<!DOCTYPE ETS PUBLIC "-//UMDLPS//DTD EEBOPROOF 2.0//EN">
<ETS>
<TEMPHEAD>
<REVDESCR>
<CHANGE>
<DATE>2007-09-04</DATE>
<RESPSTMT>
<NAME>Elspeth Healey</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
</RESPSTMT>
<ITEM>Proofed text and corrected markup.</ITEM>
</CHANGE>
</REVDESCR>
</TEMPHEAD>
<EEBO>
<IDG S="marc" R="UM" ID="A84597">
<STC T="W">F1057</STC>
<STC T="T">E889_10</STC>
<BIBNO T="umi">99862516</BIBNO>
<VID>114679</VID>
</IDG>
<TEXT LANG="eng">
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="account">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<HEAD>THE SCORNED
QUAKERS</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">True and hone&s;t Account, both why
and What he &s;hould have &s;poken (as to the
&s;um and &s;ub&s;tance thereof) by Commi&s;&s;ion from
God, but that he had not permi&s;&s;ion from Men, in the Pain|ted
Chamber on the 17^t^h. day of the 7^t^h. month 1656. before
the Protector and the Parliament then, and there met toge|ther,
with many more of no mean account, who were not
of them, yet were then crowded in among them.</HEAD>
<P>ON the <HI>22^t^h.</HI> day of the 6. Month 1656. it being two
dayes after the Generall Election of Members of Par|liament
for the &s;everall Counties of this Nation, the
word of the Lord came unto me, even unto me <HI>Samu|el
Fi&s;her,</HI> at my own outward being at <HI>Lid</HI> in <HI>Kent,</HI> &s;aying, go
thou unto the <HI>Protector,</HI> and the <HI>Parliament,</HI> when they &s;hall
be met together in the Painted Chamber at <HI>We&s;tmin&s;ter,</HI> on
the day appointed for the fir&s;t &s;itting of this <HI>Parliament,</HI> and
there &s;peak among them what I &s;hall bid thee, even the words
that I &s;hall in the mean time put into thy minde, and at that
time into thy Mouth; which <HI>Motion,</HI> (howbeit at that pre|&s;ent
I was &s;till, and quiet, and not unwilling if the Lords will
were to continue it upon me but &s;weetly &s;atisfyed within me
to obey it,) yet was afterwards at &s;undry times, (even &s;o oft as
fle&s;h, and blood drew me to con&s;ult with it) attended with no
&s;mall <HI>Commotion</HI> in my Minde, and being often held under a
&s;en&s;e of the tediou&s;ne&s;s, and terriblene&s;s, of &s;o great and weigh|ty
<PB REF="2">
a &s;ervice, which the <HI>Carnall</HI> part, that ever oppo&s;eth, and (till
it be &s;ubdued) oppre&s;&s;eth the <HI>Pure,</HI> did &s;till repre&s;ent of dangerous
con&s;equence to me, as to the outward, I was taken at times (as
<HI>Chri&s;ts Mini&s;ters</HI> often were, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 2. 3. who were approved
to be his by the tumults they were in for the truths &s;ake, as well
as by other things, 2 <HI>Cor.</HI> 6. 5. with &s;ome weakene&s;&s;es of
mind, and no &s;mall fears, and tremblings; Neverthele&s;s be|ing
called of the Lord to &s;eek his face yet further, even &s;even or
eight dayes together with fa&s;ting, tears, and &s;upplications, for
the full clearing up of his Mind unto Me in that Matter, and
his &s;trengthning of me to it, in ca&s;e he would not excu&s;e me in
it, nor &s;end his Me&s;&s;age by the Mouth of any other be&s;ide my
&s;elf (than whom (<HI>O Lord</HI> thow knowe&s;t) I thought a more un|worthy
one could not be &s;ingled out, among all thy Saints that
are impolyed publickly about thy &s;ervice) be&s;ides the dayly &s;up|plyes
of new evidences, and refre&s;hments to my &s;pirits, during
all the time of that ab&s;tinence, which was a fa&s;t not of mine,
but of the Lords own choo&s;ing, (which kind of fa&s;ts the formall
fa&s;ters of this age, are not acquainted with the Mi&s;tery of, nor
ever will be, till they come out from the <HI>outward Court,</HI> where|in
they dwell, trampling the <HI>holy City,</HI> into the <HI>inward Tem|ple,</HI>
and that inward acquaintance with the voice of <HI>God,</HI>
which in the holy of holys onely is to be had: on the <HI>9^t^h.</HI> day
waiting upon <HI>God</HI> after the receiving of &s;omething, for the &s;u|&s;tenance
of my <HI>outward,</HI> I was al&s;o more then ordinarily &s;u|&s;tained
in my <HI>inward Man;</HI> Yea, the Lord not onely put it out
of doubt, and perfectly &s;ealed it up to me, that it was his mind
that I mu&s;t go, which I had all along de&s;ired earne&s;tly, that
I might never do at my own will, if it were not his, but al&s;o
forbear to be a terror to me him&s;elf, as he had been very often
by fits, not without &s;peciall reference to my good, for the&s;e ma|ny
months together, wherein his hand hath been very heavy
on my Family, making me moreover by his wrath in a renewed
&s;en&s;e of all my old &s;ins, even tho&s;e of my youth, which he made
me anew to po&s;&s;e&s;s, &s;ometimes a very terror to my &s;elf, and la&s;t|ly
to take away all that terror that was wont to ari&s;e in me, from
the weightine&s;s of the work under hand, and removed all my
<PB REF="2">
fears of the frowns of mans face, and counter-pleaded all my
pleas to him, that I &s;hould not &s;peak for fear, and that they would
not hear me, &amp; &s;uch like, with the often iteration of what he &s;up|ported
his Me&s;&s;engers by of old (<HI>viz.</HI>) whether they will hear,
or whether they will forbear (for its like they will be rebellious
enough, and make their necks as an iron &s;inew) yet go thou,
and be not afraid, nor di&s;mayed at their faces, le&s;t I confound
thee before them; whereupon having received &s;uch a charge
from the Lord, without any more gain&s;aying, or giving any
heed to fle&s;h, and blood, I from thenceforth concluded unalte|rably
to be there, and accordingly was there at the time ap|pointed,
and began to &s;peak &s;o &s;oon as po&s;&s;ibly I could get conve|niency
of a &s;tanding, after the Protector had done his &s;peech:
but &s;o it was, that by the grievou&s;ne&s;s of the crowd, that was
there, and the violence of five or &s;ix more barbarous than all
the re&s;t that &s;tood about me, (who hearing me &s;ay with de&s;ires
to them of room (of whom I hoped to have had a&s;&s;i&s;tance in or|der
to the audience of the rest) that I had a word to &s;peak from
the <HI>Lord</HI> to the <HI>Protector,</HI> the <HI>Parliament,</HI> and the <HI>People,</HI> &s;et
me at nought, (&s;ome &s;aying the <HI>Protector</HI> had &s;poken long, and
was very hot, and weary, and I might be a&s;hamed to occa&s;ion
his &s;tay now any longer, &s;ome crying a <HI>Quaker,</HI> a <HI>Quaker,</HI>
keep him down, he &s;hall not &s;peak,) I was hindred a while, and
held under of them by the utmo&s;t force they could u&s;e, till there
was a ri&s;ing to go away, and the <HI>Protector</HI> was with the &s;word,
and Maces before him de&s;cended, and departing from his
<HI>Chair,</HI> but the word of the <HI>Lord</HI> burning then as a fire in my
bowells; &s;o that I could not but &s;peak, whether I &s;hould be
heard yea, or nay; for I was weary with forbearing, it forced
me to crowd in and &s;tand between two of them, that &s;tood before
me on a form, and &s;o &s;poke whether they would or no, (and
whether it were fit for me to obey God, or the&s;e Men that had
no power there to forbid me, but the power of darkne&s;s, judge
ye) but having &s;poken with much difficulty, &s;o much as is con|tained
in about half a dozen lines, of what is here under writ|ten,
in which the <HI>Protector,</HI> and <HI>Parliament</HI> are onely named,
and before I came to that, by which I was moved of the Lord
<PB REF="3">
in his Name, to be &s;peak, and challenge their attendance, I was
forthwith unpeaceably prohibited, not by the <HI>Protector</HI> him|&s;elf
(who&s;e Nobility in hearing what is &s;aid, whether he heeded
it yea, or nay, as it hath been experienced heretofore, &s;o I am
as free to acknowledge it here, as <HI>Paul</HI> was to take notice of the
like in <HI>Fe&s;tus,</HI> whom he held mo&s;t noble in that he would hear
him, though he thought him Mad) nor yet by any one of the
<HI>Parliament</HI> Men that I know of,<NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Unle&s;s either of the two Ju|&s;tices were Members of the Hou&s;e, that took me to do a little after, one of which taking me to be a <HI>Je&s;uit</HI> bu|&s;yed him&s;elf more about me than he needed to have done, un|le&s;s they had found cau&s;e to do more to me than at la&s;t they did.</NOTE> (of whom I am per&s;waded
that together with the <HI>Protector</HI> they would have heard, could
I have &s;poken before they had been &s;o far onward in pa&s;&s;ing our,
and am not out of hopes, but that they will patiently read me
herein, how ever) but by many of that multitude, that was
mingled then among them, who (much like them who fell with
one accord upon <HI>Paul,</HI> accu&s;ing him that contrary to the Law,
he taught the wor&s;hip of God, and took <HI>So&s;thenes,</HI> and beat him
before the very judgement Seat of <HI>Gallio the Governour,</HI> he
caring for none of tho&s;e things, 18 <HI>Act</HI> 12. 17.) took and tore
me from my &s;tanding, tumbling and haling me to, and fro, and
how far hitting me, I name not, &s;ith I had no hurt, I cannot
&s;ay before his face, for his back was then turned to pa&s;s away,
but while the <HI>Protector</HI> was yet in pre&s;ence, howbeit not know|ing
happily what they did; which incivility of theirs I now
mention, not to &s;hame any of tho&s;e men that &s;hamed them&s;elves
(if they be not &s;uch unju&s;t ones as know no &s;hame) too much in
the very acting it, yet O Lord lay not that their &s;in unto their
charge) but to &s;hew them how much more uncivill they were
when they had done, in laying their own &s;in to my charge, for
howbeit I was wholly innocent as to any breach of peace in com|ing
thither in a peaceable manner, to &s;hew them the way to the
true peace, which they know not, yet (as it ever did upon the
<HI>Lord</HI> him&s;elf, and all his <HI>Prophets,</HI> who when they were mo&s;t
di&s;turbed were made di&s;turbers, whereupon I rejoyce and am
contented) di&s;turbance aro&s;e upon me, and not onely &s;o, but even
by the Ju&s;tice of Peace in who&s;e cu&s;tody I was a while, as well as
by the re&s;t, who made the ront, I was accu&s;ed as a wanderer
that went about di&s;turbing of the peace.</P>
<P>But the day is now dawning, and that true light &s;hining forth,
<PB REF="3">
which will &s;hew, (as the book of con&s;cience comes on to be ope|ned,
and it cannot now be much longer clo&s;ed) that &s;uch as are
run out, and gone a&s;tray from the light of the Lord, and cry
peace, peace to them&s;elves in their &s;ins, and in their wicked
di&s;turbings of his truth, are the chief <HI>vagabonds,</HI> and <HI>peace|breakers</HI>
both in their own &s;ouls, and in the Nations, &s;ith there
begins to be from henceforth, for ever, and is to be from hence|forth
more than ever, no peace (&s;aith my <HI>God</HI>) unto the wicked.</P>
<P>Now as to all tho&s;e that were then &s;o rude and unrea&s;ona|ble,
as to &s;ay it was both unmannerly, and un&s;ea&s;onable for me
