those which were not the Priests of England may yet go to Carthage or the Pope the Priests Original to know the truth but I believe that neither councel of Carthage Pope of Rome or assembly of Priests in England with the help of their two Universities which are their two eyes picked out of the Whores head can interpret Scripture aright but for the most part are and have been doers of wrong and that knowes not the Scriptures nor that which gave them forth Therefore Countrey-men consider these men wise men believe them not for as sure as the Lord lives they are a lye Princes be not deceived by them least ye perish in the gainsaying with them Men of War once again draw out your spiritual weapons and defend your selves and rid your hands of that Popish Jewish and Anti-christian power which in this the Lords day could not stand but by your consents Some of ye had bread in your own houses and have ye spent all your former estates and quite lost your possession and will ye spend-thrifts go to buy of a Bankrupt Priest the fag-ends of Popery such as preach in Mass-houses and compass the whole earth for their gain from their quarters Oh! believe them not their best deeds are Forgery their assureances are naught their words are cancelled the Law giver hath viewed their filthy statutes the mighty-Councellor hath broke their bonds asunder their best seals is but a waffer and what they sell is stollen from their Neighbour and their gatherings are crumbling and molders like the very dust which is their meat anâ— there they are and for that they murther Friends I know you see the thief Oh! Consent not with him if ye do ye perish I say there was that among ye and in ye once that was for God utterly against the Popish brawling Hireling verily that which is for him in this the day of the Lambs persecution is absolutely against the true and living God who covered your heads in the day of battel When I am sure it was not unknown to many of ye that the Tithe-mongers were as one man your implacable enemies My dear Friends whom the Lord witnesseth I love and my soul truly travelleth for Consider what ye were ten years since and what yeare now feel in your selves and speak with the witness of God in your Consciences for that 's it which I speak to and let us be upon a search in the cool of the day laying aside rage fury and preferment and see who they are and what they are that ye are growing to and who grows to ye and who grows from ye The people of God ye have shamefully persecuted and thrust out of your Army recruiting yourselves in my knowledge in their rooms with very vitious and wicked men and doth the Hireling tell ye that this is a good way to prevent Heresies factions and rents in your Army Repent of these dealings least the Lord forthwith rent ye all to pieces and there be not one of ye left that hath a hand in these wickednesses to piâ—h against the Wall Therefore my Friends in time consider what ye are growing to and what ye are growing from thus much I may justly tell ye that vice is not punished or in the least looked after as it hath been heretofore Nor indeed is it like when as ye put honest men from among ye for no other cause but for bearing their Testimonies against vice for the breach of any manner of Law whatsover either military or civil was not so much as laid to mine and many others charges who were most shamefully entreated and thrust out from among ye And I may farther tell ye if ye proceed in these cruelties ye will in a very short time be as unfit to fight the Lords battels as those were who fell by your sword for from the Lord God I declare it unto ye all That for the present the sword of the living God is against ye both and although the Hireling may I say seemingly forâ—ifie ye and tell ye that persecution is a good way to preserve from rents Yet in dear love to ye all I declare that if ye do not speedily repent whilst the power is in your hands and once again become little in your own eyes and repair the cruel breaches that ye have made and suffered to be made upon the innocent Verily ye shall be rent and with the Hireling fall and perish like your own dung How can this Army look the Nation in the face and put men out from among them for their inoffensive conscience the very thing which drew all men to ye and have ye like Machevillians served your own turns and have ye nothing else to do but to revenge your selves upon your selves and make a prey upon your brethren but such doings the Lord hates and it cannot possibly long stand for oppression is one of the woâ—st foundations that ever was laid and if ye had been faithful the wicked Priest had never been suffered to have murthered any for his belly or have destroyed any man for not paying Jewish or Popish Tithes and the blood of one innocent man is able to subvert a Government and overthrow a Nation but that evil should fall upon one of ye is far from my heart although your cruel and unjust dealings to meward and many of us hath given cause enough for us to have cursed ye in the bitternesse of our spirits Yet the Lord who knows the secrets of all mens hearts bears me witnesse I do not onely freely forgive ye but have a dear and unexpressibly love to every soul among ye and as for O. P. the Lord witneseth for me with what integrity and simplicity of soul I loved him above any man upon the face of the whole earth whilest he served the Lord and stood in his councel and to this minute I have done him no ill Now therefore be wise O ye Kings and be instructed ye Judges of the earth seek ye the Lord with fear and rejoyce with trembling kiss the Son least he be angry ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little blessed are all they that put their trust in him let not the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thought although the Kings of the earth may set themselves and the Rulers take councel together against the Lord and against his annointed saying let us break their bonds assunder and cast away their cords from us but he that siteth in Heaven shall laugh and the Lord shall have them in derision then shall he speak unto them in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure And friends the truth is now declared as it was of old by the stammering tongue and it is the illiterate that have the gift of tongues and though his visage be marred and his shape uncomely to the vultrous eye yet the deaf hear him the dumb sing and the lame leap for joy and that
whilst ye seemingly live thus doth many of you consume yourselves substance and precious time And do ye think to live Dives his live and not dye his death Can ye think to sow to the flesh all manner of corruption all the dayes of your lives and not reap the same in the day of the Lord And do ye think as the tree falls it will not lye and as death leaves Judgement will not find and from Hell there is no Redemption Oh friends I can truly say my bowels ernes for ye who are called Nobles and are great in the earth above any sort of people that are without Also I know and feel that the witness of God lyeth near in very many of ye although the lofty and surly nature is not willing to bow nor sink down and become one with the witness which is meek and â—owly and calls upon ye in secret for purity in your inner parts Oh! let the consideration of Eternal Life constrain and even necessitate ye to turn in the eye of your mind to within and consider what ye shall do to be saved for verily the eye of the Lord is pure and runs to and fro thorow the whole earth and all that 's earthly and cannot behold your present iniquities Wherefore in the fear of the Lord cease to do evil and learn to do well and let the time past be sufficient least the Lord forthwith dash ye in pieces and sweep ye from the face of the earth and your memories utterly rot Therefore seek the Lord with all your hearts whilst he may be found for this is the day of your visitation but your day passeth away and the night swiftly cometh wherein no man can work yet a little while and the Light is with ye I say commune with your own hearts and be still and in the cool of the day when your lusts boilâ— not sink down willingly joyn and adhere to the measure of God in your consciences which is given to man to profit withall Oh take it for a leader for it is the true Light which doth enlighten every man that cometh into the World that all men through Him might believe the same is a swift witnesse for the Lord against all the evil of your doings and cannot nor ever did consent to sin the same is truth leads into all truth was before the man of sin the house of Ham the stock of Nimrod the cunning hunter Ishmael the scoffer Lord Esau of the Mount bloody Cain or the Dukes of Edom were and is before all invention or the ridiculous Tythes about which many of you fight kill boast and rend many a bloody oath and when ye have all done it may be prove your ancester an ancient murtherer come into England with William of Normandy killed an English man and took his possession and as your selves sprang from blood rage and cruelty so in the same many of ye continue but beware that your latter end be not worse then your beginning great quantities of earth ye have and the Lords hand is in no wayes shortened towards ye But verily very many of ye spend it wholly upon your lusts and that 's not the end for which it was given but ye are to honour God with your substance and whatsoever he hath given ye he that defiles his body defiles the Temple of the Lord and him will God destroy Therefore whether ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do learn to do all to the praise and glory of God and do not Lord it over Gods heritage in the General nor in your own particulars for Christ is in ye except ye are reprobates and this know that no man was or ever shall be heir of two Kingdoms and God and Mammon ye cannot please and if ye truly serve the one the other with all his lusts ye must deny Mark all his lusts ye must deny and a death ye must feel upon your present lives that ye may come to know the birth which is immortal seek to know the Lord if it be but as a consuming fire to burn up and consume your lusts which separates between ye and your maker for he that envies is a murtherer ‖ For love is of God and every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God If we love one another God dwelleth in us and his love is perfected in us God is love and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him Herein is our love made perfect that we may have boldness in the day of Judgment because as he is so are we in this present world there is no fear in love but perfect love casteth out fear because fear hath torment he that feareth is not made perfect in love If any man say I love God and hate his Brother he is a lvar For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen And this Commandment have we from him that he who loveth God loves his Brother also 1 John 4. 7 12 16 18 20. and he that lusts after a woman hath committed adultery and I say unto ye all above men and all things swear not And to see a great man a good man is a rare thing even an ornament in his Countrey a strength to the righteous a sinew to the feeble a nerve to the oppressed a help to the helpless and of all men if ye could but see and trust in the truth as it is in Jesus how transcendently happy might ye be even in this life beloved of God and good men and all evil men maÌ„de to fear ye And I do believe many of ye cannot but see the hireling and his covetousness deficiency and deceipt and in some measure see the truth and the vessel to be good but to sea in it ye dare not go for if the greatest of ye deny the hireling his ungodly gain a war he will prepare and the waves will beat the billows boil and the stormes arise But help us Lord and we cannot perish although the greedy man may toss us from one Goal and Dungeon to another and if there in faithfulness to the Lord we lay down or lives yet we live for ever and have life Eternal And that 's much better then the airy title of Duke Lords Knights c. which put them all together will not buy a morsel of bread in this very life and in the life to come the Beggar as the King and his Nobles and Tophet is not prepared in vain and it is well if some of yee who are called Noble-men and cals your selves Christians be not found in the day of the Lord more ignoble to the now despised Christians then Festus Agrippa or Claudius Lycias were to Paul who were called heathens but were truely Noble to Paul and such Nobility I own who puts no man to death nor hurts no man tell the accuser and the accused comes face to face
