of answering me the Judge told the Jury They might go out Some of the Jury were not satisfied whereupon the Judge told them They had heard a Man Swear that the Oath was tendered to me the last Sessions and then he told them what they should do I told him He should leave the Jury to their own Consciences However the Jury being put on by him went forth and soon after came in again and found me Guilty I spake to the Jury and asked them How they could satisfie themselves to find me Guilty upon that Indictment which was laid so false and had so many Errors in it They could make but little Answer yet one who seemed to be the Worst of them would have taken me by the Hand But I put him by saying How now Judas hast thou betrayed me and dost thou now come with a Kiss 1674. Worcester Sessions So I bid him and them Repent Then the Judge began to tell me How favourable the Court had been to me I asked him How he could say so Was ever any man worse dealt with than I had been in this Case who was stopped in my Journey being travelling upon my lawful Occasions and then Imprisoned without Cause and now had the Oaths put to me only for a Snare And I desired him to Answer me in the Presence of the Lord in whose Presence we all are Whether this Oath was not tendered me in Envy He would not answer that but said Would you had never come here to trouble us and the Country I told him I came not thither of my self but was brought being stopped in my Travel on my Journey and I did not trouble them but they had brought Trouble upon themselves Then the Judge told me What a sad Sentence he had to tell me I asked him Whether what he was going to speak was by way of passing Sentence or by way of Information For I told him I had many things to say and more Errors to Assign in the Indictment besides those I had already mentioned to stop him from giving Sentence against me upon that Indictment He said He was going to shew me the danger of a Premunire which was the Loss of my Liberty and of all my Goods and Chattels and to endure Imprisonment during Life But he said He did not deliver this as the Sentence of the Court upon me but as an Admonition to me and then he bid the Jailer Take me away I expected to have been called again to hear the Sentence but when I was gone the Clerk of the Peace whose Name was Twittey asked him as I was informed Whether that which he had spoken to me should stand for Sentence And he consulting with some of the Justices told him Yes that was the Sentence and should stand This was done behind my Back to save himself from Shame in the Face of the Country Many of the Justices and the generality of the People were moderate and civil and there was one John Ashley a Lawyer was very friendly both the time before and now speaking on my behalf and pleading the Errors of the Indictment for me But Justice Street who was Judge of the Court would not regard but over-ruled all This Justice Street said to some Friends in the Morning before my Trial That if he had been upon the Bench the first Sessions he would not have tendered me the Oath but if I had been Convicted of being at a Conventicle he would have proceeded against me according to that Law and that he was sorry that ever I came before him And yet he maliciously tendered the Oath to me in the Court again when I was to have Tried my Traverse upon the Indictment But the Lord pleaded my Cause and met with both him and Justice Simpson who first ensnared me with the Oath at the first Sessions For Simpson's Son was Arraigned not long after at the same Bar for Murder And Street who as he came down from London after the Judges had returned me back from the King's-Bench to Worcester said Now I was returned to them I should lie in Prison and rot had his Daughter whom he so doted on that she was called his Idol brought down dead from London in an Hearse to the same Inn where he spake those Words and brought to Worcester to be buried within a few days after And People took notice of the Hand of God 1674. Worcester Prison how sudden it was upon him but it rather hardned than tendered him as his Carriage afterwards shewed After I was carried back to Prison several came to see me and amongst others the Earl of Salisbury's Son who was very loving and troubled that they had dealt so badly by me He stayed about two Hours with me and took a Copy of the Errors in the Indictment himself in Writing The Sessions being now over and I fixt in Prison by a Premunire my Wife came up to me out of the North to be with me And the Assizes coming on soon after in the Sixth Month the State of my Case being drawn up in Writing She and Thomas Lower delivered it to Judge Wild. In it was set forth the Occasion of my Journey the Manner of my being Taken and Imprisoned the Proceedings of the several Sessions against me and the Errors in the Indictment by which I was Premunired which having had Occasion to mention often before I forbear to repeat here When the Judge had read it he shook his Head and said We might Trie the Validity or Invalidity of the Errors if we would And that was all they could get from him While thus I lay in Prison it came upon me to state our Principle to the King not with particular Relation to my own Sufferings but for his better Information concerning our Principle and us as a People It was thus and thus Directed To the KING THe Principle of the Quakers is the Spirit of Christ who Died for us and is Risen for our Justification by which we know we are his and he dwelleth in us by his Spirit and by the Spirit of Christ we are led out of Vnrighteousness and Vngodliness It brings us to deny all Plottings and Contrivings against the King or any Man And the Spirit of Christ brings us to deny all manner of Ungodliness as Lying Theft Murder Adultery Fornication and all Vncleanness and Debauchery Malice and Hatred Deceit Cousening and Cheating whatsoever and the Devil and his Works And the Spirit of Christ brings us to seek the Peace and Good of all Men and to live peaceably and leads us from such Evil Works and Actions as the Magistrate's Sword takes hold upon And our Desire and Labour is that all who profess themselves Christians may walk in the Spirit of Christ that they through the Spirit may mortifie the Deeds of the Flesh and by the Sword of the Spirit may cut down Sin and Evil in themselves Then the Judges and other Magistrates would not have so much Work in
punishing Sin in the Kingdom neither then need Kings or Princes fear any of their Subjects if they all walked in the Spirit of Christ For the Fruits of the Spirit are Love Righteousness Goodness Temperance c. And if all that profess themselves Christians did walk in the Spirit of Christ and by it did mortifie Sin and Evil it would be a great Ease to the Magistrates and Rulers and would free them from a great deal of Trouble For it would lead all Men and Women To do unto all others as they would have others do unto them and so the Royal Law of Liberty would be fulfilled For if all that are called Christians did walk in the Spirit of Christ by it to have the Evil Spirit and its Fruits mortified and cut down in them then not being led by the Evil Spirit but by the good Spirit of Christ the Fruits of the good Spirit would appear in all Men and Women for as People are led by the good Spirit of Christ it leads them out of Sin and Evil which the Magistrate's Sword takes hold upon and so would be an Ease to the Magistrates But as People err from this good Spirit of Christ and follow the Evil Spirit which leads them into Sin and Evil that Spirit brings the Magistrate into a great deal of Trouble to Execute the Law upon the Sinners and Transgressors of the good Spirit That Spirit that leads People from all manner of Sin and Evil is one with the Magistrate's Power and with the righteous Law for the Law being added because of Transgression that Spirit that leads out of Transgression must needs be One with that Law that is against Transgressors So that Spirit that leads out of Transgression is the good Spirit of Christ and is One with the Magistrates in the Higher Power and owns it and them But that Spirit that leads into Transgression is the bad Spirit and is against the Law and against the Magistrates and makes them a great deal of Troublesome Work Now the Manifestation of the good Spirit is given to every Man to profit withall and no Man can profit in the Things of God but by the Spirit of God which brings to deny all Sin and Evil. It is said of Israel Nehem. 9. The Lord gave them his good Spirit to instruct them yet they rebelled against it But if all People did mind this Manifestation of the Spirit which God hath given to instruct them it would lead them to forsake all manner of Sin and Evil Enmity Hatred Malice and all manner of Vnrighteousness and Vngodliness and to mortifie it And then in the Spirit of Christ they would have Fellowship and Vnity which is the Bond of Peace and then would Love and Peace which are the Fruits of the good Spirit flow among all them that are called Christians Now we are a People who in Tenderness of Conscience to the Command of Christ and of his Apostle cannot Swear for we are commanded in Matth. 