"My companions in the labour and travail of the testimony of Jesus, salute you all in the love of our God. We have passed through Precious is this faith, yea, more precious several cities of Germany, and are now at than the glory and honour of this world that Frankfort, where the Lord hath given us three perisheth it will give courage to go with blessed opportunities with a serious and seek-Christ before Caiaphas and Pilate; yea, to ing people; whereof, as in other places of bear his cross without the camp, and to be this country, many are persons of great world-crucified with him, knowing that the spirit of ly quality. Blessed be the name of the Lord, God and of glory shall rest upon them. To to whom be glory for ever!

and to be as sheep, you must become harm- world. And herein be comforted, that Zion less; and to become harmless, you must hear shall be redeemed through judgment, and her and follow the Lamb of God; as he is that converts through righteousness; and after the blessed Light which discovereth and con- appointed time of mourning is over, the Lord demneth all the unfruitful works of darkness, will give 'beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for and maketh harmless as a dove; which word, mourning, and the garment of praise for the all, leaveth not one peccadillo or circumstance spirit of heaviness.' Then shall you be able undiscovered or unjudged; and the word dark- to say, 'Who is he that condemneth us? God ness, taketh in the whole night of apostacy; hath justified us; there is no condemnation and the word unfruitful, is a plain judgment to us that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not against all those dark works. Wherefore, after the flesh, but after the Spirit.' out of them all come, and be you separated; and God will give you a crown of life, which shall never fade away.

"O! the lowness and meanness of those spirits, that despise or neglect the joys and glories of immortality, for the sake of the things which are seen, that are but temporal; debasing the nobility of their souls, abandoning the government of the divine Spirit, and embracing with all ardency of affection the sensual pleasures of this life; but such as persevere therein, shall not enter into God's rest for ever.

"But this is not all that hindereth and obstructeth in the holy way of blessedness; for there is the world's fear as well as the world's joy that obstructeth many, or else Christ had not said, Fear not,' to his little flock. The shame of the cross is a yoke too uneasy, and a burden too heavy for flesh and blood to bear, it is true; but therefore, shall flesh and blood never enter into the kingdom of God. And not to them that are born of the flesh, but to those that are born of the Spirit through the word of regeneration, is appointed the kingdom, and that throne which shall judge the twelve tribes of Israel, and all the world. The Lord perfect what he hath begun in you, and give you dominion over the love and fear of this world.

"Wherefore, my dear friends, walk not only not after the fleshly lusts, but also not after the fleshly religions and worships of the world; for that which is not born of the Spirit is flesh; and all flesh shall wither as the grass, and the beauty of it shall fade away as the flower of the field, before God's Sun that is risen, and rising. But the Word of the Lord in which is life, and that life, the light of men, shall endure for ever, and give life eternal to them that love and walk in the light.

"And I entreat you, by the love you have for Jesus, have a care how you touch with fleshly births, or say Amen, by word or practice, to that which is not born of the Spirit; for God is not to be found of that, in yourselves or others, which calleth him Father, and he hath never begotten it in them; that latitude and conformity is not of God, but secretly grieveth his Spirit, and obstructeth the growth of the soul in its acquaintance and intimate communion with the Lord. Without me,' saith Jesus, 'you can do nothing;' and all that came before me are thieves and robbers.' If so, what are they that pray, and preach, and sing without Jesus, and follow not him in those duties, but even crucify him in them? O that I may find in you an ear to hear, and a heart to perceive and embrace these truths of Jesus!

"And, my friends, if you would profit in "And I can say, I have great cause to the way of God, despise not the day of small hope, and patiently to wait till the salvation things in yourselves: know this, that to de- of God be further revealed to you, and the sire and sincerely to breathe after the Lord, whole family; with whom, I must acknowis a blessed state. You must seek, before you ledge, I was abundantly refreshed and comfind. Do you believe? make not haste; ex-forted, in that God in measure made known tinguish not those small beginnings by an over earnest or impatient desire of victory. God's time is the best time; be you faithful, and your conflict shall end with glory to God, and the reward of peace to your own souls. Therefore love the judgment, and love the fire; start not aside, neither flinch from the scorchings of it, for it will purify and refine you as gold seven times tried; then cometh the stamp and seal of the Lord upon his own vessel, holiness to him for ever; which he never gave, nor will give to reprobate silver, the state of the religious worshippers of the

the riches of his grace, and operation of his celestial power to you; and his witness shall dwell with you, if we never see you more, that God magnified his own strength in our weakness. With him we leave our travails, affectionately recommending you to his holy Spirit of grace, that you may be conformed to the image of his own dear Son, who is able and ready to preserve you. O stay your minds upon him, and he will keep you in perfect peace, and abide with you for ever! The Almighty take you into his holy protection now and for ever.

