Chapter XII (2)

“The Lord, by his eternal power, hath opened the heart of the king
to open the prison doors, by which about fifteen or sixteen
hundred are set at liberty, and hath given a check to the
informers; so that in many places our meetings are pretty quiet.
My desires are, that both liberty and sufferings may be sanctified
to his people, that Friends may prize the mercies of the Lord in
all things, and to him be thankful, who stilleth the raging waves
of the seas, allayeth the storms and tempests, and maketh a calm.
Therefore it is good to trust in the Lord, and cast your care upon
him, who careth for you. For when ye were in jails and prisons,
the Lord did, by his eternal arm and power, uphold you, and
sanctified them to you (and unto some he made them as a
sanctuary), and tried his people as in a furnace of affliction,
both in prisons and spoiling of goods. In all this the Lord was
with his people, and taught them to know that ‘the earth is the
Lord’s and the fulness thereof;’ and that he was in all places;
‘who crowneth the year with his goodness,’ Psal. lxv.

Therefore let all God’s people be diligent, and careful to keep
the camp of God holy, pure, and clean, and to serve God and
Christ, and one another in the glorious, peaceable gospel of life
and salvation, which glory shines over God’s camp; and his great
Prophet, Bishop, and Shepherd is among, or in the midst of them,
exercising his heavenly offices in them; so that you his people
may rejoice in Christ Jesus, through whom you have peace with God.
For he that destroyeth the devil and his work, and bruises the
serpent’s head, is all God’s people’s heavenly Foundation and Rock
to build upon; which was the holy prophets’ and apostles’ Rock in
days past, and is now the Rock of our age; which Rock and
Foundation of God standeth sure. Upon this the Lord God establish
all his people. Amen.”

G. F.

London, the 25th of the 7th Month, 1686.

Divers other epistles and papers I wrote this year; one of which was an exhortation “to Friends to keep in unity in the truth, in which there is no division nor separation;” it was thus:—

“DEAR FRIENDS AND BRETHREN IN THE
LORD JESUS CHRIST,

“In whom ye have all peace and life, and in whom there is no
division, schism, rent, strife, nor separation; for Christ is not
divided: there can be no separation in the truth, nor in the
light, grace, faith, and Holy Ghost, but unity, fellowship, and
communion. For the devil was the first that went out of the truth,
separated from it, and tempted man and woman to disobey God, and
to go from the truth into a false liberty, to do that which God
forbade. So it is the serpent now that leads men and women into a
false liberty, even the God of the world, from which man and woman
must be separated by the truth; that Christ the Truth may make
them free, and then they are free indeed. Then they are to stand
fast in that liberty, in which Christ hath made them free, and in
Him there is no division, schism, rent, or separation; but peace,
life, and reconciliation to God, and to one another. So in Christ,
male and female are all one; for whether they be male or female,
Jew or Gentile, bond or free, they are all one in Christ. And
there can be no schism, rent, or division in Him; nor in the
worship of God, in his Holy Spirit and truth; nor in the pure and
undefiled religion, that keeps from the spots of the world; nor in
the love of God that beareth and endureth all things; nor in the
Word of God’s grace, for it is pure and endureth for ever.

“Many, you see, have lost the Word of patience and the Word of
wisdom, that is pure, and peaceable, and gentle, and easy to be
entreated: then they run into the wisdom that is below, that is
‘earthly, sensual, and devilish,’ and very uneasy to be entreated.
They go from the love of God that beareth all things, endureth all
things, thinketh no evil, and doth not behave itself unseemly:
then they cannot bear, but grow brittle, and are easily provoked,
run into unseemly things, and are in that, that vaunteth itself,
are puffed up, rash, heady, high-minded, and fierce, and become as
sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal; but this is contrary to the
nature of the love of God. Therefore, dear Friends and brethren,
dwell in the love of God; for they who dwell in love, dwell in
God, and God in them. Keep in the Word of wisdom, that is gentle,
pure, and peaceable, and in the Word of patience, that endureth
and beareth all things; which Word of patience the devil, and the
world, and all his instruments can never wear out; it will wear
them all out; for it was before they were, and will be, when they
are gone, the pure, holy Word of God, by which all God’s children
are born again, feed on the milk thereof, and live and grow by it.
My desires are, that ye may all be of one heart, mind, soul, and
spirit in Christ Jesus. Amen.”

