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since the true church went into the wilderness. And the everlasting gospel, which is the power of God, shall be preached again to all nations, and kindred, and tongues, in this the Lamb's day, before whom you shall appear to judgment; and you have no way to escape. For he hath appeared, who is the first and the last, the beginning and the ending, the Alpha and the Omega; he that was dead, is alive again, and lives for evermore!'

I mentioned before, that Gervase Benson and Anthony Pearson, (though they had been justices of the peace) were not permitted to come to me in the prison; whereupon they jointly wrote a letter to the magistrates, priests, and people at Carlisle, concerning my imprisonment; and thus

it was:

• Him, who is called George Fox, who is persecuted by rulers and magistrates, by justices, by priests and by people, and who suffers imprisonment of his body at this present, as a blasphemer, and an heretic, and a seducer, him do we witness (who in measure are made partakers of the same life which lives in him) to be a minister of the eternal word of God, by whom the everlasting gospel is preached; by the powerful preaching whereof the eternal Father of the saints hath opened the blind eyes, hath unstopped the deaf ears, hath let the oppressed go tree, and hath raised up the dead out of the graves. Christ is now preached in and among the saints, the same that ever he was; and because his heavenly image is borne up in this his faithful servant, therefore doth fallen man (rulers, priests, and people) persecute him; because he lives up out of the fall, and testifies against the works of the world, that the deeds thereof are evil, he suffers by you magistrates; not as an evil-doer. For thus it was ever, where the seed of God was kept in prison under the cursed nature, that nature sought to imprison them, in whom it was raised. The Lord will make him to you as a burdensome stone; for the sword of the spirit of the Almighty is put into the hands of the saints, which shall wound all the wicked, and shall not be cut up till it hath cut down all corrupt judges, justices, magistrates, priests, and professors, till he hath brought his wonderful thing to pass in the earth, which is to make new heavens and a new earth, wherein shall dwell righteousness; which now he is about to do. Therefore fear the Lord God Almighty, ye judges, justices, commanders, priests, and people; ye that torget God, suddenly will the Lord come, and destroy you with an utter

destruction, and will sweep your names out of the earth, and will restore his people judges, as at the first, and counsellors, as at the beginning. And all persecutors shall partake of the plagues of the whore, who hath made the kings of the earth and the great men drunk with the wine of her fornications, and hath drunk the blood of the saints; and therefore shall you be partakers of her plagues. We are not suffered to go to see our friend in prison, whom we witness to be a messenger of the living God. Now all people mind, whether this be according to law, or from the wicked, perverse, envious will of the envious rulers and magistrates, who are of the same generation that persecuted Jesus Christ; for, said he, as they have done to me, so will they do to you. And as he took the love, the kindness and service, that was shewed and performed to any of his afflicted ones in their sufferings and distress, as done unto himself, so the injuries and wrongs that were done by any to any of his little ones, he resented, as done unto himself also. Therefore you, who are so far from visiting him. yourselves in his suffering servant, that ye will not suffer his brethren to visit him, ye must depart, ye workers of iniquity, into the lake that burns with fire. The Lord is coming to thresh the mountains, and will beat them to dust; and all corrupt rulers, corrupt officers, and corrupt laws, the Lord will take vengeance on, by which the tender consciences of his people are oppressed. And he will give his people his law, and will judge his people himself, not according to the sight of the eye, and hearing of the ear, but with righteousness, and with equity. Now are your hearts made manifest to be full of envy against the living truth of God, which is made manifest in his people, who are contemned and despised of the world, and scornfully called Quakers. You are worse than the heathens, that put Paul in prison, for none of his friends or aquaintance were hindered to come to him by them; therefore they shall be witnesses against you. Ye are made manifest to the saints, to be of the same generation that put Christ to death, and that put the apostles in prison on the same pretence as you act under, in calling truth error, and the ministers of God blasphemers as they did. But the day is dreadful and terrible, that shall come upon you, ye evil magistrates, priests and people, who profess the truth in words outwardly, and yet persecute the power of truth, and them that stand in and for the truth. While ve have time prize it, and remember what is written Isa. liv. 17. George Benson, Anthony Pearson.

