Day of this instant 11th Month 1690 After which he said I am glad I was here now I am clear I am fully clear Then he was the same Day taken with some Illness or Indisposition of Body more than usual and continued weak in Body for two days after at our Friend Henry Goldney's House in the same Court close by the Meeting-House in much Contentment and Peace and very sensible to the last In which time he mentioned divers Friends and sent for some in particular to whom he exprest his Mind for the spreading Friends Books and Truth in the World and through the Nations thereof as his Spirit in the Lord's Love and Power was universally set and bent for Truth and Righteousness and the making known the Way thereof to the Nations and People afar off signifying also to some Friends That all is well and the Seed of God reigns over all and over Death it self That though he was weak in Body yet that the Power of God is over all and the Seed reigns over all disorderly Spirits which were his wonted sensible Expressions being in the living Faith and Sense thereof which he kept to the End And the Thirteenth Instant between the Ninth and Tenth Hour in the Night he quietly departed this Life in Peace being two days after the Lord enabled him to Publish and Preach the Blessed Truth in the Meeting as aforesaid So that he clearly and evidently ended his days in his faithful Testimony in perfect Love and Unity with his Brethren and Peace and Good-will to all Men being about Sixty and six Years of Age as we understand when he departed this Life And on the Sixteenth of this Instant being the day appointed for his Funeral a very great Concourse of Friends and People assembled at our Meeting-House in White-Hart-Court aforesaid about the Mid-day in order to attend his Body to our Burying-place near Bunhill-Fields to be Interred as Friends last Office of Love and Respect due on that Account The Meeting was held about two Hours with great and heavenly Solemnity manifestly attended with the Lord's Blessed Power and Presence and divers living Testimonies given from a lively Remembrance and Sense of this his Dear Ancient Servant his Blessed Ministry and Testimony of the breaking forth of this Gospel-day his Innocent Life long and great Travels and Labours of Love in the Everlasting Gospel for the turning and gathering many Thousands from Darkness to the Light of Christ Jesus the Foundation of true Faith also of his manifold Sufferings Afflictions and Oppositions which he met withal for his faithful Testimony both from his open Adversaries and false Brethren and his Preservations Dominion and Deliverances out of them all by the Power of God To whom the Glory and Honour was and is ascribed in raising up and preserving this his faithful Witness and Minister to the End of his Days whose blessed Memorial will Everlastingly remain He loved Truth and Righteousness and bore faithful Testimony against Deceit and Falshood and the Mystery of Iniquity and often of late time especially warned Friends against Covetousness Earthly-mindedness against getting into the Earth and into a brittle Spirit and the younger sort against Loosness and Pride of Life c. A few days before he died he had a great Concern upon his Mind concerning some in whom the Lord's Power was working to lead them into a Ministry and Testimony to his Truth who through their too much entangling themselves in the things of this World did make themselves unready to answer the Call and Leadings of the Power of God and hurt the Gift that was bestowed upon them and did not take that regard to their Service and Ministry as they ought And mentioned the Apostle's Exhortation to Timothy To take heed to his Ministry and to shew himself approved c. And exprest his Grief concerning such as preferred their own Business before the Lord's Business and sought the advancing worldly Concerns before the Concerns of Truth And concluded with a tender and fatherly Exhortation to all to whom God had imparted of his Heavenly Treasure that they would improve it faithfully and be diligent in the Lord's Work that the Earth might be sown with the Seed of the Kingdom and God's Harvest might be minded by those whom he had called and enabled to labour therein and that such would commit the Care of their outward Concerns to the Lord who would care for them and give a Blessing to them However this is not mentioned to encourage any to run unsent or without being called of God Many are living Witnesses that the Lord raised him up by his Power to proclaim his mighry Day to the Nations and made him an Effectual Instrument in our Day to turn many from Darkness to Light and from Satan's Power to God and freely to suffer and bear all Reproaches and the manifold Persecutions Buffetings Halings Stonings Imprisonments and Cruelties that were in the Beginning and for some time inflicted on him and others for the Name of Christ Jesus He was in his Testimony as a fixed Star in the Firmament of God's Power where all that be truly wise and that turn many to Righteousness shall shine as the brightness of the Firmament and as the Stars for ever and ever He knew and Preached the Mystery of Christ Revealed the Life and Substance and the Power of Godliness above all Shadows and Forms The Lord endued him with a hidden Wisdom and Life He loved Peace and earnestly laboured for universal Love Unity Peace and good Order in the Churches of Christ And wherever he met with the contrary it was his great Grief and Burthen He was greatly for the Encouragement of faithful Labourers in the Lord's Work and it was a great Offence and Grief to him to have their Testimony weakned or Labours slighted through Prejudice in any professing Truth And inasmuch as the Lord suffered him not to be delivered up to the Will of his Enemies and Persecutors who often heretofore breathed out Cruelty against him and designed his Destruction but in his good Pleasure so fairly and quietly took him away in his own time when his Testimony was so blessedly finished and his Work accomplished This is all remarkable and worthy of serious and due Observation as being by a special and Divine Providence and Wisdom of God to whom we ascribe the Glory of all and not unto Man or Creatures Though we must needs allow and own that good Report and due Esteem which faithful Elders Ministers and Servants of God and Christ have by Faith obtained to the Praise of that blessed Power that upheld them in every Age in their day many whereof are even of late taken away from the Evil to come and are at Rest in the Lord out of the Reach of all Envy and Persecution where the Wicked cannot trouble them any more And we must patiently bear our Parting with them and our Loss and Sorrow on that Account with respect to their unspeakable
a Meeting is continued in that Town to this Day and many are added to them and some that had been Ranters came to own the Truth and to live very soberly There was at that Time a Captain of Horse in the Town and he sent to me and would fain have had me to have stay'd longer in the Town But I was not to stay So he and his Man rode out of Town with me about seven Miles Edward Pyot also being with me This Captain was the fattest merriest cheerfullest Man and the most given to Laughter that ever I met with insomuch that I was several Times moved of the Lord to speak in the dreadful Power of the Lord to him and yet it was become so customary to him he would presently laugh at any thing that he saw But I still admonished him to come to Sobriety and the fear of the Lord and Sincerity We lay at an Inn that Night and the next Morning I was moved to speak to him again when he parted from us Next time I saw him he told me that when I spake to him at parting the Power of the Lord so struck him that before he got home he was serious enough and had left his laughing He afterwards was Convinced and became a serious and good Man and died in the Truth Parting from him we went to Honitone Honitone and at our Inn inquired What People there were in the Town that feared God and sent for them There came to us some of the Particular Baptists with whom we had a great deal of Reasoning I told them They held their Doctrine of Particular Election in Esau's Cain's and Ishmael's nature and not in Jacob the second Birth But they must be born again before they enter the Kingdom of God And that as the Promise of God was to the Seed not as many but as one which was Christ so the Election and Choice stands in Christ and they must be such as walk in his Light Grace Spirit and Truth And many more Words we had with them From thence we passed to Topsham Topsham and stay'd there on the First Day but the Inn-keeper and his People were rude The next Morning we gave forth some Queries to the Priests and Professors whereupon some Rude Professors came into our Inn and had we not gone when we did they had stopped us I wore a Girdle which through forgetfulness I left behind me at the Inn and afterwards sent to the Inn-keeper for 1655. Topsham but he would not let me have it again Afterwards when he was Tormented in his Mind about it he took it and burnt it lest he should be bewitched by it as he said Yet when he had burnt it he was more tormented than before Some notwithstanding the Rudeness of the Place were Convinced there and a Meeting was afterward settled in that Town which hath continued ever since After this we passed to Totnes which was a dark Town We lodged there one Night at an Inn Totnes and that Night Edward Pyot was Sick but the Lord's Power healed him King's Bridge so that the next Day we got to King's-bridge and at our Inn inquired for the sober People of the Town They directed us to one Nicholas Tripe and his Wife and we went down to their house When we were come there they sent for the Priest with whom we had some Discourse but he being Confounded quickly left us But Nicholas Tripe and his Wife were Convinced and since there is a good Meeting of Friends in that Country In the Evening we returned to our Inn and there being many People drinking in the House I was moved of the Lord to go amongst them and to direct them to the Light which Christ the heavenly Man had enlightened them withal by which Light they might see all their Evil Ways Words and Deeds and by the same Light they might also see Christ Jesus their Saviour The Inn-keeper stood uneasie seeing it hindred his Guests from drinking and as soon as the last Words were out of my Mouth he snatcht up the Candle and said Come here is a Light for you to go into your Chamber Next Morning when he was Cool I spake to â—im of it and told him What an Vncivil Thing it was for him so to do Then Warning him of the Day of the Lord we got ready and passed away Plimouth We came next Day to Plymouth and after we had refreshed our selves at our Inn we went to Robert Cary's House where we had a very precious Meeting There was at this Meeting one Elizabeth Trelawny daughter to one that was called a Baronet She being somewhat thick of hearing came close up to me and clapt her Ear very nigh me while I spake and she was Convinced After the Meeting was ended there came in some Jangling Baptists but the Lord's Power came over them and this Elizabeth Trelawny gave Testimony thereto A fine Meeting was settled there in the Lord's Power which hath continued ever since and many faithful Friends have been Convinced there Cornwal Menhenniot From thence we passed into Cornwal and came to an Inn in the parish of Menhenniot At Night we had a Meeting at Edward Hancock's House to which came one Thomas Mounce and a Priest and a great deal of People We made the Priest confess That he was a Minister made by the States and maintained by the States and he was Confounded and went his way but many of the People stayed I directed them to the Light of Christ by which they might see their Sins and see their Saviour Christ Jesus who was the way to God and their Mediator to make Peace betwixt God and them and was their Shepherd to feed them and their Prophet to teach them And I directed them to the Spirit of God in themselves by which they might know the Scriptures and be led into all Truth and by the Spirit might know God and in it have unity one with another Many were Convinced at that Time and came under Christ's Teaching and there are fine Gatherings in the Name of Jesus in those Parts at this Day We travelled from thence through the Country Penryn Helston and through Penryn and came to Helston but could not get to the knoweldge of any sober People through the Badness of the Inn-keepers At length we came to a Village where some Baptists and sober People lived with whom we had some Discourse and some of them were brought to confess That they stumbled at the Light of Christ They would have had us to have stay'd with them Market-Jew but we passed thence to Market-Jew and having taken up our Lodging at an Inn there we sent out over night to inquire for any People that feared the Lord. Next Morning the Mayor and Aldermen gathered together with the High-Sheriff of the County and they sent first the Constables to us to bid us come before them We asked them for their Warrant and
at our Meeting in the Orchard As I was going along into the Orchard the People told me That Paul Gwin the rude jangling Baptist was going to the Meeting But I bid them Never heed It was nothing to me who went to it When I was come into the Orchard I stood upon the Stone that Friends used to stand on when they spake and I was moved of the Lord to put off my Hat and to stand a pretty while and let the People look at me for some Thousands of People were there While I thus stood silent this Rude Baptist began to find Fault with my Hair but I said nothing to him Then he run on into Words and at last Ye wise men of of Bristol said he I strange at you that you will stand here and hear a Man speak and affirm that which he cannot make good Then the Lord opened my Mouth for as yet I had not spoken a Word And I asked the People Whether they ever heard me speak before or ever saw me before And I bid them ' Take notice what kind of Man this was amongst them that should so Impudently say That I spake and Affirmed that which I could not make good and yet neither he nor they ever heard me or saw me before Therefore that was a lying envious malicious Spirit that spake in him and it was of the Devil and not of God Therefore I charged him in the Dread and Power of the Lord to be silent And the Mighty Power of God came over him and all his Company And then a glorious peaceable Meeting we had and the Word of Life was divided amongst them and they were turned from the Darkness to the Light and to Jesus their Saviour And the Scriptures were largely opened to them and the Traditions and Rudiments and ways 1656. Bristol and Doctrines of Men were laid open before the People which they had been in and they were turned to the Light of Christ that with it they might see them and see him to lead them out of them I opened also to them the Types and Figures and Shadows of Christ in the time of the Law and shewed them That Christ was come and had ended the Types and Shadows and Tithes and Oaths and put down Swearing and had set up Yea and Nay instead of it and a free Ministry for he was now come to Teach People himself and his heavenly Day was springing from on high So for many hours did I declare the Word of Life amongst them in the Eternal Power of God that by him they might come up into the Beginning and be Reconciled to him And having turned them to the Spirit of God in themselves that would lead into all Truth I was moved to pray in the mighty Power of God and the Lord's Power came over all But when I had done this Fellow began to babble again and John Audland was moved to bid him Repent and fear God So his own People and Followers being ashamed of him he passed away and never came again to disturb the Meeting And the Meeting brake up quietly and the Lord's Power and Glory shined over all a blessed Day it was and the Lord had the Praise After a while this Paul Gwin went beyond the Seas and many Years after I met with him again at Barbado's of which in its Place From Bristol we returned to Edward Pyot's where we had a great Meeting and the Lord's Power was over all and Truth was declared and spread abroad and many were turned to Christ Jesus their Life their Prophet to teach them their Shepherd to feed them and their Bishop to oversee them After the Meeting was done I had some Reasoning with some Professors and the Lord's Truth and Power came over them Slattenford From Edward Pyot's we passed to Slattenford where we had a very large Meeting Edward Pyot and another Friend being still with me and a great turning of People there was to the Lord Jesus Christ their Teacher and People were glad that they were brought to know their Way and their free Teacher and their Saviour Christ Jesus Wiltshire On the First-day following we went to Nathaniel Crips his House who had been a Justice of Peace in Wiltshire where it was supposed there were between Two and Three Thousand People at a Meeting and all was quiet And the mighty Power of God was manifest and People were turned to the Grace and Truth in their Hearts that came by Jesus Christ which would Teach them to deny all Vngodliness and wordly Lusts and to live soberly and godly in this present world So that every Man and Woman might know the Grace of God which had appeared to all Men and which was saving and sufficient to bring their Salvation This was to be their Teacher the Grace of God which would teach them how to live what to do and what to deny and would season their Words and establish their Hearts And this was a free Teacher to every one of them so that they might come to be Heirs of this Grace and of Christ by whom it came who hath ended the Prophets and the Priests that took Tithes and the Jewish Temple And as for these Hireling-Priests that take Tithes now 1656. Wiltshire and their Temples which Priests were made aâ— Schools and Colledges of Man's setting up and not by Christ they with all their Inventions were to be denied For the Apostles denied the true Priesthood and Temple which God had commanded after Christ had put an End thereto So the Scriptures and the Truths therein contained were largely opened and the People turned to the Spirit of God in their Hearts that by it they might be led into all Truth and understand the Scriptures and know God and Christ and come to have Unity with them and one with another in the same Spirit And the People went away generally satisfied and were glad that they were turned to Christ Jesus their Teacher and Saviour The next day we went from thence to Marlborough Marleborough where we had a little Meeting And the Sessions being in that Town that day they were granting forth a Warrant to send for me But one Justice Stooks being at the Sessions stopt them telling them There was a Meeting at his House yesterday at which were several Thousands So the Warrant was stopt and our Meeting was quiet and several received Christ Jesus their Teacher and came into the New Covenant and abode in it From hence we went to Newberry where we had a large Newberry blessed Meeting and several were Convinced there Thence we passed on to Reading where we had a large Reading precious Meeting in the Lord's Power amongst the Plants of God and many of the World came in and were reached and added to the Meeting and all was quiet and the Lord's Power was over all Kingston upon Thames We went from Reading to Kingston upon Thames where a few came in to
if ye lose it and let another Spirit get over you ye will not so soon regain it again For I knew the Devil would bestir himself in his Instruments when Mens and Womens-Meetings came to be set up and all in the Power Light and Truth and Heirs of the Gospel to take their Possession of it in every County and City in it to walk and to watch one over another and in it to take Care of God's Glory and Honour and his precious Truth and to see that all did walk in the Truth and as becomes the Gospel and to see that nothing was lacking and so whatsoever was decent modest virtuous lovely comely righteous and of good Report to follow after and to admonish and exhort all that was not faithful and to rebuke all that did Evil I knew that this would give such a Check to all loose Speakers Talkers and Walkers I did not expect but that there would be an Opposition against such Meetings But never heed Truth will come over them all and is over them all and Faith must have the Victory for the Gospel and its Order is Everlasting and the Seed Christ is the Beginning and the Ending and will out-last all the Amen in whom ye have Peace I say all that do oppose the Mens and Womens-Meetings or that Marriages should be laid before them or of Recording of Condemnations of Sin and Evil or Admonishing or Exhorting such as walk not in the Truth they are of a loose Spirit and their Spirits tend to Looseness and let them take them that will for Truth will not have them nor will have none of their Sacrifice For nothing is accepted of God but what is done in Truth and in his Spirit which is peaceable And the Authority of our Mens and Womens-Meetings is the Power of God and all the Heirs of the Gospel are Heirs of that Authority and Dignity and this is of God and shall Answer the Witness of God in all And the greatest Opposers of this Practice and Work will be and are such as have been Convinced of God's Truth but have not lived in it and such were the greatest Troublers of the Church in Moses's Day and in the Days of the Apostles But mark their End and read what became of them all And therefore all keep your Habitation in Truth and therein ye may see what became of all the Opposers of it for Twenty Years past They are all gone and the Truth lives and reigns and the Seed is over all and all is One in it in Rest Peace and Life Everlasting and therein they sit down together in the Heavenly Places in Christ Jesus the Amen Swarthmore the 5th of the 8th Month 1676. G. F. In this Year while I was at Swarthmore died William Lampit the old Priest of Vlverstone which is the Parish that Swarthmore is in He was an Old Deceiver and Perverter of the Right Way of the Lord and a Persecutor of the People of God and much Contest I had with him when I first came into those parts He had been an old false Prophet for in the Year 1652. he Prophesied and said he would Wage his Life upon it That the Quakers would all vanish and come to nought within half a year But he came to nought himself For he continued in his Lying and false Accusing of God's People till a little before he died and then he cried for a little Rest And to one of his Hearers that came to visit him before he died he said I have been a Preacher a long time 1677. Swarthmore and thought I had lived well but I did not think it had been so hard a Thing to die Now after I had finished those Services which lay upon me then to do feeling my Spirit drawn again towards the South though I was yet but weakly and not able to Travel far in a Day I left Swarthmore on the Twenty Sixth Day of the First Month 1677. Westmorland Powbank Camsgill and went to Thomas Pearson's at Powbank in Westmorland where I had a Meeting the next Day and went from thence to Thomas Cam's at Cam's-Gill whither Robert Widders with his Wife and several other Friends came to see me before I left the Country and to be at the Meeting there the next Day which was very large and in which I was largely drawn forth in Testimony to the Truth After the Meeting I had much Discourse with some of that Meeting who at that time were not in Vnity with Friends of the Quarterly Meeting they belonged to but afterwards several of them that were somewhat Tender came to see their Error and gave forth Condemnations against themselves Next day John Blaykling came to Tho. Cam's Yorkshire Sedberg Drawell to bring me to his House at Drawell in Sedberg in Yorkshire whither I went with him visiting Friends in the way I staid at Drawel two or three Nights having Meetings there and thereabouts For while I was there the Men and Womens-Meetings were held there which were very large and precious And on the First Day following I had a Meeting at Brigflats not far off Brigflats where were most part of the Friends from the several Meetings round about and a great Concourse of other People also so that it was thought there were Five or Six Hundred People and a very good Meeting it was wherein Truth was largely declared and preciously opened to the comforting and refreshing the Faithful and the drawing near them that were afar off After this I had another Meeting at John Blaykling's Drawell where were many Friends that were going to the Quarterly Meeting at Kendal With them my Wife went back who with her Daughter Rachel had accompanied me thus far and I having Leonard Fell with me passed on through Sedberg and Garsdale and into Wensydale Sedberg Garsdale Wensydale Counterside visiting Friends as we went And at Night I reached to Richard Robinson's at Counterside where several Friends came to me that Evening and some of them went with me next Day over the Hills to the Widow Tenant's at Scarhouse in Langstroth-dale Langstrothdale Scarhouse whither we had much ado to get the Snow lay so deep though it was a Week in the Second Month. Here on the next Day which was the First Day of the Week we had a large Meeting Friends coming to it from several parts round about and the Lord gave me a very seasonable Testimony to bear amongst them which I did for several Hours to their great Satisfaction and Comfort Thence passing on through Bishopsdale Bishopsdale Mildum Barton Bedal Northallerton Burrowby Mildum Barton and so through the Country by Bedal and North-allerton I came to George Robinson's at Burrowby where also Friends coming out of several parts we had a very large and good Meeting and very Peaceable But not long after an envious Justice who lived not far off hearing that I had a great Meeting there troubled Friends about it
that belong to the King of Poland and where they do live and how ye may send Books or Epistles to them and keep a Correspondence with them and also the Name of the Bishop or Cardinal that I heard was with you And if ye can get any of them that belong to the King that are his Attendants to come and visit the Prisoners that they may Inform the King of their Cruel Sufferings Also I desire you to get as many Books of mine as you can dispose of that set forth your Sufferings and the Cruelty of the Magistrates of Dantzick and give them to the King and his Council and Attendants and his Bishops And some of the Women may speak to the Queen if they can that she may signifie to the King their Cruel Sufferings and especially some of the Sufferers Wives if there be any of a Capacity to do it You may likewise give his Attendants any other Friends Books and what Books ye lack send for them to Amsterdam where ye may be furnished with them to Answer every tender Desirer and Inquiring mind after the Lord. So let all your Minds be bended with the Lord's Power to spread his Truth abroad and where ye hear of any or have any Correspondence in outward Trading with any sober People far or near send them Books that their Understandings may be opened after the Lord. So the Lord God Almighty preserve you and to his Protection in his Eternal Power do I Commend you all in Bonds or at Liberty with my Love to you in the Everlasting Seed of God Christ Jesus who bruises the Head of the Serpent that make you to suffer But Christ is over him and will be when he is gone who is First and Last over all from Everlasting to Everlasting in whom ye have both Life Knowledge Wisdom and Salvation and through him live to the Praise and Glory of God who is blessed for evermore Amen Amsterdam the 18th of the 7th Month 1677. English stile G. F. The next day being the Fourth day of the Week and 19th of the Month I had a large Meeting at Amsterdam many Professors being at it and Truth was largely opened to them in the demonstration of the heavenly Power The day following I went by Boat from Amsterdam Waterland Landsmeer many Friends going with me to Landsmeer in Waterland a Town in which they say there are above an hundred Bridges where I had a very good Meeting to which several Professors came And after the Meeting I returned with Friends to Amsterdam again Amsterdam where I stay'd with Friends till the First-day following and went to their Meeting which was large for many Professors of several sorts were at it and heard the Truth declared with great Attention I tarried amongst Friends there next day and in the night following had a great Exercise upon my Spirit concerning that loose Spirit that was run out into Strife and Contention among Friends and had drawn some after it into Division and Separation the way work and end whereof the Lord opened to me wherefore feeling the Motion of Life upon me I got up in the Morning and wrote the following Epistle to Friends My Dear Friends KEep your First Love in the Truth and Power and Seed of Life in Christ Jesus for this last night as I was lying in my Bed at Amsterdam I had a great Travel in the holy Seed of Life and Peace and my Spirit was troubled with that Spirit of Strife and Separation I saw it was a Destroying Spirit and did seek not only to get over the Seed but to destroy it and to Eat out the minds of People from it by Strife and Contention and under pretence of standing for the Antient Truth its work is to root it out and destroy the Appearance of it to set up it self And it is a Creeping Spirit seeking whom it can get into and what it cannot do it self it stirreth up others to do and setteth up their Spirits on float with the dark Wisdom to destroy the Simple And this Spirit is managed by the Prince of the Air and leadeth some to do such things which they would have been ashamed to have done as men which doth Unman them and they would not have suffered them if they had kept to the tender Principle of God which leadeth to Peace And it is a despising backbiting and a secret-whispering Spirit and a Sower of Dissension and a taker of advantage of all prejudiced Spirits that are disobedient to their first Principle and Love of Truth and begetteth into hatred so it begetteth all into that Spirit whose work is to destroy both the Good within and the good Order without Nay it would if it could destroy the Government of Christ and the Order of the Gospel to set up its own Will and Spirit which is not of God and under pretence of crying down Man are setting up Man and are gathering into a Separation of disobedient Men who float above their Conditions And this Spirit which neither liveth in the Truth nor its Order but opposeth them that do I cannot express it as I do see it and its work whose end will be accordingly And therefore Friends I am to warn you all that have not lost your Simplicity not to touch it nor to have any Vnity with it lest you be defiled and lose your Conditions of your Eternal Estate and your Everlasting Portion and that your Inward man which is after God may be preserved and Christ may reign in all your hearts And they that are joined with them it will be very hard for them ever to come down to Truth in themselves and to see their own Conditions and to have that Spirit of Strife and Contention which eateth as a Canker to be brought down in them which is carnal and slayeth the tender Babe which was once begotten in themselves and the Philistine is got up in them that stoppeth the Wells and Springs and maketh a great Busle and are crying up Men and pleading for them instead of Christ And so Friends strive not with them but let them take them that cry them up and keep you to the Lord Jesus Christ with his Light that cometh from him that he may be your Lord and ye in him may be all in Vnity in one Light Life Power and Dominion in Christ your Head And so the God of Peace and Power preserve you all in Christ Jesus your Saviour and out of and from that mischievous Spirit which is idle and slothful as to the Work of the Power and Spirit and Light of God and Christ and its very Act is that which worketh strife and disturbance against the Peace of the Church of Christ and thinks in its wilfulness and stubbornness and unruliness to set up it self and in that to have peace but Destruction will be the end of it and it is sealed for the Fire and Eternal Judgment And therefore let Christ the Seed be the Head and
right understanding thereof and be gathered thereunto Several Epistles also to Friends I writ in this time on divers Occasions and Subjects whereof one was to the Friends of the Yearly Meeting which was held in London this year 1679. a Copy of which here follows My Dear Friends and Brethren WHO are Assembled together in the Name and Power of the Lord Jesus Christ Grace Mercy and Peace from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ fill all your hearts and establish you in his Grace Mercy and Peace upon Christ the holy living Rock and Foundation who is the First and Last and over all the Foundations and Rocks in the whole world a Rock and Foundation of Life for all the Living to build upon which stands sure in his heavenly divine Light which is the Life in him by whom all things were made who is the precious Stone laid in Sion and not in the World which all the Wise Master-Builders rejected who pretended to build People up to Heaven with the Words of the Prophets and the Law from Mount Sinai but out of the Life of both and therefore such Builders could not receive the Law of Life from Christ the precious Stone laid in Sion nor the Word from heavenly Jerusalem But you My Dear Friends that have received this Law from heavenly Sion and the Word from heavenly Jerusalem in the New Covenant where the Life and Substance is enjoyed you do see the end and abolishing of the Jews Law and Ceremonies from Mount Sinai And therefore my desire is that you all may keep in the Law of Life and Love 1679. Swarthmore which ye have in Christ Jesus by which Love the Body is edified and knit and united together to Christ Jesus the Head Which Love doth bear all things and fulfils the Law and will preserve all in Humility and in it to be of one mind heart and soul so that all may come to drink into that One Spirit that doth Baptize them and Circumcise them Plunging down and Cutting off the Body of the Sins of the Flesh that is gotten up in Man and Woman by their transgressing of God's Commands So that in this holy pure Spirit all may serve and worship the pure God in Spirit and in Truth which is over all the Worships that are out of God's Spirit and his Truth And in this Spirit ye will all have a Spiritual Unity and Fellowship over all the Fellowships of the Unclean Spirits which be out of Truth in the World And so by this holy Spirit all your hearts minds and souls may be knit together to Christ from whence it comes and by the Grace and Truth which is come by Jesus Christ which all should be under the Teachings of in the New Covenant and not under the Law as the outward Jews were in the Old Covenant So that by this Grace and Truth in the New Covenant all may be made God's free Men and Women to serve God in the new Life and in the new and living Way shewing forth the Fruits of the new heart and new spirit in the New Covenant over death and darkness and before it was Glory be unto the Lord for ever And now Friends in this Grace and Truth is your heavenly gracious and true Liberty to every Spiritual Mind that makes you free from him that is out of Truth where your bondage was Also your Liberty in the holy divine and precious Faith which gives you Victory over that that hath separated you from God and Christ and through which Faith ye have Access to God again through Jesus Christ So in this divine and holy Faith ye have divine holy and precious Liberty yea and Victory over him that separated you from God and this Faith is held in a pure Conscience So the Liberty in the Spirit of God is in that which baptizes and plunges down Sin and Iniquity and puts off the Body of Death and Sins of the Flesh that is gotten up by transgressing of God's Command as I said before And also the Liberty of the Gospel which is sent from Heaven by the Holy Ghost which is the Power of God which was and is again to be preached to all Nations In this Gospel the Power of God which is over the Power of Satan is the true Liberty and the Gospel-Fellowship and Order So that the Evil Spirit or Conscience or false dead Faith and that which is ungracious and out of Truth and not in the Spirit of God nor in his Gospel nor in the divine Faith its Liberty is in the Darkness For all the true Liberty is in the Gospel and in the Truth that makes free and in the Faith and in the Grace and in Christ Jesus who destroys the Devil and his Works that hath brought all Mankind into Bondage So in this heavenly peaceable Spirit and Truth and Faith which works by Love and in the Gospel of Peace and in Christ Jesus is all the Saints Peace and pure true and holy Liberty in which they have Salt and Sense and Feeling Discerning and Savour yea and Unity and Fellowship one with another yea and with the Son and the Father that heavenly eternal Fellowship So all being subject to the Grace and Truth and to the Faith and Gospel the Power of God and to his good Spirit in this they distinguish all true pure and holy Liberty from that which is false And this will bring all to sit low for Patience runs the Race and the Lamb must have the Victory and not the rough unruly and vain Talkers unbaptized uncircumcised and unsanctified For such travel not in the way of Regeneration but in the way of unregeneration Neither go they down into the Death with Christ by Baptism and therefore such are not like to Reign with him in his Resurrection who are not buried with him in Baptism Therefore all must go downward into the Death of Christ and be crucified with him if they will Arise and follow him in the Regeneration before they come to Reign with him And Friends Many may have precious Openings but I desire all may be comprehended in that thing which doth open to them And that they may all keep in the daily Cross then they keep in the Power that doth kill and crucifie that which would lead them amongst the Beasts and Goats to leaven them into their rough unruly spirit But that through the Cross the Power of God That may be crucified and they in the Power might follow the Lamb. For the Power of God keeps all in Order and in Subjection and in Humility in that which is lovely and vertuous decent comely temperate and moderate that their Moderation comes to appear to all men So my desire is that all your Lights may shine as from a City set upon a Hill that cannot be hid And that ye may be the Salt of the Earth to salt and season it and make it savoury to God and you all seasoned with it Then
all your Sacrifices will be a sweet savour to the Lord and ye will be as the Lilies and Roses and Garden of God which gives a sweet smell unto him Whose Garden is preserved by his Power that is the Hedge that hedges out all the unruly and unsavoury and the Destroyers and Hurters of the Vines Buds and Plants and God's tender Blade which springs up from his Seed of Life who waters it with his heavenly Water and Word of Life every moment that they may grow and be fruitful that so he may have a pleasant and fruitful Garden And so here all are kept fresh and green being watered every moment with the everlasting holy Water of Life from the Lord the Fountain So my dear Friends my desire is that this heavenly Seed that bruises down the Head of the Serpent both within and without may be all your Crowns and Lifes and ye in him one another's Crown and Joy to the praise of the Lord God over all blessed for evermore This holy Seed will out-last and wear out all that which the evil Seed since the Fall of Man hath brought forth and set up And as every one hath received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk in him in the Humility which he teaches and shun the occasions of Strife vain Janglings and Disputings with Men of Corrupt Minds who are destitute of the Truth for the Truth is peaceable and the Gospel is a peaceable Habitation in the Power of God which was before the Devil was and his Wisdom is peaceable and gentle c. And his Kingdom stands in Peace Oh! his Glory shines over all his Works And in Christ Jesus ye will have Peace who is not of the World yea a Peace that the World cannot take away for the Peace which ye have from him was before the World was and will be when it is gone So they are not like to take his Peace away from his People This keeps all in that which is weighty and substantial over all Chaff and will be when it is gone Glory to the Lord God over all for ever and ever Amen! And now My dear Friends the Lord doth require more of you than he doth of other People because he hath committed more to you He requires Fruits of his Spirit and of the Light and of the Gospel and of the Grace and of the Truth for herein is he glorified as Christ said in your bringing forth much Fruit Fruits of Righteousness â—liness Godliness Vertue Truth and Purity so that ye may answer that which is of God in all People And be ye valiant for his everlasting glorious Gospel in God's holy Spirit and Truth keeping in the Vnity and in the holy Spirit Light and Life which is over Death and Darkness and was before Death and Darkness was In this Spirit ye have the Bond of Peace which cannot be broken except ye go from the Spirit and then ye loose this Unity and Bond of Peace which ye have from the Prince of Peace The World also does expect more from Friends than from other People because you profess more Therefore you should be more Just than Others in your Words and Dealings and more Righteous Holy and Pure in your Lives and Conversations so that your Lives and Conversations may preach For the Worlds Tongues and Mouths have preached long enough but their Lives and Conversations have denied what their Tongues have professed and declared And Dear Friends strive to excel one another in Vertue and that ye may grow in Love that excellent Way which unites all to Christ and God And that all may stand up for God's Glory and mind that which concerns the Lord's Honour and Glory that in no wise his Power may be abused nor his Name evil spoken of by any evil Talkers or Walkers but that in all things God may be honoured and ye may glorifie him in your Bodies Souls and Spirits the little time ye have to live So my Love to you all in the holy Seed of Life that reigns over all and is the First and Last in whom ye all have Life and Salvation and your Election and Peace with God through Jesus Christ who destroys him that hath been betwixt you and God so that nothing may be betwixt you and the Lord but Christ Jesus Amen My Life and Love is to you all and amongst you all And the Lord God Almighty by his mighty Power by which he hath preserved all his People unto this day preserve and keep you all in his power and peaceable holy Truth in Unity and Fellowship one with another and with the Son and the Father Amen The 24th of the 3d Month 1679. G. F. Divers other Epistles and Papers I writ unto Friends during my stay in the North One whereof was in a few Lines To Encourage Friends to be bold and valiant for the Truth which the Lord had called them to bear witness to and it was thus worded Dear Friends ALL be Valiant for the Lord's Truth upon the Earth which the Serpent Satan and the Devil is out of and in the Truth keep him out in which you all have Peace and Life and Vnity with God and his Son and one with another And let the Love of God fill all your hearts that in it ye may build up one another and edifie one another in the Light Life and holy Spirit and Power of God the glorious comfortable Gospel of Christ the heavenly Man who is your Lord and Saviour who will fill all your Bottles and Vessels with his heavenly Wine and Water of Life and cloath you with his heavenly Cloathing his fine Linnen that never waxeth old And will arm you with his heavenly Weapons and Armour that ye may stand faithful Witnesses for God and his Son who is come and hath given you an understanding to know him and ye are in him And so walk in him in whom ye all have Life and Salvation and Peace with God So my Love to you all in the Lord Jesus Christ in whom I have laboured and God Almighty in his eternal Power and Wisdom preserve you all to his Glory Amen Swarthmore the 29th of the 10th Month 1679. G. F. The next day having a sense upon me how some that had received the Truth and had Openings thereof for want of keeping low had run out there-from I was moved to give forth the following Epistle as a Warning and Exhortation to all to dwell in Humility My Dear Friends VVHom the Lord in his tender Mercies hath visited with the Day-spring from on high and hath opened you to confess and bow to his Name keep low in your minds and learn of Christ who teacheth you Humility and to keep in it so that in no wise ye that be younger be exalted or puffed up or conceited through your Openings and by that means lose your Conditions by being carried up into Presumption and then fall into Despair and so abuse the Power of God For it was the Apostles care
World Who is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and all Power in Heaven and in Earth is given to him who will reward every Man according to his Words and Works ALL you bearing the Name of Christian Magistrates my desire is that you may all be found in Christ and not only have the Name but be made Partakers of his Divine Nature that ye may be not only Sayers of the Word but Doers of the Word not only Professors of Christ and Talkers of Christ but let Christ rule in your hearts by Faith and be Walkers in Christ For as Christ's great Apostle saith As every one hath received the Lord Jesus Christ so let him walk in him 1680. Kingston for in him there is peace And if all that do Profess Christ did Walk in Christ they would all Walk in Peace and be in Unity For the Apostle exhorted the Christians in his day to keep the Vnity of the Spirit which is the Bond of Peace yea of Christ the King of Kings Peace And all Christians who have the Scriptures and are not in this Spirit of Christ they are not in Unity one with another and so have broken this Bond of Peace which should knit and unite them together And likewise all that do profess the Truth of Christ should live in it for it is peaceable and the Gospel is the Gospel of Peace which if all Christians that do profess it lived in they would be at peace one with another and in the glorious Fellowship of the Gospel And also if all Christians kept in the Fear of God which is the beginning of the pure heavenly peaceable and gentle Wisdom which is easie to be entreated above that Wisdom which is earthly sensual devillish and destroying then there would be no difference and destroying about Matters of Religion I do declare the mighty Day of the Lord is Come and Coming and the Lord God is come to Teach his People himself by his Son Hebr. 1. whose Son Christ Jesus bruises the Serpent's Head that false Teacher that led Adam and Eve from God their Teacher So God will Teach his People by his Son who was the Teacher of Adam and Eve in Paradise before they fell and disobeyed the Lord and forsook him and followed the Serpent whose Head Christ does bruise and renews Man and Woman up again into the Image of God which Adam and Eve was in before they fell Glory and Honour be to God through Jesus Christ who hath called us by his Son into his glorious Image to serve and worship him in his Spirit and Truth which holy Spirit and Truth the Devil is out of and cannot come into it And now I desire all Christian Magistrates to take heed of Persecuting any though they differ from you in Matters of Faith Worship and Religion For Christ saith Let the Tares and the Wheat grow together till the Harvest and he forbad such as would be plucking up Tares The Reason was Lest they should pluck up the Wheat also for that Christ said should be his Angels work to separate the Tares from the Wheat Moreover Christ said They should go into everlasting Punishment that did not Visit him in Prison in his Members Then what will become of them that Cast him into Prison where he is made manifest in his Members Oh lay these things to heart A Day of Judgment will come Vengeance and Recompence upon every one according to their Works And Christ said to his Disciples who would have had Fire to come down from Heaven to consume them that would not receive him He turned him about and rebuked them and told them They did not know what spirit they were of for he came not to destroy mens Lives but to save them And therefore let all the Magistrates and the Priests in that which is called Christendom consider who have destroyed Mens and Womens Lives since the Apostles days because they could not Receive their Religions Ways and Worships or Conform to them which they have made and set up Have they known what Spirit they have been of Are they not all reproved by and come under the Judgment of Christ Therefore let all Persecution be laid away concerning Religion and let Love bear the sway to overcome Evil and Enemies and let Patience over-sway Passion in all such doings that all may retain the heavenly Reason and the pure Understanding that your Moderation in true Christianity may be known to all Men. For have you not the Turks Jews Tartars Indians and Atheists Eyes upon you and upon Christendom And therefore be in Unity and let not the Name of God and Christ be blasphemed amongst them by means of any that bear the Name of Christians So that God may be glorified by all and in all through Jesus Christ who is over all who calls all to Peace who is blessed for ever And now I would have you to be as Noble as the Bereans and search the Scriptures of Christ and the Apostles where-ever he or they did give any Command to Imprison Banish Persecute or put to Death any that would not receive or conform to them or that were contrary-minded to them in Religion or differ'd from them in Matters of Worship Again I desire all Christian Magistrates to search both Scriptures and Chronicles and see what was the End of all Persecutors and what Judgments came upon them What came to Cain who was the first Persecutor for Matters of Faith and Sacrifice Did not he become a Runnagade a Vagabond and a Fugitive in the Earth What became of the Old World that grieved God and Noah a Preacher of Righteousness What became of Sodom that vex'd Just Lot What became of Pharaoh that persecuted God's People in Egypt though the more he persecuted them the more they grew What became of Ahab and Jezabel that persecuted the Lord's Prophets And what became of Haman that would have destroyed the Jews What became of the Jews and Jerusalem that persecuted Christ and the Apostles What was the End of all these Are they not become Vagabonds in the Earth and driven away from their native Country Therefore I beseech you in the Love and Fear of God be so Noble as to search both Scripture and History and let not your divine understanding be clouded What will become of the Beast and Whore spoken of in the Revelations with their false Prophets that have drunk the blood of the Saints Martyrs and Prophets of Jesus must they not all go with the Devil who is a Murderer Destroyer an Enemy and Adversary of Mankind into the Lake of Fire that burns with Brimstone And ye may be sure that Spirit that stirs you up to Persecution let it be in whomsoever it will is not of Christ and of his Lamb-like Nature who takes away the Sins of the World not the Lives of Men. Paul was a Persecutor and a Haler to Prison before he was converted to Christianity but never after And therefore are not all
