and Women die and Soul and Body parts whether the Soul doth ascend above the visible Heavens to an Injoyment of Glory or whether it shall descend into Hell a Place of Misery and Torment 6. Whether you do believe the Resurrection of all the visible Bodies that have died ever since our first Parents Adam and Eve yea all that were before Noah's Flood and all the World that was drowned at the Flood yea and all the visible Bodies of Men and Women which have died both by Sea and Land from a day old to the longest age that ever Man lived and that every one of these visible Bodies shall arise and come to Judgment and receive their Reward in Misery and Torment or else in Glory and Happiness each one according to their deeds done in the Body yea Children that never knew what Sin was nor yet what their Souls and Bodies were 7. And whether you do believe that Christ shall descend from above the visible Heavens where the Priests and Professors and Rome also believe he now sitteth and from thence he shall descend with his visible Body and shall come and judge the World both Men Women and Children 8. And whether you do believe that this visible Earth shall be destroyed by fire and that the visible Heavens shall also melt with fervent heat Now Friends seeing you do not deny some of the Doctrines of the Church of Rome nor yet of the Priests of England but only that which is Antichristian and these are those Doctrines that both the Priests and Professors own Wherefore I would desire you to give forth a plain Answer both to the World and me also which of these fore-mentioned Doctrines are according to the Truth and which of them are Antichristian and Erroneous so write an Answer in plain words that every one that can read may come to understand for the Truth is not ashamed of the Articles of its Faith Now in pag. 11 of your Book you say that I do exclude the Manhood Now I do not exclude the Manhood out of his Place for the visible Man Christ was the Son of God by generation from God full of Grace and Truth But yet there is a Distinction to be made betwixt the Godhead and the visible Body in which the Godhead dwelt for Christ himself made a Distinction and said that his Father was greater than he And again he said My Doctrine is not mine but his that sent me And he said to the Jews Destroy this Temple and in three days I will raise it up again Now they had no power to destroy the Godhead that dwelt in the Temple that both was and is a thing impossible Now you say in pag. 12 of your Book That I contradict my self because that I said that the Man in the Mystery was the Womans Part that was his Soul and Body Now the Mystery that dwelt in Christ's Body that was the Godhead and the Godhead died not as I writ in my Answer to the Baptist Now as Christ was God or the Seed of God or the Son of God by generation from God he never died for the Holy Ghost died not neither had the Devil power to tempt him as he was God for God cannot be tempted as saith the Scripture But as he was the Son of Mary the Devil had power to present Temptations to his Soul even whilst his Soul dwelt in the Godhead But the visible Manhood which was the Seed of the Woman as well as the Seed of God who dwelt in the Godhead he was impowered by the Godhead to bruise the Serpents head in all his appearances and temptations and so the Seed of the Woman did bruise the Serpents head and so he never came under the Devil's power where both we and our first Parents Adam and Eve have been So that Christ as he was Man of the substance of his Mother he died but as he was God and of the substance of his Father he died not for the Godhead died not But as for our Souls and Bodies they like Eve their Mother have been in Transgression but as for Christ's Soul and Body it never consented to Sin nor yet joyned to the Spirit of Corruption And again you say His goings were of old from everlasting Friends are not the Lords goings by his universal Spirit among the Gentiles the same now as they were in the days of Abraham for then God appeared to Abimelech King of the Philistines by his Spirit in the night and was not he a Gentile as well as we and did not God by his Spirit make known Himself to Job and Elihu were not they Gentiles And had not the Samaritans the Spirit of God in the Days of Christ's Flesh as well as we have it now And was God not to be worshipped in his own Spirit then as Christ said to the Woman of Samaria And in pag. 12 of your Book you say that Christ's Blood had a Testimony in it towards the Remission of Sins So then according to your own words there was no real Remission of Sin by Christ's Blood that was shed upon the Ground Then I would desire to know what benefit the Gentiles have by that Blood if they had not real Remission of Sins by Christ's Blood that was shed upon the Cross without he Gates of Jerusalem And in pag. 13 of your Book you say that I do not tell you by whom Eve conceived the Man of Sin who was the Son of Perdition But now I will tell you by whom Eve conceived it was by the Serpent who had a Conception in her Soul when his Temptation entred her and the same Spirit of Darkness that brought Death over her hath brought Death over us we having been the Children of Adam and Eve in the Fall and having been captivated by the same Spirit of Darkness as they were And you also write against me because I said there are two Christs Now did not the true Christ say that there shall be false Christs and they are the Sons of Perdition who are one with the Spirit of Antichrist And are there not two Spirits two Powers two Gods two Princes two Mysteries And is not the one Light and the other Darkness The one is called the true Christ and the other is the false Christ which is Antichrist And yet they bear all one Name in Words although they be different in Works And you also say that I do directly oppose the Scripture to say that Christ came not of David nor Israel Now the words in my Book pag. 23 run thus Now Christ be neither came of David nor yet of Israel according to the Flesh not as to his outward appearance as he was a visible Man but he came of David and Israel both according to the Spirit And in the 18 Page of my Book it is written thus Now Christ he was not the Son of David by generation from David as he was a visible Man for Mary she was a Virgin and
