you have said if it were not reproved Again you exhort your Congregations that they manifest sincerity not only by hatred of error but by a love of the truth c. Answ. Sincerity of heart is indeed precious especially where the Spirit of the Lord is the rule of Judgement and doth mannage that sincerity but where a false spirit rules in the judgement the sincerity is often betrayed into a zeal against the truth and against the wayes of the Lord rather than otherwise and thus it was with the Iewes whose sincerity through their error of judgement was turned into zeal and bitternesse against Christ And thus it is to be feared it is with many in your Congregations who may have a zeal without knowledge and be short of true discerning between what is truth and what is error I speak not this of all but of some for it s no small thing to discern between truth and error especially in this day wherein there are so many wayes and professions of Church-Ministry and Worship and yet all professing the Scriptures are their Rule of Faith worship and practise and seeing that all Sects do professe proof from Scripture for what they hold forth what ground have the people to believe you more than others or others more than you for where people receives Doctrine or Religion by report from others without the evidence of the Spirit of God in their own hearts this is not receiving of the truth unto eternal life wherefore I exhort your Congregations that every one amongst them may wait upon the Lord to have a feeling and discerning in their own hearts and that each one may be led and taught of the Spirit of God which leads into all truth that they may deny all false Ministers and false worships and may worship God in Spirit and Truth through the ministration of his own Spirit in their hearts and consciences and thereby will they discern between truth and error and will love the one and hate the other Thirdly You exhort That they keep themselves unspotted from the prevailing corruptions of these back-sliding times c. Answ. Concerning the times many are ignorant but this is certain at the present time wherein we are is the Lord disquieting of men and its the latter daies of Antichrists Reign and Government that hath been in full power and authority for many generations and Babylon that great City her ruine is threatned because of her abominations that have been many and great for the whole earth hath been corrupted as it s written and now the Call of the Lord is that every man come out of Babylon and deliver himself that he may not partake of their plagues and happy are they that are made clean and unspotted from her sins that they may not be found covered with her garments for the day of the Lord is come and coming upon Babilon and all back-sliders from God and his wayes Now Babilon is that great City which hath ruled over the Kings of the earth and in her hath the blood of Souls and of all just men been found Fourthly You exhort to endeavour a healing of those sad breaches and divisions which have been amongst you c. Answ. Now the sad breaches and divisions which is indeed at present in this Nation cannot be healed but as the cause and ground thereof be removed which is the sins of Rulers Teachers and People and this is the cause wherefore the Lord hath brought distraction amongst them Oh what ambition and self-seeking hath been among the Rulers What judging for gifts and rewards what neglect of Mercy and Judgement amongst them And oh how have they oppressed the poor and trodden down the needy and because hereof is the righteous God vexed And oh what covetousness and greediness of gaine are the teachers guilty of How do they preach for hire and divine for money How have they unreasonably caused men to be imprisoned and their goods to be spoiled for wages and tythes and hire Oh how hath covetousnesse and idolatry and superstition abounded amongst the Teachers in this Nation Oh abominable hath been their sins their oppressions and self-seekings and because of these things hath the Lord brought distractions amongst people and the sins of Rulers and People cries for vengeance from the Lord and till these iniquities be removed by repentance and forsaken the fruit and effect thereof shall never cease but breach upon breach will the Lord make till the Rulers and Priests repent them of their iniquities Gods hand will be upon them both in Judgement and for their sakes that divine for money and preach for hire and judge for rewards Will the Lord make the Nation as heaps and as a ploughed field Therefore let all people repent of their iniquities and return to the light of Christ in their own consciences and become followers of the Lamb and this is the perfect way of healing of all breaches inwardly and outwardly Fifthly You exhort to be diligent in the spiritual and conscientious performances of family duties c. Answ. Men must first be awakened and enlivened unto God before they can act for God in holy duties and as for duties performed in pretence unto God traditionally and without the teachings of the the Spirit of God is but idolatry and the Nation is weary of such a Religion which they have received and held traditionally for thereby the Soul immortal cannot be nourished unto eternal life and while you teach duties towards God by that rule while you teach praying singing repeating catechising by tradition and imitation without the leadings of the Spirit of Christ in them you do but teach idolatry as long hath been taught in the Christian Nations the doing and performing such and such things as Christian duties and practises and the forcing and compelling of doing such things upon people in the unregenerate state and unconverted nature this Religion and such performances of duties have been of Babilon and of Antichrist and a cheat upon peoples Souls whereby many have been murdered and slain in that great City and the form of Godlinesse without the Power hath been practised while duties have been performed unto God without the teachings of the Spirit of God and such their consciences are blinded and the Lord abhors their Sacrifices and people must first come to feel the Word of God in their hearts to regenerate them before they can perform any acceptable thing to God and therefore do not teach people to be hypocrites do not teach them such and such performances in the corrupt nature without the teachings of the Spirit of God in their own particulars for if you do you make them but two fold more the children of the devil and such duties performed in that nature shall not cover nor hide from the Wrath of the Lord which is comming upon all hypocrites Sixthly You exhort that they would cause their children and servants to submit to Catechisings and train them up in there verence
