which he doubts not but we will make good upon occasion Thou in answer say'st Thou knowest our Practice well enough Which if true and if so bad as thou endeavourest to make People believe of us why hast thou brought none of them to make good thy Charges against us And as for our Principles thou say'st Thou never heard'st we had any Then thou must needs be ignorant of our Way and Religion And therefore in thy speaking evil of it thou speakest evil of things thou understandest not and so art of that Generation spoken of 2 Pet. 2. 12. And as for our Faith and Principles they have been published to the World both by Words and Writing they have not been hid in a corner so that any that had a mind to concern themselves against us and yet as wise Men would not judge without an understanding lest like thee they should speak evil of the things they did not understand might easily be informed what our Principles are However we are a People that believe in the Lord Iesus Christ and that the Father sent him into the World to lay down his Life a Ransom for all Men that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have Eternal Life That he was Crucified without the Gates of Ierusalem and so became a Propitiation for the Sins of the whole World And that after he had suffered and was buried God the Father Raised him again by his Eternal Spirit after which he shewed himself unto many Witnesses and then Ascended into Heaven and is Glorified with the Father with that Glory he had with him before the World was made And we further believe that he is the Light of the World and that he ought to be followed according to his own words Iohn 8. 12. and That he lighteth every Man that cometh into the World according to Iohn 1. 9. and that this Light wherewith he lighteth every Man all ought to believe in that they may be Children of the Light according to Iohn 12. 36. And so we believe in his spiritual Appearance according to his Promise who said He would pray the Father and he should send them another Comforter even the Spirit of Truth according to Iohn 14. 16 17. and this was his own Spirit for he is the Truth and of this the Saints were Witnesses as the Apostle saith Gal. 4. 6. And because ye are Sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your Hearts crying Abba Father And thus was Christ in the Saints the Hope of Glory according to Col. 1. 7. And thus believing and witnessing the Truth of the Scripture we wait upon God for his Spirit that we may worship him therein according to the Institution of his Son Christ Jesus as in Iohn 4. 23 24. and that we may pray with the Spirit and sing with it according to 1 Cor. 14. 15. For the Apostle exhorted the Saints To be filled mith the Spirit Eph. 5. 18. and the Saints were to Pray in the Holy Ghost Jude 20. So our Faith stands in the Power of God which is that the Apostle laboured that the Saints Faith might stand in as thou may'st see 1 Corinth 2. 5. believing that there shall be a Resurrection both of the just and unjust they that have done good unto the Resurrection of Life and they that have done evil unto the Resurrection of Damnation according to Iohn 5. 29. Here we have given thee some account in short of our Faith Principles and Practice and proved them to be according to the Scripture whereby thou may'st see if Prejudice and Self-Interest do not blind thine Eye that Robert Lacky in turning from thy Teaching to Christ the true Light and his Teaching according to God's Promise under the New Covenant who said They shall be all taught of the Lord which according to our Principle we direct People to wait for it 's no unsafe way to Heaven nor as thou falsly accusest us a pursuing such ways as are directly contrary to holy Scripture which thou in some measure promisest thou wilt make appear but hast it yet to do Thou say'st Because thou art fully satisfied we cannot make this out therefore thou wilt shew him how he has incurred not only the Displeasure of God for the present but the Damnation of his Soul hereafter unless he repent and return by this his departure from the Religion he was bred in Ans. Thou may'st see thy Satisfaction is without ground as also thy confident presumption in thy passing such a Sentence upon him concerning his present and Eternal Estate And surely thy Iudgment herein is groundless rash and vain as all may see who have any true Christian understanding and discerning and do but observe what is brought forth under your Teaching in your Religion For we understand no Reason thou assignest for thy Iudgment but His leaving of your Religion which we have before proved he had good reason so to do And therefore neither he nor any other need be afraid of thy Threatning upon this account because from what is before written it is clear that there are great Defects in the Principles and Exercise of the Religion he was bred in if he was bred in yours and so not according to Christ's Institution as may be seen if compared with the Scripture and that there are no such Defects in the Religion he now embraceth but proved in the Principles and Exercise of it to be of Christ's Institution according to the Scripture And herein thy Challenge we have answered and endeavoured to make it appear both to thee and him according to thy demand But if thou hatest to be Informed it shall lie at thy own door and thou shalt answer for it thy self So it is plain he may have changed out of a Principle of Conscience and pure Love to God and his Soul and not out of Interest Humour Passion or Prejudice as thou seemest to accuse him And as for thy Assuring him upon thy Word that it is not for any temporal advantage that thou seekest to reduce him but only in love to his Soul as thou hast to all Mens as thou say'st Ans. We think he hath no reason to believe that thou and the rest of your Clergy have such a Love to the Souls of all Men as to be the only Reason of your coming amongst them to be their Teachers for your Practice which is a surer evidence than your Words speaks the quite contrary in that you do leave any People where you are to go to another place for an Augmentation and higher Preferment So that it 's evident it is not the good of People's Souls nor the Glory of God that chiefly moves you in this concern what-ever may be pretended to And so to the Consciences and Understandings of Wise Men we refer these things to be considered of with our Hearts desire to God for you all that he would open your Understandings and let you see the Errour of you Ways and
Truth Exalted IN THE WRITINGS OF THAT Eminent and Faithful Servant of CHRIST Iohn Burnyeat COLLECTED Into this Ensuing Volume as a MEMORIAL to his Faithful Labours in and for the TRUTH Prov. 10. 7. The Memory of the Iust is Blessed Psal. 112. 6. The Righteous shall be had in Everlasting Remembrance LONDON Printed for Thomas Northcott in George-Yard in Lumbard-Street 1691. THE PREFACE TO THE READER READER AS the Tree is known by its Fruits so I desire thee to Taste of these which are here presented to thee with a Serious and Unprejudiced Mind which are but Some of the Many Testimonies of the Love and Labour of the Deceased Author for the General Good of Mankind and particular Edification of the Churches of Christ that are Gathered in our Day by the Eternal Spirit in and among whom he was a Faithful Able and Successful Labourer The End of Books is the End of Preaching viz. Informing the Inquirer Stirring up the Careless Stopping the Gainsayer and Comforting and Building up those whose Faces are turned already Sion-ward and that are Attended with many Exercises in their Iourney to Everlasting Habitations And as the End is the same so where the Servants of Christ cannot come Books may that are the Testimony of their Care and Ministry for others They remain also with us and are a Memorial of those that writ them when they are Gathered to their Fathers and by them the Living often Converse with the Dead who yet Die not but Live in their Labours in the Children they beget to God in their Writings they leave behind them as Pledges of their Love and Care for the Flock and in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus with the Spirits of the Just To whom and to God the Judge of all the Dispensation of our Day has brought Thousands Blessed be his Eternal Name for ever These following Writings I Recommend the more Earnestly and Pleasingly to thy Solemn Perusal Serious Reader because they are very little Controversial they chiefly Refer to Practice to an Holy and Divine Life and Walking with God The First is an Account of his own Convincement the Path he trod-in to Peace with God out of a Wicked World where the Heavenly Call found him It is Sweet Lively Instructive and Perswading to others to Try as he did and to Embrace the Holy Truth Then follows a Relation of his Travels and Ministry in these Nations and beyond the Seas as Luke presented the Churches with the Acts or Travels of the Apostles in their Infancy A Pleasant and Seasoning Lecture both for the Young who love to hear of Voyages to Excite them to seek the Lord his Way and Kingdom and to Journey towards the New and Heavenly Ierusalem and to Quicken those more Aged to shake off their Dust the Earth that is too Apt to Contract and Stick upon them in the Daily Attention they give to their Temporal Affairs and to Lift up their Eyes and see the Fields how White they are to Harvest and how few Labourers there are to Take it in and what need there is of an Holy Care and Oversight of those that are already Gathered especially Considering how many Eminent Ones of late are Taken from us His Next Writings are Epistles of divers sorts to several Places and upon different Occasions containing Divine Truths and Strong Perswasives to Faithfulness Love Holiness and Perseverance in the Way of God Revealed to them in the Light of Iesus Christ the Great Light of the World that Enlightens every one that comes into the World Those that have any Spiritual Savour will Taste a Sweet Savour in them and God will Witness to them as he is wont to do to the Labours and Writings of his Servants in the Hearts of those that with Seriousness shall peruse them His last Two Tracts in this Book saving Two Epistles that by coming too late are misplaced are in Defense of the Truth against some Opposers of it and the only Controversy in the Book The Soundness of his Answers and Moderation of his Spirit in delivering of them are no small Commendation to the Truth he defends whose Faithful Servant he was for it shews the Power it had over him how well he knew what he writ and that he was not only a Professor but a Possessor of the Living and Saving Faith that was once deliver'd to the Saints and is now again Restored by the Operation of the same Holy Spirit I shall Conclude with saying That as the Author was one of the Most-Eminent of the Second Stock of Ministers the Lord Anointed and Sent forth in this his Glorious Day and was so Generally Witnessed in his Services in the Hearts of his People It is tenderly hoped that those who loved him will prize his Remaining Testimonies and be Good Examples to their Families in Reading such Edifying Labours of the Brethren that their Children and Servants may be brought up and Instructed in the Religious Tradition of our Day according to the Testimony of the Blessed Truth in the Inward Parts Unto which they are all left and the holy Teachings and Guidings of it and Thou Reader likewise that leads into the Way of Holiness and into the Path of Endless Peace ON IOHN BURNYE AT ' s Book GO Little Book speak out the Praise Of him that did thy Author Raise An Eminent Apostle of our Days May He that Blest him Bless thee too That thou the Way of Truth may shew To the Vain Gentile and Benighted Iew Thee Who spake through him can speak by And make thy Readers Hear and See The Saving Truths of thy Divinity A TESTIMONY Concerning the Life and Death OF OUR Dear Friend and Brother in the Lord John Burnyeat HE was a faithful Friend and Brother and an able Minister of Christ Jesus who freely preacht the Everlasting Gospel and laboured to keep it without Charge who was a True Apostle of Iesus Christ and preacht him Freely both by Sea and Land He received the Truth in 1653. in Cumberland and died in the Lord in Ireland in the Year 1690. after he had stood those great Troubles Storms and Trials there and was a great Strength to Friends in the time of their late great Sufferings He stood it out when many were Ruined and fled to England for Succour and remained till after King William came in and King James went out of Ireland And then he went up and down Visiting Friends Meetings that were gathered in the Name of Jesus And after he had intended to come for England but there he died in the Lord and is Blessed and Rests from his Labours and his Works follow him He travelled and Preacht the Gospel in Ireland Scotland Barbadoes Virginia Maryland New-Jerseys Long-Island Road-Island and up and down in New-England and had many Disputes with many Priests and Professors that opposed the Truth but the Lord gave him Dominion over all and to stop the Mouths of the Gainsayers and he turned many to the Lord
of this peaceable Spirit you Living and Walking you may then come to be rightly concerned to God's glory in the Blessed Order which the Truth hath led into and by the Power of God is now set up in the Churches of Christ for the keeping of all out and down that are unclean unruly and unholy and preserving of the Camp of God in that Purity that is proper for it that he that is holy may delight to dwell there and abide in the midst thereof And dear Friends all you that keep your habitations in the Lord's Power neglect not your Gifts received from Christ but be you all concerned in your places and according to your abilities for the Honour of Truth that every thing that would bring Dishonour to that worthy name by which ye have been called and give Occasion of stumbling unto the weak may be removed in the Wisdom of God or at least by the tender power of God Judged out from among you that the Camp may be kept clean and Righteousness may run down and the glory of the Lord break forth upon you and you therein may shine to his Praise and Glory for ever more Dear Friends I also was willing to let you know that our Meeting this year at London was very quiet and peaceable and blessed Unity and comfortable Fellowship in the Power and Love of God was Witnessed among us and we gathered up in that together into that care and concern which the state of the Churches of Christ in this trying day did require For many of our Friends in divers places of this Nation are under great Sufferings for their Testimony But otherwise the Truth doth prevail and gain upon many Hearts and through these Tryals God will Magnifie his Power in the end and Crown his People with Dominion for through Sufferings will the Lamb and his Humble and Faithful Followers have the Victory We had also account from divers Countries of the Prosperity of Truth and the State of Friends at the Yearly Meeting now lately over as Holland and the Country that way and from Ireland and Scotland and so had an account in Letters to the Yearly Meeting of the state of things and the affairs of Truth to our great Comfort And therefore it is desired that if the Lord should so order that we may Meet together as hitherto we have done and intend if he permit to do that you in America would endeavour to send over against that time from your several Countries an account of the Prosperity of Truth and how it is among you as to the Affairs thereof that at that Meeting Friends may have an account from you as we have from other Parts And for this end it was desired by Dear G. F. whom many of you know hath a general Care upon him for the good of the whole Body that at your Half-years-Meeting in the latter part of the year you might draw up an Epistle which might be sent to be at London at the Yearly Meeting every year and so from your Half-years-Meeting in every place there may be an account given yearly which will be a refreshment and comfort to Friends And therefore it is desired