A Small ACCOUNT GIVEN FORTH By one that hath been a Traveller For these 40 Years in the Good OLD WAY And as an Incouragement to the Weary to go forward I by Experience have found there is a Rest remains for all they that truly trusts in the Lord. Psalms 31.14 I trusted in thee O Lord and said thou art my God Psalms 31.24 All ye that trust in the Lord be strong he shall establish your Hearts S. B. Printed in the Year 1698. AS God by his Grace having inclined my Heart to be Merciful and I have had the Comfort of doing Good whilst I had an opportunity in the things as he in this Life is pleased to commit to my Care I have as in his sight walked in the uprightness of my Heart and as in those things partaining to this Life I have endeavoured to keep a good Conscience So in Love to all that may have the Reading of this small Book I am willing to give them an understanding as I have found where it is to be attained as Christ said There is but one good and that is God and as we come be guided by his good Spirit it will lead us into all things that are good without which we cannot inherit Eternal Life And whatever any may think of me who look with an evil Eye yet to my Friends that looks with an Impartial Eye it will be received as it is intended good will to all and to those remain a Friend S. B. The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom A good understanding have all those that keep his Law AND as a Traveller to the good Land of Rest and Peace and having in measure attain'd thereunto by that Heavenly Guide Christ Jesus the true Light that hath been my Instructer and Helper without which I am nothing nor can do any thing as I ought to do I am made free to relate something of my attainment thereunto I was Born of good Parents Educated according to the Church of England and tho' Young Zealous therein yet could not my Immortal Soul be therewith satisfied but a desire was begotten in me to know the true God the which to attain I endeavoured the best way I could by Prayer and Fasting in secret not to be seen of any But God whose Eye saw me and my true desire therein knowing herein I was not safe tried me and by one thought which arose in my Heart concerning God which I could not help dashed all my Building to pieces and I thought my self the worst Creature living thus night and day I had great trouble within but resolv'd in the midst of all and made it my resolution to follow the thing that is good and that God that saw me though I saw not him I was by this often comforted and it became my Song Great are the Troubles of the Righteous but the Lord delivers out of them all and sometimes betwixt Hope and Fear I travelled from Twelve Years of Age to Eighteen about which time by Providence I was led into the North at which time by wonderful changes wrought in them by which they had the name given them called Quakers a People so contrary to my Education and the many strange Reports that were raised of them was rather frightful than desireable to me but that God that saw the great desire I had to know him the only true God and Jesus Christ his Son led the blind by a way I knew not and by one not called a Quaker but one true to the Church of England and a sufferer for King Charles the first I received a true Account of the Principles and good Lives of these People which in Simplicity of Heart was related to me of which I was made seriously to consider and in a short time felt a Power arise in my Heart and I said this is it I have waited for and with great Power it rent the Vail chased away my dark thoughts gave me some understanding of the Scriptures and I could say I have heard of thee and have read of the Wonders thou didst for the Children of Men but that was not mine but now by thy great Power and Change thou hast wrought in me I came to know thee O God and by this and in no other way can I be satisfied and that thou the Immortal God may'st have the Glory of thy own good Work which I never received of Man neither did I ever see or hear any of them called Quakers till three Years after or more but returned into my own Country North-Hampton-shire to my Relations and not long after came to London and made it my business and went secretly amongst all persuasions except Papists and Ranters to see if I could find any that had the sence to know God and his Son Jesus Christ within them But I could find no outward thing could give my Soul satisfaction neither then nor now and in that State I walked alone three Years but being at a Meeting in great Allhallows one Edw. Burroughs came in and stood up and spoke at which I with others was amazed having never seen nor heard any of them before but was resolved to hear him again but by the many strange reports raised of them I was afraid but I Prayed to the Lord my God in whom I trusted that I might not be deceived for he knew I had nothing in my Eye but to have a further manifestation of Him whom to know is Life Eternal of the which he resolved me and with Signs and Tokens of his Love confirmed me and I could and can say it was and is of God and is the Truth and proceeds from the same Rock from which all the Patriarchs Prophets and Apostles had their teaching Christ Jesus the Rock the Mystery hid from Ages and Generations is made known unto us of which Knowledge I have learn'd as they did who said what is to be known of God is manifest in them which is the Key of David which opens and shuts and gives the true Understanding of the Mystery of the Kingdom of Heaven and the true knowledge to all those who have in true Obedience submitted to his Yoke and their Wills subjected to his Will these shall find his saving Virtue of Life which Life being received and joyned too with all the Heart it will endow them with the Heavenly Virtue in Christ Jesus our High Priest and Captain of our Salvation And with Righteousness Peace and Joy in the Holy Spirit of God and those that willingly give up all they have unto him shall find in it more than they can believe or the Carnal Mind can apprehend for they knew what they said that the Carnal Mind knows not the things of God for they are Spiritually discerned and to be carnally minded is Death but to be spiritually minded is Life and Peace which is a certain Truth and according to the Holy Scriptures from which I desire neither from Them nor my Neighbour to
