Destroying one another So I rest in the Blessed Peace of my God a Sufferer for his Blessed Truth Blessed for ever be his Name who hath called me and counted me worthy thereunto But it will not be well with such as hate the righteous Man as saith Scripture But my Heart can say Father forgive them for they know not what they do And concerning Kings and all that are in Authority my Heart hath said according to the Holy Doctrine of the Apostle Lord Grant that they may Rule well that it may be well with them in the latter End and that we thy People whom thou hast redeemed to thy self may lead a quiet and peaceable Life in all Honesty and Godliness under them to thy Praise And for this Cause pay we Tribute c. This his own Sincere Account appears truly agreeable to what the Holy Apostle saith in the like case 2 Cor. 1.12 For our Rejoycing is this the Testimony of our Conscience that in Simplicity and Godly Sincerity not with fleshly Wisdom but by the Grace of God we have had our Conversation in the World and more abundantly to you-wards These things are recommended to all Serious and Well-inclined Readers who desire to seek the Lord his Kingdom and the Righteousness thereof to weigh and consider knowing that 't is all our Concerns tenderly to mark and behold the perfect and upright Man for the End of that Man is Peace as was the End of this Innocent and Upright-hearted Man whose Memorial is Blessed Divers Friends have been for some time concerned that the following Collections were not publish'd some Years ago but many Occasions and Exercises intervening have thus long prevented the Persons concerned in Collecting Inspecting and Placing his Writings in Order as they could find them and as might most tend to future Service Admonition or Warning that they might be preserved for Ages to come We have great Cause to Praise the Worthy Name of the Lord our God that he hath raised and sent so many Faithful Witnesses in our Days who have not been as Clouds without Rain but Divinely Replenished and Qualified with Life Wisdom and Sanctity for the Work which the Lord hath called them unto And therefore Wo will be to those Enemies Apostates and Back-sliders who Contemn Reproach or Harm any such who are the Lord 's Anointed ones Prophets or Faithful Servants either while Living or Dead And it highly concerns all the Lord's People who profess his Light and Truth sincerely to approve their Hearts unto him with unblameable Lives and Conversations walking before him in true Love and Christian Charity and truly to prize the Mercy of the present Day and Dispensation of Grace and fervently to pray the Lord of the Harvest to raise up and send forth more Faithful Labourers thereinto that his Gospel-harvest-Day and Work may go on and prosper both in this Age and the Ages to come to his Eternal Praise and Renown and his Church's great Joy and Comfort in him for ever Amen WE being satisfied and having Vnity with the foregoing Preface with Relation to and in behalf of our deceased Friend and Brother Thomas Taylor his Service Labours and Travels in the Gospel of Christ do hereunto Subscribe our Names Theodore Eccleston William Ellis Samuel Waldenfield George Bowles Charles Marshall Thomas Lower John Bowater Joshua Middleton Richard Needham John Field I Am Concerned to give this further Account The said Thomas Taylor after other Imprisonments being Twice Imprisoned at Stafford for his Tender Conscience to Christ In the first Imprisonment there he was near Eleven Years a Prisoner as I Remember and the Second Imprisonment there was for a short time being Threatned Reviled and Falsly Aspersed and called a Jesuite-Rogue by the Deputy's Steward of the Court I was made Instrumental in God's Hand for his Release both times the First in 1672. by Solicitation for him and many others whom thereupon K. Charles the Second Released And the Second by Endeavouring for himself about 1679. Manifesting him to be no Jesuite nor Papist but a Peaceable Harmless Man in his Conversation and a Dissenting Protestant Distinguished under the Name Quaker to clear him from the False Aspersions cast upon him in which my Solicitation and Endeavours for his Liberty I had great Peace and Comfort and the more in obtaining the same for him and others for I truly Loved him for his Innocency Integrity and Love to the Lord and his People G. Whitehead London the 20th of the 3d Month 1697. AN INDEX OF THE CHIEF HEADS Contained in this BOOK I. A Testimony concerning our Dear Friend and Brother Thomas Taylor who was Convinced of the Lord's Everlasting Truth and Received it in the Year 1652. II. Christopher Taylor 's Testimony concerning Thomas Taylor III. Thomas Taylor 's Testimony concerning his Father IV. A short Testimony of Hannah Taylor concerning her Dear Father Thomas Taylor V. Robert Barrow 's Testimony concerning Thomas Taylor VI. William Fallowfield 's Testimony concerning Thomas Taylor VII A short Testiâ—oâ—y concerning that Faithful Servant of the Lord Thomas Taylor whose Memory is Blessed THomas Taylor 's Epistles To Friends Page 2 To Friends at Strickland head Page 4 To Friends in Warwick-shire and Stafford-shire c. Page 7 To Friends Page 10 A Loving and Seasonable Advice to the Children of Light from a Brother Thomas Taylor Page 11 To Friends that abide in the Truth as also to such as are gone from it Page 15 To Friends Page 17 To Israel 's Babes Page 20 Of Prayers Page 22 Concerning Zion Page 23 The Life more than Cloaths and Meat ibid. To the Vnsatiable Devourers of Strong Drink Page 24 To my Dear Friends every where Page 26 To Friends Page 28 To Friends in London Page 30 To Friends of Sadbury side Page 32 To Friends Richard Boothman and Robert Clough Page 34 The Day of the Lord is Dawned Page 35 Some Prison-Meditations in the 7th Month 1657. being a Free-gift Sermon mainly touching the Religious Robbers or Spiritual Murtherers the Sermon and Prayer-sellers of the former latter and present Times even to the whole Company of Mystery Babylon 's Merchants and Members a Warning Page 37 To the Judges Justices Juries Teachers and People of the Nation who Profess themselves to be Christians and the Scriptures to be their Rule and yet account themselves disturbed if any speak unto them and cry against them in their Assemblies or Streets in the Name and Word of the Lord without any Authority from Man a few Queries Page 50 To those of Manchester that are Zealous for their Sabbath Page 53 To a Wandering Apostate Page 55 To George Ward and those that had Fellowship with him Page 56 To a Plundering Priest Page 58 To those that Rejoice in Bells and Bonefires Page 59 To them that plays the Fool upon the Stage Page 60 Against Mass Times Page 61 To the Bear ward Page 62 To the Dancers on the Ropes Page 63 A Warning to all People ibid. For the
Follies and false Doctrines I may here mention as one may read it in that Book of his that I have under hand to wit in Page 114. are these words It may be unlawful saith he in a Ruler to command a thing that will do no good because it is a Vain Command and maketh Men spend that time in vain and yet be the Subject's Duty to do it Answ This is such Doctrine as Paul's Enemies taught who said Men might do evil that good might come of it whose Condemnation was just So to avoid Sufferings from Men he would have us to obey Unlawful Commands which will do no good but rather a great Evil to wit make People spend pretious Time in vain Away with such Ant christ an and Heathenish Stuff for all true Christians abhor it in their Hearts as the Lord the good Shepherd hath Commanded them And now R. B. to that part of thy feigned Prayer Page 252. where in words thou seemest to desire That God would stir up some Faithful Friend to tell thee with convincing Evidence where it is that thou hast Miscarried that Contrition may prepare thee for the Peace of Remission Here the Lord hath contrary to thy will and desire stirred up one in Faithfulness and Love to thy Soul and the Souls of the poor deluded People whom thou hast deceived to tell thee plainly of thy Faults and grievous Miscarriages as by what is convincingly in these Lines set down doth appear and might be more abundantly if all the Miscariages in this Book only to let pass all thy other were answered unto in particular but these in this Answer of mine being as it were least of what the rest are may satisfie at present And Oh that the Righteous Judgments of God may come upon thy Heart and the Hearts of all them who are in the same false fleshly Confidence with thy self whose very Prayers are not without Sin that you may never have Peace Day nor Night until you humble your selves before the Lord and Repent of all your hard Speeches and Evil Deeds that you have spoken and done against him and his Servants for the Truth 's sake that if it be possible you may be saved from the Wrath that will certainly come upon you if you Repent not for that old wicked Paper full of Lies as I made manifest before thee and some of thy Company in thy Study to thy Shame at Kidder minster which thou writ'st in the Pride of thy Heart against us in Oliver's Days when thou wast lifted up Entituled Reasons to Perswade why no Reasonable Man can be a Quaker amongst the rest of that kind which thou art not Humbled for to this Day as I perceive by this Book do all stand upon Record before the Lord the Righteous Judge against thee for in those thy doings and all that kind against the manifest and manifold Appearances of Christ in his People of every degree thou hast plainly declared thy self to be of Rabshekah's Spirit who Railed against the Living God and his despised Israel and of that Spirit that Jannes and Jambres who withstood Moses in his work under God of calling Israel out of Egypt and as the Lord Pleaded the Cause of his People in those Days so will he as he hath for ever plead our Innocent Cause against thee and all his Enemies for of a truth the Lord God Blessed for ever hath raised us up to be his Servanâ— Sons and Daughters to bear his Name in Righteousness before the Children of Men in a pure Holy Witness against all the false Ways and Worships of false Men so be it and so it will be as hard for thee and all to kick against the Pricks as it was in Persecuting Saul Acts 9. Read and consider lest the Day pass over you as it did from the unbelieving Jews who would not receive God come and manifest in the Flesh in those days to whom Christ said Ye will not come to me that ye might have Life but they would seek it in the killing Letter and as it were by the works of the Law until mid-night Darkness and utter Desolation came upon them For Oh how the Earth is filled with Violence because of such Doctrines and Teachings as this R. B. and such Men brings forth for behold how the Field of his Followers and Admirers are all overgrown with Briers and Thorns and noysom Weeds as the proper Fruit of their accursed Doctrines as this R. B. himself sets down in his 48th Direction Page 236. of his Book in these words that is to say Oh Friends how bad are we our selves What Pride is in our Hearts What Ignorance in our Minds So wanting are we even in the lowest Grace Humility that we have scarce enough to make us take patiently as now we are giving out upon others So Selfish as Dishonoureth our Profession with the Brand of Contradictedness and Partiality so weak that our Duties are lyable to greater Censures than we can bear and our inward Graces weaker than our outward Duties This must needs be so in the Duties of the Graceless Minister thou pleads for of such ungoverned Thoughts that Confusion and Tumult instead of Order and Fruitful Improvement are the daily Temper and Imployment of our Imaginations This must needs be so in you that Live in such Opposition to the Life of God manifest in his Children at this Day So Passionate Impatient and Corrupt that we are a trouble to our selves and others This must needs proceed from such a corrupt Fountain and a Dishonour to the Gospel it is so and a hinderance to the Conversion of those whom our holy Exemplary Lives should win to God So strange to Heaven as if we had never well believed it that is so and therefore the Sheep of Christ deny your Voice you who are such Strangers to him And to say all in one so empty of Love to our dear Redeemer and to the God of Love that our Hearts lye vacant to entertain the Love of Worldly Vanities ye Hypocrites what have you to do to name Christ who are thus Unbelieving and Unredeemed and to fly back from the serious Thoughts of God which should be our daily Work and Pleasure and fly from the Face of Death as if we should be the worst when nearest to our God Oh Hypocrites how can you for shame call God yours when you are thus beyond measure bad when Scripture saith He that saith he knows God and keeps not his Commandments is a Lyer and the Truth is not in him see 1 John 2.4 And Repent lest ye all perish together Priests and People for the Lord is arisen to Judgment and none can stand before him which hath unclean and filthy Garments as you are covered with whom R. B. here puts on to be Teachers of others and yet remain your selves with him under such woful Sins and Condemnation as is here spoken of But surely if you did believe and feel inwardly that it were so bad
