have most assuredly believed unto salvation And verily the Power and pure Presence of his Eternal Strength was with me through many hardships trials and tribulations the right hand of the hiding of his Power did sweetly guide strengthen support me even as it did and doth his Lambs whom he so send forth as among Wolves in his Dovelike innocency harmlesness wisdom which is as wise or rather wiser than the Serpents And this Scripture have I well witnessed fulfilled whilst travelling from one Nation to another people as my Father did in the ancient days And on this wise with three more Brethren so freely given up with one consent in the behalf of the Gospel everlasting that is now preaching again to the Nations Tongues and Kindreds We set forward the 16th of the third Month and we sweetly parted with our right dearly beloved Friends Brethren Fathers and near Relations that were flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone and from all our outward acquaintance and Native Countrey in the Will Love and Spirit of our God in the same day from Graveseâ—d we set forth and at the end of 44. days we arrived at Legorn in Italy where we gave a certain sound of our innocent service and Message of Salvation and of-its life and blessedness coming upon the Nations as a weight either to condemnation or justification as the same is received or rejected among them And thus as we had opportunity among the men of our own Nation the Jews and others we gave a sound and the blessing of the God of Heaven and his Presence was with us whether the Nations of men did hear or forbear but the Witness of God in sundry was reached and the same answered in us And herein we are so far well satisfied whilst others were hardened who defied us and our Testimony as their uncircumcised Fathers always did resist and gain say the truth that saves from sin and so finally from its condemnation And it came to pass after that we had waited upon the Lord to understand his good will and pleasure he answered us in the joy of our hearts and we received his counsel and communicated of the same to each other's satisfaction in the love of God in which we were wel confirmed to obey the same until the death as the Lord our God might have permitted for his Name 's sake who then further ordained us to be separated viz John Stubs and Henry Fell to pass on towards Alexandria and my dear brother and companion Richard Scostrop with me to pass Eastward to Smyrna and Constantinople in Asia and after a little season we parted in the goodness of God And when 24. dayes were finished having in the mean time touched a little season at the Island Zant we arrived at Smyrna But behold it came to pass immediately at out coming there was not a little stir together with the evil surmizings and what else arising up as a flood with threatnings breathed forth from the Apostate Christians especially men of no small degree of our own Nation against us when Turks Jew Greeks Heathens and others were not altogether so evil affected as to let us from the exercise of our Conscience void of offence towards God and man and so to hold forth the example of the harmless Life and unblameable Conversation in all equitableness in Doctrine Life and Practice of what we professed in the midst of them But oh how the Christians by Name in Asia who should first have received the Word of saving-health how did they defie and reproach not onely us but our living Testimony and Message of Blessedness which day by day was sounded in their ears notwithstanding the Lord God lay not what they did against us to their charge when they have most need of Mercy and Peace with God if happily repentance unto life be witnessed by them who know not what they did yea and my spirit is ready to say Amen for their sakes that hated us without a cause as the same unbelieving nature did our Lord and Maâ—â—er whom we love serve and honor in the same and therefore keep his sayings which are not grievous to us in that one and the self-same Spirit which reproves the World for sin in which we worship him as the Father the which guideth into all truth from all evil concerning which we wel admonished their minds to subject to the one and to avoid and turn from the other each having their proper effects attending them as anguish woes judgements and disquietments upon the soul and conscience that doth evil and contrariwise blessings peace glory honor and the goodness of God attending the soul of man which worketh good in the Light of the same excellent Spirit of God which exerciseth the Conscience in temperance and sobriety meekness and gentleness of Christ. And on this wise we besought the men of our own Nation together with many more in them parts that they may become a sweet savour of the pure life of Christ and Christianity indeed and in truth which tends to answer the Witness of the Eternal