in your Forms without Power neither Flee the Cross any longer but wait in the True Simplicity to feel God's hand of Tender Love which he reacheth sorth to and manifesteth in you to lead and guide your minds into his Pure Worship which is in the Spirit and in the Truth Oh People This is the Worship that he will set up He will be LORD and LAW-GIVER in the Consciences of his People and those that will not be content that EMANUEL should Reign over them he will Slay them with the Sword of the Spirit The words of his Mouth Oh! Hearken hearken a little and stand still that you may hear the voice of the True Shepherd in your own hearts who calleth for Truth in the Inward Parts he will discover what lodgeth Within and He will shew you the Way wherein you should walk and he will let you see what the Cross is unto and He will teach you when you are alone in your Beds or where-ever you are if you will receive Him who giveth you Life and Breath whose gentle Reproofs and Instructions are the Way of Life Therefore you in whom the Breathings and Desires after the Lord are Consult not with Flesh and Blood neither reason against the Cross but submit to every Appearance of God's Power in you which appeareth to Crucifie the Fleshly Birth and Nature which hath stood and doth stand in Rebellion and Emnity against the Pure and Precious Life and Requirings of the Lamb of God that so that Mind which is at enmity against God and that Nature in you which is Disobedient to his Commands in Spirit may come to be Crucified that so there may be a Change Inwardly felt and witnessed by the working of the might Power of Christ in your Inward Parts and then the Desires and Breathings which are Begotten in you after Righteousness they will be strengthned and the Teachings of the Almighty will be truly known and you believing in the Power you will receive Power to obey and Practice whatsoever the Lord shall make known unto you by his Spirit to be his Will and Requirings Oh People Let the Dread of the Lord Seize upon your Spirits in this the Day of his Power wherein he is Trying Sifting and Winnowing the Nations and wait to feel that Life arise within you which beareth Testimony against all evil within and without that so ye may become more and more acquainted with the Teachings Drawings and Leadings thereof that thereby you may be drawn and led out of those things which have kept your Souls in the Death hindred you from enjoying the Pure Peace of God And this know and consider that all that come to witness their Souls raised out of Death and brought to enjoy the Peace of God they must Believe in the Life of the Quickning Spirit which is the Second Adam the Lord from Heaven who for Sin Condemneth Sin in the Flesh and appeareth in the Inward Parts of man to work out Sin and Transgression which hath Separated from God and so to make clean the heart and inside of Male and Female Oh People This is the Work of Christ the Son of God even to make manifest and destroy the Works of the Devil and so to reconcile man unto God by the Virtue of his own Life which he gave a Ransom for many and blessed are all those that believe in the Life of the Son of God and feel and know it manifested in their mortal flesh for they shall witness the Power of it to make all things new and so their Souls will come up in the hand of God and his Peace will be Received and Enjoyed Oh People Wait to know and feel this Work of Christ within you that so you may be made able to Stand in the Judgement and to Endure the Tryal and that you may be Hid from the Wrath of the Lamb which is nigh to come upon the Rebellious Oh! Consider this Those that are his Followers they come thorow many Tribulations and their overcoming their Enemies is by His Blood not by a talk of it but by the Virtue and Power of it sprinkled in their Hearts which washeth and maketh them White Clean and without Fault before God Oh People my Bowels yearn my Bowels yearn towards you whose Desires in any measure are after the Lord O that you would now Return with all your hearts unto Him and obey the Voice of his Power in you then should you be made able to stand and endure the fiery Tryal which is come and coming Oh! the Day hastens wherein all Profession that is not grounded in the Life and Power of the Lord Jesus Christ whatever the shew of it be it will be so shaken that an utter Blasting and withering shall come upon it and for that cause the Lord doth and will yet suffer great Tryals to come both upon the Professors and Possessors of his Name that so his Children the Possessors may be manifested unto all and discerned from all that are but Professors though never so fair and seemingly Covered For all Coverings but what is of the Power and Spirit it self shall be too Narrow and all that are not Covered with the Spirit and Power of Emanuel their Shame and Nakedness shall appear more and more This is the Testimony which the Spirit and Word of Truth giveth therefore He that hath an ear to hear let him hear before the day of his Visitation be wholly past and the things belonging to his Peace he hid from his Eyes For yet a little while and the Voice shall be He that is filthy let him be filthy still For the Spirit of the Lord shall not alwayes strive with Flesh but his Plagues and Indignation shall be poured out upon such as will be gathered in the Day of his Patience long Forbearance and Free-Love and He or She that Loveth Father Mother Husband Wife Children House or Land Liberty Honour or any Thing more than the Life of the Lamb shall be counted not worthy of him and plainly manifested so to be Read this who can and he that can receive it let him For the Time draweth nigh that these Sayings must be fulfilled Printed the 13th of the Second Month 1661. GEORGE FOX the Younger SEVERAL EPISTLES To FRIENDS Who are GATHERED into the Light of Life A General EPISTLE and a tender Greeting sent unto the Flock of Christ who meet together to Worship the Father and the Son in the Spirit of Truth to be read in the Fear and Wisdom of God amongst them DEAR and tenderly beloved Friends and â—hildren of the most High God who have felt and tasted of his eternal Word of Life and have been acquainted with the workings and operations thereof whereby you are begotten again unto a lively Hope and are brought to know that Life which you were alienated from and that Covenant of Promise which ye were strangers unto Oh Friends unto you is my Love in the Lord Jesus Christ exceeding great
it not been just with the Lord to have suffered your Enemies to have destroyed you because of your grievous back-slidings and wickedness O consider it consider it while ye have time and prize the Lord's loving kindness that he should yet spare you and yet give you time to repent And seeing the Lord hath shewed you your back-slidings with his eternal Witness in you and hath begun to frustrate the designs of those that would have cut you off in your back-slidings and ye confess some of you that you are willing to take shame also to your selves wherein you have back-slidden therefore seeing it is thus all mind that of God in you which sheweth you your back-slidings and believe and wait in that to feel that nature judged and destroyed in you wherein all this Wickedness and Deceit hath lodged and keep in the fear and dread of the Lord God that so ye may receive his pure Wisdom whereby ye may be ordered in the particular and that ye in God's Wisdom and Fear may come to Rule in your places for God to be a terror to evil-doers and an encouragement to them that do well And take heed of a selfish earthly spirit in the particular and of the Honour and Glory and Gain of the World for that the Lord is against Oh! there is a strong deep root of it in many of you which the Spirit of Judgement and burning and the Ax of God is to destroy therefore wait to feel its Work in you O Army in thee was I several years together in which time I saw the mighty appearance of God with thee even in the time of the outward War and when the War was ended I left thee in obedience to the appearance of the living God unto me who called me out of thee by his Powerful Word in my heart through which he hath sanctified me and hath brought me into the life of that Truth which I and many of you in the Army professed in Words And I can truly say in the Fear of the Lord That my love hath been and yet is tender towards you for the good of your souls and I have seen your conditions and have considered them in the Spirit of the Lord and I cannot flatter any of you but must deal plainly and truly with you and all People Truly in many of you there is an exceeding lofty proud covetous deceitful nature and in others of you there is a lofty proud lustful devouring wanton vain nature though many of you I know have felt a measure of the Power of God yet verily ye have so back-slidden that iniquity hath gotten a strong hold and root in most of you therefore ye must keep down to the Witness of God in you which searcheth your hearts and will let you see what is there that so the Lord 's righteous Judgement ye may all feel and own it upon that nature in you which is contrary to the living God for if ye keep not to the Spirit of Judgement I know whatever you have declared in words that a selfish Spirit will get up more and more to act in you And verily Friends if you keep not your minds to the measure of the pure God in you a secret boasting will be ready to get up in you of what you have done and then you will soon forget where you are and your minds will run further and further into your Commissions and into your great Houses and Lands which many of you have got and others minds will run into your Souldiers places and ease and idleness and these things will beguile you if take not heed and you will soon forget the Oppressions then that others suffer under and if ye should do thus verily the Lord God would soon overturn you and break you to pieces Therefore all wait in the Light which shews you sin and evil that so by it ye may be brought to deny your selves and to come out of the loftiness that ye have been in into the true humility which goes before the true honour and come into moderation both in your Diet and Apparel and in all things and this would answer the Witness of God in all People and that being answered it would beget again a love in them towards you which you lost when you went into the excess Therefore be sober and watch in the Light of the Lord Jesus Christ which he hath enlightned you withal and believe in it that so ye may be preserved by it out of the deceitfulness of this World and that ye may be kept faithful in your places for the preserving of the outward Peace and Liberty of the Nation while ye feel a Freedom in that which convinceth you of evil for the bearing a carnal Weapon and know the manifestation of God's Spirit in you and wait to feel the motions of it and be obedient thereto and this will bring you to do violence to no man nor to accuse any falsly but it will bring you out of all such things if you keep to it and it will make you to be content with such wages as may find you Food and Raiment and things necessary and convenient for your Places and this you would then be worthy of So know the Lord hath a mighty Work to do therefore wait in his Light that ye may be kept truly sensible of your Places and go not beyond them but keep in the Fear of the Lord and wait to know what God requireth of you in your places lest the Lord cast you out So remember you are warned and it is in tender love to your Souls This following more particularly concerneth the Officers of the Army and Rulers of this Nation than the Army in general Take heed of raising or continuing War with other Nations in your own wills for to get your selves a Name and to get their earthly Treasures as some of you have been instruments to do for the Lord's hand hath been and yet is against that and he will not prosper you therein therefore be you warned and know that this is a warning unto you from the Lord God and seek peace and eschew evil and learn to do well that the Blessing of the Lord ye may come to feel and that this destroying of Creatures about Religion and the Honour and Gain of this World may cease And take heed how ye meddle with Religion for that hath split and broken many Rulers before you therefore set not up one Sâ—ct and throw not down another by an outward Law and force for that is wrong and the Lord is against that but wait in his Light to receive his Counsel that so ye may be kept in God's Wisdom and that therein ye may be instruments in the hand of the Lord for the keeping of the outward Peace of these Nations which are under your Command And take heed of hearkning unto such who in the King's time cryed him up and ran to him to give them a Law to settle them
sorrow doubtings and fears filled your hearts Now as there are several conditions among you so also here are several things spoken unto each condition therefore you must mind the VVitness of God in your selves which makes manifest unto you your several conditions and that will let you see what of these things that are here written properly belongeth to each of you which is my desire that you may receive for my tender love in the Lord Jesus Christ is unto all your souls who truly breath after the Lord desiring your eternal good and that you may be brought into the enjoyment of that Life and Power and Presence which only can give satisfaction unto your immortal Souls Therefore as you tender the good of your own souls eternal Peace Cease hunting abroad in your imaginations and leave off wandring from Mountain to Hill and from Hill to Mountain where several of you have even wearied your selves for very vanity have not found a resting place and return Home Retire your minds inward unto that which oft springeth in you giving you the sensible knowledge and feeling of your particular conditions and putting you in remembrance of the dealings of God with you in times past for that which thus springeth in you is the Gift of God which is given you to profit withal Oh Friends turn not from this Gift in your selves as you have done for by your turning from this pure Life when it hath visited you by its oft putting you in remembrance wherein you went wrong you have come to loose the sensibleness of your condition and the enemy of your Souls thereby hath gotten great advantage against you and then you have been drawn and led by him into that which could not profit you Therefore all mind that Gift of God in your selves which maketh you sensible of your present conditions and which oft begetteth true desires in you to do the Will of God and which hath brought some of you into lowliness of mind and to walk humbly with the Lord in his pure Fear for some time For if ever you come to witness the true desires of your souls satisfied and you established in true Peace you must receive the living Principle of God in your own particular Vessels which Principle I call the Light it being a proper name for it because it maketh manifest all things that are justly reproved and whatsoever doth make manifest the same is Light But I shall not desire to tye up any of you to give this Principle of Truth only the name of Light for if you come to believe in it and receive it in the love of it and walk in obedience to its drawings leadings and requirings I shall not matter if you call it the Truth or the Gift of God or the manifestation of the Spirit of God or the Grace of God or the ingrafted Word or the manifestation of God or Christ or a measure of the Eternal Being or Fulness or Divine Nature or any other name which may truly be given unto it But this is that which I desire That you all may receive the thing it self which hath so oft made manifest your conditions unto you and sometimes brought you into brokenness of Spirit Object But some may say When we have had our conditions made manifest unto us and when we have been brought into brokenness of spirit and have had tender desires begotten in us towards God to do his VVill it hath oft been either when we have been reading the Scriptures or hearing them Preached or read by others and therefore we believe the Scriptures have done these things to us rather than any thing within us Answ Friends I shall not deny but that your conditions have been made manifest unto you and that you have been brought into brokenness of Spirit and have had true desires begotten in you to do the Will of God sometimes when you have read or heard the Scriptures read or Preached unto you But this I say unto you It was not the Scriptures that did these things but it was the Gift of God in your own hearts at that time as I shall plainly declare unto you Mark Thus it was when you have read or heard others read or speak such words of the Scriptures of Truth as were suitable to that condition you were then in or which did declare against such things as you were guilty of mark then hath the Witness of God arose in you sometimes and plainly spoke to your understanding part and convinced you that you were guilty of such things as were spoken against in such a Scripture as you read or heard yea it was the measure of God's Truth in your own Vessels that hath so made manifest your particular conditions unto you and hath perswaded and overpowered you and made you believe and sometimes confess particularly that thou wert the man or woman or child that was guilty of that or hadst need of that which thou then didst read or hear that the Scripture declared against or of And when the Power of God hath thus wrought in you at that time when you have heard or read the Scriptures you have sometimes indeed been brought into brokenness of Spirit and render desires have been begotten in you towards the Lord And the Lord hath also appeared unto some of you sometimes in the Night season or as you have been about your labour or otherwise and some of you have felt his pure Power working in you whereby your understandings in some measure have been opened and your conditions plainly made manifest unto you and much tenderness hath been begotten in you even when you have neither heard nor read any thing outwardly but the pure operation of the Spirit and Power of Truth in some of you hath done these things and wrought your minds into lowliness meekness and quietness And then hath the pure love of God been felt in some measure whereby your souls have been refreshed So Friends the Holy One is neither by you to be limited to the Scriptures nor yet from the Scriptures in any wise as to his appearance to his Creatures but you are to learn to wait in the measure of his Grace which hath appeared unto you and you are to watch in the Light for his further appearance unto you And as you come to wait upon the Lord in his pure Fear and Dread you will feel your minds wrought into stilness and so you will come to hear the pure Voice of God and Christ who are one and become acquainted therewithal and his love you will feel arising in you whereby you will be constrained to obey it when or where-ever you come to hear it and then you will see the Lord is not to be limited either to time or place or means outward but you will see that he manifesteth himself to his Creatures even when and where and howsoever he pleaseth And truly Friends As concerning these things which the Lord hath suffered to come
things that is of this world for the Tryal will be great unto such Dear hearts I know that some of you have suffered the losse of much for his Name sake already oh faint not neither be weary for all your Sufferings are known unto the Lord and he will not alwayes so try you but he will sufficiently recompence you if ye abide to the end Therefore watch unto Prayer and Pray in the Spirit as it moves you thereunto that you may be kept through Faith unto the end of the Tryal that you may be prepared and made fit for the deliverance which must come by an outstretched Arm and when you are tryed deeply either in Prisons or otherwise oh Friends murmur not but feel the Lord's strength to support you that you may not bow to the Enemy in any wise whose day is but short and therefore he is wroth and rages for such as bow to any thing but the Name of our King verily their torment and perplextty will be exceeding miserable when the Lord shall deliver his chosen who kept their integrity and loved not their estates nor lives but gave up all for his Name sake Therefore dear Friends hearken you to the voice of the Lord and keep you to the leadings of his Eternal Spirit and let his Dread fill you hearts And you that feel but little Sufferings and Tryals take heed of a wrong security and of a false ease and Liberty least the day of the Lord come upon you at unawares and a violent storm unlookt for and you that are in deep Sufferings and Tryals be not you cast down but know that the Tryal of your Faith is exceeding precious and if you keep your minds stayed upon the Lord then will you learn much in such a time and you will feel the presence of God and the virtue of his Power inwardly refreshing you and you will feel the Power of his Majesty giving you Authority sutable to the Condition you are in So as all Friends are kept in that which gives you the sence and feeling of your conditions that Principle of Life will work your minds and hearts into contendedness with the Will of God which is your Sanctification So let the bond of Peace be minded in all things for it is comely amongst Brethren And now the God of Life and endless Virtue and Power watch over you and Minister unto every one of you that which is sutable to your present conditions and the Lord God Almighty preserve and keep you Low Humble Meek Tender Innocent upright Faithful and valiant out of the Snares of the Enemy and give you Peace in all your Tryals and let the Patience of his Lamb be increased in you that you may stand unmoveable upon the Rock of Ages and retain the Life which quickens in your understandings And the Lord God open and keep open your discernings that by no meanes the subtilty may beguile the similicity in this the day of Tryal Eternal Father unto thee I commend all thy Flock that thou Father may fill them with Wisdom Strength and Courage that to thy Glory they may be preserved in their several places and measures to whom be Dominion and Glory everlasting for thy endless riches for thou Lord art worthy to Reign over all Even so come Lord God and take thy Kingdom I the Prisoner for the Lord salutes all you who loves the appearance of Christ in that love which abides for ever GEORGE FOX the Younger Lambeth House the 14th of the 5th Month 1660. SUrely it was thee O Lord that gave bounds unto the Sea that the floods thereof could not overwhelm thy chosen thou canst let forth the winds and suffer a storm and thou canst make a Calm when thou pleasest have thou the Glory of all Thou King of Saints thou Saviour of Israel thou canst do whatsoever thou pleasest therefore will we trust in thy Name neither will we fear what man can do unto us because thou wilt not forsake us but thou wilt plead our Cause in the sight of our adversaries and they shall know that thou art our God who art able to save to the uttermost O Lord our Righteousness we will praise thy Name for thy Mercies indure for ever our eyes O God are unto thee for we have no other helper our Faith O Lord standeth in thee who canst not forget thy People Thou hast revealed and brought up Jacob who wrestleth with thee and prevails as a Prince therefore must the Blessing come O Lord the Birth the Birth cryeth unto thee thine own Elect which long hath been Oppresseâ— â—hou canst not deny thy self therefore have we Faith and Hope which maketh not ashamed Oh Lord 〈◊〉 unsearchable are thy wayes Thou hast even amazed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the depth of thy Wisdom thou onâ—ly wiâ—l have the Glory of their deliverance and therefore 〈◊〉 thou suffered these things to come to pass 〈…〉 Righteous in all thy Judgements onely preserâ—e thy People which thou hast gathered and will gather unto thy self in the day of Tryal that so they may sing of thy Power and Magnifie thy Name in the Land of the Living George Fox the Younger The Breathings of true Love from the Immortal Seed in the Prisoner for the Lord unto his People DEear Friends Brethren and Sisters in the Light called to be a People loved of God the Father in the Lord Jesus Christ Grace Love and Peace be multiplied amongst you through the abundant manifestation of the Spirit of Life proceeding from the Father and the Son My Children and beloved Friends the God of all Truth hath appeared unto you in the Everlasting Covenant of Light and Life visiting you in an acceptable Day and Time making known unto you his Eternal Truth by the Revelation of his Mighty Power in your Mortal Bodies whereby he brought you indeed to feel and know the miserable Estate and Condition that ye were in and he hath also given you to see him upon whom help is laid and you have received him who is the Salvation of God through the drawings of his Mighty Power and you are brought to know and believe That Salvation is not to be had in another yea many of you have received the Covenant of God and do indeed know that your sins are washed away in the blood thereof for you have the witness in your selves and the word of reconciliation is felt and known in your hearts whereby abundance of Peace and Joy unspeakable is witnessed and the Kingdom is come of which there is no end and some of you are placed together therein in Christ Jesus and many others of you the called of the Lord are travelling thitherwards through the Righteous Judgements of the Lord in the Spiritual Warfare and in the Faith and Patience of the Lamb. Now my Friends Be you stedfast in the Truth of God received you have been a suffering People most of the time since the Lord hath brought you in any measure into the obedience
