you come to love it and to have your minds staid upon it you will feel the Incomes of God's Power to administer condemnation upon the transgressor that keeps the pure Seed in bondage in you For Sion is redeemed through Judgement and her Converts with Righteousness Paul saith If thou believest in thy heart the Lord Jesus and confessest with thy mouth that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved for with the heart man believeth unto Salvation And we do believe and see and taste and handle of the good Word of Life and have received the Spirit of Truth to lead us into all Truth and doth bring all things to our remembrance without any visible thing And Paul wrote to the Galatians saying My little Children of whom I travel in birth till Christ be formed in you Where Christ is formed within there needs no form without the outward form is called an Earthen Vessel or an Earthen Tabernacle or an Earthen House but Christ Jesus is the express Image of his Fathers Glory or Substance which is Light and Life Now the Image of Christ is a pure and a holy Image a meek and a Dove-like Image an innocent and a Lamb-like Image a righteous and a glorious Image Christ in you the hope of Glory saith the Apostle to the Saints The Lord our God hath given to every man a measure of the manifestation of his own Spirit to profit withal which is the Light in the Conscience the true Teacher of his People it is the Grace of God that bringeth Salvation that appeareth to all men and it teacheth all that come to believe in it and to love and to be guided by it to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts and to walk soberly righteously holy and godly in this present world and it will deal plainly with every one none need to fear being deceived by that in them which doth condemn them for sin and evil But they that live in Pride are deceived already they that live in Covetousness are deceived already and they that live in Lusts or Drunkenness are deceived already or in Lying Swearing Adultery or Idolatry are deceived or in Hypocrisie and Deceit Hard-heartedness or Cruelty they are deceived already for those you know are fruits which do proceed from a deceived heart being corrupted for want of knowledge My People perish for want of knowledge saith God He that hath not the Spirit of Christ is none of his and he that hath the Spirit of Christ ought himself to walk as Christ walked Now Christ was no Persecutor he never imprisoned any nor ever put any to suffer but He and the holy Prophets and Apostles were made to suffer as evil doers this we know The Day of the Lord is hot and terrible against all sin and iniquity and that nature from whence it doth proceed and We are a WO for all them that are laying up of a Fuel for it This is God's Truth whether you can receive it yea or nay I am ready to seal it with my blood if the Lord shall call me to it Whosoever shall interpret this Paper before the Lord Inquisitor so called I charge thee in the Name of the living God as thou wilt answer before his dreadful presence to interpret it word by word as it is written without adding or diminishing Katherine Evans THe Friar then came to me and askt me why I did not work I said unto him What work dost thou do He said he did write I told him I would write too if he would bring me Pen Ink and Paper and I would write Truth He said He would not that we should write for St. Paul did work at Rome and we might get nine or ten grains a day if we did knit that is three half-pence I told him if we could have that priviledge amongst them that Paul had at Rome under Caesar which was a Heathenish King we would have wrought and not have been chargeable to any Paul lived in his own hired house two years with a Souldier to look to him and had Friends of the same Occupation to work with him and could send where he would and whosoever would come to him might and he taught them in the Name of the Lord Jesus and no man forbad him So I askt him Whether he knew the holy War of God yea or nay if he did I told him he then did know we could not be without exercise day nor night Then his mouth was stopped and he spake no more to me of work But though our affliction of body was very great and our travel of soul was greater yet we did knit Stockens and gave to them that were made serviceable to us and did make Garments for the poor Prisoners and mended their Clothes which had need and were made helpful to them all to their condemnation that did persecute us But we could not work at the Friar's will nor any mans else but as we had freedom in the Lord. As I was weak in my bed the Friar came to me and said We did deny the Scriptures I told him they did deny them we did own them and hold them forth thou dost know it He was in a rage because I said they denied the Scriptures and bid me eat my words again and threatned death upon me I said Christ Jesus was the Light of the World and had lighted every one that cometh into the World which Light is our Salvation that do receive it and the same Light is the Worlds Condemnation that do not believe in it Then he said He would lay me in Chains where I should neither see Sun nor Moon They say The Father hath almost killed you said he but I will kill you quite before I have done He had a Book in his hand and he did study in it I told him he did comprehend the words in his carnal mind and he was wroth and said he would give me to the Devils to be tormented I said I deny the Devil and all his works and workers Some would come unto the Prison upon their Saints dayes and ask us what day it was We did answer We did not know neither did we observe dayes nor times months nor years Then answer would be made It was St. Joseph's day or some other Saint and St. Joseph should punish us that night because we did not observe his day We answered We did know the Saints to be at peace with us and we did not fear them We further said Paul did call it beggarly Elements and Rudiments of the World to observe days times months and years and their mouthes would be stopt for a time Then came the Friar another time and told me it was seventeen dayes to their Christmas and said the Virgin Mary conceived with child that day being the same day he spake to me on as if she did go with child but seventeen dayes And he said the next day was Lady Ann's day the Virgin Mary 's Mother a
bodies are bolted up in the Rocks Caves of the Earth yet our spirits you know none can limit nor confine to any place And we do behold your order and stedfastness of your Faith and Labour of love and are daily refreshed in all the faithful-hearted Oh dear hearts the remembrance of the least of you is precious Oh! the Rivers of tears that have distilled from our eyes whilst we do think upon you for joy because of your growth and flourishing in the Truth Oh! you are Virgins indeed who have Oyl in your Vessels and your Lamps burning and are clothed with the long white Robes of Righteousness and are adorned with the Ornaments of pure beauty and glorious brightness abundance of you to our joy and comfort and we do pray night and day That every Babe of our Heavenly Father's begetting may prosper even as we desire our own souls should prosper and that every one may be kept out of incumbrances and use the World as if they used it not but every one's mind spirit heart and soul may be exercised in the Eternal by the Power of God out of the earthly and out of the visible out of the carnal and perishing things of this life so as to trust in it into the heavenly into the spiritual into the invisible into that which never changeth fadeth nor waxeth old where every one may dwell in the enjoyment of the presence of the Lord for in the presence of the Lord is fulness of joy and at his right hand is pleasure for evermore Oh that every one may be emptied of your selves and unbottomed of your selves that you may build wholly upon the sure foundation and anchored so fast upon the Rock of Ages that neither the swelling Seas nor the foaming Waves nor stormy Winds though they beat vehemently may ever be able to remove you Oh dear Brethren in the life and power you may feel the issues of Love and Life which stream as a River to every soul of you from the hearts of us that are wholly joyned to the Fountain Glory and everlasting Praises be given to his holy Name Our whole souls spirits hearts and minds are given up to serve the Lord in whatsoever he requireth of us as he shall make it manifest unto us And we do blesse his Name for ever that he hath found us worthy of so high a calling as to bind Kings in chains and Nobles in fetters of Iron Our prayers are continually for the advancement of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus throughout the whole Earth for the gathering of the Seed of the Elect of God and for the raising of it up over the Seed of the Serpent in power and great glory to bear rule and to have dominion over the whole World that the Kingdoms of this World may become the Kingdoms of our Lord Jesus that he may rule in his Princely Power and reign in his Kingly Majesty whose Right it is that the knowledge of the Lord may cover the Earth as the Water covereth the Sea that all the Children of the Lord may be taught of the Lord and be established in Righteousness that so the Mourners in Sion may rejoyce and the heavy-hearted in Jerusalem may be right glad The Lord God of Power hasten it for his own Name 's sake and for his Elects sake that lye in captivity under the hands of the dark powers of the Earth either spiritual or temporal Amen Amen saith our spirits Dear and precious Friends and Brethren pray for us that we may finish our Testimony to the glory of God and to the praise of his holy Name and to the comfort of all that love his appearing and to our own eternal salvation and to the shame and confusion of all that hate the Lord Jesus and persecute his Truth So in the pure Unity of the Covenant of Light Life Peace Love and everlasting Righteousness do we take our leaves of you all at this time hoping and believing we shall see your faces once again before we go hence and be no more seen Dear Friends pray for us Though we were in many straits and hardships by reason of the oppression yet whilst our minds were staid upon the Fountain we saw no want but our tender Father whose heavenly eye was ever over us saw our necessities sent his right dear and precious Servant and just and faithful Steward Daniel Baker to administer to our Necessities both spiritual and temporal he came not in his own time will nor strength but in the Will and Time Strength and Power of the Almighty God at whose presence the Mountains were removed the tall Cedars were made to bow the strong Oaks to stoop Oh wonderful He went to the Lord Inquisitor the Popes Deputy to demand our lawful Liberty which would not be granted unless he and we would write to Messaena or Legorn to some English Merchant to be engaged for four thousand Dollers Which Proposition being out of the Covenant of Light we durst not stoop to it but our dear Brother in Christ Jesus offered his body for our Liberty but it would not be granted nothing would serve but one to engage for four thousand Dollers to be paid if ever we come into these parts again Then in obedience to the Lord he offered up his Life for our Freedom but all would not serve the Will of our God be done Oh dear Friends greater Love was never heard of than for a man to lay down his Life for his Friend Oh! it is worthy to be recorded in remembrance of him for ever here he came up and down to administer to us with his Life in his hand time after time So the Lord God of Power reward him double into his bosome for ever Oh! how did he refresh our souls spirits minds and bodies through great trials which is never to be forgotten Written in the Inquisition at Malta in the 11th Month of the year 1661. By us Ka. Evans S. Cheevers Who have suffered for the living Testimony of Jesus and his pure Innocency in Bonds Tryals and Tribulations more than three years to this day A short Relation of some more of their exceeding great Tryals and Temptations NOw in short time after we were taken Prisoners we were stung with Flyes called Muskatoes in our faces our heads as we lay in our Beds that were swollen as if we had the small-Pox so that all people were afraid of us save the English Consul they thought we had been unclean persons so that a Friar told Sarah he saw an evil Spirit in her face which was a great tryal they could not sleep in their beds in the house they were so tormented and we were told that they had seen them that did pray and preach every day were burnt for Witches in a short time and they would keep us to see our lives conversations and so they have And glory be to our God they cannot lay guilt to our charge but are made to confess