God manifest in Turks Greeks Jews Heathens and Apostate Christians among the dark Nations where they have their conversation Yet I am constrained to express somewhat of their manner of dealing with us to our good Wherefore men of reasonable and honorable understanding may bear with me to the end that the honest-hearted may be informed to beware of a persecuting Spirit which is not of God neither ever was it born of him Their threatnings encreased daily and they burthened themselves exceedingly with us whose deportment and behaviour they were made to confess to as did the Consul and divers others which in truth they could not say otherwise but that it was temperate innocent harmless and unblameable in our conversation Magnified be the Lord and blessed be his Grace of Life by which we in submission to the same were guided herein But because our Testimony was not for but against whatsoever might be said in truth to be evil unjust or unequitable which is dishonorable therefore were we hated of the high and lofty to the disquieting of their own rest day and night because they burthened themselves so with the truth and innocency of the Lord's Testimony which our Life held forth among them who received not the same in his love that they migâ—t be saved not onely from sin but also from the wrath to come So they forthwith sent a Message from Smyrna to the great City Constantinople to the King's Embassador of England and besought him to expel us out from among them of Asia that we might not have a being in the extent of their Authority in visiting them on this wise as by the annexed Warrant thou that reads the same may understand A Copy of the Warrant which they produc't and prosecuted WHereas we are informed that there is lately arrived with the Zant Frigot one Daniel Baker with his Companion commonly called Quakers
mockings scoffings scornings reproaches stripes contradictions perils at Land and perils at Sea fiery tryals cruel threatnings grief of heart sorrow of soul heats and colds fastings and watchings fears within and frightings without terrible temptations and persecutions and dreadful imprisonments and buffetings of Satan yet in all these our tryals the Lord was very gracious unto us and not absent himself from us neither suffered his faithfulness to fail us but did bear us up and keep us from fainting in the midst of our extremity we had not another to make our moan to but the Lord alone neither could we expect a drop of mercy favour or refreshment but what he did distil from his living Presence and work by his own strength for we saâ—e one in one room and the other in another near a year as Owls in Deserts and as people forsaken in solitary places then did we enjoy the presence of the Lord and did behold the brightness of his Glory and we did see you our dear Friends in the Light of Jesus and did behold your order and stedfastness of your Faith and Love to all Saints and were refreshed in all the faithful hearted and felt the issues of Love and Life which did stream from the hearts of those that were wholly joined to the Fountain and were made sensible of the benefit of your praâ—ers O the sorrows the mournings the tears but those that sow in tears shall reap in joy A true sorrow â—egets a true ioy and a true Crosse a true Crown For when our sorrows did abound the Love of God did abound much more the deeper the sorrows the greater the joys the greater the Cross the weightier the Crown Dear Friends and Brethren marvel not that Israel is not gathered our Judgement remains with the Lord and so do our Labours for it was not for want of travel nor pain nor love to their souls for we could have been contented to have fed upon the Grass on the ground so we might have had ouâ— freedom amongst them For had it not been for the great opposition they would have followed after us as Chickens after a Hen both great and small But oh the swelling seas the raging and foaming Waves Stormy Winds and Floods and deep Waters and high Mountains and Hills hard Rocks rough wayes and crookedâ— paths tall Cedars strong Oaks fruitless Trees and corrupted ones that cumber the ground and hinder the righteous Seed to be sown and the noble Plants from being planted Oh! they shut up the Kingdom against the simple-hearted and hide the key of knowledge from the innocent ones and will not enter into the Kingdom themselves nor suffer them that would enter but stir up the Magistrates to form carnal Weapons thinking to prevent the Lord of taking to him his Inheritance and to dispossess his Son who is heir of all that he might not have a dwelling-place amongst them nor a habitation nigh them because that his Light will discover their darkness and his brightness will burn up all their abominations and marr their beauty and stain their glory their pomp and their pride that it may perish as the untimely Figs and