the Stature of the Fulness of Christ when they cannot bear to hear that any shall come whilst upon Earth into the same Power and Spirit that the Prophets and Apostles were in Though it be a certain Truth that none can understand their Writings aright without the same Spirit by which they were written Now the Lord God hath opened to me by his invisible Power how that Every Man was enlightned by the Divine Light of Christ and I saw it shine through all And that they that believed in it came out of Condemnation and came to the Light of Life and became the Children of it But they that hated it and did not believe in it were Condemned by it though they made a Profession of Christ This I saw in the pure Openings of the Light without the help of any Man neither did I then know where to find it in the Scriptures though afterwards searching the Scriptures I found it For I saw in that Light and Spirit which was before Scripture was given forth and which led the Holy Men of God to give them forth That all must come to that Spirit if they would know God or Christ or the Scriptures aright which They that gave them forth were led and taught by But I observed a Dulness and Drowzy Heaviness upon People which I wondred at For sometimes when I would set my self to sleep my Mind went over all to the Beginning in that which is from Everlasting to Everlasting And I saw Death was to pass over this sleepy heavy State And I told People they must come to witness Death to that sleepy heavy Nature and a Cross to it in the Power of God that their Minds and Hearts might be on things above And on a certain Time as I was walking in the Fields the Lord said unto me Thy Name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life which was before the Foundation of the World And as the Lord spake it I believed and saw it in the New Birth Then sometime after the Lord commanded me to go abroad into the World which was like a briary thorny Wilderness And when I came in the Lord 's mighty Power with the Word of Life into the World the World swelled and made a Noise like the great raging Waves of the Sea Priests and Professors Magistrates and People were all like a Sea when I came to proclaim the Day of the Lord amongst them and to preach Repentance to them Now I was sent to turn People from Darkness to the Light that they might receive Christ Jesus For to as many as should receive him in his Light I saw that he would give Power to become the Sons of God Which I had obtained by receiving Christ And I was to direct People to the Spirit that gave forth the Scriptures by which they might be led into all Truth and so up to Christ and God as they had been who gave them forth And I was to turn them to the Grace of God and to the Truth in the Heart which came by Jesus that by this Grace they might be taught which would bring them Salvation that their Hearts might be established by it and their Words might be seasoned and all might come to know their Salvation nigh For I saw that Christ had died for all Men and was a Propitiation for all and had enlightned all Men and Women with his divine and saving Light And that none could be a true Believer but who believed in it I saw that the Grace of God which brings Salvation had appeared to all Men and that the Manifestation of the Spirit of God was given to every Man to profit withal These Things I did not see by the help of Man nor by the Letter tho' they are written in the Letter but I saw them in the Light of the Lord Jesus Christ and by his immediate Spirit and Power as did the Holy Men of God by whom the Holy Scriptures were written Yet I had no slight esteem of the Holy Scriptures but they were very precious to me For I was in that Spirit by which they were given forth and what the Lord opened in me I afterwards found was agreeable to them I could speak much of these things and many Volumes might be written but all would prove too short to set forth the Infinite Love Wisdom and Power of God in prepairing fitting and furnishing me for the Service he had appointed me to letting me see the Depths of Satan on the one Hand and opening to me on the other Hand the divine Mysteries of his own Everlasting Kingdom Now when the Lord God and his Son Jesus Christ did send me forth into the World to preach his Everlasting Gospel and Kingdom I was glad that I was Commanded To turn People to that Inward Light Spirit and Grace by which all might know their Salvation and their Way to God even that divine Spirit which would lead them into all Truth and which I infallibly knew would never deceive any But with and by this divine Power and Spirit of God and the Light of Jesus I was to bring People off from all their own ways to Christ the new and living Way and from their Churches which Men had made and gathered to the Church in God the general Assembly written in Heaven which Christ is the Head of And off from the World's Teachers made by Men to learn of Christ who is the Way the Truth and the Life of whom the Father said This is my beloved Son hear ye him and off from all the Worlds Worships to know the Spirit of Truth in the inward Parts and to be led thereby that in it they might Worship the Father of Spirits who seeks such to Worship him Which Spirit they that Worshipped not in knew not what they Worshipped And I was to bring People off from all the World's Religions which are vain that they might know the pure Religion and might visit the Fatherless the Widows and the Strangers and keep themselves from the Spots of the World And then there would not be so many Beggars the sight of whom often grieved my Heart to see so much Hard-heartedness amongst them that professed the Name of Christ And I was to bring them off from all the World's Fellowships and Prayings and Singings which stood in Forms without Power that their Fellowships might be in the Holy Ghost and in the Eternal Spirit of God that they might Pray in the Holy Ghost and Sing in the Spirit and with the Grace that comes by Jesus making Melody in their Hearts to the Lord who hath sent his beloved Son to be their Saviour and caused his heavenly Sun to shine upon all the World and through them all and his heavenly Rain to fall upon the Just and the Unjust as his outward Rain doth fall and his outward Sun doth shine on all which is God's unspeakable Love to the World And I was to bring People off from Jewish Ceremonies and from
Hill called Pendle-hill and I was moved of the Lord to go up to the Top of it which I did with much ado it was so very Steep and High When I was come to the Top of this Hill I saw the Sea bordering upon Lancashire And from the Top of this Hill the Lord let me see in what Places he had a Great People to be gathered As I went down I found a Spring of Water in the Side of the Hill with which I refreshed my self having eaten or drunk but little in several Days before At Night we came to an Inn and declared Truth to the Man of the House and writ a Paper to the Priests and Professors declaring the Day of the Lord and that Christ was come to teach People himself by his Power and Spirit in their Hearts and to bring People off from all the World's Ways and Teachers to his own free Teaching who had bought them and was the Saviour of all them that believed in him The Man of the House spread the Paper abroad and was himself mightily affected with the Truth Here the Lord opened unto me and let me see a Great People in white Raiment by a River-side coming to the Lord And the Place that I saw them in was about Wentzerdale and Sedbergh The next Day we travelled on and at Night got a little Fern or Brakins to lay under us and lay upon a Common Next Morning we reached to a Town and there Richard Farnsworth parted from me and then I travelled alone again Wentzerdale So I came up Wentzerdale and at the Market-Town in that Dale there was a Lecture on the Market-day and I went into the Steeple-house And after the Priest had done I Proclaimed the Day of the Lord to the Priest and People Warning them to turn from the Darkness to the Light and from the Power of Satan unto God that they might come to know God and Christ aright and to receive his Teaching who teacheth freely And largely and freely did I declare the Word of Life unto them and had not much Persecution there Afterwards I passed up the Dales Warning People to fear God and preaching the Everlasting Gospel to them And in my way I came to a Great House where there was a School-master and they got me into the House And I asked them Questions about their Religion and Worship and afterward I declared the Truth to them They had me into a Parlour and lockt me in pretending that I was a Young Man that was Mad and had got away from my Relations and that they would keep me till they could send to my Relations 1652. Wentzerdale But I soon Convinced them of their Mistake in that and they let me forth and would have had me to stay there But I was not to stay there Then having exhorted them to Repentance and directed them to the Light of Christ Jesus that through it they might come unto him and be saved I passed from them and came in the Night to a little Ale-house on a Common where there was a Company of Rude Fellows drinking And because I would not drink with them they got up their Clubs and were striking at me but I reproved them and brought them to be somewhat Cooler and then I walked out of the House upon the Common in the Night After some time one of these drunken Fellows came out and would have come close up to me pretending to whisper to me but I perceived he had a Knife wherefore I kept off from him and bid him Repent and fear God So the Lord by his Power preserved me from this Wicked Man and he went into the House again The next Morning I went on through other Dales Yorkshire Dales Warning and Exhorting People every where as I passed to Repent and turn to the Lord and several were Convinced At one House that I came to the Man of the House whom I afterwards found to be a Kinsman of John Blakelin's would have given me Money but I would not Receive it As thus I traveled on through the Dales I came to another Man's House whose Name was Tennant And I was moved to speak to the Family and declare God's Everlasting Truth to them And as I was turning away from them I was moved to turn again and speak to the Man himself And he was Convinced and his Family and lived and died in the Truth Thence I came to Major Bousfield's who received me as did also several others and some that were then Convinced have stood faithful ever since Grysedale I went also thro' Grysedale and several other of those Dales in which some were Convinced And I went into Dent where many were Convinced also Dent. But from Major Bousfield's I came to Richard Robinson's and declared the Everlasting Truth to him The next day I went to a Meeting at Justice Benson's where met a a People that were separated from the publick Worship This was the place that I had seen where a People came forth in white Raiment A large Meeting it was and the People were generally Convinced and continue a large Meeting still of Friends near Sedburgh Near Sedburgh Which was then first gathered through my Ministry in the Name of Jesus In the same Week there was a great Fair at which Servants used to be hired And I went and declared the day of the Lord through the Fair. And after I had done so I went into the Steeple-house-Yard and many of the People of the Fair came thither to me and abundance of Priests and Professors There I declared the Everlasting Truth of the Lord and the Word of Life for several Hours shewing that the Lord was come to Teach his People himself and to bring them off from all the World's Ways and Teachers to Christ the true Teacher and the true Way to God I laid open their Teachers shewing that they were like them that were of Old condemned by the Prophets and by Christ and by the Apostles And I exhorted the People to come off from the Temples made with Hands 1652. Near Sedburgh and Wait to receive the Spirit of the Lord that they might know themselves to be the Temples of God Not one of the Priests had power to open his Mouth against what I declared But at last a Captain said Why will you not go into the Church for this is not a fit place to preach in said he But I told him I denied their Church Then stood up one Francis Howgill who was a Preacher to a Congregation He had not seen me before yet he undertook to Answer that Captain and soon put him to Silence Then said this Francis Howgill of me This Man speaks with Authority and not as the Scribes After this I opened to the People That that Ground and House was no holier than another Place and that that House is not the Church but the People whom Christ is the Head of Then after a while the
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
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
