could not make good by Scripture that which he had said So he was shamed and fled out of the House and his People were generally Convinced for his Spirit was discovered and he came no more amongst them And when his People were Convinced and settled in God's Truth they gave forth a Book against him and denied his Spirit and his false Discoveries Many were turned to Christ Jesus that day and came to sit under his Teaching insomuch that the Judges were in a great Rage and many of the Magistrates in Bedford-shire because there were so many turned from the Hireling-Priests to the Lord Jesus Christ's free Teaching But John Crook was kept by the Power of the Lord Yet he was turned out from being a Justice After some time I turned up through the Country to London again where Friends were finely established in the Truth and great Comings in there were And about this time several Friends went beyond the Seas to declare the everlasting Truth of God Now when I had stay'd a while in the City Kent Rochester I went into Kent And when I came to Rochester there was a Guard kept to examin Passengers Cranbrook but we passed by and were not stopped So I went to Cranbrook where there was a great Meeting and several Souldiers were at it and many were turned to the Lord that day After the Meeting some of the Souldiers were somewhat Rude but the Lord's Power came over them One Thomas Howsigoe an Independent-Preacher who lived not far from Cranbrook was Convinced and became a faithful Minister for the Lord Jesus Some Friends had traveled into Kent before as John Stubbs and William Caton and the Priests and Professors had stirred up the Magistrates at Maidstone to Whip them for declaring God's Truth unto them as may be seen at large in the Journal of William Caton's Life There was also one Captain Dunk Convinced in Kent Sussex Ry. and he went with me to Ry where we had a Meeting to which the Mayor and Officers and several Captains came and they took what I said in Writing which I was well pleased with All was quiet and the People affected with the Truth Rumney From Ry I went to Rumney where the People having had notice of my Coming some time before there was a very large Meeting Thither came Samuel Fisher who was an Eminent Preacher among the Baptists and had had a Parsonage reputed worth about Two hundred Pounds a Year which for Conscience-sake he had given up And there was also the Pastor of the Baptists and abundance of their People And the Power of the Lord was so mightily over the Meeting that many were reached by the Power of God and one greatly shaken and the Life sprang up in divers One of the Pastors of the Baptists being amazed at the Work of the Lord's Power bid one of our Friends that was so wrought upon Have a good Conscience Whereupon I was moved of the Lord to bid him Take heed of Hypocrisy and Deceit and he was silent A great Convincement there was that day and many were turned from the Darkness to the divine Light of Christ and came to see their Teachers Errors and to sit under the Lord Jesus Christ's Teaching and to know him their Way and the Covenant of Light which God had given to be their Salvation And they were brought to the One Baptism and to the One Baptizer Christ Jesus When the Meeting was done Samuel Fisher's Wife said Now we may discern this day betwixt Flesh and Spirit and distinguish Spiritual Teaching from Fleshly The People were generally well satisfied with what had been declared but the Two Baptist-Teachers and their Company when they were gone from the Meeting fell to Reasoning amongst the People Samuel Fisher with divers others reasoned for the Word of Life which had been declared that day and the other Pastor and his Party reasoned against it So it divided them asunder and cut them in the midst A Friend came and told me that the Baptists were disputing one with another 1655. Rumney and desired me to go up to them but I said Let them alone the Lord will divide them and they that Reason for Truth will be too hard for the other And so it was This Samuel Fisher received the Truth in the Love of it and became a faithful Minister of it and preached Christ freely and laboured much in the Work and Service of the Lord being moved of the Lord to go and declare the word of Life at Dunkirk and in Holland and in divers parts of Italy as Leghorn and Rome it self And yet the Lord preserved him and his Companion John Stubbs out of their Inquisitions From Rumney I passed to Dover and had a Meeting there Dover where several were Convinced And near unto Dover there was a Governour and his Wife Convinced who had been Baptists and the Baptists thereabouts were much offended and grew very envious but the Lord's Power came over all Luke Howard of Dover was Convinced sometime before and became a faithful Minister of Christ Returning from Dover I went to Canterbury Canterbury where there were a few honest-hearted People turned to the Lord who sate down under Christ's Teaching Thence I passed to Cranbrook again Cranbrook where I had a great Meeting A Friend that was with me went to the Steeple-house and was cast into Prison But the Lord's Power was manifested and his Truth spread From thence I passed into Sussex and lodged near Horsham Sussex Horsham where there was a great Meeting and many were Convinced Also at Stenning we had a great Meeting in the Market-House Stenning and several were Convinced there and thereaways for the Lord's Power was with us Several Meetings I had thereabouts and among the rest there was a Meeting appointed at a Great Man's House and he and his Son went to fetch several Priests that had threatned to come and dispute But when the time came none of them came for the Lord's Power was mighty in us A glorious Meeting we had and the Man of the House and his Son were vext because none of the Priests would come So the Hearts of People were opened by the Spirit of God and they were turned from the Hirelings to Christ Jesus their Shepherd who had purchased them without Money and would feed them without Money or Price Many that came expecting to hear a Dispute were Convinced that day amongst which Nicholas Beard was one Thus the Lord's Power came over all and his Day many came to see There were abundance of Ranters in those parts and Professors that had been so Loose in their Lives that they began to be Weary of it and had thought to have gone into Scotland to have lived privately But the Lord's Net catched them and their Understandings were opened by his Light Spirit and Power through which they came to receive the Truth and to be settled upon the Lord and so
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
their way and did no harm Lancaster The time for the Sessions at Lancaster being come I went to Lancaster with Judge Fell who on the way told me He had never had such a Matter brought before him before and he could not well tell what to do in the Business I told him when Paul was brought before the Rulers and the Jews and Priests came down to Accuse him and laid many false things to his Charge Paul stood still all that while And when they had done Festus the Governour and King Agrippa beckned to him to speak for himself which Paul did and cleared himself of all those false Accusations And so he might do by me Being come to Lancaster and Justice Sawrey and Justice Thompson having granted a Warrant to apprehend me though I was not apprehended by it Lancaster Sessions yet hearing of it I appeared at the Sessions where there appeared against me about Forty Priests These had chosen one Marshal Priest of Lancaster to be their Orator and had provided one young Priest and two Priests Sons to bear Witness against me who had sworn before-hand that I had spoken Blasphemy When the Justices were set they heard all that the Priests and their Witnesses could say and charge against me their Orator Marshal sitting by and explaining their Sayings for them But the Witnesses were so Confounded that they discovered themselves to be false Witnesses For when the Court had Examined one of the Witnesses upon Oath 1652. Lancaster Sessions and then began to Examin another of them he was at such loss he could not Answer directly but said the other could say it Which made the Justices say to him Have you sworn it and given it in already upon your Oath and now say That he can say it It seems you did not hear those words spoken your self though you have sworn it There were then in Court several People who had been at that Meeting wherein the Witnesses swore I spake those blasphemous Words which the Priests accused me of and these being Men of Integrity and Reputation in the Country did declare and affirm in Court That the Oath which the Witnesses had taken against me was altogether false and that no such Words as they had sworn against me were spoken by me at that Meeting For indeed most of the serious Men of that side of the County that were then at the Sessions had been at that Meeting and had heard me both at that Meeting and at other Meetings also This was taken notice of by Colonel VVest who being a Justice of the Peace was then upon the Bench and having long been weak in Body blessed the Lord and said The Lord had healed him that day adding That he never saw so many sober People and good Faces together in all his Life And then turning himself to me he said in the open Sessions George If thou hast any thing to say to the People thou may'st freely declare it And I was moved of the Lord to speak and as soon as I began Priest Marshal the Orator for the rest of the Priests went his way That which I was moved to declare was this That the Holy Scriptures were given forth by the Spirit of God and all People must first come to the Spirit of God in themselves by which they might know God and Christ of whom the Prophets and the Apostles learnt and by the same Spirit know the Holy Scriptures for as the Spirit of God was in them that gave forth the Scriptures so the same Spirit of God must be in all them that come to know and understand the Scriptures By which Spirit they might have Fellowship with the Son and with the Father and with the Scriptures and with one another And without this Spirit they can know neither God nor Christ nor the Scriptures nor have right Fellowship one with another I had no sooner spoken these Words but about half a dozen Priests that stood behind my Back burst out into a passion and one of them whose Name was Jackus amongst other things that he spake against the Truth said That the Spirit and the Letter were inseparable I replied Then every one that hath the Letter hath the Spirit and they might buy the Spirit with the Letter of the Scriptures This plain discovery of Darkness in the Priest moved Judge Fell and Colonel VVest to Reprove them openly and tell them That according to that Position they might carry the Spirit in their Pockets as they did the Scriptures Upon this the Priests being Confounded and put to silence rusht out in a Rage against the Justices because they could not have their bloody Ends upon me So the Justices seeing the Witnesses did not agree and perceiving that they were brought to Answer the Priests Envy and finding that all their Evidences were not sufficient in Law to make good their Charge against me they discharged me And after Judge Fell had spoken to Justice Sawrey and Justice Thompson concerning the VVarrant they had given forth against me and shewed them the Errors thereof He and Colonel West granted a Supersedeas to stop the Execution thereof Thus was I cleared in open Sessions of all those lying Accusations which the malicious Priests had laid to my Charge And Multitudes of People praised God that day for it was a joyful Day to many There was Justice Benson out of Westmorland who was Convinced and Major Ripan that was Mayor of the Town of Lancaster who was Convinced also It was a day of Everlasting Salvation to hundreds of People for the Lord Jesus Christ the Way to the Father and the free Teacher was exalted and set up and his Everlasting Gospel was preached and the Word of Eternal Life was declared over the heads of the Priests and all such Money-Preachers For the Lord opened many Mouths that Day to speak his Word to the Priests and several friendly People and Professors reproved the Priests in their Inns and in the Streets so that they fell like an old rotten House and the Cry was among the People That the Quakers had got the day and the Priests were fallen Many People were Convinced that day amongst whom Thomas Briggs was one who before had been averse from Friends and Truth insomuch that discoursing on a time with John Lawson a Friend concerning Perfection Thomas Briggs said to him Dost thou hold Perfection and therewithal lift up his Hand to have given the Friend a Box on the Ear. But this Thomas Briggs being Convinced of the Truth that day declared against his own Priest Jackus and afterwards became a faithful Minister of the Gospel and stood so to the End of his Days When the Sessions were over James Naylor who was present thereat gave a brief Account of the Proceedings thereof in a Letter which soon after he writ to Friends which is here added for the Reader 's further satisfaction in this Matter DEar Friends and Brethren in the Lord Jesus Christ my
Everlasting And in this neither Powers Principalities nor Thrones Dominions nor Angels nor things present nor things to come nor Heights nor Depths nor Death Mockings nor spoiling of Goods nor Prisons nor Fetters were able to separate them from the Love of God which they had in Christ Jesus And Friends Quench not the Spirit nor despise Prophesying where it moves neither hinder the Babes and Sucklings from crying Hosannah for out of their Mouths will God ordain Strength There were some in Christ's Day that were against such whom he reproved And there were some in Moses his Day who would have stopt the Prophets in the Camp whom Moses reproved and said in Way of Incouragement to them Would God that all the Lord's People were Prophets So I say now to you Therefore ye that stop it in your selves do not quench it in others neither in Babe nor Suckling for the Lord hears the Cries of the Needy and the Sighs and Groans of the Poor Judge not that nor the Sighs and Groans of the Spirit which cannot be uttered lest ye judge Prayer for Prayer as well lies in Sighs and Groans to the Lord as otherwise So let not the Sons and Daughters nor the Hand-maidens be stopt in their Prophesyings nor the Young-men in their Visions nor the Old-men in their Dreams but let the Lord be glorified in and through all who is over all God blessed for ever So that every one may improve their Talents and every one exercise their Gifts and every one speak as the Spirit gives them Vtterance Thus every one may minister as he hath received the Grace as a good Steward to him that hath given it him so that all Plants may bud and bring forth Fruit to the glory of God for the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every one to profit withal So see that every one hath profited in heavenly things Male and Female look into your own Vineyards and see what Fruit ye bear to God look into your own Houses see how they are decked and trimmed and see what Odors Mirrh and Frankincense ye have therein and what a Smell and Savour ye have to ascend to God that he may be glorified So bring your Deeds all to the Light which ye are taught to believe in by Christ your Head the heavenly Man and see how they are wrought in God And every Male and Female let Christ dwell in your Hearts by Faith Christ in the Male and in the Female and let your Mouths be opened to the Glory of God the Father that he may rule and reign in you We must not have Christ Jesus the Lord of Life put any more in a Stable amongst the Horses and Asses but he must now have the best Chamber the Heart and the rude debauched Spirit must be turned out Therefore let him reign whose Right it is who was conceived by the Holy Ghost by which Holy Ghost ye call him Lord in which Holy Ghost ye pray and by which Holy Ghost ye have Comfort and Fellowship with the Son and with the Father Therefore know the Triumph in it and in God and his Power which the Devil is out of and in the Seed which is first and last the beginning and ending the Top-and Corner-stone in which is my Love to you and in which I rest Your Friend G. F. POSTSCRIPT And Friends be careful how ye set your feet among the tender Plants that are springing up out of God's Earth lest ye do tread upon them and hurt them and bruise them or crush them in God's Vineyard Now after I had tarried two first-Days at Swarthmore and had visited Friends in their Meetings thereabouts I passed from thence into Westmorland visiting Friends Meetings there Westmorland till I came to John Audland's where there was a general Meeting The Night before I had a vision of a desperate Creature that was coming to destroy me but I got Victory over it And the next Day in the meeting-Meeting-time there came one Otway with some rude fellows with him and he rode round about the Meeting with his Sword or Rapier and would fain have gotten in through the Friends to me but the Meeting being great the Friends stood thick so that he could not easily come at me Then when he had rid about several Times raging and found he could not get in being limited by the Lord's Power he at length went away It was a glorious Meeting and ended peaceable and the Lord 's everlasting Power came over all But this wild Man went home and became distracted and not long after died I sent a Paper to John Blaykling to read to him while he lay ill shewing him his wickedness and he did acknowledge something of it Going from hence I went through Kendal Kendal where a Warrant had long lain to apprehend me and the Constables seeing me ran to fetch their Warrant as I was riding through the Town but before they could come with it I was gone past the Town and so escaped their Hands I travelled on Northwards visiting Friends Meetings as I went till I came to Strickland-head where I had a great Meeting Strickland head And most of the Gentry of that Country being gathered to an Horse-Race not far off from the Meeting I was moved to go and declare the Truth unto them 1657. Strickland head and a Chief-Constable that was there did also admonish them Our Meeting was quiet and the Lord was with us and by his Word and Power Friends were settled in the Eternal Truth Cumberland From hence we passed into Cumberland where we had many precious living Meetings And after we had travelled through to Gilsland Gilsland Carlisle and had a Meeting there we came to Carlisle where they had used to put Friends out of the Town but there came a great Flood while we were there that they could not put us out of the Town so we had a Meeting there on the first-Day After which we passed through the Country to Abby-holm Abbey-holm and had a little Meeting there This is a Place where I told Friends long before there would a great People come forth to the Lord which hath since come to pass and a large Meeting there is gathered to the Lord in those Parts Langlands I passed from hence to a general Meeting at Langlands in Cumberland which was very large for most of the People had so forsaken the Priests that the Steeple-houses in some places stood empty And John Wilkinson a Preacher that I have often named before who had three Steeple-houses had so few Hearers lest that giving over preaching in the Steeple-houses he first set up a Meeting in his House and preached there to them that were left Afterwards he set up a silent Meeting like Friends to which came a few for most of his Hearers were come off to Friends Thus he held on till he had not past half a Dozen left the rest still forsaking him and
me Many of them lived in the Country and he could not tell how to send to them I told him He might acquaint them about the Town of it and send to as many in the Country as he could So the next Day we Met at the Castle there being about fourscore People to whom I declared the Truth for about the space of two Hours And the Lord's Power was over them all so that they had not Power to open their Mouths in Opposition When I had done one of them asked me a Question which I was loth to have answered for I saw it might lead into Jangling and I was unwilling to go into Jangling 1657. Nottingham for some of the People were tender yet I could not tell how well to escape it Wherefore I answered the Question and was moved forthwith to speak to Rice Jones and lay before him How that he had been the Man that had scattered such as had been Tender and some that had been Convinced and had been led out of many Vanities of the World which he had formerly judged but now he judged the Power of God in them and they being simple turned to him and so he and they were turned to be vainer than the World for many of his Followers were turned to be the greatest Foot-ball-players and Wrestlers in the Country So I told him it was the Serpent in him that had scattered and done hurt to such as were Tender towards the Lord. Nevertheless if he did wait in the Fear of God for the Seed of the Woman Christ Jesus to bruise the Serpent's Head in him that had scattered and done the hurt by the Seed Christ Jesus he coming into him he might come to gather them again by this heavenly Seed though it would be an hard work for him to gather them again out of those Vanities he had led them into At this Rice Jones said Thou liest it is not the Seed of the Woman that bruises the Serpent's Head No! said I What is it then I say it is the Law said he But said I the Scripture speaking of the Seed of the VVoman saith It shall bruise thy Head and thou shalt bruise his Heel Now hath the Law an Heel said I to be bruised Then Rice Jones and all his Company were at a stand and I was moved in the Power of the Lord to speak to him and say This Seed Christ Jesus the Seed of the VVoman which should bruise the Serpent's Head shall bruise thy Head and break you all to pieces Thus I did leave on the Heads of them the Seed Christ and not long after he and his Company scattered to pieces and several of them came to be Friends and stand to this Day For many of them had been Convinced about eight Years before but had been led aside by this Rice Jones For they denied the Inward Cross the Power of God and so went into Vanity And it was about eight Years since I had been formerly amongst them in which time I was to pass over them and by them seeing they had slighted the Lord's Truth and Power and the Visitation of his Love unto them But now was the time that I was moved to go to them again and it was of great Service for many of them were brought to the Lord Jesus Christ and were settled upon him sitting down under his Teaching and Feeding where they were kept fresh and green and the others that would not be gathered to him soon after withered This was that Rice Jones that some Years before had said I was then at the highest and should fall But poor Man he little thought how near his own Fall was We left Nottingham and went into Warwickshire 1658. Warwicksh Northamptonshire Leicestersh Bedfordsh Yearly Meeting and thence passing through some parts of Northamptonshire and Leicestershire visiting Friends and having Meetings with them as we travelled we came into Bedfordshire where we had large Gatherings in the Name of Jesus After some time we came to John Crook's House where a General Yearly Meeting for the whole Nation was appointed to be held This Meeting lasted Three Days and many Friends from most Parts of the Nation came to it so that the Inns and Towns round thereabouts were filled for many Thousands of People were at it And although there were some Disturbance by some rude People 1658. Bedfordshire Yearly Meeting that had run out from Truth yet the Lord's Power came over all and a glorious Meeting it was And the Everlasting Gospel was preached and many received it for there were many sorts of Professors came to the Meeting which Gospel brought Life and Immortality to Light in them and shined over all Then was I moved by the Power and Spirit of the Lord to open unto them the Promise of God how that it was made to the Seed not to Seeds as many but to One which Seed was Christ And that all People both Males and Females should feel this Seed in them which was Heir of the Promise that so they might all witness Christ in them the Hope of Glory the Mystery which had been hid from Ages and Generations which was revealed to the Apostles and is revealed again now after this long Night of Apostacy So that all might come up into this Seed Christ Jesus and walk in it and sit down together in the heavenly Places in Christ Jesus who was the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles and the Rock of Ages and is our Foundation now And all sitting down in him sit down in the Substance the First and the Last that changes not the Seed that bruises the Serpent's Head and was before he was who ends all the Types Figures and Shadows and is the Substance of them all in whom there is no Shadow Now these things were upon me to open unto all that they might mind and see what it is they sit down in For First They that sit down in Adam in the Fall sit down in Misery in Death in Darkness and Corruption Secondly They that sit down in the Types Figures and Shadows and under the first Priesthood Law and Covenant sit down in that which must have an End and which made nothing perfect Thirdly They that sit down in the Apostacy that hath gotten up since the Apostles Days sit down in spiritual Sodom and Egypt and are drinking of the Whore's Cup under the Beast's and Dragon's Power Fourthly They that sit down in the State in which Adam was before he fell sit down in that which may be fallen from for he fell from that State though it was perfect Fifthly They that sit down in the Prophets sit down in that which must be fulfilled And they that sit down in the Fellowship of Water Bread and Wine these being temporal things they sit down in that which is short of Christ and of his Baptism Sixthly To sit down in a Profession of all the Scriptures from Genesis to the Revelations and not be
those parts in their Meetings and so passed on to Balby in Yorkshire where our Yearly Meeting at that time was holden in a great Orchard of John Killams where it was suppos'd some Thousands of People and Friends were gathered together In the Morning I heard that a Troop of Horse was sent from York about Thirty Miles off to break up our Meeting and that the Militia newly raised was to join with them So I went into the Meeting and stood up on a great Stool and after I had spoken sometime Two Trumpeters came up sounding their Trumpets pretty near me and the Captain of the Troop cried Divide to the Right and Left and make way Then they rid up to me 1660. Balby Yearly Meeting Now I was declaring the Everlasting Truth and Word of Life in the mighty Power of the Lord. The Captain bid me Come down for he was come he said to disperse our Meeting After some time I spake to him and told him He and they all knew we were a peaceable People and that we used to have such great Meetings But if he did question that we Met in an hostile Way I desired him to make search among us and if he found either Sword or Pistol about any there let such suffer He told me he must see us dispersed for he came all Night on purpose to disperse us I asked him What Honour it would be to him to Ride with Swords and Pistols amongst so many Vnarmed Men and Women as there was But if he would be still and quiet our Meeting probably might not continue above two or three Hours and when it was done as we came Peaceably and Civilly together so we should part For he might perceive the Meeting was so large that all the Country thereabouts could not entertain them but that they intended to depart towards their Homes at Night He said He could not stay to see the Meeting ended but must disperse them before he went I desired him then if he himself could not stay that he would let a dozen of his Souldiers stay and see the Order and Peaceableness of our Meeting He said He would permit us an Hour's time and left half a dozen Souldiers to stay with us Then went the Captain away with his Troop and Friends of the House gave those Souldiers that staid and their Horses some Meat When the Captain was gone the Souldiers that were left told us We might stay till Night if we would But we staid but about three Hours after and had a glorious powerful Meeting For the presence of the Living God was manifest amongst us and the Seed Christ was set over all and Friends were built upon him the Foundation and settled under his glorious heavenly Teaching And after the Meeting was done Friends passed away in Peace greatly refreshed with the Presence of the Lord and filled with Joy and Gladness that the Lord's Power had given them such Dominion For many of the Militia-Souldiers staid also and were much vexed that the Captain and Troopers had not broken up our Meeting and Cursed the Captain and his Troopers For it was reported that they intended to have done us some Mischief that day but the Troopers instead of Assisting them were rather Assistant unto us in not joining with them as they expected but preventing them from doing the Mischief they designed And yet this Captain was a desperate Man For it was he that had said to me in Scotland That he would obey his Superiors Commands and if it were to Crucifie Christ he would do it or execute the Great Turk's Commands against the Christians if he were under him So that it was an Eminent Power of the Lord which chained down both him and all his Troopers and those envious Militia-Souldiers also so that they went away not having power to hurt any of us nor to break up our Meeting Warmsworth The next day we had an heavenly Meeting at Warmsworth of Friends in the Ministry and several others and then Friends parted And as they passed through the Countries several were taken up For that day that our first Meeting was on Lambert was Routed and it made a great Blunder in the Country but Friends were not kept long in Prison at that time 1658. Nottinghamshire Skegby As I went to this Meeting at Balby there came several to me at Skegby in Nottinghamshire that were then going to be Souldiers under Lambert and would have bought my Horse of me and because I would not sell him to them they were in a great Rage against me using many Threatning Words But I told them God would confound and scatter them and within two or three Days after they were scattered indeed From Warmsworth I passed in the Lord's Power to Barton-Abby Barton-Abby T. Taylor 's Skipton General Meeting of Men-Friends where I had a great Meeting and from thence to Thomas Taylor s and so to Skipton where there was a General Meeting of Men-Friends out of many Counties concerning the Affairs of the Church There was a Friend went Naked through the Town declaring Truth and he was much beaten Some other Friends also came to me all bloody And as I walked in the Street there was a desperate Fellow had an Intent to have done me a Mischief But he was prevented and our Meeting was quiet To this Meeting came many Friends out of most parts of the Nation for it was about Business relating to the Church both in this Nation and beyond the Seas Several Years before when I was in the North I was moved to recommend to Friends the setting up of this Meeting for that Service For many Friends suffered in divers parts of the Nation and their Goods were taken from them contrary to the Law and they understood not how to help themselves or where to seek Redress But after this Meeting was set up several Friends that had been Justices and Magistrates and others that understood something of the Law came thither and were able to Inform Friends and to assist them in gathering up the Sufferings that they might be laid before the Justices Judges or Parliament Now this Meeting had stood several Years and divers Justices and Captains had come to brake it up but when they have understood the Business Friends Met about and have seen Friends Books and Accompts of Collections for Relief of the Poor how we took Care one County to help another and to help our Friends beyond the Seas and provide for our Poor that none of them should be chargeable to their Parishes c. The Justices and Officers would Confess that we did their Work and would pass away peaceably and lovingly Commending Friends Practices And sometimes there would come Two hundred of the World 's Poor People and wait there till the Meeting was done for all the Country knew we met about the Poor and then after the Meeting was over Friends would send to the Bakers for Bread and give every one of
of their Worship and to carry those persecuting Priests and People a Lanthorn and Candle as a Figure of their Darkness But they cruelly abused him and like dark Professors as they were they put him into their Prison called Little-Ease and so squeezed his Body therein that not long after he Died. Many Warnings of many sorts were Friends moved in the Power of the Lord to give unto that Generation which they not only rejected but abused Friends calling us Giddy-headed Quakers But God brought his Judgments upon those Persecuting Priests and Magistrates For when the King came in most of them were turned out of their Places and Benefices and the Spoilers were Spoiled And then we could ask them Who were the Giddy-heads now Then many did confess we had been True Prophets to the Nation and said Had we cried against some Priests only they should have liked us then but we crying against All that made them dislike us But now they did see that those Priests which then were looked upon to be the best were as bad as the Rest For indeed some of those that were counted the most-Eminent Priests were the bitterest and greatest Stirrers up of the Magistrates to Persecution And it was a Judgment upon them to be denied the Free Liberty of their Consciences when the King came in because when they were uppermost they would not have had Liberty of Conscience been granted unto others For there was one Hewes of Plymouth a Priest of great Note in Oliver's Days who when some Liberty was granted pray'd That God would put it into the Hearts of the Chief Magistrates of the Nation to remove this cursed Toleration And others of them prayed against it by the name of Intolerable Toleration But a while after when the King was come in and Priest Hewes turned out of his great Benefice for not Conforming to the Common-Prayer a Friend of Plymouth meeting with him asked him Whether he would account Toleration Accursed now And Whether he would not now be glad of a Toleration To which the Priest returned no Answer save by the shaking of his Head But as stiff as this sort of Men were then against Toleration it is well known that many of them petitioned the King for Toleration and for Meeting-Places and paid for Licences too But to return to the present Time the latter end of the Year 1660. and beginning of 1661. Although those Friends that had been Imprisoned upon the Rising of those Monarchy-Men were set at Liberty yet Meetings were much disturbed and great Sufferings Friends went under For besides what was done by Officers and Souldiers many wild Fellows and rude People often came in There came one time when I was at Pell-Mell an Embassador with a Company of Irish Men with rude Fellows The Meeting was done before they came and I was gone up into a Chamber where I heard one of them say he would kill all the Quakers So I went down to him and was moved in the Power of the Lord to speak to him and I told him The Law said An Eye for an Eye and a Tooth for a Tooth but thou threatens to kill all the Quakers though they have done thee no hurt But said I here is Gospel for thee Here 's my Hair and here 's my Cheek and here 's my Shoulder turning it to him This came so over him that he and his Companions stood as Men amazed and said If that was our Principle and if we were as we said they never saw the like in their Lives I told them What I was in Words I was the same in Life Then the Embassador came in for he had stood without for he said that Irish Colonel was such a desperate Man that he durst not come in with him for fear he should have done us some Mischief but Truth came over him and he carried himself lovingly towards us and so did the Embassador also for the Lord's Power was over them all At Mile-End Friends were kept out of their Meeting-Place by Souldiers but Friends stood Nobly in the Truth and were Valiant for the Lord's Name and at last the Truth gave them Dominion About this time we had Account that John Love a Friend that was moved to go and bear Testimony against the Idolatry of the Papists was dead in Prison at Rome and it was suspected he was privately put to Death in Prison John Perrot was also Prisoner there and being released came over again But after his Arrival here he with Charles Baily and some others turned aside from the Vnity of Friends and Truth Whereupon I was moved to give forth a Paper declaring how the Lord would blast them all both him and his Followers if they did not Repent and Return and that they should wither like the Grass on the House-top and so many of them did but others of them returned and repented Also before this time we received Account from New-England That the Government there had made a Law to Banish the Quakers out of their Colonies upon pain of Death in case they returned and that several of our Friends having been so banished and returning were thereupon taken and actually Hanged and that divers more were in Prison in danger of the like Sentence to be executed upon them When those were put to Death I was in Prison at Lancaster and had a perfect Sense of their Sufferings as though it had been my self and as though the Halter had been put about my own Neck though we had not at that time heard of it But as soon as we heard of it Edward Burrough went to the King and told him There was a Vein of Innocent Blood opened in his Dominions which if it were not stopt would over-run all To which the King replied But I will stop that Vein Edward Burrough said Then do it speedily for we know not how many may soon be put to Death The King answered As speedily as ye will Call said he to some present the Secretary and I will do it presently So the Secretary being called a Mandamus was forthwith granted A Day or two after Ed. Burrough going again to the King to desire the matter might be expedited the King said He had no Occasion at present to send a Ship thither but if we would send one we might do it as soon as we would Ed. Burrough then asked the King If it would please him to grant his Deputation to one called a Quaker to carry the Mandamus to New-England which is hereafter inserted He said Yes to whom ye will Whereupon E. B. named one Samuel Shattock as I remember who being an Inhabitant of New-England was banished by their Law to be hanged if he came again and to him the Deputation was granted Then we sent for one Ralph Goldsmith an honest Friend who was Master of a good Ship and with him we agreed for Three Hundred Pounds Goods or no Goods to Sail in Ten Days He forthwith prepared to set Sail and with
upon his Breast and confess'd What was written therein was Truth but said he if I should confess to it openly they would burn me So John Stubs and Henry Fell not being suffered to go farther returned to England and came to London again And John had a Vision that the English and Dutch who had joined together not to carry them would fall out one with the other And so it came to pass Having now stay'd in London some time I felt drawings to visit Friends in Essex Essex Colchester Cogshall So I went down to Colchester where I had very large Meetings and from thence to Cogshall not far from which there was a Priest Convinced and I had a Meeting at his House And so travelling a little up and down in those Parts and visiting Friends in their Meetings there-aways London I returned pretty quickly to London where I found great Service for the Lord For a large Door was opened and many flocked in to our Meetings and the Lord's Truth spread mightily this Year Yet Friends had great Travels and sore Labours the rude People having been so heightned by the Monarchy-Men's Rising a little before But the Lord's Power was over all and in it Friends had Dominion though we had not only those Sufferings without but Sufferings within also by John Perrot and his Company who giving heed to a Spirit of Delusion sought to introduce and set up among Friends that evil and uncomely Practice of keeping on the Hat in time of publick Prayers Now Friends had spoken to him and divers of his Followers about it and I had written to them concerning it but He and some others rather strengthened themselves against Friends therein Wherefore feeling the Judgment of Truth rise against it I gave forth the following Lines as a Warning to all that were concerned therein WHosoever is tainted with this Spirit of John Perrot it will perish Mark theirs and his End that are turned into those outward things and Janglings about them and that which is not savoury all which is for perpetual Judgment and is to be swept and cleansed out of the Camp of God's Elect. This is to that Spirit that is gone into Jangling about that which is below the Rotten Principle of the old Ranters and gone from the Invisible Power of God in which is the Everlasting Fellowship and so many are become like the Corn on the House-top and like the untimely Figs and now clamour and speak against them that be in the Power of God O consider the Light and Power of God goes over you all and leaves you in the fretting Nature out of the Unity which is in the Everlasting Light Life and Power of God Consider this before the Day be gone from you and take heed that your Memorial be not rooted out from among the Righteous G. F. Among the Exercises and Troubles that Friends had from without one was concerning Friends Marriages which sometimes were â—â—lled in question And in this Year there happened to be a Cause Tryed at the Assize at Nottingham concerning a Friend's Marriage The Case was thus Some Years before Two Friends were joined together in Marriage amongst Friends and lived together as Man and Wife about two Years Then the Man died leaving his Wife with Child and leaving an Estate in Lands of Copy-hold When the Woman was delivered the Jury presented the Child Heir to its Father's Lands and accordingly the Child was admitted Afterwards another Friend married the Widow And after that a Man that was Near of Kin to her former Husband brought his Action against the Friend that had last married her endeavouring to dispossess them and deprive the Child of the Inheritance and to possess himself thereof as next Heir to the Woman's first Husband And to effect this he endeavoured to prove the Child Illegitimate alledging The Marriage was not according to Law In opening the Cause the Plaintiff's Counsel did use unseemly Words concerning Friends saying That they went together like Brute Beasts with other ill Expressions After the Counsels on both sides had pleaded the Judge viz. Judge Archer took the matter in hand and opened it to the Jury telling them That there was a Marriage in Paradise when Adam took Eve and Eve took Adam and that it was the Consent of the Parties that made a Marriage And for the Quakers he said he did not know their Opinions but he did not believe they went together as Brute Beasts as had been said of them but as Christians and therefore he did believe the Marriage was lawful and the Child lawful Heir And the better to satisfie the Jury he brought them a Case to this purpose A Man that was weak of Body and kept his Bed had a desire in that Condition to Marry and did declare before Witnesses that he did take such a Woman to be his Wife and the Woman declared that she took that Man to be her Husband This Marriage was afterwards called in Question and as the Judge said all the Bishops did at that time conclude it to be a Lawful Marriage Hereupon the Jury gave in their Verdict for the Friend's Child and against the Man that would have deprived it of its Inheritance About this time the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy were tendred unto Friends as a Snare because it was known we could not Swear and thereupon many were Imprisoned and divers Premunired Upon that occasion Friends published in Print the Grounds and Reasons why they refused to swear Besides which I was moved to give forth these few Lines following to be given to the Magistrates THE World saith Kiss the Book But the Book saith Kiss the Son lest he be angry And the Son saith Swear not at all but keep to Yea and Nay in all your Communications for whatsoever is more than this cometh of Evil. Again the World saith Lay your hand on the Book but the Book saith Handle the Word And the Word saith Handle not the Traditions nor the Inventions nor the Rudiments of the World And God saith This is my beloved Son hear him who is the Life and the Truth and the Light and the Way to God G. F. Now there being very many Frionds in Prison in the Nation Richard Hubberthorn and I drew up a Paper concerning them and got it delivered to the King that he might understand how we were dealt with by his Officers It was directed thus For the KING FRiend who art the Chief Ruler of these Dominions here is a List of some of the Sufferings of the People of God in scorn called Quakers that have suffered under the Changeable Powers before thee by whom there have been Imprisoned and under whom there have suffered for good Conscience-sake and for bearing Testimony to the Truth as it is in Jesus Three Thousand One Hundred Seventy Three Persons And there lie yet in Prison in the Name of the Commonwealth Seventy Three Persons that we know of And there have died in Prison
they got the Heathen-Gentiles to help them against Christ and against his Apostles and Disciples who were in the Spirit and Power of Christ G. F. Now after I had made some stay in London and had cleared my self of those Services that at that time lay upon me there I went into the Country having with me Alexander Parker and John Stubbs who was lately come back from Alexandria in Egypt as was mentioned before We travelled down through the Countries visiting Friends Meetings till we came to Bristol Bristol When we were come thither we understood that the Officers were likely to come and break up the Meeting Broadmead Meeting Yet on the First-Day we went to the Meeting at Broadmead And Alexander Parker standing up first to Declare while he was speaking the Officers came up and took him away After he was gone I stood up in the Eternal Power of God and declared the Everlasting Truth of the Lord God and the Heavenly Power came over all and the Meeting was quiet the rest of the time and brake up peaceably I tarried till the First-Day following visiting Friends and being visited by Friends On the First-Day in the Morning several Friends came to me to Edward Pyot's House where I lay the Night before and used great Endeavours to perswade me not to go to the Meeting that day for the Magistrates they said had threatned to take me and had raised the Trained Bands I wisht them to go their way to the Meeting not telling them what I intended to do but I told Ed. Pyot I intended to go to the Meeting and he sent his Son with me to shew me the Way from his House by the Fields As I went I met divers Friends who were coming to me to prevent my going and did what they could to stop me What said one Wilt thou go into the Mouth of the Beast Wilt thou go into the Mouth of the Dragon said another But I put them by and went on When I came into the Meeting Margaret Thomas was speaking and when she had done I stood up Now I saw a Concern and Fear upon Friends for me but the Power of the Lord in which I declared soon struck the Fear out of them and Life sprang and an Heavenly Glorious Meeting we had After I had Cleared my self of what was upon me from the Lord to the Meeting I was moved to Pray and after I had prayed and was stept down I was moved to stand up again and tell Friends Now they might see there was a God in Israel that could deliver A very large full Meeting this was and very hot but Truth was over all and the Life was up which carried through all and the Meeting broke up in Peace For the Officers and Souldiers had been breaking up another Meeting which had taken up their time so that our Meeting was ended 1662. Broadmead-Meeting before they came But I understood afterwards they were in a great Rage that they had missed me for they were heard to say one to another before I 'll warrant we shall have him but the Lord prevented them I went from the Meeting to Joan Hily's where many Friends came to see me rejoycing and blessing God for our Deliverance In the Evening I had a fine fresh Meeting among Friends at a Friend's House over the Water where Friends were much refreshed in the Lord. After this I stay'd most part of that Week in Bristol Bristol and at Edward Pyott's Edward was brought so low and weak with an Ague that when I came first thither he was lookt upon as a Dying Man but it pleased the Lord to raise him up again so that before I went away his Ague left him and he was finely well Now having been two First-Days together at the Meeting at Broadmead and feeling my Spirit clear of Bristol I went next First-Day to a Meeting in the Country not far from Bristol And after the Meeting was over some Friends that came from Bristol told me that the Souldiers that day had beset the Meeting-House round at Bristol and then went up saying They would be sure to have me now But when they came up and found me not there they were in a great Rage and kept the Friends in the Meeting-house most part of the day before they would let them go home and queried of them Which way I was gone and how they might send after me For the Major they said would fain have spoken with me But I had a Vision of a great Mastiff Dog that would have bitten me but I put one hand above his Jaws and the other hand below and tore his Jaws to pieces So the Lord by his Power tore their Power to pieces and made way for me to escape them Then passed I through the Countries visiting Friends in Wiltshire and Barkshire Wiltshire Barkshire London till I came to London and had great Meetings amongst Friends as I went and the Lord's Power was over all and a blessed time it was for the spreading of his glorious Truth It was indeed the Immediate Hand and Power of the Lord that did preserve me out of their hands at Bristol and over the Heads of all our Persecutors and the Lord alone is worthy of all the Glory who did uphold and preserve for his Name and Truth 's sake At London I staid not long this time but was drawn in my Spirit to visit Friends Northward Leicestershire Nottinghamshire Skegby Barnet-hills as far as Leicestershire John Stubbs being with me So we travelled down through the Countries having Meetings amongst Friends as we went and at Skegby we had a great Meeting Thence passing on we came to a place called Barnet-Hills where lived then one Captain Brown a Baptist whose Wife was Convinced of Truth This Captain Brown after the Act for breaking up Meetings came forth being afraid lest his Wife should go to Meetings and be cast into Prison left his House at Barrow and took a place on these Hills saying His Wife should not go to Prison And this being a free Place many both Priests and others got thither as well as he But he who would neither stand to Truth himself nor suffer his Wife was in this place where he thought to be safe found out by the Lord whose hand fell heavy upon him for his Vnfaithfulness so that he was sorely plagued and grievously judged in himself for flying and drawing his Wife into that private place We went to see his Wife and being come into the House I asked him 1662. Barnet-Hills How he did How do I said he The Plagues and Vengeance of God are upon me a Runnagate a Cain as I am God may look for a Witness for me and such as me for if all were no faithfuller than I God would have no Witness left in the Earth In this Condition he lived there on Bread and Water and thought it was too good for him At length he got home
