A short ANSWER To a book set forth by seven PRIESTS who call themselves MINISTERS of the Gospel of Christ but are plainly discovered to be lyers and slanderers and envious of them who are the true Ministers of Christ who abide in his doctrine With A vvord to the Reader To read with understanding and let the light of Jesus Christ within judge for to that in the conscience it is spoken LONDON Printed for Giles Calvert at the black-spread-Eagle at the West-end of Pauls 1654. A Reply to a book set forth by some Priests about Beverley whose names I do finde subscribed to it who saith The light in man before faith is not pure Answ. The law is just holy and good and what is holy is pure what is just is pure what is good is pure what is perfect is pure which Law is the Schoolmaster until faith after faith is come we are no longer under a Schoolmaster and this is witnessed amongst as And this you Priests about Beverley say is not pure Jos. Bellet Joh. Pomrey Paul Glisson Christoph Feake Jo. Simpsom Geo. Cockin Law wyse I charge you command you give over deceiving the people you seven who are perfect in iniquity without the Law of God And Moses saw Christ wrote of him that which saw him was pure and is pure And here you have shewed forth your ignorance and blinde judgement and not knowing neither Law nor Faith for the truths sake have I replied to your book of errors who is in the light of Christ which lets me see the Law and the Schoolmaster both And you which say you were not sent immediately as the Apostles were with the immediate which sent them are you all judged Joseph Kellet John Pomrey Paul Glisson Christopher Feake Jo. Simpson George Cockin Law Wyse which is seven perfection perfect in the mystery of iniquity acting against the mystery of godliness you are the beast which stands upon the sea with your seven heads and upon your heads the names of blasphemy who are out of the Apostles doctrine and life that say the light before faith is not pure whose mouths are opened with blasphemy against God and his Name and his Tabernacle which is with men the light which discovers sin and evil you are seen that such as you might be more manifest with it which are manifest now to all the children of light and the children of the day praises praises be to the Lord God for ever for that which shews sin is eternal and is pure and that which is before Faith is perfect just holy good and pure and it is written The Law is the Schoolmaster till Faith and that we own in its place which is just holy good and spiritual and you which owns not God owns not Faith nor the Law to be pure for the Law hath dominion over a man as long as he lives which you Joseph Kellet John Pomrey Paul Glisson Christopher Feake Jo. Simpson Geo. Cockin Law Wyse have cleared your selves to be without Law and Faith and both and so you are not fit to teach others so it is you that have slandered the innocent to have laid waste the Scriptures when you are they that have laid waste the Scriptures your selves Christ the Church Faith and Hope and the Law which stumbles at the light so the righteous Judge of Heaven and Earth doth return a righteous judgement upon you unrighteous judges so in righteousness doth he set the innocent free To you all this is the word of God This is the word of the Lord to you that have subscribed your names to the book whose folly in it out of you hath appeared and to be viewed with the children of light it is seen and your nakedness and where you are who doth conclude the Light before Faith is not pure and who doth say God doth not send Teachers and Pastors and Elders immediately forth now as he did the Apostles And here you are concluded to be without the immediate life as the Apostles were in who were sent immediately from God See the miserable estate and condition you are in and with the immediate life you are judged who have professed your selves to be teachers to others and guides to others which hath gone on in such strains and presumptuously judgeth the innocent but God who is immediate sees you all and from him you all have your reward and your judgement which is eternal to that light in your consciences I speak which shall be your condemnation eternally which hate it and stumble at it and it will witness me when the book of conscience is opened and it you have condemned And to all people that have a love to Christ which love this light that those before mentioned do stumble at it is it that will lead up to witness Faith it is it that will lead you up to witness the Anointing it is it that will lead you to witness Hope it is it will lead you to witness Christ the Head and to know all the Saints which have unity in the light and so not to stumble at the words that proceeds from the light but with the light waiting upon God the Father of light with the light the Scriptures will be opened to you there is your teacher The light if you walk in it you will not stumble but have the light of life and if you hate it it shall be your condemnation eternally You shall witness what I speak for to that in every mans conscience I speak which if you love the light that Christ hath enlightned you withal it will guide