room for one night and a part of the day following and then had liberty to go into the yard but as a Prisoner in which time the Turks shewed friendship unto me one Antient man especially of great reputation who desired that I might come unto his house which thing being granted he courteously entertained me And further it came to pass about four or five dayes after my confinement there came an Irish Friar with a Guard accompanying him from Jerusalem unto me it being twenty miles distant and discoursed with me concerning the things of God's Kingdom At first he seemed in words as though he would have shewed friendship unto me but the poyson of Asps was under his tongue for when he could not prevail over me nor others with him in way of discourse about the things of God he then said that was not the business he was sent about but he had divers things to propound unto me from his brethren the Friars at Jerusalem as followeth which he would do 1. Whether I would promise when I come to Jerusalem that I would visit the Holy Places as he called them as other Pilgrims did 2. And give such sums of money as is the usual manner of Pilgrims 3. Wear such a sort of habit as is the manner of Pilgrims 4. Speak nothing against the Turks Laws 5. And when I came to Jerusalem not to speak any thing about Religion And thus they strove to make their hold strong to keep me from Jerusalem but all was in vain for I not conforming unto them but standing in the Will of the Lord to do as he might order me they then the next morning took me and set me upon a horse and with a Guard both of Horsemen and Footmen with the aforesaid Irish Friar I was brought from thence back to Joppa and was imbarqued the same day in a Vessel with one Popish Father as a Guard bound for St. John de Acra or Ptolomais but in our Voyage a very strong Wind arose upon us wherby the Vessel was near to sink and then the Popish Father in a distressed condition cryed out and beat his face with his hands and would have me to pray for them the poor Seamen threw their Goods over into the Sea to lighten the Vessel and they lost their Helm great was their dammage yet through the mercy of the Lord our lives were preserved and came safe to the place whither we were bound yet great was the enmity that arose in the Friars in that place whereby their children would hardly receive me though I was willing to give to the utmost for what necessaries I had occasion for which I had done before as they also knew yet by reason of the Fryars and Jesuites enmity at the present many of their party feared to receive me neither did I know a place outwardly where to lay my head with safety nay not so much as upon a stone unless the Lord did wonderfully preserve me which in my heart I did believe he would do whereby I remained content in my spirit without any murmuring and began to walk out of the City it raining to lie down in the field for what I knew but there came a French Merchant called Sur-Rubie whom the Lord after my exercise had prepared to receive me a man that I had never seen before that I knew of who friendly took me unto his house as I was passing along where I remained above twenty dayes and he would often speak unto me saying Surely it was the Lord's doing his receiving of me for said he my own Country-men when they come to me they are little to me but thee I can willingly receive The old man would admire the Lord's doing in this thing and did believe I was sent of the Lord and he did love me exceeding much but the Friars had so far prevailed with the Consul that in 20. dayes time I could not be received into a Vessel for to go towards Jerusalem so that I knew not but to have gone by Land yet it was several dayes Journey and I knew not the way no not so much as out of the City besides the much difficulty there is in going through the Country beyond my expression yet I not looking at the hardships but at the heavenly Will of our Lord I was made to cry in my heart Lord thy Will be done and not mine and so being preparing to go and taking leave of the tender old man he cryed I should be destroyed if I went by Land and would not let me go but the next morning he went unto the Consul and spake unto him earnestly that I might have liberty to go by Sea to Joppa for before the Consul had given order to the contrary the Friars also did speak to the Consul very much to hinder me being I could not conform to joyn with them and said I would turn Turk and be a Devil yet the friendly old man appeared and in my behalf opposed them and through the Lord 's great goodness liberty was obtained for my return back to Joppa by Sea contrary to the wills of the Friars who thought to have sent me back again out of those parts for within about three or four dayes a Vessel being bound for Joppa I entred therein and in about a dayes time arrived there where some Friars also who went along in the same Vessel sought to hinder me from going to Jerusalem but I going ashoar before them payed for my passage and so went on my Journey alone where having met with many people in the way peaceably passed by me untill I came about six miles and then I met with three men two of them riding upon Asses and the other going on foot they asked me for money one of them holding his Gun to my breast and another of them put his hand into my pockets took some things out I not resisting them but stood in the fear of the Lord who preserved me for they passed away and he that took my things forth of my pockets put them up again taking nothing from me nor did me the least harm but one of them took me by the hand and led me a little on my way in a friendly manner and so left me So I passing through the like dangers through the great love of God which caused me to glorifie his blessed Name I came though in much weakness of body unto Ramlah or Ramoth Gilead and going through the Town I was known having been there before two men of the said Town Adherents to the Friars which before had opposed me arose and laid hold on me and hurried me in a violent manner towards the place in the Town in which before I had been kept prisoner but as they were abusing me there came two Turks and threw them violently from me and took me from them one leading me by one arm the other by the other arm and in that manner brought me to one of their Houses of
live without spiritual food than our temporal bodies can without temporal food He said That we did never hear Mass We said we did hear the voice of Christ he only had the words of eternal Life and that was sufficient for us He said We were Hereticks and Heathens We said they were Hereticks that lived in sin and wickedness and such were Heathenâ— that knew not God He asked about our Meetings in England And we told them the truth to their amazement And they asked Who was the Head of our Church We said Christ And they asked What George Fox is And we said He is a Minister of Christ They asked Whether he sent us We said No The Lord did move us to come The Friar said We were deceived and had not the faith but we have all virtues We said that faith was the ground from whence virtues do proceed They said If we would take their holy Sacrament we might have our liberty or else the Pope would not leave us for millions of Gold but we should lose our souls and our bodies too We said the Lord had provided for our souls and our bodies were freely given up to serve the Lord. They askt us If we did not believe Marriage was a Sacrament We said it was an Ordinance of God They askt us If we did believe men could forgive sins We said none could forgive sins but God onely They brought us that Scripture Whose sins ye remit in earth shall be remitted in heaven We said all Power was Gods he could give it to whom he would that were born of the eternal Spirit and guided by the same such have power to do the Fathers Will as I answered a Friar also in the City of Naples and they were silent the Power greatly working We asked them wherein we had wronged them that we should be kept Prisoners all days of our lives and said Our innocent blood would be required at their hands The Friar said He would take our blood upon him and our journey into Turky too We told him the time would come he would find he had enough upon him without it They said The Pope was Christ's Vicar and we were of his Church and what he did was for the good of our Souls We answered The Lord had not committed the charge of our souls to the Pope nor to them for he had taken them into his own possession glory was to his Name for ever They said We must be obedient We said we were obedient to the government of Christs Spirit The Friar said None had the true Light but the Catholicks the Light that we had was the spirit of the Devil We said Wo to him that calleth Jesus accursed Can the Devil give power over sin and iniquity then he would destroy his own kingdom He said We were laught at and mockt at â—f every one We said What did become of the mockers It was no matter He said We did run about to preach and had not the true Faith We said the true Faith is held in a pure Conscience void of offence towards God and man and we had the true Faith And he said There was but one Faith either theirs or ours and ask'd us which it was We said Every one had the true Faith that did believe in God and in Jesus whom he had sent but they that say they do believe and do not keep his Commandments are lyars and the truth is not in them He said it was true but he did thirst daily for our blood because we would not turn and urged us much about our Faith and Sacrament to bring us under their Law but the Lord preserved us They said It was impossible we could live long in that hot room So the next week-day they sate in Council but Oh how the swelling Sea did rage and the proud waves did foam even unto the clouds of Heaven and Proclamation was made at the Prison-Gate we did not know the words but the fire of the Lord flamed against it K. my life was smitten and I was in a very great agony so that sweat was as drops of blood and the Righteous One was laid into a Sepulcher and a great stone was roll'd to the door but the Prophecy was that he should rise again the third day which was fulfilled But the next day they came to sit upon Judgement again but I say in the true Judgment they sate not but upon it they got up unjustly above the Righteous and upon the same they sate a Child of Wisdom may understand and they brought many Propositions written in a Paper but the Friar would suffer the Magistrate to propound but few to us for fear the Light would break forth But they ask'd how many Friends of ours were gone forth in the Ministry and into what parts We told them what we did know They said All that came where the Pope had any thing to do should never go back again We said the Lord was as sufficient for us as he was for the Children in the fiery Furnace and our trust was in God They said we were but few and had been but a little while but they were many Countries and had stood many hundred years and wrought many Miracles and we had none We said we had thousands at our Meetings but none of us dare speak a word but as they are eternally moved of the Lord and we had Miracles The Blind receive their sight the Deaf do hear and the Dumb dâ— speak the Poor do receive the Gospel the Lame do walk and the Dead are raised He asked Why I look'd so whether my Spirit was weak I said Nay my body was weak because I eat no meat it was in their Lent He offered me a Licence to eat flesh I said I could not eat any thing at all the terrors of death were strongly upon me But three nights after the Lord said unto me about the eleventh hour Arise and put on your clothes I said When wilt thou come Lord He said VVhether at midnight or at Cock-crow do thou watch My Friend and I arose and the Lord said Go stand at the Door And we stood at the door in the Power of the Lord I did scarce know whether I was in the body or out of the body And about the twelfth hour there came many to the Prison-Gate We heard the Keyes and looked when they would come in They ran to and fro till the fourth hour and the Lord said he had smote them with blindness they could not find the way And we went to bed where I lay night and day for twelve dayes together fasting and sweating that my bed was wet and great was our affliction The tenth day of my fast there came two Fryars the Chancellor the man with the black Rod and a Physician and the Keeper and the Friar commanded my dear Friend to go out of the room and he came and pull'd my hand out of the bed and said Is the Devil so
it is recorded in the Scripture or that I have heard of such things but in obedience to the Lord I have written the things which I did hear see tasted and handled of the good Word of God to the praise of his Name for ever And all this time my dear Sister in Christ Jesus was in as great affliction as I in a manner to see my strong Travel night and day yet she was kept in the patience and would willingly have given me up to death that I might have been at rest yet she would have been left in as great danger wo and misery as ever was any poor captive for the Lord's truth for they did work night and day with their Divinations Inchantments and Temptations thinking thereby to bring us under their power but the Lord prevented them every way so that great was their rage and they came often with their Physician and said it was in charity I askt them whether they did keep us in that hot room to kill us and bring us a Physitian to make us alive The Fryar said The Inquisitor would lose his Head if he should take us thence and it was better to keep us there than to kill us The Room was so hot and so close that we were fain to rise often out of our bed and lie down at a chink of their door for Air to fetch breath and with the fire within and the heat without our skin was like sheeps Leather and the Hair did fall off our heads and we did fail often Our Afflictions and Burthens were so â—eat that when it was day we wished for night and when it was night we wished for day we sought death but could not find it we desired to die but death fled from us We did eat our bread weeping and mingled our drink with our Tears We did write to the Inquisitor and laid before him our Innocency and our Faithfulness in giving our Testimony for the Lord amongst them And I told him if it were our Blood they did thurst after they might take it any other way as well as to smother us up in that hot room So he sent the Fryar and he took away our Ink-horns they had our Bibles before We asked why they took away our goods They said It was all theirs and our Lives too if they would We asked how we had forfeited our lives unto them they said For bringing Books and Papers We said if there were any thing in them that was not true they might write against it They said They did scorn to write to Fools and Asses that did not know true Latine And they told us the Inquisitor would have us separated because I was weak and I should go into a cooler room but Sarah should abide there I took her by the arm and said The Lord hath joyned us together and wo be to them that should part us I said I rather chuse to dye there with my Friend than to part from her He was smitten and went away and came no more in five weeks and the door was not opened in that time Then they came again to part us but I was sick and broken out from head to foot They sent for a Doctor and he said We must have air or else we must dye So the Lord compelled them to go to the Inquisitor and he gave order for the door to be set open six hours in a day they did not part us till Ten weeks after But oh the dark clouds and the sharp showers the Lord did carry us through Death it self had been better than to have parted in that place They said we corrupted each other and that they thought when we were parted we would have bowed to them