of this peaceable Spirit you Living and Walking you may then come to be rightly concerned to God's glory in the Blessed Order which the Truth hath led into and by the Power of God is now set up in the Churches of Christ for the keeping of all out and down that are unclean unruly and unholy and preserving of the Camp of God in that Purity that is proper for it that he that is holy may delight to dwell there and abide in the midst thereof And dear Friends all you that keep your habitations in the Lord's Power neglect not your Gifts received from Christ but be you all concerned in your places and according to your abilities for the Honour of Truth that every thing that would bring Dishonour to that worthy name by which ye have been called and give Occasion of stumbling unto the weak may be removed in the Wisdom of God or at least by the tender power of God Judged out from among you that the Camp may be kept clean and Righteousness may run down and the glory of the Lord break forth upon you and you therein may shine to his Praise and Glory for ever more Dear Friends I also was willing to let you know that our Meeting this year at London was very quiet and peaceable and blessed Unity and comfortable Fellowship in the Power and Love of God was Witnessed among us and we gathered up in that together into that care and concern which the state of the Churches of Christ in this trying day did require For many of our Friends in divers places of this Nation are under great Sufferings for their Testimony But otherwise the Truth doth prevail and gain upon many Hearts and through these Tryals God will Magnifie his Power in the end and Crown his People with Dominion for through Sufferings will the Lamb and his Humble and Faithful Followers have the Victory We had also account from divers Countries of the Prosperity of Truth and the State of Friends at the Yearly Meeting now lately over as Holland and the Country that way and from Ireland and Scotland and so had an account in Letters to the Yearly Meeting of the state of things and the affairs of Truth to our great Comfort And therefore it is desired that if the Lord should so order that we may Meet together as hitherto we have done and intend if he permit to do that you in America would endeavour to send over against that time from your several Countries an account of the Prosperity of Truth and how it is among you as to the Affairs thereof that at that Meeting Friends may have an account from you as we have from other Parts And for this end it was desired by Dear G. F. whom many of you know hath a general Care upon him for the good of the whole Body that at your Half-years-Meeting in the latter part of the year you might draw up an Epistle which might be sent to be at London at the Yearly Meeting every year and so from your Half-years-Meeting in every place there may be an account given yearly which will be a refreshment and comfort to Friends And therefore it is desired that if this come in time to your Half-years-Meeting you would be mindful of it and answer the desire of Friends and let Copies of this be sent to Virginia Maryland Pensylvania and New-Iersey and to Long-Island and Road-Island and to Sandwich and where there may be a Service or to Scituate if the Half-years-Meeting be there and to Barbadoes or the Leeward-Islands So with my Love to you all in that wherein all the Faithful have Fellowship I conclude and remain Your Friend and Brother in the Truth I. B. Hartford the 19th of the 4th Month 1682. An Epistle to Friends of Bristol Directed to C. J. Dear C. J. IN that everlasting Truth and Seed of Life through which the God of Truth hath reached us and visited us is the living Love and true endeared Affection of my Heart and Spirit Richly and Sweetly let forth and extended unto thee with thy dear Wife and your Children as also unto the Faithful and true-Hearted to the Lord in that City who in this Trying day are given up unto God both to Do and Suffer for his Name 's sake My Soul I can still say is deeply Affected with your Suffering state and be sure you are many times livingly in my Remembrance and that in the near Approaches of my Spirit unto the Lord for in that in which the access and the true drawing nigh unto him is experienced do you live upon my Heart and are brought very often into my view together with your Suffering State under which it is the Pleasure of your Heavenly Father to Try you and to prove your Faith and Confidence and to let you know the preciousness thereof in the time of need And now my dearly Beloved see all of you that you keep in the Faith that gives the Victory and truly saves and defends and know that ancient saying true for ever The very hairs of your Head are all numbered and not one shall fall to the ground without your Father's Providence And therefore let your Eyes be unto him both for Salvation and Preservation and know that