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
part according to our measures and we do press forward towards that which is perfect He then said We were good Women but yet there was no redemption for us except we would be Cathlicks Now the Lord said Fear not Daughters of Sion I will carry you forth as Gold tryed in the fire And many precious Promiâ—es did the Lord refresh us with in our greatest extremity and would appear in his Glory that our souls would be ravished in his presence I had the Spirit of Prayer upon me but was afraid to speak to the Lord for fear I should speak one word that would not please him And the Lord said Fear not Daughter of Sion ask what thou wilt and I will grant it thée whatsoever thy heart can with I desired nothing of the Lord but what would make for his Glory whether it were my liberty or bondage life or death wherein I was highly accepted of the Lord. The Room wherein I was separated was near the Chancery where all the Bishops Courtiers did resort and would come into the Inquisition Courts and I had work amongst them daily they would come on purpose to their condemnation some would be smitten and run as if they hunted and some would be set on fire and cry Caldere caldere and fuoco fuoco and many would pitty us because we were not Catholicks the Friars would say We might be Catholicks and keep our own Religion too and we should not be known we were Catholicks except we were brought before a Justice of Peace We askt if we should profess a Christ we should be asham'd of But as for the poor Workmen they were willing to do any thing for us and were diligent to hear us the Witness of God in them did answer to the Truth There were many eyes over them had it not been for the great opposition there were hundreds would have flown to the Truth And because I said I did talk with G.F. he the Friar asked Whether G. F. did bring me money to maintain me in prison I said No but though I was abâ—ent in body yet I was present in spirit and was refreshed in him and in hundreds more besides They said I had seen Revelations and had talk'd with G. F. and he was God's Revelation Sarah said Christ was God's Revelation He said she came under the Haltar for saying Christ was God's Revelation She answered Paul said As soon as it pleased God to reveal his Son in me I did not consult with flesh and blood but immediately I went and preached him and is not Christ God's Revelation then He said Who denied that What they would have done to Sarah if they had taken her forth we know not but the Lord did work so wonderfully that night for the preservation of her poor soul out of their net that he is worthy to be glorified for ever The next time he came to me he came in Sheeps clothing but he had a Wolf under his Gown he gave me words as soft as Butter and as smooth as Oyl when he had a Sword in his heart and a Spear in his hand when they speak most fairest then beware of them He desired us we would not think so hardly of him as if he were the Author of all our wrongs and troubles he was not he said but would do any good he could for us were it with his blood But we thought he had been the chiefest that cast the poor man in Prison but he was the man that hope him out without any punishment at all though the Inquisitor did say he should be severely punished I told him he did well he would have peace in it and would never have cause to repent it He did entreat us he might not bear all the burthen We told him of many wicked things he did act against us and of his lying and cruel words He bid us take no notice what he did speak But we did feel his spirit that what he spake he would do if he had not been chained I did use to tell him My conscience was not seared with a hot iron I was not past feeling At last he was so weary of coming to us he did entreat the Inquisitor he might not come to us any more the Judgment of the Lord did follow him so it was like to kill him When we were partted the Lord did work mightily for us and we were kept by the Power of the Lord over our Enemies and were bold for God's Truth and did make war with them in Righteousness so they could not gain-say us in the Truth So that Scripture was fulfilled The wicked mouthes must be stopped and they were put to silence praises be to our God and were made to confess or say Of a truth God was in us our God was a consuming fire to them they were not able to stand in his presence but they would howl and make a noise like dogs and cry Jesu Maria and flie as people driven by a mighty rushing wind the Power of the Lord did pursue after them like a sword that Scripture was fulfilled which saith Christ came not to send peace on earth but a sword to cut down his Enemies the Lord was on our side and did take our part and did fight for us and did tread down our Enemies under our feet that they could not hurt us Mighty was the Work of God daily our tongues cannot express it they did work day and night with their Inchantments and Divinations Sorceries unclean spirits crying and foaming insomuch that we could take little rest day or night sometimes but the Lord was with us and did work mightily by his Power and kept us over them in the Life of the Son of God My Pâ—ison was nigh to the Palace and to their Worship that I could be heard of both and it was laid upon me of the Lord to call them to Repentance and to turn to the Light wherewith they were enlightned vvhich vvould lead them out of all their wicked Wayes Works and Worships to serve the true and living God in Spirit and in Truth the Power did raise the Witness in many and troubled them they did sigh and groan and some did stay to hear me so long as they durst for there were many did watch and it was upon pain of death or at least to be imprisoned As was the poor English-man that did come and speak to me whom they hall'd down violently and put him in prison but the Lord delivered him for his Love And we were parted One Year but great was the Work of the Lord and great was the Power to carry it on He was not wanting to us glory be to his Name but did give us Words Wisdom according to our Work So that Scripture was fulfilled which saith on this vvise Ye need not premeditate afore-hand what to speak or what to say for it shall be given you of my heavenly Father what ye ought to speak that the Enemies shall not