5. and James 5. to keep to Yea and Nay and not to Swear at all not by Heaven nor by Earth nor by any other Oath lest we go into Evil and fall into Condemnation The Words of Christ are these Ye have heard that it hath been said by or to them of old time Thou shalt not forswear thy self but shalt perform unto the Lord thine Oaths These were true and solemn Oaths which they who made ought to perform in Old Time But these Christ and his Apostle forbids in the Gospel-times as well as false and vain Oaths Now if we could take any Oath at all we could take the Oath of Allegiance as knowing that King Charles was by the Power of God brought into England and set up King of England c. over the Heads of our Old Persecutors And as for the Pope's Supremacy we do utterly deny it But Christ and the Apostle having commanded us Not to Swear but to keep to Yea and Nay we dare not break their Commands and therefore many have put the Oaths to us as a Snare that they might make a Prey of us So our denying to Swear is not in Wilfulness Stubbornness or Contempt but only in Obedience to the Command of Christ and his Apostle And we are content if we break our Yea and Nay to suffer the same Penalty as they should that break their Oaths We desire therefore that the King would take this into his Consideration and how long we have Suffered in this Case This is from one who desires the Eternal Good and Prosperity of the King and of all his Subjects in the Lord Jesus Christ. G. F. About this time I had a fit of Sickness which brought me very low and weak in my Body and I continued so a pretty while insomuch that some Friends began to doubt of my Recovery and I seemed to my self to be amongst the Graves and dead Corpses Yet the Invisible Power did secretly support me and conveyed refreshing Strength into me even when I was so Weak that I was almost Speechless And one Night as I was lying awake upon my Bed in the Glory of the Lord which was over all it was said unto me That the Lord had a great Deal more Work for me to do for him before he took me to himself Endeavours were used to get me Released at least for a Time till I was grown stronger but the Way of Effecting it proving difficult and tedious for the King was not willing to Release me by any other way than a Pardon being told he could not Legally do it and I was not willing 〈◊〉 be Released by a Pardon which he would readily have given me because I did not look upon that way as agreeable with the Innocency of my Cause a Friend one Edward Pitway having Occasion to speak with Justice Parker upon some other Business desired him to give Order to the Jailer That in regard of my Weakness I might have Liberty to go out of the Jail into the City Whereupon Justice Parker wrote the following Letter to the Jailer and sent it to the Friend to deliver Mr. Harris I Have beeen much importuned by some Friends to George Fox to write to you I am informed by them that he is in a very weak Condition and very much Indisposed What lawful Favour you can do for the Benefit of the Air for his Health pray shew him I suppose the next Term they will make Application to the King I am Sir Your loving Friend HENRY PARKER Evesham the 8th of Octob. 1674. After this my Wife went to London and spake with the King laying before him my long and unjust Imprisonment with the Manner of my being taken and the Justices Proceedings against me in tendring me the Oath as a Snare whereby they had Premunired me so that I being now his Prisoner it was in his Power and at his Pleasure to Release which she desired The King spake kindly to her and referr'd her to the Lord-Keeper to
came upon Friends there was especial Care taken that all Friends that did suffer what they did offer up to the Lord in their Sufferings might be really their own and not any others Estates or Goods which they had in their hands and were not really their own so that they might not offer up another body's but that which was really their own which they had bought and paid for or were able to pay for And afterwards several Letters came out of the Country to the Meeting at London from Friends that had Goods of the Shop-keepers here at London upon Credit which they had not paid for who writ to their Creditors whom they had their Goods of intreating them to take their Goods again And some Friends came to London themselves and treated with their Creditors letting them understand how their Conditions were That they lay liable to have all that they had taken from them and told them They would not have any man to suffer by them neither would they by suffering offer up any thing but what was really their own or what they were able to pay for Upon which several took their Goods back again that they had sent down And this wrought a very good Savour in the hearts of many People when they saw that there was such a righteous just and honest Principle in Friends that would not make any to suffer for their Testimony but what they did suffer for the Testimony of Jesus it should be really and truly their own not other Peoples And in this they owed nothing to any but Love So in this every Man and Woman stands in the free Offering a free People whether it be Spiritual or Temporal which is their own and in that they wrong no man neither inwardly nor outwardly Ornan said unto David I give thee the Threshing-floor c. and the Oxen for Burnt-offerings and the Threshing-Instruments for Wood and the Wheat for the Meat-offering I give it all But King David said unto Ornan Nay but I will verily buy it for the full price for I will not take that which is thine for the Lord nor offer Burnt-offerings without cost 1 Chron. 21 22 c. So it should be his own and so should it be every man's that offers So you may see here that David would not accept of another man's Gift for an Offering to the Lord he would not offer up that which cost him nothing but it should be really his own Psal 112.5 A good man will guide his affairs with discretion Let this be read in your Monthly and Quarterly Mens and Womens Meetings London the 2d of the 4th Month 1683. G. F. Kingston upon Thames Some time after the Yearly-Meeting I went down to Kingston upon Thames to visit Friends there and while I was there it came upon me to write the following Epistle to Friends in general as a Salutation of Love unto them and to stir up the pure Mind in them DEar Friends and Brethren who are turned from Darkness to Light and from the Power of Satan to God who are the Believers in the Light which is the Life in Christ and are become the Children of the Light and of the Day and are grafted into Christ the second Adam the Lord from Heaven and so are gathered in the Name of Jesus in whom ye have Salvation and not in any other Name under the whole Heaven For Christ Jesus saith Where two or three are gathered together in my Name there am I in the midst of them Matth. 18.20 So here you being gathered in the Name of Jesus he is in the midst of you a Saviour a Mediator a Prophet a Shepherd a Bishop a Leader a Counsellor the Captain of your Salvation who bruises the Serpent's head and destroys the Devil and his Works Therefore Brethren in Christ Jesus exhort one another daily while it is called to day lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin For you are made Partakers of Christ if ye hold fast the beginning of your Confidence steadfast to the end Hebr. 3.14 Therefore hear Christ's voice for he is in the midst of you a Teacher And take heed lest there be in any of you an Evil heart of Vnbelief in departing from the living God as there is in too many in this Day of Provocation and Temptation But while it is day hear his Voice and let us consider one another to provoke unto Love and to good Works Let us hold fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering for he is faithful 1683. Kingston upon Thames that hath promised and that hath called you not forsaking the Assembling of our selves together as the manner of some is mark as the manner of some is that did and do forsake the Assembling of themselves together but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the Day of Light appearing For if we sin wilfully after we have received the Knowledge of the Truth there remains no more Sacrifice for sins but a certain fearful looking for of Judgment and fiery Indignation which shall devour the Adversaries Hebr. 10. And therefore it is good not to forsake the Assembling of our selves together but exhort one another daily for Christ is in the midst of his People a Teacher and a Prophet who saith Learn of me