the false Sects and Churches upon the earth and it must be so Babilon is divided and confounded in its self and one part of it against another so the distractions is among your selves among Papists Prelates Presbyters and the rest tearing and rending one another about Church-worship and Religion all like Wolves in sheeps cloathing biting one another being divided in civil and spiritual things one crying for this and another for the other way of Government in Church and State and you are out of the true love and true communion in holy duties and interrupts one another and what one saith is right another saith is wrong and all this is in Babilon among your selves and none of it among them that are in the true Religion and in true Church-Vnion who are gathered by the Spirit of the Lord Your second Evidence of the distracted estate of Religion as you say is the many horrid and hideous errors which for some years past have abounded amongst us against the Authority of Scriptures the Diety of Christ the Holy Ghost Trinity of Persons Immortality of Souls Doctrines of Repentance Humiliation Sanctification Resurrection from the Dead the eternal recompence of Heaven and Hell yea divers Sects encreasing every day in numbers power and malice and under the names of Quakers Ranters Seekers c. oppugning the received Doctrine and unquestionable interest of Christ Iesus amongst us Answ. That many horrid errors have abounded amongst you that 's very true as in many particulars might be instanced But why do you maliciously charge the Quakers with opposing the interest of Christ Jesus The Lord shall judge you in his day when he makes it appear to all the world that those whom you charge with the contrary are the very friends of Christs interest and have been patient sufferers for his Name sake under the wickedness of your Generation and as for the Ranters Seekers and others whom you have reckoned up together with the Quakers it is well known that we are in opposition in spirit unto all these and have given large testimony in the fear of God against them though it is certain that there is many as upright and sincere men towards God amongst these Sects you have mentioned as any of your Congregations and though in some things they are condemnable yet in some things they are as justifiable as you are before the Lord And what the Seekers Ranters Familists and the rest mentioned by you do hold as in these things you have charged them with I le leave that for I am not now pleading their cause but the Cause of God and his People whom you in scorn call Quakers and though you have joyned them in accusation with others yet I must separate them from others in my Answer and must tell you in the fear of the Lord that you have belied them and falsly accused them out of your malicious hearts for they do not deny the Authority of the Scriptures but gives that authority to them which the Spirit of God that gave them forth have formerly given neither do they deny the Deity of Christ but do say in him dwelleth the fulness of the Godhead neither do they deny the Holy Spirit nor the Father Son and Spirit but say there are three and these three are one but as for your Trinity of persons that is language besides the Scriptures and we do affirm the Soul is immortal and as for the Doctrines of Repentance Humiliation Sanctification Resurrection from the dead the eternal recompence of Heaven and Hell these Doctrines are publickly held forth by them in words and also in practise more than by your selves therefore with what face you could charge them with the denial of these things it is almost wonderful and there are thousands of your Congregations that are and have been sometimes hearing in your City that shall bear witness against your accusations and give evidence that they have heard them whom you call Quakers give faithful witness of and for all these things which you charge them with denial of Do you think that your Congregations are all so blind as to receive for truth what you herein have spoken nay I must tell you some of them are offended with you because hereof First in that you have reckoned the Quakers with Ranters and others between whom there is absolute opposition and not agreement neither in doctrine nor practise Secondly That you should charge the Quak with such things as they are altogether clear of and known to be so by many but this is that your folly and weakness might appear and as you speak of encreasing every day in number power and malice some part of this is true for the Lord doth encrease his people daily in number and power by his spirit but not in malice and that is your torment the encrease of the Quakers which as they have begun to encrease so the Lord will continue them and you nor mortal men shall not be able to hinder neither the Magistrates persecution nor the Ministers instigation thereunto though you have joyned hand in hand against them for the Lord is with his people and his authority and power is their defence and they are not in empty formes as you say but in the power of Godliness and as for your Ordinances and Ministry of which you speak something I have said to it already and more I shall say hereafter Your third Evidence is the odious scandalls of those that profess themselves to be the people of God as their self seeking their unparaellel'd breach of all civil and sacred oaths whereby the mouth of iniquity is opened and the reverence of religion abated so that to us say you there appeares no visible way of repairing the credit of strict profession but by a severe punishment of Professors c. Answ. It is true many that do professe themselves the people of God but are not but by their lives and practises gives odious scandalls and are self-seeking as you say but upon whom the guilt of this may truly be charged that remains to be sought out doubtlesse it lies as neer your doors as any others for is not your pride and oppression by taking tithes and suing people at law for wages and casting them in prison because for good conscience sake they cannot pay you your seeking for your gain from your quarter and your taking great sums of money and preaching for hire taking so much yearly are not these odious scandalls and very self-seeking practices which you are guilty of while you pretend publique good as for breaches of oaths and covenants I wish you to search your own hearts for that iniquity doth lye as near your generation as any others witnesse that you and your brethren have from time to time engaged to such and such things as first did not you engage for the government to be without King and House of Lords And did not you then cry up the Protector contrary to your engagements and
