nothing that is Unclean shall enter into the Kingdom of God and prize your Time while you have it lest the Time come that you say with Sorrow We had Time but it is past Oh why will ye die Why will ye chuse your own Ways Why will ye follow the Course of the World and why will ye follow Envy Malice Drunkenness and foolish Pleasures Know ye not in your Consciences that all these are Evil and Sin and that such as act such things shall never enter into the Kingdom of God Oh that ye would Consider and see how you have spent your Time and mind how ye do spend your Time and observe whom ye do serve for the Wages of Sin is Death Do not ye know that whatsoever is more than Yea and Nay cometh of Evil Oh ye Drunkards who live in Drunkenness do ye think to escape the Fire and the Judgment of God! Though ye swell in Venom and live in Lust for a while yet God will find you out and bring you to Judgment Therefore love the Light which Christ hath enlightened you withal who saith I am the Light of the World and who doth enlighten every one that cometh into the World One loves the Light and brings his Works to the Light and there is no occasion at all of stumbling the other hates the Light because his Deeds are Evil and the Light will reprove him Thou that hatest this Light thou hast it Thou knowest Lying is Evil Drunkenness is Evil Swearing is Evil Whoredom Theft and all Vngodliness and all Vnrighteousness is Evil Christ Jesus hath given thee Light enough to let thee see this is Evil. And this Light if thou lovest it will teach thee Holiness and Righteousness without which none shall see God but if thou hatest this Light it is thy Condemnation And thus are Christ's Words found to be true and fulfilled among you You that hate this Light set up Hirelings and Idols-Temples and such Priests as bear rule by their means and such Shepherds as hold up such things and such as are called of Men Masters and have the chiefest Place in the Assemblies whom Christ cried Wo against Matt. 23. And such as go in the way of Cain in Envy and after the Error of Balaam for Wages Gifts and Rewards These have been your Teachers and these you have held up But who love the Light are taught of God and the Lord is coming to teach his People himself and to gather his from the Hirelings and from such as seek for their Gain from their Quarter and from such as bear Rule by their Means The Lord is opening the Eyes of foolish People that they shall see such as bear Rule over them But all whose Eyes are shut are such as the Prophet spake of That have Eyes and see not but are foolish upholding such things Therefore poor People as ye love your own Souls consider the Love of God to your Souls while ye have time and do not turn the Grace of God into Wantonness That which shews you Vngodliness and worldly Lusts that should and would be your Teacher if ye would hearken to it for the Saints of Old witnessed the Grace of God to be their Teacher which taught them to live Soberly and Godly in this present World And ye that are not sober this Grace of God hath appeared unto you but you turn it into Wantonness and so set up Teachers without you who are not sober not holy not godly Here you are left without Excuse when the Righteous Judgment of God shall be revealed upon you all who live Ungodlily Therefore to the Light in you I speak and when the Book of Conscience shall come to be opened then shall you Witness what I say to be true and you all shall be judged out of it So God Almighty direct your Minds such of you especially as love Honesty and Sincerity that you may receive Mercy in the time of Need. Your Teacher is within you look not forth It will Teach you both lying in Bed and going Abroad to shun all Occasion of Sin and Evil. G. F. As the foregoing was directed To all the Inhabitants of Ulverston in general so it was upon me to write also to those more particularly that did most constantly follow W. Lampitt the Priest there And unto these I writ thus THE Word of the Lord God to all the People that follow Priest Lampitt who is a blind Guide Ye are such as are turned from the Light of Christ within which he hath enlightned you withal Ye are such as follow that which Christ cried Wo against that goes not in Christ's Way but in the Pharisees Way as ye may read Matt. 23. which our Lord Jesus Christ cried Wo against He is the same yesterday to day and for ever but him ye own not while ye follow such as he cried Wo against though under a Colour ye make a Profession and Lampitt your Priest makes a Trade of Christ's and the Saint's Words as his Fathers the Pharisees did make a Profession of the Prophets Words and of Moses his Words Wo was unto them who had not the Life so VVo is unto you who have not the Life that gave forth the Scriptures as your Fruits have made manifest For when the Lord hath moved some to come amongst you to preach the Truth freely you have knock'd them down beat and punch'd and haled them out of your Assemblies Such a People serves thee O Lampitt to make a prey upon and these are thy Fruits O let Shame Shame strike thee and you all in the Faces who make a Profession of Christ's Words thou and they and yet are Stoners and Strikers and Mockers and Scoffers Let all see if this be not a Cage of Vnclean Birds spoken of in the Scriptures which they who had the Life of the Scriptures spake of And such a Company of People thou deceivest and feedest them with thy Fancies and makest a Trade of the Scriptures and takest them for thy Cloak But thou art manifest to all the Children of Light for that Cloak will not cover thee but thy Skirts are seen and thy Nakedness appears And the Lord made one to go Naked among you a Figure of thy Nakedness and of your Nakedness and as a Sign amongst you before your destruction cometh that you might see that you were Naked and not covered with the Truth To the Light in all your Consciences I do speak which Christ Jesus doth enlighten you withal It will shew you the Time you have spent and all your Evil Deeds you have done in that Time who follow such a Teacher that acts contrary to this Light and leads you into the Ditch And when you are in the Ditch together both Teacher and People remember ye were warned in your Life time And if ever your Eye come to see Repentance and you obey the Light of Jesus Christ in you you will witness me to have been a Friend of your Souls and
us that were turned to the Lord Jesus Christ but since it is become a Larger Meeting Leaving Kingston we rode to London Hide-park And when we came near Hide-Park we saw a great Concourse of People and looking towards them we espied the Protector coming in his Coach Whereupon I rode up to his Coach-side and some of his Life-Guard would have put me away but he forbad them So I rode down by his Coach-side with him declaring what the Lord gave me to say unto him of his Condition and of the Sufferings of Friends in the Nation shewing him ' how contrary this Persecution was to Christ and his Apostles and to Christianity London When we were come to James's Park-gate I left him and at parting he desired me to come to his House The next Day one of his Wife's Maids whose Name was Mary Sanders came up to me at my Lodging and said Her Master came to her and told her he would tell her some good News And when she asked him What it was He told her George Fox was come to Town She replied That was good News indeed for she was one that had received Truth but she said She could hardly believe him till he told her how I met him and rode from Hide-Park down to James 's Park with him After a little time Edward Pyot and I went to Whitehall Whitehal And when we came before him there was one called Dr. Owen Vice-chancellor of Oxford with him We were moved to speak to Oliver Cromwel concerning the Sufferings of Friends and laid them before him and directed him to the Light of Christ who had enlightned appeared to all Men. 1656. London Jude saith Behold the Lord cometh with Ten Thousands of his Saints to execute Judgment upon all and to convince all that are Vngodly among them of all their ungodly Deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard Speeches which ungodly Sinners have spoken against him ver 15. Here mark again Him that cometh with ten Thousands of his Saints to Convince all of their ungodly Deeds and hard Speeches Here it is All of their ungodly Deeds and All of their hard Speeches none left out but All to be Convinced and Judged the World Reproved by him who comes with ten Thousands of his Saints and will Reign and be King and Judge And have not ye all something in you that doth Reprove you for your hard Speeches and your ungodly Deeds the Ungodliest of you all who live in your hard Speeches against him and against his Light and spiritual Appearance in his People Again the Apostle writing to the Gentiles saith But unto every one of us is given Grace according to the Measure of the gift of Christ Ephes 4.7 Now mark Here is the Measure of the Gift of Christ who lighteth every Man that cometh into the World Joh. 1.9 that all Men through him might believe He that believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned c. And this is the Condemnation that Light is come into the World c. Joh. 3.18.19 Now every Man that cometh â—nto the World being enlightned One he loveth it and brings his Deeds to the Light that with the Light he may see whether they be wrought in God The Other he hates the Light because his Deeds are Evil and he will not bring his Deeds to the Light because he knows the Light will reprove him So he that hates the Light wherewith Christ hath enlightned him knows the Light will reprove him for his evil Deeds and therefore he will not come to the Light Again the Lord by his Prophet saith concerning Christ I will give him for a Light to the Gentiles that he may be my Salvation to the Ends of the Earth Isa 49.6 And what is that which the Children that walk according to the Course of this World according to the Prince of the Power of the Air the Spirit that now worketh in the Children of Disobedience Ephes 2.2 are disobedient to Mark and read your selves who being disobedient walk according to the Course of the World according to the Power of the Prince of the Air Mark I say what it is that all such are disobedient to He that hath an Ear let him hear The Apostle saith to the Colossians The wrath of God cometh upon the Children of Disobedience Col. 3.6 Come ye Professors let us see Is not this something of God that is disobey'd Is it not that which is of God manifest in them which God hath shewed them which lets them see God's Judgments are upon such when they act unrighteously Is not this the Measure of God Mark and the Spirit that is in Prison and the Spirit of God that is grieved And ye Professors come let us read the Parable of the Talents and reckon with you and see who it is that hath hid the Lord's Money in the Earth Come ye that have gained enter ye into your Master's Joy Go thou that hast hid the Lord's Money in the Earth into utter Darkness Take it from him and give it to him that hath and every Man shall have his Reward For the Lord hath given to every Man according to â—is several Ability Mat. 25.15 Mark that To every Man according to his several Ability Read this if you can And now is the Lord coming to call every Man severally to Accompt to whom he hath given severally according to their Ability And now the wicked and slothful Servant who hid the Lord's Money in the Earth will be found out and the Lord's Money will be taken from him although he hath hidden it To him the Lord's Commands have been grievous but to us they are not who love God and keep his Commandments And saith the Apostle to the Romans I say through the Grace given unto me to every Man that is among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think but to think soberly according as God hath dealt to every Man the measure of Faith Rom. 12.3 Read and mark here is a Measure of Faith And saith another Apostle As every one hath received the Gift even so minister the same one to another as good Stewards of the manifold grace of God 1 Pet. 4.10 For the grace of God hath appeared to all Men. Now the good Stewards can give their Accompt with Joy But ye bad Stewards that turn the grace of God into Lasciviousness now ye will be reckoned withal now ye shall have your Reward But say the World Must every one minister as he hath received the Gift Yea say I but let him speak as the Oracles of God and let him do it as of the Ability which God giveth ver 11. John in the Revelation saith They were judged every Man according to their works Rev. 20.13 Christ saith Every idle Word that Men shall speak they shall give Account thereof in the day of Judgment Mat 12.36 So ye that name the
were born again that were translated into the Kingdom of Christ and were Fellow-workers unto the Kingdom of God Christ exhorts his Disciples to Love and to do Good that they might be the Children of their Father which is in Heaven Matth. 5.45 And he bids them be perfect even as their Father which is in Heaven is perfect ver 48. And the Apostle saith to the Church at Philippi That ye may be blameless and harmless the Sons of God without Rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse Nation amongst whom ye shine as Lights in the World holding forth the Word of Life c. Phil. 2.15 16. And writing to the Church of the Thessalonians he puts them in mind how he had exhorted them That they would Walk worthy of God who had called them into his Kingdom and Glory 1 Thess 2.12 The Lord had promised by the Prophet Joel that he would Pour out his Spirit upon all Flesh and that Sons and Daughters should Prophesie Old men should dream Dreams and Young-men see Visions Joel 2.28 Now the Cause that Sons and Daughters Hand-maids Servants Young-men and Old men have not these heavenly Visions Dreams and Prophecies is because they are Erred from the Spirit of God which he poureth upon them but as many as are led by the Spirit of God are the Sons of God John saith Christ was the True Light which lighteth every Man that cometh into the World John 1.9 And that As many as received him to them gave he power to become the Sons of God ver 12. which were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God ver 13. Now the Reason why People do not become the Sons of God is because they do not receive Christ The Jews the great Professors which had the Promises Prophecies Figures and Shadows of him they would not receive him when he came And now the Priests and high Professors of Christ they are so far from receiving the Light of Christ and believing in it that they have hated the Light and scoff at it calling it a Natural Conscience and some have called it Jack in the Lanthorn Such are not like to become the Sons of God nor to see the glorious Kingdom of Christ which stands in Righteousness Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost For the Light that shines in the heart gives the Light of the Knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus And they that do not receive Christ Jesus but hate his Light which is the Life in him and yet profess him in words such neither know the Children of the Light nor true Fellowship in the Light nor the Kingdom of God that stands in Righteousness Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost but by the Light they are condemned And this is the Condemnation that Light is come into the World and Men love Darkness rather than Light because their deeds are evil For every one that doth evil hateth the Light neither cometh to the Light lest his deeds should be reproved John 3.19 20. But the Children of the Light that walk in the Light they come to heavenly Jerusalem and to the City of the living God and to the innumerable Company of Angels and to the general Assembly and Church of the First born that are written in Heaven and can sing Hallelujah Gooses the 2d of the 7th Month 1687. G. F Having now been somewhat more than a quarter of a Year in the Country London I returned to London somewhat better in health than formerly having received much benefit by the Country-Air And it being now a time of General Liberty and great Openness amongst the People I had much Service for the Lord in the City being almost