Man's ways are, in a word, as opposite
To God's as midnight darkness is to light;
And yet fond man doth strive with might and main,
By penal laws, God's people to constrain

To worship what, when, where, how he thinks fit,
And to whatever he enjoins submit.

What will the issue of this contest be?

Which must give place-the Lord's, or man's decree?
Will man be in the day of battle found

Able to keep the field, maintain his ground,
Against the mighty God? No more than can
The lightest chaff before the winnowing fan;
No more than straw could stand before the flame,
Or smallest atoms, when a whirlwind came.
The Lord, who in creation only said,

"Let us make man," and forthwith man was made,
Can in a moment, by one blast of breath,
Strike all mankind with an eternal death.
How soon can God all man's devices quash,`
And, with his iron rod, in pieces dash
Him, like a potter's vessel! None can stand
Against the mighty power of his hand.

Be therefore wise, ye kings, instructed be,
Ye rulers of the earth, and henceforth see
Ye serve the Lord in fear, and stand in awe
Of sinning any more against his law,
His royal law of liberty; to do

To others as you'd have them do to you.
O stoop, ye mighty monarchs, and let none
Reject his government, but kiss the Son,
While's wrath is but little kindled; lest
His anger burn, and you have transgrest
His law so oft, and would not him obey,
Eternally should perish from the way;
The way of God's salvation, where the just
Are bless'd, who in the Lord do put their trust.

Felix quem faciunt aliena pericula cautum.
Happy's he

Whom others' harms do wary make to be.

As the unreasonable rage and furious violence of the persecutors had drawn the former expostulation from me, so in a while after, my heart being deeply affected with a sense of the great loving-kindness and tender goodness of the Lord to his people, in bearing up their spirits in their greatest exercises, and preserving them through the sharpest trials, in a faithful testimony to his blessed truth, and opening in due time a door of deliverance to them; I could not forbear to celebrate his praises in the following lines, under the title of

A SONG OF THE MERCIES AND DELIVERANCES OF THE LORD.

HAD not the Lord been on our side,

May Israel now say,

We were not able to abide

The trials of that day:

When men did up against us rise,
With fury, rage, and spite,
Hoping to catch us by surprise,
Or run us down by might,

Then had not God for us arose,
And shown his mighty power,
We had been swallow'd by our foes,
Who waited to devour.

When the joint powers of death and hell
Against us did combine,

And with united forces fell

Upon us, with design

To root us out; then had not God
Appear'd to take our part,

And them chastised with his rod,
And made them feel the smart,

We then had overwhelmed been
And trodden in the mire;
Our enemies on us had seen
Their cruel hearts' desire.

When stoned, when stock'd, when rudely stript→→
Some to the waist have been,
(Without regard of sex) and whipt,
Until the blood did spin:

Yea, when their skins with stripes look'd black,

Their flesh to jelly beat,

Enough to make their sinews crack,

The lashes were so great;

Then, had not God been with them to
Support them, they had died;

His power it was that bore them through;
Nothing could do't beside.

When into prisons we were throng'd
(Where pestilence was rife)
By bloody-minded men, that long'd
To take away our life;

Then, had not God been with us, we
Had perish'd there, no doubt,
"Twas he preserv'd us there, and he
It was that brought us out.

When sentenced to banishment
Inhumanly we were,

To be from native country sent,
From all that men call dear:

Then had not God been pleas'd t' appear,
And take our cause in hand,
And struck them with a panic fear,

Which put them to a stand:

Nay, had he not great judgments sent,
And compass'd them about,

They were at that time fully bent
To root us wholly out.

Had he not gone with them that went,
The seas had been their graves,
Or, when they came where they were sent,
They had been sold for slaves.

But God was pleased still to give
Them favour where they came,
And in his truth they yet do live,
To praise his holy name.

And now afresh do men contrive
Another wicked way,

Of our estates us to deprive,
And take our goods away.

But will the Lord (who to this day,
Our part did always take)
Now leave us to be made a prey,
And that too for his sake?

Can any one, who calls to mind
Deliverances past,
Discouraged be at what's behind,
And murmur now at last?

Oh that no unbelieving heart
Among us may be found,

That from the Lord would now depart,
And, coward-like, give ground!

For, without doubt, the God we serve
Will still our cause defend,

If we from him do never swerve,
But trust him to the end.

What if our goods by violence
From us be torn, and we,
Of all things but our innocence,
Should wholly stripped be,

Would this be more than did befall
Good Job? Nay sure, much less;
He lost estate, children, and all,
Yet he the Lord did bless.

But did not God his stock augment
Double what 'twas before?
And this was writ to the intent,
That we should hope the more.

View but the lilies of the field,
That neither knit nor spin,
Who is it that to them doth yield
The robes they're decked in?

Doth not the Lord the ravens feed,
And for the sparrows care?

And will not he for his own seed,
All needful things prepare?

The lions shall sharp hunger bear,
And pine for lack of food,
But who the Lord do truly fear,
Shall nothing want that's good.

Oh! which of us can now diffide
That God will us defend,

Who hath been always on our side,
And will be to the end.

Spes confisa Deo nunquam confusa recedet.
Hope, which on God is firmly grounded,
Will never fail, nor be confounded.

Scarce was the before-mentioned storm of outward persecution from the government blown over, when Satan raised another storm of another kind against us on this occasion. The foregoing storm of persecution, as it lasted long, so in many parts of the nation, and particularly at London, it fell very sharp and violent, especially on the Quakers. For they having no refuge but God alone to fly unto, could not dodge and shift to avoid the suffering, as others of other denominations could, and in their worldly wisdom and policy did; altering their meetings with respect both to place and time, and forbearing to meet when forbidden, or kept out of their meeting-houses. So that of the several sorts of dissenters, the Quakers only held up public testimony, as a standard or ensign of religion, by keeping their meetings duly and fully, at the accustomed times and places, so long as they were suffered to enjoy the use of their meeting-houses; and when they were shut up, and friends kept out of them by force, they assembled in the streets, as near to their meeting-houses as they could.

This bold and truly Christian behaviour in the Quakers disturbed and not a little displeased the persecutors, who fretting, complained that the stubborn