over and we have not found help from Man as to all the Powers that have been till this Day since we were a People nor do we speak this because we look for help from Man nor indeed can we expect that from Men until Men own the same Principle of God to Rule in them to which we are subject which is the Son of Righteousness and leads all into Righteousness Truth and Peace that his Light doth follow who is known to us to be King of Kings and Judge of the Judges though Flesh and Blood sees not his Kingdom And now O King as we have been moved of the Lord in Bowels of Love and with much Plainness of Speech after the Spirit of Truth and not with vain Complements to lay these things before all the several Powers that have risen hitherto with several other Evils which our God hath sent us to testifie against both in Rulers Teachers and People so we have done and for that we have suffered also for a Witness against them as it is at this Day So the same God hath now after a while put into our Hearts to lay these things before thee O King that thou mayst not be Ignorant to what we are called and for what we suffer And in this we rejoice That we feel love to thy Soul even while we are thus doing and if many should be moved hereto of God take heed of being wearied therewith nor count it Clamour or Trouble as they that was before thee did and so let up Prejudice and Evil Thoughts in their own Hearts against the Innocent for this we say unto thee and affirm in the Name of our God that the more any are truly moved by the Eternal Spirit to warn thee of these Things or any other Evils that may any way grieve his Holy Spirit so much doth the Lord of thy Life and true and Everlasting Peace double his Love unto thee and shew his Willingness to stay thee from that which hath removed Kings and broken Kingdoms And this we know to be in God and by him in us towards thy Soul and Eternal Welfare And though we cannot Swear and Unswear Covenant and Uncovenant with every Change that comes as Men do that know not the Everlasting Covenant and Decree of God yet this hath God fealed in our Hearts To seek the Good of all Men Plot against none but study to live quietly and Exercise our Conscience faithfully towards whatever Government our God shall set up desiring that all Men in their Day may so use their Power as they may give Account to God with Joy and not leave their Names for a Curse and Reproach among Men for this we know That God is now at Hand to give a speedy Reward to every Man as shall be the Work of his Day Wherefore O King seek the Fear of the Lord and not Pleasure do Justice and Judgment in this thy Day Relieve the Helpless Oppressed and break the Yoak of Bondage that lies upon the Poor and bring Judgment into the Gates and let not Justice be sold least the Meek of the Earth Cry to God against thee Verily God is nearer this Nation to avenge than many can believe though the hath done Wonders in this Generation that many Generations have not seen and he is trying all Sorts of People with the Testimony of his Appearance Blessed are they whose Eye is open to discern the Signs of the Times for a Work is God working in the Earth and he will cut it short in Righteousness for his Elect sake which Daily hath waited upon Him that is Blessed for ever O King spend not thy time in Fleshly Pleasures neither strive after that Glory which will fade away but apply thy Heart to God and wait to feel his Spirit in thee giving thee Light and Understanding to guide thy ways before him for only Blessed is he who Rules by his power and who is taught of God shall be Established in Righteousness and be far from Oppression and only such shall be called the Blessed of God to all Generations read and remember the Righteous and the Wicked From one of those whom the World calls Quakers JAMES NAYLOR Written the 3d Day of the 4th Month 1660. FINIS LONDON Printed in the Year 1660. To all the Dearly Beloved PEOPLE of GOD Mercy and Peace THere is nothing dear and percious to me in this World but God's Truth and his Life of Righteousness for which I have forsaken all the World and whatever was dear to me therein I have hated and counted it as an Enemy that I might obtain Christ the Fountain and Spring of that Eternal Life of Truth the Beauty whereof I cannot express as I see it and feel it The Loveliness thereof to my Soul hath so dearly united my Spirit to all that bear the Image and Life of it that there can be no Separation but my Life suffers thereby and I can truly say that there is no other thing whatsoever that can unite me as one with any Creature living but this Image and Life where I see it born up or breathing to Life but in whomsoever it be without respect of Persons that I see the least