fall as the Flower of the Field and wither as the Grasse upon the house-top Oh the Belly of Hell the Jaws of Satan the whole Mysterie of iniquity is at the height and all manner of abominations that make desolate stands where it ought not and is upholden by a Law That upon pain of death none must speak against it nor walk contrary to it But praises to our God he carryed us forth to declare against it daily Oh the blind Câ—ides the seducing spirits that do cause the people to err and compel them to worship the Beast and his Image and to have his mark in their fore-heads and in their hands and to bow to Pictures and painted Walls and to worship the things of their own hands and to fall down to that which their own fingers have fashioned and will not suffer them to look towards Sion upon pain of death nor to walk towards Jerusalem upon pain of Faggot and Fire but must abide in Babel and believe whatsoever they speak or do to be truth But oh the wayes the worships the â—ashions forms customs traditions observations and imaginations which they have drawn in by their dark Divinations to keep the poor people in blindness and ignorance so that they perish for want of knowledge and are corrupted because the way of truth is not made known among them they are all in the many wayes out of the one true and living way and their ways be so many and so monstrous that they are unrehearsible but the Lord our God hath kindled a fire in the midst of them that will consume all forms fashions customs and traditions of men and will burn up the bryars thorns and tares stubble and fruitless Trees and corrupted ones and will blast all the fruits works and labours of wicked and ungodly men with the Mill dews of his wrathful indignation and will scatter all his Enemies with the Whirl-winds of his displeasure They do not know the Scriptures Their Bibles would grieve any honest heart to behold them because of the corruption They said Our Bibles were false I asked wherein The Fryar said Maccabees was not in them I said if any were taken from them yet the rest might be pure but if any were added to them then they were corrupted He askt me Whether I did not think it meet for every one to bow at the Name of Jesus I said Yea. He said Jesus and bid me fall down or bow my body I told him My heart and whole body was bowed under the Name of Jesus but â— should not stoop to his will nor any man 's else He that departeth from iniquity boweth to the Name of Jesus but those that live in sin and wickedness do not stoop to the Son of God And he told me they stood in the same Power the Apostles did and were guided by the same Spirit as they were I asked why they did abuse their Power then and make use of Carnal Weapons He said they did not they were all spiritual their Inquisition their Chains and Irons and all is spiritual And he asked Whether we judged them all damn'd that were not of our Judgement I said Nay we had otherwise learned Christ those that were in a Reprobate condition to day the Lord may call them out of it to morrow for what I know He said They did judge us damn'd and all that were not of their Faith I told him Man's Judgement we did not matter A VISION IN a Vision of the night I saw in the Firmament six Suns one at a distance from the rest that did appear to be but half an hour high the other five stood four-square one in the middle and they did cross over each other the highest did not seem to be above an hour high And when I did awake I was
the Lord of Life to them after I had offered up my body and to lay down my life for these poor innocents my dear friends and so with my voice I saluted them in the Lord's Truth as they stood at the prison-Grates with these words in the behalf of the general Assembly of the Saints in light to wit The whole Body of God's Elect right dearly owneth your Testimony and you are a sweet savour unto the Lord and his people And forasmuch as one of these poor afflicted Lambs replied and said on this wise as if it was a trouble to them that they could not be more serviceable Then my heart being melted and my bowels of pity mercy and compassion being moved I said That it was a wonderful mercy of the Lord in as much as they were preserved in their own measure of Truth and pure innocency for which my heart praised the Lord for what mine eye saw which right dearly affected my heart and we were well refreshed at that season in the sweet presence of our living God albeit our bodies were at a distance but so as we could behold each others face through the Prison bars of Iron in the Inquisition Now for so much as in the Wisdom of God it is seen meet that the fore-mentioned and following Writings which came from their hands might appear to publike view that thereby every Member of the one Body may have a right understanding and not onely so but also a sensible feeling not onely of the