were a People that fled out of Old England thither from the Persecution of the Bishops here But when they had got Power into their hands they so far exceeded the Bishops in Severity and Cruelty that whereas the Bishops had made them pay Twelve Pence a Sunday so called for not coming to their Worship here they imposed a Fine of Five Shillings a Day upon such as should not conform to their Will-Worship there and spoiled the Goods of Friends that could not pay it Besides many they Imprisoned divers they Whipt and that most Cruelly of some they Cut off Ears and some they Hanged as the Books of Friends Sufferings in New-England largely shew particularly A Book written by Geo. Bishop of Bristol Entituled New-England judged In Two Parts Some of the old Royalists were earnest with Friends to have prosecuted them but we told them we left them to the Lord to whom Vengeance belonged and he would Repay it And the Judgments of God have since fallen heavy on them For the Indians have been raised up against them and have Cut off many of them About this time I lost a very good Book being taken in the Printer's Hands It was a useful teaching Book containing the Signification and Explanation of Names Parables Types and Figures in the Scriptures They who took it were so affected with it that they were loth to have destroyed it but thinking to have made a great Advantage of it they would have let us have had it again if we would have given them a great Sum of Money for it which we were not free to do And some time before this while I was Prisoner in Lancaster-Castle the Book called the Battledoor came forth which was written to shew that in all Languages Thou and Thee is the proper and usual Form of Speech to a Single Person and You to more than one This was set forth in Examples or Instances taken out of the Scriptures and out of Books of Teaching in about Thirty Languages John Stubbs and Benjamin Furly took great Pains in the Compiling of it which I put them upon and some things I added to it When it was finished some of them were presented to the King and his Council to the Bishops of Canterbury and London and to the Two Vniversities one a piece and many bought of them The King said It was the proper Language of all Nations And the Bishop of Canterbury being asked what he thought of it was so at a stand that he could not tell what to say to it For it did so Inform and Convince Pâ—ople that few afterward were so Rugged towards us for saying Thou and Thee to a single Person which before they were exceeding fierce against us for For this Thou and Thee was a sore Cut to proud Flesh and them that sought Self-honour who though they would say it to God and Christ would not endure to have it said to themselves So that we were often Beaten and Abused and sometimes in danger of our Lives for using those Words to some proud Men who would say What you ill-bred Clown do you Thou me as though there lay Breeding in saying You to one which was contrary to all their Grammars and Teaching-Books by which they had taught and instructed their Youth Now the Bishops and Priests being busie and eager to settle and 〈◊〉 up their Form of Worship and Compel all to come to it I was mâ—â—â—d to give forth the following Paper to open unto People the Nature of the True Worship which Christ set up and which God accepts Thus CHrist's Worship is free in the Spirit to all Men and such as Worship in the Spirit and in the Truth are they that God seeks to Worship him for he is the God of Truth and is a Spirit and the God of the Spirits of all Flesh And he hath given to all the Nations of Men and Women Breath and Life to live and move and have their Being in him and hath put into them an Immortal Soul So all the Nations of Men and Women are to be Temples for him to dwell in and they that defile his Temple them will he destroy Now as the outward Jews while they had their outward Temple at outward Jerusalem were to go up thither to Worship which Temple God hath long since thrown down and destroyed that Jerusalem the Vision of Peace and cast off the Jews and their Worship and in the room thereof hath set up his gospel-Gospel-Worship in the Spirit and in the Truth so now all are to Worship in the Spirit and in the Truth And this is a free Worship for where the Spirit of the Lord is and ruleth there is Liberty and the Fruits of the Spirit are seen and will manifest themselves and the Spirit is not to be limited but to be lived and walked in that the Fruits of it may appear The Tares are such as hang upon the Wheat to weigh it down and thereby to draw it down to the Earth yet the Tares and the Wheat must grow together till the Harvest lest they that take upon them to pluck up the Tares should pluck up the Wheat with the Tares The Tares are such as Worship not God in the Spirit and in the Truth but do grieve the Spirit and vex it and quench it in themselves and walk not in the Truth yet will scraul and hang about the Wheat the true Worshippers in the Spirit and in the Truth Christ's Church was never established by Blood nor held up by Prisons neither was the Foundation of it laid by Carnal Weaponed Men nor is it preserved by such But when Men went from the Spirit and Truth then they took up Carnal Weapons to maintain their outward Forms and yet cannot preserve them with their Carnal Weapons For one plucketh down another's Form with his outward Weapons And this Work and Doing hath been among the Christians in Name since they lost the Spirit and Spiritual Weapons and the true Worship which Christ set up that is in the Spirit and in the Truth which Spirit and Truth they that Worship in are over all the Tares All that would be plucking up the Tares are forbidden by Christ who hath all Power in Heaven and Earth given to him for the Tares and the Wheat must grow together till the Harvest as Christ hath commanded The Stone that smote the Image became a great Mountain and filled the whole Earth Now if the Stone do fill the whole Earth all Nations must be Temples for the Stone And all that say they do travel for the Seed and yet bring forth nothing but a Birth of Strife and Contention and Confusion their Fruit shews their Travel to be wrong for by the Fruit the End of every one's Work is seen of what sort it is G. F. About this time many Papists and Jesuits began to fawn upon Friends and talk'd up and down where they came that of all the Sects the Quakers were the best and most self-denying
got a little Cheary and over it Many Friends and some considerable Persons of the World have been with me I tired out my Body much when amongst you in England it is the Lord's Power that helps me Therefore I desire you all to prize the Power of the Lord and his Truth I was but a Weak Man in Body when I came away from you after I had been in my great Travel amongst you but after that it struck all back again into my Body which was not well settled after so sore Travels in England And then was I so tired at Sea that I could not rest and have had little or no Stomach a long time Since I came into this Island my Life hath been very much burdened But I hope if the Lord give me Strength to manage his Work I shall work throughly and bring things that have been out of Course into better Order So Dear Friends live all in the peaceable Truth and in the Love of it serving the Lord in Newness of Life For glorious Things and precious Truths have been manifested among you plentifully and to you the Riches of the Kingdom have been reached I have been almost a Month in this Island but have not been able to go abroad or ride out only very lately I rid out twice a Quarter of a Mile at a time which wearied me much and almost tired me My Love in the Truth is to you all G. F. Now because I was not yet well able to Travel the Friends of the Island concluded to have their Men's-Meeting and their Womens-Meeting for the Service of the Church at Thomas Rous's where I lay by which means I was present amongst them at each of their Meetings and had very good Service for the Lord in both For they had need of Information in many things and divers Disorders were crept in for want of Care and Watchfulness Wherefore I exhorted them more especially at the Mens-Meeting to be watchful and careful with respect to Marriages to prevent Friends Marrying in near Kindreds and also to prevent over-hasty proceedings toward Second Marriages after the Death of a former Husband or Wife advising that a decent Regard were had in such Cases to the Memory of the Deceased Husband or Wife And as to Friends Children marrying too young as at Thirteen or Fourteen Years of Age I shewed them the Unfitness thereof and the Inconveniences and Hurts that attend such Childish Marriages And I admonished them all to purge the Floor throughly and to sweep their Houses very clean that nothing might remain that would defile And that all should take care that nothing be spoken out of their Meetings to the blemishing or defaming one of another Likewise concerning Registring of Marriages Births and Burials I advised them to keep Exact Records of each in distinct Books for that only use and also to Record in a Book for that purpose the Condemnations of such as went out from Truth into Disorderly Practices and the Repentance and Restoration of such of them as returned again Also I recommended to their Care the providing of convenient Burying Places for Friends which in some parts were yet wanting Some Directions also I gave them concerning Wills and the Ordering of Legacies left by Friends for publick Vses and other things relating to the Affairs of the Church Then as to their Blacks or Negro's I desired them to endeavour to train them up in the Fear of God as well them that were bought with their Money as them that were born in their Families that all might come to the Knowledge of the Lord that so with Joshua they might every Master of a Family say As for me and my House we will serve the Lord. I desired them also that they would cause their Overseers to deal mildly and gently with their Negro's and not use Cruelty towards them as the manner of some hath been and is And that after certain Years of Servitude they would make them free Many sweet and precious things were opened in these Meetings by the Spirit and in the Power of the Lord to the edifying confirming and building up of Friends both in the Faith and holy Order of the Gospel After these Meetings were over the Vessel that was bound for England not being yet gone I was moved to write another Epistle to Friends there the Copy whereof here follows DEar Friends and Brethren to whom is my Love in that which never changeth but remains in Glory which is over all the Top and Corner-stone In this all have Peace and Life as ye dwell in the blessed Seed wherein all is blest over that which brought the Curse where all Shortness and Narrowness of Spirit is and Brittleness and Peevishness is Therefore keep the Holy Order of the Gospel and keep in this blessed Seed where all may be kept in Temperance in Patience in Love in Meekness in Righteousness and Holiness and in Peace in which the Lord may be seen amongst you and no ways dishonoured but glorified by you all And so in all your Meetings in Cities Towns and Countries Mens-Meetings Womens-Meetings and others let Righteousness slow among you and the Holy Truth be uppermost and the pure Spirit your Guide and Leader and the holy Wisdom your Orderer that is pure and gentle and from above and easie to be entreated So keep in the Religion that keeps from the Spots of the World which is pure and undefiled in God's Sight And keep in the pure and holy Worship in which the pure and holy God is worshipped to wit in the Spirit and in the Truth which the Devil is out of who is the Author of all Vnholiness and of dishonouring of God So be all tender of God's Glory and tender of his Honour and of his blessed and holy Name in which ye are gathered And all who do profess the Truth see that ye Walk in it and in Righteousness and Godliness and Holiness For Holiness becomes the House of God the Houshold of Faith And that which becomes God's House God loves for he loves Righteousness and that is the Ornament which becomes his House and all his Family Therefore see that Righteousness do run down in all your Assemblies and that it flow to drive away all the Vnrighteousness This preserves your Peace with God for in Righteousness ye have all Peace with the righteous God of Peace and one with another And so every one that bears the Name of the Anointed that high Title of being a Christian named after the Heavenly Man see that ye be in the Divine Nature and made conformable unto his Image even the Image of the Heavenly Divine Man who was before that Image which Adam and Eve got in the Fall from the Devil So that in none of you that fallen Image may appear or be seen but his Image and you made Conformable unto him Here Translation is shewed forth in Life and Conversation not in Words only yea and Conversion and Repentance which
right understanding thereof and be gathered thereunto Several Epistles also to Friends I writ in this time on divers Occasions and Subjects whereof one was to the Friends of the Yearly Meeting which was held in London this year 1679. a Copy of which here follows My Dear Friends and Brethren WHO are Assembled together in the Name and Power of the Lord Jesus Christ Grace Mercy and Peace from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ fill all your hearts and establish you in his Grace Mercy and Peace upon Christ the holy living Rock and Foundation who is the First and Last and over all the Foundations and Rocks in the whole world a Rock and Foundation of Life for all the Living to build upon which stands sure in his heavenly divine Light which is the Life in him by whom all things were made who is the precious Stone laid in Sion and not in the World which all the Wise Master-Builders rejected who pretended to build People up to Heaven with the Words of the Prophets and the Law from Mount Sinai but out of the Life of both and therefore such Builders could not receive the Law of Life from Christ the precious Stone laid in Sion nor the Word from heavenly Jerusalem But you My Dear Friends that have received this Law from heavenly Sion and the Word from heavenly Jerusalem in the New Covenant where the Life and Substance is enjoyed you do see the end and abolishing of the Jews Law and Ceremonies from Mount Sinai And therefore my desire is that you all may keep in the Law of Life and Love 1679. Swarthmore which ye have in Christ Jesus by which Love the Body is edified and knit and united together to Christ Jesus the Head Which Love doth bear all things and fulfils the Law and will preserve all in Humility and in it to be of one mind heart and soul so that all may come to drink into that One Spirit that doth Baptize them and Circumcise them Plunging down and Cutting off the Body of the Sins of the Flesh that is gotten up in Man and Woman by their transgressing of God's Commands So that in this holy pure Spirit all may serve and worship the pure God in Spirit and in Truth which is over all the Worships that are out of God's Spirit and his Truth And in this Spirit ye will all have a Spiritual Unity and Fellowship over all the Fellowships of the Unclean Spirits which be out of Truth in the World And so by this holy Spirit all your hearts minds and souls may be knit together to Christ from whence it comes and by the Grace and Truth which is come by Jesus Christ which all should be under the Teachings of in the New Covenant and not under the Law as the outward Jews were in the Old Covenant So that by this Grace and Truth in the New Covenant all may be made God's free Men and Women to serve God in the new Life and in the new and living Way shewing forth the Fruits of the new heart and new spirit in the New Covenant over death and darkness and before it was Glory be unto the Lord for ever And now Friends in this Grace and Truth is your heavenly gracious and true Liberty to every Spiritual Mind that makes you free from him that is out of Truth where your bondage was Also your Liberty in the holy divine and precious Faith which gives you Victory over that that hath separated you from God and Christ and through which Faith ye have Access to God again through Jesus Christ So in this divine and holy Faith ye have divine holy and precious Liberty yea and Victory over him that separated you from God and this Faith is held in a pure Conscience So the Liberty in the Spirit of God is in that which baptizes and plunges down Sin and Iniquity and puts off the Body of Death and Sins of the Flesh that is gotten up by transgressing of God's Command as I said before And also the Liberty of the Gospel which is sent from Heaven by the Holy Ghost which is the Power of God which was and is again to be preached to all Nations In this Gospel the Power of God which is over the Power of Satan is the true Liberty and the Gospel-Fellowship and Order So that the Evil Spirit or Conscience or false dead Faith and that which is ungracious and out of Truth and not in the Spirit of God nor in his Gospel nor in the divine Faith its Liberty is in the Darkness For all the true Liberty is in the Gospel and in the Truth that makes free and in the Faith and in the Grace and in Christ Jesus who destroys the Devil and his Works that hath brought all Mankind into Bondage So in this heavenly peaceable Spirit and Truth and Faith which works by Love and in the Gospel of Peace and in Christ Jesus is all the Saints Peace and pure true and holy Liberty in which they have Salt and Sense and Feeling Discerning and Savour yea and Unity and Fellowship one with another yea and with the Son and the Father that heavenly eternal Fellowship So all being subject to the Grace and Truth and to the Faith and Gospel the Power of God and to his good Spirit in this they distinguish all true pure and holy Liberty from that which is false And this will bring all to sit low for Patience runs the Race and the Lamb must have the Victory and not the rough unruly and vain Talkers unbaptized uncircumcised and unsanctified For such travel not in the way of Regeneration but in the way of unregeneration Neither go they down into the Death with Christ by Baptism and therefore such are not like to Reign with him in his Resurrection who are not buried with him in Baptism Therefore all must go downward into the Death of Christ and be crucified with him if they will Arise and follow him in the Regeneration before they come to Reign with him And Friends Many may have precious Openings but I desire all may be comprehended in that thing which doth open to them And that they may all keep in the daily Cross then they keep in the Power that doth kill and crucifie that which would lead them amongst the Beasts and Goats to leaven them into their rough unruly spirit But that through the Cross the Power of God That may be crucified and they in the Power might follow the Lamb. For the Power of God keeps all in Order and in Subjection and in Humility in that which is lovely and vertuous decent comely temperate and moderate that their Moderation comes to appear to all men So my desire is that all your Lights may shine as from a City set upon a Hill that cannot be hid And that ye may be the Salt of the Earth to salt and season it and make it savoury to God and you all seasoned with it Then
and to the People To the Constables I declared That we were a peaceable People who meet to wait upon God and worship him in Spirit and in Truth and therefore I told them they needed not to come with their Staves amongst us who were met in a peaceable manner desiring and seeking the good and salvation of all People Then turning my Speech to the People again I declared what further was upon me to them and while I was speaking the Constables drew out towards the door and the Souldiers stood with their Muskets in the Yard When I had done speaking I kneeled down and prayed desiring the Lord to open the Eyes and Hearts of all People both high and low that their minds might be turned to God by his holy Spirit that he might be glorified in all and over all After prayer the Meeting rose and Friends passed away the Constables being come in again but without the Souldiers and indeed both they and the Souldiers carried themselves Civilly William Penn and I went into a Room hard by as we used to do and many Friends went with us and lest the Constables should think we would shun them a Friend went down and told them That if they would have any thing with us they might come where we were if they pleased One of them came to us soon after but without his Staff which he chose to do that he might not be observed for he said The People told him he busied himself more than he needed We desired to see his Warrant and therein we found that the Informer was one Hilton a North-Country-man who was reputed to be a Papist The Constable was asked Whether he would Arrest us by his Warrant on that day it being the First-day of the Week which in their Law was called the Lord's-day and he said He thought he could not He told us also That he had charged the Informer to come along with him to the Meeting but he had run away from him We shewed the Constable that both he and we were Clear yet to free him from all fear of danger we were free to go to the Alderman that granted the Warrant Then a Friend that was present said He would go with the Constable to speak with the Alderman which they did and came presently back again the Alderman being gone from home We seeing the Constable in a strait and finding him to be a tender Man bid him set an hour to come to us again or send for us and we would come to him So he appointed the fifth hour in the Afternoon but neither came nor sent for us and a Friend meeting him afterwards in the Evening the Constable told him He thought it would come to nothi g and therefore did not look after us So the Lord's Power was over all to him be the Glory On the Fourth day following it was upon me to go to Gracious-street-Meeting again for I had heard that they would come to break up the Meeting that day The Neighbours it seems were Informed so and a Justice had granted a Warrant for that purpose and the Constable told a Friend that Hilton the Informer had been with him about it The Constable would have had the Informer to have gone with him to the Meeting but the Informer would not but would have the Constable go without him Whether that put the Constable by from coming I know not but he did not come I was in a Travel of Spirit in the power of God and was moved in it to go to the Meeting and the Lord's Power did chain all down And though they threatned to bring the Red-Coats yet none came nor was there any disturbance but a glorious powerful Meeting it was and very peaceable Glory and Honour and Praises be to the Lord over all for ever Amen During the time I thus abode at London as I had leisure between Meetings and from other Publick Services I writ divers Books and Papers some of which were printed and others were spread about in Manuscript Of these One was directed To the Bishops and others that did stir up Persecution to shew them from the holy Scriptures that they did not walk therein according to the Royal Law To love their Neighbour as themselves and to do to others as they would be done unto Another was ' To all the several sorts of professed Christians as well Protestants as Papists whose Religion and Worship stands in outward Observances and Ceremonies pressing them from those words of the Apostle Paul to the Galatians chap. 5. vers 2 3 4. Behold I Paul say unto you that if ye be Circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing For I testifie again to every man that is Circumcised that he is a Debter to the whole Law Christ is become of no effect unto you whosoever of you are justified by the Law ye are fallen from Grace to Consider Whether they being gone back into legal Observations and shadowy Ceremonies in upholding Tithes Offerings First-Fruits Priests-Garments outward Altars Temples Lamps Lights c. and in Observing Days Months Times Years with many other things commanded by the Law were not gone into the same state that the Galatians were running into and so were fallen from Grace and become Debtors to the whole Law Another was ' To direct and turn all People to the Spirit of God that they might thereby receive a right understanding and be able to distinguish between Right and Wrong Truth and Error that under pretence of punishing Evil-doers they might not themselves do Evil in persecuting the Righteous That Paper being short is here inserted The Spirit of God which he hath poured upon all giveth an Vnderstanding to all that are led by it and who do not quench the Motions of it it doth give them Knowledge and Understanding to distinguish Good from Evil and Light from Darkness Christ from Antichrist and the Old Testament or Covenant from the New and the Old Way from the New and living Way and the Sheep and Lambs from the Goats and from the Wolves the Worship of God which Christ set up above sixteen hundred years ago from the Dragon 's and Beast's Worship and all them that worship the Works of Mens hands and the Will Worshippers from them that Worship God in his Spirit and in his Truth in which God's People do worship him which Worship is over all false Worships and Worshippers And who believe in the Light which is the Life in Christ do become the Children of Light and are the Lambs of Jesus And the Lambs do follow the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the World and they will not follow the Hirelings nor the Strangers to be led into strange Ways and Doctrines and Religions and Churches for the Lambs of Christ follow Christ the Lamb of God and do know his heavenly Voice And they do know also that they who are without Christ are Dogs and Wolves Adulterers Idolaters Liars and Vnbelievers who would devour