to offer to &s;peak <HI>then,</HI> and <HI>there,</HI> though in the Name, and
power of the living <HI>God,</HI> as if it were King <HI>Jeroboams</HI> Cha|pell,
or &s;ome place &s;o priviledged by the <HI>Lord God</HI> him&s;elf from
having any of his word dropped there, that none of his <HI>Prophets</HI>
may come near it, I advi&s;e them to con&s;ider that the word of
<HI>God</HI> as it is worthy to be tarryed for by Man, and waited for
by Man, &s;o it cannot, (as the words of trencher-Chaplains often
if not ever do) tarry for Man, nor wait for Man, it ever comes
at his own will, and not at the will of Man, but in a Cro&s;s to
it, even his will who &s;peaks, and his who is &s;poken to, the <HI>Spirit</HI>
blows as well when as where it li&s;ts, and the Man that is born
after the <HI>fle&s;h</HI> may hear the &s;ound thereof, but cannot tell
whence it comes, nor whether it goes, nor what his being, nor
way, nor time, nor &s;ea&s;on is, who is borne after the <HI>Spirit,</HI> and
therefore ever oppo&s;es, and contradicts him, fancying that,
which the other knows to be mo&s;t <HI>in &s;ea&s;on,</HI> to be mo&s;t <HI>out of
&s;ea&s;on,</HI> and holding the word which is to be preached, both <HI>in,</HI>
and <HI>out</HI> of &s;ea&s;on mo&s;t <HI>un&s;utable,</HI> and <HI>un&s;ea&s;onable</HI> at the time
and place, <HI>when</HI> and <HI>where</HI> if it be not &s;poken; no other time,
or place to &s;peak it in (acceptably unto God) can be found either
<HI>&s;utable,</HI> or <HI>&s;ea&s;onable:</HI> and ju&s;t &s;o no otherwi&s;e, (as will appear
by the&s;e pre&s;ents to any but the blind) was the ca&s;e in that my
&s;peaking of it, which is here &s;poken for, and proved to be both
ju&s;t, and warrantable: in my faithfull tendring of my &s;elf to
the &s;peaking of which, as I was commanded, I am delivered
from the terror of the Lord, and the blood of the&s;e three Nati|ons,
which would have been upon my head, if for either fear
<PB REF="4">
or favour, I had rebelled again&s;t his &s;pirit, and forborn to bear
my Te&s;timony, again&s;t tho&s;e tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions of the&s;e times, which
makes them perilous, and how hardly &s;oever I am both judged,
and &s;poken of in the dark night of Mans day, yet in the Lords
own light, I &s;ee my acceptance with him, and abide in that
peace, which far pa&s;&s;es all their under&s;tandings, that for the
truths &s;ake &s;hall ever trouble me, and which I would not want,
for want of obeying, for all that outward peace, and pro&s;perity
of tho&s;e I would have &s;poken to put together, if they be at peace
under the power of any &s;in; and in the Generall day of the Lords
judgement, which is near upon them, I &s;halbe cleared to have
done nothing ami&s;s in that Matter, and nothing but what was
in true love, not onely to the Lord, but al&s;o to their &s;ouls, who
may probably hate me for my offering to tell them the truth:
neverthele&s;s that in the mean time, <HI>truth</HI> may not bear all the
blame (as it hitherto hath done in all ages, and places) of tho&s;e
hurryes and &s;tirs that are about it in the world, to which its no
way acce&s;&s;ary as the cau&s;e thereof (for that Mens lu&s;ts who
hate it) but as an occa&s;ion, I was &s;ince then moved of the <HI>Lord,</HI>
&s;ith I was not heard, to write this, one &s;illable of which neither
was before, nor el&s;e was to have been (for ought I know) com|mitted
to writing, and at my return to my own home, whether
(if he plea&s;e) I am now pa&s;&s;ing to leave a te&s;timony behind me
of my innocency in the ca&s;e, wherein mo&s;t that hear of it may
hold me guilty; in order, whereunto, and in obedience, to his
<HI>Motion,</HI> I have given forth, not onely what goes before, as a
manife&s;tation of what <HI>true right</HI> I had, <HI>then,</HI> and <HI>there</HI> to
&s;peak, but al&s;o that which follows, (wherein excepting onely
what is annexed in the Margent is the very &s;um thereof) as
a Manife&s;tation of what <HI>true,</HI> and <HI>right</HI> things might have
been &s;poken (as they were committed to me from God to &s;peak)
by his own power a&s;&s;isting, had I been permitted to &s;peak by Men,
or had not Satan been permitted (as at other times al&s;o he hath)
to enterpo&s;e his power, and been found re&s;i&s;ting by his A&s;&s;i|&s;tants.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="testimony">
<PB N="1" REF="4">
<HEAD>The &s;um and &s;ub&s;tance of the Me&s;|&s;uage
it &s;elf, and for the mo&s;t part the ve|ry
order and forme of words, which (could
I have been heard) I &s;hould have &s;poken in.</HEAD>
<P>THe burden of the word of the <HI>Lord God</HI> of Heaven,
and of earth, as it came unto me, on the 22th. day
of the la&s;t Month, and as it now lyeth upon me
to declare it in his Name, both unto thee, even un|to
thee <HI>Oliver Cromwell Protector</HI> (&s;o calld) of the&s;e three
Nations of <HI>England, Scotland and Ireland,</HI> and al&s;o to all you,
who are cho&s;en out of the &s;everal parts thereof to &s;it in <HI>Parlia|ment</HI>
this day, to con&s;ider of &s;uch things as concern the <HI>Com|mon-wealth</HI>
thereof; and likewi&s;e to the three Nations them|&s;elves,
even to the <HI>Towns, Cities, Countries,</HI> and all the &s;ub|ordinate
<HI>Powers,</HI> and <HI>people</HI> thereof, who&s;e <HI>Rulers,</HI> and <HI>Re|pre&s;entatives</HI> ye are; which word of the Lord as you do not
deeme your &s;elves too high (or too great, or too good to be
&s;poken too from the <HI>Lord,</HI> and as you will not fall under
the guilt of that &s;in of &s;aying to the <HI>Seers</HI> &s;ee not, and to the
<HI>Prophets</HI> prophe&s;y not, prophe&s;y not unto us right things,
prophe&s;y &s;mooth things, prophe&s;y deceipts, which iniquity
will prove &s;uch a breach among you (if you do) as you will
never be able to make up again with all your wi&s;doms: I
charge you all in the name of the living <HI>God,</HI> that without
interruption, or oppo&s;ition whether you like, or like it not)
you &s;tand &s;till and hear it, and when I have done you may do
with me as the Lord &s;hall give you leave, or leave me under
the power of your hands to do; no Law of Equity condem|ning
any Man before he be heard, &s;pecially when he &s;peaks on
<PB N="2" REF="5">
&s;o high an account as from the <HI>God</HI> of Heaven him&s;elf, though
to &s;uch as are no le&s;s than <HI>Gods</HI> under him here on Earth.</P>
<P>Ye are a &s;eed of evill doers &s;aith the Lord, an Hypocriti|call
Generation, a people who&s;e heart is not right, and who&s;e
&s;pirit is not &s;tedfa&s;t with the Lord, ye have made many &s;hews
of &s;eeking my face, but ye have not yet found it, becau&s;e ye
have not &s;ought it in &s;incerity: ye have talked much of tur|ning
unto me, but ye have never done it yet, with all your
hearts, but faignedly &s;aith the Lord; ye have &s;eemed much to
enquire after me in your long prayers, as if ye did delight to
know my ways, but my ways, which are ways of purity,
peace, and plea&s;antne&s;s (though grievous to the wicked) ye
yet know not, &s;o well as ye might do, did ye &s;tand in my
Coun&s;ell, and &s;o far forth as ye do know of them, ye have no
delight to walk in them, &s;o &s;traight, and rugged are they to that
Nature, which ye yet remain in: ye call out to me after light, as
if ye were very de&s;irous to be enlightned, but ye are haters of
my light &amp; of my life, &s;aith the Lord, even the light in the con&s;ci|ence,
which I have placed in every one of you, to be a witne&s;s
for me again&s;t your &s;elves when ye do evill, which if a Man
believe in, he &s;hall not abide in darkne&s;s, but &s;hall &s;ee the
light of life, and come forth in my Image, and likene&s;s &s;aith
the Lord; this ye come not clo&s;ely to, le&s;t you &s;hould be re|proved
by it, but love darkne&s;s more than it, becau&s;e your deeds
are evill: ye have fa&s;ted often, and hung down your heads
like a bulru&s;h for a day, but you have never yet fa&s;ted unto
me, &s;aith the Lord, you find your own plea&s;ure &s;till, the bands
of wickedne&s;s are not loo&s;ed, you are captivated &s;till in the
Cords of your own &s;ins, neither have you in the mid&s;t of all
your ab&s;tinencies, ab&s;tained ever yet from the fle&s;hly lu&s;ts
which war again&s;t your &s;ouls; but are as proud as ever, as
pompous and vain as ever, as luxurious and wanton, as co|vetous,
and earthly minded, as &s;elf-&s;eeking, as time-&s;erving,
as Men-plea&s;ing, as oppre&s;&s;ing, and unrighteous as before; ye
have often fa&s;ted for, but never fully from your iniquities to
this day &s;aith the Lord: you would be counted <HI>profe&s;&s;ors,</HI> yea
<HI>promoters</HI> of Religion, but are indeed <HI>per&s;ecuters</HI> of the very
<PB N="3" REF="5">
life and power, and of that people that do live in the life and
power of that &s;ame Religion which inform, and words ye
have long profe&s;&s;ed: the <HI>Chri&s;tian Religion,</HI> contained in the
<HI>Scripture</HI> is that, which in the 35^t^h. Article of your pre&s;ent
Government, ye &s;ay &s;hall be held forth, and recommended,
as the publick profe&s;&s;ion of the Nation, and indeed many
&s;everall outward forms, fa&s;hions, and profe&s;&s;ions of that <HI>Chri|&s;tian
Religion,</HI> ye have run out into, &s;aith the Lord, but the
&s;ub&s;tance it &s;elf living in the &s;pirit, walking after the &s;pirit,
keeping a Mans &s;elf out of the lu&s;ts of the fle&s;h, un&s;potted of
the world, which is the onely pure, and undefiled, and true
<HI>Chri&s;tian Religion,</HI> the <HI>Scripture</HI> calls for, this is rather held
under, and di&s;commended than held forth, and recommended
by you, any further than in a &s;ound of words, &s;o long as &s;uch
as do &s;olidly, unfainedly, in truth, and not in talk make pub|lick
profe&s;&s;ion of that, are by all empty formali&s;ts in all pla|ces
injured, accu&s;ed fal&s;ely, unju&s;tly cen&s;ured, and abu&s;ed;
ye judge not the meek in righteou&s;ne&s;s, ye condemn the ge|neration
of the ju&s;t ones, ye love lyars, hurt the peaceable,
and de&s;troy the dwellings of &s;uch as bring forth fruits unto me
(as your &s;elves never yet did,) and that do you no harme, &s;aith
the Lord; Witne&s;s the &s;ad &s;ufferings of &s;o many of my Saints
and Servants, that tremble at my word, &s;aith the Lord, and
are therefore commonly, but &s;cornfully called Quakers, many
of who&s;e pretious ones, of whom the world is not worthy (as
unworthy as they are thought to live in quiet in it) have for
the&s;e two or three years la&s;t pa&s;t, in &s;ome parts of the other
two Nations, and in mo&s;t parts of this, undergone tryalls of
cruell mockings, and &s;coffings, revilings, and deri&s;ions dayly,
al&s;o of &s;tockings, and &s;tonings, cruell, and bloudy whippings
and &s;courgings, &s;hamefull and de&s;pitefull intreatings, and
handlings, halings out of Synagogues, ri&s;ings of people in rude,
and tumultuous manners upon them, and &s;uch cruell kinds of
