on and that many Afflictions and Exercises would attend us and that many People being possest with great Fears fled for England at which time many Testimonies came from Friends of sundry Meetings for all to mind the Lord's preserving Power and not to let Fears take hold of them as it did of others who knew not the Lord Our Dear Friend though he had an Opportunity had no Freedom to go for England but gave himself up to stay with Friends here and bear a part of the Sufferings that might attend us In which time he was a pretious Instrument in the Lord's Hand for the Comforting his People in the time of great Afflictions and Calamities for he was a Chearful Encourager of us He was a Dear Friend a True Brother a Diligent Over-seer and Tender Father a Perfect and Upright Man in his day who feared God and eschewed evil And though he sought the Salvation of all yet could not bear with Deceitful Men and Evil Workers who profest the Truth yet brought Dishonour to it against such he had a Iust Indignation and Godly Zeal Oh! the Remembrance of his Fatherly Care over God's Heritage in keeping things in good Order is not to be forgotten For his Care was great that the Professors of Truth might walk answerable to it in a Chast Life and Blameless Conversation And in all his Travels into whose House he entred he was Content with what things were set before him were they never so mean which was great Satisfaction to many poor honest Friends amongst whom his Lot was cast He would not usurp Authority over his Brethren but was of a healing Spirit and Lamb-like Nature and of a good Report in all his Travels Our Dear Friend and Brother did greatly delight to Read the Holy Scriptures and would often and with great Earnestness Advise Friends frequently to read the same and the Young and Tender in years more especially as also Friends Books wherein the Principles of Truth were Treated of that so none might be Ignorant of the Principles of the true Christian Religion now again preached and clearly held forth He was at our Province-Meeting at Rosean-Allies a little before his Decease where he bore a Living Fresh Testimony amongst Friends to our great Comfort and Exhorted Friends to Faithfulness From thence he went to Montroth and had a Meeting there and from thence to Ballinakill and had a Meeting there So he came to the Monthly-Meeting at New-Garden where many heard him bear a living sweet Testimony in the Opening of the Word of Life to the Refreshing of their Souls After Meeting he came home with our Friend John Watson to his House and feeling himself not well took his Bed and was visited with a Fever and continued sick for the space of Twelve days All which time he was preserved in his Senses and in a sweet Frame of Spirit and did often say he was sine at Ease and quiet in his Spirit The Lord did Attend him with his heavenly Power and Presence to his Comfort and our great Satisfaction He said to John Watson That he ever loved the Lord and the Lord loved him from his Youth and that he felt his Love He was wonderfully preserved in a sensible Condition to the Last and on the Eleventh day of the Seventh Month 1690 about Two of the Clock in the Afternoon he quietly and peaceably Departed this Life about the 59th Year of his Age and is gone to his Rest with the Lord and his Works follow him And as he honoured the Lord in his Day so he was honoured with the Company of many Antient Friends from several Parts of our Province to Accompany him to his Grave at New-Garden where he was Decently Interred the Fourteenth day of the same Month and there we had a good Meeting to the great satisfaction of many Friends and others And now surely If David did well in Sorrowing for Absolom we have Reason greatly to Lament the Loss of so Dear Tender and Upright-hearted a Friend whose Labour and Travel was great both in Body and Spirit faithfully to serve the Lord his Church and People and to Exalt his Glorious Name and propagate his Living Truth in the Earth and to preserve Unity and Peace in the Churches of Christ. But believing 't is the Lord's Will that 's done concerning him in a Holy and Reverend Resignation and Submission thereunto we ought to be Content knowing 't is his unspeakable Gain to be Absent from the Body and at home with Christ. And thus Dear Friends We that yet remain do see how the Lord is pleased to Remove from among us many of our Antient Friends and Faithful Labourers in the Gospel of Peace who have been serviceable in this Day for the Gathering and Confirming of many in the Truth that we may walk therein And Friends we that are yet behind are the more immediately concerned for to Labour in the Heavenly Gift of his Divine Grace the Lord in his Love hath bestowed upon us that so we may come up in this Gospel-day to succeed them that are gone before us to their Rest in the Lord in bearing a Faithful Testimony to the blessed Truth that our Memorial may live to Ages to come as this our Dear Friend and Elder Brother's doth amongst God's People this day who having Faithfully finisht his Course here in great Patience and an humble and holy Subjection to the Will of God hath now received a Crown of Immortal Glory which is laid up for all the Faithful Followers of the Lamb and Lovers of the Appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ To whom and the Father through him be Glory and Honour both now and for ever Amen Dated in Dublin the 22th of the Second Month 1691. Anthony Sharp Roger Roberts Amos Strettel John Watson Henry Hillary John Haukes An Account of John Burnyeat's Convincement Together with a Iournal of his Travels IN the Year 1653. it pleased the Lord in his Love and Mercy to send his faithful Servant George Fox with others of his faithful Servants and Messengers of the Gospel of Peace and Glad-tidings whom he furnished with the eternal power of his Word in the wisdom and power of which he proclaimed the Day of the Lord unto us in this County of Cumberland and the Northern Parts of England and discovered the right Path of Life unto thousands that was in Error seeking the Lord but knew not where to find him nor how to come acquainted with him although he was not far from us But this blessed man G. F. one of a thousand may many say and chosen before many thousands was sent amongst us in the power of the most High filled with the strength of his Word in the wisdom whereof he directed thousands unto the Light and Appearance of Christ Jesus their Saviour in their own hearts that he might come to know him and the Glory of the Father through him in his Appearance and so come to believe in him with the
by Doctrine and Practice that holy Truth he professed and was a Preacher of and made full proofs of his Ministry in many Lands and Countries and at the great City of London where he was made Instrumental to the Good and Comfort Refreshment and Edification of many and was Valiant there as in other places in the time of Trials Sufferings Storms and Persecution And he was also a great Incourager of the Good in Young and Old and as a tender Father and loving Brother to those who were young in their Testimonies for the Truth and would rather help a Young Branch to strengthen it in its growth than to bruise or hurt it in any measure This short Testimony we Dedicate to his Memorial that shall be had in Everlasting Remembrance for his Name is Written in the Lamb's Book of Life where none can blot it out Our Brother our Friend and our beloved Companion in the Heavenly Fellowship with whom some of us have some-times Travelled in England and Ireland upon divers Services for the Truth 's sake and Blessed was our Labour of Love together He was an Apostle among the Chnrches of Christ and he is a fixed and bright Star in the Firmament of God's Heavenly Power and Kingdom for ever O Friends you that knew him know the Loss of him in the Church of Christ with other Faithful Brethren since departed worthy of double honor concerning which sad Providence we have this to say to you It points plainly to us the Evil that is to come upon the Wicked and Unfaithful and the great Calamities that are at the Door The Lord fit us all for them that we may find an Interest and Sanctuary in the Truth above the Reach of this Evil World which they will want that do not prefer it above the chiefest Ioy. London the 10th of the 11th Month 1690 1. Stephen Crisp. Charles Marshall William Bingley John Field Francis Stamper Jasper Batt William Penn. Benjamin Antrobus John Vaughton Benjamin Bangs Samuel Waldenfield John Butcher A Testimony of several Friends in Ireland in whose Hearts it sprung and who gave it forth in the behalf of our Dear Brother Iohn Burnyeat AS for our Dear Friend and Worthy Brother in the Lord John Burnyeat late of Dublin deceased whom some of us have known many years we have this Testimony in the Truth concerning him viz. That he has been steadfast in the Lord's Work an able Minister of the Gospel and faithful Lobourer who had a Word in Season to Minister to the several Conditions of Friends and People dividing the Word aright a Strengthener of the Weak and a free Feeder of Christ's Lambs and Sheep with the Food he had freely received to the Comforting many His Testimony for the Power of Truth and Righteousness was clear many were Convinced by him His Conversation was so heavenly and becoming the Principle of Truth he was a Preacher of that we know no one that can truly Charge him with any thing that might spot his Profession or Ministry He was a Man excellently well qualified for the Work whereunto he was called of God the Lord having endued him with a large Measure of his Spirit He had great Openings and Discoveries of the Mysteries of God's Kingdom he had also the Tongue of the Learned and was fitted for every good Word and Work the Lord employed him in His Qualifications were beyond many and thô little in himself yet in the Lord a Mighty Man of Valour In all times of Suffering and Exercise he failed not to be in the Front he was a Valiant in Israel and a Pillar in the House of God He did Sympathise with the Afflicted seeking the good of others and above all the Honour and Prosperity of Truth was in his Eye When he took his Wife amongst us how Careful and Circumspect was he of Truth 's Honour and the Concord and Unity of Friends and Brethren And where he came among Friends he would not be Idle but did often Visit the Sick and Comfort those that were in Distress or Affliction For indeed he was a true Servant to all honest Friends as well the Poor as Rich and would freely Administer of his outward Substance to such as stood in need He was meek and gentle and of a healing Spirit and it was the unspeakable Love and Mercy of God to us in this Nation and particularly this City of Dublin to order his outward Abode and Settlement amongst us By whom many were Convinced of the Truth and turned from the Evil of their Ways and the Peace of the Church the Unity and Fellowship of Friends Increased He was one of the Archers of Israel who could shoot to an Hairs-breadth to the wounding of the Hairy Scalp of the Wicked one and the putting of the Lord's Enemies to Silence He was a Messenger of Glad Tidings and directed us to the blessed Light that God had caused to shine in our Hearts when we were Strangers to it yea then did it Appear as a Witness for the Lord against all Ungodly Practices It was a Day of Glad Tidings to many when the Lord made him one of his Trumpets to us to sound his Gospel to the reaching God's Witness in our Hearts Oh! that it may not be forgotten by any of us who have been turned to God! He had a true Love for all Tender-Hearted Friends and travelled for their Growth and Prosperity in the blessed Truth not only in these Three Nations but also in the Western Islands and America to the turning many to the blessed Way of Life and Salvation as by following Accounts will appear He was a true Pattern of Godliness and Piety in an humble meek and in-offensive Conversation Apt to Teach Ready to give heavenly Advice and Instruction a good Example in all things An Early Comer to Meetings and a diligent Waiter therein Many times he would sit a pretty while in Silence not being forward to speak Reverently waiting upon the Opening of the heavenly Life like the good Housholder spoken of to bring forth of his Treasury things both New and Old He was deeply Experienced in the Work and Service of the Lord and was a great Comfort and Support to many in their great Sufferings and hard Exercises and did mightily Strengthen and Encourage Friends in their several places of Abode Twice during the late Troubles he visited Friends in Munster and in this Province of Lynster unto whom he was very open and had large Meetings for in many places the World's Teachers were fled and left their Flocks Many times in the Publick Meetings he would bear a faithful plain and clear Testimony against Superstition and Idolatry and against that Loose Wicked Blasphemous and Unclean Spirit that many gave up to be led by As soon as the way was open to the North he visited Friends there Now after the Death of his Wife he had some Intentions to go for England and sent his Son thither but seeing the Troubles of Wars coming
to draw near with and therefore could not have full assurance but was compassed with fears horrours and amazements and yet came to know that there was no other way but to dwell in these Judgments and wait in the way thereof understanding that we must be redeemed with Judgment for as was said of Zion Isaiah 1. 27. and so waiting therein we began to learn Righteousness and strongly to desire to walk therein and could no longer be satisfied with a talk thereof and thus waiting for and seeking after the Lord though greatly ignorant of him in a deep sense of our own unworthiness and unpreparedness to meet him because of the polution of our Hearts which was seen by his Light that did shine therein we were still bowed down in spirit and afflicted and tossed in Soul and not comforted and our Hearts unstable like waters and the waves going over our Heads and our Souls in jeopardy every moment and our Faith so little we were ready to sink like Peter often crying out in the danger and in that Distress and vail of Tears we walked through our Hearts became quite dead to the World and all its Pleasure and Glory and also to all our former dead Profession for we saw there was no Life in it nor Help nor Salvation from it though some of us had tried it throughly we saw it was in vain to look to such Hills or Mountains for Salvation and then when we began to forsake all on both hands as seeing the Emptiness of all both the Glory Vanity and Pleasure of the World and the dead Image of Profession which we had set up in our Imaginations and Inventions and worshipped with our unprepared Hearts and unsanctified Spirits being Slaves and Captives to Sin as all must needs be that obeys it in the Lust thereof according to Romans the 6 th and 16. I say when we had thus through the sight and sense of the unsufficiency of all we either had or could do to give ease help or salvation denied all and as we had been directed turned our Minds unto the Light of Christ shining in our Hearts and believed therein according to Christ's command Iohn 12. 36. and so met together to wait upon the Lord therein Then began the Prophane to mock scoff and abuse us and our very Relations and old Familiars to be strange to us and offended at us and did hate us and began to speak evil of us and did think it strange that we would not run with them to the former excess of Riot as it was of old 1 Pet. 4. 4. And also the Professor even such as we had formerly walked in fellowship with in our lifeless Profession began to reproach us and vilifie us and speak evil against us and charge us with Errour and Schism and departing from the Faith and also began to reproach the Light of Christ as natural and unsufficient and a false Light and false Guide And thus Christ in his Spiritual Appearance was reproached vilified slighted and undervalued and set at nought by the Carnal Professors of Christianity as he was in his Appearance in the Flesh by the Jews the Carnal Professors of the Law who saw not through the Vail unto the end And in this our weak state were we beset on every hand and greatly distressed tossed and afflicted as poor Israel was when the Sea was before them and the Egyptians behind and their hope so little that they looked for nothing but death and said to Moses Because there were no Graves in Egypt hast thou taken us away to dye in the Wilderness c. Exod. 14. 