the earth and your being at much ease in the flesh having more then heart can wish many of ye not having the least sympathy with Jacobs troubles being as ye think safely wrapt up in fig-leaves having on a phylactary of the best make yet the dreadful God of hosts will fall in among ye at unawares on every hand if ye speedily repent not and lay to heart the sufferings of the innocent and forthwith relieve the oppressed your latter end will be worse then your beginning where is that spirit of tendernesse that was once among ye that dearly loved mercy and justice have ye turned the love of God backwards Oh! ye have given him just cause utterly to forsake ye have ye sold your selves to do wickedly and instead of growing from strength to strength and from grace to grace ye have turned the grace of God into wantonnesse and oppression swearing and for swearing vowing and not performing all which the Lord our God hates and let not the most lofty Ceader of ye all be deceived the Lords arm is not shortned and asuredly he will visit for these things What hath victories treasures and spoyls so puffed ye up that ye quite forget your selves your poor brethren and because ye have overcome the oppressors do ye therefore oppresse but the same Lord lives as ever and that 's our assurance that he will make all his enemies his foot-stool appease that in your selves which would be angry and honestly consider if ye do not uphold the enemies of God and Gods people at this day yea I know there was a spirit amongst ye once that would have grieved in your very hearts and have thought it your very shame that the people of God should have lain rotting in Goals even to death for not swearing or putting off a hat and for not putting into the hirelings mouth which ye all may and I do believe for the most part do know that he is even your own implacable enemy do not all go along with them like fools to the stocks till a dart strikes sheer through your livers I say there was a time when the hireling and his Jewish and Popish trumpery was all sentenced and the brand of the conquerer and other Tyranies vowed to be taken off but ye are for-sworn and the Lord will not hold them guiltlesse that have so often called God to witnesse and not performed as some of ye have done although you may say in your hearts he defers his coming because judgement is not speedily executed therefore the wicked are set in their heart to do evil and my friends I am sure the blood of the innocent shall never cease to cry till such time that the seed of God be delivered and fully discharged from their deadly prisons and nasty holes where many of the most pretious Saints of the Lord are thronged where some already have sealed their Testimony with their blood and several others are languishing even at the brink of death and all this and much more is suffered to gratifie the hireling that irreclameable relique of popery May not all that are wise in heart plainly see that the Priests of this Land war with flesh and blood and for principalities and powers and their weapons are indeed carnal and not spiritual who no longer then their mouths are cramed and filled they prepare war and murders men for their bellies and have had the blood of several already Oh cruel gluttony and most accursed appetite that nothing can stanch or satisfie but blood Oh let them have blood to drink and let the whores cup be filled brim full with the indignation and dregs of the wrath of the Almighty God If we were the wolves as the hirelings sayes we are and they the sheep or Lambs I am sure all people will confesse with me that it is not the nature of sheep and Lambs to devour and kill the wolves but the wolves did of old as these do now kill the sheep and devour the innocent Lambs I have read and doe believe that the good Shepherd laid down his own life for the Sheep but I do not read that he ever took away the life of any So my dear Friends honestly consider who ye are for and who ye uphold for verily if ye lay down your lives and perish for and with their deceipt I am bold in the Lord God to declare it unto you all from the highest to the lowest that they are falling and mine eye sees it and it is impossible for ye to defend or secure them from the just name of Antichrists false prophets deceivers greedy dumb dogs who can never have enough but still seeks for his gain from his quarter mark that he seeks it as the false Prophets did of old for there is few or none that are not forced yea very few that brings his gain to him but himself or some one for him seeks all the quarters of the field till he finds the poor brow-sweating husband-man who eats the bread of carefulnesse all the year long no sooner he finds him or his corn or hay but he presently tels out the tenth sheaf or tenth Cock and so sets his thiefs mark upon it and calls it his own Compare him to the false prophet which is spoken of in Mich. 3. read the whole Chapter and see if there be any more difference then there is betwixt a thief and a ravenous Lawyer or a Judge whose hands and affections may be full of bribery and yet hangs a thief Friends lay aside prejudice and honestly Judge Ye may remember that Moses said a Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up like unto me him shall ye hear in all things mark and truly consider the word all he doth not say him shall ye hear in some things onely but him shall ye hear in all things and it comes to pass that he that will not hear this Prophet shall be cut off Now that Prophet who was the Promise the Vow and Oath of God commands in express words saying Swear not at all though it was said by them of old thou shalt perform thy Oaths to the Lord but I say swear not at all and I am sure he that goes about to inforce any one to swear by any Oath obeys not that Prophet and is to be cut off and that Prophet strictly and positively commands his Ministers saying Be ye not of men called Masters without the breach of which command and title of Master the hireling is not compleat For when a youngling goes first to Oxford to learn the trade of Devination they call him a fresh-man and continues for three years or thereabouts by the name of an undergraduate and then he takes the degree of Batchelour but yet he may not preach except it be by that which they call Ex Gratia and in other four years time he commonly takes the degree of Master and then he hath authority to say what he pleaseth for an hour together and
those that were broken they knit not together but rattled them with sternship and with power And Lord these hired men they nefeeden thy sheep in thy plenteous Leasow but feeden thy sheep with sweines and false miracles and tales but at thy truth they ne come not For Lord I trow thou sendest them never And of these hired men speaks Jeremiah and thou saiest in that word by him I ne send them not and they run quickly but I ne spake unto them For if they had stood in my councel The Spiritual man is locked in Prison by those that have the Key of Cunning. they would have turned people from the evil of their wayes and their evil thoughts For Lord thou saiest thy Word is as a fire a hammer breaking stones but from the least to the most they study covetousness and from the Priest to the Prophet all they have done guile And Lord this is much mischief and matter of sorrow and yet there is more For if a lewd man that is a lea-man teach thy people truth of thy Words as he is upholden by thy Commandment of Charity he shall be forbidden and put in prison if he do it And so those that have the key of cunning have Tho. Cromwell Earl of Essex and Sr. John Old-castle testified against Tithes and it is verily believed that both were put to death for their Testimony locked the truth of thy teaching under many Wards and hid it from the children But Lord sith thy teaching is come from Heaven above our hope is that with thy Grace it shall break these Wards and shew him to thy people to keel both the hunger and thirst of the soul And then shall no shepheard nor no false hired man beguile thy people no more Lord thou givest us a Commandment of truth in bidding us say yea yea nay nay and swear for nothing and truly Lord I trow that if thou were now in the World and taughtest as thou didst sometime thou shouldest be done to death for thy Teachings is damned for Heresie of the Wise men of the World So that by this ye may plainly see that the hireling in former ages was testified against and the Lord was not without a witness though oppressed then as at this day And as for the Tithes which Antichrist the Pope vomited forth of his mouth and was first introduced by Augustine one of his Fryers here in England I might say something in particular of it but being a Christian and believing and knowing that all shadows and types whatsoever must give leave to the substance and also knowing that the good thing is come and the great Prophet heard And others who believe in Christ having more then sufficiently refell'd what is possible to be said in honour of that Idol Therefore I set my feet upon that dunghill being with my self by all the reasonable and unconcerned men in the Natons troden upon in their hearts And for such as are yet unsatisfied I refer them to Anthony Persons Book and The book is sold by Giles Calvert at the sign of the black spread Eagle at the west end of Pauls the price about six pence I do not question but it may satisfie settle and establish all men against the very foundation birth and bringing in of that bad thing except I say the greedy receiver who is so greedy of filthy lucre that he can never have enough and is unsatisfied unsetled and unstable in all his wayes For when a Priest dyes and the Parsonage be great Oh! how the rest will swarm about the Donator and hunt like dogs that runs for the carcase of a dead horse and it may be ten of them at least shall pretend a call and if by whining flattery symony or subtility any one of them can procure it it s much