knew no visible Man But Christ he was the Son of David by generation from God he being begotten by the Spirit of God in the womb of the Virgin and this was the flesh of David and this was David's Lord. Now let all that read and understand consider whether this is not a true Declaration according to the Scriptures concerning the Flesh of Christ and of his Generation also Again you say That I and my Brethren are Judges of wholesom Orders and commendable Forms in the Church Now both Rome and those that are called Priests in England they say that they are the true Church and that their Forms are both in Order and commendable But now the Quakers in the days of their first Convincement they in the Light did see an evil in all invented Forms both in their own as well as others and in obedience to the Light they denied the Form that was acted by others and their own also Now that Spirit that sets up the Form of Prayer or that acts the Form and requires People to bow to the Form that is acted that is the Spirit of Antichrist Now the Spirit of God being in all God requires all to bow to the Spirit and to worship him in the Spirit and not to worship the Form that is acted although it may be performed by the Spirit of God There is no such Scripture that I know of And in pag. 14 of your Book you say that I have been a shame to you But if those words be true that I have been a shame to you then why did W. D. R. D. G. W. G. B. and others of the Quakers labour so much with me to keep me still among them And you do also accuse me as if I were an Hypocrite Now If I had given up my Faith to your Church and to have believed as those called Elders and Ministers believe then I must have been an Hyprocrite For then I must have believed what your Image or Paper of Orders saith that is that I must be reconciled to the Church and that I must also be justified by the witness of God in Friends the which I cannot believe Wherefore I have disowned both you and that Doctrine and also other of your Doctrines likewise And you also write against me because I am for marrying with the Nation and for my saying that God hath made all Nations of one blood But you say in your Book that the Nations have polluted themselves and are gone from God's make But I will ask you one Question and answer me Hath King Charles polluted himself by his marrying of a Portugal Woman Or did Moses pollute himself by his marrying of an Ethiopian Woman Or did the two Sons of Naomi pollute themselves by marrying of a Moabitish Women And had not Moses God's universal Spirit within him to be his Rule for him to walk by when he took the Ethiopian Woman to Wife And was not the Law Spiritual greater than the Law Moral or the Law Ceremonial And hath not King Charles a measure of the same Spirit given him for a Rule for him to malk by as Moses had before he received the Law outwardly And is not the Spirit of God in all the Sons and Daughters of Men given them of God to be their Rule and Guide to walk by And had not King Abimelech the Spirit of God as well as Abraham and did not he obey the voice of God concerning Sarah Abrahams Wife And was not the Law Moral and also the Law Ceremonial ended And doth not the Law Spiritual remain in all the Sons and Daughters of Men to this day And again you say That you are Witnesses to the Matches in the Land of Israel Now was there ever a more wicked Match in the Land of Moab than there was in the Land of Israel than the Match between David and Vriah's Wife And the Prophet in the Spirit of God was a Witness against it So that your Witness and God's do not agree And in pag. 15 of your Book you say That God is raising up Judges and Counsellours as at the beginning Men fearing God and hating Covetousness Now if Buyers of Corn to sell again and Transporters of Corn and Managers of great Brew-houses and Men entring into other Mens Trades and Men being greater Maulsters than ever they were before if these be the Marks of Men fearing God and hating Covetousness then some of the Quakers Ministers are the Men. And you say I do not understand my own Queries because I said the Book of the Scriptures is part of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledg Now I knew that the Book of the Creation was before the Book of the Scriptures but if you own what I say that the Book of the Scriptures is the Fruit that the Tree of Knowledg bears then why do you feed so much upon them as you do For let all that read your Book and also the Letter that was given me which I disowned which Letter is printed in my first Book and they may easily perceive that the Line of your Testimony is in the Letter and Book of the Scriptures and not in the Light and Law written in the Heart from which Law or Light within which was before time was and from which in time the Scriptures came And is not this Light Gods universal Spirit the only Rule for