he both can and will deliver when he sees good for you know him that is the living God that reigns and will reign over all and in due time make all know that he can do whatsoever he pleaseth in Heaven and in the Earth And therefore mind your acquaintance with him and your knowledg of him in that which may be known of him in your Hearts and your Unity with his Life in your Souls that you may all feel the Peace thereof and the Holy Spring therein which Man by all his Cruelty cannot reach to put a stop unto But when they that seek to destroy you and to take all Comfort from you have done all they can this Spring being open in your Hearts you have Comfort Peace and Joy that they neither know of nor can keep from you Oh! you dear Suffering Children and tender Babes of the Almighty who are called unto this day and hour of Temptation or Trial how doth my Soul Love you how is my very Heart's Love let forth unto you at this time as at many other times The Lord the God of Strength be with you and strengthen and fill your tender Souls with the Glory of his Life and the sweetness of his Presence that your Spirits with gladness may Praise him in the midst of all these Exercises with which you are compassed And now my dear Friends you being so in my Heart with a living Sense of your Trials that are upon you methinks I see the Wall with which the God of Israel doth compass you about over which the Adversary cannot shoot an Arrow tho his Boasting may be great what he will do as of Old it was Oh! happy are they that abide within the compass of it
then I took my Journey into the Country and went down into Buckinghamshire through their Meetings and so on into Oxfordshire to Worcestershire and Glocestershire and to Bristol and then back again and so through to Shrewsbury and on as far as Wrexham in Wales visiting the Churches of Christ and the good Presence of the Lord in his heavenly Power accompanying we were often refreshed and sweetly comforted together to his Praise and our Joy who is our God for evermore And so from Wrexham in North-Wales I took my Journey with Iohn ap Iohn who accompanied me towards South Wales and we did visit Friends and had many Meetings as we went along in Montgomeryshire Merionethshire and Cardiganshire and so we passed on by the West-Sea into Pembrokeshire and there visited the Lord's People and spent some time amongst them there And then we took our Journey through Carmarthenshire to Swanzey and having a Meeting or two we passed on towards Cardiff visiting Friends in Glamorganshire and then into Monmouthshire and having visited Friends in that County we parted he returned home and I passed over the Water into Glocestershire and so to Bristol And so continued travelling through several Counties visiting the Churches and so to London spent some time there and then went down into Essex and visited Friends in that Country and returned again to London to the Yearly-Meeting in the Year 1675. And from London I took my Journey to Hartford and so down Northward with Iohn Graves and Iames Hall to York and there we parted And I went from York to Malton and so to Scarborough and Whitby and through Friends in Cleveland and so to Stockdon in Bishoprick visiting Friends and having many pretious Meetings And then passed through several Meetings in that County and being clear I then took my Journey for Cumberland and being there I with several Brethren was desired to come over into Westmorland to a Meeting appointed by Friends at their Quarterly-Meeting in Westmorland which was to be at Powbank So I went thither against the day appointed with Iohn Graves Iohn Tiffin Hugh Tickell and Thomas Laithes where we met with several Brethren that were come out of Yorkshire at the request of the aforesaid Quarterly-Meeting And upon that occasion many Friends of Westmorland were come together who when we were sate together in the Meeting did present unto us several Disorders in many things that were contrary to the Truth by which they had been grieved and sorely exercised for a long time in their Monthly and Quarterly-Meetings so that the Spirits of a lose Company were set at liberty and so much born up and countenanced by Iohn Story and Iohn Wilkinson that the blessed Order of the Truth brought forth amongst us by the Power of God was greatly slighted and endeavoured to be trodden under by that lose Company being thus encouraged by these two men that looked upon themselves to be Elders and so like Diotrephes loved to have the Pre-eminence which brought great grief upon the honest and simple-minded So we hearing what Friends had to say in that matter and observing what was charged and proved we desired Friends to give us another Meeting and let I. S. and I. W. be sent to and desired to meet us that we might hear them face to face although they had been desired from the Quarterly-Meeting and several others to come to this