yet said he I found that same spirit in him that was in the other two men who beat me and my Relation telling me simply the word as he spoke them the words did so reach me that I meeting the said Quaker again I did desire him That as he passed that way he would make my House his Lodging-place The Light in Darkness it did shine Though I did not it comprehend Till that God did my Heart encline His Word made Flesh for to attend Which he seeing the Witness in me reached he was the more free to do yet though the Witness was so far reached in me that I could discern spirits as betwixt the spirit of Meekness and Rashness yet there was still that Mind unbrought down that stood in my way to hinder my Obedience so that the Lord was pleased to stick closer to me with his Rod for first He stripped me naked by removing of my Children which was by Piece-meal to fit me to yoke my self under the Cross and then by separating me and my Wife for several years so that I was wholly turned out of my Estate also as to this day I am to live in a Wilderness Condition so that I was forced to leave my native Country and go to France where then the Lord began to work upon my spirit to bring me the nearer to himself for when all Visibles failed me and those to whom my Wife and I most trusted did become my subtilest Enemies yet the Lord did so Commiserate my Condition that in the Bowels of Mercy he made me to take up the Cross to my own will and to resign my self fully over to him seeing all Visibles failed me and he used that way of Mercy to bring me nearer to him which nothing else could and thus closing with the Visitation of the Lord I found more sweetness and contentment then ever I had in my fullest delight and Pleasure of the World and thus I do witness and the Lord is my Witness that I never came to my Rest till then and I would have done any thing never so hard and unpleasing to the Flesh to bear a Testimony to the Truth that the Lord had revealed in me and shortly there was an Oportunity cast into my hands to try me and that was this There came a Woman Friend out of England to the Town of Diep where I was then together with a Maid to bear a Testimony to the Truth against the Protestants of that Nation and brought with them several Books of Friends translated into French and distributed in the Town and gave me also to distribute which were writ by George Fox and William Dewsbury and several others and some Papers they gave forth themselves which I translated into French they not knowing the Language but in all this they never did manifest to me their Intentions for it is like that in that frame of spirit that I then was in and fore-seeing the Danger and not so fully come to the Obedience of Truth as I thought I was before the Tryal came yet so it was that they went the next First-day called Sunday to the Meeting-House of the Protestants where there were many Thousands of People and there did place themselves in the most Conspicuous Place of the Meeting just over-against the then called Minister the said Friend having clothed her self in Sack-cloth and her Hair hanging down sprinkled with Ashes was covered with her Mantle and Hood and when the said called Minister was in the highest of his Devotion she did stand up with the other Maid who did take from the said Woman her Mâ—ntle and Hood she appearing all in her Sack-cloth and Ashes her Hair hanging down and turning her self round several times that all the People might see her did strike such a Consternation both upon the caâ—ed Minister and the People that they were all at a stand the said Minister's Wife having confessed to a Friend since that her spirit was so affected with that Sight that she said This is of a deeper Reach then I can comprehend for the Witness in some was so reached at that time and a little while after they both did fall down upon their Knees and Prayed and then went out of the Meeting where a great many following of them to whom they distributed of their Books and spoke in the Market-place and then came to their Lodging which was in a Scotch-man's House who kept a Victualling-House but no Entry there was for them and they being destitute came to my Lodging I knowing nothing of this all this time I not going to that Meeting and when they came to me they did show to me That their Work was dâ—ne that they came for to that Nation and now wanted Lodging till they went away and I asked them What they had done and they told me so I went to some other Victualling-Houses to get them Lodging which was promised for them so as I kept them at my Lodging till Bed-time and then I went with them to that place as was promised me and when we came Entry was refused there also so that at that time of Night Lodging could not be had for them the Protestants had so stopped their Entry and where so that I took them back to my Lodging again and offered them my Bed and would shift for my self I being better acquainted in the Town but they refused to put me out of my Chamber then I dealt with my Landlady of the House to let them stay in any of her Rooms for that Night to sit up in but she refused it saying She durst not for fear of giving Offence to others all that I could prevail with her at that time of the Night was to let them have an Out-house to stay in for that Night which