But they found we were more stronger afterwards than we were before the Lord our God did fit us for every condition They came and brought a Scourge of small Hemp and asked us If we would have any of it They said They did whip themselves till the blood did come We said that could not reach the Devil he sate upon the heart They said All the men and women of Malta were for us if we would be Catholicks for there would be none like unto us We said the Lord had changed us into that â—hich changed not They said All their holy Women did pray for us and we should be honoured of all the World if we would turn We said we were of God and the whole world did lye in wickedness and we denied the honor of the World and the glory too They said We should be honoured of God too but now we were hated of all We said it is an evident token whose Servants we are the servant is not greater than the Lord and that Scrpture was fulfilled which saith All this will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me Upon a First day of the week we were fasting and waiting upon the Lord till the second hour after mid-day and the Fryars came and commanded us In the Name of the Lord to kneel down with them to prayer We said we could not pray but as we were moved of the Lord. They commanded us the second time Then they kneeled down by our bed side and prayed and when they had done they said They had tryed our Spirits now they knew what Spirit we were of We told them they could not know our Spirits unless their minds were turned to the Light of the Lord Jesus in their Consciences The English Fryar was wroth and shewed us his Crucifix and bid us look there We said the Lord saith Thou shalt not make to thy self the Likeness of any thing that is in heaven above or in the earth beneath nor in the water under the earth thou shalt not bow to them nor worship them but I the Lord thy God only He was so mad he called for the Irons to chain Sarah because she spake so boldly to him She bowed her head and said to him Not only my feet but my hands and my neck also for the Testimony of Jesus His wrath was soon appeased and he said He would do us any good he could he did see what we did was not in malice the power had broken him down for that present They came to us often saying If you would do but a little you should be set at liberty but you will do nothing at all but are against every thing We said we are against nothing that is of God but would do any thing that might make for God's glory Many did think we should not have been heard nor seen after we were in the Inquisition but the Lord did work wonderfully for us and his Truth For they new built the Inquisition and there were many Labourers for a year and a half and the great Men came to see the building and we were carried forth with great â—ower to declare in the Name of the Lord Jesus not fearing the face of man the Lord was our strength But
behold they threatned us with Irons and Halters for preaching the Light so boldly and they said None ought to preach but Prelates to a Bishop as they use to say in England Now their Lord Inquisitor so called and the Magistrates were kept moderate towards us and gave order we should have Ink and Paper to write to England But we were hindered still and we do believe they would have set us at liberty had it not been for the Fryars it was they that wrote against us still to the Pope and to the Inquisitor and we told them so They sought three quarters of a year to part us before they could bring it to pass and when they did part us they prepared a Bed for Sarah and their own Catholicks lay upon the Boards that had not beds of their own When we were parted the Lord would not suffer me to keep any money I knew not the mind of God in it Their Fryars came and said We should never see one anothers faces again but the Inquisitor should send me my food But the Lord would not suffer him to send it Sarah did send me such as she could get near three weeks time Then the Fryar came and askt me what I did want I said one to wash my Linnen and something hot to eat I was weak He sent to Sarah to know if she would do it for me She said she would And by that means we did hear of each other every day The Fryar said You may free your self of misery when you will you may make your self a Catholick and have your freedom to go where you will I told him I might make my self a Catholick and have a name that I did live when I was dead and said he had Catholicks enough already he should bring some of them to the Light in their Consciences that they might stand in awe and sin not He said He would lose one of his fingers if we would be Catholicks I said it was Babylon that was built with Blood Sion was redeemed through Iudgment They would have had me to set a Picture at my beds head for a representation I askt them if they did think I did lack a Calf to worship And whether they did not walk by the Rule of Scripture The Fryar said They did but they had Traditions too I said if their traditions did derogate or dissent from the fundamentals of Christ's Doctrine the Prophets and Apostles I denied them in the Name of the Lord. He said They did not I askt 〈◊〉 where they had their Rule to burn them that could not joyn with them for Conscience He said St. Paul did worse he gave them to the Devil and that they did judge all damned that were not of their Faith And he askt whether we did judge them so I said No we had otherwise learned Christ I askt him why they did bind that which the Lord did not bind and set tyes chains and limits where the Lord did not as in meats and drinks or in respect of dayes or times which the Apostle called beggarly Elements and Rudiments of the world and forbidding to marry a Doctrine of Devils said I. He could no tell what to say but told me That St. Peter was the Pope of Rome and did build an Altar there and the Pope was his Successor and he could do what he would I denied that and said We never read any such thing in Scripture for Peter Christ's Apostle had no money to build Altars he himself did offer Sacrifice upon the Altars made without hands And he said We were but a few and risen up but late and they were many and had stood Fourteen hundred years and God was a lyar if they had not the true Faith for he had confirmed it to them by a thousand miracles I said the few number and the little Flock is Christ's Flock He askt if we were then all the World said he I said Our Faith was from the beginning Abel was of our Church and the World by Wisdom did not know God He went to Sarah with the same Temptation and she told him also that Abel was of our Church He said Abel was a Catholick and Cain and Judas were so She said Then the Devil was a Catholick and she would not be one He threatned her and told her how many they were She said Daniel was but one and if there were no more but she her self she would not turn but took her fingers and shewed them if they would tear her joint-meal she did believe the Lord would enable her to endure it for the Truth So they went from one to another thinking to entangle us in our talk but we were guided by one Spirit and spake one and the same thing in effect so that they had not a jot nor tittle against us but for righteousness sake Our God did keep us by his own Power Holiness out of their hands honor and praises be given to his powerful Name for ever He the said Fryar came to me another time like a Bear robbed of her Whelps and told me If I would be a Catholick I should say so otherwise they woâ—â—â— use me badly and I should never see the face of Sarah again but should dye by my self and a thousand Devils should carry my Soul to Hell I asked him if he were the Messenger of God to me He said he was I said What is my sin or wherein have I provoked the Lord that he doth send me such a strait Message He said Because I would not be a Catholick I said I deny thee and thy Message too and the Spirit which spake in thee the Lord never spake it He said that he would lay me in a whole pile of Chains where I should see neither Sun nor Moon I said He could not separate me from the Love of God in Christ Jesus lay me where he would He said He would give me to the Devil I said I did not fear all the Devils in Hell the Lord was my Keeper though he had the Inquisition with all the Countries round about on his side and was alone by my self I did not fear them if there were thousands more the Lord was on my right hand and the worst they could do was but to kill the body they could not touch my life no more than the Devil could Job's He said That I should never go out of that Room alive I said the Lord was sufficient to deliver me But whether he would or would not I would not forsake a living Fountain to drink at a broken Cistern And they had no Law to keep us there but such a Law as Ahab had for Naboth's Vineyard He curst himself and called upon his gods and went forth and as he was making fast the door he put in his hand at the hole of the door and said Abide there Member of the Devil I said The Devil's Members did the Devil's Works the Woes and Plagues of the Lord would be upon
them for it He went and told the Inquisitor of it and he laught at him I saw it and felt it in that which is Eternal I was moved out of that Room before he came again and when he came he brought one of the Inquisitors men with him and two very good Hens and said The Lord Inquisitor had sent them in love to me I said his love I did receive but I could not take his Hens for it was not the practice of the Servants of the Lord to be chargeable to any while they have of their own He said We must not count any thing our own for in the Primitive times they did sell their Possessions and laid them down at the Apostles feet He said We should not want any thing if they did spend a thousand Crowns I believe he wouâ—d have had us laid down our money at his feet He said I was proud because I would not take the Inquisitors Hens when he sent them me in charity I asked whether he kept me in Prison and sent me his Charity He said It was for the good of our Souls he kept us in prison I told him our Souls were out of the Inquisitors reach or his either He told me before If we had not been going to preach we might have gone where we would I askt him What should our souls have done then and why their love should extend more to us than to their own Family They could not charge us with Sin and they did commit all manner of Sin they might put them into the Inquisition and bid turn He said again We had not the true Faith and shewed me his Crucifix and askt me If I thought he did worship that I askt him what he did do with it He said It was a Representation I said it did not represent Christ for he was the express Image of his Father's Glory which is Light and Life I said if he could put any life in any of his images he might bring them to me And I askt him what Representation Daniel had in the Lyons Den or Jonas in the Whales belly they cryed unto the Lord and he delivered them He said I talkt like a mad woman I talkt so much against their Idols He was in a rage and said He would give me to the Devil I bid him give his own I am the Lord 's He stood up and said He would do by me as the Apostles did by Ananias and Saphira He stood up and opened his mouth and I stood up to him and denied him in the Name of the Lord the living God and said he had no power over me And away he went to Sarah with the Hens and told her that I was sick and the Lord Inquisitor had sent two Hens and I would be glad to eat a piece of one if she would dress one of them presently and the other to morrow Mark this Deceiver this Lyar But she standing in the Counsel of the Lord answered him accordingly as I did and he carried them away again We did not dare to take them the Lord did forbid us He said You would fain be burned because you would make the World believe you did love God so well as to suffer in that kind I said I did not desire to be burnt but if the Lord did call me to it I did believe he would give me power to undergo it for his Truth and if every hair of my head was a body I could offer them up all for the Testimony of Jesus He came twice to know whether I had not been inspired of the Holy Ghost to be a Catholick since I came into the Inquisition I said No he said We were he said We called the Spirit of the Holy Ghost the Spirit of the Devil We said the Spirit of the Holy Ghost in us will resist the Devil We told him the Inspiration of the Holy Ghost was never wrought in the Will of man nor in man's time but in the Will of God and in God's time He asked How we did know a clean from an unclean Spirit We said An unclean spirit did burden the Seed of God and dam up the Springs of Life and a clean Spirit would open the Spring of Life and refresh the Seed it was a Riddle to him but he said it was true he would assent to pure Truth sometimes We asked him Whether every man and woman did not stand guilty before God of all the Sins they ever committed before Regeneration He said Yea. And he did confess all their Learning and Languages in their places was but to serve the Lord. We told him all their Praying Preaching and Crouding was no more accepted than Cain's Sacrifice unless they were moved of the eternal Spirit of the Lord. We askt him If he that was in them was greater than he that was in us and why they had not overcome us all that time We were very sensible of their workings day and night He said Because we resisted still We askt him for our Bibles He said We should never see them again they were false We said if they were conjuring Books they had no warrant from the Lord to take them from us They alwayes came two Fryars at a time and they would fall down and howl and wish bitter wishes upon themselves if they were not in the Truth We would deny them and preach Truth to them the Light of the Lord Jesus in the Consciences of every one to lead them to a pure life and did ask them where the pure and holy Life was and what all of them did do that the People did live in sin and all manner of wickedness and whether Words and Forms would serve without Life and Power He was as bloody a fiery Serpent as ever was born of a woman and did strike as hard at our Lives and would hold up his hand often to strike us but had never the power he would quickly be cut down that he would say we were good women and he would do us any good He was compelled to work for us sometimes and would say it was for God's sake and would have us thank him for it We would tell him those that did any thing for God did not look for a reward from man He said We were the worst of all creatures and we should be used worse than any the Turks Arminians Protestants and Lutherans should be used better than we We said the pure Life was ever counted the worst and we must suffer we were the Lord's and could trust him let him do what he would with us we did not fear any evil tydings we were setled and grounded in the Truth and the more they did persecute us the more stronger we did grow We were bold and valiant for God's Trâ—â—h that whatsoever we did suffer we could not fear We were separated One year I had neither Fire nor Candle in that time above two hours none did bring me any nor I had not freedom to call