Meeting so appointed by the Quarterly-Meeting and had refused and withal sent us a Letter denying to come and disowning our Meeting Nevertheless we were willing to have another Meeting which Friends of Westmorland freely assented unto and so it was appointed at Milthrop the next day And we to wit six or more of Cumberland and Yorkshire Friends did our selves go to them as Messengers and did intreat them to go with us to the Meeting that we might hear them and the Friends of Westmorland that were agrieved face to face concerning those things that were in charge against them but they were so high and so obstinate that they slighted us all or any Advice we could give And so after some hours discourse with them in which we throughly saw their Spirits to be wrong we left them and went to the Meeting appointed at Milthrop where Friends were waiting for us And after we were setled a little in the Meeting we gave an acccount how we had endeavoured to perswade them to come through all entreaty we could but could not prevail And so we gave a hearing a second time to the Friends and then we of Yorkshire and Cumberland with-drew and amongst our selves viewed the whole matter for it was in writing and opened our Hearts one unto another And waiting upon the Lord there fell a Weighty Concern upon us for the Truth 's sake and the blessed Order thereof with our holy Testimony we had been raised up into which by them had been slighted and scorned and reproached So that we could not pass it by but in the Power of the Lord God that was dreadful amongst us gave Iudgment against that Spirit that was grown so high and lose and fleshly as thus to undervalue the Testimony of God and the bringings forth of his holy Power in the Churches of Christ that thereby all might be kept sweet clear and in good Order And when we had cleared our selves in the rising and springing of the Word of Life and drawn up our Testimony in writing we gave it unto Friends there and so departed Of the Iudgment given I shall say no more here because it is in writing in many places So I went over to Swarthmore and stayed a Meeting there and then returned into Cumberland and stayed there some Weeks and visited Friends And being clear I returned again to Swarthmore in order to go over the Sands towards Wales which was before me And when I was at Swarthmore I was moved to go over first into Westmorland to visit the Meetings there So I went over to Sedber and had a Meeting there and then had a Meeting at Grayrigg and then came to Kendall where I met with Robert Lodge and so we had a blessed Meeting there And the next day we were at Preston-Meeting and then I was clear of that County And so after a little time took my Journey into Wales through Lancashire and Cheshire and so coming to Iohn ap Iohns near Wrexham in North-Wales he did go along with me And in the first place we went to a Quarterly-Meeting that was at Deloberon at Charles Lloyds for two Counties viz. Merionethshire and Mongomeryshire and had a blessed Service for the Truth there among Friends And then went down into Merionethshire and visited the Meetings and then to Mehuntleth and had a Meeting And then returned up into Radnorshire and visited the Meetings there in that County And then took our Journey through Brecknockshire and Carmarthenshire into Pembrokeshire where we spent some time amongst Friends and had several pretious Meetings And being clear
on and that many Afflictions and Exercises would attend us and that many People being possest with great Fears fled for England at which time many Testimonies came from Friends of sundry Meetings for all to mind the Lord's preserving Power and not to let Fears take hold of them as it did of others who knew not the Lord Our Dear Friend though he had an Opportunity had no Freedom to go for England but gave himself up to stay with Friends here and bear a part of the Sufferings that might attend us In which time he was a pretious Instrument in the Lord's Hand for the Comforting his People in the time of great Afflictions and Calamities for he was a Chearful Encourager of us He was a Dear Friend a True Brother a Diligent Over-seer and Tender Father a Perfect and Upright Man in his day who feared God and eschewed evil And though he sought the Salvation of all yet could not bear with Deceitful Men and Evil Workers who profest the Truth yet brought Dishonour to it against such he had a Iust Indignation and Godly Zeal Oh! the Remembrance of his Fatherly Care over God's Heritage in keeping things in good Order is not to be forgotten For his Care was great that the Professors of Truth might walk answerable to it in a Chast Life and Blameless Conversation And in all his Travels into whose House he entred he was Content with what things were set before him were they never so mean which was great Satisfaction to many poor honest Friends amongst whom his Lot was