"I am your true friend, ready to serve you Christ, who taught us to love enemies, not to with fervent love in the will of God.

That night we lodged at Frankenhal, and got the next morning, being the seventh-day of the week, to Manheim; but were disappointed of our design, which was, to speak with the prince; for he was gone the day before to Heidelberg, his chief city, about fifteen English miles from that place. Considering, that by reason of the meeting next day with Friends at Krisheim, already appointed, we could neither go forward, nor stay till he returned; and yet being not clear to come away, as if we had never endeavoured to visit him, it was upon me to write him this following letter, to let him know we had been there, and briefly our end in coming.

"Great prince,

abuse our friends, or triumph in the destruction of our harmless neighbours. He rebuked his disciples, when they called for fire from heaven upon dissenters, it may be, opposers: certainly then, he never intended that they should kindle fire on earth to devour men for conscience. And if Christ, to whom all power was given, and his holy apostles, refused to to preserve themselves, it is an arrogancy employ human force and artifice so much as every way indefensible in those that pretend to be their followers, that they assume an authority to supersede, control, and contradict the precepts and examples of Christ and his apostles; whose kingdom not being of the nature of this ambitious, violent world, was not erected or maintained by those weapons that are carnal, but spiritual and intellectual, adequate to the nature of the soul, and mighty through God to cast down the strong holds of sin, and every vain imagination exalted in man above the lowly, meek fear of God, that ought to have the pre-eminence in the hearts of the sons of men.

"Indulgence is prudent, in that it preserveth concord: no kingdom divided against itself, can stand. It encourageth arts, parts,

“To the Prince Elector Palatine of Heidelberg. and industry, to show and improve themselves, which indeed are the ornaments, strength, and "It would seem strange that I, both a wealth of a country: it encourageth people to stranger and a subject, should use this free-transplant into this land of liberty, where the dom of address to a prince, were he not one, sweat of the brow is not made the forfeit of whose actions show him to be of a free dis- the conscience. position, and easy access to all: would to God all princes were of that mind! But I have not chosen this way of application; I am driven to it, by the disappointment thy absence from this court gave me, and the necessity I am under to expedite my return. And though I cannot so fully, and consequently not so clearly, express by letter the grounds inducing me to attempt this visit; yet this being all the way that is left me, I shall declare them as well as I can.

"And lastly, it rendereth the prince peculiarly safe and great. Safe, because all interests, for interest-sake, are bound to love and court him. Great, in that he is not governed or clogged with the power of his clergy; which in most countries is not only a co-ordinate power, a kind of duumvirateship in government, imperium in imperio, at least an eclipse to monarchy, but a superior power, and rideth the prince to their designs, holding the helm of the government, and steering not by the laws of civil freedom, but certain ecclesiasti

"In the first place, I do with all sincere and Christian respect, acknowledge and com-cal maxims of their own, to the maintenance mend that indulgence thou givest to all people professing religion, dissenting from the national communion: for it is in itself a most natural, prudent, and Christian thing.

"Natural,-because it preserves nature from being made a sacrifice to the savage fury of fallible, yet proud opinions, outlawing men of parts, arts, industry, and honesty, the grand requisites of human society; and exposing them and their families to utter ruin for mere non-conformity, not to religion, but to modes and fashions in religion.

"Christian, since the contrary expressly contradicts both the precept and example of

and enlargement of their worldly empire in their church. And all this acted under the sacred, peaceable, and alluring name of Christ, his ministry and church; though as remote from their nature, as the wolf from the sheep, and the pope from Peter.

