who hath been the Oppressor both of Man and Beast and so in Christ all have Rest and Peace and Love that doth not kill nor commit Adultery nor steal nor covet any thing that another man hath nor bear false Witness nor make Images of any thing in Heaven above or in the Earth beneath and so Love fulfils the Law And therefore see that this Law of Love be set up in all your Families by which they may be ordered and ruled Here you may see how Moses Deut. 9.29.9 to 11. a faithful Servant of the Lord as the Lord had commanded him puts the Jews in mind of their Duty required of them by the Lord Keep saith he therefore the Words of this Covenant and do them that you may prosper in all that ye do ye stand this day all of you before the Lord your God your Captains of your Tribes your Elders and your Officers with all the Men of Israel your little Ones your Wives and thy Strangers that are within thy Camp from the Hewer of Wood unto the Drawer of thy Water that thou shouldest enter into Covenant with the Lord thy God c. Now consider this hear how that all these were to stand before the Lord to enter into Covenant with the Lord even the Elders the Officers with the men of Israel their Wives and little Children the Strangers with the Hewers of Wood and Drawers of Water now Christ's is the new Covenant and therefore all you called Christians that profess him who are Elders and Masters of Families are you not to see that your Wives your Children and Strangers that are within your Camps yea to the Hewers of your Wood and Drawers of your Water that they come all into the new Covenant Christ Jesus which in God is established forever an everlasting Covenant who ends the first Covenant among the Jews and therefore shall not you outstrip the Jews in their Families in bringing all your Families and Strangers and Sojourners Hewers of Wood and Drawers of Water into the New Covenant of Life Christ Jesus through whom they may stand before God and have Peace with him mark this ye Elders and Rulers and Fathers of Families who have Strangers and Sojourners in your Families so as to see that you do perform your Duty and bring them to do their Duty in the Covenant of Life Christ Jesus And now again in Deut. 31. When all Israel shall atpear before the Lord thy God in the Place which he shall choose Deut. 31. thoushalt read the Law saith he before all Israel in their hearing and shall gather the People together Men Women and Children and thy Strangers that are within thy Gates that they may hear and that they may learn and fear the Lord thy God and observe to do all the Words of the Law Now mark and consider this all you Christians that profess the New Covenant Christ Jesus and the Law of Love and the Law of Life and the Law of Faith and the Law of the Spirit must you not gather all your Families together Men Women Children and Strangers within your Gates and such as you bought with Money and such as are born of them in your Families that they may all hear the New-covenant and the Law of Life and the Law of Love and the Law of Faith and the Law of the Spirit of Life that makes free from the Law of Sin and Death that they may all hear that they may all learn this and that they may all fear God and observe and do the Law and the New-Covenant as the Jews were to do the old which is a Figure of the new And therefore be not you negligent noâ— sloathful nor careless in this but do your Duty and see that all your Families may do their Duties and so as it was among the Jews the Children that had not known me hear and learn and the Strangers for if you should be negligent in this then look what came upon the Jews and how rude their Families grew and how God's Judgments came upon them and it came partly by the Heads of the Families and Elders and Overseers And therefore be diligent and bring all your Families to serve God in the first Place and be faithful to him through Jesus Christ the New-covenant then they will not be negligent in outward Things if they be faithful to God and then God's Blessing will be in your Families and so therein men serve the Lord in bringing their Families to serve the Lord in that they do God's Will and please him in the New-covenant bringing them out of that which displeaseth God and so rule in Power and in Love And in Jeremiah 10.25 there you may see what the Lord saith by the Prophets Jer. 10.25 Pour out thy Fury upon the Heathen that know thee not and upon all the Families that call not upon thy Name So now consider this seriously how God would have all Families to call upon his Name and especially you that call your selves Christians and profess the New-covenant of God to wit Christ Jesus and therefore see that all your Families do call upon the Name of