their Visitation even in the day of God's long Patience and Forbearance but set and bend themselves against the Lord and his Anointed Now Friends here is our strength and these are the Weapons which we must war withal against all this ungodliness that is come and coming up Therefore every particular hearken diligently unto the Call of God in the inward parts and wait in the meek Principle of Life that each may know and feel their own proper Gift or Gifts Weapon or Weapons and that every one may be kept sensible of the Teachings of the Captain of our Salvation that so ye may be expert in handling and using of it or them to the glory of him who hath called you to War against Babylon And dear Friends if any who love the Truth be yet further oppressed and their Goods spoyled by the false Prophet or Beast as many will be Oh! be ye tender-hearted towards such and know that the Earth is the Lord's and the Fulness thereof and they that follow the Lamb are redeemed from the Earth Therefore ye who know the Life dwell in it that your Redemption from all earthly things may be witnessed and that your Bodies and Estates may freely be given up to serve the Lord and one another whilst you are suffered to enjoy them Friends I know many of your Bodies and Estates have been and yet are so given up but these things I speak by way of remembrance to stir up the pure mind in all who breath after the Truth that love unfeigned may be maintained and encreased among you that ye may be all as Children of one Family dwelling together in Unity and Peace contented with the Will of the Father and be not at all discouraged or daunted because of the strength and malice and cruelty that is in the Adversary but be still and Patient in the Faith and stand out of all mortals in the sence of the Invisible Immortal Power of God and in that Meet oft together and visit one another whilst you may and be as Lambs amongst Wolves and the LORD our God shall appear for us and fight against our Enemies as he fought in the dayes of old against the Enemies of his Seed yea he shall confound our Enemies and bring them to naught and bring Liberty to his People when he hath tryed them to the full be Patient and doubt not though the Day must be hot yet it shall be but short for the Elects sake Watch and look not out He that will save his Life shall lose it but he that is willing to part with it shall find it eternally So the endless eternal Father of Life of Power of Wisdom of Peace of Love of Salvation gather and knit and unite you together and preserve and keep you in the melting Power and Love of the Lamb that ye may be as a Garden of Spices that your savour may be pleasant unto the Lord and unto all that breath after him in this the day of Tryal Amen Ah my dear Friends you have had a large and glorious day allowed you for the begetting and gathering of you into the precious Faith and the Unity thereof and many precious opportunities have you had for the assembling your selves together in the Name of the Lord and plenteously hath his eternal sweet Power and Life been manifested in and among you and as you have waited therein Oh! how have you felt the Blood of the everlasting Covenant the Life of Jesus purging and purifying your Consciences that therein you might hold the Mystery of that Faith which is your Victory over the World And now my Friends the Lord our God hath seen it good that ye may yet be tryed yea you must further be tryed your Faith your Strength your Patience must all be tryed and that by fire as I said before that a pure People you may be who stand and endure the Tryal unto the Lord yea a glorious People shall ye be whose beauty and splendor shall fill the Earth Therefore my dearly beloved in the Lord be watchful I beseech you and turn in and keep low in the feeling of the eternal Power in your own Vessels and know that every particulars strength lyeth there and ever particular will be tryed Therefore keep to your particular strength and be obedient to the Power in all its movings that so by it your minds may be drawn off all things that can or may change and come to an end and become wholly centered in the unchangeable endless Life of God Then my Friends nothing can harm you But verily if any of your affections be centered in Husbands Wives Children or any earthen Vessel or visible thing whatsoever so as that you cannot be willing to part with all if it be required at your hands then may your sufferings be great and dangerous unto you Therefore I beseech you be followers of the invisible Life of Jesus in all its appearances anddrawings that so by it you may be taught how to use all visible changeable things unto the Glory of the Lord whilst you are permitted to enjoy them And that you may be made willing to give up and to part with all yeâ— even with your lives also if you be called thereunto for the Tryal of your Faith or that your Enemies thereby may fill up the measure of their Iniquity and that Judgement may come upon them to the full And whilst you have outward liberty for the keeping your Meetings together be diligent therein as I said before and when any of you come to be hindred from such opportunities as you have enjoyed Oh! then be patient and wait upon the Lord for strength and if in any place it should come to pass that but two or three of you could come together neglect not that for if in the pure fear and love of God you be kept it will be profitable comfortable unto you And dear Friends you who are but weak in the Truth to you I now speak Take heed of looking out at any of us whom the Lord God hath drawn forth by his own Power and Love to declare his living eternal Truth unto you I say look not out at us as for strength or teaching but look to the endless Life in your selves which we have directed you unto in which your strength and satisfactory Teaching is for we may be removed far from you as to the outward but the Life and Power by which you and we stand abideth with and in you and we as to the outward may be bruised broken and slain for the Testimony of Jesus and the Word of God which we hold But the Life and Spirit of God and the Lamb dwelleth for ever with you that believe in it and if ye crucifie it not to your selves there is none that can slay it And while you have Us or any of Us among you I exhort and warn you all and that in the Name and Authority of the Lord that ye look not
upon or think of any of Us above what we are lest thereby you should hurt your selves or any of us but according as God hath distributed unto us of his Heavenly Treasure even so know us and feel us and receive us in the Lord and know no man after the flesh neither admire any thing but the pure Life of God and the Birth born of him and know that what of God's treasure we have in our earthen Vessels we have received it from the Lord that none might glory or boast in what they have over another And what we have received it is partly for your sakes that we might impart of the same unto you as good Stewards of the manifold Grace of God and although we are become the Lord's Free-men through the work of his eternal Power and Spirit yet are we your Servants in Christ and so let us be accounted among you for that is our place and duty even to serve you in the Lord and to stand given up to spend and be spent for you and if we should not so walk among you in all humility of mind I know the Lord would soon withdraw his glorious Power and Presence from us and then what should we be more than others nay how much less and weaker So dear Friends keep in the pure Fear and live in the true favour that ye may have a true sensible feeling one of another in your present conditions and that ye may be able to strengthen one another in the Lord. And if at any time any be felt not to be in so clear and living a condition as they formerly have been in Oh! take heed how you judge of those things and beware of prejudice or of a Spirit that would rejoyce because advantages at such a time may easily be taken for that is accursed in the sight of God But keep ye in the dread and Wisdom of the Lord And they that reprove or exhort such as are come to loss in their conditions let it be in that Spirit which can bear and suffer all things that are to be born for the Seeds sake in the true patience and meekness Oh Friends this is the restoring healing strengthening consolating Spirit which is of great price with the Lord and in this live and you will feel the Blessing the Peace and Mercy upon the Israel of God and you will be meet helps one to another And now dear Friends and Babes you who watch for Peace and Unity in Righteousness and can bear and endure all things that may be born for the Elects sake my Life is bound up with you in the overcomings of God's Love and I am refreshed in you and I partake of your Peace and Joy and meet and kiss you in the meek Spirit and rejoyce with you in the work of the Lord my Friends go on in the power of God and build up one another in the living Faith and wait therein together that in the eternal Power ye may feel Dominion over all the cruelty of the Enemy for it 's the Faith in the power that must break through all this wickedness and bring down all this ungodliness that is spreading it self as if there were no end of it But Friends as in the dread of the Lord ye keep you will see the power of Darkness vanish away and they that act in it shall be chained under though for a moment they have liberty for the Tryal of our Faith But verily in the Power of the Lord God I can truly rejoyce over all these things because I see the Lord's presence and loving kindness in a wonderful manner amongst those that truly wait upon him and trust alone in him for deliverance even in the time of their Tryals and because he hath given me stedfastly to believe That he will bring deliverance for his People and set them over all the Powers of the Earth by his own arm Therefore let none murmur not think that the Lord is slack concerning his appearing for his People but let every one that knows the Truth in that patiently wait and endure whatsoever the Lord suffers the wicked to do unto you in the day of his long Patience and Forbearance which he in compassion grants unto them that they might come to repentance and amendment of Life which if they wholly slight and will not be gathered in their day he hath power enough and will execute it to destroy them and to deliver his People that trust in him So in the pure Life and Power and Vertue of the Father be ye stayed and quiet in your minds and wait to receive your daily Bread and Water of Life from him that ye may grow up in the eternal and be established for ever in the Power of an endless Life Oh Friends if any look out in this day they will let in weakness and whosoever feels weakness let them abide and believe in that which makes them sensible of their weakness and they will gather strength and be able to stand And as for you my dearly beloved Friends who are come to witness your Redemption from the earth by the Blood of the Covenant and are now following of the Lamb whithersoever he goeth leads draws or commands you I know you are come to the Anointing and have received it and that abides in you and you into it are comprehended so that you need not any man to teach you but as the same anointing that abideth in you doth teach you for that is true and there is no lye of it and that teacheth you of all things which are suitable to your conditions and it sheweth you things to come and with it you are able to try Spirits and Doctrines and even as it hath taught you ye shall abide in him the Lord that Spirit And where this is felt and witnessed there is liberty and sitting and waiting in this you are fed with the Bread from above which giveth life and refreshed with the springs from beneath which makes its way through the Rocks and Mountains to the pleasant Valleys and you that are come to this seat you are able to judge of things within and without and although you have not need to be taught by letters yet I know you that are come to this state can bear the Word of Exhortation to be sounded among you that so it may reach unto them to whom it is of service for the stirring up of their pure minds that so the Life and Power immortal may in the freshness and purity of it be felt in and amongst all the Flock and that in the sweetness and vertue thereof you all may be kept and preserved in pure Unity and Peace with God and one with another So the Blessing and Mercy of the Almighty rest and abide for ever upon you all who delight in the Truth which is eternal And Friends take heed how you receive reports and report them again for there is a great danger in those things and there
Christ who am filled with his streaming consolating Virtue Joy Peace Love and everlasting Refreshment George Fox the Younger Touching compelling Engagements this in the Truth I say A Fearful hard unbelieving heart in man was the ground from whence those Engagements arose They that stand live in that ground cannot trust in the Lord but make flesh their Arm and therefore where such have Power they seek to force and compell men to Swear Vow and Promise and Engage to be true to them and to seek to preserve them But whosoever do Righteousness and Rule therein God is their trust and his Arm is their strength and such are a Dread and a Terror to Evil Doers and a praise to them that do well and their hearts are inclined by the Lord to such Rulers Now he that desires to turn a fearful hard unbelieving heart out of that state he must seek to turn it from the false refuge strength and security of it made to preserve it self in that state and so direct it to that which must break it and its confidence in its false refuge Also if a man puts trust and confidence in Bulwarks of Earth that cannot preserve him and labour to fortifie himself therein by building them higher and believes that if he gets them higher he shall be safe Mark he that stands by and knows certainly that such a one is deceived and doth see that he cannot be safe in that place and yet for self ends upon any account whatsoever shall help the deceived man to build his Bulwark higher that man doth not do well in so doing he doth not as he would be done unto Are not the Children of Light Engaged and bound to God in the bond of love to resist every thing that is Evil and to do unto all men as they would they should do to them yea to serve and obey the Lord in all things is not this our Covenant with God therefore can we consent to any Evil Custom of man without breaking Covenant with God and have we not seen counted and declared this to be an Evil Custome that hath been upheld among the Sons of Men Mark for them that get upper most in the many changings still to force and compel others to Engage to them Oh! consider this seriously But what if the Ruler will take that for an Engagement to him that my Principles leads me unto whether he command me to it or not may not I lawfully give him that if that will save me from suffering and if it be so that he will Persecute me if I do not so Engage to him It is not lawful for thee to do evil that good may come thereof Mark the Persecuter is not of God but of the wicked One and he is not to be bowed unto whatever thou suffer thou oughtest not to be compelled to Engage to any that compelling custom is Evil and is to be resisted in the Lambs Power Mark Although I dare not but serve the Lord God according to the Principle of his Truth in me yet if any man should come and say thus unto me If thou wilt not Promise and Engage unto me that thou wilt serve and obey the Lord thy God I will Persecute thee but if thou wilt I will not I say though I knew he had Power to Persecute and execute the same yet I dare not Engage or make such a Promise to him whatever he were First Because I know the Lord requires no such thing at my hand Secondly Because if I did I should in so doing bowe and yield to the compelling Power of a Persecuting Spirit which is not of Christ but against him and this will dishonour and offend the holy God and bring me into sore bondage also therefore I dare not for Conscience sake yield to that Evil Custom of Engaging to man which hath been upheld in the compelling Persecuting Power among the Sons of Men. From one that truly seeks the good of the whole Creation and can freely give unto Cesar the things that are Cesar's but I must give unto God the things that are Gods who also desires that the Authority and honour of Truth may be preserved whatever become of me George Fox the Younger None can hinder the DETERMINED WILL of GOD. WHat my Father hath Determined for these men to do no man can stopt it Oh! that Patienec might be abode in by all that know his Name and his Will submitted unto by them that he hath called O be still strive not but Drink the Cup which my Father suffereth to be given I know it will be bitter to some but whosoever striveth against it shall come to loss and shame for the Lord will yet further Try his People till it be fully and clearly manifest who are the Approved in his sight This he will certainly do Therefore let not the present Calm beget a wrong security in any for loe the Day hastens and comes swiftly that another storm must arise and in Vain will it be to flie to the Tall Cedars and strong Oakes for shelter for nothing but the Name of the Lord can preserve in that Day Written the beginning of the 4th Month 61 GEORGE FOX the Younger Concerning the departure of Dear GEORGE FOX the Younger or words spoken by him a little before he was taken out of the Body THis may inform Friends that as formerly he was a man full of the Power of the Lord whose living presence dayly did accompany him so also in the last Visitation of his outward man even till the laying down thereof it was largely continued to and with him for he lay although weak in body as a man dayly renewing his strength in the Lord even to the last whose living powerful presence was seen and felt to be very powerfully present with him yea he was so fill'd with the Power and presence of the Lord of Life That he said although very weak as aforesaid That he would even shout and sing for Ioy of heart and so did Exhort Friends to keep in that Vnity which he had so long travailed for And then with much fervency of Spirit he Prayed and exhorted all Friends To keep their Garments unspotted of the World because great was the Day of Tryal that was at hand Recommending all Friends to the Lord with his Dear love to all the Faithful Lambs and Babes of the Lord and taking his leave of Friends fell a sleep in perfect Peace with the Lord being in perfect memory to the last This Testimony was Received from a Friend who was with him in the time of the weakness of his outward man even untill the laying down thereof This is for you who are called Common-wealths men both in the Army and Parliament to read Wherein are many plain and true things declared unto you which are suitable to your present Estate and Condition that ye may consider them in the same that they are sent unto you in which is in Truth and in sincerity
for God in their Professions p. 163. 17. A True Relation of the cause of his Imprisonment by the Magistrates at Harwich p. 193. 18. His Faith touching 4. Particulars Demonstrated 1. Concerning Jesus Christ the Saviour of the World 2. Concerning Justification 3. Concerning the Resurrection 4. Concerning Everlasting Glory and Eternal Misery p. 208. 19. Englands sad Estate and condition lamented p. 212. Several Epistles to Friends who are gathered into the Light of Life 1. A General Epistle and tender Greeting sent unto the Flock of Christ Pag. 230. 2. An Epistle to all who love the Lord Jesus Christ in Sincerity p. 241. 3. To the Called of God who believe in the Light of the Lamb. p. 245. 4. The Breathings of true Love from the Immortal Seed in the Prisoner for the Lord unto his People p. 250. 5. To the Tribulated Fock of Christ in Bonds or elsewhere Salutation p. 263. 6. Touching compelling of Engagements p. 267. 7. That none can hinder the Determined Will of God p. 269. 8. Concerning his laying down the Body p. 270. 9. For the Common-wealths men both in the Parliament and Army p. 272. COMPASSION TO THE CAPTIVES WHEREIN Is shewn unto them the Way of God Which is but one which is not known in the many Sects and Opinions that are in the dark World but in the Light which comes from Christ which condemns the World with its deeds So they that live in the many Sects and Opinions their wayes are seen and denied by the Children of Light who dwell in Him who is the Way the Truth and the Life With something in plainness to the Officers and Souldiers of the Armies in General in England Scotland and Ireland Also a strong and terrible Alarm sounded out of the Holy Mountain against the Inhabitants of the Earth Given forth for the Innocent Seeds sake which is scattered abroad in the dark World By me who suffers for the Testimony of Jesus and keeps the word of his Patience in the common Goal of Edmonds Bury in the County of Suffolk where I have suffered above forty nine weeks through the envy and cruelty of Sions Oppressors I am known to the world by the name George Fox the Younger London Printed for Robert VVilson at the Black-spread-Eagle and VVind-Mill in Martins le Grand 1662. Compassion to the Captives Wherein is shewn unto them the Way of God which is but one which is not known in the many Sects and Opinions which are in the dark World But in the Light which comes from Christ c. THerefore this is unto you in whom there is any desires to know the way of the pure God who are scattered abroad in the dark World and are yet groping in the dark in the many Sects and Opinions Jam. 4.3 You ask and receive not because you ask amisse you have been wandring from Mountain to Mountain and from Hill to Hill but yet you have found no resting place for you have sought in your own wills and have run in your own imaginations and have not at all considered what it was that guided you but in darkness ye have walked and ye know not whither 1 John 2.11 and ye have joyned some with one Sect and some with another and in your own wills have contended each of you for your Opinions and yet ye have not been satisfied in your minds many of you whither that was the Truth that ye contended for or not for doubtings have oftentimes arose in your minds and you have been many times struck with fear and then you have sometimes in tenderness desired that you might know the way of God aright and ye have been some of you brought somewhat down and then you have been afraid to run into those evil Practises which formerly you have acted and delighted in Yet this hath been but for a time for ye knew not what that was that struck you but in your Imaginations you have consulted and then in your own wills you have sate down and said within your selves that you would never act such wickedness again but this being in your wills you have not found Power to resist the Temptations of the wicked one Neither have you found any Power over your lusts for by them you have been drawn away Jam. 1.14 and so have run into the same wickedness again and then some of you have been ready to despair and other times you have accounted God an hard Master as the slothful servant did Mat. 25.18 24 25. for you are yet in the same Nature and Practice that he was in for your Talent also is hid in the Earth and your earthly minds are above and rule and you are subiected by the Powers of the Earth so that those weak desires that yet remain in you towards â—he lâ—â—ing God are greatly oppressed by the Earth and kept in Bondage and Captivity by the Powers thereof and Leanness and Barrenness is in your Souls now while you continue thus striving in your own wills or imaginations profess what you will you cannot have any true Peace nor rest in your minds neither can you receive any satisfaction to those desires which are real after God I say while you thus act Therefore consider your wayes speedily and hate not the Covenant of God nor contemn his Promise any longer Now this is the Promise of the Lord speaking of his servant whom he hath chosen even the Son of his Love saying I will give him for a Covenant to the People and for a Light to the Gentiles that he may be my Salvation to the ends of the Earth Isa 42.6 49.6 And Christ Jesus the Son of God saith I am the Light of the World John 8.12 And John who was a true Minister of Christ and bore witness of him saith He lighteth every man that cometh into the world John 1. chap. 9 v So you have all received a Light from Christ and this Light shineth in Darkness but the Darkness cannot comprehend it And this is the Condemnation of the World that Light is come into the World and men loved Darkness rather than Light because their deeds were Evil And he that doth Evil hateth the Light neither will he bring his Deeds to the Light lest it should reprove them John 3.19 Therefore you that desire to know the Way of the Pure God be not high-minded but repent and come down to the Light of Christ in your Consciences that is the Light which shews you Sin and Evil and this the Way Christ Jesus the Light he is the Way to the Father and no man cometh to the Father but by him Joh. 14.6 Therefore as the Light appears in you to shew you the Evil of your doings take heed to the Light and wait in it that you may see Condemnation pass upon that which hath led you into the Evil of the World and that you may come to be sensible of a guide to your minds to guide you out of the Evil that so the Cross