let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all Wisdom teaching and admonishing one another c. Col. 3. And whatsoever ye do in Word or Deed do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ giving thanks to God and the Father by him And above all things put on Charity which is the Bond of Perfectness And the Apostle saith to Timothy Be not thou ashamed of the Testimony of our Lord nor of me his Prisoner but be thou Partaker of the Afflictions of the Gospel according to the Power of God who hath saved us and called us with an holy Calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began 2 Tim. 1.8 9. So here it concerns every one not to be ashamed of the Testimony of our Lord who hath called them by his Grace and not to be ashamed of any of Christ's Prisoners and afflicted Ones for Christ's and his Gospels sake who abolishes Death and brings Life and Immortality to Light through his Gospel You that believe in the Light know it And Peter saith in his General Epistle to the Church of Christ As every man mark every man hath received the Gift so minister the same one to another as good Stewards of the manifold Grace of God If any man speak let him speak as the Oracles of God so not of Men If any man minister let him do it as of the Ability which God gives so not of the Ability of mens Arts and Sciences that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ c. For these Gifts and Grace come from Jesus into the hearts of the Members of his Church whom he is in the midst of And if any man suffer as a Christian let him not be ashamed but let him glorifie God c. And every true Christian hath the presence of Christ who hath all power in Heaven and in Earth given him to support them with his power light and life And Christ saith to his Believers Beware of men for they will deliver you up to the Councils and they will scourge you in the Synagogues and you shall be brought before Governours and Kings for my Names sake for a Testimony against them and the Gentiles But when they deliver you up take no thought how or what ye shall speak for it shall be given you in the same hour what ye shall speak for it is not you that speak but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you And ye shall be hated of all men for my Names sake but he that endureth to the end shall be saved The Disciple is not above his Master nor the Servant above his Lord It is enough for the Disciple that he be as his Master and the Servant as his Lord for if they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub what will they do to his Servant Fear not them which kill the Body but are not able to kill the Soul c. A Sparrow shall not fall to the ground without your heavenly Father c. The hairs of your head are all numbred ye are of more value than many Sparrows Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven But whosoever shall deny me before Men him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven And whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed c. Matth. 10. And again Christ saith Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful Generation of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in the Glory of his Father with his holy Angels Mark 8.38 And Christ saith to his Disciples He that receiveth you receiveth me and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me He that receiveth a Prophet in the name of a Prophet shall receive a Prophet's reward And he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a Cup of cold water only in the name of a Disciple verily I say unto you he shall in no wise lose his reward Matth. 10.40 41 42. Here ye may see how Christ encourages his Disciples and them that receive them And John saith Among the chief Rulers of the Jews many believed in Christ but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him lest they should be put out of the Synagogue John 12.42 Too many such Believers are now a-days who dare not Confess Christ lest they should lose the favour of men But Christ encourages the faithful Disciples and told them They would put them out of their Synagogues yea that the time should come that whosoever killed them would think they did God service And these things said he will they do unto you because they have not known the Father nor me But these things have I told you that when the time shall come ye may remember that I told you of them John 16.2 3 4. Here ye may see what Christ told his Disciples should come to pass to them And Saul before he was Converted did Compel the Christians to blaspheme and made havock of the Church of Christ Acts 8. and chap. 22. and 26. And did not the Beast in the Revelations Compel both small and great to worship him and his Image And did not all worship it but they who had their Names written in the Lamb's Book of Life before the Foundation of the World And did not Nebuchadnezzar set up an Image sixty Cubits high and six Cubits broad And then did not he cause an Herauld to cry aloud It is commanded that all People and Nations and Languages fall down and worship the golden Image that Nebuchadnezzar hath set up And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of the fiery Furnace And were not Shadrach Meshach and Abednego cast into the Furnace Dan. 3. But God delivered them Therefore it is good to be faithful to God and his Worship in Spirit and Truth And the Jews had agreed that if any man should Confess Christ he should be put out of their Synagogue John 9.22 So it was for Christ's sake they were Excommunicated out of their Synagogues But as it is written Behold I lay in Sion a Stumbling-stone and a Rock of Offence and who so believes on him shall not be ashamed So Christ is a Stumbling-stone and a Rock of Offence to all the Unbelievers in the Light which is the Life in Christ whether they be Jews Christians or Gentiles The Jews did believe a Christ was To come from the Scriptures And the Christians believe He is come by the Scriptures but do not believe in the Light which is the Life in Christ as Christ commands and so do not become the
76. and 78. All the Figures and Shadows were and are in Time but Christ the Substance is the Beginning and the Ending And all Trials Troubles Persecutions and Temptations came up in Time but the Lord's Power which is Everlasting is over all such things in which is safety The black World of Darkness lieth in wickedness and by their Wisdom knoweth not God that made the World and all things therein for the God of the World and Prince of the Air ruleth in the hearts of all them that disobey the living God that made them And so the God of this wicked World hath blinded all the Eyes of the Infidels or Heathen so that this Wicked World by their Wisdom doth not know the living God In the Old Testament the Lord said With all thy Offerings thou shalt offer Salt Levit. 2.13 And Christ saith in his New Covenant Every one shall be salted with Fire and every Sacrifice shall be salted with Salt Salt is good but if the Salt have lost its saltness wherewith will you season it Have Salt in your selves and have peace one with another Mark 9.48 49 50. We have received the Earnest of the Spirit which is the Earnest of the Inheritance that fadeth not away For God poureth out of his Spirit upon all flesh So it is God's Spirit which is above our natural Spirit by which alone we do not know God for it is with the Spirit of God that we do know the things of God And the Spirit of God doth witness to our Souls and Spirits that this Spirit of God is the Earnest of an Eternal Inheritance God opens his Peoples Ears to Discipline and commands that they turn from Iniquity If they obey and serve him they shall spend their days in prosperity and their years in pleasure but if they obey him not they shall perish by the sword and they shall die without knowledge Job 36.10 11 12. So the Disobedient that do not turn from their Iniquity have not this prosperity and pleasure but die without the knowledge of God And such their Ears are shut to this Discipline which God opens to his People G. F. When I had been about Two Months in London I was sent for to my Son Rouse's at Kingston to visit a Daughter of his Kingston which at that time lay very sick but recovered Whilst I stay'd there I had several Meetings with Friends Hammersmith and returning by Hammersmith stay'd the First-day-Meeting there which was large and peaceable And having visited Friends thereabouts I came back â—o London again being very intent upon the business of getting Redress for suffering Friends In this and other Services for Friends and Truth I continued at London till the latter end of the Eleventh Month save that I went in this time to visit an Ancient Friend at Bednal-Green Bednal-Green with whom I tarried three or four days While I was there I was much exercised in the sense of the Enemy's Working to draw from the holy way of Truth into a false Liberty and so into the World's ways and worships again And the Example of the backsliding Jews coming before me I was moved to write the following Paper as a Warning to all such HEre you may see when the Jews Rebelled against the good Spirit of God which he gave them to Instruct them they forsook God and his Law Way and Worship and then they went a whoring after Balaam's Ways and became like the wild Ass-Colt snuffing up the wind as in Jer. 2.24 And in Jer. 3. see how Judah played the Harlot under every green Tree and upon every high Mountain And therefore the Lord divorced Judah as he had divorced Israel when she forsook his Ways and followed the Heathens Ways And though the Lord had fed them to the full yet they forsook him and committed Adultery and Assembled themselves together in Harlot's-houses Jer. 5.7 And with their Whoredom they defiled the Land and committed Adultery with Stocks and Stones Jer. 3.9 So here you may see when they forsook the living Eternal God they followed the Religions and Worships of other Nations whose Gods were made of Stocks and Stones which the Jews worshipped and committed Adultery withal When they forsook the living God and his way and worship they forsook the worship at Jerusalem at the Temple and followed the Heathens Worships in the Mountains and Fields and so it was called Adultery and Whoredom to join with other Religions and forsake God as in Jer. 13.27 And now if the Children of New Jerusalem that is above should forsake the Worship that Christ in his New Testament set up which is in Spirit and in Truth and follow the Worships of Nations which men have set up will not they that do so commit Adultery with them in forsaking God's Worship and Christ the new and living Way And in Jer. 44. ye may see how the Children of Judah provoked the Lord against them by worshipping the works of their own hands and following the Gods of the Land of Egypt In this they committed Adultery forsaking the living God their Husband and his Worship and there ye may see God's Judgments pronounced against them to their destruction And what will become of those that forsake the Worship in Spirit and Truth which Christ set up and worship the works of their own hands in spiritual Egypt and follow spiritual Egypt's Will-worship which they invented may not this be called Whoredom in them that forsake Christ the new and living Way and his pure Religion and his Worship that he hath set up And they that do forsake the Lord's way 1685. Bednal-Green and his worship that he set up and follow the Worlds ways and worships that they set up do not they whose Way they follow become at last their Enemies as in Lament 1. See how the Jews forsook the Lord's way and worship and doted on other Lovers the Assyrians c. and with all their Idols they were defiled and how they did not leave the Whoredoms brought from Egypt and how they were polluted with the Babylonians Bed as ye may read in Ezek 23. When they forsook the Lord his Way and Worship and followed the Way and Worship of the Heathen then it was said They went a Whoring after other Lovers and committed Adultery with them And ye may see in Ezek. 16. how the state of the Jews was likened unto that of their Sister Sodom and how that they had played the Harlot with the Assyrians and committed Fornication with the Egyptians and had increased their Whoredoms in following their abominable Idols And therefore the Lord carried away the Two Tribes that forsook him into Babylon as ye may see in Ezek. 17.20 And they that forsake Christ the new and living Way and the Worship of God in Spirit and Truth which Christ set up in his New-Testament they go into Captivity in spiritual Babylon And in Hosea 2. ye may see how he discovers the Whoredoms and
allows of no Name or Pretence whatever for persecuting of any Man for matters of meer Religion Religion being in its very Nature Meek Gentle and Forbearing and consists of Faith Hope and Charity which no Persecutor can have whilst he remains a Persecutor in that a Man cannot believe well or hope well or have a charitable or tender regard to another whilst he would violate his mind or persecute his Body for matters of Faith or Worship towards his God Thus the False Church sprang up and mounted the Chair But though she lost her Nature she would keep her good Name of the Lambs-bride the True Church and Mother of the Faithful constraining all to receive her Mark either in their Forehead or Righthand publickly or privately But Indeed and in Truth she was Mystery Babylon the Mother of Harlots Mother of those that with all their show and outside of Religion were adulterated and gone from the Spirit Nature and Life of Christ and grown Vain Worldly Ambitious Covetous Cruel c. which are the Fruits of the Flesh and not of the Spirit Now it was that the True Church fled into the Wilderness that is from Superstition and Violence to a Retired Solitary and lonely State hidden and as it were out of Sight of Men though not out of the World Which shows that her wonted Visibility was not Essential to the Being of a True Church in the Judgment of the Holy Ghost she being as True a Church in the Wilderness though not as Visible and Lustrious as when she was in her former Splendor of Profession In this State many Attempts She made to return but the Waters were yet too High and her way blocked up and many of her excellent Children in several Nations and Centuries fell by the Cruelty of Superstition because they would not fall from their Faithfulness to the Truth The last Age did set some steps towards it both as to Doctrine Worship and Practice But Practice quickly failed for Wickedness flowed in a little time as well among the Professors of the Reformation as those they reformed from so that by the Fruits of Conversation they were not to be distinguished And the Children of the Reformers if not the Reformers themselves betook themselves very early to Earthly Policy and Power to uphold and carry on their Reformation that had been begun with Spiritual Weapons which I have often thought has been one of the greatest reasons the Reformation made no better Progress as to the Life and Soul of Religion For whilst the Reformers were Lowly and Spiritually Minded and trusted in God and lookt to Him and lived in his Fear and consulted not with Flesh and Blood nor sought Deliverance in their own way there were daily added to the Church such as one might reasonably say should be saved For they were not so careful to be safe from Persecution as to be Faithful under it Being more concerned to spread the Truth by their Faith and Patience in Tribulation than to get the worldly Power out of their Hands that inflicted their Sufferings upon them and it will be well if the Lord suffer them not to fall by the very same way they took to stand In Doctrine they were in some things short in other things to avoid one extream they run into another And for Worship there was for the generality more of Man than God They owned the Spirit Inspiration and Revelation indeed and grounded their Seperation and Reformation upon the Sense and Vnderstanding they received from it in the Reading of the Scriptures of Truth and this was their Plea the Scripture was the Text the Spirit the Interpreter and that to every one for himself But yet there was too much of humane Invention Tradition and Art that remained both in Praying and Preaching and of worldly Authority and worldly Greatness in their Ministers especially in this Kingdom Sweden Denmark and some Parts of Germany God was therefore pleased among us to shift from Vessel to Vessel And the next remove humbled the Ministry so that they were more Strict in Preaching Devout in Praying and Zealous for keeping the Lords-day and Catechising of Children and Servants and Repeating at Home in their Families what they had heard in publick But even as these grew into Power they were not only for Whipping some out but others into the Temple And they appeared Rigid in their Spirits rather than Severe in their Lives and more for a Party then for Piety Which brought forth another People that were yet more retired and select They would not communicate at large or in common with others but formed Churches among themselves of such as could give some account of their Conversion at least of very promising experiences of the Work of God's Grace upon their Hearts and under mutual Agrements and Covenants of fellowship they kept together These People were somewhat of a Softer Temper and seemed to recommend Religion by the Charms of its Love Mercy and Goodness rather than by the Terrours of its Judgments and Punishment by which the former Party would have terrified People into Religion They also allowed greater liberty to Prophecy than those before them for they admitted any Member to Speak or Pray as well as their Pastor whom they always Chose and not the Civil Magistrate If such found any thing pressing upon them to either Duty even without the Distinction of Clergy or Laity Persons of any Trade be it never so Low and Mechanical But alas even these People suffered great loss For tasting of Worldly Empire and the favour of Princes and the gain that ensued they degenerated but too much For though they had cryed down National Churches and Ministry and Maintenance too some of them when it was their own turn to be Tryed fell under the Weight of Worldly Honour and Advantage got into profitable Parsonages too much and outlived and contradicted their own Principles And which was yet worse turned some of them absolute Persecutors of other Men for God's Sake that but so lately came themselves out of the Furnace which drove many a step farther and that was into the Water Another Baptism as believing they were not Scripturally Baptised and hoping to find that Presence and Power of God in submitting to that Ordinance which they desired and wanted These People made also Profession of Neglecting if not Renouncing and Censuring not only the Necessity but use of all Human Learning as to the Ministry and all other Qualifications to it besides the Helps and Gifts of the Spirit of God and those natural and common to Men and for a time they seemed like John of Old a Burning and a Shining Light to other Societies They were very Diligent Plain and Serious strong in Scripture and bold in Profession bearing much Reproach and Contradiction But that which others fell by proved their Hurt For worldly Power spoiled them too who had enough of it to try them what they would do if they had more and they
the Stature of the Fulness of Christ when they cannot bear to hear that any shall come whilst upon Earth into the same Power and Spirit that the Prophets and Apostles were in Though it be a certain Truth that none can understand their Writings aright without the same Spirit by which they were written Now the Lord God hath opened to me by his invisible Power how that Every Man was enlightned by the Divine Light of Christ and I saw it shine through all And that they that believed in it came out of Condemnation and came to the Light of Life and became the Children of it But they that hated it and did not believe in it were Condemned by it though they made a Profession of Christ This I saw in the pure Openings of the Light without the help of any Man neither did I then know where to find it in the Scriptures though afterwards searching the Scriptures I found it For I saw in that Light and Spirit which was before Scripture was given forth and which led the Holy Men of God to give them forth That all must come to that Spirit if they would know God or Christ or the Scriptures aright which They that gave them forth were led and taught by But I observed a Dulness and Drowzy Heaviness upon People which I wondred at For sometimes when I would set my self to sleep my Mind went over all to the Beginning in that which is from Everlasting to Everlasting And I saw Death was to pass over this sleepy heavy State And I told People they must come to witness Death to that sleepy heavy Nature and a Cross to it in the Power of God that their Minds and Hearts might be on things above And on a certain Time as I was walking in the Fields the Lord said unto me Thy Name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life which was before the Foundation of the World And as the Lord spake it I believed and saw it in the New Birth Then sometime after the Lord commanded me to go abroad into the World which was like a briary thorny Wilderness And when I came in the Lord 's mighty Power with the Word of Life into the World the World swelled and made a Noise like the great raging Waves of the Sea Priests and Professors Magistrates and People were all like a Sea when I came to proclaim the Day of the Lord amongst them and to preach Repentance to them Now I was sent to turn People from Darkness to the Light that they might receive Christ Jesus For to as many as should receive him in his Light I saw that he would give Power to become the Sons of God Which I had obtained by receiving Christ And I was to direct People to the Spirit that gave forth the Scriptures by which they might be led into all Truth and so up to Christ and God as they had been who gave them forth And I was to turn them to the Grace of God and to the Truth in the Heart which came by Jesus that by this Grace they might be taught which would bring them Salvation that their Hearts might be established by it and their Words might be seasoned and all might come to know their Salvation nigh For I saw that Christ had died for all Men and was a Propitiation for all and had enlightned all Men and Women with his divine and saving Light And that none could be a true Believer but who believed in it I saw that the Grace of God which brings Salvation had appeared to all Men and that the Manifestation of the Spirit of God was given to every Man to profit withal These Things I did not see by the help of Man nor by the Letter tho' they are written in the Letter but I saw them in the Light of the Lord Jesus Christ and by his immediate Spirit and Power as did the Holy Men of God by whom the Holy Scriptures were written Yet I had no slight esteem of the Holy Scriptures but they were very precious to me For I was in that Spirit by which they were given forth and what the Lord opened in me I afterwards found was agreeable to them I could speak much of these things and many Volumes might be written but all would prove too short to set forth the Infinite Love Wisdom and Power of God in prepairing fitting and furnishing me for the Service he had appointed me to letting me see the Depths of Satan on the one Hand and opening to me on the other Hand the divine Mysteries of his own Everlasting Kingdom Now when the Lord God and his Son Jesus Christ did send me forth into the World to preach his Everlasting Gospel and Kingdom I was glad that I was Commanded To turn People to that Inward Light Spirit and Grace by which all might know their Salvation and their Way to God even that divine Spirit which would lead them into all Truth and which I infallibly knew would never deceive any But with and by this divine Power and Spirit of God and the Light of Jesus I was to bring People off from all their own ways to Christ the new and living Way and from their Churches which Men had made and gathered to the Church in God the general Assembly written in Heaven which Christ is the Head of And off from the World's Teachers made by Men to learn of Christ who is the Way the Truth and the Life of whom the Father said This is my beloved Son hear ye him and off from all the Worlds Worships to know the Spirit of Truth in the inward Parts and to be led thereby that in it they might Worship the Father of Spirits who seeks such to Worship him Which Spirit they that Worshipped not in knew not what they Worshipped And I was to bring People off from all the World's Religions which are vain that they might know the pure Religion and might visit the Fatherless the Widows and the Strangers and keep themselves from the Spots of the World And then there would not be so many Beggars the sight of whom often grieved my Heart to see so much Hard-heartedness amongst them that professed the Name of Christ And I was to bring them off from all the World's Fellowships and Prayings and Singings which stood in Forms without Power that their Fellowships might be in the Holy Ghost and in the Eternal Spirit of God that they might Pray in the Holy Ghost and Sing in the Spirit and with the Grace that comes by Jesus making Melody in their Hearts to the Lord who hath sent his beloved Son to be their Saviour and caused his heavenly Sun to shine upon all the World and through them all and his heavenly Rain to fall upon the Just and the Unjust as his outward Rain doth fall and his outward Sun doth shine on all which is God's unspeakable Love to the World And I was to bring People off from Jewish Ceremonies and from
Hill called Pendle-hill and I was moved of the Lord to go up to the Top of it which I did with much ado it was so very Steep and High When I was come to the Top of this Hill I saw the Sea bordering upon Lancashire And from the Top of this Hill the Lord let me see in what Places he had a Great People to be gathered As I went down I found a Spring of Water in the Side of the Hill with which I refreshed my self having eaten or drunk but little in several Days before At Night we came to an Inn and declared Truth to the Man of the House and writ a Paper to the Priests and Professors declaring the Day of the Lord and that Christ was come to teach People himself by his Power and Spirit in their Hearts and to bring People off from all the World's Ways and Teachers to his own free Teaching who had bought them and was the Saviour of all them that believed in him The Man of the House spread the Paper abroad and was himself mightily affected with the Truth Here the Lord opened unto me and let me see a Great People in white Raiment by a River-side coming to the Lord And the Place that I saw them in was about Wentzerdale and Sedbergh The next Day we travelled on and at Night got a little Fern or Brakins to lay under us and lay upon a Common Next Morning we reached to a Town and there Richard Farnsworth parted from me and then I travelled alone again Wentzerdale So I came up Wentzerdale and at the Market-Town in that Dale there was a Lecture on the Market-day and I went into the Steeple-house And after the Priest had done I Proclaimed the Day of the Lord to the Priest and People Warning them to turn from the Darkness to the Light and from the Power of Satan unto God that they might come to know God and Christ aright and to receive his Teaching who teacheth freely And largely and freely did I declare the Word of Life unto them and had not much Persecution there Afterwards I passed up the Dales Warning People to fear God and preaching the Everlasting Gospel to them And in my way I came to a Great House where there was a School-master and they got me into the House And I asked them Questions about their Religion and Worship and afterward I declared the Truth to them They had me into a Parlour and lockt me in pretending that I was a Young Man that was Mad and had got away from my Relations and that they would keep me till they could send to my Relations 1652. Wentzerdale But I soon Convinced them of their Mistake in that and they let me forth and would have had me to stay there But I was not to stay there Then having exhorted them to Repentance and directed them to the Light of Christ Jesus that through it they might come unto him and be saved I passed from them and came in the Night to a little Ale-house on a Common where there was a Company of Rude Fellows drinking And because I would not drink with them they got up their Clubs and were striking at me but I reproved them and brought them to be somewhat Cooler and then I walked out of the House upon the Common in the Night After some time one of these drunken Fellows came out and would have come close up to me pretending to whisper to me but I perceived he had a Knife wherefore I kept off from him and bid him Repent and fear God So the Lord by his Power preserved me from this Wicked Man and he went into the House again The next Morning I went on through other Dales Yorkshire Dales Warning and Exhorting People every where as I passed to Repent and turn to the Lord and several were Convinced At one House that I came to the Man of the House whom I afterwards found to be a Kinsman of John Blakelin's would have given me Money but I would not Receive it As thus I traveled on through the Dales I came to another Man's House whose Name was Tennant And I was moved to speak to the Family and declare God's Everlasting Truth to them And as I was turning away from them I was moved to turn again and speak to the Man himself And he was Convinced and his Family and lived and died in the Truth Thence I came to Major Bousfield's who received me as did also several others and some that were then Convinced have stood faithful ever since Grysedale I went also thro' Grysedale and several other of those Dales in which some were Convinced And I went into Dent where many were Convinced also Dent. But from Major Bousfield's I came to Richard Robinson's and declared the Everlasting Truth to him The next day I went to a Meeting at Justice Benson's where met a a People that were separated from the publick Worship This was the place that I had seen where a People came forth in white Raiment A large Meeting it was and the People were generally Convinced and continue a large Meeting still of Friends near Sedburgh Near Sedburgh Which was then first gathered through my Ministry in the Name of Jesus In the same Week there was a great Fair at which Servants used to be hired And I went and declared the day of the Lord through the Fair. And after I had done so I went into the Steeple-house-Yard and many of the People of the Fair came thither to me and abundance of Priests and Professors There I declared the Everlasting Truth of the Lord and the Word of Life for several Hours shewing that the Lord was come to Teach his People himself and to bring them off from all the World's Ways and Teachers to Christ the true Teacher and the true Way to God I laid open their Teachers shewing that they were like them that were of Old condemned by the Prophets and by Christ and by the Apostles And I exhorted the People to come off from the Temples made with Hands 1652. Near Sedburgh and Wait to receive the Spirit of the Lord that they might know themselves to be the Temples of God Not one of the Priests had power to open his Mouth against what I declared But at last a Captain said Why will you not go into the Church for this is not a fit place to preach in said he But I told him I denied their Church Then stood up one Francis Howgill who was a Preacher to a Congregation He had not seen me before yet he undertook to Answer that Captain and soon put him to Silence Then said this Francis Howgill of me This Man speaks with Authority and not as the Scribes After this I opened to the People That that Ground and House was no holier than another Place and that that House is not the Church but the People whom Christ is the Head of Then after a while the