your hearts together to hold the Head which if you hate this light you hold not the Head and all that ever you act or speak is in the invention of your own work so you are condemned with the light To the light in every ones conscience I speak which shall witness me when the book of conscience is opened and all things judged with it and out of it This is to all them that the Priests calls brethren to take heed to the light within them which Christ hath enlightned them withal that with it they may see all them that stumble at it and hate it which are to be condemned with it To you this is the word of the Lord Priest Somthing in reply to that which you do conclude as first to awaken your souls that are apt to slumber to take heed of the evil of the times pride covetousness formality which these clamour against which you call Quakers Reply Here you own their doctrine you call Quakers and with it you see your selves and what state you live in and yet in Page 52. you say Go not after them hath their doctrine stirr'd you up and let you see your pride formality and oppression and slumber and that which declaims against these you say go not after Priest Another false slander that you Joseph Kellet John Pomrey Paul Glisson and the rest charge upon them
lost sinners who saith It is nowhere found but in the Scriptures And here you shew you are in the state of the Jews which would have had life in the Scriptures and would not come to Christ but persecuted him as you do now them where the life is made manifest this I say This light wherewith Christ Jesus hath enlightned it will shew the greatest sin yea unbelief and waiting in this light which Christ hath enlightned their salvation is made manifest but all you that hate this light you are enlightned with it and it shall eternally condemn you and you give it the term of a natural light and a moral which there is no Scripture for that speaks of moral as p. 5. but this light which you stumble at so much and give it these terms with it you shall be condemned you may as well say Christ is moral which there is no Scripture for and there the plagues is added to you for adding your own inventions to that which was given forth from the eternal Spirit of God And whereas you say But we conceive not how Christ is preached out but by them who brings the word of God whose feet are beautiful Here you have shewed forth you have no infallible judgement not the Spirit that gave forth the Scripture which judged them that did conceive where you are living in your conceivings and terms the light to be as a moral law as you call it and so with the same eternal Spirit you are judged for which there is no Scripture for moral and so establisheth Paganisme and heathenish Philosophy and abundance of such stuffe you have in your book And we do witness the same Christ as ever was made manifest and there is no other name under heaven by which we can be saved And we see you in the same generation that crucified him you who are stumbling at the light that enlightneth every one that cometh into the world but it is because your deeds are evil who shall be condemned with it which gave forth the Scriptures You say in p. 6. It is by Scripture-light of the Prophets and Apostles which once was read or heard or else how could they know it Here you shew that you are in the state of the Scribes and Pharisees which read Moses and the Prophets which prophesied of him and wrote of him and they persecuted him the light which enlightneth every one that cometh into the world And so do you which hates the light And you are speaking of the Spirit that brings to God and of Faith in Christ And you that stumble at the light that Christ hath enlightned every one withal that cometh into the world You stumble at the Spirit and Faith both and hears not the Gospel but stumbles at the first Principle and you have nothing to do to talk of Saints Ministers nor of the second Adam but are of the first Adam To that in your consciences I speak be but honest and that will let you see it and here 's a difference between you and the Saints for the Saints to whom the Epistles was written that walkt in the light we make a difference between you that hate the light and them that walk in it for you that hate the light take the Saints words which was declared from the light and make a profession of their words but with the light you shall be condemned from among the Saints and to you this is the word of God and Christ which was the Light cried wo against such Pharisees and hypocrites as you are which stumbled at the light You boasters say You know no man after the flesh no not Christ And yet you stumble at the light which enlighteneth every one that cometh into the world And you that stumble at this light stumbles at the foundation Christ the Prophets and Apostles for this light was in them that gave forth these words and so it is the light within that opens them again and he that walks in the light as saith our Lord and master Christ he shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life and he that owns the light owns the word and doth not weaken the authority as in your p. 4. you say and this we witness