to get ready their Horses in the Morning and we rode out of Town together There were with me at that time Thomas Rawlinson Alexander Parker and Robert Widders When we were come out of Town they asked me Whether I would go I told them It was upon me from the Lord to go back again to Johnston the Town Johnstons out of which we had been lately thrust and to set the Power of God and his Truth over them also Alexander Parker said he would go along with me and I wisht the other Two to stay at a Town about three Miles from Edenborough till we returned Then Alexander Parker and I got over the Water Johnstons which was about three Miles over and rid on through the Country but in the Afternoon his Horse being weak and not able to hold up with mine I put on and got into Johnston's just as they were drawing up the Bridges the Officers and Souldiers never questioning me So I rid up the Street to Capt. Davenport's House from which House we had been banished before There were many Officers with him and when I came amongst them they lifted up their Hands admiring that I should come again but I told them The Lord God had sent me amongst them again So they went their Way And the Baptists sent me a Letter by way of Challenge That they would discourse with me the next day I sent them Word I would Meet them at such an House about half a Mile out of the Town at such an Hour For I considered if I should stay in Town to discourse with them they might under pretence of discoursing with me have raised Men to put me out of the Town again as they had done before At the Time appointed I went to the Place appointed Capt. Davenport and his Son accompanying me and there I stay'd some Hours but never a one of them came But while I stay'd there waiting for them I spied Alexander Parker coming who not being able to reach the Town had lain out the Night before and when I saw him I was exceeding glad that we were met again This Captain Davenport was then loving to Friends but afterwards coming more into the Obedience to Truth he was turned out of his Place for not putting off his Hat and for saying Thou and Thee to them Now when we had waited beyond reasonable Ground to expect any of their Coming we departed And Alexander Parker being moved to go again to the Town where we had the Meeting at the Market-Cross I passed alone through the Country to Lieutenant Foster's Quarters where there were several Officers that were Convinced From thence I went up to the Town where I had left the other two Friends and they and I went back to Edenborough together When we were come to the City I bid Robert Widders follow me and in the Dread and Power of the Lord we came up to the two first Sentries and the Lord's Power came so over them that we passed by them without any Examination Then we rode up the Street to the Market-place and by the Main-guard out at the Gate by the third Sentry and so clear out at the Suburbs and there came to an Inn and set up our Horses it being the seventh Day of the Week Now I saw and felt that we had rid as it were against the Canon's Mouth or the Sword 's Point but the Lord's Power and immediate Hand carried us over the Heads of them all Next day I went up to the Meeting in the City Friends having notice that I would be at it There came many Officers and Souldiers to it and a glorious Meeting it was and the Everlasting Power of God was set over the Nation and his Son reigned in his glorious Power and all was quiet and no Man offered to meddle with me 1657. Edenborough When the Meeting was ended and I had visited Friends I came out of the City to my Inn again and the next day being the second day of the Week we set forward through the Country towards the Borders of England As we travelled along the Country I spied a Steeple-house and it struck at my Life I asked what Steeple-house it was and was Answered Dunbar that it was Dunbar When I came thither and had set up at an Inn I walked up to the Steeple-house having a Friend or two with me When we came into the Steeple-house-yard one of the chief Men of the Town was walking there So I spake to one of the Friends that was with me To go to him and tell him that about the Ninth Hour next Morning there would be a Meeting there of the People of God called Quakers of which we desired he would give notice to the People of the Town He sent me Word That they were to have a Lecture there by the Ninth Hour but that we might have our Meeting there by the Eighth Hour if we would We concluded so and desired him to give Notice of it Accordingly in the Morning both Poor and Rich came And there being a Captain of Horse quartered in the Town He and his Troopers came also so that we had a large Meeting And a glorious Meeting it was the Lord's Power being set over all After some time the Priest came and went into the Steeple-house but we being in the Steeple-house-yard most of the People staid with us And Friends were so full and their Voices so high in the Power of God that the Priest could do little in the Steeple-house but came quickly out again and stood a while and then went his Way For after I had opened to the People Where they might find Christ Jesus having turned them to the Light which he had enlightned them withal that in the Light they might see Christ that died for them and turn to him and know him to be their Saviour and free Teacher and had let them see that all the Teachers they had hitherto followed were Hirelings who made the Gospel chargeable and had shewed them the wrong Ways they had walked in in the Night of Apostacy and had directed them to Christ the new and living Way to God and had manifested unto them how they had lost the Religion and Worship which Christ set up in Spirit and Truth and had hitherto been in the Religions and Worships of Mens making and setting up and after I had turned the People to the Spirit of God which led the holy Men of God to give forth the Scriptures and shewed them that they must also come to receive and be led by the same Spirit in themselves a Measure of which was given unto every one of them if ever they came to know God and Christ and the Scriptures aright perceiving the other Friends that were with me to be full of the Power and Word of the Lord I stepped down giving way for them to declare what they had from the Lord to say unto the People Towards the latter End of
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
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
Reprove those who would have fire to come down from Heaven to destroy them who would not receive him and did not he tell them They did not know what spirit they were of And therefore all who have persecuted Men or taken away their Lives because they would not receive their Religion have they known what spirit they were or are of Therefore is it nor good for all to know by the Spirit of Christ what spirit they are of For the Apostle says Rom. 8.9 If any Man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his And does not the Apostle say 2 Cor. 10.4 The Weapons of our Warfare are not Carnal but Spiritual c. And we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against spiritual wickedness c. Thus we can see here that the Fight of the first Christians and their Weapons in the days of the Apostles were spiritual in matters of Faith Religion and Worship in the Church of Christ Now would not the King and the Magistrates of Dantzick think that it was contrary to their Consciences if they should be forced by the Turk to his Religion Would it not in like manner seem hard to the Magistrates of Dantzick and contrary to their Consciences if they should be forced to the Religion of the King of Poland or the King of Poland if he should be compelled to the Religion of the Magistrates of Dantzick And if they would not be subject thereunto that then they should be banished from their Wives and Families and out of their Native Country or otherwise be fed with Bread and Water under a strict Confinement Therefore we beseech the King with all Christian Humility and the Magistrates of Dantzick that they would order their proceedings in this matter according to the Royal Law of God which is To do unto others as they would have others do unto them and to love their Neighbour as themselves For we have this Charity that we hope and believe that the King of Poland and his People with the Magistrates of Dantzick own the Writings of the New Testament as well as of the Old And therefore we beseech the King and the Magistrates of Dantzick to take heed that their Work of Imprisoning an Innocent People for nothing but their meeting together in Tenderness of Conscience to serve and worship God their Creator may not be contrary and opposite to the Royal Law of God and to the Glorious and Everlasting Gospel of Truth So we desire the King in Christian Love earnestly and weightily to Consider these things and to give Order to set the Innocent Prisoners our Friends called Quakers at Liberty from their strict Confinement in Dantzick that they may have freedom to serve and worship the living God in Spirit and in Truth and go home to their outward Habitations and follow their Trades and Calling to maintain their Wives Children and Families And we believe that the King in doing such a Noble Glorious yea Christian Work will not go unrewarded from the Great God who made him whom we serve and worship who has the hearts of Kings and their lives and length of days in his hands From him who desires that the King and all his Ministers may be preserved in the Fear of God and receive his Word of Wisdom by which all things were made and created that by it he may come to order all things to the Glory of God which God has put under his hand That the King both He and They may enjoy the Comforts and Blessings of the Lord in this Life and in that which is to come Life Eternal Amen London in England the 10th of the 3d Month commonly called May 1684. G. F. Post-script The King may please to Consider that His and all Mens Consciences is the Prerogative of God After this I went to Enfield where Enfield and in the Country thereabouts several Friends had Country-houses not very far from one another amongst whom I tarried some time visiting and being visited by Friends and having Meetings with them Several things I writ in this time relating to the Service of Truth One whereof was concerning Judging For some who were departed from the Truth were so afraid of Truth 's Judgment that they made it much of their business to Cry out against Judging Wherefore I writ a Paper proving by the Scriptures of Truth that the Church of Christ hath power and ability to Judge those that profest to be of it not only with respect to outward things relating to this World but with respect to Religious Matters also A Copy of which follows Concerning Judging THE Natural Man receiveth not the Things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned but he that is spiritual judgeth all things mark all things yet he himself is judged of no Man 1685. Enfield 1 Cor. 2.14 15. So here the Natural Man cannot judge of those things he receives not for they are foolishness to him but he is comprehended by the Spiritual Man and his foolishness and is Judged though he cannot judge the Spiritual Man Do not ye judge them that are within saith the Apostle this Power the Church had and hath therefore put away from amongst your selves that wicked person And did not this Wicked person think you profess and plead for Liberty for his Wickedness and his Freedom as he was a Christian who was lookt upon as a Member of the Church And the Apostle saith For I verily as absent in body yet present in spirit have judged already as though I were present concerning him that hath done this wicked deed 1 Cor. 5.3 12. Here the Apostle did Judge though afar off and set up Judgment in the Church against false Liberty under what pretence soever it was And the Apostle saith Dare any of you having a matter against a Brother go to Law before the Vnjust and not before the Saints Here the Saints the Church are to Judge of things amongst themselves and not for the Unjust to Judge of their Matters Do ye not know the Saints shall judge the World So the Saints are to judge the Unjust and not the Vnjust to judge their Matters And farther the Apostle saith If the World shall be judged by you to wit the Saints are you unworthy to judge the smaller matters amongst you So here it is clear that the Saints have a Judgment given them of Christ by his Power and Spirit Light and Wisdom to judge the World and not to carry their Matters before the Vnjust but to judge of them amongst themselves and if they carry them before the Unjust they shew their unworthiness of the Saints Judgment And further the Apostle saith Know ye not that we shall Judge the Angels and Angels are Spirits how much more the things which pertain to this life If ye then have Judgment of things pertaining to this life set them up to judge who have least