thither before me And when I came there I found James Lancaster speaking under a Yew-Tree which was so full of People that I feared they would break it down I looked about for a place to stand upon to speak unto the People for they lay all up and down like People at a Leaguer But after a while that I was discovered a Professor came to me and asked If I would not go into the Church I seeing there was no place abroad convenient to speak to the People from told him Yes Whereupon the People rushed in so that when I came in the House and Pulpit was so full of People that I had much ado to get in and they that could not get in stood abroad about the VValls 1653. A Meeting near Cockermouth When the People were settled I stood up upon a Seat And the Lord opened my Mouth to declare his Everlasting Truth and his Everlasting Day and to lay open all their Teachers and their Rudiments Traditions and Inventions that they had been in in the Night of Apostacy since the Apostles days And I turned them to Christ the true Teacher and to the true Spiritual VVorship directing them where to find the Spirit and Truth that they might Worship God therein I opened Christ's Parables unto them and directed them to the Spirit of God in themselves that would open the Scriptures unto them And I shewed them how all might come to know their Saviour and sit under his Teaching and come to be Heirs of the Kingdom of God and know both God's and Christ's Voice by which they might discover all the false Shepherds and Teachers they had been under and be gathered to the true Shepherd Priest Bishop and Prophet Christ Jesus whom God commanded all to hear So when I had largely declared the VVord of Life unto them for about the space of three Hours I walked forth from amongst the People and the People passed away very well satisfied Among the rest a Professor followed me praising and commending me and his Words were like a Thistle to me At last I turned about and bid him Fear the Lord Whereupon one Priest Larkham of Cockermouth for several Priests were got together on the Way who came after the Meeting was done said to me Sir why do you judge so you must not judge said he But I turned to him and said Friend dost not thou discern an Exhortation from a Judgment for I admonished him to fear God and dost thou say I judge him So this Priest and I falling into Discourse I manifested him to be amongst the false Prophets and covetous Hirelings And several People being moved to speak unto them he and two other of the Priests soon got away When they were gone John VVilkinson who was Preacher of that Parish and of two other Parishes in Cumberland began to dispute against his own Conscience for several hours till the People generally turned against him for he thought to have Tired me out but the Lord's Power tired him out and the Lord's Truth came over him and them all And Many hundreds were Convinced that day and received the Lord Jesus Christ and his free Teaching with Gladness of whom some have died in the Truth and many stand there faithful Witnesses thereof The Souldiers also were Convinced and their VVives and continued with me till the First-day Cockermouth On the First-day I went to the Steeple-house at Cockermouth where Priest Larkham lived And when the Priest had done I began to speak and the People began to be Rude but the Souldiers told them We had broken no Law and then they were quiet Then I turned me to the Priest and laid him open among the false Prophets and Hirelings At which word the Priest went his way and said He calls me Hireling which was true enough and all the People knew it Then some of the Great Men of the Town came to me and said Sir We have no learned Men to dispute with you I told them I came not to dispute but to declare the way of Salvation to them and the way of Everlasting Life And so I declared largely the way of Life and Truth to them 1652. Brigham and directed them to Christ their Teacher that had died for them and bought them with his Blood When I had done I passed away about Two Miles to another great Steeple-house of said John Wilkinson's called Brigham where the People having been at the other Meeting were mightily affected and would have put my Horse into the Steeple-house-Yard but I said No the Priest claims that have him to an Inn. When I came into the Steeple-house-Yard I saw the People coming in great Companies as to a Fair and abundance were already gathered in the Lanes and about the Steeple-house I was very Thirsty and walked about a quarter of a Mile to a Brook where I got some Water and refreshed my Self And as I came up again I met the said Wilkinson who as I passed by him said Sir will you preach to day If you will said he I will not Oppose you in Word or Thought I replied Oppose if thou wilt I have something to speak to the People And said I thou carried'st thy self foolishly the other day and spakest against thy Conscience and Reason insomuch that thy Hearers cried out against thee So I left him and went on for he saw it was in vain to Oppose the People were so affected with the Lord's Truth When I came into the Steeple-house-Yard a Professor came to me and asked If I would not go into the Church as he called it And I seeing no convenient Place abroad to stand to speak unto the People from went in and stood up in a Seat after the People were settled The Priest came in also but did not go up to his Pulpit So the Lord opened my Mouth and I declared his Everlasting Truth and Word of Life to the People directing them to the Spirit of God in themselves by which they might know God and Christ and the Scriptures and come to have heavenly Fellowship in the Spirit And I declared to them that Every one that cometh into the World was enlightened by Christ the Life by which Light they might see their Sins and Christ who was come to save them from their Sins and died for them And if they came to walk in this Light they might therein see Christ to be the Author of their Faith and the Finisher thereof their Shepherd to feed them their Priest to teach them and their great Prophet to open divine Mysteries unto them and to be always present with them I opened also unto them in the Openings of the Lord the first Covenant shewing them the Figures and the Substance of those Figures and so bringing them on to Christ the New Covenant I also manifested unto them that there had been a Night of Apostacy since the Apostles days but that now the Everlasting Gospel was preached again which brought
Ye would have Honour before ye have Humility Did not all the Persecutors that ever were upon the Earth want this Humility And so they wanted the Honour and yet would have the Honour before they had the Humility and had learned that And so ye that be out of the Humility be out of the Honour and ye are not to have the Honour who have not the Humility for before Honour is Humility mark before it Now ye pretend Liberty of Conscience yet shall not one carry a Letter to a Friend nor Men visit their Friends nor visit Prisoners nor carry a Book about them either for their own Use or for their Friends and yet ye pretend Liberty of Conscience Men shall not see their Friends but Watches are set up against them to catch and stop them and these must be Well-armed Men too against an Innocent People that have not so much as a Stick in their Hâ—nds who are in scorn called Quakers And yet â—mâ—ng such as set up these Watches is pretended Liberty of Conscience who take up them whose Consciences are exercised towards God and Men who worship God in their Way which is the Truth which they that be out of the Light call Heresy Now these who set up the Watches against them whom they in scorn call Quakers it is Because they confess and witness the true Light that lighteth every one that cometh into the World amongst People as they pass through the Country or among their Friends This is the dangerous Doctrine which the Watchmen are set up against to subdue Error as they call it which is the Light that doth enlighten every Man that cometh into the World Hâ—m by whom the World was made who was glorified with the Father before the VVorld began For them whom they in scorn call Quakers have they set up their VVatches Able Men well-Armed to take up these that bear this Testimony either in VVords Books or Letters So that is the Light you hate that doth Enlighten every man that cometh into the VVorld and these that witness to this Light are they that you put in Prison And after you have Imprisoned them you set up your VVatches to take up all that go to Visit them and to Imprison them also So that by setting up your VVatches ye would stop all Relief from coming to Prisoners Therefore this is the VVord of the Lord God to you and a Charge to you all in the presence of the living Goâ— of Heaven and Earth Every Man of you being enlightned with a Light that cometh from Christ the Saviour of People's Souls from whom the Light cometh that enlightens you To the Light all take heed that with it you may all see Christ from whom the Light cometh you may all see him to be your Saviour by whom the VVorld was made who saith Learn of me But if ye hate this Light which Christ hath enlightned you withal ye hate Christ who doth Enlighten you all that you all through him who is the Light might believe But not believing in the Light nor bringing your Deeds to the Light which will make them manifest and reprove them this is your Condemnation even the Light Remember you are warned in your Life-time for this is your VVay to Salvation the Light if you walk in it And this is your Condemnation the Light if you reject and hate it And you can never come to Christ the Second Priest unless you come to the Light which the Second Priest hath enlightned you withal So ye that come not to the Light ye go to the Priests that take Tithes as did the First Priesthood and so hale out of your Synagogues and Temples as some call them as that Priesthood did that took Tithes which they that were of the Second Priesthood did not Was there ever such a Generation Or ever did such a Generation of Men appear as doth now in this Age who are so full of Madness Envy and Persecution that they stand up in VVatches with Bills and VVeapons against the Truth to persecute it as the Towns and Countries do declare which Rings as Sodom and like Gomorrah And this hath its Liberty and Truth is stood against And to Reprove Sin is accounted a Breach of the Peace as they say who be out of the Truth and set up their VVatches against it G. F. Besides this General VVarning there coming to my Hand a Copy of a VVarrant Issued out from the Sessions of Exon in express Terms For the apprehending of all Quakers wherein Truth and Friends were reproached and vilified I was moved to write an Answer thereunto and send it abroad for the Clearing of Truth and Friends from the Slanders therein cast upon them and to manifest the wickedness of that persecuting Spirit from whence it proceeded And that which I writ was after this manner WHereas there was a VVarrant granted forth the last Sessions holden at Exon on the Eighteenth Day of the Fifth Month 1656. which VVarrant is For the Apprehending and taking up all such as are Quakers or call themselves Quakers or go under the Notion of Quakers And is directed to the Chief-Constables to be sent by them to the Petty-Constables requiring them to set VVatches able Men with Bills to take up all such Quakers as aforesaid And whereas in your said VVarrant you speak of the Quakers spreading Seditious Books and Papers I Answer They whom ye in scorn call Quakers have no Seditious Books or Papers but their Books are against Sedition and Seditious Men and Seditious Books and Seditious Teachers and Seditious VVays And so ye have numbred them who are honest Men Godly Men holy Men Men that fear God among Beggars Rogues and Vagabonds Thus putting no Difference between the Precious and the Vile you are not fit to judge who have set up your Bills and armed your Men to stand up together in Battel against the Innocent People the Lambs of Christ which have not lifted up an Hand against you But if ye were sensible of the State of your own Country your Cities your Towns your Villages how the Cry of them is like Gomorrah and the Ring like Sodom and the Sound like the Old World where all Flesh had Corrupted its way which God overthrew with the Flood If you did this consider with your selves you would find something to turn the Sword against and not against the Lambs of Christ and not make a Mock upon the Innocent that stand a Witness against all Sin and Vnrighteousness in your Towns and Steeple-houses Noah the Eighth Person a Preacher of Righteousness was grieved with the filthy Conversation of the Wicked So are we now So likewise Just Lot was grieved with their unmerciful Deeds and the filthy Conversation of Sodom And were not these hated of the World and of them that lived in Filthiness And whereas you speak of those whom you in scorn call Quakers that they are a Grief to those whom you call Pious and Religious People and their
forth and spake through the Streets which were so strait and short that one might stand in the Midst of the Town and see both the Gates I followed John ap John and a multitude of People were soon gathered about him amongst whom a very dark Priest began to babble but his Mouth was soon stopped So when John had cleared himself I declared the word of Life amongst the People directing them to the Light of Christ in their Hearts that by it they might see all their own Ways Religions and Teachers and might come off from them all to Christ the true and living Way and the Free Teacher Some of the People were rude but the greater part were civil and told us They had heard how we had been persecuted and abused in many places but they would not do so to us there I commended their Moderation and Sobriety and warned them of the Day of the Lord that was coming upon all Sin and Wickedness testifying unto them that Christ was now come to Teach his People himself by his Spirit and by his Power Beaumorris From hence we went to Beaumorris a Town wherein John ap John had formerly been Preacher to a Congregation After we had put up our Horses at an Inn John went forth and spake through the Street and there being a Garrison in the Town they took him and put him into Prison The Inn-keeper's Wife came and told me That the Governour and Magistrates were sending for me to send me to Prison also I told her They had done more than they could answer already and had acted contrary to Christianity in Imprisoning him for Reproving Sin in their Streets and Gates and for declaring the Truth Soon after came other friendly People and told me If I went out into the Street they would Imprison me also and therefore they desired me to keep within the Inn. Upon this I was moved to go and walk up and down in the Streets and told the People What an uncivil and un-Christian thing they had done in casting my Friend into Prison And they being high Professors I asked them If this was the Entertainment they had for Strangers And if they would willingly be so served themselves And whether they who looked upon the Scriptures to be their Rule had any Example in the Scriptures from Christ or his Apostles for what they had done So after a while they set John ap John at Liberty again Next Day being Market-day we were to cross over a great Water and not far from the place where we were to take Boat many of the Market-People drew to us amongst whom we had good Service for the Lord declaring the word of Life and Everlasting Truth unto them and proclaiming the Day of the Lord amongst them which was coming upon all wickedness and directing them to the Light of Christ which he the heavenly Man had enlightned them withal by which they might see all their sins and all their false Ways Religions Worships and Teachers and by the same Light might see Christ Jesus who was come to save them and lead them to God So after the Lord's Truth had been declared to them in the Power of God and Christ the free Teacher set over all the Hireling-Teachers I bid John ap John get his Horse into the Boat which was then ready But there being a Company of wild Gentlemen as they called them got into it whom we found very rude and far from gentleness they with others kept his Horse out of the Boat So I rode to the Boat's-side and spake to them shewing them What an unmanly and unchristian Carriage it was and told them they shewed an unworthy Spirit below Christianity or Humanity As I spake unto them I leapt my Horse into the Boat amongst them thinking John's Horse would have followed when he had seen mine go in before him but the Water being pretty deep John could not get his Horse into the Boat Wherefore I leapt out again on Horseback into the Water and staid with John on that side till the Boat returned There we tarried from the Eleventh Hour of the Fore-noon to the Second in the Afternoon before the Boat came to fetch us and then had we forty and two Miles to ride that Evening and by that time we had paid for our Passage we had but one groat left between us both in Money We rode about sixteen Miles and then got a little Hay for our Horses and setting forward again we came in the Night to a little Ale-house where we thought to have staid and baited But finding we could have neither Oats nor Hay there we travelled on all Night And about the fifth Hour in the Morning got to a place within six Miles of Rexam Near Rexam where that Day we met with many Friends and had a glorious Meeting and the Lord 's Everlasting Power and Truth was over all and a Meeting is continued there to this day Very weary we were with travelling so hard up and down in Wales and in many places we found it difficult to get meat either for our Horses or Our selves The next Day we passed from thence into Flintshire Flintshire Rexam sounding the Day of the Lord through the Towns and came into Rexam at Night Here many of Floyd's People came to us but very rude wild and airy they were and little Sense of Truth they had Yet some were Convinced in that Town Next Morning one called a Lady sent for me who kept a Preacher in her House I went to her House but found both her and her Preacher very light and airy too light to receive the weighty Things of God In her Lightness she came and asked me If she should cut my Hair But I was moved to reprove her and bid her Cut down the Corruptions in her self with the Sword of the Spirit of God So after I had admonished her to be more grave and sober we passed away and afterwards in her frothy mind she made her Boast That she came behind me and cut off the Curl of my Hair but she spake falsly From Rexam we came through the Country to West-chester West-Chester and it being the Fair-time we stay'd there a while and visited Friends For I had travelled through every County in Wales preaching the Everlasting Gospel of Christ and a brave People there is now which hath received it and sitteth under Christ's Teaching But before I left Wales I writ a Paper to the Magistrates of Beaumorris concerning their Imprisoning of John ap John letting them see their Conditions and the Fruits of their Christianity and of their Teachers And afterwards I met with some of them near London but oh how ashamed they were of their Action From West-chester we came through the Country to Leverpool Liverpool where was at that time a Fair also And as I rode through the Fair there stood a Friend upon the Cross declaring the Truth to the People Who seeing me ride
to get ready their Horses in the Morning and we rode out of Town together There were with me at that time Thomas Rawlinson Alexander Parker and Robert Widders When we were come out of Town they asked me Whether I would go I told them It was upon me from the Lord to go back again to Johnston the Town Johnstons out of which we had been lately thrust and to set the Power of God and his Truth over them also Alexander Parker said he would go along with me and I wisht the other Two to stay at a Town about three Miles from Edenborough till we returned Then Alexander Parker and I got over the Water Johnstons which was about three Miles over and rid on through the Country but in the Afternoon his Horse being weak and not able to hold up with mine I put on and got into Johnston's just as they were drawing up the Bridges the Officers and Souldiers never questioning me So I rid up the Street to Capt. Davenport's House from which House we had been banished before There were many Officers with him and when I came amongst them they lifted up their Hands admiring that I should come again but I told them The Lord God had sent me amongst them again So they went their Way And the Baptists sent me a Letter by way of Challenge That they would discourse with me the next day I sent them Word I would Meet them at such an House about half a Mile out of the Town at such an Hour For I considered if I should stay in Town to discourse with them they might under pretence of discoursing with me have raised Men to put me out of the Town again as they had done before At the Time appointed I went to the Place appointed Capt. Davenport and his Son accompanying me and there I stay'd some Hours but never a one of them came But while I stay'd there waiting for them I spied Alexander Parker coming who not being able to reach the Town had lain out the Night before and when I saw him I was exceeding glad that we were met again This Captain Davenport was then loving to Friends but afterwards coming more into the Obedience to Truth he was turned out of his Place for not putting off his Hat and for saying Thou and Thee to them Now when we had waited beyond reasonable Ground to expect any of their Coming we departed And Alexander Parker being moved to go again to the Town where we had the Meeting at the Market-Cross I passed alone through the Country to Lieutenant Foster's Quarters where there were several Officers that were Convinced From thence I went up to the Town where I had left the other two Friends and they and I went back to Edenborough together When we were come to the City I bid Robert Widders follow me and in the Dread and Power of the Lord we came up to the two first Sentries and the Lord's Power came so over them that we passed by them without any Examination Then we rode up the Street to the Market-place and by the Main-guard out at the Gate by the third Sentry and so clear out at the Suburbs and there came to an Inn and set up our Horses it being the seventh Day of the Week Now I saw and felt that we had rid as it were against the Canon's Mouth or the Sword 's Point but the Lord's Power and immediate Hand carried us over the Heads of them all Next day I went up to the Meeting in the City Friends having notice that I would be at it There came many Officers and Souldiers to it and a glorious Meeting it was and the Everlasting Power of God was set over the Nation and his Son reigned in his glorious Power and all was quiet and no Man offered to meddle with me 1657. Edenborough When the Meeting was ended and I had visited Friends I came out of the City to my Inn again and the next day being the second day of the Week we set forward through the Country towards the Borders of England As we travelled along the Country I spied a Steeple-house and it struck at my Life I asked what Steeple-house it was and was Answered Dunbar that it was Dunbar When I came thither and had set up at an Inn I walked up to the Steeple-house having a Friend or two with me When we came into the Steeple-house-yard one of the chief Men of the Town was walking there So I spake to one of the Friends that was with me To go to him and tell him that about the Ninth Hour next Morning there would be a Meeting there of the People of God called Quakers of which we desired he would give notice to the People of the Town He sent me Word That they were to have a Lecture there by the Ninth Hour but that we might have our Meeting there by the Eighth Hour if we would We concluded so and desired him to give Notice of it Accordingly in the Morning both Poor and Rich came And there being a Captain of Horse quartered in the Town He and his Troopers came also so that we had a large Meeting And a glorious Meeting it was the Lord's Power being set over all After some time the Priest came and went into the Steeple-house but we being in the Steeple-house-yard most of the People staid with us And Friends were so full and their Voices so high in the Power of God that the Priest could do little in the Steeple-house but came quickly out again and stood a while and then went his Way For after I had opened to the People Where they might find Christ Jesus having turned them to the Light which he had enlightned them withal that in the Light they might see Christ that died for them and turn to him and know him to be their Saviour and free Teacher and had let them see that all the Teachers they had hitherto followed were Hirelings who made the Gospel chargeable and had shewed them the wrong Ways they had walked in in the Night of Apostacy and had directed them to Christ the new and living Way to God and had manifested unto them how they had lost the Religion and Worship which Christ set up in Spirit and Truth and had hitherto been in the Religions and Worships of Mens making and setting up and after I had turned the People to the Spirit of God which led the holy Men of God to give forth the Scriptures and shewed them that they must also come to receive and be led by the same Spirit in themselves a Measure of which was given unto every one of them if ever they came to know God and Christ and the Scriptures aright perceiving the other Friends that were with me to be full of the Power and Word of the Lord I stepped down giving way for them to declare what they had from the Lord to say unto the People Towards the latter End of
