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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	call_v	scripture_n	spirit_n	1,691	5	5.0206	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A89836	A discovery of the man of sin, acting in a mystery of iniquitie, pleading for his kingdom, against the coming of Christ to take away sin. Or, an answer to a book set forth by Tho. Weld of Gateshead, Richard Prideaux, Sam. Hamond, Will. Cole, and Will. Durant of Newcastle. By way of reply to an answer of James Nayler's to their former book, called The perfect Pharisee: who call themselves ministers of Christ, but are found ministring for the kingdom of Antichrist. Published for clearing the innocency of the truth from their malicious slanders, and discovering their deceits. By one whom the world calls James Nayler.	Naylor, James, 1617?-1660.	1654 (1654)	Wing N274; Thomason E738_16; ESTC R202155	50,411	56

present in Spirit which you go about to deny by your meanings and so would make Paul a lyar like your selves but they who believes your wrestings before Paul's words are blinde like you and so with the Apostles light you are all judged and so the blinde leads the blinde And because I say the Spirit of God was the trier of Spirits before the letter was therefore you would make people believe that I hold forth that the Word is not to be regarded nor the Law looked upon nor the Scripture heeded and when you have thus falsly slandered you say you leave the Reader to laugh at it it shews that light Spirit rules in you but whilst you are thus in your laughter and perswading others to laugh also all that fear God may mourn to see your doctrine to see you profess the name of the Lord who is holy and you to gather up such filthy consequences as these to slander the truth withal and when you have done make it a matter of laughter but the day is at hand when your laughter shall be turned into howling and weeping and then wo unto you and those that laugh with you And for what I said of your several judgements and worships and imagined Gods according to your several judgements it is true as all that take notice of you and your divisions through the whole Nation may witness with me for the true God is but one and his worship one And whereas you say you hold the head the Lord Jesus it is false for they who hold him for their head the Lord and Master denied to be called Masters themselves amongst the Saints or of the world but owned one Master which is the Head which is Christ and they were all brethren neither did they exercise authority one over another as the Heathen do neither were they bowed to and worshipt with cap and knee as you are and do to others for they had one Master whom they worshipped and bowed their knee to which was spiritual in whom they believed which faith they had not in respect of persons but you are enemies to that faith neither can you believe who receive honor one of another John 5. 44. and here you hold not the Head the Lord but walk as Lords your selves amongst your hearers which Peter and Paul never did whose conditions you talk so much on and this is not my venom but a true witness against your unrighteous practice And whereas you talk of things hard to be understood in the Scriptures which the unstable and unlearned wrest It is true and you are those unlearned who were never taught of God nor heard his voice but reproach them that have and you are they who wrest these Scriptures to your own destruction and not rightly understanding them cannot discover every Spirit nay you are so blinde that you cannot discover that spirit in you that acts you in covetousness pride slander envie and persecution is the spirit of the devil and that spirit that acts you to plead for sin while men live to be the spirit of the man of sin and though you talk of the word that is sweeter then the hony and the hony combe and so have stoln Davids words yet that word you know not nor that sweetness of it who deny the word of the Lord coming to you and know no word but the letter for that word which David speaks of was within him and not without him which word I witness and its sweetness And whereas you charge me to set a gloss upon that Scripture Isa 8. 20. To the Law and to the testimony if they speak not according to this word it is because there is no light in them and because I say The Law of God in the new Covenant is written in the hearts of men which is plain in the Scriptures Heb. 8. 10. Therefore you say I overturn all Scripture so that for me to speak Scripture and witness the promise of God in the new Covenant and the end of the old by your deceit you would make it to overturn Scripture and you say it hath reference to the Law written in tables of stone 'ts true and that was in the old Covenant a type of the new and of that Law that should be written in mens hearts in the new Covenant you that would deny the new Covenant to establish the old make it appear that you are blinde and ignorant of that Covenant and that pure Law which is within written by the Lord in the heart and are in your own righteousness and Covenant of works and so have no light in you whose light and Law is without and all that are spiritual against you who saies herein I overturn all Scriptures who witness the Scriptures fulfilled and as for John Gilpin whom you say is delivered out of the snares of the devil and would make him a stumbling-block to the truth his practice since hath shewed how he hath been delivered out of the snares of the devil and the judgement of God hath overtaken him and whether they consulted with John Gilpin against Christ who caused his book to be printed over again and framed it at the first the truth may easily