love concluded For which blessed be the Name of the Lord whose Loving Ancient and Fresh Power and presence was with us But truly with bowed Spirits and grieved Hearts have we perceived the obstinate and obdurateness of some that have gone into the Self-will despising Heavenly Dignities and casting tender Love and Intreaties behind their backs setting up and continuing in and promoting false and pernicious Jealousies Mutterings and secret Smitings whereby they are darkned in their Understandings and so have through the Power of the Enemy of the King of Righteousneses and Peace set up a kind of Standard of Seperation from that blessed Fellowship and Communion of the Churches of Christ sweetly possessed together to the Dishonour of God his Truth and People More especially John Wilkinson and John Story notwithstanding the many Visitations and Admonitions of Love and Life even in the deepest Travails and that from time to time and year to year particularly the sence and admonition of the last yearly Meeting writ in great love that they might return and be reconciled to their Brethren before they offer their Gifts which they have rejected And forasmuch as it appears to us that they will not come to us nor near us in the peaceable Truth which we have frequently and truly desired for their good but that they go on in their opposition and evil smiting against the Faithful Brethren and Practice of the Church of Christ refusing to dissolve their separate Company in the North or clear their Hands of them by a faithful Testimony against them or so much as blot their Names out of their Paper of Separation And because we are sensible they have made an ill use of our Forbearance even to the strengthening themselves in their Separation and cover their evil Designs among some simple-hearted Friends persevering therein by Word Writing and Practice we are constrained after this continual waiting and exhortation thus slighted by them for the Glory of the Name of the Lord and sake of the Peace of the Churches of Christ that we may stand clear in the Power of God of the Blood of all in the great and notable day of Account more publickly to reprove and judge them And we do hereby reprove and judge that jealous rending and separating Spirit and them and their separate Company as being in the Spirit of Separation and that by the Spirit and Power of our God we warn all to whom this comes to beware of the said John Wilkinson and John Story whose way at present is not the way of Peace and Christian Concord For if it were they would not offer their Gift till reconciled to their Brethren And therefore Brethren stand up in the Power and Wisdom of God for the Testimony of Truth against that wrong murmuring and dividing Spirit and where they come warn them to go home in the name of the Lord and be reconciled to their Brethren and not go thus up and down to offer their Gift which in this State is not a Peace but a Division offering contrary to the Precept of Christ Jesus our Lord first being reconciled whatever their pretences be and therein will you acquit your selves in Gods sight and shew true Love and Friendship unto them and those that may be hurt by them which our Souls most earnestly desire ye that it may be truly well with them both here and for ever And from the Lord we say had they loved the Prosperity of Zion and the Peace of Jerusalem more than their own Self-will and Self-separation and had they sought the Unity that is in the Truth and sweet Communion of Brethren which stands in that Love that thinks no evil and that Wisdom that is gentle and very easie to be intreated with the Brethren sweet and precious had been our Fellowship to this day And it is our Godly Exhortation to you Friends and Brethren of Monthly and quarterly Meetings that you watch in the Light and Power of God against this separating Spirit that smites at the blessed Fellowship of the Churches of Christ and where it enters any in Gods love to admonish exhort and warn such to take heed of that ravenous Spirit and to keep the Unity of the Peace of the Family of the Lord the Houshold of Christ which we are and if notwithstanding your Christian Dealing and Forbearance such persons persevere and go on in their separate Spirit and Practice let Gods Truth be clear of them and Truth set over their Heads according to that blessed Order of the Gospel of Christ setled amongst you And dear Brethren be careful not to suffer your Meetings which were gathered not by the will of Man but by the Power and Wisdom of the Lord God to be disturbed over-ruled and spoiled by heady obstinate and contentious Persons that disturb the Peace of the Church of Christ neither fear Man but eye the Lord and wait in his Wisdom and Power to be guided and ordered and so go on to your work in the name of the Lord For the Seed of Life and not the Wisdom which is from below must rule and have the Dominion for ever But forasmuch as the way of the working of the subtil Enemy hath been to suggest that it is the design of some to make themselves Lords over Gods Heritage and to set up an Arbitrary Power in the Churches of Christ and then to run out into severe Exclamations against Impositions crying up Liberty of Conscience thereby casting a mist before the Eyes of the simple and a Stumbling-block in the way of the weak Thus we feel our selves constrained in the