Chapter VIII (2)

Be not deceived with vain, feigned, or rough words; for Satan is
transforming himself, as an angel of light, to deceive; but God’s
foundation standeth sure, and God knoweth who are his, and will
preserve them upon the rock and foundation of life, in his
peaceable truth and habitation, that in the same they may grow.
Keep out of strife and contention with it, after ye have borne
your testimony in the Lord’s power and truth against it, then keep
in the truth; for it hath a life in scribbling, strife and
jangling, and would bring others into its misery with the airy
power, and would get power over the good, disjoin people from it,
and so commit rapes upon the simplicity by its subtilty. But I do
believe the Lord will defend his people, though he may try them
and exercise them with this spirit for a time, as he hath done in
days past, in other vessels it hath made use of, as it doth of
these now; who have a more seeming fair outside, but foul, rough,
and rugged enough within, against the Seed, Christ, as ever were
the Pharisees to destroy it. They, under a pretence of preaching
Christ, are destroyers and crucifiers of him, and killers of the
just, not only in themselves, but are endeavouring with all their
might, to destroy it in others, where it is born. Pharaoh and
Herod slay the young Jews in the Spirit, as the old did; I feel it
worrying them. That is got up to be king which knew not suffering
Joseph. But God will plague him, and the Seed will have more rest,
and be better entertained in Egypt, than under Herod, into whom
old Pharaoh’s spirit is entered.

“He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear: and an eye to see, let
him see, how this spirit hath transformed in all ages against the
just and righteous; but mark, what hath been its end? The Seed
reigneth; glory to the Lord God over all for ever! His truth
spreadeth, and Friends here are in unity and peace, and of good
report, answering the good, or that of God in people. My desires
are, that all God’s people may do the same in all places, that the
Lord may be glorified in their bringing forth much fruit that is
heavenly and spiritual. Amen.”

G.F.

Amsterdam, the 25th of the 7th Month, 1677.

After I had given forth the foregoing epistle, whereby my spirit was in some measure eased of the weight that lay upon it, I went in the afternoon to the monthly meeting of Friends at Amsterdam, where the Lord was present with us, and refreshed our spirits together in himself.

I had thought to go next day to Haarlem; but a fast being appointed to be kept that day, I was stopped in my spirit, and moved to stay at Friends’ meeting that day at Amsterdam. We had a very large meeting, a great concourse of people coming to it, and amongst them many great persons. The Lord’s power was over the meeting; and in the openings thereof I was moved to declare to the people, “that no man, by all his wit and study, nor by reading history in his own will, could declare or know the generation of Christ, who was, not begotten by the will of man, but by the will of God.” After I had largely opened this unto them, “I showed them the difference between the true fast and the false; manifesting, that the professed Christians, Jews, and Turks, were out of the true fast, and fasted for strife and debate, being under the band and fists of iniquity and oppression, wherewith they were smiting one another; but the pure hands were not lifted up to God. And though they did all appear to men to fast, and did hang down their heads for a day like a bulrush, yet that was not the fast which God did accept; but in that state all their bones were dry, and when they called upon the Lord, he did not answer them, neither did their health grow; for they kept their own fast and not the Lord’s. I exhorted them to keep the Lord’s fast, which was to fast from sin and iniquity, from strife and debate, from violence and oppression, and to abstain from every appearance of evil.” These things were opened to the astonishment of the fasters; and the meeting ended peaceably and well.

I went to HAARLEM the day following, having before appointed a meeting. Peter Hendricks and Gertrude Dirick Nieson went with me; and a blessed meeting we had. There were professors of several sorts, and a priest of the Lutherans, who sat very attentive for several hours, while I declared the truth amongst them, Gertrude interpreting. When the meeting was done, the priest said, “he had heard nothing but what was according to the Word of God; and desired that the blessing of the Lord might rest upon us, and our assemblies.” Others also confessed to the truth, saying, “they had never heard things so plainly opened to their understandings before.”

We stayed that night at Haarlem at a Friend’s house, whose name was Dirick Klassen; and, returning next day to AMSTERDAM, went to Gertrude’s house; where we had not been long, before a priest of great note, who had formerly belonged to the Emperor of Germany, and with him another German priest came, desiring to have some conference with me. I took the opportunity to declare the way of truth unto them, opening unto them “how they might come to know God and Christ, and his law and gospel;” and showing them that “they could never know it by study, nor by philosophy, but by divine revelation through the Spirit of God, opening to them in the stillness of their minds.” The men were tender, and went away well satisfied.

On the First-day following I was at Friends’ meeting at Amsterdam; where, amongst several sorts of professors that were present, was a doctor from Poland, who for his religion was banished the place he lived in; and being affected with the testimony of truth in the meeting, he came afterwards to have some discourse with me; and after we had been some time together, and I had opened things further to him, he went away very tender and loving.