trials and sufferings in part of these innocent Lambs but also of the consolations of each other as fellow-Members of the infinite Body of which Christ Jesus the Lord is both King and Head in whom be endless dominion and pure glory and eternal salvation Amen And so I being as it were constrained to publish the acceptable Words that sound and savor of pure innocency and clear truth for the Elect's sake in the same Love and Life I am the more free hereunto even as a Child that differs but little from a servant as I am in the Father's Love Power and Grace of Life fitted to serve the undefiled Life of the least in the Kingdom of Blessedness and to administer comfort or what else I have received from the Eternal Fountain or Fulness for the use or service of either Body Mind Soul or Spirit of my own Flesh or Family seeing no man ever hated his own Flesh and he is worse than an Infidel that provideth not for his own Family especially them of his own House This is a sweet Salutation to God's Elect Church in England and Ireland RIght dear precious and Heavenly ones whose Beauty shineth bright and at whose Name the hearts of the Heathen do tremble We who through the everlasting Mercies of our God are Members of the same Body and are held in strait Captivity and hard Bondage for witnessing forth the same Testimony and Covenant of pure Light Life and Truth of our God with you dear and faithful ones indeed We here in the same Covenant of pure Love and Bowels of tenderness do dearly salute and embrace you all glorifying and praising our Eternal Father for you all who hath counted us worthy to partake of the fellowship and sufferings for the Bodies sake with you in tribulations fiery trials manifold temptations fastings watchings heats and colds and cruel threatning and persecutions perils by Sea and perils by Land standing in jeopardy of our lives year after year and looking every hour day and night for many Weeks together when we should be brought out to Execution but though Proclamation was made and they came up to the very Caâ—e with a Drum and Musquets to fetch us out to destroy us yet the Lord God of everlasting strength who in the deepest of all dangers and greatest extremity when all hopes were past did but blow upon them with the breath of his nostrils and they did flye as dust before the Wind for which we do entreat all Friends to glorifie our God on our behalf for never did the Lord our God work greater deliverance for any than he hath done for us from time to time who are the least and weakest for what we know that ever the Lord our God sent forth in so great weighty a Work but all things are possible with him who made and created all things it is he alone which carrieth on his own work by his own mighty Power and the glory shal be his own for evermore Amen Oh our dearly beloved Friends did you know but the third part of the afflictions the Lord our God hath carried us through you would say The Lord hath wrought as great a Miracle in our preservation as ever he did in raising Lazarus out of the Grave And in the greatest of our afflictions we could not say in our hearts Father would thou hadst not brought us here but cryed mightily to our God for power to carry us through whatsoever should be inflicted upon us that the Truth of our God might not suffer through our weakness And the Lord did hear us and answered us in righteousness and carried uâ— on with all boldness and made our fore-heads as Flint and our Brows as Brass in the faces of our Enemies that whensoever we were brought forth upon trial all fear was taken away that we stood as Iron-Gates and Castle-Walls in the faces of our Enemies so that they said we would fain be burned but we answered No we would not willingly be burned but if our Heavenly Father doth call us to suffer in that kind for his Name sake he will give us power to go through it and we have great cause to believe it for our Lord God never called us to do any service for him but he gave us power and made way for his own Work glory and praise be to his holy Name for ever Dearly beloved friends marvel not why Israel is not gathered in all this time it is not for want of labour nor travel nor grief nor pain fasting nor mourning nor weeping nor love to their souls but it is because of the great oppression For here are a willing people but they dare not until the Lord make way for them Truly Friends we have not been idle since we saw your faces nor have we had much ease to the flesh but do travel night and day for Sion's prosperity and perfect joy and for the reparation of Jerusalem and her pure praise though our sorrows are deep and our afflictions grievous yet we do wait with patience to reap the peaceable fruits of righteousness and enjoy the benefit of our uprightness Praises be to our God for ever he hath kept us by his power and holiness that our Enemies have not one jot or tittle against us but for the Truth of our God and that we could not join with them so they would not suffer us to have one line of refreshment but stript us out of all so that we could not