love of our Lord for the good of all to declare and the Lord that gathered us and preserved us to this day is our Record that we deny and abhor any such thing for we have one Lod Judge and Law-giver and that is Christ Jesus unto whose Light Power and Spirit we have been turned and in that have worshipped him and had Fellowship together to this day and are your Servants for his sake and we are assured in the Lord that those that keep in the Light Life and Power of Christ will have Fellowship with us and truly our Fellowship is with the Father and the Son and though it is far from us to bruise or hurt the poorest or least member in the Church of Christ who may not have that clearness of sight and strength of Faith which the Lord hath brought us to but that they may be cherished yet by that Salt that we have in our selves from the Lord we are enabled to savour between the Transformations of the Enemy and the scruples of the Innocent and as to be tender of the one so to give Judgment against the other and our day hath lamentably shown us the effect of that Spirit that under a pretence of crying down Impositions and pleading for Liberty and doing nothing but what it is free to endeavouring to lay waste the blessed Unity of the Brethren and so
err if they watch not yet we have and still do firmly believe that it hath pleased our Heavenly Father to commit unto them a dispensation of the Gospel of Life and Salvation with which they were by him two or three and twenty years since sent amongst us who in that with many of their dear Brethren now deceased bore the Burthen in the heat of the Day and as we firmly believe have continued faithful Labourers in their Masters work and service to this very day and through the Wisdom of God committed unto them we well remember a word of reproof and instruction from them hath been a word of comfort it being given in great care and tenderness for the preservation of that part of the Flock of God now accompanied with many exercises who were gathered by them as Instruments in the hand of the Lord and now through the length of time our experimental knowledge concerning them and their righteous walking before us from time to time hath so confirmed us that we freely give it as our belief and judgment that they have not hitherto changed their way Therefore you who have concerned your selves to write against them to give over such work for time to come and mind that which belongs to you and let them alone to their Lord and Master the true and living God whose true Messengers they have been and now are For be it known unto you all that you shall never be able to destroy that Interest God hath given these his Servants in the hearts of his people while they keep the station where they now stand for being wise in the wisdom that is from above they have been Instruments in the Lords Hands to turn many to Righteousness who with them if they continue therein shall shine as the brightness of the Firmament and as the Stars for ever and ever We confess your Paper is filled with many high expressions viz. of Heavenly Unity and crowned with Glory and Dominion using the word Dignity c. which puts us in mind thus to query of you since you as we take it so boast what is the honour and advancement that you are lately arrived at Have you any thing but what you have received How can you expect we can believe such things are truly found amongst you as in words you do so largely make a profession of vvhile we see and behold the spirit of prejudice flow from you even in the very same Paper against faithful Brethren who harms you not neither have or do we understand that they seek Revenge or render evil for evil but leaves their Cause unto the Lord recommending the same unto the faithful and true witness of God in all Consciences knowing that all Gods people are to act and speak as God thereby shall open their Understandings We cannot positively charge every one of you that you have acted on the credit of others but yet we are in our very Consciences satisfied that several of you have so done and so understand not what you have done but yet remember this from your Friends that whosoever hath so done to the wrong of the Lords Servants it will redound to their own shame and no imaginary power or authority whatsoever will be able to uphold the betrayed or betrayers from the just Judgment in the day of the Lord. We take notice you thus say notwithstanding the many Visitations and Admonitions and that from time to time and from year to year c. we desire that every one of you will now look back and behold your work and consider whether great part of you did ever in all your lives either visit or admonish the said Jo. Wilkinson and Jo. Story upon that account We also find in the said Paper these expressions Whereas they meaning J. S. and. J. W. concerning their evil Designs amongst the simple persevering therein many being deceived by them setting up and continuing in and promoting false and pernicious Jealousies a ravenous Spirit and such like and we do hereby reprove and judge say you that rending Spirit and them and their seperate company here you have not only charged in general terms but also past Judgment upon your general Charge notwithstanding which the particular matter of Fact as evidence of the charge lieth yet behind which we in regard to the Law of Love and