sow in tears shall reap in joy A true sorrow begets a true joy and a true Cross a true Crown For when our sorrows did abound the Love of God did abound much more the deeper the sorrows the greater the joyes the greater the Cross the weightier the Crown Dear Friends and Brethren marvel not that Israel is not gathered our Judgement remains with the Lord and so do our Labours for it was not for want of travel nor pain nor love to their souls for we could have been contented to have fed upon the Grass on the ground so we might have had our freedom amongst them For had it not been for the great opposition they would have followed after us as Chickens after a Hen both great and small But oh the swelling Seas the raging and foaming Waves stormy Winds and Floods and deep Waters and high Mountains and Hills hard Rocks rough Ways and crooked Paths tall Cedars strong Oaks fruitless Trees and corrupted ones that cumber the ground and hinder the righteous Seed to be sown and the noble Plants from being planted Oh! they shut up the Kingdom against the simple hearted and hide the key of Knowledge from the innocent Ones and will not enter into the Kingdom themselves nor suffer them that would enter but stir up the Magistrates to form carnal Weapons thinking to prevent the Lord of taking to him his Inheritance and to dispossess his Son who is Heir of all that he might not have a dwelling-place among them nor a habitation nigh them because that his Light will discover their darkness and his brightness will burn up all their abominations and mar their beauty and stain their glory their pomp and their pride that it may perish as the untimely Figs and fall as the Flower of the Field and wither as the Grass upon the house-top Oh! the Belly of Hell the Jaws of Satan the whole Mystery of Iniquity is at the height and all manner of Abominations that make desolate stands where it ought not and is upholden by a Law That upon pain of death none must speak against it nor walk contrary to it But praises to our God he carried us forth to declare against it daily Oh! the blind guides the seducing spirits that do cause the people to erre and compel them to worship the Beast and his Image and have his mark in their fore-heads and in their hands and to bow to Pictures and painted Walls and to worship the things of their own hands and to fall down to that which their own fingers have fashioned and will not suffer them to look towards Sion upon pain of death nor to walk towards Jerusalem upon pain of Faggot and Fire but must abide in Babel and believe whatsoever they speak or do to be truth But oh the wayes the worships the fashions forms customs traditions observaâ—ions and imaginations which they have drawn in by their dark Divinations to keep the poor people in blindness and ignorance so that they perish for want of knowledge and are corrupted because the way of Truth is not made known among them they are all in the many wayes out of the one true and living way and their wayes be so many and so monstrous that they are unrehearsible but the Lord our God hath kindled a fire in the midst of them that will consume all forms fashions customs and traditions of men and will burn up the briars thorns and tares stubble and fruitless Trees and corrupted ones and will blast all the fruits works and labours of wicked and ungodly men with the mildews of his wrathfull indignation and will scatter all his enemies with the whirl-winds of his displeasure They do not know the Scriptures Their Bibles would grieve any honest heart to behold them because of the corruption They said our Bibles were false I asked wherein The Friar said Maccabees was not in them I said if any were taken from them yet the rest might be pure but if any were added to them then they were corrupted He askt me Whether I did not think it meet for every one to bow at the Name of Jesus I said Yea. He said Iesus and bid me fall down or bow my body I told him My heart and whole body was bowed under the Name of Jesus but I should not stoop to his will nor any man 's else He that departeth from Iniquity boweth to the Name of Jesus but those that live in Sin and Wickedness do not stoop to the Son of God And he told me they stood in the same Power the Apostles did and were guided by the same Spirit as they were I asked why they did abuse their Power then and make use of Carnal Weapons He said they did not they were all spiritual their Inquisition their Chains and Irons and all is spiritual the Wise may judge And he asked Whether we judged them all damn'd that were not of our Judgement I said Nay we had otherwise learned Christ those that were in a reprobate Condition to day the Lord may call them out of it to morrow for what I know He said They did judge us damn'd and all that were not of their Faith I told him Man's Judgement we did not matter A Vision IN a Vision of the night I saw in the Firmament six Suns one at a distance from the rest that did appear to be but half an hour high the other five stood four-square one in the middle and they did cross over each other the highest did not seem to be above an hour high And when I did awake I was troubled in my spirit to know the Vision and I waited upon the Lord and he signified to me in the Light The six Suns were six Nations whose Lights were near out and the five which crossed each other signified to me some rising amongst them And the Friar came to me and said It was God's will we should be kept there or else they could not keep us I told him the Lord did suffer wicked men to do wickedly but did not will them to do it He did suffer Herod to take off John Baptist's head but he did not will him to do it and did suffer Stephen to be stoned and Judas to betray Christ but he did not will them to do it for if he had he would not have condemned them for it He said Then we are wicked men I said They are wicked men that work wickedness The Friar would say still We had not the true Faith We said By Faith we stand and by the Power of God we are upholden dost thou think it is by our own power and holiness we are kept from a vain conversation from sin and wickedness He said That was our pride We said No We could glory in the Lord we were children of wrath once as well as others but the Lord hath quickned us that were dead by the living Word of his Grace and hath washed cleansed and sanctified us through soul and spirit in
gain-say they were so tormented that they did run to the Hills and to the Mountains to cover them from the Presence of the Lord and from the Wrath of the Lamb which sits upon the Throne to judge them righteously and to condemn them for all their wicked deeds which they so ungodlily had committed against him Oh! the goodness of the Lord and his long-suffering and forbearance vvhich would lead them to Repentance but they would not hearken to his Counsel but turned his Laws behind their backs and hated to be instructed by them therefore the Lord did laugh at their destruction and did mock when their fear came Their wickedness was so great and my burthen so heavy to bear it that I cryed to the Lord and said It is better for me to die than to live and would gladly have given up my life in testimony against them all I was as 't were compelled to declare against all their Wayes Works and Worships insomuch that they ran to the Inquisitor to have me chained or punish'd some other way but the Power of the Lord chained them that they could not diminish a hair of my head the Lord was my safety praises be to his Name for ever Now some as they passed to their Worship-houses would sigh and some pray and some did throw stones at my Window they did work night and day about the Prison as though they would have broke through to slay me but the Lord was with me and did fight for me and did scatter his Enemies as the dust before the Wind Glory be to his Name for evermore I cannot express the large Love of our God how he did preserve us from so many Deaths and Threatnings as they did come to me with falling down upon their knees saying Mass and would have me to say after them but in the Name of the Lord I denyed them They would howl like Dogs because they could not beguile the Innocent and slay my righteous life but praises be to the Lord our God who did preserve me from the Wolf and the Devourers denying them their Sacrifices And when they saw they could not prevail to betray us from the Truth then they said they would give us to the Devil to be tormented and deliver us over to their bad Catholicks to do by us as they pleased for they would use us badly and so they did seek to do Oh the cursed noises and cryes the Sodomites did make crying Quake quake running about the Prison raging and some singing and crouding round the Prison night and day as if they would have broke through to slay me and the sons of Belial did run to bear false witness so that I looked every hour when they would fetch me out and slay me The Enemy did so work to perswade that they had prest my dear yoke fellow with stones which was a great trouble to me because I I could not suffer death with her I did yeeld she had been slain And afrerwards this great tribulation being ended then they said my dear and faithful yoke-fellow should be sent to Rome and I should tarry at Malta which did so encrease my sorrow and wrought upon my spirit to try and examine wherefore the Lord should deal so hardly with me as to leave me behind or whether he did not count me worthy to go and give in my Testimony with her to Rome and offer up my Life for the Testimony of Jesus than to have my liberty to return to England with her and I cryed day and night to the Lord and would not give my soul rest nor my eyes sleep till the Lord did answer me glory and praises be to his Name for ever But we saw Jacob must part with all Benjamin must go too So we were willing to give up in obedience to the Lord our tryals were unspeakable Oh the unclean spirits they would speak to us at noon-day but the Lord did give us power over them that we did not fear the wild Boars out of the Wood nor the wild Beasts out of the Field Then there was one came and said that Katherine and I must be both sent to Rome Which did rejoyce my soul and renewed my strength because the Lord did count me worthy to go and give in my Testimony for his Truth the Word of his Prophesie before the great and mighty ones of the Earth The Lord said I should not be afraid and he shewed me in the Light how he had bowed them down before us and I saw them in the Light of Christ how the Pope the Friars and Sorcerers stood in ranks bowing down before us So we saw our Dominion in Spirit They did work to send us to Rome but the Lord did blast it and fought against them that they could not send us Now our Testimony was as largely given in at Rome as at Malta The Friars came to me and shewed me Mary and her Babe pictured against a Wall and would have me look upon it I stampt with my foot and said Cursed be all Images and Image-makers and all that fall down to worship them Christ Jesus is the express Image of his Fathers Brightness which is Light and Life who doth reveal the Mystery of Iniquity the cunning working of Satan to draw out the mind to follow him from the pure Life and to vail over the Just One from beholding the Presence of the Lord. But glory be to the Lord who hath made him manifest in thousands of his in this Day of his Power When we were separated we spake one and the same thing being guided by one Spirit They would go from me to Katherine and they would bid her speak as Sarah did and so she did to their condemnation Praises to the Lord Amen A PAPER sent from them to the Pope's Lord Inquisitor in Malta For the Lord Inquisitor and his Council c. MEns persons I cannot admire they that do admire and respect any man's person do it because of advantage and such are transgressors the Apostles James and Jude say In obedience to the Lord in love to your souls from the Fountain of Love and Springs of Life that stream forth to the refreshment of the whole City of God am I constrained to visit you with these few Lines and I beseech you to reade it with the Spirit of Moderation and Meekness and see that nothing arise in you against it for it is God's Truth Christ Jesus who is the Light of the world that hath enl ghtned every one that comes into the world saith This is Life eternal to know thee the only true God Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent Now the knowledge of God is Life eternal and there is no other way to come to this knowledge but to have the mind turned from darkness to the Light out of the visible to that which is invisible viz. the Light in the Conscience which convinceth of sin and iniquity when no mortal eye can see you And as