judge and their reward shall be according to their works To your fifteenth Position That there ought to be no sence meaning or exposition given or studying of the Scripture And in your Reply you say The Scriptures are in some places given out darkly and when you have done you say it is from the darkness that lies on the Spirits of the Saints Here is your confusion and darkness and for the key of David you speak on it is not committed into the hands of any hirelings as you are nor ever was but where Christ is and such live the life of the Scriptures and so open them in their conversation as well as words and till your lives witness what you preach you shut them to others and not open them And how long your generation have been about opening them all may see and yet they are shut from your selves and you cannot agree about them and then how will you open them to others but who waits for that Spirit that gave them forth shall not need you and your openings but by that Spirit will deny you and your openings and with that Spirit judge you all and the blindeness of you hearers your own practice shews what openers you are for they are a book sealed to your wisdom and carnal learning Therefore let them alone as they are for they are of no private interpretation nor are they committed to you to open nor doth any Scripture you alledge prove any such thing And whereas you say you have the infallible Spirit dwelling in you I answer Where that Spirit is it is one and admits of no disputes and janglings but speaks one and the same thing in all that have it in their measure but your divisions amongst your selves witness what Spirit

the serpent is he would be worshipped but the Spirit of Christ where it is keeps the creature upright to God and not to bow to pride And notwithstanding your light and scornful words against A. P. for saying there is a power without persons yet the Saints know that there is a power which is of God to which they are subject for conscience sake whether there be any persons to execute that power or no for many times the persons who should have set up that power which is of God have set up their wills instead of it and so have turned the edge of the sword put into their hands against them that do well which is appointed by God for a terrour to evil doers Rom. 13. 3. and when such persons have ruled God hath sent his servants to witness against the person and his practice but the power they are still subject to for conscience sake which is one and is not changed nor corrupted though the person be for it remains and is one with that in the conscience and that in the conscience owns and honours it where-ever it is and so in setting up that power which is of God is the person honoured in the sight of all that fear God and not in setting up himself but you who look upon the person as your rule and not the power change as mens mindes change and such will be of the same minde with the powers of the earth turn what way they will and by these the Saints who are faithful to God and his power have alwaies suffered but these will never suffer for any truth The third Principle That no man must have the title of Master which is false for Masters and servants we own but to call any Master out of a flattering title or for his riches or his pride or greatness this we deny being expressly forbidden of Christ both in us and in the Scriptures And whereas you say You have brought at least ten Scriptures out of the new Testament to prove calling men Masters I say You cannot instance one Scripture without wresting that ever commands it after Christ forbad it but here as in the rest of your book you would turn the Scriptures against the plain commands of Christ to maintain your pride and here you are discovered to be the Ministers of Antichrist and pleads for his kingdom and worships against Christ and his commands And for the four things you say we charge upon you viz. 1. That ye love the highest places in the Synagogues 2. That ye wear long robes 3. Stand praying in the Synagogues 4. That you preach for hire And whereas you say You have proved these to be the proper guilt of the Pharisees I answer There are many more may be added to them which were marks of false teachers which you practice and then what difference of the Pharisees and you for one spirit acts to one and the same things in you both and one Spirit of Christ witnesseth against you both to be in one condemnation And for other things you say we charge you with as going to Universities using an hour-glass preaching upon a text not using the language of the Scriptures in thouing a particular running to the powers of the world to protect you Now are not these things true of you and then what need I say any more to them And as for stealing the word from your neighbour what word have you else but what you steal who denies the word of the Lord coming to you and the immediate call and scorns it in them who witness it which none ever did but the false Prophets who stole the word from the true Prophets and here your own mouths shall witness to what I say in the sight of all men and for the pure language you speak of is not thou and thee I answer The Scripture-language is the pure language given out by the pure Spirit though Babylon hath another language of it's own and denies the Scriptures but that language is confusion and here are you who Ye one and Thou another but the Scripture-language you own not And now to that you call our Practices The first Practice Quaking and here you adde groveling on the ground and foming at the mouth to be our practice and to prove this you bring John Gilpin and William More Priest of Kellit I answer Your witnesses are suitable to your