that if this come in time to your Half-years-Meeting you would be mindful of it and answer the desire of Friends and let Copies of this be sent to Virginia Maryland Pensylvania and New-Iersey and to Long-Island and Road-Island and to Sandwich and where there may be a Service or to Scituate if the Half-years-Meeting be there and to Barbadoes or the Leeward-Islands So with my Love to you all in that wherein all the Faithful have Fellowship I conclude and remain Your Friend and Brother in the Truth I. B. Hartford the 19th of the 4th Month 1682. An Epistle to Friends of Bristol Directed to C. J. Dear C. J. IN that everlasting Truth and Seed of Life through which the God of Truth hath reached us and visited us is the living Love and true endeared Affection of my Heart and Spirit Richly and Sweetly let forth and extended unto thee with thy dear Wife and your Children as also unto the Faithful and true-Hearted to the Lord in that City who in this Trying day are given up unto God both to Do and Suffer for his Name 's sake My Soul I can still say is deeply Affected with your Suffering state and be sure you are many times livingly in my Remembrance and that in the near Approaches of my Spirit unto the Lord for in that in which the access and the true drawing nigh unto him is experienced do you live upon my Heart and are brought very often into my view together with your Suffering State under which it is the Pleasure of your Heavenly Father to Try you and to prove your Faith and Confidence and to let you know the preciousness thereof in the time of need And now my dearly Beloved see all of you that you keep in the Faith that gives the Victory and truly saves and defends and know that ancient saying true for ever The very hairs of your Head are all numbered and not one shall fall to the ground without your Father's Providence And therefore let your Eyes be unto him both for Salvation and Preservation and know that he both can and will deliver when he sees good for you know him that is the living God that reigns and will reign over all and in due time make all know that he can do whatsoever he pleaseth in Heaven and in the Earth And therefore mind your acquaintance with him and your knowledg of him in that which may be known of him in your Hearts and your Unity with his Life in your Souls that you may all feel the Peace thereof and the Holy Spring therein which Man by all his Cruelty cannot reach to put a stop unto But when they that seek to destroy you and to take all Comfort from you have done all they can this Spring being open in your Hearts you have Comfort Peace and Joy that they neither know of nor can keep from you Oh! you dear Suffering Children and tender Babes of the Almighty who are called unto this day and hour of Temptation or Trial how doth my Soul Love you how is my very Heart's Love let forth unto you at this time as at many other times The Lord the God of Strength be with you and strengthen and fill your tender Souls with the Glory of his Life and the sweetness of his Presence that your Spirits with gladness may Praise him in the midst of all these Exercises with which you are compassed And now my dear Friends you being so in my Heart with a living Sense of your Trials that are upon you methinks I see the Wall with which the God of Israel doth compass you about over which the Adversary cannot shoot an Arrow tho his Boasting may be great what he will do as of Old it was Oh! happy are they that abide within the compass of it
and was a Peace-maker and he preacht in his Life and Conversation as well as his Words And he travelled with me from Maryland through the Wilderness and through many Rivers and Desperate Bogs where they said never English Man nor Horse had Travelled before where we lay out at Nights and sometimes in Indian Houses and many times were very hard put to it for Provisions but the Lord by his Eternal Arm and Power did support us and carry us through all Dangers Blessed be his Name for ever And he was an Elder and a Pillar in the House of God and the Name of the Righteous shall be had in Everlasting Remembrance but the Name of the Wicked will Rot. He was a Man Endued much with the Wisdom of God and in it had a Care of the Welfare of the Church of Christ to keep in Peace out of Strife and Contention and laboured with the Apostates and Back-sliders to turn them to Christ and his peaceable Truth So that they might Study to be Quiet and keep in the Unity of the Spirit which is the Bond of the King of Kings and Lord of Lord's Peace And much more I might write concerning our Dear Brother in the Lord I knowing him very well and his Travels and Service in the Lord's Power and Truth and so doth the Church of Christ among whom he will be missed But he is gone to his Rest and the Lord by his Eternal Arm and Power is able to Raise up others in his place The 13th of the 9th Month 1690. G. F. The Testimony of Friends in Cumberland COncerning that Faitful Servant of the Lord John Burnyeat belonging formerly to Pardsay-Meeting in Cumberland he was born at Crabtreebeck in the Parish of Lows-water in the said County his Parents were of good Repute and his Education was according to his Parentage The Lord visited him in his young and tender Years and inclined his heart after good things whereupon he gave himself to Reading the Scriptures that thereby he might be informed of those things that made for his Soul's Peace and going from one Man to another who were counted Men of Experience yet found no true Satisfaction until it pleased the Lord to send his Ministers to turn his Mind to the Invisible Word of Life which he gladly received into his heart and came to Wait in Humiliation to feel the Operation of it So that he was brought forth Early in the Day of the breaking forth of God's Light and Power in our Age when it pleased God to Visit many People in divers Nations of the World and to make known his Everlasting Truth in the North-Country which Day of Light and Truth and Grace many waited for and were in a readiness to Receive with Ioy and Gladness of Heart amongst whom this our Dear Friend J. B. being called by Grace to the Knowledge of the Lord his Truth and Power and receiving the same in Love Faith and Obedience he came to Witness the Effectual working thereof to his Sanctification and so became a Vessel of Honour fitted for his Master's Use even Christ and learned to Rule his own House well in washing first the Inside and the Outside appearing clean also Then his Light began to shine before Men to the Glory of God that called him And this being first done in him and for him to his particular peace and satisfaction in the Lord 's Eternal Truth then the Lord opened his Mouth in a few words in much tenderness which tended greatly to the comforting of his People he always being careful to wait for the Motion of the Word and to keep close with it whereby he grew in his Gift and was drawn forth to visit Friends in this County where we dearly loved him He was faithful in the discharge of his Duty when called to give Testimony against the Hireling-Priests in the Steeple-Houses to gather People from the Mouths of those Greedy Shepheards that feed themselves and not the Flock and did not profit the People at all And for these things he suffer'd Imprisonment a long time under a severe Goaler in a close nasty place For the Lord sent him forth in his joyful opening Power and Spirit to preach glad Tidings of Salvation by Christ Iesus sometimes to the Spirits in Prison and to them coming out of Prison and entring into the Glorious Liberty of the Sons of God and to them who walked stedfastly in that Glorious pure Liberty he that hath an Ear to hear let him hear whereby he was a blessed Instrument in the Hand of the Lord both for Convincing and Converting to God and for the Refreshing Comforting and Strengthening of them in the Faith Grace and Truth that they might be built on the Rock Christ the Foundation for all the Chosen of God in him throughout all Generations that Man might answer the End for which he was made even to Glorify God who is worthy of Glory and Praise for ever He was a Man of an Excellent Spirit and of deep Experience in the things of God and Mysteries of his Kingdom which were richly made manifest unto him And it was his Delight to be Meditating therein whereby his Experience was daily increased unto the Conclusion of his Days He was a Man tender of God's Glory and Earnestly sought the spreading and propagating of the Truth The Lord made his Travels successful and he saw the Fruit of his Labour and the Lord blessed him with the Fruits of his holy Spirit whereby he became well qualified for the Work of the Ministry a Nursing Father lending a hand of help to the feeble of the Flock and comforting the Mourners in Sion For his Doctrine did drop as the Dew and his Speech as the small Rain He was a Pattern of Righteousness to the Young Generation over whom he was very Tender and to the Aged he could give Counsel so that God made him a strong Pillar in his Church and cloathed him with Divine Wisdom that he was capable of speaking a Word in Season to all which was as a Nail fastned in a sure place He was one of the Lord's Worthies in his day of a quick Sight and clear Discerning of a strong Arm and skilful Hand whose Bow abode in strength and carried the Arrows to the Mark aimed at like as the Men of Benjamin that could sling Stones to a Hair's breadth so he fixed Judgment upon the head of the Transgressor And his Arrows returned not in vain particularly against that Wicked Spirit of Separation where-ever he met with it He was often concerned in Testimony against those that profess the Truth and Way of God and yet did incline to suit themselves to the vain Fashions and Customs of the World as Inlets to a wrong Spirit and became evil Precedents to others especially Young People that are too much employed in their Minds with foolish Dresses and Fashions that never knew the weighty Work of Truth and Power of God in their Hearts to work a Change
me for weighty was the Dread and Majesty of the Power of the Word of Life that lived and as a Fire burned in my Heart that I could not stay And when the first day of the Week came in Obedience unto the word of the Lord I went to Aspetry the Place which the Lord set before me to speak to one Warwick a Priest who when I came was preaching in their Bell-house who soon after I came in with a Friend with me began to put forth some subtil Questions to provoke us to speak that he might have an opportunity to cause us to be haled out and sent to Prison but I resolved not to mind his Temptation but to wait upon the Lord and when he could not prevail with his Questions to get his end upon us he spoke to the Constable to put us forth who answering bid him go on and said They do not disturb us c. Then the Priest went on with his Sermon and finished And when he had done I began to speak to the People and the Priest he got away and the People hurried me out and kept me and the Priest asunder so that I got not to speak to him that Fore-noon So I came away with my Friend and thought to have returned home but immediately after I was got out of the Town the wrath and displeasure of the Lord in his Word sprung dreadfully in my Heart and a dreadful Cry was in me from the same Cursed is he that doth the Work of the Lord negligently c. And then I saw how I had let in a Fear upon me in which I had shunned the Priest and spared him for fear I should be sent to Prison for speaking to him the Law being such at that day That whosoever did disturb a Minister as they termed it should be sent to Prison c. And when I found out my Weakness in this that I had spoke to the People and spared the Priest that I was sent to cry against then was I sore afraid and my Heart filled with horrour and a sore cry in me still Cursed is he that doth the Work of the Lord negligently c. then I knew not what to do for the wrath of God was upon me and another Cry from the same Word was sounded in my Heart saying Babylon hath sinned all ye that bend the Bow shoot at her spare no Arrows for she hath sinned c. Now when it was thus with me and I saw that I had not been faithful but had mist my Service after I had come so far as the Common above Plumland I sate me down and there I mourned before the Lord whom I had so grieved and humbly desired of the Lord that he would but grant me liberty to go again to clear my self that I might come into Peace with him again and then let Life or Liberty outwards go I did not value So waiting upon him in this humble bowed frame of Spirit the Word of Life rose in me again and opened my Heart and sealed to me I might go Then I arose with boldness and went with speed till I came there at the Worship house and the Priest was preaching again in the After-noon and I went in and stood before him till he had done and then was my Heart filled with Peace and I resolved in the Name of the Lord not to spare but speak the Word of the Lord faithfully whatever I might suffer for it for in comparison thereof I valued neither Life nor Liberty So when he had done I spoke unto him what the Lord put in my Mouth He immediately got away and gave me no Answer But I followed him so quick and cried out after him so that he turned again to me in the Grave-yard and then I did clear my Conscience to him and a great Dispute we had for I did not spare him At last he went away and would stay no longer Then I spoke to the People and did clear my Conscience amongst them and then I came away in peace and my Heart was filled with unspeakable Joy and my Soul with Gladness Then I saw it was good to be faithful unto the Lord and to trust in him and to obey his Voice and then I came to feel and see more and more the woful and dreadful state that the Priests and Hirelings were in who for their own earthly gain made Merchandise of People although they were defended by the Laws of Men yet I found the Laws of God they were in the transgression of and so were in Cain's Corah's and Baalam's way in Envy and Gainsayers of the Truth and Lovers of the Wages of Unrighteousness and so such as Peter and Iude wrote of 2 Peter 2. 15. and Iude cried Wo against Iude 10 11 12. Then some time after I was moved by the Spirit of the Lord to go to Lorton to speak to one Fogoe a Priest who was preaching to the People in their Worship-house and I stayed till he had done and there he did affirm in his preaching to the People that both he and they was without the Life of both the Law and the Gospel And then I spoke to him and questioned him what he had to preach or to pray that was without the Life of both Law and Gospel But after a few words he fell into a rage and stirred up the People and they fell upon me and haled me out of the House and did beat me and the Priest did threaten to put me in the Stocks So I came away and that day two Weeks I was moved to go again to speak to the same Priest at Louswater the Parish where I did then dwell and when I came in the People beginning to look at me and take notice the Priest bid them let me alone if I would be quiet he would discourse with me when he had done So I stood still and quiet waiting upon the Lord the Priest he prepared to go to Prayer but when he saw that I did not put off my Hat for I could not so do because I could not joyn with him in his dead lifeless Prayers Then instead of going to Prayer he fell a railing against me and said I should not stand there in that posture At last I spoke to him and did ask him What he had to pray with that was without the Life of both Law and Gospel But he continued calling out to the People to take me away so that at last my Father being there and displeased with me for troubling their Minister came himself and haled me out of the House and was very angry with me Then I stayed in the Grave-yard till the Priest and People came out and then I got to him and spoke to him again but he soon began to be in a rage and to threaten me with the Stocks and got away And then I cleared my Conscience to the People of what I had to say and so came away in great peace with the Lord.