borrow Words or a Profession but to have a right to them and be made one with them by the same Spirit of Jesus Christ the Lord of all our Mercies and as in him they lived moved and had their being who gave them forth he is so to the faithful this day and what I have heard and seen I declare that he is the true God And the Poor in Spirit receive the Kingdom of Heaven and see a nothingness and emptiness in themselves without a dayly supply from him and they are led and made to understand the Mystery of Election and Reprobation as in the two Seeds and Births the one elect and blessed of God before the World was if the mind of Man joyns to Christ who is God's Elect Isa 42. they are saved by him and Works out their Salvation with Fear and Trembling and this is the Elect and Corner-Stone Christ Jesus whom soever Builds thereon The Gates of Hell shall not prevail and will over turn overturn till he come whose right is to Reign and as unto this Elect and Precious Seed we Unite we are therein and thereby blesed of God this is not of our selves but the free Gift given of God by which we make our Calling and Election sure and in this we have learn'd to know the Reprobated and the Enemy of all Mankind that leads the mind from God into the Lust of the Eye the lust of the Flesh and the Pride of Life and all other Evils which if joined unto the Evil conceived in the mind brings Death and separates Man from God his Maker and here the strong Man keeps the House and by his Temptations therein prevails on Man to eat the forbidden Fruit by which he breaks the Law of God and falls under Condemnation from which State there is no coming nor the Figg-leaf Garment nor nothing without will cover but a turning to the blessed Appearance and Gift of God in the Soul and there find the Mystery Christ within the Hope of Glory who hath many Names and his Kingdom is compared to a little Leaven the lost Groat a grain of Mustard Seed and many other Parables and it is vailed from Man who is in the first nature of the Earth Earthly but revealed in the second Man who is the Lord from Heaven which gives us to know the first Man Adam a living Soul and the last Man Adam a quickning Spirit by which unless we be Born again of the true incorruptible Seed which enlightens us we cannot see the Kingdom of Heaven nor the Glory thereof which Man in the first Nature have strove to know but we must receive that knowledge by the ingrafted Word of God not in our will and time these things God gives as to know but being acquainted with his Mercies and the Temptations of the evil One as we may read and learn of Christ who left us an example as all true Travellers shall find in themselves him near in their best performances as I have seen and do see his approach and when I have heard or seen any on the high Mountains in their Imaginations who pretend they see all the World and their selves in conceit above all for which I have been grieved as well-knowing the danger of that State and willing I was to have advised them but knowing they was so highly set up in themselves my voice could not reach them calling that God which is not God taking the Name of the Lord God in Vain for which he will not hold them guiltless some of them having blown a loud Trumpet Jehu like saying Come and see my Zeal for the Lord of Hosts which I have been grieved to see in some both Men and Women and have lived to see divers fall which I well knew as they stood could not hold out to the end and many of Martha's Spirit I have seen and now do which runs and serves and cumbers themselves with striving to utter Words and have got the true Notion in their Heads but the true Seed hath not taken root downwards and those are they which are stumbling-Blocks who have been by some encouraged as I might have been but the Lord my God kept me out of that Temptation and many others not loving Hypocricy nor a feigned imitation whereby I might deceive others in what I was not truly to God who called me to take up the Cross to that which my Heart loved whether they were Idols of Silver or Gold or other things tho' useful yet if over-valued they fill the Heart of which there must be an emptying to make room for the Heavenly Jesus under whose Reign Israel shall safely possess their Souls in Peace and have the new Name given them and the White Stone which none knows nor can believe but those that have it and those are they that are come through great Tribulations and are washed with the Blood of the Lamb and all those of this Faith I dearly salute as being Children of one Father whose Voice I know from the Voice of a Stranger and I thank God who hath raised up the Poor in Spirit all that are therein gathered will out-last all other Notions and the Lord give Wisdom to them that have not as yet thereto attained to know the true Ministration and the right Season when they should and when they should not which in some hath been lacking which causes the weak to stumble and keeps out more than it brings in Thus have I given a short but true Account as I have passed through the Wilderness of this World and have seen many fall on the Right Hand and on the Left where also I might but have had for my preservation the cloud over me by day to keep me low that I might not be exalted neither by Visions Sights nor Revelations many have been hurt thereby and cast that on others which concerned themselves And as the cloud stood over me it kept me low from self-exaltation to know my self nothing but what I received from the God of all my Mercies and as I see the Cloud by day I also see the Pillar of Fire by Night which caused me to stand still and see the Salvation of God and the bright appearance of his Glory I am sorry for some that are backsliden and may say to them what have you or your Fathers found in the God of Jacob that you should depart from him But let all the strong will'd know little David who trusts not in Bow nor Sword but in the living God he by his Sling and smooth Stone shall hit the Head of those that defies the Armies of Israel's God And to all you workers of Iniquity who have charged us that we deny Christ Jesus come in the Flesh the Holy Scriptures and the Resurrection and say we are Heathens and Hereticks all which we know to be false and can appeal to God in the integrity of our Hearts therein and with him we can with Joy leave our Cause as well-knowing he