slander but all that ever have been at our meetings yea those of your own that have come to spie shall witness against Gilpin and William More and you that those are not our practice and the whole country shall more and more see into your lying slanders And whereas you say Quaking is our great perfection It 's false for Christ is our perfection though quaking and trembling we own to be a condition the Saints passed through as is plain in Scripture else should we deny the Scripture as you do though you use it as a name of reproach The slanders of William may easily be disproved by what follows I Jane Withers was moved of the Lord to go to the Steeple-house of Kellit to speak to Priest Moor these words Thou art the beast that all the world worships and wonders after the plagues of God must be poured upon thee When these words came to me the power of the Lord seized upon me but the deceit prevailed so over me that I did not obey at the first movings but the power of the Lord so seized on me again that I was bound about my body above the middle as if I had been bound with chains and it was said to me That if I went not I should repent it and he should know it and in the afternoon I was forced to go and as I went in at the door I should have said The plagues of God must be poured upon thee but I did not speak the words then and then the power of the Lord came upon me but in that Priest Moor saies I was in a trance it is a lye for I was as sensible all the while as ever I was and for foming at the mouth I did not that is a lye but for the working of the power of the Lord in my body I deny not and two of the Priests own hearers which were close by me we sent for hearing this lying slander was sent to be printed being examined whether or no they saw her some at the mouth the one of them did affirm that it was a lye and she laid me on her lap and the other said She saw no such thing but the Priest went his way and I went after him then I spoke the words that was commanded and as soon as I had spoken them the power ceased and the maid that Moor sent to George Fox which carried the lyes to him one of the women Annes Clapin one of his hearers said she was a lyar and it did not matter what she said this is Moor's ground to

A DISCOVERY Of The Man of Sin Acting in A Mystery of Iniquitie Pleading for his Kingdom against the coming of Christ to take away Sin OR An ANSWER to a Book set forth BY Tho. Weld of Gateshead Richard Prideaux Sam. Hamond Will. Cole and Will. Durant of Newcastle By way of Reply to an Answer of James Nayler's to their former Book called The Perfect Pharisee Who call themselves Ministers of Christ but are found ministring for the kingdom of Antichrist Published for clearing the innocency of the Truth from their malicious slanders and discovering their deceits By one whom the world calls James Nayler London Printed for Giles Calvert at the black Spread-Eagle neer the west-end of Pauls 1654. To the Reader TO no mans wisdom are we known nor do we desire by it to be approved but to that in every ones Conscience which is the light of Christ are we made manifest and as that arises by it shall we and what we declare be approved and to that do we speak in every one to be known and by that shall we eternally be witnessed when the book of Conscience comes to be opened Now Reader to strive for the mastery by multitude of words is not the way of the Spirit of God nor wilt thou finde it practised in this Volume but lyes and slanders are denied and plain truth in few words is declared not from the wisdom of man nor to the wisdom of man but for the simple ones sake in obedience to God from a pure Conscience to strengthen the simplicity and of any pure desires which may be in thy minde towards God And if there be any thing by the Spirit of the Lord raised in thee which convinces thee and lets thee see how unprofitably thou hast spent thy time in running from one man to another which call themselves Ministers and hast got no true bread for thy soul but art yet in thy fallen estate thy carnal minde ruling which is death reigning And if thou hast any desire and hungerings after truth and righteousness wait upon the Lord in thy desires and in the light which convinces thee and by the Lord shall thy soul be satisfied And if there be in thee any simple honest desires to know who the false Prophets deceivers and seducers are which in this day of the Lord is to be revealed go not to any man to know but wait in the light which is in thy conscience which shews thee sin in thy self which light will discover the man of sin in the world for that is the brightness of his coming and of this light every one hath a medsure though these five and all that love the deeds of darkness who would not be discovered strongly deny it and such are against Christ the light of the world and there is Antichrist discovered and the man of sin and here in thy measure thou art partaker of the same light by which these five and all their generation are discovered and have been in all generations by the children of light and thereby are we separated out of the kingdoms of the world into the kingdom of Christ for which they hate us and would devour us but Michael our Prince is risen and the war is begun with the Dragon the Beast and the false Prophet but the Lamb shall take the victory and wo unto them that are found upholding the Beast and the false Prophet for he that helpeth and they that are holpen shall fall together for now the Lord is risen to be avenged of his enemies and down they must though their number be as the sand of the sea for multitude Take heed whom you side with you Powers of the earth Friends I was moved in my Answer to your Perfect Pharisee