11. Thus through many Tribulations must the Kingdom be entred by all that strives rightly to enter according to Christ's command Luke 13. 24. And when we were thus in our deep fears and our Minds not well acquainted with either right striving out of self in the light and seed of Life that doth prevail and give the entrance or true waiting or standing still out of our own thoughts willings and runnings which doth not obtain the Lord sent his Servants who had learned of him to direct us in what to wait and how to stand still out of our own thoughts and self-strivings in the Light that did discover who often did exhort us to abide and dwell in the Judgment that we received therein and by them as we had been turned to the Light so was our Understandings informed and we got to some degree of staidness in our Minds which before had been as the troubled Sea and a hope began to appear in us and we met together often and waited to see the Salvation of God which we had heard of that he would work by his own power And after we had met together for some time as we had seasons and opportunities and also sought the Lord with travelling Spirits both night and day when we were at our Callings and upon our Beds for we could not cease our Souls were so afflicted being in our Assemblies exercised in the living Judgment that sprung in the Light in our Souls and looking for the Salvation of God the wonderful Power from on High was revealed amongst us and many Hearts reached therewith and broken and melted before the God of the whole Earth and great dread and trembling fell upon many and the very Chains of Death was broken thereby the Bonds loosed and many Souls eased and set at liberty and the Prisoners of hope began to come forth and they that had sitten in darkness to shew themselves and the Promises of the Lord came to be fulfilled unto many spoken of by Isaiah the Prophet Isa. 49. 9. and Isa. 42. 7. and 61. 23. and some taste of the Oyl of Joy came to be witnessed and a heavenly Gladness entered the Hearts of many who in the Joy of their Souls broke forth in Praises unto the Lord so that the Tongue of the Dumb which Christ the healer of our Infirmities did unloose began to speak and utter the wonderful things of God and great was the Dread and Glory of that Power that one Meeting after another was graciously and richly manifested amongst us to the breaking tendering and melting of our Hearts Souls and Spirits before the Lord then our Hearts began to delight in the Lord and in his way that he had cast up and with great servency and zeal then we began to seek after him and to meet oftner together than before our Hearts being so affected with the presence of that blessed Power that daily broke forth amongst us in our Meetings through which we were greatly comforted strengthened and edified for it was that same Comforter our blessed Lord promised he would pray the Father for and which the Father should send Iohn 14. 16 and 26. And then this being come and received did teach us to know the Father and the Son and as we came into Acquaintance with it and into the Unity of it we came to be taught by it
and worshipped I say when my heart was thus fitted and filled then did I endeavour to keep down my Spirit to the meltings of it and great was the care of my Soul that I might no ways miss nor abuse this Power nor let up a wrong thing into my Mind to be betrayed thereby and then I knew if I kept all that was wrong down sound Wisdom and a true Understanding would be grown into even of those Mysteries that the World was ignorant of for the Son of God being come it was he that did give the Understanding to know him that was true as Iohn said of old in his first Epistle and he was made Wisdom as Paul said 1 Cor. 1. 30. So I often observed and that with great care and diligence in those blessed and pleasant Seasons wherein the Lord did so wonderfully appear amongst us and filled our Hearts with the glorious Majesty of his Power how it was with my own Spirit and whether that was subject as it ought or no for I clearly saw the Enemy might beguile and lead up into the hights and unnecessary pride and vain-glorying in that which the Soul might soon be deprived of if it kept not humble for it 's the humble the Lord teacheth and the meek he guides in Judgment And thus in the greatest Enjoyments I saw there was need of care and fear to be kept in for as those that grew sluggish idle and careless in waiting in a Meeting for the Power did sit without the sense of it in a dead dry barren state even so such as weer not diligent to mind to keep low humble and tender and so to mind the Nature of the working of the Power and the Nature of their own Spirits under the Powers exercise and also to watch against the Enemies subtilty who lay in wait to betray might easily be led aside out of the Powers way by the Stranger even while the Power was a working and Joy was in the Heart And thus for want of true Fear and Care might the Soul come into a loss e're it be aware and I believe some have so done and can scarcely find the reason of it Great is the Mystery of Godliness it may truly be said even the great Mystery which Paul writes of in Colossians the first Christ in us the hope of glory c. And as he is there great is the Mystery of his working by his Spirit to the opening and clearing of the Understandings of all that rightly wait upon him and it is the Soul in the Sanctification and Oneness with the Life the true Unction that comes to be a Priest and so of the Royal Priesthood chosen and elected in God's Covenant that comes rightly and lawfully to eat of those holy things and so to partake of the sanctified holy Food This I did observe and therefore the Stranger is not to come nigh this was in the Figure signified the Stranger was not to eat of the Passover Exod. 12. 43. and the Command of God was to Aaron by Moses that no Stranger should eat of the holy things c. Lev. 22. 10. And Solomon saith The heart knoweth his own bitterness and a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy Prov. 14. 10. Much might be said but this is the matter its Wisdom for the Heart that hath known his own bitterness in the Judgment and Distress and through it is come to this Peace and Joy to keep it and not to let that which would have no share with it there come to intermeddle with the Joy for if it do it will soon overthrow the Joy of the Soul and bring to another state and then have no more pity in the Day of Distress than the Iews had of Iudas when they bad him look to it what was that to them when he had betrayed his Master And thus I continued as I have said before for these four Years mostly following my outward Calling and attending and waiting upon the Lord in the workings of his holy Power in my Heart both in Meetings and at other times where-ever I was or whatever I had to do for I found that as my Heart was kept near the Power it kept me tender soft and living And besides I found as I was diligent in eying of it there was a constant sweet Stream that run softly in my Soul of Divine Peace Pleasure and Joy which far exceeded all other Delights and Satisfactions and this became the great Engager of my Soul to watch with such diligence for I did find the love of God to constrain And furthermore I did observe that if I neglected or let my Mind out after any thing else more than I ought and so forgot this I began to be like a Stranger and saw that I soon might lose my Interest in these Riches and Treasure and true Common-wealth of God's Spiritual Israel which Christ had purchased for me and given me the earnest of to inherit And thus being mindful of the opening Wisdom of God which was from above and heavenly and not from below earthly I was preserved and helped and succoured in the needful time and because of the Blessings and rich Mercies of the Lord that my Soul enjoyed I was willing to serve him in what I might and willingly received upon me a share of that Concern that became proper for me with others to take upon us in the Church that I might be helpful in all necessary things And thus I went on in the holy Fellowship of the Gospel of Life and Salvation with the rest of my Brethren and Sisters and many joyful Day we had together in the Power of the Holy Ghost that was richly and graciously continued amongst us and daily poured out upon us so that we still grew in favour with God and unity one with another and received daily strength from the Lord and an increase of his Divine Wisdom and Spirit which did greatly comfort us And in this our pleasant state I do well remember my Heart was satisfied and setled into a content where I was willing to abide but the Lord that had so dealt by me in Mercy as I have said began to stir in my Heart by his Spirit to arise and go forth in the strength of his Word and declare against the Hirelings that feed themselves and not the People and kept the People ignorant of those good things that he had made me and others Witnesses of And when the Word of the Lord came unto me with this Message it became a great Exercise unto me and I would willingly have shunned it and have dwelt in that Ease Peace and Pleasure the Lord had brought me into but there was none but in obeying the Lord and giving up to do his Will that I soon came to know for I was sure it was the Word of the Lord and then I yielded in Spirit and longed for the Day that I might clear my self and be eased of the Charge that was upon
Then not long after in the same Year I was moved of the Lord by his Spirit to go to Briggham to speak to one Priest Denton who then was preaching in the Steeple-house to the People who in his Sermon which he had before hand prepared had many false Accusations Lyes and Slanders against Friends and the Principles of the Truth I stayed till he had done and then did speak to him but got little Answer but immediately some of his Hearers fell upon me and did beat me with their Bibles and with a Staff or Staffs all along out of the House and also out of the Grave-yard that the next day I was sore with the Blows and so the Priest commanded the Constable to secure me and a Friend that was with me and next day did cause him to carry us to Lancelot Fletcher of Talantyre who did order a Warrant to be written for us and so sent us from Constable to Constable to the common Goal in Carlisle where I was Prisoner three and twenty Weeks And when I wrote a Paper to the Priest wherein I answered his false Accusation and sent it to him by a Friend he would not read it but as I was told put it in the fire and burnt it Now while I was in Prison something came upon me for Scotland but I being a Prisoner and not yet deeply acquainted with the way and work of the Lord's Power and Spirit as in relation to such a Service great was the Exercise of my Spirit that I went under and for want of Experience and a clear Understanding I was swallowed up and for a time quite lost in the Deep where great was the Distress of my Soul beyond utterance but the merciful God by his powerful Arm and healing saving Word of Life did restore and bring up my Soul out of the Deep where it was for a time buried and renewed Life and Understanding and caused the Light of his Countenance to shine and the Sweetness of his Peace to spring so that I may truly say he caused the Bones that he had broken to rejoyce And then when he had thus crushed and humbled and let me see how he could make all things become as nothing again and so hide all Glory from Man then in his Goodness he revealed his Glory and Power and Presence and reviving Life and so opened to my Understanding his good Pleasure which with all readiness and willingness of mind I gave up unto in my Heart and Spirit So after my being kept about three and twenty Weeks in Prison I had my Liberty and so came home and followed my outward Calling that Summer and grew more and more into the Understanding of the Mind and Will of the Lord in that which I had a Sight of while I was in Prison And so keeping to Meetings and waiting upon the Lord in a true travel of Spirit after more acquaintance with him and more enjoyment of his Power and Word I grew not only into an Understanding but also into a degree of Strength and Ability sit to answer that Service which the Lord had called me unto And so then in the Faith that stood in God's Power about the beginning of the Eighth Month 1658. I took my Journey into Scotland and travelled in that Nation about Three Months and was both in the North and West of it as far North as Aberdeen and back again to Edinborough and so down West to Lithcow Hamilton Aire and as far as Port-Patrick and back to Aire and Duglass and our Service was at their Steeple-Houses and Markets and other places where we met with People and sometimes at Friends Meetings where there was any And our work was To call People to Repentance out of their lifeless hypocritical Profession and dead Formalities wherein they were setled in the Ignorance of the true and living God and so to turn them unto the true Light of Christ Iesus in their Hearts that therein they might come to know the Power of God and so come to know Remission of Sins and receive an Inheritance amongst the Sanctified And being thus clear of that Nation we returned into England and came over the water to Bowstead-hill the first day of the Eleventh Month 1658. Then returning home I followed my Calling or Trade again from that time until the Third Month 1659. and then I took shipping for Ireland according to what had been Opened unto me in the Truth when I was in Scotland and grew mightily in me through the Strength of the Power and Word of Life while I stayed at my Calling at home and kept to Meetings For the Lord often filled and enriched my Heart and Soul with his glorious Power and so sanctified and prepared me for that which he set before me For often in Spirit was I carried thither and had it sealed unto me that it was my place to go into that Nation to serve the Lord and bear witness unto the Truth and call People to Repentance and hold forth the Way of Life and Salvation unto them So I waited till the full Season came according to the blessed Counsel of God in which I found his leading Power with me and to go before me and so at the time aforesaid I took shipping at Whitehaven and landed at Dunacadee in the North of Ireland and travelled up to Lisbourne and so up to Lorgan and on to Kilmore in the County of Armagh and so up and down in the North for some time amongst Friends and had Meetings And many People came to Meetings and many Convinced and turned to God from the evil and vanity of their ways And then from thence I travelled up to Dublin and thence to Mountmeleck and so forward to Kilkenny and so on to Caperqueen and Tallow and so to Cork and Bandon and back to Cork and then to Toughal and to Waterford and to Ross and to Waxford and had Meetings along as I travelled and according to that Ability I received of God I was faithful and preached the Truth and true Faith of Jesus From Waxford I came to Carlough and Mountmeleck and so down into the North and spent some time there And so having gone through and in the fear of God published his Name and Truth as I had opportunity I then was willing to return home to England and for that end as I intended came down to Carrickfergus but before I got thither it came upon me that I should return back again to Lorgan and Kilmore and from thence to Londonderry And so I sent word to appoint a Meeting at Lorgan and went on to Carrickfergus and got a Meeting where there was many People at it and I did clear my self unto them in the fear of the Lord and then returned to Lorgan as I had appointed And there I met with Robert Lodge newly come out of England who had something in his Heart also to go to Londonderry this was about or near the beginning of the Seventh Month 1659.
