Seat and cursed me saying The Curse of God or Iesus goe with thee so we were carried to the Prison where not long after I was deprived of my two loving Friends at whose departure the Adversary stept in took hold on my Spirit and troubled me for the space of an hour and then the Lord came in and sweetly releeved me causing me to look to himself so was I stayed and refreshed in the thoughts of my God and although during the time of my Imprisonment the Tempter was busie yet it pleased God so to stand at my right hand that the motions were but sudden and so vanished away and although there were that would have payd the money if I would accept it yet I durst not accept of deliverance in such a way and therefore my answer to them was that although I would acknowledge their love to a cup of cold Water yet could I not thank them for their money if they should pay it so the Court drew neer and the night before I should suffer according to my sentence it pleased God I rested and slept quietly in the morning many Friends came to visit me desiring me to take the refreshment of Wine and other Comforts but my resolution was not to drink Wine nor strong drink that day untill my punishment were over and the reason was lest in case I had more strength courage and boldnesse than ordinarily could be expected the VVorld should either say he is drunk with new VVine or else that the comfort and strength of the Creature hath carried him through but my course was this I desired Brother John Hazell to bear my Friends company and I betook my self to my Chamber where I might communicate with my God commit my self to him and beg strength from him I had no sooner sequestred my self and come into my Chamber but Sathan lets flie at me saying Remember thy self thy birth breeding and friends thy wife children name and credit but as this was sudden so there came in sweetly from the Lord as sudden an answer 't is for my Lord I must not deny him before the Sons of men for that is to set men above him but rather lose all yea wife children and mine own life also To this the tempter replies Oh! but that is the question is it for him and for him alone is it not rather for thy own or some others sake thou hast so professed and practised and now art loth to deny it is not pride and self in the bottom surely this temptation was strong and thereupon I made diligent search after the matter as formerly I had done and after a while there was even as it had been a voyce from Heaven in my very Soul bearing witnes with my Conscience that it was not for any mans case or sake in this world that so I had professed and practised but for my Lords case and sake and for him alone whereupon my Spirit was much refresht as also in the consideration of these three Scriptures which speak on this wise Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect Although I walk through the valley and shadow of Death I will fear none evill thy rod and thy staff they shall comfort me And he that continueth to to the end the same shall be saved But then came in the consideration of the weaknesse of the Flesh to bear the strokes of a whip though the Spirit was willing and hereupon I was caused to pray earnestly unto the Lord that he would be pleased to give me a spirit of courage and boldnesse a tongue to speak for him and strength of body to suffer for his sake and not to shrink or yeeld to the stroaks or shed tears lest the adversaries of the truth should thereupon blaspheme and be hardned and the weak and feeble-hearted discouraged and for this I befought the Lord earnestly at length he satisfied my spirit to give up as my soul so my body to him and quietly to leave the whole disposing of the matter to him and so I addressed my self in as comely a manner as I could having such a Lord and Master to serve in this businesse And when I heard the voyce of my Keeper come for me even cheerfulnesse did come upon me and taking my Testament in my hand I went along with him to the place of execution and after common salutation there stood there stood by also one of the Magistrates by name Mr. Encrease Nowell who for a while kept silent and spoke not a word and so did I expecting the Governours presence but he came not But after a while Mr. Nowell bad the Executioner doe his Office then I desired to speak a few words but Mr. Nowell answered it is not now a time to speak whereupon I took leave and said Men Brethren Fathers and Countrey-men I beseech you give me leave to speak a few words and the rather because here are many Spectators to see me punished and I am to seal with my Blood if God give strength that which I hold and practise in reference to the Word of God and the testimony of Iesus that which I have to say in brief is this Although I confesse I am no Disputant yet seeing I am to seal what I hold with my Blood I am ready to defend it by the Word and to dispute that point with any that shall come forth to withstand it Mr. Nowell answered me now was no time to dispute then said I then I desire to give an account of the Faith and Order I hold and this I desired three times but in comes Mr. Flint and saith to the Executioner Fellow doe thine Office for this Fellow would but make a long Speech to delude the people so I being resolved to speak told the people That which I am to suffer for is for the Word of God and testimony of Iesus Christ No saith Mr. Nowell it is for your Error and going about to seduce the people to which I replyed not for Error for in all the time of my Imprisonment wherein I was left alone my Brethren being gone which of all your Ministers in all that time came to convince me of Error and when upon the Governours words a motion was made for a publick dispute and upon fair terms so often renewed and desired by hundreds what was the reason it was not granted Mr. Nowell told me it was his fault that went away and would not dispute but this the Writings will cleer at large still Mr. Flint calls to the man to doe his Office so before and in the time of his pulling off my cloathes I continued speaking telling them That I had so learned that for all Boston I would not give my bodie into their hands thus to be bruised upon another account yet upon this I would not give the hundredth part of a Wampon Peague to free it out of their hands and that I made as much Conscience of unbuttoning one button as I