appearance of this Seed of Life is I can by that Power of Love the Father hath begotten in me lay down my Life to serve for the Seed's sake And wherein I have come short of this formerly and have respected the High more than stood only in this Seed I have been judged of the Lord and my evil Thoughts therein condemned yea and I do condemn them before all the World to be of that which favours Self and not the Things of Christ And the lower God doth bring me and the nearer to himself the more doth this Love and Tenderness spring and spread towards the poor simple and despifed ones who are poor in Spirit meek and lowly Suffering Lambs and with those I choose to suffer and do suffer where-ever they are found and I bear my Testimony against that Spirit by which they suffer where-ever it is found and this lies upon me from the Lord Hearing and feeling a Spirit of Enmity having got head by what the Lord hath done with me and now doth exercise its Power against the Peaceable Meetings of the Lord's People the Burthen whereof lies heavy upon me and I suffer under it and have long waited with Prayers and Tears of Sorrow Night and Day to receive Counsel from the Lord what to do in it in that Condition I am now in at present God knows I Lye not for there is nothing of all my Hardships that hath lain and doth lie upon me like this that any of the Flock of God should be offended or suffer through me therefore I have not ceased to warn as God hath opened to me such as I could speak to to live in Peace and Love to suffer but not to act Strife and Violence and have denied that Spirit not to be of the Lamb but
Disobedience for a little moment as a Father to correct yet should not they have sought to aggravate things against me as thou dost For it was a Day of deep Distress and lay sore upon my Soul and the pitiful God saw it who though he was a little displeased yet his Thoughts was not to cast off for ever but extend Mercy as it is at this Day Glory be to his Name from my deliver'd Soul eternally And in that Day there was many Spirits flock'd about me and some whom while my Candle shone upon my Head I ever judged and kept out from me who then got up and acted and spoke several things not in the Light and Truth of God by which they who sought occasion against me then was strengthned to afflict this Body and he that watches for Evil in thee and some others makes use of still against God's Truth and Innocent People whose Mouths the God of my Mercy stop and so finish the Trouble of my Heart as to that thing For my Soul hath long dwelt among Lions even among them that are set on Fire whose Teeth are Spears and Arrows and their Tongues a sharp Sword speaking mischievous things to shed Blood But O Man or Men whatever you be whose Work it is to gather together the Failings of God's People in Time of Temptation or Night of their Tryal and aggravate them and add there to the Wickedness and mischievous Lyes of your own Hearts as thou hast done in thy Book and then come out with those against God's Everlasting Holy Truth it to Reproach I say you are set to work by an Evil Spirit and you do but shew your selves to be Enemies to God and his Children And it is our Sorrow that any of us should give such Spirits occasion to blaspheme and it hath been Trouble of Soul to all the People of God that have ever loved Righteousness when they have thus occasioned the Joy of the Wicked or to feed that Man that watches for Iniquity and feeds on Mischief Yet know this you that are of that Brood God will not cast off his People though he be sometimes provoked to correct them even before their Adversaries which is a Sign to them yet is his Anger but for a moment and his Favour shall return as Streams of Life Then shall the Food be taken out of the Mouth of the Viper and the Prey from between the Teeth of the Devourers and God shall feed them with their own Vomit and the Poyson that hath long lain under their Tongues shall be bitter in their own Bowels Thus will God certainly plead with Zion's Enemies as he bends her Sons for himself and God will make up her Breaches And this hath my Soul seen Jacob's Captivity restored and the Diggers of the Pit are fallen therein Neither hath he smitten him as he smote them that smote him or is he slain according to the Slaughter of them that are slain by him but this is all his Fruit to purge away his Sin So he that had long waited for my failing then got advantage against me yet had I then Power to bear his utmost Envy through Christ Jesus whom I then confessed before Men who then was my support in all and under all and who is over all blessed for ever of all who have proved him in the depth But that which was and is the Sorrow of my Heart is the