in Saul's nature let them be of what Name or Profession soever they be that are Persecutors and unconverted into Paul's Life of Christianity He said the Life that he did live after he was Converted was by the Faith in the Son of God And that He lived yet not He but Christ lived in him who came to save mens Lives and not to destroy them Which Life should be the Life of all Christians now which Paul in his converted state lived in And the Apostle saith The Law is good if a man use it lawfully knowing this that the Law is not made for a righteous man but for the Lawless and for the Ungodly and Sinners and for Unholy and Prophane and for Murtherers of Fathers and Mothers and for Manslayers for Whoremongers and for them that defile themselves with Mankind for Menstealers Liars and Perjured Persons 1 Tim. 1. So the Law in its place is good against such Again the Apostle says The Law was added because of Transgression Gal. 3.19 Now here all Magistrates may see what the Law in its place is good against and what it was made for and against and what Evils the Apostle says it takes hold upon He does not say the Law should be laid upon Men that differed from them in their Religion and Judgment nor upon the Righteous men And so you may see in what condition the Law is good and what it was made against not against Righteous men against whom they have nothing in their Lives and Conversations only because they differ from them in Matters of Religion and let Manslayers Whoremongers Perjured Persons Vngodly Prophane Persons Liars c. go unpunished Such do not use nor execute the Law lawfully as the Apostle says The Law is good if a man use it lawfully Therefore it ought to be used lawfully which Law the Apostle says is for the punishment of the Evil-Doers and a praise for them that do well as may be seen Rom. 13. And so as the Apostle said We do not break the Law nor make it void but we establish the Law Rom. 3.31 Kingston upon Thames the 4th of the first Month 1680 1. This is from him who desires the Eternal Good and Salvation of you all in Christ Jesus Amen G. F. After I had finished these Services there I returned to London where I stay'd about a Month London labouring amongst Friends in the Work of the Lord both in publick Meetings for Worship and in the Meetings relating to the outward Affairs of the Church Waltham-Abbey Flamsteadend Edmunton Enfield Winchmore-hill Then feeling my Spirit drawn to visit Friends about Enfield-side I went down to Waltham-Abbey where I had a very precious Meeting and another at Flamstead-Heath not far from thence And having spent some time amongst Friends there and thereabouts and had divers good Meetings at Edmunton Enfield Winchmore Hill 1681. London Yearly Meeting and other places there aways I came back to London a little before the Yearly Meeting which was in the Third Month 1681 it was a very precious Meeting in which the Glorious Presence and Power of the Lord was eminently felt and enjoyed Some time after the Yearly Meeting was over it came upon me to write the following Epistle which I directed To the Quarterly Mens and Womens Meetings that are gathered in the Name and Power of Jesus CHrist the second Adam who is both Head and Husband of his Church and Redeemer and Purchaser and Saviour and Sanctifier and Reconciler of his Sons and Daughters his Church to God I say his Presence to wit Christ's feel among you to exercise his Prophetical Office in opening of you with his Light Grace Truth Power and Spirit and to exercise his Office as he is a Bishop to Oversee you with his Light Grace Power and Spirit that ye do not go astray from God And as Christ is a Shepherd feel see and hear him exercising that Office who has laid down his Life for his Sheep and is feeding them in his living Pastures of Life and makes them to drink of his living Eternal Springs And let him rule and govern in your Hearts as he is King that his heavenly and spiritual Government all may live under as true Subjects of his righteous peaceable Kingdom which stands in Righteousness and Power and Joy in the Holy Ghost over Satan and his Power and the unclean unholy Ghost and all unrighteousness So all ye Subjects to Christ's Kingdom of Peace if ye want Wisdom or Knowledge or Life or Salvation Christ is the Treasure feel him the Treasure among you And every one among you as ye have received Christ walk in him in whom ye have all Peace who bruises the Head of the Serpent that is the Author of all Strife Distraction and Confusion yea you have Peace with God and one with another though the Trouble be from the World and the World's Spirit And therefore My dear Friends Brethren and Sisters Love one another with the Love that is of God shed in your hearts that ye may bear the Maâ—ks of Christ's Disciples and it may appear that Christ is in you and ye in him so that God Almighty may be glorified among you And whatever ye do let it be done in the Name of Jesus to the praise of God the Father keeping in Vnity in the Holy Spirit of God which was before the unholy Spirit was Which holy Spirit is your Bond of Peace yea the holy King of Kings and Lord of Lords his peace And in this holy pure Spirit is your eternal Vnity and Fellowship in which Spirit of Truth ye do serve and worship the God of Truth who is God over all blessed for ever Amen So the Lord guide you all with his Word of Patience Word of Life Power and Wisdom in all your Actions Lives Conversations and Meetings to God's glory 1681. London My Love to you all in the Lord Jesus Christ by whom all things were made and who is over all the First and the Last London the 9th of the 4th Month 1681. G. F. About this time I had occasion to go to several of the Judges Chambers upon a Suit about Tithes For both I and my Wife and several other Friends were sued in Cartmel-Wapentake-Court in Lancashire for small Tithes and we had demurred to the Jurisdiction of that Court. Whereupon the Plaintiff prosecuted us into the Exchequer-Court at Westminster where they run us up to a Writ of Rebellion for not Answering the Bill upon Oath and got an Order of Court to the Sergeant to take me and my Wife into Custody This was a little before the Yearly Meeting at which time it was thought they would have taken me up and according to outward appearance it was likely indeed that he would and very easie for him to have done it I lodging at the same places where I used to lodge and being very publick in Meetings But the Lord's Power was over them and restrained them so
Children of the Light Therefore ye that are the Believers in the Light and are become the Children of the Light walk in Christ your Way Life and Salvation Kingston the 5th Month 1683. G. F. Before I left Kingston something further opened in me which I was moved to write and send forth amongst Friends and it was as followeth Dear Friends MY Love is to you all in the holy Seed that reigns over all And my desire is that every one both Male and Female may feel the Seed Christ in you which is Heir of the Promise of Life Eternal so that ye may all grow up in Christ Jesus your Head and be built upon him the Rock and Foundation that God hath laid which stands sure over all Rocks and Foundations in the World That ye may eat and drink of this Spiritual Rock the Spiritual Water and Food so that ye may truly and inwardly say that your Rock and Foundation and Bread of Life and Water of Life is from Heaven and your Bread and Water is sure and that ye know his voice that feeds you and that leads you into the Pastures of Life which are always fresh and green In this your Affections are set on things that are above and seeking that which comes down from above above that which is from below where Christ sits at the right Hand of God making Intercession for you and is your Mediator making Peace betwixt God and you and is your heavenly Bishop to oversee you that ye keep in his Light Life and Power that ye do not go astray from his heavenly Fold and Pasture but he your Shepherd may feed you in it Who is your Prophet to open to you the fulfilling of the Promises and Prophecies himself being the Substance That ye may live in him and he in you yea and reign in your hearts and there to exercise his Offices his Prophetical and Priestly and Kingly Office who is heavenly and spiritual That ye may know the Three that bear Witness in the Earth viz. The Spirit the Water and the Blood which is the Life of Christ which cleanseth from all sin and the Water that washes you and refreshes you and the Spirit that baptizes you and circumcises you and leads you into all Truth And that ye may come all to drink into one Spirit and keep the Unity of the Spirit which is the Bond of the heavenly Peace So being led by the Spirit of God ye are his Sons and Daughters and by his Spirit will come to know the Three that bear Witness in Heaven viz. the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost These are the Three Witnesses that are in Heaven that bear record of all things for he is God in the Heaven and God in the Earth And therefore I desire that ye may all feel his Love shed in your hearts and in it live in Love above the love of the World which is Enmity and in that you will keep in the excellent Way For Love edifies the Body of Christ and builds his Church up and keeps out of the Enmity for it is above it and brings and keeps all in true Humanity and in the true Divinity and to be courteous and kind and tender one towards another And to shew forth the nature of Christ and true Christianity in all your Lives and Conversations so that the Blessings of the Lord may rest upon you as ye all live in the Seed of the Gospel the Seed of the Kingdom of God in which all Nations are blessed And in that ye will all have a Care of God's glory And there is the Hill or Mountain where the Light shines to the answering the Witness of God in all and the Salt that is a good Savour to the witness of God in the hearts of all And that Savour and Salt being kept in it doth not come under the feet of men So my Love to you all in Christ Jesus whom God hath given to be a Sanctuary for all his People who is from above and not of this World in whom you all have Life Peace and Salvation And in him God Almighty keep and preserve you all to his Glory Amen And as you all live in the peaceable Truth of God it keeps you under and within his protection But they that make a Profession of the Scriptures of Truth and yet live out of the Truth in the Spirit of Strife Vnquietness and Discontent in a contriving plotting ravenous destroying Spirit which is of the Devil and not of God that Spirit is judged out of the Truth and to be of him in whom there is no Truth whose Portion is in the Lake and in the Fire that burns Kingston the 27th of the 5th Month 1683. G. F. Having visited Friends at and about Kingston London I returned to London for it being a Suffering time with Friends there I had not freedom to be long from the City Being come back I went to the Meeting at the Peel Peel-Meet which but a little before the Justices and Constable had broken up and had carried themselves very roughly But that day the Meeting was in the House and quiet and a glorious Meeting it was blessed be the Lord. On the First-day following I went to the Meeting at Gracious-street When I came there Grac-Meet I found three Constables in the Meeting-house who kept Friends out so that we met in the Court. After I had been some time in the Meeting I stood up and spake to the People and continued speaking a pretty while Then one of the Constables came and took hold of my hand and said I must come down I desired him to be patient and went on speaking to the People but after a little time he pluckt me down and had me into the Meeting-house I asked them if they were not Weary of this Work and one of them said Indeed they were They let me go into the Widow Foster's house which joined to the Meeting-house where I stay'd being hot When the Meeting was ended for one prayed after I was taken away the Constables asked some Friends Which of them would pass their words that I should Appear if they should be questioned about me But the Friends telling them They need not require that for I was a man well known in the City to be one that would neither fly nor shrink They came not to me but went their ways 1683. London Sav. Meet and left me at Liberty and I heard no further of it The same Week I was at the Meeting at the Savoy which used to be kept out and disturbed but that day it was within doors and peaceable and a precious Meeting it was The First-day after Westm Meet it was upon me to go to the Meeting at Westminster where used to be great disturbances But there also the Meeting was within doors that day and it was very large The Lord's Power was over all there and kept all quiet and still for though there
amongst other Services that I found there one was to assist Friends in drawing up Testimony to Clear our Friends from being concerned in the late Rebellion in the West and from all Plots against the Government Which accordingly we did and delivered them to the Chief-Justice who was then to go down into the West with Commission to Try Prisoners I tarried some time in London visiting Meetings and labouring among Friends in the Service of Truth But finding my Health much impaired for want of fresh Air I went a little way out of Town to Charles Bathurst's Country-house at Epping-Forrest Epping-Forrest where I stay'd a few days And while I was there it came upon me to write the following Epistle to Friends Dear Friends WHO are called chosen and faithful in this Day of Trial 1685. Epping-Forest and Temptations and Sufferings whom the Lord by his right Hand hath upholden in all your Sufferings and some to Death for the Lord and his Truths sake Christ saith Be of good cheer I have overcome the World In me ye have peace but in the World ye have trouble The Children of the Seed which be Heirs of the Kingdom know this is true And though ye have Trials by false Brethren Judasses and Sons of Perdition that are got into the Temple of God and exalted above all that is called God whom the Lord will destroy with the breath of his Mouth and the brightness of his Coming And though ye be Tried by Powers or Principalities yet there is nothing able to separate you from the Love of God which ye have in Christ Jesus In that Love dwell which bears all things and fulfils the Law in which edifie one another and be courteous and kind and humble for to such God giveth his Grace plentifully and such he teacheth And pray in the Holy Ghost which proceeds from the Father and the Son and in it keep your holy Communion and Unity in the Spirit the Bond of Peace which is the King of Kings heavenly Peace In that you are all bound to good behaviour and keeping Peace among your selves and seeking the Peace of all men and shewing forth the heavenly gentle and peaceable Wisdom to all men in Righteousness and Truth answering the good in all People in all your Lives and Conversations for the Lord is glorified in your bringing forth spiritual fruit that ye may eye and behold the Lord in all your actions that the Blessings of the Lord ye may all feel to rest upon you Whether ye be the Lord's Prisoners for his Name and Truth 's sake or at Liberty in all things labour to be Content for that is a Continual Feast and let no Trouble move you then ye will be as Mount Sion that cannot be removed And in all things exercise the Word of Patience which Word will sanctifie all things to you And study to be Quiet and do the Lord's business that he requires of you and your own in Truth and Righteousness and whatsoever ye do let it be done to the praise and glory of God in the Name of Jesus Christ All they that do make God's People to suffer they make the Seed to suffer in their own particulars and Imprison the Just there And such will not visit the Seed in themselves but cast it into Prison in Others and not visit it in Prison You may read that Christ saith Such must go into Everlasting Punishment That is a sad punishment and prison And all such as are become Apostates and Backsliders that do crucifie to themselves Christ afresh and put him to open shame and trample under feet the blood of the Son of God by which they were cleansed and then come to be Vnclean such grieve vex and quench and rebel against the Spirit of God in themselves and then such rebel against them that walk in the Spirit of God Such are Vnfaithful to God and Man and are Enemies to every good Work and Service of God But their End will be according to their works who are like unto the Earth that hath often received Rain but brings forth Briars and Thorns which are to be rejected and are for the fire Therefore Dear Friends in all your Sufferings feel the Lord's Eternal Arm and Power which hath upheld you and supported you to this day and will to the end as your Faith stands in it and as you are settled upon the Rock and Foundation Christ Jesus that cannot be removed in whom ye have life and peace with God And so the Lord God Almighty in him give you Dominion and preserve and keep you all to his Glory that in all your Sufferings ye may feel his presence and that when ye have finished your Testimony ye may receive the Crown of Glory which God hath laid up for them that fear and serve him Amen The 15th of the 7th Month 1685. G. F. Having spent about a week at this time among Friends in the Country London I returned to London Where I continued about Two Months visiting Friends Meetings and labouring to get Relief for Friends from their Sufferings which yet lay heavy upon them in many parts of the Nation Several Papers also I writ relating to the Service of Truth one of which was concerning Order in the Church of God which some that were gone out of the Unity of Friends did much oppose And that was as followeth AMong all Societies or Families or Nations of People in the World they have among them some sort of Order There was the Order of Aaron in the Old Testament and there was the Order of Melchizedeck before that after whose Order Christ Jesus came and he did not despise that Order So God is a God of Order in his whole Creation and in his Church And all the Believers in the Light the Life in Christ that do pass from death to life they are in the Order of the holy Spirit Power Light Life and Government of Christ Jesus of the Increase whereof there is no End And this is a Mystery to all those disorderly People who have written and printed so much against Orders which the Lord's Power and Spirit hath brought forth among his People And you that cry so much against Orders is it not manifest that you are gone into a Land of Darkness thick as darkness it self and of the shadow of death into disorder and where the Light is as Darkness And is not this your Condition seen by all them that live and walk in the Truth and whose Conversations are according to the Gospel of Life and Salvation The Devil Satan Dragon and the first and second Beast 1685. London and the Whore and false Prophets and their Worshippers and Followers all these are out of the Truth and abode not in it nor in the Order of it And the Truth is over them all In Salem is God's Tabernacle a peaceable Tabernacle and his Tabernacle is in Shiloh And these are far beyond the Tabernacles of Ham Psal
and Vnity and in him they are strong and in a full Perswasion and in him who is the First and Last they are in a heavenly Resolution and Confidence for God's Everlasting Honour and Glory Amen From him who is Translated into the Kingdom of his Dear Son with all his Saints a heavenly Salutation And salute ye one another with a holy Kiss of Charity that never faileth G. F. Ford Green the 25th of the 9th Month 1690. Another Epistle I writ soon after more particularly to the Friends in the Ministry that were gone into America which was thus DEar Friends and Brethren that are Ministers and Exhorters and Admonishers that are gone into America and the Islands there-aways Stir up the Gift of God in you and the pure Mind and improve your Talents that ye may be the Light of the World a City set upon an Hill that cannot be hid and let your Light shine among the Indians and the Blacks and the Whites that ye may answer the Truth in them and bring them to their Standard and Ensign that God hath set up Christ Jesus For from the Rising of the Sun to the Going down of the same God's Name shall be great among the Gentiles and in every Temple or sanctified Heart Incense shall be offered up to God's Name And have Salt in your selves that ye may be the Salt of the Earth that ye may salt it that it may be preserved from Corruption and Putrefaction so that all Sacrifices offered up to the Lord may be salted and seasoned and be a good Savour to God And all grow in the Faith and Grace of Christ that ye may not be like Dwarfs for a Dwarf shall not come near to Offer upon God's Altar though he may eat of God's Bread that he may grow by it And Friends Be not negligent but keep up your Negroes-Meetings and your Family-Meetings and have Meetings with the Indian Kings 1690. Tottenham and their Councils and Subjects every where and with others and bring them all to the Baptizing and Circumcising Spirit by which they may know God and serve and worship him And all take heed of sitting down in the Earth and having your Minds in the earthly Things Coveting and Striving for the Earth for to be carnally minded brings death and Covetousness is Idolatry There is too much Strife and Contention about that Idol which makes too many go out of the Sense and Fear of God so that some have lost Morality and Humanity and the true Christian Charity O therefore be awakened to Righteousness and keep awakened for the Enemy soweth his Tares while Men and Women sleep in Carelesness and Security Therefore so many slothful Ones go in their filthy Rags and have not the fine Linnen the Righteousness of Christ but are stragling and plowing with their Ox and their Ass in their woollen and linnen Garments mixt Stuff feeding upon Torn food and that dieth of it self and drinking of the dregs of their old Bottle and eating the sour leavened Bread which makes their hearts burn one against another But all are to keep the Feast of Christ our Passover with the unleavened Bread of Sincerity and Truth And this unleavened Bread of Life from Heaven makes all Hearts and Souls glad and joyful and lightsome and cheerful to serve and love God and to love and serve one another in the peaceable Truth and to keep in the Vnity of God's Spirit which is the Bond of the Lord of Lords and the King of all Kings his Peace In this Love and Peace God Almighty keep and preserve all his People and make them valiant for his Truth upon the Earth to spread it abroad both in Doctrine and good Life and Conversation Amen All the Members of Christ have need one of another For the Foot hath need of the Hand and the Hand hath need of the Foot The Ear hath need of the Eye and the Eye of the Ear. So that all the Members are serviceable in the Body which Christ is the Head of and the Head sees their Service Therefore let none despise the least Member And have a Care to keep down that greedy earthly Mind that raveneth and coveteth after the Riches and Things of this World lest ye fall into the low Region like the Gentiles or Heathen and so lose the Kingdom of God that is Everlasting But seek that first and God knows what things ye have need of who takes care for all both in Heaven and in the Earth Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable Gifts both Temporal and Spiritual Tottenham the 11th of the 10th Month 1690. G. F. Not long after this I returned to London and was almost daily with Friends at Meetings 1690. London And when I had been near Two Weeks in Town The sense of the great Hardships and sore Sufferings that Friends had been and were under in Ireland coming with great weight upon me I was moved to write the following Epistle as a Word of Consolation unto them DEar Friends and Brethren in the Lord Jesus Christ whom the Lord by his Eternal Arm and Power hath upheld through your great Sufferings Exercises Trials and Hardships more I believe then can be uttered up and down that Nation which I am very sensible of and the rest of the faithful Friends that have been Partakers with you in your Sufferings and cannot but suffer with the Lord's People that suffer And my Confidence hath been in the Lord that he would and will support you in all your Sufferings and that he would preserve all the Faithful in his Wisdom that they would give no just Occasion to one nor other to make them suffer And therefore if that you did suffer wrongfully or unjustly the righteous God would assist you and uphold you and reward them according to their Works that opprest or wronged you And now my desire is unto the Lord that in the same holy and heavenly Wisdom of God ye may all be preserved to the End of your days to the Glory of God minding God Almighty's supporting Hand and Power who is God Al-sufficient to strengthen help and refresh in time of Need. And let none forget the Lord's Mercies and Kindnesses which endure for ever but always live in the sense of them And truly Friends when I consider the thing It is the great Mercy of the Lord that ye have not been all swallowed up seeing with what Spirits ye have been compassed about But the Lord carrieth his Lambs in his Arms and they are as tender to him as the Apple of his Eye And his Power is his Hedge about his Vineyard of heavenly Plants And therefore it is good for all his Children to be given up to the Lord with their Minds and Souls Hearts and Spirits who is a faithful Keeper that never slumbers nor sleeps but is able to preserve and keep you and to save to the utmost and none can hurt so much as an hair of your Heads except he suffer
it to try you for he upholds all things in Heaven and Earth by the Word of his Power All things were made by Christ and by him all things do consist mark consist whether they be Visibles or Invisibles c. So he hath power over all for all Power in Heaven and Earth is given to him and to you that have received him he hath given Power to become the Sons and Daughters of God so living Members of Christ the living Head and grafted into him in whom ye have Eternal Life And Christ the Seed reigns and his Power is over all who bruises the Serpent's Head and destroys the Devil and his Works and was before he was And so all of you live and walk in Christ Jesus so that nothing may be between you and God but Christ in whom ye have Salvation Life Rest and Peace with God As for the passages of Truth in this Land and abroad I do hear that in Holland and Germany and there-aways Friends are in Love Vnity and Peace And in Jamaica Barbados Mevis Antego Maryland and New-England I hear nothing but Friends are in Vnity and Peace The Lord preserve them all out of the World in which there is Trouble in Christ Jesus in whom there is Peace Life Love and Vnity Amen So my Love in the Lord Jesus Christ to all Friends every where in your Land as though I named them London the 10th of the 11th Month 1690. G. F. THus Reader hast thou had some Account of the Life and Travels Labours Sufferings and Manifold Trials and Exercises of this holy Man of God from his Youth to almost the time of his Death Of which himself kept a Journal out of which the foregoing Sheets were transcribed It remains that an Account be added of the Time Place and Manner of his Death and Burial Which were thus The next day after he had written the foregoing Epistle to Friends in Ireland be went to the Meeting at Gracious-street which was large it being on the First-day of the Week And the Lord enabled him to preach the Truth fully and effectually opening many deep and weighty things with great Power and Clearness After which having Prayed and the Meeting being ended he went to Henry Gouldney 's a Friend's House in Whitehart-Court near the Meeting house and some Friends going with him thither he told them He thought he felt the Cold strike to his heart as he came out of the Meeting yet added I am glad I was here Now I am clear I am fully clear As soon as those Friends that were with him were withdrawn he lay down upon a Bed as he sometimes used to do through Weariness after a Meeting but soon rose again and in a little time lay down again complaining still of Cold. And his Strength sensibly decaying he was fain soon after to go into Bed where he lay in much Contentment and Peace and very sensible to the Last And as in the whole Course of his Life his Spirit in the universal Love of God was set and bent for the exalting of Truth and Righteousness and the making known the Way thereof to the Nations and Peoples afar off so now in the time of his outward Weakness his Mind was intent upon and as it were wholly taken up with that And some particular Friends he sent for to whom he exprest his Mind and Desire for the Spreading Friends Books and Truth thereby in the World and through the Nations thereof Divers Friends came to visit him in his Ilness unto some of whom he said All is well The Seed of God reigns over all and over Death it self And though said he I am weak in Body yet the Power of God is over all and the Seed reigns over all disorderly Spirits Thus lying in an heavenly frame of Mind his Spirit wholly exercised towards the Lord he grew weaker and weaker in his natural Strength and on the Third day of that Week between the hours of Nine and Ten in the Evening he quietly departed this Life in Peace and sweetly fell asleep in the Lord whose blessed Truth he had livingly and powerfully preached in the Meeting but two days before Thus ended he his Days in his faithful Testimony in perfect Love and Vnity with his Brethren and in Peace and Good-will to all Men on the 13th day of the 11th Month 1690. being then in the 67th year of his Age. Vpon the 16th day of the same Month being the sixth of the Week and the Day appointed for his Funeral a very great Concourse of Friends and other People of divers sorts Assembled together at the Meeting-house in White-Hart-Court near Gracious-street about the middle time of the day in order to attend his Body to the Grave The Meeting was held about two hours with great and heavenly Solemnity manifestly attended with the Lord's blessed Presence and glorious Power in which divers living Testimonies were given from a lively Remembrance and Sense of the blessed Ministry of this Dear and Ancient Servant of the Lord his early Entring into the Lord's Work at the breaking forth of this Gospel-day his innocent Life long and great Travels and unwearied Labours of Love in the Everlasting Gospel for the turning and gathering many Thousands from Darkness to the Light of Christ Jesus the Foundation of true Faith his manifold Sufferings Afflictions and Oppositions which he met withal for his faithful Testimony both from his open Adversaries and from false Brethren and his Preservations Deliverances and Dominion in out of and over them all by the Power of God To whom the Glory and Honour always was by him and is and always ought to be by all Ascribed After the Meeting was ended his Body was born by Friends and accompanied by very great Numbers of Friends and other People to Friends Burying-Ground near Bunhill-Fields where after a solemn Waiting upon the Lord and several living Testimonies borne recommending the Company to the Guidance and Protection of that Divine Spirit and Power by which this holy Man of God had been raised up furnished supported and preserved to the end of his Day his Body was decently committed to the Earth but his Memorial shall Remain and be Everlastingly Blessed among the Righteous An Epistle of Dear George Fox's which was writ with his own Hand and left Sealed up with this Superscription viz. Not to be opened before the Time which after his Decease being opened was thought meet to be printed being as followeth Viz. For the Yearly and Second-Days-Meeting in London and to all the Children of God in all Places in the World By and from G. F. This for all the Children of God every where that are led by his Spirit and do walk in his Light in which they have Life and Unity and Fellowship with the Father and the Son and one with another KEep all your Meetings in the Name of the Lord Jesus that be gathered in his Name by his Light Grace Truth Power and Spirit
is Invisible doth open you by his Invisible Power and Spirit and brings down the carnal Mind in you so the Invisible and Immortal things are brought to Light in you O therefore you that know the Light walk in the Light For there are Children of Darkness that will talk or the Light and of the Truth and not walk in it but the Children of the Light love the Light and walk in the Light But the Children of Darkness walk in Darkness and hate the Light and in them the earthly Lusts and the carnal Mind choke the Seed of Faith and that bringeth Oppression on the Seed and Death over them O therefore mind the pure Spirit of the Everlasting God which will reach you to use the Creatures in their right place and which iudgeth the Evil. To thee O God be all Glory and Honour who art Lord of all Visibles and Invisibles To thee be all Praise who bringest out of the Deep to thy Self O powerful God who art worthy of all Glory For the Lord who created all and gives Life and Strength to all is over all and Merciful to all So thou who hast made all and art over all to thee be all Glory In thee is my Strength Refreshments and Life my Joy and my Gladness my Rejoycing and Glorying for evermore So to live and walk in the Spirit of God is Joy and Peace and Life but the Mind going forth into the Creatures or into any Visible Things from the Lord this bringeth Death Now when the Mind is got into the Flesh and into Death then the Accuser gets within and the Law of Sin and Death that gets into the Flesh and then the Life suffers under the Law of Sin and Death And then there is straitness and failings For then the Good is shut up and then the Self-Righteousness is set a top and then Man doth work in the outward Law and he cannot Justify himself by the Law but is Condemned by the Light For he cannot get out of that State but by abiding in the Light and resting in the Mercy of God and believing in him from whom all Mercy doth flow For there is Peace in resting in the Lord Jesus This is the Narrow Way that leads to him the Life but few will abide in it Therefore keep in the Innocency and be obedient to the Faith in him And take heed of Conforming to the World and of Reasoning with Flesh and Blood for that bringeth Disobedience and then Imaginations and Questionings do arise to draw from Obedience to the Truth of Christ But the Obedience of Faith destroyeth Imaginations and Questionings and Reasonings and all the Temptations in the Flesh and Buffetings and lookings forth and fetching up things that are past But not keeping in the Life and Light and not crossing the Corrupt Will by the Power of God the Evil Nature grows up in Man and then Burdens will come and Man will be stained with that Nature But Esau's Mountain shall be laid waste and become a Wilderness where the Dragons lie But Jacob the second Birth shall be fruitful and shall arise For Esau is hated and must not be Lord but Jacob the second Birth which is perfect and plain shall be Lord for he is beloved of God G. F. I writ another Paper also much about the same time and sent it forth amongst the Convinced People as followeth THE LORD is KING over all the Earth Therefore all People praise and glorifie your King in the true Obedience in the Uprightness and in the beauty of Holiness O Consider in the true Obedience the Lord is known and an Understanding from him is received Mark and consider in silence in the Lowliness of Mind and thou wilt hear the Lord speak unto thee in thy Mind His Voice is sweet and pleasant His Sheep hear his Voice and they will not hearken to another And when they hear his Voice they Rejoice and are Obedient they also sing for Joy Oh their Hearts are filled with everlasting Triumph They sing and praise the Eternal God in Sion their Joy shall never Man take from them Glory to the Lord God for Evermore But many that had been Convinced of the Truth turned aside because of the Persecution that arose Whereupon I writ a few Lines for the Comfort and Encouragement of the Faithful thus COme ye Blessed of the Lord and Rejoice together Keep in Unity and Oneness of Spirit Triumph above the World Be joyful in the Lord reigning above the World and above all things that draw from the Lord that in Clearness Righteousness Pureness and Joy you may be preserved to the Lord. O hear O hearken to the Call of the Lord and come out of the World and keep out of it for evermore And come Sing together ye Righteous Ones the Song of the Lord the Song of the Lamb which none can learn but they who are Redeemed from the Earth and from the World Now while I was in the House of Correction my Relations came to see me and being troubled for my Imprisonment they went to the Justices that cast me into Prison and desired to have me home with them offering to be bound in One hundred Pounds and others of Darby in fifty Pounds a piece with them that I should come no more thither to declare against the Priests So I was had up before the Justices and because I would not consent that they or any should be bound for me for I was Innocent from any Ill Behaviour and had spoken the Word of Life and Truth unto them Justice Bennet rose up in a rage and as I was kneeling down to Pray to the Lord to forgive him he ran upon me and struck me with both his Hands Crying Away with him Jailer Take him away Jailer Whereupon I was had back again to Prison and there kept until the time of my Commitment for Six Months was Expired But I had now the Liberty of walking a Mile by my self which I made use of as I felt freedom And sometimes I went into the Market and Streets and warned the People to Repent of their Wickedness and so returned to Prison again And there being Persons of several sorts of Religion in the Prison I sometimes went and visited them in their Meetings on the First-days After I had been before the Justices and they had required Sureties for my good Behaviour which I could not Consent should be given to blemish my Innocency It came upon me to write to the Justices again which I did as followeth Friends SEE what it is in you that doth Imprison and see who is Head in you and see if something do not Accuse you Consider you must be brought to Judgment Think upon Lazarus and Dives the one fared sumptuously every day the other a Beggar And now you have time prize it while you have it Would you have me to be bound to my Good Behaviour I am bound to my Good Behaviour And do Cry for Good Behaviour
were with me came in one Cob and a great Company of Ranters with him The Ranters began to call for Drink and Tobacco but I desired them to forbâ—ar it in my Room telling them If they had such a Mind to it they might go into another Room One of them cried All is ours and another of them said All is well I replied How is all well while thou art so peevish and envious and crabbed for I saw he was of a peevish Nature and so I spake to their Conditions and they were sensible of it and looked upon one another wondring Then Colonel Packer began to talk with a light chaffy Mind concerning God and Christ and the Scriptures That was a great Grief to my Soul and Spirit when I heard him talk so lightly so that I told him He was too light to talk of the things of God for he did not know the solidity of a Man Thereupon the Officers raged and said Would I say so of their Colonel This Packer was a Baptist and he and the Ranters bowed and scraped to one another very much for it was the manner of the Ranters to be exceeding Complemental as they call it so that Packer bid them Give over their Complements But I told them They were fit to go together for they were both of one Spirit This Colonel Packer lived at Theobald's near Waltham and was made a Justice of Peace He set up a great Meeting of the Baptists at Theobald's Park for he and some other Officers had purchased it They were exceeding High and railed against Friends and Truth and threatned to apprehend me with their Warrants if ever I came there Yet after I was set at Liberty I was moved of the Lord God to go down to Theobalds and appoint a Meeting hard by them Theobalds to which many of his People came and divers of his Hearers were Convinced of the Way of Truth and received Christ the free Teacher and came off from him and that made him Rage the more But the Lord's Power came over him so that he had not Power to meddle with me Then I went to Waltham hard by him Waltham and had a Meeting there but the People were very rude and gathered about the House and brake the Windows Whereupon I went out to them with the Bible in my Hand and desired them to come in and told them I would shew them Scripture both for our Principles and Practices And when I had done so I shewed them also That their Teachers were in the Steps of such as the Prophets and Christ and the Apostles cryed against Then I directed them to the Light of Christ and Spirit of God in their own Hearts that by it they might come to know their free Teacher the Lord Jesus Christ. The Meeting being ended they went away quieted and satisfied and a Meeting hath since been settled in that Town 1654. London But this was sometime after I was set at Liberty by O. Cromwel For when I came from White-hall to the Mermaid at Charing-Cross which had been my Prison I staid not long there but went into the City of London where we had great and powerful Meetings and so great were the Throngs of People that I could hardly get to and from the Meetings for the Crouds of People And the Truth spread exceedingly Thomas Aldam and Robert Craven who had been Sheriff of Lincoln and divers Friends came up to London after me but Alexander Parker abode with me Then after a while I went to White-hall again and was moved to declare the Day of the Lord amongst them White-Hall and that the Lord was come to teach his People himself So I preached Truth both to the Officers and to them that were called Oliver's Gentlemen who were of his Guard But there was a Priest that Opposed while I was declaring the Word of the Lord amongst them For Oliver had several Priests about him of which this was his News-monger an envious Priest and a light scornful chaffy man I bid him Repent and he put it in his News-book the next Week That I had been at White-hall and had bid a Godly Minister there Repent When I went thither again I met with him and abundance of People gathered about me Then I manifested the Priest to be a Liar in several things that he had affirmed and so he was put to Silence He put in the News-book That I wore Silver-Buttons which was false for they were but Alchimy Afterward he put in the News-book That I hung Ribbands on People's Arms which made them to follow me This was another of his Lies for I never wore nor used Ribbands in my Life Three Friends went to examine this Priest that gave forth this false Intelligence and to know of him where he had that Information He told them It was a Woman that told him so and that if they would come again he would tell them the Woman's Name When they came again he said It was a Man but would not tell them his Name then but if they would come again he said he would tell them his Name and where he lived They went the Third Time and then he would not tell who told him but offered If I would give it under my Hand that there was no such thing he would put that into the News-book Thereupon the Friends carried it to him under my Hand but when they came he brake his Promise and would not put it in but was in a Rage and threatned them with the Constable This was the deceitful doing of this Forger of Lies And these Lies he spread over all the Nation in the News-books to render Truth Odious and to put Evil into People's Minds against Friends and Truth of which a more large Account may be seen in a Book printed soon after this time for the clearing of Friends and Truth from the Slanders Lies and false Reports raised and cast upon them These Priests the News-Mongers were of the Independent Sect like them in Leicester But the Lord's Power came over all their Lies and swept them away and many came to see the Naughtiness of these Priests The God of Heaven carried me over all in his Power and his blessed Power went over the Nation Insomuch that many Friends about this time were moved to go up and down to sound forth the Everlasting Gospel in most parts of this Nation and also into Scotland 1654. White-Hall and the Glory of the Lord was felt over all to his Everlasting Praise And a great Convincement there was in London and some in the Protector 's House and Family I went to have seen him again but could not get to him the Officers were grown so Rude The Presbyterians Independents and Baptists were in a great Rage for many of their People came to be turned to the Lord Jesus Christ and sate down under his Teachings and received his Power and felt it in their Hearts and then they were
