so know a Kingdom which hath no end and fight for that with Spiritual Weapons which takes away the occasion of the Carnal and there gather Men to War as many as ye can and set up as many as ye can with these Weapons G. F. Now after I had staid some time in London and had visited Friends Meetings there and there-abouts and the Lord's Power was set over all I travelled into the Countries again Essex Suffolk Norfolk Norwich passing through Essex and Suffolk into Norfolk visiting Friends till I came to Norwich where we had a Meeting about the time called Christmas The Mayor of Norwich having got notice before-hand of the Meeting I intended to have there granted out a Warrant to apprehend me Wherefore when I was come thither and heard of the Warrant I sent some Friends to the Mayor to Reason with him about it His Answer was The Souldiers should not Meet and did We think to Meet He would have had us gone out and Met without the City For he said the Towns-People were so rude that he could hardly order them and he feared that our Meeting would make Tumults in the Town But our Friends told him we were a peaceable People and that he ought to keep the Peace for we could not but Meet to Worship God as our manner was So he became pretty moderate and did not send his Officers to the Meeting A large Meeting it was and abundance of rude People came with an intent to have done Mischief But the Lord's Power came over them so that they were Chained by it though several Priests were there and Professors and Ranters Among the Priests one whose Name was Townsend stood up and Cryed Error Blasphemy and an Vngodly Meeting I bad him not burden himself with that which he could not make good and I asked him what was our Error and Blasphemy For I told him he should make good his Words before I had done with him or be shamed As for an Vngodly Meeting I said I did believe there were many People there that feared God and therefore it was both Unchristian and Uncivil in him to charge Civil Godly People with an Vngodly Meeting He said My Error and Blasphemy was in that I said that People must wait upon God by his Power and Spirit and feel his Presence when they did not speak Words I asked him then Whether the Apostles and Holy Men of God did not hear God speak to them in their Silence before they spake forth the Scripture and before it was written He replied Yes David and the Prophets did hear God before they did Pen the Scriptures and felt his Presence in Silence before they spake them forth Then said I All People take notice he said this was Error and Blasphemy in me to say these Words and now he hath confessed it is no more than the Holy Men of God in former times witnessed So I shewed the People that as the Holy Men of God who gave forth the Scriptures as they were moved by the Holy Ghost did hear and learn of God before they spake them forth So must They all hearken and hear what the Spirit saith which will lead them into all Truth that they may know God and Christ 1659. Norwich and may understand the Scriptures O said the Priest this is not that George Fox I would speak withal this is a subtile Man said he So the Lord's Power came over all and the rude People were made moderate and were reached by it and some Professors that were there called to the Priests saying Prove the Blasphemy and Errors which ye have charged them with Ye have spoken much against them behind their Backs but nothing ye can prove now said they to their Faces But the Priest began to get away Whereupon I told him we had many things to charge him withal therefore let him set a time and place to answer them which he did and went his ways A glorious Day this was For Truth came over all and People were turned to God by his Power and Spirit and to the Lord Jesus Christ their free Teacher who was Exalted over all And as we passed away generally Peoples Hearts were filled with Love towards us yea the Ruder sort of them desired another Meeting For the evil Intentions that they had against us were thrown out of their Hearts At Night I passed out of Town to a Friend's House Col. Dennis and from thence to Col. Dennis's where we had a great Meeting And afterwards travelled on through the Countries visiting Friends up and down in Norfolk Norfollk Hunts. Cambridgeshire Huntingtonshire and Cambridgeshire But George Whitehead and Richard Huberthorn staid about Norwich to meet the Priest who was soon Confounded and down the Lord's Power came so over him After I had travelled through many Countries in the Lord's Service and many were Convinced notwithstanding that in some places the People were very Rude I returned to London again when General Monk was come up thither London and the Gates and Posts of the City were pulling down Long before this I had a Vision wherein I saw the City lie in heaps and the Gates down and it was then reprepresented to me just as I saw it several Years after lying in heaps when it was burned Divers times had I both by Word and Writing forewarned the several Powers both in Oliver's time and after of the Day of Recompence that was coming upon them But they rejecting Counsel and slighting those Visitations of Love to them I was moved now before they were quite overturned to lay their Back-sliding Hypocrisie and Treacherous Dealing before them thus Friends Now are the Prophecies fulfilled and fulfilling upon you which have been spoken to you by the People of God in your Courts in your Steeple-houses in your Towns Cities Markets Highways and at your Feasts when ye were in your Pleasures and puffed up that ye would neither hear God nor Man when ye were in your Highness and Height of Authority though raised up from a mean State none might come nigh you without bowing or the Respect of Persons for ye were in the World's Way Complements and Fashions which for Conscience sake towards God they could not go into being redeemed there from Therefore they were by you hated for that Cause But how are ye to be brought Low who Exalted your selves above your Brethren and threw the Just and Harmless less from among you until at last God hath thrown you out 1658. London And when ye cast the Innocent from among you then ye fell a biting one another until ye were Consumed one of another And so the Day is come upon you which before to you was told though before ye would not believe it And are not yet your Hearts so hardned that ye will hardly yet believe though ready to go into Captivity Was it not told you when ye spilt the Blood of the Innocent in your Steeple houses in
abroad through the Island Whereupon I with some other Friends drew up a Paper to go forth in the Name of the People called Quakers for the clearing Truth and Friends from those false Reports It was directed thus For the Governour of Barbados with his Council and Assembly and all others in Power both Civil and Military in this Island from the People called Quakers WHereas many scandalous Lies and Slanders have been cast upon us to render us odious as that We do deny God and Christ Jesus and the Scriptures of Truth c. This is to Inform you that all our Books and Declarations which for these many Years have been published to the World do clearly testifie the contrary Yet notwithstanding for your Satisfaction we do now plainly and sincerely declare That we do Own and Believe in God the only-Wise Omnipotent and Everlasting God who is the Creator of all things both in Heaven and in the Earth and the Preserver of all that he hath made who is God over all blessed for ever To whom be all Honour and Glory Dominion Praise and Thanksgiving both now and for evermore And we do Own and Believe in Jesus Christ his beloved and only begotten Son in whom he is well-pleased Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary in whom we have Redemption through his Blood even the Forgiveness of Sins Who is the Express Image of the Invisible God the First-born of every Creature by whom were all things created that are in Heaven and that are in Earth visible and invisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions or Principalities or Powers All things were created by him And we do Own and Believe that he was made a Sacrifice for Sin who knew no Sin neither was Guile found in his Mouth And that he was Crucified for us in the Flesh without the Gates of Jerusalem and that he was Buried and Rose again the Third Day by the Power of his Father for our Justification And we do Believe that he Ascended up into Heaven and now sitteth at the Right Hand of God This Jesus who was the Foundation of the Holy Prophets and Apostles is our Foundation and we do believe that there is no other Foundation to be laid but that which is laid even Christ Jesus who we believe tasted Death for every Man and shed his Blood for all Men and is the Propitiation for our Sins and not for ours only but also for the Sins of the whole World According as John the Baptist testified of him when he said Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the Sins of the World Joh. 1.29 We believe that he alone is our Redeemer and Saviour even the Captain of our Salvation who saves us from Sin as well as from Hell and the Wrath to come and destroys the Devil and his Works who is the Seed of the Woman that bruises the Serpent's Head to wit Christ Jesus the Alpha and Omega the First and the Last That he is as the Scriptures of Truth say of him our Wisdom and Righteousness Justification and Redemption neither is there Salvation in any other for there is no other Name under Heaven given among Men whereby we may be saved It is he alone who is the Shepherd and Bishop of our Souls He it is who is our Prophet whom Moses long since testified of saying A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your Brethren like unto me him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you And it shall come to pass that every Soul that will not hear that Prophet shall be destroyed from among the People Acts 2.22 23. He it is that is now Come and hath given us an Vnderstanding that we may know him that is true and he rules in our Hearts by his Law of Love and of Life and makes us free from the Law of Sin and Death and we have no Life but by him for he is the quickning Spirit the Second Adam the Lord from Heaven by whose Blood we are cleansed and our Consciences sprinkled from Dead Works to serve the Living God And he is our Mediator that makes Peace and Reconciliation between God offended and us offending he being the Oath of God the New Covenant of Light Life Grace and Peace the Author and Finisher of our Faith Now this Lord Jesus Christ the Heavenly Man the Emanuel God with us we all own and believe in him whom the High-Priest raged against and said he had spoken Blasphemy whom the Priests and the Elders of the Jews took Counsel together against and put to Death the same whom Judas betrayed for Thirty Pieces of Silver which the Priests gave him as a Reward for his Treason who also gave large Money to the Souldiers to broach an Horrible Lie namely That his Disciples came and stole him away by Night whilst they slept And after he was Risen from the Dead the History of the Acts of the Apostles sets forth how the Chief-Priests and Elders persecuted the Disciples of this Jesus for Preaching Christ and his Resurrection This we say is that Lord Jesus Christ whom we own to be our Life and Salvation And as concerning the Holy Scriptures we do believe That they were given forth by the Holy Spirit of God through the Holy Men of God who as the Scripture it self declares 2 Pet. 1.21 spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost We believe they are to be Read Believed and Fulfilled He that fulfils them is Christ and they are profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction and for Instruction in Righteousness that the Man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good Works 2 Tim. 3.16 and are able to make wise unto Salvation through Faith in Christ Jesus And we do believe that the Holy Scriptures are the Words of God for it s said in Exod. 20.1 God spake all these Words saying c. meaning the Ten Commandments given forth upon Mount Sinai And in Rev. 22.18 saith John I testifie to every man that heareth the Words of the Prophecy of this Book If any man addeth unto these and if any Man shall take away from the Words of the Book of this Prophecy not the Word c. So in Luke 1.20 Because thou believest not my Words And so in John 5.47 and John 15.7 John 14.23 John 12.47 So that we call the Holy Scriptures as Christ and the Apostles called them and Holy Men of God called them viz. the Words of God Another Slander and Lye they have cast upon us namely That we should teach the Negroes to Rebell A thing we utterly abhor and detest in our Hearts the Lord knows it who is the Searcher of all Hearts and knows all things and so can witness and testifie for us that this is a most Abominable Vntruth For that which we have spoken and declared to them is To exhort and admonish them to be sober and to fear God and
together in the Name of Jesus and Serving and Worshipping God their Creator No they must not Breathe in their Natural Air neither Natural nor Spiritual in your Dominions I pray where had you these Commands from neither from Christ nor his Apostles And do not you profess the Scriptures of the New Testament to be your Rule but I pray you what Scripture have you for this your practice It is good for you to be Humble and do Justly and love Mercy and Call home your Banished and Love them and Cherish them yea though they were your Enemies you are to obey the Command of Christ and Love them I wonder how you and your Wives and Families can sleep quietly in your Beds that do such Cruel Actions without thinking the Lord may do to you the same Yout cannot be without Sense and Feeling except you be given over to Reprobation without Sense and Feeling and your Consciences seared with a hot Iron But Christian Charity doth hope that you are not all in that state but that there may be some Relenting or Consideration of your Actions among some of you either according to the Law of God or his Gospel From him that desires your Temporal and Eternal Good and Salvation and not Destruction Amen Middlesex the 28th of the 2d Month 1688. G. F. Peter Thou may'st Translate this into High-Dutch and send them and you may print it if you will and spread it abroad and Translate that part of the Letter that is to Friends into High-Dutch and send to them Having stay'd in the Country about Three Weeks 1689. London Yearly-Meeting I return'd to London a little before the Yearly-Meeting which was in the Third Month this Year and was a very Solemn Weighty Meeting the Lord as formerly visiting his People and honouring the Assembly with his glorious Presence to the great Satisfaction and Comfort of Friends After the Business of the Meeting was over it was upon me to add a few Lines to the Epistle which went from the Meeting to Friends after this manner Dear Friends and Brethren WHO have known the Lord's Eternal Arm and Power that hath preserved you upon the heavenly Rock and Foundation and hath built your House upon it you have known many Winds Tempests and Storms that have risen out of that Sea where the Beast rose and many raging Storms that have risen by Apostates of several sorts but the Seed that bruises the Serpent's head and is the Foundation of God's People stands sure And therefore Dear Friends and Brethren though there be great Shakings in the World the Lord's Power is over all and his Kingdom cannot be shaken And therefore all ye Children of God Children of the Light and Heirs of his Kingdom a Joyful Peaceable Habitation keep in keeping out of all the Heats Contentions and Disputes about things below And Lay hand on no man nor no thing suddenly lest they should be puffed up with that which fades and so come to loss but mind the Lord's Power that keeps open your heavenly Eye to see things present and to come and in that ye will see and handle the Word of Life And Dear Friends every where Have power over your own Spirits As God hath blessed you with his Outward things have a care of Trusting in them or falling into Difference one with another about these Outward Things that are below which will pass away But all live in the Love of God and in that live in peace with God and one with another And follow the Works of Charity and overcome the Evil with the Good to all For what Good have all the Tinklers done with their Cymbals and sounding Brass They always bred Confusion and never did Good in any Age Tinkling with their Cymbals and sounding with their Brass to draw out the Simple to follow them And therefore it is good for all the Children of God to keep in their Possessions of Life and in the Love of God that is Everlasting And as for all the Tumults of the World and the Apostates from the Truth the Lord's Power is over them all and Christ reigns and the Lord saith No Weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper Isa 54.17 And now Friends you are not unsensible how many Weapons have been formed against us who are the Sons and Daughters of God and the Lord hath restrained them according to his Promise they have not prospered And the Lord said Every Tongue that shall rise up in Judgment against thee thou shalt Condemn so God hath given such a Power to his Children to Condemn all the Tongues that shall rise up in Judgment against them and this is the Heritage of the Servants of the Lord Their Righteousness is of me saith the Lord. And you are not unsensible of the many Tongues that have risen up against us in Judgment yea of Apostates and Prophane But in and with the Truth and the Power of God according to the Promise of God Every Tongue that riseth against thee thou shalt Condemn So it is not one Tongue only thou shalt Condemn but Every Tongue that shall rise up in Judgment against thee thou shalt Condemn So the Lord giveth this Power to his Servants and Children to judge the Evil Tongues and he doth restrain the Weapons formed against them so that they shall not prosper against his Children that he hath begotten Praises and Honour be to his holy Name for ever Amen G. F. Soon after this Meeting was over the Yearly Meeting began at York which because of the Largeness of that County and for the Conveniency of Friends in the Northern parts had for some Years been held there And inasmuch as there had been some Hurt done in that place as some Division made there by some that were gone out of the Vnity of Friends It was upon me to write a few Lines to Friends of that Meeting to Exhort them to keep in the pure heavenly Love which brings into and keeps in the true Unity And that which I writ was thus Dear Friends and Brethren in Christ Jesus WHom the Lord by his Eternal Arm and Power hath preserved to this day all walk in the Power and Spirit of God that is over all in Love and Vnity For Love overcomes and builds up and unites all the Members of Christ to him the Head for Love keeps out of all strife and is of God And Love and Charity never fails but keeps the Mind above all outward things or strife about outward things and is that which overcomes Evil and casts out all false Fears And it is of God and unites all the hearts of his People together in the heavenly Joy Concord and Unity The God of Love preserve you all and settle and establish you in Christ Jesus your Life and Salvation in whom ye have all Peace with God And so Walk in him that ye may be ordered in his peaceable heavenly Wisdom to the Glory of God and the Comfort one of another
A JOURNAL OR Historical Account OF THE Life Travels Sufferings Christian Experiences and Labour of Love in the Work of the Ministry OF THAT Ancient Eminent and Faithful Servant of JESUS CHRIST George Fox Who departed this Life in great Peace with the LORD the 13th of the 11th Month 1690. The First Volume Dan. 12.3 And they that turn many to Righteousness shall shine as the Stars for ever and ever Verse 4. Many shall run to and fro and Knowledge shall be Encreased 2 Tim. 2.12 If we suffer we shall also reign with him i. e. with Christ LONDON Printed for Thomas Northcott in George-Yard in Lombard-Street MDCXCIV THE TESTIMONY OF Margaret Fox Concerning her Late Husband GEORGE FOX TOGETHER With a brief Account of some of his Travels Sufferings and Hardships endured for the Truth 's sake IT having pleased Almighty God to take away my Dear Husband out of this Evil Troublesome World who was not a Man thereof being Chosen out of it and had his Life and Being in another Region and his Testimony was against the World that the Deeds thereof were evil and therefore the World hated him So I am now to give in my Account and Testimony for my Dear Husband whom the Lord hath taken unto his blessed Kingdom and Glory And it is before me from the Lord and in my View to give a Relation and leave upon Record the Dealings of the Lord with us from the Beginning He was the Instrument in the Hand of the Lord in this present Age which he made use of to send forth into the World to preach the Everlasting Gospel which had been hid from many Ages and Generations the Lord Revealed it unto him and made him open that New and Living Way that Leads to Life Eternal when he was but a Youth and a Stripling And when he Declared it in his own Country of Leicestershire and in Darbyshire Nottinghamshire and Warwickshire and his Declaration being against the Hireling-Priests and their Practices it raised a Great Fury and Opposition amongst the Priests and People against him yet there was always some that owned him in several places but very few that stood firm to him when Persecution came on him There was he and one other put in Prison at Darby His first Imprisonment but the other declined and left him in Prison there where he continued almost a whole Year and then he was Released out of Prison And went on with his Testimony abroad Second Imprisonment and was put in Prison again at Nottingham and there he continued a while and after was Released again And then he Travelled on into Yorkshire and passed up and down that Great County and several received him as William Dewsbury Richard Farnsworth Thomas Aldam and others who all came to be faithful Ministers of the Spirit for the Lord. And he continued in that Country and Travelled thorow Holderness and the Wowlds and abundance were Convinced and several were brought to Prison at York for their Testimony to the Truth both Men and Women So that we heard of such a People that were Risen and we did very much inquire after them And after a while he Travelled up farther towards the Dales in Yorkshire as Wensdale and Sedbur and amongst the Hills Dales and Mountains he came on and Convinced many of the Eternal Truth And in the Year 1652. it pleased the Lord to draw him towards us so he came on from Sedbur and so to Westmorland as Firbank-Chappel where John Blaykling came with him and so on to Preston and to Grarig and Kendal and Vnder-barrow and Poobank and Cartmel and Staveley and so on to Swarthmore my Dwelling-House whither he brought the blessed Tideings of the Everlasting Gospel which I and many Hundreds in these parts have cause to praise the Lord for My then Husband Thomas Fell was not at home at that time but gone the Welch Circuit being one of the Judges of Assize And our House being a Place open to entertain Ministers and Religious People at one of George Fox his Friends brought him hither where he stayed all Night And the next day being a Lecture or a Fast-day he went to Ulverston-Steeple-house but came not in till People were gathered I and my Children had been a long time there before And when they were singing before the Sermon he came in and when they had done singing he stood up upon a Seat or Form and desired That he might have liberty to speak And he that was in the Pulpit said he might And the first words that he spoke were as followeth He is not a Jew that is one outward neither is that Circumcision which is outward But he is a Jew that is one inward and that is Circumcision which is of the heart And so he went on and said How that Christ was the Light of the World and ligheth every Man that cometh into the World and that by this Light they might be gathered to God c. And I stood up in my Pew and I wondered at his Doctrine for I had never heard such before And then he went on and opened the Scriptures and said The Scriptures were the Prophets words and Christ 's and the Apostle 's words and what as they spoke they enjoyed and possessed and had it from the Lord And said Then what had any to do with the Scriptures but as they came to the Spirit that gave them forth You will say Christ saith this and the Apostles say this but what canst thou say Art thou a Child of Light and hast walked in the Light and what thou speakest is it inwardly from God c. This opened me so that it cut me to the Heart and then I saw clearly we were all wrong So I sat me down in my Pew again and cried bitterly And I cried in my Spirit to the Lord We are all Thieves we are all Thieves we have taken the Scriptures in Words and know nothing of them in our selves So that served me that I cannot well tell what he spake afterwards but he went on in declaring against the false Prophets and Priests and Deceivers of the People And there was one John Sawrey a Justice of Peace and a Professor that bid the Churchwarden Take him away And he laid his hands on him several times and took them off again and let him alone and then after a while he gave over and came to our House again that night And he spoke in the Family amongst the Servants and they were all generally Convinced as William Caton Thomas Salthouse Mary Askew Anne Clayton and several other Servants And I was stricken into such a sadness I knew not what to do my Husband being from home I saw it was the Truth and I could not deny it and I did as the Apostle saith I Received the Truth in the Love of it And it was opened to me so clear that I had never a Tittle in my Heart against it but I desired the Lord that
that To be bred at Oxford or Cambridge was not enough to make a Man fit to be a Minister of Christ So that which opened in me I saw struck at the Priest's Ministry But my Relations were much troubled at me that I would not go with them to hear the Priest For I would get into the Orchard or the Fields with my Bible by my self And I told them did not the Apostle say to Believers That they needed no Man to teach them but as the Anointing teacheth them And though they knew this was Scripture and that it was true yet they would be grieved because I could not be subject in this Matter to go to hear the Priest with them For I saw that a true Believer was another thing than they looked upon it to be And I saw that being bred at Oxford or Cambridge did not qualifie or fit a Man to be a Minister of Christ and what then should I follow such for So neither them nor any of the Dissenting People could I join with but was as a Stranger to all relying wholly upon the Lord Jesus Christ At another time it was opened in me That God who made the World did not dwell in Temples made with Hands This at the first seemed a strange Word because both Priests and People use to call their Temples or Churches dreadful Places and Holy Ground and the Temples of God But the Lord shewed me so that I did see clearly that he did not dwell in these Temples which Men had commanded and set up but in People's Hearts For both Stephen and the Apostle Paul bore Testimony That he did not dwell in Temples made with Hands not even in that which he had once commanded to be built since he put an End to it But that his People were his Temple and he dwelt in them This opened in me as I walked in the Fields to my Relations House And when I came there they told me That Nath Stevens the Priest had been there and told them He was afraid of me for going after New Lights And I smiled in my self knowing what the Lord had opened in me concerning him and his Brethren But I told not my Relations who though they saw beyond the Priests yet they went to hear them and were grieved because I would not go also But I brought them Scriptures and told them There was an Anointing within Man to teach him and that the Lord would teach his People himself And I had great Openings concerning the Things written in the Revelations and when I spake of them the Priests and Professors would say That was a sealed up Book and would have kept me out of it But I told them Christ could open the Seals and that they were the nearest things to us For the Epistles were written to the Saints that lived in former Ages but the Revelations were written of things to come After this I met with a sort of People that held Women have no Souls adding in a light manner no more than a Goose But I reproved them and told them that was not right For Mary said My Soul doth magnify the Lord and my Spirit hath rejoyced in God my Saviour And removing again to another Place I came among a People that relied much on Dreams And I told them Except they could distinguish between Dream and Dream they would mash or confound altogether For there were Three sorts of Dreams for Multitude of Business sometimes caused Dreams And there were Whisperings of Satan in Man in the Night-Season and there were Speakings of God to Man in Dreams But these People came out of these Things and at last became Friends Now though I had great Openings yet great Trouble and Temptation came many Times upon me so that when it was Day I wished for Night and when it was Night I wished for Day And by reason of the Openings I had in my Troubles I could say as David said Day unto Day uttereth Speech and Night unto Night sheweth Knowledge And when I had Openings they answered one another and answered the Scriptures For I had great Openings of the Scriptures And when I was in Troubles one Trouble also answered to anothâ—â— About the beginning of the Year 1647. I was moved of the Lord to go into Darbyshire Darbyshire where I met with some Friendly People and had many Discourses with them Then passing further into the Peak-Country I met with more friendly People Peak-Country Leicesterâ—â—ire Nottinghamshire and with some in empty high Notions And travelling on through some Parts of Leicestershire and into Nottinghamshire there I met with a tender People and a very Tender Woman whose Name was Eâ—â—â—beth Hootton and with these I had some Meetings and Discourses Bâ—â— my Troubles continued and I was often under great Temptations and I fasted much and walked abroad in solitary Places many Days and often took my Bible and went and sate in hollow Trees and lonesome Places till Night came on and frequently in the Night walked mournfully about by my self For I was a Man of Sorrows in the Times of the first Workings of the Lord in me Now during all this Time I was never joined in Profession of Religion with any but gave up my self to the Lord having forsaken all evil Company and taken leave of Father and Mother and all other Relations and travelled up and down as a Stranger in the Earth which Way the Lord inclined my Heart taking a Chamber to my self in Town where I came and tarrying sometimes a Month sometimes more sometimes less in a Place For I durst not stay long in any Place being afraid both of Professor and Profane lest being a tender Young-Man I should be hurt by conversing much with either For which Reason I kept my self much as a Stranger seeking heavenly Wisdom and getting Knowledge from the Lord and was brought off from outward Things to rely wholly on the Lord alone And though my Exercises and Troubles were very great yet were they not so continual but that I had some Intermissions and was sometimes brought into such an Heavenly Joy that I thought I had been in Abraham's Bosom As I cannot declare the Misery I was in it was so great and heavy upon upon me so neither can I set forth the Mercies of God unto me in all my Misery Oh! the everlasting Love of God to my Soul when I was in great Distress when my Troubles and Torments were great then was his Love exceeding great Thou Lord makest a fruitful Field a barren Wilderness and a barren Wilderness a fruitful Field thou bringest down and settest up Thou killest and makest alive all Honour and Glory be to thee O Lord of Glory The Knowledge of thee in the Spirit is Life But that Knowledge which is fleshly works Death And while there is this Knowledge in the Flesh Deceit and Self will conform to any thing and will say Yes yes to that it doth not know The Knowledge which
the World hath of what the Prophets and Apostles spake is a fleshly Knowledge and the Apostates from the Life in which the Prophets and Apostles were have gotten their Words the Holy Scriptures in a Form but not in their Life nor Spirit that gave them forth And so they all lie in Confusion and are making Provision for the Flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof but not to fulfil the Law and Command of Christ in his Power and Spirit For that they say they cannot do but to fulfil the Lusts of the Flesh that they can do with Delight Now after I had received that Opening from the Lord that To be bred at Oxford or Cambridge was not sufficient to fit a Man to be a Minister of Christ I regarded the Priests less and looked more after the Dissenting People And among them I saw there was some Tenderness And many of them came afterwards to be Convinced for they had some Openings But as I had forsaken all the Priests so I left the Separate Preachers also and those called the Most-Experienced People For I saw there was none among them all that could speak to my Condition And when all my hopes in them and in all Men was gone so that I had nothing outwardly to help me nor could tell what to do Then O! then I heard a Voice which said ☞ There is one even Christ Jesus that can speak to thy Condition And when I heard it my Heart did leap for Joy Then the Lord did let me see why there was none upon the Earth that could speak to my Condition namely that I might give him all the Glory For all are concluded under Sin and shut up in Vnbelief as I had been that Jesus Christ might have the Pre-heminence who enlightens and gives Grace and Faith and Powe◠Thus when God doth work who shall let it And this I knew experimentally My Desires after the Lord grew stronger and Zeal in the pure knowledge of God and of Christ alone without the help of any Man Book or Writing For though I read the Scriptures that spake of Christ and of God yet I knew him not but by Revelation as he who hath the Key did open and as the Father of Life drew me to his Son by his Spirit And then the Lord did gently lead me along and did let me see his Love which was Endless and Eternal and surpasseth all the Knowledge that Men have in the natural State or can get by History or Books And that Love did let me see my self as I was without him and I was afraid of all Company For I saw them perfectly where they were through the Love of God which let me see my self And I had not Fellowship with any People Priests nor Professors nor any sort of separated People but with Christ who hath the Key and opened the Door of Light and Life unto me And I was afraid of all Carnal Talk and Talkers for I could see nothing but Corruptions and the Life lay under the Burden of Corruptions And when I my self was in the Deep under all shut up I could not believe that I should ever Overcome my Troubles my Sorrows and my Temptations were so great that I thought many times I should have despaired I was so tempted But when Christ opened to me how he was tempted by the same Devil and had Overcome him and bruised his Head and that through him and his Power Light Grace and Spirit I should Overcome also I had Confidence in him So he it was that opened to me when I was shut up and had not hope nor Faith Christ it was who had enlightened me that gave me his Light to believe in and gave me Hope which is himself Revealed himself in me and gave me his Spirit and gave me his Grace which I found sufficient in the Deeps and in Weakness Thus in the deepest Miseries and in the greatest Sorrows and Temptations that many times beset me the Lord in his Mercy did keep me And I found that there were Two Thirsts in me the one after the Creatures to have gotten Help and Strength there and the other after the Lord the Creator and his Son Jesus Christ And I saw all the World could do me no good If I had had a King's Diet Palace and Attendance all would have been as nothing For nothing gave me Comfort but the Lord by his Power And I saw Professors Priests and People were whole and at ease in that Condition which was my Misery and they loved that which I would have been rid of But the Lord did stay my Desires upon himself from whom my help came and my care was cast upon him alone Therefore all Wait patiently upon the Lord whatsoever Condition you be in wait in the Grace and Truth that comes by Jesus For if ye so do there is a Promise to you and the Lord God will fulfil it in you And Blessed are all they indeed that do indeed hunger and thirst after Righteousness they shall be satisfied with it I have found it so praised be the Lord who filleth with it and satisfieth the desires of the hungry Soul O let the House of the Spiritual Israel say His Mercy endureth for ever It is the great Love of God to make a Wilderness of that which is pleasant to the outward Eye and fleshly Mind and to make a fruitful Field of a barren Wilderness This is the great Work of God But while People's Minds do run in the Earthly after the Creatures and changeable Things and changeable Ways and Religions and changeable uncertain Teachers their Minds are in Bondage and they are brittle and changeable and tossed up and down with windy Doctrines and Thoughts and Notions and Things their Minds being from the unchangeable Truth in the inward Parts the Light of Jesus Christ which would keep their Minds to the Unchangeable who is the Way to the Father who in all my Troubles did preserve me by his Spirit and Power praised be his Holy Name for ever Again I heard a Voice which did say Thou Serpent Thou dost seek to destroy the Life but canst not For the Sword which keepeth the Tree of Life shall destroy thee So Christ the Word of God that bruised the Head of the Serpent the Destroyer preserved me my inward Mind being joined to his good Seed that bruised the Head of this Serpent the Destroyer And this inward Life did spring up in me to answer all the Opposing Professors and Priests and did bring in Scriptures to my Memory to refute them with At another time I saw the great Love of God and I was filled with admiration at the Infiniteness of it And then I saw what was Cast out from God and what Entred into God's Kingdom And how by Jesus the Opener of the Door by his Heavenly Key the Entrance was given And I saw Death how it had passed upon all Men and oppressed the Seed of God in Man and in me
And such as these I saw might deceive now as they had in former Ages But it is impossible for them to deceive the Elect who were chosen in Christ who was before the World began and before Deceiver was Though others may be deceived in their Openings and Prophecies not keeping their Minds to the Lord Jesus Christ who doth Open and Reveal to his And I saw the State of those both Priests and People who in reading the Scriptures cry out much against Cain Esau and Judas and other wicked Men of former Times mentioned in the Holy Scriptures but do not see the Nature of Cain of Esau of Judas and those Others in themselves And these said It was They They They that were the bad People putting it off from themselves But when some of these came with the Light and Spirit of Truth to see into themselves then they came to say I I I it is I my self that have been the Ishmael and the Esau c. For then they came to see the Nature of wild Ishmael in themselves the Nature of Cain of Esau of Corah of Balaam and of the Son of Perdition in themselves sitting above all that is called God in them So I saw it was the fallen Man that was got up into the Scriptures and was finding Fault with those before-mentioned and with the back-sliding Jews calling them the sturdy Oaks and tall Cedars and fat Bulls of Bashan wild Heifers Vipers Serpents c. And charging them that it was They that closed their Eyes and stopped their Ears and hardned their Hearts and were dull of Hearing And that it was They that hated the Light and rebelled against it and that quenched the Spirit and vexed and grieved it and walked despightfully against the Spirit of Grace and turned the Grace of God into Wantonness And that it was They that resisted the Holy Ghost and They that got the Form of Godliness and turned against the Power And that They were the inwardly Ravening Wolves that had got the Sheep's Cloathing And that They were the Wells without Water and Clouds without Rain and Trees without Fruit c. But when these who were so much taken up with finding Fault with others and thought themselves clear from these Things came to look into themselves and with the Light of Christ throughly to search themselves they might see enough of this in themselves and then the Cry could not be It is He or They as before but I and We are found in these Conditions I saw also how People Read the Scriptures without a right Sense of them and without duly applying them to their own States For when they read that Death reigned from Adam to Moses and that the Law and the Prophets were until John and that the least in the Kingdom is greater than John they read these things without them and applyed them to others without them and the Things were true of others without them but they did not turn in to find the Truth of these things in themselves But as these things came to be opened in me I saw Death reigned over them from Adam to Moses from the Entrance into Trangression till they came to the Ministration of Condemnation which restrains People from Sin that brings Death Then when the Ministration of Moses is passed through the Ministry of the Prophets comes to be read and understood which reaches through the Figures Types and Shadows unto John the greatest Prophet born of a Woman whose Ministration prepares the Way of the Lord by bringing down the exalted Mountains and making strait Paths And as this Ministration is passed through an Entrance comes to be known into the Everlasting Kingdom So I saw plainly that none could read Moses aright without Moses's Spirit by which Moses saw how Man was in the Image of God in Paradice and how he fell and how Death came over him and how all Men have been under this Death And I saw how Moses received the pure Law that went over all Transgressors and how the clean Beasts which were Figures and Types were offered up when the People were come into the righteous Law that went over the first Transgression And both Moses and the Prophets saw through the Types and Figures and beyond them and saw Christ the great Prophet that was to come to fulfil them And I saw that none could read John's Words aright and with a true Understanding of them but in and with the same Divine Spirit by which John spake them and by his burning shining Light which is sent from God For by that Spirit their Crooked Natures might be made strait and their Rough Natures smooth and the Exacter and violent Doer in them might be thrown out And they that had been Hypocrites might come to bring forth Fruits meet for Repentance and their Mountain of Sin and Earthliness might be laid low in them and their Valley exalted in them that there might be a Way prepared for the Lord in them And then the least in the Kingdom is greater than John But all must first know the Voice crying in their Wilderness in their Hearts which through Transgression were become as a Wilderness Thus I saw it was an easie matter to say Death reigned from Adam to Moses and That the Law and the Prophets were until John and That the least in the Kingdom is greater than John But none could know how Death reigned from Adam to Moses c. but by the same Holy Spirit which Moses and the Prophets and John were in They could not know the Spiritual Meaning of Moses the Prophets and John's Words nor see their Path and Travels much less see through them and to the end of them into the Kingdom unless they had the Spirit and Light of Jesus Nor could they know the Words of Christ and of his Apostles without his Spirit But as Man comes through by the Spirit and Power of God to Christ who fulfills the Types Figures Shadows Promises and Prophecies that were of him and is led by the Holy Ghost into the Truth and Substance of the Scriptures sitting down in him who is the Author and End of them then are they read and understood with profit and great Delight Moreover the Lord God let me see when I was brought up into his Image in Righteousness and Holiness and into the Paradise of God the State How Adam was made a Living Soul And also the Stature of Christ the Mystery that had been hid from Ages and Generations Which things are hard to be uttered and cannot be born by many For of all the Sects in Christendom so called that I discoursed withal I found none that could bear to be told that any should come to Adam's Perfection into that Image of God and Righteousness and Holiness that Adam was in before he fell to be so clear and pure without Sin as he was Therefore how should they be able to bear being told that any should grow up to the Measure of
