up

that be unrighteous. Let not the words of the unrigh teous overcome you, lest the righteous judge, the righteous God, the judge of heaven and earth upon you take hold; whose judgment is according to that of God in you, which will let you see when you transgress. Come you proud and lofty ones, who have not considered the handy works of the Lord, but have destroyed them; nor have regarded the way of the Lord, but have had plenty of the creatures, and have therewith fatted up yourselves, and forgot the Lord and his way: O let shame cover your faces here upon earth! come ye, that are given to pleasures, and spend your time and days in sports, and idleness, and fullness; your fruits declare the sins of Sodom: yet you will make a talk of my name, and of my saint's words. But I behold you afar off, saith the Lord; you are proud and lofty; you are bad patterns, and bad examples, that be full, and rich, and idle; who say others are idle, that cannot maintain your lusts. Oh! the unrighteous ballances that are among people! Oh the iniquity in measuring! Oh the oppression in ruling and governing! therefore, because of these things my hand shall come upon you, saith the Lord. For the oppression is entered into the ears of the Lord, who gives rest to the wearied, to the burdened, to the oppressed; who feeds the hungry, and cloaths the naked; who brings the mighty from their seats, and beats the lofty to the ground, and makes the haughty to bend. Come, saith the Lord, ye mockers and scorners, and rebellious ones, light and wild people, vain and heady; you have had your day of joy, you have scoffed, you have mocked and derided my messengers and my ambassadors, who have preached in your streets, and cried in your synagogues and temples; a day of trembling and lamentation shall on you come, when you are not aware. I will take away your pride and your height; I will shake you as a leaf, and bring you to be as men distracted. I will distract you, and make you, that you shall not trust one another in the earth, who have joined hand in hand against my servants in the truth. I will smite you with terrors, and bring frets and fears upon you; the cup of my indignation and fury shall you drink. Where will you appear when repentance is hid from your eyes, when profane Esau, your father, it set before you, and Ishmael and Cain, wild and envious, whose fruits declare the stock? Come ye proud priests, who have eaten up the fat of the nation, who by violence have taken other men's goods, whose envy hath slain many, whose wickedness and darkness hath abounded, and whose unrighteousness daily appears: your fruits every day declare it, in

summoning up by writs and subpoenas from most parts of the nation for wages and tithes, such as you do no work for. Oh the abominable unrighteousness! how is the state of man lost, that these things they do not take to heart to feel them! what havock is made in most parts of the nation with such! and all ye priests and teachers, who are railing and brawling in the pulpit, setting people at variance one against another, haters and hateful, provoking people to hate one another, here is the seed of enmity seen, which you have sown and are sowing, whose seed must be bruised by the seed of the woman, which a top of your heads is set.'

G. F.

This year came out the oath of abjuration, by which many friends suffered and several friends went to speak to the Protector about it, but he began to harden. And sufferings increasing upon friends, by reason, that envious magistrates made use of that oath as a snare to catch friends in, who they knew could not swear at all; I was moved to write to the Protector about it, and other suffering friends, as followeth :

'The magistrate is not to bear the sword in vain, which ought to be a terror to the evil-doers, but the magistrate that doth bear the sword in vain, as he is not a terror to the evil-doers, so he is not a praise to them that do well. Now hath God raised up a people by his power, whom people, priests, and magistrates, who are out of the fear of God, scornfully call Quakers, who do cry against drunkenness (for drunkards destroy God's creatures) and do cry against oaths (for because of oaths the land mourns) and they, drunkards and swearers, to whom the magistrate's sword should be a terror, are, we see, at liberty; but for crying against such many are cast into prison, and for crying against their pride and filthiness, their deceitful merchandize in markets, their cozening and their cheating, their excess and naughtiness, their playing at bowls and shuffle-boards, at cards and at dice, and their other vain and wanton pleasures: for who live in pleasures are dead while they live; and who live in wantonness kill the just. This we know by the spirit of God, which gave forth the scriptures, which God the Father hath given to us, and hath placed his righteous law in our hearts, which law is a terror to evil-doers, and answers that which is of God in every man's conscience. They which act contrary to the measure of God's spirit in every man's con