Professors who pleaded for Imperfection I was opened to declare and manifest unto them how that Adam and Eve were perfect before they fell and all that God made he saw that it was good and he blessed it But the Imperfection came in by the Fall through Man's and Woman's hearkening to the Devil who was out of Truth And though the Law made nothing perfect yet it made way for the bringing in of the better Hope which Hope is Christ who destroys the Devil and his Works that made Man and Woman Imperfect Now Christ saith to his Disciples Be ye perfect even as your Heavenly Father is perfect And he who himself was perfect comes to make Man and Woman perfect again and brings them again to the State which God made them in So he is the Maker up of the Breach and the Peace betwixt God and Man That this might the better be understood by the lowest Capacities I used a Comparison of Two Old People that had their House broken down by an Enemy so that they with all their Children were liable to all Storms and Tempests And there came some to them that pretended to be Workmen and offered to build up their House again if they would give them so much a Year But when they had gotten their Money they left their House as they found it After this manner came a First Second Third Fourth Fifth and Sixth each with his several pretence to build up the Old House and each got the Peoples Money and then cried They could not rear up the House nor the Breach could not be made up For there is no Perfection here Cry they the House can never be perfectly built up again in this Life Though they have taken the Peoples Money for the doing of it For all the Sects in Christendom so called have pretended to build up Adam's and Eve's fallen House and when they have got Peoples Money they tell them the Work cannot be perfectly done here and so their House lies as it did But I told the People Christ was come to do it freely who by one Offering hath perfected for ever all them that are sanctified and renews them up into the Image of God which Man and Woman were in before they fell and makes Man's and Woman's House as perfect again as God had made them at the first And this Christ the Heavenly Man has done freely Therefore all are to look unto him and all that have received him are to walk in him the Life the Substance the First and the Last The Rock of Ages and Foundation of many Generations Largely were these and many other things opened and declared unto the People and the Word of Life was Preached which doth live and abide and all were Exhorted to hear and obey that which did live and abide that by it all might be born again of the Immortal Seed and feed of the Milk of the Word A glorious Meeting there was wherein the Lord 's Everlasting Seed Christ Jesus was set over all and Friends parted in the Power and Spirit of the Lord in Peace and in his Truth that is over all About this time the Souldiers under General Monk's Command were rude and troublesome at Friends Meetings in many places Whereof Complaint being made to him he gave forth the following Order which did somewhat restrain them St. James's the 9th of March 1659. I Do Require all Officers and Souldiers to forbear to disturb the peaceable Meetings of the Quakers they doing nothing prejudicial to the Parliament or Common-wealth of England GEORGE MONK Oldeston Nailsworth After this Meeting at Edward Pyott's I passed through the Countries to Oldeston and to Nailsworth and to Nathaniel Crisp's where there was a large Meeting and several Souldiers at it but quiet And from thence we passed through Friends to Gloucester Gloucester visiting their Meetings And in Gloucester we had a Meeting that was peaceable though the Town was very rude and divided For one part of the Souldiers were for the King and another for the Parliament 1660. Glouceser And as I passed out of the Town over the Bridge Edward Pyott being with me the Souldiers there said They were for the King But after we were gone past them and they understood it was I they were in a great rage that I had scaped them and said Had they known it it had been I they would have shot me with Hail-shot rather than I should have escaped them But the Lord prevented their Devilish Design and brought me safe to Col. Grimes his House where we had a large general Meeting Col. Grimes and the Lord's Truth and Power was set over all and Friends were established upon the Rock and settled under the Lord Jesus Christ's Teaching We passed from thence to Tewksburg and so to Worcester Tewksbury Worcester visiting Friends in their Meetings in the Towns as we went And in all my time I never saw the like Drunkenness as then in the Towns For they had been then chusing Parliament-Men But at Worcester the Lord's Truth was set over all and People were finely settled therein and Friends praised the Lord Nay I saw the very Earth Rejoiced Yet great fears and troubles were in many People and a looking for the King 's Coming in and that all things should be altered and they would ask me what I thought of Times and Things I told them the Lord's Power was over all and his Light shined over all and that the Fear would take hold only on the Hypocrites such as had not been faithful to God and on our Persecutors For in my Travel and Sufferings at Reading when People were at a stand and could not tell what might Come in and who might Rule I told them the Lord's Power was over all for I had travelled through in it and his Day shined whosoever should come in and whether the King came in or no all would be well to them that loved the Lord and were faithful to him Therefore I bid all Friends Fear none but the Lord and keep in his Power that was over all From Worcester I came through the Countries Badgely Leicestershire Drayton visiting Friends in their Meetings till I came to Badgely and from thence I went to Drayton in Leicestershire to visit my Relations While I was there one Burton a Justice hearing that I had a good Horse sent forth a Warrant to search for me and my Horse But I was gone before they came and so he missed of his wicked End I passed on to Twy Cross Twy-Cross Swanington Darby and Swanington and so to Darby where I visited Friends and found my old Goaler amongst them who had formerly kept me in the House of Correction there and was now Convinced of the Truth which I then suffered under him for Passing still further up into Darbyshire Darbyshire Nottinghamshire Synderhill-green Yorkshire Balby Yearly Meeting and Nottinghamshire I came to Synderhill-green visiting Friends through all
were a People that fled out of Old England thither from the Persecution of the Bishops here But when they had got Power into their hands they so far exceeded the Bishops in Severity and Cruelty that whereas the Bishops had made them pay Twelve Pence a Sunday so called for not coming to their Worship here they imposed a Fine of Five Shillings a Day upon such as should not conform to their Will-Worship there and spoiled the Goods of Friends that could not pay it Besides many they Imprisoned divers they Whipt and that most Cruelly of some they Cut off Ears and some they Hanged as the Books of Friends Sufferings in New-England largely shew particularly A Book written by Geo. Bishop of Bristol Entituled New-England judged In Two Parts Some of the old Royalists were earnest with Friends to have prosecuted them but we told them we left them to the Lord to whom Vengeance belonged and he would Repay it And the Judgments of God have since fallen heavy on them For the Indians have been raised up against them and have Cut off many of them About this time I lost a very good Book being taken in the Printer's Hands It was a useful teaching Book containing the Signification and Explanation of Names Parables Types and Figures in the Scriptures They who took it were so affected with it that they were loth to have destroyed it but thinking to have made a great Advantage of it they would have let us have had it again if we would have given them a great Sum of Money for it which we were not free to do And some time before this while I was Prisoner in Lancaster-Castle the Book called the Battledoor came forth which was written to shew that in all Languages Thou and Thee is the proper and usual Form of Speech to a Single Person and You to more than one This was set forth in Examples or Instances taken out of the Scriptures and out of Books of Teaching in about Thirty Languages John Stubbs and Benjamin Furly took great Pains in the Compiling of it which I put them upon and some things I added to it When it was finished some of them were presented to the King and his Council to the Bishops of Canterbury and London and to the Two Vniversities one a piece and many bought of them The King said It was the proper Language of all Nations And the Bishop of Canterbury being asked what he thought of it was so at a stand that he could not tell what to say to it For it did so Inform and Convince Pâ—ople that few afterward were so Rugged towards us for saying Thou and Thee to a single Person which before they were exceeding fierce against us for For this Thou and Thee was a sore Cut to proud Flesh and them that sought Self-honour who though they would say it to God and Christ would not endure to have it said to themselves So that we were often Beaten and Abused and sometimes in danger of our Lives for using those Words to some proud Men who would say What you ill-bred Clown do you Thou me as though there lay Breeding in saying You to one which was contrary to all their Grammars and Teaching-Books by which they had taught and instructed their Youth Now the Bishops and Priests being busie and eager to settle and 〈◊〉 up their Form of Worship and Compel all to come to it I was mâ—â—â—d to give forth the following Paper to open unto People the Nature of the True Worship which Christ set up and which God accepts Thus CHrist's Worship is free in the Spirit to all Men and such as Worship in the Spirit and in the Truth are they that God seeks to Worship him for he is the God of Truth and is a Spirit and the God of the Spirits of all Flesh And he hath given to all the Nations of Men and Women Breath and Life to live and move and have their Being in him and hath put into them an Immortal Soul So all the Nations of Men and Women are to be Temples for him to dwell in and they that defile his Temple them will he destroy Now as the outward Jews while they had their outward Temple at outward Jerusalem were to go up thither to Worship which Temple God hath long since thrown down and destroyed that Jerusalem the Vision of Peace and cast off the Jews and their Worship and in the room thereof hath set up his Gospel-Worship in the Spirit and in the Truth so now all are to Worship in the Spirit and in the Truth And this is a free Worship for where the Spirit of the Lord is and ruleth there is Liberty and the Fruits of the Spirit are seen and will manifest themselves and the Spirit is not to be limited but to be lived and walked in that the Fruits of it may appear The Tares are such as hang upon the Wheat to weigh it down and thereby to draw it down to the Earth yet the Tares and the Wheat must grow together till the Harvest lest they that take upon them to pluck up the Tares should pluck up the Wheat with the Tares The Tares are such as Worship not God in the Spirit and in the Truth but do grieve the Spirit and vex it and quench it in themselves and walk not in the Truth yet will scraul and hang about the Wheat the true Worshippers in the Spirit and in the Truth Christ's Church was never established by Blood nor held up by Prisons neither was the Foundation of it laid by Carnal Weaponed Men nor is it preserved by such But when Men went from the Spirit and Truth then they took up Carnal Weapons to maintain their outward Forms and yet cannot preserve them with their Carnal Weapons For one plucketh down another's Form with his outward Weapons And this Work and Doing hath been among the Christians in Name since they lost the Spirit and Spiritual Weapons and the true Worship which Christ set up that is in the Spirit and in the Truth which Spirit and Truth they that Worship in are over all the Tares All that would be plucking up the Tares are forbidden by Christ who hath all Power in Heaven and Earth given to him for the Tares and the Wheat must grow together till the Harvest as Christ hath commanded The Stone that smote the Image became a great Mountain and filled the whole Earth Now if the Stone do fill the whole Earth all Nations must be Temples for the Stone And all that say they do travel for the Seed and yet bring forth nothing but a Birth of Strife and Contention and Confusion their Fruit shews their Travel to be wrong for by the Fruit the End of every one's Work is seen of what sort it is G. F. About this time many Papists and Jesuits began to fawn upon Friends and talk'd up and down where they came that of all the Sects the Quakers were the best and most self-denying
Power of God and we are Heirs of Christ who have inherited him and his Everlasting Kingdom and do possess the Power of an Endless Life Knowing this our Portion and Inheritance this is to take off all Jealousies out of your Minds and out of the Minds of all People concerning us That all Plots and Conspiracies Plotters and Conspirators against the King and all Aiders or Assisters thereunto we always did and do utterly deny to be any of us or to be of the Fellowship of the Gospel or to be of Christ's Kingdom or to be his Servants For Christ said His Kingdom was not of this World if it were his Servants would fight And therefore he bid Peter Put up his Sword for said he he that taketh the Sword shall perish by the Sword Here is the Faith and Patience of the Saints to bear and suffer all things knowing as we know that Vengeance is the Lord's and he will repay it to them that hurt his People and that do wrong to the Innocent Therefore cannot we avenge but suffer for his Name 's sake And we do know that the Lord will judge the World in Righteousness according to their Deeds and that when every one shall give an Account to him of the Deeds done in the Body then will the Lord give every Man according to his Works whether they be Good or whether they be Evil. Christ saith he came not to destroy Men's Lives And when his Disciples would have had Fire to come down from Heaven to have consumed them that did not receive him he told them They knew not what Spirit they were of that would have Mens Lives destroyed and therefore he rebuked them and told them That he came not to destroy Men's Lives but to save them Now we are of Christ's Mind who is the great Prophet whom all ought to hear in all things who saith to his If they strike thee on one Cheek turn the other and render to no Man Evil for Evil. This Doctrine of his have we learned and do not only confess him in Words but follow his Doctrine and therefore have and do we suffer all manner of Reproaches Scandals and Slanders and spoiling of Goods Buffetings and Whippings Stripes and Imprisonments for these many years and can say The Lord forgive them that have thus served us and lay not these things to their Charge And we know that the Jews outward Sword by which they cut down the Heathen outwardly was a Type of the inward Sword of the Spirit which cuts down the inward Heathen the raging Nature in People And the Blood of Bulls Lambs Rams and other Offerings and that Priesthood that offered them together with other things in the Law were Types of Christ the one Offering and of his Blood who is the Everlasting Priest and Covenant Christ our Life and Way to God and who is the great Prophet and Shepherd that looks to his Flock and the Head of his Church and the great Bishop of our Souls whom we witness come and he doth oversee and keep his Flock For in Adam in the Fall we know the striving quarrelling unpeaceable Spirits are in the Enmity one with another and not in Peace But in Christ Jesus the Second Adam that never fell is Peace Rest and Life And the Doctrine of Christ who never sinned is to love one another and who be in this Doctrine hurt no man in which we are in Christ who is our Life Therefore it is well for you to distinguish betwixt the Precious and the Vile between them that fear God and serve him and them that do not and to put a difference between the Innocent and the Guilty and between him that is Holy and Pure and the Ungodly and Prophane for they that do not so bring Troubles Burdens and Sorrows upon themselves And this we write in Love to your Souls that ye may consider these things for they that hate Enemies and hate one another we cannot say they are of God nor in Christ's Doctrine but are Opposers of it And such as wrestle with Flesh and Blood with Carnal Weapons are gone into the Flesh out of the Spirit They are not in our Fellowship in the Spirit in which is the Bond of Peace neither are they of Vs nor have we Vnity with them in their fleshly state and with their Carnal Weapons For our Unity and Fellowship stands in the Gospel which is the Power of God before the Devil was the Liar and the Murderer the Man-slayer and the Envious Man Now Christ's Mind and his Doctrine being to save Men's Lives we who are of Christ's Mind are out of and above these things And our desire is 1664. Lancaster Castle that in the Fear of the Lord ye may all Live that in that ye may all receive God's Wisdom by which all things were created that by it all may be ordered to God's Glory This is from them that love all your Souls and seek your Eternal Good Being now a Prisoner in Lancaster Castle a deep sense came upon me of a Day of sore Trial and Exercise that was come and coming upon all that had been high in Profession of Religion And I was moved to give forth the following Paper as a Warning unto such NOw is the Day that every one's Faith and Love to God and Christ will be Tried and who are Redeemed out of the Earth and who are in the Earth will be manifested and who is their Master they serve and whether they will run to the Mountains to Cover them Now will it appear who are the Stony Ground who are the Thorny Ground and who are the High-way-Ground in whom the Fowls of the Air take away the Seed and the Thorns and Cares of the World Choke and the Heat of Persecution scorches and burns up your green Blade For the Day trieth all things Therefore let not such as forsake Truth for saving the Earth say that your Brother Priest only serveth not the Lord Jesus Christ but his own Belly and mindeth Earthly things for such themselves also do the same and do hug and embrace Self and not the Lord. Now it will be made manifest who is every ones God and Christ and Saviour and their Love will be manifest whether it be of the World or the Love of God for if it be the Love of the World it is Enmity and the Enmity will manifest it self what it is and the Day will Try every Spirit and his Fruits Therefore all my dear Friends In the Everlasting Seed of God live that is over all the House of Adam and his Works in the Fall and so dwelling in the Seed Christ that never fell in him you all have Vertue and Life and Peace and through him ye will overcome all that is in the Fall G. F. I writ also another Short Epistle to Friends to Warn them to keep out of that Spirit that wrought in John Perrot and his Company against the Truth Dear Friends DWell in
whom she went but could not obtain what she desired for he said The King could not Release me otherwise than by a Pardon And I was not free to receive a Pardon knowing I had not done Evil. And if I would have been freed by a Pardon I needed not have lain so long for the King was willing to have given me a Pardon long before and told Thomas Moore that I need not scruple being Released by a Pardon for many a Man that was as Innocent as a Child had had a Pardon granted him Yet I could not Consent to have one For I had rather have lain in Prison all my Days than have come out in any way dishonourable to Truth Wherefore I chose to have the Validity of my Indictment Tried before the Judges And thereupon having first had the Opinion of a Counsellor upon it one Thomas Corbet of London whom Richard Davis of Welchpool was well acquainted with and recommended to me an Habeas Corpus was sent down to Worcester to bring me up once more to the King's-Bench-Bar for the Trial of the Errors in my Indictment The Vnder-Sheriff set forward with me on the Fourth Day of the Twelfth Month there being with us in the Coach the Clerk of the Peace and some others The Clerk had been my Enemy all along and now sought to Ensnare me in Discourse but I saw and shunned him He asked me What I would do with the Errors in the Indictment I told him They should be Tried and every Action should Crown it self He quarrelled with me for calling their Ministers Priests I asked him ' If the Law did not call them so Then he asked me What I thought of the Church of England Was there no Christians among them I said They are all called so and there are many tender People amongst them London We came to London on the Eighth of the Twelfth Month and on the Eleventh I was brought before the Four Judges at the King's-Bench King's-Bench-Bar where Counsellor Corbet pleaded my Cause He started a New Plea for he told the Judges That they could not Imprison any Man upon a Premunire Whereupon the Chief Justice Hales said Mr. Corbet You should have come sooner at the beginning of the Term with this Plea He Answered We could not get a Copy of the Return and of the Indictment The Judge replied You should have told us and we would have forced them to have made a Return sooner Then said Judge Wild Mr. Corbet you go upon General Terms and if it be so as you say we have Committed many Errors at the Old Baily and in other Courts Corbet was positive that by Law they could not Imprison upon a Premunire The Judge said There is Summons in the Statute Yes said Corbet but Summons is not Imprisonment for Summons is in Order to a Trial. Well said the Judge We must have time to look in our Books and consult the Statutes So the Hearing was put off till the next Day The next Day they chose rather to let this Plea fall and begin with the Errors of the Indictment and when they came to be opened they were so many and gross that the Judges were all of Opinion That the Indictment was quash'd and void and that I ought to have my Liberty There were that Day several Great Men Lords and others who had the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy tendered unto them in open Court just before my Trial came on and some of my Adversaries moved the Judges that the Oaths might be Tendered again to me telling them I was a dangerous Man to be at Liberty But Judge Hales who was then Chief-Justice of England 1674. King's-Bench-Bar said He had indeed heard some such Reports of me but he had also heard many more good Reports of me and so he and the rest of the Judges ordered me to be freed by Proclamation Thus after I had suffered Imprisonment a Year and almost Two Months for nothing I was fairly set at Liberty upon a Trial of the Errors in my Indictment without receiving any Pardon or coming under any Obligation or Engagement at all and the Lord 's Everlasting Power went over all to his Glory and Praise and to the magnifying of his Name for ever Amen Counsellor Corbet who pleaded for me got great Fame by it for many of the Lawyers came to him and told him He had brought that to Light which had not been known before as to the not Imprisoning upon a Premunire And after the Trial a Judge said to them You have attained a great deal of Honour by Pleading George Fox 's Cause so in Court During the time of my Imprisonment in Worcester notwithstanding my Ilness and Want of Health and my being so often hurried to and fro to London and back again I writ several Books for the Press one whereof was called A Warning to England Another was To the Jews proving by the Prophets that the Messiah is come Another Concerning Inspiration Revelation and Prophecy Another Against all vain Disputes Another For all Bishops and Ministers to trie themselves by the Scriptures Another To such as say We love none but our selves Another Entituled Our Testimony concerning Christ. And another little Book concerning Swearing being the first of those Two that were given to the Parliament Besides these I writ many Papers and Epistles to Friends to Encourage and strengthen them in their Services for God which some who had made Profession of Truth but had given way to a Seducing Spirit and were departed from the Vnity and Fellowship of the Gospel in which Friends stand endeavoured to Discourage them from especially in their diligent and watchful Care for the well-ordering and managing the Affairs of the Church of Christ Which may be read amongst the rest of my Epistles London Now after I was set at Liberty I visited the Friends in London and having for some time been very Weak and not yet well recovered I went down to Kingston for a little Season Kingston But I did not stay long there London but having visited the Friends there I returned to London again and writ a Paper to the Parliament and sent several Books to them And a great Book against Swearing had been delivered to them a little before the Reasonableness whereof had so much Influence upon many of them that it was thought they would have done something towards our Relief therein if they had sate longer I staid in and near London London-Yearly-Meeting until the Yearly Meeting came on to which Friends came up from most Parts of the Nation and some from beyond the Seas and a glorious Meeting we had in the Everlasting Power of God After this Meeting was over the Parliament being also risen who had done nothing for nor against Friends I was Clear of my Service for the Lord at London And having taken my Leave of Friends there and had a Glorious Meeting with some of them
Men and Women that be Heirs of this Power of God it is their Possession and Portion and they are to labour in their Possession and Portion and to do God Almighty's business and Service in the Possession of the Power of God the Gospel which is a Joyful Glorious Everlasting Order And here is the Authority of our Men and Women's Meetings and other Meetings in the Name of Jesus the Gospel of Christ the Power of God which is not of Man nor by Man and in this they are all to Meet and to Worship God and by this they are all to act and in this Power they have all Fellowship a Joyful Fellowship a Joyful and Comfortable Assembly And so this is the Day in the Eternal Light that all are to take their Possessions of the Gospel and its Order that Power of God which they are Heirs of And all the Faithful Men and Women in every Country City and Nation whose Faith stands in the Power of God the Gospel of Christ and have received this Gospel and are in the Possession of this Gospel the Power of God they have all Right to the Power in these Meetings for they be Heirs of the Power which is the Authority of the Mens and Womens-Meetings So here is God's Choice and not Man's by his Power of his Heirs and they have all Freedom in this Gospel the Power of God to go to the Meetings the Men to the Mens and the Women to the Womens for they are Heirs of the Power which Power is the Gospel not of Man nor by Man but from Heaven sent by the Holy Ghost and received in the Holy Ghost which hath brought Life and Immortality to Light in them and they see over Enmity and before it was by the Light and the Life and Immortality which is brought to Light in them So the Devil the Author of Enmity cannot get into this Authority and Power nor Order nor Fellowship of the Gospel nor Life nor Light nor the Fellowship in the Holy Spirit nor into the Vnity of the Faith which gives Victory over him that hath separated Man from God by which Faith they have Access to God and into the Vnity of this Faith the Serpent cannot come nor into the Worship of God in Spirit and Truth into this Worship the Devil cannot come nor any Enmity So I say that the Serpent the Devil is out of the Fellowship of the Gospel out of the Vnity of the Faith and out of the Order of the Gospel and out of the Worship in Spirit and Truth And they that be in this be in Vnity over him And therefore as I said before let every one's Faith stand in the Power of God the Glorious Gospel and all to walk as becomes the Gospel and the Order of it and as every one hath received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk in him and let him be their Lord and Orderer For they that do preach the Gospel of Christ Jesus it is to the Intent that all might come to be Heirs of the Gospel and into the Possession of it and to be Heirs of Christ and of his Government the Encrease of which there is no end who is over all in his Righteousness and over all in his Light Life Power and Dominion And therefore know one another in his Power his Gospel which is the Authority of your Meetings And know one another in Christ Jesus who is able to restore Man out of the State of the Fall into the Image of God as he was in before he fell and into that Power and Dominion that Man had before he fell and into himself that never fell where they shall go no more forth And here is the Rock and Foundation of God that stands sure And Friends be Tender to the Tender Principle of God in all and shun the Occasion of Vain Disputes and Janglings both amongst your selves and others for that many times is like a blustering Wind that hurts and bruises the tender Buds and Plants For the World though they have the Words yet they be out of the Life and the Apostle's Disputing with them were to bring them to the Life And those Disputes that were amongst the Christians about Genealogies and Circumcision and the Law and Meats and Drinks and Days those came to be the worst sort of Disputers whom the Apostles Judged for such destroyed People from the Faith And therefore did the Apostles exhort the Churches That every ones Faith should stand in the Power of God and to Look at Jesus which was the Author of it and there every Graft stands in Christ the Vine quiet where no blustring Storms could hurt them and there is the Safety And there all are of one Mind one Faith one Soul one Spirit Baptized into one Body with the one Spirit and made all to drink into one Spirit one Church one Head that is Heavenly and Spiritual one Faith in this Head Christ who is the Author of it and hath the Glory of it one Lord to order all who is the Baptizer into this one Body So Christ hath the Glory of this Faith out of every Man and Woman and God through him hath his Glory the Creator of all in his Power the Gospel that hath brought Life and Immortality to Light in them and their Faith standing in it they know the Immortal God and Serve and Worship him in his Spirit and in his Truth by which they are made God's free Men and Women from him that is out of the Truth And now Friends all you that have been Ancient Labourers and have known the Dealings of the Lord these Twenty Years more or less as I have often said to you to draw up what you can of that which the Lord hath carried you through by his Power the Passages and Sufferings and how by the Lord ye have been supported from the first So that the Lord may be Exalted by his Power now and in the Ages to come who hath been the only Support Defence and Stay or his People all along over all to himself to whom be all Glory and Praise for ever and ever Amen Who deserves it in his Church throughout all Ages from his living Members who return the Praise to the living God who lives and reigns over all blessed for ever who is the Life and Strength and Health and Length of the Days of all his People And therefore let there be no Boasting but in the Lord and in his Power and Kingdom and that keeps all in the Humility And Friends In the Lord's Power and Truth what Good you can do for Friends that be in Prison or Sufferers as to the Informing of them or helping of them Every one bend your selves to the Lord's Power and Spirit to do his Will and his Business and in that all will have a fellow-Feeling of one anothers Conditions in Bonds or in what Trials and Tribulations soever you will have a fellow-Feeling one of another having one Head and one
Northampton Olney in Buckinghamshire Bedfordshire Turry After this Meeting I went with Thomas Charles to his house at Adingworth and from thence next day to Northampton where I stayed the First-day-Meeting which was very large and peaceable and had much Service among Friends besides Next day Edward Cooper of Northampton accompanied me to Olney in Buckinghamshire where I stay'd at James Brierlie's several Friends coming thither to see me in the Evening Next day I went to a Meeting at Turry in Bedfordshire to which Friends came from several Parts so that it was a very large Meeting Here I met with William Dewsberry who after the Meeting took me along with him to his Son-in-law John Rush's of Kempston Kempston where I stayed with William that night and most part of the next day passing thence towards Evening through Ampthill Ampthill Bullocks-hill to Thomas Gambolls of Bullocks-hill William Dewsberry went along with me thither and there also several Friends came to visit us Next day Luton Market-street Kensworth passing through Luton I went to Market-street William Dewsberry accompanying me part of the way and the day following Leonard Fell and I had a Meeting at Kensworth which was pretty large and peaceable After the Meeting we went to Albans Albans South-Mims Barnet Middlesex Gutters-hedge in Henden where we visited Friends and next day passing through South-Mims and Barnet where also we visited Friends we came that night to the Widow Haylye's at Guttershedge in Hendon in Middlesex Next day being the First-day of the Week we had a very large Meeting there several Friends coming from London I stayed there on the Second-day and on the Third went to William Mead's house at High-gate Highgate with whom next day I went to London London and it being the Fourth-day of the Week I went to the Meeting at Gracious-street where Friends and I were greatly refreshed in each other in the Lord and the Lord's Power and Seed was set over all blessed be his Name for ever Thus it pleased the Lord to bring me safe to London though much wearied with Travel for though I rode not very far in a day yet having had much weakness of Body continual Travel was hard to me Besides I had not much rest a-nights to refresh Nature for I often sate late up with Friends where I lodged to Inform and Advise them in things wherein they were wanting and when I was in bed I was often hindred of sleep by great pains which I felt in my Head and Teeth occasioned as I thought by Cold I had taken by riding often in the Rain But the Lord's Power was over all and carried me through all to his praise In my Journey I observed a slackness and shortness in some that professed Truth in keeping up the antient Testimony of Truth against Tithes for where-ever that Spirit got Entrance which wrought Division in the Church and opposed the Mens and Womens Meetings it weakned those that received it in their Testimony against Tithes Wherefore I was moved of the Lord to give forth a short Paper by way of an Epistle to Friends to stir up the pure Mind in them and to encourage and strengthen them in their Christian Testimony against that Antichristian Yoke and Oppression My dear Friends BE faithful to the Lord in your Testimony for Jesus 1677. London who hath ended the Levitical Priesthood of Aaron that took Tithes and sent his Ministers forth freely to give freely that which they had received of him freely without a Bag or a Staff So Christ's Disciples could not join with those that made a Trade of Preaching And as there was a Testimony to be born against those Tithes which were commanded in the Law for Levi and Aaron So there is a Testimony to be born against these Tithes which have been set up by Man in the dark time of Popery and not set up by God nor Christ Now for any to cry against the Priests in words and yet to give them Means and put into their Mouths that they may not prepare War against you this is a Contradiction And therefore take heed for if the Lord God do bless you with outward Creatures and you do bestow them upon Baal's Priests the Lord may justly require the Outward things from you again which he hath given you who saith That his Christian Ministers should freely give as they have freely received of Christ Jesus So all the Preachers for Tithes and Money and the Takers and Payers of Tithe must be testified against in the Lord's Power and Spirit so that all Men and Women may stand up in their Testimony for Jesus Christ in his Power and Spirit against the Tithe-mongers Consider how many faithful Servants and Valiants of the Lord have laid down their Lives against them in this day of the Lord and in the days of the Martyrs they did then witness against them Consider also what Judgments have come upon them that have spoiled Friends Goods and have cast them into Prison for Tithes and Maintenance And therefore in the Power of the Lord maintain the War against the Beast and do not put into his Mouth lest he cry Peace to you which Peace you must not receive but it must be broken and thrown out by the Spirit of God And then in the same Spirit ye will receive the Peace from the Son of Peace which the Beast and the Whore and the World with all their earthly Teachers for the Earth which are made by Man cannot receive nor bereave you of And therefore keep your Authority and Dominion in the Power and Spirit and Name of Jesus in whom my love is to you 3d Month 1677. G. F. I came to London on the 23th of the Third Month some Ten or Twelve days before the Yearly Meeting in which time I fell in with Friends there in the Service of Truth visiting them at the Meetings And the Parliament then sitting we prepared something to lay before them concerning the seizing of the Third part of Friends Estates as Popish Recusants which was a great Suffering and a Grievance we Complained of but no Redress we got To the Yearly Meeting many Friends came from most parts of the Nation 1677. London Yearly Meeting and some out of Scotland Holland c. and very glorious Meetings we had wherein the Lord 's powerful Presence was very largely felt and the Affairs of Truth were sweetly carried on in the Unity of the Spirit to the Satisfaction and Comfort of the upright-hearted blessed be the Lord for ever Then after the Yearly Meeting was over and I had stay'd a Week or Two with Friends in London I went down with William Penn to his house in Sussex Sussex John Burnyeat and some other Friends went with us Surrey and as we passed through Surrey hearing that the Quarterly Meeting for that County was that day William Penn John Burnyeat and I went from the Road to it and
that and that Liberty answers the Grace the Truth the Light the Spirit the Faith the Gospel of Christ in every Man and Woman and is the Yoke to the Contrary in every Man and Woman And that makes it rage and swell and puff up for that is restless and unruly and out of patience and is ready to curse his God and that which reigns over him because it hath not its Will And it works with all Subtilty and Evasion with its restless Spirit to get in and defile the minds of the Simple and to make Rapes upon the Virgin Minds But as they receive the heavenly Wisdom by which all things were made which Wisdom is above that Spirit through this Wisdom they will be preserved over that Spirit And Christ hath given Judgment to his Saints in his Church though he be Judge of all and the Saints in the Power and Spirit of God had and have Power to Judge of Words and Manners of Lives and Conversations and Growths and States from a Child to a Father in the Truth and to whom they are a Savour of Death and to whom they are a Savour of Life And who serve the Lord Jesus Christ and preach him and who preach themselves and serve themselves And who Talk of the Light and of Faith and of the Gospel and of Hope and of Grace and preach such things and in their Works and Lives deny them all and God and Christ and preach up Liberty from that in themselves to that in Others which should be under the Yoke and Cross of Christ the Power of God And so the Saints in the Power and Spirit of Christ can discern and distinguish who serves God and Christ and who serves him not and so can put a distinction between the Prophane and the Holy But such as have lost their Eye-salve and their Sight is grown dim lose this Judgment Discerning and Distinction in the Church of Christ and such come to be spewed out of Christ's mouth except they Repent and if not they come to Corrupt the Earth and burden it that it Vomits them out of it And therefore all are Exhorted to keep in the Power and Spirit of Christ Jesus and in the Word of Life and the Wisdom of God which is above that that is below in which they may keep their heavenly Understandings and heavenly Discernings and so set the heavenly Spiritual Judgment over that which is for Judgment which dishonours God which leads into loose and false Liberty out of the Unity which stands in the heavenly Spirit which brings into Conformity and to be Conformable to the Image of the Son of God and his Gospel the Power of God which was before the Devil was and his Truth which the Devil is out of in which all are of one Mind Heart and Soul and come to drink into one Spirit being baptized into one Spirit and so into one Body which Christ is the Head of and so keep one Fellowship in the Spirit and Unity in the Spirit which is the Bond of Peace the Prince of Princes Peace And they that Cry so much against Judging and are afraid of Judgment whether they be Apostates Professors or Prophane they are the Most-judging with their censorious false Spirits and Judgment and yet cannot bear the true Judgment of the Spirit of God nor stand in his Judgment This hath been manifest from the beginning they having the false Measures and the false Weights for none have the true Measure and the true Weight but who keep in the Light Power and Spirit of Christ And now there is a loose Spirit that cries for Liberty and against Prescriptions and yet is prescribing ways both by Words and Writings And the same Spirit cries against Judging and would not be Judged and yet is Judging with a wrong Spirit And this is given forth in Reproof to that Spirit London the 9th of the 4th Month 1678. G. F. When I had finished what Service I had for the Lord at this time here I left London and went towards Hartford visiting Friends and having several Meetings in the way At Hartford I stay'd several days having much Service for the Lord there both amongst Friends in their Meetings and in Conferences with such as having let in evil surmisings and jealousies concerning Friends stood in Opposition to the Order of Truth And in Answering some Books that had been written against Truth and Friends And while I was here it came upon me to write a few Lines and send them abroad amongst Friends as followeth Dear Friends LET the holy Seed of Life reign over Death and the unholy Seed in you all that in the holy Seed of the Kingdom ye may all feel the everlasting holy Peace with God through Christ Jesus your Saviour and sit down in him your Life and glorious Rest the holy Rock and Foundation that standeth sure over all from Everlasting to Everlasting in whom all the fulness of Blessedness is so that ye may glory in him that liveth for evermore Amen! Who is your Eternal Joy Life and Happiness through whom you have Peace with God 1678. Hartford Which holy Seed bruiseth the Head of the Serpent and will out-live all his Wrath and Rage Malice and Envy who was before He and It was and remains when He and It is gone into the fire that burns with brimstone The Seed Christ will reign and so will ye as ye do live and walk in him and sit down in Christ and build up one another in the Love of God Hartford the 10 of the 5th Month 1678. G. F. Next day a fresh Exercise came upon me with respect to those unruly and disorderly Spirits which were gone out from us and were labouring to draw others after them into a false Liberty And in the sense I had of the hurt and mischief these might do where they were given way to I was moved to write a few Lines to Warn Friends of them as followeth All Friends KEep in the tender Life of the Lamb over that unruly puffed up and swelling Spirit whose work is for Strife Contention and Division drawing into Loosness and false Liberty under a pretence of Conscience and dangerous to the Spoiling of Youth They that do encourage them will be guilty of their Destruction and set up a sturdy Will instead of Conscience in their Rage and Passion which will quench the universal Spirit in themselves and in every Man and Woman and so that Spirit shall not have the Liberty in themselves nor in Others and so shut up the Kingdom of Heaven in themselves and also in Others And so a loose Spirit getting up under a pretence of Liberty of Conscience or a stubborn Will making a Profession of the Words of Truth in a Form without Power all Loosness and Vileness will be sheltered and covered under this pretence which is for Eternal Judgment for that doth dishonour God Therefore keep to the tender Spirit of God in all humility that
fine Opportunity to open the Way of Truth amongst them After I was come to London London I was moved to write the following Paper concerning that Spirit which had led some who profest Truth into Strife and Division and to oppose the Way and Work of the Lord. Friends YOU that do keep your habitations in the Truth that is over all do see that it is the same Spirit that doth lead the Backsliders and Apostates now from the Spiritual Fellowship and Unity of God's People and the Church of Christ that led out Adam and Eve from God and the Jews from God and his Law to Rebel against his Spirit and so to turn against God and his Prophets And this Spirit was the same that was in the World which was got into the Jews when they were gone from the Spirit of God and then they turned against God and his Prophets and against Christ and his Apostles And that Spirit led them to be as bad as Pilate or worse The Enmity or Adversary was got within them against the Truth and them that walked in it and the Spirit of the Lord so that they killed and destroyed the Just. And this was the Spirit of the Devil the Destroyer who would seek not only to destroy the Truth but the Order of it and them that walk in it when true Christianity was planted among the Possessors of the Light 1681. London Grace and Truth and the Gospel-holy Faith and Spirit and they did enjoy Christ in their hearts But when some did begin to Err from the Spirit and Faith and hate the Light and disobey the Gospel and to turn the Grace of God into Wantonness and walk despitefully against the Spirit of Grace and turn from the Truth and Crucifie to themselves Christ afresh and put him to open shame These were they that let in the Spirit of the World who held the Form of Godliness but denied the Power thereof which troubled the Churches in the Apostles days And when the Spirit of Satan had got into such they were more troublesome to the Church than the open Persecutors that were without And these got into the Assemblies to deceive the hearts of the Simple having the good Words and fair Speeches and Sheep's-Cloathing Paul Peter John Jude and James had much to do with such and to keep them from troubling the Church of Christ For they are out of the Light Power and Spirit and therefore the Apostles of Christ did exhort the Saints to keep to the Word of Life within and to the Anointing and to the Grace and Truth and holy Spirit in their hearts This foul Spirit will profess all the Scriptures in words but by the Spirit of God which is holy that Spirit is tried and its fruits And so the Apostates went from the Power and Spirit of God and turned against the Prophets and the Martyrs of Jesus and became the Whore whose Cup all Nations drunk of And the Dragon with his Tail threw down many of the Stars and would have devoured the Woman with his Flood but the Woman the true Church was preserved and the Gates of Hell cannot prevail against her And then the Dragon made war with her Seed So the Dragon and the Whore and Beast and false Prophets all made war against the Lamb and the Saints but the Lamb and the Saints will overcome them all and will have the Victory And now the Everlasting Gospel is preached again to all Nations Tongues and Peoples and many are gathered into the Gospel the Power of God and are turned to the Light which is the Life in Christ and are grafted into him and are come to walk in the Order of the New Covenant of Light and Life in the Gospel of Peace and Salvation The same Spirit that opposed the Apostles and the Churches in their days opposes now yea it is the same that opposed Christ and disdained him that disdaineth God's Servants now And the same that did oppose the Prophets and rebelled against Moses opposes and rebels against God's Servants and People now And it is the same dark blind and disobedient faithless wilful jealous Spirit that doth persecute some with the Hands and others with the Tongue And it is the same Spirit of Enmity the Adversary and Destroyer that tempted Adam and Eve to disobey God and did deceive them which deceived the Jews and tempted them and deceived all those that went from the Church in the Apostles days And it is the same Spirit that is now going about sometimes like a roaring Lion sometimes like a twisting Serpent to tempt and to deceive 1682. London and to devour having the fair Speeches and good Words and Sheeps-Cloathing in a Form of Godliness and in pretence of the Light and Liberty but denies the Power thereof and inwardly are ravening Wolves and if it were possible they would deceive the very Elect. But the Elect are in the Covenant of Light and Life and in the Power of God over them and in Christ who will grind them to pieces and will slay all his Enemies with his spiritual Sword who will not have him to rule over or in them In Christ all his People have Rest and Peace who is their Sanctuary over all Storms and Tempests And in Christ the Sanctuary no Deceiver nor Destroyer can come for he is a place of sweet Rest and Safety Hallelujah Praise the Lord for his Sanctuary Amen G. F. Sufferings continuing still hard upon Friends at London I found my Service lay mostly here Wherefore I went but a little out of Town and not far being frequent at the most publick Meetings to encourage Friends both by Word and Example to stand fast in the Testimony to which God had called them And at other times I went about from house to house visiting those Friends that had their Goods taken away for their Testimony to Truth And because the wicked Informers were grown very audacious by reason that they had too much Countenance and Encouragement from some Justices who trusting wholly to their Information proceeded against Friends without hearing them whereby many Friends were made to suffer not only contrary to Right but even contrary to Law also I advised with some Friends about it and we drew up a Paper which was afterwards delivered to most of the Magistrates in and about the City which was as followeth WHereas some Informers have obtained Warrants of some Justices of Peace and have Convicted many of us without hearing us or once Summoning us to Appear before them by which proceedings many have had their Goods seized and taken away being generally fined Ten Pounds a piece for an unknown Speaker and some of those Persons so fined have not been that day at the Meetings they were fined for and the Speaker notwithstanding hath himself been fined for the same Meeting the same day the others were fined for the unknown Speaker By which the Justices may see the Wickedness of these Informers by whose false