While I was at Amsterdam, I spent much of my time in writing books, papers, or epistles on truth’s behalf. I wrote several epistles from Amsterdam to Friends in England and elsewhere, on several occasions, as the Lord moved me by his Spirit thereunto. I wrote also from thence, “A Warning to the Inhabitants of the City of Oldenburg, which was lately burnt down;” also, “A Warning to the Inhabitants of the City of Hamburg,” both of which were as follows:—

“_A Warning to the Magistrates and People of the City of
Oldenburg._

“FRIENDS,

“Have you not seen and felt the judgments of God upon your city,
the Lord sending lightning from heaven that destroyed and burnt
it? As I passed through your city on a First-day of the week,
which you call your Sabbath, I saw some drinking, and soldiers
playing at shuffleboard, and others with their shops open and
trading, when they should have been waiting upon God and
worshipping him; and your people were light and vain, without any
sense of God’s judgments or repentance. O therefore repent, lest
the all-seeing God, who sees all your actions and is over all,
bring swift judgment upon you in his wrath, fury, and indignation.
Repent, and lay aside all manner of evil and wickedness,
ungodliness, and unrighteousness; for the day of the Lord will
come upon all that do evil, all the workers of iniquity. This
mighty day of the Lord will find them all out, and will burn as an
oven, and burn up all the proud and wicked, and neither leave them
root nor branch.

“Therefore, all ye magistrates, priests, and people, search in
yourselves to find out the cause, and what evil you have
committed, that has brought the wrath, vengeance, and judgment of
God upon you and your city, in burning it. All return, and come to
the light of Christ in your hearts, and to God’s Spirit, and to
the grace and truth in your hearts, that comes by Jesus Christ;
that with it ye may search your hearts. Do not grieve, nor vex,
nor quench God’s good Spirit in your hearts, and walk not
despitefully against the Spirit of grace, nor turn from it into
wantonness; and yet make a profession of God and Christ in words,
when your hearts are afar off, living in pleasures and wantonly
upon the earth, sporting yourselves, killing the just, crucifying
to yourselves Christ afresh, and putting him to open shame; and so
dishonouring God, and Christ, and Christianity, and making a
profession and a trade of the Scriptures, keeping people always
learning, that they may be always paying.

“Cease from man, whose breath is in his nostrils, and look unto
the Lord, all ye ends of the earth, and be saved; for the Lord God
of heaven and earth is come, to teach his people himself by his
light, Spirit, grace, and truth, and to bring them off from all
the world’s teachers. God hath raised up Christ Jesus, his
Prophet, whom people should hear; and saith, ‘This is my beloved
Son, hear ye him’; and Christ saith, ‘Learn of me, I am the way,
the truth, and the life; and no man comes to the Father, but by
me.’ There is no salvation by any other name under the whole
heaven than by the name of Jesus, who saith, ‘I am the Good
Shepherd, and have laid down my life for my sheep; and my sheep
hear my voice and follow me, and will not follow the hireling’;
for Christ feeds them in the pastures of life that will never
wither. God hath anointed Christ Jesus to preach, if you will hear
him; and God hath given Christ for a Counsellor and a Leader, if
you will be led and counselled by him; and God hath given Christ
for a Bishop to oversee you, and a King to rule you, if you will
be overseen and ruled by him. You that will not have Christ, who
never sinned, nor was guile found in his mouth, to rule over you,
you may read his sentence in the New Testament upon such. Is not
Christ a sufficient teacher, whose blood was shed for you, and who
tasted death for every man?

“Doth not Christ say to his ministers, ‘Freely ye have received,
freely give?’ And the apostle saith, ‘We covet no man’s gold,
silver, or apparel.’ They laboured with their hands, and kept the
gospel without charge. Have they that are called ministers amongst
you done the same, and kept this command of Christ Jesus? Let them
be examined and examine themselves. Have you not trimmed your
outsides? but look within with the light and Spirit of Christ
Jesus, and see if your insides be not black and foul. For Christ
Jesus, who doth enlighten every man that cometh into the world,
with the life in himself, saith, ‘Believe in the light, that ye
may become children of the light.’ With the light ye may see all
the evil and ungodly deeds that ye have committed; all your
ungodly words you have spoken; and all your ungodly thoughts ye
think; that ye may turn from them to Christ, from whom the light
comes; who is your Saviour and Redeemer, who hath given you a
light to see your sin, and that you are dead in Adam; that with
the same light you may see Christ, the quickening Spirit, who
makes you alive to God, and saves you from your sin. But if you
hate the light, which is the life in Christ, the Prince of Life,
and love the darkness and the prince of darkness more than the
light or the life in Christ, because it will reprove you; Christ
tells you, ‘This light will be your condemnation,’ John iii.