I spake something in Exhortation unto Friends and prayed unto the Lord as he enlarged my Heart that we might be comforted and edified together the Magistrates were offended and sent the Under-Goaler to take me away and put me in the Dungeon from among my Fellow-Prisoners who came at three several times and every time haled me from my knees when I was at Prayer and put me in the Dungeon a little dark Room where I was one time two days and nights another time three days and nights and the last time seven days and nights There was a Bowling-Alley before the Prison-door where several of the Magistrates and others did use to come to their Game and hearing my voice were offended and so sent to take me away So after fourteen Weeks I was set at liberty and in some little time I had freedom to return home and then did as at other times follow my outward Calling and kept to our Meetings at home but when I was moved to go forth to visit Friends sometimes in our own Country and sometimes into Yorkshire and Bishoprick and would sometimes be Two Months away or thereabouts and then return home to my Calling or Trade and so thus continued till about the fore-end of Summer in the Year 1664. And then that which had been opened unto me four years before began again to arise in my Heart in that Word which lives for ever and the living motion of it began to press upon my Spirit towards the fulfilling thereof and then I saw the Time drew near and the Season was coming upon me wherein the Lord would have me go and fulfil his Word that I had yielded unto in Spirit so long ago And then I began to prepare and set my Heart to leave all things behind and give up all things else that I might follow him and so his Power wrought my Spirit into a right frame that I could easily leave all things and then he gave me time to settle and order my outward Concerns and leave all things clear And then that Summer I took shipping for Ireland and passed through most Friends and did visit them And about the Seventh Month 1664. I took shipping at Galloway in Ireland for the Barbadoes and was seven weeks and two days in sailing to the Barbadoes and I stayed there about three or four Months and did visit Friends and travelled and laboured in the Work of the Gospel both for the Confirmation of those that were gathered and for the gathering of others unto the Truth that they might partake with us of the like precious Faith And there I met with many that had been hurt by Iohn Parrot and carried away with his Imaginations who lead out of the Power and from the true Cross into high Notions and vain Conceits and so into a fleshly Liberty and ease therein from the true Spiritual Travel and right Exercise both in Spirit and outwardly pretending to be against Forms and under that pretence led out of the faithful and diligent practice which Friends had been gathered into as to their meeting together and waiting upon the Lord counting that a Form which he did lead into a slight of and so caused many both there and in Virginia and other places to neglect or in a great measure to forsake the Assembling of themselves together contrary to Friends practice and the Counsel and Advice of the faithful Labourers who first laboured amongst us as also contrary to the Advice of the Apostle Hebr. 10. 25. And also he in his new Notion led many to keep on their Hats in the time of Prayer when any Friend prayed and condemned our reverend practice of putting off our Hats at such times and so in many things led such as were taken with his Notion out of true Order into Loosness and such a Liberty that the Cross in most things was laid down by them and their own Wills followed and Truth 's Testimony let fall But he ran out of the Truth so far at last that many began to see him and what his Spirit led to and so came to see their own loss and returned back unto their first love and the Power of the Lord went over that dark Spirit with all the vain Imaginations they had been led into thereby and so Friends were gathered into their former Unity Now because of the prevalency of this Spirit I had the greater travel and exercise among Friends in that Island and in other places of America both in withstanding such as were high and hard and also to gather back and preserve such as had in some measure been betrayed and yet were more innocent and tender And so when I had travelled and laboured as I said before about three or four Months in that Island and was clear I took shipping for Maryland about the latter end of the first Month and landed there about the latter end of the second Month 1665. and so I travelled and laboured in the Work of the Gospel in that Province that Summer and large Meetings we had and the Lord's Power was with us and Friends greatly comforted and several Convinced But a sore Exercise I had with one Tho. Thurston and a Party he drew after him for a while so that both I and faithful Friends were greatly grieved not only with his Wickedness but also his Opposition that he made against us and the Disturbance that he brought upon us in our Meetings and great was the exercise and travel that was upon my Spirit both Day and Night both upon the Truth 's account that suffered by him and also for the People that were betrayed by him to their hurt who were under a great mistake But through much labour and travel in the Lord's Wisdom and Power that both I and other faithful Friends of that Province had to search things out and to clear things to their Understandings both as to what related to the Truth and also Matter of Fact which he was guilty of it pleased the Lord so to assist us and bless our endeavours in manifesting the Wickedness and Wrongness of the Heart and Spirit of the Man that most of the People came to see him and in the love of God to be restored into the Unity of the Truth again to our great comfort Truth 's honour and their Everlasting happiness But he himself was lost as to the Truth and became a Vagabond and Fugitive as to his Spiritual Condition and little otherwise as to the outward So in the Winter following I went down to Virginia and when I came there Friends there the greatest part of them were led aside by Iohn Parrot who had led them into his Notions as before is related and they had quite forsaken their Meetings and did not meet together once in a Year and had lost the very form and language of the Truth many of them and were become loose and careless and much one with the World in many things so that the Cross of
did visit Friends And then took shipping at Whitehaven for Ireland and landed at Belfast in the North and spent that Winter in Ireland in the travels and labour of the Gospel and had blessed Service for the Lord and his People in that Nation and was richly comforted and refreshed amongst them in the gracious presence of the Lord that was with us who is the Recompencer and rich Rewarder of all that are given up in Faithfulness to serve him So that now none doth lose their Reward under the Ministration of the Gospel no more then they did under the Law in the Figure when he said Who is thère among you that would shut the Doors for nought neither do you kindle fire on mine Altar for nought Mal. 1. 10. To him be Glory and Honour and Praise over all for ever for he is worthy And when I was clear of that Nation I took shipping at Dublin and landed at Whitehaven in Cumberland and stayed a little time in Cumberland and then took my Journey for London to the yearly Meeting that was in the Spring of the Year 1670. and so spent a part of that Summer in London and thereabouts in the Service of the Truth until I could have a Conveniency to go for Barbadoes that being upon me And in the fifth Month all things being ready I and William Simpson went down to Gravesend with many Friends from London that did accompany us and staying there but a few days we set Sail from Gravesend the eighth day of the fifth Month 1670. and came to the Downs and stayed there some days and then set Sail from the Downs the twentieth day of the same Month and because of contrary Winds we put in at Falmouth and stayed two Nights there and then put to Sea again and so set Sail for the Barbadoes and arrived there the thirtieth day of the seventh Month so that we were twelve Weeks from Gravesend e're we got Barbadoes And then I stayed in the Barbadoes six Months and had great and weighty Service in that Island before I could be clear And my dear Companion William Simpson after he had been there was taken sick of a violent Fever that was very much among People at that time and very many died he was sick but about six days and then was taken away At his Death a very little before his Departure he gave a living heavenly Testimony unto the Truth with wholesome Advice unto them that were about him and departed in the Peace and Joy of the Lord an Account whereof may be further seen in a Book writ by one that was with him from his beginning to be sick until he departed I was with him very much but sometimes was constrained to leave him for the Service sake that was upon me He was a very Innocent man and full of fear and reverence and ordinarily very open in his Testimony and very sweet and pleasant we walked in great love and unity together for he was a humble man and had very low thoughts of himself and always under dread He had gone through great Sufferings and Afflictions and cruel Persecutions for his Testimony and Service sake that he was called unto he likewise had met with hard Buffetings from Satan's Messenger and sore Temptations by which he had been wounded and sore hurt through the wiles of Satan and his cunning slights of which he would be often speaking to me in our brotherly Fellowship and Communication wherein we would open our hearts and states one unto another and in the remembrance of things he was kept very low and tender and near the Lord and took great delight in his Power by which he had been redeemed and his Soul delivered and he raised up into a good degree of Dominion in which he reigned at the last and with great triumph departed this Life and is blessed for ever My Heart is well satisfied that it is even so and when he was taken away from me my Heart was broken within me my Spirit was bowed down greatly in the sense of my loss and I could not but mourn though not as such that have no hope for my hope was firm concerning his well-being and gain that he had obtained but great was my loss for I was left as one alone as I had been often before to bear the burthen my self which was very weighty upon me at that time considering the state of the Church in that Island and the care of it was upon me but the Lord was with me and his Power did assist me to go through my Charge and clear my self and free my self from the Blood of all Men and Women And so through all being guided by his Spirit in his Wisdom the Lord's Children and People were comforted and my Soul and Spirit refreshed and revived and so in peace clearness and gladness I came away and took shipping for New-England and set Sail the first of the second Month 1671. and arrived at New-York the 27 th day of the same Month and so did go from New-York unto Long-Island and did visit Friends on the Island and other places there-aways and was with them at their Half-years-Meeting at Oyster-Bay And so being clear of those Parts took shipping for Road-Island and was there at their Yearly-Meeting in 1671. which begins the ninth of the fourth Month every Year and continues for much of a Week and is a General Meeting once a year for all Friends in New-England And after that Meeting when I was clear of those Parts I took my Journey towards Sandwich and so did visit Friends all along at Tewkesbury Marshfield and Cittuate and so on to Boston and there had a Meeting and so on to Salem and Hampton and Piscataway all along visiting Friends and had many pretious Meetings and the Lord was with us and his Power was over all And from Piscatoway I returned back again the same way and had blessed Service and so through I came to Road-Island again and there I spent some time and went up to Providence and did visit Friends there and so returned again And when I was clear of those Parts I took shipping back again for Long-Island and landed at Oyster-Bay and had some Meetings and then went down to Flushing and so to Gravesand and had some Meetings And then went over to East-Iersey to visit Friends there and had some Meetings and then returned back again to Gravesand and from thence went back again to Oyster-Bay and was there at their Half-years-Meeting which began about the eighth day of the eighth Month and had a blessed time But in our Meeting for Business we had an Exercise with several that rose up in a wrong Spirit against the blessed Order of the Truth which by the Power of God Friends were gathered into and sweetly setling in And chiefly their Envy and Bitterness was against George Fox and his Papers of Wholsome Advice which he in the Love of God had sent amongst Friends and in