G. F.

Soon after this, finding those apostates, whom the enemy had drawn out into division and separation from Friends, continued their clamour and opposition against our monthly, quarterly, and yearly meetings, it came upon me to write another short epistle to Friends, to put them in mind of the “evidence and seal they had received in themselves by the Spirit of the Lord, that those meetings were of the Lord, and accepted by him,” that so they might not be shaken by the adversaries. I wrote as follows:—

“MY DEAR FRIENDS IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST!

“All you, that are gathered in his holy name, know, that your
meetings for worship, your quarterly, monthly and other meetings
are set up by the power and Spirit of the Lord God, and witnessed
by his Spirit and power in your hearts; and by the Spirit and
power of the Lord God they are established to you, and in the
power and Spirit of the Lord God you are established in them. The
Lord God hath with his Spirit sealed to you, that your meetings
are of his ordering and gathering, and he hath owned them, by
honouring you with his blessed presence in them; and you have had
great experience of his furnishing you with his wisdom, life, and
power, and heavenly riches from his treasure and fountain, by
which many thanks and praises have been returned in your meetings
to his holy, glorious name. He hath sealed your meetings by his
Spirit to you, and that your gathering together hath been by the
Lord, to Christ his Son, and in his name: and not by man. So the
Lord hath the glory and praise of them and in them, who hath
upheld you and them, by the arm of his power, against all opposers
and backsliders, and their slanderous books and tongues. For the
Lord’s power and Seed doth reign over them all, in which he doth
preserve his sons and daughters to his glory, by his eternal arm
and power, in his work and service, as a willing people in the day
of his power, without being weary or fainting, but strong in the
Lord, and valiant for his glorious name and precious truth, and
his pure religion; that ye may serve the Lord in Christ Jesus,
your Rock and Foundation, in your age and generation. Amen.”

G.F.

London, the 3rd of 11th Month, 1686-7.

A little after it came upon me to write something concerning the state of the true church, and of the true members thereof, as follows:—

“_Concerning the Church of Christ being clothed with the Sun, and
having the Moon under her feet._

“They are living members, living stones, built up a spiritual
household, children of the promise, and of the Seed and flesh of
Christ; and as the apostle saith, ‘Flesh of his flesh, and bone of
his bone.’ They are the good seed, the children of the everlasting
kingdom written in heaven; and have put on the Lord Jesus Christ.
They sit together in heavenly places in Christ, are clothed with
the Sun of Righteousness, Christ Jesus, and have the moon under
their feet, as Rev. xii. So all changeable things, that are in the
world, all changeable religions, worships, ways, fellowships,
churches, and teachers in the world, are as the moon; for the moon
changes, but the sun doth not change. The Sun of Righteousness
never changeth, nor goes down; but all the ways, religions,
worships, fellowships of the world, and the teachers thereof,
change like the moon.

“The true church, which Christ is the head of, which is in God,
the Father, is called ‘the pillar and ground of truth,’ whose
conversation is in heaven; this church is clothed with the Sun,
Christ Jesus, her head, who doth not change, and hath all
changeable things under her feet. These are the living members,
born again of the Immortal Seed, by the Word of God, who feed upon
the immortal milk, and live and grow by it. Such are the new
creatures in Christ Jesus, who makes all things new, and sees the
old things pass away. His church and all his members, which are
clothed with the Sun, their worship is in Spirit, and in truth,
which doth not change; which truth the devil, the foul, unclean
spirit, is out of, and cannot get into this worship in Spirit and
in truth. Their religion is pure and undefiled before God, that
keeps from the spots of the world, &c., and their way is the new
and living way, Christ Jesus. So the church of Christ, that is
clothed with the Sun, that hath the moon and all changeable
religions and ways under her feet, hath an unchangeable worship,
religion, and way, an unchangeable Rock and Foundation, Christ
Jesus, and an unchangeable High Priest; and so are children of the
New Testament, and in the everlasting Covenant of Light and Life.

