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 Prâ—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
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
the presence of the Lord to be slanderers and false accusers who say we deny these things And whereas you would deny that you persecuted us and would put it upon those who are sent to you from the Lord to witness against your deceit as though they were the persecutors but whether those whom the Lord sent out to cry wo against the false prophets and hirelings calling them greedy dumb dogs blinde guides and many such like playn words or they who caused them to be haled before Rulers there accused them cast them into prison and put them to death whether of these were the persecutors then the same are the persecutors now as some of us can witness who have been haled before Magistrates and there vehemently accused and cast into prison and some stoned and not a few of you who call your selves ministers have had a hand in it and been the cause of it and whereas you say You have been hindred in the seed of the word I answer What word have you to sow who deny the word of the Lord coming to you but your seed being stollen makes a bad harvest and little fruit to be reaped and whereas you tell of bringing our selves within the compass of the Law for declaring our message to you from the Lord and that we suffer as evil doers here take notice whose ministers you are who have had papists Law that guarded the Jesuites contrary to the Scripture to defend you with which the ministers of Christ never had and Christ all the Saints suffered as evil doers in the account of those who were protected by carnal Laws whereas you say You are set for the confirmation and defence of the Gospel I pray you who set you since you deny the immediate call of God and so have set your selves or are set by the will of man and that the Gospel should be defended by persecution and persecutors was never known Now a few words to your reply to my answer and first to your first position as touching your accusing George Fox that he said that he was equall with God and you say your proof is not at all denied I answer That those words were spoken is not denied but that they are the words of George Fox is denied And you use many words and say I make a difference between George Fox and himself so that though George Fox is not equal with God yet he that is called George Fox is equal with God And thus when you have made up a piece of deceit to blinde the people then you go about to frame an answer to confute it and so you confute your own deceit and not my words For the sum of mine answer was this That George Fox was denied as dust but the Spirit that spoke in him is equal with God according to the Scripture and the words of Christ who saith When you are called before Rulers for my Names sake take no thought what to speak for it is not you that speak but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you Matth. 10. 20. Now George Fox being called before Rulers for the Name of Christ he denies George Fox to speak and the creature who is but dust and witnesseth the Spirit of the Father speaking in him though the words pass through George Fox and the words of Christ fulfilled And are not the Father and the Son and the Spirit equal where-ever they are and must they not be suffered to speak where they are But you that are carnal know not the voice Thus the answer is plain to any spiritual eye but to satisfie you who cavil on purpose is impossible but what I say is for the simple ones sake And I shall not follow you in your arguments for I know they shall deceive none but such as are deceived already and are willing so to be Now whereas you say I blasphemously abuse the Scriptures are you not ashamed to charge me with the abusing of them who do but onely set them down as they are without giving any meaning to them which Scriptures you take and wrest them to another end then for which the holy Ghost spake them forth adding your own invention words which the Scripture speaks not For where doth the Scripture speak of a Physical or relative oneness But by these words you darken knowledge and blinde peoples mindes lest they should seek after an oneness with God for the Scripture faith He that is joyned to the Lord is one spirit 1 Cor. 6. 17. and Christ saith That they may be one even as thou Father and I are one Joh. 17. 21 22 23. and As he is so are we in this present world 1 Joh. 4. 17. Which Scriptures you wrest to another end by your subril words added to them Now who blaspemes the Scriptures whether you or I let truth judge and your accusation fall upon your own pate And for your falsly accusing me to say I was as holy just and good as God himself what I have said in mine answer in my former book may sufficiently convince any one that fears God that I am clear of it And whereas you bring William Baldwinson's testimony which may give evidence against your selves and shew it to any honest heart both your deceit and his For before I was charged with this in particular and now you say Richard Farnworth and I both said it and he confessed there was a great deal of people in the house Now it was strange we should both say it and none hear it but himself for the great deal of people he speaks of they do witness against him in it and divers of them have offered their testimony against him But fending and proving becometh not Saints nor did they ever use it nor dare I stand by the witness of men but have the witness of God against you and your slanders who will reward every one according to their doings both the slanderer and the lyer and not onely by your reporting these but also your seeking evidence to back them herein you are serving the devil the father of lyes and so make that appear to be true which I have spoken of you Now for your charging George Fox to say he was the judge of the world and you say I deny it not but tell you that you are grosly ignorant of Christ I answer If you be not grosly ignorant of Christ and the Scripture let any wise man judge for you say God hath committed all judgement to the Son and yet you will not own him to be judge where he is wherein you go about either to exclude him from being in the Saints and so would limit him into a particular place or from being judge in them where he is Now that you are ignorant of Christ all that know him shall witness for all that know him know him in them and that he judgeth the world in them and the things of the world in every particular and he that is
