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
Bickliff's and at Non-Eaton at a Priest's Widow's House we had a blessed Meeting wherein the everlasting Word of Life was powerfully declared and many settled in it Then Travelling on again through the Countries visiting Friends Meetings as I went in about three Weeks time from my coming out of Prison London I came to London Richard Huberthorn and Robert Withers being with me When we came to Charing-Cross there were Multitudes of People gathered together to see the Burning of the Bowels of some of them that had been the Old King's Judges and had been hanged drawn and quartered We went next Morning to Judge Mallet's Chamber who was putting on his Red Gown to go sit upon some more of the King's Judges He was then very peevish and froward and said I might come another time We went another time to his Chamber and then there was with him Judge Foster who was called the Lord Chief Justice of England With me was one called Esquire Marsh who was one of the Bed-Chamber to the King When we had delivered to the Judges the Charge that was against me and they had read to those Words That I and my Friends were Imbroiling the Nation in Blood c. they struck their Hands on the Table Whereupon I told them 1660. London I was the Man whom that Charge was against but I was as Innocent of any such thing as a new-born Child and had brought it up my self and some of my Friends came up with me without any Guard As yet they had not minded my Hat but now seeing my Hat on they said What did I stand with my Hat on I told them I did not stand so in any Contempt to them Then they commanded one to take it off And when they had called for the Marshal of the King's-Bench they said to him You must take this Man and secure him but you must let him have a Chamber and not put him amongst the Prisoners My Lord said the Marshal I have no Chamber to put him into my House is so full that I cannot tell where to provide a Room for him but amongst the Prisoners Nay said the Judges you must not put him amongst the Prisoners But when he still answered He had no other place to put me in Judge Foster said to me Will you appear to morrow about Ten of the Clock at the King's Bench-Bar in Westminster-Hall I said Yes if the Lord give me Strength Then said Judge Foster to the other Judge If he say Yes and promises it you may take his Word So I was dismissed for that time And next day I appeared at the King's Bench-Bar at the hour appointed Robert Withers King's-Bench-Bar Richard Huberthorn and that Esquire Marsh before named going with me I was brought into the middle of the Court and as soon as I was come in I was moved to look about and turning to the People said Peace be among you and the Power of the Lord sprang over the Court The Charge against me was read openly the People were moderate and the Judges cool and loving and the Lord's Mercy was to them But when they came to that part of it which said That I and my Friends were Imbroiling the Nation in Blood and raising a new War and that I was an Enemy to the King c. they lifted up their hands Then stretching out my Arms I said I am the the Man whom that Charge is against but I am as Innocent as a Child concerning the Charge and have never learned any War-Postures And said I do ye think that if I and my Friends had been such Men as the Charge declares that I would have Brought it up my self against my self Or that I should have beed suffered to come up with only one or two of my Friends with me For had I been such a Man as this Charge sets forth I had need have been guarded up with a Troop or two of Horse But the Sheriff and Magistrate of Lancashire had thought fit to let me and my Friends come up with it our selves almost two hundred Miles without any Guard at all which ye may be sure they would not have done if they had looked upon me to be such a Man Then the Judge asked me Whether it should be Filed or what I would do with it I answered Ye are Judges and able I hope to Judge in this matter therefore do with it what ye will for I am the Man these Charges are against and here ye see I have brought them up my self Do ye what ye will with them I leave it to you Then Judge Twisden beginning to speak some angry Words I appealed to Judge Foster and Judge Mallet who had heard me over-night Whereupon they said They did not accuse me for tney had nothing against me Then stood up he that was called Esquire Marsh who was of the King's Bed-Chamber and told the Judges It was the King's Pleasure that I should be set at Liberty seeing no Accuser came up against me 1660. King's Bench-Bar Then they asked me Whether I would put it to the King and Council I said Yes with a good Will Thereupon they sent the Sheriff's Return which he made to the Writ of Habeas Corpus containing the matter charged against me in the Mittimus to the King that he might see for what I was Committed Now the Return of the Sheriff of Lancaster was thus BY Vertue of his Majesty's Writ to me directed and hereunto annexed I certifie that before the Receipt of the said Writ George Fox in the said Writ mentioned was committed to his Majesties Jail at the Castle of Lancaster in my Custody by a Warrant from Henry Porter Esq one of his Majesty's Justices of Peace within the County Palatine aforesaid bearing Date the Fifth of June now last past for that he the said George Fox was generally suspected to be a common Disturber of the Peace of this Nation an Enemy to our Sovereign Lord the King and a chief Vpholder of the Quakers Sect and that he together with others of his Fanatick Opinion have of late endeavoured to make Insurrections in these parts of the Country and to Imbroil the whole Kingdom in Blood And this is the Cause of his taking and detaining Nevertheless the Body of the said George Fox I have ready before Thomas Mallet Knight one of his Majesty's Justices assigned to hold Pleas before his said Majesty at his Chamber in Sergeants Inn in Fleetstreet to do and receive those things which his Majesties said Justice shall determin concerning him in this behalf as by the aforesaid Writ is required GEORGE CHETHAM Esq Sheriff Upon Perusal of this and Consideration of the whole matter the King being satisfied of my Innocency commanded his Secretary to send an Order to Judge Mallet for my Release which the Secretary did thus IT is his Majesty's Pleasure That you give Order for the Releasing and setting at full Liberty the Person of George Fox late a
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
Debate Did your Hearts never burn within you Did you never come to question your Conditions Are you wholly given up to do the Devil's Lusts to Persecute Where is your Loving Enemies Where is your Entertaining Strangers Where is your Overcoming Evil with Good Where are your Teachers that can stop the Mouths of Gain-sayers and can convince Gain-sayers and such as oppose themselves Have you no Ministers of the Spirit no Soldiers with Spiritual Weapons displaying Christ's Colours But all the Dragon 's the Murderer's the Persecutor's Arm of Flesh Cain's Weapons Chief Priests taking Counsel Judas and the Multitude with Swords and Staves Sodom's Company raging about Lot's House like the Priests and Princes against Jeremiah like the Dragon Beast and great Whore and the false Church which John saw should cast into Prison and Kill and Persecute Whose Weapons are you bearing doth not the false Church the VVhore make Merchandize of Cattel Corn VVine and Oil even to the very Souls of Men And hath not all this been since the true Church went into the Wilderness Read Revelations the 12th with the 18th Do you not read and see what a Spirit you are of and what a bottomless Pit you are in And have not you dishonoured the Place of Justice and Authority What! turned your Sword backward like Mad-Men who are a Praise to the Evil-Doer and would be a Terror to the Good with all Force and Might to stop the way of Justice Doth not the Lord think you behold your Actions How many have you wronged how many have you Imprisoned and Persecuted and put out of your Synagogues Are you they that must fulfil the Prophecy of Christ Matth 23. John 16. Read the Scriptures and see how unlike you are to the Prophets Christ and his Apostles and what a Visage you have like unto them that persecuted the Prophets Christ and the Apostles You are found in their Steps wrestling with Flesh and Blood and not with Principalities and Powers and Spiritual Wickedness And your Teachers imprisoning and persecuting for outward things you being their Executioners the like whereof hath not been in all the Nations The Havock that hath been made the spoiling of the Goods of People taking away their Oxen and fatted Beeves their Sheep Corn Wool and Houshold-Goods and giving them to the Priests that have done no Work for them More like Moss-Troopers than Ministers of the Gospel they take them from Friends suing them in your Courts and fining them because they will not break the Commands of Christ that is because they will not Swear And thus you Act against them that do not lift up an Hand against you and as much as you turn against them you turn against Christ But he is risen that will plead their Cause and you cannot be hid for your Works are come to Light and the End of your Ministry is seen what it is for for Means And ye have dishonoured the Truth the Gospel and are they that make it Chargeable You have lost your Glory you have dishonoured your selves Persecution was ever blind and mad Read the Apostle what he saith of himself when he was in your Nature Exaltation and Pride and your lifting up your selves hath brought you to this not being humble and not doing Justice and not loving Mercy And when such as have beaten been and bruised by your Rude Company to whom you are a Praise and Encouragement have come and laid things before you that you might have done Justice preserved and kept Peace you as knowing they could not swear have put an Oath to them And this hath been your Trick and Cover that ye might not do Justice to the Just but by this means have gone on still further to Encourage the Evil-Doer But the Lord sees your Hearts If ye were not Men past feeling ye would fear and tremble before him the God of the whole Earth who is risen and will stain your Glory and marr your Pride and deface your Beauty and lay it in the dust Though for a Time you may swell in your Pride and glory in your Shame and make a mock of God's Messengers who for Reproving Sin in the Gate are become your Prey you will feel the heavy hand of God and his Judgments at the last This is from a Lover of the Truth and of Righteousness and of your Souls but a Witness against all such as make a Trade of the Prophets Christ's and the Apostles Words and are found in the Steps of them that persecuted the Prophets Christ's and the Apostles Life who will persecute them that will not hold you up and put into your Mouths and give you Means Tithes were before the Law and Tithes were in the Law but Tithes since the Days of the Apostles have been only since the false Church got up Now Christ who is come to end the Law and to end War Redeems Men out of the Tenths and out of the Nines also The Redeemed of the Lord shall reign upon the Earth and know the Election which was before the World began Since the days of the Apostles Tithes have been set up by the Papists and by them that went forth from the Apostles into the World so set up by the false Church that made Merchandize of People since the true Church went into the Wilderness But now is the Judgment of the great Whore come and the Beast and false Prophet the Old Dragon shall be taken and cast into the Fire and the Lamb and his Saints shall have the Victory And now is Christ come who will make War in Righteousness and destroy with the Sword of his Mouth all these Inventers and Inventions that have got up and been set up since the Days of the Apostles and since the true Church went into the Wilderness And the everlasting Gospel which is the Power of God shall be preached again to all Nations and Kindreds and Tongues in this the Lamb's Day before whom you shall appear to Judgment and you have no way to Escape For he hath appeared who is the First and the Last the Beginning and the Ending the Alpha and the Omega He that was Dead is alive again and lives for evermore I mentioned before That Gervase Benson and Anthony Pearson though they had been Justices of the Peace were not permitted to come to me in the Prison whereupon they jointly wrote a Letter to the Magistrates Priests and People at Carlisle concerning my Imprisonment And thus it was HIM who is called George Fox who is persecuted by Rulers and Magistrates by Justices by Priests and by People and who suffers Imprisonment of his Body at this present as a Blasphemer and an Heretick and a Seducer him do we witness who in measure are made Partakers of the same Life which lives in him to be a Minister of the Eternal Word of God by whom the everlasting Gospel is preached by the powerful Preaching whereof the Eternal Father of the Saints hath opened the Blind Eyes hath
unstopped the deaf Ears hath let the Oppressed go free and hath raised up the Dead out of the Graves Christ is now preached in and among the Saints the same that ever he was and because his heavenly Image is born up in this his faithful Servant therefore doth fallen Man Rulers Priests and Peopleâ— persecute him because he lives up out of the Fall and testifies against the Works of the VVorld that the Deeds thereof are Evil he suffers by you Magistrates not as an Evil-Doer For thus it was ever where the Seed of God was kept in Prison under the cursed Nature that Nature sought to imprison them in whom it was raised The Lord will make him to you as a burdensom Stone for the Sword of the Spirit of the Almighty is put into the Hands of the Saints which shall wound all the Wicked and shall not be put up till it hath cut down all corrupt Judges Justices Magistrates Priests and Professors till he hath brought his wonderful thing to pass in the Earth which is to make New Heavens and a New Earth wherein shall dwell Righteousness which now he is about to do Therefore fear the Lord God Almighty ye Judges Justices Commanders Priests and People ye that forget God suddenly will the Lord come and destroy you with an utter Destruction and will sweep your Names out of the Earth and will restore his People Judges as at the First and Counsellors as at the Beginning And all Persecutors shall partake of the Plagues of the VVhore who hath made the Kings of the Earth and the great Men drunk with the VVine of her Fornications and hath drunk the Blood of the Saints and therefore shall you be Partakers of her Plagues We are not suffered to go see our Friend in Prison whom we witness to be a Messenger of the Living God Now all People mind Whether this be according to Law oâ— from the wicked perverse envious Will of the envious Rulers and Magistrates who are of the same Generation that persecuted Jesus Christ for said he as they have done to me so will they do to you And as he took the love the kindness and service that was shewed and performed to any of his Afflicted Ones in their Sufferings and Distress as done unto himself so the Injuries and Wrongs that were done by any to any of his Little Ones he resented as done unto himself also Therefore you who are so far from visiting him your selves in his suffering Servant that ye will not suffer his Brethren to visit him ye must depart ye Workers of Iniquity into the Lake that burns with Fire The Lord is coming to thresh the Mountains and will beat them to Dust And all corrupt Rulers corrupt Officers and corrupt Laws the Lord will take Vengeance on by which the tender Consciences of his People are oppressed And he will give his People his Law and will judge his People himself not according to the sight of the Eye and hearing of the Ear but with Righteousness and with Equity Now are your Hearts made manifest to be full of Envy against the living Truth of God which is made manifest in his People who are contemned and despised of the World and scornfully called Quakers You are worse than the Heathens that put Paul in Prison for none of his Friends or Acquaintance were hindred to come to him by them therefore they shall be Witnesses against you Ye are made manifest to the Saints to be of the same Generation that put Christ to death and that put the Apostles in Prison on the same pretence as you act under in calling Truth Error and the Ministers of God Blasphemers as they did But the day is dreadful and terrible that shall come upon you ye Evil Magistrates Priests and People who profess the Truth in Words outwardly and yet persecute the Power of Truth and them that stand in and for the Truth While ye have Time prize it and remember what is written Isa 54.17 George Benson Anthony Pearson Not long after this the Lord's Power came over the Justices and they were made to set me at Liberty But sometime before I was set at Liberty the Governour and the said Anthony Pearson came down into the Dungeon to see the Place where I was kept and understand what Vsage I had And when they were come down to me they found the place so bad and the savour so ill that they cried shame of the Magistrates for suffering the Jailer to do such things And they called for the Jailers into the Dungeon and required them to find Sureties for their good Behaviour and the Vnder-Jailer who had been such a Cruel Fellow they put into the Dungeon with me amongst the Moss-Troopers 1653. Cumberland At T. B's Now after I was set at Liberty I went to Thomas Bewley's where there came a Baptist-Teacher to Oppose me and he was Convinced And Robert Widders being with me was moved to go to Coldbeck-Steeple-house and the Baptist-Teacher went along with him the same day And the People fell upon them and almost killed Robert Widders and took the Baptist's Sword from him and beat him sorely This Baptist had the Inheritance of an Impropriation of Tithes and he went home and gave it up freely Robert VVidders was sent to Carlisle-Jail where having lain a while he was set at Liberty again VVilliam Dewsberry also went to another Steeple-house hard by and the People almost killed him they beat him so but the Lord's Power was over all and healed them again At that day many Friends went to the Steeple-houses to declare the Truth to the Priests and People and great Sufferings they underwent but the Lord's Power sustained them Now I went into the Country and had mighty great Meetings and the Everlasting Gospel and VVord of Life flourished and Thousands were turned to the Lord Jesus Christ and to his Teaching And several that took Tithes as Impropriators denied the receiving of them any longer Westmorland and delivered them up freely to the Parishioners Then passing on into VVestmorland I had many great Meetings and at Strickland-Head I had a large Meeting Strickland head where a Justice of Peace out of Bishoprick whose Name was Henry Draper came up and many Contenders were there The Priests and Magistrates were in a great Rage against me in Westmorland and had a VVarrant to apprehend me which they renewed from time to time for a long time Yet the Lord did not suffer them to serve it upon me So I traveled on amongst Friends visiting the Meetings till I came to Swarthmore Swarthmore where I heard that the Baptists and Professors in Scotland had sent to me to have a Dispute with me Whereupon I sent them word Cumberland that I would meet them in Cumberland at Thomas Bewley's House whither accordingly I went but none of them came Some dangers at this time I underwent in my Travels to and fro Wighton for at one time as
the World was by whom it was made who is the Righteousness of God and his Wisdom to whom all Glory Honour Thanks and Praise belongs who is God blessed for ever Let no Image nor Likeness be made but in the Light Wait which will bring Condemnation on that part that would make the Images for that prisons the Just. So to the Lust yield not the Eye nor the Flesh for the Pride of Life stands in that which keeps out of the Love of the Father and upon which his Judgments and Wrath remains where the Love of the World is sought after and a Crown that is mortal in which Ground the Evil enters which is cursed which brings forth Bryars and Thorns where the Death reigns and Tribulation and Anguish is upon every Soul and the Egyptian Tongue is heard All which is by the Light Condemned And there the Earth is which must be removed by the Light it is seen and by the Power it is removed and out of its place it is shaken to which the Thunders utter their Voices before the Mysteries of God be opened and Jesus revealed Therefore all ye whose Minds are turned to this Light which brings Condemnation upon all those things before-mentioned that are contrary to the Light Wait upon the Lord Jesus for the Crown that is Immortal and that fadeth not away G. F. This is to be sent amongst all Friends in the Truth the Flock of God to be read at their Meetings in every Place where they are met together While yet Friends abode in the Northern Parts a certain Priest of Rexam in Wales whose Name was Morgan Floyd having heard Reports concerning us sent Two of his Congregation into the North to Inquire concerning us and to Try us and bring him an Account concerning us But when these Triers came down amongst us the Power of the Lord seized on them and they were both Convinced of the Truth So they stayed some Time with us and then returned back to Wales where afterwards one of them departed from his Convincement but the other whose Name was John-ap-John abode in the Truth and received a part of the Ministry in which he continued faithful Now were the Priests in a great Rage at New Castle and at Kendal and up and down in most of the Northern Counties And there being one Gilpin that had sometimes come amongst us at Kendal and soon run out from the Truth into vain Imaginations the Priests made what Evil Vse they could of him against us but the Lord's Power confounded them all And the Lord God cut off Two of those persecuting Justices at Carlisle and the other after a Time was turned out of his Place and went out of the Town About this Time also the Oath or Engagement to O. Cromwel was tendered to the Souldiers and many of the Souldiers were disbanded because in Obedience to Christ they could not swear As John Stubbs for one who was Convinced when I was in Carlisle-Prison and became a good Soldier in the Lamb's War and a faithful Minister of Christ Jesus travelling much in the Service of the Lord in Holland Ireland Scotland Italy Egypt and America and the Lord's Power preserved him out of the Hands of the Papists though many times he was in great Danger of the Inquisition But some of the Souldiers who had been Convinced in their Judgments but had not come into Obedience to the Truth took O Cromwel's Oath and going afterwards into Scotland and coming before a Garrison there the Garrison thinking 1654. NORTH-Country they had been Enemies fired at them and killed divers of them which was a sad Judgment Now when the Churches were settled in the North and Friends were sate down under Christ's Teaching and the Glory of the Lord shined over them Swarthmore Lancaster I passed from Swarthmore to Lancaster about the beginning of the Year 1654 and so through the Countries visiting Friends till I came to Synder-hill-green where there was a Meeting appointed three Weeks before leaving the North fresh and green under Christ their Teacher But before I came to Synder-hill-green we passed through Hallifax Hallifax a rude Town of Professors and came to one Thomas Taylor 's who had been a Captain where we met with some Janglers but the Lord's Power was over all for I travelled in the Motion of God's Power Synder-hill-Green And when I came to Synder-hill-green there was a mighty Meeting some Thousands of People as it was judged and many Persons of Note were there as Captains and other Officers and there was a general Convincement for the Lord's Power and Truth was set over all and there was no Opposition About this Time did the Lord move upon the Spirits of many whom he had raised up and sent forth to Labour in his Vineyard to travel Southwards and spread themselves in the Service of the Gospel to the Eastern Southern and Western parts of the Nation As Francis Howgill and Edward Burrough to London John Camm and John Audland to Bristol through the Countries Richard Hubberthorn and George Whitehead towards Norwich Thomas Holmes into Wales and others otherways for above sixty Ministers had the Lord raised up and did now send abroad out of the North-Country And the sense of their Service being very Weighty upon me I was moved to give forth the following Paper directed thus To Friends in the Ministry ALL Friends every where Know the Seed of God which bruiseth the Seed of the Serpent and is a top of the Seed of the Serpent which Seed sins not but bruiseth the Serpent's Head that doth sin and tempts to Sin Which Seed God's Promise and God's Blessing is to which Seed is One in the Male and in the Female Where it is Head and hath bruised the Head of the other to the beginning you are come and the Younger is known and he that is Servant to the Younger And the Promise of God which is to the Seed is fulfilled and fulfilling and the Scriptures come to be opened and owned And the Flesh of Christ known who took upon him the Seed of Abraham according to the Flesh the Everlasting Priesthood known the Everlasting Covenant Christ takes upon him the Seed of Abraham and is a Priest after the Order of Melchizedeck him that is without Father without Mother without Beginning of Days mark or End of Life This is the Priest that ever lives he that is the Covenant of Life of Light and Peace And the Everlasting Offering here is known once for all which Offering overthrows that Nature which offered out of which the Priesthood arose that could not continue by reason of Death And here is the other Offering known the Everlasting Offering which perfects for ever them that are sanctified which Offering blotted out the Hand-writing of Ordinances triumphs over them and ascends above all Principalities and Powers Now he that hath the Spirit of Jesus sees this and here is the Love of God received that doth not
