to pass of late it is exceeding righteous and just with him to suffer those things to be effected for truly as you know he was much provoked thereunto and his patience towards many of you was very great yea he spared you long and yet many of you whom I now hope are brought to see your brck-slidings regarded not his goodness but walked very carelesly and some of you wantonly before him yea many of your minds ran into the earth and its pomps and vanities again after a tenderness had been begotten in you towards the Lord and a loathing of such things and Covetousness and Pride encreased among you and so lusts and fulness and ease was then delighted in and the honour of this World sought and received one of another and not that which cometh of God onely and those that could not give you that honour that perisheth such by some of you were hated and mocked at and yet you professed much of Religion in words But alas the hearts of many of you were removed far from the Life of Truth in which the Lord is worshipped and so the Sincerity and Zeal which once appeared in some of you for God and the love which had sprung in you to him and one to another in the day when you were low and tender grew cold and died in you as you departed from the measure of the Life of God And thus the Lord became grieved and pressed with your back-slidings and his Soul loathed your Sacrifices and he then saw that a day of Tryal would be better for you than a day of Prosperity So in Righteousness as from the Lord is this day brought upon you and also in love to your Souls and so it shall prove unto you if ye will now turn unto the Lord with all your hearts and humble your selves under his Mighty Hand Yea some of you who lately have had the enjoyment of great Estates and outward Liberty and Honour and Companions and have now lost them or part of them I do believe that you will be made to confesse to the Glory of God that it is his love to you in suffering them to be taken from you yea some of you will come to see that the Lord is just and merciful unto you in suffering your Idols to be stript off taken away For you will see how some of you have Idolized men the World and its honour and glory and Forms without the Power of an endless Life Oh Friends I have a secret hope for a Remnant of you that the Lord by this kind of dealing with you will bring you near unto himself and that a day shall come wherein you shall be made to say that It was good for us that we were Afflicted But Friends you that come this to witness you must mind the free Grace of God that bringeth Salvation which to all men hath appeared yea ye must own and receive it in its pure Teachings and wait in the Virtue of it to receive Power to deny and forsake the Ungodliness and Worldly lusts which it will make manifest unto you that you have been addicted unto and must wait to feel it drawing you into Godliness Righteousness and Soberness and into Patience and Contentedness with the Will of God which is a precious thing Truly they they that do not wait to come into and to be kept in Patience in this day of Tryal their sufferings will be great And if the fretting impatient murmuring Nature be given way and leaned unto that will aggravate the Sufferings exceedingly and beget Torment in the mind Therefore you who desire to come into and to be kept in true Obedience unto the Lord in this the day of Tryal be watchful in the Light and abide in the pure Fear of the Lord which is the beginning of Wisdom and take heed of the subtilry of the Serpent who will seek more and more to beguile you and to lead you aside from the way of God Verily Friends if you do not retire your minds inwards unto the Life of Jesus which is the light of men you will be deceived yea if you do not receive the spirit of Truth to be your guide and Leader and obey the same you will still run into those things which cannot profit you and the renewed desires in you towards the Lord will be strangled Now I know some of you have formerly found the Lord's Leadings and Teachings in some measure in the day when he drew you out of Episcopacy so called and raised up a zeal in you against the Lording spirits in the Bishops and against the dark way of their imaginary Worship and if you had kept low in the pure Fear of the Lord I know he would have further appeared unto you But here was the loss of many of those that the Lord had appeared unto Mark they did not abide in his Tender Fear neither did they continue waiting upon him for Teaching in the measure of Life in which he had appeared unto them but many of them going from his Witness in themselves they soon began to imagin another Form of Worship which is called Presbitery and many sate down and setled in that and did not mind the Leadings of the Life which had appeared and in some measure quickened them and so much Deadness and Barrenness came upon such as would not be subject to the drawings of the pure Life of God But those that kept their integrity in any measure and waited upon the Lord the pure Life opened things further unto them as they were able to bear and they were drawn a little further and a fine Freshness and Tenderness and Love appeared in them for a time But so soon as they had settled themselves in another Form which is called Independency then many of them not willing to follow the Leadings of the Life any further then the Articles which they had drawn up and agreed upon would admit of whereby the freshness that had appeared in some of them began to wither Yet some who still desired to go on according to the Leadings of the Life the Life opened things further unto them and they left the other but they not continuing in the true waiting upon the Lord to be led by him several of them also ran into another Form called Anabaptism wherein many began to settle But some of them I do believe took up that far more simply than others for they being pressed outwardly to it by their Teachers and also finding in the Scriptures that the Saints of Old Practised such things they letting in reasonings and not waiting in the pure Life that had stirred in them to be led by that in all things their eye became vailed whereby they could see no further but looked upon that to be their duty to wit to go in the water and so durst not omit it But the pure Life which had visited them sprang up afresh and wrought mightily in some of them and shewed them the
to resist all that which is contrary unto me and I will destroy all the works of the Serpent in you and bruise his head and I will purge out all your iniquities and forgive all your trespasses I will change your nature and I will make you new Creatures if ye will hearken unto me and obey me the Light in you and I will make you partakers of my Divine Nature and I will judge and condemn and consume all that in you which is contrary to my Nature if ye will abide in the Light and I will take away all Darkness and earthly-mindedness and I will reveal my secrets and mysteries unto my Seed in you and I will cause you to delight alone in me the Light of Life and I will feed you with the Bread of Life and ye shall drink of my Life and ye shall be satisfied and I will manifest my Power more and more in you and if ye will be faithful unto me and obey my voice and wait upon me the Light then I will make the crooked wayes strait before you and the rough wayes smooth and I will destroy the Power of Darkness within and without you and if ye will follow me I will lead you out of the World and Worldly cares into patience into meekness and into stilness and quietness of spirit and whatsoever you suffer for my Names sake I will be your exceeding great reward and I will be your dread and ye shall be the dread of Nations I will be your Glory and ye shall be the Glory of Nations and I will reign over you and ye shall reign over all the World in my Light and Life and Power and if ye continue in me the Light I will give you Dominion over all your Enemies within and without you and I will make them all bow before you and I the Lord God of Light and Life will be your Redeemer and Saviour your Rock your Shield and your Defence and if ye will wait in my Life it shall be your Life and I the Life will destroy the destroyer within and without you and I will bring you out of all trouble and restlesness and dissatisfaction and I will be your peace and your rest and your satisfaction and ye shall lie down in me the Light of Life and none shall make you afraid These things shall you come to witness in the work of your regeneration and much more than is here expressed if ye be faithful unto me the true Light in you who have no fellowship with any thing that is Evil and then I wil purge all Evil out of you and even as I am so shall ye be also yea I will work this work and perfect it in you if ye continue and abide in me the Light Now if any should say that here is nothing spoken of Christ in what I have here written I answer what I have here written is the words which the Father who is one with Christ the Son gave unto me to write in which words the true Christ is owned and a Testimony given of him and no other But further in the Fear and Wisdom of God for the satisfaction of the simple I do declare in plain words That I do believe in the true Christ the Lord of Life who was glorified with the Father before the World began and I do believe that he was in due time made manifest in that body of flesh who was called Jesus and that in him the fulness of the Godhead dwelt bodily who was supposed to be the Carpenter's Son whom the Jews Crucified without the gates of Jerusalem and I have remission of Sins through his blood who is the Lord of Life and he was buried but he is risen and Ascended and sits on the right hand of the Majesty on high This is the Christ I own who also was and is Crucified in Sodom and Aegypt by the rebellious yea he is Crucified afresh and put to open shame now by those that trample the blood of the Covenant the Light of Life under their feet and count it an unholy or a natural thing and such act despightfully against the Spirit of Grace and such Murther the Seed which keeps the commands of God and such will God the Light overthrow and burn to ashes as he did Sodom and Gomorrah but all that love and obey the true Light which is the fire shall be saved and preserved by it and shall remain unhurt but all that hate and disobey the Light in them that is their condemnation the Light These are faithful and true sayings and things also that must shortly come to pass and he witnessed Postscript READER WHo ever thou art be moderate and take heed of disobeying and despising the true Light for if thou dost thou disobeyest and dispisest the True and Eternal God who is Light and that is his Name whereby he is and will be known in this Age and Generation Therefore stumble not at the Light which lighteneth every one which cometh into the World for if thou doest thou stumblest at God his Name at Christ the Word by which all things were made and are upheld at the Door the Way the Truth and the Life at the Rock at the Elect Stone and these all are but one and if thou stumble at these what ever thou art thou shalt be broken But they that obey and believe the true Light they shall be made Children of the Light and shall be taught of God and shall walk in his Light G. F. A Word to the People of the World who hate the Light to be witnessed by the Light in them all VVherein is shewed unto them what the Light is which is the condemnation of the VVorld with its deeds and what the Spirit of Truth is and what it leads them into who are led by it and what the Spirit of Error is and what it leads them into who are led by it And also they are here exhorted to repent whilst they have the Light to believe and walk in the Light lest darkness come upon them and they into it be cast where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth Also a few Queries to such Professors as stumble at the Light the Word the Kingdom and Spirit of God within and tell People that none can be free from sin in this Life and yet say that they own the Scriptures LIght is come into the VVorld and the VVorld hates it Joh. 8.12 and the whole World lyeth in wickedness 1 Joh. 5.19 And this is the Condemnation of the VVorld that Light is come into the VVorld and men loved the Darkness rather than the Light because their deeds were evil saith Christ Joh. 3.19 20. And every one that doth evil hateth the Light neither cometh to the Light lest his deeds should be reproved But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the Light for whatsoever doth make manifest is Light Eph. 5.13 and Christ Jesus he is the true
of God the Light by the Gift we are brought to bring forth these fruits which are contrary to those which the Spirit of Error leads the Children of disobedience to bring forth Gal. 5.22 23. For although we the Children of Light are accounted to be in Delusion and Errour Gal. 5.22.23 yet it is but by you who bring forth the Cursed fruits which the Spirit of Errour leads you to bring forth so in the Light Life and Power of God we stand over all false Accusations and Reproaches and Persecutions and in the patience of Gods Lamb we bear them all and our love goes forth to your Souls who wilfully oppose your selves and we declare unto you that the long-sufferings of the Lord towards you is to draw you to Repentance Rom. 2.4 and I have directed you to that which will shew you what you ought to repent of Therefore consider your wayes speedily all you that forget God lest he tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver you Psal 50.22 for verily this I declare unto you in the presence of the Lord that if you go on and continue in stubbornness and Rebellion against the Pure God and despise his love and reject his counsel and still refuse to hearken to the Light of his Son in your Consciences which reproves you for Sin and is freely given to you to lead you out of Sin unto God if you wilfully do not resist it Mark when the measure of your iniquity is filled up then will he arise upon you at unawares in his fury Wrath Indignation Mat. 24.50.51 and his eye shall not at all pitty you but he will bring his Plagues and Righteous Judgements upon you which shall consume you both root and branch if you will not be gathered in the day of his long patience and forbearance which is the day of your Visitation wherein you may come to know the things belonging to your peace if you do not wilfully resist the Power that is offered and committed unto you But if you resist the Power then the Lords righteous Judgements will assuredly come upon you and you will receive to your selves Condemnation and if you continue in your wickedness until the day of your visitation be past then shall the Light in all your Consciences which hath oftentimes shewed unto you your evil deeds arise and witness to the Judgements of God that they are just Zek. 2.7 so whether you will hear or forbear Remember you are warned in your Life time By a Friend to your Souls and a Lover of the Creation of God GEORGE FOX the Younger A few Queries to such Professors as stumble at the Light the Word the Kingdom and Spirit of God within and tell People that none can be free from Sin in this Life and yet say that they own the Scriptures 1. Qu. ARE not all by Nature Darkness and doth not the Light shine in Darkness yea or nay 2. Qu. Can any come to see themselves to be Darkness but with the Light which shineth in the Darkness yea or nay 3. Qu. Is there any way to come out of Darkness and Death and to receive Life and to be made Children of the Light but by believing in and following of Jesus Christ the true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the World yea or nay 4. Qu. Must not all be turned from Darkness to Light and from Satan's Power to the Power of God before they can receive remission of sins and an inheritance among them that are sanctified yea or nay 5. Qu. Can any come into the true Faith which purifies the heart and gives victory over the world without which none can please God but by hearing the Word of God yea or nay 6. Qu. And is not Christ the Light the Word of God and is not Christ the Light the Author and Finisher of the true Faith which saves and justifies yea or nay 7. Qu. And is not the Word nigh in the Mouth and in the Heart that men may obey it and do it and is not Christ the Light the Word that Prophet which all that hear him not are to be cut off yea or nay 8. Qu. And is it not Christ the Word which discerns and reveals the thoughts and intents of the heart and is not he the ingrafted Word which is able to save the Soul and is not he the Grace of God which bringeth Salvation and is sufficient which hath appeared unto all men and is not he the Word of God's Grace which is able to build up and keep from falling which People are to be commended unto yea or nay 9. Qu. And is not God Light and is not the shining of him in the hearts of People which gives them the knowledge of himself in the face of Jesus Christ yea or nay 10. Qu. And is not Christ the Light the hope which purifies as God is pure which Anchors and stayes the Soul to be known within are not People tossed like a Ship in a tempest without an Anchor till Christ the Hope be felt within to stay and Anchor them and is not Christ within the Hope a Mystery which hath been hid from Ages and Generations and are not all they in the reprobate state who know not Christ within them yea or nay 11. Qu. And is not God's Kingdom Light and is it not like a little leaven that is hid in Meal and as a grain of Mustard-seed that is sown in the Earth and like a Pearl hid in the Field or like good Seed sown in the Field both on stony thorny high-way and good ground and is not the world the Field where the Seed of the Kingdom is sown and is not the world in mans heart so is not Gods Kingdom within men yea or nay 12. Qu. And is not the manifestation of the Spirit given to every man to profit withal and do any worship the Father of Truth aright but those that worship him in the Spirit and in the Truth and is not the Light the Truth yea or nay 13. Qu. And is not Christ the Light that Word which reconciles to God and is it not he that must open the understandings of men before they can understand the Scriptures and are not People in Errour and in jangling and strife about the Scriptures till Christ the Light the Spirit of Truth the Power of God from whence Scriptures were spoken be known and owned to guide and lead them yea or nay 14. Qu. And is not this the Cause of so many Sects and Opinions and Divisions as are and of such strivings as are about Scriptures and Religions because People know not or own not the Spirit of Truth from whence Scriputures were spoken forth to lead and guide them and is it not like that People should run into Sects and Opinions and Divisions and Strife if they know not or own not the Spirit of Truth to guide and lead them and if the Spirit of Truth were known and owned to