with you as here in Words is signified you could not go away so lightly with your Burdens as you seem to do but it would stop your Mouths and cause all your Pride and Glory to cease For consider but the first thing that this R. B. would have you his principal and best taught Hearers to confess to wit That Pride is in your very Hearts which if you were sensible of you would cease calling God your Father and Christ your Redeemer in this wretched State for to you in this State it may be truly said as Christ said to those unbelieving Jews Ye are of your Father the Devil for Pride of Heart is the chief part of his wicked Image And indeed the main thing in this Day which hinders you from coming to Christ the meek pure and lowly Lamb of God is the Pride of your corrupt Hearts as Jeremiah said to the Jews If you will not give Glory to God before your Feet stumble upon the dark Mountains my Soul shall mourn in secret for your Pride It was the Pride of their Hearts that was the ground of all their Evils as it is of yours for from the Pride of your Hearts comes your Ignorance of Mind and Partiality and want of all good to the dishonouring of your Profession and what not So that it may easily be known who sent this R. B. who hath profited you nothing at all For they have run and I have not sent them saith God Therefore they cannot profit the People at all Jer. 23. And that this R. B. might make it fully appear under whose Banner he Fights and for whose Kingdom he Pleads lest the rest of his Book should leave it doubtful He is now come forth in his proper shape of an Enemy of God and good Men that in any measure are looking Heaven-ward being burdened with the Fellowship of the Wicked and instead of helping the Lord 's little Ones against the great Power of the Dragon in the Persecutors he hath hammered forth Weapons for the Wicked Persecutors and against the tender-hearted Ones of God who are travelling to the Holy Land with Egypt left behind as in that 55 Direction so called and Page 254. of his said Book appears where he hath these words Little do many real Separates who cry out against the Spirit of Persecution suspect that the same Spirit is in them whence is Persecution but from thinking ill of others and abhorring them or not loving them And do you not so by those saith he whom you causelesly separate from Answ Here by way of Answer before I set down any more of this naughtiness of his I cannot but take notice of this word Causelesly which here he puts in to cover his Deceit for though at the first look one might judge he intended only Causeless or Unwarrantable or Wicked Separation yet Reader thou must know he intends as well the truly Tender-hearted People of England who in Conscience to God and according to his Holy Commandment are come out and separated from the Fellowship of the Wicked in these Days and so cannot take part in the Offerings of the Dead as well as others and at these in a special manner he strikes after his accustomed manner through the sides of others for his main Envy is against the Living Members of Christ And so though those that separate without cause may have the like mind to those that separate from being different only in Form but not in Heart from them yet such as are separated by the Power of God as Paul was whom God separated from his Mothers Womb calling him by his Grace have not for these stand out of their own thoughts and are in the Will and Work and Worship of God whose Worship is in Spirit and Truth But to proceed R. B. saith further You will say that though you think them not to be true Christians yet you love them as Men and wish their good and so will those say by you saith he whom you call your Persecutors though they think you to be Proud and Humerous and Disobedient yet they say they love you as Men and do but correct you to cure your Self willedness and Humour and to do you good and to preserve the publick Peace They think you to be bad and therefore Imprison you You think them to be bad and therefore avoid Communion with them To this I cannot but by the way speak a word Who is there that sees not the very Spirit of the Egyptian Sorcerers acting in this very thing to the hardening of Pharaoh's Heart lest he should let Israel go But this R. B. goes on in his Wickedness and saith They to wit the Persecutors think you so bad as to be unworthy of civil Liberty and Priviledges You think them so bad as to be unworthy of Church-Priviledges and Liberties They think you unworthy to be suffered in the Land perhaps and you think them unworthy to be suffered in the Churches they cry against you Away with them they are Schismatical or Heretical you cry against them Away with them they are Prophane Answ Now in answer to this I say That we who are of the World Scornfully called Quakers have everlasting cause to Praise the Lord who hath redeemed our Souls from among such devouring Wolves as this R. B. and from such a venomous Spirit as he is acted by What Heathen upon Earth could strengthen the Hands of the Persecutors against the Righteous more than this by such Comparisons or Arguments What if this R. B. had lived in the Days of the Apostles and first Christians when God separated them from the Congregation of the unbelieving Jews surely he could not but have been accounted famous and worthy of great Honour amongst those persecuting Jews for such Comparisons as these for never an Argument he brings for the Persecutors now but it would as much have fitted the Persecutors then against the Christians yea and it would formerly and doth at this Day fit the Papists against the Protestanâ—s as well as the Persecuting Prophane Superstitious Protestant against them whom God hath drawn by his Mighty Power this Day from amongst them For seeing â—e sets but Thought against Thought the Persecutor's Thoughts of the Righteous against the Persecuted Man's Thoughts of him And seeing all Thoughts are questionable he leaves this ground for the Persecuting Jew to reason to excuse himself against the first Christians according to his Hellish Invention on this wise viz. You Christians who separate from us are of as bad a Spirit as us Jews whom you call your Persecutors for what is Persecution but a thinking ill of others and abhorring them or not loving them And do you not so by us whom you causelesly separate from And though you say though you think us not as Servants of God yet you love us as Men and wish our Good so do we you and that which we do against you which you call Persecution is but a correcting of you
dwels keeps People always learning and never brings any to the Knowledge of perfecting Truth of the Lord Jesus for how should it For they have Run and I never sent them saith God therefore they shall not profit the People at all Jer. 23. And under this woful Condition lieth all the World of unbelieving People who believe not in the Truth Christ Jesus but follow their own dark Spirits which see nothing of the Kingdom of God nor the Holy Worshippers therein A long and dark Night of Apostacy hath passed over the World since the Apostles time wherein the Spirit of Antichrist and Devils hath wrought effectually in the Children of Disobedience as was foretold to the blinding of their Minds and hardning their Hearts against the Everlasting Gospel of Truth the Heavenly Light and Power of God unto Salvation and hath so deluded them that they have thought they were doing God service when they were Persecuting his Truth and Members of his Body as many in the same dark deluded state do at this day but now the Lord is lifting up his Standard against that great Whore Dragon false Prophet and their Armies who Gog and Magog like would devour the Lambs of Christ And now no Weapon formed against Christ his Truth and People shall ever prosper any more at all but the Lamb shall have the Victory and the Kingdom Dominion and Greatness of it shall be given to the Saints of the Most High God whose Kingdom is Everlasting and that Nation Kingdom and People that will not bow to Truth will moulder away and come to nothing as the Lord hath said For now is the effect of every Vision fully to come and no more at all to be prolonged And therefore Wo Wo to the Inhabitants of the Earth and the Sea who are putting the Day of the Lord a far off crying Peace Peace when there is no Peace for there is no Peace to any who will not have Jesus Christ the true Light that Lighteth every Man that cometh into the World to rule in them and over them for his is the Kingdom Glory and Power and he will Reign for Evermore in the midst of his Enemies Glory to his Name without ceasing Amen and Amen saith my Soul whom thou hast Redeemed O Holy One of Israel to set forth thy Praise amongst the Living in Jerusalem thy Holy Hill so be it So now O all ye that love Righteousness and daily wait to see the Heavenly Kingdom thereof set up in you and in all People I T. T. your Brother in the Joys and Sufferings of the Gospel having had through the Mercifulness of our God and Father perfect knowledge of his Good Way from the beginning of this Day of his Love which hath dawned upon his Beloved Seed in these Islands and in all the World do declare and bear my Testimony for God amongst many Brethren that there is no way to God the Father of Light but by the Light Christ Jesus that true Light that Lighteth every Man that cometh into the World with a Light that is Pure Free Spiritual and Sufficient that all Men through it may believe and so be led out of Darkness Sin and Death the ways of Sin into the Marvellous Light and Life of Righteousness and true Holiness and so into Fellowship with the Holy God without which Holiness none can see him nor enjoy him for ever For this Gift of God the Light is Holy and in all that believe and receive it it brings forth it s own Blessed Image which is Holiness And it is Free and works according to its own Blessed Nature in all that joyn to it setting them free from all their Spiritual Enemies whatsoever and so making them Free-born Children of the Heavenly Jerusalem which is free for evermore from all the false and imbondaging Impositions of the Man of Sin whatsoever And so also because this Heavenly Gift of God Christ Jesus the Light who Lighteth every Man John 1.9 is perfect and shines in the Heaâ—t therefore it doth of its own Nature make perfect every Man that wiâ—h their Hearts receive it and so come to God by it It makes perfect to God as pertaining â—o the very Heart and Conscience of all its Lovers for if you Love the Light you Love God from whence it comes for he that Loves him that is sent â—oveth also him that sent him And therefore I say unto all People upon the face of the Earth that all that Faith Hope Worship Religion or whatever it may be called That stands not in and is not carried on in this Power of God the Light which Lighteth every Man is nothing worth Every good and perfect Gift saith James cometh down from the Father of Light who is Unchangeable and it shines in the Heart of every Man though the Darkness which through the Full hath gotten place there comprehends it not yet the Light is there a sure Foundation a tried Corner-Stone Elect and Precious Blessed are all that fall upon it so as to be broken into Godly Sorrow and Tenderness of Heart and Blessed are all that Build upon it they shall be called the Elect of God Precious Sons and Daughters of Zion and their Building shall never fail them nay the Gates of Hell shall never prevail against their FAITH because it standeth in the Power of God Christ Jesus the Light that ever Liveth to keep them in a good and safe Condition that thus come to God by him The Day is dawned which makes all things manifâ—ll Praised be God forever even the Spirit of Truth which leadeth into all Truth is come and the Holy Anâ—iâ—ting is witnessed in all that believe in the Name of the Living Unchangeable God which Teacheth all things and it abideth in the Faithful Hearts and is sufficient And he called the Light Day and so the joyful Day which the Lord hath made being come we will Rejoyce and be Glad in it though the Children of Darkness be never so Angry For the Lord our Strength will maintain our Cause against all his Foes for evermore so be it And now though the Children of the Night be many and Professors of the Letter of Scripture that want the Life of it come forth as so many Armies to plead for and contend for their several formed Ways and invented Worships against the Children of God this day who Worship God in Spirit and in Truth yet Greater is he that is in us then he that is in the World and so though we are forced to Build in this our Holy City New Jerusalem with our Spiritual Sword in our Hand yet we are all well content finding the Lord still with us in this Day of the Restoration of all things And so though Tobiah and Sanballat with all the Heathen Mock and carry false Reports concerning us to the Rulers of the Earth yet through the Help of our God we are enabled to go on in our Holy Spiritual Work in the Lord 's Holy City