was an Hen-House so that I gave one of them my Night-Gown and to the other my Furred-Coat to save them from the Cold that Night and the next day I brought them to my Chamber again and after that we had broken fast I went to the Key to look for a Passage-Boat to carry them to England again and in my returning back I saw so many people of all sorts standing about my Lodging that I did pass by it but immediately one came running to me saying That the King's Advocate was at my Chamber waiting for me and when I came in he told me That I had Transgressed the Laws of the Nation by receiving Persons of another Religion to my Lodging for the King tollerated only two Religions viz. the Papists and the Protestants Then I told him That I had not Transgressed the Law of Hospitality and I was forced to it so as I could not let them lie in the Street where they were in Danger of their Lives by the rude Multitude So they took them away with Serjeants to the Judicatory where after they had judged them they sent them to Prison they not knowing the Language they wanted Food and other Outward
from England was returning for England of whom I desired Passage in his Company which he freely granted me and so came to England with his Convoy But I have omitted all this time to shew you that the High Places as yet were unbroken down in me but that some Groves were as yet left standing notwithstanding all the Wonderful Mercies the Lord had bestowed upon me in carrying me and my Wife upon the Wings of his Providence in our Wilderness Condition which would spend more time to relate then some it may be would bestow upon the reading of it yea and I dare say that none could well understand nor believe but those who have trod in the same Pathes as we did But I being so long in Egypt and I so habituated and leavened to their Fashions and Customs I was like Joseph that could Swear by the Life of Pharoah and had not come to that Plainness of Language which God doth require but could Complement with their Fashions and Words And I had Thoughts that all was well with me till I came to a Tryal in England again so that the Face of Friends did strike a Dread and Terror in my Heart when I thought that all was well till the Spirit of the Lord running through others of his Vessels did awaken me for I was Upright in my own Judgment but the Lord searched me For I could come with Confidence to Meetings and frequent the Assemblies of the Lord yet I durst not own the Name of Quaker I not being Faithful to the Measure which I had receiv'd for now it was become so far high for me as before my Obedience I had esteemed it low and after that I would willingly by Wisdom have made void the Obedience into such things as Matters of Indifferency and accounted them but Circumstantials and Foolish to put any Weight upon the doing or not doing it became so burthensome to me that I could have undergone the greatest Strait Imaginable rather then omitted it and as I became Obedient there I felt Strength and Power and a more real Content did spring up in me and in this Light and Power of the Spirit that hath visited me did I feel Strength to wait and know further his Will and Mind for in the height of this Exercise I found my self overcome and my self not my own but the Lord's to do with me what he pleased to require of me what Service he would I should be willing to obey in his Strength and if the Lord never show me any more I feel Contentment in his Will earnestly desiring that I may never stop the course of his Spirit for I find that there is nothing can nor is able to satisfie my thirsty Soul short or beneath the Lord of Life In the Fire as Gold tryed I was Till Consumed was the Tin and Dross And then I knew what was come to pass That I did not suffer any Loss Postscript FRIENDS THere are a few Words which I have to add to you The Litteral Professors who can own the Ministration of Christ without you but deny him within and who raise up Jealousies and Prejudices against us as if we denyed the Scriptures and Ordinances of God and Christ that dyed at Jerusalem professing him in Words but denying him in Reallity and Substance and you to be the only Owners of Christ and yet ye forget your own Principles who have been all your time praying for the Spirit of the Lord and now when he comes to you in his Spirit ye will not only be shie and scare off him but ye will persecute all that will not own him after your Form though we really in our hearts own that Christ in the Flesh which in the Fulness of Time did offer up that Body prepared to do the Will of the Father according as it is expressed in the Scriptures of Truth Neither do we hold any thing for Christ but him who appeared and was made manifest in the Flesh I cannot believe that Doctrine of you the Litteral Professors who recede from your own Principles of the Literal Profession of the Letter which saith Is not Christ within you except you be Reprobates and Christ in you the Hope of Glory I know that some of you will say That it is the Vertues and Graces of Christ But I would willingly know of you How Christ's Vertues and Graces are separated from himself This seems a setting up of your own Conceivings or an Image in your Mind of the Mind of the Spirit and miss the Thing it self which alone is known by the Spirit For