who is the Way the Truth and the Life And we being many are one Body in Christ who are gathered in his Name and every one Members one of another Having then Gifts differing according to the Grace that is given us whether they be Prophecy let us prophecy according to the proportion of Faith and let those that do Minister wait on their Ministery and those that be Teachers on their Teaching and he that Exhorteth on Exhortation he that gives let him do it with simplicity and he that ruleth with diligence and he that sheweth Mercy he is to do it with Cheerfulness Abhor that which is evil cleave to that which is good Be kindly affectioned one towards another with brotherly love in honour preferring one another Rejoice in hope be patient in tribulations be not overcome with Evil but overcome Evil with God and if it be possible as much as lieth in you live peaceably with all men Rom. 12. This is and was the practice of the Church of Christ And now the God of Hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that ye may abound in hope through the Power of the holy Ghost And I my self also am perswaded of you my Brethren that ye also are full of Goodness filled with all Knowledge and are able also to admonish one another Rom. 15.13 14. Here the Church of Christ in which Christ was in the midst a Teacher and the Head of the Church they were and are able through him to admonish one another And let the peace of God rule in your hearts to which Peace of God ye are also called into one Body to wit of Christ. And
Yearly-Meeting was over which this Year was about the beginning of the Fourth Month. A precious Meeting it was and a very refreshing Season Friends had together the Lord vouchsafing to honour our Assemblies with his living and glorious Presence in a very plentiful manner At the Conclusion of the Meeting I felt a Concern upon my Spirit to give forth the following Paper to be dispersed abroad amongst Friends ALL you Believers in the Light that are become Children of the Light walk as Children of the Light and of the Day of Christ and as a City set on a Hill that cannot be hid and so let your Light shine that People may see your good Works and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven For a good Tree bringeth forth good Fruit and therefore be ye Trees of Righteousness the planting of the Lord having Fruits unto Holiness and then your End will be Everlasting life And such are the Wells and Cisterns that hold the living Water of life which springs up in them to Eternal life so ye may all drink Water out of your own Cisterns and running Water out of your own Wells and eat every one of his own Fig-tree and of his own Vine having Salt every one in your selves to season every one's Sacrifice acceptable to God by Jesus Christ and like unto the Wise Virgins that have Oil in their Lamps and follow the Lamb and enter in with the Bridegroom 1688. London Yearly-Meeting And now is the time to Labour while it is day yea the Day of Christ and to stir up every one's pure Mind and the Gift of God that is in them and to improve your Talents that Christ hath given you that ye may profit And to walk every one according to the Measure that Christ hath given you for the Manifestation of the Spirit of God is given to every one to profit withal Now consider what you have profited in spiritual and heavenly things with the heavenly Spirit of God and be not like the wicked and slothful that hid his Talent from whom it was taken and he cast into Utter darkness And a Dwarf or one that had any blemish was not to come nigh to Offer upon God's Altar And therefore mind the Word of Wisdom to keep you out of that which will Corrupt you and Blemish you and that ye may grow in Grace and in Faith and in the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ and feeding upon the Milk of the Word may grow by it that ye may not be Dwarfs and so to Offer your spiritual Sacrifice upon God's holy Altar For the Field or Vineyard of the slothful grows over with Thorns and Nettles and his Walls go down such are they that are not diligent in the Spirit of God and the Power which is the Wall a sure Fence and the Spirit of God will Weed out all both Thorns and Thistles and Nettles out of the Vineyard of the heart And you that are Keepers of others Vineyards see that you keep your own Vineyard clean with the Spirit and Power of Christ and sanctifie your selves and sanctifie the Lord in your hearts that ye may be a holy People to the Lord who saith Be ye holy for I am holy that ye may be the holy Members of the Church of Christ that is clothed with the Sun and hath the Moon under her feet the changeable World with all her changeable Worships Religions Churches and Teachers And be ye new and heavenly Jerusalem's Children for new and heavenly Jerusalem that is above is the Mother of all the Children of the Light and that are born of the Spirit and these be they that have been persecuted and have suffered by the false Church Mystery Babylon and Mother of Harlots And now all heavenly Jerusalem's and Sion's Children that are from above labour in the Gospel the Power of God and the Seed in which all Nations and all the Families of the Earth are blessed which Seed Christ bruises the Serpent's head and destroys the Devil and his Works and overcomes the Whore the false Church and the Beast and the false Prophet And takes away the Curse and the Vail that is spread over all Nations and over all the Families of the Earth and brings the Blessing upon all Nations and upon all the Families of the Earth if they will receive it saying In thy Seed shall all Nations and all the Families of the Earth be blessed And this is the Gospel of God preached to Abraham before Moses writ his Five Books and was preached in the Apostles days and is now preached again Which Gospel brings Life and Immortality to light and is the Gospel of Peace Life and Salvation to every one that believes it And so all Nations and all the Families of the Earth must be in Christ the Seed if they be blessed and be partakers of the Blessing in the Seed which Gospel God did preach and reveal to Abraham as in Gal. 3.8 And this Gospel was revealed and preached by Christ unto his Apostles who preached it which is not of Man nor from Man And now God and Christ hath Revealed the same Gospel unto me and many others in this Age I say the Gospel and the Seed in which all Nations and Families of the Earth are blessed in which Gospel I have laboured and do labour that all may come into this blessed Seed Christ who bruises the head of the Serpent that in it they might have peace with God And this Everlasting Gospel is preached again to them that dwell upon the Earth and they that believe it and receive it receive the Blessing and the Peace and Joy and Comfort of it and the stability in it and the life and immortality which it brings to light in them and to them And such can praise the Everlasting God in his Everlasting Gospel And Friends all seek the peace and good of all in Christ for Truth makes no Cains Corahs Balaams nor Judasses for they come to be such that go out of the peaceable Truth And therefore walk in the peaceable Truth and speak the Truth in the love of it as it is in Jesus G. F. Sometime after the Yearly-Meeting was over I went to my Son Mead's House Essex Gooses called Gooses in Essex and abode there some Weeks often visiting Friends Meeting near there and sometimes at Barking And after I had been a while there I went to visit Friends at Waltham-Abbey and at Hodsdon Waltham-Abbey Hodsdon Eâ—field South-street Ford-green Winchmore-hill and about Enfield South-street Ford-Green and Winchmore-Hill where I had several very serviceable Meetings amongst Friends the Lord opening many deep and weighty things through me both for the Informing the Understandings of Inquirers and building up those that were gathered into the Truth and establishing them therein It was in the Seventh Month that I returned to London having been near Three Months in the Country for my health's sake which now was very much Impaired so that