that may be presented for the preservation of the whole And this in brief is the sum of that administration of Christs power in earth so far as it meerly concerns the outward man with respect to others that may uphold it or molest it and is managed by that sword of steel which in reference unto him is called in scripture the rod of iron by which he rules the nations and breaks them to peeces like a Potters vessel and with this administration of his power on Earth Right Honourable hath he who is the Lord of Lords and shall ere long appear as King and Judge of all betrusted you in these three Nations having as a manifest token thereof put into your hand that iron rod and to admiration hath strengthened and upheld your arm for the subduing and ordering of the same There is yet besides this another administration of Christs power on Earth which compared with this may be truly termed heavenly and spirituall it being that which suiteth with and principally is exercised about the spirituall or hidden part of man to wit his spirit mind and conscience which is indeed the most naturall Lord and commander of the outward it and all things belonging thereunto being but naturally subject and readily obedient from which very consideration it is that it is more safe and also more honourable for the powers on earth to have one thousand souls to be subject to them for love and conscience sake than to have ten thousand times ten thousand bodies seemingly subject for wrath sake and for fear of revenge this spirit and great commander in man is such a sparkling beam from the Father of lights and spirits that it cannot be lorded over commanded or forced either by men devils or angels but onely leaving its first station wherein it came so neer to the light and glory of God it is now caused to possess death and darkness and by that means is in a capacity by men and devils to be deceived and so by perswasion to be mis-led This spirituall administration of Christs power in and over the spirits and consciences of men as it extends to all the inward and hidden motions and actings of the mind so to all the outward manifestations of its powerfull commands in the outward man in reference unto God and especially unto such as appertain to the visible worship and service of God who hath declared himself to be a Spirit and will be worshipped in spirit and in truth and seeks such and onely such to worship him This spirituall administration so far as it concerns the outward man is managed not by a sword of Steel which cannot come neer or touch the spirit or mind of man but by the sword that proceeds out of the mouth of his servants the word of truth and especially as to the efficacy and to the inward man by the two-edged sword of the Spirit that spirituall law and light with which these candles of the Lord are enlightned and that by himself who is that light that enlightneth every man that comes into the world and this spirituall administration of Christs power on earth in and over the spirits minds and consciences of the sons of men and also over the outward man as to worship meerly is committed into the hands of the Spirit of Christ who is his vice-roy here on earth and is only able to deal with spirits by way of convincing converting transforming and as it were a-new creating of them and so to translate them out of the Kingdome of darkness in which they are by nature into the glorious â—iberty of the Saints in light Who is pleased also to make use of the mouths of his servants and through them as empty reeds and crooked rams-hornes to overturn the spirits and spirituall strong holds of men and devils and by them to convict avenge and execute the sentence written which upon such as manifest the emnity that is in their minds in the highest degree even against the holy Spirit himself the only sin unpardonable for all other sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven I say the written sentence that is to be executed upon such is anathema maranatha that is accursed with this intimation our Lord cometh leaving them untill he meet with them and otherwise than thus the servants of Christ cannot proceed having express command not to strive but to be patient apt to teach in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves to wait if God at anytime wil give them repentance to the acknowledgement of the truth Thus if it please the Father of lights to give you Right Honorable to distinguish between these two administrations of Christ's power here on earth and to leave that part to himself in the hand of his Spirit which cannot be conferred on others nor yet rightly managed but by the two-edged sword of that Spirit and wholly give up your selves to improve that part which belongs unto and well suits with that sword which you are now betrusted with it will much conduce to his glory your own praise and the peace and settlement of these three Nations over which the Lord hath set you And whereas Right Honorable it is in your hearts to propagate the Gospell of Jesus Christ the thing is excellent that is in your hearts and I hope the way to effect it is before you which is sith the Lord of hoasts hath said that works of this nature are carried on not by might nor by power but by his Spirit therefore to give way to his Spirit for the effecting thereof and to this end I humbly propose that your way to further this glorious design as to the might and power this Lord of Hoasts hath betrusted you with is 1. Not so much as to touch his Anointed and to do his Prophets no harm their ointment being the Spirit of prophecy and this Spirit of prophecy the testimony and witness of the Gospel of Jesus And 2. As obedient and dutifull servants to that Lord of Lords to suffer the Tares which being by the adversary sown after the Wheat must needs be ment erronious hereticall and antichristian persons professing the Gospel I say to let these tares alone in that part of the field or world over which the great Lord of the harvest hath placed your Honors sith it is his pleasure they shall there remain to the time of the harvest being the end of the world and that out of his tender respect to the Wheat lest in plucking up the tares though evidently discerned by his servants the Wheat should be rooted up also And 3. To the same end not to give your sword or power to the beast nor yet to suffer your power neither in these three nations nor yet in any forreign part of the world to be so misused by any to whom 't is committed as by vertue thereof out of an ignorant zeal and blind devotion pretending to pluck up the tares which yet is contrary to the express