if in his very first Sermon he be not so prophane as to begin with a lye in his mouth and tell the people being called amongst ye by the Lord and brought into this place by his Providence Whereas indeed it is the gain of that quarter which its like may be much bigger then that from whence he came and it is theirs and not them for which he really came or hunts and that 's his call Yea I know some of them may fitly be compared to Crows Dogs and Rooks that when the Beast is sick the Ravens will pick his eyes out before the dogs shall get him so some of them in my knowledge have been trying for the Parsonage before the incumbent hath been quite dead Now from the bottom of my heart I do believe that the Cut-purses and Goal-birds are not more disingenious towards one another as men then some of these men are in case a fat Parsonage be to be parted by the teeth amongst them so that their godliness is not great gain but their great Parsonage is their great gain and their quarterly gain is their God And that they are very disingenious hear what I have farther to say of them I have many times asked several of these hired men why they did pillage and take away from those that did not hire them set them a-work nor come to hear them Their common answer was and is Their Church was open So doth â—â—e gates of Hell who as will may enter and who as will may come and it is not our faults say they if they come not I answer so is every trades-mans shop in the Nation or very same Parish and he may as well say to those which are not his but another mans customers My shop stands open and I have as good ware as another thou mayest have it if thou wilt it s my trade and my goods are to be sold Answer I like them not I will not have them Now I appeal to any reasonable man upon earth if he the said trades-man should lay hold on me and take away my cloak coat bed-cloaths brass pewter cattel corn c. for his goods which I like not and by me refused and by him undelivered to me Admit him to be a seller of good books as the Bible and other Just mens works and writings I say I appeal to the whole World whether this man that so takes away my goods be not as real a thief in the sight of God and good man as him that robs upon the high way And by this all true men may plainly see the unjust afflictions persecutions bondage and oppression the seed of God lyeth under at this day by the seed of the evil doers and cruel men who lye in wait to devour widows houses and destroy the innocent Even as a troop of Robbers lie in wait for a man to murther in the way by consent they hunt every man his neighbour with a net And that they may do evil with both hands earnestly some of us they did distrain and sue in the Exchequer for one and the same matter Where the greedy Lawyer asketh for
name of the beast or the number of his names read Rev. 13. and if the present Rulers of the earth have not drunk of the whores cup how came these Priests by this Law I say is not the Popish Queen out-done and her three months imprisonment made six so that these have a Law at their command and I am sure a terrible Law hath it been to us-ward Such a Law the Jews had and by our Law said they he ought to die for he is a blasphemer and what was his blasphemy Why say they he sayes he is the Son of God So as false yet true they put the holy One to death and the English Priests Original was set over the Originals head by Priest-ridden Pilate Oh my dear friends perish not with them nor for and with their gain-saying generation but like wise men keep your eyes in your head and let that woman which hath so fowlly transgressed be silent and let not transgression plead for and uphold transgression and transgressors But ask your husband at home for the wo-man is not permitted to speak in the Church nor about Church matters but the the Daughters of the Lord as well as his Sons shall and at this day do prophesie and God is one in the Male as in the female and the Womb that is barren is accursed as well in the Male as in the Female but the Woman is to be silent in them both But the seed and birth which is immortal which sins not doth and may speak if the Lord open the mouth in the Female-man as-well as in the Male-man and if the Lord open the lips let the whole creation shew forth his prayses but let Eve for ever be silent And I know from the Lord God the barren womb is cursed and such who cannot in some measure witness the marriage are undone but the true Virgin that hath not many lovers is a holy state and she which is begotten of God as the Lord moves may utter words and Minister to the seed in others that all may be edified the deaf made to hear the blind to see the sick healed and the saving health made known the dead raised the Lame walk and the dumb made to sing for joy and in this Ministry and Gospel Phaebe and Prisâ—illa may labour with Paul or any other the holy Women at this day a seal of whose Apostle-ship I am and if you keep your eyes in your head and behold the Original in ye and ask that Husband at home ye will seal to and witnesse with me that God is truth and is one in the Male and in the Female for it is the fools eye that is abroad but the wise mans eye is in his head and the head of every man is Christ Jesus and he gives to all men and women a measure of himself to profit withall and all his gifts are good and perfect and leads to no other thing but unto perfection but no Bastard nor the thief who steals the words from his neighbour and boasts in the lines of other men shall never inherit though he be as goodly to look at as Ishmael and as Orthodâ—x as the high Priest yet he is the son of the bond-wo-man within from whence death immagination and brain-study speaks a devination of its own there the merchants of spiritual Babylon trade wch is called confusion but all this while the royal seed is in bondage and the voice of the King is not heard within without which the children of the Kingdom cannot live and the voice of a stranger the sheep will not hear and the thief or spiritual vagabond although it be Cain or Lord Esau himself with the Son of the free and first-born must not co-habit for the life of the one is the death of the other and that must become a servant which hath caused the seed to bow they who know the Original know and feel what I say and the simple hearted that are among ye may understand me right well but for those who are withered under the name of professors and are onely old in profession and iniquity who rise up early to contrive for self in whom the earth hath choaked the seed by them I do not expect to be rightly understood or justly construed for their life at the present is not in that wch discerneth and judgeth all things and in the Lords work they have been very unfaithful I shall not say much but it is very much if oveâ— the Lord trust some of them again but rather suffer a stranger to take and do that which was once in their posession and will it not be just if he who formed them doe shew them no favour but smite them as they have suffered others to be smitten and will it not be equal if the Lord reveal himself most eminently against them â—uite racing down their magnificency and for ever lay their honour in the dust And if any who are in authority be yet indeed really affected with the wayes and false worship of the hireling and offended with me for this my Testimony for the Lord and against the false hireling We who are called Quakers shall in the fear of the Lord be willing to meet them or a chosen number of them face to face before the chief Rulers Parliament or Councel and there approve our selves in our practise for religion by the words of the Scriptures and the example of the holy men of God and if we refute not the common hireling and whatsoever he is possibly able to say for himself or against us proving what he saies by Scriptures let the reasonable magistrates be judge I say if we do it not let us be used more bloodily and cruelly then we yet are if possible and we shall in that matter freely submit unto and be convicted by the Scripture which some of them are so impudent to say we deny and is their own rule though that which gave them forth is our rule and is not contrary to the Scripture so far as they are not polluted by false meanings put upon them which in their purity in themselves do not own But however there is sufficient to silence the brawling hireling for warrant from them he hath none for his preaching for hire or a set maintenance by a Law I say again let us discourse our Religion with the false hired man before ye and if then it be found that we hold any thing for Religion which is contrary to sound Doctrine or in the least derogatory to Scripture and if our practice faith hope and order be not according to the command of the Lord Jesus the example of the Prophets the Apostles the holy men of God and Ministers of Christ then countenance or discountenance as ye shal see cause And till then in the fear of the Lord God I warn you all from him that sits upon the throne to the meanest officer of peace or war Souldier or Subject whatsoever speak not evil of
Dignities and Powers and things ye know not but at least stand still and behold the salvation of our God and lend not your power to the slaying of the innocent Lambs of Christ for verily if the Rock fall upon ye or ye upon it it will grinde ye all to dust Therefore my dear friends do not presume to sin all the dayes of your appointed time and clap hands with the oppressor and uphold a bad generation to do wrong to the innocent but be ye holy and do equally be ye perfect as the heavenly Father is perfect and as he is so be ye in this very evil World that when ye come to die ye may have nothing else to do but to die and enter into the rest Wherefore be wise in heart for the Lord requireth truth in the inward parts and that ye do unto all men as ye would be done unto Nicodemus saith unto them Doth our law judge any man before it hear him and knoweth what he doth Jo 7. 50 51. And I would have ye to exceed Nicodemus or at least be as noble as he was who came to Jesus but by night the Officers answered never man spake like this man Then answered them the Pharisees Are ye also deceived have any of the Rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him but this people who know not the Law are accursed John 7. 46 47 48 49 Shouldst thou help the ungodly and love them that hate the Lord Therefore wrath is upon thee from before the Lord and Jehosaphat went out again thorow the people from Beer-sheba to Mount-Ephraim and brought them back unto the Lord God of their fathers And he set Judges in the Land thorowout and said to the Judges take heed what ye dâ— for ye Judge not for man but for the Lord Wherefore now let the fear of the Lord be upon ye take heed and do it for there is no iniquity with the Lord our God nor respect of persons nor taking of gifts And he charged them saying Thus shall ye do in the fear of the Lord faithfully and with a perfect heart 2 Chron. 19. 2 4. 