their Worship to Imprison to Whip with Cruelty to Cut off Ears to Burn in the Hand to Banish upon pain of Death and to Hang for they had hanged four of our Friends All which Cruelties their Church had executed upon us and only upon the account of Religion And if they could prove these to be the Fruits of a true Christian Church then I told them I would own them otherwise they were to be denied The proof of these things or to dispute upon them they would willingly have evaded but I stood upon it necessary that we might be known by our Fruits and our Practice proved by Scripture which they pretended to be their Rule or otherwise all was but vain words and an idle Notion and they had nothing to do with Scripture c. And then they were confounded and knew not what to say but one of them fled to that Decree made by Artaxerxes Ezra 7. 26. But I shewed how inconsistant it was with the Gospel-Dispensation Christ's Command and the Christian's Practice and further said I would prove the Indians better Christians than they by practice And instanced the Indian King who when they had banished Nicholas Upshell an antient grave old man against whom they had nothing but that he was called a Quaker from his Wife and Family and out of their Colony he being received by his Friends at Sandwich in Plymouth-Colony they stirred up the Rulers of the Colony to banish him out of their Jurisdiction which they did And when the Indian King had inquired Why they would send that antient Man sixty Miles through the Woods in the cold Winter to Road-Island and understood the Matter he desired him to go with him and he would keep him and none should molest him or to that purpose and offered him Land and Kindness So said I here was one that would entertain a Stranger a Christian Practice according to Hebr. 13. 2. when your Church banisheth Neighbours from their own Dwellings an act of Cruelty c. Much Discourse we had but at these things they were confounded some of themselves having been Actors in Persecution upon our Friends as Friends told me after they were gone So the Lord's Power went over them they could not stand the trial and we parted in the Peace and Love of God And next day we came to Boston where we had a Meeting and many People came in and several of Note After a while when I was speaking came the Marshal and a Constable and many People following them The Marshal bid the Constable do his Office the Constable being a moderate man said So he did he was to see the King's Peace kept And so stood awhile and heard me and went away and told the Deputy-Governour he had been at our Meeting but he heard nothing but what was true or no Blasphemy or to this effect So the People stayed and I had a blessed Season to open things to the People and clear the truth of those Scandals which the Priests and others had cast upon it and the People went away greatly satisfied and spoke well of the Testimony they had heard Which when Priest Thatcher heard it appears he was displeased for several of his Children were there and the old angry persecuting Spirit got up in him and next first day he stirred up two Magistrates in his preaching to the People and they sent and took Friends at their Meeting and committed several to Prison And we had appointed a Meeting for Iohn Stubbs and Iames Lancaster the third day of the next Week who came after us through the Country and when they came they were put in Prison and banished out of the Colony Thus their old Fruits like old corrupt Trees they brought forth again So the next day we took our Journey to Salem and there had a Meeting and a blessed Season But there we met with some that were gone into that foolish Notion of Iohn Parrots keeping on their Hats when Friends prayed c. So after Meeting was over where many People was in a Barn we had a Meeting with several of the Chief of Friends and such as were gone after that Spirit and a great Discourse we had with them in which we laboured to bring them to an understanding of that Notion they were gone into and so laboured to open and settle the Minds of Friends in the antient Truth and blessed Power which they had believed in and received from Heaven and then appointed a Meeting to be the next Week against our Return And so took our Journey towards Piscattaway and had a Meeting at Hampton as we went were several People came in and some of the Elders of their Church and were greatly satisfied and went away and gave a good report of the Truth insomuch that Seaborn Cotton the Priest was greatly offended And the first day following he called the Chief of his People together and would have a Church-Act made That no Members nor Members Children should go to a Quakers Meeting and it was to be confirmed by their holding up their Hands But those that were at the Meeting would not assent but one of them did declare what he remembred of the Heads of what he heard at the Meeting and maintained it to be Truth So the Priest was in a rage and endeavoured to stir up Persecution And after the Meeting was over we went along to Piscattaway with Friends that came from thence to meet us and stayed there till the first day and had a blessed Meeting and also had a Meeting with the chief of Friends both Men and Women about setling of Men and Womens-Meetings And Friends were very open and in sweet unity all things were setled after we had opened things unto them relating to the blessed Order of the Gospel And so committing them to the Lord and the Word of his Grace we returned back again and had another Meeting at Hampton where were several young People who after the Meeting gave me a Paper in which they signified their desire to be satisfied in something that was as a Scruple upon their Minds To which I answered and gave them great satisfaction And when they saw my Openness and willingness to answer they with reverence did ask me about divers things wherein they desired to be informed and unto all I answered and gave them satisfaction and so we parted Then I with Friends with me took our Journey toward Salem and came there against the time appointed and we had the Meeting which we had appointed with most of the Chief of Friends and it was about setling of Meetings to look after the Affairs of the Church And in the Meeting it was upon me largely to open the Service of our Men and Womens-Meetings and the Duty and Care of the Faithful therein and when I had done they did confess unto the Service c. to be very good and right So then we desired that they would come into the practice thereof but
we took our Journey towards Swanzey and Cardiff and had several pretious Meetings in Glamorganshire and then went over into Monmouthshire And after we had visited Friends Iohn went with me to the Ferry and stayed to see me take Boat and then returned And I went that same day to Bristol and stayed some Meetings there And then went down into Somersetshire and did visit Friends there and had many blessed Meetings And returned back to Bristol and stayed some Meetings there And then went up into Wiltshire and so into Glocestershire and through Barkshire and into Oxfordshire and so into Worcestershire as far as Worcester and visited Friends and had many pretious Meetings through those Counties And from Worcester returned again down through Glocestershire and had several Meetings And came again to Bristol and from thence took my Journey through several Counties visiting Friends And so came to London and stayed there some time in the Service and Work of the Gospel And being clear I took my Journey for the North and did not make much stay at any place till I came into Cumberland And the reason of my so travelling was because of a Meeting that was agreed upon by Friends to be at Draw-well in Sedber-Parish about the former Difference that had been heard at Powbank that was among Friends in Westmorland chiefly occasioned by the aforesaid Iohn Story and I. Wilkinson and a lose sort of People that they did countenance in a Liberty that the Truth would not allow and therefore could not be born with by such tender Friends as were zealous for the Truth who kept their first love and therein delighted to uphold that Antient Testimony for the Lord against the Priests and their Tithes Hire and Maintenance with other things that were to be born Witness against through Sufferings as also for Meeting together to worship God which from the beginning had been our practice against such there being divers Statutes with Penalties upon us for so doing for fear of which the aforesaid I. S. and I. W. with such as had let in the same fear through fleshly Reasoning did shrink and hide and so let fall the Nobility of that Testimony which we had received and were raised up to stand for in the beginning And so because of a failure in divers things and a pleading for a Liberty from under the exercise of the Cross that the Offence thereof might cease the Faithful became concerned to stand up against that Spirit that thus was like to weaken or overthrow the Faith and Testimony of many through its subtil Workings in and through divers who like them the Apostle writes against in his Epistle to the Galatians that to avoid Persecution endeavoured to bring the Believers under Circumcision that so the Offence of the Cross might cease or Sufferings for the Gospel might be avoided Now this Difference still continuing and they abiding obstinate and not willing to receive Advice nor bear the Iudgment in the Truth placed upon them Friends in condescension to see if they could be gained appointed a Meeting at Draw-well near Sedber that they might have another opportunity and be heard what they could further say And then the Matters were fully gone through before many antient faithful Brethren that were there then assembled who spent four days in hearing and going through the Matters relating to that Difference that was then occasioned through their Opposition to the blessed Order of the Truth who withstood Friends godly Care for the Preservation of the Dominion thereof in Righteousness And when all things were heard and gone through by the Brethren the Iudgment was again given in the Power of the Lord upon that Spirit that they had let in whereby they had been led into a Separation and Division and Opposition to the Truth and the holy Order and Testimony thereof and they in the same Power and Love with great Bowels and Tenderness sought to return back again unto that Spirit of Love and Peace wherein the Unity and Fellowship of the true Body doth consist But alas many of them would not be wrought upon nor prevailed with but in that hardness the Enemy had wrought their Hearts into did persist until they became open Enemies to the Truth and the faithful Witnesses of it even to the Writing and Printing publickly against them and what the Truth doth lead into and so are become such as the Apostles write of that greatly withstood their words and slighted them of which both Paul Peter Iohn and Iude write This Meeting at Draw-well was in the second Month 1676. From thence after Friends had done what could be done at that time with holy Endeavours for the reconciling and gathering into the Heavenly Unity and making up of the Breach I returned again into Cumberland with several Brethren to wit I. T. I. B. Hugh Tickhill Thomas Laythes Iohn Steel and so spent a little time in Cumberland and then I took my Journey with Iohn Tiffin towards London And in our Journey we came into Westmorland to visit Friends there where we met with some of those with whom we had to do at Draw-well and then they were grown hard through resisting the Counsel of the Lord and had set up a Separate Meeting and so run into the Self-Separation and grown more into the Enmity and stronger in the Opposition through Resisting the love of God that so richly was reached forth unto them in the Heavenly Bowels that by the Power of the Lord Jesus Christ were opened in the Brethren at the aforesaid Meeting at Draw-well For then did the Power of the Eternal God in great Majesty appear and in a weighty Dread was Iudgment set and sealed upon that Spirit by which they had been betrayed and by the same Power and Word of Life was a Door opened unto them that had been betrayed and an entrance in the same set before them and they with much brokenness and tenderness in the Power of Love were sought to return and be reconciled unto God and unto his People But this great Visitation by them being rejected they grew harder and harder until they grew many of them as before said Enemies unto the Cross of Christ and so withered as to their Spiritual State and so did become as some of old whom the Apostle wrote of as Trees twice dead and pluckt up by the Roots And then from Westmorland I went over into Yorkshire had a Meeting at Sedber and went through the Dales to Massom and visited Friends there-aways And then I. T. and I with Robert Lodge took our Journey to York and from thence towards London visiting Friends by the way and so came to the Yearly Metting in the Year 1676. where there were many faithful Brethren assembled together there from most Parts of the Nation Amongst many things of Concern relating to the Truth and the Churches of Christ that Division in Westmorland was laid before the Meeting and how they were hardened and had set
receive and enjoy them with a Blessing and in true Comfort and also be a Blessing and a Comfort in his place unto all concern'd This is the Happiness and Advantage that is to be witnessed through the Working and Indwelling of that Eternal Power which God Almighty has Revealed in the Hearts of his People in this Day as there is a faithful Minding of and Subjection unto it in the true Love of it And sure many there are which if they knew the comfortable Effects of it would not abide under its Condemnation as they do But it is as it was said of old They will not believe though a Man should tell it unto them Dublin the 6th of the 11th Month 1688. The Account of the Death of my dear Wife will be come to hand before this which is no small Exercise to me But though my Loss be great in having her Remov'd from me yet I believe it is her Gain For she has been under great Weakness and Exercise of Body a long time however this I can say she bore her Exercise beyond Expectation and told some Friends She believed she was kept the longer because I was so unwilling to give her up And I must confess it was hard that it could not easily be got to and that for several Reasons but when I saw that it must be so I was made willing for her Exercises took hold of my Spirit The Morning of that day she did depart she said to me She was afraid her Passage would be hard I told her I did hope not She was under a great Exercise of Pain but bore it with wonderful quietness and sate under it as one waiting for Deliverance and very sensibly spake to me a little before her Departure So she went away like a Lamb without so much as a Groan We lived Comfortably together her Nature was Good Kind and Courteous she was Merciful very Confiderate and of a good Understanding she will be greatly missed in this place for Friends had a good Love and Esteem for her and I have Experience and know that many who seemingly might exceed in Appearance will come far behind Dublin the 7th of the 12th Month 1688. We are pretty quiet here at present but Peoples Hearts are like the troubled Waters no stay nor settlement cannot tell what way to go to be satisfied or quiet in their Minds only they that know the Truth may rest there and be quiet under the Covering of it otherwise it would be mighty uneasie I did intend for Cumberland but at present Friends could not well bear my going away neither have I freedom in my self So I rest in my place waiting the Time and Season for it Dublin the 13th of the 3d Month 1689. Our Half-Years-Meeting is over where were Assembled many Friends and Brethren from divers Parts of the Nation according to our usual manner We enjoy our Meetings peaceably and quiet generally over the Nation and in most Places our Meetings are large and many People come in and all People have their Liberty in the Free Exercise of their Consciences in Matters of Religion And as for Friends and Truth they are in good Esteem both with High and Low The Lord's Care and Mercy over us hath been largely manifest and Friends do learn great Experience of the Preservation of the mighty Arm of the Lord in this Great Day of Trial which is upon this Nation yet to our Joy and Comfort Friends are carried over it in the Faith of the Son of God and have been preserved miraculously even beyond our Expectation in several places where their Trials have been very great and the Dan gers as to appearance dreadful yet Friends have kept to their Habitations trusting in the Lord and following their lawful Concerns and Business At this Half-Years-Meeting our Hearts were made more than ordinarily glad to see one anothers Faces in such a time as this and the Lord's Power and Presence was with us that Crowns our Meetings And in the sense and sweetness of the same are the most of our Friends and Brethren this Day gone towards their outward Beings in the Peace of God