and Brethern I beseech you in the Bowels of dear and tender Love that you walk as dear Children faithful to him who hath called you with an honourable calling and loved you from the beginning with an Everlasting Love that all your Friends and Neighbours and Men of this World that see your Life coupled with fear may be made to confess and acknowledge to the Honour and Glory of the living Lord that the God whom ye serve and fear is the only true God of Israel and herein you become a pretious savour unto the living eternal God and sweet smelling savour unto all the Children of Light and no good thing will the Lord God withhold from you the Mouth of the Lord God of Hosts hath spoken it whose Promises are Yea and Amen to his own Seed for evermore Given forth the 14th day of the 6th Month 1655 when I was Prisoner at the Prison-House at the City of Exceter in the County of Devnoshire for the Testimony of Jesus and the Word of God Myles Halhead IN the year 1663 in the Reign of King Charles the second I was Summoned to appear at one of the Bishops Esclesiastical Courts before his Chancellor Doctor Cradict holden at Kendal and I was free in the Lord to go with many of my dear Friends and Brethren who were likewise Summoned to be their I waited in the Court obove three hours and at length I was called to give my answer why I came not to the Steeple-house to hear the Priests Then I desired the Court they would hear me and I would give them a plain answer in the fear of God and uprightness of my Heart and they promised me they would be quiet and still I told them I was about fifty years of Age and I had spent thirty of it in hearing the Priests and in all that time I had not profited by them but finding them preaching one thing one year and another year preaching quite the contrary therefore I cannot now hear them Then I said to the Doctor now I appeal to that of God in thee and to all moderate Men that hear me this day if I have not given thee a plain answer in the fear of the Lord to thy own Question He answered I had come as near him as any had done that day So this is recorded in the Bishop's Court against me That I went thirty years to the Church and in all that time I had not profited at all So I stand Excommunicated in the Bishop's Court. Again the Word of the Lord came unto me in the year 1667 in the fourth Month in the Reign of King Charles the second Saying Go thy ways into the City of Bristol and Glostershire and Wiltshire and Summersetshire Devonshire and Cornewall where thou hast been formerly and declared my Eternal Word amongst them and suffered hard and sore Imprisonments for my Name sake and speak to my own People my Sons and my Daughters whom I have called and chosen in this the Day of my Love out of the World and the barren Mountain thereof to serve me in Truth and in Righteousness all their dayes and bid them prepare themselves for I am coming to take account upon them all my Sons and my Daughters even from the greatest to the least of my Children and he whom I have given Ten Tallents shall count for Ten and he to whom I have given five Tallents shall count for five and be to whom I have given two shall count for two so every one both Man and Woman shall count for what he hath received So I command thee to go and speak to my own People whom I have chosen to serve me the Words that I shall give thee and though thou be weak and feeble of Body yet fear thou not for I will uphold thee in all thy weakness by my eternal Arm and Power and I will put my Word into thy Mouth what thou shalt say unto my chosen People my Sons and my Daughters whom I have called in this the Day of my Love and they shall receive thee as my Servant and confess and acknowledge that I have again sent thee in dear and tender Love and Fatherly Care unto them So I took my Horse and went to the City of Bristol and into those other Counties as the Lord had required and spoke to the Churches as I was moved and though I was but very weak of Body yet the Lord made his Promise good unto me in all my weakness Glory and Honour and Living eternal Praises be gvien to the Lord my God for ever of all the Children of Light And when I was about ten Miles off Plimouth I was brought before the chief Rulers in Devonshire and Cornewall and they asked me my Name and from whence I came I said out of the North. They asked me Out of what Country in the North And I said Westmorland Then they asked me What business I had in Devonshire I answered to see my old Friends whom formerly about ten Years since I had acquaintance with One of the Rulers answered I am a Devonshire man I pray you what are the Names of your Friends you had acquaintance with ten Years since in Devonshire I answered one Sr John Coplestone who was then High Sheriff of Devonshire and one John Page who was then the Mayor of Plimouth and one Justice Vowell who was then the Judge of the Sessions of the City of Exceter and one Colonel Buffit who was a Justice at that time Then one of the Rulers said Truly Gentlemen though this man call these men his Friends surely they have been his Persecutors Then another of the Rulers said Would you know how it is with these your old Friends No man in all Devonshire nor Cornwall can give you a more perfect nor truer Account than I can Your old Friend Sr. John Coplestone hath sold his Land and I know not where he may be found And as for your Friend John Page who was the Mayor of Plimouth he is become a broken Merchant and is fled out of his own Country and as I hear is gone for the Barbadoes And as for your Friend Justice Vowell he is gone to his long home And as for your old Friend Colonel Buffit he was committed to Prison at Bridge water in Summersetshire for high Treason and is stolen away from the Goaler and is quite gone and dare not be seen in his own Country And so Friend I have given you a true Account of your old Friends And truly Friend if these men were your Persecutors you may be sure that they will trouble you no more for if they that trouble you and persecute you have no better fortune than these men I wish that I nor none of my Friends may have any Hand in Persecuting of you So I took my leave of these moderate men and travelled to Cornewall Thus hath the Lord pleaded my Cause according to his Word and Promise who will give to every man a just
A BOOK Of some of the SUFFERINGS AND PASSAGES OF Myles Halhead OF MOVNT-JOY in VNDERBARROW in the County of Westmorland As also Concerning his Labour and Travel in the Work of the Lord And how the LORD supported him and delivered him by his mighty POWER out of the Hands of his Enemies Printed and Sold by A. Sowle at the Crooked-Billet in Holloway-Lane in Shoreditch And at the Three-Keys in Naggs-Head-Court in Grace-Church-Street 1690. A true and faithful Testimony of the tender Love and Fatherly Care of the Lord in keeping and preserving me by his Eternal Arm and Power in all my Straits and Hardships and making good his Promise unto me from time to time even unto the End of my Dayes IN the Year 1652 in the 4th Month I being about the Age of 38 Years it pleased the Lord to reveal the Light of his Son in me and I saw him whom I had peirced and my Sins and Iniquities were laid before me and I went all the day long and in the Night season I could find no rest I travelled many days in Sorrow in this condition and no pleasure could I find in any thing I had in all the World neither in Wife nor Children in House nor Land in Gold nor Money nor any thing I had about my Habitation till it pleased the God of my Life to blot out my Sins and Transgressions and then that which had condemned me and shewed me my Sins and Evil Deeds even the same doth now bear witness for me that the Lord doth love me and that his Countenance doth shine upon me which made my Heart more glad than Corn or Wine or all the Treasures of the whole Earth so that the same Word which had been to me as a two edged Sword and a Hammer is become to me by the love of God sweeter than the Honey or the Honey-Comb Then I heard the Voice of the Lord in me saying I have Loved thee from thy Mother's Womb I have chosen thee to do my Work my powerful presence shall be with thee in the Fire and in the Water I will never leave thee nor forsake thee but I will be thy God and thou shalt serve me all thy dayes Oh this Voice Oh this Voice this heavenly Voice did make my Heart leap with Joy for I was filled with the sweet incomes of God's eternal Love which is of more worth and value than all the Honour and Glory this World can give And in the 6th Moneth in the Year 1652 in the Government of Oliver Cromwell the Word of the Lord came unto me saying Go to the Steeple-House in Kendall and speak to the Chief Priest in that place say unto him Friend come down thy Covering is too narrow the Lord God of Heaven and Earth will plead with thee thou painted Hypocrite After these Words I was taken away and brought before John Archer one of the Justices of the Peace so called for that time being who committed me to Prison in the Common-Goal of Kendall And the very first Night as I lay in Prison the Word of the Lord came unto me saying fear not for I will be with thee according to my Promise and will make thee a burthensom Stone unto the Town of Kendall and to thy Persecutors and I will send my Servants my Sons and my Daughters from the East and from the West from the North and from the South to bear witness to the same Truth that thou suffers for yea against the Justice