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
Long-suffering dwels in such and verily their sacrifice is acceptable in his bosom that liveth for ever and I am a living Witneâ—s that the sweet Testimony innocent Sufferings of these his long-suffering Lambs is right dear and precious in his eye which is the Light of his Countenance and so it is not otherwise but the same in oneness with his people concerning them And so in the endless mercy blessing and peace of our God we parted and I came away with the love and peace of my God within my heart having the answer and living testimony of a good Conscience and in the wisdom of God brought away these their Words and Writings which testifieth somewhat of their Sufferings and Faithfulness unto the Lord his Truth People which I right-well know cannot be shut out of the Record of Life eternal unto which I bear Record again that they have been and are a sweet savour unto the Lord God of Faithfulness and so their Reward which attends the same is not only with them but with all the Sons and Daughters of truth and innocency that are so travelling in their Long-sufferings which are but light and momentary in competition to the eternal weight of Glory which afterward is to be revealed in the same that suffered in all generations even from righteous Abel unto this day of our God to whom be Wisdom Glory Salvation and everlasting Thansgivings aâ—d Dominion for ever Amen saith my soul and spirit even so Amen And it came to pass in the third Month of the year 1662. also after my God had well preserved me in my passage and in his work and service from Malta to divers places in Italy till I came to the Straits mouth of the Mediterranean Sea at the place called Gibralter it was the pleasure of the Lord God to suffer the Wind and Weather to continue contrary well nigh about thirty dayes in which season I suffered many Trials and Tribulations in spirit having little or no Rest in the same because of the Vision and Words of the Everlasting which sounded often up to my understanding even as the roaring of a Lyon which mine eye saw and mine ear heard also in the year 61. when I was a Prisoner for the pure Word and Testimony of God and his Truth in Worcester City Jayl before I departed England and the place was the high Mountain of Gibralter that stands within the King of Spains Dominion which was the subject of the Vision and often as I cast mine eye upon the scituation of the place the pure Life and Power of God's eternal Presence did arise up in me in the word of life so that I saw clearly that some great exceeding weighty service for his Name and eternal Truths sake was to be done by me which was so terrible and dreadful to me when as I entred into reasoning so that I was brought down even to the jaws of death in dust and ashes and as Jonah turned his back upon Nineveh the same temptation attended me also to my wounding before I could give up for I fled often from the place to escape with my life from among such an unreasonable and bloody generation and the Lord would not be intreated to let such a bitter Cup pass unfulfilled but behold with the sound and stroak of his eternal Word his Spirit of Life became awakened quickned and mightily revived in me in his Wisdom over all fear of the Nations of men and the same brake through the snares and bonds of death and over destruction and the true Seed that mourned cried Not my Will but thy Will be done on earth as it is in heaven and so it was a hard thing to part with little Isaac which is received again in the Covenant of promise of Life and that was offered up which fled so often but at last was caught in a thicket When the Ships of divers Nations attempted to pass through but the God of heaven whom the wind and sea obeyeth suffered them not but they knew not what the matter was which was revealed within my heart as the displeasure of God was against them to humble them also as I told them often by words and writings to clear my Conscience albeit they strove being perplexed in their minds and attempted often to wit seven or eight times in about twenty one dayes and could not pass but about two or three Leagues and on this wise it happened it would either prove calm and then the currant would drive them back into the Straits again sometimes and otherwhile Storms and Tempests would scatter them as a figure of Pharoah and his Hoste of Egyptian darkness so that the Chariot-wheels mine eye saw struck off so that they drove but heavily within and without and at last I gave out among them that God had service for me to do at that place and my Life was given up to do his Will if I never saw my Native Country Kindred or Fathers house at all any more and therefore the pleasure of the Lord in his mighty Power had made me willing also gave me dominion through and over the Bonds and Snares of Death and Destruction as it were to lay down my precious Life that I may take it again together with the body which through his righteous judgements he had prepared