we find experimentally a clear Distinction betwixt the searching out by the Reasonings of the carnal Mind and Scriptures opened by the Spirit and felt in the Life Therefore it were better for you to examine really your Knowledge of Christ your Faith and Knowledge of the Scriptures and your Prayers also lest ye miss of the Substance and meet with a Shaddow which is only able to please the Natural Part but justifieth not the Soul I desire that you let not this my Christian-Expostulation with you displease you but rather set you home to sink down to that which is only able to make you clearly discern whether you or we are the Truest Owners of Christ seeing ye cannot make it appear by Scripture which ye say is your Rule to walk by that the Outward Application of Christ bringeth Salvation without the Inward Manifestation of the Spirit O! Blessed be the Day forever That it pleased the Lord to come Me from the World to sever Unto the State of some Who have past through the Seas Unto the High and Glorious State Of all that have the Spirit of these That pass by Tophet's Gate Unto the Port of Heaven Where all the Saints have Rest Which the only Lord has given To the Seed that he has Blest For when I was in Egypt's Land Wanting Straw I did make Brick And ready at the Command Of the so called Kirk To Work all the length of the Day Without the Sense or Sight Of which I ever should Obey The Shining of the LIGHT That would have taught me the Way From Dead Formal Duties that 's without Unto the LIGHT Within I say Who lives in LIFE and has no doubt The Promise to Obtain Which none at all can have In the State that I have been And would not TRUTH receive Oh! that all those as do this read Would come and feel the same That they may know with all the Seed The true Abode of the I AM Who is the only Great JEHOVAH And Rules in the Hearts of Men Praises Honour and HALELUJAH To him be sung of all the Seed AMEN Given forth the 10th of the 3d Moneth by a Lover of the Souls of all men but especially to the Faithful of the Infallible and Only Everlasting Truth William Dundas THE END
A Few VVords of Truth FROM THE Spirit of Truth To all who are Convinced of the Truth and stand in Opposition to the Cross By one who remained in that Estate above Seven years before he was brought to the True Obedience of Truth and was whipped to it by the Merciful Rod of the Lord for no less could do it Also a few words to all the Litteral Professors who can Own the Ministration of Christ Without them but Deny him Within them And to those that have their Dependance upon the Teachings of Men in Opposition to the Ministration of the Spirit Within Together with a short Discovery of the Presbyterian Government and some Reasons of Dissenting from it William Dundas Before I was afflâ—cted I went astray but now I have kept thy Word Psal 119. 67. Peri-issem nisi peri-issem Peri-issem I called upon the Lord in Distress the Lord answered me and set me in a large place The Lord is on my side I 〈◊〉 not fear What can Man do unto me Psal 118. 5. 6. Vnless the Lord had been my Help my Soul had almost dwelt in Silence Psal 94. 17. Printed in the Year 1673. A Few VVords of Truth FROM THE Spirit of Truth To all who are Convinced of the Truth and stand in Opposition to the Cross FRIENDS IT is from a deep Sense of a clear and through Exerience that I am moved to lay before you having fresh in my Thoughts your Conditions for upon that Ground did I set up my Tent for many years and was most unwilling to remove it till the Lord by Fire and Sword did pursue me and did turuble me out of all my False Rests and whilst I was settling upon my Lees he poured me from Vessel to Vessel where I never had a settled Peace nor Comfort till the Lord settled the Ark of my Soul upon the Mountains of Ararat then I did see all the World I mean those of that spirit lying as so many Dead Corps swimming upon the Waters and then my Soul was refreshed with the Sense of God's Love who had pulled me like a Brand out of the Fire who was walking from Hill to Mountain and running after the Lo here and Lo there and seeking the Living amongst the Dead and the Pearl abroad that was lying hid within my own Breast I was feeding upon Husks and the Inventions of Man seeking the Law from his Mouth and treading upon the Light which was within which shined in Darkness but Darkness could no comprehend it and thus did I live in the Night of Darkness but that it was a Day of Love that the Lord visited me from on high when I was wallowing in my Blood with my Navil-string uncut nor salted and notwithstanding the setting of my Feet in Opposition to the Light after so many years Conviction and that I had gone near to sin out my Day and that before the Candle of the Lord was put out in my spirit he did of Mercy shine upon me and though late I coming to the Vineyard to work he gave me the Wages of those that came first O the Unexpressible Love of a Merciful Loving Tender and Long-Suffering God which did not cut the Thread of my Life betwixt the Conviction and being brought to the Obedience of the Truth it was only the Free Love and Mercy of the Lord that preserved me and the more that I ponder it the deeper sense I have of it even to the bowing of me down so that I had no Peace till that I should make my Condition known