we Gentiles to walk by And was not the first Testimony that was sounded by the Quakers to direct People to the Light within And they told us that was the only Rule But now your Images Dictates and Orders and comely Forms as you call them they must be the Rule for King Charles's Subjects to walk by But as Paul saith in his Epistle Col. 2. so say I to the People Touch not taste not handle not And they were Gentiles as well as we And because I said in my Book I was an Informer therefore you write against me and say I may take my Place among the Informers But now I desire no greater place among the Sons of Men than to be an Informer against Antichrist in his Ministers For God Himself was an Informer for he informed Moses against Israel because of their wickedness and would also have destroyed them because the People had made a Calf and worshipped it and they also danced about it And there was also a Man of God who in the Word of the Lord was an Informer against both the Altar and the Calves that Jeroboam had set up both at Dan and Bethel for the People to worship at And was not Paul also an Informer when he wrote to the Corinthians and told them that Satau was transformed in his Minister into an Angel of Light And John also in the Spirit of the Lord was an Informer against the Churches of Asia when they were gone from God and fallen into Apostacy then he in the Spirit wrote both against them and their Ministers and told them that they were grown lukewarm
and had also left their first Love And hath not God in the Ages and Generations past discovered the Sins of his own People witness Adam and Israel of old and also David whose Sins are left upon record And further you say in the end of your Book You have omitted many gross Absurdities Confusions and Follies But I think that you should have done well to have made both my Error gross Absurdities and Follies manifest in your Book that People might have known them else how can people believe what you say to be true And so here followeth some Queries for you Elders and Ministers so called by the Quakers to Answer First Whether the Light in every Quaker be not sufficient to justify them although you say it is the Light in you that condemns them 2. Whether the Light in any Man or Men be able and sufficient to save or justify any other Men but themselves 3. Whether Men cannot be reconciled to God except they be reconconciled to the Church called Quakers and whether a Man may not be reconciled to your Church and yet not be reconciled to God 4. Whether the Light in one Man or Men hath power to open the Understanding of another Man seeing that God hath placed a measure of his own Spirit in every Man 5. Whether there be not both Darkness and Light in every one that is called a Quaker as well in those called Elders and Ministers as any others 6. Whether the Light and also the Darkness hath not been and also is in all the Sons and Daughters of Men ever since the first Man Adam's Transgression 7. Whether the Light in every Man be either the Soul or Spirit of a Man or whether the Light is not a distinct Being by himself 8. Whether People are not wholly to depend upon the Light or Spirit or Christ within for Life and Salvation 9. Whether the same Light or Spirit was not in the Gentiles in those days when Christ was in the World in that Body which the Father had prepared for him although the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in Christ's body 10. Now where was that Flesh and Blood and what was it that Christ told the People in the days of his Flesh that they must both eat and drink or else they could have no life in them 11. Whether the Visible Man Christ who was Crucified without the Gates of Jerusalem whether his Body or Temple which was like unto ours Sin only excepted was dissolved or changed into a Spirit and that Spirit now manifested in the Gentiles or where do you believe that Christ's Body now is 12. Or whether there was any Visible Church so called or separation among the Gentiles which have not been bewitched and also led into error by their heaps of Teachers 13. And whether those heaps of Teachers by gathering of themselves together and by their Consultations and taking Counsel one of another have not brought in Errors and False-Doctrines in and among the Separations of our Churches of the Gentiles ever since the Night of Apostacy even to this very day 14. And whether those heaps of Teachers who have had a sight given them from Gods Spirit to see the Errors of other Teachers among the Gentiles that were before them and yet have not themselves also run into Errors as well as others But yet they would not believe it the Devil had so blinded their Minds and Understandings and that with a zeal too even as he did the Jews of old 15. And hath not all Persecution risen from a blind mad Zeal both as to Words and Actions in matters of Conscience under a Notion of Profession of both God Christ and the Scriptures 16. Whether Men must come to the Scriptures and outward means first before they can know their duty towards God And whether they must not first come to the Light and Manifestation of the Spirit within them before they can learn their duty towards God or what God requires of them to do 17. Whether God be changed or the way of his making known himself be changed And whether any Man or Men can come to the knowledg of God as to Life and Salvation but in and by the Spirit of Revelation Or whether Men did not know God before the Scriptures were 18. Whether any of your Writings although they should be given forth in and from the Spirit of God are