“Now all, that profess the Scriptures both of the New and Old
Testament, and are not in Christ Jesus, the apostle tells them,
they are ‘reprobates, if Christ be not in them.’ Therefore these,
that are not in Christ, cannot be clothed with Christ, the Sun of
Righteousness, that never changes. They are under the changeable
moon, in the world, in the changeable things, changeable
religions, ways, worships, teachers, rocks, and foundations. But
Christ, the Son of God, and Sun of Righteousness, doth not change;
in whom his people are gathered, and sit together in heavenly
places in him, clothed with Christ Jesus, the Sun, who is the
mountain, that filleth the whole earth with his divine power and
light. So all his people see him, and feel him both by sea and
land. He is in all places of the earth, felt and seen of all his.
And Christ Jesus saith to the outward professors, the Jews, ‘I am
from above,’ ye are from below, ‘ye are of this world.’ So their
religions, worships, ways, teachers, faiths, beliefs, and creeds
are made by men, and are below, of this world that changeth like
the moon. You may see their religions, ways, worships, and
teachers, are all changeable, like the moon; but Christ, the Sun,
with which the church is clothed, doth not change, nor his church;
for they are spiritually minded, and their way, worship, and
religion is spiritual, from Christ, who is from above, and not of
this world. Christ hath redeemed his people from the world, and
its changeable rudiments, elements, and old things, and from its
changeable teachers, faiths, and beliefs. For Christ is the author
and finisher of his church’s faith, who is from above, and saith,
‘Believe in the light, that ye may become children of light;’ and
it is given them not only to believe, but to suffer for his name.
So this faith and belief is above all faiths and beliefs, which
change, like the moon. God’s people are a holy nation, a peculiar
people, a spiritual household, and royal priesthood, offering up
spiritual sacrifice to God, by Jesus Christ; and are zealous of
righteous, godly, good works; and their zeal is for that which is
of God, against the evil which is not of God.

“Christ took upon him the seed of Abraham; he doth not say, the
corrupt seed of the Gentiles: so, according to the flesh, he was
of the holy seed of Abraham and of David; and his holy body and
blood was an offering and a sacrifice for the sins of the whole
world, as a lamb without blemish, whose flesh saw no corruption.
By the one offering of himself in the New Testament or New
Covenant, he has put an end to all the offerings and sacrifices
amongst the Jews in the Old Testament. Christ, the holy Seed, was
crucified, dead, and buried, according to the flesh, and raised
again the third day; and his flesh saw no corruption. Though he
was crucified in the flesh, yet he was quickened again by the
Spirit, and is alive, and liveth for evermore; he hath all power
in heaven and in earth given to him, and reigneth over all; and is
the one Mediator between God and man, even the man Christ Jesus.

“Christ said, ‘He gave his flesh for the life of the world:’ and
the apostle says, ‘His flesh saw no corruption:’ so that which saw
no corruption he gave for the life of the corrupt world, to bring
them out of corruption. Christ said again, ‘He that eateth my
flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life: for my flesh is
meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. And he that eateth my
flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me, and I in him.’ He that
eats not his flesh and drinks not his blood, which is the life of
the flesh, hath not eternal life. As the apostle saith, all died
in Adam; then all are dead. Now all coming spiritually to eat the
flesh of Christ, the second Adam, and drink his blood, his blood
and flesh gives all the dead in Adam, life, and quickens them out
of their sins and trespasses, in which they were dead; so they
come to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, living
members of the church of Christ, that he is the head of; are
clothed with the Sun of Righteousness, the Son of God, that never
changes, and have the changeable moon under their feet, and all
changeable, worldly things and inventions, and works of men’s
hands. These see the people, how they change from one worship to
another, from one religion to another, from one way to another,
and from one church to another; and yet their hearts are not
changed. The letter of Scripture is read by the Christians like
the Jews; but the mystery is hid: they have the sheep’s clothing,
the outside, but are inwardly ravened from the Spirit, which
should bring them into the Lamb’s and Sheep’s nature. The
Scripture saith, ‘All the uncircumcised must go down into the
pit:’ and therefore all must be circumcised with the Spirit of
God, which puts off the body of death, and sins of the flesh, that
came into man and woman by their disobedience, and transgressing
of God’s commands. I say, all must be circumcised with the Spirit,
which puts off the body of death and sins of the flesh, before
they come up into Christ, their Rest, that never fell, and be
clothed with Him, the Sun of Righteousness.”