bonds, and impri&s;onments, as tho&s;e that are <HI>Malefactors</HI> in
deed (for &s;uch are objects of your pity while they &s;uffer, and
not your hatred, &s;aith the Lord) do &s;eldome or never meet with,
ca&s;tings into narrow na&s;ty holes, and &s;tinking Dungeons,
<PB N="4" REF="6">
wherein yet acce&s;s of friends to mini&s;ter to them is oft denyed
them, heavy and cruell fines, which they can &s;ooner choo&s;e
to peri&s;h in pri&s;on, (as &s;ome have done) than ever pay, they
being meerly by the wills of Man impo&s;ed upon them, which
fines will be at la&s;t a talent of lead upon their con&s;ciences
that have &s;et them, and as the Gall of A&s;pes in their bowells,
that exact the payment; the&s;e, and &s;uch like things, have
my &s;ervants &s;uffered among you, &s;ome for one &s;mall
matter, &s;ome another, but not for ought at which I am
di&s;plea&s;ed, or offended with them, &s;aith the Lord; as name|ly
&s;ome meerly for travelling to and fro to fulfill the Mi|ni&s;try
they receive of God, and to te&s;tifie the Go&s;pell of
his grac in obedience to him, who hath layed &s;uch nece&s;&s;ity
on them &s;o to do, that woe be unto them from him, if they
do it not; even as the Apo&s;tles, and true Mini&s;ters of old
did by the power of the Spirit of the Lotd upon them, who
pa&s;&s;ed up and down preaching, and had no certain dwel|ling
place; and yet though counted the very &s;cum of the
world, as the&s;e are now by you, were neither <HI>rogues</HI> nor
<HI>vagabonds,</HI> &s;aith the Lord; &s;ome for onely entring into the
Synagogues, who&s;e doors &s;tand open for all Men, and there
either doing nothing, or declaring (&s;ometimes in deed be|fore)
but &s;ometimes not till after all is ended, even as the
movings of the Lord are upon them, again&s;t the fal&s;e wor|&s;hips,
and hireling Prie&s;ts thereof, that Divine for money,
and the people that love to have it &s;o, which both Chri&s;t and
the Prophets and Apo&s;tles of old did (even there) cry woe
again&s;t, and yet were neither <HI>di&s;turbers,</HI> nor <HI>Malefact<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="missing" EXTENT="1 letter">rs,</HI>
&s;aith the Lord: &s;ome for not having the faith of God with
re&s;pect of per&s;ons, which who &s;o have, are convinced of the
Law as tran&s;gre&s;&s;ors: &s;ome for not giving flattering titles
unto Men, not honouring them in their own way of bow|ing
before them, not &s;tooping to their wills beyond either
&s;en&s;e or rea&s;on, which the Law of <HI>God</HI> flatly forbiddeth; &s;ome
for not putting off the Hat to them, or &s;tanding bare-hea|ded
before them, which no Law at all of either <HI>God</HI> or Man
commandeth, but is onely one of tho&s;e many cu&s;toms of the
<PB N="5" REF="6">
Heathen, which are vain, and &s;o vain is this (e&s;pecially as
the complementall Cringers and fooli&s;h fa&s;hion-followers
of this vain age u&s;e it) that men may with as much civility
put off, and require the putting off of their Coats one to
another, and to as much good purpo&s;e, &s;aith the Lord: &s;ome
for u&s;ing the plain Engli&s;h of <HI>Thee</HI> and <HI>Thou</HI> to Men, though
it be the mo&s;t proper &s;peech to a &s;ingle per&s;on, whether you
&s;peak to God or the greate&s;t Men, witne&s;s your own tran|&s;lation
of the <HI>Scripture</HI> into your own Engli&s;h tongue, in
all which it can't be found, from one end thereof to the o|ther,
where the word <HI>you</HI> is made u&s;e of when no more but
one per&s;on is &s;poken to: be&s;ides what evidence is given in
from other tongues to the truth of this) &s;ave onely that meer
pride and re&s;pect of per&s;ons doth both improperly, and im|pudently
plead to have &s;everall &s;orts of &s;peaking to &s;everall
&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="missing" EXTENT="1 letter">rts of people in this bruti&s;h Nation, and adulterous Ge|neration,
&s;aith the Lord: &s;ome for telling <HI>lyars</HI> in plain terms
onely of their <HI>lying,</HI> which to do is held to be &s;uch reviling,
as de&s;erves little le&s;s than half hanging among many, though
there is no more reall hurt (but that fal&s;hood, and fooli&s;h
cu&s;tome hath perverted the true being of many things, and
your true &s;eeing almo&s;t of any things as they are) in &s;aying
to him that <HI>lyeth, Thou lyest,</HI> than in &s;aying to him that
<HI>&s;weareth, Thou &s;weare&s;t,</HI> &s;aith the Lord; &s;ome for not pay|ing
of tythes even to them, that they neither do, nor can in
Con&s;cience ever own to be their Pa&s;tours (though they
hinder no Men from paying them that have a Mind to it,
and who&s;e Con&s;ciences compell them even that way to
maintain their own Mini&s;ters) which as the Go&s;pell is a|gain&s;t
the paying of, by <HI>Chri&s;ts flock,</HI> to their own <HI>Shepheards</HI>
that feed them, much more to &s;uch Shepheards, as whether
they will or no do fleece, but never feed them; &s;o no Law
in this Land can compell any Man to pay at all in ca&s;e he be
minded, whether out of Covetou&s;ne&s;s, or Con&s;cience to re|fu&s;e
it; the <HI>Eccle&s;ia&s;tical Courts</HI> being clear taken away, and
there being an expre&s;s <HI>Statute</HI> extant remaining yet unre|pealed,
that it &s;hall not be lawfull for any to &s;ue for tythes
<PB N="6" REF="7">
in any <HI>Temporall,</HI> or in any but in <HI>Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall Courts,</HI> nor
for any to be &s;ummoned before any <HI>&s;ecular Judge</HI> to give in
any an&s;wer about that Matter, and therefore what condition
the Judges are in that now meddle with it, who are &s;worn
not to do again&s;t any Statute Law of the Land, let the light
in their own Con&s;ciences be judge, for to that mea&s;ure of
my light in them, by which I am coming to be a &s;wift wit|ne&s;s
again&s;t the <HI>fal&s;e &s;wearer,</HI> as well as every other evill
doer, do I now &s;peak, and appeal &s;aith the Lord; &s;ome for
no more than bare going, out of duty to God, to vi&s;it their
impri&s;oned, and afflicted friends, have been &s;ent back with|out
the &s;ight of them, and &s;ome with pa&s;&s;es as <HI>Rogues, Va|gabonds,</HI>
and <HI>idle wanderers,</HI> though they have been of &s;uf|ficient
worth as to the outward al&s;o, and have never either
begged or &s;tole; and others are taken up by the way to their
friends, and put by whole heaps together in pri&s;on, and
there kept till they can buckle &s;o low to the wills of Men
again&s;t all Law, and Con&s;cience, as to &s;ay if the Lord will
they will go back, without effecting their intended lawfull
bu&s;ine&s;s of vi&s;iting Chri&s;t in pri&s;on (which woe to them that
do not, much more woe to them that do impri&s;on him) or
not go on in that their hone&s;t undertaking: witne&s;s that
&s;infull &s;hamefull bu&s;ine&s;s at <HI>Exeter,</HI> where are no le&s;s than
between <HI>ten</HI> and <HI>twenty</HI> at once in pri&s;on, meerly for going
to &s;ee friends in pri&s;on at another place; and there held
unle&s;s they will find &s;ureties for their good behaviour, or
pa&s;s their words if the Lord will, to go which way they
would have them, as if the Land were not free for Men that
are bound by the Law of God to a good behaviour to pa&s;s up,
and down in, about none but lawfull occa&s;ions, without
binding them&s;elves thereunto, (and &s;o giving it for gran|ted,
that they have misbehaved them&s;elves, when they have
not) upon every malicious Officers unruly will, or Magi|&s;trates
&s;lender, and meer groundle&s;s &s;u&s;pition<NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Wherefore how ju&s;tly <HI>Thou,</HI> even <HI>thou Oliver Cromwell,</HI> chief Ruler according to Man in the&s;e Nations, could&s;t &s;ay in thy Speach (as in my hearing thou did&s;t before my offer to &s;peak the&s;e things from the Lord) that thou knewe&s;t not of any one man, that &s;ufferd impri&s;onment unju&s;tly in all <HI>England;</HI> I plainly know not, unle&s;s thou be mi&s;taken (as very often no doubt thou art, and very ea&s;ily <GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" EXTENT="1 letter">ver may&s;t be (if thou &s;ee, and hear not &s;ometimes with thy own eyes, and ears, and not alwaies with other mens) in the people of Gods conditions, thorow that unu&s;uall mi&s;t of mi&s;-information; which as it ever makes thy own mi&s;ery greater upon thee, &s;o it often makes our mi&s;ery far greater under thee than el&s;e, perhaps it would be, if the Cloud of fal&s;e accu&s;ation did not cover us, and hide our integrity to|wards <HI>God,</HI> and our innocency towards thee, and all men from thy eyes; whereupon I am moved of the <HI>Lord,</HI> a new here to warn thee (if thou mean to raign) that thou take away the wicked from before thee, and all flattering fal&s;e accu&s;ers, if thou find any &s;uch about thee, el&s;e the throne will never be e&s;t<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" EXTENT="1 letter">b<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" EXTENT="1 letter">i&s;hed in righteou&s;ne&s;s; and if thou doubt the truth of our &s;peaking to thee from the Lord, &s;o immediatly as by us is owned, becau&s;e the old Prophets words, and Scriptures by us are often u&s;ed (as thou did&s;t when by &s;peciall motion, and &s;peciall <HI>mi&s;&s;ion</HI> I &s;pake once to thee from the Lord, to what pur|po&s;e thou &s;halt once remember again, if it be now forgotten) know thou in order to the removing of that &s;tumbling &s;tone out of thy way, that howbeit <HI>Micah,</HI> wrote the &s;ame words that <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> did, <HI>Mic. 4. 1. I&s;a.</HI> 2. 1. and <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> &s;pake the &s;ame words that <HI>E&s;dras</HI> &s;pake before him, 2 <HI>E&s;d. 1. 30. Matth.</HI> 23. 37, 38. and the Apo&s;tles often &s;pake in phra&s;es which were found before them in the Prophets writings, yet all the&s;e holy men of God, both &s;pake and wrote immediatly by the Spirit, as it gave them utte|rance, and no otherwi&s;e did all holy men of God ever &s;peak, but as they were moved, nor do any holy men of God now &s;peak the word of God, but as they are moved by that one, and the &s;elf &s;ame holy Spirit.</NOTE>.</P>
<P><PB N="7" REF="7">
Thus is my people made a prey of, &s;aith the Lord, for
which in &s;peciall as for all other of your evills, have I had
a controver&s;y with you, and my hand hath been again&s;t you,
&s;aith the Lord, &s;o that you have not pro&s;pered in your under|takings,
ye have travelled much in your Councells, but ye
have brought forth little, ye have wrought no deliverance in
the earth to any perfection, neither have your enemies fal|len
before you of late as in former dayes but ye have fallen
(even woderfully) before them; ye have &s;own iniquity, and
reaped meer vanity, ye have &s;own wind, and reaped a whirle|wind,
even a grievous whirlewind of wrath from the Lord,