to perform the good pleasure of his Almightiness for his Truth and Names sake Now the heavenly Voice was often sounded within my heart on this wise saying O Jerusalem cut off thine hair and furthermore to gird sackcloth on my loins as to the Prophet Jer. 7.29 and so I became obedient in the singleness and innocency of my heart unto the God of Heaven and of my Life as a dreadful Sign against the whorish Church of Rome and against all her Heads Horns throughout the world And I then signified to the Master of the Ship in which I was a passenger how that I did believe that God would soon give opportunity for the Fleet of Ships to pass away after this service of God was performed and after I had used many perswasions to the end that he might suffer my body on that wise to be cast among the wicked idolaters lyars and murtherers Isa 57.20 which are like the troubled Sea So the Ship-master let my Body be on this wise cast over board from the Ship God having provided a Whale to swallow up that which fled from his presence so often and so it happened that it was upon one of their called Holy-dayes or Saints dayes namely the day called Holy-Thursday So I being cast on dry land passed through their streets directly until I came into the Mass-House or Idolaters Temple among the Idolaters where I found the Frier or Priest at the High Altar down upon his knees in his white Surplice adoring of the Host which is a Chalice or a piece of Bread which they called the real Substance of the body of Christ after their unclean spirit of
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
A TRUE ACCOUNT OF THE Great Tryals and Cruel Sufferings undergone by those two faithful Servants of God KATHERINE EVANS And SARAH CHEEVERS In the time of their above three years and a halfs Confinement in the Island MALTA Also How God at last by his Almighty Power effected their Deliverance and brought them back into the Land of their Nativity To which is added A short RELATION from George Robinson of the Sufferings that befel him in his Journey to Jerusalem and how God saved him from the hands of Cruelty when the Sentence of Death was passed against him London Printed for R. Wilson 1663. AN EPISTLE TO THE READERS MAny there be among the Nations in the World that in their haste have unjustly condemned the innocent guiltless and harmless People of the Lord of Hosts scornfully called Quakers viz. That they are Papists Jesuites and what not adhering to the Whorish false Church of Rome I say to such on this wise which is my advice as a man to his friend to whom this may come Be not hasty to judge before the time as many do to their own hurt guilt and condemnation before they have a clear and right understanding of the things that differ from Equity and Truth and so the Nobility of the Mind which should weigh and passe true Sentence of sound and perfect Judgement the same being vailed with a hasty dark spirit of prejudice or evil-surmising which gets up into the seat of enmity and therein passeth sentence of the pure Way and things of God as Evil Heresie and what not And thus it comes to passe and indeed it cannot be otherwise with such that have not their minds stayed and fixed in that which is perfect and true and clear and single as is the clear manifestation of the Grace of Life which is the Light of the Lord Jesus shining in the heart and conscience of the sons and daughters of men and the same Light of the Lord which enlightneth the poor and deceitful man's eyes is the true measure and equal ballance which all are to try and prove and weigh words thoughts intents wayes and actions whether they be justifiable or condemnable and hereby with the same measure of the true Spirit of God who is Light is true sentence to be passed accordingly For if that which is perfectly true be measured with a false measure or with an unequal ballance it doth appear so to all that behold the same with an evil eye or measure that with the same measure save onely to them that discern the measure weight or ballance As for instance as to the thing natural If a deceitful man with a false measure being guided by a deceivable spirit albeit his eyes be enlightned with the Light of the Lord Prov. 29. which is true if he measure a piece of Cloth to his Customer with his deceitful measure though the Cloth be good yet he not giving it its true measure the simple-hearted is thereby deceived and knoweth it not till it be brought to a true measure which doth answer the true Principle or Light of God in the conscience to Justification as doth not the false but contrariwise Wherefore it is needful and of absolute concernment for the mind of every man male and female to be guided and exercised in the true manifestation of the Light of Jesus in the conscience and so blessed is the man the people the family that bring their deeds to the Light that they may be manifest they are wrought in God who is Light who is Truth and so what is here following written and published is to be tryed and proved by the Witness of God in every Conscience which is true and will answer to the same things or words that spring forth from its own clear nature Therefore when thou hast honestly read this throughout with a meek spirit of sobriety and moderation that 's single and pure then with the same spirit of singleness and of true discerning judge honestly and cease from hastiness in such matters of Eternity lest a place of Repentance become finally hid from thine eyes not to Salvation but contrariwise which I desire not neither doth the Lord whose Servant a living and true Witness I am for Him his Truth and People of these things and much more Wherefore let the