G. F.

Towards the latter end of this year I went to KINGSTON to visit Friends there; and stayed some time at my son Rous’s. I wrote there a paper concerning “the falling away” foretold by the apostle Paul, 2 Thess. ii. 3, as follows:—

“The apostle saith that there must be ‘a falling away’ first,
before the wicked one, that man of sin, the son of perdition, be
revealed, which betrayeth Christ within, as the son of perdition
betrayed Christ without; and they that betray Christ within,
crucify to themselves Christ afresh, and put him to open shame.
Before the apostles died, this man of sin, the son of perdition,
was revealed: for they saw antichrist come, and false prophets,
false apostles, and deceivers come, having a form of godliness,
but denying the power thereof. They saw the wolves dressed in the
sheep’s clothing, and such as went in Cain’s, Korah’s, and
Balaam’s way, and Jezebel’s; and the whore of Babylon, the whore
of confusion, the mother of harlots, and such as were enemies to
the cross of Christ, that served not the Lord Jesus Christ, but
their own bellies. These Christ saw should come, and said, ‘If it
were possible, they should deceive the elect;’ and commanded his
followers not to go after them. The apostle said, ‘Turn away from
such;’ and Christ and his apostles warned the church of Christ of
such.

“And now, in this day of Christ and his gospel, after the long
night of apostasy from the light, grace, truth, life, and Spirit
of Christ Jesus, the son of perdition, the wicked one, the man of
sin, is revealed again; and the inwardly ravening wolves in
sheep’s clothing, and the spirit of Cain, Korah, Balaam, Jezebel,
the antichrists, false prophets, and false apostles, and such as
are enemies to the cross of Christ, who serve not the Lord Jesus,
but their own bellies; and crucify Christ to themselves, and put
him to open shame. This spirit have we seen in this gospel-day of
Christ; but Christ will consume them with the Spirit of his mouth,
and destroy them with the brightness of his coming. But God’s
people, whom he hath chosen unto salvation in Christ from the
beginning, ‘through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth,’ stand stedfast in Christ Jesus; and are thankful to God,
by and through his Son, their rock and salvation, who is their
happiness and eternal inheritance.

“The apostle saith, ‘Ye were as sheep going astray; but are now
returned to the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.’ So when people
are returned to Christ, their Shepherd, they know his voice, and
follow him; and are returned to the Bishop of their souls: then
they believe in him, and receive wisdom and understanding from
him, who is from above, heavenly and spiritual. Then they act like
spiritual and holy men and women; and come to be members of the
church of Christ. Then a spiritual care cometh upon the elders in
Christ, that all the members walk in Christ, in his light, grace,
Spirit, and truth, that they may adorn their profession of Christ;
and see that all walk in the order of the Holy Spirit, and the
everlasting gospel of peace, life, and salvation. This order keeps
out of confusion; for the gospel of peace, the power of God, was
before confusion was. And all the heirs of the gospel are heirs of
its order, and are in this gospel, which brings life and
immortality to light in them; by which all may see their work and
service in it, to look after the poor, widows, and fatherless, and
to see that nothing be lacking; and that all honour the Lord in
their lives and conversations.

“When the whole house of Israel were in their graves and
sepulchres, and were called ‘the scattered dry bones,’ yet they
could speak, and say, ‘their bones were dry, their hope was lost,’
or they were without hope, ‘and they were cut off.’ They were
alive outwardly, and could speak outwardly. So that which is
called Christendom may very well be called ‘the scattered dry
bones,’ and they may be said to be in their graves and sepulchres,
dead from the heavenly breath of life, the Spirit and Word of
life, that gathereth to God. Though they can speak, and are alive
outwardly, yet they remain in the congregations or churches of the
dead, that want the virtue of life. For the Jews, whom God poured
his Spirit upon, and gave them his law, when they rebelled against
the Spirit of God, and turned from God and his law, came to be dry
scattered bones, and were turned into their graves and sepulchres.
So Christendom, that is turned from the grace, truth, and light of
Christ, and the Spirit, that God poureth upon all flesh, they are
become the scattered dry bones, are in their graves and
sepulchres, and are the congregations or churches of the dead,
though they can speak, and are alive outwardly.