advantage the Enemy then took against the Name of Christ his Truth and his despised People in that time of Temptation which is that which thou art now pursuing with Hatred and Lyes as that I had a Woman in Bed with me the Night before I suffer'd at Bristol When there was Six or Seven Persons in the Room that Night and a Man to wit Robert Rich in Bed with me But this and several other false things thou hast written in thy Book of which I am clear before the Lord so they touch me not at all nor shall I here mention them against thee in particular But to God alone I look in his time to be cleared from all Offences in his sight who only knows my Heart in this thing in whose Presence I can say that nothing is more odious and burthensome to my Soul than that any of that Glory or Worship which belongs to God or to Christ should be given to Flesh and Blood in my self or others And how it was with me at that Day many talk of but few knows so the Judgment of such I bear Desiring that none in Judging me might have Condemned themselves in God's sight whose Counsels are a great Deep and the End of his Works past finding out till he himself reveal them but in the End he will be justified of all and in all he doth that all Flesh may be silent before him And however my self or any others may be left to themselves to be tryed in the Night yea should any utterly fall or whatever may be acted by any Man or Woman that is not justifiable in God's sight yet in vain dost thou or you gather up Sin or watch for Iniquity to cast upon the Light which Condemns it in every Enlightned Conscience and there will clear himself to be no Author nor Actor therein And I know by the Spirit of Jesus which I have received and which worketh in me that this is not his Work nor his Seed nor in him that loves thy Enemies thou art not but the old Accuser of the Brethren it is that worketh strongly in thee and in the Light which thou Reproaches art thou seen to be the Man that makes Lyes and carries Tales to shed Blood Ezek. 22. 9 12. Another Paper added THere is a Spirit which I feel that delights to do no Evil nor to revenge any Wrong but delights to endure all things in hope to enjoy its own in the End Its hope is to outlive all Wrath and Contention and to weary out all Exaltation and Cruelty or whatever is of Nature contrary to its self It sees to the End of all Temptations As it bears no Evil in it self so it conceives none in Thoughts to any other If it be betrayed it bears it for its Ground and Spring is the Mercies and Forgiveness of God Its Crown is Meekness its Life is Everlasting Love unfeigned and takes its Kingdom with Intreaty and not with Contention and keeps it by Lowliness of Mind In God alone it can rejoice though none else regard it or can own its Life It 's conceived in Sorrow and brought forth without any to pity it nor doth it murmur at Grief and Oppression It never rejoyceth but through Sufferings for with the World's Joy it is murthered I found it alone being forsaken I have Fellowship therein with them who lived in Dens and desolate Places in the Earth who through Death obtained this Resurrection and Eternal Holy Life J. N. London Printed in the Year 1660. TO ALL THE People of the LORD EVERY WHERE Gathered or
Condition you are my joy in the Lord let my bowels be refreshed to hear of your Stedfastness and Growth in the Truth Take heed of propounding ends to your selves in any thing for that leads out of the way of God and gives way to your own Wisdom and so you seek to preserve that Alive which is appointed for Death and so you maintain War against God and know it not and in this condition you can have no Peace while the Enemies are in Arms against your Peace Oh! dear Friends you are in my Heart my Prayer to God for you is that you may be kept blameless to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ blessed for Ever My fellow Prisoner and dear Companion in the Lord Salutes you F. H. all Cease not to Pray for us that we may be kept to his Praise who hath counted us worthy to Suffer for his Name we are well and in great Peace kept in our Father's Love above all we are often brought to stand and wonder how we are kept in the midst of the Fire and not Consumed and the more that the Enemy Rages the more are we kept in Peace within Here are strange Devices used to insnare us to get ought against us true or false but all is ordered by a power the World knows not God is our Strength Rejoice with us all dear Friends and Praise his Name for Evermore for he is worthy for his Mercy endures for Ever JAMES NAYLOR A Prisoner at Appleby in Westmoreland for the Truths sake 1653. To all Dear BRETHREN and FRIENDS in Holderness and in the East Parts of Yorkshire DEAR Friends