have better preserved your flocks Should not you have fed them with living food Should not you have been examples of righteousness and truth unto them And should not you have nourished them with knowledge and understanding But because the Shepherds have been lazy and idle and fed themselves and not their flocks but the Shepherds have ruled over their flocks with force and cruelty and their Ministry and Preaching hath been a very burden and oppression upon the people and therefore it is that their flocks are divided into many Sects and separations and great confusions is in your Assemblies and among you even the sin of the people in some measure will be charged upon you their Teachers whole flocks are run into errors and Atheisme and despise wholesome doctrine and are out of true order and Church-discipline even in the traditions of men Therefore oh that you Ministers would consider and that you would learn more wisdome and that your people would come to receive the Spirit of the Lord into their hearts whereby they may be led into all truth and into the Covenant of God where there is no unbelief ignorance prophanenesse no confusion but peace love and unity altogether and if you and they did come into this you might be happy and the judgments of the Lord would be removed Now I come to some particulars which you do promise for your selves First That you will use all holy endeavours to keep God and his Truth among you Secondly That you will be more diligent in watching over your flocks Thirdly That you shall endeavour the establishment of your Congregations against Popish delusions To all which I answer You must first make clean your own hearts and you must first repent of your own iniquities before you can heal others and you must first learn obedience to God in your own hearts before you can truly instruct others therein And indeed there is need enough for you to mourn before the Lord and to fast and to confess your sins as you say for the Lord has been long departed from you and his presence from your Assemblies and that is the cause of deadnesse and drinesse and barrennesse among the people because Gods presence is wanting among you and you had indeed need to be more diligent in watching over your flocks for you have been negligent therein and have fed your selves and not them and you have sought theirs and not them it s partly evident and it is time for you now to amend and to put away the evil of your doings but first before you dispence the word to others you must feel the word in your own hearts to be as a fire and as a hammer in you and you must know another Foundation for Ministers than you have long stood upon even the Lord Iesus Christ must be your Foundation and you must cease to preach for hire and to divine for money and then should it be better with you and your flocks would have comfort in you if you had received freely from the Lord and ministred freely to them but while you do it for ends to your selves they can have no good hopes nor confidence in you And whereas you exhort your Congregations in divers particulars First to take heed of false teachers trying their spirits and holding fast that which is good especially to beware of Popish insinuations say you c. Answ. Your Exhortation is good in it self but you should have demonstrated more plainly how false teachers should be known conparing their fruits now with what they were in the daies of old when the Scriptures were written and that had been a good way to have discovered false teachers that sixteenth of Matthew mentioned by you bids them beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Christ said they were such as was called of men Master stood praying in the Synagogues loved uppermost rooms at feasts went in long robes and of such Christ bids beware and of such now the people in London are to beware where ever they are for such as do these things are in the steps of the Scribes and Pharisees which Christ cried Woe against and the true Prophets cried against such in their daies as preached for hire and that sought for their gain from their quarter and such you ought to cry against now as seek for their gain from their quarter except the guilt of these things in your selves stops your mouths from crying against them in others and the Apostles cried against such as went for gifts and rewards such as taught for filthy lucre and such as made merchandize of people for gain for themselves such the Apostles and Christ declared against and such you ought to declare against but the people of your Congregations may say who are such now and where are they that I leave to their consciences to judge who it is and where they are now and whether there be any of them in this City now and in the Nation that are called of men Master and love uppermost rooms at feasts and that preacheth for hire and money for gifts and rewards seeks for their gain from their quarter teacheth for filthy lucre and gain who are found in these things now such are false teachers who ought to be taken heed of I shall not now say it is any of you but I shall leave it to you and to your peoples consciences to whom your Exhortation is and as I have said before let all Popish inventions and Popery be first cast out of this Nation and then if you joyn with us against it through the Spirit of the Lord we will endeavour the keeping of it out and that it shall no more enter in amongst us into this Nation And you say that your knowledge here and all other graces here are imperfect to which I say then you are imperfect Saints imperfect Ministers But what do you mean by here I suppose that you mean upon earth now there are none of the Graces of God that are imperfect but the Grace of God is perfect in it self and the Spirit of God is perfect and every gift of God is perfect as saith the Scriptures Now that you should say the Graces of God are imperfect this is error even abominable error and you shew unsoundnesse in Judgement even in the things of God and hath belied the Graces and Gifts of God which in their least measure are perfect And thus I have looked over your Exhortation and thus I have returned to you again not but that I know it is the duty of Christs Ministers to exhort their flocks and that exhortation in it self is good but when I find where lies and false accusations are against the Quakers whom I dearly love and own upon that account and not otherwise have I engaged with you and what I have done it is not rendering evil for evil but rather to reprove your evil and to undeceive your Congregations who might otherwise take all for true that