Holy and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven for he is glorified in your bringing forth good Fruits as ye abide in Christ the Vine in this his day of Life Power and Light thas shines over all And therefore all you that believe in the Light walk in the Light as Children of the Light and of Christ's everlasting Day that in the Light ye may have Fellowship with the Father and the Son and one with another keeping in the Unity of his holy Spirit in the Bond of his holy Peace in his Church that he is Head of And my desire is that God's Wisdom every where may be justified of her Children and that it may be shewed forth in Meekness and in the Fear of the Lord in this his Day Amen G. F. By that time the Yearly-Meeting was over I was very much wearied and spent wherefore about a Week after the Meeting I got out of Town to a Friend's House a little beyond Edmunton Edmunton South-street Winchmore-hill Berry-street where and at Southstreet I abode some time and had Meetings amongst Friends there and at Winchmore-hill and Berry-street And having my mind continually exercised in the Things of God the sense of his Infinite Goodness and Mercy to Mankind in visiting them after they had transgressed and rebelled against him and providing a Way and Means for their Return to him again was very much upon me And in the Opening of the Spirit of Truth I writ the following Paper on that Subject GOD who made all Men and Women 1687. Berry-street though they have transgressed his Commands and Laws and rebelled against him and hated his Light and grieved his Spirit and walked despitefully against his Spirit of Grace yet God who is merciful would have all to be saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth And all that come to the Knowledge of the Truth must know it in their inward parts I say the Grace and Truth which comes by Jesus all that do know and find do know and find it in their hearts and inward parts And such do find the hidden Man of the heart and the Pearl and the Leaven and the lost piece of Silver and the Kingdom of Heaven within For until all come to the Light and Truth in their hearts they have been strangers to these things in Adam in the Fall from the Image of God and his Light Power and Spirit and Kingdom But Christ that never fell brings Man and Woman again that follow him to know these things and to know the Truth him the Saviour and brings them into his Image and his everlasting Kingdom The Devil who is out of the Truth tempted Man and Woman to disobey God and so drew them into the Fall from the Truth So it is the Devil that hath stopped Mens Eyes and Ears and Hearts from the Truth who is called The God of the World who hath blinded the Eyes of Infidels or Heathen But Christ who bruises the Serpent's Head and destroys the Devil and his Works doth open Men's Hearts and Eyes and Ears who is their Saviour and Redeemer and giveth Life Eternal to his People that obey him and his Truth Blessed be the Lord for ever through Jesus Christ who hath tasted death for all Men to bring them out of the death of Adam and is a Propitiation for the sins of the whole World and gave himself a Ransome for all to be testified of in due time For as by Adam's transgression and disobedience Death and Condemnation came upon all Men so by Christ's Obedience unto Death Justification of Life is come upon all Men and He that believeth in Christ hath eternal life but he that doth not is condemned already But God would have all Men to be saved and come unto the knowledge of the Truth as it is in Jesus who is their Saviour and in him there is no Condemnation G. F. After I had been a while here I went to a Monthly-Meeting at Enfield and from thence with some Friends to Hartford Enfield Hartford where I stay'd three or four days visiting Friends both at their Publick Meetings on the First-day of the Week and at their Quarterly-Meetings both of Men and Women and good Service for the Lord I had amongst them Then passing from thence to Waltham-Abby I had a very good Meeting with Friends there Waltham-Abbey and the next day went from thence to another place to compose a Difference which for want of a right Understanding of each other had happened between some Friends I returned to Waltham that night 1687. Waltham Essex Gooses Wanstead Barking Gooses and the next day went with some Friends to Gooses which is William Mead's House in Essex Here I stay'd some Weeks yet was not Idle but often visited the Meetings thereabouts as at Wanstead Barking and at John Hardings And betwixt Meeting and Meeting I writ many things for spreading of Truth and for the opening Peoples Understandings to receive it One was a Paper proving from the Scriptures that People must Repent before they can receive the Gospel and the holy Spirit and the Kingdom of God or be baptized And this was it JOhn the Baptist came Preaching in the Wilderness of Judea saying Repent ye for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand Matth. 3.2 And when John the Baptist was cast into Prison Mark says That Jesus came into Galilee preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and saying The time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is at hand Repent ye and believe the Gospel Mark 1.14 15. Matthew also says From that time Jesus began to preach and to say Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand Matth. 4.17 And when Christ sent forth his Twelve Disciples two and two they went out and preached that Men should Repent Mark 6.12 Christ said to the Jews Except ye Repent ye shall all likewise perish Luke 13.3 5. And when the Publicans and Sinners came to hear Christ and the Pharisees and Scribes murmured saying This Man receiveth sinners and eateth with them Luke 15.1 2. Christ reproved them by a Parable and then told them Joy shall be in Heaven over one sinner that Repenteth more than over ninety and nine just persons which need no Repentance ver 7. And adds There is Joy in the presence of the Angels of God over one sinner that Repenteth ver 10. And Christ after he was Risen said unto his Disciples That Repentance and Remission of sins should be preached in his Name among all Nations beginning at Jerusalem Luke 24.47 Peter said unto the Jews Repent and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the Remission of sins and ye shall receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost Acts 2.38 And Paul said The times of this Ignorance God winked at but now commandeth all Men every where to Repent Acts 17.30 Simon Magus was called to Repentance if he had regarded it Acts 8.22 And the Apostle Paul did
harmless and separate from Sinners and is a Priest made higher than the Heavens This is the Priest that gives power to all that receive him to become the Sons and Daughters of God And Jerusalem that is above is the Mother of all the Sons and Daughters of God which is free but Jerusalem that is below is in bondage with her Children And they that are the Children of Jerusalem that is above do not look down at Jerusalem that is below but they look at Jerusalem that is above which is their Mother Christ said Neither at Outward Jerusalem nor in the Mountain of Samaria should God be worshipped but God should be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth for he is a Spirit and such he seeks to worship him John 4. This is the Worship that Christ set up above Sixteen hundred years ago And therefore the Idolatrous Jews must never think to Offer their outward Offerings and Sacrifices nor set up their outward Worship at Jerusalem in the holy Land of Canaan more For Christ by the Offering up of himself once for all for the Sins of the whole World hath ended all the Jews Offerings and changed the Priesthood and the Law by which it was made and hath blotted out the Hand-writing of Ordinances which commanded both Priests and Offerings and triumphed over them And so he is the Offering and Sacrifice of all the Children of the New Testament and New Covenant and heavenly new Jerusalem that is above and he is their Prophet that openeth to them and Shepherd that feeds them and Bishop that oversees them and Priest that died for their Sins and is risen for their Justification and sanctifies them and presents them to God So he is the one Mediator betwixt God and Man even the Man Christ Jesus Kingston the 9th of the 10th Month 1687. G. F. Guilford After this I went from Kingston to Guilford to visit Friends there and stay'd three days with them and had a large and very good Meeting there on the First-day of the Week After which I came back to Kingston again Kingston and tarried there about Two Weeks longer visiting the Friends and having Meetings amongst them both at their Publick Meeting-house and in their Families Many things I writ while I was now at Kingston amongst which the following Paper was one GOD so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish mark not perish but have everlasting life John 3.16 And again he saith He that believeth on the Son of God hath mark hath everlasting Life ver 36. So these Believers have Everlasting Life while they are upon the Earth And he that believeth on Christ is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already and the wrath of God abideth on him And He that heareth Christ 's word and believeth on God that sent him hath mark hath everlasting life and shall not come into Condemnation but is passed from death the death in the first Adam to life the life in Christ the second Adam John 5.24 And that Meat which Christ doth give endureth unto Everlasting Life as in John 6.27 And the Water that Christ doth give shall be in him that drinks it a Well of water springing up into everlasting life John 4.14 Christ said to the Jews Search the Scriptures for in them ye think ye have eternal life and they are they which testifie of me And ye will not come to me that ye might have life John 5.39 40. Here ye may see the Eternal Life is to be found in Christ and not in the Scriptures which testifie of him the Life Christ's Sheep that hear his Voice and know and follow him he gives unto them Eternal Life and they shall not perish neither shall any pluck them out of his hand They shall not pluck Christ's Sheep to whom he hath given Eternal life out of his Eternal hand Christ said to Martha I am the Resurrection and the Life he that believeth in me though he were dead mark though he were dead yet shall he live mark live though he were dead and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die Believest thou this Martha said Yea Lord John 25.26 This is the true and substantial Belief which they that do believe shall not perish but have Everlasting life John saith This is the Record That God hath given to us Eternal Life and this Life is in his Son 1 John 5.11 The Life was manifested and we saith he have seen it and bear witness and shew unto you that Eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us 1 John 1.2 So these were the Believers that had Eternal Life in the Son of God and shewed it unto others He that hath the Son hath life saith John and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life 1 John 5.12 Christ saith Every one that hath forsaken Houses or Brethren or Sisters or Father or Mother or Wife or Children or Lands for my Names sake shall receive an hundred fold and shall inherit everlasting life Matth. 19.29 And the Wicked that do not receive Christ shall go into everlasting punishment but the Righteous into everlasting life And the true Servants of God have their fruits unto holiness and their End is everlasting life For the Wages of Sin is death but the Gift of God is everlasting life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And such have a Building of God an House not made with hands eternal in the Heavens Therefore I desire that God's People may endure all things that they may obtain this Salvation which is in Christ Jesus with Eternal Glory a Glory which is Eternal For Christ being made perfect became the Author of Eternal Salvation to all them that obey him And this Eternal Salvation is above an External Salvation for they come to receive an Eternal Inheritance and live in the possession of the everlasting Gospel of Joy Comfort Peace and Salvation having eternal and everlasting life in Christ Jesus which shall never die Kingston the 6th of the 11th Month 1687. G. F. Another Paper I writ there Concerning the Stone spoken of by Daniel Chap. 2. which became a great Mountain and filled the whole Earth shewing that thereby was set forth the Kingdom and Power of Christ WHen Christ the Stone that became a great Mountain and filled the whole Earth had broke to pieces the Head of Gold and the Breast of Silver and the Belly of Brass and the Legs of Iron and the Feet part Iron part Clay which were the four Monarchies to wit the Babylonian and Mede the Persian the Grecian and the Roman and had ended the outward Jews Typical Kingdom Daniel saith In the days of these Kings shall the God of Heaven set up a Kingdom which shall never be destroyed Dan. 2.44 Christ saith All Power is given unto me in Heaven and in Earth Matth. 28.18 And he saith My Kingdom is not of this