in his own power to stand perfect And you are offended that I should say that the book should witness against your false slander and that the word is twice repeated to stand in Gods power and not in his own I answer I shall appeal to any sober Christian who reads the Querie whether the words carry not the very same sense twice over where it is said Able in his power to have stood if they had not for saken his power and consented to the wisdom of the serpent Where if I had spoken of the power of man and woman then it should have been set down their power and not his power which onely holds forth the power of God And for your deceitful reasoning to back your slander wherein you would deny Adam in that state of innocencie to stand in the power of God therein you shew you know not Adam in innocencie nor his standing with God for while he stood he stood in that power and wisdom and counsel of God and the looking out from that was the cause of his fall And here all that ever know Adam in innocencie shall witness against your ignorance and foolishness And whereas you charge George Fox with scoffing at the grace of God and that to pray for the sight of sin and for power from sin is a tempting of God and to pray for light to discover sin and refraining from it are needless I answer This slander comes from the same root of the rest For scoffing at the grace of God it is false I charge you to be lyers in the presence of the living God and you for eternal condemnation for the grace of God he owns as is plain where he saith The free grace of God hath appeared to all men which shews sin and evil which whosoever lives in after it be discovered by the grace of God and yet with a pretence makes a prayer to God to give them a sight of their sins when God hath letten them see their sins freely by his grace and they will not forsake it such tempt God and their prayers are abomination and God will not hear the prayers of them that regard iniquity But how falsly you gather from these words that to pray for power against sin or to refrain from it is to tempt God or a thing needless let any one that fears the Lord judge and witness against your slanderous spirit But wickedness shall be upon the head of the wicked And for the prayers and practice of the Saints which was to overcome and forsake sin them we own and have union with in that which is holy and they witness with us against your practice who live in sin and plead for it and for a pretence make long prayers And for that you call Nayler's lyes because I say you are slanderers which shall appear to be true more and more to all the children of light under your own hands And whereas you would go about to prove Adam in the state of innocencie under the Covenant of Works and that he had the Levitical Law for that is the Covenant of Works I answer What were the works that he was to do for life for the Covenant of Works saith Do this and live but he had the life already while he stood in it and so it was not to be obtained by working and the Scripture saith The Law was added because of transgression which if it had been before the transgression could not have been And Adam in his innocencie stood not by the Moral Law as you call it for that which was given to Adam was Thou shalt not eat which nowhere in Scripture is called the Covenant of Works Thus while you laugh at my ignorance as you say you discover your own wickedness and folly Now to your ninth Position That no man that commits sin or that is not perfectly holy can ever enter into the kingdom of heaven unless there be a Purgatory And in your Reply you think strange that I should deny your wresting of my words to another purpose then for which I spoke them But seeing your charge is grounded upon my Querie why have you altered the words from what I wrote as by inserting the word ever whenas he that hath sinned may repent and so his sin be done away and your adding the words Vnless there be a Purgatory as though I owned a cleansing after death When as the Querie is Whether you own a Purgatory or no who say none can be clean from sin while they live Now I shall appeal to any where there is honesty if you have not wrested my words and you in the Papists minde again in that Querie whenas you charge me with owning a Purgatory which I deny as is plain by these words seeing the tree must lie as it falls this is your deceit which would perswade the Reader to look upon my words according to your false interpretation when you have wrested them and not as I spake them but when my words will not serve you to ground your slanders on as they are set down then you take and alter them for your own ends and that this is not a shuffle and your shuffle I own not which shall stand for your selves but plain dealing in me to clear the truth from your slanders may appear to all who read both our books And whereas you say You have found me out a medium for the washing of the sins of them that die in sins which is neither holiness here nor a purgatory but the blood of the Lord Jesus Now I challenge you to finde one Scripture which saith The blood of Christ cleanseth sinners after death for it is onely effectual to the believers And now let all who know any thing of faith judge if it be not you that are shuffling and put to the pinch you speak of who for clearing your deceit would make people believe that which the Scriptures speak not but is raised in your invention And whereas you charge me with dealing falsly with that Scripture 1 John 1. 7. because I say Doth it say any are cleansed from sin while they personally act sin which I say that Scripture doth not as shall appear to all that read it but quite contrary And whereas you charge me to imitate Satan who when he came to tempt Christ took what Scripture would serve his purpose and leaves out the rest I answer Your slander is false for I mentioned the same Scripture you set down without adding or leaving out and herein I have not wronged you neither will the verse following nor any other Scripture warrant what you speak That a man is cleansed from sin while he personally acts sin but your words are contrary to the words of Christ who saith He that committeth sin is the servant of sin but you say He may act sin and be cleansed from sin Now who deals deceitfully with the Scripture and with mens souls and imitates the father of lyes let