to shake terribly the Earth the noise of a Trumpet goeth before him which soundeth an Alarm Strong and Mighty is he there goeth a Sword out of his mouth and a Threshing instrument is in his hand wherewith he will cut down the tall Cedars and thresh the Mountains to dust A fire proceedeth out of his mouth also which shall devour and burn before him and none shall be able to quench it And the breath that cometh forth of his Nostrils shall scatter the Earth as the VVhirl-wind scattereth the dust yea terrible and dreadful will he be unto you wicked who live in the Earth you shall not be able to behold nor stand in his presence Therefore weep and howl and lament for the misery that is coming upon you for a total destruction is at hand yea the Lord hath decreed an utter overthrow of the Earth and the Inhabitants thereof for now shall his overflowing Scourge pass through the Earth and the Besom of his destruction shall sweep you away for your VVhoredoms and Murders and Idolatry and Drunkenness and Swearing and Lying and VVantonness and Prophaneness is come in remembrance before the dreadful and terrible God who will be avenged on you at once Rejoice ye Saints who are clad with Zeal and shout for joy you Sons of the most high God and sing ye Heavens and you that dwell therein for the Lord is risen ye are Witnesses thereof behold he cometh with ten thousands of his Saints to Iudge the Earth in Righteousness and to execute his Judgements upon his and our Enemies The Vials of his VVrath are made ready to be poured out upon them and his Indignation is waxen hot against them which shall burn and slay and consume them unto the end Glory Glory Honour and Dominion and Praise be given unto our King who liveth for ever for he is worthy to reign over all who was dead but now is he alive and liveth for evermore And he hath redeemed us from the Earth and hath brought us above the Earth to reign with him up the Earth Eternal Praises to our King for evermore who is above all and over all who was before the VVorld was and hath brought us to be before the VVorld to reign with him eternally above the VVorld and our Enemies are to be plagued and tormented in our presence and we shall rejoyce over the smoak of their torment which ascendeth for ever Now here is the joy and cause of our rejoycing who have followed the Lamb through great Tribulation and are brought above the Tribulations to dwell in the presence of the living God this is joy unspeakable and full of Glory which shall never have an end Hallelujah to our King for evermore Edmonds-Bury Common Goal the 22. day of the 7th Month 1656. By me George Fox whose natural Birth and outward being was at Charsfield in the said County of Suffolk A Visitation of Love unto all People in whose hearts there are any true honest tender desires begotten towards God and his Righteousness In what Sect or Opinion or Profession soever they be who are not in the Light especially unto such who have felt something of the workings of the Life and Power of God in them and yet notwithstanding have been led by the subtilty of the Serpent from the Life and Power of God into many Sects and Opinions and Forms which are without the Life and Power of God and herein the subtil workings and devices of the Serpent whereby he deceives the hearts of the simple is clearly made manifest Friends GOd the higher Power unto whom the soul is to be subject he only hath immortality and dwelleth in the Light and he is Light And he hath freely given his Son into the world by whom the world was made for a Covenant of Light and he is the true Light which lighteth every one that cometh into the world that all men through him might believe who is the VVord of God in whom is Life and that Life mark is the Light of men and the pure Grace of God which bringeth Salvation by which the Saints are freely justified hath appeared unto all men yea the the Eternal God of Truth hath appeared unto you in his Son Jesus Christ the true Light and with this Light hath God made manifest unto you your sin and evil deeds and with the measure of the Light of his Son in you sometimes hath he appeared in his mighty Power whereby he hath smitten you for your sins and evil deeds and he by his Power hath broken you into tenderness and brought you down into lowliness for a time and then by his unresistible Power thus working in you did beget a holy Seed from whence pure desires and breathings after God hath often arose in you which seed could not nor cannot be satisfied without Gods living presence Now ye not standing in the Power which convinced you and smote you and broke you into tenderness and brought you down and then begot a holy Seed in you from whence a pure unfeigned love to God hath oft sprung mark you not minding the workings and movings of this Power in you nor waiting in it for to receive counsel you entered into reasonings and thoughts which the subtilty which is the Devil presented in you and so ye hearkned not to Gods voice the power which had wrought so in you but you entred into reasonings with the subtilty which abode not in the power and this begot a questioning in you what that should be which had so appeared in you and broken you into such a tenderness and had wrought such a sudden change in you which you were not able to resist And ye going into the reasonings in your minds thus you turned from the pure Power of God and then sin which separateth from Gods presence which he by his Power worketh in you had in measure smitten and brought down in you arose again and got the Dominion in you and so you going thus from the Power wherein ye should have waited to have been preserved in the tenderness ye soon lost the tenderness and fear which the Power had wrought in you and then hardness of heart soon grew in you again and then the Seed which God had begotten in you which cannot be satisfied without his presence that began to be sorely oppressed in you by the sin which separates from Gods presence which got up more and more in you through your turning from the Power which ye once felt manifested and working in you against sin And then a grievous weight or burden came upon the Righteous Seed in you and then it began to groan and cry to God from under the burden and weight of iniquity that was upon it and then the Light appeared more brighter in you again for the Seeds sake which suffered in you and shewed you that you were wrong then the Light judged you for the wrong and then trouble came upon you and encreased in your minds and then
motions and the bad motions which you will see stirring in your minds and if you hold fast the Word of Truth it will preserve and keep you out of the bad thoughts and motions and it will joyn you unto the good and ye will come to feel the operation of the Spirit and Life and Power of God in you to shake and overturn and work out that ground which hath been in you from whence the bad words and bad thoughts and bad motions have arose which have burdened the oppressed and tender Seed in you which you never could witness satisfied with all that ever you have performed but as ye all believe and wait in this unchangable measure of God you will come to feel the burden taken off the Seed and ye will come to feel and witness more true durable peace and satisfaction in one hours waiting upon God than ever you felt and witnessed in all the words that ever you have heard from any man or woman in all your lives or in all your Practices that ever you have practised before you were brought to wait upon God in his Gifts which he hath given you to profit withal although in those things which we have practised I know ye have had a great joy appearing in you for a time but it was not durable nor lasting for when God's true and faithful Witness the Light appeared and shewed you how that God never required those things at your hands which you had practised then your joy and peace withered and came to an end which you appeared sometime to have in those Practices and if at any time ye came to feel some little peace and joy and refreshment through what God opened to the Seed in you when by his Power ye were brought into some tenderness ye soon lost this also by going from that which brought you into the tenderness But as you all come into the Obedience of the Spirit and abide in it this will bring you into the seasoned Life and then ye will come to feel and witness pure peace and joy and refreshment and satisfaction which will last and abide for ever with you if ye abide in the Spirit and then ye will be made willing to lay down and deny all that which ye have been acting which ye never were led and guided to act by God's Pure Holy Spirit and to deny all such also as would draw you to act that which God requireth not at your hands So take heed of such as daub with untempered morter and heal deceitfully who will speak peace when there is no true peace but the pure Witness of God condemns for such with good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple keeping them ever learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the Truth and these through covetousness and feigned words make merchandize of poor People for they have a Form of Godliness but they deny and resist the Power and therefore from such turn away And all mind that and feel that and be subject unto that which for sin condemns sin in the flesh and then you will feel the Spirit of Judgement and Burning and Righteousness through which the Seed is redeemed which Seed is Heir of the Kingdom of God So all wait in the meek lowly quiet Spirit that ye may come to witness this Holy Seed which delights to do the Will of God by the power and Life of God raised up in you satisfied and brought forth out of captivity And look not out nor strive after great and high things beyond your measures for that puffs up and leads into confusion and dark imaginations but all wait and be still in the measure of God's Light manifested in you that so you may come to feel him revealing his secrets and mysteries unto the Babes which cannot live or be satisfied without him God is making known that and stirring that in the hearts of People throughout the World which doth and shall confound and overturn all the Wisdom of this World and the subtilty of the Serpent from whence all the Worlds Wisdom arose and therefore the hand of the Lord will be terrible and heavy upon the disobedient who disobey and transgress that which he hath put into their Hearts whereby he is opening a mighty understanding in the People But the everlasting Blessing and Peace and Joy and Glory of the Lord over all shall arise and rest upon all those that joyn to and believe in and obey that Word which is nigh in the mouth and in the heart By a Labourer in the Power of Truth which doth make free for the Deliverance and Freedom of the Righteous Seed George Fox the younger An Exhortation to Families who have desires to serve the Lord God in their several places that they may all learn in the Light of Christ Jesus the Wisdom and Power of God who is the true Teacher O Ye Fathers and Mothers stand in the pure fear of the Lord and wait in his Light that ye may receive his living Wisdom and live in it that so ye may be ordered by it and with it order all things to God's glory and bring up your Children in the fear of the Lord watching over them in the seasoned savoury Life of God not suffering them to live in wildness nor idleness nor vain talking unreproved but in the sober meek Spirit and in the Authority of God's Lamb reprove them and that will reach the Witness of God in them and correct them in the Fear and Wisdom and Freedom of God in the Patience and follow not their foolish wills neither correct them in your own wills nor in hastiness rashness or passion for if ye do then that will use the Rod which is to be beaten with the Rod of God and that will make your Children more stubborn and wicked and this will offend God but stand ye in God's Counsel and discourage nothing in your Children but evil and let them have that which is meet just and reasonable and no more that none of God's Creatures be wasted and be ye patterns and good examples in all holiness gravity and uprightness unto them and let them have sufficient liberty to go to godly Meetings and rather stir them up and encourage them to go to such than hinder or discourage them and keep your minds out of them unto the Lord and let your love to them be in the Lord that so ye may feel his Blessing coming upon you and them And all ye Children who have Parents honour and be obedient unto them in the Lord and mind the Light of Christ in you and that will not suffer ye to be wild nor wilful stubborn nor vain but it will check and reprove ye for all evil and if ye will own its reproof and believe and wait in it it will lead ye out of all evil and it will bring ye into soberness and meekness tenderness and innocency and preserve ye in it and it will
which all things were created and made and are upheld that therein ye may be ordered in the particular and that therein ye may use and order all God's Creatures to his Glory and then all false Weights and Measures and Wayes and Worships will be destroyed and then shall Truth Equity Righteousness and true Order and Mercy prosper and run down as a River So let your Faith stand in Christ Jesus the Light and Wisdom and Power of God and then true Worship true Weight true Measure shall be set up and established and then shall the Lord be exalted over all the works of his hands and so ye will feel his blessing unto him belongeth the Dominion and Honour for he is worthy of it for evermore Amen By George Fox the Younger The Words of the Everlasting and True Light Who is the Eternal Living God and the King of Saints which he gave unto me his servant to declare unto the Inhabitants of the Earth and unto all such as have any true tender desires in them after Righteousness and Truth HEarken O ye Nations and give ear ye Inhabitants of the Earth Thus saith the Lord God of Heaven and Earth whose Name is the Light I am the Lord and there is no other that can save I the Light Created all things and formed and made you all of the dust and I breathed into you my Light my Life that ye with it should have been guided and led in my Wisdom to have ordered all things which I have Created and to have ruled over them all that I in you might have been honoured and exalted over all the works of my hands which I the Light Created But from me the Light ye have departed and ye have hearkned unto the Subtil Serpent which is the Devil who abode not in me the Light the Life the Truth which Created all things whom I have cursed above all the Beasts of the Earth who is the Seed of Enmity and ye hearkening unto him he hath begotten you into Enmity against me the Light and so hath begotten and led you into the Curse and so he is become your Father and Leader whom I have cursed and all that ye bring forth and act in him I have cursed because it stands in the Enmity against me the Light yet I the Light have looked upon you and pittied you because of the loss that ye are come into and the darkness that is come upon you all through your departing from me the Light And I the Eternal God have sent him who was glorified with me before the World was by whom I made the World who is not without me nor I without him but he is in me and I in him and He and I and the Spirit that proceed's from Us are one Being and Substance Mark I the Eternal God have sent him into the World who was glorified with me before the World began and he is called my Son because he is the Express Image of my Glory and bears my Name the Light the Life the Truth which is but one and he is my Love unto you the World and that is he that lets you see the Enmity and darkness that ye are in and how years departed and gone from Me the Life and for this end I have sent him a Light that ye all through him the Light might believe that so he who shews you your Sins your Enmity your Darkness ye believing in him might receive power to come out of it and that he might save you from the curse which ye went into when ye hearkned to the Serpent whom I have cursed who is become your Leader But I have sent you the Light to be your Leader to lead you from the Serpent and out of all that which he hath led you into Mark out of Enmity against me out of Darkness and so out of all unrighteous words and deeds and thoughts And I the Eternal God have given my Son the Light power to plague and to judge to condem and to destroy all those that will not hear him the Light who makes manifest unto you your unrighteous words deeds and thoughts which the Serpent hath led you into and because ye live in these I cannot have fellowship with you nor reveal my secrets unto you but my anger is kindled against you but if ye would hearken unto my Love the Light which lets you see all that ever you have done and own him to be your Leader and receive him and give up your selves to be guided by him then you shall feel his Power in you which I have given him to lead you out of Enmity and Darkness and the curse and out of all Sin which was the cause of the curse and so to destroy that Nature in you which the Serpent hath begotten ye into and to beget you again into the Nature of himself the Light in whom I am well pleased and then my anger would be turned away from you and I should have fellowship with you again as I had in the beginning and the Serpent's head ye should come to witness bruised who drew and led you out of me the Life the Tree of Life which I shut you from because of your disobedience ye should come to know it and to feel it and to feed upon it again and I should delight to do you good But O ye disobedient ye are from this because ye despise Me my Son my Spirit who are one who are Light and Life which is not far from you for I the Light give unto every one of you Life and Breath and you and all things are upheld by me the Light whose presence filleth Heaven and Earth and I have long spared you and my patience and long-suffering towards you hath been exceeding large but you in your imaginations have put me a far off and ye will not own me the Light the Life in you because my appearance in you hath been and yet is to make manifest Sin and Evil in you and to check and reprove you for it and to call you out of it and therefore you are offended at me and you whom the Serpent the Prince of the Power of the Air hath led out of me into airy imaginations you scorn me the Light in you and count me a low poor weak thing not worth the taking notice of because I have been patient towards you and have tenderly meekly and lovingly made manifest unto you Sin and Evil in its appearance and hath reproved you for Evil gently therefore you have disobeyed me and dishonoured me and called me a Natural Light and ye have said I the Light am not able to save those that believe in me and many of you have got my words which I the Light spoke in my servants of old and ye in the Enmity give other meanings to my words and so with my words mixed with your own meanings and imaginations ye fight against me the Light and Life within you and so against my
Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the VVorld Joh. 1.9 Drunkard thou hast a Light given thee which comes from Christ and that is the Light which lets thee see that thou shouldst not be drunk so here thou hast learned thy Condemnation which is the Light Swearer and Lyar and Fighter and Quarreler thou hast a Light given thee which comes from Christ who saith Swear not at all and with this Light thou seest thou shouldst not swear nor lye nor fight nor quarrel for the Light in thee witnesseth against these things so here thou hast learned thy Condemnation the Light Scoffer Scorner Mocker Railer cursed Speaker foolish Iester vain Talker Couzener and Cheater the Light that shines in thy Conscience though thou canst not comprehend it Joh. 1.5 because thou art darkness it is pure and eternal and never consented unto evil but stood and stands a VVitness for God against all evil Mark this Light this pure VVitness oftentimes hath appeared and doth appear unto thee and in thee and lets thee plainly see that thou shouldst not act any of these evils before mentioned and it often checks and reproves in secret when thou dost so act so here thou hast learned what Condemns thee which is the the Light Eph. 5.5 13. Proud one Wanton one Lustful one Covetous one who art an Idolater Backbiter Whoremonger Gamster Sporter and Prophane one who walkest on in laciviousness and excess of the Creatures in Revellings Banquetings and abominable Idolatries and whoever thou art that acts any manner of unrighteousness whatsoever it is sin and it is of the Devil but the Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the VVorld that is the Son of God who is made manifest for this very end that he might destroy the works of the Devil 1 Joh. 3.8 and He mark the Son of God hath given thee a measure of his Light and that is the measure of his Light in thee which lets thee see that thou should not act any of these abominations before-mentioned but it oft appears in thee to convince thee of thy evil deeds and reproves thee and judgeth thee for thy wickedness so here thou hast learned thy Condemnation which is the Light which makes manifest unto thee thy abominations And thou who makest a Profession of the Saints words but art found to be out of their Life and in thy dark carnal mind and imaginations run'st into their words the Scriptures and calls them the VVord of God and thy Rule and the way to know God and yet thou livest contrary to the Scriptures and art out of the knowledge of God whom to know is life eternal Mark the Light wherewith thou art enlightned withal it comes from Christ who lighteth every man that cometh into the VVorld and his Name is called the VVord of God Rev. 19.13 and he is the way to God and no man knoweth the Father save the Son and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him Mat. 11.27 and this Light which comes from the Son of God oftentimes appears in thee and shews thee that thou art out of the Saints Life though thou profess their VVords and the Light lets thee see that thou art a Thief and a Robber and art climbing up another way in thy imaginations than by the Door Joh. 10.1 which is Christ from whence the Light doth come and this Light in thee which makes manifest to thee thy condition it oftentimes confounds thee and thy imaginations which thou hast raised out of thy dark mind concerning the Scriptures which were given forth in the true Light and the Light oftentimes convinceth reproveth and judgeth thee of and for thy hypocrisie and dissimulation and feigned love and humility and will-worship and lets thee see that thy worship is not that Worship which the Lord requireth for that is in the Spirit and in the Truth which God requireth Joh. 4.22 23 24. and thou being out of the Light not being guided by it art out of the Spirit for the Spirit is Light and the Light is the Truth and so out of the true Worship in the false worshipping thou knowst not what so here with the true Light thou art condemned and so hast learned but thy Condemnation Therefore all People both young and old high and low rich and poor bond and free who yet live in any of these evil deeds before-mentioned mind that which makes manifest your evil deeds unto you which is the measure of the pure God which he hath given you to profit withal and this measure in you convinceth you of sin and reproves you for it now mind to stand in that which doth convince for that is the Power and as you stand and believe in that which doth convince you it will lead you into true Repentance never to be repented of for it will bring you to repent of and to forsake all your evil deeds and hard speeches Jud. 15. which you will see in the Light which never consented unto sin that you have acted and spoken against the living God so believe in the Light which shews you sin and evil and wait in the Light as it ariseth and appears in you to shew you your estates and conditions now if you believe in the Light and wait in it you will come to receive Power from Christ from whence the Light doth come to overcome evil and to withstand the Tempter when he appears to tempt you to evil and the Light believing in it will preserve you out of the evil and lead you out of the death and loss that ye are in unto Christ the life and Saviour of the Soul But if you hate the Light which shews you sin and evil you hate Christ for I am the Light saith Christ John 8.12 and if you hate the Light you hate the way to the Father for I am the way to the Father saith Christ who is the Light Joh. 14.6 and if you hate the Light you hate the Truth and you hate the Life for I am the Truth and the Life saith Christ the true Light who lighteth every man that cometh into the World Joh. 1.9 and 12.46 and if you hate the Light you hate the Covenant of God for I will give him for a Covenant to the People and for a Light to the Gentiles saith God Isa 42.6 and 49.6 and if you hate the Light you hate the Power for all Power is given unto me both in Heaven and in Earth saith Christ the Light Mat. 28.18 and if you hate the Light you hate the Word of God and so you hate God and Christ who are One John 10.30 Mark for in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God all things were made by it and without it nothing was made that was made in it was Life Mark in the Word was Life and the life of the Word was the Light of men and John a man sent of God bare witness of the Light that all men
guide and lead them would it not lead and guide them out of Sects and Opinions and Divisions and Strife and would it not bring People to be of one heart and of one mind and into Unity with God and one with another and with the Scriptures yea or nay 15. Qu. And doth not Christ the Light the Spirit of Truth for Sin Condemn Sin in the flesh and must not that be owned which makes manifest reproves and Condemns Sin in the flesh before the Ministration of Life and Peace can be witnessed yea or nay 16. Qu. Is not the Unity of the Spirit the bond of Peace and must not People come into Unity with the Spirit before they can come into true Peace and doth not the Spirit of Truth reprove men for Sin who live in it so must not People come out of Sin before they can come into Unity with the Spirit and so into true Peace or hath the Spirit any Unity with Sin or is there any true Peace to the wicked who live in Sin yea or nay 17. Qu. And is not Christ the Light the Word the Rock of Offence and the stone of stumbling unto the disobedient in whom the Prince of the Power of the Air ruleth but is he not Elect and precious to them that believe and obey him and is it not he that ruleth in them and leads and guides them in the way of Peace yea or nay 18. Qu. Do not as many as believe in the Light receive Power to become the Sons of God and are not those the Sons of God who are led by the Spirit of Truth and are not those that do not believe in Christ the Light nor are guided by the Spirit bastards and not sons and are they not condemned already who do not believe and is not the Light their Condemnation yea or nay 19. Qu. And shall not Darkness yea great Darkness come upon them who do not believe and walk in the Light and shall not they stumble and fall and be broken yea or nay 20. Qu. And shall not they who believe and walk in the Light be made Children of the Light and be kept from stumbling and falling and shall not they have fellowship with the Father and the Son from whence the Light comes and one with another and doth not the blood of Christ cleanse them from all Sin yea or nay 21. Qu. Can any have fellowship with the Father and the Son and the Saints in Light but those that walk in and are guided and led by the Light of Christ Jesus which he hath enlightned them withal yea or nay 22. Qu. Can any deny themselves before they see themselves and can any man see himself but with the Light which Christ hath enlightned him withal which makes manifest Self and can any be Christ's Disciple but he that denies himself and takes up the Crosse and comes after Christ the true Light and are not all they thieves and robbers which come before Christ the Light and are not such enemies to the Crosse of Christ and is not the Crosse of Christ the Power of God and is not the Crosse and the Preaching of it foolishness to the wise of this World and is it not a stumbling block to such as in words professe they know God but in works deny him yea or nay 23. Qu. And they that commit Sin and cannot cease from Sin are not they of the Devil and are not they the Servants of Sin and so free from Righteousness and have they not eyes full of Adultery who cannot cease from Sin are they not adulterated and whored from the Life of God and though they promise liberty to themselves and others yet are not they servants to corruption and do not they live in the flesh and are they not dead while they live and so out of the true Faith and can such please God yea or nay 24. Qu. And they that believe in and obey Christ Jesus the true light doth not their faith stand in the Power of God and doth it not purifie their hearts and give them victory over the World and do not they who witness in the Life the manifestation of the Son of God also witness that he destroyes the works of the Devil and takes away their Sin and makes an end of transgression and changes their Nature which was subject to Sin and makes them partakers of his Divine Nature and throughly purges and sanctifies them with his Living Truth and doth not that make them free from Sin and so make them servants of Righteousness and doth not that make vessels of honour fitted for the Masters use and are not such dead unto Sin and alive unto God and can such live any longer in Sin and having mortified the deeds of the Body through the Spirit shall not they live but not to themselves but to God and are not these Christ's and have they not crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof yea or nay 25. Qu. Shall any man see the Lord without Holiness and ought any to name the Name of Christ but those that depart from Iniquity and is that the Faith of God's Elect which doth not purifie the heart nor give victory over the world but is without the works or is not this dead Faith and but the Faith of Devils and shall any be saved or justified by this Faith yea or nay Consider of these things ye Professors who stumble at the Light and tell People that none shall be free from sin in this Life 26. Qu. And when is the time and where is the place and what is the name of it if not in this Life that men shall be made free from sin answer plainly that I may see how much ye differ from the Papists in this particular or do ye believe that corruption and that which is imperfect shall enter into Heaven and inherit in corruption yea or nay Answer these Queries in plainness according to the Scriptures if ye be able if not then submit unto the true Light which will let you see your thoughts your darkness your unstableness and ignorance of the Scriptures and repent and believe and wait in the true Light that you may come out of your thoughts and darkness and unstableness and ignorance into that which the Scriptures declare of to feel Christ the Saviour from whence the Light doth come to redeem and save ye from sin and to keep ye out of your own thoughts inventions and imaginations that so your minds may come to be stayed and settled in the Power of the Lord which moves against sin By one who witnesseth God Christ the Light the Word the Spirit of Truth and these are one and the Kingdom of God within me and so am come to the thing that the Scriptures testifie of which was before Scripture was in whom the Scriptures ends and the Tabernacle of God is witnessed with men and his presence is felt which filleth Heaven and Earth and the Heaven
of Heavens cannot contain him Glory to him in the Highest GEORGE FOX the younger Honest Upright Faithful and plain dealing with Thee O Army of the Common-wealth of England so called without flattery in true unfeigned Love to Thee with something more particularly unto the Officers of the Army and those that joyn with them in the outward Government of this Nation Wherein Truth Uprightness and Equity is declared for and Deceit Wickedness Oppression and Tyranny is declared against AT your first going forth there was a true honest Principle which stirred in the hearts of many of you which convinced you of sin in the particular and it also shewed you the desperate Wickedness Cruelty Tyranny and Oppression which was upheld by unjust and unrighteous Laws and Rulers whereby the honest People were much Oppressed and in several of you there arose a true Zeal against this Abomination and then I know your lives and what you had were not dear to some of you but were freely given up to do your Nation service in breaking down that Oppression and Tyranny which was brought upon it by the Enemies of God and it and then a mighty courage and boldness arose in many of you against Oppression and Oppressors and the Lord appeared with you against them because they were his Enemies and sought to destroy the very appearance of Truth and then many of you were low and tender and the hearts of such People as had honest desires in them and breathed for Liberty they were much affected with you and the Cause you declared for and vowed and engaged to be true and faithful unto and then the Lord appeared with you in the field giving you mighty Victories over your Enemies that so he might make way for his living Truth to be spread which was then stirring in his People and the Lord weakned his Enemies before you and ye saw his mighty hand therein and his mighty Work in overturning those his Enemies prospered in your hands for he made you instruments therein until he had scattered his Enemies and then he gave you power and opportunity to accomplish that you had vowed and engaged to do and which his Light in your hearts had shewed you that you ought to have done But you not keeping to that which first appeared in you and made you sensible of the Oppression that was upheld by the unrighteous Laws Lawyers and Rulers an earthly selfish Spirit got up in many of you which exceedingly encreased Covetousness and Pride in you and then the greatness of your Pay and the spoyl of your Enemies and idleness and the fulness of the Creatures began to be more delightful to many of you than the Liberty you once declared for and then some among you began to see how deceit and hypocrisie crept in amongst you and appeared against it but you whose hearts went after your covetousness and self-seeking soon stopt them either by threatning them or by advancing them into greater places or by turning them out of the Army and thus you began to back-slide and then deceit began to wax strong among you and several of you began to settle your selves in the Earth and in your Enemies Estates and then you little regarded the Oppression that others suffered under you being at ease your selves and thus the Enemy beguiled you and deceit wrought in you even as it did amongst some of the Sects and Opinions for in many of them there was a true Principle of God stirring once which convinced them of their own sins and also shewed the cruelty wickedness and deceit of the Bishops and Prelates and others and caused them to witness against such but they not keeping to the measure of God in them a worldly carnal deceitful Spirit encreased in them and then they soon began to settle themselves in another form without the Life and Power of God which was as bad in the nature and ground of it as that they had witnessed against only it had another Name And in the same manner have ye acted for ye going from the measure of God in you which shewed you the cruelty of the Oppressors which ye had fought against ye soon began to settle the same thing in the nature and ground of it among your selves which you had sought against in others only in deceit and hypocrisie you gave it another Name And then truly great Wickedness encreased among you which made the hearts of the righteous sad even the same as abounded among your Enemies whom God overthrew for their Wickedness yea for then many of you ran into Hunting Hawking Bowling Horse-racing Drinking and other vain Games and Sports and Lusts and Excess and Pride both in your Diet and Apparel and your behaviour was grown so lofty many of you that you became a burden to all honest-hearted People who once had an honest love going forth towards you but this your Wickedness caused their love to wax cold towards you and many who were true Friends became ashamed of you because of your back-slidings And you raised up the spirit of enmity and bitterness in your Enemies more and more against you by these things which you ran into yea you gave them great advantage by your back-slidings and some of you saw these things many times with God's Witness but ye not keeping to God's Witness in you deceitful fears arose in you which stopt the mouth of Truth in you when you should have witnessed against the Wickedness that was amongst you and your fears were lest you should have been turned out of your Places and upon this account deceit was grown so strong among you and treachery that ye durst not speak your minds one to another for fear ye should be betrayed one by another and so turned out of your places And thus deceit and a slavish spirit possest ye even until you had lost your Dominion and Authority over your Enemies and then many of you became afraid to do that which was just many times lest your Enemies should be more displeased with you and in deceit ye bowed many of you even to your Enemies and sought more to please them than to do that you had engaged to do and then you turned out many of your Friends and took in many of your Enemies and mixed your selves with them yea you turned out many of your faithful Friends only for coming into the Life and Obedience of that which many of you professed in words and pretended once that you fought for the Liberty of O Army this is plain Truth to thee without flattery and thus falshood overspread you until the honest Principle that once stirred in you was almost destroyed and then ye little regarded the sufferings of the Innocent nor the Oppression that was in the Land but ye rather sought to establish your selves in the honour and fulness of this World but poor creatures ye could not settle your selves in a peace there for your Enemies dayly plotted against you and had