that our Fellowship stood In this we desired to have a Sense one of another acted towards one another and all Men in Love Faithfulness and Fear In the feeling of the Motions of this Principle we drew near to the Lord and waited to be prepared by it that we might feel those Drawings and Movings before we approached the Lord in Prayer or open'd our Mouths in Ministry And in our Beginning and Ending with this stood our Comfort Service and Edification And as we run faster or fell short we made Burthens for our selves to bear our Services finding in our selves a Rebuke instead of an Acceptance and in lieu of Well done who has required this at your Hands In that day we were an Exercised People our very Countenances and Deportment declared it Care for others was then much upon us as well as for our selves especially the Young Convinced Often had we the Burthen of the Word of the Lord to our Neighbours Relations and Acquaintance and sometimes Strangers also We were in Travail for one anothers Preservation Not seeking but shunning Occasions of any Coldness or Misunderstanding treating one another as those that believed and felt God present Which kept our Conversation Innocent Serious and Weighty guarding our selves against the Cares and Friendships of the World We held the Truth in the Spirit of it and not in our own Spirits or after our own Wills and Affections They were bowed and brought into Subjection in so much that it was visible to them that knew us we did not think our selves at our own Dispose to go where we List or say or do what we List or when we List Our Liberty stood in the Liberty of the Spirit of Truth and no Pleasure no Profit no Fear no Favour could draw us from this retired strict and watchful Frame We were so far from seeking occasions of Company that we avoided them what we could persuing our own Business with Moderation instead of medling with other Peoples Vnnecessarily Our Words were Few and Savoury our Looks Composed and Weighty and our whole Deportment very Observable True it is that this Retired and strict sort of Life from the Liberty of the Conversation of the World exposed us to the Censures of many as Humourists Conceited and Self-righteous Persons c. But it was our Preservation from many Snares to which others were continually exposed by the Prevalency of the lust of the Eye the lust of the Flesh and the Pride of Life that wanted no Occasions or Temptations to excite them abroad in the Converse of the World I cannot forget the Humility and Chast Zeal of that Day Oh! how Constant at Meetings how Retired in them how firm to Truth 's Life as well as Truth 's Principles and how Entire and Vnited in our Communion as indeed became those that profess One Head even Christ Jesus the Lord. This being the Testimony and Example the Man of God before mentioned was sent to Declare and Leave amongst us and we having Embraced the same as the Merciful Visitation of God to us the Word of Exhortation at this time is that we continue to be found in the Way of this Testimony with all Zeal and Integrity and so much the more by how much the Day draweth near And First as to you my Beloved and much Honoured Brethren in Christ that are in the Exercise of the Ministry Oh feel Life in the Ministry Let Life be your Commission your Well-spring and Treasury in all such Occasions else you well know there can be no begetting to God since nothing can quicken or make People alive to God but the life of God And it must be a Ministry in and from Life that enlivens any People to God We have seen the Fruit of all other Ministrys by the few that are turned from the Evil of their Ways It is not our Parts or Memory the repetition of former Openings in our own will and time that will do God's Work A dry Doctrinal Ministry however sound in Words can reach but the Ear and is but a Dream at the Best There is another Soundness that is soundest of all viz. Christ the power of God This is the Key of David that Opens and none Shuts and Shuts and none can Open as the Oil to the Lamp and the Soul to the Body so is that to the best of Words Which made Christ to say My Words they are Spirit and they are Life that is they are from Life and therefore they make you alive that receive them If the Disciples that had lived with Jesus were to stay at Jerusalem till they received it so must we wait to receive before we Minister if we will turn People from Darkness to Light and from Satan's power to God I fervently bow my Knees to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that you may always be like minded that you may ever wait Reverently for the coming and opening of the Word of Life and tend upon it in your Ministry and Service that you may serve God in his Spirit And be it little or be it much it is well for much is not too much and the least is enough if from the motion of God's Spirit and without it verily never so little is too much because to no profit For it is the Spirit of the Lord immediately or through the Ministry of his Servants that teacheth his People to profit and to be sure so far as we take him along with us in our Services so far we are profitable and no farther For if it be the Lord that must work all things in us and for our selves much more is it the Lord that must work in us for the Conversion of others If therefore it was once a Cross to us to Speak though the Lord required it at our Hands let it never be so to be silent when he does not It is one of the most dreadful Sayings in the Book of God That he that adds to the Words of the Prophecy of this Book God will add the Plagues written in this Book To keep back the Counsel of God is as Terrible for he that takes away from the Words of the Prophecy of this Book God shall take away his part out of the Book of Life And truly it has great Caution in it to those that use the Name of the Lord to be well assured the Lord Speaks that they may not be found of the Number of those that add to the Words of the Testimony of Prophecy which the Lord giveth them to bear nor yet to mince or diminish the same both being so very offensive to God Wherefore Brethren let us be careful neither to out-go our Guide nor yet loiter behind him since he that makes Haste may miss his Way and he that stays behind loose his Guide For even those that have Received the Word of the Lord had need wait for Wisdom that they may see how to divide the Word aright which plainly implieth that it
Religion to the Simple and Babes and brought thy Deeds to Light How is thy Habitation fallen and become the Habitation of Devils How is thy Beauty lost and thy Glory withered How hast thou shewed thy End that thou hast served God but with thy Lips and thy Heart far from him and thou in the Hypocrisy How hath the Form of thy Teaching declared it self to be the Mark of the false Prophets whose Fruit declares it self for by their Fruits they are known How are the Wise Men turned backward View thy Ways and take notice with whom thou hast taken part That of God in thy Conscience will tell thee 1652. Swarthmore The Ancient of Days will reprove thee How hath thy Zeal appeared to be the Blind Zeal a Persecutor which Christ and his Apostles forbad Christians to follow How hast thou strengthened the Hands of Evil-doers and been a Praise to them and not to them that do well How like a Mad-man and a Blind-man didst thou turn thy Sword backward against the Saints against whom there is no Law How wilt thou be gnawed and burned one Day when thou shalt feel the Flame and have the Plagues of God poured upon thee and thou begin to gnaw thy Tongue for Pain because of the Plagues Thou shalt have thy Reward according to thy Works Thou canst not escape the Lord 's righteous Judgment will find thee out and the Witness of God in thy Conscience shall answer it How hast thou caused the Heathen to Blaspheme and gone on with the Multitude to do Evil and joined hand in hand with the wicked How is thy latter End worse than thy Beginning who art come with the Dog to bite and art turned as a Wolf to devour the Lambs How hast thou discovered thy self to be a Man more fit to be kept in a place to be nurtured than to be set in a Place to nurture How wast thou exalted and puffed up with Pride And now art thou fallen down with Shame that thou comest to be covered with that which thou stirredst up and broughtest forth Let not John Sawrey take the VVords of God into his Mouth till he be Reformed Let him not take his Name into his Mouth till he depart from Iniquity Let not him and his Teacher make a Profession of the Saints VVords except they intend to proclaim themselves Hypocrites whose Lives are so contrary to the Lives of the Saints whose Church hath made it self manifest to be a Cage of Vnclean Birds You having a Form of Godliness but not the Power have made them that be in the Power your Derision your By-word and your Talk at your Feasts Thy ill Savour John Sawrey the Country about have smelled and of thy unchristian Carriage all that fear God have been ashamed and to them thou hast been a Grief In the Day of Account thou shalt know it even in the Day of thy Condemnation Thou wast mounted up and hadst set thy Nest on high but never gottest higher than the Fowls of the Air But now thou art run amongst the Beasts of Prey and art fallen into the Earth so that Earthliness and Covetousness hath swallowed thee up and thy Conceitedness would not carry thee through in whom was found the selfish Principle which hath blinded thy Eye Thy Back must be bowed down always for thy Table is already become thy Snare G. F. This Justice Sawrey who was the first Persecutor in that Country was afterward drowned I writ also to