daily at Publick Meetings and frequently taken up in Visiting Friends that were sick and in other Services of the Church I continued at London about Three Months and then finding my strength much spent with continual labouring in the Work of the Lord and my Body much stopped for want of fresh Air Kingston I went down to my Son Rouse's by Kingston where I abode some time and visited Friends at Kingston While I was there it came upon me to write a Paper concerning the Jews shewing How by their Disobedience and Rebellion they lost the holy City and Land By which Example the prosest Christians may see what they are to Expect if they continue to disobey and provoke the Lord. Of that Paper the Copy here followeth THE Lord gave the Jews in the Old Testament the Land of Canaan and they built the Temple at Jerusalem to worship in and it was called The Holy Temple and Jerusalem was called The Holy City and Canaan The Holy Land But when the Jews rebelled against the good Spirit which God gave them to instruct them and rebelled against his Law 1687. Kingston and set up Idols and Images and defiled the Land and the City the Lord sent his Prophets to Cry against them and to bring them back again to his Spirit and to his Law and so to God to serve and worship him that they might not worship Images and Idols the works of their own hands But instead of hearkening to God's Prophets they persecuted them and at last killed his Son Christ Jesus and persecuted his Apostles But Christ told the Jews that both their City and Temple should be laid Waste and they should be scattered over all Nations And it was so when Titus the Roman Emperour came and took Jerusalem and destroyed the City and Temple which was a Day of Vengeance upon the Jews for all their Idolatries and their Wickedness and for the Innocent blood they had shed both in City and Country And they were driven out of their own City and Land and scattered over all Nations And the Jews had never power to get the â—and since nor to build Jerusalem nor the Temple But the Turk hath both the Land of Canaan and that which is called The City Jerusalem Now the Turk neither makes Images nor Worships Images And so it is a just Hand of the Lord that he should be over the persecuting Idolatrous Jews so that they cannot defile the Land of Canaan now with Images and Idols for the Turk hath it who neither makes Images nor Idols nor worships them And the Jews must never hope believe nor expect that ever they shall go again into the Land of Canaan to set up an outward Worship at Jerusalem and there for their Priests to offer outward Sacrifices of Rams Sheep and Heifers c. for Burnt-Offerings for Christ the one Offering hath offered himself once for all and by this one Offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified And Christ hath changed the Priesthood of Aaron that offered Sacrifices which was made after the power of a Carnal Commandment but Christ was made after the power of an endless Life a Priest for ever who was holy and
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
Name of Christ depart from Iniquity 2 Tim. 2.19 The Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father with his Angels and then he shall reward every Man according to his Works Mat 16.27 He who is gone into a far Country and hath given the Talents to every one of you according to your several Ability will render to every Man according to his Deeds Rom. 2.6 And further I say unto you If any Man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his And if Christ be in you the Body is dead because of Sin but the Spirit is Life because of Righteousness Rom 8.9 10. So let the Light which cometh from Christ Examin for the Lord is appearing Ye that have received according to your Ability smite not your Fellow-servant and think not that the Lord delayeth the Time of his Coming Be not as they that said Let us Eat and Drink for to Morrow we shall die The Apostle tells the Ephesians that unto him this grace was given to make all Men see what is the Fellowship of the Mystery which from the beginning of the World hath been hid in God who created all things by Jesus Christ Eph. 3.9 Read and understand every one with the Light which comes from Christ the Mystery which will be your Condemnation if ye believe not in it This is to all who stumble at the work of the Spirit of God the manifestation of it which is given to every Man to profit withal Come ye Professors who stumble at it Let us read the Parables A Sower went forth to sow and some Seed fell on the High-way-ground and some on stony ground and some on thorny ground The Seed is the word the Son of Man is the Seeds-man He that hath an Ear let him hear Mat. 13. Now look all ye Professors which Ground ye are And what ye have brought forth And whether the wicked Seeds-man hath not got his Seed into your Ground He that hath an Ear let him hear it And come read another Parable of the Housholder hiring Labourers to go into the Vineyard and agreeing with every Man for a Penny Mat. 20. Every Man is to have his Penny the Last that went in as well as the First and the Last shall be First and the First shall be Last for many are called but few are chosen He that hath an Ear let him hear There is a Promise spoken to Cain that if he did well he should be accepted Gen. 4.7 And Esau had a Birth-right but despised it Yet is it not of him that willeth Rom. 9.16 but by grace ye are saved Ephes 2.8 And stand still and see your Salvation Exod. 14.13 And ye that be Children of Light put on the Armour of Light that ye may come into the Unity of the Faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect Man unto the measure of the Stature of the fulness of Christ that henceforth ye be no more Children tossed to and fro Eph. 4.13 And the Lord said he would make a new Covenant by writing his Law in People's Hearts and putting his Spirit in their inward parts whereby they should all come to know the Lord him by whom the World was made Now every one of you mind the Law written in your Hearts and this Spirit put in your inward parts that it need not be said to you Know the Lord but that ye may witness the Promise of God fulfilled in you But say the World and Professors If every one must come to witness the Law of God written in their Hearts and the Spirit put in the inward parts what must we do with all our Teachers As we come to witness that we need not any Man to Teach us to know the Lord having his Law written in our Hearts and his Spirit put in our inward parts This is the Covenant of Life the everlasting Covenant which decays not not changes not and here is the way to the Father without which no Man cometh unto the Father And here is the Everlasting Priesthood the End of the Old Priesthood whose Lips were to preserve Knowledge but now saith Christ Learn of me who is the High-Priest of the New Priesthood And saith the Apostle That ye may grow up in the Knowledge of Jesus Christ in whom are hid the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge So we are brought off from the Old Priesthood that did change to Christ to the New Priesthood that doth not change and off from the first Covenant that doth decay to the Everlasting Covenant that doth not decay Christ Jesus the Covenant of Light from whom every one of you have a Light that ye might believe in the Covenant of Light If ye do not believe ye are condemned for Light is come into the World and Men love Darkness rather than Light because their Deeds are evil I am come a Light into the World saith Christ that whosoever believeth in me should not abide in Darkness but have the Light of Life Joh. 12.46 And Believe in the Light that ye may be Children of the Light But ye who do not believe in the Light but hate it because it manifests your Deeds to be evil ye are they that are condemned by the Light Therefore while ye have Time prize it Seek the Lord while he may be found and call upon him while he is nigh lest ye say Time is past for the Rich Glutton's Time was past Therefore while Time is not quite past consider and search your selves and see if ye be not they that hate the