| After this I went to Mansfield, where was a great meeting of professors
and people. Here I was moved to pray; and the Lord's power was so great
that the house seemed to be shaken. 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.
Soon after there was another great meeting of professors, and a captain,
whose name was Amor Stoddard, came in. 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 was also a company of priests, that were looked upon to be tender;
one of their names was Kellett; and several people that were tender went
to hear them. I was moved to go after them, and bid them mind the Lord's
teaching in their inward parts. That priest Kellett 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.
Passing thence, I met with a great company of professors in Warwickshire,
who were praying, and expounding the Scriptures in the fields. 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; upon
which they fell into a fierce contention, and so parted; but the Lord's
power got ground.
Then I heard of a great meeting to be at Leicester, for a dispute, wherein
Presbyterians, Independents, Baptists and Common-prayer-men were said to
be all concerned. The meeting was in a steeple-house; and thither I was
moved by the Lord God to go, and be amongst them. 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 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, instead of answering me, he 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 from his pulpit, and others
out of their pews, and the dispute there was marred. I went to a great inn,
and there disputed the thing with the priests and professors, who were all
on fire. But I maintained the true church, and the true head thereof, over
their heads, till they all gave out and fled away. One man 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 infant-baptism, though himself
had been a Baptist before; so he left me alone. Howbeit, there were several
convinced that day; the woman that asked the question was convinced, and
her family; and the Lord's power and glory shone over all.
After this I returned into Nottinghamshire again, and went into the Vale
of Beavor. As I went, I preached repentance to the people. There were many
convinced in the Vale of Beavor, in many towns; for I stayed some weeks
amongst them.
One morning, as I was sitting by the fire, a great cloud came over me, and
a temptation beset me; and I sat still. 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 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 and a true voice arose in me, which said, "There
is a living God who made all things." Immediately the cloud and temptation
vanished away, and life rose over it all; my heart was glad, and I praised
the living God.
After some time I met with some people who had a notion that there was no
God, but that all things come by nature. I had a great dispute with them,
and overturned them, and made some of them confess that there is a living
God. Then I saw that it was good that I had gone through that exercise.
We had great meetings in those parts; for the power of the Lord broke through
in that side of the country.
Returning into Nottinghamshire, I found there a company of shattered Baptists,
and others. The Lord's power wrought mightily, and gathered many of them.
Afterwards I went to Mansfield and thereaway, where the Lord's power was
wonderfully manifested both at Mansfield and other towns thereabouts.
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 appeared
such a mighty power of God that they were greatly shaken, and many mouths
were opened in the power of the Lord God. Many were moved by the Lord to
go to steeple-houses, to the priests and people, to declare the everlasting
truth unto them.
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 with them.
But when I came in the morning, they were gone, and I was struck even blind,
that I could not see. I inquired of the innkeeper where the justices were
to sit that day; and he told me, at a town eight miles off. My sight began
to come to me again; and I went and ran thitherward as fast as I could.
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. 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 to the Lord, and to do justly. Particularly at Mansfield,
after I had been at a court there, I was moved to go and speak to one of
the most wicked men in the country, one who was a common drunkard, a noted
whore-master, and a rhyme-maker; and I reproved him in the dread of the
mighty God, for his evil courses.
When I had done speaking, and left him, he came after me, and told me that
he was so smitten when I spoke to him, that he had scarcely 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.
Diverse meetings of Friends, in several places, were then gathered to God's
teaching, by his light, Spirit, and power; for the Lord's power broke forth
more and more wonderfully.
Now I was come up in spirit through the flaming sword, into the paradise
of God. All things were new; and all the creation gave unto me another smell
than before, beyond what words can utter. I knew nothing but pureness, and
innocency, and righteousness; being renewed into the image of God by Christ
Jesus, to the state of Adam, which he was in before he fell. The creation
was opened to me; and it was showed me how all things had their names given
them according to their nature and virtue.
I was at a stand in my mind whether I should practise physic for the good
of mankind, seeing the nature and virtues of things were so opened to me
by the Lord. But I was immediately taken up in spirit to see into another
or more steadfast state than Adam's innocency, even into a state in Christ
Jesus that should never fall. And the Lord showed 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 creation,
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 He led me. When I came to
Nottingham, the mighty power of God was there among Friends. From thence
I went to Clawson, in Leicestershire, in the Vale of Beavor; and the mighty
power of God appeared 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, -- law, physic, and divinity (so called).
