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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A57303	The good old way and truth which the ancient Christians many ages and generations ago witnessed unto in the world from age to age, even from the dayes of Christ unto this very time, wherein the same doctrine, life and practice is witnessed unto by us who are in contempt called Quakers, through many tribulations, which our ancestors, the most ancient and true Christians that ever were upon the earth, sealed unto, with the loss of their lives and liberties, by which, in short, is fully manifested, in what is treated of herein, that the doctrine of the Quakers, in denying to swear any oath, and their refusing to pay tythes, and many other things they practise, was the doctrine and practise of the most famous and renowned Christians, both testified of in the Scriptures of truth, and the books of martyrs : also, a brief discovery of the ground and rise and tythes, manifesting them no Gospel-maintenance, but was testified against by the best and most ancient Christians many ages ago / written by ... Ambros Rigge.	Rigge, Ambrose, 1635?-1705.; R. T. (Rebecca Travers), 1609-1688.	1669 (1669)	Wing R1483; ESTC R17133	29,214	42

and follow Christ and learn of him down goes their Merchandize by which they maintain their Pride and Pomp for the preserving of which they will cry up any thing that will promote their trade as hath been manifest in England within these late years but God hath shaken his hand at their dishonest gain and is bringing contempt and misery upon them Ezek. 22. 12 13. and they will become a by-word to many in Ages to come and the Arm of Flesh which they have so long trusted in shall wither before them and the Lord will more and more gather his Sheep from their mouthes that they shall not alwayes prey upon them Ezek. 34. 10. the Mouth of the Lord hath spoken it and all their rage and madness shall but heap Coals of fire upon their own heads for they have over-passed the deeds of the wicked in Drunkenness Swearing Whoring Lying Couzening Cheating Pride Luxury Wantonness Covetousness which is Idolatry a Generation of Vipers stinging and most grievously persecuting all who will not put into their mouthes I might fill a Volumn of their multiplied iniquities which ever were the certain tokens and fore-runners of desolation and destruction and the people thorow their evil example are overwhelmed in all manner of debauchery and uncleanness even drinking in iniquity as the Ox doth water Oh was ever Sodom or Nineveh so over-grown with iniquity as England now is what will be the end of all these Abominations under which this Land mourns Oh that my head were as water and mine eyes a Fountain to tears that I might thorowly bemoan the Calamity of this people for all flesh hath corrupted his way before the Lord their thoughts are the thoughts of vanity and their works the works of iniquity destruction and misery is in their wayes and the way of peace they know not Rom. 3. 16 17. Oh repent repent and amend your wayes for the Kingdom of God is at hand Matth. 4. 17. the Sword of the Almighty is drawn it is fitted and furbished for a mighty slaughter and it shall wound the hairy scalp of every one that goeth in iniquity Plalm 68. 21. Oh therefore return return unto the Lord while he is near and seek his face while he may be found for he willeth not the death of a Sinner therefore if ye perish your destruction is of your selves A Brief Discovery of the entering in of Antichrists and false Prophets with their Marks and Fruits who instituted Swearing contrary to Christ's Command and many other things which now are and for a long time have been upheld contrary to the Scripture and practice of the Saints of old NOw you who call your selves Christians open your eyes and see from whom you have derived Swearing upon a Book which now you are so zealous for that most of you calls it an Ordinance of God let both Christ and the Apostles Testimonies be Witnesses against you herein and not onely them but the Testimony of the best and most ancient Christians since their dayes who under-went most grievous Sufferings both from the hands of many Heathen Emperors several hundred years before there was a Pope and after that Beast arose out of the Sea which then had flowed over the Earth under whom many faithfull Martyrs suffered for their obedience to the Faith and Doctrine of Christ who testified against Swearing and many other abominable Idols which that Beast had derived from the Heathens against Christ's Command all whose Testimonies stands as a Cloud of Witnesses against you at this day who are swearing upon Books and laying your hands upon them saying So help me God which at the best was but invented by Justinian the Heathen Emperor and after him by the Pope from whom it is derived at furthest and so condemns the Quakers to lose all their Goods and Lands and to lie in Prison during the Kings pleasure onely because they cannot deny Christ nor his Commands nor the practice of the Ancient Christians many hundred years ago though there is a witness in many of you that the people of God whom you thus cruelly persecute never plotted any mischief against the King or any man nor ever countenanced any who would so that