And you Priests slander us with a foolish jealousie But you that stumble at the light stumble at Christ the Authority of all the Scriptures and you that stumble at the mystery between the Jews and the Gentiles which Christ cometh to put an end to the outward oracles of the Jews to bring in the Gentiles so the state of Jew and Gentile within you know not who stumble at the light This brings in and this condemns out Priest And you are talking of mount Sinai in matters of moral righteousness Reply O ye shameless men where doth the Scripture speak of moral righteousness and as touching mount Sinai silence for you are not come out of Egypt and this is in your p. 5. Whereas you say Natural man runneth to mount Sinai for righteousness in his personal obedience which you say these men put them upon Here I charge you That you know not what you speak for this lght of Christ judges down your immediate personal obedience and self-righteousness and natural-estate whom the wrath of God abides upon and the plagues of God for that is your due for mount Sinai you are not come to and there exhorting people to the light is to bring them to Christ and mount Sion in the life of the Scriptures which it speaks of Priest Your speaking of the body of Christ once offered to God at Jerusalem for an attonement for all Reply This Christ we own and know him no more after the flesh and you that stumble at his light stumble at Christ and know him not according to the flesh but are in the generation of your fathers that persecuted him But you say If any one destroy your Faith and make sleight the person of your glorified Saviour O you hypocrites what have you to do to talk of a glorified Saviour that stumble at the light and what talk you of Faith who stumble at the light your Faith is vain and will fade away but Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ we own and so it is you that trample upon the blood of the new covenant as in p. 9. And whereas you say You do confess God the Father of Lights natural and spiritual and that the eternal word lightens every mans candle whereby man sees the eternal power and God-head of God but nothing of the mystery of the Father and of Christ as a Mediator is seen but onely by the children of God What a confession and doctrine is this by you for you confess that man may see the eternal power and God-head of God and the Father and know nothing of the mystery of the Father and of Christ as a Mediator and he that knows the Father knows the Son and he that knows the Son knows the
Fathers and he hath the one hath the other also And here I charge you in the presence of the living God to be lyers and know nothing and see not the Father nor the God head can a man see the eternal power and God-head of God and know nothing of the mystery of the Father and of Christ as a Mediator but here you shew you know nothing of the eternal power of God nor the God-head of God nor the mystery of the Father nor of Christ as a Mediator who stumble at the light but these things we see with the light which Christ hath enlightned us withal an witness you to be without for the Apostle which witnessed the God-head knew the mystery of the Father which the heathens knew not And in your p. 10. you say That the Quakers say that this light before mentioned is pure which Christ hath enlightned withal and you conclude that this light in the conscience is not pure and saith How doth vain man justifie that which God condemns and would perswade us that nature is not corrupt Here again I charge you in the presence of the living God to be lyers and blasphemers nature is corrupt but the divine nature is not And you that declare and say That the light of Christ wherewith he hath enl ghtned is a corrupt nature Here I charge you in the presence of the living Lord to be lyers and the lye spake out of the false Prophets mouths and conclude you all to be blasphemers who saith the light of Christ wherewith he hath enlightned every one that cometh into the world is corrupt nature and not pure and saith God condemnes this light of Christ which is pure and that 's your own condemnation the light and saith Vain man justifies that which God condemnes Here I charge you again to be lyers for the light of Christ doth condemn vain man and it is according to the judgement of God this light and this light wherewith Christ hath enlightened every one that cometh into the world shall be your eternal condemnation And you are as high blasphemers as ever your Fathers were who concludes that the light which he hath enlightned withal is not pure and call it corrupt nature but this light as I said before condemns corrupt nature and that which is not pure and that you shall eternally witness for to that which Christ hath enlightned you withal I speak which shall eternally condemn you and witness me when the book of conscience is opened you that hate it whose deeds are evil and stumble at it but to all you that love it and walk in it shall not walk in darkness but shall have that light of life as I said before And you say Moreover they say the Quakers That this light discovers every evil as it ariseth in the heart And your Answer is That