to love their Masters and Mistresses and to be faithful and diligent in their Master's Service and Business and then their Masters and Overseers would love them and deal kindly and gently with them And that they should not beat their Wives nor the Wives their Husbands neither should the Men have many Wives And that they should not Steal nor be Drunk nor commit Adultery nor Fornication nor Curse nor Swear nor Lie nor give bad Words to one another nor to any one else For there is something in them that tells them they should not practise those nor any other Evils But if they notwithstanding should do them then we let them know There are but Two Ways the one that leads to Heaven where the Righteous go and the other that leads to Hell where the Wicked and Debauched Whoremongers and Adulterers Murderers and Liars go To the one the Lord will say Come ye Blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the World but to the other he will say Depart ye Cursed into everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels So the Wicked go into everlasting Punishment but the Righteous into Life Eternal Matth. 25. Now consider Friends It is no Transgression for a Master of a Family to instruct his Family himself or for some others to do it in his behalf but rather it is a very great Duty incumbent upon them Abraham and Joshua did so of the first we read the Lord said Gen. 18.19 I know that Abraham will command his Children and his Houshold after him and they shall keep the Way of the Lord to do Justice and Judgment that the Lord may bring upon Abraham the things that he hath spoken of him And the latter we read said Josh 24.15 Chuse ye this day whom ye will serve But as for me and my House we will serve the Lord. We do declare that we do esteem it a Duty incumbent on us to Pray with and for to Teach Instruct and Admonish those in and belonging to our Families this being a Command of the Lord the Disobedience whereunto will provoke the Lord's Displeasure as may be seen in Jer. 10.25 Pour out thy Fury upon the Heathen that know thee not and upon the Families that call not upon thy Name Now Negroes Tawnies Indians make up a very great part of the Families in this Island for whom an Account will be required by him who comes to Judge both Quick and Dead at the great Day of Judgment when every one shall be Rewarded according to the Deeds done in the Body whether they be good or whether they be evil At that Day I say of the Resurrection both of the Good and of the Bad of the Just and the Vnjust when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming Fire taking Vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting Destruction from the Presence of the Lord and from the Glory of his Power when he shall come to be glorified in his Saints and admired in all them that believe in that day 2 Thess 1.8 c. See also 2 Pet. 3.3 c. This wicked Slander of our endeavouring to make the Negroes Rebell our Adversaries took occasion to raise from our having had some Meetings with and amongst the Negroes For both I and other Friends had several Meetings with them in several Plantations wherein we exhorted them to Justice Sobriety Temperance Chastity and Piety and to be subject to their Masters and Governours Which was altogether contrary to what our envious Adversaries maliciously suggested against us As I had been to visit the Governour as soon as I was well able after I came thither so sometime after when I was at Thomas Rouse's the Governour came thither to see me carrying himself very courteously Having now been Three Months or more in Barbados and in that time having visited Friends throughly settled Meetings and dispatched that Service for which the Lord brought me thither I felt my Spirit clear of that Island and Drawings to Jamaica Which when I had communicated to Friends I acquainted the Governour also and divers of his Council That I intended shortly to leave the Island and go to Jamaica which I did that as my Coming thither was open and publick so my Departure also might be But before I left the Island I writ the following Letter to my Wife that she might understand both how it was with me and how I proceeded in my Travels My Dear Heart TO whom is my Love and to all the Children in the Seed of Life that changeth not but is over all blessed be the Lord for ever I have gone under great Sufferings in my Body and Spirit beyond Words but the God of Heaven be praised his Truth is over all I am now well and if the Lord permit within a few days I pass from Barbados towards Jamaica and I do think to stay but little there I desire that ye may be all kept free in the Seed of Life out of all Cumbrances Friends are generally well Remember me to Friends that enquire after me So no more but my Love in the Seed and Life that changeth not Barbados the 6th of the 11th Month 1671. G. F. I set Sail from Barbados to Jamaica on the Eighth Day of the Eleventh Month 1671. Robert Widders William Edmundson At Sea Solomon Eccles and Elizabeth Hooton going with me James Lancaster John Cartwright and George Pattison were gone thither some time before and Thomas Briggs and John Stubbs remained yet longer in Barbados with whom were John Rouse and William Baily We had a quick and easie Passage to Jamaica JAMAICA where we met with our Friends James Lancaster John Cartwright and George Pattison again who had been labouring there in the Service of Truth into which we forthwith entred with them travelling up and down through the Island which is large And a brave Country it is though the People are many of them debauched and wicked We had much Service there for there was a great Convincement 1671. Jamaica and many received the Truth some of which were People of Account in the World We had many Meetings there which were large and very quiet For indeed the People were Civil to us so that not a Mouth was opened against us I was twice with the Governour and some other of the Magistrates who all carried themselves lovingly towards me About a Week after we landed in Jamaica Elizabeth Hooton who went with us from England to Barbados and from Barbados thither being a Woman of a great Age and who had travelled much in Truth 's Service and suffered much for it departed this Life She was well the Day before she died and departed in Peace like a Lamb bearing Testimony to Truth at her Departure When we had been about Seven Weeks in Jamaica and had brought
Jamaica and had a Meeting there We passed from Flushing to Gravesands Gravesands about Twenty Miles and there had three precious Meetings to which many would have come from New-York but that the Weather hindred them Then being clear of this Place we hired a Sloop and the Wind serving we set forth for the New-Country now called Jersey And passing down the Bay JERSEY Conny-Island Natton-Island Stratton-Island Middletown-Harbour by Conny-Island and Natton-Island and Stratton-Island we came to Rich. Hartshorn's at Middletown-Harbour about Break of Day in the Morning on the 27th of the Sixth Month. Next day we rode about Thirty Miles in that Country through the Woods and over very bad Boggs one worse than all the rest the Descent into which was so sleep that we were fain to slide down with our Horses and then let them lie and breath themselves before they could go on This place the People of the Country called PVRGATORY We got at length to Shrewsbury in East-Jersey East-Jersey Sâ—rewsbury and on the First-Day of the Week had a precious Meeting there to which Friends and other People came far and the blessed Presence of the Lord was with us The same Week we had a Mens and Womens Meeting out of most parts of New-Jersey They are building a Meeting-Place in the Midst of them and there is a Monthly and General Meeting set up which will be of great Service in those parts in keeping up the Gospel-Order and Government of Christ Jesus of the Increase of which there is no End that they who are faithful may see that all who profess the holy Truth do live in the pure Religion and walk as becometh the Gospel While we were here at Shrewsbury an Accident befell which for the time was a great Exercise to us There was one John Jay a Friend of Barbados who came with us from Road-Island and intended to accompany us through the Woods to Mary-land He being to Trie an Horse got upon his Back and the Horse fell a running and cast him down upon his Head and brake his Neck as the People said They that were near him took him up Dead 1672. Jersey-Shrewsbury and carried him a good Way and laid him on a Tree I got to him as soon as I could and feeling on him concluded he was Dead And as I stood by him pitying him and his Family I took hold of his Hair and his Head turned any way his Neck was so limber Whereupon ☜ throwing away my Stick and my Gloves I took his Head in both my Hands and setting my Knees against the Tree I raiâ—ed his Head and perceived there was nothing out or broken that Way Then I put one Hand under his Chin and the other behind his Head and raised his Head two or three times with all my Strength and brought it in I soon perceived his Neck began to grow stiff again and then he began to rattle in the Throat and quickly after to breath The People were amazed but I bid them Have a good Heart and be of good Faith and carry him into the House They did so and set him by the Fire but I bid them Get him some warm thing to drink and put him to Bed After he had been in the House a while he began to speak but did not know where he had been The next day we passed away and he with us pretty well about Sixteen Miles Middle town to a Meeting at Middletown through Woods and Boggs and over a River where we swam our Horses and got over our selves upon a hollow Tree and many hundred of Miles did he travel with us after this To this Meeting came most of the People of the Town and a glorious Meeting we had and the Truth was over all blessed be the great Lord God for ever Middletown Harbour After the Meeting we went to Middletown-Harbour about five Miles in order to take our long Journey next Morning through the Woods towards Mary-land having hired Indians for our Guides for I determined to pass through the Woods on the other side of Delaware-Bay that so we might head the Creeks and Rivers as much as was possible So on the Ninth Day of the Seventh Month we set forwards Indian Towns and passed through many Indian Towns and over some Rivers and Boggs And when we had ridden about Forty Miles we made us a Fire at Night and lay by it As we came among the Indians we declared the Day of the Lord to them Next Day we travelled fifty Miles as we computed And at Night finding an Old House which the Indians had forced the People to leave we made a Fire and lay there at the Head of Delaware-Bay DELAWARE-Bay Upper-Diuidock The next Day we swam our Horses over a River about a Mile at twice first to an Island called Vpper Dinidock and then to the Main Land having hired Indians to help us over in their Canoos This day we could reach but about Thirty Miles and came at Night to a Swede's House where we got a little Straw and lay there that Night Next day having hired another Guide we travelled about Forty Miles through the Woods and made us a Fire at Night by which we lay and dried our selves for we were often wet in our Travels in the day-time The next day we passed over a desperate River which had in it many Rocks and broad Stones very hazardous to us and our Horses From thence we came to Christian-River Christian River where we swam over our Horses and went over our selves in Canoos but the sides of this River were so bad and miery that some of the Horses had like to have been laid up From thence we came to a Town called Newcastle 1672. N wcastle alias New-Amsterdam heretofore called New-Amsterdam and being very weary and inquiring in the Town where we might buy some Corn for our Horses the Governour came into the Street and invited me to his House and afterwards desired me to lodge there telling me he had a Bed for me and I should be welcom So I staid there the other Friends being taken care of also This was on the Seventh Day of the Week and he offering his House for a Meeting we had a Meeting there the next Day a pretty large one for the Chief of the Town and indeed most of the Town were at it Here had never been a Meeting before nor any within a great Way of it but this was a very precious One and many of the People both Men and Women were tender and confessed to the Truth and some received it blessed be the Lord for ever On the Sixteenth of the Seventh Month we set forward again from hence and travelled as near as we could compute about Fifty Miles that Day Bohemia River Saxisrax River through the Woods and over the Boggs heading Bohemia-River and Saxifrax River At Night we made us a Fire as we used to do
of answering me the Judge told the Jury They might go out Some of the Jury were not satisfied whereupon the Judge told them They had heard a Man Swear that the Oath was tendered to me the last Sessions and then he told them what they should do I told him He should leave the Jury to their own Consciences However the Jury being put on by him went forth and soon after came in again and found me Guilty I spake to the Jury and asked them How they could satisfie themselves to find me Guilty upon that Indictment which was laid so false and had so many Errors in it They could make but little Answer yet one who seemed to be the Worst of them would have taken me by the Hand But I put him by saying How now Judas hast thou betrayed me and dost thou now come with a Kiss 1674. Worcester Sessions So I bid him and them Repent Then the Judge began to tell me How favourable the Court had been to me I asked him How he could say so Was ever any man worse dealt with than I had been in this Case who was stopped in my Journey being travelling upon my lawful Occasions and then Imprisoned without Cause and now had the Oaths put to me only for a Snare And I desired him to Answer me in the Presence of the Lord in whose Presence we all are Whether this Oath was not tendered me in Envy He would not answer that but said Would you had never come here to trouble us and the Country I told him I came not thither of my self but was brought being stopped in my Travel on my Journey and I did not trouble them but they had brought Trouble upon themselves Then the Judge told me What a sad Sentence he had to tell me I asked him Whether what he was going to speak was by way of passing Sentence or by way of Information For I told him I had many things to say and more Errors to Assign in the Indictment besides those I had already mentioned to stop him from giving Sentence against me upon that Indictment He said He was going to shew me the danger of a Premunire which was the Loss of my Liberty and of all my Goods and Chattels and to endure Imprisonment during Life But he said He did not deliver this as the Sentence of the Court upon me but as an Admonition to me and then he bid the Jailer Take me away I expected to have been called again to hear the Sentence but when I was gone the Clerk of the Peace whose Name was Twittey asked him as I was informed Whether that which he had spoken to me should stand for Sentence And he consulting with some of the Justices told him Yes that was the Sentence and should stand This was done behind my Back to save himself from Shame in the Face of the Country Many of the Justices and the generality of the People were moderate and civil and there was one John Ashley a Lawyer was very friendly both the time before and now speaking on my behalf and pleading the Errors of the Indictment for me But Justice Street who was Judge of the Court would not regard but over-ruled all This Justice Street said to some Friends in the Morning before my Trial That if he had been upon the Bench the first Sessions he would not have tendered me the Oath but if I had been Convicted of being at a Conventicle he would have proceeded against me according to that Law and that he was sorry that ever I came before him And yet he maliciously tendered the Oath to me in the Court again when I was to have Tried my Traverse upon the Indictment But the Lord pleaded my Cause and met with both him and Justice Simpson who first ensnared me with the Oath at the first Sessions For Simpson's Son was Arraigned not long after at the same Bar for Murder And Street who as he came down from London after the Judges had returned me back from the King's-Bench to Worcester said Now I was returned to them I should lie in Prison and rot had his Daughter whom he so doted on that she was called his Idol brought down dead from London in an Hearse to the same Inn where he spake those Words and brought to Worcester to be buried within a few days after And People took notice of the Hand of God 1674. Worcester Prison how sudden it was upon him but it rather hardned than tendered him as his Carriage afterwards shewed After I was carried back to Prison several came to see me and amongst others the Earl of Salisbury's Son who was very loving and troubled that they had dealt so badly by me He stayed about two Hours with me and took a Copy of the Errors in the Indictment himself in Writing The Sessions being now over and I fixt in Prison by a Premunire my Wife came up to me out of the North to be with me And the Assizes coming on soon after in the Sixth Month the State of my Case being drawn up in Writing She and Thomas Lower delivered it to Judge Wild. In it was set forth the Occasion of my Journey the Manner of my being Taken and Imprisoned the Proceedings of the several Sessions against me and the Errors in the Indictment by which I was Premunired which having had Occasion to mention often before I forbear to repeat here When the Judge had read it he shook his Head and said We might Trie the Validity or Invalidity of the Errors if we would And that was all they could get from him While thus I lay in Prison it came upon me to state our Principle to the King not with particular Relation to my own Sufferings but for his better Information concerning our Principle and us as a People It was thus and thus Directed To the KING THe Principle of the Quakers is the Spirit of Christ who Died for us and is Risen for our Justification by which we know we are his and he dwelleth in us by his Spirit and by the Spirit of Christ we are led out of Vnrighteousness and Vngodliness It brings us to deny all Plottings and Contrivings against the King or any Man And the Spirit of Christ brings us to deny all manner of Ungodliness as Lying Theft Murder Adultery Fornication and all Vncleanness and Debauchery Malice and Hatred Deceit Cousening and Cheating whatsoever and the Devil and his Works And the Spirit of Christ brings us to seek the Peace and Good of all Men and to live peaceably and leads us from such Evil Works and Actions as the Magistrate's Sword takes hold upon And our Desire and Labour is that all who profess themselves Christians may walk in the Spirit of Christ that they through the Spirit may mortifie the Deeds of the Flesh and by the Sword of the Spirit may cut down Sin and Evil in themselves Then the Judges and other Magistrates would not have so much Work in
and made them appear at the Sessions where he asked them many ensnaring Questions for he knew not how to Convict them because he had no Proof against them When he saw his Questions did not Catch them 1677. â—urrowby he told them He had heard that George Fox was at a large Meeting with them and they all sate Silent and none spake in the Meeting This false Story he cunningly feigned thinking thereby to have drawn out some of the Friends to have contradicted him and have said That I had spoken in the Meeting that so he mâ—ght have Convicted them upon their own Confession and have Fined them But Friends standing in the Wisdom of God did not Answer him according to his Desire and so escaped his Snare But two other Friends that came out of Ireland and were at this Meeting having a Meeting that Evening about three Miles off this Evil-minded Justice got Information thereof and Fined Friends and plundered them very sorely for it I went from Burrowby to Isaac Lindley's calling upon Friends on the Way as I went And having Robert Lodge and some other Friends with me York from thence next Day we passed to York and the Day following being the First Day of the Week I was at Friends Meeting in York which was large and peaceable The Second day also I staid in York and had two Meetings with Friends at John Taylor 's from whence I writ unto my Wife to let her know how it was with me as followeth Dear Heart TO whom is my Love and to thy Daughters and to all Friends that enquire after me My Desires are that ye all may be preserved in the Lord 's Everlasting Seed in whom ye all will have Life and Peace and Dominion and Settlement in the Everlasting Home or Dwelling in the House built upon the Foundation of God In the Power of the Lord I am brought to York having had many Meetings in the Way The Way was many times deep and bad with Snow that our Horses sometimes were down and we were not able to ride and sometimes we had great Storms and Rain but by the Power of the Lord I went through all At Scarhouse there was a very large Meeting and another at Burrowby to which Friends came out of Cleaveland and Bishoprick and many other Meetings we have had At York Yesterday we had a very large Meeting exceeding thronged Friends being at it from many parts and all quiet and Friends well satisfied Oh! the Glory of the Lord shined over all And this Day we had a large Mens and Womens-Meeting many Friends both Men and Women being come out of the Country and all was quiet And this Evening we are to have the Mens and Womens-Meeting of the Friends of the City John Whitehead is here with Robert Lodge and others Friends are mighty glad above Measure So I am in my Holy Element and holy Work in the Lord Glory to his Name for ever To Morrow I intend to go out of the City towards Todcaster though I cannot Ride as in days past yet praised be the Lord that I can Travel so well as I do So with my Love in the Fountain of Life in which as ye all abide ye will have Refreshment of Life that by it ye may grow and gather Eternal Strength to serve the Lord and be satisfied So to the God of all Power who is All-sufficient to preserve you I commit you all to his Ordering York the 16th of the Second Month 1677. G. F. Leaving York I travelled on through Yorkshire 1677. Yorkshire Todcaster Nottingly Doncaster Balby Ballowfield visiting Friends at Todcaster Nottingly Doncaster and so on to Balby having Meetings as I went At Balby I stayed the First-day-Meeting and went next day to Thomas Stacy's at Ballowfield where in the Evening I had a Meeting to compose some difference that had happened between some that professed Truth and they were Reconciled From thence next day I came to Stainsby in Derbyshire Darbyshire Stainsby in which County I had formerly lived some time about the first breaking forth of Truth Here I had a good Meeting with Friends and afterward passed to Skegby in Nottinghamshire and from thence to Nottingham Nottinghamshire Skegby Nottingham to John Reckless his house who being one of the Sheriffs of Nottingham when I first declared Truth in that Town and was Imprisoned for it took me out of Prison into his own house and kept me there till the Mayor and the rest of the Magistrates of the Town took me away from him and sent me to the Prison again At which time this John Reckless was Convinced and abode in the Truth ever after Now I had a Meeting with Friends at his house that Evening after I came thither and another the next day in Friends publick Meeting-house which was peaceable and well I went from thence the day following to John Fox's at Wymes-would in Leicestershire where I had a Meeting that Evening Leicestershire Wymes would Sileby and went next day to William Smith's at Sileby where it being the First-day of the Week we had a very large Meeting for besides Friends that came from several places the Town 's People hearing that I was there came many of them to the Meeting Leicester and heard the Truth declared gladly Next day I went to Leicester where finding many Friends come out of the Country to be at the Horse-fair there next day I had a very good Meeting with them that Night and had another Meeting next Evening after the Fair was over at William Wells his house at Knighton Knighton Swanington about a Mile from Leicester from whence next day I passed to Swanington where I had formerly been taken Prisoner and had a Meeting there from thence went to Samuel Fretwell's at Hartshorn in Derbyshire where I had a Meeting also Derbyshire Hartshorn Warwickshire Badgely And then went through the Country to Henry Sidon's at Badgely in Warwickshire and stayed the Meeting there which it being the First-day of the Week was very large and peaceable notwithstanding that a Justice who lived not far off had threatned that he would come and break it up After Meeting having stay'd a while with Friends I went in the Evening to Richard Baal's of Whittington where several Friends came to visit me Whittington Hartshill Next day I went to Nathaniel Newton's at Hartshill where several Friends met me with whom I had good Service After this I passed on visiting Friends in divers places till I came to Dingley Dingley where a Meeting was appointed before which was very large and Truth was largely opened to the People The Meeting was peaceable and quiet and the People generally Sober saving that while I was declaring and shewing how that Christendom so called was gone from the pure Religion that is undefiled c. One Man rushed out in a furious manner and said I deny that 1677. Warwickshire Adingworth
after the Meeting returning to our other Company on the Road went on with them to William Penn's that Night which is Forty Miles from London Worminghurst I stay'd at Worminghurst about Three Weeks in which time John Burnyeat and I at such times as we were not amongst Friends in Meetings Answered a very envious and wicked Book which one Roger Williams a Priest of New-England or some Colony thereabouts had written against Truth and Friends When we had finished that Service we went with Stephen Smith who was there with us to his house at Warpledon in Surrey Surrey Warpledon where we had a large Meeting Friends thereaway had been exceedingly plundered about Two Months before on the Priest's account for they took from Stephen Smith Five Kine being all he had for about Fifty shillings Tithes From thence we went to Kingston Kingston London and so to London where I stay'd not long for it was upon me from the Lord to go into Holland to Visit Friends there and to preach the Gospel there and in some parts of Germany Wherefore setting things in Order for my Journey as fast as I could I took leave of Friends at London Essex Colchester and with several other Friends went down to Colchester in Essex in order to my Passage for Holland Next day being the First day of the Week I was at the publick Meeting of Friends there which was very large and peaceable and in the Evening I had another large Meeting but not so publick at John Furly's house where I lodged The day following was the Womens-Meeting there which also was very large and I was at that too Harwich From thence next day we passed to Harwich where Robert Duncon and several other Friends out of the Country came to see us and some from London came to us there that intended to go over with me The Packet-Boat in which we were to go not being ready we went to the Meeting in the Town and a precious Opportunity we had together for the Lord according to his wonted goodness by his over-coming refreshing Power opened many Mouths to declare his Everlasting Truth and to praise and glorifie him After the Meeting we returned to John Vandewall's where I had lodged and when the Boat was ready taking Leave of those Friends that had accompanied us thither and that met us there we that were bound for Holland went on Board about the 9th hour in the Evening on the 25th day of the 5th Month 1677. The Friends that then went over with me 1677. Harwich were William Penn Robert Barclay George Keith and his Wife John Furly and his Brother William Tailcoat George Watts and Isabel Yeomans who is one of my Wife's Daughters About the First hour in the Morning we weighed Anchor having a fair brisk Wind which by the next Morning brought us within sight of Holland Holland But that day proving very clear and calm we got forward but little till about the Fourth hour in the Afternoon when a fresh Gale arose which carried us within a League of Land Then being becalmed again we cast Anchor for that Night it being between the hours of Nine and Ten in the Evening But William Penn and Robert Barclay understanding that Benjamin Furly was come from Rotterdam to the Briel to meet us got two of the Boat-men to let down a small Boat that belonged to the Packet-Boat and Row them to shore but before they could get to shore the Gates were shut and there being no house without the Gate they were fain to lie in a Fisher's Boat all Night As soon as the Gates were opened in the Morning they went in and found Benjamin Furly with other Friends of Rotterdam that were come thither to receive us and they sent a Boat with three Young-men in it that lived with Benjamin Furly who brought us to the Briel Briel where the Friends received us with great Gladness We stay'd about Two hours at the Briel to refresh our selves and then took Boat with the Holland-Friends for Rotterdam Rotterdam where we arrived about the Eleventh hour that day which was the 28th of the Fifth Month 1677. I was very well this Voyage but some of the Friends were Sea-sick Yet a fine Passage we had and all came safe and well to Land blessed and praised be the Name of the Lord for ever The next day being the First day of the Week we had Two Meetings at Benjamin Furly's where many of the Towns People and some Officers came in and all were civil Benjamin Furly or John Claus a Friend of Amsterdam interpreted when any Friend declared I spent the next day in Visiting Friends there and the day following William Penn and I and some other of the Friends went towards Amsterdam Amsterdam with some Friends of that City who came to Rotterdam to Conduct us thither We took Boat in the Afternoon Ouerkirk Delft and passing by a Town called Ouerkirk we came to Delft through which we walked on foot and then took Boat again to Leyden Leyden where we lodged that Night at an Inn. This is counted six Dutch Miles from Rotterdam which are eighteen English Miles and five hours sail or Travel for our Boat was drawn by an Horse that went on the shore Next day taking Boat again we went to Harlem Harlem fourteen Miles from Leyden where we had appointed a Meeting which proved very large for many of the Town 's People came in and Two of their Preachers and the Lord gave us a blessed Opportunity not only with respect to Friends but to other sober People Baptists and other Professors that were there and the Meeting ended peaceably and well After Meeting we passed to Amsterdam 1677. Amsterdam accompanied by several Friends of that City and of Alkmaer some by Wagon some by Boat Next day was the Quarterly Meeting at Amsterdam to which came Friends from Harlem and Rotterdam and with them those Friends of our Company whom we had left behind at Rotterdam viz. Robert Barclay George Keith and his Wife c. The Meeting was at Gertrude Dirick Nieson's house and a very large and serviceable Meeting it was for both William Penn and I were drawn forth to open many things concerning the Order of the Gospel and to shew the benefit and service of Yearly Quarterly and Monthly Meetings of Men and Women We had another Meeting at Gertrude's the next day more publick and very large at which were Professors of several sorts unto whom the Way of Life and Salvation was largely and livingly opened which they hearkned very attentively to none making any Objection to what was declared In the Afternoon we had another Meeting in the same place but less and more private The day following we had a Meeting of Friends only wherein by Joint Agreement of Friends were settled several Meetings to wit Monthly Quarterly and a Yearly Meeting to be held at Amsterdam for
to set forth the Way whereby Man and Woman might come into that happy Estate again The Priest an ancient grave Man stood up just as I had done speaking and putting off his Hat said I pray God to prosper and confirm that Doctrine for it is Truth and I have nothing against it He would willingly have stay'd longer until the Meeting had been ended but being a Parish-Priest and to preach that Evening he could not stay longer the time for his own Worship being come Wherefore when he had made Confession to the Truth he hastned away that he might come to the Meeting again and did come it seems to the Meeting-place but the Meeting was ended first After Meeting we went to Hessel Jacobs where I had a Meeting with Friends and the Doctor of Physick came thither to discourse with William Penn who had a good opportunity to open Truth to him By this Doctor the Priest sent his Love to me wishing him to tell me that he had left Preaching that Evening half an hour sooner than he used to do that he might have come to our Meeting again 1677. Harlingen to have heard more of that good Doctrine I heard afterwards that his Hearers questioned him for what he had said in our Meeting and that he standing by his words they had Complained of him for it to the other Priests of the City who called him to Account about it but the Result I could not learn Early next Morning William Penn taking John Claus with him passed from Harlingen for Leuwarden where he had appointed a Meeting intending after that to Travel into some other parts of Germany to visit a tender People there I with those Friends that were with me Amsterdam took Ship the same day for Amsterdam where we arrived a little after Midnight but the Gates being shut we lay on Board till Morning then went to Gertrude Dirick Nieson's where many Friends came to see us being glad of our safe Return Next day feeling a Concern upon my mind with relation to those seducing Spirits that made Division among Friends and being sensible that they endeavoured to insinuate themselves into the affectionate part I was moved to write a few Lines to Friends concerning them as followeth ALL these that do set up themselves in the Affections of the People set up themselves and the Affections of the People and not Christ But Friends your peaceable Habitation in the Truth which is Everlasting and changes not will out-last all the Habitations of those that be out of the Truth although they be never so full of words And so they that be so keen for J. S. and J. W. let them take them and the Separation And you that have given your Testimony against that Spirit stand in your Testimony till they Answer by Condemnation And do not strive nor make Bargains with that which is out of the Truth nor save that alive to be a Sacrifice for God which should be slain lest you lose your Kingdom Amsterdam the 14th day of the 7th Month 1677. G. F. On the First-day of the Week following I was at Friends Meeting at Amsterdam to which many People came and were very civil and attentive hearing Truth declared several hours and John Roeloffs Interpreted for me Before this time several of the Friends that came over with me were returned to England again as Robert Barclay George Keith's Wife and others and now my Daughter Yeomans went back also so that I was now left alone at Amsterdam And while I was here it came upon me to visit my suffering Friends at Dantzick with a few Lines to encourage and strengthen them in their Sufferings as followeth Dear Friends TO whom is my Love in the Lord's Truth that is over all 1677. Amsterdam and by which all God's People are made free Men and Women being thereby set free from him that is out of the Truth that walking in the Truth they may Answer the Witness of God in all People which Truth all must come to if they be made free Therefore be faithful unto what the Lord manifests and makes known unto you I am glad that the Lord hath Witnesses in that City to stand for his Glory and Name and to stand up for Christ Jesus the great Prophet whom God hath raised up who is to be heard in all things so that ye need none of the Prophets which men have raised up Therefore stand faithful to Christ Jesus your Shepherd that he may feed you and hear his voice and follow him who has laid down his Life for you but follow none of the Shepherds and Hirelings that are made by men though they be angry because ye will not follow them to their dry and barren Mountains who have been and are the Thieves Persecutors and Robbers that Clime up another way than by Christ So set up Christ to be your Counsellor and Leader and then ye will have no need of any of the Counsellors and Leaders of the World for Christ is sufficient whom God has given you And also set up Christ Jesus to be your Bishop and Overseer who is sufficient to Oversee you that ye go not astray from God by which ye may see over all the Hireling-Overseers made by men which do keep the People that they do not go astray from the Rudiments and Formalities Fashions and Customs of the World which hath been and is their Work And I am glad that ye are come to own Christ Jesus your High-Priest who is holy and harmless and separate from Sinners and made higher than the Heavens as the Church and the Apostle did own him in their days Hebr. 7. who is the High-Priest over the houshold of Faith which Faith Jesus Christ is the Author and Finisher of and this do all the Children of the New Covenant witness who walk in the new and living Way And therefore my desire is that ye all may be stedfast whether in Bonds or out in the Faith of Christ Jesus which is the Gift of God by which Faith all the Valiants overcame the Devil and all their Enemies in which Faith they had Victory and Access to God and in that was their Unity which Mystery of Faith is held in a pure Conscience hidden from the World And I do believe that your Imprisonments and Sufferings in that Place will be for Good in the end as it hath been in other Places ye standing faithful to the Lord who is All-sufficient For your Sufferings and Trials will Try their Teachers and Religions Churches and Worships and make manifest what Birth they are of even that which persecutes him that is born of the Spirit for ye know that there is no Salvation by any other Name under the whole Heaven but by the Name of Jesus and therefore it is time to leave them when there is no Salvation by or in any of them Now Friends I desire that you would take a List of the Names of all those Persons
shined over all Every day I am fain to be at Meetings about Business and Sufferings which are great abroad and now many Friends are concerned with many Persons about them So in haste with my Love to you all London the 24th of the 9th Month 1677. G. F. About this time I received Letters from New-England 1677. London which gave account of the Magistrates and Rulers cruel and unchristian-like Proceedings against Friends there whipping and abusing them very shamefully for they whipped many women-Women-Friends and one Woman they tied to a Cart and dragged her along the Street she being stripped above the wast Yea they whipped some Masters of Ships that were not Friends only for bringing Friends thither And at that very time while they were persecuting Friends in this barbarous manner the Indians slew threescore of their Men and took one of their Captains and fleyed the skin off of his head while he was alive and carried it away in Triumph So that the sober People said The Judgments of God came upon them for persecuting the Quakers but the blind dark Priests said It was because they did not persecute them enough So a great Exercise I had in seeking Relief here for our poor suffering Friends there that they might not lye under the Rod of the Wicked Upon this and other Services for Truth to get Friends sufferings in several places taken off I stay'd in London a month or five weeks visiting Meetings and helping and incouraging Friends to labour for the deliverance of their suffering Brethren in other parts Afterwards I went down to Kingston Kingston and visited Friends there and there-away And having stay'd a little among Friends there over looking a Book which I had then ready to go to the Press Bucks I went from thence cross the Country into Buckinghamshire visiting Friends and having several Meetings amongst them as at Amersham Hunger-hill Jordans Hedgerly Amersham Hunger-hill Jordans Hedgerly Wickham-Turvil-heath Wickham and Turvil-heath In some of which they that were gone out from the Unity of Friends in Truth into Strife Opposition and Division were very unruly and troublesome Particularly at the Mens-Meeting at Thomas Ellwood's at Hunger-hill where the Chief of them came from Wickham endeavouring to make a disturbance in the Meeting and to hinder Friends from proceeding in the business of the Meeting When I saw their design I admonished them to be sober and quiet and not trouble the Meeting by interrupting the Service thereof but rather if they were dissatisfied with Friends Proceedings and had any thing to Object let a Meeting be Appointed on purpose some other day So Friends offered them to give them a Meeting another day and at length it was Agreed to be at Thomas Ellwood's the week following Hunger-hill Accordingly Friends met them there and the Meeting was in the Barn for there came so many both of Friends and of them that the House could not receive them So after we had sate a while they began their Jangling and most of their Arrows were shot at me but the Lord was with me and gave me strength in his Power to cast back their Darts of Envy and Falshood upon themselves And so their Objections were Answered and things were opened to the People and a good Opportunity it was and serviceable to the Truth for many that before were weak were now strengthened and confirmed and some that were doubting and wavering were satisfied and settled and the Faithful Friends were refreshed and comforted in the springings of Life amongst us 1677. Hunger-hill for the Power rose and Life sprung and in the arisings thereof many living Testimonies were born against that wicked dividing rending Spirit which those Opposers were joined to and acted by And the Meeting ended to the satisfaction of Friends That night I lodged with other Friends at Thomas Ellwood's and the same week I had a Meeting again with those Opposers at Wickham Wickham where they again shewed their Envy and were made manifest to the Upright-hearted Now after I had visited Friends in that upper side of Buckinghamshire Oxfordshire Henly Causham Reading I called upon Friends at Henly in Oxfordshire and afterwards went by Causham to Reading where I was at Friends Meeting on the First-day of the week and in the Evening had a large Meeting with Friends Next day there being another Meeting amongst Friends concerning settling a Womens-Meeting some of them that had let in the Spirit of Division fell into jangling and were disorderly for a while till the weight of Truth brought them down After this Meeting I passed on through the Country visiting Friends and having Meetings amongst them in several places Barkshire Wiltshire Bristol through Barkshire and Wiltshire and so on till I came to Bristol which was on the 24th day of the 11th Month just before the Fair. I stay'd at Bristol all the time of the Fair and some time after and many sweet and precious Meetings we had there at that time Many Friends being there from several parts of the Nation some on the account of Trade and some in the Service of Truth And great was the Love and Unity of Friends that abode faithful in the Truth though some who were gone out of the holy Vnity and were run into Strife Division and Enmity were rude and abusive to me and behaved themselves in a very Unchristian manner towards me But the Lord's Power was over all by which being preserved in the heavenly Patience which could bear Injuries for his Name 's sake I felt dominion therein over the rough rude and unruly Spirits and would leave them to the Lord who knew my Innocency and would plead my Cause And the more these laboured to Reproach and Vilifie me the more did the Love of Friends that were sincere and upright-hearted Abound towards me and some that had been betrayed by the Adversaries seeing their Envy and rude behaviour brake off from them who have cause to bless the Lord for their deliverance When I left Bristol I went with Richard Snead to a house of his in the Country and from thence to Hezekiah Coale's at Winterburn Gloucestershire Winterburn in Gloucestershire whether came several Friends that were under great Sufferings for Truth 's sake whom I had Invited to meet me there And there Stephen Smith Richard Snead and I drew up a Breviat of their Sufferings setting forth the Illegal Proceedings against them which was delivered to the Judges at the Assizes at Gloucester and they promised to put a stop to those Illegal Proceedings Sudbury Next day we passed to Sudbury and had a large Meeting in the Meeting-house there which at that time was of very good Service We went next day to Nathaniel Crip 's at Tedbury and from thence passed on to Nailsworth 1677. Tedbury Nailsworth Finchcomb where on the First-day of the Week we had a brave Meeting and large From thence we went to the Quarterly Meeting
and Mortality put off yet we believe he has a Building with God Eternally in the Heavens and is entred into Rest as a Reward to those great Labours hard Sufferings and sore Trials he patiently endured for God and his Truth Of which Truth he was made an Able Minister and One if not the First Promulgator of it in our Age who though of no great Literature nor seeming much Learned as to the outward being hid from the Wisdom of this World yet he had the Tongue of the Learned and could speak a Word in due Season to the Conditions and Capacities of most especially to them that were weary and wanted Soul's Rest being deep in the Divine Mysteries of the Kingdom of God And the Word of Life and Salvation through him reached unto many Souls whereby many were Convinced of their great Duty of inward Retiring to Wait upon God and as they became diligent in the Performance of that Service were also raised up to be Preachers of the same Everlasting Gospel of Peace and Glad Tidings to others who are as Seals to his Ministry both in this and other Nations and may possibly give a more full Account thereof Howbeit we knowing his unwearied Diligence not Sparing but Spending himself in the Work and Service whereunto he was Chosen and Called of God could not but give this short Testimony of his Faithfulness therein and likewise of his tender Love and Care towards us who as a tender Father to Children in which Capacity we stood being so Related unto him he never failed to give us his wholesome Counsel and Advice And not only so but as a Father in Christ he took Care of the whole Family and Houshold of Faith which the Lord had made him an Eminent Overseer of and endued him with such an Excellent Spirit of Wisdom and Vnderstanding to propose and direct Helps and Advantages to the Well-ordering and Establishing of Affairs and Government in the Church as now are found very serviceable thereunto and have greatly disappointed and prevented the false loose and libertine Spirit in some who to their own Confusion have endeavoured by Separation and Division to disturb the Church's Peace And although many of that sort have at sundry times shot their poisonous Darts at him publickly in Print and privately other ways yet he has been always preserved by the Heavenly Power of God out of the Reach of their Envy and all Perils and Difficulties that attended on their Account Who as a Fixed Star in the Firmament of God's Power did constantly abide and held his Integrity to the last being of a sweet savoury Life and as to Conversation kept his Garments clean And though outwardly dead yet liveth and his Memory is right precious unto us as it is and will be to all that abide in the Love of Truth and have not declined the Way of it For he was one of the Lord's Worthies Valiant for the Truth upon Earth not turning his Back in the Day of Battle but his Bow still abiding in its Strength he through many Hardships brought Gladness and Refreshment to Israel's Camp being assisted by the Might of that Power that always put the Armies of Aliens and Enemies to Flight And now having finished his Course is removed from us into a Glorious State of Immortality and Bliss and is gathered unto the Lord as a Shock of Corn in its full Season and to that Habitation of Safety where the Wicked cease from troubling and the Weary be at Rest John Rous. William Meade Thomas Lower William Ingram Daniel Abraham Abraham Morrice Margaret Rous. Sarah Meade Mary Lower Susanna Ingram Rachel Abraham Isabel Morrice An Epistle by Way of Testimony to Friends and Brethren of the Monthly and Quarterly Meetings in England Wales and elsewhere concerning the Decease of our Faithful Brother GEORGE FOX From our Second-Days Morning Meeting in London the 26th of the 11th Month 1690. DEar and truly beloved Friends Brethren and Sisters in Christ Jesus our Blessed Lord and Saviour we sincerely and tenderly salute you all in his free and tender Love wherewith he hath graciously visited us and largely shed it abroad in our Hearts and Souls to our own unspeakable Comfort and Consolation and towards his whole Heritage and Royal Off-spring blessed be his pure and powerful Name for Evermore And our Souls do truly and fervently desire and breathe unto the God of all our Mercies that you all may be preserved and kept truly faithful and diligent in his Work and Service according to your Heavenly Calling and Endowments with his Light Grace and Truth unto the End of your Days as being livingly engaged thereby all your appointed Time to serve him and to wait till your Change come That none may neglect that true Improvement of your Times and Talents that God has afforded you here for your Eternal Advantage hereafter in that Inheritance and Life Immortal that never fades away And that the whole Flock and Heritage of Christ Jesus which he has purchased and bought for himself with a Price incorruptible may always be so preserved in his own pure Love and Life as to grow increase and prosper in the same and thereby be kept in Love Vnity and Peace with one another as becomes his true and faithful Followers is that which our very Hearts and Souls desire being often truly comforted and enlarged in the living sense and feeling of the Encrease and Aboundings thereof among faithful Friends and Brethren And Dear Brethren and Sisters unto this our Tender Salutation We are concerned in Brotherly Love and true Tender-heartedness to add and impart unto you some Account of the Decease of our Dear and Elder Brother in Christ namely his and his Church's true and faithful Servant and Minister George Fox whom it hath pleased the Lord to take unto himself as he hath divers others of his faithful Servants and Ministers of late Time who have faithfully served out their Generation and finished their Testimony and Course with Joy and Peace Howbeit O Dear Brethren and Friends that so many Worthies in Israel and serviceable Instruments in the Lord's Hand are of late taken away and removed from us so soon one after another appears a Dispensation that deeply and sorrowfully affects us and many more whose Hearts are upright and tender toward God and one to another in the Truth The Consideration of the Depth Weight and Meaning thereof is very weighty upon our Spirits though their precious Life and Testimony lives with us as being of that same Body united to one Head even Christ Jesus in which we still and hope ever shall have secret Comfort and Union with them whom the Lord has removed and taken to himself out of their Earthly Tabernacles and Houses into their Heavenly and Everlasting Mansions This our said Dear Brother George Fox was enabled by the Lord's Power to Preach the Truth fully and effectually in our Publick Meeting in White-Hart-Court by Grace-Church-street London on the Eleventh