"The next thing I should have taken the liberty to have discoursed, would have been this; what encouragement a colony of virtuous and industrious families might hope to receive from thee, in case they should transplant themselves into this country, which certainly in itself is very excellent, respecting taxes, oaths, arms, &c.

"Further, to have represented the condition mend to thee, and that is, to be very careful of some of our Friends, and thy own sub- to inculcate generous, free, and righteous jects; who though they are liable to the same principles into thy son, who is likely to suctax as Menists, &c., yet the Vaught of the town where they live, came yesterday to forbid all preaching amongst them, which implies a sort of contradiction to the indulgence given.

"And in the last place, forasmuch as all men owe their being to something greater than themselves, to which it is reasonable to believe they are accountable, from whence follow rewards or punishments,-I had an earnest desire to have spoken of the nature, truth, use, benefit, and reward of religion; and therein to have discoursed, what the Christian religion is in itself, freed from those unreasonable garbs some men make it to wear, so justly offensive to wise and thinking men-thus to have proved the principle and life of the people in scorn called Quakers, to be suitable to the true followers of holy Jesus. But, as the particulars would swell a letter to a book, I shall take the freedom to present thee, upon my return, with some tracts treating upon all these subjects.

ceed thee; that when thou art gone, the re-
putation of the country may not sink by
contrary practices, nor the people of divers
judgments, now thy subjects, be disappointed,
distressed, or ruined. Which, with sincere
desires for thy temporal and eternal good,
conclude this,

"Thy unknown, but sincere friend,
"WILLIAM PENN.

"From Manheim, 25th of
Sixth month, 1677."

This being done, and having refreshed ourselves, we returned that night by the Rhine to Worms; whence, the next morning, being the first-day of the week, we walked on foot to Krisheim, about six English miles from Worms. We had a good meeting from the tenth till the third hour, and the Lord's power was sweetly opened to many of the inhabitants of the town who were at the meeting. The Vaught or chief officer himself stood at the door behind the barn, where he could hear and not be seen; and went to the priest and told him, that it was his work, if we were heretics, to discover us to be such, but for his part he heard nothing but what was good, and he would not meddle with us.

"Prince! my soul is filled with love and respect to thee and thy family; I wish you all true and lasting felicity, and earnestly desire that you may never forget your afflictions, and in the remembrance of them be dehorted from those lusts and impieties, which draw the vengeance of heaven upon the greatest families on earth; that God may look upon you with the favourable eye of his providence. And blessed is that man, whose God by profession is his Lord in reality; who is ruled and governed by the Lord, lives in subjection to his grace, and having a Divine sense of God in his heart, delights to retain that sense and knowledge of him, and be meditating in his noble royal law, that converts the soul to God, and redeems man from the sensual pleasures of this world, to the true satisfaction of the intellectual and Divine life. "O the meanness and lowness of their spirits, who abandon themselves to the government of sense, the animal life, thereby debasing their natures, rejecting the Divine light, that shineth in their hearts, saying, 'Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we shall die;' forgetting whence they are descended, and not considering the peace and joy of the vir-out some sense of our testimony. tuous!

In the evening we had a more retired meeting of the Friends only, very weighty and tender; yea, the power rose in a high operation among them, and great was the love of God that was in our hearts at the meeting to visit them; and there is a lovely, sweet, and true sense among them. We were greatly comforted in them, and they were greatly comforted in us. Poor hearts! a little handful surrounded with great and mighty countries of darkness; it is the Lord's great goodness and mercy to them, that they are so finely kept in the seed of life. Most of them were gathered by dear William Ames.

"I desire that the Lord would put it into thy heart to think of thy latter end, and with the light of Christ in thy conscience examine how it stands with thy soul, that thou mayst know, and diligently watch to do those things that belong to thy eternal peace.

"One thing more give me leave to recom

On the 27th we had another meeting, where we took our leave of them, and accompanied by several of them, came to Worms; where having refreshed ourselves, we went to visit the Lutheran priest, who was at the meeting the sixth-day before at Krisheim. He and his wife received us very kindly, not withAfter we

had discoursed about an hour with him of the true and heavenly ministry and worship, and in what they stood, and what all people must come to, if they ever know how to worship God aright; we departed, and immediately sent them several good books of Friends in High Dutch.