cast He would not usurp Authority over his Brethren but was of a healing Spirit and Lamb-like Nature and of a good Report in all his Travels Our Dear Friend and Brother did greatly delight to Read the Holy Scriptures and would often and with great Earnestness Advise Friends frequently to read the same and the Young and Tender in years more especially as also Friends Books wherein the Principles of Truth were Treated of that so none might be Ignorant of the Principles of the true Christian Religion now again preached and clearly held forth He was at our Province-Meeting at Rosean-Allies a little before his Decease where he bore a Living Fresh Testimony amongst Friends to our great Comfort and Exhorted Friends to Faithfulness From thence he went to Montroth and had a Meeting there and from thence to Ballinakill and had a Meeting there So he came to the Monthly-Meeting at New-Garden where many heard him bear a living sweet Testimony in the Opening of the Word of Life to the Refreshing of their Souls After Meeting he came home with our Friend John Watson to his House and feeling himself not well took his Bed and was visited with a Fever and continued sick for the space of Twelve days All which time he was preserved in his Senses and in a sweet Frame of Spirit and did often say he was sine at Ease and quiet in his Spirit The Lord did Attend him with his heavenly Power and Presence to his Comfort and our great Satisfaction He said to John Watson That he ever loved the Lord and the Lord loved him from his Youth and that he felt his Love He was wonderfully preserved in a sensible Condition to the Last and on the Eleventh day of the Seventh Month 1690 about Two of the Clock in the Afternoon he quietly and peaceably Departed this Life about the 59th Year of his Age and is gone to his Rest with the Lord and his Works follow him And as he honoured the Lord in his Day so he was honoured with the Company of many Antient Friends from several Parts of our Province to Accompany him to his Grave at New-Garden where he was Decently Interred the Fourteenth day of the same Month and there we had a good Meeting to the great satisfaction of many Friends and others And now surely If David did well in Sorrowing for Absolom we have Reason greatly to Lament the Loss of so Dear Tender and Upright-hearted a Friend whose Labour and Travel was great both in Body and Spirit faithfully to serve the Lord his Church and People and to Exalt his Glorious Name and propagate his Living Truth in the Earth and to preserve Unity and Peace in the Churches of Christ. But believing 't is the Lord's Will that 's done concerning him in a Holy and Reverend Resignation and Submission thereunto we ought to be Content knowing 't is his unspeakable Gain to be Absent from the Body and at home with Christ. And thus Dear Friends We that yet remain do see how the Lord is pleased to Remove from among us many of our Antient Friends and Faithful Labourers in the Gospel of Peace who have been serviceable in this Day for the Gathering and Confirming of many in the Truth that we may walk therein And Friends we that are yet behind are the more immediately concerned for to Labour in the Heavenly Gift of his Divine Grace the Lord in his Love hath bestowed upon us that so we may come up in this Gospel-day to succeed them that are gone before us to their Rest in the Lord in bearing a Faithful Testimony to the blessed Truth that our Memorial may live to Ages to come as this our Dear Friend and Elder Brother's doth amongst God's People this day who having Faithfully finisht his Course here in great Patience and an humble and holy Subjection to the Will of God hath now received a Crown of Immortal Glory which is laid up for all the Faithful Followers of the Lamb and Lovers of the Appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ To whom and the Father through him be Glory and Honour both now and for ever Amen Dated in Dublin the 22th of the Second Month 1691. Anthony Sharp Roger Roberts Amos Strettel John Watson Henry Hillary John Haukes An Account of John Burnyeat's Convincement Together with a Iournal of his Travels IN the Year 1653. it pleased the Lord in his Love and Mercy to send his faithful Servant George Fox with others of his faithful Servants and Messengers of the Gospel of Peace and Glad-tidings whom he furnished with the eternal power of his Word in the wisdom and power of which he proclaimed the Day of the Lord unto us in this County of Cumberland and the Northern Parts of England and discovered the right Path of Life unto thousands that was in Error seeking the Lord but knew not where to find him nor how to come acquainted with him although he was not far from us But this blessed man G. F. one of a thousand may many say and chosen before many thousands was sent amongst us in the power of the most High filled with the strength of his Word in the wisdom whereof he directed thousands unto the Light and Appearance of Christ Jesus their Saviour in their own hearts that he might come to know him and the Glory of the Father through him in his Appearance and so come to believe in him with the