Gain Yet how can we avoid being deeply affected with Sadness of Spirit and brokenness of Heart under the sense and consideration of such Loss and Revolutions which we have cause to believe are Ominous of Calamities to the wicked World though of good to the Righteous Did the Death of plain upright Jacob Gen. 50. namely Israel who was as a Prince of God so deeply affect both his own Children and Kindred as that they made a great and exceeding sore Lamentation for him and even the Egyptians also that they bewailed him seventy days And the Death of Moses so deeply affect the Children of Israel Deut. 34. as that they did weep and mourn for him in the Plain of Moab thirty Days And the Death of Stephen that faithful Martyr of Jesus so deeply affect certain Men fearing God Acts 7. as that they made great Lamentation for him And the Apostle Paul when taking his leave of the Elders of the Church of Ephesus Acts 20. and telling them They should see his Face no more If this did so deeply affect them that they wept all abundantly sorrowing most of all for these Words That they should see his face no more with many more of this kind How then can we otherwise chuse but be deeply affected with Sorrow and Sadness of Heart though not as those which have no hope when so many of our Ancient Dear and Faithful Brethren with whom we have had much sweet Society are removed from us one after another We pray God raise up and increase more such Yet must we all contentedly submit to the good Pleasure and Wisdom of the Lord our God in all these things who taketh away and none can hinder him nor may any say unto him What dost thou Yet we have cause to bless the Lord that he hath of late raised and is raising up more to publish his Name in the Earth And we that yet remain have but a short Time to stay after them that are gone but we shall be gone to them also The Lord God of Life keep us all Faithful in his holy Truth Love Vnity and Life to the End He hath a great Work still to bring forth in the Earth and great things to bring to pass in order to make way for Truth and Righteousness to take place therein and that his Seed may come forth and be gathered and the Power and Kingdom of our God and of his Christ made known and exalted in the Earth unto the Ends thereof Dear Friends and Brethren Be faithful till Death that a Crown of Life you may obtain All dwell in the Love of God in Christ Jesus in Vnion and Peace in him To whom we tenderly Commit you to keep and strengthen you bless and preserve you to the End of your Days In whose dear and tender Love we remain Your Dear Friends and Brethren Stephen Crisp Geo. Whitehead Fra. Camfield James Park John Elson Peter Price John Field John Edridge Nicholas Gates Francis Stamper John Vaughton Gilbert Latey Charles Marshal Rich. Needham James Martin Daniel Monro John Heywood George Bowles William Robinson William Bingley John Butcher Benjamin Antrobus These Names are since added at the desire of the Persons following Sam. Goodaker Amb. Rigg William Fallowfield POSTSCRIPT BEfore his Death he writ a little Paper desiring all Friends every where that use to write to him about the Sufferings and Affairs of Friends in their several Countries should henceforth write to their several Correspondents in London to be Communicated to the Second-Days Meeting to take Care that they be answered Thomas Ellwood's Account of that Eminent and Honourable Servant of the Lord George Fox THis Holy Man was raised up by God in an Extraordinary Manner for an Extraordinary Work even to Awaken the sleeping World by proclaiming the Mighty Day of the Lord to the Nations and publishing again the Everlasting Gospel to the Inhabitants of the Earth after the long and dismal Night of Apostacy and Darkness For this Work the Lord began to prepare him by many and various Trials and Exercises from his very Childhood And having fitted and furnished him for it he called him into it very Young and made him Instrumental by the effectual Working of the Holy Ghost through his Ministry to call many Others into the same Work and to turn many Thousands from Darkness to the Light of Christ and from the Power of Satan unto God I knew him not till the Year 1660 from that Time to the Time of his Death I knew him well Conversed with him often Observed him much Loved him dearly and Honoured him truly and upon good Experience can say He was indeed an Heavenly-minded Man zealous for the Name of the Lord and preferr'd the Honour of God before all things He was Valiant for the Truth Bold in Asserting it Patient in Suffering for it Unwearied in Labouring in it Steady in his Testimony to it Immoveable as a Rock Deep he was in Divine Knowledge Clear in opening heavenly Mysteries Plain and Powerful in Preaching Fervent in Prayer He was richly endued with heavenly Wisdom Quick in Discerning Sound in Judgment Able and ready in Giving Discreet in Keeping Counsel A Lover of Righteousness an Encourager of Vertue Justice Temperance Meekness Purity Chastity Modesty Humility Charity and Self-Denial in all both by Word and Example Graceful he was in Countenance Manly in Personage Grave in Gesture Courteous in Conversation Weighty in Communication Instructive in Discourse Free from Affectation in Speech or Carriage A severe Reprover of hard and obstinate Sinners A mild and gentle Admonisher of such as were tender and sensible of their Failings Not apt to resent personal Wrongs Easie to forgive Injuries But zealously Earnest where the Honour of God the Prosperity of Truth the Peace of the Church were concerned Very Tender Compassionate and Pitiful he was to all that were under any sort of Affliction full of Brotherly Love full of Fatherly Care For indeed the Care of the Churches of Christ was daily upon him the Prosperity and Peace whereof he studiously sought Beloved he was of God Beloved of God's People and which was not the least part of his Honour the Common Butt of all Apostates Envy whose Good notwithstanding he earnestly sought He lived to see the Desire of his Soul The Spreading of that Blessed Principle of Divine Light through many of the European Nations and not a few of the American Islands and Provinces and the Gathering many Thousands into an Establishment therein which the Lord vouchsafed him the Honour to be the First Effectual Publisher of in this latter Age of the World And having fought a good Fight finished his Course and kept the Faith his righteous Soul freed from the Earthly Tabernacle in which he had led an Exemplary Life of Holiness was translated into those Heavenly Mansions where Christ our Lord went to prepare a Place for His there to possess that Glorious Crown of Righteousness which is laid up
following Assize at Lancaster informed Judge Windham against me Whereupon the Judge made a Speech against me in open Court and commanded Colonel West who was Clerk of the Assize to issue forth a Warrant for the apprehending of me But Colonel West told the Judge of my Innocency and spake boldly in my defence Yet the Judge commanded him again either to write a Warrant or go off from his Seat Then he told the Judge plainly that he would not do it but that he would offer up all his Estate and his Body also for me So he stopt the Judge and the Lord's Power came over all So that the Priests and Justices could not get their Envy executed That same Night I came into Lancaster it being the Assize-Time and hearing of a Warrant to be given out against me I judged it better to shew my self openly Lancaster Assize than for my Adversaries to seek me So I went to Judge Fell's and Colonel West's Chambers And as soon as I came in they smiled on me and Colonel West said What! 1652. Lancaster Assize are you come into the Dragon's Mouth I stayed in Town till the Judge went out of Town and I walked up and down the Town but no one meddled with me nor questioned me Thus the Lord's blessed Power which is over all caâ—â—â—ed me through and over this Exercise and gave Dominion over his Enemies and enabled me to go on in his glorious Work and Service for his great Name's-sake For though the Beast maketh War against the Saints yet the Lamb hath got and will get the Victory From Lancaster I returned to Robert Wither's and from thence I went to Thomas Leper's to a Meeting in the Evening Meeting at T. Lepers and a very blessed Meeting we had there After the Meeting was done I walked in the Evening to Robert Withers's again And no sooner was I gone but there came a Company of disguised Men to Thomas Leper's with Swords and Pistols who suddenly entring the House put out the Candles and swung their Swords about amongst the People of the House so that the People were fain to hold up the Chairs before them to save themselves from being cut and wounded At length they drove all the People of the House out of the House and then searched the House for me who it seems was the only Person they looked for for they had laid wait before in the High-way by which I should have gone if I had ridden to Robert Withers's And not meeting with me on the VVay they thought to have found me in the House but the Lord prevented them Soon after I was come in at Robert Withers some Friends came from the Town where Thomas Leper lived and gave us a Relation of this wicked Attempt And the Friends were afraid lest they should come and search Robert Withers's House also for me and do me a Mischief But the Lord restrained them that they came not Though these Men were in disguise yet the Friends perceived some of them to be French-men and supposed them to be Servants belonging to one called Sir Robert Bindlas For some of them had said that in their Nation they used to Tye the Protestants to Trees and whip them and destroy them And his Servants used often to abuse Friends both in their Meetings and going to and from their Meetings They once took Richard Hubberthorn and several others out of the Meeting and carried them a good way off into the Fields and there bound them and left them bound in the Winter-Season And at another Time one of his Servants came to Francis Flemming's House and thrust his naked Rapier in at the Door and Windows But there being at the House a Kinsman of Francis Flemming's one who was not a Friend he came with a Cudgel in his Hand and bid the Serving-man put up his Rapier which when the other would not but vapoured at him with it and was Rude he knock'd him down with his Cudgel and took his Rapier from him And had it not been for Friends he would have Run him through with it So the Friends preserved his Life that would have destroyed theirs From Robert Withers's I went to visit Justice West To Justice Wests over the Sands Richard Hubberthorn accompanying me And not knowing the Way nor the Danger of the Sands we Rid where as we were afterwards told no Man ever rid before swimming our Horses over a very dangerous Place When we were come in Justice West asked us If we did not see Two Men riding over the Sands Justice Wests I shall have their Cloaths anon said he for they cannot escape Drowning and I am the Coroner But when we told him that we were the Men be was astonished at it and wondred how we escaped Drowning Upon this the envious Priests and Professors raised a slanderous Report concerning me That neither Water could drown me nor could they draw Blood of me and that therefore surely I was a Witch for indeed sometimes when they beat me with great Staves they did not much draw my Blood though they bruised my Body oft-times very sorely But all these Slanders were nothing to me with respect to my self though I was concerned on the Truth 's behalf which I saw they endeavoured by these Means to prejudice People against for I considered that their fore-Fathers the Apostate-Jews called the Master of the House Beelzebub and these Apostate-Christians from the Life and Power of God could do no less to his Seed But the Lord's Power carried me over their Slanderous Tongues and their bloody murtherous Spirits who had the Ground of Witchcraft in themselves which kept them from coming to God and to Christ. Having visited Justice West I went to Swarthmore visiting Friends there-aways Swarthmore and the Lord's Power was over all the Persecutors there And I was moved to write several Letters to the Magistrates Priests and Professors there-abouts who had raised Persecution before That which I sent to Justice Sawrey was after this manner Friend THOU wast the first Beginner of all the Persecution in the North Thou wast the Beginner and the Maker of the People Tumultuous Thou wast the first Stirrer of them up against the Righteous Seed and against the Truth of God and wast the first strengthner of the Hands of Evil-doers against the Innocent and Harmless And thou shalt not prosper Thou wast the first Stirrer up of Strikers Stoners Persecutors Stockers Mockers and Imprisoners in the North and of Revilers Slanderers Railers and false Accusers and Scandal-Raisers This was thy Work and this thou stirredst up So thy Fruits declare thy Spirit Instead of stirring up the pure Mind in People thou hast stirred up the VVicked Malicious and Envious and taken Hand with the Wicked Thou hast made the People's Minds envious up and down the Country This was thy Work But God hath shortned thy Days and limited thee and set thy Bounds and broken thy Jaws and discovered thy
Try and Prove without Partiality Now take heed of your Approving such as he disapproved for since the Apostles days such as he disapproved have had their Liberty and they have told us The Tongues were their Original and that they were Orthodox Men and that the Steeple-house with a Cross on the top of it was the Church the Papists Mass-house you may look on the Top of it and see the Sign But the Scriptures tell us All the Earth was of one Language before the Building of Babel And when Pilate crucified Christ he set the Tongues Hebrew Greek and Latin on the top of him And John tells us That the Beast had power over the Tongues Kindreds and Nations and that the Whore sits upon the Tongues of whose Cup all Nations have drunk and the Kings of the Earth have committed Fornication with her and John said The Tongues are Waters Christ gives marks to his Disciples and to the Multitude how to Try such as these that you are to Try They are called of Men Master they love the Chiefest Seat in the Assemblies they be Sayers but not Doers And said he They shall put you out of the Synagogues and seven Woes he denounced against them and so disapproved them Christ said False Prophets should come and John saw They were come for they went forth from them and since the World hath gone after them But Babylon must be confounded the Mother of Harlots and the Devil must be taken and with him the Beast and the false Prophet must be cast into the Lake of Fire for the Lamb and his Saints over all must reign and have the Victory The Lord God sent his Prophets of Old to cry against the Shepherds that sought for the Fleece Ezek. 34. and to cry against such Shepherds as seek for their Gain from their Quarter and never have enough Isa 5.6 and to cry against the Prophets that prophesied falsely and the Priests that bore rule by their Means which was the filthy and horrible thing Jer. 5. And if you would forbear to give them Means you would see how long they would bear Rule There was in the Old Time a Store-house for the Fatherless Strangers and Widows to come to and be filled and they did not prosper then who did not bring their Tithes to the Store-house But did not Christ put an end to that Priesthood Tithes Temple and Priests And doth not the Apostle say that the Priesthood is changed the Law is changed and the Commandment disannulled Might not they have pleaded the Law of God that gave them Tithes Have ever any of the Priests prospered that take Tithes since by the Law of Man Was not the first Author of them since Christ's time the Pope or some of his Church Did the Apostles cast Men into Prison for Tithes as your Ministers do now As Instance Ralph Hollingworth Priest of Phillingham for petty Tithes not exceeding six Shillings hath cast into Lincoln-Prison a poor Thatcher named Thomas Bromby where he hath been about Eight and Thirty Weeks and still remains a Prisoner And the Priest petitioned the Judge That the poor Man might not labour in the City to get a little Money towards his maintenance in Prison Is this a good Savour amongst you that are in Commission to chuse Ministers Is this glad Tidings to cast in Prison a Man that is not his Hearer because he could not put into his Mouth Can such as be in the fear of God and in his Wisdom own such things The Ministers of Christ are to plant a Vine-yard and then Eat of the Fruit to Plow Sow and Thresh and get the Corn and then let them Reap but not cast them into Prison for whom they do no Work Christ when he sent forth his Ministers bid them Give freely as they had Received freely and into what City or Town soever they came Inquire who were Worthy and there abide and what they set before you said He that Eat And when these came back again to Christ and he asked them If they wanted any thing They said No They did not go to a Town and call the People together to know How much they might have by the Year as these that are in the Apostacy do now The Apostle said Have I not power to Eat and to Drink But he did not say To take Tithes Easter-Reckonings Midsummer-Dues Augmentations and great Sums of Money But have I not power to Eat and to Drink 1655. London And yet he did not use that Power among the Corinthians But they that are Apostatized from him will take Tithes great Sums of Money Easter-Reckonings and Midsummer-Dues and cast them into Prison that will not give it them whom they do no work for The Oxe's Mouth must not be muzz'led that treads out the Corn But see if the Corn be trodden out in you and the VVheat be in the Garner This is from a Lover of your Souls and one that desires your Eternal Good G. F. Now after I had made some stay in the City of London and had given forth the several foregoing Papers and cleared my self of what Service lay upon me at that time there I was mov'd of the Lord to go down into Bedford-shire to John Crook's House Bedford-shire Luton where there was a great Meeting and People generally Convinced of the Lord's Truth When I was come thither John Crook told me that the next day several of those that were called the Gentlemen of the Country would come to dine with him and to discourse with me They came and I declared to them God's Eternal Truth Several Friends went to the Steeple-houses that day And there was a Meeting in the Country which Alexander Parker went to and towards the middle of the day it came upon me to go to it though it was several Miles from me John Crook went with me and when we came there there was one Gritton that had been a Baptist but he was gotten higher than they and called himself a Trier of Spirits He used to tell People their Fortunes and pretended to discover to People when their Goods were stollen or Houses broken up who the Persons were that did it by which he had gotten into the Affections of many People thereabout This Man was got into that Meeting and was speaking and making an hideous Noise over the Young-convinced Friends when I came in and he bid Alexander Parker give a reason of his Hope Alex. Parker told him Christ was his Hope but because he did not Answer him so soon as he expected he boastingly cried His Mouth is stopt Then this Gritton directed his Speech to me for I stood still and heard him and he spake many things which were not agreeable to Scripture I asked him Whether he could make those things out by Scripture which he had spoken and he said Yes yes Then I bid the People Take out their Bibles to search the Places he should quote for proof of his Assertions But he
Friends were glad of the Prosperity of Truth and the manifestation of the Lord 's glorious Power that had delivered us and carried us through many dangers and difficulties and I was glad to find Truth prosper in the City and all things well amongst Friends there Only there was one man whose Name was John Toldervey that had been Convinced of Truth and run out from it and the envious Priests took occasion from thence to write a wicked Book against Friends which they stuffed with many Lies to render Truth and Friends odious in People's Eyes and Minds and they Intituled their Book The Foot out of the Snare But this poor man came to see his Folly and returned and Condemned his Back-sliding and answered the Priests Book and manifested all their Lies and Wickedness Thus the Lord's Power came over them and his Everlasting Seed reigned and reigns to this Day Now after I had tarried some time in London and had visited Friends in their Meetings there I went out of Town again leaving James Nayler in the City And as I passed from him I cast my Eyes upon him and a Fear struck into me concerning him But I went away and rode down to Rygate in Surrey Surrey Rygate where I had a little Meeting There the Friends told me of one Thomas Moore a Justice of Peace that lived not far from Rygate and was a friendly moderate man whereupon I went to visit him at his House and he came to be a serviceable man in Truth We passed on to one Thomas Pachin's where we had a Meeting unto which several Friends came from London and John Bolton and his Wife came thither on foot in frost and snow After we had parted with Friends there we went towards Horsham-park Horsham-park Arundel Chicester and having visited Friends there we passed on to Arundel and Câ—â—chester where we had Meetings At Chichester many Professors came in and some jangling they made but the Lord's Power was over them The Woman of the House where the Meeting was though she was Convincâ—d of Truth yet not keeping her Mind close to that which Convinced her she fell in love with a man of the World that was there that time When I knew it I took her aside and was moved to speak to her and to pray for her But a light thing got up in her Mind and she slighted it Afterwards she Married that man and soon after went distracted for the Man was greatly in Debt and she greatly disappointed Then was I sent for to her and the Lord was intreated and Raised her up again and settled her Mind by his Power And afterwards her Husband died and she acknowledged the just Judgments of God were come upon her for slighting the Exhortation and Counsel I had given her After we left Chichester we travelled on through the Countries till we came to Portsmouth Portsmouth There the Souldiers had us to the Governour 's House and after some Examination the Lord's Power came over them and we were set at Liberty and had a Meeting in the Town Ringwood After which we passed away and came to Ringwood where in the Evening we had a Meeting at which several were Convinced and turned to the Spirit of the Lord and to the Teaching of Christ Jesus their Saviour Pool From Ringwood we came to Pool and having set up our Horses at an Inn we sent into the Town to inquire for such as feared the Lord and such who were worthy and we had a Meeting there with several sober People And William Baily a Baptist-Teacher was convinced there at that time The People received the Truth in the inward Parts and were turned to the Lord Jesus Christ their Rock and Foundation their Teacher and Saviour And there is become a great Gathering in the Name of Jesus of a very tender People who continue under Christ's Teaching Southampton We went also to Southampton and had a Meeting there and several were Convinced there also Edward Pyot of Bristol travelled with me all this Western Journey Dorchester From thence we went to Dorchester and alighted at an Inn that was a Baptist's house And we sent into the Town to the Baptists to let us have their Meeting-house to meet in and to invite the sober People to the Meeting but they denied it us And we sent to them again to know Why they would deny us their Synagogue so the thing was noised in the Town Then we sent them Word If they would not let us come to their house They or any People that feared God might come to our Inn if they pleased But they were in a great Rage and their Teacher and many of them came up and they flapped their Bibles on the Table I asked them Why they were so Angry were they Angry with the Bible But they fell into a Discourse about their Water-Baptism I asked them Whether they could say they were sent of God to baptize People as John was And whether they had the same Spirit and Power that the Apostles had And they said They had not Then I asked them How many Powers there are Whether there are any more than the Power of God and the Power of the Devil And they said There was not any other Power than those Two Then said I If you have not the Power of God that the Apostles had then you act by the Power of the Devil There were many sober People present who said They have thrown themselves on their Backs Many substantial People were Convinced that Night and a precious Service we had there for the Lord and his Power came over all Next Morning as we were passing away the Baptists being in a Rage began to shake the Dust from off their Feet after us ' What said I in the Power of Darkness We who are in the Power of God shake off the Dust of our feet against you Thus leaving Dorchester we came to Weymouth 1655. Weymouth where also we inquired after the sober People and about four score of them gathered together at a Priest's House all very sober People and most of them received the Word of Life and were turned to their Teacher Christ Jesus who had enlightned them with his Divine Light by which they might see their Sins and him who saved them from their Sins A blessed Meeting we had with them and they received the Truth in the Love of it with gladness of Heart The Meeting held for several Hours and the state of their Teachers and the Apostacy was opened to them and the state of the Apostles and of the Church in their Days and the state of the Law and of the Prophets before Christ and how Christ came to fulfil them and how he was their Teacher in the Apostles Days and how he was come now to teach his People again himself by his Power and Spirit All was quiet and the Meeting brake up peaceably and the People were very loving and
willing to lay the VVeight thereof upon him and make him sensible thereof also writ an Epistle to him on behalf of us all which was thus and thus directed To John Glyn Chief Justice of England Friend WE are Free-men of England Free-born our Rights and Liberties are according to Law and ought to be defended by it And therefore with thee by whose Hand we have so long and yet do suffâ—r let us a little plainly reason concerning thy Proceedinos against us whether they have been according to Law and agreeable to thy Duty and Office as Chief Minister of the Law or Justice of England And in Meekness and Lowliness abide that the Witness of God in thy Conscience may be heard to speak and judge in this Matter For Thou and We must all appear before the Judgment-Seat of Christ that every one may receive according to what he hath done whether it be good or bad Therefore Friend in Moderation and Soberness Weigh what is herein laid before thee In the Afternoon before we were brought before thee at the Assize at Lanceston thou didst cause divers Scores of our Books to be violently taken from us by Armed Men without due Process of Law which Books being perused to see if any thing in them could have been found to have laid to our Charge who were Innocent Men and them upon our Legal Issue thou hast detained from us to this very day Now our Books are our Goods and our Goods are our Property and our Liberty it is to have and enjoy our Property and of our Liberty and Property the Law is the defence which saith No Free-man shall be disseized of his Free-hold Liberties or free Customs c. nor any way otherwise destroyed Nor we shall not pass upon him but by lawful Judgment of his Peers or by the Law of the Land Magna Charta cap. 29. Now Friend Consider Is not the taking away of a Man's Goods violently by force of Arms as aforesaid contrary to the Law of the Land Is not the Kâ—eping of them so taken away a disseizing him of his Property and a destroying of it and his Liberty yea his very Being so far as the Invading of the Guard the Law sets about him is in order thereunto Calls not the Law this a Destroying of a Man Is there any more than one common Guard or Defence to Property Liberty and Life viz. the Law And can this Guard be broken on the former viz. Property and Liberty and the Latter viz. Life be sure Doth not he that makes an Invasion upon a Man's Property and Liberty which he doth who contrary to Law which is the Guard acts against either make an Invasion upon a Man's Life since that which is the Ground of the One is also of the Other If a Penny or Penny's-worth be taken from a Man contrary to Law may not by the same Rule all a Man hath be taken away If the Bond of the Law be broken upon a Man's Property may it not on the same ground be broken upon his Person And by the same Reason as it is broken on One Man may it not be broken upon all since the Liberty and Property and Beings of all Men under a Government are Relative a Communion of Wealth as the Members in the Body but one Guard and Defence to all the Law One Man cannot be injured therein but it redounds to all Are not such things in order to the Subversion and Dissolution of Government Where there is no Law what is become of Government And of what value is the Law made when the Ministers thereof break it at pleasure upon Mens Properties Liberties and Persons Canst thou Clear thy self of these things as to us To that of God in thy Conscience which is Just do I speak Hast thou acted like a Ministâ—r the Chief Minister of the Law who hast taken our Goods and yet detainest them without so much as going by lawful Warrant grounded upon due Information which in this our Case thou could'st not have for none had perused them whereby to give thee Information Shoulâ—'st thou exercise Violence and Force of Arms on Prisoners Goods in their Prison-Chamber instead of proceeding Orderly and Legally which thy Place calls upon thee above any Man to tender defend and maintain against the other and to preserve entire the Guard of every Man 's Being Liberty Life and Livelyhood Should'st thou whore Duty it is to punish the Wrong-doer do wrong thy self Who ought'st to see the Law be kept and observed break the Law and turn aside the due Administration thereof Surely from Thee considering Thou art Chief Justice of England other things were expected both by Vs and by the People of this Nation And Friend when we were brought before thee and stood upon our Legal Issue and no Accuser or Accusation came in against us as to what we had been wrongfully Imprisoned and in Prison detained for the Space of Nine Weeks shouldest not thou have caused us to have been Acquitted by Proclamation Saith not the Law so Ought'st thou not to have Examined the Cause of our Commitment And there not appearing a lawful Cause ought'st thou not to have discharged us Is it not the Substance of thy Office and Duty To do Justice according so the Law and Custom of England Is not this the End of the Administration of the Law of the General Assizes of the Gaol-Deliveries of the Judges going the Circuits Hâ—st not thou by doing otherwise acted Contrary to all these and to Magna Charta which Cap. 29 saith We shall sell to no Man we shall Deny or Defer to no Man either Justice or Right Hast thou not both Deferred and Denied to us who had been so long oppressed this Justice and Right And when of thee Justice we demanded sayd'st thou not If we would be uncovered thou would'st hear us and do us Justice We shall sell to no Man we shall deny or defer to no Man either Justice or Right saith Magn. Chart. as aforesaid Again We have commanded all our Justices that they shall from henceforth do even Law and Execution of Right to all our Subjects Rich and Poor without having Regard to any Man's Person and without letting to do Right for any Letters or Commandments which may come to them from Vs or from any other or by any other Cause c upon Pain to be at our Will Body Lands and Goods to do therewith as shall please us in case they do contrary saith Stat. 20. Edw. 3. cap. 1. Again Ye shall swear that ye shall do even Law and Execution of Right to all Rich and Poor without having regard to any Person and that ye deny to no Man Common Right by the King 's Letters nor none other Man's nor for none other Cause And in Case any Letter come to you contrary to the Law that ye do nothing by such Letter but Certify the King thereof and go forth to do the Law notwithstanding those Letters
and about the City and cleared my self of what Services the Lord had at that time laid upon me there I left the Town and travelled into Kent Sussex and Surrey Kent Sussex Survey visiting Friends in those Counties amongst whom I had great Meetings and many times met with Opposition from Baptists and other jangling Professors but the Lord's Power went over them We lay one Night at Farnham where we had a little Meeting Farnham and the People were exceeding Rude But at last the Lord's Power came over them After Meeting we went to our Inn and gave notice That any that feared God might come to our Inn to us And there came abundance of rude People and the Magistrates of the Town also and some Professors I declared the Truth unto them and those of the People that behaved themselves rudely the Magistrates put out of the Room When they were gone there came up another Rude Company of Professors and some of the Chief of the Town and they called for Faggots and Drink though we forbad them and were as Rude a carriaged People as ever I met withal The Lord's Power chained them that they had not power to do us any Mischief but when they went away they left all their Faggots and Beer which they had called for into the Room for us to pay for in the Morning We shewed the Inn-keeper what an Vnworthy thing it was but he told us we must pay it and pay it we did And before we left the Town I writ a Paper to the Magistrates and Heads of the Town and to the Priest shewing them and him how he had taught his People 1656. Basingstoke and laying before them their rude and uncivil Carriage to Strangers that sought their good Then leaving that Place we came to Basingstoke a very Rude Town where they had formerly very much abused Friends There I had a Meeting in the Evening which was quiet for the Lord's Power chained the Vnruly At the Close of the Meeting I was moved to put off my Hat and to pray to the Lord to open their Vnderstandings upon which they raised a Report That I put off my Hat to them and bid them Good Night which was never in my Heart After the Meeting when we came to our Inn I sent for the Inn-keeper as I used to do and he came into the Room to us and shewed himself a very Rude Man I admonished him to be sober and fear the Lord but he called for Faggots and a pint of Wine and drank it off himself and then called for another and called up half a dozen men into our Chamber Thereupon I bid him go out of the Chamber and told him he should not drink there for we sent for him up to speak to him concerning his Eternal good And he was exceeding mad rude and drunk When he continued his Rudeness and would not be gone I told him The Chamber was mine for the Time I lodged in it and I called for the Key and then he went away in a great Rage In the Morning he would not be seen but I told his Wife of his Vnchristian and Rude Carriage towards us Bridport After this we passed through the Country till we came to Bridport having Meetings in the way We went to an Inn there and sent into the Town for such as feared God to come to us and there came a Shop-keeper a Professor and put off his Hat to us and seeing we did not the like to him again but said Thou and Thee to him he told us He was not of our Religion and after some discourse with him he went away his Wife who came with him being somewhat loving Then went he and stirred up the Priest and Magistrates against us and after a while sent to the Inn to us to desire us to come to his House for there were some would speak with us he said Thomas Curtis was then with me and he went down to the Man's House where when he came the Man had laid a snare for him for he had gotten the Priest and Magistrates thither and they boasted much that they had catched George Fox taking him for me When they perceived their Mistake they were in a great Rage yet the Lord's Power came over them so that they let him go again Mean while I had an Opportunity of speaking to some sober People that came to the Inn. And when Thomas was come back and we were passing out of the Town some of them came to us and said The Officers were coming to fetch me But the Lord's Power came over them all so that they had not power to touch me There were some Convinced in the Town that time who were turned to the Lord and have stood faithful in their Testimony to the Truth ever since and a fine Meeting there is there 1657. Portsm Pool Ringwood Weym Dorchester Passing from hence we visited Portsmouth and Pool where we had glorious Meetings and many were turned to the Lord. And at Ringwood we had a large general Meeting where the Lord's Power was over all And at Weymouth we had a Meeting and from thence came to Dorchester and so to Lime where the Inn we went to was taken up with Mountebanks 1657. Lime so that there was hardly any room for us or our horses In the Evening we drew up some Queries concerning the ground of all Diseases and the Natures and Vertues of Medicinable Creatures and sent them to the Mountebanks letting them know If they would not answer them we would stick them on the Cross next Day This brought them down and made them Cool for they could not answer them But in the Morning they reasoned a little with us And we left the Queries with some friendly People that were Convinced in the Town to stick upon the Market-Cross And the Lord's Power reached some of the sober People in that place who were turned by the Light and Spirit of Christ to his free Teaching Then traveled we on through the Country till we came to Exeter Exeter and there at the Sign of the Seven Stars an Inn at the Bridge-foot we had a general Meeting of Friends out of Cornwal and Devonshire to which came Humphry Lower and Thomas Lower and John Ellis from the Land's End and Henry Pollexfen and Friends from Plimouth Elizabeth Trelawny and divers other Friends A blessed heavenly Meeting we had and the Lord 's everlasting Power came over all in which I saw and said That the Lord's power had surrounded this Nation round about as with a Wall and Bulwark and his Seed reached from Sea to Sea And Friends were established in the everlasting Seed of Life Christ Jesus their Life Rock Teacher and Shepherd The next Morning after the Meeting Major Blackmore sent Souldiers to apprehend me but I was gone before they came and as I was riding up the Street I saw the Officers going down So the Wolf missed the Lamb
Hand and threw it on the Table before me to see whether I would speak against it or no I took no notice of it but declared the Truth to her and she was reached There came in many Baptists also who were very rude but the Lord's Power came over them so that they went away confounded Then there came in another sort and one of them said He would dispute with me and for Argument's sake would deny There was a God I told him He was one of those fools that said in his Heart There is no God but he should know him in the Day of his Judgment So he went his way and a fine precious time we had afterward with several People of Account and the Lord's Power came over all William Osburn was with me And Colonel Lidcot's Wife and William Welch's Wife and several of the Officers themselves also that were there were convinced at that Time Now Edward Billing and his Wife were at that time separated and lived apart and she being reached by Truth and become loving to Friends we sent for her Husband and he came and the Lord's Power reached unto them both and they joined together in it and agreed to live together in Love and Unity as Man and Wife After this we went back to Edenborough again where many Thousands of People were gathered together with abundance of Priests among them about burning of a Witch and I was moved to declare the Day of the Lord amongst them Which when I had done I went from thence to our Meeting whither many rude People and Baptists came The Baptists began to vaunt with their Logick and Syllogisms but I was moved in the Lord's Power to thresh their chaffy Edenborough light minds and shewed the People That after that fallacious way of discoursing they might make White seem Black and Black seem White as That because a Cock had two Legs And each of them had two Legs therefore they were all Cocks Thus they might turn any thing into Lightness and Vanity but it was not the Way of Christ or his Apostles to Teach Speak or Reason after that manner Hereupon those Baptists went their way and after they were gone we had a blessed Meeting in the Lord's Power which was over all I mentioned before that many of the Scotch Priests being greatly disturbed at the Spreading of Truth and Loss of their Hearers thereby were gone up to Edenborough to Petition the Council against me Now when I came back from the Meeting to the Inn where I lodged an Officer belonging to the Council came to me and brought me the following Order Thursday the 8th of October 1657. at his Highness's Council in Scotland Ordered THat George Fox do appear before the Council on Tuesday the 13th of October next in the Fore-noon E. Downing Clerk of the Council When he had delivered me the Order he asked me Whether I would Appear or no I did not tell him whether I would or no but asked him If he had not forged the Order He said No it was a real Order from the Council and he was sent as their Messenger with it When the Time came I Appeared and was had up into a great Room where many great Persons came and looked at me After a while the Door-keeper came and had me into the Council-Chamber Edenborough Council and as I was going in he took off my Hat I asked him Why he did so and who was there that I might not go in with my Hat on for I told him I had been before the Protector with my Hat on But he hung up my Hat and had me in before them When I was come in and had stood a while and they said nothing to me I was moved of the Lord to say Peace be amongst you and Wait in the Fear of God that ye may receive his Wisdom from above by which all things were made and created that by it ye may all be Ordered and may Order all things under your Hands to God's Glory After I had done speaking they asked me What was the Occasion of my coming into that Nation I told them I came to visit the Seed of God which had long lain in Bondage under Corruption and the Intent of my Coming was that all in the Nation that did profess the Scriptures the Words of Christ and of the Prophets and Apostles 1657. Scotland Edenborough Council might come to the Light Spirit and Power which they were in who gave them forth that so in and by the Spirit they might understand the Scriptures and know Christ and God aright and have fellowship with them and one with another They asked me Whether I had any outward Business there I said Nay Then they asked me How long I intended to stay in the Country I told them I should say little to that My Time was not to be long yet in my freedom in the Lord I stood in the Will of him that sent me Then they bid me withdraw and the Door-keeper took me by the Hand and led me forth In a little time they sent for me in again and told me I must depart the Nation of Scotland by that day Seven-night I asked them Why What had I done What was my Transgression that they passed such a Sentence upon me to depart out of the Nation They told me They would not dispute with me Then I desired them to hear what I had to say to them but they said They would not hear me I told them Pharaoh heard Moses and Aaron and yet he was an Heathen and no Christian and Herod heard John Baptist and they should not be worse than these But they cried Withdraw withdraw Whereupon the Door-keeper took me again by the Hand and led me out Then I returned to my Inn and continued still in Edenborough visiting Friends there and thereabouts and strengthning them in the Lord. And after a little time I writ a Letter to the Council to lay before them their Vnchristian Dealing in banishing me an innocent Man that sought their Salvation and Eternal Good A Copy of which Letter here followeth directed To the Council of Edenborough YE that sit in Council and bring before your Judgment-seat the Innocent the Just without shewing the least Cause what Evil I have done or convicting me of any Breach of any Law and afterward ye banish me out of your Nation and Country without telling me for what or what Evil I had done though I told you when ye asked me How long I would stay in the Nation That my Time was not long I spake it innocently and yet ye banish me Will not all think ye that fear God judge this to be wickedness Consider did not they sit in Council about Stephen when they stoned him to Death Did not they sit in Council about Peter and John when they haled them out of the Temple and put them out of their Council for a little Season and took Counsel together and then