Reader see hereby how that the Lord hath chosen the foolish things of this life to confound the wise and that the living God Eternal hath chosen the weak things to confound and bring to nought the things that are mighty subtil and potent yea base things which are so deemed despisable and contemptible yet behold God hath chosen them and things that are not approvable in the sight of the prudent of this world even to bring to nought things that are But may some say Wherefore or why doth the most High Wise Invisible Immortal God do thus My Answer is one and the same as the Apostle saith viz. That no flesh should glory in His presence who of God is made in us Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption And why should it be accounted such a foolish thing in the eyes of the wise men â—f this world to see the wisdom of God dispensed through a weak Vessel as is a free-born woman from above a weaker Vessel than that of the man Now tell me O man of understanding What must not the Spirit of Christ or the same that is begotten of God in the female as well as in the male what must not I say the same Spirit of Life from God speak but be limited in the weaker Vessel in the foolish Vessel in the Vessel which is not esteemed but base contemptible and despised in the eyes of lofty man that must be laid low who excels in that wisdom and knowledge which is not from above but otherwise bruitish and puffeth up the fleshly mind that 's enmity to God and is therefore to be confounded and moved backward and slain upon the Cross which is the Power of God that crucifieth the lusts and inordinate affections of the flesh which thereby come to be silent before the Lord who is that one and self-same Spirit that is quick and powerful so that not any other spirit governs or rules over the members of the body but that which created the body and every Member which is to have the Supream Authority and Preheminence as well in the female as in the male and so He the Spirit of Truth that 's to guide into all Truth He the Man is not he to speak viz. Christ in the male the same in the female where He is risen and manifest as King Priest and Prophet a Guide Leader and Commander in all equitable and just things which are truly honourable But the Woman was in the transgression against the Spirit Flesh lusteth against the Spirit saith the Apostle and the Woman that 's in the transgression is to be under obedience and to be in silence to learn in silence and
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
can separate In which Light and Life do I salute thee my dear Husband with my Children wishing you to embrace Gods love in making his Truth so clearly manifest amongst you whereof I am a Witness even of the everlasting Fountain that hath been opened by the Messengers of Christ who preach to you the Word of God in season and out of season directing you where you may find your â—aviour to purge and cleanse you from your sins and to reconcile you to his Father and to have unity with him and all the Saints in the Light that ye may be fellow Citizens in the Kingdom of Glory Rest and Peace which Christ hath purchased for them that love him and obey him What profit is there for to gain the whole World and lose your own Souls Seek first the Kingdom of God the Righteousness thereof and all other things shall be added to you Godliness is great gain having the promise of this life that now is and that which is to come which is fulfilled to me who have tasted of the Lord 's endless Love and Mercies to my soul and from a moving of the same love and life do I breath to thee my dear Husband with my Children my dear Love salutes you all my Prayers to my God are for you all that your minds may be joyned to the Lighâ— wherewith you are lightned that I may enjoy you in that which is Eternal and have community with you in the Spirit He that is joyned to the Lord is one spirit one heart one mind one soul to serve the Lord with one consent I cannot by Pen or Paper set forth the large Love of God in fulfilling his gracious Promises to me in the Wilderness being put into Prison for God's Truth there to remain all dayes of my life being searched tryed examined upon pain of death among the Enemies of God and his Truth standing in jeopardy for my life until the Lord had subdued and brought them under by his mighty Power and made them to feed us and would have given us money or clothes but the Lord did deck our Table richly in the Wilderness The Day of the Lord is appeariâ—â— wherein he will discover every Deed of darkness let it be done never so secret the Ligâ—â— of Christ Jesus will make it manifest in every Conscience the Lord will rip up all coveringâ— that is not of his own Spirit The God â—f Peace be with you all Amen Written in the Inquisition-Prison by the hand of Sarah Cheevers for the hand of Henry Cheevers my dear Husband give this fail not I do not well remember that this was one of the surprized Letters A Letter to a Kinswoman of S. C. S. P. MY dear Kinswoman I dearly salute thee with thy Husband and thy tender Babes I am not unmindful of thee nor of thy Love that thou shewed'st to me I know thou shalt not lose thy reward thou hast found refreshment in it for it was of the Lord My Burthen was weighty for the Lord I â—ould have fled the Cross but praises be to â—he Lord that kept me to it that I might â—ot lose the Crown I was straitned in it till I gave up to it Praised be the Name of our God for ever Amen Stand fast in the Lord â—et none take thy Crown The God of Power preserve and keep thee low and single in his fear pressing forward to the price of an interruptible Crown of Glory Peace and Rest â—ut of