science, cast the law of God behind their backs, and walk despitefully against the spirit of grace. The magistrate's sword we see is borne in vain, whilst the evildoers are at liberty to do evil; and they that cry against such, are for so doing punished by the magistrate, who bath turned his sword backward against the Lord. And now the wicked one fenceth himself, and persecutes the innocent as vagabonds and wanderers, for crying against sin, and against unrighteousness and ungodliness openly, in the markets and in the high-ways; or as railers, because they tell them what judgment will follow them that follow such practices: and here they that depart from iniquity are become a prey, and few lay it to heart. But God will thresh the mountains, and beat the hills, and cleave the rocks, and cast into his press, which is trodden without the city, and will bathe his sword in the blood of the wicked and unrighteous. So they that have drunk the cup of abominations, an hard cup have you to drink, you are the enemies of God; and of you he will be avenged, who be his enemies. Now ye, in whom something of God is remaining, consider; if the sword was not borne in vain, but turned against the evil-doers, then the righteous would not suffer, and be cast into holes, dungeons, corners and prisons, and houses of correction, as peace-breakers, for crying against sin openly, as they are commanded of the Lord, and for crying against the covetousness of the priests, and their false worships, who exact money now of poor people, whom they do no work for. Oh! where will you appear in the day of the Lord? or how will you stand in the day of his righteous judgment? How many jails and houses of correction are now made places to put the lambs of Christ in, for following him, and obeying his commands, which are too many to mention. The royal law of Christ, to do as ye would be done by, is trodden down under foot: so that men can profess him in words and talk; but crucify him wheresoever he appears, and cast him into prison, as the talkers of him always did in the generations and ages past. And the labourers, which God (the master of the harvest) hath sent into his vineyard, do the chief of the priests, and the rulers now take counsel together against, to cast them into prison and here is the fruits of priests, and people, and rulers, without the fear of God. The day is come and coming, that every man's work doth appear, and shall appear; glory be to the Lord God for ever. So see, and consider the days you have spent, and the days you do spend: for this is your day of visitation. Many have suffered great fines of money, because they VOL. I.

S

could not swear, but do abide in Christ's doctrine, who saith, "Swear not at all:” and by that means are they made a prey upon, for abiding in the command of Christ. And now many are cast into prison, and are made a prey upon, because they cannot take the oath of abjuration, though they denied all that is contained in it; and by that means many of the messengers and ministers of the Lord Jesus Christ are cast into prison, because they will not Therefore, O swear, nor go out of Christ's command. man, consider; to the measure of the life of God in thee I speak. Many also lie in jails, because they cannot pay the priest's tithes; and many have their goods spoiled and treble damages taken of them; and many are whipped and beaten in the houses of correction, without breach of any law and these things are done in thy name, to protect them in these actions. If men fearing God did bear the sword, and covetousness were hated, and men of courage for God were set up, then they would be a terror to evildoers, and a praise to them that do well; and not cause them to suffer. Here equity would be heard in our land, and righteousness would stand up and take place; which giveth not place to the unrighteous, but judgeth it. To the measure of God's Spirit in thee I speak, that thou mayest consider, and come to rule for God: that thou mayest answer that which is of God in every man's conscience for that is that, which bringeth to honour all men in the Lord. Therefore consider for whom thou dost rule, that thou mayest come to receive power from God to rule for him; and all that is contrary to God may by his light be condemned.

:

From a lover of thy soul, who desires thy eternal good."

G. F.

But sufferings and imprisonments continuing and increasing, and the Protector (under whose name they were inflicted) hardening himself against the complaints that were made unto him, I was moved to give forth the following lines amongst friends, to bring the weight of their sufferings more heavy upon the heads of the persecutors.

Who is moved by the power of the Lord to offer himself to the justice for his brother or sister, that lies in prison, and to go lie in prison in their stead, that his brother or sister may come forth of prison, and so to lay down his life for his brother or sister? And who lies in prison for tithes, witnessing the priesthood changed, that took tithes, and the unchangeable priesthood come? If

any brother in the light, who witnesseth a change of the old priesthood that took tithes, and a disannulling of the commandment for tithes, be moved of the Lord to go to the priest or impropriator, to offer himself to lie in prison for his brother, and to lay down his life, that he may come forth, he may cheerfully do it, and heap up coals of fire upon the head of the adversary of God. Likewise where any suffer for the truth by them who be in the untruth; if any brother be moved of the Lord to go to the magistrate, judge, general, or protector, and offer up themselves to the prison, to lay down their lives for the brethren, as Christ hath laid down his life for you, so lay down your lives one for another; here you may go over the heads of the persecutors, and reach the witness of God in them all. And this shall lie a judgment upon them all for ever, and be witnessed to by that which is of God in their consciences. Given forth from the Spirit of the Lord through

G. F.'

Besides this, I writ also a short epistle to friends, as an encouragement to them in their several exercises; which was as followeth :

My dear friends,

In the power of the everlasting God, which comprehends the power of darkness, and all the temptations, and that which comes out of it: in that power of God dwell, which will bring and keep you to the word in the beginning; which will keep you up to the life, and to feed upon the same, in which you are over the power of darkness in that you will find and feel dominion and life. And that will let you see, before the tempter was, and over him; and in that the tempter cannot come; for the power and truth he is out of. Therefore in that life dwell, in which you will know dominion; and let your faith be in the power, and over the weakness and temptations, and look not at them: but in the light and power of God look at the Lord's strength, which will be made perfect in your weakest state. So in all temptations look at the grace of God to bring your salvation, which is your teacher to teach you: for when you do look or hearken to the temptations, you do go from your teacher, the grace of God, and so are darkened in going from that teacher, which should bring your salvation, the grace of God, which is sufficient in all temptations, to lead out of them, and to keep over them.'

G. F.