“Christ saith, ‘I am come that they might have life, and that they
might have it more abundantly.’ He gave his flesh for the life of
the world. And he saith, ‘I am the resurrection and the life’;
and, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto
the Father but by me.’ Christ is the quickening Spirit. All being
dead in Adam, are to be quickened and made alive by Christ, the
second Adam. And when they are quickened and made alive by him,
they meet together in the name of Jesus Christ their Saviour, who
died for their sins, and is risen for their justification; who was
dead and is alive again, and liveth for evermore. All whom he hath
quickened and made alive (even all the living) meet in the name of
Jesus, who is alive, and He, their living Prophet, Shepherd, and
Bishop, is in the midst of them; and is their living Rock and
Foundation, and a living Mediator between them and the living God.
So the living praise the living God through Jesus Christ, through
whom they have peace with God. All the living have rest in Christ,
their life. He is their sanctification, their righteousness, their
treasure of wisdom, knowledge, and understanding, which is
spiritual and heavenly. He is the spiritual tree and root, which
all the believers in the light, the life in Christ, that pass from
the death in Adam to the life in Christ, and overcome the world,
and are born of God, are grafted into; even Christ, the heavenly
tree, which beareth all the spiritual branches or grafts. These
meet in his name, are gathered in him, and sit together in
heavenly places in Christ Jesus, their life, who hath quickened
and made them alive. So all the living worship the living God in
his Holy Spirit and truth, in which they live and walk. Into this
worship, the foul, unclean spirit, the devil, cannot get; for the
Holy Spirit and truth is over him, and he is out of it. This is
the standing worship, which Christ set up in his new covenant. And
they that are quickened by Christ are the living stones, living
members, and spiritual household and church, or congregation of
Christ, who is the living head and husband. They that are made
alive by Christ are a living church, have a living head, and are
come from the congregations or churches of the dead in Adam, where
death and destruction talk of God, and of his prophets and
apostles, in their wisdom that is below, earthly and devilish; in
the knowledge that is brutish, and in the understanding that comes
to naught. For what they know is natural, by their natural
tongues, arts, sciences; in which they corrupt themselves. This is
the state of the dead in Adam: but the quickened, they that are
made alive by Christ, discern between the living and the dead.”

G.F.

Kingston-upon-Thames, the 12th Month, 1686-7.

While I was at Kingston, I wrote also another paper, showing “that the Lord, in all ages, called the righteous out from amongst the wicked, before he destroyed them;” after this manner:—

“Noah and his family were called into the ark, before the old
world was destroyed with the flood. And all the faithful
generation, that lived before, were taken away, and died in the
faith, before that flood of destruction came upon the wicked old
world.

“The Lord called Lot out of Sodom, before he destroyed and
consumed it, and the wicked there.

“Christ said, ‘It cannot be that a prophet perish out of
Jerusalem:’ and he said, ‘O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest
the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often
would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen gathereth
her brood under her wings! and ye would not,’ Luke xiii. 33, 34.
And he said to the Jews, ‘Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I
will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall
slay and persecute; that the blood of all the prophets, which was
shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this
generation; from the blood of Abel, unto the blood of Zacharias,
which perished between the altar and the temple. Verily, I say
unto you, it shall be required of this generation,’ Luke xi.
49-51. And he said to the Jews, ‘Behold your house is left unto
you desolate,’ Matt. xxiii. 34, &c. Christ told his disciples,
that the temple at Jerusalem should be thrown down, and there
should not be one stone left upon another, that should not be
thrown down, Matt. xxiv. 2. Also, that he must go to Jerusalem,
and ‘suffer many things of the Jews, elders, and chief priests,
and be killed, and raised again the third day,’ Matt. xvi. 21. And
Christ said, ‘When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies,
then know the desolation thereof is nigh.’ He foretold, that the
Jews should fall by the edge of the sword, and should be led away
‘captive into all nations; and Jerusalem should be trodden down of
the Gentiles,’ Luke xxi. 20, 24.