all strife Keep to the pure Life watch the Enemy keep thy mind staid in the measure of God's Grace that is able to make thee wise unto salvation and to give thee an inheâ—itance with the rest of the Children of Light My tender lamb fear and dread the living God keep in his presence go not out to let in the Enemy to break thy peace and to darken thy understanding and to vail over the pure from beholding thy Saviour Incline thine ear to him give up to a daily Cross to thy own will Stand single empty wait upon the Lord to be fill'd with his Fulness let him be all thy treasure ask of him he giveth liberally Believe and thou shalt receive his Promise is large I have found it so Having nothing yet enjoying all things I have â—asted handled and felt of his everlasting Love and indurable Riches my life is rapt up in it I have found Him whom my sâ—â—â— loveth Oh! what might I do to set hiâ— forth He is the choicest of ten thousands therefore doth my soul love him My life is given up for him his Truth for to declare Lord guide me in thy path and keep me in thy fear Amen My dear Aunt My dear love and life is with thee and I do embrace thee in the Arms and Bosom of my Eternal Fathers love with thy dear Husband and little Ones Another in the same Paper to Friends MY dearly beloved Sisters Friends of Truth I dearly salute you in the Light Life and Love of our God which is shed abroad in our hearts by the holy Ghost wherein I do rejoyce and have union with you My Life is given up to serve the Lord. Oh how my soul travels for the Seed of God's Kingdom to be sown throughout all Nations for the gathering in of Christ's scattered Flock and for the destruction of sin and Satan For our God is weighing the Mountains in Scales and the Dust in an equal Ballance He is pulling down the mighty and raising the meek humble lowly he is feeding the poor and hungry with good things but the rich he sends empty away My dear Babes and Lambs feed of the sincere Milk of the Word of Life that you may grow up in it and wax strong in spirit to praise the Lord and to glorifie him who is worthy Be strong in the Lord and in the Power of his Might seek him earnestly call upon him continually let your whole Meditations be staid in him alway Seek him earnestly deny your own thoughts and words give heed to the Light bring all your deeds to it give up all that is contrary to be slain stand single empty naked before the Lord that you may be filled with the Streams of his everlasting Love Oh my dear hearts our God is full of love stand not back press forward let nothing hinder you the Lord calls for you My Son give me thy heart The Promise of our God is as large to you as to any if you can believe your straitness is in your selves For God is a full Fountain abundance of love runs forth to them that can trust him I can witness it in the barren Wilderness he caused streams of living Water to break forth I cannot express it it is so large therefore doth my soul thirst after you my dear Ones the love of God is to you My dear Sisters I have you in my remembrance and do pray to my God and your God that you may be enlarged in your measures
to praise the Lord and to be kept in a sensible feeling of his Power daily and that you may encrease in wisdom strength and power over God's Enemies The Blessing of the Lord God Almighty be with you and preserve you by his mighty Power unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ Amen Salute me to my Sister S. R. there is a tender Plant in her I do feel it to my comfort praises be to the Lord. I am in health I praise the Lord and do want nothing the Lord is my portion I cannot want he hath deckt my Table richly he hath anointed my head with Balm it runneth down the skirts of my cloathing Written in the Inquisition-Prison at the Isle of Malta by a sufferer for the Seeds sake Farewel at this time Amen Your dear Sister in the Lord Sa. Cheevers Another from K. E. to her Husband and Children with somewhat from both the Lord's Prisoners to Friends the which was taken with the rest of the Letters in the Inquisition and copied out for their Lord Inquisitor DEar Husband with my dear Children I beseech you together to wait in the patience having your minds alwayes staid upon the Lord Keep out of incumbrances for that is the Enemies opportunity to step in when the mind is gone forth to vail the pure and darken the understanding and so hinder you of the pure enjoyment of beholding the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ Take no more upon you than you are able to perform in the Spirit of moderation and meekness for that is in the sight of God of great price See the Lord going before you in all your occasions that you may be prosperous in all your undertakings wait diligently upon the Lord to be seasoned with his Grace that you may come to a pure understanding of the mâ—â—ons of his Eternal Spirit and a true knoâ—ledge of the operation of his hands you will be able with all Saints to comprehend what is the heigth and deptâ— and length and breadth of the riches â— his Grace and Love towards mankind â— Christ Jesus our Lord Amen saith my spirit This is the Counsel of the Lord unto yoâ— I do often remember M. H. I do desire she may be brought up in the fear oâ— God and want for nothing that is convenient for her salute me to her dearly I have been very sensible dear Husband of thine and our Children and many dear friends more of your sorrowful souls mourning hearts grieved spirits troubled minds for us as being Members of one Body Christ Jesus being our Head we must needs suffer together that we may rejoyce together a true sorrow begets a true joy a true Cross a true Crown