Saint Then as I was crying to the Lord in Prayer because of our long-suffering and our strong travel and labour and no fruit as did appear the Lord said unto me Be not grieved though Israel be not gathered the seed of Malta shall be as the stars of the sky for multitude That which ye have sown shall not dye but live Glory be to the Name of the Lord for ever A Copy of a Writing from their hands sent in pursuit after the Friar MALACHY THou saidst thou wouldst try whether we had the true Spirit yea or nay and thou hast tryed day and night but thou never tryedst the right way the Seed of God is not tried with deceit lying hypocrisie nor cruelty But if thou hadst turned in with thy mind to the Light of God in thy Conscience thou wouldst soon have known us or had the Love of Christ been shed abroad in thy heart thou mightst have comprehended us or hadst thou found the Ballance of the Sanctuary of the true Tabernacle which God hath pitched and not man thou mightst have weighed us or hadst thou laid Judgement to the Line and Righteousness to the Plummet thou mightst have fathomed us or couldst thou have opened the Book of Life thou mightst have read us 〈◊〉 hadst thou gone into the House of Israel thou mightest have had fellowship with us c. Contrary to our wills were we cast in amongst you and have given our Testimony for the Lord and called you all to Repentance and have forewarned you of the evil the Lord â—s bringing upon you but you have slighted the day of your Visitation and have done despite to the Spirit of Grace and have cast many hard speeches and false aspersions upon the Truth and the Messengers thereof and the Lord will visit for these things and you have blinded your eyes that you will not see and stopped your ears that you might not hear and hardened your hearts that you might not understand lest you should see with your eyes and hear with your ears and understand with your hearts and turn to the Lord and be converted and he should heal you Oh that you had known in this your day what had belonged to your peace but now it is hid from your eyes The desire of our souls is That every one may repent that can find a place and what ever you have done to us we desire it may not be laid to your charge for we count our selves happy that we were found worthy to suffer for tâ—â— Name of the Lord. Written in the Inquisition-Prison in the Isle of Malta Katherine Evans Sarah Cheevers Behold victorious Hymns and Songs and Praises all in Verse The same sprung from the Seed of life its perfect Righteousness OH Lord my Life is given up thy Truth for to declare O Lord keep thou me in thine Arms and guide me in thy Fear Thy Bow is bent thy Sword is drawn thine enemies to deface Thy fire 's kindled against all those that will not Truth imbrace Thine Arrows which are sharp and keen upon their heads shall fall Thy double-edged Sword also to cut them down withal So plague the Heathen and correct the People in thy Wrath That they may fear and dread thy Name and come to know thy Truth Throughout the World so large and wide thy Truth thou dost declare Thy saving health for to enjoy by thy Light doth appear Thou dost send forth thy Messengers glad-tydings to proclaim To call the hungry forth to feed on thy Lamb being slain Feasts of fat things thou dost prepare the hungry for to feed And cloath the nak'd with garments fair that want and stand in need Heaven's Glory is appearing its Brightness shineth forth Over all Nations it's clearing the Lord's Eternal Truth Every one that 's in darkness under its shadow lye May come forth into the Brightness out of obscurity O Lord teach me thy perfect Wayes that I may walk therein And lead me in the Path of Life and cleanse me from all sin How gracious is the Lord our God and kind to Israel With us he doth make his abode his Presence doth us fill So that we are not desolate nor yet distrest with woes Because the Lord doth take our part and doth confound our foes Every one that is opprest and cast in danger deep If that in God they put their trust he will them safely keep Right dear and precious to the Lord are all his little ones That suffer for his holy Name he will avenge their wrongs And in his Wrath he will destroy his Enemies so stout And suddenly will make a way and lead his Servants out And he himself will them restore to Joy and Comfort both And will preserve them evermore because they do him love But as for men of corrupt minds whose wayes defiled are The Lord will visit with all kinds of Judgments and not spare He will pursue them with his Sword and cut them to the ground That do reject his holy Word his Plagues shall them confound Because that they do not obey his Mercies and his Grace Which he so free to them doth give if they would them imbrace But as their Fathers did so they requite the Lord with wrong And persecute thy Messengers and make them suffer long Because that they the Truth declare as Scripture telleth plain That Christ himself the Lord 's own Heir is come and he will reign Both Lord and Prince and King also throughout the World that 's wide And Antichrist will overthrow and Babel in her pride It 's not their golden Candlesticks nor Lamps that be so many That can shine through the Clouds so thick to give a Light to any To lead to a true resting-place where they may still behold The Beauty of God's glorious Face more bright than fined Gold Thou seest O Lord what man hath done for to exalt himself Against the Lord thy blessed Son who is our saving health They have changed his glorious Form and Image that 's so bright And fashion'd it like sinful man corrupted in thy sight Arise O Lord arise in haste and punish for these things These men that have sought thy disgrace that they might reign as Kings Over thine own Inheritance contrary to thy Will To keep them still in ignorance without knowledge or skill But now the God of Pow'r is come to raise up Sion bright And to build up Jerusalem in all the Heathens sight The Gates of Hell shall not prevail though they be wide and strong Against the gathering in of all that to the Lord belong All Glory Honour Laud and Praise be to the Lord of Might Who hath made known in these our days his Way his Truth his Light Concerning the Cross of Christ which is not a visible sign or a piece of Wood but the invisible and immortal Power of the Lord God and his Wisdom unto Salvation to and in all them that believe is the same Christ the Power of God and the
the Truth In a few dayes after we were there in a Vision in the night the Lord appeared to me and shewed me that round about us and above and beneath us there were many Magicians of Aegypt and the Lord smote me and said unto me The Devil hath desired to winnow you as Wheat but pray that your Faith fail not And the sight was very dreadful and terrible and the Voice of the Lord did awake me with much trembling and amazement and a great War for the space of twelve hours before I could get the victory and we did witness but little ease to the flesh night nor day We went in obedience to the Lord to one of their Tower-Houses in time of their Worship and stood trembling in the midst of them and I was made to turn my back to the high Altar and kneel down and lift up my voice in prayer unto the Lord and he that was saying Service drew off his Surplice and kneeled a little beside us till I had done and he reacht forth his hand to us to come to him and offered me a token and the Lord shewed me it was the Mark of the Beast and I refused it and he put it into Sarah's hand and she gave it him again and shewed him her Purse that she had to give if any had need And he asked if we were Calvinists or Lutherans And we said Nay And he asked if we would go to Rome to the Pope But we denied And he asked if we were Catholicks And we told him We were true Chirstians the Servants of the living God And many of them were amazed and came round about us we having but little of their Tongue gave our Testimony for the Lord in words and signs as well as we could and they were made subject to the Power at that present praises be given to our God and we departed in peace And since that the Lord laid such a heavy burthen upon us that we did question what he would do with us before we knew the mind of God in it And upon a set-day they had a great Meeting to take their holy Sacrament as they call it in a high place but we knew nothing of it nor where it was but what the Lord revealed to us And we were made to go in and stand in the midst and there were many lights in divers places many Christs as they call them and much costliness and abominations of the Earth they had so many sorts of holy Garments as they call them of so many colours that it would make one wonder how the Devil did invent it And there we were made to stand in the midst for the space of three parts of an hour as near as I can judge in great power trembling and quaking and bitter mourning so that they were all amazed and some removed further for fear but knew not what to do for I never did witness such an Earthquake In the end one came soberly and spake to us to go forth and we went in the Lord's time and sate at the door trembling and mourning to the astonishment of them and being so overcome with their Abominations we went along the street reeling to and fro and staggering like drunken men so that we were a wound to all that saw us It was the wonderful Power of God that made way for us to go forth to them and kept us They have used all the Craft they have day and night to inchant us as the Lord hath made it known unto us Glory and praises be to his everlasting Name for evermore We know that there is no Inchantment against Jacob nor divination against Israel Dearly beloved Friends We dearly salute you all in the invisible Life of our God who is our life our peace our stay and strength under whose Shadow we are refreshed praises glory and honor be given unto his powerful Name of all his for ever Truly Friends we are not able to declare the large Mercies of our God vouchsafed unto us from time to time his Horn is our Strength and his Name our strong Tower in all our troubles temptations tryals and sufferings he is a God at hand and not afar off and doth make us sensible before-hand by Visions and Revelations what is coming upon us and doth arm us with his own Armour and makes us as bold as Lyons for we fear not the face of man because we know we shall not suffer any thing but what shall make for the glory of our God But truly we had fainted long ago had not the Lord upheld us by his free Spirit but we know the Lord taketh care of the least of them that trust him Praises be unto him for ever Dear Friends though we be absent in body yet we are present in spirit and do feel you in that which cannot be separated as we abide faithful and are much refreshed in you and the remembrance of you is precious unto us Oh that all our Friends could prize the company and the sight of each others faces We do not want the company of Friars Jesuites and Magistrates nor great women Here are some that have breathings after Life but they dare not shew it for the same thing that was is they will not enter in themselves nor suffer them that would The Lord Inquisitor sent to us That if we would being we are good women we should go into the Nunnery amongst the holy women and be maintained as long as we live in regard we have denied the world and all that we have And the Friar told us if we would come to their Masse-house and receive their holy Sacrament we should be the most eminent Catholicks in all Malta But we denied them in the Name of the Lord and all their dead foppery which they have invented Here we are kept under the Inquisition as they say till they have Orders from the Pope of Rome what they should do with us We beseech you all faithful Friends pray for us for great are our tryals Did you but know the Abominations that the Devil hath invented here you would think it were tryal enough But here we have cruel mockings and the same contradictions tryals and temptations that ever the Servants of the Lord had and Christ himself It is the wonderful Power of God that we are preserved till this time for all the whole Island are Papists and given up to Idolatry We are despised of all People and abhorred of all Nations and because they cannot have any just thing against us they do invent lies against us but the Lord is on our side for else the Enemy would soon destroy us for great is their rage and we have continual war with them night and day we feel behold their threatnings and cruelty is more than our tongues can express Great is the love of our God for he doth refresh us with the sweet drops of his mercy and doth water us every moment with the everlasting springs
which liveth and abideth for ever and fadeth not away In the same I commend thy dear tender Lambs to be preserved according to the unsearchable Wisdom and Counsel of thine own heart to thy everlasting Renown and Glory and their Eternal comfort and joy and felicity with thy Saints and Angels in the Light of thy Countenance and in everlasting remembrance in the powerful and Eternal Kingdom of Immortality if I be no more in this World when this body is gone to its place according to thy Eternal Purpose and Decree in thy Eternal Counsel so be it saith my spirit yea and Amen saith my soul which blesseth and magnifieth thy Eternal Name inasmuch as thou hast so far fulfilled thy living Word of Prophesie and not only so but much more also in the desire of my heart in the behalf of thy dear tender suffering and long-suffering Seed of thine own Bowels for which be innumerable Praises Wisdom Salvation Glory and Dominion to thy holy Name Amen Amen MY right dearly well-beloved Friends of Eternal Life of the Church of the first-born of the living God which is the Pillar and ground of Truth of which Christ Jesus our Lord is the alone and only Head Peace be unto you in him who is arisen in his pure immortal Life and hath brought Life and Immortality to light through the Word of his Power and his Eternal Gospel of Peace which is not hid from us but it 's clearly manifest in us by his coming who ariseth with healing in his wings Glory Dominion living endless Praises Immortal to his Name now and for evermore and let all the upright in heart with my precious life say Even so Amen Dear suffering and long-suffering Lambs ye know that as I came in the eternal Love and Peace of Immanuel God's Lamb to visit and serve you and minister to your necessities the which in the same Life and Peace and in the integrity and uprightness of heart and in its pure innocency my God knoweth and behold I call your Life that 's manifest in you in which is our perfect Unity as Members of one Body to bear me record That I have endeavoured in the good will of my God to perform the same and verily the hand and blessing of Almighty God is with me and hath blessed me and so my reward is with me and my work hath been manifest before me even in the Light of his Countenance that liveth for ever and this Scripture