this light doth not discover the greatest evil which is unbelief Here you shew your selves to be blinde guides indeed which saith That the light of Christ doth not discover to man the greatest sin unbelief And here we witness you to be lyers for we witness it shews man all his weakness and wants and we witness waiting in this light of Christ we see more light and strength renewed from God and the Gospel enjoyed and self-denial in following Jesus in the light which he hath given us which teacheth to take up the cross and deny the world in which world we see you to live in void of the knowledge of God and stumbling at the light And again you are speaking of a moral law Reply But that 's without and there it shall stand as you are in the first nature and abundance of such stuff out of it you have vented which is not worth mentioning And again you are speaking of the Spirit of truth to covince the world of sin and you hope it will convince some of these deluded ones because they believe not Part of this shall stand for your selves you deluded ones but the Spirit of truth you know not that part is ours and with it we see you to be without God in the world stumbling at the light whose hope shall perish which when the book of conscience is opened shall witness me eternally and condemn you and all people everywhere that hate it You say Some may dare tosay their hands are clean but who can say their heart is clean I can and see all your hearts unclean who stumble at the light the pure in heart sees God and see your hearts which are deceitful above all things you which knows it not Here you shew you hate the light indeed who knows not your own hearts and here you have shewed you are not fit fellows to preacheth Gospel nor speak to others whose hearts are not clean Here you have made manifest you never saw God for the pure in heart sees God and you see not your own hearts and how can you pray you cannot pray lifting up holy hands to the Lord whose hearts are not clean There I charge you in the presence of the living God your prayers to be hypocritical and your hands to be full of blood And again whereas you are talking of shewing to man how impossible it is to enter into paradise O ye blinde guides what have ye to do talk of paradise that knows not your own hearts or shewing man the way The Lord hath given me a pure heart and clean hands by which all your deceits are discovered and paradise we witness which no such corrupt hearts shall enter who disobey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ whom the plagues of God is due to and to you that hate the light murtherers Cains who are so wrangling about the light and says The light in the conscience discovers not secret things Here you are out of the obedience of the light and contrary to Christs words who saith That the light that he hath enlightned withal shews man his evil deeds and he will not bring his deeds to it because he knows they are evil and therefore he stumbles and this is his condemnation and there you are to be condemned with the light of Christ who are querying who knows his heart and there you are manifest to be in the first nature and judgeth the light of Christ to be corrupt nature like your selves which you and your nature are to be condemned with the light of Christ which is pure and eternal which is the condemnation of you and all the world that hate it Wherein you say That we conclude that power accompanies that light to destroy every evil as it appears to them that yield up themselves to it It appears by your stumbling at this light of Christ in man that you are ignorant of the Scriptures who saith Ye are sanctified by the obedience of the Spirit And as many as receives him to them he gives power to become the sons of God And the Son makes free and he was manifest to destroy
lusts you shew where your hearts is without pitty or compassion who wilt not cover thy own flesh but it is that you may be made manifest and you have shewed that you are out of the doctrine of Christ you have been pleading for your interest in the earth there is your God and with the doctrine of Christ you are judged and your community we abhorre but the communion of the Saints we own and servants in their places diligent serving the Lord and children obeying their Parents in the Lord and forsaking all for the Lord and he that doth not is not worthy of him This we witness Whereas you are slandering and saying We are breaking marriage bonds and wedlock because we question what Scripture the Priests have to marry people and take money for it O ye enemies of God where do you read in all the Scriptures that the Priests are to take money for marrying of people such trades we deny if you call that wedlock Marriage is honourable in all things where the the bed is undefiled and that we own but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge and such we deny and all the Priests practises which they have no Scripture for and therefore we question them with authority and deny them both Whereas you are speaking of some that are not free to be Tenants Is the Lord drawing his people from under you taskmasters as from under Pharaoh which are