the same For the Power of the Lord God hath been abused by some and the worth of Truth hath not been minded there hath been a Trampling on and Marring with the Feet and that abuseth the Power But now every Friend is to keep in the Power and to take heed to that for that must be kept down which would trample and marr with the Feet and the pure Life and Power of God is to be lived in over that that none with the Feet might foul or marr but every one may be kept in the pure Power and Life of the Lord Then the water of Life cometh in then he that Ministreth drinketh himself and giveth others to drink Now when any shall be moved to go to speak in a Steeple-house or Market turn in to that which moves and be Obedient to it that that which would not go may be kept down for that which would not go will be apt to get up And take heed on the other Hand that the lavishing Part do not get up for it is a bad Savour therefore that must be kept down and be kept subject So wait in the Light of the Lord God that ye may be all kept in the wisdom of God For when the Seed is up in every particular then there is no Danger But when there is an Opening and Prophecy and the Power stirs before the Seed comes up then there is something that will be apt to run out rashly there 's the Danger and there must be the Patience in the Fears For it is a weighty Thing to be in the work of the Ministry of the Lord God and to go forth in that It is not as a customary Preaching but it is to bring People to the End of all outward Preaching For when ye have declared the Truth to People and they have received it and are come into that which ye spake of the uttering of many Words and long Declarations out of the Life may beget them into a Form And if any should run on rashly into Words again without the savour of Life then they that are come into the Thing that he spake of will judge him whereby he may hurt again that which he had raised up before So Friends ye must all come into the Thing that is spoken in the Openings of the heavenly Life among you and walk in the Love of God that ye may answer the Thing spoken to And take heed all of running into Inordinate Affections For when People come to own you then there is Danger of the wrong Part to get up There was a Strife among the Disciples of Christ who should be the Greatest Christ told them The Heathen exercise Lordship and have Dominion over one another but it shall not be so among you For Christ the Seed was to come up in every one of them so then where is the Greatest For that part in the Disciples which looked to be Greatest was the same that was in the Gentiles But who comes here to liue in the Word that sanctified him having the Heart sanctified the Tongue and Lips sanctified living in the Word of Wisdom that makes clean the Heart and reconciles to God all things being upheld by the Word and Power as there is an abiâ—ing in the Word of God that upholds Times and Seasons and gives all things Increase here dwelling in the Word of Wisdom if there be but Two or Three agreed in this on Earth it shall be done for them in Heaven So in this must all things be ordered by the Word of Wisdom and Power that upholds all things the Times and the Seasons that are in the Father's Hand to the glory of God whereby his Blessing may be felt among you and this brings to the Beginning So this is the Word of the Lord God to you all Keep down Keep low that nothing may rule nor reign in you but Life it self Now the Power being lived in the Cross is lived in and where-ever Friends come in this they draw the Power and the Life over and they leave a Witness behind them answering the Witness of God in others And where this is lived in there is no want of Wisdom no want of Power no want of Knowledge but he that Ministreth in this seeth with the Eye which the Lord openeth in him what is for the Fire and what is for the Sword and what must be fed with Judgment and what must be nourished This brings all down and to be Low every one keeping to the Power for let a Man get up never so high yet he must come down again to the Power where he left and what he went from he must come down again to that So new before all these wicked Spirits be got down which are rambling abroad Friends must have patience and must wait in the Patience and in the cool Life and who is in this doing the work of the Lord he hath the Tasting and the Feeling of the Lamb's Power and Authority Therefore all Friends keep cool and quiet in the power of the Lord God and all that is contrary will be subjected the Lamb hath the victory in the Seed through the Patience If any have been moved to speak and have quenched that which moved them let none such go forth afterward into Words until they feel the Power to arise and move them thereto again for after the first Motion is quenched the other part will be apt to get up and if any go forth in that he goeth forth in his own and the Betrayer will come into that And all Friends be Careful not to meddle with the Powers of the Earth but keep out of all such things and as ye keep in the Lamb's Authority ye will answer That of God in them and bring them to do Justice which is the End of the Law And keep out of all Jangling for all that be in the Transgression they be out from the Law of Love but all that be in the Law of Love come to the Lamb's Power in the Lamb's Authority who is the End of the Law outward For the Law being added because of Transgression Christ who was glorified with the Father before the world began is the End of the Law bringing them that live in the Law of Life to live over all Transgression which every Particular must feel in himself More was then spoken to many of these Particulars which were not taken at large as they were delivered After this Meeting was over and most of the Friends gone away as I was walking in John Crook's Garden there came a Party of Horse with a Constable to seize on me I heard them ask Who was in the House And some-body made them Answer I was there They said I was the Man they looked for and went forthwith into the House where they had many Words with John Crook and some few Friends that were with him But the Lord's Power so confounded them that they never came into the Garden to look for
we perswade Men but we are made manifest unto God and shall be made manifest in all your Consciences which ye shall witness G. F. Divers times both in the time of the Long Parliament and of the Protector so called and of the Committee of Safety when they proclaimed Fasts I was moved to write to them and tell them their Fasts were like unto Jesabels For commonly when they proclaimed Fasts there was some Mischief contrived against us And I knew their Fasts were for Strife and Debate to smite with the Fist of Wickedness as the New-England-Professors soon after did who before they put our Friends to Death proclaimed a Fast also Now was it a time of great Suffering and many Friends being in Prisons many other Friends were moved to go to the Parliament to offer up themselves to lie in the same Dungeons where their Friends lay that they that were in Prison might go forth and not perish in the stinking Dungeons and Goals And this we did in Love to God and our Brethren that they might not die in Prison and in love to them that cast them in that they might not bring Innocent Blood upon their own Heads which we knew would cry to the Lord and bring his Wrath Vengeance and Plagues upon them But little Favour could we find from those Professing Parliaments but instead thereof they would be in a Rage and sometimes threaten those Friends that thus attended them that they would whip them and send them home Then commonly soon after the Lord would turn them out and send them home who had not an Heart to do good in the Day of their Power But they went not off without being forewarned For I was moved to write to them in their several turns as I did to the Long-Parliament unto whom I declared before they were broken up That thick Darkness was coming over them all even a Day of Darkness that should be felt And because the Parliament that now sate was made up mostly of high Professors who pretending to be more Religious than others were indeed greater Persecutors of them that were truly Religious I was moved to send them the following Lines as a Reproof of their Hypocrisie O Friends do not cloak and Cover your selves There is a God that knoweth your Hearts and that will Vncover you He seeth your way Wo be to him that Covereth but not with my Spirit saith the Lord. Do ye do contrary to the Law and then put it from you Mercy and true Judgment ye neglect Look what was spoken against such My Saviour spake against such I was sick and ye visited me not I was hungry and ye fed me not I was a Stranger and ye took me not in I was in Prison and ye visited me not But they said When saw we thee in Prison and did not come to thee Inasmuch as ye did it not unto one of these Little Ones ye did it not unto me Friends ye Prison them that be in the Life and Power of Truth and yet profess to be the Ministers of Christ But if Christ had sent you ye would bring out of Prison and out of Bondage and receive Strangers Ye have lived in Pleasure on the Earth and been Wanton ye have nourished your Hearts as in a Day of Slaughter Ye have condemned and killed the Just and he doth not Resist you G. F. After this as I was going out of Town having two Friends with me when we were gone little more than a Mile out of the City there met us Two Troopers belonging to Col. Hacker's Regiment and they took me and the Friends that were with me and brought us back to the Mews and there kept us Prisoners a little while But the Lord's Power was so over them that they did not have us before any Officer but after a while set us at liberty again The same Day taking Boat I went down to Kingston Kingston and from thence went afterward toward Hampton-Court Hampton-Court to speak with the Protector about the Sufferings of Friends I met him Riding into Hampton-Court-Park and before I came at him as he rode in the Head of his Life-guard I saw and felt a Waft or Apparition of Death go forth against him and when I came to him he look'd like a dead Man After I had laid the Sufferings of Friends before him and had warned him according as I was moved to speak to him he bid me come to his House So I went back to Kingston and the next day went up to Hampton-Court again to have spoken further with him But when I came he was sick and Harvey who was one that waited on him told me The Doctors were not willing I should come in to speak with him So I passed away and never saw him any more 1658. Bucks London Essex From Kingston I went to Isaac Penington's in Buckinghamshire where I had appointed a Meeting and the Lord's Truth and Power was preciously manifested amongst us After I had Visited Friends in those parts I returned to London And soon after went into Essex where I had not been long before I heard that the Protector was dead and his Son Richard made Protector in his Room Whereupon I came up to London again London And before this time the Church-Faith so called was given forth which was said to be made at the Savoy in Eleven Days time I got a Copy of it before it was published and writ an Answer to it And when their Book of Church-Faith was sold up and down the Streets my Answer to it was sold also This angred some of the Parliament-Men so that one of them told me They must have me to Smithfield I told him I was over their Fires and feared them not And reasoning with him I wish'd him to consider Had all People been without a Faith these Sixteen hundred Years that now the Priests must make them one Did not the Apostle say that Jesus was the Author and Finisher of their Faith And since Christ Jesus was the Author of the Apostles Faith and of the Churches Faith in the Primitive Times and of the Martyrs Faith should not all People look unto him to be the Author and Finisher of their Faith and not unto the Priests A great deal of work we had about the Priests made Faith For they called us House-creepers leading silly Women Captive because We Met in Houses and would not hold up their Priests and Temples which they had made and set up But I told them that it was they that Led silly Women Captive and Crept into Houses who kept People always Learning under them who were Covetous and had got a Form of Godliness but denied the Power and Spirit which the Apostles were in Such began to Creep in the Apostles Days but now they had got the Magistrates on their side who upheld those Houses for them which they had Crept into their Temples with their Tithes Whereas the Apostles brought People off
against another we say these are of the World and have their Foundation from this Unrighteous World from the Foundation of which the Lamb hath been slain which Lamb hath redeemed us from this unrighteous World and we are not of it but are Heirs of a World in which there is no End and of a Kingdom where no corruptible thing enters And our Weapons are Spiritual and not Carnal yet Mighty through God to the pulling down of the Strong Holds of Sin and Satan who is Author of Wars Fighting Murder and Plots and our Swords are broken into Plow shares and Spears into Pruning-hooks as Prophesied of in Micah 4. Therefore we cannot learn War any more neither rise up against Nation or Kingdom with outward Weapons tho' you have numbred us amongst the Transgressors and Plotters the Lord knows our Innocency herein and will plead our Cause with all Men and People upon Earth at the day of their Judgment when all Men shall have a Reward according to their Works Therefore in love we warn you for your Souls good not to wrong the Innocent nor the Babes of Christ which he hath in his Hand which he tenders as the Apple of his Eye neither seek to destroy the Heritage of God neither turn your Swords backward upon such as the Law was not made for i. e. the Righteous but for the Sinners and Transgressors to keep them down For those are not the Peace-makers neither the Lovers of Enemies neither can they overcome Evil with Good who wrong them that be Friends to You and All Men and wish Your Good and the good of all People on the Earth If you oppress us as they did the Children of Israel in Egypt and if you oppress us as they did when Christ was Born and as they did the Christians in the Primitive Times we can say The Lord forgive you and leave the Lord to deal with you and not revenge our selves And if you say as the Council said to Peter and John You must speak no more in that Name and if you serve us as they served the Three Children spoken of in Daniel God is the same as ever he was that lives for Ever and Ever who hath the Innocent in his Arms. Oh Friends Offend not the Lord and his Little Ones neither afflict his People but consider and be moderate And do not run hastily into things but mind and consider Mercy Justice and Judgment that is the way for you to prosper and get the Favour of the Lord. Our Meetings were stopped and broken up in the days of Oliver in pretence of Plotting against him and in the days of the Committee of Safety we were looked upon as Plotters to bring in KING CHARLES and now our Peaceable Meetings are termed Seditious Oh that Men should lose their Reason and go contrary to their own Conscience knowing that we have suffered all things and have been accounted Plotters all along though we have declared against them both by Word of Mouth and Printing and are clear from any such thing Though we have suffered all along because we would not take up Carnal Weapons to fight withal against any and are thus made a Prey upon because we are the Innocent Lambs of Christ and cannot avenge our selves These things are left upon your Hearts to consider But we are out of all those things in the Patience of the Saints and we know that as Christ said He that takes the Sword shall perish with the Sword Mat 26.52 Rev. 13.10 This is given forth from the People called Quakers to satisfie the King and his Council and all those that have any Jealousie concerning Vs that all occasion of Suspicion may be taken away and our Innocency cleared Given forth on the behalf of the whole Body of the Elect People of God who were called Quakers in the Year 1660. POSTSCRIPT THough we are numbred amongst Transgressors and so have been given up to all Rude Merciless Men by which our Meetings are broken up in which we Edified one another in our Holy Faith and prayed together to the Lord that lives for ever yet he is our Pleader for us in this Day The Lord saith They that feared his Name spake often together as in Malachy which were as his Jewels And for this Cause and no Evil-doing are we cast into Holes Dungeons Houses of Correction Prisons they sparing neither Old nor Young Men nor Women and made a Prey on in the sight of all Nations under pretence of being Seditious c. so that all rude People run upon us to take Possession For which we say The Lord forgive them that have thus done to us who doth and will enable us to suffer and never shall we lift up hand against any Man that doth thus use us But that the Lord may have mercy upon them that they may consider what they have done For how is it possible for them to requite us for the Wrong they have done to us Who to all Nations have sounded us abroad as Seditious or Plotters who were never found Plotters against any Power or Man upon the Earth since we knew the Life and Power of Jesus Christ manifested in us who hath redeemed us from the World and all Works of Darkness and Plotters that be in it by which we know our Election before the World began So we say The Lord have Mercy upon our Enemies and forgive them for that they have done unto us Oh! do as you would be done by and do unto all Men as you would have them do unto you for this is but the Law and the Prophets And all Plots Insurrections and Riotous Meetings we do deny knowing them to be of the Devil the Murtherer which we in Christ who was before they were Triumph over them And all Wars and Fightings with Carnal Weapons we do deny who have the Sword of the Spirit and all that wrong us we leave them to the Lord. And this is to clear our Innocency from that Aspersion cast upon us That we are Seditious or Plotters Added in the Reprinting Courteous Reader THis was our Testimony above Twenty Years ago and since then we have not been found Acting contrary to it nor ever shall For the Truth that is our Guide is unchangeable And this is now Reprinted to the Men of this Age many of whom were then Children and doth stand as our certain Testimony against all Plotting and Fighting with Carnal Weapons And if any by departing from the Truth should do so this is our Testimony in the Truth against them and will stand over them and the Truth will be clear of them This Declaration did somewhat clear the Dark Air that was over the City and Country And soon after the King gave forth a Proclamation That no Soldiers should go to search any House but with a Constable But the Jails were still full many Thousands of Friends being in Prison in the Nation Which Mischief was occasioned by that wicked Rising of
were a People that fled out of Old England thither from the Persecution of the Bishops here But when they had got Power into their hands they so far exceeded the Bishops in Severity and Cruelty that whereas the Bishops had made them pay Twelve Pence a Sunday so called for not coming to their Worship here they imposed a Fine of Five Shillings a Day upon such as should not conform to their Will-Worship there and spoiled the Goods of Friends that could not pay it Besides many they Imprisoned divers they Whipt and that most Cruelly of some they Cut off Ears and some they Hanged as the Books of Friends Sufferings in New-England largely shew particularly A Book written by Geo. Bishop of Bristol Entituled New-England judged In Two Parts Some of the old Royalists were earnest with Friends to have prosecuted them but we told them we left them to the Lord to whom Vengeance belonged and he would Repay it And the Judgments of God have since fallen heavy on them For the Indians have been raised up against them and have Cut off many of them About this time I lost a very good Book being taken in the Printer's Hands It was a useful teaching Book containing the Signification and Explanation of Names Parables Types and Figures in the Scriptures They who took it were so affected with it that they were loth to have destroyed it but thinking to have made a great Advantage of it they would have let us have had it again if we would have given them a great Sum of Money for it which we were not free to do And some time before this while I was Prisoner in Lancaster-Castle the Book called the Battledoor came forth which was written to shew that in all Languages Thou and Thee is the proper and usual Form of Speech to a Single Person and You to more than one This was set forth in Examples or Instances taken out of the Scriptures and out of Books of Teaching in about Thirty Languages John Stubbs and Benjamin Furly took great Pains in the Compiling of it which I put them upon and some things I added to it When it was finished some of them were presented to the King and his Council to the Bishops of Canterbury and London and to the Two Vniversities one a piece and many bought of them The King said It was the proper Language of all Nations And the Bishop of Canterbury being asked what he thought of it was so at a stand that he could not tell what to say to it For it did so Inform and Convince Pâ—ople that few afterward were so Rugged towards us for saying Thou and Thee to a single Person which before they were exceeding fierce against us for For this Thou and Thee was a sore Cut to proud Flesh and them that sought Self-honour who though they would say it to God and Christ would not endure to have it said to themselves So that we were often Beaten and Abused and sometimes in danger of our Lives for using those Words to some proud Men who would say What you ill-bred Clown do you Thou me as though there lay Breeding in saying You to one which was contrary to all their Grammars and Teaching-Books by which they had taught and instructed their Youth Now the Bishops and Priests being busie and eager to settle and 〈◊〉 up their Form of Worship and Compel all to come to it I was mâ—â—â—d to give forth the following Paper to open unto People the Nature of the True Worship which Christ set up and which God accepts Thus CHrist's Worship is free in the Spirit to all Men and such as Worship in the Spirit and in the Truth are they that God seeks to Worship him for he is the God of Truth and is a Spirit and the God of the Spirits of all Flesh And he hath given to all the Nations of Men and Women Breath and Life to live and move and have their Being in him and hath put into them an Immortal Soul So all the Nations of Men and Women are to be Temples for him to dwell in and they that defile his Temple them will he destroy Now as the outward Jews while they had their outward Temple at outward Jerusalem were to go up thither to Worship which Temple God hath long since thrown down and destroyed that Jerusalem the Vision of Peace and cast off the Jews and their Worship and in the room thereof hath set up his Gospel-Worship in the Spirit and in the Truth so now all are to Worship in the Spirit and in the Truth And this is a free Worship for where the Spirit of the Lord is and ruleth there is Liberty and the Fruits of the Spirit are seen and will manifest themselves and the Spirit is not to be limited but to be lived and walked in that the Fruits of it may appear The Tares are such as hang upon the Wheat to weigh it down and thereby to draw it down to the Earth yet the Tares and the Wheat must grow together till the Harvest lest they that take upon them to pluck up the Tares should pluck up the Wheat with the Tares The Tares are such as Worship not God in the Spirit and in the Truth but do grieve the Spirit and vex it and quench it in themselves and walk not in the Truth yet will scraul and hang about the Wheat the true Worshippers in the Spirit and in the Truth Christ's Church was never established by Blood nor held up by Prisons neither was the Foundation of it laid by Carnal Weaponed Men nor is it preserved by such But when Men went from the Spirit and Truth then they took up Carnal Weapons to maintain their outward Forms and yet cannot preserve them with their Carnal Weapons For one plucketh down another's Form with his outward Weapons And this Work and Doing hath been among the Christians in Name since they lost the Spirit and Spiritual Weapons and the true Worship which Christ set up that is in the Spirit and in the Truth which Spirit and Truth they that Worship in are over all the Tares All that would be plucking up the Tares are forbidden by Christ who hath all Power in Heaven and Earth given to him for the Tares and the Wheat must grow together till the Harvest as Christ hath commanded The Stone that smote the Image became a great Mountain and filled the whole Earth Now if the Stone do fill the whole Earth all Nations must be Temples for the Stone And all that say they do travel for the Seed and yet bring forth nothing but a Birth of Strife and Contention and Confusion their Fruit shews their Travel to be wrong for by the Fruit the End of every one's Work is seen of what sort it is G. F. About this time many Papists and Jesuits began to fawn upon Friends and talk'd up and down where they came that of all the Sects the Quakers were the best and most self-denying
into Sussex Sussex Newick and came to Newick where were some Friends whom we visited and from thence passed on through the Country visiting Friends and having great Meetings and all quiet and free from Disturbance except by some Jangling Baptists till we came into Hampshire Hampshire Where after we had had a good Meeting at Southampton Southampton Ringwood-Parish Pulner Mo. Meeting we went to a place called Pulner in the Parish of Ringwood where there was to be a Monthly Meeting next day to which many Friends came from Southampton Pool and other places and the Weather being very hot some of them came pretty early in the Morning I took a Friend and walked out with him into the Orchard inquiring of him how the Affairs of Truth stood amongst them For many of them had been Convinced by me before I was Prisoner in Cornwal While we were discoursing another Young-Man came to us and told us the Trained Bands were raising and he heard they would come and break up the Meeting It was not yet Meeting-time by about three hours and there being other Friends walking in the Orchard also the Friend that I was discoursing with before desired me to walk into a Corn-Field adjoining to the Orchard and so we did After a while the Young-Man that spake of the Trained Bands left us and went away and when he was gone a pretty way he stood and waved his Hat Whereupon I spake to the other Young-Man that was with me to go see what he ailed and he went but came not to me again for the Souldiers it seems were come and were in the Orchard And as I kept walking I could see the Souldiers and some of them as I heard afterwards did see me but had no mind to meddle So the Souldiers coming so long before the Meeting-time they did not Tarry but took what Friends they found at the House and some that they met in the Lane coming and 〈◊〉 th m away After they were gone and it grew towards the E eventh Hour Friends began to come in apace and a large and glorious Meeting we had for the Everlasting Seed of God was set over all and the People were settled in the New-Covenant of Life upon the Foundation Christ Jesus Toward the latter part of the Meeting there came a Man in gay Apparel and looked into the Meeting while I was declaring and went away again presently This Man came with an evil Intent for he went forthwith to Ringwood and told the Magistrates They had taken two or three Men at Pulner and had left George Fâ—x there preaching to two or three hundred People Upon this 〈◊〉 Magistrates sent the Officers and Souldiers again but the Meeting being near ended when that Man lookt in and he having about a Mile and an half to go with his Information to Ringwood to fetâ—h the Souldiers and they as much to come back after they had received their Orders before they could come our Meeting was over ending about the third hour peaceably and orderly After the Meeting I spake to the Friends of the House where this Meeting was the Woman of the House lying then dead in the House and then some Friends had me to another Friend's House at a little distance from the Meeting-place where after we had refresh'd our selves I took Horse 1663. Wiltshire at Frye's having about Twenty Miles to ride that Afternoon to one Frye's House in Wiltshire where a Meeting was appointed to be next day After we were gone the Officers and Souldiers came in a great Heat and when they found they were come too late and had missed their Prey they were much Enraged and the Officers were offended with the Souldiers that they had not seized my Horse in the Stable the first time they came But the Lord by his good Providence did deliver me and prevented them of their Mischievous Design For the Officers were envious Men and had an evil Mind against Friends but the Lord brought his Judgments upon them so that it was taken notice of by their Neighbours Example For whereas before they were Wealthy Men after this their Estates wasted away and John Line who was the Constable and who was not only very forward in putting on the Souldiers to take Friends but also carried those that were taken to Prison and took a False Oath against them at the Assize upon which they were Fined and continued Prisoners he was a sad Spectacle to behold For his Flesh rotting away while he lived he died in a very miserable Condition wishing he had never medled with the Quakers and confessing that he never prospered since he had an hand in persecuting them and that he thought the Hand of the Lord was against him for it At Frye's in Wiltshire we had a very blessed Meeting and quiet though the Officers had a purpose to have broken it up and were coming on their way in order thereunto But before they were got to the Meeting Word was brought after them that there was an House newly broken up by Thieves and they were required to go back again with speed to search after and pursue the Thieves by which means our Meeting scaped Disturbance and we were delivered out of their Hands We passed through Wiltshire into Dorsetshire having large and good Meetings Dorsetshire and the Lord 's Everlasting Power was with us and carried us over all in which we sounded forth his saving Truth and Word of Life which many gladly received Thus travelling through the Countries Devonshire Topsham we visited Friends till we came to Topsham in Devonshire travelling some Weeks Eight or Ninescore Miles a Week and had Meetings every day At Topsham we met with Margaret Fell and two of her Daughters Sarah and Mary and with Leonard Fell and Thomas Salthouse Totness Kingsbridge To H. Pollexfen ' s. Plymouth Cornwall From thence we passed to Totness where we visited some Friends and then on to Kingsbridge and so to old Henry Pollexfen's who had been an Ancient Justice of Peace There we had a large Meeting And from thence this old Justice passed with us to Plymouth and so into Cornwall to one Justice Porters and from thence to Thomas Mount's where we had another large Meeting After which we went to Humphrey Lower's where also we had a large Meeting and from thence to Loveday Hamblye's where we had a General Meeting for the whole Country and all was quiet A little before this there had been in those parts Joseph Hellen and G. Bewly and they had been at Loo to visit one Blanch Pope a Ranting Woman under pretence to Convince and Convert her but before they came from her she had so darkned them with her Principles that they seemed to be like her Disciples especially Joseph Hellen. 1663. Cornwal For she had asked them Who made the Devil Did not God This Idle Question so puzzled them that they could not Answer her They afterwards asked
are settled under the Teaching of Christ Jesus their Saviour who hath bought them After I was clear of Wales I turned towards England again and came to a Market-Town betwixt England and Wales where was a great Fair that day and several Friends being at the Fair we went to an Inn and Friends came to us And after we had had a fine Opportunity with Friends we parted from them and went on our way The Officers of the Town took notice it seems of our being there and Friends gathering together to us and they began also to get together to Consult among themselves how to ensnare us though it was the Fair-time but before they could do any thing we were gone on our Journey and so escaped them From thence we came into Shropshire Shropshire where we had a large and precious Meeting And after we had had many Meetings in those parts we came into Warwickshire and visited Friends there Warwickshire Darbyshire Staffordshire White-Haugh At Captain Lingard ' s. and so came into Darbyshire and Staffordshire visiting Friends Meetings as we went At a place called White-Haugh we had a large blessed Meeting and quiet And after the Meeting was done we took Horse and rode about Twenty Miles that Night to one Captain Lingard's We heard afterwards that when we were gone the Officers came to have seized on us and were much disturbed that they mist us but the Lord disappointed them and delivered us out of their wicked Hands and Friends were joyful in the Lord that we escaped them At Captain Lingard's we had a blessed Meeting the Lord's Presence being wonderfully amongst us After this Meeting we passed through the Peak-Country in Darbyshire Darbyshire Peak Country Sunderhil-Green and after we had been at a Friend's House there we went on to Sunderhill-Green where we had a large Meeting Here John Whitehead came to me and several other Friends and then I passed through the Country visiting Friends till I came into Holderness We went to the farther End of Holderness Holderness Scarborough Whitby Malton and so passed down by Scarborough and Whitby and near Malton and then to York having many Meetings in the way and the Lord 's everlasting Power was over all At York I heard of a Plot York whereupon I was moved to declare against all Plots and Plotters both in publick and private and also to give forth a Paper against Plotting of which a Copy here followeth ALL Friends every where Keep out of Plots and Buslings and the Arm of Flesh for all that is among Adam's Sons in the Fall where they are destroying Mens Lives like Dogs and Beasts and Swine Goring rending biting and destroying one another and wrestling with Flesh and Blood From whence riseth Wars and Killings but from the Lusts And all this is in Adam in the Fall out of Adam that never fell in whom there is Peace and Life And ye are called to Peace therefore follow it and Christ is that Peace for all that pretend to Fight for Christ they are deceived and are in Adam in the Fall for Christ's Kingdom is not of this World therefore his Servants do not Fight Therefore Fighters are not of Christ's Kingdom and are without Christ's Kingdom for his Kingdom stands in Peace and Righteousness 1663. York And so Fighters are in the Lust and all that would destroy Mens Lives are not of Christ's Mind who comes to save Men's Lives Christ's Kingdom is not of this World it is peaceable and all that be in Strifes are not of his Kingdom nor any such as pretend to Fight for the Gospel The Gospel is the Power of God which was before the Devil or Fall of Man was or Fighters either which is the Gospel of Peace and they that pretend to Fighting and talk so for Fighting are Ignorant of the Gospel of Peace And all that talk of Fighting for Sion are in Darkness for Sion needs no such Helpers And all such as profess themselves to be Ministers of Christ and Christians and to beat down the Whore with outward Carnal Weapons the Flesh and the Whore are got up in themselves in a blind Zeal That which beats down the Whore which got up by the Inward Ravening from the Spirit of God the Beating down of the Whore must be by the Inward Rising of the Sword of the Spirit within All such as pretend Christ Jesus and Confess him and run into Carnal Weapons wrestling with Flesh and Blood throw away the Spiritual That are Wrestlers with Flesh and Blood they throw away Christ's Doctrine and Flesh is got up in them and they are weary of their Sufferings And such as would Revenge themselves be out of Christ's Doctrine and such as would be stricken on the one Cheek and would not turn the other be out of Christ's Doctrine and such as do not love one another and Love Enemies be out of Christ's Doctrine And therefore you that be Heirs of the Blessings of God which was before the Curse and the Fall was come to Inherit your Portions And you that be Heirs of the Gospel of Peace before the Devil was live in the Gospel of Peace seeking the Peace of all Men and the Good of all Men. And Live in Christ which comes to save Men's Lives out of Adam in the Fall where they destroy Men's Lives and live not in him For the Jews Sword outwardly by which they cut down the Heathen was a Type of the Spirit of God within which Cuts down the Heathenish Nature within So live in the Peaceable Kingdom of Christ Jesus and in the Peace of God and not in the Lusts from whence Wars arise And Live in Christ the Way of God who is the Second Adam who never fell and live not in Adam in the Fall in the Destruction where they destroy one another Therefore come out of Adam in the Fall into that Adam that never fell and so live in Love and Peace with all Men. And keep out of all the Buslings in the World and meddle not with the Powers of the Earth but mind the Kingdom and the way of Peace You that be Heirs of Grace and Heirs of the Kingdom and Heirs of the Gospel and Heirs of Salvation and Saints of the Most-High and Children of God whose Conversations are in Heaven that is above the Combustions of the Earth let your Conversations preach to all Men and your Innocent Lives that they beholding your Godly Conversation may glorifie your Father which is in Heaven And all Friends every where this I charge you which is the Word of the Lord God unto you all Live in Peace in Christ the way of Peace in which seek the Peace of all Men and no Man 's Hurt as I said before In Adam in the Fall is no Peace but in Adam out of the Fall in him is the Peace So you being in Adam that never fell it 's Love that overcomes the Evil and not Hatred with Hatred nor
Strife with Strife And therefore Live in the Peaceable Life doing Good to all Men and seeking the Good and Welfare of all Men. Let this go among Friends every where G. F. We went from York to Burrowbridge Burrowbridge where I had a glorious Meeting Thence we passed into the Bishoprick to one Richmond's where there was a General Meeting and the Lord's Power was over all Bishoprick of Durham tho' People were grown exceeding Rude about this time After the Meetting we went to Henry Draper's where we stay'd all Night and the next Morning a Friend came to me as I was passing away and told me If the Priests and Justices for many Priests were made Justices in that Country at that time could light on me they would Destroy me But I being clear of the Bishoprick Stainmoor Yorkshire Sedberg Westmoreland Lancashire Swarthmore Arnside went over Stainmoore into part of Yorkshire and to Sedberg where having visited Friends I went into Westmorland visiting Friends there also From thence I passed into Lancashire and came to Swarthmore where I staid but a little while before I went over the Sands to Arnside where I had a General Meeting After that Meeting was ended there came some Men to have broken it up but understanding before they got thither that the Meeting was over they turned back I went to Robert Widder's and from thence to Vnderbarrow Underbarrow where I had a glorious Meeting and the Lord's Power was set over all From thence I passed to Grayrigge and having visited Friends there I went to Ann Audland's Grayrigge where they would have had me to have staid their Meeting the next day but I felt a stop in my Spirit and it was upon me to go to John Blaykling's in Sedberg and to be next day at the Meeting there Sedberg which is large and a precious People there is So we had a very good Meeting next day at Sedberg but the Constables went to Ann Audland's to their Meeting to look for me Thus by the good Hand and Disposing Providence of the Lord I escaped their Snare I went from John Blaykling's with Leonard Fell to Strickland-head Strickland-head where on the First-Day we had a very precious Meeting on the Common That Night we staid amongst Friends there and the next day passed into Northumberland Northumberland After the Justices had heard of this Meeting at Strickland-head they made Search for me but by the good hand of the Lord I escaped them again though there were some very wicked Justices We went to Hugh Hutchinson's House in Northumberland a Friend in the Ministry from whence we visited Friends thereabouts and then went to Darwin-Water Darwin-water where we had a very glorious Meeting There came an Ancient Woman to me and told me her Husband remembred his Love to me and she said I might call him to mind by this Token that I used to call him the Tall White Old Man She said he was Six score and two Years old and that he would have come to the Meeting but that his Horses were all imployed upon some urgent Occasion I heard he lived some Years after 1663. Darwin-water Cumberland Now when I had visited Friends in those parts and they were settled upon Christ their Foundation their Rock and their Teacher I passed through Northumberland and came into Cumberland to old Thomas Bewley's And Friends came about me and said Would I come there to go into Prison For there was great Persecution in that Country at that time Yet I had a General Meeting at Thomas Bewley's which was large and precious and the Lord's Power was over all One Musgrave was at that time Deputy Governour of Carlisle and I passing along the Country came to a Man's House that had been Convinced whose Name was Fletcher and he told me If Musgrave knew that I was there he would be sure to send me to Prison he was such a severe Man But I staid not there only called on the way to see this Man Wigton and then went on to one William Pearson's near Wigton where the Meeting was which was very large and precious Some Friends were then Prisoners at Carlisle whom I visited by Letter which Leonard Fell carried From William Pearson's I passed through the Countries Pardsey-Crag visiting Friends till I came to Pardsey-Crag where we had a General Meeting which was large and all was quiet and peaceable and the glorious powerful Presence of the Everlasting God was with us So eager were the Magistrates about this time to stir up Persecution in those parts that they offered some Five Shillings some a Noble a day to any that could apprehend the Speakers amongst the Quakers but it being now the time of the Quarter-Sessions in that County the Men who were so hired were gone to the Sessions to see to get their Wages and so all our Meetings were at that time quiet Westmoreland Keswick From Pardsey-Crag we went into Westmorland calling in the way upon Hugh Tickell near Keswick and upon Thomas Laythes where Friends came to visit us and we had a fine opportunity to be refreshed together At Fr. Benson ' s. We went that Night to one Francis Benson's in Westmorland near Justice Fleming's House This Justice Fleming was at that time in a great Rage against Friends and me in particular insomuch that in the open Sessions at Kendal just before he had bid Five Pounds to any Man that should take me that Friend Francis Benson told me And it seems as I went to this Friend's House I met one Man coming from the Sessions that had this Five Pounds offered him to take me and he knew me for as I passed by him he said to his Companion That is George Fox Yet he had not Power to touch me for the Lord's Power preserved me over them all And the Justices being so eager to haue me and I being so often nigh them and yet they missing me it tormented them the more Lancashire Cartmel I went from thence to James Taylor 's at Cartmel in Lancashire where I staid the First-Day and had a precious Meeting and after the Meeting was done I came over the Sands to Swarthmore Swarthmore When I came there they told me Col. Kirby had sent his Lieutenant thither to search for me and that he had searched Trunks and Chests for me That Night as I was in Bed I was moved of the Lord to go next day to Kirby-Hall Kirby-Hall which was Col. Kirby's House about Five Miles off to speak with him and I did so When I came thither I found there the Flemmings and several others of the Gentry so called of the Country who were come to take their Leave of Col. Kirby he being then to go up to London to the Parliament 1663. Kirby-Hall I was had into the Parlour amongst them but Col. Kirby was not then within being gone forth a little way
Power of God and we are Heirs of Christ who have inherited him and his Everlasting Kingdom and do possess the Power of an Endless Life Knowing this our Portion and Inheritance this is to take off all Jealousies out of your Minds and out of the Minds of all People concerning us That all Plots and Conspiracies Plotters and Conspirators against the King and all Aiders or Assisters thereunto we always did and do utterly deny to be any of us or to be of the Fellowship of the Gospel or to be of Christ's Kingdom or to be his Servants For Christ said His Kingdom was not of this World if it were his Servants would fight And therefore he bid Peter Put up his Sword for said he he that taketh the Sword shall perish by the Sword Here is the Faith and Patience of the Saints to bear and suffer all things knowing as we know that Vengeance is the Lord's and he will repay it to them that hurt his People and that do wrong to the Innocent Therefore cannot we avenge but suffer for his Name 's sake And we do know that the Lord will judge the World in Righteousness according to their Deeds and that when every one shall give an Account to him of the Deeds done in the Body then will the Lord give every Man according to his Works whether they be Good or whether they be Evil. Christ saith he came not to destroy Men's Lives And when his Disciples would have had Fire to come down from Heaven to have consumed them that did not receive him he told them They knew not what Spirit they were of that would have Mens Lives destroyed and therefore he rebuked them and told them That he came not to destroy Men's Lives but to save them Now we are of Christ's Mind who is the great Prophet whom all ought to hear in all things who saith to his If they strike thee on one Cheek turn the other and render to no Man Evil for Evil. This Doctrine of his have we learned and do not only confess him in Words but follow his Doctrine and therefore have and do we suffer all manner of Reproaches Scandals and Slanders and spoiling of Goods Buffetings and Whippings Stripes and Imprisonments for these many years and can say The Lord forgive them that have thus served us and lay not these things to their Charge And we know that the Jews outward Sword by which they cut down the Heathen outwardly was a Type of the inward Sword of the Spirit which cuts down the inward Heathen the raging Nature in People And the Blood of Bulls Lambs Rams and other Offerings and that Priesthood that offered them together with other things in the Law were Types of Christ the one Offering and of his Blood who is the Everlasting Priest and Covenant Christ our Life and Way to God and who is the great Prophet and Shepherd that looks to his Flock and the Head of his Church and the great Bishop of our Souls whom we witness come and he doth oversee and keep his Flock For in Adam in the Fall we know the striving quarrelling unpeaceable Spirits are in the Enmity one with another and not in Peace But in Christ Jesus the Second Adam that never fell is Peace Rest and Life And the Doctrine of Christ who never sinned is to love one another and who be in this Doctrine hurt no man in which we are in Christ who is our Life Therefore it is well for you to distinguish betwixt the Precious and the Vile between them that fear God and serve him and them that do not and to put a difference between the Innocent and the Guilty and between him that is Holy and Pure and the Ungodly and Prophane for they that do not so bring Troubles Burdens and Sorrows upon themselves And this we write in Love to your Souls that ye may consider these things for they that hate Enemies and hate one another we cannot say they are of God nor in Christ's Doctrine but are Opposers of it And such as wrestle with Flesh and Blood with Carnal Weapons are gone into the Flesh out of the Spirit They are not in our Fellowship in the Spirit in which is the Bond of Peace neither are they of Vs nor have we Vnity with them in their fleshly state and with their Carnal Weapons For our Unity and Fellowship stands in the Gospel which is the Power of God before the Devil was the Liar and the Murderer the Man-slayer and the Envious Man Now Christ's Mind and his Doctrine being to save Men's Lives we who are of Christ's Mind are out of and above these things And our desire is 1664. Lancaster Castle that in the Fear of the Lord ye may all Live that in that ye may all receive God's Wisdom by which all things were created that by it all may be ordered to God's Glory This is from them that love all your Souls and seek your Eternal Good Being now a Prisoner in Lancaster Castle a deep sense came upon me of a Day of sore Trial and Exercise that was come and coming upon all that had been high in Profession of Religion And I was moved to give forth the following Paper as a Warning unto such NOw is the Day that every one's Faith and Love to God and Christ will be Tried and who are Redeemed out of the Earth and who are in the Earth will be manifested and who is their Master they serve and whether they will run to the Mountains to Cover them Now will it appear who are the Stony Ground who are the Thorny Ground and who are the High-way-Ground in whom the Fowls of the Air take away the Seed and the Thorns and Cares of the World Choke and the Heat of Persecution scorches and burns up your green Blade For the Day trieth all things Therefore let not such as forsake Truth for saving the Earth say that your Brother Priest only serveth not the Lord Jesus Christ but his own Belly and mindeth Earthly things for such themselves also do the same and do hug and embrace Self and not the Lord. Now it will be made manifest who is every ones God and Christ and Saviour and their Love will be manifest whether it be of the World or the Love of God for if it be the Love of the World it is Enmity and the Enmity will manifest it self what it is and the Day will Try every Spirit and his Fruits Therefore all my dear Friends In the Everlasting Seed of God live that is over all the House of Adam and his Works in the Fall and so dwelling in the Seed Christ that never fell in him you all have Vertue and Life and Peace and through him ye will overcome all that is in the Fall G. F. I writ also another Short Epistle to Friends to Warn them to keep out of that Spirit that wrought in John Perrot and his Company against the Truth Dear Friends DWell in