and in great Love and Unity which did pretiously abound amongst us in this our Meeting throughout all our Concerns and Affairs The fourth day next I am intended to go into the Country towards our Province Meeting and do think to visit Friends e're I return Wexford the 5th Month 1689. I have had a very comfortable Journey among Friends and for the most part very large Meetings beyond my Expectation and very peaceable viz. On the third day at Tipperary and fourth day at Iohn Fennels But at Tipperary I had like to have been got hold of by the Rapperies and lost my Mare but I got away and escaped and rode back into the Town Last first day we had a very large Meeting at Edward Goodings it was their Monthly Meeting This day we have a Meeting here to morrow at Samuel Watson's and the fifth day at the Meeting that belongs to Lambs-Town I think Carloe-Monthly-Meeting is next first day I intend to be there Dublin the 12th of the 8th Month 1689 Friends as far as I can have account are in the General pretty well in Health and at Liberty and our Meetings quiet and peaceable and so are all others for ought I know But many in the Country under Sufferings as in respect to the Loss of their Goods by reason of the Wars this Land is greatly attended with However our Friends their Eye is to the Lord who doubtless suffers not all these things to come to pass without a Cause but to be a Chastisement for the sinfulness of the Children of Men. O! that all would take warning to keep out of that which provokes him to Displeasure that his Hand might be removed And truly that which is our Comfort and Stay in the midst of all is the holy Presence of his Power that attends our Meetings from the Evidence of which we receive our Satisfaction that the Lord is well-pleased with us And this is that which bears up our Spirits in the time of Exercise Dublin the 25th of the first Month 1690. I had the Opportunity this last Winter to go through Friends both in Leinster and Munster which was a great Satisfaction both to me and them Friends are generally well and our Meetings are full and we enjoy them in quietness as formerly and the Lord's Presence is with us to our great Comfort which is valued by all that are rightly sensible of it as a great Mercy Dublin the 21th of the 6th Month 1690. I have been visiting Friends in the North and had an acceptable and comfortable Season amongst them and found them very chearful It is still to be lamented that Sin and Wickedness should so abound but the Lord doubtless will plead with all that grieve him in his own way and time though he be Long-suffering And therefore it will be our Happiness to
rest quiet under his disposing and ordering Hand by which he will in his Wisdom and Power over-rule all Men and Things who knows best how to Execute Iustice and Iudgment upon all according to their Works or Deserts For before him all things are naked and bare therefore he cannot miss in Iudgment We resting here and waiting upon him it quiets our Spirits and sweetens them and also I can say it makes many bitter things sweet and so sanctified that we meet with Comfort in Tribulation And though it be both Natural unto and Lawful for us in Affliction reverently to pray for and desire Deliverance and also when obtained to rejoyce therein and bless the Lord therefore yet still our Happiness is to mind his Providences and wise Ordering of all things and therewith to be Content without either murmuring at or strugling against what he seems good to bring to pass And so here we shall all rest in one Fold and Covenant and seed in one Pasture together and so have a Fellow-feeling of one anothers Ioy or Sufferings For our Resting-place is but one in the Truth and our Salvation stands therein for ever and therefore we need look at no other Iohn Burnyeat SEVERAL EPISTLES WRITTEN By J. B. to Friends from divers Places Dear Friends IN the dear and tender Bowels of Love and Life do I dearly salute you all who are faithful to the Lord without respect of Persons in whose Life and Love I feel you and enjoy you wherein my Heart is opened towards you my dearly beloved ones with whom I am daily refreshed and comforted in Christ Jesus the Fountain and Well-spring of Life and living Refreshment who is our Rock and daily Refuge unto whom we fly and are safe in the day of storms and tempest when the floods arise and the raging Waves of the Sea do swell and beat yet in the Light have we a safe hiding-place and a sure and peaceable Habitation against which they cannot prevail As faithful to the Lord we abide therein whose Love towards us hath abounded and will abound as we abide in that unto which his Love doth reach which is his own Seed which he hath raised in us by his own Power and outstretched Arm wherein the Issues of Live and Love are known and received Therefore my dear Friends keep to it and feel it continually that fresh and lively and open-hearted ye may always be in the Life that nothing may enter that would vail the Seed and oppress it for that will stop the Issue of the Love of God which is shed abroad and shedding it self abroad in the Hearts of all the Faithful whereof we in the bountifulness of his Love have richly been made partakers of Therefore as one who with you have been partaker of the rich and endless Love of God I do exhort you my dearly beloved ones to continue in his Love and all to abide faithful in the Life that Death again may not pass over any one but that the Life which God hath raised may be felt and that may rule over him that hath the Power of Death in every one of us to his own Praise and Glory who hath redeemed us wherein the comfort strength and refreshment is re-received daily from him who is the Life and Strength of all that wait upon him and who is near to preserve all them that are upright in their Love towards him And herein have we boldness believing that neither Tribulation nor Affliction Persecution nor Distress shall be able to separate us from the Love of God which we enjoy in Christ Iesus although he may suffer great things to come upon us as it is at this day to try us nor yet to separate us one from another nor to break our Unity in the Spirit wherein we feel and enjoy one another In which my dear Friends I feel you and have you often in my remembrance to my great Joy and Gladness of heart for ye in the Lord are my Ioy and Rejoycing many times when all other Comforts are taken from me but only that in which I feel and enjoy you wherein our Unity Life and Love doth stand wherein I remain Your Brother in my measure received J. Burnyeat Postscript Dear Friends I Wrote a Letter in the Eleventh Month before I went out of these Parts and sent with one who did intend to pass through Cumberland but I hear it was left in Yorkshire which did something trouble me because that I did not obtain an Opportunity to send again so soon as I could have desired in regard we travelled into the West towards Galloway and Cork But at Dublin when I was there I wrote a Letter which I partly believe may be come to you So being in haste I cannot give you an account as I would desire only Times are very troublesome in regard of the Distractions of the People in this Nation We were taken Prisoners after we came from Dublin at Ardmagh and kept three days It is very hard to Travel in this Nation for us but for the Seed's sake we are freely given up into the Will of God Clanbrasel in the County of Ardmagh in Ireland the fourth day of the fourth Month 1660. Dear and well-beloved Friends in Cumberland BRethren and Sisters in the holy Covenant of Life with you is my life bound up in the unspeakable Bond of perfect Unity and unfeigned Love wherein I feelingly reach unto you in this day of weighty Trial wherein every ones Faith and Patience must come to be tried and every ones Foundation made manifest whereon he stands blessed are they whose Foundation and standing is in the Power of Christ Jesus the Rock of Ages and Foundation of many Generations such shall stand immoveable on the Rock in the day of Tempest and shall be at Peace and kept in Safety in the Power in the hour of Temptation and time of trial Therefore my dear Friends as if I were present with you my Bowels are opened towards you and my Life reacheth unto you in pure love even desiring that every one of you may truly feel and abide in the feeling of the pretious Life and pure invisible Power of the blessed God which he hath made manifest in your Hearts whereby every mind of them that hath been faithful to the Lord is changed and renewed and redeemed and made pure and sweet through the vertue and goodness of the same whereby our Souls continually are refreshed as we abide in the sensible seeling of the Lord's Presence O! therefore my dear Friends ye who have tasted of the Lord's goodness and have been nourished by his mercies inwardly who have felt the weight of his love and the value of his truth in your inward parts Mind that as your chiefest treasure my dear Friends that the sweet Consolation and the pretious Spring of the Father's love ye may feel opened in your Hearts from day unto day and from time to time For truly Friends large is the Lord's
blood and he that burned Incense as if he blessed an Idol and all this was because they chose their own ways and their Souls did delight in their Abominations as you may read Isaiah 66. 3 4. And therefore were all their Performances rejected of the Lord and he brought their fear upon them because when he called they would not answer when he spoke they would not hear but did Evil before his Eyes and chose that in which he delighted not So that all along you may see in the Scripture that it was not that which People did do as upon the account of the Worship of God that did at all please him or appease his Wrath while they did Evil before him and chose that in which he delighted not as is very evident from the Scriptures of Truth in divers Testimonies therein to this purpose Time would fail to mention all and what was written afore-time was written for our Learning and that we should take warning by their Example who sinned and continued therein till the day of Mercy was over Rom. 15. 4. 1 Cor. 10. 11. And therefore since the Lord hath stirred in you to take notice of his Judgments and of his Hand upon the People of this Island prepare your Hearts to seek the Lord in his own way and before you do pretend to draw nigh unto him that is Holy or to Worship him or to offer an Offering or to keep a Day unto him forsake your Sins Put away the evil of your doing from before his Eyes and learn to do well that your Prayers may be heard and that you may keep the Day holy unto the Lord and so observe the Fast which the Lord hath chosen which is To loose the bands of Wickedness to undo the heavy Burthens and to let the oppressed go free and to break every Yoke to deal thy Bread to the hungry with such like Works of Righteousness And then the Lord hath promised that such their Light shall break forth as the Morning and their Health shall spring forth speedily and their Righteousness shall go before them and the Glory of the Lord shall be their Reward And then may such cry and the Lord will answer and say Here am I when there is a taking away from the midst of you the Yoke the putting forth of the Finger and the speaking of Vanity c. Isa. 58. 6 7 8 9. And therefore try your ways and your doings and let none think that the Lord is like a Man that he will be satisfied with fair Words or Pretences where his Voice is not hearkned unto and obeyed but Sin lived in and the Fast kept which the Scripture condemns which the Lord hath not chosen as you may read Isa. 58. 2 3 4 5 verses for you may see there how that that People did seek him daily and had a delight to know his ways as a Nation that did Righteousness and forsook not the Ordinances of their God They asked me the Ordinances of Justice saith the Lord and they take delight in approaching unto God and then cryed Wherefore have we fasted and thou seest not Wherefore have we afflicted our Souls and thou takest no knowledge The Lord gives the reason Behold saith he In the Day of your Fast ye find Pleasure and exact all your Labours Behold saith he ye fast for Strife and Debate and to smite with the Fist of Wickedness ye shall not fast as ye do this day to make your Voice to be heard on high saith the Lord. Is it such a Fast that I have chosen a Day for a Man to afflict his Soul and bow down his Head as a Bulrush and to spread Sackcloth and Ashes under him Wilt thou call this a Fast and an acceptable Day to the Lord saith the Prophet Nay as I have shewed before this is not it and therefore let every one consider how they are prepared to keep the Fast that God hath chosen that the Fruits thereof may be brought forth by every one that pretends unto it or else their cry will not be heard on high for the Lord knows every ones intent and takes notice of their doings so that it is not every one that saith Lord Lord that shall enter and be accepted but he that doth the Will of God So here you may see there is two Fasts the one chosen and the other rejected and the Fruits of both manifested whereby they may be known who are the true Fasters and who are not agreeable to what Christ hath said every Tree shall be known by its Fruit And so let all mind what they do and what they bring forth for they that fast for strife and debate and do smite with the Fist of Wickedness they do not fast to the Lord their Voice he will not hear according to the Scripture And such who instead of setting the oppressed free of undoing the heavy Burthens and of breaking every Yoke do bring under Oppression and lay heavy Burthens and make Yokes instead of breaking them such are not the People the Lord will accept in their Fasts nor whose Prayers he will hear Because they walk not in the equal way of the Lord but love to wander and have not restrained their feet therefore saith Ieremiah The Lord doth not accept them but will remember their Iniquity and visit their Sins and therefore the Lord commanded the Prophet that he should not pray for that People for their good for said God When they fast I will not hear their cry and when they offer Burnt-offerings and an Oblation I will not accept them but I will consume them by the Sword and by the Famine and by the Pestilence Ier. 14. 10 11 12. So you may see all along the Lord doth not regard all that Man can do or may do so long as he wandereth from God and doth not restrain his feet from walking in the evil way Thus hath it been in all Dispensations of the Scripture before and therefore much more under this last and most glorious Ministration of the Gospel of Christ Jesus which is professed by you wherein the former comes to be fulfilled and finished or perfected where Christ himself is the great Law giver who gives out his Ordinances and Precepts unto all his People who according to the promise of the Father gives unto them the Spirit and writes his Law in the Hearts of all the Children of the new Covenant Ier. 31. 33. which they are to observe and to walk after and if any one do otherwise he ought to be dealt withall according to the command of this great Law-giver Mat. 18. 15 16 17. First to be spoke to and see if he will hear either a Brother two or three or the Church And if he will not hear nor be gained then saith Christ Let him be unto thee as an Heathen and a Publican But he gives no Commission unto Christians to persecute to put in Prison to take away Goods to pull down their Houses