from the Town and we hired one and so began our Journey early next Morning to travel through that Country which now is called New Iersey and we did suppose that we travelled that day near forty Miles And at the Evening we got to a few Indian Wigwams that is their Houses for we saw no Man nor Woman House nor Dwelling that day for there dwelt no English in that Country then We lodged that Night in an Indian Wigwam and lay upon the Ground as themselves did and next day we travelled through several of their Towns and they were kind to us and helped us over the Creeks with their Canowes and we made our Horses swim at the sides of the Canowes and so travelled on And towards the Evening we got to an Indian Town and when we had put our Horses to Grass we went up to the King's House who received us kindly and shewed us very civil Respect But alas he was so poorly provided having got so little that Day that most of us could neither get to eat nor drink in his Wigwam but it was because he had it not So we lay as well as he that was upon the Ground only a Matt under us and a piece of Wood or any such thing under our Heads So next Morning early we took Horse and travelled through several Indian Towns and that day at Night we lodged in the Woods And so the next day being the fourth day we got to an English Plantation to a Town called Middle-Town in East-Iersey where there was a Plantation of English and several Friends and so we came down with a Friend to his House near the Water-side and he carried us over in his Boat and our Horses also to Long-Island And we got to Friends at Gravesand that Evening and next day we took our Journey to Flushing on Long-Island And the next day being the seventh day of the Week we took our Journey to Oyster-Bay and came there that Evening and several Friends from Gravesand and Flushing with us for the next day their Half-years-Meeting did begin which was the cause of our so hard travelling And besides we did understand that those that had been so troublesome the Half-years-Meeting before when I was there in opposing the Order of Truth and reflecting so upon G. F. would then be an Exercise to Friends therefore George Fox did endeavour the more to get to the Meeting Which we did very seasonably and it was of great Service to the Truth and great Comfort to Friends for they were greatly under when we were come and some of the chief of them began to fawn upon G. F. So we had our Meetings very comfortably first and second days publick for Worship third day for our Mens and Womens-Meetings for Business about the Affairs of the Church as usually before Then on the fourth day we had a Meeting with those dissatisfied People for G. F. would not suffer the Service of our Men and Womens-Meetings to be hindered by such a matter And so on the fourth day as many Friends as had a desire to be there did come and the Lord's Power went over them and Friends were much satisfied And he that was the chief Instigator of that Mischief to wit George Dennis who came from London and his Wife not being well owned there by Friends he now began to disown the matter and would have cast it upon others and have willingly appeared clear to G. F. but that I did prove under his own Hand that he was a chief Actor at the Half-years-Meeting before and read the Book in our Meeting whether we would or no. And so things being fastened upon him the Lord's Power went over his deceitful Spirit and they were all bowed and the Truth exalted over all Glory to the Lord for ever Amen Then after this we stayed a little upon the Island and did go back to have some Meetings and returned again to Oyster-Bay and there set Sail for Road-Island the 29 th of the third Month and arrived at Road-Island the thirtieth of the same and there stayed till the Yearly-Meeting which began the eighth day of the fourth Month which was the sixth day of the next Week following and at that General Meeting there were many Friends from most Places in New-England where Friends dwelt and abundance of other People came into our Publick Meetings And we had Meetings for eight days together every day a Meeting some publick and others Men and Womens-Meetings for setling the Affairs of the Churches in the Order of the Truth that all things might be kept sweet clean and well And when all was over and the Service of the Meetings finished I took my Journey Eastward to go through the Meetings in the Eastern Parts of New-England and with me went Iohn Cartwright and George Pattison and several other Friends to accompany us and we left G. F. upon the Island and he went to Providence and the Narraganset Country So we took our Journey towards