We took boat about the third hour in the

would cause the Sun of righteousness to arise and visit them, with healing under his wings. We desired he would remember us with true love and kindness to the Countess, daughter to the Graef; and to desire her not to be offended in us, nor to be dismayed at the displeasure of her father, but eye the Lord who hath visited her soul with his holy light, by which she seeth the vanity of this world, and in some measure the emptiness and deadness of the religions that are in it; and he would preserve her from the fear of the wrath of men, that worketh not the righteousness of God. So we left the peace of Jesus with him and walked on towards Duysburg, being about six English miles from thence, and near the eighth hour at night. The Lord was with us, and comforted our hearts with the joy of his salvation, as we walked, without any outward guide, through a tedious and solitary wood, about three miles long. He gave us to remember, and to speak one unto another of his blessed witnesses in the days past, who wandered up and down like poor pilgrims and strangers on the earth, their eye being to a city in the heavens that hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

Between nine and ten o'clock, we reached the walls of Duysburg; but the gates were shut, and there being no houses without the walls, we laid us down together in a field, receiving both natural and spiritual refreshment: blessed be the Lord. About three o'clock in the morning we rose, sanctifying God in our hearts who had kept us that night; and walked till five o'clock, often speaking one to another of the great and notable day of the Lord dawning upon Germany, and of several places in that land that were almost ripe unto har

vest.

CHAPTER XIV.

Soon after the clock had struck five, they opened the gates of the city, and we had not long been at our inn, when it came upon me, with a sweet, yet fervent power, to visit this persecuted Countess with a salutation from the love and life of Jesus, and to open unto her more plainly the way of the Lord; which I did in this following epistle:

Mulheim.

"My dear friend,

loved, for the sake of thy desires and breathings of soul after the living God; the report whereof, from some in the same state, hath made deep impression of true kindness upon my spirit, and raised in me a very singular and fervent inclination to visit thee: and the rather, because of that suffering and tribulation thou hast begun to endure for the sake of thy zeal towards God; myself having from my childhood been both a seeker after the Lord, and a great sufferer for that cause, from parents, relations, companions, and the magis trates of this world. The remembrance whereof, hath so much the more endeared thy condition unto me; and my soul hath often, in the sweet sense and feeling of the holy presence of God, and the precious life of his dear Son in my heart, with great tenderness implored his Divine assistance unto thee, that thou mayst both be illuminated to do, and made willing to suffer for his name's sake; that the spirit of God and of glory may rest upon thy soul.

"And truly I can say, I felt the good-will of God, his holy care and heavenly visitation of love to extend unto thee. But one thing more especially lay upon my spirit to have communicated to thee, which made me the more pressing for an opportunity to speak with thee, and that was this; that thou shouldst have a true, right, and distinct knowledge of thy own state, and what that is which hath visited thee; in what thy faith, patience, hope, and salvation stand; where to wait, and how to find the Lord; and to distinguish between that which is born of God, and that which is not; both with respect to thyself in all the motions and conceptions of thy heart, and with respect to others in their religious worships and performances; to the end, that thou mayst not be deceived about things relating to God's kingdom, and thy eternal peace: this is of the greatest weight.

"Now, know certainly, that which hath discovered unto thee the vanities of this world, the emptiness and the fading of all earthly glory, the blessedness of the righteous, and the joy of the world that is to come, is the light of Christ Jesus, wherewith he hath enlightened thy soul: for, in him was life, and that life is the light of mankind.' Thus God promised by the prophet Isaiah, to give him

So

"To the Countess of Falkenstein and Bruck, at for a light to lighten the Gentiles, and for his salvation to the ends of the earth.' that Christ the Light is God's gift, and eternal life is hid in him, yea, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge; who is the light of the Gospel temple, even true believers. And all who receive this light into their hearts, and bring their deeds to it, to see in what ground they are wrought, whether in

"JESUS, the immaculate Lamb of God, grieved and crucified by all the workers of iniquity, illuminate thy understanding, bless and be with thy spirit for ever!

"Though unknown, yet art thou much be