them, saith the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." It seems that he knew not that day come then, though he was a great preacher. I thought it would then be a happy day, when God would be the teacher of his people himself; that we need not teach every man his neighbour, or his brother, saying, "Know ye the Lord;" but that we should all know him, from the least to the greatest. This day we knew not then, for all our preaching and long prayers; though the Lord did then beget true hungerings and thirstings in our souls after him. We had great love and zeal, and desired the knowledge of the truth, as it was in Jesus. Sometimes I have said, this was but like Jacob's dream, when he awoke and said, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not." And indeed we knew not the Lord, as we ought to have done; namely, by his light, grace, and Spirit shining in our hearts, to give us the light of the knowledge of the Son of God, which knowledge keeps a man meek and humble; and such are not puffed up in a vain mind, to seek after those things that are too high for them, as too many are climbing up that way, which is not the way to God the Father; the way to the Father is the way of holiness and purity, and humility, without which no man shall see the Lord, nor enjoy his presence to their comfort.

About this time, being in the year 1656, our ministers told us, that there was a sort of people come up in the north, called Quakers, that were a people of a strange posture and principles; saying, that it was the last days and times that Christ spoke of in Matthew xxiv. 5, 24. "Many shall come in my name, and deceive many. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders, insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.' This sort of people, called Quakers, were much preached against; they told us they were the false prophets, &c., that they denied the scriptures, and all ordinances, and also denied the very Christ that

bought them. They were represented to us to be such a dangerous sort of people, that we were afraid of any who had the name of a Quaker, lest we should be deceived by them. Hitherto they had not been in these parts of the country, neither did we know what were the principles held out by themselves; but only such as were reported, though falsely, unto us by our preachers and others; which kept us in blindness, and from making further inquiry, and "trying all things, and holding fast that which is good," according to the apostle's advice, 1 Thes. v. 21.

Now about the year 1657, there came a poor man in a mean habit to my master's house, named Morgan Evan, of South Wales; he had met with the people called Quakers in his travels, and was convinced of the Truth. This poor man discoursed with my master about the principles of Truth, and I being in the shop about my calling, my mistress came and said, "Why do you not go out to help your master? for there is a Quaker at the door that hath put him to silence." I hearing this, made haste, and took my bible under my arm, and put on what courage I could, to dispute with that poor man, but he proved too hard for us all; when I went to them, they were upon the words thee and thou; but I very peremptorily asked him, what command he had to speak thee and thou; for I did acknowledge to him, that it was the language of God to Adam, and the language of the scripture; but, said I, that is not enough for us now in this day, we must have a command for it. To which he answered, "Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me.' I asked him, whether that was scripture; he asked me, whether I would deny it; I told him, he was to prove it. Then he took the bible out of my hand, and he turned to 2 Tim. i. 13, which he read, and told me, that "Hold fast" there, was a command; which I knew very well, both the scripture and the command: but to prove him further, I desired him to read a little more of that chapter, both backward and forward, which he freely

did, and asked me, why I did require that of him? I told him, that we heard the Quakers denied the scripture, and that they would not read them. He said, there was many false reports of them. And truly when he read the scripture so readily, I concluded in myself, that what was reported of them was not true; and he saw that he had reached to the witness of God in me. Then he exhorted me to take heed to that light that shined in my heart, and did show me my vain thoughts, and reprove me in secret for every idle word and action; saying, that "that was the true light, that lighteth every man that cometh into the world ;" and in that light, I should see more light, and that would open the scriptures to me, and that I should receive a measure of the same Spirit that gave them forth; and further, he told me, it was "the more sure word of prophecy, unto which I did well, if I took heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts," 2 Peter i. 19. And he spoke much of the inward work, and the operation of God's Holy Spirit upon the soul; recommending me to the "Grace of God, that bringeth salvation, teaching us, that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, Tit. ii. 11, 12. And so he departed from our house, and I set him a little along on his way.

Now when I came back from him, the consideration of his words took fast hold on me, that I could not go from under them; and the more I waited in that light that he recommended me to, the more my former peace, and that in which I formerly took comfort in, was broken; and herein I came to see, that our former building could not stand, for we built upon that which the apostle called "wood, hay, and stubble." Here I came to a loss of all my former knowledge; and my former performances proved but a sandy foundation. Then I did, with much humility and poverty of spirit, beg of Almighty God, that I might build upon that rock that the true church of Christ

was built upon, that the gates of hell might not prevail against me.

But for all this, I was yet afraid of being deceived by the Quakers, yet where to go outwardly for advice and counsel I knew not; for I saw that my former teachers were upon a sandy foundation. So I desired that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, would be my teacher and instructor; for I believed that the prophecy of the prophets would be fulfilled, and that the Lord would make a new covenant with his people now, as he did promise by the mouth of the prophet Jeremiah xxxi. 31-34. "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah; not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord but this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know ye the Lord for they shall all know me, from the least of them, unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord : for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."

These and the like precious promises I was made willing to take hold on, and waited for the fulfilling of them in myself and of that which Christ said to the Jews, John vi. 45. “It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me." He that cometh unto Christ Jesus the Light, that lighteth every man that cometh into the world, though their sins and their iniquities be great, they shall in no wise be cast out. And it is said, "And all thy children shall be taught of the

Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children," Isaiah liv. 13.

When I came to know a little of the teachings of the Lord, I took my leave of all my former formal teachers, and many times went to the woods and other by-places, where none might see me, to wait upon the Lord, where I was much broken, and tendered by the power of God. And though I did begin to see a little of myself, and something of the goodness of God, yet still I was afraid of being deceived, for I had read and heard that Satan himself is "transformed into an angel of light," 2 Cor. xi. 14. And lest this man should be as the same apostle said, in ver. 13, "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ," I desired of the Lord that I might see this poor man once again, for I knew not where to see the face of any called a Friend; and it pleased God that he came again that way, and I desired of my master and mistress to give him lodging, and that he might be with me, to which they consented. Then I queried of him their way of worship, and concerning those two great ordinances, so called, that we so much relied upon, viz. the Bread and Wine, and Baptism, and the Scripture, to know what was their judgment of them; to which he gave me some satisfaction. In the morning I parted with him, and to the best of my knowledge, I saw him no more for several years after.

In all this time I still kept my retirement in the wood, or some other private place; and there in my waiting, I desired of the Lord, that I might be farther satisfied by himself, as to those things; first, whether the scriptures were the word of God, as was said and preached unto us they were, and the way to life and salvation? Then the first chapter of John came under my serious consideration in my meditation, which said, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, the same was in the beginning with God. All things were