that committed thee therefore be thou faithful for I have chosen thee to be the first that shall suffer for my Names sake in the Town of Kendall And the Lord God made his Promise good unto me for before I was released out of Prison there was committed of my Brethren and Sisters for the same Truths Testimony by the same Justice Archer two of my dear Brethren Francis Howgill and Thomas Holme with thirty more of the Lords Servants with whom I continued about one quarter of a Year at the end of which the Justices being confounded in themselves set me at liberty Again the Word of the Lord came unto me in my Bed saying Arise and put on thy Cloathes and take thy Horse and ride to the Town of Kendall and put on thy great Coat and speak through the Streets of the Town the Words that I shall give thee As the Lord liveth you painted Hypocrites and Dissemblers as you have seen the Lords Servants both his Sons and his Daughters go naked and bare-footed so shall your Covering be rent from you and your dissembling shall be laid open to all men Therefore repent and take warning while you have time And so having cleared my self of the Town James Cocke Mayor sent for me and committed me to Prison and the said Mayor being one of the chiefest Professors in the Town of Kendall had little Peace from the Lord in what he had done till he had released me Then I returned to my House again and had great Peace with the Lord. In the same Year 1652 in the Government of Oliver Cromwell the Word of the Lord came unto me saying Go thy ways to Swarthmore where my Lambs and Babes and Children of Light will be gathered together to wait upon my Name I will feed them with the finest of Wheat and with Honey out of the Rock and with the Dew of Heaven I will refresh them that they may grow as Plants of my right Hand planting that above all the Families of the Earth I may rejoyce to do them good So I freely gave up and took my Journey towards Swarthmore and as I was going between Carptmell-Town and Howker-Hall I met with Thomas Preston's Wife and one man with her on foot I passed by her very quietly and had nothing in my Heart to say to her but she being full of Wrath and Envy towards me commanded her man to go back and beat me and so he did and then the mighty power of the Lord did arise in me I spoke these Words to her Oh thou Jezabel thou proud Jezabel canst thou not permit and suffer the Servant of the Lord to pass by thee quietly that had nothing to say unto thee Then she fell upon me in great Rage and held forth her Hands as though she would have struck at me and spitted in my Face and said I scorn to fall down at thy Words Then I said Jezabel thou proud Jezabel thou that hardenest thy Heart and brasenest thy Face against the Lord and his Servant as the Lord liveth he will plead with thee in his own time and set in order before thee things that thou hast done this day to his Servant So I parted with her and went to Swarthmore where I found the Lords People gathered together to wait upon his Name and the Lord was very good unto that Family in feeding them with the Dew of Heaven and with the sweet incomes of his Love according to his promise Glory and Honour
I was free of that Town I returned to my Wife and Children at Mount joy and had great Peace with the God of Life Again the Word of the Lord came unto me as I was following the Plow in the Year 1655 in the first Month saying Go thy way to the City of London and as thou passes speak my Word freely that I shall put into thy Heart to the Judges and Rulers in this Nation and fear not the face of any man for I will be with thee in the Fire and in the Water and in all thy Troubles and Hardships and I will uphold thee by my eternal Arm and Power according to my Word and Promise Then I went into Yorkshire and travelled up and down as I was moved and came to the City of York and from thence to Hull and so to Beverley and spoke the Word of the Lord to the Heads and Rulers as the Lord commanded me and the Lord's hand did uphold me in all my Travels Thence I passed through Leicestershire and Lincolnshire and spoke the Word of the Lord as I was moved to the Priests People and Rulers and so came to the City of London and there I found many of my dear Brethren where I staid about ten dayes and then my dear Brother Thomas Salthouse and I passed for Bristol and so to Excetter and Plimouth where we suffered much Persecution and were Imprisoned at the Town of Plimouth and Excetter about one year but the Lord God was with us in all our Troubles and Imprisonments and made us a burthensome Stone to all our Persecutors as may be readmore at large in a Book entituled The Wounds of an Enemy in the House of a Friend So the Lord in his own time freed us of