5 6 7 9. And the Lord will shew himself strong in the behalfe of them whose hearts are perfect towards him I say Joshua went through the Land and set Judges in every City and brought them back unto the Lord God of their Fathers he also overthrew the high-places burnt up the groves destroyed idolatry raced down the Images and stamped to powder the things and places which were polluted though once commanded of God and that it is as needfull for some to go thorow England and our Cities to place and set Judges as at the beginning I shall here lay open and before the World some few of the Idolatries and heathenish customs that are in use and practice in one of our Cities namely Oxford which ye hirelings call one of the famous Universities nurceries for Religion springs fountains or eyes of the Nation from whence cometh the blind guides who leadeth the blind and blindeth too too many but I think if the Nation were blind of that eye and that spring were dryed up which indeed is but a standing puddle that deceit might no more issue out of her happy were it for many pretious souls which are ruined by the breath and stinke of her nostrils And if she hath not need to be visited read some few of her statutes which are as followeth and then judge her and her trades-men and when thou hast read them if she be worthy of life let her have it if of death let her die for there is thousands of witnesses against her and her Popish off-spring in this the day of the Lord everlasting praises be given to his Name who hath made known and revealed his truth to babes and the contemptible and despised ones of the World and hath hid it from the wise and vultrous eye In the first place see what the Independants in King James his reign had against the Universities and their brood for which they were called Brownists in the Book entituled An Apologie or defence of such true Christians as are commonly but unjustly called Brownists Printed 1604. The third Petition pag. 58 59. The seventh Position That the due maintenance of Ministers should be of voluntary and free Contribution and not by Popish Lordship and Livings or Jewish Tithes and offerings And that therefore the Lands and like Revenues of the Prelates and Clergy yet remaining may be taken away and converted to better use as those of the Abbies and Nunneries have been heretofore to the honour of God and great good of the Realm Whereunto are subjoined the proofs of the Scripture and several Arguments deduced from Scripture to prove the unlawfulness of them The twelfth Position pag. 75 76. That all Monuments of Idolatry in garments or any other things invented or dedicated heretofore by the Heathens or Anti-Christians to their false worship ought to be raced and abolished and not suffered to remain to nourish superstition much less imployed to the Worship of God Whereunto are added proofs of Scripture to enforce it The thirteenth Position pag. 77. That Popish degrees in Divinity and the studying of prophane Heathen writers with other likâ— corruptions should be removed With proofs of Scripture and several reasons to confirm the same And if any now say what are Idolatrous Popish ceremonies and degrees to us of England I answer There are the same now in use which were of old For instance in Oxford all the formalities and habits which were formerly counted superstitious by all the then called Puritans are now again not only in fashion and credit amongst them of the University but also accounted necessary so that if any Schollar of the University for Conscience sake cannot wear them he must loose his vote and priviledge and not take any degree T is true that while the Army continued in Action it was thought necessary to lay them aside at least for a time for fear of scandal and provoking tender conscienees but since the Army have forgot to look after them they are a licking up their old vomit and all the vestments and formalities appointed them by their father the Pope in use and credit defended in their speeches at the Act and those men counted factious who witness against them though of their own fraternity And if any one will compare the Oxford statutes with the discription of theirs in other Anti-christian Popish Universities beyond Seas he may see that there are not onely the same superstitious ceremonies and Idolatrous habits but far more in number and greater in pomp then there are in the very greatest Seats of Antichrist beyond Sea And for their sakes who cannot come to see them or it may be never heard of them I have subjoined a little Catalogue of them which are yet in practice to omit the more notorious which are not observed since the Wars to satisfie the World what Reformation
behaviour that oppresseth the oppressed and doth violence to the afflicted adds grief to him that is a man of sorrows and grindes him to dust that is by all men already trodden upon as the very mire in the streets mocks and derides him that is already the by-word of the Fool and song of the Drunkard and imprisons him who is the Lord's Feee-man and in the Lord are we made Free and more then Conquerours over what its possible for cruel men to do or suffer to be done unto Vs To such I say IN stead of executing and making just Lawes which should reach that of God in every mans conscience and be a hook in the nose of the evil doer and break the jawes of the wicked I say in stead of that ye break the hearts of the righteous many of ye by exercising onely your own wills others by straining the too many grievous acts and cruel Edicts lately made by vertue whereof together with your insolency and tyranical wills ye snatch up the people of God as they travel up and down about their lawful occasions and this is common with some of ye to do when the man is not above ten fifteen or twenty miles from his outward home nor out of the same County wherein he or they were born going to coming from or being in a meeting with the Lords people The inferiour Magistrate who for the most part are made drunk with rage and the zeal-drunk Prosolytes who lie in wait as a Troop of evil-doers in every corner hales the friend of the Lord before that Magistrate and if he be good for no other thing he 'l serve to swear and to bear false witness for the Beast and against the innocent and to cause him to be whipped for a Vagabond and committed to a bad prison among thieves and murtherers under whose commitment and cruel usages several of the precious Lambs and servants of the Lord have laid down the outward man and finished their testimony with their blood But let all such Magistrates know from the highest to the lowest that blood will persue the vagabond and let all such swearers know that the curse of God is entailed upon the hâ—use of the swearer and let all the heathen round about know that he which whips stocks prisons tortures the creature for his religion shall never turn any from darkness to light nor from the power of Satan to the power of God although he may mangle and kill the creature and wholly mar the workmanship of the Creator But the true weapon which converts is not a carnal whip but a spiritual sword which will slay the persecutor and eats up the habitation of the evil doer and drives out the transgressor who from the beginning was a fugitive and a Vagabond who slew his righteous brother as ye do now because he was righteous and for the same cause and the flesh alwayes persecuted the spirit but the spiritual man never persecuted any mark that not any so be certain ye are wrong and doing of wrong and the wages of unrighteousness if ye repent not ye shall receive And it may be some others according to the example of Jesus our Lord are moved of him to visit those who are so imprisoned by ye as is before expressed and to Minister to their necessities as need requireth but your in humanity is such that ye have oftentimes taken them up as Vagabonds * But the wholsom Act made by Queen Elizabeth was to whip Vagabonds and sturdy beggars mark and sturdy beggars and if the richest heathen in the Nation can make it appear that any one that 's called a Quaker is so owned by us hath asked a morsel of his bread or a draught of his drink he shall have a hundred fold requital for a begger we deny as a thief for that which begs covets and desireth that which is none of his own and that which covets will steal but the Queen who made a good Act and is said to be one of our best Princes her 's ye have most wickedly perverted and wretched Queen Mary who was bloodier then the Boar of York and made a cursed Act against the Protestants of 3. moneths imprisonment her 's ye have made 6. so compare your selves with the best of Princes and the worst of Tyrants and see who ye are most like and whipped them also of the very same cup many of the most dear and precious Ministers and messengers of the Lord have drank and tasted being moved of the Law to passe from City to City and from Country to country to visit the seed of God as the holy men of God did of old and did not sit down in a personage house and so became the hireling of a Parish constituted and appointed by the ¶ Pope Dionisius was the first that caused the division of Parishes in England and Augustine a Monk the first that preached up tythes to Edelbert King of Kent Pope against whom ye would force others to swear And there Simon Magus-like pretend to sell that which cannot be bought for tenths nor fiâ—ts but let their money and Ministry or rather mystery of iniquity perish I say they did not creep into a Mass-house with four or five jangling bells in it and there sing Davids Psalms in Rhime and meeter step from the Pew to the Pâ—lpit and there tell the people a story by the glass and exact the tenth prt of their labours and estates for it and these brawlers are upheld by an Act of Parliament by which ye called Justices Judges with the composition of your own wils pretend to Act and imprison stock and whip true men as Vagabonds but it s because your selves are out of the councel and dwell not in the habitation of God and are real wanderers although yee may have a house called after your own names as Cain had a City after his sons and yet was a Vagabond And as for the oath of objuration me thinks ye need not be so busie to administer to others to swear against the Pope and all Popery when your Mass-houses stinks so much of Popery Your laws your Terms your Courts your Universities your Colledges your Orders your Christened Bells jâ—ngling to the Mass-house with the Popes Cross on the top of her your Lammas Michaelmas Christmas and Candlemas your Tythes your Gleab Land your parsoâ—age-houses your Mass-houses standing East and West your mortuaries your burial of your dead Your manner of mourning for Moondeag from the Idol of the Moon Tuescodeag from the Idol Tuesco a goddesse Wooden'sdeag from the Idol Woodden one of the Saxon gods Thorsdeag from the Idol Thor. now called Jupiter Frydeag from the Idol Friga another of the Saxons gods now called Diana or Venus Saterdeag from the Idol of Saturn them c. the names of your months your weeks and days of your wâ—ek naming and sprinkling of your children your whaâ— not which pertains to your worship and
