quick Apprehension and great understanding of a noble Spirit yet in humility condescending to serve the least in Truth his Company was exceeding delightful and pleasant being always cheerful his discourse good and tending to Edification exceeding ripe in the Knowledge of the holy Scriptures and of a strong Memory he was often concerned in Disputations with Priests and other Opposers of the Way of Truth that he bore Testimony too and walked in and the Lord had richly furnished him for that Service to the stopping the Mouthes of Gain-sayers to Truths honour his Declaration and Testimony exceeding large free and affecting almost to all sorts of People many with great delight would flock to hear him in many places which made his Service very great in opening the way of Truth unto all he having a Word in season to all Conditions insomuch that he regarded not his outward Body but many times went beyond the natural strength thereof notwithstanding that he was young and strong yet in this Service was much spent several Years before he departed and laid down his Head. His Life was bound up in the Unity and Fellowship of Friends and Brethren his Labour was ever to conserve the same and prevent whatever would appear to divide As he was honourable in the esteem of Thousands that the Lord through him had called and brought many of them to the Knowledge of the way of Life and Salvation so also had he a right honourable esteem of such as were in Christ before him and especially dear George Fox by whom he was Convinced He was very tender to the springings of Life in Testimony in the least Babe always ready to encourage and give place to the same for it was his great Joy to see the Lord's Work to prosper and the Testimony of Truth to spring in every Bosom In Counsel and Advice he was endewed with heavenly Wisdom beyond many in reproving the Careless and Rebellious he was sharp and powerful In fine I have this to say that he was abundantly furnished with spiritual Gifts a chosen and honourable Vessel in the Hand of his God to the Praise and Glory of his eternal Name Many comfortable daies and times have I enjoyed with him whom I loved and honoured in the Lord and I am not unsensible of his Love to me our Hearts being perfectly united and knit together in that love that 's everlasting passing the love of Women I never thought Travel hard or tedious at any time so that I might enjoy his Company in which I was always delighted greatly satisfied whatever difficulty soever I under-went to obtain the same After he was first called forth into the Work and Service of the Lord he was very diligent therein almost in continual Travels and several times was in Prison for his Testimonies sake as at New-Castle in the North and Bristol often in great Perils in the beginning having many rough places to break through where many times he Suffered sore Beatings and many Strokes together with cruel Mockings Revilings and Scornings from the wicked Rabble often and sometimes from angry bitter-spirited Professors through and over all which the Lord preserved him to his own Glory to inherit a Kingdom that 's everlasting for he counted nothing dear unto him for the Gospels sake but left his dear Wife and Child whom he loved entirely and Trade and all to follow the Lord Jesus Christ the Captain of Salvation having an eye to the eternal recompence of Reward that the Lord hath given him fully to enjoy His dear Wife was not long after him called forth into the same Work and Service and Travelled into several Parts of the North Countrey and after into the South where at Banbury in Oxford-shire she was a Prisoner for one Year and several Months the Lord making her instrumental in his Hand to the turning many from Darkness to Light in that place and many other places where she Travelled When J. A. did grow weaker by his lingering Distemper of a sore Cough his Lungs wasting he would often complain of an inward soreness in his Breast though he seemed to look well being of a Ruddy and fair Complexion and would often say Ah! those great Meetings in the Orchard at Bristol I may not forget I would so gladly have spread my Net over all and have gathered all that I forgot my self never considering the imability of my Body but it s well my reward is with me and I am content to give up and be with the Lord for that my Soul values above all things Betwixt two and three weeks before he died he was taken as was supposed with an hective Feaver and daily it encreased upon him so that his sleep for many days and nights was taken from him in which time I was often with him being his desire and my delight to serve him in which time Friends in abundance flocked to visit him from several parts for as I said before he was a man greatly beloved of the Lord and all his People yea many of the World had a good esteem of and loved him and many times the Lord did wonderfully open his Mouth in Testimony to Friends as if he had been without sence of his Sickness to their great refreshment and exceeding joy and often he would be raised upon his Knecs upon his Bed and supplicate the Lord in the behalf of his whole Heritage and to prosper his Work in the Nation and Nations round about he said that there was nothing in all the World that he desired to live to enjoy except the comfortable enjoyment of his Friends and Brethren in the fellowship of the Life of Truth and that he might be a comfort to his dearly beloved Wife whose desolate condition he often bemoaned being so big with Child as that she was delivered of a Son about ten days after his decease but in this he said his will was in true subjection submitting to the Will of the Lord whether life or death to God he often and again committed and recommended all the whole Flock Heritage and Family of God together with his dear Wife and Child to be kept cared for and preserved saying that he would be a Husband to his desolate Widow and a tender Father to his fatherless Children often entreating his dear Wife freely to give him up to the Will and disposing of the Almighty whose he was being made acceptable in the beloved Son often sweetly comforting her in her Sorrow and great Distress making as little shew of his illness for her sake as ever he might yet we saw that he was under a great weight of Sickness and that his strength daily wasted so that in less then three weeks time after the Feaver took him he finished here and was sweetly taken to rest in the joy of the Lord for ever more it being the day of the first Month 1663. and the next day was accompanied to his Grave by many Friends and others and his Body enterred in the
THE MEMORY OF THE Righteous Revived Being A brief Collection of the Books and written Epistles of John Camm John Audland Those two faithful and honourable Servants of the Lord who were called to the work of the Ministry in the morning of Gods blessed day dawned in this Generation and with other Brethren bore the heat and burden of the day faithfully to the end and finishing of their Course being entered into the joy of their Lord. Together with several Testimonies relating to those two Faithful Labourers Published for the Service of Truth and Friends By Thomas Camm Charles Marshal Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their Labours and their Works do follow them Rev. 14. 13. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the Firmament and they that turn many to Righteousness as the Stars forever and ever Dan. 12. 3. The memory of the just is blessed Prov. 10. 7. The Righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance Ps 112 9. London Printed and Sold by Andrew Sowle at the Crooked-Billet in Holloway-Lane in Shoredich and at the Three-Keys in Nage-Head-Court in Grace-Church-Street 1689. Thomas Camm's TESTIMONY CONCERNING John Camm and John Audland DEar Friends and Brethren in the fellowship of the eternal Spirit who are born again of the Immortal Seed my Life greets you all in the Lord and in his Love communicates what follows unto you wishing that all Grace and Peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ may forever be multiplyed upon the whole Israel of God. Several Years it hath lived upoâ— my Spirit to collect and gather 〈◊〉 the Books and Writings togeâ—â—â—â— with some of the Labour◠〈◊〉 Travels of John Camm and John Audland those two eminent faithful and truly honourable Servants of the Lord Jesus in the Work of the Ministry to which they were called and chosen in the morning and breaking forth of that blessed and everlasting day in this our Age and Generation I say this concern hath lived with me though hitherto hath been obstructed partly in hope that some other might have undertaken the same work whereby I might have been excused and partly through the Service and Travels the Lord hath measureably concerned me in on the behalf of his Truth and People in late years But now being it hath fallen to my lot in Truths Testimony to be called to suffer Imprisonment and thereby at present freed from some of the aforesaid Service and Travels and the said concern hitherto resting upon my Spirit I was made willing to set to the Work being partly helped by others as to gather and transcribe their Books and written Epistles so many whereof as we could meet with are inserted hereafter in their proper places so near as we could being several of them without dates As for their Labours unwearied Travels Exercises Fastings Watchings Buffettings Scornings and Perils many ways and upon several occasions in full I cannot relate but shall give the Reader a short hint of some part of them as they may be brought to my remembrance in the following Testimony which lives upon my Spirit to bear for the Lord in the behalf of them as made Instrumental in his hand through the strength of his holy and eternal Arm of Power to and in them revealed to the exalting of his own Glory and the publishing of his everlasting Gospel-glad-tidings to the Poor and Redemption to the Poor and Redemption to the Prisoner of Hope in which blessed Work his Strength girded and his Power supported them in all faithfulness to presevere to the finishing of their Course here and having fought the good Fight they are entred into his everlasting Joy and Rest where they are freed from their many Labours Tryals and Exercises and their Works follow them glory to God for ever John Camm as he was my Father according to the Flesh so was he also a spiritual Father and Instructor of me in the way of Truth and Righteousness the which through the operation of the Word of Life measureably revealed in me in my Childhood became effectually to my Confirmation in that blessed Way for his tender eare was great for the Education of me and the rest of his Children and Family in the