at the end of it to write a few words to you five who had subscribed that book that upon the consideration of the many lying slanders there cast upon us some gathered by false reports and some out of books which books did witness so plainly against you both to you and to all that have read them that if it might have been the will of God any of you might have searched your conscience by that light which would teach you to do as you would be done by and have come to repent and found mercy for so I thought that perhaps some of them may be drawn to believe lyes through report that when they see them laid open will not persist in it for so was my heart in love to you if there had been but any innocency in any of you ●hat it might have been awakened to have pleaded against the deceit and led you out of it which was and is my desire But since you are the same yea worse according to that Scripture Evil men and seducers grow worse and worse wherefore I leave you to the righteous Judge of all causes and for the sake of the simple who else may come to be deceived by your subtilties and slanders proceed to lay open some of your deceits in plain words as God shall move A Discovery of the Man of Sin Acting in a Mystery of Iniquity ANd first a few words to your boastings wherein you would make me vile and contemptible and glory much in what you have done as though you were the only men and had overturned all before you To which I answer You might have spared your great boastings of your selves if your pride would have suffered you and have left it to the Judgment of those who are guided by a spirit of Judgment both yours and mine to have been judged of for it is not your great swelling words that can overturne the truth but you must appear to be proud boasters that the Scripture Rom. 1. 30. 2. Tim. 3. 2. Jam 4. 16. may be fulfilled upon you in this as it is in other marks left in Scripture by which those of your generation have been known and are at this day 1. You charge me That I have not sufficiently answered your Book called The Perfect Pharisee To which I answer That which moved me to write what I did in answer to the slanders in it was not to satisfie your wils nor wisdom nor any who stand in their own wils or wisdom for then had I become a man-pleaser Gal. 1. 10. and should have forsaken the direction of the spirit of God which did never in any age serve and seed the serpents wisdom but what it spoke was foolishness and a mystery to the wisdom of the world and it is the same at this day But that which moved me was for the simple ones sake lest he should come to be deceived by the sleights of your slanders and by the envious serpent And I know and am assured it hath and shal accomplish the end for which it was sent forth and shall not returne in vain but shall be a savor of life unto some according to his purpose by whom it was sent forth for it was not my

of use every day in bearing witness with us against you and your Heathenish Worships and unsanctified lives who are belly-gods evil beasts And for you that say the four books are the Gospel make it appear you never knew him who is the glad things which Gospel was manifest before these books were written and is everlasting Sixthly you charge upon us the owning of an immediate call and the Word of the Lord coming to us To which I answer Let all the Prophets and Apostles and holy men of God in the Scripture witness against you who all owned the immediate call and the Word of the Lord and be you witnesses against your selves that you never had the Word of the Lord coming unto you but are of those who say Thus saith the Lord when the Lord never spoke unto you Jerem. 23. from vers 21. to 33. but are lyers and false Prophets by your own confession who reckon it up as a blasphemous doctrine to witness the Word of the Lord coming unto us and be also witnesses against your selves who deny an immediate call that you never were called of God for his call is immediate whereby he hath called his and sent them forth which call I witness from the mouth of the Lord. But you are of those who run unsent and therefore do not profit the people whose call is mediate and so never any was called by God and so are made Ministers by the will of man And as your Call is carnal and mediate so is your Ministery who have not the Word of the Lord but what you steal from your neighbour out of a book which none of the true Pr●phets of the Lord ever did and so out of your own mouth be ye judged and discovered to all the children of light to be in the errour Seventhly you charge us with putting abundance of holiness in fasting beggerly apparel wandering up and down the world To which I answer Our holiness is in Christ But you that scorn fasting and wandering up and down scorn that which the holy men of God ever owned Heb 11. 37 38. Christ fasted and the Prophets and Apostles were in fastings often Christ wandered up and down and had not whereon to lay his head and many followed him And the Apostles wandered to and fro and had no certain dwelling place 1 Cor. 4. 