following meet again at the said William Witters in contempt to Authority you being then in the custody of the Law and did there receive the Sacrament being Excommunicate and that you did Baptize such as were Baptized before and thereby did necessarily deny the Baptism that was before administred to be Baptism the Churches no Churches and also other Ordinances and Ministers as if all were a Nullity And also did deny the lawfullness of Baptizing of Infants and all this tends to the dishonour of God the despising the ordinances of God among us the peace of the Churches and seducing the Subjects of this Commonwealth from the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and perverting the strait waies of the Lord the Court doth fine you 30 pounds to be paid or sufficient sureties that the said sum shall be paid by the first day of the next Court of Assistants or else to be well whipt and that you shall remain in Prison till it be paid or security given in for it By the Court ENCREASE NOWELL And now because his sufferings and the sence which his Soul felt of the Lords Support according to promise is affectionately set forth and commended as a token of his love in a Letter written with his own hand and sent unto those that have obtained like precious faith in London or elsewhere whereby by an experiment which God hath been pleased to give to him and us they may evidently discern that Iesus Christ is in point of tender compassions touching those that confess his name before the Sonnes of men the same to day that he was yesterday that as yesterday so to day it may be said as the sufferings of Christ abound in us so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ so that they which keep the commandements of God and Testimony of Iesus Christ may be hereby incouraged to fear none of those things which they shall suffer before they come nor when they look them in the face and begin the incounter with them be soon weary and wax faint in their minds but faithfully and hopefully expect they suffering for the name of Christ and as Christians that the spirit of their Lord and of glory shall rest upon them The words of his Letter followeth Unto the well beloved Brethren Iohn Spilsbury William Kissin and the rest that in London stand fast in that Faith and continue to walk stedfastly in that Order of the Gospell which was once delivered unto the Saints by Iesus Christ Obediah Holms an unworthy witness that Iesus is the Lord and of late a Prisoner for Iesus sake at Boston sendeth greeting Dearly Beloved and longed after MY hearts desire is to hear from you and to hear that you grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ and that your love to him and one unto another as he hath given commandment aboundeth would be the very joy and great rejoycing of my Soul and Spirit had I not been prevented by my beloved Brethren of Providence who have wrot unto you wherein you have my Mind at large and also by our beloved Brother Clarke of Road-Iland who may if God permit see you and speak with you mouth to mouth I had here declared my self in that matter but now I forbear And because I have an experimentall knowledge in my self that in members of the same Body while it stands in union with the head there is a sympathizing Spirit which passeth through and also remain in each particular so that one member can neither mourn nor rejoyce but all the members are ready to mourn or rejoyce with it I shall the rather impart unto you some dealings which I have had therein from the Sons of Men and the gracious supports which I have met with from the Son of God my Lord and yours that so like Members you might rejoyce with me and might be encouraged by the same experiment of his â—ender mercies to fear none of those things which you shall suffer for Iesus sake â—t pleased the Father of Light after a long continuance of mine in death and darknesse to cause life and immortality to be brought to light in my soul and also to cause me to see that this life was by the death of his Son in that hour and power of darknesse procured which wrought in my heart a restless desire to know what that Lord who had so dearly bought me would have me to do and finding that it was his last will to which none is to adde and from which none is to detract that they which had faith in his death for life should yeeld up themselves to hold forth a lively consimilitude or likenesse unto his death buriall and resurrection by that Ordinance of Baptisme I readily yeelded thereto being by love constrained to follow that Lamb that takes away the sins of the World whither soever he goes I had no sooner separated from their assemblies and from Communion with them in their worship of God and thus visibly put on Christ being resolved alone to attend upon him and to submit to his will but immediately the adversary cast out a flood against us and stirred up the spirits of men to present my self and two more to Plymouth Court where we met with 4 Petitions against our whole company to take some speedy course to suppress us one from our own Plantation with 35 hands to it one froÌ„ the Church as they call it at Tantoâ— one from all the Ministers in our Colony except two if I mistake not and one from the Court at Boston in the Mathatusets under their Secretaries hand whereupon the Court straitly chargeth us to desist and neither to ordain Officers nor to Baptize nor to break bread together nor yet to meet upon the first day of the week and having received these strait charges one of the three discovers the sandy foundation upon which he stood who when the flood came and the wind blew fell yet it pleased the Father of mercies to whom be the praise to give us strength to stand to tell them it was better to obey God rather than man and such was the grace of our God to us-ward that though we were had from Court to Court yet were we firmly resolved to keep close to the rule and to obey the voyce of our Lord come what will come Not long after these troubles I came upon occasion of businesse into to the Colony of the Mathatusets with two other Brethren as Brother Clark being one of the two can inform you where we three were apprehended carried to the prison at Boston and so to the Court and were all sentenced what they laid to my charge you may here read in my sentence Vpon the pronouncing of which as I went from the Bar I exprest my self in these words I blesse God I am connted worthy to suffer for the name of Iesus whereupon Iohn Wilson their Pastor as they call him strook me before the Iudgment