Light and so are Builders that stumble at the Corner-stone for they that hated the Light and did not believe in the Light did so in Ages past I am the Light of the World saith Christ and who doth enlighten every Man that cometh into the World and he also saith Learn of me and of him God saith This is my beloved Son hear ye him Here is your Teacher But ye that hate the Light do not learn of Christ and will not have him to be your King to reign over you him to whom all Power in Heaven and Earth is given who bears his Government upon his Shoulders who is now come to reign who lighteth every Man that cometh into the World and who will give to every Man a Reward according to his Works whether they be good or evil So every Man with the Light that comes from Christ will see his Deeds both he that hates it and he that loves it And he that will not bring his Deeds to the Light because the Light will reprove him that is his Condemnation and he shall have a Reward according to his Deeds For the Lord is come to reckon with you and he looks for Fruits and now the Ax is laid to your Root and every Tree of you that bears not good Fruit must be hewen down and cast into the Fire G. F. Having staid sometime in London and visited the Meetings of Friends in
be put to him and that he would refuse to Swear But when the Assize came and the Oath was tendered him he desired Time to consider of it and that being granted him till the next Assize he got leave to go to London before the Assize came again and came no more back but staid at London till the Plague brake forth and there both he and his Wife were Cut off He was a very Wicked Man and the Judgments of God came upon him For he had published a very wicked Book against Friends full of Lies and Blasphemies the Occasion of which was this Whilst he was in Lancaster-Castle he challenged Friends to have a Dispute with them Whereupon I got leave of the Jailer to go up to them And entring into Discourse with him he affirmed That some Men never had the Spirit of God and that the true Light which enlightneth every one that cometh into the world is natural For Proof of his first Assertion he instanced Balaam affirming That Balaam had not the Spirit of God I affirmed and proved That Balaam had the Spirit of God and that Wicked Men have the Spirit of God else how could they quench it and vex it and grieve it and resist the Holy Ghost like the stiff-necked Jews To his Second Assertion I answered That the true Light which enlightneth every Man that cometh into the World was the Life in the Word and that was Divine and Eternal and not Natural And he might as well say that the Word was Natural as that the Life in the Word was Natural And Wicked Men were enlightned by this Light else how could they hate it Now it is expresly said that they did hate it And the Reason given why they did hate it was because their Deeds were evil and they would not come to it because it reproved them and that must needs be in them that reproved them Besides that Light could not be the Scriptures of the New-Testament for it was testified of before any part of the New-Testament was written So it must be the Divine Light which is the Life in Christ the Word before Scriptures were And the Grace of God which brought Salvation had appeared unto all Men and taught the Saints but they that turned it into Wantonness and walked despitefully against the Spirit of Grace were the Wicked Again the Spirit of Truth the Holy Ghost the Comforter which leads the Disciples of Christ into all Truth the same should Reprove the World of Sin of Righteousness and of Judgment and of their Vnbelief So the Wicked World had it to reprove them and the true Disciples and Learners of Christ that believed in the Light as Christ commands they had it to lead them But the World that did not believe in the Light though they were lighted but hated the Light which they should have believed in and loved the Darkness rather than it this World had a Righteousness and a Judgment which the Holy Ghost reproved them for as well as for their Vnbelief So having proved that the Good and the Bad were enlightned and that the Grace of God had appeared unto them all and that all had the Spirit of God else they could not vex and grieve it I told Major Wiggan The least Babe there might see him and presently stood up one Richard Cubham and proved him an Anti-christ and a Deceiver by Scripture Then the Jailer had me away to my Prison again And afterwards Wiggan wrote a Book of this Dispute and put in abundance of abominable Lies But his Book was soon Answered in Print and he himself not long after was cut off as afore is said This Wiggan was poor and while he was a Prisoner at Lancaster he sent into the Country and got Money gathered for Relief of the Poor People of God in Prison and many People gave freely thinking it had been for Vs when-as indeed it was for himself But when we heard of it we laid it upon him and writ also into the Country that ' Friends might let the People know the Truth of the Matter that it was not our manner to have Collections made for us and that those Collections were only for Wiggan and another a drunken Preacher of his Society who would be so drunk that once he lost his Britches After this it came upon me to write a Paper to the Judges and other Magistrates concerning their Giving Evil Words and Nick-names to such as were brought before them And that which I writ was after this manner and thus directed To all you that be Judges or other Officers whatsoever in the whole World who profess your selves to be Christians Friends HErein and by reading the Scriptures ye may see both your own Words and Carriage and the Words Carriage and Practice of both Jews and Heathens and of the great King of Kings the great Law-giver and Judge of the whole World First For the Words and Carriage of the Jews when such as were worthy of Death were brought before such as were Rulers amongst them When Achan had taken the Babylonish Garment and the two hundred Shekels of Silver and the Wedge of Gold of Fifty Shekels weight and Joshua who was then Judge of Israel had by the Lot found him out he did not say unto him Sirrah nor You Rascal Knave Rogue as some that are called Christian Magistrates are too apt to do But Joshua said unto Achan My Son Mark his clean Language and Savoury Expression and gracious Words My Son said he give I pray thee Glory to the Lord God of Israel and make Confession unto him and tell me now what thou hast done hide it not from me Then Achan confessed that he had sinned against the Lord God of Israel and thus and thus he had done And then Joshua the Judge said Why hast thou troubled Israel The Lord shall trouble thee this day and they stoned him and his with Stones and burnt his Goods with Fire But there was no unsavoury Word given to him that we read of though he was worthy of Death Josh 7. So when the Man that gathered Sticks upon the Sabbath-day was taken and brought before Moses the Judge in Israel and put in Ward until the Mind of the Lord was known concerning him We read not of any reviling Language given him but the Lord said to Moses and Moses to the People The Man shall surely be put to Death Numb 15.35 So likewise in the Rebellion of Corah Dathan and Abiram where Moses called them to Trial he did not Sirrah them or mis-call them but said to Corah and the rest Hear I pray you ye Sons of Levi Numb 16.8 And when he gave the Sentence against them he said If these Men die the common Death of all Men c. He did not say If these Rascals or Knaves as many that profess themselves Christians will now do When Elihu spake to Job who was a Judge and to his Friends and said Let me not I pray you