from the highest Bishop to the lowest Priest What one Trade else in the World is Comparable to it Notwithstanding that the Scriptures were given forth freely and Christ commanded his Ministers to Preach freely and the Prophets and Apostles denounced Judgment against all Covetous Hirelings and Diviners for Money But in this free Spirit of the Lord Jesus was I sent forth to declare the Word of Life and Reconciliation freely that all might come up to Christ who gives freely and who renews up into the Image of God which Man and Woman were in before they fell that they might sit down in the heavenly Places in Christ Jesus Nottingham Now as I went towards Nottingham on a First-day in the Morning with Friends to a Meeting there when I came on top of a Hill in sight of the Town I espied the great Steeple-house and the Lord said unto me Thou must go cry against yonder great Idol and against the Worshippers therein So I said nothing of this to the Friends that were with me but went on with them to the Meeting where the mighty Power of the Lord God was amongst us In which I left Friends sitting in the Meeting and I went away to the Steeple-house And when I came there all the People looked like Fallow Ground and the Priest like a great Lump of Earth stood in his Pulpit above And he took for his Text these Words of Peter We have also a more sure Word of Prophecy whereunto ye do well that ye take heed as unto a Light that shineth in a dark Place until the day dawn and the Day-star arise in your Hearts And he told the People that this was the Scriptures by which they were to Try all Doctrines Religions and Opinions Now the Lord's Power was so mighty upon me and so strong in me that I could not hold but was made to cry out and say Oh no It is not the Scriptures But I told them what it was namely the Holy Spirit by which the Holy Men of God gave forth the Scriptures whereby Opinions Religions and Judgments were to be tried For it led into all Truth and so gave the knowledge of all Truth For the Jews had the Scriptures and yet resisted the Holy Ghost and rejected Christ the bright Morning-Star and persecuted Christ and his Apostles and took upon them to Try their Doctrines by the Scriptures but erred in Judgment and did not try them a-right because they tried without the Holy Ghost Now as I spake thus amongst them the Officers came and took me away and put me into a nasty stinking Prison the smell whereof got so into my Nose and Throat that it very much annoyed me But that day the Lord's Power sounded so in their Ears that they were amazed at the Voice and could not get it out of their Ears for some time after they were so reached by the Lord's Power in the Steeple-house At Night they took me out of Prison and had me before the Major Aldermen and Sheriffs of the Town And when I was brought before them the Major was in a peevish fretful Temper but the Lord's Power allay'd him Then they examined me at large and I told them how the Lord had moved me to come Then after some Discourse had passed between them and me they sent me back to Prison again But sometime after 1649. Nottingham the Head-Sheriff whole Name was John Reckless sent for me to his House And when I came in his Wife met me in the Hall and said Salvation is come to our House ☜ And she took me by the Hand and was much wrought upon by the Power of the Lord God And her Husband and Children and Servants were much changed for the Power of the Lord wrought upon them And I lodged at the Sheriff's House and great Meetings we had in his House and some Persons of considerable Condition in the World came to them and the Lord's Power appeared eminently amongst them And this Sheriff sent for the other Sheriff and for a Woman they had had Dealings with in way of Trade and he told her before the other Sheriff that they had wronged her in their Dealings with her for the other Sheriff and he were Partners and that they ought to make her Restitution This he spake chearfully But the other Sheriff denied it and the Woman said She knew nothing of it But the friendly Sheriff said it was so and that the other knew it well enough And then having discovered the Matter and acknowledged the Wrong done by them he made Restitution to the Woman and exhorted the other Sheriff to do the like And the Lord's Power was with this Friendly Sheriff and wrought a mighty Change in him and great Openings he had And on the next Market-day following as he was walking with me in the Chamber in his Slippers he said I must go into the Market and preach Repentance to the People And accordingly he went in his Slippers into the Market and into several Streets and preached Repentance to the People Several others also in the Town were moved to speak to the Major and Magistrates and to the People exhorting them to Repent Hereupon the Magistrates grew very Angry and sent for me from the Sheriff's House and Committed me to the Common Prison Nottingham Prison When the Assize came on there was one moved to come and offer up himself for me Body for Body yea Life also But when I should have been brought before the Judge the Sheriff's Man being somewhat long in fetching me to the Sessions-house the Judge was risen before I came At which I understood the Judge was somewhat offended and said He would have admonished the Youth if he had been brought before him For I was then Imprisoned by the Name of A YOVTH So I was returned to Prison again and put into the Common Goal And the Lord's Power was great among Friends but the People began to be very Rude Wherefore the Governour of the Castle sent down Souldiers and dispersed them and after that they were quiet But both Priests and People were astonished at the wonderful Power that brake forth And several of the Priests were made tender and some did Confess to the Power of the Lord. Now after I was set at Liberty from Nottingham-Goal where I had been kept Prisoner a pretty long time I traveled as before in the Work of the Lord. And coming to Mansfield-Woodhouse Mansfield Wood-house there was a distracted Woman under a Doctor 's Hand with her Hair loose all about her Ears and he was about to let her Blood she being first bound and many People being about her holding her by Violence But he could get no Blood from her And I desired them to unbind her 1649. Mansfield Woodhouse and let her alone for they could not touch the Spirit in her by which she was tormented So they did unbind her And I was moved to speak to her and in the
Considerable Men and the Truth was powerfully declared amongst them and the Scriptures wonderfully opened and the Parables and Sayings of Christ were expounded and the State of the Church in the Apostles Days was plainly set forth and the Apostacy since from that State discovered And the Truth had great Dominion that Day so that those Great Men that were present did generally Confess to it saying They believed that this Principle must go over the whole World There were at this Meeting James Naylor Thomas Goodyear and William Dewsbury who had been Convinced the Year before and Richard Farnsworth also And the Constable stay'd with Thomas Aldam till the Meeting was over And then went towards York-prison but did not meddle with me Wakefield From hence I went to Wakefield and on the First Day after I went to a Steeple-house where James Naylor had been a Member of an Independent-Church but upon his receiving Truth he was Excommunicated When I came in and the Priest had done the People called upon me to come up to the Priest which I did But when I began to declare the Word of Life to them and to lay open the Deceit of the Priest they rushed upon me on a suddain and thrust me out at the other Door and fell a punching and beating me and Cried Let us have him to the Stocks But the Lord's Power was over them and restrained them that they were not suffered to put me in So I passed away to the Meeting where were a great many Professors and friendly People gathered and a great Convincement there was that Day For the People were mightily satisfied that they were directed to the Lord 's Teaching in themselves Here we got some Lodging for Four of us had lain abroad under an Hedge the Night before there being then few Friends in that Place The same Day Richard Farnsworth went to another great Steeple-house belonging to a great High-priest and declared the Word of Truth unto the People and a great Service he had amongst them For the Lord 's Dread and Power was mightily over all The Priest of that Church which James Naylor had been a Member of whose Name mas Marshal raised many Wicked Slanders upon me as That I carried Bottles about with me and made People drink of my Bottles and that made them follow me And That I rid upon a great Black Horse and was seen in one Country upon my Black Horse in one Hour and in the same Hour in another Country Threescore Miles off and That I should give a Fellow Money to follow me when I was on my Black Horse With these Hellish Lies he fed his People to make them think Evil of the Truth which I had declared amongst them But by these Lies of his he preached many of his Hearers away from him For I was then on Foot and travelled on foot and had no Horse at that Time and that the People generally knew But the Lord soon after met with this Envious Priest 1652. High-town and Cut him off in his Wickedness After this I came to a Town called High-Town where dwelt a Woman who had been Convinced a little before and we went to her House and had a Meeting and the Towns-people gathered together and we declared the Truth to them and had some Service for the Lord amongst them and they passed away again peaceably But there was a Widow-woman in the Town whose Name was Green who being filled with Envy went to one that was called a Gentleman in the Town who was reported to have killed Two Men and One Woman and Informed him against us though he was no Officer The next Morning we drew up some Queries to be sent to the Priest And when we had done and were just going away some of the Friendly People of the Town came running up to the House where we were and told us That this Murdering Man had sharpened a Pike to stab us and was coming up with his Sword by his Side We were just passing away and so missed him But we were no sooner gone but he came to the House where we had been and the People generally Concluded If we had not been gone he would have murdered some of us That Night we lay in a Wood and were very Wet for it Rained exceedingly In the Morning I was moved to come back to that Town again and then they gave us a full Relation of this wicked Man From hence we passed to Bradford and came to an House Bradford where we met with Richard Farnsworth again from whom we had parted a little before When we came in they set Meat before us but as I was going to Eat the Word of the Lord came to me saying Eat not the Bread of such as have an Evil Eye Immediately I arose from the Table and ate nothing The Woman of the House was a Baptist So after I had exhorted the Family To turn to the Lord Jesus Christ and hearken to his Teachings in their own Hearts We departed thence And as we travelled through the Country preaching Repentance to the People we came into a Market-town on the Market-day and there was a Lecture there that Day And I went into the Steeple-house where were many Priests and Professors and People The Priest that preached took for his Text those Words of Jeremiah Chap. 5. ver 31. My People love to have it so Leaving out the foregoing Words viz. The Prophets prophesy falsly and the Priests bear Rule by their Means So I shewed the People his Deceit and directed them to Christ the true Teacher within declaring unto them that God was come to Teach his People himself and to bring them off from all the World's Teachers and Hirelings that they might come to receive freely from him Then warning them of the Day of the Lord that was coming upon all Flesh I passed from thence without much Opposition At Night we came to a Country-house and there was no Ale-house near They desired us to stay there all Night which we did and had good Service for the Lord declaring his Truth amongst them 1652. Yorkshire The next Day we passed on For the Lord had said unto me If but one Man or Woman were Raised up by his Power to stand and live in the same Spirit that the Prophets and Apostles were in who gave forth the Scriptures ☞ that Man or Woman should shake all the Country in their Profession for Ten Miles round For People had the Scriptures but were not in that same Light and Power and Spirit which they were in that gave forth the Scriptures and so they neither knew God nor Christ nor the Scriptures aright nor had they Vnity one with another being out of the Power and Spirit of God Therefore as we passed along we Warned all People where-ever we met them of the Day of the Lord that was coming upon them Pendle-hill As we travelled on we came near a very great and high
they do come to be renewed again into the Image of God they come out of the Natures of these things and so out of the Names thereof Many more such things were declared to them and they were turned to the Light of Christ by which they might come to know Christ and to receive him and might witness him to be their Substance and their Way their Salvation and true Teacher And many were Convinced at that Time Now after I had travelled up and down in those Countries and had had great Meetings Swarthmore Ulverston I came to Swarthmore again And when I had visited Friends a while in those Parts I heard of a great Meeting the Priests were to have at Vlverstone on a Lecture-Day Whereupon I went down to it and went into the Steeple-house in the Dread and Power of the Lord And when the Priest had done I spake among them the Word of the Lord which was as an Hammer and as a Fire amongst them And though Lampit the Priest of the Place had been at variance with most of the Priests before yet against the Truth he and they all joined together But the mighty Power of the Lord was over all and so wonderful was the Appearance thereof that Priest Bennet said The Church shook Insomuch that he was afraid and trembled and after he had spoken a few Confused Words he hastened out for fear the Steeple-house would fall on his Head There were many Priests got together there yet they had no Power as yet to Persecute When I had cleared my Conscience amongst them I went up to Swarthmore again whither came up four or five of the Priests 1652. Swarthmore And coming to discourse I asked them Whether any one of them could say he ever had the Word of the Lord to go and speak to such or such a People None of them durst say He had But one of them burst out into a Passion and said He could speak his Experiences as well as I. I told him Experience was one thing but to receive and go with a Message and to have a Word from the Lord as the Prophets and Apostles had and did and as I had done to them this was another thing And therefore I put it to them again Could any of them say he had ever had a Command or Word from the Lord immediately at any time but none of them could say so Then I told them The false Prophets and false Apostles and Antichrists could use the Words of the true Prophets and true Apostles and of Christ and would speak of other Mens Experiences though they themselves never knew nor heard the Voice of God and Christ and such as They might get the good Words and Experiences of others This puzzled them much and laid them open For at another time when I was discoursing with several Priests at Judge Fell's House and he was by I asked them the same Question Whether any of them ever heard the Voice of God or Christ to bid him go to such or such a People to declare his Word or Message unto them for any one I told them any that could but read might declare the Experiences of the Prophets and Apostles which were recorded in the Scriptures Hereupon one of them whose Name was Thomas Taylor an ancient Priest did ingenuously Confess before Judge Fell That he had never heard the Voice of God nor of Christ to send him to any People but he spake his Experiences and the Experiences of the Saints in former Ages and That he preached This very much Confirmed Judge Fell in the Perswasion he had That the Priests were wrong for he had thought formerly as the generality of People then did That they were sent from God This Thomas Taylor was Convinced at this time Westmorland Cross-land and traveled with me into Westmorland And coming to Crossland-Steeple-house we found the People gathered together there And the Lord opened Thomas Taylor 's Mouth amongst the People though he was Convinced but the day before so that he declared amongst them How he had been before he was Convinced and like the good Scribe that was Converted to the Kingdom he brought forth things new and old to the People and shewed them how the Priests were out of the Way Which did torment the Priests Some little discourse I had with them but they sled away and a precious Meeting there was wherein the Lord's Power was over all and the People were directed to the Spirit of God by which they might come to know God and Christ and to understand the Scriptures aright After this I passed on visiting Friends and had very large Meetings in Westmorland Now began the Priests to Rage more and more and as much as they could to stir up Persecution Whereupon James Naylor and Francis Howgill were cast into Prison in Appleby-Jail at the instigation of the malicious Priests some of whom prophesied That within a Month we should be all scattered again and come to nothing But blessed for ever be the Worthy Name of the Lord the Work of the Lord went on and prospered 1652. Westmorland For about this time John Audland and Francis Howgill and John Camm and Edward Burrough and Richard Hubberthorn and Miles Hubbersty and Miles Halhead with several others being endued with Power from on high came forth into the Work of the Ministry and approved themselves faithful Labourers therein traveling up and down and preaching the Gospel freely by means whereof Multitudes were Convinced and many effectually turned to the Lord. Amongst these Christopher Taylor was one who was Brother to Thomas Taylor before-mentioned and had been a Preacher to a People as well as his Brother But after they had received the knowledge of the Truth they soon came into Obedience thereunto and left their Preaching for Hire or Rewards And having received a part of the Ministry of the Gospel they preached Christ freely being often sent by the Lord to declare his Word in Steeple-houses and in Markets and great Sufferers they were Lancashire Ulverstone After I had visited Friends in Westmorland I returned into Lancashire and went to Vlverstone where Lampitt was Priest who though he had preached of a People that did own the Teachings of God and had said That Men and Women should come to declare the Gospel yet afterwards when it came to be fulfilled he persecuted both it and them To this Priest's House I went where abundance of Priests and Professors â—ere got together after their Lecture with whom I had great Disputings concerning Christ and the Scriptures for they were loth to let their Trade go down which they made of preaching Christ's and the Apostles and Prophets Words But the Lord's Power went over the Heads of them all and his Word of Life was held forth amongst them though many of them were exceeding Envious and Devillish Yet after this many Priests and Professors came to me from far and near of whom they that were
have my Liberty he said if I would not go to nor keep Meetings I told him I could not promise any such thing Several times upon the Road did he ask and try me after the sâ—me manner and still I gave him the same Answers So he brought me to London London Charing-Cross and lodged me at the Mermaid over against the Mews at Charing-Cross And on the way as we traveled I was moved of the Lord to Warn People at the Inns and Places where I came of the day of the Lord that was coming upon them And William Dewsberry and Marmaduke Stor being in Prison at Northampton he let me go and visit them After Captain Drury had lodged me at the Mermaid he left me there and went to give the Protector an Account of me And when he came to me again he told me The Protector did require that I should promise not to take up a carnal Sword or Weapon against him or the Government as it then was and that I should write it in what words I saw good and set my Hand to it I said little in Reply to Captain Drury But the next Morning I was moved of the Lord to write a Paper To the Protector by the name of Oliver Cromwel wherein I did in the presence of the Lord God declare that I did deny the wearing or drawing of a carnal Sword or any other outward Weapon against him or any Man And that I was sent of God to stand a Witness against all Violence and against the Works of Darkness and to turn People from the Darkness to the Light and to bring them from the Occasion of War and Fighting to the peaceable Gospel and from being Evil-Doers which the Magistrates Sword should be a Terror to When I had written what the Lord had given me to write I set my Name to it and gave it to Captain Drury to give to O. Cromwel which he did Then after some time Captain Drury brought me before the Protector himself at Whitehall Whitehall It was in a Morning before he was dressed and one Harvey that had come a little among Friends but was disobedient waited upon him When I came in I was moved to say Peace be in this House and I bid him Keep in the Fear of God that he might receive Wisdom from him that by it he might be ordered and with it might order all things under his Hand to God's Glory I spake much to him of Truth and a great deal of Discourse I had with him about Reliâ—ion wherein he carried himself very moderately But he said We quarrelled with the Priests whom he called Ministers I told him I did not quarrel with them but they quarrelled with me and my Friends But said I If we own the Prophets Christ and the Apostles we cannot hold up such Teachers Prophets and Shepherds 1654. Whitehall as the Prophets Christ and the Apostles declared against but we must declare against them by the same Power and Spirit Then I shewed him That the Prophets Christ and the Apostles declared freely and declared against them that did not declare freely such as preached for filthy Lucre and divined for Money and preached for Hire and were covetous and greedy like the dumb Dogs that could never have enough And that they that have the same Spirit that Christ and the Prophets and the Apostles had could not but declare against all such now as they did then As I spake he would several times say It was very good and it was Truth I told him That all Christendom so called had the Scriptures but they wanted the Power and Spirit that they had who gave forth the Scriptures and that was the reason they were not in Fellowship with the Son nor with the Father nor with the Scriptures nor one with another Many more words I had with him but People coming in I drew a little back And as I was turning he catched me by the Hand and with Tears in his Eyes said Come again to my House for if thou and I were but an hour of a day together we should be nearer one to the other adding That he wisht me no more Ill than he did to his own Soul I told him If he did he wronged his own Soul And I bid him hearken to God's Voice that he might stand in his Counsel and obey it and if he did so that would keep him from hardness of Heart but if he did not hear God's Voice his Heart would be hardened And he said It was true Then went I out G. F. set at Liberty And when Capt. Drury came out after me he told me His Lord Protector said I was at Liberty and might go whither I would Then I was brought into a great Hall where the Protector 's Gentlemen were to dine and I asked them What they did bring me thither for They said It was by the Protector 's Order that I might dine with them I bid them Let the Protector know I would not eat a bit of his Bread nor drink a sup of his Drink When he heard this he said Now I see there is a People risen and come up that I cannot win either with Gifts Honours Offices or Places but all other Sects and People I can But it was told him again That we had forsook our own and were not like to look for such things from him Now I being set at Liberty went up to the Inn again where Capt. Drury had at first lodged me This Capt. Drury though he sometimes carried fairly was an Enemy to me and to Truth and opposed it and when Professors came to me while I was under his Custody and he was by he would scoff at Trembling and call us Quakers as the Independents and Presbyterians had Nick-named us before But afterwards he came on a time to me and told me That as he was lying on his Bed to rest himself in the day-time a sudden Trembling seized on him that his Joints knocked together and his Body shook so that he could not rise from his Bed he was so shaken that he had not strength enough left to rise But he felt the Power of the Lord was upon him and he tumbled off his Bed and cried to the Lord and said He would never speak against the Quakers more such as Trembled at the Word of God During the Time that I was Prisoner at Charing-Cross 1654. Charing-Cross there came abundaâ—ce to see me People almost of all Sorts Priests Professors Officers of the Army c. And one Time a Company of Officers being with me desired me to pray with them I sate still with my Mind retired to the Lord. At last I felt the Power and Spirit of God move in me and the Lord's Power did so shake and shatter them that they wondred though they did not live in it Among those that came thither to see me there was one Colonel Packer with several of his Officers and while they
against them But it is manifest that you walk in the steps of your Fore-fathers that persecuted the Prophetâ— Habakâ—uk the Prophet of the Lord trembled and Joel the Prophet of the Lord said Blow the Trumpet in Sion and let all the Inhabitants of the Earth Tremble The People shall Tremble and all Faces shall gather Blackness and the People shall be much pained And now this Trembling is witnessed by the Power of the Lord This Power of the Lord is come the Trumpet is sounding the Earth is shaking the Inhabitants of the Earth are trembling the Dead is arising and the Living is praising God And the World is Raging and the Scoffers are Scorning and they that witness Trembling and Quaking wrought in them by the Power of the Lord can scarce pass up and down the Streets but with Stones and Blows and Fists and Sticks or Dogs set at them or pursued with Mocks and Reproaches Thus you vent forth your Malice against them that witness the Power of the Lord as the Prophets did who are come to the broken Heart and contrite Spirit and who Tremble at the Word of the Lord whom the Lord regards These you stone these you stock these you set your Dogs at these you scoff and scorn these you revile and reproach but those Reproaches are our Riches praised be the Lord who hath given us power over them And if you see one as Habakkuk whose Lips quivered whose Belly shock who said Rottenness was entred into his Bones and who trembled in himself if you see such an one in this Condition now ye say He is Bewitched Here again you shew your selves Strangers to that Power to that Life that was in the Prophet Therefore for shame never make a Profession of his Words nor a Trade of his Words nor of Joel's who witnessed Trembling which ye scorn and scoff at Ye proud Scoffers and Scorners Misery Misery is your End except you speedily Repent Daniel a Servant of the most-high God he Trembled his Strength and his Breath was gone He was Prisoned He was hated he was persecuted they laid Baits and Snares for him in whom the holy Spirit of God was Now for shame all you that make a Profession of Daniel's Words give over your Profession Priests and People who scoff and scorn at Trembling with the Light you are seen to be out of Daniel's Life and by the same Power you are judged at which you scorn and scoff And so here again be ye Witnesses against your selves that you are Scorners and Scoffers against the Truth And with the Scripture you are judged to be contrary to the Life of the holy Men of God Paul a Minister of God made by the Will of God a Messenger of the Lord Jesus a Vessel of the Lords to carry his Name abroad into several Nations when the dark blind World have got some of his Words and Epistles you filthy Teachers make a Trade of them and get great Sums of Money for it and so destroy Souls for dishonest Gain making a Trade of his Words and of the rest of the Apostles and Prophets and of Christ's Words but denying the Spirit and Life that they were guided by and that Power which shook the Flesh and the Earth which the Apostle witnessed who said When he came among the Corinthians he was then with them in weakness and fear and in much Trembling that their Faith might not stand in the Wisdom of Words but in the Power of God in that Power which made him to Tremble This Power it is that the World and all the scoffing Teachers scoff at and scorn in your Towns in your Villages in your Assemblies in your Ale-houses for shame lay away all your Profession of the Apostle's Words and Conditions And some of them that scoff at this Power call it the Power of the Devil and some persecute them and Stone and Stock Imprison and Whip them in whom that Power is made manifest and lade them with Reproaches as not worthy to walk on the Earth hated and persecuted as the Off-scouring of all things Here you may see you are in the steps of your Fore-Fathers who persecuted the Apostles and acted so against them stocked them mocked them prisoned them stoned them whipped them haled them out of the Synagogues reproached them and shamefully entreated them Do not you here fulfil the Scripture and Christ's saying who said If they kill you they will think they do God Service Yet you make a Profession of Christ's Words of the Prophets and Apostles Words and call your selves Churches and Ministers of the Gospel I charge you in the presence of the Living God to be silent who act such things And mind the Light in your Consciences ye Scoffers and Scorners which Christ hath enlightened you withall that with it ye may see your selves what ye Act and what ye have Acted for who Act such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God for all such things are by the Light condemned And who come to witness Trembling and Quaking the Powers of the Earth to be shaken the Lustful Nature come to be destroyed the scorning and scoffing Nature judged by the Light In it Wait to receive Power from him who shakes the Earth That Power we own and our Faith stands in it which all the World scoffs at the Lofty Ones the Proud Ones the Presumptuous Ones which live in Presumption and yet make a Profession of the Scriptures as your Fathers the Pharisees did who were painted Sepulchres and Serpents and as the Scribes did who had the Chiefest Places in the Assemblies stood praying in the Synagogues and were called of Men Masters which Christ cried WO against who are not come so far as the Trembling of Devils who believed and trembled Let that Judge you The Light and Life of the Scripture is seen and made manifest and with it all you Scoffers and all you Scorners and all you Persecutors and Railers are seen Take Warning all ye Powers of the Earth how ye persecute them whom the World Nick-name and call Quakers who dwell in the Eternal Power of God lest the Hand of the Lord be turned against you and ye be all Cut off To you this is the Word of God Fear and Tremble and take Warning For this is the Man whom the Lord doth regard who trembles at his Word which you who are of the World scoff and scorn stock persecute and imprison Here ye may see ye are contrary to God contrary to the Prophets and are such as hate what the Lord regards which we whom the World scorns and calls Quakers own And we exalt that Power and honour that Power that makes the Devils tremble and shakes the Earth and throws down the Loftiness of Man and the Haughtiness of Man and which makes the Beasts of the Field to Tremble and makes the Earth Reel to and fro and cleaves the Earth asunder and over-turneth the World This Power we own and honour and preach up whom
of the Synagogues when they came to speak Judge your selves what an Antichristian Spirit you have Never talk of defending Truth with that which is against Truth For are you not setting up the Rabble of the World against it Do they not Join with you with Swords and Staves against it And is this the Life of Christians Is not this the Life of Error and of the Evil Seeds-man Surely ye would find Work enough if ye were in the Fear of the Lord to turn your Swords against the Prophaneness the Oaths and Wickedness that is in your Streets and High-ways How do they ring like Sodom and give a sound like Gomorrah But they are become a Prey in this your Age that Reprove in your Gate Sin Wickedness and Prophaneness They are become your By-word Against them your Councils are gathered and them you cast into Prison and hale them out of your Synagogues and cast them likewise into Prison that write against it and speak against it and set your Guards to stop and hinder any from Visiting them whom you cast into Prison and give them the Names of Vagabonds and Wanderers Was ever the like heard in the days of the Heathen against the Apostles who witnessed the Gospel Did they set Guards and Watches in every Town in every City to take the Disciples the Brethren the Believers that heard that the Apostles were cast into Prison and came to see what they wanted Shew ye not as much Rage and Fury now in your Age as was in those that were in that Age And how can you talk of the Gospel and of defending the Gospel when you are setting Guards and Watches against it and are defending that which stands against it and the Lambs of Christ are almost torn to pieces amongst you who are like Wolves for the Lord hath now sent his Lambs amongst Wolves And have not you profest the words of Christ and of the Prophets and Apostles as the Jews had long profest the Scriptures the words of Moses and of the Prophets that prophesied of Christ that was to come and stood against him when he was come as you do in this Day of his Reign and in this Day of his glorious Gospel who are persecuting the Messengers of it imprisoning them persecuting them in your Streets and High-ways and now setting up your VVatches against them who bring you the glad Tidings of Peace to your Souls whose Feet are beautiful a Top of the Mountains Mark a Top of the Mountains that against which the Mountains rage and swell but God will make them to melt the Sun is risen which will make them to melt And God will cleave the Rocks and Mountains asunder and make the Hills to bow perpetually for his Son he will exalt and his Glory he will give to him and not to another Therefore be awakened ye Rulers of the Earth and take Counsel of the Lord and take not Counsel together against him Make not your Bonds strong and set not your selves in Battel against him for ye will be found but as Briers and Thorns before him which the Fire shall consume Therefore be awakened all ye that be Talkers of the Scripture and that gather your selves together by your Multitudes and Meetings and have had your Teachers but not having the Spirit that gave forth the Scriptures the Lord God of Glory the Father of Spirits will scatter you all your Bonds will not hold you together who are out of the Spirit which is the Bond of Peace The Threshing Instrument is gone forth which will beat the Hills to pieces Sion is risen to Thresh out of the holy Mountain is the Trumpet sounded Stand not up against the Lord for all Nations are with the Lord as the Drop of a Bucket He that measures the VVaters in the hollow of his Hand and weighs the Earth in Scales the Lord of Hosts is his Name who is now risen and rising to plead the Cause of the Innocent who is exalting his Son and bringing his Sheep to him Now are they seen and known that feed upon wind that are lifted up given up to believe Lies who report and say Report and we will report it Now are they seen who have a Form of Godliness but the Power is denied by them so Christ is denied the Power it self is denied for Christ is the Power of God And the Power being denied by you that have a Form of Godliness that have the words of the Scriptures the Gospel is denied for the Gospel is the Power of God And thus it is among you that have the Knowledge and VVisdom that is sensual earthly and devilish Doth it not appear so Let your Gaols and VVatches witness your Fruits in every Town Your VVisdom is earthly sensual and Devillish so you have a Knowledge and VVisdom but not that which is from above for that is pure and gentle and so is not your knowledge But to know Christ is Life Eternal Now your Fruits have manifested that you are not of this and so out of the Power of God which is the Cross of Christ For you are found in the VVorld out of the Power of God out of the Cross of Christ persecuting So that which doth persecute and send forth VVritings and Decrees to stop all and take up all and set VVatches and prepare Bonds to stint the Lord to Imprison and persecute and suffer none to go to visit them This shews you are not Christians but stand against a Christian's Life which is to love your Enemies Where is your Heaping up Coles of Fire your Love to your Enemies who are thus persecuting your Friends He came to his own and his own received him not Here is a turning the Sword against the Just. Do you shew here a Christian's Life or your selves Christians who are filling your Gaols with the Christians in the Spirit you that be in the Letter in Shadows as the Jews in the Letter did put the Jews in the Spirit into Prison Is not this the Fruit in our Days of the Christians in the Letter to put the Christians in the Spirit into Prison And doth not this shew that your Decrees which you have sent forth proceed from Death who thus Act against the Life and them that be in it which the Scriptures were given forth from Is it not here as it was with Saul when he went to persecute to hale to Prison and bind all that he could find calling upon that Name who were Christians in the Life the Spirit such as now you are persecuting because they are in the Life though you profess their Words Are not your Decrees gone forth from the same Spirit of Envy against the same Spirit of Christ they were in Is it not manifest to all that fear God and to the sober-minded and honest-hearted People that see your Practices your Decrees your Letters to stop to molest to hinder to Imprison them that are moved of the Lord to do his Will or to go to
of Jesus Christ that shines in every one of your Consciences search you throughly and it will let you clearly see for all your Profession of God Christ and the Scriptures you are Ignorant of them and Enemies to them all and your own Souls also And being found living in Pleasures you are dead while you live And therefore doth the Lord by many Messengers forwarn you and calls you to Repentance and deep Humiliation that you may forsake the Evil of your Doings and so own this Day of your Visitation and while you have Time to prise it lest the things which belong to your Peace be hid from your Eyes for your Disobedience and Rebellion against the Holy One. And then had it been good that you never had been born Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand again I say Repent To the Bowlers in the Green Given forth in Lanceston-Gaol in Cornwall Being Released we got Horses Cornwall and rid up into the Country towards Humphry Lower's and met him upon the Road coming towards us He told us He was much troubled in his Mind concerning us and could not rest at home but was going to Colonel Bennet to seek our Liberty But when we told him VVe were set at liberty and were going to his House he was exceeding glad So to his House we went and there we had a fine precious Meeting and many were Convinced and turned by the Spirit of the Lord to the Lord Jesus Christ's Teaching From his House we went to Loveday Hambleys where also we had a fine large Meeting and the Lord's Power was over all and many were Convinced there also and turned to the Lord Jesus Christ their Teacher After we had tarried there Two or Three Days we came to Thomas Mounce's where we had a general Meeting for the whole County which being very large was held in his Orchard Friends from Plimouth were there and from many Places and the Lord's Power was over all and a great Convincement there was in many Places of the County And all their Watches were down in all those Countries and all was plain and open 1656. Cornwall for the Lord had let me see before I was set at Liberty that he would make all the Country plain before us Now Thomas and Ann Curtis with another an Alderman of Reading who was Convinced had come to Lanceston to see us while I was a Prisoner And when Ann and the other man returned Thomas Curtis staid behind in Cornwall and did good Service for the Lord there at that Time Lanceston From Thomas Mounce's we passed to Lanceston again and visited that little Remnant of Friends that had been raised up there while we were there in Prison and the Lord's Plants grew finely and were established on Christ their Rock and Foundation As we were going out of Town again the Constable of Lanceston came running to us with the Cheese that had been taken from Edward Pyot which they had kept from us all this while and were tormented with it But we being now set at Liberty would not receive it Okington From Lanceston we came to Okington and lay at an Inn which the Mayor of the Town kept He had stopt and taken up several Friends but was very Civil to us and was Convinced in his Judgment Exeter From thence we came through the Countries to Exeter where many Friends were in Prison and amongst the rest James Nayler For a little before the Time that we were set at Liberty James run out into Imaginations and a Company with him and they raised up a great Darkness in the Nation And he came to Bristol and made a Disturbance there And from thence he was coming to Lanceston to see me but was stopt by the Way and Imprisoned at Exeter As were also several others that were coming to see me one of whom an honest tender Man died in Prison there whose Blood lieth on the Heads of his Persecutors That Night that we came to Exeter I spake with James Nayler for I saw he was out and wrong and so was his Company The next day being the First-day of the week we went to the Prison to visit the Prisoners and had a Meeting with them in the Prison but James Nayler and some of them could not stay the Meeting There came a Corporal of Horse into the Meeting and was Convinced and remained a very good Friend The next day I spake to James Nayler again and he slighted what I said and was dark and much out yet he would have come and kissed me But I said Since he had turned against the Power of God I could not receive his shew of Kindness So the Lord God moved me to slight him and to set the Power of God over him So after I had been warring with the World there was now a wicked Spirit risen up amongst Friends to war against and I admonished him and his Company And when he was come to London his Resisting the Power of God in me and the Truth that was declared to him by me became one of his greatest Burdens but he came to see his Out-going and to Condemn it and after some Time he returned to Truth again as in the printed Relation of his Repentance Condemnation and Recovery may be more fully seen We passed from Exeter through Collumpton and Taunton 1656. Collumpton Taunton Puddimoor visiting Friends and had Meetings amongst them and declared the Word of Life unto them And from thence we came to Puddimoor to William Beaton's and on the First-day we had a very large Meeting there For a great Convincement there was all up and down that Country and many Meetings we had and the Lord's Power was over all and many were turned by the Power and Spirit of God to the Lord Jesus Christ who died for them and they came to sit under his free Teaching From thence we went to John Dandy's where we had another precious Meeting and the Lord's Power was over all and many were Convinced of God's Eternal Truth Some Contention was raised by Professors and Baptists in some Places but the Lord's Power came over them near Bristol From thence we came to Edward Pyot's house near Bristol It was the Seventh-day at Night that we came thither And it was quickly noised over the Town that I was come Now I had never been there before On the First-day Morning I went to the Meeting in Broadmead at Bristol and a great Meeting there was and quiet Bristol Meeting Notice was given of a Meeting to be in the Afternoon in the Orchard There was at Bristol a rude Baptist named Paul Gwin who had used before to make great disturbance in our Meetings being encouraged and set on by the Mayor who as it was reported would sometimes give him his Dinner to Incourage him And such multitudes of rude People would he gather after him that it was thought there had been sometimes Ten thousand people