in the Power and Spirit which they were in that gave them forth That was to be turned away from by them that came into the Power and Spirit which they were in that gave forth the Scriptures Seventhly They that sit down in the heavenly Places in Christ Jesus these sit down in him that never fell nor never changed Here is the safe sitting for all his Elect his Church his Spiritual Members of which he is the living Head his living Stones the Houshold of Faith of which House he is the Corner-stone that stands and abides all Weathers For as the Apostle said He hath quickned us who were dead in Sins and Trespasses c. and made us to sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus that in the Ages to come he might shew the exceeding Riches of his Grace in his Kindness towards us through Jesus Christ. Now the Ages are come that his Kindness and exceeding Riches towards us through Jesus Christ is truly manifested in us as it was in the Apostles days even in us who have been dead in Sins and Trespasses as they were but now are quickned and made alive and made to sit together in the heavenly Places in Christ Jesus the First and the Last by whom all things were created who is ascended above all and is over all and whose glorious presence is now known And all that sit down here in Christ Jesus they see where all other People sit and in what So the Promise of God being to the Seed which is one Christ Jesus every Man and Woman must come to witness this Seed Christ in them that they may be Heirs of the Promise and inheriting that they will inherit Substance These things were largely declared of and the state of the Church and the state of the false Church since the Apostles days opened and how the true Church fled into the Wilderness and the state of the false Prophets which Christ said should come and John saw were come and how all the World wondred after them and how they had filled the World with false Doctrines Ways Worships and Religions and how the Everlasting Gospel was now preached again to all Nations Kindreds Tongues and People for all Nations Kindreds Tongues and People had drunk the Whore's Cup and she was over them and sate upon them And in this Night of Apostacy the pure Religion and Worship in Spirit which was in the Apostles days and the way of Life and living Faith and the Power and Holy Ghost were lost but now they came to be set up again by Christ Jesus and his Messengers and Ministers of the Gospel as in the Apostles days For as Christ sent his Disciples to go and preach the Gospel into all the World and after that the false Prophets and Antichrists went over the World and preached their false Doctrines and Traditions and Heathenish and Jewish Rudiments So now again the Everlasting Gospel must be preached to all Nations and to every Creature that they may come into the pure Religion to worship God in the Spirit and Truth and may know Christ Jesus their Way to God and him to be the Author of their Faith and may receive the Gospel from Heaven and not from Men in which Gospel received from Heaven is the Heavenly Fellowship which is a Mystery to all the Fellowships in the World Now after these things had been largely opened with many other things concerning Christ Jesus and his Kingdom and the People were turned to the divine Light of Christ and his Spirit by which they might come both to know God and Christ and the Scriptures and to have Fellowship with them and one with another in the same Spirit I was moved to declare and open divers other things to those Friends who had received a part of the Ministry concerning the Exercise of their Spiritual Gifts in the Church Which being taken in writing by one that was present was after this manner Friends TAke heed of destroying that which ye have begotten for that which destroys goes out and is the Cast-away And though that be true yea and may be the pure Truth which such an one speaks yet if he doth not remain in that and live in that in his own particular but goes out the same which he is gone out from cometh over him So that that calms the Spirits and cools the Spirits that goes over the World and brings to the Father to inherit the Life Eternal and reaches to the Spirits in Prison in all Therefore in the living immoveable Word of the Lord God dwell and in the Renown thereof and remain on the Foundation that is pure and that is sure for whosoever goes out from the Pure and Ministers not in and from that he comes to an End and doth not remain though he may have had a Time and may have been serviceable for a Time while he lived in the Thing And take heed of many Words but what reacheth to the Life that settles in the Life That which cometh from the Life and is received from God that reacheth to the Life and settles others in the Life For the Work is not now as it was at first but the Work now is to settle and stay in the Life For as Friends have been led to minister in the Power and the Power hath gone through so that there hath grown an Vnderstanding among both People of the World and Friends so Friends must be kept in the Life which is pure that with that they may answer the pure Life of God in others For if Friends do not live in the pure Life which they speak of to answer the Life in those that they speak to the other part steps in and so there comes up an Outward Acquaintance and he lets that come over him But as every one is kept living in the Life of God over all that which is contrary they are in their places then they do not lay Hands on any suddenly which is the Danger now for if any one do he may lose his Discerning and may lay Hands on the wrong Part and so let the Deceit come too near him and the Deceit will steal over so that it will be an hard thing for him to get it down There is no one strikes his Fellow-servants but first he is gone from the pure in his own particular for when he goeth from the Light he is enlightned withal then he strikes and then he hath his Reward the Light which he is gone from Christ he comes and gives him his Reward This is the state of the evil Servants the boisterous and the hasty and rash beget nothing to God but the Life which doth reach the Life is that which begets to God Now when all are settled in the Life they are in that which remains for ever and what is received there is received from the Lord and what one receiveth from the Lord he keepeth and so he sitteth still and cool and quiet in his
Meeting but not without danger of being Apprehended 1669. Balby York the Constables having threatned to take up Friends about that time I passed on from thence visiting Friends through the Country till I came to Balby and so to York to the Quarterly-Meeting there and a blessed Meeting we had Friends had in Yorkshire Seven Monthly Meetings before and they were so sensible of the Service of them that they desired to have Seven more added to them For Truth was much spread in that Country Accordingly in that Quarterly Meeting they were settled and established So that whereas before they had but Seven now they have Fourteen Monthly Meetings in that County It being the Assize-time at York there I met with Justice Hotham a Well-wisher to Friends and one that had been Tender and very Kind to me at the first After I had finished my Service for the Lord in York I passed further up into the Country And as I went a great Burden fell upon me but I did not presently know the Reason of it So I came to a Meeting on the First-Day at one Shipton's R. Shipton which was very large But there being a Meeting the same day at another place also the Priest of that place being mis-informed that I was to be there got a Warrant and made great Disturbance at that Meeting of which Isaac Lindley who was there gave me an Account by the following Letter thus G. F. WHen thou went'st from York the First-Day after thou wast at Richard Shipton's That Day I had appointed a Meeting Ten Miles from York where there had not been a Meeting before But the Priest and the Constable got a Warrant on the Seventh Day and put thy Name only in the Warrant for they had heard that thou wast to be there and they came with Weapons and Staves and cried Where is Mr. Fox over and over many Friends being there they concluded thou wast among them But those Raveners being disappointed plucked me down and abused me and beat some Friends and then had me before a Magistrate but he set me at Liberty Isaac Lindley After the aforesaid Meeting was done I passed through the Countries Whitby Scarborough visiting Friends at Whitby and Scarborough When I was at Scarborough the Governour hearing I was come to the Town sent to invite me to his House saying Surely I would not be so unkind as not to come and see him and his Wife Wherefore after the Meeting was over I went up to Visit him and he received me very Courteously and Lovingly The Wouls Now after I had visited most of the Meetings in Yorkshire and up to the Wouls and Holderness Holderness H. Jackson T. Tayler Eldreth I passed through the Country till I came to Henry Jacksons where I had a great Meeting And from thence to Thomas Tayler's and so to John Moor's at Eldreth where we had a very large Meeting 1669. Eldreth And the Lord's Power and Presence was eminently amongst us Not far off from this place lay Col. Kirby lame of the Gout who had threatned that If ever I came near he would send me to Prison again and had bidden 40 l. to any man that could take me as I was credibly informed After this Meeting I passed through the Countries till I came into Staffordshire and so into Cheshire Staffordshire Cheshire Warrington where we had many large and precious Meetings I had a very large Meeting at William Barns his House about two Miles from Warrington and although Col. Kirby was now got abroad again as violent in breaking up Meetings as before and was then at Warrington yet the Lord did not suffer him to come to this Meeting and so we were preserved out of his hands Now was I moved of the Lord to pass over into IRELAND IRELAND to visit the Seed of God in that Nation and there went with me Robert Lodge James Lancaster Thomas Briggs and John Stubbs We went near to Liverpool and waited there for Shipping and Wind Liverpool and after we had waited some days we sent James Lancaster to take Passage which he did and brought Word the Ship was ready and would take us in at Black-Rock Whereupon we went thither on foot and it being pretty far and the Weather very hot I was very much spent with Walking Yet when we came there the Ship was not there so we were fain to go to the Town and take Shipping there When we were come on Board I said to the rest of my Company Come ye will Triumph in the Lord for we shall have fair Wind and Weather There were many Passengers in the Ship and many of them were Sick but not one of our Company was Sick The Master and many of the Passengers were very loving and we being at Sea on the First-Day of the Week I was moved to declare Truth among them Whereupon the Master said to the Passengers Come here are things that you never heard in your Lives When we came before Dublin we took Boat Dublin and went ashore and the Earth and Air smelt methought with the Corruption of the Nation so that it yielded another Smell to me than England did which I imputed to the Corruption and Popish Massacrees that had been Committed and the Blood that had been spilt in it from which a Foulness ascended We passed through among the Officers of the Custom four times yet they did not search us for they perceived what we were and some of them were so Envious they did not care to look at us We did not presently find Friends but went to an Inn and sent out to inquire for some Friends who when they came to us were exceeding glad of our Coming and received us with Great Joy We stay'd there the Weekly Meeting which was a great one and the Power and Life of God appeared greatly in it Afterwards we passed to a Province-Meeting which lasted Two Days there being both a Mens-Meeting about the Poor and another Meeting more General in which a mighty Power of the Lord appeared and Truth was livingly declared and Friends were much refreshed therein Passing from thence about four and twenty miles we came to another place where we had a very good refreshing Meeting But after the Meeting was over some Papists that were there were Angry and raged very much When I heard of it I sent for one of them who was a Schoolmaster 1669. Ireland but he would not come at me Whereupon I sent a Challenge to him with all the Friers and Monks Priests and Jesuits to come forth and Try their God and their Christ which they had made of Bread and Wine but no Answer could I get from them Wherefore I told them They were Worse than the Priests of Baal for Baal's Priests tried their Woodden God but these durst not try their God of Bread and Wine and Baal's Priests and People did not Eat their God as these did and then make
out of the Truth for the Good will Overcome the Evil and the Light Darkness and the Life Death and Vertue Vice and Righteousness Vnrighteousness The False Prophet cannot overcome the True but the True Prophet Christ will overcome all the False So be Faithful and live in that which doth not think the time long G. F. But after some time it pleased the Lord to allay the Heat of this Violent Persecution and I felt in Spirit an overcoming of the Spirits of those Men-Eaters that had stirred it up and carried it on to that Height of Cruelty though I was outwardly very Weak And I plainly felt and those Friends that were with me and that came to Visit me saw and took notice that as the Persecution Ceased I came from under the Travels and Sufferings that had lain with such Weight upon me So that towards the Spring I began to Recover and to walk up and down beyond the Expectation of many who did not think I could ever have gone abroad again I had been so exceeding Weak through the Travel and Exercise that was upon my Spirit Whilst I was under this Spiritual Travel and Suffering the State of the City New Jerusalem which comes down out of Heaven was opened to me which some Carnal-minded People had looked upon to be like an outward City or Town that had dropt out of the Elements But I saw the Beauty and Glory of it the Length the Breadth and the Height thereof all in Compleat Proportion And I saw that all who are within the Light of Christ and in his Faith which he is the Author of and in the Spirit the Holy Ghost which Christ and the Holy Prophets and Apostles were in and within the Grace and Truth and within the Power of God that was before the Devil was which was the Walls of the City such are within the City such are Members of this City and have right to Eat of the Tree of Life which yields her Fruit every Month and whose Leaves are for the healing of the Nations But they that are out of the Grace out of the Truth out of the Light Spirit and Power of God such as Resist the Holy Ghost quench vex and grieve the Spirit of God and hate the Light and turn the Grace of God into Wantonness and do Despight to the Spirit of Grace such as have erred from the Faith and made Ship-wrack of it and of a Good Conscience and abuse the Power of God and despise Prophesying Revelation and Inspiration these are the Dogs and Vnbelievers that are without the City And these make up the great City Babylon Confusion and her Cage the Power of Darkness and the Evil Spirit of Error surround and cover them over And in this great City Babylon are the False Prophets in the false Power and false Spirit and the Beast in the Dragon's Power and the Whore that is gone a Whoring from the Spirit of God and from Christ her Husband But the Lord's Power is over all this Power of Darkness Cage Whore Beast Dragon False Prophets and their Worshippers who are for the Lake which burns with Fire Many things more did I see concerning the Heavenly City the New Jerusalem which are hard to be uttered and would be hard to be received But in short This Holy City is within the Light and all that are within the Light are within the City the Gates whereof stand open all the Day for there is no Night there that all may come in and Christ's Blood being shed for every Man and he tasted Death for every Man and enlightneth every Man that cometh into the World and his Grace that brings Salvation having appeared to all Men there is no Place or Language but there his Voice may be heard The Christians in the Primitive Times were called by Christ A City set upon an Hill and they were also called The Light of the World and The Salt of the Earth But when the Christians lost the Light and Salt and Power of God then they came to be trodden under foot like unsavoury Salt Even as the Jews who while they kept the Law of God were kept above all Nations but when they turned their Backs on God and his Law then were they trodden under foot of other Nations So Adam and Eve while they obeyed God were kept in his Image and in the Paradise of God in Dominion over all the Works of God's Hands but when they disobeyed God they lost the Image of God the Righteousness and the Holiness in which they were made they lost their Dominion and were driven out of Paradise and so fell under the dark Power of Satan and came under the Chains of Darkness But the Promise of God was That the Seed of the Woman Christ Jesus should bruise the Serpents Head should break his Power and Authority which had led into Captivity and had held Man in it So Christ who is the First and Last sets Man free and is the Resurrection of the Just and Vnjust the Judge of the Quick and Dead and they that are in him are invested with everlasting Rest and Peace out of all the Labours and Travels and Miseries of Adam in the Fall So he is sufficient and of Ability to Restore Man up into the State that Man was in before he fell and not into that State only but up into that State also that never fell even to himself I had also in this time a great Exercise and Travel of Spirit upon me concerning the Powers and Rulers of these Nations from the sense I had of the many tender Visitations and faithful Warnings that had been given them and of their great Abuse thereof who had refused to hear and had rejected the Counsel of the Lord. And though I knew Friends would be Clear of their Blood yet I could not but Mourn over them and gave forth these few Lines following concerning them WE have given them a Visitation and have faithfully Warned them and have declared to them our Innocency and Vprightness and that we never did any Hurt to the King nor to any of his People We have nothing in our Hearts but Love and Good-will to him and his People and desire their Eternal Welfare But if they will not hear then the Day of Judgment and of Sorrow of Torment and Misery and sudden Destruction will come from the Lord upon them that have been the Cause of the Sufferings of many Thousands simple innocent harmless People that have done them no hurt nor have had any Ill Will towards him or them but have desired their Eternal Good for the Eternal Truth 's sake Destruction will come upon them that turn the Sword backward Therefore do not blind your Eyes the Lord will bring swift Destruction and Misery upon you Surely he will do it and will relieve his Innocent People who have groaned for Deliverance from under your Oppression and have also groaned for your Deliverance out of Wickedness Blessed be
were over we parted Company dividing our selves into several Coasts for the Service of Truth James Lancaster and John Cartwright went by Sea for New-England William Edmundson and three Friends more with him sailed for Virginia where things were much out of Order John Burneyate Robert Widders George Pattison and I with several Friends of the Province went over by Boat to the Eastern Shore Eastern-Shore and had a Meeting there on the First Day where many People received the Truth with Gladness and Friends were greatly refreshed A very large and Heavenly Meeting it was and several Persons of Quality in that Country were at it two of which were Justices of the Peace And it was upon me from the Lord to send to the Indian-Emperor and his Kings to come to that Meeting The Emperor came and was at the Meeting but his Kings lying further off could not reach thither time enough Yet they came after with their Cockarooses I had in the Evening for they staid all Night two good Opportunities with them and they heard the Word of the Lord willingly and did confess to it What I spake to them I desired them to speak to their People and let them know That God was setting up his Tabernacle of Witness in their Wilderness-Country and was setting up his Standard and glorious Ensign of Righteousness They carried themselves very courteously and lovingly and inquired Where the next Meeting would be and they would come to it Yet they said They had had a great Debate with their Council about their Coming before they came now Tredaven-Creek Miles River Wye River Chester River The next Day we began our Journey by Land to New-England a tedious Journey through the Woods and Wilderness over Boggs and great Rivers We took Horse at the Head of Tredaven-Creek and travelled through the Woods till we came a little above the Head of Miles-River by which we passed and rode on to the Head of Wye-River and so got to the Head of Chester-River where making a Fire we took up our Lodging in the Woods 1672. Saxifrax River Bohemia River Next Morning setting forward again we travelled through the Woods till we came to Saxifrax-River which we went over in Canoos which are Indian-Boats causing our Horses to swim by Then we rode on to Bohemia-River where in like manner swimming our Horses we our selves went over in Canoos We rested a little at a Plantation by the Way but could not stay long for we had Thirty Miles to ride that Afternoon if we would reach a Town which we were willing to do and therefore rid hard for it And I with some others whose Horses were stronger got to the Town that Night exceedingly tired and withal wet to the Skin But George Pattison and Robert Widders being weaker-horsed were fain to fall short and lie in the Woods that Night also making themselves a Fire The Town we went to was a Dutch Town called New-Castle New-Castle whither Robert Widders and George Pattison came to us next Morning We departed from thence and got over the River Delaware not without great Danger of some of our Lives Delaware River and when we were over we were troubled to get new Guides which were hard to get and very chargeable Then had we that Wilderness-Country to pass through which is since called West-Jersey WEST-JERSEY which was not then inhabited by English so that we have travelled a whole Day together without seeing Man or Woman House or Dwelling-place and sometimes we lay in the Woods by a Fire â—nd sometimes in the Indians Wigwams or Houses In this Journey we came one Night to an Indian Town and lay at their King's House who was a very pretty Man and both he and his Wife received us very lovingly and his Attendants such as they were were very respectful to us they laid us Mars to lie on but Provision was very short with them having caught but little that day At another Indian Town where we staid their King came to us and he could speak some English wherefore I spake to him much and also to his People and they were very Loving to us At length we came to a Town called Middle-Town East-Jersey Middle-Town which is an English Plantation in East-Jersey and there were some Friends but we could not stay to have a Meeting there at that time being earnestly pressed in our Spirits to get to the Half-Years-Meeting of Fâ—â—◠〈◊〉 Oister-Bay in Long-Island which was very near at hand Wherefore we went down with a Friend whose Name was Richard Hartshorn Brother to Hugh Hartshorn the Upholster in London who received us gladly to his House where we refreshed our selves for we were wear and then he carried us and our Horses in his own Boat over a great Water which held us most part of the day in getting over and set us upon Long-Island LONG-ISLAND So we got that Evening to Friends at Gravesand with whom we tarried that Night Gravesand Flushing Oister-bay half-years-Meeting and the next Day we got to Flushing and the day following we reached to Oister-Bay several Friends both of Gravesand and Flushing accompanying us The Half-Years-Meeting began next Day which was the first day of the Week and lasted four Days The first and second Days we had Publick Meetings for Worship to which the People of the World of all sorts might and did come On the third Day of the Week were the Mens and Womens-Meetings wherein the Affairs of the Church were taken Care of Here we met with some of the Bad Spirits who were run out from Truth into Prejudice Contention and Opposition to the Order of Truth 1672. Oister-bay-half-years-Meeting and to Friends therein These had been very troublesom to Friends in their Meetings there and thereabouts formerly and 't is like would have been so now But I would not suffer the Service of our Mens and Womens-Meetings to be interrupted and hindred by their Cavils Wherefore I let them know That if they had any thing to Object against the Order of Truth which we were in we would give them a Meeting another Day on purpose And indeed I laboured the more and travelled the harder to get to this Meeting where it was expected many of these contentious People would be because I understood they had reflected much upon me when I was far from them So the Mens and Womens Meetings being over on the fourth Day we had a Meeting with those discontented People to which as many of them as would did come and as many Friends as had a desire were present also And the Lord's Power brake forth gloriously to the Confounding of the Gain sayers And then some of those that had been Chief in the mischievous Work of Contention and Opposition against the Truth began to fawn upon me and to cast the matter upon others but the deceitful Spirit was judged down and condemned and the glorious Truth of God was exalted
