This plainly appears to be a poetical piece; for the author all along
makes use of allegorical sayings, to signify the great anguish and
tribulation he had been under.
The hatred of his enemies was the fiercer, because he had undisguisedly
and clearly demonstrated their duty, to the rulers, and preachers, and
lawyers: for in a certain book, published by him in the year 1653, to
exhort men to repentance, he writes thus to the rulers:
‘O you rulers of the people, who are set up to judge between
a man and his neighbour, ought not you to judge for God, and
not for man? Ought not you to be men fearing God, and hating
covetousness, not judging for gifts and rewards? Ought not you to
countenance and encourage them that do well, and to be a terror
to them which do evil? Justice is so. And he that is of God,
and bears his sword, turns the edge of it against all sin and
wickedness, injustice and oppression; and so sets up justice and
judgment in the gates, that the poor may be delivered from him
that is too mighty for him, and that the cause of the fatherless,
widow, and stranger may not fall; but hath an ear open to the
cries of the poor and helpless, who hath but little money, and
few friends; that a poor man may not be afraid to appear in a
good cause, against the greatest oppressor in the nation.
‘And ought not you to judge without respect to persons, or
without seeking respect to your own persons, worship or honour
from men; but only to advance justice, equity, and righteousness,
which is of God; that so you may be honoured by the Lord; for
true humility is honour, and he that honours the Lord, him will
He honour; and such have been honoured in all ages, though they
never sought it from men.’
This and much more he writ to the rulers; and to the preachers thus:
‘And you who say you are the teachers of the nation, how long
will it be ere you look at your own ways? Is not all manner of
filthiness amongst you, which you should lead the people out
of? Is there not among you drunkenness, gluttony, whoredom,
and sporting, sitting down to eat and to drink, and rising up
to play; swearing, lying, backbiting, false accusing, railing,
slandering, contention, strife, and envy? Yea, are not the best
of you given to pride and covetousness, which is idolatry;
fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness? Are not you
hirelings, and teach for the fleece? Do not you contend for money
with your own hearers, and sue them at law for it; yea, although
they cannot satisfy your demands, without sinning against the
light in their own consciences, and so sin against God? Are you
not bitter, and persecutors of any that come to discover your
lewdness, crying out to the magistrate to uphold you in your
beastly ways, and to stop the mouths of all those whom God hath
sent to witness against you? And many more works of this nature
are amongst you, which the pure all-seeing God hath showed unto
his people, to be amongst you, and therefore it is that they
come out from you, lest they partake with you of your sins and
plagues. But are not you blind leaders of the blind, when you
neither see these to be the works of darkness, nor those that
follow you. Wo unto you that devour souls for money and gain, the
day of your account is at hand. O repent, the blood of souls is
upon you,’ &c.
The lawyers in the same writing had a stroke also thus:
‘And you lawyers, ought not you to plead the cause of equity,
between man and man for equity sake, without respect to
yourselves or others, but only to truth itself; that a just cause
may be owned in whomsoever it concerns? But is not the justest
cause sure to fall, if the party have not money to satisfy your
demands; which are many times very unreasonable? And you who
should instruct people in the ways of truth and peace, do not you
by your wisdom teach them lies and strife? Do not you advise your
plaintiffs, as you call them, to declare in bills, things that
are not true, and make small offences seem very great by false
glosses? For say you, we may declare what we will, and prove what
we can; so that you, and they whom you act for, know beforehand,
that scarce one thing of ten can be proved, neither is true? Is
this the way to make up the breach, and preserve peace and truth
amongst people? O miserable fall from God, when that law which
should preserve in peace, is used to aggravate offences beyond
truth, and so make differences greater. And do not you delight to
fish in troubled waters: and the greater dissension amongst the
people, the more is your gain? Are not your purses filled, and
your estates raised in the ruins of the people? And are not those
laws which ought to be used to preserve people from oppression,
by abusing, made the undoing of whole families, impoverishing
towns and countries? The law, as it is now used, is scarce
serviceable for any other end, but for the envious man, who hath
much money to revenge himself upon his poor neighbours, which,
may be, never did him wrong. Is there any appearing for the poor
against the rich, although his cause be just; but by deceit,
delays, and expenses, the remedy is worse than the disease?’