me but went their Way in a Rage When I came into the House Friends were very glad to see them so confounded and that I had escaped them Next day I passed from thence and after I had visited Friends in several places as I went I came to London the Lord's Power accompanying me and bearing me up in his Service London I had not been long come to London before I heard that a Jesuit who came over with an Embassador from Spain had challenged all the Quakers to dispute with them at the Earl of Newport's House whereupon some Friends let him know That we would meet him Then he sent us word He would meet with Twelve of the Wisest Learned-Men we had A while after he sent us word He would meet with but Six and after that he sent us word again He would have but Three to come We hast'ned what we could lest for all his great Boast he should put it quite off at last When we were come to the House I bid Nicholas Bond and Edward Burrough go up and enter the Discourse with him and I would walk a while in the Yard and then come up after them I advised them to state this Question to him Whether or no the Church of Rome as it now stood was not degenerated from the true Church which was in the Primitive Times from the Life and Doctrine and from the Power and Spirit that they were in They stated the Question accordingly and the Jesuit affirmed That the Church of Rome now was in the Virginity and Purity of the Primitive Church By this time I was come to them Then we asked him Whether they had the Holy Ghost poured out upon them as the Apostles had and he said No. Then said I If ye have not the same Holy Ghost poured forth upon you and the same Power and Spirit that the Apostles had then ye are degenerated from the Power and Spirit which the Primitive Church was in So there needed little more to be said to that Then I asked him What Scripture they had for setting up Cloisters for Nuns Abbies and Monasteries for Men and for all their several Orders and for their Praying by Beads and to Images and for making Crosses and for forbidding of Meats and Marriages and for putting People to Death for Religion If said I ye are in the Practice of the Primitive Church 1658. London in its Purity and Virginity then let us see by Scriptures where-ever they practised any such things For it was agreed on both hands that both he and we should make good by Scriptures what we said Then he told us of a written Word and an unwritten Word I asked him What he called his unwritten Word He said The written Word is the Scriptures and the unwritten Word is that which the Apostles spake by Word of Mouth which said he are all those Traditions that we practise Ibid him Prove that by Scripture Then he brought that Scripture where the Apostle says 2 Thess 2.5 When I was with you I told you these things That is said he I told you of Nunneries and Monasteries and of putting to death for Religion and of Praying by Beads and to Images and all the rest of the Practices of the Church of Rome which he said was the unwritten Word of the Apostles which they told then and have since been continued down by Tradition unto these Times Then I desired him to read that Scripture again that he might see how he had perverted the Apostle's Words for that which the Apostle there tells the Thessalonians he had told them before is not an unwritten Word but is there written down namely That the Man of Sin the Son of Perdition shall be revealed before that great and terrible Day of Christ which he was writing of should come so this was not telling them any of those things that the Church of Rome practises In like manner the Apostle in the third Chapter of that Epistle tells the Church of some disorderly Persons he heard were amongst them busie-bodies who did not work at all concerning whom he had commanded them by his unwritten Word when he was among them that if any would not work neither should he eat which now he commands them again in his written Words in this Epistle 2 Thess 3. So this Scripture afforded no Proof for their invented Traditions and he had no other Scripture-Proof to offer Therefore I told him This was another Degeneration of their Church into such Inventions and Traditions as the Apostles and primitive Saints never practised After this he came to his Sacrament of the Altar beginning at the Paschal Lamb and the Shew-bread and so came to the Words of Christ This is my Body and to what the Apostle writ of it to the Corinthians Concluding That after the Priest had Consecrated the Bread and Wine it was Immortal and Divine and he that received it received the whole Christ I followed him through the Scriptures he brought till I came to Christ's Words and the Apostle's and I shewed him That the same Apostle told the Corinthians after they had taken Bread and VVine in Remembrance of Christ's Death that they were Reprobates if Christ was not in them But if the Bread they ate was Christ he must of necessity be in them after they had eaten it Besides if this Bread and this VVine which the Corinthians ate and drank was Christ's Body then how hath Christ a Body in Heaven I observed to him also That both the Disciples at the Supper and the Corinthians afterwards were to eat the Bread and drink the VVine in Remembrance of Christ and to shew forth his Death till he come which plainly proves the Bread and VVine which they took was not his Body For if it had been his Real Body that they ate then he had been Come and was then there present and it had been improper to have done such a thing in Remembrance of him if he had been then present with them as he must have been if that Bread and VVine which they ate and drank had been his Real Body Then as to those Words of Christ This is my Body I told him Christ calls himself a Vine and a Door and is called in Scripture a Rock Is Christ therefore an outward Rock Door or Vine O said the Jesuit Those words are to be interpreted So said I are those words of Christ This is my Body Now having stopt his Mouth as to Argument I made the Jesuit a Proposal thus That seeing he said The Bread and VVine was Immortal and Divine and the very Christ and that whosoever received it received the whole Christ Let a Meeting be Appointed between some of them whom the Pope and his Cardinals should Appoint and some of us and let a Bottle of VVine and Loaf of Bread be brought and divided each into two Parts and let them Consecrate which of those Parts they would And then set the Consecrated and the
from men and to receive the Gospel from him and their Vnction from him the Word and as they receive him they declare him freely as his Command was to his Disciples and is so still to the Learners and Receivers of him For he Lord God and his Son Jesus Christ is come to teach his People and to bring them from all the Worlds Ways to Christ the Way the Truth and the Life who is the Way to the Father and from all the Worlds Teachers and Speakers to him the Speaker and Teacher as Hebr. 1.1 and from all the Worlds Worshippers to worship God in the Spirit and in the Truth which the Devil the Destroyer is out of which Worship Christ set up above Sixteen hundred years ago when he put down the Jews Worship at the Temple at Jerusalem and the Worship at the Mountain where Jacob's Well was and to bring People from all the World's Religions which they have made since the Apostles days to the Religion that was set up by Christ and his Apostles which is Pure and Undefiled before God and keeps from the Spots of the World And to bring them out of all the Worlds Churches and Fellowships that they have made and set up since the Apostles days to the Church that is in God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Thess 1.1 and to bring to the Unity and Fellowship in the holy Spirit that doth mortifie and circumcise and baptise to plunge down Sin and Corruption that has got up in Man and Woman by Transgression and in this holy Spirit there is a holy Fellowship and Unity yea it is the Bond of the Prince of Princes and King of Kings and Lord of Lords Peace which heavenly Peace all the true Christians are to maintain with Spiritual Weapons not with Carnal And now my Friend the holy Men of God did speak forth the Scriptures as they were moved by the holy Ghost and all Christendom are on heaps about those Scriptures because they are not led by the same holy Ghost as they were that gave forth the Scriptures which holy Ghost they must come to in themselves and be led by if they come into All the Truth of them and to have the Comfort of God and Christ and Them For none can call Jesus Lord but by the holy Ghost and all they that do call Christ Lord without the holy Ghost take his Name in vain And likewise all that name his Name are to depart from Iniquity then they name his Name with Reverence in Truth and Righteousness And O therefore feel the Grace and Truth in thy heart that is come by Jesus Christ which is a Teacher that will teach thee how to live and what to deny and it will establish thy heart and season thy words and bring thy Salvation and will be a Teacher unto thee at all times and by it thou may'st Receive Christ from whence it comes and as many as Receive him to them he gives power not only to stand against sin and evil but to become the Sons of God if Sons then Heirs of a Life and a World and Kingdom that is Everlasting without end and of the Eternal Riches and Treasures thereof So in haste with my Love in the Lord Jesus Christ that has tasted death for every man and bruises the Serpents head that has been betwixt Man and God that through Christ Man may come to God again and so can praise God through Jesus Christ the Amen who is the spiritual and heavenly Rock and Foundation for all God's People to build upon to the praise and glory of God who is over all blessed for Evermore Amsterdam the 7th of 6th Month 1677. George Fox POSTSCRIPT THE Bearer hereof is a Daughter-in-law of mine that comes with Gertrude Dirick Nieson and George Keith's Wife to give thee a Visit G. F. The Princess Elizabeth her Answer to the aforesaid LETTER Dear Friend I Cannot but have a tender Love to those that love the Lord Jesus Christ and to whom it is given not only to believe in him but also to suffer for him Therefore your Letter and your Friends Visit have been both very welcome to me I shall follow their and your Counsel as far as God will afford me Light and Unction Remaining still Hertfort the 30th of August 1677. Your loving Friend ELIZABETH Buyckslote Purmerent Next day John Claus and I took Boat and passed to Buyckslote and thence to Purmerent where having stayed awhile and refreshed our selves at an Inn we went by Wagon through the Country to Alcmaer Alcmaer about Thirty Miles from Amsterdam We went to a Friend's house there whose name was Willem Willems where I had a Meeting that night I had also another Meeting there next day which was larger for several Professors came to the Meeting and all was quiet and well When the Meeting was done I went and visited some Friends and then taking Boat Hoorn North-Holland passed-by several places to Hoorn which is counted the chief City in North-Holland We lodged at an Inn there that night and taking Wagon again early next Morning we passed through the Country to Enckhuysen Enckhuysen Friezland Workum where we took Ship for Friezland and landing in the Afternoon at Workum took Wagon there again and rode along upon the high Bank of the Friezen Seas till we met Two Friends coming with a Wagon to meet us Mackum with whom discharging our Wagon at Mackum a Village hard by we went Harlingen in their Wagon to Harlingen the chief Sea-port-Town in Friezland We went to a Friend's house whose Name was Hessel Jacobs whither several Friends came to Visit us that night Next day we went among the Friends of the place and Visited them and I wrote a Paper directed To all them that persecute Friends for not observing their Fast-day The day following was the First-day of the Week and Friends had a Meeting there to which we went and many Professors came to it I declared the Everlasting Gospel amongst them John Claus interpreting and they were all very Civil and heard attentively and when the Meeting was done departed peaceably without making any Opposition After Meeting I went to Hessel Jacobs his house again whither after a while came a Calvinist to ask me some Questions which I answered to his satisfaction and he departed friendly Soon after he was gone a Preacher of the Collegians came to discourse with me 1677. Harlingen and he seemed well satisfied also and we parted lovingly That Evening I had another Meeting with the Friends there and next Morning when we had taken our Leave of them we passed to Leuwarden the chief City in Friezland Leuwarden and lodged that night at a Friend's house there whose Name was Sybrand Dowes Next Morning early taking Boat we passed to Dockum Dockum Strobus and walking through the City took Boat again to Strobus which is the utmost part of Friezland There we baited at a
house shall be established in the top of the Mountains and shall be exalted above the Hills and all Nations shall flow unto it Isa 2.2 Is not that a great House Now is not this Mountain Christ who is over his House in the New Testament and New Covenant And to this Mountain and House all the Children of the New Testament and New Covenant slow in these latter days so that it is come to pass which was prophesied of by Isaiah For he said Many People shall go and say Come ye and let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of his ways and we will walk in his paths for out of Zion shall go forth the Law and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem And he shall judge among the Nations and shall rebuke many People and they shall beat their Swords into Plon-shares and their Spears into Pruning-hooks Nation shall not lift up Sword against Nation neither shall they learn War any more O house of Jacob come ye and let us walk in the Light of the Lord ver 3 4 5. Here ye may see They that come to the Mountain of the house of God and to God's Teaching they must walk in the Light of the Lord yea the House of Jacob. Jacob signifies a Supplanter he supplanted profane Esau who is hated and Jacob is loved Now these Two Births must be known within And they that walk in the Light of the Lord and come to Christ the Mountain of the house of the Lord established above all Mountains and Hills they break their Swords into Plow-shares and their Spears into Pruning-hooks and in Christ this Mountain and House of the Lord there are no Spears nor Swords to hurt one another withal And Christ the Son of God is over his House and great Family the Children of the Light them that believe in it and walk in it who are the Children of the Day of Christ and are of his Holy and Royal Priesthood that offer up spiritual Sacrifice to God by him All such are of Christ's the spiritual Man's house who are born of God and led by his Spirit They are of the Lord of Lords and King of King's House and Family which he is over and are of the Houshold of the holy divine pure and precious Faith which Christ is the Author and Finisher of And they that be of the Son's house they are pure righteous and holy and can do nothing against the Truth but for it in their Words Lives and Conversations and so are a chosen Generation a holy Nation a peculiar People that they should shew forth the Praise of him who hath called them out of Darkness into his marvellous Light And these are Christ's lively Stones that build up a spiritual House which he Christ the spiritual Man the King of Kings and Lord of Lords is over London the 10th Month 1688. G. F. 1688. Essex Gooses Sometime after this my Body continuing Weak I went down with my Son Mead to his House in Essex where I staid some Weeks In which time I Writ many things relating to the Service of Truth of which some were printed soon after others were spread abroad in Manuscript And amongst other things ' there were a few Lines to this purpose THat while Men are contending for Thrones here below Christ is on his Throne and all his holy Angels are about him who is the Beginning and the Ending the First and Last over all And that the Lord will make way and room for himself and for them that are born of his Spirit which are heavenly Jerusalem's Children to come home to their free Mother A few Words also I writ concerning the World's Teachers and the Emptiness of their Teaching Which were thus DOth not all that which is called Christendom live in Talking of Christ's and of the Apostles and Prophets Words and the Letter of the Scriptures And do not their Priests minister the Letter with their own Conceptions thereupon to them for Money though the holy Scriptures were freely given forth from God and Christ and his Prophets and Apostles Yet the Apostle saith The Letter killeth but the Spirit giveth Life 2 Cor. 3.6 And the Ministers of the New Testament are not Ministers of the Letter but of the Spirit And they do sow to the Spirit and of the Spirit do reap Life Eternal But Peoples spending their time about Old Authors and their Talking of them and of the outward Letter this doth not feed their Souls For Talking of Victuals and Cloaths doth not clothe the Body nor feed it except they have Victuals to eat and Cloaths to put on No more are their Souls and Spirits fed and clothed except they have the Bread and Water of Life from Heaven to feed them and the Righteousness of Christ to clothe them So only Talking of Outward things and Spiritual things and not Having them they may starve both their Bodies and their Souls Therefore quench not the Spirit of God which will lead to be diligent in all things With this I writ another short Paper shewing the hurt that they did and the danger they run into who turned People from the inward Manifestation of Christ in the heart THE Jews were commanded by the Law of God Not to remove the outward Land-mark Deut. 19.14 And they that did so or that caused the Blind to wander were Cursed in the Old Covenant Deut. 27.17 In the New Covenant the Apostle saith Let him be Accursed that preacheth any other Gospel than that which he had preached Gal. 1.8 Now the Gospel that he preached was The Power of God unto Salvation 1688. Gooses to every one that believeth Rom. 1.16 And the Gospel that was preached to Abraham was That in his Seed all Nations and all the Families of the Earth should be blessed And in order to bring Men to this blessed state God poureth out of his Spirit upon all Flesh and Christ doth enlighten every one that cometh into the World and the Grace of God which bringeth Salvation hath appeared unto all Men and teacheth the Christians the true Believers in Christ and God doth write his Law in the true Christians hearts and putteth it in their minds that they may all know the Lord from the greatest to the least and he giveth his Word in their hearts to obey and do and the Anointing within them so that they need not any Man to Teach them but as the Anointing doth Teach them Now all such as turn People from the Light Spirit Grace Word and Anointing within remove them from their heavenly Land-mark of their Eternal Inheritance and make them blind and cause the Blind to wander from the living way to their Eternal House in the Heavens and from New and Heavenly Jerusalem So they are Cursed that cause the Blind to wander out of their way and to remove them from their heavenly Land-mark G. F. I writ also a
and to God's Spirit and to the Grace and Truth in your hearts that comes by Jesus Christ that with it ye may search your hearts And so do not grieve nor vex nor quench God's good Spirit in your hearts and walk not despitefully against the Spirit of Grace nor turn from it into Wantonness and yet make a Profession of God and Christ in Words 1677. Amsterdam when your hearts are afar off and living in Pleasures and wantonly upon the Earth sporting your selves killing the Just and Crucifying to your selves Christ afresh and putting him to open shame And so dishonouring God and Christ and Christianity and making a Profession and a Trade of the Scriptures keeping People always Learning that they may be always paying Therefore Cease from Man whose Breath is in his Nostrils and look unto the Lord all ye ends of the Earth and be saved for the Lord God of Heaven and Earth is come to teach his People himself by his Light Spirit Grace and Truth and to bring them off all the World's Teachers And God hath raised up Christ Jesus his Prophet whom People should hear and saith This is my beloved Son hear ye him and Christ saith Learn of me I am the Way the Truth and the Life and no Man comes to the Father but by me And there is no Salvation by any other Name under the whole Heaven but by the Name of Jesus who saith I am the good Shepherd and have laid down my Life for my Sheep and my Sheep hear my voice and follow me and will not follow the Hireling For Christ feeds them in the Pastures of Life that will never wither And God hath anointed Christ Jesus to preach if you will hear him and God hath given Christ for a Counsellor and a Leader if you will be Led and Counselled by him and God hath given Christ for a Bishop to Oversee you and a King to Rule you if you will be Overseen and Ruled by him And you that will not have Christ to Rule over you who never sinned nor Guile was found in his Mouth you may read his Sentence in the New Testament upon such And is not Christ a sufficient Teacher whose Blood was shed for you and tasted Death for every Man And doth not Christ say to his Ministers Freely ye have received freely give And the Apostle saith We covet no Man's Gold Silver or Apparel but Laboured with their Hands and kept the Gospel without Charge Have they that are called Ministers amongst you done the same and kept this Command of Christ Jesus Let them be Examined and Examine themselves And have you not trimmed your Outsides but look within with the Light and Spirit of Christ Jesus and see if your Insides be not black and foul For Christ Jesus who doth Enlighten every Man that cometh into the World with the Life in himself who is the Word he saith Believe in the Light that ye may become Children of the Light and with the Light ye may see all the Evil Deeds ye have done and all your ungodly Deeds that ye have acted and committed and all your ungodly Words you have spoken and all your ungodly Thoughts ye think that ye may turn from them and turn to Christ from whence the Light comes who is your Saviour and Redeemer who hath given you a Light to see your Sin and how that you are dead in Adam that with the same Light you may see Christ the quickening Spirit who makes you alive to God and saves you from your sin But if you hate the Light which is the Life in Christ the Prince of Life and Love the Darkness and the Prince of Darkness more than the Light or the Life in Christ whose Deeds be Evil and because it will Reprove you Christ tells you This Light will be your Condemnation John 3. And therefore be Warned now in your Day and while you have Time turn to the Lord and do not quench the Spirit of the Father by which he draws to his Son nor hate the Light of Christ for if you do you hate the Life in Christ and so remain under Condemnation from God and Christ with the Light who now speaks to his People by his Son as he did in the Apostles Days so the same God that was the Speaker by the Prophets to the Fathers and Speaker to Adam and Eve in Paradise And happy had Adam and Eve and the Jews and all Christians been if they had kept to this Speaker and not have followed the Serpent that false Speaker and his Instruments And now God is the true Speaker by his Son who bruises the Head of the Serpent the false Teacher who is the Head of all false Ways and false Prophets and false Churches and false Religions and Worships And so God and Christ is bringing People to the pure and undefiled Religion that will keep them from the Spots of the World and into the new and living Way Christ Jesus and to the Church in God which Christ is the Head of as he was in the Apostles Days and to worship God in the Spirit and Truth which Worship Christ set up above Sixteen hundred years since And therefore must all People come to the Grace and Spirit of Truth in their own hearts to know the God of Truth who is a Spirit and in the Spirit and Truth to worship and serve and honour and glorifie the Living God who is over all and Worthy of all Blessed for evermore Amen And ye Magistrates and Officers read this in all your Assemblies and cause all your Priests to read it in their Churches that they and you and all People may hear and fear the God of Heaven as you will Answer it at the Great and Terrible Day of Judgment and Vengeance of the Lord God Almighty And this is in Love to your Souls and for your Temporal and Eternal Good Amsterdam the 19th of the 7th Month 1677. G. F. 1677. Harlingen in Friezland An Epistle concerning true Fasting true Prayer true Honour and against Persecution and for the true Liberty in Christ Jesus To pag. 438 and that all may have a care that the Apostle hath not bestowed his Labour in vain upon you in your observing of Days Months Times Feasts and Years and of coming under the beggarly Elements and the Yoke of Bondage again and of bringing and forcing People into them WHere did ever Christ or his Apostles Command any Believers or Christians to observe Holy-Days or Feast-Days and let us see where it is written in the Scriptures of the New Testament in the Four Evangelists or the Epistles or the Revelation that ever Christ or his Apostles gave the Christians any such Command that they should observe the Time called Christmas or a Day for Christ's Birth or that they should observe the Time called Easter or Whitsuntide or Peter or Paul's or Mark or Luke's Days or any other Saints Day Now you that profess your selves to be
But be thou warned O Land of great Profession to receive him into thy Heart Behold at that Door it is he hath stood so long Knocking but thou wilt yet have none of him Oh! be thou awakned least Jerusalem's Judgments do swiftly overtake thee because of Jerusalems Sins that abound in thee For she abounded in Formality but made void the Weighty things of God's Law as thou daily doest She withstood the Son of God in the Flesh and thou resisteth the Son of God in the Spirit He would have gathered her as an Hen gathereth her Chickens under her Wings and she would not so would he have gathered thee out of thy Life-less Profession and have brought thee to inherit Substance to have known his Power and Kingdom for which he often knockt within by his Grace and Spirit and without by his Servants and Witnesses but thou wouldest not be gathered But on the Contrary as Jerusalem of old persecuted the Manifestation of the Son of God in the Flesh and Crucified him and Whipt and Imprisoned his Servants so hast thou O Land Crucified to thy self afresh the Lord of Life and Glory and done dispite to his Spirit of Grace slighting the Fatherly Visitation and persecuting the blessed Dispensers of it by thy Laws and Magistrates though they have Early and Late pleaded with thee in the Power and Spirit of the Lord in Love and Meekness that thou mightest know the Lord and serve him and become the Glory of all Lands But thou hast Evilly entreated and requited them Thou hast set at naught all their Counsel and would have none of their Reproof as thou shouldest have done Their appearance was too Straight and their qualifications were to Mean for thee to receive them who like the Jews of Old that cryed Is not this the Carpenters Son and are not his Brethren among us which of the Scribes of the Learned the Orthodox believe in him Prophesying their fall in a year or two and making and executing of severe Laws to bring it to pass by endeavouring to terrifie them out of their Holy way or distroying them for abiding Faithful to it But thou hast seen how many Governments that rise against them and determined their Downfal have been overturned and extinguished and that they are still preserved and become a great and a considerable People among the Middle sort of thy numerous Inhabitants And notwithstanding the many difficulties without and within which they have Laboured under since the Lord God Eternal first gathered them they are an encreasing People the Lord still adding unto them in divers Parts such as shall be saved if they persevere to the End And to thee were they and are they lifted up as a Standard and as a City set upon a Hill and to the Nations round about thee that in their Light thou may'st come to see Light even in Christ Jesus the Light of the World and therefore thy Light and Life too if thou wouldst but turn from thy many evil ways and receive and obey it For in the Light of the Lamb must the Nations of them that are saved walk as the Scriptures Testify Remember O Nation of great Profession How the Lord has waited upon thee since the Days of Reformation and the many Mercies and Judgments with which he has pleaded with Thee and awake and arise out of thy deep Sleep and yet hear his Word in thy Heart that thou may'st live Let not this thy day of Visitation pass over thy Head nor neglect thou so great Salvation as is this which is come to thy House Oh England For why should'st thou die Oh Land that God desires to Bless Be assured it is he that has been in the mid'st of this People in the mid'st of thee and no Delusion as thy mistaken Teachers have made thee believe And this thou shalt find by their Marks and Fruits if thou wilt consider them in the Spirit of Moderation For I. They were changed Men themselves before they went about to change others Their Hearts were rent as well as their Garments and they knew the Power and Work of God upon them And this was seen by the great Alteration it made and their stricter Course of Life and more Godly Conversation that immediately followed upon it II. They went not forth or Preached in their own Time or Will but in the Will of God and Spoke not their own studdied Matter but as they were opened and moved of his Spirit with which they were well acquainted in their own Conversion which cannot be exprest to Carnal Men so as to give them any intelligible account for to such it is as Christ said like the blowing of the Wind which no Man knows whence it cometh or whether it goeth Yet this Proof and Seal went along with their Ministry that many were turned from their Life-less Professions and the Evil of their Ways to the knowledge of God and an Holy Life as thousands can witness And as they Freely received what they had to say from the Lord so they Freely administred it to others III. The Bent and Stress of their Ministry was Conversion to God Regeneration and Holiness not Schemes of Doctrines and Verbal Creeds or new Forms of Worship but a leaving off in Religion the Superfluous and reducing the Ceremonious and Formal part and pressing earnestly the Substantial the Necessary and Proffitable part as all upon a serious Reflection must and do accknowledge IV. They directed People to a Principle by which all that they asserted Preached and Exhorted others to might be wrought in them and known through Experience to them to be true which is a high and distinguishing Mark of the Truth of their Ministry both that they knew what they said and were not afraid of coming to the Test For as they were bold from Certainty so they required Conformity upon no Humane Authority but upon Conviction and the Conviction of this Principle which they asserted was in them that they Preached unto and unto that directed them that they might examine and prove the Reaality of those things which they had affirmed of it and its Manifestation and Work in Man And this is more than the many Ministries in the World pretend to They declare of Religion say many things true in words of God Christ and the Spirit of Holiness and Heaven that all Men should Repent and mend their Lives or they will go to Hell c. but which of them all pretend to speak of their own Knowledge and Experience Or ever directed Men to a Divine Principle or Agent placed of God in Man to help him and how to know it and wait to feel its Power to work that good and accceptable Will of God in them Some of them indeed have Spoke of the Spirit and the Operations of it to Sanctification and Performance of Worship to God but where and how to find it and wait in it to perform was yet as a Mistery reserved for this further degree of
Friends in several Places were then gathered to Gods Teaching by his Light Spirit and Power For the Lord's Power brake forth daily more and more wonderfullly Now was I come up in Spirit through the flaming Sword into the Paradise of God All things were New and all the Creation gave another Smell unto me than before beyond what Words can utter I knew nothing 1648. Mansfield but Pureness and Innocency and Righteousness being renewed up into the Image of God by Christ Jesus so that I say I was come up to the State of Adam which he was in before he fell The Creation was opened to me And it was shewed me how all things had their Names given them according to their Nature and Vertue And I was at a stand in my Mind whether I should practise Physick for the good of Mankind seeing the Nature and Vertues of the Creatures were so opened to me by the Lord. But I was immediately taken up in Spirit to see into another or more stedfast State than Adam's in Innocency even into a State in Christ Jesus that should never fall And the Lord shewed me that such as were faithful to him in the Power and Light of Christ should come up into that State in which Adam was before he fell In which the admirable Works of the Creation and the Vertues thereof may be known through the Openings of that divine Word of Wisdom and Power by which they were made Great things did the Lord lead me into and wonderful Depths were opened unto me beyond what can by Words be declared But as People come into subjection to the Spirit of God and grow up in the Image and Power of the Almighty they may receive the Word of Wisdom that opens all things and come to know the hidden Vnity in the Eternal Being Thus traveled I on in the Lord's Service as the Lord led me And when I came to Nottingham Notingham Leicestershire Clauson Vale of Beavor the mighty Power of God was there among Friends From thence I went to Clauson in Leicestershire in the Vale of Beavor and the mighty Power of God was there also in several Towns and Villages where Friends were gathered While I was there the Lord opened to me Three Things relating to those Three great Professions in the World Physick Divinity so called and Law And he shewed me that the Physicians and Doctors of Physick were out of the Wisdom of God by which the Creatures were made and so knew not the Vertues of the Creatures because they were out of the Word of Wisdom by which they were made And he shewed me that the Priests were out of the true Faith which Christ is the Author of the Faith which purifies and gives Victory and brings People to have Access to God by which they please God Which Mystery of Faith is held in a pure Conscience He shewed me also that the Lawyers were out of the Equity and out of the true Justice and out of the Law of God which went over the first Transgression and over all Sin and answered the Spirit of God that was grieved and transgressed in Man And that these three the Physicians the Priests and the Lawyers ruled the World out of the Wisdom out of the Faith and out of the Equity and Law of God the one pretending the Cure of the Body the other the Cure of the Soul and the third the Property of the People But I saw they were all out out of the Wisdom out of the Faith out of the Equity and perfect Law of God And as the Lord opened these things unto me I felt his Power went forth over all by which all might be Reformed if they would receive and bow unto it The Priests might be Reformed and brought into the true Faith which was the Gift of God The Lawyers might be Reformed and brought into the Law of God 1648. Vale of Beavor which answers that of God that is transgressed in every one and brings to love one's Neighbour as himself This lets Man see If he wrongs his Neighbour he wrongs himself and this teaches him To do unto others as he would they should do unto him The Physicians might be Reformed and brought into the Wisdom of God by whick all things were made and Created that they might receive a right Knowledge of the Creatures and understand the Virtues of them which the Word of Wisdom by which they were made and are upheld hath given them Abundance was opened concerning these things how all lay out of the Wisdom of God and out of the Righteousness and Holiness that Man at the first was made in But as all believe in the Light and walk in the Light which Christ hath enlightned every Man that cometh into the World withal and so become Children of the Light and of the Day of Christ in his Day all things are seen Visible and Invisible by the Divine Light of Christ the Spiritual Heavenly Man by whom all things were made and Created Then I saw concerning the Priests that although they stood in the Deceit and acted by the dark Power which both they and their People were kept under yet they were not the greatest Deceivers spoken of in the Scriptures For these were not come so far as many of them had come But the Lord opened to me who the greatest Deceivers were and how far they might come even such as came as far as Cain to hear the Voice of God and such as came out of Egypt and through the Red Sea and to praise God on the Banks of the Sea-shore such as could speak by Experience of God's Miracles and Wonders such as were come as far as Corah and Dathan and their Company such as came as far as Balaam who could speak the Word of the Lord who heard his Voice and knew it and knew his Spirit and could see the Star of Jacob and the goodliness of Israel's Tent the Second Birth which no Enchantment could prevail against These that could speak so much of their Experiences of God and yet turned from the Spirit and the Word and went into the Gainsaying These were and would be the great Deceivers far beyond the Priests Likewise among the Christians such as should preach in Christ's Name and should work Miracles cast out Devils and go as far as a Cain a Core and a Balaam in the Gospel-times These were and would be the great Deceivers they that could speak some Experiences of Christ and God but lived not in the Life These were they that led the World after them who got the Form of Godliness but denyed the Power who inwardly ravened from the Spirit and brought People into the Form but persecuted them that were in the Power as Cain did and ran greedily after the Error of Balaam through Covetousness loving the Wages of Unrighteousness as Balaam did These Followers of Cain Core and Balaam have brought the World since the Apostles Days to be like a Sea
the Stature of the Fulness of Christ when they cannot bear to hear that any shall come whilst upon Earth into the same Power and Spirit that the Prophets and Apostles were in Though it be a certain Truth that none can understand their Writings aright without the same Spirit by which they were written Now the Lord God hath opened to me by his invisible Power how that Every Man was enlightned by the Divine Light of Christ and I saw it shine through all And that they that believed in it came out of Condemnation and came to the Light of Life and became the Children of it But they that hated it and did not believe in it were Condemned by it though they made a Profession of Christ This I saw in the pure Openings of the Light without the help of any Man neither did I then know where to find it in the Scriptures though afterwards searching the Scriptures I found it For I saw in that Light and Spirit which was before Scripture was given forth and which led the Holy Men of God to give them forth That all must come to that Spirit if they would know God or Christ or the Scriptures aright which They that gave them forth were led and taught by But I observed a Dulness and Drowzy Heaviness upon People which I wondred at For sometimes when I would set my self to sleep my Mind went over all to the Beginning in that which is from Everlasting to Everlasting And I saw Death was to pass over this sleepy heavy State And I told People they must come to witness Death to that sleepy heavy Nature and a Cross to it in the Power of God that their Minds and Hearts might be on things above And on a certain Time as I was walking in the Fields the Lord said unto me Thy Name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life which was before the Foundation of the World And as the Lord spake it I believed and saw it in the New Birth Then sometime after the Lord commanded me to go abroad into the World which was like a briary thorny Wilderness And when I came in the Lord 's mighty Power with the Word of Life into the World the World swelled and made a Noise like the great raging Waves of the Sea Priests and Professors Magistrates and People were all like a Sea when I came to proclaim the Day of the Lord amongst them and to preach Repentance to them Now I was sent to turn People from Darkness to the Light that they might receive Christ Jesus For to as many as should receive him in his Light I saw that he would give Power to become the Sons of God Which I had obtained by receiving Christ And I was to direct People to the Spirit that gave forth the Scriptures by which they might be led into all Truth and so up to Christ and God as they had been who gave them forth And I was to turn them to the Grace of God and to the Truth in the Heart which came by Jesus that by this Grace they might be taught which would bring them Salvation that their Hearts might be established by it and their Words might be seasoned and all might come to know their Salvation nigh For I saw that Christ had died for all Men and was a Propitiation for all and had enlightned all Men and Women with his divine and saving Light And that none could be a true Believer but who believed in it I saw that the Grace of God which brings Salvation had appeared to all Men and that the Manifestation of the Spirit of God was given to every Man to profit withal These Things I did not see by the help of Man nor by the Letter tho' they are written in the Letter but I saw them in the Light of the Lord Jesus Christ and by his immediate Spirit and Power as did the Holy Men of God by whom the Holy Scriptures were written Yet I had no slight esteem of the Holy Scriptures but they were very precious to me For I was in that Spirit by which they were given forth and what the Lord opened in me I afterwards found was agreeable to them I could speak much of these things and many Volumes might be written but all would prove too short to set forth the Infinite Love Wisdom and Power of God in prepairing fitting and furnishing me for the Service he had appointed me to letting me see the Depths of Satan on the one Hand and opening to me on the other Hand the divine Mysteries of his own Everlasting Kingdom Now when the Lord God and his Son Jesus Christ did send me forth into the World to preach his Everlasting Gospel and Kingdom I was glad that I was Commanded To turn People to that Inward Light Spirit and Grace by which all might know their Salvation and their Way to God even that divine Spirit which would lead them into all Truth and which I infallibly knew would never deceive any But with and by this divine Power and Spirit of God and the Light of Jesus I was to bring People off from all their own ways to Christ the new and living Way and from their Churches which Men had made and gathered to the Church in God the general Assembly written in Heaven which Christ is the Head of And off from the World's Teachers made by Men to learn of Christ who is the Way the Truth and the Life of whom the Father said This is my beloved Son hear ye him and off from all the Worlds Worships to know the Spirit of Truth in the inward Parts and to be led thereby that in it they might Worship the Father of Spirits who seeks such to Worship him Which Spirit they that Worshipped not in knew not what they Worshipped And I was to bring People off from all the World's Religions which are vain that they might know the pure Religion and might visit the Fatherless the Widows and the Strangers and keep themselves from the Spots of the World And then there would not be so many Beggars the sight of whom often grieved my Heart to see so much Hard-heartedness amongst them that professed the Name of Christ And I was to bring them off from all the World's Fellowships and Prayings and Singings which stood in Forms without Power that their Fellowships might be in the Holy Ghost and in the Eternal Spirit of God that they might Pray in the Holy Ghost and Sing in the Spirit and with the Grace that comes by Jesus making Melody in their Hearts to the Lord who hath sent his beloved Son to be their Saviour and caused his heavenly Sun to shine upon all the World and through them all and his heavenly Rain to fall upon the Just and the Unjust as his outward Rain doth fall and his outward Sun doth shine on all which is God's unspeakable Love to the World And I was to bring People off from Jewish Ceremonies and from
