vinced for the outward law took hold upon the outward action; but the inward law upon the inward lust.

After this I went again to Mansfield, where was a great meeting of professors and people; and I was moved to pray. And the Lord's power was so great, that the house seemed to be shaken. And when I had done, some of the professors said, it was now as in the days of the apostles, when the house was shaken where they were. After I had prayed, one of the professors would pray, which brought deadness and a veil over them and others of the professors were grieved at him, and told him, it was a temptation upon him. Then he came to me and desired that I would pray again; but I could not pray in man's will.

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Soon after there was another great meeting of professors, and a captain (whose name was Amor Stoddard) came in ; and they were discoursing of the blood of Christ. And as they were discoursing of it, I saw, through the immediate opening of the invisible spirit, the blood of Christ. And I cried out among them, and said, 'Do ye not see the blood of Christ? See it in your hearts, to sprinkle your hearts and consciences from dead works, to serve the living God: for I saw it, the blood of the New Covenant, how it came into the heart. This startled the professors, who would have the blood only without them, and not in them. But captain Stoddard was reached, and said, 'Let the youth speak; hear the youth speak;' when he saw they endeavoured to bear me down with many words.

There were also a company of priests that were looked upon to be tender (one of their names was Kellet), and several people that were tender went to hear them. And I was moved to go after them, and bid them mind the Lord's teaching in their inward parts. That priest Kellet was against parsonages then; but afterwards he got a great one, and turned a persecutor.

Now, after I had had some service in these parts, I went through Derbyshire into my own county Leicestershire again, and several tender people were convinced. And passing thence, I met with a great company of professors in Warwickshire, who were praying, and expounding the Scriptures in the fields, and they gave the bible to me, and I opened it on the fifth of Matthew, where Christ expounded the law; and I opened the inward state to them, and the outward state; and they fell into a fierce contention, and so parted; but the Lord's power got ground.

Then 1 heard of a great meeting to be at Leicester, for a dispute, wherein both presbyterians, independents, bap

tists, and common prayer-men were said to be all con cerned. The meeting was in a steeple-house, and thither I was moved by the Lord God to go, and be amongst them. And I heard their discourse and reasonings, some being in pews, and the priest in the pulpit, abundance of people being gathered together. At last one woman asked a question out of Peter, what that birth was, viz. a being born again of incorruptible seed, by the word of God, that liveth and abideth for ever? And the priest said to her, 'I permit not a woman to speak in the church;' though he had before given liberty for any to speak. Whereupon I was wrapped up, as in a rapture, in the Lord's power; and I stepped up in a place, and asked the priest, Dost thou call this (the steeple-house) a church? Or dost thou call this mixed multitude a church?' For the woman asking a question, he ought to have answered it, having given liberty for any to speak. But he did not answer me neither, but asked me what a church was; I told him, the church was the pillar and ground of truth, made up of living stones, living members, a spiritual household, which Christ was the head of: but he was not the head of a mixed multitude, or of an old house made up of lime, stones and wood. This set them all on fire: the priest came down out of his pulpit, and others out of their pews, and the dispute there was marred. But I went to a great inn, and there disputed the thing with the priests and professors of all sorts; and they were all on a fire. But I maintained the true church, and the true head thereof, over the heads of them all, till they all gave out and fled away. And there was one man that seemed loving, and appeared for a while to join with me; but he soon turned against me, and joined with a priest, in pleading for infants' baptism, though he himself had been a baptist before; and so left me alone. Howbeit there were several convinced that day; and the woman that asked the question aforesaid was convinced, and her family; and the Lord's power and glory shined over all.

After this I returned into Nottinghamshire again, and went into the vale of Beavor. And as I went I preached repentance to the people; and there were many convinced in the vale of Beavor, in many towns, for I stayed some weeks amongst them. And one morning as I was sitting by the fire, a great cloud came over me, and a temptation beset me; and I sat still. And it was said, All things come by nature;' and the elements and stars came over me, so that I was in a manner quite clouded with it: but inasmuch as I sat still and said nothing, the people of the

house perceived nothing. And as I sat still under it, and let it alone, a living hope arose in me, and a true voice arose in me, which said, 'There is a living God, who made all things.' And immediately the cloud and temptation vanished away, and life rose over it all, and my heart was glad, and I praised the living God. And after some time I met with some people that had such a notion, that there was no God, but that all things came by nature. And I had great dispute with them, and overturned them, and made some of them confess that there was a living God: then I saw that it was good that I had gone through that exercise. And we had great meetings in those parts, for the power of the Lord broke through in that side of the country. And returning into Nottinghamshire, I found there a company of shattered baptists, and others; and the Lord's power wrought mightily, and gathered many of them. Then afterwards I went to Mansfield and thereaway, where the Lord's power was wonderfully manifested both at Mansfield and other towns thereabouts. And in Derbyshire the mighty power of God wrought in a wonderful manner. At Eton, a town near Derby, there was a meeting of Friends, where there was such a mighty power of God, that they were greatly shaken, and many mouths were opened in the power of the Lord God. And many were moved by the Lord to go to steeple-houses, to the priests and to the people, to declare the everlasting truth unto them.