the Lord it concerns you very much if you do not ye may expect the Lord's Fury will be poured out upon you and yours There you may see the Lord speaking how he will pour out his Spirit of Grace and Supplication and they shall look upon him whom they have pierced meaning Christ and they shall mourn for him as one mourns for his only Son as one that is in Bitterness for his first born the Land shall mourn every Family apart shall mourn and their Wives apart And so consider this all you that profess Christ who have seen him whom you have pierced if the Spirit of Grace and Supplication be poured out upon you why then you see him Christ Jesus whom you have pierced and then you will mourn bitterly as you should mourn for your first born So all Friends they that witness the Spirit of Grace poured out upon them they know the Mourning for him whom they have pierced and then there is a Fountain opened by Christ Jesus for their Sins and for their Uncleanness to wash away the Filth And you may see in Zachariah 14.17 Whosoever will not come up of all the Families of the Earth to Jerusalem Zach. 14.17 to worship the King the Lord of Hosts even upon them there shall be no Rain yea if the Family of Egypt go not up he shall have no Rain and they shall be plagued c. And now consider this how all the Families of the Earth that come to worship the Lord of Hosts in Spirit and in Truth in this Heavenly Jerusalem and keep the Feast of Tabernacles and eat of Christ the Sacrifice who is the Bread of Life that came down from above such must be punished such have no Rain indeed but are like to the parched Ground and so mind every Family apart this for
GOSPEL Family-Order BEING A SHORT DISCOURSE CONCERNING THE Ordering of Families BOTH OF Whites Blacks and Indians Pour out thy Fury upon the Heathen that know thee not and upon the Families that call not on thy Name for they have eaten up Jacob and devoured him and consumed him and have made his Habitation desolate Jer. 10.25 Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty Nation and all the Nations of the Earth shall be blessed in him For I know him that he will command his Children and his Houshold after him and they shall keep the Way of the Lord to do Justice and Judgment that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him Gen. 18.18 19. And if it seem Evil unto you to serve the Lord chuse you this day whom you will serve whether the Gods which your Fathers served that were on the other Side of the Flood or the Gods of the Amorites in whose Land ye dwell but as for me and my House we will serve the Lord Joshua 24.15 By G.F. Printed in the Year 1676. GOSPEL Family-Order The following Discourse is as it was taken from the Mouth of George Fox at a Mens Meeting at Tho. Rous his House in Barbadoes in the Year 1671. touching the Government of Families according to the Law of Jesus HEre all Friends may see how the holy Men of God by the Command of the Lord were to order their Families apart and also by the same Law of God the People in the General were to be ordered as you may see in Gen. 17. where God commanded Abraham to keep his Covenant between him and his Seed Gen. 17. Every Man-child shall be circumcised in your Generations and he that is born in thy House or bought with Money of any Stranger which is not of thy Seed shall be circumcised and Abraham obeyed the Command of God in circumcising all his Family and all that were born in his House and all that were bought with Money of Strangers Now you who are called Christians must not all your Families be circumcised with the Spirit which the outward Circumcision of the Flesh did type forth yea all Sons and Daughters Masters or Mistresses of Families must be circumcised with the Spirit that puts off the Body of Death the Sins of the Flesh with the Circumcision of the Spirit that is not made with Hands and also all that you have bought with Money all Strangers and all that are born in your Houses of Strangers which are not of your own Seed must you not bring all these to the Circumcision of the Spirit else how are you the Friends of God as Abraham was who obeyed God and therefore call upon all your Families and your Servants whom you bought for Money and those that were born of them in your Families and let them be Circumcised and endeavour to bring them to that which doth circumcise them to wit the Spirit which is the Substance of the outward Circumcision and every one that was not circumcised was he not to be cut off from among the People And so are not all now that are not circumcised by the Spirit to be cut off from the spiritual Union the spiritual Fellowship And therefore if you who are Masters of Families if you I say do not see the Circumcision of all