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Show The Rife a1ld Ptogtefs . VoL. I: ;6t+ - be bibught H9me to"the Lord, that there .might be bur. one Shepherd and ~ o .. e Sheepfold in all the Earth. There h~s Ey~ was dt!eaed Nor~hwJrd. - - beholding a grea~ People that fbould recetve htm and h1s Meffage m thof~ Parts. Up9n this Mountain he was mov'd of the Lord to found out his Great af1d }lt?tllble Day, as if he had been in a great Auditory; <~nd from thence went North.! as the L.ord had .!hewn him . . And ~n every Pbc~ where be came if not betore he Qme ro u, he had h1s pamcular Exerctfe and Service /Jlewn to him,. fo thaf the L ord was his Lfader indeed. For it was not in vain that be Travelled ~ God in molt Places fealing his Comrbiflion \,Yith the Convinqment gf fome of all Sons, as well Publicans as fbber Profefrors of Religion.\ So~e. of the firft ~nd moft Eminent of thofc_ thn came forth in tmlhy, and wh1ch are now at Refi, were Rubnrd Farn{uwrtb, r1 WiUiam Dcwjberry, TbomcU .A_fdam, Fran( is How-gil Edward John Ctzmm, John .Audland, Rzcbnrd Hubbert born T. Taylor, T. Homes, .Alexander Parker, WiQittm Simfon, WiUiam Caton: ffobn Stubbs, Robert Withers, Tho. Low, Jojiab Coale, ]obn Burn year, Robert i..olgc, Thomu SaltboMfe, and many rpore Worthies, that cannot be well llere nam'd ; together with divers. yet liqing of the firft and Great Convinc~ ent 1 w~o ~fl~' the ){oowledge·of God's purging Judgment in them· felves, and fome time of waiting in Silence upon him, to ]eel and rt•aive Power from on High, to fpeak in his Name, (which none elfe rightly can, though they may ufe the fame Words) They felt it's Divine Motions, and ')'ere frequently drawn fonh, efpecially to vifit tbe-P11blid~ Ajfemblier, to reprove, tnform, and exhort them : Sometimes in M.arkets, Fait·.r, Sireeu, and by t6e Highway-fide; ca1ling PeopLe to Repentance, and to turn to the tord with their Hearts as well 3$ their Mouths; dire8.ing them to the light of chrill within them, tO fee, examine, and tonfider their Ways by, and to efcbew the Evil, and Jo the Good and ..dcceptnble WiO of God. And d\ey fu!fered great Hardfhip~ for this their Love and Good-will ; being of· ten Stockt Stoned, BcaJen, Whipt and lmprifon'd; though Honcft Men, '31\d of Go~ Report wh~re t}ley liv'd ; that had left Wives, Children, and · Houfes anP Lands to yifit theqt with a Living CaU tQ Repentance. And though the Priifls generally fet themfclves to oppofe them, and write a· gainft them, and infinuated moft. falfe and fcandaloua Stories to defame them; ftirring up the Magiftrates.to fupprefs them, efpecially io thofe ]\;'ortbcrn Pans; yet God was pleafed f9 to fill them with his living-Power, and give them fuch an open Door'" of .Utterance in his Service, tba"t there was a mighty Convincement over tho(e Parts. . And through the tender and fingul~r Indulgence <>f Judge Bradjharo •nd Judge FeU, and Call. Weft, in the Infa:ncy of Things, the Priejls were never able to gain the Point they labour'd for, whicqf_was to have proceeded to Blood 1 and, if poffi~l~, Herod-like, by a l;;1uel Exercife of the Civil Power, to have cut them off, and rooted them out of the Country. Bqs: erpcciaUi Judge Fell, who was not Ol)ly a Check to their Rage in the Courfc of leg_a Proceedings, but otherwife, upon Occafion ;' and finaJly counte· nanced this People. l'or his Wife receiving the Truth: l'Yjth the firft, it had that Inftuence upon. his Spiric, being a ]ujl and Wife Man, and feeing in his own Wife and Family a full Confutation of an the popular Ciamoun again[\ the V/ay of Truth, that he covered them what he could, and freely opened his Doors, and gave up his Houfe to his Wife and her Friends; not faluiug the Reproach oflgnorant or of Evil·Minded·People; which I here mention, to hts or bet: Honour, and which will be, I believe, an Htl'lfoflr 3nd a Blej]ing to fuch of their Name and Family as !hall b~ found in that Tent!ernef.r, Humility, Love and Zc111 for the Truth and People of the. Lord. That Haufe was lor fame Years, at firft efpecially, 'r;n the Truth bad opened it's Way into the Southern Parts of this Ifiand, an eminent Recep· r.. • tacle of this People. Others, of good Note and Subfiance in thofe Nor• ·,bern Counuics, had alfo opened their Houfcs, together with their Hearts, (o the many P11blijhen, that, in