and set over all and they were all brought down and bowed under which was of great Service to Truth and great Satisfaction and Comfort to Friends Glory to the Lord for ever After this Meeting were over and Friends were gone to their several Habitations we staid some Days upon the Island and had several Meetings in several parts thereof and had good Service for the Lord. Oister-bay And when we were clear of the Island we returned to Oister-Bay waiting for a Wind to carry us to Road-Island which was computed to be about two hundred Miles As soon as the Wind served we set Sail ROAD-ISLAND and arrived in Road-Island on the thirtieth Day of the Third Month where we were gladly received by Friends We went to Nicholas Easton's House who at that time was Governour of the Island and there we lay being very weary with travelling by Land and Sea On the First-Day of the Week following we had a large Meeting to which the Deputy-Governour and several Justices came and were mightily affected with the Truth The Week following the Yearly Meeting for all the Friends of New-England Yearly Meeting and the other Colonies adjacent was held in this Island to which besides very many Friends who lived in those parts came John Stubbs from Barbados and James Lancaster and John Cartwright from another way This Meeting lasted Six Days of which the first four Days were general publick Meetings for Worship to which abundance of the World's People came For they having no Priests in the Island and so no Restriction to any particular Way of Worship and both the Governour and Deputy-Governour with several Justices of the Peace daily frequenting the Meetings this did so encourage the People that they flocked in from all parts of the Island Very good Service we had amongst them and Truth had a good Reception with them And indeed to give them their due I have rarely observed a People in the State wherein they stood to hear with more Attention Diligence and Affection than generally they did during the four Days together which also was taken notice of by other Friends After these publick Meetings were over the Mens-Meeting began which was large 1672. Road-Island Yearly-Meeting precious and weighty and the day following was the Womens-Meeting which also was large and very solemn and these two Meetings being for the Ordering the Affairs of the Church many weighty things were opened and communicated to them by Way of Advice Information and Instruction in the Services relating thereunto that all might be kept clean sweet and savoury amongst them In these two Meetings several Mens and Womens Meetings for other parts were agreed and settled to take Care of the Poor and other Affairs of the Church and to see that all who profess Truth walk according to the glorious Gospel of God Now when this great and General Meeting in Road-Island was ended it was somewhat hard for Friends to part For the glorious Power of the Lord which was over all and his blessed Truth and Life flowing amongst them had so knit and united them together that they spent two Days in taking leave one of another and of the Friends of the Island and then being mightily filled with the Presence and Power of the Lord they went away with joyful Hearts to their several Habitations in the several Colonies where they lived When this General Meeting was fully over and Friends had taken their Leaves one of another to depart home we who travelled amongst them dispersed our selves into our several Services according as the Lord ordered us John Burneyate with John Cartwright and George Pattison went into the Eastern parts of New-England in Company with the Friends that came from thence to visit the particular Meetings there whom John Stubbs and James Lancaster intended to follow a while after in the same Service of Truth but they were not yet Clear of this Island Robert Widders and I staid some time longer also upon this Island finding Service still here for the Lord through the great Openness of the People and the daily Coming in of Fresh People in Sloops from other Colonies for some time after the General Meeting was over So that we had many large and serviceable Meetings among them for several Days after During the time that we abode here there was a Marriage celebrated amongst Friends in this Island and we were at it It was at a Friend's House who had formerly been Governour of the Island and three Justices of the Peace and many others of the World's People were there and both they and Friends said They never saw such a Solemn Assembly on such an Occasion and so weighty a Marriage and so comely an Order Thus Truth was set over all and this might serve for an Example to others for there were some present from many other places After this I had a great Travel in Spirit concerning the Ranters for there were many of them in those parts and they had been rude at a Meeting which I was not at Wherefore I appointed a Meeting amongst them and I believed the Lord would give me Power over them and he did so to his Praise and Glory blessed be his Name for ever There were at this Meeting many Friends and divers of the World's People some of whom were Justices of the Peace and other Officers and they were generally well affected with the Truth But one of the Justices who had been a Justice twenty Years was Convinced 1672. Providence and spake highly of the Truth and more highly of me than is fit for me to mention or take notice of Then we had a Meeting at a place called Providence which was very large as consisting of many Sorts and Sects of People and I had a great Travel upon my Spirit concerning the Meeting that it might be preserved quiet and that Truth might be brought over the People and might gain an Entrance and have a Place in them For they were generally above the Priests in high Notions and some of them came on purpose to dispute But the Lord whom we waited upon was with us and his Power went over them all and his blessed Seed was exalted and set above all and the Disputers were silent and the Meeting was quiet and ended well praised be the Lord And the People went away mightily satisfied much desiring another Meeting This place called Providence was about Thirty Miles from Road-Island and we went to it by Water The Governour of Road-Island and many others went with me thither and we had the Meeting in a great Barn which was throng'd with People so that I was exceeding hot and in a great Sweat but all was well the glorious Power of the Lord shined over all Glory to the great God for ever Narraganset After this we went to another place called Narraganset about Twenty Miles from Road-Island and the Governour went with us There we had a Meeting at a Justice's House
are with me and we are well Glory to the Lord for ever who hath carried us through many Perils Perils by Water and in Storms Perils by Pirates and Robbers Perils in the Wilderness and amongst false Professors Praises to him whose Glory is over all for ever Amen Therefore mind the fresh Life and live all to God in it I do intend if the Lord will to stay a while this-away it may be till the Fair. So no more but my Love to all Friends Bristol the 28th Day of the 4th Month 1673. G. F. Between this and the Fair my Wife came out of the North to Bristol to me and her Son-in-Law Thomas Lower with two of her Daughters came with her And her other Son-in-Law John Rouse and W. Penn and his Wife and Gerrard Roberts came down from London and many Friends from several parts of the Nation came to the Fair and glorious powerful Meetings we had there at that time for the Lord 's Infinite Power and Life was over all In the fresh Openings whereof I was moved to declare of Three Estates and Three Teachers viz. That God was the first Teacher of Man and Woman in Paradise And as long as they kept to and under God's Teaching they kept in the Image of God and in his Likeness in Righteousness and Holiness and in Dominion over all that God had made in the blessed State in the Paradise of God But when they heark'ned to the Serpent's false Teaching who was out of Truth and disobeyed God and obeyed the Serpent in feeding upon that which God forbad them then they lost the Image of God the Righteousness and Holiness and came under the Power of Satan and were turned out of Paradise out of the Blessed into the Cursed State And then the Promise of God was That the Seed of the Woman should bruise the Serpent's Head and break his Power that Man and Woman were under and destroy his Works So here were Three States and Three Teachers God was the first Teacher in Paradise and whilst Man kept under his Teaching he was happy The Serpent was the Second Teacher and when Man followed his Teaching he came into Misery and into the Fall from the Image of God and Righteousness and Holiness and from the Power that he had over all that God had made and came under the Serpent whom he had Power over before Christ Jesus was the Third Teacher of whom God saith This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear ye him and who himself saith Learn of me This is the true Gospel-Teacher who bruises the Head of the Serpent that is the False Teacher and the Head of all False Teachers and of all False Religions False Ways False Worships and False Churches Now Christ who said Learn of me and of whom the Father said Hear ye him he said I am the Way to God I am the Truth I am the Life and the true Light So as Man and Woman come up again to God and are renewed up into his Image Righteousness and Holiness by Christ thereby they come up into the Paradise of God the State which Man was in before he fell and into an higher State than that to sit down in Christ that never fell Therefore the Son of God is to be heard in all things who is the Saviour and the Redeemer and hath laid down his Life and bought his Sheep with his precious Blood And we can challenge all the World Who hath any thing to say against our Way our Saviour our Redeemer who is our Prophet whom God hath raised up that we may hear and whom we must hear in all things Who hath any thing against our Shepherd Christ Jesus who leads and feeds us and we know his Heavenly Voice And who hath any thing against our Bishop in whose Mouth was never Guile found who doth Oversee us in his Pasture of Life that we do not go astray from God and out of his Fold And who hath any thing against our Priest Christ Jesus made higher than the Heavens who gives us freely and commands us to give freely And who hath any thing to say against our Leader and Counsellor Christ Jesus who never sinned but is holy and harmless and separate from Sinners God hath commanded us to hear him and he saith Learn of me and if we should disobey God's and Christ's Command we should be like our Father Adam and Mother Eve who disobeyed God's Command and hearkned to the Serpent's Teaching Now Man commands and would force us to hear the Hirelings who plead for Sin and the Body of Death to the Grave which Doctrine savours of the Devil 's Teaching not of Christ's But we resolve to hear the Son as both he and the Father command and in hearing the Son we hear the Father also as the Scripture testifies For the Author to the Hebrews says God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son Mark that God hath spoken unto us his Apostles Disciples Church by his Son And whereas some have objected That although Christ did speak both to his Disciples and to the Jews in the days of his Flesh yet since his Resurrection and Ascension he doth not speak now The Answer is That as God did then speak by his Son in the Days of his Flesh so the Son Christ Jesus doth now speak by his Spirit Wherefore John saith in the Revelations He that hath an Ear let him hear what the Spirit saith to the Churches Rev. 2. And Christ is said to speak from Heaven Heb. 12.25 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on Earth much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from Heaven They that resisted Moses his Law who spake on Earth died for it without Mercy which was a Natural Death but they that refuse him that speaks from Heaven neglect and slight their own Salvation and so die a Spiritual Death through Unbelief and Hardness of Heart Therefore was the Exhortation given of old To day if ye will hear his Voice harden not your Hearts as in the Provocation c. Heb. 3.15 c. So that they who neglect or refuse to hear the Voice of Christ now speaking from Heaven in this his Gospel-Day harden their Hearts Therefore let all mark well thâ—se three States and Teachers The God of Truth was the first Teacher wâ—â—â—e Man was in Paradise and in Innocency The Serpent was the second Teacher the false Teacher who by his false Teaching came to be the God of the World which lies in Wickedneâ—s Christ Jesus that bruises the Serpent's Head is the third Teacher who saith Learn of me and of whom God saith This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Hear ye him and of whom the Testimony of the Saints of Old was That
Men and Women that be Heirs of this Power of God it is their Possession and Portion and they are to labour in their Possession and Portion and to do God Almighty's business and Service in the Possession of the Power of God the Gospel which is a Joyful Glorious Everlasting Order And here is the Authority of our Men and Women's Meetings and other Meetings in the Name of Jesus the Gospel of Christ the Power of God which is not of Man nor by Man and in this they are all to Meet and to Worship God and by this they are all to act and in this Power they have all Fellowship a Joyful Fellowship a Joyful and Comfortable Assembly And so this is the Day in the Eternal Light that all are to take their Possessions of the Gospel and its Order that Power of God which they are Heirs of And all the Faithful Men and Women in every Country City and Nation whose Faith stands in the Power of God the Gospel of Christ and have received this Gospel and are in the Possession of this Gospel the Power of God they have all Right to the Power in these Meetings for they be Heirs of the Power which is the Authority of the Mens and Womens-Meetings So here is God's Choice and not Man's by his Power of his Heirs and they have all Freedom in this Gospel the Power of God to go to the Meetings the Men to the Mens and the Women to the Womens for they are Heirs of the Power which Power is the Gospel not of Man nor by Man but from Heaven sent by the Holy Ghost and received in the Holy Ghost which hath brought Life and Immortality to Light in them and they see over Enmity and before it was by the Light and the Life and Immortality which is brought to Light in them So the Devil the Author of Enmity cannot get into this Authority and Power nor Order nor Fellowship of the Gospel nor Life nor Light nor the Fellowship in the Holy Spirit nor into the Vnity of the Faith which gives Victory over him that hath separated Man from God by which Faith they have Access to God and into the Vnity of this Faith the Serpent cannot come nor into the Worship of God in Spirit and Truth into this Worship the Devil cannot come nor any Enmity So I say that the Serpent the Devil is out of the Fellowship of the Gospel out of the Vnity of the Faith and out of the Order of the Gospel and out of the Worship in Spirit and Truth And they that be in this be in Vnity over him And therefore as I said before let every one's Faith stand in the Power of God the Glorious Gospel and all to walk as becomes the Gospel and the Order of it and as every one hath received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk in him and let him be their Lord and Orderer For they that do preach the Gospel of Christ Jesus it is to the Intent that all might come to be Heirs of the Gospel and into the Possession of it and to be Heirs of Christ and of his Government the Encrease of which there is no end who is over all in his Righteousness and over all in his Light Life Power and Dominion And therefore know one another in his Power his Gospel which is the Authority of your Meetings And know one another in Christ Jesus who is able to restore Man out of the State of the Fall into the Image of God as he was in before he fell and into that Power and Dominion that Man had before he fell and into himself that never fell where they shall go no more forth And here is the Rock and Foundation of God that stands sure And Friends be Tender to the Tender Principle of God in all and shun the Occasion of Vain Disputes and Janglings both amongst your selves and others for that many times is like a blustering Wind that hurts and bruises the tender Buds and Plants For the World though they have the Words yet they be out of the Life and the Apostle's Disputing with them were to bring them to the Life And those Disputes that were amongst the Christians about Genealogies and Circumcision and the Law and Meats and Drinks and Days those came to be the worst sort of Disputers whom the Apostles Judged for such destroyed People from the Faith And therefore did the Apostles exhort the Churches That every ones Faith should stand in the Power of God and to Look at Jesus which was the Author of it and there every Graft stands in Christ the Vine quiet where no blustring Storms could hurt them and there is the Safety And there all are of one Mind one Faith one Soul one Spirit Baptized into one Body with the one Spirit and made all to drink into one Spirit one Church one Head that is Heavenly and Spiritual one Faith in this Head Christ who is the Author of it and hath the Glory of it one Lord to order all who is the Baptizer into this one Body So Christ hath the Glory of this Faith out of every Man and Woman and God through him hath his Glory the Creator of all in his Power the Gospel that hath brought Life and Immortality to Light in them and their Faith standing in it they know the Immortal God and Serve and Worship him in his Spirit and in his Truth by which they are made God's free Men and Women from him that is out of the Truth And now Friends all you that have been Ancient Labourers and have known the Dealings of the Lord these Twenty Years more or less as I have often said to you to draw up what you can of that which the Lord hath carried you through by his Power the Passages and Sufferings and how by the Lord ye have been supported from the first So that the Lord may be Exalted by his Power now and in the Ages to come who hath been the only Support Defence and Stay or his People all along over all to himself to whom be all Glory and Praise for ever and ever Amen Who deserves it in his Church throughout all Ages from his living Members who return the Praise to the living God who lives and reigns over all blessed for ever who is the Life and Strength and Health and Length of the Days of all his People And therefore let there be no Boasting but in the Lord and in his Power and Kingdom and that keeps all in the Humility And Friends In the Lord's Power and Truth what Good you can do for Friends that be in Prison or Sufferers as to the Informing of them or helping of them Every one bend your selves to the Lord's Power and Spirit to do his Will and his Business and in that all will have a fellow-Feeling of one anothers Conditions in Bonds or in what Trials and Tribulations soever you will have a fellow-Feeling one of another having one Head and one
from men and to receive the Gospel from him and their Vnction from him the Word and as they receive him they declare him freely as his Command was to his Disciples and is so still to the Learners and Receivers of him For he Lord God and his Son Jesus Christ is come to teach his People and to bring them from all the Worlds Ways to Christ the Way the Truth and the Life who is the Way to the Father and from all the Worlds Teachers and Speakers to him the Speaker and Teacher as Hebr. 1.1 and from all the Worlds Worshippers to worship God in the Spirit and in the Truth which the Devil the Destroyer is out of which Worship Christ set up above Sixteen hundred years ago when he put down the Jews Worship at the Temple at Jerusalem and the Worship at the Mountain where Jacob's Well was and to bring People from all the World's Religions which they have made since the Apostles days to the Religion that was set up by Christ and his Apostles which is Pure and Undefiled before God and keeps from the Spots of the World And to bring them out of all the Worlds Churches and Fellowships that they have made and set up since the Apostles days to the Church that is in God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Thess 1.1 and to bring to the Unity and Fellowship in the holy Spirit that doth mortifie and circumcise and baptise to plunge down Sin and Corruption that has got up in Man and Woman by Transgression and in this holy Spirit there is a holy Fellowship and Unity yea it is the Bond of the Prince of Princes and King of Kings and Lord of Lords Peace which heavenly Peace all the true Christians are to maintain with Spiritual Weapons not with Carnal And now my Friend the holy Men of God did speak forth the Scriptures as they were moved by the holy Ghost and all Christendom are on heaps about those Scriptures because they are not led by the same holy Ghost as they were that gave forth the Scriptures which holy Ghost they must come to in themselves and be led by if they come into All the Truth of them and to have the Comfort of God and Christ and Them For none can call Jesus Lord but by the holy Ghost and all they that do call Christ Lord without the holy Ghost take his Name in vain And likewise all that name his Name are to depart from Iniquity then they name his Name with Reverence in Truth and Righteousness And O therefore feel the Grace and Truth in thy heart that is come by Jesus Christ which is a Teacher that will teach thee how to live and what to deny and it will establish thy heart and season thy words and bring thy Salvation and will be a Teacher unto thee at all times and by it thou may'st Receive Christ from whence it comes and as many as Receive him to them he gives power not only to stand against sin and evil but to become the Sons of God if Sons then Heirs of a Life and a World and Kingdom that is Everlasting without end and of the Eternal Riches and Treasures thereof So in haste with my Love in the Lord Jesus Christ that has tasted death for every man and bruises the Serpents head that has been betwixt Man and God that through Christ Man may come to God again and so can praise God through Jesus Christ the Amen who is the spiritual and heavenly Rock and Foundation for all God's People to build upon to the praise and glory of God who is over all blessed for Evermore Amsterdam the 7th of 6th Month 1677. George Fox POSTSCRIPT THE Bearer hereof is a Daughter-in-law of mine that comes with Gertrude Dirick Nieson and George Keith's Wife to give thee a Visit G. F. The Princess Elizabeth her Answer to the aforesaid LETTER Dear Friend I Cannot but have a tender Love to those that love the Lord Jesus Christ and to whom it is given not only to believe in him but also to suffer for him Therefore your Letter and your Friends Visit have been both very welcome to me I shall follow their and your Counsel as far as God will afford me Light and Unction Remaining still Hertfort the 30th of August 1677. Your loving Friend ELIZABETH Buyckslote Purmerent Next day John Claus and I took Boat and passed to Buyckslote and thence to Purmerent where having stayed awhile and refreshed our selves at an Inn we went by Wagon through the Country to Alcmaer Alcmaer about Thirty Miles from Amsterdam We went to a Friend's house there whose name was Willem Willems where I had a Meeting that night I had also another Meeting there next day which was larger for several Professors came to the Meeting and all was quiet and well When the Meeting was done I went and visited some Friends and then taking Boat Hoorn North-Holland passed-by several places to Hoorn which is counted the chief City in North-Holland We lodged at an Inn there that night and taking Wagon again early next Morning we passed through the Country to Enckhuysen Enckhuysen Friezland Workum where we took Ship for Friezland and landing in the Afternoon at Workum took Wagon there again and rode along upon the high Bank of the Friezen Seas till we met Two Friends coming with a Wagon to meet us Mackum with whom discharging our Wagon at Mackum a Village hard by we went Harlingen in their Wagon to Harlingen the chief Sea-port-Town in Friezland We went to a Friend's house whose Name was Hessel Jacobs whither several Friends came to Visit us that night Next day we went among the Friends of the place and Visited them and I wrote a Paper directed To all them that persecute Friends for not observing their Fast-day The day following was the First-day of the Week and Friends had a Meeting there to which we went and many Professors came to it I declared the Everlasting Gospel amongst them John Claus interpreting and they were all very Civil and heard attentively and when the Meeting was done departed peaceably without making any Opposition After Meeting I went to Hessel Jacobs his house again whither after a while came a Calvinist to ask me some Questions which I answered to his satisfaction and he departed friendly Soon after he was gone a Preacher of the Collegians came to discourse with me 1677. Harlingen and he seemed well satisfied also and we parted lovingly That Evening I had another Meeting with the Friends there and next Morning when we had taken our Leave of them we passed to Leuwarden the chief City in Friezland Leuwarden and lodged that night at a Friend's house there whose Name was Sybrand Dowes Next Morning early taking Boat we passed to Dockum Dockum Strobus and walking through the City took Boat again to Strobus which is the utmost part of Friezland There we baited at a
to set forth the Way whereby Man and Woman might come into that happy Estate again The Priest an ancient grave Man stood up just as I had done speaking and putting off his Hat said I pray God to prosper and confirm that Doctrine for it is Truth and I have nothing against it He would willingly have stay'd longer until the Meeting had been ended but being a Parish-Priest and to preach that Evening he could not stay longer the time for his own Worship being come Wherefore when he had made Confession to the Truth he hastned away that he might come to the Meeting again and did come it seems to the Meeting-place but the Meeting was ended first After Meeting we went to Hessel Jacobs where I had a Meeting with Friends and the Doctor of Physick came thither to discourse with William Penn who had a good opportunity to open Truth to him By this Doctor the Priest sent his Love to me wishing him to tell me that he had left Preaching that Evening half an hour sooner than he used to do that he might have come to our Meeting again 1677. Harlingen to have heard more of that good Doctrine I heard afterwards that his Hearers questioned him for what he had said in our Meeting and that he standing by his words they had Complained of him for it to the other Priests of the City who called him to Account about it but the Result I could not learn Early next Morning William Penn taking John Claus with him passed from Harlingen for Leuwarden where he had appointed a Meeting intending after that to Travel into some other parts of Germany to visit a tender People there I with those Friends that were with me Amsterdam took Ship the same day for Amsterdam where we arrived a little after Midnight but the Gates being shut we lay on Board till Morning then went to Gertrude Dirick Nieson's where many Friends came to see us being glad of our safe Return Next day feeling a Concern upon my mind with relation to those seducing Spirits that made Division among Friends and being sensible that they endeavoured to insinuate themselves into the affectionate part I was moved to write a few Lines to Friends concerning them as followeth ALL these that do set up themselves in the Affections of the People set up themselves and the Affections of the People and not Christ But Friends your peaceable Habitation in the Truth which is Everlasting and changes not will out-last all the Habitations of those that be out of the Truth although they be never so full of words And so they that be so keen for J. S. and J. W. let them take them and the Separation And you that have given your Testimony against that Spirit stand in your Testimony till they Answer by Condemnation And do not strive nor make Bargains with that which is out of the Truth nor save that alive to be a Sacrifice for God which should be slain lest you lose your Kingdom Amsterdam the 14th day of the 7th Month 1677. G. F. On the First-day of the Week following I was at Friends Meeting at Amsterdam to which many People came and were very civil and attentive hearing Truth declared several hours and John Roeloffs Interpreted for me Before this time several of the Friends that came over with me were returned to England again as Robert Barclay George Keith's Wife and others and now my Daughter Yeomans went back also so that I was now left alone at Amsterdam And while I was here it came upon me to visit my suffering Friends at Dantzick with a few Lines to encourage and strengthen them in their Sufferings as followeth Dear Friends TO whom is my Love in the Lord's Truth that is over all 1677. Amsterdam and by which all God's People are made free Men and Women being thereby set free from him that is out of the Truth that walking in the Truth they may Answer the Witness of God in all People which Truth all must come to if they be made free Therefore be faithful unto what the Lord manifests and makes known unto you I am glad that the Lord hath Witnesses in that City to stand for his Glory and Name and to stand up for Christ Jesus the great Prophet whom God hath raised up who is to be heard in all things so that ye need none of the Prophets which men have raised up Therefore stand faithful to Christ Jesus your Shepherd that he may feed you and hear his voice and follow him who has laid down his Life for you but follow none of the Shepherds and Hirelings that are made by men though they be angry because ye will not follow them to their dry and barren Mountains who have been and are the Thieves Persecutors and Robbers that Clime up another way than by Christ So set up Christ to be your Counsellor and Leader and then ye will have no need of any of the Counsellors and Leaders of the World for Christ is sufficient whom God has given you And also set up Christ Jesus to be your Bishop and Overseer who is sufficient to Oversee you that ye go not astray from God by which ye may see over all the Hireling-Overseers made by men which do keep the People that they do not go astray from the Rudiments and Formalities Fashions and Customs of the World which hath been and is their Work And I am glad that ye are come to own Christ Jesus your High-Priest who is holy and harmless and separate from Sinners and made higher than the Heavens as the Church and the Apostle did own him in their days Hebr. 7. who is the High-Priest over the houshold of Faith which Faith Jesus Christ is the Author and Finisher of and this do all the Children of the New Covenant witness who walk in the new and living Way And therefore my desire is that ye all may be stedfast whether in Bonds or out in the Faith of Christ Jesus which is the Gift of God by which Faith all the Valiants overcame the Devil and all their Enemies in which Faith they had Victory and Access to God and in that was their Unity which Mystery of Faith is held in a pure Conscience hidden from the World And I do believe that your Imprisonments and Sufferings in that Place will be for Good in the end as it hath been in other Places ye standing faithful to the Lord who is All-sufficient For your Sufferings and Trials will Try their Teachers and Religions Churches and Worships and make manifest what Birth they are of even that which persecutes him that is born of the Spirit for ye know that there is no Salvation by any other Name under the whole Heaven but by the Name of Jesus and therefore it is time to leave them when there is no Salvation by or in any of them Now Friends I desire that you would take a List of the Names of all those Persons