and the Lord crossed them in their Design and Friends passed away peaceably and quietly The Souldiers examined some Friends after I was gone What they did there but when they told them They were in their Inn and had occasions and business in the City they passed away without meddling any further with them From Exeter I travelled through the Countries taking Meetings as I went till I came to Bristol and was at the Meeting there Bristol After the Meeting was done I did not stay in the Town but passed up into Wales and had a Meeting at the Slone WALES Slone Cardiff and so passed through the Country to Cardiff where a Justice of Peace sent to me desiring I would come up with half a dozen of my Friends to his House So I took a Friend or two and went up to him and he and his Wife received us very civilly The next Day we had a Meeting in Cardiff in the Town-Hall and that Justice sent about seventeen of his Family to the Meeting There came some disturbers but the Lord's Power was over them and many were turned to the Lord there There were some that had run out with James Naylor that did not come to Meetings to whom I sent Word That the Day of their Visitation was over and they never prospered after We travelled from Cardiff through the Country to Swanzey Swanzey where we had a blessed Meeting and a Meeting was settled there in the Name of Jesus In our way thither we passed over in a Passage-boat with the high-Sheriff of the County and the next Day I went to have spoken with him but he would not be spoken withal From thence we went to another Meeting in the Country where the Lord's Presence was much with us And from thence we went to a Great Man's House who received us very lovingly but the next Morning he would not be seen One that in the mean time came to him had so estranged him that we could not get to him to speak with him again he was so Changed and yet over-night was exceeding Loving We passed still on through the Countries having Meetings and gathering People in the Name of Christ to him their heavenly Teacher Brecknock till we came to Brecknock where we set up our Horses at an Inn. There went with me Thomas Holmes and John ap John who was moved of the Lord to speak in the Streets I walked out but a little into the Fields and when I came in again the Town was up in an Vproar When I came into the Chamber in the Inn it was full of People and they were speaking in Welch I desired them to speak in English and they did and much discourse we had After a while they went away But towards Night the Magistrates gathered together in the Streets with a multitude of People and they bid them shout and gathered up the Town So that for about Two Hours together there was such a Noise as the like we had not heard and the Magistrates set them on to shout again when they had given over We thought it looked like the Vproar which we read was amongst Diana's Handicrafts-Men This Tumult continued till it was within Night and if the Lord's Power had not limited them they seemed likely to have pulled down the House and us to pieces After it was Night the Woman of the House would have had us go to Supper in another Room but we discerning her Plot refused Then she would have had half a dozen Men come into the Room to us under pretence of discoursing with us but we told her That no Persons should come into our Room that Night neither would we go to them Then she told us we should sup in another Room but we told her we would have no Supper if we had it not in our own Room At length when she saw she could not get us out she brought up our Supper in a great Rage So She and They were crossed in their Design for they had an Intent to have done us Mischief but the Lord God prevented them Next Morning I writ a Paper to the Town concerning their Vnchristian Carriages shewing the Fruits of their Priests and Magistrates and as I passed out of the Town I spake to the People and told them They were a shame to Christianity and Religion From this Place we went to a great Meeting in a Steeple-house-yard where was a Priest and Walter Jenkin who had been a Justice and another Justice and a blessed glorious Meeting we had And there being many Professors I was moved of the Lord to open the Scriptures to them and to Answer the Objections which they stuck at in their Profession for I knew them very well and to turn them to Christ who had enlightned them with which Light they might see their Sins and Trespasses they had been dead in and their Saviour him that came to Redeem them out of them 1657. Brechnock who was to be their Way to God the Truth and the Life to them and their Priest made higher than the Heavens so that they might come to sit under his Teaching A peaceable Meeting we had and many were Convinced and settled in the Truth that day After the Meeting was over I went with Walter Jenkin to the other Justice's House and he said unto me You have this day given great satisfaction to the People and answered all the Objections that were in their Minds For the People had the Scriptures but they were not turned to the Spirit which should let them see that which gave them forth the Spirit of God which is the Key to open them From hence we passed to Pontamile to Richard Hamborow's Pontamile where was a great Meeting to which there came another Justice of Peace and several Great People whose Understandings were opened by the Lord's Spirit and Power and the Light of Jesus Christ and they came to be turned to the Lord Jesus Christ from whence it came A great Convincement there was and a large Meeting is gathered in those parts and settled in the Name of Jesus After this we returned back to England and came to Shrewsbury England Shrewsbury where we had a great Meeting and visited Friends all up and down the Countries in their Meetings till we came to William Gandy's in Cheshire Cheshire where we had a Meeting of between two and three thousand People as it was thought and the everlasting Word of Life was held forth and received that day A blessed Meeting it was for Friends were settled by the Power of God upon Christ Jesus the Rock and Foundation At this time there was a great Drought And after this general Meeting was ended there fell so great a Rain that Friends said they thought we could not Travel the Brooks and Waters would be so risen But I believed the Rain had gone so far as they had come that day to the Meeting And the next day in
large and blessed Meetings And in many places we were threatned by the Officers but through the Power of the Lord we escaped their hands So leaving things well settled in Darbyshire we travelled over the Peak-Hills which were very cold Peak-Hills Staffordshire for it was then Frost and Snow and so came into Staffordshire and at Thomas Hammersley's we had a General Mens-Meeting where things were well settled in the Gospel-Order and the Monthly Meetings were established there also But I was so exceeding weak I was hardly able to get on or off my Horse's Back But my Spirit being earnestly engaged in the Work the Lord had concerned me in and sent me forth about I travelled on therein notwithstanding the Weakness of my Body having Confidence in the Lord that he would carry me through as he did by his Power So we came into Cheshire 1667. Cheshire where we had several blessed Meetings and a General Mens Meeting wherein all the Monthly Meetings for that County were settled according to the Gospel-Order in and by the Power of God And after the Meeting was done I passed away But when the Justices heard of it they were very much troubled that they had not come and broken it up and taken me but the Lord prevented them So after I had cleared my self there in the Lord's Service I passed into Lancashire Lancashire Near Warrington to William Barnes's near Warrington where met some of most of the Meetings in that County and there all the Monthly Meetings were established in the Gospel-Order also From thence I sent Papers into Westmorland by Leonard Fell and Robert Widders Westmorland Bishoprick of Durham Cleaveland Northumberland Cumberland SCOTLAND and also into Bishoprick Cleaveland and Northumberland and into Cumberland and Scotland to exhort Friends to settle the Monthly Meetings in the Lord's Power in those places which they did And so the Lord's Power came over all and the Heirs of it came to inherit it For the Authority of our Meetings is the Power of God the Gospel which brings Life and Immortality to Light that they may see over the Devil that hath darkned them and that all the Heirs of the Gospel might walk according to the Gospel and glorifie God with their Bodies Souls ond Spirits which are the Lord's For the Order of the Glorious Gospel is not of Man nor by Man To this Meeting in Lancashire Margaret Fell Warrington Cheshire being a Prisoner got liberty to come and went with me from thence to Jane Milners in Cheshire where we parted Shropshire And I passed out of Cheshire into Shropshire and from thence into Wales WALES and had a large General Mens-Meeting at Charles Floid's where some Opposers came in but the Lord's Power brought them down Denbyshire Montgomeryshire Meriâ—â—â—â—â—shâ—â—â— Having gone through Denbyshire and Montgomeryshire we passed into Merionethshire where we had several blessed Meetings and then went to the Sea side where also we had a precious Meeting And having passed through several Countries and Friends there being established upon Christ their Foundation we left Wales the Monthly Meetings being settled there in the Power of God and returned into Shropshire Shropshire where the Friends of the Country gathering together the Monthly Meetings were established there also Then coming into Worcestershire Worcestershire after we had had many Meetings up and down amongst Friends in that Country we had a General Mens-Meeting at Henry Gibs's House at Pashur Pashur where also the Monthly Meetings were settled in the Gospel-Order The Sessions were held that day in that Town and some Friends were pretty much concerned lest they should send some Officers to break up our Meeting but the Lord's Power restrained them so that our Meeting was quiet through which Power we had Dominion After the Meeting I passed away and had several Meetings amongst Friends in that Country Worcester till I came to Worcester and it being the Fair-time we had a precious Meeting there There was then in Worcester one Major Wild a persecuting Man and after I was gone out of Town some of his Souldiers inquired after me but I having left the Friends there settled in good Order Draitwich was passed away to Draitwich From thence we passed to Shrewsbury 1667. Shrewsbury where also we had a very precious Meeting But the Mayor hearing that I was in Town got the rest of the Officers together to Consult what to do against me For they said The Great Quaker of England was come to Town But when they were come together the Lord Confounded their Counsels so that when some were for Imprisoning me others of them opposed it and so being divided amongst themselves I escaped their hands We went also into Radnorshire Radnorshire where we had many precious Meetings and the Monthly Meetings were settled in the Lord's Power As we came forth of that Country staying a little at a Market Town a Justice's Clerk and some other Rude Fellows combined together to do us a Mischief upon the Road. Accordingly they followed us out of Town and soon overtook us but there being many Market-People on the way they were some-what hindred from doing what they intended Yet observing that Two of our Company rid at some distance behind they set upon them Two and one of them drew his Sword and cut one of those two Friends whose Name was Richard Moor the Chirurgeon of Shrewsbury Mean while another of these Rude Fellows came galloping after me and the other Friend that was with me and we being to pass over a Bridge that was somewhat of the narrowest for him to pass by us he in his Eagerness to get before us rid into the Brook and plunged his Horse into a deep Hole in the Water I saw the Design and stopt and desired Friends to be patient and give them no occasion and in this time came Richard Moor up to us with the other Friend that was with him who knew the Men and their Names Then we rid on the Road again and a little further we met another Man on foot who was Drunk and had a naked Sword in his hand And not far beyond him in a Bottom we met Two Men and Two Women one of which Men had his Thumb cut off by this Drunken Man that had the Naked Sword for he being in Drink would have Ravished one of the Women and this Man withstanding him and rescuing the Young-Woman from him he whipt out his Sword and cut off the Man's Thumb Now though this Drunken Man was then on foot having alighted to do his Wickedness yet he had a Horse that being loose followed him a pretty way behind Wherefore I rid after the Horse and having caught him I brought him to the Man that had his Thumb cut off and bid him Take the Horse to the next Justice of Peace and by that means they might find out and pursue the Man that had wounded
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-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 being with me Shipton we walked down the Hill into the Town leading our Horses And it being
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
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-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
another Friend's House near the Head of Hatton's-Island Hatton's-Island where we had good Service amongst Friends and others as we had also the Day following at Geo. Wilson's a Friend that lived about three Miles further where we had a very precious Meeting there being a great Tenderness amongst the People After this Meeting we sailed thence about Ten Miles to James Frizby's who was a Justice of the Peace and there on the Sixteenth of the Eighth Month we had a very large Meeting at which besides Friends were some Hundreds of People as it was supposed and amongst them were several Justices of the Peace and Captains and the Sheriff with other Persons of Note in the World's Account A blessed heavenly Meeting this was and a powerful thundering Testimony for Truth was born therein and a great Sense there was upon the People and a great Brokenness and Tenderness was amongst them We stay'd after Meeting till about the Eleventh Hour in the Night that the Tide turned and was with us and then taking Boat again we passed that Night and the next Day about Fifty Miles to another Friend's House The two next days we made short Journies visiting Friends and on the Twentieth we had a great Meeting at a place called Severn Severn where there was a Meeting-Place but not large enough to hold the People by many for the People of those parts came generally to it Divers of the Chief Magistrates were at it and many other considerable People and it gave them generally great Satisfaction Two days after we had a Meeting with some that walked disorderly and we had good Service in it Then spending a day or two in visiting Friends thereabouts Western-Shore we passed to the Western-Shore and on the Twenty fifth Day had a large and precious Meeting at William Coale's where the Speaker of their Assembly with his Wife and a Justice of Peace and several other People of Quality were present Next Day we had a Meeting six or seven Miles further at Abraham Birkhead's where many of the Magistrates and upper sort of People were and the Speaker of the Parliament or Assembly for that Country was Convinced A blessed Meeting it was praised be the Lord. We travelled on next Day and on the Day following which was the Twenty eighth of the Eighth Month had a large and very precious Meeting at Peter Sharp's Clifts on the Clifts between Thirty and Forty Miles distant from the former Many of the Magistrates and upper Rank of People were at this Meeting and a heavenly Meeting it was One of the Governour 's Council's Wives was Convinced and her Husband very loving to Friends and one that came from Virginia being a Justice of the Peace there was Convinced and hath a Meeting since at his House There was some Papists at this Meeting and one of them threatned before he came that he would Dispute with me but when he came he was reached and could not oppose Blessed be the Lord the Truth hath reached into the Hearts of People beyond Words and it is of a good Savour amongst them After the Meeting we went about Eighteen Miles to James Preston's a Friend that liveth on Pottuxon-River and thither came to us an Indian King Pottuxon River with his Brother to whom I spake and I found they understood the thing I spake of Now having finished our Service in Mary-land and intending forthwith to set forward for Virginia Pottuxon we had a Meeting at Pottuxon on the Fourth Day of the Ninth Month to take our Leaves of Friends The Meeting was in the Meeting-Place and many of the World's People of all sorts were at it and a powerful Meeting it was Upon the Fifth Day of the Ninth Month we set Sail for Virginia VIRGINIA and in three days came to a Place called Nancemum Nancemum it being as they there computed about Two hundred Miles from Mary-land In this Voyage we met with nothing but what had been usual with us namely foul Weather Storms and Rain and to lie in the Woods by a Fire in the Night At this Nancemum lived a Friend called the Widow Wright Next Day we had a great Meeting at Nancemum of Friends and People There came to this Meeting one Col. Dewes with several other Officers and Magistrates and were much taken with the Truth declared After this Meeting was over we hast'ned towards Carolina yet had several Meetings by the Way wherein we had good Service for the Lord One about four Miles from Nancemum-Water which was a very precious Meeting and there was a Mens and a Womens-Meeting settled for taking Care of the Affairs of the Church Another very good Meeting also we had at William Yarrow's at a place called Pagan-Creek where the Meeting was so large Pagan Creek that we were fain to be abroad the House not being big enough to contain the People A great Openness there was in the People and the Sound of Truth did spread abroad and had a good Savor in the Hearts of People the Lord have the Glory for ever After this our way to Carolina grew worse being much of it plashy and wet and pretty full of great Bogs and Swamps so that we were commonly wet to the Knees most of us and lay abroad a-Nights in the Woods by a Fire saving that one of the Nights we got to a poor House at a place called Sommertown Sommerton and lay by the Fire in the House The Woman of the House had a Sense of God upon her and the Report of our Travel had reached thither and drawn some People that lived beyond Sommertown to that House in Expectation to have seen and heard us so acceptable was the Sound of Truth in that Wilderness-Country but they missed us The next Day which was the Twenty first of the Ninth Month having travelled hard through the Woods and over many Bogs and Swamps we reached at Night to Bonner's Creek 1672. CAROLINA and there we lay that Night by the Fire-side the Woman lending us a Mat to lie on This was the first House we came to in Carolina And here we left our Horses which were over-wearied with Travel From hence we went down the Creek in a Canooe to Macocomocock-River Bonner's Crâ—â—k and came to a Man's House Macocomocock River whose Name was Hugh Smith where the People of the World came in to see us for there were no Friends in that part of the Country and many of them did receive us gladly Amongst others that came to us there was one Nathaniel Batts who we heard had been Governour of Ronoack He went by the Name of Captain Batts and had been a Rude Desperate Man He asked me about a Woman in Cumberland who he said he was told had been healed by our Prayers and Laying on of Hands after she had been long sick and given over by the Physicians and he desired to know the certainty of it
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
A JOURNAL OR Historical Account OF THE Life Travels Sufferings Christian Experiences and Labour of Love in the Work of the Ministry OF THAT Ancient Eminent and Faithful Servant of JESUS CHRIST George Fox Who departed this Life in great Peace with the LORD the 13th of the 11th Month 1690. The First Volume Dan. 12.3 And they that turn many to Righteousness shall shine as the Stars for ever and ever Verse 4. Many shall run to and fro and Knowledge shall be Encreased 2 Tim. 2.12 If we suffer we shall also reign with him i. e. with Christ LONDON Printed for Thomas Northcott in George-Yard in Lombard-Street MDCXCIV THE TESTIMONY OF Margaret Fox Concerning her Late Husband GEORGE FOX TOGETHER With a brief Account of some of his Travels Sufferings and Hardships endured for the Truth 's sake IT having pleased Almighty God to take away my Dear Husband out of this Evil Troublesome World who was not a Man thereof being Chosen out of it and had his Life and Being in another Region and his Testimony was against the World that the Deeds thereof were evil and therefore the World hated him So I am now to give in my Account and Testimony for my Dear Husband whom the Lord hath taken unto his blessed Kingdom and Glory And it is before me from the Lord and in my View to give a Relation and leave upon Record the Dealings of the Lord with us from the Beginning He was the Instrument in the Hand of the Lord in this present Age which he made use of to send forth into the World to preach the Everlasting Gospel which had been hid from many Ages and Generations the Lord Revealed it unto him and made him open that New and Living Way that Leads to Life Eternal when he was but a Youth and a Stripling And when he Declared it in his own Country of Leicestershire and in Darbyshire Nottinghamshire and Warwickshire and his Declaration being against the Hireling-Priests and their Practices it raised a Great Fury and Opposition amongst the Priests and People against him yet there was always some that owned him in several places but very few that stood firm to him when Persecution came on him There was he and one other put in Prison at Darby His first Imprisonment but the other declined and left him in Prison there where he continued almost a whole Year and then he was Released out of Prison And went on with his Testimony abroad Second Imprisonment and was put in Prison again at Nottingham and there he continued a while and after was Released again And then he Travelled on into Yorkshire and passed up and down that Great County and several received him as William Dewsbury Richard Farnsworth Thomas Aldam and others who all came to be faithful Ministers of the Spirit for the Lord. And he continued in that Country and Travelled thorow Holderness and the Wowlds and abundance were Convinced and several were brought to Prison at York for their Testimony to the Truth both Men and Women So that we heard of such a People that were Risen and we did very much inquire after them And after a while he Travelled up farther towards the Dales in Yorkshire as Wensdale and Sedbur and amongst the Hills Dales and Mountains he came on and Convinced many of the Eternal Truth And in the Year 1652. it pleased the Lord to draw him towards us so he came on from Sedbur and so to Westmorland as Firbank-Chappel where John Blaykling came with him and so on to Preston and to Grarig and Kendal and Vnder-barrow and Poobank and Cartmel and Staveley and so on to Swarthmore my Dwelling-House whither he brought the blessed Tideings of the Everlasting Gospel which I and many Hundreds in these parts have cause to praise the Lord for My then Husband Thomas Fell was not at home at that time but gone the Welch Circuit being one of the Judges of Assize And our House being a Place open to entertain Ministers and Religious People at one of George Fox his Friends brought him hither where he stayed all Night And the next day being a Lecture or a Fast-day he went to Ulverston-Steeple-house but came not in till People were gathered I and my Children had been a long time there before And when they were singing before the Sermon he came in and when they had done singing he stood up upon a Seat or Form and desired That he might have liberty to speak And he that was in the Pulpit said he might And the first words that he spoke were as followeth He is not a Jew that is one outward neither is that Circumcision which is outward But he is a Jew that is one inward and that is Circumcision which is of the heart And so he went on and said How that Christ was the Light of the World and ligheth every Man that cometh into the World and that by this Light they might be gathered to God c. And I stood up in my Pew and I wondered at his Doctrine for I had never heard such before And then he went on and opened the Scriptures and said The Scriptures were the Prophets words and Christ 's and the Apostle 's words and what as they spoke they enjoyed and possessed and had it from the Lord And said Then what had any to do with the Scriptures but as they came to the Spirit that gave them forth You will say Christ saith this and the Apostles say this but what canst thou say Art thou a Child of Light and hast walked in the Light and what thou speakest is it inwardly from God c. This opened me so that it cut me to the Heart and then I saw clearly we were all wrong So I sat me down in my Pew again and cried bitterly And I cried in my Spirit to the Lord We are all Thieves we are all Thieves we have taken the Scriptures in Words and know nothing of them in our selves So that served me that I cannot well tell what he spake afterwards but he went on in declaring against the false Prophets and Priests and Deceivers of the People And there was one John Sawrey a Justice of Peace and a Professor that bid the Churchwarden Take him away And he laid his hands on him several times and took them off again and let him alone and then after a while he gave over and came to our House again that night And he spoke in the Family amongst the Servants and they were all generally Convinced as William Caton Thomas Salthouse Mary Askew Anne Clayton and several other Servants And I was stricken into such a sadness I knew not what to do my Husband being from home I saw it was the Truth and I could not deny it and I did as the Apostle saith I Received the Truth in the Love of it And it was opened to me so clear that I had never a Tittle in my Heart against it but I desired the Lord that
the Year 1653. George's drawings was into Cumberland by Milholm Lampley Embleton and Brigham Pardsey and Cockermouth where at or near Embleton he had a Dispute with some Priests as Larkham and Benson but chiefly with John Wilkinson a Preacher at Embleton and Brigham who after was Convinced and owned the Truth and was a serviceable Minister both in England Ireland and Scotland And then he went to Coldbeck and several places till he came to Carlisle and went to their Steeple-house And they beat and abused him and had him before the Magistrates who Examined him The third Imprisonment and put him in Prison there in the Common-Goal among the Thieves And at the Assizes one Anthony Pearson who had been a Justice of Peace and was Convinced at Appleby when he was upon the Bench by James Naylor and Francis Howgil who were then Prisoners there and brought before him so Anthony Pearson spake to the Justices at Carlisle he being acquainted with them having married his Wife out of Cumberland and after a while they Released him And after he went into several parts in Cumberland and many were Convinced and owned the Truth and he gathered and settled Meetings there amongst them and up and down in several Parts there in the North. And in the Year 1654. he went Southward to his own Country of Leicestershire visiting Friends And then Colonel Hacker sent him to Oliver Cromwel The fourth Imprisonment and after his being kept Prisoner a while he was brought before Oliver and was Released And then he stayed a while visiting Friends in London and the Meetings therein and so passed Westward to Bristol and visited Friends there and after went into Cornwal where they put him in Prison at Launceston The fifth Imprisonment and one Edward Pyot with him where he had a bad long Imprisonment And when he was Released he passed into many parts in that County of Cornwal and settled Meetings there And then he Travelled thorow many Counties visiting Friends and settling Meetings all along and so came into the North and to Swarthmore and to Cumberland And so for Scotland he passed in the Year 1657. and there went with him Robert Widders James Lancaster John Grave and others And he Travelled thorow many places in that Nation as Douglas Heads Hambleton Glascow and to Edenborough where they took him and carried him before General Monk and the Council and Examined him and asked him his Business into that Nation who Answered He came to visit the Seed of God And after they had threatned him and charged him to depart their Nation of Scotland they let him go And then he went to Linlithgow and Sterling and Johnstons and many places visiting the People and several were Convinced And after he had stayed a pretty while and settled some Meetings he returned into Northumberland and into the Bishoprick of Durham visiting Friends and settling Meetings as he went and then returned back again to Swarthmore and stayed amongst Friends a while and so returned South again And in 1658. Judge Fell died And in 1660. he came out of the South into the North and had a Great General Meeting about Balby in Yorkshire and so came on visiting Friends in many places till he came to Swarthmore again And King Charles then being come in the Justices sent out Warrants The sixth Imprisonment and took him at Swarthmore charging him in their Warrants That he drew away the King 's Liege People to the endangering the embruing the Nation in Blood and sent him Prisoner to Lancaster-Castle And I having a Great Family and he being taken in my House I was moved of the Lord to go to the King at Whitehall and took with me a Declaration and an Information of our Principles And a long time and much ado I had to get to him But at last when I got to him I told him If he was Guilty of those things I was Guilty for he was taken in my House And I gave him the Paper of our Principles and desired that he would set him at Liberty as he had promised That none should suffer for tender Consciences and we were of tender Consciences and desired nothing but the Liberty of our Consciences And then with much ado after he had been kept Prisoner near half a Year at Lancaster we got a Habeas Corpus and Removed him to the King's Bench where he was Released And then would I gladly have come home to my great Family but was bound in my Spirit and could not have Freedom to get away for a whole Year And the King had promised me several times that we should have our Liberty And then the Monarchy-Men rose and then came the Great and General Imprisonment of Friends the Nation thorow And so could I not have Freedom nor Liberty to come home till we had got a General Proclamation for all our Friends Liberty and then I had Freedom and Peace to come home And in 1663. he came North again and to Swarthmore And then they sent out Warrants and took him again and had him to Holcrof before the Justices and tendered him the Oath of Allegiance and sent him Prisoner to Lancaster-Castle The seventh Imprisonment And about a Month after the Justices sent for me also out of my House and tendered me the Oath and sent me Prisoner to Lancaster And the next Assizes they tendered the Oath of Allegiance and Supremacy to us again both and Premunired me But they had missed the Date and other things in his Indictment and so it was quasht but they tendered him the Oath again and kept him Prisoner a Year and an half at Lancaster-Castle And then they sent him to Scarborough-Castle in Yorkshire where they kept him Prisoner close under the Soldiers much of a Year and an half so that a Friend could scarcely have spoken to him yet after that it pleased the Lord that he was Released But I continued in Prison and a Prisoner four years at that time And an Order was procured from the Council whereby I was set at Liberty And in that time I went down into Cornwall with my Son and Daughter Lower and came back by London to the Yearly Meeting and there I met with him again And then he told me The time was drawing on towards our Marriage but he might first go into Ireland The eithth Imprisonment And a little before this time was he Prisoner in his own Country at Leicester for a while and then Released And so into Ireland he went and I went into Kent and Suffex and came back to London again And afterward I went to the West towards Bristol in 1669. and there I stay'd till he came over from Ireland And then it was Eleven years after my former Husband's Decease And in Ireland he had had a great Service for the Lord and his Eternal Truth amongst Friends and many People there but escaped many Dangers and Times of being taken Prisoner they having