And at a certain time, when I was at Mansfield, there was a sitting of the justices about hiring of servants; and it was upon me from the Lord to go and speak to the justices, that they should not oppress the servants in their wages. So I walked towards the inn where they sat; but finding a company of fiddlers there, I did not go in, but thought to come in the morning, when I might have a more serious opportunity to discourse them, not thinking that a seasonable time: but when I came again in the morning, they were gone, and I was struck even blind that I could not see. And I enquired of the innkeeper where the justices were to sit that day; and he told me, at a town eight miles off. And my sight began to come to me again; and I went and ran thitherward as fast as I could. And when I was come to the house where they were, and many servants with them, I exhorted the justices not to oppress the servants in their wages, but to do that which was right and just to them. And I exhorted the servants to do their duties, and serve honestly, &c. And they all received my exhortation kindly, for I was moved of the Lord therein.

Moreover I was moved to go to several courts, and steeple-houses at Mansfield, and other places, to warn them to leave off oppression and oaths, and to turn from deceit, and to turn to the Lord, and do justly. Particularly at Mansfield, after I had been at a court there, I was moved to go and speak to one of the wickedest men in the country, one who was a common drunkard, a noted whoremaster, and a rhyme-maker; and I reproved him in the dread of the mighty God, for his evil courses. And when I had done speaking, and left him, he came after me, and told me, that he was so smitten when I spake to him, that he had scarce any strength left in him. So this man was convinced, and turned from his wickedness, and remained an honest sober man, to the astonishment of the people who had known him before. Thus the work of the Lord went forward, and many were turned from the darkness to the light within the compass of these three years, 1646, 1647, and 1648. And divers meetings of Friends, in seve ral places, were then gathered to God's teaching, by his light, spirit and power; for the Lord's power brake forth more and more, wonderfully.

Now was I come up in spirit through the flaming sword, into the paradise of God. All things were new; and all the creation gave another smell unto me than before, beyond what words can utter. I knew nothing but pureness, and innocency, and righteousness, being renewed up into the image of God by Christ Jesus; so that I say I was come up to the state of Adam, which he was in before he fell. The creation was opened to me; and it was shewed me how all things had their names given them, according to their nature and virtue. And I was at a stand in my mind, whether I should practice physic for the good of mankind, seeing the nature and virtues of the creatures were so opened to me by the Lord. But I was immediately taken up in spirit to see into another or more stedfast state than Adam's in innocency, even into a state in Christ Jesus, that should never fall. And the Lord shewed me, that such as were faithful to him in the power and light of Christ, should come up into that state in which Adam was before he fell; in which the admirable works of the crea tion, and the virtues thereof may be known, through the openings of that divine word of wisdom and power by which they were made. Great things did the Lord lead me into, and wonderful depths were opened unto me, beyond what can by words be declared; but as people come into subjection to the Spirit of God, and grow up in the image and power of the Almighty, they may receive

the word of wisdom, that opens all things, and come to know the hidden unity in the Eternal Being.

Thus I travelled on in the Lord's service as the Lord led me. And when I came to Nottingham, the mighty power of God was there among Friends. From thence I went to Clauson in Leicestershire, in the vale of Beavor, and the mighty power of God was there also, in several towns and villages where Friends were gathered. While I was there, the Lord opened to me three things, relating to those three great professions in the world, physic, divinity (so called), and law. And he shewed me that the physicians and doctors of physic were out of the wisdom of God, by which the creatures were made; and so knew not the virtues of the creatures, because they were out of the word of wisdom, by which they were made. And he shewed me that the priests were out of the true faith, which Christ is the author of; the faith which purifies and gives victory, and brings people to have access to God, by which they please God; which mystery of faith is held in a pure conscience. He shewed me also, that the lawyers were out of the equity, and out of the true justice, and out of the law of God, which went over the first transgression, and over all sin, and answered the Spirit of God, that was grieved, and transgressed in man. And that these three, the physicians, the priests, and the lawyers, ruled the world out of the wisdom, out of the faith, and out of the equity and law of God; the one pretending the cure of the body, the other the cure of the soul, and the third the property of the people. But I saw they were all out, out of the wisdom, out of the faith, out of the equity and perfect law of God. And as the Lord opened these things unto me, I felt his power went forth over all, by which all might be reformed, if they would receive and bow unto it. The priests might be reformed, and brought into the true faith, which was the gift of God. The lawyers might be reformed, and brought into the law of God, which answers that of God (that is transgressed) in every one, and brings to love one's neighbour as himself: this lets man see, if he wrongs his neighbour he wrongs himself; and this teaches him to do unto others as he would they should do unto him. The physicians might be reformed, and brought into the wisdom of God, by which all things were made and created; that they might receive a right knowledge of the creatures, and understand the virtues of them, which the word of wisdom, by which they were made and are upheld, hath given them. Abundance was opened concerning these things; how all lay out of the wisdom of God, and out of the righ