Sandwich where we had a blessed Meeting and were comforted and richly refreshed in the blessed Presence of the Lord 's holy and blessed Power that was with us and did open and enlarge our hearts And when we had spent some time with Friends there we left them and travelled on by Plymouth and Duxbury and had a Meeting at Marshfield and another at Scituate and the Lord was blessedly with us And at Scituate some of the Elders of their Church came to our Meeting where were abundance of People in an Orchard and stood up and made opposition so I ceased speaking to the People and joyned with them in Dispute But the People were so displeased at the Interruption they made that they signified their dislike and would have them have stayed till I had done upon which they said they would forbear then and come again So they went away and after their own Meeting was over they came again and several Friends stayed with me and a great Company of People came with them And then we went into our Meeting-house which before would not hold the Multitude and there began to Dispute and after some time spent they always endeavouring to make Friends appear to be in the Errour I said unto them before the People If I must be disputed with as an Heretick and your Church esteemed as a true Church I am willing we should come to the Rule Christ hath left and thereby be tried and that is by our Fruits and if you can prove the Fruits of your Church to be agreeable to the Fruits of any antient true Christian Church I shall yield otherwise I must hold my Testimony against it as a false Church c. But they were mighty unwilling to joyn with me in that Discourse But I urged the proof of our Practice by Scripture especially in such a great Point as that and so went on to reckon up the Fruits of their Church which was to fine and take away Goods for not coming to
me to interrupt me but when he saw that he could not stop me then he drove the People away And when I saw the People most of them gone I stept down and thought to have gone forth after them but he got to the Door and shut the Door to keep me in Then I went round an Alley to get to a second Door but he got over the Seats and shut that Then I made for a third Door he also got to that before me and shut that and so made their Meeting-house a Prison and kept us in with a very few People that got not away till the People was gone and then let us forth So we came to our Inn again And after some time several of their Elders came to us to dispute with us on purpose to keep the younger People away as some of them confessed and when we came to Discourse with them they would seem to charge us with breach of the Sabbath in coming to their Meeting that day We took the Bible to us and said Come first prove a Sabbath-day under the Gospel-Dispensation and then prove our practice this day to be a breach of it if you can and vindicate Paul who disputed every Sabbath-day in the Synagogue c. and then prove by Scriptures your practice this day and shew Where any Christians drove the People away from hearing the Truth for they had granted we spoke nothing but Truth and made their Meeting-house a Prison And so we shut them behind the unbelieving Iews who gave liberty to Paul and Silas And they were confounded and could not tell how to vindicate their doings and so went away Then after they were gone came into our Chamber many younger People and we opened many things to them relating to the Way of Truth and cleared things up from the Scriptures and they were mightily satisfied And when the old dry Professors saw that the younger People were affected they sent in a Constable to Command all to depart but they answered and said They were House-keepers many of them and therefore he had nothing to do with them so they would not go So we continued still opening the Scriptures unto them and they were affected Then the Inn-keeper being one of their Elders came and took the Candle away that we might not see to read in the Scriptures and so left us in the dark then the People went away being displeased So the next Morning I. S. and I took our Journey Westward and our Friends that came to Accompany us returned home to Road-Island And we went from Hartford to New-haven then to Milford and then to Stratford and to Fairfield and to Norwich then to Stanford and so to Greenwich where we met with Friends and there we appointed a Meeting The Priest of that Town in his Pulpit had preached against Friends and often had boasted how he would Dispute with the Quakers if any came there so when the Meeting was appointed the People came with a great expectation of what the Priest would do But in the Morning he rode away to Stanford to a Magistrate and sent a Constable with a Warrant to apprehend us who came at the beginning of our Meeting and took us and carried us away to the Magistrate at Stanford The People being displeased many of them