know How long I had lain in Prison and for what and he did so And when he came down again he told me that Esq Marsh said He would go an Hundred Miles bare-foot for my Liberty he knew me so well And several others he said spake well of me From which time the Governour was very Loving to me There were amongst the Prisoners that were there Two very bad Men that would often sit drinking with the Officers and Souldiers and because I would not sit and drink with them too that made them the worse against me One time when these Two Prisoners were drunk one of them whose Name was William Wilkinson who was a Presbyterian and had been a Captain came to me and challenged me to fight with him I seeing what Condition he was in got out of his way and next Morning when he was grown more sober told him How unmanly a thing it was in him to challenge a Man to fight whose Principle he knew it was not to strike but if he was stricken on one Ear to turn the other And I told him If he had a mind to fight he should have challenged some of the Souldiers that could have answered him in his own way But however I told him seeing he had Challenged me I was now come to Answer him with my Hands in my Pockets and reaching my Head towards him Here said I here is my Hair here are my Cheeks here is my Back With that he skipt away from me and went into another Room At which the Souldiers fell a laughing and one of the Officers said You are a happy Man that can bear such things Thus he was Conquered without a Blow But after a while he took the Oath and gave Bond and got out of Prison and not long after the Lord cut him off There were great Imprisonments in this and the former Years while I was Prisoner at Lancaster and Scarborough At London many Friends were crowded into Newgate and other Prisons where the Sickness was and many Friends died in Prison Many Friends also were Banished and several sent on Ship-board by the King's Order Some Masters of Ships would not carry them but set them on Shore again yet some were sent to Barbados and to Jamaica and to Mevis and the Lord blessed them there There was one Master of a Ship was very wicked and cruel to Friends that were put on Board his Ship for he kept the Friends down under Decks though the Sickness was amongst them so that many died of it But the Lord plagued him for his Wickedness for he lost most of his Sea-men by the Plague and lay several Months crossed with Contrary Winds though other Ships went out and made their Voyages At last he came before Plimouth and there the Governour and Magistrates would not suffer him nor any of his Men to come ashore though he wanted many Necessaries for his Voyage but Thomas Lower and Arthur Cotton and John Light and some other Friends went to the Ship's-side and carried Necessaries for the Friends that were Prisoners on Board The Master being thus crost and plagued and vext he cursed them that put him upon this Freight and said He hoped he should not go far before be was taken And the Vessel was but a little while gone out of sight of Plimouth but she was taken by a Dutch-man of War and carried into Holland When they came into Holland the States there sent the Banished Friends back to England with a Letter of Pasport and a Certificate That they had not made an Escape but were sent back by them But in time the Lord's Power wrought over this Storm and many of our Persecutors were Confounded and put to shame After I had lain Prisoner above a Year in Scarborough-Castle I sent a Letter to the King in which I gave him an Account of my Imprisonment and the bad Vsage I had had in Prison and also that I was Informed no Man could deliver me but he After this John Whitehead being at London and having Acquaintance also with him that was called Esq Marsh he went to Visit him and spake to him about me And he undertook if John Whitehead would get the State of my Case drawn up to deliver it to the Master of Requests whom he called Sir John Birkenhead he would endeavour to get a Release for me So John Whitehead and Ellis Hookes drew up a Relation of my Imprisonment and Sufferings and carried it to Marsh and he went with it to the Master of Requests who procured an Order from the King for my Release The Substance of the Order was That the King being certainly Informed that I was a Man principled against Plotting and Fighting and had been ready at all times to discover Plots rather than to make any c. that therefore his Royal Pleasure was that I should be discharged from my Imprisonment c. As soon as this Order was obtained John Whitehead came down to Scarborough with it and delivered it to the Governour Who upon Receipt thereof gathered the Officers together and without requiring Bond or Sureties for my peaceable Living being satisfied that I was a Man of a peaceable Life he discharged me freely and gave me the following Pasport PErmit the Bearer hereof George Fox late a Prisoner here and now discharged by His Majesty's Order quietly to pass about his Lawful Occasions without any Molestation Given under my hand at Scarborough-Castle this First Day of September 1666. JORDAN CROSLANDS Governour of Scarborough-Castle After I was Released I would have given the Governour something Scarborough for the Civility and Kindness he had of late shewed me but he would not receive any thing but said Whatever Good he could do for me and my Friends he would do it and never do them any hurt And afterwards if at any time the Mayor of the Town sent to him for Souldiers to break up Friends Meetings if he sent any down he would privately give them a Charge Not to meddle and so he continued Loving to his Dying-Day The Officers also and the Souldiers were mightily changed and grown very Respectful to me and when they had occasion to speak of me they would say He is as stiff as a Tree and as pure as a Bell for we could never bow him The very next day after I was Released from Scarborough-Prison the Fire brake out at London and the Report of it came quickly down into the Country Then I saw the Lord God was true and just in his Word which he had shewed me before in Lancaster-Jail when I saw the Angel of the Lord with a glittering drawn Sword Southward as is before expressed And the People of London were forewarned of this Fire yet few laid it to Heart or believed it but rather grew more Wicked and higher in Pride For we had a Friend that was moved to come out of Huntington-shire a little before the Fire and to scatter his Money up and down the
Fair at which I met with many Friends Then passing through the Forrest in a mighty thundering and rainy day Nottingham I came to Nottingham and so great was the Tempest that day that many Trees were torn up by the Roots and some People killed but the Lord preserved us On the First-Day following I had a large Meeting in Nottingham very quiet and Friends were come to sit under their Teacher the Grace of God which brought them Salvation and were established upon the Rock and Foundation Christ Jesus After the Meeting I went to visit the Friend that had been Sheriff about the Year 1649 whose Prisoner I had then been 1666. Leicestershire Syleby Leicester From Nottingham I passed into Leicestershire and came to Syleby where we had a large blessed Meeting After which I went to Leicester to visit the Prisoners there and then came to John Penford's where we had a General Meeting large and precious From thence I passed through the Country visiting Friends and my Relations till I came into Warwickshire and to Warwick where having visited the Prisoners Warwickshire Warwick Badgley Northamptonshire Bedfordshire Buckinghamshire Oxfordshire London I passed from thence to Badgley and had a precious Meeting there Then I travelled through Northamptonshire Bedfordshire Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire visiting Friends in each County In Oxfordshire the Devil had laid a Snare for me but the Lord brake it and his Power came over all and his blessed Truth spread and Friends were Increased therein Thus after I had passed through many Counties visiting Friends and had had many large and precious Meetings amongst them I came at last to London But I was so weak with lying almost Three Years in cruel and hard Imprisonments and my Joints and my Body were so stiff and benummed that I could hardly get on my Horse or bend my Joints nor well bear to be near the Fire or to eat Warm Meat I had been kept so long from it Being come to London I walk't a little among the Ruins and took good notice of them and I saw the City lying according as the Word of the Lord came to me concerning it several Years before Now after I had been a time in London and had visited Friends Meetings through the City I went into the Country again and had large Meetings in the Countries Kingston Reading Wiltshire Bristol as I went at Kingston Reading and in Wiltshire till I came to Bristol At Bristol also I had many large Meetings and Thomas Lower came thither out of Cornwal to meet me and Friends were there from several parts of the Nation it being then the Fair-time After I was clear of Bristol I left that City and went to Nath. Crips's N. Crips's London and so through the Countries till I came back to London again having large Meetings in the way and all quiet blessed be the Lord. And thus though I was very Weak yet I travelled up and down in the Service of the Lord and the Lord enabled me to go through in it About this time some that had run out from Truth and clashed against Friends were reached unto by the Power of the Lord which came wonderfully over and made them Condemn and Tear their Papers of Controversies to pieces Several Meetings we had with them and the Lord 's Everlasting Power was over all and set Judgment on the Head of that that had run out And in these Meetings which lasted whole Days several that had Run out with John Perrot and others came in again and Condemned that Spirit that led them to Keep on their Hats when Friends prayed and when they themselves prayed and some of them said That Friends were more righteous than they and that if Friends had not stood they had been gone and had fallen into Perdition And thus the Lord's Power was wonderfully manifested and came over all Then was I moved of the Lord to recommend the setting up of Five Monthly Meetings of Men and Women in the City of London besides the Womens-Meetings and the Quarterly Meetings to take care of God's Glory and to admonish and exhort such as walked disorderly or carelesly and not according to Truth For whereas Friends had had only Quarterly Meetings now Truth was spread 1667. London and Friends were grown more Numerous I was moved to Recommend the setting up of Monthly Meetings throughout the Nation And the Lord opened to me and let me see What I must do and how the Mens and Womens Monthly and Quarterly Meetings should be ordered and established in this Nation and in other Nations and that I should Write to them where I came not to do the same So after things were well settled at London and the Lord's Truth and Power and Seed and Life reigned and shined over all in the City then I passed forth into the Countries again and went down into Essex Essâ—x Suffolk Norfolk And after the Monthly Meetings were settled in that County I went from thence into Suffolk and Norfolk Thomas Dry being with me And when we had Visited Friends in their Meetings in those parts and the Monthly Meetings were settled there we pass'd from thence and went into Huntingtonshire Huntingtoâ—shire where we had very large and blessed Meetings and though we met with some Opposition there yet the Lord's Power came over all and the Monthly Meetings were established there also Bedfordshire When we came into Bedfordshire we had great Opposition but the Lord's Power came over it all Afterwards we went into Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire where we had many precious Meetings and the Monthly Meetings were settled there Then passing into Lincolnshire Lincolnshire we had a Meeting of some Men-Friends of all the Meetings in the County at his House who had been formerly Sheriff of Lincoln and all was quiet Trent Nottinghamshire After this Meeting we passed over Trent into Nottinghamshire again he that had been the Sheriff of Lincoln being with me where we had some of all the Meetings in that County together and our Meeting was glorious and peaceable And many precious Meetings we had in that County At that time William Smith was very Weak and Sick and the Constables and others had seized upon all his Goods to the very Bed he lay upon for Truth 's sake These Officers threatned to come and break up our Meeting but the Lord's Power chained them so that they had not power to meddle with us blessed be his Name After the Meeting was over I went to visit William Smith and there were the Constables and others watching his Corn and his Beasts that none of them might be Removed From thence we passed into Leicestershire and so into Warwickshire Leicestershire Warwickshire where many blessed Meetings we had and the Order of the Gospel was set up and the Men's Monthly Meetings established in all those Counties Then we went into Darbyshire Darbyshire where we had several
And when all things were found clear they being free from all others and their Relations satisfied then they might appoint a Meeting on purpose for the taking of each other in the Presence of at least Twelve Faithful Witnesses Yet these Directions not being observed and Truth being now more spread over the Nation it was therefore Ordered by the same Power and Spirit of God That Marriages should be laid before the Mens Monthly and Quarterly Meetings or as the Meetings were then established that Friends might see that the Relations of those that proceeded to Marriage were satisfied and that the Parties were clear from all others 1667. London and that Widows had made Provision for their First Husband's Children before they Married again and what else was needful to be inquired into that so all things might be kept clean and pure and done in Righteousness to the Glory of God And afterwards it was Ordered in the same Wisdom of God That if either of the Parties that intended to Marry came out of another Nation County or Monthly-Meeting they should bring a Certificate from the Monthly Meeting to which they belong'd for satisfaction of the Monthly-Meeting before which they came to lay their Intentions of Marriage Now after these things with many other Services for God were set in Order and settled in the Churches in the City I passed out of London in the Leadings of the Lord's Power into the Country again and going into Hartfordshire Hertfordshire after I had visited Friends there and the Mens-Monthly-Meetings were settled there I passed on as far as Baldock Baldock where I had a great Meeting of many sorts of People Then returning towards London by Waltham Waltham I advised the setting up of a School there for Teaching Boys and also a Womens-School to be set up at Shacklewel for instructing Girls and Young Maidens Shacklewell in whatsoever things were Civil and Vseful in the Creation Thus after I had had several precious Meetings in the Country I came to London again London where I staid a while in the Work and Service of the Lord Buckinghamshire Weston and then went down into Buckinghamshire where I had many precious Meetings And at John Brown's of Weston near Aylsbury some of the men-Men-Friends of each Meeting being gathered together the Mens-Monthly-Meetings for that County were established amongst them also in the Order of the Gospel the Power of God and the Power of the Lord confirmed it in all that felt it and they came thereby to see and feel that the Power of God was the Authority of their Meetings Then after the Monthly-Meetings were settled there in the Order of the Gospel Oxfordshire North-Newton near Banbury and upon the Foundation Christ Jesus I passed on into Oxfordshire and went to Nathaniel Ball 's at North-Newton near Banbury who was a Friend in the Ministry And there being a General Meeting where some of all the Meetings were present the Monthly-Meetings for that County were then settled in the Power of God and Friends were very glad of them for they came into their Services in the Church and to take Care for God's Glory After this Meeting we passed through the Country Gloucestershire visiting Friends till we came into Gloucestershire and visiting Friends through that County also we travelled on Monmouthshire till we came into Monmouthshire to one Richard Hambery's where meeting with some of all the Meetings of that County the Monthly Meetings were settled there also in the Lord's Power that all in it might take Care of God's Glory and Admonish and Exhort such as did not walk as became the Gospel And indeed these Meetings did make a great Reformation amongst People insomuch as the very Justices took notice of the Vsefulness and Service thereof When we went from Rich. Humbery's he and his Wife accompanied us a Day 's Journy through the Country visiting Friends till we came to a Widow-Woman's where we lay that Night and from thence passed over the Hills next day Over the Hills visiting Friends and declaring the Truth to People till we came to another Widow Woman's House where we had a Meeting The Woman of the House could not speak English yet she praised the Lord for sending us over those Hills to come and visit them We travelled on through the Country till we came to Swanzey Swanzey where on the First Day we had a large and precious Meeting the Lord's Presence being eminently amongst us Beyond Swanzey On a Week-Day afterwards we had a General Meeting beyond Swanzey of Men-Friends that came from Swanzey Tenby Haverford-West and other Places and there the Monthly-Meetings were settled in the Gospel-Order and received by Friends in the Power of the Lord and the Lord's Truth was over all From hence we endeavoured to have got over the Water into Cornwall and in order thereunto went back to Swanzey Swanzey Mumbles and so to Mumbles thinking to have got Passage there but the Master deceived us For though he had promised to carry us yet when we came he would not Thereupon we turned from thence and went to another place where there was a Passage-Boat into which we got our Horses but there being some Rude Men in the Boat though called Gentlemen that threatned to Pistol the Master if he took us in he being afraid of them turned our Horses out again which put us out of hopes of getting over that way Wherefore turning back again into the Country we stay'd up all Night and about the Second Hour in the Morning took Horse and travelled through the Country Near Cardiff till we came near Cardiff where we staid one Night And the next Day came to a place called Newport and it being Market-day there Newport several Friends came to us with whom we sate together a while and after we had had a fine refreshing Season together we parted from them and went on our way When we were gone beyond this Market-Town we overtook a Man who lingred on the Way as if he stay'd for some body but when we came up to him he rid along with us and asked us many Questions At length meeting with Two others who seemed to be Pages to some great Persons he took Acquaintance with them and I heard him tell them he would stop us and take us up We rid on being in our way and when he came to us and would have stopped us I told him None ought to stop us on the King 's High-way for it was as free for us as for them and I was moved to exhort him to Fear the Lord. Then galloped he away before us and I perceived his Intent was to stop us at Shipton in Wales which was a Garrison-Town through which we were to pass in our way When we were come to Shipton john-ap-John-ap-John being with me Shipton we walked down the Hill into the Town leading our Horses And it being
and a Friend was speaking amongst them But spake not long And when he had done I stood up and was moved to say Saul Saul why persecutest thou me It is hard for thee to kick against that that pricks thee Then I shewed that it is Saul's Nature that persecutes still and that they who persecute Christ in his Members now where he is made manifest kick against that which pricks them That it was the Birth of the Flesh that persecuted the Birth born of the Spirit and that it was the Nature of Dogs to tear and devour the Sheep but that we suffered as Sheep that did not bite again for we were a peaceable People and did love them that persecuted us After I had spoken a while to this Effect the Constable came with an Informer and Souldiers 1670. London Grac. Meet and as they plucked me down I said Blessed are the Peace-makers The Commander of the Souldiers put me among the Souldiers and bid them secure me saying to me You are the Man I looked for They took also John Burneyate and another Friend and had us away first to the Exchange and afterward towards More fields As we went along the Streets the People were very moderate and some of them laught at the Constable and told him We would not run away The Informer went with us Vnknown till falling into Discourse with one of the Company he said It would never be a good World till all People came to the good Old Religion that was Two hundred Years ago Whereupon I asked him Art thou a Papist What! a Papist Informer for Two hundred years ago there was no other Religion but that of the Papists He saw he had ensnared himself and was Vexed at it for as he went along the Streets I spake often to him and manifested what he was When we were come to the Mayor's House and were in the Court yard several of the People that stood about asked me How and for what I was taken I desired them to Ask the Informer and also know what his Name was but he refused to tell his Name Whereupon one of the Mayor's Officers looking out at a Window told him He should tell his Name before he went away for the Lord Mayor he said would know by what Authority he intruded himself with Souldiers into the Execution of those Laws which belonged to the Civil Magistrate to Execute and not to the Military After this he was restless and eager to be gone and went to the Porter to be let out One of the Officers called to him saying Have you brought People here to Inform against and now will you go away before my Lord Mayor comes Some called to the Porter not to let him out Whereupon he forcibly pulled open the Door and slipt out No sooner was he come out into the Street but the People gave a Shout that made the Street ring again Crying out A Papist-Informer A Papist-Informer We desired the Constable and Souldiers to go forth and Rescue him out of the Peoples Hands fearing lest they should have done him a Mischief They went and brought him into the Mayor's Entry where we staid a while But when he went out again the People received him with such another Shout Whereupon the Souldiers were fain to go and Rescue him once more and then they had him into a House in an Alley where they perswaded him to Change his Perriwig and so he got away unknown When the Mayor came home we were brought into the Room where he was and some of his Officers would have taken off our Hats which he perceiving called to them and bid them Let us alone and not meddle with our Hats for said he they are not yet brought before me in Judicature So we stood by while he Examined some Presbyterian and Baptist-Teachers with whom he was somewhat sharp and Convicted them After he had done with them I was brought up to the Table where he sate and then the Officers took off my Hat And the Mayor said mildly to me Mr. Fox You are an Eminent Man amongst those of your Profession pray will you be Instrumental to dissuade them from meeting in such great Numbers for said he seeing Christ hath promised that Where two or three are met in his Name he will be in the midst of them and the King and Parliament are graciously pleased to allow of Four to meet together to Worship God 1670. London At Mayor's Why will not you be content to partake both of Christ's Promise to Two or Three and the King's Indulgence to Four I answered to this purpose That Christ's Promise was not to discourage many from Meeting together in his Name but to encourage the Few that the fewest might not forbear to Meet because of their Fewness But if Christ hath promised to manifest his Presence in the midst of so small an Assembly where but Two or Three were gathered in his Name how much more would his Presence abound where Two or Three hundred are gathered in his Name I wisht him to consider Whether this Act would not have taken hold of Christ with his Twelve Apostles and 70 Disciples if it had been in their time who used to Meet often together and that with great Numbers However I told him this Act did not concern Vs for it was made against Seditious Meetings of such as Met under Colour and Pretence of Religion to contrive Insurrections as the Act says late Experience had shewen but we had been sufficiently Tried and Proved and always found peaceable And therefore he should do well to put a difference between the Innocent and the Guilty He said The Act was made against Meetings and a Worship not according to the Liturgy I told him According to was not the very same thing and I askt him ' Whether the Liturgy was according to the Scriptures And whether we might not read Scriptures and speak Scriptures He said Yes I told him ' This Act took hold only of such as did Meet to plot and contrive Insurrections as late Experience had shewen but they had never Experienced that by us Because Thieves are sometimes on the Road must not Honest Men travel therefore And because Plotters and Contrivers have Met to do Mischief must not an honest peaceable People Meet to do Good If we had been a People that did Meet to Plot and Contrive Insurrections c. we might have drawn our selves into Fours for Four might do more Mischief in Plotting than if there were Four Hundred because Four might speak out their Minds more freely one to another than Four Hundred could Therefore we being Innocent and not the People this Act concerns we keep our Meetings as we used to do and I said I believed that he knew in his Conscience we were Innocent After this and some more Discourse he took our Names and the places where we lodged and at length inasmuch as the Informer was gone set us at Liberty Being set at
the Lord God that he hath a People in this Nation that seeks the Good of all Men upon the Face of the Earth For we have the Mind of the Lord Jesus Christ that desires not the Death of a Sinner but the Salvation and Good of all Blessed be the Name of the Lord our God for ever G. F. While I continued at Enfield a sense came upon me of an Hurt that sometimes hap'ned by Persons coming under the Profession of Truth out of one Country into another to take an Husband or Wife amongst Friends where they were Strangers and it was not known whether they were Clear and Orderly or no. And it Opened in me to recommend the following Method unto Friends for preventing such Inconveniences Whereupon I writ the following Lines ALL Friends that do Marry whether they be Men or Women if they come out of another Nation Island Plantation or County let them bring a Certificate from the Men's-Meeting of that County Nation Island or Plantation from which they come to the Men's Meeting where they do propound their Intention of Marriage for the Men's-Meeting being made up of the Faithful this will stop all bad and raw Spirits from Roving up and down And then when any come with a Certificate or Letter of Recommendation from one Men's-Meeting to another one is refreshed by another and can set their Hands and Hearts to the thing and this will take away a great deal of Trouble And then what ye have to say to them in the Power of God in Admonishing and Instructing them ye are left to the Power and Spirit of God to do it and to let them know the Duty of Marriage and what it is that there may be an Vnity and a Concord in the Spirit and Power and Light and Wisdom of God throughout all the Men's-Meetings in the whole World in One in the Life Let Copies of this be sent to every County and Nation and Island where Friends are that so all things may be kept holy and pure and righteous in Vnity and Peace and God over all may be glorified among you his Lot his People and Inheritance who are his Adopted Sons and Daughters and Heirs of his Life So no more but my Love in that which changeth not The 14th of the First Month 1670 1. G. F. When I had recovered so much Strength that I could Walk a little up and down I went from Enfield to Gerrard Roberts's again and from thence to the Womens School at Shacklewell and so to London Shacklewell London Grac. Meet to the Meeting at Gracious-Street where though I was yet but Weak yet the Lord's Power upheld and enabled me to Declare his Eternal Word of Life And about this time I was moved to pray to the Lord as followeth O Lord God Almighty 1670. London Prosper Truth and Preserve Justice and Equity in the Land and bring down all Injustice and Iniquity Oppression and Falshood and Cruelty and Vnmercifulness in the Land and that Mercy and Righteousness may flourish And O Lord God! Establish and set up Verity and Preserve it in the Land And bring down in the Land all Debauchery and Vice and Whoredoms and Fornication and this Raping Spirit which causeth and leadeth People to have no Esteem of Thee O God! nor their own Souls or Bodies nor of Christianity Modesty or Humanity And O Lord Put it in the Magistrates Hearts to bring down all this Vngodliness and Violence and Cruelty Prophaness Cursing and Swearing and to put down all these Whore-houses and Play-houses which do Corrupt Youth and People and lead them from the Kingdom of God where no Vnclean Thing can Enter neither shall come but such Works lead People to Hell And the Lord in Mercy bring down all these things in the Nation to stop thy Wrath O God! from coming on the Land This Prayer was writ the 17th Day at Night of the 2d Month 1671. G. F. I mentioned before that upon the Notice I received of my Wife 's being had to Prison again I sent two of her Daughters to the King and they procured his Order to the Sheriff of Lancashire for her Discharge But though I expected she would have been set at Liberty thereby 1671. London yet this Violent Storm of Persecution coming suddenly on upon it the Persecutors there did not Release her but found means to hold her still in Prison But now the Persecution a little ceasing I was moved to speak to Martha Fisher and another Woman-Friend to go to the King about her Liberty They went in the Faith and in the Lord's Power and the Lord gave them Favour with the King so that he granted a Discharge under the Broad-Seal to Clear both her and her Estate after she had been Ten Years a Prisoner and Premunired The like whereof was scarce to be heard in England I sent down the Discharge forthwith by a Friend by whom also I writ to her both to Inform her how to get it delivered to the Justices and also to Acquaint her that it was upon me from the Lord to go beyond the Seas to visit the Plantations in America and therefore desired her to hasten up to London as soon as she could conveniently after she had obtained her Liberty because the Ship was then fitting for the Voyage In the mean time I got down to Kingston Kingston and staid at John Rous his House till my Wife came up and then I began to prepare for the Voyage But the Yearly Meeting being near at hand London-Yea Meet I tarried till that was over A very large Meeting it was for many Friends came up to it from all parts of the Nation and a very precious Meeting it was for the Lord's Power was over all and his glorious everlastingly-renowned Seed of Life was exalted above all Now after this Meeting was over and I had finished my Services for the Lord here in England the Ship also and the Friends that intended to go with me being ready I went down to Graves-end on the 12th day of the Sixth Month my Wife and several Friends accompanying me to the Downs We went from Wapping in a Barge to the Ship Wapping which lay a little below Graves-end and there we found the Friends Gravesend that were bound for the Voyage with me who went down to the Ship the Night before Their Names were Thomas Brigges William Edmundson John Rouse John Stubbs Solomon Eccles James Lancaster John Cartwright Robert Widders George Pattison John Hull Elizabeth Hooton and Eliz. Miers The Vessel we were to go in was a Yatch and it was called The Industry the Master's Name was Thomas Forster and the number of Passengers about Fifty I lay that Night on Board but most of the Friends lay at Graves end Early next morning the Passengers and those Friends that intended to accompany us to the Downs being come on Board we took our Leave in great Tenderness of those Friends that came with
freely I could not Sweat at all but my Flesh was hot dry and burning And that which before brake out on my Body into Pimples struck in again and struck to my Stomach and Heart so that I was very Ill and Weak beyond Expression Thus I continued during the rest of the Voyage which was about a Month for we were Seven Weeks and some odd Days at Sea On the Third of the Eighth Month early in the Morning BARBADOS we discovered the Island of Barbados but it was between Nine and Ten at Night e're we came to Anchor in Carlisle-Bay We got on Shore Carlisle-Bay as soon as we could and I with some others walked to a Friend's House a Merchant whose Name was Richard Forstall R. Forstall above a Quarter of a Mile from the Bridge But being very Ill and Weak I was so tired with that little Walk that I was in a manner quite spent by that time I got thither There I abode very Ill for several days and was so far from Sweating though in that hot Climate that although they several times gave me things to make me Sweat yet they could not bring me to Sweat but what they gave me did rather parch and dry up my Body and made me probably worse than otherwise I might have been Thus I continued for about Three Weeks after I Landed having very much Pain in my Bones 1671. Barbados Joints and whole Body so that I could hardly get any Rest yet notwithstanding I was pretty Cheary and my Spirit kept above it all Neither did my Ilness take me off from the Service of Truth but both while I was at Sea and after I came to Barbados before I was able to Travel about I gave forth several Papers having a Friend to write for me some of which I sent by the first Conveyance for England to be Printed After I had rested three or four Days at Richard Forstall's where many Friends came to visit me John Rous having borrowed a Coach of one of his Acquaintance there called Colonel Chamberlain came to fetch me in it to his Father Thomas Rous's House Tho. Rous. But it was late e're we could get thither and little or no Rest could I take that Night A few days after that Colonel Chamberlain who had so kindly lent his Coach came thither to give me a Visit and carried himself very courteously towards me Soon after I came into the Island I was Informed of a remarkable Passage wherein the Justice of God did eminently appear It was thus Example There was a Young-Man of Barbados whose Name was John Drakes a Person of some Note in the World's Account but a Common Swearer and a bad Man who having been in England and at London had a mind to Marry a Young Maid that was a Friend's Daughter left by her Mother very Young and with a Considerable Portion to the Care and Government of several Friends whereof I was one He made his Application to me that he might have my Consent to Marry this Young Maid I told him I was one of her Overseers Appointed by her Mother who was a Widow to take Care of her that if her Mother had intended her for a Match to any Man of the World she would have disposed her accordingly but she Committed her to Vs that she might be Trained up in the Fear of the Lord and therefore I should betray the Trust reposed in me if I should consent that he who was out of the Fear of God should Marry her which I would not do When he saw that he could not obtain he returned to Barbados with great Offence of Mind against me but without just Cause Afterwards when he heard I was coming to Barbados he swore desperately and threatned That if he could possibly procure it he would have me burned to Death when I came there Which a Friend hearing asked him What I had done to him that he was so violent against me He would not Answer but said again I 'll have him burnt Whereupon the Friend replied Do not march on too furiously lest thou come too soon to thy Journey 's End About ten days after this he was struck with a Violent Burning Fever of which he died and by which his Body was so scorched that the People took notice of it and said It was as black as a Coal And three days before I landed his Body was laid in the Dust and it was taken notice of as a sad Example While I continued thus Weak that I could not go abroad to Meetings the other Friends that came over with me bestirred themselves in the Lord's Work for the next day but one after we came on Shore they had a great Meeting at the Bridge Bridge and after that several Meetings in several parts of the Island which alarmed the People of all sorts so that many came to our Meetings and some of the Chiefest Rank For they had got my Name understanding I was come upon the Island and expected to have seen me at those Meetings not knowing that I was Weak and unable to go abroad And indeed my Weakness continued the longer on me by reason that my Spirit was much pressed down at the first with the Filth and Dirt and Vnrighteousness of the People which lay as an heavy Weight and Load upon me But after I had been above a Month upon the Island my Spirit became somewhat Easier and I began to recover in some measure my Health and Strength and to get abroad among Friends In the mean time having opportunity to send for England I writ to Friends there to let them know how it was with me as followeth Dear Friends I have been very Weak these Seven Weeks past and so not able to Write my self My Desire is to you and for you all that ye may live in the Fear of God and in Love one unto another and be Subject one to another in the Fear of God I have been Weaker in my Body than ever I was in my Life that I remember yea my Pains have been such as I cannot express But yet my Heart and Spirit is strong I have hardly Sweat these Seven Weeks past though I am come into a very hot Climate where hardly any but are well nigh continually Sweating But as for me my old Bruises Colds Numness and Pains struck inwardly even to my very Heart So that little Rest I have taken and the chiefest things that were comfortable to my Stomach were a little Water and powdered Ginger But now I begin to drink a little Beer as well as Water and sometimes a little Wine and Water mixed Great Pains and Travels I have felt and in measure am under But it is well my Life is over all This Island was to me as all of a Fire e're I came to it but now it is somewhat quenched and abated I came in Weakness amongst those that are Strong and have so continued but now am
Friends into pretty good Order and settled several Meetings amongst them we left Solomon Eccles there the rest of us embarked for Maryland leaving Friends and Truth prosperous in Jamaica the Lord's Power being over all and his blessed Seed reigning But before I left Jamaica I writ another Letter to my Wife as followeth My Dear Heart TO whom is my Love and to the Children in that which changeth not but is over all and to all Friends in those parts I have been at Jamaica about Five Weeks and Friends here are generally well and here is a Convincement but things would be too large to write of Sufferings in every place attend me but the blessed Seed is over all the great Lord be praised who is Lord of Sea and Land and of all things therein We intend to pass away from hence about the beginning of the nexth Month and we shall pass towards Maryland if the Lord please Dwell all of you in the Seed of God In his Truth I rest in Love to you all Jamaica 23d of the 12th Month 1671. G. F. At Sea We went on Board on the 8th of the First Month 1671 2 and having Contrary Winds were a full Week sailing forwards and backwards before we could get out of sight of Jamaica A difficult Voyage this proved and pretty dangerous especially in our passing through the Gulf of Florida where we met with many Trials by Winds and Storms But the great God who is Lord of the Seas and of the Land and who rideth upon the Wings of the Wind did by his Power preserve us through many and great Dangers when by extream Stress of Weather our Vessel was divers times like to be Over-set and much of her Tackling broken And indeed we were sensible that the Lord was a God at hand and that his Ear was open to the Supplications of his People For when the Winds were so strong and boisterous and the Storms and Tempests so great that the Sailers knew not what to do but were fain to let the Ship go which way she would then did we pray unto the Lord 1672. Jamaica And the Lord did graciously hear and accept us and did Calm the Winds and the Seas and gave us seasonable Weather and made us to Rejoice in his Salvation blessed and praised be the holy Name of the Lord whose Power hath Dominion over all and whom the Winds and the Seas obey We were at Sea betwixt Six and Seven Weeks in this Passage from Jamaica to Maryland But some days before we came to Land At Sea after we had entred the Bay of Potuxan-River a great Storm arose Potuxan River which cast a Boat upon us for Shelter in which were divers Persons both Men and Women People of Account outwardly in the World We took them in but the Boat was lost with Five Hundred Pounds worth of Goods in it as they said They continued on Board us several days not having any means to get off and we had a very good Meeting with them in the Ship But Provision grew short for they brought none in with them and ours by reason of the length of our Voyage was well nigh spent when they came to us So that with their living upon it too we had now little or none left Whereupon George Pattison took a Boat and ventured his Life to get to Shore the Hazard whereof was so great that all but Friends concluded he would be Cast away Yet it pleased the Lord to bring him safe to Land MARY-LAND and in a short time after the Friends of the Place came to fetch us to Land also in a seasonable time for our Provisions were quite spent We partook also of another great Deliverance in this Voyage through the good Providence of the Lord which we came to understand afterwards For when we were determined to come from Jamaica we had our Choice of two Vessels that were both bound for the same Coast One of these was a Frigot the other was called a Yacht The Master of the Frigot we thought asked unreasonably for our Passage which made us Agree with the Master of the Yacht who offered to carry us Ten Shillings a-piece cheaper than the other We went on Board the Yacht and the Frigot came out together with us intending to be Consorts during the Voyage and for several Days we sailed together But what with Calms and Contrary Winds we were in a while separated And after that the Frigot losing her way fell among the Spaniards by whom she was taken and robbed and the Master and Mate made Prisoners Afterwards being retaken by the English she was sent home to her Owners in Virginia Which when we came to understand we saw and admired the Providence of God who preserved us out of our Enemies Hands and he that was Covetous fell among the Covetous Some Friends at Jamaica would have had us gone in the Frigot that was taken but the Lord in his Wisdom ordered it otherwise Here we found John Burneyate intending shortly to Sail for Old England but upon our Arrival he altered his purpose and joined with us in the Lord's Service which we were upon He had appointed a General Meeting for all the Friends in the Province of Maryland that he might see them together and take his Leave of them before he departed out of the Country And it was so ordered by the good Providence of God that we landed just time enough to reach that Meeting by which means we had a very seasonable Opportunity of taking the Friends of the Province together 1672. Maryland A very large Meeting this was and held Four Days to which besides Friends came many of the World's People divers of which were of considerable Quality in the World's Account For there were amongst them five or six Justices of the Peace a Speaker of their Parliament or Assembly One of the Council and divers others of Note who seemed well satisfied with the Meeting After the Publick Meetings were over the Mens and Womens Meetings began wherein I opened to Friends the Service thereof to their great Satisfaction After this we went to another Place Cliffs called the Cliffs where another General Meeting was appointed We went some part of the way by Land and the rest by Water and a Storm arising our Boat was run on ground in danger to be beaten to pieces and the Water came in upon us I was in a great Sweat having come very hot out of a Meeting before and now was Wet with the Water beside yet having Faith in the Power of the Lord I was preserved from taking hurt blessed be the Lord. To this Meeting also many of the World's People came and did receive the Truth with Reverence We had also a Mens-Meeting and a Womens-Meeting at which most of the Back-sliders came in again and several of those Meetings were established for taking Care of the Affairs of the Church After these Two General Meetings
were over we parted Company dividing our selves into several Coasts for the Service of Truth James Lancaster and John Cartwright went by Sea for New-England William Edmundson and three Friends more with him sailed for Virginia where things were much out of Order John Burneyate Robert Widders George Pattison and I with several Friends of the Province went over by Boat to the Eastern Shore Eastern-Shore and had a Meeting there on the First Day where many People received the Truth with Gladness and Friends were greatly refreshed A very large and Heavenly Meeting it was and several Persons of Quality in that Country were at it two of which were Justices of the Peace And it was upon me from the Lord to send to the Indian-Emperor and his Kings to come to that Meeting The Emperor came and was at the Meeting but his Kings lying further off could not reach thither time enough Yet they came after with their Cockarooses I had in the Evening for they staid all Night two good Opportunities with them and they heard the Word of the Lord willingly and did confess to it What I spake to them I desired them to speak to their People and let them know That God was setting up his Tabernacle of Witness in their Wilderness-Country and was setting up his Standard and glorious Ensign of Righteousness They carried themselves very courteously and lovingly and inquired Where the next Meeting would be and they would come to it Yet they said They had had a great Debate with their Council about their Coming before they came now Tredaven-Creek Miles River Wye River Chester River The next Day we began our Journey by Land to New-England a tedious Journey through the Woods and Wilderness over Boggs and great Rivers We took Horse at the Head of Tredaven-Creek and travelled through the Woods till we came a little above the Head of Miles-River by which we passed and rode on to the Head of Wye-River and so got to the Head of Chester-River where making a Fire we took up our Lodging in the Woods 1672. Saxifrax River Bohemia River Next Morning setting forward again we travelled through the Woods till we came to Saxifrax-River which we went over in Canoos which are Indian-Boats causing our Horses to swim by Then we rode on to Bohemia-River where in like manner swimming our Horses we our selves went over in Canoos We rested a little at a Plantation by the Way but could not stay long for we had Thirty Miles to ride that Afternoon if we would reach a Town which we were willing to do and therefore rid hard for it And I with some others whose Horses were stronger got to the Town that Night exceedingly tired and withal wet to the Skin But George Pattison and Robert Widders being weaker-horsed were fain to fall short and lie in the Woods that Night also making themselves a Fire The Town we went to was a Dutch Town called New-Castle New-Castle whither Robert Widders and George Pattison came to us next Morning We departed from thence and got over the River Delaware not without great Danger of some of our Lives Delaware River and when we were over we were troubled to get new Guides which were hard to get and very chargeable Then had we that Wilderness-Country to pass through which is since called West-Jersey WEST-JERSEY which was not then inhabited by English so that we have travelled a whole Day together without seeing Man or Woman House or Dwelling-place and sometimes we lay in the Woods by a Fire â—nd sometimes in the Indians Wigwams or Houses In this Journey we came one Night to an Indian Town and lay at their King's House who was a very pretty Man and both he and his Wife received us very lovingly and his Attendants such as they were were very respectful to us they laid us Mars to lie on but Provision was very short with them having caught but little that day At another Indian Town where we staid their King came to us and he could speak some English wherefore I spake to him much and also to his People and they were very Loving to us At length we came to a Town called Middle-Town East-Jersey Middle-Town which is an English Plantation in East-Jersey and there were some Friends but we could not stay to have a Meeting there at that time being earnestly pressed in our Spirits to get to the Half-Years-Meeting of Fâ—â—◠〈◊〉 Oister-Bay in Long-Island which was very near at hand Wherefore we went down with a Friend whose Name was Richard Hartshorn Brother to Hugh Hartshorn the Upholster in London who received us gladly to his House where we refreshed our selves for we were wear and then he carried us and our Horses in his own Boat over a great Water which held us most part of the day in getting over and set us upon Long-Island LONG-ISLAND So we got that Evening to Friends at Gravesand with whom we tarried that Night Gravesand Flushing Oister-bay half-years-Meeting and the next Day we got to Flushing and the day following we reached to Oister-Bay several Friends both of Gravesand and Flushing accompanying us The Half-Years-Meeting began next Day which was the first day of the Week and lasted four Days The first and second Days we had Publick Meetings for Worship to which the People of the World of all sorts might and did come On the third Day of the Week were the Mens and Womens-Meetings wherein the Affairs of the Church were taken Care of Here we met with some of the Bad Spirits who were run out from Truth into Prejudice Contention and Opposition to the Order of Truth 1672. Oister-bay-half-years-Meeting and to Friends therein These had been very troublesom to Friends in their Meetings there and thereabouts formerly and 't is like would have been so now But I would not suffer the Service of our Mens and Womens-Meetings to be interrupted and hindred by their Cavils Wherefore I let them know That if they had any thing to Object against the Order of Truth which we were in we would give them a Meeting another Day on purpose And indeed I laboured the more and travelled the harder to get to this Meeting where it was expected many of these contentious People would be because I understood they had reflected much upon me when I was far from them So the Mens and Womens Meetings being over on the fourth Day we had a Meeting with those discontented People to which as many of them as would did come and as many Friends as had a desire were present also And the Lord's Power brake forth gloriously to the Confounding of the Gain sayers And then some of those that had been Chief in the mischievous Work of Contention and Opposition against the Truth began to fawn upon me and to cast the matter upon others but the deceitful Spirit was judged down and condemned and the glorious Truth of God was exalted