I Rejoice in you as you are entred into the Love of the Truth and have owned the Voice that calls out of the Darkness that is over all the Earth to set your Faces towards Sion the City of Everlasting Light And now mind your Way and the Light that is given to Guide you in the Way to keep your Eye to the Light that it may lead you through all the Visible things of the World and as you pass through you may stand single in the Mind unto God not turning to the right or left Hand where lies the Temptation nor looking back which lays you open to be Assaulted afresh by those Evils you had once escaped from but keeping the Eye towards the Mark pass on leaving and forgetting what is behind and Treading and Trampling under your Feet what the Enemy shall lay as stumbling blocks in your way which your Carnal Eyes or Ears or Hearts would be closing with for the Temptation lies in the Carnal things and there is the Bondage of the Creature to things that are Corrupt from which Bondage from Sin and Corruption the Lord is now Appeared that in the Light he may Redeem and lead out of it all that will own and follow him and this Light and Redemption is in his Son whom he is about to Exalt in which Exaltation a strange and mighty Work is to be brought to pass whereat all that stand not in his Counsel and Fear and to whom he shall not Reveal his Secrets shall be offended for all that is exalted shall be laid low and debased the Wisdom of the Wise shall come to nought and the Understanding of the Prudent ones shall be hid Riches and Honours shall fall to Dust from whence they came and the Worship of the World shall become Filthiness the Gods of the Heathens shall be Famished with looking for Worship but shall get none and the strongest of them shall not be able to deliver himself for the Lord will bring down all Heights and Mountains into the Valleys for in the Valley of Jehosaphat he will plead with all Flesh which hath scattered the Seed of the Covenant And now dear Friends here is your Peace and Blessedness that you Silence all Flesh and cease from your own Wisdom and give over your Imaginations about the things of God come out of the Love of the World and arise out of all Visible things and prepare to meet the Lord cast off all your Idols that have had your Hearts and put off the stumbling blocks of your Iniquities from before your Faces and give up all that will not that he should Reign over them that his Enemies may be your Enemies for in Judgment and Righteousness is he come out to be Avenged upon the Unrighteous Seed and now stand in the Light that a seperation may be made in you the Precious from the Vile that a true savour may arise that you may know your Calling and Election what is called and what you are to come out of lest you stay in any of that to which the Plagues is for this is the cause of your Suffering not discerning in the pure Wisdom what that Antichrist or exalted Spirit is that is got into the Seat of God and shews himself to be as God whose Kingdom stands in the Wisdom Glory and Riches of the World whereat all that knows not the true God in Spirit ask Counsel therefore dear Friends look not out into the Visible things for there he is ready to present to you false Voices and Visions Lying-wonders to lead out the vain Mind into the Liberty and Boasting of high things in Words without Power but while such speak of Liberty they are in Bondage in Mind to Corrupt and Fading things and while these are Head in the Creature there is not Redemption For the Bonds of Iniquity are unloosed and the pure seed is oppressed and the Plagues must pass upon that Nature therefore sink down into the Sufferings and Death that you may find the Door whereat to Enter for there is a Vale of Tears to pass thorow you shall find your Well-springs in him where you shall drink of the Water of Life and find Refreshment and grow from Strength to Strength till you come up to Sion Stand fast take heed of Words without Life spoken from the Comprehensions for that Feeds not the pure Seed but Feeds the Wisdom which is above and the Itching Ears and so the pure is covered with Earth and the Fowls of the Air is fed and no Fruit is brought forth to Perfection and take heed of that Nature that would know more than God is willing to Reveal for you shall find that unwilling to obey what it knows and take heed of that which desires to appear before Men to be commended for that seldom deserves Praise of God and let a Godly Conversation declare what is within and know one another in Spirit and not in Word and meet often together and wait upon God for his Teaching alone in a Cross to your own Wills for therein is the Secrets of God Revealed Let Love abound in you one towards another