perswade you and all People in Love to your Souls to take heed of dallying with God who is a consuming Fire for his Judgments are manifest and who can stand before his Wrath O be not Proud lest your bands be made strong but be Meek and Lowly and Gentle in Heart to Learn of him that is so that you may find rest for your Souls for there is no Peace to the Wicked saith my God the true God that made Heaven and Earth whose Wrath from Heaven is perfect revealed against all Vngodliness and Vnrighteousness of Men without respect of Persons or Professions who hold the Truth in any manner of Vnrighteousness So be it In the 2d Month 1670. Thomas Taylor WEEP thou England Houl Houl ye People for the Dreadful Day of the Lord God is at Hand it is at the Door as an Armed Man coming swiftly upon you to break down and tread under feet thy Pomp Glory and Strength Thou hast exceeded in thy Sins and art grown Monstrous in thine Iniquities so the Lord will be exceeding Terrible unto thee Thou hast suffered the Wicked in thee to have Liberty and to take their fill of Sin when the Voice of the Righteous cannot be endured in thee but he that departs from Iniquity and would perswade others so to do is even made a Prey of by Ungodly and Unreasonable Men their Bodies Imprisoned and Banished and Estates spoiled and many Injuries done them for God's Name and Truth 's Sake And therefore will the Lord God arise to take Vengeance for these things Yea his Soul will certainly be avenged on such a Nation as this saith his Spirit in his Servant if they do not repent and amend AND moreover because you have said in your Hearts We have compassed them about with an Act and none shall Worship God but as we please Therefore will the Lord the mighty God compass you about with his Terrors and you shall find no place to hide your selves in from his Wrath because of the Pride of your Hearts and Evil of your Doings O all ye People of the Land saith the Lord God who are guilty of these things Thomas Taylor THE Lord even the Lord God of infinite endless Glorious Power and Truth plead our Cause our Innocent Cause against you the Rulers of this Nation and of all the World who hate us and Persecute us without a cause The Lord hath raised us up in Righteousness ever Praised be his Name to bear our Testimony for God and his Christ against all the Ways and False Worships of Fallen Man and therefore it is that such as are in the fall through the Ignorance and Evil that is in them number us with the Transgressors and account all manner of Punishments and Grievances too little for us Yea Banishment Imprisonment Spoiling of our Goods and Death it self is Judged not less than we deserve So the Scripture is fulfilled see John 16.2 3. And all this for no manner of Evil at all but meerly because we cannot cease to Worship and Serve the Living and True God our Father as he hath taught us and doth teach all that come to him For our Worship to God is pure in Spirit and Truth And this is the True Standing and established Worship for evermore and God is now Mightily seeking such to Worship him And so the Lord the Ever-blessed and True God Plead our Holy Cause against you who hate us without a Cause We have laid before you the Truth and Righteousness of our Cause and our Good-will to all men and how it is not in our Hearts and Hands in the least to injure you or any but to this Day you will not hear but stop your Ears to our Innocent Cries and therefore to the Lord God of Heaven and Earth do we call and before him who is KING of Kings and LORD of Lords and RULER of Rulers and JUDGE of Judges do we lay our Innocent Cause O that you had known at least in this your Day the things of your Peace but you will not and therefore how can ye expect less than a Forsaking and Casting off by the Lord as the People of Old called Israel found who would not hear the Voice of the Lord and his Servants Crying and Calling unto them in those Days Read the Prophesie of Hosea Hos 1.6 8 9. and see what Lo-ruhamah and Lo-ammi signifie and humble your selves greatly before the Lord for assuredly great Wrath is gone out from the presence of the Eternal Majesty of Heaven and Earth against you and nothing can stay it but your ceasing from Persecuting the Blessed Truth of God which we the People of God in Scorn called Quakers do Love and Live in It is so Thomas Taylor
Testimony lives with me to bear for my Dear Father Thomas Taylor that True and Faithful Servant of the Lord who was Born near Skipton in Yorkshire and was brought up a Scholar and sent to the University and in process of time he came to be a National Minister and so continued for some Years but in those Days he had not many Equals for he was a Man of a Tender Spirit seeking after a further Attainment of the Knowledge of God and his Holy Way whom to know is Life Eternal which the Lord in his own due time made known unto him After he had heard the Word of Life declared in the Demonstration of God's Holy Spirit through his Faithful Messenger George Fox he was then evidently Convinced of the Blessed Truth as it is in Jesus he never after turned his Back upon it many Days and Nights of great Sorrow and Anxiety of Spirit he underwent until the Old Leaven was purged out by the Spirit of Judgment and then he became a Vessel of Honour fit for the Lord's Service and left his Benefice which he then had at Richmond in Yorkshire not consulting with Flesh and Blood what he should do for a Livelihood but trusted the Lord that he would provide for him and his Family he having then a Wife and Five small Children whom he afterward through the good Providence of God lived to see brought up to be Men and Women Now this Faithful Servant of the Lord not distrusting of the Mercies of God gave up freely whatsoever was Dear and Near unto him that the Lord required of him that he might win Christ the Lord who had Visited him with his Day-spring from on high and Ruled him by his Grace and gave unto him the Word of Life to declare unto the Sons and Daughters of Men Warning and Admonishing them to turn from their evil ways and to seek the Lord whilst he might be found and great was his Labours and Travels in those Days being moved often to go into Market-places and Steeple houses to declare the Word of the Lord to the People where he often met with great Opposition and Sufferings from the Hands of Unreasonable Men but the Lord by his Mighty Power delivered him wonderfully out of their Hands and many long and tedious Imprisonments this good Man underwent in his Day but with great Patience and Contentedness of Mind knowing it was for his bearing his Testimony to the Lord's Blessed Truth and not for evil-doing And this I have further to say for this Worthy and Honourable Servant of Christ who loved not his Life unto the Death that he might serve the Lord in his Day who was a Faithful and True Minister of the Everlasting Gospel and laboured mightily in Word and Doctrine and many in this Nation were Convinced by that powerful Word of God that run through him and they have great Cause to Bless and Praise the Name of the Lord even as I may say on his behalf for he was a Zealous Man for the Truth in his Day and was one of the Worthies in Israel who went through many Combates both with Professors and Prophane and by the Assistance of God's Holy Spirit oftentimes put them to silence and the Truth prevailed over all Blessed be the Name of the Lord for Ever And now not being willing to be too tedious to the Reader else I could mention many more things concerning my Dear Father who was a Faithful Follower of the Lamb wheresoever he led him through good Report and bad Report for he valued nothing so much in this World as the Propagation of the Truth for his Life was hid with Christ in God at whose Right Hand there is Joy and Rivers of Pleasure and that for Evermore And a little before my Father's Departure out of this World as he lay upon his Sick-bed several Friends that came to Visit him standing by him he being very sensible to the last spoke on this wife I am going to my Father and your Father to my God and your God and so departed like a Lamb and is gone to his Everlasting Rest to receive that weighty Crown of Glory that is laid up in store for all them that loves the Appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ and keeps their Garments unspotted of this World Thomas Taylor Jun. Middlesex the 3d Day of the 3d Month called May 1697. A short TESTIMONY OF Hannah Taylor Concerning her Dear Father Thomas Taylor THis I have to say concerning this dear Servant of the Lord who followed the Lamb through many Tribulations and wash'd his Garmens white in his Blood That he served the Lord with a perfect Heart and that he was endued with the Spirit of Wisdom and of Understanding in the Truth which he did value above all the World and all the Preferments thereof For he counted all as Dross and Dung in Comparison of that Pearl of Price which he Laboured for both Night and Day Yea for Sion's Sake he could not rest and for Jerusalem's Sake he could not hold his Peace Because the Spirit of the Lord was upon him and he had Anointed him to be a Preacher of Glad-Tidings to the House of God's Israel But he was a Reprover of the Vngodly yea his Testimony was against all Wickedness and Evil-doers Yea he was clad with Zeal as with a Cloak and with the Righteousness which God had put upon them as with an Helmet Yea he was a Valiant Soldier indeed he fought a good Fight he kept the Faith and from henceforth for him was laid up a Crown of Life which at the time appointed he did receive with all the Redeemed of the Lord who rest from their Labour and their Works follow them Hannah Taylor Robert Barrow's TESTIMONY Concerning Thomas Taylor HE being a Man with whom I was Acquainted and Conversant for the space of Thirty Years some part of our Acquaintance in the time of our Notion and Outward Profession of Religion in the form thereof but the most of our time was after God in Mercy had opened our Understanding and revealed his Son in us by the Word of Life and Spirit of Truth to know Christ in us the Hope of Glory He was Educated and Bred up at one of the Colledges of Oxford and became a Parish Preacher and had a Place in the County of Westmoreland yet in those Days he was a Seeking Man having Real Desires to understand the Things of God and the Mysteries of his Kingdom and was a Man of an Honest Life and Clean Behaviour and in his Preaching and Judgment was more Refined than the rest of his Neighbouring Priests and many of his Hearers were a People commended of the Common Hireling Priests of the World which Priests Nick-named his Hearers Roundheads and Puritans and many of those so called came frequently from the next Parish and Town of Kendall to hear him amongst whom I was one and he used to let John Audland and Francis Howgill sometimes Preach in his
you have greatly provoked the Lord God against you by these doings And the old Heathens did never more manifest their evil inside in setting up their Idols than you have done in setting up this dead Stick and adorning it with Garlands or so and sometimes Dancing and Rejoycing about it as your Brethren in the Wilderness did about the golden Calf And now upon this particular Stick what may be judged by the Flag that stands on high upon it but that you have bid defiance to all Good O the Pride O the Self-willedness O the Naughtiness of your blind deceived Hearts How long will you strive against God with your Doings How long will you provoke the Eyes of his Jealousie against you A sad day is coming upon you from his provoked Throne O Repent Repent the dreadful and terrible Day of the Lord God is at hand And what will you do in that day Will you cry to the May-pole which you have so long danced about for help O the Blindness and Wretchedness of your deceived Hearts when will you a wake when will you consider and when will you remember your latter End This dead and dry Stick is a true Figure of your dead and barren Hearts to God and Goodness So whilst you have Time prize it for this is the Day of your Visitation from the Spirit of the Lord in his Servant Thomas Taylor To a Dancing-Master TO hear a Dancing-Master plead for his Kingdom because of the evil Gain that he reaps from his evil Work is no strange thing but to see him plead for it from the Example of Holy David's Dancing or Rejoycing before God's Ark in Ravishment of Joy for its return is abominable in thee and the same which the vain Fidlers and Pipers of the Country condemned by the Law do who will plead David's Musick to bolster themselves up in their unholy Work and so there is no more Agreement betwixt David's Dancing and thine than there is betwixt David's Musick and the Fidlers If David's Dancing before God's Ark were seen by your Eyes who plead for your Heathenish Herodian Dancings in these days it would be accounted no less than Madness and Folly to you as it was by Michael in the former days O the Blindness of thine and all such Hearts who are not afraid thus to wrest â—cripture to your Destruction And whereas thou wouldst excuse Hecodias thou shouldst have said Herodias's Daughter her Dancing Heel from being a cause of the Baptist's Death to cover thy Work withal thou maist know this Cloak is too short for though Herod's Heart was evil not only for marrying Herodias but also in Imprisoning John for reproving him for it as many in these days both do Evil and Imprison the Servants of the Lord for telling them of it I say though Herod's Heart was evil and temptable yet her Dancing Heel as thou calls it was as a Devil to tempt him to that rash Vow at that time for it 's manifest by his Unwillingness of answering her Demand for John's Head that he had no desire of his Death at least at that time though he had put him in Prison And so my Exhortation to thee in Truth and not Hypocrisie is to give over thy Dancing work for as I said before so I say again it is not of God and so it cannot prosper nor that Gain or Pleasure that comes to thee or any others from it And hate good Counsel no longer for it will be hard for any to kick against the Pricks of God's Reproof Thomas Taylor To the Fruitless Vineyard of England OH ye Blood-suckers which hunt after Blood which lay Tracks and Snares to slay the Righteous Oh what a Profession is this that you live in that are so full of Fury and Rage some Mocking some Beating some Stocking some Stoneing some Plotting and laying wait to shed the Innocent Blood and yet you do make a Profession of God and Christ which Christ never taught that Doctrine and there you shew your selves to be as Bloody Persecutors as ever the Jews were who Crucified Christ and sought to slay the Apostles Oh England England Is this the Fruit of thy Ministry Is this the Vineyard which thou hast planted Howl ye Vine-dressers Oh how is the Vineyard full of Briars Oh how is the Vineyard full of Thorns Oh how is the Vineyard full of dead Trees which cumber and bring forth no Fruit Oh how are the Springs stopped that should Water it with the Philistines Oh how full is the Vineyard of Serpents Oh how is the Vineyard full of Thistes Oh how is the Vineyard full of Weeds Oh how full is the Vineyard of Nettles Oh how full is the Vineyard of wild Beasts and of Trees that bear wild Grapes and sour Grapes which sets the Childrens Teeth on edge A time hath been and is that the pretended Dressers and Lookers to the Vineyard are blind and do not know one Tree from another and cannot distinguish a Lamb from a Dog a Sheep from a Goat a Dove from a Kite full is the Vineyard of Wolves strong Horses neighing and the Horses of Pharoah and his Chariots whirling up and down And the Vineyard is full of Thieves and Robbers and the pretended Watch-men are blind and cannot discern betwixt a True Man and a Thief but they call the Thief true Man and the true Man Thief they call Light Darkness and Darkness Light They call them who have come in at the strait Gate to Life and so come in at the Door these they call Thieves and Robbers and those who have never received the Word of the Lord from the Mouth of the Lord but are climb'd up another way and live in the broad way Pride and Covetousness and the Lust of the Flesh these they call the Messengers of God Oh how full is the Vineyard of Drunkards Drunk with the Wine of the sour Grape The Land is full of Oaths and mourns because of such that their Flesh is defiled the Land is full of Respecting of Persons which is a Transgression of the Law of God But now the Lord is risen and rising who respects no Man's Person and lays the Axe to the Root of the Tree Every one that brings not forth good Fruit must be hewen down and thrown into the Fire For now is the Lord sending Sons and Daughters and Servants into the Vineyard Spears are broken and turned into Pruning-hooks and Swords into Mattacks and Plow-shares Some are Plowing up and some are Hacking up and some are Pruning and some are dividing the Sheep from the Goats and the Lambs from the Dogs making a distinction and putting a difference and some are bridleing their Horses which have been wild and some are distinguishing the Kites from the Doves and putting a difference betwixt the Precious and the Vile betwixt the Holy and the Unholy Tremble Tremble Tremble ye Mountains and Hills before the Lord for out of Sion doth the Lord utter his Voice Wo Wo unto all
and Bears led about your Streets with a Drum and a multitude of People in order to more Vanity and Wickedness and that at such a time as this wherein you pretend to be more Servants of God than ordinary by your Communicating together in your Eating and Drinking the Signs of Christ's Body and Blood But alas for you What will all this avail you so long as Bull and Bear-baitings are tolerated amongst you with such full Allowance as this to the Grief of God's Spirit which abhors all such Cruel Sports and Heathenish Customs Do you not publickly profess in your Church-Service Repentance and Amendment of Life for all that 's contrary to Christ And do you not yet see that to delight in seeing Bulls and Bears and Dogs tearing and tormenting one another without cause is a grievous Sin in the sight of God and therefore not to be tolerated by you Besides the great hurt it doth in the Minds of your young ones who are led away from remembring their Creator in the days of their Youth by these things Surely the Lord is grieved with you will you not see the Evil of such Doings for I know if you would come to the Light of Christ in your Consciences you could not but see them and stand against them with all your might and so discharge a good Conscience towards God and his Creation And how do you know but the general Liberty for these Evils to act upon the Stage of these Nations is one cause of the present Judgment of the Sword amongst them Rests God's Servant who hath been a Mourner in Spirit for ye almost this Ten Years because of the Evil of your Doings but as yet you have not laid things rightly to Heart which shows your Misery to be great Thomas Taylor A Testimony against Sporting and Playing NOne can rightly rejoice in the Birth of Christ but the Spiritual New-born in Christ Those that think to please Christ with Eating and Drinking and Sporting and Playing are Carnally-minded and the Carnal Mind is Enmity to God and those that live in the Fleshly Mind cannot please God Rom. 8.6 7 8. So its manifest that the Service and Kingdom of God stands not in Meats and Drinks and Worldly Delights but in Righteousness and Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost Rom. 14.17 For Meats for the Belly and the Bâ—lly for Meats but God will destroy bâ—th it and them saith the Apostle But God will never destroy such as Serve and Worship him in Spirit and Truth all the days of their new and redeemed Life And so it is manifest the more Spiritual that any one is the more are they dead and separated from that foolish Mind and vain Customs that the Evil World loves and lives in And on the contrary those that make most Provision for the Flesh to satisfie it in the Lusts thereof let the Time be what it may are the greatest Enemies to Christ and their own Souls so let things be well weighed and considered and it will appear to the open Eye that God is not more dishonoured many Twelve Days of the Year than in these that People pretend most to Honour him in which to a Godly Heart cannot but be matter of great Sorrow as saith the Apostle Phil. 3.18 19. Many walk of whom I have told you often and now tell you even Weeping that they are Enemies to the Cross of Christ whose end is Destruction whose God is their Belly and whose Glory is in their Shame who mind Earthly things And this is the miserable and woful Condition of the most part of People that in these Days bear the name of Christians over whom the Spirit mourns Thomas Taylor A Loving Exhortation TO All Kings Princes Potentates Bishops and People in the whole Christendom Wherein is a Distinction betwixt the True and False Teachers To be Read over in Meekness and the Fear of the Lord. OYE Kings Princes Potentates and Rulers of the Earth we desire not your Thrones Honours Places or Dignities neither do we envy you for them for we have enough in God our Father who hath made us Kings and Priests to himself by Jesus Christ Spiritually to reign over the Evil in the World and to offer up our selves in Righteousness to his Glory and this is our Crown and that which we strive after in a pure Conscience for we are not of those that fight with Flesh and Blood and with Carnal Weapons for an Earthly Crown but such as in the Strength of Almighty God are taught with Spiritual Weapons to War only against that Mystery of Iniquity and Power of Darkness that captivates the precious Soul of Man and keeps it short of the Glory of God desiring from the Truth of our Hearts that neither the Soul nor Body of any may perish but that this Wicked one which is the Enemy of both may be destroyed out of the Earth in this day of Christ by the Spirit of his Mouth and Brightness of his appearing that so the whole Creation of God may be delivered from Bondage to stand in its Holy Order to the Glory of the Creator as in the Beginning that so he may take delight in the Children of Men and make his Abode with them as at that time when the Morning Stars sung for Joy and all was full of Beauty and Sweetness and no Death in them And O ye Bishops and high Teachers of the World we desire not your Seats neither do we envy you for your great Promotions but do desire that you may know with us the true Shepherd and Bishop of the Soul Christ Jesus the good and true Shepherd and Bishop who gave himself for the Sheep that he might Redeem them from all Iniquity and deliver their Souls from the hands of all Oppression to serve him in his own free Spirit where none can come to make afraid And as this Saviour you come to know and receive your knowledge of Men and Things according to the Flesh will cease and the Love of the World and the Worlds things will die in you and a Love to the Seed that breaths after Righteousness will arise in you and you will know what God requires of you and how you may do that which will commend you to God in the great Day of his Judgment which is nigh at hand and apply your Hearts thereto Therefore awake awake arise arise for the great Day of the Lord is indeed nigh at hand yea the Sun is already arisen and his bright Glory shineth upon the Sons of the Morning and the true fearching Light from which nothing can be hid is felt and known in the Earth and before it the Workers of Iniquity are as Chaff and before it can no mortal Man stand in Judgment though he glister never so much in outward Glory in the Worlds eye for in the presence of this Light the Judgment proceedeth not according to Person or Worldly Appearance but according to Truth Equity and Righteousness and
a hint of what certainly is and will be And so having cleared my Conscience to God and paid my debt of Love to you in this matter I leave all to him who is the righteous Judge and the true Pleader of the Cause of the Innocent in all Generations and the Avenger of all Wrongs that are done upon the Earth and rests his Servant in whose Love is my Souls Life who am a Sufferer for the Testimony of the Everlasting Truth amongst the Despised People of God whom the World in Scorn call Quakers yet the Reproach of Christ to us is great Riches Thomas Taylor An Exhortation to remember the Judgments of God HOW long O ye People of this present time will ye grieve and burden the Spirit of the Lord with your Works How long shall he suffer your Manners unpunished Is it not high time for the Lord to lay to his Hand seeing you have so covered his Law with your Traditions and vain Customs that the poor People can hardly find any one thing you do savouring of Pure Christian Doctrine or the Apostles Practice But the Hand of the Man of Sin is the Worker in you and by the power of the Earth is your Building upheld But Wo to the Building which the Lord hath not builded and Wo to the Builders of that House wherein all the Wicked of the World inhabit lye down and are at ease and bring forth their Young Is this the Church of God Nay nay this is the Synagogue of Satan and not of the Living God for the House of God is Holy and nothing but Holiness dwells there nothing that defileth can enter this day into God's Temple for Holiness is the Ornament of God's House for ever So Wo to the false Builders and Daubers that cry Peace to People in their Sins the Lord speaks no Peace to any Sinners but Judgments Plagues and Woes to Priests and People who live in their Sins and plead for a Continuance in Sin as long as they live as at this day Wo to the unspiritual Men that bind heavy Burdens upon others and will not touch them with one of their Fingers that bind the poor Men whom they call Wardens of their Church by Oath to do impossible things and punish them that make Conscience of their Ways and dare not Swear nor Forswear but would keep their Hearts clean to Christ in whose Church is neither Swearing nor Forswearing this day but the Yea is Yea and the Nay is Nay in all things in Truth and Righteousness But Wo to the wicked World that takes God's Name in their polluted Lips the Lord is arisen to judge thee in Flames of Fire for the day of the Lord is dawned upon thee and thy building will he thrown down and a visible downfall shall Babylon have upon the Face of all the Earth for the Pastors have not gathered in nor visited with Truth the good Seed but with Force and Violence over it do they Rule and therefore is the Lord arisen to plead the Cause of the Poor and Innocent as the Mouth of the Lord hath said So be it And let all the Earth fear and tremble before the Lord this day fâ—r our God the true God is a consuming Fire and will by no meaâ—s acquit the Guilty Thomas Taylor To the Unclean Communicants YOU that tell of a Communion and say you eat Bread and drink Wine in remembrance of Christ's Death and yet live in your Sins confessing with your own Mouths that you daily leave undone that which you ought to have done and do what you ought not to do and that there is no Health in you Consider of your Ways and see in what your Fellowship and Communion stands Doth it not stand in Sin and Disobedience And examine your selves what you eat Do you not eat Damnation to your selves not discerning the Lord's Body For the Lord's Body is Holy but you are Unholy and live in Unholiness as your selves confess and as is manifest in your Lives and Conversations so you have cut your selves off from being of Christ's Holy Body you that live in your Sins and do your own Wills and leave undone that which he wills now to do for no unholy or unclean thing can be joyned to Christ's holy Body Again Christ's Body is a sound and healthful Body and no Leper in it but you have no Health in you as you confess and so you are of that Body and Number who have not as yet so much as touched the Hem of Christ's Garment with a true Heart but are in the Mud and Filth and Diseasedness of this sinful lost World through which the wholsom Waters of God's Sanctuary have not