“Therefore be warned now in your day, and while you have time,
turn to the Lord. Do not quench the Spirit of the Father by which
he draws to the Son; nor hate the light of Christ; for if you do,
you hate the life in Christ, and so remain under condemnation from
God and Christ with the light, who now speaks to his people by his
Son, as he did in the apostles’ days; the same God, that was the
speaker by the prophets to the fathers, and speaker to Adam and
Eve in Paradise; and happy had Adam and Eve, and the Jews, and all
Christians been, if they had kept to this speaker, and not
followed that serpent, that false speaker, and his instruments.
And now God is the true speaker by his Son, who bruises the head
of the serpent, the false teacher, who is the head of all false
ways, false prophets, false churches, and false religions and
worships. So God in Christ is bringing people to the pure and
undefiled religion, that will keep them from the spots of the
world, into the new and living way, Christ Jesus; and to the
church in God, which Christ is the head of, as he was in the
apostles’ days; and to worship God in the Spirit and in truth,
which worship Christ set up above sixteen hundred years since.
Therefore must all people come to the grace and Spirit of truth in
their own hearts, to know the God of truth, who is a Spirit; and
in the Spirit and truth to worship, serve, honour, and glorify the
living God, who is over all, and worthy of all, blessed for
evermore. Amen.

“Ye magistrates and officers, read this in all your assemblies,
and cause all your priests to read it in their churches; that they
and you, and all people may hear and fear the God of heaven, as
you will answer it at the great and terrible day of judgment, and
vengeance of the Lord God Almighty. This is in love to your souls,
and for your temporal and eternal good.”

G.F.

Amsterdam, the 19th of the 7th Month, 1677.

“_A Warning to the Magistrates, Priests, and People of the City of
Hamburg, to humble themselves before the Lord, and not be
high-minded._

“FRIENDS,

“You have painted and garnished the inside of your outward houses
and high places; but look within your hearts with the light of
Christ, which he hath enlightened you and every man that cometh
into the world withal, and with it you may see how foul your
hearts and insides are with sin and evil, which Christ tells you
ye should make clean; who told the Pharisees how they ‘painted the
sepulchres of the righteous,’ and they themselves were full of
rottenness and corruption. Therefore look into yourselves and your
own hearts, what you are full of. To paint the sepulchres of the
righteous apostles, and make a trade and a profession of their
words, without the same Holy Ghost, and power, and light, and
truth which they were in, will not stand the day of God’s
vengeance.

“Therefore repent while you have time, turn to the Lord with your
whole hearts, and do not think yourselves secure, without his
immediate almighty protection. For not all your works, nor all
your own strength, and power, and defence can protect you; it is
not for you to look at them, and think yourselves secure, to sit
down in your security, and in it let your hearts be merry, and at
rest and ease. But when the Lord brings a scourge upon you, that
you are filled with terrors and fears, remember you were warned,
that you were set down, but not in the true rest. Then all your
own strength and force will stand you in no stead; and you will
acknowledge that it must be God that must protect you. Therefore
take warning; for your priests and people are too high, and are
swallowed up too much in this world. The vanities of it carry your
minds away from God, and your care is more for the world than for
God, and more after the riches of this world, than after the
riches of the world that has no end. Know you not, that all your
heaps of outward treasure must have an end, and that you must
leave them all behind you?

“Therefore I am to warn and advise you, both high and low, priests
and people, to come to the grace, light and truth, that comes by
Jesus Christ; to the manifestation of the good Spirit of God,
which is given to you to profit withal; that with this grace, and
truth, light, and Spirit of Christ, you may turn to Christ Jesus,
from whence it comes, who saith, ‘Learn of me;’ and God saith,
‘This is my beloved Son, hear ye Him.’ So all the children of the
new covenant, that walk in the new and living way, hear Christ
their Prophet, that God has raised up, and anointed to be their
Teacher and Priest. So now, God doth speak to his people by his
Son, as he did in the apostles’ days. The Lord is come to teach
his people himself by his grace, light, truth, and Spirit, and to
bring them off all the world’s teachers that are made by men since
the apostles’ days; who have kept people always learning, that
they may be always paying them. He is come to bring them off all
the world’s religions, to the religion that he set up in the
apostles’ days, in the new covenant, which is pure and undefiled
before God in his sight, and keeps from the spots of the world,
&c. And the Lord is come to bring them off all the world’s
churches, to the church in God, which Christ the heavenly man is
head of; and to bring them off all the world’s worships, to
worship God in Spirit and in truth, which Christ set up above
sixteen hundred years since. So all men and women must come to the
Spirit and truth in their hearts, by which they must know the God
of truth, who is a Spirit; and then in the Spirit and in truth
they will worship him, and know what and whom they worship. Also
the Lord is come to bring his people off all the world’s temples,
that with the Spirit they may know their bodies to be the temples
of the Holy Ghost. And the Lord is come to bring his people off
all the world’s crosses, pictures, images, and likenesses, to know
that the power of God is the cross of Christ, which crucifies them
to the world, and brings them up into the likeness and image of
God, that man and woman were in before they fell; and so to Christ
that never fell.

