore seeing the difference that did seem to appear in Friends minds about the owning or not owning of it by submitting unto their Requirings or doing to the contrary as a testimony against it after I had passed under a deep Exercise in Spirit for some time at last the Lord God by his Eternal Word raised up my Spirit in the zeal thereof and did smite against all such Mockeries and then in a heavenly Revelation my Understanding being opened and closing with the Word he shewed unto me that it was to be Witnessed against by all that stood in the Testimony of God and that those that would weaken the Spirits of any in their Testimony in this or other things wherein Friends have a Testimony for God it was plainly shewed me from the Lord how they would draw a vail over the pure in themselves and in others and in a cowardly underly Spirit by the corrupted sallen wisdom would put the Candle that God hath lighted under a Bushel or under a Bed and so cover it for a while until at last it would be put out so that we like other Professors at last by this Spirit would be led to yield to any thing rather than suffer and so then the offence of the Cross might cease And then also there was another thing which had been very long under my consideration of which I was not hasty to judge or meddle wherein Friends have somewhat differed but at this time was not minded by me because of the other that was upon me But when the Lord had cleared the other to me he brought up this also before my mind which is about Sending Men Horse and Arms to the Training Trooping or Playing which is folly as to us for which many that could not send have suffered the spoiling of their Goods And the Lord then plainly satisfied me that it was his Testimony wherein Friends were to stand and that they that bore another Testimony either in words or action it was from that Spirit and in that Wisdom that would put a bushel over the lighted Candle and by degrees would put it out and would lead us to crouch to the Spirit of the World until its large wing of Darkness would over-shadow us and become our Covering and then we should be like others that have lost their Testimony And then when the Lord had thus done oh how my Soul was filled with heavenly divine love towards all the willing Sufferers for the Lord's Testimony So that I can say it was with me as it was with Deborah when she said her heart was towards the Governours of Israel who offered themselves willingly among the people and then I could not but praise the Lord. And so this is the Testimony that the Lord did put into my heart which I am moved of him to give forth for the comfort and satisfaction of all that desire to serve the Lord in their Generation and to keep their Consciences pure and their Garments unspotted And therefore Friends keep in the first for he is the last and shall stand when all others shall fail And reason not with flesh and blood but wait for the power that it may open you and as you are kept open thereby the wonderful things of God in it will be made known unto you and the depths of Satan will be seen also and there will be a growing in righteousness For in the power is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith by which the just lives which cannot be witnessed where the Testimony is let fall and the Light covered and the Talent laid in the earth though it may be tied in a white Napkin of fair Profession For the Gift or Talent is neither to be hid in the Earth nor bound by any in any thing but to have its liberty until by its own power all be subjected unto it self that God may be all in us all This is the Testimony that I am to leave with you in these matters and so being eased in Spirit in the lasting love of God I remain Your Brother Iohn Burnyeat Salem in New-England the 30th of the 4th Month 1671. Dear and Well-beloved YOU whom the Lord hath called to believe and to be partakers of his Divine Nature and of his manifold Mercies that through the strength thereof you might bear witness to his Name and testifie to his Truth in your Day for which the God of Wisdom suffers you to be tried and your faith to be proved as it hath been his way in all Ages for the proof of his people that their hearts might be tried and their Love appear how weighty it is to him that hath loved them whereby the Glory of the Truth and the Excellency of it might be made manifest And now my Friends this is your day and hour of your Trial wherein the Lord by you I believe shall be honour'd and you rewarded with that good Reward which shall out-ballance all the present Sufferings unto which the Glory of the present World is not to be compared And though from you it is my Lot to be separated and so in the like kind not to suffer among you yet I cannot say but that I suffer with you for my Spirit is not without a feeling of your sufferings O! you dear Lambs of the Shepherd's fold is it so that the Wolf seeks to devour and is the Lion and devouring Bear let loose that would snatch up the Lambs Fear not though in his Mouth We have a Shepherd that will deliver and like David will save from the power of the Destroyer so that your Life shall not come under his power For God is on Israel's side to preserve though they would swallow up quick And therefore let your Trust be in the Arm of his strength for ever and you shall know that he is able to make up all to you again Dearly beloved My very Heart and Soul salutes you all in the Reach of that Life which by nothing that is visible can be stopped and in the sense and enjoyment of that I am spiritually with you wherein I may say I do partake with you both of the Sufferings and Tribulations and also of the Ioy and Consolation that abounds in your