We do beleive it is our heavenly Fathers will and purpose to bring us back as safe to England as ever he brought us thence for his own glory though we are some of the least of Christ's Flock yet we do belong to the true Fold and our Shepherd hath had as great a care of us as he could have for any of his Lambs and hath brought us through great affliction praises be given to his glorious Name of us and you and all that know him for ever Though we are absent in body in the will of God from you yet we are present in spirit in the will of God with you and do receive the benefit of all your prayers daily and do feel the Springs of Life that do stream from all the faithful hearted to our great refreshment and strengthening After our money was gone the Lord Inquisitor with the rest in Authority put a great allowance in one of their servants hands for our maintenance because we could take no money our selves the Lord of Heaven did forbid us to meddle with any and he did send to know whether we did want any clothes he would send it to the Prison to us This was the large love of our God to us and we were made contented with that we had till the Lord God who is rich in mercy and full of all Grace and is never unmindful of any which trust in his Name of his everlasting love did send his faithful Messenger whose feet are beautiful and face is comely cloathed with a bright shining Garment from the Crown of the head to the soal of the foot and came in great power and strength indeed armed with the wholâ— Armour of Light and drest in the Majesty of the Most High and being commissioneâ— of the Higher Power went to the Lorâ— Inquisitor to demand our lawful liberty which would not be granted except we could get some English Merchants of Legorn or Messaena to engage 4000 Dollerâ— that we should never come into those parts again The Lord who alone is ouâ— Life and Redeemer moved our dear Brother to offer his own body to redeem ours but it would not be received then he offered to lay down his own dear and preciouâ— life for our liberty Greater love can nâ— man have than to lay down his life for hiâ— Friend the Lord will restore it into his bosom double his service can never be blotted out his Name is called Daniel Baker his outward being is near London a right dear and precious heart he is The blessing strength and power of the Almighty be upon him and his and overshadow them for ever Amen Greater comfort could never be administred to us in our conditions Glory honor and praise to our God for evermore Amen This is a dear and sweet salutation in that which never changeth fadeth away nor waxeth old from us whom the Lord hath counted worthy to bear his Name and suffer for his sake to all our Christian Friends Fathers and Elders Pillars of Gods spiritual House Brethren and Sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ O my dear Husband with our dear and precious Children Lambs of God and Babes of Christ begotten of the Immortal Seed of Light Life and Truth with us and all the whole Family of everlasting blessedness Pray for us believingly all things are possible with our God So my Darlings in the Arms of everlasting Love do I take my leave of you the blessing and peace of the Most High be upon you ever Amen Amen Oh my dear Husband praise the Lord that ever thou hadst a Wife that was found worthy to suffer for the Name of the Lord inasmuch as I can understand the moving of the Spirit of God My dear and faithful Yoke-fellow Sister and Friend is worthy to be embraced of all friends for ever the deeper the sorrow the greater the joy the heavier the Cross the weightier the Crown This was written in the Inquisition at Malta of us Katherine Evans Sarah Cheevers Malta 11th Month of the year 1661. From K. E. for two Friends DEarly beloved Brother in the everlasting Covenant of Light and Life do I dearly salute and embrace thee with thy dear Wife my beloved Sister and thy dear Children whom I dearly love in that which
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
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
darkness hath muttered some words over it which they call Consecration and after I had stood a season viewing this Idolatry with the indignation of the eternal God set up within my heart against the same I turned my back-part upon the Priest and his dead god and dumb Idols at the high Altar and in the holy Commandment of Life eternal my face was set towards the people and I beheld them a certain season in the power of God in which I stood I saw the multitude of ignorant People upon their knees also worshipping the dark inventions and Imaginations of their sottish Leaders and blind Guides and they know not what and in the Lord's time which mine eye had a circumspect heed unto I then spread forth mine arms and stript off my Vesture and rent the same from top to bottom in divers pieces and cast them from me with indignation and then I took my Hat off my head which was the uppermost covering of the outside of a man and cast the same under my feet and stamped upon these things and the nakedness appeared with the sack-cloath covering to their astonishment and then with a clear voice I sounded Repentance three times gave testimony as the sound of a Trumpet among them that the Life of Christ and his Saints was arisen from the dead and so passed away sounding the same words of the Lord's Message with Repentance through the streets as it were flying from the Idols temple and from Idolatry and Idolaters until I came to the Sea side and there was I moved to kneel down and pray and give thanks to the living Lord who had so wonderfully preserved me in doing his pleasure and good will on