which falls with much pain upon your heads, of di&s;tractions,
divi&s;ions, jealou&s;ies one of another, and &s;u&s;pitions fractions,
and factions, confu&s;ion, contention, di&s;appointment, and
vexation upon vexation, ye have &s;own to the fle&s;h, and there
is come up a crop of corruption, that hath made you fit fuell
for the fire of mine indignation, which is kindled, and
(except ye repent) will ere long, waxe burning hot again&s;t
<PB N="8" REF="8">
you till it have con&s;umed you into nothing.</P>
<P>Wherefore now thus &s;aith the Lord God unto you, ye
&s;tiffe-necked and &s;tout hearted ones, who (though ye talk of
it) yet are far from my righteou&s;ne&s;s, yee high, and &s;turdy
<HI>Oakes of Ba&s;han,</HI> ye tall and haughty <HI>Cedars of Lebanon,</HI> come
down, and &s;it in the du&s;t, and humble your &s;elves under my
mighty hand, which is &s;tretched out again&s;t you, and turn
you to me, even unto me with all your hearts, and with fa|&s;ting,
weeping, and mourning, even that fa&s;ting which I
have cho&s;en, and amend your wayes, and your doings &s;aith
the Lord, and purge your &s;elves from your own per&s;onall ab|hominations,
and turn in every one of you to the light in
your own Con&s;ciences, which &s;hews you all the evills of
your own hearts, and (if you take heed thereunto) will &s;ave
you from them; and as for my people whom ye oppre&s;s,
even my people <HI>I&s;rael</HI> that tremble at my word, and by that
holy di&s;po&s;ition are di&s;cerned from all other people upon
the Earth, who are found trembling at the words; and fal|ling
down, and wor&s;hipping before the wills of Men, let
them go, &s;aith the Lord from under that hard and &s;ore bon|dage,
wherewith ye have hitherto made them &s;erve.</P>
<P>And it &s;hall come to pa&s;s, &s;aith the Lord, that if you &s;hall
yet hearken unto my Coun&s;ell, the light in your Con&s;ciences,
which whoever lives according to, not turning a&s;ide into the
darkne&s;s, cannot live be&s;ides the Scripture, but lives the life
of it, and &s;hall wa&s;h you, and make you clean, and put away
the evill of your doings from before mine eyes, and cea&s;e to
do evill, and learn to do well, and undoe the heavy burthens
of my people, and break every yoke from off their necks, and
let my oppre&s;&s;ed ones go free, then will I ble&s;s you, and you
&s;hall be a ble&s;&s;ing upon the Earth, then &s;hall your light break
forth out of ob&s;curity, and your darkne&s;s &s;hall be as the
Noon day, and I will unite you that are heads of the people,
together in your Councells and you &s;hall repair the brea|ches
of the&s;e Nations, and build their wa&s;tes, even the de|&s;olations
of many generations, and ye &s;hall be the re&s;torers
of paths to dwell in, yea, you &s;hall honour me, and I will
<PB N="9" REF="8">
honour you, and make you truly, and eternally honourable,
&s;aith the Lord God.</P>
<P>But if you &s;hall &s;till continue to be &s;elf-&s;eekers, and men|plea&s;ers,
and &s;ervers of your own ea&s;e, your own honours,
your own intere&s;ts, ba&s;e ends and earthly concernments,
and &s;hall be proud, and &s;tubborn, and &s;tiffe-necked again&s;t
my Coun&s;ell, making your necks, as an iron &s;inew again&s;t
all my reproofes and wi<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="missing" EXTENT="1 letter">l not come down, and give up
your &s;elves to be guided by my word, which is nigh you,
ev<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="blotted" EXTENT="1 letter">n in your very hearts, and mouths, and &s;hining clearly
as a light within you, and their checking and condemning
you, when you do ami&s;s, or go a&s;tray to the right hand or
to the left, and &s;hall rebell again&s;t me, &s;o as not to let my
people go, but hold them &s;till in &s;lavery and &s;ervitude to
your own lu&s;ts, and lawle&s;s wills; then I te&s;tifie this day
to your faces, &s;aith the Lord of Ho&s;ts, that I will not honour
any one of you that &s;hall &s;o di&s;pi&s;e m<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" EXTENT="1 letter">, &s;o as to u&s;e you in my
&s;ervice, or to own you in any thing you take in hand, in or|der
to the deliverance of the&s;e Nations, but as by Men that
lapped, and not by Men that bowed down to drink, I de|livered
<HI>I&s;rael</HI> of old out of the hand of <HI>Midian;</HI> &s;o not by
any of you that mind earthly things, and make your belly
your God, and love this pre&s;ent world, and drink &s;o deeply
of it as to &s;tand doting of it, and &s;eeking great things for
your &s;elves in it, but by men that u&s;e and abu&s;e it not, that
fly the &s;hadow of it, that are not conformed to it, but (&s;eeing
the fa&s;hion of it pa&s;&s;ing away) have it under their feet, will
I bring great things to pa&s;s, &s;aith the Lord Almighty; yea,
the very poor of the flock, the flock of the &s;laughter, who&s;e
po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ors &s;lay them, and hold them&s;elves not guilty, my peo|ple
whom ye &s;o di&s;dain as to count them the off-&s;couring of
all things, tho&s;e plain, &s;imple, de&s;picable, contemptible people
of mine, whom ye &s;o trample upon, who are &s;o &s;mall in your
eyes, even them will I make to encrea&s;e upon you, &s;aith the
Lord, who &s;eek to &s;nap, and &s;urppe&s;s them, as the old <HI>I&s;|rael</HI>
their type did upon <HI>Pharoah,</HI> and the <HI>Egyptians,</HI> &s;o that
the more ye &s;lay them, the more they &s;hall grow and mul|tiply,
<PB N="10" REF="9">
and their blood &s;hall be the &s;eed of that Church, that
&s;hall be called the <HI>Sion</HI> of the Lord, which I will make &s;o glo|rious
as to be even the joy, and prai&s;e of the whole earth &s;aith
the Lord, and I will cau&s;e them to &s;tand out with great boldne&s;s
before your faces, who &s;hall afflict them, and make no account
of their labours, and they &s;hall be a burden&s;ome &s;tone to all
people that trouble them&s;elves with them, and they &s;hall be
rebuked for their &s;akes in the wrath of the Lord, and vexed
in his &s;ore di&s;plea&s;ure, yea, they &s;hall be cut in pieces, and fall
into mi&s;chief for their &s;akes whoever &s;hall go about to mi&s;|chief
them, though all the people of the earth &s;hall be gathe|red
together again&s;t them, &s;aith the Lord, I will make them to
the Nations, as an hearth of fire to the wood, as a torch of
fire in a &s;heafe, and they &s;hall devoure round about, as a Ly|on
among&s;t the bea&s;ts, among the flocks of Sheep, which tears,
and none can deliver; they &s;hall be my battle Axe, wherewith
I will break in pieces the people, the hor&s;e, and his rider, and
they &s;hall have a new &s;harp thre&s;hing in&s;trument having
teeth, wherewith they &s;hall thre&s;h the earth, and beat the
very mountains of it into chaffe, and all the glory of the great
image of mans dignity, and dominion, being &s;mitten by the&s;e
&s;tumbling &s;tones, &s;hall be as the chaffe of the Summer floor
before them, and the wind &s;hall carry it all away, and they
&s;hall become a great Mountain, which I will e&s;tabli&s;h on the
top of all the Mountains, and all Nations &s;hall flow unto it,
and it &s;hall even fill the whole Earth, &s;aith the Lord.</P>
<P>And as for you, even you? O all you <HI>Powers, Prie&s;ts,</HI> and
<HI>People</HI> in the&s;e Nations, to whom my people are a reproach,
I will enter into judgement with you, and recompence all
your wickedne&s;&s;es upon your heads, and repay unto you the
things you do to my cho&s;en, &s;aith the Lord, and I will bring
you into contempt, that are now honourable in the Earth, and
&s;hamefull &s;pewing &s;hall be upon all your glory, and I will
bla&s;t, blind, and confound you in all your Councells, and re|ject
all your confidences, and ye &s;hall not pro&s;per in them,
and ye &s;hall reel to and fro, and &s;tagger, and be as bottles
fill'd with Wine, fill'd with drunkene&s;s, and I wil da&s;h you to
<PB N="11" REF="9">
pieces one again&s;t another, and give over, to bite, and devoure,
till ye be con&s;umed one of another, and you &s;hall labour in
the fire of anger, and attempt many things, but your ways
&s;hall not pro&s;per, ye &s;hall weary your-&s;elves for very vanity,
yea in your ways of wickedne&s;s &s;hall ye weary your &s;elves,
and the light of righteou&s;ne&s;s &s;hall not &s;hine upon you; mi&s;|chief
upon mi&s;chief &s;hall overtake, and befall you, and I will
rain down &s;nares, and &s;tumbling blocks upon you and my
word, which you &s;tumble at out of the mouths of Babes, and
&s;tammerers, &s;halbe unto you precept upon precept, line upon
line here a little, and there a little, that ye may go &amp; fall back|ward,
and be broken, and &s;nared, and taken, and your whole
way &s;halbe as &s;l<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="missing" EXTENT="1 letter">ppery places in the dark, and ye &s;halbe dri|ven
on and fall therein: and you &s;hall look to your Seers,
but behold darkne&s;s; they &s;hall not be able to guide you,
they &s;halbe as blind as your &s;elves, and though they &s;hall
flatter you, with the name of <HI>Sion,</HI> &s;o long as you feed and
pay them, and cry <HI>peace, peace,</HI> while you honour them, with
your thanks, for their pains, and with your prai&s;es, and put
into their wide mouthed pur&s;es, and &s;hall &s;ay <HI>we &s;ee,</HI> yet the
<HI>vi&s;ion</HI> of that de&s;truction that is coming upon you and them
&s;halbe as a Book &s;ealed, a thick cloud &s;hall cover them, the
day &s;halbe dark over them, the Sun &s;hall &s;et upon them, and
it &s;halbe night unto them, &s;o that they &s;hall not divine; yea,
the under&s;tanding of all your prudent ones &s;halbe brought to
nought, and the &s;word of the Lord &s;halbe upon the Arme of
the Idol Sheepheard, and upon his right Eye, his Arme &s;halbe
clean dryed up, and his right Eye utterly darkned: and when
it &s;halbe thus with you all, that your feet are &s;tumbling up|on
the dark Mountains, and you tumbling up and down like
a wilde Bull in a Net, not knowing which way to get out of
your perplexities, and &s;hall have wre&s;tled &s;o long in chains of
darkne&s;s, till ye come to that utter darkne&s;s, which is the por|tion
of all them that &s;uppre&s;s the Light; and their judgement,
at the great day now dawning upon the world (though it
&s;leeps, and &s;ees it not) then &s;hall you awake, and remember
that you had warning in time, but would not receive it; yea,
<PB N="12" REF="10">
this word now &s;poken to you, &s;hall &s;tand as a witne&s;s over
your heads for ever, and ye &s;hall know that I the Lord have
&s;ent my Servant to &s;peak all the&s;e words in your ears at this
time, in this place, and thereby to the three Nations, who&s;e
cho&s;en <HI>Servants,</HI> and <HI>Repre&s;entatives</HI> ye are, &s;aith the Lord
Almighty, who&s;e Coun&s;el &s;hall &s;tand in the mid&s;t of all mans
thoughts, and who will work and none &s;hall let it.</P>
<P><HI>What &s;hall one then an&s;wer the Me&s;&s;engers of the Nations?