Christian Charity do on the behalf of our suffering and innocent Brethren expect that you make good and in order to our satisfaction whose Consciences are concerned on the behalf of the truth do query of you what is the evill designed by them And where hath it been made appear And how do they persevere therein Who are the many deceived by them And what have they deceived them of What hath been set up by them and what do they continue in and promote that 's false What ravenous actions have been committed by them As to your general Charge we cannot but turn them upon your own heads as false there to remain until you prove them by particular matter of Fact We know it is become a custome with some to revile innocent men but yet we also know it is an ill way to exalt one Brother by the defamation of another that is innocent Our desires are that this sin may not be laid to any of your charges but rather if you are conscious to your selves of guilt herein you may speedily repent You also thus say we warn all to whom this comes to beware of the said J. S. and J. W. and not only so but seems to prescribe a form of words viz. where they come warn them to go home and by their so doing they will acquit themselves in Gods sight mark an easie way to be acquitted We demand from whom have you power to give forth such a large Commission since we certainly know that a man may speak your prescribed Form of words like a Child that learns a Lesson by roat and yet be far from standing acquitted in Gods sight Alas Friends we have a godly Jealousie that some imaginary whimsie hath led you to appear so confident as to warn them to go home because we believe the word of the Lord dwells richly in them but perhaps you may think the stress of all lies in silencing them or sending them home if you so think you deceive your selves for we testifie that the same word of life which dwells in them and that cannot assent that the Servants of Israels God should bow to any Image or Image-maker dwells in many Brethren Praises to the Lord for ever It appears by your words you are afraid of being a derision to the Heathen do you not take the ready way and walk directly in the path that leads thither And can you think otherwise but if the Heathen knew but your unchristian-like carriages and proceedings against the Brethren they would certainly have you in derision Now as touching the separate Meeting in the North unto whose Paper which is a
Declaration of the reasons of their so seperating you refer us desiring us both to read it and to weigh it and then say you you we well suppose then will be found the true nature of Imposition We tell you we have both read it and weighed it and do not only well suppose but also certainly find a great deal more in it than we find from you For though some passages therein might have been worded to answer the intent of the subscribers better than the words laid down doth yet Charity would so construe of the Reason Equity Truth and Justice offered by them therein as not to put such constructions thereon as never was their meaning But what if we in this County or any Friends elsewhere should say to any of you at London or other Cities or Counties as to the publick concern in the management of our affairs meddle not with us unless concerned but if the word of the Lord is really with any of you we are ready to hear it If we should so say unto you we cannot think barely of this saying of yours you may well suppose this to be the true nature of Imposition neither do we understand theirs to be any otherwise and no part of the nature of Imposition in it having no penalty annexed thereunto And now we might by way of question ask when and from whom you received cower over them or any other and over what part your power doth extend Seeing we certainly know Conscience ought to be free with which you are not to intermeddle and as for our outward Property it belongs not to you neither in it are we by you defended and as to matter of Fact you prove nothing against them These things considered we cannot understand why or wherefore you should use such language as we find in your Paper To us it seems rather to spring from the spirit of Lordship exercised amongst the Gentiles then from that Spirit that delighteth to be Servant to the Brethren for Christs sake and whereas you say because we are sensible they have made an ill use of our forbearance to the strengthening themselves and so forth we do hereby reprove and judge them and others c. If you pretend not to a power over them what need the word Forbearance And if you pretend not to be their Judges why do you undertake to pass judgment But forasmuch as we certainly know you have no power over them neither spiritual nor temporal we therefore tell you you are Intruders and your Paper of false judgment on this account we do undervalue as too mean and too light either to affright or take place with us that are established in the Truth and the weightiest expression therein contained is no more to us than the flying of Thunder over our Heads for in it we feel no weight at all and the Lord assisting of us do resolve not to walk by the light of your sparks nor see with your Eyes neither favour with your Salt in these your proceedings but to our Lord and Master will we either stand or fall And we further declare unto you and give it as our belief