of Blood running down the Streets and the Market-Place appeared like a Pool of Blood Now when I had declared what was upon me and felt my self Clear I went out of the Town in Peace and returning to the Shepherds gave them some Money and took my Shoos of them again But the Fire of the Lord was so in my Feet and all over me 1651. Lichfield that I did not matter to put on my Shoos any more and was at a stand whether I should or no till I felt freedom from the Lord so to do and then after I had washed my Feet I put on my Shoes again After this a deep Consideration came upon me Why or for what reason I should be sent to Cry against that City and call it THE BLOODY CITY For though the Parliament had the Minster one while and the King another while and much Blood had been shed in the Town during the Wars between them yet that was no more than had befallen many other Places But afterwards I came to understand that in the Emperor Diocletian's Time a Thousand Christians were Martyred in Lichfield So I was to go without my Shoos through the Channel of their Blood and into the Pool of their Blood in the Market-Place that I might Raise up the Memorial of the Blood of those Martyrs which had been shed above a Thousand Years before and lay Cold in their Streets So the Sense of this Blood was upon me and I obeyed the Word of the Lord. Ancient Records testify how many of the Christian Britains suffered there And much I could write of the Sense I had of the Blood of the Martyrs that hath been shed in this Nation for the Name of Christ both under the Ten Persecutions and since but I leave it to the Lord and to his Book out of which all shall be Judged For his Book is a most certain true Record and his Spirit a true Recorder Then passed I up and down through the Countries having Meetings amongst friendly People in many Places But my Relations were offended at me Nottinghamshire Mansfield Darbyshire Yorkshire Doncaster Balby Wakefield So after some Time I came into Nottinghamshire again and to Mansfield and went into Darbyshire visiting Friends Then passing into Yorkshire I preached Repentance through Doncaster and several other Places and after came to Balby where Richard Farnsworth and several others were convinced So traveling through the Countries to several Places preaching Repentance and the Word of Life to the People I came into the Parts about Wakefield where James Naylor lived and he and Thomas Goodyear came to me and were both Convinced and received the Truth William Dewsbury also and his Wife with many more came to me who were Convinced and received the Truth From thence I passed through the Country towards Captain Pursloe's house by Selby Selby and visited one John Leek who had been to visit me in Darby-Prison and was Convinced I had an Horse but was fain to leave him not knowing what to do with him for I was moved to go to many great Houses to admonish and exhort the People to turn to the Lord Thus passing on Beverly I was moved of the Lord to go to Beverly-Steeple-house which was then a Place of high Profession And being very Wet with Rain I went first to an Inn and as soon as I came to the Door a Young-woman of the House came to the Door and said What! is it you Come in said she as if she had known me before for the Lord's Power bowed their Hearts So I refreshed my self and went to Bed And in the Morning my Cloaths being still wet I got ready and having paid for what I had had in the Inn I went up to the Steeple-house where was a Man preaching And when he had done I was moved to speak to him and to the People in the mighty Power of God and turned them to their Teacher Christ Jesus 1651. Yorkshire And the Power of the Lord was so strong that it struck a mighty Dread amongst the People And the Major came down to me and spake a few Words to me but none of them had any Power to meddle with me So I passed away out of the Town And in the Afternoon went to another Steeple-house about Two Miles off And when the Priest had done I was moved to speak to him and to the People very largely shewing them the Way of Life and Truth and the Ground of Election and Reprobation The Priest said he was but a Child and could not dispute with me I told him I did not come to dispute but to hold forth the Word of Life and Truth unto them that they might all know the One Seed which the Promise of God was to both in the Male and in the Female Here the People were very loving and would have had me come again on a Week-day and preach among them But I directed them to their Teacher Christ Jesus and so passed away and the next Day went to Crantsick Crantsick to Captain Pursloe's who accompanied me to Justice Hotham's This Justice Hotham was a pretty tender Man one that had had some Experiences of God's Workings in his Heart After I had had some Discourse with him of the things of God he took me into his Closet where sitting together he told me he had known that Principle these Ten Years and was glad that the Lord did now publish it abroad to the People After a while there came a Priest to visit him with whom also I had some Discourse concerning Truth But his Mouth was quickly stopt for he was nothing but a Notionist and not in Possession of what he talked of While I was here there came a Great Woman of Beverly to speak with Justice Hotham about some Business and in Discourse she told him That the last Sabbath-day as she called it there was an Angel or Spirit came into the Church at Beverly and spake the wonderful things of God to the astonishment of all that were there And when it had done it passed away and they did not know whence it came nor whither it went But it astonished all both Priest Professors and Magistrates of the Town This Relation Justice Hotham gave me afterwards and then I gave him an Account how I had been that Day at Beverly-Steeple-house and had declared Truth to the Priest and People there There was in the County thereabouts some Noted Priests and Doctors that Justice Hotham had acquaintance with and he would fain have them speak with me and offered to send for them under pretence of some Business he had with them but I wish'd him not to do so Now when the First Day of the Week was come Justice Hotham walked out with me into the Fields and then Captain Pursloe coming up after us Justice Hotham left us and returned home but Captain Pursloe went with me into the Steeple-house And when the Priest had done I spake to
He is not a Vagrant by his Linnen and then he set me at Liberty Then I went back to Patrington again with that Man that had ridden before me to the Justice for he lived at Patrington When I came there he would have had me have had a Meeting at the Cross But I said It was no matter his House would serve Then he desired me to go to Bed or lie down upon a Bed Which he did that they might say they had seen me in a Bed or upon a Bed for they had got up a Report that I would not lie on any Bed because at that time I lay many times without Doors Now when the First-day of the Week was come I went to the Steeple-house and declared the Truth to the Priest and People and the People did not molest me for the Power of God was come over them Then presently after I had a great Meeting at that Man's House where I lay And many that day were Convinced there of the Lord 's Everlasting Truth who stand faithful Witnesses for it to this day And they were exceeding sorry and grieved that they did not Receive me nor give me Lodging when I was there before York-shire From hence I Traveled through the Country even to the furthest part thereof Warning People both in Towns and in Country-Villages to Repent and directing them to Christ Jesus their Teacher On the First-day of the Week I came to one Colonel Overton's House and had a great Meeting of the Prime of the People of that Country where many things were opened out of the Scriptures which they had never heard before in all their Lives and many were Convinced and received the Word of Life and were settled in the Truth of God Patrington Then I returned to Patrington again and visited those Friends that were Convinced there by whom I understood that a Taylor and some wild Blades in that Town had occasioned my being carried before the Justice The Taylor came to ask me forgiveness fearing I would Complain of him The Constables also were afraid lest I should trouble them But I forgave them all and warned them to turn to the Lord and to amend their Lives Now that which made them the more afraid was this When I was in the Steeple-house at Oram not long before there came a Professor and gave me a Push on the Breast in the Steeple-house and bid me Get me out of the Church Alas poor Man said I dost thou call the Steeple-house the Church The Church is the People whom God hath purchased with his Blood and not the House It happened that Justice Hotham came to hear of this Man's Abuse done to me and sent his Warrant for him and bound him over to the Sessions So affected was he with the Truth and so Zealous to keep the Peace And indeed this Justice Hotham had asked me before whether any People had meddled with me or abused me But I was not to tell him any thing of that kind but was to forgive all From Patrington I went to several Great Men's Houses warning them to Repent Some Received me lovingly and some slighted me Thus I passed on through the Country And at Night came to another Town where I desired Lodging and Meat and I would pay for it But they would not Lodge me except I would go to the Constable which was the Custom they said of all Lodgers at Inns if Strangers I told them I should not go for that Custom was for suspicious Persons but I was an Innocent Man So after I had warned them to Repent and declared unto them the Day of their Visitation and directed them to the Light of Christ and Spirit of God that they might come to know Salvation I passed away and the People were something tendered and troubled afterwards But when it grew dark I spied an Hay-Stack and went and sate under it all Night till Morning The next Day I passed into Hull Hull admonishing and warning People as I went to turn to Christ Jesus that they might receive Salvation That Night I got a Lodging but was very sore with traveling on Foot so far Afterward passing through the Country I came to Balby Balby and visited Friends up and down in those Parts And then passed into the Edge of Nottinghamshire visiting Friends there Nottinghamshire Lincolnshire Trent and so passed into Lincolnshire and visited Friends there And on the First-day of the Week I went to a Steeple-house on this side of Trent and in the Afternoon I went to another Steeple-house on the other side of Trent declaring the Word of Life to the People and directing them to their Teacher Christ Jesus who died for them ☜ that they might hear him and receive Salvation by him Then I went further into the Country and had several Meetings there-aways And at one Meeting where I was there came a Great Man and a Priest and many Professors but the Lord's Power came over them all and they went their ways peaceably And there came a Man to that Meeting who had been at a Meeting before and he raised a false Accusation against me and made a Noise up and down the Country reporting that I said I was Christ which was utterly false And when I came to Gainsborough Gainsborough where a Friend had been declaring Truth in the Market the Town and Market-People was all in an Uproar So I went into a Friendly Man's House and the People rushed in after me so that the House was filled with Professors and Disputers and rude People And this false Accuser came in before them all and accused me openly before all the People That I said I was Christ and he had got Witnesses to prove the same Which set the People into such a Rage that they had much ado to keep their Hands off me Then was I moved of the Lord God to stand up upon the Table in the Eternal Power of God and tell the People That Christ was in them except they were Reprobates and that it was Christ the Eternal Power of God that spake in me at that time unto them NOT that I was CHRIST And the People were generally satisfied except himself and a Professor and his own false Witnesses And I called the Accuser Judas and was moved to tell him That he was Judas and Judas his End should be his and that that was the Word of the Lord and of Christ through me to him So the Lord's Power came over all 1652. Gainsborough and quieted the Minds of the People and they departed in Peace But this Judas went away and shortly after hanged himself and a Stake was driven into his Grave And afterwards the Wicked Priests raised a Scandal upon us and reported That a Quaker had hanged himself in Lincolnshire and had a Stake driven through him This Falshood they printed to the Nation adding Sin to Sin which the Truth and we were clear of for he was no
of the Lord to say unto him amongst all the People Prophet Myer stand up upon thy Legs for he was sitting down And he stood up and stretched out his Arm that had been Lame a long time and said Be it known unto you all People that this Day I am healed But his Parents could hardly believe it but after the Meeting was done had him aside and took off his Doublet and then they saw it was true Swarthmore He came soon after to Swarthmore-Meeting and there declared how that the Lord had healed him Yet after this the Lord commanded him to go to York with a Message from him 1653. Swarthm and he disobeyed the Lord and the Lord struck him again so that he died about three quarters of a Year after Now were great Threatnings given forth in Cumberland That if ever I came there again they would take away my Life When I heard it Cumberland I was drawn to go into Cumberland again and went to one Miles Wennington's in the same Parish from which those Threatnings came but they had not Power to touch me then Much about this Time too it was that Anthony Pearson was Convinced who had been an Opposer of Friends He came over to Swarthmore and I being then at Colonel West's they sent for me and Colonel West said Go George for it may be of great Service to the Man So I went and the Lord's Power reached him About this Time also the Lord opened several Mouths to declare the Truth to Priests and People so that divers were cast into Prison And I went again into Cumberland and Anthony Pearson and his Wife and several Friends went along with me to Bootle Bootle where Anthony Pearson left me and went on himself to Carlisle-Sessions for he was a Justice of the Peace in Three Counties Upon the First Day of the week I went into the Steeple-house at Bootle and when the Priest had done I began to speak But the People were exceeding rude and struck and beat me in the Steeple-house-yard One gave me a very great blow over my Wrist so that the People thought he had broken my Hand to Pieces The Constable was very willing to have kept the Peace and would have set some of them by the Heels that struck me if I would have given way to it After my Service at that time amongst them was over I went to Joseph Nicholson's House and the Constable went a little way with us to keep off the rude Multitude from us In the Afternoon I went up again and then the Priest had got another Priest to help him one that came from London and was highly accounted of Before I went into the Steeple-house I sate a little upon the Cross and Friends with me but the Friends were moved to go into the Steeple-house and I went in after them The London-priest was preaching who gathered up all the Scriptures he could think of that spake of false Prophets and Antichrists and Deceivers and threw them upon us But when he had done I Recollected all those Scriptures and brought them back upon himself Then the People fell upon me in a rude manner but the Constable charged them to keep the Peace and so made them quiet again Then the Priest began to Rage and said I must not speak there I told him he had his Hour-Glass by which he had preached and he having done the Time was free for me as well as for him for he was but a Stranger there himself So I opened the Scriptures to them and let them see That those Scriptures that spake of the false Prophets and Antichrists and Deceivers described them and their Generation and belonged to them who were found walking in their Steps and bringing forth their Fruits and not unto us who were not guilty of such things And I manifested to them that they were out of the Steps of the true Prophets and Apostles and shewed them clearly by the Fruits and Marks that they were of those whom those Scriptures spake of and not we And I declared the Truth and the Word of Life to the People and directed them to Christ their Teacher And all was quiet while I was speaking 1653. Bootel But when I had done and was come forth the Priests were both of them in such a Fret and Rage that they foamed at the Mouth for Anger against me The Priest of the Place made an Oration to the People in the Steeple-house-Yard and said This Man hath gotten all the honest Men and Women in Lancashire to him and now said he he comes here to do the same Then said I unto him What wilt thou have left And what have the Priests left them but such as themselves For if it be the Honest that receive the Truth and are turned to Christ then it must be the Dishonest that follow thee and such as thou art Some also of the Priest's People did begin to plead for their Priest and for Tithes But I told them It were better for them to plead for Christ who had ended the Tithing-Priesthood and the Tithes and had sent forth his Ministers to give freely as they had received freely So the Lord's Power came over them all and put them to Silence and restrained the rude People that they could not do the Mischief they intended And when I came down again to Joseph Nicholson's House I saw a great hole in my Coat which was cut with a Knife but it was not cut through my Doublet for the Lord had prevented their Mischief And the next day there was a rude wicked Man would have done Violence to a Friend but the Lord's Power stopt him Now was I moved to send James Lancaster to Appoint a Meeting at one John VVilkinson's Steeple-house near Cockermouth who was a Preacher in great repute and had three Parishes under him wherefore I staid at Milholm in Bootel till he came back again In the mean time some of those they called the Gentry of the Country had made a Plot against me and had given a little Boy a Rapier for him to do me a Mischief with it And they came with the Boy to Joseph Nicholson's House to seek me but the Lord had so ordered it that I was not in the House but was gone forth into the Fields They met with James Lancaster but did not much abuse him and not finding me in the House after a while they went away again So I walked up and down in the Fields that Night and did not go to Bed as very often I used to do Meeting near Cockermouth The next Morning we passed from thence and came the next day to the Steeple-house where James Lancaster had appointed the Meeting There were at this Meeting Twelve Soldiers and their VVives who were come thither from Carlisle and the Country-People came in like as it had been to a Fair. I lay at an House somewhat short of the Place so that many Friends were got
were with me came in one Cob and a great Company of Ranters with him The Ranters began to call for Drink and Tobacco but I desired them to forbâ—ar it in my Room telling them If they had such a Mind to it they might go into another Room One of them cried All is ours and another of them said All is well I replied How is all well while thou art so peevish and envious and crabbed for I saw he was of a peevish Nature and so I spake to their Conditions and they were sensible of it and looked upon one another wondring Then Colonel Packer began to talk with a light chaffy Mind concerning God and Christ and the Scriptures That was a great Grief to my Soul and Spirit when I heard him talk so lightly so that I told him He was too light to talk of the things of God for he did not know the solidity of a Man Thereupon the Officers raged and said Would I say so of their Colonel This Packer was a Baptist and he and the Ranters bowed and scraped to one another very much for it was the manner of the Ranters to be exceeding Complemental as they call it so that Packer bid them Give over their Complements But I told them They were fit to go together for they were both of one Spirit This Colonel Packer lived at Theobald's near Waltham and was made a Justice of Peace He set up a great Meeting of the Baptists at Theobald's Park for he and some other Officers had purchased it They were exceeding High and railed against Friends and Truth and threatned to apprehend me with their Warrants if ever I came there Yet after I was set at Liberty I was moved of the Lord God to go down to Theobalds and appoint a Meeting hard by them Theobalds to which many of his People came and divers of his Hearers were Convinced of the Way of Truth and received Christ the free Teacher and came off from him and that made him Rage the more But the Lord's Power came over him so that he had not Power to meddle with me Then I went to Waltham hard by him Waltham and had a Meeting there but the People were very rude and gathered about the House and brake the Windows Whereupon I went out to them with the Bible in my Hand and desired them to come in and told them I would shew them Scripture both for our Principles and Practices And when I had done so I shewed them also That their Teachers were in the Steps of such as the Prophets and Christ and the Apostles cryed against Then I directed them to the Light of Christ and Spirit of God in their own Hearts that by it they might come to know their free Teacher the Lord Jesus Christ. The Meeting being ended they went away quieted and satisfied and a Meeting hath since been settled in that Town 1654. London But this was sometime after I was set at Liberty by O. Cromwel For when I came from White-hall to the Mermaid at Charing-Cross which had been my Prison I staid not long there but went into the City of London where we had great and powerful Meetings and so great were the Throngs of People that I could hardly get to and from the Meetings for the Crouds of People And the Truth spread exceedingly Thomas Aldam and Robert Craven who had been Sheriff of Lincoln and divers Friends came up to London after me but Alexander Parker abode with me Then after a while I went to White-hall again and was moved to declare the Day of the Lord amongst them White-Hall and that the Lord was come to teach his People himself So I preached Truth both to the Officers and to them that were called Oliver's Gentlemen who were of his Guard But there was a Priest that Opposed while I was declaring the Word of the Lord amongst them For Oliver had several Priests about him of which this was his News-monger an envious Priest and a light scornful chaffy man I bid him Repent and he put it in his News-book the next Week That I had been at White-hall and had bid a Godly Minister there Repent When I went thither again I met with him and abundance of People gathered about me Then I manifested the Priest to be a Liar in several things that he had affirmed and so he was put to Silence He put in the News-book That I wore Silver-Buttons which was false for they were but Alchimy Afterward he put in the News-book That I hung Ribbands on People's Arms which made them to follow me This was another of his Lies for I never wore nor used Ribbands in my Life Three Friends went to examine this Priest that gave forth this false Intelligence and to know of him where he had that Information He told them It was a Woman that told him so and that if they would come again he would tell them the Woman's Name When they came again he said It was a Man but would not tell them his Name then but if they would come again he said he would tell them his Name and where he lived They went the Third Time and then he would not tell who told him but offered If I would give it under my Hand that there was no such thing he would put that into the News-book Thereupon the Friends carried it to him under my Hand but when they came he brake his Promise and would not put it in but was in a Rage and threatned them with the Constable This was the deceitful doing of this Forger of Lies And these Lies he spread over all the Nation in the News-books to render Truth Odious and to put Evil into People's Minds against Friends and Truth of which a more large Account may be seen in a Book printed soon after this time for the clearing of Friends and Truth from the Slanders Lies and false Reports raised and cast upon them These Priests the News-Mongers were of the Independent Sect like them in Leicester But the Lord's Power came over all their Lies and swept them away and many came to see the Naughtiness of these Priests The God of Heaven carried me over all in his Power and his blessed Power went over the Nation Insomuch that many Friends about this time were moved to go up and down to sound forth the Everlasting Gospel in most parts of this Nation and also into Scotland 1654. White-Hall and the Glory of the Lord was felt over all to his Everlasting Praise And a great Convincement there was in London and some in the Protector 's House and Family I went to have seen him again but could not get to him the Officers were grown so Rude The Presbyterians Independents and Baptists were in a great Rage for many of their People came to be turned to the Lord Jesus Christ and sate down under his Teachings and received his Power and felt it in their Hearts and then they were
