sustained and received from the hands of their Rulers and those instruments that are imployed in the execution of their Law last made for that purpose being the progress of thirteen months or upward in the execution of it and it is little taken notice of by our Persecutors how many Widdows and fatherless Children they have made by this their cruel work in this time But now the Lord is retaliating into their bosomes and is measureing unto you as you have measured unto us and many widdows and fatherless will he make for our sakes yea for our sakes therefore be not deceived our innocency is assuredly come before the Lord and our cryes are heard and he is recompencing of your works into your hands that you have wrought these many years and what will you say it is the great God that pleads with you O London London thou maist remember a few years since thou was sporting thy self and making merry thy Inhabitants was even distracted with vain joy Remember thy wasting of Gods good Creatures upon thy lust and drunkenness thy Bonfires thy Rosteing of good meat in the street and basting it with kenel dirt and water the worst morsel of which thousands and ten thousands would be glad of and many for want of these things perish now and remember thy vain shews erected in the high places of thee when no less then about 600. of the servants of the Lord were in prison in and about thee looking through the Grates of thy Prisons and even panting for very air In that very day the servants of the Lord did bear that burthen of all your ungodliness under which many walked up and down more like to shadowes then men even to see what would become of your wayes in which you were posting and gadding like wild Cattle what think you was God served therein or the Devil By this time many thousands in thee are sensible of the provocations wherewith you provoked the Lord in that day but in all those actions the mighty God beheld you and also his servants who had done no injury to any of you at all notwithstanding that all must be cooped up in your Prisons till you had offered your wicked heathenish sacrifice unto your lusts in that day you were told by many of the day that hath now overtaken thee O London and thou did'st not believe it but however now thou both seest it and feelest it to be true and now instead of healths which thou vainly drunk to men in thy Bowles and Cups thou hast sickness from the hand of the Almighty and instead of thy mad joy thou hast handed to thee a cup of deep sorrow and them thou dâ—ified O City in that day and for whom these things were wrought hath now left thee in the very middest of thy misery And now consider O London is it not better to trust the Lord than man whose breath is in his Nostrils some put their trust in Princes some in Horses but it is good to trust the Lord and had'st thou considered this in thy former day well had it been with thee and as for those that did help to promp on thy ungodlyness in that day those they were that by their Oaths execrations and all abominable wretched practises in whoring and drunkenness and what not in their Feathers and strange fashions have these relinquished thee also it had been well thou hadst never known them but however this memorial they have left behind them even their shameful spewings yea their shameful spewings in every corner of thy Streets And for all this the servants of the Lord undergoes more cruelties from Thee and thy Rulers then ever what do ye account we were born and brought forth as Men and Women to be destroyed was this the end the Lord gave us life for think yee and do you think it is our portion to spend our dayes in your Prisons what because the thing hath been continued and is common therefore you look upon it it is but right it should so be and so from the Womb unto the Tomb this is our portion from your hands And thus we have been all along and are made the very Prey of a company of Rapine fowle and Fleshcrowes who teareth our flesh from our bones and drinks our bloods in your stinking Jakes and Prisons But dear God it is for thy dear truths sake that we undergo these things from the Men of this Generation O glorifie glorifie thy self holy Father in all these things that have been suffered to befall thy Saints and servants in this age we know holy God it is because they know not thee they do these things unto thine for did they know thee they would fear thee and if they did fear thee then they would love thee and if they did love thee then would they love thine Righteous God because they know not thee therefore they know not us for thou hast made known thy self in us and so come we to bear thy Heavenly Image O magnifie thy name great God and let all confess unto thee unto thy mercies unto thy Judgments unto thy Righteousness unto thy forbearance and mighty patience unto thy loving kindness unto thy truth for thou art God most mighty even God of Heaven and Earth and there is none besides thee in Earth or Heaven the Gods of the Earth are not able to stand in thy judgment O powerful God make thy power more and more known amongst the Sons and Daughters of Men that they may learn thy fear that Atheism and unbelief may be rooted up in this Nation and that plant of ungodliness O Lord pluck up by thy mighty power that it be no more and for thine holy God who for thy truth sake are drove into exile let thy sweet peace which is a portion beyond utterance answer all the wants they may in their body sustain and increase thy love in them so will they love one another and Righteous God be with all thine whom thou hast gathered into thee either in bonds or at liberty for all thine are one flesh and one bone in faithfulness let all persevere thy great name magnifie O God exalt thy truth above all National inventions which they frame and constitute unto thee O spiritual God for worship thou art a Spirit therefore by art thou art not worshipped and though men chuseth it and orderest it for thee it is because they know thee not and imagines thee to be like themselves Arts and inventions may please Men but thou art not pleased with them thou chusest thy worship thy self thou seekest thy Worshippers holy God out of all visible things is thy Worship in the invisible thou art both known and seen and all that comes to know thee and to see thee must come into the invisible and when they come there then shall we be known of them as we are known of thee and then no more Persecution but Love which is thy begotten which is thy express Image