Consciences and where your Power is to obey is here shewed unto you So here is Life and Death set before you Deut. 30.19 now if you yet refuse to hear you shall not be able to plead ignorance in the day when God calls you to an account for I have cleared my Conscience unto you in the sight of God and am clear of your Blood Ezek. 33.9 and am witnessed by the Light of Christ in all your Consciences which Light is your Teacher if you love it but your condemnation eternally if you hate and reject it Therefore whilst you have time prize it and despise not the day of your visitation but to day if you will hear the Voice of the Son of God come down to the Light in all your Consciences which reproves you for sin and shews you the loss that ye are yet in and wait in it and harden not your hearts nor despise the long sufferings of God neither linger through sloathfulness any longer lest he give you up wholly to your own wills and vile affections and lusts Psal 81.11 12. which lead you into wickedness and perverseness and so God overtake you there and bring his Judgements upon you and you perish with the wicked in your stubbornness and Rebellion So hear fear and do no more presumptuously From me who am a sufferer for the innocent Seeds sake who labours and waits in the power of the living God for its deliverance out of Bondage and Captivity G. F. Unto you the Officers and Soldiers of the Armies in England Scotland and Ireland REmember how at the beginning of the late Wars in these Nations that many of you were of the lowest of the People according to the account of men and you were poor and contemptible in the eyes of your Enemies who disdained and scorned you and thought soon to have made a prey upon you But I bear you Record that then many of you had a zeal for God and against his Enemies and according to your knowledge some of you acted faithfully for a time and then some of you had a desire to grow in the knowledge of God and to act for him and some of you were come so far as to see the Priests to be Enemies to the Truth and such as deceived the People and your Zeal waxed hot against them and their Idolatry so that you robbed them of their abominable Attire which they had caused the deceived People to provide them to wear in the time of their Idolatrous Worship and some of you did help to break down their Images and Altars which were in the high places where they worshipped And thus far â—ou did that which was right in the sight of God and you saw that the Priests laid heavy burdens upon the People Mat. 2.3 4. and oppressed them greatly in forcing them by an unjust Law to give them the tenth of their Labours and you saw several Laws which were made and upheld by the wills of Tyrants in these Nations to be contrary to the Law of God And then you Promised and Vowed unto God if he would deliver your Enemies which then were many and great into your hands that then you would take off that great Oppression which by unjust Laws were laid and continued upon the People and that those Laws concerning Oppression and constraining men to Worship contrary to their Consciences should be regulated or disannulled and made of none effect and that all men should have their Liberty to Worship according to what they knew and that none should Tyrannize over the Consciences of their Brethren to compel them otherwise but that all should have their Freedom and Liberty therein These things you Promised and Engaged to do and you caused many People to Engage to be True unto you and to stand firm with you that so you might recover their Liberties and outward Rights and bring them out of Bondage in which they were then held Captives by their Enemies and upon this Account the People furnished you with Money and VVeapons to War against their Oppressors and you cryed then unto the Lord in your Distresses and he was pleased to hear you and he smote your Enemies with Terror and Fear and overthrew all their wicked devices and frustrated all their designs and brought to naught all their mischievous plottings against you neither suffered he them to stand in the day of Battel before you because they trusted in their own strength but he gave them into your hands for a Prey and whom ye would ye slew and whom ye would ye preserved alive and you spoiled them and they became Servants and Bond-men unto you and you ruled over them as it is at this day Thus God by his own Power delivered them into your hands and preserved you in the day of Battel and was seen mightily amongst you and wonderfully delivered you out of their hands and gave you outward rest and ease from your outward Enemies and your Name became a Terror and an Astonishment unto the Nations about when they heard of those Acts which God had wrought by you But now the love of the Lord unto you and the day of your Distress by you is forgotten and your Vows and Promises which you then made unto God and Man are neglected and slighted by you for as great or greater Oppression and Burdens yet remain upon the People as were then and now many of you are possessed of your Enemies Houses and Lands and Goods and some of you are waxen rich through the spoil of your Enemies and the greatness of your Pay and some by doing Violence and so through your Riches and abundance many of you are grown high-minded and proud and many of you through idleness and fulness of the Creature are grown exceeding wanton and lustful and now run on in the common pollutions of the world and some of you are grown exceeding covetous and are become grinders of the faces of the Poor Isa 3.15 and defrauders one of another and many of you now are seeking and contriving in your own Wisdom how to grow greater and to excel others in earthly Riches and Honour and to establish your selves there by the strength of the arm of flesh and some of you are boasting of you strength and valour and stoutness Jer. 9.23 24. and are oftentimes telling how you killed and wounded and took and destroyed your Enemies and this is oft done by you when you are devouring the Creation upon your ungodly lusts and when you are gaming and spending away your precious time in vanity and here you remember not how God by his own Power delivered them into your hands neither give you him the Glory but ascribe it to your own strength and wisdom and boast in the Creature and so forget the Creator and so that simplicity and tenderness that was once in some of you is destroyed and murdered by the lusts of the flesh which are highly exalted in you and that Zeal that was
Gods appearance within you by drawing your minds into the visible changeable things and yet the Lord in love to his own Seed hath spared you so mind the Lords long patience and forbearance which hath been great towards you for his Seeds sake in you which breathes and thirsts after his Righteousness and cannot be satisfied without his life and presence And truly friends my love is exceeding tender and large towards you in whom there is such a pure tender Seed stirring and my desire is who have seen the emptiness of all Profession without the life that you might come to witness the Seed satisfied in you with the Pure Power and Life and Virtue of the Living God which hath suffered long in you and hath not been satisfied by reason of your disobedience unto the Light Therefore in Tender Bowels of Love and Compassion unto you I do freely declare unto you all The New and Living way which hath been from the beginning which is CHRIST JESUS the true Light which lighteth every one which cometh into the World whereby every one of you believing in the Light may come to receive a particular satisfaction from Christ from whence the Light doth come Friends The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withall but you have transgressed and gone from the manifestation of Gods Spirit in your own particulars and so it is impossible for you ever to profit in the things of God or come to receive a particular satisfaction until you come to own that and believe in that which you have transgressed and gone from which was given you to profit withall and to lead you into the substance which giveth satisfaction Now the manifestation of the Spirit doth shew unto you your runings and willings and actings and strivings that ye have been in whereby ye could never obtain satisfaction unto that in you which breathes to do the Will of God now you must mind that which makes manifest these things unto you and as you take notice of that which is the Light and wait in it you will come to feel it drawing you into stilness and coolness and quietness of spirit and then with the Light you will come to discern the subtilty and the motions thereof which have oft beguiled you by drawing you from quietness and stilness into the Airy imaginations whereby he hath tossed and unsetled your minds and as you waite in that which doth make manifest which is the Light and believe in it you will come to feel something arising in you in Power to Judge and condemn the subtilty as that stirs in you to draw you from waiting upon God and then you will come to know and feel the spirit of Judgement and burning placed in you to purge you and as you wait in the Judgement in patience and stilness you will come to hear the still voice that is spoken of in the Scriptures saying This is the way and shewing it unto you and when you see the way as you wait in that which shewes it unto you then you will come to hear the Command in Power saying unto you walk in it and then you will come to know your Teacher which cannot be removed into a corner and so here the path of the just ye will all come to know and witness in your selves which is the shining Light which shineth more and more until the perfect day for as you all wait in that which calls for stilness and silence to the flesh and the motions thereof ye will come then to see more Light and so ye will come to witness what David spoke to be true who said to God In thy Light shall we see Light and then the just which hath been long oppressed and burthened in you will begin to spring and as you believe and wait in the Light your minds being staid in it you will come to feel God's Living Power working and opperating in you condemning and removing that in you which hath oppressed and burthened the just and so by God's pure Power as you wait and continue in it you will come to feel and witness the just holy Seed raised up in you from under that which did oppress and burthen it and here you will feel the captive come out of captivity by the Gospel which is the Power of God and the Prison door set open and the Prisoners set at Liberty And then as you wait in the Light you will come to feel God's pure Powerful Presence and Life and Virtue runing through you which will refresh the Seed which is tender and give satisfaction unto it and so as you all wait low in the fear of God watching in the Light that nothing may get up in you to boast and glory which is not of God you will then feel your love exceedingly encreased towards the Pure Living Truth of God and your whole delight will be to walk in the Truth in Righteousness and Holiness without which no man shall see the Living God and as you all walk in the Light obeying it you will come into the Pure Fellowship and Communion and Unity of the Saints and then you will feel the Life which is the Blood of Jesus Christ cleansing you purging and purifying you from all Sin and so as every one of you abide in the Faith feeling it and standing in the Power of God that will purifie your hearts and give you victory over the World and then you will come to receive a particular satisfaction from Christ the Power which is the Author and ground of the Saints Faith and you will feel God's Spirit and Power and Life as you dwell in it drawing and leading you into whatsoever he requireth you to do and as you all wait and are still in that which doth discern the thoughts and the intents of your hearts and makes them manifest unto you you will clearly come to discern the Subtilty and the motions thereof which would draw you to act such things as the Lord doth not require you to act So all take heed to that which discerns the thoughts and intents of your hearts for this is a measure of the Word of Life which is quick and powerful and as you all wait in it you will feel it to be so for you will feel it dividing the precious in you from the vile and this is the Ingrafted Word which is able to save your Souls So this is not written to feed the carnal mind in any but it is written for your sakes who are truely breathing and thirsting after God's Righteousness and cannot be satisfied without it that so you may all come into the true Light wherewith you are enlightned and that you with it may come to see how you have been tossed and tumbled up and down by the Subtilty of the Serpent in those things which could never give you true peace nor satisfaction and that now through believing in the Truth and Obedience of the Spirit you may all
motions and the bad motions which you will see stirring in your minds and if you hold fast the Word of Truth it will preserve and keep you out of the bad thoughts and motions and it will joyn you unto the good and ye will come to feel the operation of the Spirit and Life and Power of God in you to shake and overturn and work out that ground which hath been in you from whence the bad words and bad thoughts and bad motions have arose which have burdened the oppressed and tender Seed in you which you never could witness satisfied with all that ever you have performed but as ye all believe and wait in this unchangable measure of God you will come to feel the burden taken off the Seed and ye will come to feel and witness more true durable peace and satisfaction in one hours waiting upon God than ever you felt and witnessed in all the words that ever you have heard from any man or woman in all your lives or in all your Practices that ever you have practised before you were brought to wait upon God in his Gifts which he hath given you to profit withal although in those things which we have practised I know ye have had a great joy appearing in you for a time but it was not durable nor lasting for when God's true and faithful Witness the Light appeared and shewed you how that God never required those things at your hands which you had practised then your joy and peace withered and came to an end which you appeared sometime to have in those Practices and if at any time ye came to feel some little peace and joy and refreshment through what God opened to the Seed in you when by his Power ye were brought into some tenderness ye soon lost this also by going from that which brought you into the tenderness But as you all come into the Obedience of the Spirit and abide in it this will bring you into the seasoned Life and then ye will come to feel and witness pure peace and joy and refreshment and satisfaction which will last and abide for ever with you if ye abide in the Spirit and then ye will be made willing to lay down and deny all that which ye have been acting which ye never were led and guided to act by God's Pure Holy Spirit and to deny all such also as would draw you to act that which God requireth not at your hands So take heed of such as daub with untempered morter and heal deceitfully who will speak peace when there is no true peace but the pure Witness of God condemns for such with good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple keeping them ever learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the Truth and these through covetousness and feigned words make merchandize of poor People for they have a Form of Godliness but they deny and resist the Power and therefore from such turn away And all mind that and feel that and be subject unto that which for sin condemns sin in the flesh and then you will feel the Spirit of Judgement and Burning and Righteousness through which the Seed is redeemed which Seed is Heir of the Kingdom of God So all wait in the meek lowly quiet Spirit that ye may come to witness this Holy Seed which delights to do the Will of God by the power and Life of God raised up in you satisfied and brought forth out of captivity And look not out nor strive after great and high things beyond your measures for that puffs up and leads into confusion and dark imaginations but all wait and be still in the measure of God's Light manifested in you that so you may come to feel him revealing his secrets and mysteries unto the Babes which cannot live or be satisfied without him God is making known that and stirring that in the hearts of People throughout the World which doth and shall confound and overturn all the Wisdom of this World and the subtilty of the Serpent from whence all the Worlds Wisdom arose and therefore the hand of the Lord will be terrible and heavy upon the disobedient who disobey and transgress that which he hath put into their Hearts whereby he is opening a mighty understanding in the People But the everlasting Blessing and Peace and Joy and Glory of the Lord over all shall arise and rest upon all those that joyn to and believe in and obey that Word which is nigh in the mouth and in the heart By a Labourer in the Power of Truth which doth make free for the Deliverance and Freedom of the Righteous Seed George Fox the younger An Exhortation to Families who have desires to serve the Lord God in their several places that they may all learn in the Light of Christ Jesus the Wisdom and Power of God who is the true Teacher O Ye Fathers and Mothers stand in the pure fear of the Lord and wait in his Light that ye may receive his living Wisdom and live in it that so ye may be ordered by it and with it order all things to God's glory and bring up your Children in the fear of the Lord watching over them in the seasoned savoury Life of God not suffering them to live in wildness nor idleness nor vain talking unreproved but in the sober meek Spirit and in the Authority of God's Lamb reprove them and that will reach the Witness of God in them and correct them in the Fear and Wisdom and Freedom of God in the Patience and follow not their foolish wills neither correct them in your own wills nor in hastiness rashness or passion for if ye do then that will use the Rod which is to be beaten with the Rod of God and that will make your Children more stubborn and wicked and this will offend God but stand ye in God's Counsel and discourage nothing in your Children but evil and let them have that which is meet just and reasonable and no more that none of God's Creatures be wasted and be ye patterns and good examples in all holiness gravity and uprightness unto them and let them have sufficient liberty to go to godly Meetings and rather stir them up and encourage them to go to such than hinder or discourage them and keep your minds out of them unto the Lord and let your love to them be in the Lord that so ye may feel his Blessing coming upon you and them And all ye Children who have Parents honour and be obedient unto them in the Lord and mind the Light of Christ in you and that will not suffer ye to be wild nor wilful stubborn nor vain but it will check and reprove ye for all evil and if ye will own its reproof and believe and wait in it it will lead ye out of all evil and it will bring ye into soberness and meekness tenderness and innocency and preserve ye in it and it will
Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the VVorld Joh. 1.9 Drunkard thou hast a Light given thee which comes from Christ and that is the Light which lets thee see that thou shouldst not be drunk so here thou hast learned thy Condemnation which is the Light Swearer and Lyar and Fighter and Quarreler thou hast a Light given thee which comes from Christ who saith Swear not at all and with this Light thou seest thou shouldst not swear nor lye nor fight nor quarrel for the Light in thee witnesseth against these things so here thou hast learned thy Condemnation the Light Scoffer Scorner Mocker Railer cursed Speaker foolish Iester vain Talker Couzener and Cheater the Light that shines in thy Conscience though thou canst not comprehend it Joh. 1.5 because thou art darkness it is pure and eternal and never consented unto evil but stood and stands a VVitness for God against all evil Mark this Light this pure VVitness oftentimes hath appeared and doth appear unto thee and in thee and lets thee plainly see that thou shouldst not act any of these evils before mentioned and it often checks and reproves in secret when thou dost so act so here thou hast learned what Condemns thee which is the the Light Eph. 5.5 13. Proud one Wanton one Lustful one Covetous one who art an Idolater Backbiter Whoremonger Gamster Sporter and Prophane one who walkest on in laciviousness and excess of the Creatures in Revellings Banquetings and abominable Idolatries and whoever thou art that acts any manner of unrighteousness whatsoever it is sin and it is of the Devil but the Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the VVorld that is the Son of God who is made manifest for this very end that he might destroy the works of the Devil 1 Joh. 3.8 and He mark the Son of God hath given thee a measure of his Light and that is the measure of his Light in thee which lets thee see that thou should not act any of these abominations before-mentioned but it oft appears in thee to convince thee of thy evil deeds and reproves thee and judgeth thee for thy wickedness so here thou hast learned thy Condemnation which is the Light which makes manifest unto thee thy abominations And thou who makest a Profession of the Saints words but art found to be out of their Life and in thy dark carnal mind and imaginations run'st into their words the Scriptures and calls them the VVord of God and thy Rule and the way to know God and yet thou livest contrary to the Scriptures and art out of the knowledge of God whom to know is life eternal Mark the Light wherewith thou art enlightned withal it comes from Christ who lighteth every man that cometh into the VVorld and his Name is called the VVord of God Rev. 19.13 and he is the way to God and no man knoweth the Father save the Son and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him Mat. 11.27 and this Light which comes from the Son of God oftentimes appears in thee and shews thee that thou art out of the Saints Life though thou profess their VVords and the Light lets thee see that thou art a Thief and a Robber and art climbing up another way in thy imaginations than by the Door Joh. 10.1 which is Christ from whence the Light doth come and this Light in thee which makes manifest to thee thy condition it oftentimes confounds thee and thy imaginations which thou hast raised out of thy dark mind concerning the Scriptures which were given forth in the true Light and the Light oftentimes convinceth reproveth and judgeth thee of and for thy hypocrisie and dissimulation and feigned love and humility and will-worship and lets thee see that thy worship is not that Worship which the Lord requireth for that is in the Spirit and in the Truth which God requireth Joh. 4.22 23 24. and thou being out of the Light not being guided by it art out of the Spirit for the Spirit is Light and the Light is the Truth and so out of the true Worship in the false worshipping thou knowst not what so here with the true Light thou art condemned and so hast learned but thy Condemnation Therefore all People both young and old high and low rich and poor bond and free who yet live in any of these evil deeds before-mentioned mind that which makes manifest your evil deeds unto you which is the measure of the pure God which he hath given you to profit withal and this measure in you convinceth you of sin and reproves you for it now mind to stand in that which doth convince for that is the Power and as you stand and believe in that which doth convince you it will lead you into true Repentance never to be repented of for it will bring you to repent of and to forsake all your evil deeds and hard speeches Jud. 15. which you will see in the Light which never consented unto sin that you have acted and spoken against the living God so believe in the Light which shews you sin and evil and wait in the Light as it ariseth and appears in you to shew you your estates and conditions now if you believe in the Light and wait in it you will come to receive Power from Christ from whence the Light doth come to overcome evil and to withstand the Tempter when he appears to tempt you to evil and the Light believing in it will preserve you out of the evil and lead you out of the death and loss that ye are in unto Christ the life and Saviour of the Soul But if you hate the Light which shews you sin and evil you hate Christ for I am the Light saith Christ John 8.12 and if you hate the Light you hate the way to the Father for I am the way to the Father saith Christ who is the Light Joh. 14.6 and if you hate the Light you hate the Truth and you hate the Life for I am the Truth and the Life saith Christ the true Light who lighteth every man that cometh into the World Joh. 1.9 and 12.46 and if you hate the Light you hate the Covenant of God for I will give him for a Covenant to the People and for a Light to the Gentiles saith God Isa 42.6 and 49.6 and if you hate the Light you hate the Power for all Power is given unto me both in Heaven and in Earth saith Christ the Light Mat. 28.18 and if you hate the Light you hate the Word of God and so you hate God and Christ who are One John 10.30 Mark for in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God all things were made by it and without it nothing was made that was made in it was Life Mark in the Word was Life and the life of the Word was the Light of men and John a man sent of God bare witness of the Light that all men