there is not any people in England Scotland or Ireland that the King may more conside in then in the true born Quakers who cannot betray the Lord nor the King but they who are not faithfull to God and his Truth can never be faithfull to the King Here follows several instances of the Priests practices for which they have no Scripture but were instituted by the Papists and Bishops of Rome 1. CLaudius Espontius a Popish Bishop at a Council held at Pysoy in France in the year One thousand five hundred ordained that Infant Baptism should be received by tradition because it could not be proved by Scripture 2. Ignatius Bishop of Rome was the first that ordained that Infants should be Baptised and have Godfathers and Godmothers oh what blaspemous words hath Antichrist brought in against God how can these be God and Father or God and Mother to the Child and how can they promise and vow that the Child shall forsake the Devil and all his Works and keep Gods holy Will and Commandments and walk in the same all his dayes when as the same men and women do believe before hand that neither they themselves nor the child can ever perform these things Is this Scriptural or Papistical answer Priests 3. Pius Bishop of Rome built the first Temple after the Apostacy in honour to the Virgin Prudentia and since the Papists have built thousands and consecrated them for which they have no Scripture or example from Christ or any of the ancient Christians 4. Dionysius in the year Two hundred sixty seven divided both Rome and all their Places into Parishes and Diocesses for Bishops 5. Silvester Bishop of Rome ordained that all Churches should be Christened and anointed with Oyl and called them St Peter St Paul St Katherine St Maudlen St Hellen St Dunston St Anthony St Gregory St Clement St Giles c. which superstitious names are upheld to this day by those who say they deny the Pope 6. Clement Bishop ordained Confirmation of Children and said none was perfect that wanted that he also ordained that Children should be smore on the cheek and signed with the sign the Cross 7. At Lyons in France they appointed holy dayes to encrease their Religion viz. Christmas Candlemas Lammas which was never ordained nor consecrated of Christ nor any of his Servants who neither went to Mass nor observed any Mass-Dayes but kept Gods Command who said Six dayes shalt thou labour and do all that thou hast to do c. Exod. 20. 8. Boniface the fourth ordained Stephen Innocent Lawrence Michael Martin John Baptist and all the Saints dayes to be kept holy against Gods command before cited and the Apostle testified against such Observations Gal. 4. 10. 9. Gregory ordained that Mass or short prayer

calls himself thy Vicar on Earth hath broken both these Commandments for he maketh a Law to compel men to Swear and by his Law he teacheth that for a man to save his life may forswear and Lye and so Lord through comfort of him and his Laws the people need readeth to Swear or Lye nay oft-times to forswear themselves Lord here is little truth c. Acts and Mon. vol. 1. fol. 527. Sixthly It is one of John Wickliffs Articles whose Works were as much esteemed by the Protestants in England and Bohemia as dispised by the Papists and their Clergy having his bones taken up and burnt forty one years after his decease and his Books were also burned by the Papists and this Article was condemned with many other by the Counsel of Constance That all Oaths which be made for any Contract or civil Bargain between man and man be unlawfull John Hus and Jerome of Prague were condemned for holding of John Wickliff's opinions Ex Actis Consilij Con. stat vol. 1. fol. 606. Seventhly Walter Brute a Teacher among the People of God in the Age of Scorners called The Devil's Servant or Lollard against whom the Pope and King Richard the second and the then ungodly Bishops made so much ado to have the Name of Truth extinguished and the Professors thereof cut off This is Walter 's Testmony concerning Oathes I believe and obey the Doctrine of Almighty God and my Master Jesus Christ which teacheth that Christian men in the affirmation of Truth should pass the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees of the old Testament or else he excludeth them from the Kingdom of Heaven for he saith Except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven And as concerning Oathes he saith It hath been said of old time Thou shalt not forswear thy self but shalt perform those things unto the Lord thou knowest But I say unto you thou shalt not Swear at all neither by Heaven nor by the Earth but let your communication be yea yea and nay nay for whatsoever is more then these cometh of evil Therefore as the Perfection of the ancient men of the old Testament was not to forswear themselves so the Perfection of a Christian man is not to Swear at all because he is so commanded of Christ whose Commands in no wise must be broken although the City of Rome is contrary to the Doctrine of Christ Acts and Mon. vol. 1. fol. 653. Rich. 2d's days Eightly Chrysostom who was a Bishop of Constantinople in commendation of whom much is said in the Ecclesiastical History he blameth them greatly that brought forth a Book to swear upon charging his Clerks that in no wise they constrained any body to Swear whether they think a man sweareth true or false saying It is a sin to Swear well c. Acts and Mon. vol. 1. fol. 701 702. Ninethly Jerome who was an ancient Father and Teacher in the Church whom all the Protestants owned upon that place Matth. 