therein they that cannot interpret it by the other four nor yet by the Commission it self nor by the Commissioners faithful observance thereof in all other instances let them prove if they can these three particulars 1. That Lydia ever had a husband 2. In case she had that ever she had any children by him and if so then in the 3. place that they were not dead or so grown up that they might hear and receive the word gladly as well as their mother 3. A third argument to prove that a visible believer is the person that according to the mind of Christ is to be baptized in water may be taken from the order which the Spirit of Christ laies down faith and baptism in the scriptures of truth putting faith still in the first place witness Mark 16. 15 16. Mat. 28. 19. Heb. 6. Eph. 4. A 4 argument may be taken from the nature of the ordinance and a 5 from Johns Baptism Yea much more might be said to this point but this may suffice And also the only person that is to walk in the visible order of his house and so to wait for his comming the second time in the form of a Lord and King with his glorious Kingdome according to promise That he is the only person that is to enter into and walk in the visible order of his house will evidently appear if the order in which our Lord left his house when he went to his Father to receive his kingdome be duly considered for in his last will and testament we shall find it thus recorded when our Lord was about to be gone he gave order unto his Apostles whom he made stewards in his house of the mysteries of God to make him Disciples of all Nations and that such as were so made should then be baptized and so visibly planted into Christ and put on Christ and having so received him should walk in him observing all things whatsoever he had commanded the first thing wherof as touching order was to be added or joined one to another in the fellowship of the Gospel by a mutual professed subjection to the Scepter of Christ and being a company thus called out of the world from worldly vanities and worldly worships after Christ Jesus the Lord which is the proper English of these words the Church of Christ and is in other terms called the Houshold of faith should steadfastly continue together in the Apostles doctrine sci the consolation reproof and instruction thereof in Fellowship sci mutual support both inward and outward in Breaking of bread thereby remembring the death of our Lord whose soul was made an offering for sin as his flesh is meat indeed and his blood drink indeed by the help of the Spirit to nourish our souls and spirits up unto eternal life and in prayer one with and for another And that this is the absolute order which the Lord hath appointed in his last Will and Testament doth evidently appear both by his own precept and command and by the practice of such as first trusted in him and if so then neither infants of daies nor yet such as profess themselves to be believers in Jesus but refuse as a manifestation thereof according to the practice of such as first trusted in Christ to yield up themselves to be planted into the death burial and resurrection of Christ and so visibly to put Christ on as did the Christians of old I say such have no visible right to enter into or walk in the order of the Gospel of Christ and to conclude the point the argument stands thus They and they only have visible right to enter into and walk in the visible order of Christs house and so to wait for his comming whom Christ Jesus himself being the Lord of the house hath appointed and his Apostles being his stewards have approved of But such as first have been taught and made disciples or Scholars of Jesus and believers in Christ and afterwards have bin baptised or dipped and therby visibly lively planted into the death burial and resurrection of Christ are they and they only whom Christ hath appointed and the Apostles have approved of See his Commission peruse their practice Ergo They and they only have visible right to enter into and walk in the order of Christs house and so to wait for his comming the second time in the form of a King with his glorious Kingdom according to promise See for a farther confirmation of the last clause in the first Epistle to the Corinthians 1. 7. 1 The 1 10. 2. The. 3. 5. But to proceed He is the person that is also to wait for his Lords sending down from the right hand of his father in the time of his absence the holy Ghost or holy Spirit of promise and all this according to the last will and testament of that living Lord That this living Lord did promise when he left this present evil world that is in a great measure subjected to devils and went to his Father not only to return again but in the time of his absence as a testimony of his great love unto such as are called to be his disciples manifest the same by loving him keeping his commandments and as a teâ—â—imony of his loving acceptance at the right hand his Father to send down the holy Spirit which should be in them as a well-spring of living water flowing forth unto eternall life who being a Spirit of truth and sent by Christ who is the truth which God will exalt shall glorifie him take of him and his and shew unto them and so lead them from truth to truth until he hath brought them into all truth as a comforter or Spirit of comfort shall fill their hearts with joy in believing by bearing witness with their spirits that they are the children of God and by revealing unto them the precious things w ch God hath prepared for them that love him which neither eye hath seen nor ear hath heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive and as a holy Spirit shall set them apart that are justifyed by the blood of his Son unto the holy God and sanctifie them throughout in soul and spirit and body and as a Spirit of supplication shall help them to speak unto God and as a Spirit of prophecy to speak unto men that this Lord I say did promise unto his disciples who love him and keep his commandments in the time of his absence the presence of such a Spirit as this which hath supplies in him beyond what the â—oul lacks and that therfore they are to wait for this promise and for these supplies in his appointments will clearly appear 1. Out of the words of the Lord himself See Iohn 14. 15 16 17. so v. 26. chap. 15. 26. chap. 16. 7 8. so v. 13 14 15. five times in that night in which he was betraied doth he repeat that promise to his Disciples