Then not long after in the same Year I was moved of the Lord by his Spirit to go to Briggham to speak to one Priest Denton who then was preaching in the Steeple-house to the People who in his Sermon which he had before hand prepared had many false Accusations Lyes and Slanders against Friends and the Principles of the Truth I stayed till he had done and then did speak to him but got little Answer but immediately some of his Hearers fell upon me and did beat me with their Bibles and with a Staff or Staffs all along out of the House and also out of the Grave-yard that the next day I was sore with the Blows and so the Priest commanded the Constable to secure me and a Friend that was with me and next day did cause him to carry us to Lancelot Fletcher of Talantyre who did order a Warrant to be written for us and so sent us from Constable to Constable to the common Goal in Carlisle where I was Prisoner three and twenty Weeks And when I wrote a Paper to the Priest wherein I answered his false Accusation and sent it to him by a Friend he would not read it but as I was told put it in the fire and burnt it Now while I was in Prison something came upon me for Scotland but I being a Prisoner and not yet deeply acquainted with the way and work of the Lord's Power and Spirit as in relation to such a Service great was the Exercise of my Spirit that I went under and for want of Experience and a clear Understanding I was swallowed up and for a time quite lost in the Deep where great was the Distress of my Soul beyond utterance but the merciful God by his powerful Arm and healing saving Word of Life did restore and bring up my Soul out of the Deep where it was for a time buried and renewed Life and Understanding and caused the Light of his Countenance to shine and the Sweetness of his Peace to spring so that I may truly say he caused the Bones that he had broken to rejoyce And then when he had thus crushed and humbled and let me see how he could make all things become as nothing again and so hide all Glory from Man then in his Goodness he revealed his Glory and Power and Presence and reviving Life and so opened to my Understanding his good Pleasure which with all readiness and willingness of mind I gave up unto in my Heart and Spirit So after my being kept about three and twenty Weeks in Prison I had my Liberty and so came home and followed my outward Calling that Summer and grew more and more into the Understanding of the Mind and Will of the Lord in that which I had a Sight of while I was in Prison And so keeping to Meetings and waiting upon the Lord in a true travel of Spirit after more acquaintance with him and more enjoyment of his Power and Word I grew not only into an Understanding but also into a degree of Strength and Ability sit to answer that Service which the Lord had called me unto And so then in the Faith that stood in God's Power about the beginning of the Eighth Month 1658. I took my Journey into Scotland and travelled in that Nation about Three Months and was both in the North and West of it as far North as Aberdeen and back again to Edinborough and so down West to Lithcow Hamilton Aire and as far as Port-Patrick and back to Aire and Duglass and our Service was at their Steeple-Houses and Markets and other places where we met with People and sometimes at Friends Meetings where there was any And our work was To call People to Repentance out of their lifeless hypocritical Profession and dead Formalities wherein they were setled in the Ignorance of the true and living God and so to turn them unto the true Light of Christ Iesus in their Hearts that therein they might come to know the Power of God and so come to know Remission of Sins and receive an Inheritance amongst the Sanctified And being thus clear of that Nation we returned into England and came over the water to Bowstead-hill the first day of the Eleventh Month 1658. Then returning home I followed my Calling or Trade again from that time until the Third Month 1659. and then I took shipping for Ireland according to what had been Opened unto me in the Truth when I was in Scotland and grew mightily in me through the Strength of the Power and Word of Life while I stayed at my Calling at home and kept to Meetings For the Lord often filled and enriched my Heart and Soul with his glorious Power and so sanctified and prepared me for that which he set before me For often in Spirit was I carried thither and had it sealed unto me that it was my place to go into that Nation to serve the Lord and bear witness unto the Truth and call People to Repentance and hold forth the Way of Life and Salvation unto them So I waited till the full Season came according to the blessed Counsel of God in which I found his leading Power with me and to go before me and so at the time aforesaid I took shipping at Whitehaven and landed at Dunacadee in the North of Ireland and travelled up to Lisbourne and so up to Lorgan and on to Kilmore in the County of Armagh and so up and down in the North for some time amongst Friends and had Meetings And many People came to Meetings and many Convinced and turned to God from the evil and vanity of their ways And then from thence I travelled up to Dublin and thence to Mountmeleck and so forward to Kilkenny and so on to Caperqueen and Tallow and so to Cork and Bandon and back to Cork and then to Toughal and to Waterford and to Ross and to Waxford and had Meetings along as I travelled and according to that Ability I received of God I was faithful and preached the Truth and true Faith of Jesus From Waxford I came to Carlough and Mountmeleck and so down into the North and spent some time there And so having gone through and in the fear of God published his Name and Truth as I had opportunity I then was willing to return home to England and for that end as I intended came down to Carrickfergus but before I got thither it came upon me that I should return back again to Lorgan and Kilmore and from thence to Londonderry And so I sent word to appoint a Meeting at Lorgan and went on to Carrickfergus and got a Meeting where there was many People at it and I did clear my self unto them in the fear of the Lord and then returned to Lorgan as I had appointed And there I met with Robert Lodge newly come out of England who had something in his Heart also to go to Londonderry this was about or near the beginning of the Seventh Month 1659.
I spake something in Exhortation unto Friends and prayed unto the Lord as he enlarged my Heart that we might be comforted and edified together the Magistrates were offended and sent the Under-Goaler to take me away and put me in the Dungeon from among my Fellow-Prisoners who came at three several times and every time haled me from my knees when I was at Prayer and put me in the Dungeon a little dark Room where I was one time two days and nights another time three days and nights and the last time seven days and nights There was a Bowling-Alley before the Prison-door where several of the Magistrates and others did use to come to their Game and hearing my voice were offended and so sent to take me away So after fourteen Weeks I was set at liberty and in some little time I had freedom to return home and then did as at other times follow my outward Calling and kept to our Meetings at home but when I was moved to go forth to visit Friends sometimes in our own Country and sometimes into Yorkshire and Bishoprick and would sometimes be Two Months away or thereabouts and then return home to my Calling or Trade and so thus continued till about the fore-end of Summer in the Year 1664. And then that which had been opened unto me four years before began again to arise in my Heart in that Word which lives for ever and the living motion of it began to press upon my Spirit towards the fulfilling thereof and then I saw the Time drew near and the Season was coming upon me wherein the Lord would have me go and fulfil his Word that I had yielded unto in Spirit so long ago And then I began to prepare and set my Heart to leave all things behind and give up all things else that I might follow him and so his Power wrought my Spirit into a right frame that I could easily leave all things and then he gave me time to settle and order my outward Concerns and leave all things clear And then that Summer I took shipping for Ireland and passed through most Friends and did visit them And about the Seventh Month 1664. I took shipping at Galloway in Ireland for the Barbadoes and was seven weeks and two days in sailing to the Barbadoes and I stayed there about three or four Months and did visit Friends and travelled and laboured in the Work of the Gospel both for the Confirmation of those that were gathered and for the gathering of others unto the Truth that they might partake with us of the like precious Faith And there I met with many that had been hurt by Iohn Parrot and carried away with his Imaginations who lead out of the Power and from the true Cross into high Notions and vain Conceits and so into a fleshly Liberty and ease therein from the true Spiritual Travel and right Exercise both in Spirit and outwardly pretending to be against Forms and under that pretence led out of the faithful and diligent practice which Friends had been gathered into as to their meeting together and waiting upon the Lord counting that a Form which he did lead into a slight of and so caused many both there and in Virginia and other places to neglect or in a great measure to forsake the Assembling of themselves together contrary to Friends practice and the Counsel and Advice of the faithful Labourers who first laboured amongst us as also contrary to the Advice of the Apostle Hebr. 10. 25. And also he in his new Notion led many to keep on their Hats in the time of Prayer when any Friend prayed and condemned our reverend practice of putting off our Hats at such times and so in many things led such as were taken with his Notion out of true Order into Loosness and such a Liberty that the Cross in most things was laid down by them and their own Wills followed and Truth 's Testimony let fall But he ran out of the Truth so far at last that many began to see him and what his Spirit led to and so came to see their own loss and returned back unto their first love and the Power of the Lord went over that dark Spirit with all the vain Imaginations they had been led into thereby and so Friends were gathered into their former Unity Now because of the prevalency of this Spirit I had the greater travel and exercise among Friends in that Island and in other places of America both in withstanding such as were high and hard and also to gather back and preserve such as had in some measure been betrayed and yet were more innocent and tender And so when I had travelled and laboured as I said before about three or four Months in that Island and was clear I took shipping for Maryland about the latter end of the first Month and landed there about the latter end of the second Month 1665. and so I travelled and laboured in the Work of the Gospel in that Province that Summer and large Meetings we had and the Lord's Power was with us and Friends greatly comforted and several Convinced But a sore Exercise I had with one Tho. Thurston and a Party he drew after him for a while so that both I and faithful Friends were greatly grieved not only with his Wickedness but also his Opposition that he made against us and the Disturbance that he brought upon us in our Meetings and great was the exercise and travel that was upon my Spirit both Day and Night both upon the Truth 's account that suffered by him and also for the People that were betrayed by him to their hurt who were under a great mistake But through much labour and travel in the Lord's Wisdom and Power that both I and other faithful Friends of that Province had to search things out and to clear things to their Understandings both as to what related to the Truth and also Matter of Fact which he was guilty of it pleased the Lord so to assist us and bless our endeavours in manifesting the Wickedness and Wrongness of the Heart and Spirit of the Man that most of the People came to see him and in the love of God to be restored into the Unity of the Truth again to our great comfort Truth 's honour and their Everlasting happiness But he himself was lost as to the Truth and became a Vagabond and Fugitive as to his Spiritual Condition and little otherwise as to the outward So in the Winter following I went down to Virginia and when I came there Friends there the greatest part of them were led aside by Iohn Parrot who had led them into his Notions as before is related and they had quite forsaken their Meetings and did not meet together once in a Year and had lost the very form and language of the Truth many of them and were become loose and careless and much one with the World in many things so that the Cross of
that unruly lose Spirit and Mind they were gone into being some of them filled with Prejudice they had written a Book which they brought in Manuscript to the Meeting and urged to have it read But I told them we had the Papers there and they might lay down their Objections they being there and we would Answer them But that would not serve but the Book they would read and we sate in quietness till they had done And when they had done I reached for it and by my memory did go over the Heads thereof and did clear G. F. and Friends in our godly Care and Intents and opened the Service and Benefit of such Things which they did Cavil at and shewed Friends the Advantage that was therein both to the Truth and them and withal reprehended their Slanders and Falshoods with which they had hurt the Minds of several young and newly-convinced Friends and so opened unto them how it was the same Spirit that of old led those that opposed the Apostles and endeavoured to bring a slight and begit a disesteem in the Minds of the Believers against them that watched over them for their good and so endeavoured to lead them into a fleshly Liberty to shun the Cross c. And when I had cleared my self and informed Friends of the truth of Things that then by them had been objected against Friends in general were satisfied and saw the Mistakes which they had let into their Minds through the Insinuation of those three men that had been chiefly concerned in the writing of the Book and in the Opposition And so the Lord's Power broke in upon the Meeting and Friends Hearts were broken and great meltings in the Power there was amongst us and so in the same we blessed the Lord and praised him and prayed unto him and they were bowed and went away And so Friends were comforted and the Seed and Life reigned over all everlasting Glory and Honour and Praise be given to him for all his Mercies and Preservations for he is worthy for evermore And so when all our Meetings were over and Friends in the heavenly Power and Seed comforted and the bad Spirits and their evil Work confounded and brought under as in the Minds of the Simple-hearted that were like to be hurt and betrayed by them and so a coolness and calmness amongst Friends I was clear And then took my Journey with some Friends that did accompany me and went to Flushing and down to Gravesand and when I had visited Friends there I went to New-York and had a Meeting and then took shipping for Maryland there and set Sail the the 23 d of the eighth Month 1671. We met with a sore Tempest a West-north-west-wind that blew so hard we could carry no Sail for some days but at last we got into Virginia and then sailed up the Bay and got to Pertuxon River in Maryland the fifth day of the ninth Month and there I landed with my Companion Daniel Gould who came with me from Road-Island and did travel with me that Winter We visited Friends in Maryland and I went down to Virginia to visit Friends there and found a freshness amongst them and they were many of them restored and grown up to a degree of their former Zeal and Tenderness and a great Openness I found in the Country and had several blessed Mettings And then I did advise them to have a Mens-Meeting and so to meet together to settle things in good order amongst them that they might be Instrumental to the gathering of such as were yet scattered and stirring up of such as were cold and careless and so to the keeping of things in order sweet and well amongst them And thus having cleared my self in the Love of God I committed them unto the Lord and the Word of his Grace and so took Boat again for Maryland and got well thither at last but met with strong Winds and rough Weather and some danger and so spent some time more in Maryland till the Spring And in the 2 d Month I appointed a Meeting at West-River in Maryland for all the Friends in the Province that I might see them together before I departed for I was determined to go as soon as I could after that Meeting And when the time appointed came and Friends from all Parts began to come George Fox with several Brethren came from Iamaica and landed at Pertuxon and from thence came streight to the Meeting And there were Friends from all Parts of the Province where they dwelt and we had a very large Meeting which did continue for several days and a Men and Womens-Meeting for the setling of Things that Men and Womens-Meetings might be established in the Province according to the blessed Order of the Gospel of Christ Jesus which Friends by the Power thereof were gathered into in most places And G. F. did wonderfully open the Service thereof unto Friends and they with gladness of heart received Advice in such necessary Things as were then opened unto them and all were comforted and edified And then when all was over and we all clear and all sweet and pleasant among Friends we departed and went down to the Clefts some by Water and some by Land and there we had a large Meeting of both Friends and other People And when that was over we departed some went down to Virginia and some stayed in Maryland And George Fox Robert Withers George Pattison and I with several Friends of the Province took Boat and went over to the Eastern-shore and there had a Meeting on the first day and on the second day we began our Journey through the Woods to go over Land to New-England And took Horse at Iohn Pitts at the Head of Tredaven-Creek and did go through the Woods above the Heads of Miles-River and Wye-River and also headed Chester-River and lay two Nights in the Woods viz second and third days at night And on the fourth day we came to Saxifrax-River and did swim our Horses and went over our selves in Boats or Canowes And so rode on to Bohemia-River and there did cause our Horses to swim and went over our selves in Canowes And then came to a Plantation called Augustines and there we stayed a little and about three in the Afternoon we set forwards and some of us got to Delaware to Newcastle and got Lodging for we were sore wet with the Rain but Ro. Withers and George Pattison lay in the Woods all night their Horses being tired Next morning they came to us at New-castle We stayed there that day and next day we got over the River And when we were over we could not get an Indian for a Guide and our Dutchman we had hired would not go without an Indian so we were forced to stay there that day And the next day he rode about to seek an Indian but could get none to go and so late in the Evening there came some over from the other side