Souls for his dishonest gain Oh! who is able to reckon up their deceipts or the number of the innocent that hath and are at this day deceived by them but the Soul which sins shall dye the death for the potter hath power over the clay and though he hide himself in the remotest part of the Garden he will find him out and a vessel of dishonour he shall be and yet after they have sinned he desireth not the death of a sinner although he be dead in sins and trespasses but rather that he should turn from his wickedness and live For as I live saith the Lord I will not the death of a sinner Mark of a sinner but the persecutor and he whose tongue is at liberty who defileth his body which is the Temple of the Lord him will God destroy although he be the fattest Bull in Basan or the mightiest Cedar in all Lebanon he is but clay in the hands of the Potter and a vessel of dishonour he will make him But he that liveth in his fear and standeth in his councel and is obedient to the Fathers Commands which are all possible and in no wise grievous him he makes a vessel of honour and he is to him as the apple of his eye Be Holy be Perfect be Just in all your doings all men and let all Mark all that are athirst come and buy milk freely and take of the water of Life without money and without price Oh! Come all and it is in vain to invite them that are predestinated from all Eternity to be damned What I say unto one I say unto all watch and those that are decreed to Hell need not watch but the Lord willeth that all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth and he is not like Pharaoh who willed the people to make brick without straw Oh! the Creator doth not so for a measure of himself he hath given to every man to profit withal Mark to all so that if he require the full tale of brick he doth Justly and his doings are Just and he is equal in all his wayes and let not him that is formed though a subject or a King say to him that hath formed Why hast thou made me so But come unto him or look unto him all the ends of the earth and be saved and the Gospel hath been preached to every creature under Heaven and it is he that knowes the Fathers Will and doth it not which shall be beaten but it is impossible that he can do it who never knew it but knowledge is a delitious fruit and pleasant to the eye upon which the reprobate feeds and whom I will I haâ—den but first he willeth that all men should be saved or else he might have said except Judas except Pharaoh except Esau except Pilate the Priests friend but Gods enemy Christ knew from the beginning who should betray him Mark he knew it but he did not wil him to do it for if he had it could not have been called treachery in Judas Nay he willeth not the death of a sinner but he willeth that all the ends of the earth should look unto him and be saved that is his Will and purpose for which purpose he hath and doth enlighten every man that cometh into the World that all men through him might believe and be saved Mark and note that he willeth all men I say he did not except Judas Pilate and Pharaoh if they were alive and had not sold themselves to do wickedly for which cause they were given up to a reprobate minde but there is and was some that will not come unto him that they may have life Wherefore such are ordained to condemnation of old but they that come unto him he will in no wise cast off and whom he loves he loves to the end and he that loves him keeps his Commands and he that keeps them not is of the Devil and he that is of the Devil hath no part in him for God and Belial are not one in any one thing neither do they live together and where Jerusalem is Babylon cannot stand and where the Light with which every man is enlightened bears Rule there is no darkness at all and when it is disobeyed if heeded the darkness may be felt Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated before either of those two children had done good or evil Yea the thing Jacob he loved and the thing Esau he hated before either of those two children were begotten or born after the flesh and those two seeds he onely loves and hates at this day and see that there be not a Cain nor an Esau be among ye but let the worm Jacob be cherished for it loves the Light and is the heritage of God but let murtherous Cain although he hath been Prince of the whole City and all hath been called by his sons name and Lord Esau of the mount come under for though there was a time when the seed bowed Jacob's got past and let the elder serve the younger for he sold his Birth-right for his belly Mark he had it A Birth-right or a Right-birth but he sold it and afterwards sought it with tears It was not the earth he wept for although he sold his Birth-right or Right-birth which was immortal for that which was earthly divelish and sensual The great God who created Heaven and Earth willeth that all man-kind should come to the knowledge of the truth and be saved and willeth not the death of one soul of his whole handy-work and the work of his own hands he cannot destroy and that is the infallible and true light the Son of the Father who enlighteneth every individual man and woman that commeth into the World that all through him may believe and be saved it is the particular sins of every particular man and woman that is the cause of death reprobation and câ—ndâ—â—nâ—tion and that soul which sins shall die but for the word Original fin I do not find it in the whole Scriptures but is a contrivance of the false Prophets like unto their baby-baptism but he that believes in the Light of Christ which he is enlightened with and brings all his deeds to the light and dwells and abides in the light and hath the hope in him He purifieth himself as he is pure and the wicked one cannot touch him Again and again I say if a certain and set number from all eternity be predestinated to be saved and damned What doth the hireling preach for or for what hath he his hire I am sure the decrees of the living God are yea and Amen and unalterable And there is another vaine sort of people who are as ignorant as they who say that the Scriptures is the word of God and Mathew Mark Luke and John the Gospel and that the Latin Greek and Hebrew is the Original as for the word which the Scriptures of truth truly declares of he was in the
beginning before the Scriptures began and Heaven and Earth may passe away with which the Scriptures must passe but the Word lives and abides for ever the Letter killeth but the Word gives Life and is quick and powerful and sharper then any two edged-sword and divides assunder betwixt the joynts and marrow and he that hath the word hath life and Simon Magus could not buy the Word for money but â— man may buy learn and have the Scriptures and be a Judas and quote them as the Devil did to Christ and yet be a devil and the Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us and His Name is the word of God and his vesture is dipped in blood and the Word is the Light the Hope the Way the Gospel the Door the Vine the Shepherd the fairest of Millions the Original the Kinâ— and Kingdom the way to the Kingdom and this Way this Word this Door this Hope this King and Kingdom this Christ this Original is above aâ— and all in all and in ye all except ye be reprobates for the Kingdom of Heaven is within ye and that which may be known of God is manifest in ye and these manifestations within doth the Scrâ—ptures of truth truly declare oâ— the same is the Original and not the Lat. Gr. and Heb. neither is it so much as a help to know the true and Living God for a man may have the tongues of men and Angels and yet be without God in the World and Pâ—â—ate may understand the Latin Greek and Hebrew full well and set it over the Originals head and go to hell with his understanding and those that have the tongues may be mad and at this day do wrest the Scriptures to their own destructions for want of learning as Peter said they did of old calling the book-learnt men an unlearned generation and himself had no letters and it is like Christ spake to none of the meanest letter-men when he said they had at no time seen the shape of God nor heard his voice and I am suâ—â—â—â— was because they were not good Schollars nâ—r willing to learn for I am the Lords witness that he is found of all that truly learn to seek him and learnt of all those that fear him for his very secrets are with them that fear him and to know and believe in him and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent is absolute life eternal and he that believes not is condemned already and to day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts for it is the same voice within that calls to ye for equity and truth in your inner parts as did to them of old it is not another then what the Scriptures truly declareth of and let him that preaches or brings a Gospel contrary to that which they delare of be an athema maranatha so it is not sufficient to have the Latin Greek and Hebrew and be accounted Orthodox and an able Diviner when the womb is barren and the eye not kept in the head and that which brought the wo-to-man or the wo-man prevail which is not permitted to speak in the Church but is to be silent and ask the husband at home whether they be married or unmarried according to the flesh and happy and onely happy are they who are espoused to the Lamb and can witnesse the eternal mariage the unseparable tye which neither heights nor breadths nor depths nor lengths nor tribulation persecution principalities or powers whatsoever can separate And he that hath the word of God abiding in him which was in the beginning before the Scriptures Prophets holy men and Apostles were by whom the World was made before it was made He deserneth all things judgeth all things Mark all things Orthodox and non Orthodox Pilate and his Original and himself is judged of no man And the grace of God which brings salvation hath appeared to all men and that is the true light that doth enlighten every man that cometh into the World And this is the condemnation that light is come into the World and men love darkness rather then light because their deeds are evil for every one that doth evil hateth the light neither cometh to the light least his deeds should be reproved but he that doth truth cometh to the light that his deeds might be manifest that they are wrought in God John 3. And this is my testimony for the Original the Lord Jesus and is according to the word that Original which was in the beginning before the Scriptures began to and against all Babilonians from whence came and is derived all confusion and diversity of tongues but in the beginning it was not so for God was the Word and the Word is God E. B. THE END A VVORD To those who are called Dukes Marquesses Earles Viscounts Lords Barons Bannerets Baronets Knights of all sorts Esquires Gentlemen and to the women who are called these mens Ladies upon which rabble of appellations depends and hangs most of the bad people of this Nation And who is the deboicher and vitiator of women-kind I leave it to that of God in the Conscience of these who are called Lords and Ladies Gentlemen and Gentlewomen to judge AH Poor men and women repent repent repent for the Lords righteous Judgement is nigh even at the door to be poured forth against many of you who even hate to be reformed but like evil men and deceivers wax worse and worse being as it were rivetted to all manner of sin grown old in iniquity And although you are called Lords Ladies Gentlemen and Women yet for the most part ye are ungentle untame without the yoke your tongues at liberty to blaspheme the Name of the dreadful pure and living God and Ishmael-like scoff and speak evil of dignities and things ye know not cursers swearers fighters and killers one of another fierce despisers of them that are good many of you are and yet calls yourselves Gentlemen c. When as patience and long suffering is the thing ye truly know not and soberness with many of ye makes no long tarrying and with your lusts ye are led captive at the Devils will and amongst many yea very many of ye oppression is your constant in-mate envy cruelty lust exaltation and pride the very beloved of your bosoms and in your own particulars ye hurt the innocent ye grieve that which would be righteous ye slay and make merry over the witness swallowing down the cups of pleasure and iniquity as the Ox drinketh water ye oppress the seed ye put the Lord of Life to open shame ye crucifie him afresh and that continually In spiritual â—â—â—ne and Egypt all the day long ye are content to dwell and in the night season lye down in your beastialities and in the morning ye rise up early to drink wine take pleasure and commit sin with greediness boiling in your own lusts overwhelmed in gluttony wholly swallowed up in all manner of worldly delight being dead