mind of the Lord to root up the wheat also 4. To countenance and incourage as through Gods mercifull hand on your hearts in some measure you do such as are faithful and upright in the land by this means shall a wide and effectual door be opened and so shall the word of the Lord which is the Gospel of Christ go forth run and be glorifyed through all those parts of the world that acknowledge your power and that which is of God shall stand encrease and be propagated and that which is not of God shall fall decay and come to nothing Thus shall you also accomplish the words of the Prophets of old in becoming nursing fathers unto the servants and children of God who under you shall lead a peaceable and quiet life in all godliness and honesty and shall be greatly obliâ—ged to improve their interest in the father of mercies by their presenting to him constant and earnest petitions supplications intercessions and giving of thanks on your behalf And for the furtherance of those worthy thoughts of your hearts they shall not cease to preach and declare to great and small what they have seen and felt and heard touching the Gospel of Christ and to pray the lord of the harvest to send forth faithful and painful labourers into his harvest which is also the constant hearty and earnest request of Your humble and faithful Subject JOHN CLARK To the Honored Magistracy the Presbytery and their dependency in the Mathatusets Colony in New-England The Author wisheth repentance to the acknowledgement of the truth as it is in Jesus Christ HOnored Friends for so without scruple or dissimulation can I call you some of you I honor for your parts others for your places sake and both for many good things I see in you and for evils reformed by you I call you friends for my love to you in truth is unfained neither are there I bless the Lord notwithstanding the discourteous usage which I and my friends received from you any evill thoughts in my heart towards you because I judge you were put upon what you did by a zeal I would not think unto private or caanall interests but towards God thinking thereby to do him service although I confidently believe and therefore boldly do affirm that his soul abhors it And that I may deal plainly with you as a friend I will tell you what in my heart I think and judge that such a zeal of God is not according to true knowledge or knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus Christ which would soon take you off and free you from that soul murdering and blood thirsty lie I hope you will not be offended to see this Narrative brought forth into the publick view it being upon the point forst from me by your friends agent here seeing also the matter which is contained therein is of no less than of publick concernment was not done in a corner is the fruit of your zeal and that wherin I suppose you glory and count your selves herein a worthy pattern for all that sear the Lord to follow you and withall their might to be conformed to which if a truth I then save you a labour and further your design yea I publish your praise and glory but my own disgrace and shame but if a mistake and falsehood I shall then hereby give occasion unto your faithful friends whose words may be of more prevailing power and force than mine through prejudice for present are like to be to tell you friendly and yet plainly that you do but glory in your shame so that the time may come if so be the will of God that you may smite upon your thigh and say within your selves what fruit had we then of those things whereof we are now ashamed neither let it be offensive to your spirits to see my testimony for which thing sake among you we were shamefully entreated being also strangers to you and belonging to another jurisdiction where and by whose means divers of you and yours and such as have been of chiefest note and most highly esteemed by you have enjoyed curtesies with far greater liberties in point of conscience no man gainsaying let it not offend I say to see this testimony when none of you upon the oft repeated motion would come forth to oppose it then to be made yet more publick by the word of God and testimony of Christ Jesus the Lord to be brought forth into the open view of all confirmed and justifyed neither take it ill that fith I could not with freedom and upon equal terms speak with you and discuss these points for which we have been sentenced that then I have made bold to write unto you some few lines that thereby I might remind you least you let it slip that we were brought before you as by a hand from beneath so not without a speciall and good hand from above and that to be a testimony against you in these two weighty particulars first to bear testimony against your standing with respect to the worship of God appointed by Christ which in plain terms for it is not now a time to dissemble seeing the Lord is at hand is false and evil not the order of the Gospel of Christ as you pretend and therefore disorder confusion and that which in Scripture language is called Babel And secondly to bear testimony or witness against that way by which you maintain it which being chiefly as it appears by carnal weapons which cannot reach to the heart or spirit of a man which is the principal part and upon the point the whole in the worship of God without which there is no acceptance with him this I say must needs also be fals but yet far worse it being no way appointed or approved of Christ nor yet groundedly expected or practised by Christians who first trusted in Christ and therefore upon due examination will prove most unchristian yea Antichristian I shall use but these two arguments in this place to convince you The first wherof standeth thus That order and way to maintain it which neither hath precept from Christ and his Apostles in his last will and testament nor yet president or example among those that first trusted in Christ that order cannot be the order of the Gospel of Christ nor that way his way to maintain it But the order which you call the order of the Gospel of Christ and the way which you say is his way to maintain it hath neither precept nor president in his last will and testament The first proposition I suppose none of you can deny unless you can find a later than that which is called his last will and testament and as for the second the truth thereof will as easily appear if you bring your order and way to maintain it to the precept of Christ and practise of those that first trusted in him and first for your order what precept from Christ or