“This work must all know in their hearts, by the light of Christ
Jesus, who ‘is the true light, that lighteth every man that cometh
into the world.’ It is called the light in man and woman, and the
life in Christ the Word: and Christ saith, ‘Believe in the light,
that ye may be the children of light.’ And the light lets you see
all your evil actions, that you have committed; your ungodly ways
you have walked in; and your ungodly words and thoughts. If you
hate this light, and love the darkness, and the prince of it, more
than this light, which is the life in Christ, the Prince of Life,
and will not come to it, because your deeds are evil, it will
reprove you; Christ tells you, ‘this light is your condemnation.’
Then what is all your profession good for, when you remain under
the condemnation of the true light, in which you should believe;
and so become children of light, and out of condemnation?
Therefore everyone must believe in the light, if they receive
Christ Jesus; and as many as receive him, he gives them ‘power to
become the sons of God.’ He that hath the Son of God, hath life;
and they that have not the Son of God, have not life: if then you
have not life, what good doth all your profession of the
Scriptures from Genesis to Revelations do you, any more than the
Jews, Scribes, and Pharisees, that would not receive Christ the
life, upon whom God brought his overflowing scourge?

“Therefore do you take heed, for your strength will be no better
than theirs, if you have not God and Christ’s supporting power,
when God’s scourge comes upon you, and you are filled with horrors
and fears. My desires are, that you may all repent, even from the
highest to the lowest, and not grieve, nor quench, nor vex, nor
rebel against, God’s good Spirit in you, nor ‘walk despitefully
against the Spirit Of Grace,’ which would teach you, and bring
your salvation; nor turn from it unto wantonness. If you do, how
can you escape the overflowing scourge of the Almighty, and the
wrath of the Lamb? My desires are, that you may all obey God’s
good Spirit of truth, which will lead you out of all evil into all
truth, and reprove you for your own righteousness, and for your
own judgment and sin. It will bring you to cleave to that which is
good, to forsake that which is evil, and to turn to the Lord, who
will receive you in his mercy and kindness; by which means you may
escape the overflowing scourge in the day of vengeance, which
dreadful day is coming upon all evil-doers. This is a warning to
you, both for your temporal and eternal good; to read in your
assemblies, and your priests in their churches, that all people
may hear and fear; as you will answer it at the terrible and
dreadful day of judgment.”

G.F.

Amsterdam, the 19th of the 7th Month, 1677.

I wrote also an Epistle to the ambassadors that were treating about a peace at Nimeguen,[45] as follows:—

“_For the Ambassadors, that are met to treat for Peace at the
City of Nimeguen, in the States’ dominions._

“Christ Jesus saith, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall
be called the children of God,’ Matt. v. 9, so all Christian men
are to forsake evil, and do good, to seek peace and follow it, if
they will ‘love life, and see good days,’ 1 Pet. iii. 11. God hath
called all true Christians unto peace, 1 Cor. vii., and therefore
all Christians ought to follow this peace, which God calls them
to. They should let the peace of God rule in all their hearts;
which is above the peace of this world, that is so soon broken.
For the apostle commands the Christians to let the peace of God
rule in their hearts, to which all Christians should be subject.
The practice of this should be among all that profess
Christianity; and this peace is above that, which Christ takes
from the earth, Rev. vi., which is the peace of the wicked. And
the apostle saith to the Christians, ‘Be at peace among
yourselves,’ 1 Thess. v. Now all Christians should obey this
command, and be at peace among themselves; not in wars and strife.
And further, the apostle exhorts the Christians to ‘keep the unity
of the Spirit in the bond of peace.’ So this unity, this bond of
peace, should be kept (and not be broken) by all that bear that
noble name, Christian. They should keep the unity of the Spirit of
Christ in the bond of the Prince of princes, King of kings, and
Lord of lords’ peace, which is the duty of all true Christians to
keep. Herein they may honour Christ, in bringing forth the fruits
of peace, which are love and charity. For the apostle tells you,
‘The fruit of the good Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering,
gentleness, goodness,’ &c., Gal. v.

“And the apostle exhorts the Christians, and saith, ‘If it be
possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men:’
this should be the endeavour of all Christians. For it is no
honour to Christ, that Christians should war and destroy one
another, that profess his name, who saith, ‘He came to save men’s
lives, and not to destroy them.’ Christians have enemies enough
abroad without them, and therefore they should love one another,
as Christ commands, who saith, ‘By this ye shall be known to be my
disciples, if ye love one another.’ For Christians are commanded
to love enemies; therefore much more, one another. And Christ
saith, ‘As the Father hath loved me, so I have loved you: continue
ye in my love,’ John xv. 8, and ‘By this shall all men know that
ye are my disciples, if ye love one another,’ John xiii. 35. But
if Christians war and destroy one another, this will make Jews,
Turks, Tartars, and Heathens say, that you are not disciples of
Christ. Therefore, as you love God, and Christ, and Christianity,
and its peace, all make peace, as far as you have power, among
Christians, that you may have the blessing. You read, that
Christians were called the household of faith, the household of
God, a holy nation, a peculiar people: and they are commanded to
be ‘zealous of good works,’ not of bad: and Christians are also
commanded not to bite and devour one another, lest they be
consumed one of another.