even this, that the Lord hath founded Zion, and the poor of his
people have betaken them&s;elves unto it;</HI> but all luxurious
wantons, and covetous worldlings, all formall profe&s;&s;ors and
di&s;&s;embling hypocrites, painted Sepulchers, and whited walls,
ba&s;e back-&s;liders, and filthy lyars, hyreling Prie&s;ts, and faw|ning
Prophets, and all proud oppre&s;&s;ors, wicked oppo&s;ers,
and per&s;ecutors of Chri&s;t in his people, can have no &s;hare in
it, but are &s;hut out into the lake, and gone down for ever,
with the uncircumci&s;ed, into the pit, which hath &s;hut her
mouth upon them, there world without end to be confoun|ded:</P>
<CLOSER><DATELINE>Given under my hand as that Te&s;timony of Je&s;us, which
was given me in charge from him to deliver by word
of Mouth, (if I might be heard;) at the time and place
forenamed; and now to give forth to the view of men
in writing; the truth of which I am made willing, by
the power of God upon me, to &s;eal (if called thereunto)
and give te&s;timony to with my blood.</DATELINE>
<SIGNED>Samuel Fi&s;her.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="account">
<PB N="13" REF="10">
<HEAD>THE SCORNED
QUAKERS
Second Account of his &s;econd at|tempt
to give te&s;timony to the truth of Je|&s;us,
wherein is &s;hewed both why and what
(&s;o far as the Lord &s;hould have a&s;&s;i&s;ted) he &s;hould
have &s;poken by Commi&s;&s;ion from God, had he had
permi&s;&s;ion &s;o to do by men, to the Parliament, and Mini|&s;ters,
and people met together at Margarets in Westmin|&s;ter,
on the 24 day of this 7. month 1656. being the day
appointed by them for their fir&s;t publick humiliation.</HEAD>
<P>ON the 22. day of this 7. month 1656. I, even I <HI>Samu|el
Fi&s;her</HI> being then in the City, and happening to
take notice of the Parliaments ordaining two dayes
(the one being, by the joynt agreement of the Prote|ctor
with them, the 29. of the 8. month 1656. for all the&s;e
three Nations together with them, the other being the 24. of
this 7. month 1656. &s;et apart more peculiarly both by and for
them&s;elves) as dayes of publick fa&s;ting, and prayer, for the
humiliation both of them&s;elves and of the&s;e Nations, That no|tice
I took pa&s;&s;ed by me as a thing of nought, not taking any
impre&s;&s;ion then upon my Spirit, neither wot I then of any other
thing but of returning to my own outward home &s;oon after, even
&s;o &s;oon as I &s;hould have fini&s;hed a tran&s;cription of my fir&s;t ac|count,
<PB N="14" REF="11">
which that night I did well nigh fini&s;h al&s;o: Neverthe|le&s;s
the next morning when I awaked, I was with the Lord, and
his command came upon me, to go again unto the Parliament,
and what people &s;hould be met together with them on the mor|row,
and to give forth among them, what he would give in un|to
me, which what it &s;hould be yet I di&s;tinctly knew not; which
word was more black, and more bitter in my belly than the f<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" EXTENT="1 letter">r|mer,
that came unto me before; and by how much I gathered by
my fir&s;t entertainment, that in this &s;econd &s;ervice I &s;hould be
le&s;s welcome, and more trouble&s;ome to my &s;elf and them, by &s;o
much was I tempted by the evill one to &s;ay, as his &s;ervants out of
fle&s;hly fears have done before me, Lord &s;end by the hand of
whom thou wilt &s;end, for thy word is made &s;uch a deri&s;ion, and
reproach, that its in vain to make mention of it any more in thy
name, for they will neither hear nor receive it; thus though
the Spirit in me had a willing ne&s;s to go, (yet a Lyon being in the
way) the fle&s;h was very weak and fearfull; neverthele&s;s waiting
from thenceforth, with fa&s;ting on the Lord, till the day after
this &s;ervice, and their fa&s;t was fully over, not without &s;ome
weeping and &s;upplication; the Spirit of the Lord, who was
greater in me, than he that is in the world, waxed &s;tronger than
either he or I, and did prevail &s;o, that in the pure fear of the
Lord, wherein onely his &s;ecrets are &s;een, if not without any fur|ther
fear, yet without any further fainting for fear of any fle&s;hly
foes, and at the will of the Lord, which (whatever became of
me and of my hou&s;e) I &s;aw was worthy to take place again&s;t
mine own: I at la&s;t very quietly and freely gave up to go, and
&s;o was with them at the time appointed, where hearing two of
their three Mini&s;ters, and abiding with much patience, till they
had fully done, in the pure heat of my Spirit, in which the word of
the Lord, even like a fire was often kindled, &s;o that my heart
waxed very hot within me at la&s;t (having a fit &s;tanding be|hind
the &s;eat of the hou&s;es Speaker) I began to &s;peak as the
Spirit mov'd, and gave utterance to me: but (what patience
the Rulers would have had with me, had not the people been &s;o
unruly as to hinder me, I know not) the multitude gave me
but little audience, for no &s;ooner did I cry aloud (as I was bid|den
<PB N="15" REF="11">
to do) and lift up my voice like a trumpet to tell them of
their &s;ins and their tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions, which in the vi&s;ions of the
Lord, I &s;aw for all their fa&s;ts, if not fa&s;ted from, would be their
ruin; but I was handled after the old &s;ort, as at other times,
even hurled from my place, and haled up and down by &s;ome, and
thulched on the brea&s;t by others, that I might not &s;peake, and
(&s;peaking notwith&s;tanding in the power of the Lord all along as
I went with my face inward toward the Auditory, &s;o much of
the burden that was on me, as will leave them without excu&s;e,
and witne&s;s again&s;t them for ever, yet (whether they will hear
or forbear) they were warned by word of mouth from the Lord
to repent) born away by the people, and at la&s;t thru&s;t back|wards
out of doors; &s;uch were then the fruits, yea, even the fir&s;t
f<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="missing" EXTENT="1 letter">uits of that dayes fa&s;t, and yet not the fir&s;t fruits of &s;uch like
fa&s;ts as are ordained and ob&s;erved at the will of man, for &s;uch
like, and far wor&s;e fruits, even more de&s;pitefull doings to the
Lords &s;ervants for their obedience unto him, and declaring the
truth when he had &s;ent them in love, their very &s;ouls that do
hate them, have before this attended &s;ome other Parochiall fa&s;ts
in &s;ome other places: which rude doings of the people then. Ile
not impute either to the Magi&s;trates, or to the Mini&s;ters that
were there (&s;ith in that croud, if they would, they could not help
it) though in many places both Magi&s;tracy and Mini&s;try,
may find cau&s;e in their own con&s;ciences to condemn them&s;elves,
as acce&s;&s;ary to the &s;ufferings of the Lords &s;ervants, by their
di&s;countenancing of them in the work of the Lord, and their
connivance at the&s;e that do abu&s;e them: nor do I relate the&s;e
things as one at all di&s;turbed, at what disturbance then befell
my &s;elf; for verily I have my peace, and am at re&s;t in the Lord,
at rest in my bed with all tho&s;e, who are every one of them found
walking in his uprightne&s;s, however the tongue is drawn out,
and a wide mouth made again&s;t them by the &s;ons of the Adul|terer
and the whore: and however I am judged of by the natu|rall
man, that hath the vail &s;till ore his face, and lives yet
but in the dimme Moon-&s;hine of mans day of judgement, who
takes upon him to judge before his time, and &s;o &s;peaks evill of
what he knows not, it matters not much, &s;ith among tho&s;e
<PB N="16" REF="12">
&s;pirituall men that judge all, while them&s;elves are truly jud|ged
of no men, who &s;ee with open face, as being in the Spirit,
and in the Sun-&s;hine of the Lords day ari&s;ing on them, I am
not unknown, nor to the Lord, and &s;o could mo&s;t &s;weetly &s;it down
in &s;ilence; neverthele&s;s that the truth may be &s;till kept clear
from the clouds of fal&s;e cen&s;ures, with which it is often over|ca&s;t,
to the darkning of it, &s;o that men, who might el&s;e embrace
it, thereby peri&s;h from the ble&s;&s;ed &s;ight of it, and that for ever;
I am again moved and made willing by the Lord at my de|parture
hence to my own outward being (which as it had like|ly
been ere this, if this &s;ervice had not been put upon me &s;o (if the
Lord &s;o plea&s;e) may be &s;o &s;oon as it is performed) to unburden
my &s;elf in writing of that heavy burden of the Lords word that
lay upon me to have &s;poken at the time and place forementio|ned,
and to leave behind me, that which is written hitherto to
declare, what true Right I had then and there to &s;peake; and
that which now follows after to declare, what true and right
things might have been &s;poken (&s;o far as the Lord &s;hould have
drawn me forth, and enlarged me in the uttering of them, as
he hath &s;ince to writing of them here) if I might have &s;poken
without re&s;i&s;tance</P>
<SIGNED>Samuel Fi&s;her.</SIGNED>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="testimony">
<PB N="17" REF="12">
<HEAD>THE BURDEN
OF THE
MESSAGE
OF
The Lord it &s;elf, as it lay on me
from the Lord to &s;peak it, or &s;o much of it
as he (had I had mans leave to &s;peak) &s;hould
have been plea&s;ed to a&s;&s;i&s;t me to utter, and as it
lay upon me from him, and was given in
unto me by him in this fiery flying
Role to commit to writing.</HEAD>
<P>THus &s;aith the Lord? Repent O all ye &s;inners, that
are here pre&s;ent, both Mini&s;ters and people, and
ye powers of the Earth; for the Kingdom of Hea|ven
is at hand, the Kingdom of our <HI>God,</HI> and of
his <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> is at hand, That Kingdom into which no unclean
thing nor unclean per&s;on, no Drunkard&punc; no Riotous one,
no Epicure, nor Belly-God, nor worldling, nor wanton,
nor &s;elf-&s;eeker, nor time &s;erver, nor men-plea&s;er, nor back|&s;lider,
nor di&s;&s;embler, nor formall profe&s;&s;our, nor proud one,
nor any tran&s;gre&s;&s;our of any &s;ort what&s;oever, &s;hall ever en|ter,
unle&s;s he be ju&s;tifyed, wa&s;hed, and &s;anctified in the name
of the <HI>Lord Je&s;us,</HI> and by the Spirit of our <HI>God:</HI> And there|fore
<PB N="18" REF="13">
I &s;ay unto you all again in the name and power, and in
the word of the living God, yea, thus &s;aith the Lord God
him&s;elf unto you all (though by an earthen ve&s;&s;ell) Repent
and that not <HI>of,</HI> nor <HI>for</HI> onely (as hitherto ye have often done)
but al&s;o <HI>from</HI> all your iniquiti<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="missing" EXTENT="1 letter">s: <HI>Repentance</HI> not <HI>for,</HI> but
<HI>from</HI> dead works, is the very fir&s;t of tho&s;e fir&s;t principles of
the Oracles of God, which till ye come (not to talk of bare|ly,
for there is too much of that, while &s;o little of the other)
to witne&s;s, ye have not yet (for all the fair &s;hews ye have
made in the fle&s;h by your forms, and your frequent namings
of the name of Chri&s;t) &s;o much as truly begun to be true
Chri&s;tians; nor are your mournings of any worth at all, till
ye come to mourn with that Godly &s;orrow that worketh re|pentance
to &s;alvation; the &s;orrowing after a Godly &s;ort it
worketh care, and fear to offend, and zeal, and de&s;ire, and
indignation, and taking a revenge upon your &s;elves and &s;uch
like, &s;o that at la&s;t ye overcome, and return not again to
tho&s;e iniquities ye mourned for, &s;o that what pride, and fil|thine&s;s,
and wickedne&s;s of any kind ye &s;ee, and are &s;en&s;ible
of in your &s;elves, and are afflicted for, you cea&s;e from, and
fall into no more for ever, which to do is according to the
true Proverb, like the Dog to return to his vomit again, and
the Swine after wa&s;hing to wallowing in the mire: that
repentance which brings to a &s;alvation of you from tho&s;e &s;ins
you profe&s;s, to repent of, is the onely true repentance that
can &s;tand you in any &s;tead in the &s;ight of God, all other will
come once to be repented of: yea, thus &s;aith the Lord God,
repent ye this day, not onely for your &s;ins; but for all your
old repentances, and for all your humiliations, and all your
fa&s;tings al&s;o, in which &s;ervices you have been formerly a|cted
towards me but formally, and fainedly, &s;aith the Lord:
in&s;omuch that &s;ince you are &s;till in your iniquities, I cannot
away with your &s;olemn a&s;&s;emblies, I &s;mell no &s;weet &s;mell
in your Sacrifices, it is iniquitie to me, even your mo&s;t &s;o|lemn
meeting: Therefore now tru&s;t not in lying words,
&s;aying the Temple of the Lord, the Church of God, the wor|&s;hip
of God, and &s;uch like, nor think that this is the fa&s;ting
<PB N="19" REF="13">
that I have cho&s;en, and will accept, for a man to afflict his
&s;oul, and hang down his head for a day, and then go on in his
&s;ins, as if he had obtained from God by his coming to him
a di&s;pen&s;ation to &s;in more &s;ecurely another time; for this is
but deceit, and all your labour will prove but a lye to you,
&s;aith the Lord; but wa&s;h you, make you clean, and ab&s;tain
from the fle&s;hly lu&s;ts of your own hearts; and turn in every
one of you to the light in your own con&s;ciences, that &s;hews
you good and evil, and frame your ways, and your doings
according thereunto; even that pure Law of righteou&s;ne&s;s
plac<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="missing" EXTENT="1 letter">d within you, whereby every one of you are made from