and set over all and they were all brought down and bowed under which was of great Service to Truth and great Satisfaction and Comfort to Friends Glory to the Lord for ever After this Meeting were over and Friends were gone to their several Habitations we staid some Days upon the Island and had several Meetings in several parts thereof and had good Service for the Lord. Oister-bay And when we were clear of the Island we returned to Oister-Bay waiting for a Wind to carry us to Road-Island which was computed to be about two hundred Miles As soon as the Wind served we set Sail ROAD-ISLAND and arrived in Road-Island on the thirtieth Day of the Third Month where we were gladly received by Friends We went to Nicholas Easton's House who at that time was Governour of the Island and there we lay being very weary with travelling by Land and Sea On the First-Day of the Week following we had a large Meeting to which the Deputy-Governour and several Justices came and were mightily affected with the Truth The Week following the Yearly Meeting for all the Friends of New-England Yearly Meeting and the other Colonies adjacent was held in this Island to which besides very many Friends who lived in those parts came John Stubbs from Barbados and James Lancaster and John Cartwright from another way This Meeting lasted Six Days of which the first four Days were general publick Meetings for Worship to which abundance of the World's People came For they having no Priests in the Island and so no Restriction to any particular Way of Worship and both the Governour and Deputy-Governour with several Justices of the Peace daily frequenting the Meetings this did so encourage the People that they flocked in from all parts of the Island Very good Service we had amongst them and Truth had a good Reception with them And indeed to give them their due I have rarely observed a People in the State wherein they stood to hear with more Attention Diligence and Affection than generally they did during the four Days together which also was taken notice of by other Friends After these publick Meetings were over the Mens-Meeting began which was large 1672. Road-Island Yearly-Meeting precious and weighty and the day following was the Womens-Meeting which also was large and very solemn and these two Meetings being for the Ordering the Affairs of the Church many weighty things were opened and communicated to them by Way of Advice Information and Instruction in the Services relating thereunto that all might be kept clean sweet and savoury amongst them In these two Meetings several Mens and Womens Meetings for other parts were agreed and settled to take Care of the Poor and other Affairs of the Church and to see that all who profess Truth walk according to the glorious Gospel of God Now when this great and General Meeting in Road-Island was ended it was somewhat hard for Friends to part For the glorious Power of the Lord which was over all and his blessed Truth and Life flowing amongst them had so knit and united them together that they spent two Days in taking leave one of another and of the Friends of the Island and then being mightily filled with the Presence and Power of the Lord they went away with joyful Hearts to their several Habitations in the several Colonies where they lived When this General Meeting was fully over and Friends had taken their Leaves one of another to depart home we who travelled amongst them dispersed our selves into our several Services according as the Lord ordered us John Burneyate with John Cartwright and George Pattison went into the Eastern parts of New-England in Company with the Friends that came from thence to visit the particular Meetings there whom John Stubbs and James Lancaster intended to follow a while after in the same Service of Truth but they were not yet Clear of this Island Robert Widders and I staid some time longer also upon this Island finding Service still here for the Lord through the great Openness of the People and the daily Coming in of Fresh People in Sloops from other Colonies for some time after the General Meeting was over So that we had many large and serviceable Meetings among them for several Days after During the time that we abode here there was a Marriage celebrated amongst Friends in this Island and we were at it It was at a Friend's House who had formerly been Governour of the Island and three Justices of the Peace and many others of the World's People were there and both they and Friends said They never saw such a Solemn Assembly on such an Occasion and so weighty a Marriage and so comely an Order Thus Truth was set over all and this might serve for an Example to others for there were some present from many other places After this I had a great Travel in Spirit concerning the Ranters for there were many of them in those parts and they had been rude at a Meeting which I was not at Wherefore I appointed a Meeting amongst them and I believed the Lord would give me Power over them and he did so to his Praise and Glory blessed be his Name for ever There were at this Meeting many Friends and divers of the World's People some of whom were Justices of the Peace and other Officers and they were generally well affected with the Truth But one of the Justices who had been a Justice twenty Years was Convinced 1672. Providence and spake highly of the Truth and more highly of me than is fit for me to mention or take notice of Then we had a Meeting at a place called Providence which was very large as consisting of many Sorts and Sects of People and I had a great Travel upon my Spirit concerning the Meeting that it might be preserved quiet and that Truth might be brought over the People and might gain an Entrance and have a Place in them For they were generally above the Priests in high Notions and some of them came on purpose to dispute But the Lord whom we waited upon was with us and his Power went over them all and his blessed Seed was exalted and set above all and the Disputers were silent and the Meeting was quiet and ended well praised be the Lord And the People went away mightily satisfied much desiring another Meeting This place called Providence was about Thirty Miles from Road-Island and we went to it by Water The Governour of Road-Island and many others went with me thither and we had the Meeting in a great Barn which was throng'd with People so that I was exceeding hot and in a great Sweat but all was well the glorious Power of the Lord shined over all Glory to the great God for ever Narraganset After this we went to another place called Narraganset about Twenty Miles from Road-Island and the Governour went with us There we had a Meeting at a Justice's House
where Friends had never had any Meeting before And the Meeting was very large for the Country generally came in and People came also from Connecticut and other parts round about There were amongst them four Justices of the Peace and most of these People were such as had never heard Friends before but they were mightily affected with the Meeting and a great Desire there is after the Truth amongst that People So that our Meeting was of very good Service blessed be the Lord for ever The Justice at whose House the Meeting was and another Justice of that Country invited me to come again but I was then clear of those parts and was going off towards Shelter-Island But John Burnyeate and John Cartwright being come back out of New-England into Road-Island before I was gone I laid this place before them and they felt Drawings thither and went to visit them At another place I heard some of the Magistrates should say among themselves If they had Money enough they would hire me to be their Minister This was where they did not well understand Vs and our Principles But when I heard of it I said It was time for me to be gone for if their Eye was so much to Me or any of Vs they would not come to their own Teacher For this thing of hiring Ministers had spoiled many by hindring them from improving their own Talents whereas our Labour is to bring every one to their own Teacher in themselves Now after we had had very good Service for the Lord in Road-Island and the Parts adjacent and that John Burneyate with the other Friends that went from the General Meeting here into New-England were returned hither again I went off from hence to Shelter-Island having with me Robert Widders James Lancaster George Pattison and one John Jay a Planter in Barbados and leaving John Stubbs and John Burneyate in Road-Island to Water 1672. Road-Island what had been Planted by the Lord there and there-aways who expected John Cartwright whom they had left at Piscataway to come and join shortly with them in the same Service We that were for Shelter-Island went off in a Sloop and passing by Point-Juda and Block-Island Point Juda Block Island Fisher's Island came to Fishers Island where at Night we went on Shore but were not able to stay for the Muschetos a sort of Gnats or little Flies which abound there and are very troublesom Wherefore we went into our Sloop again and put off from the Shore and cast Anchor and so lay in our Sloop that Night Next day we went into the Sound The Sound but finding our Sloop was not able to live in that Water we turned in again for we could not pass that way and so came to Anchor again before Fisher's-Island where we lay in our Sloop that Night also There fell abundance of Rain that Night and our Sloop being open we were exceeding wet The Two Horse-Races Garner's Island Gull 's Island Shelter Island Next day we passed over the Waters called the two Horse Races and then by Garner's Island after which we passed by the Gull's-Island and so got at length to Shelter-Island which though it was but about Twenty seven Leagues from Road-Island yet through the Difficulty of Passage we were three Days in getting thither The Day after we came thither being the First Day of the Week we had a Meeting there Afterwards in the same Week I had a Meeting among the Indians there at which were their King with his Council and about an hundred Indians more They sate down like Friends and heard very attentively while I spake to them by an Interpreter an Indian that could speak English well After the Meeting they appeared very loving and confessed that what was said to them was Truth On the next First-Day we had a great Meeting on the Island to which came many of the World's People that had never heard Friends before They were very well satisfied with the Meeting and would not go away when the Meeting was done till they had spoken with me Wherefore I went amongst them and found they were much taken with the Truth and good Desires were raised in them and a great Love Blessed be the Lord his Name spreads and will be great among the Nations and Dreadful among the Heathen While we were in Shelter-Island William Edmundson came to us who had been labouring in the Work of the Lord in Virginia From whence he travelled through the Desert-Country through Difficulties and many Trials till he came to Roan-Oak where he met with a tender People And after Seven Weeks Service in those parts sailing over to Mary-land and so to New-York he came from thence to Long-Island and so to Shelter-Island where we met with him and were very glad to hear from him the good Service he had had for the Lord in the several Countries and Places wherein he had travelled since he parted from us We staid not long in Shelter-Island but entring our Sloop again At Sea put forth to Sea for Long-Island We had a very rough Passage for the Tide did run so strong for several Hours that I have not seen the like and being against us we could hardly get forwards though we had a Gale We were upon the Water all that Day and the Night following but found our selves next Day driven back near unto Fisher's-Island For there was a great Fog and towards Day it was very dark 1672. New-England so that we could not see what way we made and besides it rained much in the Night which in our open Sloop made us very wet Next day a great Storm arose so that we were fain to go over the Sound and did get over with much ado When we had gotten from Fisher's-Island Faulcon Island we passed by Faulcon-Island and came to the Main where we cast Anchor till the Storm was over Sound and then we came over the Sound being all very wet and much difficulty we had to get to Land the Wind being strong against us But blessed be the Lord God of Heaven and Earth and of the Seas and Waters Long Island Oister-bay all was well and we got safe to Oister-Bay in Long-Island on the Seventh Day of the Sixth Month very early in the Morning which they say is about two hundred Miles from Road-Island At Oister-Bay we had a very large Meeting and the same day James Lancaster and Christopher Holder went over the Bay to Rye on the Continent in Governour Winthrop's Government and had a Meeting there Flushing From Oister-Bay we passed about Thirty Miles to Flushing where we had a very large Meeting many Hundreds of the People of the World being there some or whom came about Thirty Miles to it A glorious and heavenly Meeting it was praised be the Lord God! and the People were much satisfied Mean while Christopher Holder and some other Friends went to a Town in Long-Island called
in the Woods and lay there all Night and it being rainy Weather we got under some thick Trees for Shelter and afterwards dried our selves again by the Fire Chester River Next Day we waded through Chester-River a very broad Water and afterwards passing through many bad Boggs lay that Night also in the Woods by a Fire not having gone by reason of Hindrances in the River and Boggs above Thirty Miles that day But on the day following we travelled hard and though we had some troublesom Boggs in our way we rode about Fifty Miles and got safe that Night but very weary to a Friend's House MARY-LAND M les-River one Robert Harwood at Miles-River in Mary-land This was the Eighteenth Day of the Seventh Month and though we were very weary and much dirtied with getting through the Boggs in our Journey yet hearing of a Meeting next day we went to it and from it to John Edmundson's from whence we went three or four Miles by Water to a Meeting on the First-Day following At this Meeting there was a Judge's Wife who had never been at any of our Meetings before and she was reached and said after the Meeting She had rather hear us once than the Priests a thousand times Many others also of the World's People that were there were very well satisfied For the Power of the Lord was eminently with and amongst us blessed for ever be his holy Name We passed from thence about twenty two Miles Kentish Shore and had a Meeting upon the Kentish Shore to which one of the Judges came and a good Meeting it was Then after we had had another good Meeting hard by there at one Henry Wilcock's House where also we had good Service for the Lord we went by Water about twenty Miles to a very large Meeting where were some Hundreds of the World's People and divers of the Chief Rank both English and Indians For there were four Justices of the Peace and the High Sheriff of Delaware and some others from thence and there was an Indian Emperor or Governour and two others of the Chief Men among the Indians With these Indians I had a good Opportunity the Night before the Meeting and I spake to them by an Interpreter and they heard the Truth attentively and were very loving A blessed Meeting this was and of great Service both for Convincing 1672. Mary-land and Establishing in the Truth them that were convinced of it blessed be the Lord who causeth his blessed Truth to spread After the Meeting a Woman came to me whose Husband was one of the Judges of that part of the Country and a Member of the Parliament or Assembly there and told me Her Husband was sick not like to live and desired me to go home with her to see him It was three Miles to her House and I being just come hot out of the Meeting it was hard for me then to go Yet considering the Service I got an Horse and went with her and visited her Husband and spake what the Lord gave me to him And the Man was much refreshed and finely raised up by the Power of the Lord and he afterwards came to our Meetings I went back again to the Friends that Night and next day we departed thence and went about nineteen or twenty Miles to Tredhaven-Creek to John Edmundson's again from whence Tredhaven Creek on the Third of the Eighth Month we went to the General Meeting for all maryland-Maryland-Friends This Meeting held five Days together General Meeting the first three Days we had Meetings for Publick Worship to which People of all sorts came the other two days were spent in the Mens and Womens Meetings To those Publick Meetings came many of the World both Protestants of divers sorts and some Papists and amongst these were several Magistrates and their Wives and other Persons of chief Account in the Country and of the common People there were so many besides Friends that they thought there were sometimes a Thousand People at one of those Meetings So that although they had not long before enlarged their Meeting-place and made it as big again as it was before yet it could not contain the People I went by Boat every Day four or five Miles to the Meeting and there were so many Boats at that time passing upon the River that it was almost like the Thames and People said There were never so many Boats seen there together before And as the Concourse of People was very great so that one of the Justices who was there said He never saw so many People together in that Country before so it was a very Heavenly Meeting wherein the Presence of the Lord was gloriously manifested and Friends were thereby sweetly refreshed and the People generally satisfied and many convinced for the blessed Power of the Lord was over all everlasting Praises to his Holy Name for ever After the Publick Meetings were over the Mens and Womens-Meetings began and were held the other two Days for I had something to impart to them which concerned the Glory of God and the Order of the Gospel and the Government of Christ Jesus So when these Meetings were all over we took our Leaves of Friends in those parts whom we left well established in the Truth which is of good Report amongst the People there and great Enquirings there are after it amongst all sorts of People And upon the Tenth Day of the Eighth Month we went from thence about Thirty Miles by Water passing by Cranes-Island and Swan-Island Cranes Island Swan Island Kent Island and Kent-Island in very foul Weather and much Rain whereby our Boat being open we were not only very much wetted but in great danger of being overset Insomuch that some of the World thought we could not have escaped casting away till they saw us come to Shore next morning But blessed be God we were very well And having got a little House and dried our Cloths by the Fire and refreshed our selves a little we betook us to our Boat again and put off from Land sometimes Sailing and sometimes Rowing but having very foul Weather that day too we could not get above twelve Miles forward that Day At Night we got to Land and made us a Fire and some lay by that and some lay by a Fire at an House a little way off Then next Morning pursuing our Journey Great Bay we passed over the great Bay and sailed about Forty Miles that day and making to Shore at Night we lay there some in the Boat and some at an Ale-house by Next morning it being the First-Day of the Week we went Six or Seven Miles to a Friend's House who was a Justice of the Peace where we had a Meeting that Day and this was a little above the Head of the Great Bay So we were almost four Days upon the Water weary with Rowing yet all was very well blessed and praised be the Lord. We went next Day to
chained all down and brought a Reverence upon the Peoples Minds Among the Officers that were there there was a Major that was Kinsman to the Priest and he told me The Priest threatned to come and Oppose us But the Lord's Power was too strong for him and stopt him and we were quiet and peaceable and the People were wonderfully affected with the Testimony of Truth blessed be the Lord for ever Another very good Meeting we had at a place called Crickatrough Crickatrough at which many Considerable People were many of whom had never heard a Friend before and they were greatly satisfied with the Meeting praised be the Lord We had also a very good and serviceable Meeting at John Porter 's which consisted mostly of the World's People in which the Power of the Lord was gloriously seen and felt and it brought the Truth over all the bad Walkers and Talkers blessed be the Lord Divers other Meetings we had and many Opportunities of doing Service for the Lord amongst the People where we came And the last Week that we stay'd we spent some Time and Pains among Friends sweeping away that which was to be swept out and working down a bad Spirit that was got up in some And blessed for ever be the Name of the Lord he it is that gives Victory over all Now having finished what Service lay upon us at Virginia on the Thirtieth Day of the Tenth Month we set Sail in an open Sloop for Maryland MARY-LAND But having a very great Storm that day and being much wetted we were glad to get to Shore before Night And walking to an House at Willoughby-Point Willoughby Point we got Lodging there that Night The Woman of the House was a Widow and a very tender Woman She had never received Friends before but she received us very kindly and with Tears in her Eyes We returned to our Boat in the Morning and hoised up our Sail getting forward as fast and as far as we could but towards Evening a Storm rising and the Wind being high we had much ado to get to the Shore and our Boat being open the Water slashed often in and sometimes over us so that we were sufficiently wetted Being got to Land we made us a Fire in the Woods to warm and dry us and there we lay all that Night the Wolves howling about us On the First of the Eleventh Month we sailed again but the Wind being against us and sometimes driving us backwards we made but little Way and were fain to get to Shore at Point-Comfort where yet we found but small Comfort 1672. Mary-land for the Weather was so Cold that though we made us a good Fire in the Woods to lie by yet our Water that we had got for our Use was frozen near the Fire-side We made to Sea again next Day Point-Comfort but the Wind being strong and against us we advanced but little but were glad to get to Land again and travel about to find some House where we might buy some Provisions for our Store was spent That Night also we lay in the Woods and so extream Cold was the Weather the Wind blowing high and the Frost and Snow being great that it was hard for some to abide it On the Third of the Eleventh Month the Wind sitting pretty fair we fetched it up by Sailing and Rowing and got that Night to Milford-Haven Milford Haven Raphahannock River where we lay at Richard Long 's near Quinces-Island Next Day we passed by Raphahannock-River where dwell much People and Friends had a Meeting there-aways at a Justice's House that had formerly been at a Meeting where I was We passed over Potomack-River also the Winds being high Potomack River the Water very rough our Sloop open and the Weather extream Cold and having a Meeting there-aways also some People of the World that came to it were Convinced and when we parted thence some of our Company went amongst them Potuxon River We steered our Course for Pottuxon-River and I sate at Helm most part of the Day and some of the Night About the First Hour in the Morning we reached James Preston's House in Pottuxon-River which is accounted about Two hundred Miles from Nancemum in Virginia We were very weary yet the next Day being the First of the Week and Fifth of the Month we went to the Meeting not far from thence and the same Week we went to an Indian-King's-Cabbin where several of the Indians were Indian-King's Cabbin with whom we had a pretty Opportunity to discourse and they carried themselves very lovingly We went also that Week to a General Meeting from which we went about Eighteen Miles further to John Gearies where we had a very precious Meeting praised be the Lord God for ever But after this the Cold grew so exceeding sharp such extream Frost and snowy Weather beyond what was usual in that Country so that we could hardly endure to be in it Neither was it easie or safe to stir abroad yet we got with some Difficulty six Miles through the Snow to John Mayer's where we met with some Friends that were come from New-England whom we had left there when we came away and glad we were to see each other after so long and tedious Travels By these Friends we understood that William Edmundson having been at Road-Island and New-England was gone from thence for Ireland that Solomon Eccles coming from Jamaica and landing at Boston in New-England was taken at a Meeting there and banished to Barbados that John Stubbs and another Friend were gone into New-Jersey and several other Friends to Barbados Jamaica and the Leeward-Islands It was Matter of Joy to us to understand that the Work of the Lord went on and prospered and that Friends were unwearied and diligent in the Service On the Twenty Seventh of the Eleventh Month we had a very precious Meeting in a Tobacco-House and on the next Day we returned to James Preston's about Eighteen Miles distant J. Preston ' s. But when we came there we found his House was burnt down to the Ground the Night before 1672. Mary-land J. Preston ' s. through the Carelesness of a Maid-servant So we lay three Nights on the Ground by the Fire the Weather being very Cold. We made an Observation which was somewhat strange but certainly true that one Day in the midst of this Cold Weather the Wind turning into the South it grew so hot that we could hardly bear the Heat and the next Day and Night the Wind chopping back into the North we could hardly endure the Cold. Pottuxon On the Second of the Twelfth Month we had a glorious Meeting at Pottuxon and after it went to John Gearie's again where we waited for a Boat Clifts to carry us to the Monthly-Meeting at the Clifts to which we went and a living Meeting it was praised be the Lord This was on the Sixth of the Twelfth Month. And
another Meeting we had on the Ninth wherein the Glory of the Lord shined over all blessed and magnified be his Holy Name for ever From hence we intended to go to Anamessy and on the Twelfth Day of the Twelfth Month we set forward in our Boat And travelling by Night as well as by Day in the Night we run our Boat on Ground in a Creek near Manaco-River Manaco River There we were fain to stay till Morning that the Tide came and lifted her off again And in the mean time sitting in an open Boat and the Weather being bitter-cold some had like to have lost the Vse of their Hands they were so frozen and benummed with Cold. But in the Morning when the Tide had set our Boat a-float again we got to Land and made us a good Fire at which we warmed our selves well and then went to our Boat again and passed on about ten miles further to a Friend's House where next day we had a very precious Meeting at which some of the Chief of the Place were I went after the Meeting to a Friend's House about four miles off Anamessy River at the Head of Anamessy-River where on the Day following the Judge of the Country and a Justice with him came to me and were very loving and much satisfied with Friend's Order The next Day we had a large Meeting at the Justice's House but it was in his Barn for his House could not hold the Company There were several of the Great Folks of that Country and among the rest there was an Opposer but all was preserved quiet and well and a precious Meeting it was and the People were much taken and affected with the Truth blessed be the Lord. We went next Day to see one Capt. Colburn who was also a Justice of the Peace and there we had some Service Then returning again we had a very glorious Meeting at the same Justice's where we met before and there were many People of Account in the World Magistrates Officers and others at it It was a large Meeting and the Power of the Lord was much felt so that the People were generally well satisfied and taken with the Truth and there being several both Merchants and Masters of Ships from New-England the Truth was spread abroad blessed be the Lord A Day or two after departing from this place we travelled about sixteen miles through the Woods and Bogs heading Anamessy-River and Amoroca-River Amoroca River Manaoke part of which last we went over in a Canooe and came to Manaoke to a Friendly Woman's House where on the Twenty fourth of the Twelfth Month we had a large Meeting in a Barn and the Lord's living Presence was with us and among the People blessed be his Holy Name for ever-more Friends had never had a Meeting in those Parts before 1673. Mary-land Wicocomaco-River After this Meeting we passed over the River Wicocomaco and through many bad and watry Swamps and Marish Way and came to James Jones a Friend who was a Justice of the Peace where we had a large and very glorious Meeting praised be the Lord God Then passing over the Water in a Boat we took Horse and travelled about Twenty four Miles through Woods and troublesom Swamps and came to another Justice's House where we had a very large Meeting much People of the World being at it and many of Considerable Account amongst them and the living Presence of the Lord was amongst us praised for ever be his holy Name This was on the Third Day of the First Month 1672 3. And on the Fifth Day of the same we had another living and heavenly Meeting at which divers of the Justices with their Wives and many others of the World's People were amongst whom we had very good Service for the Lord blessed be his Holy Name At this Meeting was a Woman that lived at Anamessy who had been many Years in Trouble of Mind and sometimes would sit moping near two Months together and hardly speak or mind any thing When I heard of her I was moved of the Lord to go to her and tell her ' That Salvation was come to her House And after I had spoken the Word of Life to her and intreated the Lord for her she mended and went up and down with us to Meetings and is since well blessed be the Lord Being now clear of these parts we left Anamessy on the Seventh Day of the First Month and passing by Water about Fifty Miles came to a Friendly Woman's House at Hunger-River Hunger River We had very rough Weather in our Passage to this Place and were in great Danger for the Boat had like to have been turned over and I lost both my Hat and Cap yet we recovered them again with much ado and through the good Providence of God got safe thither praised be his Name At this place we had a Meeting where we had never any before and amongst the People that were at it there were two Papists a Man and a Woman the Man was very tender and the Woman confessed to the Truth This Meeting was not so large as it would have been if many who intended to have been at it could have got to it but the Weather was so foul and the Water by reason of high Winds so rough that it was not safe to pass upon it I had no Friend now with me but Robert Widders the rest having dispersed themselves into several parts of the Country in the Service of Truth So soon as the Wind would permit we passed from hence about Forty Miles by Water rowing most part of the way and came to the Head of little Choptanck-River to Dr. Winsmore's Choptanck River who was a Justice of Peace and lately convinced Here we met with some Friends with whom we staid a while and then went on by Land and Water and had a large Meeting abroad for the House we were at could not receive the People There were divers of the Magistrates and their Wives at this Meeting and a good Meeting it was blessed be the Lord who is making his Name known in that Wilderness-Country We went back from thence to a Friend's House whose Name is William Stephen's where we met with those other Friends that had been travelling in other parts and were much refreshed in the Lord together when we imparted to each other the good Success we had had in the Lord's Work 1673. Mary-land and the Prosperity and spreading of Truth in the places where we travelled John Cartwright and another Friend had been at Virginia where were great Desires in People after the Truth and being now returned they staid but a little with us here and then set forward for Barbados But before we left this place we had a very glorious Meeting here at which were very many of the World's People and some of the Chief of them For there was the Judge of that Country and three Justices of the Peace
are with me and we are well Glory to the Lord for ever who hath carried us through many Perils Perils by Water and in Storms Perils by Pirates and Robbers Perils in the Wilderness and amongst false Professors Praises to him whose Glory is over all for ever Amen Therefore mind the fresh Life and live all to God in it I do intend if the Lord will to stay a while this-away it may be till the Fair. So no more but my Love to all Friends Bristol the 28th Day of the 4th Month 1673. G. F. Between this and the Fair my Wife came out of the North to Bristol to me and her Son-in-Law Thomas Lower with two of her Daughters came with her And her other Son-in-Law John Rouse and W. Penn and his Wife and Gerrard Roberts came down from London and many Friends from several parts of the Nation came to the Fair and glorious powerful Meetings we had there at that time for the Lord 's Infinite Power and Life was over all In the fresh Openings whereof I was moved to declare of Three Estates and Three Teachers viz. That God was the first Teacher of Man and Woman in Paradise And as long as they kept to and under God's Teaching they kept in the Image of God and in his Likeness in Righteousness and Holiness and in Dominion over all that God had made in the blessed State in the Paradise of God But when they heark'ned to the Serpent's false Teaching who was out of Truth and disobeyed God and obeyed the Serpent in feeding upon that which God forbad them then they lost the Image of God the Righteousness and Holiness and came under the Power of Satan and were turned out of Paradise out of the Blessed into the Cursed State And then the Promise of God was That the Seed of the Woman should bruise the Serpent's Head and break his Power that Man and Woman were under and destroy his Works So here were Three States and Three Teachers God was the first Teacher in Paradise and whilst Man kept under his Teaching he was happy The Serpent was the Second Teacher and when Man followed his Teaching he came into Misery and into the Fall from the Image of God and Righteousness and Holiness and from the Power that he had over all that God had made and came under the Serpent whom he had Power over before Christ Jesus was the Third Teacher of whom God saith This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear ye him and who himself saith Learn of me This is the true Gospel-Teacher who bruises the Head of the Serpent that is the False Teacher and the Head of all False Teachers and of all False Religions False Ways False Worships and False Churches Now Christ who said Learn of me and of whom the Father said Hear ye him he said I am the Way to God I am the Truth I am the Life and the true Light So as Man and Woman come up again to God and are renewed up into his Image Righteousness and Holiness by Christ thereby they come up into the Paradise of God the State which Man was in before he fell and into an higher State than that to sit down in Christ that never fell Therefore the Son of God is to be heard in all things who is the Saviour and the Redeemer and hath laid down his Life and bought his Sheep with his precious Blood And we can challenge all the World Who hath any thing to say against our Way our Saviour our Redeemer who is our Prophet whom God hath raised up that we may hear and whom we must hear in all things Who hath any thing against our Shepherd Christ Jesus who leads and feeds us and we know his Heavenly Voice And who hath any thing against our Bishop in whose Mouth was never Guile found who doth Oversee us in his Pasture of Life that we do not go astray from God and out of his Fold And who hath any thing against our Priest Christ Jesus made higher than the Heavens who gives us freely and commands us to give freely And who hath any thing to say against our Leader and Counsellor Christ Jesus who never sinned but is holy and harmless and separate from Sinners God hath commanded us to hear him and he saith Learn of me and if we should disobey God's and Christ's Command we should be like our Father Adam and Mother Eve who disobeyed God's Command and hearkned to the Serpent's Teaching Now Man commands and would force us to hear the Hirelings who plead for Sin and the Body of Death to the Grave which Doctrine savours of the Devil 's Teaching not of Christ's But we resolve to hear the Son as both he and the Father command and in hearing the Son we hear the Father also as the Scripture testifies For the Author to the Hebrews says God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son Mark that God hath spoken unto us his Apostles Disciples Church by his Son And whereas some have objected That although Christ did speak both to his Disciples and to the Jews in the days of his Flesh yet since his Resurrection and Ascension he doth not speak now The Answer is That as God did then speak by his Son in the Days of his Flesh so the Son Christ Jesus doth now speak by his Spirit Wherefore John saith in the Revelations He that hath an Ear let him hear what the Spirit saith to the Churches Rev. 2. And Christ is said to speak from Heaven Heb. 12.25 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on Earth much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from Heaven They that resisted Moses his Law who spake on Earth died for it without Mercy which was a Natural Death but they that refuse him that speaks from Heaven neglect and slight their own Salvation and so die a Spiritual Death through Unbelief and Hardness of Heart Therefore was the Exhortation given of old To day if ye will hear his Voice harden not your Hearts as in the Provocation c. Heb. 3.15 c. So that they who neglect or refuse to hear the Voice of Christ now speaking from Heaven in this his Gospel-Day harden their Hearts Therefore let all mark well thâ—se three States and Teachers The God of Truth was the first Teacher wâ—â—â—e Man was in Paradise and in Innocency The Serpent was the second Teacher the false Teacher who by his false Teaching came to be the God of the World which lies in Wickedneâ—s Christ Jesus that bruises the Serpent's Head is the third Teacher who saith Learn of me and of whom God saith This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Hear ye him and of whom the Testimony of the Saints of Old was That
Powerful Presence being eminently with us and amongst us After the Meeting was done and Friends most of them gone away as I was sitting in the Parlour discoursing with some Friends that staid there came to the House one Henry Parker called a Justice and with him one Rowland Hains a Priest of Hunniton in Warwickshire This Justice came to know of the Meeting by means of a Woman-Friend who being Nurse to a Child of his asked Leave of her Mistress to go to the Meeting to see me and she speaking of it to her Husband he and the Priest plotted together to come and break up the Meeting and apprehend me But by means of their sitting long at Dinner it being the Day on which his Child was sprinkled they came not till the Meeting was over and Friends mostly gone But though there was no Meeting when they came yet I being there in the House who was the Person they aimed at the said Henry Parker took me and Thomas Lower for Company with me and though he had nothing to lay to our Charge sent us both to Worcester-Jail by a strange sort of Mittimus a Copy of which here followeth Worcester ss To the Constables of Tredington in the said County of Worcester and to all Constables and Tithing-men of the several Townships and Villages within the said Parish of Tredington and to the Keeper of the Goal for the County of Worcester COmplaint being made to me being one of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace for the said County of Worcester that within the said Parish of Tredington in the said County there has of late been several Meetings of divers Persons to the number of Four hundred Persons and upwards at a time upon Pretence of Exercise of Religion otherwise than what is established by the Laws of England And many of the said Persons some of them were Teachers and came from the North and others from the remote parts of the Kingdom which tends to the Prejudice of the Reformed and Established Religion and may prove prejudicial to the Publick Peace And it appearing to me that there was this present Day such a Meeting as aforesaid to the number of Two hundred or thereabouts at Armscot in the said Parish of Tredington 1670. Armscot and that George Fox of London and Thomas Lower of the Parish of Creed in the County of Cornwal were present at the said Meeting and the said George Fox was Teacher or Speaker of the said Meeting and no satisfactory Account of their Settlement or place of Habitation appearing to me and forasmuch as the said George Fox and Thomas Lower refused to give Sureties to Appear at the next Sessions of the Peace to be holden for the said County to answer the Breach of the Common-Laws of England and what other Matters should be Objected against them These are therefore in his Majesty's Name to will and require you or either of you forthwith to Convey the Bodies of the said George Fox and Thomas Lower to the County-Goal of Worcester aforesaid and there safely to be kept until they shall be from thence delivered by due Course of Law For which this shall be your sufficient Warrant in that behalf Dated the 17th Day of December in the 25th Year of his Majesty's Reign over England c. HENRY PARKER Being thus made Prisoners without any probable Appearance of being Released before the Quarter-Sessions at Soonest we got some Friends to accompany my Wife and her Daughter into the North and we were conveyed to Worcester-Jail from whence Worcester-Jail by that time I thought my Wife could be got home I writ her the following Letter Dear Heart THou seemedst to be a little grieved when I was speaking of Prisons and when I was taken Be content with the Will of the Lord God For when I was at John Rous's at Kingston I had a sight of my being taken Prisoner and when I was at Bray Doily's in Oxfordshire as I sate at Supper I saw I was taken and I saw I had a Suffering to undergo But the Lord's Power is over all blessed be his Holy Name for ever G. F. When we had beeen some time in the Jail we thought fit to lay our Case before him who was called the Lord Windsore who was the Lord Lieutenant of Worcestershire and before the Deputy Lieutenants and other Magistrates Which we did by the following Letter THese are to inform you the Lord Lieutenant so called and the Deputy-Lieutenants and the Justices of the County of Worcestershire how Unchristianly and Inhumanly we have been dealt withal by Henry Parker a Justice so called in our Journey or Travel towards the North. We coming to our Friend John Halford's House on the Seventeenth Day of the Tenth Month 1673. and some Friends bringing us on the Way and others coming to Visit us there towards Night there came the aforesaid Justice and a Priest called Rowland Hains of Hunniton in Warwickshire and demanded our Names and Places of Abode And though we were not in any Meeting 1673. Worcester Jail but were discoursing together when they came in yet he made a Mittimus to send us to Worcester-Jail Now whereas he says in his Mittimus That Complaint had been made to him of several by-past Meetings of many Hundreds at a time we know nothing of that nor do we think that concerns us And whereas he says further That no satisfactory Account of our Settlement or place of Habitation appeared unto him This he contradicts in his own Mittimus mentioning therein the Places of our Abode and Habitation the Account of which we satisfactorily and fully gave him And one of us Tho. Lower told him That I was going down with my Mother-in-Law who is George Fox his Wife and with my Sister to fetch up my own Wife and Child out of the North into my own Country And the other of us George Fox told him That I was bringing forward my Wife on her Journey towards the North who had been at London to visit one of her Daughters that had lately Lain in And having received a Message from my Mother an ancient Woman in Leicestershire that she earnestly desired to see me before she died I intended as soon as I had brought my Wife on her Journey as far as Causal in Warwickshire to turn over into Leicestershire to have seen my Mother and Relations there and then to have returned to London again But by his interrupting of us in our Journey and taking the Husband from his Wife and the Son from his Mother and Sister and stopping him from visiting his Wife and Child so remote off we were forced to get Strangers or whom we could to help them on their Journey to our great Dammage and their Hindrance We askt the Priest Whether this was his Gospel and their Way of Entertaining Strangers And we desired the Justice to consider Whether this was doing as he would be done by But he said He had said it
at John Elson's in the Morning before I came away I set forward from thence with my Wife and her Daughter Susan by Coach for I was not able to travel on Horse-back towards the North 1675. Highgate Dunstable Newport-Pagnel Northampton Cossel many Friends accompanying us as far as High-Gate and some to Dunstable where we lodged that Night Afterwards travelling on we visited Friends and were visited by them at Newport-Pagnell Northampton and Cossel where amongst other Friends that came to see us there came a Woman and brought her Daughter for me to see how Well she was putting me in mind That when I was there before she had brought her to me much troubled with the Disease called the King 's Evil and had then desired me to Pray for her Which I did and she grew Well upon it praised be the Lord From Cossel we went on by John Simcock's and William Gandy's to Warrington and Preston and so to Lancaster Warrington Preston Friends visiting us and we them as we went I had not been at Lancaster Lancaster since I was carried Prisoner from thence by the Vnder-Sheriff and Jailer towards Scarborough-Castle in Yorkshire and now I found the Town full of People for it was both the Fair-time there and the Trained-Bands were met there also upon a General Muster There were also many Friends in Town from several parts of the County because the Quarterly Meeting for the County was to be there the next Day I staid Two Nights and a Day at Lancaster and visited Friends both at their Mens and Womens-Meetings which were very full large and peaceable for the Lord's Power was over all and none meddled with us Here met us Thomas Lower and his Wife with Sarah Fell James Lancaster and Leonard Fell and the next Day after the Meeting being the Twenty Fifth of the Fourth Month we went over the Sands with several other Friendâ— Over the Sands and came safe to Swarthmore After I had been a while at Swarthmore Swarthmore several Friends from divers places and parts of the Nation came to visit me and some out of Scotland by whom I understood that there were Four young Students of Aberdeen Convinced there this Year at a Dispute held there by Robert Barclay and George Keith with some of the Scholars of that Vniversity Among others of the Neighbourhood that came to Visit me Col. Kirby was one who had been one of my great Persecutors but now he said he came to bid me Welcome into the Country and carried himself at this time in Appearance very lovingly Yet before I went from Swarthmore he sent for the Constables of Vlverstone and ordered them to come up to me and to tell me That we must have no more Meetings at Swarthmore for if we had they were commanded by him to break them up and they were to come the next First-Day after That Day we had a very precious Meeting there and the Lord's Presence was wonderful amongst us and the Constables did not come to disturb us but the Meetings have been quiet since and have encreased The Ilness I got in my Imprisonment at Worcester had so much weakned me that it was long before I recovered my Natural Strength again For which Reason and for that I had many things lay upon me to Write both for publick and private Service I did not stir much abroad during the Time that I now staid in the North but when Friends were not with me spent pretty much time in writing Books and Papers for Truth 's Service For while I was at Swarthmore I gave forth several Books to be Printed viz. 1675. Swarthmore One Concerning Swearing Another shewing That none are Successors to the Prophets and Apostles but who succeed them in the same Power and Holy Ghost that they were in Another shewing That Possession is above Profession and how the Professors now do persecute Christ in Spirit as the professing Jews did persecute him outwardly in the Days of his Flesh Another little Book To the Magistrates of Dantzick Another called Cain against Abel or An Answer to the New-England mens Laws Another To Friends at Mevis concerning Watching Another A General Epistle to all Friends in Amâ—rica Another Concerning Caesar 's Due and God 's Due c. Another Concerning Ordering of Families Another Entituled The Spiritual Man judgeth all things Another Concerning the Higher Power Besides these I writ several Epistles to Friends both here in England and beyond the Seas and Answers to divers Papers concerning the Running out of some who opposed the Order of the Gospel and had stirred up a great deal of Strife and Contention in Westmorland Wherefore I was moved to write a few Lines particularly to Friends there directed thus This is for Friends in Westmorland ALL live in the Power of God and in his Light and Spirit which did first Convince you that in it ye may keep in the ancient Vnity and in the Humility and in the Fear of the Lord and his gentle and peaceable Wisdom which is Easie to be intreated That in the same Power Light and Spirit of God ye may all be serviceable in your Mens and Womens-Meetings in the Possession of the Gospel-Order which Gospel the Power of God hath brought Life and Immortality to light that in this ye may see over him that hath darkned you And in this Power the Glorious Gospel no Apostates can come for the Power of God was before the Apostates were or the Fall of Man and Woman was or the Devil either and will be when he is gone Therefore praise God in his Glorious Gospel in which you have an Eternal Fellowship in the Everlasting Gospel of Jesus Christ which is not of Man nor by Man And therefore all Friends in Westmorland keep in the Power of God which will and must preserve and cover you if ye be preserved Therefore let your Faith stand in the Power of God and not in the Wisdom of Mens Words lest ye fall for in God's Power ye have Peace Life and Vnity and for want of keeping in God's Power and in his Righteousness and Holy Ghost is all this Strife come among you G F. I also writ the following General Epistle to Friends at the Yearly Meeting in London 1676. Swarthmore My Dear Friends and Brethren WHom the Lord hath preserved by his Eternal Power to this Day over and through many Troubles Storms and Tempests and Prisons and therefore let every one's Faith stand in the Power of God which is over the Devil and before he was So your Faith standing in the Invisible Power of God it stands in that which does not change and the Faith that Christ Jesus the Power of God is the Author of it must stand in the Power of God So then it stands in that which is over all in which they are established And this the Apostle brought the Church and the true Christians to And so ought all the true Christians Faith