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
acts in you and your pride covetousness and conformities to the world for that Spirit which is infallible leads out of the world and fashions of it and conforms to Christ and they who judge by that Spirit deny the wisdom and learning of the world or to enrich themselves by it The sixteenth Position They cry down baptism with water and the Lords Supper as being but types and shadows ceasing upon the appearance of Christ in them And in your Reply you quarrel that I should say Paul knew what he said when he said Christ sent me not to baptize but to preach 1 Cor. 1. 17. and you say This is to heap sin upon Peter and the rest of the Apostles but that Paul by speaking the truth or I by speaking it after him doth thereby heap sin upon Peter is a strange inference but it is like the rest for there is no truth that I speak but you can inferre a slander from it and how many times in your book have you slandered me for speaking plain Scripture but it is to manifest you to be what you are And whereas you say we cry down baptisme and the Lords Supper It is false for the baptism of John we own which is with water and the baptism of Christ with the holy Ghost and fire we own and the Supper of the Lord we own and our saith feeds upon him and the eating of his flesh and drinking of his blood is our life John 6. 53 54. and we deny your faith which you say is nourished by bread and wine which is carnal and your sprinkling of Infants we deny which you say You can clear up to be an Ordinance of Christ but doth not nor can do it The seventeenth Position That there is no mediate call of the Ministery And you say I contradict my self because I say That the ordaining of Elders by the direction of the Spirit of God was not by man which I again affirm That it was not by man nor of man nor any created power but by the Spirit of God in the Apostles which did impower them with the gift of the holy Ghost to them who were ordained and this was not of man but of God And whereas you would prove your mediate call from this it will not serve your turn who are either called by the cursed Bishops or by earthly Magistrates or else you call one another by your own wills but no appointment of God nor gift of the holy Ghost is witnessed amongst you And whereas you deny that the late commission did ever pretend to put any in the Office of a Minister here all the North may witness against you that you care not what you say to excuse your selves and accuse others though never so false Did not you and those that were in commission call them before you and examined and appointed whom you would and denied whom you would at will and pleasure and your partiality in it the North can witness and now you deny it be ashamed and confounded before all men you shameless creatures this you may call railing as you do the rest where you are told of your deceit And for your fifty five proofs you tell of which you say are not all answered I answer Those that might seem to make for your purpose are answered and for many other you bring they are so full against the end for which you alledge them that they may answer themselves before all that know any thing of Scriptures and to their judgement I leave them and shall not trouble my self or others with things to so little purpose And for your sending and proving your false accusations under hand and seal as you call it here you shew what Spirit acts in you who pursue such unjust things with such eagerness which none of the Saints of God ever did but your reward shall be as your work is and time shall clear the truth when you have vented your envie Now to that you call our Principles And first Not to salute any And here you accuse us to deny high-way salutes and when you have done you say High-way salutes is our known practise but how doth this agree honesty would never have accused us to deny what is our known practice unless you could have proved that we had denied to salute any as you falsly accuse us for the salutation of the Saints we own and practice and deny your heathenish customes that are used without the fear of God And whereas you bring the practice of some in the old Testament to overturn the Commands of Christ in the new I answer No contrary practice of any though the best of Saints can be a ground for me to break the Command of Christ neither had they whom you instance as Jacob and Abigal any command for what they did to bow down or fall to the ground but rather did it out of fear and weakness Now if any had alledged these to those whom Christ sent out had that been a ground for them to have broken Christs Command to follow their practice without command and it is the same now Christ who hath sent us forth hath commanded us to deny your vain customs and not to salute any by the way and this we witness and practice whatever they did in the old time and here we leave you who are in the world to your traditions of the world follow Christ so witness against all the vanities out of which we are called And for that place in 2 Joh. 10. which you would alledge to keep up the worlds customes which is clear against you for the Apostle there commands Not to bid God speed to any transgressor that doth not abide in the doctrine of Christ and who hath not the Father and the Son for if they bade God speed to any of them they were partakers of their evil deeds Now they who fear God had need take heed whom they bid God speed to for few are found who have in them the Father and the Son and are no transgressors and now how this makes for your God speed to all any that fear God may see and be warned of your deceit lest they partake of other mens evil deeds And so it 's plain the Saints were forbidden to salute any but Saints though you call it Publican-like And whereas you say in Mat. 5. 37. is a command to salute all I answer If that was so as you speak A general command to salute all then doth Christ contradict himself when he commands Not to salute any by the way and so you will make Christ yea nay but it is plain that Christ is there exhorting to love and not to salutation wherein he would have them to exceed the Heathen who shewed their partiality in saluting their friends onely which was a token of their love to be partial but if this were a Command of Christ To salute all and binding to them who had received a command to the