became very sober Men and good Friends in the Truth And great Blessing and Praising the Lord there was amongst them and great Admiration in the Country Out of Sussex I traveled through the Country till I came to Reading Reading where I found a few that were Convinced of the Way of the Lord. There I stay'd 1655. Reading till the First-day and then had a Meeting in George Lamboll's Orchard and a great part of the Town came to it A glorious Meeting it was and a great Convincement there was that day and the People were mightily satisfied Thither came Two of Judge Fell's Daughters to me and George Bishop of Bristol came with his Sword by his side for he was a Captain After the Meeting many Baptists and Ranters came privately reasoning and discoursing but the Lord's Power came over them The Ranters pleaded That God made the Devil But I denied it and told them I was come into the Power of God the Seed Christ which was before the Devil was and bruised the Head of him And he became a Devil by going out of Truth and so became a Murderer and a Destroyer So I shewed them That God did not make the Devil for God is a God of Truth and he made all things good and blessed them But God did not bless the Devil And the Devil is bad and was a Liar and a Murderer from the beginning and spoke of himself and not from God And so the Truth stopt them and bound them and came over all the highest Notions in the Nation and Confounded them For by the Power of the Lord God I was manifest and sought to be made manifest to the Spirit of God in all that by it which they vexed and quenched and grieved they might be turned to God as many were turned to the Lord Jesus Christ by the Spirit of God and were come to sit under his Teaching London After this Meeting at Reading I passed up to London where I stay'd a while and had large Meetings and then went into Essex and came to Cogshall Essex Cogshall And there was a Meeting of about Two Thousand People as it was judged which lasted several hours and a glorious Meeting it was for the Word of Life was freely declared and People were turned to the Lord Jesus Christ their Teacher and their Saviour the Way the Truth and the Life Near Colchester On the sixth day of that Week I had a Meeting near Colchester to which many Professors and the Independent-Teachers came After I had done speaking and was stept down from the place on which I stood One of the Independent-Teachers began to make a Jangling which Amor Stoddart who was with me perceiving he said to me Stand up again George for I was going away and did not at the first hear them But when I heard the Jangling Independent I stood up again and after a while the Lord's Power came over him and his Company and they were confounded and the Lord's Truth went over all And a great Flock of Sheep hath the Lord Jesus Christ in that Country that feed in his Pastures of Life On the First-day following we had a very large Meeting at another place not far from Colchester wherein the Lord's Power was eminently manifested and the People were very well satisfied for they were turned to the Lord Jesus Christ's free Teaching and they received it gladly Many of these People had been of the Stock of the Martyrs As I passed through Colchester I went to visit James Parnel in Prison but the Cruel Gaoler would hardly let us come in or stay with him Very Cruel they were unto him The Gaoler's Wife threatned to have his Blood and in that Jail they did destroy him 1655. Colchest as the Reader may see at large in a Book printed soon after his Death giving an Account of his Life and Death and also in an Epistle printed with his Collected Books and Writings From Colchester I went to Ipswich where we had a little Meeting Ipswich and very rude but the Lord's Power came over them After the Meeting I said If any had a desire to hear further they might come to the Inn And there came-in a Company of Rude Butchers that had abused Friends but the Lord's Power so chained them that they could not do Mischief Then I writ a Paper and gave it forth to the Town warning them of the Day of the Lord that they might Repent of the Evils they lived in and directing them to Christ their Teacher and Way exhorting them to forsake their hireling-Teachers We passed from Ipswich to Mendlesham where Robert Duncon lived Suffolk Mendlesham in Suffolk where we had a large Meeting that was quiet and the Lord's Power was preciously felt amongst us Then we passed to a Meeting at one Captain Lawrence's in Norfolk where it was judged Norfolk were above a Thousand People and all was quiet Many Persons of Note were there and a great Convincement there was for they were turned to Christ their Way and their Teacher and many of them received him and sate down under him their Vine Here we parted with Amor Stoddart and some more Friends who intended to meet us again in Huntingtonshire About the Second Hour in the Morning we took Horse for Norwich Norwich where Christopher Atkins that dirty Man had run out and brought dishonour upon the blessed Truth and Name of the Lord. But he had been judged and denied by Friends and afterwards he gave forth a Paper of Condemnation of his Sin and Evil. So we came to Yarmouth yarmouth and there stayed a while where there was a Friend one Thomas Bond in Prison for the Truth of Christ There we had some Service for the Lord and some were turned to the Lord in that Town From thence we rode to another Town about Twenty Miles off where were many tender People and I was moved of the Lord to speak to the People as I sate upon my Horse in several Places as I passed along We went on to another Town about Five Miles from thence and set up our Horses at an Inn having travelled Five and forty Miles that Day Richard Hubberthorn and I. There were some friendly People in the Town and we had a tender broken Meeting amongst them in the Lord's Power to his Praise We bid the Hostler have our Horses ready by the Third Hour in the Morning for we intended to ride to Lyn about three and Thirty Miles next morning But when we were in Bed at our Inn about the Eleventh Hour at Night came the Constable and Officers with a great Rabble of People into the Inn and said They were come with an Hue and Cry from a Justice of Peace that lived near that Town about five Miles off where I had spoken to the People in the Streets as I rode along to search for two Horsmen that rid upon gray Horses and in gray Cloaths an House
having been broken up upon the Seventh Day before at Night as they said We told them We were honest and innocent Men and abhorred such things Yet they Apprehended us 1655. Norfolk and set a Guard with Halberts and Pikes upon us that Night making some of those Friendly People with others to watch us Next Morning we were up betimes and the Constable with his Guaâ— â—arried us before a Justice of Peace about five Miles off and we took Two or three of the sufficient men of the Town with us who had been with us at the great Meeting at Captain Lawrence's and could testify that we lay both the seventh Day Night and the first Day Night at Captain Lawrence's and it was the seventh Day Night that they said the House was broken up Now the Reader is to be Informed that during the time that I was a Prisoner at the Mermaid at Charing-Cross of which an Account is given before this Captain Lawrence brought several Independent-Justices to see me there with whom I had a great deal of Discourse which they took Offence at For they pleaded for Imperfection and to Sin as long as they lived but did not like to hear of Christ's Teaching his People himself and making People as Clear whilst here upon the Earth as Adam and Eve were before they fell Now these Justices had plotted together this mischief against me in the Country pretending an House was broken up that so they might send their Hue and Cry after me so great was their Malice against the Righteous and the Just They were vexed also and troubled to hear of the great Meeting at John Lawrence's aforesaid for there was a Colonel Convinced there that Day that lived and died in the Truth But Providence so ordered it that the Constable carried us to a Justice about five miles onward in our way towards Lyn who was not an Independent-Justice as the rest were When we were brought before him he began to be angry because we did not put off our Hats to him I told him I had been before the Protector and he was not offended at my Hat and why should he be offended at it who was but one of his Servants Then he read the Hue and Cry And I told him That that Night wherein the House was said to be broken up we were at Captain Lawrence's House and that we had several Men here present could Testify the Truth thereof Thereupon the Justice having Examined us and them said He believed we were not the men that had broken the House but he was sorry he said that he had no more against us We told him He ought not to be sorry for not having Evil against us but rather to be glad for to Rejoice when he got Evil against People as for house-breaking or the like was not a good mind in him It was a good while yet before he would Resolve Whether to let us go or send us to Prison and the wicked Constable stirred him up against us telling him We had good Horses and that if it pleased him he would carry us to Norwich-Jail But we took hold of the Justice's Confession That he believed we were not the men that had broken the House and after we had admonished him to Fear the Lord in his Day the Lord's Power came over him so that he let us go and so their Snare was broken A great People were after ward gathered to the Lord in that Town where I was moved to speak to them in the Street and from whence the Hue and Cry came Lyn. Being set at Liberty we travelled to Lyn whither we came about the third Hour in the Afternoon And having set up our Horses we met with Joseph Fuce who was an Ensign and we wisht him to speak to as many of the People of the Town as he could 1655. Lyn. that feared God and to the Captains and Officers to come together which he did And we had a very glorious Meeting amongst them and turned them to the Spirit of God by which they might know God and Christ and understand the Scriptures and so learn of God and of Christ as the Prophets and Apostles did Many were Convinced there that Day and a fine Meeting there is of them that are come off from the Hirelings Teaching and sit under the Teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lyn being then a Garrison we desired Joseph Fuce to get us the Gate opened by the third hour next Morning for we had forty Miles to ride next day And by that means getting out early we came next Day by the Eleventh or Twelfth hour to a Town near the Isle of Ely called Sutton where Amor Stoddart Sutton and the Friends that were with him met us again A multitude of People was gathered thither and there were no less than four Priests The Priest of the Town made a great Jangle but the Lord's Power so confounded him that he went away The other three Priests stayed and one of them was Convinced One of the other Two whilst I was speaking came to lean upon me but I bid him Sit down seeing he was so slothful A great Convincement there was that Day and many hundreds were turned from the Darkness to the Light and from the Power of Satan unto God and from the Spirit of Error to the Spirit of Truth to be led thereby into all Truth People came to this Meeting from Huntington and beyond and the Mayor's Wife of Cambridge was there also A glorious Meeting it was and many were settled under Christ's Teaching and knew him their Shepherd to feed them for the Word of Life was freely declared and gladly received by them The Meeting ended in the Power of the Lord and in Peace and after it was done I walked out and went into a Garden where I had not been long before a Friend came to me and told me Several Justices were come to break up the Meeting But many of the People were gone away so they missed of their Design and after they had stayed a while they went away also in a Fret That Evening I passed to Cambridge Cambridg And when I came into the Town the Scholars hearing of me were up and were exceeding Rude I kept on my Horse's Back and rid through them in the Lord's Power but they Vnhorst Amor Stoddart before he could get to the Inn. When we were in the Inn they were so rude there in the Courts and in the Streets that the Miners the Colliers and Carters could never be Ruder The People of the House asked us What we would have for Supper as is the usual way of Inn-keepers Supper said I were it not that the Lord's Power is over them these Rude Scholars look as if they would pluck us in pieces and make a Supper of us They knew I was so against their Trade the Trade of Preaching which they were there as Apprentices to learn that they raged as had as ever
and his Marshal to the Meeting and were Convinced for the glorious powerful Day of the Lord was exalted over all and many were Convinced that day at that Meeting There were at that Meeting Two 1655. Whetston that came out of Wales who were Justices of Peace their Names were Peter Price and Walter Jenkin who came both to be Ministers of Christ I went from thence to Sileby to William Smith's Sileby where was a great Meeting to which several Baptists came and one of them a Baptist-Teacher was Convinced and came to sit under the Lord 's Teaching by his Spirit and Power This Baptist said he had Baptized Thirty in a day From thence I went to Drayton my Native Town Drayton where so many Priests and Professors had formerly gathered together against me but now never a Priest nor Professor did appear I asked some of my Relations Where were all the Priests and Professors now They said The Priest of Non-Eaton was dead and there were Eight or Nine of them seeking to get into his Benefice They will let you alone now said they for they are like a Company of Crows when a rotten Sheep is dead they all gather together to pull out the Puddings and so do the Priests for a fallen Benefice These were some of their own Hearers that said so of them But they had spent their Venom against me and the Lord delivered me by his Power out of their Snares Then I went to Badgley Badgley where there was a great Meeting from many parts many came far to it and many were Convinced and turned to the Lord And they that were Convinced came under Christ's Teaching and were settled upon him their Foundation and their Rock From thence I passed into Nottinghamshire Nottingham-shire Darbyshire and had large Meetings there and so into Darbyshire where the Lord's Power came over all and many were turned from the Darkness to the Light and from the Power of Satan unto God and came to receive the Holy Ghost And great Miracles were wrought in many Places by the Power of the Lord through several In Darbyshire James Nailer met me and told me Seven or Eight Priests had challenged him to a Dispute I had a Travel in my Spirit for him and the Lord answered me and I was moved to bid him Go on and God Almighty would be with him and give him the Victory in his Power And the Lord did so insomuch that the People saw the Priests were foiled and they cried A Nailer a Nailer hath confuted them all After the Dispute was over he came to me again praising the Lord. Thus was the Lord's Day proclaimed and set over all their Heads and People began to see the Apostacy and Slavery they had been under to their Hireling-Teachers for Means and they came to know their Teacher the Lord Jesus who had bought them and purchased them and made their Peace betwixt God and them While we were here Friends came out of Yorkshire to see us and were glad of the Prosperity of Truth After this I passed into Warwickshire through Friends Warwickshire Worcestershire Birmingham visiting their Meetings and so into Worcestershire and had a Meeting at Brummingham as I went where several were Convinced and turned to the Lord. At length I came to one Cole's House in Worcestershire near Chattan 1655. Near Chattan This Cole had given an Independent-Preacher a Meeting-place and the Independent came to be Convinced and after he was Convinced he laid aside his Preaching Whereupon the Old Man Cole gave him an hundred Pounds a Year I had a Meeting at that Meeting-place and a very great Meeting it was insomuch that the Meeting-place would not hold the People and many were turned to the Lord that day Afterwards when the time of Trials came this Independent did not stand to that which had Convinced him but turned back Whereupon the Old Man took away his 100 l. a Year from him again But this Old Man Cole himself died in God's Truth Now I heard that at Evesholme the Magistrates had cast several Friends into Prison in several Prisons and that hearing of my coming they made a pair of high Stocks So I sent for Edward Pittaway a Friend that lived near Evesholme and asked him the Truth of the thing and he said It was so Then I went that Night with him to Evesholme Evesholme and in the Evening we had a large precious Meeting wherein Friends and People were refreshed with the Word of Life and with the Power of the Lord. Next Morning I got up and rid to one of the Prisons and visited Friends there and encouraged them Then I rid to the other Prison where there were several Prisoners and amongst them one Friend that had been a Priest but was now become a free Minister of Christ his Name was Humphrey Smith So when I had visited the Friends at both Prisons and was turned away from the Prison to go out of Town I espied the Magistrates coming up the Town to have seized me in Prison But the Lord frustrated their Intents that the Innocent escaped their Snare and the Lord God's blessed Power came over them all But exceeding Rude and Envious were the Priests and Professors about this time in those Parts Worcester I went from Evesholme to Worcester and had a precious Meeting there and quiet But after the Meeting as we came down the Street towards our Inn some of the Professors fell to discourse with Friends and were like to have made a Tumult in the City and as we went into the Inn they all cluttered into the Yard but I went among them and got them quieted The next day I walked forth into the Town and had a great deal of Discourse with some of the Professors concerning Christ and the way of Truth One of them denied That Christ was of Abraham according to the Flesh and that he was declared to be the Son of God according to the Spirit But I proved from Rom. 1. that he was of the Seed of Abraham being made of the Seed of David according to the Flesh and that according to the Spirit he was declared to be the Son of God Afterwards I writ a Paper concerning it Tewksbury From Worcester we went to Tewksbury where in the Evening we had a great Meeting And there came in the Priest of the Town with a great Rabble of rude People and the Priest boasted That he would see whether he or I should have the Victory I turned the People to the Divine Light which Christ the heavenly and spiritual Man had enlightned them withal that with that Light they might see their Sins and that they were in Death and Darkness and without God in the World 1655. Tewksbury And with the same Light they might see Christ from whom it came their Saviour and Redeemer who had shed his Blood for them and died for them and who was the Way to God
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
they saying they had none we told them we should not go along with them without a Warrant Upon the Return of the Constables without us they sent their Serjeants and we asked them for their Warrant and they said they had none but they told us the Mayor and Aldermen stay'd for us We told them the Mayor and his Company did not well to trouble us in our Inn and we should not go with them without a Warrant So they went away and came again and when we asked them for their Warrant one of them pluckt his Mace from under his Cloak We asked them Whether this was their Custom to molest and trouble Strangers in their Inns and Lodgings After some time Edward Pyot went to the Mayor and Aldermen and a great deal of Discourse he had with them but the Lord's Power gave him Dominion over them all When he came back there came several of the Officers to us and we laid before them the Incivility and Vnworthiness of their Carriage towards us who were the Servants of the Lord God thus to stop and trouble us in our Inns and Lodgings and what an Vnchristian Act it was Before we left the Town I writ a little Paper to be sent to the seven Parishes at the Land's End to declare ' That the Lord was come to teach his People himself by his Son Christ Jesus A Copy of which Paper here followeth THE mighty Day of the Lord is come and coming wherein all Hearts shall be made manifest and the Secrets of every one's Heart shall be revealed by the Light of Jesus which cometh from Jesus Christ who Lighteth every Man that cometh into the World that all Men through him might believe and that the World might have Life through him who saith Learn of me and of whom God saith This is my beloved Son hear ye him And Christ is come to teach his People himself and every one that will not hear this Prophet which God hath raised up and which Moses spake of when he said Like unto me will God raise you up a Prophet him shall you hear Every one I say that will not hear this Prophet is to be Cut off They that despised Moses's Law died under the Hand of two or three Witnesses but how much greater Punishment will come upon them 1655. Market-Jew that neglect this great Salvation Christ Jesus who saith Learn of me I am the Way the Truth and the Life who lighteth every Man that cometh into the World which Light lets him see his evil Ways and his evil Deeds that he hath done But if you hate that Light and go on in Evil this Light will be your Condemnation saith Christ Therefore now ye have Time prize it for this is the Day of your Visitation and Salvation profer'd to you Every one of you hath a Light from Christ which lets you see you should not lie nor do wrong to any nor Swear nor Curse nor take God's Name in vain nor Steal It is the Light that shews you these evil Deeds which if you love and come unto it and follow it it will lead you to Christ who is the way to the Father from whence it comes where no Vnrighteousness enters nor Vngodliness But if you do this Light hate this Light will be your Condemnation but if you do it love and come to it you will come to Christ and it will bring you off from all the World's Teachers and VVays to learn of Christ and will preserve you from the Evils of the VVorld and all the Deceivers in it G. F. This Paper a Friend who was then with me had and when we were gone some three or four Miles from Market-Jew towards the VVest he meeting with a Man upon the Road gave him a Copy of the Paper That Man proved to be a Servant to one Peter Ceely who was Major in the Army and a Justice of Peace in that County and he riding before us to a Place called St. Ives shewed the Paper to his Master Major Ceely Ives When we came to Ives Edward Pyot's Horse having cast a Shoe we staid there to have a Shoe set and while he was getting his Horse shod I walked down to the Sea-side When I came back I found the Town in an Vproar and they were haling Edward Pyot and the other Friend before Major Ceely I followed them into the Justice's House though they did not lay Hâ—nds upon me When we came in the House was full of Rude People Whereupon I asked Whether there were not an Officer among them to keep the People Civil Major Ceely said he was a Magistrate I told him He should shew forth Gravity and Sobriety then and use his Authority to keep the People Civil for I never saw any People ruder The Indians were more like Christians than they After a while they brought forth the Paper aforesaid and asked Whether I would own it I said Yes Then he tendered the Oath of Abjuration to us Whereupon I put my Hand in my Pocket and drew forth the Answer to it which had been given to the Protector After I had given him that he Examined us severally one by one He had with him a silly young Priest who asked us many frivolous Questions and amongst the rest he asked To cut my Hair which then was pretty long and I was not to Cut it though many times many were Angry at it I told them I had no Pride in it and it was not of my own putting on At length the Justice put us under a Guard of Souldiers who were hard and wild 1655. Ives like the Justice himself Nevertheless we Warned the People of the day of the Lord and declared the Truth to them On the next day he sent us guarded with a Party of Horse with Swords and Pistols and they carried us to Redruth Redruth On the First-day the Soldiers would have carried us away but we told them It was their Sabbath and it was not usual to Travel on that day Several of the Town 's People gathered about us and whilst I held the Souldiers in Discourse Edward Pyot spake to the People and afterwards Edward Pyot held the Souldiers in Discourse whilst I spake to the People And in the mean time the other Friend got out into the Backside and went to the Steeple-house to speak to the Priest and People there and the People were exceeding desperate in a mighty Rage against him and Abused him The Souldiers also missing him were in a great Rage ready to kill us But I declared the Day of the Lord and the Word of Eternal Life to the People that gathered about us In the Afternoon the Souldiers were Resolved and would have us away from thence so we took Horse And when we were rid to the Towns-end I was moved of the Lord God to go back again to speak to the Old Man of the House The Souldiers drew out their Pistols and swore that I should
And this is the Light which shews the Evil Actions you have all acted the ungodly Deeds you have ungodly Committed and all the ungodly Speeches you have spoken and all your Oaths and cursed Speaking and ungodly Actions Now if you hearken to this Light it will let you see all the Actions that you have done contrary to it and loving it it will turn you from your evil Deeds evil Actions evil Ways evil Words to Christ who is not of the World who is the Light which lighteth every Man that cometh into the World who testifies against the World that the Deeds thereof are evil And so doth the Light in every Man that he hath received from him testifie against his Works and Deeds that be Evil that they be contrary to the Light which he shall give an Account of at the day of Judgment for every idle Word that is spoken Which Light shall bring every Tongue to Confess yea and every Knee to bow at the Name of Jesus Which Light if you believe in you shall not come into Condemnation but come to Christ who is not of the World to him by whom it was made but if you believe not in the Light this is your Condemnation the Light saith Christ G. F. This Paper passing among them from the Jury to the Justices they presented it to the Judge so that when we were called before the Judge he bid the Clerk give me that Paper and then asked me Whether that Seditious Paper was mine I told him If they would read it up in open Court that I might hear it if it was mine I would own it and stand by it He would have had me to have taken it and looked upon it in my own Hand But I again desired That it might be read that all the Country might hear it and Judge whether there was any Sedition in it or no for if there were I was willing to suffer for it At last the Clerk of the Assize read it with an Audible Voice that all the People might hear it and when he had done I told them It was my Paper and I would own it and so might they too except they would deny the Scripture for was not this Scripture-Language and the Words and Commands of Christ and the Apostle which all true Christians ought to obey Then they let fall that Subject and the Judge fell upon us about our Hats again bidding the Gaoler Take them off which he did and gave them unto us and we put them on again Then we asked the Judge and the Justices What we had lain in Prison for these nine Weeks seeing they now Objâ—cted nothing to us but about our Hats And as for putting off our Hats I told them That was the Honour which God would lay in the Dust though they made so much ado about it the Honour which is of Men and which Men seek one of another and is the mark of Vnbelievers For How can ye believe saith Christ who receive Honour one of another and seek not the Honour that cometh from God only And Christ saith I receive not Honour from Men and all true Christians should be of his Mind Then the Judge began to make a great Speech how he Represented the Lord Protector 's Person and he had made him Lord Chief Justice of England and sent him to come that Circuit c. We desired him then that he would do us Justice for our false Imprisonment which we had suffered Nine Weeks wrongfully But instead of that they brought in an Indictment that they had framed against us such a strange thing and so full of Lies that I thought it had been against some of the Thieves How That we came by Force and Arms and in an hostile manner into the Court who were brought as aforesaid I told them It was all false and still we cried for Justice for our false Imprisonment being taken up in our Journy without Cause by Major Ceely Then this Peter Ceely spake to the Judge and said May it please you My Lord This Man pointing to me went aside with me and told me how serviceable I might be for his Design that he could raise Forty Thousand Men at an Hours warning and involve the Nation into Blood and so bring in King Charles and I would have aided him out of the Country but he would not go And if it please you My Lord I have a Witness to swear it and so he called upon his Witness But the Judge not being forward to Examine the Witness I spake to the Judge and desired That he would be pleased to let my Mittimus be read in the face of the Court and Country in which my Crime was signified for which I was sent to Prison The Judge said It should not be Read I said It ought to be seeing it concerned my Liberty and my Life The Judge said again It shall not be read but I said It ought to be read for if I have done any thing worthy of Death or of Bonds let all the Country know it Then seeing they would not read it I spake to one of my Fellow-Prisoners ' Thou hast a Copy of it Read it up said I. It shall not be read said the Judge Gaoler said he Take him away I 'le see whether He or I shall be Master So I was taken away and a while after called for again And I still cried to have my Mittimus read up for that signified the Cause of my Commitment Wherefore I again spake to the Friend that was my Fellow-Prisoner and bid him Read it up and he did Read it up and the Judge Justices and whole Court were silent for the People were eager to hear it Which is as followeth Peter Ceely Cornwall ss one of the Justices of the Peace of this County To the Keeper of His Highness's Gaol at Lanceston or his Lawful Deputy in that behalf Greeting I Send you here-withal by the Bearers hereof the Bodies of Edward Pyot of Bristol and George Fox of Drayton and Clea in Leicestershire and William Salt of London which they pretend to be the Places of their Habitations who go under the Notion of Quakers and acknowledge themselves to be such who have spread several Papers tending to the disturbance of the Publick Peace and cannot render any Lawful Cause of coming into these Parts being Persons altogether unknown and having no Pass for their Travelling up and down the Country and refusing to give Sureties of their good Behaviour according to the Law in that behalf provided and refuse to take the Oath of Abjuration c. These are therefore in the Name of His Highness the Lord Protector to Will and Command you that when the Bodies of the said Edward Pyot George Fox and William Salt shall be unto you brought you them receive and in His Highness's Prison aforesaid you safely keep them until by due Course of Law they shall be delivered Hereof fail you not as you will Answer