Nurture and Fear of the Lord and as he was sharp and severe in reproving every appearance of evil yet with Wisdom Gravity and great Discretion the which appeared also in his encouraging and strengthing every appearance of God in his Children Family and all People being an especial example in his life and conversation The place of his outward Birth was at Camsgil within the Barrony of Kendal in Westmoreland which place hath been possessed by his Ancestors long before him As for his Parentage and Education I shall not say much more then that it was honest and of good report as any of that degree in that par of the Country as many can testfie as also that he from his Childhood was inclined to be Religious and sought after the best things and ever since I can remember he was one that joyned in society with them that were the most strict and upright in the performance of religious Duties and ordered their lives most according to Holiness and Righteousness He having seen beyond the national Priests and their empty lifeless Forms and so separated from them still pressing forward towards a further manifestation and revelation of the Way of Salvation which his Soul hungred and thirsted after and therefore he with many others who were under the same sence of hunger often met together amongst themselves and some openings from the Lord several of them had from which they could have declared excellent things having some sight or comprehension thereof yet wanted the inward possession of the Vertue Life and Power of what they declared of and in this state continued many days But the fulness of time being come wherein the Lord in his everlasting loving-kindness did cause his day to spring from on high and his Light to break out of obscurity and his glorious eternal Gospel to be preached again upon the Earth and particularly in this our Nation having heard the cryes of the Poor and the sighings of the Prisoners in the Pit even then the Lord called and anointed several for his Work and Service to publish this blessed day to bring Glad-tidings and proclaim the Year of Jubile And first and more especially he called forth and made choice of his dear Servant and faithful Messenger to the Nations George Fox and sent him into the North Country and particularly into Westmoreland near Kendal where there was a Field white unto the Harvest a People ripe to be gathered who as abovesaid were separated in measure from the Worlds Worship and empty dry Forms of Religion in many things and met together as aforesaid having several that were become Teachers amongst them but the chiefest John Audland and Francis Howgil
able many times to get on or of his Horse without help through all which the Lord brought him his faith being fixt in his power and his life and whole delight was in the prosperity of Truth and Righteousness in the Earth amongst the Sons of Men. He was a Man that was richly furnished with the gifts of the holy Spirit always patient in his great exercises and weakness of a noble Spirit and exceeding grave in his carriage and deportment profound in judgment and of a quick discerning a sharp reprover of the World and the Wickedness therein as also all deceitful Hypocrites with disorderly walkers who made profession of Truth but walked not according to the Rule thereof Unity of the Brethren was his joy and Souls delight and therefore whatever appeared to break the same his Sword was keen upon to Wound his Ministry was weighty and deep and very powerful not pleasant to the itching Ears that loves smooth words but reached to the witness of God and tended to the refreshment of the Seed of the Kingdom where it was growing and springing up in the Hearts of Gods People also to the weary tossed and afflicted he had often a word in season to their Consolations being very tender over the good in all he had openings and sights of many things to come and he would often say there would come a day of Famine and that in that day many that had made a great shew would but be like the stony Ground or the broken Bow in the day of Battel he would also often say that his other Son my Brother would be an Esau a rough Man and not love the Truth but be a Grief and Exercise to his Mother but she would have Comfort of her other Children all which is fulfilled when he grew near his end his weakness encreasing he had great joy as he always had in the company of Friends that were faithful of which many came to visit him and many times he would have been wonderfully opened with the Power of the Lord and overcome with the sence of his Love and Peace and a fresh Testimony thereof he would often bear to the great refreshment of Friends and his Family when he lay in great weakness upon his Bed. His great care in all his Travels was that the Gospel of Christ which he had to publish might be without charge for all he had or enjoyed of outward things was freely given up to the Service of Truth so that he was willing to lay out part of the same in his Travels also his Heart and House was open to entertain all Friends that came in Truths Service having a great Comfort therein he was a pattern of faithfulness in suffering for Truth 's Testimony though never much in Prison yet his Goods were often spoiled or taken away which he suffered joyfully in Truth 's Testimony against Tythes in which Testimony and all other relating to Truth he was ever firm and never shrunk in the least his frequent Exhortations was to all Friends and his Family to be valiant and noble for Truth and to keep their Faith in God's power and never to look out or consult with the Wisdom of the World. He did often call his Children and Family together and exhort them with much fervency of Spirit to fear the Lord and walk in holiness of Life as becomes the Gospel that they had believed in and would often pray to the Lord for us and bless us in his Name some Months before he died he would often call for me to be with him for he loved me entirely and it was my joy and delight to serve and obey him in all things and many times he would wonderfully extol the Name of the Lord and praise him for his goodness and great mercy counting his bodily weakness a happiness being sanctified unto him by that Word eternal which had sanctified his Soul and made him an honourable Vessel to the praise of his God under the sence of which he would say How great a benefit do I enjoy beyond many who have such a large time of preparation for Death being dying daily that I may live for ever with my God in that Kingdom that 's unspeakably full of glory my outward Man daily wasts and moulders down and draws towards its place and center but my inward Man revives mounts upward towards its Place and Habitation in the Heavens in the sence whereof his Soul would often wonderfully magnifie the Lord. That very Morning that he departed this Transitory Life he called my Mother the Children and Family unto him gave us many good and seasonable Instructions to fear the Lord love his Way and Truth and walk in it with upright Hearts charging us to be kind and loving one unto another telling us that his Glass was run the time of his Departure was come he was to enter into everlasting Ease Joy and Rest charging us all to be patient and content with our parting with him as to the outward and so presently fainting passed quietly away into a sweet Sleep whereupon we were all so overcome with Sorrow and Weeping some of us aloud as one out of Sleep he was again a wakened and desired to be a little help'd up in his Bed speaking to this effect My dear Hearts you have wronged me and disturbed me for I was at sweet Rest you should not so Passionately sorrow for my departure this House of Earth and Clay must go to its place but this Soul and Spirit was to be gathered up to the Lord to live with him forever where we should meet with everlasting Joy so again taking his leave of every one of us and charging us to be content with his Departure lay down and we being troubled and reflecting upon our selves for the disturbance we had given him through our Impatience endeavoured Contentedness and in a little time he departed as to the outward but lives with us in the Spirit and being Dead his Life Preaches and is a sweet savour to the Lord and his People His Distemper was a Cough and Consumption And he departed this Life in 1665. being the seventh day of the Week and the next day was his Body laid in Friends Burying Place at Birk-rigg-Park he being the first that was Buried in that Place John Audland was Born in the same County not above a Mile from Camsgil his Parents and Kindred of good Repute who when he was but a Child was of a very ripe and quick wit of Understanding and Apprehension though somewhat inclineable to youthful Play execept which never addicted to any Vice about the Age of seventeen or eighteen Years the Lord inclined his Heart to Sobriety and reading the holy Scriptures and to be very Religious in what was then manifested so that he chose the Company and Society of the best and most Religious in that day and having a large Understanding and great Memory he became able in the Knowledge of the Scriptures and could