Members of Christ Jesus of which he is the Spiritual Head Rock and Foundation And in the midst of his Church of living Members Christ exercises his Spiritual Prophetical Office to open to them the Mysteries of his Kingdom And is a Spiritual Bishop to oversee them that they do not go astray from the living God that made them and a Shepherd that feeds them with Bread and Water of Life from Heaven and none is able to pluck his Sheep out of his hands and he is a Priest that died for them and sanctifieth them and presents them to God who ruleth in their Hearts by the Divine Faith which he is the Author and Finisher of And his living Members do praise God through Jesus Christ in whom they have Life and Salvation who reconciles them to God that they can say they have Peace with God through Jesus Christ and so praise God through him that was dead and is alive again and reigns over all and liveth for evermore blessed for ever Hallelujah Amen! Greet one another with an holy Kiss of Charity and this Kiss of Charity is above all the Kisses of the World for Love and Charity beareth all things believeth all things hopeth all things and endures all things It envieth not and Charity vaunteth not it self nor is puffed up nor doth it behave it self unseemly It rejoices not in Iniquity but rejoices in the Truth And Charity is not easily provoked and thinks no Evil but suffereth long and is kind And Charity never faileth I say Greet one another with this holy Kiss of Charity and Peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus your Life and Salvation The 30th of the 3d Month 1686. G. F. I remained for the most part of this Year in London save that sometimes I got out to Bednal-Green for a Night or two Bednal-Green Enfield Chiswick and some times went as far as Enfield and thereabouts amongst Friends and once or twice to Chiswick where an Ancient Friend had set up a School for the Educating of Friends Children in all which places I found Service for the Lord. London And when I was at London I spent my time amongst Friends either in Publick Meetings as the Lord drew me or visiting Friends that were not well and in looking after the Sufferings of Friends For though very many Friends were released out of Prisons yet some remained Prisoners still for Tithes c. and Sufferings of several sorts lay heavy yet on Friends in many places Yet inasmuch as many Friends that had been Prisoners were now set at Liberty I felt a Concern upon me that none might look too much at Man but might Eye the Lord therein from whom deliverance comes Wherefore I writ an Epistle to Friends and sent it abroad to be read amongst them as followeth Friends THE Lord by his Eternal Power hath opened the heart of the King to open the Prison-doors by which about Fifteen or Sixteen hundred are set at Liberty and hath given a Check to the Informers so that in many places our Meetings are pretty quiet So my desires are that both Liberty and Sufferings all may be sanctified to his People and Friends may prize the Mercies of the Lord in all things and to him be thankful who stilleth the Raging Waves of the Seas and allayeth the Storms and Tempests and maketh a Calm And therefore it is good to trust in the Lord and cast your Care upon him who careth for you For when ye were in your Gaols and Prisons Then the Lord did by his Eternal Arm and Power uphold you and sanctified them to you and unto some he made them as a Sanctuary and tried his People as in a Furnace of Affliction both in Prisons and spoiling of Goods And in all this the Lord was with his People and taught them to know that The Earth is the Lord's and the Fulness thereof 1686. London and that he was in all places who crowneth the year with his goodness Psal 65. Therefore let all God's People be diligent and careful to keep the Camp of God holy pure and clean and to serve God and Christ and one another in the glorious peaceable Gospel of Life and Salvation which Glory shines over God's Camp and his great Prophet and Bishop and Shepherd is among or in the midst of them exercising his heavenly Offices in them so that you his People may Rejoice in Christ Jesus through whom you have Peace with God For he that destroyeth the Devil and his Work and bruises the Serpent's Head is all God's Peoples heavenly Foundation and Rock to build upon which was the holy Prophets and Apostles Rock in days past and is now a Rock of our Ages which Rock and Foundation of God standeth sure And upon this the Lord God establish all his People Amen London the 25th of the 7th Month 1686. G. F. Divers other Epistles and Papers relating to Friends and Truth I writ this Year whereof one was by way of Exhortation to Friends to keep in Vnity in the Truth in which there is no Division nor Separation And thus it was DEar Friends and Brethren in the Lord Jesus Christ in whom ye have all Peace and Life and in him there is no Division nor Schism nor Rent nor Strife nor Separation for Christ is not divided and there can be no Separation in the Truth nor in the Light Grace Faith and Holy Ghost but Unity and Fellowship and Communion For the Devil was the first that went out of the Truth and separated from it and tempted Man and Woman to disobey God and to go from the Truth into a false Liberty to do that which God forbad And so it is the Serpent now that leads Men and Women into a false Liberty even the God of the World from which Man and Woman must be separated by the Truth that Christ the Truth may make them free and then they are free indeed And then they are to stand fast in that Liberty in which Christ hath made them free and in him as I said before there is no Division nor Schism nor Rent nor Separation but Peace and Life and Reconciliation to God and to one another So that in Christ Male and Female are all one for whether they be Male or Female Jew or Gentile Bond or Free they are all one in Christ And there can be no Schism Rent or Division in him nor in the Worship of God in his holy Spirit and Truth nor in the pure and undefiled Religion that keeps from the Spots of the World nor in the Love of God that beareth and endureth all things nor in the Word of God's Grace for it is pure and endureth for ever Many you see have lost the Word of Patience and the Word of Wisdom that is pure and peaceable and gentle and easie to be intreated Then they run into the Wisdom that is below that is earthly sensual and devilish and very uneasie to be intreated And they
Amen London the 27th of the 3d Month 1689. G. F. Being much Wearied and Spent with being at many large Meetings 1689. Kingston and in much Business with Friends during the time of the Yearly-Meeting and finding my health much impaired thereby I went out of Town with my Daughter Rouse to their Country-house near Kingston and tarried there most of the remaining part of the Summer In which time I sometimes visited Friends Meetings at Kingston and writ divers things for the Service of Truth and Friends Amongst those things that I writ there one was an Epistle to Friends in Barbados and it was as followeth To all Friends in Barbados that are Convinced of God's Truth MY Desires are that ye may live and walk in his peaceable Truth and shew forth that ye are Children of the Light and of the Truth for the heavenly gentle and peaceable Wisdom is justified of her Children But Debate Strife Wilfulness and laying open one another's Nakedness and Weakness that is not heavenly Wisdom's Children's doing but Ham's nor from the Spirit of Christ nor such as bite and tear one another That 's from a devouring Spirit and not from the Spirit of Jesus which cloaths and covers that which is uncomely and can forgive And now my Friends you profess that Truth which is beyond all the World's ways therefore see that you do Excel them in the heavenly gentle Wisdom that is easie to be intreated for the Wisdom of the World is not easie to be intreated and sometimes will not be intreated at all And now pray see how you do excel the World in Wisdom in Vertue in Kindness in Love that is over hatred in Meekness and Lowliness and Humility and in Sobriety Civility and Modesty and in Temperance and Patience and in all that which is called Morality and Humanity which will not act any thing below Men or unmanly and to shew forth true Christianity and that ye are the Converted and Translated Believers in Christ dwelling in the Love of God that beareth all things and endureth all things and is not puffed up and envies not For they that be out of this Love of God and Christian Charity are nothing but as a tinkling Cymbal and a sounding Brass and are discontented Murmurers and Complainers full of Doubts Questions and false Jealousies Keep that Spirit out of the Camp of God for do not you read in the Scriptures both of the New and Old Testament that the End of such was Misery Therefore in the Love of God build up one another for Love edifies the Body of Christ and he commands his Believers to love Enemies and to love one another By this they are known to be the Disciples of Christ But to live in Envy Strife and Hatred is a Mark they are no Disciples of Christ For he that loveth not his Brother abides in Death and whosoever hates his Brother is a Murderer and ye know that no Murderer hath eternal life abiding in him But they that do love the Brethren are passed from death to life 1 John 3.14 15. And If a Man say I love God and hateth his Brother he is a liar for he that loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen And this Commandment have we from God that he who loveth God loveth his Brother also Chap. 4.20 21. Therefore love one another for Love is of God and Hatred is of the Devil and every one that loveth is born of God and knows God Now all are Children of God by Creation and therefore in that state they are to love their Neigbours as themselves and to do unto all Men as they would have them do unto them Secondly God pouring his Spirit upon all Flesh or all Men and Women all that are led by the Spirit of God are the Sons of God and Heirs of God and Joint-heirs with Christ and so are in Fellowship in the Everlasting Gospel and so are in Vnity in the Spirit the Bond of Peace And they that go out of this Unity and out of the Bond of Peace and do not keep it they break the King of Kings Peace but they that keep in the Unity and Fellowship in the Spirit and walk in the Light have Fellowship one with another and with the Father and the Son So it is not every one that talks of the Light and talks of the Word and of Righteousness and talks of Christ and of God but he that Doth the will of God And therefore My Friends all strive to excel one another in Love and in Vertue and in good Life and Conversation and strive all to be of one Mind Heart and Judgment in the Spirit of God for in Christ all are one and are in peace in him The Lord God Almighty preserve you in him who is your holy Rock and Foundation that is heavenly and stands sure that ye may all be Valiant for the Truth upon the Earth and for the Lord and his glorious Name so that ye may all come to serve him in your Generation and in his New Creation in Christ Jesus Amen And now that you are come into so much Favour with the Magistrates and Powers that they let you serve the Office of a Constable c. without swearing or taking any Oaths hereby Christ's Doctrine and Command and his Apostle's is set up And therefore I desire that you may double your diligence in your Offices in doing that which is just and true and righteous so that ye may excel and exceed all them that are tied shack'led or bound by Swearing or Oaths to perform their Offices and you can do it at Yea and Nay so say and so do according to Christ's Doctrine and Command For Adam and Eve by disobeying the Command of God fell under Condemnation and they that disobey the Command of Christ in taking Oaths and Swearing go into Evil and fall into Condemnation Matth. 5. and Jam. 5. So my Love in the Lord is to you all Kingston upon Thames the 10th of the 5th Month 1689. G. F. I stay'd at Kingston till the beginning of the Seventh Month where not only many Friends came to visit me but some Considerable People of the World with whom I discoursed about the Things of God Then leaving Kingston I went to London by Water visiting Friends as I went Hammersmith and taking Hammersmith-Meeting in my way And having recovered some strength by being in the Country when I was come to London London I went from Meeting to Meeting labouring diligently in the work of the Lord and opening the Divine Mysteries of the heavenly things as God by his Spirit opened them in me But I found my Body would not long bear the City wherefore when I had travelled amongst Friends there about a Month Tottenham-High-Cross Winchmore-hill Enfield I went to Tottenham-High-Cross and from thence to Edward Man's Country-house near Winchmore-hill and to Enfield spending a matter of Three Weeks
laid in Wait afore-hand for him in many places And then he being return'd at Bristol he declared his Intentions of Marriage and there also was our Marriage solemnized And then within ten Days after I came homewards and my Husband stayed up and down in the Countries amongst Friends visiting them And soon after I came home there came another Order from the Council to cast me into Prison again and the Sheriff of Lancashire sent his Bailiff and pulled me out of my own House and had me Prisoner to Lancaster-Castle upon the Old Premunire where I continued a whole Year And most part of all that time was I sick and weakly and also my Husband was weak and sickly at that time And then after a while he Recovered and went about to get me out of Prison and a Discharge at last was got under the Great Seal and so I was set at Liberty And then I was to go up to London again for my Husband was intending for America And he was full two years away before he came back again into England and then he arrived at Bristol and then came to London and he intended to have come to the middle of the Nation with me But when we came into some parts of Worcestershire they got there Information of him and one Justice Parker by his Warrant sent him and my Son Lower to Worcester-Gaol The ninth Imprisonment and the Justices there tendered him the Oath and Premunired him but Released my Son Lower who stayed with him most of the time he was Prisoner there And after some time he fell sick in a long lingering Sickness and many times was very ill so they writ to me from London That if I would see him alive I might go to him which accordingly I did And after I had tarried Seventeen Weeks with him at Worcester and no Discharge like to be obtained for him I went up to London and writ to the King an Account of his long Imprisonment and how he was taken in his Travel homewards and how he was weak and sick and not like to live if they kept him long there And I went with it to Whitehall my self and I met with the King and gave him the Paper And he said I must go to the Chancellour he could do nothing in it Then I writ also to the Lord Chancellour and went to his House and gave him my Paper and spoke to him That the King had left it wholly to him and if he did not take pity and Release him out of that Prison I feared he would end his days there And the Lord Chancellour Finch was a very tender Man and spoke to the Judge who gave out an Habeas Corpus presently And when we got it we sent it down to Worcester and they would not part with him at first but said he was Premunired and was not to go out on that manner And then we were forced to go to Judge North and to the Attorney General and we got another Order and sent down from them and with much ado and great Labour and Industry of William Mead and other Friends we got him up to London where he Appeared in Westminster-Hall at the King 's Bench before Judge Hales who was a very honest tender Man and he knew they had Imprisoned him but in Envy So that which they had against him was Read and our Counsel pleaded That he was taken up in his Travel and Journey And there was but a little said till he was quitted And this was the Last Prison that he was in being freed by the Court of King's Bench. And when he was at Liberty he Recovered again And then I was very desirous to go home with him which we did And this was the first time that he came to Swarthmore after we were Married and so he stayed here much of two years And then went to London again to the Yearly Meeting and after a while went into Holland and some parts of Germany where he stayed a pretty while and then Returned to London again at the next Yearly Meeting And after he had stayed a while in and about London he came into the North to Swarthmore again and stayed that time nigh two years And then he grew weakly being troubled with Pains and Aches having had many sore and long Travels Beatings and hard Imprisonments But after some time he rid to York and so passed on thorow Nottinghamshire and several Counties visiting Friends till he came to London to the Yearly-Meeting and stayed there and there-aways till he finished his Course and laid down his Head in Peace And though the Lord had provided an outward Habitation for him yet he was not willing to stay at it because it was so remote and far from London where his Service most lay And my Concern for God and his holy Eternal Truth was then in the North where God had placed and set me and likewise for the Ordering and Governing of my Children and Family so that we were very willing both of us to live a-part some years upon God's Account and his Truth 's Service and to deny our selves of that Comfort which we might have had in being together for the sake and Service of the Lord and his Truth And if any took Occasion or Judged hard of us because of that the Lord will Judge them for we were Innocent And for my own part I was willing to make many long Journies for taking away all Occasion of evil Thoughts And though I lived Two hundred Miles from London yet have I been Nine times there upon the Lord and his Truth 's Account and of all the times that I was at London this last time was most Comfortable that the Lord was pleased to give me Strength and Ability to travel that great Journey being Seventy six years of Age to see my Dear Husband who was better in his Health and Strength than many times I had seen him before I look upon that that the Lord 's special Hand was in it that I should go then for he lived but about half a Year after I left him Which makes me admire the Wisdom and Goodness of God in Ordering my Journey at that time And now he hath finished his Course and his Testimony and is entered into his Eternal Rest and Felicity I trust in the same powerful God that his holy Arm and Power will carry me thorow whatever he hath yet for me to do and that he will be my Strength and Support and the Bearer up of my Head unto the End and in the End For I know his Faithfulness and Goodness and I have Experience of his Love To whom be Glory and Powerful Dominion for ever Amen M. F. The Testimony of some of the AUTHOR'S Relations NEither Days nor Length of Time with us can wear out the Memory of our Dear and Honoured Father George Fox whom the Lord hath taken to himself And though his Earthly House of this Tabernacle be dissolved
Gain Yet how can we avoid being deeply affected with Sadness of Spirit and brokenness of Heart under the sense and consideration of such Loss and Revolutions which we have cause to believe are Ominous of Calamities to the wicked World though of good to the Righteous Did the Death of plain upright Jacob Gen. 50. namely Israel who was as a Prince of God so deeply affect both his own Children and Kindred as that they made a great and exceeding sore Lamentation for him and even the Egyptians also that they bewailed him seventy days And the Death of Moses so deeply affect the Children of Israel Deut. 34. as that they did weep and mourn for him in the Plain of Moab thirty Days And the Death of Stephen that faithful Martyr of Jesus so deeply affect certain Men fearing God Acts 7. as that they made great Lamentation for him And the Apostle Paul when taking his leave of the Elders of the Church of Ephesus Acts 20. and telling them They should see his Face no more If this did so deeply affect them that they wept all abundantly sorrowing most of all for these Words That they should see his face no more with many more of this kind How then can we otherwise chuse but be deeply affected with Sorrow and Sadness of Heart though not as those which have no hope when so many of our Ancient Dear and Faithful Brethren with whom we have had much sweet Society are removed from us one after another We pray God raise up and increase more such Yet must we all contentedly submit to the good Pleasure and Wisdom of the Lord our God in all these things who taketh away and none can hinder him nor may any say unto him What dost thou Yet we have cause to bless the Lord that he hath of late raised and is raising up more to publish his Name in the Earth And we that yet remain have but a short Time to stay after them that are gone but we shall be gone to them also The Lord God of Life keep us all Faithful in his holy Truth Love Vnity and Life to the End He hath a great Work still to bring forth in the Earth and great things to bring to pass in order to make way for Truth and Righteousness to take place therein and that his Seed may come forth and be gathered and the Power and Kingdom of our God and of his Christ made known and exalted in the Earth unto the Ends thereof Dear Friends and Brethren Be faithful till Death that a Crown of Life you may obtain All dwell in the Love of God in Christ Jesus in Vnion and Peace in him To whom we tenderly Commit you to keep and strengthen you bless and preserve you to the End of your Days In whose dear and tender Love we remain Your Dear Friends and Brethren Stephen Crisp Geo. Whitehead Fra. Camfield James Park John Elson Peter Price John Field John Edridge Nicholas Gates Francis Stamper John Vaughton Gilbert Latey Charles Marshal Rich. Needham James Martin Daniel Monro John Heywood George Bowles William Robinson William Bingley John Butcher Benjamin Antrobus These Names are since added at the desire of the Persons following Sam. Goodaker Amb. Rigg William Fallowfield POSTSCRIPT BEfore his Death he writ a little Paper desiring all Friends every where that use to write to him about the Sufferings and Affairs of Friends in their several Countries should henceforth write to their several Correspondents in London to be Communicated to the Second-Days Meeting to take Care that they be answered Thomas Ellwood's Account of that Eminent and Honourable Servant of the Lord George Fox THis Holy Man was raised up by God in an Extraordinary Manner for an Extraordinary Work even to Awaken the sleeping World by proclaiming the Mighty Day of the Lord to the Nations and publishing again the Everlasting Gospel to the Inhabitants of the Earth after the long and dismal Night of Apostacy and Darkness For this Work the Lord began to prepare him by many and various Trials and Exercises from his very Childhood And having fitted and furnished him for it he called him into it very Young and made him Instrumental by the effectual Working of the Holy Ghost through his Ministry to call many Others into the same Work and to turn many Thousands from Darkness to the Light of Christ and from the Power of Satan unto God I knew him not till the Year 1660 from that Time to the Time of his Death I knew him well Conversed with him often Observed him much Loved him dearly and Honoured him truly and upon good Experience can say He was indeed an Heavenly-minded Man zealous for the Name of the Lord and preferr'd the Honour of God before all things He was Valiant for the Truth Bold in Asserting it Patient in Suffering for it Unwearied in Labouring in it Steady in his Testimony to it Immoveable as a Rock Deep he was in Divine Knowledge Clear in opening heavenly Mysteries Plain and Powerful in Preaching Fervent in Prayer He was richly endued with heavenly Wisdom Quick in Discerning Sound in Judgment Able and ready in Giving Discreet in Keeping Counsel A Lover of Righteousness an Encourager of Vertue Justice Temperance Meekness Purity Chastity Modesty Humility Charity and Self-Denial in all both by Word and Example Graceful he was in Countenance Manly in Personage Grave in Gesture Courteous in Conversation Weighty in Communication Instructive in Discourse Free from Affectation in Speech or Carriage A severe Reprover of hard and obstinate Sinners A mild and gentle Admonisher of such as were tender and sensible of their Failings Not apt to resent personal Wrongs Easie to forgive Injuries But zealously Earnest where the Honour of God the Prosperity of Truth the Peace of the Church were concerned Very Tender Compassionate and Pitiful he was to all that were under any sort of Affliction full of Brotherly Love full of Fatherly Care For indeed the Care of the Churches of Christ was daily upon him the Prosperity and Peace whereof he studiously sought Beloved he was of God Beloved of God's People and which was not the least part of his Honour the Common Butt of all Apostates Envy whose Good notwithstanding he earnestly sought He lived to see the Desire of his Soul The Spreading of that Blessed Principle of Divine Light through many of the European Nations and not a few of the American Islands and Provinces and the Gathering many Thousands into an Establishment therein which the Lord vouchsafed him the Honour to be the First Effectual Publisher of in this latter Age of the World And having fought a good Fight finished his Course and kept the Faith his righteous Soul freed from the Earthly Tabernacle in which he had led an Exemplary Life of Holiness was translated into those Heavenly Mansions where Christ our Lord went to prepare a Place for His there to possess that Glorious Crown of Righteousness which is laid up
Rock and Sanctuary and by thee we have leaped over a Wall and by thee we have run through a Troop and by thee we have put the Armies of the Aliens to Flight these People had Right to say it And as God had delivered their Souls of the warisom Burthens of Sin and Vanity and enriched their poverty of Spirit and satisfied their great Hungar and Thirst after Eternal Righteousness and filled them with the Good Things of his own House and made them Stewards of his Manifold Gifts so they went forth to all Quarters of these Nations to Declare to the Inhabitants thereof what God had done for them what they had found and where and how they had found it viz. The way to Peace with God Inviting them to come and see and taste for themselves the Truth of what they Declared unto them And as their Testimony was to the Principle of God in Man the precious Pearl and Leven of the Kingdom as the only blessed means appointed of God to Quicken Convince and Sanctifie Man so they opened to them what it was in it self and what it was given to them for How they might know it from their own Spirit and that of the Subtil appearance of the Evil one and what it would do for all those whose minds are turned off from the Vanity of the World and its Lifeless ways and Teachers and ad-hear to this blessed Light in themselves which discovers and condemns Sin in all its appearances and shows how to overcome it if minded and obeyed in its holy Manifestations and Convictions Giving Power to such to Avoid and Resist those things that do not please God and to grow Strong in Love Faith and Good Works That so Man whom Sin hath made as a Wilderness over-run with Briers and Thorns might become as the Garden of God cultivated by his divine Power and replenisht with the most Virtuous and Beautiful Plants of God's own Right Hand Planting to his Eternal Praise But these Experimental Preachers of Glad Tydings of God's Truth and Kingdom could not run when they List or Pray or Preach when they Pleased But as the Christ their Redeemer prepared and moved them by his own Blessed Spirit for which they waited in their Services and Meetings and Spoak as that gave them utterance and which was as those having Authority and not like the Dreaming Dry and formal Pharisees And so it plainly appeared to the serious Minded whose Spiritual Eye the Lord Jesus had in any measure opened so that to one was given the Word of Exhortation to another the Word of Reproof to another the Word of Consolation and all by the same Spirit and in the good Order thereof to the Convincing and Edifying of many And truly they waxed Strong and Bold through Faithfulness and by the Power and Spirit of the Lord Jesus became very Fruitful thousands in a short time being turned to the Truth through their Testimony in Ministry and Sufferings insomuch as in most Counties and many of the considerable Towns of England Meetings were settled and daily there were added such as should be saved For they were Diligent to Plant and to Water and the Lord blessed their Labours with an Exceeding great Increase notwithstanding all the opposition made to their blessed Progress by false Rumors Calumnies and bitter Persecutions not only from the Powers of the Earth but from every one that listed to injure and abuse them So that they seemed indeed to be as poor Sheep appointed to the Slaughter and as a People killed all the Day long It were fitter for a Volumn than a Preface but so much as to repeat the Contents of their cruel Sufferings from Professors as well as from Prophaine and from Magistrates as well as the Rabble that it may well be said of this abused and despised People they went forth Weeping and sowed in Tears bearing Testimony to the Precious Seed the Seed of the Kingdom which stands not in Words the Finest the Highest that Man's Wit can use but in Power the Power of Christ Jesus to whom God the Father hath given all Power in Heaven and in Earth that he might rule Angels above and Men below who impowred them as their Work witnesseth by the many that were turned through their Ministry from Darkness to the Light and out of the Broad into the Narrow Way bringing People to a Weighty Serious and God-like Conversation the Practice of that Doctrine which they Taught And as without this Secret Divine Power there is no Quickning and Regenerating of dead Souls so the want of this Generating and begetting Power and Life is the Cause of the little Fruit that the many Ministrys that have been and are in the World bring forth O that both Ministers and People were sensible of this My Soul is often troubled for them and Sorrow and Mourning compass me about for their Sakes O! that they were Wise O! that they would consider and lay to Heart the things that truly and substantially make for their lasting Peace Two things are to be briefly toucht upon the Doctrine they Taught and the Example they lead among all People I have already toucht upon their Fundamental Principle which is as the Corner stone of their Fabrick And to speak eminently and properly their Characteristick or main distinguishing Point or Principle viz. the Light of Christ within as God's Gift for Man's Salvation This I say is as the Root of the goodly Tree of Doctrines that grew and branched out from it which I shall now mention in their Natural and Experimental Order First Repentance from dead Works to serve the Living God Which comprehends three Operations First a sight of Sin Secondly A Sense and Godly Sorrow for it Thirdly An Amendment for the Time to come This was the Repentance they preached and pressed and a Natural result from the Principle they turned all People unto For of Light came Sight and of Sight came Sense and Sorrow and of Sense and Sorrow came Amentment of Life Which Doctrine of Repentance leads to Justification that is Forgiveness of the Sins that are past through Christ the alone Propitiation and the Sanctification or Purgation of the Soul from the defiling Nature and Habits of sin present which is justification in the compleat Sense of that Word comprehending both justification from the Guilt of the Sins that are past as if they had never been commited through the Love and Mercy of God in Christ Jesus and the Creatures being made inwardly just through the Cleansing and Sanctifying Power and Spirit of Christ revealed in the Soul which is commonly called Sanctification .. From hence sprang a Second Doctrine they were led to declare as the Mark of the Price of the High Calling of all true Christians viz. Perfection from sin according to the Scriptures of Truth which testifie it to be the end of Christ's coming and the Nature of his Kingdom and for which his Spirit was given But they never held a Perfection
naturally led into So that what is an evil to One is so to All and what is Vertuous Honest and of good Report to One is so to All from the Sense and Savour of the one Vniversal Principle which is common to all and which the disaffected profess to be the Root of all True Christian Fellowship and that Spirit into which the People of God drink and come to be Spiritually Minded and of one Heart and one Soul Some weakly mistook good Order in the Government of Church Affairs for Discipline in Worship and that it was so prest or recommended by Him and other Brethren And they were ready to reflect the same things that Dissenters had very reasonably objected upon the National Churches that have coercively pressed Conformity to their Respective Creeds and Worships Whereas these things related wholly to Conversation and the Outward and as I may say Civil part of the Church that Men should walk up to the Principles of their Belief and not be wanting in Care and Charity But though some have stumbled and fallen through Mistakes and an unreasonable Obstinancy even to a Prejudice yet blessed be God the Generality have returned to their First Love and seen the Work of the Enemy that looses no Opportunity or Advantage by which he may check or hinder the Work of God and disquiet the Peace of his Church and chill the Love of his People to the Truth and one to another and there is hope of divers that are yet at a Distance In all these Occasions though there was no Person the Discontented struck so sharply at as this Good Man he bore all their Weakness and Prejudice and returned not Reflection for Reflection but forgave them their weak and bitter Speeches praying for them that they might have a Sense of their hurt and see the Subtilty of the Enemy to Rend and Devide and return into their First Love that thought no Ill. And truly I must say that though God had visibly cloathed him with a Divine Preference and Authority and indeed his very Presence exprest a Religious Majesty yet he never abused it but held his Place in the Church of God with great Meakness and a most engaging Humility and Moderation For upon all Occasions like his blessed Master he was a Servant to all holding and exercising his Eldership in the Invisible Power that had gathered them with Reverence to the Head and Care over the Body And was received only in that Spirit and Power of Christ as the First and Chief Elder in this Age who as he was therefore worthy of double Honour so for the same Reason it was given by the Faithful of this day because his Authority was inward and not outward and that he got it and kept it by the Love of God and Power of an Endless Life I write my Knowledge and not Report and my Witness is True having been with him for Weeks and Months together on divers Occasions and those of the nearest and most exercising Nature and that by Night and by Day by Sea and by Land in this and in Foreign Countrys And I can say I never saw him out of his Place or not a Match for every Service or Occasion For in all things he acquitted himself like a Man yea a strong Man a New and Heavenly minded Man A Divine and a Naturalist and all of God Almighty's making I have been surprised at his Questions and Answers in Natural things that whilst he was Ignorant of useless and Sophistical Science he had in him the Foundation of useful and commendable Knowledge and cherisht it every where Civil beyond all Forms of Breeding in his Behaviour Very Temperate eating Little and sleeping Less though a Bulky Person Thus he Lived and Sojourned among us and as he lived so he died feeling the same Eternal Power that had raised and preserved him in his last Moments So full of assurance was he that he Triumpht over Death and so even to the last as if Death were hardly worth Notice or a Mention Recommending to some with him the Dispatch and Dispersion of an Epistle just before Written to the Churches of Christ throughout the World and his own Books but above all Friends and of all Friends those in Ireland and America twice over Saying mind poor Friends in Ireland and America And to some that came in and enquired how he found himself he answered Never heed the Lord's Power is over all Weakness and Death the Seed reigns Blessed be the Lord Which was about Four or Five Hours before his Departure out of this World He was at the great Meeting near Lombard-street on the First day of the Week and it was the Third following about Ten at Night when he left us being at the House of H. Goldney in the same Court. In a good Old Age he went after having lived to see his Childrens Children to many Generations in the Truth He had the Comfort of a short Illness and the Blessing of a clear Sense to the last and we may truly say with a Man of God of Old that being Dead he yet Speaketh and though absent in Body he is Present in Spirit neither Time nor Place being able to interrupt the Communion of Saints or dissolve the Fellowships of the Spirits of the Just His Works praise him because they are to the Praise of him that worked by him for which his Memorial is and shall be Blessed I have done as to this part of my Preface when I have left this short Epitaph to his Name Many Sons have done virtuously in this Day but Dear George thou Excellest them All. And now Friends you that profess to walk in the way this Blessed Man was sent of God to turn us into suffer I beseech you the word of Exhortation as well Fathers as Children and Elders as Young Men. The Glory of this Day and Foundation of the Hope that has not made us ashamed since we were a People you know is that Blessed Principle of Light and Life of Christ which we Profess and Direct all People to as the great Instrument and Agent of Man's Conversion to God It was by this we were first Touched and effectually enlightned as to our Inward State which put us upon the Consideration of our Latter End causing us to set the Lord before our Eyes and to Number our Days that we might apply our Hearts to Wisdom In that Day we judged not after the Sight of the Eye or after the Hearing of the Ear but according to the Light and Sense this Blessed Principle gave us we judged and acted in reference to Things and Persons our selves and others yea towards God our Maker For being quickned by it in our Inward Man we could easily discern the difference of things and feel what was Right and what was Wrong and what was Fit and what not both in reference to Religion and Civil Concerns That being the ground of the Fellowship of all Saints it was in
Rejoyce in Iniquity but leads to Repent of it So this is the WORD OF THE LORD GOD to you all Friends every where abroad scattered Know the Power of God in one another and in that Rejoyce for then you Rejoyce in the Cross of Christ who is not of the World which Cross is the Power of God to all them that are saved So you that know the Power and feel the Power you feel the Cross of Christ you feel the Gospel which is the Power of God unto Salvation to every one that believeth Now he that believes in the Light believes in the Everlasting Covenant in the one Offering comes to the Life of the Prophets and Moses comes to see Christ the Hope the Mystery which Hope perisheth not but lets you see the Hope that perisheth which is not that Mystery and the Expectation in that perishing Hope fades And where this never-failing Hope is witnessed the Lord comes to be sanctified in the Heart and you come to the Beginning to Christ the Hope which perisheth not but the other Hope and the other Expectation that perisheth So all of you know the perishing of the Other and the failing of the Expectation therein and know that which perisheth not that you may be ready to give a Reason of this Hope with Meekness and Fear to every Man that asketh you Christ the Hope the Mystery that perisheth not the End of all perishing things the End of all changeable things the End of the decaying Covenant the End of that which waxeth old and doth decay the End of the first Covenant of Moses and of the Prophets the Righteousness of God Christ Jesus the Son his Throne ye will know Heirs with him ye will be who makes his Children Kings and Priests to him and brings them to know his Throne and his Power There is no Justification out of the Light out of Christ Justification is in the Light in Christ Here is the Doer of the Will of God here 's the Entring into the Kingdom He that believes in the Light becomes a Child of Light and here the Wisdom is received that is justified of her Children Here believing in the Light you shall not abide in Darkness but shall have the Light of Life and come every one to witness the Light that shines in your Hearts which Light will give you the Light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God in the Face of Jesus Christ With which Light you will see him reign who is the Prince of Life and of Peace which Light turns from him that is out of the Truth and abode not in it where the true Peace is not Friends Be not hasty For he that believes in the Light makes not Haste Here the Grace is received by which you come to be saved the Election is known which obtains the Promise The Will is seen that wills the Mind is known that runs which obtains not but stops and dulls Now that with the Light being seen and judged and stopt the Patience is here known which obtains the Crown and the Immortality is come to Light So all they now that act contrary to the Light and do not believe in it they do not come to Justification And all Friends if you go from the Light from wanting to have the Promise of God fulfilled to the Seed whereby you may know Christ Reign you thereby bring on your selves Changable Garments and come to wear the Changable Garments and the strange Flesh which leads to Adultery which the Law goes upon which shuts out of the Kingdom And out of this Will doth proceed the Work or Building that is for the Fire whereby you may come to suffer Less Therefore the Light love which doth that Condemn and receive the Power from the Lord with which you stand over that and do it Condemn feeling and seeing that which gives you the Victory over the World and to see out of Time to before Time And again Friends Know Abraham that must obey the Voice of Sarah that bears Seed which casts forth the Bond-woman and her Son Do not go forth there will the Wildness lodge Know that which bears the Wild Son and its Mother who is not Sarah for the Promise is to the Seed not of many but one which Seed is Christ And this Seed now you come to witness stand on the Top of all yea on the Head of the Serpent And so all as I said before who this come to feel and witness ceme to the Beginning and this to all the Seed of God the Church that it you all may come to know where there is no blemish nor spot nor Wrinkle nor any such thing which is that which is purchased by the Blood of Jesus and to the Father presented out of all that does defile which is the Pillar and Ground of Truth And none comes to this but such who come to the Light which doth come from Christ who purchased this Church They who go from the Light are shut out and condemned though they profess all the Scriptures declared forth from it Therefore walk in the Light that you may have Fellowship with the Son and with the Father and come all to witness his Image and his Power and his Law which is his Light which hath converted your Souls and brought them to submit to the higher Power above that which is out of the Truth that you may know here the Mercy and Truth and the Faith that works by Love which Christ is the Author of who lighteth every one of you which Faith gives the Victory Now that which gives the Victory is perfect and that which the Ministers of God received from God is that which is perfect and that which they are to Minister is for the perfecting of the Saints till they all come in the Unity of the Faith unto a Perfect Man So this is the Word of the Lord God to you all every one in the Measure of Life Wait that with it all your Minds may be guided up to the Father of Life the Father of Spirits all to receive Power from him and Wisdom that with it you may be ordered to his Glory to whom be all Glory for ever All keep in the Light and Life that judgeth down that which is contrary to the Light and Life So the Lord God Almighty be with you all And keep your Meetings every where being guided by that of God by that you may see the Lord God among you even him who lighteth every Man that cometh into the World by whom the World was made that Men that be come into the World might believe He that believeth not the Light condemns him He that believeth cometh out of Condemnation So this Light which lighteth every Man that cometh into the World which they that hate it stumble at this is the Light of Men. All Friends that speak abroad see that it be in the Life of God for that begets to God the Fruits of that shall never