expect one drop of mercy favour nor affection but what our Heavenly Father did distil upon us from his living presence and work for us by the operation of his own Arm of strength and power But dear Friends though a long Winter and many sharp and terrible storms have past over our heads so that we cannot express our sorrows so likewise we cannot declare our joys Oh! in the midst of all our afflâ—ctions our God did draw nigh unto us an did speak comfortably unto us with many sweet and precious promises and did never suffer his faithfulness to fail us nor was he wanting unto us in Visions and Revelations Oh how doth he appear in his glory beauty and brightness so that our souls are ravished and wrapped up with his living presence and glory many times so that we do not dare to look out at our long sufferings nor trials but do press forwards towards the fulness of joy and blessedness which our Eternal Father hath prepared for all them that love him and walk in obedience to him and we know the deeper our sorrow is the greater our joy shall be and the heavier our Cross the weightier our Crown as we abide faithful And we do believe that neither Principalities nor Powers nor sufferings nor imprisonment nor pesecution nor life nor death shall be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord and Saviour Amen Dearly beloved Friends though our bodies are bolted up in the Rocks and Caves of the Earth yet our spirits you know nonâ— can limit nor confine to any place And we do behold your order and steadfastness of your faith and labour of love and are daily refreshed in all the faithful-hearted Oh dear hearts the remembrance of the least of you is precious Oh! the Rivers of tears that have distilled from our eyes whilst we do think upon you for joy because of your growth and flourishing in the Truth Oh! you are Virgins indeed who have Oyl in your Vessels and your Lamps burning and are cloathed with the long white Robes of Righteousness and are adorned with the Ornaments of pure Beauty and glorious brightness abundance of you to our joy and comfort and we do pray night and day That every Babe of our Heavenly Father's begetting may prosper even as we desire our own souls should prosper and that every one may be kept out of incumbrances and use the World as if they used it not but every one's mind spirit heart and soul may be exercised in the Eternal by the Power of God out of the earthly out of the visible out of the carnal and perishing things of this life so as to trust in it into the heavenly into the spiritual into the invisible into that which never changeth sadeth nor waxeth old where every one may dwell in the enjoyment of the presence of the Lord for in the presence of the Lord is fulness of joy and at his right hand is pleasure for evermore Oh! that every one may be emptied of your selves and unbottomed of your selves that you may build wholly upon the sure foundation and anchored so fast upon the Rock of Ages that neither the swelling Seas nor the foaming Waves nor stormy Winds though they beat vehemently may ever be able to remove you Oh dear Brethren in the life and power you may feel the issues of Love and Life which stream as a River to every soul of you from the hearts of us that are wholly joined to the Fountain Glory and everlasting praises be given to his holy Name Our whole souls spirits hearts and minds are given up to serve the Lord in whatsoever he requireth of us as he shall make it manifest unto us And we do blesse his Name for ever that he hath found us worthy of so high a calling as to bind Kings in chains and Nobles in fetters of Iron Our prayers are continually for the advancement of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus throughout the whole Earth for the gathering of the Seed of the Elect of God and for the raising of it up over the Seed of the Serpent in power and great glory to bear rule and to have dominion over the whole World that the Kingdoms of this World may become the Kingdoms of our Lord Jesus that he may rule in his Princely Power and reign in his Kingly Majesty whose Right it is that the knowledge of the Lord may cover the Earth as the Water covereth the Sea that all the Children of the Lord may be taught of the Lord and be established in Righteousness that so the Mourners in Sion may rejoice and the heâ—â—y hearted in Jerusalem may be right glad The Lord God of Power hasten it for his own Name 's sake and for his Elect's sake that lye in captivity under the hands of the dark Powers of the Earth either spiritual or temporal Amen Amen saith our spirits Dear and precious Friends and Brethren pray for us that we may finish