run to cleanse you So all you do in this your sinful State is unclean in the sight of God and he can take no pleasure in your seeming Services because of your Sins For as the Leperous Bodies under the Law were shut out of the outward typical holy Place so the Spiritually Defiled are altogether unfit in this day to enter into or have Communion with any thing of Christ's Kingdom Thomas Taylor God's Virtue and Goodness Extolled O Thou pure God of all Heavenly Glory Virtue and Goodness how Holy are all thy Ways and Righteous all thy Judgments O how plainly and clearly hast thou manifested thy Mind and Will to Mankind in all Generations and especially since the first publishing of thy Gospel and in this of ours and yet alas with grief of Heart may it be said never was the Earth more burthened with the Evil of her Inhabitants than at this day never was there more provoking of God by evil Customs and bad Doings than now They spend their Days in satisfying the Lusts of the Flesh and of the Mind that is Earthly Sensual and Devilish and say in their Hearts unto God Depart from us for we desire not the Knowledge of thy Ways The strait way of Christ they perfectly hate and the broad way of the World which leads to Destruction they willingly chuse because their Hearts are evil and to Christ's Light they will not bring their Deeds because they be so evil that the Light will utterly condemn them And thus in the Blindness of their uncircumcised Hearts they heap up Wrath against the Day of Wrath and Revelation of God's just Judgments upon them And though the Trumpet of the Lord hath been plentifully sounded amongst them yet they will not hear nor awaken to Judgment but say in their Hearts Yet a little more Sleep yet a little more folding of the Hands to Slumber the Judgment is far off we will not forego our present Pleasures and worldly Delights for Glory to come Where is he that 's come from the Dead to tell us what 's in another World Let 's Eat and Drink and take our Fill of Pleasures for to-morrow we Dye and are not say they O the Wretched O the Atheistical Hearts of the Men of this present evil and adulterous Generation The Lord
TRVTH 's INNOCENCY AND SIMPLICITY SHINING Through the Conversion Gospel-Ministry Labours Epistles of Love Testimonies and Warnings to Professors and Profane With the Long and Patient Sufferings of that Ancient and Faithful Minister and Servant of JESUS CHRIST Thomas Taylor Who finish'd his Course in the Year MDCLXXXI 1 Thess 2.5 6. For neither at any time used we flattering words nor a Cloak of Covetousness God is Witness Nor of Men sought we Glory c. LONDON Printed and Sold by T. Sowle next Door to the Meeting-house in White-Hart-Court in Gracious-street and at the Bible in Leaden-hall-street near the Market 1697. AN EPISTLE TO ALL Friendly and Impartial READERS THE Ensuing Collection is Recommended to your Serious Perusal Charitable and Tender Considerations wherein expect not to find either Empty Flourishes Curiosity of Speech or Acquired Eloquence but Plainness and Simplicity wherein the Substantial Truth is sincerely aimed and pointed at The Author by the Grace of God through Jesus Christ being Converted from a Literal Worldly and Mercenary Priest tho' one of the Better Sort to be a Spiritual Minister of Christ and Free Preacher of Righteousness in Life and Doctrine knowing that Gospel-Ministers and good Preachers must be good Livers none being meet to Convert others to God or Christ but who are first truly Converted themselves by his Power This Innocent and Upright-hearted Man Thomas Taylor seeing the great Corruptions Pride and Covetousness and other Enormities among too many of the Worldly Teachers Priests and Hearers was the more Fervent in his Testimony against them who pleased themselves and others with good Words whilst they lived Bad Lives This our Deceased Brother and Servant of Jesus Christ when Sufferings or Storms approached or Wolves appeared to Devour did not Flee with Hirelings nor Flatter with Temporizers nor Admire Mens Persons for Advantage but as one having a fixed Confidence in the Lord and true Zeal for his Glory was Valiant for his Truth on Earth and used much Plainness in his Ministry Testimony and Warnings both to High and Low Professors and Profane not sparing Disguis'd Hypocrites or Deceitful Workers no more than Open and Gross Offenders but as a Partaker of the same Spirit and Life the Primitive Ministers of Christ were in according to his Measure was Exercised in the like Sincerity Uprightness and Self-denial intimated in 2 Cor. 2.17 For we are not as many which deal deceitfully with or make Merchandize of the Word of God and 1 Thes 2.3 For our Exhortation was not of Deceit nor of Vncleanness nor in Guile Ver. 4. But as we were allowed of God to be put in Trust with the Gospel even so we speak not as pleasing Men but God which trieth our Hearts Ver. 5. For neither at any time used we flattering words as ye know nor a Cloak of Covetousness God is witness Ver. 6. Nor of Men sought we Glory neither of you nor yet of others c. In like manner this Faithful Servant of Christ whom we now speak of did not sooth up People in their Sins nor sow Pillows under their Arm-holes like False Sin-pleasing Prophets but in Tender Love and Pity to their Poor Souls Faithfully Warned them and Perswaded them to Repentance as one knowing the Terrors of the Lord and Revelation of his Righteous Judgments against all Unrighteousness of Men being also sensible when the Lord had spoken who can but Prophesie And when he saith Cry aloud and spare not lift up thy Voice like a Trumpet and shew the People their Wickedness Abominations and Transgrâ—ssions What Faithful Messenger dare be silent He was a true Encourager of Vertue and Witness against Vice and Profaneness and the Lord was with him in his Christian Labours Mâ—â—â—stry and Deep Sufferings Wherefore Friendly Readers let not the Simplicity of his Stile nor his Plainness Sharpness or Zeal against Hypocrisie or Deceit offend you in the following Collection or any Passages therein we hope there is nothing in them justly offensive or that may not bear a Charitable and Just Construction with the Impartial and Unprejudic'd if any thing should seem Dubious Though where Prejudice or Envy is against Persons or Things how Just soever it will carp and quarrel at the Clearest Truths as hath appeared both from Envious Apostates and other Enemies to Christ and his Followers The Holy Scriptures themselves not escaping the Causeless Cavils of Irreligious and Atheistical Persons This Faithful and Zealous Servant of Christ was Divinely endued with a Gospel-Spirit and Ministry and was of a True Christian Gentle and Humble Disposition and his Judgment was mix'd with Mercy and Compassion to poor Souls and his Company and Society was Sweet and Acceptable to all the Faithful in Christ who had a True and Spiritual Knowledge of him and Acquaintance with him He sincerely affected Christian Humility Poverty of Spirit and Simplicity in Christ beyond all Artificial Painting and Humane Acquirements And seeing the Vanity of all Airy Notions Scholastick Craft and Self-righteousness he laid it all aside and was Refin'd from all that Dross esteeming the pure Gold the Heavenly Treasure the Excellency of the Knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord above all therein asserting his Sincerity and Innocency when a Prisoner in about 1665 in Praise to the Lord God who supported him in his Sufferings Patience and Innocent Condition Concerning which please to observe his own Testimony inserted here as followeth viz. This is my Confidence in the Sight of the Lord God and my Clearness before all People that though I have been hated and persecuted and evil spoken of by many these many Years yet it hath altogether been without Cause I praise the Lord. For I can truly say That I never sought the Hurt of any Man living upon the Earth though in Matters of Religion or otherwise he was never so contrary to me or against me Yea the Terrors of God and his Truth did preserve my Heart from seeking my own Revenges but taught me still to commit my Cause to God and he according to his Word did still bring forth my Righteousness as the Light and my Judgment and Just Dealing as the Noon-day Psal 37.5 6. to his Holy Name 's Praise and my Soul 's great Rejoycing and did still let me see that the patient abiding of the Meek is never forgotten of God And so though I have been kept here a Prisoner above four Years for my pure Conscience sake to God yet to the King and the People under whom I Suffer have I done no Harm nor can think or intend them Evil but have endeavoured in all things in the Power of God as a true Christian to live peaceably with all Men as those that have known me from the beginning can witness For I never drew Sword nor Plotted against any nor could ever perswade any others so to do but have still lamented the Misery of Mankind to see them instead of Loving and Helping one another contrariwise Hating Biting Devouring and
Prophet disturb the People of Israel when he spoke unto them and cried against them terribly in the Word of the Lord ordinarily in their Assemblies and Gates of their Cities Yea or Nay Or did not they disturb him in putting him in Stocks and Prison for so doing Consider well of it and give Judgment accordingly Jer. 20. and Chap. 26. and Chap. 37 and 38. 4 Query And whether was it wicked 〈◊〉 King of Israel and his House that had sinned against God or Elijah the Prophet of God who cried against their Sins that disturbed Israel's Peace Yea or Nay And whether the wicked King's Judgment or the Holy Prophet's Judgment will you be of in this matter See 1 Kings 18.17 c. 5 Query And whether Amos who prophesied even in the King's Court and Chappel the Sword upon the King's House and Desolations upon all their Sanctuaries was a Disturber in so doing or so accounted then that we read of save only by one wicked Priest as you may read Amos 7.7 c. And whether Jonah preaching Repentance in the open Streets of Nineveh for a whole day together was a Disturber or a Friend to their City Yea or Nay See Jonah 3.4 c. 6 Query And whether the King and People of Nineveh who instead of persecuting him the Lord's Prophet did repent at his Preaching shall not rise up in Judgment with this present Generation and condemn it Yea or Nay 7 Query Whether did Paul the Apostle disturb the Jews and Gentiles in their Synagogues and Markets when he reasoned of the things of God's Kingdom and disputed as it were daily with them there as you may read in the Acts of the Apostles And whether you who account your selves disturbed with the like things doing in these days do not allow of the Jews persecuting of him for his Works sake then Yea or Nay 8 Query And whether the same Paul in the Corinthians when he said In the True Church all that have any thing revealed unto them from God may speak one by one And when he that is speaking hears such an inspired one begin to speak he to wit the first is to hold his Peace that all things may be heard and all edified I say whether Paul in preaching such Doctrine preached disturbing Doctrine Yea or Nay And lastly It is required of those that judge others for Disturbers in such cases as these That they do set down what is the true and infallible Rule of trying Doctrines and Spirits by in these days or for ever hereafter that they let the thing alone These from the Lord's Prisoner Thomas Taylor To those of MANCHESTER THAT ARE Zealous for their Sabbath 1. TO all you in Manchâ—ster who are Zealous for Morning Exercises or Sermons as you call them on the First day of the Week and so seem to over-run others in the way to the Kingdom give me leave in love to your poor Souls to propose a few things to you Do you know really and in Truth by the Teachings of God upon your Spirits what the Evening is and what the patting out of all your own Lights is seeing the Evening must be witnessed before the Morning for the Evening and the Morning make the First day And whether you have known the Voice of the Light shining in the dark place and have taken heed to it as the Scripture speaks and have obeyed the Voice of it which calls you to return and come to the Lord from all your own ways and there in Repentance do now wait in the Inner Man for the Dawning of the Day and the arising of the Day-Star in your Hearts Or are you not yet in the deceivable Doctrines of them that are without who cry Lo here and Lo there as all such do 2. And whether you do believe and expect any such Promise to be fulfilled in you here so that being in the Day and borne up into the eternal unchangeable Light and so coming to know the Teachings of the Father and the Anointing of the Holy One ye shall not need that any Man teach you but as that Anointing teacheth Or do you imagine that you shall always be beholden to borrowed Lights and Man's Teachings as you are now and so be the silly Women that are always learning and never able to come to the Knowledge of the Truth 3. And whether that Ministry you are under and please your selves so much in can truly be said to be the Ministry of Christ seeing it leads not to an end Nor can you or they witness any one hitherto presented thereby perfect to God in Christ without Spot or Wrinkle or any such thing or ever like to be seeing you generally hold That no Man can be free from Sin and so perfect while you are here And whether you are ever likely to come to the Unity of the Faith and of the Knowledge of the Son of God to the Measure and Stature of Christ by that Ministry that stands in the Will of Man and which denies the Light which hath inlightned every one that comes into the World to be the True Spiritual and Saving Light of Christ and so build upon another Foundation and reject the Light of the World Christ as he is in Man the Foundation already laid by God himself and so denies at once the New Covenant Gospel Christ and Scriptures as your Ministers do who deny the Light which is in Man which shews him Sin and Evil to be Spiritual and of Christ and calls it a Natural Light and so putting the Letter which is without you for the Light draw your Minds out to build upon their Meanings Conceivings and Imaginings of it and so to forsake the true Light the Word it self the Teaching of the Holy Anointing within you and to neglect the Promise of the Father which would lead you into all Truth if you did wait upon it and did honestly through Faith givâ— up your selves to be guided by it and whether you have not just cause to forsake these Builders who have rejected Christ the Corner-stone and caused you to build upon the Sandy Foundation which in the arising of the Storm of the Lord's Tryal and Indignation will not bear you up but Iniquity being still found in you you are condemned within your selves and with the Sinners and Hypocrites in Sion you will all e'er long be forced to cry out Holy Priest and People Who among us can abide with devouring Fire or dwell with the everlasting Burning Thomas Taylor TO A Wandering Apostate O The Desolation that giving way to the Enemy thou hast brought upon thy Soul What must not God be Infinite because thou canst not comprehend Infiniteness Thou art that Finite One that stands against His Infiniteness and glories in thy old uncircumcised Heart but His Infinite Light has comprehended thee and doth and will Judge thee for thy Evil Work and Blasphemous Thoughts of Him whom the Heaven and Heaven of Heavens cannot contain but thou would'st limit