is shed amongst you so in the pure Light abide which is your Eye by which you will see the Lords Love to you and wait in it that you may know the washing and the cleansing by the Blood of Jesus which Purifies the Heart and Sprinkles the Conscience and so the Mistery of Faith you will know so this is the Word of the Lord to you to exhort you and charge you that you all wait upon him from whence strength comes that your strength may be renewed that you may grow dayly and increase in the Riches of the Love of God and that you meet often together and dwell in Love and in the Bond of Peace and joyn to nothing which is contrary to the Pure Life for thou that joyns to that which defiles the wo is upon thy Head from the Lord God and there is the Hypocrite and the Dissembler which hath the Form but not the Power whose mind joyned to the Harlot and wo is the end of that profession therefore all dwell in that which keeps pure in the Measure that all may be crucified and mortified which is upon the Earth and from the Earth and abide in that which mortifies daily and crosseth the Earthly part and works it out and this is the Word of God to you whose minds are turned to wait in that which turns the mind the same leads up into the endless Life so the Mighty Power of the Lord God be amongst you and keep you that all strong holds may be broken down and that the Word of Life ye may all dwell in which gives Life and cuts down all that which is against the Life so fare you well The Lord God of Power carry you along on your Journey to the Eternal Sabboth we are your Servants for the Truth sake and the Seed sake Salute us to all Friends our Love flows freely to you your growth is our joy and riches growing in the Life you will see the Crown of Life and raign over the World and there we are your dear Brethren in Joy and in Tribulation John Audland John Camm The Testimony of Mabel Benson concerning John Camm her late Husband deceased THis short Testimony I have to bear for and concerning John Camm my dear Husband deceased that he was a tender dear and loving Husband to me one that feared the Lord and was freely given up to spend and be spent in the Service of Truth as Hundreds can testifie his life and delight being therein to the end of his dayes a pattern of Holiness he was in his Life and Conversation to the Flock of God he was exceeding noble and faithful in the Testimony of Truth he never shrunk in the time of his greatest Tryals which were not a few the Lord being always with him to the astonishment of his Enemies after he had travelled several Years in the work of the Ministry though in great Bodily Weakness the Lord was pleased in his Mercy to bring him home to his outward being to finish his course in much Peace to my great satisfaction the which in Measure abated my sorrow in the loss of him as to his Bodily presence together with my being well satisfied that he is at rest with the Lord and made richly to partake of the joys of Heaven in everlasting Life therein to praise the King of everlasting Glory unto all eternity Amen Mabell Benson John Audland's Letters and Epistles To Friends soon after he was gone forth in the Ministry Dear Hearts IN the eternal Truth every one in your Measures mind your own condition and be Low Meek and Humble for such the Lord teacheth Mind the fear of the Lord always to dwell in it that his secrets may be opened for in the fear the secrets are made manifest and the Pure know the secrets but the Wisdom of God is hid from the vulterous eye but that eye which comes out of Death comprehends Death and the Grave and sees God which no Man can but the Son declares him for he sees him Now dear Hearts wait for the Son to be made manifest in you every one in particular keep your Eye single that your whole Body may be full of Light. My dear Hearts be bold in this day of the Lord and valiant for the Truth upon Earth you who are redeemed from the Earth up to God to serve him and are called let nothing stand between but keep open that Eye which comprehends all the Earth keep out the Earth lest that the Eye be vailed keep clean within that nothing grow up within but what is pure that so you may discern the impure and you who are kept pure be bold to reprove the Unfruitful works of darkness and have no Fellowship with them neither within nor without for if any thing be spared within it will spare without and to be Rebellious is as the Sin of Witchcraft Oh my dear Hearts my care is that you grow in the Truth and that you may keep single every one in your Measure take heed of coldness and dulness in any but dwell in Authority and speak in Authory that deceit may be confounded and banished from among you that so the Pure may be cherished in the Truth none be Careless but be Watchful and Watch one over another in Love that you may be established in Righteousness that the Land may rejoyce and the Peaceable flourish and all the Unrighteous be cut down by the Righteous And Friends dwell in the Power of Truth and mind the Presence of the Lord with you always which keeps bold and causeth you to tread upon all the Worlds Ways Words Worships Priests and Deceits that so you may be fed upon the Mountains in a large Pasture Dear Friends mind your daily feeding in that which is eternal and feed not the Carnal nor labour not for the Bread which perisheth but for that which endureth for ever And all Friends take heed of looking back for if any draweth back my Soul hath no pleasure in him But all dear Friends press forward in the strait way my Hearts desire and prayer to the Lord is that you may grow and increase in the Increase of God and that you may all be Faithful for there is your Crown Oh be Faithful to the end that you may inherit all things and be partakers of that which never shall have end and keep in the Cross daily which will Crucifie daily and Mortifie daily your Affections which be upon Earth for the day of the Lord is approaching the good and happy day glad-Tydings to the Prisoner but a day of Terror to the Wicked and to all that live in filthiness who profess much Love to God with their Mouthes but the Heart going after Covetousness And a word to all you who are in that condition who draw near God with your Mouthes but your Hearts far from him to you who are convinced of the Truth of God and denies the Priests in words and come to Meet amongst the Saints
love that Light and walk in it there is no occasion of stumbling and if you hate that Light then you stumble at noon-day and there is your condemnation but loving this Light and bringing your works to this Light so far as this Light hath judged you in particular so far you may judge in general for that Judge is but one and waiting in that Light which keeps you in the Fear of the Lord waiting upon the Lord to be made partakers of the precious Faith for the Mystery of Faith is held in a pure Conscience and walking in this Light it enlightens your Consciences and Understandings walking in it you have Union one with another for the Light is but one which will discover all imagined Lights falle Worships Wayes and Churches and draw you to the Church in God the Fountain of Light and their Faith is but one which purifieth the Heart which stands in God which is a Mystery held in a pure Conscience and all who are in it are one if they be ten thousand God Almighty bless direct and keep all you that fear him how to wait upon and walk before him and be low and stand in the Counsel of God that whatsoever you do may prosper but if you go out of the Counsel of God Pride High-mindedness and Oppression and grinding the Faces of the Poor gets up now your minds being guided by that which is pure it is cross to the carnal which oppresseth the Poor in particular if it be not crost and out of it ariseth Pride if the pure Spirit of the Lord be not your guide and head and if there be no oppression within then there is none without for woe is unto him that is covered but not with the Spirit of the Lord Therefore mind every one what you are covered withal John Camm In the Year 1655. The Testimony of George Fox Concerning our Dear Friends and Brethren John Audland and John Camm who were Convinced of Gods Eternal Truth in 1652. and Received it and walked in it and Preached it WHen George Fox came to Furbanck Chapel in Westmoreland John Audland and Francis Howgil was preaching there in the morning but they Preacht freely and there came Major Boosfield and Col. Benson and they were free Preachers in Yorkshire also And in the Afternoon there was a great gathering of People more than in the Morning and so the House would not hold them and so I was moved to go upon a Mountain hard by and the People gathered to the Mountain and sat down though it was then a strange thing to have Meetings any where but in the Church so called because it was holy Ground they thought People were so ignorant then so after Sometime I stood up and said unto them That that Ground was as holy as any other and that Christ did meet upon a Mountain and by the Sea side and in Houses and so did his Apostles and Disciples and though the Jews had a Temple called holy in the old Testament and a Worship there yet Christ had ended that Temple and Worship and set up a Worship in Spirit and Truth and all the true Believers in Christ that received him and his Gospel of Life and Salvation were the true Christians and their Bodies were the Temples of God and Christ of the holy Ghost and many other weighty things were opened in that great Assembly and Many Hundreds were turned from Darkness to Light and from the Power of Satan to God and received the Grace and Truth that comes by Jesus and by it received Christ in their Hearts and many others precious Truths were opened to them that Day And though the Apostles went into the Jews Synagogues and Temple it was not to hold them up but to bring People off the Jews Wayes Traditions and Ceremonies to Christ the Substance for he was come and is come the same to Day as he was Yeasterday and so forever a Leader a Governour a Prophet a Bishop a Shepherd and a Priest to exercise his Heavenly Offices in his People his living Members his Church which he is the holy Head of and a King to Rule in their Hearts by Faith and as I said before many Hundreds received Gods Truth that Day and Immediately after that Christ the Son of God was revealed in them John Audland and John Camm and several others went forth and Preacht Christ and his Everlasting Gospel and John Audland went to New-Castle and there was cast into Prison for Preaching the Lord Jesus Christ and his Everlasting Gospel by the Priests and Magistrates there and hazarded his Life amongst them and after sometime he and John Camm went up and down the North and at last they went into the South and to London and Bristol and other parts and John Audland as far as Plymouth Preaching Christ and his Gospel and Mightily the Lords Power and Spirit did uphold them and carry them on over the persecuting Spirit both of the Priests and Magistrates who were in a great Rage against them that sometimes they were in hazard of their Lives but they being supported by the Lords Power that is over all especially one time when I came Prisoner out of Cornwall to Bristol there was one Paul Gwin a Baptist got into some of the Magistrates and Professours about the Year 1656. which raised the rude People and the Rabble of the City against the Meeting and John Audland their envy was so great against him that it was the Lords Hand Power that he escaped with his Life and I coming out of Prison in Cornwall that Year to Bristol I came to the Meeting in the afternoon in an Orchard where was a Multitude of People and this Paul Gwin being there the Lords Power did mightily confound him and his Company that he came there no more and John Audland stood up and Declared Gods Truth after I had done and so in the Lords Power came over him and them that would have destroyed him and these two Servants and Sons of God spent themselves in the Gospel and Service of our Lord Jesus Christ who had received Christ and he had given them Power to become the Sons of God c. And through their great Services and Labours in the Lord they spent themselves who had their Tryals and their Sufferings by Professors and Prophane some that proved false Brethren and false Apostles But the Lord gave them Dominion in his eternal Power to the last in which they finished their Testimony and dyed in the Lord and rest from their Labours and are Blessed and their Works follow them and as Christ saith He that Believes though he were Dead yet shall he Live and he that liveth and Believeth shall never Dye Joh. 11. 