it not been just with the Lord to have suffered your Enemies to have destroyed you because of your grievous back-slidings and wickedness O consider it consider it while ye have time and prize the Lord's loving kindness that he should yet spare you and yet give you time to repent And seeing the Lord hath shewed you your back-slidings with his eternal Witness in you and hath begun to frustrate the designs of those that would have cut you off in your back-slidings and ye confess some of you that you are willing to take shame also to your selves wherein you have back-slidden therefore seeing it is thus all mind that of God in you which sheweth you your back-slidings and believe and wait in that to feel that nature judged and destroyed in you wherein all this Wickedness and Deceit hath lodged and keep in the fear and dread of the Lord God that so ye may receive his pure Wisdom whereby ye may be ordered in the particular and that ye in God's Wisdom and Fear may come to Rule in your places for God to be a terror to evil-doers and an encouragement to them that do well And take heed of a selfish earthly spirit in the particular and of the Honour and Glory and Gain of the World for that the Lord is against Oh! there is a strong deep root of it in many of you which the Spirit of Judgement and burning and the Ax of God is to destroy therefore wait to feel its Work in you O Army in thee was I several years together in which time I saw the mighty appearance of God with thee even in the time of the outward War and when the War was ended I left thee in obedience to the appearance of the living God unto me who called me out of thee by his Powerful Word in my heart through which he hath sanctified me and hath brought me into the life of that Truth which I and many of you in the Army professed in Words And I can truly say in the Fear of the Lord That my love hath been and yet is tender towards you for the good of your souls and I have seen your conditions and have considered them in the Spirit of the Lord and I cannot flatter any of you but must deal plainly and truly with you and all People Truly in many of you there is an exceeding lofty proud covetous deceitful nature and in others of you there is a lofty proud lustful devouring wanton vain nature though many of you I know have felt a measure of the Power of God yet verily ye have so back-slidden that iniquity hath gotten a strong hold and root in most of you therefore ye must keep down to the Witness of God in you which searcheth your hearts and will let you see what is there that so the Lord 's righteous Judgement ye may all feel and own it upon that nature in you which is contrary to the living God for if ye keep not to the Spirit of Judgement I know whatever you have declared in words that a selfish Spirit will get up more and more to act in you And verily Friends if you keep not your minds to the measure of the pure God in you a secret boasting will be ready to get up in you of what you have done and then you will soon forget where you are and your minds will run further and further into your Commissions and into your great Houses and Lands which many of you have got and others minds will run into your Souldiers places and ease and idleness and these things will beguile you if take not heed and you will soon forget the Oppressions then that others suffer under and if ye should do thus verily the Lord God would soon overturn you and break you to pieces Therefore all wait in the Light which shews you sin and evil that so by it ye may be brought to deny your selves and to come out of the loftiness that ye have been in into the true humility which goes before the true honour and come into moderation both in your Diet and Apparel and in all things and this would answer the Witness of God in all People and that being answered it would beget again a love in them towards you which you lost when you went into the excess Therefore be sober and watch in the Light of the Lord Jesus Christ which he hath enlightned you withal and believe in it that so ye may be preserved by it out of the deceitfulness of this World and that ye may be kept faithful in your places for the preserving of the outward Peace and Liberty of the Nation while ye feel a Freedom in that which convinceth you of evil for the bearing a carnal Weapon and know the manifestation of God's Spirit in you and wait to feel the motions of it and be obedient thereto and this will bring you to do violence to no man nor to accuse any falsly but it will bring you out of all such things if you keep to it and it will make you to be content with such wages as may find you Food and Raiment and things necessary and convenient for your Places and this you would then be worthy of So know the Lord hath a mighty Work to do therefore wait in his Light that ye may be kept truly sensible of your Places and go not beyond them but keep in the Fear of the Lord and wait to know what God requireth of you in your places lest the Lord cast you out So remember you are warned and it is in tender love to your Souls This following more particularly concerneth the Officers of the Army and Rulers of this Nation than the Army in general Take heed of raising or continuing War with other Nations in your own wills for to get your selves a Name and to get their earthly Treasures as some of you have been instruments to do for the Lord's hand hath been and yet is against that and he will not prosper you therein therefore be you warned and know that this is a warning unto you from the Lord God and seek peace and eschew evil and learn to do well that the Blessing of the Lord ye may come to feel and that this destroying of Creatures about Religion and the Honour and Gain of this World may cease And take heed how ye meddle with Religion for that hath split and broken many Rulers before you therefore set not up one Sâ—ct and throw not down another by an outward Law and force for that is wrong and the Lord is against that but wait in his Light to receive his Counsel that so ye may be kept in God's Wisdom and that therein ye may be instruments in the hand of the Lord for the keeping of the outward Peace of these Nations which are under your Command And take heed of hearkning unto such who in the King's time cryed him up and ran to him to give them a Law to settle them
time against the outward Governours to overturn them by an outward power or force then let us also suffer as I said before by a just Law And if he that sends us forth will not provide Food and Raiment for us then let us want and if we cannot live of our Gospel which we Preach without an outward Law to compel us an outward Maintenance and if our Ministry will not stand without it then let us want whereon to live and let our Ministry fall And let none be compelled to uphold another's Meeting-place concerning their Worship for that is Oppression but let every one uphold their own and that sort of Professors that will not uphold the Place where they meet to Worship let their House fall and then it will appear where the earthly Spirit lodgeth for they that compel others to uphold another's place of Worship do but cover and strengthen the earthly Spirit therefore let there not be such havock made of Peoples Goods as hath been of late upon many who could not give to the upholding another's Meeting-house for that is out of the equality in the Oppression and Tyranny So come into that which is equal and keep in that and that will bring you to act that which is equal and just unto all and to break all outward Laws that are not equal and just but tend to Tyranny and Oppression and truly there are many Laws and Customs in this Nation whereby the Innocent are opprest so wait to feel the Power of God that ye may Rule and Govern in that for the Lord and feeling the Power of God and keeping to that it will bring you out of all deceit and transgression in the particular and so to stand over all deceit and transgression in the general and it will also bring you to judge righteously without respect to persons and this will reach to the Witness of God in all Consciences So wait to feel the higher Power to rule over the evil doer in the particular and to know and feel the Authority of God there and then ye will come to rule over all evil doers in the higher Power even in the Authority of God and then that of God in all Consciences where ye come to Rule shall answer to your Government But if ye give way to the evil doer in the particular and let him have the Liberty there mark that then that will cause the Just to suffer in the particular and then the same will give way and liberty to evil doers without whereby the Just without will come to suffer also Therefore keep to the Power of the Lord in your particulars you who have felt it and that will bring ye to do Justice unto all without partiality and this will make you honourable in the hearts of the People and then shall Righteousness Truth Equity Mercy and Justice prosper over all and be exalted and all deceit unrighteousness and unrighteous wayes shall be confounded So remember He that ruleth over men must be just ruling in the Fear of God Something after ANd all ye that are Officers and Rulers now who have tasted of the pure Power of the Lord God and have felt it stirring in you against all Oppression and Tyranny whereby also ye were made to witness against the back-sliding of others even to the losing of your Places some of you some being turned out and others that could not stay for Conscience sake Well keep to the Power of the Lord which ye have felt and do not abuse it but wait in it that ye may be kept low in his fear that so those who are come to see their back-slidings and do repent them may come to have unity with you and you with them in that which kept you in any measure out of the back-slidings and which hath also brought them to see theirs and to repent of it for that is but one in you both it is even the measure of the pure God which is given you to profit withal therefore in that all wait to receive the Wisdom which is from above that in it ye may all be preserved and kept in unity together and that therein ye may be instruments for the settling and preserving the outward Peace and just Liberties of the People of these Nations which are under your charge But verily much of the Wars which have lately been entred into have not been for the Peace Safety and Well-being of these Nations for the Power being lost Pride and Lust was the ground of them Therefore all mind the Lord's Wisdom and Counsel that peradventure ye may find and see a way how to stop them lest ye bring Enemies upon heaps both upon your selves and these Nations for yet verily breaking breaking overturning and yet overturning will be among all those that will not submit to the Counsel of the Lord and wait in his Light to be led and guided in his Wisdom for he will be known to Rule in the Kingdoms of men and he will exalt his own Name over all Many are your Enemies within and without therefore be not high-minded but fear lest they prevail over you The Lord is near unto all those that fear him and trust in his Name to deliver them but those that go out of his Fear and trust in the wisdom or arm of flesh they shall be broken the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it Given forth in the former part of the 3d. Month 1659. By one who loves the prosperity of the Truth and the good and well-being of all Creatures GEORGE FOX the younger A few plain Words to be considered by those of the Army or others who would have a Parliament that is chosen by the voices of the People to Govern the three Nations Wherein is shewed unto them according to the Scriptures of Truth that a Parliament so chosen are not like to Govern for God and the good of his People Also something to the other part of the Army and the New Committee who turned out or own the turning out of the late Parliament GReat are the cryings out of some of you of the Army and the People of these Nations concerning the dissolving of the late Parliament and it appears with a pretence of a very great Zeal that you have for Liberty Equity and Justice and the general good of the three Nations and you appear in a great fear that if the People lose the enjoying of Parliaments that then they shall lose their Birth-right and their Liberty both as Men and as Christians and that Equity shall be laid aside and that the People must be Ruled over by a Tyrannical Power of rebellious men whose Wills must be the Laws that the People must obey But you say if the Parliaments be chosen by the People then in effect the People make their own Laws to be Governed by because they chose their Law-makers themselves and this is England's Birth-right you say and it is just and equal that the People should
for nothing but flattering words so betrayed your own integrity and the Cause of your Country now you have power again do not abuse it serve not the lusts nor the self-interest of any man or men whatsoever but serve the Lord and your Generation faithfully Mark if you consent to deceit and make an agreement with death through fear or any self-end whatsoever God will break that agreement and bring shame upon you for it And Friends there is a lofty proud self-seeking Spirit yet amongst many of you which if you cease not from it will be the cause of your destruction and truly if you provoke the Lord to break you it will be more heavy and terrible than the breaking of those that were before you therefore let the Lord be minded and linger not about things but be valiant and act faithfully for the just Liberty of all without respect of persons and let revenge be forgotten and this will overcome your Enemies and make you truly honourable in the hearts of all People This is your day prize it and let your deeds make it manifest to the People that you have not sought your selves in this which you have done but the general good of all and then you will need the fewer words to prove your Enemies lyars who have accused you to be self-seekers And now wo is coming both upon Teachers Rulers and People that are in the good words but out of the good deeds and Life and the Eternal God who is the Light will break shatter confound and overturn untill the good Life come up and be set on the top of all and now the name of Truth only will be too narrow a covering for it is the nature of Truth it self that will be able to cover and to be a sure hiding-place in this the day of the Wrath of the Lamb. From a lover of the Truth of God and all his Creatures GEORGE FOX the Younger For the PARLIAMENT of England and their ARMY so Called YOur day into darkness is turned the Sun is gone down over you you have had a large day and Power given unto you to have done the Will of God but you have abused the Power and slighted your day and you have refused to do the Lord's work and have sought to serve your selves and not the Lord Therefore in Justice and Righteousness is the day wherein you might have wrought for God taken from you and the thick dark night of confusion is come upon you wherein you are groping and stumbling and cannot work the Decree is gone out and sealed against you and it cannot be recalled you are not the men as ye stand in whom God will appear to work Deliverance for his People and Creatures and yet deliverance shall come but nor according to mans expectation But as for you ye have rejected the Counsel of the Lord and grieved his Spirit and he hath long born you yea you are departed from the Lord and his presence is departed from you indeed he hath hewed with you and if you had been faithful to the End he would have honoured and prospered you and would have been your sufficient reward ye were his Ax but you have boasted your selves against him therefore as you have Beaten and Hewed and Broken others Even so must you be Beaten Hewed and Broken for you have grievously provoked the Lord And if he should now suffer that Tree which ye have cut to fall upon you and to break part of you it were just O ye Treacherous Wilful Proud Self-seeking People who have despised the Counsel of the Lord and would not take warning though he hath sent his Prophets and Servants early and late among you some of whom you have imprisoned and despitefully used what will ye do now whom will ye now flee unto for help seeing ye are departed from the Lord are now rending and tearing biting and devouring one another for proud ambitious self ends Mark if ye would now build again the thing that you once destroyed That shall not be able to hide or shelter you from the wrath of the Lamb that way whereby you think to strengthen your selves thereby shall you make your selves much weaker and help forward your own destruction you are now but a rod remember your end which hastens greatly now breach upon breach insurrection upon insurrection overturning upon overturning heaps upon heaps division upon division shall there be until he come to Reign whose right it is and all Nations must bow before him else he will break them with his Iron Rod. They that trust in or lean upon you for help it is as if they leaned upon a broken Reed which is not able to help it self nor others indeed you have been made to do many good things but you would not go through with the work which God will have accomplished and therefore are these things come upon you Therefore tremble and dread before the Lord ye who have been as strong Oakes and tall Cedars for now shall your strength fail you and you shall be weak even as the weakest of men but if you would yet believe in the Light and truely submit to God's Righteous Judgements many of you might come to witness your Souls saved in the day of the Lord though many of your bodies are to be thrown by because of your grievous backslidings as not counted worthy to be the Lord's workmen There is a small remnant yet among you for whom my Soul breaths who may be winnowed out and if they will own the Judgements of the Lord and truly and throughly deny themselves and follow his leadings he will heal their back-slidings and purge them that so they may be instruments in his hand But they that will continue with you in your sins shall partake with you of your Judgements The Rod of the wicked shall not alwayes rest upon the back of the Righteous yet even as gold is tryed so shall they be that they may be White and without Spot before the Lamb but God will avenge their cause and wo then will be to their Oppressors and then shall the Majesty and Glory of the Lord fill his People who have long been troden under and they shall be the dread of all Nations the zeal of the Lord of Hosts shall perform this A Copy of this in Print was given to each Parliament Man before General Monck came into London with his Army from Scotland And it is now reprinted that People may see that the Lord hath fulfilled already many of the words which he gave unto his Servant and Prophet to declare unto them and that they may see that there hath been a true Prophet's Message among them and that People may take heed that they slight not the Lord's Prophets as they did whom he hath now broken 11th Month 59 From one who am made willing both to suffer and to Reign with Christ even to follow him whithersoever he goeth George Fox the
assert his Authority to be just and when he died many of these Priests began to address themselves to his Son fawned upon him that he might provide for their god which is their belly and they appeared to be sorrowful for his Fathers death and blasphemously termed him the light of their eyes and the breath of their Nostrils and they told Richard that God had left him to carry on that glorious Work which his Father had begun And some of these Priests compared Oliver to be like unto Moses and Richard to be like unto Joshua who shall carry them into the promised Land But surely these blind Priests are yet in Aegypt the land of Darkness and there are like to die except they repent And surely those that made Oliver Chancellor of one of their Vniversities they hoped he should have continued longer in his place than he did But it is manifest that they are such as the Prophet said Night should come upon them and they should have no Vision And how soon did some of them turn for a Parliament again when the Army turned out Richard And when George Booth made a Rising and they thought there would be a turn then some of them cryed out against the Parliament and began to curse such as would not go out against them And when George Booth was taken then many of them began to Petition to the Parliament and to excuse themselves that they had no hand in that rising And now they are generally crying up and praying for thee and all this is for their bellies therefore if thou wilt believe them and trust to their prayers thou art worthy to be deceived by them And all that will uphold them in that state they are in and compel others to maintain them they are not like to prosper for the hand of the Lord is against them and that Scripture is fulfilled upon a great part of these Nations like Priests like People who are given to covetousness and deceit and will turn and appear for any thing that is for their gain Yet this I testifie in the Lord that such Ministers as the Scriptures of Truth own I own And such a Maintenance as Christ allowed his Ministers to take I have unity with And I know that such as are his Ministers will be there-withal content but such Ministers as will not they serve not the Lord Jesus Christ but their own bellies and such I cannot but declare against Therefore now O King be Wise and cleave unto the Lord with thy whole heart and he will teach thee to love thy Enemies and to do unto all men as thou wouldst they should do unto thee if they were in thy Condition and thou in theirs and this is the Way for to prosper and this will Engage the Lord for to stand for thee and also it will reach the witness of God in all People and thou wouldst become honourable in their hearts and hereby they would be engaged and drawn unto thee more than by Oaths or force of Arms But if thou wilt not hear and do the thing that is just and right in the sight of the Lord then will the Lord appear against thee and when thou hast filled up thy measure thou shalt be assuredly broken and then shalt thou know that God hath spoken unto me And if thou dost not speedily seek to stop this abounding ungodliness which flows in this Nation and which hath much increased since there was a likelihood of thy being brought in verily an evident hand of God shall come upon thee which thou shalt not in any wayes be able to escape Therefore consider it speedily for verily the Mighty God is greatly displeased by reason of the great wasting and spoil that is made of his Creatures in a way of rejoycing and triumphing concerning thee O how is the Devil the destroyer let loose in this Nation and the streets thereof become like unto Sodom and Peoples mouths are filled with Oaths and bitter Cursings And they go stammering and staggering because of Drunkenness and sober People that fear the Lord can scarce pass in the streets without being scoffed at threatned or having violence done unto them by those that appear for thee who bitterly will curse and wish that which they call the Pox and Plague upon us and the next words cry out and say God save King Charles Oh consider these things and seek to stop them least they become thy burthen And also when we have been peaceably met together to wait on the Lord and to hear and declare the everlasting Truth we have been abused and part of our Houses and Windows broken and some of us knockt down and torn as though they would have pulled us limb from limb and our blood drawn knocking us down without respect had to Age or Sex this they say thou wilt bear them out in and they expect an order they say shortly from thee either to banish or hang us all and in thy Name was I commanded and fetcht out of a Meeting at Harwich upon the first day of this week and haled to prison without being examin'd and without a Mittimus and this was because I was made in the Dread and Power of the Living God to cry aloud against the Cursing and Rudeness which I then heard and beheld amongst the People in the streets and I was made to utter these words and say Wo wo unto the Rulers and Teachers of this Nation who suffer such ungodliness as this and do not seek to suppress it And for this was I put in Prison O King for these things will the Lord God visit and if thou seekest not to stop them thou wilt feel God's hand for it Verily I declare unto Thee in the fear of the Lord I never heard of nor beheld so great prophaneness as I have done within these few weeks past Oh! it is hard to utter how much Wine and strong Drink hath been devoured in waste by Peoples drinking of healths unto Thee some upon their knees and some otherwise even until some have been so drunk they could neither speak or go right and what abundance of Wood hath been wasted and devoured in making of great Bon-fires as they call them which they have done as they say to rejoyce because of Thy coming Yea even such great Fires have been made upon this account that they have been dangerous both unto Cities and Towns and such noises have been heard of late in Cities and Towns as scarce ever have been the like by shooting of Guns both great and small and by ringing of Bells and by People singing and laughing and shouting like riotous mad men and the Streets in several places strown with flowers and the like and this is done in rejoycing concerning Thee And what abundance hath been devoured in Feasting and Banqueting and abominable rejoycings And also consider in what great need poor People are of such Creatures as have been thus devoured and consider what