worship God in Spirit and in Truth which Christ set up above Sixteen hundred years since So all Men and Women must come to the Spirit and Truth in their hearts by which they must know the God of Truth who is a Spirit and then in the Spirit and Truth they will Worship him and know what and who they Worship And also the Lord is come to bring his People off all the World's Temples that with the Spirit they may know â—â—at their Bodies are the Temples of the Holy Ghost And the Lord is come to bring his People off all the World's Crosses and Pictures and Images and Likenesses to know that the Power of God is the Cross of Christ which Crucifies them to the World and brings them up into the Likeness and Image of God as Man and Woman was in before they fell and so to Christ that never fell And this Work of Christ must all know in their hearts by the Light of Christ Jesus who is the true Light that lighteth every Man that cometh into the World It is called the Light in Man and Woman and the Life in Christ the Word and Christ saith Believe in the Light that ye may become Children of the Light And the Light lets you see all your Evil Actions that you have done and committed and your ungodly Ways you have walked in and your ungodly Words and Thoughts and now if you do hate this Light and love the Darkness and the Prince of it more than this Light which is the Life in Christ the Prince of Life and will not come to it because your Deeds be Evil and it will reprove you Christ tells you This Light is your Condemnation And then what is all your Profession good for when you remain under the Condemnation of the true Light in which you should believe and so become Children of Light and out of Condemnation And therefore every one must believe in the Light if they do receive Christ Jesus and as many as receives him he gives them Power to become the Sons of God So he that hath the Son of God hath Life and they that have not the Son of God have not Life and then if you have not Life what good doth all your Profession of the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelations do you any more than the Jews Scribes and Pharisees that would not receive Christ the Life upon whom God brought his overflowing Scourge And therefore do you take heed of that for your Strength will be no better than theirs if you have not God and Christ's supporting Power when God's Scourge comes upon you and you are filled with Horrours and Fears But my desires are that you may all Repent even from the Highest to the Lowest and not grieve nor quench nor vex nor rebel against God's good Spirit in you nor walk despitefully against the Spirit of Grace nor turn from it unto Wantonness which would teach you and bring your Salvation Which if you do how can you escape the over-flowing Scourge of the Almighty and the Wrath of the Lamb But my desires are that you may all obey God's good Spirit of Truth which will lead you out of all Evil into all Truth and reprove you for your Righteousness and for your own Judgment and Sin c. and it will bring you to cleave to that which is good and forsake that which is evil and to turn to the Lord who will receive you in his Mercy and Kindness By which Means you may escape the over-flowing Scourge in the Day of Vengeance which dreadful Day is coming upon all Evil-doers And this as a Warning to you both for your Temporal and Eternal Good and for you to Read it in your Assemblies and your Priests to Read it in their Churches so that all People may hear and fear as you will Answer it at the Terrible and Dreadful Day of Judgment Amsterdam the 19th of the 7th Month 1677. G. F. For the Embassadors that are Met to Treat for Peace at the City of Nimmeguen in the States Dominions To pag. 448 CHrist Jesus saith Blessed are the Peace-makers for they shall be called the Children of God Matth. 5.9 so all Christian men are to forsake Evil and do Good and seek Peace and follow it if they will love Life and see good Days 1 Pet. 3.11 for God hath called all true Christians unto Peace 1 Cor. 7. and therefore all Christians ought to follow this Peace which God calls them to and they should let the Peace of God rule in all their Hearts which is above the Peace of this World that is so soon broken For the Apostle Commands the Christians to let the Peace of God rule in their Hearts to which all Christians should be subject Now the Practice of this should be among Christians that profess Christianity and this Peace is above that which Christ takes from the Earth Rev. 6. which is the Peace of the Wicked And the Apostle saith to the Christians Be at Peace among your selves 1 Thess 5. Now all Christians should obey this Command and be at Peace among themselves and not in Wars and Strife And further the Apostle exhorts the Christians to keep the Vnity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace so this Vnity and this Bond of Peace should be kept and not be broken by all that bears that Noble Name Christian and they should keep the Unity of the Spirit of Christ in the Bond of the Prince of Princes and King of Kings and Lord of Lords Peace which is the Duty of all true Christians to keep In which they may honour Christ in bringing forth the Fruits of Peace which is Love and Charity For the Apostle tells you The fruits of the good Spirit is Love Joy and Peace Long-suffering Gentleness Goodness c. Gal. 5. And the Apostle exhorts the Christians and saith If it be possible as much as lieth in you live peaceable with all Men and this should be the Endeavour of all Christians For it is no honour to Christ that Christians should war and destroy one another that do profess the Name of Christ who saith He came to save Mens lives and not to destroy them For Christians have Enemies enough abroad without them and therefore they should Love one another as Christ commands who saith By this ye shall be known to be my Disciples if ye Love one another For Christians are commanded to love Enemies therefore much more one another And Christ saith As the Father hath loved me so I have loved you Continue ye in my Love John 15.8 and By this shall all Men know that ye are my Disciples if ye Love one another John 13.35 But if Christians do war and destroy one another this will make both Jews Turks Tartars and Heathens to say That you are not Disciples of Christ. And therefore as you love God and Christ and Christianity and its Peace All make Peace as far as you have power among Christians that
and not living in that which they spake of they were now become DRY They had some kind of Meetings still but they took Tobacco and drank Ale in their Meetings and were grown light and loose But my Message unto them from the Lord was 1651. Cleaveland That they should all come together again and Wait to feel the Lord's Power and Spirit in themselves to gather them to Christ that they might be taught of him who says Learn of me For when they had declared that which the Lord had opened to them then the People were to receive it and both the Speakers and Hearers were to live in that themselves But when these had no more to declare but went to seek Forms without Life that made themselves dry and barren and the People also and from thence came all their Loss for the Lord renews his Mercies and his Strength to them that Wait upon him The Heads of these People came to nothing but most of the People came to be Convinced and received God's everlasting Truth and continue a Meeting to this day sitting under the Teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ their Saviour Upon the First day of the next Week the Word of the Lord came to me to go to the Steeple-house there which I did And when the Priest had done I spake the Truth to him and the People and directed them to their Teacher within Christ Jesus their free Teacher that had bought them The Priest came to me and I had a little Discourse with him but he was soon stopt and silent Then being Clear of the Place I passed away having had several Meetings amongst those People Though at this time the Snow was very deep yet I kept traveling And going through the Country came to a Market-Town where I met with many Professors with whom I had much Reasoning and I asked them many Questions which they were not able to Answer but said They had never had such deep Questions put to them in all their Lives Stath From them I went to another Place called Stath where also I met with many Professors and some Ranters I had great Meetings amongst them and a great Convincement there was and many received the Truth amongst whom One was an Ancient Man of an hundred Years of Age Another was a Chief Constable and a third was a Priest whose Name was Philip Scafe Him the Lord by his free Spirit did afterwards make a free Minister of his free Gospel The Priest of this Town was a lofty Priest and did much Oppress the People for his Tithes for if they went a Fishing many Leagues off he would make them pay the Tithe-Money of what they made of their Fish though they catched them at a great distance and carried them as far as Yarmouth to sell Now I was moved to go to the Steeple-house there to declare the Truth and lay open the Priest And when I had spoken to the Priest and laid his Oppressing of the People upon him he fled away The Chief of the Parish were very light and vain So after I had spoken the Word of Life to them I turned away from them because they did not receive it and left them But the Word of the Lord which I had declared amongst them stuck with some of them so that at Night some of the Heads of the Parish came to me and most of them were Convinced and satisfied and confest to the Truth Thus the Truth began to spread up and down that Country and great Meetings we had at which the Priest began to rage 1651. Stath and the Ranters began to be stirred and they sent me word that they would have a Dispute with me both the Oppressing Priest and the Leader of the Ranters A day was set and the Ranter came with his Company and another Priest a Scotch Man came but not the Oppressing Priest of Stath Philip Scafe who had been a Priest and was Convinced was with me and a great Number of People were met When we were setled the Ranter whose Name was T. Bushel told me He had had a Vision of me that I was sitting in a great Chair and that he was to come and put off his Hat and bow down to the Ground before me and he did so and many other flattering Words he spake I told him It was his own Figure and said unto him Repent thou Beast He said it was Jealousy in me to say so Then I asked him the Ground of Jealousy and how it came to be bred in Man And the Nature of a Beast what made it And how that was bred in Man For I saw him directly in that Nature of the Beast and therefore I would have known of him how that Nature came to be bred in him I told him He should give me an Account of things done in the Body before we came to discourse of things done out of the Body So I stopt up his Mouth that he could say no more and all his Fellow Ranters were silenced for he was the Head of them Then I called for the Oppressing Priest but he came not Only the Scotch Priest came but his Mouth was soon stopt with a very few Words he being out of the Life of what he did profess Then had I a good Opportunity with the People and I laid open the Ranters ranking them with the old Ranters in Sodom And the Priests I manifested to be of the same stamp with their Fellow Hirelings the false Prophets of old and the Priests that then bore rule over the People by their Means seeking for their Gain from their Quarter Divining for Money and Teaching for filthy Lucre and so I brought all the Prophets and Christ and the Apostles over the Heads of the Priests shewing how the Prophets Christ and the Apostles had long since discovered them by their Marks and Fruits Then I directed People to their Inward Teacher Christ Jesus their Saviour and I preached up Christ in the Hearts of his People when all these Mountains were laid low The People were all quiet and the Gainsayers Mouths were stopped for though they broiled inwardly yet the Power bound them down that they could not break out After the Meeting was over this Scottish Priest desired me to walk with him a top of the Cliffs Whereupon I called a Brother-in-Law of his who was in some measure Convinced and desired him to go with me telling him I was willing to have some Body by to hear what we said lest the Priest when I was gone should report any thing of me which I did not say So we went together and as we walked the Priest asked me many things concerning the Light and concerning the Soul To all which I answered him fully When he had done questioning we parted and he went his way and as he wâ—nt meeting with the other Priest Philip Scafe that was Convinced he brake his Cain against the Ground in Madness and said If ever he met with me