A JOURNAL OR Historical Account OF THE Life Travels Sufferings Christian Experiences and Labour of Love in the Work of the Ministry OF THAT Ancient Eminent and Faithful Servant of JESUS CHRIST George Fox Who departed this Life in great Peace with the LORD the 13th of the 11th Month 1690. The First Volume Dan. 12.3 And they that turn many to Righteousness shall shine as the Stars for ever and ever Verse 4. Many shall run to and fro and Knowledge shall be Encreased 2 Tim. 2.12 If we suffer we shall also reign with him i. e. with Christ LONDON Printed for Thomas Northcott in George-Yard in Lombard-Street MDCXCIV THE TESTIMONY OF Margaret Fox Concerning her Late Husband GEORGE FOX TOGETHER With a brief Account of some of his Travels Sufferings and Hardships endured for the Truth 's sake IT having pleased Almighty God to take away my Dear Husband out of this Evil Troublesome World who was not a Man thereof being Chosen out of it and had his Life and Being in another Region and his Testimony was against the World that the Deeds thereof were evil and therefore the World hated him So I am now to give in my Account and Testimony for my Dear Husband whom the Lord hath taken unto his blessed Kingdom and Glory And it is before me from the Lord and in my View to give a Relation and leave upon Record the Dealings of the Lord with us from the Beginning He was the Instrument in the Hand of the Lord in this present Age which he made use of to send forth into the World to preach the Everlasting Gospel which had been hid from many Ages and Generations the Lord Revealed it unto him and made him open that New and Living Way that Leads to Life Eternal when he was but a Youth and a Stripling And when he Declared it in his own Country of Leicestershire and in Darbyshire Nottinghamshire and Warwickshire and his Declaration being against the Hireling-Priests and their Practices it raised a Great Fury and Opposition amongst the Priests and People against him yet there was always some that owned him in several places but very few that stood firm to him when Persecution came on him There was he and one other put in Prison at Darby His first Imprisonment but the other declined and left him in Prison there where he continued almost a whole Year and then he was Released out of Prison And went on with his Testimony abroad Second Imprisonment and was put in Prison again at Nottingham and there he continued a while and after was Released again And then he Travelled on into Yorkshire and passed up and down that Great County and several received him as William Dewsbury Richard Farnsworth Thomas Aldam and others who all came to be faithful Ministers of the Spirit for the Lord. And he continued in that Country and Travelled thorow Holderness and the Wowlds and abundance were Convinced and several were brought to Prison at York for their Testimony to the Truth both Men and Women So that we heard of such a People that were Risen and we did very much inquire after them And after a while he Travelled up farther towards the Dales in Yorkshire as Wensdale and Sedbur and amongst the Hills Dales and Mountains he came on and Convinced many of the Eternal Truth And in the Year 1652. it pleased the Lord to draw him towards us so he came on from Sedbur and so to Westmorland as Firbank-Chappel where John Blaykling came with him and so on to Preston and to Grarig and Kendal and Vnder-barrow and Poobank and Cartmel and Staveley and so on to Swarthmore my Dwelling-House whither he brought the blessed Tideings of the Everlasting Gospel which I and many Hundreds in these parts have cause to praise the Lord for My then Husband Thomas Fell was not at home at that time but gone the Welch Circuit being one of the Judges of Assize And our House being a Place open to entertain Ministers and Religious People at one of George Fox his Friends brought him hither where he stayed all Night And the next day being a Lecture or a Fast-day he went to Ulverston-Steeple-house but came not in till People were gathered I and my Children had been a long time there before And when they were singing before the Sermon he came in and when they had done singing he stood up upon a Seat or Form and desired That he might have liberty to speak And he that was in the Pulpit said he might And the first words that he spoke were as followeth He is not a Jew that is one outward neither is that Circumcision which is outward But he is a Jew that is one inward and that is Circumcision which is of the heart And so he went on and said How that Christ was the Light of the World and ligheth every Man that cometh into the World and that by this Light they might be gathered to God c. And I stood up in my Pew and I wondered at his Doctrine for I had never heard such before And then he went on and opened the Scriptures and said The Scriptures were the Prophets words and Christ 's and the Apostle 's words and what as they spoke they enjoyed and possessed and had it from the Lord And said Then what had any to do with the Scriptures but as they came to the Spirit that gave them forth You will say Christ saith this and the Apostles say this but what canst thou say Art thou a Child of Light and hast walked in the Light and what thou speakest is it inwardly from God c. This opened me so that it cut me to the Heart and then I saw clearly we were all wrong So I sat me down in my Pew again and cried bitterly And I cried in my Spirit to the Lord We are all Thieves we are all Thieves we have taken the Scriptures in Words and know nothing of them in our selves So that served me that I cannot well tell what he spake afterwards but he went on in declaring against the false Prophets and Priests and Deceivers of the People And there was one John Sawrey a Justice of Peace and a Professor that bid the Churchwarden Take him away And he laid his hands on him several times and took them off again and let him alone and then after a while he gave over and came to our House again that night And he spoke in the Family amongst the Servants and they were all generally Convinced as William Caton Thomas Salthouse Mary Askew Anne Clayton and several other Servants And I was stricken into such a sadness I knew not what to do my Husband being from home I saw it was the Truth and I could not deny it and I did as the Apostle saith I Received the Truth in the Love of it And it was opened to me so clear that I had never a Tittle in my Heart against it but I desired the Lord that
well-doing adding often of their own in large Proportions which they never brought to account or desired should be known much less restored to them that none might want nor any Service be retarded or disappointed They were also very careful that every one that belonged to them answered their Profession in their Behaviour among Men upon all Occasions that they lived Peaceably and were in all things good Examples They found themselves engaged to record their Sufferings and Services and in case of Marriage which they could not perform in the usual Methods of the Nation but among themselves they took care that all things were clear between the Parties and all others and it was then rare that any one entertain'd such Inclination to a Person on that account till he or she had communicated it secretly to some very Weighty and Eminent Friends among them that they might have a sense of the Matter looking to the Council and Unity of their Brethren as of great Moment to them But because the Charge of the Poor the Number of Orphans Marriages Sufferings and other Matters multiplied and that it was good that the Churches were in some way and Method of proceeding in such Affairs among them to the end they might the better correspond upon occasion where a Member of one Meeting might have to do with one of another It pleased the Lord in his Wisdom and Goodness to open the Understanding of the first Instrument of this Dispensation of Life about a Good and Orderly way of Proceeding and he felt an Holy Concern to visit the Churches in Person throughout this Nation to begin and establish it among them and by his Epistles the like was done in other Nations and Provinces abroad which he also afterwards Visited and helped in that Service as shall be observed when I come to speak of him Now the Care Conduct and Discipline I have been speaking of and which is now practised among this People is as followeth III. This Godly Elder in every County where he travelled exhorted them that some out of every Meeting of Worship should meet together once in the Month to confer about the Wants