Much more he wrote to the lawyers, to stir them up to do justice, and
then addressed himself to the people in general, in these words:
‘And you people of the nation, that have seen the hand of
God against the prince and people for these and the like
abominations, and you yourselves are escaped, as brands plucked
out of the fire; have you at all turned to him who hath smitten
you; or are you bettered by correction; or have you made your
peace with the Almighty? Although you have seen war, and the
sword reaching to the very soul, are you not every one, to your
own power, gathering fuel to that fire which hath been burning
in the land, and hath consumed thousands; which should have been
as a warning unto you who are escaped, to return to the Lord
from the evil of your doings? But are not you still making the
breach wider between God and the nation, as though you were left
for no other end, but to fill up the measure of iniquity that
is yet behind, that the just God may sweep the land with the
besom of destruction? O when will you cease to provoke the Lord
by your sins? Where is your Redeemer you have professed so long
in words and forms? Can you witness him in your works? And what
hath he redeemed you from? For saith he, “Why call you me Lord,
and do not the things which I say?” Is He your Lord, and you
servants to all manner of filthiness? And notwithstanding you
have seen his wonders in the nation, yet do not you exceed all
that ever went before you, in pride, covetousness, drunkenness,
swearing, envying, quarrelling, backbiting, slandering, false
accusing, self-love, and deceit in all manner of merchandise and
trading; false weights and measures, sayings, protestings one
towards another, in your bargaining, speaking things that are not
true, and hereby to overreach your brethren, and get dishonest
gain. How many false oaths, and idle words are spent about every
bargain in your markets, and open streets, without blushing, or
being ashamed? Yea, it is able to break the hearts of any who
know the pure God, to know it, and hear it; for it is come to
such a height of deceit, that none can trust his brother, for
lying, swearing, and forswearing, which abound in the nation;
and yet you will profess yourselves to be the members of Jesus
Christ: and had Jesus Christ ever such a body as this? Nay, all
that are members of him, are of one heart, and one soul.
‘And you talk of a communion of saints: had ever the saints
such a communion as this, to defraud one another for money; and
profess a Redeemer, and are servants to the devil, and your own
lusts, in all the motions and temptations thereof, and are led
captive at his will? But what redemption is this you witness?
So long as sin, the partition wall between God and you, stands
still whole in your wills, you will be drunk, swear, lie, and
commit adultery, dissemble, and satisfy your lusts in all things,
and say we are redeemed; yet commit all these abominations
and live in them, under a pretence of a profession, and going
to the idols’ temple once a week. Did ever Jesus Christ redeem
such a people, or dwell in such a people? Those whom he hath
redeemed, he hath freed from the servitude of sin, by separating
them from sin, and reconciling them to God, from whence they are
fallen by sin: for God and sin cannot dwell in one. And to such
he saith, “Be ye holy, for I am holy:” and as he is the “Lamb
of God who taketh away the sins of the world,” now see, how is
your sins taken away, when the kingdom of darkness doth wholly
rule in you, and leads you into works and ways of darkness? Are
you reconciled to God, and have you fellowship with him? Are
not you yet strangers to him, and worship an unknown God? “For
he that commits sin, hath not seen him, neither known him,” and
so worship, they know not what, in formal and superstitious
worships.’
Thus J. Nayler wrote: but I now break off that I may not be tedious.
So zealous was he before his fall; which was wholly of another nature
than the common sins and transgressions; for, by the wiles of Satan,
he accepted the idolatrous honour that some persons gave him, instead
of which he ought to have reproved them; and thus was he so stupified
in his understanding, that he imagined the bowing and kneeling before
him, was not done on account of his person, but for Christ: and with
this false opinion he blinded himself for a time, till it pleased God
to pity him, and to give him light again; after he had suffered such an
unheard of punishment for his transgression, as is already related in
this history. And because his freedom of speech against unrighteousness
of all sorts, and his preaching, ran very sharp upon all, several were
angry with him, became his enemies, and took occasion from his crime
to revenge themselves fiercely upon him, by making him suffer a cruel
punishment, which was no ways proportionable to his transgression. But
herein barbarous cruelty played its part so much, that the soberest
inhabitants did detest it, and therefore a petition was presented to
the parliament, desiring a discharge of part of the punishment, of
which the first subscriber was colonel Scroop, who was governor of
Bristol.