my self requesting also M. Williams to go to Plymouth to know how the case stood so we did and the Magistrates thereof very lovingly gave us a meeting I then informed them of the cause of our coming unto them and desired them in a word of truth and faithfulness to inform us whether Sow-wames were within their Patent for we were now on the wing and were resolved through the help of Christ to get cleer of all and be of our selves and provided our way were cleer before us it were all one for us to go further off as to remain neer ac hand their answer was that Sow-wames was the garden of their Patent and the flour in the garden then I told them we could not desire it but requested further in the like word of truth and faithfulness to be informed whether they laid claim to the Ilands in the Naraganset Bay and that in particular called Acquedneck they all with a cheerfull countenanre made us this answer it was in their thoughts to have advised us thereto and if the provident hand of God should pitch us thereon they should look upon us as free and as loving neighbours and friends should be assistant unto us upon the main c. So we humbly thanked them and returned with that answer So it pleased the Lord by moving the hearts of the natives even the chiefest thereof to pitch us thereon and by other occurrences of providence which are too large here to relate So that having bought them off to their full satisfaction we have possessed the place ever since and notwithstanding the different understandings and consciences amongst us without-interruption we agree to maintain civil Justice and judgement neither are there such outrages committed mongst us as in other parts of the Country are frequently seen The Narrative declares 1. How those three strangers were apprehended imprisoned sentenced and for what 2. How the motion was made for a publique dispute often repeated and promised and yet disapointed 3. How two escaped and the third was cruelly handled 4. How two for taking him but by the hand after his punishment were apprehended imprisoned and sentenced to pay forty shillings or be whipped In their Testimony laid down in four conclusions is opened and proved In the First 1. That Jesus is the Christ i. e. the Anointed Priest Prophet and King of Saints 2. That Christ is also the Lord of his Church in point of ruling and ordering them with respect to the worship of God In the Second 1. That Baptism is one of the commandments of Christ and to continue till he come 2. that visible Believers are the proper subâ—ects thereof 3. That they are as well to wait for the promise of the Spirit as for the presence of Christ. In the Third That every believer ought to improve his talent both in and out of the Congregation In the Fourth That no servant of Jesus hath any authority from him to force upon others either the faith or order of the Gospel of Christ Wherin are produced 8 arguments against persecution for case of Conscience A Faithfull and True Relation of the Prosecution of Obediah Holmes John Crandall and John Clarke meerly for Conscience towards God by the principall Members of the Church or Common-wealth of the Mathatusets in New-England which rules over that part of the World whereby is shewn their discourteous Entertainment of Strangers how that Spirit by which they are led would order the whole World if either brought under them or should come in unto them Drawn forth by the aforesaid John Clarke not so much to answer the Importunity of Friends as to stop the mouthes and slanderous reports of such as are Enemies to the Cross of Christ Let him that readeth it consider which Church is most like the Church of Christ that Prince of Peace that meek and gentle Lamb that came into this World to save Mens lives not to destroy them the Persecuted or Persecuting IT came to pass that we three by the good hand of our God came into the Mathatusets Bay upon the 16 day of the 5th Moneth 51 and upon the 19th of the same upon occasion of businesse we came unto a Town in the same Bay called Lin where we lodged at a Blind-mans house neer two miles out of the Town by name William Witter who being baptized into Christ waits as we also doe for the Kingdom of God and the full consolation of the Israel of God Vpon the 20th day being the first day of the week not having freedom in our Spirits for want of a clear Call from God to goe unto the Publike Assemblie to declare there what was the mind and counsell of God concerning them I judged it was a thing suitable to consider what the counsell of God was concerning our selves and finding by sad experience that the hour of temptation spoken of was coming upon all the World in a more eminent way to try them that are upon the Earth I fell upon the consideration of that Word of Promise made to those that keep the Word of his Patience which present thoughts while in Conscience towards God and good will unto his Saints I was imparting to my Companions in the house where I lodged and to 4 or 5 Strangers that came in unexpected after I had begun opening and proving what is meant by the hour of Temptation what by the Word of his patience and their keeping it and how he that hath the Key of David being the Promiser will keep those that keep the word of his Patience from the hour of Temptation while I say I was yet speaking there comes into the house where we were two Constables who with their clamorous tongues made an interruption in my Discourse and more uncivilly disturbed us than the Pursivants of the old English Bishops were wont to doe telling us that they were come with Authority from the Magistrate to apprehend us I then desired to see the Authority by which they thâ—s proceeded whereupon they pluckt forth their Warrant and one of them with a trembling band as conscious he might have been better imployed read it to us The substance whereof was as followeth BY virtue hereof you are required to go to the house of William Witter and so to search from house to house for certain erronious persons being Strangers and them to apprehend and in safe custody to keep and to morrow morning by eight of the Clock to bring before me Robert Bridges When he had read the Warrant I told them Friends there shall not be I trust the least appearance of a resisting of that Authority by which you come unto us yet I tell you that by virtue hereof you are not so strictly tyed but if you please you may suffer us to make an end of what we have begun so may you be Witnesses either to or against the Faith and Order which we hold to which they answered they could not then said we notwithstanding the Warrant