26. In this Life do they Live and are alive in the Spirit they that come to the Innumerable company of Angels and to the Spirits of Just men made perfect know it Kingston upon Thames the 7th of the 4th Month 1689. George Fox The TABLE THomas Camm 's Testimony concerning John Camm and John Audland Ann Camm's Testimony concerning John Audland and John Camm Charles Marshall's Testimony concerning John Camm and John Audland Charles Marshall's Testimony concerning the Vnity of the Spirit J. Camm 's Letter to O. Cromwell pag. 1. J. C 's Letter to E. V. c. p. 11. John Camm 's Letter to Friends p. 14. J. C 's Letter to Friends in Bristol p. 22. John Camm 's Epistle to Friends p. 29. To all dear Friends in about Bristol p. 40. J. C 's and J. A 's Letter to E. Pyot p. 49. Dear and loving Friends c. p. 50. J. A 's and J. C 's Letter to Friends p. 57. Mabel Benson 's Testimony concerning John Camm her Husband p. 61. J. Audland 's Letter to Friends c. p. 63. J. Audland 's Epistle to Friends p. 70. Dear and well-beloved Friends p. 76. John Audland 's Letter c. p. 84. J. Audland 's Letter to C. Marshall p. 88. A Letter to J. A. by his Wife p. 92. J. A 's Letter to Friends at Bristol p. 95. J. Auland 's Letter to Bristol p. 101. The School-Master Disciplin'd c. p. 107. An Answer to William Prynne p. 129. A Reply to W. Prynne p. 144. John Audland 's Epistle c. p. 155. An Epistle to Friends p. 163. J. A 's Letter to Friends p. 170. J. A 's Letter to a Priest p. 176. The Suffering Condition of the Servants of the Lord c. p. 184. A Question answered c. p. 244. To two or three Persons in a Family p. 252. J. C's to Friends and Brethren c. p. 255. J. A 's and J. C 's to Friends c. p. 262. Dear and Loving Friends c. p. 271. Dear and Loving Friends in the c. p. 277. Friends of God and Brethren c. p. 285. Some Particulars concerning the Law sent to Oliver Cromwell c. p. 297. George Fox 's Testimony concerning John Audland and John Camm p. 326. THE END
largely discourse of things relating to Religion and the Duties thereof in so much that amongst a Society then gathered or separated from the common National way of Worship he became an eminent Teacher and highly esteemed of amongst them and not only so but many times he would have gone to Chappels or the Parish Steeple house where there was some Idle Sottish Priests and there would have Preached and abundance of People was taken and affected with him and in great Multitudes would have flocked after him Now being grown upward of twenty years of Age he took to Wife a Sober Vertuous and Religious Maid of the same Separated Society called Ann Newby of Kendal and the Lord made them a great Comfort and Blessing each to other while they both lived together which was about thirteen years Since the Death of her Husband the Lord by his Providence hath Blessed me with the enjoyment of her being given me to Wife But in the fulness of God's appointed time as aforesaid the Lord sent his Messenger and Servant George Fox and by the Message of Life by him Preached in the Demonstration of the Spirit and Power of the Lord Jesus Christ This John Audland was reached the first time that ever he heard him and he received George Fox into his House being fully satisfied that he was one that possessed what he himself had but a notion and profession of and then by the Revelation of Jesus Christ in the Light of God's eternal day he came to see the emptiness of his great Profession and high flown Notion and that all his own Righteousness was but as filthy Raggs Dross and Dung so that he sat down in silence and astonishment like Job for many daies and great and weighty was the Work of the Lord upon his Spirit being as a Man stript of all his earthly Wisdom and his Profession being confounded and brought to nought under the exercise of the Hand of the Lords Power he did Mourn and Weep bitterly biding adieu adieu to all the World and all the empty Professions therein a great Hunger and Thirst the Lord having raised in his Heart and Soul for a Saviour one of a Thousand that could give a Ransom for his Soul and redeem him from the Pit of Corruption for he saw all his great Profession all his Wisdom and Knowledge could not help him but it was the Lord alone that his Soul Thirsted for who heard his Cries and Mourning in a time acceptable and in a day of great compassion and revealed his saving Health and redeeming Arm of eternal Power in alarge measure by which he raised him up fitting and filling him with all Wisdom and Strength for the performance of that Work and Service that the Lord had predestinated himfor and to be concerned in to the Glory of his eternal Name in gathering home the out-casts of Israel and the dispersed of Jacob who had been held under a strange King in great and most grievous Bondage to which Work the Lord in a short time called him anointing him to Preach and Publish Redemption in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ to the Poor and deliverance to the Captive exile the Year of Jubile And the day of Vengeance upon the Wicked in which Work he was found faithful being filled with power and might from on high and girded with the strength of the Almighty And leaving all outward concerns and enjoyments he faithfully Travelled through many parts of the Nation and the Dread Wisdom and Majesty of the eternal God was with him and the mighty and high exalted ones bowed before the Lord and his Power in all places wherever the Lord called him and many Hundreds were Convinced and turned to God through him as a chosen Vessel and prepared Instrument in the Hand of the Lord of Hosts Glory Glory to God for ever saith my Soul The blessed remembrance of this mighty and notable day of the Lord and the splendant breaking forth of his Glory in the Morning thereof in this Nation often and at this time breaks my Heart and makes my Spirit rejoyce in the God of my Salvation and his eternal Power and Presence that was with this and other of his faithful Servants in the first Publishing of the Gospel in this our day can never be forgotten by many but the great and blessed Work that the Lord hath wrought by the Arm of his holy Power revealed in and through his Servants is greatly to be admired for ever for many thousands of his Israel hath the Lord gathered and brought home that were afar of and hath given them a City with Foundations whose Walls and Bulwarks is Salvation in which Praises waits for him and is sounded sorth unto the Lord and the Lamb that sits upon the Throne Reigns for ever more As he was diligent and laborious in the Work and Service of the Lord in many parts of the Nation so was he furnished for that Service as the effects and Fruits thereof hath abundantly demonstrated in many places where the Lord made him as a Father through the Word of his Power and Spirit to beget and turn many to God but most especially in and about Bristol and several Counties in the West of England where many can speak and bear Testimony to the effectual working of that Word of Reconciliation that God had given him to publish by which they were turned from Darkness to the blessed Light thereof In those Countries and many others his Labours and Travels were great being often accompanied by my Father John Camm as long as he had strength outwardly to Travel their Hearts being firmly knit together as David and Jonathan by the Bond of unspeakable Love their very Lives being endearedly bound up in each other in which Bond of Love their Unity was kept inviolated unto the end whereby their Labours and Travels together were-very comfortable and joyous being perfectly of one heart and spirit and minding the same things the glory of God and the gathering of his Israel in which Service they spent their daies strength After my Father John Camm grew weak of Body and at last was taken away Oh how John Audland would often bemoan the loss of so dear a Companion and faithful Brother he being left behind to bear the Burthen of many weighty Travels and Concerns yet through and over all the Lord assisted him to the end I was from my Child-hood very intimately acquainted with him and loved him with a Brotherly Love before we were brought into the blessed Way and Life of Truth as now revealed after which we became more inwardly acquainted and endearedly bound up together in a more Heavenly and Spiritual relation the Fellowship therein being our Life and Joy and therefore can give a certain account of the Gift and Graces of God by which he was adorned and beautified inwardly and outwardly He was a Man beloved of God and all good Men and esteemed of by most that knew him of a
aforesaid burying place at Birkrigge-Park And although the departure hence of these two faithful Brethren and true Labourers in the Lords Work whose presence with and Labours amongst us was comfortable and joyous may be loss to me and many others yet in this we are satisfied that its their gain being freed from their Labours and their Works follow them and that they are entered into the Kingdom of eternall Glory where thev shall live to Magnifie the Lord World without End. Amen And though their outward Bodies be gone to the dust and therefore their bodily presence we are deprived of yet their Spirits are enjoyed and their lives are amongst us and Preaches and their Names and remembrance is and shall be a sweet Memorial and good Savour to Ages and Generations to come being numbred amongst the Lord's Worthies and the Valiants of his Israel who never turned their Backs of their Enemies neither fainted in their greatest exercises but their Bows like Josephs always abode in strength being helped by the Mighty God of Jacob before whom all Nations is but as the drop of a Bucket or the small Dust of the Ballance whose Breath doth slay the wicked and his right hand doth crush his Enemies and his blessed Work begun he hath determined to Prosper since he will finish and put an utter end to transgression that he may reveal bring in and establish his everlasting Righteousness and cover the Earth with his Truth as with a Garment and the Kingdoms of this World must become the Kingdom of the Lord and his Christ whose right it is to reign and will reign when he hath overturned and overturned till his Scepter be lifted up over all and his Government be extended from Sea to Sea and from one end of the Earth to the other and his Sion be beautified with Salvation and Jerusalem become the praise of the whole Earth even thus exalt thy name O God saith