an Instrumental Means to bring People to the Knowledg of God as to the Souls Salvation in these days any more than the Scriptures did bring the Jews to the knowledg of Christ in the days of his Flesh or Paul in his days Or by what outward means did you at first come to see beyond others or was it not the Light or inward Manifestation of the Spirit as a free gift from God that gave you to see beyond others and not by any outward Writings But yet one of your Ministers so called said that Friends Books were Instrumental to bring People to the Knowledg of God But if that be true what he said then is the way of God's making known himself to the Sons of Men changed For Men knew God before there was either Scriptures or Writings by any Man Neither do I read that ever the Scriptures brought any Man to the Knowledg of God So that your Writings must have Authority in them beyond the Scriptures For Man at first never knew God by the Scriptures but God hath ever made known himself to the Sons of Men by his Light or Spirit that was in them that is by revealing himself unto them Wherefore I would have all People that read my Book take notice of these following particulars which are owned by the Quakers which I do disown First That none can be justifyed by the Light or Witness of God in those called Ministers and Elders amongst the Quakers but all must be justified by the Light in their own particular or else they are condemned Secondly It is neither the Light God Christ nor the Seed that is to be quickned and raised up in the Sons and Daughters of Men but it is the first Man Adam that is to be both quickned and also raised up by the Arm of God's Power revealed Thirdly It is neither the Soul nor yet the sensible part or Understanding of Man that is either to Pray or Preach in a Meeting but it is the work of the Holy Ghost to speak in every Man Therefore what do you minister from and what do you minister to in the Sons and Daughters of Men Or what is that which is to attend your Declaration in those that hear you Therefore examine your selves by the Light what Spirit it is that speaks in you I have written this to the Elders and Ministers of the Quakers because there is nothing to be put to print amongst them without their approbation as their Image or Paper of Orders saith And also because your Book is written in the vindication of the Practice
Mountains of Imagination and the Light stands in Judgment over you and also your Book will be a Witness against you and the Spirit of God in all those that seriously read it Friends I think it had been more suitable for you to have looked back and to have considered some of the Patriarks and holy Men of God who in their day and Generation did err You might have remembred Isaac the Patriark who when he had lost the Spirit of discerning grew blind and then he was resolved that Esau should have the Blessing although it was Jacob's right to have it And you might have remembred Jacob who from a wrong Spirit rebuked Joseph when he told his Father he dreamed the Sun the Moon and the eleven Stars should bow before him And you might have remembred Aaron and Miriam who from a Spirit of Pride withstood Moses and said Hath not the Lord spoken unto us as well as unto thee And you might have remembred old Ely who from a dark Spirit rebuked Hannah who was a Woman of a sorrowful Spirit And you might have remembred Job's three Friends who undertook to Judg Censure and Condemn Job but had not Power to convince him And Friends you write against me in page the fifth and sixth because I said whatever is written to those called Churches it ought to be written in and from the Holy Ghost for if Paul did at any time speak by permission and not the Lord it is but a Mans Commandment and no Man is bound in Conscience to follow it for Paul saith Be ye followers of me as I am of Christ Now Paul he Baptized and he also Circumcised but yet he had no Commission to do it And so in time he preach'd it down as John did his Baptism but Christ in his day neither Baptised nor Circumcised any Man wherefore none are to follow Christ as having Paul for their Example but all are to follow Christ their Light within as their only Rule to walk by Neither ought any Quaker so called Man or Woman to follow the Light within as having your Orders and Dictates as a Rule and Guide for them to walk by Again you write against me because I said whatever is written from a sight or sence or sensible part and not from the Spirit of Revelation it is not to be owned by the Churches and you write thus and say in your Book that implies contradiction as much as if the Spirits Revelation should put out Sight and Sensibility and so I would have blind Elders and sensless Ministers But Friends it is the Devil that hath Power to blind the Soul and Understanding of Man and the sensible part wherefore none are to write from that part in them which the Serpent hath Power to blind for it is the Soul and Understanding of Man that receives the Sight But all are to write both in and from the Spirit of Revelation which alone hath Power to give the Creature sight and to make people sensible of their state and condition And this is the Holy Ghost or Spirit of God which gives the true Sight and can never blind it for that is the Devils work to bring blindness over the Minds of People wherefore if any speaks or writes as pretending to teach others it ought to be in and from the Holy Ghost for Christ said It is not you that speak but the Holy Ghost And the Apostle saith If any Man speak let him speak as the Oracle of God and it is the Spirit saith