11. Now had you lived in their days you would have reproached them as you do those that follow them now and so here I charge you to be acted by a contrary spirit to Christ the Prophets and Apostles And for beggerly apparel you that reproach us because that we have cast off needless pride and excess for no other beggerly apparel do I know used amongst us you would have reproached those who wandered up and dow in sheeps skins and goats skins lodged in dens and caves of the earth for such were hated by your generation then as we are now And now let all judge by what spirit you are acted who would make the world believe these were the fruits of the man of sin and the mystery of the Babylonish iniquity And for your smiling at my weakness in saying that Gog and Magog are gathered together against Christ and his kingdom which you would put far off from your selves to the Turks and Saracens at the conversion of the Jews I tell you The Jews are converting and you are of those Heathens who are banding together against Christ with Gog and Magog who is king of the Jews and you are discovered to be enemies unto him and the Trumpet is sounded and the Battel is begun and your rage is great with the rest of the Heathen But the Lamb must take the kingdom blessed be our God for ever And whereas you accuse me for saying that you can scarcely agree among your selves in that which you call the worship of God Have I spoken here any thing but truth as they that know you may witness with me though you would put it off to matters of Discipline And you accuse A. P. to report it which is false and here I charge you Priests to minister lyes and to slander him for he hath not reported it to me But it seems your consciences accuse you and you would charge it upon him but your practice reports it And whereas you say this doth not make you like Herod and Pilate neither do I say that onely doth but your joyning together in one against Christ and his kingdom and your hatred against the truth therein you resemble them And whereas you bring Paul and Peter to warrant your divisions you may let their conditions alone for few in the Nation live more unlike Paul and Peter then you therefore go not about to make them like your selves who live in pride and covetousness as Lords and Masters over your hearers suing or compelling them to pay you tythes or wages running from place to place for more money and call that your call to the Ministery and deny the immediate call of Christ and the word of the Lord coming to you which the Apostles never did therefore for shame never compare your selves to the Apostles who are found amongst the hirelings and false prophets And whereas you would excuse your selves from speaking evil of our forsaking the world and would cover it over with deceitful words Let any that reads your words judge if they be not spoken in reproach to that our practice who call it but a pretence and our obedience in answering the call of Christ in forsaking the world this you call a sinful neglect of our families And do you not belye the Apostle when you say he calls those the rudiments of the world And do not those who forsake the world forsake the pride and lust of it which you live in And whereas you say it is a sinful neglect of our families and you know it to be a sin and yet you say you speak not against the world in its proper Gospel-sense and you instance Fox and Nayler as two evident examples of it And you say We do sinfully neglect our callings To which I answer Jesus Christ having called us forth by his immediate voice to leave all and follow him to do the work he hath for us to do Whether obeying and coming forth contrary to our own wills taking up our Cross and following him or disobeying and abiding in our estates and pleasures in the world now in a Gospel-sense whether of these is a sinful neglect of our callings let the Scriptures of the Prophets and Apostles and all the holy men of God judge who have been called and obeyed and come forth and condemn you and your slander who are ignorant of the call of Christ and do oppose it in them who obey it and call it sinful and you bring Scriptures to oppose it which will fall upon your own backs As for providing for our families 1 Tim. 5. 8. they are provided for by him who provides for us

cometh into the world and to be in all when the Scripture saith There is neither Greek nor Jew circumcision nor uncircumcision Barbarian Scythian bond nor free but Christ is all and in all Col. 3. 11. which Scripture doth plainly witness against you though you deny it to your shame who would reason against the infiniteness of Christ who filleth Heaven and Earth and here I charge you to be ignorant of the Scriptures and blinde guides And you undertake to open that place John 1. 9. In the beginning was the Word all things were made by him and in your opening of it you say this was not Christ nor a knowledge of Christ as Mediator nor a light sufficient to bring to salvation when John saith he came to bear witness to that light and that Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us and in him was life and the life was the light of men and this was the true light that inlightneth every one that cometh into the world and we saw his glory as the glory of the onely begotten Son of God full of grace and truth and John bare witness of him saying This is he of whom I spake He that cometh after me is preferred before me and this you deny to be Christ nor a knowledge of Christ nor a light sufficient to salvation but call it a created light and here you are witnesses against John and what he witnesseth of Christ and the sufficiency of the light of Christ to salvation and this is your opening of the Scriptures whereof all that read that Chapter of John may witness against you and your openings but by such openings as this do you shut the kingdom of heaven neither will enter in your selves nor suffer them that would And whereas you tell of James Naylers wicked blasphemy in affirming that Christ as man dwels in him I answer That is false and those words were not spoken by me for being asked If Christ as man dwelt in me my answer was that Christ I witness who is God and man which words you wrest to slander withal but speake not the words as they came from me and you make much a doe to prove that a natural light is not the light of Christ and thereby would make people beleeve that that light spoken of in the 1 of Iohn is a natural light but so plainly is your deceit layd open to any who know any thing of Christ that your arguments need no further answering Only whereas you would prove in Mat. 13. 