Wither And this sows to the Spirit which is in Prison and of the Spirit reaps Life to you this is the VVord of the Lord God and the other sows to the Flesh and of the Flesh reaps Corruption And this you may see all the World over amongst these Seeds-Men what may be reaped in the Field that is the VVorld Therefore in the Spirit of the Lord God VVait which cuts down and casts out all this the Root and Branches of it So in that wait to receive Power and the Lord God Almighty preserve you in it whereby you may come to feel the Light that comprehends Time and the VVorld and fathoms it which believed in gives you the Victory over the VVorld And here the Power of the Lord is received which subdues all the contrary and puts off the Garments that will stain and pollute With which Light you come to reach the Light in every Man which Christ enlightens every Man that cometh into the world with-all And here the things of Christ come to be known and the Voice of Christ heard Therefore keep in the Light the Covenant of Peace and walk in the Covenant of Life There is that which maketh Merry over the Witness of God and there is that which maketh Merry in the Lord which rejoyceth over that which hath made merry over it of that take notice you who be in the Light Such the Lord doth beautify whose Trust is in his Strength and the Lord doth see such and them that be in his Light But such as be from the Light whose Eyes be after their Abominations and Idols their Eyes are to be blinded and their beautiful Idols and their Abominations to be destroyed and by the Light condemned which they have made from the Life in their own Strength which with the Light is seen and overthrown by the Power of God If you can change my Covenant saith the Lord which keeps the Day in its Season and the Night in its Season mark my Covenant the Light If you can change this then may you change the Covenant of God with his Seed So all Friends that be turned to the Light which cometh from him by whom the VVorld was made who was before it was made Christ Jesus the Saviour of your Souls abide in the Light and you will see your Salvation to be VValls and Bulwarks against that which the Light discovers to be contrary to it Waiting in the Light you will receive the Power of God which is the Gospel of Peace that you may be shod with it And know that in one another which raiseth up the Seed of God and sets it over the VVorld and the Earth and Crucifies the Affections and Lusts and then the Truth comes to reign which is the Girdle G. F. About this time Rice Jones of Nottingham who had been a Baptist and was turned Ranter the same that came to me in Darby-Jail he and his Company began to prophesy against me giving out That I was then at the highest and that after that time I should fall down as fast And he sent a bundle of Railing Papers from Nottingham to Mansfield Clauson and the Towns thereabouts Judging Friends for declaring the Truth in the Markets and in the Steeple-houses which Papers I Answered But his and his Company 's Prophecies came upon themselves for soon after they fell to Pieces and many of his Followers came to be Friends and continued so And through the Lord's blessed Power Truth and Friends have increased and do increase in the increase of God And I by the same Power have been and am preserved and kept in the Everlasting Seed that never fell nor changes But Rice Jones took the Oaths that were put to him and so disobeyed the Command of Christ Many such false Prophets have risen up against me but the Lord hath blasted them and will blast them all who rise against the blessed Seed and me in that My Confidence is in the Lord for whosoever did I saw their End and how the Lord would Confound them before the Lord sent me forth Synder-hill-Green Now was I at Synder-hill-Green where I had had a large Meeting in the day-time and at Night we had a great Meeting again in Thomas Stacy's House for People came from far and could not soon depart The High-Sheriff of the County told Captain Bradford that he intended to have come up with half a dozen of his Troopers to the Meeting but the Lord prevented him and stopt him When I had stayed some Meetings thereabouts Yorkshire Holderness Land'send I traveled up and down in Yorkshire as far as Holderness and to the Lands-End that way visiting Friends and the Churches of Christ which were finely settled under Christ's Teaching At length I came to Captain Bradford's house whither many Ranters came from York to wrangle but they were confounded and stopped Thither came she also who was called the Lady Mountague who was then Convinced and lived and died in the Truth Hallifax Then I came again to Thomas Taylor 's within three Miles of Hallifax where there was a large Meeting of about Two hundred People amongst which were many rude People and divers Butchers several of whom had bound themselves with an Oath before they came out that they would kill me as I was told One of those Butchers had been Accused for killing a Man and a Woman They came in a very rude manner and made a great Disturbance in the Meeting The Meeting being in a Close Thomas Taylor stood up and said unto them If you will be Civil you may stay but if not I charge you to be gone from off my Ground But they were the worse and said They would make it like a Common and they yelled and made such a Noise as if they had been come to a Bear-baiting And they thrust Friends up and down and Friends being peaceable the Lord's Power came over them Several times they thrust me off from the place I stood on by the Crowding of the People together against me but still I was moved of the Lord to stand up again as I was thrust down At last I was moved of the Lord to say unto them If they would discourse of the things of God let them come up to me one by one and if they had any thing to say or to Object I would Answer them all one after another 1654. Near Hallifax at T. B ' s. Then they were all silent and had nothing to say And then the Lord's Power came so over them all and Answered the Witness of God in them that they were bound by the Power of God and a glorious powerful Meeting we had and his Power went over all and the Minds of People were turned by the Spirit of God in them to God and to Christ their Teacher And the powerful Word of Life was largely declared that day and in the Life and Power of God we brake up our Meeting and that Rude
have my Liberty he said if I would not go to nor keep Meetings I told him I could not promise any such thing Several times upon the Road did he ask and try me after the sâ—me manner and still I gave him the same Answers So he brought me to London London Charing-Cross and lodged me at the Mermaid over against the Mews at Charing-Cross And on the way as we traveled I was moved of the Lord to Warn People at the Inns and Places where I came of the day of the Lord that was coming upon them And William Dewsberry and Marmaduke Stor being in Prison at Northampton he let me go and visit them After Captain Drury had lodged me at the Mermaid he left me there and went to give the Protector an Account of me And when he came to me again he told me The Protector did require that I should promise not to take up a carnal Sword or Weapon against him or the Government as it then was and that I should write it in what words I saw good and set my Hand to it I said little in Reply to Captain Drury But the next Morning I was moved of the Lord to write a Paper To the Protector by the name of Oliver Cromwel wherein I did in the presence of the Lord God declare that I did deny the wearing or drawing of a carnal Sword or any other outward Weapon against him or any Man And that I was sent of God to stand a Witness against all Violence and against the Works of Darkness and to turn People from the Darkness to the Light and to bring them from the Occasion of War and Fighting to the peaceable Gospel and from being Evil-Doers which the Magistrates Sword should be a Terror to When I had written what the Lord had given me to write I set my Name to it and gave it to Captain Drury to give to O. Cromwel which he did Then after some time Captain Drury brought me before the Protector himself at Whitehall Whitehall It was in a Morning before he was dressed and one Harvey that had come a little among Friends but was disobedient waited upon him When I came in I was moved to say Peace be in this House and I bid him Keep in the Fear of God that he might receive Wisdom from him that by it he might be ordered and with it might order all things under his Hand to God's Glory I spake much to him of Truth and a great deal of Discourse I had with him about Reliâ—ion wherein he carried himself very moderately But he said We quarrelled with the Priests whom he called Ministers I told him I did not quarrel with them but they quarrelled with me and my Friends But said I If we own the Prophets Christ and the Apostles we cannot hold up such Teachers Prophets and Shepherds 1654. Whitehall as the Prophets Christ and the Apostles declared against but we must declare against them by the same Power and Spirit Then I shewed him That the Prophets Christ and the Apostles declared freely and declared against them that did not declare freely such as preached for filthy Lucre and divined for Money and preached for Hire and were covetous and greedy like the dumb Dogs that could never have enough And that they that have the same Spirit that Christ and the Prophets and the Apostles had could not but declare against all such now as they did then As I spake he would several times say It was very good and it was Truth I told him That all Christendom so called had the Scriptures but they wanted the Power and Spirit that they had who gave forth the Scriptures and that was the reason they were not in Fellowship with the Son nor with the Father nor with the Scriptures nor one with another Many more words I had with him but People coming in I drew a little back And as I was turning he catched me by the Hand and with Tears in his Eyes said Come again to my House for if thou and I were but an hour of a day together we should be nearer one to the other adding That he wisht me no more Ill than he did to his own Soul I told him If he did he wronged his own Soul And I bid him hearken to God's Voice that he might stand in his Counsel and obey it and if he did so that would keep him from hardness of Heart but if he did not hear God's Voice his Heart would be hardened And he said It was true Then went I out G. F. set at Liberty And when Capt. Drury came out after me he told me His Lord Protector said I was at Liberty and might go whither I would Then I was brought into a great Hall where the Protector 's Gentlemen were to dine and I asked them What they did bring me thither for They said It was by the Protector 's Order that I might dine with them I bid them Let the Protector know I would not eat a bit of his Bread nor drink a sup of his Drink When he heard this he said Now I see there is a People risen and come up that I cannot win either with Gifts Honours Offices or Places but all other Sects and People I can But it was told him again That we had forsook our own and were not like to look for such things from him Now I being set at Liberty went up to the Inn again where Capt. Drury had at first lodged me This Capt. Drury though he sometimes carried fairly was an Enemy to me and to Truth and opposed it and when Professors came to me while I was under his Custody and he was by he would scoff at Trembling and call us Quakers as the Independents and Presbyterians had Nick-named us before But afterwards he came on a time to me and told me That as he was lying on his Bed to rest himself in the day-time a sudden Trembling seized on him that his Joints knocked together and his Body shook so that he could not rise from his Bed he was so shaken that he had not strength enough left to rise But he felt the Power of the Lord was upon him and he tumbled off his Bed and cried to the Lord and said He would never speak against the Quakers more such as Trembled at the Word of God During the Time that I was Prisoner at Charing-Cross 1654. Charing-Cross there came abundaâ—ce to see me People almost of all Sorts Priests Professors Officers of the Army c. And one Time a Company of Officers being with me desired me to pray with them I sate still with my Mind retired to the Lord. At last I felt the Power and Spirit of God move in me and the Lord's Power did so shake and shatter them that they wondred though they did not live in it Among those that came thither to see me there was one Colonel Packer with several of his Officers and while they
and his Marshal to the Meeting and were Convinced for the glorious powerful Day of the Lord was exalted over all and many were Convinced that day at that Meeting There were at that Meeting Two 1655. Whetston that came out of Wales who were Justices of Peace their Names were Peter Price and Walter Jenkin who came both to be Ministers of Christ I went from thence to Sileby to William Smith's Sileby where was a great Meeting to which several Baptists came and one of them a Baptist-Teacher was Convinced and came to sit under the Lord 's Teaching by his Spirit and Power This Baptist said he had Baptized Thirty in a day From thence I went to Drayton my Native Town Drayton where so many Priests and Professors had formerly gathered together against me but now never a Priest nor Professor did appear I asked some of my Relations Where were all the Priests and Professors now They said The Priest of Non-Eaton was dead and there were Eight or Nine of them seeking to get into his Benefice They will let you alone now said they for they are like a Company of Crows when a rotten Sheep is dead they all gather together to pull out the Puddings and so do the Priests for a fallen Benefice These were some of their own Hearers that said so of them But they had spent their Venom against me and the Lord delivered me by his Power out of their Snares Then I went to Badgley Badgley where there was a great Meeting from many parts many came far to it and many were Convinced and turned to the Lord And they that were Convinced came under Christ's Teaching and were settled upon him their Foundation and their Rock From thence I passed into Nottinghamshire Nottingham-shire Darbyshire and had large Meetings there and so into Darbyshire where the Lord's Power came over all and many were turned from the Darkness to the Light and from the Power of Satan unto God and came to receive the Holy Ghost And great Miracles were wrought in many Places by the Power of the Lord through several In Darbyshire James Nailer met me and told me Seven or Eight Priests had challenged him to a Dispute I had a Travel in my Spirit for him and the Lord answered me and I was moved to bid him Go on and God Almighty would be with him and give him the Victory in his Power And the Lord did so insomuch that the People saw the Priests were foiled and they cried A Nailer a Nailer hath confuted them all After the Dispute was over he came to me again praising the Lord. Thus was the Lord's Day proclaimed and set over all their Heads and People began to see the Apostacy and Slavery they had been under to their Hireling-Teachers for Means and they came to know their Teacher the Lord Jesus who had bought them and purchased them and made their Peace betwixt God and them While we were here Friends came out of Yorkshire to see us and were glad of the Prosperity of Truth After this I passed into Warwickshire through Friends Warwickshire Worcestershire Birmingham visiting their Meetings and so into Worcestershire and had a Meeting at Brummingham as I went where several were Convinced and turned to the Lord. At length I came to one Cole's House in Worcestershire near Chattan 1655. Near Chattan This Cole had given an Independent-Preacher a Meeting-place and the Independent came to be Convinced and after he was Convinced he laid aside his Preaching Whereupon the Old Man Cole gave him an hundred Pounds a Year I had a Meeting at that Meeting-place and a very great Meeting it was insomuch that the Meeting-place would not hold the People and many were turned to the Lord that day Afterwards when the time of Trials came this Independent did not stand to that which had Convinced him but turned back Whereupon the Old Man took away his 100 l. a Year from him again But this Old Man Cole himself died in God's Truth Now I heard that at Evesholme the Magistrates had cast several Friends into Prison in several Prisons and that hearing of my coming they made a pair of high Stocks So I sent for Edward Pittaway a Friend that lived near Evesholme and asked him the Truth of the thing and he said It was so Then I went that Night with him to Evesholme Evesholme and in the Evening we had a large precious Meeting wherein Friends and People were refreshed with the Word of Life and with the Power of the Lord. Next Morning I got up and rid to one of the Prisons and visited Friends there and encouraged them Then I rid to the other Prison where there were several Prisoners and amongst them one Friend that had been a Priest but was now become a free Minister of Christ his Name was Humphrey Smith So when I had visited the Friends at both Prisons and was turned away from the Prison to go out of Town I espied the Magistrates coming up the Town to have seized me in Prison But the Lord frustrated their Intents that the Innocent escaped their Snare and the Lord God's blessed Power came over them all But exceeding Rude and Envious were the Priests and Professors about this time in those Parts Worcester I went from Evesholme to Worcester and had a precious Meeting there and quiet But after the Meeting as we came down the Street towards our Inn some of the Professors fell to discourse with Friends and were like to have made a Tumult in the City and as we went into the Inn they all cluttered into the Yard but I went among them and got them quieted The next day I walked forth into the Town and had a great deal of Discourse with some of the Professors concerning Christ and the way of Truth One of them denied That Christ was of Abraham according to the Flesh and that he was declared to be the Son of God according to the Spirit But I proved from Rom. 1. that he was of the Seed of Abraham being made of the Seed of David according to the Flesh and that according to the Spirit he was declared to be the Son of God Afterwards I writ a Paper concerning it Tewksbury From Worcester we went to Tewksbury where in the Evening we had a great Meeting And there came in the Priest of the Town with a great Rabble of rude People and the Priest boasted That he would see whether he or I should have the Victory I turned the People to the Divine Light which Christ the heavenly and spiritual Man had enlightned them withal that with that Light they might see their Sins and that they were in Death and Darkness and without God in the World 1655. Tewksbury And with the same Light they might see Christ from whom it came their Saviour and Redeemer who had shed his Blood for them and died for them and who was the Way to God
Friends were glad of the Prosperity of Truth and the manifestation of the Lord 's glorious Power that had delivered us and carried us through many dangers and difficulties and I was glad to find Truth prosper in the City and all things well amongst Friends there Only there was one man whose Name was John Toldervey that had been Convinced of Truth and run out from it and the envious Priests took occasion from thence to write a wicked Book against Friends which they stuffed with many Lies to render Truth and Friends odious in People's Eyes and Minds and they Intituled their Book The Foot out of the Snare But this poor man came to see his Folly and returned and Condemned his Back-sliding and answered the Priests Book and manifested all their Lies and Wickedness Thus the Lord's Power came over them and his Everlasting Seed reigned and reigns to this Day Now after I had tarried some time in London and had visited Friends in their Meetings there I went out of Town again leaving James Nayler in the City And as I passed from him I cast my Eyes upon him and a Fear struck into me concerning him But I went away and rode down to Rygate in Surrey Surrey Rygate where I had a little Meeting There the Friends told me of one Thomas Moore a Justice of Peace that lived not far from Rygate and was a friendly moderate man whereupon I went to visit him at his House and he came to be a serviceable man in Truth We passed on to one Thomas Pachin's where we had a Meeting unto which several Friends came from London and John Bolton and his Wife came thither on foot in frost and snow After we had parted with Friends there we went towards Horsham-park Horsham-park Arundel Chicester and having visited Friends there we passed on to Arundel and Câ—â—chester where we had Meetings At Chichester many Professors came in and some jangling they made but the Lord's Power was over them The Woman of the House where the Meeting was though she was Convincâ—d of Truth yet not keeping her Mind close to that which Convinced her she fell in love with a man of the World that was there that time When I knew it I took her aside and was moved to speak to her and to pray for her But a light thing got up in her Mind and she slighted it Afterwards she Married that man and soon after went distracted for the Man was greatly in Debt and she greatly disappointed Then was I sent for to her and the Lord was intreated and Raised her up again and settled her Mind by his Power And afterwards her Husband died and she acknowledged the just Judgments of God were come upon her for slighting the Exhortation and Counsel I had given her After we left Chichester we travelled on through the Countries till we came to Portsmouth Portsmouth There the Souldiers had us to the Governour 's House and after some Examination the Lord's Power came over them and we were set at Liberty and had a Meeting in the Town Ringwood After which we passed away and came to Ringwood where in the Evening we had a Meeting at which several were Convinced and turned to the Spirit of the Lord and to the Teaching of Christ Jesus their Saviour Pool From Ringwood we came to Pool and having set up our Horses at an Inn we sent into the Town to inquire for such as feared the Lord and such who were worthy and we had a Meeting there with several sober People And William Baily a Baptist-Teacher was convinced there at that time The People received the Truth in the inward Parts and were turned to the Lord Jesus Christ their Rock and Foundation their Teacher and Saviour And there is become a great Gathering in the Name of Jesus of a very tender People who continue under Christ's Teaching Southampton We went also to Southampton and had a Meeting there and several were Convinced there also Edward Pyot of Bristol travelled with me all this Western Journey Dorchester From thence we went to Dorchester and alighted at an Inn that was a Baptist's house And we sent into the Town to the Baptists to let us have their Meeting-house to meet in and to invite the sober People to the Meeting but they denied it us And we sent to them again to know Why they would deny us their Synagogue so the thing was noised in the Town Then we sent them Word If they would not let us come to their house They or any People that feared God might come to our Inn if they pleased But they were in a great Rage and their Teacher and many of them came up and they flapped their Bibles on the Table I asked them Why they were so Angry were they Angry with the Bible But they fell into a Discourse about their Water-Baptism I asked them Whether they could say they were sent of God to baptize People as John was And whether they had the same Spirit and Power that the Apostles had And they said They had not Then I asked them How many Powers there are Whether there are any more than the Power of God and the Power of the Devil And they said There was not any other Power than those Two Then said I If you have not the Power of God that the Apostles had then you act by the Power of the Devil There were many sober People present who said They have thrown themselves on their Backs Many substantial People were Convinced that Night and a precious Service we had there for the Lord and his Power came over all Next Morning as we were passing away the Baptists being in a Rage began to shake the Dust from off their Feet after us ' What said I in the Power of Darkness We who are in the Power of God shake off the Dust of our feet against you Thus leaving Dorchester we came to Weymouth 1655. Weymouth where also we inquired after the sober People and about four score of them gathered together at a Priest's House all very sober People and most of them received the Word of Life and were turned to their Teacher Christ Jesus who had enlightned them with his Divine Light by which they might see their Sins and him who saved them from their Sins A blessed Meeting we had with them and they received the Truth in the Love of it with gladness of Heart The Meeting held for several Hours and the state of their Teachers and the Apostacy was opened to them and the state of the Apostles and of the Church in their Days and the state of the Law and of the Prophets before Christ and how Christ came to fulfil them and how he was their Teacher in the Apostles Days and how he was come now to teach his People again himself by his Power and Spirit All was quiet and the Meeting brake up peaceably and the People were very loving and
received at thy Hands thou hast given us to understand And here thou may'st think thou hast made thy self secure and sufficiently barr'd up our Way of Relief against whom tho' thou knew'st we had done nothing contrary to the Law or worthy of Bonds much less of the Bonds and Sufferings we had sustained thou hast proceeded as hath been rehearsed notwithstanding that thou art as are all the Judges of the Nation Intrusted not with a Legislative Power but to Administer Justice and to do Even Law and Execution of Right to all High and Low Rich and Poor without having regard to any Man's Person and art sworn so to do as hath been said And wherein thou dost Contrary art liâ—ble to Punishment as ceasing from being a Judge and becoming a Wrong-doer and an Oppressor which what it is to be many of thy Predecâ—ssors have understood some by Death others by Fine and Imprisonment And of this thou may'st not be Ignorant that to deny a Prisoner any of the Priviledges the Law allows him is to deny him Justice to Try him in an Arbitrary Way to rob him of that Liberty which the Law gives him which is his Inheritance as a Freeman And which to do is in effect To subvert the Fundamental Laws and Government of England and to Introduce an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Government against Law which is Treason by the Common Law and Treasons by the Common Law are not taken away by the Statutes of 25 Edw. III. 1 H. IV. 1 2. m. See O. St. Johns now Chief Justice of the Common Pleas his Argument against Strafford fol. 65. c. in the Case These things Friend We have laid before thee in all plainness to the End that with the Light of Jesus Christ who lighteth every one that cometh into the World a Measure of which thou hast which sheweth thee Evil and reproveth thee for Sin for which thou must be accountable thou being still and cool may'st consider and see what thou hast done against the Innocent and shame may overtake thee and thou may'st Turn unto the Lord who now calleth thee to Repentance by his Servants whom for witnessing his living Truth in them thou hast Cast into and yet continuest under Cruel Bonds and Sufferings From the Gaol in Lanceston the 14th day of the 5th Month 1656. Edw. Pyot By the foregoing Letter the Reader may Observe how contrary to Law we were made to suffer But the Lord who saw the Integrity of our Hearts to him and knew the Innocency of our Cause was with us in our Sufferings and bore up our Spirits through and made them Easie to us and gave us Opportunities of publishing his Name and Truth amongst the People so that several of the Town came to be Convinced and many were made Loving to us and Friends from many Parts came to visit us There came Two out of Wales who had been Justices of the Peace there Also Judge Hagget's Wife of Bristol came to visit us and she was Convinced and several of her Children and her Husband was very kind and serviceable to Friends and had a great Love to God's People which he retained to his Death Now in Cornwall Devonshire Dorsetshire and Somersetshire Truth began mightily to spread and many were turned to Christ Jesus and his free Teaching for many Friends that came to Visit us were drawn forth to declare the Truth in those Countries which made the Priests and Professors rage and they stirred up the Magistrates to ensnare Friends Then they set up Watches in the Streets and in the High-ways on pretence of taking up all suspicious Persons under which Colour they stopt and took up those Friends that travelled in and through those Countries coming to visit us in Prison which they did that the Friends might not pass up and down in the Lord's Service But that which they thought to have stopt the Truth by was the Means of spreading it so much the more for then Friends were frequently moved to speak to one Constable and t'other Officer and to the Justices they were brought before and this caused the Truth to spread the more amongst them in all their Parishes And when Friends were got among the Watches it would be a Fortnight or three Weeks before they could get out of them again for no sooner had one Constable taken them and carried them before the Justices and they had discharged them but another would take them up and carry them before other Justices Which put the Country to a great deal of needless Trouble and Charges As Thomas Rawlinson was coming up out of the North to visit us a Constable â—o Devonshire took him up and at Night took Twenty Shillings out of his Pocket And after they had thus robbed him he was cast into Exeter-Gaol They cast Henry Pollexfen also into Prison in Devonshire for being a Jesuit who had been a Justice of Peace for the most part of Forty Years before Many Friends were cruelly beaten many times by them Nay some Clothiers that were but going to Mill with their Cloth and other Men about their outward Occasions they took up and Whipt though Men of about Eighty or an hundred Pounds by the Year and not above four or five Miles from their Families The Mayor of Lanceston too was a very Wicked Man for he would take up all he could get and cast them into Prison And he would search substantial grave Women their Petticoats and their Head-cloaths There came a Friend a Young-Man to â—ee us who came not through the Town So I drew up all the Gross Inhuman and Vnchristian Actions of the Mayor for his Carriage was more like an Heathen than a Christian and I gave it the Young Man and bid him Seal it up and go out again the back-way and then come into the Town through the Gates He did so and the Watch took him up and carried him before the Mayor who presently searched his Pockets and found the Letter wherein he saw all his Actions Characterized Which shamed him so that from that time forward he meddled little with the Servants of the Lord. Now from the sense I had of the Snare that was laid and Mischief intended against the Servants of the Lord in setting up those Watches at that time to stop and take up Friends it came upon me to give forth the following Lines as An Exhortation and Warning to the Magistrates ALL ye Powers of the Earth Christ is come to Reign and is among you and ye know him not who doth Enlighten every one of you that are come into the World that ye all through him might believe who is the Light who treads the Wine-press alone without the City whose Feet are upon it Therefore see all and examin with the Light what ye are Ripe for for the Press is ready for you Before Honour is Humility And all you that would have Honour before ye have Humility mark before ye have Humility are ye not as the Heathen are
Ye would have Honour before ye have Humility Did not all the Persecutors that ever were upon the Earth want this Humility And so they wanted the Honour and yet would have the Honour before they had the Humility and had learned that And so ye that be out of the Humility be out of the Honour and ye are not to have the Honour who have not the Humility for before Honour is Humility mark before it Now ye pretend Liberty of Conscience yet shall not one carry a Letter to a Friend nor Men visit their Friends nor visit Prisoners nor carry a Book about them either for their own Use or for their Friends and yet ye pretend Liberty of Conscience Men shall not see their Friends but Watches are set up against them to catch and stop them and these must be Well-armed Men too against an Innocent People that have not so much as a Stick in their Hâ—nds who are in scorn called Quakers And yet â—mâ—ng such as set up these Watches is pretended Liberty of Conscience who take up them whose Consciences are exercised towards God and Men who worship God in their Way which is the Truth which they that be out of the Light call Heresy Now these who set up the Watches against them whom they in scorn call Quakers it is Because they confess and witness the true Light that lighteth every one that cometh into the World amongst People as they pass through the Country or among their Friends This is the dangerous Doctrine which the Watchmen are set up against to subdue Error as they call it which is the Light that doth enlighten every Man that cometh into the World Hâ—m by whom the World was made who was glorified with the Father before the VVorld began For them whom they in scorn call Quakers have they set up their VVatches Able Men well-Armed to take up these that bear this Testimony either in VVords Books or Letters So that is the Light you hate that doth Enlighten every man that cometh into the VVorld and these that witness to this Light are they that you put in Prison And after you have Imprisoned them you set up your VVatches to take up all that go to Visit them and to Imprison them also So that by setting up your VVatches ye would stop all Relief from coming to Prisoners Therefore this is the VVord of the Lord God to you and a Charge to you all in the presence of the living Goâ— of Heaven and Earth Every Man of you being enlightned with a Light that cometh from Christ the Saviour of People's Souls from whom the Light cometh that enlightens you To the Light all take heed that with it you may all see Christ from whom the Light cometh you may all see him to be your Saviour by whom the VVorld was made who saith Learn of me But if ye hate this Light which Christ hath enlightned you withal ye hate Christ who doth Enlighten you all that you all through him who is the Light might believe But not believing in the Light nor bringing your Deeds to the Light which will make them manifest and reprove them this is your Condemnation even the Light Remember you are warned in your Life-time for this is your VVay to Salvation the Light if you walk in it And this is your Condemnation the Light if you reject and hate it And you can never come to Christ the Second Priest unless you come to the Light which the Second Priest hath enlightned you withal So ye that come not to the Light ye go to the Priests that take Tithes as did the First Priesthood and so hale out of your Synagogues and Temples as some call them as that Priesthood did that took Tithes which they that were of the Second Priesthood did not Was there ever such a Generation Or ever did such a Generation of Men appear as doth now in this Age who are so full of Madness Envy and Persecution that they stand up in VVatches with Bills and VVeapons against the Truth to persecute it as the Towns and Countries do declare which Rings as Sodom and like Gomorrah And this hath its Liberty and Truth is stood against And to Reprove Sin is accounted a Breach of the Peace as they say who be out of the Truth and set up their VVatches against it G. F. Besides this General VVarning there coming to my Hand a Copy of a VVarrant Issued out from the Sessions of Exon in express Terms For the apprehending of all Quakers wherein Truth and Friends were reproached and vilified I was moved to write an Answer thereunto and send it abroad for the Clearing of Truth and Friends from the Slanders therein cast upon them and to manifest the wickedness of that persecuting Spirit from whence it proceeded And that which I writ was after this manner WHereas there was a VVarrant granted forth the last Sessions holden at Exon on the Eighteenth Day of the Fifth Month 1656. which VVarrant is For the Apprehending and taking up all such as are Quakers or call themselves Quakers or go under the Notion of Quakers And is directed to the Chief-Constables to be sent by them to the Petty-Constables requiring them to set VVatches able Men with Bills to take up all such Quakers as aforesaid And whereas in your said VVarrant you speak of the Quakers spreading Seditious Books and Papers I Answer They whom ye in scorn call Quakers have no Seditious Books or Papers but their Books are against Sedition and Seditious Men and Seditious Books and Seditious Teachers and Seditious VVays And so ye have numbred them who are honest Men Godly Men holy Men Men that fear God among Beggars Rogues and Vagabonds Thus putting no Difference between the Precious and the Vile you are not fit to judge who have set up your Bills and armed your Men to stand up together in Battel against the Innocent People the Lambs of Christ which have not lifted up an Hand against you But if ye were sensible of the State of your own Country your Cities your Towns your Villages how the Cry of them is like Gomorrah and the Ring like Sodom and the Sound like the Old World where all Flesh had Corrupted its way which God overthrew with the Flood If you did this consider with your selves you would find something to turn the Sword against and not against the Lambs of Christ and not make a Mock upon the Innocent that stand a Witness against all Sin and Vnrighteousness in your Towns and Steeple-houses Noah the Eighth Person a Preacher of Righteousness was grieved with the filthy Conversation of the Wicked So are we now So likewise Just Lot was grieved with their unmerciful Deeds and the filthy Conversation of Sodom And were not these hated of the World and of them that lived in Filthiness And whereas you speak of those whom you in scorn call Quakers that they are a Grief to those whom you call Pious and Religious People and their
Visit Prisoners whom you have Imprisoned Doth this shew you to have a Spirit like Paul yea or nay or are you not quite contrary like to them that persecuted Paul The Day hath declared it To that of God in you all I speak which shall witness it at the Last Day in the Day of Judgment Persecution was blind in all Ages and Madness and Folly led it Yet Persecution got always a Form or Presence of Godliness or to talk of Religion as in the Days of Moses in the Days of Jeremy in the Days of Christ and of the Apostles Come saith the Council Let us crush them while they are Young they have almost over-spread the Nation in every Corner This is as much as to say Let us put this Birth to Death as Pharaoh and Herod did the Children But the Lord caused his Truth the more to spread For you may read what Numbers came out of Egypt and what Multitudes followed Christ Therefore with Consideration read these Lines and not with Fury and let not Foolishness appear But consider in Humility your Ways you act in and your Paths you go in and what Spirit you are of and what the End of your Conversation is now see For in Love to your Souls I write that in the Day of your Visitation you may consider it From him who loveth Righteousness and the establishing of it and Truth and Peace and Faith which is by Christ Jesus Mercy and Peace be multiplied among such But a Witness against all Hypocrites and all who have a Profession but live out of the Possession who are in an Hypocritical Religion in the Lusts and Fashions of the World having a Form of Godliness but standing against the Power with might and main Sword and Staff Which things declare your Conversation and Practices to be out of Christ 's Life against the Gospel-practice and contrary to the Manner and Order of the Saints G. F We were continued in Prison till the next Assize 1656. Lanceston Assize before which time divers Friends both Men and Women were sent to Prison that had been taken up by the Watches When the Assize was come several of these were called before the Judge and Indicted and tho' the Jailer brought them into Court yet they Indicted them that they came in by Force of Arms and in an hostile manner And the Judge fined them because they would not put off their Hats But we were not called before the Judges any more but they let us alone Great Work we had and Service for the Lord both between the Assizes and after amongst the Professors and People of all sorts for many came to see us and to reason with us And Elizabeth Trelawny of Plimouth who was the Daughter of one called a Baronet being Convinced as was formerly mentioned the Priests and Professors and some great Persons of her Kindred were in a great Rage concerning her and writ Letters to her And she being a Wise and Tender Woman and fearing to give them any Advantage sent their Letters to me and I answered them and returned them to her again for her to send the Answers to them Which she did till growing in the Power and Spirit and Wisdom of God she came her self to be able to Answer the wisest Priest and Professor of them all and had a Dominion over them all in the Truth through the Power of the Lord by which she was kept faithful to her Death Now while I was in Prison here Lanceston Gaol the Baptists and Fifth-Monarchy-Men prophesied That this Year Christ should come and Reign upon Earth a Thousand Years And they looked upon this Reign to be Outward When as he was come inwardly in the Hearts of his People to Reign and Rule there and these Professors would not Receive him there So they failed in their Prophecy and Expectation and had not the Possession of him But Christ is come and doth dwell in the Hearts of his People and Reigns there And Thousands at the Door of whose Hearts he hath been knocking have opened to him and he is come in and doth Sup with them and they with him the heavenly Supper with the heavenly and spiritual Man So many of these Baptists and Monarchy-People turned the greatest Enemies to the Possessors of Christ But he Reigns in the Hearts of his Saints over all their Envy At the Assize divers Justices came to us and were pretty Civil and Reasoned of the things of God pretty soberly expressing a Pity to us There came also Capt. Fox who was Governour of Pendennis-Castle and lookt me in the Face and said never a word but went his ways to his Company and told them He never saw a simpler Man in his Life I called after him and said Stay Man we will see who is the simpler Man But he went his way A light Chaffy Man There came also at the Assize one Thomas Lower to Visit us and he offered to give us Money which we refused accepting nevertheless of his Love He asked us many Questions concerning our denying the Scriptures to be the Word of God and concerning the Sacraments and such like To all which he received Satisfaction And I spake unto him and he afterwards said 1656. Lanceston Gaol My Words were as a flash of Lightning they ran so through him And he said He never met with such wise Men in his Life for they knew the Thoughts of his Heart and were as the wise Master-Builders of the Assemblies that fastned their Words like Nails He came to be Convinced of the Truth and remains a Friend to this Day When he came home to his Aunt Hambley's where he then lived and made Report to her concerning us She with her Sister Grace Billing hearing the sound of Truth came afterwards to Visit us in Prison and was Convinced also And great Sufferings and Spoilings of Goods both he and his Aunt have undergone for the Truth 's sake About this time I was moved to give forth the following Paper to Friends in the Ministry Friends IN the Power of life and wisdom and dread of the Lord God of life and Heaven and Earth dwell that in the wisdom of God over all ye may be preserved and be a Terror to all the Adversaries of God and a Dread answering that of God in them all spreading the Truth abroad awakening the VVitness confounding the Deceit gathering up out of Transgression into the Life the Covenant of Light and Peace with God Let all Nations hear the sound by Word or Writing Spare no Place spare no Tongue nor Pen but be obedient to the Lord God go through the VVork and be valiant for the Truth upon Earth tread and trample all that is Contrary under Ye have the Power do not Abuse it and Strength and Presence of the Lord eye it and the VVisdom that with it you may all be ordered to the Glory of the Lord God Keep in the Dominion keep in the Power over all Deceit
came to a great Town and went to an Inn. And Edward Edwards went into the Market and declared the Truth amongst the People and the People followed him down to the Inn and filled the Inn-yard and were exceeding rude Yet a good Service he and we had for the Lord amongst them For the Life of Christianity and the Power of it tormented their chaffy Spirits and came over them so that some were reached and Convinced and the Lord's Power came over all and the Magistrates were bound they had no Power to meddle with us After this we passed away and came to another great Town on a Market day and John ap John declared the Everlasting Truth through the Streets and proclaimed the Day of the Lord amongst them In the Evening many People gathered about the Inn and some of them being drunk they would fain have had us forth into the Street again but we seeing their Design I told them If there were any that feared God and desired to hear Truth they might come into our Inn or else we might have a Meeting with them next Morning So some Service for the Lord we had amongst them both over Night and in the Morning And though the People was hard to receive the Truth yet the Seed was sown and thereabouts the Lord hath a People gathered to himself In that Inn also I turned but my Back to the Man that was giving Oats to my Horse and I looked back again and he was filling his Pockets with the Provender that was given to my Horse A wicked theevish People to rob the poor dumb Creature of his Food I had rather they had robbed me Leaving this Town and travelling on there was a Great Man overtook us on the Way and he purposed as he told us afterward to have taken us up at the next Town for High-way-men But before we came to the Town I was moved of the Lord to speak to him And what I spake reached to the Witness of God in the Man and he was so affected therewith that he had us to his House and entertained us very civilly And he and his Wife desired us to give them some Scriptures both for proof of our Principles and against the Priests We were glad of the Service and furnished him with Scriptures enough And he writ them down and was Convinced of the Truth both by the Spirit of God in his own Heart and by the Scriptures which were a Confirmation to him Afterwards he set us on in our Journey And as we travelled we came to an Hill which the People of the Country say is two or three Miles high from the Side of this Hill I could see a great Way And I was moved to set my Face several ways and to sound the Day of the Lord there And I told John ap John a faithful Welch Minister in what Places God would raise up a People to himself to sit under his own Teaching Those Places he took notice of and since there hath a great People arisen in those Places The like I have been moved to do in many other Places and Countries which have been rude Places and yet I have been moved to declare the Lord had a Seed in those Places and afterwards there hath been a brave People raised up in the Covenant of God and gathered in the Name of Jesus where they have Salvation and free Teaching Dalgelthly From this Hill we came down to a Place called Dalgelthly and we went to an Inn and John ap John declared through the Streets and the Town 's People rose and gathered about him And there being two Independent-Priests in the Town they both came out and discoursed with him both together I went up to them and finding them speaking in Welch I asked them What was the Subject they spake upon and why they were not more moderate and spake one by one For the things of God I told them were weighty and they should speak of them with Fear and Reverence Then I desired them to speak in English that I might discourse with them and they did so Now they affirmed That the Light which John came to bear witness of was a created natural made Light But I took the Bible and shewed them as I had done to others before That the Natural Lights which were made and created were the Sun Moon and Stars but this Light which John bare witness to and which he called the True Light that lighteth every Man that cometh into the World is the Life in Christ the Word by which all things were made and created The same that is called the Life in Christ is called the Light in Man and this is an heavenly divine Light which lets Men see their evil Words and Deeds and shews them all their Sins and if they would attend unto it would bring them to Christ from whom it comes that they might know him to save them from their Sin and to blot it out This Light I told them shined in the Darkness in their Hearts and the Darkness in them could not comprehend it but in those Hearts where God had commanded it to shine out of Darkness it gave unto such the Knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus their Saviour Then I opened the Scriptures largely to them and turned them to the Spirit of God in their Hearts which would reveal the Mysteries in the Scriptures to them and would lead them into all the Truth thereof as they became subject thereunto I directed them to that which would give every one of them the Knowledge of Christ who died for them that he might be their Way to God and might make Peace betwixt God and them The People were attentive and I spake to John ap John to stand up and speak it in Welch to them which he did and they generally received it and with Hands lifted up blessed and praised God The Priest's Mouths were stopt so that they were quiet all the while for I had brought them to be sober at the first by telling them That when they speak of the things of God and of Christ they should speak with Fear and Reverence Thus the Meeting brake up in peace in the Street and many of the People accompanied us to our Inn and rejoiced in the Truth that had been declared unto them that they were turned to the Light and Spirit in themselves by which they might see their Sin and know Salvation from it And when we went out of the Town the People were so affected that they lifted up their Hands and blest the Lord for our Coming A pretious Seed the Lord hath there-aways and a great People in those Parts is since gathered to the Lord Jesus Christ to sit down under his free Teaching and have suffered much for him From this place we passed to a City like a Castle Where when we had set up our Horses at an Inn and refreshed our selves John ap John went