and Occasions of the Church And as the Case required so those Monthly Meetings were fewer or more in number in every respective County Four or Six Meetings of Worship usually making one Monthly Meeting of Business And accordingly the Brethren met him from place to place and began the said Meetings viz. For the Poor Orphans orderly Walking Integrity to their Profession Births Marriages Burials Sufferings c. And that these Monthly Meetings should in each County make up one Quarterly Meeting where the most Zealous and Eminent Friends of the County should assemble to Communicate Advise and Help one another especially when any Business seemed difficult or a Monthly Meeting was tender of determining a Matter Also these Quarterly Meetings should digest the Reports of the Monthly Meetings and prepare one for the County against the Yearly Meeting in which the Quarterly Meetings resolve which is held Yearly in London where the Churches in this Nation and other Nations and Provinces Meet by chosen Members of their Respective Counties both mutually to communicate their Church Affairs and to advise and be advised in any depending Case to Edification Also to provide a requisite Stock for the discharge of general Expences for general Services in the Church not needful to be here particularized At these Meetings any of the Members of the Churches may come if they please and speak their Minds freely in the Fear of God to any matter but the Mind of each Meeting therein represented is chiefly understood as to perticuler Cases in the Sense delivered by the Persons deputed or chosen for that Service During their Yearly Meeting to which their other Meetings referr in their Order and Resolve themselves care is taken by a Select Number for that service chosen by the General Assembly to draw up the Minutes of the said Meeting upon the several matters that have been under Consideration therein to the end that the Respective Quarterly and Monthly Meetings may be informed of all Proceedings together with a general Exhortation to Holiness Vnity and Charity Of all which Proceedings in Yearly Quarterly and Monthly Meetings due Record is kept by some One appointed for that Service or that hath voluntarily undertaken it These Meetings are opened and usually concluded in their Solemn waiting upon God who is sometimes graciously pleased to answer them with as signal Evidences of his Love and Presence as in any other their Meetings of Worship It is further to be Noted that in these Solemn Assemblies for the Church's Service there is no one presides among them after the manner of the Assemblies of other People Christ only being their President as he is pleased to appear in Life and Wisdom in any one or more of them to whom whatever be their Capacity or Degree the rest adhere with a Firm Vnity not of Authority but Conviction which is the Divine Authority and way of Christ's Power and Spirit in his People Making good his blessed Promise That he would be in the Midst of his where and whenever they were met together in his Name even to the End of the World So be it Now it may be expected I should here set down what sort of Authority is exercised by this People upon such Members of their Society as correspond not in their Lives with their Profession and that are Refractory to this good and wholesom Order settled among them and the rather because they have not wanted their Reproach and Suffering from some Tongues upon this occasion in a plentiful manner The Power they exercise is such as Christ has given to his own People to the End of the World in the Persons of his Disciples viz. To Oversee Exhort Reprove and after long Suffering and Waiting upon the Disobedient and Refractory to disown them as any more of their Communion or that they will any longer stand Charged in the Sight and Judgment of God or Men with their Conversation or Behaviour as one of them untill they Repent The subject matter about which this Authority in any of the foregoing Branches of it is Exercised is First in Relation to common and general Practice and Secondly about those things that more strictly referr to their own Character and Profession and distinguish them from all other Professors of Christianity avoiding two Extreams upon which many Split viz. Persecution and Libertinism A Coercive Power to Whip People into the Temple that such as will not Conform though against Faith and Conscience shall be punisht in their Persons or Estates or leaving all loose and at large as to Practice unaccountable to all but God and the Magistrate To which hurtful Extream nothing has more contributed than the Abuse of Church Power by such as suffer their Passions and private Interests to prevail with them to carry it to outward Force and Corporal Punishment A
but told them If they would appoint a Meeting for the next day at the Steeple-house and acquaint the People with it I might meet them They had a great deal of Reasoning about it some being for it and some against it In the Morning I walked out after I had spoken again to them concerning the Meeting and as I walked upon a Bank by the House there came several poor People Travellers asking Relief who I saw were in Necessity and they gave them nothing but said they were Cheats It grieved me to see such hard-heartedness amongst Professors whereupon when they were gone in to their Breakfast I ran after the Poor People about a quarter of a Mile and gave them some Money Mean while some of them that were in the House coming out again and seeing me a quarter of a Mile off said I could not have gone so far in such an Instant if I had not had Wings Hereupon the Meeting was like to have been put by for they were filled with such strange Thoughts concerning me that many of them were against having a Meeting with me I told them I ran after those poor People to give them some Money being grieved at their hard-heartedness who gave them nothing Then came Miles and Stephen Hubbersty and they being more simple-hearted Men would have the Meeting held So to the Chappel at Vnder-barrow I went and the Priest came and a great Meeting there was and the Way of Life and Salvation was opened and after a while the Priest fled away And many of Crook and Vnder-barrow were Convinced that day and received the Word of Life and stood fast in it under the Teaching of Christ Jesus Now after I had declared the Truth to them for some Hours and the Meeting was ended the Chief-Constable and some other Professors fell to Reasoning with me in the Chappel-Yard Whereupon I took a Bible and opened to them the Scriptures and dealt tenderly with them as one would do with a Child And they that were in the Light of Christ and Spirit of God knew when I spake Scripture though I did not mention Chapter and Verse after the Priest's Form unto them From hence I went along with an ancient Man 1652. Under-barrow whose Heart the Lord had opened and he invited me to his House His Name was James Dickinson He was Convinced that day and received the Truth and lived and died in it From his House I came the next day to James Taylor 's of Newton in Cartmell in Lancashire And on the First-day of the Week Lancashire Newton in Cartmell I went to the Chappel wheâ—e one Priest Camelford used to preach and after he had done I began to speak the Word of Life to the People But this Priest Camelford was in such a Rage and did so fret and was so peevish that he had no patience to hear but stirred up the rude Multitude and they rudely haled me out and struck and punched me and threw me Headlong over a Stone-Wall yet blessed be the Lord his Power preserved me He that did this Violence to me was a wicked Man one John Knipe whom afterwards the Lord cut off But there was a Youth in the Chappel writing after the Priest and I was moved to speak to him and he came to be Convinced and received a part of the Ministry of the Gospel His Name was John Brathwait Then went I up to an Ale-house whither many People resorted betwixt the time of their Morning and Afternoon-Preaching and I had a great deal of Reasoning with the People there declaring to them That God was come to Teach his People