their Worship to Imprison to Whip with Cruelty to Cut off Ears to Burn in the Hand to Banish upon pain of Death and to Hang for they had hanged four of our Friends All which Cruelties their Church had executed upon us and only upon the account of Religion And if they could prove these to be the Fruits of a true Christian Church then I told them I would own them otherwise they were to be denied The proof of these things or to dispute upon them they would willingly have evaded but I stood upon it necessary that we might be known by our Fruits and our Practice proved by Scripture which they pretended to be their Rule or otherwise all was but vain words and an idle Notion and they had nothing to do with Scripture c. And then they were confounded and knew not what to say but one of them fled to that Decree made by Artaxerxes Ezra 7. 26. But I shewed how inconsistant it was with the Gospel-Dispensation Christ's Command and the Christian's Practice and further said I would prove the Indians better Christians than they by practice And instanced the Indian King who when they had banished Nicholas Upshell an antient grave old man against whom they had nothing but that he was called a Quaker from his Wife and Family and out of their Colony he being received by his Friends at Sandwich in Plymouth-Colony they stirred up the Rulers of the Colony to banish him out of their Jurisdiction which they did And when the Indian King had inquired Why they would send that antient Man sixty Miles through the Woods in the cold Winter to Road-Island and understood the Matter he desired him to go with him and he would keep him and none should molest him or to that purpose and offered him Land and Kindness So said I here was one that would entertain a Stranger a Christian Practice according to Hebr. 13. 2. when your Church banisheth Neighbours from their own Dwellings an act of Cruelty c. Much Discourse we had but at these things they were confounded some of themselves having been Actors in Persecution upon our Friends as Friends told me after they were gone So the Lord's Power went over them they could not stand the trial and we parted in the Peace and Love of God And next day we came to Boston where we had a Meeting and many People came in and several of Note After a while when I was speaking came the Marshal and a Constable and many People following them The Marshal bid the Constable do his Office the Constable being a moderate man said So he did he was to see the King's Peace kept And so stood awhile and heard me and went away and told the Deputy-Governour he had been at our Meeting but he heard nothing but what was true or no Blasphemy or to this effect So the People stayed and I had a blessed Season to open things to the People and clear the truth of those Scandals which the Priests and others had cast upon it and the People went away greatly satisfied and spoke well of the Testimony they had heard Which when Priest Thatcher heard it appears he was displeased for several of his Children were there and the old angry persecuting Spirit got up in him and next first day he stirred up two Magistrates in his preaching to the People and they sent and took Friends at their Meeting and committed several to Prison And we had appointed a Meeting for Iohn Stubbs and Iames Lancaster the third day of the next Week who came after us through the Country and when they came they were put in Prison and banished out of the Colony Thus their old Fruits like old corrupt Trees they brought forth again So the next day we took our Journey to Salem and there had a Meeting and a blessed Season But there we met with some that were gone into that foolish Notion of Iohn Parrots keeping on their Hats when Friends prayed c. So after Meeting was over where many People was in a Barn we had a Meeting with several of the Chief of Friends and such as were gone after that Spirit and a great Discourse we had with them in which we laboured to bring them to an understanding of that Notion they were gone into and so laboured to open and settle the Minds of Friends in the antient Truth and blessed Power which they had believed in and received from Heaven and then appointed a Meeting to be the next Week against our Return And so took our Journey towards Piscattaway and had a Meeting at Hampton as we went were several People came in and some of the Elders of their Church and were greatly satisfied and went away and gave a good report of the Truth insomuch that Seaborn Cotton the Priest was greatly offended And the first day following he called the Chief of his People together and would have a Church-Act made That no Members nor Members Children should go to a Quakers Meeting and it was to be confirmed by their holding up their Hands But those that were at the Meeting would not assent but one of them did declare what he remembred of the Heads of what he heard at the Meeting and maintained it to be Truth So the Priest was in a rage and endeavoured to stir up Persecution And after the Meeting was over we went along to Piscattaway with Friends that came from thence to meet us and stayed there till the first day and had a blessed Meeting and also had a Meeting with the chief of Friends both Men and Women about setling of Men and Womens-Meetings And Friends were very open and in sweet unity all things were setled after we had opened things unto them relating to the blessed Order of the Gospel And so committing them to the Lord and the Word of his Grace we returned back again and had another Meeting at Hampton where were several young People who after the Meeting gave me a Paper in which they signified their desire to be satisfied in something that was as a Scruple upon their Minds To which I answered and gave them great satisfaction And when they saw my Openness and willingness to answer they with reverence did ask me about divers things wherein they desired to be informed and unto all I answered and gave them satisfaction and so we parted Then I with Friends with me took our Journey toward Salem and came there against the time appointed and we had the Meeting which we had appointed with most of the Chief of Friends and it was about setling of Meetings to look after the Affairs of the Church And in the Meeting it was upon me largely to open the Service of our Men and Womens-Meetings and the Duty and Care of the Faithful therein and when I had done they did confess unto the Service c. to be very good and right So then we desired that they would come into the practice thereof but
then I took my Journey into the Country and went down into Buckinghamshire through their Meetings and so on into Oxfordshire to Worcestershire and Glocestershire and to Bristol and then back again and so through to Shrewsbury and on as far as Wrexham in Wales visiting the Churches of Christ and the good Presence of the Lord in his heavenly Power accompanying we were often refreshed and sweetly comforted together to his Praise and our Joy who is our God for evermore And so from Wrexham in North-Wales I took my Journey with Iohn ap Iohn who accompanied me towards South Wales and we did visit Friends and had many Meetings as we went along in Montgomeryshire Merionethshire and Cardiganshire and so we passed on by the West-Sea into Pembrokeshire and there visited the Lord's People and spent some time amongst them there And then we took our Journey through Carmarthenshire to Swanzey and having a Meeting or two we passed on towards Cardiff visiting Friends in Glamorganshire and then into Monmouthshire and having visited Friends in that County we parted he returned home and I passed over the Water into Glocestershire and so to Bristol And so continued travelling through several Counties visiting the Churches and so to London spent some time there and then went down into Essex and visited Friends in that Country and returned again to London to the Yearly-Meeting in the Year 1675. And from London I took my Journey to Hartford and so down Northward with Iohn Graves and Iames Hall to York and there we parted And I went from York to Malton and so to Scarborough and Whitby and through Friends in Cleveland and so to Stockdon in Bishoprick visiting Friends and having many pretious Meetings And then passed through several Meetings in that County and being clear I then took my Journey for Cumberland and being there I with several Brethren was desired to come over into Westmorland to a Meeting appointed by Friends at their Quarterly-Meeting in Westmorland which was to be at Powbank So I went thither against the day appointed with Iohn Graves Iohn Tiffin Hugh Tickell and Thomas Laithes where we met with several Brethren that were come out of Yorkshire at the request of the aforesaid Quarterly-Meeting And upon that occasion many Friends of Westmorland were come together who when we were sate together in the Meeting did present unto us several Disorders in many things that were contrary to the Truth by which they had been grieved and sorely exercised for a long time in their Monthly and Quarterly-Meetings so that the Spirits of a lose Company were set at liberty and so much born up and countenanced by Iohn Story and Iohn Wilkinson that the blessed Order of the Truth brought forth amongst us by the Power of God was greatly slighted and endeavoured to be trodden under by that lose Company being thus encouraged by these two men that looked upon themselves to be Elders and so like Diotrephes loved to have the Pre-eminence which brought great grief upon the honest and simple-minded So we hearing what Friends had to say in that matter and observing what was charged and proved we desired Friends to give us another Meeting and let I. S. and I. W. be sent to and desired to meet us that we might hear them face to face although they had been desired from the Quarterly-Meeting and several others to come to this Meeting so appointed by the Quarterly-Meeting and had refused and withal sent us a Letter denying to come and disowning our Meeting Nevertheless we were willing to have another Meeting which Friends of Westmorland freely assented unto and so it was appointed at Milthrop the next day And we to wit six or more of Cumberland and Yorkshire Friends did our selves go to them as Messengers and did intreat them to go with us to the Meeting that we might hear them and the Friends of Westmorland that were agrieved face to face concerning those things that were in charge against them but they were so high and so obstinate that they slighted us all or any Advice we could give And so after some hours discourse with them in which we throughly saw their Spirits to be wrong we left them and went to the Meeting appointed at Milthrop where Friends were waiting for us And after we were setled a little in the Meeting we gave an acccount how we had endeavoured to perswade them to come through all entreaty we could but could not prevail And so we gave a hearing a second time to the Friends and then we of Yorkshire and Cumberland with-drew and amongst our selves viewed the whole matter for it was in writing and opened our Hearts one unto another And waiting upon the Lord there fell a Weighty Concern upon us for the Truth 's sake and the blessed Order thereof with our holy Testimony we had been raised up into which by them had been slighted and scorned and reproached So that we could not pass it by but in the Power of the Lord God that was dreadful amongst us gave Iudgment against that Spirit that was grown so high and lose and fleshly as thus to undervalue the Testimony of God and the bringings forth of his holy Power in the Churches of Christ that thereby all might be kept sweet clear and in good Order And when we had cleared our selves in the rising and springing of the Word of Life and drawn up our Testimony in writing we gave it unto Friends there and so departed Of the Iudgment given I shall say no more here because it is in writing in many places So I went over to Swarthmore and stayed a Meeting there and then returned into Cumberland and stayed there some Weeks and visited Friends And being clear I returned again to Swarthmore in order to go over the Sands towards Wales which was before me And when I was at Swarthmore I was moved to go over first into Westmorland to visit the Meetings there So I went over to Sedber and had a Meeting there and then had a Meeting at Grayrigg and then came to Kendall where I met with Robert Lodge and so we had a blessed Meeting there And the next day we were at Preston-Meeting and then I was clear of that County And so after a little time took my Journey into Wales through Lancashire and Cheshire and so coming to Iohn ap Iohns near Wrexham in North-Wales he did go along with me And in the first place we went to a Quarterly-Meeting that was at Deloberon at Charles Lloyds for two Counties viz. Merionethshire and Mongomeryshire and had a blessed Service for the Truth there among Friends And then went down into Merionethshire and visited the Meetings and then to Mehuntleth and had a Meeting And then returned up into Radnorshire and visited the Meetings there in that County And then took our Journey through Brecknockshire and Carmarthenshire into Pembrokeshire where we spent some time amongst Friends and had several pretious Meetings And being clear
we took our Journey towards Swanzey and Cardiff and had several pretious Meetings in Glamorganshire and then went over into Monmouthshire And after we had visited Friends Iohn went with me to the Ferry and stayed to see me take Boat and then returned And I went that same day to Bristol and stayed some Meetings there And then went down into Somersetshire and did visit Friends there and had many blessed Meetings And returned back to Bristol and stayed some Meetings there And then went up into Wiltshire and so into Glocestershire and through Barkshire and into Oxfordshire and so into Worcestershire as far as Worcester and visited Friends and had many pretious Meetings through those Counties And from Worcester returned again down through Glocestershire and had several Meetings And came again to Bristol and from thence took my Journey through several Counties visiting Friends And so came to London and stayed there some time in the Service and Work of the Gospel And being clear I took my Journey for the North and did not make much stay at any place till I came into Cumberland And the reason of my so travelling was because of a Meeting that was agreed upon by Friends to be at Draw-well in Sedber-Parish about the former Difference that had been heard at Powbank that was among Friends in Westmorland chiefly occasioned by the aforesaid Iohn Story and I. Wilkinson and a lose sort of People that they did countenance in a Liberty that the Truth would not allow and therefore could not be born with by such tender Friends as were zealous for the Truth who kept their first love and therein delighted to uphold that Antient Testimony for the Lord against the Priests and their Tithes Hire and Maintenance with other things that were to be born Witness against through Sufferings as also for Meeting together to worship God which from the beginning had been our practice against such there being divers Statutes with Penalties upon us for so doing for fear of which the aforesaid I. S. and I. W. with such as had let in the same fear through fleshly Reasoning did shrink and hide and so let fall the Nobility of that Testimony which we had received and were raised up to stand for in the beginning And so because of a failure in divers things and a pleading for a Liberty from under the exercise of the Cross that the Offence thereof might cease the Faithful became concerned to stand up against that Spirit that thus was like to weaken or overthrow the Faith and Testimony of many through its subtil Workings in and through divers who like them the Apostle writes against in his Epistle to the Galatians that to avoid Persecution endeavoured to bring the Believers under Circumcision that so the Offence of the Cross might cease or Sufferings for the Gospel might be avoided Now this Difference still continuing and they abiding obstinate and not willing to receive Advice nor bear the Iudgment in the Truth placed upon them Friends in condescension to see if they could be gained appointed a Meeting at Draw-well near Sedber that they might have another opportunity and be heard what they could further say And then the Matters were fully gone through before many antient faithful Brethren that were there then assembled who spent four days in hearing and going through the Matters relating to that Difference that was then occasioned through their Opposition to the blessed Order of the Truth who withstood Friends godly Care for the Preservation of the Dominion thereof in Righteousness And when all things were heard and gone through by the Brethren the Iudgment was again given in the Power of the Lord upon that Spirit that they had let in whereby they had been led into a Separation and Division and Opposition to the Truth and the holy Order and Testimony thereof and they in the same Power and Love with great