the contrary at your Perils Given under my Hand and Seal at St. Ives the Eighteenth day of January 1655. P. Ceely When it was read I spake thus to the Judge and Justices Thou that say'st thou art Chief-Justice of England and you that be Justices ye know that if I had put in Sureties I might have gone whether I pleased and have carried on the Design if I had had one which Major Ceely hath charged me with And if I had spoken those Words to him which he hath here declared then judge ye whether Bail or Mainprize could have been taken in that Case Then turning my Speech to Major Ceely I said When or where did I take thee aside Was not thy House full of rude People and thou as Rude as any of them at our Examination so that I asked for a Constable or some other Officer to keep the People civil But if thou art my Accuser why sittest thou on the Bench That is not a place for thee to sit in for Accusers do not use to sit with the Judges Thou oughtest to come down and stand by me and look me in the Face Besides I would ask the Judge and Justices this Question Whether or no Major Ceely is not guilty of this Treason which he charges against me in Concealing it so long as he hath done Dos he understand his place either as a Souldier or a Justice of the Peace For he tells you here That I went aside with him and told him what a Design I had in hand and how serviceable he might be for my Design That I could raise Forty Thousand Men in an Hour's time and bring in King Charles and involve the Nation in Blood He saith moreover He would have aided me out of the Country but I would not go and therefore he committed me to Prison for want of Sureties for the good Behaviour as the Mittimus declares Now do not you see plainly that Major Ceely is guilty of this Plot and Treason that he talks of and hath made himself a Party to it by desiring me to go out of the Country and demanding Bail of me and not charging me with this pretended Treason till now nor discovering it But I deny and abhor his Words and am Innocent of his Devilish Design So that Business was let fall for the Judge saw clear enough that instead of Ensnaring me he hath Ensnared himself Then this Major Ceely got up again and said If it please you my Lord to hear me This Man struck me and gave me such a Blow as I never had in my Life At this I smiled in my Heart and said Major Ceely art thou a Justice of Peace and a Major of a Troop of Horse and tells the Judge here in the Face of the Court and Country That I who am a Prisoner struck thee and gave thee such a Blow as thou never had'st the like in thy Life What! Art thou not ashamed Prithee Major Ceely said I where did I strike thee and who is thy Witness for that who was by He said It was in the Castle-green and that Captain Bradden was standing by when I ' struck him I desired the Judge to let him produce his Witness for that And I called again upon Major Ceely to come down from off the Bench telling him It was not fit that the Accuser should sit as Judge over the Accused Now when I called again for his Witness he said Captain Bradden was his Witness Then I said speak Captain Bradden Did'st thou see me give him such a Blow and strike him as he saith Captain Bradden made no answer but bowed his Head towards me I desired him to speak up if he knew any such thing but he only bowed his Head again ' Nay said I speak up and let the Court and Country hear and let not bowing of the Head serve the Turn If I have done so let the Law be Inflicted on me I fear not Sufferings nor Death it self for I am an Innocent Man concerning all his Charge But Captain Bradden never Testified to it And the Judge finding those Snares would not hold cried Take him away Gaoler and then when we were taken away he fined us Twenty Marks a piece for not putting off our Hats and to be kept in Prison till we paid it and so sent us back to the Gaol again At Night Captain Bradden came to see us and Seven or Eight Justices with him who were very Civil to us and told us They did believe neithâ—r the Judge nor any in the Court did believe those Charges which Major Ceely had charged upon me in the Face of the Country And Capt. Bradden said Major Ceely had an Intent to have taken away my Life if he could have got another Witness But said I Captain Bradden why did'st not thou witness for me 1656. Lanceston Prison or against me seeing Major Ceely produced thee for a Witness that thou sawest me strike him And when I desired thee to speak either for me or against me according to what thou sawest or knewest thou wouldst not speak Why said he when Major Ceely and I came by you as you were walking in the Castle-green he put off his Hat to you and said How do you Mr. Fox your Servant Sir Then you said to him Major Ceely take heed of Hypocrisy and of a rotten Heart for when came I to be thy Master and thou my Servant Do Servants use to cast their Masters into Prison This was the great Blow he meant that you gave him Then I called to mind that they walked by us and that he spake to me as aforesaid and I spake those Words to him before-mentioned which Hypocrisy and Rotten-heartedness he manifested openly when he complained or this to the Judge in open Court and in the Face of the Country and would have made them all believe that I struck him outwardly with my Hand Now were we kept in Prison and divers People came from far and nigh to see us of whom some were People of Account in the World for the Report of our Trial was spread abroad and our Boldness and Innocency in our Answers to the Judge and Court was talked of in Town and Country Among others that came to visit us there was one Humphry Lower a grave sober ancient Man who had been a Justice of Peace formerly and he was very sorry we should lie in Prison telling us how serviceable we might be if we were out of Prison But we reasoned with him concerning Swearing and having acquainted him how they tendered the Oath of Abjuration to us as a Snare because they knew we could not swear we shew'd him That No People could be serviceable to God if they disobeyed the Command of Christ and that they that Imprisoned us for the Hat-Honour which was of Men and which Men sought for they prisoned the Good and vexed and grieved the Spirit of God in themselves which should have turned their Minds to God So we
turned him to the Spirit of God in his Heart and to the Light of Christ Jesus and he was throughly Convinced and continued so to his Death and was very serviceable to us There came also to see us one Colonel Rouse a Justice of Peace with a great Company with him and he was as full or Words and Talk as ever I heard any Man in my Life so that there was no speaking to him At length I asked him ' Whether he had ever been at School and knew what belonged to Questions and Answers this I said to stop him At School said he yes At School said the Souldiers Doth he say so to our Colonel that is a Scholar Then said I If he be so let him be still and receive Answers to what he hath said Then I was moved of the Lord so speak the Word of Life to him in God's dreadful Power which came so over him that he could not open his Mouth his Face swelled and was red like a Turkey and his Lips moved and he mumbled something but the People thought he would have fallen down I stept to him and he said He was never so in his Life before For the Lord's Power stopt the Evil Power and Air in him so that he was almost choked The Man was ever after very Loving to Friends and not so full of Airy Words to us though he was a Man full of Pride but the Lord's Power came over him and the rest that were with him Another time there came another Officer of the Army a very malicious bitter Professor whom I had known in London And he was full of his airy Talk also and spake slightly of the Light of Christ and against the Truth as Colonel Rouse had done and against the Spirit of God being in Men as it was in the Apostles Days till the Power of God that bound the Evil in him had almost Choked him also as it did Colonel Rouse for he was so full of Evil Air that he could not speak but blubbered and stuttered But from that time that the Lord's Power struck him and came over him he was ever after more Loving to us Now the Assize being over and we settled in Prison upon such a Commitment as we were not likely to be soon Released we broke off from giving the Gaoler Seven Shillings a Week a piece for our Horses and Seven Shillings a Week for our selves and sent our Horses out into the Country Upon which the Gaoler grew very Wicked and Devilish Dooms-Dale and put us down into Dooms-dale a nasty stinking Place where they used to put Witches and Murderers after they were Condemned to Die The Place was so Noisom that it was observed few that went in did ever come out again in Health for there was no House of Office in it and the Excrements of the Prisoners that from time to time had been put there had not been carried out as we were told for many Years So that it was all like Mire and in some Places to the Top of the Shoes in Water and Piss and he would not let us Cleanse it neither would he let us have Beds or Straw to lie on At Night some friendly People of the Town brought us a Candle and a little Straw and we went to burn a little of our Straw to take away the Stink The Thieves lay over our Heads and the Head-Gaoler lay in a Room by them over our Heads also Now it seems the Smoke went up into the Room where the Gaoler lay which put him into such a Rage that he took the Pots of Excrements of the Thieves and poured them down through a Hole upon our Heads in Dooms-dale so that we were so bespattered with the Excrements that we could not touch our selves nor one another And the Stink Increased upon us so that what with Stink and what with Smoke we had like to have been choked and smothered in Dooms-dale For we had the Stink under our Feet before but now we had it on our Heads and Backs also And he having quenched our Straw with the Filth he poured down had made a great Smother in the Place Moreover he railed on us most hideously calling us Hatchet-faced Dogs and such strange Names as we had never heard of In this manner were we fain to stand all Night for we could not sit down the Place was so full of filthy Excrements And a great while he kept us after this manner before he would let us cleanse it or suffer us to have any Victuals brought in but what we got through the Grate One time a Lass brought us a little Meat and he Arrested her for breaking his House and sued her in the Town-Court for breaking the Prison and a great deal of Trouble he put the Young-woman to whereby others were so discouraged that we had much a do to get Water or Drink or Victuals Near this Time we sent for a Young-woman one Ann Downer from London that could write 1656. Lanceston Doomsdale and take things well in Short-hand to buy and dress our Meat for us which she was very willing to it being also upon her Spirit to come to us in the Love of God and she was very serviceable to us This Head-Gaoler we were Informed had been a Thief and was burnt both in the Hand and in the Shoulder His Wife too had been burnt in the Hand The Vnder-Gaoler had been burnt both in the Hand and in the Shoulder and his Wife had been burnt in the Hand also And Colonel Bennet who was a Baptist-Teacher having purchased the Gaol and Lands belonging to the Castle had placed this Head-Gaoler therein The Prisoners and some wild People would be talking of Spirits that haunted Doomsdale and walked there and how many had died in it thinking perhaps to terrify us therewith But I told them and Friends That if all the Spirits and Devils in Hell were there I was over them in the Power of God and feared no such thing for Christ our Priest would sanctify the Walls and the House to us he who bruised the Head of the Devil The Priest was to cleanse the Plague out of the Walls of the House under the Law which Christ our Priest ended who sanctifies both inwardly and outwardly the Walls of the House and the Walls of the Heart and all things to his People By this time the General Quarter-Sessions drew nigh and the Gaoler still carrying himself basely and wickedly towards us we drew up our Sufferings and sent it to the Sessions at Bodmin upon the reading of which the Justices gave Order That Doomsdale-Door should be opened and that we should have liberty to Cleanse it and to buy our Meat in the Town We sent up a Copy also of our Sufferings to the Protector setting forth how we were taken and Committed by Major Ceely and how we were abused by Capt. Keat as aforesaid and the rest in Order Whereupon the Protector sent down an
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
at our Meeting in the Orchard As I was going along into the Orchard the People told me That Paul Gwin the rude jangling Baptist was going to the Meeting But I bid them Never heed It was nothing to me who went to it When I was come into the Orchard I stood upon the Stone that Friends used to stand on when they spake and I was moved of the Lord to put off my Hat and to stand a pretty while and let the People look at me for some Thousands of People were there While I thus stood silent this Rude Baptist began to find Fault with my Hair but I said nothing to him Then he run on into Words and at last Ye wise men of of Bristol said he I strange at you that you will stand here and hear a Man speak and affirm that which he cannot make good Then the Lord opened my Mouth for as yet I had not spoken a Word And I asked the People Whether they ever heard me speak before or ever saw me before And I bid them ' Take notice what kind of Man this was amongst them that should so Impudently say That I spake and Affirmed that which I could not make good and yet neither he nor they ever heard me or saw me before Therefore that was a lying envious malicious Spirit that spake in him and it was of the Devil and not of God Therefore I charged him in the Dread and Power of the Lord to be silent And the Mighty Power of God came over him and all his Company And then a glorious peaceable Meeting we had and the Word of Life was divided amongst them and they were turned from the Darkness to the Light and to Jesus their Saviour And the Scriptures were largely opened to them and the Traditions and Rudiments and ways 1656. Bristol and Doctrines of Men were laid open before the People which they had been in and they were turned to the Light of Christ that with it they might see them and see him to lead them out of them I opened also to them the Types and Figures and Shadows of Christ in the time of the Law and shewed them That Christ was come and had ended the Types and Shadows and Tithes and Oaths and put down Swearing and had set up Yea and Nay instead of it and a free Ministry for he was now come to Teach People himself and his heavenly Day was springing from on high So for many hours did I declare the Word of Life amongst them in the Eternal Power of God that by him they might come up into the Beginning and be Reconciled to him And having turned them to the Spirit of God in themselves that would lead into all Truth I was moved to pray in the mighty Power of God and the Lord's Power came over all But when I had done this Fellow began to babble again and John Audland was moved to bid him Repent and fear God So his own People and Followers being ashamed of him he passed away and never came again to disturb the Meeting And the Meeting brake up quietly and the Lord's Power and Glory shined over all a blessed Day it was and the Lord had the Praise After a while this Paul Gwin went beyond the Seas and many Years after I met with him again at Barbado's of which in its Place From Bristol we returned to Edward Pyot's where we had a great Meeting and the Lord's Power was over all and Truth was declared and spread abroad and many were turned to Christ Jesus their Life their Prophet to teach them their Shepherd to feed them and their Bishop to oversee them After the Meeting was done I had some Reasoning with some Professors and the Lord's Truth and Power came over them Slattenford From Edward Pyot's we passed to Slattenford where we had a very large Meeting Edward Pyot and another Friend being still with me and a great turning of People there was to the Lord Jesus Christ their Teacher and People were glad that they were brought to know their Way and their free Teacher and their Saviour Christ Jesus Wiltshire On the First-day following we went to Nathaniel Crips his House who had been a Justice of Peace in Wiltshire where it was supposed there were between Two and Three Thousand People at a Meeting and all was quiet And the mighty Power of God was manifest and People were turned to the Grace and Truth in their Hearts that came by Jesus Christ which would Teach them to deny all Vngodliness and wordly Lusts and to live soberly and godly in this present world So that every Man and Woman might know the Grace of God which had appeared to all Men and which was saving and sufficient to bring their Salvation This was to be their Teacher the Grace of God which would teach them how to live what to do and what to deny and would season their Words and establish their Hearts And this was a free Teacher to every one of them so that they might come to be Heirs of this Grace and of Christ by whom it came who hath ended the Prophets and the Priests that took Tithes and the Jewish Temple And as for these Hireling-Priests that take Tithes now 1656. Wiltshire and their Temples which Priests were made aâ— Schools and Colledges of Man's setting up and not by Christ they with all their Inventions were to be denied For the Apostles denied the true Priesthood and Temple which God had commanded after Christ had put an End thereto So the Scriptures and the Truths therein contained were largely opened and the People turned to the Spirit of God in their Hearts that by it they might be led into all Truth and understand the Scriptures and know God and Christ and come to have Unity with them and one with another in the same Spirit And the People went away generally satisfied and were glad that they were turned to Christ Jesus their Teacher and Saviour The next day we went from thence to Marlborough Marleborough where we had a little Meeting And the Sessions being in that Town that day they were granting forth a Warrant to send for me But one Justice Stooks being at the Sessions stopt them telling them There was a Meeting at his House yesterday at which were several Thousands So the Warrant was stopt and our Meeting was quiet and several received Christ Jesus their Teacher and came into the New Covenant and abode in it From hence we went to Newberry where we had a large Newberry blessed Meeting and several were Convinced there Thence we passed on to Reading where we had a large Reading precious Meeting in the Lord's Power amongst the Plants of God and many of the World came in and were reached and added to the Meeting and all was quiet and the Lord's Power was over all Kingston upon Thames We went from Reading to Kingston upon Thames where a few came in to
Redeemer their Mediator and come to feed upon him the Bread of Life from Heaven Many were turned to the Lord Jesus Christ and to his free Teaching that Day and all were bowed down under the Power of God 1657. Radnorshire so that though the Multitude was so great that many sate on Horse-back to hear there was no Opposition made by any And a Priest sate with his Wife on horse-back and heard Attentively and made no Objection but the People parted peaceably and quietly with great Satisfaction many of them saying They never heard such a Sermon before and the Scriptures so opened For the New Covenant was opened and the Old and the Nature and Terms of each and the Parables were explained and the State of the Church in the Apostles Days was set forth and the Apostacy since laid open and the free Teaching of Christ and the Apostles was set a top of all the hireling-Teachers and the Lord had the Praise of all for many were turned to him that Day Lemster I went back from thence to Lemster where there was a great Meeting in a Close many hundreds of People being gathered together There were a Matter of six Congregational Preachers and Priests amongst the People and Thomas Taylor who had been a Priest but was now become a Minister of Christ Jesus was with me I stood up and declared about three Hours and none of the Priests were able to open their Mouths in Opposition the Lord's Power and Truth so reached them and bound them down At length one Priest went off about a Bow-shot from me and drew several of the People after him and there set a preaching to them So I kept our Meeting and he kept his But after a while Thomas Taylor was moved to go to him and spake to him and he gave over and then he and the People he had drawn off came up to us again and the Lord's Power went over them all At last a Baptist that was Convinced said Where 's Priest Tombs how chance he doth not come out This Tombs was Priest of Lemster Hereupon some went and told the Priest and up comes he with the Bailiffs and other Officers of the Town And when he was come they set him upon a Stool over against me Now I was speaking of the heavenly divine Light of Christ which he Enlightens every one that cometh into the World withal and turning them to it to give them the Knowledge of the glory of God in the Face of Christ Jesus their Saviour When Priest Tombs heard this he cried out That is a Natural Light and a made Light Then I desired the People to take out their Bibles and I asked the Priest Whether he did Affirm that that was a Created natural made Light which John a Man that was sent from God did bear witness to and did speak of when he said In him to wit in the Word was life and that life was the Light of Men Joh. 1.4 Dost thou affirm and mean said I that this Light here spoken of was a Created Natural Made Light And he said Yes Then said I Before I have done with thee I will make thee bend to the Scriptures Then I shewed by the Scriptures that the Natural created made Light is the outward Light in the outward Firmament proceeding from the Sun Moon and Stars And dost thou Affirm said I that God sent John to bear witness to the Light of the Sun Moon and Stars Then said he Did I say so I replied ' Didst thou not not say it was a Natural Created Made Light that John bore witness unto If thou dost not like thy Words take them again and mend them Then he said That Light which I spake of was a natural created Light I told him 1657. Lemster He had not at all mended his Cause for that Light which I spake of was the very same that John was sent of God to bear witness to which was the Life in the Word by which all the natural Lights as Sun Moon and Stars were made In him to wit the Word was Life and that Life was the Light of Men. So I directed the People to turn to the Place in their Bibles and I recited to them the Words of John how that In the Beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God The same was in the beginning with God All things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made So all natural created Lights were made by Christ the Word In him was life and the life was the light of Men And that was the true light which lighteth every Man that cometh into the World And Christ saith of himself John 8.12 I am the light of the World And bids them Believe in the light John 12.36 And God said of him by the Prophet Isaiah ch 49.6 I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles that thou mayest be my Salvation to the Ends of the Earth So Christ in his Light is saving And the Apostle said The light which shined in their Hearts was to give them the light of the knowledge of the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ And that was their Treasure in their earthen Vessels 2 Cor. 4.6 7. When I had thus opened the matter to the People the Priest cried to the Magistrates Take this man away or else I shall not speak any more But said I ' Priest Tombs deceive not thy self thou art not in thy Pulpit now nor in thy Old Mass-house but we are in the Fields So he was shuffling to be gone and Thomas Taylor stood up and undertook to make out our Principle by Christ's Parable concerning the Sower Matth. 13. Then said the Priest Let that Man speak and not the other So he got up into a little Jangling for a while till the Lord's Power catched him again and stopt and confounded him Afterwards a Friend stood up and told him How he had sued him for Tithe-Eggs and other Friends for other Tithes for he was an Anabaptist Preacher and yet had a Parsonage at Lemster and had several Journey-men under him And he said He had a Wife and he had a Concubine and his Wife was the Baptized People and his Concubine was the World But the Lord's Power came over him and them all and the everlasting Truth was declared that Day and many were turned by it to the Lord Jesus Christ their Teacher and Way to God And of great Service that Meeting was in those Parts The next day Thomas Taylor went to this Priest and reasoned with him and came over him by the Power of the Word From this place I travelled on in Wales Tenby having several Meetings as I went till I came to Tenby where as I rode up the Street a Justice of Peace came out of his House and desired me to alight and stay at his House and I did so On the First-day the Mayor
and his Wife and several others of the Chief of the Town came in about the tenth Hour and stay'd all the Time of the Meeting and a glorious Meeting it was John ap John being then with me left the Meeting and went to the Steeple-house and the Governour cast him into Prison On the Second-day Morning the Governour sent one of his Officers to the Justice's House to fetch me which grieved the Mayor and the Justice for they were both with me in the Justice's House 1657. Tenby when the Officer came So the Mayor and the Justice went up to the Governour before me and a while after I went up with the Officer When I came in I said Peace be unto this House And before the Governour could Examin me I asked him Why he did cast my Friend into Prison He said For standing with his Hat on in the Church I said Had not the Priest two Caps on his Head a black one and a white one and cut of the brims of the Hat and then my Friend would have but one and the brims of the Hat were but to defend him from Weather These are frivolous things said the Governour ' Why then said I dost thou cast my Friend into Prison for such frivolous things Then he asked me Whether I owned Election and Reprobation Yes said I and thou art in the Reprobation At that he was in a Rage and said He would send me to Prison till I proved it But I told him I would prove that quickly if he would confess Truth Then I asked him Whether Wrath Fury and Rage and Persecution were not Marks of Reprobation for he that was born of the Flesh persecuted him that was born of the Spirit but Christ and his Disciples never persecuted nor imprisoned any Then he fairly Confest That he had too much Wrath Haste and Passion in him And I told him Esau was up in him the first-Birth not Jacob the second-Birth The Lord's Power so reached the Man and came over him that he confess'd to Truth and the other Justice came and shook me kindly by the Hand As I was passing away I was moved to speak to the Governour again and he Invited me to Dinner with him and set my Friend at Liberty I went back to the other Justice's House And after some time the Mayor and his Wife and the Justice and his Wife and divers other Friends of the Town went about half a Mile out of Town with us to the Water-side when we went away and there when we parted from them I was moved of the Lord to kneel down with them and pray to the Lord to preserve them So after I had recommended them to the Lord Jesus Christ their Saviour and free Teacher we passed away in the Lord's Power and the Lord had the Glory And there is a Meeting continues in that Town to this Day Pembrockshire Pembrock Haverford west So we travelled through the Country to Pembrockshire and in Pembrock Town we had some Service for the Lord. From thence we passed to Haverford-west where we had a great Meeting and all was quiet and the Lord's Power came over all and many were settled in the New Covenant Christ Jesus and built upon him their Rock and Foundation and they stand a precious Meeting to this Day The next day being their Fair-day we passed through their Fair and sounded the Day of the Lord and his Everlasting Truth amongst them After this we came into another County and at Noon came into a great Market-Town and went into several Inns before we could get any Meat for our Horses At last we came to an Inn where we did get some Meat for our Horses and then John ap John being with me went and spake through the Town declaring the Truth to the People and when he came to me again he said he thought All the Town was as people asleep After a while he was moved to go and declare Truth in the Streets again and then the Town was all in an Vproar 1657. WALES and cast him into Prison Presently after several of the Chief of the Town came down with others to the Inn where I was and said They have cast your Man into Prison For what said I He preached in our Streets said they Then I asked them What did he say Had he reproved some of the Drunkards and Swearers and warned them to Repent and leave off their evil Doings and turn to the Lord I asked them Who cast him into Prison And they said The High-Sheriff and the Justices and the Mayor I asked the Names of them and whether they did understand themselves And whether that was their Carriage to Travellers that passed through their Town and to Strangers that did admonish them and exhort them to fear the Lord and reproved Sin in their Gates So these went back and told the Officers what I said And after a while they brought down John ap John guarded with Halberts to the Inn-door in order to put him out of the Town I being at the Inn-door bid the Officers take their Hands off of him They said The Mayor and Justices had commanded them to put him out of Town I told them I would talk with their Mayor and Justices anon concerning their uncivil and unchristian Carriage towards him So I spake to John to go look after the Horses and get them ready and charged the Officers not to touch him And after I had declared the Truth to them and shewed them the Fruits of their Priests and their Incivility and unchristian-like Carriage they went away and left us They were a kind of Independents but a very wicked Town and false We bid the Inn-keeper give our Horses a Peck of Oats and no sooner had we turned our Backs but the Oats were stolen from our Horses After we had refresht our selves a little and were ready we took Horse and rode up to the Inn where the Mayor and Sheriff and Justices were And I called to speak with them and asked them the Reason Wherefore they had Imprisoned John ap John and kept him in Prison two or three hours But they would not answer me a Word only looked out at the Windows upon me So I shewed them how unchristian their Carriage was to Strangers and Travellers and manifested the Fruits of their Teachers and I declared the Truth unto them and warned them of the Day of the Lord that was coming upon all the Evil-Doers and the Lord's Power came over them that they looked ashamed but not a Word could I get from them in Answer So when I had warned them to Repent and Turn to the Lord we passed away And at Night came to a little Inn very poor but very cheap for our own Provision and our two Horses cost but Eight Pence But the Horses would not eat their Oats We declared the Truth to the People of the Place and sounded the Day of the Lord through the Countries Travelling from thence we