your Families of Servants and Strangers and all such as are bought with Money will it not lye upon you who ought to take Care for your Families and order your Families as Joshua said he would order his Family And if it seem Evil unto you to serve the Lord choose you this Day whom you will serve Joshua 24.15 whether the Gods which your Fathers served that were on the other Side of the Flood c. or the Gods of the Amorites in whose Land ye dwell BUT AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSE WE WILL SERVE THE LORD And so were not all his Servants that he bought with Money and Strangers and such as were born in his House of his Family were they not all to serve the Lord according to the Law in the outward Circumcision And so are not all you Christians now and Masters and Mistresses of Families now to look to your Families to see that you and your Families do serve the Lord in the Circumcision of the Spirit of God by which Spirit you must worship God in Spirit and in Truth who is the Father of Spirits and the God of the Spirits of all Flesh And therefore mind and consider this in your Families and gather them altogether and teach them the Way of the Lord and the New Covenant yea your Families and Children and those you bought with Moneys and the Strangers and such as are born of them in your House And in Exed 12. there you may see how the Lord said When a Stranger sojourneth with thee Exod. 12. he shall keep the Passcover of the Lord and let all his Males be circumcised You may think it was a strange thing that if a Man did but sojourn in the House of a Jew that the Male should be circumcised for a Sojourner is a Comer and Goer but a Servant that is bought with Money or one that is born of them in the House is more then a Sojourner for no uncircumcised was to eat of the Passeover And so now no uncircumcised Person is to eat of the Sacrifice or Passeover Christ Jesus but such only I say who are circumcised by the Spirit who ends the outward Passeover and the outward Circumcision which were Types of Christ and so one Law should be to him that is born at home and to the Stranger that sojourneth with you And as all were then to keep this Law of God so all are to keep this Law of Jesus Christ among Christians now And Leviticus 14. there it is said You shall have one Manner of Law Lev. 14. as well for the Stranger as for one of you own Country I am the Lord your God saith the Lord. So this Law was then and still is to be observed which is to love God above all and to love their Neighbours as themselves And Deut. 5. Deut. 5. all were to keep the Law of God all were to keep the outward Sabbath both Sons Daughters Men-servants Maid-servants Oxen Asses and other Cattle and the Strangers that were within the Gates these were all to keep the Rest the Sabbath and the Law of God Now mark Christians who are come to Christ and who believe in him and have entered into your Rest by the Law of Christ see that all your Families do keep this Sabbath this Rest both you and your Sons and Daughters Men-servants and Maid-servants that are within your Gates this concerns every one of you that are Masters of Families to consider seriously of it for Christ is the Sabbath and Rest who gives Rest to the whole Creation he it is that takes off the Oppression who destroyeth the Devil's Works
Egypt was of Ham's Stock yet if they do not come up to worship God they must be plagued And in Amos 3.2 you may see there how the Lord was against the whole Family of the Jews Amos 3.2 because they had not kept his Law and he punished them And so consider ye Christians ye whole Families of Christians and see how you have kept the Law of the New-covenant and the Law of Love and the Law of Life and the Law of the Spirit if you have not plainly you must be punished God will punish you with a Witness even the whole Family if any Family or Tribe or Man or Woman their Hearts shall turn away from God and serve other Gods see what a Curse came upon them and therefore what doth Christ say unto all the left Hand Goats though they may profess him in Words whose Hearts are turned away from his Law of Love Law of Life Law of Faith and the New-covenant And therefore see that the Ark of the Lord be in every ones House to wit your Hearts in all your Families and with the Law and Testimony of Jesus in it and then you will have the Blessing of the Lord with you as Obed Edom had the Blessing of the Lord upon his Family and House while the outward Ark remained with him the Figure of which Christians must enjoy the Substance of as you may see 1 Cor. 13 14. Gen. 39.5 See how the Lord there blessed the Egyptian's House for Joseph's sake and the Blessing of the Lord was upon all that the Egyptian had both