of God the Light by the Gift we are brought to bring forth these fruits which are contrary to those which the Spirit of Error leads the Children of disobedience to bring forth Gal. 5.22 23. For although we the Children of Light are accounted to be in Delusion and Errour Gal. 5.22.23 yet it is but by you who bring forth the Cursed fruits which the Spirit of Errour leads you to bring forth so in the Light Life and Power of God we stand over all false Accusations and Reproaches and Persecutions and in the patience of Gods Lamb we bear them all and our love goes forth to your Souls who wilfully oppose your selves and we declare unto you that the long-sufferings of the Lord towards you is to draw you to Repentance Rom. 2.4 and I have directed you to that which will shew you what you ought to repent of Therefore consider your wayes speedily all you that forget God lest he tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver you Psal 50.22 for verily this I declare unto you in the presence of the Lord that if you go on and continue in stubbornness and Rebellion against the Pure God and despise his love and reject his counsel and still refuse to hearken to the Light of his Son in your Consciences which reproves you for Sin and is freely given to you to lead you out of Sin unto God if you wilfully do not resist it Mark when the measure of your iniquity is filled up then will he arise upon you at unawares in his fury Wrath Indignation Mat. 24.50.51 and his eye shall not at all pitty you but he will bring his Plagues and Righteous Judgements upon you which shall consume you both root and branch if you will not be gathered in the day of his long patience and forbearance which is the day of your Visitation wherein you may come to know the things belonging to your peace if you do not wilfully resist the Power that is offered and committed unto you But if you resist the Power then the Lords righteous Judgements will assuredly come upon you and you will receive to your selves Condemnation and if you continue in your wickedness until the day of your visitation be past then shall the Light in all your Consciences which hath oftentimes shewed unto you your evil deeds arise and witness to the Judgements of God that they are just Zek. 2.7 so whether you will hear or forbear Remember you are warned in your Life time By a Friend to your Souls and a Lover of the Creation of God GEORGE FOX the Younger A few Queries to such Professors as stumble at the Light the Word the Kingdom and Spirit of God within and tell People that none can be free from Sin in this Life and yet say that they own the Scriptures 1. Qu. ARE not all by Nature Darkness and doth not the Light shine in Darkness yea or nay 2. Qu. Can any come to see themselves to be Darkness but with the Light which shineth in the Darkness yea or nay 3. Qu. Is there any way to come out of Darkness and Death and to receive Life and to be made Children of the Light but by believing in and following of Jesus Christ the true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the World yea or nay 4. Qu. Must not all be turned from Darkness to Light and from Satan's Power to the Power of God before they can receive remission of sins and an inheritance among them that are sanctified yea or nay 5. Qu. Can any come into the true Faith which purifies the heart and gives victory over the world without which none can please God but by hearing the Word of God yea or nay 6. Qu. And is not Christ the Light the Word of God and is not Christ the Light the Author and Finisher of the true Faith which saves and justifies yea or nay 7. Qu. And is not the Word nigh in the Mouth and in the Heart that men may obey it and do it and is not Christ the Light the Word that Prophet which all that hear him not are to be cut off yea or nay 8. Qu. And is it not Christ the Word which discerns and reveals the thoughts and intents of the heart and is not he the ingrafted Word which is able to save the Soul and is not he the Grace of God which bringeth Salvation and is sufficient which hath appeared unto all men and is not he the Word of God's Grace which is able to build up and keep from falling which People are to be commended unto yea or nay 9. Qu. And is not God Light and is not the shining of him in the hearts of People which gives them the knowledge of himself in the face of Jesus Christ yea or nay 10. Qu. And is not Christ the Light the hope which purifies as God is pure which Anchors and stayes the Soul to be known within are not People tossed like a Ship in a tempest without an Anchor till Christ the Hope be felt within to stay and Anchor them and is not Christ within the Hope a Mystery which hath been hid from Ages and Generations and are not all they in the reprobate state who know not Christ within them yea or nay 11. Qu. And is not God's Kingdom Light and is it not like a little leaven that is hid in Meal and as a grain of Mustard-seed that is sown in the Earth and like a Pearl hid in the Field or like good Seed sown in the Field both on stony thorny high-way and good ground and is not the world the Field where the Seed of the Kingdom is sown and is not the world in mans heart so is not Gods Kingdom within men yea or nay 12. Qu. And is not the manifestation of the Spirit given to every man to profit withal and do any worship the Father of Truth aright but those that worship him in the Spirit and in the Truth and is not the Light the Truth yea or nay 13. Qu. And is not Christ the Light that Word which reconciles to God and is it not he that must open the understandings of men before they can understand the Scriptures and are not People in Errour and in jangling and strife about the Scriptures till Christ the Light the Spirit of Truth the Power of God from whence Scriptures were spoken be known and owned to guide and lead them yea or nay 14. Qu. And is not this the Cause of so many Sects and Opinions and Divisions as are and of such strivings as are about Scriptures and Religions because People know not or own not the Spirit of Truth from whence Scriputures were spoken forth to lead and guide them and is it not like that People should run into Sects and Opinions and Divisions and Strife if they know not or own not the Spirit of Truth to guide and lead them and if the Spirit of Truth were known and owned to
any that took his Part leave that unto the Lord who will reward every one in Righteousness according to their deeds done in their Bodies And consider how far Christ was from seeking or desiring Revenge when they murdered him as concerning the flesh who said Father forgive them for they know not what they do Oh mind that Spirit and consider he was greater than thy Father and he was free from all Transgression and wherein thy Enemies did evil in any thing against thy Father or Thee and those that took your Part freely forgive them and render not evil for evil unto any man but overcome evil with that which is good O King this were the way for Thee to be established in peace and so to end thy dayes Oh that thy Heart were thus inclined that Mercy and Righteousness and Peace might be found to reign in Thee and that Mercy might Triumph over severity then might'st thou prosper and many of thy Enemies and also of those that are called thy Friends might be converted unto God and so ye might be united in true love one unto another and this were better than conquering by force And consider this there are many that acted against thy Father and Thee whom the Lord intends good towards though I know that several of them through Covetousness and Envy have done exceedingly wrong in many things Yet consider how Christ taught his to pray Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us And I do verily believe that if they turn unto the Lord and truly humble themselves under his hand and believe in the Light of his Son and obey him that he will freely forgive them all their Transgressions But if thou resolvest to avenge thy self and those called thy Friends which have suffered and to keep under those which are now fallen under Thee by a heavy yoke either in matters of Worship or otherwise I know it will exasperate the spirits of many against Thee and it will raise up the desperate aggravating part in man and so the thing may kindle again in the murdering Spirit And the Lord may suffer it to break forth into blood which if it should it may be the sadest time that ever thou yet sawest for this I know and do stedfastly believe that after God hath tryed his People he will assuredly bring an overflowing scourge upon this Nation and many shall fall and perish by an eminent hand and judgement of the Lord except they repent speedily And verily there is but a little space given to prevent this great Judgement and Destruction because the Lord hath already born long and his patience hath been exceeding great and he hath sent many of his Servants and Prophets to warn this Nation and others and many thousands have believed us and are gathered into Peace with us notwithstanding they see a great Judgement to come upon the Earth and though many have believed us yet alas the far greater part hath either beaten or imprisoned or scoffed at or slighted and rejected us or the Testimony which we hold and some have spoyled our goods and imprisoned some of us to death and some of us have been killed for the Testimony of Jesus and the Word of God And so many in the Nations are waxed worse and worse And when the Lord hath smitten some they have revolted more and more and when he hath raised up others and given them prosperity they have then fed themselves without fear and forgot the Lord and waxed wanton against him Therefore seeing people will neither hear the Prophets of the Lord nor regard the Light of his Son in their Consciences which checks and reproves for sin and evil in secret nor turn to the Lord when he smites them nor regard his Truth when they have prosperity the Lord will leave striving with such a People and bring sudden destruction upon them and deliver his chosen as he did just Lot So we are given up to the Will of the Lord and do patiently wait for his mighty appearance to deliver us who have long been a suffering People who have suffered both by Parliaments Army Protectors and by those called thy Friends also yea we have suffered and been most cruelly entreated even by Rulers Priests and People Professors and Prophane because we could not joyn unto the evil in either but we have been made to reprove them for it and to exhort them unto that which is good and so we must yet do so long as we find the Lord requiring it at our hands though for it we be hated and persecuted unto death yet knowing that it is without cause on our part when we suffer we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ in all our sufferings and our lives are not dear unto us that we may finish our course with joy and our Testimony for the Lord which he hath given to bear though it be sealed with our blood for we certainly know that the Lord is our reward in whatsoever we do or suffer for his Names sake And now O King as thou expects the Blessing and Presence of the Lord with Thee in thy Government Fear and Dread his Presence by standing in awe of his living Witness the Light which he hath placed in thy Conscience to guide and direct Thee in all thy wayes that his wrath may be turned away from Thee that so this Scripture might not be fulfilled upon the People of this Nation God gave them a King in his anger and he took him away in his sore displeasure But if it should prove so I shall have peace for I am clear of thy blood in as much as in plainness I have let Thee see how things have been and how they may or shall be and wherein thy danger stands and how that Righteousness only establisheth the Throne And my desire is if it be the Will of God that thou mightest consider them in the Principle of Life and Wisdom and thereby come to be preserved and saved from that Destruction which in God's Eternal Light I see Thee in great danger of Thus in Innocency and Truth and in Uprightness and Sincerity of heart I have freely declared unto Thee what was laid upon me and it is in true tender and unfeigned love both to thy Soul and Body And that this is true God is my Witness and the Witness of himself in thy Conscience shall answer unto it unto which I leave and commend Thee from which thou canst not hide thy thoughts So to the Lord God of Life be Glory and Dominion and everlasting Praises over all to whom it doth belong Amen Given forth in Harwich Goal in Essex the 16. day of the 3d. Month called May 1660. Where I suffer for the Testimony of Jesus through the envy of the Devil who is the false accuser of the Brethren POSTSCRIPT THough this Treatise was more especially laid upon me to write it unto the KING and therefore to him was it directed
a prey to this Generation Isa 59.14 15. And though several overturnings have been yet is iniquity still at a great height and increaseth exceedingly And what will it advantage a Child to flee from a Bear and joyn to a Lyon Verily the day is come wherein there is no hiding place of safety for the Righteous but purely in the Name of the Lord and blessed are they that alone trust therein For the help of the meek standeth in the Name of the Lord Psal 124.8 Hos 13.9 And happy are they that abide in it for the day will be terrible and dreadful unto all that have not a habitation in the Name of the Lord the King of Saints For Violence and Oppression shall come to the full and then shall the Lord Roar out of his Habitation and he shall strike the Inhabitants of the Earth with Astonishment and Faintness and Deadness of Spirit shall seize upon the mighty men and weakness and fear upon thâ— strong and bold of the Earth for the Lord will appear in his mighty Power to take the Kingdom and to relieve the oppressed and to help the needy and they shall be strong in him Be wise therefore O ye Kings and learn Wisdom ye Iudges and Rulers of the Earth Return unto the Lord and serve him with fear Tremble before the Glory of his Presence and Kisse the Son lest he be angry and you perish by the way For his wroth shall suddenly burn then blessed are all they that trust in Him Read Psal 2. Therefore strive not with the Lord any longer by withholding his Right from Him but give unto him his due and resign up to him and his anointed the things that he doth require for the Lamb must get the victory and he must have the Preheminence in all things yea he must be the Supream Head in all Spiritual things and the only Law-giver to his People yea he with the Higher Power must ordain and send forth Ministers and Labourers into his Church Vineyard and Harvest for he only can fit them for the work and not man and he will take care that they shall not lack any thing Luke 22.35 For the Earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof Psal 24.1 And he will constrain People with his love which is better than outward force to give his Ministers Food and Raiment when they have need thereof and they will be contented there-withal 1 Tim. 6.8 Therefore meddle not with these things any more I warn and exhort you in the Love of God For it belongs not unto you but unto God and Christ who are one and let Christ only be acknowledged to be the defender of the Faith who is able to perform that Office to the full which man is not And let the one Law-giver be minded and owned in man to give forth Laws to punish Transgressors that so the Judgement may be the Lord's and not man's for so it ought to be and he that Ruleth over men must be Just ruling in the Fear of God 2 Sam. 23.3 And they that Fear the Lord and hate Covetousness ought to be Judges and Rulers Exod. 18.21 to see and take care that the Law of God be put in due execution judging righteously without respect to persons Prov. 24.23 doing to all men as they would they should do unto them keeping out of Bribes and Gifts that the eye may not be blinded Exod. 23.6 7 8. And such Rulers as these will the Lord set up and Honour unto whom he will plainly shew his Righteous just Law which he wil have executed upon Transgressors and men shall be subject unto them for Conscience sake and they only shall be a terror to evil doers and encouragers of them that do well and they shall be guarded with Righteousness and the Lord shall bless them with the dew of Heaven and they shall send forth a good savour into the Earth and then shall the Inhabitants of the Earth learn Righteousness For Judgement shall run down as Water and Righteousness as a mighty stream for the Judgments of the Lord shall be rightly executed and self-ends shall be denyed and then shall Praises Dominion Honour and Obedience and all that is the Lord's be yielded unto him the King of Saints And until this come to pass God's Controversie shall not cease But there will be Breaking and Overturning Oppressing and Spoyling and Insnaring one of another and they that come uppermost and will not give unto the Lord his due but set themselves in his Seat whatsoever words they profess or let them appear never so strong in the arm of flesh yet they shall be broken down with dishonour and Plagues and Torments shall be the Portion of the Hypocrite that bows to deceit and Babylon must fall and perish for strong is the Lord which judgeth her Rev. 18.8 And in vain do men seek to establish themselves in that which the Lord is against and wo will be unto them that are found in the State of Capernaum and Edom Read Obediah 3.4 Mat. 11.23 And now ye Rulers Teachers and People remember you are warned and it is in true love to your Souls and Bodies therefore Repent whilst you have time left you that you may be saved though it be so as by fire and speedily resign up to the Lord that which properly belongeth unto Him for verily the day dawneth apace which shall reveal that man of sin more and more who hath set himself in the Seat and stead of God whom the Lord shall consume with the Spirit of his Mouth and abolish and destroy with the Brightness of his coming 2 Thes 2.3 4 5 6 7 8. And the day of the Lord shall even so come as a Thief in the night And when the wicked shall say Peace and safety then shall come upon them sudden destruction even as the travel of a woman with Child which by no means can be escaped 1 Thes 5.2 3. Be still O ye Saints of the most High God keep clear of Babylon take heed of being ensnared dy her cleave not to her flatteries in any wise but follow the Lamb whithersoever he leadeth you and hold fast the Word of his Patience in the true Integrity of your hearts that so ye may stand and endure the Tryal to the end and whatsoever you suffer for the Testimony of God you shall have a full reward for it if you faint not This in the Word of the Lord is unto you Lambeth-House the 28th of the 4th Month 1660. POSTSCRIPT ANd if I could write no more yet this is the Testimony of Truth to the Rulers Teachers and People of this present Age in what Nation soever this may come Mark you must all come to the Light of the Lord Jesus Christ the Lamb of God who hath enlightned you that with the Light you may come to see what is contrary to the mind and will of God both in your Laws and Governments and in the constitutions thereof and in
of Tythes and forced Maintenance which hath cost some their lives and many a great part of their Estates who for Conscience sake have been made to witness against it Undo every Heavy Burden and break every Yoak and let the Oppressed go free And let Christ Iesus the everlasting King have the preheminence in all things Col. 1.18 for these things the Lord will have to be accomplished and brought to pass and if you will not submit to him in this his work he must and will remove you And this further consider Oh! take heed that none of you upon your Beds or elsewhere devise Cruelty and Oppression and how to avenge your selves upon your Enemies and then when you are assembled together confirm it by a Law because you have power so to do for the Lord abhors that who is appearing to give to all men according to the fruits of their doing and he will not respect any man's person Now if by your Strength you can hinder the Sun from rising and setting in its season and if you be able to stop the Thunder and Lightning from having its operation or to hinder the Wind from blowing and the Rain from descending then may you hinder the Decree of the Lord and by your Strength you may stand in Power and Peace and flourish for a long Season though you serve and avenge your selves to the full and though you rebel against the Lord and oppress his Heritage Lambeth-House the 28th of the 5th Month 1660. Written as moved and given by that eternal Power which only can preserve and deliver the righteous by a Prisoner for the Lord who am given up to his Will in all things G. F. the younger A MESSAGE OF Tender Love Unto such Professors as have attained any true sincerity simplicity and Zeal for God in their Professions Or who after their Backslidings and Apostacy from the former appearances of God unto them are now in this the day of Tryal which is begun brought to feel any fresh Desires and living breathings and thirstings renewed in them towards the Lord. OH ye Professors who have tasted of the Word of God's Grace in any measure and who have formerly had any true Tenderness in you and Zeal for God Oh friends in Bowels of much Tenderness and Love am I drawn forth to write unto you yea my soul breaths mightily to the Lord for you who have now any true hungrings and thirstings renewed in you after his Righteousness and in whose hearts there are any true simple desires retained to know the Will of God and to do it Friends The Eternal Being which giveth being to all his Creatures hath largely manifested his love unto the World in giving his onely begotten to be the Light of the World who doth enlighten every one that cometh into the World that all through him might believe and inasmuch as he in the fulness of time sent forth his onely begotten full of Grace and Truth into the World in a body which he had prepared him therein to do his will which body the onely begotten of the Father freely gave and offered up for a Sacrifice for Sin and so according to his Grace he tasted Death for every man and by his offering himself once for all he hath put an end to all the Sacrifices and Offerings mentioned in the Law which could not make the Comets thereunto perfect nor those that offered them as appertaining to the Conscience So Christ the one Offering is become the Propitiation for the sins of the whole World who wrought Eternal Salvation for all them that obey him And here is the one Offering which perfects for ever them that are sanctified And he having accomplished the Will of the Father in that body which was prepared him of the Father in which he came into the World he again left the World he not being of the World and ascended unto the Father from whence he proceeded and sate down on the Right Hand of the Majesty on High and is now Glorified with the same Glory that he had with the Father before the world began yea the same that descended into the lower parts of the Earth is also the same that ascended far above all Heavens that he might fill all things and being one with the Father and in the Father and the Father in him his presence filleth Heaven and Earth and being the Son in the Father he hath Power as the Father to quicken whomsoever he will that all men might honour the Son as the Father by whom all things were made that were made in whom we live move and have a being and he hath a Name given him above every name to which all things must bow which is called The Word of God or Jesus because he is a Saviour and saveth his People from their Sins This is he that is given to be the Head of the Body which is the Congregation of the Righteous the fulness of him that filleth All in all that he in all things in whom all fulness dwells might have the Preheminence being the express substance of the Father's Glory the very vertue of his Being one with him in Nature and one in Name for as the Father is Divine so the Son is also Divine and as the Father is called the Light so the Son is also called the Light the Father is called The Mighty God so is the Son also Yea the Son's Name is called Wonderful The mighty God the everlasting Father mark that the Prince of Peace of whose Government there shall be no End Now in the Father there is Life and in the Word the Son there is Life and this is one and this Life proceeding from the Father and the Son is that one Eternal Spirit which is not to be limitted Yea God is a Spirit and Christ is the Lord that spirit yea he is the second Adam the Lord from Heaven the quickning Spirit by whom the free gift is come upon all men to justifie them that believe in the Life and he that believeth not he is condemned by the Life which is the Light that doth enlighten every one that cometh into the World so the gift that is come upon the unbeliever that condemns him because he believeth not in the Light but loves the Darkness better Now Friends This is he the Light who giveth you a Being and upholdeth all things by the word of his Power and hath been near unto you ever since ye have had a Being and he hath beheld all your actions yea he hath discerned all your thoughts none of them could be hid from him for he knew them long before This is he that telleth unto man what his thought is and The Lord of Hosts is his Name This is he who hath reproved you and set your sins in order before your eyes Oh! How oft hath he brought you into a sensibleness of your Conditions How oft hath he smitten you for Sin and broken you into Tenderness by his