brought them in again and threatned them and charged them To speak no more in that Name Was not this to stop the Truth from spreading in that Time And had not the Priests an hand in these things with the Magistrates and in examining Stephen when he was stoned to Death Was not the Council gathered together against Jesus Christ to put him to Death and had not the Chief Priests an hand in it When they go to persecute the Just and crucify the Just do they not then neglect Judgment and Mercy and Justice and the weighty Matters of the Law which is just Was not the Apostle Paul tossed up and down by the Priests and the Rulers and Prisoned And was not John Baptist cast into Prison 1657. Scotland Edenborough Are not ye doing the same Work shewing what Spirit ye are of Now do not ye shew the End of your Profession the End of your Prayers the End of your Religion and the End of your Teaching who are now come to banish the Truth and him that is come to declare it unto you Doth not this shew that ye be but in the Words out of the Life of the Prophets Christ and his Apostles for they did not use such Practice as to banish any How do ye receive Strangers which is a Command of God among the Prophets Christ and the Apostles some by that means have entertained Angels at unawares but ye banish one that comes to Visit the Seed of God and is not chargeable to any of you Will not all that fear God look upon this to be Spight and Wickedness against the Truth How are ye like to love Eemies that banish your Friend How are ye like to do Good to them that hate you when ye do Evil to them that love you How are ye like to heap Coals of Fire on their Heads that hate you and to Overcome Evil with Good when ye banish thus Do ye not manifest to all that are in the Truth that ye have not the Christian Spirit How did ye do Justice to me when ye could not convict me of any Evil yet banish me This shews that Truth is banished out of your Hearts and ye have taken part against the Truth with Evil-doers and the wicked envious Priests and Stoners Strikers and Mockers in the Streets with these ye that banish have taken part whereas ye should have been a Terror to these and a Praise to them that do well and Succourers of them that be in the Truth then might ye have been a Blessing to the Nation and not have banished him that was moved of the Lord to visit the Seed of God and thereby have brought your Names upon Record and made them to stink in Ages to come among them that fear God Were not the Magistrates stirred up in former Ages to persecute or banish by the corrupt Priests and did not the corrupt Priests stir up the rude Multitude against the Just in other Ages Therefore are your Streets like Sodom and Gomorrha Did not the Jews and the Priests make the Gentiles Minds envious against the Apostles And who were they that would not have the Prophet Amos to prophesie at the King's Chappel but bad him fly his way And when Jeremiah was put in the Prison in the Dungeon and in the Stocks had not the Priests an Hand with the Princes in doing it Now see all that were in this Work of banishing prisoning persecuting Whether they were not all out of the Life of Christ the Prophets and Apostles To the Witness of God in you all I speak Consider Whether or no they were not always the blind Magistrates which turned their Sword always backward that knew not their Friends from their Foes and so hit their Friends Such Magistrates were deceived by Flattery G. F. When this was delivered and read amongst them some of them as I heard were troubled at what they had done being made sensible that they would not be so served themselves But it was not long 1657. Scotland Edenborough Council before they that banished me were banished themselves or glad to get away who would not do good in the Day when they had Power nor suffer others that would After I had spent some time among Friends at Edenborough and thereabouts Heads I passed from thence to Heads again where Friends had been in great Sufferings for the Presbyterian Priests had Excommunicated them and given Charge That none should Buy or Sell with them nor Eat nor Drink with them So they could neither Sell their Commodities nor Buy what they wanted which made it go very hard with some of them for if they had bought Bread or other Victuals of any of their Neighbours the Priests threatned them so with Curses that they would run and fetch it from them again But Colonel Ashfield being a Justice of Peace in that Country put a stop to the Priests Proceedings This Colonel Ashfield was afterwards convinced himself and had a Meeting settled at his House and declared the Truth and lived and died in it After I had visited Friends at Heads and there-aways and had encouraged them in the Lord Glascow I went to Glascow where a Meeting was appointed but not One of the Town came to it As I went into the City the Guard at the Gates had me up before the Governour who was a moderate Man and a gread deal of Discourse I had with him but he was too light to receive the Truth yet he set me at Liberty and so I passed to the Meeting But seeing none of the Town 's People came to the Meeting we declared Truth through the Town and so passed away and visited Friends in their Meetings thereabouts Badcow and then returned towards Badcow Several Friends went and declared Truth in their Steeple-houses and the Lod's Power was with them And one time as I was going with William Osburn to his House there lay a Company of rude Fellows by the Way-side who had hid themselves under the Hedges and in Bushes and I spying them asked him What they were Oh said he they are Thieves Now Robert Widders being moved to go to speak to a Priest was left behind intending to come after So I said to William Osburn I will stay here in this Valley and do thou go look after Robert Widders But he was unwilling to go being afraid to leave me there alone because of those Fellows till I told him ' I feared them not Then I called to them asking them What they lay lurking there for and I bid them Come up to me but they were loth to come up I charged them to come up to me or else it might be worse with them Then they came trembling to me for the Dread of the Lord had struck them I admonished them to be honest and directed them to the Light of Christ in their Hearts that by it they might see what an Evil it was to follow after Theft and Robbery and the Power
the Meeting some Professors began to jangle Whereupon I stood up again and answered their Questions so that they seemed to be satisfied and our Meeting ended in the Lord's Power quiet and peaceable This was the last Meeting I had in Scotland And the Truth and the Power of God was set over that Nation and many by the Power and Spirit of God were turned to the Lord Jesus Christ their Saviour and Teacher whose Blood was shed for them And since there is a great Increase 1657. Scotland Dunbar and great there will be in Scotland For when first I set my Horses Feet upon the Scottish Ground I felt the Seed of God to sparkle about me like innumerable Sparks of Fire Not but that there is Abundance of thick Cloddy Earth of Hypocrisy and Falseness that is a top and a briary brambly Nature which is to be burnt up with God's Word and plowed up with his Spiritual Plow before God's Seed brings forth heavenly and spiritual Fruit to his glory But the Husbandman is to wait in Patience From Dunbar we came to Berwick Northumberland Berwick where we were questioned a little by the Officers but the Governour was loving towards us and in the Evening we had a little Meeting in which the Power of the Lord was manifested over all Leaving Berwick we came to Morpeth and so through the Country Morpeth Newcastle visiting Friends to New-castle where I had been once before For the Newcastle-Priests had written many Books against us and one Ledger an Alderman of the Town was very envious against Truth and Friends He and the Priests had said The Quakers would not come into any great Towns but lived in the Fells like Butterflies So I took Anthony Pearson with me and went to this Ledger and several others of the Aldermen desiring to have a Meeting amongst them seeing they had written so many Books against us for we were now come I told them into their great Town But they would not yield we should have a Meeting neither would they be spoken withal save only this Ledger and one other I told them Had they not called Friends Butterflies and said We would not come into any great Towns And now we were come into their Town they would not come at us though they had printed Books against us Who are the Butterflies now said I Then Ledger began to plead for the Sabbath-day but I told him They kept Markets and Fairs on that which was the Sabbath-day for that was the seventh day of the Week whereas that Day which the professed Christians now Meet on and call their Sabbath is the First day of the Week So when we could not have a publick Meeting among them we got a little Meeting among Friends and friendly People at the Gate-side where a Meeting is continued to this day in the Name of Jesus As I was passing away by the Market-place the Power of the Lord rose in me To warn them of the Day of the Lord that was coming upon them And not long after all those Priests of Newcastle and their Profession were turned out when the King came in From New-Castle we travelled through the Countries Northumberland Bishoprick having Meetings and visiting Friends as we went in Northumberland and Bishoprick and a very good Meeting we had at Lieutenant Dove's where many were turned to the Lord and his Teaching After the Meeting I went to visit a Justice of Peace a very sober loving Man and he confessed to the Truth From thence we came to Durham Durham where was a Man come down from London to set up a Colledge there to make Ministers of Christ as they said I went with some others to reason with the Man and to let him see That to teach Men Hebrew Greek and Latin and the Seven Arts which was all but the Teachings of the Natural Man was not the Way to make them Ministers of Christ For the Languages began at Babel 1657. Durham and to the Greeks that spake Greek as their Mother-Tongue the Preaching of the Cross of Christ was foolishness and to the Jews that spake Hebrew as their Mother-Tongue Christ was a Stumbling-block And as for the Romans who had the Latin and Italian they persecuted the Christians and Pilat one of the Roman Governours set Hebrew Greek and Latin a top of Christ when he Crucified him So he might see the many Languages began at Babel and they set them a top of Christ the Word when they Crucified him And John the Divine who preached the Word that was in the beginning said That the Beast and the Whore have Power over Tongues and Languages and they are as Waters Thus I told him he might see the Whore and Beast have Power over the Tongues and the many Languages which are in Mystery Babylon for they began at Babel and the Persecutors of Christ Jesus set them over him when he was Crucified by them but he is Risen over them all who was before them all Now said I to this Man Dost thou think to make Ministers of Christ by these natural confused Languages which sprang from Babel are admired in Babylon and set a top of Christ the Life by a Persecutor Oh no! So the Man confest to many of these things Then we shewed him further That Christ made his Ministers himself and gave Gifts unto them and bid them Pray to the Lord of the Harvest to send forth Labourers And Peter and John though unlearned and ignorant as to School-learning preached Christ Jesus the Word which was in the beginning before Babel was Paul also was made an Apostle not of Man nor by Man neither received he the Gospel from Man but from Jesus Christ who is the same now and so is his Gospel as it was at that Day When we had thus Discoursed with the Man he became very loving and tender and after he had considered further of it he never set up his Colledge Cleveland Yorkshire Holderness Hull Pomfret From Durham we went to Anthony Pearson's and from thence into Cleaveland and so passed through Yorkshire to the further End of Holderness and had mighty Meetings the Lord's Power accompanying us After we parted from Anthony Pearson's we went by Hull and Pomfret through the Countries to George Watkinson's House and visited most of the Meetings all up and down in these Parts Scalehouse Swarthmore till we came to Scale-house and so on to Swarthmore the everlasting Power and Arm of God carrying us through and preserving us After I had visited Friends up and down there-aways Yorkshire Cheshire Derbishire Nottinghamshire Nottingham I passed through the Countries into Yorkshire again and into Cheshire and so through other Counties into Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire and glorious Meetings we had the Lord's Presence being with us At Nottingham I sent to Rice Jones desiring him To make his People acquainted that I had something to say to them from the Lord. He came and told
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
those Poor People a Loaf how many soever there were of them For we were taught to do good unto all though especially to the Houshold of Faith After this Meeting I passed through the Countries visiting Friends in their Meetings till I came to Lancaster Lancaster Arnside General Meeting from whence I went to Robert Withers and so to Arnside where I had a General Meeting for all the Friends in those Countries as Westmorland Cumberland and Lancashire This Meeting was quiet and peaceable and the living Presence of the Lord was amongst us After Meeting I went back with Robert Withers and Friends all passed away R. W. fresh in the Life and Power of Christ in which they had Dominion being settled upon him the Heavenly Rock and Foundation But after the Meeting there came several Rude Fellows Serving-men 1660. Arnside belonging to one called Sir George Middleton a Justice that lived not far off to have made some disturbance as it was thought but the Meeting being ended they did nothing there But lighting on Three Women-Friends who were going from the Meeting they set upon them with impudent Scoffs and one of them whose Name was Thomas said He would kiss one of them and carried himself very abusively and immodestly towards them The same Man did abuse other Friends also and was so outragious that he would have Cut Friends with an Ax but that he was restrained by some of his Fellows At another time the same Man set upon Six Friends that were going to a Meeting to wait upon the Lord at a place called Yellan and beat and abused them very much so that he bruised their Faces and shed much of their Blood wounding them very sore and one of them in several parts of his Body yet they lifted not up an Hand against him but gave him their Backs and their Cheeks to beat Swarthmore From Robert Withers's I went next day to Swarthmore Francis Howgil and Thomas Curtis being with me I had not been long there before one Henry Porter who was called a Justice sent a Warrant by the Chief Constable and Three Petty Constables to apprehend me I had a sense of the thing before-hand and being in the Parlour with Richard Richardson and Margaret Fell some of her Servants came and told her that there were some come to search the House for Arms and they went up into some of the Chambers under that Pretence It came upon me to go out to them and as I was going by some of them I spake some Words to them whereupon they asked me my Name G.F. taken Prisoner I readily told them my Name and then they laid hold on me saying I was the Man they looked for and led me away to Vlverstone Ulverstone There they kept me all Night at the Constables House and set a Guard of Fifteen or Sixteen Men to watch me some of whom sate in the Chimney for fear I should go up the Chimney such dark Imaginations possessed them They were very Rude and Vncivil to me and would neither suffer me to speak to Friends nor suffer Friends to bring me Necessaries but with Violence thrust out Friends and kept a strong Guard upon me Very Wicked and Rude they were and a great Noise they made about me One of the Constables whose Name was Askburnham said He did not think a Thousand Men could have taken me Another of the Constables whose Name was Mount a very wicked Man said He would have served Judge Fell himself so if he had been alive and he had a Warrant for him Next Morning about the Sixth Hour I was putting on my Boots and Spurs to go with them before some Justice but they pulled off my Spurs and took my Knife out of my Pocket and so hastned me away along the Town with a Party of Horse and abundance of People not suffering me to stay till my own Horse came down When I was gone about a quarter of a Mile with them some Friends with Margaret Fell and her Children came towards me and then a great Party of Horse gathered about me in a mad Rage and Fury crying out Will they rescue him Will they rescue him Whereupon I said unto them Here is my Hair here is my Back here are my Cheeks strike on With which Words their Heat was a little asswaged Then they brought a little Horse and two of them took up one of my Legs 1660. Ulverstone and put my Foot in the Stirrup and two or three lifting over my other Leg set me upon the little Horse behind the Saddle and so led the Horse by the Halter but I had nothing to hold by When they were come a pretty way out of the Town they beat the little Horse and made him kick and gallop Whereupon I slipped off him and told them They should not abuse the Creature They were much enraged at my getting off and took me by the Legs and Feet and set me upon the same Horse behind the Saddle again and so led the Horse on about two Miles till they came to a great Water called the Carter-Ford By this time my own Horse was come to us Carterford and the Water being deep and their little Horse scarce able to have carried me through they let me get upon my own Horse through the Perswasion of some of their own Company they leading him through the Water There was one Wicked Fellow kneeled down and lifting up his Hands blessed God that I was taken When I was come over the Sands I told them I had heard I had liberty to choose what Justice I would go before But Mount and the other Constables cry'd No I should not Then they led me on to Lancaster about Fourteen Miles and a great Triumph they thought to have had but as they led me I was moved to sing Praises to the Lord in his triumphing Power over all When I was come to Lancaster Lancaster the Spirits of the People being mightily up I stood and looked earnestly upon them and they cried Look at his Eyes After a while I spake to them and then they were pretty sober Then came a Young Man and had me to his House and after a little time the Officers had me to Major Porter's House who was called a Justice and who had sent forth the Warrant against me and he had several others with him When I came in I said Peace be amongst you Then Porter asked me Why I came down into the Country that troublesome time I told him To visit my Brethren But said he you have great Meetings up and down I told him Though we had so our Meetings were known throughout the Nation to be peaceable and we were a peaceable People He said We saw the Devil in Peoples Faces I told him If I saw a Drunkard or a Swearer or a peevish heady Man I could not say I saw the Spirit of God in him And I asked him If he could see
the Spirit of God He said We cry'd against their Ministers I told him While we were as Saul sitting under the Priests and running up and down with their Packets of Letters we were never called Pestilent Fellows nor Makers of Sects but when we were come to exercise our Consciences towards God and Man then we were called Pestilent Fellows as Paul was He said We could Express our selves well enough and he would not Dispute with me but he would restrain me I deslred to know for what and by whose Order he sent forth his Warrant for me And I complained to him of the Abuse of the Constables and other Officers to me after they had taken me and in their bringing me thither He would not take notice of that but told me He had an Order but would not let me see it for he would not reveal the King 's Secrets he said And besides A Prisoner he said was not to see for what he was Committed I told him That was not Reason For how should he make his Defence then I said I ought to have a Copy of it 1660. Lancaster But he said there was a Judge once that fined one for letting a Prisoner have a Copy of his Mittimus And said he I have an Old Clerk though I am a young Justice Then he called to his Clerk saying Is it not ready yet Bring it meaning the Mittimus But it not being ready he told me I was a Disturber of the Nation I told him I had been a Blessing to the Nation in and through the Lord's Power and Truth and the Spirit of God in all Consciences would answer it Then he charged me to be an Enemy to the King that I endeavoured to raise a new War and imbrue the Nation in Blood again I told him I had never learned the Postures of War but was Clear and Innocent as a Child concerning those things and therefore was bold Then came the Clerk with the Mittimus and the Goaler was sent for and commanded to take me and put me into the Dark-House and to let none come at me but to keep me there a Close Prisoner until I should be delivered by the King or Parliament Then the Justice asked the Constables where my Horse was For I hear said he that he hath a good Horse have ye brought his Horse I told him where my Horse was but he did not meddle with him As they had me to the Jail the Constable gave me my Knife again and then asked me to give it him But I told him Nay he had not been so civil to me So they put me into the Jail and the Under-Goaler one Hardy a very wicked Man was exceeding Rude and Cruel and many times would not let me have Meat brought in but as I could get it under the Door Many of the World's People came to look at me some in great Rage and very uncivil and rude One time there came Two Young Priests and very abusive and rude they were the worst of People could not be worse Amongst those that came in this manner old Preston of Howker his Wife was one and she used many abusive Words to me telling me my Tongue should be cut out and that I should he hanged shewing me the Gallows But the Lord God Cut her off and she died in a miserable Condition Lancaster Jail Being now a Close Prisoner in the Common Jail at Lancaster I desired Two Friends Thomas Cummings and Tho. Green to go to the Goaler and desire of him a Copy of my Mittimus that I might know what I stood Committed for They went and the Goaler answered them He could not give a Copy of it for another had been Fined for so doing but he gave them liberty to read it over And to the best of their remembrance the Matters therein charged against me were That I was a Person generally suspected to be a common Disturber of the Peace of the Nation an Enemy to the King and a chief Vpholder of the Quakers Sect And that I together with others of my Fanatick Opinion have of late endeavoured to raise Insurrections in these parts of the Country and to imbroil the whole Kingdom in Blood Wherefore the Goaler was commanded to keep me in safe Custody till I should be released by Order from the King and Parliament When I had thus gotten the Heads of the Charge contained in the Mittimus by which I stood committed I writ a plain down-right Answer in Vindication of my Innocency to each Particular as followeth I am a Prisoner at Lancaster committed by Justice Porter 1660. Lancaster Jail A Copy of the Mittimus I cannot get but such like Expressions I am told are in it which are very untrue As that I am generally supected to be a common Disturber of the Nations Peace an Enemy to the King and that I with others should endeavour to raise Insurrections to imbroil the Nation in Blood All which is utterly false and I do in every part thereof deny it For I am not a Person generally suspected to be a Disturber of the Nations Peace nor have given any Cause for any such Suspicion For through the Nation I have been tried of these things formerly In the days of Oliver I was taken up on pretence of Raising Arms against him which was also false for I medled not with Raising Arms at all Yet I was then carried up Prisoner to London and kept Prisoner till I was brought before him and then I cleared my self and denied the drawing of a Carnal Weapon against him or any Man upon the Earth For my Weapons are Spiritual which take away the occasion of War and lead into Peace And upon my declaring this to Oliver I was set at liberty by him After this I was taken and sent to Prison by Major Ceely in Cornwall who when I was brought before the Judge informed against me That I took him aside and told him that I could raise Forty Thousand Men in an hours time to involve the Nation in Blood and bring in King Charles This also was utterly false and a Lie of his own inventing as was then proved upon him For I never spake any such Word to him I never was found in any Plot I never took any Engagement or Oath nor ever learned War-Postures And as those were False Charges against me then so are these which come from Major Porter now who is lately appointed to be Justice but wanted Power formerly to exercise his Cruelty against us Which is but the Wickedness of the Old Enemy For the Peace of the Nation I am not a Disturber of nor ever was but seek the Peace of it and of all Men and stand for all Nations Peace and all Men's Peace upon the Earth and wish that all Nations and Men knew my Innocency in these things And whereas Major Porter saith I am an Enemy to the King this is false For my Love is to him and to all Men
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