Thoughts and that such a sorry Service as you offer to him will please so great a Majesty Truly the Lord might justly give you into the hands of those he hath thus delivered you from because of your Sins and because you lay not his Goodness to Heart as a truly thankful People do So whilst you have time prize it and awake out of Sleep and come to the Light of God in you the Soul's Searcher and it will let you see the Truth and Seasonableness of my Words that you may repent of all your Sins and sinful Sacrifices and learn to offer unto God your whole Heart to be disposed of to his Will and Service that by his Power he may purge you and through his Righteous Judgments he may make you clean in Heart for his use who is over all blessed for ever And who is seeking such Holy Worshippers in this day of his Power wherein he is arisen to purge the Earth with his fiery flaming Word and to slay the wicked with the Sword of his Mouth Thomas Taylor To the Sons of Vanity YE Sons of Vanity whose Exercise and Delight is not all in God and Goodness but in Sin and Vanity to the darkning and separating of your Souls from that blessed Peace which the Saints in Light enjoy with the Lord God O the miserable Desolations that Sin in this Night of Apostacy hath made in the Earth yet Glory to God though the Egyptians sit in the grossest Darkness yet the Children of Israel who fear the Lord and work Righteousness have Light in all their Dwellings And in that Light they stand Witnesses for God continually against all vain Inventions and cruel Sports of Men of corrupt Minds whom God will Judge and severely Punish in his Judgment-Day O consider this ye Cock-Fighters Bull-Baiters and all that forget God for the Judgment hastens and who shall stand in the Gap for wilful Transgressors What did ye seem to humble your selves lately in a Publick Fast for your Sins and are you so quickly turned again to the Vomit of your old Vanities How should the Lord but smite the Land for these things From a Servant of God these Thomas Taylor Who they are that only Rejoyce in the Birth of Christ NOne can rightly Rejoyce in the Birth of Christ but the Spiritual New-Born in Christ Those that think to please Christ with Eating and Drinking and Sporting and Playing are Garnally-minded and the Carnal Mind cannot please God Rom. 8.6 7 8. so it s manifest that the Service and Kingdom of God stands not in Meats and Drinks and foolish and worldly Delights but in Righteousness and Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost Rom. 14.17 For Meats for the Belly and the Belly for Meats but God will destroy both it and them saith the Apostle But God will never destroy such as Serve and Worship him in Spirit and Truth all the days of their new and redeemed Life and so it is manifest the more Spiritual that any one is the more are they dead and separated from that foolish Mind and vain Customs that the evil World loves and lives in And on the contrary those that make most Provision for Flesh to satisfie it in the Lusts thereof let the time be what it may are the greâ—test Enemies to Christ and their own Souls So let things be well weighed and considered and it will appear to the open Eve that God is not more dishonoured in any Twelve Days of the Year than in these that People pretend most to Honour him in which to a Godly Heart cannot but be matter of great Sorrow as saith the Apostle Phil. 3.18.18 Many walk of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping that they are Enemies to the Cross of Christ Whose end is Destruction whose God is their Belly and whose Glory is in their Shame who mind earthly things And this is the miserable and woful Condition of too great a part of the People that in these days bear the Name of Christians over whom the Spirit Mourns Thomas Taylor A Testimony against Persecution to King Charles the Second and his Magistrates THough our Sufferings be little accounted of in the Eyes of those that Afflict us yet be assured they are seen to be great and many in the Eyes of God our Heavenly Father for whose Name and Truths sake we suffer and for this are his Judgments begun to be poured out upon the Land for though the People of the Land of all sorts be guilty of many other Crying Sins yet this one Sin of Persecuting the Righteous for their pure Conscience sake is and always hath been the most Grievous in the Eyes of Jesus Christ whose Glory is mainly concerned in it as one may see by that in Acts 9. where it is said by Jesus from Heaven Saul Saul why persecutest thou me The Jews and Saul thought they had done well so to persecute those Poor Members of Christ in those days because they would not conform to the Ceremonies of their Law and Service but Jesus saw it was done against him in them what was done against them So though many may think they do well in doing thus against us in these days because we cannot conform to your Customs contrary to that of God in our Conscience Yet know assuredly we are justified in the sight of God for what we do and he will assuredly plead our Innocent Cause as he did the Sufferers for Truth in those former Days and it will not be well with the Land so long as these Yokes of Oppression are upon us who desire nothing more than the Peace Welfare and everlasting Good of the King and all People but alas it will not be so long as the Law which should be laid upon the Wicked Drunkards Swearers Unclean Persons and Wasters of God's Creatures upon their Lusts is thus laid upon the Righteous who live Peaceably Righteously and Godly in this present evil World And so you Judges be awakened to true Judgment and Justice and know aright for what both Land and Sea mourneth at this day and let the King also and all People know the same and know that it is for all your Sins and especially for the hard Usage of us the Peaceable and Innocent People of God in Scorn called Quakers for our Pure Conscience-sake and Holy worshipping of our God in Spirit and Truth as the Lord Jesus Christ hath taught us And so till this with the rest be repented of How can the Lord accept you or be for you Yea though Noah Daniel and Job stood before God to intercede for you yet his Heart cannot be for you so long as your many Sins and this grievous Sin before mentioned do remain Yea though you should meet together every day in the Week and call it a Fast and seem in the outward to humble your Souls yet till these Burdens of Sin be removed from off your Souls and the Yokes of Oppression from off
Christ's Lambs it cannot be well with you Your Teachers may tell you of Sin in the general to be the cause of these Plagues but they tell you not nakedly and truly for what the Hand of the Lord is lifted up against you neither indeed can they because of the Blindness of their Hearts and the Spirit of deep Sleep that is fallen upon them So Friend these things are on me as from the Lord to advertise thee and you all of in love to thy Soul and you all and to desire you in the Name of the Lord to lay them to Heart and ponder of them and not to pass over them slightly as too many have done because they come from such a one as I who am as a Man rejected by you Yet the Lord loves my Soul and cares for me praised be his Name and in the Patience and Joy and Strength of the Peace of God's Blessed Spirit am I kept and preserved in these continued Bonds and Sufferings for his Names sake and the Love of Christ constrains me to seek all your Good and Welfare in the Lord though the more I do this I be the more hated and persecuted of some for my Good Will but this I impute not here to thee but desires that thou maist more and more keep thy Heart and Hands clean from the great Offence to wit the Hatred of Goodness and good Men which hath sunk Nations and Kingdoms into the Pit And my desire is That the King and all in Authority may timely know and consider of these things as things of most Concernment to their Immortal Souls Rests God's Servant Thomas Taylor Wo to the World because of Iniquity WO to the World because of the great Iniquity that lyeth upon it O how are the People of this present time wholly loose in their Hearts to all manner of Vanity The Lord seeth and well pondereth of these things though you O poor deceived People will not see it For O how the Enemy of your Souls through long Custom hath blinded your Minds so that the Good which God hath commanded you you like not at all but the Evil which your own Hearts have devised you call Good and so bring your felves under the Wo Wo Wo to the cursed Customs of the World which are many Your Races both by Men and Beasts where Multitudes meet together to spend their precious Time and to satisfie their Vain Covetous and Drunken Minds the Lord is against it and Judgment from Heaven lingreth not you will not be warned until you feel it Rests God's Servant and Witness against all vain Inventions Thomas Taylor An Apology from the Harmless against the Unjust And to the King and his Magistrates against Plotting WE who are of the World called Quakers do testifie as in the sight of the Blessed Lord God of Heaven and Earth that we are clear in our Hearts from all Plottings or Contrivings of Evil or Mischief against the King or any of his Subjects and that our Meeting apart from the Steeple-house Worship is meerly in Obedience to God and at his Command who saith Come out from amongst them who live in Sin and plead for the continuance of the Body of it Yea in the Regenerate themselves during tearm of Life And so while we touched the unclean thing with you we could not be accepted of God and therefore the Lord called us out that we might meet together as we do and have done these many years in his holy Name and Fear to worship him in Spirit and Truth not in a Pretence but in the real Truth of the thing And we have found his Heavenly Presence with us and his Holy Promise fulfilled amongst us which saith Where two or three are gathered together in Christ's Name he will be in the midst of them Praises to him for ever And now as concerning those People called Monarchy-Men who are Fighters with Carnal Weapon and it seems did rise up to disturb the Peace of the Nation by outward Force we do utterly deny and not only them but all others who think the Kingdom of Christ can be set up with a Carnal Weapon or that his Church can be preserved and kept clean by worldly Force for God hath given us graciously to see beyond all such things and hath manifested in us that Blessed Heavenly Power and Spirit of Christ by which his Church which is his Body is raised up and preserved and builded up for evermore and the Sword of this Blessed Spirit of Jesus which is the Word of God we know for the cutting down not of Persons but Sins Praised be God and so to the outward Fightings and Warrings our Hearts are dead and we dare not avenge our selves as the wicked World doth but to God to we commit our Cause in Well-doing for he is the Avenger of all Wrongs and Pleader of the Innocent Cause of his People in all Generations Glory to his Name over all And therefore it cannot be but a most unjust thing that we should suffer by a Law that was made against Plotters and Seditious Conventiclers I say we who through the Grace of Christ are made to witness against all such things from our very Hearts and therefore it concerns all who are in Authority to see what they do and to distinguish rightly of Matters lest they cause the Innocent to suffer as some to their own Hurt have done and so bring God's Judgments upon them for not the greatest that ever were upon the Earth could escape God's Judgments who wronged his People witness Ahab's House and all the great Kings of the Nations in all Ages who touched God's People who were as dear to him as the apple of his Eye Do you not remember what they did to Daniel for the Worship of his God and how the Lord delivered him and the Pit devoured his Adversaries with the Informers and false Accusers Daniel could not worship but according to the Law of the God of Heaven and so we cannot worship but according to the Law of the Spirit of Life which is in Christ Jesus Must we therefore suffer well we are helped by the Love of God to rejoyce and bear patiently the Will of the Lord until he plead our Innocent Cause and judge in Righteousness betwixt us and our Adversaries for in his Judgment is our Boldness Glory to God for ever but the Haters of the Good cannot stand before him The Jews said They had a Law and by their Law Christ ought to die Was that a good Law which condemned the Innocent So whatever Men pretend as a Cloak to cover their Doings from Men yet God sees the Hearts of all Persecutors of the Righteous and will judge them as such Rests Thomas Taylor Against May-poles O People of Penkridge and the Places thereabout who had a Heart or Hand in the setting up of these Heathenish May-poles especially this second time you have shamed your selves and your Religion thereby in the sight of all and