Power when you have seen your loathsom state Oh! how oft hath he begotten true Tender desires and breathings in you after the Knowledge of his Will And how hath he appeared unto you and shewed you the Darkness Ignorance and Idolatry that many of you were formerly in And how oft hath he begotten loathings in you against those things that you saw with his Light to be evil And how oft hath he kindled a zeal in many of you against the works of the Devil And how have you felt his Tender Love sometimes opening your understandings and drawing you into that which is good Oh! How hath he sometimes brought some of you into lowliness of mind and given you to see the vanity of this world And how hath he opened a door of hope unto you given you a measure of faith sometimes concerning your Eternal Salvation And how have some of you then felt a willingness begotten in you to deny your selves and the glory and vanity of this world and to take up that and to bear that which appeared to cross your carnal minds and to do unto others as ye would they should do unto you And how did the Pride and Glory and vanity of this World become a burden to many of you in that day Oh! How have some of you cryed out and said you had rather cease to live than not cease to Sin Oh Friends This was a good beginning and some of you came further than others in the way that was good yea surely a good sweet Presence of God was among many of you in the day when you were low and tender and several of you were sensible of his love in that day while sincerity and simplicity abode in your hearts Oh! How did the Lord hear your cryes in that day when many of you cryed unto him for deliverance Oh! How did he overturn your Enemies before you which oppressed your consciences And how did he give you outward rest and peace and Liberty to worship him according as he had made himself manifest unto you But Oh Friends there hath been a sad day of Apostacy among many of you and many of your Teachers have caused you to err for as they went from the simplicity and Tender Life in themselves that once had stirred in some of them against the worship of the Beast they then ran into many words out of the Power and Life that had stirred in them and so lost the simplicity and true zeal they once had for God And then they also drew you from that Tender Life and Power that had visited you into many words of other men's Conditions and so the true simplicity that had been in you soon decayed And as you were drawn from the Life and Power and Spirit of God in your selves the subtilty within and without drew your minds after the Tree of Knowledge and as you reached forth to that and received and fed of that you dyed as to God and became more and more alive unto sin and grew rich in knowledge and that puffed many of you up and so poorness in Spirit and the hungerings and thirstings after the Life of God which sometimes in you had been felt you lost And such of you were oft sent empty away from your Worships mark empty of the vertue and refreshments and sweetness which the Lord fills such with as are poor in Spirit and lowly in mind and hunger and thirst after his Righteousness But others among you I know went oft from your Worship full though it were but of the declaration of others conditions and their own conceivings and a false joy And several of you who had seen the Lords mighty hand and had been witnesses of his Power both within and without when you got into outward ease and peace you soon forgot his goodness and some of you growing great in the Earth were lifted up in your minds you then turned back and licked up that which you had formerly vomited out and then hardness and dryness came upon many of you and then that which the Lord had wounded in many of you to wit the lustful nature which should have been crucified by the immortal Power revived and became healed again And then a false liberty you run into and so into excess and then several of you become Oppressors and Despisers even of such as the Lord by his mighty Power had gathered from your dead Forms and Wayes And many of you provoked the Lord unto anger several wayes for which cause he hath now sent a rod to scourge the back-sliders and them that were more faithful must also be proved by the same Oh friends much might truly be said unto many of you concerning your great Apostacy and your bringing of this Day of Tryal or causing it to be brought upon you But although I may hint something unto you concerning those things yet that is not the thing which is chiefly upon me at this time But this is that which lay much upon me to wit to bring to your remembrance something of the former loving kindness of the Lord unto you and to exhort you who have back-slided to return to the first love that was begotten in you towards the Lord and to keep to that Principle of Life which did begin a good work in you to strengthen and encourage you to go on in the work of the Lord. For as concerning your Apostacy I hope many of you are convinced of that in a great measure by the witness of God in your own Consciences and it is not my desire to upbraid you with that which I hope in some measure is already become loathsom unto your selves neither would I add to your sufferings in whom there is now a true tenderness towards the Lord in this the Day of Tryal for I believe many of you have or will have as much of them as you can well bear but my tender desire is that you may be brought to feel so much of the Power of God in your selves as may support you and keep you in patience in all your Tryals until such time as the Lord shall make you fit for deliverance Now I do believe that some of you have retained a greater integrity and simplicity in your Profession than others and have not so deeply Apostatized from that which God made known unto you of himself as others have done and some of you I know have long been burdened with the Apostacy that others among you have fallen into And I know several of you also have long gone under a burden even concerning your own deadness barrenness and unprofitableness you being made sensible thereof by the VVitness of God in your own Consciences And when ye have heard others rejoycing and telling forth their experiences as they called them which was much of it the Saints experiences of old which these had not attained unto any otherwise but by gathering their words out of the Letter or from man then hath
to pass of late it is exceeding righteous and just with him to suffer those things to be effected for truly as you know he was much provoked thereunto and his patience towards many of you was very great yea he spared you long and yet many of you whom I now hope are brought to see your brck-slidings regarded not his goodness but walked very carelesly and some of you wantonly before him yea many of your minds ran into the earth and its pomps and vanities again after a tenderness had been begotten in you towards the Lord and a loathing of such things and Covetousness and Pride encreased among you and so lusts and fulness and ease was then delighted in and the honour of this World sought and received one of another and not that which cometh of God onely and those that could not give you that honour that perisheth such by some of you were hated and mocked at and yet you professed much of Religion in words But alas the hearts of many of you were removed far from the Life of Truth in which the Lord is worshipped and so the Sincerity and Zeal which once appeared in some of you for God and the love which had sprung in you to him and one to another in the day when you were low and tender grew cold and died in you as you departed from the measure of the Life of God And thus the Lord became grieved and pressed with your back-slidings and his Soul loathed your Sacrifices and he then saw that a day of Tryal would be better for you than a day of Prosperity So in Righteousness as from the Lord is this day brought upon you and also in love to your Souls and so it shall prove unto you if ye will now turn unto the Lord with all your hearts and humble your selves under his Mighty Hand Yea some of you who lately have had the enjoyment of great Estates and outward Liberty and Honour and Companions and have now lost them or part of them I do believe that you will be made to confesse to the Glory of God that it is his love to you in suffering them to be taken from you yea some of you will come to see that the Lord is just and merciful unto you in suffering your Idols to be stript off taken away For you will see how some of you have Idolized men the World and its honour and glory and Forms without the Power of an endless Life Oh Friends I have a secret hope for a Remnant of you that the Lord by this kind of dealing with you will bring you near unto himself and that a day shall come wherein you shall be made to say that It was good for us that we were Afflicted But Friends you that come this to witness you must mind the free Grace of God that bringeth Salvation which to all men hath appeared yea ye must own and receive it in its pure Teachings and wait in the Virtue of it to receive Power to deny and forsake the Ungodliness and Worldly lusts which it will make manifest unto you that you have been addicted unto and must wait to feel it drawing you into Godliness Righteousness and Soberness and into Patience and Contentedness with the Will of God which is a precious thing Truly they they that do not wait to come into and to be kept in Patience in this day of Tryal their sufferings will be great And if the fretting impatient murmuring Nature be given way and leaned unto that will aggravate the Sufferings exceedingly and beget Torment in the mind Therefore you who desire to come into and to be kept in true Obedience unto the Lord in this the day of Tryal be watchful in the Light and abide in the pure Fear of the Lord which is the beginning of Wisdom and take heed of the subtilry of the Serpent who will seek more and more to beguile you and to lead you aside from the way of God Verily Friends if you do not retire your minds inwards unto the Life of Jesus which is the light of men you will be deceived yea if you do not receive the spirit of Truth to be your guide and Leader and obey the same you will still run into those things which cannot profit you and the renewed desires in you towards the Lord will be strangled Now I know some of you have formerly found the Lord's Leadings and Teachings in some measure in the day when he drew you out of Episcopacy so called and raised up a zeal in you against the Lording spirits in the Bishops and against the dark way of their imaginary Worship and if you had kept low in the pure Fear of the Lord I know he would have further appeared unto you But here was the loss of many of those that the Lord had appeared unto Mark they did not abide in his Tender Fear neither did they continue waiting upon him for Teaching in the measure of Life in which he had appeared unto them but many of them going from his Witness in themselves they soon began to imagin another Form of Worship which is called Presbitery and many sate down and setled in that and did not mind the Leadings of the Life which had appeared and in some measure quickened them and so much Deadness and Barrenness came upon such as would not be subject to the drawings of the pure Life of God But those that kept their integrity in any measure and waited upon the Lord the pure Life opened things further unto them as they were able to bear and they were drawn a little further and a fine Freshness and Tenderness and Love appeared in them for a time But so soon as they had settled themselves in another Form which is called Independency then many of them not willing to follow the Leadings of the Life any further then the Articles which they had drawn up and agreed upon would admit of whereby the freshness that had appeared in some of them began to wither Yet some who still desired to go on according to the Leadings of the Life the Life opened things further unto them and they left the other but they not continuing in the true waiting upon the Lord to be led by him several of them also ran into another Form called Anabaptism wherein many began to settle But some of them I do believe took up that far more simply than others for they being pressed outwardly to it by their Teachers and also finding in the Scriptures that the Saints of Old Practised such things they letting in reasonings and not waiting in the pure Life that had stirred in them to be led by that in all things their eye became vailed whereby they could see no further but looked upon that to be their duty to wit to go in the water and so durst not omit it But the pure Life which had visited them sprang up afresh and wrought mightily in some of them and shewed them the
Life and Power and Vertue of it you might be saved and cleansed from your sins Oh Friends if you ever come truly to be made free it must be by the Truth if ever you come to be sanctified it must be with the Truth Now the Word is the Truth and the Word is very nigh you even in your mouths to shew you your evil words and also in your hearts to shew you the deceit and thoughts thereof yea its Vertue goeth through all things and its Power upholdeth all things in it is Life and that Life is the Light of men Oh that you would believe in it that you might be made the children of it This Word is Immortal and it is able to destroy the Devil and his Works and to save your Immortal Souls Oh Friends though its appearance in you be in judgement yet resist it not neither turn from it in any wise but when it convinceth you of any evil and begetteth any love in you towards its judgement Oh then abide in that love and then you will see how Christ comes for judgement into the World to judge the Prince of the World and to cast him out and to make blind that eye which hath been open and hath seen in the worldly carnal Spirit and to open that eye which hath been kept blind by the God or Prince of the World Yea as you wait in the righteous Judgements of Christ you will feel him opening the eye of the understanding part with his Invisible Light whereby you will come to see into the Invisible things of God Oh Friends you must own Christ the Word of God in the way and ministration of his Judgements yea you must own him in the Spirit of Judgement and Burning before you can truly witness that you are reconciled unto God Oh! wait to hear the Voice of Christ in your inward man and be content to bear his yoak and wait in stilness that patience in you may have its perfect work and if any of you see with the Life of the Word that your hearts are hard and rocky keep but in patience and wait in that Life which maketh you sensible of your condition and you will feel the pure operation of the Word smiting as a hammer which will break your hard hearts into tenderness Yea you will feel them dissolved melted and changed by the Power of the Word as ye believe and wait in the same and then you will know experimentally that the Word of the Lord is as a Hammer and as a Sword and as a fire and as Fuller's sope for you will feel it breaking and cutting down burning up and washing out all the hard fruitless defiling nature and then you will come to know Christ's Fan in his hand for you will feel him Purging the Floor by separating the Chaffy dirty nature from the tender Seed which delighteth to do the will of God Now as you come to feel this within you come to witness his Baptism with the Holy Spirit and with Fire yea here the washing in the Regeneration and the renewing in the Holy Spirit comes to be witnessed And here Christ's work comes truly to be felt and known which is to destroy the Devil and his Works to blot out Transgression to take away Sin to cause the old things to pass away and to make all things new Oh Friends wait to feel and witness this work and think not that your saying Christ hath done all for you will profit you while you live in the old fleshly Birth for verily verily I say unto you That except you be born again you can in no wise enter into the Kingdom of God Therefore wait to feel this inward work that so you may know Christ formed in you his Mind his Spirit his Disposition his Nature and then you will come to the new Creature and to witness the Election which avails and obtains And here the Circumcision without hands you will come to know which is the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh by the Circumcision of Christ And this brings to be the Jew inward whose praise is not of man but of God and here 's the true Israel of God upon which the mercy comes and here 's the true Elect Seed unto which the Promise is and they that come to this are born from above and are Members of Christ's Body of his Flesh and of his Bones and they are come to the Riches of the Mystery which hath been hid from Ages and Generations which is Christ in them the hope of Glory Oh Friends These things are not written unto you that you should feed upon the words and seek to get a Rest there but these things are written in tender bowels of Love unto such of you as truly hunger and thirst after the new Life That so as the Lord's witness ariseth in any of you to witness unto the Truth of them and to give you any understanding in the same you may joyn to his witness and believe and wait in the same to feel these things fulfilled in you So as you wait in the Invisible measure of God you will come to be sensible how far you are changed in which Birth you live in which Birth your minds are centered and so of which Birth you are for as it is written even so will you see it to be that That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit And they that are after or of the flesh do mind the things of the flesh But they that are after the spirit do mind the things of the Spirit And that they that live in the flesh cannot please God And as you mind that Life which oft-times ariseth in you and makes you sensible of your Conditions you will plainly come to know it in your selves that to be carnally minded it is death but to be Spiritually minded it is Life and Peace For you will see if the enemy of your Souls can get your minds into Carnal things at any time that then deadness and death cometh over you and you become dead as unto God until his witness ariseth in you to quicken you again But as your minds are kept in obedience to the Spirit of God you minding the things of it which it openeth unto you ye will feel Life and Peace springing in your Souls and that from the presence of the Lord. Therefore be diligent in this the day of your Visitation which yet in mercy is continued unto you as the Lord maketh manifest unto you that any of the Forms that you have been or are yet in are empty and dead and then appear in spirit to draw and lead you out of them O be not like stubborn Rebellious wilful Children that will not follow their father any further then may please their own wills but hang back murmure I say take heed of giving way to such a spirit least the Lord leave striving
with you and give you up wholly to follow the deceit of your own hearts for the Lord will not alwayes strive with man But the day shall come wherein the Lord will withdraw himself from the Rebellious and he that is filthy let him be filthy still Oh Friends I see a day which will be terrible unto the Disobedient For when the Lord hath tryed his People and gathered the sincere hearted out of all Forms unto himself he will then sweep away the refuge that will not be gathered in the day of their Visitation with a mighty Destruction And the day hastens in which this shall be accomplisht by the mighty Arm and Power of the Lord which is now working in secret Therefore wait to be led and taught of him and heed not the Rage and Cruelty of man neither bow to his Perverse will but know that the Lord hath given bounds to the Sea that although it roar Rage and swell and cast up mire and dirt yet it cannot go beyond its bounds Therefore be Patient and commit your Cause unto the Lord and seek not to avenge your selves but leave it unto him who will avenge the Cause of his People And wait in the feeling of the Truth in your selves that so you may feel the pure Life of Christ to be a stay to your minds in all your Tryals and Temptations Oh poor hearts this is a precious thing to come to be sensible of the true stay and guide to the mind O keep to that which maketh your Temptations and thoughts manifest and believe and wait in that and then you will feel that to be a stay to your minds and you will feel the Lord's secret strength revealed in you enabling you to stand in whatsoever Tryal or Temptation he shall suffer to come upon you or to be presented unto you yea as you are faithful to the Power that he commits unto you you shall not be tryed beyond your strength but you shall feel the Lord supporting you and by his Power he will work your minds into contentedness with his will in all things And if you will follow the Power of the Lamb which is that which moves against Sin and taketh it away you will come to feel your hearts and minds drawn and Redeemed out of the Earth thereby and you will be made willing to give up and to part with all and to follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth Now if your spirits come to be brought into this frame then whatsoever man can do unto you it will not be able to move you Oh! that you would wholly give up your selves to wait upon the Lord in the pure manifestation of his Spirit and cease contending and pleading for those things which the Spirit of the Lord requireth not at your hands Oh! that you would now mind to obey the pure requirings of the Life of Jesus in your selves and that would bring you into lowliness of mind and meekness of spirit into true love to God and one towards another and not only to love your friends but even to love your enemies also and to forgive and pray for them that despightfuly use you and then you would indeed bear the Image of the Lamb and witness his Kingdom set up in you and this would bring you in patience to wait until he arise to plead the cause of his People and to avenge himself on his and their enemies and to make the Kingdoms of this world his and the People subject to his Government which shall certainly be aceomplished in its Season and the day draweth nigh So the Lord God Almighty manifest himself more and more unto you all in whose hearts there are any true sincere honest desires to know and do his Will and who are willing to follow him as he appears to lead and draw you and the Lord of Life manifest his strength unto you and gather you by the Power of his Christ into the everlasting Covenant of Life Rest and Peace This is the sincere desire of my Soul whose bowels yearn towards you whose souls are breathing and thirsting after the endless Life of Righteousness And this is Message of true love unto you in which it is sent forth among you according to the instructions of the Almighty yea for your sakes is this written whose Souls are panting after the Lord in what form or society soever you be in who are willing to follow the leadings of his Life and to submit to his will as it comes to be made manifest unto you and many of you in whom there be such honest desires I see are now in a bewildred condition in this cloudy and dark day which seems to approach not knowing well what to do or which way to take or where to find rest or safety by reason of the want of the knowledge of a true guide to your minds I say for the informing of your understandings and for the strengthening of those desires in you which are sincere towards the Lord was I drawn forth in much tenderness and bowels of unfained love to write unto you that you might be brought to be sensible of the gift of God in your selves and to know what that is that is to guide your minds and in what you are to wait to receive the true Teachings that so your minds may come to be stayed upon the Lord and that may be gathered into his Name wherein the true help and safety is and that you may avoid whatsoever would be a hinderance unto your growth in the simplicity of the Truth Therefore I exhort and warn you to take heed of following your own thoughts and imaginations any longer but freely give up to be led by that Principle of Life which cannot consent to Sin but appears to call and draw you out of the same You need not fear that that will deceive you but whatsoever would draw you from that Life that is the Deceiver And hearken not any longer to such Teachers as are greedy of filthy lucre for such make a prey of you and cannot profit you at all And take heed of hearkening or joyning to such Teachers or People as will turn to and comply with any worship or thing that may be for their advantage as they account and that they may save themselves from sufferings for such are Luke-warm and the Lord will spue them out and their shame and filthiness shall appear and they shall become loathsom both in the sight of God and man Therefore avoid them And as there are few Teachers amongst the Professors whom I believe for Conscience sake dare not turn back and lick up that which they formerly were made to vomit out and deny so also there are many that would willingly turn to any thing for their bellies if they might be received that will not now be accepted of and these that see they cannot keep their places by their turning they will appear zealous especially in secret against those things that they