He showed me that the physicians were out of the wisdom of God, by which
the creatures were made; and knew not the virtues of the creatures, because
they were out of the Word of wisdom, by which they were made. He showed
me that the priests were out of the true faith, of which Christ is the author,
-- the faith which purifies, gives victory and brings people to have access
to God, by which they please God; the mystery of which faith is held in
a pure conscience. He showed me also that the lawyers were out of the equity,
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; one pretending the cure
of the body, another the cure of the soul, and the third the protection
of the property of the people. But I saw they were all 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 that 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
is the gift of God. The lawyers might be reformed and brought into the law
of God, which answers that [indwelling Spirit] of God which is [in every
one, is] transgressed in every one, and [which yet, if heeded] brings one
to love his neighbour as himself. This lets man see that if he wrongs his
neighbour, he wrongs himself; and 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 their virtues,
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 righteousness and holiness that man at the first
was made in. But as all believe in the Light, and walk in the Light, --
that Light with which Christ hath enlightened every man that cometh into
the world, -- and become children of the Light, and of the day of Christ,
all things, visible and invisible, are seen, by the divine Light of Christ,
the spiritual heavenly man, by whom all things were created.
Moreover, when I was brought up into His image in righteousness and holiness,
and into the paradise of God He let me see how Adam was made a living soul;
and also the stature of Christ, the mystery that had been hid from ages
and generations: which things are hard to be uttered, and cannot be borne
by many. For of all the sects in Christendom (so called) that I discoursed
with, I found none who could bear to be told that any should come to Adam's
perfection, -- into that image of God, that righteousness and holiness,
that Adam was in before he fell; to be clean and pure, without sin, as he
was. Therefore how shall they be able to bear being told that any shall
grow up to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ, when they
cannot bear to hear that any shall come, whilst upon earth, into the same
power and Spirit that the prophets and apostles were in? -- though it be
a certain truth that none can understand their writings aright without the
same Spirit by which they were written.
Now the Lord God opened to me by His invisible power that every man was
enlightened by the divine Light of Christ, and I saw it shine through all;
and that they that believed in it came out of condemnation to the Light
of life, and became the children of it; but they that hated it, and did
not believe in it were condemned by it, though they made a profession of
Christ. This I saw in the pure openings of the Light without the help of
any man; neither did I then know where to find it in the Scriptures; though
afterwards, searching the Scriptures, I found it. For I saw, in that Light
and Spirit which was before the Scriptures were given forth, and which led
the holy men of God to give them forth, that all, if they would know God
or Christ, or the Scriptures aright, must come to that Spirit by which they
that gave them forth were led and taught.
On a certain time, as I was walking in the fields, the Lord said unto me,
"Thy name is written in the Lamb's book of life, which was before the
foundation of the world": and as the Lord spoke it, I believed, and
saw in it the new birth. Some time after the Lord commanded me to go abroad
into the world, which was like a briery, thorny wilderness. When I came
in the Lord's mighty power with the Word of life into the world, the world
swelled and made a noise like the great raging waves of the sea. Priests
and professors, magistrates and people, were all like a sea when I came
to proclaim the day of the Lord amongst them, and to preach repentance to
them.
I was sent to turn people from darkness to the Light, that they might receive
Christ Jesus; for to as many as should receive Him in His Light, I saw He
would give power to become the sons of God; which power I had obtained by
receiving Christ. I was to direct people to the Spirit that gave forth the
Scriptures, by which they might be led into all truth, and up to Christ
and God, as those had been who gave them forth.
Yet I had no slight esteem of the holy Scriptures. They were very precious
to me; for I was in that Spirit by which they were given forth; and what
the Lord opened in me I afterwards found was agreeable to them. I could
speak much of these things, and many volumes might be written upon them;
but all would prove too short to set forth the infinite love, wisdom, and
power of God, in preparing, fitting, and furnishing me for the service to
which He had appointed me; letting me see the depths of Satan on the one
hand, and opening to me, on the other hand, the divine mysteries of His
own everlasting kingdom.
When the Lord God and His Son Jesus Christ sent me forth into the world
to preach His everlasting gospel and kingdom, I was glad that I was commanded
to turn people to that inward Light, Spirit, and Grace, by which all might
know their salvation and their way to God; even that Divine Spirit which
would lead them into all truth, and which I infallibly knew would never
deceive any.
But with and by this divine power and Spirit of God, and the Light of Jesus,
I was to bring people off from all their own ways, to Christ, the new and
living way; and from their churches, which men had made and gathered, to
the Church in God, the general assembly written in heaven, of which Christ
is the head. And I was to bring them off from the world's teachers, made
by men, to learn of Christ, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, of
whom the Father said, "This is my beloved Son, hear ye Him"; and
off from all the world's worships, to know the Spirit of Truth in the inward
parts, and to be led thereby; that in it they might worship the Father of
spirits, who seeks such to worship Him. And I saw that they that worshipped
not in the Spirit of Truth, knew not what they worshipped.