can be the end of all these things now the Lord is my witness when I have seen and felt this ungodliness a tender pity hath arose in me towards Thee because I have beheld the danger that Thou art in which is exceeding great Let no man deceive Thee by perswading thee that Thou art in a safe Condition because the outward strength of the Nation appears to be at thy Command For consider this Oliver Cromwell and his party had as much of that strength or more once as Thou hast now and those called thy party were faln as much under them as they are now under Thine And yet consider how their strength was taken from them and how it vanished away like smoak Yea the Lord is righteous and powerful and if he speaks but the Word it must be fulfilled and there is no People too strong for Him for all Nations in comparison of Him are but as the drop of a Bucket and as the small dust which his breath scattereth as he pleaseth and truly God is highly provoked therefore take heed what thou dost V. Concerning Religion and the spirit of Persecution ANd as concerning Religion I exhort and warn Thee in the Name and Fear of the Lord to take heed that thou bind not the Consciences of any and that thou suffer no other means to be used about Religion but what the Apostles used for all this killing and imprisoning and persecuting about Religion the Lord abhors it Yea the Papists killing and imprisoning and persecuting of the Protestants and the Protestants killing and imprisoning and persecuting of the Papists and others about a Form of Religion these things are of the Devil the destroyer in them both and not of Christ who came not to destroy mens lives but to save them And consider Cain was the first Murderer about Religion who slew Righteous Abel and Cain was for it a Vagabond And the Vagabond Jews persecuted Christ and the Saints and the Saints since Christ suffered without the gate by him and for sinners used no persecution about Religion but Christ said that inwardly ravening Wolves should come And Paul prophesied that after his departure grievous and ravening Wolves should come who would not spare the Flock and before John dyed he saw them come and said to the Saints Little Children ye have heard in the last times that Antichrist shall come mark even now said he are there many Antichrists already come whereby we know that it is the last time So mark these Antichrists killed those that held the Testimony of Jesus which is the Spirit of Prophesie And here the Whore adulterated from God got up and she drank the blood of the Saints and Martyrs of Jesus and the Kings of the Earth committed fornication with her and drank her Cup And she sate upon Nations Kindreds Tongues and People So all this imprisoning and killing and whipping and stocking and stoning and mangling of the Creatures about Religion is practised among the Heathens and the Antichrists the Apostatized Christians who are gone out from Christ and the Apostles Spirit and Doctrine for they wrestle not with flesh and blood but with Principalities and Powers and Spiritual wickednesses in high places So they fought against Spiritual wickedness and not against Creatures and the Weapons of their warfare were not Carnal but Spiritual mark they used no imprisoning stocking whipping stoning hanging burning banishing or mangling of the Creatures to perswade or turn them to their Religion neither did they use any other force to turn people to the pure Religion than that which proceeded from the Invisible Power of God's Eternal Spirit in them which struck at the Spiritual wickednesses and the evil thoughts and imaginations which were exalted in People above the knowledge of Christ and so they sought to bring the wickedness into Captivity and not the Creatures but to bring them into Liberty by turning them from Darkness to Light and from Satan's Power into the Power of God and them that had known the Truth and turned from it and became Hereticks after the first and second admonition if they would not hear they rejected knowing that such were condemned in themselves But they did not give order to kill such for that had been the way to have sent them head-long as one might say unto Hell And as for such as withstood the Apostles and would not receive the Gospel but opposed the Truth and themselves after they had gently and patiently dealt with some and taught and instructed them concerning the Kingdom of God and reproved and warned others and they would not receive them and their Testimony they turned from them unto others and left them unto the righteous judgement of the Lord which was to be revealed in flames of fire upon those that would not obey the Gospel but they did not persecute any nor use any outward force with any about Religion neither did they give any command for such a thing and to preserve in the Truth such as were come to it they used patience meekness long-suffering and sound Doctrine and kept them and commended them unto the ingrafted Word which was nigh in their hearts and in their mouths the which was able to save their souls and did not threaten to persecute them if they did not turn out of the Truth Therefore they that persecute about Religion are not for Christ but Antichrists that is against Christ So take heed that Thou dost not set up persecution about Religion upon any pretence whatsoever nor tolerate it For the Lord God hath brought forth a People in these Nations and will bring forth more that cannot nor may not bow unto any other thing in their Worship than unto the Name of Jesus whose Name is called the Word of God And if Thou oppressest this People the Lord wil assuredly take away Thy Power avenge their Cause mark that for he careth for them And verily we have not another to trust in than the Name of the Lord and we know that to be a strong Tower which is able to preserve us and we know That he will not suffer any thing to come upon us but what shall work for his glory and our good But these things are spoken unto Thee that Thou mightest fear the Lord and mightest not pull judgement upon thy own Head VI. Concerning what Government and Governours the People of the Lord called Quakers stand for and what they stand against c. THis I declare in the Truth and Presence of the Lord and I know there are many thousands in these Nations that are of the same mind with me that it is not for the Name that may be put upon a Government that we either stand for or against but it is a righteous Government according to the higher Power which is according to that of God in every man's Conscience which we stand for and earnestly desire after both in things appertaining to God and man And we for our selves desire no greater Liberty
things in the Childs name mark that it shall forsake the Devil and all his works mark that the pomps and vanities of this World and all the sinful lusts of the flesh and that it should keep God's holy Will and Commandments now if you say they may forsake all these things and keep God's Holy Will and Commandments then will it not overthrow what you Teach your selves at other times and if People do not or cannot forsake the Devil and all his works the pomps and vanities of this wicked World and the sinful lusts of the flesh and keep God's Holy Will and Commandments then do you not cause them you call God-Fathers and God-Mothers to Promise and Vow lies and impossibilities in Childrens Names Now Answer these things in Plainness and Moderation without fleeing to your Carnal Weapons and be not like those that instead of answering have raged and persecuted those that have Queried them There are many things more appertaining to your Worship which I cannot own to be Right but I would see how you will get through these things and what satisfaction you are able to give concerning these few and then as the Lord moves you may hear of many things more which are to be Queried The 22 d. of the 4th Month 1660. From a Faithful Souldier of the Army of the Lamb which must get the Victory for whose Testimony I suffer in Lambeth-House George Fox the Younger THE Testimony of God To those Rulers Teachers and People of this present Age where the Headship of the Church is given to Man and to such as strive to have it so and to those that set themselves in the seat of God by taking upon them that which properly belongs to God and Christ who are one Wherein God's Controversie with them is plainly Demonstrated Opened and given by the Spirit of Truth which is made manifest in that earthen vessel which is called George Fox the younger HEarken O ye Kings and Give ear ye Rulers Teachers and People of all sorts who are striving against the Spirit of God in its workings The Lord's Controversie is great this day and few there be that rightly understand it Therefore are ye confounded broken and breaking one of another and cannot be healed until you return to and receive and obey that which will shew you with what God's Controversie is Therefore consider this The inspiration of the Almighty giveth understanding Job 32.8 Yea the life of the Immortal Word which is the Light of men John 1.4 giveth to understand the mind of the Eternal God Therefore to the Light which the Word hath enlightned you withal Take heed John 1.9 for that is the faithful Witness of God and to that in you all who shall hear the Testimony which God hath given me to bear shall I be made manifest for that shall answer to the words of the most High which I have to utter Therefore let all flesh be silent that Truth may take place and that the words of the Holy One may be heard and received Thus saith the Lord God My Controversie hath not been nor is not with man any further than as he is departed from me and joyned to and become one with the man of sin that wicked one the Son of Perdition who is exalted in man above me the Eternal God and opposeth me and sitteth in my Temple shewing himself to be God in taking upon him that which properly belongeth unto me for he commands and leads them with whom my Controversie is into whatsoever and whithersoever he pleaseth and they are become subjects unto his Kingdom so that they will not that I should Reign over them but they have taken Counsel of my Adversary who hath taught them also to take as it were my Honour which I will not give to another unto themselves and so they are become one with my Adversary And by his Power they also in many things have set themselves in my stead in taking upon them to do things which did properly belong unto me and they in thus doing have slighted and rejected the thing that I have done and thus the Abomination which maketh desolate standeth in the place where it ought not For which cause I will visit saith the Lord God And now You with whom God's Controversie is who have given the headship of the Church to man that you may further see your Error Mark and consider these things It did properly belong to the Mighty Eternal God to Ordain a Head for his Church and he unalterably Ordained one Head thereof which is Christ the second Adam the Lord from Heaven the quickening Spirit Yea he gave him to be Head of the Body which is the Church the fulness of him that filleth all in all that he in all things might have the preheminence in whom all fulness dwells Col 1.18 19. Ephes 5.23 and 1.22 23. And by the appointment of the Father he giveth forth all the Laws and Ordinances which his Church that is the Congregation of the Righteous are now to observe and whosoever will not hear him in all things and follow his leadings and obey his voice are to be cut off For all Judgement is committed unto him John 5.22 27. But many of you who in several Nations are called Christians with whom the Lord's Controversie is great unto the dishonour of God You have taken upon you to Ordain other Heads of the Church then Christ and they shall give forth Laws and Ordinances for the Church to observe and they that will not hear your Heads and observe their Laws and Ordinances you will cut them off or Persecute them and in thus doing you have slighted and rejected the thing that God hath done and ye have set your selves in his stead And this is a great Cause of God's Controversie with this Age and until this abomination be removed and broken down God will remove and break down all in whomsoever it doth reside and all such as would uphold it whatsoever their names be called For whosoever will strive to uphold that Authority in themselves or others which properly belongs to God and Christ who are one shall not be able to stand in this the day of God's Controversie neither can the Nations be setled in true Peace until that be given up to Christ which properly unto him belongs and is his Right for though the Lord hath long born with great patience yet now the time hasteth that the Heir must be Possest of that which the Father hath given unto him and they that will not freely give up to him his due must be broken And now O England to Thee I speak mark this did not serve to end the Controversie of God with Thee when thou didst take the Headship of the Church from the Pope and gave it to the outward King Neither did that end God's Controversie with Thee when thou didst take it from thy King again and gave the Nature or Power of the Headship though not the Name
a prey to this Generation Isa 59.14 15. And though several overturnings have been yet is iniquity still at a great height and increaseth exceedingly And what will it advantage a Child to flee from a Bear and joyn to a Lyon Verily the day is come wherein there is no hiding place of safety for the Righteous but purely in the Name of the Lord and blessed are they that alone trust therein For the help of the meek standeth in the Name of the Lord Psal 124.8 Hos 13.9 And happy are they that abide in it for the day will be terrible and dreadful unto all that have not a habitation in the Name of the Lord the King of Saints For Violence and Oppression shall come to the full and then shall the Lord Roar out of his Habitation and he shall strike the Inhabitants of the Earth with Astonishment and Faintness and Deadness of Spirit shall seize upon the mighty men and weakness and fear upon thâ— strong and bold of the Earth for the Lord will appear in his mighty Power to take the Kingdom and to relieve the oppressed and to help the needy and they shall be strong in him Be wise therefore O ye Kings and learn Wisdom ye Iudges and Rulers of the Earth Return unto the Lord and serve him with fear Tremble before the Glory of his Presence and Kisse the Son lest he be angry and you perish by the way For his wroth shall suddenly burn then blessed are all they that trust in Him Read Psal 2. Therefore strive not with the Lord any longer by withholding his Right from Him but give unto him his due and resign up to him and his anointed the things that he doth require for the Lamb must get the victory and he must have the Preheminence in all things yea he must be the Supream Head in all Spiritual things and the only Law-giver to his People yea he with the Higher Power must ordain and send forth Ministers and Labourers into his Church Vineyard and Harvest for he only can fit them for the work and not man and he will take care that they shall not lack any thing Luke 22.35 For the Earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof Psal 24.1 And he will constrain People with his love which is better than outward force to give his Ministers Food and Raiment when they have need thereof and they will be contented there-withal 1 Tim. 6.8 Therefore meddle not with these things any more I warn and exhort you in the Love of God For it belongs not unto you but unto God and Christ who are one and let Christ only be acknowledged to be the defender of the Faith who is able to perform that Office to the full which man is not And let the one Law-giver be minded and owned in man to give forth Laws to punish Transgressors that so the Judgement may be the Lord's and not man's for so it ought to be and he that Ruleth over men must be Just ruling in the Fear of God 2 Sam. 23.3 And they that Fear the Lord and hate Covetousness ought to be Judges and Rulers Exod. 18.21 to see and take care that the Law of God be put in due execution judging righteously without respect to persons Prov. 24.23 doing to all men as they would they should do unto them keeping out of Bribes and Gifts that the eye may not be blinded Exod. 23.6 7 8. And such Rulers as these will the Lord set up and Honour unto whom he will plainly shew his Righteous just Law which he wil have executed upon Transgressors and men shall be subject unto them for Conscience sake and they only shall be a terror to evil doers and encouragers of them that do well and they shall be guarded with Righteousness and the Lord shall bless them with the dew of Heaven and they shall send forth a good savour into the Earth and then shall the Inhabitants of the Earth learn Righteousness For Judgement shall run down as Water and Righteousness as a mighty stream for the Judgments of the Lord shall be rightly executed and self-ends shall be denyed and then shall Praises Dominion Honour and Obedience and all that is the Lord's be yielded unto him the King of Saints And until this come to pass God's Controversie shall not cease But there will be Breaking and Overturning Oppressing and Spoyling and Insnaring one of another and they that come uppermost and will not give unto the Lord his due but set themselves in his Seat whatsoever words they profess or let them appear never so strong in the arm of flesh yet they shall be broken down with dishonour and Plagues and Torments shall be the Portion of the Hypocrite that bows to deceit and Babylon must fall and perish for strong is the Lord which judgeth her Rev. 18.8 And in vain do men seek to establish themselves in that which the Lord is against and wo will be unto them that are found in the State of Capernaum and Edom Read Obediah 3.4 Mat. 11.23 And now ye Rulers Teachers and People remember you are warned and it is in true love to your Souls and Bodies therefore Repent whilst you have time left you that you may be saved though it be so as by fire and speedily resign up to the Lord that which properly belongeth unto Him for verily the day dawneth apace which shall reveal that man of sin more and more who hath set himself in the Seat and stead of God whom the Lord shall consume with the Spirit of his Mouth and abolish and destroy with the Brightness of his coming 2 Thes 2.3 4 5 6 7 8. And the day of the Lord shall even so come as a Thief in the night And when the wicked shall say Peace and safety then shall come upon them sudden destruction even as the travel of a woman with Child which by no means can be escaped 1 Thes 5.2 3. Be still O ye Saints of the most High God keep clear of Babylon take heed of being ensnared dy her cleave not to her flatteries in any wise but follow the Lamb whithersoever he leadeth you and hold fast the Word of his Patience in the true Integrity of your hearts that so ye may stand and endure the Tryal to the end and whatsoever you suffer for the Testimony of God you shall have a full reward for it if you faint not This in the Word of the Lord is unto you Lambeth-House the 28th of the 4th Month 1660. POSTSCRIPT ANd if I could write no more yet this is the Testimony of Truth to the Rulers Teachers and People of this present Age in what Nation soever this may come Mark you must all come to the Light of the Lord Jesus Christ the Lamb of God who hath enlightned you that with the Light you may come to see what is contrary to the mind and will of God both in your Laws and Governments and in the constitutions thereof and in