MAYOR though I much desired it but they guarded me through the streets and delivered me to the SHERIFF and his men who were to bring me up to LONDON so as we were coming upon the Road we met with Robert Grassingham who was coming from London towards Harwich in pursuance of an Order which he had received from the Commissioners for the Admiralty and Navy for the refitting of one of the King's Frigots which then lay in that Port whereof he was then Ship-wright but notwithstanding R. G. shewed his Order to the Sheriff yet he brought him back to London with me and delivered us into the Custody of the Sergeant at Arms attending the House who the same night committed us to Lambeth-House and gave Order as the Goalor said That but few of our Friends should be suffered to come at us and when any were suffered that then some should stand by and hear what was said and if any Letter went from us or came to us that the Goalor or some of his Family should hear them which was observed for some time Also we were confined to our Chamber for the space of six weeks and upward and had not that Liberty allowed us to walk in the Yard which all the other Prisoners had and another time the Goalor said that the Sergeant had given him an Order That no person should come at me no not so much as to bring me Food but indeed the Goalor suffered my Food to be brought in but as for others which came to visit me they were kept back for some time so near about three weeks after we were committed to Lambeth we wrote to the PARLIAMENT and sent the Writing enclosed in a few lines to the Speaker but he doing nothing in the thing we caused it to be Printed and several hundreds of the Papers were given to the PARLIAMENT Men A true Copy is as followeth For the HOUSE of COMMONS Assembled in PARLIAMENT at Westminster Friends BY your Order touching us Dated the 21st of the Third Month called May we understand you have been falsely informed concerning us by some who have falsely accused us Therefore this is our just and reasonable request that we together with our Accusers may face to face be brought before you and if any thing can be justly proved against us worthy of Death or Bonds we shall not refuse either But if there can be nothing justly proved against us then ought our Accusers to be ashamed and we to be acquitted Now we do believe it to be unjust and unreasonable that a man should be halled out of a peaceable Meeting as one of us was at Harwich in Essex and sent to Prison without being Examined or a Mittimus onely for declaring against the Cursing and the Wickedness of the Rude People and against such as suffer such Ungodliness and do not seek to suppress it and there to be kept ten nights and from thence to be transported unto this place and that we both should be here confined to our Chambers as we have been for about three weeks last past seeing nothing is proved against Us nor we yet brought to Examination neither did your Order express any such Confinement so these things are laid before you in plainness that justice herein may be done by you By us who are Sufferers for Righteousness sake and we have and shall have Peace in our Suffering and in writing our selves thus except we were convinced by the Law of God or any just Law of our Nation to the contrary Geo. Fox the Younger Robert Grassingham Lambeth House the 15th of the 4th Month called June 1660. A Copy hereof was delivered to the Speaker of the House of Commons inclosed in a Letter to himself in these words following For the Speaker of the House of Commons Friend WE desire thee to Communicate this inclosed to the House of Commons it being a few Innocent Just and Reasonable words to them though not in the Eloquent Language of Man's Wisdom yet it is in the Truth which is Honourable We are friends to Righteousness and Truth and to all that are Found therein R. G. G. F. And being informed that as yet nothing is done in Answer to those Reasonable and just desires which are above mentioned It is therefore thought meet to have it Printed that so each Member of Parliament as well as Others in outward Authority may be acquainted with our Innocency who with many others unjustly suffer Bonds and other Cruelties This in tender Love is a Warning and Visitation to you all that in this your day of Tryal you continue not Oppression upon the Righteous nor Afflict the Meek whom the Lord regards lest you fall as those whom God cast out before you Yet notwithstanding all this the PARLIAMENT would do nothing in our business Then some who desired that we together with our Accusers might be brought to a hearing went to some of the Members and desired that it might be moved in the House but they would not then a Reason was desired Why not Their Answer was Because our Paper was not a Petition nor directed with this Title To the Right Honourable the House of Commons c. and except we would Petition and give them that Title aforementioned we might lie where we did if we would and yet they confessed that there was little of Fact charged against us and that our Paper was Rational and our request therein Reasonable So because we have learned to speak truth in plainness to every man and could not for Conscience sake give flattering Titles to any least our Maker should take us away nor Petition any but him therefore were we denyed Justice and are made a prey upon by those who seek honour one of another and not that which cometh from God onely So after we had lain about fournteen weeks in Lambeth Gate-House without being examined then one of the Members of PARLIAMENT moved our business in the House whereupon an Order was made a true Copy whereof followeth Thursday the 30th of August 1660. Ordered That George Fox and Robert Grassingham who by vertue of a former Order of this House were taken into custody by the Sergeant at Armes attending this House for some disturbance at Harwich be forthwith Released and set at Liberty upon Bail first given to Render themselues when they shall be in that behalf Required William Jessop Clerk of the Commons House of PARLIAMENT Then shortly after this Order was issued forth the Sergeant at Armes sent his Clerk to demand Fees and Chamber Rent of us then I asked him before several Witnesses if we were detained onely for that he then said He knew not but that we were Freed and that we might go if we would pay his Master who had sent him to demand fifty pounds of us for Fees besides Chamber Rent for which the Chamberlain of the Prison told us That the Sergeant demanded ten shillings a week So we denyed to uphold such wicked oppression and could
not for Conscience sake satisfie his covetous and unrighteous desire but chose rather to suffer than to come forth by yielding to such a horrid oppression yet were we willing to have given him to the full value of all the things we made use of in the Chamber and it being the highest room in a lofty Tower and all the Windowes open it was not fit for men to Lodge in by reason of the Wind and Rain beating in until we had gotten them Glassed without any charge to the Sergeant and we had so little of his in our Chamber that we offered this to wit that if two reasonable men would prise the things we would pay him for them and give him the Things also or if he would not stand to that then we would give him two shillings and six pence a week for the time we had been there We also told our Keepers that if we denyed to give them any thing that they could recover by Law the Law was open but they ought not according to their own Law to keep us upon that account but to tutn us out and then take their course at Law And so we demanded our Liberty several times but notwithstanding all this the Sergeant detained us still And the day before the PARLIAMENT Adjourned our Names in a List with other Prisoners in his Custody was given in to the Parliament who notwithstanding their Act of Indempnity and Oblivion and their former Order for our being forthwith Released and set at Liberty they made another Order That it should be Referred to the Kings Privy Counsel to consider of us and to give such Order touching us as to our Liberty or to continue under constraint as they should find Consistent with the Publick Peace and the mean time we are to remain in the Sergeants Custody so by this Order we are still detained and nothing is yet done by the Privy Council touching us Now let the Reader consider how unreasonably and contrary to Law we have been used who have been kept seventeen Weeks in this Prison and never brought to any examination Besides the time that I was kept in Harwich Now if the PARLIAMENT had rightly weighed and considered the matter when they Ordered the thanks of the House to be given to the Mayor and Magistrate of Harwich for their care in that business touching us truly they might have found more cause to have reproved them for their folly than to have given them thanks For if it had been true that we had made some Disturbance at Harwich as it is said in the Order for our Release yet if the Magistrates of Harwich had rightly understood their duty and if they had not been blinded with the mad zeal of Persecution they might have seen that it belonged to their place to have ended the matter of a disturbance and not to have troubled a Parliament with such a frivilous thing But it is certain that Persecutors in all Ages were blind And what a thing is this cannot three Justices of the Peace so called nor a Parliament determine in the matter of a Disturbance if it had been so that we had made one which we did not but that such a thing â—s that must be turned over to the Kings Privy Council to be considered of or is it because they would keep the innocent in Prison and are ashamed to bring them to an examination having nothing justly to charge them withal I leave this to be answered by that of God in all who shall read this And seeing there have been many false Reports touching the cause of our imprisonment and also that some of our enemies have reported that we may come out of Prison if we will it was upon me to publish the manner of our Imprisonment and of our being kept and by whom that the truth of the matter may plainly be seen which being truly considered People may see that it is even now as it was in the Prophets dayes of old For Judgement is now turned backward and Justice standeth afar off Truth is fallen into the Streets and Equity cannot enter yea Truth faileth and he that departeth from Evil maketh himself a prey and the Lord hath seen it and it displeaseth him because there is no true Judgement Isaiah 59.14 15. and as they did in the dayes of Amos even so do this Generation yea They now turn Judgement into Wormwood and leave off Righteousness in the Earth they hate him that rebuketh in the Gate and abhor him that speaketh uprightly Therefore will the Lord break forth like fire Amos 5. Lambeth-house the 21st of the 7th Month 1660. G. F. HIS FAITH Touching Four Particulars DEMONSTRATED I. Concerning Jesus Christ the Saviour of the World II. Concerning Justification III. Concerning the Resurrection IV. Concerning Everlasting Glory and Eternal Misery Written for the satisfaction of some tender consciencious Persons who had heard false Reports of Him and others of his Judgement touching the things above Written First AS concerning Iesus Christ that was supposed to be Joseph the Carpenter's Son who as concerning the Flesh was Crucified and put to Death at Jerusalem between two Thieves upon the Cross at Mount Calvary I do believe he was the Son of God and that that very Body that the Souldier pierced was the very Body that was prepared by the Father for Christ the true Saviour to come in to do the Will of the Father that sent Him And I do believe that by the Grace of God he tasted Death for every man that as many as believe in and obey him whose Soul was made an Offering for sin might have Eternal Life through him who gave his precious Life a Ransom for many Secondly I do believe that no man can be Iustified by the Works of the Law nor by any VVork of his own but He or She that is Iustified in the sight of God it is freely by his Grace through Faith in Christ Iesus who creates such unto Good VVorks which God hath ordained that they that are justified should walk in Now God through his Free Love hath made Me a Witness of true Iustification And I testifie in the Lord That it is not my Works that Iustifie me but it is the LORD alone who worketh my Works in me and for me according to his own good pleasure who loved me before I loved him and manifested his Love to me in the Covenant of Light whereby he drew me after himself and gave me strength to obey and follow him in the manifestation and drawings of his Love which whilst I did reject I was justly condemned of the Lord and could not witness Iustification in that State although I sought it and talked much of it as many Professors now do but GOD who is rich in Mercy and Love shewed me how he had given me Power and Ability to receive his Truth in the Love of it through which I am now Saved and Iustified Thirdly Touching the Resurrection It is a
Idolatry and to live in Prophaness without controul and you who appear so hot against some of these things and labour to stop and pull them down mark that you might set up and establish your own Hypocritical Will-worship in another dark dead Form I will frustrate you both saith the Lord God and you shall grind and waste one against another as the upper and nether Milstone And I will pluck out from you and preserve a holy Seed beyond expectation and I will be avenged on you for that which you have already bruised or shall yet bruise mark And I will hurry and hurl you round with a mighty Stream for the Waters shall roar and swell And after I have executed my vengeance upon the Rebellious and Treacherous Dealers I will then bring forth the Remnant of my Holy Seed which shall be preserved from their Fury and they shall spread over all in my Life Power Knowledge and Wisdom wherein they shall stand in Dominion Yea and they shall rule the Earth in Mercy Justice and true Judgement and they shall forgive and love their Enemies as they do at this day and do the thing that is just and good unto all without respect of Persons yea they shall seek the good of the whole Creation in the true love and self-denial for the Spirit of Love Meekness Healing and Restoring shall mightily fill their tender Bowels and my Blessings shall fill their Dwelling-place and the Earth for their sakes these things will I accomplish by my own Power and in my own time saith the Lord God But although these things touching the holy Remnant shall certainly be fulfilled in their Season Yet before they be fully accomplished great will be the Tryals of many of the Righteous there will be great Judgements executed in thee O Land by him who oft-times maketh a fruitful Land barren because of the Wickedness of them that dwell therein and Just will it be with Him to deal so with thee because of the great wickedness of the greatest part of thy Inhabitants who are departed and separated from the Spirit of Mercy Love Compassion and Healing and are labouring to Devour Oppress and Destroy one another and the whole Creation Oh England England There is also a People in thee who are come to see the Great Idolatry and Superstition which many are now striving to revive and set up in thee yea there is a People in thee which see and believe that the Worship which is now a setting up with the Vain Musick Altars Masse in English and the foolish needless Garments of the Priests and such like Popist stuff that these things are Idolatry Folly and Vanity and but a mocking of God and yet some of these People will run after this Vain Worship for self-ends flavish-fear and to keep themselves in esteem with or amongst those who plead for it And others there are in thee who instead of being sorrowful for such Abomination and Superstition or reproving the Practicers thereof in the solid seasoned savoury Life and holy Dread of the Lord God they write and speak scossingly of those things even to the stirring up one of another into Vain Laughter and so make a Sport of others Idolatry and this grieveth the Spirit of the Lord also and doth not convince but exasperate and harden those that are zealous for their blind Worship and Superstition There are also a great number of brittle fiery rash unsatisfied People in thee O Land who are as unstable as water and these rebelling against the Light not knowing the way of it because they abide not in the Path thereof they are restless rouling and raging oft-times like the Sea One time they will have a Parliament and cry out They shall govern and heal them and when they have gotten them in a short time they grow weary of them And then another time they will cry out for a King and say He shall heal them and make up their Breaches But these people are not long of one mind for they are much like the Athenians who spent their time in little else but either to tell or to hear of some New thing· These People also are like mighty Tydes in thy Channels O England which one while run with Violence driving all unsetled light unfixed things one way and shortly after run with as much violence the contrary way Therefore in a miserable condition are those Rulers whose strength is in such a People And until Rulers come to be settled and fixed in Him who is the Rock of Ages and singly to rule in and for Him whom the Winds and the Seas obey who maketh the Waters to stand on heaps and divideth them hither and thither and altereth the natural course of Tydes as he pleaseth as he hath done thine of late to shew thee the Figure of the People they can never be safe neither will the People be still'd long together but there will be Swellings Ragings Overflowings sore Breakin gs and Ruines Oh! that the foregoings Rulers would have been perswaded to have Received him for their Teacher who ruleth in the Kingdoms of Men then should they not onely have seen what the Lord cast out others before them for but they should have been taught how to have denyed all those things which the Lord was angry with others for and they should have received Power to have abstained from the same but they would not hear and obey the Lord nor his Prophets and therefore were they cast out also And therefore Oh! that the Rulers that now are would be perswaded whilst they have their Day by the Lord and his Servants to receive the Lord Jesus Christ to be their King and Teacher and then they should not onely see for what cause the Lord cast them out and others in their Age but they should be taught to deny and forsake all those things which God was angry with them and others for and they should receive Power to do those things which they and others before them left undone But alas How few are there that will Hear Regard and Obey the Prince of Life and his Followers and therefore is Desolation coming as a mighty Flood which none shall be able to stop Now all People in what Sect or Opinion soever in whom there are any true Breathings and Desires after the Lord and the way of his Holiness Fear not neither be Dismaid because of the Rage that you may yet see the waters of the Land in and because of the Confusion and Cruelty of the People But stand still in that Life which begetteth Breathings and Thirstings in you after the Lord that you may come to see and feel his Salvation and that you may be gathered into that Patience Meekness Contentedness Rest Peace and Satisfaction which many of the dear Lambs and Children of my Father are gathered into wherein they ly down and none can make them afraid though Bodies and Estates be oppressed and abused Oh! Stick not Stick not
and for you do I oft Pray to the Father of Life that ye may be kept stedfast in that Life which ye have felt and tasted of and that nothing may move you from that hope and confidence which God hath begotten in you by the working of his mighty Power Oh dear Babes let the Love of our God break and melt you into the meek tender Spirit of the Lamb and let the consideration of his Mercy and Grace which to you he hath shewn overcome you and make you sick of Love Oh how can I express his Goodness for it is beyond utterance yea his loving kindness to you-ward hath been exceeding large who in an acceptable time hath appeared and visited you with his tender Love the Light of the World and by his unresistable Power hath he caused you to feel the day spring from on High even the breaking forth of Light in your hearts and inward parts yea this did he do for you who were as Sheep without a Shepherd scattered upon the Mountains in the cloudy and dark day Oh Friends how did his Love reach unto you when ye were Enemies unto him how plainly did he shew unto you the evil of your wayes which had separated you from his presence and how tenderly did he hold forth his hand of Love to lead you out of that which had made you miserable and how did he give you strength to walk when ye were lame and inclined your hearts after that which he shewed unto you to be Good and how did he manifest his eternal Power and Righteous Judgement in you against the body of sin and how did he beget and quicken a Righteous Seed in you which cannot live but in his presence and how mightily hath he opened the eye of your understandings by his eternal Spirit that ye are brought to see the false Wayes and Worships of the World wherein ye were once intangled and he hath also given you to see the Way to himself and the Worship which he regards in the Spirit of Truth wherein you are come to know that which only can give satisfaction and make you eternally free Oh let the unexpressable Love of the Father never be forgotten by you my dear Friends but all keep to and dwell in that eternal Immortal Power of an endless Life which ye have felt and tasted or and let your minds be kept to the workings and operations of the same that so none of you may be daunted by the enemy within or without but all wait in the eternal Light the Foundation of God which can never be shaken that so your minds may be girded up and you kept upon your watch and your ear kept open to the Lord that so when he calls ye may answer and when he teaches ye may observe and obey that so your souls may live and that ye may see his eternal Will in all conditions and be contented therewithal then will you feel the peace which none can take away And Friends give all diligence to obey the Word of Wisdom that ye may be known to be its Children and that ye may feel and witness your growth into the nature of the Immortal Seed whose Kingdom is not of this World that so your Redemption from the earth and all earthly things you may know through the blood of the unspotted Lamb of God which blood is the Life which he gave a Ransom for many which Life is manifested in your mortal bodies that through Faith in it ye may be saved And know this my Friends henceforth you are not your own for you are bought with a price and you are called with an holy calling that you might glorifie the Lord in your Bodies and Spirits which are the Lord 's Oh my Friends let not your delight be placed in the things of this World for then will you be intangled but wait in the feeling of the pure Power of the Lord God that ye may be kept and preserved thereby that so ye that marry may be as if you married not and that ye that have of this world as if ye possessed not and that ye may be kept in the living Wisdom of God in the ordering of all things that are given unto you that so the Glory of God and the honour of his Eternal Truth may be minded in all things and that your minds and hearts may be drawn out of all created things and ye kept single and chast unto the Lord that so if it were his Will that ye should be separated either from Wife or Husband outwardly or Children or Houses or Lands or any outward thing for his Name sake that ye may be kept in that temper and frame of mind and Spirit that ye may resign up all freely without murmuring that so ye may be known to be followers of the Lamb whithersoever he goeth for my Babes it is given unto you as well to suffer for his Names sake as to believe and hereby shall the World know that ye are redeemed from the earth if ye in patience and innocency give up to the Will of God in all things Therefore dear hearts wait in the Power and Life of God that ye may feel your strength and courage and boldness for the Lord increased that when you are tryed ye may stand in that Spirit of Life and Meekness which will give you eternal Peace in all your sufferings and Tryals for the Lord will try you that ye may see and know him alone to be your strength and that the world may know that ye are a People saved by the Almighty God And this know that ye that are faithful shall not be proved beyond your strength for the Lord will be with you in all your Tryals and the more that you are persecuted for his Name the greater shall his power be felt in you and the more your Enemies afflict you the greater shall be your joy and this shall torment your Enemies So Friends let patience have its perfect work that ye may be perfect and entire wanting nothing for the Lord will make up his Jewels and he will take away all the dross and nothing shall remain but that which will abide the Tryal in the fire for the Lord hath been loaded with the sacrifices of many who have professed his Name but have not been subject to the leadings of his Spirit but have grieved it from day to day Therefore will the Lord God try all Professions and the chaff shall be blown away and all false coverings shall be stript off and men shall appear as they are yea the chaff which some time seemed to joyn to the Wheat shall be driven to and fro until the fire consume it or until it mix it self with the mire where the Swine wallow but God will have regard unto his Seed which is weighty And Friends a day of Calamity will come upon â—hem who have worshipped and do Worship 〈◊〉 â—â—known God at a distance and pretend the Worship of
