There was also in the jail while I was there, a prisoner, a wicked, ungodly man, who was reputed a conjurer; and he threatened how he would talk with me, and what he would do to me; but he never had power to open his mouth to me. And on a time the jailer and he falling out, he threatened the jailer that he would raise the devil, and break his house down, so that he made the jailer afraid. Then I was moved of the Lord to go in his power and rebuke him in it, and say unto him, Come, let us see what thou canst do, and do thy worst: and I told him, the devil was raised high enough in him already, but the power of God chained him down: so he slunk away and went from me. Now the time of Worcester fight coming on, justice Bennet sent the constables to press me for a soldier, seeing I would not voluntarily accept of a command: and I told them, that I was brought off from outward wars. They came down again to give me press-money, but I would take none. Then I was brought up to serjeant Holes, and kept there awhile, and then I was taken down again. Then after awhile the constables fetched me up again, and then I was brought before the commissioners, and they said I should go for a soldier; but I told them I was dead to it. They said I was alive; I told them, where envy and hatred is, there is confusion. They proffered me money twice, but I would not take it: then they were wroth, and I was committed close prisoner, without bail or mainprize. Whereupon I wrote to them again, directing my letter to colonel Barton (who was a preacher) and the rest that were concerned in my commitment: and I wrote thus :

He

You who are without Christ, and yet use the words which he and his saints have spoken, consider, neither he nor his apostles did ever imprison any; but my Saviour is merciful even to the unmerciful and rebellious. doth bring out of prison and bondage; but men, while the carnal mind doth rule, do oppress and imprison. My Saviour saith, "Love your enemies, and do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you;" for the love of God doth not persecute any, but loveth all where it dwelleth; "He that hateth his brother is a murderer." You profess to be Christians, and one of you a minister of Jesus Christ; yet you have imprisoned me, who am a servant of Jesus Christ. The apostles never imprisoned any, but were imprisoned themselves: take heed of speaking of Christ in words and denying him in life and power. O friends, the imprison

ing my body is to satisfy your wills; but take heed of giving way to your wills, for that will hurt you. If the love of God had broken your hearts ye would not have imprisoned me; but my love is to you, as to all my fellowcreatures; and that you may weigh yourselves and see how you stand, is this written.'

About this time I was moved to give forth the following lines, to go amongst the convinced and tender people, to manifest the deceits of the world, and how the priests have deceived the people :

To all you that love the Lord Jesus Christ with a pure and naked heart, and the generation of the righteous.

'Christ was ever hated, and the righteous for his sake. Mind who they were that did ever hate them: he that was born after the flesh did persecute him that was born after the spirit; and so it is now. And mind who were the chiefest against Christ; even the great learned men, the heads of the people, rulers and teachers, that did profess the law and the prophets, and looked for Christ. They looked for an outwardly glorious Christ to hold up their outward glory; but Christ spake against the works of the world, and against the priests, and scribes, and pharisees, and their hypocritical profession. He that is a stranger to Christ is an hireling; but the servants of Jesus Christ are free men. The false teachers always laid burdens upon the people; and the true servants of the Lord did speak against them. Jeremiah did speak against hirelings, and said it was an horrible thing; and said, What will ye do in the end; for the people and priests were given to covetousness. Paul did speak against such as did make gain upon the people; and exhorted the saints to turn away from such as were covetous men and proud men, such as did love pleasures more than God, such as had a form of godliness, but denied the power thereof; for of this sort, said he, are they that creep into houses, and lead captive silly women, who are ever learning, but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth; men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith; and as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so, said he, do these resist the truth; but they shall proceed no further, for their folly shall be made manifest unto all men. Moses forsook honours and pleasures which he might have enjoyed. The apostle in his time saw this corruption entering which now is spread over the world, of having a form of godliness,

but denying the power. Ask any of your teachers whether you may ever overcome your corruptions or sins; none of them doth believe that; but as long as man is here, he must, they say, carry about with him the body of sin. Thus pride is kept up, and that honour and mastership, which Christ denied, and all unrighteousness; yet multitudes of teachers; heaps of teachers; the golden cup full of abominations! Paul did not preach for wages, but laboured with his hands that he might be an example to all them that follow him. O people, see who follow Paul! the prophet Jeremiah said, "The prophets prophesy falsly, and the priests bear rule by their means;" but now the priests bear rule by the means they get from the people; take away their means and they will bear rule over you no longer. They are such as the apostle said intruded into those things which they never saw, being vainly puffed up with a fleshly mind, and, as the scriptures declare of some of old, They go in the way of Cain, (who was a murderer) and in the way of Balaam, who coveted the wages of unrighteousness. The prophet Micah also cried against the judges that judged for reward, and the priests that taught for hire, and the prophets that prophesied for money, and yet leaned on the Lord, saying, "Is not the Lord amongst us?" Gifts do blind the eyes of the wise; and the gift of God was never purchased with money. All the holy servants of God did ever cry against deceit and where the Lord hath manifested his love, they do loath it, and that nature which holdeth it up.