“Is it not a sad thing for Christians to be biting and consuming
one another in the sight of the Turks, Tartars, Jews, and
Heathens, when they should ‘love one another, and do unto all men,
as they would have them do unto them?’ Such devouring work as
this, will open the mouths of Jews and Turks, Tartars and
Heathens, to blaspheme the name of Christ, who is the King of
kings, and Lord of lords, and cause them to speak evil of
Christianity, for them to see how the unity of the Spirit is
broken among such, as profess Christ and Christ’s peace. Therefore
all Christians are to mind God and Christ’s teaching, who teacheth
Christians to love one another, yea enemies; and persuade all
kings and princes, to give liberty to all tender consciences in
matters of religion and worship, they living peaceably under every
government: so that for the time to come, there may be no more
imprisonment and persecution among Christians, for tender
consciences about matters of faith, worship, and religion, that
the Jews, Turks, Tartars, and Heathens, may not see how Christians
are persecuting one another for religion: seeing, from Christ and
the apostles, Christians have no such command, but on the
contrary, to love one another; and knowing, that Christ said to
such as would have been plucking up tares, ‘Let the tares and the
wheat grow together till the harvest (which is the end of the
world) lest they plucked up the wheat;’ and at the end of the
world Christ would send forth his angels, and they should sever
the wheat from the tares. So Christ tells you, that it is the
angels’ work at the end of the world, and not men’s work, before
the harvest at the end of the world. Hath not all this
persecution, banishing, and imprisoning, and putting to death,
concerning religion, been the pretence of plucking up tares? and
hath not all this been before the harvest, before the end of the
world? And therefore have not all these been actors against the
express command of Christ, the king of Heaven?

“All kings and rulers, especially they that call themselves
Christians, should obey their Lord and Saviour’s command; ‘Let the
tares and the wheat grow together, till the harvest;’ and the
harvest is the end of the world. Christ also told some of his
disciples, that in their zeal would have had fire to come down
from heaven, to destroy such as would not receive him, ‘That they
did not know what spirit they were of;’ and rebuked them, and
said, ‘He came not to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.’ And
therefore all such as have destroyed men’s lives concerning
religion, and the worship of God, have they known what spirit they
have been of? Have they not done that which they should not do?
done that which Christ forbade, who saith, ‘Lest ye should pluck
up the wheat with the tares,’ and saith, ‘It is the angel’s work
at the end of the world?’ And hath not God showed unto man what is
good, and his duty, ‘To love mercy, to do justly, and to walk
humbly with his God?’ which man is to mind.

“And the apostle exhorts Christians, ‘To follow peace with all
men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord,’ Heb.
xii. 14. Why should Christians war and strive one with another,
seeing they all own in words one King, Lord, and Saviour, Christ
Jesus, whose command is, that they should ‘love one another;’
which is a mark that they shall be known by, to be Christ’s
disciples, as I said before. And Christ, who is the King of kings,
and Lord of lords, saith, ‘This is my commandment, that ye love
one another, as I have loved you,’ John xv. 12, and John xiii. And
the apostle saith, Christians ought to ‘be patient towards all
men,’ 1 Thess. v. 14.

“From him, who is a lover of truth, righteousness, and peace, who
desires your temporal and eternal good; and that in the wisdom of
God, that is from above, pure, gentle, and peaceable, you may be
ordered, and order all things, that God hath committed to you, to
his glory; and stop those things among Christians, so far as you
have power, which dishonour God, Christ, and Christianity!”

G.F.

Amsterdam, the 21st of the 7th Month, 1677.

To the magistrates and priests of Embden I wrote, showing them their unchristian practices in persecuting Friends.[46] And several other books I wrote, in answer to priests and others of Hamburg, Dantzic, and other places, to clear the truth and Friends from their charges and false slanders.

“_An Epistle concerning true Fasting, true Prayer, true Honour,
and against Persecution, and for the true Liberty in Christ
Jesus; that all may have a care, that the apostle hath not
bestowed his labour in vain upon you in your observing of Days,
Months, Times, Feasts, and Years, and of coming under the
beggarly elements and the yoke of bondage again, and of bringing
and forcing people into them._

“Where did ever Christ or his apostles command any believers or
Christians to observe holidays or feast-days? Let us see where it
is written in the Scriptures of the New Testament, in the four
Evangelists, or the Epistles, or the Revelation, that ever Christ
or his apostles commanded Christians to observe the time called
Christmas, or a day for Christ’s birth? or to observe the time
called Easter, or Whitsuntide, or Peter’s or Paul’s, Mark’s,
Luke’s, or any other saint’s day?