business upon them they were hindred from doing the good they would so that the Sufferings upon Friends were Continued But that which added much to the Grief and Exercise of Friends was that some who made a Profession of the same Truth with us being gone from the Simplicity of the Gospel into a fleshly Liberty and labouring to draw others after them did Oppose the Order and Discipline which God by his Power had set up and established in his Church and made a great noise and clamour against Prescriptions Whereby they easily drew after them such as were loosly Inclined and desired a broader Way than the Path of Truth to walk in Some also that were more simple but young in Truth or weak in Judgment were apt to be betrayed by them not knowing the Depths of Satan in these Wiles For whose sakes I was moved to write the following Paper for the undeceiving the Deceived and the opening the Understandings of the Weak in this matter ALL you that do deny Prescriptions without distinction you may as well deny all the Scriptures which were given forth by the Power and Spirit of God For do not they prescribe how men should Walk both to God and Man both in the Old Testament and in the New Yea from the very first Promise of Christ in Genesis what People ought to believe and trust in and all along till ye come to the Prophets Did not the Lord prescribe to his People both by the Fathers and then by his Prophets did he not prescribe to the People how they should Walk though they turned against the Prophets in the Old Covenant for declaring or prescribing to them the Way how they might Walk to please God and keep in favour with him And then after in the days of Christ did not he prescribe and teach how People should walk and believe And after him the Apostles did not they prescribe unto People how they might come to believe and receive the Gospel and the Kingdom of God directing unto that which would give them the Knowledge of God and how they should walk in the New-Covenant in the days of the Gospel and by what way they should come to the holy City And did not the Apostles send forth their Decrees by faithful Chosen Men them that had hazarded their Lives for Christ's sake to the Churches by which they were established And so you that deny Prescriptions given forth by the Power and Spirit of God do thereby oppose the Spirit that gave them forth in all the holy Men of God And were there not some all along in the days of Moses and in the days of the Prophets and in the days of Christ and in the days of his Apostles who did withstand that which they gave forth from the Spirit of God And hath there not been the same since the days of the Apostles And how many have risen since Truth appeared to oppose the Order which stands in the Power and Spirit of God who are but in the same Spirit which hath opposed the Spirit of God all along from the beginning And see what Names or Titles the Spirit of God gave that Opposing Spirit in the Old Covenant and also in the New which is the same now as was for after the Lord had given forth the Old Covenant there were some among themselves that did Oppose which were worse than publick Enemies And likewise after in the days of the New Covenant in the Gospel-times you may see what sort did Oppose both Christ and the Apostles after they came to some Sights of the Truth and how they turned against Christ and his Apostles And see what Liberty they pleaded for and ran into in the Apostles days who could not abide the Cross the Yoke of Jesus And therefore we see the same rough and high Spirit cries now for Liberty which the Power and Spirit of Christ cannot give and cries Imposition and yet is Imposing and cries Liberty of Conscience and yet is opposing Liberty of Conscience And cries against Prescriptions and yet is prescribing both in Words and Writing So with the Everlasting Power and Spirit of God this Spirit is fathomed its Rise Beginning and End and it is Judged And this Spirit cries We must not judge Conscience we must not judge Matters of Faith and we must not judge the Spirits nor Religions c. Yes They that be in the pure Spirit and Power of God which the Apostles were in they Judge of Conscience whether it be a seared Conscience or a tender Conscience They Judge of Faith whether it be a dead one or a living one They Judge of Religion whether it be vain or pure or undefiled They Judge of Spirits and try them whether they be of God or no They Judge of Hope whether it be of Hypocrites or the true Hope that purifies even as God is pure They Judge of Belief whether it be that which is born of God and overcometh the World or that which runs into the Spirit of the World which lusts to Envy and doth not overcome the World And they Judge of Worships whether they be will-Will-worships and the Worship of the Beast and Dragon or the Worship of God in Spirit and in Truth They Judge of Angels whether they be fallen or them that keep their Habitation And they Judge the World that grieves and quenches the Spirit and hates the Light and turns the Grace of God into wantonness and resists the Holy Ghost They Judge of the Hearts Ears and Lips which are Circumcised and which are Uncircumcised They Judge of Ministers and Apostles and Messengers whether they be of Satan or of Christ They judge of Differences in outward things in the Church or elsewhere yea the least Member of the Church hath Power to Judge of such things having the One true Measure and true Weight to weigh things and measure things withal without respect to Persons And this Judgment is given and all these things are done by the same Power and Spirit the Apostles were in And also such can Judge of Election and Reprobation and who keep their Habitation and who not And who are Jews and who are of the Synagogue of Satan And who are in the Doctrine of Christ and who are in the Doctrines of Devils And who prescribes and declares things from the Power and Spirit of God to preserve all in the Power and Spirit of God and who prescribes and declares things from a loose Spirit to let all loose from under the Yoke of Christ the Power of God into Loosness and Liberty And likewise can Judge and Discern who brings People into the Possession of the Gospel of Light and Life over Death and Darkness and into the Truth where the Devil cannot get in and who brings them into the Possession of Death and Darkness out of the glorious Liberty of the Gospel and of Jesus Christ and his Faith and Truth and Spirit and Light and Grace For there is no true Liberty but in
Oaths we have been Convicted for an unknown Preacher when the Preacher hath been both known and fined And also in their swearing such Persons to have been at such a Meeting such a day when indeed they whom they have so sworn against have not been at that Meeting that day By which proceedings several Families of the King 's peaceable Subjects are like to be ruined if there be not a speedy stop put thereunto Therefore we do both hope and desire that you who are the King's Justices for the time to come when any Informers shall come to any of you with an Information against any of us will Summon such as are Accused to Appear before you and hear us and our Accusers face to face that so none for the time to come may suffer for that they are not guilty of For Pilate the Governour heard Christ and his Accusers face to face before he Condemned him John 19. And the Council and Chief Priests heard Stephen and his Accusers with the Witnesses that were brought against him face to face before they Condemned him Acts 7. The Roman Captain heard Paul and his Accusers face to face Acts 23. And Felix the Governour heard Paul and Ananias the High Priest and the Elders that accused Paul face to face Acts 24. And when the High Priests and Chief of the Jews accused Paul to Festus he heard Paul and his Accusers and them that witnessed against him face to face Acts 25. Doth the Law of God or did the Roman Law or doth the Law of the Land judge any man before he and his Accusers and they that Witness against him be heard face to face This somewhat moderated the Justices and after this several Friends that had been Illegally prosecuted and fined entred their Appeals upon Trial whereof they were Acquitted and the Informers Cast which was a great discouragement to the Informers and some Relief to Friends A little before the time came for the Chusing new Sheriffs for the City they who stood to be Chosen desiring our Friends to give their Voices for them I writ a few Lines tending to discover what Spirit they were of and how they stood affected to true Liberty and it was by way of Inquiry thus DO any here in London who stand to be Chosen Sheriffs own That Christ that was Crucified without the Gates of Jerusalem to be the Light of the World that doth Inlighten every Man that cometh into the World who saith Believe in the Light that ye may become Children of the Light And is any of you against persecuting People for their Religion and Worship of God in Spirit and Truth as Christ commandeth For Christ said I am not of this World nor my Kingdom And therefore he doth not uphold his spiritual Worship and pure Religion with worldly and carnal Weapons And Christ said Swear not at all And his Apostle James saith the same But will not you force us to swear and so to break Christ's and his Apostle's Commands in putting Oaths to us And Christ saith to his Apostles Freely ye have received freely give Will not you force us to give Tithes and Maintenance to such Teachers as we know God hath not sent Shall we be free to serve and worship God and keep his and his Son's Commands if we give our Voices freely for you for we are unwilling to give our Voices for such as will Imprison and persecute us and spoil our Goods But whatever they were that stood to be Chosen I observed there was a Heat and Strife in the Spirits of the People that were to Choose wherefore I writ a few Lines to be spread amongst them directed thus To the People who are Choosing Sheriffs in London People ALL keep in the gentle and peaceable Wisdom of God which is above that that is earthly sensual and devillish And live in that Love of God that is not puffed up nor is unseemly which envieth not but beareth and endureth all things And in this Love ye will seek the good and peace of all men and the hurt of no man Keep out of all heats and be not hot-headed but be cool and gentle that your Christian Moderation may appear to all men for the Lord is at hand who beholds all mens words thoughts and actions and will reward every one according to their works And what every man soweth that shall he reap Now had I some Inclination to have gone into the Country to a Meeting But hearing that there would be a Bussle at our Meetings and feeling a great disquietness in Peoples spirits in the City about Choosing Sheriffs it was upon me to stay in the City and go to the Meeting in Gracious-street upon the First-day of the Week William Penn went with me and spake in the Meeting Grac-Meâ—â— and while he was declaring the Truth to the People a Constable came in with his great Staff and bid him give over and come down but William Penn held on declaring Truth in the Power of God After a while the Constable drew back and when William Penn had done I stood up and declared to the People the Everlasting Gospel which was preached in the Apostles days and to Abraham and which the Church in the Apostles days did receive and came to be Heirs of This Gospel I declared was sent from Heaven by the holy Ghost in the Apostles days and is so now and was not of man neither by man but by the Revelation of the Holy Ghost And now this Gospel is preached again as John saw and said it should be to all Nations Tongues and Peoples and all People now are to hear Christ the Prophet in this his Gospel of the New Covenant For as Moses said Like unto me will God raise up a Prophet and him shall ye hear in all things so said I this Prophet Christ is come and all the Jews in spirit the true believing Christians in the Light who have the Law of God written in their hearts and put into their minds are to hear Christ in his Gospel New Testament and New Covenant which is the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus who bruises the Serpent's head which is the head of Enmity and makes free from the Law of Sin and Death And I shewed that all whom Christ quickens and makes alive he makes them to sit together in the heavenly places in himself So that they do not wander up and down like the Fool 's eye in the Corners of the Earth nor are their Eyes abroad in the World to sit down in the World 's invented Seats of Religion but they sit together in him as the Saints did in the Apostles days and so Christ was and is their Treasure of Wisdom Life Knowledge and Salvation Now as I was thus speaking two Constables came in with their great Staves and bid me give over speaking and come down But I feeling the Power of the Lord with me spake on therein both to the Constables
one another in Vertue and in that Love that doth bear all things and doth edifie the Body of Christ the Body of the second Adam For the Body of old Adam in the Fall is full of Malice Envy and Vice And therefore you that are called out of Old Adam in the Fall and have put on Christ the second Adam that never fell Walk in him who is the Treasure of Life Wisdom and Knowledge in whom ye have peace with God who is the First and Last the Beginning and the Ending So let all be gathered up to God into him who reconcileth all things in one both things in Heaven and things in the Earth who is the faithful and true Witness both in Male and Female And in him sit down who is above the subtle Foxes in their holes and the Fowls of the Air in their nests I say sit down in Christ who hath no place among them to lay his head he is your rest So in him is my Love to you all London the 20th of the 11th Month 1682. G. F. It was not long after this that I received an Account by Letter from some Friends that were Prisoners in Denby in Wales by which I understood that many Friends there were under great Sufferings for the Testimony of a good Conscience In the tender sense whereof I was moved in the Love of God to Visit them with a few Lines as a Word of Consolation to them in their Sufferings and of Exhortation to stand fast in the Testimony committed to them And that which I writ was thus DEar suffering Lambs for the Name and Command of Jesus Be valiant for his Truth and faithful and ye will feel the Presence of Christ with you And look at him who suffered for you and hath bought you and will feed you who saith Be of good Comfort I have overcome the World who destroys the Devil and his Works and bruises the Serpent's head I say Look at Christ who is your Sanctuary in whom ye have rest and peace To you it is given not only to believe but to suffer for his Name 's sake And they that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer Persecution by the ungodly Professors of Christ Jesus who live out of him And therefore be valiant for God's Truth upon the Earth and look above that Spirit that makes you suffer up to Christ who was before it was and will be when it is gone Consider all the Prophets Christ and the Apostles who suffered and were persecuted but they never persecuted them as true men but as Deceivers and yet true And Christ is the same to day as he was yesterday a Rock and Foundation for your Age and Generation for you to build upon I have written concerning you after I heard your Letter to Friends in Cheshire to Visit you understanding that you belong to their Quarterly Meeting And therefore I desire that some Friends of your County would go and lay your suffering Condition before the Monthly or Quarterly Meeting in Cheshire I have written likewise to Richard Davis that some of that side may go and visit you and see how your Condition is So my Love is to you in the Lord who is your alone Support London the 27th of the 11th Month 1682. G. F. Now because the Magistrates were many of them unwilling to have Fines laid upon Meeting-houses they kept Friends out in many places setting Officers and Guards of Soldiers at the Doors and Passages And yet sometimes Friends were fined for Speaking or Praying though it were abroad One First-day it was upon me to go to Devonshire-house-Meeting in the Afternoon Dev. Meet and because I had heard Friends were kept out there that Morning as they were that Day at most Meetings about the City I went somewhat the sooner and got into the Yard before the Soldiers came to guard the Passages but the Constables were got there before me and stood in the Door-way with their Staves I asked them to let me go in They said They could not nor durst not for they were commanded the contrary and were sorry for it I told them I would not press upon them so I stood by and they were very Civil I stood till I was weary and then one gave me a Stool to sit down on and after a while the Power of the Lord began to spring up among Friends and one began to speak The Constables soon forbad him and said he should not speak and he not stopping they began to be wroth But I gently laid my hand upon one of the Constables and wisht him to let him alone The Constable did so and was quiet and the Man did not speak long When he had done after a while I was moved to stand up and speak and in my Declaration I said They need not come against us with Swords and Staves for we were a peaceable People and had nothing in our Hearts but Good-will to the King and Magistrates and to all People upon the Earth And we did not Meet under pretence of Religion to plot and contrive against the Government or to raise Insurrections but to worship God in Spirit and in Truth And we had Christ to be our Bishop and Priest and Shepherd to feed us and oversee us and he ruled in our hearts so we could all sit in silence enjoying our Teacher So to Christ their Bishop and Shepherd I did recommend them all And after I had spoken what was upon me at that time I sate down and after a while I was moved to pray and the Power of the Lord was over all Friends and the People and the Constable and Soldiers put off their Hats And when the Meeting was done and Friends began to pass away the Constable put off his Hat and desired the Lord to bless us for the Power of the Lord was over him and the People and kept them under After this I went up and down visiting Friends at their houses who had had their Goods taken from them for worshipping God and we took an account of what had been taken from them and some Friends met together about it and drew up the Case of the Sufferings of our Friends in writing and gave it to the Justices at their Petty-Sessions Whereupon they made an Order That the Officers should not sell the Goods of Friends which they had in their hands but keep them until the next Sessions which gave some discouragement to the Informers and put a little stop to their proceedings The next First-day it was upon me to go to the Meeting at the Savoy and by that time the Meeting was gathered Savoy Meet the Beadle came in and after him came in the wild People like a Sea but the Lord's Power chained them all The Spirit of the Lord went through and over all and they were quiet and we had a glorious peaceable Meeting blessed be the Lord for his unspeakable goodness This was in the Twelfth Month 1682. In the
well as Men. And Deborah was a Judge and a Prophetess and do not You make use of Deborah's and Miriam's words in your Service and Worship as you may see Judg. 5. v. 1 31. Deborah's large Speech or Song And Barak did not forbid her nor none of the Jewish Priests And did not she make this Speech or Song in the Congregation or Church of Israel And in the Book of Ruth there are good Speeches of those good Women which were not forbidden And Hannah prayed in the Temple before Ely and the Lord Answered her prayer And see what a Speech Hannah makes and a praising of God before Ely the High-Priest and he did not forbid her 1 Sam. 2. v. 1. to 10. And Josiah the King sent his Priest with several others to Ask Counsel of Huldah the Prophetess who dwelt at Jerusalem in the Colledge 2 King 22.14 2 Chron. 34.22 So here the King and his Priests did not despise the Counsel of this Prophetess and she did prophesie to the Congregation of Israel as may be seen in these Chapters And in Luke 1.41 to 55. there see what a godly Speech Elizabeth made to Mary and what a large godly Speech Mary made also And Mary said That the Lord did regard the Low Estate of his Hand-maid c. And don't you make use in your Worship and Service of Mary's and Elizabeth's words from Luke 2.41 to 55. who were holy Women in your Churches and yet forbid Womens speaking in your Churches and to be in silence yet all sorts of Women speak in your Churches when they sing and say Amen And in Luke the second there was one Anna a Prophetess she was a Widow of about fourscore and four years which departed not from the Temple but served God with Fasting and Prayer night and day Did not she Confess Christ Jesus in the Temple and gave thanks to the Lord and spake of Christ to all that looked for Redemption in Jerusalem Luke 2.36 37 38. So such holy Women were not forbidden to speak in the Church neither in the Law nor Gospel And was it not Mary Magdalen and other Women that first preached Christ's Resurrection to the Apostles The Woman indeed namely Eve was first in Transgression and so they were Women that first preacht the Resurrection of Christ Jesus for Christ said to Mary c. Go to my Brethren and say unto them I Ascend unto my Father and to your Father and to my God and to your God John 20.17 And Luke 24.10 it was Mary Magdalen and Johanna and Mary the Mother of James and other Women that were with them which told the Apostles that Christ was risen from the dead and their words and these Womens words were as Idle Tales to the Apostles and they believed them not Ibid. vers 11. And vers 22. Certain Women also of our Company made us astonished they said So here it may be seen that the Womens preaching the Resurrection of Christ did Astonish the Apostles and Christ sent these Women to preach his Resurrection so it is no shame for such Women to preach Christ Jesus neither were they to be silent when Christ sends them And the Apostle says Every Tongue shall Confess to God Rom. 14.11 and Every Tongue shall Confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the Glory of God the Father Philip. 2.11 So Here 't is Clear that Women must Confess Christ as well as men if Every Tongue must Confess And the Apostle saith There 's neither Male nor Female for ye are all one in Christ Jesus Gal. 3.28 And whereas 't is said Women must ask their Husbands at home c. Now the Duke knows very well Virgins have no Husbands nor Widows for Anna the Prophetess was a Widow And if Christ be the Husband Men must ask Counsel of him at home as well as Women before they Teach And set the Case that a Turk's Wife should be a Christian or a Papist's Wife should be a Lutheran or a Calvinist must they Ask and Learn of their Husbands at home before they confess Christ Jesus in the Congregation of the Lord Their Counsel will be to them to turn Turks or Papists I Intreat the Duke to Consider these things And again I Intreat him to mind God's Grace and Truth in his heart that is come by Jesus that by his Spirit of Grace and Truth he may come to serve and worship God in his Spirit and Truth so that he may serve the Living Eternal God that made him in his Generation and have his Peace in Christ that the World cannot take away And I do desire his Good Peace and Prosperity in this World and his Eternal Comfort and Happiness in the World that is Everlasting without End Amen London the 26th of the 8th Month 1684. G. F. Besides the fore-going I writ also Epistles to Friends one of which the following is a Copy FRiends and Brethren in the Lord Jesus Christ in whom you have all life peace and salvation Walk in him who is your heavenly Rock and Foundation that stands sure who hath all Power in Heaven and Earth given unto him So his Power is over all And let your Faith stand in his Power which is over all from everlasting to everlasting and so is over the Devil and his power that in the holy heavenly Wisdom of God ye may be all preserved and kept to God's glory out of all snares and temptations so that God's Wisdom may be justified of all his Children in this day of his power and they all may be faithful serving and worshipping God in his Spirit and Truth and valiant for it upon the Earth For as the Apostle saith They that believe are entred into their rest and have ceased from their own works as God did from his Now this Rest is an Eternal Rest in Christ the Eternal Son of God in whom every true Believer hath everlasting Life in Christ Jesus their Rest and everlasting Day For Christ the Rest bruiseth the Serpent's head and through Death destroyeth Death and the Devil the power of Death and his works And he is the eternal Rest that giveth eternal Life to his Sheep And Christ fulfilleth the Prophets and all the Figures Shadows and Ceremonies as in the Old Testament and all the Promises are Yea and Amen in Christ their and our Eternal Rest who was the Eternal Rest to all the true Believers in the Apostles days and ever since and is so now And Christ is the Beginning and the Ending the First and Last who is ascended above all Principalities Powers Thrones and Dominions that he might fill all things For by Jesus Christ all things were made and created whether they be things in Heaven or things in the Earth and he is the eternal Rest and they that believe are entred into Christ their Eternal Rest in whom they have as I said before Eternal Life and peace with God Wherefore I say again in him who is your Rest live and abide for in