which shall be preserved from their Fury and they shall spread over all in my Life Power Knowledge and Wisdom wherein they shall stand in Dominion Yea and they shall rule the Earth in Mercy Justice and true Judgement and they shall forgive and love their Enemies as they do at this day and do the thing that is just and good unto all without respect of persons yea they shall seek the good of the whole Creation in 〈◊〉 true love and self-denial for the Spirit of Love Meekness Healing and Restoring shall mightily fill their tender Bowels and my Blessings shall fill their Dwelling-place and the Earth for their sakes these things will I accomplish by my own Power and in my own time saith the Lord God But although these things touching the holy Remnant shall certainly be fulfilled in their Season Yet before they be fully accomplished great will be the Tryals of many of the Righteous and there will be great Judgments executed in thee O Land by Him who oft-times maketh a fruitful Land barren because of the wickedness of them that dwell therein and Just will it be with Him to deal so with thee because of the great wickedness of the greatest part of thy Inhabitants who are departed and separated from the Spirit of Mercy Love Compassion and Healing and are labouring to Devour Oppress and Destroy one another and the whole Creation Oh England England There is also a People in thee who are come to see the Great Idolatry and Superstition which many are now striving to revive and set up in thee yea there is a People in thee which see and believe that the Worship which is now a setting up with the Vain Musick Altars Mass in English and the foolish needless Garments of the Priests and such like Popish stuff that these things are Idolatry Folly and Vanity and but a mocking of God and yet some of these People will run after this Vain Worship for self-ends slavish fear and to keep themselves in esteem with or amongst those who plead for it And others there are in thee who instead of being sorrowful for such Abominations and Superstition or reproving the Practicers thereof in the solid seasoned savoury Life and holy Dread of the Lord God they write and speak scoffingly of those things even to the stirring up one of another into vain Laughter and so make a sport of others Idolatry and this grieveth the Spirit of the Lord also and doth not convince but exasperate and harden those that are zealous for their blind Worship and Superstition There are also a great number of brittle fiery rash unsatisfied people in thee O Land who are as unstable as Water and these rebelling against the Light not knowing the way of it because they abide not in the path thereof they are restless rouling and raging oft-times like the Sea One time they will have a Parliament and cry out They shall govern and heal them and when they have gotten them in a short time they grow weary of them And then another time they will cry out for a King and say He shall heal them and make up their Breaches But these people are not long of one mind for they are much like the Athenians who spent their time in little else but either to tell or to hear of some New thing These People also are like mighty Tydes in thy Chanels O England which one while run with Violence driving all unsetled light unfixed things one way and shortly after run with as much violence the contrary way Therefore in a miserable condition are those Rulers whose strength is in such a People And untill Rulers come to be setled and fixed in Him who is the Rock of Ages and singly to rule in and for Him whom the Winds and the Seas obey who maketh the Waters to stand on heaps and divided them hither and thither and altereth the natural course of Tydes as he pleaseth as he hath done thine of late to shew thee the Figure of the People they can neâ—e safe neither will the People be still'd long together but there will be Swellings Ragings Overflowings sore Breakin gs and Ruines Oh! that the foregoing Rulers would have been perswaded to have Received Him for their Teacher who Ruleth in the Kingdoms of Men then should they not onely have seen what the Lord cast out others before them for but they should have been taught how to have denied all those things which the Lord was angry with others for and they should have received Power to have abstained from the same but they would not hear and obey the Lord nor his Prophets and therefore were they cast out also And therefore O! that the Rulers that now are would be perswaded whilst they have their Day by the Lord and his Servants to receive the Lord Jesus Christ to be their King and Teacher and then they should not onely see for what cause the Lord cast them out and others in their Age but they should be taught to deny and forsake all those things which God was angry with them and others for and they should receive Power to do those things which they and others before them left undone But alas How few are there that will Hear Regard and Obey the Prince of Life and his Followers and therefore is Desolation coming as a mighty Flood which none shall be able to stop Now all People in what Sect or Opinion soever in whom there are any true Breathings and Desires after the Lord and the way of his Holines Fear not neither be dismaid because of the Rage that you may yet see the Waters of the Land in and because of the Confusion and Cruelty of the People But stand still in that Life which begetteth Breathings and Thirstings in you after the Lord that you may come to see and feel his Salvation and that you may be gathered into that Patience Meekedness Contendedness Rest Peace and Satisfaction which many of the dear Lambs and Children of my Father are gathered into wherein they lye down and none can make them afraid though their Bodies and Estates be oppressed and abused Oh! Stick not Stick not in your Formes without Power neither Flee the Cross any longer but wait in the True Simplicity to feel God's hand of Tender Love which he reacheth forth to and manifesteth in you to lead and guide your minds into his Pure Worship which is in the Spirit and in the Truth Oh People This is the Worship that he will set up He will be LORD and LAW-GIVER in the Consciences of his People and those that will not be content that EMMANVEL should Reign over them he will slay them with the Sword of the Spirit The Words of his Mouth Oh! Hearken hearken a little and stand still that you may hear the voice of the true Shepherd in your own Hearts who calleth for Truth in the Inward Parts and he will discover what lodgeth Within and He will shew you the