my Soul from hence-forth and for ever more That the Righteous may sing of thy Praise and tell of thy Wonderous Works and extol thy Holy Name and Power over all to reign and rule World without end Amen From Apleby Goal the place of my present confinement for the Testimony of Jesus This 14th of the 12th Month 1680. Thomas Camm The Testimony of Ann Camm concerning John Audland her late Husband deceased COncerning my dear Husband John Audland deceased I am under Obligation to bear this following Testimony as one that had the advantage beyond all others to know as well his Qualifications endowments and Gifts given him of God whether Spiritual or Temporal as also his great Labours and Travels in that blessed work and service of the Lord his Truth and People that he was in the Morning of the day called unto and preserved in in all fidelity and faithfulness to the spending of his natural strength to the end of his days and finishing of his Course here in order to be swallowed up in eternal Joy for evermore The eternal God who by his Providence joyned us together in Marriage in our young days in his blessed Counsel also caused his day to spring from on high upon us in the marvelous Light and bright shining whereof he revealed his Son Christ in us and gave us Faith to believe in him the eternal Word of Life by which our Souls came to be quickned and made alive in him and also in and by the quickning Power of his holy Power we were made one in a Spiritual and Heavenly relation our hearts being knit together in the unspeakable love of Truth which was our Life Joy and Delight and made our days together exceeding comfortable as being that whereby all our temporal enjoyments were sanctified and made a blessing unto us How exceeding dear and kindly affectionate Husband he was to me I am far short in ability to declare but in a word shall say that I believe few ever enjoyed a greater blessing in a Husband then I in him and notwithstanding that I loved his company and the enjoyment of him with me above all the World yet nevertheless in submission to the Will of God whose chosen Vessel he was and also in respect to the honourable Service of Truth and the publication thereof which he was called unto I could freely give him up as to be separated from in the outward a great part of our time after we were convinced of Gods blessed Truth and made living Witnesses of the vertuous Life and powerful Operation thereof as in this our day gloriously made known to the everlasting joy of our immortal Souls But before this blessed work came to be effected great was the warfare and inward exercise that my dear Husband underwent under the chastizing Hand of the Lord and the Spirit of Judgment and of burning that was at work in his inward parts in order to sanctifie him for the Lords own use and service for when the Lords blessed and honorable day Broke upon him he was high in Notion and Profession imagining that he had been filled with durable Riches and Wisdom but in the Light of this day he saw the emptiness of it all while he wanted the Substance Life in the eternal Word and by the same to be sanctified throughout Therefore under the sence of this great want many and great were his Sighs and Groans and his Tears not a few Days and Nights of Sorrow many a one he underwent the Word and Power of the Lord being as a Fire revealed within him to burn the great building that he had been erecting and setting up of Hay Wood and Stuubble and in this exercise I also had a share with him and in great Lamentation I have heard him often Sorrowfully say Ah! what have we been doing what have we been labouring for or what availeth our great Profession all our building tumbles down our Profession is high as the Wind the Day of the Lord is upon it and his Word as a Fire consumes it as dry Stubble and put 's an end unto all empty Professions and high Notions without Life or Substance to all the Wisdom of fallen man we must forsake the World and all its glory it s all but Vanity and Vexation of Spirit 't is a Saviour that I long for 't is him that my Soul pants after Oh! that I may be comprehended into his Life and over-shadowed with his Glory sanctified throughout by his Word and raised up by his eternal Power To this effect did his Soul often Travel before the Lord and the Lord who had called him for the purpose of his own Glory was nor unmindful of him but had regard to his blessed work begun to prosper the same that so out of the Furnace of Affliction a pure and clean Vessel might be brought forth And then the Lord plentifully poured upon him of his holy Spirit filling him with all Wisdom and Power to publish and proclaim his everlasting Gospel and to bring Glad-tidings to the poor the Day
of deliverance to the captivated Souls and to say unto Sion that her King reigns And thus the Eternal God having fitted and furnished his dear Servant he called him forth into several parts of the Nation and the Lord appeared with him in his glory and gave him Authority in his Power even to tread upon Scorpions and to put to flight the Armies of the Alians God having given him the Tongue of the Learned to speak a word in season to the Weary and heavy Laden and Wisdom to divide that word aright which he had put in his Mouth to publish in his Name by which he became eminent in his work and service a blessing to Thousands who can bless the Lord on his behalf How great was his Travels in Soul Body and Spirit how unwearied in his Labours and how manifold his Tryals and Sufferings in full is beyond my ability to relate notwithstanding that I knew more thereof then any other living but inasmuch as my now dear Husband hath in his foregoing Testimony in part hinted at them and happily may be added to by some other in or about Bristol where his Labours Travels and Sufferings was exceeding great I shall not much endeavour to under take that work being well satisfied that whether any thing had been related thereof or no it s known to the Lord and lives in the remembrance of Thousands who can testifie to his faithful and effectual Labours in the Word and Gospel in his day and that he counted not his life dear that he might be found in the discharge of a good Conscience in that concern in the sight of God and men who are his living witnesses this day to the praise of the eternal God to whom alone belongs all the Glory for ever He was a man of an exceeding sweet disposition unspeakably loving and tenderly affectionate always ready to lend a helping hand to the weak and needy open-hearted free and near to his Friends deep in the understanding of Heavenly Mysteries willing and able to give advice and counsel to the afflicted and bowed down with whom he alwayes did sympathize in their sufferings he was abundantly filled with Love and endeared kindness to all his Brethren and fellow Labourers in the Gospel and had an honorable esteem of the least that was faithful in that work and his life was bound up in the unity and fellowship of the Spirit with them whatever would in the least appear to break that bond amongst Friends he was sharpe in the Authority of Truth against to judge the same He was greatly beloved and highly esteemed of in the Lord for his works sake notwithstanding not lifted up thereby but preserved in great humility and lamb-like lowliness never seeking to Lord over Gods Heritage but to serve the least for the Gospels sake always detesting self exaltation in whom soever it appeared His Body and outward Strength was much spent through his great Labours for several Years before the Feaver took him of which he dyed so that he under-went many wearisome nights through the exercise of a most violent Cough though he bore it with unspeakable patience and contentedness In the time of his sickness which was sharp and strong upon him after the Feaver took him so that his Sleep was taken from him for several days and nights yet he bore it also with wonderful Patience being always of an exceeding cheerful Spirit Friends daily coming to visit him in abundance from several parts he was often drawn forth in a living sweet Testimony the Lords Power and Life living with him to the great refreshment and tendering of the Hearts of many he was also exceedingly filled with the high Praises of God being as one overcome and ravished in the sence of Gods Love Joy and Peace everlasting When he grew weak he would be helped up upon his Knees and upon his bed sweetly supplicate the Lord in the behalf of Friends present and all the Lords Flock and Heritage every where that they might be preserved in his powerful Truth and out of the evil of the World and that his Truth and Gospel might be more and more spread and published to the gathering of all that appertain to Israel He was greatly afficted in the sence of my Sorrow occasioned by his great weakness which I saw daily to encrease upon him lamenting my desolate ondition to be left so Big with Child as that I was within a few dayes after his Death delivered and therefore did very wisely and tenderly comfort me withal desiring me to give him up freely ro the disposing of the Lord whose he was and enjoyed his pure peace And although it was hard to part with so dear and beleved a Husband yet the Lord strengthened me and I seeing the extremity of his Distemper to be exceeding heavy upon him and to encrease I was made willing to go to him and freely recommend him into the Hands of the Eternal Living God to dispose of him according to his divine Pleasure and unsearchable Wisdom and Counsel whether Life or Death the which added to his ease and my peace in true submission to the Will of the Lord so his Body daily weakning and his Distemper prevailing he notwithstanding being mostly kept sensible to the last continuing in Prayer and Praising the Lord often and again recommending me and his Daughter then living whom he dearly loved into the keeping of his God with Supplication that he would be an Husband to his desolate Widow a Father to his Fatherless Children he sweetly fell on sleep and finished his Course the year time by my now Husband before set down being passed into the fulness of eternal Joy which his Eye was only to and his Soul breathed for more then length of days in the enjoyment of the World or its Riches Glory Glory and eternal Praises to the Lord for ever and for evermore Amen How hard it was and how great a loss to part with so dear and tender an Husband as he was to me it being always I can truely say his joy and delight to add to my ease good and content every way especially my estate and condition being considered is far beyond what I can express the dolour of my Heart my Tongue or Pen is not able to declare yet in this I contented my self that it was the Will of the Lord and that he was taken from the evil and freed from his manifold exercises and that my loss though great was not to be compared to his eternal gain being entered into that everlasting and blessed rest with the Lord prepared in the Heavens for all the faithful Followers of the Lamb through the many Tribulations where being freed from all Pain and Sorrow and Tears being wiped away shall for ever Praise the Lord upon mount Sion Great was his joy in the prosperity of the Work of the Lord in the Hands of his Servants called thereto and who were faithful therein his Soul honoured for their