Paul that makes Intercession with Groans that cannot be utered for it is the Invisible Soul and Understanding that is to be Baptized with the Holy Ghost Now the thing Baptized that is not to speak in the Church because it hath been both in Error Sin and Transgression but the Invisible Man Christ he is to speak in every Vessel who redeems the Creature out of Transgression and not the Soul nor yet the Sensible part which hath been in Transgression for the Priests of England they are sensible Preachers who declare against the manifestation of the Spirit and deny also all Revelations from God and yet they tell People that if they be sensible of their state and condition it is an evident token of their Conversion But I say that all People that come truly to know God they must witness a Being gathered into that Spirit which makes them truly sensible and this is a Childs state which hath past the Tree of Knowledg and doth witness in measure of being possest of the Tree of Life And you say that I run on in my sensless Stuff because that I said the Soul is the Woman in ever Visible Man For you ask me whether I have not presumed above what is written in the Scripture Friends I perceive that you have left the Quakers first Rule which they were to walk by as their only Guide which is the Light or Spirit of Revelation within for when I was first convinced and believed in the Light then you said the Light within in every Man was the only Rule the Grace within the Mystery of Life within or Gods Spirit of Revelation or his Law written in the Heart that was to be the only Guide for the Quakers to walk by But now I do perceive that you have set up your Image or Paper of Orders Dictates and Forms that they should join with them as their Rule and Guide Friends I perceive you are determined page the seventh to set up your selves and also your Image and Superiority amongst the People called Quakers and likewise to Maintain those Doctrines amongst them that he that is not justified by the Witness of God in Friends is condemned by it in himself and that those that are unreconciled to the Church are unreconciled to God wherefore this I have to say and to all antient Friends Remember the first Testimony that was then founded amongst the People by the Quakers it was thus All People mind the Light within you turn to the Light within believe in the Light that doth both convince and make manifest Sin and all owne the Judgment of it for that is the word of Eternal Life and also the Saviour of the Soul and the Salvation of the ends of the Earth and that this was Gods Spirit by whom the World was made who was in the Beginning and before the Beginning and also without Beginning of Days or end of Life And this they said was the true Light that lighteth every Man that cometh into the World and that this Light was both God and Christ and the only Saviour of Man and they exhorted all minds to turn to it as their God and Saviour Now you say in your Book that those that are unreconciled to the Church are unreconciled to God But now the Church in God that is Invisible as God is Invisible although it doth consist of Visible Bodies and Invisible Souls who are Invisibly redeemed from the Earth by the Spirit of
by some evident proof either from the Spirit of Truth or the Scriptures of Truth and if you cannot prove your Doctrine and the setting up of your Image Orders and comely Forms as you call them in those which you call your Churches either from the Scriptures of Truth or by the Spirit of Truth and so prove them by Revelation from God and make God to be Author of your false Doctrines and also the Father of your Image otherwise they must be held forth and also managed by Satan in you transformed into an Angel of Light But now I do believe that those Doctrines and Practices of yours which I have writ against were never revealed to you from Heaven by the Spirit of God but they rose out of Hell Now in page the eighth of your Book you write against me because I deny the Resurrection of the Power or the arising of the Seed or God in Man the which Doctrines I did deny in my first Book and do still deny them for it was neither the Seed nor God that fell from Heaven into Bondage and Captivity in the Sons and Daughters of Man but it was the first Man Adam that fell both Soul and Body and we were his Generation having been in the Fall as well as he And you also say that Christ descended to bring Man out of the Fall Then according to your own confession it is the first Man Adam which God created and made that fell into Transgression so then it both was and is the first Man Adam that is to be both quickned and also raised by the Spirit of Life that never sinned the which is God manifesting himself in these earthly Tabernacles by his own Spirit But now the Holy Ghost never descended into the Virgins Womb for the raising the Seed or God out of Bondage and Captivity but the Spirit of God doth descend in the Sons and Daughters of Men for the bruising the Serpents Head and for raising and bringing of them both Soul and Body to an enjoyment of God again But yet I do own the Power to be both the Resurrection and the Life as he is in himself and he is also Mans Resurrection and Life as he comes to believe in the Light and obey it so Man comes to be quickned and also raised from under the Power of Death by the Spirit of Life and so brought into an enjoyment of Light and Life again For the Seed did never descend in Man for the quickning and raising up of the Seed in Man neither doth the Spirit of God descend to raise up God in Man nor yet Christ within never