the 〈◊〉 God for they shall call but their God shall not answer and they shall fret themselves and fear and terror shall sieze upon them and many shall joyn to and fall under that which they have called and esteemed Babylonish But there is a remnant yet to be gathered both from among the Professors and Profane Therefore dear hearts let your circumspect walking in the Life of Righteousness reach the Witness of God in all Consciences and let your soberness and patience smite your Enemies And you that are strong in the Lord and in the Power of his Might are Able to endure much bear ye with the weak and encourage and strengthen the feeble and let your tender love and care be over such as ye feel have true breathings after the Lord though they have had little of a knowledge of the Declaration of Truth and let your words to and before them and all men be seasoned with Grace that ye may minister unto the Grace in the Hearers And ye that are weak and yet have a true Love begotten in you towards the Lord all wait in the feeling of the Truth in your inward parts that your minds may be wrought into subjection to the Lord through the working of his eternal Power in you and when you are tempted heed not the temptation but heed the Light that makes manifest the temptation and believe in the Light and keep to it and ye will feel the Lord's presence and strength breaking forth to deliver you and to make a way for you to escape the temptation and if at at any time ye be overcome by the subtilty of the Devil and then the Light arise in you to make manifest the Transgression and to judge you for it then joyn to the Light and love the Judgement and Will not but be still until it works through and breaks forth into Victory and if ye see Iniquity abound then take heed that your Love wax not cold and if ye see some fall from the Truth and turn back with the Dog to the Vomit and with the Swine that was washed to the wallowing again in the mire and if ye see some for fear of persecution start aside or for the love of this World depart from the Faith or turn from the holy Commandment which was delivered unto them upon any account whatsoever let none of these things move or trouble you for such things will come to pass but blessed are they that are not offended with the Light but suffer and endure all things unto the end for they shall be saved But this know Friends that the Lord God will try you and you must pass through Perils and Tryals not only among the open prophane ones but also among such as have known the Truth and turn from it yet know my Friends that God will not try you further than he will give you strength to endure the Tryal if ye be faithful unto him Therefore watch and be sober and wait in the Life that ye may have salt in your selves to savour withal and be not weary neither faint in your minds nor let not in distrust but hope to the end and be confident that God will appear and work deliverance for his People but if it be his Will that ye must yet be further tryed and that he will yet suffer the wicked to flourish and spread forth themselves as a green Bay-Tree and that ye must yet bear your Testimony for the Lord by greater sufferings Oh Friends murmur not but hold fast your integrity and know certainly that whatsoever any suffer for the Lord they shall not lose their reward Therefore all Friends be valiant and strong and bold for the Truth upon earth and walk humbly with the Lord and wisely before your Enemies that so ye by doing the thing that is right in the sight of God may put to silence the foolish and ignorant for this is the Will of God And Friends walk patiently towards all men knowing that ye sometimes were ignorant and foolish and disobedient therefore let your pitty and patience towards them that be disobedient be known and wait that ye may be ready to shew them the thing that is Good and to instruct them concerning the way of Righteousness or if you have not words given you then let your Conversation Preach forth Righteousness that so haply God may give some of them Repentance and that ye may be made instruments for the bringing them unto the acknowledgement and knowledge of the Truth and live in the VVisdom and Power of God that so your Enemies may have nothing against you justly but if they will persecute you for any thing appertaining to a good Conscience be not dismaid or if they falsly accuse you and falsly swear against you and so ye become reckoned among the Transgressors by them be not troubled but be patient and keep to the VVitness of God for thus the wicked served your Master who gave his back to the smiter and his cheecks unto them that plucked off the Hair and the Servant is not greater than his Lord So let nothing be too dear to be given up for the Lord and bow not to any thing but to the Name of Jesus whose Name is called the VVord of God by which we must overcome and break through all this ungodliness Oh the Lord keep you faithful and patient in your Tryals for much have we to pass through and to overcome through the patience and long-suffering of the Lamb. So let none be exalted above their measures nor cast down by letting in of fears but all dwell in the living Nobility of the Immortal King of Righteousness and keep in subjection to his Government and meet together oft in his Name though the Sea and the Heathen Rage and the People imagine vain things and though the Kings of the Earth and the Rulers rise up together and take Counsel against the Lamb and his followers and though the rude multitude may persecute you and the VVhore may drink some of your Blood yet be not dismaid neither fear ye at all for in vain do they strive for the Lamb shall get the victory glory to him in the Highest And so Friends keep your garments unspotted ye who have washed them in the Blood of the Lamb and be exceeding tender toward such Professors as have a tenderness in them towards God in what Sect soever they be in for poor Creatures they are to be pittied and the Way of Truth is to be shewn unto them and this day will bring some of them unto the Principle of God in themselves and they must come unto that before they can find a true stay to their minds and them that come not to that and keep not to that will wither as the grass upon the house top Oh Friends I can even rejoyce and sing for joy notwithstanding the rage and strength of the Enemies for I see the day that approacheth will be exceeding good for Truth and
for Friends that dwell in it for they that stand approved shall be made manifest and the upright shall not lose but gain through all these things and certainly when our God hath tryed us to the full he will appear for us and though our Enemies were as the sand of the Sea and as strong as Gyants yet shall they fall as untimely fruit and our GOD shall consume and weaken them by the Majesty of his Power and an exceeding desolation shall come upon the Earth and a Besom of destruction shall sweep away many Therefore dear Hearts be stedfast in the Lord and keep the Word of his Patience and know that not one hair of your Heads shall perish nor any thing shall be done unto any of you but what the Lord will be glorified by and you shall receive a full and a sufficient reward for it if ye continue faithful So live in the Power and Seed of God that ye may possess the Kingdom the eternal Peace Joy and Righteousness which stands in the Power And love fervently Oh Friends let that abound more and more one towards another and by this shall men also know that ye are taught of Christ if ye love one another and wait that ye may feel the springs of Life in your selves and feed upon that which proceeds from God that ye may grow up in the Power and Life and Wisdom of God and therein be established So the Almighty Power Life and Wisdom of God keep and preserve your for ever Amen The Lord God Almighty keep you fresh and lively meek tender and innocent and fill you with every good word and work which accompanieth Peace and Godliness if any Decree unrighteous Decrees heed them not for the Decree of God shall stand which is to establish Righteousness in the Earth and in the Power of the Lord we shall break the bonds of the ungodly and cast their cords from us So the Spiritual Weapon war withal and stand in the Faith and hold fast the Word of Truth that through it you may feel and witness your sanctification and the Birth Immortal raised up over all which is the Heir of the Kingdom without end and assuredly God will do mighty things for his Poples therefore be ye comforted and strengthened in the Lord and dwell in and keep his Covenant and answer his requirings in the Light of Life and live in the retiredness and in the Wisdom of God that your Enemies may have no just occasion against you and that ye may be preserved out of their snares and if they Imprison you and falsely accuse you or spoyle your Goods or Persecute you any manner of wayes keep in Patience and freely forgive them and suffer as Lambs in the true Innocency that so your Peace with the Lord may be preserved in all conditions And Friends let the Dread and Majesty of God fill you And as concerning the changing of Times and Governments let not that trouble any of you for God hath a mighty work and hand therein and he will yet change again until that come up which must Reign and in vain shall Powers and Armies withstand the Lord for his determined work shall come to pass but what is now come up it 's just with the Lord that it should be so and he will be served by it Therefore let none murmur nor distrust God for God will provoke many to zeal against unrighteousness and for Righteousness through things which are suffered now to work for a season yea many whose zeal was even dead shall revive again and they shall see their back-slidings and bewail them bitterly and God shall thunder down from Heaven and break forth in a mighty noise and his Enemies shall be astonished and the workers of Iniquity confounded and all that have not on the Garment of Righteousness shall be amazed at the mighty and strange work of the Lord which shall be certainly brought to pass but my Babes look ye not out but be still in the Light of the Lamb and he shall fight for you So the Almighty hand which must Break and Split and Divide your Enemies and take away Peace from them preserve and keep you whole and in Unity and in Peace with it self and one with another Lambeth-House the 3 d. day of the 4 th Month 1660. I am your Dear Friend and Brother in the Kingdom and Patience of Christ who am a Prisoner for his Testimony and keep his Word and am made as willing to suffer bonds or to dye for his Name as to declare and publish it amongst men Eternal living Praises and Hallelujahs over all be unto him for evermore Amen George Fox the Younger AN EPISTLE UNTO All who love the Lord Jesus Christ in Sincerity who are made partakers of the riches of his Grace and meet together to wait upon him therein to be read in their Meetings in the Fear of the Lord. DEAR Friends whom the eternal God hath visited with his own Life and Power and thereby hath called you out of the Darkness of the World into his Marvellous Light and hath begotten and quickned a Seed in you unto which pertaineth the Promises of Life and Peace and also hath opened a good understanding in you by the measure of his Eternal Spirit and hath brought you into a feeling and a sensibleness and a savour of that which ministers and reacheth to and refresheth his own Seed Oh Friends great is the Love of the Lord God unto you and large is his Eternal Riches let not his everlasting Love be forgotten by any of you neither slight nor neglect his rich Mercy but dear Friends dwell in the living measure of his Grace and hearken diligently unto the Voice of the Lamb so shall you be refreshed with the living Presence of the Father and the Fountain of Life shall be enlarged unto you whereby the Babe of God shall be strengthned and grow up in stature And when you are met together to wait upon the Lord Oh! feel his living Gift in your selves and be obedient to the motions and operations thereof that so the Presence and Power of the Eternal God may be felt and enjoyed in your Meetings and at other times for the bringing down and working out of all that which is contrary to himself in you and for the working you into the express Image of his own Glory and for the bringing you into the perfect Obedience of his own Life and Power that the Nature of the Lamb which takes away the sins ye may all grow into that so the Patience of Christ may be felt and witnessed in you all and that it may have its perfect Work in you that therein you may possess your Souls then shall the Lord enlarge your understandings and ye shall grow into the meek quiet Spirit wherein your savour and discerning shall be encreased and ye shall feel the gentle leadings of the invisible Life whereby satisfaction and refreshment shall be received unto the Seed
Immortal So dear hearts let the living Measure of the Eternal Father of Life and Power and Wisdom be your continual Stay and Habitation that so if any shall come among you that are out of the true savour and feeling of the Life in themselves and shall act or speak any thing among you that is out of the Life that ye then may not be drawn out of the savour and feeling thereby but wait ye singly in the innocent patient long-suffering Spirit of Christ and that will preserve you out of the fretting and murmuring and thoughts and reasoning and out of the enmity and it will keep you settled and quiet and in Unity with God and with all who abide in his Life and this will reach the Witness in them who are turned from it into the rambling unsettled state and if ye feel the Seed burdened then wait in the true Patience in the fervent Love to the Truth and then the Lord's Counsel you will know and his Wisdom you will receive and his Power you will feel whereby as you are obedient thereto the burden will be removed and the evil will be judged that caused the burden and the Seed will be refreshed and the Unity of the Faith will be known and the weak there will be preserved and so the Peace will be Witnessed and the Truth will be adorned and its Enemies shall be ashamed Oh my Friends dear is the everlasting unchangeable Truth of God unto me which he hath made known in and among us in this his Day and dear and precious are all ye unto me who abide in it for therein is no Schisms nor Parties nor Rents nor Envy for who goe into those first goes from the simplicity of the naked Truth in which they that abide in it the Patience and Forbearance and Unity is felt by them and such as go out of it must feel the Judgement but all who abides in the Faith shall not come into Condemnation So the LORD GOD Almighty of Heaven and Earth preserve and keep you all in Patience in Innocency in Uprightness and in Obedience unto the living measure of his Power manifested in you Amen Now Friends that which ministreth unto the Seed Immortal know that Ministration in your selves for that is profitable and that is durable and fadeth not away and let the exercise of your minds be in that which is living of God when you are met together and at other times that so ye may be kept out of that which comes to an end in the feeling of the Power of an endless Life that so the Seed of Life may be raised up in you all and ye established in it to live in it for ever in which Seed the end of words is witnessed Oh Friends there cannot be another Truth or Power or Saviour Preached unto you that you are to mind than that ye have already heard and felt but the same you are to wait to feel an enlargement in Therefore be valiant for the Lord and prize the worth of his unchangeable Truth and watch and be diligent that his Spirit of Life and Power may quicken you and that his Virtue and Nourishment may be felt and lived in whereby Fruits of Eternal Righteousness and Praises over all may be given unto him and that ye may be preserved fervent unto your first Love in him whose Eternal Day is dawned and broke forth of Salvation of Life of Power of Immortality Glory Eternal Praises everlastingly be rendred unto Him from the meek lowly quiet peaceable Spirit which is risen and arising in his Babes and tender Plants whereby he stayes and settles and satisfies them even in the day of Tryal and in the day of Prosperity I am your Dear and tender Friend and Brother in the Power of God in which I labour for the gathering of the Seed for the bringing into and keeping in the Unity of the Spirit which is the bond of Peace George Fox the younger TO THE Called of God Who Believe in the Light of the LAMB To be read in their Assemblies in the Pure Dread of the Lord. DEar Children and People of the Eternal God who have known the working of his Mighty Power and have been exercised in the Operations of his Eternal Spirit whereby he hath begotten your minds out of the world in a great measure and hath brought you into a feeling of his Eternal Presence which filleth Heaven and Earth wherein is the Joy unspeakable unto them that are reconciled to God by the Lord Jesus Christ the Immortal Word Friends you unto me are exceeding precious and my Desires and Breathings to the Lord for you are exceeding strong that ye may be preserved in the sence and feeling of the Power of an endless life and that you may be all kept in the true Faith and obedience of the truth which lives for ever all minding to answer its requirings in every particular and waiting to feel its Springings arising in you whereby you may feel it quickning you up to God that so your Faith and trust and Confidence may onely stand in him who is able to deliver For Friends this know the Lord will assuredly try you to the uttermost and you must come through the fire which will consume your enemies Therefore dear Babes be stedfast in the Lord according as he hath made manifest himself unto you and wait and watch in that measure of his Life in you which onely is able to keep your minds and hearts out of the Earth and the things thereof and as ye singly wait upon the Lord you will feel the growth of that Birth in you which is not of this world which can endure the fire Oh my Friends wait to feel your growth and Translation into this Birth which doth the will of the Father naturally this is the Seed unto which the Promises are this is the Elect which obtains and cannot be deceivid this is the Heir of the Kingdom without end this will God Crown with Victory when the measure of it's Sufferings is fulfilled this Seed must work through all it's Enemies and work them under it's feet Oh! wait in the Eternal Power to feel and witness it in the particular and be patient till God bring forth his Work outwardly Look not out neither be dismayed at the strange transactions of the times but look to the Lord who onely can save by what means he pleaseth and let the Lord alone to appear as he pleaseth onely be you watchful that when he appears you may be ready for his appearance and watch in the Light which will give you clearly to see his appearance and what he requires of you that so living obedience unto him may be yielded Oh Friends Take heed that the things of this World draw not away any of your hearts Remember it is them that are redeemed from the Earth that must Reign in and with the Lamb upon the Earth Take heed that your love stands not in any thing or
of his Glorious Truth and Gospel which is the Power of God and you have abode in his fear and singly given up to his will you have mightily been preserved and you have felt the hand of a tender Father upholding you and giving you Peace and content when you have lost much of this world and the honour and pleasures thereof for his Name sake Oh Friends He hath not been wanting unto you he hath seen your sufferings and hath looked upon your afflictions and hath ministred strength proportionable thereunto that you might not faint nor be weary Oh! let not his Mercies and Fatherly care and loving kindness be forgotten by any of you but let them for ever be had in remembrance so shall the reward be witnessed Now Friends the Lord hath suffered a Cloud and a Mist as it were to spread it self in these Nations whereby an evil savour is gone forth which by fire must be taken away in which he will yet further try his People that they may be as gold separated clearly from the dross and that they may indeed be truly gathered and redeemed from the Earth and all earthly things and that they may wholly look unto him for deliverance and know that he indeed is the alone refuge and hiding-place in the day of distress Therefore let all who know the Power of God retire inward and watch in the Light of the Lamb that you may feel the movings of the Life in your own Vessels and be kept in obedience to its drawings and leadings in this day of Tryal Temptation and Darkness which is spreading it self for a Moment mark that lest any of you be scattered for the Enemies work is anâ— will be to seek to draw you from your strength and true guide which where he attains it great will be the sorrow and loss of such Therefore my dearly beloved Friends who have tasted how good the Lord is in the tender bowels of Christ I beseech you be fervent in love to God and one towards another and be watchful in the Light and therein watch one over another and strengthen and comfort and encourage and build up one another in the work and service of the Lord And if any through the temptation of the Enemy hath at any time spoken or done any wrong to another even as God in Christ forgave you so freely forgive ye one another and be ye plain-hearted one to another and â—e ye reconcilâ—d in that which destroys all prejudice and purges out all hard thoughts that so the Unity may be witnessed in that Love which thinks no evil and the one Head and Master over all submitted unto and let the gathering be unto him alone that so the blessing may be multiplyed in and amongst you unto the Glory and Praise of him that gives the encrease And be diligent in Meeting together whilst you may in the Name and Power of the Lord and be watchful in the measure of the Life of God that you may feel your strength renewed and encreased in the inward man For Friends this is a day which will try every one's strength therefore dwell in the Power in which the true gathering is that ye may not scatter abroad for he that gathers not scatters abroad and he that goes from the drawings of the Power gathers not Now Friends as ye keep in the drawings and springings of the Invisible Life ye will be knit together in one Life and there will be no striving who shall be greatest but every one will be serving the Lord in their several places and measures and one another in Love and as this is abode in the weak in somethings and at sometimes may help the strong and the stronger in other things may help the weak Oh Friends be as Children of one Father dwelling in Innocency and Love together helping one another Be ye indeed as Members of one Body knowing that the nourishment to the several Members thereof comes frome one Head and considering that every Member hath not the same Office yet of exceeding Service as each moves and acts in true Love to the Body and therefore ought to be born and owned in their respective places and if any Member would act any thing that might hurt the Body or any part of it either through being out of the sence what is of Service to the Body or otherwise then if another Member or Members be made sensible of the same it or they are bound in Love to the Body to seek to hinder the same and in tender love to restore the erring Member that so the Body may be kept in true Order and every Member seeking the good one of another Oh Friends consider how the Members even of the true natural Body serve one another in Love how does one cover another how does one bear and strain and labour for the good of each other to help one another and how much more ought these things to abound in the Spiritual Body of which Christ is the Head And now that which chiefly lyes upon me at present to you is this That ye all in the feeling of the pure Life and Power of God may keep and that where there hath been any watching for advantage by any among you against one another or strife of words or prejudice or striving to Lord it one over another or strangeness one towards each other that these things be utterly laid aside and resisted for where these things or any of them take place they eat as doth a canker and devour the Babe which should inherit the Promises and receive the Blessing and that in tender Bowels of Love ye receive and embrace one another and that all whatsoever hath tended to the contrary in any may dye and be forgotten as if it had never been that so the Birth Immortal which hath been quenched in some may spring and grow in the Vertue of the Father that its strong cryes both in the Male and in the Female may pierce through the Clouds and reach unto the Father of Life and Power and wrestle with him until the Blessing be given abundantly yea until he make bare his Arm in the sight of his Enemies that the Oppressor may cease and the Land may be swept of evil doers that so a way may be made for the further spreading of his everlasting Name and Truth and for the exalting of the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus over all the Kingdoms of the World Ah Friends the Unity the Unity in the Spirit the Love the Love from a pure heart is exceeding precious the yearning of Bowels one toward each other in the Lord the Faith the Patience the Watching and Breathing and Groaning and Sighing and Praying and Crying in the Spirit and Power of Emanuel is able to astonish the Heathen and to confound Armies and Powers that withstand the Kingdom of the Lord Christ and to cause Vengeance to come upon such as will not Repent and turn to the Lord in the day of