5. 37. and James 5. 12. these were his words It was permitted under the Law to the Jews as being tender and as it were Infants that they might offer Sacrifices to God lest they should sacrifice to Idols so they might swear by God not that it was rightfull so to do but because it was better to swear by God then by false gods and Devils but the great Evangelist admits not of an Oath since every true saying is equal thereunto c. Tenthly In like manner doth Theophilist an ancient Father of the Church whom the Protestants own and have often cited his Doctrine for proof upon the place in controversie saith Learn hence that under the Law it was not evil for one to Swear but since the coming of Christ it is evil as is Circumcision and in sum what ever is judicial for it may become a child to suck but not a man Eleventh And Ambross saith upon Psalm 110. Let him then Swear that cannot repent of his Oath and a little after the said Ambross saith Do not immitate him in swearing whom you cannot immitate in following and indeed the principle solution given by him is Swear not at all Twelfth Many other Saints and Martyrs I might instance at large both in Henry the fourth and Henry the sixth's days whereof some were burned some cruelly handled who said It was not lawfull to Swear in private Cases Vol. 1. pag. 896. Hen. 6. days Thirteenth In Henry the fourth dayes it is said That neither the Pope nor Prelates neither any Ordinary can compel any man to swear by the Bible-book or any Creature of God for saith a Master of Divinity It is not lawfull either to give or to take any Oath upon a Book for every Book saith he is nothing else but divers Creatures of which it is made Therefore to swear upon a Book is to swear by Creatures and this swearing is ever unlawfull Acts and Mon. vol. 1. fol. 701. It would melt any tender heart to hear of the Cruelties and Tortures which that Blood-thirsty spirit invented to destroy the Bodies of those who kept the Commands of Christ and could not be forced to swear by all the Cruelties that the power of darkness either in Henry the fourth's dayes Henry the sixth's dayes Richard the seconds or Queen Maries dayes could invent to torment their Bodies withal which was not a few as may be seen upon record at this day in the first second and third Volums of the Books of Martyrs But they who loved Christ and kept his Commands in those dayes had power and strength given them to endure what ever the Lord suffered wicked hands to inflict upon them by which their Faith and Patience was fully tried and manifested but after the Iniquities of their Adversaries were full the Lord brought swift and fore destruction upon them divers manner of wayes as a just reward of their Blood and Cruelty as may be read at large in the latter end of the said Books For God in every Age shewed his severe wrath against the Spirit of Persecution about Worship and Sacrifice unto him Gen. 3. even from the dayes of wicked Cain unto this hour that spirit is accursed and drove out from the presence of the God of Israel where ever it appeareth at this day even as it was in the dayes of Pharaoh Saul Nebuchadnezer Herod Pilate and all the Chief Priests and after them the wicked Emperors and Kings and after them the divers Popes and their Bloodthirstly Rabble of Clergy and all other under what Name or Form soever at this day where that spirit of Persecution yet remains the Curse and Vengeance of the Almighty doth pursue it where ever it goes though God suffer long as he did Pharaoh and the rest to vex Israel till their iniquities was full even so the Lord in these latter Ages hath suffered many to act much violence and wickedness against his Heritage for their obedience

times Jesus said unto him I say not unto thee until seven times but until seventy times seven Matth. 18. 21 22. So if these Priests could really prove that Tythe was their due the with-holding of them is but a trespass committed against them once a year at farthest now if Christ would not allow of Peter's forgiving his Brother seven times but would have him forgive him seventy times seven which is Four hundred and ninety times what kind of Christians are they who take treble revenge at least and oftentimes five times for every trespass against them this is so far from Christianism that Jews and Turks would blush at it Thus far it was laid upon me to give this short Testimony against this abominable Oppression under which many groans at this day that if possible the ears of people might be opened and that they may see how they have been blinded with things that have no Foundation nor colour from the Scripture and they who pretend the Scripture to be their Rule may see that they walk beside their pretended Rule in either paying or receiving Tythes as any Gospel-right therefore are they justly condemned and reproved by their own Rule which will for ever stand a witness against them both in that and all other ungodly practices by them upheld at this day for which they have not the least colour of Scripture to vindicate them therein Ambros Rigge