and sits like them but do not forsake your Sins nor own the Cross of Christ so as to live in it and so you give occasion to the World to speak evil of the Gospel of Christ now to such I say from the Lord Depart ye Workers of Iniquity terrible and dreadful is the day that shall come upon you wo unto them that cover with a Covering but not of the Spirit of the Lord Fear the Lord and tremble before him and prize your time while it is called to day for the Lord is near and if he find you eating and drinking with the Drunken he will cut you assunder and give you your Portion with Hypocrites But all my dear Friends dwell in the Power of the Lord and let not your minds be stained but keep single and stand uncovered that so you may discern all those that are covered and reign above them in the eternal living Truth of God to his praise for evermore Praises and Honour to our God for ever who is worthy for all is falling before him My dear Friends the Harvest here is great even all the Fields are white and all the dumb Dogs and idle Shepherds Drones and Loiterers runs quakes trembles and flyes before us but the Sword of the Lord is in the hands of the Saints and this Sword divides hews and cuts down Deceit and so way is made for the pure Seed to arise and raign above all which conquers all Praises be to the Lord for evermore Dear Friends the Work of the Lord is great and many are Convinced of the living Truth and I really see the Lord will raise up to himself a pure and a large People to Serve and Worship him in Spirit and in Truth Farewell My dear Brother and fellow Labourer Edward Burrough Salutes you all in the Lord and the everlasting God of Power keep you all pure to his everlasting Praise All ye Saints of the Lord Praise ye the Lord and Magnifie him for ever Your dear Brother in the Truth John Audland John Audland his Epistle to Friends from Chester City the 5th of the 5th Month. DEar Friends and Brethren in the Eternal Truth of God Members of the same Body partakers of the unsearchable Riches of the love of God which love endures for evermore Oh! my dear hearts press on in the strait way forgetting those things that are behind Every one of you in perticular mind to dwell in the pure fear of the Lord which will keep you pure and single to stand in his counsel that so you may reign above the Earth and rejoyce over the heads of all your Enemies walking in the Light of the Lord And dwell in the Light and with it you will see and know all the wiles of Satan who would lay snares Innocent and in the power of the Lord stand that you in his power may have Victory My dear Friends what I declared to you when I was present with you the same do I now write to you and in the Spirit I am present with you and therefore in the Name of the Lord and in his fear put on boldness put on courage put on strength every one in your measure stand and be faithful in the Work of the Lord as his Witnesses against all the World for unto this are you called to cast off every weight and burthen and to run with patience the race before you the way is strait and narrow no unclean thing must enter nothing that defiles must enter unto this are you all called to put off the old Man with his Deeds to die daily to forsake the World to deny all to lay down your lives and to take up the Cross of Christ daily and have no fellowship with unfruitful works of darkness God is pure he calls to purity Oh! my dear Hearts as you abide faithful you are my joy in the Lord my Prayers are for you God is my Witness I make mention of you daily to the Lord my dear and tender Plants of God as you grow and increase in the Increase of God my joy will increase Oh! stand stedfast as faithful Servants every one upon your watch that you may pertake daily of the Joy of the Lord and walk worthy of the Love which the Lord hath manifested unto you watch over one another in Love in Bowels in tenderness in compassion to that which is pure and rule over all deceit tread upon it and reign over it dwell in discerning every one and suffer not that to speak which is not of God but all wait in Love and walk in Love and the Body edifies it self in Love and the God of Peace and Love keep you pure to his eternal Praise to all the honest in heart I speak walking in the pure Light of the Lord that you may have Dominion over all the Earth and earthly minds And so such I say who are convinced by the Light of God but doth not walk in the Light How will you escape The Lord is dreadful his Terrour will surprize all Hypocrites the witness of the Lord is against all such and his Judgments will take hold upon you his hand you cannot escape I say to such as I have often told you yea I have told you Weeping such are Enemies to the Cross of Christ and by him are you to be Slain who refuse him and will not have him to Reign over you and therefore by the Dreadfulness of the Lord I charge you to walk in Obedience to that which is committed to you that every one of you may deny those things which the Light in the Conscience bears witness against And I charge you give no evil Example in your Walkings nor in your Meetings in your Meetings be watchful bear Reproof patiently examine your selves let the Light search you and you will see Reproof is to you who doth not walk in the Light and in your walkings be watchful have no fellowship with the world for that which is of the world and you that have fellowship with the world cannot bear witness against the world And therefore come out be seperate touch no unclean thing and fear the living God who searcheth all Hearts and his reward is with him to give to every one according to his deeds But to all you that are faithful the Joy of the Lord is your strength the Arm of the Lord is with you the Sickle is in your Hand thrust in the Sickle for the Earth is ripe the Press is full the Fat 's overflow the Glory of the Lord is appearing to shake terribly the Earth Glory to him for evermore Farewel All my dear Hearts my Bowels run out freely to you I am with you daily in that which will never Wither The Lord God of Power keep you pure every one in your Measure to his eternal Praise my Love is to you all and remember me dearly to all Friends every where Your dear Brother a servant of the Lord and in him can we never be
together in the Fear of the Lord to serve him and walk peaceably in Godliness Fear And why may not more than four meet together lawfully to Worship God in the account of God and all just men why may not Ten Yea and Why may not a hundred and more Provided still it be to Worship God and serve him And why may not also some come in amongst them who are Unbelievers that are ignorant of the way of Truth that they may come to hear and learn and be convinced of all and go away and confess that God is there of a Truth and if there be more that come upon the same account it is also approved Sure that was a great Concourse of People when the Disciples were met in one place where three Thousand were pricked to the Heart at one time Had it been justifiable in the Jews at that time to hinder such gatherings of People together or such Speakers as were who spake as the Spirit of the Lord gave them utterance The Jews were very angry with them and commanded them to speak no more in the Name of Jesus but they obeyed God rather than man and spoke boldly the Word of the Lord and the Lord was with them yea and filled their Hearts with joy and comfort though sometime they were put in the Stocks and sometime in Prison So we do verily find both by the the Testimony of the Spirit of God in our Hearts and also by the Testimony of the Scriptures That our meeting together to Worship the Lord and to wait upon him is according to the mind of God and also to the practice of the Saints in former days and although we be of the suffering-side as the Saints were in times past yet we are content in the Will of the Lord to give up unto him in all these things And surely if they that cause us to suffer did but diligently mind and consider their way and Weapons which they go on in and war with they may find themselves to be on the persecuting-side and see the Saints did not so neither War with such Weapons for the Saints Weapons were not Carnal but Spiritual and mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds for 't is the spiritual Weapons that can and doth conquer the man of sin within and can subdue every high thought and imagination and bring under whatsoever is contrary to the Will of God 'T is the Eternal Word of the everlasting God that is quick and powerful sharper than any two-edged Sword which divides within where no carnal Weapon can divide And if any think we be not in the Way of the Lord let them come forth with spiritual Weapons or with the best they have laying aside all carnal Weapons Club and Staff Force and Compulsion for that will never overcome a spiritual Enemy it may kill outwardly but cannot kill spiritual wickedness and coming forth with these Weapons this is like men that profess Christianity and would be far more comely amongst the sober and honest-hearted People and far more like to the Saints then haling out of Houses by force with earnal Weapons and casting into Prison for no other thing but owning the Doctrine of Christ and meeting together to Worship God. And then this is offered as the prevailing Argument There is a Law made lately that will not allow you and if you do we must fine you or we must take your Goods or commit you to Prison or cause you to forfeit your Estates Therefore we charge you give over if not we must proceed against you and break your Meetings with carnal Weapons Oh! where is the Spiritual Weapons the Power to convince gain-Sayers Gospel-Ministers that went forth without Club or Staff for say we convince our Consciences or else we dare not do it for we may not disobey the Lord because of these things Obj. Well then say they you will be ruinated have you no Wisdom will you spoile your selves with these things Ans More is the pity say we that we may not serve the Lord and Worship him but such sufferings will he exercised upon us by a people that profess themselves Christians and reformed ones too Well we say we must commit our cause to the Lord and even give up all to him who knows how to deliver the righteous out of all their trouble Obj. Ay but say they cannot you meet four and no more Ans We say We may not limit the Lord neither in the things of God must we order our selves And again if some could stoop to that it would not serve neither Obj. Then say they you must be forced and then you or some of you will yeild and then we will boast ever you with those Ans But we say that force with carnal Weapons by pains and penalties as it was not the way of the Lord nor the practice of the true Christians so neither doth it effect the end for it will never make men truly religious neither will it be for the better in the end to them that go about so to compel no nor yet any comfort in the mean time for there is a Prick that meets with the Presecutors now and then which stops their furious driving and gives them no ease in their Way as it was with Saul while he Persecuted the Saints and brought them bound both Men and Women that believed in the Lord Jesus and he is not a good example in that to be followed for he made havock of the Church entering into every House and haling men and women committing them to Prison having Authority from the Chief-Priests and being exceedingly mad against them Acts 8. 