Hand and threw it on the Table before me to see whether I would speak against it or no I took no notice of it but declared the Truth to her and she was reached There came in many Baptists also who were very rude but the Lord's Power came over them so that they went away confounded Then there came in another sort and one of them said He would dispute with me and for Argument's sake would deny There was a God I told him He was one of those fools that said in his Heart There is no God but he should know him in the Day of his Judgment So he went his way and a fine precious time we had afterward with several People of Account and the Lord's Power came over all William Osburn was with me And Colonel Lidcot's Wife and William Welch's Wife and several of the Officers themselves also that were there were convinced at that Time Now Edward Billing and his Wife were at that time separated and lived apart and she being reached by Truth and become loving to Friends we sent for her Husband and he came and the Lord's Power reached unto them both and they joined together in it and agreed to live together in Love and Unity as Man and Wife After this we went back to Edenborough again where many Thousands of People were gathered together with abundance of Priests among them about burning of a Witch and I was moved to declare the Day of the Lord amongst them Which when I had done I went from thence to our Meeting whither many rude People and Baptists came The Baptists began to vaunt with their Logick and Syllogisms but I was moved in the Lord's Power to thresh their chaffy Edenborough light minds and shewed the People That after that fallacious way of discoursing they might make White seem Black and Black seem White as That because a Cock had two Legs And each of them had two Legs therefore they were all Cocks Thus they might turn any thing into Lightness and Vanity but it was not the Way of Christ or his Apostles to Teach Speak or Reason after that manner Hereupon those Baptists went their way and after they were gone we had a blessed Meeting in the Lord's Power which was over all I mentioned before that many of the Scotch Priests being greatly disturbed at the Spreading of Truth and Loss of their Hearers thereby were gone up to Edenborough to Petition the Council against me Now when I came back from the Meeting to the Inn where I lodged an Officer belonging to the Council came to me and brought me the following Order Thursday the 8th of October 1657. at his Highness's Council in Scotland Ordered THat George Fox do appear before the Council on Tuesday the 13th of October next in the Fore-noon E. Downing Clerk of the Council When he had delivered me the Order he asked me Whether I would Appear or no I did not tell him whether I would or no but asked him If he had not forged the Order He said No it was a real Order from the Council and he was sent as their Messenger with it When the Time came I Appeared and was had up into a great Room where many great Persons came and looked at me After a while the Door-keeper came and had me into the Council-Chamber Edenborough Council and as I was going in he took off my Hat I asked him Why he did so and who was there that I might not go in with my Hat on for I told him I had been before the Protector with my Hat on But he hung up my Hat and had me in before them When I was come in and had stood a while and they said nothing to me I was moved of the Lord to say Peace be amongst you and Wait in the Fear of God that ye may receive his Wisdom from above by which all things were made and created that by it ye may all be Ordered and may Order all things under your Hands to God's Glory After I had done speaking they asked me What was the Occasion of my coming into that Nation I told them I came to visit the Seed of God which had long lain in Bondage under Corruption and the Intent of my Coming was that all in the Nation that did profess the Scriptures the Words of Christ and of the Prophets and Apostles 1657. Scotland Edenborough Council might come to the Light Spirit and Power which they were in who gave them forth that so in and by the Spirit they might understand the Scriptures and know Christ and God aright and have fellowship with them and one with another They asked me Whether I had any outward Business there I said Nay Then they asked me How long I intended to stay in the Country I told them I should say little to that My Time was not to be long yet in my freedom in the Lord I stood in the Will of him that sent me Then they bid me withdraw and the Door-keeper took me by the Hand and led me forth In a little time they sent for me in again and told me I must depart the Nation of Scotland by that day Seven-night I asked them Why What had I done What was my Transgression that they passed such a Sentence upon me to depart out of the Nation They told me They would not dispute with me Then I desired them to hear what I had to say to them but they said They would not hear me I told them Pharaoh heard Moses and Aaron and yet he was an Heathen and no Christian and Herod heard John Baptist and they should not be worse than these But they cried Withdraw withdraw Whereupon the Door-keeper took me again by the Hand and led me out Then I returned to my Inn and continued still in Edenborough visiting Friends there and thereabouts and strengthning them in the Lord. And after a little time I writ a Letter to the Council to lay before them their Vnchristian Dealing in banishing me an innocent Man that sought their Salvation and Eternal Good A Copy of which Letter here followeth directed To the Council of Edenborough YE that sit in Council and bring before your Judgment-seat the Innocent the Just without shewing the least Cause what Evil I have done or convicting me of any Breach of any Law and afterward ye banish me out of your Nation and Country without telling me for what or what Evil I had done though I told you when ye asked me How long I would stay in the Nation That my Time was not long I spake it innocently and yet ye banish me Will not all think ye that fear God judge this to be wickedness Consider did not they sit in Council about Stephen when they stoned him to Death Did not they sit in Council about Peter and John when they haled them out of the Temple and put them out of their Council for a little Season and took Counsel together and then
brought them in again and threatned them and charged them To speak no more in that Name Was not this to stop the Truth from spreading in that Time And had not the Priests an hand in these things with the Magistrates and in examining Stephen when he was stoned to Death Was not the Council gathered together against Jesus Christ to put him to Death and had not the Chief Priests an hand in it When they go to persecute the Just and crucify the Just do they not then neglect Judgment and Mercy and Justice and the weighty Matters of the Law which is just Was not the Apostle Paul tossed up and down by the Priests and the Rulers and Prisoned And was not John Baptist cast into Prison 1657. Scotland Edenborough Are not ye doing the same Work shewing what Spirit ye are of Now do not ye shew the End of your Profession the End of your Prayers the End of your Religion and the End of your Teaching who are now come to banish the Truth and him that is come to declare it unto you Doth not this shew that ye be but in the Words out of the Life of the Prophets Christ and his Apostles for they did not use such Practice as to banish any How do ye receive Strangers which is a Command of God among the Prophets Christ and the Apostles some by that means have entertained Angels at unawares but ye banish one that comes to Visit the Seed of God and is not chargeable to any of you Will not all that fear God look upon this to be Spight and Wickedness against the Truth How are ye like to love Eemies that banish your Friend How are ye like to do Good to them that hate you when ye do Evil to them that love you How are ye like to heap Coals of Fire on their Heads that hate you and to Overcome Evil with Good when ye banish thus Do ye not manifest to all that are in the Truth that ye have not the Christian Spirit How did ye do Justice to me when ye could not convict me of any Evil yet banish me This shews that Truth is banished out of your Hearts and ye have taken part against the Truth with Evil-doers and the wicked envious Priests and Stoners Strikers and Mockers in the Streets with these ye that banish have taken part whereas ye should have been a Terror to these and a Praise to them that do well and Succourers of them that be in the Truth then might ye have been a Blessing to the Nation and not have banished him that was moved of the Lord to visit the Seed of God and thereby have brought your Names upon Record and made them to stink in Ages to come among them that fear God Were not the Magistrates stirred up in former Ages to persecute or banish by the corrupt Priests and did not the corrupt Priests stir up the rude Multitude against the Just in other Ages Therefore are your Streets like Sodom and Gomorrha Did not the Jews and the Priests make the Gentiles Minds envious against the Apostles And who were they that would not have the Prophet Amos to prophesie at the King's Chappel but bad him fly his way And when Jeremiah was put in the Prison in the Dungeon and in the Stocks had not the Priests an Hand with the Princes in doing it Now see all that were in this Work of banishing prisoning persecuting Whether they were not all out of the Life of Christ the Prophets and Apostles To the Witness of God in you all I speak Consider Whether or no they were not always the blind Magistrates which turned their Sword always backward that knew not their Friends from their Foes and so hit their Friends Such Magistrates were deceived by Flattery G. F. When this was delivered and read amongst them some of them as I heard were troubled at what they had done being made sensible that they would not be so served themselves But it was not long 1657. Scotland Edenborough Council before they that banished me were banished themselves or glad to get away who would not do good in the Day when they had Power nor suffer others that would After I had spent some time among Friends at Edenborough and thereabouts Heads I passed from thence to Heads again where Friends had been in great Sufferings for the Presbyterian Priests had Excommunicated them and given Charge That none should Buy or Sell with them nor Eat nor Drink with them So they could neither Sell their Commodities nor Buy what they wanted which made it go very hard with some of them for if they had bought Bread or other Victuals of any of their Neighbours the Priests threatned them so with Curses that they would run and fetch it from them again But Colonel Ashfield being a Justice of Peace in that Country put a stop to the Priests Proceedings This Colonel Ashfield was afterwards convinced himself and had a Meeting settled at his House and declared the Truth and lived and died in it After I had visited Friends at Heads and there-aways and had encouraged them in the Lord Glascow I went to Glascow where a Meeting was appointed but not One of the Town came to it As I went into the City the Guard at the Gates had me up before the Governour who was a moderate Man and a gread deal of Discourse I had with him but he was too light to receive the Truth yet he set me at Liberty and so I passed to the Meeting But seeing none of the Town 's People came to the Meeting we declared Truth through the Town and so passed away and visited Friends in their Meetings thereabouts Badcow and then returned towards Badcow Several Friends went and declared Truth in their Steeple-houses and the Lod's Power was with them And one time as I was going with William Osburn to his House there lay a Company of rude Fellows by the Way-side who had hid themselves under the Hedges and in Bushes and I spying them asked him What they were Oh said he they are Thieves Now Robert Widders being moved to go to speak to a Priest was left behind intending to come after So I said to William Osburn I will stay here in this Valley and do thou go look after Robert Widders But he was unwilling to go being afraid to leave me there alone because of those Fellows till I told him ' I feared them not Then I called to them asking them What they lay lurking there for and I bid them Come up to me but they were loth to come up I charged them to come up to me or else it might be worse with them Then they came trembling to me for the Dread of the Lord had struck them I admonished them to be honest and directed them to the Light of Christ in their Hearts that by it they might see what an Evil it was to follow after Theft and Robbery and the Power
the Meeting some Professors began to jangle Whereupon I stood up again and answered their Questions so that they seemed to be satisfied and our Meeting ended in the Lord's Power quiet and peaceable This was the last Meeting I had in Scotland And the Truth and the Power of God was set over that Nation and many by the Power and Spirit of God were turned to the Lord Jesus Christ their Saviour and Teacher whose Blood was shed for them And since there is a great Increase 1657. Scotland Dunbar and great there will be in Scotland For when first I set my Horses Feet upon the Scottish Ground I felt the Seed of God to sparkle about me like innumerable Sparks of Fire Not but that there is Abundance of thick Cloddy Earth of Hypocrisy and Falseness that is a top and a briary brambly Nature which is to be burnt up with God's Word and plowed up with his Spiritual Plow before God's Seed brings forth heavenly and spiritual Fruit to his glory But the Husbandman is to wait in Patience From Dunbar we came to Berwick Northumberland Berwick where we were questioned a little by the Officers but the Governour was loving towards us and in the Evening we had a little Meeting in which the Power of the Lord was manifested over all Leaving Berwick we came to Morpeth and so through the Country Morpeth Newcastle visiting Friends to New-castle where I had been once before For the Newcastle-Priests had written many Books against us and one Ledger an Alderman of the Town was very envious against Truth and Friends He and the Priests had said The Quakers would not come into any great Towns but lived in the Fells like Butterflies So I took Anthony Pearson with me and went to this Ledger and several others of the Aldermen desiring to have a Meeting amongst them seeing they had written so many Books against us for we were now come I told them into their great Town But they would not yield we should have a Meeting neither would they be spoken withal save only this Ledger and one other I told them Had they not called Friends Butterflies and said We would not come into any great Towns And now we were come into their Town they would not come at us though they had printed Books against us Who are the Butterflies now said I Then Ledger began to plead for the Sabbath-day but I told him They kept Markets and Fairs on that which was the Sabbath-day for that was the seventh day of the Week whereas that Day which the professed Christians now Meet on and call their Sabbath is the First day of the Week So when we could not have a publick Meeting among them we got a little Meeting among Friends and friendly People at the Gate-side where a Meeting is continued to this day in the Name of Jesus As I was passing away by the Market-place the Power of the Lord rose in me To warn them of the Day of the Lord that was coming upon them And not long after all those Priests of Newcastle and their Profession were turned out when the King came in From New-Castle we travelled through the Countries Northumberland Bishoprick having Meetings and visiting Friends as we went in Northumberland and Bishoprick and a very good Meeting we had at Lieutenant Dove's where many were turned to the Lord and his Teaching After the Meeting I went to visit a Justice of Peace a very sober loving Man and he confessed to the Truth From thence we came to Durham Durham where was a Man come down from London to set up a Colledge there to make Ministers of Christ as they said I went with some others to reason with the Man and to let him see That to teach Men Hebrew Greek and Latin and the Seven Arts which was all but the Teachings of the Natural Man was not the Way to make them Ministers of Christ For the Languages began at Babel 1657. Durham and to the Greeks that spake Greek as their Mother-Tongue the Preaching of the Cross of Christ was foolishness and to the Jews that spake Hebrew as their Mother-Tongue Christ was a Stumbling-block And as for the Romans who had the Latin and Italian they persecuted the Christians and Pilat one of the Roman Governours set Hebrew Greek and Latin a top of Christ when he Crucified him So he might see the many Languages began at Babel and they set them a top of Christ the Word when they Crucified him And John the Divine who preached the Word that was in the beginning said That the Beast and the Whore have Power over Tongues and Languages and they are as Waters Thus I told him he might see the Whore and Beast have Power over the Tongues and the many Languages which are in Mystery Babylon for they began at Babel and the Persecutors of Christ Jesus set them over him when he was Crucified by them but he is Risen over them all who was before them all Now said I to this Man Dost thou think to make Ministers of Christ by these natural confused Languages which sprang from Babel are admired in Babylon and set a top of Christ the Life by a Persecutor Oh no! So the Man confest to many of these things Then we shewed him further That Christ made his Ministers himself and gave Gifts unto them and bid them Pray to the Lord of the Harvest to send forth Labourers And Peter and John though unlearned and ignorant as to School-learning preached Christ Jesus the Word which was in the beginning before Babel was Paul also was made an Apostle not of Man nor by Man neither received he the Gospel from Man but from Jesus Christ who is the same now and so is his Gospel as it was at that Day When we had thus Discoursed with the Man he became very loving and tender and after he had considered further of it he never set up his Colledge Cleveland Yorkshire Holderness Hull Pomfret From Durham we went to Anthony Pearson's and from thence into Cleaveland and so passed through Yorkshire to the further End of Holderness and had mighty Meetings the Lord's Power accompanying us After we parted from Anthony Pearson's we went by Hull and Pomfret through the Countries to George Watkinson's House and visited most of the Meetings all up and down in these Parts Scalehouse Swarthmore till we came to Scale-house and so on to Swarthmore the everlasting Power and Arm of God carrying us through and preserving us After I had visited Friends up and down there-aways Yorkshire Cheshire Derbishire Nottinghamshire Nottingham I passed through the Countries into Yorkshire again and into Cheshire and so through other Counties into Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire and glorious Meetings we had the Lord's Presence being with us At Nottingham I sent to Rice Jones desiring him To make his People acquainted that I had something to say to them from the Lord. He came and told
your Principle and then you will sell your Coat and buy a Sword and Fight for the Kingdom of Christ Answ As for this we say to you that Christ said to Peter Put up thy Sword in his place though he had said before he that had no Sword might sell his Coat and buy one to the fulfilling of the Law and Scripture yet after when he had bid him put it up he said He that taketh the Sword shall perish with the Sword And further Christ said to Pilate Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father and he shall presently give me more than twelve Legions of Angels And this might satisfie Peter Luke 22.36 after he had put up his Sword when he said to him He that took it should perish by it which satisfieth us Mat. 26.51 52 53. And in the Revelation it 's said He that kills with the Sword shall perish with the Sword and here is the Faith and the Patience of the Saints And so Christ's Kingdom is not of this World therefore do not his Servants Fight as he told Pilate the Magistrate who Crucified him and did they not look upon Christ as a Raiser of Sedition and did not he say Forgive them But thus it is that we are numbred amongst Transgressors and numbred amongst Fighters 1660. London that the Scriptures might be fulfilled That Spirit of Christ by which we are guided is not changeable so as once to command us from a thing as Evil and again to move unto it and we do certainly know and so testifie to the World That the Spirit of Christ which leads us into all Truth will never move us to Fight and War against any Man with outward Weapons neither for the Kingdom of Christ nor for the Kingdoms of this World First Because the Kingdom of Christ God will exalt according to his Promise and cause it to grow and flourish in Righteousness Not by Might nor by Power of outward Sword but by my Spirit saith the Lord Zech. 4.6 So those that use any Weapon to Fight for Christ or for the establishing of his Kingdom or Government both the Spirit Principle and Practice in that we deny Secondly We do earnestly desire and wait That by the Word of God's Power and its effectual Operation in the Hearts of Men the Kingdoms of this World may become the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ that he might Rule and Reign in Men by his Spirit and Truth that thereby all People out of all different Judgments and Professions might be brought into Love and Vnity with God and one with another and that they might all come to witness the Prophets Words who said Nation shall not lift up Sword against Nation neither shall they learn War any more Isa 2.4 Mich. 4.3 So we whom the Lord hath called into the Obedience of his Truth have denied Wars and Fightings and cannot again any more learn it And this is a certain Testimony unto all the World of the Truth of our Hearts in this particular that as God perswadeth every Man's Heart to believe so they may receive it For we have not as some others gone about cunningly with devised Fables nor have we ever denied in Practice what we have professed in Principle but in Sincerity and Truth and by the Word of God have we laboured to be made manifest unto all Men that both we and our ways might be witnessed in the Hearts of all People And whereas all manner of Evil hath been falsly spoken of us we hereby speak forth the plain Truth of our Hearts to take away the occasion of that Offence that so we being Innocent may not suffer for other Men's Offences nor be made a Prey upon by the Wills of Men for that of which we were never Guilty but in the Uprightness of our Hearts we may under the Power ordained of God for the Punishment of Evil-doers and for the Praise of them that do well live a peaceable and godly Life in all Godliness and Honesty For although we have always suffered and do now more abundantly suffer yet we know that it 's for Righteousness sake For our rejoycing is this the Testimony of our Consciences that in Simplicity and godly Sincerity not with fleshly Wisdom but by the Grace of God we have had our Conversation in the World 2 Cor. 1.12 Which for us is a Witness for the convincing of our Enemies For this we can say to all the World we have wronged no Man's Persons or Possessions we have used no Force nor Violence against any Man we have been found in no Plots nor guilty of Sedition when we have been wronged we have not sought to revenge our selves we have not made resistance against Authority but wherein we could not obey for Conscience-sake we have suffered even the most of any People in the Nation We have been counted as Sheep for the Slaughter Persecuted and Despised Beaten Stoned Wounded Stocked Whipped Imprisoned Haled out of Synagogues cast into Dungeons and Noisom Vaults where many have died in Bonds shut up from our Friends denied needful Sustenance for many days together with other the like Cruelties And the Cause of all these our Sufferings is not for any Evil but for things relating to the Worship of our God and in obedience to his Requirings of us For which Cause we shall freely give up our Bodies a Sacrifice rather than disobey the Lord For we know as the Lord hath kept us Innocent so he will plead our Cause when there is none in the Earth to plead it So we in Obedience unto his Truth do not love our Lives unto Death that we may do his Will and wrong no Man in our Generation but seek the Good and Peace of all Men. And he that hath commanded us That we shall not Swear at all Matth. 5.34 hath also commanded us That we shall not Kill Matth. 5. So that we can neither Kill Men nor Swear for nor against them And this is both our Principle and Practice and hath been from the Beginning so that if we suffer as suspected to take up Arms or make War against any it is without any Ground from us For it neither is noâ— ever was in our Hearts since we owned the Truth of God neither shall we ever do it because it is contrary to the Spirit of Christ his Doctrine and the Practices of his Apostles even contrary to him for whom we suffer all things and endure all things And whereas Men come against us with Clubs Staves Drawn Swords Pistols cock't and do beat cut and abuse us yet we never resisted them but to them our Hair Backs and Cheeks have been ready But it is not an Honour to Manhoood or Nobility to run upon harmless People who lift not up an Hand against them with Arms and Weapons Therefore consider these things ye Men of Understanding For Plotters Raisers of Insurrections Tumultuous Ones and Fighters running with Swords Clubs Staves and Pistols one
would have done with his Knife and she said He would have stabbed her Stab thee said I what would he have Stabbed thee for thy Religion Yes said she It is the Principle of the Papists if any turn from their Religion to kill them if they can This Story I told those Papists and told them I had it from one that had been one of them but had forsook their Principles and had discovered their Practices They did not deny this to be their Principle but said What! would I declare this abroad I told them Yes such things ought to be declared abroad that it might be known how contrary their Religion was to true Christianity Whereupon they went away in a great Rage Another Papist came to discourse with me and he said All the Patriarchs were in Hell from the Creation till Christ came and that when Christ suffered he went into Hell and the Devil said to him What comest thou hither for to break open our Strong Holds And Christ said To fetch them all out And so he said Christ was three days and three Nights in Hell to bring them out I told him that was false for Christ said to the Thief This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise And Enoch and Elijah were translated into Heaven And Abraham was in Heaven for the Scripture saith Lazarus was in his Bosom and Moses and Elias were with Christ upon the Mount before he suffered These Instances stopt the Papist's Mouth and put him to a stand Another time there came one called Doctor Witty who was esteemed a great Doctor of Physick He came with him that was called the Lord Falconbridge with whom came also the Governour of Tinmouth-Castle and several Knights And I being called to them this Witty undertook to discourse with me and asked me What I was in Prison for I told him Because I would not disobey the Command of Christ and Swear He said I ought to swear my Allegiance to the King Now he being a great Presbyterian I asked him Whether he had not Sworn against the King and House of Lords and taken the Scotch-Covenant And had he not since Sworn to the King And what then was his Swearing good for But my Allegiance I told him did not consist in Swearing but in Truth and Faithfulness So after some further Discourse I was had away to my Prison again And afterwards this Dr. Witty boasted in the Town amongst his Patients That he had Conquered me When I heard of his Boasting I told the Governour It was a small Boast in him to say He had conquered a Bondman And I desired to bid him come to me again when he came to the Castle He came again a while after with a matter of Sixteen or Seventeen great Persons and then he ran himself worse on ground than before For in Discourse he affirmed before them all That Christ had not enlightned every Man that cometh into the World and That the Grace of God that brought Salvation had not apppeared unto all Men and That Christ had not died for all Men. I asked him ' What sort of Men those were which Christ had not enlightned and whom his Grace had not appeared to and whom he had not died for He said Christ did not die for Adulterers and Idolaters and Wicked Men. Then I asked him Whether Adulterers and Wicked Men were not Sinners And he said Yes ' And did not Christ die for Sinners said I Did he not come to call Sinners to Repentance Yes said he Then said I Thou hast stopt thy own Mouth So I proved That the Grace of God had appeared unto all Men though some turned it into Wantonness and walked despightfully against it and that Christ had enlightned all Men though some hated the Light Several of the People that were present confess'd it was true but he went away in a great Rage and came no more at me Another time the Governour brought a Priest but his Mouth was soon stopt Not long after he brought two or three Parliament-Men and they asked me Whether I did own Ministers and Bishops I told them Yes such as Christ sent forth such as had freely received and would freely give and such as were qualified and were in the same Power and Spirit that they were in in the Apostles days But such Bishops and Teachers as theirs were that would go no further than they had a great Benefice I did not own for they were not like the Apostles For Christ saith to his Ministers Go ye into all Nations and preach the Gospel But ye Parliament-men that keep your Priests and Bishops in such great fat Benefices ye have spoiled them all for do ye think they will go into all Nations to preach or will go any further than they have a great fat Benefice Judge your selves whether they will or no. There came another time the Widow of him who was called the Old Lord Fairfax and with her a great Company and one of the Company was a Priest I was moved to declare the Truth to them and the Priest asked me Why we said Thou and Thee to People for he counted us but 〈◊〉 and â—â—iots for speaking so I asked him Whether they that Transâ—â—â—◠〈◊〉 Scriptures and that made the Grammar and Accidence were Fools and Idiots seeing they translated the Scriptures so and made the Grammar so Thou to one and You to more than one and left it so to us And if they were Fools and Idiots then why had not He and such as he that looked upon themselves as Wise Men and that could not bear Thou and Thee to a Singular alter'd the Grammar Accidence and Bible and put the Plural instead of the Singular But if they were Wise Men that had so translated the Bible and had made the Grammar and Accidence so then I wisht him to consider Whether they were not Fools and Idiots themselves that did not speak as their Grammars and Bibles taught them but were offended with us and called us Fools and Idiots for speaking so Thus the Priest's Mouth was stopt and many of the Company did acknowledge the Truth and were pretty loving and tender and some of them would have given me Money but I would not receive it After this came one called Doctor Cradock with three Priests more and the Governour and his Lady so called and another that was called a Lady and a great Company with them Dr. Cradock asked me What I was in Prison for I told him For obeying the Command of Christ and the Apostle in not Swearing But if he being both a Doctor and a Justice of Peace could Convince me that after Christ and the Apostle had forbidden Swearing they commanded Christians to Swear then I would Swear Here was the Bible I told him He might if he would shew me any such Command He said It is written Ye shall Swear in Truth and Righteousness Ay said I it was written so in Jeremiah's time but that was many Ages
got a little Cheary and over it Many Friends and some considerable Persons of the World have been with me I tired out my Body much when amongst you in England it is the Lord's Power that helps me Therefore I desire you all to prize the Power of the Lord and his Truth I was but a Weak Man in Body when I came away from you after I had been in my great Travel amongst you but after that it struck all back again into my Body which was not well settled after so sore Travels in England And then was I so tired at Sea that I could not rest and have had little or no Stomach a long time Since I came into this Island my Life hath been very much burdened But I hope if the Lord give me Strength to manage his Work I shall work throughly and bring things that have been out of Course into better Order So Dear Friends live all in the peaceable Truth and in the Love of it serving the Lord in Newness of Life For glorious Things and precious Truths have been manifested among you plentifully and to you the Riches of the Kingdom have been reached I have been almost a Month in this Island but have not been able to go abroad or ride out only very lately I rid out twice a Quarter of a Mile at a time which wearied me much and almost tired me My Love in the Truth is to you all G. F. Now because I was not yet well able to Travel the Friends of the Island concluded to have their Men's-Meeting and their Womens-Meeting for the Service of the Church at Thomas Rous's where I lay by which means I was present amongst them at each of their Meetings and had very good Service for the Lord in both For they had need of Information in many things and divers Disorders were crept in for want of Care and Watchfulness Wherefore I exhorted them more especially at the Mens-Meeting to be watchful and careful with respect to Marriages to prevent Friends Marrying in near Kindreds and also to prevent over-hasty proceedings toward Second Marriages after the Death of a former Husband or Wife advising that a decent Regard were had in such Cases to the Memory of the Deceased Husband or Wife And as to Friends Children marrying too young as at Thirteen or Fourteen Years of Age I shewed them the Unfitness thereof and the Inconveniences and Hurts that attend such Childish Marriages And I admonished them all to purge the Floor throughly and to sweep their Houses very clean that nothing might remain that would defile And that all should take care that nothing be spoken out of their Meetings to the blemishing or defaming one of another Likewise concerning Registring of Marriages Births and Burials I advised them to keep Exact Records of each in distinct Books for that only use and also to Record in a Book for that purpose the Condemnations of such as went out from Truth into Disorderly Practices and the Repentance and Restoration of such of them as returned again Also I recommended to their Care the providing of convenient Burying Places for Friends which in some parts were yet wanting Some Directions also I gave them concerning Wills and the Ordering of Legacies left by Friends for publick Vses and other things relating to the Affairs of the Church Then as to their Blacks or Negro's I desired them to endeavour to train them up in the Fear of God as well them that were bought with their Money as them that were born in their Families that all might come to the Knowledge of the Lord that so with Joshua they might every Master of a Family say As for me and my House we will serve the Lord. I desired them also that they would cause their Overseers to deal mildly and gently with their Negro's and not use Cruelty towards them as the manner of some hath been and is And that after certain Years of Servitude they would make them free Many sweet and precious things were opened in these Meetings by the Spirit and in the Power of the Lord to the edifying confirming and building up of Friends both in the Faith and holy Order of the Gospel After these Meetings were over the Vessel that was bound for England not being yet gone I was moved to write another Epistle to Friends there the Copy whereof here follows DEar Friends and Brethren to whom is my Love in that which never changeth but remains in Glory which is over all the Top and Corner-stone In this all have Peace and Life as ye dwell in the blessed Seed wherein all is blest over that which brought the Curse where all Shortness and Narrowness of Spirit is and Brittleness and Peevishness is Therefore keep the Holy Order of the Gospel and keep in this blessed Seed where all may be kept in Temperance in Patience in Love in Meekness in Righteousness and Holiness and in Peace in which the Lord may be seen amongst you and no ways dishonoured but glorified by you all And so in all your Meetings in Cities Towns and Countries Mens-Meetings Womens-Meetings and others let Righteousness slow among you and the Holy Truth be uppermost and the pure Spirit your Guide and Leader and the holy Wisdom your Orderer that is pure and gentle and from above and easie to be entreated So keep in the Religion that keeps from the Spots of the World which is pure and undefiled in God's Sight And keep in the pure and holy Worship in which the pure and holy God is worshipped to wit in the Spirit and in the Truth which the Devil is out of who is the Author of all Vnholiness and of dishonouring of God So be all tender of God's Glory and tender of his Honour and of his blessed and holy Name in which ye are gathered And all who do profess the Truth see that ye Walk in it and in Righteousness and Godliness and Holiness For Holiness becomes the House of God the Houshold of Faith And that which becomes God's House God loves for he loves Righteousness and that is the Ornament which becomes his House and all his Family Therefore see that Righteousness do run down in all your Assemblies and that it flow to drive away all the Vnrighteousness This preserves your Peace with God for in Righteousness ye have all Peace with the righteous God of Peace and one with another And so every one that bears the Name of the Anointed that high Title of being a Christian named after the Heavenly Man see that ye be in the Divine Nature and made conformable unto his Image even the Image of the Heavenly Divine Man who was before that Image which Adam and Eve got in the Fall from the Devil So that in none of you that fallen Image may appear or be seen but his Image and you made Conformable unto him Here Translation is shewed forth in Life and Conversation not in Words only yea and Conversion and Repentance which
to love their Masters and Mistresses and to be faithful and diligent in their Master's Service and Business and then their Masters and Overseers would love them and deal kindly and gently with them And that they should not beat their Wives nor the Wives their Husbands neither should the Men have many Wives And that they should not Steal nor be Drunk nor commit Adultery nor Fornication nor Curse nor Swear nor Lie nor give bad Words to one another nor to any one else For there is something in them that tells them they should not practise those nor any other Evils But if they notwithstanding should do them then we let them know There are but Two Ways the one that leads to Heaven where the Righteous go and the other that leads to Hell where the Wicked and Debauched Whoremongers and Adulterers Murderers and Liars go To the one the Lord will say Come ye Blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the World but to the other he will say Depart ye Cursed into everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels So the Wicked go into everlasting Punishment but the Righteous into Life Eternal Matth. 25. Now consider Friends It is no Transgression for a Master of a Family to instruct his Family himself or for some others to do it in his behalf but rather it is a very great Duty incumbent upon them Abraham and Joshua did so of the first we read the Lord said Gen. 18.19 I know that Abraham will command his Children and his Houshold after him and they shall keep the Way of the Lord to do Justice and Judgment that the Lord may bring upon Abraham the things that he hath spoken of him And the latter we read said Josh 24.15 Chuse ye this day whom ye will serve But as for me and my House we will serve the Lord. We do declare that we do esteem it a Duty incumbent on us to Pray with and for to Teach Instruct and Admonish those in and belonging to our Families this being a Command of the Lord the Disobedience whereunto will provoke the Lord's Displeasure as may be seen in Jer. 10.25 Pour out thy Fury upon the Heathen that know thee not and upon the Families that call not upon thy Name Now Negroes Tawnies Indians make up a very great part of the Families in this Island for whom an Account will be required by him who comes to Judge both Quick and Dead at the great Day of Judgment when every one shall be Rewarded according to the Deeds done in the Body whether they be good or whether they be evil At that Day I say of the Resurrection both of the Good and of the Bad of the Just and the Vnjust when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming Fire taking Vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting Destruction from the Presence of the Lord and from the Glory of his Power when he shall come to be glorified in his Saints and admired in all them that believe in that day 2 Thess 1.8 c. See also 2 Pet. 3.3 c. This wicked Slander of our endeavouring to make the Negroes Rebell our Adversaries took occasion to raise from our having had some Meetings with and amongst the Negroes For both I and other Friends had several Meetings with them in several Plantations wherein we exhorted them to Justice Sobriety Temperance Chastity and Piety and to be subject to their Masters and Governours Which was altogether contrary to what our envious Adversaries maliciously suggested against us As I had been to visit the Governour as soon as I was well able after I came thither so sometime after when I was at Thomas Rouse's the Governour came thither to see me carrying himself very courteously Having now been Three Months or more in Barbados and in that time having visited Friends throughly settled Meetings and dispatched that Service for which the Lord brought me thither I felt my Spirit clear of that Island and Drawings to Jamaica Which when I had communicated to Friends I acquainted the Governour also and divers of his Council That I intended shortly to leave the Island and go to Jamaica which I did that as my Coming thither was open and publick so my Departure also might be But before I left the Island I writ the following Letter to my Wife that she might understand both how it was with me and how I proceeded in my Travels My Dear Heart TO whom is my Love and to all the Children in the Seed of Life that changeth not but is over all blessed be the Lord for ever I have gone under great Sufferings in my Body and Spirit beyond Words but the God of Heaven be praised his Truth is over all I am now well and if the Lord permit within a few days I pass from Barbados towards Jamaica and I do think to stay but little there I desire that ye may be all kept free in the Seed of Life out of all Cumbrances Friends are generally well Remember me to Friends that enquire after me So no more but my Love in the Seed and Life that changeth not Barbados the 6th of the 11th Month 1671. G. F. I set Sail from Barbados to Jamaica on the Eighth Day of the Eleventh Month 1671. Robert Widders William Edmundson At Sea Solomon Eccles and Elizabeth Hooton going with me James Lancaster John Cartwright and George Pattison were gone thither some time before and Thomas Briggs and John Stubbs remained yet longer in Barbados with whom were John Rouse and William Baily We had a quick and easie Passage to Jamaica JAMAICA where we met with our Friends James Lancaster John Cartwright and George Pattison again who had been labouring there in the Service of Truth into which we forthwith entred with them travelling up and down through the Island which is large And a brave Country it is though the People are many of them debauched and wicked We had much Service there for there was a great Convincement 1671. Jamaica and many received the Truth some of which were People of Account in the World We had many Meetings there which were large and very quiet For indeed the People were Civil to us so that not a Mouth was opened against us I was twice with the Governour and some other of the Magistrates who all carried themselves lovingly towards me About a Week after we landed in Jamaica Elizabeth Hooton who went with us from England to Barbados and from Barbados thither being a Woman of a great Age and who had travelled much in Truth 's Service and suffered much for it departed this Life She was well the Day before she died and departed in Peace like a Lamb bearing Testimony to Truth at her Departure When we had been about Seven Weeks in Jamaica and had brought