Bowels and Tenderness sought to return back again unto that Spirit of Love and Peace wherein the Unity and Fellowship of the true Body doth consist But alas many of them would not be wrought upon nor prevailed with but in that hardness the Enemy had wrought their Hearts into did persist until they became open Enemies to the Truth and the faithful Witnesses of it even to the Writing and Printing publickly against them and what the Truth doth lead into and so are become such as the Apostles write of that greatly withstood their words and slighted them of which both Paul Peter Iohn and Iude write This Meeting at Draw-well was in the second Month 1676. From thence after Friends had done what could be done at that time with holy Endeavours for the reconciling and gathering into the Heavenly Unity and making up of the Breach I returned again into Cumberland with several Brethren to wit I. T. I. B. Hugh Tickhill Thomas Laythes Iohn Steel and so spent a little time in Cumberland and then I took my Journey with Iohn Tiffin towards London And in our Journey we came into Westmorland to visit Friends there where we met with some of those with whom we had to do at Draw-well and then they were grown hard through resisting the Counsel of the Lord and had set up a Separate Meeting and so run into the Self-Separation and grown more into the Enmity and stronger in the Opposition through Resisting the love of God that so richly was reached forth unto them in the Heavenly Bowels that by the Power of the Lord Jesus Christ were opened in the Brethren at the aforesaid Meeting at Draw-well For then did the Power of the Eternal God in great Majesty appear and in a weighty Dread was Iudgment set and sealed upon that Spirit by which they had been betrayed and by the same Power and Word of Life was a Door opened unto them that had been betrayed and an entrance in the same set before them and they with much brokenness and tenderness in the Power of Love were sought to return and be reconciled unto God and unto his People But this great Visitation by them being rejected they grew harder and harder until they grew many of them as before said Enemies unto the Cross of Christ and so withered as to their Spiritual State and so did become as some of old whom the Apostle wrote of as Trees twice dead and pluckt up by the Roots And then from Westmorland I went over into Yorkshire had a Meeting at Sedber and went through the Dales to Massom and visited Friends there-aways And then I. T. and I with Robert Lodge took our Journey to York and from thence towards London visiting Friends by the way and so came to the Yearly Metting in the Year 1676. where there were many faithful Brethren assembled together there from most Parts of the Nation Amongst many things of Concern relating to the Truth and the Churches of Christ that Division in Westmorland was laid before the Meeting and how they were hardened and had set
receive and enjoy them with a Blessing and in true Comfort and also be a Blessing and a Comfort in his place unto all concern'd This is the Happiness and Advantage that is to be witnessed through the Working and Indwelling of that Eternal Power which God Almighty has Revealed in the Hearts of his People in this Day as there is a faithful Minding of and Subjection unto it in the true Love of it And sure many there are which if they knew the comfortable Effects of it would not abide under its Condemnation as they do But it is as it was said of old They will not believe though a Man should tell it unto them Dublin the 6th of the 11th Month 1688. The Account of the Death of my dear Wife will be come to hand before this which is no small Exercise to me But though my Loss be great in having her Remov'd from me yet I believe it is her Gain For she has been under great Weakness and Exercise of Body a long time however this I can say she bore her Exercise beyond Expectation and told some Friends She believed she was kept the longer because I was so unwilling to give her up And I must confess it was hard that it could not easily be got to and that for several Reasons but when I saw that it must be so I was made willing for her Exercises took hold of my Spirit The Morning of that day she did depart she said to me She was afraid her Passage would be hard I told her I did hope not She was under a great Exercise of Pain but bore it with wonderful quietness and sate under it as one waiting for Deliverance and very sensibly spake to me a little before her Departure So she went away like a Lamb without so much as a Groan We lived Comfortably together her Nature was Good Kind and Courteous she was Merciful very Confiderate and of a good Understanding she will be greatly missed in this place for Friends had a good Love and Esteem for her and I have Experience and know that many who seemingly might exceed in Appearance will come far behind Dublin the 7th of the 12th Month 1688. We are pretty quiet here at present but Peoples Hearts are like the troubled Waters no stay nor settlement cannot tell what way to go to be satisfied or quiet in their Minds only they that know the Truth may rest there and be quiet under the Covering of it otherwise it would be mighty uneasie I did intend for Cumberland but at present Friends could not well bear my going away neither have I freedom in my self So I rest in my place waiting the Time and Season for it Dublin the 13th of the 3d Month 1689. Our Half-Years-Meeting is over where were Assembled many Friends and Brethren from divers Parts of the Nation according to our usual manner We enjoy our Meetings peaceably and quiet generally over the Nation and in most Places our Meetings are large and many People come in and all People have their Liberty in the Free Exercise of their Consciences in Matters of Religion And as for Friends and Truth they are in good Esteem both with High and Low The Lord's Care and Mercy over us hath been largely manifest and Friends do learn great Experience of the Preservation of the mighty Arm of the Lord in this Great Day of Trial which is upon this Nation yet to our Joy and Comfort Friends are carried over it in the Faith of the Son of God and have been preserved miraculously even beyond our Expectation in several places where their Trials have been very great and the Dan gers as to appearance dreadful yet Friends have kept to their Habitations trusting in the Lord and following their lawful Concerns and Business At this Half-Years-Meeting our Hearts were made more than ordinarily glad to see one anothers Faces in such a time as this and the Lord's Power and Presence was with us that Crowns our Meetings And in the sense and sweetness of the same are the most of our Friends and Brethren this Day gone towards their outward Beings in the Peace of God and in great Love and Unity which did pretiously abound amongst us in this our Meeting throughout all our Concerns and Affairs The fourth day next I am intended to go into the Country towards our Province Meeting and do think to visit Friends e're I return Wexford the 5th Month 1689. I have had a very comfortable Journey among Friends and for the most part very large Meetings beyond my Expectation and very peaceable viz. On the third day at Tipperary and fourth day at Iohn Fennels But at Tipperary I had like to have been got hold of by the Rapperies and lost my Mare but I got away and escaped and rode back into the Town Last first day we had a very large Meeting at Edward Goodings it was their Monthly Meeting This day we have a Meeting here to morrow at Samuel Watson's and the fifth day at the Meeting that belongs to Lambs-Town I think Carloe-Monthly-Meeting is next first day I intend to be there Dublin the 12th of the 8th Month 1689 Friends as far as I can have account are in the General pretty well in Health and at Liberty and our Meetings quiet and peaceable and so are all others for ought I know But many in the Country under Sufferings as in respect to the Loss of their Goods by reason of the Wars this Land is greatly attended with However our Friends their Eye is to the Lord who doubtless suffers not all these things to come to pass without a Cause but to be a Chastisement for the sinfulness of the Children of Men. O! that all would take warning to keep out of that which provokes him to Displeasure that his Hand might be removed And truly that which is our Comfort and Stay in the midst of all is the holy Presence of his Power that attends our Meetings from the Evidence of which we receive our Satisfaction that the Lord is well-pleased with us And this is that which bears up our Spirits in the time of Exercise Dublin the 25th of the first Month 1690. I had the Opportunity this last Winter to go through Friends both in Leinster and Munster which was a great Satisfaction both to me and them Friends are generally well and our Meetings are full and we enjoy them in quietness as formerly and the Lord's Presence is with us to our great Comfort which is valued by all that are rightly sensible of it as a great Mercy Dublin the 21th of the 6th Month 1690. I have been visiting Friends in the North and had an acceptable and comfortable Season amongst them and found them very chearful It is still to be lamented that Sin and Wickedness should so abound but the Lord doubtless will plead with all that grieve him in his own way and time though he be Long-suffering And therefore it will be our Happiness to
of the Lord God among you that your Hearts may be broken thereby and your Spirits melted into true Love and Contriteness and you preserved in that state and then will your Hearts be inlarged in the Heavenly Wisdom that is Pure Peaceable Gentle and Easy to be Intreated and in that Wisdom and Power in you all in the same will all your works stand to the Honour of God and Comfort one of another and your Eys will be always to the Promotion of Truth in Righteousness keeping up your ancient Testimony into which God raised you by his Power in years past and in the Life and Power of God you will keep under and weaken that which would arise to trample his Holy Testimony under Foot and so keep the House and Family of God in Order and keep to the Cross to that which would be out in a Fleshly Liberty to make void the Cross of Christ by which we were Crucified to the World and the World to us for that which would be from under the Cross is the same that would lead into the World again and so would make shipwrack of Faith and a tender Conscience and lead into headiness hardness stubornness and looseness again and then do they Apostatise from the Life of God that is in them and become Reprobates concerning the Faith and so through forsaking their first Love lose their Reward at last And therefore the true Elders Elder Men and Elder Women ought to have this Care upon them over the younger that all may be preserved in the first Love and first Zeal that none may lose that nor draw back into a fleshly Liberty down into the Wisdom that is from below which hath not its Spring in nor from that Heavenly Gift which cannot keep the Hearts pure as the Heavenly doth and you know it was the Gift of the Heavenly Power that first Quickned us and made us to Live to God and you know it is the same that keeps our Hearts Tender and Lively by which we Live for ever For our Life that we now Live is by Faith in him who is the Power of God and we Feed upon him and his Flesh is Bread according to his own Words for he is the Living Bread that came down from God and still comes down therefore mind it wait for it and stand up for it and be not starved again upon the barren Mountains of your own Imaginations where this Bread of Life is not to be found And dear Friends keep your Men and Womens Meetings in the Lord's Fear and Power and keep in the Holy Care where you may have a sense of your concern in the Body and feel your Place and Charge every one of you and be Zealous for Righteousness in the particular and in the general and the Lord will be with you as he hath been I am witness For none no longer dwells in the Truth and Love than they dwell in Righteousness though they may make a profession And be not at all discouraged in your works for the Lord and his Truth by that Spirit that would bring a light esteem upon your Holy Care and Godly Order in the Truth for it is the same in Nature that in all ages endeavoured to lay wast God's Heritage and obstruct his Work and layed stumbling blocks in the way of God's Traveling People to cause them to fall and to turn back again the Lord will blast every desire that those go about in this matter who let in this Spirit and bring his Life over it and preserve his People therein that in this Life and Heavenly Liberty they may Serve him and Praise him who Lives for Ever who is Everlastingly Worthy to whom be glory and Dominion World without End Dear Hearts you being Living in my Remembrance as also the Heavenly Seasons we had together when I was last with you my Heart is filled with Love towards you and in that I send these few Lines as a Salutation and tender Greeting unto you that you may know you rest in my Remembrance as I believe I do in yours So the God of Love and Peace keep you all in his Love and Fear unto the End that your Portion may be with him in his Eternal Kingdom where there shall be no Sorrow but you may dwell in Pleasure for ever and for evermore From your Friend and Brother in the Fellowship of the Gospel J. B. Dear and Well-beloved UNto you who are the called of God in those parts unto whom the visitation of his Day hath reached and upon whose Hearts the Heaven'y Light thereof hath shined in its pure spiritual breakings forth so that you are become the Children thereof and do walk therein unto you all doth the tender Salutation of my Soul reach in the love of God and in the Fellowship which is a Mystery which is held in a pure Conscience and continued as we walk and abide in the Light in which we have fellowship with the Father and with the Son and also one with another and so are of one Family and Houshold partakers of that one Bread which all the sanctified in all Ages did feed upon which is that which we are to wait for in this Day that we may live thereby unto God and grow through the Divine Nourishment thereof up into his Nature and into his Strength wherein we may triumph over the Adversary as the Antients did of old and rejoyce in the God of our Salvation who is our Strength and Tower of Safety for ever Dear Friends Great and large hath the Love and Kindness of our God been unto us who were Strangers Aliens and Enemies in our minds unto him in this that he hath called and chosen us to be his People and to bear witness unto his appearance and the shinings forth of his Light and of the Glory of his Presence whereby he hath richly comforted our Souls and lifted up our Heads above all sorrow even when the Enemy hath thought to sink us down into the Pit Thus hath the Lord dealt bountifully with our Souls and been a ready help in the needful time to him be the Honour and Glory for ever and ever So that now it behooves all after so many Deliverances Favours and Mercies to stick close unto the Lord and seek his Glory above all and that with all their strength that so he who is the good Husband-man may be glorified through every ones bringing forth of Fruit according to Christ's command Now my Friends this all observe that none can bring forth Fruit unto God's Glory but as they abide in Christ the living Vine from him is the Life received by which every one lives unto God and it is by the vertue of that Life that every one must act to his Praise And therefore see that you all retain it in its own Purity and live in subjection thereunto through your whole Day that you may be as fruitful Branches abiding in the right Nature and bearing holy Fruit