in House and Field so you may hence see how a Servant being a faithful Man to God brought the Blessing of God upon the House and Field of a Heathen and now much more a faithful Master or an Head or an Elder of a Family faithful to God bringeth a Blessing on his own Family and upon all within his House and out of his House and Field for the Lord said If that they keep his Law and his Word then they shall be blessed in the Field and in the Store house and blessed in the Basket and blessed in his going forth and coming in as Abraham was who are of the Faith of Abraham now of the blessed Seed that brings the Blessing now to them as it did to him but they that crucifie the Seed to themselves afresh and quench the Spirit of God in themselves and entertain the evil Seed and the evil Spirit that brings the Curse upon them in the Basket and in the Store-house and in the Field in his going Forth and coming in And you may read in the Scriptures how many Families Nations and Kingdoms the Lord did cut off because they did not obey nor keep his Law as Core and his Family Achan and his wicked Haman and his and many others for transgressing the Law of God Yea and he destroyed Nations for his own People and gives his own People the Possession of them because of the former Inhabitants Debauchery and Wickedness and tells his own People that if they do go into the same Debaucheries and Wickedness they must look for the same Destruction And therefore Christians all should serve God in the new Life out of the Life of old Adam for if they do profess Christ Jesus the Heavenly Man and yet live in the Old Adam and serve Sin and Evil they must look for Destruction both Families and Nations who profess God in Words but deny him in their Works Lives and Conversations according to that in Isa 31.2.9 the Lord saith concerning the Children of Israel that transgress his Law Amos 9.7 Are ye not saith he as Children of Ethyopia unto me O ye Children of Israel Amos 9.7 Now consider this if the Children of Israel transgress the Law of God were they not accounted as Ethyopian Children And so you Christians now who profess Christ in Words and transgress his Law of Love of Life of Faith and the New-covenant are you not to the Lord as Children of the Ethyopians what Difference is between you It is not a Profession and talking that makes the Difference but the Possession of Christ Jer. 38. there you may see an Ethyopian a Black-moor how serviceable he was made unto Jeremiah the Lord's Prophet in the Day of his Suffering in the Dungeon how he went to the King and told him that the Prophet was like to perish there and the King commanded him to go and take thirty Men and draw him out of the Dungeon before he dye so here this Black had more Sence then the great Professors of Jeremiah 's Innocency and he was in Favour with the King being one of his Eunuchs And so now consider do not slight them to wit the Ethyopians the Blacks now neither any Man or Woman upon the Face of the Earth in that Christ dyed for all both Turks Barbarians Tartarians and Ethyopians he dyed for the Tawnes and for the Blacks as well as for you that are called Whites therefore you may see in Acts 8.27 how the Lord commanded Philip to go toward the South and he arose and went and behold a Man of Ethyopia a Eunuch of great Authority under Candace Queen of Ethyopia who had the Charge of all her Treasure how this Man came up to Jerusalem to worship the Lord and how this Ethyopian this Black was converted to Christianity by Philip who preached Christ to him And therefore now you should preach Christ to your Ethyopians that are in your Families that so they may be free Men indeed and be tender of and to them and walk in Love that ye may answer that of God in their Hearts being as the Scripture affirms all of one Blood of one Mold to dwell upon the Face of the Earth for Christ I say shed his Blood for them as well as for you and tasted Death for them as well as for you and hath enlightned them as well as he hath enlightned you and his Grace hath appeared unto them as well as it hath appeared unto you and he is a Propitiation for their Sins as well as for yours for he is the Propitiation for the Sins of the whole World and so let every Master and Governour of a Family inform them as well as others in his Family that so they may come to walk in the Grace and in the Light of Jesus Christ that so they may come to know Christ the Saviour from whence Grace and Light comes and the Mediator or Middle-man between them and God and so in this so doing you will serve God and not your selves Also in Psalm 68.31 there you may see Princes should come out of Egypt and Ethyopia shall stretch forth her Hand unto God sing unto God ye Kingdoms of the Earth Oh praise the Lord Now confider this ye Christians the Prophecy of David in that you may see the fulfilling of it viz. that Ethyopia should soon stretch out her Hand unto God for you see by the