himself and to bring them off from all false Teachers such as the Prophets Christ and the Apostles cryed against And many received the Word of Life at that time and abode in it In the Afternoon I went about two or three Miles to another Steeple-house or Chappel called Lyndal And when the Priest had done I spake to him and the People what the Lord commanded me and there were great Opposers but afterwards they came to be Convinced After this I went to one Captain Sands who with his Wife seemed somewhat affected with Truth and if they could have held the World and Truth together they would have received it but they were Hypocrites and he a very Chaffy light Man Wherefore I reproved him for his Lightness and for his Jesting telling him It was not seemly in a great Professor as he was Thereupon he told me He had a Son who upon his Death-bed had also reproved him for it and warned him of it But he neither regarded the Admonition of his dying Son nor the Reproofs of God's Spirit in himself From hence I went to Vlverstone Ulverstone Swarthmore and so to Swarthmore to Judge Fell's whether came up one Lampitt a Priest who I perceived had been and still was an high Notionist With him I had a great deal of Reasoning for he would talk of high Notions and Perfection and thereby deceived the People He would have owned me but I could not own nor join with him he was so full of Filth He said He was above John and made as though he knew all things But I told him Death reigned from Adam to Moses and that he was under Death and knew not Moses for Moses saw the Paradise of God but he knew neither Moses nor the Prophets nor John For that crooked and rough Nature stood in him and the Mountain of Sin and Corruptions and the Way was not prepared in him for the Lord. 1652. Swarthmore He confessed he had been under a Cross in things but now he could sing Psalms and do any thing I told him Now he could see a Thief and join Hand in Hand with him But he could not preach Moses nor the Prophets nor John nor Christ except he were in the same Spirit that they were in Now Margaret Fell had been abroad in the Day-time and at Night her Children told her that Priest Lampitt and I had dis-agreed which did some-what trouble her because she was in a Profession with him but he hid his dirty Actions from them At Night we had a great deal of Reasoning and I declared the Truth to her and her Family The next day Lampitt came again and I had a great deal of Discourse with him before Margaret Fell who then clearly discerned the Priest and a Convincement of the Lord's Truth came upon her and her Family Within a day or two there was a day to be observed for an Humiliation and Margaret Fell asked me to go with her to the Steeple-house at Vlverstone Ulverstone for she was not wholly come off from them I replied I must do as I am ordered by the Lord. So I left her and walked into the Fields and the Word of the Lord came to me saying Go to the Steeple-house after them When I came the Priest Lampitt was singing with his People But his Spirit was so foul
received at thy Hands thou hast given us to understand And here thou may'st think thou hast made thy self secure and sufficiently barr'd up our Way of Relief against whom tho' thou knew'st we had done nothing contrary to the Law or worthy of Bonds much less of the Bonds and Sufferings we had sustained thou hast proceeded as hath been rehearsed notwithstanding that thou art as are all the Judges of the Nation Intrusted not with a Legislative Power but to Administer Justice and to do Even Law and Execution of Right to all High and Low Rich and Poor without having regard to any Man's Person and art sworn so to do as hath been said And wherein thou dost Contrary art liâ—ble to Punishment as ceasing from being a Judge and becoming a Wrong-doer and an Oppressor which what it is to be many of thy Predecâ—ssors have understood some by Death others by Fine and Imprisonment And of this thou may'st not be Ignorant that to deny a Prisoner any of the Priviledges the Law allows him is to deny him Justice to Try him in an Arbitrary Way to rob him of that Liberty which the Law gives him which is his Inheritance as a Freeman And which to do is in effect To subvert the Fundamental Laws and Government of England and to Introduce an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Government against Law which is Treason by the Common Law and Treasons by the Common Law are not taken away by the Statutes of 25 Edw. III. 1 H. IV. 1 2. m. See O. St. Johns now Chief Justice of the Common Pleas his Argument against Strafford fol. 65. c. in the Case These things Friend We have laid before thee in all plainness to the End that with the Light of Jesus Christ who lighteth every one that cometh into the World a Measure of which thou hast which sheweth thee Evil and reproveth thee for Sin for which thou must be accountable thou being still and cool may'st consider and see what thou hast done against the Innocent and shame may overtake thee and thou may'st Turn unto the Lord who now calleth thee to Repentance by his Servants whom for witnessing his living Truth in them thou hast Cast into and yet continuest under Cruel Bonds and Sufferings From the Gaol in Lanceston the 14th day of the 5th Month 1656. Edw. Pyot By the foregoing Letter the Reader may Observe how contrary to Law we were made to suffer But the Lord who saw the Integrity of our Hearts to him and knew the Innocency of our Cause was with us in our Sufferings and bore up our Spirits through and made them Easie to us and gave us Opportunities of publishing his Name and Truth amongst the People so that several of the Town came to be Convinced and many were made Loving to us and Friends from many Parts came to visit us There came Two out of Wales who had been Justices of the Peace there Also Judge Hagget's Wife of Bristol came to visit us and she was Convinced and several of her Children and her Husband was very kind and serviceable to Friends and had a great Love to God's People which he retained to his Death Now in Cornwall Devonshire Dorsetshire and Somersetshire Truth began mightily to spread and many were turned to Christ Jesus and his free Teaching for many Friends that came to Visit us were drawn forth to declare the Truth in those Countries which made the Priests and Professors rage and they stirred up the Magistrates to ensnare Friends Then they set up Watches in the Streets and in the High-ways on pretence of taking up all suspicious Persons under which Colour they stopt and took up those Friends that travelled in and through those Countries coming to visit us in Prison which they did that the Friends might not pass up and down in the Lord's Service But that which they thought to have stopt the Truth by was the Means of spreading it so much the more for then Friends were frequently moved to speak to one Constable and t'other Officer and to the Justices they were brought before and this caused the Truth to spread the more amongst them in all their Parishes And when Friends were got among the Watches it would be a Fortnight or three Weeks before they could get out of them again for no sooner had one Constable taken them and carried them before the Justices and they had discharged them but another would take them up and carry them before other Justices Which put the Country to a great deal of needless Trouble and Charges As Thomas Rawlinson was coming up out of the North to visit us a Constable â—o Devonshire took him up and at Night took Twenty Shillings out of his Pocket And after they had thus robbed him he was cast into Exeter-Gaol They cast Henry Pollexfen also into Prison in Devonshire for being a Jesuit who had been a Justice of Peace for the most part of Forty Years before Many Friends were cruelly beaten many times by them Nay some Clothiers that were but going to Mill with their Cloth and other Men about their outward Occasions they took up and Whipt though Men of about Eighty or an hundred Pounds by the Year and not above four or five Miles from their Families The Mayor of Lanceston too was a very Wicked Man for he would take up all he