Mind and the Heart will be dead to God and they will loose their part in the blessed Inheritance Some on the other hand notwithstanding they may have seen the good way set forward therein but soon forgot what the Lord did for them who brought them out of the Land of Darkness from under their hard Taskmastrrs who put them to make Brick without Straw their Hearts not being throughly Converted they lusted for the Garlick and Onions again their old Diet and though they had past the Sea many dyed in the Wilderness and all them that delighted in the Sins of Sodom and make a mock at the good Angel that God hath sent to pull just Lot out of Sodom they shall be struck Blind and the Fire of God's Wrath shall destroy all such that come not in at the right Door of him who said I am the Way the Truth the Life and the Light who ever striveth by any other way will be found Theives and Robbers and deprive the Soul of its In heritance with God This by one who for many Years hath been counted a Dissenter being never forward to intrude into those things I had not seen nor adhered to what I had not a clear sight as my duty to God and there I stand still waiting on God to reveal to me yet that God that sees the inside the Heart hath rewarded me according to the sincerity thereof and I have found his Love so great and unexpressible which hath made up all again more than I have lost by any Man and hath safely preserved where Man could not see me whose Eye is abroad and looks at the outside appearance but as God's Eye who beholds both Evil and Good so have I seen in both Parties things acted and done which my Soul had no Pleasure nor Unity with but was willing the Lord should bring me off from those from whom he was departed and that the sincere hearted of both sides might be Reconciled for the accomplishing of which I have used my best Endeavours desiring there may not be a looking at what is past but an endeavouring for the good of all as I have really done as may be seen in this following Letter which I writ in answer to a Friend who was and is dissatisfied with some for appearing therein but let thembe what they please I am well satisfied in this good Work But I have seen the new Wine put into the old Bottle it not being well seasoned there becomes a Sowerness and the good Relish thereby seems to be lost that is in it self good in which state there is many that keeps to the old Leaven of the Pharisees Christ gives this Mark by which they should be known They love the uppermost Places and to be Master make long Prayers and to preach in their own Wills different in their Robes makes a fair show in the Flesh that they may appear well unto Men this hath been and is a great grief to the Just but I am comforted in this I see many right-hearted and good Christians who speaks from the Truth the annointed of God those God will bless and he will appear in them who reigns in Righteousness and all such shall reign with him for ever and ever and as I have seen this Good I have also seen this Evil which Man is prone to and apt to set a great value upon themselves and they not see it and let the Truth be never so plainly discovered and from the Spirit of the Living God dictated yet if it comes not in their way and after their manner as they have set it up in themselves there is no room for any thing to enter though never so good of this I have made to my self a good Caution and said O Lord if this Iniquity remains in me search it out for I see it looks ill in others and so it will in me if I am found therein S. B. How mean soever I may appear to Man A Witness in my Soul there lives that can Bear Record to the Father this that I Seek not Mortals praise but Immortality That Crown of Rest and Peace I may receive Which Mortals have not in their Power to give Which he must do who sets me free from Sin And being clean in Peace there Rules that King Who will not joyn unto Iniquity But love's Vprightness and Integrity Thinks Human Wisdom I can easily see The Scripture can this thing declare to me But 't is not known by Pleasure Ease or Sleep Who find this Pearl must dig low and deep And who finds before it be his own They must sell all to purchase that alone And cast up all his Stock and look within Before to Build this House he doth begin And learn by true experience rightly for to know The thing that 's realy good from what 's but good in show Remember Babel do not build too High Nor make a Tower to reach unto the Skie Nor look thou out but turn thy Eye within See Christ there laid then build thy House on him Who build not on that Rock shall surely fall For he is that Corner Stone uniteth all Cease then a while you Humane Learned Men That know your Wisdom cannot find out him Thou Willing and Obedient know it 's thee Whose Vale is rent to see this Mistery It 's not the prudent learned Wit that shall Him comprehend who is the Light of all The Lamb of God who comes in love to gain And bring lost Man stray'd from God back again And make Man happy the greatest good that can Befall to Mortals or the Sons of Men Which if not rightly known what e're we do Wants the good Oil and God's acceptance too He sees the Heart and what rules there full well Whether it be Pride or Passion Husk Fame or Shell Of all that cumber we must come to see Man strip'd of all and Christ alone to be The true conducter from the ways wherein He 'll not appear because they lead from him And all that goes in this true blessed way Shall by his Light be sav'd both Night and Day And as I have walk'd unseen and all alone In secret to my God I made my moan It s restless eye that makes complaint to none But unto thee from whom relief must come Out of my Troubles Doubts and Fears And send the Harvest which was sown in Tears Tho' sorrow may indure for a Night Thy morning Presence brings my Soul delight Thou art a God of Truth in all things Just And those that know thy Name will in thee Trust An Answer to a Letter from a Friend THine I received and have considered thereof and could have been more large in my own and my Friends Vindication therein concern'd but am gathered into that not to strive but to commit my Cause to God in well-doing having in my self and many others seen Pride to beget Passion and Passion Prejudice by which the Eye of the right understanding is made