VVilliam Lampit who was the Priest of Vlverston and thus it was upon me to write unto him THE Word of the Lord to thee O Lampitt who art a Deceiver surfetted and drunk with the Earthly Spirit rambling up and down in the Scriptures and blending thy Spirit amongst the Saints Conditions who hadst a Prophecy as thy Father Balaam had but art erred from it as thy Father did One whose Fruit hath withered of which I am a Witness and many who have known thy Fruit have seen the End of it that it is withered and do see where thou art in the blind World a blind Leader of the Blind a Beast wallowing and tumbling in the Earth and in the Lust one that is erred from the Spirit of the Lord who art of old ordained for Condemnation Who art in the Seat of the Pharisees art called of Men Master standest Praying in the Synagogues and hast the Chief Seat in the Assemblies a right Hypocrite in the steps of the Pharisees and in the way of thy Fathers the Hypocrites which our Lord Jesus Christ cried Wo against Such with the Light thou art seen to be and by the Light art Comprehended which is thy Condemnation who hatest it and will be so Eternally except thou Repent To thee this is the Word of God for in Christ's Way thou art not but in the Pharisees as thou may stread Mat. 23. and all that own Christ's Words may see thee there Christ who died at Jerusalem cried Wo against such as thou art and Christ is the same yesterday to day and for ever The Wo remains upon thee and from under it thou canst never come but through Judgment Condemnation and true Repentance To thee this is the VVord of God To that of God in thy Conscience I do speak which will witness the Truth of what I write and will Condemn thee And when thou art in thy Torment though now thou swellest in thy Vanity and livest in Wickedness remember thou wast warned in thy Life-time when the Eternal Condemnation is stretched over thee thou shalt witness this to be the VVord of the Lord God unto thee And if ever thy Eye should see Repentance thou would'st witness me to have been a Friend of thy Soul G. F. Having thus cleared my Conscience to the Justice and to the Priest of Vlverstone who had raised the first Persecution in that Country it was upon me to send this VVarning in Writing to the People of Vlverstone in general COnsider O People who be within the Parish of Vlverston I was moved of the Lord to come into your Publick Places to speak among you being sent of God to direct your Minds to God that you might know where you might find your Teacher that your Minds might be stayed alone upon God and you might not gad abroad without you for a Teacher for the Lord God alone will Teach his People and he is coming to Teach them and to gather his People from Idols-Temples and from the customary Worships which all the World is trained up in And God hath given to every one of you a Measure of his Spirit according to your Capacity Liars Drunkards Whoremongers and Thieves and who follow filthy Pleasures you all have this Measure in you And this is the Measure of the Spirit of God that shews you Sin and shews you Evil and shews you Deceit which lets you see Lying is Sin Theft Drunkenness and Vncleanness all these to be the Works of Darkness Therefore mind your Measure for
the World scornfully calls Quakers But all Scoffers and Persecutors Railers and Scorners Stockers and Whippers we deny by that Power which throweth down all that Nature as seeing that all who act such things without Repentance shall not inherit the Kingdom of God but are for Destruction So Rejoice all ye Righteous ones who are persecuted for Righteousness sake for great is your Reward in Heaven Rejoice ye that suffer for Well-doing for ye shall not lose your Reward And wait you in the Light that you may grow up in the Life that gave forth the Scriptures that with it ye may see the Saints Conditions and with it ye may see all that which they testified against and there with it ye will see the state of those that did reproach and scoff them and did mock them and persecute them and did whip and stock them and haled them out of the Synagogues before Magistrates So to you who are in the same Light and Life the same things do they now that they may fill up the measure of their Fathers With the Light now they are seen where the Light and Life and Power of God is made manifest for as they did unto them so will they do unto you Here is our Joy and the Scripture is fulfilled and fulfilling and with the Light which was before the World was which is now made manifest in the Children of Light with it they see the World and comprehend it and the Actions of it for he that loves the World and turns from the Light is an Enemy to God he turneth into VVickedness for the whole VVorld lieth in VVickedness He who turns from the Light turns into the VVorks of Evil which the Light of Christ testifies against And by this Light where it is made manifest all the VVorks of the VVorld are seen and made manifest G. F. This is to go abroad among the scattered Ones and among the World Great was the Rage and Enmity of the People Professors as well as Prophane against the Truth and People of God at this time and great the Contempt and Disdain they shewed of Friends plainness Wherefore I was moved to write the following Paper and send it forth directed as An Epistle to gathered Churches into outward Forms upon the Earth ALL ye gathered Churches into outward Forms upon the Earth the Son of God is come to Reign and he will tread and trample and will shake and make you Quake and Quiver you that be found without his Life out of his Light and without his Power His Day hath appeared Morter and Clay will you be found Breaking and Shaking and Quaking is coming among you Your high Building is to be laid desolate your professed Liberty shall be your Bondage the Mouth of the Lord of Hosts hath spoken it Tremble ye Hypocrites ye Notionists The fenced Cities shall be laid desolate the fruitful Fields shall become a VVilderness your false Joy shall become your Heaviness the time of VVeeping and Desolation draweth nigh Come ye witty Ones see how ye can stand before the Almighty who is now come to plead with you you 'll fall like Leaves and wither like VVeeds Come you that have boasted of my Name saith the Lord and have gloried in the Flesh ye shall fade like a Flower who have slain my VVitness yet boast of my VVords which have been as a Song unto you Come ye Novelty-Ones who love Novelties changeable Suits of Apparel who be in the Fashions outward and inward putting on one thing this day and another the other day I 'll strip thee saith the Lord I 'll make thee bare I 'll make thee naked and thou shalt know that I am the Lord. What! hast thou profest the Prophets words hast thou profest the Apostles words and my Son's words hast thou Covered thy self with their Expressions thinkest thou not that I see thee out of my Life thinkest thou thou witty One to hide thy self where none can see thee thinkest thou if thou fliest to the uttermost parts of the Earth that I am not there Is not the Earth mine and the fulness of it saith the Lord Come all ye that have trusted in your own conceited Notions and Knowledge and VVisdom who were never yet out of the Earth and the Lusts of it and never yet got the Load of thick Clay off you and never were out of the drunken Spirit whose Imperfection appears who must be come upon as a Potter's Vessel broken Cisterns and ye that have been made VVise in your own Conceit and wise in your own Eyes in which Pride hath lifted you up and not the Humility you must be Abased You have run on with every one after his own Invention and every Man hath done that thing that was right in his own Eyes and that which did please himself This hath been the Course of People upon Earth Ye have run on without a King without Christ the Light of the World which hath enlightened every one that is come into the World but now is Truth risen now are your Fruits withering And you that are fortified and have fortified your strong Houses called your Churches make you your Cords strong the Lord will break you asunder ye that are gathering in and ye that are gathered For the Lord is risen to scatter you his Witness is risen in the Hearts of his People they will not be fed with dead Words nor with that which dies of it self nor will they be satisfied with the Husk which the Swine seeds upon And all ye Priests in the Nation and Teachers that now stand against the Light your Envy shews that ye be in Cain's Way your Greediness shews that ye be in Balaam's Way your standing against the Light which hath enlightned every man that cometh into the world doth manifest that you are in Core's Way that spoke the great high Words of Vanity ye whose Consciences are seared as with an hot Iron whose Judgment doth not linger whose Damnation doth not slumber who serve not the Lord Jesus Christ but your own Bellies who are the Evil Beasts spoken of which have destroyed many Families taken away their Cattel their Horses their Goods even their Household-Goods destroyed many poor men even whole Families taking their whole Estates from them whom you do no Work for O! the grievous Actions that are seen done by you the Ministers of Vnrighteousness whose fruits declare to the whole Nation that you are the Devil's Messengers your Actions declare it your taking Tithes Augmentations treble Dammages Midsummer-Dues as ye call them of them ye do no Work for nor Minister to And all ye Powers of the Earth beware of holding such up that be Vnrighteous Let not the Words of the Vnrighteous overcome you lest the righteous Judge the righteous God the Judge of Heaven and Earth upon you take hold whose Judgment is according to that of God in you which will let you see when you Transgress Come you proud and lofty ones who