Name of the Lord to bid her Be quiet and still And she was so And the Lord's Power setled her Mind and she mended and afterwards Received the Truth and Continued in it to her Death And the Lord's Name was honoured To whom the Glory of all his Works belongs Many great and wonderful Things were wrought by the heavenly Power in those Days For the Lord made bare his Omnipotent Arm and manifested his Power to the Astonishment of many by the healing Vertue whereof many have been delivered from great Infirmities and the Devils were made subject through his Name Of which particular Instances might be given beyond what this unbelieving Age is able to receive or bear But blessed for ever be the Name of the Lord and everlastingly Honoured and over all Exalted and Magnified be the Arm of his Glorious Power by which he hath wrought gloriously and let the Honour and Praise of all his Works be ascribed to him alone Now while I was at Mansfield-Woodhouse I was moved to go to to the Steeple-house there and declare the Truth to the Priest and People But the People fell upon me in great Rage and struck me down and almost stifled and smothered me and I was cruelly beaten and bruised by them with their Hands Bibles and Sticks Then they haled me out though I was hardly able to stand and put me into the Stocks where I sate some Hours and they brought Dog-whips and Horse-whips threatning to Whip me And after some time they had me before the Magistrate at a Knight's House where were many great Persons who seeing how evilly I had been used after much Threatning set me at Liberty But the rude People stoned me out of the Town for Preaching the Word of Life to them And I was scarce able to go or well to stand by reason of the Ill Vsage I had received Yet with much ado I got about a Mile from the Town and then I met with some People that gave me something to Comfort me because I was inwardly bruised But the Lord's Power soon healed me again And that day some People were Convinced of the Lord's Truth and turned to his Teaching at which I rejoiced Leicester-shire Then went I out of Nottingham-shire into Leicester-shire several Friends accompanying me And there were some Baptists in that Country whom I desired to see and speak with because they were separated from the publick Worship So one Oats who was one of their Chief Teachers and others of the Heads of them with several others of their Company Barrow came to Meet us at Barrow and there we discoursed with them One of them said What was not of Faith was Sin Whereupon I asked them What Faith was And how it was wrought in Man But they turned off from that and spake of their Baptism in Water Then I asked them Whether their Mountain of Sin was brought down and laid low in them And their rough and crooked Ways made smooth and strait in them For they looked upon the Scriptures as meaning Outward Mountains and Ways But I told them they must find them in their own Hearts Which they seemed to wonder at And we asked them Who baptized John the Baptist and who baptized Peter 1649. Barrow John and the rest of the Apostles and put them to prove by Scripture that these were baptized in Water But they were silent Then I asked them Seeing 〈◊〉 who betrayed Christ and was called the Son of Perdition had Hâ—â—ged himself what Son of Perdition was that which Paul spake of that sâ—te in the Temple of God exalted above all that is called God And â—hat Temple of God that was in which this Son of Perdition sate And whether he that betrays Christ within in himself be not one in Nature with that Judas that betrayed Christ without But they could not tell what to make of this nor what to say to it So after we had had some Discourse together we parted and some of them were loving to us On the First Day of the Week following we came to Bagworth Bagworth and went to a Steeple-House where some Friends were got in and the People locked them in and themselves too with the Priest But after the Priest had done they opened the Door and we went in also and had a Service for the Lord amongst them Afterwards we had a Meeting in the Town amongst several People that were in high Notions Then passing from thence I heard of a People that were in Prison in Coventry for Religion Coventry And as I walked towards the Jail the Word of the Lord came to me saying ☜ MY LOVE WAS ALWAYS TO THEE AND THOV ART IN MY LOVE And I was ravished with the Sense of the Love of God and greatly strengthned in my Inward Man But when I came into the Jail where those Prisoners were a great Power of Darkness struck at me and I sate still having my Spirit gathered into the Love of God At last these Prisoners began to Rant and Vapour and Blaspheme at which my Soul was greatly grieved They said They were GOD But another of them said We could not bear such Things So when they were calm I stood up and asked them Whether they did such things by Motion or from Scripture and they said from Scripture Then a Bible lying by I asked them for that Scripture and they shewed me that Place where the Sheet was let down to Peter and it was said to him What was sanctified he should not call Common or Vnclean Now when I had shewed them That that Scripture made nothing for their purpose they brought another Scripture which spake of God's Reconciling all Things to himself Things in Heaven and Things in Earth I told them I owned that Scripture also but shewed them that that was nothing to their purpose neither Then seeing they said They were GOD I asked them If they knew whether it would Rain to Morrow They said They could not tell I told them God could tell Again I asked them If they thought they should be always in that Condition or should change And they answered They could not tell Then said I unto them God can tell and God doth not change You say you are God and yet you cannot tell whether you shall Change or no. So they were Confounded and quite brought â—own for the time Then after I had Reproved them for their blasphemous Expressions I went away For I perceived they were Ranters and I had met with none before And I admired the Goodness of the Lord in appearing so unto me before I went amongst them Not long after this 1649. Coventry one of these Ranters whose Name was Joseph Salmon put forth a Paper or Book of Recantation upon which they were set at Liberty Atherstone From Coventry I went to a Place called Atherstone and it being their Lecture-day I was moved to go to their Chappel to speak to the Priests and People
of all People to turn from the Vanities Pleasures and Oppression and from the Deceits of this World And there will come a time that you shall know it Therefore take heed of Pleasures and Deceits and Pride and look not at Man but at the Lord for Look unto me all ye Ends of the Earth and be ye saved saith the Lord. Some little time after I writ to them again thus Friends WOuld you have me to be bound to my Good Behaviour from Drunkenness or Swearing or Fighting or Adultery and the like The Lord hath Redeemed me from all these things and the Love of God hath brought me to loath all Wantonness blessed be his Name They who are Drunkards and Fighters and Swearers have their Liberty without Bonds And you lay your Law upon me whom neither you nor any other can justly accuse of these things praised be the Lord I can look at no Man for my Liberty but at the Lord alone who hath all Mens Hearts in his Hand And after some time not finding my Spirit clear of them I writ to them again as followeth Friends HAD you known who sent me to you ye would have received me for the Lord sent me to you to warn you of the Woes that are coming upon you and to bid you Look at the Lord and not at Man But when I had told you my Experience what the Lord had done for me then your Hearts were hardened and you sent me to Prison where you have kept me many Weeks If the Love of God had broke your Hearts then would ye see what ye have done Ye would not have Imprisoned me had not my Father suffered you and by his Power I shall be loosed For he openeth and shutteth to him be all Glory In what have I misbehaved my self that any should be bound for me All Mens Words will do me no good nor their Bonds neither to keep my Heart if I have not a Guide within to keep me in the upright Life to God But I believe in the Lord that through his Strength and Power I shall be preserved from Ungodliness and worldly Lusts The Scripture saith Receive Strangers but you Imprison such As you are in Authority take heed of Oppression and Oaths and Injustice and Gifts or Rewards for God doth loath all such But love Mercy and true Judgment and Justice for that the Lord delâ—ghts in I do not write with Hatred to you but to keep my Conscience Clear Take heed how you spend your time I was moved also to write again to the Priests of Darby which I did after this manner Friends YOU do profess to be the Ministers of Jesus Christ in Words but you shew forth by your Fruits what your Ministry is Every Tree doth shew forth its Fruit The Ministry of Jesus Christ is in Mercy and Love to unloose them that be bound and to bring out of Bondage and to let them that are Captivated go free Now Friends where is your Example if the Scriptures be your Rule to Imprison for Religion Have you any Command for it from Christ If that were in you which you do profess you would walk in their Steps who spake forth those Words the Scriptures which you do profess But he is not a Jew who is one outward whose Praise is of Men but he is a Jew who is one inward whose Praise is of God But if you do build upon the Prophets and Apostles in Words and pervert their Life remember the Woes which Jesus Christ spake against such They that spake the Prophets words but denied Christ they professed a Christ to come but had they known him they would not have Crucified him The Saints whom the Love of God did Change were brought thereby to walk in Love and Mercy for he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God But where Envy Pride and Hatred doth rule the nature of the World doth rule and not the nature of Jesus Christ. I write with no hatred to you but that you may weigh your selves and see how you pass on your Time Thus having cleared my Conscience to the Priests it was not long before a Concern came upon me again to write again to the Justices which I did as followeth I am moved to Warn you to take heed of giving way to your own Wills Love the Cross and satisfy not your own Minds in the Flesh but prize your Time while you have it and walk up to that you know in Obedience to God and then you shall not be Condemned for that you know not but for that you do know and do not obey Consider betimes and weigh your selves and see where you are and whom you serve For if ye blaspheme God and take his Name in vain if ye Swear and Lie if ye give way to Envy Hatred Covetousness and Greediness Pleasures and Wantonness or any other Vices be assured then that ye do serve the Devil But if ye fear the Lord and serve him ye will loath all these things He that loveth God will not blaspheme his Name but where there is Opposing of God and serving the Devil that Profession is sad and miserable O prize your Time and do not love that which God doth forbid Lying Wrath Malice Envy Hatred Greediness Covetousness Oppression Gluttony Drunkenness Whoredom and all Vnrighteousness God doth forbid So Consider and be not deceived Evil Communication corrupts good Manners Be not deceived God will not be mocked with vain Words The Wrath of God is Revealed from Heaven against all Ungodliness Therefore Obey that which doth Convince you of all Evil and telleth you that you should do no Evil It will lead to Repentance and keep you in the Fear of the Lord. O look at the Mercies of God and prize them and do not turn them into Wantonness O Eye the Lord and not earthly things Besides this I writ the following to Colonel Barton who was both a Justice and a Preacher as was hinted before Friend DO not Cloak and Cover thy self there is a God who knoweth thy Heart and will Vncover thee He seeth thy Way Wo be to him that Covereth and not with my Spirit saith the Lord. Dost thou do contrary to the Law and then put it from thee Mercy and true Judgment thou neglectest look what was spoken against such My Saviour said to such I was Sick and in Prison and ye visited me not I was hungry and ye fed me not I was a Stranger and ye took me not in And when they said When saw we thee in Prison and did not come to thee c. He replied Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of these little ones ye did it not to me Friend thou hast Imprisoned me for bearing Witness to the Life and Power or Truth and yet professest to be a Minister of Christ But if Christ had sent thee thou wouldest bring out of Prison and out of Bondage and wouldest receive Strangers Thou hast been wanton upon Earth thou hast lived plenteously
and nourished thy Heart as in a Day of Slaughter thou hast killed the Just O look where thou art and how thou hast spent thy Time O remember thy self and now while thou hast Time prize it and do not slight the free Mercy of God and despise the long-suffering of God which is great Salvation But mind that in thee which doth Convince thee and would not let thee Swear nor Lie nor take God's Name in vain Thou knowest thou shouldest do none of these Things Thou hast learned that which will Condemn thee Therefore obey the Light which doth Convince thee and forsake thy Sins and look at the Mercies of God and prize his Love in sparing thee till now The Lord saith Look unto me all ye Ends of the Earth and be ye saved and Cease from Man whose Breath is in his Nostrils And Friend prize thy Time and see whom thou servest For his Servant thou art whom thou dost obey whether of Sin unto Death or Obedience unto Righteousness If thou servest God and fearest him thou wilt not blaspheme his Name nor Curse nor Swear nor take his Name in vain nor follow Pleasures and Wantonness Whoredom and Drunkenness or Wrath or Malice or Revenge or Rashness or Headiness Pride or Gluttony Greediness Oppression or Covetousness or foolish Jesting or vain Songs God doth forbid these things and all Unrighteousness If thou professest God and actest any of these Things thou takest him for a Cloak and servest the Devil Consider with thy self and do not love that which God doth hate He that loveth God keepeth his Commandments The Devil will tell thee It is an hard thing to keep God's Commandments but it is an easie thing to keep the Devil's Commandments and to live in all Unrighteousness and Ungodliness turning the Grace of God into Wantonness But let the Unrighteous Man forsake his Ways and turn unto me saith the Lord and I will have Mercy Turn ye why will ye die saith the Lord. Howl ye Great Ones for the Plagues are pouring out upon you Howl ye Oppressors for Recompence and Vengeance is coming upon you Wo unto them that Covetously Join one House to another and bring one Field so nigh unto another that the Poor can get no more Ground and that ye may dwell upon the Earth alone These things are in the Ears of the Lord of Hosts Wo unto him that Covetously getteth evil-gotten Goods into his House that he may set his Nest on high to escape from the Power of Evil. While I was yet in the House of Correction there came unto me a Trooper and said As he was sitting in the Steeple-house hearing the Priest exceeding great Trouble came upon him and the Voice of the Lord came to him saying Dost thou not know ☜ that my Servant is in Prison Go to him for direction So I spake to his Condition and his Understanding was opened And I told him That which shewed him his Sins and troubled him for them would shew him his Salvation For he that shews a Man his Sin is the same that takes it away Now while I was speaking to him the Lord's Power opened him so that he began to have a good Understanding in the Lord's Truth and to be sensible of God's Mercies and began to speak boldly in his Quarters amongst the Souldiers and to others concerning Truth for the Scriptures were very much opened to him insomuch that he said His Colonel was as Blind as Nebuchadnezar to cast the Servant of the Lord into Prison Upon this his Colonel had a Spight at him and at Worcester-Fight the Year after when the Two Armies lying near one another Two came out from the King's Army and challenged any Two of the Parliament-Army to fight with them his Colonel made Choice of him and another to Answer the Challenge And when in the Encounter his Companion was slain he drave both his Enemies within Musquet-shot of the Town without firing a Pistol at them This when he returned he told me with his own Mouth But when the Fight was over he saw the Deceit and Hypocrisy of the Officers And being sensible how wonderfully the Lord had preserved him and seeing also to the End of Fighting he laid down his Arms. Now the Time of my Commitment to the House of Correction being very neat out and there being many new Souldiers Raised the Commissioners would have made me Captain over them And the Soldiers cried They would have none but me So the Keeper of the House of Correction was Commanded to bring me up before the Commissioners and Souldiers in the Market-place and there they proffered me that Preferment as they called it asking me If I would not take up Arms for the Common-wealth against Charles Steward I told them I knew from whence all Wars did arise even from the Lust according to James his Doctrine and that I lived in the Vertue of that Life and Power that took away the Occasion of all Wars But they courted me to accept of their Offer and thought I did but Complement with them But I told them I was come into the Covenant of Peace which was before Wars and Strifes were They said They offered it in Love and Kindness to me because of my Vertue and such like flattering Words they used But I told them If that was their Love and Kindness I trampled it under my Feet Then their Rage got up and they said Take him away Jailer and put him into the Dungeon amongst the Rogues and Fellons Darby-Dungeon So I was had away and put into a lousy stinking Place without any Bed amongst thirty Fellons where I was kept almost half a Year unless it were at Times For they would sometime let me walk in the Garden having a Belief of me that I would not go away Now when they had gotten me into Darby-Dungeon it was the Belief and saying of People that I should never come out But I had Faith in God and believed I should be delivered in his Time For the Lord had said to me before That I was not to be removed from that Place yet being set there for a Service which he had for me to do After it was bruited abroad That I was in Darby-Dungeon my Relations came to see me again and they were much troubled that I should be in Prison For they looked upon it to be a great shame to them for me to lie in Jail It was a strange thing then to be Imprisoned for Religion And some thought I was Mad because I stood for Purity and Righteousness and Perfection Among others that came to see me and discourse with me there came a certain Person from Nottingham a Souldier and that had been a Baptist as I understood and with him came several others And in Discourse this Person said to me Your Faith stands in a Man that died at Jerusalem and there was never any such thing I was exceedingly grieved to hear him say so and I said to
there a while 1651. Darby-Prison and then I was taken down again Then after a while the Constables fetched me up again and then I was brought before the Commissioners and they said I should go for a Souldier But I told them I was dead to it They said I was Alive I told them where Envy and Hatred is there is Confusion They proffered me Money twice but I would not take it Then they were Wroth and I was Committed Close Prisoner without Bail or Mainprize Whereupon I writ to them again directing my Letter to Colonel Barton who was a Preacher and the rest that were concerned in my Commitment And I writ thus YOU who are without Christ and yet use the Words which he and his Saints have spoken Consider neither he nor his Apostles did ever Imprison any but my Saviour is Merciful even to the Vnmerciful and Rebellious He doth bring out of Prison and Bondage But Men while the carnal Mind doth rule do Oppress and Imprison My Saviour saith Love your Enemies and do good to them that hate you and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you For the Love of God doth not persecute any but loveth all where it dwelleth He that hateth his Brother is a Murderer You profess to be Christians and one of you a Minister of Jesus Christ yet you have Imprisoned me who am a Servant of Jesus Christ The Apostles never Imprisoned any but were Imprisoned themselves Take heed of speaking of Christ in Words and denying him in Life and Power O Friends the Imprisoning my Body is to satisfy your Wills but take heed of giving way to your Wills for that will hurt you If the Love of God had broken your Hearts ye would not have Imprisoned me but my Love is to you as to all my Fellow-Creatures and that you may Weigh your selves and see how you stand is this written About this Time I was moved to give forth the following Lines to go amongst the Convinced and Tender People to manifest the Deceits of the World and how the Priests have deceived the People To all you that love the Lord Jesus Christ with a pure and naked Heart amd the Generation of the Righteous CHRIST was ever hated and the Righteous for his sake Mind who they were that did ever hate them He that was born after the Flesh did persecute him that was born after the Spirit and so it is now And mind who were the Chiefest against Christ even the great Learned Men the Heads of the People Rulers and Teachers that did profess the Law and the Prophets and looked for Christ. They looked for an outwardly-Glorious Christ to hold up their outward Glory But Christ spake against the Works of the World and against the Priests and Scribes and Pharisees and their hypocritical Profession He that is a Stranger to Christ is an Hireling but the Servants of Jesus Christ are Freemen The false Teachers always laid Burdens upon the People and the true Servants of the Lord did speak against them Jeremiah did speak against Hirelings and said It was an horrible thing and said What will ye do in the End for the People and Priests were given to Covetousness Paul did speak against such as did make Gain upon the People and exhorted the Saints to turn away from such as were Covetous Men and Proud Men such as did love Pleasures more than God such as had a Form of Godliness but denied the Power thereof For of this sort said he are they that Creep into Houses and lead Captive silly Women who are ever learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the Truth Men of corrupt Minds Reprobate concerning the Faith and as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses so said he do these Resist the Truth but they shall proceed no further for their folly shall be made manifest unto all Men. Moses forsook Honours and Pleasures which he might have enjoyed The Apostle in his time saw this Corruption entring which now is spread over the World of having a Form of Godliness but denying the Power Ask any of your Teachers whether you may ever Overcome your Corruptions or Sins None of them doth believe that but as long as Man is here he must they say carry about with him the Body of Sin Thus Pride is kept up and that Honour and Master-ship which Christ denied and all Unrighteousness Yet Multitudes of Teachers Heaps of Teachers the Golden Cup full of Abominations Paul did not preach for Wages but laboured with his Hands that he might be an Example to all them that follow him O People see who follow Paul The Prophet Jeremiah said The Prophets prophesie falsly and the Priests bear rule by their means but now the Priests bear Rule by the Means they get from the People take away their Means and they will bear Rule over you no longer They are such as the Apostle said Intruded into those things which they never saw being vainly puffed up with a fleshly Mind and as the Scriptures declare of some of old They go in the way of Cain who was a Murderer and in the way of Balaam who coveted the Wages of Vnrighteousness The Prophet Micah also cried against the Judges that Judged for Reward and the Priests that taught for Hire and the Prophets that prophesied for Money and yet leaned on the Lord saying Is not the Lord amongst us Gifts do blind the Eyes of the Wise And the Gift of God was never purchased with Money All the holy Servants of God did ever cry against Deceit and where the Lord hath manifested his Love they do loath it and that Nature which holdeth it up Again a Concern came upon me to write unto the Magistrates of Darby which I did as followeth Friends I desire you to consider in time whom ye do Imprison for the Magistrate is set for the punishment of Evil-Doers and for the Praise of them that do well But when the Lord doth send his Messengers unto you to warn you of the Woes that will come upon you except you Repent then you persecute them and put them into Prison and say We have a Law and by our Law we may do it For you indeed Justifie your selves before Men but God knoweth your Hearts He will not be worshipped with your Forms and Professions and Shews of Religion Therefore Consider ye that talk of God how ye are subject to him for they are his Children that do his Will What doth the Lord require of you but To do Justice to love and shew Mercy to walk humbly with him and to help the Widows and Fatherless to their Right But instead thereof ye Oppress the Poor Do not your Judges Judge for Rewards and your Priests Teach for Hire The time is coming that he who seeth all things will discover all your Secrets And know this assuredly The Lord will deliver his Servants out of your Hands and he will recompence all your unjust Dealings towards
again he would have my Life or I should have his adding that he would give his Head if I was not knockt down within a Month. By this Friends suspected his intent was in desiring me to walk with him alone either to have Thrust me down from off the Cliff or to have done me some other Mischief And that when he saw himself frustrated in that by my having one with me that made him rage so But I feared neither his Prophecies nor his Threats for I feared God Almighty But some Friends through their Affection to me feared much that this Priest would do me some Mischief or set on Others to do it Yet after some Years this very Scotch Priest and his Wise also came to be Convinced of the Truth and about Twelve Years after this I was at their House After this there came another Priest to a Meeting where I was one that was in Repute above all the Priests in the Country and as I was speaking in the Meeting That the Gospel was the Power of God and how it brought Life and Immortality to Light in Men and so was turning People from Darkness to the Light this high-flown Priest said The Gospel was Mortal I told him The true Minister said The Gospel was the Power of God and would he make the Power of God Mortal Upon that the other Priest Philip Scafe that was Convinced and had felt the Immortal Power of God in himself took him up and reproved him and so a great Dispute arose between them the Convinced Priest holding that the Gospel was Immortal and the other Priest holding that it was Mortal But the Lord's Power was too hard for this Opposing Priest and stopp'd his Mouth And many People were Convinced seeing the Darkness that was in the Opposing Priest and the Light that was in the Convinced Priest Then another Priest sent to have a Dispute with me and Friends went with me to the House where he was But when he understood we were come he slipt out of the House and hid himself under an Hâ—dge The People went to seek him and found him but could not get him to come to us Then I went to a Steeple-house hard by there where the Priest and People were in a great rage This Priest had threatned Friends what he would do but when I came there he would not stand but fled for the Lord's Power came over him and them Yea the Lord 's Everlasting Power was over the World and did reach to the Hearts of People and made both Priests and Professors tremble It shook the earthly and airy Spirit in which they held their Profession of Religion and Worship ☞ so that it was a dreadful thing unto them when it was told them The Man in Leathern Breeches is come At the hearing thereof the Priests in many Places would get out of the way they were so struck with the dread of the Eternal Power of God and Fear surprized the Hypocrites Whitby Scarborough Wowls Malton From this Place we passed to Whitby and Scarborough where we had some Service for the Lord and there are large Meetings settled there since From thence I passed over the Wowls to Malton where we had great Meetings as we had also at the Towns thereabouts At one of those Towns there was a Priest sent me a Challenge to dispute with me But when I came he would not come sorth So I had a good Opportunity with the People and the Lord's Power seized upon them And one who had been a Wild drunken Man was reached therewith so that he came to me as lowly as a Lamb though he and his Companions had before sent for Drink 1651. Yorkshire to make the rude People drunk on purpose that they might abuse us So when the Priest would not come forth I was moved to go to the Steeple-house there and the Priest was Confounded and the Lord's Power came over all On the First-day following there came one of the highest Independent-Professors a Woman who had let in such a Prejudice against me that she said before she came She could willingly have gone to see me hang'd But when she came she was Convinc'd and remains a Friend Then I turned to Malton again Malton and very great Meetings there were to which several People more would have come but durst not for fear of their Relations for it was thought a strange thing then to preach in Houses and not go to the Church as they call'd it so that I was much desired to go and speak in the Steeple-houses One of the Priests writ to me and invited me to preach in his Steeple-house calling me his Brother Another Priest a noted Man kept a Lecture there Now the Lord had shewed me while I was in Darby-Prison That I should speak in Steeple-houses to gather People from thence and a Concern sometimes would come upon my Mind about the Pulpits that the Priests lolled in For the Steeple-houses and Pulpits were offensiâ—e to my Mind because both Priests and People called them the Hâ—use of God and Idolized them reckoning that God dwelt there in the outward House whereas they should have looked for God and Christ to dwell in their Hearts and their Bodies to be made the Temples of God for the Apostle said God dwelleth not in Temples made with Hands But by reason of the People's Idolizing those Places it was counted an heinous thing to declare against them Now when I came into the Steeple-house there were not passing Eleven Hearers and the Priest was preaching to them But after it was known in the Town that I was in the Steeple-house it was soon filled with People When the Priest that preacht that day had â—one he sent the other Priest that had Invited me thither to bring me up into the Pulpit but I sent back Word to him that I needed not to go into the Pulpit Then he sent to me again desiring me to go up into it for he said it was a better Place and there I might be seen of the People I sent him Word again I could be seen and heard well enough where I was and that I came not there to hold up such Places nor their Maintenance and Trade Upon my saying so they began to be angry and said These False Prophets were to come in the last Times Their saying so grieved many of the People and some began to murmur at it Whereupon I stood up and desired all to be quiet and stepping upon an High Seat I declared unto them the Marks of the false Prophets and shewed That they were already come and set the true Prophets and Christ and his Apostles over them and manifested these to be out of the Steps of the true Prophets and of Christ and his Apostles And I directed the People to their Inward Teacher Christ Jesus who would turn them from the Darkness to the Light And having opened divers Scriptures to them I directed them to the Spirit
of God in themselves by which they might come to him and by which they might also come to know 1651. Pickering who the false Prophets were So having had a large time among them I departed in Peace After some time traveling in the Country I came to Pickering where in the Steeple-house the Justices held their Sessions Justice Robinson being Chairman and I had a Meeting in the School-house at the same time and abundance of Priests and Professors came to it asking Questions which were Answered to their Satisfaction And it being Sessions-time four Chief-Constables and many other Poople were Convinced that day And word was carried to Justice Robinson that his Priest was Overthrown and Convinced whom he had a Love to more than to all the Priests besides After the Meeting was done we went to an Inn and Justice Robinson's Priest was very lowly and loving and would have paid for my Dinner but I would by no means suffer it Then he offered that I should have his Steeple-house to preach in But I denied it and told him and the People That I came to bring them off from such things to Christ. The next Morning I went up with the Four Chief-Constables and some others to visit Justice Robinson who met me at his Chamber-door I told him I could not honour him with Man's Honour and he said He did not look for it So I went into his Chamber and opened te him the State of the false Prophets and of the true Prophets and set the true Prophets and Christ and the Apostles over the other and directed his Mind to Christ his Teacher and opened to him the Parables and how Election and Reprobation stood as that Reprobation stood in the first Birth and Election stood in the second Birth I shewed also what the Promise of God was to and what the Judgment of God was against He Confessed to it all and was so opened with the Truth that when another Justice that was present made some little Opposition he Informed him At our parting he said It was very well that I did exercise that Gift which God had given me And he took the Chief-Constables aside and would have given them some Money to have given me saying He would not have me be at any Charge in their Country but they told him That they themselves could not get me to take any Money and so accepting his Kindness refused his Money From thence I passed up into the Country and the Priest that called me Brother in whose School-house I had the Meeting at Pickering went along with me When we came into a Town to bait the Bells rang Whereupon I asked What the Bells rang for And they said for me to preach in the Steeple-house After some Time I felt Drawings that way And as I walked to the Steeple-house I saw the People were gathered together in the Steeple-house-yard The Old Priest would have had me gone into the Steeple-house but I said Nay it was no matter But it was something strange to the People that I would not go into that which they called the House of God Then I stood up in the Steeple-house-yard and declared to the People That I came not to hold up their Idol-Temples nor their Priests nor their Tithes nor their Augmentations nor their Priests-wages nor their Jewish and Heathenish Ceremonies and Traditions for I denyed all these and told them that that piece of Ground was no more Holy than another Piece of Ground 1651. Yorkshire And I shewed them that the Apostles going into the Jews Synagogues and Temples which God had Commanded was To bring People off from that Temple and those Synagogues and from the Offerings and Tithes and Covetous Priests of that Time And that such as came to be Convinced of the Truth and Converted to it and believed in Jesus Christ whom the Apostles preached they met together afterwards in Dwelling-Houses And that all who preach Christ the Word of Life ought to preach freely as the Apostles did and as he had Commanded So I was sent of the Lord God of Heaven and Earth to preach freely and to bring People off from these outward Temples made with Hands which God dwelleth not in that they might know their Bodies to become the Temples of God and of Christ And to draw People off from all their Superstitious Ceremonies and Jewish and Heathenish Customs Traditions and Doctrines of Men and from all the World's Hireling-Teachers that take Tithes and great Wages preaching for Hire and divining for Money whom God and Christ never sent as themselves confess when they say They never heard God's Voice nor Christ's Voice Therefore I exhorted the People to come off from all these things and directed them to the Spirit and Grace of God in themselves and to the Light of Jesus in their own Hearts that they might come to know Christ their Free Teacher to bring them Salvation and to open the Scriptures to them Thus the Lord gave me a good Opportunity amongst them to open things largely unto them and all was quiet and many were Convinced Blessed be the Lord. I passed on to another Town where there was another great Meeting and the Old Priest before-mentioned went along with me and there came Professors of several sorts to it Now I sate on an Hay-stack and spake nothing for some Hours for I was to famish them from Words And the Professors would ever and anon be speaking to the Old Priest and asking him When I would begin and when I would speak And he bad them Wait and told them That the People waited upon Christ a long while before he spake At last I was moved of the Lord to speak and they were struck by the Lord's Power and the Word of Life reached to them and there was a General Convincement amongst them From hence I passed on the Old Priest being still with me and several others And as we went along some People called to the Old Priest and said Mr. Boyes We owe you some Money for Tithes pray come and take it But the Old Priest threw up his Hands and said He had enough he would have none of it they might keep it And he praised the Lord he had enough At length we came to this Old Priest's Steeple-house in the Moors And when we were come into it the Old Priest went before me The Moors and held open the Pulpit-Door but I forbad him and told him I should not go into it This Steeple-house was very much painted and I told him and the People That the painted Beast had a painted House Then I opened to them the Rise of all those Houses and their Superstitious Ways shewing them that as the End of the Apostles going into the Temple and Synagogues which God had Commanded was not to hold them up 1651. Yorkshire in the Moors but to bring them to Christ the Substance So the End of my coming there was not to hold up these