not brought into Order for the Blacks are of your Families and the many Natives of them born in your Houses I had a sore Burden and I say much Trouble how that Righteousness might be brought through in the Thing and Justice and Mercy set up in every Family and in every Heart that so God might be honoured in every Family who is the Creator of all and hath given his Law to all that is Just Righteous Holy and Good And so I leave these Things to your serious consideration and to the Witness of the Spirit of God in you all and in all your Hearts and you to be obedient unto it and see if it will not lead you into the self-same Thing for indeed when any shall marry into your Family before the Master of the Family and Overseer of the Family then you may admonish them all of God and of Christ and his Truth Light and Grace in their Hearts by which they might all know God and Christ and know the true Marriage which is honourable in all Things to beat down the Evil and Vile for Marriage is of God and so honoured by him And from Mary-land the 4th Day of the 12th Moneth 1672. touching the Government of Families in Part of his Letter he writes as followeth AND in all your Family-Meetings be not negligent among your Whites and Negroes but do your Diligence and Duty to God and them which you will not neglect if you keep in the Faith of Abraham and of that blessed Seed which inheriteth the Promise and Crown Immortal and be at Peace among your selves that every one may shew that you are in Christ the Prince of Peace and it doth shew that you are the Disciples of Christ and Learners and Followers of him so to possess him and then Life Eternal Amen And from London the 14th day of the 7th Moneth 1673. he wrote as followeth MY Dear Friends all live in the Power and Spirit of God in which you have Peace and Life now in the Spirit you have Unity and Fellowship and this Spirit is the Bond of Peace in which you do keep the holy just righteous and good Peace and now see that you do keep the Peace in God's House who are his Servants and Children in the Spirit for in it you have Unity and in it you have a heavenly Fellowship in the Fellowship of the Spirit the Bond of Peace by which Spirit you may answer that which may be known of God in all both Blacks and Whites and that they may make Confession with that of God in them which they do transgress that God is in you of a Truth And however keep in Love one with another for that doth edifie one another and the whole Body which Christ the beloved Son of God that came out of his Bosome is the Head and Prophet Shepherd and Bishop to open and feed and to oversee Dear Friends keep your Meetings and your Mens and Womens and your Fortnights Meetings among your Blacks and train them up in the Fear of the Lord and spread the Truth abroad and instruct your Families as Abraham did that they may know the New Covenant the Lord to write his Law in their Hearts and put it in their Minds So no more but my Love to all as though I named them And from London the 18th of the 12th Moneth 1673. ALL my dear Friends keep in the Power of God and in his Life which giveth you an Inhertance of that which hath no End and keep your Men and Womens Meetings in the Power of God and keâ—p the Gospel-Order in the Power of God and the Government of Christ which bruiseth the Serpent's Head who is the Head of all Disorder and evil Government and keep your Meetings Weekly and Fortnightly as they were established instructing your Families as Abraham did whether they were hired or born in his Family or bought with his Money and who are of Faith are of Abraham And let me see and hear that you are of the Faith of Abraham that you do instruct them in Christianity and in the Law of Jesus and in the Circumcision of the Spirit as Abraham did outwardly Send me over a Black Bay of your instructing that I may see some of your Fruits and as I shall see I shall make him a free Man or send him to you again And at the last Quarterly Meeting at Thomas Rous's this Paper was read as followeth FRiends all that have Negroes to your Servants let them have two or three Hours of the Day once in the Week that Day Friends Meeting is on or an other Day to meet together to wait upon the Lord for this would be a good Savour among all the rest for therein you deny your selves for the bringing them to the Knowledge of the Lord God and this would be a good Pattern to all the Island and an Example to all other Masters to bring their Servants from under Oppression to know the Lord. G. Fox THE END