earth and he suffered no man to touch or do me harm And the next day following the Lord God gave opportunity accordingly as I had let the Ship-master know I believed would come to pass and it was so and all the Fleet did partake of the blessing but how many of them rewarded me men of my own Nation to whom I also continued a sign which they spake bitter things against the Lord my God saw the same and smote them with rebuke and astonishment in his displeasure who in his wise determinate Counsel ordained me for many dayes nights to be tryed on this wise and to fall among divers temptations afterwards the which as a mighty Host surrounded and beset me on every hand immediately after I had done his good will in his all-sufficient power and strength Thus the Enemy with his subtilty in a mystery was suffered to compass me about to steal away my peace and reward with my God in whom the same is hid and then I was in a blessed condition though sometime vailed for a little season and then the Fathers Countenance was hid from mine eye and therefore was I troubled Yet blessed are ye when you fall among divers Temptations saith one and verily they were even as thorns in my flesh yea as Messengers of Satan suffered to buffet me for a season even as the Servant of God witnessed who was wrapt up into the third Heaven What if I should somewhat testifie so was it with me lest I should be exalted above measure so that I was made to bow and fall upon my face and cry day and night to the Lord of Eternal Life that had respect to the tears of the Innocent and bowed the strength of his Arm to support the Lowly And so his Almightiness gave ear to the sighs and groans of my distressed state and had respect unto the voice of my mourning as a Dove or Pelican in the Wilderness and verily his Grace I found sufficient to save and preserve my Innocency in its sweet life of holiness to the Lord through all this and that which letted Salvation to his Name Amen So his strength is made perfect in weakness even so it is in truth in which I set to my seal of my right-hand that God is true in which Life I give thanks to his Name of Power and Defence the which over all Nations is to be exalted in the hearts of his Saints as in the ancient dayes yea and much more abundantly in the Light of his bright-shining Countenance in which his eternal and excellent Glory and pure dreadful Majesty for ever hath his holy habitation to whom be endless Dominion with Praises living and everlasting over all Amen Written in Newgate this 5th Month the 18th day 1662. where he suffereth Bonds together with many Brethren of Truth for one and the same Testimony of the Lord Jesus not for evil doing or speaking but against the same For we suffer because we cannot otherwise but meet together in the Name and Fear of God neither swear at all neither by Heaven nor by Earth nor by any other Oath Mat. 5. Jam. 5.12 D. B. A Copy of a Paper which was written in the Spanish Tongue and delivered the same day that I was upon the service directed as followeth viz. For the Governor and Inhabitants of Gibletore in the Kingdom of Spain BEhold behold the great day of God is come and of his wrath and of the wrath of his Lamb is come and the hour of his Judgements is come Wherefore Oh Inhabitants of the earth Repent Repent Repent and fear God and give Glory and Honor to him that made Heaven and Earth and the Fountains of Waters Wo wo wo to the Inhabitants of the Earth And I heard another Voice from Heaven saying Come out of her my People that ye partake not of her sins that ye receive not of her plagues These are the words of the Power of Christ that is contrary to the false Church Behold behold Plagues Plagues Plagues are coming upon the Church of Rome and upon her Heads in England and in all parts of the World And the Woman which thou sawest is that great City which reigneth over the Kings of the Earth and he saith unto me the waters which thou sawest where the Whore sitteth are Peoples Nations Multitudes and Tongues c. These Words with a Paper in Latine with honest Words of Truth was delivered with many more Scriptures in their own Language that they may read understand repent and cease from Idolatry and from all Ungodliness that the Blessings of Eternal Life might arise through Judgements and have room among the Nations to the eternal glory and renown of the Lord God over all who is blessed for ever Amen A brief Account of their further Tryals and how God at last by his Almighty Power effected their Deliverance and brought them again into the Land of their Nativity THe second month the year 1662. at the time of their Feast called the Resurrection of Christ on the first day we spake to the Keeper to buy us some meat not knowing but we might have eaten it in the time of their Feast yet it had been laid upon us to fast most times when they did feast which did torment
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