“You, that profess yourselves to be the reformed churches from the
Papists, Jews, and Heathens, and the Scriptures to be your rule,
and are professors of the new covenant, where do you prove out of
the New Testament, that the apostles and the primitive church
practised or forced any such thing, or that Christ and his
Apostles gave any such command to the churches that they should
practise and observe any such days? Let us see where this command
is written. Did not the apostle say unto the Galatians in the
fourth chapter, ‘But now, after that ye have known God, or rather
ye are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly
elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe
days, and months, and times, and years; I am afraid of you, lest I
have bestowed upon you labour in vain.’ And in the third of
Galatians it is said, ‘O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched
you, that you should not obey the truth,’ &c. And in Galatians the
fifth, the apostle exhorts them to ‘stand fast in the liberty
wherewith Christ had made them free;’ and moreover said, ‘Be not
entangled again with the yoke of bondage.’

“Now doth not this manifest, that there were some teachers, that
were drawing the church of the Galatians into these beggarly
elements, and bringing them again into bondage, in observing days,
months, times, and years? It was the apostle’s work to bring them
out of those bondages and beggarly elements; and therefore, when
they were going back again into observing days, months, times, and
years, he was afraid that he had ‘bestowed his labour upon them in
vain;’ and he exhorts them to ‘stand fast in the liberty wherewith
Christ Jesus hath made them free, and not to be entangled again
with the yoke of bondage,’ and again signifies, that ‘they had
been once entangled with that yoke of bondage and beggarly
elements.’

“But O! how are people, called Christians, since the apostles’
days, gone again under this yoke of bondage, and these beggarly
elements, in observing days, months, times, and years, let their
practice declare. Nay, do not both Papists and Protestants force
people to observe days, months, and times? And therefore is not
the apostle’s labour and travail bestowed upon Christendom in
vain, which was to bring people from under such beggarly elements,
and that yoke of bondage (which the law did require), to ‘stand
fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made them free, and not
to be entangled again with the yoke of bondage?’ It was and is
Christ, that hath made and doth make his people free from these
beggarly elements; therefore, they that are redeemed, are to
‘stand fast in that liberty wherewith Christ hath made them free.’
This liberty all true Christians are to stand fast in; they are
made free by Christ and not by man; for man, without the Spirit
and mind of Christ, seeks to force and compel Christ’s followers,
such as are made free from the yoke of bondage, to outward things
that the law commanded, to the observing of days, months, times,
feasts, and years. From such weak, beggarly elements, they that
know God, or are known of God and Christ, are to stand fast in
their liberty, and not come under, nor be entangled with the yoke
of bondage to such things again, seeing he hath made them free.
For they that are in such things, and would force others to them,
are gone from that which gives the knowledge of God, and have not
stood fast in the liberty wherewith Christ makes free.

“Concerning Prayer, we do not read that ever Christ or his
apostles did seek by force to compel any to fast or pray with
them. But Christ taught them how they should pray, and be distinct
from the hypocrites. His words are as follows:—‘When thou prayest,
thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are; for they love to pray
standing in the synagogues, and in the corners of the streets,
that they may be seen of men,’ &c. ‘But thou, when thou prayest,
enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to
thy Father, which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in
secret, shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain
repetitions, as the heathen do; for they think they shall be heard
for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them; for
your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask
him,’ &c. As the apostles and saints did, so do we; we pray in
secret, and we pray in public, as the Spirit gives us utterance,
which helps our infirmities, as it did the apostles and true
Christians; after this manner we pray for ourselves, and for all
men both high and low.

“Concerning Fasting, Christ saith, ‘Moreover when ye fast, be not
as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance; for they disfigure their
faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. But when thou
fastest, anoint thy head and wash thy face, that thou appear not
unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret; and thy
Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.’

“You may see in Isaiah the lviiith., what the true fast is which
the Lord requires; where it is said to the prophet, ‘Cry aloud,
and spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my
people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins; yet
they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways as a nation that
did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God;
they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in
approaching to God. Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou
seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest
no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure,
and exact all your labours. Behold, ye fast for strife and debate,
and to smite with the fist of wickedness, ye shall not fast, as ye
do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. Is it such a
fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is
it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and
ashes under him? Wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day
to the Lord? Is not this the fast that I have chosen, saith the
Lord; to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy
burthens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break
every yoke?’ So this fast that the Lord requires, is not to lay
yokes, to oppress, and lay heavy burthens, and to make fast the
bands of wickedness; but to loose and to break such things.

“And further, concerning the true fast the Lord requires, ‘Is it
not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor,
that are cast out, to thy house? When thou seest the naked, that
thou cover him, and that thou hide not thyself from thy own flesh?
(Do you keep this true fast?) Then shall thy light break forth as
the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily; and thy
righteousness shall go before thee, the glory of the Lord shall be
thy rereward. Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer;
thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am; if thou take away
from the midst of thee the yokes, the putting forth of the finger
and speaking vanity; and if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry,
and satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall thy light arise out of
obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon-day. And the Lord shall
guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make
fat thy bones; and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a
spring of water, whose waters fail not,’ &c.