Souldiers came unto Christ and askt him Master what shall we do Be content with your wages and do violence to no man accuse no man falsly But for the whole rabble of Duke Marquesse Lord Knight Gentleman by patents I find no room place or example or allowance for in Scripture but that onely declares of as I do believe one Lord one God over all blessed for ever amen who made all kindreds tongues and Nations of one blood and all these earthly Lords and who exercise unjust dominion are come up since and in the Apostacy for in the beginning it was not so and those who are redeâ—med from the earth and risen with Christ and onely seeks the things above Fathoms and comprehends all these things and are come to the beginning are in that which was before false Prophets Anti-chriâ—â— Babylon Pope or Whores cup was of which the Kings of the earth have drank and been made drunk in which drunken fiâ— and when all the Nations reeled under the persecution of the beast and false Prophet and the Saints and Martyres blood was swallowed down as other cups of pleasure and the woman was fleâ— into the Wildernesse and the man-child was caught up to God I say in that black dark night of Apostacy when none was able to make war with the beast when the Kings of the earth fought for the earth was created and by the beasts power at this day is created Lords Knights c. and having lost the Cross of Christ the power of God within a painted cross is borne in your ensign without and that is the sign of your Christianity and so into sects and opinions and the Irreligious have and do kill one another about Religion precedency names titles and the earth and all this is earthly Devilish and sensual THE END Here followeth a relation of some signs examples and judgements for the accursed Generation who desire a sign for many to my face have temptingly said shew us a sign but they are miracles to those that believe and let such reach hither their hands and with me feel and see the wounds that the Lord of life hath received in his members by this unnatural and unparaleld Generation to whom and upon whom these examples are and have been shewen as it is written the wicked shall not live out half their dayes but let the despisers behold and wonder and perish for the work is wrought in their dayes although they cannot believe EXAMPLES ESSEX John Clerk Priest for 20. l. Tythes by him demanded of Robert Nicol of Coln-Engain by warrant from Dioâ—ysius Wakering and William Harlackenden Justices so called took and drove away from him Cattel worth 50 l. and his greedy mind not therewith satisfied sought after his body to but those his persecutors aforesaid being at London at that time he threatened to go to London to get a Warrant from them to put him in prison but the Lord prevented him for he came home and died in few dayes after SUFFOLK Robert Newton Goaler of Edmund-bury and his wife who had been very cruel to George Fox in the 55 weeks imprisonment he suffered under him by beating him very often and taking from him his bed cloaths and a coat and after his release detained him twenty eight weeks more for as he pretended a years sufficient lodging both the goaler and his wife not long after was cut off by death SUSSEX Priest Cussinâ— who caused Thomas Leycock to be imprisoned a whole year in Horsham Goal for speaking a few words to the people in love to their souls after he the said priest had done soon after this persecution he was cut off by death John Chatfield Priest of Horsham who caused Thomas Leycock and Bryan Wilkinson to be imprisoned and caused Thomas Patchins Cattel to be drove away soon after fell into a dropsie and remained in a miserable condition half a year and then died Priest Cuffly of Arundel who was a chief instrument in Thomas Leycocks persecution and did strive with the Magistrates of Arundel to have had Joseph Fuse who had faithfully served the Parliament in the wars 11 years sent over Sea as a bond-slave suddenly after this he died The Priest of Green who caused Alice West to be sent to prison for speaking some few words in the Steeple-house suddenly after died Edward Haughton Priest of Nuthurst who was the first in this county that caused friends to be robbed for Tythes was soon after cut off by death Priest Channel called a Doctor one of the chiefest high Priests so counted in this Nation a great opposer of truth was striken with madnesse and is out of his natural senses A Tythe-monger in the Parish of Beding who wickedly and malitiously trod out the corn of Minion Brocket making havock of the same within a week after was cut off by death John Gurden a Justice so called an eminent persecutor of the innocent people of God in this county whose name hath spread to New England among his brethren of the inquisition there hath been smitten by the Lord in a great weaknesse of body and dimnesse of eye-sight and hath appeared as one likely to pine away under the hand of the Lord which is evidently turned against him since he became such a cruel persecutor Roger Gratick a Magistrate and Priest Snelling consenters to much of the persecution of this county both slain with a thunder bolt in one day NORFOLK John Benton being one of Priest Claphams witnesses of Wramplingham whom he procured to swear against Benjamin Lynes in a matter concerning Tythes who was so evidently forsworn and his partner with him that the Justices themselves would not accept of their testimony and soon after which time the said John Benton got into the Steeple-house of Wramplingham and there hanged himself in a Bel-rope Edw. Humt keeper of the prison of Norwich who after Geo-Whitâ—head was discharged at the Sessions brought his action against him for 4 d. a night and although he had layn on the floor most part of the time yet was by him unjustly detained but the Goaler was soon after cut off by death HARTFORD-SHIRE Geo-Fage an unmerciful Bayliff who for 5 s. Tithe took away goods worth 4 l. from Richard North and entered into his house none being within but two poor children ransacked the poor mans house and took the very covering from off the bed of the children and exposed them to sufferings in the midst of winter for which the Lord God visited him and cut him off suddenly before he had made sale of the goods GLOUCESTER-SHIRE The first three friends that were committed in the County of Gloucester the two Justice of peace which did commit them the one called by the name of Justice Webly the other called by the name of justice Raymond these three friends did all live in or about Thornbury and were called to the Bar that Assiâ—e next holden for the County of Gloucester one of these Justices which did commit
them being come into the Town that morning when the Assize did begin was struck with the hand of God so that he was speechless for many dayes and faint to lye in the Town before they could get him to his own house and since is dead never coming to Assizes or Sessions more and the other Justice which committed them was suddenly after put out of Commission and since is dead And likewise at the first coming of Friends into the County of Gloucester there was a man called by the name of a Captain that did send to a Justice of the Peace wishing him to take a course with these people called Quakers and with some bitterness said else he would take a course with them himself but within a few dayes after near his own dwelling at an Ale-house he fell out with a Rag-man and killed him insomuch that the said Captain was tried for his life the next Assiâ—e following There were three young Women that were friends coming from a meeting and in the way as they came there were people setting of Beanes and amongst them there was a man and a great Boy which Boy laid himself down over the foot-path and laying hold on one of the young women did abuse her in such an unseemly manner as with modesty cannot be expressed untill the other two did pull her from him and afterwards did set dogs on them and both the man and the boy did follow them with clods and stones for a great way and within a short time after the same man and boy being together so fell out that the boy was wounded by the man and within 24 hours after died and the man was tried at the Bar for his life this last Assiâ—e held for the County of Gloucester Richard Hobbs who had sworn in behalf of Priest Davis of Frampton for Tithes against John Tyler to the value of 16 or 20 s. for which the said Tyler was ordered to pay â—0 l. 1â— s. besides 3 l. 10 s. charges The aforesaid Rich. Hobbs being thatching a Rick of Wheat was questioned by the man he wrought for about his swearing and shewed what errour he had run himself into he seemed to be troubled for it and said if he had known so much before as he did since he would not have done it in a little space after the man was gone the said Rich. Hobbâ— saw on his hand and on the Rick of Wheat the appearance of fire being troubled thereat left off his work and went to his Master and told him of it who would have perswaded him it was not so but he affirmed it to be so and not many dayes after the said Rich Hobbs he being Clerk of a Parish and as he was Ringing a Bel was taken up with the Bel-rope and tossed up and down that the scull of his head was broken and his body sore bruised that he lay for dead in the place but being recovered again he was carried to his house where he lay senceless 2 or 3 dayes and so died HEREFORD-SHIRE Henry Davis of little Ducburch a Persecutor of many friends who meeting James Merrick of Ross and because the said James did not speak to him turned his Gun after him and threatned to shoot him and in a short time after the said Henry Davis fell off from his horse and broke his neck WORCESTER-SHIRE EVISHAM George Kemp Mayor of â—visham being the first and also an eminent Persecutor of the Innocent people of God in Evisham shortly after the heat of his persecution was out off by death Rich. Martin another of the persecuting Justices was shortly after sued at the Law by his onely Son and thereby being forced to leave his habitation soon after died Edwaâ—d Younâ— Mayor of Evisham aforesaid who exceeded all his