and redeemed from your sins and from your beloved lusts that war against your souls The works of the flesh are manifest by the Light and as you come to love the Light you will have power over every deed of darkness and to a daily cross to be crucified with Christ from sin and from the beggarly rudiments of the world to live to God God is holy as it is written Be ye holy for I am holy saith the Lord. Holiness becomes the House of the Lord for ever What know you not that your bodies are the Temples of the holy Ghost to dwell in The Spirit of the living God cannot dwell with any defiled thing but alwayes bears witness against it If any man defile the Temple of God him will God destroy for the Temple of God is holy Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean No not one Can a Fountain bring forth sweet water and bitter You say you are Christians Do you walk like Christ Paul said Be ye followers of me as I am a follower of Christ And Christ saith Love your enemies bless them that curse you and despitefully use you that you may be the Children of your heavenly Father Christ died for his Enemies He was made sin for us that knew no sin that we might become the Righteousness of God in him What greater Love can there be O turn in your minds and examine your own hearts every one in particular Do you keep Christ's Commandments Christ saith If you love me you will keep my Commandments Christ's Command is Love Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and thy neighbour as thy self and do to all as thou wouldst have all do unto thee Owe nothing to any but love Love is the fulfilling of the pure Law of God which is holy just and good Not one jot or tittle shall pass till all is fulfilled All that come to the Light and obey it come to the fulfilling of the Law for the Law is the Light I had not known sin but by the Law for the Law saith Thou shalt not covet and Christ saith He that breaks one of these least Commandments is guilty if the whole It is not enough to talk of a Christ that suffered at Jerusalem once for all and to make him a cloak to cover your sins be not deceived but let such know he is in every one to condemn for sin and to make every evil deed manifest and to bear testimony against it and to leave all without excuse for all must be tryed by the Light of Christ that lighteth every one that cometh into the world and all that love the Light will bring their deeds to the Light to be approved O but those that hate it it will be their condemnation My endeared Salutation and Greeting to the Seed Immortal in all throughout the whole World Farewel Sarah Cheevers An additional Account of GEORGE ROBINSON'S shewing his Call to go to Jerusalem And how God in his Journey thither was present with and did preserve him from the hands of those who sought to take his Life c. FRIENDS EVen as the Lord in many Ages and Generations past hath called his Servants abroad into many Countries and Regions of the World to bear forth a Testimony unto his glorious and ever blessed Name that people might be gathered to him and be blessed by him even in like manner he hath done in this our day blessed be his Name for evermore And so my dear Friends I being sensible in some measure of the Lord 's great Love in this particular do in dear love both to the Lord and his People shew forth the same In the year 1657 about the beginning of the seventh month thereof as I was waiting upon the Lord in singleness of heart his blessed Presence filled me and by the power of his Spirit did command me to go unto Jerusalem And further said unto me Thy sufferings shall be great but I will bear thee over them all Accordingly about the middle of the aforesaid month I began my Voyage towards Jerusalem and imbarqued with four Friends more in a Ship called The Joshua of London bound for Legorn in Italy where in ahout six weeks time we arrived and soon after we were sent for by the Governour of that place who after examination of us whither we were going and the like said we must not stay ashore but go aboard a Ship there to abide until we could get passage whither we were bound Nevertheless we â—eturned to our Lodgings again where we â—aid some dayes in which time both Engâ—â—sh and others daily visited us to whom we â—pake the things belonging to God's Kingâ—om and then left that place and went â—board a Ship to wait for a passage whither we were bound And in about two weeks â—ime after I left the rest of Friends and â—mbarqued in a French Ship bound for St. John de Acra formerly called Ptolomais and after a few dayes sail we passed by the Island of Malta where Paul suffered shipwrack where we made little stay but hoisted sail and in about two or three weeks time we came to the ruinated City Tirus having met with a contrary wind we were stayed three or four dayes the Inhabitants being Turks and Greeks were moderate towards me and from thence in about one day we came to Ptolomais or St. John de Acra where I remained about eight dayes being much opposed by the Friars in a French Merchants house and â—hen imbarqued in a Vessel amongst Greeks and Turks bound for Joppa but the Wind rising against us we came to an Anchor at Tourtons and on the next morning divers Turks came aboard and demanded Tribute of those called Christians in the Vessel which they paid for fear of sufferings but very unwillingly their demands being very unreasonable and in like manner demanded of me but I refusing to pay according to their demands they threatned to beat the soals of my feet with a stick and one of them would have put his hand into my pocket but the chiefest of them rebuked him Soon after they began to take me out of the Vessel to effect their work but one of the Turks belonging to the Vessel speaking to them as they were taking me ashore they let me alone wherein I saw the good hand of God preserving me and also there being an Armenian present and seeing I rather chose to suffer than to grant them their unreasonable demands he cryed out I was a good Christian I was a good Christian and became very loving unto me whilst he remained with me After this about three or four dayes we came to Joppa and from thence the same day we came to Ramlah or Ramoth in Gilead which as it did appear the Friars at Jerusalem hearing of my coming gave order unto some there to stay me which accordingly was done for I was taken and carried into a house and locked up into a