which sets the Soul free from all Sin for how should People ever come to the Knowledge of the Truth by following such Teachers as are out of the Truth For if the Blind lead the Blind must they not both fall into the Ditch Also seeing you profess the Scripture and not unwritten Traditions to be your Rule and would have People to believe that what you do is according to Scripture therefore it 's demanded in a few words further 1. What Scripture have you for your Sprinkling of Infants and Signing them with the Sign of the Cross and telling People That thereby they are made Members of Christ Children of God and Inheriters of the Kingdom of Heaven when in your own Catechism in Contradiction to your Practice you teach That Children by reason of their Infancy or tender Years then cannot perform the Requests of Baptism to uit Faith and Repentance 2. And what Scripture have you for your Sureties so called which you most unscripturally call the Childrens God fathers and God-mothers which you pretend to make up the Defect in the Infants by and for putting these Pretended Sureties upon such bold Undertakings and unadvised Promisings of that for the Child which they never yet did for themselves nor indeed have Faith to believe that so great Works can be done in any upon Earth to wit To forsake the Devil and all his Works c. seeing that such generally held That none can live without Sin Is not Sin the Devil's Work Yea yea And is there any Undertaker for Man to God-ward but Christ And was there any Surety betwixt God and Man but Christ only who saith Without me ye can do nothing So then this evil Custom of your undertaking being derogatory to the Honour of Christ Who can say that God hath required it at your Hands But if you will yet plead for it shew us your Scripture for it if you would be esteemed to act as Protestants and not as Papists and to own Scripture above Mens Inventions and Traditions 3. Also what Scripture have you for your Surplice Canonical Coats Typpets c. and for wearing Black rather than other Colours seeing the Apostle blamed such as placed Religion in Days Meats and the like surely he would not agree with such as place their Religion in Garments and Colours Blessed be the Lord whose Day is dawned which makes all things manifest and none will hate the Light of it but Evil-doers 4. And what Scripture have you for your Tithes Easter-Reckonings Mortuaries and the like now under the Gospel and for your Laws which you call Spiritual to compel the People to pay you them seeing Christ is come the End of that Levitical Priesthood under whiâ—h Tithes were payable by Law 5. What Scripture have you who profess your selves to be Christians for your Swearing Swearing in your Courts so called Swearing in your Spiritual Courts 〈◊〉 The poor People called Câ—uâ—eâ—-Wardâ—ns grâ—â—an under the Burden of this evil Custom O this is far from following Christ who said and saith unto his Swear not at all but you are grown to that pass that you cannot trust one another without Swearing no not in your Church-matters Is not this a Fruit of Apostacy and departing from that ancient Faith which was once delivered to the Saints 6. And what Scripture have you for giving David's Prayers Prophecyings Roarings Quakings Tremblings and Confessions in Rhyme and Meeter to the World to sing who are of another Spirit than David was and so utterly unacquainted with David's Conditions and so instead of singing with the Spirit and Understanding as the ancient Christians did you sing in a Form without the Power thereby not honouring but rather dishonouring the Lord who is a Spirit and will be worshipped in Spirit and Truth 7. And what Scripture have you for teaching People to worship one another and for your Ring in Marriage where you teach them to say With this Ring I thee Wed and with my Body I thee worship Is not God alone to be worshipped How then are such to be accounted Christian Ministers who abide not in Doctrine 2 John 9. And lastly seeing you pretend to be Christ's Ministers and so God's Free-men I ask you these few plain Questions further Gal. 1.10 viz. 1. Why do you limit your selves or suffer others to limit you to such and such Forms of Words and Gestures and Apparel as is in Use amongst you in all your Services Is it from any Excellency you see in those Words or Forms more than in any other Or is it because you are so weak of Judgment or brittle of Memory as that you can do little without Book Or is it not rather for filthy Lucre sake you are willing to be soâ—ty'd because you know that without Conformity to the Wills of the great Ones in this Matter you can get no Power to compel Peoples earthly things from them O what will not the Love of Money compel covetous-minded People unto 2 Tim. 6.10 11. 2. What is that makes you go to the Bishop rather than any other Man or Men for Ordination as you you call it Is it because you know or believe that he is more Holy than any other Or hath more Power to confer any Spiritual Gift upon you by Imposition of his Hands more than any other If you say he hath where had he it And wherein doth it appear Or is it not rather that you go now to the Bishop for Ordination as you or your Brethren went formerly to the Classical Presbytery so called in Oliver's time because this is the Way now as the other was formerly to impower you to come into Parishes and be their Teachers and command their earthly things from them by Force whether you do any Spiritual Work for them or no Yea from such as in the Lord's Light see you to be no Ministers of the Spirit and therefore not able to minister Spiritual things and therefore deny you Oh that ever such a thing should be among such as profess to be Gospel Ministers 3. Whether do you believe that all things in the Church ought to be done and spoken in the alone Power and Spirit of the Lord Jesus And if so then how can you expect but that God will overturn overturn all Things until he to wit the Lord Jesus Christ to whom all Power in Heaven and Earth is given comes to rule in all and over all to whom of Right it belongs So be it And what is the Cause that you are so dark in your Minds as concerning the Mystery of Christ's Kingdom and the Spiritual Saving Power thereof if it be not that mentioned in the third Chapter of Micah's Prophecy verse 5 6 7. where it is written Thus saith the Lord concerning the Prophets that make my People err that bite with their Teeth and cry Peace and he that putteth not into their Mouths they even prepare War against him therefore Night shall be unto you that you shall not have
a Vision and it shall be dark unto you that you shall not Divine and the Sun shall go down over the Prophets and the Day shall be dark over them then shall the Seers be ashamed and the Diviners be confounded yea they shall all cover their Lips for there is no Answers of God So be not proud for the Lord hath spoken but see in the Dread and Fear of God how you can acquit your selves from the Charge against False Prophets and Teachers mentioned in this Paper and more abundantly in the Scriptures For if you be found in their Sins how can ye escape their Plagues Rev. 18.4 For Wo will be to them that seek deep to hide their Counsel from the Lord and their Works are in the dark and they say who seeth us and who knoweth us see Isa 29. from ver 10. to ver 16. Read and consider and be wise for your Souls From one who Travails for the Prosperity of Sion Thomas Taylor A Strong and Terrible Alarm Sounded out of the Holy Mountain against all the Wicked Inhabitants of the Earth WO Wo unto you Rulers Priests and People who live without the Fear of God and do hide your Abominations in Hypocrisie and Dissimulations you are got into several Sects and Opinions and there some of you have long made a Profession of God with your Tongues and Lips but your Hearts are removed far from him so that your Profession stinks in the Nostrils of the Almighty and he Ioaths and abhors your Preaching and Praying for you are weighed and are found too light your Covering are too narrow they will no longer hide you for now you are searching with the true Light wich makes you manifest and rips off your Coverings so that your Nakedness appears the Day hath made you manifest and now is the Light risen and with it you are seen to be out of the Life of Truth yea you are found to be the greatest Enemies to the Life that be upon the Earth for you seek to Murther it wheresoever it is brought forth yea and in all its appearances you seek to Suppress and Murther it Remember your Fore-fathers Cryed Not this Man but Barrabas and your Cry and Practice is seen-to be the same in Nature now for in you and by you is the Son of God Cryed against who hath long forborn you and because his Judgments were not speedily executed upon you have strengthened your selves in your Wickedness and Imaginations and have provoked the Almighty to Wrath and have not considered that his Long suffering towards you was to have drawn you to Repentance but the Day of your Visitation you have despised and have hated the Light of his Son in your Consciences which hath often shewed you your Evil Deeds and so have trampled the Blood of the Covenant under your Feet and have done despite unto the Spirit of Grace and have chosen to follow the vain Imaginations of your own Hearts and have contemned the Counsel of the Lord and would not that he should Reign over you For which cause his Judgments linger not against you but are ready to be poured forth upon your Heads even upon you who have sold your selves to work Abomination in the sight of the Lord and are Worshipping in the House of your Imagery and are joyned and become one with the great Whore of Babylon who hath made her self Drunk with the Blood of the Saints and Martyrs of Jesus but now is she come in Remembrance before the Dreadful and Terrible God and now shall both she and her lovers be Plagued and Tormented together Therefore ye Nobles and Rulers Captains and Mighty Men Priests and People High and Low Rich and Poor Bond and Free who have Committed Fornication with her Awake to the Judgment and behold your King the Old Dragon which is the Devil and Sathan for he is come forth and deceives you and he is come to gather you to the Battle of the great Day which is at Hand for the Harvest is ripe and the Winepress is full and your Fat 's overflow and the Measure of your Iniquities is great and now will God be Avenged on you who will bring you all down to the Valley of Descision even there shall the Day of the Lord be upon you which will be a Day of Pain and Anguish a Day of Blackness and Gloominess and of thick Darkness unto you that have slain the Witness of God and have made merry over him Your Mirth is almost at an end and instead thereof shall be Mourning and bitter Lamentation which shall come upon you in one Day and now is the Day of Vengeance Proclaimed now is the Trumpet Sounded forth behold the Lyon Roareth Therefore O all Inhabitants of the Earth Fear and Tremble before the Living Dreadful God and Dread ye his Name For now is he arising in his Majesty and Glory to shake Terribly the Earth the noise of a Trumpet goeth before him which soundeth an Alarm Strong and Mighty is he there goeth a Sword out of his Mouth and a Threshing Instrument is in his Hand wherewith he will cut down the tall Cedars and thresh the Mountains to Dust A Fire proceedeth out of his Mouth also which shall devour and burn before him and none shall be able to quench it and the Breath that cometh forth of his Nostrils shall scatter the Earth as the Whirl-wind scattereth the Dust Yea Terrible and Dreadful will he be unto you wicked who Live in the Earth you shall not be able to behold nor stand in his Presence Therefore Weep and Howl and Lament for the Misery that is coming upon you for Destruction is at hand yea the Lord hath decreed an overthrow of the Wicked of the Earth for now shall his overflowing Scourge pass through the Earth and the Beesom of his Destruction shall sweep you away except you Repent For your Wordomr and Murders and Idolatry and Drunkenness and Swearing and Lying and Wantonness and Prophaness is come in Remembrance before the Dreadful and Terrible God who will be avenged on you at once Rejoice ye Saints who are clad with Zeal and Shout for Joy you Sons of the most High God and Sing ye Heavens and you that dwell therein for the Lord is risen ye are Witnesses thereof Behold he cometh in and with ten thousands of his Saints to judge the Earth in Righteousness and to execute his Judgments upon his and your Enemies The Vials of his Wrath are made ready to be poured out upon them and his Indignation is waxen hot against them which shall burn and slay and consume them unto the end Glory Glory Honour and Dominion and Praise be given unto our King who liveth for ever for he is worthy to reign over all who was dead but now is he alive and liveth for evermore and hath redeemed us from the Earth and hath brought us above the Earth to reign with him upon the Earth eternal Praises to our King for evermore who