me that Question and I told them No for all that God made was good and was blest so was not the Devil And he was called a Serpent before he was called a Devil and an Adversary and then he had the Title of Devil given to him And afterward he was called a Dragon because he was a Destroyer The Devil abode not iâ— the Truth and by departing from the Truth he became a Devil and so the Jews when they went out of the Truth were said to be of the Devil and were called Serpents Now there is no Promise of God to the Devil that ever he shall return into Truth again but to Man and Woman who have been deceived by him the Promise of God is that The Seed of the Woman shall bruise the Serpent's Head shall break his Power and Strength to pieces Now when these things were opened more at large to the satisfaction of Friends those Two who had let up the Spirit of that Ranting Woman were judged by the Truth and one of them viz. Joseph Hellen run quite out from Truth and was denied by Friends But George Bewly was recovered and came afterwards to be serviceable to Truth We passed from Loveday Hambley's to Francis Hodges Falmouth Penryn Helstone near Falmouth and Penryn where we had a large Meeting and from thence we went to Helstone that Night where some Friends came to visit us and the next day we passed to Thomas Teage's where we had another large Meeting at which many were Convinced for I was led to open the state of the Church in the Primitive Times and the state of the Church in the Wilderness and the state of the False Church that was got up since and to shew that now the Everlasting Gospel was preached again over the Head of the Whore Beast and false Prophets and Antichrists which had got up since the Apostles days and now the Everlasting Gospel was received and receiving which brought Life and Immortality to Light that they might see over the Devil that had darkned them And the People received the Gospel and the Word of Life gladly and a glorious blessed Meeting we had for the exalting the Lord's everlasting Truth and his Name After the Meeting was done I walked out and as I was coming in again I heard a Noise in the Court and coming nearer I found the Man of the House speaking to the Tinners and others of the World's People and telling them It was the Everlasting Truth that had been declared there that day and the People generally confessed to it From thence we passed to the Land's End to John Ellis's house Lands End where we had a precious Meeting and there was a Fisherman one Nicholas Jose that was Convinced and he spake in Meetings and declared the Truth amongst the People and the Lord's Power was over all I was glad that the Lord had raised up his Standard in those dark parts of the Nation where since there is a fine Meeting of honest-hearted Friends and many there are come to sit under Christ's Teaching and a great People the Lord will have in that Country From thence we returned to Redruth and the next day to Truro Redruth Truro where we had a Meeting Next Morning some of the Chief of the Town desired to speak with me and I went to them amongst whom was Col. Rouse 1663. Truro A great deal of Discourse I had with them concerning the things of God and in their Reasoning they said The Gospel was the Four Books of Matthew Mark Luke and John and they called it Natural But I told them the Gospel was the Power of God which was preached before Matthew Mark Luke and John or any of them were printed or written And it was preached to Every Creature of which a great part might never see nor hear of those Four Books so that Every Creature was to obey the Power of God for Christ the Spiritual Man would Judge the World according to the Gospel that is according to his Invisible Power When they heard this they could not gain-say for the Truth came over them So I directed them to their Teacher the Grace of God and shewed them the Sufficiency of it which would teach them how to live and what to deny and being obeyed would bring them their Salvation And so to that Grace I recommended them and left them Then returned we through the Country visiting Friends and had Meetings at Humphrey Lower's again and at Thomas Mount's And afterwards at George Hawkins at Stoke we had a large Meeting Stoke to which Friends came from Lanceston and several other places and a living precious Meeting it was in which the Lord's Presence and Power was richly manifested amongst us and I left Friends there under the Lord Jesus Christ's Teaching Example In Cornwall I was Informed that there was one Col. Robinson a very wicked Man who after the King came in was made a Justice of the Peace and became a Cruel Persecutor of our Friends of whom he sent many to Prison And hearing that they had some little Liberty through the Favour of the Jailer to come home sometimes to visit their Wives and Children he made a great Complaint thereof to the Judge at the Assize against the Jailer Whereupon the Jailer was fined an Hundred Marks and Friends were kept very strictly up for a while After he was come home from the Assize he sent to a Neighbouring Justice to desire them to go a Fanatick-hunting with him So on the Day that he intended and was prepared to go a Fanatick-hunting he sent his Man about with his Horses and walked himself on Foot from his Dwelling-House to a Tenement that he had where his Cows and Dairy were kept and where his Servants were then milking When he came there he asked for his Bull and the Maid-Servants said They had shut him into the Field because he was Vnruly amongst the Kine and hindred their Milking Then went he into the Field to his Bull and having formerly accustomed himself to play with the Bull he began to fence at him with his Staff as he used to do But the Bull snufft at him and passed a little back and then turning upon him again ran fiercely at him and struck his Horn into his Thigh and heaving him upon his Horn threw him over his Back and so tore up his Thigh to his Belly And when he came to the Ground again he gored him with his Horns and would run them into the Ground in his Rage and Violence and roared and licked up his Master's Blood The Maid-Servant hearing her Master Cry out came running into the Field and came to the Bull and took him by the Horns to pull him off from her Master The Bull without hurting her put her gently by with his Horns but still fell to goring of him 1663. Cornwal and licking up his Blood Then she ran and got some Work-men that were at Work not
from that which the Magistrate's Sword is against which eases the Magistrates who are for the Punishment of the Evil-Doers So People being turned to the Spirit of God which brings them to mortifie the Deeds of the Flesh this brings them from under the occasion of the Magistrate's Sword and this must needs be one with Magistracy and one with the Law which was added because oâ— Transgression and is for the Praise of them that do well So in this we establish the Law and are an Ease to the Magistrates and are not against but stand for all Good Government Then Geo Middleton cried Bring the Book and put the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy to him Now he himself being a Papist I asked him Whether he had taken the Oath of Supremacy who was a Swearer But as for us we could not Swear at all because Christ and the Apostle had forbidden it Some of them would not have had the Oath put to me but have let me have my Liberty but the rest would not agree to that For this was their last Snare and they had no other way to get me into Prison for all other things had been cleared to them But this was like the Papists Sacrament of the Altar by which they ensnared the Martyrs So they tendered me the Oath and I could not take it Whereupon they were about to make my Mittimus to send me to Lancaster-Jail But considering together of it they only engaged me to Appear at the Sessions and so for that time dismist me Then I went back with Margaret Fell to Swarthmore and soon after there came Col. West to see me Swarthmore who was at that time a Justice of the Peace He told us He told some of the rest of the Justices that he would come over to see me and Margaret Fell but it may be said he to them some of you will take Offence at it I asked him What he thought they would do with me at the Sessions And he said They would tender the Oath to me again Now whilst I was at Swarthmore there came William Kirby into Swarthmore-Meeting and brought the Constables with him I was sitting with Friends in the Meeting and he said to me How now Mr. Fox you have a fine Company here Yes said I we do meet to Wait upon the Lord. So he began to take the Names of Friends and them that did not readily tell him their Names he committed to the Constables hands and sent some to Prison The Constables were unwilling to take them without a Warrant whereupon he threatned to set them by the Heels But the Constable told him He could keep them in his Presence but after he was gone he could not keep them without a Warrant The Sessions now coming on I went to Lancaster Lancaster and Appeared according to my Engagement There was upon the Bench that Justice Flemming that had bidden Five Pounds in Westmorland to any Man that would apprehend me for he was a Justice both in Westmorland and Lancashire There was also Justice Spencer and Col. West and Old Justice Rawlinson the Lawyer who gave the Charge and was very Sharp against Truth and Friends but the Lord's Power stopt them The Session was large and the Concourse of People great Lancaster Sessions and way beinâ— made for me I came up to the Bar and stood there with my Hat on they looking earnestly upon me and I upon them for a pretty space Then Proclamation being made for all to keep Silence vpon pain of Imprisonment And all being quiet I said twice Peace be among you Then spake the Chair-man and asked If I knew where I was 1663. Lancaster Sessions I said Yes I do but it may be said I my Hat offends you that 's a low thing that 's not the Honour that I give to Magistrates for the true Honour is from Above which said I I have received and I hope it is not the Hat which ye look upon to be the Honour The Chair-man said They looked for the Hat too and asked Wherein I shewed my Respect to Magistrates if I did not put off my Hat I replied In coming when they called me Then they bid one Take off my Hat After which it was some time before they spake to me and I felt the Power of the Lord to arise After some pause old Justice Rawlinson the Chair-man asked me If I did know of the Plot I told him I had heard of it in Yorkshire by a Friend that had it from the High-Sheriff Then they asked me Whether I had declared it to the Magistrates I said I had sent Papers abroad against Plots and Plotters and also to you as soon as I came into the Country to take all Jealousies out of your Minds concerning me and my Friends For it was and is our Principle to declare against such things They asked me then If I knew not of an Act against Meetings I said I knew there was an Act that took hold of such as met to the terrifying of the King's Subjects and were Enemies to the King and held dangerous Principles but I hoped they did not look upon us to be such Men for our Meetings were not to terrifie the King's Subjects neither are we Enemies to him or any Man Then they tendered me the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy I told them I could not take any Oath at all because Christ and his Apostle had forbid it And they had had sufficient Experience of Swearers I told them first one way then another but I had never taken any Oath in my Life Then Rawlinson the Lawyer asked me Whether I held it was unlawful to Swear This Question he put on purpose to ensnare me for by an Act that was made such were liable to Banishment or a great Fine that should say it was Vnlawful to Swear But I seeing the Snare avoided it and told him That in the time of the Law amongst the Jews before Christ came the Law commanded them to Swear but Christ who doth fulfil the Law in his Gospel-time commands not to swear at all and the Apostle James forbids Swearing even to them that were Jews and that had the Law of God So after much other Discourse had passed they called for the Jailer G. F. committed to Prison and committed me to Prison I had about me that Paper which I had written as a Testimony against Plots which I desired they would read or suffer to be read in open Court but they would not So I being Committed for refusing to Swear I bid them and all the People take notice that I suffered for the Doctrine of Christ and for my Obedience to his Command Afterwards I understood the Justices did say that they had private Instructions from Col. Kirby to prosecute me notwithstanding his fair Carriage and seeming Kindness to me before when he declared before many of them That he had nothing against me There were several Friends besides Committed
would have done with his Knife and she said He would have stabbed her Stab thee said I what would he have Stabbed thee for thy Religion Yes said she It is the Principle of the Papists if any turn from their Religion to kill them if they can This Story I told those Papists and told them I had it from one that had been one of them but had forsook their Principles and had discovered their Practices They did not deny this to be their Principle but said What! would I declare this abroad I told them Yes such things ought to be declared abroad that it might be known how contrary their Religion was to true Christianity Whereupon they went away in a great Rage Another Papist came to discourse with me and he said All the Patriarchs were in Hell from the Creation till Christ came and that when Christ suffered he went into Hell and the Devil said to him What comest thou hither for to break open our Strong Holds And Christ said To fetch them all out And so he said Christ was three days and three Nights in Hell to bring them out I told him that was false for Christ said to the Thief This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise And Enoch and Elijah were translated into Heaven And Abraham was in Heaven for the Scripture saith Lazarus was in his Bosom and Moses and Elias were with Christ upon the Mount before he suffered These Instances stopt the Papist's Mouth and put him to a stand Another time there came one called Doctor Witty who was esteemed a great Doctor of Physick He came with him that was called the Lord Falconbridge with whom came also the Governour of Tinmouth-Castle and several Knights And I being called to them this Witty undertook to discourse with me and asked me What I was in Prison for I told him Because I would not disobey the Command of Christ and Swear He said I ought to swear my Allegiance to the King Now he being a great Presbyterian I asked him Whether he had not Sworn against the King and House of Lords and taken the Scotch-Covenant And had he not since Sworn to the King And what then was his Swearing good for But my Allegiance I told him did not consist in Swearing but in Truth and Faithfulness So after some further Discourse I was had away to my Prison again And afterwards this Dr. Witty boasted in the Town amongst his Patients That he had Conquered me When I heard of his Boasting I told the Governour It was a small Boast in him to say He had conquered a Bondman And I desired to bid him come to me again when he came to the Castle He came again a while after with a matter of Sixteen or Seventeen great Persons and then he ran himself worse on ground than before For in Discourse he affirmed before them all That Christ had not enlightned every Man that cometh into the World and That the Grace of God that brought Salvation had not apppeared unto all Men and That Christ had not died for all Men. I asked him ' What sort of Men those were which Christ had not enlightned and whom his Grace had not appeared to and whom he had not died for He said Christ did not die for Adulterers and Idolaters and Wicked Men. Then I asked him Whether Adulterers and Wicked Men were not Sinners And he said Yes ' And did not Christ die for Sinners said I Did he not come to call Sinners to Repentance Yes said he Then said I Thou hast stopt thy own Mouth So I proved That the Grace of God had appeared unto all Men though some turned it into Wantonness and walked despightfully against it and that Christ had enlightned all Men though some hated the Light Several of the People that were present confess'd it was true but he went away in a great Rage and came no more at me Another time the Governour brought a Priest but his Mouth was soon stopt Not long after he brought two or three Parliament-Men and they asked me Whether I did own Ministers and Bishops I told them Yes such as Christ sent forth such as had freely received and would freely give and such as were qualified and were in the same Power and Spirit that they were in in the Apostles days But such Bishops and Teachers as theirs were that would go no further than they had a great Benefice I did not own for they were not like the Apostles For Christ saith to his Ministers Go ye into all Nations and preach the Gospel But ye Parliament-men that keep your Priests and Bishops in such great fat Benefices ye have spoiled them all for do ye think they will go into all Nations to preach or will go any further than they have a great fat Benefice Judge your selves whether they will or no. There came another time the Widow of him who was called the Old Lord Fairfax and with her a great Company and one of the Company was a Priest I was moved to declare the Truth to them and the Priest asked me Why we said Thou and Thee to People for he counted us but 〈◊〉 and â—â—iots for speaking so I asked him Whether they that Transâ—â—â—◠〈◊〉 Scriptures and that made the Grammar and Accidence were Fools and Idiots seeing they translated the Scriptures so and made the Grammar so Thou to one and You to more than one and left it so to us And if they were Fools and Idiots then why had not He and such as he that looked upon themselves as Wise Men and that could not bear Thou and Thee to a Singular alter'd the Grammar Accidence and Bible and put the Plural instead of the Singular But if they were Wise Men that had so translated the Bible and had made the Grammar and Accidence so then I wisht him to consider Whether they were not Fools and Idiots themselves that did not speak as their Grammars and Bibles taught them but were offended with us and called us Fools and Idiots for speaking so Thus the Priest's Mouth was stopt and many of the Company did acknowledge the Truth and were pretty loving and tender and some of them would have given me Money but I would not receive it After this came one called Doctor Cradock with three Priests more and the Governour and his Lady so called and another that was called a Lady and a great Company with them Dr. Cradock asked me What I was in Prison for I told him For obeying the Command of Christ and the Apostle in not Swearing But if he being both a Doctor and a Justice of Peace could Convince me that after Christ and the Apostle had forbidden Swearing they commanded Christians to Swear then I would Swear Here was the Bible I told him He might if he would shew me any such Command He said It is written Ye shall Swear in Truth and Righteousness Ay said I it was written so in Jeremiah's time but that was many Ages
passing on through the Country I had a great Meeting near Malton and another large Meeting near Hull from which I went to a place called Holdendike Near Hull Holdendike As we went into the Town the Watch-men questioned me and those that were with me but they not having any Warrant to stay us we went on by them and they in a Rage threatned they would search us out I went to the House of one that was called the Lady Mountague and there I lodged that Night and several Friends came thither to Visit me Next Morning being up betimes I walked out into the Orchard and saw a Man about Sun-rising go into the House in a great Cloak 1666. L. Mountague He stay'd not long but came soon out again and went away not seeing me I felt something strike at my Life and went into the House where I found the Maid-Servant affrighted and trembling and she told me That Man had a Naked Rapier under his Cloak By which I perceived he came with an Intent to have done Mischief but the Lord prevented him From this place passing through the Country I visited Friends till I came to York York where we had a large Meeting After the Meeting I went to visit Justice Robinson an ancient Justice of the Peace who had been very loving to me and Friends from the beginning There was at this time a Priest with him and he told me It was said of us that we loved none but our selves I told him We loved all Mankind as they were God's Creation and as they were Children of Adam and Eve by Generation and we loved the Brotherhood in the Holy Ghost This stopt him so that after some other Discourse we parted friendly and we passed away About this time I had written a Book Intituled Fear God and Honour the King In which I shewed That none could rightly Fear God and Honour the King but they that departed from Sin and Evil This Book did much affect the Souldiers and most People Now having visited Friends at York we passed thence to a Market-Town G Watkinson where we had a Meeting at one George Watkinson's who formerly had been a Justice A glorious blessed Meeting it was and very large and the Seed of Life was set over all But we had been troubled to have got into this Town had not Providence made way for us for the Watch-men stood ready to stop us but there being a Man riding just before us the Watch-men questioned him first and perceiving that he was a Justice of Peace they let him pass and we riding close after him by that means we escaped T. Tailor From this place we passed to Thomas Taylor 's who had formerly been a Captain where we had a precious Meeting Hard by Thomas Taylor 's there lived one called a Knight who was much displeased when he heard I was like to be Released out of Prison and threatned That if the King set me at Liberty he would send me to Prison again the next day But though I had this Meeting so near him yet the Lord's Power stopt him from meddling and our Meeting was quiet Col. Kirby also who had been the Chief Means of my Imprisonment at Lancaster and Scarborough-Castles when he heard I was set at Liberty got another Order for the Taking me up and said He would ride his Horse Forty Miles to take me and would give Forty Pounds to have me taken Yet a while after I came so near him as to have a Meeting within Two Miles of him and then was he struck with the Gout and kept his Bed so that it was thought he would have died From Thomas Taylor 's I passed through the Country visiting Friends Sinderhill-Green till I came to Synderhill-Green where I had a large and General Meeting The Priest of the place hearing of it he sent the Constable to the Justices for a Warrant and they rid their Horses so hard that they almost spoiled them But the notice they had being short and the way long the Meeting was ended before they came I heard not of them till I was going out of the House after Meeting was over and then a Friend came to me and told me 1666. Sinderhill-Green They were searching another House for we which was the House I was then going to As I went along the Closes towards it I met the Constables and Wardens and the Justice's Clerk with them so I passed through them and they looked at me and I went to the House that they had been searching I hus the Devil and the Priest lost their Design for the Lord's Power bound them and preserved me over them and Friends parted and all escaped them And the Officers went away as they came for the Lord God had frustrated their Design praised be his Name for ever After this I went into Darbyshire where I had a large Meeting Darbyshire And some Friends were apprehensive of the Constables coming in for they had had a great Persecution in those parts but our Meeting was quiet There was a Justice of Peace in that Country had taken away much of Friend's Goods whereupon one Ellen Fretwell had made her Appeal to the Sessions and the rest of the Justices granted her her Goods again and spake to that persecuting Justice That he should not do so any more And she was moved to speak to that Justice and to Warn him whereupon he bid her Come and sit down on the Bench. Ay said she If I may perswade you to do Justice to the Country I will sit down with you No said he then you shall not and bid her Get her out of the Court But as she was gong out she was moved of the Lord to turn again and say She should be there when he should not After the Sessions were ended he got amongst some of his Persecuting Companions and said They would get some more of the Quakers Goods if the Devil did not raise up that Woman to hinder them So he went home and drove away her Brother's Oxen for going to Meetings and then another Woman a Friend of Chesterfield whose Name was Susan Frith was moved of the Lord to tell him That if he continued on in his persecuting of the Innocent the Lord would execute his Plagues upon him Soon after which this Justice whose Name was Clark fell distracted and was bound with Ropes ☜ but he gnawed the Ropes in pieces and had like to have spoiled his Maid for he fell upon her and bit her so that they were fain to put an Iron Instrument into his Mouth to wrest his Teeth out of her Flesh And afterwards he died distracted This Relation I had from Ellen Fretwel her self I travelled out of Darbyshire into Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire Skegby Mans field and had a large Meeting at Skegby and from thence went to Mansfield where also I had a Meeting and thence went to another Town where there was a
him Upon this occasion I writ a Letter to the Justices and to the Judge of the Assize which was then at hand And I imployed some Friends to carry it to the Justices first The Justice to whom the Clerk belonged rebuked his Clerk and the others also for disturbing and abusing us upon the High-Way So that those Men were glad to come and make Intreaty to Friends not to appear against them at the Assize which upon their Submission and Acknowledgment of their Fault Friends granted And this thing was of good Service in the Country for it stopt many rude People that before had been forward to abuse Friends 1667. Herefordshire We passed into Herefordshire where we had several blessed Meetings and we had a General Mens-Meeting also where all the Monthly Meetings were settled There was about this time a Proclamation against Meetings and as we came through Herefordshire we were told of a great Meeting there was of the Presbyterians who had engaged themselves to stand and give up all rather than forsake their Meetings But when they heard of this Proclamation the People came but the Priest was gone and then they were at a loss Then they met in Lemster privately and provided Bread and Cheese and Drink in readiness that if the Officers should come they would put up their Bibles and fall to Eating The Bayliff found them out and came in among them and said Their Bread and Cheese should not cover them but he would have their Speakers They cried What then would become of their Wives and Children But he took their Speakers and kept them a while This the Bayliff told our Friend Peter Young and said They were the veriest Hypocrites that ever made a Profession of Religion The like Contrivance they had in other places For there was one Pocock at London that married Abigail Darcy who was called a Lady and she being Convinc'd of Truth I went to his House to see her This Pocock had been one of the Triers of the Priests and being an high Presbyterian and envious against us he used to call our Friends House-Creepers Now I going to visit his Wife and he being present she said to me I have something to speak to thee against my Husband ' Nay said I thou must not speak against thy Husband Yes said she but I must in this Case The last First-Day said she He and his Priests and People the Presbyterians met and they had Candles and Tobacco-Pipes and Bread and Cheese and Cold Meat on the Table and they agreed before-hand that if the Officers should come in upon them then they would leave their Preaching and Praying and would fall to their Cold Meat Oh said I to him is not this a Shame to you who Persecuted and Imprisoned us and spoiled our Goods because we would not follow you and be of your Religion and called us House-Creepers and now ye do not stand to your own Religion your selves Did ye ever find our Meetings stufft with Bread and Cheese and Tobacco-pipes Or did ye ever read in the Scriptures of any such Practice among the Saints Why said the Old Man We must be as wise as Serpents Then said I This is the Serpent's Wisdom indeed But who said I would ever have thought that you Presbyterians and Independents who persecuted and imprisoned others and spoiled their Goods and whipped such as would not follow your Religion should now flinch your selves and not dare to stand to and own your own Religion but cover it with Tobacco-pipes Flagons of Drink Cold Meat and Bread and Cheese But this and such like deceitful Practices I understood afterwards were too Common amongst them in times of Persecution Now after we had travelled through Herefordshire and Meetings were well settled there Monmouthshire we passed into Monmouthshire where I had several blessed Meetings and at Walter Jenkins who had been a Justice of the Peace we had a large Meeting where were some Convinced This Meeting was quiet But at another Meeting that we had before this there came the Bayliff of the Hundred 1667. Monmouthshire almost drunk pretending he was to take up the Speakers There was a mighty Power of God in the Meeting so that although he raged the Power of the Lord limited him that he could not break up the Meeting When the Meeting was over I staid a while and he staid also but after some time I spake to him and so passed quietly away At Night some rude People came and shot off a Musket against the House but did not hurt any body Thus the Lord's Power came over all and chained down the unruly Spirits so that we escaped them and came to Ross that Night and had a Meeting there at James Merricks Ross After this we came into Gloucestershire Glouâ—estershire and had a General Mens-Meeting at Nathaniel Crips's House where all the Monthly Meetings were settled in the Lord 's Everlasting Power and the Heirs of Salvation were exhorted to take their Possessions of the Gospel the Power of God which was and is the Authority of their Meetings Many blessed Meetings we had up and down in that Country before we came to Bristol whither also we went Briâ—tol And after we had had several powerful Meetings there the Mens and Womens-Meetings were settl'd there also Now as I was lying in Bed at Bristol the Word of the Lord came to me that I must go back to London Next Morning Alexander Parker and several others came to me and I asked them What they felt They in like manner asked me What was upon me I told them I felt I must return to London and they said the same was upon them So we gave up to return to London for which Way the Lord moved and led us thither we went in his Power Wherefore leaving Bristol we passed into Wiltshire Wiltshire and established the Mens-Monthly-Meetings in the Lord's Power there and then passed through the Countries visiting Friends till we came to London London After we had visited Friends in the City and had staid there a while I was moved to exhort them to bring all their Marriages to the Mens and Womens-Meetings that they might lay them before the Faithful there that so Care might be taken to prevent those Disorders that had been committed by some For many had gone together in Marriage contrary to their Relations minds and some young raw People that came among us had mixed with the World and Widows had married and had not made provision for their Children by their former Husbands before their Second Marriage And although I had given forth a Paper concerning Marriages about the Year 1653 when Truth was but little spread over the Nation Advising Friends who might be concerned in that Case That they might lay it before the Faithful in time before any thing were Concluded and afterward publish it in the end of a Meeting or in a Market as they were moved thereto