“Now here is the practice of the true fast the Lord requires of
his people; and to them that observe this fast, the Lord saith,
‘When they call, he will answer.’ You may see what glorious and
happy comforts they receive from the Lord, that keep this true
fast; but such as fast for strife and debate, smite with the fists
of wickedness, and make their voices to be heard on high; who
afflict their souls for a day, bow down their head as a bulrush,
and loose not the bands of wickedness; who do not undo every heavy
burthen, break not off every yoke, nor let the oppressed go free;
who do not deal their bread to the hungry, clothe not the naked,
nor bring the poor to their house, but hide themselves from their
own flesh:—such fasts and fasters the Lord doth not accept,
neither hath he chosen them. But these appear to men with their
disfigured faces, and hang down their heads as a bulrush for a
day, like the hypocrites, to fast, as Christ speaks in Matt. vi.

“And is it not the command of Christ, that in their fast they
should not appear unto men to fast? And now you that would force
us to shut up our shops on fasting-days, or for a day, does not
this fast appear to men? and is not this the fast that the Lord
saith in Isaiah he ‘doth not accept?’ for he saith, ‘Is this the
fast that I have chosen, a day for a man to afflict his soul, and
bow down his head as a bulrush?’ &c. ‘Wilt thou call this a fast,
and an acceptable day to the Lord?’ Isa. lviii.

“Therefore all God’s people are to keep the true fast of the Lord
from debate and strife, and the fists of wickedness; that fast
that breaks the bands of wickedness, and undoes every heavy
burthen; breaks every yoke, and lets the oppressed go free; deals
bread to the hungry, clothes the naked, and brings the poor that
are cast out to his own house. Every one that keeps this true
fast, their health shall grow, and when they call, the Lord will
hear them; he will be their guide continually, satisfy their souls
in drought, and make their bones fat; and they shall be like a
watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
Now you, that keep not this true fast, when you call upon the Lord
on your own fasting-days, does the Lord answer you, and say, ‘Here
I am?’ Doth the Lord guide you continually? Are your bones made
fat by him, and your souls satisfied in drought? Are you like a
watered garden, and like a spring, whose waters fail not? But you
that keep not this true fast, do you not want these waters, which
fail not? so your souls are not satisfied in drought, but your
bones are lean, and you hear not the voice of the Lord, who saith,
‘Here I am;’ so you lose the heritage of Jacob, and ride not upon
the high places there; but come under.

“Therefore every man and woman, shut your hearts against all
manner of evil whatsoever, and trade not with Babylon’s merchants
of confusion; but keep the supernatural day of Christ that is
sprung from on high, that is kept by believing and walking in the
light of Christ, and being grafted into him. This will bring you
to the true fast, from feeding upon any evil, and to the true
praying in the Spirit, as Christ and the apostles have taught. The
fruit of the Spirit is love, &c. The birth of the Spirit is not a
persecuting birth; but he that is born of the flesh, will
persecute him that is born of the Spirit, because he will not
follow the birth of the flesh, with its weak, beggarly elements,
that entangles with its yoke of bondage, and its observing of
days, months, times, fasts, feasts, and years; which the birth of
the Spirit is to stand fast against in the liberty wherewith
Christ hath made it free.

“Do you not know, that the Turks keep their Sabbath on the sixth
day, the Jews upon the seventh day, and the Christians meet
together on the First-day of the week? And that day which the
Turks keep, the Jews’ and Christians’ shops are open, and that day
the Jews keep, Christians’ and Turks’ shops are open; and the
First-days that Christians keep, both Jews’ and Turks’ shops are
open? The Turk does not force the Jews nor the Christians to shut
up their shops on their meeting-days, but lets them have their
liberty in Turkey. And where do you read, that ever the Turks
forced any Christians to observe any of their holidays, fasts, or
feasts? If not, should not Christians be beyond the Turks in
giving liberty to all tender consciences to serve God, seeing
Christ and the apostles command not, nor force people to observe
holidays, or times, or months, or years, but that they should pray
always in the Spirit, and fast always from strife and debate, from
all manner of sin and evil; and that will keep down the fist of
wickedness, and the bond of iniquity, &c.

“Why should not people of a tender conscience have their liberty
to exercise their consciences towards God, that they may have ‘a
good conscience always towards God and man,’ to perform that which
God requires, and to ‘do unto all men, as they would have them to
do unto them, and to love their neighbours as themselves;’ seeing
so many debauched, evil, and seared consciences, as with a hot
iron, have liberty in their loose lives and conversations, and in
their loose words, whose tongues are at liberty to swear and
curse, and their spirits at liberty in drunkenness and
uncleanness? Let the magistrates look and see, how this evil,
seared conscience hath its liberty to be exercised in all manner
of evil things all Christendom over; which is a great shame and
dishonour to God, and Christ, and Christianity, yea, and humanity.
Therefore why should not God’s people have their liberty to
exercise their good and tender consciences towards God and man?
For the mystery of faith, which Jesus Christ is the author and
finisher of, is held in a pure conscience; and should not the work
of the true Christian magistrate be to encourage the exercise of
this pure conscience towards God and man, and to discourage the
exercise of this evil, seared conscience, that dishonours both God
and Christ, and true Christianity? If not, how are they a praise
to them that do well, and a terror to evil-doers?