descended to raise up the Spirit of Christ in Man Now you do suppose the Resurrection of the Power because the Light descends and appears to Man whilst he is in the Fall but yet it abides not with Man whilst he is in the Fall but only to convince him of his Sin and also to condemn him for it But now if Man hears the Spirit and believes in the Light and obeys it then Man is both Quickned and Raised and brought up to God again by him who is both the Resurrection and the Life Wherefore now look back and remember that God called to Adam in the cool of the Day after he had eaten of the Fruit of the Tree of Knowledg and had broke the Command of God then God cursed the Serpent and also drove Adam out of the Garden because of his Sin and Transgression And he also placed a flaming Sword against him But still God abode in the Garden in Dominion over all to Adams Condemnation But now in page the ninth of your Book in contradiction to what I have written you say If God be above in all the Sons and Daughters of Men he is taken in his proper place and the Devil is in his and I might have spared my pains But now I did never read or heard that God was out of his proper place for God is in his proper place and his Throne is established in Justice and Judgment over wicked Men to their Condemnation Psalm 11. as well as in Love and Mercy over those that hear him and obey him But now the Devil and Man both left their Place and Habitation in God and the Serpent hath had the Dominion over Man and Woman for the Scripture saith Darkness hath covered the Earth and gross darkness the People And because the Prophet saith Behold I am pressed as a Cart is pressed with Sheaves Again because the Scripture saith Let God arise and his Enemies shall be scattered therefore you do conclude and also believe that the Seed of God is underneath and must arise And indeed I once heard once Preach and in his Declaration did exhort all that had believed to feel God to arise and none to keep him down from which I do conclude thus much that the Creature is in dominion over his Creator and also hath Power to keep him down And another said All feel God to arise and take the Dominion over all which doth conclude that he is not yet in Dominion over all But now consider a little Wherefore did God swer in his Wrath that Israel should not enter into his rest And why did God strive with the old World by his Spirit was it because his Spirit was in Bondage and Captivity in them and so stood in need of help and deliverance from them Or wherefore did God strive with us by his Spirit in our youthful days was it because his Spirit or Seed was in Bondage and Captivity in us and so stood in need of our help to raise him up out of Bondage and Captivity or was it not we that were in Bondage and Captivity both Soul and Body being under the Power of Death and Darkness and so stood in need both of help and deliverance by the Spirit of God for the Apostle saith Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee Light So then it is we that have slept the sleep of Death that are to be awakened and also quickned and it is not the Seed nor God that is to be quickned nor yet that are to arise out of Bondage and Captivity in the Sons and Daughters of Men. Therefore you must find out some other interpretation for these Scriptures For is it not written that the Seed of the Woman shall break the Serpents head then must not the Seed of the Woman be uppermost and above the Serpents Head in all the Sons and Daughter of Men for the Seed of the Serpent as it is written shall but bruise his Heel And is it not also written that God is the higher Power and every Soul must be subject to him And in page 10. of your Book you say that I do deny the travelling Seed Now this I do deny that neither the Seed nor God in Man travels for their own deliverance because that neither God nor yet his Spirit were ever in Bondage or
Captivity but Man both Soul and Body hath been under the Bondage of Corruption So it is we that are to be delivered out of Bondage and Captivity it s we that are to make War in the Spirit against the Power of darkness and also to travel in the Spirit that so by the Spirit of God we may come to be delivered from the Power of Death and brought into the liberty of the Sons of God for they that overcome as he overcame in the days of the Flesh they shall inherit all things Now the Son of Righteousness did arise among the Jews according as it is written with healing under his wings According to the promise of God to his Prophets of old that so he might put an end to all those things by which they did expect healing or remission of Sins Now in page 7 of your Book you write against me because I said the Books were paid for out of the Poors Collection Now as concerning the Quakers buying of the Books when I first opposed the thing which is about three years ago or more since I opposed the buying of them but if the Quakers had continued their buying of them still then you should not have needed to have ordered that they should be paid for out of the Poors Collection but the thing was true and I can prove it out of some of their own Mouths And in the same page of your Book you say that I contend against the Truth and yet you say that I am crying up the Light Is not the Light and the Truth all one And is not this Confusion in Babylon Take it into your Consideration and let God's Witness judg And in Page 9 of your Book you say that he that was dead is alive and is risen over Death and Hell Now God who both was and is a Spirit was never dead for he is without beginning of