And this is the Light which shews the Evil Actions you have all acted the ungodly Deeds you have ungodly Committed and all the ungodly Speeches you have spoken and all your Oaths and cursed Speaking and ungodly Actions Now if you hearken to this Light it will let you see all the Actions that you have done contrary to it and loving it it will turn you from your evil Deeds evil Actions evil Ways evil Words to Christ who is not of the World who is the Light which lighteth every Man that cometh into the World who testifies against the World that the Deeds thereof are evil And so doth the Light in every Man that he hath received from him testifie against his Works and Deeds that be Evil that they be contrary to the Light which he shall give an Account of at the day of Judgment for every idle Word that is spoken Which Light shall bring every Tongue to Confess yea and every Knee to bow at the Name of Jesus Which Light if you believe in you shall not come into Condemnation but come to Christ who is not of the World to him by whom it was made but if you believe not in the Light this is your Condemnation the Light saith Christ G. F. This Paper passing among them from the Jury to the Justices they presented it to the Judge so that when we were called before the Judge he bid the Clerk give me that Paper and then asked me Whether that Seditious Paper was mine I told him If they would read it up in open Court that I might hear it if it was mine I would own it and stand by it He would have had me to have taken it and looked upon it in my own Hand But I again desired That it might be read that all the Country might hear it and Judge whether there was any Sedition in it or no for if there were I was willing to suffer for it At last the Clerk of the Assize read it with an Audible Voice that all the People might hear it and when he had done I told them It was my Paper and I would own it and so might they too except they would deny the Scripture for was not this Scripture-Language and the Words and Commands of Christ and the Apostle which all true Christians ought to obey Then they let fall that Subject and the Judge fell upon us about our Hats again bidding the Gaoler Take them off which he did and gave them unto us and we put them on again Then we asked the Judge and the Justices What we had lain in Prison for these nine Weeks seeing they now Objâ—cted nothing to us but about our Hats And as for putting off our Hats I told them That was the Honour which God would lay in the Dust though they made so much ado about it the Honour which is of Men and which Men seek one of another and is the mark of Vnbelievers For How can ye believe saith Christ who receive Honour one of another and seek not the Honour that cometh from God only And Christ saith I receive not Honour from Men and all true Christians should be of his Mind Then the Judge began to make a great Speech how he Represented the Lord Protector 's Person and he had made him Lord Chief Justice of England and sent him to come that Circuit c. We desired him then that he would do us Justice for our false Imprisonment which we had suffered Nine Weeks wrongfully But instead of that they brought in an Indictment that they had framed against us such a strange thing and so full of Lies that I thought it had been against some of the Thieves How That we came by Force and Arms and in an hostile manner into the Court who were brought as aforesaid I told them It was all false and still we cried for Justice for our false Imprisonment being taken up in our Journy without Cause by Major Ceely Then this Peter Ceely spake to the Judge and said May it please you My Lord This Man pointing to me went aside with me and told me how serviceable I might be for his Design that he could raise Forty Thousand Men at an Hours warning and involve the Nation into Blood and so bring in King Charles and I would have aided him out of the Country but he would not go And if it please you My Lord I have a Witness to swear it and so he called upon his Witness But the Judge not being forward to Examine the Witness I spake to the Judge and desired That he would be pleased to let my Mittimus be read in the face of the Court and Country in which my Crime was signified for which I was sent to Prison The Judge said It should not be Read I said It ought to be seeing it concerned my Liberty and my Life The Judge said again It shall not be read but I said It ought to be read for if I have done any thing worthy of Death or of Bonds let all the Country know it Then seeing they would not read it I spake to one of my Fellow-Prisoners ' Thou hast a Copy of it Read it up said I. It shall not be read said the Judge Gaoler said he Take him away I 'le see whether He or I shall be Master So I was taken away and a while after called for again And I still cried to have my Mittimus read up for that signified the Cause of my Commitment Wherefore I again spake to the Friend that was my Fellow-Prisoner and bid him Read it up and he did Read it up and the Judge Justices and whole Court were silent for the People were eager to hear it Which is as followeth Peter Ceely Cornwall ss one of the Justices of the Peace of this County To the Keeper of His Highness's Gaol at Lanceston or his Lawful Deputy in that behalf Greeting I Send you here-withal by the Bearers hereof the Bodies of Edward Pyot of Bristol and George Fox of Drayton and Clea in Leicestershire and William Salt of London which they pretend to be the Places of their Habitations who go under the Notion of Quakers and acknowledge themselves to be such who have spread several Papers tending to the disturbance of the Publick Peace and cannot render any Lawful Cause of coming into these Parts being Persons altogether unknown and having no Pass for their Travelling up and down the Country and refusing to give Sureties of their good Behaviour according to the Law in that behalf provided and refuse to take the Oath of Abjuration c. These are therefore in the Name of His Highness the Lord Protector to Will and Command you that when the Bodies of the said Edward Pyot George Fox and William Salt shall be unto you brought you them receive and in His Highness's Prison aforesaid you safely keep them until by due Course of Law they shall be delivered Hereof fail you not as you will Answer
of the Synagogues when they came to speak Judge your selves what an Antichristian Spirit you have Never talk of defending Truth with that which is against Truth For are you not setting up the Rabble of the World against it Do they not Join with you with Swords and Staves against it And is this the Life of Christians Is not this the Life of Error and of the Evil Seeds-man Surely ye would find Work enough if ye were in the Fear of the Lord to turn your Swords against the Prophaneness the Oaths and Wickedness that is in your Streets and High-ways How do they ring like Sodom and give a sound like Gomorrah But they are become a Prey in this your Age that Reprove in your Gate Sin Wickedness and Prophaneness They are become your By-word Against them your Councils are gathered and them you cast into Prison and hale them out of your Synagogues and cast them likewise into Prison that write against it and speak against it and set your Guards to stop and hinder any from Visiting them whom you cast into Prison and give them the Names of Vagabonds and Wanderers Was ever the like heard in the days of the Heathen against the Apostles who witnessed the Gospel Did they set Guards and Watches in every Town in every City to take the Disciples the Brethren the Believers that heard that the Apostles were cast into Prison and came to see what they wanted Shew ye not as much Rage and Fury now in your Age as was in those that were in that Age And how can you talk of the Gospel and of defending the Gospel when you are setting Guards and Watches against it and are defending that which stands against it and the Lambs