became very sober Men and good Friends in the Truth And great Blessing and Praising the Lord there was amongst them and great Admiration in the Country Out of Sussex I traveled through the Country till I came to Reading Reading where I found a few that were Convinced of the Way of the Lord. There I stay'd 1655. Reading till the First-day and then had a Meeting in George Lamboll's Orchard and a great part of the Town came to it A glorious Meeting it was and a great Convincement there was that day and the People were mightily satisfied Thither came Two of Judge Fell's Daughters to me and George Bishop of Bristol came with his Sword by his side for he was a Captain After the Meeting many Baptists and Ranters came privately reasoning and discoursing but the Lord's Power came over them The Ranters pleaded That God made the Devil But I denied it and told them I was come into the Power of God the Seed Christ which was before the Devil was and bruised the Head of him And he became a Devil by going out of Truth and so became a Murderer and a Destroyer So I shewed them That God did not make the Devil for God is a God of Truth and he made all things good and blessed them But God did not bless the Devil And the Devil is bad and was a Liar and a Murderer from the beginning and spoke of himself and not from God And so the Truth stopt them and bound them and came over all the highest Notions in the Nation and Confounded them For by the Power of the Lord God I was manifest and sought to be made manifest to the Spirit of God in all that by it which they vexed and quenched and grieved they might be turned to God as many were turned to the Lord Jesus Christ by the Spirit of God and were come to sit under his Teaching London After this Meeting at Reading I passed up to London where I stay'd a while and had large Meetings and then went into Essex and came to Cogshall Essex Cogshall And there was a Meeting of about Two Thousand People as it was judged which lasted several hours and a glorious Meeting it was for the Word of Life was freely declared and People were turned to the Lord Jesus Christ their Teacher and their Saviour the Way the Truth and the Life Near Colchester On the sixth day of that Week I had a Meeting near Colchester to which many Professors and the Independent-Teachers came After I had done speaking and was stept down from the place on which I stood One of the Independent-Teachers began to make a Jangling which Amor Stoddart who was with me perceiving he said to me Stand up again George for I was going away and did not at the first hear them But when I heard the Jangling Independent I stood up again and after a while the Lord's Power came over him and his Company and they were confounded and the Lord's Truth went over all And a great Flock of Sheep hath the Lord Jesus Christ in that Country that feed in his Pastures of Life On the First-day following we had a very large Meeting at another place not far from Colchester wherein the Lord's Power was eminently manifested and the People were very well satisfied for they were turned to the Lord Jesus Christ's free Teaching and they received it gladly Many of these People had been of the Stock of the Martyrs As I passed through Colchester I went to visit James Parnel in Prison but the Cruel Gaoler would hardly let us come in or stay with him Very Cruel they were unto him The Gaoler's Wife threatned to have his Blood and in that Jail they did destroy him 1655. Colchest as the Reader may see at large in a Book printed soon after his Death giving an Account of his Life and Death and also in an Epistle printed with his Collected Books and Writings From Colchester I went to Ipswich where we had a little Meeting Ipswich and very rude but the Lord's Power came over them After the Meeting I said If any had a desire to hear further they might come to the Inn And there came-in a Company of Rude Butchers that had abused Friends but the Lord's Power so chained them that they could not do Mischief Then I writ a Paper and gave it forth to the Town warning them of the Day of the Lord that they might Repent of the Evils they lived in and directing them to Christ their Teacher and Way exhorting them to forsake their hireling-Teachers We passed from Ipswich to Mendlesham where Robert Duncon lived Suffolk Mendlesham in Suffolk where we had a large Meeting that was quiet and the Lord's Power was preciously felt amongst us Then we passed to a Meeting at one Captain Lawrence's in Norfolk where it was judged Norfolk were above a Thousand People and all was quiet Many Persons of Note were there and a great Convincement there was for they were turned to Christ their Way and their Teacher and many of them received him and sate down under him their Vine Here we parted with Amor Stoddart and some more Friends who intended to meet us again in Huntingtonshire About the Second Hour in the Morning we took Horse for Norwich Norwich where Christopher Atkins that dirty Man had run out and brought dishonour upon the blessed Truth and Name of the Lord. But he had been judged and denied by Friends and afterwards he gave forth a Paper of Condemnation of his Sin and Evil. So we came to Yarmouth yarmouth and there stayed a while where there was a Friend one Thomas Bond in Prison for the Truth of Christ There we had some Service for the Lord and some were turned to the Lord in that Town From thence we rode to another Town about Twenty Miles off where were many tender People and I was moved of the Lord to speak to the People as I sate upon my Horse in several Places as I passed along We went on to another Town about Five Miles from thence and set up our Horses at an Inn having travelled Five and forty Miles that Day Richard Hubberthorn and I. There were some friendly People in the Town and we had a tender broken Meeting amongst them in the Lord's Power to his Praise We bid the Hostler have our Horses ready by the Third Hour in the Morning for we intended to ride to Lyn about three and Thirty Miles next morning But when we were in Bed at our Inn about the Eleventh Hour at Night came the Constable and Officers with a great Rabble of People into the Inn and said They were come with an Hue and Cry from a Justice of Peace that lived near that Town about five Miles off where I had spoken to the People in the Streets as I rode along to search for two Horsmen that rid upon gray Horses and in gray Cloaths an House
Diana's Crafts-men did against Paul At this Place John Crook met us When it was within Night the Mayor of the Town being friendly came and fetched me to his House and as we walked through the Streets there was a Bustle in the Towm but they did not know me it being darkish But they were in a Rage not only against me but against the Mayor also 1655. Cambridg so that he was almost afraid to walk the Streets with me for the Tumult We sent for the Friendly People and had a fine Meeting there in the Power of God and I stay'd there all Night Next Morning having ordered our Horses to be ready by the sixth Hour we passed peaceably out of Town and the Destroyers were disappointed for they thought I would have stay'd longer in the Town and intended to have done us Mischief but our passing away early in the Morning frustrated their Evil-Purposes against us Bishop-Starford Hertford Then rode we through the Countries to Bishop-Starford where were some Convinced And so to Hertford where also there were some Convinced and where now there is a large Meeting London From thence we returned to London where Friends received us gladly the Lord's Power having carried us through many Snares and Dangers And great Service we had for the Lord for maâ—y hundreds were brought to sit under the Teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ their Saviour and to praise the Lord through him James Nailer also was come up to London and Richard Hubberthorn and I stay'd sometime in the City visiting Friends and Answering Gain-sayers for we had great Disputes with Professors of all sorts Many Reproaches they cast upon Truth and lying slanderous Books they gave forth against us But we Answered them all and cleared God's Truth and set it over them all and the Lord's Power was over all Amongst other Services for the Lord which then lay upon me in the City I was moved to give forth a Paper to those That made a scorn at Trembling and Quaking of which a Copy here followeth THE Word of the Lord to all you that scorn Trembling and Quaking who scoff at them and scorn them and throw Stones at them and belch forth Oaths against them who are Trembling and Quaking threatning them and beating them Strangers ye are to all the Apostles and Prophets and are in the Generation that stoned them and mocked them then in those Ages Now ye are the Scoffers which they spake of that are come in the last times Be ye Witnesses against your selves To the Light in all your Consciences I speak that with it you may see your selves to be from the Life of the holy Men of God Moses who was a Judge over all Israel he trembled feared and Quaked when the Lord said unto him I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob then he trembled and durst not behold This which makes to Tremble now ye Teachers and People scoff at and scorn them in your Streets who witness the Power of the Lord. Moses forsook the Pleasures of the World which he might have enjoyed for a Season He might have been called the Son of Pharaoh's-Daughter he refused it and forsook Pharaoh's House yet was no Vagabond And David a King he trembled he was mocked they made Songs on him they wagged their Heads at him Will you profess David's Words and Moses his Words who are in the Generation of your Fathers 1655. London Mockers Scoffers Wonderers and Despisers which are to perish O blush and be ashamed of all your Profession and be Confounded Job trembled his Flesh trembled and they mocked him So do you now mock them in whom the same Power of God is made manifest and yet you profess Job's Words O deceitful Hypocrites will ye not own Scripture O for shame never profess Scripture-words and deny the Power which according to the Scripture makes the Keepers of the House to tremble and the strong Man to bow himself These things both Priests Magistrates and People scoff at but with the Power ye are judged and by the Power and Life condemned The Prophet Jeremiah trembled he shook his Bones quaked he reeled to and fro like a drunken Man when he saw the Deceits of the Priests and Prophets who were turned from the way of God and they were not ashamed neither could they blush Such were gone from the Light and such were they that ruled over the People But he was brought to Cry O foolish People that had Eyes and could not see that had Ears and could not hear that did not fear the Lord and tremble at his Presence who placed the Sands for Bounds to the Sea by a perpetual Decree that the Waves thereof cannot pass And he said A horrible thing is committed in the Land The Prophets prophesy falsly and the Priests bear rule by their means Shall not I arise for these things saith the Lord Shall not my Soul be avenged upon such a Nation as this They were such as did not Tremble at the Word of the Lord therefore he called them a foolish People Hear all ye the Word of the Lord ye foolish People who scorn Trembling and Quaking and Shaking Give over professing the Prophet Jeremiah's Words and making a Trade of them for with his Words you are judged to be among the Scoffers and Scorners and Stockers For he was stocked by your Generation and you now stock them that tremble at the word of the Lord at the Power of the Mighty God which raises up the Seed of God and throws down the Earth which hath kept it down So you that are in the Fall where Death reigneth Enemies of the Truth despising the Power of God as those of your Generation ever did Wo and Misery is your Portion except you speedily Repent Isaiah said Hear the Word of the Lord all ye that Tremble at his Word And he said This was the Man that God did regard that was of a broken and contrite Heart and trembled at his Word When their Brethren hated them and persecuted them saying Let the Lord be glorified he shall appear to your Joy but they shall be ashamed Isa 66.5 Now all ye Scoffers and Scorners that despise Trembling you regard not the Word of the Lord They are not regarded by you that Tremble at the Word which are regarded by the Lord therefore you are contrary to Isaiah's Words Therefore profess him and his Words no more for shame nor make a Trade of his Words Ye that seek for your Gain from your Quarter ye greedy dumb Dogs that never have enough ye are they that despise Trembling ye are such as Isaiah cried against who himself witnessed Trembling Here therefore be ye Witnesses against your selves that with the Light in your Consciences ye may see ye are out of the Prophet Isaiah's Spirit and are Haters of them that Tremble whom the Lord regards but such you regard not but hate and persecute mock and rail