if ye lose it and let another Spirit get over you ye will not so soon regain it again For I knew the Devil would bestir himself in his Instruments when Mens and Womens-Meetings came to be set up and all in the Power Light and Truth and Heirs of the Gospel to take their Possession of it in every County and City in it to walk and to watch one over another and in it to take Care of God's Glory and Honour and his precious Truth and to see that all did walk in the Truth and as becomes the Gospel and to see that nothing was lacking and so whatsoever was decent modest virtuous lovely comely righteous and of good Report to follow after and to admonish and exhort all that was not faithful and to rebuke all that did Evil I knew that this would give such a Check to all loose Speakers Talkers and Walkers I did not expect but that there would be an Opposition against such Meetings But never heed Truth will come over them all and is over them all and Faith must have the Victory for the Gospel and its Order is Everlasting and the Seed Christ is the Beginning and the Ending and will out-last all the Amen in whom ye have Peace I say all that do oppose the Mens and Womens-Meetings or that Marriages should be laid before them or of Recording of Condemnations of Sin and Evil or Admonishing or Exhorting such as walk not in the Truth they are of a loose Spirit and their Spirits tend to Looseness and let them take them that will for Truth will not have them nor will have none of their Sacrifice For nothing is accepted of God but what is done in Truth and in his Spirit which is peaceable And the Authority of our Mens and Womens-Meetings is the Power of God and all the Heirs of the Gospel are Heirs of that Authority and Dignity and this is of God and shall Answer the Witness of God in all And the greatest Opposers of this Practice and Work will be and are such as have been Convinced of God's Truth but have not lived in it and such were the greatest Troublers of the Church in Moses's Day and in the Days of the Apostles But mark their End and read what became of them all And therefore all keep your Habitation in Truth and therein ye may see what became of all the Opposers of it for Twenty Years past They are all gone and the Truth lives and reigns and the Seed is over all and all is One in it in Rest Peace and Life Everlasting and therein they sit down together in the Heavenly Places in Christ Jesus the Amen Swarthmore the 5th of the 8th Month 1676. G. F. In this Year while I was at Swarthmore died William Lampit the old Priest of Vlverstone which is the Parish that Swarthmore is in He was an Old Deceiver and Perverter of the Right Way of the Lord and a Persecutor of the People of God and much Contest I had with him when I first came into those parts He had been an old false Prophet for in the Year 1652. he Prophesied and said he would Wage his Life upon it That the Quakers would all vanish and come to nought within half a year But he came to nought himself For he continued in his Lying and false Accusing of God's People till a little before he died and then he cried for a little Rest And to one of his Hearers that came to visit him before he died he said I have been a Preacher a long time 1677. Swarthmore and thought I had lived well but I did not think it had been so hard a Thing to die Now after I had finished those Services which lay upon me then to do feeling my Spirit drawn again towards the South though I was yet but weakly and not able to Travel far in a Day I left Swarthmore on the Twenty Sixth Day of the First Month 1677. Westmorland Powbank Camsgill and went to Thomas Pearson's at Powbank in Westmorland where I had a Meeting the next Day and went from thence to Thomas Cam's at Cam's-Gill whither Robert Widders with his Wife and several other Friends came to see me before I left the Country and to be at the Meeting there the next Day which was very large and in which I was largely drawn forth in Testimony to the Truth After the Meeting I had much Discourse with some of that Meeting who at that time were not in Vnity with Friends of the Quarterly Meeting they belonged to but afterwards several of them that were somewhat Tender came to see their Error and gave forth Condemnations against themselves Next day John Blaykling came to Tho. Cam's Yorkshire Sedberg Drawell to bring me to his House at Drawell in Sedberg in Yorkshire whither I went with him visiting Friends in the way I staid at Drawel two or three Nights having Meetings there and thereabouts For while I was there the Men and Womens-Meetings were held there which were very large and precious And on the First Day following I had a Meeting at Brigflats not far off Brigflats where were most part of the Friends from the several Meetings round about and a great Concourse of other People also so that it was thought there were Five or Six Hundred People and a very good Meeting it was wherein Truth was largely declared and preciously opened to the comforting and refreshing the Faithful and the drawing near them that were afar off After this I had another Meeting at John Blaykling's Drawell where were many Friends that were going to the Quarterly Meeting at Kendal With them my Wife went back who with her Daughter Rachel had accompanied me thus far and I having Leonard Fell with me passed on through Sedberg and Garsdale and into Wensydale Sedberg Garsdale Wensydale Counterside visiting Friends as we went And at Night I reached to Richard Robinson's at Counterside where several Friends came to me that Evening and some of them went with me next Day over the Hills to the Widow Tenant's at Scarhouse in Langstroth-dale Langstrothdale Scarhouse whither we had much ado to get the Snow lay so deep though it was a Week in the Second Month. Here on the next Day which was the First Day of the Week we had a large Meeting Friends coming to it from several parts round about and the Lord gave me a very seasonable Testimony to bear amongst them which I did for several Hours to their great Satisfaction and Comfort Thence passing on through Bishopsdale Bishopsdale Mildum Barton Bedal Northallerton Burrowby Mildum Barton and so through the Country by Bedal and North-allerton I came to George Robinson's at Burrowby where also Friends coming out of several parts we had a very large and good Meeting and very Peaceable But not long after an envious Justice who lived not far off hearing that I had a great Meeting there troubled Friends about it
Northampton Olney in Buckinghamshire Bedfordshire Turry After this Meeting I went with Thomas Charles to his house at Adingworth and from thence next day to Northampton where I stayed the First-day-Meeting which was very large and peaceable and had much Service among Friends besides Next day Edward Cooper of Northampton accompanied me to Olney in Buckinghamshire where I stay'd at James Brierlie's several Friends coming thither to see me in the Evening Next day I went to a Meeting at Turry in Bedfordshire to which Friends came from several Parts so that it was a very large Meeting Here I met with William Dewsberry who after the Meeting took me along with him to his Son-in-law John Rush's of Kempston Kempston where I stayed with William that night and most part of the next day passing thence towards Evening through Ampthill Ampthill Bullocks-hill to Thomas Gambolls of Bullocks-hill William Dewsberry went along with me thither and there also several Friends came to visit us Next day Luton Market-street Kensworth passing through Luton I went to Market-street William Dewsberry accompanying me part of the way and the day following Leonard Fell and I had a Meeting at Kensworth which was pretty large and peaceable After the Meeting we went to Albans Albans South-Mims Barnet Middlesex Gutters-hedge in Henden where we visited Friends and next day passing through South-Mims and Barnet where also we visited Friends we came that night to the Widow Haylye's at Guttershedge in Hendon in Middlesex Next day being the First-day of the Week we had a very large Meeting there several Friends coming from London I stayed there on the Second-day and on the Third went to William Mead's house at High-gate Highgate with whom next day I went to London London and it being the Fourth-day of the Week I went to the Meeting at Gracious-street where Friends and I were greatly refreshed in each other in the Lord and the Lord's Power and Seed was set over all blessed be his Name for ever Thus it pleased the Lord to bring me safe to London though much wearied with Travel for though I rode not very far in a day yet having had much weakness of Body continual Travel was hard to me Besides I had not much rest a-nights to refresh Nature for I often sate late up with Friends where I lodged to Inform and Advise them in things wherein they were wanting and when I was in bed I was often hindred of sleep by great pains which I felt in my Head and Teeth occasioned as I thought by Cold I had taken by riding often in the Rain But the Lord's Power was over all and carried me through all to his praise In my Journey I observed a slackness and shortness in some that professed Truth in keeping up the antient Testimony of Truth against Tithes for where-ever that Spirit got Entrance which wrought Division in the Church and opposed the Mens and Womens Meetings it weakned those that received it in their Testimony against Tithes Wherefore I was moved of the Lord to give forth a short Paper by way of an Epistle to Friends to stir up the pure Mind in them and to encourage and strengthen them in their Christian Testimony against that Antichristian Yoke and Oppression My dear Friends BE faithful to the Lord in your Testimony for Jesus 1677. London who hath ended the Levitical Priesthood of Aaron that took Tithes and sent his Ministers forth freely to give freely that which they had received of him freely without a Bag or a Staff So Christ's Disciples could not join with those that made a Trade of Preaching And as there was a Testimony to be born against those Tithes which were commanded in the Law for Levi and Aaron So there is a Testimony to be born against these Tithes which have been set up by Man in the dark time of Popery and not set up by God nor Christ Now for any to cry against the Priests in words and yet to give them Means and put into their Mouths that they may not prepare War against you this is a Contradiction And therefore take heed for if the Lord God do bless you with outward Creatures and you do bestow them upon Baal's Priests the Lord may justly require the Outward things from you again which he hath given you who saith That his Christian Ministers should freely give as they have freely received of Christ Jesus So all the Preachers for Tithes and Money and the Takers and Payers of Tithe must be testified against in the Lord's Power and Spirit so that all Men and Women may stand up in their Testimony for Jesus Christ in his Power and Spirit against the Tithe-mongers Consider how many faithful Servants and Valiants of the Lord have laid down their Lives against them in this day of the Lord and in the days of the Martyrs they did then witness against them Consider also what Judgments have come upon them that have spoiled Friends Goods and have cast them into Prison for Tithes and Maintenance And therefore in the Power of the Lord maintain the War against the Beast and do not put into his Mouth lest he cry Peace to you which Peace you must not receive but it must be broken and thrown out by the Spirit of God And then in the same Spirit ye will receive the Peace from the Son of Peace which the Beast and the Whore and the World with all their earthly Teachers for the Earth which are made by Man cannot receive nor bereave you of And therefore keep your Authority and Dominion in the Power and Spirit and Name of Jesus in whom my love is to you 3d Month 1677. G. F. I came to London on the 23th of the Third Month some Ten or Twelve days before the Yearly Meeting in which time I fell in with Friends there in the Service of Truth visiting them at the Meetings And the Parliament then sitting we prepared something to lay before them concerning the seizing of the Third part of Friends Estates as Popish Recusants which was a great Suffering and a Grievance we Complained of but no Redress we got To the Yearly Meeting many Friends came from most parts of the Nation 1677. London Yearly Meeting and some out of Scotland Holland c. and very glorious Meetings we had wherein the Lord 's powerful Presence was very largely felt and the Affairs of Truth were sweetly carried on in the Unity of the Spirit to the Satisfaction and Comfort of the upright-hearted blessed be the Lord for ever Then after the Yearly Meeting was over and I had stay'd a Week or Two with Friends in London I went down with William Penn to his house in Sussex Sussex John Burnyeat and some other Friends went with us Surrey and as we passed through Surrey hearing that the Quarterly Meeting for that County was that day William Penn John Burnyeat and I went from the Road to it and
from men and to receive the Gospel from him and their Vnction from him the Word and as they receive him they declare him freely as his Command was to his Disciples and is so still to the Learners and Receivers of him For he Lord God and his Son Jesus Christ is come to teach his People and to bring them from all the Worlds Ways to Christ the Way the Truth and the Life who is the Way to the Father and from all the Worlds Teachers and Speakers to him the Speaker and Teacher as Hebr. 1.1 and from all the Worlds Worshippers to worship God in the Spirit and in the Truth which the Devil the Destroyer is out of which Worship Christ set up above Sixteen hundred years ago when he put down the Jews Worship at the Temple at Jerusalem and the Worship at the Mountain where Jacob's Well was and to bring People from all the World's Religions which they have made since the Apostles days to the Religion that was set up by Christ and his Apostles which is Pure and Undefiled before God and keeps from the Spots of the World And to bring them out of all the Worlds Churches and Fellowships that they have made and set up since the Apostles days to the Church that is in God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Thess 1.1 and to bring to the Unity and Fellowship in the holy Spirit that doth mortifie and circumcise and baptise to plunge down Sin and Corruption that has got up in Man and Woman by Transgression and in this holy Spirit there is a holy Fellowship and Unity yea it is the Bond of the Prince of Princes and King of Kings and Lord of Lords Peace which heavenly Peace all the true Christians are to maintain with Spiritual Weapons not with Carnal And now my Friend the holy Men of God did speak forth the Scriptures as they were moved by the holy Ghost and all Christendom are on heaps about those Scriptures because they are not led by the same holy Ghost as they were that gave forth the Scriptures which holy Ghost they must come to in themselves and be led by if they come into All the Truth of them and to have the Comfort of God and Christ and Them For none can call Jesus Lord but by the holy Ghost and all they that do call Christ Lord without the holy Ghost take his Name in vain And likewise all that name his Name are to depart from Iniquity then they name his Name with Reverence in Truth and Righteousness And O therefore feel the Grace and Truth in thy heart that is come by Jesus Christ which is a Teacher that will teach thee how to live and what to deny and it will establish thy heart and season thy words and bring thy Salvation and will be a Teacher unto thee at all times and by it thou may'st Receive Christ from whence it comes and as many as Receive him to them he gives power not only to stand against sin and evil but to become the Sons of God if Sons then Heirs of a Life and a World and Kingdom that is Everlasting without end and of the Eternal Riches and Treasures thereof So in haste with my Love in the Lord Jesus Christ that has tasted death for every man and bruises the Serpents head that has been betwixt Man and God that through Christ Man may come to God again and so can praise God through Jesus Christ the Amen who is the spiritual and heavenly Rock and Foundation for all God's People to build upon to the praise and glory of God who is over all blessed for Evermore Amsterdam the 7th of 6th Month 1677. George Fox POSTSCRIPT THE Bearer hereof is a Daughter-in-law of mine that comes with Gertrude Dirick Nieson and George Keith's Wife to give thee a Visit G. F. The Princess Elizabeth her Answer to the aforesaid LETTER Dear Friend I Cannot but have a tender Love to those that love the Lord Jesus Christ and to whom it is given not only to believe in him but also to suffer for him Therefore your Letter and your Friends Visit have been both very welcome to me I shall follow their and your Counsel as far as God will afford me Light and Unction Remaining still Hertfort the 30th of August 1677. Your loving Friend ELIZABETH Buyckslote Purmerent Next day John Claus and I took Boat and passed to Buyckslote and thence to Purmerent where having stayed awhile and refreshed our selves at an Inn we went by Wagon through the Country to Alcmaer Alcmaer about Thirty Miles from Amsterdam We went to a Friend's house there whose name was Willem Willems where I had a Meeting that night I had also another Meeting there next day which was larger for several Professors came to the Meeting and all was quiet and well When the Meeting was done I went and visited some Friends and then taking Boat Hoorn North-Holland passed-by several places to Hoorn which is counted the chief City in North-Holland We lodged at an Inn there that night and taking Wagon again early next Morning we passed through the Country to Enckhuysen Enckhuysen Friezland Workum where we took Ship for Friezland and landing in the Afternoon at Workum took Wagon there again and rode along upon the high Bank of the Friezen Seas till we met Two Friends coming with a Wagon to meet us Mackum with whom discharging our Wagon at Mackum a Village hard by we went Harlingen in their Wagon to Harlingen the chief Sea-port-Town in Friezland We went to a Friend's house whose Name was Hessel Jacobs whither several Friends came to Visit us that night Next day we went among the Friends of the place and Visited them and I wrote a Paper directed To all them that persecute Friends for not observing their Fast-day The day following was the First-day of the Week and Friends had a Meeting there to which we went and many Professors came to it I declared the Everlasting Gospel amongst them John Claus interpreting and they were all very Civil and heard attentively and when the Meeting was done departed peaceably without making any Opposition After Meeting I went to Hessel Jacobs his house again whither after a while came a Calvinist to ask me some Questions which I answered to his satisfaction and he departed friendly Soon after he was gone a Preacher of the Collegians came to discourse with me 1677. Harlingen and he seemed well satisfied also and we parted lovingly That Evening I had another Meeting with the Friends there and next Morning when we had taken our Leave of them we passed to Leuwarden the chief City in Friezland Leuwarden and lodged that night at a Friend's house there whose Name was Sybrand Dowes Next Morning early taking Boat we passed to Dockum Dockum Strobus and walking through the City took Boat again to Strobus which is the utmost part of Friezland There we baited at a
Commissary's house and then taking Boat again we passed to Groningen Groningen the chief City of the Province of Groningland One of the Magistrates of that City came with us from Leuwarden with whom I had some discourse on the way and he was very loving We walked near Two Miles through the City and then took Boat for Delfziel and passing in the Evening Delfziel Appingdalen through a Town called Appingdalem where had been a great Horse-Fair that day there came many Officers rushing into the Boat and being somewhat in drink they were very Rude I spake to them exhorting them to fear the Lord and beware of Solomon 's vanities They were a sort of boisterous Fellows yet they were somewhat more Civil afterwards We landed at Delfziel about the Tenth hour at night having travelled much about Fifty English Miles that day We went to an Inn to Lodge and as we passed through the Guards they Examined John Claus whether I was not a Militia Souldier and when he had told them that I was not they let us pass peaceably on This City Delfziel stands on the River Eems over which we passed next day to the City Embden a Place Embden where Friends had been cruelly persecuted and from which they had been often banished I went to an Inn where I stay'd and dined with some men that understood English with whom I had a fine time and they were loving Mean while John Claus went with his Wife to her Fathers who lived in Embden whither after I had dined I went also understanding the old Man was desirous to see me In the Afternoon John Claus and I walked through the City to the place where the Wagon which he had hired was to meet us and while we tarried for it the Friends that were in the City came to the house where we were and there we had a little Meeting When the Meeting was over and the Wagon came not we sent to know the Reason and the Master of the Wagon sent us word that he durst not let his Wagon go for the Bishop of Munster's Souldiers were up in the Country and he was afraid they would take away his Horses So being disappointed of our passage we returned to John Claus his Father-in-law's house where I left him and went my self to my Inn at night We took Shipping next day and passed about Fifteen Miles upon the River Eems to a Market-Town in East-Friezland River Eems East-Friezland Leer Strikehuysen called Leer where lived a Friend that had been banished from Embden and when we had visited him we hired a Wagon in that Town and passed to a Garrison-Town called Strikehuysen where the Guards Examined us 1677. Deteren and then we went on to Deteren where hiring another Wagon we passed through the Country to another Garrison'd Town where we were very strictly Examined Apre From thence we passed unto Apre in the King of Denmark's Country where we lodged that night In our Travel this day we met the Earl of Oldenburgh going to the Treaty of Peace at Lembachie Next day hiring another Wagon we passed through the Country to the City Oldenburgh Oldenburgh lately a great and famous Place but then burnt down and but few houses left standing in it At this place we hired another Wagon and went through the Country to Delmenhurst Delmenhurst where after we had been Examined by the Guards we went to a Burger-Master's to lodge whose house was an Inn. And there being many People I declared the Way of Truth to him and them Warning them all of the Day of the Lord that was coming upon all Evil-doers Germany Bremen From hence we passed next day by Wagon to Bremen which is a stately City in Germany and from thence after a double Examination Overdelend Fisher-holder we went by Wagon to a Water called Overdelend and there took Boat to Fisher-holder Where finding pretty many People together I declared the Way of God to them and exhorted them to fear the Lord. There we took Wagon again and travelled in the Bishop of Munster's Country Munsterland Closterseven to a place called Closterseven and having no Inclination to stay there we got fresh Horses there intending to travel all night Accordingly we went out a little way but it quickly grew so dark and rained so hard that we thought it best to turn back again thither for our Wagon being open we had no defence against the Rain and our Cloaths were already wet with the Rain that had fallen for several days before So we went back to an Inn and got a little fresh Straw upon which we lay till about break of day and then set out in our Wagon again and travelled through the Country to the City of Buxtehude Buxtehude The People in the Bishop of Munster's Country were very dark and as we passed amongst them I preached Truth to them warning them of the Great and Notable Day of the Lord and exhorting them to soberness and to mind the good Spirit of God in themselves It was on the First-day of the Week that we went through this City Buxtehude and without the Walls was a great Fair of Sheep and Geese that day We stayed but a little to refresh our selves Hamborough and went on as fast as we could to Hamborough partly by Wagon and partly by Water We got to Hamborough time enough to get a Meeting there that Evening and a good and glorious Meeting it was There were at it amongst others a Baptist-Teacher and his Wife and a Great Man of Sweden and his Wife and all was quiet blessed be the Lord whose Power was Exalted over all Yet a dark hard place this is and the People are much shut up from Truth At Hamborough there was a Woman 1677. Hamborough that had spoken against me in John Perrot's time though she had never seen me till now and she had been troubled for it ever since and now was glad of an Opportunity to acknowledge her Fault which she very readily did and I did as readily and freely forgive her We stayed that night at Hamborough encouraging and strengthening the Friends there in the Testimony to the Truth and betimes next Morning we set forward towards Frederick stadt which is Two long days Journey from Hamborough We went the First-day to a Town called Elmshoorn where we baited Elmshoorn and then rode on through a Garrison-Town of the King of Denmark's and passing by the Monument of the Earl of Ransenny Rantzow Itzeho we came to the City of Itzeho where we lodged that night and I had some Service in the Evening among the People in the Inn whom I exhorted to soberness and to live in the Fear of the Lord. Next Morning setting out again we travelled to a Town called Hoghenhorn Hoghen-horn where we dined at an Inn with one of the Council of Frederick-stadt to whom and to the rest of the People
present I declared the Truth with which they seemed to be affected Then travelling on we came to a River called Eyder where we took Boat and so went to Frederick-stadt The River Eyder Frederick-stadt We went to a Friend's house there whose name is William Pauls where several Friends came to us for there is a pretty many Friends in that City and we had a fine refreshing Meeting together that Evening which made us forget our Weariness for we were indeed very weary having travelled hard those Two days and being Wet through our Cloaths having had much Rain in our Open Wagons But the Lord made all easie and good to us and we were well and glad to see Friends blessed be his holy name for ever This City is in the Duke of Holsteyn's Country Holstein who would have banished Friends out of the City and Country and did send to the Magistrates of the City to do it But they said they would lay down their Offices rather than they would do it inasmuch as Friends came to that City to enjoy the Liberty of their Consciences And not long after the Duke himself was banished out of that City by the King of Denmark but Friends do still enjoy their Liberty there and Truth and they are of good Report amongst the People both in City and Country On the First-day of the Week I had a Meeting here to which many People came and some rough Spirits but the Power of the Lord bound them down and the Seed of Life was set over all While I was here I had a Discourse with a Jew that was a Levite concerning the Coming of the Messiah and he was much confounded in what he said Yet he carried himself lovingly and Invited me to his house I went thither and there I discoursed with another Jew who shewed me their Talmud and many other Jewish Books but they are very dark and do not understand their own Prophets There was at this City a Baptist-Teacher who had reproached and belied Friends 1677. Frederickstadt wherefore John Claus went with Two Friends of the Town to the house where he lodged and cleared Truth and Friends from his Reproaches and laid his Lies and Slanders upon his own head to his shame Before we left this Place I had another Meeting with the Friends only wherein I laid before them the Usefulness and Benefit of a Monthly-Meeting for the looking after the Poor and taking care that Marriages and all other things relating to the Church were done and performed in an orderly Manner and the thing Answered the Witness of God in their Consciences so that they readily Consented and Agreed to have Monthly Meetings thence-forward amongst themselves that both Men and Women might look after and take care of the outward Concerns of the Church After this Meeting feeling my spirit clear of that place we took leave of Friends there whom we left in good Order and not intending to go further that way we turned back again for Hamborough When we had travelled one days Journey and came to an Inn at night to Lodge I inquired there whether there were any tender People in the Town that feared God or that had a mind to discourse of the things of God but the Inn keeper told me there were few such in that Town Next night we got to Hamborough Hamborough and having passed the Guards we went to a Friend's house being very Weary for we had been up those Two Mornings before the third hour and had travelled each day hard and late Here we met with John Hill an English Friend who had been travelling in Germany and being in a Ship bound for Amsterdam that waited for a Wind he had lain sick on board her about two weeks and now hearing that I was in the Country got off from the Ship and came hither to meet me and to go along with me The next day after we came to Hamborough we had a very good Meeting there and very peaceable After the Meeting I had Discourse with a Swede an Eminent man in his own Country who having been banished from thence upon the Account of his Religion was come to Hamborough and was at the Meeting I had there before And when I had done with him I had another Discourse wirh a Baptist concerning the Sacraments so called In both which I had good service having opportunity thereby to open Truth unto them Being clear of Hamborough we took our Leave of Friends there whom we left well And taking John Hill along with us we passed by Boat to a City in the Duke of Lunenbergh's Country Lunenburghs Country where after we were Examined by the Guards we were had to the Main-Guard and there Examined more strictly but after they found that we were not Souldiers they were Civil to us and let us pass In the Afternnoon we travelled by Wagon and the Waters being much out by reason of the great Rains that had fallen when it drew towards night we hired a Boy upon the Way to guide us through a great Water that we had to pass When we came to it the Water was so deep 1677. Lunenburghs Country before we could come at the Bridge that the Wagoner was fain to wade and I drove the Wagon But when we were come upon the Bridge the Horses brake part of it down and one of them fell into the Water the Wagon standing upon that part of the Bridge which remained unbroken and it was the Lord's mercy to us that the Wagon did not run into the Brook When they had got the Horse out he lay a while as if he had been dead but at length they got him up and put him to the Wagon again and laid the Planks right and then through the goodness of the Lord to us we got safe over After this we came to another Water which finding to be very deep and it being in the night we hired Two Men to help us through These men put Cords to the Wagon to hold it by that the force of the Water might not drive it beside the way But when we came into it the Stream was so strong that it took up one of the Horses off his legs and was carrying him down the Stream which I seeing called to the Wagoner to pluck him to him by his Reins which he did and the Horse recovered his Legs and so with much difficulty we got over the Bridge and went to Bormer-haven Bormer-haven the Town where the Wagoner lived It was the last day of the sixth Month that we escaped these dangers and it being about the eleventh hour in the night when we came in here we got some fresh straw and lay upon it till about the fourth hour in the Morning and then getting up we set forward again towards Bremen going part of the way by Wagon and part by Boat In the way I had good Opportunities to publish Truth among the People especially at a
Market-Town where we stay'd to Change our Passage where I declared the Truth to the People warning them of the Day of the Lord that was coming upon all Flesh and Exhorting them to Righteousness and telling them that God was come to Teach his People himself and that they should turn to the Lord and hearken to the Teachings of his Spirit in their own hearts At Bremen we were Examined as we usually were in Cities and Garrison-Towns and after that we went to an Inn Bremen and stay'd a while till another Wagon was provided to carry us further And here though I felt the Lord's Power was over the City and kept the wicked and unruly Spirits down yet my Spirit suffered much in this place for the Peoples sake When our Wagon was ready we left Bremen and travelled through the Country to Keby where we lodged at an Inn that night Keby and early next Morning set forth for Oldenburgh Oldenburgh which was a lamentable sight to see so great and brave a City burnt down We went to an Inn and though it was the First-day of the Week there were the Souldiers drinking and playing at Shovel-board and at those few Houses that were left the Shops were open and the People Trading one with another I was moved to speak to the People and declare the Truth among them and warn them of the Judgments of God And though they heard me quietly and were civil towards me yet I was burdened with their Wickedness 1677. Oldenburgh And many times in Mornings Noons and Nights at the Inns and on the Ways as I travelled I spake to the People preaching the Truth to them and warning them of the Day of the Lord and Exhorting them to turn to the Light and Spirit of God in themselves that thereby they might be led out of Evil. Next day passing through many great Waters we came at night to Leer Leer Embden and the day following to Embden where John Claus his Wife's Father lived at whose house when we went up into Germany we left a Young-man sick who travelled with me and used to write for me whom now at our Return we found pretty well recovered John Claus went to his Father-in-law's John Hill and I to an Inn where we dined and after dinner we went also to John Claus his Father's and had a good Meeting there in the Evening The day following we took shipping at Embden and passed to Delfziel Delfziel and went to an Inn where a Friend came to us that then lived in Delfziel having been often Banisht from Embden He was a Goldsmith by Trade and had an House and Shop in Embden and still as they banished him he went again Then they Imprisoned him and fed him with bread and water and at length took his Goods from him and Banished him his Wife and Children leaving them neither place to come to nor any thing to subsist on We Comforted and Encouraged him in the Lord Exhorting him to be faithful and stand stedfast in the Testimony committed to him And when we had taken our Leave of him Groningen we took Boat and passed the same day to Groningen where we met with Cornelius Andries a Friend that had also suffered much by Imprisonment and Banishment at Embden We went with him to his house and the next day we had a good Meeting in that City to which several Professors came and were very peaceable and attentive After Meeting we passed by Boat to Strobus Strobus Dockum Friezland Leuwarden and so to Dockum where we lodged that night at an Inn. And taking Boat again next morning we passed to Leuwarden the chief City of Friezland where I found my daughter Yeomans who was come from Amsterdam thither to meet me That day we had a precious Meeting there at Sybrand Dowe's house and after the Meeting I had some Discourse with some that were at the Meeting who had been formerly Convinced of Truth but were not come into Obedience to it We stayed there that night but John Hill left us and went that day to Harlingen and so to Amsterdam Next day we passed away by Boat down the River to the Lake of Hempen-Sarmer Hempen-Sarmer Lugmer Anderigo Whispool Gardick and thence by the Lake Lugmer and so to a Town called Anderigo from whence sailing through the Lake Whispool we came to a Town called Gardick It was within night when we came thither and we went and lodged at an Inn and the next day being the First-day of the Week we were at Friends-Meeting there which was very large many of the Towns-People coming in Amongst whom I declared the Truth in the Power of the Lord that was upon me which tendered the People and they were very sober 1677. Gardick After the Meeting we stayed but a little while to refresh our selves and then went to take Boat again but the People observing us gathered together at a Bridge where we were to pass and there I spake unto them again declaring the Way of Life and Salvation unto them and they were very Attentive and Civil We took Boat and went back that Evening to Leuwarden Leuwarden being 27 Miles but before we could get thither the Gates were shut and the Bridges drawn up so that we could not get into the City but were fain to lye in the Boat all night And the next Morning there having been a Man killed in the City that night it was late before the Gates were opened When we could get in we went to a Friend's house where we stay'd a while and then taking Boat again we passed through Franeker to Harlingen Franeker Harlingen to Hessel Jacobs where we found several Dutch Friends who were come to be at the Meeting there next day In the Evening William Penn came to us from Amsterdam who returning two or three days before out of Germany had been at a large Meeting at Amsterdam on the First-day and after Meeting understanding I was at Harlingen came thither to me The next day was the Monthly Meeting for the Men and Women to which we went and it was large and good And there it was Agreed upon amongst Friends That there should be a Meeting held there once a Month both for the Men and for the Women to take care of the outward Concerns of the Church In the Afternoon we had a publick Meeting to which came People of several sorts as Socinians Baptists Lutherans c. amongst which was a Doctor of Physick and a Priest And after I had declared the Truth a pretty large time to the People opening unto them the happy Estate that Man and Woman were in whilst they kept under God's Teaching and abode in the Paradise of God and on the other hand the Wo and Misery that came upon them when they went from God's Teaching and hearkning to the Serpent's Teaching transgressed God's Command and were driven out of the Paradise of God And then came
at Finchcomb where were several of the Opposit Spirit who it was thought Intended to have made some disturbance amongst Friends but the Lord's Power was over and kept them down and good Service for the Lord we had at that Meeting We returned from Finchcomb to Nailsworth again Nailsworth and had another very precious Meeting there to which Friends came from the several Meetings thereabouts which made it very large also We went from Nailsworth on the First day of the First Month 1677 8 and travelled through the Country visiting Friends and having many Meetings amongst them at Cirencester Crown-Allins Cirencester Crown-Allins Cheltonham Stoke-Orchard Tewksbury c. Worcester Parshow Evesham Warwickshire Ragley Cheltonham Stoke-Orchard Tewksbury c. so went to Worcester where I had formerly suffered Imprisonment above a Year for the Truth 's sake and Friends rejoiced greatly to see me there again Here I stay'd several days and had many very precious Meetings in the City and much Service amongst Friends After which travelling through the Country I had Meetings at Parshow and Evesham and then struck to Ragley in Warwickshire to visit her that was called the Lady Conway who I understood was very desirous to see me and whom I found tender and loving and willing to have detained me longer than I had freedom to stay About Two miles from hence I had Two Meetings at a Friend's house whose name was John Stangley Stratford Lamcoat Armscott Oxfordshire Sibbard North-Newton Banbury Adderbury c. Buckinghamshire Long-Crendon Ilmer Mendle Weston Cholsberry Chesham c. Hartfordshire Charlewood Watford Hempsted Market-street Bedfordshire Luton Albans South-Mims Barnet Hendon London whither William Dewsbury came to me and stay'd with me about half a day Afterwards I visited Friends in their Meetings thereabouts at Stratford Lamcoat and Armscott from whence it was that I was sent Prisoner to Worcester in the Year 1673 and thence passed into Oxfordshire visiting Friends and having Meetings at Sibbard North-Newton Banbury Adderbury c. Then visiting Friends through Buckinghamshire at Long-Crendon Ilmer Mendle Weston Cholsberry Chesham c. having several Meetings amongst them I came to Isaac Pennington's where I stay'd a few days And then turning into Hartfordshire visited Friends at Charlewood Watford Hempstead and Market-street at which places I had Meetings with Friends From Market-street I went in the Morning to Luton in Bedfordshire to see John Crook with whom I spent good part of the day and went towards Evening to Albans where I lay that night at an Inn. And visiting Friends at South-Mims and at Barnet and Hendon where I had Meetings I came to London on the Eighth day of the Third Month. And it being the Fourth-day of the Week I went to Gracious-street-Meeting which was peaceable and well and many Friends not knowing I was come to Town were very Joyful to see me there and the Lord was present with us refreshing us with his living Vertue blessed be his holy Name The Parliament was sitting when I came to Town and Friends having laid their Sufferings before them were Waiting on them for Relief against the Laws made against Popish Recusants which they knew we were not though some malicious Magistrates took Advantages against us 1678. London to prosecute us in several parts of the Nation upon those Statutes So Friends being Attending on that Service when I came I Joined with them therein and some probability there was that something might have been obtained towards Friends Ease and Relief in that Case many of the Parliament-men being tender and loving towards us as believing we were much mis-represented by our Adversaries But when I went down one Morning with George Whitehead to the Parliament-house to Attend upon them on Friends hehalf on a sudden they were Prorogued though but for a short time Yearly Meeting About two weeks after I came to London the Yearly Meeting began to which Friends came up out of most parts of the Nation and a glorious heavenly Meeting we had Oh the Glory Majesty Love Life Wisdom and Vnity that was amongst us the Power reigned over all and many Testimonies were born therein against that ungodly Spirit which sought to make Rents and Divisions amongst the Lord's People but not one Mouth was opened amongst us in its defence or on its behalf Good and Comfortable Accounts also we had for the most part from Friends in other Countries of which I find a brief Account in a Letter which soon after I writ to my Wife the Copy whereof here follows Dear Heart TO whom is my Love in the Everlasting Seed of Life that reigns over all Great Meetings here have been and the Lord's Power hath been stirring through all the like hath not been And the Lord hath in his Power knit Friends wonderfully together and the glorious Presence of the Lord did appear among Friends And now the Meetings are over blessed be the Lord in quietness and peace From Holland I hear that things are well there Some Friends are gone that way to be at their Yearly Meeting at Amsterdam At Embden Friends that were banished are gotten into the City again At Dantzick Friends are in Prison and the Magistrates threatned them with harder Imprisonment but the next day the Lutherans rose and plucked down or defaced the Popish Monastery so they have work enough among themselves The King of Poland did receive my Letter and read it himself and Friends have since printed it in High-Dutch By Letters from the Half-yearly-Meeting in Ireland I hear that they be all in Love there And at Barbados Friends are in quietness and their Meetings settled in peace At Antego also and Nevis Truth prospers and Friends have their Meetings orderly and well Likewise in New-England and other places things concerning Truth and Friends are well and in those places the Mens and Womens-Meetings are settled blessed be the Lord. So keep in God's Power and Seed that is over all in whom ye all have Life and Salvation for the Lord reigns over all in his Glory and in his Kingdom Glory to his Name for ever Amen So in haste with my Love to you all and to all Friends London the 26th of the 3d Month 1678. G. F. The Letter to the King of Poland before mentioned is as followeth To Johannes III. KING of Poland c. O King WE desire thy Prosperity both in this Life and that which is to come And we desire that we may have our Christian Liberty to Serve and Worship God under thy Dominion For our Principle leads us not to do any thing prejudicial to the King or his People For we are a People that do exercise a good Conscience towards God through his holy Spirit and in it do serve and worship and honour him and towards Men in the things that be equal and just doing to them as we would have them do unto us and looking unto Jesus who is the Author and Finisher of our Faith which Faith
de Bemise Disp fol. 71. Irenaeus affirmed That all forcing of Conscience though it was but a forbidding of the Exercise which is esteemed by one or another to be necessary to Salvation is in no wise right nor fitting He also affirmed That through the diversity of Religions the Kingdom should not be brought into any disturbance Constantius the Emperour said That it was enough that he preserved the Vnity of the Faith that he might be excusable before the Judgment-seat of God and that he would leave every one to his own Vnderstanding according to the Account he will give before the Judgment-seat of Christ Here-to may we stir up People said he not Compel them beseech them to come into the Unity of the Christians but to do Violence to them we will not in any wise Sebast Frank Chron. fol. 127. Augustinus said Some disturbed the Peace of the Church while they went about to root out the Tares before their time and through this Error of Blindness said he are they themselves separated so much the more from being united unto Christ Retnaldus testified That he who with Imprisoning and Persecuting seeketh to spread the Gospel and greaseth his hands with Blood shall much rather be looked upon for a wild Hunter than a Preacher or a Defender of the Christian Religion I have for a long season determined said Henry the IV. K. of France in his Speech to the Parliament 1599. to Reform the Church which without Peace said he I cannot do and it is impossible to Reform or Convert People by Violence I am King as a Shepherd said he and will not shed the Blood of my Sheep but will gather them through the Mildness and Goodness of a King and not through the Power of Tyranny and I will give them that are of the Reformed Religion right Liberty to live and dwell free without being examined perplexed molested or compelled to any thing contrary to their Consciences for they shall have the free Exercise of their Religion c. Vid. Chron. Van de Underg 2. deel p. 1514. Ennius said Wisdom is driven out when the Matter is acted by Force And therefore the best of Men and most glorious of Princes were always ready to give Toleration Euseb in his Second Book of the Life of Constantine reports these words of the Emperour Let them which err with Joy receive the like fruition of Peace and Quietness with the Faithful sith the restoring of Communication and Society may bring them into the right Way of Truth let none give Molestation to any let every one do as he determines in his Mind And indeed there is great reason for Princes to give Toleration to disagreeing Persons whose Opinions cannot by fair means be altered for if the Persons be Confident they will serve God according to their Perswasions and if they be publickly prohibited they will privately Convene and then all those Inconveniencies and Mischiefs which are Arguments against the permission of Conventicles are Arguments for the publick permissions of differing Religions c. they being restrained and made miserable endears the discontented Persons mutually and makes more hearty and dangerous Confederations The like Counsel in the Divisions of Germany at the first Reformation was thought reasonable by the Emperour Ferdinand and his excellent Son Maximilian for they had observed that Violence did exasperate was unblest unsuccessful and unreasonable and therefore they made Decrees of Toleration The Duke of Savoy repenting of his War undertaken for Religion against the Piedmontans promised them Toleration and was as good as his Word Also it is remarkable that till the time of Justinian the Emperour Anno Domini 525. the Catholicks and Novatians had Churches indifferently permitted even in Rome it self And Paul preached the Kingdom of God teaching those things which concerned the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence and no man forbad him and this he did for the space of two years in his own hired house at Rome and received all that came to him NOW O KING seeing these Noble Testimonies concerning Liberty of Conscience of Kings Emperours and others and the Liberty that Paul had at Rome in the days of the Heathen-Emperour our desire is that we may have the same Liberty at Dantzick to Meet together in our own hired Houses which cannot be any prejudice either to the King and the City of Dantzick for us to meet together to wait upon the Lord and pray unto him and to serve and worship him in Spirit and Truth in our own hired Houses seeing our Principle leads us to hurt no Man but to Love our Enemies and to pray for them yea them that do persecute us And therefore O King Consider and the City of Dantzick would you not think it hard for others to force you from your Religion to another contrary to your Consciences And if it be so that you would think it hard to you then do you unto others as you would have them do unto you do not you that unto others which you would not have men do unto you for that is the Royal Law which ought to be obeyed And so in Love to thy Immortal Soul and for thy Eternal Good this is written G. F. POST-SCRIPT BLessed be the Merciful for they shall obtain Mercy And remember O King Justin Martyr's two Apologies to the Roman Emperours in the Defence of the persecuted Christians and that notable Apology which was written by Tertullian upon the same Subject which are not only for the Christian Religion but against all Persecution for Religion Dear Peter Hendricks and John Claus and J. Rawlins and all the rest of Friends in Amsterdam Friezland and Rotterdam to whom is my Love in the Seed of Life that 's over all I Received thy Letter with a Letter from Dantzick I have written something to you to the King of Poland which you may translate into High-Dutch and send it to Friends there to give it to the King or you may print it after it be delivered in Manuscript which may be serviceable to other Princes So in haste with my Love And the Lord God Almighty over all give you dominion in his Eternal Power and in it over all preserve you and keep you to his Glory that you may answer that of God in all People Amen London the 13th of 9th Month 1677. George Fox I continued yet in and about London some Weeks the Parliament sitting again and Friends Attending upon them to get some Redress of our Sufferings which about this time were very great and heavy upon many Friends in divers parts of the Nation they being very unduly prosecuted upon the Statutes made against Popish Recusants Though our Persecutors could not but know that Friends were utterly against Popery having born Testimony against it in Word and Writing and suffered under it But though many of the Members of Parliament in either House were kind to Friends and willing to have done something for their Ease yet having much