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Again a concern came upon me to write unto the magistrates of Derby, which I did as followeth :

'Friends,

'I desire you to consider in time whom ye do imprison; for the magistrate is set for the punishment of evil-doers, and for the praise of them that do well. But when the Lord doth send his messengers unto you to warn you of the woes that will come upon you, except you repent, then you persecute them, and put them into prison, and say, we have a law, and by our law we may do it. For you indeed justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts; he will not be worshipped with your forms and professions, and shews of religion: therefore consider, ye that talk of God, how ye are subject to him; for they are his children that do his will. What doth the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love and shew mercy, to walk humbly with him, and to help the widows and fatherless to their right; but instead thereof ye oppress

the poor. Do not your judges judge for rewards, and your priests teach for hire? The time is coming that he who seeth all things will discover all your secrets: and know this assuredly, the Lord will deliver his servants out of your hands, and he will recompence all your unjust dealings towards his people. I desire you to consider of these things, and search the scriptures, and see whether any of the people of God did ever imprison any for religion, but were themselves imprisoned. I desire you to consider how it is written, that when the church is met together, they may all prophesy one by one, that all may hear, and all may learn, and all may be comforted; and then if any thing be revealed to him that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace. Thus it was in the true church; and thus it ought to be now. But it is not so in your assemblies; but he that teaches for hire may speak, and none may contradict him. Again, consider the liberty that was given to the apostles, even among the unbelieving Jews; when after the reading of the law and the prophets the rulers of the synagogue said unto them, Ye men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on. I desire you to consider in stillness, and strive not against the Lord, for he is stronger than you, Though ye hold his people fast for a time, yet when he cometh he will make known who are his; for his coming is like the refiner's fire and like fuller's soap. Then the stone that is set at nought of you builders shall be the head-stone of the corner. O friends, lay these things to heart, and let them not seem light things to you; I write unto you in love, to mind the laws of God and your own souls, and do as the holy men of God did.'

Great was the exercise and travel in spirit that I went under during my imprisonment here because of the wickedness that was in this town; for though there were some convinced there, yet for the generality they were an hardened people; and I saw the visitation of God's love pass away from them; and I mourned over them. And it came upon me to give forth the following lines, as a lamentation for them:

'O Derby! as the waters run away when the flood-gates are up, so doth the visitation of God's love pass away from thee, O Derby! therefore look where thou art, and how thou art grounded, and consider before thou art utterly forsaken. The Lord moved me twice before I came to cry against the deceits and vanities that are in thee, and to warn all to look at the Lord, and not at man. The woe is

against the crown of pride, and the woe is against drunkenness and vain pleasures, and against them that make a profession of religion in words, and are high and lofty in mind, and live in oppression and envy. O Derby! thy profession and preaching stinks before the Lord. Ye do profess a sabbath in words, and meet together, dressing yourselves in fine apparel, and you uphold pride. Thy women go with stretched-forth necks and wanton eyes, &c. which the true prophet of old cried against. Your assemblies are odious, and an abomination to the Lord: pride is set up, and bowed down to; covetousness abounds; and he that doth wickedly is honoured: so deceit doth bear with deceit; and yet they profess Christ in words. O the deceit that is within thee! it doth even break my heart to see how God is dishonoured in thee, O Derby.'

Now, after that I had seen the visitation of God's love pass away from this place, I knew that my imprisonment here would not continue long; but I saw that when the Lord should bring me forth it would be as the letting of a lion out of a den amongst the wild beasts of the forest. For all professions stood in a beastly spirit and nature, pleading for sin, and for the body of sin and imperfection, as long as they lived: and they all kicked, and yelled, and roared, and raged, and ran against the life and spirit which gave forth the scriptures, which they professed in words. And so it was, as will appear hereafter.

There was a great judgment upon the town, and the magistrates were uneasy about me, and could not agree what to do with me. One while they would have me sent up to the parliament, another while they would have banished me to Ireland. At first they called me a deceiver, and a seducer, and a blasphemer: afterwards, when God had brought his plagues upon them, then they said I was an honest, virtuous man. But their good report and bad report, their well speaking or their ill speaking, was nothing to me; for the one did not lift me up, nor the other cast me down praised be the Lord. At length they were made to turn me out of jail, about the beginning of winter in the year 1651, after I had been a prisoner in Derby almost a year, whereof six months in the house of correction, and the rest of the time in the common jail and dungeon.

Thus being set at liberty again, I went on (as before) in the work of the Lord, passing through the country, first into my own country of Leicestershire, and had meetings as I went, and the Lord's spirit and power accompanied