and the Lord crossed them in their Design and Friends passed away peaceably and quietly The Souldiers examined some Friends after I was gone What they did there but when they told them They were in their Inn and had occasions and business in the City they passed away without meddling any further with them From Exeter I travelled through the Countries taking Meetings as I went till I came to Bristol and was at the Meeting there Bristol After the Meeting was done I did not stay in the Town but passed up into Wales and had a Meeting at the Slone WALES Slone Cardiff and so passed through the Country to Cardiff where a Justice of Peace sent to me desiring I would come up with half a dozen of my Friends to his House So I took a Friend or two and went up to him and he and his Wife received us very civilly The next Day we had a Meeting in Cardiff in the Town-Hall and that Justice sent about seventeen of his Family to the Meeting There came some disturbers but the Lord's Power was over them and many were turned to the Lord there There were some that had run out with James Naylor that did not come to Meetings to whom I sent Word That the Day of their Visitation was over and they never prospered after We travelled from Cardiff through the Country to Swanzey Swanzey where we had a blessed Meeting and a Meeting was settled there in the Name of Jesus In our way thither we passed over in a Passage-boat with the high-Sheriff of the County and the next Day I went to have spoken with him but he would not be spoken withal From thence we went to another Meeting in the Country where the Lord's Presence was much with us And from thence we went to a Great Man's House who received us very lovingly but the next Morning he would not be seen One that in the mean time came to him had so estranged him that we could not get to him to speak with him again he was so Changed and yet over-night was exceeding Loving We passed still on through the Countries having Meetings and gathering People in the Name of Christ to him their heavenly Teacher Brecknock till we came to Brecknock where we set up our Horses at an Inn. There went with me Thomas Holmes and John ap John who was moved of the Lord to speak in the Streets I walked out but a little into the Fields and when I came in again the Town was up in an Vproar When I came into the Chamber in the Inn it was full of People and they were speaking in Welch I desired them to speak in English and they did and much discourse we had After a while they went away But towards Night the Magistrates gathered together in the Streets with a multitude of People and they bid them shout and gathered up the Town So that for about Two Hours together there was such a Noise as the like we had not heard and the Magistrates set them on to shout again when they had given over We thought it looked like the Vproar which we read was amongst Diana's Handicrafts-Men This Tumult continued till it was within Night and if the Lord's Power had not limited them they seemed likely to have pulled down the House and us to pieces After it was Night the Woman of the House would have had us go to Supper in another Room but we discerning her Plot refused Then she would have had half a dozen Men come into the Room to us under pretence of discoursing with us but we told her That no Persons should come into our Room that Night neither would we go to them Then she told us we should sup in another Room but we told her we would have no Supper if we had it not in our own Room At length when she saw she could not get us out she brought up our Supper in a great Rage So She and They were crossed in their Design for they had an Intent to have done us Mischief but the Lord God prevented them Next Morning I writ a Paper to the Town concerning their Vnchristian Carriages shewing the Fruits of their Priests and Magistrates and as I passed out of the Town I spake to the People and told them They were a shame to Christianity and Religion From this Place we went to a great Meeting in a Steeple-house-yard where was a Priest and Walter Jenkin who had been a Justice and another Justice and a blessed glorious Meeting we had And there being many Professors I was moved of the Lord to open the Scriptures to them and to Answer the Objections which they stuck at in their Profession for I knew them very well and to turn them to Christ who had enlightned them with which Light they might see their Sins and Trespasses they had been dead in and their Saviour him that came to Redeem them out of them 1657. Brechnock who was to be their Way to God the Truth and the Life to them and their Priest made higher than the Heavens so that they might come to sit under his Teaching A peaceable Meeting we had and many were Convinced and settled in the Truth that day After the Meeting was over I went with Walter Jenkin to the other Justice's House and he said unto me You have this day given great satisfaction to the People and answered all the Objections that were in their Minds For the People had the Scriptures but they were not turned to the Spirit which should let them see that which gave them forth the Spirit of God which is the Key to open them From hence we passed to Pontamile to Richard Hamborow's Pontamile where was a great Meeting to which there came another Justice of Peace and several Great People whose Understandings were opened by the Lord's Spirit and Power and the Light of Jesus Christ and they came to be turned to the Lord Jesus Christ from whence it came A great Convincement there was and a large Meeting is gathered in those parts and settled in the Name of Jesus After this we returned back to England and came to Shrewsbury England Shrewsbury where we had a great Meeting and visited Friends all up and down the Countries in their Meetings till we came to William Gandy's in Cheshire Cheshire where we had a Meeting of between two and three thousand People as it was thought and the everlasting Word of Life was held forth and received that day A blessed Meeting it was for Friends were settled by the Power of God upon Christ Jesus the Rock and Foundation At this time there was a great Drought And after this general Meeting was ended there fell so great a Rain that Friends said they thought we could not Travel the Brooks and Waters would be so risen But I believed the Rain had gone so far as they had come that day to the Meeting And the next day in
in the time of the Commonwealth and of Oliver and Richard the Protectors through cruel and hard Imprisonments upon Nasty Straw and in Dungeons Thirty Two Persons There have been also Imprisoned in thy Name since thy Arrival by such as thought to ingratiate themselves thereby to thee Three Thousand Sixty and Eight Persons Besides this our Meetings are daily broken up by Men with Clubs and Arms though we Meet peaceably according to the Practice of God's People in the Primitive times and our Friends are thrown into Waters and trod upon till the very Blood gusheth out of them the number of which Abuses can hardly be uttered Now this we would have of Thee to set them at Liberty that lie in Prison in the Names of the Common-wealth and of the two Protectors and them that lie in Thy own Name for speaking the Truth and for good Conscience sake who have not lifted up an Hand against thee nor any Man and that the Meetings of our Friends who meet peaceably together in the Fear of God to Worship him may not be broken up by rude People with their Clubs and Swords and Staves One of the greatest things that we have suffered for formerly was because we could not Swear to the Protectors and all the changeable Governments and now we are Imprisoned because we cannot take the Oath of Allegiance Now if Yea be not Yea and Nay Nay to thee and to all Men upon the Earth let us suffer as much for breaking of that as others do for breaking an Oath We have suffered these many years both in Lives and Estates under these Changeable Governments because we cannot Swear but obey Christ's Doctrine who commands We should not swear at all Matth. 5. Jam. 5. and this we Seal with our Lives and Estates with our Yea and Nay according to the Doctrine of Christ Hearken to these things and so consider them in the Wisdom of God that by it such Actions may be stopped Thou that hast the Government and may'st do it We desire that all that are in Prison may be set at Liberty and that for the time to come they may not be Imprisoned for Conscience and for the Truth 's sake And if thou question the Innocency of their Sufferings let them and their Accusers be brought up before thee and we shall produce a more particular and full Account of their Sufferings if required G. F. R. H. I mentioned before how that in the Year 1650. I was kept Prisoner Six Months in the House of Correction at Darby and that the Keeper of the Prison being a Cruel Man and one that had dealt very wickedly by me was smitten in himself the Plagues and Terrors of the Lord falling upon him because thereof this Man being afterwards Convinced of Truth wrote me the following Letter Dear Friend HAving such a Convenient Messenger I could do no less than give thee an Account of my present Condition remembring that to the first Awakening of me to a Sense of Life and of the Inward Principle God was pleased to make use of thee as an Instrument So that sometimes I am taken with Admiration that it should come by such a means as it did that is to say That Providence should order thee to be my Prisoner to give me my first real sight of the Truth It makes me many times to think of the Jailer's Conversion by the Apostles O happy George Fox 1662. London that first breathed that Breath of Life within the Walls of my Habitation Notwithstanding my outward Losses are since that time such that I am become nothing in the World yet I hope I shall find that all these light Afflictions which are but for a moment will work for me a far more exceeding and eternal Weight of Glory They have taken all from me and now instead of keeping a Prison I am rather waiting when I shall become a Prisoner my self Pray for me that my Faith fail not but that I may hold out to the Death that I may receive a Crown of Life I earnestly desire to hear from thee and of thy Condition which would very much rejoice me Not having else at present but my kind Love unto thee and all Christian Friends with thee in haste I rest Derby the 22th of the 4th Month 1662. Thine in Christ Jesus Thomas Sharman There were Two of our Friends in Prison in the Inquisition at Malta they were both Women The name of the one was Katharine Evans and of the other Sarah Chevers I was told that One called the Lord D' Aubeny could procure their Liberty wherefore I went to him And having Informed him concerning their Imprisonment desired him to write to the Magistrates there for their Release He readily promised me he would and said If I would come again within a Month he would tell me of their Discharge I went agaâ—n about that time and he said he thought his Letters had Miscarried because he had received no Answer But he promised he would write again and he did so and thereupon they were both set at Liberty With this Great Man I had a great deal of Reasoning about Religion and he did confess that Christ hath enlightned every Man that cometh into the World with his Spiritual Light and that he had tasted Death for every Man and that the Grace of God which brings Salvation hath appeared to all Men and that it would teach them and bring their Salvation if they did obey it Then I asked him What would They the Papists do with all their Relicks and Images if they did own and believe in this Light and receive the Grace to teach them and bring their Salvation And he said Those things were but Policies to keep People in Subjection Very free he was in Discourse and I never heard a Papist Confess so much as he did Now though several about the Court began to grow Loving to Friends yet the Persecution was very hot and several Friends died in Prison Whereupon I gave forth a little Paper concerning the Grounds and Rise of Persecution which was thus ALL the Sufferings of the People of God in all Ages were because they could not Join to the National Religions and Worships which Men had made and set up and because they would not forsake God's Religion and his Worship which he had set up And ye may see through all Chronicles and Histories how that the Priests joined with the Powers of the Nations The Magistrates and Soothsayers and Fortune-tellers all these joined against the People of God and did imagin vain things against them in their Counsels And when the Jews did badly they turned against Moses and when the Jewish Kings transgressed the Law of God then they persecuted the Prophets as may be seen in the Prophets Writings And when Christ the Substance came then the Jews persecuted Christ and his Apostles and Disciples And when the Jews had not Power enough of themselves to persecute answerable to their Wills then