11. To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven to them it is not given there by you would inferre that Christ doth not enlighten every man I answer The light of Christ hath its degrees and measures so that though he be tendred a light to all yet all doe not receive that light nor walke in it but deny it and such come not up to the knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven for only to them that received him to them he gave power so that denying the light you deny the power and abide in darkness and are out of the fear of God but the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and whereas you call that a naturall light which enlightneth every man which cometh into the world and Iohn saith This is the true light which enlightneth every one that cometh into the world here you would make Iohn a lyar and Christ who is the true light to be natural and thus you wrest the Scriptures to your own destruction and all that beleeve you and you say the Apostle 1 of Cor. 2. 14. makes an opposition between naturall and spiritual light and puts an impossibilitie of discovering Christ by the light of nature I answer You bely the Apostle and bewrest his words as you do ours for the Apostle doth not speak there of a naturall light and a spirituall light for that which is naturall is darkness neither have you any Scripture to prove that to be a natural light which enlightens every one that coms into the world but ye children of darkness envy the light of Christ and would make people beleeve its natural and carnal And whereas you say That that mystery was hid from ages and generations It is true it was so but when Christ was manifest who was that light then it was revealed both by Iohn and Christ himselfe saying I am the light of the world he that followeth me shall not abide in darkness but shall have the light of life and whereas you are quarrelling with A. P. A. P. may do it with authority seeing you doe terme the light of Christ to be naturall for denying your distinction of naturall and spiritual light and you say the Lord Jesus and the Apostles are full for it yet have you not brought one Scripture to witness that light we speake of to be a naturall light but we have Christ and the Apostles witnessing against you it to be the light of Christ so that we have the authority of the Scriptures and yours is the novell opinions you speak of and for my saying that Christ must be in the vilest of the world to see the thoughts of the heart and judge the inward part or else how shall he judge righteous judgment upon every thought intent which come not forth into action this word which I spake of Christs being in the most vile you change to dwell in thus by deceit you change my words into your owne language and so go about to confute your own words but not mine as I spake them though I do not say Christ dwels in Hell yet the Scripture saith If I make by bed in Hell thou art there If you knew Christ you would know him that said so Psal 139. 8. and here you priests ignorance is discovered And here you say it is ridiculous to inferre that Christ dwels in all because he knows all things I answer For inferring and dwelling they are your own words but where he seeth any thing there he is present though you blinde creatures see him not but they who know him know that he is infinite and that he fils Heaven and Earth and his presence is the life of all Creatures Ephes 1. 23. and here I charge you to be them that hate the light and stumble Position 5. That Christ in the flesh with all he did and suffered therein was but a figure and nothing but an example And these words you say are expresly found in Sauls Errand which I deny and bring that Book to be a witness against you and that deceitfull Spirit that acts in you and for which you say I pretend neither to Conscience nor modesty that doth challenge you there with a lye I answer if those words that Christ with all he did was but a figure and nothing but an example be expresly found in Sauls Errand then you may say I have done you wrong and I shall confess

and Greek bond and free Col. 3. 11. And this is the true light that enlightens every one that comes into the world John 1. 9. John 8. 12. And you say you have fully proved that all men in the world do need an outward light and that it is the way of Christ to make himself known by outward discoveries and you say you have proved it by arguments I answer Your deceitful arguments I deny and they are no proof to me nor any that fear God who receive that truth by the Spirit and not by arguments but bring one Scripture in plain words that all men need an outward light or that an outward discovery is the way by which Christ makes himself known to his people and till then I deny you and your Philosophy and prove one Saint that ever knew Christ since his ascension but by revelation And what talk you of preaching the Gospel who denies the immediate call of Christ or any hearing his voice or to talke of Officers given for perfecting of the Saints which say none shall ever be perfect while they live which shew you to be none of those Officers given by Christ for the perfecting of the Saints for you plead against such as witness that work and that end And whereas you say That the light spoken of 2 Pet. 1. 