And I was to bring people off from all the world's religions, which are
vain, that they might know the pure religion; might visit the fatherless,
the widows, and the strangers, and keep themselves from the spots of the
world. Then there would not be so many beggars, the sight of whom often
grieved my heart, as it denoted so much hard-heartedness amongst them that
professed the name of Christ.
I was to bring them off from all the world's fellowships, and prayings,
and singings, which stood in forms without power; that their fellowship
might be in the Holy Ghost, and in the Eternal Spirit of God; that they
might pray in the Holy Ghost, and sing in the Spirit and with the grace
that comes by Jesus; making melody in their hearts to the Lord, who hath
sent His beloved Son to be their Saviour, and hath caused His heavenly sun
to shine upon all the world, and His heavenly rain to fall upon the just
and the unjust, as His outward rain doth fall, and His outward sun doth
shine on all.
I was to bring people off from Jewish ceremonies, and from heathenish fables,
and from men's inventions and worldly doctrines, by which they blew the
people about this way and the other, from sect to sect; and from all their
beggarly rudiments, with their schools and colleges for making ministers
of Christ, -- who are indeed ministers of their own making, but not of Christ's;
and from all their images, and crosses, and sprinkling of infants, with
all their holy-days (so called), and all their vain traditions, which they
had instituted since the Apostles' days, against all of which the Lord's
power was set: in the dread and authority of which power I was moved to
declare against them all, and against all that preached and not freely,
as being such as had not received freely from Christ.
Moreover, when the Lord sent me forth into the world, He forbade me to put
off my hat to any, high or low; and I was required to Thee and Thou all
men and women, without any respect to rich or poor, great or small. And
as I travelled up and down I was not to bid people Good morrow, or Good
evening; neither might I bow or scrape with my leg to any one; and this
made the sects and professions to rage. But the Lord's power carried me
over all to His glory, and many came to be turned to God in a little time;
for the heavenly day of the Lord sprung from on high, and broke forth apace,
by the light of which many came to see where they were.
Oh, the blows, punchings, beatings, and imprisonments that we underwent
for not putting off our hats to men! Some had their hats violently plucked
off and thrown away, so that they quite lost them. The bad language and
evil usage we received on this account are hard to be expressed, besides
the danger we were sometimes in of losing our lives for this matter; and
that by the great professors of Christianity, who thereby discovered they
were not true believers.
And though it was but a small thing in the eye of man, yet a wonderful confusion
it brought among all professors and priests; but, blessed be the Lord, many
came to see the vanity of that custom of putting off the hat to men, and
felt the weight of Truth's testimony against it.
About this time I was sorely exercised in going to their courts to cry for
justice, in speaking and writing to judges and justices to do justly; in
warning such as kept public houses for entertainment that they should not
let people have more drink than would do them good; in testifying against
wakes, feasts, May-games, sports, plays, and shows, which trained up people
to vanity and looseness, and led them from the fear of God; and the days
set forth for holidays were usually the times wherein they most dishonoured
God by these things.
In fairs, also, and in markets, I was made to declare against their deceitful
merchandise, cheating, and cozening; warning all to deal justly, to speak
the truth, to let their yea be yea, and their nay be nay, and to do unto
others as they would have others do unto them; forewarning them of the great
and terrible day of the Lord, which would come upon them all.
I was moved, also, to cry against all sorts of music, and against the mountebanks
playing tricks on their stages; for they burthened the pure life, and stirred
up people's minds to vanity. I was much exercised, too, with school-masters
and school-mistresses, warning them to teach children sobriety in the fear
of the Lord, that they might not be nursed and trained up in lightness,
vanity, and wantonness. I was made to warn masters and mistresses, fathers
and mothers in private families, to take care that their children and servants
might be trained up in the fear of the Lord, and that themselves should
be therein examples and patterns of sobriety and virtue to them.
The earthly spirit of the priests wounded my life; and when I heard the
bell toll to call people together to the steeple-house, it struck at my
life; for it was just like a market-bell, to gather people together, that
the priest might set forth his ware for sale. Oh, the vast sums of money
that are gotten by the trade they make of selling the Scriptures, and by
their preaching, from the highest bishop to the lowest priest! What one
trade else in the world is comparable to it? notwithstanding the Scriptures
were given forth freely, and Christ commanded His ministers to preach freely,
and the prophets and apostles denounced judgment against all covetous hirelings
and diviners for money.
But in this free Spirit of the Lord Jesus was I sent forth to declare the
Word of life and reconciliation freely, that all might come to Christ, who
gives freely, and who renews up into the image of God, which man and woman
were in before they fell, that they might sit down in heavenly places in
Christ Jesus. |