to those who are where I was and that I may be set up as a Beacâ—n to those who are travelling Sion-ward lest that they split upon the same Rocks Shelves and Sands from which the Lord hath very narrowly delivered and brought me into the sâ—fe Harbour where my Anchor is cast within the Vail and now being come to my Rest it is the more with me to shew to others the Pilgrimage of my Warfare which is thus It was the Lord's Free Grace That brought me to this Port For else-where I found no Place My Soul for to Support Whilst I was in my young and tender years I was brought up in a Family and Families where the Lord was Worshipped according to the Worship of that Nation of Scotland but as I grew more in years the Lord was pleased to give me more and more the Light of his Presence and did offer me more plenty of his Grace then I was willing to receive and if I hà d gone any further then the Form of the National Church so called did allow I was counted a Sectary and so disowned and my looking one Step further then their publick Faith did allow should become a Brand of Schism and Heresie notwithstanding as to their Law I was as strict a Pharisee as many of my Equals and brought up at the Feet of Gamaliel For since I entered into the Covenant with that People I came to see a little clearer and that the Covenant did tye so my Conscience to their Form of Presbytery my spirit did begin to fail me in the thing and when there was an Order from the General Assembly For all the Nation to take the Covenant the second time in that Interim the Lord had cleared the Fogs and Mists partly by opening the Eyes of my Understanding so that I Refused to take the Covenant the second time upon the Day appointed for that End which was to be done upon a First-day called Sunday A dear Friend of mine whose Name I will omit because now removed by Death one whom I believe laid down the Body Convinced of the Truth for a little before his Death he said to an eminent Friend of Truth at his own House when some were slighting the Quakers he said That he wisht all the Nation were Quakers This Friend I say and I went from the place where we were expected to take the Covenant that day to hear a Country-man preach by Orders publickly at the Town of Linlithgâ—w one who was never at Schools nor Colledges nor knew no Languageâ— but his Mother Tongue and as himself said to me he was brought up a Herdsman with keeping of Sheep at home which was a rare thing in the Nation of Scotland in these times and they were come one step nearer to the Quakers Principles especially having discharged the wearing of Ribbands and if they had continued Faithful to the Measure they had received then and not run retrograde they had not so much stood in opposition to them now But as I have said We going to eschew the Covenant-taking to hear the Preacher who was called from his Sheep-keeping to Preach we escaped the taking of the Covenant the second time This was like the Covenant of old That could not all perform So neither could we live as we would In Things that are enorm Yet not so but that I was taken notice of and when I came to receive the Sacrament so called at the
it to me In the mean time my Correspondent Gawen Lawry Merchant of London according to Orders sent me a Box with about Three Pound Sterling worth of Books and to give me notice of it to call for them in a Ship of the Preston Pannes for the which End he writ me a Letter by the Post which they getting in their hands I never knòwing any thing of it till I going to visit my Cousin Preston Grange his Wife told me That their Priest called a Minister one John Oswald had taken a Fox full of Books from a Ship of that Town of Preston Panneâ— which was directed for me which did a little surprize me I never hearing of it yet it behoved me to content my self knowing That what once cometh into their Hands which is called thâ— Kirk is not easily recovered So that I sent for the same Books again which were also seized upon by one Boswell a Earmer of the Excise Office whereof I hearing did make Application to him and I being a Stranger to him and he not knowing the Difference that was betwixt the Priests and me nor what Acts had been emitted against those which they called Sectary Books I did so capitulate for them that I had them again but in the process of time the Lord ordered it so that when the English came into Scotland I did demand my Books from the said Oswald the Priest which did not a little scâ—re him and he to save his own Head told me That Warriston had them by Order of the Commâ—ssion of the General Assembly from whom I desired one of his Friends to require them to whom he reply'd That they were in his Closet and he durst not deliver them me without an Order yet if I would send some Souldiers for them they might have them which I did But when I had the Box I found many of them wanting and knew not whom to challenge they passing through so many corrupted Channels but as they began with sâ—btil and undermining Falshood so they ended with Theft though it is like that these Babâ—â—onish Merchants by trading with them Books were helpt to spin out their Hour-Glass upon my Charges though they were well paid otherwise All this did so vex the Serpent that he knew not how to be avenged of me but by thrusting forth his