of Christ are almost torn to pieces amongst you who are like Wolves for the Lord hath now sent his Lambs amongst Wolves And have not you profest the words of Christ and of the Prophets and Apostles as the Jews had long profest the Scriptures the words of Moses and of the Prophets that prophesied of Christ that was to come and stood against him when he was come as you do in this Day of his Reign and in this Day of his glorious Gospel who are persecuting the Messengers of it imprisoning them persecuting them in your Streets and High-ways and now setting up your VVatches against them who bring you the glad Tidings of Peace to your Souls whose Feet are beautiful a Top of the Mountains Mark a Top of the Mountains that against which the Mountains rage and swell but God will make them to melt the Sun is risen which will make them to melt And God will cleave the Rocks and Mountains asunder and make the Hills to bow perpetually for his Son he will exalt and his Glory he will give to him and not to another Therefore be awakened ye Rulers of the Earth and take Counsel of the Lord and take not Counsel together against him Make not your Bonds strong and set not your selves in Battel against him for ye will be found but as Briers and Thorns before him which the Fire shall consume Therefore be awakened all ye that be Talkers of the Scripture and that gather your selves together by your Multitudes and Meetings and have had your Teachers but not having the Spirit that gave forth the Scriptures the Lord God of Glory the Father of Spirits will scatter you all your Bonds will not hold you together who are out of the Spirit which is the Bond of Peace The Threshing Instrument is gone forth which will beat the Hills to pieces Sion is risen to Thresh out of the holy Mountain is the Trumpet sounded Stand not up against the Lord for all Nations are with the Lord as the Drop of a Bucket He that measures the VVaters in the hollow of his Hand and weighs the Earth in Scales the Lord of Hosts is his Name who is now risen and rising to plead the Cause of the Innocent who is exalting his Son and bringing his Sheep to him Now are they seen and known that feed upon wind that are lifted up given up to believe Lies who report and say Report and we will report it Now are they seen who have a Form of Godliness but the Power is denied by them so Christ is denied the Power it self is denied for Christ is the Power of God And the Power being denied by you that have a Form of Godliness that have the words of the Scriptures the Gospel is denied for the Gospel is the Power of God And thus it is among you that have the Knowledge and VVisdom that is sensual earthly and devilish Doth it not appear so Let your Gaols and VVatches witness your Fruits in every Town Your VVisdom is earthly sensual and Devillish so you have a Knowledge and VVisdom but not that which is from above for that is pure and gentle and so is not your knowledge But to know Christ is Life Eternal Now your Fruits have manifested that you are not of this and so out of the Power of God which is the Cross of Christ For you are found in the VVorld out of the Power of God out of the Cross of Christ persecuting So that which doth persecute and send forth VVritings and Decrees to stop all and take up all and set VVatches and prepare Bonds to stint the Lord to Imprison and persecute and suffer none to go to visit them This shews you are not Christians but stand against a Christian's Life which is to love your Enemies Where is your Heaping up Coles of Fire your Love to your Enemies who are thus persecuting your Friends He came to his own and his own received him not Here is a turning the Sword against the Just. Do you shew here a Christian's Life or your selves Christians who are filling your Gaols with the Christians in the Spirit you that be in the Letter in Shadows as the Jews in the Letter did put the Jews in the Spirit into Prison Is not this the Fruit in our Days of the Christians in the Letter to put the Christians in the Spirit into Prison And doth not this shew that your Decrees which you have sent forth proceed from Death who thus Act against the Life and them that be in it which the Scriptures were given forth from Is it not here as it was with Saul when he went to persecute to hale to Prison and bind all that he could find calling upon that Name who were Christians in the Life the Spirit such as now you are persecuting because they are in the Life though you profess their Words Are not your Decrees gone forth from the same Spirit of Envy against the same Spirit of Christ they were in Is it not manifest to all that fear God and to the sober-minded and honest-hearted People that see your Practices your Decrees your Letters to stop to molest to hinder to Imprison them that are moved of the Lord to do his Will or to go to
the Lands-End Now it was the Custom of that Country that at such a time both Rich and Poor went out to get as much of the Wrack as they could not caring to save the Peoples Lives And in some parts of the Country they called Shipwracks God's Grace These things troubled me and grieved my Spirit to hear of such unchristian Actions considering how far they were below the Heathen at Melita who received Paul and made him a Fire and were courteous towards him and them that had suffered Shipwrack with him Wherefore I was moved to write a Paper and send it to all the Parishes Priests and Magistrates High and Low to reprove them for such greedy Actions and to Warn and Exhort them that if they could assist to save Peoples Lives and preserve their Ships and Goods they should use their Diligence therein and consider if it had been their own Condition they would judge it hard if they should be upon a Wrack and People should strive to get what they could from them and not matter their Lives A Copy of that Paper here follows All Friends and People TAke heed of Greediness and Covetousness for that is Idolatry and the Idolater must not enter into the Kingdom of God Take heed of Drunkenness and Oaths and Cursings for such are Destroyers of the Creation and make it to groan Lay away all Fightings and Quarrellings and Brawlings and Evil Speakings which are the Works of the Flesh and not of the Spirit for who follow such things are not like to have the Kingdom of God Put away all Corrupt Words which be unsavoury and misnaming one another for ye must give an Account for every idle Word Lay aside all Profession and Religion that is vain and come to the Possession and the pure Religion which is to visit the Fatherless the Widow and the Stranger and receive them For some thereby may entertain Angels unawares and the Servants of the Lord as Paul was entertained after the Shipwrack at Melita And do not ye take Peoples Goods from them by force out of their Ships which be the Seamens or others neither covet ye after them but rather endeavour to preserve their Lives and their Goods for them For that shews a Spirit of Compassion and a Spirit of a Christian But if ye be greedy and covetous after other men's Goods 1659. â—ands End not mattering what becomes of the Men would ye be served so your selves If ye should have a Ship cast away in other places and the People should come to tear the Goods and Ship in pieces not regarding to save the Men's Lives but be ready to fight one with another for your Goods do not ye believe such Goods would become a Curse to them And may ye not as well believe such kind of Actions will become a Curse unto you When the Spoil of one Ships Goods is idly spent and consumed upon the Lusts in Ale-houses Taverns and otherwise then ye gape for another Is this to do as ye would be done by which is the Law and the Prophets Therefore Priest Hull Are these thy Fruits What dost thou take Peoples Labour and Goods for Hast thou taught the People no better Manners and Conversation who are so Brutish and Heathenish Now all such things we judge in whomsoever But if any Friend or others do preserve Mens Lives and endeavour to save their Goods and Estates and restore what they can save of a Wrack to the Owners and then if they consider them for their Labour doing in that case unto them what they would have done unto themselves that we own And if they buy or sell and do not make a Prey that is allowed of still in the way of doing as ye would be done by keeping to the Law and to the Prophets that is that if ye should be in another Country ye would have other People to save your Lives and Goods and have your Goods restored to you again and you to consider them for so doing All ye that do otherwise that wait for a Wrack and get the Goods for your selves not regarding the Lives of the Men but if any of them escape drowning let them go a begging up and and down the Country and if any scape with a little sometimes they are robbed of it in the Country All such that do so are not for the