19. that Peter doth not send them to a light within but to books and words of the Prophets which Scripture shall witness against your deceit and blindeness for the Apostle exhorts them to wait on the light til the day dawn and the day-star arise in their hearts which is not without nor in books and if the testimony of the old Prophets was a more sure word then that which Peter heard from the mouth of God then it must needs follow that the testimony of the old Prophets who spoke but darkly of Christ and did not see his day though they desired it must be a more sure testimony then the Apostles who were his eye-witnesses and the words of books a more sure word then the voice that came from heaven which was the immediate voice of God which blinde absurdity all who have the Spirit of prophesie which is the sure word and testimony of Jesus shall condemn your blindeness who knows not that sure word of prophesie that was in them And whereas you wish the Reader to observe that Nayler cries down the Scriptures as needless here you would have the Reader to observe your lyes for though the letter doth not discover Christ but the Spirit yet it is not useless for it is a witness against your practice opinions traditions and casts you all amongst the false Prophets and hirelings and herein it is of use and authority and also is a witness without against all who will not own the witness within nor do I cry down the publishing the Gospel by the Ministery nor the hearing God and his word but you who deny the immediate call and the word of God coming to any now denies both the word and Ministery which we own and witness The twelfth Position That there is no need of any outward teaching by reading or hearing the Scriptures opened or applyed And herein you accuse me of shuffling railing and lying because I say you apply the promises of God to them who are in the first birth and preach them up all believers and say men must commit sin while they are here and sow pillows under mens arm-holes now is not this true of you who sprinkle Infants by the faith of their Parents and calls them your flock and receives them to your Ordinances and do you not here preach them up believers within your liberty or Parish though they live in sin and here you sow pillows under every arm-hole and then do you not fine them who refuse to pay you Tythes or hire and so you prepare war against them who put not into your mouthes And you hold forth that none can be free from sin while they live Now where are the lyes or what wrong have I done you let any that is spiritual judge for lying I abhor or to wrong any but I speak the truth of you as your practice doth witness And in your answer to that Scripture which saith They shall no more teach every man his neighbour saying Know the Lord Heb. 8. 11. This you say doth onely concern the children of God and such as have their sins pardoned wherein you exclude all your Parish people from the children of God and pardon of sin for how many have you that are taught of God and needs not your teaching as you say I desire your hearers that they would consider of it that so they might come to the teachings of God and so witness the children of God and sin pardoned and so to witness the everlasting Covenant and no need of your teachings And whereas you tell of 4 Arguments and above 30 plain Scriptures in your Perfect Pharisee Your Arguments I deny and sees them to be deceit and there is not one of the thirty nor in the whole book that doth plainly witness to your way of teaching but the whole Scriptures are against you and all that teach for hire and denies the immediate call and the word of the Lord coming to you Jer. 23. 21 32. And you ask why the Apostle wrote to the Hebrews to teach them if that were the meaning that no man should teach their neighbour I answer To draw them to the teaching of Christ as is plain when he tells them of a growth that need no man to teach them and though he say You have need that one teach you again which is the first Principle of the Oracles of God doth he say this to continue them in a need of that as you would inferre or to shame them that they were not yet grown up to the teachings of God Heb. 6. 1. and out of mans teachings towards perfection And whereas you alledge the exhortation of the Apostles we own it which was to draw up to the light and teaching as is plain in their exhorting them to wait for the appearing of Christ who was their light and life Col. 3. 4. And whereas you say You press all to struggle after that perfection they do not yet enjoy now how this agrees with your saying they shall never be perfect while they live and what encouragement you give them to struggle is evident who tells them they must struggle but never prevail while they live And here you are found to be the juglers you speak of whose teaching is yea and nay And whereas you charge me with casting dirt upon the Scriptures because I say the Holy Ghost did not put it into Chapters and Verses but the hireling-Priests to trade withal Here you appear to be false accusers and the railers and lyars you speak on for I have not spoken one word against the Scriptures but own them as the Holy Ghost gave them forth The thirteenth