Priests came up to me and I warned them to Repent One of them said I was Mad and so they turned away But many People were Convinced there that day and were glad at the hearing of the Truth declared and received it with Joy Amongst these was one called Captain Ward who received the Truth in the love of it and lived and dyed in it Westmorland Firbank-Chappel The next First-day I came to Firbank-Chappel in Westmorland where Francis Howgill before named and one John Audland had been preaching in the Morning The Chappel was full of People so that many could not get in And Francis Howgill said He thought I lookt into the Chappel and his Spirit was ready to fail the Lord's Power did so surprize him But I did not look in They made haste and had quickly done at that time and they and some of the People went to their Dinners but abundance stay'd till they came again Now John Blakelin and others came to me and desired me not to Reprove them publickly for they were not Parish-Teachers but pretty Tender Men. I could not tell them whether I should or no though I had not at that time any Drawings to declare publickly against them but I said They must leave me to the Lord's Movings So while the others were gone to Dinner I went to a Brook and got me a little Water and then came and sate down on the Top of a Rock hard by the Chappel In the Afternoon the People gathered about me with several of their Preachers it was judged there were above a Thousand People amongst whom I declared God's everlasting Truth and Word of Life freely and largely for about the space of three Hours directing all to the Spirit of God in themselves that they might be turned from the Darkness to the Light and believe in it that they might become the Children of it and might be turned from the Power of Satan which they had been under unto God and by the Spirit of Truth might be led into all Truth and sensibly understand the words of the Prophets and of Christ and of the Apostles and might all come to know Christ to be their Teacher to instruct them their Counsellor to direct them their Shepherd to feed them their Bishop to oversee them and their Prophet to open divine Mysteries to them and might know their Bodies to be prepared sanctified and made fit Temples for God and Christ to dwell in And in the openings of the heavenly Life I opened unto them the Prophets and the Figures and Shadows and directed them to Christ the Substance 1652. Westmorland Firbank-Chappel Then I opened the Parables and Sayings of Christ and things that had been long hid shewing the intent and scope of the Apostles Writings how that their Epistles were written to the Elect. And when I had opened that State I shewed also the State of the Apostacy that hath been since the Apostles days how the Priests have gotten the Scripture but are not in that Spirit which gave them forth and have put them into Chapter and Verse to make a Trade of the Holy Mens Words And how that the Teachers and Priests now are found in the steps of the false Prophets Chief Priests Scribes and Pharisees of old and are such as the true Prophets Christ and his Apostles cried against and so are judged and condemned by the Spirit of the true Prophets and of Christ and of his Apostles and that none who was in that Spirit and guided by it now could own them Now there were many old People who went into the Chappel and looked out at the Windows thinking it a strange thing to see a Man preach on an Hill or Mountain and not in their Church as they called it whereupon I was moved to open to the People That the Steeple-house and the Ground whereon it stood was no more holy than that Mountain and that those Temples which they called the dreadful Houses of God were not set up by the Command of God and of Christ nor their Priests called as Aaron's Priesthood was nor their Tithes appointed by God as those amongst the Jews were but that Christ was come who ended both the Temple and its Worship and the Priests and their Tithes and all now should hearken unto him for he said Learn of me and God said of him This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear ye him So I declared unto them that the Lord God had sent me to preach the Everlasting Gospel and Word of Life amongst them and to bring them off from all these Temples Tithes Priests and Rudiments of the World which had gotten up since the Apostles days and had been set up by such as had erred from the Spirit and Power that the Apostles were in Very largely was I opened at this Meeting and the Lord 's Convincing Power accompanied my Ministry and reached home unto the Hearts of the People whereby many were Convinced that day and all the Teachers of that Congregation who were many were Convinced of God's everlasting Truth that day After the Meeting was over I went to John Audland's and from thence to Preston-Patrick-Chappel Preston-Patrick-Chappel where a great Meeting was appointed to which I went and had a large opportunity amongst the People to preach the Everlasting Gospel to them opening to them as to others on the like occasion that the End of my coming into that Place was not to hold it up no more than the Apostles going into the Jewish Synagogues and Temple was to uphold those But to bring them off from all such things as the Apostles brought the Saints of old from off the Jewish Temple and Aaron's Priesthood that they might come to witness their Bodies to be the Temples of God and Christ in them to be their Teacher 1652. Kendal From this Place I went to Kendal where a Meeting was appointed in the Town-Hall in which I declared the Word of Life amongst the People shewing them How they might come to the saving knowledge of Christ and to have a right Understanding of the Holy Scriptures and opening to them what it was that would lead them into the way of Reconciliation with God and what would be their Condemnation After the Meeting I stay'd a while in the Town and several were Convinced there and many appeared loving One whose Name was Cock met me in the Street and would have given me a Roll of Tobacco for People then were much given to smoking Tobacco I accepted his love but did not receive the Tobacco Under-barrow From thence I went to Vnder-barrow to one Miles Bateman's and several People going along with me great Reasonings I had with them especially with Edward Burrough At Night the Priest came and many Professors to the House and a great deal of Disputing I had with them Supper being provided for the Priest and the rest of the Company I had not freedom to eat with them
but told them If they would appoint a Meeting for the next day at the Steeple-house and acquaint the People with it I might meet them They had a great deal of Reasoning about it some being for it and some against it In the Morning I walked out after I had spoken again to them concerning the Meeting and as I walked upon a Bank by the House there came several poor People Travellers asking Relief who I saw were in Necessity and they gave them nothing but said they were Cheats It grieved me to see such hard-heartedness amongst Professors whereupon when they were gone in to their Breakfast I ran after the Poor People about a quarter of a Mile and gave them some Money Mean while some of them that were in the House coming out again and seeing me a quarter of a Mile off said I could not have gone so far in such an Instant if I had not had Wings Hereupon the Meeting was like to have been put by for they were filled with such strange Thoughts concerning me that many of them were against having a Meeting with me I told them I ran after those poor People to give them some Money being grieved at their hard-heartedness who gave them nothing Then came Miles and Stephen Hubbersty and they being more simple-hearted Men would have the Meeting held So to the Chappel at Vnder-barrow I went and the Priest came and a great Meeting there was and the Way of Life and Salvation was opened and after a while the Priest fled away And many of Crook and Vnder-barrow were Convinced that day and received the Word of Life and stood fast in it under the Teaching of Christ Jesus Now after I had declared the Truth to them for some Hours and the Meeting was ended the Chief-Constable and some other Professors fell to Reasoning with me in the Chappel-Yard Whereupon I took a Bible and opened to them the Scriptures and dealt tenderly with them as one would do with a Child And they that were in the Light of Christ and Spirit of God knew when I spake Scripture though I did not mention Chapter and Verse after the Priest's Form unto them From hence I went along with an ancient Man 1652. Under-barrow whose Heart the Lord had opened and he invited me to his House His Name was James Dickinson He was Convinced that day and received the Truth and lived and died in it From his House I came the next day to James Taylor 's of Newton in Cartmell in Lancashire And on the First-day of the Week Lancashire Newton in Cartmell I went to the Chappel wheâ—e one Priest Camelford used to preach and after he had done I began to speak the Word of Life to the People But this Priest Camelford was in such a Rage and did so fret and was so peevish that he had no patience to hear but stirred up the rude Multitude and they rudely haled me out and struck and punched me and threw me Headlong over a Stone-Wall yet blessed be the Lord his Power preserved me He that did this Violence to me was a wicked Man one John Knipe whom afterwards the Lord cut off But there was a Youth in the Chappel writing after the Priest and I was moved to speak to him and he came to be Convinced and received a part of the Ministry of the Gospel His Name was John Brathwait Then went I up to an Ale-house whither many People resorted betwixt the time of their Morning and Afternoon-Preaching and I had a great deal of Reasoning with the People there declaring to them That God was come to Teach his People himself and to bring them off from all false Teachers such as the Prophets Christ and the Apostles cryed against And many received the Word of Life at that time and abode in it In the Afternoon I went about two or three Miles to another Steeple-house or Chappel called Lyndal And when the Priest had done I spake to him and the People what the Lord commanded me and there were great Opposers but afterwards they came to be Convinced After this I went to one Captain Sands who with his Wife seemed somewhat affected with Truth and if they could have held the World and Truth together they would have received it but they were Hypocrites and he a very Chaffy light Man Wherefore I reproved him for his Lightness and for his Jesting telling him It was not seemly in a great Professor as he was Thereupon he told me He had a Son who upon his Death-bed had also reproved him for it and warned him of it But he neither regarded the Admonition of his dying Son nor the Reproofs of God's Spirit in himself From hence I went to Vlverstone Ulverstone Swarthmore and so to Swarthmore to Judge Fell's whether came up one Lampitt a Priest who I perceived had been and still was an high Notionist With him I had a great deal of Reasoning for he would talk of high Notions and Perfection and thereby deceived the People He would have owned me but I could not own nor join with him he was so full of Filth He said He was above John and made as though he knew all things But I told him Death reigned from Adam to Moses and that he was under Death and knew not Moses for Moses saw the Paradise of God but he knew neither Moses nor the Prophets nor John For that crooked and rough Nature stood in him and the Mountain of Sin and Corruptions and the Way was not prepared in him for the Lord. 1652. Swarthmore He confessed he had been under a Cross in things but now he could sing Psalms and do any thing I told him Now he could see a Thief and join Hand in Hand with him But he could not preach Moses nor the Prophets nor John nor Christ except he were in the same Spirit that they were in Now Margaret Fell had been abroad in the Day-time and at Night her Children told her that Priest Lampitt and I had dis-agreed which did some-what trouble her because she was in a Profession with him but he hid his dirty Actions from them At Night we had a great deal of Reasoning and I declared the Truth to her and her Family The next day Lampitt came again and I had a great deal of Discourse with him before Margaret Fell who then clearly discerned the Priest and a Convincement of the Lord's Truth came upon her and her Family Within a day or two there was a day to be observed for an Humiliation and Margaret Fell asked me to go with her to the Steeple-house at Vlverstone Ulverstone for she was not wholly come off from them I replied I must do as I am ordered by the Lord. So I left her and walked into the Fields and the Word of the Lord came to me saying Go to the Steeple-house after them When I came the Priest Lampitt was singing with his People But his Spirit was so foul
their way and did no harm Lancaster The time for the Sessions at Lancaster being come I went to Lancaster with Judge Fell who on the way told me He had never had such a Matter brought before him before and he could not well tell what to do in the Business I told him when Paul was brought before the Rulers and the Jews and Priests came down to Accuse him and laid many false things to his Charge Paul stood still all that while And when they had done Festus the Governour and King Agrippa beckned to him to speak for himself which Paul did and cleared himself of all those false Accusations And so he might do by me Being come to Lancaster and Justice Sawrey and Justice Thompson having granted a Warrant to apprehend me though I was not apprehended by it Lancaster Sessions yet hearing of it I appeared at the Sessions where there appeared against me about Forty Priests These had chosen one Marshal Priest of Lancaster to be their Orator and had provided one young Priest and two Priests Sons to bear Witness against me who had sworn before-hand that I had spoken Blasphemy When the Justices were set they heard all that the Priests and their Witnesses could say and charge against me their Orator Marshal sitting by and explaining their Sayings for them But the Witnesses were so Confounded that they discovered themselves to be false Witnesses For when the Court had Examined one of the Witnesses upon Oath 1652. Lancaster Sessions and then began to Examin another of them he was at such loss he could not Answer directly but said the other could say it Which made the Justices say to him Have you sworn it and given it in already upon your Oath and now say That he can say it It seems you did not hear those words spoken your self though you have sworn it There were then in Court several People who had been at that Meeting wherein the Witnesses swore I spake those blasphemous Words which the Priests accused me of and these being Men of Integrity and Reputation in the Country did declare and affirm in Court That the Oath which the Witnesses had taken against me was altogether false and that no such Words as they had sworn against me were spoken by me at that Meeting For indeed most of the serious Men of that side of the County that were then at the Sessions had been at that Meeting and had heard me both at that Meeting and at other Meetings also This was taken notice of by Colonel VVest who being a Justice of the Peace was then upon the Bench and having long been weak in Body blessed the Lord and said The Lord had healed him that day adding That he never saw so many sober People and good Faces together in all his Life And then turning himself to me he said in the open Sessions George If thou hast any thing to say to the People thou may'st freely declare it And I was moved of the Lord to speak and as soon as I began Priest Marshal the Orator for the rest of the Priests went his way That which I was moved to declare was this That the Holy Scriptures were given forth by the Spirit of God and all People must first come to the Spirit of God in themselves by which they might know God and Christ of whom the Prophets and the Apostles learnt and by the same Spirit know the Holy Scriptures for as the Spirit of God was in them that gave forth the Scriptures so the same Spirit of God must be in all them that come to know and understand the Scriptures By which Spirit they might have Fellowship with the Son and with the Father and with the Scriptures and with one another And without this Spirit they can know neither God nor Christ nor the Scriptures nor have right Fellowship one with another I had no sooner spoken these Words but about half a dozen Priests that stood behind my Back burst out into a passion and one of them whose Name was Jackus amongst other things that he spake against the Truth said That the Spirit and the Letter were inseparable I replied Then every one that hath the Letter hath the Spirit and they might buy the Spirit with the Letter of the Scriptures This plain discovery of Darkness in the Priest moved Judge Fell and Colonel VVest to Reprove them openly and tell them That according to that Position they might carry the Spirit in their Pockets as they did the Scriptures Upon this the Priests being Confounded and put to silence rusht out in a Rage against the Justices because they could not have their bloody Ends upon me So the Justices seeing the Witnesses did not agree and perceiving that they were brought to Answer the Priests Envy and finding that all their Evidences were not sufficient in Law to make good their Charge against me they discharged me And after Judge Fell had spoken to Justice Sawrey and Justice Thompson concerning the VVarrant they had given forth against me and shewed them the Errors thereof He and Colonel West granted a Supersedeas to stop the Execution thereof Thus was I cleared in open Sessions of all those lying Accusations which the malicious Priests had laid to my Charge And Multitudes of People praised God that day for it was a joyful Day to many There was Justice Benson out of Westmorland who was Convinced and Major Ripan that was Mayor of the Town of Lancaster who was Convinced also It was a day of Everlasting Salvation to hundreds of People for the Lord Jesus Christ the Way to the Father and the free Teacher was exalted and set up and his Everlasting Gospel was preached and the Word of Eternal Life was declared over the heads of the Priests and all such Money-Preachers For the Lord opened many Mouths that Day to speak his Word to the Priests and several friendly People and Professors reproved the Priests in their Inns and in the Streets so that they fell like an old rotten House and the Cry was among the People That the Quakers had got the day and the Priests were fallen Many People were Convinced that day amongst whom Thomas Briggs was one who before had been averse from Friends and Truth insomuch that discoursing on a time with John Lawson a Friend concerning Perfection Thomas Briggs said to him Dost thou hold Perfection and therewithal lift up his Hand to have given the Friend a Box on the Ear. But this Thomas Briggs being Convinced of the Truth that day declared against his own Priest Jackus and afterwards became a faithful Minister of the Gospel and stood so to the End of his Days When the Sessions were over James Naylor who was present thereat gave a brief Account of the Proceedings thereof in a Letter which soon after he writ to Friends which is here added for the Reader 's further satisfaction in this Matter DEar Friends and Brethren in the Lord Jesus Christ my
nothing that is Unclean shall enter into the Kingdom of God and prize your Time while you have it lest the Time come that you say with Sorrow We had Time but it is past Oh why will ye die Why will ye chuse your own Ways Why will ye follow the Course of the World and why will ye follow Envy Malice Drunkenness and foolish Pleasures Know ye not in your Consciences that all these are Evil and Sin and that such as act such things shall never enter into the Kingdom of God Oh that ye would Consider and see how you have spent your Time and mind how ye do spend your Time and observe whom ye do serve for the Wages of Sin is Death Do not ye know that whatsoever is more than Yea and Nay cometh of Evil Oh ye Drunkards who live in Drunkenness do ye think to escape the Fire and the Judgment of God! Though ye swell in Venom and live in Lust for a while yet God will find you out and bring you to Judgment Therefore love the Light which Christ hath enlightened you withal who saith I am the Light of the World and who doth enlighten every one that cometh into the World One loves the Light and brings his Works to the Light and there is no occasion at all of stumbling the other hates the Light because his Deeds are Evil and the Light will reprove him Thou that hatest this Light thou hast it Thou knowest Lying is Evil Drunkenness is Evil Swearing is Evil Whoredom Theft and all Vngodliness and all Vnrighteousness is Evil Christ Jesus hath given thee Light enough to let thee see this is Evil. And this Light if thou lovest it will teach thee Holiness and Righteousness without which none shall see God but if thou hatest this Light it is thy Condemnation And thus are Christ's Words found to be true and fulfilled among you You that hate this Light set up Hirelings and Idols-Temples and such Priests as bear rule by their means and such Shepherds as hold up such things and such as are called of Men Masters and have the chiefest Place in the Assemblies whom Christ cried Wo against Matt. 23. And such as go in the way of Cain in Envy and after the Error of Balaam for Wages Gifts and Rewards These have been your Teachers and these you have held up But who love the Light are taught of God and the Lord is coming to teach his People himself and to gather his from the Hirelings and from such as seek for their Gain from their Quarter and from such as bear Rule by their Means The Lord is opening the Eyes of foolish People that they shall see such as bear Rule over them But all whose Eyes are shut are such as the Prophet spake of That have Eyes and see not but are foolish upholding such things Therefore poor People as ye love your own Souls consider the Love of God to your Souls while ye have time and do not turn the Grace of God into Wantonness That which shews you Vngodliness and worldly Lusts that should and would be your Teacher if ye would hearken to it for the Saints of Old witnessed the Grace of God to be their Teacher which taught them to live Soberly and Godly in this present World And ye that are not sober this Grace of God hath appeared unto you but you turn it into Wantonness and so set up Teachers without you who are not sober not holy not godly Here you are left without Excuse when the Righteous Judgment of God shall be revealed upon you all who live Ungodlily Therefore to the Light in you I speak and when the Book of Conscience shall come to be opened then shall you Witness what I say to be true and you all shall be judged out of it So God Almighty direct your Minds such of you especially as love Honesty and Sincerity that you may receive Mercy in the time of Need. Your Teacher is within you look not forth It will Teach you both lying in Bed and going Abroad to shun all Occasion of Sin and Evil. G. F. As the foregoing was directed To all the Inhabitants of Ulverston in general so it was upon me to write also to those more particularly that did most constantly follow W. Lampitt the Priest there And unto these I writ thus THE Word of the Lord God to all the People that follow Priest Lampitt who is a blind Guide Ye are such as are turned from the Light of Christ within which he hath enlightned you withal Ye are such as follow that which Christ cried Wo against that goes not in Christ's Way but in the Pharisees Way as ye may read Matt. 23. which our Lord Jesus Christ cried Wo against He is the same yesterday to day and for ever but him ye own not while ye follow such as he cried Wo against though under a Colour ye make a Profession and Lampitt your Priest makes a Trade of Christ's and the Saint's Words as his Fathers the Pharisees did make a Profession of the Prophets Words and of Moses his Words Wo was unto them who had not the Life so VVo is unto you who have not the Life that gave forth the Scriptures as your Fruits have made manifest For when the Lord hath moved some to come amongst you to preach the Truth freely you have knock'd them down beat and punch'd and haled them out of your Assemblies Such a People serves thee O Lampitt to make a prey upon and these are thy Fruits O let Shame Shame strike thee and you all in the Faces who make a Profession of Christ's Words thou and they and yet are Stoners and Strikers and Mockers and Scoffers Let all see if this be not a Cage of Vnclean Birds spoken of in the Scriptures which they who had the Life of the Scriptures spake of And such a Company of People thou deceivest and feedest them with thy Fancies and makest a Trade of the Scriptures and takest them for thy Cloak But thou art manifest to all the Children of Light for that Cloak will not cover thee but thy Skirts are seen and thy Nakedness appears And the Lord made one to go Naked among you a Figure of thy Nakedness and of your Nakedness and as a Sign amongst you before your destruction cometh that you might see that you were Naked and not covered with the Truth To the Light in all your Consciences I do speak which Christ Jesus doth enlighten you withal It will shew you the Time you have spent and all your Evil Deeds you have done in that Time who follow such a Teacher that acts contrary to this Light and leads you into the Ditch And when you are in the Ditch together both Teacher and People remember ye were warned in your Life time And if ever your Eye come to see Repentance and you obey the Light of Jesus Christ in you you will witness me to have been a Friend of your Souls and
that I have sought your Eternal Good and written this in dear Love to you And then will you own your Condemnation which you must all own before ye can come into that blessed Life of which there is no End But ye who hate the Light because your Deeds are evil this Light is your Condemnation and will be And when your Condemnation is come upon you remember ye were warned O that ye would love this Light and hearken to it It would teach you both as you walk up and down about your Occasions and as you lie upon your Beds and would never let you speak a vain VVord In loving it you love Christ in hating it you bring the Condemnation thereof upon your selves And to you this is the VVord of God from under which you can never pass nor ever escape the Terror of the Lord in the state you are in who hate the Light G. F. Amongst those who were the Chief Hearers and Followers of this Priest Lampitt of Vlverston there was one Adam Sands who was a very wicked false Man and would have destroyed Truth and its Followers if he could To him I was moved to write thus Adam Sands TO the Light in the Conscience I appeal thou Child of the Devil thou Enemy of Righteousness the Lord will strike thee down though now for a while in thy wickedness thou may'st Reign And the Plagues of God are due to thee who hardenest thy self in thy wickedness against the pure Truth of God With the pure Truth of God which thou hast resisted and persecuted thou art to be threshed down which is Eternal and doth Comprehend thee and with the Light which thou despisest thou art seen and it is thy Condemnation Thou as one bruitish and thy VVife as an Hypocrite and you both as Murderers of the Just in that which is Eternal are seen and comprehended and your Hearts searched and tried and condemned by the Light The Light in thy Conscience will witness the Truth of what I write to thee and will let thee see that thou art not born of God but art from the Truth in the Beastly Nature And if ever thy Eye see Repentance thou wilt witness me a Friend of thy Soul and a seeker of thy Eternal Good G. F. This Adam Sands afterwards died miserably I was moved also to write to Priest Tatham THE Word of the Lord to thee Priest Tatham who art found out of the Doctrine of Christ having the chiefest Place in the Assembly and being called of Men Master and standing Praying in the Synagogue in the Steps of the Pharisees which our Lord Jesus Christ cried VVo against In his VVay thou art not but in the Way of the Scribes and Pharisees as thou mayest read Matth. 23. There Christ's VVords Judge thee and the Scriptures of Truth Condemn thee For thou art such an one as sues Men at the Law for Tithes and yet professest thy self to be a Minister of Christ which Christ never impowered his to do Neither did any of his Apostles or Ministers ever do so Here I charge thee in the presence of the Living God to be out of their Doctrine and that thou art one of those evil Beasts the Scripture speaks of that mindest Earthly Things which the Life of the Scriptures is against Thou art for Destruction in the State wherein thou standest and it will be thy Portion eternally if thou dost not Repent To that of God in thy Conscience I speak which will witness the Truth of what I say Thou art one that goest in Cain's Way in Envy an Enemy to God and from the Command of God Thou art one that goest in Balaam's Way from the Spirit of God for Gifts and Rewards the Wages of Unrighteousness Thou Son of Balaam thou art worse than thy Father for though he loved the VVages of Vnrighteousness yet he durst not take it but thou not only takest it but suest Men at the Law if they will not give it thee which never did Minister of Jesus Christ Therefore stop thy Mouth for ever and never make mention of them or profess thy self one of them With the Light thou art seen and comprehended who art light and vain and speakest a Divination of thy own Brain and deceivest the People That in thy Conscience will witness what I say and will Condemn thee who art one that bearest Rule by thy Means which the Lord sent Jeremiah to cry against Jer. 5. and so thou holdest up the horrible and filthy thing that is committed in the Land And they that do not Tremble at the VVord of the Lord they are the foolish People that hold thee up they are sottish Children and have no Understanding They are Wise to do Evil but not to do Good who are deceived by thee And such an one thou art that seekest for thy Gain from thy Quarter a greedy dumb Dog that never hath enough as thy Practice makes manifest which the Lord sent Isaiah to cry against Isa 56.11 12. And thou art such an one as the Lord sent Ezekiel to cry against who feedest of the Fat and Clothest with the VVooll and makest a Prey upon the People But the Lord is gathering his Sheep from thy Mouth that to thee they shall be a Prey no longer Thou Enemy of God here this Prophecy is fulfilled upon thee Ezek. 34. and thou art one of them I charge it upon thee in the presence of the living God A Hireling thou art and they that put not into thy Mouth thou preparest War against them Thou hatest the Good and lovest the Evil which the Lord sent Micah to cry against Mic. 3. Cover thy Lips and stop thy Mouth for ever thou Child of Darkness for with the Light thou art comprehended and seen to be among them which the holy Men of God cryed W O against and by the Spirit of the living God thou art judged In the Light which is thy Condemnation thou art comprehended thy Race is seen and thy Compass known who art out of the Commands of Christ and out of the Doctrine and Life of the Apostles Thou art proved and tryed and to thee this is the VVord of the Lord and to thee it shall be as an Hammer a Fire and a Sword and from under it thou shalt never come unless thou Repent who art with the Light to be Condemned in that State wherein thou standest And if ever thy Eye see Repentance this thy Condemnation thou must own G. F. I writ also to Burton Priest of Sedbergh much what to the same purpose he being in the same evil Ground Nature and Practice which the other Priests were in Many other Epistles also and Papers I writ about that Time as the Lord moved me thereunto which I sent abroad among the Priests Professors and People of all sorts for the laying their Evil ways open before them that they might see and forsake them and opening the Way of Truth unto them that they might come to walk therein which
are too many and large to be inserted in this Place Now after I had cleared my Conscience at that Time to the Priests and People in those Parts near Swarthmore I went again into Westmorland Westmorland And a Company of Men with Pikes and Staves laid wait for me at a Bridge in the Way and they light on some Friends but missed me Afterwards they came to the Meeting with their Pikes and Staves But Justice Benson being there and many considerable People besides they were prevented from doing that Mischief they intended So they went away in a great Rage but did not hurt any Body 1652. Grayrigg I went from the Meeting to Grayrigge and had a Meeting there at Alexander Dixon's House where the Priest who was a Baptist and a Chappel-Priest came to the Meeting to oppose but the Lord Confounded him by his Power And some of the Priest's People tumbled down some Milk-Pales which stood upon the Side of the House the House being much crowded whereupon the Priest after he and his Company were gone away raised a Slander That the Devil frighted him and took away a Side of the House while he was in the Meeting And though this was an apparent and known Falshood yet it served the Priests and Professors to feed on for a while And so shameless they were that they Printed it in a Book Another Time this Priest came to another Meeting and fell to Jangling First he said The Scriptures were the Word of God I told him They were the Words of God but not Christ who is the Word and bid him prove by Scripture what he said Then he said It was not the Scripture that was the Word and setting his Foot upon the Bible he said It was but Copies bound up together Many unsavory Words came from him But after he was gone we had a blessed Meeting and the Lord's Power and Presence was preciously manifested and felt among us Soon after he sent me a Challenge to meet him at Kendal I sent him Word He need not go so far as Kendal for I would meet him in his own Parish So the Hour being set we Met and abundance of rude People were gathered there together besides the baptized People who were his own Members and they had intended to have done Mischief that Day but God prevented them Now when we were Met I declared the Day of the Lord to them and directed them to Christ Jesus Then the Priest out with his Bible and said It was the VVord of God I told him it was the VVords of God but not God the VVord His Answer was He would prove the Scriptures to be the God before all the People So I let him go on having a Man there that could take down in writing both what he said and what I said And when he could not prove it for I kept him to Scripture-Proof Chapter and Verse for it the People gnashed their Teeth for Anger and said He would have me anon But in going about to prove that one Error he run into many And when at length he saw he could not prove it then he said He would prove it a God So he toiled himself afresh till he sweat again but could not Prove what he had Affirmed And he and his Company were full of wrath For I kept his Assertions on the Head of him and them all and told them I owned what the Scriptures said of themselves namely That they were the Words of God but Christ was the Word So the Lord's Power came over all and they being confounded went away and the Lord disappointed their mischievous Intentions against me and Friends were established in Christ and many of the Priests Followers saw the Folly of their Teacher After this as I came through the Country visiting Friends Priest Bennet of Cartmel sent a Challenge to dispute with me Whereupon I came to his Steeple-house on the First-Day and there found him Preaching When he had done I spake to him and his People but the Priest would not stand the Trial but went his Way After he was gone I had a great deal of Discourse with the People And when I was come forth into the Steeple-house-yard and was discoursing further with the Professors and declaring Truth unto them One of them set his foot behind me and Two of them ran against my Breast and threw me down backwards against a Grave-stone wickedly and maliciously seeking to have spoiled me But I got up again and was moved of the Lord to speak to them Then I went up to the Priest's House and desired him to come forth that I might discourse with him seeing he had Challenged me But he would not at all come out or be seen So the Lord's Power came over them all which was greatly manifested at that Time There was amongst the Priest's Hearers one Richard Roper one of the bitterest Professors the Priest had and he was very fierce and hot in his Contention but afterwards he came to be Convinced of God's Eternal Truth and became a Minister thereof and continued faithful to his Death It was now about the beginning of the Year 1653 when I returned to Swarthmore And going to a Meeting at Gleeston Swarthmore a Professor there challenged a Dispute with me Whereupon I went to the House where he was and called him to come forth but the Lord's Power was over him so that he durst not meddle Then I departed thence and went and visited the Meetings of Friends in Lancashire Lancashire and so came back to Swarthmore again Swarthmore And great Openings I had from the Lord not only of Divine and Spiritual Matters but also of Outward Things relating to the Civil Government For being one Day in Swarthmore-Hall when Judge Fell and Justice Benson were talking of the News in the News-Book and of the Parliament that then was sitting which was called the Long-Parliament I was moved to tell them That before that Day Two Weeks the Parliament should be broken up and the Speaker pluck'd out of his Chair And that Day Two Weeks Justice Benson coming thither again told Judge Fell That now he saw George was a true Prophet for Oliver had broken up the Parliament by that Time About this Time I was in a Fast for about Ten Days my Spirit being greatly exercised on Truth 's behalf for James Milner and Richard Myer went out into Imaginations and a Company followed them This James Milner and some of his Company had true Openings at the first but getting up into Pride and Exaltation of Spirit they run out from Truth I was sent for to them and was moved of the Lord to go and shew them their Goings forth And they came to see their Folly and Condemned it and came into the Way of Truth again After some Time I went to a Meeting at Arn-side Arnside where Richard Myer was Now he had been long Lame of one of his Arms And I was moved
of the Lord to say unto him amongst all the People Prophet Myer stand up upon thy Legs for he was sitting down And he stood up and stretched out his Arm that had been Lame a long time and said Be it known unto you all People that this Day I am healed But his Parents could hardly believe it but after the Meeting was done had him aside and took off his Doublet and then they saw it was true Swarthmore He came soon after to Swarthmore-Meeting and there declared how that the Lord had healed him Yet after this the Lord commanded him to go to York with a Message from him 1653. Swarthm and he disobeyed the Lord and the Lord struck him again so that he died about three quarters of a Year after Now were great Threatnings given forth in Cumberland That if ever I came there again they would take away my Life When I heard it Cumberland I was drawn to go into Cumberland again and went to one Miles Wennington's in the same Parish from which those Threatnings came but they had not Power to touch me then Much about this Time too it was that Anthony Pearson was Convinced who had been an Opposer of Friends He came over to Swarthmore and I being then at Colonel West's they sent for me and Colonel West said Go George for it may be of great Service to the Man So I went and the Lord's Power reached him About this Time also the Lord opened several Mouths to declare the Truth to Priests and People so that divers were cast into Prison And I went again into Cumberland and Anthony Pearson and his Wife and several Friends went along with me to Bootle Bootle where Anthony Pearson left me and went on himself to Carlisle-Sessions for he was a Justice of the Peace in Three Counties Upon the First Day of the week I went into the Steeple-house at Bootle and when the Priest had done I began to speak But the People were exceeding rude and struck and beat me in the Steeple-house-yard One gave me a very great blow over my Wrist so that the People thought he had broken my Hand to Pieces The Constable was very willing to have kept the Peace and would have set some of them by the Heels that struck me if I would have given way to it After my Service at that time amongst them was over I went to Joseph Nicholson's House and the Constable went a little way with us to keep off the rude Multitude from us In the Afternoon I went up again and then the Priest had got another Priest to help him one that came from London and was highly accounted of Before I went into the Steeple-house I sate a little upon the Cross and Friends with me but the Friends were moved to go into the Steeple-house and I went in after them The London-priest was preaching who gathered up all the Scriptures he could think of that spake of false Prophets and Antichrists and Deceivers and threw them upon us But when he had done I Recollected all those Scriptures and brought them back upon himself Then the People fell upon me in a rude manner but the Constable charged them to keep the Peace and so made them quiet again Then the Priest began to Rage and said I must not speak there I told him he had his Hour-Glass by which he had preached and he having done the Time was free for me as well as for him for he was but a Stranger there himself So I opened the Scriptures to them and let them see That those Scriptures that spake of the false Prophets and Antichrists and Deceivers described them and their Generation and belonged to them who were found walking in their Steps and bringing forth their Fruits and not unto us who were not guilty of such things And I manifested to them that they were out of the Steps of the true Prophets and Apostles and shewed them clearly by the Fruits and Marks that they were of those whom those Scriptures spake of and not we And I declared the Truth and the Word of Life to the People and directed them to Christ their Teacher And all was quiet while I was speaking 1653. Bootel But when I had done and was come forth the Priests were both of them in such a Fret and Rage that they foamed at the Mouth for Anger against me The Priest of the Place made an Oration to the People in the Steeple-house-Yard and said This Man hath gotten all the honest Men and Women in Lancashire to him and now said he he comes here to do the same Then said I unto him What wilt thou have left And what have the Priests left them but such as themselves For if it be the Honest that receive the Truth and are turned to Christ then it must be the Dishonest that follow thee and such as thou art Some also of the Priest's People did begin to plead for their Priest and for Tithes But I told them It were better for them to plead for Christ who had ended the Tithing-Priesthood and the Tithes and had sent forth his Ministers to give freely as they had received freely So the Lord's Power came over them all and put them to Silence and restrained the rude People that they could not do the Mischief they intended And when I came down again to Joseph Nicholson's House I saw a great hole in my Coat which was cut with a Knife but it was not cut through my Doublet for the Lord had prevented their Mischief And the next day there was a rude wicked Man would have done Violence to a Friend but the Lord's Power stopt him Now was I moved to send James Lancaster to Appoint a Meeting at one John VVilkinson's Steeple-house near Cockermouth who was a Preacher in great repute and had three Parishes under him wherefore I staid at Milholm in Bootel till he came back again In the mean time some of those they called the Gentry of the Country had made a Plot against me and had given a little Boy a Rapier for him to do me a Mischief with it And they came with the Boy to Joseph Nicholson's House to seek me but the Lord had so ordered it that I was not in the House but was gone forth into the Fields They met with James Lancaster but did not much abuse him and not finding me in the House after a while they went away again So I walked up and down in the Fields that Night and did not go to Bed as very often I used to do Meeting near Cockermouth The next Morning we passed from thence and came the next day to the Steeple-house where James Lancaster had appointed the Meeting There were at this Meeting Twelve Soldiers and their VVives who were come thither from Carlisle and the Country-People came in like as it had been to a Fair. I lay at an House somewhat short of the Place so that many Friends were got