our Testimony to the glory of God and to the praise of his holy Name and to the comfort of all that love his appearing and to our own eternal salvation and to the shame and confusion of all that hate the Lord Jesus and persecute his Truth So in the pure Vnity of the Covenant of Light Life Peace Love and everlasting Righteousness do we take our leaves of you all at this time hoping and believing we shall see your faces once again before we go hence and be no more seen Dear Friends pray for us Though we were in many streights and hardships by reason of the oppression yet whilst our minds were staid upon the Fountain we saw no want but our tender Father whose heavenly eye was ever over us saw our necessities sent his right dear and precious Servant and 〈◊〉 and faithful Steward Daniel Baker to administer to our necessities both spiritual and temporal he came not in his own time will nor strength but in the Will and time Strength and Power of the Almighty God at whose presence the Mountains were removed the tall Cedars were made to bow the strong Oaks to stoop Oh wonderful He went to the Lord Inquisitor the Popes Deputy to demand our lawful Liberty which would not be granted unless he and we would write to Messaena or Legorn to some English Merchant to be engaged for four thousand Dollers Which Proposition being out of the Covenant of Light we durst not stoop to it but our dear Brother in Christ Jesus offered his body for our liberty but it would not be granted nothing would serve but one to engage for four thousand Dollers to be paid if ever we come into these parts again Then in obedience to the Lord he offered up his Life for our Freedom but all would not serve the Will of our God be done Oh dear Friends greater Love was never heard of than for a man to lay down his Life for his Friend Oh! it is worthy to be recorded
and all we have And the Fryar told us if we would come to their Masse-house and receive their holy Sacrament we should be the most eminent Catholicks in all Malta but we denied them in the Name of the Lord and all their dead foppery which they have invented Here we are kept under the Inquisition as they say till they have Orders from the Pope of Rome what they should do with us We beseech you all faithful Friends pray for us for great are our trials Did you but know the abominations that the Devil hath invented here you would think it were tryal enough But here we have cruel mockings and the same contradictions trials and temptations that ever the servants of the Lord had Christ himself It is the wonderful Power of God that we are preserved till this time for all the whole Island are Papists and given up to Idolatry We are despised of all people and abhorred of all Nations and because they cannot have any just thing against us they do invent lyes against us but the Lord is on our side for else the Enemy would soon destroy us for great is their rage and we have continual War with them night and day we feel behold their threatnings and cruelty is more than our tongues can express Great is the love of our God for he doth refresh us with the sweet drops of his mercy and doth water us every moment with the everlasting springs of his Love or else we had fainted long ago Oh! let all who know the Lord praile and glorifie his holy Name for ever and ever Amen Dear Friends Friends farewel in the Lord. From us who are in outward Bonds in the City of Malta for the Testimony of Jesus glory be to his Name for ever who hath counted us worthy We are in health at present blessed be God Katharine Evan. Sarah Chevers Several other Writings to D. B. whilest he was in MALTA OH thou tender-hearted one whom our God and our Eternal Father hath sent to relieve us his poor innocent Lambs in hard bondage and deep captivity which thou art an eye-witness of none can receive or discern it but those that do see it But our Heavenly Father who hath respect to the rest of them that believe in his Name hath sent thee to be an eye-witness in some measure of what we have undergone Oh my dear precious and endeared one thou meek Lamb thou innocent Dove who dost bear the likeness beauty and brightness of that unspotted one that is come in the Volume of the Book to do the Will of God We can give in our Testimony for thee that thou camest here in the Power and Authority of the Most High to which the tall Cedars were made to bow and the strong Oaks to bend praises praises be given to our everlasting God for evermore Oh my dearly beloved Brother thy beauty shineth indeed thou art all glorious within and without thy Garments are perfumed with all delightsome scents We smell the sweet odours thereof and do feel the fulness of Love and Life which runs from thy tender heart day and night to us and in the same unity of Love do our hearts stream forth to thee and thou knowest full well Oh how have our hearts and