without being Partial and I beseech you by the Love of God that you halt not between God and the World but as you Profess that you are not of the World so let your Conversation be out of its Fashions Customs and Traditions and Covetous Practises that it may appear you are marked out for the Lord's and that you are not ashamed to own that which differs and so walk as not to cast an offence on the Gospel that you become not a scorn to Fools but let Wisdom be justified of her Children and take heed of that which would be exalted above others Teaching and Talking of things without Life and you that would be counted somebody let such first learn to wash the Feet of them they would be above and he that would be Greatest let him be Servant to all for it is the Humble and not the High Spirits that are Taught of God and such so walk as their Lives and Practises Teach and Judge all Vain Light and Heighty Spirits and mind how you grow out of the Earth and out of that which is in the Enmity and until you be brought out of the Love of all Visible things and wholly infolded into the Love of God you cannot witness Redemption nor receive the true Joy that ariseth in the Manifestation of the Love for it is only he that is brought up out of the Death to Reign over it whose Heart is come out of the Unrighteous Mammon who is entred into the Kingdom of Righteousness Joy and Peace and as you arise out of the Earthly Bondage you shall witness the glorious Liberty and so come to know your own Measures every one in particular to improve it and not to boast above it in another Man's Line and so you will come to see by what Power you stand in your Warfare how far you are Conquerors and who is your Enemy at present and so be able to give an Account in your selves of your Faith and how you grow from Faith to Faith And dear Friends watch over one another Exâ—ort Reprieve Admonish in pure Love and Meekness of Spirit least you also be Tempted and all know that you are set as a City on a Hill as Signs to this Generation therefore lift up your Light to all the World that all Mouths may be Stopped and Hearts Convinced so that all that see you may see you to be Children of Light and being Judged by you may be ashamed of their deeds of Darkness for great is the work of the Lord and Blessed are they that are found Faithful in it in what is committed to them Farewel dear Hearts and the Lord God Almighty Bless Prosper and Preserve you Pure and Clear unto his Kingdom Amen My Love in the Lord Salutes you all and if my Father please I shall be glad to see your Faces in the Flesh but his Will is my Peace who is Blessed for Evermore Written from Nuby the last Day of the Seventh Month 1653. A Lover of your Souls JAMES NAYLOR The Work of the Lord is great in those Parts and he carries it on with a High Hand having got himself the Victory Praise the Lord with us all that know him who is worthy even him alone for Ever FINIS Printed in the YEAR 1654.
Scattered IN the Fear of God and Love to his Truth and People do I declare in the Spirit of Meekness what hath long oppressed my Soul concerning those Unclean Spirits gone out from the Unity of the Truth and Light by which we have been called and gathered into one in Christ Jesus the Head over all his Blessed for ever whose Name hath been greatly dishonoured through many wild Actings and his Innocent Spirit grieved and many simple Souls deceived many opressed and many offended against the Truth because of those Spirits gone out from the Truth and now secretly under a pretence seeks dayly to make it odious to all For which Work my Soul hath been much troubled Who to this Day raven about from Place to Place amongst the People of God seeking to enter where they can and so to strengthen themselves into Parties to trouble such as they cannot enter seeking to spoil the peaceable Pasture of the Lambs that they should not Feed in Peace And for that end hunt after the Meetings of the People of God All which Practises and Pretences I deny in my Soul and that Spirit that acts therein And the more it lies upon me from the Lord to warn the simple innocent ones of his thereof openly in that through me these Spirits have got much Head and Entrance into the Minds of some who were simple towards God's Truth And this the Envious One hath done in the Night of my Tryal and Hour of Darkness and Temptation taking Advantage at my Sufferings in the Day when my Judgment was taken away and I led Captive under the Power of Darkness which all along hath sought my Life had not the Father hid it and with his Hand upon me staved me in those great Temptations to whom alone I give the Glory of my Deliverance from that great Destruction as his Promise was to me before I came