blamed us for leaving them and each of them said Theirs was the right-Reformed-Church But I said if we could own any outward City or Place to be the Mother Church we should own outward Jerusalem where the Gospel was first preached by Christ himself and the Apostles where Christ suffered where the great Conversion to Christianity by Peter was where were the Types Figures and Shadows which Christ ended and where Christ commanded his Disciples To wait until they were endued with Power from high So if any outward place deserved to be called the Mother that was the place where the first great Conversion to Christianity was But the Apostle saith Gal. 4.25 26. Jerusalem which now is in Bondage with her Children But Jerusalem which is above is free which is the Mother of us all For it is written Rejoyce thou barren that bearest not break forth and cry thou that travailest not for the Desolate hath many more Children than she that hath an Husband ver 27. Now this we do see that Jerusalem below which was the highest Place of Worship and all that be like her in Profession without Possession have more Children than the Free Woman that hath an Husband which is Jerusalem that is above the Mother of us all that be true Christians So the Apostle doth not say Outward Jerusalem was the Mother though the first and great Conversion to Christianity was there And therefore there is less Reason for the Title Mother to be given to Rome or to any other outward Place or City by the Children of Jerusalem that is above and free and they are not Jerusalem's Children that is above and free who give â—he Title of Mother either to outward Jerusalem or to Roâ—â— or to any other Place or Sect of People And though this Title Mother hath been given to Places and Sects amongst and by the degenerate Christians yet we say still as the Apostle said of Old Jerusalem that is above is the Mother of us all and we can own no other neither outward Jerusalem nor Rome nor any Sect of People for our Mother but Jerusalem which is above which is free the Mother of us all that are born again and become true Believers in the Light and who are grafted into Christ the Heavenly Vine For all who are born again of the Immortal Seed by the Word of God which lives and abides for ever feed upon the Milk of the Word the Breasts of Life and grow by it in Life and cannot acknowledge any other to be their Mother but Jerusalem which is above Oh! said Esq Marsh to the Papist You do not know this man If he would but come to Church now and then he would be a Brave Man After some other Discourse together I went aside with this Justice Marsh into another Room to speak with him concerning Friends for he was a Justice of Peace for Middlesex and being a Courtier the other Justices put much of the Management of matters upon him Now when we Two were alone together he told me He was in a streight how to Act between us and some other Dissenters For said he You cannot Swear and the Independents Baptists and Fifth-Monarchy-People say also They cannot Swear and therefore said he how shall I know how to distinguish betwixt you and them seeing they and you all say It is for Conscience sake that you cannot Swear Then said I I will shew thee how to distinguish For they or most of them thou speakest of can and do Swear in some Cases but we cannot Swear in any Case If a Man should steal their Cows or Horses and thou should'st ask them whether they would Swear they were theirs Many of them would readily do it But if thou try our Friends they cannot Swear for their own Goods Therefore when thou puttest the Oath of Allegiance to any of them ask them Whether they can Swear in any other case as for their Cow or Horse Which if they be really of us they cannot do though they can bear Witness to the Truth Hereupon I gave him a Relation of a Trial in Barkshire which was thus A Thief stole Two Beasts from a Friend of ours the Thief was taken and cast into Prison and the Friend appeared against him at the Assizes But some body having Informed the Judge that the Man that Prosecuted was a Quaker and could not Swear the Judge before he heard what the Friend could say said Is he a Quaker And will he not Swear Then tender him the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy So he cast the Friend into Prison and Premunired him and let the Thief go at Liberty that had stolen his Goods When I had related this Case Justice Marsh said That Judge was a wicked Man But said I If we could Swear in any Case we would take the Oath of Allegiance to the King who is to preserve the Laws that preserve every man in his Estate Whereas others that can Swear in some cases to preserve a part of their Estates if they be robbed will not take this Oath to the King who is to preserve them in their whole Estates and Bodies also So that thou may'st easily distinguish and put a difference betwixt us and other People This Justice Marsh was afterwards very serviceable to Friends in this and other Cases for he kept several both Friends and others from being premunired in those parts where he was a Justice And when Friends have been brought before him in the times of Persecution he set many of them at Liberty And when he could not avoid sending to Prison he sent some for a few Hours or for a Night At length he went to the King and told him He had sent some of us to Prison contrary to his Conscience and he could not do so any more Wherefore he removed his Family from Lime-house where he lived and took Lodgings near James's Park He told the King That if he would be pleased to give Liberty of Conscience that would quiet and settle all for then none could have any pretence to be uneasie And indeed he was a very serviceable man to Truth and Friends in his day We had great Service at London this year and the Lord's Truth came over all and many that had been out from Truth came in again this Year Confessing and Condemning their former Outgoings Now after I had stay'd some time in London I went forth into the Countries again visiting Friends in Surry and Sussex Surry Sussex and in other places that way and afterwards travelled Northward having Leonard Fell with me We visited Friends till we came to Warwick Warwick where many Friends were in Prison and we had a Meeting in the Town After that I passed from thence to Birmingham and to Badgely Birmingham Badgely At Badgely I had a large Meeting After which I passed through the Country visiting Friends till I came to Nottingham Nottingham where on the first day we had a precious
Meeting but not without danger of being Apprehended 1669. Balby York the Constables having threatned to take up Friends about that time I passed on from thence visiting Friends through the Country till I came to Balby and so to York to the Quarterly-Meeting there and a blessed Meeting we had Friends had in Yorkshire Seven Monthly Meetings before and they were so sensible of the Service of them that they desired to have Seven more added to them For Truth was much spread in that Country Accordingly in that Quarterly Meeting they were settled and established So that whereas before they had but Seven now they have Fourteen Monthly Meetings in that County It being the Assize-time at York there I met with Justice Hotham a Well-wisher to Friends and one that had been Tender and very Kind to me at the first After I had finished my Service for the Lord in York I passed further up into the Country And as I went a great Burden fell upon me but I did not presently know the Reason of it So I came to a Meeting on the First-Day at one Shipton's R. Shipton which was very large But there being a Meeting the same day at another place also the Priest of that place being mis-informed that I was to be there got a Warrant and made great Disturbance at that Meeting of which Isaac Lindley who was there gave me an Account by the following Letter thus G. F. WHen thou went'st from York the First-Day after thou wast at Richard Shipton's That Day I had appointed a Meeting Ten Miles from York where there had not been a Meeting before But the Priest and the Constable got a Warrant on the Seventh Day and put thy Name only in the Warrant for they had heard that thou wast to be there and they came with Weapons and Staves and cried Where is Mr. Fox over and over many Friends being there they concluded thou wast among them But those Raveners being disappointed plucked me down and abused me and beat some Friends and then had me before a Magistrate but he set me at Liberty Isaac Lindley After the aforesaid Meeting was done I passed through the Countries Whitby Scarborough visiting Friends at Whitby and Scarborough When I was at Scarborough the Governour hearing I was come to the Town sent to invite me to his House saying Surely I would not be so unkind as not to come and see him and his Wife Wherefore after the Meeting was over I went up to Visit him and he received me very Courteously and Lovingly The Wouls Now after I had visited most of the Meetings in Yorkshire and up to the Wouls and Holderness Holderness H. Jackson T. Tayler Eldreth I passed through the Country till I came to Henry Jacksons where I had a great Meeting And from thence to Thomas Tayler's and so to John Moor's at Eldreth where we had a very large Meeting 1669. Eldreth And the Lord's Power and Presence was eminently amongst us Not far off from this place lay Col. Kirby lame of the Gout who had threatned that If ever I came near he would send me to Prison again and had bidden 40 l. to any man that could take me as I was credibly informed After this Meeting I passed through the Countries till I came into Staffordshire and so into Cheshire Staffordshire Cheshire Warrington where we had many large and precious Meetings I had a very large Meeting at William Barns his House about two Miles from Warrington and although Col. Kirby was now got abroad again as violent in breaking up Meetings as before and was then at Warrington yet the Lord did not suffer him to come to this Meeting and so we were preserved out of his hands Now was I moved of the Lord to pass over into IRELAND IRELAND to visit the Seed of God in that Nation and there went with me Robert Lodge James Lancaster Thomas Briggs and John Stubbs We went near to Liverpool and waited there for Shipping and Wind Liverpool and after we had waited some days we sent James Lancaster to take Passage which he did and brought Word the Ship was ready and would take us in at Black-Rock Whereupon we went thither on foot and it being pretty far and the Weather very hot I was very much spent with Walking Yet when we came there the Ship was not there so we were fain to go to the Town and take Shipping there When we were come on Board I said to the rest of my Company Come ye will Triumph in the Lord for we shall have fair Wind and Weather There were many Passengers in the Ship and many of them were Sick but not one of our Company was Sick The Master and many of the Passengers were very loving and we being at Sea on the First-Day of the Week I was moved to declare Truth among them Whereupon the Master said to the Passengers Come here are things that you never heard in your Lives When we came before Dublin we took Boat Dublin and went ashore and the Earth and Air smelt methought with the Corruption of the Nation so that it yielded another Smell to me than England did which I imputed to the Corruption and Popish Massacrees that had been Committed and the Blood that had been spilt in it from which a Foulness ascended We passed through among the Officers of the Custom four times yet they did not search us for they perceived what we were and some of them were so Envious they did not care to look at us We did not presently find Friends but went to an Inn and sent out to inquire for some Friends who when they came to us were exceeding glad of our Coming and received us with Great Joy We stay'd there the Weekly Meeting which was a great one and the Power and Life of God appeared greatly in it Afterwards we passed to a Province-Meeting which lasted Two Days there being both a Mens-Meeting about the Poor and another Meeting more General in which a mighty Power of the Lord appeared and Truth was livingly declared and Friends were much refreshed therein Passing from thence about four and twenty miles we came to another place where we had a very good refreshing Meeting But after the Meeting was over some Papists that were there were Angry and raged very much When I heard of it I sent for one of them who was a Schoolmaster 1669. Ireland but he would not come at me Whereupon I sent a Challenge to him with all the Friers and Monks Priests and Jesuits to come forth and Try their God and their Christ which they had made of Bread and Wine but no Answer could I get from them Wherefore I told them They were Worse than the Priests of Baal for Baal's Priests tried their Woodden God but these durst not try their God of Bread and Wine and Baal's Priests and People did not Eat their God as these did and then make
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
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
into the Court of the King's-Bench and sate there among the Lawyers almost an Hour till the Judges came in When the Judges came in the Sheriff took off my Hat and after a while I was called and the Lord's Presence was with me and his Power I felt was over all I stood and heard the King's Attorney whose Name was Jâ—nes who indeed spake notably on my behalf as did also another Counsellor after him and the Judges who were Three were all very moderate not casting any reflecting Words at me So I stood still in the Power and Spirit of the Lord seeing how the Lord was at Work and the Earth was helping the Woman 1673. London King's-Bench-Bar But when they had done I applied my self to the Chief Justice desiring That I might speak and he said I might Then I related the Cause of our Journey the Manner of our being Taken and Committed and the Time of our Imprisonment until the Sessions with a brief Account of our Trial at the Sessions and what I had offered to the Justices then as a Declaration that I could make or sign instead of the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy When I had done the Chief Justice said I was to be turned over to the King's-Bench and the Sheriff of Worcester to be discharged of me He said also That they would consider farther of it and if they found any Errour in the Record or in the Justices Proceedings I should be set at Liberty So a Tipstaff was called to take me into Custody and he delivered me to the Keeper of the King's Bench who let me go to a Friend's House where I lodged and appoâ—nted to meet me at Edward Man's in Bishopsgate-Street next Day But after this Justice Parker or some other of my Adversaries moved the Court That I might be sent back to Worcester Whereupon another Day was appointed for another Hearing and they had Four Counsels that pleaded against me and there was one George Stroud a Counsellor that pleaded for me and was pleading before I was brought into the Court but they bore him down King's-Bench-Bar and prevailed with the Judges to give Judgment That I should be sent down to Worcester-Sessions Only they told me I might put in Bail to Appear at the Sessions and to be of the good Behaviour in the mean time But I told them I was never in Ill Behaviour in my Life and that they the Four Judges might as well put the Oath to me there as send me to Worcester to be ensnared by the Justices in their putting the Oath to me and then premuniring me who never took Oath in my Life But I told them if I brake my Yea or Nay I was content to suffer the same Penalty which they should that break their Oaths This Alteration of the Judges Minds in my Case proceeded as was thought from some false Informations that my Adversary Justice Parker had given against me For between the times of my former Appearance and this he had spread abroad a very false and malicious Story viz. That there were many substantial men with me out of several parts of the Nation when he took me and that we had a Design or Plot in hand and that Thomas Lower stayed with me in Prison long after he was set at Liberty to carry on our Design This was spoken in the Parliament-House insomuch that if I had not been brought up to London when I was I had been stopped at Worcester and Thomas had been Recommitted with me But although these Lies were easily disproved and laid open to Parker's Shame yet would not the Judges alter their last Sentence but remanded me to Worcester-Jail only this Favour was granted that I might go down my own Way and at my own Leisure provided I would be without fail there by the Assize which was to begin on the Second Day of the Second Month next following So I stayed in and about London till toward the latter End of the First Month 1674 and then went down leisurely for I was not able to abide hasty and hard Travel Worcester and came into Worcester on the last Day of the First Month 1674 being the Day before the Judges came to Town 1674. Worcester Jail On the Second Day of the Second Month I was brought from the Jail to an Inn near the Hall that I might be in Readiness if I should be called But not being called that Day the Jailer came to me at Night and told me I might go home meaning to the Jail Whereupon Gerrard Roberts of London being with me he and I walked down together to the Jail without any Keeper Next Day being brought up again they set a little Boy of about eleven Years old to be my Keeper I came to understand that Justice Parker and the Clark of the Peace had gived Order that I should not be put into the Calendar that so I might not be brought before the Judge Wherefore I got the Judge's Son to move in Court That I might be called And thereupon I was called Worcester Assizes and brought up to the Bar before Judge Turner my old Adversary who had tendered me the Oaths and Premunired me once before at Lancaster After Silence made he asked me What I did desire I answered My Liberty according to Justice He said I lay upon the Oath and asked If I would take it I desired he would hear the Manner of my being Taken and Committed and he being silent I gave him an Account thereof at large as is before set down letting him also know ' That since my Imprisonment I had understood that my Mother who was an Ancient Tender Woman and had desired to see me before she died hearing that I was stopped and imprisoned in my Journey so that I was not likely to come to see her it struck her so that she died soon after which was a very hard thing to me When I had done speaking he again asked me To take the Oaths I told him I could not take any Oath for Conscience-sake and I did believe he and they all knew in their Consciences that it was for Conscience-sake I could not Swear at all But I did declare amongst them what I could say and what I could sign in owning of the King 's Right to the Government and in denying the Pope and his pretended Power and all Plotters Plots and Conspiracies against the Government Some thought the Judge had a mind to have set me at Liberty for he saw they had nothing Justly against me but Parker who Committed me endeavoured to incense him against me telling him That I was a Ring-leader that many of the Nation followed me and he knew not what it might come to with many more envious Words which some that stood near took notice of who also observed that the Judge gave him never a Word in Answer to it However the Judge willing to ease himself referred me and my Case to the Sessions
fine Opportunity to open the Way of Truth amongst them After I was come to London London I was moved to write the following Paper concerning that Spirit which had led some who profest Truth into Strife and Division and to oppose the Way and Work of the Lord. Friends YOU that do keep your habitations in the Truth that is over all do see that it is the same Spirit that doth lead the Backsliders and Apostates now from the Spiritual Fellowship and Unity of God's People and the Church of Christ that led out Adam and Eve from God and the Jews from God and his Law to Rebel against his Spirit and so to turn against God and his Prophets And this Spirit was the same that was in the World which was got into the Jews when they were gone from the Spirit of God and then they turned against God and his Prophets and against Christ and his Apostles And that Spirit led them to be as bad as Pilate or worse The Enmity or Adversary was got within them against the Truth and them that walked in it and the Spirit of the Lord so that they killed and destroyed the Just. And this was the Spirit of the Devil the Destroyer who would seek not only to destroy the Truth but the Order of it and them that walk in it when true Christianity was planted among the Possessors of the Light 1681. London Grace and Truth and the Gospel-holy Faith and Spirit and they did enjoy Christ in their hearts But when some did begin to Err from the Spirit and Faith and hate the Light and disobey the Gospel and to turn the Grace of God into Wantonness and walk despitefully against the Spirit of Grace and turn from the Truth and Crucifie to themselves Christ afresh and put him to open shame These were they that let in the Spirit of the World who held the Form of Godliness but denied the Power thereof which troubled the Churches in the Apostles days And when the Spirit of Satan had got into such they were more troublesome to the Church than the open Persecutors that were without And these got into the Assemblies to deceive the hearts of the Simple having the good Words and fair Speeches and Sheep's-Cloathing Paul Peter John Jude and James had much to do with such and to keep them from troubling the Church of Christ For they are out of the Light Power and Spirit and therefore the Apostles of Christ did exhort the Saints to keep to the Word of Life within and to the Anointing and to the Grace and Truth and holy Spirit in their hearts This foul Spirit will profess all the Scriptures in words but by the Spirit of God which is holy that Spirit is tried and its fruits And so the Apostates went from the Power and Spirit of God and turned against the Prophets and the Martyrs of Jesus and became the Whore whose Cup all Nations drunk of And the Dragon with his Tail threw down many of the Stars and would have devoured the Woman with his Flood but the Woman the true Church was preserved and the Gates of Hell cannot prevail against her And then the Dragon made war with her Seed So the Dragon and the Whore and Beast and false Prophets all made war against the Lamb and the Saints but the Lamb and the Saints will overcome them all and will have the Victory And now the Everlasting Gospel is preached again to all Nations Tongues and Peoples and many are gathered into the Gospel the Power of God and are turned to the Light which is the Life in Christ and are grafted into him and are come to walk in the Order of the New Covenant of Light and Life in the Gospel of Peace and Salvation The same Spirit that opposed the Apostles and the Churches in their days opposes now yea it is the same that opposed Christ and disdained him that disdaineth God's Servants now And the same that did oppose the Prophets and rebelled against Moses opposes and rebels against God's Servants and People now And it is the same dark blind and disobedient faithless wilful jealous Spirit that doth persecute some with the Hands and others with the Tongue And it is the same Spirit of Enmity the Adversary and Destroyer that tempted Adam and Eve to disobey God and did deceive them which deceived the Jews and tempted them and deceived all those that went from the Church in the Apostles days And it is the same Spirit that is now going about sometimes like a roaring Lion sometimes like a twisting Serpent to tempt and to deceive 1682. London and to devour having the fair Speeches and good Words and Sheeps-Cloathing in a Form of Godliness and in pretence of the Light and Liberty but denies the Power thereof and inwardly are ravening Wolves and if it were possible they would deceive the very Elect. But the Elect are in the Covenant of Light and Life and in the Power of God over them and in Christ who will grind them to pieces and will slay all his Enemies with his spiritual Sword who will not have him to rule over or in them In Christ all his People have Rest and Peace who is their Sanctuary over all Storms and Tempests And in Christ the Sanctuary no Deceiver nor Destroyer can come for he is a place of sweet Rest and Safety Hallelujah Praise the Lord for his Sanctuary Amen G. F. Sufferings continuing still hard upon Friends at London I found my Service lay mostly here Wherefore I went but a little out of Town and not far being frequent at the most publick Meetings to encourage Friends both by Word and Example to stand fast in the Testimony to which God had called them And at other times I went about from house to house visiting those Friends that had their Goods taken away for their Testimony to Truth And because the wicked Informers were grown very audacious by reason that they had too much Countenance and Encouragement from some Justices who trusting wholly to their Information proceeded against Friends without hearing them whereby many Friends were made to suffer not only contrary to Right but even contrary to Law also I advised with some Friends about it and we drew up a Paper which was afterwards delivered to most of the Magistrates in and about the City which was as followeth WHereas some Informers have obtained Warrants of some Justices of Peace and have Convicted many of us without hearing us or once Summoning us to Appear before them by which proceedings many have had their Goods seized and taken away being generally fined Ten Pounds a piece for an unknown Speaker and some of those Persons so fined have not been that day at the Meetings they were fined for and the Speaker notwithstanding hath himself been fined for the same Meeting the same day the others were fined for the unknown Speaker By which the Justices may see the Wickedness of these Informers by whose false