Dayes or end of Life But now we have been dead as to the enjoyment of the Spirit of Life in us for the Power of Death and Hell hath had Dominion over us both Soul and Body and Understanding but yet the Power of Death was never over nor yet above the Spirit of God in us neither was ever God or Christ under the Power of Death and Hell in us Wherefore it is neither God nor Christ that is to arise in us but we are to be raised by the Arm of his Power revealed from Heaven And again you say his Power is risen in thousands Now I do believe many have been quickned and also raised by his Power from under Deaths Power For the Lords Spirit or Trumpet hath sounded and the dead have heard it As the Apostle saith Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee Light And you say in pag. 11. Was not that the Light of the World that died by which Men are condemned Now Christ said of Himself in the Days of his Flesh I am the Light of the World And his holy Life was a Witness to his Words as he was a Man begotten by the Spirit of God and he also said of his Disciples ye are the Light of the World but yet they were not the Salvation of the Ends of the Earth But now God saith Look unto me all ye Ends of the Earth and be saved for I am God and besides me there is no Saviour Isa 43. and 45 chap. and Hos 13.4 And it is God that shews to Man his Thoughts as saith the Scripture Now Christ as he was the Son of Mary died he being made of a Woman made under the Law died to redeem them from the Law that were under the Law The which Law or Dispensation the Gentiles were never under nor yet had any Command for the Observation of them But now Christ as he was God by generation from God he died not for the Godhead died not as I have formerly written And the same God that ever was a Saviour and Salvation to the Ends of the Earth now is and not another and his Appearance throughout all Ages among the Gentiles hath been by his Spirit to the Gentiles the which Spirit Law or Light within both was and is the Gentiles Schoolmaster and Rule to walk by And in pag. 10. you query How came the War in Heaven if the Devil could never get into Heaven Now as concerning my Saying that the Devil could never get up into Heaven the thing both was and is true I or Christ in the days of his Flesh he then dwelt in Heaven and in the Power of his Father made war against every Temptation of the Man of Sin and so in the Power of his Father he kept him out of Heaven and so did John who was born of the Spirit of God And as concerning the Scripture saying that the Devil is exalted above all in the Temple of God above all that is called God Christ saith to the Jews Is it not written in your Law I said ye are Gods And Moses was to be instead of a God to Aaron as saith the Scriptures But now the Devil he hath been exalted in the Temple of God above all that is called God or that is called of God or made by the Power of God in the Temple of God but yet he is not exalted above God Himself And You say We are glad for the Truth and our sakes that I printed what I did print And you say That the true Doctrine that Rome and the Priests own you own it also but the Antichristian Doctrine you deny Well Friends if this Doctrine be true that Rome and you own that is to say Justification and Condemnation by him that died without the Gates of Jerusalem then without any further dispute your Image must down For your Image saith That he that is not justified by the Witness of God in Friends is condemned So this Doctrine can never stand for Rome and you say both that Justification and Condemnation is by that Christ that died But and if the Old Christ keeps his Dominion and Authority as to the Justifying of People then your new invented Doctrine and Image can never stand opon its feet long Wherefore Friends seeing you do acknowledge to own some of Romes and also of the Priests Doctrine I query of you Whether you do own these following Doctrines which Rome and the Priests of England do own 1. Whether the Kingdom of Heaven be above the visible Firmament And also Hell to be underneath the visible Earth which Men walk upon 2. Whether Christs visible Body that once was upon the Earth be now above in the visible Heavens at the right hand of his Father and there making Intercession to God his Father for Sinners 3. Whether there be three Persons as Father Son and Holy Ghost which they call the Trinity above the visible Heavens 4. Whether you do believe that the Souls of Men Women and Children be immortal and shall abide for ever 5. Whether when Men
of the Body of the Quakers in general And because the Image or Paper of Orders may be known to the Quakers in general I have here inserted it word for word with the names of the eleven Elders that signed it A Testimony from the Brethren who were met together at London in the third month 1666. to be communicated to the faithful Friends and Elders in the Countries by them to be read in their several Meetings and kept as a Testimony among them WE your Friends and Brethren whom God hath called to labour and watch for the Eternal good of your Souls at the time aforesaid being through the Lord's good hand who hath preserved us at liberty met together in his Name and Fear were by the Operation of the Spirit of Truth brought into a serious Consideration of this present state of the Church of God which in the day of her return out of the Wilderness hath not only many open but some Covert Enemies to Conflict against who are not afraid to speak evil of Dignities and despise Government without which we are sensible our Societies and Fellowship cannot