Venemous Sting of Excommunication against me though it was but like a Dog that shews his Teeth when he cannot bite but only bark and this vexed them the more seeing mâ— so to slight it and tread upon it by my Letter to the Commission of the General Assembly and seeing none to regard their Sentence by keeping a Distance from me made their Act the more Contemptible so as they were willing to heal up the Wourd again as they said to my dear Friend John Swinton whom they intreated That he would desire the Sentence of Excommunication to be taken off again To whom he replyed That as he was passive in laying of it on he should be so in bearing of it To whom they replyed If â—e will not be active in seeking it we wiâ— be active in doing it And so I standing in this Case they did only with me as their Fore-Fathers the Priests did to the Blind Man who though naturally Blind yet spiritually he had more Sight then themselves So I being cast out by them Christ did hold me up and they remain in their Blind Condition to this day in their Egyptian-State where I leave them groping after their dark Principles and blind Imaginations of their Persecuting spirit and I to remain in the Land of Goshen enjoying Christ the Light and Life of man who enlightens every man that comes into the World for they have Eyes and see not for the Light shineth in Darkness and they comprehend it not Ears they have but hear not but to the sweet Enchantings of the Serpent do they hearken and bow who creeping upon his Belly feeding upon the Dust of the Earth though I do not include all under this predicament and category for I have more Charity to some of them Yet though in all this time I had a further Sight of the light then themselves yet there was a Gulf botwixt the Elest Children of the Lord called Quakers and me for I saw further then I was willing to embrace for there was such a high Principle of the world in me that the noble Principle of Light and Life was looked over by me yea I lived in my own will wit and wisdom which was accursed Preferring that wisdom before that wisdom of God which would have made me a Child and a Fool to the World thinking that I might gain two Kingdoms at once to keep the Possession of the Earth and the Kingdom of Heaven also and I being out of the pure Will and out of the Cross to my own Wisdom I was judged by the eternal Spirit of Truth and stood as condemned out of the Life because I being out of the Obedience and insomuchas I could not lose my Life I did choose Death for mans Life in this World is in Visibles unwilling to be separated from the World's Fashions and Customs and vain Religions Honour and Profit and all things which I stood upon was a false corrupt Ground whilst I thus stood in the Alienation Upon the Consideration of all this the Lord was pleased to dart in upon my prodigal spirit to call me home from the Husks that I was feeding upon to my Father's House and whilst the Door of Mercy was open he put a stop to the unlimitted Pleasures of the Flesh and then I came to hear the calm and still Voice of the Spirit that was stirring in that contemned people called Quakers and the first stirring in me of that Nature which I did eminently take notice of was As I was riding from Edinbrough in a Winter Evening to my own House I did hear a Noise of some men as it were Fighting so that I bid my Man ride up in haste to see what it was which my Man doing he called to me and said That there was two Men on Horse-back beating of another Man going on Foot so that I ridingup to them I did see them beatiug him and he still keeping them off saying What did I say to you but bid you FEAR GOD so that presently I did perceive that it was a Quaker reproving sin in the other two so I asking his Name which he telling me I knew the man by Name though not by Sight and I was so offended with the other two that I fell to beat them with my Rod and ordered those that were with me to carry them to the next Prison but he the said Quaker did intreat me to let them go which after taking notice of their Names and Places of Abode I did let them go And a Week after the said Quaker was telling a Relation of mine what a Curtisie I had done to him in a manner to save him
Necessaries none looking after them so that I went to the Judge Criminal and sought leave to provide for them which I did by bringing to them both Bread and Drink Fireing and all other Necessaries so long as they were there And the said Judge sent for me and whilst I was with him to be Examined he sent to my Chamber to search what of theirs they could find with me so that they found some Books and the Sack-cloth and some Ashes which they sent to the Parliament of Roan from whom they had received an Order to read a Paper to them That they should be transported forth-with back to England with the first Passage-Boat and all their Papers and Books to be burnt at the Market Crâ—ss and themselves if they or any of that Religion should come to that Nation again And so a Passage Boat being made ready they were put into it in the Night time but would not suffer me to go along with them to it yet did I provide such things as were necessary for their Voyage and I told them That they were not to pay any thing for their Passage but the Judge told them That they were to pay for their Passage