into that Tryal who hath now brought me up again and hath given me to see those Evil Spirits and that the Work of the Murtherer and Devourer is therein against the Life of God in his Temple Which though they seek Entrance under pretence of Humility promising some great things and more Holiness in that way to steal into simple Minds but being got in exalts themselves above the Seed of God and Tramples the Meek Spirit under Foot and so darkens the Vessels and being exalted in the Openings of the Imaginations leads the Creature as God above that of God and so against that of God he warrs in others where God is above And this Mystery of deep Iniquity hath the Lord God in the Spirit of the Lamb revealed unto me whose powerful working I have found working in me above the pure Measure and Unspotted Life of God And though in the Simplicity of Christ Jesus I had given up my Body all along a Free Offering to the Will of God in Life or in Death for the Seeds sake yet ungathered in the World as God knoweth I lye not yet could I often feel that exalted One above secretly tempting to Envy against the People of God already gathered pretending a greater thing to come another Way but this with the Life of God was ever Judged Though often I was buffeted therewith sometimes so strongly as to force Words from me above the meek and lowly Principle All which Words were soon judged with the sufferer which lay under and with his Life be they Condemned for ever And this lyes upon me to declare openly which God hath revealed to me for the sake of the simple Ones who may be deceived therewith but would not did they know his Subtilty And by this shall you all perceive that Spirit whatever it pretends it will secretly withdraw your entire Love from the Flock of God already gathered and cool your Affections and Zeal towards their present Meetings and if you judge it not there it will grow on with an Evil Eye to spy out their Failings and delight to hear of them and talk of them with an hidden Joy whispering them to others and adding thereunto with a desire to see them broken and their Nakedness laid open if any thing be amiss And thus it hath wrought in a Mystery of Wickedness in some Unjudged until it be seated in the Throne of open Enmity and Strife against the Lambs of Christ preferring the Society of the Prophane before them and taking Part therewith against them joining with any who seek to scatter them And what ever pretence this Spirit seeks to cover it self with this I declare of it having been kept by the good Hand of God to see it reveal'd in its Ground and End that it is the Old Spirit of the Ranters which now in a new Way makes Head against the Light of Christ and Life of his Cross which is the only thing that stands in its Way by condemning its Filthiness in every Conscience And so they in whom this is Entered being exalted above the Living Witness in themselves would devour it in others And this in the Presence and Fear of God I declare without the least Prejudice against the Person of any Man or Woman but in Obedience to God and for the Seeds sake lest any more of the simple should be deceived and that such as are deceived already might recover themselves out of Satan's Snares no selfish End have I in it God knoweth And long time hath my Soul been in travail e'er I could obtain Power herein so strongly hath he that letteth withstood my Way Therefore in the Bowels of tender Love I warn you all to take heed how you ever come under that Spirit under any pretence whatsoever but let the Fear of God and sound Judgment in the Spirit of Meekness you all preserve above it for wheresoever it enters by consent it is hardly got out again And if it be it is not without much Sorrow And this I have found in the Depth which for your sakes I declare in Plainness and Truth as I have learned of the Lord labouring with him without ceasing that the rest of the People of God every where may be saved from this Devourer who goeth dayly about to deceive and whosoever he takes he casts into the Earth or into the Sea for Wickedness is with him wheresoever he goeth Even the Lord God Almighty arm you all against his Wiles being warned thereof in his Love and the Eternal Power of Holiness you all preserve clean to Himself who are dearer unto me than ever and that in no other thing but in that Innocent Principle in which you are kept free from all the Pollutions of the World and Fleshly Liberty and stand Witnesses for God against it before all Men and in no other thing have I fellowship with any which is that I seek to set up above all And this was I moved to give forth to go every where as a Witness against that unclean Spirit where-ever it goes felling its Work is to run to and fro