proud and oppressors which you Priests have been examples of and taught the people And this torments you now you Priests because you are against it who have been the oppressors of the creation and are but the Lord is gathering his people from under you now as he did from under Pharaoh and doth proud Pharaoh begin to rage if this torment you you shall see more come with everlasting songs upon their heads singing over Pharaoh and his host The song of Moses and Lamb is begun to be heard in our land and the children of Israel which had their land-marks What 's that to you Egyptians proud and covetous who are for destruction as your father Pharaoh was who was an oppressor proud and a taskmaster Therefore wo to you bloody Cains which are compast under the wo you are of the stock of them that build Babel who are Babylon harlotted from the living God and your Mother hath sit as a Queen deckt with her colours but now the time of her widowhood is come and loss of children and she hath lost many children and that many Kings and Merchants of the earth laments crying Alas alas Whereas you are speaking of tumults and attempts put this not far from you for this may be seen in some of your generation this shall stand for your selves as it is made manifest what tumults are in your congregations And your boasting as giving up your bodies and estates But let these words return upon your selves again and see where your bodies are where your lives and estates are for many lies in prison because they will not pay Priests Tythes which is contrary to the Lord Jesus Christ and his doctrine which the Apostles ever lived in for he never sent you for you confess you are not sent immediately as the Apostles were You say There is not a prophesie in all the Scriptures that takes away all outward teachers Here I am full of the Spirit and power of the Lord to declare against you for in John he saith Ye need not any man téach you There is mans teaching outwardly denied and in Heb. 8. he saith Ye shall not teach every man his neighbour saying Know the Lord for all shall know him All who are in the new Covenant witnesseth this and who witness the new Covenant witness the Son of man and Jeremiah prophesied That they shall no more teach every man his neighbour saying Know the Lord And here you enemies of the God are raced out of the Covenant and are ignorant of the Lord And Ezekiel saith Thus saith the Lord I will deliver my sheep from their mouthes that hath devoured them such as you that have sought for the fleece and for the wool and I will search out my sheep and finde them out and feed them upon the top of the mountaines saith the Lord of hosts he that hath an ear to hear let him for he feeds upon the top of the mountains of Israel And Isaiah saith All the children of the Lord shall be taught of the Lord and much peace shall they have and in righteousness shall they be established And here let this prophesie judge you to be out of the new Covenant and contrary to the Prophets and Apostles which say You are not sent immediately as the Apostles were so how can you witness their conditions so here you have brought your selves under the chain And Jeremiah saith The Lord speaks in him Behold the dayes come saith the Lord that I will make a new covenant not according to the covenant I made with their fathers but this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel After those daies saith the Lord I will put my laws in their inward parts and in their hearts will I write them and I will be their God and they shall be my people And all these Scriptures I charge you all ye Priests of England to have laid waste and have brought none into the new Covenant neither are you there your selves who stumble at the light and denies the first principle They that need no man to teach them such you write against and speak against and so deny the new Covenant and bring the conditions of those that were not come to the Covenant to oppose the new Covenant them that are in it And for quoting many Scriptures of the Epistles and bringing the conditions of the Saints written in the Epistles and not knowing what condition they were written to let the readers of the book examine the Scriptures which you bring in your book and then they will see how you wrest the Scriptures to oppose the truth and how ignorant you are of the Scriptures You are bringing the Apostles which said If we minister unto you spiritual things it is least if you minister unto us carnal things This was spoken to them that denied the Priests the Saints and would not hold up such Priests as you Priests of England which seek for your gain from your quarter and have Balaams wages which is a horrible filthy thing and which the wo is upon and seeks for the fleece and makes a prey upon the people and if they will not give it you sue men at the law did ever the Apostles so Here O England let thy teachers who are in their whoredom from the life be witnessed against by all the Prophets and Apostles life and let all thy whoredoms testifie against thee in thy face for with the eternal life of them all thou art judged eternally You are speaking of Christs sending forth his and say