followed after us to Stanford and our Friends also to see what they would do and when we came there many People was gathered about the House for it was but two miles between the Towns but after a little time we were called into an inner Room where the Magistrate lay upon his Bed he not being very well And when we came in there was none with him but two Priests the Priest of Greenwich and the Priest of Stanford nor none was to be suffered to come in but the Constable and one man of Stanford that was a Merchant as they said he went in and out when he pleased So the Magistrate asked us many Questions and we answered him and he discoursed with us long in many things and we answered him for he was very moderate Then after a long time one of the Priests put in a Question then I said If we must Discourse of Divine Things we did desire to be more publick for the People were without desirous to hear Then the Magistrate said to the Priests Master Iones and Master Bishop I desire you to go into the Publick Meeting-House with these men and there Discourse with them before the People for said he they are sober rational men So we accepted kindly of the proffer and rose up and went forth and the Priests came after us displeased But when we were forth of the Door among the People we called upon the Priests to go up with us as they were desired and so we went up and they and the People also And when we were setled in their Meeting-House and many People then the Priests put it upon us to begin and so we began with them first about their Wages and so went on to our Call which they put upon us And so about the Light which they denied and so about Election and Reprobation and free Grace They affirmed the Grace of God had not appeared to all men and that Christ did not dye for all men Several hours we spent but the Discourse is drawn up in a Book in Manuscript and therefore shall forbear it here for it is large And so the next day we had a Meeting at Greenwich but the Priest came and we had a great Discourse which is in the said Book And the first day following we had a Meeting about six Miles from thence and then being clear of these Parts We took Boat and went over unto Long-Island to Oyster-Bay and met with Iohn Cartwright and so did visit Friends upon the Island I. W. and I went over to East-Iersey and did visit Friends there and had several blessed Meetings And returned back again to Long-Island and had several Meeings And then being clear of those Parts Iohn Cartwright and I came to New-York in order to get a Passage for Maryland and we set Sail from New-York the first day of the ninth Month 1672. but set Sail at Sandy-hook out to the Sea the third day of the same and met with rough Weather but the sixth day of the same we got in at the Capes of Virginia and on the ninth of the same Month we came to Anchor in Pertuxon-River in the Province of Maryland and so got up within a day or two to Iames Prestons but the North-west-wind blew so hard that we could not get up the first day And then we did go through Friends in that Province as the Lord made way And G. F. and Friends that were with him who came over Land together were gone down to Virginia and he also did travel over Land to North-Carolina and there found some Friends and returned back again over Land to Virginia and so came up the Bay again to Maryland
we Meet together on the First Day of the Week for to Meet is our Duty and also upon other Days and for this Practice we have both Command and Example The Saints were commanded not to forsake the assembling of themselves together Heb. 10. 25. and we account every day is the Lord's and He that regardeth a Day ought to regard it to the Lord and he that regardeth not the Day to the Lord he doth not regard it Rom. 14. 6. But what Scripture have ye for all such Days as you observe which are called such and such Saints Days Thou sayst Thou hast been the longer on this particular because thou findest it galls us most Answ. When thou hast read our Answer which by reason of thine being so long hath caused ours to be so too thou mayst consider of it and of thy impertinency in quoting the Scriptures to prove your Practice which being well observed doth witness against you and then we doubt not but it will prove that which will gall thee and thy Brethren who are so found in such Covetous practices as the Scriptures plentifully testifie against And for a further Testimony against your Practices read these following Scriptures of which for brevity's sake having been so long already we shall forbear to write the Words they that can may read them in the Bible Isa. 59. 9 10 11 12. Ier. 5. 30 31. Ezek. 13. 19. Ezek. 34. ch Mich. 3. 5 11. Ioh. 10. 12. Tit. 1. 10 11. 1 Tim. 3. 1 2 3. 2 Pet. 2. 14 15 16. Iud. 11 12 13. In the next place thou undertakest to inform him of some Defects in that Religion he had chosen and first thou sayst Our Teachers have no lawful Call to Preach the Gospel and quotest the Apostle's saying Rom. 10. 