Brethren in persecution not long after he was out of his Maiorality he also was cut off by death Samuel Gardner one of the persecuting Justices of Evisham aforesaid not long after his persecuting the people of God he fell distracted so that he was kept tied in his bed Thomas Ordway one of their Council a great professor of the Scriptures a friend to truth lent him a book which was in answer to a Catechism set forth by 42 Priests and after he had looked over it he wrote on the backside of the book It is pitty but all such books were burned and them that made them and set his name to it but very suddenly after was he cut off by death HUNTINGTON-SHIRE Thomas Lawrence Priest who had sued 4 of the Parish of Coln in the Exchequer and one of the 3 friends meeting him on the way asked him what he sued him for the Priest very wrathfully and churlishly answered him I will speak with you another time but within 10 dayes he was cut off and his body laid in the earth LINCOLN-SHIRE Francis Ball of Sibsey who sued and cast into Prison Edmund Woolsey for Tithes and the said Francis had told several people that he was perswaded that if Edmund Woolsey did believe in his Conscience that he the said Francis Ball had right unto the Tithes he would have paid it him and yet for all that he the said Francis Ball kept him in Prison But the Just indignation of the Lord is since fallen upon the Family of the said Francis Ball for his Wife presently after died and two more of that Family the Daughter and her Child and the people hereabout concluded it to be a just Judgment from the Lord. DERBY-SHIRE One Brittlin of Thorncloft a Steward of a hundred Court who had Judged Thomas Boyer to pay about 4 times what the principal of the Tithe came too soon after the Lord did cut him off by death SHROP-SHIRE Edw. Dod who wrote a false accusation against Friends and is a great Proselite of Sam. Smith Priest of Cresit who caused many Friends to suffer fell off from a Bridge and broke his leg and the Priest came to visit him and said one step further and into Hell and he said his people were a damned Crew and he had preached 7 years to them and not one brought to the knowledge of God HAMP-SHIRE Justice Cobb who had been a great Persecutor of Friends in Winchester Goal and would not suffer Stephen Beviâ— Prisoner to work in the Prison on his own Calling and he being Judge at another Sessions would noâ— do any thing towards the releasement of the Servants of God in Prison though their unjust imprisoment was laid before him but gave order to restrain other Friends from coming to them several papers being sent to him for Justice the last of which was that being six men and one women in Prison that the women or any one of them might have the liberty to go forth and provide necessaries for the rest to bring them in work and carry out work and bring in food and such things as were necessary which reasonable and righteous thing was by him denied and within a
few dayes after the said Justice Cobb went to his bed not appearing to be sick and in the Morning was found a dead Corps Pistor Hide a Councellor who sometimes sat as Judge where Friends have been tried who refused to do them Justice and several times acted unjustly against them went forth in the streets at Winchester being the place of his residence where were dogs fighting which he did strive to part and presently afterwards went into his house and sate down and was suddently strook dead Martin Miller being Clerk to William Wither Justice who committed James Potter being at Harrow was strock down by the horses and the harrows drawn on him and he was sorely bruised and torn and lived a few dayes after and was by this accident much troubled in conscience for what he had sworn against James Potter A labouring man being at work in harvest upon the abovesaid Justice Withers land was suddenly strook dead in a tempest of thunder and lightening WILâ—SHIRE William Stompton Priest who for seven shillings tithes caused to be taken from Richard Hawkins eleven sheep worth fifty five shillings at five shillings a sheep and sold them at two s. and six pence a sheep But Jeremy Wig who bought the sheep died presently after and the said Priest also soon after was fain to have his leg sawn off and said he would forgive any one that would knock him on the head and died a miserable death SOMERCET-â—HIRE Thomas Dowlesse who had much abused two friends John Dandee and Peter Walter As Peter VValter was speaking to the people this Dowless did often swear hee would stop his mouth with his staff and did often strike the said Peter VValter endeavouring to hit him on the month and in a short time after the said Dowless being at work and he having but one eye before a stick strok in that eye and put it out and so remains blind Thomas-Edwards Priest of Kingston-Seymor who caused Edmund Beeks of Blâ—â—kwel to be committed to prison the said Priest being at the Town of Axbridg and being drunk fell off from his horse and broke his neck by which means Edward Beeks was freed out of prison VVilliam Cole of Naylsey called Justice who before had sent Edith Michel and VVilliam VVilley to prison onely for going to the Steeple-house and the one of them did not at all speak to the Priest shortly after a man was brought before him for stealing of Sheep the said Justice Cole told him that he would send him to the Goal to the Quakers and he and they should be sent altogether to the Gallows soon after the said William Cole being providing to ride abroad was suddenly taken ill and died the same day Nathaniel Sanders and John Langley called Churchward ens of Keynsham who had taken goods from friends for their Steeple-house died both in the forepart of their year John Laungley upon his death-bed said he was perswaded the Quakers were an honest people and whereas he and Nathaniel had taken goods from them he had payed the summs of money charged on them and gave a charge to his Servant that if he died those goods should be restored to them again and he took his servant-maid by the hand and made her promise him to do it Robert Allen of Bath who had very much abused Thomas Morford in the street and had beat him with a great staff this Robert Allen had a fine lusty young boy that was able to go up and down miserably scalded to death John Boyse Mayor of Bath aforesaid who had committed the above said Thomas Morford to Prison for declaring against the deceit of the Priest by which he remained in prison neer two years this John Boyse Mayor was smitten with a sore disease in his legs and lims for the most part of his Majorality also the Goaler was smitten with the same lamenesse so as he was fain to leave the Prison and then came another who Tyranized over the said Thomas Morford and forced him out of his room and from his bed and other abuses and the Hand of the Lord fell also on him and cut him off by death suddenly Thomas Hurlstone of Milbury Osmond a common disturber of Friends in their meetings and at one time climed upon a wall behind John Scaff while he was speaking to the people in a meeting at Evershot and fell down upon him and strook him down to the ground from the place whereon he stood and when he had so done went his way and received six pence in strong drink for his wickednesse And at another meeting in the same Town of Evershot as John Scaff was speaking to the people the said Thomas Hurlstone came into the street without the door of the said house in a very rude and bruitish manner with a bull hide about him and the horns on his head sporting among the rude people endeavouring to make a disturbance the said Hurlstone would often mock and scoff and deride the people of God and as he met them would be thrusting out his tongue at them And at another meeting at the same Town on the same day there was to be a Bull-baiting not far from the said Evershot unto which the said Thomas Hurlstone was going and as he was passing through Edminster he told some people that he should have been to day at the Quakers meeting but that he was going to the Bull-baiting and was boasting how he had served John Scaff and being at the Bul-baiting the Bull broke forth and came full at the said Thomas Hurlstone and strook one of his horns under his chin near his throat up into his head into or near his brain and he falling down yet rose up again and with his tongue hanging out of his mouth and presently sunk down and died Humphry Smiths Testimony of some Examples as he was an eye-witnesse of DORSET-SHIRE When I was Prisoner in Dorchester the hand of the Lord was havy upon them like as his hand was heavy upon Ashdod and the Philistines who had taken and kept the Ark of God for about twenty or more died in that time I was there that were in the Goal and prisoners in it and great was the cry concerning it so that the report was the plague was there and Judge Nicholas who cannot stand in Gods Judgement durst not come near for fear of the hand of God but had a place set up in the field to keep the Assiâ—es in And also in Dorchester Prison a most wicked man being condemned to die came a beging to our Chamber door and being not spoken to was filled with envy and came into the chamber and shut the door having murther in his heart the which I perceiving I rose up in the strength of the Lord by which he was overcome without any outward resistance and though I afterwards laid his murtherous intentions to his charge several times yet he never denyed it and shortly after the heavy Judgements of the Lord came
upon him that for many dayes and nights he could not forbear quaking and trembling the Divels trembled I â—n â— in most dreadful horror that many people wondred at him who though he had food looked as if he had been almost famished and could not die until his flesh rotted away in many places and he most gastly to behold he often uttered horrible words from the pit of darknesse at last dying in a sad and miserable manner terrible to the beholders James Munden Priest of Burton having some Queries delivered to him by Francis Taylor he said he would go and fetch a warrant to have him before a Justice that day but the Justice not granting it he sent the Queries back to Francis Taylor and when his wife came unto him she in a rage tore the paper of Queries and said to him that as she did tear that paper so the Devils should tear his soul in hell hereafter a bad answer to the Queries and other times she abused friends in their meetings and her children threw stones at them Not long after this Priest was suddenly strook dead and never spake word more though he had been preaching two several times that day or rather deceiving the people words and the wages of unrighteousness being cursed to him he died in debt and left his wife and children in poverty and misery Also a young man of the same Parish and a follower of the same Priest being very bitter to friends and sought occasion against his own brother Upon him also the Judgements of the Lord came and after he had been speechlesse for a time hee roared and howled in a loud and hideous manner being in a distracted condition and had many to hold him he shortly after died and many were amazed at him Edward Ireland a tithing-man dwelling in South Periot who scoffed at friends and persecuted them with much cruelty and