soul it may so shine forth before the sons of men that they seeing thy good works may have cause administred to glorify our father which is in heaven It is not words now Christian although they were spoken with tongues of men and Angels when that worthy name is every where well spoken of but faith that works by love and love by works that will distinguish a heady from a hearty Christian Say not in thine heart that Christs Comands are low and his appointments carnall legal injunctions and at the best but neat for babes least hereby thine heart be declared to be vainly puft â—p in thy carnall or fleshly mind and to have too low and carnall conceits of Christ himself who is the injoyner appointer and commander thereof and shall ere long appear as Judge yea least hereby thou be declared ignorant or at the best forgetful of this one thing that it is the great design of God in Christ as to glorifie himself to admiration in poor sinful flesh so whilest he doth it to hide pride from man and therefore as he hath chosen not many wise mighty nor noble of this world but the foolish weak base despised nothings thereof so hath he suited his commands and appointments thereunto and intends through these foolish things so to cause his wisdome to shine forth as thereby to confound the wise through these weak things so to cause his power to appear as thereby to confound the things that are mighty and through these base dispised things that are not to bring to nought those noble glorious and excellent things of the world that are Thou mayst herein see gentle Reader that I have rather chosen to bear witness to the faith and order of our Lord and to shew unto the world but especially unto thee what is the mind of Christ in this time of his absence as to faith and obedience to shew I say rather what is truth which is but one than to bear witness against the ly which is so various knowing that the truth once established shall discover the falshood and light breaking forth shall scatter the darkness And whilest I lead thee forth to seek him whom thy soul loveth and longeth after who is also thy joy and thy Crown while I lead thee I say by the footsteps of those flocks that first trusted in Christ and were fed by such pastors according to his own heart as he gave them God forbid that thou shouldst be as one that wilt turn aside by the flocks of his companions and shouldst be found remaining either on the left side in a visible way of worship in deed but such as was neither appointed by Christ nor yet practised by them who first trusted in him or on the right in no visible way of worship or order at all either pretending that the outward court is given to the Gentiles and the holy City is by them to be troden under foot that the Church of Christ is now in the wilderness and the time of its recovery is not yet or else pretending that God is a spirit and so will in spirit be worshipped and not in this place or that in this way or that Well if thou beest in these waies misled I can no longer forbear in tenderness of spirit and compassionate bowels of love to stretch forth a helping hand thereby to try whether it be the good pleasure of God at this time to drop down a word of light and life and power into thine heart that thou mayest be there by awakned and quickned to be still saying within thy soul Lord what wilt thou have me to do so shalt thou hear such a saying as this Come out from among them Oh my people and be ye separate from them and touch no unsanctifyed thing and I will receive you and be a father unto you and ye shall be my sons and daughters saith the Lord God Almighty and also such a saying as this Blessed are they that do his commands for they have right to the tree of life and shall enter in through those gates of pearl into that glorious City Rev. 22. 14. and know that these are the commandments of Jesus sci As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk ye in him and behold I come quickly hold that fast which thou hast yea hold fast till I come And such as may be under the later disceptions let me intreat thee to ponder these words in thine heart sci That prophecies although marvelous plain and easy to be understood cannot warrant a pure conscience to neglect much less to cast off the commandments and oppointments of Jesus neither can the spirit of Christ direct or incourage the heart of a Christian to cast off his lordship no no the spirit of Christ is hereby distinguished from that of Antichrist in that he shall unfainedly confess that Jesus is the Christ and that this Christ Jesus is come in the flesh and when he is come according to promise into the heart of a Christian he shall not speak of himself but as a messenger his office is to gloryfie Christ by taking of him and his and shewing it unto yea writing it in the heart of a Christian so that I dare boldly say there is none for the exaltation of Christ Jesus the lord according to his last will and testament and for the nourishing a lively hope in the heart of a Christian concerning his glorious return I say there is none to that holy spirit of promise who being also the spirit of truth shall guide the souls of the Saints to worship the father as in spirit so likewise in truth and therfore that spirit that speaks of himself and is so far from taking of Christs to exalt and gloryfie him according as he hath foretold and his father intended that he takes from Christ laies him low and diminisheth his glory that spirit cannot be the spirit of Christ or that holy spirit of promise and for asmuch as the spirit speaketh expresly that in these later daies there shall be seducing spirits that shall deceive if it were possible the very elect of God whose incounter will not be so much with flesh and blood but with wicked spirits in high places let me therfore exhort thee in the words of that beloved disciple of Christ beleive not every spirit but try the spirits and that by this rule whether they be of God or no bring them to the wholsome words of the holy Apostles Prophets and son of God ye erre saith Christ not knowing the scriptures and the power of God let it be thy care Christian therfore to search the Scriptures and therein to wait for the power and glory of the spirit of God And look to thy spirit for as immediately before Christs appearing in flesh Satan in a large measure possessed the bodies of men that by his casting them out his power in flesh might appear So before his coming again in glory I have grounds