God even a Law unto your &s;elves; which light is Gods own
wi<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="missing" EXTENT="1 letter">ne&s;s within you all, which if it condemn you, God ju&s;tifies
you not; and hearken to the voice of that Prophet Chri&s;t Je|&s;us,
to whom (in words) your own preachers point you, and to
whom I (who came not in among you this day to be your
Teacher my &s;elf, but to direct you to him) do from God him|&s;elf
who &s;ent me, direct you as your true&s;t Teacher, to whom
al&s;o the true Mini&s;try did direct men of old, who were &s;ent of
him to turn men from darkne&s;s to the light, &amp; from the pow|er
of Satan to God, who is light and to Chri&s;t him&s;elf, who
is the light of the world, that enlightneth every man that
cometh into the world; That Prophet, who&s;e voice &s;oever
hears not, and obeys not, even in all things what&s;oever he
&s;aith to them, &s;hall be cut off from among his people, who
by a mea&s;ure of light from him&s;elf, hath enlightned every one
of you, who&s;e voice is within, and not without to you; nor
heard now without by any of you; for the Scripture is not
his voice but (&s;o far as truly tran&s;lated) a Declaration of
what he &s;pake to, and by tho&s;e holy men that were moved to
write it, who heard his voice within, and &s;aw him in his own
light within, as ye may do, if ye will but hear (ye deaf) and
look (ye blind) for he is that powerfull and living word of
God, which is nigh you, &s;o nigh that ye need not &s;ay, who
&s;hall go to Heaven to fetch him down to us? and who &s;hall
go hither, or thither; beyond Sea, or into <HI>Scotland,</HI> or this
Land or that, to fetch a Directory for us; he is nigh even
<PB N="20" REF="14">
in your hearts, within you by his light, Preaching him&s;elf to
you, and the mind and will of the Father to you, and known
by you to be in you too, if you be not Reprobates; yea, I &s;ay,
it again to you from the Lord there is within you his Light,
which both &s;eeth, and &s;heweth you all that ever you did in
your lives, and that you now dayly do think or &s;peak, and
&s;ets all your &s;ins in order before you, reproving you for them
in your own con&s;ciences, if you do but heed him; and that is
the light of Chri&s;t, the word of God, that is quick, &amp; &s;earches
you to the quick, before whom all things are n<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="missing" EXTENT="1 letter">ked and bare,
and by whom all &s;hall be brought to judgement; who by his
light within you &s;heweth you as in a gla&s;s your own faces,
your own Spirits, your own &s;elves, and what manner of
men you are, as the Scriptures cannot do; for in the Scrip|tures
(which I own and honour, and am far from di&s;&s;wading
any man from looking into) you may read the Right of
things, and what you &s;hould, and &s;hould not be and do, but
the light within is larger than that, and of further extent,
&s;hewing not onely the Right, and the Law, and what we
&s;hould be and do, but al&s;o the fact, even what we do and
are: the light, which the Scripture &s;ends to (as we al&s;o do)
it manife&s;ts all things, not onely that ought to be done, but
al&s;o that are done, and therefore evill ones come not to it,
lea&s;t their deeds by it &s;hould be reproved, but they that do
truth come to it, not onely that it may appear (as it may in a
Letter without al&s;o, to them that be&s;ides the light within
have the Law in a Letter al&s;o, and heed it) what they &s;hou<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="missing" EXTENT="1 letter">d
do, but what they do, that their deeds may be manife&s;t,
whether they are wrought in God yea or nay? now turn in
your minds, I &s;ay, to that, even to the light, I &s;ay not to the
darkne&s;s (for there is that al&s;o) but to the light, which is
within, and that b<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="missing" EXTENT="1 letter">ing heeded will lead you out of the works
of darkne&s;s, that it di&s;covers to be in you, even up to Chri&s;t,
to the life of Chri&s;t, and God from whom it comes; yea, if
you be minded to try the truth of it, turn into it, &amp; in what
mea&s;ure you take heed to it, and abide by it, even by the
word hid in the heart, you &s;hall not &s;in again&s;t God, they do
<PB N="21" REF="14">
no iniquity who walk in that his Law, they that walk in the
Spirit, &s;hall not fulfill the lu&s;ts of the fle&s;h, you &s;hall find
that light the power of God, to the &s;alvation of you from
the &s;ins which it &s;hew<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" EXTENT="1 letter">, to be in you, and bring you not one|ly
under judgement for them, and to confe&s;s ye the &s;ins that
are pa&s;t, and &s;o to a forgivene&s;s of them, but al&s;o through
faith in his blood, to a clean&s;ing from all unrighteou&s;ne&s;s,
all filthine&s;s of fle&s;h and Spirit, and to the perfecting of holy|ne&s;s
in the fear of God; and bring forth his righteou&s;ne&s;s in
you, and his Image in you, who is made of God to them
that receive him, even wi&s;dom, righteou&s;ne&s;s, &s;anctification
and redemption, and they in him the Sons of God, and par|takers
of his na<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="missing" EXTENT="1 letter">ure: to that therefore turn your minds and
attend, and by it be guided, and there you will witne&s;s
peace and acceptance with God, and boldne&s;s before God,
your own hearts not checking, nor condemning you of &s;in
(which is the tran&s;gre&s;&s;ion of that Law) however you may
be condemned of men, which turning from you go condem|ned
in your &s;elves, and before God, and then what will it
profit you, if all men &s;hould &s;peak well of you and ju&s;tify
you, and &s;ay you are Godly, and hone&s;t men, and this and that.
And this is the onely infallible teacher for all men; for the
Scriptures (not as written by the men that were in&s;pired,
but as &s;ince then mi&s;tran&s;cribed, even in the very Greek and
Hebrew Copies, how much more as we have them mi&s;tran|&s;lated
in many things, and in &s;o many &s;everall tran&s;lations)
the&s;e are in &s;omethings fallibe, &amp; &s;o not fit to be the Rule, as
in the dark for want of the true light yet &s;hining, which now
&s;hineth forth, they have been &s;uppo&s;ed to be, and the onely
&s;ure foundation of the faith, and Church, but Chri&s;t him&s;elf,
his light and Spirit, which &s;hew good and evill in the heart,
which are the onely Guide, Light Commander, Counceller,
Leader, Law, Lawgiver, Foundation and Rule, which the
Scripture &s;ends to; and this is infallible, and to be followed
in what it &s;peaks infallibly (and not otherwi&s;e) to the con|&s;cience;
and there is the onely &s;ure, and &s;afe walking, even
in the light, in Chri&s;t, in the Spirit, and not in the Letter,
<PB N="22" REF="15">
which is fallible by fal&s;e interpretation and tran&s;lation (which
yet is true, as 'twas penn'd by the Spiri<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" EXTENT="1 letter">) much le&s;s in the
fle&s;h, and in the darkne&s;s, as too many do, be&s;ides both the
Letter and the light, of them that talk much of the Let<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="missing" EXTENT="1 letter">er, yea,
of them that talk al&s;o of the &s;pirit of the light; but if the light
be put out in any through abu&s;e of it, and the God of this
world hath been &s;uffered, by the God of all the worlds, to bli<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="missing" EXTENT="1 letter">d
the mind, and put out the eye (&amp; then if the light be darkne&s;s,
and the eye, which is the light of the body, be out, how great
is that darkne&s;s) who can help i<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" EXTENT="1 letter">? who can help it, if for not
walking in the light, while men had it, darkne&s;s is come
upon them? if for not liking to retain God in their know|ledge,
when what might be known of him, was manife&s;t in
them, and &s;hewed in them, and for not glorifying him as
God, but becoming vain in their imaginations, and not re|ceiving
the love of the truth that &s;hined in them, their foo|li&s;h
heart was darkened, and they given over to &s;trong delu|&s;ion
to vile affections, to do things un&s;eemly, to hate, whi&s;|per,
backbite, envy, murder, be filthy, drunken, &s;wear &s;teal,
lye, di&s;&s;emble, &s;till they knew the judgement of God, that
they that do &s;uch things are worthy of death, yet not onely
did the &s;ame, but had plea&s;ure in tho&s;e that did them; if the
Go&s;pell be thus hid, it is hid but to them that are lo&s;t; but
they are happy &s;till, who keep &s;tedfa&s;t in the light, their
foundation is &s;till &s;ure and infallible, who&s;e heart condemns
not it &s;elf, nor the true light that &s;hines in it, in what it al|lows
it &s;elf in, and does: for he that walks in meekne&s;s, tem|perance,
love, joy, peace, innocency, righteou&s;ne&s;s, purity,
patience, doing what he would be done to, which is the Law
and the Prophets, &s;aith Chri&s;t, the &s;um of all, the fulfilling
of the Law, which things the light &amp; Spirit of Chri&s;t leads all
that follow it up to, cut of the lu&s;ts, and fruits, and wayes of
the fl<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="missing" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;h, if all men cry out of him for an heretick, a decei|ver,
a Devill, a ba&s;e fellow, a di&s;turber (as they did of Chri&s;t)
he clearly comprehends them all to be but in the deceit
them&s;elves, and in the vanity of their own thoughts, and
fal&s;ene&s;s of their own imaginations, yea, infallibly he knows
<PB N="23" REF="15">
in the light of the Lord) him&s;elf to be a true man, and all
tho&s;e that think him otherwi&s;e, and call him hypocrite, to be
but lyars; and again, if a man walk in the lu&s;ts and wayes of
the fle&s;h, which are infallibly al&s;o manife&s;t in the light, as
drunkene&s;s, revelling, wantone&s;s, couzening, cheating fighting,
hating, adultery, murder, lying and the like: If all the men
in the world &s;hall flatter him, and tell him he does well, and
he need not fear but he is right, and the&s;e things are good, and
plea&s;ing unto God, unle&s;s I &s;ay again, the light be quite put
out (as the candle of the wicked, which once they had &s;hi|ning
in them, often is (and then wo) &s;o that they call good
evill, and darkne&s;s light, being &s;caled up under ob&s;cure dark|ne&s;s
in Gods ju&s;t wrath again&s;t the judgement) there is that
light in his con&s;cience, will tell him (if he heed it) his way
is fal&s;e and filthy, and the&s;e men that cry peace to him in it
are all lyars: and when ever the book of con&s;cience but a
little opens, it appears &s;o to be in wicked men at this very day.</P>
<P>Now therefore turn into that Law of mine written in your
hearts, &s;aith the Lord, which Law if you turn away your ears
from the hearing of, your very prayers are abominable unto
me, &s;aith the Lord, yea, though you make many prayers to me,
and long, and &s;pread forth your hands, and howl unto me,
as you do on your fa&s;t dayes, and in the dayes of your ordained
humiliations, whereby to make your voyce to be heard on
high, yet will I not give ear unto you, &s;aith the Lord: but as
I call and cry for righteou&s;ne&s;s, and purity, even within you,
and ye hear not, &s;o ye &s;hall call and cry to me without, and
not be heard: and though my hand be no way &s;hortned
that it cannot &s;ave, nor my ear heavy that it cannot hear, yet
if after your fa&s;ts you enter (as you have often done) into
&s;trife and debate, and &s;mite (even my people) with the fi&s;t
of wickedne&s;s, and find your own plea&s;ure, and do your own
works and wills, and think your own thoughts, and live &s;till
under the power of your lu&s;ts, and will not be led by my Spi|rit
in you, which would lead you from them: then I will not
accept you at all, yea, my Soul &s;hall even loath and abhor you,
and the&s;e iniquities of yours &s;hall &s;eparate between me and
<PB N="24" REF="16">
you, and your &s;ins &s;hall keep good things from you, even the
good things ye cry and call for: and you &s;hall wait for peace,
but behold trouble for light and joy: but there &s;hall be dimne&s;s
of angui&s;h, and ye &s;hall be driven more and more to darkne&s;s,
and ye &s;hall roare like Bears, and mourn &s;ore like Doves,
and groap for the wall like the blind, even like them that
have no eyes, and tho&s;e that looke for good from you, who
are their repre&s;entatives, &s;hall find none, their eyes &s;hall fail
with looking for help from you, and even drop out before ever
deliverance &s;hall come to them by you, yea, they &s;hall, wait
for ju&s;tice: but there &s;halbe more oppre&s;&s;ion of them, &amp; righte|ou&s;ne&s;s,
but there &s;hall be nothing but a cry, becau&s;e he that
departeth from iniquity is made a prey among you &s;till; and
ye hate him that reproveth in the gate, and a man is made an
offender for a word &s;peaking, even for my word &s;poken a|mong
you, by command and commi&s;&s;ion from my &s;elf: nei|ther
&s;hall any one among you be able to uphold, and ye &s;hall
be a broken &s;taff in the hands of &s;uch as leane upon you, run|ning
into their hands rather than &s;u&s;taining: neither is there
any one of you from the highe&s;t to the lowe&s;t that &s;hall come
to good, or be ve&s;&s;ells of honour, &s;aith the Lord (unle&s;s ye be
&s;anctifyed by my light) or counted fit at all for the Ma&s;ters u&s;e.