thither before me And when I came there I found James Lancaster speaking under a Yew-Tree which was so full of People that I feared they would break it down I looked about for a place to stand upon to speak unto the People for they lay all up and down like People at a Leaguer But after a while that I was discovered a Professor came to me and asked If I would not go into the Church I seeing there was no place abroad convenient to speak to the People from told him Yes Whereupon the People rushed in so that when I came in the House and Pulpit was so full of People that I had much ado to get in and they that could not get in stood abroad about the VValls 1653. A Meeting near Cockermouth When the People were settled I stood up upon a Seat And the Lord opened my Mouth to declare his Everlasting Truth and his Everlasting Day and to lay open all their Teachers and their Rudiments Traditions and Inventions that they had been in in the Night of Apostacy since the Apostles days And I turned them to Christ the true Teacher and to the true Spiritual VVorship directing them where to find the Spirit and Truth that they might Worship God therein I opened Christ's Parables unto them and directed them to the Spirit of God in themselves that would open the Scriptures unto them And I shewed them how all might come to know their Saviour and sit under his Teaching and come to be Heirs of the Kingdom of God and know both God's and Christ's Voice by which they might discover all the false Shepherds and Teachers they had been under and be gathered to the true Shepherd Priest Bishop and Prophet Christ Jesus whom God commanded all to hear So when I had largely declared the VVord of Life unto them for about the space of three Hours I walked forth from amongst the People and the People passed away very well satisfied Among the rest a Professor followed me praising and commending me and his Words were like a Thistle to me At last I turned about and bid him Fear the Lord Whereupon one Priest Larkham of Cockermouth for several Priests were got together on the Way who came after the Meeting was done said to me Sir why do you judge so you must not judge said he But I turned to him and said Friend dost not thou discern an Exhortation from a Judgment for I admonished him to fear God and dost thou say I judge him So this Priest and I falling into Discourse I manifested him to be amongst the false Prophets and covetous Hirelings And several People being moved to speak unto them he and two other of the Priests soon got away When they were gone John VVilkinson who was Preacher of that Parish and of two other Parishes in Cumberland began to dispute against his own Conscience for several hours till the People generally turned against him for he thought to have Tired me out but the Lord's Power tired him out and the Lord's Truth came over him and them all And Many hundreds were Convinced that day and received the Lord Jesus Christ and his free Teaching with Gladness of whom some have died in the Truth and many stand there faithful Witnesses thereof The Souldiers also were Convinced and their VVives and continued with me till the First-day Cockermouth On the First-day I went to the Steeple-house at Cockermouth where Priest Larkham lived And when the Priest had done I began to speak and the People began to be Rude but the Souldiers told them We had broken no Law and then they were quiet Then I turned me to the Priest and laid him open among the false Prophets and Hirelings At which word the Priest went his way and said He calls me Hireling which was true enough and all the People knew it Then some of the Great Men of the Town came to me and said Sir We have no learned Men to dispute with you I told them I came not to dispute but to declare the way of Salvation to them and the way of Everlasting Life And so I declared largely the way of Life and Truth to them 1652. Brigham and directed them to Christ their Teacher that had died for them and bought them with his Blood When I had done I passed away about Two Miles to another great Steeple-house of said John Wilkinson's called Brigham where the People having been at the other Meeting were mightily affected and would have put my Horse into the Steeple-house-Yard but I said No the Priest claims that have him to an Inn. When I came into the Steeple-house-Yard I saw the People coming in great Companies as to a Fair and abundance were already gathered in the Lanes and about the Steeple-house I was very Thirsty and walked about a quarter of a Mile to a Brook where I got some Water and refreshed my Self And as I came up again I met the said Wilkinson who as I passed by him said Sir will you preach to day If you will said he I will not Oppose you in Word or Thought I replied Oppose if thou wilt I have something to speak to the People And said I thou carried'st thy self foolishly the other day and spakest against thy Conscience and Reason insomuch that thy Hearers cried out against thee So I left him and went on for he saw it was in vain to Oppose the People were so affected with the Lord's Truth When I came into the Steeple-house-Yard a Professor came to me and asked If I would not go into the Church as he called it And I seeing no convenient Place abroad to stand to speak unto the People from went in and stood up in a Seat after the People were settled The Priest came in also but did not go up to his Pulpit So the Lord opened my Mouth and I declared his Everlasting Truth and Word of Life to the People directing them to the Spirit of God in themselves by which they might know God and Christ and the Scriptures and come to have heavenly Fellowship in the Spirit And I declared to them that Every one that cometh into the World was enlightened by Christ the Life by which Light they might see their Sins and Christ who was come to save them from their Sins and died for them And if they came to walk in this Light they might therein see Christ to be the Author of their Faith and the Finisher thereof their Shepherd to feed them their Priest to teach them and their great Prophet to open divine Mysteries unto them and to be always present with them I opened also unto them in the Openings of the Lord the first Covenant shewing them the Figures and the Substance of those Figures and so bringing them on to Christ the New Covenant I also manifested unto them that there had been a Night of Apostacy since the Apostles days but that now the Everlasting Gospel was preached again which brought
old so that they were able to confound a Priest that might come to the Grates to dispute But the Jailer was very Cruel and the Vnder-Jailer very abusive both to me and to Friends that came to see me For he would beat Friends with a great Cudgel that did but come to the Window to look in upon me I could get up to the Grate where sometimes I took in my Meat at which the Jailer was often offended One Time he came in a great Rage and fell a beating me with his great Cudgel though I was not at the Grate at that time and as he beat me he cried Come out of the Window though I was then far enough from it Now while he struck me I was made to sing in the Lord's Power and that made him Rage the more Then he went and fetched a Fiddler and brought him in where I was and set him to play thinking to vex me thereby But while he played I was moved in the everlasting Power of the Lord God to sing and my Voice drowned the Noise of the Fiddle and struck and confounded them and made them give over Fiddling and go their ways Justice Benson's Wife was moved of the Lord to come to visit me and to Eat no Meat but what she Eat with me at the Bars of the Dungeon-Window She was afterwards herself Imprisoned at York when she was great with Child for speaking to a Priest and was kept in Prison and not suffered to go out when the time of her Travail was come so she was delivered of her Child in the Prison She was an honest tender Woman and continued faithful to the Truth until she died Whilst I was in the Dungeon at Carlisle one James Parnel a little Lad of about Sixteen Years of Age came to see me and was Convinced And the Lord quickly made him a powerful Minister of the Word of Life and many were turned to Christ by him though he lived not long For travelling into Essex in the Work of the Ministry in the Year 1655 he was Committed to Colchester-Castle where he endured very great Hardships and Sufferings being put by the Cruel Jailer into a Hole in the Castle-wall called the Oven so high from the Ground that he went up to it by a Ladder which being six Foot too short he was fain to climb from the Ladder to the Hole by a Rope that was fastned above And when Friends would have given him a Cord and a Basket to have drawn up his Victuals in the Inhuman Jailer would not suffer them but forced him to go down and up by that short Ladder and Rope to fetch his Victuals which for a long time he did or else he might have famished in the Hole At length his Limbs being much benummed with lying in that Place yet being constrained to go down to take up some Victuals as he came up the Ladder again with his Victuals in one hand and catched at the Rope with the other he missed the Rope and fell down from a very great height upon the Stones by which Fall he was exceedingly wounded in his Head and Arms and his Body much bruised and he died in a short Time after And when he was dead the wicked Professors to cover their own Cruelty writ a Book of him and said He fasted himself to Death Which was an abominable Falshood and was manifested so to be by another Book which was written in Answer to that and was called The Lamb's Defence against Lies Now when I saw that I was not like to be brought forth to a publick Hearing and Trial although I had before Answered in Writing the particular Matters charged against me at the Time of my first Examination and Commitment I was moved to send forth the following Paper as a publick Challenge to all those that did belie the Truth and me behind my Back to come forth and make good their Charge IF any in Westmorland or Cumberland or elswhere that profess Christianity and pretend to love God and Christ are not satisfied concerning the things of God which I who am called George Fox have spoken and declared let them declare and publish their Dissatisfaction in Writing and not back-bite nor lie nor persecute in secret This I demand of you all in the presence of the living God as ye will answer it to him For the Exaltation of the Truth and the Confounding of the Deceit is this given forth To that of God in your Consciences I speak declare or write your Dissatisfactions to any of them whom you call Quakers that Truth may be exalted and All may come to the Light with which Christ hath enlightned every one that cometh into the World that nothing may be hid in Darkness in Prisons Holes or Corners but that all things may be brought to the Light of Christ and by the Light of Christ may be tried This am I moved of the Lord to write and send forth to be set upon the Market-Crosses in Westmorland and elswhere To the Light of Christ in you I speak that none of you may speak evil of the things of God which you know not nor act contrary to the Light that gave forth the Scriptures lest you be found Fighters against God and the Hand of the Lord be turned against you G. F. While I thus lay in the Dungeon at Carlisle the Report that was raised at the time of the Assize That I should be put to Death was gone out far and near insomuch that the Parliament then sitting which I think was called the Little-Parliament hearing That a Young-man at Carlisle was to die for Religion caused a Letter to be sent down to the Sheriff and Magistrates concerning me And much about the same Time I writ also to the Justices at Carlisle that had cast me into Prison and that persecuted Friends at the Instigation of the Priests for Tithes expostulating the Matter with them thus Friends Thomas Craston and Cuthbert Studholm YOur Noise is gone up to London before the sober People What Imprisoning what Gagging what Havock and Spoiling the Goods of People have you made within these few Years unlike Men as though you had never read the Scriptures or had not minded them Is this the End of Carlisle's Religion is this the End of your Ministry and is this the End of your Church and of your Profession of Christianity you have shamed it by your Folly and Madness and blind Zeal Was it not always the Work of the blind Guides Watchmen Leaders and false Prophets to prepare War against them that would not put into their Mouths And have not you been the Priests Pack-horses and Executioners When they spur you up to bear the Sword against the Just do not you run on against the Creatures that cannot hold up such as the Scriptures did always testify against Yet will you lift up your unholy Hands and call upon God with your polluted Lips and pretend a Fast who are full of Strife and
moved of the Lord to declare against the rest of them I appointed a Meeting in the Fields near Acton in which the Word of Life and the Saving Truth was declared freely and the Lord's Power was eminently manifested and his blessed Day exalted over all About this time I was moved to write a Paper and send it forth among the Professors a Copy of which here followeth To all Professors of Christianity ALL they that professed Jesus Christ in Words and yet heard him not when he was come they said he was a Deceiver and a Devil The Chief Priests were they that called him so So the Jews said He hath a Devil and is mad why do ye hear him But others said These are not the Words of him that hath a Devil Can a Devil open the Eyes of the Blind The Jews then doubted whether he were the Christ or no and so all like the Jews in the Knowledge in the Notion that profess a Christ without only where Christ is risen within they do not own him but do doubt of him though Christ be the same now and for ever Jesus Christ said I and my Father are one then the Jews took up Stones to stone him And where Jesus Christ is now spiritually come and made manifest the Jews such as are Christians in outward Profession only have the same hard Hearts inwardly now as they had then and do Cast Stones at him where he is Risen Jesus said For which of these good works do ye stone me The Jews answered for thy good works we stone thee not but for Blasphemy in that thou being a Man makest thy self God Jesus answered them Is it not written in your Law I said you are Gods and the Scripture cannot be broken Say ye of him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the World Thou blasphemest because I said I am the Son of God The Jews said to him say we not well that thou hast a Devil Jesus answered I honour my Father and ye dishonour me And they that were in the Synagogue rose up and thrust him out of the City and took him up to the edge of the Hill whereon their City was built to cast him down head-long The Pharisees said of him He casteth out Devils by the Prince of Devils Jesus Christ was called a Glutton and a Wine-bibber a Friend of Publicans and Sinners But Wisdom is justified of her Children The Officers when the High-priests and Pharisees asked them Why have ye not brought him said Never Man spake like this Man The Pharisees said Are ye also deceived Do any of the Rulers or of the Pharisees believe on him 1654. London but this People which know not the Law are accursed Nicodemus said unto them he that came unto Jesus by Night doth our Law judge any Man before it hear him When Stephen confessed Jesus the Substance of all Figures and Types and was brought before the Chief-Priests to his Trial he told them The Most-High dwelleth not in Temples made with Hands and brought the Prophets Words to witneâ—s and told them They were stiff-necked and uncircumcised in Heart and Ears and always resisted the Holy Ghost as their Fathers had done Stephen was full of the Holy Ghost and said he saw Jesus and they ran upon him and stoned him to Death as he was calling upon the Lord. When Paul Confessed Jesus Christ and his Resurrection Festus said he was Mad When Paul preached the Resurrection some mocked The Jews perswaded the People and they stoned him and drew him out of the City thinking he had been dead The Jews stirred up the Gentiles to make their Minds Evil-affected towards the Brethren The Jews stirred up the Devout and Honourable Women and the Chief of the City and raised up Persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them out of their Coasts And there was an Assault made both of the Gentiles and of the Jews with their Rulers to use them despitefully and to stone them In like manner all in the nature of those Jews now whose Religion stands in Notions do stir up the Rulers and do stir up the ignorant People and incense them against Jesus Christ where he is risen to stone them all with one Consent in whom he is risen This is that the Scripture might be fulfilled and the blindness of the People might be discovered And the same Power now is made manifest and doth overturn the World as did overturn the World to the exalting of the Lord and to the pulling down of the Kingdom of Satan and of this World and setting up his own Kingdom to his everlasting Praise The Lord is now exalting Himself and throwing down Man's self The Proud one 's Head is aloft fearing he should lose his Pride and his Crown the Priests they incense the ignorant People for fear their Trade should go down and the Professors they shew forth what is in them being full of Rage which shews that Jesus Christ the Substance is not there but a stony Heart to stone the Precious where it is risen The Carnal Mind feeds upon the outward Letter and Earth feeds upon Earth and that Vine-yard is not dressed but is full of Briars and Nettles and Ravenous Beasts Swine and Dogs Wolves and Lions and all venemous Creatures lodge in that Habitation That House is foul and is not swept And these are the Persecutors of the Just and Enemies of the Truth and the Enemies of Christ These are Blasphemers of God and his Truth These are they that call upon God with their Lips but their Hearts are far from him These are they that feed on Lies Priests and People These are they that Incense all the People and stir up Envy for it begets its own one like it self These are they that are the Waves of the Sea foaming out their own Shame These are they that have double Eyes whose Bodies are full of Darkness These are they that paint themselves with the Prophets with Christ's and with the Apostles Words most fair whited Walls you are painted Sepulchres you are Murderers of the Just you are Your Eyes are double your Minds are double your Hearts are double Ye Flatterers Repent from your carnal Ends who are full of Mischief pretending God and Godliness taking him for your Cloke But he will uncover you and he hath uncovered you to his Children He will make you bare and discover your Secrets and take off your Crown and take away your Mantle and your Vail and strip you of your Cloathing that your Nakedness may appear and how you sit deceiving the Nations Your Abomination and your Falseness is now made manifest to them who are of God who in his Power Triumph over you Rejoice over you the Beast the Dragon the false Prophet the Seducer the Hypocrite the Mother of all Harlots now thou must have thy Cup double Give it to her double Sing over her ye Righteous Ones sing over them all ye Saints Triumph in Glory Triumph over
the Rider hath on his own who perhaps hath a Ring in his Ear too and so go to Horse-racing to spoil the Creatures Oh these are Gentlemen indeed these are bred up Gentlemen these are brave Fellows and they must take their Recreation for Pleasures are lawful And these in their Sports set up their Shouts like unto the wild Asses they are like unto the Kine or Beasts when they are put to Grass Lowing when they are full And here is the Glorying of them before-mentioned but it is in the Flesh not in the Lord These are bad Christians and shew that they are gluttoned with the Creatures and then the Flesh rejoiceth And here is bad breeding of Youth and young Women who are carried away with the Vanities of the Mind in their own Inventions Pride Arrogancy Lust Gluttony Vncleanness so Eat and Drink and rise up to Play This is the Generation which God is not well pleased withall but their Eyes are full of Adultery who cannot cease from Evil. These be they that live in Pleasures upon Earth These be they who are dead while they live who glory not in the Lord but in the Flesh These be they that be from the Life that the Scriptures were given forth from who live in the Fashions and Vanities of the World out of Truth 's Adorning in the Devil 's Adorning who is out of the Truth and not in the Adorning of the Lord which is a meek and quiet Spirit which is with the Lord of great price But this Ornament and this Adorning is not put on by them that be adorned and have the Ornament of him that is out of the Truth and that is not accepted with the Lord which is accepted in their Eye G. F. Moreover it came upon me about this time from the Lord to write a short Paper and send forth as An Exhortation and Warning to the Pope and all Kings and Rulers in Europe a Copy of which here follows Friends YE Heads and Rulers and Kings and Nobles of all sorts Be not bitter nor hasty in persecuting the Lambs of Christ neither turn your selves against the Visitation of God and his tender Love and Mercies from on high who sent to visit you lest the Lord's Hand Arm and Power take hold swiftly upon you which is now stretched over the World that is turned against Kings and shall turn Wise Men backward and will bring off their Crowns to the Dust and lay them low and level with the Earth God and Christ will be King who gives Crowns to whomsoever obey his Will and this is the Age wherein the Lord God of Heaven and Earth is staining the Pride of Man and defacing his Glory So you that profess Christ and do not love your Enemies but on the contrary do shut up and Imprison them who are his Friends these be Marks that you be out of his Life and do not love Christ who do not the things he commands The day of the Lord's Wrath is kindling and his Fire is going forth to burn up the Wicked which will leave neither Root nor Branch They that have lost their Habitation with God be out of the Spirit that gave forth the Scriptures and from the Light that Jesus Christ hath enlightned them withall and so from the true Foundation Therefore be swift to hear and slow to speak and slower to persecute For the Lord is bringing his People to himself from off all the World's Ways to Christ the Way and from off all the World's Churches to the Church which is in God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and from off all the World's Teachers to teach his People himself by his Spirit and from off all the World's Images into the Image of himself and from their Likenesses into his own Likeness and from off all the World's Crosses of Stone or Wood into his Power which is the Cross of Christ For all these Images and Crosses and Likenesses are among them that are Apostatized from the Image of God the Power of God which is the Cross of Christ which now fathoms the World and is throwing down that which is contrary to it which Power of God never changes Let this go to the Kings of France and of Spain and to the Pope for them to prove all things and to hold that which is good And first to prove that they have not quenched the Spirit for the mighty Day of the Lord is come and coming upon all Wickedness and Ungodliness and Unrighteousness of Men who will plead with all Flesh by Fire and by Sword And the Truth and the Crown of Glory and the Scepter of Righteousness over all shall be exalted which shall Answer that of God in every one upon the Earth tho' they be from it Christ is come a Light into the World and doth enlighten every one that cometh into the World that all through him might believe He that feeleth the Light that Christ hath enlightened him withal he feeleth Christ in his Mind and the Cross of Christ which is the Power of God and he shall not need to have a Cross of Wood or Stone to put him in mind of Christ or of his Cross which is the Power of God manifest in the inward Parts G. F. Besides this I was moved to write a Letter to the Protector so called To warn him of the mighty Work the Lord hath to do in the Nations and shaking of them and to beware of his own Wit Craft Subtilty and Policy or seeking any By-Ends to himself There was about this time an Order for the Trying of Ministers so called and for Approving or Ejecting them out of their Places or Benefices whereupon I writ a Paper To the Justices and other Commissioners who were appointed to that Work Of which Paper the Copy here follows Friends YOU that be Justices and in Commission to Try Ministers who have so long been in the Vine-yard of God now see whether they be such as are mentioned in the Scriptures whom the Prophets Christ and the Apostles did Dis-approve of And if they be such as they Dis-approved then see how ye can stand Approved in the sight of God to let such go into his Vine-yard and Approve of them who will admire your Persons because of Advantage and if you do not give them advantage they will not admire your Persons Such Jude speaks of See if they be not such as teach for filthy Lucre for the love of Money Covetous such as love themselves who have a Form of Godliness but deny the Power from such the Apostle bids Turn away The Apostle said Their Mouths should be stopped who served not the Lord Jesus but their own Bellies being Evil Beasts slow Bellies who mind Earthly Things Paul gave Timothy an Order to Try Ministers by He said They must not be Covetous nor given to Wine nor filthy Lucre nor a Novice lest being lifted up into Pride they fall into the Condemnation of the Devil These he was to
having been broken up upon the Seventh Day before at Night as they said We told them We were honest and innocent Men and abhorred such things Yet they Apprehended us 1655. Norfolk and set a Guard with Halberts and Pikes upon us that Night making some of those Friendly People with others to watch us Next Morning we were up betimes and the Constable with his Guaâ— â—arried us before a Justice of Peace about five Miles off and we took Two or three of the sufficient men of the Town with us who had been with us at the great Meeting at Captain Lawrence's and could testify that we lay both the seventh Day Night and the first Day Night at Captain Lawrence's and it was the seventh Day Night that they said the House was broken up Now the Reader is to be Informed that during the time that I was a Prisoner at the Mermaid at Charing-Cross of which an Account is given before this Captain Lawrence brought several Independent-Justices to see me there with whom I had a great deal of Discourse which they took Offence at For they pleaded for Imperfection and to Sin as long as they lived but did not like to hear of Christ's Teaching his People himself and making People as Clear whilst here upon the Earth as Adam and Eve were before they fell Now these Justices had plotted together this mischief against me in the Country pretending an House was broken up that so they might send their Hue and Cry after me so great was their Malice against the Righteous and the Just They were vexed also and troubled to hear of the great Meeting at John Lawrence's aforesaid for there was a Colonel Convinced there that Day that lived and died in the Truth But Providence so ordered it that the Constable carried us to a Justice about five miles onward in our way towards Lyn who was not an Independent-Justice as the rest were When we were brought before him he began to be angry because we did not put off our Hats to him I told him I had been before the Protector and he was not offended at my Hat and why should he be offended at it who was but one of his Servants Then he read the Hue and Cry And I told him That that Night wherein the House was said to be broken up we were at Captain Lawrence's House and that we had several Men here present could Testify the Truth thereof Thereupon the Justice having Examined us and them said He believed we were not the men that had broken the House but he was sorry he said that he had no more against us We told him He ought not to be sorry for not having Evil against us but rather to be glad for to Rejoice when he got Evil against People as for house-breaking or the like was not a good mind in him It was a good while yet before he would Resolve Whether to let us go or send us to Prison and the wicked Constable stirred him up against us telling him We had good Horses and that if it pleased him he would carry us to Norwich-Jail But we took hold of the Justice's Confession That he believed we were not the men that had broken the House and after we had admonished him to Fear the Lord in his Day the Lord's Power came over him so that he let us go and so their Snare was broken A great People were after ward gathered to the Lord in that Town where I was moved to speak to them in the Street and from whence the Hue and Cry came Lyn. Being set at Liberty we travelled to Lyn whither we came about the third Hour in the Afternoon And having set up our Horses we met with Joseph Fuce who was an Ensign and we wisht him to speak to as many of the People of the Town as he could 1655. Lyn. that feared God and to the Captains and Officers to come together which he did And we had a very glorious Meeting amongst them and turned them to the Spirit of God by which they might know God and Christ and understand the Scriptures and so learn of God and of Christ as the Prophets and Apostles did Many were Convinced there that Day and a fine Meeting there is of them that are come off from the Hirelings Teaching and sit under the Teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lyn being then a Garrison we desired Joseph Fuce to get us the Gate opened by the third hour next Morning for we had forty Miles to ride next day And by that means getting out early we came next Day by the Eleventh or Twelfth hour to a Town near the Isle of Ely called Sutton where Amor Stoddart Sutton and the Friends that were with him met us again A multitude of People was gathered thither and there were no less than four Priests The Priest of the Town made a great Jangle but the Lord's Power so confounded him that he went away The other three Priests stayed and one of them was Convinced One of the other Two whilst I was speaking came to lean upon me but I bid him Sit down seeing he was so slothful A great Convincement there was that Day and many hundreds were turned from the Darkness to the Light and from the Power of Satan unto God and from the Spirit of Error to the Spirit of Truth to be led thereby into all Truth People came to this Meeting from Huntington and beyond and the Mayor's Wife of Cambridge was there also A glorious Meeting it was and many were settled under Christ's Teaching and knew him their Shepherd to feed them for the Word of Life was freely declared and gladly received by them The Meeting ended in the Power of the Lord and in Peace and after it was done I walked out and went into a Garden where I had not been long before a Friend came to me and told me Several Justices were come to break up the Meeting But many of the People were gone away so they missed of their Design and after they had stayed a while they went away also in a Fret That Evening I passed to Cambridge Cambridg And when I came into the Town the Scholars hearing of me were up and were exceeding Rude I kept on my Horse's Back and rid through them in the Lord's Power but they Vnhorst Amor Stoddart before he could get to the Inn. When we were in the Inn they were so rude there in the Courts and in the Streets that the Miners the Colliers and Carters could never be Ruder The People of the House asked us What we would have for Supper as is the usual way of Inn-keepers Supper said I were it not that the Lord's Power is over them these Rude Scholars look as if they would pluck us in pieces and make a Supper of us They knew I was so against their Trade the Trade of Preaching which they were there as Apprentices to learn that they raged as had as ever
tread over them in that which lets you see to the VVorlds End and the utmost Parts of the Earth Reign and Rule with Christ whose Scepter and Throne is now set up whose Dominion is over all to the Ends of the Earth whose Dominion is an everlasting Dominion Throne an everlasting Throne Kingdom an everlasting Kingdom Power above all Powers Therefore this is the Word of the Lord God to you all Keep in the wisdom of God that spreads over all the Earth the wisdom of the Creation that is Pure from Above not destructive For now shall Salvation go out of Zion to Judge the Mount of Esau and now shall the Law go forth from Jerusalem to Answer the Principle of God in all to hew down all Inventors and Inventions For all the Princes of the Earth is but as Air to the Power of the Lord God which you are in and have tasted of Therefore Live in it that is the Word of the Lord God to you all and do not Abuse it And keep down and Low and take heed of false Joys that will Change Bring all into the Worship of God Plow up the fallow Ground thresh and get out the Corn that the Seed the Wheat may be gathered into the Barn that to the Beginning all People may come to Christ that was before the VVorld was made For the Chaff is come upon the VVheat by Transgression he that treadeth it out is out of Transgression and fathoms Transgression and puts a difference between the precious and the vile and can pick out the Wheat from the Tares and gather into the Garner so brings to the lively Hope the Immortal Soul into God out of which it came And none worships God but who comes to the Principle of God which they have transgressed and none are plowed up but who comes to the Principle of God in him that he hath transgressed then he doth service to God then is the planting and the watering and the Increase from God cometh So the Ministers of the Spirit must minister to the Spirit that is in Prison which hath been in Captivity in every one that with the Spirit of Christ People may be led out of Captivity up to God the Father of Spirits and do service to him and to have Vnity with him with the Scriptures and one with another And this is the Word of the Lord God to you all and a Charge to you all in the presence of the living God Be Patterns be Examples in all Countries Places Islands Nations where-ever you come that your Carriage and Life may preach among all sorts of People and to them then you will come to walk Chearfully over the World Answering that of God in every one whereby in them ye may be a Blessing and make the Witness of God in them to bless you Then to the Lord God you will be a sweet Savour and a Blessing Spare no Deceit lay the Sword upon it go over it Keep your selves clear of the Bloods of all Men either by Word or Writing or Speaking and keep your selves clean that you may stand in your Throne and every one have his Lot and stand in the Lot in the Ancient of Days And so the Blessing of the Lord be with you and keep you over all the Idolatrous Worships and Worshippers let them know the Living God for Teachings Churches Worships must be thrown down with the power of the Lord God set up by Man's earthy Vnderstanding Knowledge and Wills For this all must be thrown down with that which gave forth Scripture and who be in that Reigns over it all That is the Word of the Lord God to you all In that is God Worshipped that brings to declare his Will and brings to the Church in God the Ground and Pillar of Truth for now is the mighty Day of the Lord appeared and the Arrows of the Almighty gone forth which shall stick in the Hearts of the Wicked Now will I Arise saith the Lord God Almighty to trample and Thunder down Deceit which hath long reigned and stained the Earth Now will I have my Glory out of every one The Lord God Almighty over all in his Strength and Power you keep to his Glory that you may come to Answer that of God in every one in the World Proclaim the mighty Day of the Lord of Fire and Sword who will be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth and keep in the Life and Power of the Lord God that the Inhabitants of the Earth may tremble before you That the Lord God's Power and Majesty may be Admired among the Hypocrites and Heathens and ye in the Wisdom Dread Life Terror and Dominion Preserved to his Glory that nothing may Rule or Reign but Power and Life it self and in the Wisdom of God ye may be preserved in it And this is the Word of the Lord God to you all and the Call is now Out of Transgression the Spirit bids Come and the Call is now from all false Worships and Gods and from all Inventions and dead Works to serve the living God and the Call to Repentance to the Amendment of Life whereby Righteousness may be brought forth which shall go throughout the Earth Therefore ye that be Chosen and Faithful which are with the Lamb go through your Work faithfully and in the Strength and Power of the Lord and be obedient to the Power for that will save you out of the Hands of unreasonable Men and preserve you over the World to himself hereby you may live in the Kingdom that stands in Power which hath no end where glory and life is For Tho. Mounts G. F. After the Assize the Sheriff with some Souldiers came to guard a Woman to Execution that was sentenced to die and we had a great deal of Discourse with them One of them wickedly said That Christ was as passionate a Man as any that lived upon the Earth for which wicked Saying we rebuked him Another time we asked the Jailer what Doings there were at the Sessions and he said Small Matters only about Thirty for Bastardy We thought it very strange that they who professed themselves Christians should make small Matters of such things But this Jailer was very bad himself and I often admonished him to Sobriety but he would Abuse People that came to Visit us Edward Pyot had a Cheese sent him from Bristol from his Wife and the Jailer took the Cheese from him and carried it to the Mayor to search it for Treasonable Letters as he said And though they found no Treason in the Cheese they kept it from us This Gaoler might have been made Rich if he had carried himself Civilly but he sought his own Ruin Which soon after came upon him For the next Year he was turned out of his Place and for some wickedness was cast into the Jail himself and there begged of our Friends And for some Vnruliness in his Carriage he was by the succeeding Jailer put into Doomsdale and
open your Understandings that you may see this great Power of the Lord which he is now manifesting among his Children in this his Day that ye may not withstand it in our Friends that are come into the Power of God and to God and know him by whom the world was made by whom all things were Created that were created and there was not any thing made of all that was made but what was made for him and to him and by him who is the Power of God who doth Enlighten every Man that cometh into the world Now our Friends being come to this Light which cometh from Christ and having received Power from him by whom all things were Created who hath all Power in Heaven and Earth given to him who is the wisdom of God we have received wisdom and power from him by which the Lord doth give us to know how to use and order the Creatures to the glory of him who is the Creator of all things So our Friends here are taught of the Lord to be diligent serving him and who come into the Life the Scriptures were given forth from are given up to serve the Lord And of this I have in all your Consciences a Witness So if thou open the Prison-Door we shall not stay there If thou send a Liberate and set us free we shall not stay in Prison for Israel is to go out free whose freedom is purchased by the Power of God and the Blood of Jesus But who goeth out of the Power of God loseth his Freedom The 13th of the 6th Month. 1656. George Fox and the rest who are Sufferers for the Truth in Lanceston-Gaol After this Major Desborow came to the Castle-green and there plaid at Bowles with the Justices and others And several Friends were moved to go to him and admonish him and them of their spending their Time so vainly bidding them Consider That though they professed themselves to be Christians yet they gave themselves up to their Pleasures and kept the Servants of God mean while in Prison and told them The Lord would plead with them and visit them for such things But notwithstanding what was writ or said unto him he went away and left us in prison Yet we understood afterwards that he left the Business to Colonel Bennet who had the Command of the Gaol For sometime after Bennet would have set us at Liberty if we would have paid his Gaoler's Fees But we told him We could give the Gaoler no Fees for we were innocent Sufferers and how could they expect Fees of us who had suffered so long wrongfully After a while this Colonel Bennet coming to Town sent for us to an Inn and insisted again upon Fees which we refused And at last the Power of the Lord came so over him that he freely set us at Liberty It was on the Thirteenth Day of the Seventh Month 1656. that we were set at Liberty and we had been Prisoners Nine Weeks at the first Assize called the Lent-Assize which was in the Spring of the Year Observing while I was here a Prisoner how much the People they especially who were called the Gentry were addicted and given to Pleasures and vain Recreations I was moved before I left the Place to give forth several Papers as a Warning unto them and unto all that so Mispend their Time One of which was thus directed This to go abroad among them who are given to Pleasures and Wantonness SOdom and Gomorrah their Sins were Pride Fulness of Bread and abundance of Idleness whose filthy Conversation vexed the righteous Soul of the Just Lot Day by Day and would not take Warning on whom God sent Fire and turned them into Ashes And in Spiritual Sodom and Egypt was our Lord Jesus Christ crucified And it is written The People sate down to eat and to drink and rose up to play with whom God was not well-pleased and there fell three and twenty thousand in one Day These the Apostle commanded the Saints that they should not follow for these things happened to them for Examples and are written for our Admonition And God spared not the Old World but reserving Noah a Preacher of Righteousness brought the Flood upon the World of the Ungodly making them an Example to all that after should live Vngodly Mark ye Vngodly ones who are as natural brute Beasts who speak great swelling Words of Vanity alluring through the Lusts of the Flesh through much Wantonness as they that count it Pleasure to Riot in the Day-time sporting your selves with your own deceivings ye shall receive the Reward of Vnrighteousness Ye are as Dogs and Swine turned to the Vomit and wallowing in the Mire speaking evil of things that ye know not and unless ye Repent ye shall utterly perish in your own Corruptions Ye have lived in Pleasure on the Earth and been wanton ye have nourished your Hearts as in a Day of Slaughter ye have condemned and killed the Just and he doth not resist you Go to Weep and Houl for the Misery that is coming upon you and she that liveth in Pleasures is dead while she liveth God condemned the Cities of Sodom and Gomorrah making them an Example to all those that after should live Vngodly in the wicked filthy Conversation Mark here is your Example Hear this ye that are given to Pleasures and read your Examples G. F. Another Paper upon my taking Notice of the Bowlers that came to sport themselves in the Castle-green was as followeth THE VVord of the Lord to all you vain and idle-minded People who are Lovers of Sports Pleasures and foolish Exercises and Recreations as you call them Consider of your Ways what it is you are doing Was this the End of your Creation Did God make all things for you and you to serve your Lusts and Pleasures Did not the Lord make all things for you and you for himself to fear and worship him in Spirit and in Truth in Righteousness and true Holiness But where is your Service of God so long as your Hearts run after Lusts and Pleasures ye cannot serve God and the foolish Pleasures of the World as Bowling Drinking Hunting Hawking and the like If these have your Hearts God will not have your Lips Consider for 't is true Therefore from the Lord must you all witness VVo and Misery Tribulation and VVrath who continue in the Love and Practice of your vain Sports Lusts and Pleasures Now is the Day when all every-where are exhorted to Repentance O foolish People wicked and slow of Heart to believe the Threatnings of the Great Jehovah against the wicked What will you do in the Day of the Lord 's fierce wrath that makes haste to Come upon the world of ungodly Men And what good have your foolish Sports and Delights done you now they are past Or what good will they do you when the Lord calls for your Souls Therefore all now Awake from Sleep and see where you are And let the Light