Night I asked the Souldiers Whither they intended to carry me and whither I was to be sent Some of them said Beyond Sea others said To Tinmouth-Castle And a great Fear there was amongst them lest some should Rescue me out of their hands but that Fear was needless Next Night we came to York where the Marshal put me up into a great Chamber York where there came most part of Two Troops to see me One of those Troopers being an envious Man and hearing that I was Premunired asked me What Estate I had and whether it was Copy-hold or Freee-Land I took no notice of his Question but was moved to declare the Word of Life to the Souldiers and many of them were very loving At night the Lord Frecheville so called who commanded those Horse came to me and was very Civil and Loving and I gave him an Account of my Imprisonment 1665. York and declared many things to him relating to Truth They kept me at York two days and then the Marshal and Four or Five Souldiers were sent to convey me to Scarborough-Castle Indeed these were very Civil Men and carried themselves civilly and lovingly to me Malton On the way we baited at Malton and they permitted Friends to come and visit me When we were come to Scarborough Scarborough they had me to an Inn and gave notice to the Governour and he sent half a dozen Souldiers to be my Guard that Night Next day they conducted me up into the Castle Scarborough Castle and there put me into a Room and set a Centry on me and I being so very weak and subject to fainting they for a while let me go out sometimes into the Air with the Centry They soon removed me out of this Room and put me into an Open Room where the Rain came in and the Room smoked exceedingly which was very offensive to me One day the Governour who was called Sir Jo. Crosland came to see me and brought with him one called Sir Francis Cobb I desired the Governour to go into my Room and see what a Room I had Now I had got a little Fire made in it and the Room was so filled with Smoke that when they were in they could hardly find their way out again And he being a Papist I told him That was his Purgatory which they had put me into I was forced to lay out a matter of Fifty Shillings to stop out the Rain and keep the Room from smoking so much But when I had been at that Charge and made the Room somewhat tolerable they removed me out of it and put me into a worse Room where I had neither Chimney nor Fire-Hearth And the Room being to the Sea-side and lying much open the Wind drove in the Rain forcible so that the Water came over my Bed and ran about the Room that I was fain to skim it up with a Platter And when my Cloaths were wet I had no Fire to dry them so that my Body was nummed with Cold and my Fingers swell'd that one was grown as big as two and though I was at some Charge on this Room also yet I could not keep out the Wind and Rain Besides they would suffer few Friends to come at me and many times not any no not so much as to bring me a little Food but I was forced for the First-Quarter to hire one of the World to bring me Necessaries and sometimes the Souldiers would take it from her and then she would scuffle with them for it Afterwards I hired a Souldier to fetch me Water and Bread and something to make a Fire of when I was in a Room where a Fire could be made Commonly a Three-penny-Loaf served me Three Weeks and sometimes longer and most of my Drink was Water that had Wormwood steeped or bruised in it But one time when the Weather was very sharp and I had taken great Cold I got a little Elicampane-Beer and I heard one of the Souldiers say to the other That they would play me a pretty Trick for they would send for me up to the Deputy-Governour and in the mean time they would drink my Strong-Beer out and so they did When I came back one of the Souldiers came to me in a Jeer and asked me for some Strong Beer I told him they had play'd their pretty Trick and so I took no further notice of it But inasmuch as they kept me so very strait not giving Liberty for Friends to come to me I spake to the Keepers of the Castle to this effect I did not know till I was removed from Lancaster-Castle and brought Prisoner to this Castle of Scarborough 1665. Scarborough Castle that I was Convicted of a Premunire for the Judge did not give Sentence upon me at the Assizes in open Court But seeing I am now a Prisoner here if I may not have my Liberty and Enlargement let my Friends and Acquaintance have their Liberty to come and visit me as Paul's Friends had among the Romans who were not Christians but Heathens For Paul's Friends had their Liberty and all that would might come to him and he had his Liberty to preach to them in his hired House But I cannot have Liberty to go into the Town nor for my Friends to come to me here So you that go under the Name of Christians are worse in this respect than those Heathens were But though they would not let Friends come to me they would often bring others either to Gaze upon me or to Contend with me One time there came a great Company of Papists to discourse with me and they affirmed The Pope was Infallible and had stood Infallible ever since Peter 's time But I shewed them the contrary by History For one of the Bishops of Rome Marcellinus by Name denied the Faith and Sacrificed to Idols and therefore he was not Infallible And I told them If they were in the Infallible Spirit they need not have Jails Swords and Staves Racks and Tortures Fires and Faggots Whips and Gallows to hold up their Religion by and to destroy Men's Lives about Religion for if they were in the Infallible Spirit they would preserve Men's Lives and use none but Spiritual Weapons about Religion I told them also what one that had been of their Society told me It was a Woman who lived in Kent and had not only been a Papist her self but had brought over several to that Religion but she coming to be Convinced of God's Truth and turned by it to Christ her Saviour exhorted the Papists to the same And one time having one of them a Tailor at work at her House while she opened to him the Falseness of the Popish Religion and endeavoured to draw him from it to the Truth he drew his Knife at her and got between her and the Door But she spake boldly to him and bid him put up his Knife for she knew his Principle I asked the Woman What she thought he
I had not been long at Swarthmore e're a Concern came upon me to visit the Churches of Christ in London and elsewhere by an Epistle which was as followeth Dear Friends TO whom is my Love in the heavenly Seed in whom all Nations are blessed Oh keep all in this Seed in which ye are blessed and in which Abraham and all the Faithful were blessed without the Deeds of the Law for the Promise was and is to and with the Seed and not with the Law of the First Covenant In this Seed all Nations and ye are blessed which bruiseth the Head of the Seed that brought the Curse and separated between Man and God This is the Seed which reconciles you to God and this is the Seed in which ye are blessed both in Temporals and Spirituals through which ye have an Inheritance among the Sanctified that cannot be defiled neither can any defiled thing enter into its Possession for all defilements are out of this Seed This is that which leavens up into a New Lump and bruiseth the Head of the Wicked Seed that leavens into the Old Lump upon whom the Sun of Righteousness goes down and sets but never goes down and sets to them that walk in the Seed in which all Nations are blessed by which Seed they are brought up to God which puts down that Seed which separated betwixt them and God so that there comes to be nothing betwixt them and God Now all my Dear Friends my desires are that ye may all be Valiant in this heavenly Seed for God and his Truth upon the Earth and spread it abroad answering that of God in all that with it the Minds of People may be turned towards the Lord that he may come to be known and served and worshipped and that ye may all be the Salt of the Earth to make the unseasoned savoury And in the Name of Jesus keep your Meetings who are gathered into it in whose Name ye have Salvation he being in the midst of you whose Name is above every Name under the whole Heaven And so ye have a Prophet and Bishop Shepherd Priest and Counsellor above all the Counsellors and Priests Bishops Prophets and Shepherds under the whole Heaven to exercise his Offices among you in your Meetings that are gathered in his Name For Christ's Meeting and Gathering is above all the Meetings and Gatherings under the whole Heaven And his Body his Church and he the Head of it is above all the Bodies and Churches and Heads under the whole Heaven And the Faith that Christ is the Author of and the Worship that he hath set up and his Fellowship in the Gospel is above all Historical Faiths and the Faith 's that Man hath made together with their Worships and Fellowships under the whole Heaven And now Dear Friends keep your Men and Womens-Meetings in the Power of God the Gospel the Authority of them which brings Life and Immortality to Light in you and this Gospel the Power of God will preserve you in Life and in Immortality which hath brought it to Light in you that ye may see over him that hath darkned and kept from the knowledge of the things of God for it is he and his Instruments which hath darkned you from Life and Immortality that would throw down your Men and Womens-Meetings which were set up in the Power of God the Gospel and would darken you again from this Life and Immortality which the Gospel hath brought to Light and will preserve you in as your Faith stands in this Power of God the Gospel in which every one sees your Work and Service for God And every Heir in the Power of God the Gospel hath right to this Authority which is not of Man nor by Man which Gospel the Power of God is everlasting an everlasting Order an everlasting Fellowship and in the Gospel is everlasting Joy Comfort and Peace which will out-last all those Joys Comforts and Peaces that will have an end and that Spirit also that opposes its Order and the glorious Fellowship Peace and Comfort in it And My Dear Friends my desire is that ye may keep in the Unity of the Spirit that baptizes you all into one Body which Christ is the heavenly and spiritual Head of so that ye may see and bear witness to your heavenly and spiritual Head and so all drink into the One Spirit Which all People upon the Earth are not like to do while they grieve quench and rebel against it nor to be baptized into one Body and to keep the Unity of the Spirit which is the Bond of Peace yea the King of Kings and Lord of Lords his Peace which it is the duty of all true Christians to keep who are inwardly united to Christ So with my Love to you all in the everlasting Seed Swarthmore the 26th of the 7th Month 1678. G. F. There were about this time several Friends in Prison for bearing Testimony to the Truth To whom I was moved to write a few Lines to comfort strengthen and encourage them in their Sufferings having a true sense of their Sufferings upon my spirit and a sympathizing with them therein And that which I writ was after this manner My Dear Friends WHO are Sufferers for the Lord Jesus sake and for the Testimony of his Truth the Lord God Almighty with his Power uphold you and support you in all your Trials and Sufferings and give you Patience and Content in his Will that yâ— may stand valiant for Christ and his Truth upon the Earth over the persecuting and destroying Spirit which makes to suffer in Christ who bruises his Head in whom ye have both Election and Salvation And for God's Elect sake the Lord hath done much from the Foundation of the World as may be seen throughout the Scriptures of Truth and they that touch them touch the Apple of God's Eye they are so tender to him And therefore it is good for all God's suffering Children to trust in the Lord and to wait upon him for they shall be as Mount Sion that cannot be removed from Christ their Rock and Salvation who is the Foundation of all the Elect of God of the Prophets and the Apostles and of God's People now and to the End Glory to the Lord and the Lamb over all Remember my dear Love to all Friends and do not think the time long for all Time is in the Father's hand his Power And therefore keep the Word of Patience and exercise that Gift and the Lord strengthen you in your Sufferings in his holy Spirit of Faith Amen Swarthmore the 5th of the 12th Month 1678. G. F. I abode in the North at this time above a year having Service for the Lord amongst Friends there and being much taken up in writing Books and Papers some in Defence of Truth in Answer to Books published by Adversaries and some for the opening the Principles and Doctrines of Truth to the World that they might come to have a