the Kingdom of his own Son over all to whom every Knee shall how and every Tongue confess for he is worthy The Springs of Life gush out apace from the Presence of the Lord into the Hearts of the Righteous and Righteousness runs down like a Stream through the Valleys of Israel to bring forth the Heavenly Fruits of Righteousness to the Glory and Praise of the Great and Good Husbandman who is over all God Blessed for Ever of whose Holy Reign Kingdom and Government there never shall be end But of the Kingdom of the Man of Sin and all Antichrists there shall be an utter end and Death and Hell shall be cast into the Lake of Fire and the Judgment of the Living and Everlasting Truth of our Heavenly Father shall go forth more and more for the discovering and consuming the false Hope and lying Refuges of all Hypocrites who have covered themselves and not with the Spirit of the Lord the Zeal of the Lord of Life will perform this that his Name over all may be exalted who is worthy whose Appearance in Glory this Day the Children of the Night have greatly withstood and the Dragon hath made great War against the Lamb but praised be the Lord the Lamb hath got the Victory and the Lamb's Followers are this Day with their Feet upon the Holy Mountain where none can make them afraid rejoicing in this that they have found the Lord whom their Souls loved and do love for Evermore So be it Thomas Taylor To some of T. Hicks's Friends YE Hicks's Hearers of Tixall-hall and elsewhere who Read his Defiled and Defiling Book called A Dialogue between a Christian and a Quaker Fear the Lord God of Heaven and Earth for I do affirm in the Truth of Christ that it is a meer Work and Invention of the Wicked One in that Servant of his called T. Hicks who goes under the Name and Profession of an Anabaptist as they are termed I say this Man was put on by the Wicked One who is called the Devil and Satan who was a Lier and False Accuser of the Brethren of Christ from the beginning to Render us the Servants of the Lord called Quakers Odious to the World For the very first Words and Title of his Book is an absolute Lie for never was there such a Dialogue between a Christian and a Quaker but it is a meer Fiction of his own naughty Heart and Head for Rendring us and the Truth we hold Odious and it is a False and Wicked Representation of us and our Religion to the World for the which God will severely Judge him And indeed by this manner of way that he takes who or what kind of Profession is there that he can miss grosly to abuse Seeing he takes upon him like a Prevaricator or Stage-player both to ask the Question and give the Answer so as may serve most for his own wicked End and Purpose and make his Opposite infamous O the Wickedness of such Actors and their Work but Praised be the Lord we are out of the reach of his Malice for under the Holy Wing of God's Power and Protection are our Souls gathered by the Eternal Power of his Living Word in Christ Jesus our Lord And you that Read this Book whether called Papists or Protestants if this Hicks had a Mind to Render you Odious could he not this way he takes do it as Plausibly as against us and so I would not have you hurt your selves so as to strengthen your selves against us and the Truth which we Live in by such bad Books and Endeavours as this Hicks hath come forth in for if that your Minds stand open to receive them you will never want them for the Enemy of your Souls and ours yea of all Mankind will never be wanting to furnish you with Lies for Strengthening his Kingdom in you and hindering you from entring into the Kingdom of God And if you would know the Reason of his thus rising up against us I say it is because through the Grace of God given us we Preach the Mystery of the Kingdom of God even the Wisdom of God in a Mystery as Scripture speaks And that Striking at his carnal Conceptions of things and his Idolatrous Thoughts of outward Water-Baptism hath stirred up the Venom in him which by this his Book he hath Vented but the Lord is the Pleader of his People's Cause which is our Joy and our Armour against all the fiery Darts of all wicked Ones for the Birth Life Death Resurrection Ascention Glorification of Christ and his Coming again to us according to the Scriptures of Truth and Heavenly Promises through the Power of God to our Souls Eternal Salvation and Comfort we Witness Glory to the Lord for ever whatsoever this Book or any thing of like nature can or may say to the contrary so as Christ said to one of our Brethren in times past The Gates of Hell shall not prevail against us And so in the Peaceable Habitation of the Love of God in Christ Jesus do we lye down together with all Holy Souls and Spirits of Just Men made Perfect Hallelujah for the Lord God Omnipotent Reigneth in Mount Zion and before his Ancients Gloriously And so let the Mouth of all Iniquity be stopped for ever saith my Soul Thomas Taylor Something concerning that called the Common-Prayer AND Now all People that you may see we do not without cause Cry against the Priests and deny to joyn with them in the present Common Service now in use amongst the Parish Teachers of England which you are enjoyned upon several Penalties to submit unto I shall in the strength of Truth unbowel it a little unto you that you may at least in part see the true inside of it and not be deceived with the outward Appearance any longer for the Lord is arisen in his mighty Glorious Power to scatter all those Clouds of Ignorance and Error that have long vailed and covered the Minds of People and to be himself the Teacher of his People how to Worship him For his Spirit is greatly burdened with the Manners of the People who take his Name so continually in vain as such do as are only Confessors of their Sins but never forsake them but all their Lives long doing what they should not do and so instead of lessening their Sins are daily adding Sin to Sin covering with a vain verbal unfeeling Confession of Sin but not with the Spirit of the Lord. And so in the very entrance into their Work their Foundation is seen for they manifest themselves not to be in the New Covenant of the Spirit of the God of Life but in the Old Covenant of the Letter saying The Scripture moves them to confess their manifold Sins and Trespasses But when will it be seen that the Scripture moves them to forsake them for a Confession of Sin in Words we hear amongst them but the time of forsaking them never as yet come to be seen
Scripture is fulfilled which saith They hated me without a Cause Thomas Taylor To the People at and about Stafford a Testimony for God and his Truth and against Deceit and Deceivers especially the Hireling Priests as a Warning Information and Instruction in Righteousness to them and all People elsewhere concerned by the Spirit of the Lord in his Suffering Servant Thomas Taylor Hear O People and Fear for the LORD hath spoken THE false Teacher the Hireling who hath run and God never sent him but Preaches for Hire and Divines for Money can never profit your Souls O People at all but with their selfe Dreams and lying Divinations and empty Sounds they deceive your poor Souls For what can the dead words of a dâ—â—d Man dead in Sins raise up your dead Souls from Death to Life No they cannot they have no Life in them and such who have no Spiritual Health nor Soundness by their own Confession in them but are Miserable Offenders can they minister any healthful or sound Doctrine to your Souls Nay these cannot for what is their Chaff to the Wheat their frothy Words to the powerful Word of God For sow a Field with Chaff and what a Crop can you expect But as the Prophet saith They sow the Wind and reap the Whirlwind So cease from them you that love God and your own Souls and turn to God for I Testifie for God That the True Ministry the Soul-saving Ministry of Christ Jesus is not with the Parish-Hirelings of these Days for neither their long Black Robes nor long White Surplices nor their Humane Learning nor the Ordination of Man Men of like Nature with themselves doth any more conduce to the making of them able Ministers of the New Covenant the Gospel of Christ the Everlasting Covenant of God than the Grey or Brown Coat of the Plow-man or Artificer or the Skill of the Husbandman in Husbandry or the Cunning of the Cunning Worker in Wood Brass or Iron doth furnish them for Gospel-service for the Vision of God's Kingdom to all the World this Day both Wise and Foolish is like a Book sealed as the Prophet saith which is given to the Worldly-wise to read and he cannot read it because it 's seal'd and to the Foolish and he cannot read it because he is unlearned Isa 29.10 11 12. so though in the World there is a difference betwixt the Wise and Foolish yet as to the Kingdom of God there is none for the Wisdom of this World is foolishness with God 1 Cor. 1.10 c. for that which lyeth hid from all Flesh God reveals to his by his Spirit for the Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God 1 Cor. 2.6 7 8. And People the time of quickning and raising up of many that were dead in Sins is come again after a long Night of Darkness and the Dead this Day hear the Voice of the Son of God not of main Man and they that hear do live John 5.25 So People look to your Souls for though your Parish-Teachers who Preach for Hire and Divine for Money and love to go in their Long and White Robes do boast of their being come out of Popery yet upon the Popish Maintenance of Tythes Glebe-lands Easter-reckonings Mortuaries and Moneys for Preaching over and Burying the Dead and such like things they live and make a Prey upon not willing to come to Christ to this Day as the first Christians did for a thorough Reformation and so not a little but a great deal of the Old Soure Popish Leaven being yet found amongst them both in Doctrine and Practice how should their whole Lump but be very sour As appears by their Fruits and the Fruits of such as follow them And so for witnessing in Christ against them for these evil things 〈◊〉 suffer Imprisonment yet through God's Mercy inabling me thereunto I rejoice and can truly from my Heart praise the Lord that hath deliver'd my Soul from that horrible Pit that these ungodly Men yet remain in and will not be helped out of And ye People of Stafford for your sakes it was that the Lord by my Mouth rebuked the Hireling that you might not always be deceived and kept in Death with such Dreamers but that you might turn to the Lord God from all such to know his Word and Spirit that made you in you to teach you and to lead your Immortal Souls to the Springs of Living Waters for you have too long dwelt in the Wilderness of Sin Ignorance and Vnbelief and now it is high time for you to Repent and come to know the Baptism of the Holy Ghost and Fire which is Christ's proper Baptism Mat. 3.10 11 12. for alas you have but hitherto been carried on by the Pharisees in the outward Shadows and Figures of Things which reach not the Soul to purifie and perfect it unto God and therefore is the Lord come in Mighty Power this Day to break in sunder all the Graven Images of the People whether under the Profession of the Popish or Protestant Religion for the Lord is on his Throne to make all things new again as in the beginning when all the Sons of God in Holiness sung for Joy and rejoiced in the Lord for the Blessed Victory they had got through the Blood of the Lamb over all their Souls Enemies But Wo and Alas for you the Poor People of Stafford and of many other Places who are under the Teachings of Worldly-minded Men Miserable Offenders like your selves always doing what ye should not do and leaving undone what ye should do and so without all Spiritual Health in the Miserable Captivity of Sin my Soul mourns for you and my Sufferings are for you and my Soul prays for you that you may be recover'd out of the Snare of your Soul's Enemy by which ye are led Captive at his Will for many Days and Years hath my Soul mourned for you and been oppressed and the Lord hath called to you early and late to Repent and lay things to Heart but O the hardness of many of your Hearts and the carelesness of the rest O why will ye Die Why will ye linger and remain still in Spiritual Sodom and Egypt where the Witnesses lay slain Rev. 11. So whilst ye have time prize it left the Lord lay you upon a Bed of Sorrows where no Ease is and say unto you in his Wrath I gave them time to Repent and they Repenâ—ed not In the Year 1679. Thomas Taylor HEAR the Word of the Lord all you that fear to offend the Lord and who breathe after Righteousness in any measure and yet in your Ignorance are seeking the Living among the Dead the Living God in Dead Observations which by Tradition you have received one from another and not from the Lord Jesus The Day is come wherein by the Spirit of Jesus it is witnessed in and by his Living Members That he that was dead is now alive and lives for Evermore and is