at our Meeting in the Orchard As I was going along into the Orchard the People told me That Paul Gwin the rude jangling Baptist was going to the Meeting But I bid them Never heed It was nothing to me who went to it When I was come into the Orchard I stood upon the Stone that Friends used to stand on when they spake and I was moved of the Lord to put off my Hat and to stand a pretty while and let the People look at me for some Thousands of People were there While I thus stood silent this Rude Baptist began to find Fault with my Hair but I said nothing to him Then he run on into Words and at last Ye wise men of of Bristol said he I strange at you that you will stand here and hear a Man speak and affirm that which he cannot make good Then the Lord opened my Mouth for as yet I had not spoken a Word And I asked the People Whether they ever heard me speak before or ever saw me before And I bid them ' Take notice what kind of Man this was amongst them that should so Impudently say That I spake and Affirmed that which I could not make good and yet neither he nor they ever heard me or saw me before Therefore that was a lying envious malicious Spirit that spake in him and it was of the Devil and not of God Therefore I charged him in the Dread and Power of the Lord to be silent And the Mighty Power of God came over him and all his Company And then a glorious peaceable Meeting we had and the Word of Life was divided amongst them and they were turned from the Darkness to the Light and to Jesus their Saviour And the Scriptures were largely opened to them and the Traditions and Rudiments and ways 1656. Bristol and Doctrines of Men were laid open before the People which they had been in and they were turned to the Light of Christ that with it they might see them and see him to lead them out of them I opened also to them the Types and Figures and Shadows of Christ in the time of the Law and shewed them That Christ was come and had ended the Types and Shadows and Tithes and Oaths and put down Swearing and had set up Yea and Nay instead of it and a free Ministry for he was now come to Teach People himself and his heavenly Day was springing from on high So for many hours did I declare the Word of Life amongst them in the Eternal Power of God that by him they might come up into the Beginning and be Reconciled to him And having turned them to the Spirit of God in themselves that would lead into all Truth I was moved to pray in the mighty Power of God and the Lord's Power came over all But when I had done this Fellow began to babble again and John Audland was moved to bid him Repent and fear God So his own People and Followers being ashamed of him he passed away and never came again to disturb the Meeting And the Meeting brake up quietly and the Lord's Power and Glory shined over all a blessed Day it was and the Lord had the Praise After a while this Paul Gwin went beyond the Seas and many Years after I met with him again at Barbado's of which in its Place From Bristol we returned to Edward Pyot's where we had a great Meeting and the Lord's Power was over all and Truth was declared and spread abroad and many were turned to Christ Jesus their Life their Prophet to teach them their Shepherd to feed them and their Bishop to oversee them After the Meeting was done I had some Reasoning with some Professors and the Lord's Truth and Power came over them Slattenford From Edward Pyot's we passed to Slattenford where we had a very large Meeting Edward Pyot and another Friend being still with me and a great turning of People there was to the Lord Jesus Christ their Teacher and People were glad that they were brought to know their Way and their free Teacher and their Saviour Christ Jesus Wiltshire On the First-day following we went to Nathaniel Crips his House who had been a Justice of Peace in Wiltshire where it was supposed there were between Two and Three Thousand People at a Meeting and all was quiet And the mighty Power of God was manifest and People were turned to the Grace and Truth in their Hearts that came by Jesus Christ which would Teach them to deny all Vngodliness and wordly Lusts and to live soberly and godly in this present world So that every Man and Woman might know the Grace of God which had appeared to all Men and which was saving and sufficient to bring their Salvation This was to be their Teacher the Grace of God which would teach them how to live what to do and what to deny and would season their Words and establish their Hearts And this was a free Teacher to every one of them so that they might come to be Heirs of this Grace and of Christ by whom it came who hath ended the Prophets and the Priests that took Tithes and the Jewish Temple And as for these Hireling-Priests that take Tithes now 1656. Wiltshire and their Temples which Priests were made aâ— Schools and Colledges of Man's setting up and not by Christ they with all their Inventions were to be denied For the Apostles denied the true Priesthood and Temple which God had commanded after Christ had put an End thereto So the Scriptures and the Truths therein contained were largely opened and the People turned to the Spirit of God in their Hearts that by it they might be led into all Truth and understand the Scriptures and know God and Christ and come to have Unity with them and one with another in the same Spirit And the People went away generally satisfied and were glad that they were turned to Christ Jesus their Teacher and Saviour The next day we went from thence to Marlborough Marleborough where we had a little Meeting And the Sessions being in that Town that day they were granting forth a Warrant to send for me But one Justice Stooks being at the Sessions stopt them telling them There was a Meeting at his House yesterday at which were several Thousands So the Warrant was stopt and our Meeting was quiet and several received Christ Jesus their Teacher and came into the New Covenant and abode in it From hence we went to Newberry where we had a large Newberry blessed Meeting and several were Convinced there Thence we passed on to Reading where we had a large Reading precious Meeting in the Lord's Power amongst the Plants of God and many of the World came in and were reached and added to the Meeting and all was quiet and the Lord's Power was over all Kingston upon Thames We went from Reading to Kingston upon Thames where a few came in to
Hand and threw it on the Table before me to see whether I would speak against it or no I took no notice of it but declared the Truth to her and she was reached There came in many Baptists also who were very rude but the Lord's Power came over them so that they went away confounded Then there came in another sort and one of them said He would dispute with me and for Argument's sake would deny There was a God I told him He was one of those fools that said in his Heart There is no God but he should know him in the Day of his Judgment So he went his way and a fine precious time we had afterward with several People of Account and the Lord's Power came over all William Osburn was with me And Colonel Lidcot's Wife and William Welch's Wife and several of the Officers themselves also that were there were convinced at that Time Now Edward Billing and his Wife were at that time separated and lived apart and she being reached by Truth and become loving to Friends we sent for her Husband and he came and the Lord's Power reached unto them both and they joined together in it and agreed to live together in Love and Unity as Man and Wife After this we went back to Edenborough again where many Thousands of People were gathered together with abundance of Priests among them about burning of a Witch and I was moved to declare the Day of the Lord amongst them Which when I had done I went from thence to our Meeting whither many rude People and Baptists came The Baptists began to vaunt with their Logick and Syllogisms but I was moved in the Lord's Power to thresh their chaffy Edenborough light minds and shewed the People That after that fallacious way of discoursing they might make White seem Black and Black seem White as That because a Cock had two Legs And each of them had two Legs therefore they were all Cocks Thus they might turn any thing into Lightness and Vanity but it was not the Way of Christ or his Apostles to Teach Speak or Reason after that manner Hereupon those Baptists went their way and after they were gone we had a blessed Meeting in the Lord's Power which was over all I mentioned before that many of the Scotch Priests being greatly disturbed at the Spreading of Truth and Loss of their Hearers thereby were gone up to Edenborough to Petition the Council against me Now when I came back from the Meeting to the Inn where I lodged an Officer belonging to the Council came to me and brought me the following Order Thursday the 8th of October 1657. at his Highness's Council in Scotland Ordered THat George Fox do appear before the Council on Tuesday the 13th of October next in the Fore-noon E. Downing Clerk of the Council When he had delivered me the Order he asked me Whether I would Appear or no I did not tell him whether I would or no but asked him If he had not forged the Order He said No it was a real Order from the Council and he was sent as their Messenger with it When the Time came I Appeared and was had up into a great Room where many great Persons came and looked at me After a while the Door-keeper came and had me into the Council-Chamber Edenborough Council and as I was going in he took off my Hat I asked him Why he did so and who was there that I might not go in with my Hat on for I told him I had been before the Protector with my Hat on But he hung up my Hat and had me in before them When I was come in and had stood a while and they said nothing to me I was moved of the Lord to say Peace be amongst you and Wait in the Fear of God that ye may receive his Wisdom from above by which all things were made and created that by it ye may all be Ordered and may Order all things under your Hands to God's Glory After I had done speaking they asked me What was the Occasion of my coming into that Nation I told them I came to visit the Seed of God which had long lain in Bondage under Corruption and the Intent of my Coming was that all in the Nation that did profess the Scriptures the Words of Christ and of the Prophets and Apostles 1657. Scotland Edenborough Council might come to the Light Spirit and Power which they were in who gave them forth that so in and by the Spirit they might understand the Scriptures and know Christ and God aright and have fellowship with them and one with another They asked me Whether I had any outward Business there I said Nay Then they asked me How long I intended to stay in the Country I told them I should say little to that My Time was not to be long yet in my freedom in the Lord I stood in the Will of him that sent me Then they bid me withdraw and the Door-keeper took me by the Hand and led me forth In a little time they sent for me in again and told me I must depart the Nation of Scotland by that day Seven-night I asked them Why What had I done What was my Transgression that they passed such a Sentence upon me to depart out of the Nation They told me They would not dispute with me Then I desired them to hear what I had to say to them but they said They would not hear me I told them Pharaoh heard Moses and Aaron and yet he was an Heathen and no Christian and Herod heard John Baptist and they should not be worse than these But they cried Withdraw withdraw Whereupon the Door-keeper took me again by the Hand and led me out Then I returned to my Inn and continued still in Edenborough visiting Friends there and thereabouts and strengthning them in the Lord. And after a little time I writ a Letter to the Council to lay before them their Vnchristian Dealing in banishing me an innocent Man that sought their Salvation and Eternal Good A Copy of which Letter here followeth directed To the Council of Edenborough YE that sit in Council and bring before your Judgment-seat the Innocent the Just without shewing the least Cause what Evil I have done or convicting me of any Breach of any Law and afterward ye banish me out of your Nation and Country without telling me for what or what Evil I had done though I told you when ye asked me How long I would stay in the Nation That my Time was not long I spake it innocently and yet ye banish me Will not all think ye that fear God judge this to be wickedness Consider did not they sit in Council about Stephen when they stoned him to Death Did not they sit in Council about Peter and John when they haled them out of the Temple and put them out of their Council for a little Season and took Counsel together and then
to get ready their Horses in the Morning and we rode out of Town together There were with me at that time Thomas Rawlinson Alexander Parker and Robert Widders When we were come out of Town they asked me Whether I would go I told them It was upon me from the Lord to go back again to Johnston the Town Johnstons out of which we had been lately thrust and to set the Power of God and his Truth over them also Alexander Parker said he would go along with me and I wisht the other Two to stay at a Town about three Miles from Edenborough till we returned Then Alexander Parker and I got over the Water Johnstons which was about three Miles over and rid on through the Country but in the Afternoon his Horse being weak and not able to hold up with mine I put on and got into Johnston's just as they were drawing up the Bridges the Officers and Souldiers never questioning me So I rid up the Street to Capt. Davenport's House from which House we had been banished before There were many Officers with him and when I came amongst them they lifted up their Hands admiring that I should come again but I told them The Lord God had sent me amongst them again So they went their Way And the Baptists sent me a Letter by way of Challenge That they would discourse with me the next day I sent them Word I would Meet them at such an House about half a Mile out of the Town at such an Hour For I considered if I should stay in Town to discourse with them they might under pretence of discoursing with me have raised Men to put me out of the Town again as they had done before At the Time appointed I went to the Place appointed Capt. Davenport and his Son accompanying me and there I stay'd some Hours but never a one of them came But while I stay'd there waiting for them I spied Alexander Parker coming who not being able to reach the Town had lain out the Night before and when I saw him I was exceeding glad that we were met again This Captain Davenport was then loving to Friends but afterwards coming more into the Obedience to Truth he was turned out of his Place for not putting off his Hat and for saying Thou and Thee to them Now when we had waited beyond reasonable Ground to expect any of their Coming we departed And Alexander Parker being moved to go again to the Town where we had the Meeting at the Market-Cross I passed alone through the Country to Lieutenant Foster's Quarters where there were several Officers that were Convinced From thence I went up to the Town where I had left the other two Friends and they and I went back to Edenborough together When we were come to the City I bid Robert Widders follow me and in the Dread and Power of the Lord we came up to the two first Sentries and the Lord's Power came so over them that we passed by them without any Examination Then we rode up the Street to the Market-place and by the Main-guard out at the Gate by the third Sentry and so clear out at the Suburbs and there came to an Inn and set up our Horses it being the seventh Day of the Week Now I saw and felt that we had rid as it were against the Canon's Mouth or the Sword 's Point but the Lord's Power and immediate Hand carried us over the Heads of them all Next day I went up to the Meeting in the City Friends having notice that I would be at it There came many Officers and Souldiers to it and a glorious Meeting it was and the Everlasting Power of God was set over the Nation and his Son reigned in his glorious Power and all was quiet and no Man offered to meddle with me 1657. Edenborough When the Meeting was ended and I had visited Friends I came out of the City to my Inn again and the next day being the second day of the Week we set forward through the Country towards the Borders of England As we travelled along the Country I spied a Steeple-house and it struck at my Life I asked what Steeple-house it was and was Answered Dunbar that it was Dunbar When I came thither and had set up at an Inn I walked up to the Steeple-house having a Friend or two with me When we came into the Steeple-house-yard one of the chief Men of the Town was walking there So I spake to one of the Friends that was with me To go to him and tell him that about the Ninth Hour next Morning there would be a Meeting there of the People of God called Quakers of which we desired he would give notice to the People of the Town He sent me Word That they were to have a Lecture there by the Ninth Hour but that we might have our Meeting there by the Eighth Hour if we would We concluded so and desired him to give Notice of it Accordingly in the Morning both Poor and Rich came And there being a Captain of Horse quartered in the Town He and his Troopers came also so that we had a large Meeting And a glorious Meeting it was the Lord's Power being set over all After some time the Priest came and went into the Steeple-house but we being in the Steeple-house-yard most of the People staid with us And Friends were so full and their Voices so high in the Power of God that the Priest could do little in the Steeple-house but came quickly out again and stood a while and then went his Way For after I had opened to the People Where they might find Christ Jesus having turned them to the Light which he had enlightned them withal that in the Light they might see Christ that died for them and turn to him and know him to be their Saviour and free Teacher and had let them see that all the Teachers they had hitherto followed were Hirelings who made the Gospel chargeable and had shewed them the wrong Ways they had walked in in the Night of Apostacy and had directed them to Christ the new and living Way to God and had manifested unto them how they had lost the Religion and Worship which Christ set up in Spirit and Truth and had hitherto been in the Religions and Worships of Mens making and setting up and after I had turned the People to the Spirit of God which led the holy Men of God to give forth the Scriptures and shewed them that they must also come to receive and be led by the same Spirit in themselves a Measure of which was given unto every one of them if ever they came to know God and Christ and the Scriptures aright perceiving the other Friends that were with me to be full of the Power and Word of the Lord I stepped down giving way for them to declare what they had from the Lord to say unto the People Towards the latter End of
me Many of them lived in the Country and he could not tell how to send to them I told him He might acquaint them about the Town of it and send to as many in the Country as he could So the next Day we Met at the Castle there being about fourscore People to whom I declared the Truth for about the space of two Hours And the Lord's Power was over them all so that they had not Power to open their Mouths in Opposition When I had done one of them asked me a Question which I was loth to have answered for I saw it might lead into Jangling and I was unwilling to go into Jangling 1657. Nottingham for some of the People were tender yet I could not tell how well to escape it Wherefore I answered the Question and was moved forthwith to speak to Rice Jones and lay before him How that he had been the Man that had scattered such as had been Tender and some that had been Convinced and had been led out of many Vanities of the World which he had formerly judged but now he judged the Power of God in them and they being simple turned to him and so he and they were turned to be vainer than the World for many of his Followers were turned to be the greatest Foot-ball-players and Wrestlers in the Country So I told him it was the Serpent in him that had scattered and done hurt to such as were Tender towards the Lord. Nevertheless if he did wait in the Fear of God for the Seed of the Woman Christ Jesus to bruise the Serpent's Head in him that had scattered and done the hurt by the Seed Christ Jesus he coming into him he might come to gather them again by this heavenly Seed though it would be an hard work for him to gather them again out of those Vanities he had led them into At this Rice Jones said Thou liest it is not the Seed of the Woman that bruises the Serpent's Head No! said I What is it then I say it is the Law said he But said I the Scripture speaking of the Seed of the VVoman saith It shall bruise thy Head and thou shalt bruise his Heel Now hath the Law an Heel said I to be bruised Then Rice Jones and all his Company were at a stand and I was moved in the Power of the Lord to speak to him and say This Seed Christ Jesus the Seed of the VVoman which should bruise the Serpent's Head shall bruise thy Head and break you all to pieces Thus I did leave on the Heads of them the Seed Christ and not long after he and his Company scattered to pieces and several of them came to be Friends and stand to this Day For many of them had been Convinced about eight Years before but had been led aside by this Rice Jones For they denied the Inward Cross the Power of God and so went into Vanity And it was about eight Years since I had been formerly amongst them in which time I was to pass over them and by them seeing they had slighted the Lord's Truth and Power and the Visitation of his Love unto them But now was the time that I was moved to go to them again and it was of great Service for many of them were brought to the Lord Jesus Christ and were settled upon him sitting down under his Teaching and Feeding where they were kept fresh and green and the others that would not be gathered to him soon after withered This was that Rice Jones that some Years before had said I was then at the highest and should fall But poor Man he little thought how near his own Fall was We left Nottingham and went into Warwickshire 1658. Warwicksh Northamptonshire Leicestersh Bedfordsh Yearly Meeting and thence passing through some parts of Northamptonshire and Leicestershire visiting Friends and having Meetings with them as we travelled we came into Bedfordshire where we had large Gatherings in the Name of Jesus After some time we came to John Crook's House where a General Yearly Meeting for the whole Nation was appointed to be held This Meeting lasted Three Days and many Friends from most Parts of the Nation came to it so that the Inns and Towns round thereabouts were filled for many Thousands of People were at it And although there were some Disturbance by some rude People 1658. Bedfordshire Yearly Meeting that had run out from Truth yet the Lord's Power came over all and a glorious Meeting it was And the Everlasting Gospel was preached and many received it for there were many sorts of Professors came to the Meeting which Gospel brought Life and Immortality to Light in them and shined over all Then was I moved by the Power and Spirit of the Lord to open unto them the Promise of God how that it was made to the Seed not to Seeds as many but to One which Seed was Christ And that all People both Males and Females should feel this Seed in them which was Heir of the Promise that so they might all witness Christ in them the Hope of Glory the Mystery which had been hid from Ages and Generations which was revealed to the Apostles and is revealed again now after this long Night of Apostacy So that all might come up into this Seed Christ Jesus and walk in it and sit down together in the heavenly Places in Christ Jesus who was the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles and the Rock of Ages and is our Foundation now And all sitting down in him sit down in the Substance the First and the Last that changes not the Seed that bruises the Serpent's Head and was before he was who ends all the Types Figures and Shadows and is the Substance of them all in whom there is no Shadow Now these things were upon me to open unto all that they might mind and see what it is they sit down in For First They that sit down in Adam in the Fall sit down in Misery in Death in Darkness and Corruption Secondly They that sit down in the Types Figures and Shadows and under the first Priesthood Law and Covenant sit down in that which must have an End and which made nothing perfect Thirdly They that sit down in the Apostacy that hath gotten up since the Apostles Days sit down in spiritual Sodom and Egypt and are drinking of the Whore's Cup under the Beast's and Dragon's Power Fourthly They that sit down in the State in which Adam was before he fell sit down in that which may be fallen from for he fell from that State though it was perfect Fifthly They that sit down in the Prophets sit down in that which must be fulfilled And they that sit down in the Fellowship of Water Bread and Wine these being temporal things they sit down in that which is short of Christ and of his Baptism Sixthly To sit down in a Profession of all the Scriptures from Genesis to the Revelations and not be
yet therein do they exercise themselves to have always a Conscience void of Offence towards God and Man as ye may read the Saints of Old did Acts 24.14 15 16. not wronging any Man neither giving any just Cause of Offence only being obedient to the Commands of the Lord to declare as they are moved by the Holy Ghost and standing for the Testimony of a Good Conscience speaking the Truth in Christ their Consciences bearing them witness that they lie not For this do they suffer under you who in Words profess the same thing for which they suffer Now see if any Age or Generation did ever persecute as ye do For ye profess Christ Jesus who Reveals the Father and persecute them that witness the Revelation of the Father by Christ Jesus unto them Ye profess Christ Jesus who is the Light of the World that enlightens every one that cometh into the World and yet persecute them that bear Witness and give Testimony to this Light Ye profess that the Word is become Flesh and yet persecute them that witness it so Ye profess that whosoever confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the Flesh is an Antichrist and yet persecute them that do Confess him come in the Flesh and call them Antichrists and Deceivers Ye profess that the Kingdom of Christ is come and yet persecute them that witness it come Ye profess Christ Jesus the Resurrection and the Life and yet persecute them that witness him to be so If ye say How shall we know that these People who say they witness these things do so or no I answer Turn your Minds to the Light which Christ Jesus hath enlightned you withal which is one in all and if ye walk in the Light ye shall have the Light of Life and then ye will know and see what ye have done who have persecuted the Lord of Glory in his People in whom is Life and the Life is the Light of Men. To no other Touchstone shall we turn you but into your own Consciences and there shall ye find the Truth of what we have declared unto you and of what we bear Testimony to according to the Holy Scriptures And when the Books of Consciences are opened and all judged out of them then shall ye Witness us to be of God and our Testimony to be true though now ye may stop your Ears and harden your Hearts while it is called to day But then ye shall know what ye have done and whom ye have transgressed against and then ye will see that no Persecutors in any Age or Generation that ever went before you did ever Transgress against that Light and Measure of God made manifest in such manner as ye have done For though Christ and the Apostles were persecuted in their times the Jews for the most part of them did not know that he was the Christ when he came notwithstanding that they had the Scriptures which prophesied of him neither did they believe that he was Risen again when the Apostles preached his Resurrection But ye say Ye believe he is come and ye say Ye believe his Resurrection and yet ye persecute those that witness him come in the Flesh those that are buried with him in Baptism those that are conformable to his Death and know the Power of his Resurrection those ye persecute those ye hale before Magistrates and suffer to be beaten in your Synagogues those ye cause to be whipt and stock't and shamefully entreated and into Prison cast and kept as many Goals in this Nation at this day testifie to your Faces Therefore honestly consider what ye are doing while ye are taking notice of others Cruelties lest ye over-look your own There is some difference in many things between the Popish Religion and that which ye call the Protestant but in this Persecution of yours there is no difference For ye will Confess that the Foundation of your Religion is grounded upon the Scriptures and yet now ye are persecuting them that be in the same Life which they were in who spake forth the Scriptures your selves being the mean while under a Profession of the Words they spake and this ye shall one day witness So ye have a Profession and Form and persecute them that are in the Possession Life and Power Therefore know assuredly that ye must come to Judgment for he is made manifest to whom all Judgment is committed Therefore to the Light of Christ Jesus in your Consciences which searcheth and trieth you turn your Minds and stand still and wait there to receive the Righteous Law which is according to that of God in the Conscience which is now rising and is bearing witness against all Ungodliness and Unrighteousness of Men and they whom ye persecute are manifest to God and that of God in all Consciences shall bear witness for us that we are of God And this ye shall one day witness whether ye will hear or forbear Our Rejoycing is in the Testimony of our Consciences that in Simplicity and Godly Sincerity not with Fleshly Wisdom but by the Grace of God we have had our Conversation in the World not handling the Word of God deceitfully but in the Manifestation of the Truth commending our selves to every Man's Conscience in the sight of God and if our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost And for the witnessing the holding the Mystery of Faith in a pure Conscience do we suffer and are subject for Conscience sake This is thank-worthy if a Man for Conscience sake endure Griefs and Suffering wrongfully And in this is our Joy and Rejoicing having a good Conscience that whereas we are evil spoken of as Evil-Doers they may be ashamed that falsly accuse our good Conversation in Christ which is not only the putting away of the Filth of the Flesh but the Answer of a good Conscience towards God by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ And this we Witness made manifest Eternal Praises to the Living God and bear Testimony to that which spake it in the Apostle in Life and Power And therefore do we bear witness and testifie against those who being got into a Form and Profession of it do persecute the Life and Power Therefore to the Eternal Light of Christ Jesus the Searcher and Trier of all Hearts turn your Minds and see what ye are doing lest ye overturn your Foundation and Bottom whereon ye pretend to stand while ye are professing the Scriptures and persecuting the Life Light and Power which they were in who gave them forth For the Stone cut out of the Mountains without Hands is now striking at the Feet of the Image the Profession which is set up and stands in the Will of Man Now is that made manifest unto which all must answer and appear before the Judgment-Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his Body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad Knowing therefore the Terror of the Lord
from even that Temple and those Tithes and Offerings which God had for a time Commanded And the Apostles Met in several private Houses being to Preach the Gospel in all Nations which they did freely as Christ had commanded them And so do we who bring People off from these Priests Temples and Tithes which God never Commanded to Meet in Houses or on Mountains as the Saints of old did who were gathered in the Name of Jesus and Christ was their Prophet Priest and Shepherd There was present with the Parliament-Man that I discoursed with one Major Wiggan a very envious Man yet he bridled himself before the Parliament-Man and some others that were there in Company He took upon him to make a Speech and said Christ had taken away the Guilt of Sin but had left the Power of Sin remaining in us I told him that was strange Doctrine For Christ came to destroy the Devil and his Works and the Power of Sin and so to cleanse Men from Sin So Major Wiggan's Mouth was stopt at that time But the next day desiring to speak with me again I took a Friend or two with me and went to him Then he vented a great deal of Passion and Rage beyond the Bounds of a Christian or Moral Man 1658. London Whereupon I was made to reprove him And having brought the Lord's Power over him and let him see what Condition he was in I left him After some time I passed out of London and had a Meeting at Sergeant Birkheads at Twitnam to which many People came Twitnam and some of considerable Quality in the World A glorious Meeting it was wherein the Scriptures were largely and clearly opened and Christ exalted above all to the great Satisfaction of the Hearers But there was great Persecution in many places both by Imprisoning and breaking up of Meetings At a Meeting about Seven Miles from London the Rude People usually came out of several Parishes round about to abuse Friends and did often beat and bruise them exceedingly One day they beat and abused about Eighty Friends that went to that Meeting out of London tearing their Coats and Cloaks from off their Backs and throwing them into Ditches and Ponds and when they had besmeared them with Dirt then they said They look'd like Witches The next First-day after this A Meeting near London I was moved of the Lord to go to that Meeting though at that time I was very weak When I came there I bid Friends bring a Table and set it in the Close where they used to Meet to stand upon According to their wonted course the Rude People came and I having a Bible in my hand shewed them theirs and their Priests and Teachers Fruits and the People came to be ashamed and was quiet And so I opened the Scriptures to them and our Principles agreeing therewith and I turned the People from the Darkness to the Light of Christ and his Spirit by which they might understand the Scriptures and see themselves and their Sins and know Christ Jesus to be their Saviour So the Meeting ended quietly and the Lord's Power came over all to his Glory But it was a time of great Sufferings for besides the Imprisonments through which many died in Prisons our Meetings were greatly disturbed For they have thrown Rotten Eggs and Wild-fire into our Meetings and have brought in Drums beating and Kettles to make Noises with that the Truth might not be heard and among these the Priests as Rude as any as may be seen in the Book of the Fighting Priests wherein a List is given of some of the Priests that had actually beaten and abused Friends Many also of our Friends were brought up to London Prisoners to be Tried before the Committee where Henry Vane being Chair-man would not suffer Friends to come in except they would put off their Hats but at last the Lord's Power came over him so that through the Mediation of some others that perswaded him they were admitted Now many of us having been Imprisoned upon Contempts as they called them for not putting off our Hats it was not a likely thing that Friends who had suffered so long for it from others should put off their Hats to him But the Lord's Power came over them all and wrought so that several Friends were set at Liberty by them Now inasmuch as Sufferings grew very sharp I was moved of the Lord to write a few Lines and send abroad amongst Friends to encourage them to go on faithfully and boldly through the Exercises of the day of which a Copy here follows My Dear Friends every where abroad scattered in Prison or out of Prison Fear not because of the Reports of Sufferings let not the Evil Spies of the Good Land make you afraid if they tell you the Walls are high and that there be Anakims in the Land For at the blowing of the Ram's-Horns did the Walls of Jericho fall down and they that brought the Evil Report perished in the Wilderness But dwell ye in the Faith Patience and Hope having the Word of Life to keep you which is beyond the Law and having the Oath of God his Covenant Christ Jesus which divides the Waters asunder and makes them to Run all on Heaps in that stand and ye will see all things work together for good to them that love God And in that Triumph when Sufferings come what-ever they be Your Faith your Shield your Helmet your Armour you have on ye are ready to skip over a Mountain or a Wall or an Hill and to walk through the deep Waters though they be Heaps upon Heaps For the Evil Spies of the good Land may preach up hardness but Caleb which signifies an Heart and Joshua a Saviour Triumph over all G. F. Now after a while I passed into the Country and went to Reading Reading and was there under great Sufferings and Exercises and in a great Travel in my Spirit for about Ten Weeks time For I saw there was great Confusion and Distraction amongst the People and that the Powers were plucking each other to pieces And I saw how many Men were destroying the Simplicity and betraying the Truth and a great deal of Hypocrisie and Deceit and Strife was got uppermost in the People so that they were ready to sheath their Swords in one anothers Bowels There had been a Tenderness in many of them formerly when they were low but when they were got up and had killed and taken Possession they came to be as bad as others So that we had much to do with them about our Hats and saying Thou and Thee to them For they turned their Profession of Patience and Moderation into Rage and Madness and many of them would be like distracted Men for this Hat-Honour For they had hardned themselves by persecuting the Innocent and were at this time Crucifying the Seed Christ both in themselves and others till at last they fell a biting and devouring one another
though they be Enemies to God to themselves and to me And I can say It is of the Lord that he is come in to bring down many unrighteously set up of which I had a Sight Three Years before he came in It is much he should say I am an Enemy to the King for I have no reason so to be he having done nothing against me But I have been often Imprisoned and Persecuted these Eleven or Twelve Years by them that have been against both the King and his Father even the Party that Porter was made a Major by and bore Arms for but not by them that were for the King I was never an Enemy to the King nor to any Man's Person upon the Earth but I am in the Love that fulfils the Law which thinks no Evil but loves even Enemies and would have the King saved and come to the Knowledge of the Truth and be brought into the Fear of the Lord to receive his Wisdom from above by which all things were made and created that with that Wisdom he may order all things to the Glory of God by whom they were Created Whereas he calleth me A Chief Vpholder of the Quakers Sect. I Answer The Quakers are not a Sect but are in the Power of God which was before Sects were and witness the Election before the World began and are come to live in the Life which the Prophets and Apostles lived in who gave forth the Scriptures Therefore are we hated by envious wrathful wicked and persecuting Men. But God is the Vpholder of us all by his mighty Power and preserves us from the Wrath of the Wicked that would swallow us up And whereas he saith That I together with others of my Fanatick Opinion as he calls it have of late endeavoured to raise Insurrections and to imbroil the whole Kingdom in Blood I say this is altogether false to these things I am as a Child and know nothing of them The Postures of War I never learned My Weapons are Spiritual and not Carnal for with Carnal Weapons I do not fight I am a Follower of him who said My Kingdom is not of this World And though these Lies and Slanders are raised upon me I deny drawing of any Carnal Weapon against the King or Parliament or any Man upon the Earth For I am come to the end of the Law To love Enemies and wrestle not with Flesh and Blood but am in that which saves Men's Lives And a Witness I am against all Murderers Plotters and all such as would Imbrue the Nation in Blood for it is not in my Heart to have any Man's Life destroyed And as for the Word Fanatick which signifies furious foolish mad c. He might have considered himself before he had used that Word and have learned the Humility which goes before the Honour For we are not furious foolish or Mad but through Patience and Meekness have born Lies and Slanders and Persecutions many Years and undergone great Sufferings The Spiritual Man that wrestles not with Flesh and Blood and the Spirit that reproves Sin in the Gate which is the Spirit of Truth Wisdom and sound Judgment this is not mad foolish furious which Fanatick signifies But all are of a mad furious foolish Spirit that wrestle with Flesh and Blood with Carnal Weapons in their Furiousness Foolishness and Rage This is not the Spirit of God but of Error that persecutes in a mad blind Zeal like Nebuchadnezer and Saul Now inasmuch as I am ordered to be kept Prisoner till I be delivered by Order from the King or Parliament therefore have I written these things to be laid before you the King and Parliament that ye may Consider of them before ye act any thing therein that ye may weigh in the Wisdom of God the Intent and End of Men's Spirits lest ye act the thing that will bring the hand of the Lord upon you and against you as many have done before you who have been in Authority whom God hath overthrown in whom we trust whom we fear and cry unto Day and Night Who hath heard us and doth hear us and will hear us and avenge our Cause For much Innocent Blood hath been shed and many have been persecuted to Death by such as have been in Authority before you whom God hath vomited out because they turned against the Just Therefore consider your Standing now that ye have the Day 1660. Lancaster-Castle and receive this as a Warning of Love to you From the Innocent a Sufferer in Bonds and close Prisoner in Lancaster-Castle called GEORGE FOX Upon my being taken and forcibly carried away from Margaret Fell's House and charged with things of so high a Nature she was concerned as looking upon it to be an Injury offered to her Whereupon she writ the following Lines and sent them abroad directed thus To all Magistrates concerning the wrong taking up and Imprisoning of George Fox at Lancaster I Do Inform the Governours of this Nation that Henry Porter Major of Lancaster sent a Warrant with Four Constables to my House for which he had no Authority nor Order They searched my House and apprehended George Fox in it who was not guilty of the Breach of any Law or of any Offence against any in the Nation After they had taken him and brought him before the said Henry Porter there was Bail offered what he would demand for his Appearance to Answer what could be laid to his Charge But he contrary to Law if he had taken him lawfully denied to accept of any Bail and clapt him up in Close Prison After he was in Prison a Copy of his Mittimus was demanded which ought not to be denied to any Prisoner that so he may see what is laid to his Charge But it was denied him a Copy he could not have only they were suffered to read it over And every thing that was there charged against him was utterly false he was not guilty of any one Charge in it as will be proved and manifested to the Nation So let the Governours consider of it I am concerned in this thing inasmuch as he was apprehended in my House and if he be guilty I am so too So I desire to have this searched out MARGARET FELL After this Margaret Fell determined to go to London to speak with the King about my being taken and to shew him the manner of it and the Vnjust Dealing and Evil Vsage I had received Which when Justice Porter heard of he vapoured that he would go and meet her in the Gap But when he came before the King he having been a Zealous Man for the Parliament against the King several of the Courtiers spake to him concerning his plundering of their Houses So that he had quickly enough of the Court and soon returned into the Country Mean while the Jailer seemed very fearful and said he was afraid Major Porter would hang him because he had not put me in the Dark-House But when