<HI>Be wi&s;e now therefore O ye Kings, ye Rulers and Judges of the
Earth,</HI> and &s;erve the Lord, with fear and trembling, ye &s;erve
him every one of you in your own per&s;ons, and obey him by
putting a way the filth of your own Spirits, &s;weeping every one
of you your own hou&s;es fir&s;t, even your own hearts, that they
may be fit Temples to receive the King of Glory, that he may
come into them, and ye be made holy habitations for God
through the Spirit: and ca&s;t the beams out of your own eyes,
el&s;e (thou hypocrite) how wilt thou &s;ee to meddle to mend
others that are blind, thou being blind al&s;o: if the blind lead
the blind, and the blind go about to order the blind, they will
all fall into the ditch: be ye therefore per&s;onally reformed
(as Men) from all your own vanities of heart, and pride of
Life, el&s;e the coun&s;el of all tho&s;e that put &amp; pre&s;s you on to the
&s;erving of him, as Magi&s;trates by making national reformations
<PB N="25" REF="16">
and Reformations in the Church (as they call it, who know
not yet the true Church, which is in God, and needs none of
that arme of fle&s;h, and magi&s;traticall help, which the fal&s;e
fal&s;e Church calls for) and in its Government, Mini&s;try, and
maintenance, and by helping of Chri&s;t again&s;t his enemies,
and Hereticks (whom yet I plead not for) and &s;uch like, will
be turned as <HI>Achitophells</HI> into fooli&s;hne&s;s, and the Reforma|tions,
will be but Deformations at the be&s;t, and both you and
your Church, and Mini&s;try, who&s;e lips you mainly take Coun|&s;ell
at, and not at the Lord him&s;elf and his Spirit, &s;hall be at
your wits ends, even you that they call to for help, and they
that call to you for help &s;hall both fail together, and none
&s;hall help either of you, and tho&s;e that have mi&s;guided you
into by-wayes, even blind and bloody ways of &s;uppre&s;&s;ing
Saints as Hereticks by your Civil &s;word, you &s;hall at la&s;t be
forc't to leave, and look to your &s;elves, and run in holes of
the earth, to hide you from the face of the Lamb, and from
his wrath, and they &s;hall be even &s;mitten with &s;hame and
madne&s;s, to &s;ee all their ways turn'd (as they have turned
the ways of God) up&s;ide down, and e&s;teemed as the Potters
Clay: therefore ki&s;s the Son, turn to him, &s;eek his face, &s;ee
him, and &s;ubmit to him in his own Light, walk with him in
his own way, le&s;t he be angry, and you peri&s;h for ever from
the way of your own eternall peace, yea, not as one, reading
it in the Letter onely, and out of that amplyfying it to you,
or as one having it by hear-&s;ay onely, from tho&s;e that felt it,
and &s;o wrote of it (for &s;o many a one can tell you much of the
terriblene&s;s of Gods wrath, and that talk may be a bug-bear
too to terrify your hearts a while, howbeit that terrour will
wear out after a while) but as one that hath witne&s;&s;ed it, and
been made in &s;ome mea&s;ure to know the power of his wrath,
and feel the weight of his hand in my own con&s;cience, ope|ning
its black Jaws upon me of late, to the affrightment of me
for all my old &s;ins, and bringing me to judgement for them
(for judgement now begins, though the wicked, among
whom it is to end, &s;ee it not, at the Hou&s;e of God, therefore
no marvail if there be &s;o much trembling in the true Church,
<PB N="26" REF="17">
as now there is, and &s;o much palene&s;s on <HI>Jacobs</HI> face; for it
is the day of his trouble, and travel out of which yet ere long
he will be &s;aved, and <HI>E&s;au</HI> and his &s;eed come into it in
his &s;tead) yea as knowing by a &s;en&s;e thereof the terrour of the
Lord, I per&s;wade you all people to take heed to your ways
by the Light of the Lord, lea&s;t he tear you as a moth, or as a
Lion, and le&s;t his wrath be let forth, in the full vials of it up|on
you, which if it be kindled but a little, ble&s;&s;ed then indeed
are all they (and all they that do &s;o well know it al&s;o) even all
they that tru&s;t in him: moreover all ye people, and you that
are the Repre&s;entatives of the people, think not your fa&s;t is
done when the Sun is down, and your &s;ervice done when
your Sermon is done (as many do who look for one day to|wards
Heaven, and then after live as if hell it &s;elf were bro|ken
loo&s;e again upon them) but know that your bu&s;ine&s;s is
now to begin after you have humbled your &s;elves, and are got
up from the ground, where you lay before the Lord, now are
you to live over all that good that hath been yet but talkt on;
many good and excellent things (though &s;ome al&s;o that
might not unju&s;tly be excepted again&s;t) have been &s;poken a|mong
you, and pre&s;t upon you I acknowledge (for far be it
from me not to give every one his due) by the men that have
preached before you, this day, in my hearing, yet much more
in the words, which mans wi&s;dome teacheth, than in the
words which the holy Spirit teacheth, who giveth utterance
to them he &s;ends, yea both what and how to &s;peake even in
that hour they are to &s;peake in, nor are they &s;o &s;ollicitous, if
they be called before Kings and Governours, to give te&s;ti|mony
to the truth, &s;o as before hand to take thought for it,
much le&s;s by way of preparation to pen it down, and &s;o to
preach it out of notes, as is the u&s;ual cour&s;e of your national
men, and a cour&s;e u&s;ed before you at this day; I &s;ay many good,
things you have heard, and good words, and fair &s;peeches,
which <HI>Paul</HI> &s;aith they may u&s;e, who &s;erve not God but their
own bellys, whereby to deceive the hearts of the &s;imple, now
&s;ee that they be turned by you into good works, and let it not
&s;uffice, that a &s;ound of words hath pa&s;&s;ed from their mouths,
<PB N="27" REF="17">
and pierced your ears; as if there were an end of the matter,
or at lea&s;t as if when as private men you are come home to
your own hou&s;es, or as Parliament men into your place of
&s;itting, and have according to the common cu&s;tome, and their
expectation &s;ent them the great thanks of the Hou&s;e, for their
great pains, then you are quit of what is required; be not de|ceived
God is not &s;o mocked, nor will he be put off with &s;uch
&s;lender &s;hews and complemental &s;ervices (which mens Reli|gion
mo&s;tly lyes in, while they lye in the dead and fle&s;hly
night of mans day, and till they come to be in the Spirit on
the Lords Day) in this hour wherein his own day is approa|ching;
but know that for all this, if ye go on again to &s;ow to
the fle&s;h, when you are ripe in corruption, you &s;hall reape
condemnation; and if the ground of your hearts &s;till brings
forth Briars and Thorns, it is nigh unto cur&s;ing, and its end
is to be burned; and if this be all the fruits of your fa&s;tings, to
continue the &s;ame men you were, or rather to waxe wor&s;e
and wor&s;e, as &s;uch ever do that grow not better by &s;uch &s;er|vices,
(and oh how often is it &s;o &s;een at this day in many, who
the more they pray to God the more they play fa&s;t and loo&s;e
with him, the more they harden, the more they heighten, the
more they &s;trengthen them&s;elves in the Devills Kingdom,
and (in their blind mi&s;guided zeal, which tells them 'tis errour
who can't &s;ee wood for trees) again&s;t the truth, &s;o as in that
zeal as <HI>Paul</HI> once did, till his eye was opened, to per&s;ecute
the Church, for how true that was which was &s;aid before you
this day (<HI>viz.</HI>) that in the turnings of the world there was a
change of men, but not of things, Ile not determine, in &s;ome
re&s;pects it may be &s;o, yet &s;ure I am, this is as true al&s;o that in
the turnings of the world to God, ther's a change of things,
and not of men (unle&s;s it be into wor&s;e) for though they &s;hift
from forme to forme, from a darker to a clearer, and from a
&s;uper&s;titious to one more refined, yet them&s;elves remain &s;ome
as, and &s;ome more dark and &s;uper&s;titious in tho&s;e their finer
forms, and not a few, as unrefined as ever; &s;till in the &s;ame
manners, &s;till in their old natures, in <HI>E&s;au</HI>'s, <HI>Cains</HI> and <HI>I&s;h|maels</HI>
natures, murdering <HI>Abell,</HI> &s;coffing at <HI>I&s;aac,</HI> hating, yea,
<PB N="28" REF="18">
hunting <HI>Jacob,</HI> even from the very Prelatick party that refor|med
mo&s;t immediatly from the thick fog of Romi&s;h fal&s;e|wor&s;hip,
to the Presbyterian whom they per&s;ecuted, from them
to the Independants whom they per&s;ecuted, from them to the
Bapti&s;ts, whom they per&s;ecuted, and from them to the Ran|ters,
all which &s;orts though they are mad again&s;t each other,
yet as to the true tremblers at the word of God, and Saints of
the Lord in &s;ub&s;tance, not &s;o much in &s;hew, forme nor &s;hadow
and things without, they all now come again&s;t the&s;e with one
open mouth, and as <HI>Edom, Amelek, Moab, Ammon, Mi|dian,
I&s;raels</HI> fle&s;hly kindred again&s;t him, even &s;o all they that
were formerly fighting, quarrelling, and di&s;puting again&s;t
each other, now leave the battell they have among them&s;elves,
and even make one head again&s;t the Quakers, as they call
them, whom they all per&s;ecute with lyes and revilings, and
hatreds, and hard cen&s;ures, and all the har&s;h u&s;age, and de|&s;pite
that po&s;&s;ibly they can, &s;tumbling at every &s;traw, to the
breaking of their own necks, that they find ami&s;s among
them, magnifying every mole-hill, even every &s;mall matter,
and &s;ome things that they have but by hear-&s;ay, and &s;ome
things that they are mi&s;taken in by meer mi&s;-repre&s;entation of
them, and &s;ome things that are flatly fal&s;e too, and in truth
ju&s;t nothing, to make them, (even them among whom many
(if many, as we know many will do, prove wor&s;e then nought)
are glorious with the glory of Chri&s;t upon them full of grace
and truth, which was a glory ever un&s;een to the world,) as
odious as they can, even as the Divell him&s;elf, in the eyes one
of another: The end of all which disjointed yet joint baiters,
and biters, and abu&s;ers of Gods hidden ones, whom though
they hate, yet they can neither hit nor hurt, they being as &s;e|cure
as they are ob&s;cure, having one life more then the world,
who may take away that of the body, can either touch, or
come neer &s;o as either to live in it, or kill them out of it, hid
with Chri&s;t in God wil be to be hewed to pieces by Gods Pro|phets,
&s;lain by the rod, even the words of his mouth, to be burnt
up by the flaming breath of his lips, and tho&s;e coals, &s;parks
and tempe&s;ts, thunders and lightnings of his Law, ari&s;ing
<PB N="29" REF="18">
from the dead in their own con&s;ciences as a witne&s;s for God
for ever and for ever again&s;t them, according to that true
and mo&s;t plain prophecy that went before of old of the&s;e
times, the&s;e men, and this matter, 2 <HI>E&s;dras</HI> 13. which who
&s;o reads &s;hall find it more lively now upon the Stage then
ever, and la&s;tly to be con&s;uming a while by the Spirit of his
mouth, &s;peaking now here a little, now there a little, to them
out of the mouth of Babes and &s;tammerers, and at la&s;t to be
utterly de&s;troyed by the brightne&s;s of his coming) now then
if the&s;e &s;hall be &s;till the be&s;t fruits of your fa&s;ts, that Gods
innocent ones, his pretious ones, his anointed and holy
ones &s;hall be hunted by you, as a Partridge upon the Moun|tains,
and you abide &s;till under new names, and notions the
old men, in the old earthly, &s;en&s;uall, cruell, wrathfull, and
malicious nature in enmity again&s;t them that are created
after Gods own Image in Righteou&s;ne&s;s, and Holine&s;s of
truth, and are brought forth into his own divine nature;