and judgment whatever you think or however you may create a peace unto your selves in these things that the more you stir and the more you strive after this manner the more will be the increase of your weight and burthen Therefore our Advice and Counsel to you is that you labour to be still and quiet and pursue peace as much as in you lies and lay not that upon others which properly belongs unto your selves but that which is your portion be content to take home to your selves For you are the people you speak of that occasions the mist to be cast before the eyes of the simple and a Stumbling block in the way of the weak and you are the Troublers of Israel this day and although we truly desire peace and a cessation to these things and could be heartily glad if you would insist on them no farther yet forasmuch as it appears to us that this is the way or path you or at least some of you intend to walk and delight to trade in we do therefore advise you to look to your selves and mark well your steps for although we have hitherto for the most part born many things not pleasant to us and that many times for the sake of others yet having had continual provocations and now you thus publickly appearing through the Nation as by the directions of your Paper doth appear we are in the Spirit and Power of our God stirred up to appear as becomes Christians in defence of the cause of Truth wherein we look only and alone unto the Lord and not unto man with that eye that is open in us that sees and beholds your out-goings in those things that tend to strife and debate contrary to the truth which we have received and the Lord enabling shall therein well observe you and as occasion offers our Faith is that we shall always be ready according as the Spirit of Truth shall lead us to detest fictions proceedings as you have been exercised in and therefore for time to come to be more careful of what you undertake and see that according to the Truth Right Reason Equity and Justice you are able both to stand by and defend it otherwise it will return back upon your own Heads with shame as this hath done and no doubt 't will yet farther do And we have yet farther to declare unto you concerning our selves such is our present state and condition that notwithstanding these things we can this day to our comfort boldly say we are what we are by the grace of God and in that Grace we are daily waiting to be made more in his time and in his time to be content desiring nothing more than the encrease of that Grace and that therein we may continue to the end walking before the Lord in all honest and godly Conversation according to the present manifestation of his good Spirit given to us and our Faith and Trust in the Lord is that through his strength and power we shall be preserved thus to continue to the end of our days and not to take up or enter into the practice of any thing though under never so fair nor high pretence but as by faith in this power we come to feel the Lord leading us thereinto and expecting it at our hands as a duty incumbent upon us enjoyned by God alone in which as we feel our Service our Faith is that as we have been so we shall be ready to every good work and act a deed of Charity amongst us either to our Friends or any other whom Christian Charity obligeth us to serve wherein we may be serviceable and for the keeping all in good order amongst those who profess the Truth and here is neither Paul nor yet Apollo but that Christ that was Crucified comes here to be both Lord
A TESTIMONY AGAINST The 66 Judges call'd Quakers who writ an Epistle as they call it against John Story and John Wilkinson and those that joyned with them subscrib'd by the said 66 Judges which is here inserted with an Answer thereunto subscribed by 67 of the said People published to this end that all may take notice how the Spirit of Antichrist hath entred into the Quakers Teachers in this our Age and Generation LET all People take notice to whom this Writing shall come That there is a Generation of Antichristian Preachers called Quakers in this Land of England who make it their great business yearly to meet together at London and when as they are met together for to call into question such things as they have nothing to do withal that is such things as are of a Spiritual Concernment the which thing alone belongeth to the Light or Measure of the Spirit in every one 's own particular to judge of and it doth not belong to the Light in others for to judge others in matters of Conscience Religion and Worship who owns the same Light or Measure of Divine Life to be the only Rule for them to walk by but the place of all such Teachers is to judge themselves and not their Brethren as Christ said Judge your selves and ye shall not be judged But now if these men did but own themselves to be 〈◊〉 Brethren or in a Child's State or in a Servant's Place to God as â—hrist did who took upon him the form of a Servant and also he learned Obedience to his Father as a Son or if these men did but consider how Christ behaved himself as a Servant among his Disciples although he was Lord of all and also how he taught them that those among them that did desire to be greatest should be willing to become least and so a Servant to others Then would they not have acted as they have formerly done towards their Brethren in the West and North of