contrary which we witness then those who obeyed his Command Not to salute any Luke 10. 4. was guilty of the breach of it which to affirm was to make Christ say and unsay and besides there is not a word in it of saluting by the way which is the thing you are to prove which we say We are forbidden And whereas you say You salute the poor as well as the rich here let your practice witness against you who bow to the rich with cap and knee and worship them and call them Masters but do you so to the poor and here you are the heathen And because I say What we do we do it not from the commands that were given to others but by his command to us by whom we are sent forth and this you say is a mystery of iniquity and utterly to shake off the authority of the word and you boast much of a great advantage you have got by these words but you see not your own blindeness which is apparent for you say This was a particular command now instance in Scripture where any Saint did take up any particular command by imitation but every particular Saint had his particular command from God which he was to obey and if all the particular commands that was given to the Saints in Scripture be binding to us in this generation then why do not you observe them as Isaiah went three yeers naked why do not you do so and why are not you without money brass two coats and shooes and many such-like commands And now what doth all your Scriptures prove It is true what is written is for our learning that as they waited upon God for their commands what to do and did obey so we should do likewise the disobedient should warn us not to disobey Mat. 15. 9 Isa 29. 13. And thus you have laid open your selves to be ignorant of the word of God and his commands to you and all your obedinence is imitation and tradition and so in vain you worship And because I say If we were commanded to forbear wearing shoes we should be made willing to obey in that as well as in other things which we are commanded and you say This is to cast off the yoke of Christ and break his bonds asunder now if our willingness to obey his commands be to cast off his yoke let the wise judge and here your charge shall appear to all to be false for to obey the commands of Christ is not to deny the authority of the Scripture as you would slander us but it establishes the Scriptures authority for herein we witness the same obedience and the same commanding power with all Saints and you reckon up many that have been made signes and wonders to this generation as some have gone naked and the like Isa 8. 18. which you would cast upon the truth to make it odious to people and you bring many Scriptures and wrest them to your own ends to which I answer The command of God to them that know him is of more force to binde them to obey then your subtil arguings and wrestings to disobey and had you lived in the times of the Prophets you would have reproached them for obeying and being made signes in the same things as Isa 20. and others in other things which your generation then counted madness as you do now and persecuted them for it as you do now but it is no wonder why you should thus reproach us for obeying God when you are not afraid to contradict God himself in what he saith and give him the lye for when he saith My servant Isaiah hath walked naked and bare-foot Isa 20. you go about to prove that he was not naked and when God saith The Egyptians and the Ethiopians shall be carried captive naked and barefoot even with their buttocks uncovered to their shame and you deny and say they took but off their best apparel and left them such as was necessary to cover their shame and thus what God saith you say the contrary and go about to make him a lyar and perswades people to believe your subtil imaginations before Gods plain words and here you shew the serpent who contraries God in all things and ever did and not onely here but in all your books your reasoning and proving are for sin and against plain Scripture and any that reads them may see that I speak the truth of you though you may call it railing And you bring 1 Tim. 2. 9. That women adorn themselves in modest apparel and sobriety And this you bring to cast upon them that obey the commands of God but you might use it nearer home amongst your own wives who go in their hoods vails and rings which is forbiden and is not modesty but pride but these whom you reproach go in modest apparel though some be made as signes to you who live in pride and this is done by a call from God contrary to their own wills though you who deny the word coming to you be ignorant of it as all the false Prophets ever were And for that you cast upon Thomas Holms that he should say That it was not he that went naked but God It is of the same root with the rest and will not be believed by any but your own generation The second Principle Not giving any outward token of reverence to Magistrates Parents Masters or any other To which I answer Reverence and obedience to Magistrates Parents Masters and others we own according to the Scriptures but to bow down and worship the creature which God hath forbidden that we deny and though you who love greetings and bowing to you would make people believe it 's no sin yet they that fear God and worship him alone know it to be a sin and Mordecai had rather die and all the seed of the Jews be cut off then do it though the King commanded it and though you say It 's a ridiculous application of that command Thou shalt not bow down and worship yet the Apostle owns it And saith If you respect persons you commit sin and are convinced of the Law as transgressors now what Law do such transgress if it be not this which convinceth That no worship is to be given to any but God not to mens persons but these wrestings are as the rest to encourage to do what God forbids for Christ saith How can you believe that receive honor one of another neither did he nor any of his ever respect mens persons nor any that is in the faith of Christ James 2. 1. but plainly forbids it both Christ and the Apostles which you plead for and appear to be of a contrary spirit for the Spirit of God where it is pleads for the worship of God alone for he is no respecter of persons nor any that is guided by his Spirit but they that are guided by the spirit of the world pleads for the worlds worships and customs and where
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