to expect that the minds spirits of men shall be strongly possessed and that as this fundamentall conclusion Thou art Jesus the son of the living God shall be improved to the utmost by the holy Spirit of Christ in the hearts and lives of the sons and daughters of God so shall the same conclusion be improved to the utmost by way of a bewitching deception in the hearts and lives of the sons of men by the spirit of Antichrist which mystery being brought to the height then shall Christ Jesus consume him with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy him with the brightness of his coming Therfore Christian stand thou upon thy watch and know that if Christ be formed in thee thou canst not but be transformed by him and the best form that thou canst be found in when thy Lord shall appear will be in that form and so doing as he hath appointed walking wisely and in peace toward all men Consider what hath been spoken to thee and the God of truth and peace give thee to understand and do his will which is the constant and earnest supplication and prayer of thine in Christ Jesus JOHN CLARK A brief discourse touching New England as to the matter in hand and to that part of it sci Rode Iland where my residence is together with the occasion of my going out with others from the Mathatusets Bay and the many providentiall occurrences that directed us thereto and pitched us thereon As also the Contents of the whole Treatise NEw England is a name as is generally known that was and still is call'd upon that place in reference to Old yet not so much because it is peopled and planted from thence for so are many other Plantations of the English in those Western parts but because it resembles the same as the daughter the mother It resembles it in the climate in the times and seasons of the year in the fruits which the land naturally produceth in the fouls and the fish that are there in abundance It resembles it in their politicall affairs for their governments laws Courts Officers are in a great measure the same and so are the names of their towns Counties and in point of good husbandry that w ch is raised and produced in New England more substantiall and whether it be for food or raiment it is the same with that which is here produced in Old It is a place in the largest acceptation that contains in it all the Plantations of the English upon that coast of America that lie between the Dutch Plantation on the West and the French on the East and extends it self upon the Sea coast above one hundred leagues In it is contained the four Colonies which call themselves the united Colonies The Colony called by the name of the Province of Providence Plantations lying on the South South-East thereof and two or three more lving on the Easter North-East in Agamenticus Saco Casco-Bay Pema juid where is that treasure of Masts for Ships The names of the united Colonies are these in point of precedency first Mathatusets c. but in point of antiquity first Plymouth then the Mathatusets then Conectecot and last Quinipiuck The chief Towns of these Colonies and seats of their Government are these Boston of the Mathatusets Plymouth of Plymouth Hereford of Conectecot and of Quinipiuck New-Haven Now as the name New England in the largest and truest acceptation extends to all the Plantations of the English between the French and the Dutch so in a scanty and improper acceptance of the word especially when it makes for advantage it is taken for these four united Colonies by reason of the precedency they have of others and for the same cause and upon the point as well it may be taken for the Mathatusets and the Town of Boston therein When I speak of New England understand it of that part which hath got the precedency by reason of shipping and start of the rest sci the Mathatusets as both in my Epistle and Narrative is plain to be seen which I have here also inserted for fear of mistake In the Colony of Providence Plantations in point of antiquity the Town of Providence is chief but in point of precedency Rode-Iland excels This Iland lieth in the Narraganset Bay being 14 or 15 miles long and in breadth between 4 and 5 miles at the broadest It began to be planted by the English in the beginning of the year 39. and by this hand of providence In the year 37 I left my native land and in the ninth moneth of the same I through mercy arived at Boston I was no sooner on shore but there appeared to me differences among them touching the Covenants and in point of evidencing a mans good estate some prest hard for the Covenant of works and for sanctification to be the first and chief evidence others prest as hard for the Covenant of grace that was established upon better promises and for the evidence of the Spirit as that which is a more certain constant and satisfactory witness I thought it not strange to see men differ about matters of Heaven for I expect no less upon Earth But to see that they were not able so to bear each with other in their different understandings and consciences as in those utmost parts of the World to live peaceably together whereupon I moved the latter for as much as the land was before us and wide enough with the profer of Abraham to Lot and for peace sake to turn aside to the right hand or to the left The motion was readily accepted and I was requested w th some others to seek out a place which accordingly I was ready to do and thereupon by reason of the suffocating heat of the Summer before I went to the North to be somewhat cooler but the Winter following proved so cold that we were forced in the Spring to make towards the South so having sought the Lord for direction we all agreed that while our vessell was passing about alarge and dangerous Cape we would cross over by laad having Long Iland and Delaware-Bay in our eie for the place of our residence so to a town called Providence we came which was begun by one M. Roger Williams who for matter of conscience had not long before been exiled from the former jurisdiction by whom we were courteously and lovingly received and with whom we advised about our design he readily presented two places before us in the same Naragansets Bay the one upon the main called Sow-wames the other called then Acquedneck now Rode-Iland we enquired whether they would fall in any other Patent for our resolution was to go out of them all he told us to be brief that the way to know that was to have recourse unto Plymouth so our Vessell as yet not being come about and we thus blockt up the company determined to send to Plymonth and pitcht upon two others together with