76. and 78. All the Figures and Shadows were and are in Time but Christ the Substance is the Beginning and the Ending And all Trials Troubles Persecutions and Temptations came up in Time but the Lord's Power which is Everlasting is over all such things in which is safety The black World of Darkness lieth in wickedness and by their Wisdom knoweth not God that made the World and all things therein for the God of the World and Prince of the Air ruleth in the hearts of all them that disobey the living God that made them And so the God of this wicked World hath blinded all the Eyes of the Infidels or Heathen so that this Wicked World by their Wisdom doth not know the living God In the Old Testament the Lord said With all thy Offerings thou shalt offer Salt Levit. 2.13 And Christ saith in his New Covenant Every one shall be salted with Fire and every Sacrifice shall be salted with Salt Salt is good but if the Salt have lost its saltness wherewith will you season it Have Salt in your selves and have peace one with another Mark 9.48 49 50. We have received the Earnest of the Spirit which is the Earnest of the Inheritance that fadeth not away For God poureth out of his Spirit upon all flesh So it is God's Spirit which is above our natural Spirit by which alone we do not know God for it is with the Spirit of God that we do know the things of God And the Spirit of God doth witness to our Souls and Spirits that this Spirit of God is the Earnest of an Eternal Inheritance God opens his Peoples Ears to Discipline and commands that they turn from Iniquity If they obey and serve him they shall spend their days in prosperity and their years in pleasure but if they obey him not they shall perish by the sword and they shall die without knowledge Job 36.10 11 12. So the Disobedient that do not turn from their Iniquity have not this prosperity and pleasure but die without the knowledge of God And such their Ears are shut to this Discipline which God opens to his People G. F. When I had been about Two Months in London I was sent for to my Son Rouse's at Kingston to visit a Daughter of his Kingston which at that time lay very sick but recovered Whilst I stay'd there I had several Meetings with Friends Hammersmith and returning by Hammersmith stay'd the First-day-Meeting there which was large and peaceable And having visited Friends thereabouts I came back â—o London again being very intent upon the business of getting Redress for suffering Friends In this and other Services for Friends and Truth I continued at London till the latter end of the Eleventh Month save that I went in this time to visit an Ancient Friend at Bednal-Green Bednal-Green with whom I tarried three or four days While I was there I was much exercised in the sense of the Enemy's Working to draw from the holy way of Truth into a false Liberty and so into the World's ways and worships again And the Example of the backsliding Jews coming before me I was moved to write the following Paper as a Warning to all such HEre you may see when the Jews Rebelled against the good Spirit of God which he gave them to Instruct them they forsook God and his Law Way and Worship and then they went a whoring after Balaam's Ways and became like the wild Ass-Colt snuffing up the wind as in Jer. 2.24 And in Jer. 3. see how Judah played the Harlot under every green Tree and upon every high Mountain And therefore the Lord divorced Judah as he had divorced Israel when she forsook his Ways and followed the Heathens Ways And though the Lord had fed them to the full yet they forsook him and committed Adultery and Assembled themselves together in Harlot's-houses Jer. 5.7 And with their Whoredom they defiled the Land and committed Adultery with Stocks and Stones Jer. 3.9 So here you may see when they forsook the living Eternal God they followed the Religions and Worships of other Nations whose Gods were made of Stocks and Stones which the Jews worshipped and committed Adultery withal When they forsook the living God and his way and worship they forsook the worship at Jerusalem at the Temple and followed the Heathens Worships in the Mountains and Fields and so it was called Adultery and Whoredom to join with other Religions and forsake God as in Jer. 13.27 And now if the Children of New Jerusalem that is above should forsake the Worship that Christ in his New Testament set up which is in Spirit and in Truth and follow the Worships of Nations which men have set up will not they that do so commit Adultery with them in forsaking God's Worship and Christ the new and living Way And in Jer. 44. ye may see how the Children of Judah provoked the Lord against them by worshipping the works of their own hands and following the Gods of the Land of Egypt In this they committed Adultery forsaking the living God their Husband and his Worship and there ye may see God's Judgments pronounced against them to their destruction And what will become of those that forsake the Worship in Spirit and Truth which Christ set up and worship the works of their own hands in spiritual Egypt and follow spiritual Egypt's Will-worship which they invented may not this be called Whoredom in them that forsake Christ the new and living Way and his pure Religion and his Worship that he hath set up And they that do forsake the Lord's way 1685. Bednal-Green and his worship that he set up and follow the Worlds ways and worships that they set up do not they whose Way they follow become at last their Enemies as in Lament 1. See how the Jews forsook the Lord's way and worship and doted on other Lovers the Assyrians c. and with all their Idols they were defiled and how they did not leave the Whoredoms brought from Egypt and how they were polluted with the Babylonians Bed as ye may read in Ezek 23. When they forsook the Lord his Way and Worship and followed the Way and Worship of the Heathen then it was said They went a Whoring after other Lovers and committed Adultery with them And ye may see in Ezek. 16. how the state of the Jews was likened unto that of their Sister Sodom and how that they had played the Harlot with the Assyrians and committed Fornication with the Egyptians and had increased their Whoredoms in following their abominable Idols And therefore the Lord carried away the Two Tribes that forsook him into Babylon as ye may see in Ezek. 17.20 And they that forsake Christ the new and living Way and the Worship of God in Spirit and Truth which Christ set up in his New-Testament they go into Captivity in spiritual Babylon And in Hosea 2. ye may see how he discovers the Whoredoms and
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
the Truth and the Life Here the Priest began to Rage against the Light and denied it for neither Priest nor Professor could endure to hear the Light spoken of So the Priest having railed at the Light went away and left his rude Company amongst us but the Lord's Power came over them though Mischief was in their Hearts Leaving Tewksbury we passed back through the Country and came to Warwick Warwick where in the Evening we had a Meeting at a Widow-woman's House whither many sober People came together and a precious Meeting we had in the Lord's Power and several were Convinced and turned to the Lord. After the Meeting was done and I was walking out a Baptist in the Company began to Jangle and the Bayliff of the Town with his Officers came in and said What do these People here at this time of the Night So he secured John Crook and Amor Stoddart and Gerrard Roberts and me but we had leave to go to our Inn all that were Strangers and to be forth-coming in the Morning The next Morning there came many rude People into the Inn and into our Chambers desperate Fellows but the Lord's Power gave us Dominion over them Gerrard Roberts and John Crook went up to the Bailiff to speak with him and to know What he had to say to us He said We might go our ways for he had little to say to us Then as we rid out of Town it lay upon me to ride to his Hâ—â—se to speak to him and to let him know That the Protector having given forth an Instrument of Government in which Liberty of Conscience was granted it was very much that contrary to that Instrument of Government he would trouble peaceable People that feared God The Friends went with me but the rude People gathered about us with Stones And one of them took hold of my Horse's Bridle and brake it but the Horse drawing back threw him under him Though the Bayliff saw this yet did he not stop nor so much as Rebuke the Rude Multitude so that it was much we had not been slain or hurt in the Streets amongst them for the People threw Stones and struck at us as we Rode along the Town When we were come quite out of the Town I told Friends It was upon me from the Lord that I must go back into the Town again and if any one of them felt any thing upon him from the Lord he might follow me and the rest that did not might go on to Dun-Cow So I passed up through the Market in the dreadful Power of God declaring the Word of Life to them and John Crook followed me Some struck at me but the Lord's Power was over them and gave me Dominion over all And I shewed them their Vnworthiness of the Name of Christians and the Vnworthiness of their Teachers that had not brought them into more Sobriety and what a shame they were to Christianity Having cleared my self I turned back out of the Town again and passed to Coventry but when we came thither Coventry we found the People closed up with Darknâ—ss I went to a Profâ—ssor's House that I had formerly been at 1655. Coventry and he was drunk which grieved my Soul so that I did not go into any House in the Town but rode into some of the Streets of the Town and into the Market-place and I felt the Power of the Lord God was over the Town Duncow Then I went on to Duncow and had a Meeting there in the Evening and some were turned to the Lord by his Spirit as some also were at Warwick and Tewksbury before-mentioned We lay at the Duncow that Night and there we met with John Cham a faithful Minister of the Everlasting Gospel In the Morning there was gathered together a Rude Campany of Priests and People who behaved themselves more like Beasts than Men for some of them came Riding on Horseback into the Room where we were But the Lord gave us Dominion over them Leicestershire Warwickshire Badgley From thence we passed into Leicester-shire where we had a great Meeting again at the place where I had been taken formerly And after that we came back into Warwickshire to Badgley Here William Edmundson a Friend that lived in Ireland having some drawings upon his Spirit to come over into England to see me met with me and by him I writ a few Lines to those few Friends that were then Convinced in the North of Ireland as followeth Friends IN that which Convinced you Wait that you may have that removed you are Convinced of And all my Dear Friends dwell in the Life and Love and Power and Wisdom of God in Vnity one with another and with God and the Peace and Wisdom of God fill all your Hearts that nothing may rule in you but the Life which stands in the Lord God G. F When these few Lines were read amongst the Friends in Ireland at their Meeting the Power of the Lord seized upon them all that were in the Room Swannington Higham Northamptonshire Bedfordshire Hertfordshire Baldock From Badgley we passed to Swannington and Higham and so through the Countries into Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire having great Meetings and many were turned to the Lord by his Power and Spirit When we came to Baldock in Hertfordshire I asked If there was nothing in that Town no Profession and it was Answered me There were some Baptists and a Baptist-woman sick John Rush of Bedfordshire went along with me to visit her and when we came in there were many People in the House that were Tender about her And they told me She was not a Woman for this World but if I had any thing to comfort her concerning the World to come I might speak to her So I was moved of the Lord God to speak to her ☞ and the Lord raised her up again to the astonishment of the Town and Country Her Husband 's Name was Baldock This Baptist-woman and her Husband came to be Convinced and many hundreds of People have been at Meetings at their House since Great Meetings and Convincements there were up and down in those Parts afterwards and many People received the Word of Life 1655. Baldock and sate down under the Teaching of Christ their Saviour When we had visited this sick Woman we went back to our Inn and there were Two desperate Fellows fighting so furiously that none durst come nigh them to part them But I was moved in the Lord's Power to go to them and when I had loosed their Hands I held one of them by one Hand and the other by the other Hand and I shewed them the Evil of their doings and reconciled them one to the other that they were loving and very thankful to me so that People admired at it From thence I passed through the Country to Market-street Market-street Albans London where God had a People and so through Albans to London where