and so retire and spread their Cause before the Lord who is the living God Remember the King of Old who commanded silence and said Answer him not a Word and so returned to the Temple and to the Altar of the Lord and spread the Cause before him and confessed the weakness of the Daughter of Sion to bring forth and also his Faith in the sufficiency of God's Power when he said Thou art able to Save c. Oh! my dear Friends Live up to the Lord in your Spirits and be Faithful and keep your Peace with him in the inner-Man and mind your Unity with his Spirit and take heed of that which would obstruct your Fellowship with his Life let no Fair Pretences over you Prevail that may have any tendency to bring your Spirits into Bondage or any straitness over your Hearts for that Bondage will prove the greatest Slavery and this I do believe you right well know And now my Dear Friends all of you minding your inward Freedom and your Spiritual Ease in the Freedom and Liberty given you of God through Christ your Saviour you will have a Dwelling and Habitation filled with Glory Riches and Comfort over which the Enemies Cloud cannot come and in that you will see through to the end of all that would either Darken or bring Distress And so you will see how good it is to trust in the Lord and to rely upon his Power and be given up freely into his Will And so dear Hearts my Love is truly unto you all and in the Love with which I have anciently Loved you and in which I Love you as much as ever do I very dearly Salute you all you tender Suffering Children and with my Soul and Spirit desire that God in Mercy and Kindness may bless you with Spiritual Blessing in Christ Jesus and enrich your Souls with the Divine Fatness of his House and Pleasure of his Life that you may have Joy every day and delight every Morning in your Bosoms that so your Strength may be renewed and your Ability so encreased that you may be able to bear what is upon you till the Lord see good to Work your Deliverance and case you of the yoak and Burthen that you bear Which the Lord in Mercy take off if it be his pleasure is the desire of Your Friend and Brother in the Fellowship of the Sufferings and Tribulation and also of the Consolation which we are called unto through Christ Jesus our Lord. I. B. The Copy of an Epistle sent to Friends at Bristol in the time of their Sufferings Written at Eaglesfield in Cumberland the 1st of the 6th Month 1682. Cork the 25th of the 10th Month 1682. Dear Friends IN the Everlasting Covenant of Life and Peace and in the pure spring of Divine Love in the same do I remember you and in Spirit reach unto you and very dearly salute you all who in the Faith that gives the Victory do remain and stand stedfast and so keep your Habitations and Dwellings in the Heavenly places in Christ Jesus your Redeemer who hath redeemed you out of the Wickedness that is in the World unto himself and so into his own Power and Nature which is righteous that you might become the Righteousness of God in him and so be restored into the Image Nature and State in which Man was Created by him that made all things good and Man in his own Image that he might delight in Man and that Man might honour and glorifie him Now this Work of Restauration you know God hath sent his Son to effect and accomplish in Man and for Man that again Man might honour his Creator and become the delight of his Maker whose delight is to dwell in the Habitable parts of the Earth even among the Sons of Men. And therefore that you may be his Delight and that he may take Pleasure in you do you all keep in that which hath Renewed or doth Renew and change the Heart and Spirit of the mind that in the Newness thereof you may serve and honour and glorifie him from whom the renewing Power and Word doth come that so the new Creation the new Heavens and Earth may be known wherein Righteousness doth dwell and that you may have your Conversation there and so shine as Lights among this crooked and perverse Generation in whose Heaven and Earth Unrighteousness doth dwell And therefore will the Lord as the Apostle said not only shake the Earth but the Heavens also that that which cannot be shaken may remain And truly I do believe that many ones Heaven will be shaken before this searching winnowing trying Day be over that 's growing on upon the Nations and People for the Heavens of many are grown over and covered with Darkness and thick Clouds and the Glory thereof is gone and the brightness and stedfastness thereof is lost not a Star to be seen except a Wanderer out of its course out of the Covenant that hath greatly lost its Light and so in the Clouds of Darkness driven to and fro by the variable uncertain Winds that are and may be suffered to blow to shake that which is shakable and remove that which will not endure that that which cannot be shaken may remain and the Glory of that may appear which will endure Dear Friends God hath manifested that which is sure for ever and will endure and stand and last and you have known the power of it and as you keep in the holy sense thereof you will be stedfast constant and firm in your Minds and not soon shaken nor removed from your Habitation and stedfastness in the Gospel of Christ Jesus our Lord which is the power of God which is above all Powers Thrones and Dominions and will stand and cannot be shaken For it s above Iohn's Ministration the Gospel Power and Kingdom is and he that 's least there is greater than Iohn and is come to that which is surer than a Reed that may be shaken with the Wind though it be not broken yet it may be shaken And therefore they that would dwell there and not come on to Christ the Rock that cannot be shaken their Dwelling is not safe their Habitation will be thrown down and their House made a Desolation Methinks I see it so in our Days upon such that have sitten down short of the Eternal Substance that ended all Shadows Iohn's as well as those that were before him And therefore dearly Beloved you that have known the Eternal Substance the living Power of the Lord Iesus Christ manifested in your Hearts by which you have been quickned raised up and made alive unto God keep to the Power in your Souls and mind its living in you that you therein may live unto God and so abide a living People through your Age God's living Witnesses in your Day without Alteration and so be such as have not only been Hearers of the Word but Doers also and so such whose House is built upon
the Rock Christ Iesus which by the Storms and Winds cannot be thrown down For the sure Foundation being kept unto you will abide and endure and the Lord will bless you with inward Peace in your Souls and true Pleasure in your Hearts and you will enjoy the true Riches and Heavenly Treasure and learn as you keep to the power of God in your Hearts to lay up this true Treasure in Heaven through the true Faith where the Thief cannot come to steal nor the Moth to waste or corrupt And then your Riches and Treasure that you trust and delight in being thus laid up in Safety your Hearts will be at quiet and in ease and setled in the Kingdom in Heaven where the Treasure is and then Christ's Words will be witnessed Where the Treasure is there will the Heart be also Oh my dear Friends how true are these things Happy are they that grow up into the experience thereof through the working operation and openings of the true living Heavenly Power in their Hearts such their Minds are kept free from that which would entangle and their Feet at liberty that they may run chearfully the Race that is set before them For the Riches the Price that their Hearts are upon being before them and the Mark also that they look at this draws them to look forward and press forward so that they are not of them that draw back to Perdition And thus Friends you may see where and in what your profitable Exercise is through your Day and where the lasting Gain Riches and Treasure is to be got that will endure and be your Portion when the Enemy and all his Instruments have done what they can And this made David say he would not fear what Man could do unto him for the Lord was his Shepherd he said and the Lord was the Portion of his Cup and the Lot of his Inheritance c. And therefore keep your Hearts out of the World and the Riches thereof which are uncertain and also above the delighting in the Glory thereof and let your delight be in the Lord and in the sweet and pleasant Enjoyment of his righteous peaceable Power all the Day long that you may still feel a Habitation therein and a place of Safety to fly unto in every needful time And wait you upon its holy springings in your Hearts that your Souls thereby being united unto God you may dwell in his Covenant and so in Unity with him and his blessed Son and so feel the Fellowship which is a Mystery held in a pure Conscience And dearly Beloved live at Peace among your selves and wait for the Spirit of Love and Concord to spring in all your Souls that the true Mark of Christ's Disciples may appear among you Remember what he said unto his of old By this shall all Men know that ye are my Disciples if you love one another And consider what the Apostle said He that dwells in God dwells in Love c. And therefore I intreat you wait for the power of it in your Hearts that you therein may serve one another and so the whole Body may be edified the weak strengthned the faint-hearted encouraged and the lame not turned out of the way but all helpt forward on their way And you all being thus in the righteous holy Power exercised for good which is that it will lead unto you will be a Strength and Comfort and Crown of Rejoycing one unto another and so helpers forward of one anothers Joy in the Lord Surely this is needful in this Day wherein Zion hath so many Enemies she had need to be as a City that 's at Peace within her self So the God of Peace keep you all in the Dominion of his Life that therein you may reign over every hurtful Thing and so dwell in the holy Mount of Safety where the Destroyer cannot come and upon the holy Hill of Zion about which he hath appointed Salvation for Walls and Bulwarks That so you may all witness Peace to be within her Walls and Prosperity within her Palaces And so you may every Day witness high Praises in your Hearts and Mouths unto her King who is King of Kings and reigns over all who only hath Immortality and dwells in the Light To whom be Glory and Eternal Praises saith my Soul for ever and for evermore Amen From your Friend and one that truly loves you in the Truth J. B. Dear R. S. UNTO thee with thy Dear Wife C. H. R. U. and theirs with the rest of Friends there in Prison with you doth the living sincere Love of my Heart truly reach and livingly flow forth for I can say of a truth that you are often near my Soul and livingly in my Heart and that in my nearest approach unto the Lord when my Life opens and my Spirit is let forth through the Power thereof and poured forth into his Bosom as blessed be his Name he gives us access by his own Spirit even then are you many times fresh in my Heart and Livingly before me as if I were present in Body with you and with great delight do I put up my Supplications upon your account unto the Lord our God rejoycing to feel the Lord so concerned for you that by his own Spirit he so often stirs up a remembrance of you in my Soul and that upon such Holy occasions Oh! blessed be his Name he is the Keeper of Israel that neither Slumbers nor Sleeps but remembers his People and his Eye is open to see their Afflictions and his Ear is open to hear their Complaints and tender Groanings and no doubt but he will arise in his own due time to work Deliverance and Salvation and they shall glorify him Oh! my dear Friends how is my Soul overcome in the weighty Love of God at this time unto you all who Suffer or are given up to Suffer for his Name 's sake that hath Loved you and values your Testimony above all things and so are of that number that love not your Lives unto Death but are given up to follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes Oh! my Heart is affected with you in your Testimony and can say as Debora of old My Heart is towards you who offer your selves willingly among the People now to Suffer in the Lambs Battle as they did to War in the outward War for that 's the way the Lamb and his followers do overcome he was made Perfect through Suffering And the Promise still is The Lamb shall have the Victory everlasting Glory and Honour and Praise to the Living God that sits upon the Throne and to the Lamb who is worthy for ever more And therefore my dear Friends look not out look not back but to the Lord your Rock and Strength look for Help and for Deliverance for you know that its from him that Salvation comes and not from the Hills and Mountains for he is the God of the whole Earth and the Mountains shall Melt at his