to whom I replyed That if I had the Liberty to choose a Passage-Boat and time allowed me I would pay for their Passage otherwise let the same Boat bring them back again So they were forced to pay their Passage After they were gone they intended to pursue me as one of their Judgment but I willing to eschew the Cross told them That I was there before they came to France and they could prove nothing against me only the Protestants had informed them that I did not come to their Meeting yet this they could not make a Crime as also I told them If they persecuted me I being a Merchant and trafficking there they might expect the like to be done to their Merchants in England Then the Judge sent to the Custom-House to see if my Name was in their Custom-Books which they finding did go no further against me Yet for all this I was not so sensible of the Hollowness of my Heart as afterwards I was for when the Judge affirmed That I was of their Judgment I told him That I loved them but they were better then I but that their Way was too strait for me to walk in There were two things Remarkable that fell out within the year upon these Inhospital Refusers of lodging to these two Friends of Truth The one was That the said Scottish-man who shut them out Dyed within the Twelve Moneths And the Woman my Landlady that refused them a Chamber to fit in that same time Twelve Moneths her House was Burnt and never yet known whence the Fire came and though it was in the middle of the Town yet there was none Burnt besides but it alone But afterwards I having sent for several Hundreds of the said Friends Books and did distribute them to the Country and City so many of them so that they intended to search after me just as I was upon my leaving of that Town having done my Service there did return to Roan whereupon one Night that I could get no Rest and was somewhat indisposed in my Body so that it did arise in the Night time in my Heart To get up and send some of these said Books by Post as some to the Judge Criminal of Diep and some of them to the Jesuits Colledge there and some of them to the Jesuits Colledge and the Scottish Colledge at Paris directing them after the French stile otherwise they could not have been received at the Post-House and then I had much Rest in my spirit and my Body returned to a Right Temper And after that I had sojourned a while at Roan I found that there was some Service for the Truth by me to be done at Caen because it was a Town where most Protestants were and there I did distribute so many of Friends Books there and the Protestants there retaining so much of the Presbyterian Principles as most part of the Protestants of France do having a greater Inclination to persecute those who differ from them then to suffer for Religion for they were the greatest Enemies I had right Presbyterians and they fearing that my Books might bring them to suffer because they spoke against the Papists and I not coming to their Meeting did complain of me to the Lievtenant General of that Town so that they forced me to leave that place All you that are of Cain's Race Are thirsty after Blood But those that stand in Abel's place Do follow after what is Good And after my Service done there I went to Alencon where many Protestants live where I stayed all that Winter and when I was in my Service the Judge Criminal sent for me and after a long Discourse he and I agreed so well together that he invited me to come and see him oftner and we should not speak in Matters of Religion and if I would that he should send for some of the Jesuits and they and I might have free Inter-communing together To whom I replyed That I being a Stranger I was not willing to dispute with any it not being permitted to a Stranger yet I would not be afraid to maintain my Principles against all the Jesuits of the Nation Which words did so exasperate it seems them against me that it did raise a new Persecution against me which did fall out that when my Wife and I was walking in the Fields at my returning it was told me That there was some searching at my Lodging and had broken up my Chamber Door so that I sent my Wife Home and I did go strait to the Judge Criminal to know what the Searching meaned but he told me He knew nothing of it and if there was anything it did proceed from the Jesuits because of my Confidence against them and some probability I had of the thing for I found my Letters broken up at the Post-House several times and when I challenged the Post-Master he said That they came to him so So the time drawing near to go from that place and that I had done my Service in Alencon I told the Judge Criminal That I was to go to the great Fair of Caen within Fourteen dayes then the said Judge said That he would protect me so long And so at the time appointed I went to Caen where I was not long but my Correspondent at Alencon did write me word That the day after I came from it the Governour of the Town had been at my Lodging to seek for me but I was gone And so after that all my Service was done that I had then in France and that War was declared betwixt England and France in the year 1666. I returned to Diep in order to my return to England and so I staid there for Passage which I could not get in the Time of War till the so called Lord Holliâ— Embassador