is fulfilled in me also The Father worketh hitherto and I work So my dear Friends I have honestly and nakedly before the Lord cleared my Conscience so far concerning you on your behalf which is my reasonable service and so I leave the same to the liviâ—g Testimony of the Lord Jesus which you hold and for which I am satisfied and in the behalf of the whole body of God's Elect you have so long suffered So the Eternal God of Power Dominion and Glory of Heaven and Earth consolate support and strengthen you to the end that your Testimony may be finished with joy to his everlasting praise to whom only it belongs and so my Spirit in the Light and Life Immortal saith Even so Amen Farewel dear Lambs I am your true Brother D. B. Joseph was not made known to his Brethren the first time though his Bowels yearned towards and over them till at last he could no longer forbear crying out with tears saying I am Joseph your Brother and little Benjamin the youngest he dearly loved you know This 5th day of the Week and the 30th of the 11th Month 1661. So farewel and feel the Well-spring of Life When my face you do not see Wait in the Eternal Life and then remember me This and many other Papers was communicated to each others hands which are seen meet not to be added hereunto with the jeopardy of my life and what else did attend us but magnified and for ever blessed be the living Lord and his Goodness Wisdom and Salvation who prospered his Work and Workers in his own Life of lasting Righteousness through and over self over all that which must dye and go to its place Amen DANIEL Here followeth somewhat relating to the Travel and Service of D. B. which he hath freedom to give forth for the Truth 's sake and Friends satisfaction THE intent of the Spirit of the Lord within my heart and mind stirring me up to write somewhat concerning my travel from my Native Country Kindred and Father's House being freely given up to serve the Lord his Truth and People in the Power and Gospel of God I having no imposition or necessity at all laid upon my Conscience as from any mortal man but certainly it was a pure necessity from the living God of Heaven Earth many of his faithful Servants Messengers Sons and Daughters that were and are as dear and precious to me as my own life may bear me record on the Lord's behalf unto the truth of what I write on this wise and surely in the Counsel everlasting the thing was hid from me then whether ever I should return to my Native Country or not However in the love and favour of God and in his fear set up within my heart was I given up with my body also offered as a living Sacrifice which was but my reasonable sacrifice to give a sound to the Nations afar off of the mighty Day of our God and his blessed Truth the Light of Jesus manifest in every Conscience in which Light we have most assuredly believed unto salvation And verily the Power and pure Presence of his Eternal Strength was with me through many hardships trials and tribulations the right-hand of the hiding of his Power did sweetly guide strengthen support me even as it did and doth his Lambs whom he so sends forth as among Wolves in his Dove-like Innocency harmlesness and wisdom which are as wise or rather wiser than the Serpents And this Scripture have I well witnessed fulfilled whilst travelling from one Nation to another People as my Father did in the ancient dayes And on this wise with three more Brethren so freely given up with one consent in the behalf of the Gospel everlasting that is now preaching again to the Nations Tongues and Kindreds We set forward the 16th of the third Month and we sweetly parted with our right dearly beloved Friends Brethren Fathers and near Relations that were flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone and from all our outward Acquaintance and Native Country in the Will Love and Spirit of our God in the same day from Gravesend we set forth and at the end of forty four dayes we arrived at Legorn in Italy where we gave a certain sound of our innocent Service and Message of Salvation and of its Life and Blessedness coming upon the Nations as a weight either to condemnation or justification as the same is received or rejected among them And thus as we had opportunity among
that I was to pass onward in the tender Love of our God he did the more constrain me I finding some unwillingness to leave him in that condition which was not a little cross unto me But in the heavenly Will and Peace of our God and joy of the Lord out of all visibles we parted asunder and it came to pass that he laid down his Body there in about two dayes after There being a Ship of Venice ready I embarqued on the same and had a good Passage through the Gulf of Venice After three Weeks were finished was I admitted together with the Ships company to receive Product or Admission to come into the City as their manner is and there I continued about eight dayes as a sign and wonder among many and gave somewhat of a sound of the Lord's Day in truth among them and from thence I travelled to Legorn and my face was as if it were set towards England I being alone as a Mourning-Dove in a desolate Wilderness Yet it came so to pass when I arrived at the same Port or City that the everlasting Love of my God did fill and overcome my heart and mine eye right dearly affected the same and verily the living Word and Commandment of my God sounded in mine ear and mine understanding was quickened in the Spirit of Life from God so that I was made willing and not to rebel against the Heavenly Voice And what if I testifie that mine eye saw the Angel of his presence which was expresly for me to give up and pass away from thence to visit his long-suffering Seed of Innocency shut up in the Inquisition in the Isle of Malta under the Popes Authority and to communicate to their necessities and verily the sweet Promise of the Lord entered and possessed my heart and my God made my way prosperous for in the Light of his Countenance he had often set these poor afflicted long-suffering Innocents before my face Wherefore my body and mind was freely offered up as my reasonable service to serve his Truth the least Member of it and so to the death of the Cross whereto I became obedient in uprightness of heart as if I should never see the face of my Kindred or Native Country more a Vessel of France being ready to depart from thence East-ward I embarqued thereon for the Isle of Cicilia to Masena and from thence to the Isle of Malta in a Vessel of the said Island and in my passage the Vessel did bear in to Syracuse where Paul abode three dayes in his passage to Rome after he had suffered shipwrack on Malta and at Syracuse I abode five dayes where I gave a sound of the Lord's Truth and Life And so we immediately sailed from thence and within twenty four hours we arrived at the Island of Malta and within some hours after I came upon the said Island I had admittance to the Pope's Lord Inquisitor to whom I delivered my Message in the Italian Tongue on this wise I am come to demand the just Liberty of my innocent Friends the two English Women in Prison in the Inquisition And he asked If I were related to them as a Husband or Kinsman and whether I came out of England on purpose with that Message And I answered I came from Legorn for that same end and he replied at last They should abide in Prison till they dye except some English Merchants or others that were able would engage or give obligation for the value of three or four thousand Dollers conditionally that they should never return again into those Parts On this wise was his reply divers times with the Consul and many others together and asunder but in the Name and Fear of the Lord God I withstood the same unchristian-like Demand and Cruelty in the Word Power and Travel of the Lord in his innocent suffering Lambs behalf albeit they daily threatned me with their Cruelty and Inquisition of darkness and followed me to and fro with their Officer and Black-rod and the Pope's Deputy would have bound me that I should neither speak good nor evil to any one while I was on the Island as the Consul said save to him neither to come to the Prison alone except the Consul came also with me or some of his Family at least But their Snares Bonds and Covenants in the Name of my God I defied because the Spirit of Life from the Lord gave me dominion through sufferings in spirit first over their unjust dark Impositions yea and in the same good Authority in the innocency and uprightness of my heart I travelled through and over the darkness over its works and ceased not to publish the end of my coming which they would not have known abroad and the sound of Truth and its dread and fame struck terror in their hearts that both high and wise great Men together with the popish Priests and Jesuites Knights them called of the Nobility of the Pope's Dominion of Spain and France and of many Nations they did not burthen themselves a little with my bodily presence my clear Testimony and Friends in general all which they defied and withstood as it doth appear by the words of Truth in this Treatse And thus it comes to pass among the Nations because we are not of this world as our Life and Testimony also is not for but against the same therefore we marvel not if the World hate us knowing its birth which is from beneath earthly and sensual persecuteth that which is from above heavenly and spiritual and so the Lord hath made me as a burthensome stone among them My heart blesseth his Name that wonderfully preserved me Yet some of them came to see somewhat of my Innocency About twenty four dayes I abode upon the said Island they daily continuing their Threatnings against me as aforesaid and many times attempted me to take my Passage to Cicillia or to some parts of Italy to produce the unreasonable and unchristian-like Obligation demanded by them but in the fear of God I with my dear Friends withstood them and they were freely given up rather to suffer than to hurt Gods Truth and People thus to gratifie them who as it doth appear the Spirit of the Lord God of Truth rules neither in Pope nor in any of his Lords Priests or Jesuites that exercise such Lordship over the Innocent long-suffering Heritage of the everlasting God The time hasteneth and behold it cometh to pass that the weight of eternal Vengeance is coming over them which the Man of Sin and his Sons of Perdition will not be able to bear For the doleful Cry of the Innocent that sighs and groans with tears hath long uttered its voice which hath ascended into the ears of the Most High who is higher than the Highest yet hath he respect unto the needy to uphold them yea and to such as are of an upright contrite lowly and trembling heart What if I should say the God of Love and
them for when we did fast in obedience to the Lord they were greatly troubled so the Keeper asked me whether we would not eat meat to morrow yea or nay I was smote that I durst not say but what the Lord will we shall do When the morning came there was a great Triumph amongst them and there sounded a Trumpet near us in reference to the Lord Inquisitor Immediatly the Word of the Lord came unto us saying We must not eat Bread nor drink VVater in thrée dayes nor I K. must not speak word in that time but be silent and sit upon the ground in the Inquisition with very little clothes on nothing upon our heads but ashes no stoken nor shoe on and the last day Sarah had nothing at all but one petticoat on and they kept much ado and said we would mort and go to the Devil because the wind blew very cold So in the end the Lord opened Sarah's mouth in Prophesie against their Superstition Idolatry and unclean conversation they came wondring and look'd upon us but could not tell what to say for we were very dreadful to them So the time being expired of our Fast the Lord opened my mouth in praises and with singing these Verseâ— following All praise to him that hath not put nor cast me out of mind Nor yet his mercy from me shut as I could ever find Infinite Glory Laud and Praise be given to his Name Who hath made known in these our dayes his strength and noble fame Oh none is like unto the Lamb whose beauty shineth bright O glorifie his holy Name his Majesty and Might My soul praise thou the only God a Fountain pure and clear Whose Chrystal streams spreads all abroad and cleanseth far and near The Well-springs of Eternity which are so pure and sweet And do arise continually my Bridegroom for to meet My sweet and dear beloved one whose Voice is more to me Than all the Glory of the Earth or Treasures I can see He is the glory of my life my joy and my delight Within the bosome of his Love he clos'd me day and night He doth preserve me clean and pure within his Pavill'on Where I with him should be secure and saved from all wrong My soul praise thou the Lord I say praise him with joy and peace My sp'rit and mind both night and day praise him and never cease O magnifie his Maâ—estie his Fame and his Renown Whose dwelling is in Sion hie the glory of his Crown O praises praises to our God sing praises to our King O teach the People all abroad his praises for to sing A Sion Song of Glory bright that doth shine out so clear O manifest it in the sight of Nations far and near That God may have his Glory due his Honour and his Fame And all his Saints may sing anew the praises of his Name And after I had sung the Lord commanded me to go to the Well in the Court and drink Water the first thing I took So in obedience to our tender Father and God of health and power we went and drank much Water in the sight of the Prisoners we were very dry and they cried out in their language saying We would kill our selves and go to the Devil S. washed her head in cold water and we never had so much as the snuff in our noses After that they did admire and said It was the Lord that did command us and preserve us if they should have done so they should have died So the Lord was glorified and we were comforted And many a time were we made a dreadful sign and wonder to them that it can never be forgotten Praises praises to our God who wrought it in our hearts K. E. For the hands of our right worthily beloved Friends RIght dear and precious Friends in the Eternal Truth and Covenant of Life and Immortality yea Right Honourable indeed who are strong in the Lord