drowning surfeiting Cares and Pleasures of it that you may neither be choaked nor surfeited with the excess of that nor so led up into the worldly Pleasures and Liberty out of the Truth which that draws into as thereby and therein to forget the Lord and overlook your inward State For if any so do they lose the Glory the Beauty and Sweetness of their Heavenly condition and then they grow weary of the Way of the Lord and ready to say as some of old What profit is there in serving of God or in keeping of his Ordinances And therefore the God of Life stir you up and awaken all unto Watchfulness and Diligence that you may grow rich in the inward Man and be replenished with the Vertues and Graces of God that you may be a fruitful People in those parts of the World to the Honour and Glory of him who hath called and visited you who is Worthy of all Glory and Honour Praise and Dominion for ever And dear Friends my Heart's love reacheth unto you all who love and fear the Lord and in the Love of God I dearly salute you all and send this as a Testimony of that Love that still lives in my Heart unto you and therein I remain London 1680. Your Friend and Brother I. B. Dear Friends THE Love of my Heart and Soul is richly extended forth unto you and surely my Heart is affected with you in the Exercise you are under and do endure in this Day wherein the Lord seems to be pleased to try you as in a Furnace of Affliction and to prove your Faith and Patience that you may come to know the value of it even of that which is more precious than Gold that perisheth And truly my Heart believes that the Lord doth not suffer it to come upon you to destroy you but to try you and when his good Will is fulfilled in that and they have filled up their measure whose Hearts are hardened in their Cruelty he will find a way to deliver and bring forth his tryed and proved People whose Hearts are right before him and whose Souls are wisely set to seek him unto such shall all things be rightly sanctified and the Blessing and the Peace and Glory shall rest upon their inward Man with the richness of that Life which comes from Heaven for which you suffer for it is your innocent suffering for this as you have the Witness thereof in your selves that brings the Crown and Diademe of Glory to be put upon the Head of your inward Man So that the saying of the Apostle comes to be witnessed The Spirit of God and of Glory shall rest upon you Oh my most dearly beloved Friends How is my Soul melted into tenderness and my Heart broken within me in the meltings of the love of God towards you and in the sense of your long and weighty Trials that you have endured and gone through and yet for all must they seem as if they were but beginning Is the strength of the hard-hearted such that they are resolved to make a full end or to try what the Lord can do Will they prove their Arm to the utmost Well the Lord in his own time will manifest that it is but Flesh and not Spirit and therefore that which must decay and wither and be dried up and so prove weak at last when the unseen Arm of the Lord which they see not nor know not shall be revealed and stretched out and made bare which you that look not at things that are seen have a Faith in which Faith is that by which you live and in which you have your Victory and in which your Hope doth fasten as an Anchor both sure and stedfast So that though the Winds do blow and the raging Waves do swell high yet you are preserved and kept from being overthrown and destroyed Dearly Beloved methinks I find a Word of sweet Exhortation in my Heart unto you whom my Soul loves who may be or are tryed in this exercising Day with Bonds or Imprisonments In the first place get into a quiet frame of Spirit and Mind within your selves every one and into a resignedness freely up into the Will of God out of time looking as little at that as you can for if you do it will make your Exercises worse and harder For this I have experienced that when a Man is freeliest resigned into the Will of God and in a right Spirit most given up to suffer for him he is fittest to have his Liberty and most commonly it is the nearest unto him Dear Lambs I know there is sometimes a Travel in Spirit to get into a right place with the inward Man when the outward Man is in Bonds but when the Heart once gets thither all things are made easie and comfortable by him who said his Yoke was easie and his Burthen light And now be all concerned thus to get through in your Spirits and then you will feel that the Word of God is not bound but free and your Souls will be free in it and its holy Power and so be fed by the Milk of it that your Souls will draw spiritually from the blessed Breasts thereof by which you have been born again And being thus in your inward Man renewed unto God and up into his Life where the Habitation of Peace and Quietness is for your Souls that they cannot reach to bring a Disturbance to and there feeling your Ease Joy Peace and Pleasure to be such that you can in your Prison-House sing joyful Praises unto the Lord then my Friends be vvatchful tender and kind one unto another and over one another that Love Peace and Joy may be maintained among you all who suffer rightly and innocently for the Truth of our God that so you may be one anothers Ioy and Crown of Rejoicing in the Lord Jesus Christ your Life and Strength And dear Friends where there is innocency and simplicity bear one with another and help one another that in your sufferings you may have fellowship one with another and so keep in the fellowship of the sufferings of Jesus Christ where all may be humble and tender that so while others are striving to provoke you to come out of your places and to offend the Lord you may not provoke one another nor be an occasion unto any one to go out of their place in the Truth and so to lose their Peace with the Lord and in his Spirit For I have observed that there is a care to be amongst Friends at such times and in such conditions when they are kept up together that all things may be kept sweet and pleasant and that they may even join together in bearing the Burthen that is laid upon them and those that are more grown and deeper in their experience of what they are called unto may help the weak and so fulfil the Law of Love And dear Friends let not unprofitable Discourse be gone into for that may lead into
the Rock Christ Iesus which by the Storms and Winds cannot be thrown down For the sure Foundation being kept unto you will abide and endure and the Lord will bless you with inward Peace in your Souls and true Pleasure in your Hearts and you will enjoy the true Riches and Heavenly Treasure and learn as you keep to the power of God in your Hearts to lay up this true Treasure in Heaven through the true Faith where the Thief cannot come to steal nor the Moth to waste or corrupt And then your Riches and Treasure that you trust and delight in being thus laid up in Safety your Hearts will be at quiet and in ease and setled in the Kingdom in Heaven where the Treasure is and then Christ's Words will be witnessed Where the Treasure is there will the Heart be also Oh my dear Friends how true are these things Happy are they that grow up into the experience thereof through the working operation and openings of the true living Heavenly Power in their Hearts such their Minds are kept free from that which would entangle and their Feet at liberty that they may run chearfully the Race that is set before them For the Riches the Price that their Hearts are upon being before them and the Mark also that they look at this draws them to look forward and press forward so that they are not of them that draw back to Perdition And thus Friends you may see where and in what your profitable Exercise is through your Day and where the lasting Gain Riches and Treasure is to be got that will endure and be your Portion when the Enemy and all his Instruments have done what they can And this made David say he would not fear what Man could do unto him for the Lord was his Shepherd he said and the Lord was the Portion of his Cup and the Lot of his Inheritance c. And therefore keep your Hearts out of the World and the Riches thereof which are uncertain and also above the delighting in the Glory thereof and let your delight be in the Lord and in the sweet and pleasant Enjoyment of his righteous peaceable Power all the Day long that you may still feel a Habitation therein and a place of Safety to fly unto in every needful time And wait you upon its holy springings in your Hearts that your Souls thereby being united unto God you may dwell in his Covenant and so in Unity with him and his blessed Son and so feel the Fellowship which is a Mystery held in a pure Conscience And dearly Beloved live at Peace among your selves and wait for the Spirit of Love and Concord to spring in all your Souls that the true Mark of Christ's Disciples may appear among you Remember what he said unto his of old By this shall all Men know that ye are my Disciples if you love one another And consider what the Apostle said He that dwells in God dwells in Love c. And therefore I intreat you wait for the power of it in your Hearts that you therein may serve one another and so the whole Body may be edified the weak strengthned the faint-hearted encouraged and the lame not turned out of the way but all helpt forward on their way And you all being thus in the righteous holy Power exercised for good which is that it will lead unto you will be a Strength and Comfort and Crown of Rejoycing one unto another and so helpers forward of one anothers Joy in the Lord Surely this is needful in this Day wherein Zion hath so many Enemies she had need to be as a City that 's at Peace within her self So the God of Peace keep you all in the Dominion of his Life that therein you may reign over every hurtful Thing and so dwell in the holy Mount of Safety where the Destroyer cannot come and upon the holy Hill of Zion about which he hath appointed Salvation for Walls and Bulwarks That so you may all witness Peace to be within her Walls and Prosperity within her Palaces And so you may every Day witness high Praises in your Hearts and Mouths unto her King who is King of Kings and reigns over all who only hath Immortality and dwells in the Light To whom be Glory and Eternal Praises saith my Soul for ever and for evermore Amen From your Friend and one that truly loves you in the Truth J. B. Dear R. S. UNTO thee with thy Dear Wife C. H. R. U. and theirs with the rest of Friends there in Prison with you doth the living sincere Love of my Heart truly reach and livingly flow forth for I can say of a truth that you are often near my Soul and livingly in my Heart and that in my nearest approach unto the Lord when my Life opens and my Spirit is let forth through the Power thereof and poured forth into his Bosom as blessed be his Name he gives us access by his own Spirit even then are you many times fresh in my Heart and Livingly before me as if I were present in Body with you and with great delight do I put up my Supplications upon your account unto the Lord our God rejoycing to feel the Lord so concerned for you that by his own Spirit he so often stirs up a remembrance of you in my Soul and that upon such Holy occasions Oh! blessed be his Name he is the Keeper of Israel that neither Slumbers nor Sleeps but remembers his People and his Eye is open to see their Afflictions and his Ear is open to hear their Complaints and tender Groanings and no doubt but he will arise in his own due time to work Deliverance and Salvation and they shall glorify him Oh! my dear Friends how is my Soul overcome in the weighty Love of God at this time unto you all who Suffer or are given up to Suffer for his Name 's sake that hath Loved you and values your Testimony above all things and so are of that number that love not your Lives unto Death but are given up to follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes Oh! my Heart is affected with you in your Testimony and can say as Debora of old My Heart is towards you who offer your selves willingly among the People now to Suffer in the Lambs Battle as they did to War in the outward War for that 's the way the Lamb and his followers do overcome he was made Perfect through Suffering And the Promise still is The Lamb shall have the Victory everlasting Glory and Honour and Praise to the Living God that sits upon the Throne and to the Lamb who is worthy for ever more And therefore my dear Friends look not out look not back but to the Lord your Rock and Strength look for Help and for Deliverance for you know that its from him that Salvation comes and not from the Hills and Mountains for he is the God of the whole Earth and the Mountains shall Melt at his
Presence and before him shall the Hills Fly yea the Sea also shall Fly and Iordan shall be Driven back that his Ransomed may pass on his Redeemed People may Enter into their Rest. Oh! theresore let us Cleave unto the Lord our Saviour and so sollow Christ our Redeemer who can cut a passage through the great Deep let us not be dismayed at any thing that may rise up in our way to oppose us so long as our Leader is with us and our blessed Rock attends us and we feel our dwelling within the Munition thereof our Bread will be sure and our Water will not fail and our Hearts will not be barren nor our Souls will not be faint but we shall grow through the blessing of Israel's God and Live when with all their cunning the enemies of the Truth have contrived our overthrow For there is nothing can hurt us more in the Trying Day than want of Faith in God's Power and Arm of strength which never failed them that put their trust therein And therefore my dearly Beloved with whom my Soul is bound up in the Covenant of Life wherein I have Unity with you and can say although you bear the Burden yet my Heart is concerned for you and also with you in your Godly concern and Testimony for which you Suffer and therefore cannot you be forgotten by me For as we Love the Truth and the Holy Testimony thereof for which you Suffer and are in Bonds in Spirit we are often as Bound with you and fellow-feelers of your Burthens And furthermore we cannot propose to our selves any other than e're long to be Sharers with you to be Partakers of the like Sufferings Trials and Exercises and therefore still it is our safety to be Prepared in our Hearts and into the Will of God to be given up to Do or Suffer for his Name 's sake For our days do seem to be like the Days of Old wherein the Apostle said they were Killed all the Day long and accounted as Sheep for the Slaughter If we look into the Scriptures we have a Cloud of Witnesses and so through what was Written aforetime which was Written for our Learning we may have Comfort and our hope Strengthened and so be Encouraged to Trust in the Lord our Strength and in whom our Hope is And now it is still to be our care as Lambs or Sheep to Live in Innocency and so as Lambs to Suffer for our Innocency and for our Testimony which we are called unto and surely I often consider what more Innocent Practice can we ever be found in than in our Peaceable Meetings to Wait upon the Living God and to Worship him in his peaceable Spirit by which our Hearts come to be cleansed of all Evil and our Spirits gathered into the Peace and Love of God in which we Love God again and not only so but have our hearts filled with Love and Good will towards all Men in the Peace and Sweetness of which we are enabled to Pray for the Good of All even our Enemies And if this must be misinterpreted and our Righteous and Godly Intents counted a Transgression of the Law and a Breach of the Peace I do not know what such who so do can call Innocency For surely every one whose Heart is rightly Exercised in this Godly Duty which the Living God calls us unto must needs be Innocent before God and in that Frame of Spirit wherein we cannot nay dare not desire the Hurt of any but as the Truth ariseth Pray for all Men both for Rulers and People Thus I know under the Exercise of the Righteous Power of Christ in our Meetings are our Hearts qualified and then if we must Suffer for Well doing under the name of Evil-doers we shall be happy and may satisfy our selves with what Christ of old said The Servant is not greater than his Lord For if they accounted him a Blasphemer and said he had a Devil and so Persecuted him we may well look unto him and Comfort our selves in following such an Example And therefore be ye Comforted you Faithful Sufferers with Christ and for him and Comfort your Hearts in the Recompence of Reward which is with God for you and wait for the Spirit of God and of Glory that it may rest upon you And never look out for your Cause is Good it is that which God hath called you unto and you are happy in your Nobility and Valour and whosoever shrinks from their Innocent Testimony in this matter will suffer Loss in their Inward Condition for if any draw back such shall know the Lord will not go with them nor have any Pleasure in them nor be their Comforter but Reprover And therefore my Soul desires that all may be Valiant for the Truth and stand in the Power thereof unto what the Lord hath called unto that so you may be together as a City set on a Hill that cannot be hid For though the Foxes have Holes and the Fowls of the Air have Nests yet remember what Christ said to the Man that said he would follow him And so the Lord give you all Valour and Strength and Enrich you with true Patience which the Tribulation worketh into in the right Exercise that so you may all grow up into the true Experience and so into the Hope which makes not ashamed that the Love of God may be shed abroad in your Hearts every day by his Spirit which he hath given you And then will you all feel a dwelling in his Covenant and in his Peace And so in this Covenant Peace and Love I very dearly Salute you all and in it do I still remain Your Friend and Brother I. B. Castle-Salem in the West of Ireland the 30th of the 10th Month 1682. J. B's Epistle to Friends in Glocester-Prison Dear Friends UNTO you who are Faithful Sufferers in that City with the rest of the Faithful in that City and Country who in your Hearts are given up to Suffer for the holy Name of the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour who hath Called and Redeemed Chosen and given you Hearts not only to believe but also to suffer for his Name 's sake and thus hath counted you worthy as Vessels of his Choice unto you all I say in the Name and Love of Christ Jesus our Lord I send Greeting and with-all the tender Salutation of my Soul and Spirit in that near Affection and holy Union into which by the power of the Holy Ghost we have been gathered and united So that as Members of that one Body into which we have been Baptized by that one Spirit wherein the true access unto God doth stand we have our Fellowship together and so drink together into that one Spirit and are refreshed with the Water that flows from the living Rock that followed Israel of Old who is the Rock of our Age the stay of the Generation of the Righteous in this Day that upon which we have our sure standing so