and set over all and they were all brought down and bowed under which was of great Service to Truth and great Satisfaction and Comfort to Friends Glory to the Lord for ever After this Meeting were over and Friends were gone to their several Habitations we staid some Days upon the Island and had several Meetings in several parts thereof and had good Service for the Lord. Oister-bay And when we were clear of the Island we returned to Oister-Bay waiting for a Wind to carry us to Road-Island which was computed to be about two hundred Miles As soon as the Wind served we set Sail ROAD-ISLAND and arrived in Road-Island on the thirtieth Day of the Third Month where we were gladly received by Friends We went to Nicholas Easton's House who at that time was Governour of the Island and there we lay being very weary with travelling by Land and Sea On the First-Day of the Week following we had a large Meeting to which the Deputy-Governour and several Justices came and were mightily affected with the Truth The Week following the Yearly Meeting for all the Friends of New-England Yearly Meeting and the other Colonies adjacent was held in this Island to which besides very many Friends who lived in those parts came John Stubbs from Barbados and James Lancaster and John Cartwright from another way This Meeting lasted Six Days of which the first four Days were general publick Meetings for Worship to which abundance of the World's People came For they having no Priests in the Island and so no Restriction to any particular Way of Worship and both the Governour and Deputy-Governour with several Justices of the Peace daily frequenting the Meetings this did so encourage the People that they flocked in from all parts of the Island Very good Service we had amongst them and Truth had a good Reception with them And indeed to give them their due I have rarely observed a People in the State wherein they stood to hear with more Attention Diligence and Affection than generally they did during the four Days together which also was taken notice of by other Friends After these publick Meetings were over the Mens-Meeting began which was large 1672. Road-Island Yearly-Meeting precious and weighty and the day following was the Womens-Meeting which also was large and very solemn and these two Meetings being for the Ordering the Affairs of the Church many weighty things were opened and communicated to them by Way of Advice Information and Instruction in the Services relating thereunto that all might be kept clean sweet and savoury amongst them In these two Meetings several Mens and Womens Meetings for other parts were agreed and settled to take Care of the Poor and other Affairs of the Church and to see that all who profess Truth walk according to the glorious Gospel of God Now when this great and General Meeting in Road-Island was ended it was somewhat hard for Friends to part For the glorious Power of the Lord which was over all and his blessed Truth and Life flowing amongst them had so knit and united them together that they spent two Days in taking leave one of another and of the Friends of the Island and then being mightily filled with the Presence and Power of the Lord they went away with joyful Hearts to their several Habitations in the several Colonies where they lived When this General Meeting was fully over and Friends had taken their Leaves one of another to depart home we who travelled amongst them dispersed our selves into our several Services according as the Lord ordered us John Burneyate with John Cartwright and George Pattison went into the Eastern parts of New-England in Company with the Friends that came from thence to visit the particular Meetings there whom John Stubbs and James Lancaster intended to follow a while after in the same Service of Truth but they were not yet Clear of this Island Robert Widders and I staid some time longer also upon this Island finding Service still here for the Lord through the great Openness of the People and the daily Coming in of Fresh People in Sloops from other Colonies for some time after the General Meeting was over So that we had many large and serviceable Meetings among them for several Days after During the time that we abode here there was a Marriage celebrated amongst Friends in this Island and we were at it It was at a Friend's House who had formerly been Governour of the Island and three Justices of the Peace and many others of the World's People were there and both they and Friends said They never saw such a Solemn Assembly on such an Occasion and so weighty a Marriage and so comely an Order Thus Truth was set over all and this might serve for an Example to others for there were some present from many other places After this I had a great Travel in Spirit concerning the Ranters for there were many of them in those parts and they had been rude at a Meeting which I was not at Wherefore I appointed a Meeting amongst them and I believed the Lord would give me Power over them and he did so to his Praise and Glory blessed be his Name for ever There were at this Meeting many Friends and divers of the World's People some of whom were Justices of the Peace and other Officers and they were generally well affected with the Truth But one of the Justices who had been a Justice twenty Years was Convinced 1672. Providence and spake highly of the Truth and more highly of me than is fit for me to mention or take notice of Then we had a Meeting at a place called Providence which was very large as consisting of many Sorts and Sects of People and I had a great Travel upon my Spirit concerning the Meeting that it might be preserved quiet and that Truth might be brought over the People and might gain an Entrance and have a Place in them For they were generally above the Priests in high Notions and some of them came on purpose to dispute But the Lord whom we waited upon was with us and his Power went over them all and his blessed Seed was exalted and set above all and the Disputers were silent and the Meeting was quiet and ended well praised be the Lord And the People went away mightily satisfied much desiring another Meeting This place called Providence was about Thirty Miles from Road-Island and we went to it by Water The Governour of Road-Island and many others went with me thither and we had the Meeting in a great Barn which was throng'd with People so that I was exceeding hot and in a great Sweat but all was well the glorious Power of the Lord shined over all Glory to the great God for ever Narraganset After this we went to another place called Narraganset about Twenty Miles from Road-Island and the Governour went with us There we had a Meeting at a Justice's House
where Friends had never had any Meeting before And the Meeting was very large for the Country generally came in and People came also from Connecticut and other parts round about There were amongst them four Justices of the Peace and most of these People were such as had never heard Friends before but they were mightily affected with the Meeting and a great Desire there is after the Truth amongst that People So that our Meeting was of very good Service blessed be the Lord for ever The Justice at whose House the Meeting was and another Justice of that Country invited me to come again but I was then clear of those parts and was going off towards Shelter-Island But John Burnyeate and John Cartwright being come back out of New-England into Road-Island before I was gone I laid this place before them and they felt Drawings thither and went to visit them At another place I heard some of the Magistrates should say among themselves If they had Money enough they would hire me to be their Minister This was where they did not well understand Vs and our Principles But when I heard of it I said It was time for me to be gone for if their Eye was so much to Me or any of Vs they would not come to their own Teacher For this thing of hiring Ministers had spoiled many by hindring them from improving their own Talents whereas our Labour is to bring every one to their own Teacher in themselves Now after we had had very good Service for the Lord in Road-Island and the Parts adjacent and that John Burneyate with the other Friends that went from the General Meeting here into New-England were returned hither again I went off from hence to Shelter-Island having with me Robert Widders James Lancaster George Pattison and one John Jay a Planter in Barbados and leaving John Stubbs and John Burneyate in Road-Island to Water 1672. Road-Island what had been Planted by the Lord there and there-aways who expected John Cartwright whom they had left at Piscataway to come and join shortly with them in the same Service We that were for Shelter-Island went off in a Sloop and passing by Point-Juda and Block-Island Point Juda Block Island Fisher's Island came to Fishers Island where at Night we went on Shore but were not able to stay for the Muschetos a sort of Gnats or little Flies which abound there and are very troublesom Wherefore we went into our Sloop again and put off from the Shore and cast Anchor and so lay in our Sloop that Night Next day we went into the Sound The Sound but finding our Sloop was not able to live in that Water we turned in again for we could not pass that way and so came to Anchor again before Fisher's-Island where we lay in our Sloop that Night also There fell abundance of Rain that Night and our Sloop being open we were exceeding wet The Two Horse-Races Garner's Island Gull 's Island Shelter Island Next day we passed over the Waters called the two Horse Races and then by Garner's Island after which we passed by the Gull's-Island and so got at length to Shelter-Island which though it was but about Twenty seven Leagues from Road-Island yet through the Difficulty of Passage we were three Days in getting thither The Day after we came thither being the First Day of the Week we had a Meeting there Afterwards in the same Week I had a Meeting among the Indians there at which were their King with his Council and about an hundred Indians more They sate down like Friends and heard very attentively while I spake to them by an Interpreter an Indian that could speak English well After the Meeting they appeared very loving and confessed that what was said to them was Truth On the next First-Day we had a great Meeting on the Island to which came many of the World's People that had never heard Friends before They were very well satisfied with the Meeting and would not go away when the Meeting was done till they had spoken with me Wherefore I went amongst them and found they were much taken with the Truth and good Desires were raised in them and a great Love Blessed be the Lord his Name spreads and will be great among the Nations and Dreadful among the Heathen While we were in Shelter-Island William Edmundson came to us who had been labouring in the Work of the Lord in Virginia From whence he travelled through the Desert-Country through Difficulties and many Trials till he came to Roan-Oak where he met with a tender People And after Seven Weeks Service in those parts sailing over to Mary-land and so to New-York he came from thence to Long-Island and so to Shelter-Island where we met with him and were very glad to hear from him the good Service he had had for the Lord in the several Countries and Places wherein he had travelled since he parted from us We staid not long in Shelter-Island but entring our Sloop again At Sea put forth to Sea for Long-Island We had a very rough Passage for the Tide did run so strong for several Hours that I have not seen the like and being against us we could hardly get forwards though we had a Gale We were upon the Water all that Day and the Night following but found our selves next Day driven back near unto Fisher's-Island For there was a great Fog and towards Day it was very dark 1672. New-England so that we could not see what way we made and besides it rained much in the Night which in our open Sloop made us very wet Next day a great Storm arose so that we were fain to go over the Sound and did get over with much ado When we had gotten from Fisher's-Island Faulcon Island we passed by Faulcon-Island and came to the Main where we cast Anchor till the Storm was over Sound and then we came over the Sound being all very wet and much difficulty we had to get to Land the Wind being strong against us But blessed be the Lord God of Heaven and Earth and of the Seas and Waters Long Island Oister-bay all was well and we got safe to Oister-Bay in Long-Island on the Seventh Day of the Sixth Month very early in the Morning which they say is about two hundred Miles from Road-Island At Oister-Bay we had a very large Meeting and the same day James Lancaster and Christopher Holder went over the Bay to Rye on the Continent in Governour Winthrop's Government and had a Meeting there Flushing From Oister-Bay we passed about Thirty Miles to Flushing where we had a very large Meeting many Hundreds of the People of the World being there some or whom came about Thirty Miles to it A glorious and heavenly Meeting it was praised be the Lord God! and the People were much satisfied Mean while Christopher Holder and some other Friends went to a Town in Long-Island called
another Friend's House near the Head of Hatton's-Island Hatton's-Island where we had good Service amongst Friends and others as we had also the Day following at Geo. Wilson's a Friend that lived about three Miles further where we had a very precious Meeting there being a great Tenderness amongst the People After this Meeting we sailed thence about Ten Miles to James Frizby's who was a Justice of the Peace and there on the Sixteenth of the Eighth Month we had a very large Meeting at which besides Friends were some Hundreds of People as it was supposed and amongst them were several Justices of the Peace and Captains and the Sheriff with other Persons of Note in the World's Account A blessed heavenly Meeting this was and a powerful thundering Testimony for Truth was born therein and a great Sense there was upon the People and a great Brokenness and Tenderness was amongst them We stay'd after Meeting till about the Eleventh Hour in the Night that the Tide turned and was with us and then taking Boat again we passed that Night and the next Day about Fifty Miles to another Friend's House The two next days we made short Journies visiting Friends and on the Twentieth we had a great Meeting at a place called Severn Severn where there was a Meeting-Place but not large enough to hold the People by many for the People of those parts came generally to it Divers of the Chief Magistrates were at it and many other considerable People and it gave them generally great Satisfaction Two days after we had a Meeting with some that walked disorderly and we had good Service in it Then spending a day or two in visiting Friends thereabouts Western-Shore we passed to the Western-Shore and on the Twenty fifth Day had a large and precious Meeting at William Coale's where the Speaker of their Assembly with his Wife and a Justice of Peace and several other People of Quality were present Next Day we had a Meeting six or seven Miles further at Abraham Birkhead's where many of the Magistrates and upper sort of People were and the Speaker of the Parliament or Assembly for that Country was Convinced A blessed Meeting it was praised be the Lord. We travelled on next Day and on the Day following which was the Twenty eighth of the Eighth Month had a large and very precious Meeting at Peter Sharp's Clifts on the Clifts between Thirty and Forty Miles distant from the former Many of the Magistrates and upper Rank of People were at this Meeting and a heavenly Meeting it was One of the Governour 's Council's Wives was Convinced and her Husband very loving to Friends and one that came from Virginia being a Justice of the Peace there was Convinced and hath a Meeting since at his House There was some Papists at this Meeting and one of them threatned before he came that he would Dispute with me but when he came he was reached and could not oppose Blessed be the Lord the Truth hath reached into the Hearts of People beyond Words and it is of a good Savour amongst them After the Meeting we went about Eighteen Miles to James Preston's a Friend that liveth on Pottuxon-River and thither came to us an Indian King Pottuxon River with his Brother to whom I spake and I found they understood the thing I spake of Now having finished our Service in Mary-land and intending forthwith to set forward for Virginia Pottuxon we had a Meeting at Pottuxon on the Fourth Day of the Ninth Month to take our Leaves of Friends The Meeting was in the Meeting-Place and many of the World's People of all sorts were at it and a powerful Meeting it was Upon the Fifth Day of the Ninth Month we set Sail for Virginia VIRGINIA and in three days came to a Place called Nancemum Nancemum it being as they there computed about Two hundred Miles from Mary-land In this Voyage we met with nothing but what had been usual with us namely foul Weather Storms and Rain and to lie in the Woods by a Fire in the Night At this Nancemum lived a Friend called the Widow Wright Next Day we had a great Meeting at Nancemum of Friends and People There came to this Meeting one Col. Dewes with several other Officers and Magistrates and were much taken with the Truth declared After this Meeting was over we hast'ned towards Carolina yet had several Meetings by the Way wherein we had good Service for the Lord One about four Miles from Nancemum-Water which was a very precious Meeting and there was a Mens and a Womens-Meeting settled for taking Care of the Affairs of the Church Another very good Meeting also we had at William Yarrow's at a place called Pagan-Creek where the Meeting was so large Pagan Creek that we were fain to be abroad the House not being big enough to contain the People A great Openness there was in the People and the Sound of Truth did spread abroad and had a good Savor in the Hearts of People the Lord have the Glory for ever After this our way to Carolina grew worse being much of it plashy and wet and pretty full of great Bogs and Swamps so that we were commonly wet to the Knees most of us and lay abroad a-Nights in the Woods by a Fire saving that one of the Nights we got to a poor House at a place called Sommertown Sommerton and lay by the Fire in the House The Woman of the House had a Sense of God upon her and the Report of our Travel had reached thither and drawn some People that lived beyond Sommertown to that House in Expectation to have seen and heard us so acceptable was the Sound of Truth in that Wilderness-Country but they missed us The next Day which was the Twenty first of the Ninth Month having travelled hard through the Woods and over many Bogs and Swamps we reached at Night to Bonner's Creek 1672. CAROLINA and there we lay that Night by the Fire-side the Woman lending us a Mat to lie on This was the first House we came to in Carolina And here we left our Horses which were over-wearied with Travel From hence we went down the Creek in a Canooe to Macocomocock-River Bonner's Crâ—â—k and came to a Man's House Macocomocock River whose Name was Hugh Smith where the People of the World came in to see us for there were no Friends in that part of the Country and many of them did receive us gladly Amongst others that came to us there was one Nathaniel Batts who we heard had been Governour of Ronoack He went by the Name of Captain Batts and had been a Rude Desperate Man He asked me about a Woman in Cumberland who he said he was told had been healed by our Prayers and Laying on of Hands after she had been long sick and given over by the Physicians and he desired to know the certainty of it
Crown of every one of you that nothing may be between you and the Lord God And be not deceived with vain Words or fained Words or rough for Satan is transforming himself as an Angel of Light to deceive but God's Foundation standeth sure and God knoweth who are his and will preserve his upon the Rock and Foundation of Life in his peaceable Truth and Habitation that in the same they may grow And so keep out of Strife and Contention with it after that ye have born your Testimony in the Lord's Power and Truth against it and then keep in the Truth for it hath a life in scribling strife and jangling because it would enlarge its Hell and bring others into its Misery with the airy Power and would get Power over the Good and disjoin People from it and so to make Rapes upon the Simplicity by its Subtilty But I do believe the Lord will defend his People though he may try them and exercise them with this Spirit for a time as he hath done by it in days past in other Vessels it hath made use of as it doth of these now who have a more seeming fair Outside but foul and rough and rugged enough within against the Seed Christ as ever were the Pharisees to destroy it And they under a pretence of Preaching Christ are the men that are the Destroyers and Crucifiers of him and Killers of the Just not only in themselves but endeavouring with all their might to destroy it in others where it is born Pharaoh and Herod to slay the young Jews in the Spirit as the Old did I do feel it Worrying of them and it is got up to be King which knew not suffering Joseph But God will plague him and the Seed will have more rest and be better entertained in Egypt than under Herod into whom Old Pharaoh's Spirit is entred He that hath an Ear to hear let him hear and an Eye to see let him see how this Spirit hath Transformed in all Ages against the Just and Righteous but mark what hath been its end But the Seed reigneth Glory to the Lord God over all for ever and his Truth spreadeth and Friends here are in Unity and Peace and of good Report answering the good or that of God in People And so my desires are that all God's People may do the same in all places where-ever they be so that the Lord may be glorified in their bringing forth much Fruit that is heavenly and spiritual Amen Amsterdam the 25 of the 7th Month 1677. G. F. After I had given forth the fore-going Epistle whereby my Spirit was in some measure eased of the Weight that lay upon it I went in the Afternoon to the Monthly Meeting of Friends at Amsterdam where the Lord was present with us and refreshed our Spirits together in himself I thought to have gone next day to Harlem but there being a Fast appointed to be kept that day I was stopped in my Spirit and moved to stay at Friends Meeting that day at Amsterdam We had a very large Meeting a great Concourse of People coming to it and amongst them many great Persons The Lord's Power was over the Meeting and in the Openings thereof I was moved to declare to the People That no man by all his wit and study nor by reading History in his own Will could declare or know the Generation of Christ who was not begotten by the Will of Man but by the Will of God After I had largely opened this unto them I shewed them the Difference between the true Fast and the false manifesting unto them that the profest Christians Jews and Turks were out of the true Fast and fasted for strife and debate being under the Band and Fists of Iniquity and Oppression wherewith they were smiting one another but the pure hands were not lifted up to God And though they did all appear to men to Fast and did hang down their Heads for a day like a Bulrush yet that was not the Fast which God did accept but in that state all their Bones were dry and when they called upon the Lord he did not Answer them neither did their Health grow for they kept their own Fast and not the Lord 's And there I exhorted them to come and keep the Lord's Fast which was to fast from Sin and Iniquity from Strife and Debate from Violence and Oppression and to abstain from every Appearance of Evil. These things were opened to the astonishment of the Fasters and the Meeting ended peaceably and well I went to Harlem the day following Harlem having before appointed a Meeting to be there that day Peter Hendricks and Gertrude Dirick Nieson went with me and a blessed Meeting we had There were at the Meeting Professors of several sorts and a Priest of the Lutherans who sate very Attentive for several hours while I declared the Truth amongst them Gertrude Interpreting When the Meeting was done the Priest said That he had heard nothing but what was according to the Word of God and desired That the Blessing of the Lord might rest upon us and our Assemblies Others also confessed to the Truth saying They had never heard things so plainly opened to their understandings before We stayed that night at Harlem at a Friend's house whose name was Dirick Klassen and returning next day to Amsterdam went to Gertrude's house where we had not been long come in before there came a Priest of great note who had formerly belonged to the Emperor of Germany and with him another German Priest desiring to have some Conference with me So I took the Opportunity to declare the Way of Truth unto them opening unto them how they might come to know God and Christ and his Law and Gospel and shewing them that they could never know it by study nor by Philosophy but by Divine Revelation through the Spirit of God opening unto them in the stilness of their Minds The men were tender and went away well satisfied On the First-day of the Week following I was at Friends Meeting at Amsterdam where amongst the several sorts of Professors that were present there was a Doctor of Poland who for his Religion was banished from the place he lived in and he being affected with the Testimony of Truth that was born in the Meeting came after the Meeting to have some Discourse with me and after we had been some time together and I had opened things further to him he went away very Tender and Loving Now while I was at Amsterdam I spent most of my time except it were when I was at Friends Meetings or when People came to speak with me in Writing Books Papers or Epistles on Truth 's behalf For I writ several Epistles from Amsterdam to Friends in England and elsewhere on several Occasions as the Lord moved me by his Spirit thereunto I writ also from thence A Warning to the Inhabitants of the City Oldenburgh which was lately burnt down Also A Warning to
the Inhabitants of the City of Hamborough I writ also an Epistle to the Ambassadors that were treating a Peace at Nimmeguen To the Magistrates and Priests of Embden I writ a Book shewing them their Vnchristian Practices in persecuting Friends And several other Books I writ there in Answer to Priests and others of Hamborough Dantzick and other places to Clear the Truth and Friends from their false Charges and Slanders After some time George Keith and William Penn came back from Germany to Amsterdam and had a Dispute with one Galenus Abrahams one of the most noted Baptists in Holland at which many Professors were present But not having time to finish the Dispute then they met again two days after and the Baptist was much Confounded and Truth gained ground Between these Two Disputes we had a very great Meeting at Friends Meeting-Place at which many hundreds of the World's People were and some of high Rank in the World's Account for there was an Earl and a Lord and divers other Eminent Persons who all behaved themselves very Civilly But when the Meeting was ended some Priests began to make some Opposition which when William Penn understood he stood up again and answered them to the great satisfaction of the People who were much affected with the several Testimonies that they had heard declared And after the Meeting several of them came to Gertrude's where we were with whom George Keith had much Discourse in Latin Having now finished our Service at Amsterdam we took Leave of the Friends there and passed by Wagon to Leyden Leyden which is about 25 Miles where we stayed a day or two seeking out and visiting some tender People that we heard of there We met there with a German who was partly Convinced and he Informed us of an Eminent Man that was inquiring after Truth Some sought him out and visited him and found him a Serious Man and I spake to him and he owned the Truth William Penn and Benjamin Furly went to visit another Great Man that lived a little out of Leyden who they said had been General to the King of Denmark's Forces and he and his wife were very loving to them and heard the Truth with Joy From Leyden we went to the Hague Hague where the Prince of Orange then kept his Court and we visited one of the Judges of Holland with whom we had pretty much Discourse He was a Wise Tender man and put many Objections and Queries to us which when we had answered he was satisfied and parted with us in much Love Then leaving the Hague we went to Delft and from thence that night to Rotterdam Delft Rotterdam where we stay'd several days and had several Meetings there While I was here I gave forth a Book for the Jews with whom when I was at Amsterdam I had a desire to have had some Discourse but they would not Here also I reviewed several other Books and Papers which I had given forth before and were now Transcribed And now finding our Spirits Clear of the Service which the Lord had given us to do in Holland we took Leave of Friends of Rotterdam and passed by Boat to the Briel in order to take Passage that day in the Packet-Boat for England several Friends of Rotterdam accompanying us and some of Amsterdam who were come to see us again before we left Holland But the Packet-Boat not coming in till night we were fain to lodge that night at the Briel and next day being the One and twentieth of the Eighth Month and the First-day of the Week we went on Board and set Sail about the Tenth hour viz. William Penn George Keith and I and Gertrude Dirick Nieson with her Children We were in all about sixty Passengers and had a long and hazardous Passage for the Winds were contrary to us and the Weather stormy the Boat also very leaky insomuch that we were fain to have two Plumps continually going both day and night so that it was thought there was twice as much Water plumped out as the Vessel would have held But the Lord who is able to make the stormy Winds to cease and the Raging Waves of the Sea to be calm yea to raise them and stop them at his pleasure he alone did preserve us praised be his Name for ever Though our Passage was hard yet we had a fine time and good Service for Truth on Board among the Passengers some of whom were a sort of great Folks and they were very kind and loving 1677. Harwich We arrived at Harwich on the 23th of the 8th Month at night having been Two Nights and almost Three Days at Sea Next Morning William Penn and George Keith took Horse for Colchester but I stay'd and had a Meeting at Harwich and there being no Colchester-Coach there and the Post-masters Wife being Unreasonable in her Demands for a Coach and deceiving us of it also after we had hired it we went to a Friend's House about a mile and an half off in the Country and hired his Wagon which we bedded well with Straw and rode in it to Colchester Colchester I stay'd in Colchester till the First-day of the Week having a desire to be at Friends Meeting there that day and a very large and weighty Meeting it was for Friends hearing of my Return from Holland flocked in thither from several parts of the Country and many of the Towns People coming in also it was thought there were about a Thousand People at the Meeting and all was peaceable Then having stay'd a day or two longer at Colchester having Service amongst the Friends there I travelled through Essex Essex Halsted Braintree Felsted Saling â—helmsford London visiting Friends at Halsted Braintree Felsted and Saling and having Meetings with them At Chelmsford I had a Meeting in the Evening and there being many Friends Prisoners they got liberty and came to the Meeting and we were well refreshed together in the Lord. Next day being the 9th of the 9th Month I got to London where Friends received me with great Joy and on the First-day following went to Gracious-street Meeting where the Lord visited us with his refreshing Presence and the Glory of the Lord surrounded the Meeting praised be the Lord After I had been a little while in London I writ the following Letter to my Wife whom though I had written to her several times out of Holland I had not written to since I came into England Dear Heart TO whom is my Love and to the Children and to all the rest of Friends in the Lord's Truth Power and Seed that is over all Glory to the Lord and blessed be his Name for ever beyond all words who hath carried me through and over many Trials and Dangers in his Eternal Power I have been Twice at Gracious-street-Meeting and though the opposite Spirits were there yet all was quiet and the Dew of Heaven fell upon the People and the Glory of the Lord
shined over all Every day I am fain to be at Meetings about Business and Sufferings which are great abroad and now many Friends are concerned with many Persons about them So in haste with my Love to you all London the 24th of the 9th Month 1677. G. F. About this time I received Letters from New-England 1677. London which gave account of the Magistrates and Rulers cruel and unchristian-like Proceedings against Friends there whipping and abusing them very shamefully for they whipped many Women-Friends and one Woman they tied to a Cart and dragged her along the Street she being stripped above the wast Yea they whipped some Masters of Ships that were not Friends only for bringing Friends thither And at that very time while they were persecuting Friends in this barbarous manner the Indians slew threescore of their Men and took one of their Captains and fleyed the skin off of his head while he was alive and carried it away in Triumph So that the sober People said The Judgments of God came upon them for persecuting the Quakers but the blind dark Priests said It was because they did not persecute them enough So a great Exercise I had in seeking Relief here for our poor suffering Friends there that they might not lye under the Rod of the Wicked Upon this and other Services for Truth to get Friends sufferings in several places taken off I stay'd in London a month or five weeks visiting Meetings and helping and incouraging Friends to labour for the deliverance of their suffering Brethren in other parts Afterwards I went down to Kingston Kingston and visited Friends there and there-away And having stay'd a little among Friends there over looking a Book which I had then ready to go to the Press Bucks I went from thence cross the Country into Buckinghamshire visiting Friends and having several Meetings amongst them as at Amersham Hunger-hill Jordans Hedgerly Amersham Hunger-hill Jordans Hedgerly Wickham-Turvil-heath Wickham and Turvil-heath In some of which they that were gone out from the Unity of Friends in Truth into Strife Opposition and Division were very unruly and troublesome Particularly at the Mens-Meeting at Thomas Ellwood's at Hunger-hill where the Chief of them came from Wickham endeavouring to make a disturbance in the Meeting and to hinder Friends from proceeding in the business of the Meeting When I saw their design I admonished them to be sober and quiet and not trouble the Meeting by interrupting the Service thereof but rather if they were dissatisfied with Friends Proceedings and had any thing to Object let a Meeting be Appointed on purpose some other day So Friends offered them to give them a Meeting another day and at length it was Agreed to be at Thomas Ellwood's the week following Hunger-hill Accordingly Friends met them there and the Meeting was in the Barn for there came so many both of Friends and of them that the House could not receive them So after we had sate a while they began their Jangling and most of their Arrows were shot at me but the Lord was with me and gave me strength in his Power to cast back their Darts of Envy and Falshood upon themselves And so their Objections were Answered and things were opened to the People and a good Opportunity it was and serviceable to the Truth for many that before were weak were now strengthened and confirmed and some that were doubting and wavering were satisfied and settled and the Faithful Friends were refreshed and comforted in the springings of Life amongst us 1677. Hunger-hill for the Power rose and Life sprung and in the arisings thereof many living Testimonies were born against that wicked dividing rending Spirit which those Opposers were joined to and acted by And the Meeting ended to the satisfaction of Friends That night I lodged with other Friends at Thomas Ellwood's and the same week I had a Meeting again with those Opposers at Wickham Wickham where they again shewed their Envy and were made manifest to the Upright-hearted Now after I had visited Friends in that upper side of Buckinghamshire Oxfordshire Henly Causham Reading I called upon Friends at Henly in Oxfordshire and afterwards went by Causham to Reading where I was at Friends Meeting on the First-day of the week and in the Evening had a large Meeting with Friends Next day there being another Meeting amongst Friends concerning settling a Womens-Meeting some of them that had let in the Spirit of Division fell into jangling and were disorderly for a while till the weight of Truth brought them down After this Meeting I passed on through the Country visiting Friends and having Meetings amongst them in several places Barkshire Wiltshire Bristol through Barkshire and Wiltshire and so on till I came to Bristol which was on the 24th day of the 11th Month just before the Fair. I stay'd at Bristol all the time of the Fair and some time after and many sweet and precious Meetings we had there at that time Many Friends being there from several parts of the Nation some on the account of Trade and some in the Service of Truth And great was the Love and Unity of Friends that abode faithful in the Truth though some who were gone out of the holy Vnity and were run into Strife Division and Enmity were rude and abusive to me and behaved themselves in a very Unchristian manner towards me But the Lord's Power was over all by which being preserved in the heavenly Patience which could bear Injuries for his Name 's sake I felt dominion therein over the rough rude and unruly Spirits and would leave them to the Lord who knew my Innocency and would plead my Cause And the more these laboured to Reproach and Vilifie me the more did the Love of Friends that were sincere and upright-hearted Abound towards me and some that had been betrayed by the Adversaries seeing their Envy and rude behaviour brake off from them who have cause to bless the Lord for their deliverance When I left Bristol I went with Richard Snead to a house of his in the Country and from thence to Hezekiah Coale's at Winterburn Gloucestershire Winterburn in Gloucestershire whether came several Friends that were under great Sufferings for Truth 's sake whom I had Invited to meet me there And there Stephen Smith Richard Snead and I drew up a Breviat of their Sufferings setting forth the Illegal Proceedings against them which was delivered to the Judges at the Assizes at Gloucester and they promised to put a stop to those Illegal Proceedings Sudbury Next day we passed to Sudbury and had a large Meeting in the Meeting-house there which at that time was of very good Service We went next day to Nathaniel Crip 's at Tedbury and from thence passed on to Nailsworth 1677. Tedbury Nailsworth Finchcomb where on the First-day of the Week we had a brave Meeting and large From thence we went to the Quarterly Meeting
at Finchcomb where were several of the Opposit Spirit who it was thought Intended to have made some disturbance amongst Friends but the Lord's Power was over and kept them down and good Service for the Lord we had at that Meeting We returned from Finchcomb to Nailsworth again Nailsworth and had another very precious Meeting there to which Friends came from the several Meetings thereabouts which made it very large also We went from Nailsworth on the First day of the First Month 1677 8 and travelled through the Country visiting Friends and having many Meetings amongst them at Cirencester Crown-Allins Cirencester Crown-Allins Cheltonham Stoke-Orchard Tewksbury c. Worcester Parshow Evesham Warwickshire Ragley Cheltonham Stoke-Orchard Tewksbury c. so went to Worcester where I had formerly suffered Imprisonment above a Year for the Truth 's sake and Friends rejoiced greatly to see me there again Here I stay'd several days and had many very precious Meetings in the City and much Service amongst Friends After which travelling through the Country I had Meetings at Parshow and Evesham and then struck to Ragley in Warwickshire to visit her that was called the Lady Conway who I understood was very desirous to see me and whom I found tender and loving and willing to have detained me longer than I had freedom to stay About Two miles from hence I had Two Meetings at a Friend's house whose name was John Stangley Stratford Lamcoat Armscott Oxfordshire Sibbard North-Newton Banbury Adderbury c. Buckinghamshire Long-Crendon Ilmer Mendle Weston Cholsberry Chesham c. Hartfordshire Charlewood Watford Hempsted Market-street Bedfordshire Luton Albans South-Mims Barnet Hendon London whither William Dewsbury came to me and stay'd with me about half a day Afterwards I visited Friends in their Meetings thereabouts at Stratford Lamcoat and Armscott from whence it was that I was sent Prisoner to Worcester in the Year 1673 and thence passed into Oxfordshire visiting Friends and having Meetings at Sibbard North-Newton Banbury Adderbury c. Then visiting Friends through Buckinghamshire at Long-Crendon Ilmer Mendle Weston Cholsberry Chesham c. having several Meetings amongst them I came to Isaac Pennington's where I stay'd a few days And then turning into Hartfordshire visited Friends at Charlewood Watford Hempstead and Market-street at which places I had Meetings with Friends From Market-street I went in the Morning to Luton in Bedfordshire to see John Crook with whom I spent good part of the day and went towards Evening to Albans where I lay that night at an Inn. And visiting Friends at South-Mims and at Barnet and Hendon where I had Meetings I came to London on the Eighth day of the Third Month. And it being the Fourth-day of the Week I went to Gracious-street-Meeting which was peaceable and well and many Friends not knowing I was come to Town were very Joyful to see me there and the Lord was present with us refreshing us with his living Vertue blessed be his holy Name The Parliament was sitting when I came to Town and Friends having laid their Sufferings before them were Waiting on them for Relief against the Laws made against Popish Recusants which they knew we were not though some malicious Magistrates took Advantages against us 1678. London to prosecute us in several parts of the Nation upon those Statutes So Friends being Attending on that Service when I came I Joined with them therein and some probability there was that something might have been obtained towards Friends Ease and Relief in that Case many of the Parliament-men being tender and loving towards us as believing we were much mis-represented by our Adversaries But when I went down one Morning with George Whitehead to the Parliament-house to Attend upon them on Friends hehalf on a sudden they were Prorogued though but for a short time Yearly Meeting About two weeks after I came to London the Yearly Meeting began to which Friends came up out of most parts of the Nation and a glorious heavenly Meeting we had Oh the Glory Majesty Love Life Wisdom and Vnity that was amongst us the Power reigned over all and many Testimonies were born therein against that ungodly Spirit which sought to make Rents and Divisions amongst the Lord's People but not one Mouth was opened amongst us in its defence or on its behalf Good and Comfortable Accounts also we had for the most part from Friends in other Countries of which I find a brief Account in a Letter which soon after I writ to my Wife the Copy whereof here follows Dear Heart TO whom is my Love in the Everlasting Seed of Life that reigns over all Great Meetings here have been and the Lord's Power hath been stirring through all the like hath not been And the Lord hath in his Power knit Friends wonderfully together and the glorious Presence of the Lord did appear among Friends And now the Meetings are over blessed be the Lord in quietness and peace From Holland I hear that things are well there Some Friends are gone that way to be at their Yearly Meeting at Amsterdam At Embden Friends that were banished are gotten into the City again At Dantzick Friends are in Prison and the Magistrates threatned them with harder Imprisonment but the next day the Lutherans rose and plucked down or defaced the Popish Monastery so they have work enough among themselves The King of Poland did receive my Letter and read it himself and Friends have since printed it in High-Dutch By Letters from the Half-yearly-Meeting in Ireland I hear that they be all in Love there And at Barbados Friends are in quietness and their Meetings settled in peace At Antego also and Nevis Truth prospers and Friends have their Meetings orderly and well Likewise in New-England and other places things concerning Truth and Friends are well and in those places the Mens and Womens-Meetings are settled blessed be the Lord. So keep in God's Power and Seed that is over all in whom ye all have Life and Salvation for the Lord reigns over all in his Glory and in his Kingdom Glory to his Name for ever Amen So in haste with my Love to you all and to all Friends London the 26th of the 3d Month 1678. G. F. The Letter to the King of Poland before mentioned is as followeth To Johannes III. KING of Poland c. O King WE desire thy Prosperity both in this Life and that which is to come And we desire that we may have our Christian Liberty to Serve and Worship God under thy Dominion For our Principle leads us not to do any thing prejudicial to the King or his People For we are a People that do exercise a good Conscience towards God through his holy Spirit and in it do serve and worship and honour him and towards Men in the things that be equal and just doing to them as we would have them do unto us and looking unto Jesus who is the Author and Finisher of our Faith which Faith