3. and Chap. 26. 10 11 as he after wards confessed and as he went to Damascus with Authority and Commission he was struck down for all his Authority and heard a voice saying to him Why persecutest thou me it is hard for thee to kiâ—k against the pricks And it will be very hard for all such who persecute the Children of the Lord the Lord will smite them one way or another if they be not smitten to their Conversion But if the Lord smite them often and they still go on to sin more and more he will ease him of his Adversaries and avenge him of his Enemies and smite with an irrecoverable stroke Obj. And if it be objected That these were Jews that aid not profess Christ that thus persecuted the Christians and it was evil done of them but we are a Reformed Church and we do it in zeal to Christ that people might be all of one way and the Law doth allow us to it Ans 'T is answered thus The Jews had a zeal for God which was not according to knowledge and they had a Law also by which they judged the Holy One that he ought to dye but although they supposed they did God service and for the defending of the Law yet indeed they fought against God and they had as much to say
for their way of Worship it being ancient and they which differed from them their way was but new in appearnce I say the Jews might plead for their Way far more groundedly than many now especially people who neither Live in their Way of Worship according to the Jews under the Law no not yet according to the Saints in the Primitive times And those that profess themselves Christians and yet persecute the Innocent they are far more guilty than the Jews were inasmuch as they both profess more Light and also walk so quite contrary to their own Profession yea and to the example of Christ whom they profess and the true Christians who said Love your Enemies pray for them that persecute you not persecute them that pray for you Neither had the Saints such Weapons to bring people into their Church as is now used but spiritual Ones mighty through God and went forth in his Power this brought People to be of one Heart and one way and to serve the Lord with one mind which force with carnal Weapons will never accomplish to bring people to be of one way Obj. And as it s said But some will yeild and then we will rejoyce in that Ans 'T is answered That 's a bad Work to force People and compel them to deny that which God hath made manifest to them to be Truth and the greater is their Sin that so do 'T is said that Saul compelled some to blaspheme against the Name of Jesus when he raged so against them but he afterwards confessed it as a great Sin And though some did so or do so yet that is no confirmation to the Persecutors that they are in the Way of God no nor yet a true Testimony against the persecuted that they are not in the Way of God neither doth it truly convert men at all Indeed force and compulsion may make some men conform to that outwardly which otherwise they would not do but that is nothing of weight their Hearts are never the better but are rather worse and more Hypocrites than before for force doth but make Hypocrites at the most for it is God alone by his Powerful Word of Life operating in the Hearts of People that changeth them and reneweth them in the Spirit of their minds and brings them into the true Service and Worship even to draw near him with their Hearts and to Worship him in Spirit and Truth and it 's out of man's power and that which God doth not require of men at this day to force by penalties and carnal Weapons to this or that Worship and is absolutely against the Practice of the Saints and the Spirit of Jesus as also against Christ's Royal Law which is Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you even so do ye unto them Now let every man make it his own case He saith his way is the way of God and anothers is not Well then would he be forced to leave his own way and to go to the other which he is not satisfied of to be occording to the mind of God especially when nothing is offered to convince his Conscience or perswade his mind and understanding but Force and Compulsion Surely no man would be so dealt with in his own case Obj. But if it be said We have Power and a Law and we are wise and learned men and we would not be forceed from our Religion but we would force people to ours Ans This hath no weight in it at all for you ought to put your selves in the same capacities as them you deal with are and to consider your selves in their condition they are as strongly it may be more perswaded in their Consciences by the Spirit of God that their Way is right than you are of yours Well then weighing these things would you be forced Would you have others to deal so with you if you were in their condition and they in yours Let God's Witness answer in all Consciences and see if these ways of forcing in matters of Conscience to God wards be not quite contrary to the practice of the Saints and to the Royal Law of Christ Obj. Besides though it be said But we judge we are in the right and our way is the true way Ans It 's answered You may be mistaken many hath that have had thoughts their way was right and while you have not the infallible Witness of God's Spirit with you to testifie to your way peradventure you may err as the former Forcers have done and then you cause people to Sin if you could force them to Blaspheme and to deny as Saul did for if he that turneth a Sinner from the error of his way who hath erred from the Truth doth save a Soul and hide a multitude of Sins then they that force people from the Way of God and cause them to err doth bring Souls into death and so bring Innocent Blood upon themselves yea the Blood of Souls which will be a great weight in the Day of God's account Obj. But if it be further said How then How must we do there is so many ways that People might be brought to one way to serve God Ans Do what God requireth of you and no more and then we shall never suffer by you nor under you Do justly love mercy and walk humbly with your God this is better than the fâ—t of Rams 't is better than all the outward Sounds and Ceremonies and bodily exercise while the heart is far from the Lord And if you judge you are in the right and your way is right come forth then with spiritual Weapons mighty ones in the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and let us see you shine forth in his Image let this be your covering your white Robes even the Righteousness of Christ which is the Righteousness of the Saints and let us see your meekness patience gentleness and good example your readiness by word and deed to convince Gain-sayers in the Power and Gospel of Christ your love to Enemies your selfdenial your subjection to the Cross of our Lord Jesus Oh this would reach our hearts then God's Witness would answer to you and this would answer the good part in all and this is the way to bring people to be of one mind in the Truth this is God's way this is the way the Saints walked in this is the way we love and desire and this also would be of good report amongst all good people but the contrary force and compulsion with a hasty froward proud envious Spirit with Staff and Club and carnal Weapons and Stocks and Prisoning of People against whom there is no occasion but concerning the Law of their God and matters which are really of Conscience to God-wards We say this will never be justified by the Lord nor effect the end neither nor be of good report amongst sober People nor answer the good part in people And moreover the Lord God of Life will turn
his hand and power against them that so turn their hand and power against his people for obeying him and exercising their Consciences towards him in waiting upon him and worshipping him according to that which he hath made manifest to them and such will be more inexcusable for persecuting now than the Jews were in former dayes for then the Saints met together and professed the Name of Jesus which the Jews did not say they believed in Besides it was in appearance such a new way and so different to the Law and manner of Worship which the Jews had that they had some seeming colour in their way but now for they that profess the Name of Christ and the Sicrptures of the New-Testament and the Saints Practice and Christ's Commands to be obeyed for these all things considered to persecute people for owning the Commands of Christ for practising the same things which they cannot but read the Saints practised and to hale people and commit them to Prison for meeting in the Name of Jesus to Worship God and to wait upon him yea and to be so far from cherishing such as to act the very parts of them that made havock of the Church and haled out both Men and Women and was exceedingly mad and caused some to Blaspheme and committed to Prison for the same things it doth appear to be great evil and to be even Sin against knowledge against their own Prefession as Christans and cannot be parallel'd with any of the Saints but with the Persecutors who hated and evilly entreated the Servants of the Lord in former Ages who never could accomplish their end though they caused many to suffer and now to put all out of doubt and to give all who opposeth the People of God in the way of God an absolute answer that they shall not be able to accomplish their end and therefore it would be far better to be quiet and to mind the Royal Law of Christ lest they by acting contrary do