bowels been melted for thee our heads and eyes have run with tears and our souls have been poured forth to our Heavenly Father for thy preservation and we do truly labor to see thy face before thou comest Glory and praises be given to our Eternal Lord God Amen saith our spirits that he doth vouchsafe us so great a mercy as to behold the face of so precious a Friend We do beseech God to moderate us with his Eternal Spirit that we may always be mindful of his mercies and never to let his benefits slip out of our minds We have been near death many times when we had none to come near us but those that preacht death and destruction to us I have lain twelve dayes or more in a fast in strong travel night and day that my dearly beloved Yoke-Mate would have been glad if the Lord would have taken me out of the body because of my weak affliction Then the English Fryar which was here came up and down to us and down to us and would say to my Friend She is ready to depart send for me and take notice what torment she will be in a thousand Devils will be about her to fetch her soul to Hell because she will not be a Catholick And after we vvere parted vve vvere called to fast so that my Friend vvas so vveak that she put on such linnen upon her head as she thought to lie in her Grave We did eat but little in a Month together vvhen our money vvas almost done till vve did knovv the mind of the Lord vvhat to do Then they did run to and fro like mad men and the Fryars did come and say The Inquisitor sent them to tell us vve might have any thing vve vvould eat and they did say it vvas not possible that ever creatures could live vvith so little meat for so long a time together They bring us meat and say the English Consul did send it It vvas a glorious Fast indeed the Lord did appear vvonderfully in it praises be given to him for ever Amen We vvere very vveak because the povver did vvork so strongly I had no manner of food in my body five or six days together We did lie in clothes because vve had no strength to put them off nor one to make our bed Then vve did speak to the Fryar that vve might come together but he said they had no such order if vve vvould have a Physician vve might And there vve lay none knovving from morning to morning vvhether vve vvere deador alive We vvere kept quiet and still till the Lord's time was come they brought many things for us to eat Then the Lord said Thou mayest take as freely as if thou hadst laboured for it with thy hands I will sanctifie it to thee through the â—ross And he said unto Sarah she should eat of the fruit of her hands and be blessed And we did eat and were refreshed and glorified the Lord We did cry mightily unto the Lord night and day that we might not eat nor drink to offend him vve vvould rather dye The Lord vvas vvell pleased vvith our Sacrifice and did encrease our strength and administred comfort to us honor and glory be to his blessed Name for ever In the lowest of all our conditions we were kept a top of all the Mountains so that they could not make â—â—hrink or bow one â—or or tittle to any of their Precepts or Commands Yet the Fryars have commanded us in the Name of their God to kneel vvith them in prayer The time is too little for me to disclose the twentieth part of the terrible trials but whensoever we were brought upon any tryal the Lord did take away all
redeemed of the Lord Amen Dear heart it is hard for us to part with thee thou wilt feel it The Will of our Eternal Father be done in the pure unity of the blessed Spirit of Light Life Joy Peace and everlasting Glory do we here take our leave of thee at this time hoping to see thy face again with joy in our Lord's time O dear heart our hearts souls spirits and our whole lives goeth along with thee The pure peace of our God rest upon thee Amen Dearly salute us to all Friends for they are dear and precious to us indeed Farewell farewell dear heart farewell Dear heart THou hast cleared thy Conscience towards us in the sight of God and man if here had been many friends what could have been done more concerning us than thou hast done Thou hast stood in great jeopardy ever since and thy life hath been sought for much We have felt it and cryed night and day to our Heavenly Father to preserve thee and safely deliver thee Whatsoever we do suffer we desire the Will of our Heavenly Father to be done in all things if the Lord doth stir up the Earth to help the Woman it is his own free love and upon that account we shall receive it and not upon any other This they spake concerning the money I lâ—â—t with them and for their necessities And the Lord did appear unto me in a Vision of the Night and smote me on the Arm and said Look there is the Pope he will not hurt thee Where he stood in the Room as one forsaken of God and man this was at the English Consuls when there was some fear upon me concerning