all our Bonds and Imprisonments according to his promise Glory and Honour and Eternal Praises be given to his Name forever A Copy of a Letter I was moved to write to my Wife Ann Halhead My deart Heart my dear Love in the Bowels of Love in the Lord Jesus Christ salutes thee and my Children My Soul my Soul is poured forth in love to thee daily and the Breathings of my Soul to my Father is for thee that thou may be kept in the fear of the Lord and in his counsel daily that thou mayst come to Rest and Peace that is laid up for all that fear him and walk in obedience to the Light that Jesus Christ hath enlightned them withal So my dear Heart I declare to thee in the presence of the living God who is Lord of Heaven and Earth and before Men and Angels There is no other way that leads to Peace and Eternal Rest but walking in obedience to the Light that comes from Jesus Christ and of this Light thou hast received a measure Therefore my dear Heart be faithful to the Lord in what is made known to thee that thou mayst come to witness true Peace and Rest that Eye hath not seen nor Ear hath not heard neither hath is entred into the Heart of Man what is laid up for all them that fear him So my dear Heart as I have found Peace and Eternal Rest to my Soul from the Lord so am I moved of the Lord in love in love to thy Soul to shew thee the way that leads to Peace and Eternal Rest which Way is Christ who is the Light and the Way that leads to the Father from whence all Light comes and of this Light which comes from Christ I bear record thou hast received a measure Therefore in dear love I exhort thee to walk in obedience to thy measure which thou hast received from the Lord. So in the presence of the Lord God do I declare that walking in obedience to this Light that comes from Christ is the way that leads to eternal Rest and Peace therefore as thou tenders the eternal good of thy Soul be faithful to the Light that comes from Christ which Light beareth witness against Lying and Swearing and vain Talking and all manner of Evil. So my dear Wife in bowels of dear Love to thy Soul which is more pretious than all the World have I shewed thee the way if thou wilt walk in it it will lead thee into the eternal Covenant of Life and Peace So my dear Wife in love in love I have cleared my Conscience to thee in the presence of the Living God as a true and faithful Husband to thee desiring thy eternal good well-fare as my own the Lord God is my witness Dear Wife remember my dear Love to all my Friends and Country-men according to the Flesh for I desire the eternal good and well-fare of you all and that you may all come to believe in the Light in your own Consciences which Jesus Christ hath enlighted you withal which Light bears witness against Lying and Smearing and all manner of Evil This is the Light of Christ and walking in obedience to this Light is the way that leads out of Sin and Evil up to God eternal blessed for evermore and he that acts contrary to this Light in his own Conscience it is his Condemnation Now dear Friends while you have time prise it Thy Husband and a Lover of thy Soul Myles Halhead Wiltshire the 7th day of the 3d Month 1655. An Epistle of Love to Friends DEarly beloved Friends and Brethren in the North of England even to the South the Land of our Nativity whom the Lord God of Heaven and Earth hath called and chosen in this the day of his eternal everlasting Love to serve him in Truth and in Righteousness who hath received the Lord's Truth in the love of it not only to believe in his Name but to suffer Bonds and Imprisonments and hard Sentences for the Testimony of Jesus and Word of God Dear Friends and beloved Brethren my Prayers to the Lord God of Heaven and Earth and Soul's desire is for you all that you may all dwell together as Children of one Father in the eternal Bond of Love and Oneness of the Spirit that you may all grow in the eternal living Truth of God to be established upon the Rock and sure Foundation that the Gates of Hell and Death cannot prevail against you that under the shadow of the Wings of the Almighty you may all be kept and preserved in Peace and Rest now in the day of Tryal and hour of Darkness when Hell hath opened her Mouth and the raging Sea cast out her proud Waves even like to overflow the Banks Glory Glory and eternal living Praises be given to the Lord God and to the lamb for evermore of all the Children of Light who hath found out a resting place for all his dear Ones Lambs and Babes and Children of Light to flee unto in the needful time of trouble where none can make them affraid nor take away their Peace as they abide faithful to him who is our way our Light our Life our Strength and eternal Portion forever My dear Friends