be kept holy and inviolable Therefore as God hath put it into our hearts we do communicate these things following unto you who are turned from darkness to light and profess with us in the Glorious Gospel throughout Nations and Countries Wherein we have travelled as well for a Testimony against the unruly as to stablish and confirm them unto whom it is given to believe the Truth which is unto us very precious as we believe it is also unto you who in love have received it and understood the Principles and felt the Vertue and Operation of it In which our spirits breath that we all may be preserved until we have well finished our Course and Testimony to the honour and glory of our Lord God who is over all blessed for ever 1. We having a true sense of the working of the Spirit which under a Profession of Truth leads into a Division from and Exaltation above the Body of Friends who never revolted nor degenerated from their Principles and into marks of Separation from the constant Practice of good and anitient Friends who are found in the Faith once delivered to us And also unto a slight esteem of their Declarations or Preaching who have and do approve themselves as the Ministers of Christ and of the Meetings of the Lords People whereby and wherein Friends are and often have been preciously revived and refreshed And under pretence of keeping down Man and Forms doing down the Ministry and Meetings or encourage those that do the same We say the Lord giving us to see not only the working of that Spirit and those that are joyned to it that bring forth these ungrateful fruits but also the evil Consequence and Effects of it which are of no less importance than absolutely tending to destroy the Work of God and lay waste his Heritage We do unanimously being thereto encouraged by the Lord whose presence is with us declare and testifie That neither that Spirit nor such as are joyned to it ought to have any Dominion Office or Rule in the Church of Christ Jesus whereof the Holy Spirit that was poured forth upon us bath made us Members and Overseers Neither ought they to act or order the affairs of the same But are rather to be kept under with the power of God till they have an Ear open to Instruction and come into Subjection to the Witness of God of the encrease of whose Kingdom and Government there shall be no end 2. We do declare and testifie That that Spirit and those that are joyned to it who stand not in Vnity with the Ministry and Body of Friends that are constant and stedfast to the Lord and to his unchangeable Truth which we have received and are Witnesses of and Ambassadors have not any true Spiritual Right or Gospel-Authority to be Judges in the Church and as the Ministry of the Gospel of Christ so as to condemn you and their Ministry Neither ought their judgment to be any more regarded by Friends than the judgment of other Opposers who are without For of right the Elders and Members of the Church which keep their habitation in the Truth ought to judg matters and things that differ and their judgment which is so given therein ought to stand good and valued among Friends though it be kickt against and disapproved by them who have degenerated as aforesaid And we do further declare and testifie That it is abominable Pride which goeth before Destruction that so puffs up the mind of any particular that he will not admit of any judgment to take place against him For he that is not justified by the Witness of God in Friends is condemned by it in himself though being hardened he may boast over it in a false Confidence 3. If any difference arise in the Church or amongst them that profess themselves Members thereof We do declare and testifie That the Church with the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ have power without the assent of such as dissent from their Doctrine and Practices to hear and determine the same If any pretend to be of us and in case of Controversie will not admit to be tried by the Church of Christ Jesus nor submit to the judgment given by the Spirit of Truth in the Elders and Members of the same but kick against their judgment as only the judgment of Man it being manifested according to Truth and consistent with the Doctrine of such good antient Friends as have been and are found in the Faith agreeable to the Witness of God in his People Then we do testifie in the Name of the Lord if that judgment so given be risen against and denied by the party condemned then he or she and such as so far partake of their sins as to countenance and encourage them therein ought to be rejected And having err'd from the Truth persisting therein presumptuously are joyned in one with HEATHENS and INFIDELS 4. We do declare That if any go abroad hereafter pretending to that weighty Work and Service who either in Life or Doctrine grieve good Friends that are stedfast in the Truth sound in the Faith so that they are not manifest in their Consciences but disagree to the Witness of God in them Then ought they whatever have been their Gifts to leave them before the Altar and forbear going abroad and ministring until they are reconciled to the Church and have the Approbation of the Elders and Members of the same And if any that have been so approved of by the Church do afterwards degenerate from the Truth and do that which tendeth to Division and countenance Wickedness and Faction as some have done then the Church hath a true Spiritual Right and Authority to call such to Examination and if they find sufficient cause for it by good testimony may judg them unfit for the Work of Gods Ministry whereof they