a· fh.Qrt Time, the Lord had raifc.d· to der · cfa1c VoL. I. Of the 'People calJ'd Quakers~ ss .. clare his Sah•ation to the People; and where Meetings of the Lord's Jr1.ej- 1694- fenger.r were frequently held, to communicate their Serviccr and Exercifcs ~ and comfort a_nd edify one another in !heir B!e.fJed Mini}lry. ' But left thiS mar be thought a Dzgrcffion, h~ving touch'd upon this be .. f~re, I return to th1s &ceUenr Man: And for his PerfonJl Qu:~lities both l\nr11ral, JHonll and' Divine, as they appeared in his Com·erfe with Br;thren ~nd in the Church of God, take as follows: , I. He was a Ma~ th~tGod endued wirh 3 Clear and Wonderful Depth, A Dijcerner of others Splnts, and very much a };1afler of his own. And tho' that Side of his U~der~anding which lay next to the World, and efpecially. the Expreffion of a, ought found Un(OIItb and Unfajhionable to nice Ears his Matter w~s neverthelefs ve~y profound; and would not only be:~r to b; ?ften conpderd, hut the more It was fo, the more Weighty and Inftrud:ing Jt Jppear d. And as Abr_upr!y and B~-o~enly ~s fomerimes his Sentences would feem to fall from him, a_bout D1vme Thtngs, it is well known they were often as Text.r to many fatrer DeclaratioRS. And indeed it fhewed beyond all Contraditlion, that God fenr him; in that no Art ~r Part.r bad any Shari in tbe Manu or .Manner of his Miniflry; and that fo many Great ExrcDcnr, and Nccelfary Truths, as he came fonh to Preach to M:mkind had therefore nothing of Man's Wit or Wifdom to recommend them. S~ that as to Man he was .an Original, being no Jl1an's Copy. And his Miniltry and Writings fhew t~ey are from one that was not Taught of Man, nor had Learned what he fatd_ by Study. Nor_ were they Notional or Sl>eculative, but fenjible a.nd pra(/ual Truths, tendmg to Converfion and Re-generation and the !etting ~p of the Kingdom of God in tbc_Hearts of Men: and th; Way of 1t was hrs Work. So that I have many T1mes been overcome in my felf, and been made to fay, with my Lord and Malter, upon the like Occa· fion, ltkank thee, 0 Fat~tr, Lord of Heavc1t and Ettrrh, that thou bafl bid thefc Thmg.r from tbe Wife and Prudem of this World, ant! revealed tbtm to Bnbu: For many Times hath my Soul b"wed in an Ht~mble TbanA:[11lnef.r to the Lord, that he did not choofe any of the Wife and Learned of this World to be the firjl Me!fenger in out Age, of his h/ejfed Truth to ·Men 1 but that he took one that was not of Htgb Degree, or Elegant Speech, or Leanzed after the Way of this World, that his Melfage and Work, he fent him to do, might come with lifs St~jpicion, or JealoufyofHuman Wifdom and lnterefi, and with more Force andC/earneft upon rbeCanftiences of thofe rhat fincerely fough[ the Way of Truth in the Love of it. I fay, behold· ing with the Eye of my Mind, which the God of Heaven had ope'ned in· me, the Mark.r of God's Finger and Han~ vijibly, in this Teftimony, from the C!earnef.r of the P1inciple, the Power and Efficacy of it, in the Exem .. plary Sobriety, Plainnefs, Zeal, Steadinefs, Humility, Gravity, Punflaa.; ]iry, Charity, and circumjpea Care in the Government of Church-Affairs, which !hined in his and their Life and Tefiimo"J. that God employ'd in this Work, it greatly fOnjirmed me that it WtU of Go , and engaged my Soul in :1 dtcp l..pve, Fear, Reverence and Tban!r./ulnef.r for his Love and Mercy there· in to Mankind: In which Mind I remain, and !haU, I hope, through the Lord's Strength, to the End of my Day•. U. In his Tcjlimony or J11iniflry, he much laboured to open Truth to the People's llnder!taodings, and to Boll om them upon the Principle and Princi· fMI, Cbrifl Jif,ts, tbe Light of the World; that by bringing them to fom~ thing that was' from God in themfelves, they might the better know and judge of him and themfelvcs. Ill. He had an ·extr:tordinary Gift in opening the Scriptures. He '!auld g;o to the lllarrow of Things, and fh~w the 1Hhtd, Harmony and fu/fillmg of them with much Plainnefs, and to great Comfort and Edific:~cion. IV. The Myftery of the firfl and Second Adam, of the F•U and Rejlora, tion, of the Law and Go{pel, of Sbadow.r and Subjlancc, of the Servant'.t and Son'.r Srnre, and the :fUlfilling of the Scriptures in Cbrift and ~y CbrFJ!, the Tr11e Light, in all that are his, thro~gh rhe Obedience of Faub, were • sU m~ |