took some out of there houses and carried them before some called Justices and in the eleventh month 58. he went to Blanford Sessions with Jeremiah French the Priest of South Periot who went there to lay in false information against John Gundry who was cast into prison by Jeremiah French the said Ireland also having a hand in it and at that Sessions Iâ—hn Gundry was brought forth and so fined fourty shillings to the Protector and fourty shillings to the Priest but Ieremiah French and Edward Ireland rode away from Blanford towards South Periot before those called Justices had really fined Iohn Gundry or remanded him to prison again and yet as they rode homeward through Evershot Edward Ireland boasted that Iohn Gundry would be sent to prison again who came home to his house but within two days the Lord strook him dead suddenly in his house which struck a dread in many which had a hand in persecuting the Lords people but especially one Richard Farnham who had also been a great persecuter of the Lords people in that place who came in to see Edward Ireland at the cry of the people and when he came into the house he fell down as dead and many of the people there ran about him and did shake him up and did strive much about him so he recovered life again but the dread of the Lord lay upon him that he was sick for a time after and then for a short season the Lords people had rest from their persecutors Dâ—VOâ— When I was prisoner at EXETER a Murtherer being condemned to die was brought into the Chamber to us and his hands unbolted and a naked knife in his hand and so left with us but the Lord preserved us from any hurt by him and he was afterwards hanged for killing a man with a knife The Mayor of Tiverton in Devon-shire by whose order many friends had their goods spoiled and taken from them and many were put into prison was about the fourth or fifth month in the year 1658 cut off by the hand of God in a miserable manner his bowels consuming within him and as one Fowler of the same Congregation and fellowship with him and of the same Town told a friend it lay upon him to go to see the Priest and to acquaint him that it was the hand of God upon him for his cruel usage of those people called Quakers One of the Constables of EXETER a notorious Professor hanged himself in his own house The Bridewel-keeper who had done very much wrong to friends who were under his custody and to others that came to visit them in prison making several lies against them soon after hanged himself by his bed side It is reported that many of the Professors in Exon have hanged and drowned themselves since first that place begun to persecute the people of God As Thomas Salthouse and Miles Halhead were travelling towards Plymouth in obedience to the Lord were apprehended at Honington and sent to EXETER by a guard of Musqueteers from thence to TAâ—NTON with a sealed letter a guard to Colonel Buffet who as he was enioyned by the said letter wrote another to send them from Tything to Tything until they came to their own Countries but the officer that had the passe and was to be their convoy to the next Tything had not gone above a mile until he fell down in the mire and could not stand upon his feet although they lefted him up thus the Lord made way for their enlargements and manifested his Righteous Judgements upon the Persecutors of the innocent so the Justice seeing the hand of the Lord against their formed weapons and instruments employed against the servants of the Lord released them The first that rose up against the people of God in this County was one Thomas Pentlow called Justice that in two years space committed 9 of the servants of the Lord to Prison and not one of them was proved transgressors either of the Law of God nor the Nation and some of them kept above a whole year in Prison and immediately after the beginning of his persecution the Lord smote him with an incurable disease in his body that he never went forth as formerly he did many times but lay roaring night and day near two years and when he lay thus in torment he committed every one of the people of the Lord to Prison that was brought before him though not any Law was transgressed and never repented to the day of his death Next one John Brown called Justice committed one Henry Williamson to Prison for going into Kettering Steeple-house though he never spoke one word but stood peaceably all the time and as soon as the Priest had done the people dragged him forth by the hair of the head struck him on the head face with their Bibles and he never speaking one word and John Brewa was an eye witness to this barbarous usage of him and never reproved the rude people for it but committed him to an Ale-house with a charge that none of his friends should come near him and
the next day contrary to all Law committed him to the common Goal and there he hath continued 42 weeks and never any accuser appeared against him And it was observed that just forty weeks after as it was accounted it being the just account of women his Wife brought forth a man-child into the World so deformed in many parts of the body many of the members being out of order as hardly ever any was seen to be the like and as soon as it was born he would not let it be seen by Neighbours but by those that were there at her delivery and so keeps it priprivate to this day and it is observed that he used all the members of his body to act wickedness against the innocent so the Lord visited his sin upon his child which that night might be begotten This Brown called Justice committed Marmaduke Storr and one John Whitehead one week after the committing of the other because they could not for Conscience sake swear to the Oath of Objuration though they denied what was contained in it and kept them 41 weeks in Prison And another time he and one Robert Buyclrek of the Peace came with armed Souldiers where there was divers of the people of the Lord assembled at a meeting in Isham on a first day and came violently into the house and haled the people forth of doors and struck some of them and said they would break up their meetings and committed one Thomas Stubs to the house of Correction from the Meeting with a strickt charge that he should be severely whipped which was done and since hath committed divers other friends to Prison and said to one Iohn Garret that he hoped to have a place in Heaven at Gods right hand for his punishing of the Quakers and wished he had more power in his hand this deformed child of his is never able to go while it lives and all his other children were very sickly and this hath been healthful and lusty and is above three years of age and kept privately One Peter Whaley Mayor of Northampton who was mad to persecute Friends in the year of his Maiorality did many wicked actions as committing some Friends to Prison and much abusing Friends that came to visit Friends that were in Prison he making them passes and sending them from Constable to Constable and in the middle of his year he went forth of the Town and the Lord struck him off of his horse and he died and one that lay in Prison for speaking to a Priest that he had formerly committed was as soon as he was dead immediately released One William Somes a Carpenter in Willingborrow a lusty young man was at the Towns end a sawing with another one evening as William Dewsberry and Francis Ellington and another Friend was passing to a Meeting William Dewsberry seeing him spoke these words to him Fear God and repent and give heed to the Light of Christ in your Consciences or else you perish eternally with some other words to this effect the said William Somes began much to laugh and to jear at him but William not regarding that passed away and immediately he was struck with lameness and pains that instant and so hath continued near â— years and can hardly speak any plain words and hath lost the use of his limbs of the one side One Oliver â—letsoe â— Draper in Wellinborrow having much enmity against Friends as Friends have passed by his shop to Meetings he would encourage his son about 12 years of age to abuâ—e them by throwing dirt and stones at them as they passed by presently after the house that he lived in being a stone built house one morning about eight in the morning the house over his shop fell down to the ground and his son that formerly abused Friends with his servant was accidentally in the street not knowing any thing that the house fell down to the ground and one of the stones fell upon the boys head and had very nigh slain him much wounding him and great loss came to his father the house falling upon all his goods and much of the goods were buried so under the rubbish that they were never found until they were rotten One Squire Willmor so called of Syweâ—l having one Richard Brown Tenant to him and Rented a farm of him and his predecessors 30 or â—0 years the said Richard owning truth and having meetings kept at his house in Sywell the rich man sent to him and told him that if he would not give over having meetings kept at his house he should not stay any longer then until his year was up he saying to him that he coâ—ld find no other fault with him in any thing but the said Richard would not yield to him to deny meetings he put him forth of his farm and immediatly after this great man having but one son and heir the Lord struck him with death and that as he would not suffer an Heir of Heaven to dwell in one of his houses except he would deny his God so his son and heir should not live in any of his fathers possessions but in the house of darkness was shut up to the great grief of his father One Robert Guy who is Clerk of the Peace who hath been one of the greatest enemies to the people of God in this County and hath dealt subtilly with the servants of the Lord and have stirred up the Magistrates against Friends when they have been brought to Sessions before them did say to Francis Ellington one day that the false prophets that Elija slew might as well plead they were persecuted then as the Quakers in England The said Francis was brought to the Sessions and there two wicked men did falsly swear against him and say That he did curse and deny the true God that made Heaven and Earth at a Meeting and though they swore this yet as soon as the Jury-men were gone forth they did in the presence of the Court one of them deny it again and confessed the truth and yet Robert Guy would take no notice of it neither would he suffer one of the said Francis Ellingtons witnesses to declare what he did speak being 5 of them except they would first swear which he knew they could not and so suffered the innocent to be committed in Prison and he himself did afterwards charge the Goaler privately to whip him once in two weeks or else he told the Goaler he should loose his place which the Goaler confessed to the said Francis but this was observed that the said Francis one day meeting with the said Guy upon the road was moved of the Lord to speak to him and bid him give over persecuting the people of God otherwise the Judgement of the Lord would suddenly overtake him and this was three dayes before the Sessions and he not believing but suffered the said Francis to be cast into Prison and there to be by his private order whipped once a fortnight and to