that we cannot easily be moved Though the Winds do blow and the Waters swell and toss and the unestablished be driven to and fro and so afflicted in their Spirits yet this Rock abides for a Habitation and Being of Safety unto all them that keep firm thereunto and so do abide near in their Spirit unto the holy Power thereof they find the living Spring of that Grace from the same in their Souls that the World cannot take away whose Treasure the Thief cannot steal nor the Moth waste for its Heavenly and kept by a Heavenly Hand And such who mind this will be ready to offer up their Earthly Substance and also themselves into his Hand and Will out of which no Man is able to pluck And surely in this Day there is no true Rest nor Satisfaction to the Souls or Spirits of Friends but as they get hither in the Faith with their Hearts and Spirits And when we are here spiritually oh this holy Shield how doth it defend Oh the holy Rock how do we sit under the shadow of it Oh the holy Ioy that the Dwellers upon this do feel in their Spirits though the Tempest be great Oh the God of Heaven keep us all in the holy sense of this that our Spirits may be born up from sinking under our Exercises in the Trial that so we may all glorify him in our Day Dearly Beloved you tender suffering Children whose Hearts are tender of God's Glory and therefore are willing to give up your selves and your all for his Name 's sake that you may be of that number who following the Lamb whithersoever he goes and not loving your Lives unto Death that may stand with him upon Mount Sion My Heart and Soul is knit unto you and you are near me and in the unity of the antient Life I feeling Love abundantly to flow unto you you have had a proof of the sincerity of my Love of old unto you And truly you that stand in your innocent Testimony faithfully do ingage my Heart still more and more in Love unto you Oh the tender meltings of my Spirit in the sweetness of the Love of God in which I reach you and rejoyce with you in your Ioy which all the Wrath of Man cannot put a stop unto I know your Hearts are at ease and your Spirits free and the Weights and Burdens from off you who are freely given up to suffer though in these Bonds outwardly But there can be no such spiritual Portion received by any that shrink from their Testimony in this Day of Trial. For the Word is true for ever They that suffer with him shall reign with him He the Captain was made perfect through Sufferings he must be followed by all that come in the fulness to pertake with him of his Glory And such who draw back and would find a place of Safety for themselves to escape their Sufferings for their Testimony though they should fly to the uttermost parts of the Earth the Lord's hand will find them out and there will not only be a holding back of the Portion but a spiritual Pain will overtake where the Heart is tender and because thereof uneasie will every ones place be unto their Spirits And therefore my dear Friends keep in the Faith and Word that Iustifies and then will you reign in the Seed that 's heir for ever wherein you will Overcome and Inherit and be Conquerors and so Triumph with the Lamb that must have the Victory before whose Feet the Crowns of all the Mighty must be laid down unto whom the Kings of the Earth and all Flesh must bow in him we trust his Heavenly Kingdom we wait for and pray for the coming of that even such as are our Enemies by the power thereof may be Converted unto God and so have an Inheritance with us in that Kingdom that hath no End That so Mankind might rest together in that Hope that makes not ashamed where the Love of God might be shed abroad in all Hearts by his Spirit Thus God is filling the Hearts of his Children with good Will towards all The Lord keep us therein for ever Dear Friends by this know that I am well and am now come to have a share with you of the Sufferings that attend for the Gospel's sake I have been three Weeks a Prisoner here in the Marshalsee of Dublin So in the true Fellowship of the Gospel am a Partaker with you both of the Sufferings and Consolation that attend us for the Testimony thereof I remain From the Marshals in the City of Dublin the 25 th of the 6 th Month 1683. Your Brother I. B. Dublin the 19th of the 6th Month 1685. Dear J. Banck UNTO thee with thy fellow-Prisoners who suffer for the blessed Testimony of that precious Truth in which we have believed doth the real and tender Affection and Love of my Heart and Soul flow forth at this time and in the sweetness and peaceableness of that which is our Life do I dearly salute you and in the unity thereof tenderly greet you all whose Hearts are kept up in that and under the holy conduct of it for which you suffer In this have we our unity which in it self lives and reigns over all and shall reign in its own pure Dominion and Dignity even the Power of our Lord Iesus Christ to whom Principalities and Thrones and Dominions must be subject It is for the Testimony of him you know that you suffer to wit the Testimony of Iesus which you have received from him by his Spirit and thereby have it sealed in your Hearts Though many do not understand the weight and certainty of your Testimony for which you suffer and therefore may look lightly upon it yet you who are enjoyers of the Power and so have received the Spirit of Iesus which is the Spirit of Prophesy and so his Testimony therein you feel the Weight of it and know the Certainty of the Testimony for which you suffer and so in your Sufferings have your Peace and Iustification And therefore my dearly Beloved in the Lord see that you all hold that fast in all your Hearts in the inward rich Possession of it for which you suffer that you may feel your Reward with you and your Comforter in you to bear up your Spirits over all your Sufferings and so you will have a Satisfaction in your selves that whatever others say or may think of your Sufferings and the reason thereof you know within your selves that it is for the Truth and its Testimony that you suffer and for the keeping of your Consciences clear in the sight of God And so in the hidden Man of the Heart you rest in quietness in that hidden Life which you receive from Christ and here is your Peace and Comfort which no Man can take from you no nor Man knows of it but such as are in Fellowship with you who live in and love the same Testimony And therefore those that know
a good understanding and seemed to be concerned for many as she said that came to Meetings in Dublin who did not mind their Conditions or the stay of their minds which she feared would scarcely be Saved My Heart I must needs say was greatly affected with her Exercise and Concern and was Comforted in the Sense of that living Presence that was with us at that Season And when we had spent some time together and were Refreshed and I to go away she did most solemnly take her Leave of me in great Affection and signified how kind she took my Visit withall seriously saying Farewel dear John If I never see thee more And so I came away In a few Hours after she was struck with Death In the Evening my Wife and I went again to see her then we found her very Ill but lay quiet under the Extremity of her Pain We with several other Friends sate by and waited on her until she Departed which was about the 11th Hour at Night She went away in quietness as I found before was her Desire And we sitting and standing quietly by her our Hearts were broken and I felt a Glorious Melting Power which tendred my Spirit and a Brightness and Light that did shine and it was sweetly in my Heart when she was Departed She is not gone into Darkness but is in the Light The sense whereof was great Satisfaction to me because I know the Glory is there in the Light for ever And now poor Lamb it is her Gain though your and our Loss For considering her years she was a Modest and Good Example and as she said to me at that Season She was never inclined to Vanity And I perceived her care was sometimes greatly for you fearing your Exercise would be Great Well I must needs consider that the Loss of such a Dear Child cannot but come very near Tender Parents yet you may be comforted in a satisfaction of her Well-being and so rest and even say with David We may go to her but she cannot come to us And so Comfort your Hearts in the Lord and so rest in his Will And Dear R. this may find thee something better in Health than we have of late heard however I am sure my Heart truly desires that it may be so And if the Lord give strength I should be glad to see thee here For methinks all this while thou hast been absent thy place seems to be empty I cannot look upon it that thou shouldst be from amongst us But if the Lord give strength thou shouldst be here bearing and having thy share with us For I look upon thee as one of us and so methinks would not have thee delay as the way opens My Wife 's very dear Love is to thee and thy Wife and our Love is dearly to Ellin Callow and Friends there For further account of things I may leave to other hands We are all quiet and peaceable here So with my true and endeared Love unto thee I conclude and remain Thy Friend J. B. The above is a Copy of a Letter Writ by John Burnyeat to Roger Roberts concerning the Death of his Daughter Ann late wife to Amos Srettel who Departed this Life the 8 th of the 11 th Month 1685 about the 11 th Hour at Night For the Priests in CARLISLE and their Followers YE which stand up to teach the People behold your Flock which ye teach and see what is brought forth among them such Fruits as were never brought forth among them that were taught of God nor by any that he sent But the small Effect your Teaching doth bring forth for God doth evidence to your faces that ye are not sent by him but run and the Lord doth not send you therefore doth the People profit nothing by you but the Fruits of Unrighteousness do still remain among them and they are not turned to God and out of their Sins by all your Teaching For Persecution is found in some and Pride and Drunkenness and Mocking and Scorning and Reproaching of them that fear God doth appear among them that follow you Oh consider of it you that take in Hand to Teach these People did ever any of the Ministers of Christ own such for Christians Consider of it was Persecution found among the Saints Or did they Imprison any Shew one Example in the Scriptures for it if there be any Or did the Apostles own them for Christians that did persecute Consider of these things Were not they Enemies to the Truth that did persecute and imprison And was it not the Saints that the Persecution rose against And did not the Apostles suffer Persecution And were not they Enemies to Christ that persecuted them And are not they Enemies to Christ that persecute now Oh! that you would but consider of it and see what Generation ye are of and what Fruits ye bear and whether ye and your Followers bear the Fruits of the Ministers of Christ and the Saints or ye bear the Fruits of the false Prophets and of the rude Multitude and persecuting Generation that persecuted the Righteous For from the beginning the Righteous were persecuted even from Abel but we never read that the Righteous did persecute any but were always Sufferers So it is evident that they that persecute and imprison are shut out of the Life of them that gave forth the Scripture and are found in their steps which were Enemies to the Truth and did persecute them that lived in the Life of it And so ye that take in hand to Teach the People of this Town look upon your Flock and see what Fruits are brought forth by some of them Yet for all this your Teaching of them you have not brought them to so much Moderation and Love as was in Felix who commanded a Centurion to keep Paul and to let him have Liberty and that he should forbid none of his Acquaintance to Minister or to come to him But we find not so much Moderation nor Love among you who say ye are Christians for we are kept in Prison and our Friends are hindered to come to us Oh be ashamed of your Flock ye Teachers that for all your teaching ye have not brought them so far into Moderation and Love as they were who persecuted the Apostles and Saints and so they must needs be far short of being true Christians But you are bad Examples to them herein for many of you who are Teachers do cause the Innocent to be cast into Prison and persecuted and so do manifest your selves by your Fruits not to be in the same Life the Apostles were in who always suffered and never did persecute any So consider well ye Teachers of this that your Flock is not a Flock of Sheep and Lambs but rather the Nature of Wolves doth appear among them whose Mouths are open against the innocent who live in the Nature of the Lamb. Are ye not therefore of those who run and the Lord never sent you
in Print his Arguments to prove the Quakers grand Hereticks in these Points c. And why would not Iames Barry give us a Meeting to prove us such according to his former Boasting Might not that have been convenient first or otherwise in writing to have given us some Arguments that we might have had something to have vindicated our Selves against that wise Men might have seen a little into the ground of our Difference But it is to be questioned whether he hath any Arguments against them that are fit to be brought forth before wise Men and therefore his greatest Policy is to keep them hid and so please Fools with his boasting of them But to do him Justice we must confess he hath given us cause to appear some way to vindicate our selves and our Principles according to his demand and since he himself proposeth Printing as the Method now we think it not amiss to do accordingly believing he cannot reasonably find fault with that which he himself seems to advise unto In his first Paper he calls us Persons who delight in brangling and stirring up the Spirit of Animosity and Prejudice and Men of as little Charity and Religion as those we receive our idle Stories from whether this be not more his guilt than ours we shall leave to the Lord to judge and also to Men of understanding who have the knowledge of both our Practices In his second Paper he charges our Principles to be dark and uncertain but lays down no Arguments against them In his last before recited you see how he charges Quakerism as he terms it to be made up and constituted of Subtlety and judges us to be in serpentine acts and our Cause dark and rotten and likewise you may see what an Imputation of being God's Enemies he endeavours to fasten upon us in his Application of those two Scriptures viz. Psal. 17. 14. and 73. 