de Bemise Disp fol. 71. Irenaeus affirmed That all forcing of Conscience though it was but a forbidding of the Exercise which is esteemed by one or another to be necessary to Salvation is in no wise right nor fitting He also affirmed That through the diversity of Religions the Kingdom should not be brought into any disturbance Constantius the Emperour said That it was enough that he preserved the Vnity of the Faith that he might be excusable before the Judgment-seat of God and that he would leave every one to his own Vnderstanding according to the Account he will give before the Judgment-seat of Christ Here-to may we stir up People said he not Compel them beseech them to come into the Unity of the Christians but to do Violence to them we will not in any wise Sebast Frank Chron. fol. 127. Augustinus said Some disturbed the Peace of the Church while they went about to root out the Tares before their time and through this Error of Blindness said he are they themselves separated so much the more from being united unto Christ Retnaldus testified That he who with Imprisoning and Persecuting seeketh to spread the Gospel and greaseth his hands with Blood shall much rather be looked upon for a wild Hunter than a Preacher or a Defender of the Christian Religion I have for a long season determined said Henry the IV. K. of France in his Speech to the Parliament 1599. to Reform the Church which without Peace said he I cannot do and it is impossible to Reform or Convert People by Violence I am King as a Shepherd said he and will not shed the Blood of my Sheep but will gather them through the Mildness and Goodness of a King and not through the Power of Tyranny and I will give them that are of the Reformed Religion right Liberty to live and dwell free without being examined perplexed molested or compelled to any thing contrary to their Consciences for they shall have the free Exercise of their Religion c. Vid. Chron. Van de Underg 2. deel p. 1514. Ennius said Wisdom is driven out when the Matter is acted by Force And therefore the best of Men and most glorious of Princes were always ready to give Toleration Euseb in his Second Book of the Life of Constantine reports these words of the Emperour Let them which err with Joy receive the like fruition of Peace and Quietness with the Faithful sith the restoring of Communication and Society may bring them into the right Way of Truth let none give Molestation to any let every one do as he determines in his Mind And indeed there is great reason for Princes to give Toleration to disagreeing Persons whose Opinions cannot by fair means be altered for if the Persons be Confident they will serve God according to their Perswasions and if they be publickly prohibited they will privately Convene and then all those Inconveniencies and Mischiefs which are Arguments against the permission of Conventicles are Arguments for the publick permissions of differing Religions c. they being restrained and made miserable endears the discontented Persons mutually and makes more hearty and dangerous Confederations The like Counsel in the Divisions of Germany at the first Reformation was thought reasonable by the Emperour Ferdinand and his excellent Son Maximilian for they had observed that Violence did exasperate was unblest unsuccessful and unreasonable and therefore they made Decrees of Toleration The Duke of Savoy repenting of his War undertaken for Religion against the Piedmontans promised them Toleration and was as good as his Word Also it is remarkable that till the time of Justinian the Emperour Anno Domini 525. the Catholicks and Novatians had Churches indifferently permitted even in Rome it self And Paul preached the Kingdom of God teaching those things which concerned the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence and no man forbad him and this he did for the space of two years in his own hired house at Rome and received all that came to him NOW O KING seeing these Noble Testimonies concerning Liberty of Conscience of Kings Emperours and others and the Liberty that Paul had at Rome in the days of the Heathen-Emperour our desire is that we may have the same Liberty at Dantzick to Meet together in our own hired Houses which cannot be any prejudice either to the King and the City of Dantzick for us to meet together to wait upon the Lord and pray unto him and to serve and worship him in Spirit and Truth in our own hired Houses seeing our Principle leads us to hurt no Man but to Love our Enemies and to pray for them yea them that do persecute us And therefore O King Consider and the City of Dantzick would you not think it hard for others to force you from your Religion to another contrary to your Consciences And if it be so that you would think it hard to you then do you unto others as you would have them do unto you do not you that unto others which you would not have men do unto you for that is the Royal Law which ought to be obeyed And so in Love to thy Immortal Soul and for thy Eternal Good this is written G. F. POST-SCRIPT BLessed be the Merciful for they shall obtain Mercy And remember O King Justin Martyr's two Apologies to the Roman Emperours in the Defence of the persecuted Christians and that notable Apology which was written by Tertullian upon the same Subject which are not only for the Christian Religion but against all Persecution for Religion Dear Peter Hendricks and John Claus and J. Rawlins and all the rest of Friends in Amsterdam Friezland and Rotterdam to whom is my Love in the Seed of Life that 's over all I Received thy Letter with a Letter from Dantzick I have written something to you to the King of Poland which you may translate into High-Dutch and send it to Friends there to give it to the King or you may print it after it be delivered in Manuscript which may be serviceable to other Princes So in haste with my Love And the Lord God Almighty over all give you dominion in his Eternal Power and in it over all preserve you and keep you to his Glory that you may answer that of God in all People Amen London the 13th of 9th Month 1677. George Fox I continued yet in and about London some Weeks the Parliament sitting again and Friends Attending upon them to get some Redress of our Sufferings which about this time were very great and heavy upon many Friends in divers parts of the Nation they being very unduly prosecuted upon the Statutes made against Popish Recusants Though our Persecutors could not but know that Friends were utterly against Popery having born Testimony against it in Word and Writing and suffered under it But though many of the Members of Parliament in either House were kind to Friends and willing to have done something for their Ease yet having much
one another in Vertue and in that Love that doth bear all things and doth edifie the Body of Christ the Body of the second Adam For the Body of old Adam in the Fall is full of Malice Envy and Vice And therefore you that are called out of Old Adam in the Fall and have put on Christ the second Adam that never fell Walk in him who is the Treasure of Life Wisdom and Knowledge in whom ye have peace with God who is the First and Last the Beginning and the Ending So let all be gathered up to God into him who reconcileth all things in one both things in Heaven and things in the Earth who is the faithful and true Witness both in Male and Female And in him sit down who is above the subtle Foxes in their holes and the Fowls of the Air in their nests I say sit down in Christ who hath no place among them to lay his head he is your rest So in him is my Love to you all London the 20th of the 11th Month 1682. G. F. It was not long after this that I received an Account by Letter from some Friends that were Prisoners in Denby in Wales by which I understood that many Friends there were under great Sufferings for the Testimony of a good Conscience In the tender sense whereof I was moved in the Love of God to Visit them with a few Lines as a Word of Consolation to them in their Sufferings and of Exhortation to stand fast in the Testimony committed to them And that which I writ was thus DEar suffering Lambs for the Name and Command of Jesus Be valiant for his Truth and faithful and ye will feel the Presence of Christ with you And look at him who suffered for you and hath bought you and will feed you who saith Be of good Comfort I have overcome the World who destroys the Devil and his Works and bruises the Serpent's head I say Look at Christ who is your Sanctuary in whom ye have rest and peace To you it is given not only to believe but to suffer for his Name 's sake And they that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer Persecution by the ungodly Professors of Christ Jesus who live out of him And therefore be valiant for God's Truth upon the Earth and look above that Spirit that makes you suffer up to Christ who was before it was and will be when it is gone Consider all the Prophets Christ and the Apostles who suffered and were persecuted but they never persecuted them as true men but as Deceivers and yet true And Christ is the same to day as he was yesterday a Rock and Foundation for your Age and Generation for you to build upon I have written concerning you after I heard your Letter to Friends in Cheshire to Visit you understanding that you belong to their Quarterly Meeting And therefore I desire that some Friends of your County would go and lay your suffering Condition before the Monthly or Quarterly Meeting in Cheshire I have written likewise to Richard Davis that some of that side may go and visit you and see how your Condition is So my Love is to you in the Lord who is your alone Support London the 27th of the 11th Month 1682. G. F. Now because the Magistrates were many of them unwilling to have Fines laid upon Meeting-houses they kept Friends out in many places setting Officers and Guards of Soldiers at the Doors and Passages And yet sometimes Friends were fined for Speaking or Praying though it were abroad One First-day it was upon me to go to Devonshire-house-Meeting in the Afternoon Dev. Meet and because I had heard Friends were kept out there that Morning as they were that Day at most Meetings about the City I went somewhat the sooner and got into the Yard before the Soldiers came to guard the Passages but the Constables were got there before me and stood in the Door-way with their Staves I asked them to let me go in They said They could not nor durst not for they were commanded the contrary and were sorry for it I told them I would not press upon them so I stood by and they were very Civil I stood till I was weary and then one gave me a Stool to sit down on and after a while the Power of the Lord began to spring up among Friends and one began to speak The Constables soon forbad him and said he should not speak and he not stopping they began to be wroth But I gently laid my hand upon one of the Constables and wisht him to let him alone The Constable did so and was quiet and the Man did not speak long When he had done after a while I was moved to stand up and speak and in my Declaration I said They need not come against us with Swords and Staves for we were a peaceable People and had nothing in our Hearts but Good-will to the King and Magistrates and to all People upon the Earth And we did not Meet under pretence of Religion to plot and contrive against the Government or to raise Insurrections but to worship God in Spirit and in Truth And we had Christ to be our Bishop and Priest and Shepherd to feed us and oversee us and he ruled in our hearts so we could all sit in silence enjoying our Teacher So to Christ their Bishop and Shepherd I did recommend them all And after I had spoken what was upon me at that time I sate down and after a while I was moved to pray and the Power of the Lord was over all Friends and the People and the Constable and Soldiers put off their Hats And when the Meeting was done and Friends began to pass away the Constable put off his Hat and desired the Lord to bless us for the Power of the Lord was over him and the People and kept them under After this I went up and down visiting Friends at their houses who had had their Goods taken from them for worshipping God and we took an account of what had been taken from them and some Friends met together about it and drew up the Case of the Sufferings of our Friends in writing and gave it to the Justices at their Petty-Sessions Whereupon they made an Order That the Officers should not sell the Goods of Friends which they had in their hands but keep them until the next Sessions which gave some discouragement to the Informers and put a little stop to their proceedings The next First-day it was upon me to go to the Meeting at the Savoy and by that time the Meeting was gathered Savoy Meet the Beadle came in and after him came in the wild People like a Sea but the Lord's Power chained them all The Spirit of the Lord went through and over all and they were quiet and we had a glorious peaceable Meeting blessed be the Lord for his unspeakable goodness This was in the Twelfth Month 1682. In the
were many loose Spirits there yet they were bound down by the Power and Spirit of the Lord that they could not get up to make disturbance About this time I was moved to write the following Epistle Friends and Brethren WHO have received the peaceable Truth let the fruits of its peaceableness and of your quiet Spirit appear in all your Meetings and in all your Words and Actions for he that inhabits Eternity dwells with an humble heart and he gives Grace to the humble and resisteth the proud Heaven is his Throne and the Earth ye walk upon is his Foot-stool happy are ye that see and know him that is Invisible And now Friends ☞ Let all things be done in your Meetings and otherways in Love without strife or vain-glory For Love fulfils the Law and Love overcomes and edifies the Body of Christ and builds it up and there is neither Self nor Envy in Love neither is it pufft up but abides and bears all things So see that this Love of God have the sway in you all and over you all Christ saith Blessed are the Poor in Spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted Blessed are the Meek for they shall inherit the Earth Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after Righteousness for they shall be filled Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain Mercy Blessed are the Pure in heart for they shall see God Blessed are the Peace makers for they shall be called the Children of God Blessed are they that are Persecuted for Righteousness sake for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsly for my sake rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in Heaven For so persecuted they the Prophets which were before you Now Friends here is a great deal in these words And all must be in these States and Conditions if they have these Blessings And the Children of God are Peace-makers and strive to make Peace in the Truth and to live in Peace with all men if it be possible So live in the Peace and the Good-will to all men which Good-will is both for their Sanctification and Salvation And Friends consider The Wisdom of God which is from above is pure peaceable and gentle and easie to be entreated full of mercy and good fruits without Partiality and without Hypocrisie And now Dear Friends let this pure peaceable gentle Wisdom that is from above that is easie to be entreated 1683. London and is full of mercy and good fruits be exercised and practised in all the true Churches of Christ so that Wisdom may be justified of her Children For the Works of the Flesh or fleshly Spirit are Hatred Variance Wrath Strife Envyings Drunkenness Revilings Adultery Fornication Lasciviousness Uncleanness c. and they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God But the Fruits of the Spirit of God are Love Joy Peace Long-suffering Gentleness Goodness Faith Meekness Temperance c. And so Dear Friends and Brethren strive to exceed one another and all People upon the Earth in Humility in Meekness in Gentleness in Temperance in Love and in Patience in Pureness and in Mercy and then ye will shew forth the Fruits of the Spirit of God and of his heavenly Wisdom that is from above And in this Wisdom will be justified of her Children and ye will be the Salt of the Earth and the Light of the World set on an Hill that cannot be hid and your Moderation will appear to all men And be ye just and righteous and faithful and true in all your Words Dealings and Conversations so that ye may answer the Truth in all People For Christ saith his Father is glorified by such as bring forth Fruits when men do see their good Works for he that doth Righteousness is accepted with God And he that dwells in Love dwells in God for Love is his Habitation And let that be the Habitation of every one that hath received the Truth for if it be not such do not dwell in God let them profess what they will And therefore my desire is that all you who have received Christ the Seed which bruises the Serpent's head may walk in him your Sanctuary Life and Salvation your Rest and Peace Amen London the 14th of the 6th Month 1683. G. F. I continued yet at London labouring in the Work and Service of the Lord both in Meetings and out sometimes visiting the Friends that were in Prison for the Testimony of Jesus encouraging them in their Sufferings and exhorting them to stand faithful and stedfast in the Testimony which the Lord had committed to them to bear sometimes also visiting those that were sick and weak in Body or troubled in Mind helping to bear their Spirits up from sinking under their Infirmities Sometimes our Meetings were quiet and peaceable sometimes they were disturbed and broken up by the Officers One First-day it was upon me to go to the Meeting at the Savoy Sav. Meet and it was a large Meeting for many Professors and sober People were there And the Lord opened many precious weighty things in me to the People which I declared amongst them and directed them to the Spirit of God in themselves which the Lord had given them a measure of that all by the Spirit might understand the Scriptures which were given forth from the Spirit of God And that by the Spirit of God they might know God and Christ whom God hath sent whom to know was Eternal Life And that by the Spirit they might all come into Christ and know him to be their Sanctuary who destroys the Devil the Destroyer and his works and bruises the Serpent's head For Christ was a Sanctuary to them to whom he was a Saviour whom he saved from the Destroyer And Christ did baptize them with the holy Ghost and with Fire and did thorowly purge his floor and burn up their Chaff with unquenchable fire that is Sin and Corruption which is got into Man and Woman by their Transgression But Christ gathereth his Wheat into his Garner So all that are baptized with Christ's Baptism their Wheat is in God's Garner and no Spoiler can get into God's Garner to meddle with the Wheat there though they may be permitted to meddle with the outward Goods c. Now as I was speaking in the power of the Lord and the People were greatly affected therewith on a sudden the Constables with the rude People came in like a Sea and one of the Constables said to me Come down and he laid hands on me I asked him Art thou a Christian We are Christians He had hold on my hand and was very fierce to pluck me down but I stood still and spake a few words to the People desiring of the Lord that the Blessings of God might rest upon them all
The Constable still called upon me to Come down and at length pluckt me down and bid another Man with a Staff Take me and carry me to Prison That Man had me to another Officer's house who was more Civil and after a while they brought in Four Friends more whom they had taken I was very Weary and in a great Sweat and several Friends hearing where I was came to me in the Constable's house but I bid them all go their ways lest the Constables and Informers should stop them After a while the Constables had us almost a Mile to a Justice who was a fierce passionate Man who after he had asked me my Name and his Clerk had taken it down in writing upon the Constable's informing him That I preached in the Meeting said in an angry manner Do not you know that it is contrary to the King 's Laws to preach in such Conventicles contrary to the Liturgy of the Church of England There was present one Shad a wicked Informer who was said to have broken Gaol at Coventry and to have been burnt in the hand at London who hearing the Justice speak so to me stept up to him and told him That he had Convicted them on the Act of the 22d of King Charles the Second What! You Convict them said the Justice Yes said Shad I have Convicted them and you must Convict them too upon that Act. With that the Justice was Angry with him and said You Teach me What are you I 'le Convict them of a Riot The Informer hearing that and seeing the Justice Angry went away in a Fret and so he was disappointed of his purpose I thought he would have sworn some body against me whereupon I said Let no man swear against me for it is my Principle Not to swear and therefore I would not have any man Swear against me The Justice thereupon asked me If I did not preach in the Meeting I told him I did Confess what God and Christ had done for my Soul and did praise God and I thought I might have done that in the Streets and in all Places viz. Praise God and Confess Christ Jesus and this I was not ashamed to Confess Neither was this contrary to the Liturgy of the Church of England The Justice said The Laws were against such Meetings as were contrary to the Liturgy of the Church of England I said I knew no such Laws against our Meetings but if he did mean that Act that was made against such as did Meet to Plot and Contrive and raise Insurrections against the King we were no such People but did abhor all such Actions and did bear true Love and Good-will to the King and to all Men upon the Earth The Justice then asked me If I had been in Orders I told him No. Then he took his Law-books and searched for Laws against us bidding his Clerk take the Names of the rest the mean time But when he could find no other Law against us the Clerk sware the Constable against us Some of the Friends bid the Constable Take heed what he swore lest he were perjured for he took them in the Entry and not in the Meeting Yet the Constable being an Ill Man swore That they were in the Meeting However the Justice said Seeing there was but one Witness he would discharge the rest but he would send me to Newgate and I might preach there he said I asked him If it stood with his Conscience to send me to Newgate for praising God and for Confessing Christ Jesus He cried Conscience Conscience but I felt my words toucht his Conscience He bid the Constable Take me away and he would make a Mittimus to send me to Prison when he had dined I told him I desired his peace and the good of his Family and that they might be kept in the fear of the Lord So I passed away And as we went the Constable took some Friends word that I should come to his house the next Morning by the ' eighth hour Accordingly I did go with those Friends and then the Constable told us That he went to the Justice for the Mittimus after he had dined and the Justice bid him Come again after the Evening-Service which he did and then the Justice told him He might let me go So said the Constable you are discharged I blamed the Constable for turning Informer and swearing against us and he said He would do so no more Next day the Justice meeting with Gilbert Laty asked him If he would pay Twenty pounds for George Fox 's Fine He said No. Then said the Justice I am disappointed for being but a Lodger I cannot come by his Fine and he having been brought before me and being of ability himself I cannot lay his Fine on any other After I was discharged I went up into the City And the same Week the Sessions coming on where many Friends were concerned some as Prisoners and some on Trials of Appeals upon the Conventicle-Act I went to a Friend's house not far off that I might be in readiness to Assist those Friends with Counsel or otherwise as occasion should offer and I found Service in it But as my Spirit was concerned on behalf of Friends with respect to their outward Sufferings by the Persecutors without so an Exercise also came weightily upon me at this time in the sense I had of the Mischievous Working of that Adulterated Spiritâ— which being gone out from the heavenly Vnity and having drawn out some that profest Truth into Enmity and Opposition against Friends endeavoured to trouble the Church of Christ with their janglings and contention And as a further discovery of the working of that seducing Spirit and a Warning to all Friends to beware of it I was moved to write the following Epistle directed thus To all the Elect Faithful Called and Chosen of God who are the Flock and Heritage of God who have been acquainted with the Dealings of the Lord and have kept your habitations in his Life Power and Truth being built upon the holy and heavenly Rock and Foundation Christ Jesus who was the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles which Foundation stands sure MAny Foundations have been laid since the Apostles days by such as have gone from Christ the true and sure Foundation and their Foundations have proved rotten and come to nought and they themselves have come to Loss And many since the day of Christ and the Truth hath appeared in this Nation have come out and have had some Openings and Sights and come among us for a time and then gone out from us again who have been the Comers and Goers like such as were in the Apostles days Such have had an outward Profession of the Truth and such have gone from the true Foundation Christ Jesus and so from the heavenly Society and Unity of the Saints in Light And then they set up Foundations of their own and having a Form of Godliness but out of the
Yearly-Meeting was over which this Year was about the beginning of the Fourth Month. A precious Meeting it was and a very refreshing Season Friends had together the Lord vouchsafing to honour our Assemblies with his living and glorious Presence in a very plentiful manner At the Conclusion of the Meeting I felt a Concern upon my Spirit to give forth the following Paper to be dispersed abroad amongst Friends ALL you Believers in the Light that are become Children of the Light walk as Children of the Light and of the Day of Christ and as a City set on a Hill that cannot be hid and so let your Light shine that People may see your good Works and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven For a good Tree bringeth forth good Fruit and therefore be ye Trees of Righteousness the planting of the Lord having Fruits unto Holiness and then your End will be Everlasting life And such are the Wells and Cisterns that hold the living Water of life which springs up in them to Eternal life so ye may all drink Water out of your own Cisterns and running Water out of your own Wells and eat every one of his own Fig-tree and of his own Vine having Salt every one in your selves to season every one's Sacrifice acceptable to God by Jesus Christ and like unto the Wise Virgins that have Oil in their Lamps and follow the Lamb and enter in with the Bridegroom 1688. London Yearly-Meeting And now is the time to Labour while it is day yea the Day of Christ and to stir up every one's pure Mind and the Gift of God that is in them and to improve your Talents that Christ hath given you that ye may profit And to walk every one according to the Measure that Christ hath given you for the Manifestation of the Spirit of God is given to every one to profit withal Now consider what you have profited in spiritual and heavenly things with the heavenly Spirit of God and be not like the wicked and slothful that hid his Talent from whom it was taken and he cast into Utter darkness And a Dwarf or one that had any blemish was not to come nigh to Offer upon God's Altar And therefore mind the Word of Wisdom to keep you out of that which will Corrupt you and Blemish you and that ye may grow in Grace and in Faith and in the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ and feeding upon the Milk of the Word may grow by it that ye may not be Dwarfs and so to Offer your spiritual Sacrifice upon God's holy Altar For the Field or Vineyard of the slothful grows over with Thorns and Nettles and his Walls go down such are they that are not diligent in the Spirit of God and the Power which is the Wall a sure Fence and the Spirit of God will Weed out all both Thorns and Thistles and Nettles out of the Vineyard of the heart And you that are Keepers of others Vineyards see that you keep your own Vineyard clean with the Spirit and Power of Christ and sanctifie your selves and sanctifie the Lord in your hearts that ye may be a holy People to the Lord who saith Be ye holy for I am holy that ye may be the holy Members of the Church of Christ that is clothed with the Sun and hath the Moon under her feet the changeable World with all her changeable Worships Religions Churches and Teachers And be ye new and heavenly Jerusalem's Children for new and heavenly Jerusalem that is above is the Mother of all the Children of the Light and that are born of the Spirit and these be they that have been persecuted and have suffered by the false Church Mystery Babylon and Mother of Harlots And now all heavenly Jerusalem's and Sion's Children that are from above labour in the Gospel the Power of God and the Seed in which all Nations and all the Families of the Earth are blessed which Seed Christ bruises the Serpent's head and destroys the Devil and his Works and overcomes the Whore the false Church and the Beast and the false Prophet And takes away the Curse and the Vail that is spread over all Nations and over all the Families of the Earth and brings the Blessing upon all Nations and upon all the Families of the Earth if they will receive it saying In thy Seed shall all Nations and all the Families of the Earth be blessed And this is the Gospel of God preached to Abraham before Moses writ his Five Books and was preached in the Apostles days and is now preached again Which Gospel brings Life and Immortality to light and is the Gospel of Peace Life and Salvation to every one that believes it And so all Nations and all the Families of the Earth must be in Christ the Seed if they be blessed and be partakers of the Blessing in the Seed which Gospel God did preach and reveal to Abraham as in Gal. 3.8 And this Gospel was revealed and preached by Christ unto his Apostles who preached it which is not of Man nor from Man And now God and Christ hath Revealed the same Gospel unto me and many others in this Age I say the Gospel and the Seed in which all Nations and Families of the Earth are blessed in which Gospel I have laboured and do labour that all may come into this blessed Seed Christ who bruises the head of the Serpent that in it they might have peace with God And this Everlasting Gospel is preached again to them that dwell upon the Earth and they that believe it and receive it receive the Blessing and the Peace and Joy and Comfort of it and the stability in it and the life and immortality which it brings to light in them and to them And such can praise the Everlasting God in his Everlasting Gospel And Friends all seek the peace and good of all in Christ for Truth makes no Cains Corahs Balaams nor Judasses for they come to be such that go out of the peaceable Truth And therefore walk in the peaceable Truth and speak the Truth in the love of it as it is in Jesus G. F. Sometime after the Yearly-Meeting was over I went to my Son Mead's House Essex Gooses called Gooses in Essex and abode there some Weeks often visiting Friends Meeting near there and sometimes at Barking And after I had been a while there I went to visit Friends at Waltham-Abbey and at Hodsdon Waltham-Abbey Hodsdon Eâ—field South-street Ford-green Winchmore-hill and about Enfield South-street Ford-Green and Winchmore-Hill where I had several very serviceable Meetings amongst Friends the Lord opening many deep and weighty things through me both for the Informing the Understandings of Inquirers and building up those that were gathered into the Truth and establishing them therein It was in the Seventh Month that I returned to London having been near Three Months in the Country for my health's sake which now was very much Impaired so that
time amongst Friends thereabouts and had Meetings at all those places Then being a little refreshed with being in the Country I went back to London where I tarried labouring in the Work of the Ministry till the middle of the Ninth Month at which time I went down with my Son Mead to his House in Essex and abode there all the Winter Essex Gooses During which time I stirred not much abroad unless it were sometimes to the Meeting to which that Family belonged which was about half a Mile from thence but I had Meetings often in the House with the Family and those Friends that came thither Many things also I writ while I was there some of which follow here One was an Epistle to the Quarterly and Yearly-Meetings of Friends in Pensylvania New-England Virginia Maryland the Jerseys Carolina and other Plantations in America And it was thus MY Dear Friends and Brethren in the Lord Jesus Christ who by believing in his Light are become Children of his Light and of his Day my desires are that you may all walk in his Light and in his Day and keep the Feast of Christ our Passover who is sacrificed for us not with Old Leaven neither with the Leaven of Malice and Wickedness but let all that be purged out that ye may be a New Lump keeping the Feast of Christ our Passover with the unleavened Bread of Sincerity and Truth Therefore let no leavened Bread be found in your Houses nor in your Meetings nor in the Camp of God or Houshold of Faith which are the Houshold of Christ But all that sour old Leaven which makes Peoples hearts sour and to burn one against another all that must be purged out of the Camp of God and kept out For the Feast of Christ our Passover must be kept in the New Covenant with his heavenly unleavened Bread of Life The Jews in the Old Testament their Feast was kept with outward unleavened Bread And now in the New Testament in the Gospel-Day our Feast is to be kept with the heavenly unleavened Bread of Sincerity and Truth Therefore Friends I desire you seriously to consider and to keep this Feast which the Apostle directed the Church of Christ to keep Do not you see Christendom 1689. Gooses so called keep their Feasts with the leavened Bread of Malice and Wickedness which makes them so sour and their hearts to burn one against another that they have destroyed and do destroy one another about Religion Therefore all live in the love of God which keeps above the love of the World so that none of your Hearts may be choaked or surfeited with these outward Things or with the Cares of the World which will pass away But mind ye the World and the Life that is without end that ye may be heirs of it And Friends you should strive to Excel all both Professor and Prophane both in Morality Humanity and Christianity Modesty Sobriety and Moderation and in a good godly righteous Life and Conversation shewing forth the Fruits of the Spirit of God and that you are the Children of the living God and Children of the Light and of the Day and not of the Night And serve God in Newness of Life for it is the Life and a living and walking in the Truth that must Answer the Witness of God in all People that they seeing your good Works may glorifie our Father which is in Heaven Therefore be valiant for God's holy pure Truth and spread it abroad among both Professors and Profane and the Indians And you should write over once a year from all your Yearly-Meetings to the Yearly-Meeting here concerning your Diligence in the Truth and of its spreading and of Peoples receiving it both Professors and Profane and the Indians and concerning the Peace of the Church of Christ amongst your selves For blessed be the Lord Truth doth get ground in these Parts and many are made very loving to Friends and the Lord's Power and Seed is over all In which God Almighty keep all his People to his Glory Amen Gooses the 28th of the 11th Month 1689. G. F. While I was in the City I had a Concern upon my Spirit with respect to a Twofold Danger that attended some who profest Truth one was of Young Peoples running into the Fashions of the World and the other was of Old Peoples going into the Earth And that Concern coming now again weightily upon me I was moved to give forth the following Paper as a Reproof to such and an Exhortation and Warning to all Friends to beware of and keep out of those Snares To all that do Profess the Truth of God MY desires are that you may walk in Humility in it For when the Lord first called me forth he let me see That Young People grew up together in Vanity and the Fashions of the World and Old People went downwards into the Earth raking it together and to both these I was to be a stranger And now Friends I do see too many Young People that do profess the Truth 1690. Gooses do grow up into the Fashions of the World and too many Parents indulge them And amongst the Elder some are growing downwards and raking after the Earth Therefore take heed that you are not making your Graves while you are Alive outwardly and loading your selves with thick Clay Hab. â— 6 For if you have not power over the Earthly Spirit and that which leadeth into a Vain Mind and the Fashions of the World and into the Earth though you have often had the Rain fall upon your Fields you will but bring forth Thistles Briars and Thorns which is for the Fire And such will become brittle peevish fretful Spirits that will not abide the heavenly Doctrine and the Admonitions Exhortations and Reproofs of the Holy Ghost or heavenly Spirit of God which would bring you to be Conformable to the Death of Christ and to his Image that ye might have Fellowship with him in his Resurrection And therefore it is good for all to bow to the Name of Jesus their Saviour and that all may Confess him to the Glory of God the Father For I have had a Concern upon me in a sense of the Danger of Young Peoples going into the Fashions of the World and Old Peoples going into the Earth and many going into a loose and false Liberty till at last they go quite out into the Spirit of the World as some have done Such their House hath been built upon the Sand on the Sea shore not upon Christ the Rock that they are so soon in the World again under a pretence of Liberty of Conscience But it is not a pure Conscience nor in the Spirit of God nor in Christ Jesus for in the Liberty in the Spirit there is the Vnity which is the Bond of Peace and all are one in Christ Jesus in whom is the true Liberty And this is not of the World for He is not of the World And
Schools set up for Friend's Children one at Waltham-Abbey for Boys 316. and at Shacklewell another for Girls ibid. 347. 387 Scots challenging a Dispute with Friends were overthrown 271* A Scotch Officer's impious Saying 272* Scotch Priests Principles 269* Curses 270* 271* Blindness 274* 275* Scriptures are the Words not the Word of God 102. 211* and understood by the Spirit 22 23. 511 512. being given forth by it 359. Scripture-Knowledge without the Life vain 7 8. 13. 437 Seekers 247 435 Separation and its Spirit a warning against it 420-422 pleads a Liberty 434. has the Name of Truth but not the Nature 434. 446. 448-451 455. 464. 467 468. 481. 489-491 516-518 551-553 Unruly Spirits at Reading 456. In America G. F. had a Meeting with them 366 Sessions at Lancaster 88-92 273 274. Leicester 257 258. Worcester 391 392. 398. 401. Bodmin 187 Serpent 9. Speaking in People 14 Serving-men See Rude Shaking of the House G. F. praying 15. A Meeting of Friends were greatly shaken 17. People shook 109. See Steeple-house Sheriff of Lincoln convinc'd 129. See Craven Sheriffs to be Chosen by Friends such as they can give their Voices for 492 493 The Sick and afflicted restored See Trouble in Mind Miracles Shipwracks called God's Grace 207. 209 Sign Tho. Aldam a Sign to O. C. 199. Rob. Huntington 239. Some in Sackcloth and Ashes 296. 306. Another before the Fire of London 305. Another going naked 306. A Woman going before the Parliament c. 199. See Prophecies Richard Sale carrying c. 240 Silent-Meeting 63 Singing in the Spirit with a melodious Sound 277* Sin Priests preach up for Term of Life 32. 239. Sin 's Entail and Original cut off 265* Professors distinguish the Guilt and the Power of it 196. and plead for Sin 397 398. Sin 's Deceitfulness to be watched against 506 507 Sirrah and other reproachful Nick-names given by Magistrates to Prisoners reproved 277 Slander raised by a Priest on a Meeting of Friends he was at 102 Socinians 247. 387. 435 Soldiers one proffered G. F. to assist him 86. others were Convinced and their Wives at Meetings 106. 108 109. and at Cranbrook 150. Another begins to draw his Sword at a Friend 188. Some could not take the Oath to O. C. 123 124. others took it and fell into Danger ibid. A Soldiers wicked Saying of Christ 214* Several Officers Convinced in Scotland 279* Some Soldiers striking Friends at Meeting 210 212. Troopers came to see G.F. in Prison 297 Soldiers Testimony of him 305 Lewd Soldiers in Germany 443. Blind Men are not Listed for Soldiers neither outward nor inward 606 Somerset-House 199 Soul A People holding That Women have no Souls 5 6 Spirit of Discerning in G. F. 14. 108. The Spirit tries Doctrines 26. and leads into all Truth 238* A measure of it is given to every one 281. Its Fruits if obeyed 402 403. A Spirit in the Ship and in the Steeple-House 55. 350 351 Sports and Feastings denied 5 Steeple-Houses and Markets Truth preached in them 262* the Sound of its Bell seemed like the Sound of a Market-Bell 25 26. 31. G. F. in the Steeple-house at Beverly and Crantzick 54-57 Mansfield-Woodhouse the People fell upon him c. Steeple-house shook 82. 102. 109 Friends declaring Truth in Steeple-houses 149. 151. 177. 188 276* others admonished the Bowlers 217* Streets Truth preached in them 246. 254*-258* Stone laid in Sion rejected 473. That became a great Mountain 579 580 Stilness the Mind feels the Principle of God in it 189 Students at Aberdeen some Convinced 407 Sufferings of G. F.'s and Friends for being contrary to the World's Ways and Customs 24. G. F. cruelly beaten by a Clerk in the Steeple-house 69. by a rude Multitude 87. banished see Banishment suâ—fered in bad Prisons 289 c. Sufferings of Friends for Travelling about their Occasions 201* for going to Steeple-houses c. 262* 263* c. laid before O.C. 195 Sufferings of Friends at Meetings 197. by Imprisonments ibid. 198. 295 296. 321. 250. And after the Monarchy-mens Rising 231. some Banished c. Dantzick Friends Sufferings 458-463 538-541 594-596 Swear not at all 292. Friends not swearing how discerned from others not swearing 324 325. See 481. 514. Offices served by Friends without Swearing 600. Justices and Jury Forsworn at Lancaster-Assizes in G. F's Case 289 290. Three Officers of the Court Forsworn in the same Case 294 Syllogisms and Sophistick Arguments overthrown 273* T. TAlents 240* 241* and the slothful Servant 611 Talkers airy 8. 14. 185 186. Tawnies see Blacks Teacher God was the first Teacher in Paradise c. 384 Tempest great with Thunder and Rain 309 Temples made with Hands God dwells not in 6.31 Temptations to Despair upon G. F. 3 4. 6. 8. for the Trial of his Faith 10. was under great Temptations sometimes 13 14 Thee and Thou to a single Person 279* 198. 205. 239. 245. 301. See Hat Thieves lying hid by the highway in Scotland reproved by G. F. 276* Tithes Quakers cannot pay 229. 118. Great Havock and Spoil made for them by Priests 162. 239. some Imprison'd to Death for them 275 276. 302. Friends to keep up the Testimony against them 430. 432. 487. 550. Tithes pleaded for by the Priests 228 Tongues and Languages the Beast has power over 281* Toleration pray'd against by a Priest 240. how to use it 567 568 Two Thirsts in Man 8 9 Thrones on Earth contended for 590 Trading of Friends increased People seeing their honest Dealing 12â— Transgression of the Life of God what it leads to 189 190 Travels of G. F's into 1657 Wales 245* and 261*  Scotland 268*-281* 1669 Ireland 327-3â—2 1671 Barbados 34â—-361  Jaimaca 361-363 1672 Maryland 363-365  E. and W. Jersey 365  Long Island in N.E. ibid  Road Island 366-369  Jerseys -370  Maryland 372-375  Virginia 375  Carolina 375-377  Virginia 377 378 1673 Maryland 378-383 Returning thence to England he went over to 1677. Holland Friezland Germany Holstein c. 432-454 1684 Holland and Friezland 520-523 Trembling and Quaking owned 157-160 Trials of G. F's c. see Assize Two Triers sent from Wales both were convinced 123. A pretended Trier of Spirits confounded 149. A Day of Trial is coming upon all c. 287. 533. 587 Troubles of Mind spoken to 189. Of a Woman in Maryland for whom G.F. intreated the Lord 381. Troubles upon a Trooper concerning G. F. 45 Truth is honourable 284* is peaceable 486. in Unity 551 552. the Pearl 569 Tumult of the People at Brecknock 246* Turks and Turkish Patrons give Liberty of Religion 596 V. VEngeance is the Lord's 244 Victory and overcoming of Temptations known 8. 166 Vision of G. F's of a Bear c. 69. Of a desperate Creature c. 267* Of New Engl. Sufferings to Death 241. Concerning the Turk 295. Of himself to be taken Prisoner 389. A Vision in Ireland 328. and in his Voyage for America 350. the Christians at Jerusalem had a
the Love of God and in his Righteousness that will preserve you above all Changeable Spirits that be foul and unclean and that dwell not in the Truth but in Quarrels Avoid such and keep your Habitations in the Truth and dwell in the Truth and in the Word of God by which ye are reconciled to God And keep your Meetings in the Name of Jesus Christ that never fell and then ye will see over all the Gatherings of Adam's Sons and Daughters you being Met in the Life over them all in which is your Vnity and Peace and Fellowship with God and one with another in the Life in which ye may enjoy God's Presence among you So remember me to all Friends in the everlasting Seed of God And all they that are gotten into Fellowship in outward things their Fellowship will corrupt and rot and wither away Therefore live in the Gospel the Power of God which Power of God the Gospel was before the Devil was And this Fellowship in the Gospel the Power of God is a Mystery to all the Fellowships in the World So look over all outward Sufferings and look at the Lord and the Lamb who is the First and Last the Amen in whom farewell G. F. Lancaster Assizes In the Sixth Month the Assizes were held again at Lancaster and the same Judges Twisden and Turner came that Circuit again but Judge Turner then sate on the Crown-Bench and so I was brought before him But before I was called to the Bar I was put among the Murderers and Fellons for about the space of two hours the People the Justices and the Judge also gazing upon me After they had Tried several others they called me to the Bar and impanneled a Jury And then the Judge asked the Justices Whether they had tendered me the Oath at the Sessions And they said They had Then he bid Give them the Book that they might swear they had tendered me the Oath according to the Indictment Some of the Justices refused to be Sworn but the Judge said he would have it done to take away all Occasion of Exception Now when the Jury were sworn and the Justices had sworn That they had tendered me the Oath according to the Indictment then the Judge asked me Whether I had not refused the Oath at the last Assizes I said I never took Oath in my Life and Christ the Saviour and Judge of the World said Swear not at all The Judge seemed not to take notice of my Answer but asked me Whether or no I had not refused to take the Oath at the last Assize I said The Words that I then spake to them were That if they could prove either Judge Justices Priest or Teacher that after Christ and the Apostle had forbidden Swearing they commanded that Christians should Swear I would Swear The Judge said He was not at that time to dispute whether it was lawful to Swear but to Inquire whether I had refused to take the Oath or no. I told him Those things mentioned in the Oath as Plotting against the King and owning the Pope's or any other Forreign Power I utterly deny Well said he You say well in that but did you deny to take the Oath What say you What would'st thou have me to say said I for I have told thee before what I did say Then he asked me If I would have these Men to Swear that I had taken the Oath I asked him ' If he would have those Men to Swear that I had refused the Oath At which the Court burst out into Laughter I was grieved to see so much Lightness in a Court where such Solemn Matters are handled and thereupon asked them If this Court was a Play-house Where is Gravity and Sobriety said I 1664. Lancaster Assizes for this Behaviour doth not become you Then the Clerk read the Indictment and I told the Judge I had something to speak to it for I had Informed my self of the Errors that were in it He told me He would hear me afterward any Reasons that I could alledge why he should not give Judgment Then I spake to the Jury and told them That they could not bring me in Guilty according to that Indictment for the Indictment was wrong laid and had many gross Errors in it The Judge said I must not speak to the Jury but he would speak to them and he told them I had denied to take the Oath at the last Assizes and said he I can tender the Oath to any Man now and Premunire him for not taking it And he said They must bring me in Guilty seeing I refused to take the Oath Then said I what do ye do with a Form Ye may throw away your Form then And I told the Jury it lay upon their Consciences as they would answer it to the Lord God before his Judgment-Seat Then the Judge spake again to the Jury and I bid him do me Justice So the Jury brought me in Guilty Whereupon I told them That both the Justices and they too had forsworn themselves and therefore they had small cause to laugh as they did a little before Oh the Envy and Rage and Malice that was there against me and the Lightness But the Lord confounded them and they were wonderfully stopt So they set me aside and called up Margaret Fell who had a great deal of good Service amongst them and then the Court brake up near the Second Hour In the Afternoon we were brought up again to have Sentence passed upon us And Margaret Fell desired that Sentence might be deferred till the next Morning I desired nothing but Law and Justice at his hands for the Thieves had Mercy Only I desired the Judge to send some to see my Prison which was so bad they would put no Creature they had in it and I told him that Col. Kirby who was then on the Bench said I should be locked up and no Flesh alive should come to me The Judge shook his Head and said When the Sentence was given he would leave me to the favour of the Jailer Now most of the Gentry of the Country were gathered together expecting to hear the Sentence and the Noise among the People was That I should be Transported But they were all crossed at that time for the Sentence being deferred till next Morning I was had back as I came to Prison again Upon my complaining of the badness of my Prison some of the Justices with Col. Kirby went up to see it But when they came to it they durst hardly go into it the Floor was so bad and dangerous and the place so open to Wind and Rain and some that came up said Sure it was a Jakes-house When Col. Kirby saw it and heard what others said of it he excused the matter as well as he could and said I should be removed from that place ere it was long to some more convenient place Next day towards the Eleventh Hour we were called forth