and singleness and uprightness of heart in that love which thinks no Evil even in obedienae unto the Spirit of the Lord which also saith Try all things and hold fast that which is good Friends IN several of you I know there hath stirred and doth oft stir a pure true living Principle of God which hath begot and doth beget true honest and upright Desires and Breathings in you after Righteousness true Liberty and Freedom and loathings of Oppression and Tyranny and it hath been in the hearts of some of you and much upon you to break down Oppression and Tyranny and to remove Oppressors and to make void all such Laws as make provision for Tyranny and Oppression whereby the Oppressors have long been strengthened in their Oppressing the People of this Nation and some of you have felt the weight and burden of Oppression and Tyranny under which the Innocent suffer and it hath been much in your hearts to set up Righteous Laws whereby all People might have Equity and Justice done to them and for them by such as you have had thoughts to put in Authority which would do just and equal things between Man and Man without respect to persons These things the Lords witness in you hath shewed unto you that they ought to be done by you and some of you have breathed and desired much to do these things when ye have owned the pure movings and stirrings of the measure of the Life and Power God in you which hath stirred and moved in you towards Righteousness Equity Mercy and Justice But hitherto ye have been much hindred in this work And truly Friends there are many things yet remaining in and among you mark that which hinder and stop you in this work of true Reformation and they will stop you therein mark that so long as they bear rule in and among you and are consented to and regarded by you many of those things are as followeth First There are many that pretend that they are of you mark that which have joyned unto you in some outward appearance but it is more for fear of loosing their places and the riches and honour of this world than for to the Cause of Equity Justice and true Liberty And these are in the Priests nature who for covetousness and self ends can change with the times and Governments and pretend they are for them so long as they will hold them up and such are neither true to God nor their Country for they can lay down their Religion which they have pretended to stand for and deny the Cause of their Country if it will make most for their own Gain and then say it was the Lords doing and they are satisfied in it though it be quite contrary to that which they have formerly contended for and of this sort there are many among you which stop the work you ought to do And several of you also in whom the Truth of God hath stirred against Oppression and Tyranny verily your minds are yet so much in your Commissions and Places and in the love and honour and Wisdom of this World that this stops you in the work ye ought to do And some of you have so many relations mark that that have such a great gain in those very things which greatly Oppresse the People of this Nation and also some of your selves are concerned in these things that so ye cannot tell how to take away Oppression wholly without taking away their and your own gain and these things being looked at by you they exceedingly stop you in the work you ought to do because herein private self ends and respect to Persons by you are preferred before the general good of all Now Friends whilst your minds and thoughts and hearts run into or after any of these things They with the Enemy of your Souls will not suffer you to do that which is equal no further to be sure then it will stand safe for the upholding and preferring of yout relations and your own private particular self ends Therefore all wait in that which is pure and living of God in you which will shew you all Deceit if ye keep to it that so by it your minds may be redeemed out of all self and respect to Persons that so all particular private self ends and respects to Persons may be denyed and utterly trampled upon by you and that the general good and freedom of all without respect of Persons may be minded and acted for by you that so ye may serve the Lord God and your Generation in singleness and uprightness of heart and then the Lord will honour you and he will be your sufficient reward Verily it is a mighty thing and it is highly to be prized by you especially ye of the Army that ever the Lord God should make use of you again and again put an opportunity into your hands to do that which you formerly promised and vowed unto the Lord and your Nation to do seeing ye so slighted mark that the former opportunities which the Lord God gave you and acted so Treacherously and Deceitfully as ye did in your back-slidings and if ye should slight this opportunity also do not expect another be not deceived God will not be mocked therefore consider these things and mind to answer the Lords love yet continued unto you But if ye look out at or suffer your minds to run into mark the greatness of your Places or after your gain or the honour of the World or if ye look out at love or hatred of your Friends or known Enemies or at any particular self end whatsoever These things will strangle the Principle of God in you which moves to do that which is equal and just unto all and then the tender Seed in you which feels the weight and burden of Oppression that will be murdered and then the deadness and hardness of heart will come upon you more and more and ye will settle deeper and deeper in the death and verily if ye should do thus ye would become even as Sodom and Gomorah unto the Lord and he would overturn you with a great and mighty destruction as he did them therefore remember you have been warned So look at none of these things but look ye to the Lord God and mind the movings of his Life in you and be obedient thereto and as Oppression and Tiranny and Injustice is made manifest unto you by the Light of the Lord in you in the Power of the Lord committed unto you break it down and overturn it and set up and establish Righteous Laws Equity Mercy and Justice and true Liberty in its Place and then you neeâ— not fear what Man can do unto you for the Lord will then be your preserver So the Lord God hath once more tryed you Now if you love Father Mother Wife Children Houses Lands Commissions Honours of the World or any particular self end whatsoever more then the work of the Lord or if ye
emptiness of the water outward and let them see that it is the Baptism inward with the holy Spirit and with Fire which saves and brings to the answer of a good Conscience And that no Form is to be minded any further then the Power is felt to lead into it or then the presence of the Lord is witnessed in it And thus the Lord by his pure Life hath gathered Thousands out of the Forms before mentioned and I do believe that he will yet dayly gather more and more into the Power which is endless Therefore all you who are yet left in any of those forms before mentioned or any other or out of Forms who have retained any thing of the former Tenderness and Smiplicity which was begotten in you by the appearance of the Lord And all you who are brought to see your backslidings and are now brought to feel any true desires and thirsting after God renewed in you my tender love reacheth forth unto you all in the Life Power and love of God wherewith I am loved and in which I am preserved Oh! that I could feel you bound up and established with me in the unchangable Truth of God where satisfaction and Peace is received and where nothing can make afraid Oh! that ye would freely yield your selves obedient servants unto the Righteousness of God which is revealed from Heaven against all unrighteousness of men Mark that is the thing which you must become obedient unto God's Righteousness which appeareth in you against all unrighteousness And all wait in that which moves against Sin for that is the Power of God which you must be turned unto and receive before you can receive the remission of Sins and an inheritance among them that are sanctified by the Faith which Christ Jesus the Righteousness of God is the Author and finisher of And Friends you must all mind the present manifestation of the Power of God and what it now draweth and leadeth unto For if you should now run into those things wherein you have formerly enjoyed something of the presence and Life of God yet if you feel not the pure Power of the Lord God now drawing you into them deadness will come upon you more and more and the tender desires that are renewed in you towards the Lord will be destroyed Oh! consider this the day of the Lord is far broke forth in Light and Knowledge and he is yet making it brighter and brighter unto them that truly wait upon him yea he is leading them by the hand of his love from one degree of Grace and Faith and Knowledge unto another and changing them from glory to glory And he is powring from vessel to vessel that the dregs may be left by themselves Yea he is sifting and winowing that the Chaff and the dross may be taken away and so the Seed which standeth approved may be made manifest And he is bringing thorow the fire and thorow the fire because the day hasteneth and draweth nigh in which he will make up his Jewels and consume the chaff and the dross Therefore look not back neither be afraid of the rage of man seek not to save your selves by bowing to his Will but look to the Lord who declareth unto you what your thoughts are and gird up the loins oF your minds and watch and be sober and hope to the end all you who through patience and experience are come to know any thing of the true hope which maketh not ashamed And Friends concerning Faith and the Promises of God there hath been much Profession and talk of those things amongst you But now the day is appearing which will try all Professions and every one's work must come to Tryal Therefore consider your Faith and the Ground Author and effects of it For there is a dead Faith and a living Faith and a ground for both Now the living Faith hath Jesus for its Author and the power of God for its Ground and its effects declare it to be the living Faith for it works in them that have it by love unto the purifying of their hearts and it is their victory over the world These were the effects of the living Faith in the Saints of old and it hath the same now as they can witness who have received it Now there is a Faith which stands but in Words not in the Power and this is a dead Faith it cannot work it purifies not the heart it gives not victory over the world nor access to God as the living Faith doth Oh Friends Labour not to content your selves with a dead Faith but wait that you may hear the leaving Word by which the living Faith comes Now a man may declare of the Word of Life as the Scriptures do and many may believe the words to be true and profess the same and yet if they receive not the living Word or VVitness in their own hearts their Faith will prove but a dead Faith and they will have but words for its ground but they that hear the VVords of Truth declared or read them and then feel the living VVord arising in themselves witnessing to the words that they have read or heard that they are true over-powering them to believe the same or if the VVord of Life speaketh to any ones understanding when words outwardly are not spoken and they be over-powered by the Word to believe the same such come indeed to feel and know how the living Faith cometh and is wrought And they come also to see that this Faith stands in the Power of God and not in words and that Jesus who saveth from sin is the Author of it And all that come into this state if they wilfully turn not from the Power they will feel their Faith increased in and by the Power and the effects of it will daily come to be manifest which will be an evidence unto them to prove that it is the living Faith for they will feel it giving them access to God Oh ye Professors I speak what I know and witness and without this Faith you cannot please God And concerning the Promises of God this know The Promises are unto the Seed Not unto Seeds as of many but unto the Seed which is One which is Christ So all that come to have right unto the Promises of God they must come to be of the Seed unto which the Promises are Now it is the Word of Life which begetteth unto God and brings to be of the Seed which is the Heir of the Promises of God Therefore wait in the appearance of the Word of Life that by it you may be begotten into the nature of the incorruptible Seed and become born of it that so you may be made meet to be partakers of the precious Promises Oh that ye would hearken diligently and obey and your Souls should live The Lord's hand of tender love and pitty is stretched forth towards you Oh! be not rebellious any longer lest he cease striving with you
Truly many of you have mightily provoked the Lord unto anger and grieved his Spirit in this particular Mark in your applying Promises as you have termed it for many of you have stollen the words which declare of the Promises which are to the Seed of Life and you have applyed them unto the wrong Seed or Birth yea you have gathered the good words out of the Scriptures that were written unto them who were born again of the incorruptible Seed and you have applyed them unto your selves in the corruptible unregenerate state and when you have done thus the Witness of God in your own Consciences hath oft arose and condemned you and broke the false peace joy which you had created to your selves by stealing the Saints conditions and experiences and applying them to your selves calling them yours and saying it was so with you when it was not yea many of you have said your sins were washed away in the Blood of Christ and that you were freely justified in the sight of God by his Grace and your Teachers also have told you it was so yea they have Preached peace unto you because you put into their mouths even while you lived in your sins But the pure Grace of God hath appeared in your hearts and condemned you And when you have been thus judged by the Witness of God your false peace hath been broken and then some of you have run to your Teachers who had cryed peace unto you and daubed you up with untempered Morter and told them your conditions how you were condemned in your selves and how you had lost the peace and joy that you formerly had and how judgement was felt in the room of it Then some of your blind Guides have told you that that was the Devil that condemned you and brake your Peace and thus they have brought themselves under the Wo Putting Darkness for Light and Light for Darkness and then they have told you you must apply the Promises and act Faith as they call it upon the Promises in the Scriptures and keep unto them And thus they have sought to daub you up again and to draw you from the pure Spirit of Judgement and some of you who have received their words have then strove against the pure Witness which condemned you and counted it the Tempter and have laboured in your wills to get from under its pure Judgement and to force your selves into a belief and perswasion again that those things to wit the Promises belonged unto you And thus have you fought against the Witness of God and denied its Testimony and strangled it and so got into a false peace again but others of you have been kept more sensible of its judgement and have not dared to deny it because you have seen that ye were not fit for the Promises for you have seen with the Light that you were out of the condition which is required of such as come to be partakers of the Promises Now it hath been a great saying among many of you That you must act Faith upon a bare Promise in the Scriptures as your Teachers have taught you and they have told you That Abraham believed God upon a bare Promise and so must you Oh consider this well The Word of the Lord came unto Abraham saying unto him Fear not Abraham I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward And again the Lord spake unto him saying I will bless thee and make thy name great and thou shalt be a blessing and Abraham believed God in these Promises and others and he obeyed him So Abraham's Faith was reckoned unto him for Righteousness and he was called the Friend of God because he believed and obeyed him Now if you were come to hear the Lord speak unto you as Abraham did then you ought to believe whatever the Lord promised unto you that he would perform the same But if you only get these Promises or others out of the Scriptures and then apply them unto your selves and say you believe it is or shall be so with you as it is expressed in those Promises and yet you never heard the Lord say any such thing unto you Mark you do but deceive your selves for such a belief or acting of Faith upon the Promises as you call it will never be accounted unto you for Righteousness Neither will you come to find such Promises so gotten fulfilled unto you by the Lord. And you are also to consider this That many of the Promises in the Scriptures were given forth upon Conditions and except you come to witness the conditions fulfilled in you by the Power you are not like to witness such Promises made good unto you And also there are some Promises spoken of in the Scriptures which naturally belong to the Immortal Seed that were by the Lord given forth unto it without expressing any conditions because the Seed is free and doth the Will of God naturally Now all that come to have right to such Promises and to witness them fulfilled unto them by the Lord they first must be converted into the nature of the Seed by the working of the Immortal Word in them Therefore you that have true desires after the Lord wait to feel the work of the Word of Life in your own hearts that so by it you may be made meet as I said before to be partakers of the Promises Verily Friends Many of you have much to pass through before you can come to feel and witness the Lord ministring his precious Promises of Life and Peace freely unto you Oh! He waiteth to be gracious unto you yea he hath long waited Oh! That you would now turn unto him in the drawings of his Power and Life and cease willing and running and striving in your own wills and wayes and wait to be guided and led by his Spirit into those things which he requireth at your hands Oh Friends It is the inside it is the inside that must be cleansed for whilst that is polluted and unclean the Lord regardeth not the Worship It is he that searcheth the heart and tryeth the inward parts you cannot hide any thing from him For he beholdeth all your goings and actings and thoughts Now I know many of you will oft make large confessions of your sins but Friends there is a further thing to be minded Mark you must also come to forsake them or else you cannot find the mercy Therefore hearken diligently unto the call of the Lord and believe and wait in that which makes manifest sin and calleth you out of the same for this is holy and consenteth not unto sin it hath no fellowship with darkness nor concord with the Devil Now this is the living Truth by this you may know it mark it is contrary to whatsoever is not of the Truth and it opposeth evil in the very appearance thereof Oh that you would hearken unto this and receive this in the love of it when it appeareth in you that so by the
is and hath been very much wrong among people upon that account for many thereby are begotten into strange lying wonders and some into questionings and fears in their minds and some into false joys and foolish expectations and some into prejudice one against another because false reports have been received and reported again Therefore that you may be clear of these things be you very mindful watchful and careful that you report not any thing but as you have a certain ground for the Truth of it and as you may see a service in speaking thereof or else you had better be silent to those things and let them dye that so Truth Unity and Peace may be lived in and abound amongst you in all things London the 8th of the 8th Month. 1660. I am your endeared Friend and Brother in the Bowels of Christ whose Life is freely given up to answer the Will and requirings of the Father travelling for Unity and Peace and Righteousness amongst men where its wanting and greatly rejoycing with all those in whom it abounds and is felt and witnessed George Fox the Younger Behold how good and how pleasant a thing it is for Brethren to dwell together in unity TO THE TRIBULATED Flock of Crhist In BONDS or elsewhere SALUTATION AH my indeared Tribulated Brethren Sisters and Friends both in Prison and out of Prison Sufferers in Body Estates or otherwise for the holy powerful Eternal Truth as it is in Jesus O blessed are you ye Lambs of my Father's Fold who are faithful to him in the Testimony he hath given you to bear your Reward is great which in no wise shall fail Dear Babes drink in the Life abundantly which Emanuel hath placed in you and feed at the Table that my Father hath Richly spread for you with food sutable for you in your several growths Oh! the Word the Word of Eternal Life is appointed for your food feel it in your selves and go no more out Oh! how strong are the drawings thereof and how pleasant is the Virtue of it How are they overcome with the love of it that abide therein Oh! my Brethren and Friends our strength our safety our Peace and Satisfaction is this therefore let it for ever be the Habitation of your delight O this day is Glorious to all that stand given up in the Fathers will whose heatts and minds are drawn and Redeemed out of all those things that perish with the using Oh! ye Babes how strongly do I feel you in the Power of love who are Retired out of all fading changeable ending things into the Eternal Invisible unchangeable endless Life of Righteousness verily when I think upon you and behold you in your Habitation I am even Raised with Joy and Love Oh you that keep your Garments pure and clean in the Life of the unspotted undefiled Lamb how are my tender Bowels refreshed in you verily I cannot Express the Love that is in me to you ye Lambs of my Maker hold fast hold fast the word of his Patience it shall Crown you it shall Crown you in the End by it shall you overcome through Faith yea by it your Enemies shall be brought under you and in it shall you be Exalted over your Oppressors Oh! who can declare the Glory of the Lord as it shall be manifested in this Age for verily he will work wonders in the Earth and in the Heavens till he hath brought to pass the thing that is in his heart in vain do all the Potsheards of the Earth strive against the Former and Upholder of all things for he will Exalt his Son and his Righteous Kingdom and establish it in Righteousness over all the Kingdoms of the World and they must bow thereunto Therefore my Indeared ones be still in the Light and Life of the Lamb that you may behold the going forth of the Lord in his Glorious Power in this Day wherein he is Sifting Winowing Purging and trying that nothing but the Wheat and the Gold may be left Oh Babes dwell in love and Peace together in the powerful anointing which the Father hath poured forth upon you as a full gift and placed in you as a true Teacher and a Leader and let all keep to the holy drawings thereof and Answer the Requiring of the same O! blessed are you that bear the Testimony therein and quench not the Springs and arising of it neither go without it but simply and innocently obey its pure leadings and as you are kept in this if any are not able to bear you you will be able to bear them for you will have nothing in your Precious Eye and Mind but nakedly and simply the Honour and Glory of your Tender Father who will cause Bowels of Love to open in you one towards another in the merciful forgiving forbearing healing Spirit which will fill your Precious immortal Souls whereby you will be able to gather and allure others into the same Oh! my Friends dwell out of all mortals in the Immortal Power and Love of the Father and know the Birth that inherits the blessing and abides in Covenant with God which breaks and disanuls death's Covenant and brings over death and its Power into the Tryal and Dominion of the Lamb. O ye Innocent Babes and Plants who in Prisons holes and Dungeons are cast because you dare not grieve the Spirit of the Lord your God in obeying man's unrighteous Decrees my Father's love is exceeding great to you your Righteous Iust Cause he will fully Plead therefore leave it wholly to him and in the overcomings of his Power and Tender Love solace your selves and quietly lie down in his will till he bring you forth in his own Dominion Oh! you are Precious unto me who cannot defile your Testimony for any outward enjoyment my Bowels my Bowels are filled with the streams of Love and Life and Compassion which flow forth to you O my Prayers groanings Breathings Reach unto the God of Life both day and night for you Oh my beloved ones watch watch one over another in tender Bowels and bear the weak and feeble in your Arms and Bosom of love and let Mercy and Peace fill your Habitations and God shall work your Deliverance for you in his appointed time O Friends you are witnesses of that Truth which must spread over all the world and never be extinguished more but to the brightness of its rising many shall come And all of what degree soever that set themselves against it shall fall before it yea they shall not prosper the Lord hath spoken it onely Remember he will thorowly try his gold that it may be manifested unto all So the Precious Life Power Peace and Virtue of my Fathers ' be multiplyed in and among you till you all come to the Stature of the fulness of Christ in God Eternal Amen From Westminster Palace Yard Gate-house the 2d of the 1st Month 1661. Your dear tender and loving Brother in the humble melted broken contrite Spirit of