in it you may know that ye are all Members of one another and all have an Office in the Church of Christ and all these living Members know one another in the Spirit and not in the Flesh So here is no Man ruling over the Woman as Adam did over Eve in the Fall but Christ the Spiritual Man among and over his Spiritual Members which are edified in the heavenly Love that is shed in their heart from God where all strife ceases Hartford the 11th of the 5th Month 1678. G. F. I went from Hartford to a Meeting at Rabley-Heath about six miles from thence 1678. Rabley-Heath Stevenage Bâ—ldock Hi chin Ashwel Bedfordshire Huntington Ives and after the Meeting to Edward Crouch's of Stevenage from whence next day I went to Baldock where I had a Meeting that Evening and after that had Meetings at Hitchin and Ashwell Then passing through some part of Bedfordshire where I had a Meeting or two I went on to Huntington in which County I stayed several days having many Meetings and much Service amongst Friends labouring to Convince Gain-sayers and to Confirm and Strengthen Friends in the Way and Work of the Lord. At Ives in Huntingtonshire George Whitehead came to me and travelled with me in the Work of the Lord for five or six days in that County and in some part of Northamptonshire Northamptonshire Leicestershire Great Bowden Sâ—dâ—ington Wigston Knighton Leicester Sileby Swannington c. Leicester and leaving me in Great Bowden in Leicestershire he went on towards Westmorland whither he was travelling I stay'd longer in Leicestershire visiting Friends at Saddington Wigston Knighton Leicester Sileby Swannington and divers other places where I had very precious Meetings and very good Service amongst Friends and other People for there was great Openness and many weighty and excellent Truths did the Lord give me to open amongst them At Leicester I went to the Jail to visit the Friends that were in Prison there for the Testimony of Jesus with whom I spent some time encouraging them in the Lord to persevere stedfastly and faithfully in their Testimony and not to be Weary of Suffering for his sake And when I had taken my leave of the Friends I spake with the Jailer desiring him to be kind to them and let them have what Liberty he could to visit their Families sometimes After I had been in Leicestershire I had a Meeting or two in Warwickshire and then went into Staffordshire Warwickshire Staffordshire where I had several sweet and opening Meetings both for gathering into Truth and establishing therein And while I was in Staffordshire I was moved to give forth the following Paper DEar Friends of the Quarterly and Monthly Meetings every where My desire is that ye may all strive to be of one Mind in the Lord's Power and Truth which is peaceable into which Strife and Enmity cannot come and also in the Wisdom of God which is pure peaceable and easie to be intreated which is above that that is below that is Earthly Devilish and Sensual and that with and in this heavenly Wisdom that is peaceable and easie to be entreated you may be all ordered and do what ye do to God's Glory And Dear friends if there should happen at any time any thing that tends to strife dispute or contention in your Monthly or Quarterly Meetings let it be Referr'd to half a dozen or such alike number to debate and end out of your Meeting as it was at first so that all your Monthly and Quarterly Meetings may be kept peaceable And then they may Inform the Meeting what they have done so that the Weak and Youth amongst you may not be hurt through hearing of Strife or Contention in your Meetings 1678. Staffordshire where no Strife or Contention ought to be but all to go on and determine things in one Mind in the Power of God the Gospel-Order in which Gospel of Peace ye will preserve the Peace of all your Meetings And if any Man or Woman have any thing against any one let them speak to one another and end it betwixt themselves and if they cannot so end it let them take two or three to end it And in case they determin it not let it be laid before the Church and then let half a dozen or such a number out of your Monthly or Quarterly Meeting hear it and finally end it without Respect of Persons And let all Prejudice be laid aside and buried and also all Shortness one towards another and let Love which is not puffed up and envies not and seeks not her own but bears all things rule sway and have the Dominion in all your Meetings for that doth edifie the Body which Christ is the Head of and this will sway all sounding Brass and tinkling Cymbals Now this Love will suffer long and is kind and will keep down that which will vaunt it self or be puffed up or behave it self unseemly or is easily provoked It hath a sway over all such Fruits which are not of the Spirit the Fruit of which is Love c. And that with this holy Spirit ye may all be baptized into one Body and so be made all to drink into one Spirit in which Spirit ye will have Unity in which is the Bond of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords his Peace And they that dwell in Love they dwell in God for God is Love Therefore let every one keep his Dwelling-place and his Habitation So with my Love to you in Christ Jesus the everlasting Seed which is over all Staffordshire the 20th of the 6th Month 1678. G. F. Darbyshire Moniash Yorkshire Hill Out of Staffordshire I went to visit John Gratton at Moniash in Darbyshire with whom I tarried one night and went next day to William Shaws of the Hill in Yorkshire where I appointed a Meeting to be on the First-day of the Week following Many Friends out of Darbyshire and from several Meetings in Yorkshire came to this Meeting and a precious comfortable opening Meeting it was wherein was opened the blessed Estate that Man was in before he fell the Means by which he fell the miserable Condition into which he fell and the right Way of coming out of it into a happy State again by Christ the promised Seed After this I spent about two Weeks in Yorkshire travelling from place to place amongst Friends in the Lord's Service and many heavenly Meetings I had in that County Then visiting Robert Widders at Kellet in Lancashire Lancashire Kellet Westmorland Arnside Swarthmore I passed to Arnside in Westmorland where I had a precious living Meeting in the Lord's blessed Power to the great Satisfaction and Comfort of Friends who came from divers parts to it The next day I went to Swarthmore and it being the Meeting-day there I had a sweet opportunity with Friends our hearts being opened in the Love of God 1678. Swarthmore and his blessed Life flowing amongst us
that none should abuse the Power of the Lord God but in all things their Faith was to stand in the power of the Lord God so that they all might be comprehended into the Truth which they did speak to others that they might not be Preachers to others and themselves Cast-aways Therefore it doth concern you to be comprehended into that which ye do preach to Others and to keep low in it And then the God of Truth will exalt the humble in his Truth Light Grace Power and Spirit and in his Wisdom to his Glory So here all are kept in their Measures of Grace Light Faith and the Spirit of Christ the heavenly and spiritual Man So let none quench the Spirit nor its Motions nor grieve it nor err from it but be led by it which keeps every one in their Tents Which holy Spirit of God giveth them an understanding how to serve and worship and please the holy pure God their Maker and Creator in Christ Jesus and how to wait and how to speak and so to answer the Spirit of God in his People in which holy Spirit is the holy Vnity and Fellowship And the holy Spirit teacheth the holy gentle meek and quiet lowly mind to answer the Seed that Christ hath sown upon all grounds and to answer the Light and Grace and Spirit and the Gospel in every Creature though they are gone from the Spirit Grace Light and Gospel in the heart so that by holy Walking all may come to do it as well as by holy Preaching that so God in all things may be glorified by you and that ye may bring forth Fruits to his praise Amen Swarthmore the 30th of the 10th Month 1679. G. F. About the latter end of this Year I was moved of the Lord to travel up into the South again Wherefore after I had taken my leave of my Wife and the Family and of the Neighbouring Friends I set forward on my Journey in the beginning of the First Month 1679 80 Westmorland Lancashire Yorkshire and passing through some parts of Westmorland and Lancashire I visited Friends at several Meetings and so came into Yorkshire Divers large and weighty Meetings I had in Yorkshire before I came to York-City and when I came there it was the Assize-time and there being many Friends in Prison for Truth 's sake I put Friends that were at liberty upon drawing up the Sufferings of the Friends that were in Prison 1680. York that they might be laid before the Judges and I assisted them therein There were then in York many Friends from several parts of the County for the Quarterly Meeting of Friends was at that time so that I had a brave opportunity among Friends and many weighty and serviceable things did the Lord open through me to the Meeting relating to both the inward state of Man how Man by faith in Christ comes to be grafted into him and made a Member of his Spiritual Body and also the outward state of the Church how each Member ought to walk and act according to its place in the Body I spent several days in York amongst Friends having divers Meetings amongst them and all was peaceable and well I went also to the Castle to visit the Friends that were Prisoners there with whom I spent some time encouraging them and strengtnening them in their Testimony Then leaving York I travelled on Southward through Yorkshire having Meetings in many places amongst Friends Yorkshire Lincolnshire Burton till I came to Burton in Lincolnshire where on the First-day of the Week I had a large and precious Meeting Then turning into Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire I travelled among Friends through a good part of that County in which I had several very good Meetings and then passed into Darbyshire and through Leicestershire Darbyshire Leicestershire Warwickshire Warwick Southam Radway Oxfordshire North-Newton Banbury Oxfordshire Gloucestershire Northamptonshire Buckinghamshire Biddlesden Lillingstone Lovel Bugbrook Stonystratford Bedfordshire Dunstable Market-street Albans Mims Barnet Middlesex Gutters-hedge in Hendon London Yearly-Meeting and so into Warwickshire having Meetings all along as I went till I came to Warwick There William Dewsberry came to me and several other Friends and we had a little Meeting in than Town Then passing through Southam and Radway at each of which places I had a very good Meeting I came to Nathaniel Ball 's of North-Newton in Oxfordshire and so went to Banbury to a Monthly Meeting there And after I had visited Friends at their Meetings in the bordering parts both of Oxfordshire Gloucestershire and Northamptonshire I passed to Richard Baker's of Bidlesden in Buckinghamshire and the next day being the First-day of the Week I had a very large Meeting in Biddlesden at an old Abbeyhouse which a Friend Rented and dwelt in Many Friends and People came to this Meeting out of Oxfordshire Northamptonshire and the parts adjacent and of good Service it was After this Meeting I visited Friends in those parts having Meetings at Lillingstone Lovel and Bugbrook and then going to Stony-stratford I went from thence into some parts of Bedfordshire till I came to Edward Chester's of Dunstable From whence passing on by Market-street I had a Meeting at Albans and so calling on Friends at Mims and Barnet I came to the Widow Hayly's at Gutters-hedge in Hendon in Middlesex on a Seventh-day night and had a very large and good Meeting there the day following I passed from thence to London on the Third-day following and went directly to the Peel-Meeting at John Elsons and next morning to the Meeting at Gracious-street which was very large and quiet and Friends rejoyced in the Lord to see me The Yearly-Meeting was in the week following to which many Friends came up out of most parts of the Nation and a blessed Opportunity the Lord gave us together wherein the ancient Love was sweetly felt 1680. London and the heavenly Life flowed abundantly over all After the Yearly-Meeting was over and the Friends that came out of the Counties to it for the most part return'd homewards I continued about a Month or five weeks longer in and about London labouring in the Work of the Lord both in Meetings and out for besides the publick Testimony which the Lord gave me to bear both to Friends and to the World in Meetings I had much Service lay upon me with respect to Friends Sufferings in seeking to get Ease and Liberty for them in this and other Nations And much pains and time I spent while I was now at London in writing Letters to Friends in divers parts of England and in Scotland Holland Barbados and several other parts of America After I had spent about six weeks time in the Service of Truth in and about London I was moved of the Lord to go visit Friends in some parts of Surrey and Sussex Surrey Sussex Kingston I went down to Kingston by water and tarried there certain days for while I was there
Dolston I made some stay at the Widow Stots and there I writ an Epistle to Friends 1683. Dolston declaring the Word of the Lord unto them which Epistle being then printed may be read amongst my other printed Books I came from Dolston to London London and the next day was sent for in haste to my Son Rouse's at Kingston Kingston whose daughter Margaret lay very sick and had a desire to see me I tarried now at Kingston about a week and then returned to London London where I continued for the most part of the Winter and the Spring following until the General Meeting in the Year 1684. save that I went once as far as Enfield to visit Friends thereabouts And in this time I ceased not to labour in the Work of the Lord being frequent at Meetings and visiting Friends that were Prisoners or that were sick and in writing Books for the spreading of Truth and opening the Understandings of People to receive it The Yearly-Meeting was in the Third Month and a blessed weighty Meeting it was wherein Friends were sweetly refreshed together for the Lord was with us Yearly Meeting and opened his heavenly Treasures amongst us And though it was a time of great difficulty and danger by reason of Informers and persecuting Magistrates yet the Lord was a Defence and Place of Safety to his People Now had I drawings in Spirit to go into Holland to visit the Seed of God in those Provinces And as soon as the Yearly Meeting was over and most of the Country-Friends gone out of Town I prepared for my Journey There went with me from London Alexander Parker George Watts and Nathaniel Brassey who also had drawings into that Country We took Coach on the 31th of the Third Month 84. and got to Colchester that night Colchester The next day being the First-day of the Week we went to the Meeting there and though there was no notice given of my coming thither yet our being there was presently spread over the Town and in several places in the Country at seven and ten Miles distance so that abundance of Friends came in double-horsed which made the Meeting very Large I had a Concern and Travel in my mind lest this great Gathering should have stirred up the Town and been more than the Magistrates could well bear but it was very quiet and peaceable and a glorious Meeting we had to the settling and stablishing of Friends both in Town and Country for the Lord's Power was over all blessed be his Name for ever Truly the Lord's Power and Presence was beyond words for I was but Weak to go into a Meeting and my Face by reason of a Cold I had taken was sore but God was strong and manifested his strength in us and with us and all was well the Lord have the Glory for evermore for his supporting Power After the Meeting there came I think above an hundred Friends of the Town and Country to see me at John Furley's and very glad we were to see one another and greatly refreshed we were together being filled with the Love and Riches of the Lord blessed be his Name for ever 1684. Colchester We tarried at Colchester two days more which we spent in visiting Friends there both at their Meetings for Business and at their Houses Then early in the Morning on the Fourth-day of the Week Harwich we took Coach for Harwich where we met with William Bingley and Samuel Waldenfield who also went over with us About the eighth hour at night we went on board the Pacquet-Boat of which one Richard Gray was Master but by reason of Contrary Winds it was the first hour in the morning before we sailed We had a very good Passage and about the fifth hour in the Afternoon next day we landed at the Briel in Holland HOLLAND Briel and there we stay'd that night Early next morning we went to Rotterdam Rotterdam where we abode some days The next day after we came to Rotterdam one Wilbert Frouzen a Burgomaster and Kinsman of Aarent Sunneman's hearing that I was there Invited me to his Country-house having a desire to speak with me about some business relating to Aarent Sunneman's Daughters I took George Watts with me and a Brother of Aarent Sunneman's had us thither The Burgomaster received us very kindly and was very glad to see me and entring into discourse about his Kinsman's Daughters I found he was apprehensive that their Father being dead and having left them considerable Portions they might be stollen and married to their disadvantage Wherefore I told him That it was our Principle and Practice that none should Marry amongst us unless they had a Certificate of the Consent of their Relations or Guardians for it was our Christian Care to watch over and look after all young People that came among us especially those whose natural Relations were dead And as for his Kinsman's Daughters we should take care that nothing should be offered to them but what should be agreeable to Truth and Righteousness and that they might be preserved in the Fear of God according to their Father's Mind This seem'd to give him great satisfaction While I was with him there came many great People to me and I exhorted them all to keep in the Fear of God and to mind his good Spirit in them to keep their Minds to the Lord. After I had stay'd two or three hours and had had discourse with him of several things I took my leave of him and he very friendly set me to Rotterdam in his Chariot The next day being the First-day of the Week we were at the Meeting at Rotterdam which was pretty large and we de-declared to the People by an Interpreter The day following one Alderman Gaul came to speak with me and with him I and the other Friends had much discourse about Religious Matters wherewith he seemed to be well satisfied and was very Tender Several other Persons of Account intended to have come to speak with me that day but being hindred by extraordinary business as I understood they came not Amsterdam We went next day from Rotterdam to Amsterdam where we had a large and very precious Meeting And in the Afternoon I was at another Meeting with the Friends there about Business There is a Yearly-Meeting at Amsterdam for the Friends of Holland and Germany c. 1684. Amsterdam which begun now on the Eighth day of the Fourth Month and ended on the Twelfth Here we had a fine Opportunity of seeing Friends from divers parts and of being refreshed together in the Love of God And after this Meeting before the Friends that came out of the several Provinces were gone we had a Meeting with some particular Friends about the Places and Countries into which we who came out of England in the Work of the Ministry were to travel and to understand who among them were suitable Persons to go along
with us for Interpreters When this was concluded on William Bingley and Samuel Waldenfield took shipping for Friezland and Jacob Claus their Interpreter Alexander Parker and George Watts remained with me and we tarried a few days longer at Amsterdam where I had further Service And before I left Amsterdam I went to visit one Galenus Abrahams a Teacher of Chief Note among the Mennonites or Baptists I had been with him when I was in Holland about seven Years before and William Penn and George Keith had disputes with him then He was then very high and very shy so that he would not let me touch him nor look upon him by his good will but bid me Keep my Eyes off him for he said they pierced him But now he was very loving and tender and Confessed in some measure to Truth his Wife also and Daughter were tender and kind and we parted from them very lovingly Soon after this feeling our Spirits drawn towards Friezland Alexander Parker George Watts and I having John Claus of Amsterdam with us for our Interpreter took shipping at Amsterdam for Friezland and having sailed some Nine or Ten Leagues we left the Ship Friezland and travelled through Friezland sometimes by Boat sometimes by Wagon visiting Friends and tender People in the Towns and Villages where we came and having commonly one sometimes two Meetings in a day After we had been at Leuwarden Leuwarder Franeker Harlingen in West-Friezland we passed by Franeker to Harlingen in West-Friezland which was the furthest Place we went to that way And having been out six days from Amsterdam and had very good Service in that time in visiting Friends and publishing Truth amongst the People we took Ship at Harlingen for Amsterdam on the 26th of the fourth Month and arrived there that night Amsterdam The First-day following we were at the Meeting at Amsterdam which was very large and precious Many of the World's People were there and some of their Teachers some great Persons also and they seemed very attentive and a good opportunity we all had one after another to declare the Word of the Lord unto them and open the Way of Truth amongst them John Claus interpreting for us I tarried the next day at Amsterdam but George Watts went to a Burial at Harlem where many hundreds of People were amongst whom he had a good opportunity and came back at night to us 1684. Waterland-Osan-overton Lansmeer Amsterdam The day following we went by Boat to Osan-overton in Waterland and from thence in another small Boat about a League over a small River where we passed over and by above an hundred Bridges and so went to Lansmeer to a Friend's house whose name was Timon Peters and there we had a very good Meeting After which we returned to Amsterdam at Night and were at the Meeting there next day There were many at this Meeting besides Friends and among the rest the great Baptist-Teacher Galenus who was very attentive to the Testimony of the Truth and when the Meeting was done came and got me by the hand very lovingly Sardam Alkmaer We went next day by Boat to Alkmaer about eight Leagues from Amsterdam passing through Sardam the great Town of Ship-Carpenters and several other Towns in the way At Alkmaer which is a pretty City we stay'd and had a Meeting there next day at one William Williams his house There were besides Friends many very sober People at this Meeting who were very attentive to the Testimonies of Truth that were born both by Alexander Parker George Watts and my self John Claus being our Interpreter This was on the Sixth-day of the Week and on the seventh we returned to Amsterdam Amsterdam partly by Wagon partly by Draw-boat being willing to be at the Meeting at Amsterdam on the First-day because it was like to be the last Meeting we should have there Accordingly we were at it and a very large and open Meeting it was Many great Persons were at it some Earls we were told with their Attendants out of Germany very grave and sober and the everlasting Gospel was preached unto them After this Meeting we took our leave of the Friends of Amsterdam Harlem and the next morning departed thence to Harlem where we had a Meeting at a Friend's house whose name is Abraham Frondenberg There were great Numbers of People at this Meeting and of great Service it was And after the Meeting a Watch-maker of Amsterdam who with his Wife was come from Amsterdam to the Meeting desired to speak with me concerning Religion I had pretty much discourse with him and both he and his Wife were very Low and Tender and received with gladness what I spake to them and seemed well satisfied when they went away Roterdam Briel We went next day to Rotterdam where we tarried two Meetings and on the sixteenth day of the fifth Month went to the Briel to take Ship for England It was about the fourth hour in the Afternoon that we went on Board the Pacquet Boat of which one William Sherman was Master and set Sail from the Briel But when we had gone over the Maes about a League we cast Anchor at the place called The Pitt The Pitt because it is near unto the Sands and there we tarried till about the fourth hour next morning when having a pretty fair Wind and the Tide with us we weighed Anchor and by the fourth hour next day were got within five Leagues of Harwich over against Alborough-Castle but the Wind falling short and the Tide growing weak 1684. Harwich it was the first hour in the Afternoon before we came so near to Harwich that Boats could come to receive the Passengers and Goods There were on Board about forty Passengers in all of which some were English some Scots some Dutch some French some Spanish some Flemish and some Jews I spent a day with Friends at Harwich while Alexander Parker and George Watts went by water to visit Friends at Ipswich and returned at night Next morning early we all took Coach for Colchester and were at the Meeting there Colchester which was large and peaceable And after the Meeting and that we had refreshed our selves we travelled on to Witham Witham about Ten Miles on the Road towards London and lodged there that night Next day we went on towards London and William Mead meeting us on the way at Harestreet I went with him to his House Harestreet the other Friends going on for London Here being Weak with Travel and continual Exercise I spent some time to rest my self and recover my Health visiting in the mean time the Friends in that part of the Country as I was able to get abroad And when I was a little recovered I went from thence to Enfield Enfield visiting Friends there and thereabouts and so to Dolston to see the Widow Stot Dolston And from thence to London London there being
Vision before its Destruction 559 Voice coming to G. F. 8 9. see Openings the Voice of the Lord to a Trooper 45 Voyages of G. F.'s to Ireland 327. for England 332. to Barbadoes 349-351 c. W WAiting upon God 203 204 Wales The Governor of Tenby must yield to Truth 253* 254* and Magistrates in other Places 255* 256* the Moderation of a Town in Wales 257* 258* A Lady and her Preacher send for G. F. 259* Wars and Fightings denied by G.F. 3 4. 46. 48 49. They arise from the Lusts in the Fall 200 201. None to go down to Egypt for help 202 203. It is not our Principle 235. but do testifie against it 285-287 and is not becoming Christianity 630-632 being a Work of Darkness 137 Warrants against G. F. 118. 188. 267* 278* 203. 213. 216 217 c. 271. 308. 326. 341. for Tithes 487. Warrant against all Quakers 203* 223* Watches set up in the Streets and Highways in Cornwall c. to stop Friends from Travelling 200*-203* 206* 208* 209* Weakness of G. F.'s Body 310. by long and close Imprisonment 295 296. 407. 564. by continual Travel 430. and spent at Meetings c. 568. his Health being much impaired 586. A great Exercise came upon him 588 Wicked Man cut off 303. another plagued 304 Worship the World's 23 24. Will Worship 213* The Dragon's and the Beast's 227* The Worship in the Spirit 245 246 Wrong see Restitution Y YEA and Nay 2. 121. is more binding than an Oath to many 292 293. 403 404. Z. ZEal against Unrighteousness many will God provoke unto 224 The FOURTH TABLE Being a Catalogue of the Epistles Letters and Papers of G. F.'s and others contained in this Volume THE Appearance of the Lord 's Everlasting Truth c. Testim p. xviij 1650. G. F. his Mittimus by Bennet and Barton Just 32 To the Priests of Darby 33 To the Magistrates of Darby ibid. To Barton and Bennet Just 34 To Justice Bennet ibid. To Justice Barton 35 To the Mayor of Darby ibid. To the Court at Darby 36 To the Ringers ibid. To Friends and others 38 To the convinced People 40 To the Faithful an Encourage 41 To the Justices of Darby ibid. To the same 42 To the same ibid. To the Priests of Darby 43 To the Justices of Darby ibid. To Col. Barton Justice 44 1651. To the Judges 47 To the same ibid. To Justice Barton and Bennet 49 To the convinc'd and tender People 50 To the Magistrates of Darby 51 A Lamentation over Darby 52 1652. J. Naylor's Account of Lancaster Sessions 90 To Justice Sawrey 94 To William Lampit 96 To the People of Vlverstone ibid. To the Followers of P. Lampit 98 To Adam Sands 100 1653. A. P. To the Judges of Assize 111 G. F.'s Challenge to Professors 113 To T. Craston and C. Studholm 114 G.B. To the Mag. at Carlisle 116 1654. To Friends in the Ministry 124 To all Professors of Christ 141 To such as follow the World's Fashions 144 To the Just Trying Ministers 147 1655. To those that Scorn at Trembling and Quaking 156 To the Churches in outward Forms 161 To Friends to offer themselves for their Brother c. 165 An Encouragement to Friends 166 To Fr. in the N. of Ireland 170 To the 7 Parishes at Landsend 175 1656 Concerning Swearing 180 Peter Ceely's Mittimus 183 E. Pyot to J. Glyn C. Just 189* To Magistrates of Watches 201* Answer to Exon-Warrant 203* To Priests and Professors 207* To Friends in the Ministry 212* E.P. To M. Gen. Desborow 215* G. F. To the same 216* Concerning Pleasures 218* To the Bowlers ibid. To all the Elect 232* To Fr. to keep up Meetings ibid. Judging any in Meetings 233* An Answer to a Professor 235* Profes Priests c. Darkness 238* 1657 The true Fast and false 248* Of Lusts Affections Desires 261* To try all things c. 263* Be valiant for the Truth 265* Order of Council in Scotl. 273* To the Council of Edenburg 274* 1658 Bedfordshire yearly Meeting 283* To the Lady Claypool 189 Concerning Fasting 191 To the Parliament of Profes 195 To Friends to go on faithfully 197 About the Image of O. C. 200 1659 To keep from Plots c. ibid. To keep out of Powers c. 202 Of the day of Recompence 204 Concerning Shipwracks 207 1660 G. Monk's Order 212 G. F's Ans to his Mittimus 219 M. Fell to all Magistrates 221 Concerning true Religion 223 Against Persecution 224 Concerning Change of Gov. ibid. To K. Charles the Second 225 The Sheriff of Lancast Return 228 The K.'s Order for G. F.'s Rel. ibid Judge Mallet's Warrant 239 To Friends to send up Suffr 232 A Declar. against Plotters 233 The K.'s Mandamus to N. E. 243 1661. Of the true Worship 245 Keeping on Hat in Prayer 249 The World saith Kiss the Book 250 1662. To the K. Friends Sufferings ibid. T. Sharman's Letter to G.F. 251 The Grounds of Persecution 252 Conc. E. Burrough's Decease 259 1663. Of Ol. Atherton's Death 276 Lanc. Prisoners to J. Flem. 278 1664. G. F. To Dan. Flemming 281 To Judges giving Nicknames 282 A Testimony against Plotting 285 A day of Trial and Exercise 287 To keep out of J. P.'s Spint ibid. 1665. Concerning Tithes 295 1666. G. F.'s Discharge and Pasport 305 1668. Against the Dark Spirits 318 1669. Is Lindley's Letter to G. F. 326 Sound sound abroad you faithful Servants of the Lord 329 Of putting Children to Trades 335 1670. To Margaret Fox 336 Conc. the Act against Meet 337 Friends to stand to their Test 338 Encouragement under Suffr 344 Visitations abused c. 346 All Friends that do Marry 347 1671. G. F.'s Prayer to the Lord 348 From Barb. to Fr. in Engl. 353 Another Epist to Fr. in Engl. 355 For the Governor of Barbados 359 To Margaret Fox 361. 362 1673. To the same 384 G. F.'s Mittimus to Worc. Pris 389 To Margaret Fox ibid. To the L. Windsor G. F.'s Case ibid. G. F.'s Habeas Corpus 394 G. F.'s Allegiance and Suprem 399 1674. To the K. the Qu.'s Principle 402 H. Parker to the Gaoler 404 1675. To Friends in Westmorland 408 1676. To Friends at Yearly Meet 409 Spirit of Opposers and Work 402 1677. To Margaret Fox 428 A Testimony against Tithes 431 The Spirit of Separation 434 To Princess Eliz. Herwerden 435 The Princess her Ans to G.F. 438 Fasting Prayer c. 620 Getting the Affections of Peo 446 To Friends at Dantzick 447 To Mag. and Peo of Oldenb 617 To Magist Priests c. Hamb 627 To the Embas at Nimeguen 630 The Spirit of Separation 449 To Margaret Fox 454 1678. To the same 458 To John III. King of Poland 459 To Friends in Amsterdam 463 Concerning Prescriptions 464 Let Life reign over Death 467 The hurt of Disorderly Spirits 468 To Qu. and Monthly Meetings 469 To the Churches of Christ 471 To Friends in Prison 472 1679. To Fr. of the yearly Meeting 473 Be Valiant for the Truth 477 To dwell in Humility 478 1680. To the Parliam against Plots 481 To Magist to be moderate 482 1681. To the Quarterly Meetings 486 Spirit of Strife and Division 489 1682. Informers convicting Friends 491 To the Sheriffs to be chosen 492 To the Pople that chuse them 493 To distinguish Truth and Err. 496 Exercises from Mag. and Apo. 497 Feel the power of God in you all 500 Be Valiant for Truth 501 1683. To the Yearly Meet in Lond. 505 To Friends a Salutation 506 My Love is to you all 510 Fruits of Peace and Quietness 512 To all the Elect c. 516 1684. To the Duke of Holstein 523 To Friends an Epistle 527 1685. Keep out of the World's Spirit 528 Excess in Apparel 530 To Friends who are called 533 Among all Societies c. 534 Here you may see when 536 To John III. King of Poland 539 Concerning Judging 541 1686. Antient Pris at the Y. Meet 548 The King opening Prisons 550 In Christ is no Separation 551 Men and Women Q. Meet 552 Church clothed with the Sun 553 The Falling away c. 556 Noah and his family were call'd 558 The First and Second Adam 561 1687. Concerning the two Seeds ibid. Concerning Prayer 564 True and false Offering 565 Caution in time of Liberty 567 God's Goodness to Mankind 569 Repentance before Baptism 570 God's People to be like him 571 The right Way to Christ ibid. Except a man be born again 572 The Jews Rebel their Loss 576 God so loved the World that he 578 The stone became a mountain 579 Regeneration and Sanctifica 58â— 1688. All you Believers in the Light 584 An approaching Storm 587 Moses and Christ's House 588 Thrones on Earth contended 590 The World 's Empty Teachers ibid. Not to remove the Landmark ibid. Apostles Husbandmen c. 59â— 1689. Hearing and telling News 593 To P. H. and Fr. at Dantzick 594 To the Magist of Dantzick 595 Great Shakings in the World 597 To keep in Love and Unity 598 To Friends in Barbados 599 To Q. and Y. Meet in America 60â— 1690. Against Fashions c. 602 Christ the Ensign c. 603 Stand still and see Salvation 606 To Friends in the Ministry 609 To Fr. in the Minist in Amer. 610 To suffering Friends in Irel. 612 G. F.'s Death and Burial 613 His Epistle left sealed up c. 615 OMitted p. 356. line 41. viz. Paul Gwin came into the Meeting and began to Babble and asked me How I spelt Cain And whether I had the same Spirit as the Apostles had And I told him Yes And he had the Judge take Notice of it And I told him He that had not a measure of the same Holy Ghost as the Apostles had was possest with an unclean Ghost And then he went his ways See p. 221* 222* The Letter against Plotting is printed p. 200. and the same over again p. 267. by a mistake
the Market-day there several Friends met us and would have had us to have gone into an Inn. But we were not to go into any Inn but walked directly through the Town over the Bridge and then we were out of the Limits of that Town Thus the Lord 's Everlasting Arm and Power preserved us and carried us over in his Work Labour and Service The next First Day we had a large Meeting in the Forrest of Dean Forrest of Dean and all was quiet Next day we passed over the Water and having staid a little at a Friend's House by the way we came to Oldstone Oldstone Where after we had visited Friends we passed over the Water again to William Yeoman's his House at Irb's Court in Somersetshire 1668. Oldstone Somersetshire Irb's Court Posset From thence we went down to a Meeting at Posset whither several Friends of Bristol came to us After this Meeting we went further up into the Country and had several large Meetings and the Lord's living Presence was with us supporting and refreshing us in our Labour and Travel in his Service Near Mynhead We came to a place near Mynhead where we had a General Meeting of the Men-Friends in Somersetshire and there came also a Cheat whom some Friendly People would have had me to have taken along with me I saw he was a Cheat and therefore bid them bring him to me and see whether he could Look me in the Face Some were ready to think I was too hard towards him because I would not let him go along with me but when they brought him to me he was not able to Look me in the Face but looked hither and thither for he was indeed a Cheat and had Cheated a Priest by pretending himself to be a Minister and had got the Priest's Sute and went away with it Mynhead After the Meeting we passed to Mynhead where we tarried that Night And in the Night I had an Exercise upon me from a Sense I had of a Dark Spirit that was working and striving to get up and to disturb the Church of Christ. Whereupon next Morning I was moved to write a few Lines to Friends as a Warning thereof as follows Dear Friends LIve in the Power of the Lord God in his Seed that is set over all and is over all Trials that you may have from the dark Spirit again which would be owned in its Actings and thrust it self amongst you which is not come as yet But in the Power of the Lord God and his Seed keep over it and bring it to Condemnation For I felt a kind of dark Spirit thrusting it self up towards you and heaving up last Night But you may keep it down with the Power of God that the Witness may arise to Condemn its Actings so far as it hath spread its dark Works before it have any Admittance So no more but my Love in the Seed of God which changeth not Mynhead in Somersetshire the 22th of the 4th Month 1668. G. F. Devonshire Barnstable Appledon The next day several Friends of Mynhead accompanied us as far as Barnstable and Appledon in Devonshire where we had a Meeting Barnstable had been a bloody persecuting Town For there were Two Men-Friends of that Town that had been a great while at Sea And coming home to visit their Relations one of them having a Wife and Children the Mayor of the Town sent for them under pretence to discourse with them and put the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy to them And because they could not Swear he sent them to Exeter-Jail where Judge Archer premunired them and kept them till one of them died in Prison When I heard of this I was moved to write a Letter to Judge Archer 1668. Appledon and another to that Mayor of Barnstable laying their Wicked and Vnchristian Actions upon their Heads and letting them know that the Blood of that Man would be required at their hands Now after we had had a precious Meeting at Appledon among some Faithful Friends there we pass'd to Stratton Cornwall Stratton and staid there at an Inn all Night Next Day we rid through the Country to Humphrey Lower's where we had a very precious Meeting and the next Day we passed through to Truro and so went on visiting Friends Truro till we came to the Lands-End Lands-end Then coming up by the South-part of thaâ— County we visited Friends till we came to Tregangeeves Tregangeeves where at Loveday Hambley's we had a General Meeting for all the County in which the Monthly Meetings were settled in the Lord's Power and in the blessed Order of the Gospel That all who were faithful might Admonish and Exhort such as walked not according to the Gospel that so the House of God might be kept Clean and Righteousness might run down and all Vnrighteousness be swept away And several that had run out were brought to Condemn what they had done amiss and through Repentance came in again So after we had visited the Meetings in Cornwal and were Clear of that County we came into Devonshire Devonshire and had a Meeting amongst Friends at Plimouth Whence passing to Richard Brown's Plimouth we came to the Widow Philips where we had some of Men-Friends from all the Meetings together And there the Mens-Monthly-Meetings were settled in the Heavenly Order of the Gospel the Power of God which answered the Witness of God in all There was a great Noise of a Troop of Horse coming to disturb our Meeting for the Man-Servant of the House was a wicked envious Man But the Lord's Power prevented it and preserved us in Peace and Safety After things were well settled and the Meeting done we came to King's-bridge and visited Friends there-aways Kings-bridge Then leaving Friends in those parts well settled in the Power of God we past from thence through the Country to Topsham and so to Membury visiting Friends Topsham Membury Somersetshire Ilchester and having many Meetings in the way till we came to Ilchester in Somersetshire Here we had a General Mens-Meeting and therein settled the Mens-Monthly-Meetings for that County in the Lord 's everlasting Power the Order of the Gospel the Power of God which was before the Devil was Then after the Meetings were settled and Friends refreshed and comforted in the Lord's Power and established upon Christ their Rock and Foundation we passed to Puddimore Puddimore where at William Beaton's we had a blessed Meeting and all was quiet though the Constables had threatned before When we had visited most of the Meetings in Somersetshire we passed into Dorsetshire to one George Harris his House Dorsetshire where we had a large Mens-Meeting and there all the Mens-Monthly-Meetings for that County were settled in the Glorious Order of the Gospel that all in the Power of God might seek that which was lost and bring again that which was driven away and might
God hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son Thus they that come to be renewed up again into the Divine Heavenly Image in which Man was at first made will know the same God that was the First Teacher of Adam and Eve in Paradise to speak to them now by his Son who changes not Glory be to his Name for ever Many deep and precious Things were opened in those Meetings by the Eternal Spirit which searcheth and revealeth the deep Things of God And after I had finished my Service for the Lord in that City I departed thence into Glocestershire Glocestershire where we had many large and precious Meetings and the Lord 's Everlasting Power flowed over all From Glocestershire I passed into Wiltshire Wiltshire where also we had many blessed Meetings Slattenford At Slattenford in Wiltshire we had a very good Meeting though we met there with much Opposition from some who had set themselves against Womens-Meetings which I was moved of the Lord to recommend to Friends for the Benefit and Advantage of the Church of Christ That the faithful Women who were called to the Belief of the Truth The Service of Womens-Meetings being made Partakers of the same precious Faith and Heirs of the same everlasting Gospel of Life and Salvation as the Men are might in like manner come into the Possession and Practice of the Gospel-Order and therein be Meet-helps unto the Men in the Restoration in the Service of Truth in the Affairs of the Church as they are outwardly in outward and civil or temporal things That so all the Family of God Women as well as Men might know possess perform and discharge their Offices and Services in the House of God whereby the Poor might be the better looked after and taken care of the Younger sort instructed informed and taught in the Way of God the loose and disorderly reproved and admonished in the Fear of the Lord the Clearness of Persons propounding Marriage more closely and strictly enquired into in the Wisdom of God and all the Members of the Spiritual Body the Church might watch over and be helpful to each other in Love But after these Opposers had run into much Contention and Wrangling the Power of the Lord struck down one of the Chief of them so that his Spirit sunk and he came to be sensible of the Evil he had done in opposing God's Heavenly Power and confessed his Error before Friends and afterwards gave forth a Paper of Condemnation wherein he declared 1673. Slattenford That he did wilfully oppose although I often warned him to take heed until the Fire of the Lord did burn within him and he saw the Angel of the Lord with his Sword drawn in his Hand ready to cut him off c. Notwithstanding the Opposition was made at the Meeting yet a very good and serviceable Meeting it was for occasion was thereby administred to Answer their Objections and Cavils and to open the Services of Women in and for the Church And at this Meeting the Womens-Meetings for that County were established in the blessed Power of God After this I went to Marlborough and had a Meeting there Marlborough to which some of the Magistrates came and were civil and moderate Then passing on to Bartholomew Maylin's I had a very precious Meeting there and from thence went a little beyond Ore Ore where we had a blessed Meeting and very large as we had also soon after upon the Border of Hampshire Then turning into Oxfordshire Hampshire Oxfordshire Reading Buckinghamshire we visited Friends there and then went to Reading where we had a large Meeting and from thence passing into Buckinghamshire had many precious Meetings in that County After which we went upwards visiting Friends till we came to Kingston upon Thames Kingston upon Thames where my Wife and her Daughter Rachel met me I made no long stay at Kingston but went to London where I found London the Baptists and Socinians with some Old Apostates were grown very Rude having printed many Books against us So that I had a great Travel in the Lord's Power before I could get clear of that City But blessed be the Lord his Power came over them all and all their lying wicked scandalous Books were answered Then after a while Essex Middlesex I made a short Journey into some parts of Essex and Middlesex visiting Friends at their Meetings and their Children at their Schools and returned soon again to London London And after I had had some Service there among Friends I went down to Kingston Kingston and from thence to Stephen Smith's in Surrey Surrey where was a very large Meeting many Hundreds of People being at it I staid in those parts till I had cleared my self of the Service the Lord had given me to do there and then returned by Kingston to London Kingston London whither I felt my Spirit drawn having heard that many Friends were had before the Magistrates and divers Imprisoned both at London and in other Cities and Towns in the Nation for opening their Shop-windows upon Holy-days and Fast-days as they were called and for bearing Testimony against all such Observations of Days Which Friends could not but do knowing that the true Christians did not observe the Jews Holy-days in the Apostles times neither could we observe the Heathens and Papists Holy days so called which have been set up amongst those that are called Christians since the Apostles days For we were redeemed out of Days by Christ Jesus and brought into the Day which hath sprung from on high and are come into him who is Lord of the Jewish Sabbath and the Substance of the Jews Signs Now after I had staid some time in London labouring for some Relief and Ease to Friends in this Case I took Leave of Friends there and went into the Country with my Wife and her Daughter Rachel to Hendon in Middlesex 1673. Middlesex Hendon Hertfordshire Rickmansworth Aylesbury Oxfordshire Adderbury and from thence to William Penn's at Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire whither Thomas Lower who married another of my Wife's Daughters came to us the next Day to accompany us in our Journey Northward After we had visited Friends thereabouts we passed to a Friend's House near Aylesbury and from thence to Bray Doily's at Adderbury in Oxfordshire where on the First Day we had a large and precious Meeting and Truth being well spread and Friends in those parts much increased in number two or three new Meetings were then set up thereabouts Now at Night as I was sitting at Supper I felt I was Taken yet I said nothing to any body of it then But getting out next Morning we travelled through the Country into Worcestershire Worcestershire Tredington Parish Armscot and went to John Halford's House at Armscot in Tredington-Parish where we had a very large and precious Meeting in his Barn the Lord 's