could get and cast them into Prison And he would search substantial grave Women their Petticoats and their Head-cloaths There came a Friend a Young-Man to â—ee us who came not through the Town So I drew up all the Gross Inhuman and Vnchristian Actions of the Mayor for his Carriage was more like an Heathen than a Christian and I gave it the Young Man and bid him Seal it up and go out again the back-way and then come into the Town through the Gates He did so and the Watch took him up and carried him before the Mayor who presently searched his Pockets and found the Letter wherein he saw all his Actions Characterized Which shamed him so that from that time forward he meddled little with the Servants of the Lord. Now from the sense I had of the Snare that was laid and Mischief intended against the Servants of the Lord in setting up those Watches at that time to stop and take up Friends it came upon me to give forth the following Lines as An Exhortation and Warning to the Magistrates ALL ye Powers of the Earth Christ is come to Reign and is among you and ye know him not who doth Enlighten every one of you that are come into the World that ye all through him might believe who is the Light who treads the Wine-press alone without the City whose Feet are upon it Therefore see all and examin with the Light what ye are Ripe for for the Press is ready for you Before Honour is Humility And all you that would have Honour before ye have Humility mark before ye have Humility are ye not as the Heathen are
Ye would have Honour before ye have Humility Did not all the Persecutors that ever were upon the Earth want this Humility And so they wanted the Honour and yet would have the Honour before they had the Humility and had learned that And so ye that be out of the Humility be out of the Honour and ye are not to have the Honour who have not the Humility for before Honour is Humility mark before it Now ye pretend Liberty of Conscience yet shall not one carry a Letter to a Friend nor Men visit their Friends nor visit Prisoners nor carry a Book about them either for their own Use or for their Friends and yet ye pretend Liberty of Conscience Men shall not see their Friends but Watches are set up against them to catch and stop them and these must be Well-armed Men too against an Innocent People that have not so much as a Stick in their Hâ—nds who are in scorn called Quakers And yet â—mâ—ng such as set up these Watches is pretended Liberty of Conscience who take up them whose Consciences are exercised towards God and Men who worship God in their Way which is the Truth which they that be out of the Light call Heresy Now these who set up the Watches against them whom they in scorn call Quakers it is Because they confess and witness the true Light that lighteth every one that cometh into the World amongst People as they pass through the Country or among their Friends This is the dangerous Doctrine which the Watchmen are set up against to subdue Error as they call it which is the Light that doth enlighten every Man that cometh into the World Hâ—m by whom the World was made who was glorified with the Father before the VVorld began For them whom they in scorn call Quakers have they set up their VVatches Able Men well-Armed to take up these that bear this Testimony either in VVords Books or Letters So that is the Light you hate that doth Enlighten every man that cometh into the VVorld and these that witness to this Light are they that you put in Prison And after you have Imprisoned them you set up your VVatches to take up all that go to Visit them and to Imprison them also So that by setting up your VVatches ye would stop all Relief from coming to Prisoners Therefore this is the VVord of the Lord God to you and a Charge to you all in the presence of the living Goâ— of Heaven and Earth Every Man of you being enlightned with a Light that cometh from Christ the Saviour of People's Souls from whom the Light cometh that enlightens you To the Light all take heed that with it you may all see Christ from whom the Light cometh you may all see him to be your Saviour by whom the VVorld was made who saith Learn of me But if ye hate this Light which Christ hath enlightned you withal ye hate Christ who doth Enlighten you all that you all through him who is the Light might believe But not believing in the Light nor bringing your Deeds to the Light which will make them manifest and reprove them this is your Condemnation even the Light Remember you are warned in your Life-time for this is your VVay to Salvation the Light if you walk in it And this is your Condemnation the Light if you reject and hate it And you can never come to Christ the Second Priest unless you come to the Light which the Second Priest hath enlightned you withal So ye that come not to the Light ye go to the Priests that take Tithes as did the First Priesthood and so hale out of your Synagogues and Temples as some call them as that Priesthood did that took Tithes which they that were of the Second Priesthood did not Was there ever such a Generation Or ever did such a Generation of Men appear as doth now in this Age who are so full of Madness Envy and Persecution that they stand up in VVatches with Bills and VVeapons against the Truth to persecute it as the Towns and Countries do declare which Rings as Sodom and like Gomorrah And this hath its Liberty and Truth is stood against And to Reprove Sin is accounted a Breach of the Peace as they say who be out of the Truth and set up their VVatches against it G. F. Besides this General VVarning there coming to my Hand a Copy of a VVarrant Issued out from the Sessions of Exon in express Terms For the apprehending of all Quakers wherein Truth and Friends were reproached and vilified I was moved to write an Answer thereunto and send it abroad for the Clearing of Truth and Friends from the Slanders therein cast upon them and to manifest the wickedness of that persecuting Spirit from whence it proceeded And that which I writ was after this manner WHereas there was a VVarrant granted forth the last Sessions holden at Exon on the Eighteenth Day of the Fifth Month 1656. which VVarrant is For the Apprehending and taking up all such as are Quakers or call themselves Quakers or go under the Notion of Quakers And is directed to the Chief-Constables to be sent by them to the Petty-Constables requiring them to set VVatches able Men with Bills to take up all such Quakers as aforesaid And whereas in your said VVarrant you speak of the Quakers spreading Seditious Books and Papers I Answer They whom ye in scorn call Quakers have no Seditious Books or Papers but their Books are against Sedition and Seditious Men and Seditious Books and Seditious Teachers and Seditious VVays And so ye have numbred them who are honest Men Godly Men holy Men Men that fear God among Beggars Rogues and Vagabonds Thus putting no Difference between the Precious and the Vile you are not fit to judge who have set up your Bills and armed your Men to stand up together in Battel against the Innocent People the Lambs of Christ which have not lifted up an Hand against you But if ye were sensible of the State of your own Country your Cities your Towns your Villages how the Cry of them is like Gomorrah and the Ring like Sodom and the Sound like the Old World where all Flesh had Corrupted its way which God overthrew with the Flood If you did this consider with your selves you would find something to turn the Sword against and not against the Lambs of Christ and not make a Mock upon the Innocent that stand a Witness against all Sin and Vnrighteousness in your Towns and Steeple-houses Noah the Eighth Person a Preacher of Righteousness was grieved with the filthy Conversation of the Wicked So are we now So likewise Just Lot was grieved with their unmerciful Deeds and the filthy Conversation of Sodom And were not these hated of the World and of them that lived in Filthiness And whereas you speak of those whom you in scorn call Quakers that they are a Grief to those whom you call Pious and Religious People and their
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