“Here you may see, how Jerusalem was often warned by Christ, and
how often he would have ‘gathered them, but they would not,’
before they were scattered over or into all nations, their houses
left desolate, and their temple and Jerusalem besieged with
armies, destroyed, and thrown down. And though the disciples and
apostles of Christ did meet, with the elders and church, at
Jerusalem, after Christ was risen, yet Eusebius reports in his
_Ecclesiastical History_, that the Christians at Jerusalem had a
vision, or a revelation to depart out of Jerusalem. Being
forewarned also by Christ, that when they should see Jerusalem
compassed with armies, its desolation was nigh; and that the
temple should be thrown down, and not one stone left upon another;
it is said, that the Christians did depart out of bloody
Jerusalem, before it and the temple were destroyed by Titus, the
emperor, who besieged it with his armies. He was of the Gentiles,
and destroyed the temple and Jerusalem, as Christ had fore-spoken
to his disciples, because of the wickedness of the Jews, and the
innocent blood that they had shed in it. So the Lord called his
people out of bloody Jerusalem, before he destroyed it.

“And it is said, that Titus destroyed the temple and Jerusalem
about forty-two years after Christ was crucified, and risen again;
and that with so great a destruction, that the Jews never built
the city again, nor the temple (as Sodom was never built again,
nor the cities of the old world.) But the Jews for above these
thousand years have been, and are a scattered people in all
nations to this day; and Christ (whom they crucified) and his
doctrine, is preached, and set over them; and the Gentiles, whom
they hated, have received, and do receive him and his doctrine,
and praise God for it through Jesus Christ. Amen.

“God called his people out of Egypt, after he had poured out his
ten plagues upon the Egyptians; when he had destroyed the
first-born of Egypt, then the Lord brought his people out of
Egypt. And after the Lord had clearly brought his people out, he
destroyed Pharaoh, and all his hosts and chariots.

“John says, he heard a voice, saying, ‘Come out of her, my people,
(to wit, out of Babylon, the false church), that ye be not
partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues; for
her sins have reached to heaven, and God hath remembered her
iniquities,’ Rev. xviii. 4, 5, Here ye may see that God called his
people out of spiritual Babylon, before he destroyed her, and cast
her down, to be utterly burnt with fire, ver. 8, 9, 21.

“Was not Nebuchadnezzar’s empire thrown down and ended by Cyrus
and Darius, who were of the seed of the Medes, before Cyrus and
Darius gave forth their proclamation for all the Jews to go into
their own land, out of Babylon’s captivity? And was there not a
prophecy of Cyrus, ‘that he should subdue nations, and that the
Lord would loose the loins of kings before him, and break in
pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron, and
open the two-leaved gates; and that the gates should not be shut?’
And the Lord said, ‘This is for Jacob, my servant’s sake, and for
Israel mine elect,’ Isa. xlv. Was not this fulfilled in Cyrus’s
and Darius’s time? For did not then the Jews go out of captivity
into their own land, Ezra i. 2-4; vi. 1, 12; Isa. xliv. 28; xlv.
13. Was not this prophecy of Isaiah fulfilled when the children of
Israel came out of Babylon? Were not the Assyrians, that carried
away the ten tribes, subdued? and the Babylonians, that carried
away the two tribes, were they not subdued in the days of Cyrus
and Darius, in whose days the ‘loins of kings were loosed, and the
two-leaved gates of brass and iron were opened?’ and had not
Israel and Jacob their liberty by them in their days, to go into
their own land?

“And here in England, was it not observed, that most of the honest
and sober people were turned out of the army, and their
commissions, offices, and places taken from them, because they
could not join with others in their cruelty and persecuting? And
others laid down their commissions themselves, and came out from
amongst those persecutors, before they were overthrown and brought
to confusion. All that are wise, see these things, and learn by
such examples and way-marks to shun such bogs. The righteous are
safe, that keep _in Christ_, their everlasting sanctuary, that
changes not in whom they have rest and peace with God. Amen.”

G.F.

Kingston, the 29th of the 12th Month, 1686-7.