sorrow doubtings and fears filled your hearts Now as there are several conditions among you so also here are several things spoken unto each condition therefore you must mind the VVitness of God in your selves which makes manifest unto you your several conditions and that will let you see what of these things that are here written properly belongeth to each of you which is my desire that you may receive for my tender love in the Lord Jesus Christ is unto all your souls who truly breath after the Lord desiring your eternal good and that you may be brought into the enjoyment of that Life and Power and Presence which only can give satisfaction unto your immortal Souls Therefore as you tender the good of your own souls eternal Peace Cease hunting abroad in your imaginations and leave off wandring from Mountain to Hill and from Hill to Mountain where several of you have even wearied your selves for very vanity have not found a resting place and return Home Retire your minds inward unto that which oft springeth in you giving you the sensible knowledge and feeling of your particular conditions and putting you in remembrance of the dealings of God with you in times past for that which thus springeth in you is the Gift of God which is given you to profit withal Oh Friends turn not from this Gift in your selves as you have done for by your turning from this pure Life when it hath visited you by its oft putting you in remembrance wherein you went wrong you have come to loose the sensibleness of your condition and the enemy of your Souls thereby hath gotten great advantage against you and then you have been drawn and led by him into that which could not profit you Therefore all mind that Gift of God in your selves which maketh you sensible of your present conditions and which oft begetteth true desires in you to do the Will of God and which hath brought some of you into lowliness of mind and to walk humbly with the Lord in his pure Fear for some time For if ever you come to witness the true desires of your souls satisfied and you established in true Peace you must receive the living Principle of God in your own particular Vessels which Principle I call the Light it being a proper name for it because it maketh manifest all things that are justly reproved and whatsoever doth make manifest the same is Light But I shall not desire to tye up any of you to give this Principle of Truth only the name of Light for if you come to believe in it and receive it in the love of it and walk in obedience to its drawings leadings and requirings I shall not matter if you call it the Truth or the Gift of God or the manifestation of the Spirit of God or the Grace of God or the ingrafted Word or the manifestation of God or Christ or a measure of the Eternal Being or Fulness or Divine Nature or any other name which may truly be given unto it But this is that which I desire That you all may receive the thing it self which hath so oft made manifest your conditions unto you and sometimes brought you into brokenness of Spirit Object But some may say When we have had our conditions made manifest unto us and when we have been brought into brokenness of spirit and have had tender desires begotten in us towards God to do his VVill it hath oft been either when we have been reading the Scriptures or hearing them Preached or read by others and therefore we believe the Scriptures have done these things to us rather than any thing within us Answ Friends I shall not deny but that your conditions have been made manifest unto you and that you have been brought into brokenness of Spirit and have had true desires begotten in you to do the Will of God sometimes when you have read or heard the Scriptures read or Preached unto you But this I say unto you It was not the Scriptures that did these things but it was the Gift of God in your own hearts at that time as I shall plainly declare unto you Mark Thus it was when you have read or heard others read or speak such words of the Scriptures of Truth as were suitable to that condition you were then in or which did declare against such things as you were guilty of mark then hath the Witness of God arose in you sometimes and plainly spoke to your understanding part and convinced you that you were guilty of such things as were spoken against in such a Scripture as you read or heard yea it was the measure of God's Truth in your own Vessels that hath so made manifest your particular conditions unto you and hath perswaded and overpowered you and made you believe and sometimes confess particularly that thou wert the man or woman or child that was guilty of that or hadst need of that which thou then didst read or hear that the Scripture declared against or of And when the Power of God hath thus wrought in you at that time when you have heard or read the Scriptures you have sometimes indeed been brought into brokenness of Spirit and render desires have been begotten in you towards the Lord And the Lord hath also appeared unto some of you sometimes in the Night season or as you have been about your labour or otherwise and some of you have felt his pure Power working in you whereby your understandings in some measure have been opened and your conditions plainly made manifest unto you and much tenderness hath been begotten in you even when you have neither heard nor read any thing outwardly but the pure operation of the Spirit and Power of Truth in some of you hath done these things and wrought your minds into lowliness meekness and quietness And then hath the pure love of God been felt in some measure whereby your souls have been refreshed So Friends the Holy One is neither by you to be limited to the Scriptures nor yet from the Scriptures in any wise as to his appearance to his Creatures but you are to learn to wait in the measure of his Grace which hath appeared unto you and you are to watch in the Light for his further appearance unto you And as you come to wait upon the Lord in his pure Fear and Dread you will feel your minds wrought into stilness and so you will come to hear the pure Voice of God and Christ who are one and become acquainted therewithal and his love you will feel arising in you whereby you will be constrained to obey it when or where-ever you come to hear it and then you will see the Lord is not to be limited either to time or place or means outward but you will see that he manifesteth himself to his Creatures even when and where and howsoever he pleaseth And truly Friends As concerning these things which the Lord hath suffered to come
emptiness of the water outward and let them see that it is the Baptism inward with the holy Spirit and with Fire which saves and brings to the answer of a good Conscience And that no Form is to be minded any further then the Power is felt to lead into it or then the presence of the Lord is witnessed in it And thus the Lord by his pure Life hath gathered Thousands out of the Forms before mentioned and I do believe that he will yet dayly gather more and more into the Power which is endless Therefore all you who are yet left in any of those forms before mentioned or any other or out of Forms who have retained any thing of the former Tenderness and Smiplicity which was begotten in you by the appearance of the Lord And all you who are brought to see your backslidings and are now brought to feel any true desires and thirsting after God renewed in you my tender love reacheth forth unto you all in the Life Power and love of God wherewith I am loved and in which I am preserved Oh! that I could feel you bound up and established with me in the unchangable Truth of God where satisfaction and Peace is received and where nothing can make afraid Oh! that ye would freely yield your selves obedient servants unto the Righteousness of God which is revealed from Heaven against all unrighteousness of men Mark that is the thing which you must become obedient unto God's Righteousness which appeareth in you against all unrighteousness And all wait in that which moves against Sin for that is the Power of God which you must be turned unto and receive before you can receive the remission of Sins and an inheritance among them that are sanctified by the Faith which Christ Jesus the Righteousness of God is the Author and finisher of And Friends you must all mind the present manifestation of the Power of God and what it now draweth and leadeth unto For if you should now run into those things wherein you have formerly enjoyed something of the presence and Life of God yet if you feel not the pure Power of the Lord God now drawing you into them deadness will come upon you more and more and the tender desires that are renewed in you towards the Lord will be destroyed Oh! consider this the day of the Lord is far broke forth in Light and Knowledge and he is yet making it brighter and brighter unto them that truly wait upon him yea he is leading them by the hand of his love from one degree of Grace and Faith and Knowledge unto another and changing them from glory to glory And he is powring from vessel to vessel that the dregs may be left by themselves Yea he is sifting and winowing that the Chaff and the dross may be taken away and so the Seed which standeth approved may be made manifest And he is bringing thorow the fire and thorow the fire because the day hasteneth and draweth nigh in which he will make up his Jewels and consume the chaff and the dross Therefore look not back neither be afraid of the rage of man seek not to save your selves by bowing to his Will but look to the Lord who declareth unto you what your thoughts are and gird up the loins oF your minds and watch and be sober and hope to the end all you who through patience and experience are come to know any thing of the true hope which maketh not ashamed And Friends concerning Faith and the Promises of God there hath been much Profession and talk of those things amongst you But now the day is appearing which will try all Professions and every one's work must come to Tryal Therefore consider your Faith and the Ground Author and effects of it For there is a dead Faith and a living Faith and a ground for both Now the living Faith hath Jesus for its Author and the power of God for its Ground and its effects declare it to be the living Faith for it works in them that have it by love unto the purifying of their hearts and it is their victory over the world These were the effects of the living Faith in the Saints of old and it hath the same now as they can witness who have received it Now there is a Faith which stands but in Words not in the Power and this is a dead Faith it cannot work it purifies not the heart it gives not victory over the world nor access to God as the living Faith doth Oh Friends Labour not to content your selves with a dead Faith but wait that you may hear the leaving Word by which the living Faith comes Now a man may declare of the Word of Life as the Scriptures do and many may believe the words to be true and profess the same and yet if they receive not the living Word or VVitness in their own hearts their Faith will prove but a dead Faith and they will have but words for its ground but they that hear the VVords of Truth declared or read them and then feel the living VVord arising in themselves witnessing to the words that they have read or heard that they are true over-powering them to believe the same or if the VVord of Life speaketh to any ones understanding when words outwardly are not spoken and they be over-powered by the Word to believe the same such come indeed to feel and know how the living Faith cometh and is wrought And they come also to see that this Faith stands in the Power of God and not in words and that Jesus who saveth from sin is the Author of it And all that come into this state if they wilfully turn not from the Power they will feel their Faith increased in and by the Power and the effects of it will daily come to be manifest which will be an evidence unto them to prove that it is the living Faith for they will feel it giving them access to God Oh ye Professors I speak what I know and witness and without this Faith you cannot please God And concerning the Promises of God this know The Promises are unto the Seed Not unto Seeds as of many but unto the Seed which is One which is Christ So all that come to have right unto the Promises of God they must come to be of the Seed unto which the Promises are Now it is the Word of Life which begetteth unto God and brings to be of the Seed which is the Heir of the Promises of God Therefore wait in the appearance of the Word of Life that by it you may be begotten into the nature of the incorruptible Seed and become born of it that so you may be made meet to be partakers of the precious Promises Oh that ye would hearken diligently and obey and your Souls should live The Lord's hand of tender love and pitty is stretched forth towards you Oh! be not rebellious any longer lest he cease striving with you
Life and Power and Vertue of it you might be saved and cleansed from your sins Oh Friends if you ever come truly to be made free it must be by the Truth if ever you come to be sanctified it must be with the Truth Now the Word is the Truth and the Word is very nigh you even in your mouths to shew you your evil words and also in your hearts to shew you the deceit and thoughts thereof yea its Vertue goeth through all things and its Power upholdeth all things in it is Life and that Life is the Light of men Oh that you would believe in it that you might be made the children of it This Word is Immortal and it is able to destroy the Devil and his Works and to save your Immortal Souls Oh Friends though its appearance in you be in judgement yet resist it not neither turn from it in any wise but when it convinceth you of any evil and begetteth any love in you towards its judgement Oh then abide in that love and then you will see how Christ comes for judgement into the World to judge the Prince of the World and to cast him out and to make blind that eye which hath been open and hath seen in the worldly carnal Spirit and to open that eye which hath been kept blind by the God or Prince of the World Yea as you wait in the righteous Judgements of Christ you will feel him opening the eye of the understanding part with his Invisible Light whereby you will come to see into the Invisible things of God Oh Friends you must own Christ the Word of God in the way and ministration of his Judgements yea you must own him in the Spirit of Judgement and Burning before you can truly witness that you are reconciled unto God Oh! wait to hear the Voice of Christ in your inward man and be content to bear his yoak and wait in stilness that patience in you may have its perfect work and if any of you see with the Life of the Word that your hearts are hard and rocky keep but in patience and wait in that Life which maketh you sensible of your condition and you will feel the pure operation of the Word smiting as a hammer which will break your hard hearts into tenderness Yea you will feel them dissolved melted and changed by the Power of the Word as ye believe and wait in the same and then you will know experimentally that the Word of the Lord is as a Hammer and as a Sword and as a fire and as Fuller's sope for you will feel it breaking and cutting down burning up and washing out all the hard fruitless defiling nature and then you will come to know Christ's Fan in his hand for you will feel him Purging the Floor by separating the Chaffy dirty nature from the tender Seed which delighteth to do the will of God Now as you come to feel this within you come to witness his Baptism with the Holy Spirit and with Fire yea here the washing in the Regeneration and the renewing in the Holy Spirit comes to be witnessed And here Christ's work comes truly to be felt and known which is to destroy the Devil and his Works to blot out Transgression to take away Sin to cause the old things to pass away and to make all things new Oh Friends wait to feel and witness this work and think not that your saying Christ hath done all for you will profit you while you live in the old fleshly Birth for verily verily I say unto you That except you be born again you can in no wise enter into the Kingdom of God Therefore wait to feel this inward work that so you may know Christ formed in you his Mind his Spirit his Disposition his Nature and then you will come to the new Creature and to witness the Election which avails and obtains And here the Circumcision without hands you will come to know which is the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh by the Circumcision of Christ And this brings to be the Jew inward whose praise is not of man but of God and here 's the true Israel of God upon which the mercy comes and here 's the true Elect Seed unto which the Promise is and they that come to this are born from above and are Members of Christ's Body of his Flesh and of his Bones and they are come to the Riches of the Mystery which hath been hid from Ages and Generations which is Christ in them the hope of Glory Oh Friends These things are not written unto you that you should feed upon the words and seek to get a Rest there but these things are written in tender bowels of Love unto such of you as truly hunger and thirst after the new Life That so as the Lord's witness ariseth in any of you to witness unto the Truth of them and to give you any understanding in the same you may joyn to his witness and believe and wait in the same to feel these things fulfilled in you So as you wait in the Invisible measure of God you will come to be sensible how far you are changed in which Birth you live in which Birth your minds are centered and so of which Birth you are for as it is written even so will you see it to be that That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit And they that are after or of the flesh do mind the things of the flesh But they that are after the spirit do mind the things of the Spirit And that they that live in the flesh cannot please God And as you mind that Life which oft-times ariseth in you and makes you sensible of your Conditions you will plainly come to know it in your selves that to be carnally minded it is death but to be Spiritually minded it is Life and Peace For you will see if the enemy of your Souls can get your minds into Carnal things at any time that then deadness and death cometh over you and you become dead as unto God until his witness ariseth in you to quicken you again But as your minds are kept in obedience to the Spirit of God you minding the things of it which it openeth unto you ye will feel Life and Peace springing in your Souls and that from the presence of the Lord. Therefore be diligent in this the day of your Visitation which yet in mercy is continued unto you as the Lord maketh manifest unto you that any of the Forms that you have been or are yet in are empty and dead and then appear in spirit to draw and lead you out of them O be not like stubborn Rebellious wilful Children that will not follow their father any further then may please their own wills but hang back murmure I say take heed of giving way to such a spirit least the Lord leave striving
