thou, thou witty one, to hide thyself where none can see thee? thinkest thou, if thou fliest to the uttermost parts of the earth, that I am not there? Is not the earth mine, and the fulness of it, saith the Lord?' Come all ye that have trusted in your own conceited notions, and knowledge, and wisdom, who were never yet out of the earth, and the lusts of it, and never yet got the load of thick clay off you, and never were out of the drunken spirit, whose imperfection appears, who must be come upon, as a potter's vessel, broken cisterns; and ye that have been made wise in your own conceit, and wise in your own eyes, in which pride hath lifted you up, and not the humility, you must be abased. You have run on with every one after his own invention, and every man hath done that thing that was right in his own eyes, and that which did please himself: this hath been the course of people upon earth. Ye have run on without a king, without Christ, the light of the world, which hath enlightened every one that is come into the world: but now is truth risen, now are your fruits withering. And you that are fortified, and have fortified your strong houses, called your churches, make you your cords strong, the Lord will break you asunder, ye that are gathering in, and ye that are gathered. For the Lord is risen to scatter you; his witness is risen in the hearts of his people, they will not be fed with dead words, nor with that which dies of itself; nor will they be satisfied with the husk which the swine feeds upon. And all ye priests in the nation, and teachers, that now stand against the light, your envy shews that ye be in Cain's way; your greediness shews that ye be in Balaam's way your standing against the light which hath enlightened every man that cometh into the world, doth manifest that you are in Core's way, that spoke the great high words of vanity; ye, whose consciences are seared as with an hot iron, whose judgment doth not linger, whose damnation doth not slumber, who serve not the Lord Jesus Christ, but your own bellies; who are the evil beasts spoken of, which have destroyed many families, taken away their cattle, their horses, their goods, even their household goods; destroyed many poor men, even whole families, taking their whole estates from them, whom you do no work for. O! the grievous actions that are seen done by you, the ministers of unrighteousness; whose fruits declare to the whole nation that you are the devil's messengers! your actions declare it; your taking tithes, augmentations, treble damages, Midsummer dues (as ye call them), of them ye do no work for, nor minister to. ( : And all ye powers of the earth, beware of holding such up that be unrighteous. Let not the words of the unrighteous 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. a thousand people, and all was quiet. Many persons of note were there, and a great convincement there was, for they were turned to Christ, their way and their teacher, and many of them received him, and sate down under him, their vine. Here we parted with Amor Stoddart, and some more friends, who intended to meet us again in Huntingdonshire. About the second hour in the morning we took horse for Norwich, where Christopher Atkins, that dirty man, had run out, and brought dishonour upon the blessed truth and name of the Lord. But he had been judged and denied by friends; and afterwards he gave forth a paper of condemnation of his sin and evil. So we came to Yarmouth, and there stayed a while, where there was a friend, one Thomas Bond, in prison for the truth of Christ. There we had some service for the Lord, and some were turned to the Lord in that town. From thence we rode to another town, about twenty miles off, where were many tender people, and I was moved of the Lord to speak to the people, as I sate upon my horse, in several places as I passed along. We went on to another town about five. miles from thence, and set up our horses at an inn, having travelled five and forty miles that day, Richard Hubberthorn and I. There were some friendly people in the town, and we had a tender broken meeting amongst them, in the Lord's power, to his praise. We bid the hostler have our horses ready by the third hour in the morning; for we intended to ride to Lynn, about three and thirty miles, next morning. But when we were in bed at our inn, about the eleventh hour at night came the constable and officers, with a great rabble of people into the inn, and said they were come with an hue and cry from a justice of peace (that lived near that town about five miles off, where I had spoken to the people in the streets, as I rode along) to search for two horsemen, that rode upon grey horses, and in grey clothes; an house having been broken up upon the seventh day before at night, as they said. We told them we were honest and innocent men, and abhorred such things: yet they apprehended us, and set a guard with halberts and pikes upon us that night; making some of those friendly people, with others, to watch us. Next morning we were up betimes, and the constable with his guard carried us before a justice of peace about five miles off; and we took two or three of the sufficient men of the town with us, who had been with us at the great meeting at captain Lawrence's, and could testify that we lay both the seventh day night, and the first |