<HI>Then hear the word of the Lord ye Rulers of</HI> Sodom, <HI>and give
eare to it ye people of</HI> Gomorrah, I will hide mine eyes from
you, &s;aith the Lord, and have no re&s;pect to your offering,
though it &s;eem to the outward eye (as <HI>Cains</HI> might do) more
gay and co&s;tly then that of <HI>Abell,</HI> I will &s;top my ears and
not hear your voice, though it be as the voice of <HI>Jacob,</HI> &s;aith
the Lord, whil&s;t your hands are the rough hands of <HI>E&s;au,</HI>
wherewith you cruelly and cour&s;ely handle your brethren
and oppre&s;s them; yea all your &s;ervices &s;hall be but a &s;moake
in my No&s;e, as a &s;tink in my No&s;trills, &s;aith the Lord, I will
&s;pread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your &s;olemn
meetings, and you &s;hall be taken away with it, and howbeit
you may reforme many things as <HI>Jo&s;iah</HI> did, in who&s;e dayes
yet I rai&s;ed up my Prophet <HI>Zephany</HI> to warn them, and
threaten them in my name to con&s;ume them, becau&s;e all
things were not yet as they &s;hould be, and the names of the
Chemarins with the Prie&s;ts were continued, &s;o will I bring
a con&s;umption upon all your earthly joy and glory, &s;aith the
Lord, and cur&s;e you and all your ble&s;&s;ings, if you do my
work, even the work of Reformation negligently, and but
<PB N="30" REF="19">
by the halves, even the Reformation of your own per&s;ons,
which in the fir&s;t place I look for from you that are the
powers, in which works many whom your teachers will tell
you had need be reformed are gone far beyond you; and al|&s;o
the Reformation of the Nations, wherein &s;till they are
not onely continued &s;tanding, but al&s;o maintenance is for|ced
from my own people, that cannot own them for the
Chemarims, even for many black and &s;moaky Prie&s;ts, whil&s;t
my own Mini&s;ters whom I &s;end unto you, that de&s;ire not &s;o
much as maintenance from you, cannot have &s;o much as
common countenance with other men, and &s;ometimes not
&s;o much as them that are malefactors indeed (as the&s;e are
onely accounted to be) do and have obtained at your hands,
&s;aith the Lord.</P>
<P>Now therefore, thus &s;aith the Lord, take heed what ye do
in this day; the new wine is in the clu&s;ter, &s;ee that you hurt
it not, for a ble&s;&s;ing is in it; there is a people gathering to|gether,
whom I am redeeming from among all people, Na|tions,
kindreds and tongues, and taking one of a family,
two of a Tribe, and bringing unto Sion, who are asking the
way thereunto, with their faces thitherward, whom I will
lead thither with many &s;upplications, and tears, and trem|blings,
as blind ones by a way they know not, in a &s;trait way,
wherein yet their feet &s;hall not &s;tumble, for I am a God
unto them, &s;aith the Lord, by the way of the wilderne&s;s,
wherein yet they &s;hall not be weary, nor in want, nor in
fear, nor mi&s;carry, nor lo&s;e their way that wait on me, for
I will be with them to refre&s;h them, &s;aith the Lord, with Bread
from Heaven, and water out of the Rock, and to over&s;hadow
them with a Cloud, and go before them in the likene&s;s of a
flaming fire, &s;o that they &s;hall eat the &s;ame &s;pirituall meat,
and drink the &s;ame &s;pirituall drink, as the Fathers of old, who
drank of the &s;ame Rock that followed them, which Rock
was Chri&s;t, and &s;hall pa&s;s to their re&s;t under the &s;ame pro|tection,
providence, and illumination as my people that
were the Type of them; by which light wherewith I en|lighten
them, will I puzzle and dazle, and blind all your
<PB N="31" REF="19">
Egyptians which pur&s;ue them, &s;aith the Lord, till you have
brought your &s;elves into inextricable perplexities, &amp; into the
very Javvs even of inevitable de&s;truction: &s;ee therefore that
ye touch them not, they are the &s;heep of my pa&s;ture, &s;aith
the Lord, whom I am gathering from under the conduct of
tho&s;e carele&s;s fal&s;e Shepheards, that have fed and &s;erv'd
them&s;elves of them, and not fed, but &s;tarved them, and &s;ten|ched
the pure pa&s;ture, and trodden it down, and fouled the
pure water they &s;hould drink of, and forced t<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="missing" EXTENT="1 letter">em to drink
of their ovvn pudled vvaters vvhich they have fovvled vvith
their feet; &s;ee that ye &s;tand not in the cro&s;s vvays, as <HI>E&s;au</HI>
did of old, to cut off, &s;aith the Lord, the Remnant of <HI>Jacob</HI>
that are novv e&s;caping, and returning to their own home and
Country, &s;aith the Lord, out of all places, and Countries,
forraign forms, fellovv&s;hips, Churches, Companies, and
&s;trange lands, and ways of vvor&s;hipping of me, &s;aith the
Lord, vvhereinto they have been &s;cattered, and &s;hattered up
and dovvn in the dark and gloomy day: and though they are
a people &s;cattered up and dovvn in all parts, and Provinces
of the&s;e Dominions, and every vvhere complain'd on, and
accu&s;ed by proud <HI>Hamans</HI> Generation that ever hated them,
becau&s;e they could not honour them vvho vvere accur&s;ed of
God, and bow according to their haughty expectations, as a
certain odde people that keep not the Lavvs, and live not as
other men do, but are every vvhere, and every vvay cro&s;s,
becau&s;e &s;o to the carnall vvills of men, and di&s;turbers of
the peace, &s;o that it cannot be for the Common-vvealth nor
profit of the Nations, nor of the povvers thereof, to &s;uffer
them, and are &s;old as &s;heep to the &s;laughter in the vvicked
vvi&s;hes of their malevolent and blood-thir&s;ty Adver&s;aries,
that they vvould not care vvhat they paid almo&s;t into the
Common trea&s;ury to have them hanged, or bani&s;hed, or any
way however &s;poiled, &s;aith the Lord, yet take good heed to
your &s;elves ye powers and people, of medling too much at
the wills of &s;uch as &s;ugge&s;t evill to you of them; and if at
their &s;ugge&s;tion, ye vvill do any thing again&s;t tho&s;e that op|po&s;e
me, and are my enemies, yet take heed that under pre|tence
<PB N="32" REF="20">
of that, ye &s;ight not unawares again&s;t me, and be op|po&s;ers
your &s;elves of tho&s;e that are my friends, and &s;peak to
you both for and from me, &s;aith the Lord, for if they be of
the &s;eed of the Jews, before whom <HI>Haman</HI> and his &s;eed be|gin
to fall, they will never recover them&s;elves till they have
brought the very mi&s;chief they have hatched for my beloved
ones, upon their ovvn Pate, &s;aith the Lord: yea though my
people are low, and weake, and few in number, and &s;illy, and
contemptible in your eyes, yea afflicted and ready to dye
from their youth up, yet I live, &s;aith the Lord, who am a
protector and redeemer to them, vvho neither &s;lumber nor
&s;leep; but vvatch, and am Almighty to avenge them on all
their enemies, and I will do it, &s;aith the Lord: <HI>yea let the
Heathen rage, and the people imagine, and the Kings of the
earth &s;et them&s;elves, and the Rulers take Coun&s;ell together a|gain&s;t
me, and mine anointed,</HI> &s;aith the Lord, <HI>yet will I &s;et
my King upon the holy hill of Sion, and give him the Heathen
for his inheritance, and the utmo&s;t parts of the earth for his
po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion, yea and all in whom he reigns &s;hall raign</HI> (as they
have &s;uffered) <HI>with him;</HI> In an inumerable multitude, of which
he is coming to judge the earth in righteou&s;ne&s;s, and the
people with equity, to pa&s;s a judgement upon all, and to
convince all that are ungodly, of all the ungodly deeds they
have committed, and of all the hard &s;peeches which ungod|ly
&s;inners have &s;poken again&s;t him; and he in them and they
in him &s;hall rule the Nations with a Rod of Iron, and breake
them to pieces as a Potters ve&s;&s;ell, even as they have received
of me their Father, &s;aith the Lord: and though they are now
laughed to &s;corn, and had in dayly deri&s;ion by high and low
(&s;aith the Lord) and condemned by all, and made the very
&s;trife of all tongues, and made a&s;hamed in all places where
ever they are, and all people make a noy&s;e and roare again&s;t
them, like the roarings of the Sea, and as the noy&s;e of ma|ny
waters, yet will I get them prai&s;e and &s;ame in every Land,
wherein they have been put to &s;hame, and every tongue
that ri&s;eth up in judgement again&s;t them &s;hall they con|demn,
and I that &s;it in Heaven will laugh at the calamity of
<PB N="33" REF="20">
tho&s;e that hate them, and mock when their fear cometh, yea I
will have them all in deri&s;ion, and they &s;hall be as my peo|ple
have been among them a very proverb of reproach, and
I will Roar upon them out of <HI>Sion,</HI> and utter my voice from
<HI>Jeru&s;alem</HI> again&s;t them, as a Lyon, and the Heaven and the
earth &s;hall &s;hake, and I will overthrow the thrones of King|doms,
and de&s;troy the &s;trength of all the Kingdoms of the
Heathen, and be my &s;elf a wall of fire about my people for
their defence, and the hope and &s;trength of my cho&s;en ones
in the day wherein I do this, &s;aith the Lord God; yea I will
never re&s;t till I have made all their foes their foot&s;tool:
and howbeit the powers of the earth are of me, and for con|&s;cience
&s;ake to me-ward are to be obeyed, and not re&s;i&s;ted,
and have been obeyed and not re&s;i&s;ted in things not contra|ry
to my own commands, by my holy ones, that have ever
&s;uffered as evill doers under them, of whom they ought to
have had prai&s;e, yet if that which was once mine own out|ward
Ordinance for the puni&s;hment of evill doers, and to be
a terrour to evill works (as Rulers are ever away when
they are as they ought to be) continue to be &s;o abhominably
perverted as in the pride and &s;toutne&s;s of their hearts, making
their own lu&s;ts and not my light their Law, to be a terr our
unto works and ways that are truly good, I will hold my
peace now no longer, &s;aith the Lord, as concerning this e|vill
which they &s;o prophanely commit, and do dayly again&s;t
my cho&s;en; but will utterly &s;ubvert and overturn them, and
bring the Kingdoms, and Dominions, and the greatne&s;s of
the Kingdom under the whole Heaven into the hands of the
holy ones of the mo&s;t high, and give unto my Son and his
Saints to raign over all the earth, and take all the Rule, and
authority and power that &s;hall &s;tand up again&s;t my Son in
his Saints, and put it down among all the re&s;t, as one of his
great enemies under his feet, &s;aith the Lord; for though the
world take no delight in them, yet I take plea&s;ure in my
people, &s;aith the Lord, and I will beautify my meek ones
with &s;alvation, and I will put my high pray&s;es into their
mouth, and a two edged Sword into their hands, and they
<PB N="34" REF="21">
&s;hall execute vengeance upon the Heathen, and puni&s;hments
upon the people, and &s;hal bind their Kings in Chains, and their
Nobles in fetters of Iron, and execute upon them the judge|ment
that is written in my eternal decree, and unchangeable
Coun&s;ell, &s;aith the Lord: this honour have all my Saints, this
is the heritage of my &s;ervants, &s;aith the Lord, &amp; their righte|ou&s;ne&s;s,
and their reign their &s;alvation, and redemption, and
all their dignity is of me onely; and of me onely, and not of
them&s;elves, &s;hall they acknowledge it to be, &s;aith the Lord
God Almighty, who is now doing all this his holy will, and
good plea&s;ure, and who is he that &s;hall ever di&s;anull it?</P>
<CLOSER><DATELINE>Given forth under my hand, as the Lord him&s;elf gave it
into my heart to &s;ee, and into my mouth to &s;peake in
part, and unto my hand thus at large to write it;
<DATE>this 25. day of she &s;ame month, 1656.</DATE></DATELINE></CLOSER>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