Postscript I Could not let this little Book pass without annexing hereunto some few of the Bonner like practises of Leonard Letchford Priest of Hurst-Pierpoint who calls himself a Gospel-Minister which within this seven years last past he hath done against Ambros Rigge for his obedience unto the Commands of Christ as before is expressed And secondly of the proceedings of the aforesaid Letchford against Ambros's wife because she could not in conscience pay him Tythe for the causes aforesaid as knowing it no Gospel right To the first it alwayes hath been the practice of the spirit of Antichrist the better to effect its mischievous purposes to destroy and root out the Flock of Christ's Fold first to clothe them with Wolves skins and then to set the Dogs and Lions to devour and tear them to pieces Now in the year 1662 and since this spirit hath manifestly appeared in the aforesaid Letchford for when by the spiritual Weapon he could not at all defend himself as a Minister of Christ ought to do he stirred up the Rulers in Hurst aforesaid as knowing aforehand that for Conscience the said Ambros could not swear to tender him the Oath of Allegiance on purpose to insnare him for the refusal of which he was committed to Horsham Goal the 28th day of the 3d Moneth aforesaid after the said Letchford had effected this he with George Vinter Priest of Cove-old cloathed the said Ambros with a reproach as though he had run away from his Wife and Children in Lincolnshire and had left them to the Parish which when this report was spread it was asked George Vinter who formerly was said to be a Lincolnshire man out of what Town the said Ambros run away who before witness said out of the Town of Eagle which after Examination proved an abominable Lye for the best part of twenty persons of the Town of Eagle in Loncolnshire with several Officers both of their Church and others who had lived in the said Town some twenty some forty some fifty years and never knew any such man as Ambros Rigge live there in all their time as may appear by a Certificate given under their hands yet to be seen yet these two Priests by these and other abominable Lyes and aggravations got the Judge at the Assizes following to condemn the said Ambros in a praemunire at which Assizes Letchford appeared in person as one of the fiercest of Ambros's Accusars saying he would aggravate the matter at which words the Judge reproved him and stopt his mouth so after he had got what he then saw was possible against Ambros he afterwards stirred up the Magistrates and the Goaler to add as much affliction to his Bonds as he could by the which R. Luckin then Goaler to whom he wrote many threatning Letters if he would not be severe towards Ambros and keep him close so that the said Luckin said that they would hang Ambros if they could and seeing it his opportunity to act his will upon him and several others in prison with him for Conscience sake called them into the Wards and begun in the first place to deny them small Beer unless they would give six shillings a Kilderkin for that which was sometimes worse then water and because Ambros and others could not uphold that Oppression was forced to drink water well nigh a year and a half to try Ambros further Luckins turned him into the low Goal among the Fellons and there kept him his own pleasure and in the Winter following when the Frost and Snow lay thick upon the ground the Goaler shut up Ambros again in the middle Ward and took away his Bed and forced him to lie upon the Boords for many weeks together being close lockt up and would hardly suffer his Friends to bring him food and as difficult many times for him to get water to drink in all which trials and exercises the Lords presence was not wanting to him which made all these trials seem joyous unto him it was not long after but the said Goaler died After him came John Moorcock to have some rule though but a Servant in the Prison unto whom L. Letchford wrote a Letter to stir him up against the said Ambros giving the flattering titles of Master Moorcock who being of as bad and wicked spirit as himself was easily induced by him to cruelty in answer to which the said Moorcock about the 8th hour at night in the depth of the next Winter made a mutiny in the Town of Horsham pretending the Quakers had broke out of Prison and raised a great Company with Clubs and Staves and brought them up to the upper Ward where Ambros was at work and without any occasion given them they seised upon him pulling and haling him down stairs into the lower Ward among the Fellons where Moorcock himself put great Irons upon him and left him in that condition many dayes and nights which continued so long as the said Moorcock continued in any Office in the Prison and when Letchford saw that would not do his business he writ a grievous Letter to the Sheriff against Ambros and spurr'd up the Magistrates against him who were more wise then to give much ear unto him though he could never justly lay any thing to Ambros's charge that he had either wronged the King or any man upon the earth but only because he would not break the Command of Christ to Swear whom the said Letchford often threatned with the Gallows both in word and writing and sought many wayes to bring it to pass but hitherto the Lord hath