preserving of the Creation but for the destroying of it And those Goods which are so gotten shall be a Curse and a Plague and a Judgment to them and them the Judgments of God will follow for acting such things The Witness in your Consciences shall Answer it Therefore all ye who have done such things do so no more lest a worse thing come unto you But that which is good do to preserve Men's Lives and Estates and labour to restore the Loss and Breach that the Lord requires Be not like a Company of Greedy Dogs and worse than Heathens as if ye had never heard tell of God nor Christ nor the Scriptures nor pure Religion And Priest Hull Have People spent their Money upon thee for that which is no Bread For a thing of nought that thou hast such Fruits All such Teachers that make a Trade of the Scriptures which are given forth from the Spirit of God to be believed and read and practised and Christ whom they testifie of enjoyed we utterly deny who own Christ and are come off from all your Steeple-houses which were the Old Mass-houses For there are their bad Fruits harboured those are the Cages of them But come to the Church which is in God 1 Thess 1. and come all to the Light which Christ Jesus hath enlightned you withal which shews you all the Vngodly Words ye have spoken the ungodly Thoughts which ye have thought the ungodly Actions which ye have done This will be your Teacher if ye love it your Condemnation if ye hate it For the mighty Day of the Lord is coming upon all Wickedness and Ungodliness Therefore your Whoredoms and Fornications lay aside And ye Magistrates who are to do Justice think ye not that the Hand of the Lord God is against you and that his Judgments will come upon you who do not look after these things and stop them with the Law which is To do unto all men as they would have done unto them whereby ye might be a good Savour in your Country Is not the Law to preserve Mens Lives and Estates Doing unto all Men as they would Men should do unto them For all Men would have their Lives and Estates preserved Therefore should not ye preserve others and not suffer them to be devoured and destroyed The Evil of these things will lie upon you both Priests and Magistrates G. F. POSTSCRIPT ALL Dear Friends which fear the Lord God keep out of the Ravenous World's Spirit whose Spirit is to Raven and Destroy which is out of the Wisdom of God That when Ships are wrackt ye do not run to destroy and
another New-Garden We went on to a place called New Garden where was a great Meeting And from thence we travelled on among Friends till we came to Bandon-Bridge and the Lands-End Bandon-Bridge Lands-end having many Meetings as we went in which the mighty Power of the Lord was manifested through which Friends were well refreshed and many People were affected with the Truth Bandon At Bandon the Mayor's Wife being her self Convinced desired her Husband to come to the Meeting but he bid her for her Life she should not make known that I was at a Meeting there He that was then Mayor of Cork was very envious against Truth and Friends and had many Friends in Prison And knowing that I was in the Country he had sent forth Four Warrants to take me wherefore Friends were desirous that I might not ride through Cork But being at Bandon there appeared unto me in a Vision A very ugly-visag'd Man of a black and dark Look My Spirit struck at him in the Power of God and it seemed to me that I rid over him with my Horse and my Horse set his Foot on the side of his Face When I came down in the Morning I told a Friend that was with me that the Command of the Lord was to me to ride through Cork but bad him Tell no Man So we took Horse many Friends being with me Cork And when we came near the Town the Friends would have shewed me a way on the backside of the Town but I told them My way was through the Streets Wherefore taking one of them along with me whose Name was Paul Morrice to guide me through the Town I rode on and as we rode through the Market-place and by the Mayor's Door the Mayor seeing me ride by said There goes George Fox but he had not power to stop me When we had passed through the Centinels and were come over the Bridge we went to a Friend's House and alighted And there the Friends told me what a Rage was in the Town and how many Warrants were granted forth to take me While I was sitting there with Friends I felt the Evil Spirit at Work in the Town stirring up Mischief against me and I felt the Power of the Lord strike at that Evil Spirit By and by some other Friends coming in told me That it was over the Town and amongst the Magistrates that I was in the Town I said Let the Devil do his worst So after a while that Friends were refreshed one in another and we who were Travellers had refreshed our selves I called for my Horse and having a Friend to Guide me we went on our way But great was the Rage that the Mayor and others of Cork were in that they had missed me and great pains they afterwards took to have taken me having their Scouts abroad upon the Roads as I understood to observe which way I went And afterwards there was scarce a Publick Meeting I came to but there came Spies to watch if I were there And the Envious Magistrates and Priests sent Informations one to another concerning me describing me by my Hair Hat Cloaths and Horse so that when I was come near an Hundred Miles from Cork they had an Account concerning me and Description of me before I came amongst them There was one very Envious Magistrate who was both a Priest and a Justice and he got a Warrant from the Judge of Assize to apprehend me which Warrant was to go over all his Circuit which reached near an Hundred Miles Yet the Lord disappointed all their Counsels and defeated all their Designs against me and by his good hand of Providence preserved me out of all their Snares and gave us many sweet and blessed Opportunities to visit Friends and spread Truth through that Nation For Meetings were very large Friends coming to them far and near and the World's People flocking in And the powerful Presence of the Lord was preciously felt with and amongst us whereby many of the World were reached and Convinced and gathered to the Truth and the Lord's Flock was increased And Friends were greatly refreshed and comforted in feeling the Love of God Oh the Brokenness that was amongst them in the flowings of Life So that in the Power and Spirit of the Lord many together have broken out into Singing even with Audible Voices making Melody in their Hearts At which time I was moved to declare to Friends there in the Ministry as followeth SOund Sound abroad you faithful Servants of the Lord and Witnesses in his Name and faithful Servants and Prophets of the Highest and Angels of the Lord Sound ye all abroad in the World to the awakening and raising of the Dead that they may be awakened and raised up out of the Grave to hear the Voice that is living For the Dead have long heard the Dead and the Blind have long wandered among the Blind and the Deaf amongst the Deaf Therefore Sound Sound ye Servants and Prophets and Angels of the Lord ye Trumpets of the Lord that you may awaken the Dead and awaken them that be asleep in their Graves of Sin Death and Hell and Sepulchres and Sea and Earth and who lie in the Tombs Sound Sound abroad ye Trumpets and raise up the Dead that the Dead may hear the Voice of the Son of God the Voice of the Second Adam that never fell the Voice of the Light and the Voice of the Life the Voice of the Power and the Voice of the Truth the Voice of the Righteous and the Voice of the Just. Sound Sound the pleasant and melodious Sound Sound Sound ye the Trumpets the melodious Sound abroad that all the deaf Ears may be opened to hear the pleasant Sound of the Trumpet to Judgment and Life to Condemnation and Light Sound Sound your Trumpets all abroad you Angels of the Lord Sons and Daughters Prophets of the Highest that all that are dead and asleep in the Graves and been long dreaming and slumbering may be awakened and hear the Voice of the Lamb who have long heard the Voice of the Beast that now they may hear the Voice of the Bridegroom now they may hear the Voice of the Bride now they may hear the Voice of the Great Prophet now they may hear the Voice of the great King now they may hear the Voice of the great Shepherd and the great Bishop of their Souls Sound Sound it all abroad ye Trumpets among the Dead in Adam for Christ is come the Second Adam that they might have Life yea have it abundantly Awaken the Dead Awaken the Slumberers Awaken the Dreamers Awaken them that be asleep Awaken them out of their Graves out of their Tombs out of their Sepulchres out of the Seas Sound Sound abroad you Trumpets you Trumpets that awaken the Dead that they may all hear the Sound of it in the Graves and they that hear may live and come to the Life that is the Son of God He is