MAYOR though I much desired it but they guarded me through the streets and delivered me to the SHERIFF and his men who were to bring me up to LONDON so as we were coming upon the Road we met with Robert Grassingham who was coming from London towards Harwich in pursuance of an Order which he had received from the Commissioners for the Admiralty and Navy for the refitting of one of the King's Frigots which then lay in that Port whereof he was then Ship-wright but notwithstanding R. G. shewed his Order to the Sheriff yet he brought him back to London with me and delivered us into the Custody of the Sergeant at Arms attending the House who the same night committed us to Lambeth-House and gave Order as the Goalor said That but few of our Friends should be suffered to come at us and when any were suffered that then some should stand by and hear what was said and if any Letter went from us or came to us that the Goalor or some of his Family should hear them which was observed for some time Also we were confined to our Chamber for the space of six weeks and upward and had not that Liberty allowed us to walk in the Yard which all the other Prisoners had and another time the Goalor said that the Sergeant had given him an Order That no person should come at me no not so much as to bring me Food but indeed the Goalor suffered my Food to be brought in but as for others which came to visit me they were kept back for some time so near about three weeks after we were committed to Lambeth we wrote to the PARLIAMENT and sent the Writing enclosed in a few lines to the Speaker but he doing nothing in the thing we caused it to be Printed and several hundreds of the Papers were given to the PARLIAMENT Men A true Copy is as followeth For the HOUSE of COMMONS Assembled in PARLIAMENT at Westminster Friends BY your Order touching us Dated the 21st of the Third Month called May we understand you have been falsely informed concerning us by some who have falsely accused us Therefore this is our just and reasonable request that we together with our Accusers may face to face be brought before you and if any thing can be justly proved against us worthy of Death or Bonds we shall not refuse either But if there can be nothing justly proved against us then ought our Accusers to be ashamed and we to be acquitted Now we do believe it to be unjust and unreasonable that a man should be halled out of a peaceable Meeting as one of us was at Harwich in Essex and sent to Prison without being Examined or a Mittimus onely for declaring against the Cursing and the Wickedness of the Rude People and against such as suffer such Ungodliness and do not seek to suppress it and there to be kept ten nights and from thence to be transported unto this place and that we both should be here confined to our Chambers as we have been for about three weeks last past seeing nothing is proved against Us nor we yet brought to Examination neither did your Order express any such Confinement so these things are laid before you in plainness that justice herein may be done by you By us who are Sufferers for Righteousness sake and we have and shall have Peace in our Suffering and in writing our selves thus except we were convinced by the Law of God or any just Law of our Nation to the contrary Geo. Fox the Younger Robert Grassingham Lambeth House the 15th of the 4th Month called June 1660. A Copy hereof was delivered to the Speaker of the House of Commons inclosed in a Letter to himself in these words following For the Speaker of the House of Commons Friend WE desire thee to Communicate this inclosed to the House of Commons it being a few Innocent Just and Reasonable words to them though not in the Eloquent Language of Man's Wisdom yet it is in the Truth which is Honourable We are friends to Righteousness and Truth and to all that are Found therein R. G. G. F. And being informed that as yet nothing is done in Answer to those Reasonable and just desires which are above mentioned It is therefore thought meet to have it Printed that so each Member of Parliament as well as Others in outward Authority may be acquainted with our Innocency who with many others unjustly suffer Bonds and other Cruelties This in tender Love is a Warning and Visitation to you all that in this your day of Tryal you continue not Oppression upon the Righteous nor Afflict the Meek whom the Lord regards lest you fall as those whom God cast out before you Yet notwithstanding all this the PARLIAMENT would do nothing in our business Then some who desired that we together with our Accusers might be brought to a hearing went to some of the Members and desired that it might be moved in the House but they would not then a Reason was desired Why not Their Answer was Because our Paper was not a Petition nor directed with this Title To the Right Honourable the House of Commons c. and except we would Petition and give them that Title aforementioned we might lie where we did if we would and yet they confessed that there was little of Fact charged against us and that our Paper was Rational and our request therein Reasonable So because we have learned to speak truth in plainness to every man and could not for Conscience sake give flattering Titles to any least our Maker should take us away nor Petition any but him therefore were we denyed Justice and are made a prey upon by those who seek honour one of another and not that which cometh from God onely So after we had lain about fournteen weeks in Lambeth Gate-House without being examined then one of the Members of PARLIAMENT moved our business in the House whereupon an Order was made a true Copy whereof followeth Thursday the 30th of August 1660. Ordered That George Fox and Robert Grassingham who by vertue of a former Order of this House were taken into custody by the Sergeant at Armes attending this House for some disturbance at Harwich be forthwith Released and set at Liberty upon Bail first given to Render themselues when they shall be in that behalf Required William Jessop Clerk of the Commons House of PARLIAMENT Then shortly after this Order was issued forth the Sergeant at Armes sent his Clerk to demand Fees and Chamber Rent of us then I asked him before several Witnesses if we were detained onely for that he then said He knew not but that we were Freed and that we might go if we would pay his Master who had sent him to demand fifty pounds of us for Fees besides Chamber Rent for which the Chamberlain of the Prison told us That the Sergeant demanded ten shillings a week So we denyed to uphold such wicked oppression and could
in your Forms without Power neither Flee the Cross any longer but wait in the True Simplicity to feel God's hand of Tender Love which he reacheth sorth to and manifesteth in you to lead and guide your minds into his Pure Worship which is in the Spirit and in the Truth Oh People This is the Worship that he will set up He will be LORD and LAW-GIVER in the Consciences of his People and those that will not be content that EMANUEL should Reign over them he will Slay them with the Sword of the Spirit The words of his Mouth Oh! Hearken hearken a little and stand still that you may hear the voice of the True Shepherd in your own hearts who calleth for Truth in the Inward Parts he will discover what lodgeth Within and He will shew you the Way wherein you should walk and he will let you see what the Cross is unto and He will teach you when you are alone in your Beds or where-ever you are if you will receive Him who giveth you Life and Breath whose gentle Reproofs and Instructions are the Way of Life Therefore you in whom the Breathings and Desires after the Lord are Consult not with Flesh and Blood neither reason against the Cross but submit to every Appearance of God's Power in you which appeareth to Crucifie the Fleshly Birth and Nature which hath stood and doth stand in Rebellion and Emnity against the Pure and Precious Life and Requirings of the Lamb of God that so that Mind which is at enmity against God and that Nature in you which is Disobedient to his Commands in Spirit may come to be Crucified that so there may be a Change Inwardly felt and witnessed by the working of the might Power of Christ in your Inward Parts and then the Desires and Breathings which are Begotten in you after Righteousness they will be strengthned and the Teachings of the Almighty will be truly known and you believing in the Power you will receive Power to obey and Practice whatsoever the Lord shall make known unto you by his Spirit to be his Will and Requirings Oh People Let the Dread of the Lord Seize upon your Spirits in this the Day of his Power wherein he is Trying Sifting and Winnowing the Nations and wait to feel that Life arise within you which beareth Testimony against all evil within and without that so ye may become more and more acquainted with the Teachings Drawings and Leadings thereof that thereby you may be drawn and led out of those things which have kept your Souls in the Death hindred you from enjoying the Pure Peace of God And this know and consider that all that come to witness their Souls raised out of Death and brought to enjoy the Peace of God they must Believe in the Life of the Quickning Spirit which is the Second Adam the Lord from Heaven who for Sin Condemneth Sin in the Flesh and appeareth in the Inward Parts of man to work out Sin and Transgression which hath Separated from God and so to make clean the heart and inside of Male and Female Oh People This is the Work of Christ the Son of God even to make manifest and destroy the Works of the Devil and so to reconcile man unto God by the Virtue of his own Life which he gave a Ransom for many and blessed are all those that believe in the Life of the Son of God and feel and know it manifested in their mortal flesh for they shall witness the Power of it to make all things new and so their Souls will come up in the hand of God and his Peace will be Received and Enjoyed Oh People Wait to know and feel this Work of Christ within you that so you may be made able to Stand in the Judgement and to Endure the Tryal and that you may be Hid from the Wrath of the Lamb which is nigh to come upon the Rebellious Oh! Consider this Those that are his Followers they come thorow many Tribulations and their overcoming their Enemies is by His Blood not by a talk of it but by the Virtue and Power of it sprinkled in their Hearts which washeth and maketh them White Clean and without Fault before God Oh People my Bowels yearn my Bowels yearn towards you whose Desires in any measure are after the Lord O that you would now Return with all your hearts unto Him and obey the Voice of his Power in you then should you be made able to stand and endure the fiery Tryal which is come and coming Oh! the Day hastens wherein all Profession that is not grounded in the Life and Power of the Lord Jesus Christ whatever the shew of it be it will be so shaken that an utter Blasting and withering shall come upon it and for that cause the Lord doth and will yet suffer great Tryals to come both upon the Professors and Possessors of his Name that so his Children the Possessors may be manifested unto all and discerned from all that are but Professors though never so fair and seemingly Covered For all Coverings but what is of the Power and Spirit it self shall be too Narrow and all that are not Covered with the Spirit and Power of Emanuel their Shame and Nakedness shall appear more and more This is the Testimony which the Spirit and Word of Truth giveth therefore He that hath an ear to hear let him hear before the day of his Visitation be wholly past and the things belonging to his Peace he hid from his Eyes For yet a little while and the Voice shall be He that is filthy let him be filthy still For the Spirit of the Lord shall not alwayes strive with Flesh but his Plagues and Indignation shall be poured out upon such as will be gathered in the Day of his Patience long Forbearance and Free-Love and He or She that Loveth Father Mother Husband Wife Children House or Land Liberty Honour or any Thing more than the Life of the Lamb shall be counted not worthy of him and plainly manifested so to be Read this who can and he that can receive it let him For the Time draweth nigh that these Sayings must be fulfilled Printed the 13th of the Second Month 1661. GEORGE FOX the Younger SEVERAL EPISTLES To FRIENDS Who are GATHERED into the Light of Life A General EPISTLE and a tender Greeting sent unto the Flock of Christ who meet together to Worship the Father and the Son in the Spirit of Truth to be read in the Fear and Wisdom of God amongst them DEAR and tenderly beloved Friends and â—hildren of the most High God who have felt and tasted of his eternal Word of Life and have been acquainted with the workings and operations thereof whereby you are begotten again unto a lively Hope and are brought to know that Life which you were alienated from and that Covenant of Promise which ye were strangers unto Oh Friends unto you is my Love in the Lord Jesus Christ exceeding great
the 〈◊〉 God for they shall call but their God shall not answer and they shall fret themselves and fear and terror shall sieze upon them and many shall joyn to and fall under that which they have called and esteemed Babylonish But there is a remnant yet to be gathered both from among the Professors and Profane Therefore dear hearts let your circumspect walking in the Life of Righteousness reach the Witness of God in all Consciences and let your soberness and patience smite your Enemies And you that are strong in the Lord and in the Power of his Might are Able to endure much bear ye with the weak and encourage and strengthen the feeble and let your tender love and care be over such as ye feel have true breathings after the Lord though they have had little of a knowledge of the Declaration of Truth and let your words to and before them and all men be seasoned with Grace that ye may minister unto the Grace in the Hearers And ye that are weak and yet have a true Love begotten in you towards the Lord all wait in the feeling of the Truth in your inward parts that your minds may be wrought into subjection to the Lord through the working of his eternal Power in you and when you are tempted heed not the temptation but heed the Light that makes manifest the temptation and believe in the Light and keep to it and ye will feel the Lord's presence and strength breaking forth to deliver you and to make a way for you to escape the temptation and if at at any time ye be overcome by the subtilty of the Devil and then the Light arise in you to make manifest the Transgression and to judge you for it then joyn to the Light and love the Judgement and Will not but be still until it works through and breaks forth into Victory and if ye see Iniquity abound then take heed that your Love wax not cold and if ye see some fall from the Truth and turn back with the Dog to the Vomit and with the Swine that was washed to the wallowing again in the mire and if ye see some for fear of persecution start aside or for the love of this World depart from the Faith or turn from the holy Commandment which was delivered unto them upon any account whatsoever let none of these things move or trouble you for such things will come to pass but blessed are they that are not offended with the Light but suffer and endure all things unto the end for they shall be saved But this know Friends that the Lord God will try you and you must pass through Perils and Tryals not only among the open prophane ones but also among such as have known the Truth and turn from it yet know my Friends that God will not try you further than he will give you strength to endure the Tryal if ye be faithful unto him Therefore watch and be sober and wait in the Life that ye may have salt in your selves to savour withal and be not weary neither faint in your minds nor let not in distrust but hope to the end and be confident that God will appear and work deliverance for his People but if it be his Will that ye must yet be further tryed and that he will yet suffer the wicked to flourish and spread forth themselves as a green Bay-Tree and that ye must yet bear your Testimony for the Lord by greater sufferings Oh Friends murmur not but hold fast your integrity and know certainly that whatsoever any suffer for the Lord they shall not lose their reward Therefore all Friends be valiant and strong and bold for the Truth upon earth and walk humbly with the Lord and wisely before your Enemies that so ye by doing the thing that is right in the sight of God may put to silence the foolish and ignorant for this is the Will of God And Friends walk patiently towards all men knowing that ye sometimes were ignorant and foolish and disobedient therefore let your pitty and patience towards them that be disobedient be known and wait that ye may be ready to shew them the thing that is Good and to instruct them concerning the way of Righteousness or if you have not words given you then let your Conversation Preach forth Righteousness that so haply God may give some of them Repentance and that ye may be made instruments for the bringing them unto the acknowledgement and knowledge of the Truth and live in the VVisdom and Power of God that so your Enemies may have nothing against you justly but if they will persecute you for any thing appertaining to a good Conscience be not dismaid or if they falsly accuse you and falsly swear against you and so ye become reckoned among the Transgressors by them be not troubled but be patient and keep to the VVitness of God for thus the wicked served your Master who gave his back to the smiter and his cheecks unto them that plucked off the Hair and the Servant is not greater than his Lord So let nothing be too dear to be given up for the Lord and bow not to any thing but to the Name of Jesus whose Name is called the VVord of God by which we must overcome and break through all this ungodliness Oh the Lord keep you faithful and patient in your Tryals for much have we to pass through and to overcome through the patience and long-suffering of the Lamb. So let none be exalted above their measures nor cast down by letting in of fears but all dwell in the living Nobility of the Immortal King of Righteousness and keep in subjection to his Government and meet together oft in his Name though the Sea and the Heathen Rage and the People imagine vain things and though the Kings of the Earth and the Rulers rise up together and take Counsel against the Lamb and his followers and though the rude multitude may persecute you and the VVhore may drink some of your Blood yet be not dismaid neither fear ye at all for in vain do they strive for the Lamb shall get the victory glory to him in the Highest And so Friends keep your garments unspotted ye who have washed them in the Blood of the Lamb and be exceeding tender toward such Professors as have a tenderness in them towards God in what Sect soever they be in for poor Creatures they are to be pittied and the Way of Truth is to be shewn unto them and this day will bring some of them unto the Principle of God in themselves and they must come unto that before they can find a true stay to their minds and them that come not to that and keep not to that will wither as the grass upon the house top Oh Friends I can even rejoyce and sing for joy notwithstanding the rage and strength of the Enemies for I see the day that approacheth will be exceeding good for Truth and