Gospel-Order established amongst us is not of Man nor by Man but of and by Jesus Christ in and through the Holy Ghost And this Order of the Gospel which is not of Man nor by Man but from Christ the Heavenly Man is above all the Orders of Men in the Fall whether Jews Gentiles or Apostatized Christians and will be when they are gone For the Power of God which is the Everlasting Gospel was before the Devil was and will be and remain for ever And as the Everlasting Gospel was Preached in the Apostles days to all Nations that all Nations might come into the Order of it through the Divine Power which brings Life and Immortality to Light that they who were Heirs of it might inherit the Power and Authority of it So now since all Nations have drunk the Whore's Cup and all the World hath Worshipped the Beast but they whose Names are written in the Book of Life from the Foundation of the World who have worshipped God in Spirit and Truth as Christ commanded the Everlasting Gospel is to be and is preached again as John the Divine foresaw it should to all Nations Kindreds Tongues and People And this Everlasting Gospel torments the Whore and makes her and the Beast to rage even the Beast that hath Power over the Tongues which are called the Original to order them by which they make Divines as they call them But all that receive the Gospel the Power of God which brings Life and Immortality to Light they come to see over the Beast Devil Whore and False Prophet that hath darkned them and all their Worships and Orders and come to be Heirs of the Gospel the Power of God which was before the Beast Whore False Prophet and Devil were and will be when they are all gone and cast into the Lake of Fire And they that be Heirs of this Power and of this Gospel they inherit the Power which is the Authority of this Order and of our Meetings Every Man and Woman that be Heirs of the Gospel are Heirs of this Authority and of the Power of God which was before the Devil was and which is not of Man nor by Man These come to inherit and possess the joyful Order of the joyful Gospel the comfortable Order of the comfortable Gospel the glorious Order of the glorious Gospel and the everlasting Order of the everlasting Gospel the Power of God which will last for ever and will out-last all the Orders of the Devil and that which is of Men or by Men. And these shall see the Government of Christ who hath all Power in Heaven and Earth given to him and of the Increase of his glorious righteous holy just Government there is no end but his Government and his Order will remain for he who is the Author of it is the First and the Last the Beginning and Ending the Foundation of God which over all stands sure Christ Jesus the Amen After I had travelled amongst Friends through most parts of the Nation and the Monthly-Meetings were settled being returned to London London I stay'd some time there visiting Friends Meetings in and about the City While I was in London I went one day to Visit him that was called Esq Marsh who had shewed much Kindness both to me and to Friends and I happened to go when he was at Dinner He no sooner heard my Name but he sent for me up and would have had me sit down with him to Dinner 1668. London but I had not freedom to do so There were several Great Persons at Dinner with him and he said to one of them who was a great Papist Here is a Quaker which you have not seen before The Papist askt me Whether I did own the Christening of Children I told him There was no Scripture for any such Practice What! said he Not for Christening Children I said Nay I told him the one Baptism by the one Spirit into one Body we owned but to throw a little Water on a Child's Face and say that was Baptizing and Christening it there was no Scripture for that Then he asked me Whether I did own the Catholick Faith I said Yes but added That neither the Pope nor the Papists were in that Catholick Faith for the true Faith works by Love and purifies the Heart and if they were in that Faith that gives Victory by which they might have Access to God they would not tell the People of a Purgatory after they were dead So I undertook to prove That neither Pope nor Papists that held a Purgatory hereafter were in the true Faith For the true precious Divine Faith which Christ is the Author of gives Victory over the Devil and Sin that had separated Man and Woman from God And if they the Papists were in the true Faith they would never use Racks Prisons and Fines to persecute and force others to their Religion that were not of their Faith For this was not the Practice of the Apostles and Primitive Christians who witnessed and enjoyed the true Faith of Christ but it was the Practice of the Faithless Jews and Heathens so to do But said I to him seeing thou art a great and leading Man among the Papists and hast been taught and bred up under the Pope and seeing thou say'st There is no Salvation but in your Church I desire to know of thee What it is that doth bring Salvation in your Church He answered A Good Life And nothing else said I Yes said he Good Works And is this it that brings Salvation in your Church a good Life and good Works Is this your Doctrine and Principle said I Yes said he Then said I neither Thou nor the Pope nor any of the Papists know what it is that brings Salvation Then he askt me What brought Salvation in our Church I told him That which brought Salvation to the Church in the Apostles Days the same brought Salvation to us and not another Namely The Grace of God which the Scripture says brings Salvation and hath appeared to all men which taught the Saints then and teaches us now and this Grace which brings Salvation teaches To deny Vngodliness and worldly Lusts and to live godly righteously and soberly So it is not the good Works nor the good Life that brings the Salvation but the Grace What! said the Papist Doth this Grace that brings Salvation appear unto all men Yes said I. Then said he I deny that But I said All that deny that are Sect-makers and are not in the Universal Faith Grace and Truth which the Apostles were in Then he spake to me about the Mother-Church and I told him The several sorts of Sects in Christendom had accused us and said We forsook our Mother-Church The Papists charged us with forsaking their Church and they said Rome was the only Mother-Church The Episcopalians taxed us with forsaking the old Protestant Religion and they said Theirs was the Reformed Mother-Church The Presbyterians and Independents
I had not been long at Swarthmore e're a Concern came upon me to visit the Churches of Christ in London and elsewhere by an Epistle which was as followeth Dear Friends TO whom is my Love in the heavenly Seed in whom all Nations are blessed Oh keep all in this Seed in which ye are blessed and in which Abraham and all the Faithful were blessed without the Deeds of the Law for the Promise was and is to and with the Seed and not with the Law of the First Covenant In this Seed all Nations and ye are blessed which bruiseth the Head of the Seed that brought the Curse and separated between Man and God This is the Seed which reconciles you to God and this is the Seed in which ye are blessed both in Temporals and Spirituals through which ye have an Inheritance among the Sanctified that cannot be defiled neither can any defiled thing enter into its Possession for all defilements are out of this Seed This is that which leavens up into a New Lump and bruiseth the Head of the Wicked Seed that leavens into the Old Lump upon whom the Sun of Righteousness goes down and sets but never goes down and sets to them that walk in the Seed in which all Nations are blessed by which Seed they are brought up to God which puts down that Seed which separated betwixt them and God so that there comes to be nothing betwixt them and God Now all my Dear Friends my desires are that ye may all be Valiant in this heavenly Seed for God and his Truth upon the Earth and spread it abroad answering that of God in all that with it the Minds of People may be turned towards the Lord that he may come to be known and served and worshipped and that ye may all be the Salt of the Earth to make the unseasoned savoury And in the Name of Jesus keep your Meetings who are gathered into it in whose Name ye have Salvation he being in the midst of you whose Name is above every Name under the whole Heaven And so ye have a Prophet and Bishop Shepherd Priest and Counsellor above all the Counsellors and Priests Bishops Prophets and Shepherds under the whole Heaven to exercise his Offices among you in your Meetings that are gathered in his Name For Christ's Meeting and Gathering is above all the Meetings and Gatherings under the whole Heaven And his Body his Church and he the Head of it is above all the Bodies and Churches and Heads under the whole Heaven And the Faith that Christ is the Author of and the Worship that he hath set up and his Fellowship in the Gospel is above all Historical Faiths and the Faith 's that Man hath made together with their Worships and Fellowships under the whole Heaven And now Dear Friends keep your Men and Womens-Meetings in the Power of God the Gospel the Authority of them which brings Life and Immortality to Light in you and this Gospel the Power of God will preserve you in Life and in Immortality which hath brought it to Light in you that ye may see over him that hath darkned and kept from the knowledge of the things of God for it is he and his Instruments which hath darkned you from Life and Immortality that would throw down your Men and Womens-Meetings which were set up in the Power of God the Gospel and would darken you again from this Life and Immortality which the Gospel hath brought to Light and will preserve you in as your Faith stands in this Power of God the Gospel in which every one sees your Work and Service for God And every Heir in the Power of God the Gospel hath right to this Authority which is not of Man nor by Man which Gospel the Power of God is everlasting an everlasting Order an everlasting Fellowship and in the Gospel is everlasting Joy Comfort and Peace which will out-last all those Joys Comforts and Peaces that will have an end and that Spirit also that opposes its Order and the glorious Fellowship Peace and Comfort in it And My Dear Friends my desire is that ye may keep in the Unity of the Spirit that baptizes you all into one Body which Christ is the heavenly and spiritual Head of so that ye may see and bear witness to your heavenly and spiritual Head and so all drink into the One Spirit Which all People upon the Earth are not like to do while they grieve quench and rebel against it nor to be baptized into one Body and to keep the Unity of the Spirit which is the Bond of Peace yea the King of Kings and Lord of Lords his Peace which it is the duty of all true Christians to keep who are inwardly united to Christ So with my Love to you all in the everlasting Seed Swarthmore the 26th of the 7th Month 1678. G. F. There were about this time several Friends in Prison for bearing Testimony to the Truth To whom I was moved to write a few Lines to comfort strengthen and encourage them in their Sufferings having a true sense of their Sufferings upon my spirit and a sympathizing with them therein And that which I writ was after this manner My Dear Friends WHO are Sufferers for the Lord Jesus sake and for the Testimony of his Truth the Lord God Almighty with his Power uphold you and support you in all your Trials and Sufferings and give you Patience and Content in his Will that yâ— may stand valiant for Christ and his Truth upon the Earth over the persecuting and destroying Spirit which makes to suffer in Christ who bruises his Head in whom ye have both Election and Salvation And for God's Elect sake the Lord hath done much from the Foundation of the World as may be seen throughout the Scriptures of Truth and they that touch them touch the Apple of God's Eye they are so tender to him And therefore it is good for all God's suffering Children to trust in the Lord and to wait upon him for they shall be as Mount Sion that cannot be removed from Christ their Rock and Salvation who is the Foundation of all the Elect of God of the Prophets and the Apostles and of God's People now and to the End Glory to the Lord and the Lamb over all Remember my dear Love to all Friends and do not think the time long for all Time is in the Father's hand his Power And therefore keep the Word of Patience and exercise that Gift and the Lord strengthen you in your Sufferings in his holy Spirit of Faith Amen Swarthmore the 5th of the 12th Month 1678. G. F. I abode in the North at this time above a year having Service for the Lord amongst Friends there and being much taken up in writing Books and Papers some in Defence of Truth in Answer to Books published by Adversaries and some for the opening the Principles and Doctrines of Truth to the World that they might come to have a
World Who is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and all Power in Heaven and in Earth is given to him who will reward every Man according to his Words and Works ALL you bearing the Name of Christian Magistrates my desire is that you may all be found in Christ and not only have the Name but be made Partakers of his Divine Nature that ye may be not only Sayers of the Word but Doers of the Word not only Professors of Christ and Talkers of Christ but let Christ rule in your hearts by Faith and be Walkers in Christ For as Christ's great Apostle saith As every one hath received the Lord Jesus Christ so let him walk in him 1680. Kingston for in him there is peace And if all that do Profess Christ did Walk in Christ they would all Walk in Peace and be in Unity For the Apostle exhorted the Christians in his day to keep the Vnity of the Spirit which is the Bond of Peace yea of Christ the King of Kings Peace And all Christians who have the Scriptures and are not in this Spirit of Christ they are not in Unity one with another and so have broken this Bond of Peace which should knit and unite them together And likewise all that do profess the Truth of Christ should live in it for it is peaceable and the Gospel is the Gospel of Peace which if all Christians that do profess it lived in they would be at peace one with another and in the glorious Fellowship of the Gospel And also if all Christians kept in the Fear of God which is the beginning of the pure heavenly peaceable and gentle Wisdom which is easie to be entreated above that Wisdom which is earthly sensual devillish and destroying then there would be no difference and destroying about Matters of Religion I do declare the mighty Day of the Lord is Come and Coming and the Lord God is come to Teach his People himself by his Son Hebr. 1. whose Son Christ Jesus bruises the Serpent's Head that false Teacher that led Adam and Eve from God their Teacher So God will Teach his People by his Son who was the Teacher of Adam and Eve in Paradise before they fell and disobeyed the Lord and forsook him and followed the Serpent whose Head Christ does bruise and renews Man and Woman up again into the Image of God which Adam and Eve was in before they fell Glory and Honour be to God through Jesus Christ who hath called us by his Son into his glorious Image to serve and worship him in his Spirit and Truth which holy Spirit and Truth the Devil is out of and cannot come into it And now I desire all Christian Magistrates to take heed of Persecuting any though they differ from you in Matters of Faith Worship and Religion For Christ saith Let the Tares and the Wheat grow together till the Harvest and he forbad such as would be plucking up Tares The Reason was Lest they should pluck up the Wheat also for that Christ said should be his Angels work to separate the Tares from the Wheat Moreover Christ said They should go into everlasting Punishment that did not Visit him in Prison in his Members Then what will become of them that Cast him into Prison where he is made manifest in his Members Oh lay these things to heart A Day of Judgment will come Vengeance and Recompence upon every one according to their Works And Christ said to his Disciples who would have had Fire to come down from Heaven to consume them that would not receive him He turned him about and rebuked them and told them They did not know what spirit they were of for he came not to destroy mens Lives but to save them And therefore let all the Magistrates and the Priests in that which is called Christendom consider who have destroyed Mens and Womens Lives since the Apostles days because they could not Receive their Religions Ways and Worships or Conform to them which they have made and set up Have they known what Spirit they have been of Are they not all reproved by and come under the Judgment of Christ Therefore let all Persecution be laid away concerning Religion and let Love bear the sway to overcome Evil and Enemies and let Patience over-sway Passion in all such doings that all may retain the heavenly Reason and the pure Understanding that your Moderation in true Christianity may be known to all Men. For have you not the Turks Jews Tartars Indians and Atheists Eyes upon you and upon Christendom And therefore be in Unity and let not the Name of God and Christ be blasphemed amongst them by means of any that bear the Name of Christians So that God may be glorified by all and in all through Jesus Christ who is over all who calls all to Peace who is blessed for ever And now I would have you to be as Noble as the Bereans and search the Scriptures of Christ and the Apostles where-ever he or they did give any Command to Imprison Banish Persecute or put to Death any that would not receive or conform to them or that were contrary-minded to them in Religion or differ'd from them in Matters of Worship Again I desire all Christian Magistrates to search both Scriptures and Chronicles and see what was the End of all Persecutors and what Judgments came upon them What came to Cain who was the first Persecutor for Matters of Faith and Sacrifice Did not he become a Runnagade a Vagabond and a Fugitive in the Earth What became of the Old World that grieved God and Noah a Preacher of Righteousness What became of Sodom that vex'd Just Lot What became of Pharaoh that persecuted God's People in Egypt though the more he persecuted them the more they grew What became of Ahab and Jezabel that persecuted the Lord's Prophets And what became of Haman that would have destroyed the Jews What became of the Jews and Jerusalem that persecuted Christ and the Apostles What was the End of all these Are they not become Vagabonds in the Earth and driven away from their native Country Therefore I beseech you in the Love and Fear of God be so Noble as to search both Scripture and History and let not your divine understanding be clouded What will become of the Beast and Whore spoken of in the Revelations with their false Prophets that have drunk the blood of the Saints Martyrs and Prophets of Jesus must they not all go with the Devil who is a Murderer Destroyer an Enemy and Adversary of Mankind into the Lake of Fire that burns with Brimstone And ye may be sure that Spirit that stirs you up to Persecution let it be in whomsoever it will is not of Christ and of his Lamb-like Nature who takes away the Sins of the World not the Lives of Men. Paul was a Persecutor and a Haler to Prison before he was converted to Christianity but never after And therefore are not all
fine Opportunity to open the Way of Truth amongst them After I was come to London London I was moved to write the following Paper concerning that Spirit which had led some who profest Truth into Strife and Division and to oppose the Way and Work of the Lord. Friends YOU that do keep your habitations in the Truth that is over all do see that it is the same Spirit that doth lead the Backsliders and Apostates now from the Spiritual Fellowship and Unity of God's People and the Church of Christ that led out Adam and Eve from God and the Jews from God and his Law to Rebel against his Spirit and so to turn against God and his Prophets And this Spirit was the same that was in the World which was got into the Jews when they were gone from the Spirit of God and then they turned against God and his Prophets and against Christ and his Apostles And that Spirit led them to be as bad as Pilate or worse The Enmity or Adversary was got within them against the Truth and them that walked in it and the Spirit of the Lord so that they killed and destroyed the Just. And this was the Spirit of the Devil the Destroyer who would seek not only to destroy the Truth but the Order of it and them that walk in it when true Christianity was planted among the Possessors of the Light 1681. London Grace and Truth and the Gospel-holy Faith and Spirit and they did enjoy Christ in their hearts But when some did begin to Err from the Spirit and Faith and hate the Light and disobey the Gospel and to turn the Grace of God into Wantonness and walk despitefully against the Spirit of Grace and turn from the Truth and Crucifie to themselves Christ afresh and put him to open shame These were they that let in the Spirit of the World who held the Form of Godliness but denied the Power thereof which troubled the Churches in the Apostles days And when the Spirit of Satan had got into such they were more troublesome to the Church than the open Persecutors that were without And these got into the Assemblies to deceive the hearts of the Simple having the good Words and fair Speeches and Sheep's-Cloathing Paul Peter John Jude and James had much to do with such and to keep them from troubling the Church of Christ For they are out of the Light Power and Spirit and therefore the Apostles of Christ did exhort the Saints to keep to the Word of Life within and to the Anointing and to the Grace and Truth and holy Spirit in their hearts This foul Spirit will profess all the Scriptures in words but by the Spirit of God which is holy that Spirit is tried and its fruits And so the Apostates went from the Power and Spirit of God and turned against the Prophets and the Martyrs of Jesus and became the Whore whose Cup all Nations drunk of And the Dragon with his Tail threw down many of the Stars and would have devoured the Woman with his Flood but the Woman the true Church was preserved and the Gates of Hell cannot prevail against her And then the Dragon made war with her Seed So the Dragon and the Whore and Beast and false Prophets all made war against the Lamb and the Saints but the Lamb and the Saints will overcome them all and will have the Victory And now the Everlasting Gospel is preached again to all Nations Tongues and Peoples and many are gathered into the Gospel the Power of God and are turned to the Light which is the Life in Christ and are grafted into him and are come to walk in the Order of the New Covenant of Light and Life in the Gospel of Peace and Salvation The same Spirit that opposed the Apostles and the Churches in their days opposes now yea it is the same that opposed Christ and disdained him that disdaineth God's Servants now And the same that did oppose the Prophets and rebelled against Moses opposes and rebels against God's Servants and People now And it is the same dark blind and disobedient faithless wilful jealous Spirit that doth persecute some with the Hands and others with the Tongue And it is the same Spirit of Enmity the Adversary and Destroyer that tempted Adam and Eve to disobey God and did deceive them which deceived the Jews and tempted them and deceived all those that went from the Church in the Apostles days And it is the same Spirit that is now going about sometimes like a roaring Lion sometimes like a twisting Serpent to tempt and to deceive 1682. London and to devour having the fair Speeches and good Words and Sheeps-Cloathing in a Form of Godliness and in pretence of the Light and Liberty but denies the Power thereof and inwardly are ravening Wolves and if it were possible they would deceive the very Elect. But the Elect are in the Covenant of Light and Life and in the Power of God over them and in Christ who will grind them to pieces and will slay all his Enemies with his spiritual Sword who will not have him to rule over or in them In Christ all his People have Rest and Peace who is their Sanctuary over all Storms and Tempests And in Christ the Sanctuary no Deceiver nor Destroyer can come for he is a place of sweet Rest and Safety Hallelujah Praise the Lord for his Sanctuary Amen G. F. Sufferings continuing still hard upon Friends at London I found my Service lay mostly here Wherefore I went but a little out of Town and not far being frequent at the most publick Meetings to encourage Friends both by Word and Example to stand fast in the Testimony to which God had called them And at other times I went about from house to house visiting those Friends that had their Goods taken away for their Testimony to Truth And because the wicked Informers were grown very audacious by reason that they had too much Countenance and Encouragement from some Justices who trusting wholly to their Information proceeded against Friends without hearing them whereby many Friends were made to suffer not only contrary to Right but even contrary to Law also I advised with some Friends about it and we drew up a Paper which was afterwards delivered to most of the Magistrates in and about the City which was as followeth WHereas some Informers have obtained Warrants of some Justices of Peace and have Convicted many of us without hearing us or once Summoning us to Appear before them by which proceedings many have had their Goods seized and taken away being generally fined Ten Pounds a piece for an unknown Speaker and some of those Persons so fined have not been that day at the Meetings they were fined for and the Speaker notwithstanding hath himself been fined for the same Meeting the same day the others were fined for the unknown Speaker By which the Justices may see the Wickedness of these Informers by whose false
World John 18.36 And Christ is the Image of the Invisible God the First-born of every Creature For by him were all things created that are in Heaven and that are in Earth visible and invisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions or Principalities or Powers all things were created by him and for him and he is before all things and by him all things consist Col. 1.15 16 17. Here ye may see All things Consist by Jesus Christ and all things were Created by Christ and for him whether they be things in Heaven or things in Earth visible or invisible they were Created by him and for him yea Thrones Dominions or Principalities or Powers these were all created by him and for him So Christ is King of Kings and Lord of Lords Rev. 19.16 And the Prince of the Kings of the Earth Chap. 1.5 And out of his Mouth goes a sharp Sword with which he shall smite the Nations and he shall rule them with a Rod of Iron As the Vessel of a Potter shall they be dashed in pieces who do not obey him who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords This is Christ by whom all things were made who doth rule the Nations who saith I am Alpha and Omega the Beginning and the Ending the First and the Last So he is over all Nations and above them all Now we must understand this Rod of Iron by which Christ who is the First and Last doth rule the Nations is a Figurative Speech of Christ who is Ascended into Heaven and is at the right hand of God yet all Power in Heaven and Earth is given unto him and All things were created by him and for him So then they are Christ's and he hath power over all things for all are his So as the Scripture saith By me Kings Reign and Princes decree Justice Prov. 8.15 But if they abuse his Power and do not do Justice as is decreed by Christ the King of Kings and Lord of Lords the First and the Last they must feel and know the weight of his Rod of Iron by which he will rule such as abuse his Power and do not do Justice that is decreed by him who hath all Power in Heaven and Earth given to him and rules in the Kingdoms of Men. Kingston the 11th Month 1687. G. F. Several other things I writ while I was now at Kingston for my Spirit being continually exercised towards God I had many precious Openings of Divine Matters and divers places of Scripture both in the Old Testament and in the New relating to a state of Regeneration and Sanctification c. were brought to my remembrance by the holy Spirit some of which I committed to writing and were as followeth THey that Touched the dead were unclean and were to be cleansed by the Water of Purification Numb 19. And they which touch the dead Doctrines or Faiths and let them in burden the pure and defile and make themselves unclean until the Spring of the Water of the Word do arise and wash and cleanse them for all the Dead in Adam in the Fall are Vnclean and they must be washed by Christ in his Blood and Water of Life who quickeneth and makes alive A Dwarf might not come near to Offer upon God's Altar but he might eat ot the holy Bread that he might grow Levit. 21.20 c. So the New-born Babes may eat of the Milk of the Word that they may grow thereby and increase And he that had any Blemish might not come near to Offer upon God's Altar neither might any thing be Offered upon God's Altar that had any Blemish or was Vnclean Lev. 21. And it is said The Vngodly shall not stand in the Judgment nor Sinners in the Congregation of the Righteous Psal 1.5 But God standeth in the Congregation of the Mighty Psal 82.1 The Camp of God was to be kept Clean and Holy All that which was unclean or defiled was to be kept out of God's Camp in the Old Testament And in the New Testament all that is defiled and unclean must be kept out of God's Kingdom the new and heavenly Jerusalem that is from above All was to pass through the Fire even of those things that would bear the Fire and to be purified by Fire and Water before the People might come into God's Camp Numb 31. So all must be Circumcised and Baptised with the Holy Ghost and with Fire and be cleansed with the Blood of Christ and washed with the Water of the Word before they come into the Kingdom of God and into heavenly Jerusalem The Apostle Paul saith We know that if our earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a Building of God an House not made with Hands eternal in the Heavens For in this we groan earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our House which is from Heaven that mortality might be swallowed up of life 2 Cor. 5.1 2 4. Here is WE in the Earthly House of this Tabernacle which We are they that have received Christ and are become the Sons of God and New Creatures and Children of the Light that do believe in Christ's Light who have an Eternal House in the Heavens where Mortality is swallowed up of Life in which House from Heaven they will not groan And Peter said I think it meet as long as I am in this Tabernacle to stir you up by putting you in remembrance knowing that shortly I must put off this my Tabernacle even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me 2 Pet. 1.13 14. So Peter knew he must put off this Tabernacle shortly but as long as he was in it he did stir up the Saints to their duty in holiness that they might remember it after he was deceased The Apostle Paul saith The first Man is of the Earth Earthly mark Earthly 1 Cor. 15.47 And as we have born the Image of the Earthy we shall also bear the Image of the Heavenly mark the Heavenly ver 49. And We have this Treasure in earthen Vessels c. 2 Cor. 4.7 And I live said he yet not I but Christ liveth in me Gal. 2.20 who is the Life of all God's People And Christ said to the Jews That the Dead are raised even Moses shewed at the Bush when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob for he is not the God of the Dead but of the Living for all live unto him Luke 20.37 38. So None of us liveth to himself and no man dieth to himself For whether we live we live unto the Lord and whether we die we die unto the Lord. Whether we live therefore or die we are the Lord 's For to this end Christ both died and rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the dead and living Rom. 14.7 8 9. For all died in Adam and Christ by the Grace of God tasted death for every Man that they might come out of the death in Adam to
I was made to speak and open things to them There was one Brown who had great Prophecies and Sights upon his Death-bed of me And he spake openly of what I should be made Instrumental by the Lord to bring forth And of others he spake that they should come to nothing Which was fulfilled on some that then were something in shew And when this Man was buried a great Work of the Lord fell upon me to the admiration of many who thought I had been Dead And many came to see me for about fourteen Days time for I was very much altered in Countenance and Person as if my Body had been New-moulded or changed And while I was in that Condition I had a sense and discerning given me by the Lord 1647. Nottinghamshire through which I saw plainly that when many People talked of God and of Christ c. the Serpent spake in them But this was hard to be born Yet the Work of the Lord went on in some and my Sorrows and Troubles began to wear off and Tears of Joy dropped from me so that I could have wept Night and Day with Tears of Joy to the Lord in Humility and Brokenness of Heart And I saw into that which was without End and things which cannot be uttered and of the Greatness and Infinitness of the Love of God which cannot be exprest by Words For I had been brought through the very Ocean of Darkness and Death and through the Power and over the Power of Satan by the Eternal Glorious Power of Christ even through that Darkness was I brought which covered-over all the Word and which chained down all and shut up all in the Death And the same Eternal Power of God which brought me through these Things was that which afterwards shook the Nations Priests Professors and People Then could I say I had been in Spiritual Babylon Sodom Egypt and the Grave but by the Eternal Power of God I was come out of it and was brought over it and the Power of it into the Power of Christ And I saw the Harvest WHITE and the Seed of God lying thick in the Ground as ever did Wheat that was sown outwardly and none to gather it And for this I mourned with Tears And a Report went abroad of me That I was a Young Man that had a discerning Spirit Whereupon many came to me from far and near Professors Priests and People and the Lord's Power brake forth And I had great Openings and Prophecies and spake unto them of the Things of God and they heard with Attention and Silence and went away and spread the Fame thereof Then came the Tempter and set upon me again charging me That I had sinned against the Holy Ghost But I could not tell in what And then Paul's Condition came before me how after he had been taken up into the Third Heavens and seen things not lawful to be uttered a Messenger of Satan was sent to buffet him again Thus by the Power of Christ I got over that Temptation also In the Year 1648 as I was sitting in a Friend's House in Nottinghamshire for by this time the Power of God had opened the Hearts of some to receive the Word of Life and Reconciliation I saw there was a great Crack to go throughout the Earth and a great Smoke to go as the Crack went and that after the Crack there should be a great Shaking This was the Earth in People's Hearts which was to be shaken before the Seed of God was raised out of the Earth And it was so for the Lord's Power began to shake them and great Meetings we began to have and a mighty Power and Work of God there was amongst People to the Astonishment of both People and Priests And there was a Meeting of Priests and Professors at a Justice's House and I went among them And there they discoursed how Paul said He had not known Sin but by the Law which said Thou shalt not lust And they held that to be spoken of the outward Law But I told them Paul spake that after he was Convinced For he had the outward Law before and was bred up in it when he was in the Lust of Persecution but this was the Law of God in his Mind which he served and which the Law in his Members warred against For that which he thought had been Life to him proved Death So the more sober of the Priests and Professors yielded and consented that it was not the Outward Law but the Inward which shewed the Inward Lust which Paul spake of after he was Convinced For the outward Law took hold upon the outward Action but the Inward Law upon the Inward Lust After this I went again to Mansfield Mansfield where was a great Meeting of Professors and People And I was moved to Pray And the Lord's Power was so great that the House seemed to be shaken And when I had done some of the Professors said It was now as in the Days of the Apostles when the House was shaken where they were After I had prayed one of the Professors would pray which brought Deadness and a Vail over them And others of the Professors were grieved at him and told him It was a Temptation upon him Then he came to me and desired that I would pray again But I could not pray in Man's Will Soon after there was another great Meeting of Professors and a Captain whose Name was Amor Stoddard came in And they were discoursing of the Blood of Christ And as they were discoursing of it I saw through the immediate Opening of the Invisible Spirit the Blood of Christ And I cryed out among them and said Do ye not see the Blood of Christ See it in your Hearts to sprinkle your Hearts and Consciences from Dead Works to serve the Living God For I saw it the Blood of the New Covenant how it came into the Heart This startled the Professors who would have the Blood only without them and not in them But Captain Stoddard was reached and said Let the Youth speak hear the Youth speak when he saw they endeavoured to bear me down with many Words There were also a Company of Priests that were looked upon to be tender one of their Names was Kellet and several People that were tender went to hear them And I was moved to go after them and bid them Mind the Lord's Teaching in their inward Parts That Priest Kellet was against Parsonages then but afterwards he got a great One and turned a Persecutor Now after I had had some Service in these Parts Derbyshire Leicestershire I went through Derbyshire into my own Country Leicestershire again and several tender People were Convinced And passing thence I met with a great Company of Professors in Warwickshire who were Praying Warwickshire and Expounding the Scriptures in the Fields and they gave the Bible to me and I opened it on the Fifth of Matthew where Christ expounded
the Law And I opened the Inward State to them and the Outward State and they fell into a feirce Contention and so parted But the Lord's Power got Ground Then I heard of a great Meeting to be at Leicester for a Dispute Leicester wherein both Presbyterians Independents Baptists and Common-Prayer-Men were said to be all concerned The Meeting was in a Steeple-house and thither I was moved by the Lord God to go and be amongst them 1648. Leicester And I heard their Discourse and Reasonings some being in Pews and the Priest in the Pulpit abundance of People being gathered together At last one Woman asked a Question out of Peter What that Birth was viz. A being born again of Incorruptible Seed by the Word of God that liveth and abideth for ever And the Priest said to her I permit not a Woman to speak in the Church though he had before given liberty for any to speak Whereupon I was wrapt up as in a Rapture in the Lord's Power and I stepped up in a Place and asked the Priest Dost thou call this Place the Steeple-house a Church Or dost thou call this mixt Multitude a Church For the Woman asking a Question he ought to have answered it having given liberty for any to speak But he did not answer me neither but asked me What a Church was I told him The Church was the Pillar and Ground of Truth made up of living Stones living Members a spiritual Houshold which Christ was the Head of But he was not the Head of a mixt Multitude or of an old House made up of Lime Stones and Wood This set them all on Fire The Priest came down out of his Pulpit and others out of their Pews and the Dispute there was marr'd But I went to a great Inn and there disputed the thing with the Priests and Professors of all sorts and they were all on a Fire But I maintained the true Church and the true Head thereof over the Heads of them all till they all gave out and fled away And there was one Man that seemed loving and appeared for a while to join with me but he soon turned against me and joined with a Priest in pleading for Infant 's Baptism tho' he himself had been a Baptist before And so left me alone Howbeit there were several Convinced that day and the Woman that asked the Question aforesaid was Convinced and her Family And the Lord's Power and Glory shined over all Nottingham-shire After this I returned into Nottingham-shire again and went into the Vale of Beavor And as I went I preached Repentance to the People Vale of Beavor And there were many Convinced in the Vale of Beavor in many Towns for I stayed some Weeks amongst them And one Morning as I was sitting by the Fire a great Cloud came over me and a Temptation beset me And I sate still And it was said All things come by Nature And the Elements and Stars came over me so that I was in a manner quite clouded with it But inasmuch as I sate still and said nothing the People of the House perceived nothing And as I sate still under it and let it alone a living Hope arose in me and a true Voice arose in me which said There is a living God who made all things And immediately the Cloud and Temptation vanished away and Life rose over it all and my Heart was glad and I praised the living God And after some time I met with some People that had such a Notion That there was no God but that all things came by Nature And I had great Dispute with them and overturned them and made some of them Confess that there was a Living God Then I saw that it was good that I had gone through that Exercise And we had great Meetings in those Parts Nottingham-shire for the Power of the Lord broke through in that side of the Country And returning into Nottingham-shire I found there a Company of shattered Baptists and Others 1648. Nottingham-shire Mansfield Darbyshire Eton. and the Lord's Power wrought mightily and gathered many of them Then afterwards I went to Mansfield and there-a-way where the Lord's Power was wonderfully manifested both at Mansfield and other Towns thereabouts And in Darby-shire the mighty Power of God wrought in a wonderful manner At Eton a Town near Darby there was a Meeting of Friends where there was such a mighty Power of God that they were greatly Shaken and many Mouths were opened in the Power of the Lord God And many were moved by the Lord to go to Steeple-houses to the Priests and to the People to declare the Everlasting Truth unto them And at a certain time when I was at Mansfield Mansfield there was a Sitting of the Justices about hiring of Servants and it was upon me from the Lord to go and speak to the Justices That they should not oppress the Servants in their Wages So I walked towards the Inn where they sate but finding a Company of Fidlers there I did not go in but thought to come in the Morning when I might have a more serious Opportunity to discourse them not thinking that a seasonable time But when I came again in the Morning they were gone and I was struck even blind that I could not see And I inquired of the Inn-keeper where the Justices were to sit that day And he told me At a Town eight Miles off And my Sight began to come to me again and I went and Ran thitherward as fast as I could And when I was come to the House where they were and many Servants with them I exhorted the Justices Not to oppress the Servants in their Wages but to do that which was Right and Just to them And I exhorted the Servants To do their Duties and serve honestly c. And they all received my Exhortation kindly for I was moved of the Lord therein Moreover I was moved to go to several Courts and Steeple-houses at Mansfield and other Places to warn them to leave off Oppression and Oaths and to turn from Deceit and to turn to the Lord and do justly Particularly at Mansfield after I had been at a Court there I was moved to go and speak to one of the Wicked'st Men in the Country one who was a Common Drunkard a noted Whore-master and a Rime-maker And I reproved him in the dread of the Mighty God for his evil Courses And when I had done Speaking and left him he came after me and told me That he was so smitten when I spake to him that he had scarce any Strength left in him So this Man was Convinced and turned from his Wickedness and remained an honest sober Man to the Astonishment of the People who had known him before Thus the Work of the Lord went forward and many were turned from the Darkness to the Light within the compass of these three Years 1646 1647 and 1648. And divers Meetings of