“Concerning the not putting off our hats to men. Many that go
under the name of Christians, have taken offence at us, because we
could not put off our hats, and bow down to them; for which we
find no command from Christ or his apostles, but rather to the
contrary. For Christ saith, ‘I receive not honour of men’ (mark,
he did not receive honour of men); and further Christ saith, ‘How
can ye believe which receive honour one of another, and seek not
the honour that comes from God only?’ Now Christ declares it to be
a mark of unbelievers, that seek ‘honour one of another,’ and seek
not that ‘honour that comes from God only;’ and is not the putting
off the hat, and bowing with it, an honour to men, which they seek
one of another, and are offended if they have it not? Nay, have
they not fined, persecuted, and imprisoned some, because they did
not put off their hats to them? Nay, do not the very Turks mock at
the Christians in their proverb, saying that ‘the Christians spend
much of their time in putting off their hats, and showing their
bare head to one another?’ But should not those be beyond the
Turks, that bear the noble name of Christian, above seeking honour
one of another, and persecuting them that will not give it, when
all true believing Christians should seek the honour that comes
from God only? which is the duty of all true believers in Christ
Jesus, for he would not receive honour of men. And ‘He that
believeth on the Son of God, hath everlasting life; and he that
believeth not the Son, shall not see life; but the wrath of God
abideth on him,’ John iii. 36. Is not the Turks’ proverb a
reproach to the Christians, who say ‘that the Christians spend
much of their time in putting off their hats, and showing their
bare heads one to another?’ Have you not fined and imprisoned
many, because they would not put off their hats to you, and show
you their bare heads? Nay, in many of your courts they shall not
have right and justice, nor liberty and freedom in cities or
states, though they have truly served their time, and are honest
and civil men, unless they will put off their hats and show their
bare heads? Have you not made a law against such, that they must
forfeit two guilders if they do not? Do you not seek to compel and
force them to do it, and fine such as do not, as at Lansmeer in
Waterland? Is not this the honour that you seek one of another?
Did not the Pharisees and Jews do the same?

“As for your saying, ‘the apostle commands to honour all men; and
such as rule well are worthy of double honour.’ If this ‘honouring
all men,’ were to put off their hats to all men, and show all men
their bare heads, then this command you break yourselves; for you
do not this to all men generally; and if they that rule well must
have double hat-honour, then they must put off their hats twice;
and show them their bare heads. If this hat-honour, and showing
the bare head, be an invention of men, and not from God, and ye
cannot prove it by Scripture, yet say, ‘it is your rule;’ then you
act beside the rule, and compel people to act contrary to your
rule. For where did ever the prophets, Christ, or the apostles
command any such thing? Let us see a command, a practice, and an
example for it. Nebuchadnezzar, who was a persecutor, and cast the
three children of Israel into the fire with their hose, cloaks,
and hats, we do not read that he was offended at them, because
they did not put off their hats, and show him their bare heads;
but because they would not bow to his image. And is it not said in
the margin of the Bible, where it is said, ‘honour all men,’ ‘have
all men in esteem?’ Then they that rule well are worthy of double
esteem; and this esteem must be truly in the heart, without any
envy, malice, or hatred. As all men are the workmanship of God,
they are to be esteemed in the heart with the Spirit of God; and
they that rule well, are worthy of double esteem; here is true
honour from the heart, both to God, and man, his workmanship. For
people may put off their hats, and show their bare heads one to
another, once or twice to the officers and magistrates, and yet be
full of envy, and malice, and hatred, and murder in their hearts
one against another; and give them that honour, as you call it,
and yet speak or wish bad things to them, when they have turned
their backs on them.

“The true honour or esteem in the heart to all men, as they are
God’s creation, is without any evil wish or thought in the heart
to any men, and especially to them that rule well, who have the
double esteem, whom God hath placed over people. There is no evil
in the heart that gives this respect, esteem, or honour, and
brings them to love their neighbours as themselves, and to ‘do
unto all men, as they would have them do unto them;’ in that they
esteem all men, and have a double esteem for them that rule well.
This is beyond all the honour of putting off the hats once to all
men, and twice to them that are worthy of the double honour, as
you may call it. But we would ask Christians that practise this
hat-honour, and show one another their bare heads, Who invented
this single honour and double honour, seeing they cannot prove,
that ever Christ or the apostles did command or practise any such
thing, or Moses in the time of the law? Now, do not say or think
that we had this practice of not putting off our hats from the
Turk; for we were moved by the Spirit of the Lord, before ever we
heard of the Turks’ proverb and practice, to leave the honour that
is below, and seek the honour that comes from above, when we came
to be true believers in Christ Jesus.