for Friends that dwell in it for they that stand approved shall be made manifest and the upright shall not lose but gain through all these things and certainly when our God hath tryed us to the full he will appear for us and though our Enemies were as the sand of the Sea and as strong as Gyants yet shall they fall as untimely fruit and our GOD shall consume and weaken them by the Majesty of his Power and an exceeding desolation shall come upon the Earth and a Besom of destruction shall sweep away many Therefore dear Hearts be stedfast in the Lord and keep the Word of his Patience and know that not one hair of your Heads shall perish nor any thing shall be done unto any of you but what the Lord will be glorified by and you shall receive a full and a sufficient reward for it if ye continue faithful So live in the Power and Seed of God that ye may possess the Kingdom the eternal Peace Joy and Righteousness which stands in the Power And love fervently Oh Friends let that abound more and more one towards another and by this shall men also know that ye are taught of Christ if ye love one another and wait that ye may feel the springs of Life in your selves and feed upon that which proceeds from God that ye may grow up in the Power and Life and Wisdom of God and therein be established So the Almighty Power Life and Wisdom of God keep and preserve your for ever Amen The Lord God Almighty keep you fresh and lively meek tender and innocent and fill you with every good word and work which accompanieth Peace and Godliness if any Decree unrighteous Decrees heed them not for the Decree of God shall stand which is to establish Righteousness in the Earth and in the Power of the Lord we shall break the bonds of the ungodly and cast their cords from us So the Spiritual Weapon war withal and stand in the Faith and hold fast the Word of Truth that through it you may feel and witness your sanctification and the Birth Immortal raised up over all which is the Heir of the Kingdom without end and assuredly God will do mighty things for his Poples therefore be ye comforted and strengthened in the Lord and dwell in and keep his Covenant and answer his requirings in the Light of Life and live in the retiredness and in the Wisdom of God that your Enemies may have no just occasion against you and that ye may be preserved out of their snares and if they Imprison you and falsely accuse you or spoyle your Goods or Persecute you any manner of wayes keep in Patience and freely forgive them and suffer as Lambs in the true Innocency that so your Peace with the Lord may be preserved in all conditions And Friends let the Dread and Majesty of God fill you And as concerning the changing of Times and Governments let not that trouble any of you for God hath a mighty work and hand therein and he will yet change again until that come up which must Reign and in vain shall Powers and Armies withstand the Lord for his determined work shall come to pass but what is now come up it 's just with the Lord that it should be so and he will be served by it Therefore let none murmur nor distrust God for God will provoke many to zeal against unrighteousness and for Righteousness through things which are suffered now to work for a season yea many whose zeal was even dead shall revive again and they shall see their back-slidings and bewail them bitterly and God shall thunder down from Heaven and break forth in a mighty noise and his Enemies shall be astonished and the workers of Iniquity confounded and all that have not on the Garment of Righteousness shall be amazed at the mighty and strange work of the Lord which shall be certainly brought to pass but my Babes look ye not out but be still in the Light of the Lamb and he shall fight for you So the Almighty hand which must Break and Split and Divide your Enemies and take away Peace from them preserve and keep you whole and in Unity and in Peace with it self and one with another Lambeth-House the 3 d. day of the 4 th Month 1660. I am your Dear Friend and Brother in the Kingdom and Patience of Christ who am a Prisoner for his Testimony and keep his Word and am made as willing to suffer bonds or to dye for his Name as to declare and publish it amongst men Eternal living Praises and Hallelujahs over all be unto him for evermore Amen George Fox the Younger AN EPISTLE UNTO All who love the Lord Jesus Christ in Sincerity who are made partakers of the riches of his Grace and meet together to wait upon him therein to be read in their Meetings in the Fear of the Lord. DEAR Friends whom the eternal God hath visited with his own Life and Power and thereby hath called you out of the Darkness of the World into his Marvellous Light and hath begotten and quickned a Seed in you unto which pertaineth the Promises of Life and Peace and also hath opened a good understanding in you by the measure of his Eternal Spirit and hath brought you into a feeling and a sensibleness and a savour of that which ministers and reacheth to and refresheth his own Seed Oh Friends great is the Love of the Lord God unto you and large is his Eternal Riches let not his everlasting Love be forgotten by any of you neither slight nor neglect his rich Mercy but dear Friends dwell in the living measure of his Grace and hearken diligently unto the Voice of the Lamb so shall you be refreshed with the living Presence of the Father and the Fountain of Life shall be enlarged unto you whereby the Babe of God shall be strengthned and grow up in stature And when you are met together to wait upon the Lord Oh! feel his living Gift in your selves and be obedient to the motions and operations thereof that so the Presence and Power of the Eternal God may be felt and enjoyed in your Meetings and at other times for the bringing down and working out of all that which is contrary to himself in you and for the working you into the express Image of his own Glory and for the bringing you into the perfect Obedience of his own Life and Power that the Nature of the Lamb which takes away the sins ye may all grow into that so the Patience of Christ may be felt and witnessed in you all and that it may have its perfect Work in you that therein you may possess your Souls then shall the Lord enlarge your understandings and ye shall grow into the meek quiet Spirit wherein your savour and discerning shall be encreased and ye shall feel the gentle leadings of the invisible Life whereby satisfaction and refreshment shall be received unto the Seed
Immortal So dear hearts let the living Measure of the Eternal Father of Life and Power and Wisdom be your continual Stay and Habitation that so if any shall come among you that are out of the true savour and feeling of the Life in themselves and shall act or speak any thing among you that is out of the Life that ye then may not be drawn out of the savour and feeling thereby but wait ye singly in the innocent patient long-suffering Spirit of Christ and that will preserve you out of the fretting and murmuring and thoughts and reasoning and out of the enmity and it will keep you settled and quiet and in Unity with God and with all who abide in his Life and this will reach the Witness in them who are turned from it into the rambling unsettled state and if ye feel the Seed burdened then wait in the true Patience in the fervent Love to the Truth and then the Lord's Counsel you will know and his Wisdom you will receive and his Power you will feel whereby as you are obedient thereto the burden will be removed and the evil will be judged that caused the burden and the Seed will be refreshed and the Unity of the Faith will be known and the weak there will be preserved and so the Peace will be Witnessed and the Truth will be adorned and its Enemies shall be ashamed Oh my Friends dear is the everlasting unchangeable Truth of God unto me which he hath made known in and among us in this his Day and dear and precious are all ye unto me who abide in it for therein is no Schisms nor Parties nor Rents nor Envy for who goe into those first goes from the simplicity of the naked Truth in which they that abide in it the Patience and Forbearance and Unity is felt by them and such as go out of it must feel the Judgement but all who abides in the Faith shall not come into Condemnation So the LORD GOD Almighty of Heaven and Earth preserve and keep you all in Patience in Innocency in Uprightness and in Obedience unto the living measure of his Power manifested in you Amen Now Friends that which ministreth unto the Seed Immortal know that Ministration in your selves for that is profitable and that is durable and fadeth not away and let the exercise of your minds be in that which is living of God when you are met together and at other times that so ye may be kept out of that which comes to an end in the feeling of the Power of an endless Life that so the Seed of Life may be raised up in you all and ye established in it to live in it for ever in which Seed the end of words is witnessed Oh Friends there cannot be another Truth or Power or Saviour Preached unto you that you are to mind than that ye have already heard and felt but the same you are to wait to feel an enlargement in Therefore be valiant for the Lord and prize the worth of his unchangeable Truth and watch and be diligent that his Spirit of Life and Power may quicken you and that his Virtue and Nourishment may be felt and lived in whereby Fruits of Eternal Righteousness and Praises over all may be given unto him and that ye may be preserved fervent unto your first Love in him whose Eternal Day is dawned and broke forth of Salvation of Life of Power of Immortality Glory Eternal Praises everlastingly be rendred unto Him from the meek lowly quiet peaceable Spirit which is risen and arising in his Babes and tender Plants whereby he stayes and settles and satisfies them even in the day of Tryal and in the day of Prosperity I am your Dear and tender Friend and Brother in the Power of God in which I labour for the gathering of the Seed for the bringing into and keeping in the Unity of the Spirit which is the bond of Peace George Fox the younger TO THE Called of God Who Believe in the Light of the LAMB To be read in their Assemblies in the Pure Dread of the Lord. DEar Children and People of the Eternal God who have known the working of his Mighty Power and have been exercised in the Operations of his Eternal Spirit whereby he hath begotten your minds out of the world in a great measure and hath brought you into a feeling of his Eternal Presence which filleth Heaven and Earth wherein is the Joy unspeakable unto them that are reconciled to God by the Lord Jesus Christ the Immortal Word Friends you unto me are exceeding precious and my Desires and Breathings to the Lord for you are exceeding strong that ye may be preserved in the sence and feeling of the Power of an endless life and that you may be all kept in the true Faith and obedience of the truth which lives for ever all minding to answer its requirings in every particular and waiting to feel its Springings arising in you whereby you may feel it quickning you up to God that so your Faith and trust and Confidence may onely stand in him who is able to deliver For Friends this know the Lord will assuredly try you to the uttermost and you must come through the fire which will consume your enemies Therefore dear Babes be stedfast in the Lord according as he hath made manifest himself unto you and wait and watch in that measure of his Life in you which onely is able to keep your minds and hearts out of the Earth and the things thereof and as ye singly wait upon the Lord you will feel the growth of that Birth in you which is not of this world which can endure the fire Oh my Friends wait to feel your growth and Translation into this Birth which doth the will of the Father naturally this is the Seed unto which the Promises are this is the Elect which obtains and cannot be deceivid this is the Heir of the Kingdom without end this will God Crown with Victory when the measure of it's Sufferings is fulfilled this Seed must work through all it's Enemies and work them under it's feet Oh! wait in the Eternal Power to feel and witness it in the particular and be patient till God bring forth his Work outwardly Look not out neither be dismayed at the strange transactions of the times but look to the Lord who onely can save by what means he pleaseth and let the Lord alone to appear as he pleaseth onely be you watchful that when he appears you may be ready for his appearance and watch in the Light which will give you clearly to see his appearance and what he requires of you that so living obedience unto him may be yielded Oh Friends Take heed that the things of this World draw not away any of your hearts Remember it is them that are redeemed from the Earth that must Reign in and with the Lamb upon the Earth Take heed that your love stands not in any thing or
come to witness a particular satisfaction and that you may come to feel the pure Image of the Holy God restored in you even his everlasting Righteousness his Power his Wisdom his Life and Glory raised up in you to have Dominion and to rule over all the earth and to subdue it that so the pure God of Life and Virtue might be glorified in your mortal Bodies and that you might all come to feel and witness an everlasting habitation of Rest and Peace in him who is worthy of all Honour and Praise and Thanksgiving and Dominion for evermore Amen Now some of you who have been antient Professors will say to us If we should joyn to you we must lay down all then that ever we have professed and what have we been Professors so many years and yet have to begin all a-again Have we known nothing of God all this time this is hard To this I answer Friends if you come to joyn to the Truth you must then lay down and leave and forsake all that which you have held up and practised in your own wills which you were never led or required to hold up or practice by the Spirit of Truth but I do know and own that there was a pure living Principle of God oft stirring in you in your Professions by which Principle of God you oft saw that you were wrong and that you did that which was not well-pleasing the sight of God in your Profession for that Principle of God in you the Light judged and condemned you for many of your actions which you acted and sometimes the Lord's Witness brought you into a tender low condition and then opened things unto the Seed in you but you not taking heed to the Light to be the guide and stay of your minds you continued not long in that condition but you consulted with the Subtilty which drew you from God's Witness what you should do and so waited not in that which brought you into tenderness to receive God's Counsel in that but you took Counsel of the Serpent and your own Hearts and so ran into things which God never required at your hands and therefore God had no regard unto your Worship because it was not in the Spirit and in the Truth you not being guided therein by the Spirit of Truth So unto that which was in the Beginning you must all come which is Christ the true Light who hath enlightned you and you must learn of Him who is the Light of Life the VVord and the Power by which all things were made and are upheld and you must be subject unto the measure of Him in you and this his Measure if you submit to it that will bring you to cease from your own wills and works and to wait in silence and patience to see and feel Christ the Power of God to work all your works in you and for you and if you own the Light that will plainly shew unto you how God formerly appeared unto you and how you went from his appearance so the Light will own that which God opened unto you at any time but it will deny and condemn your own imaginations which you mixed with that which God opened unto you and so unto this Witness of the Lord you must all come and believe and wait in that which will separate the precious from the vile before that can be satisfied in you which breaths after God So my tender love and compassion is unto that in you which is not yet satisfied but doth truly hunger and thirst after the Life and Power of Truth and my Soul doth travel for freedom and satisfaction of that Seed and I suffer with it and bear many things for its sake for I have true Unity and Fellowship with that in you and I know it and am known of it but I cannot have Unity with many of your Practices which ye have been in because they have caused the Seed in you with which I have Unity exceedingly to suffer you not being guided and led into them by the Spirit of Truth and so against all such Practices I do bear witness in the Spirit of Meekness and I labour in the Spirit of Love to turn Peoples minds unto the manifestation of the Spirit of Truth which is given to every man wherewith to profit So all People feel that and mind that and hearken unto that which oft riseth in your hearts against Lust against Covetousness against Pride against vain and needless words and thoughts and against all evil in its appearance and as you all mind this Principle which moves and stirs in you against all evil you will feel it divide your good words from your bad words and good thoughts from bad thoughts and good deeds from bad deeds and that which divides betwixt these and shews you the difference of them this is the Word which Moses and Paul wrote of which is nigh in the mouth and in the heart Yea this is the Word of Reconciliation which reconciles to God this is the ingrafted Word which is able to save the Soul Now you being turned to this Word even to that which discerns the thoughts and intents of your hearts as ye wait in this let the Subtilty appear never so subtilly to draw your hearts after any thing or into any Practice which the Lord requireth not of you then this Word which is the Power it will make it manifest unto you and it will stop you from entring into any such Practices if you wilfully resist it not and believing and waiting in this Word it will not suffer you to speak any hasty unsavoury words or word and then ye will come to be truly sensible of a bridle to the tongue without which all Religion is vain and this Word ye taking it to be your guide it will bring you into savoury sound words seasoned with the Grace of God and so as your words and actions and lives come to be ordered by this Word Christ the Power of God they will reach unto the Witness of God in every one where ye come and if ye will hear this Word and regard it and not resist it it will work true Faith in you by which you will feel your hearts purified from sin and ye will feel it giving you Victory over the World within and without and if ye keep in this Faith ye will not make haste for ye will feel the Eternal Light which is the Life of the Word calling and drawing you out of the hasty nature into soberness stilness and quietness and meekness of Spirit and so ye will feel your strength renewed in the Lord as ye all wait upon him in his Light and all believing in the Light ye will not come into condemnation and as ye all wait in that which discerns and reveals the thoughts and the intents of your hearts which is the Word of Power this also will divide between your good thoughts and your bad thoughts and the good