God by them that are yet unborn and will bless God for this day and so these seven faithful Lambs are gone by the permission of God into exile and have for truths sake parted with Wives Children and Estates to fulfill the Holy will of God who is blessed for ever Not many dayes after the embarquing of these faithful Brethren the Lord shewed another notable example by cuting off that grand Instrument Iudge Hyde by sudden death who the Lord knoweth wrought much yea very much of our detriment both in our imprisonments our tryals and in expediating our Banishment But he is gone to his place and the fruits of the deeds in his life is his food to eternity and so I shall not particularize his several carriages to us in our imprisonments and tryals but leave it to others to read over the lines of his life which is written with a point of an Adamant And about that time the Lord began to pour out his plagues in some of the out parts of the City and then Weekly-bills began to declare the Judgements of a just God and in a manner as in his fear I may speak it as they began to banish in small numbers first 3. then 7. and afterwards greater numbers as may by and by be declared even so hath the Judgments of God traced that malicious spirit first in small numbers and so with greater as any that will make the observation upon the weekly-bills of Mortality may find it so just and righteous O dreadful God are thy judgments who hast judged thus And not many weeks passed but another experiment must be made by sending away for Banishment now eight malice encreasing one in number the Names of these faithful innocent Lambs are Rob. Allin Tho. Kent John Raunce Tho. Hodg Tho. Robins John Johnson Tho. Parker Rich. Poulton all which were on the 26. of the 3d. month 1665. by those emesaries of Newgate forced out of Prison and carried to the old place Black-fryars Stairs and there was a Barge prepared for them into which they were pulled and so from thence to Gravesend were carried where they were by violence put aboard in order to banishment and after some dayes lying in the River they were cleared at the Blockhouse which would not be done till the Shipmaster made appear to the Searchers that he had the Quakers aboard and so in the will of God have these all born a â—â—â—thful testimony unto Gods holy truth and have set their seales unto it by giving up freely both Wives Children and their all and rather then transgress the way of God have chosen to receive their lots with their Brethren into what place soever the Lord shall permit them to be cast and have committed the truth of their cause unto a just God who is now come to plead their innocency with their and his adversaries and he will render vengeance upon the heads of them and will smite hip and thigh the whole host of the Vncircumcised and they shall know by his Judgments he is God and not another and though these simple sheep when before your Courts of judgment so called might not have liberty to plead the truth of their cause unto you but with ironical scoffing jeering and taunting language have dispenced your wills unto them which is reckoned by you good law but the righteous Judge hath looked down and beheld all these things and when any one have but spoken a sentence of Scripture in defence of their just cause you have retorted unto them these unsavory ungodly unchristianlike sayings hold your canting sirrah hold your canting sirrah I even I have been both eye and ear witness of these things even to the grief of my very soul that ever men that should sit in Court to execute the Lawes of this Nation should drop such expressions from their mouths and in publique But what shall I say in an acceptable time is the Lord arisen to plead with the men of this Generation when I have heard such language given by old grey hair'd men that hath sate there to judge I have said in my heart where are we arrived in this day what the Scriptures of truth called canting a language learned under Hedges by Rogues and Vagabonds ah woe is me is this the reverence you have to the holy record of Scripture to call it canting and in your Courts of Judicature ah miserable men what an example is this to them that comes to hear your wisdoms and may not young men by your examples turn meer heathen and atheists but the Lord will awaken you yea he will awaken you to the confession of him and likewise that Records of truth spoken forth through his Servants by the Spirit of God in their day and Generation who received such measure from the Judges and Rulers then in being as we now do from you in this Nation But now I return unto my Relation to observe the dealings with my Brethren and Sisters in the pestiferous Jakes and Prison of Newgate well though notwithstanding the fury of the Lord smoaks in this City and his wrath is come up to the number Thousands and he is cuting off in all parts and his Judgments have even circumâ—fered and beleagured it and seeing it is the will of the Lord it shall be so what saith the envious spirit I will double and treble the number of those that are under my hand and will drive them into exile and in order thereunto a Shipmaster a fit servile for such an employment is found who as it is said of him will banish his neerest Relations for moneys and a contract is drove with him for no less then 60. innocent men and women or thereabouts to receive them into his Ship to dispose of them whetherto he is bound and there to leave them to starve and perish O mercyless Rulers is this your Retaliation for the return out of your distress the Lord if it be his will shew you more mercy then you shew unto his people and a day is ordered for the dispatching of this poor flock away out of their Country and so as aforesaid in a morning with very short warning was these friends about some 56. or 58. by the old serviles of Newgate taken forth and carried down to the same place by 10.8 and sometimes more in a company through the streets some drove and some led to the Waterside untill they had got the number spoken into the Barge prepared for them and so away they were rowed down to a place called Bugbeys Hole beyond Greenwich where the Ship rode and when they came unto the Ship these Instruments of Newgate did not find all things so ready to their hands nor they in the Ship so willing as themselves were to do their masters drudgery the Seamen being some of them more considerate refused to lay hands on them except they were willing and these poor sheep declared their unwillingness to yield any active complyance unto them so a