him Now here is a Roman in the Prison which came hither upon some account he is a a Doctor of Law and differs from them in many things but they are all of one spirit He doth constantly affirm that the Pope hath sent an Order to set us free and he saith they are lyars and false blasphemers if they do say the Pope sent any such Order as they speak of They do meet every day concerning us we do feel them some would have it one way and some another and so they cannot agree because they do act contrary to the Will of God the Lord sets it all on fire and hath burned all they have done these three years concerning us Now where they will look a Reward of their charges we do not know the wise are taken in their own craftiness and the subtile in their own snare There have twelve of them sate in Judgement upon us three years and some have struck hard at our lives so that we have been even at death's door I have lain very weak three Weeks at a time There are many for us as far as they do dare The Lord says there were two with the Inquisitor for us and did plead much with him I did see it in a Night-Vision The English Consul which is dead was with us two several times after we were in the Inquisition he said he would lend us five pounds when we did want but when our money was near done we were made to rejoice greatly and could not take any of any one We did not know the mind of the Lord in it but had we had money we had not known the mighty Power of God Now we are able to trust the Lord where-ever he shall carry us without money We do question the money in the Consul's hand It will be hard for him to part with it Our Life is with thee A few Lines to D. B. OH our dear and faithful Friend and Brother begotten of our heavenly Father right dear and precious in his sight and beautiful before his presence Dear heart we do glorifie our God in our hearts souls and spirits who hath called chosen and elected thee to come up to the help of him against the Mighty and hath carryed thee along in so weighty a work and hath prospered thee therein praises be given to his blessed Name for ever who hath enclosed thee in his Bosom and Chamber of his everlasting Love and hath hid thee in his private Pavillion where them that would hurt thee cannot find thee because of the shadowing of his Almighâ—â—ness under whose defence thou art kept safe and he doth carry thee upon the Wings of his Power so that the Mountains do become plain before thee which we do see clearly in the Light Eternal honor and glory be to his Name for ever who is called Wonderful Counsellor the Mighty God the everlasting Father the Prince of Peace in whom we have fellowship and unity one with another and none can hinder Dear heart we do dearly embrace thy sweet Exhortations thou being sensible of the instigations of Sâ—â—an â—ho hath winâ—owed us with every bait winding and twining slights 〈◊〉 he hath Praises be to our God for ever who hath preserved us and prevented him The Enemies being busie with their Temptations to have us enter into their Covenant thereupon I was moved to write these following words which I communicated to their hands with the former Paper Viz. BEhold the Word of Life arose in me saying this morning Keep to Yea and Nay and I will confirm my Covenant unto thee These Words were spoken to the true Seed that shall inherit the Kingdom the same you know is but one in Male and Female And so the blessing of my Life rest upon you and be with you in the same even in that which hath no end neither fadeth away yea and my Spirit saith Amen Dear Lambs read within and be refreshed and the God of Life and Peace encrease the same and multiply your strength abundantly Amen Malta the 10â—h day of the 11th Month 1661. D. B. Another Paper from them to my hand DEar and precious heart in the Eternal Covenant of Light and Life of our God do we salute thee and dearly embrace thee Oh! what hath the Lord made thee unto us far more precious than we are able to express and great will be thy reward for thy faithfulness to the Lord and thy dear and tender love to us and thy diligent care of us Oh! thou art the Messenger we have cried long for to our Heavenly Father saying How long Oh Lord How long will it be before thou wilt send thy Messenger whose feet are beautiful coming upon the Mountains bringing glad tyding of great joy to us thy poor Captives Now hath the Lord our God answered us at large Praises praises be to his Name for evermore Oh! how are our souls refreshed and our spirits supported and our hearts comforted our minds rejoiced and our bodâ—es strengthened Thou canst never do greater service to the Lord our God than to come into such a place as this is to offer up thy dear life in ransoming us Great was the Power that brought thee and great is the Power that doth uphold thee and Mighty is the Strength which doth preserve thee and great