that can stop the mouths of gainsayers, and can convince gainsayers and such as oppose themselves? Have you no ministers of the Spirit, no soldiers with spiritual weapons displaying Christ's colours? But all the dragon's, the murderer's, the persecutor's arm of flesh; Cain's weapons, chief priests taking counsel; Judas and the multitude with swords and staves; Sodom's company raging about Lot's house, like the priests and princes against Jeremiah; like the dragon, beast and great whore, and the false church, which John saw should cast into prison, and kill, and persecute ? Whose weapons are you bearing? doth not the false church, the whore, make merchandize of cattle, corn, wine, and oil, even to the very souls of men? And hath not all this been since the true church went into the wilderness? Read Revelations the 12th, with the 18th: do you not read and see what a spirit you are of, and what a bottomless pit you are in? And have not you dishonoured the place of justice and authority? What! turned your sword backward like madmen, who are a praise to the evil-doer, and would be a terror to the good, with all force and might to stop the way of justice! Doth not the Lord, think you, behold your actions? How many have you wronged? how many have you imprisoned and persecuted, and put out of your synagogues? Are you they that must fulfil the prophecy of Christ, Matt. 23, John 16. Read the scriptures, and see how unlike you are to the prophets, Christ, and his apostles; and what a visage you have, like unto them that persecuted the prophets, Christ, and the apostles. You are found in their steps, wrestling with flesh and blood, and not with principalities, and powers, and spiritual wickedness, and your teachers imprisoning and persecuting for outward things, you being their executioners; the like whereof hath not been in all the nations. The havock that hath been made, the spoiling of the goods of people, taking away their oxen and fatted beeves, their sheep, corn, wool, and household goods, and giving them to the priests, that have done no work for them; more like moss troopers than ministers of the gospel, they take them from friends, suing them in your courts, and fining them, because they will not break the commands of Christ, that is, because they will not swear. And thus you act against them that do not lift up an hand against you; and as much as you turn against them, you turn against Christ. But he is risen that will plead their cause, and you cannot be hid, for your works are come to light, and the end of your ministry is seen, what it is for, for means. And ye have dishonoured the

your

truth, the gospel, and are they that make it chargeable; you have lost your glory, you have dishonoured yourselves. Persecution was ever blind and mad; read the apostle, what he saith of himself when he was in your nature. Exaltation and pride, and your lifting up yourselves, hath brought you to this; not being humble, and not doing justice, and not loving mercy. And when such as have been beaten and bruised by your rude company (to whom you are a praise and encouragement) have come, and laid things before you, that you might have done justice, preserved and kept peace, you (as knowing they could not swear) have put an oath to them; and this hath been trick and cover, that ye might not do justice to the just; but by this means have gone on still further to encourage the evil-doer. But the Lord sees your hearts. If ye were not men past feeling, ye would fear and tremble before him, the God of the whole earth, who is risen, and will stain your glory, and mar your pride, and deface your beauty, and lay it in the dust. Though for a time you may swell in your pride, and glory in your shame, and make a mock of God's messengers, who, for reproving sin in the gate are become your prey, you will feel the heavy hand of God, and his judgments at the last. This is from a lover of the truth and of righteousness, and of your souls; but a witness against all such as make a trade of the prophets', Christ's, and the apostles' words, and are found in the steps of them that persecuted the prophets', Christ's, and the apostles' life; who will persecute them, that will not hold you up, and put into your mouths, and give you means. Tithes were before the law, and tithes were in the law; but tithes since the days of the apostles, have been only since the false church got up. Now Christ, who is come to end the law, and to end war, redeems men out of the tenths and out of the nines also. The redeemed of the Lord shall reign upon the earth, and know the election which was before the world began. Since the days of the apostles, tithes have been set up by the papists, and by them that went forth from the apostles into the world, so set up by the false church, that made merchandize of people, since the true church went into the wilderness. now is the judgment of the great whore come, and the beast and false prophet (the old dragon) shall be taken and cast into the fire, and the Lamb and his saints shall have the victory. And now is Christ come, who will make war in righteousness, and destroy with the sword of his mouth all these inventors and inventions, that have got up, and been set up since the days of the apostles, and

But

since the true church went into the wilderness. And the everlasting gospel, which is the power of God, shall be preached again to all nations, and kindred, and tongues, in this the Lamb's day, before whom you shall appear to judgment; and you have no way to escape. For he hath appeared, who is the first and the last, the beginning and the ending, the Alpha and the Omega; he that was dead, is alive again, and lives for evermore !'

I mentioned before, that Gervase Benson and Anthony Pearson, (though they had been justices of the peace) were not permitted to come to me in the prison; whereupon they jointly wrote a letter to the magistrates, priests, and people at Carlisle, concerning my imprisonment; and thus

it was:

Him, who is called George Fox, who is persecuted by rulers and magistrates, by justices, by priests and by people, and who suffers imprisonment of his body at this present, as a blasphemer, and an heretic, and a seducer, him do we witness (who in measure are made partakers of the same life which lives in him) to be a minister of the eternal word of God, by whom the everlasting gospel is preached; by the powerful preaching whereof the eternal Father of the saints hath opened the blind eyes, hath unstopped the deaf ears, hath let the oppressed go free, and hath raised up the dead out of the graves. Christ is now preached in and among the saints, the same that ever he was; and because his heavenly image is borne up in this his faithful servant, therefore doth fallen man (rulers, priests, and people) persecute him; because he lives up out of the fall, and testifies against the works of the world, that the deeds thereof are evil, he suffers by you magistrates; not as an evil-doer. For thus it was ever, where the seed of God was kept in prison under the cursed nature, that nature sought to imprison them, in whom it was raised. The Lord will make him to you as a burdensome stone; for the sword of the spirit of the Almighty is put into the hands of the saints, which shall wound all the wicked, and shall not be cut up till it hath cut down all corrupt judges, justices, magistrates, priests, and professors, till he hath brought his wonderful thing to pass in the earth, which is to make new heavens and a new earth, wherein shall dwell righteousness; which now he is about to do. Therefore fear the Lord God Almighty, ye judges, justices, commanders, priests, and people; ye that forget God, suddenly will the Lord come, and destroy you with an utter

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