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6 QNO. 85.
LETTER OF GEORGE FOX
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AND OTHER FRIENDS
To the Governor of Barbadms


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PHILADELPHIA:
PUBLISHED BY THE TRACT ASSOCIATHJN OF FRIENDS,
X0. 304 Ann! STREET.
18%;.
A Letter of George Fox
AND OTHER FRIENDS
TO THE GOVERNOR OF BARBADOES.~
WHEN George Fox, Robert Widders, William Ed-
mundson, and other Friends were in the island of
Barbadoes, in the Eleventh Month, 1671, preaching the
gospel of Life and Salvation to the people,‘ some ad-
versaries endeavored to defame Friends with many
false reports. Upon which, they drew up the following
paper, to go forth in the name of the people called
Quakers, for the clearing of Truth and Friends.
For the Governor of Barbadoes, with his council and
assembly, and all others in power, both civil and mili-
tary, in this island; from the people called Quakers.
WHEREAS many scandalous lies and slanders have
been .cast upon us, to render us odious; as that, “ We
deny God, Christ Jesus, and the Scriptures of Truth,”
&c. This is to inform you, That all our books and dec-
larations, which for these many years have been pub-
lished to the world, clearly testify the contrary. Yet,
for your satisfaction, we now plainly and sincerely de-
clare, That We own and believe in the only Wise, Om-
nipotent, and Everlasting God, the Creator of all things
in heaven and earth, and the Preserver of all that
He hath made; who is God over all, blessed for-
ever; to whom be all honor, glory, dominion, praise,
4- A LETTER or GEORGE FOX, ETG.,
and thanksgiving, both now and for evermore! And
we own and believe in Jesus Christ, his beloved and
only-begotten Son, in whom he is well pleased; who
was conceived by the Holy Ghost, and born of the
Virgin Mary; in whom we have redemption through
his blood, even the forgiveness of sins; who is the ex!
press image of the Invisible God, the ﬁrstpborn of every
creature, by whom were all things created that are in
heaven and in earth, visible and invisible, whether they
be thrones, dominions, principalities, or powers; all
things were created by him. And we own and believe
that he was made a sacriﬁce for sin, who knew no sin,
neither was guile found in his mouth; that he was
cruciﬁed for us in the ﬂesh, without the gates of Jeru-
salem; and that he was buried, and rose again the third
day, by the power of his Father, for our justiﬁcation;
and that he ascended up into heaven, and now sitteth
at the ‘right hand of God. This Jesus, who was the
foundation of the holy prophets and apostles, is our
foundation; and we believe there is no other founda
tion to be laid but that which is laid, even Christ
Jesus: who tasted death for every man, shed his
blood for all men, is the propitiation for our sins,
and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the
whole world: according as John the Baptist testi-
ﬁed of him, when he said, “ Behold the Lamb of God,
that taketh away the sin of the worlc ,” John i. 29.
We believe that he alone is our Redeemer and Saviour,
the captain of our salvation, who saves us from sin, as
well as from hell and the wrath to come, and destroys
the devil and his works; he is the Seed of the woman
that bruises the serpent’s head, to wit, Christ Jesus, the
Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last. He is (as
the Scriptures of Truth say of him) our wisdom, right-
TO THE GOVERNOR or BARBADOES. 5
eousness, justification, and redemption; neither is there
salvation in any other, for there is no other name under
heaven given among men, whereby we may be saved.
He alone is the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls: He
is our Prophet, whom Moses long since testiﬁed of,
saying, “A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up
unto you of your brethren, like unto me; Him shall ye
hear in all things, whatsoever He shall say unto you
and it shall come to pass, that every soul which will
not hear that prophet shall be destroyed from among
the people,” Acts iii. 22, 23. He is now come in Spirit,
“and hath given us an understanding, that we may know
Him that is true.” He rules in our hearts by his law
of love and life, and makes us free from the law of sin
and death. We have no life, but by Him; for He is
the quickening Spirit, the second Adam, the Lord from
heaven, by whose blood we are cleansed, and our con-
sciences sprinkled from dead works, to serve the living
God. He is our Mediator, who makes peace and re-
conciliation between God offended and us oﬁ‘ending;
He being the Oath of God, the new covenant of light,
life, grace, and peace, the author and ﬁnisher of our
faith. This Lord Jesus Christ, the heavenly man, the
Emanuel, God with us, we all own and believe in; He
whom the high-priest raged against, and said He had
spoken blasphemy; whom the priests and elders of the
Jews took counsel together against, and put to death ;
the same whom Judas betrayed for thirty pieces of
silver, which the priests gave him as a reward for his
treason; who also gave large money to the soldiers to
breach an horrible lie, namely, “That his disciples
came by night, and stole Him away while we slept.”