England and elsewhere in setting themselves up as Judges over their Brethren in matters of Conscience Religion and Worship towards God but they would rather have recommended every one to abide in their own measures and so to have left all as had been convinced to God the Judge of all who at the first did convince them and not to have set up themselves as Judges over their Brothers Consciences as the Sixty Six Judges have lately done in the year one thousand six hundred seventy seven in their Paper sent to the Quakers in the West of England the which Paper was written against John Story and John Wilkinson and those which did joyn with them wherein they did judge them to be of a rending separating and dividing Spirit But one main thing that the 66 Judges have neglected in that Paper sent to the Quakers that is they should have drawn up first a Bill of Indictment of the particular Criminal Facts that these Quakers had been guilty of before that they had passed or given forth such a sensorious general Judgment against them the which thing you Judges neglected But so far as I can understand that the Criminal Facts which these Quakers are charged to be guilty of was that these Quakers in the West and North of England they did not receive and embrace the orders of George Fox and also they refused to be tryed by those who did own the said Orders Decrees and Impositions of George Fox and the rest of those Preachers who had formerly made it their business to meet together in Council and to send forth Orders and Decrees among the Quakers as Rules for them to observe and walk after which thing was practiced above ten years ago by those who were called the Eleven Elders for They also sent forth a Paper of Orders among the Quakers but by many of the Quakers the said Paper was disowned although those which sent it forth among the Quakers said that it was given forth in and from the Operation of the Spirit of God but surely those Quakers which did disown the said Paper they did not believe what those called the Eleven Elders had asserted For had they believed that the said Writing had been given forth in and from the Operation of 〈◊〉 â—rue Spirit they dared not to have opposed it nor yet to have disowned it but their disowning of it doth give forth a certain Testimony that those Quakers believed that it came from a wrong Spirit for the Eleven Elders they did not stand to maintain it nor yet to give forth a Testimony against those Quakers which did disown the said Writing which they ought to have done if it had been given forth from a right Spirit And now here followeth the Copy of the Writing sent by the 66 Judges to the Quakers in the West of England and also their Names to it and likewise the Quakers Answer to it and so let the Light or true Spirit or Gods Witness judge in all those who shall read the said Writing whether that which was given forth by the 66 Judges did not come forth from the spirit of Antichrist or from Satan in them transformed into an Angel of Light Let the Light in all that shall read them judge Jeffery Bullock From a MEETING held at Ellis Hook's Chamber in London the 12th of the 4th Month 77. Our dear Friends and Brethren THE Lord who is the Ancient of Days the Unchangeable and the Holy One of Israel that was and is to come our Rock and Strength for ever hath graciously brought us together by his own Power and is with us and hath covered us with his Love and Spirit and filled our Hearts with his undeclarable Kindness the sence of his Mercies hath exceedingly overcome us and cemented us together and blessed sweet and very precious to our Souls is the Heavenly Unity of Life amongst us wherein at this Meeting the Lord our God hath crowned us with Glory Dominion and Peace blessed for ever be his pure Name Oh how good it is for all to keep in the Living sence of God and his Truth where plentious Redemption and Preservation is known where the Murmurer and Repiner can never come therefore all that are in the muttering dissatisfied and jealous Nature full of Doubts and Reasonings and Objections go from their pure Eye and out of Truth 's Habitation in themselves and so come to suffer loss O Dear Brethren at this time as on like occasions hath been frequent with us the care of the Peace and the welfare of the Churches of Christ came upon us and blessed be the Lord things are generally well and flourishing and Truth grows famous though Sufferings abound in many places yet it is well with Friends and the Lords power reigns and great hath been the Concern of Friends about the Sufferings of our Brethren and other things and blessed Meetings have we had wherein things have been clearly opened sweetly and tenderly treated on in much love and brotherly