you as a Cart is pressed that is full of Sheaves saith he Hence it may be understood that when he hath been at work and hath done good by his glorious Power who worketh wonderfully for them and now in them also that believe in his Power if there be a going from him and a letting in of other things into the Heart where he should Rule and have his Dwelling in Man and so with Man it becomes a Grief and an Oppression unto him and so a Provocation that he will not always bear it nor spare Man though he is long-suffering as may be seen very fully in that Prophesy of Amos and more at large through the Scripture which was written for our Learning that we might be warned and thereby be stirred up unto that diligence care and watchfulness which may tend to our preservation And now considering these things that were of old and observing how that in our Age the Lord hath made known his wonted goodness unto us even that which doth far exceed the outward Priviledges of outward Israel for that which he blesseth us withall is a Possession and Enjoyment of a degree of his own Life who is the Creator by which he Created all things which is more than the Enjoyment of the Creature the Loss of which was the great penalty laid upon Adam if he broke the Command which he having lost is again restored unto us through Christ Iesus the Second Adam the Lord from Heaven which we having received do thereby live unto God and therein serve him And so Dear Friends the thing that is chiefly in my mind unto you in the reach of the Heavenly Bowels is To intreat and beseech you all To be tender in your Hearts and careful over your Spirits that you may not let in nor join with any thing that will bring Grief or Oppression upon your Life or lead you into the Transgression of the Law thereof Mind the Exhortation of the Apostle Grieve not the Spirit by which you are Sealed c. And so as you are careful watchful and wise to take heed unto the Holy Conduct and Blessed Leadings and Direction of this Spirit and the Law thereof your Souls will dwell in Peace and your Feet will tread in a safe Path even the Path of Peace and your Steps will not Slide but you will witness what David said of old to be true The Righteous shall inherit the Land and dwell therein forever for saith he The mouth of the Righteous speaketh Wisdom and his Tongue talks of Iudgment The Law of his God is in his Heart none of his steps shall slide So here you see what it is that keeps from Sliding the Law of God which is in the Heart this preserved David for it was as a Lanthorn to his Feet and a Light unto his Paths Oh! my Dear Friends you may be happy yea we may all be happy if we be as careful as we ought to walk by this Rule Oh! the Sweetness Peace and Glory that he fills the Hearts of all his People with that take heed unto his Law the Spirit is not grieved the Life of the Soul is not Oppressed the Soul Life or Spirit of Man is at ease and so in the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God and so in that state where it can Sing unto the Lord and Praise him And therefore all of you mind your Dwelling and inward Liberty and Spiritual Freedom from all the Corruptions of the World and of the Flesh both inwardly in your selves and all Temptations from without that you may reign in the Dominion of the Seed Christ Iesus for ever and so with him be Co-heirs of that Heavenly Inheritance and Possession which he hath Purchased for you And so in the Unity of that Life which reigns over all do I very dearly Salute you all who Love the Truth and in that do I desire that the God of Life may bear up your Spirits by his Power over and a top of all that would Defile or Oppress that you may be preserved to remain the Sons and Daughters of God without Rebuke in and among this Crooked and Perverse Generation amongst whom do you Shine as Lights to the Glory of him who hath called you out of Darkness into his Marvellous Light who over all is worthy of Glory and Honour and Dominion World without End From Your Friend and Brother in the Truth I. B. Dublin the 23 d of the 11 th Month 1685. Dear R. R. IN the Love and Unity of the Blessed Truth which lives and abides for Ever do I very dearly Salute thee and thy Wife and therein is my Heart's desire for you unto the Lord that by his blessed Hand and Power you may be born up and supported under all Exercises that may attend and in your minds Preserved with an invisible Eye unto the Lord taking notice of his Orderings as it is his Hand that brings to pass what he sees Good and then in his Fear and Love there will be a Reverent Submitting unto his Will without Murmuring or Repining at what the Lord doth Though Nature in the True and Natural Affection which good Men and Women cannot be without may be broken and greatly bowed down yet as long as the mind is preserved from Murmuring at what the Lord doth it will be well there will be a Heart Capable of giving him his due as it was with Iob. Dear R. I must needs say my Heart is concerned for you both upon thy own Account having heard of thy great Weakness there and Affliction thou hast been under and also because of the Loss of thy Dear and Tender Daughter who in your Absence is taken away both from you and us But what shall I say It is so and the Lord hath done it and it is not safe to Dispute the Case with him or say Why hath he done so But tenderly submit unto his Will and bless him that gives and takes away as he sees good However this I think I may say to thee and thy Wife with safety you need not sorrow as such who have no Hope because of the ground God hath given for a sure Hope of her Eternal Well-being which is the Mark we are all Pressing towards and they are happy that do obtain it For I was with her that same day that she Dyed in the Afternoon and had a serious weighty season with her She sent for me and told me as soon as I came to her That now she was satisfied she must Die and her Heart was wholly set after her Assurance of Peace with the Lord and her desires to us to wit her Husband and me was That the Doctor might not trouble her or meddle with her for she was not willing to be molested or hindred from a quiet Departure For her Heart was set after a peaceable Departure out of this World as was evident from her words several times And she was very sensible and did speak to me with
God that ye may reign in the dominion of the same over all the evil Lusts of the Flesh which would arise in your hearts to war against the Spirit of Holiness and so would hinder your Sanctification This of a truth Friends you ought to take heed unto even the Spirit of Holiness and Power of the Lord our God which in this latter Age he hath largely manifested for to sanctifie his People that so your hearts may be kept clean and preserved according to Christ's Command out of the surfeiting with the Cares of this Life and from being overcome with and drowned in the Pleasures and Vanities of this World that you may never lose the excellency and glory of these heavenly things which God the Father in the bountifulness of his loving kindness hath been pleased to manifest with which all the glory of this present World is not to be compared And so my Dear Friends you that feel the Lord and his goodness in your hearts Walk Circumspectly as before him with Reverence and Godly Fear in the holy Awe that you may not provoke him at any time nor grieve his holy Spirit by which you are Sealed but with tenderness of heart and pureness of mind wait upon him at all times So will your Peace spring up as a River and your Righteousness be multiplied as the Waves of the Sea and so over all the choaking Cares of this Life and drowning Pleasures of this present vain World you will be preserved to have a being in the power of that life which is without end In which as there is a dwelling faithfully you will all grow and increase in the dominion over all hurtful Lusts that war against the Soul in your own particulars And also there will be a growing over all hurtful Spirits that have entred since the beginning whose Life is in the Fall and not in the pure Redemption nor in the redeeming Power that brings out of the Fall And so to the Lord God Friends be ye all faithful in your places that you may be a blessing in your Generation in those Countries and Places where ye dwell that the Nations may be seasoned that your savory life may sweeten the People And Friends have an eye to the Glory of God and the Honour of his Truth in all your undertakings I even command you in his fear it being upon me by his Spirit that the Lord's name may not be blasphemed among the Heathen through your unfaithfulness For truly my love being great towards you I am jealous over you with a godly jealousie and therefore am constrained to use great plainness as having a sense of your state And therefore be ye provoked unto Love and to good Works in a faithful obedience and serving of the power for it s in that that all accepted And lay aside all Wrath and Clamour and evil Speaking with all bitterness and receive with meekness the ingrafted Word which is able to save your Souls And in the power of that dwell and it will divide aright between the Pretious and the Vile and so will cut off all that is not of God not regarding what may be professed where the living vertue is wanting This pure living Word is your Preserver that keep faithful in it and will keep you from all deceiveableness and lying Spirits which are not of the Father but of the World and from the God of the same in the dark power beguiling the unstable Soul through his lying Signs and Wonders in the power of darkness without living vertue And this Word which you have received will live in your hearts and minister daily of its own vertue into your Souls for their refreshment if you keep faithful unto the same But if the Thorny Cares of this life and the choaking Pleasures of this vain World take root and place in your hearts then the freshness is lost the issue of living vertue is stopt the ministring word and power is with-drawn the Fountain again is sealed up and the dry Winds and the scorching heat comes and dries up and causes to wither the green Blade before the Corn comes to perfection So that the harvest and time of gathering never comes Therefore O my Friends be faithful unto the Lord and be not drawn aside from the stedfastness of the Gospel neither on the one hand nor on the other but step in the straight path of Life Peace and Salvation which the Lord hath prepared for your feet that the Weak may be strengthned and the Lame recovered and none turned out of the way For truly there is much upon you I feel it in this matter even you that feel the Lord in any measure that you all be vigilant and diligent in your places that you may be a strength unto the Weak And therefore am I moved once more to warn you now you even you that know the Lord To take heed unto the power of the Lord God in your hearts and with that keep down the earthly worldly Spirit that so you live over it in the Spirit and Power of the Lord may draw more unto you or else I feel it you will not only be guilty of your own Blood but the Blood of others also which stumble at your unfaithfulness who have been call'd and accounted as the first Fruits unto God and unto the Lamb in those parts of the World in this blessed day of the Lord in which he hath appeared and gathered by his power and also doth preserve and nourish by the vertue of the same all that he hath gathered whose trust and confidence is in him And so My Friends this may give you to understand that I am safely arrived in England and am perfectly well every way And Friends here are generally well Meetings very large and the Truth in good esteem among many People who are not yet of us And great openness in all places where I have been in the hearts of all People and great desires to hear the Truth for it is of good Report This from Me who remain Your Friend and Brother J. B. The END 1671. In our going down to Virginia we were in great danger and had like to have been Castaway with a North-west Storm 1672. 1673. 1674. 1675. 1676. * * The Earl of Arran This was Amos Strettel's Marriage As at large may be seen in George Bishop's two Books entituled New-England judged * * Iohn Smith Witness Thomas Smith Iohn Kelson Thomas Cole
did visit Friends And then took shipping at Whitehaven for Ireland and landed at Belfast in the North and spent that Winter in Ireland in the travels and labour of the Gospel and had blessed Service for the Lord and his People in that Nation and was richly comforted and refreshed amongst them in the gracious presence of the Lord that was with us who is the Recompencer and rich Rewarder of all that are given up in Faithfulness to serve him So that now none doth lose their Reward under the Ministration of the Gospel no more then they did under the Law in the Figure when he said Who is thère among you that would shut the Doors for nought neither do you kindle fire on mine Altar for nought Mal. 1. 10. To him be Glory and Honour and Praise over all for ever for he is worthy And when I was clear of that Nation I took shipping at Dublin and landed at Whitehaven in Cumberland and stayed a little time in Cumberland and then took my Journey for London to the yearly Meeting that was in the Spring of the Year 1670. and so spent a part of that Summer in London and thereabouts in the Service of the Truth until I could have a Conveniency to go for Barbadoes that being upon me And in the fifth Month all things being ready I and William Simpson went down to Gravesend with many Friends from London that did accompany us and staying there but a few days we set Sail from Gravesend the eighth day of the fifth Month 1670. and came to the Downs and stayed there some days and then set Sail from the Downs the twentieth day of the same Month and because of contrary Winds we put in at Falmouth and stayed two Nights there and then put to Sea again and so set Sail for the Barbadoes and arrived there the thirtieth day of the seventh Month so that we were twelve Weeks from Gravesend e're we got Barbadoes And then I stayed in the Barbadoes six Months and had great and weighty Service in that Island before I could be clear And my dear Companion William Simpson after he had been there was taken sick of a violent Fever that was very much among People at that time and very many died he was sick but about six days and then was taken away At his Death a very little before his Departure he gave a living heavenly Testimony unto the Truth with wholesome Advice unto them that were about him and departed in the Peace and Joy of the Lord an Account whereof may be further seen in a Book writ by one that was with him from his beginning to be sick until he departed I was with him very much but sometimes was constrained to leave him for the Service sake that was upon me He was a very Innocent man and full of fear and reverence and ordinarily very open in his Testimony and very sweet and pleasant we walked in great love and unity together for he was a humble man and had very low thoughts of himself and always under dread He had gone through great Sufferings and Afflictions and cruel Persecutions for his Testimony and Service sake that he was called unto he likewise had met with hard Buffetings from Satan's Messenger and sore Temptations by which he had been wounded and sore hurt through the wiles of Satan and his cunning slights of which he would be often speaking to me in our brotherly Fellowship and Communication wherein we would open our hearts and states one unto another and in the remembrance of things he was kept very low and tender and near the Lord and took great delight in his Power by which he had been redeemed and his Soul delivered and he raised up into a good degree of Dominion in which he reigned at the last and with great triumph departed this Life and is blessed for ever My Heart is well satisfied that it is even so and when he was taken away from me my Heart was broken within me my Spirit was bowed down greatly in the sense of my loss and I could not but mourn though not as such that have no hope for my hope was firm concerning his well-being and gain that he had obtained but great was my loss for I was left as one alone as I had been often before to bear the burthen my self which was very weighty upon me at that time considering the state of the Church in that Island and the care of it was upon me but the Lord was with me and his Power did assist me to go through my Charge and clear my self and free my self from the Blood of all Men and Women And so through all being guided by his Spirit in his Wisdom the Lord's Children and People were comforted and my Soul and Spirit refreshed and revived and so in peace clearness and gladness I came away and took shipping for New-England and set Sail the first of the second Month 1671. and arrived at New-York the 27 th day of the same Month and so did go from New-York unto Long-Island and did visit Friends on the Island and other places there-aways and was with them at their Half-years-Meeting at Oyster-Bay And so being clear of those Parts took shipping for Road-Island and was there at their Yearly-Meeting in 1671. which begins the ninth of the fourth Month every Year and continues for much of a Week and is a General Meeting once a year for all Friends in New-England And after that Meeting when I was clear of those Parts I took my Journey towards Sandwich and so did visit Friends all along at Tewkesbury Marshfield and Cittuate and so on to Boston and there had a Meeting and so on to Salem and Hampton and Piscataway all along visiting Friends and had many pretious Meetings and the Lord was with us and his Power was over all And from Piscatoway I returned back again the same way and had blessed Service and so through I came to Road-Island again and there I spent some time and went up to Providence and did visit Friends there and so returned again And when I was clear of those Parts I took shipping back again for Long-Island and landed at Oyster-Bay and had some Meetings and then went down to Flushing and so to Gravesand and had some Meetings And then went over to East-Iersey to visit Friends there and had some Meetings and then returned back again to Gravesand and from thence went back again to Oyster-Bay and was there at their Half-years-Meeting which began about the eighth day of the eighth Month and had a blessed time But in our Meeting for Business we had an Exercise with several that rose up in a wrong Spirit against the blessed Order of the Truth which by the Power of God Friends were gathered into and sweetly setling in And chiefly their Envy and Bitterness was against George Fox and his Papers of Wholsome Advice which he in the Love of God had sent amongst Friends and in