and in the power of his might Peace Love and Salvation with whom my soul is refreshed nourished and cherished day by day and my spirit is supported and my heart is comforted with the well-springs of Eternal Life that stream from the Fountain and Rock of Salvation for which my soul doth truly magnifie the God of Life that giveth Life with you my Eternal Friends according to my measure in which I dearly salute and imbrace you in the heavenly unity of divine vertue Praises praises to our pure holy and wise God and Father of the Eternal Fulness of all Blessedness who doth give me of the same richly to enjoy so that I do mount up with wings as an Eagle and do run and am not weary and walk and am not faint because I do see of the travel of my soul and am satisfied the Glory is the Lord's whose mighty Power doth the work yea everlasting praises laud honour and dominion to the Lord of lords King of kings over all Scepters Thrones Tongues and Languages for ever to rule and reign world without end Amen and Amen O precious and wel-beloved Brethren Fathers and Elders the Pillars of God's spiritual Building whom my soâ—l right dearly loveth yea verily the Lord our God hath not raised renowned honoured nor exalted you higher in the heart mind spirit and soul in any one member in all his whole Body than he hath in me according to my measure the God of my Life and sweet Salvation doth know that you have been and are in my thoughts of right dear remembrance so that my life hath not neither doth it seem dear to me to save you harmless ever since I first saw your faces God Almighty bless and preserve you out of the hands of unreasonable men and encrease and multiply his whole Church and People in strength life and power and add unto you daily such as shall be saved and number in his Israelites indeed in whose mouths there is no guile out of every Kindred Tongue and Nation both Jew and Gentile bond and free so many as are appointed Heirs of Eternal Salvation Amen Amen saith my spirit And the Lord keep you all in the Power Dominion and Authority over the Heathen and all the dark Powers that do corrupt the Earth for ever Amen Oh dear and worthy Friends I can do no less than put you in remembrance of our gracious Deliverance out of the Inquisition in our eternal Father 's own time and way and according to his own will none wrought it but himself that he alone may have the Glory Honour and Renown of his own mighty Work in the hearts of you and all the faithful-hearted and from Sea to Sea and from Island to Island yea verily the Voice is gone forth to the ends of the Earth to the praise honour and glory of the strength of our powerful Lord God and here is our joy and here is our Glory and here is our Crown that our pure holy perfect and wise God is magnified And is not our
Joy your Joy and our Crown your Crown yea really I know it cannot be otherwise For if one of the members of the body do faint or fail or break or start aside it causeth a breach or defect in the whole body So likewise if one member do prosper in his measure be it never so small I know the whole body is strengthened refreshed and comforted and we know you all delight in us and rejoyce over us even as the Bridegroom rejoyceth over the â—ride I do behold it in the Light of Righteousness and receive the benefit of it in the bright shining Countenance of our everlasting Father's Love and our souls do magnifie the Lord of Life and Glory and our spirits do sing for joy that ever we were found worthy of so high and honourable a Calling to bear the Name of our pure perfect Redeemer before the High and Mighty of the Earth and to suffer so long time under them for our pure living Testimony of the pure holy Life of Innocency Oh! praises praises to our God everlastingly world without end Amen Amen In a short time after our gracious Deliverance out of the Inquisition the Lord committed great Judgement to me to pronounce against the City saying That I must prophesie yet once more in his Name and give it out in writing The Cross seemed very heavy but I did not dare to look at it but was obedient to the heavenly Voice and writ the Prophecy O All ye Heads and Rulers Princes and Governours of Malta hearken to the Voice of the Lord. The 25th day of the sixth month called August the year 1662. near the tenth hour of the day the Word of the Lord came unto me saying Thou must prophesie yet once more in my Name to the Heads and Rulers Princes and Governours of Malta the aforesaid City and prophesie saying Thus saith the Lord God of power who made Heaven and Earth the Seas and all things that are therein and is the Preserver of all mankind especially of them that do believe in his Name My wrath is kindled against you and my Judgment is set up amongst you because of your hard-heartedness and unbelief I the Lord God who desire the death of no man but that all should return unto me and live in tenderness and love to your souls I cast in my Servants yet amongst you contrary to their wills and out of their own knowledge to go and forewarn you of the evil that I was bringing upon you with line upon line and precept upon precept of my undenyable Testimonies and unfailable Truths of the glorious and powerful Appearing of my blessed Son the Lord Jesus Christ the Light of the World in thousands of my Saints and People in this the great and mighty Day of my Power for the destruction of Sin and Satan and all the works of darkness all manner of iniquity and uncleanness in this Nation and in all Nations and Counâ—ries throughout the whole Earth for all the Wicked shall be brought to Judgement that that which is pure may arise to rule in the hearts of people and I will overturn overturn in all places till I have restored Judges as at the first and Counsellours as at the beginning men of perfect hearts and upright spirits fearing my Name doing the works of Equity and Justice to every one without respect of persons like unto faithful Moses and righteous Samuel and will establish my beloved Son upon his Throne and he shall rule in his Princely Power and reign in his Kingly Majesty whose right it is over all and his own Spiritual Government shall be set up in all places Righteous Rulership and pure Worship in Spirit and in Truth and there is nothing that can prevent the Lord who saith If ye will not hear my Servant which speakeâ—h my Word whom you have proved almost these four years whose life hath been harmless and spotless in pure Innocency amongst you then will I bring Wo upon Wo and Judgment upon Judgment upon you till the living shall not be able to bury the dead my mouth hath spoken it and my zeal will perform it and every man's hands shall be upon his loins for pain for the day of Recompence is come But if you will hear my Servant which speaketh unto you in my Name and return in your minds to the Light in your Consciences which convinceth of all sin and wait upon me in pure silence holy fear dread and awe and deny all evil thoughts words and actions then will I pour out of my Spirit upon you and will make my wayes known unto you and will soon cure you of your diseases and heal you of your pain This have I written in obedience to the God of all Power whom I truly serve in spirit and in truth according to my measure O dear and noble Prince and People receive it from the Lord and not from me and prove the Prophecy in the Spirit of meekness as you are wise and sober-minded men without rashness or hastiness in the fear of the Lord God that gave you life and see whether I have prophesied in mine own name or in the Name of the Lord if in mine own name the things I have prophesied of will not come to pass but if in the Name of the Lord then they will come to pass daily one after another This have we prophesied ever since the time you call Christ's Resurrection as we have been moved of the Spirit of the Lord and delivered it to the Consul to take it to the Grand Master with the rest of the Heads and Governors The Consul threatened me with the Prison again The Lord said Fear not I am thy God And in a few dayes after the Lord uttered his Voice and manifested his mighty Power in great Thunder and Lightning so that it set on fire one of their Powder-houses being near a mile out of the City It was in the eighth month the eighth day of the month in the night according to their account and the wind of the Powder blew down another Powder-house a quarter of a mile from it but the Powder was preserved and it did great execution in the City as they say it blowed down five Houses and broke most of the Glass Windows of both Palaces and all the Merchants Windows in the City and the Magazine where the Merchants Goods were the Doors were blown out of the hooks and the Walls shaken and torn and the whole City was terribly shaken and the doors of the houses drew up so that great fear fell upon them all and we heard a great shreem in the City it was at midnight and they rung out their Bells and there was a great Glass Window in the Chamber where we lay over right our Beds-feet it was very thick Glass and much of it was broken to pieces and beat in on each side of our bed but the Lord did not suffer any harm to us the glory is his own The
scattered from all the rest of the Ships and could never see them again And so the Name of the Lord be magnified for ever over all whose Name is a strong Tower to all that can trust in him It is laid upon me to manifest the large love of God to us in our greatest extremity when we knew nothing but that we should be burnt for many dayes together Then in a Vision of the night I saw a large Room and a great Wood-fire in the Chimney and I saw the eternal Son of God sitting in a Chair by the fire in the form of a servant And likewise I saw a very amiable well-favoured Man-Child sitting in a hollow Chair over the fire it had no clothes on but a little fine linen about the upper parts it did not appear to be above three quarters old the fire did flame on every side of it yet the Child did play and was merry I would have took it up for fear it should have been burnt but he that sate in the Chair bade me let it alone I turned me about and I saw another heavenly Angel of God's presence standing a little wayes off it was not Gabriel and then he that sate in the Chair bade me take up the Child and it had no harm Let him that readeth understand And then I did awake and I called to my Friend Sarah and bid her she should not fear for the heavenly Host of God's Presence did follow us and as we do believe who can harm us though they did bind us to a stake yet shall they never have power to kindle fire upon us And Sarah answered she did know without our heavenly Father they cannot touch a hair of our heads And the Lord said However it be it shall go well with you And so we magnifie the Name of the Lord night and day and he is worthy to be praised for evermore Amen Ka. Evans There came to Malta whilst we were in the Inquisition twenty sail of Ships out of France and Spain to joyn with the Caveliers in Malta to fight against the Turks as the Keeper told us and the fear and dread of the Lord fell upon me and the Lord commanded me to prophesie against them and I cryed out daily saying God is angry God is angry and they cannot prosper go not forth to murther nor to kill one another Christ came not to destroy life but to save it This I told many as they were in hearing yet there was great triumphing and glorying in blood and in the strength of Pharoah all the time they were there And the night before they went forth I saw in a Vision a broad Tub of blood and it did run over on each side into the water and defiled it that I could have none to drink and I was exceedingly troubled in spirit And this did signifie their great slaughter and fight upon the Sea with the Turks and they returned with great loss and their joy was turned into sorrow and their mirth into mourning because they would not be forewarned Sa. Cheevers To the English Fryar Malachi THou art a bloody Persecutor of God and his eternal Truth and the Messengers thereof go whither thou wilt the righteous God will follow thee and find thee out dig never so deep thou canst not hide thy self from the Light Cruelty hard-heartedness vain-glory hypocrisie lying blasphemy pride unbelief all manner of wickedness lodgeth within thee thou in thy measure art the sinck of Hell thy mouth uttereth perverse things the poyson of Asps is under thy tongue thou art in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity thou art for eternal burnings Thou saidst thou madest thy self a holy man having wit and learning so thou becamest a Prelate or a Bishop and studied Divinity fifteen years and by it thou camest by thy Ordination to be a Father of Learning a Saviour of Souls thou saidst thou hadst received vertue to remit sins and thou didst offer to take our blood upon thee and to save our souls and bodies and wouldst have us to pray in the name of such a holy Father as thou who art a Catholick and didst kneel down often and speak many bitter wishes that you were in the true Faith But glory be to the Name of our God for ever the Light did discover thee when thou camest under many false covers and colours thy lyes and blasphemies were manifested to us by the Light and by the Light judged and condemned and we preserved and justified O thou perverter of the pure way of Righteousness thou child of the Devil thou deceiver of souls the Lord will require the souls of the simple at thy hands thou hast caused them to err from the living God thou Lucifer thou shalt be cast down from thy seat with all thy whoredoms into the bottomless pit there to remain for ever Amen And the Lord Jesus Christ alone shall reign over all the powers of darkness unto the ends of the Earth and the powers of darkness discovered defaced and utterly destroyed with the brightness of his coming then shalt thou and thy kingdom with all your carnal weapons that you have formed to uphold you be thrown down and overturned and thou and all such deceivers as thou art shall be cast into utter darkness with the lyers unbelievers Sorcerers fearful blasphemers blood-thirsty there to receive your reward weeping wailing and gnashing of teeth for ever then shall you know with Dives one drop of cold Water from us whom you have afflicted for the Testimony of Jesus and the Word of God will not stand you in stead to cool your tormented tongues for your Blasphemies Thou hast slighted the day of thy Visitation thou hast had line upon line and precept upon precept declared to thee of the good Word of God but thou hast made a mock and said it was a foolish thing thou didst want men of learning and wit thou hast learning and tongues Oh! dost thou not see thy folly Hath not God chosen the foolish things to confound the wisdom of the wise and to bring to nought the counsel of the prudent In the Light thou art known by the Light thou art judged and condemned Thy Gospel is carnal that doth uphold thy Kingdom Iniquity double-doors Chains Bolts Iron Whips Racks Halters Quarterings Cruelties Blood-thirstiness what wickedness is there that is not in your Kingdom you will cheat and cozen one another and will tolerate all manner of vice and say it is pardonable and will remit their sins if they will believe in you and pray in your name Thou wouldst have us pray by thy spirit after thee and say Mass and Pater noster and pray to Saints departed and thy Jesus and Mary with Beads and Crucifixes and cross our foreheads and chins Oh thou Antichrist wouldst thou have us turn from the Spirit of the living God which is pure and holy to pray to stocks and stones thy dead gods which cannot see nor hear nor