While he lay in the house of correction, he writ several papers to
manifest his regret and repentance for his crime; some of which are
already inserted in this history. Since, is come to my hand a letter to
his friends, being written with his own hand to this purport:
‘_Dear brethren_,
‘My heart is broken this day for the offence that I have
occasioned to God’s truth and people, and especially to you, who
in dear love followed me, seeking me in faithfulness to God,
which I rejected; being bound wherein I could not come forth,
till God’s hand brought me, to whose love I now confess: and I
beseech you, forgive wherein I evilly requited your love in that
day. God knows my sorrow for it, since I see it, that ever I
should offend that of God in any, or reject his counsel; and how
that paper you have seen lies much upon me, and I greatly fear
further to offend, or do amiss, whereby the innocent Truth, or
people of God should suffer, or that I should disobey therein.
‘Unless the Lord himself keep you from me, I beseech you let
nothing else hinder your coming to me, that I might have your
help in the Lord: in the mercies of Christ Jesus this I beg of
you, as if it was your own case, let me not be forgotten of you.
‘And I entreat you, speak to Henry Clarke, or whoever else I
have most offended; and by the power of God, and in the spirit
of Christ Jesus, I am willing to confess the offence, that God’s
love may arise in all hearts, as before, if it be his will, who
only can remove what stands in the way; and nothing thereof do I
intend to cover: God is witness herein.’
He also writ several other confessions of his faults about this time,
in one of which, amongst others, I find these words:
‘And concerning you, the tender plants of my Father, who have
suffered through me, or with me, in what the Lord hath suffered
to be done with me, in this time of great trial and temptation;
the Almighty God of love, who hath numbered every sigh, and put
every tear in his bottle, reward it a thousand fold into your
bosoms, in the day of your need, when you shall come to be tried
and tempted; and in the meantime fulfil your joy with his love,
which you seek after. The Lord knows, it was never in my heart to
cause you to mourn, whose suffering is my greatest sorrow that
ever yet came upon me, for you are innocent herein.’
When he had finished that letter, and set his name, he wrote as follows:
‘I beseech you, (all that can,) to receive it, even as you would
be received of the Lord; and for the rest, the Lord give me
patience to suffer, till he make up the breach.’
While he was in Bridewell, he writ to the parliament, who had punished
him as a blasphemer, to let them know what his true opinion concerning
Jesus Christ was.
‘Christ Jesus, (the Immanuel, of whose sufferings the Scriptures
declare,) him alone I confess before men; for whose sake I have
denied whatever was dear to me in this world, that I might win
him, and be found in him, and not in myself; whose life and
virtue I find daily manifest in my mortal body, (which is my
eternal joy and hope of glory;) whom alone I seek to serve in
spirit, soul and body, night and day, (according to the measure
of grace working in me,) that in me he may be glorified, whether
by life or death; and for his sake I suffer all things, that he
alone may have the glory of my change, whose work alone it is in
me: even to that eternal Spirit be glory, and to the Lamb for
ever.
‘But to ascribe this name, power, and virtue, to James Nayler,
(or to that which had a beginning, and must return to dust,) or
for that to be exalted, or worshipped, to me is great idolatry,
and with the Spirit of Christ Jesus in me it is condemned; which
Spirit leads to lowliness, meekness, and long-suffering.
‘So having an opportunity given, (with readiness,) I am willing,
in the fear of God the Father, (in honour to Christ Jesus, and to
take off all offences from every simple heart,) this to declare
to all the world, as the truth of Christ is in me, without guile
or deceit, daily finding it to be my work to seek peace in truth
with all men in that spirit.