After He was risen from the dead, the history of the
Acts of the apostles sets forth how the chief priests
(3 A LETTER OF GEORGE FOX, ETC.,
and elders persecuted the disciples of this Jesus, for
preaching Christ and his resurrection. This, we say,
is that Lord Jesus Christ, whom we own tobe our life
and salvation.
Concerning the Holy Scriptures, we believe they
were given forth by the holy Spirit of God, through
the holy men of God, who (as the Scripture itself dc-
clares, 2 Pet. i. 21,) “ spoke as they were moved by the
Holy Ghost.” We believe they are to be read, be-
lieved, and fulﬁlled (He that fulﬁls them is Christ);
and they are “ proﬁtable for doctrine, for reproof, for
correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the
man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto
all good works,” 2 Tim. iii. 16, 17; and are able to
“ make wise unto salvation, through faith which is in
Christ Jesus.” We believe the Holy Scriptures are the
words of God; for it is said in Exodus XX. 1, “ God
spake all these words, saying,” &c., meaning the ten
commandments given forth upon Mount Sinai. And in
Rev. XXii. 18, saith John, “ I testify to every man that
heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if any
man shall add unto these,” and “if any man shall take
away from the words of the book of this prophecy”
(not the Word), &c. So in Luke i. 20 : “ Because thou
believest not my words.” And in John v. 47 ; XV. 7 ;
xiv. 23; xii. 47. So that we call the Holy Scriptures,
as Christ, the apostles, and holy men of God called
them, viz., the words of God.
Another slander they have cast upon us, is, “ That
we teach the negroes to rebel :” a thing we utterly ab-
hor in our hearts, the Lord knows it, who is the
searcher of all hearts, and knows all things, and can
testify for us, that this is the most abominable untruth.
That which we have spoken to them, is to exhort and
TO THE GUVERNOR OF BARBADOES. 7
admonish them to be sober, to fear God, to love their
masters and mistresses, to be faithful and diligent in
their service and business, and then their masters and
overseers would love them, and deal kindly and gently
with them; also that they should not beat their wives,
nor the wives their husbands; neither should the men
have many wives; that they should not steal nor be
drunk, nor commit adultery, nor fornication, nor curse,
swear, nor lie, nor give bad words to one another, nor
to any one else; for there is something in them that
tells them they should not practise these nor any other
evils. But if they notwithstanding should do them,
then we let them know there are but two ways, the
one that leads to heaven, where the righteous go; and
the other that leads to hell, where the wicked and de-
bauehed, whoremongers, adulterers, murderers and
liars go. To the one the Lord will say, “ Come, ye
blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for
you from the foundation of the WOI‘lL ;” to the other,
“Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting ﬁre, pre-
pared for the devil and his angels :” so the wicked ‘go
into “ everlasting punishment, but the righteous into
life eterml,” Matt. XXV. Consider, friends, it is no
transgression for a master of a family to instruct his
family himself, or for others to do it in his behalf; but
rather it is a very great duty incumbent upon them.
Abraham and Joshua did so: of the ﬁrst, the Lord said,
Gen. Xviii. 19, “ I know him, that he will command his
children, and his household after him; and they shall
keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment,
that ‘the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which He
hath spoken of him.” And the latter said, Josh. XXiv.
15, “ Choose you this day whom ye will serve—But as
for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” “Te
8 A LETTER or GEORGE FOX, ETC.
declare, that we esteem it a duty incumbent on us to
pray with and for, to teach, instruct, and admonish
those in and belonging to our families; this being a
command of the Lord, disobedience thereunto will
provoke his displeasure; as may be seen in J er. X. 25.
“Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee
not, and upon the families that call not on thy name.”
Negroes, Tawnies, Indians, make up a very great part
of the families in this island; for whom an account
will be required by Him who comes to judge both
quick and dead at the great day of judgment, when
every one shall be “rewarded according to the deeds
done in the body, whether they be good, or whether
they be evil:” at that day, we say, of the resurrection
both of the good and of the bad, and of the just and
the unjust, when “the Lord Jesus shall be revealed
from heaven with his mighty angels, in ﬂaming ﬁre,
taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that
obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall
be punished with everlasting destruction from the pres-
ence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power, when
He shall come to be gloriﬁed in his saints, and to be ad-
mired in all them that believe in that day,” 2 Tbess. i.
7, 8, 820. See also 2 Pet. iii. 3, &c.