speak The Lord said formerly and doth say now Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven Image or the likeness of any thing that is in Heaven above or in the Earth beneath c. Cursed be thy Images and thou that teachest people to fall down to worship them Thou sayest this is Moses Law He that despiseth Moses 's Law dyeth without mercy under two or three witnesses Of how much sorer punishment shall he be thought worthy that trampleth under foot the blood of the Covenant and counteth it an unholy thing wherewith he was sanctified and hath done despite to the Spirit of Grace Thou art he Malachi the Lord saith thou art a cursed Reprobate Depart from me thou worker of iniquity I know thée not Thou sayest thou wouldst chain our arms because we could not bow at thy commacd We said our necks with our whole bodies for the Testimony of Jesus and the Word of God which we give forth among you we were ready to seal it with our blood glory be to the Lord God Almighty who called and counted us worthy to suffer for his Name-sake and gave us power over thee thou crooked Scorpion if thou hadst known that Power that did restrain thy hands and thy feet from shedding our blood thou wouldst have known whose Servants we were but thou art in the Reprobation with Cain Judas and bloody Herod thou wouldest have us call thee a holy Father and thou sayest Whosoever sins ye remit on Earth they should be remitted in Heaven and yet thou saidst none could be assured of their Salvation in this life and thou asked us about a Purgatory we knew no such place The Scripture speaks of a Hell and a Heaven in which the souls of the Righteous should enter into when they depart â—he body where is joy and rest for evermore but the souls of the wicked into everlasting torment Thou saidst thou couldst prove a Purgatory in Maccabees we know no such place but we know it speaketh of a woman that had seven sons which because they could not forsake the Law of the living God their tongues were cut out Art not thou a lyer didst not thou say thou wast a Remitter of sins and a saviour of souls and yet they must dye in their sins and go to Purgatory Oh thou blind guide thou art to be denied dost not thou see thy own confusion If any sin against God you then give a Pardon but if any offend you Oh the Rackings Halterings Strapado's Chains Bolts Irons your cruelty doth exceed what we do testifie you have sold your selves to work wicked Abominations you wear defiled garments to deceive the simple-hearted and say there is virtue in them and think it an honour for them to kiss your defiled garments The Spirit speaketh expresly that in the latter days there should be seducing spirits teaching lyes in hypocrisie the Doctrine of the Devil to abstain from marriage and meats which God hath created for the preservation of the Creation but if a man commit Adultery with a woman and come and confess to you you will pardon him Oh horrible Blasphemy there is none can forgive sins but God only If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the Propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but for the sins of the whole world When Nathan came to David to tell him of his sins the faithful Witness in his own Conscience which did convince him he was a sinner made him cry out I am the man that hath sinned against the Lord. Nathan was a true Prophet of the Lord to convince of sin but not pardon sin If Noah Daniel and Job were in that City they should save but their own souls alive for their own righteousness Oh! how do you dare to pervert the holy Scriptures which by so many infallible Testimonies were given forth by the Spirit of the living God For the Scriptures are of no private interpretation but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy Ghost and they are profitable for Doctrine Uses and Reproofs that all whose minds are turned to the measure of the Grace of God that bringeth Salvation that hath appeared in all to teach and lead out of sin and to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live righteously and godly in this present evil world they come to have the Scriptures fulfilled in them as they were in them which gave them forth for they lived in the life of the Scriptures their lives and what they did declare was Yea and Amen and they were guided by one Spirit and they spake one and the same thing as the Light did lead them for the Light is a perfect guide into all truth and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart of every one and is a discerner of spirits it shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehends it not The Light will discover every deed of darkness it is the faithful and true Witness of God which he hath given to every one a measure to profit to convince to reprove to instruct to condemn to justifie And those that receive the Light in the love thereof to them he doth reveal his everlasting loving-kindness and make known the Mysteries of his Truth and Counsel The willing and obedient shall eat the good of the Land but those that refuse and rebel the Sword of the Lord shall devour The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it and his zeal will perform it Every one that loveth the Light will bring their deeds to the Light that they may be approved of the Light that they are wrought in God for to the Light of Christ all must come and whatsoever hath been done in secret shal be made manifest when the Book of every ones Conscience shall be laid open then shall every ones heart be made manifest by the Light and shall receive every one according to their deeds done in the body they that sow to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption but they that sow to the Spirit shall reap life everlasting For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord who is the Light of the World that lighteth every one that cometh into the World that all men through him might believe He is the true Light and Life of men God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son into the World that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have life everlasting This Life is in the Son he that hath the Son hath Life O Friends and People of all sorts turn in your minds to the Light within which will shew you your conditions and how you have been seeking a Saviour without in the many wandrings from hills to mountains crying Lo here and Lo there when he is nigh you calling you to return to him that your sins may be pardoned and you reconciled
so but also a sensible feeling not only of the tryals sufferings in part of these innocent Lambs but also of the Consolations of each other as fellow-Members of the infinite Body of which Christ Jesus the Lord is both King and Head in whom be endless dominion and pure glory and eternal salvation Amen And so I being as it were constrained to publish the acceptable Words that sound and savor of pure innocency and clear truth for the Elect's sake in the same Love and Life I am the more free hereunto even as a Child that differs but little from a servant as I am in the Fathers Love Power and Grace of Life fitted to serve the undefiled Life of the least in the Kingdom of Blessedness and to administer comfort or what else I have received from the Eternal Fountain or Fulness for the use or service of either body mind soul or spirit of my own flesh or family seeing no man ever hated his own Flesh and he is worse than an Infidel that provideth not for his own Family especially them of his own House This is a sweet Salutation to Gods Elect Church in England and Ireland RIght dear precious and Heavenly Ones whose Beauty shineth bright and at whose Name the hearts of the Heathen do tremble We who through the everlasting Mercies of our God are Members of the same Body and are held in strait Captivity and hard Bondage for witnessing forth the same Testimony and Covenant of pure Light Life and Truth of our God with you dear and faithful Ones indeed We here in the same Covenant of pure Love and bowels of tenderness do dearly salute and imbrace you all glorifying and praising our eternal Father for you all who hath counted us worthy to partake of the fellowship and sufferings for the Bodies sake with you in tribulations fiery tryals manifold temptations fastings watchings heats and colds and cruel threatning and persecutions perils by Sea and perils by Land standing in jeopardy of our lives year after year and looking every hour day and night for many Weeks together when we should be brought out to Execution but though Proclamation was made and they came up to the very Gate with a Drum and Musquets to fetch us out to destroy us yet the Lord God of everlasting strength who in the deepest of all dangers and greatest extremity when all hopes were past did but blow upon them with the breath of his nostrils and they did fly as dust before the Wind for which we do intreat all Friends to glorifie our God on our behalf for never did the Lord our God work greater Deliverance for any than he hath done for us from time to time who are the least and weakest for what we know that ever the Lord our God sent forth in so great and weighty a work but all things are possible with him who made and created all things It is he alone which carrieth on his own Work by his own mighty Power and the glory shall be his own for evermore Amen Oh our dearly beloved Friends did you know but the third part of the Afflictions the Lord our God hath carried us through you would say The Lord hath wrought as great a Miracle in our preservation as ever he did in raising Lazarus out of the Grave And in the greatest of our afflictions we could not say in our hearts Father would thou hadst not brought us hither but cryed mightily to our God for Power to carry us through whatsoever should be inflicted upon us that the Truth of our God might not suffer through our weakness And the Lord did hear us and answered us in righteousness and carried us on with all boldness and made our fore-heads as Flint our brows as Brass in the faces of our Enemies that whensoever we were brought forth upon tryal all fear was taken away that we stood as Iron-Gates and Castle-Walls in the faces of our Enemies so that they said we would fain be burned but we answered No we would not willingly be burned but if our heavenly Father doth call us to suffer in that kind for his Name sake he will give us power to go through it and we have great cause to believe it for our Lord God never called us to do any service for him but he gave us power and made way for his own Work glory and praise be to his holy Name for ever Dearly beloved Friends marvel not why Israel is not gathered in all this time it is not for want of labour nor travel nor grief nor pain fasting nor mourning nor weeping nor love to their souls but it is because of the great Oppression For here are a willing people but they dare not until the Lord make way for them Truly Friends we have not been idle since we saw your faces nor have we had much ease to the flesh but do travel night and day for Sion's prosperity and perfect joy and for the reparation of Jerusalem and her pure praise though our sorrows are deep and our afflictions grievous yet we do wait with patience to reap the peaceable fruits of righteousness and enjoy the benefit of our uprightness Praises be to our God for ever he hath kept us by his power and holiness that our Enemies have not one jot or tittle against us but for the Truth of our God and that we could not joyn with them so they would not suffer us to have one line of refreshment but stript us out of all so that we could not expect one drop of mercy favour nor affection but what our heavenly Father did distil upon us from his living presence and work for us by the operation of his own Arm of strength and power But dear Friends though a long Winter and many sharp and terrible Storms have past over our heads so that we cannot express our Sorrows so likewise we cannot declare our Joys Oh! in the midst of all our afflictions our God did draw nigh unto us and did speak comfortably unto us with many sweet and precious Promises and did never suffer his faithfulness to fail us nor was he wanting unto us in Visions and Revelations Oh! how doth he appear in his Glory Beauty and Brightness so that our souls are ravished and wrapped up with his living presence and glory many times so that we do not dare to look out at our long-sufferings nor tryals but do press forwards towards the fulness of Joy and Blessedness which our eternal Father hath prepared for all them that love him and walk in obedience to him and we know the deeper our sorrow is the greater our Joy shall be and the heavier our Cross the weightier our Crown as we abide faithful And we do believe that neither principalities nor powers nor sufferings nor imprisonment nor persecution nor life nor death shall be able to separate us from the Love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord and Saviour Amen Dearly beloved Friends though our