15. How shall they Preach except they be sent That is sayst thou how can they Preach the true Doctrine of Christ unless they be sent by him or by those Apostles of Christ who received immediate Commissions from him c. Answ. We grant what the Apostle saith How can they Preach except they be sent c But that our Teachers are not so sent thou neither undertakest to prove by Argument nor Scripture although thou hast the confidence to affirm that they have no lawful Call or Commission to Preach the Gospel which we turn back upon thee as a false Accusation and demand of thee to prove and make it appear to be true if thou canst For we do believe that none can be true Ministers but such as are sent by Christ and have their Call and Commission from him and also receive the Gospel which they Preach and their Ability from him For the Scripture is plain that the Gospel-Ministers were sent by him and received the Gospel they Preached and Ability to Preach it from him and not from Men as in Gal. 1. 11 12. And in 2 Cor. 3. 6. the Apostle saith They were made able Ministers of the New Testament not of the Letter but of the Spirit and in the foregoing verse he saith Our sufficiency is of God And Ephes. 3. 7. he declares That he was made a Minister according to the Gift of the Grace of God given unto him by the effectual working of his Power And Peter saith 1 Pet. 4. 11. If any Man speak let him speak as the Oracles of God if any Man Minister let him do it as of the Ability which God giveth that God in all things may be glorified c. And so from him we say we have received our Call by his Eternal Spirit and do wait upon him to receive our Ability daily that what we do may be by the Gift of the Grace of God given unto us that God in all things may be Glorified And if this be not according to the Scripture and the way of God do thou in thy next shew what is And prove your way of being bred up at Schools and Learning your Tongues and taking your Degrees there and observing your Ceremonies in your Ordination and coming forth according to your Traditions and then looking for a Benefice the greatest you can get and then setling in a Parish for so much a Year until you can hear of a Place with a greater Benefice and then remove for Greater Gain and Preferment And while you stay in a Parish take such Lordship upon you that none of your Church or Hearers may have Liberty to Speak or Preach but such as are so Ordained as you are Clear these things in thy next to be according to Scripture if thou canst In the mean while we charge this Method and these doings not to be according to the Rule of the Gospel or Example of the Primitive Ministers That this is your Practice we believe thou canst not deny But in the true Church this Order and Liberty was Ordained by the Apostle as in 1 Cor. 14. 30 31 32. If any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by let the first hold his peace for you may all Prophesie one by one that all may learn that all may be comforted and the Spirits of the Prophets are subject to the Prophets But this Liberty which the Apostle Ordained you do not admit of no more than you do of other things which were the practice of the true Church and Christ's Ministers but instead thereof are gone into things which are of Man's Ordaining and setting up And therefore Robert Lacky and all in whom God hath opened an understanding to see you a right have reason enough to forsake you and your Church And as for those Scriptures thou quotest to prove a successive Power to send others They make nothing for your method of Ordination at all for Matth. 28. he said He would be with them c. doth not say They should send others In Acts 1. the Apostles desired one in the place of Iudas to be numbered with them and he was chosen by Lot So here was the Lord's Lot And in Acts 14. 23. it is said They Ordained Elders in every Church Now how these Scriptures do prove a true Succession to your Call and Ordination let all that are wise in heart judge Secondly Thou sayst We have no Sacraments administred in our Religion neither that of Baptism whereby People are admitted into the Christian Church nor that of the Lord's Supper by which they are strengthned and preserved in it Ans. First We demand whence thou hast this Term Sacraments and what is the proper Signification of it We are sure thou hast it not from Scripture And Secondly We put it upon thee to prove whence you have your Authority for that which thou callest Baptism by which thou sayst People are admitted into the Christian Church viz. Sprinkling Infants We deny that you have any Authority from Scripture either by Command or Example for it For we never read in all the Scriptures of either Baptising or Sprinkling Infants There is no such thing in that Scripture by thee quoted Therefore thou