you may grow in and be guided by it in your further Travels in the Heavenly Journey towards the blessed Heavenly Canaan which is still before you as the Price of the high Calling of God in Christ Jesus And therefore observe the true Mark and still press forward towards the same as the Apostles and ancient Saints did And take heed I intreat you unto your selves and the exercise of your Minds lest your Eye inwardly be drawn forth to look at another Mark for if you do then will not the Price be the same that was theirs who was faithful unto Death and so continued unto the end and obtained the Crown Therefore be you all watchful to keep the Enemy of your Souls out of your Hearts that he may reign who is your Friend for ever who seeks your good and brings Life and Peace unto your Souls under whose Government and peaceable Dominion you will find Rest and Pleasure for your inward Man And now my dear Friends since it is the Lord's Truth you have received and his Holy Power that you have felt in these Countries even as his People in other parts dwell you with it and in it with careful Minds that you may therein live unto God as such that have a part in the first Resurrection that you may reign for ever and ever over the Power of the Second Death And all take heed of the mysterious Workings of the wicked one who works in Deceit by Guile in every transformed Appearance to draw the Mind out of the pure Center in the true Power to the Likeness and Image which hath no Life in it where there can be no stedfastness nor true reigning over the Will that is unruly and foolish Therefore my dear Friends keep your Watch every one in your own Hearts continually that you may not be betrayed from that pure Life that yields vertue unto your Souls and nourisheth up to Eternal Life For I know that the wicked one in his deceitful Workings you have been acquainted with and his evil Design the Lord by his Power in his Light hath discovered unto many of you so that you by the same have escaped his hurtful Snares and yet lives in that which must reign at last over all And therefore keep your Habitation in the Power that is unchangeable wherein you may live for ever without fading for the Power fades not but abides in its Glory for ever so that the first is the last the Root and Off-spring Blessed are they that have kept their first Love and have stayed in their Righteous Habitation into which the Power did redeem them they do still witness a growing from Grace to Grace from Strength to Strength and from one degree of Holiness unto another until they come to be purely like him who is their Redeemer who shall change them and bring them from Glory to Glory till they bear the Image of the Heavenly Man and be like him that is altogether glorious who is putting of his Glory richly upon his Church which is his People in this Day And therefore you that have received the Spirit of the Lord and are acquainted with it do you follow it in all its pure leadings with faithful Hearts for it will certainly lead all the Faithful to know an increase of Glory And take heed of the Spirit of the World which is not of God but leads from him that Spirit where it prevails causeth to wither and sade and brings Barrenness upon the Soul and Darkness and Death and then the Glory is lost and the Image of the Heavenly then is not born nor no Man in that is Heir of the Heavenly Inheritance Therefore it doth behoove all to look to their standing in that wherein the Heirship is that none may come short of that Crown which Paul said was laid for him and all them that loved the appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the God of Love and Peace keep you all in his Love Fear and Wisdom that your Dwellings for ever may be in his Peace which the World cannot take away nor rob you of that so with the rest of his Heritage you may shine in the Light of his Glory and dwell in the Richness of his Kingdom for ever and ever Amen Bristol the 9th of the 10th Month 1675. This is the Desire of my Soul for you all whom I truly love and in the Life Salute wherein I am your Friend and Brother J. B. Taunton the 7th of the 2d Month 1677. My dear Friends in Cumberland UNto you my Love and Life reaches and purely flows forth in that which Lives for ever wherein I do in the Innoceney and Life of Righteousness truly Salute you all whom the Lord hath raised and called to be a part of the first Fruits unto himself in this day of ours wherein the Glory of his hidden Life he hath Revealed unto a Remnant even that which from the Wise and Prudent of this World is still hid and from such as turn back into that Wisdom it comes again to be Vailed so that the Light of the Glory of it they lose again though they had a view thereof And therefore blessed are all who keep their Habitation in that Power which never Changeth nor Decays the Glory of the Heavenly things will be still in their view by which their Hearts will be enlarged towards the Lord both in Love unto him and a Living People to his Honour in all things that his Name may be Exalted and the Testimony of his Truth in its own pure Nature in every thing kept up according to its Brightness and Glory as by the power thereof we were raised up in the beginning as the life of Holiness grew in us dear Friends that which quickned and raised us from the Dead in years past through which we Live unto God and as we keep in the same we shall for ever be accepted by him and be well pleasing in his sight but out of that you know none shall be regarded by him though ye might do much for he did not regard them in the days of old for all they could do that did not keep in the Life of Righteousness though they might go far even to the covering of the Altar with Tears And therefore as I said that by which you were first quickned and raised is that in which for ever we must be accepted so that every one is to mind and wait for an increase and by experience of the growth of that wherein there is a coming upwards from a Child's State to a farther growth and still it is in the same Nature without degeneration from that which was first and so the first is witnessed to be last and ye grow more and more into the fulness of Christ in whom all fulness dwells And therefore my dearly Beloved in all your Meetings upon the Truth 's account have an eye unto and wait for an Injoyment of his Blessed and Heavenly and Heart-breaking Power
a striving that may hurt the unity that should be kept in the Light and hath sometimes grown into a Heat which hath set some Spirits against one another which should have been one and kept in the Unity where the love and comfort is And so all watching in the Light and waiting to feel the healing Power and Life in your Souls there will be a sweetness and Heavenly oiliness over your Hearts in which you will have a delight one in another and in one anothers good and this will help you all and so the strong comforted in the innocent and reverent care of the weak and the weak comforted in the Love Care Gentleness and Kindness of such that are strong And this preserves as a pleasant Family to the Honour of the great Lord and Father And so then shall you see how he will delight in you and appear among you and enrich you and bless you every one with a Portion from himself out of his Heavenly Bounty and Divine rich Treasure that none will want Bread nor refreshing Wine to nourish you in the inward Man but the holy Gift in you will be as a Well springing up unto Eternal Life And so you dear suffering Children of the Lord God Allmighty my Heart and Soul most dearly salutes you all and in the Love of God I have Unity with you in your blessed Testimony for which you suffer in which the God of all Grace and Truth comfort your Hearts and bear up your Heads over all your Hardships and deep Sufferings which as I understand are renewed and increased upon you That through him for whom you suffer who is your God and the great Lord of Heaven and Earth you may be strong to endure and abide to the end to his Glory and Honour who is over all and Worthy of all Blessed for ever Amen London the 20th of the 3d Monh 1682. From your Friend and Brother in that which shall out-live all Hardship in which we have believed J. B. A Copy of an Epistle written to Friends at Bristol in the time of their Sufferings Dear Friends UNTO you whom God hath Visited in his Love and Mercy and unto whom he hath shewed Kindness through his Son our Saviour whom he hath given for Salvation unto the Ends of the Earth unto you I say doth the real Love of my Heart reach forth and for you in my Heart there Dwels a Care that as God in the exceeding Riches of his Love and Mercy hath Visited you and called you to be Saints through the Sanctification of the Word and Purifying through Faith that you being made Holy might become Heirs of Eternal Life through his Son Christ Jesus and of that Eternal Kingdom into which no Unholy thing must Enter And now being you are called with this Holy Calling thus to be Heirs through Faith in the Seed in whom the Election and Heirship doth stand for ever do you all mind the Heavenly Rule and Government of this Holy Seed in all your Hearts that your Spirits may be kept in their Places in Subjection and Reverence unto him whom the Father hath Anointed and whose Spirit the Father hath sent forth into your Hearts to lead you into all Truth even into him who said I am the Truth in whom the Fulness Dwells that you might be in him that is True even in the Son in whom the Heirship is That so you may be Heirs yea joint-Heirs with him that is True and Holy for ever And now my Friends being the Lord in Mercy hath called you unto this high and honourable Calling to be Saints and Heirs in Christ mind your Calling and what you are called unto and be careful to keep in him and walk in him as you have received him and to sit together in him in Heavenly places as the Saints of Old did for the Heavenly Places are in him the safe dwelling and he is the Way and in him is the safe Walking and therefore did the Apostle exhort the Saints to Walk in him as they had received him Now my dear Friends all learn to know what it is to walk in Christ the Power and Righteousness of God and then your steps will be sure For he is the Light and Day where there is no occasion of stumbling And you are to mind your Sitting together in Heavenly places in Christ not a-sunder not out of the Unity but together in him who is but one in all and holds all in Oneness in Life and Fellowship that abide in him For he cannot be divided his Coat was without Seam that was the Figure and so is his Spirit that is the Covering of his Body now which he hath Purchased with his own Blood it hath no Division or Seam in it but is One although it differs in Manifestation or Gifts as to degree or operation because of the many Offices proper to the distinct Members of one and the same Body whereof Christ is the Head yet the Life through the whole Body by which every Member is supplied with ability to answer its place is but One and thereby is the Body kept in Unity For the Life doth rule the Members of the true Body and therefore that Member that goes from under the Government of the Life must needs Die Death comes over it and the Power of Death rules it and hence comes the Breach of Unity and the Discord and the Strife and the Contention And therefore let all your Hearts be kept in the Sense of the true Life and Power of God and in subjection thereunto in true Love Lowliness of Mind and Humility of Spirit and then in this right frame of Spirit you will be ready to serve one another in Love and not to rule over one another in Lordship for that is not proper no nor it is not Natural unto the Living Members of the Living Body unto whom Christ is the Head and over whom he Rules And so dear Friends you all keeping in the Power and that ruling in your Hearts that keeps tender and lowly you will be full of an holy Care and the living Zeal for the Lord's honour and for the preservation of his People in Righteousness that the Truth may be kept a top and Righteousness Lived in by all that do make a Profession of that honourable Name and Truth in which we have believed and through which we have been Saved and Sanctified and made holy and then will Unity Love and Peace spring and grow among you and you will be a Joy and Comfort one unto another and strengthners and helpers one of another in this great Work and Day of God And thus the Faithful keeping their Places and their Care in every Meeting and minding the Order and Government of Truth in themselves to be kept in Humility and the holy Tenderness in their own Hearts there will be that Sweetness and peaceable Reverence that will be Savoury and Comely in the Eyes of all And in and under the Government
bring you to a Reformation that the People you may lead in Errour no longer We conclude and remain Desirers of the Good of all Men. Dated the 13th of the 4th Month 1688. Iohn Burnyeat Iohn Watson An Addition of two Epistles of Iohn Burnyeat's to Friends in Long-Island and Barbadoes which came to Hand since the Printing of the former Long-Island the 23d of the 5th Month 1666. Dearly Beloved WHO are called to be Saints and to believe in the only Begotten of God the Father which he hath raised to be the Horn of Salvation in the House of his Servant David to rule over the Redeemed in Israel for ever unto you are my Bowels opened in pure unfained Love and in the plentiful flowing of the same at this time doth my Soul dearly salute you all who keep faithful unto the Beloved and live in the power of his Salvation over all the fallen Spirits which are in the World which brings into bondage With you my Soul hath Unity in the Life which was before Transgression and the Fall was and in that My Friends are you written in my heart and often in my remembrance even when my Supplication is poured forth unto the Lord in the behalf of his People that you in that place among the rest of his heavenly Flock and Sheep of his own Pasture may be safely kept by the right hand of his power from the Devourer and from the deceitful Snares of the Enemy which are laid as Traps by the cunning flight of Satan to ensnare the Simple and betray the Innocent from the simplicity of the Gospel which ye have received in Christ Jesus our Lord in which as ye have believed ye have found Salvation and Peace and Rest unto your Immortal Souls I even as a Brother and one that entirely loves you with that unfeigned love which thinks no evil do at this time beseech you all in the fear of God to see that ye Walk Circumspectly answerable unto the Gospel of Christ Iesus in which ye have believed that ye may adorn the same in your Lives and Conversations as Children of the Light and of the Day bringing forth the Fruits of the Spirit in Righteousness and true Holiness and not the Fruits of the Flesh in the night and in the darkness in which they walk who follow not the Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore My Friends stand fast in your Liberty in which Christ Jesus hath made you free and be not entangled with the Yoak of Bondage but mind purely the operation of the Eternal Spirit and invisible power of the everlasting God which he hath made manifest and revealed in your hearts by which you have in measure known Liberty from the Bondage of Corruption the corruptible Bond and have tasted of the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God in which your Souls have found pleasure I say Friends mind all its lively Operation in your hearts and wait upon it with diligence that your hearts may be kept clear and the eye of your Understandings single that you may purely distinguish and put a difference between the pretious and the vile between that in which the Lord is to be Worshipped and that in which there is no Acceptance with God And so will you come more and more to know how to chuse the good and refuse the evil And Friends in the freedom of God's Spirit and in his fear I warn you all Take heed of a fleshly Liberty beyond or above the pure fear which keeps the heart clean for that will let in Pollutions and bring the Just into Bondage and your Souls into death again where there will be a want of the pure presence of God to refresh them although the Boaster may boast of liberty and promise it as they did in the Apostles days who themselves were the Servants of Corruption And so My Dear Friends whom my Soul loves with the heavenly love that seeks the good of all you who have tasted of the love of God and of the power of the World which is to come and of the power of that life which is without end Keep Constant in the Faith unto the Beloved of your Soul and gad not abroad to change your way like her whose Feet abides not in her house but runs out after other Lovers and so lose the first Love For this the Lord reproved the Church in the days of the entrance of the Apostacy when they begun to decline from the purity of the Gospel And therefore as ye have received that which is unchangeable live in it that your Souls may never die from the sense of God's Love and the feeling of his vertuous presence that in the joy and peace that is unspeakable and full of glory you may abide and for ever live where your Souls may be refreshed from day unto day and from time unto time through the multiplying of his numberless Mercies by which he nourisheth all them that fear him and wait upon him And so will you all keep lively and vertuous in a growing and flourishing Condition fruitful bringing forth fruit to his praise who hath called you And as you keep unto the power of God which is the Cross unto that part which would be out and dwell in it your mind will be setled and stayed and kept clear and the understanding open whereby you may behold the Glory of God and be kept in Covenant with him and so feed upon his Mercies with all his Lambs and Children and lye down in the fold of Rest and Safety with the Sheep of his pasture in Covenant with him for evermore In which I remain Your Friend and Brother J. B. For Friends in the Barbadoes New-England Virginia and Maryland the Signification of my purest Love unto you all amongst whom I have travel'd in those parts Friends IN the eternal Truth and Power of the Lord God dwell and keep your Habitations in that which changes not in the power of an endless life where there is no shadow of turning All you that have known the Lord and have been sensible of the Word of his Eternal Power in your hearts by which you have been quickned unto him so that with the rest of his beloved ones you have been made Partakers of that heavenly treasure of Life and Vertue which is in him and through his Son is manifested unto us by whom Life and Immortality is brought to Light unto you all without respect of Persons doth the Love of my Soul reach and the Salutation of my Life at this time having you fresh in my Rememberance In the Bowels of true Love is my Heart opened and my Spirit drawn forth in this word of Exhortation unto you all who have tasted that the Lord is gracious That you all take heed of turning from the Grace of God into Wantonness Laciviousness or any vanity whatsoever by which your Hearts may be defiled But that ye all watch unto the Truth and wait upon the preserving power of the Lord