Idolatry of the Jews who forsook the Lord and compares them to an Harlot And in Chap. 8. ye may see the Destruction threatned against the Jews for their Impiety and Idolatry In Chap. 9. also the Distress and Captivity of the Jews is threatned for their sins and Idolatry And again they are reproved and threatned for their Impiety and Idolatry Hos 10. And this was for forsaking the Lord and his Way and following the ways of their own Inventions and the Ways of the Heathen And doth not Isaiah say That the Lord would visit Tyre and that she should commit Fornication with all the Kingdoms of the World upon the face of the Earth and therefore the Lord threatned Destruction upon her Chap. 23. And in Chap. 57. you may see how the Lord reproved the Jews for their Whorish Idolatry and said Vpon an high and lofty Mountain hast thou set thy Bed even thither wentest thou up to offer Sacrifices Thou hast enlarged thy Bed and made a Covenant with them thou lovedst their Bed where thou savest it This was a Joining to the Heathens Religions Altars and Sacrifices and a forsaking the Lord's Altar and Sacrifices which he commanded in the Law And therefore that was committing Whoredom with the Heathen and a going into their Beds from the Living God that made them And now in the New Testament God having poured his Spirit upon all Flesh that by his Spirit all might come to be a Royal Priesthood to offer up spiritual Sacrifices to God by Jesus Christ All that err from the Spirit of God and rebel against it they are not like to offer spiritual Sacrifices to God and such their Sacrifice God doth not accept no more than he did the Heathens and the Jews who rebelled against his good Spirit that he gave them to Instruct them And ye may see in the 17th 18th and 19th Chapters of the Revelation the Punishment of the great Whore Babylon the Mother of Harlots and the Victory of the Lamb and how he calleth God's People out of Babylon For in her was found the Blood of the Prophets and of the Saints and of all that were slain upon the Earth But there ye may read her Judgment and her Downfal And this Whore are they that are whored from the Spirit of God and so from God and from his holy Worship in Spirit and Truth and from the pure undefiled Religion that keeps from the Spots of the World and from the new and living Way Christ Jesus and so are whored from the Spirit of God into false Religions Ways and Worships and so corrupted the Earth with her Abominations But her Judgment and Downfal is seen over whom Christ hath the Victory And the Marriage of the Lamb is come Glory to the Lord for ever And God's pure Religion and pure Worship in Spirit and Truth Christ hath set up as it was in the Apostles days Hallelujah G. F. London I soon returned to London but made no long stay there at this time my Body not being able to bear the Closeness of the City long together While I was in Town besides the usual Services of visiting Friends and taking care about their Sufferings to get them eased I Assisted the Friends of the City in distributing certain Sums of Money which our Friends of Ireland had charitably and very liberally raised and sent over hither for the Relief of their Brethren who suffered for the Testimony of a good Conscience here which Monies were distributed amongst poor suffering Friends in the several Counties in proportion according as we understood their Need. Before I left the City also I heard of a great Doctor that was lately come from Poland whom I invited to my Lodging and had a great deal of discourse with him And after I had informed my self by him of such things as I had a desire to know I writ a Letter to the King of Poland on behalf of Friends at Dantzick a Town belonging to him who had long been under grievous Sufferings A Copy whereof here follows To JOHN the Third King of Poland 1685. London Great Duke of Lithuania Russia and Prussia Defender of the City of Dantzick c. Concerning the Innocent and Afflicted People in scorn called Quakers who are now fed with Bread and Water in Bridewell of the aforesaid City under close Confinement where their Friends Wives and Children are hardly suffered to come to see them O King THE Magistrates of the City of Dantzick say That it is thy Order and Command that these Innocent and Afflicted People should suffer such Oppression Now this Punishment is Inflicted upon them only and alone because they come together in the Name of Jesus Christ their Redeemer and Saviour who died for their Sins and is risen from the dead for their Justification who is their Prophet whom God hath raised up like unto Moses whom they ought to hear in all things in this day of the Gospel and the New Covenant who went astray like scattered Sheep but now are returned to the Chief Shepherd and Bishop of their Souls 1 Pet. 2.25 Who has given his Life for his Sheep and they hear his Voice and follow him who leads them into his Pastures of Life John 10. And now O King I understand that thou openly professest Christianity and the great and mighty Name of Jesus Christ who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords To whom is given all Power in Heaven and in Earth who rules all Nations with a Rod of Iron Therefore O King it seems hard to us that any that openly confesses Christ Jesus yea the Magistrates of Dantzick do the same should Inflict those Punishments upon an Innocent and Harmless People by reason of their Tender Consciences only and alone because they come together to serve and worship the Eternal God who made them in Spirit and in Truth which worship Christ Jesus has set up Sixteen hundred years ago as we read in John 4.23 24. Therefore I beseech the King that he would Consider Whether Christ in the New Testament ever gave such a Command to his Apostles that they should shut up any in Prison and feed them with Bread and Water who was not Conformable in every particular to their Religion Faith and Worship Or where did the Apostles exercise such things in the true Church after Christ's Ascension For is not this the Doctrine of Christ and the Apostles that Christ's Followers should Love their Enemies and pray for them that hate them and persecute and despitefully use them Matth. 5. And now Is it not a shame to Christendom among the Turks and others That one Christian should persecute another for the Doctrine of Faith Worship and Religion And they cannot prove that Christ ever gave them such a Command whom they profess to be their Lord and Master For Christ says that his Believers and Followers should love one another and by this they shall be known to be his Disciples And did not Christ
Reprove those who would have fire to come down from Heaven to destroy them who would not receive him and did not he tell them They did not know what spirit they were of And therefore all who have persecuted Men or taken away their Lives because they would not receive their Religion have they known what spirit they were or are of Therefore is it nor good for all to know by the Spirit of Christ what spirit they are of For the Apostle says Rom. 8.9 If any Man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his And does not the Apostle say 2 Cor. 10.4 The Weapons of our Warfare are not Carnal but Spiritual c. And we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against spiritual wickedness c. Thus we can see here that the Fight of the first Christians and their Weapons in the days of the Apostles were spiritual in matters of Faith Religion and Worship in the Church of Christ Now would not the King and the Magistrates of Dantzick think that it was contrary to their Consciences if they should be forced by the Turk to his Religion Would it not in like manner seem hard to the Magistrates of Dantzick and contrary to their Consciences if they should be forced to the Religion of the King of Poland or the King of Poland if he should be compelled to the Religion of the Magistrates of Dantzick And if they would not be subject thereunto that then they should be banished from their Wives and Families and out of their Native Country or otherwise be fed with Bread and Water under a strict Confinement Therefore we beseech the King with all Christian Humility and the Magistrates of Dantzick that they would order their proceedings in this matter according to the Royal Law of God which is To do unto others as they would have others do unto them and to love their Neighbour as themselves For we have this Charity that we hope and believe that the King of Poland and his People with the Magistrates of Dantzick own the Writings of the New Testament as well as of the Old And therefore we beseech the King and the Magistrates of Dantzick to take heed that their Work of Imprisoning an Innocent People for nothing but their meeting together in Tenderness of Conscience to serve and worship God their Creator may not be contrary and opposite to the Royal Law of God and to the Glorious and Everlasting Gospel of Truth So we desire the King in Christian Love earnestly and weightily to Consider these things and to give Order to set the Innocent Prisoners our Friends called Quakers at Liberty from their strict Confinement in Dantzick that they may have freedom to serve and worship the living God in Spirit and in Truth and go home to their outward Habitations and follow their Trades and Calling to maintain their Wives Children and Families And we believe that the King in doing such a Noble Glorious yea Christian Work will not go unrewarded from the Great God who made him whom we serve and worship who has the hearts of Kings and their lives and length of days in his hands From him who desires that the King and all his Ministers may be preserved in the Fear of God and receive his Word of Wisdom by which all things were made and created that by it he may come to order all things to the Glory of God which God has put under his hand That the King both He and They may enjoy the Comforts and Blessings of the Lord in this Life and in that which is to come Life Eternal Amen London in England the 10th of the 3d Month commonly called May 1684. G. F. Post-script The King may please to Consider that His and all Mens Consciences is the Prerogative of God After this I went to Enfield where Enfield and in the Country thereabouts several Friends had Country-houses not very far from one another amongst whom I tarried some time visiting and being visited by Friends and having Meetings with them Several things I writ in this time relating to the Service of Truth One whereof was concerning Judging For some who were departed from the Truth were so afraid of Truth 's Judgment that they made it much of their business to Cry out against Judging Wherefore I writ a Paper proving by the Scriptures of Truth that the Church of Christ hath power and ability to Judge those that profest to be of it not only with respect to outward things relating to this World but with respect to Religious Matters also A Copy of which follows Concerning Judging THE Natural Man receiveth not the Things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned but he that is spiritual judgeth all things mark all things yet he himself is judged of no Man 1685. Enfield 1 Cor. 2.14 15. So here the Natural Man cannot judge of those things he receives not for they are foolishness to him but he is comprehended by the Spiritual Man and his foolishness and is Judged though he cannot judge the Spiritual Man Do not ye judge them that are within saith the Apostle this Power the Church had and hath therefore put away from amongst your selves that wicked person And did not this Wicked person think you profess and plead for Liberty for his Wickedness and his Freedom as he was a Christian who was lookt upon as a Member of the Church And the Apostle saith For I verily as absent in body yet present in spirit have judged already as though I were present concerning him that hath done this wicked deed 1 Cor. 5.3 12. Here the Apostle did Judge though afar off and set up Judgment in the Church against false Liberty under what pretence soever it was And the Apostle saith Dare any of you having a matter against a Brother go to Law before the Vnjust and not before the Saints Here the Saints the Church are to Judge of things amongst themselves and not for the Unjust to Judge of their Matters Do ye not know the Saints shall judge the World So the Saints are to judge the Unjust and not the Vnjust to judge their Matters And farther the Apostle saith If the World shall be judged by you to wit the Saints are you unworthy to judge the smaller matters amongst you So here it is clear that the Saints have a Judgment given them of Christ by his Power and Spirit Light and Wisdom to judge the World and not to carry their Matters before the Vnjust but to judge of them amongst themselves and if they carry them before the Unjust they shew their unworthiness of the Saints Judgment And further the Apostle saith Know ye not that we shall Judge the Angels and Angels are Spirits how much more the things which pertain to this life If ye then have Judgment of things pertaining to this life set them up to judge who have least
falsly and did not this Hananiah pretend to speak the Word of the Lord to the Priests and People as in Jeremiah the 28th And did not Isaiah judge in Divine Matters when he judged the Watchmen and the Shepherds Isa 56. And did not Micah judge in Divine and Spiritual Matters when he said he was full of the Power by the Spirit of the Lord and of Judgment did not he Judge both of Priests and Prophets and Judges though they would lean upon the Lord and say Is not the Lord amongst us and no evil can come unto us yet did not he let them see their States and Conditions and divided the precious from the vile Mich. 3. And so the rest of the Prophets you may see here they Judged for God in his Divine Matters who served him and who served him not and who lived in truth and who not and likewise the Apostles And this Divine Spiritual Heavenly Judgment was given of God to his holy Men and Women And they that do Judge in God's Divine Matters must live in his Divine Spirit and Power and Light now as they did then which Spiritual and Divine Judgment Christ has given to his Church that be the living Stones and living Members that makes up his spiritual Houshold to try Jews and to try Apostles and to try Prophets and to try Faith and to try Religions and to try Trees and Fruits and to try Shepherds and Teachers and to try Spirits So the living Members have a living and divine Judgment in the Church of Christ which he is the Head of the Judge of all Nay the Church has a Power given them which is farther then a Judgment for what they bind on Earth is bound in Heaven by the Power of God and what they loose on Earth is loosed in Heaven by the Power of God and this Power has Christ given to his living Members the Church The 20th of the 12th Month 1685 6. G. F. to Friends 1686. London I came back to London in the First Month 1686. and set my self with all diligence to look after Friends sufferings which we had now some hopes of getting Relief for The Sessions came on in the Second Month at Hicks's Hall where many Friends had Appeals to be Tried with whom I was from Day to Day to advise and see that no Opportunity were slipt nor Advantage lost and they generally succeeded well Soon after also the King was pleased upon our often laying our Sufferings before him To give order for the Releasing of all Prisoners that were imprisoned for Conscience sake and which were in his power to discharge Whereby the Prison doors were opened and many hundreds of Friends some of whom had been long in Prison were set at Liberty and some of them who had for many years been restrained in Bonds Yearly Meeting came now up to the Yearly-Meeting which was in the Third Month this Year Which caused great Joy to Friends to see our Ancient Faithful Brethren again at Liberty in the Lord's Work after their long Confinements And indeed a precious Meeting we had the refreshing Presence of the Lord appearing plentifully with us and amongst us After the Meeting I was moved to write a few Lines to be sent abroad amongst Friends the tenor whereof was thus Dear Friends MY Love is to you all in the holy Seed Christ Jesus that bruises the Serpent's head and destroys the Devil and his Works and who hath all Power in Heaven and Earth given to him Let every ones Faith stand in him and in his Power who is the Author and Finisher of your Faith And now ye who have been Partakers of his Power and are sensible of it in this Day of his Power that is over all whose day and power is over darkness and its power And by his Power the hearts of the King and Rulers have been opened by which your outward Prison-doors have been set open for your Liberty And therefore my desires are that all may be preserved in Humility and Thankfulness in the sense of the Mercies of the Lord and live in the peaceable Truth that is over all that ye may answer God's Grace and his Light and Spirit in all in a righteous godly Life and Conversation And let none be lifted up by their outward Liberty nor let none be cast down by Suffering for Christ's sake but all live in the Seed which is as Wheat which is not shaken nor blown away by the Winds and Storms as the Chaff is Which Seed of Life none below can make higher or lower for the Children of the Seed are the Children of the everlasting unchangeable Kingdom of Christ and God So in Christ Jesus whom God hath given you for a Sanctuary God Almighty keep you in whom ye have Life Everlasting and Wisdom which is from above pure peaceable gentle and easie to be intreated full of Mercy and good Fruits 1686. London Yearly Meeting that ye all now may be exercised in it and may practise this Wisdom in your godly holy Lives and Conversations so that this Wisdom may be justified of all her Children and they I say exercised and preserved in it in this day of the Power of Christ in which all his People are made a willing People to serve and worship God in Righteousness and Holiness and in the Spirit and Truth So that none may abuse the Power of the Lord nor grieve his Spirit by which you are sealed and kept to the day of Salvation and Redemption But always exercise your selves to have a good Conscience void of Offence towards God and towards all men being exercised in Holiness Godliness and Righteousness and in the Truth and in the Love of it that ye may all study to be approved unto God in Innocency Vertue Simplicity and Faithfulness and so labouring and studying to be quiet in the Will of God in all Conditions And whatsoever ye do in Word or Deed do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus giving Thanks to God the Father by him That he who is over all may have the Praise for all his Mercies and Blessings with which he doth and hath refreshed his People and by his Eternal Arm and Power hath kept and preserved his People to this day Glory to his Name over all for ever Amen! For Christ hath called you by his Grace into One Body to him the holy Head And therefore live in Charity and in the Love of God which is the Bond of Perfectness in his Body which Love edifies the Body of Christ which Body and all his Members are knit together and increased with the Increase of God from whom they receive Nourishment For by one Spirit we are all baptized into one Body and have been made all to drink into one Spirit in which Spirit the Body and all his Members have Fellowship with Christ the Head and one with another And so the Vnity of this holy Spirit is the Bond of Peace of all the living
Members of Christ Jesus of which he is the Spiritual Head Rock and Foundation And in the midst of his Church of living Members Christ exercises his Spiritual Prophetical Office to open to them the Mysteries of his Kingdom And is a Spiritual Bishop to oversee them that they do not go astray from the living God that made them and a Shepherd that feeds them with Bread and Water of Life from Heaven and none is able to pluck his Sheep out of his hands and he is a Priest that died for them and sanctifieth them and presents them to God who ruleth in their Hearts by the Divine Faith which he is the Author and Finisher of And his living Members do praise God through Jesus Christ in whom they have Life and Salvation who reconciles them to God that they can say they have Peace with God through Jesus Christ and so praise God through him that was dead and is alive again and reigns over all and liveth for evermore blessed for ever Hallelujah Amen! Greet one another with an holy Kiss of Charity and this Kiss of Charity is above all the Kisses of the World for Love and Charity beareth all things believeth all things hopeth all things and endures all things It envieth not and Charity vaunteth not it self nor is puffed up nor doth it behave it self unseemly It rejoices not in Iniquity but rejoices in the Truth And Charity is not easily provoked and thinks no Evil but suffereth long and is kind And Charity never faileth I say Greet one another with this holy Kiss of Charity and Peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus your Life and Salvation The 30th of the 3d Month 1686. G. F. I remained for the most part of this Year in London save that sometimes I got out to Bednal-Green for a Night or two Bednal-Green Enfield Chiswick and some times went as far as Enfield and thereabouts amongst Friends and once or twice to Chiswick where an Ancient Friend had set up a School for the Educating of Friends Children in all which places I found Service for the Lord. London And when I was at London I spent my time amongst Friends either in Publick Meetings as the Lord drew me or visiting Friends that were not well and in looking after the Sufferings of Friends For though very many Friends were released out of Prisons yet some remained Prisoners still for Tithes c. and Sufferings of several sorts lay heavy yet on Friends in many places Yet inasmuch as many Friends that had been Prisoners were now set at Liberty I felt a Concern upon me that none might look too much at Man but might Eye the Lord therein from whom deliverance comes Wherefore I writ an Epistle to Friends and sent it abroad to be read amongst them as followeth Friends THE Lord by his Eternal Power hath opened the heart of the King to open the Prison-doors by which about Fifteen or Sixteen hundred are set at Liberty and hath given a Check to the Informers so that in many places our Meetings are pretty quiet So my desires are that both Liberty and Sufferings all may be sanctified to his People and Friends may prize the Mercies of the Lord in all things and to him be thankful who stilleth the Raging Waves of the Seas and allayeth the Storms and Tempests and maketh a Calm And therefore it is good to trust in the Lord and cast your Care upon him who careth for you For when ye were in your Gaols and Prisons Then the Lord did by his Eternal Arm and Power uphold you and sanctified them to you and unto some he made them as a Sanctuary and tried his People as in a Furnace of Affliction both in Prisons and spoiling of Goods And in all this the Lord was with his People and taught them to know that The Earth is the Lord's and the Fulness thereof 1686. London and that he was in all places who crowneth the year with his goodness Psal 65. Therefore let all God's People be diligent and careful to keep the Camp of God holy pure and clean and to serve God and Christ and one another in the glorious peaceable Gospel of Life and Salvation which Glory shines over God's Camp and his great Prophet and Bishop and Shepherd is among or in the midst of them exercising his heavenly Offices in them so that you his People may Rejoice in Christ Jesus through whom you have Peace with God For he that destroyeth the Devil and his Work and bruises the Serpent's Head is all God's Peoples heavenly Foundation and Rock to build upon which was the holy Prophets and Apostles Rock in days past and is now a Rock of our Ages which Rock and Foundation of God standeth sure And upon this the Lord God establish all his People Amen London the 25th of the 7th Month 1686. G. F. Divers other Epistles and Papers relating to Friends and Truth I writ this Year whereof one was by way of Exhortation to Friends to keep in Vnity in the Truth in which there is no Division nor Separation And thus it was DEar Friends and Brethren in the Lord Jesus Christ in whom ye have all Peace and Life and in him there is no Division nor Schism nor Rent nor Strife nor Separation for Christ is not divided and there can be no Separation in the Truth nor in the Light Grace Faith and Holy Ghost but Unity and Fellowship and Communion For the Devil was the first that went out of the Truth and separated from it and tempted Man and Woman to disobey God and to go from the Truth into a false Liberty to do that which God forbad And so it is the Serpent now that leads Men and Women into a false Liberty even the God of the World from which Man and Woman must be separated by the Truth that Christ the Truth may make them free and then they are free indeed And then they are to stand fast in that Liberty in which Christ hath made them free and in him as I said before there is no Division nor Schism nor Rent nor Separation but Peace and Life and Reconciliation to God and to one another So that in Christ Male and Female are all one for whether they be Male or Female Jew or Gentile Bond or Free they are all one in Christ And there can be no Schism Rent or Division in him nor in the Worship of God in his holy Spirit and Truth nor in the pure and undefiled Religion that keeps from the Spots of the World nor in the Love of God that beareth and endureth all things nor in the Word of God's Grace for it is pure and endureth for ever Many you see have lost the Word of Patience and the Word of Wisdom that is pure and peaceable and gentle and easie to be intreated Then they run into the Wisdom that is below that is earthly sensual and devilish and very uneasie to be intreated And they
go from the Love of God that beareth all things and endureth all things and thinks no Evil and doth not behave it self unseemly then they cannot bear but grow brittle and are easily provoked and run into unseemly things and are in that that vaunteth it self and are puffed up and are rash heady high-minded and fierce and become as sounding Brass or a tinkling Cymbal but this is contrary to the nature of the Love of God which is kind and endureth all things and beareth all things And therefore all Dear Friends and Brethren dwell in the Love of God for they who dwell in Love dwell in God and God in them And keep in the Word of Wisdom that is gentle pure and peaceable and in the Word of Patience that endureth and beareth all things which Word of Patience the Devil and the World and all his Instruments can never wear out It will wear them all out for it was before they were and will be when they are gone the pure holy Word of God by which all God's Children are born again and feed on the Milk thereof and live and grow by it And so my desires are that ye may all be of one Heart Mind Soul and Spirit in Christ Jesus Amen G. F. Soon after this finding those Apostates whom the Enemy had drawn out into Division and Separation from Friends continued their Clamour and Opposition against Friends Meetings both Monthly Quarterly and Yearly it came upon me to write another short Epistle to Friends to put them in mind of the Evidence and Seal they had received in themselves by the Spirit of the Lord that those Meetings were of the Lord and accepted by him that so they might not be shaken by the Adversaries Wherefore I writ as followeth My Dear Friends in the Lord Jesus Christ ALL you that be gathered in his holy Name ye know that all your Meetings for Worship of God and all your Quarterly-Meetings and all your Monthly-Meetings and all your Womens-Meetings and all your Yearly-Meetings are set up by the Power and Spirit of the Lord God and witnessed by his Spirit and Power in your Hearts and by the Spirit and Power of the Lord God they are established to you and in the Power and Spirit of the Lord God you are established in them And the Lord God hath with his Spirit sealed to you that your Meetings are of God's Ordering and Gathering and he hath owned them by honouring you with his blessed Presence in them and you have had great Experience of his furnishing you with his Wisdom Life and Power and heavenly Riches from his Treasure and Fountain by which many Thanks and Praises have been returned in your Meetings to his holy glorious Name And so he hath sealed your Meetings by his Spirit to you and that your Gathering together hath been by the Lord and to Christ his Son and in his Name and not by Man And so the Lord hath the Glory and Praise of them and in them who hath upheld you and them by the Arm of his Power against all the Opposers and Backsliders and their slanderous Books and Tongues For the Lord's Power and Seed doth reign over them all in which lie doth preserve his Sons and Daughters to his Glory by his Eternal Arm and Power in his Work and Service as a willing People in the Day of his Power without being weary or fainting but strong in the Lord and valiant for his glorious Name and precious Truth and his pure Religion that ye may serve the Lord in Christ Jesus your Rock and Foundation in your Age and Generation Amen London the 3d of the 11th Month 1686 7. G. F. A little after the fore-going was given forth it came upon me to write something concerning the state of the true Church and of the true Members thereof which I did as followeth Concerning the Church of Christ being clothed with the Sun and having the Moon under her feet THey are living Members and living Stones which are built up a spiritual Houshold and are the Children of the Promise and of the Seed and Flesh of Christ and as the Apostle saith Flesh of his Flesh and Bone of his Bone They are the good Seed and are the Children of the Everlasting Kingdom written in Heaven and have put on the Lord Jesus Christ and they sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus and so are clothed with the Sun of Righteousness Christ Jesus and have the Moon under their feet as Revel 12. So all changeable things that are in the World and all changeable Religions and changeable Worships and changeable Ways and Fellowships and Churches and Teachers in the World are as the Moon For the Moon changes but the Sun doth not change And so the Sun of Righteousness never changeth nor sets or goes down But all the Ways Religions and Worships and Fellowships of the World and the Teachers thereof change like the Moon But the true Church which Christ is the Head of which is in God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which Church is called The Pillar and Ground of Truth whose Conversation is in Heaven this Church is clothed with the Sun Christ Jesus her Head who doth not change and hath all changeable things under her feet These are the living Members born again of the Immortal Seed by the Word of God and feed upon the Immortal Milk and live and grow by it And such are the New Creatures in Christ Jesus who makes all things new and sees the old things pass away And his Church and all his Members which are clothed with the Sun their Worship is in the Spirit and in the Truth which doth not change which Truth the Devil the foul unclean Spirit is out of and cannot get into this Worship in Spirit and Truth And likewise the Church of Christ their Religion is pure and undefiled before God that keeps from the Spots of the World c. and their Way is the new and living Way Christ Jesus So the Church of Christ that is clothed with the Sun that hath the Moon and all changeable Religions and Ways under her feet hath an unchangeable Worship Religion and Way and hath an unchangeable Rock and Foundation Christ Jesus and an unchangeable High-Priest and so are Children of the New Testament and in the Everlasting Covenant of Light and Life And now all that profess the Scriptures both of the New and Old Testament and are not in Christ Jesus the Apostle tells them they are Reprobates if Christ be not in them And therefore these that be not in Christ cannot be clothed with Christ the Sun of Righteousness that never changes And they that be not of Christ be under the changeable Moon in the World in the changeable things in the changeable Religions and Ways and Worships and Teachers and Rocks and Foundations But Christ the Son of God and Sun of Righteousness doth not change in whom his People are gathered and sit