and King Judge and Law-giver and another Governour than this inwardly received by us and ought to be received by all in order to the great Salvation our Faith is that the Lord will never lead his people into And if you or any of you would know what we are or are dissatisfied concerning us be it known unto you all this is the Government which we only and alone stand for and stand to and although we do confess that some practices used amongst us as outward Discipline in the Church of Christ for the keeping things in good order may be of Service being used in their places as Gods people in Wisdom see meet and occasion thereof and not otherwise yet if any Member or Members of the Church of Christ have or shall give any Paper of Instructions or Advice relating to outward forms of Discipline in the Church to the rest of their Fellow-members we testifie that the same ought to be recommended to the Conscience that so when God's witness therein doth answer that might be the only bond to put such advice and instructions in practice But if instead of this any one or more who have been Members of the Church of Christ have or shall assume such a power to themselves as to judge other members of the said Church to be departed from the truth because they practice not such Council or Instructions though they see it not from the evidence of God's Spirit in themselves to be their Duty this we say is not according to the Truth as practised received and owned amongst us even from the beginning to this day and therefore whosoever have or shall be guilty of passing judgment and giving forth Censures under the notion of Church-censures against Persons conscientiously refusing to put such Advice and Instructions in practice or otherwise endeavour to wound such in their reputations as men as well as Christians this we testifie is not neither can be any otherwise than the Fruit of a persecuting imposing self-seeking Spirit wherever it hath or shall appear and therefore even from the Head to the Tail we do abhor and utterly deny it as that from which the Lord hath set us free And now forasmuch as the Lord according to measure hath made us a free People through the attaining of which in days past we have neither feared the Threats nor Flatteries of Man but have some time stood in the gap with a Testimony for the Liberty we have received in Christ Jesus We therefore tell you wherever you find any thing that hath a contrary tendency and would usurp a power over Conscience which is Christ's Prerogative and who alone hath a peculiar authority over Conscience our Souls do in the highest degree abominate it and do surge against it that at this time we could no no less for the clearing of our selves and in the behalf of our Brethren but signifie thus unto you and deal thus plainly with you For this was the testimony that remained as an obligation upon our Spirits to give in amongst you in answer to part of your Paper and that false judgment therein contained not having in our Eye to boast above our line of another mans enjoynment but according to the understanding given us of God have we cleared our selves still having as great regard to love our Neighbours and to do unto others as we would be done by and that Truth and Righteousness may be promoted and exalted by us both in our Tovvns Countreys and Families vvhich vve are assured God requires at our hand and unto him even the Judge of Judges both you and vve must give account in vvhich day of Account no false pretence nor fair shevv vvill serve turn neither vvill building the Tombs of the Prophets and garnishing the Sepulchres of the Righteous and making a great noise through the Nation in a self exalted Spirit about Government under the notion of Church-government Orders and such like the Rock on vvhich many of the professors of Christianity have split stand many stead but every man and every vvoman that truly fear God and vvorks Righteousness shall be accepted of him We do desire no worse for you nor concerning you but that you might be brought out of all unchristian-like practices and every thing that is the Fruit of Turbulent Minds and Spirits into the peaceable Truth there to sit down with us wherein we know true rest and in which we remain your Friends Nathaniel Coleman Arthur Esmead Francis Brown Richard Weare John Matravers John Jennings Forasmuch as it is in our Hearts to give in our testimony against the Paper given forth aganst J. S. and J. W. we do by these few lines signifie unto those who gave forth the said Paper and others who own the same that we disown the same and a Testimony lives in our Hearts for our Brethren J. W. and J. S. yet as they have laboured amongst us in the Gospel of Christ in Faithfulness to our refreshment so do we believe they have not changed their way but do continue faithful in their Labour and Travel of the Gospel to the refreshing the hearts of many who retain their first Love to the truth we also desire that above written Paper given forth by some of our Friends on whose Spirits it was to write more largely than we have done may in the Spirit of Truth which is void of prejudice be read and we doubt not but that it will then have an Answer in the Hearts of such even as it hath in ours Rob. Marshaman Tho. Hulbert John Gibbons Ed. Pyat J. Hand Tho. Curtice W. Dyer Sen. Tho. Crab Sen. J. Jones Nich. Edwards Mart. Derrington R. Palmer Sen. W. Jones Sen. J. Starr H. Rennols W. Arch. Jos Jones J. Neate Rob. Starr Edw. Starr W. Woolley John Sealey Hen. Rogers John Rogers Ben. Lawrence W. Chandler J. Gawen Sen. J. Fry Sen. W. Jones Jun. Tho. Sleade Ja. Neate W. Dier Jun. Rob. Arch. W. Hulbert R. Palmer Jun. Hen. Ferris Rich. Puckeridge John Swaine Tho. Coleman John Wheeler John Stoakes Jasp Wheeler Ben. Power Tho. Crab. Jun. Eze. Wallis John Fry Jun. Tho. Frowde Rich. Fox James Care John Foot John Wiltshire Jos Serjeant Fran. Royley Ed. Star Jun. W. Barnes Ja. Matravers Jeffery Gawen W. Bishop Jos Gawen John Gawen Jun. Daniel Sealy FINIS