12. and in the conclusion of the same Paper giving his Reason why he sent all his without date tells us He did it willingly having seriously considered that a dateless Answer was at any time good enough for foolish and impertinent Stories and nonsensical Whimsies So that though he lays down no Arguments to confute our Principles yet you may see who are unbiassed and without prejudice what confidence he hath to pass sentence upon us and our Blessings to be that kind of Blessedness which is the portion of God's Enemies and that is a sad portion Let him be as full of Envy as he can to answer it he need desire no worse for us the Lord forgive the thoughts of his Heart and the words of his Mouth and bring him to Repentance if he see good for from these doings of his it appears he is in the gall of Bitterness and wants Charity which is the perfecting Vertue He spares not to judge both us and our Principles as the worst of Men and Principles which if he speaks truth of us then we are so indeed but he hath that yet to prove and therefore he had been wiser if he had first proved us such and then given his Judgment upon us but alas his Malice and Envy would not suffer him to stay for that lest he should be prevented for want of proof You see how he judges us to delight in brangling and stirring up the spirit of Animosity and Prejudice which is the work of evil Men and our Principles dark and uncertain and therefore not of God who is Light and unchangeable and that our Religion is made up and constituted of Subtlety then not of Simplicity and our Acts Serpentine that proceed from the Wicked one and not from Christ that bruiseth the Serpent's head and our Cause dark and rotten then it is not in the Everlasting Light All this being once proved by him then he makes good his Application we are Enemies indeed to God and Christ But all this we do deny and leave at his Door to prove if he can and until then we lay it upon him as a wicked Sentence and Judgment But this is not all tho' this were enough if true to make the Quakers and their Principles hated of God and good Men. But in his Preaching and other Discourse as well as in his said Papers he hath not spared to Rail Abuse and pass Judgment upon us as appears by several Witnesses one whereof affirmed that he heard him in his publick Preaching declare That the Quakers were the Spawn of the Iesuites and that the Iesuites were the Spawn of the Devil which he himself hath since owned to two of our Friends who spoke to him about it Now this false and wicked Accusation we utterly deny and therefore turn it upon himself to prove the same we having born our Testimony against them as we do against him and all others who stand up against the glorious appearance of Truth as it hath pleased God to manifest it in this Day and therefore do utterly deny to be of their Off-spring yet do desire that in his next he would make out how they are the Spawn of the Devil and we their Off spring in that Line So let all People consider the desperate boldness harshness and hardness of this Man's Heart and Spirit you see how in his unwholsom Words he places us in the Devil's Line and Off spring and so near as his Grand-children what worse can he make of us or in what state that 's more dreadful can he place us Sure in his Judgment we are far separated from God Doubtless he accounts us of the reprobate number that God never had Mercy for since he believes there are such It is also evidenced unto us that he joined the Quakers and Muggletonians together and said that we did take upon us to know the Dimensions of God viz. To know his length breadth bigness form and likeness which is altogether false for we utterly deny such Erroneous Principles and have born our Testimony against Muggleton It is also evidenced unto us by two Witnesses that Iames Barry in his Preaching did affirm that the Quakers were a bewitching and blaspheming erroneous People cheating God of his Right and that they did compass Sea and Land to make one Proselite and when they had done made him two-fold a Child of the Devil more than before Thus it appears that he still endeavours to incense People against us as that we are from the Devil and are working for him to turn and beget to him and not to God Those with many more such like unchristian Reflections and Abuses against us and our Principles are brought to us and testified to have proceeded from his Mouth and therefore we offered as before that we desired a publick Meeting before the People that the Witnesses and he might come face to face and that the People might hear both sides with their Witnesses and when all was heard that we would leave it as before proposed And this we thought might be a good
God that ye may reign in the dominion of the same over all the evil Lusts of the Flesh which would arise in your hearts to war against the Spirit of Holiness and so would hinder your Sanctification This of a truth Friends you ought to take heed unto even the Spirit of Holiness and Power of the Lord our God which in this latter Age he hath largely manifested for to sanctifie his People that so your hearts may be kept clean and preserved according to Christ's Command out of the surfeiting with the Cares of this Life and from being overcome with and drowned in the Pleasures and Vanities of this World that you may never lose the excellency and glory of these heavenly things which God the Father in the bountifulness of his loving kindness hath been pleased to manifest with which all the glory of this present World is not to be compared And so my Dear Friends you that feel the Lord and his goodness in your hearts Walk Circumspectly as before him with Reverence and Godly Fear in the holy Awe that you may not provoke him at any time nor grieve his holy Spirit by which you are Sealed but with tenderness of heart and pureness of mind wait upon him at all times So will your Peace spring up as a River and your Righteousness be multiplied as the Waves of the Sea and so over all the choaking Cares of this Life and drowning Pleasures of this present vain World you will be preserved to have a being in the power of that life which is without end In which as there is a dwelling faithfully you will all grow and increase in the dominion over all hurtful Lusts that war against the Soul in your own particulars And also there will be a growing over all hurtful Spirits that have entred since the beginning whose Life is in the Fall and not in the pure Redemption nor in the redeeming Power that brings out of the Fall And so to the Lord God Friends be ye all faithful in your places that you may be a blessing in your Generation in those Countries and Places where ye dwell that the Nations may be seasoned that your savory life may sweeten the People And Friends have an eye to the Glory of God and the Honour of his Truth in all your undertakings I even command you in his fear it being upon me by his Spirit that the Lord's name may not be blasphemed among the Heathen through your unfaithfulness For truly my love being great towards you I am jealous over you with a godly jealousie and therefore am constrained to use great plainness as having a sense of your state And therefore be ye provoked unto Love and to good Works in a faithful obedience and serving of the power for it s in that that all accepted And lay aside all Wrath and Clamour and evil Speaking with all bitterness and receive with meekness the ingrafted Word which is able to save your Souls And in the power of that dwell and it will divide aright between the Pretious and the Vile and so will cut off all that is not of God not regarding what may be professed where the living vertue is wanting This pure living Word is your Preserver that keep faithful in it and will keep you from all deceiveableness and lying Spirits which are not of the Father but of the World and from the God of the same in the dark power beguiling the unstable Soul through his lying Signs and Wonders in the power of darkness without living vertue And this Word which you have received will live in your hearts and minister daily of its own vertue into your Souls for their refreshment if you keep faithful unto the same But if the Thorny Cares of this life and the choaking Pleasures of this vain World take root and place in your hearts then the freshness is lost the issue of living vertue is stopt the ministring word and power is with-drawn the Fountain again is sealed up and the dry Winds and the scorching heat comes and dries up and causes to wither the green Blade before the Corn comes to perfection So that the harvest and time of gathering never comes Therefore O my Friends be faithful unto the Lord and be not drawn aside from the stedfastness of the Gospel neither on the one hand nor on the other but step in the straight path of Life Peace and Salvation which the Lord hath prepared for your feet that the Weak may be strengthned and the Lame recovered and none turned out of the way For truly there is much upon you I feel it in this matter even you that feel the Lord in any measure that you all be vigilant and diligent in your places that you may be a strength unto the Weak And therefore am I moved once more to warn you now you even you that know the Lord To take heed unto the power of the Lord God in your hearts and with that keep down the earthly worldly Spirit that so you live over it in the Spirit and Power of the Lord may draw more unto you or else I feel it you will not only be guilty of your own Blood but the Blood of others also which stumble at your unfaithfulness who have been call'd and accounted as the first Fruits unto God and unto the Lamb in those parts of the World in this blessed day of the Lord in which he hath appeared and gathered by his power and also doth preserve and nourish by the vertue of the same all that he hath gathered whose trust and confidence is in him And so My Friends this may give you to understand that I am safely arrived in England and am perfectly well every way And Friends here are generally well Meetings very large and the Truth in good esteem among many People who are not yet of us And great openness in all places where I have been in the hearts of all People and great desires to hear the Truth for it is of good Report This from Me who remain Your Friend and Brother J. B. The END 1671. In our going down to Virginia we were in great danger and had like to have been Castaway with a North-west Storm 1672. 1673. 1674. 1675. 1676. * * The Earl of Arran This was Amos Strettel's Marriage As at large may be seen in George Bishop's two Books entituled New-England judged * * Iohn Smith Witness Thomas Smith Iohn Kelson Thomas Cole
to shine For he was an Instrument of Good to many making a Difference saving some with Fear pulling them out of the Fire hating even the Garment spotted by the Flesh being found in that pure and undefiled Religion of Visiting the Fatherless and widows in their Affliction and through the Grace of our Lord Iesus Christ keeping himself Unspotted from the World and therefore knew how to Save upon Mount Zion and Judge upon Mount Esau. Much might be written concerning him for we know the very Desire of his Heart and Bent of his Spirit was that God through his Son might Reign in the House of Jacob and the Kingdom might be the Lord's He abhorred the Appearance of Gathering to himself and had Self of no Reputation therefore the Lord honour'd him with his Divine Presence and made his Company althô dreadful to the Back-sliders yet very desirable unto many especially those who knew his Integrity and Zeal for the Exaltation of the Name and Truth of God in whose Hearts he was highly esteemed for his Works sake which shall follow him althô he be at Rest from his Labour being got to his desired Haven where the Wicked cease from troubling where the Weary be at Rest. And there the Prisoners rest together they hear not the Voice of the Oppressor for the Accuser of the Brethren is cast down Temptations cannot prevail an Over-coming is known by the Blood of the Lamb and by the Word of their Testimony who have not loved their Lives unto Death And To him that overcomes saith Christ Iesus will I grant to sit with me in my Throne as I also overcame and am sate down with my Father in his Throne he shall not be hurt of the Second Death but with Abraham Isaac and Iacob and with all the Faithful in the Kingdom of God without ceasing sing Praises unto him who sits upon the Throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever-more who is Worthy O the great Loss we have of him How can we but Lament Yet it is his Everlasting Gain For he shall never Return to us but we may go to him And that Word of Life in which his Life was hid yet remains for our support which as we are careful to keep to will preserve us as it has done him to Enter into that Mansion of Glory the Lord hath in store for all the Faithful He was Dear unto us in the Lord with whom our Souls were bound up in God's Everlasting Covenant And thô his Body is gone to the Dust yet our Souls rejoice with many more in that we enjoy his Spirit and are come to the General Assembly and Church of the First-born and to God the Judge of all and to the Spirits of Just Men made Perfect and to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant and to the Blood of Sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel where our Ioy is full and our Spirits bowed and subjected to the Will of God where our Peace flows and the Life arises that fills our Hearts with Praises that Ascend as sweet Incense to the Lord God and to the Lamb who is blessed for evermore The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and he delighteth in his way Psal. 37. 23. And they that be Wise shall shine as the brightness of the Firmament and they that turn many to Righteousness as the Stars for ever and ever Dan. 12. 3. Broughton in Cumberland the 22th of the 2d Month 1691. Margaret Fawcet Jane Wilson Margaret Head Jane Hall Mary Wilson Mary Bowman Sarah Fallowfield An Account by Way of Testimony concerning our Dear Friend and Brother Iohn Burnyeat WE will leave to others the Account of his Birth and Convincement that were his Neighbours and Kindred and shall speak of him only as some of us knew him from an Intimate Fellowship in divers Services for above Twenty Years He was a Choice and Seasoned Vessel of Christ the special Workmanship of his Power and Wisdom by which he was effectually qualified for the Ministry of his Everlasting Gospel throughly furnished may We say to every good Word and Work God called him unto Deep and Large in his Gift reaching what was seasonable to every State in Judgment sound free in Utterance Zealous for Holiness severe against Unsound and Dividing Spirits Most tender to Penitents and returning Prodigals affectionate to the Brethren und careful over the Flock of God that they might Answer their Heavenly Call and grow in the Truth Of a grave and steady Temper yet sweet Hardy in his Constitution and Undaunted and Unwearied in Mind He was the Father of many Children in Christ who through his Ministry were begot again to a Living Hope and the Builder up of more through the same in the pretious Faith of God's Elect. For this he often Travelled through this Nation and sometimes Scotland and the Plantations in America but Ireland in a more peculiar manner both at his first Entrance upon his Ministry and of latter Years where he Married and chiefly resided and where he laid down his Head in Peace with God and Love to his People and good Will to all men being about the 59th Year of his Age and is entred into Eternal Habitations to praise the God of his Mercies in the Living Family of the Spirits of the Just for ever He was indeed a Man of an Excellent Spirit and Divine Understanding from God and deep in the Knowledge of the Heavenly Mysteries of the Kingdom of God and also of the Depths Wiles and Subtil Workings of Satan wherein he lies in wait to beguile the Children of Men and the Lord many times opened him in his Heavenly Wisdom to declare of them that those who had regard to God and the Peace of their own Souls might be preserved out of Satan's Snares He was an able and powerful Minister of the Gospel of Salvation a Strengthener of the Weak and an Incourager of the Upright and Sincere-hearted to continue to the end But he was indeed dreadful to the Hypocrites and Rebellious and all the Opposers and Gainsayers of the Truth A skilful Marks-Man yea one of the Lord's Worthies of Israel a Valiant in the Camp of the Lord and an Undaunted Warrier in his Holy Host and his Bow abode in strength and Wisdom was given him to direct his Arrows to the very Mark so that the Sturdy were wounded the Meek were comforted the Tender in Spirit refreshed And was by the Lord made Instrumental to wound that Self-separating and Dividing Spirit thad had for want of Watchfulness in the Divine Light and Faithfulness to God's Spirit and Truth in the inward parts prevailed over some who notwithstanding in a disguise and under specious pretences endeavour to sow the Seeds of Dissension Discord Separation and Division among the Gathered of God And the Lord blessed his Labours greatly and so preserved him in a Holy Conversation and in a meek tender bearing healing Spirit that he promoted both