this Gospel-day of Christ but Christ will consume them with the Spirit of his Mouth and destroy them with the Brightness of his Coming But God's People whom he hath chosen unto Salvation in Christ from the beginning through the Sanctification of the Spirit and the belief of the Truth stand stedfast in Christ Jesus and are thankful to God by and through his Son their Rock and Salvation who is their Happiness and eternal Inheritance The Apostle saith Ye were as Sheep going astray but are now returned to the Shepherd and Bishop of your Souls So when People are returned to Christ their Shepherd they do know his Voice and follow him and are returned to the Bishop of their Souls and then they do believe in him 1686. Kingston and receive Wisdom and Vnderstanding from him who is from above heavenly and spiritual Then they do Act like spiritual and holy Men and Women and come to be Members of the Church of Christ and then a spiritual Care cometh upon the Elders in Christ that all the Members do walk in Christ and in his Light Grace Spirit and Truth that they may adorn their Confession and Profession of Christ and see that all do walk in the Order of the holy Spirit and the everlasting Gospel of Peace Life and Salvation And this Order keeps out of Confusion for the Gospel of Peace the Power of God was before Confusion was And all the Heirs of the Gospel are Heirs of its Order and are in this Gospel which brings Life and Immortality to Light in them by which all Men and Women may see their Work and Services in it to look after the Poor Widows and Fatherless and to see that nothing be lacking and that all do honour the Lord in their Lives and Conversations When the whole House of Israel were in their Graves and Sepulchres and were called The scattered dry Bones yet they could speak and say Their Bones were dry their Hope was lost or they were without Hope and they were cut off so that they were Alive outwardly and could speak outwardly So that which is called Christendom may very well be called The scattered dry Bones and they be said to be in their Graves and Sepulchres dead from the heavenly Breath of Life and from the Spirit and Word of Life that gathereth to God Though they can speak and are Alive outwardly yet they remain in the Congregations or Churches of the Dead that want the vertue of Life For the Jews whom God poured his Spirit upon and gave them his Law when they rebelled against the Spirit of God and turned from God and his Law then they came to be dry scattered Bones and were turned into their Graves and Sepulchres And so Christendom that is turned from the Grace and Truth and Light of Christ and the Spirit that God poureth upon all flesh they are become the scattered dry Bones and are in their Graves and Sepulchres and are the Congregations or Churches of the Dead though they can speak and are Alive outwardly Christ saith I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly And he gave his flâ—sh for the life of the World And he saith I am the Resurrection and the Life and I am the Way the Truth and the Life No man cometh unto the Father but by me And Christ is the quickening Spirit All being dead in Adam they are to be quickened and made alive by Christ the second Adam And when they are quickned and made alive by him then they do Meet together in the Name of Jesus Christ their Saviour who died for their Sins and is risen for their Justification and so was dead and is alive again and liveth for evermore And all whom he hath quickened and made alive even all the living do Meet in the Name of Jesus who is alive and he their living Prophet Shepherd and Bishop is in the midst of them and is their living Rock and Foundation and a living Mediator between them and the living God And so the Living do praise the living God through Jesus Christ through whom they have Peace with God And so all the Living have Rest in Christ their Life and he is their Sanctification and their Righteousness and their Treasure of Wisdom Knowledge and Vnderstanding which is spiritual and heavenly And he is the spiritual Tree and Root which all the Believers in the Light the Life in Christ that do pass from the death in Adam to the Life in Christ and overcome the World and are born of God are grafted into even Christ the heavenly Tree which beareth all the spiritual Branches or Grafts So these do Meet in his Name and are gathered in him and do sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus their Life who hath quickened and made them alive And so all the Living do worship the living God in his holy Spirit and Truth in which they Live and Walk And into this Worship the foul unclean Spirit the Devil cannot get for the holy Spirit and Truth is over him and he is out of it This is the standing Worship which Christ set up in his New Covenant And they that are quickened and made alive by Christ are the living Stones and living Members and spiritual Houshold and Church or Congregation of Christ who is the living Head and Husband And they that are quickened and made alive by Christ are a living Church and have a living Head and are come from the Congregations or Churches of the Dead in Adam where Death and Destruction talks of God and of his Prophets and Apostles in their Wisdom that is below and earthly and devilish and in the knowledge that is bruitish and in the understanding that comes to naught For what they know is natural by their natural Tongues and Arts and Sciences in which they corrupt themselves This is the state of the Dead in Adam But the Quickened and they that are made alive by Christ do discern between the Living and the Dead Kingston upon Thames the 12th Month 1686 7. G. F. While I was at Kingston I writ also another Paper shewing That the Lord in all Ages called the Righteous out from amongst the Wicked before he destroyed them Which Paper here follows NOah and his Family were called into the Ark before the Old World was destroyed with the Flood of Water And all the Faithful Generation that lived before were taken away and died in the Faith before that Flood of Destruction came upon the wicked Old World The Lord did call Lot out of Sodom before he did destroy and consume it and the Wicked there Christ said It cannot be that a Prophet perish out of Jerusalem and he said O Jerusalem Jerusalem which killest the Prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee how often would I have gathered thy Children together as a Hen gathereth her Brood under her Wings but ye would not Luke 13.33 34. And Christ said unto
and to God's Spirit and to the Grace and Truth in your hearts that comes by Jesus Christ that with it ye may search your hearts And so do not grieve nor vex nor quench God's good Spirit in your hearts and walk not despitefully against the Spirit of Grace nor turn from it into Wantonness and yet make a Profession of God and Christ in Words 1677. Amsterdam when your hearts are afar off and living in Pleasures and wantonly upon the Earth sporting your selves killing the Just and Crucifying to your selves Christ afresh and putting him to open shame And so dishonouring God and Christ and Christianity and making a Profession and a Trade of the Scriptures keeping People always Learning that they may be always paying Therefore Cease from Man whose Breath is in his Nostrils and look unto the Lord all ye ends of the Earth and be saved for the Lord God of Heaven and Earth is come to teach his People himself by his Light Spirit Grace and Truth and to bring them off all the World's Teachers And God hath raised up Christ Jesus his Prophet whom People should hear and saith This is my beloved Son hear ye him and Christ saith Learn of me I am the Way the Truth and the Life and no Man comes to the Father but by me And there is no Salvation by any other Name under the whole Heaven but by the Name of Jesus who saith I am the good Shepherd and have laid down my Life for my Sheep and my Sheep hear my voice and follow me and will not follow the Hireling For Christ feeds them in the Pastures of Life that will never wither And God hath anointed Christ Jesus to preach if you will hear him and God hath given Christ for a Counsellor and a Leader if you will be Led and Counselled by him and God hath given Christ for a Bishop to Oversee you and a King to Rule you if you will be Overseen and Ruled by him And you that will not have Christ to Rule over you who never sinned nor Guile was found in his Mouth you may read his Sentence in the New Testament upon such And is not Christ a sufficient Teacher whose Blood was shed for you and tasted Death for every Man And doth not Christ say to his Ministers Freely ye have received freely give And the Apostle saith We covet no Man's Gold Silver or Apparel but Laboured with their Hands and kept the Gospel without Charge Have they that are called Ministers amongst you done the same and kept this Command of Christ Jesus Let them be Examined and Examine themselves And have you not trimmed your Outsides but look within with the Light and Spirit of Christ Jesus and see if your Insides be not black and foul For Christ Jesus who doth Enlighten every Man that cometh into the World with the Life in himself who is the Word he saith Believe in the Light that ye may become Children of the Light and with the Light ye may see all the Evil Deeds ye have done and all your ungodly Deeds that ye have acted and committed and all your ungodly Words you have spoken and all your ungodly Thoughts ye think that ye may turn from them and turn to Christ from whence the Light comes who is your Saviour and Redeemer who hath given you a Light to see your Sin and how that you are dead in Adam that with the same Light you may see Christ the quickening Spirit who makes you alive to God and saves you from your sin But if you hate the Light which is the Life in Christ the Prince of Life and Love the Darkness and the Prince of Darkness more than the Light or the Life in Christ whose Deeds be Evil and because it will Reprove you Christ tells you This Light will be your Condemnation John 3. And therefore be Warned now in your Day and while you have Time turn to the Lord and do not quench the Spirit of the Father by which he draws to his Son nor hate the Light of Christ for if you do you hate the Life in Christ and so remain under Condemnation from God and Christ with the Light who now speaks to his People by his Son as he did in the Apostles Days so the same God that was the Speaker by the Prophets to the Fathers and Speaker to Adam and Eve in Paradise And happy had Adam and Eve and the Jews and all Christians been if they had kept to this Speaker and not have followed the Serpent that false Speaker and his Instruments And now God is the true Speaker by his Son who bruises the Head of the Serpent the false Teacher who is the Head of all false Ways and false Prophets and false Churches and false Religions and Worships And so God and Christ is bringing People to the pure and undefiled Religion that will keep them from the Spots of the World and into the new and living Way Christ Jesus and to the Church in God which Christ is the Head of as he was in the Apostles Days and to worship God in the Spirit and Truth which Worship Christ set up above Sixteen hundred years since And therefore must all People come to the Grace and Spirit of Truth in their own hearts to know the God of Truth who is a Spirit and in the Spirit and Truth to worship and serve and honour and glorifie the Living God who is over all and Worthy of all Blessed for evermore Amen And ye Magistrates and Officers read this in all your Assemblies and cause all your Priests to read it in their Churches that they and you and all People may hear and fear the God of Heaven as you will Answer it at the Great and Terrible Day of Judgment and Vengeance of the Lord God Almighty And this is in Love to your Souls and for your Temporal and Eternal Good Amsterdam the 19th of the 7th Month 1677. G. F. 1677. Harlingen in Friezland An Epistle concerning true Fasting true Prayer true Honour and against Persecution and for the true Liberty in Christ Jesus To pag. 438 and that all may have a care that the Apostle hath not bestowed his Labour in vain upon you in your observing of Days Months Times Feasts and Years and of coming under the beggarly Elements and the Yoke of Bondage again and of bringing and forcing People into them WHere did ever Christ or his Apostles Command any Believers or Christians to observe Holy-Days or Feast-Days and let us see where it is written in the Scriptures of the New Testament in the Four Evangelists or the Epistles or the Revelation that ever Christ or his Apostles gave the Christians any such Command that they should observe the Time called Christmas or a Day for Christ's Birth or that they should observe the Time called Easter or Whitsuntide or Peter or Paul's or Mark or Luke's Days or any other Saints Day Now you that profess your selves to be
worship God in Spirit and in Truth which Christ set up above Sixteen hundred years since So all Men and Women must come to the Spirit and Truth in their hearts by which they must know the God of Truth who is a Spirit and then in the Spirit and Truth they will Worship him and know what and who they Worship And also the Lord is come to bring his People off all the World's Temples that with the Spirit they may know â—â—at their Bodies are the Temples of the Holy Ghost And the Lord is come to bring his People off all the World's Crosses and Pictures and Images and Likenesses to know that the Power of God is the Cross of Christ which Crucifies them to the World and brings them up into the Likeness and Image of God as Man and Woman was in before they fell and so to Christ that never fell And this Work of Christ must all know in their hearts by the Light of Christ Jesus who is the true Light that lighteth every Man that cometh into the World It is called the Light in Man and Woman and the Life in Christ the Word and Christ saith Believe in the Light that ye may become Children of the Light And the Light lets you see all your Evil Actions that you have done and committed and your ungodly Ways you have walked in and your ungodly Words and Thoughts and now if you do hate this Light and love the Darkness and the Prince of it more than this Light which is the Life in Christ the Prince of Life and will not come to it because your Deeds be Evil and it will reprove you Christ tells you This Light is your Condemnation And then what is all your Profession good for when you remain under the Condemnation of the true Light in which you should believe and so become Children of Light and out of Condemnation And therefore every one must believe in the Light if they do receive Christ Jesus and as many as receives him he gives them Power to become the Sons of God So he that hath the Son of God hath Life and they that have not the Son of God have not Life and then if you have not Life what good doth all your Profession of the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelations do you any more than the Jews Scribes and Pharisees that would not receive Christ the Life upon whom God brought his overflowing Scourge And therefore do you take heed of that for your Strength will be no better than theirs if you have not God and Christ's supporting Power when God's Scourge comes upon you and you are filled with Horrours and Fears But my desires are that you may all Repent even from the Highest to the Lowest and not grieve nor quench nor vex nor rebel against God's good Spirit in you nor walk despitefully against the Spirit of Grace nor turn from it unto Wantonness which would teach you and bring your Salvation Which if you do how can you escape the over-flowing Scourge of the Almighty and the Wrath of the Lamb But my desires are that you may all obey God's good Spirit of Truth which will lead you out of all Evil into all Truth and reprove you for your Righteousness and for your own Judgment and Sin c. and it will bring you to cleave to that which is good and forsake that which is evil and to turn to the Lord who will receive you in his Mercy and Kindness By which Means you may escape the over-flowing Scourge in the Day of Vengeance which dreadful Day is coming upon all Evil-doers And this as a Warning to you both for your Temporal and Eternal Good and for you to Read it in your Assemblies and your Priests to Read it in their Churches so that all People may hear and fear as you will Answer it at the Terrible and Dreadful Day of Judgment Amsterdam the 19th of the 7th Month 1677. G. F. For the Embassadors that are Met to Treat for Peace at the City of Nimmeguen in the States Dominions To pag. 448 CHrist Jesus saith Blessed are the Peace-makers for they shall be called the Children of God Matth. 5.9 so all Christian men are to forsake Evil and do Good and seek Peace and follow it if they will love Life and see good Days 1 Pet. 3.11 for God hath called all true Christians unto Peace 1 Cor. 7. and therefore all Christians ought to follow this Peace which God calls them to and they should let the Peace of God rule in all their Hearts which is above the Peace of this World that is so soon broken For the Apostle Commands the Christians to let the Peace of God rule in their Hearts to which all Christians should be subject Now the Practice of this should be among Christians that profess Christianity and this Peace is above that which Christ takes from the Earth Rev. 6. which is the Peace of the Wicked And the Apostle saith to the Christians Be at Peace among your selves 1 Thess 5. Now all Christians should obey this Command and be at Peace among themselves and not in Wars and Strife And further the Apostle exhorts the Christians to keep the Vnity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace so this Vnity and this Bond of Peace should be kept and not be broken by all that bears that Noble Name Christian and they should keep the Unity of the Spirit of Christ in the Bond of the Prince of Princes and King of Kings and Lord of Lords Peace which is the Duty of all true Christians to keep In which they may honour Christ in bringing forth the Fruits of Peace which is Love and Charity For the Apostle tells you The fruits of the good Spirit is Love Joy and Peace Long-suffering Gentleness Goodness c. Gal. 5. And the Apostle exhorts the Christians and saith If it be possible as much as lieth in you live peaceable with all Men and this should be the Endeavour of all Christians For it is no honour to Christ that Christians should war and destroy one another that do profess the Name of Christ who saith He came to save Mens lives and not to destroy them For Christians have Enemies enough abroad without them and therefore they should Love one another as Christ commands who saith By this ye shall be known to be my Disciples if ye Love one another For Christians are commanded to love Enemies therefore much more one another And Christ saith As the Father hath loved me so I have loved you Continue ye in my Love John 15.8 and By this shall all Men know that ye are my Disciples if ye Love one another John 13.35 But if Christians do war and destroy one another this will make both Jews Turks Tartars and Heathens to say That you are not Disciples of Christ. And therefore as you love God and Christ and Christianity and its Peace All make Peace as far as you have power among Christians that
not Banish him and Persecute him out of your Cities and Corporations And how can you enter into his Kingdom and have a share of his Kingdom though you may profess him in Words And do not they go into Everlasting Punishment that did not visit Christ in Prison Then what will become of you that do Banish and Imprison him where he is manifest in his Members nor suffer them to Meet together to enjoy him amongst them according to his Promise And therefore you that will not let Christ Reign in his People and have his Liberty in them in your Cities and Countries to Exercise his Offices you will not have your Liberty in Heaven and you that will not let Christ Reign in your Hearts nor suffer him to Reign in his People here upon the Earth in this World in your Kingdoms you will not Reign with Christ in Heaven in his Kingdom nor in the World without end And so you that banish the Truth out of your Cities or Countries or his People for its sake you do banish the Truth and Christ out of your hearts from Ruling there and so you your selves are not the Temples of God And then when you have banished Christ and his Truth out of your own hearts then you do banish such in whom he Rules out of your Estates and Country and then see what Judgments the Lord doth bring upon you when you are left to your selves yea Fears and Troubles and one Judgment after another that come upon you you are even filled with them But the Banished and Sufferers for Truth and Christ's sake have a peaceable habitation in the Truth which the Devil is out of and cannot get in which habitation will out-last all the habitations of the Wicked and Persecutors though they be never so full of Words without Life and Truth So the Life and the Truth will out-last all Airy Notions and Christ the Lamb and patient Seed will overcome the Devourer and the unpatient Seed and they that have the Garments the Righteousness of Christ which is the fine Linnen it will out-last all the Rags and Inventions of Men. For Christ saith to his Learners Be of good chear I have overcome the World the persecuting World and so he said unto his Disciples Marvel not if that the World hate you for it hated me before you And therefore let all that profess themselves Christians lay away Persecution about Religion Churches or Worship Fasting or Praying-Days for you have no Command from Christ and his Apostles to Persecute any For Christ who is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords when they called him a Deceiver and blasphemed him and said He had a Devil he did not Persecute any of them for it nor force or compel any to hear and believe him nor the Apostles after him but he bad them that would have been plucking up the Tares Let the Tares and the Wheat grow together until the Harvest So you have no Command from Christ or his Apostles to Persecute Imprison or Banish or Spoil the Goods of any for matter of pure Conscience and Religion Worship Faith and Church in the Gospel-times Harlingen in Friezland the 11th of the 6th Month 1677. G. F. A Warning to the Magistrates Priests and People of the City of Hamborough to Humble themselves before the Lord and not to be High-minded Friends YOU have painted and garnished the Inside of your outward Houses and High-places but look within your Hearts with the Light of Christ Amsterdam which he hath enlightned you and every Man that cometh into the World withal and with it you may see To pag. 448 how foul your Hearts and Insides are with Sin and Evil which Christ tells you ye should make clean who told the Pharisees how they painted the Sepulchres of the Righteous and they themselves were full of Rottenness and Corruption Therefore look into your selves 1677. Amsterdam and your own hearts what you are full of to paint out the Sepulchres of the Righteous Apostles and making a Trade and a Profession of their words without the same Holy Ghost and Power and Light and Truth which they were in will not stand at the Day of God's Vengeance And therefore Repent while you have Time and turn to the Lord with your whole hearts and do not think your selves to be secure without his Immediate Almighty Protection For it is not all your Works nor all your own Strength and Power and Defence that can protect you and you to look at them and think your selves secure and to sit down in your Security and in it let your hearts be merry and at rest and ease But then when the Lord brings a Scourge upon you that you are filled with Terrours and Fears remember you were Warned that you were set down but not in the true Rest and then all your own Strength and Force will stand you in no stead and you will acknowledge that it must be God that must protect you And therefore take Warning for your Priests and People are too high and are swallowed up too much in this World and the Vanities of it carry your Minds away from God and your Care is more for the World than for God and more after the Riches of the World than after the Riches of the World that has no end For know you not that all your Heaps of outward Treasure must have an end and that you must Leave them all behind you Therefore I am to Warn and Advice you both High and Low Priests and People to come to the Grace Light and Truth that comes by Jesus Christ and also to come to the Manifestation of the good Spirit of God which is given to you to profit withal that with This Grace and Truth and Light and Spirit of Christ you may turn to Christ Jesus from whence it comes who saith Learn of me and God saith This is my beloved Son hear ye him And so all the Children of the New Covenant that walk in the New and Living Way do hear Christ their Prophet that God has raised up who is their Teacher and Priest whom God hath anointed to Preach And so now God doth speak to his People by his Son as he did in the Apostles Days And so the Lord is come to Teach his People himself by his Grace Light Truth and Spirit and to bring them off all the Worlds Teachers that are made by Men since the Apostles days who have kept People always Learning that they may always be paying of them And is come to bring them off all the Worlds Religions to the Religion that he set up in the Apostles Days in the New Covenant which is pure and undefiled before God in his sight and keeps from the Spots of the World c. And the Lord is come to bring them off all the World's Churches to the Church in God which Christ the heavenly Man is Head of and to bring them off all the World's Worships to