bring innocent suffering and Blood upon their own Heads and incur God's heavy Yoke of displeasure against them yea and a Fire be kinded in their own Bowels and a Worm which shall not dye and a dart strike through the Heart and Liver and so the end be as bitter as Worm-wood and as sharp as a two edged Sword these are Instruments of War which the Lord hath in his Quiver which is reserved for the Day of Battel when God pleads with all Flesh by Fire and by his Sword when the slain of the Lord shall be many when he will rain Snares upon the wicked Fire and Brimstone and grievous Tempests this is the Potion of their Cup But indeed we do desire the Conversion and Salvation even of our Persecutors and therefore to put all out of doubt as is before said that there is no prevailing against the Lord nor against the Sion of the Holy One in whom the Lord is We say the living God of Heaven and Earth hath made manifest unto us the Way to Life and called us to walk in it and united our Hearts together as many as live in his Power to serve him and to wait upon him and to meet together to Worship him in Spirit and Truth and we are perswaded to obey the Lord and believe in the Lord that he will strengthen us in his Way and Will unto the end For our strength is in the Lord and not of our selves who hath called us to follow him through good report and bad report and not to deny his Way because of sufferings but to endure in patience and let the Lord plead our cause in the Hearts of his Enemies Obj. And if any say Why will you not swear And why will you meet seeing there is a Law against you Ans For these two things we say We dare not disobey the Lord for fear of punishment or suffering outwardly and we meet together in the Name and Fear of the Lord Because the Lord God of Life requireth it of us that we should meet in his Name and Power and wait upon him and edifie one another in his Love and Life and in our Meetings waiting upon the Lord we have the presence of the living God of Life with us and the feeling of the vertue of his Love in our Hearts and he lifts up his Countenance upon us yea and comforteth us by his free Spirit whereby we know and are assured that it is according to the mind and will of the Lord and that he speaks Peace unto us And this being the real Truth let all the honest-hearted judge how we can in Conscience leave that which God requireth of us in obedience to which we have God's presence with us and do that which Man requireth of us contrary to the Truth in observing of which we should fall into Condemnation and feel God's anger and the Testimony of his Spirit against us to judge us which would be greater sufferings in the inward Man then all the outward sufferings which we may meet with for in these being faithful the Lord comforteth our Hearts 2. Again We meet together to wait upon the Lord because we fear the Lord God he hath placed his Fear in our Hearts and we know him to be great and mighty a great King above all Kings and a great God above all God s that is able to do whatsoever he will in Heaven and in Earth and in the Kingdoms of men and we know he is worthy to be Worshipped and to have the Heart given up unto him for he hath Power to change the Heart which Men by all their force cannot do and to give true and lasting Peace which the World can never take away and his Fear being in our Hearts we account him Lord and Ruler in our Consciences and worthy to be obeved in Heart Soul and Spirit And because we fear him more than Man we are bound in Duty to obey him for he hath power over both Soul and Body which Man hath not for Man can but kill the Body he hath not power to kill the Soul neither hath he power to redeem the Soul neither can Man convert the Soul by any force or penalty outwardly therefore Man doth but labour in vain for he can neither kill nor cure the Soul but the Lord whom we fear hath Power and is able to kill and to make alive And because we fear him more than Man therefore we chuse to obey him rather than Man and to meet in God's Fear And this being our Condition let the sober-hearted judge How can we deny the Lord who hath all Power and hath quickned us and redeemed our Souls from Death and go to obey Man contrary to Christ's Doctrine who hath no power over the Soul. Surely as we stand in God's Fear and Counsel we may not do this Evil and Sin against our God. 3. Again we meet together to wait upon the Lord because God hath made it manifest to us and perswaded
is good to abide and not to give one Foot back to give any ground unto the Enemy but to continue where the Love of God is with us and his blessed Presence with us comforting our Hearts which people do not find with them in disobedience walking and acting contrary to what the Lord hath made manifest to them and so we can put it to the Consciences of all People who have any sence of the Love of God in their Hearts Whether it can be safe for us to forsake the Way of peace and rest which God hath made manifest unto us and in which we have the Love of God with us and to go into a Way by force into which the Spirit of the Lord doth not lead us where we shall find anguish and sorrow and something separating us from the Love of God and where God would not speak peace to us but trouble surely we are perswaded to abide in that which the Lord hath made manifest to us and our faith is in the Power of God that nothing will be able to separate us from the Love of God. 6. Again we are perswaded to continue in the Way of Truth meeting together in the Fear of the Lord to serve him because we find the Lord requireth of us to bear a faithful Testimony and witness to his Name and Truth which he hath made known to us at this day and though man require the contrary and would force us to yeild yet we may not deny the Lord and his Truth but must bear witness to his Name in obedience to his Will for we are not our own but the Lords neither must we serve our selves nor do our own will nor the wills of others whose will is not according to the Will of God but we must serve the Lord and be faithful to him and we see we cannot serve two Masters nor cannot be partakers of the Love of God if we be in the love of the World and fâ—llow after the lusts of it and if we love any thing more than Christ we should not be true Disciples and Followers of him And if it be objected Why cannot you do as men would have you What God knows your Hearts and you may keep yuor Hearts to your selves and conform outwardly for all that It 's answered Nay we cannot because God requireth it of us to bear witness to his Name and Truth and we may not deal doubly or deceitfully in shewing that before men which we are not in our Hearts to God for the People that God hath formed to himself must shew forth his praise And though it be true that God knows the Heart of every one yet lie looks for Fruit also to be brought forth that we may be glorified It is recorded in the Scriptures that there were many occasions sought against Daniel but they could find none against him except it were concerning the Law of his God and they that hated him consulted to get a Decree that none should ask any Petition of God or man for thirty dayes save of the King if he did he was to be cast into the Den of Lyons and the Decree was sealed according to the Law of the Meades and Persians Now it cannot be denied but Daniel might have prayed to God in his heart and his evil-wishers have known little of it but he was taught by the Lord to pray openly and to confess unto him that he was great mighty and powerful And so though the Decree was sealed he as if he regarded it to not went and prayed to his God three times a day upon his knees with his Window open and his face towards Jerusalem and so held forth his Testimony and bore witness to the Lord that he was worthy to be sought unto and that he was not to be limited by an outward Decree though a strong one from praying and calling upon the Name of the Lord and the Lord vvas vvith him and though he suffered the adventure of being cast into the Lyons Den yet the God of Heaven was his Preserver and he held forth a precious Testimony and God was much glorified for it was said yea and proclaimed through many Nations that all should fear and worship the God of Daniel for there was no other God that could save in such sort And also the three Children that would not bow though the King had commanded it that when the Voice of the Musick was heard all should bow to the Image which he had set up yet they would not obey for it was contrary to the Law of their God and great Wrath was against them and the Furnace was very Hot yet the Lord saved them and they bore a precious Testimony to the Lord in Obedience to his Law and the Lord was much Glorified and was proclaimed through many Nations to be the onely and true God and the King himself did praise and honour and extol the God of Heaven all whose Works are Truth and his Wayes Judgement and those who walk in Pride he is able to abase But now if any should say These were Heathen Kings and so not to be obeyed It 's answered They are more excusable therefore than those that in words prosess themselves Christians and own Scriptures and the Saints practice and yet are found persecutthose who live in the Power of the Lord and forcing by pains and penalties not according to but quite contrary to the Practice of the Saints whose Words they profess and are found in the very steps of them who persecuted the Saints and Servants of God as the Scriptures testifie and are so far from the Doctrine of Christ as to forgive Trespasses and to do as they would be done unto and to love Enemies and to pray for them that Persecute them that they do absolutely Trespass against them who give them no just occasion and do to others as they would not be done unto were it their case and let God's Witness judge and doth even hate and cruelly handle their Friends who wish them well from their Hearts and presecute them who pray for them And surely for these things will the Lord Visit and in the mean time we find that the Lord requireth it of us to be faithful to him in what he hath made manifest unto us that we may bear a true Testimony and faithful Witness to the Truth and for the Lord that he may glorifie himself by us for we are not our own but his who hath formed us and called us to follow him And therefore let the wise in Heart judge Can it be safe for us to lose our Testimony and to cease following the Lord and living in that which he hath made known unto us to his mind and will concerning us in which we have the Arm and Power of the Lord with us and him to take our parts and to go to that which he hath not called us unto where we could bear no Testimony for him for he that goes from the Truth