write his letter upon to the Priest of Newcastle and they put it in print to minister forth his lyes that their folly might be made manifest to all the Country and truth confirmed and the deceit trodden upon And Moor which sent his lying wench as his own hearers calls her she came to me three times to Robert Wither's and she scoft and she was asked if Christ taught her to scoff and she said He did teach her to scoff and before her face it was written down and she was denied to talk of the Scriptures that is a scoffer And the lyer would have known what Scripture there had been for foming at the mouth and wherever did he read of any such unless it were such that were possessed with the devil she said he denied that any of theirs did till Jane Withers was pointed out and then she said he confessed it Oh thou lyer and slanderer God will make thee an example to all lyers and they that witness for Jane Withers which are of the Priests own hearers some will witness against thee to be a lyer and one that matters not what thou speakest and before James's face she was proved a slanderer and a lyer and lying is a sin and he denies it and to say he confessed that Jane Withers fomed at the mouth is a lye and many will witness against it And here thou Moor that art for the lake who fathers lyes thy own hearers will witness against thee And whereas you say she asked him if lying was a sin here in this you are proved to be lying and sinning and so with the just you lyers are judged and condemned for the lake eternally though thou may think a while to please the world But Oh thou Harlot thy wo and misery is coming Some Scriptures given forth about travailing as I said I will cry as a travailing woman Isa 42. 14. Isa 63. 1. travailing in the greatnes of his strength Rom. 8. 22. travaileth in pain together Micah 4. 3. She which travaileth hath brought forth Isa 21. 3. as the pargs on a woman in travail Habakkuk whose belly trembled And here Moor and his messenger seems to be ignorant of the Letter and wonderers which are to perish And the Priests of Newcastle which said they could not but smile at James Nayler hath declared themselves to be the mockers that should come in the last time and the maid which they printed her lyes said that Christ taught her to scoff before many witnesses And here they shew what generation they are on like Priest like people for they who dwell in the Truth can scarcely pass up and down for your scoffing generation but to us your reproaches are great riches and knowing that you and your generation is for condemnation which stumble at the light The second Practice Railing and you instance these words Thou art damned and I see the devil in thy face and this you say is the first salute to all we meet with to which I answer Thousands in the Country shall witness you false accusers which we have met with past by and spoke not one word to them but you are shameless and care not what you say against us and for words which have been spoken to some of you which you call railing you will finde them one day to be no railings but the language of the Spirit upon the head of the man of sin in you though for the present you will not own them The third Practice Their pretending upon all occasions to be sent by a special commission from God To this I answer What have you to do to speak of or how can you judge of them that are sent by God who deny the immediate call and scorns it and knows it not can you judge of that you know not who knows not the word of God nor his call And whereas you say I knew not the things in particular and yet I take the boldness to call them lyes I answer Your words are false for I say I knew not the things in particular and therefore could say little but finding your book stufe with lyes and untruths gave me cause to see many of these to be like the rest which is not to call them lyes as you say and now judge of your own conscience as you say And for denying that any that were before the Magistrates were invited to any of your houses are not my words but the words of one who was before the Magistrates as will appear in the margent though you so rashly cast it upon me and here it may be seen who it is that rusheth upon a lye which you charge me to do but are found the lyers your selves neither did you invite any of them which were called before the magistrates as appears both by their own witness and your own confession for you say it was Tho. Tayler you invited who was not then called before the Magistrates nor imprisoned And you that call it immodest for the Saints to greet one another with a kiss and would slander by it may as well accuse the Apostle for immodest who exhorteth the Saints to it and was this the thing you kept so close when you said to say no more It seemed by those words to have been some hainous thing and not the Apostles exhortation and Saints practice but you want matter to accuse of And for what Wallis said there was witness enough and all your fending and proving cannot stop the truth but make your deceit more appear And for your reason you shew why you called your book The Perfect Pharisee and you say That title is most properly applied to us I answer It 's most properly applied to them who are found to walk in the steps of the Pharisees and whether that be us or you let your practices judge and all that see us and all your practice shall witness with me that I have not wronged or belyed you as you would make people believe but let any honest heart who reads both our books judge betwixt us who are the slanderers lyers and railers which you would cast upon me but the thing is evident to all and you cannot be hid who have nothing to judge withal and it is of God to discover you to all that you may deceive no longer Blessed be our God who is revealing the man of sin who hath acted in a mystery and is delivering his people from your mouthes and redeeming them to himself who is holy praises be to our God for ever and let all the children of light praise him for ever And if any scruple why the servants of God should be made signs and wonders to this generation I refer them for satisfaction to a printed paper called A Wo to Kendal in the County of Westmoreland in which you shall finde the dear servants of God made signes and wonders to the generation of the wicked then and confounding the sepents wisdom acting strange things by the immediate