the Name of the Lord and for God that the Spirit of Christ doth not nor never did admit or allow of persecution or of destroying mens lives about Worship and Faith towards God neither are any of them true Christians whatsoever they profess that are found so doing For it is not a bare profession of Christ and of zeal for his cause and crying up Ordinances c. that makes people true Christians or that gives them acceptance with God or will make them well-pleasing unto God But that which makes a man a true Christian is his obedience unto that Spirit which baptizeth into the true Faith by which Righteousness is wrought Heb. 11.33 and into Christ who is the Author of faith and will bring him to have the mind of Christ as the true Christians had and will make him partaker of his divine nature and will teach him to live soberly righteously and godly in this present World and to do to all men as he would they should do unto him which is according to the Law and Prophets that Christ came to fulfil And indeed there is nothing that can bring a man into this true Christian state but only the working and operation of the Spirit of Christ in his inward parts which all ought to obey and submit unto For the persecuting Jews who were uncircumcised in heart and ears and did alwaies resist the holy Ghost they professed as great Zeal for God and his Cause as the Apostate Christians now do and they look'd for the coming of the Messiah of whom all the Prophets prophesied and professed they would Adore him and Reverence him c. and said That if they had been in the dayes of their Fathers they would not have slain the Prophets Mat. 23.31 who prophesied of the coming of Christ and so they had seemingly a great Zeal for God and his Truth But alas a Murdering spirit was found in them for notwithstanding they professed That they would not have kill'd the Prophets yet they kill'd the Son who was the end of the Prophets And although the Prophets signified the Time when Dan. 9.24 and the Place where the Messiah should be born Mic. 5.2 yet when he was come according to the Prophets which they profest these Professing Jews would not own him nor receive him John 1.11 because he reprov'd their Hypocrisie and their Murdering spirit John 8.40 but they Crucified and Slew Him And this is the very State of the Apostate Christians this day For who is there now amongst them but will profess as great Love to Christ as the Jews in Christ's dayes did to the Prophets who prophesied of him and who is there now among'st them but will say Had we been in Pilate's dayes 〈◊〉 would not have crucified Christ nor delivered him up to be crucified as the Jews said of the Prophets yet notwithstanding their so saying they do as the Jews did for now in this day of his spiritual appearance which they profess they look for and expect they are found persecuting of him in his Members under the sam̄e pretence that the Jews persecuted him in their day viz. as a Blasphemer c. And so the Persecutors were in all ages blinded by the godd of the World who was a murtherer from the beginning and though they could see the iniquities of their fathers and predecessors in persecuting and killing the Prophets yet the envy of their hearts was such that they could not see their own iniquities in persecuting and slaying the Son who was greater than the Servants whom their fathers slew so as I said before it is not a profession of Christ and his Ordinances or zeal for his cause that makes people true Christians neither is God Worshipped upon any of those mountains where the persecuting and destroying one another is but the Worship of God consisteth in obedience to that Spirit of Truth which condemns all those works of darkness and cruelty and in his own Mountain of Holiness where nothing hurts nor destroys Isa 11.9 And such is the Father now seeking to worship him that will worship him there and is now gathering his Sheep from off the barren Mountains upon which the Whore sits where they have been scattered in the dark and cloudy day of Anchrist's reign and where the Wars and Fightings are even to his own Holy Mountain where they shall learn war no more Isa 2.4 And this is the work that the Envious and Murtherous one opposeth and bestirs himself with all his force and might in his Instruments of Cruelty and Men of War arming of them with all kind 〈◊〉 weapons that possibly he can form to fight against this Appearance and Work of God for so it hath been that since we who are reproachfully called Quakers were raised up to be a people to bear Testimony for the Name of the Lord and of the working of his Spirit and Power we have alwayes been even as a Butt for all the Archers of Babylon even from every Mountain to shoot at and our sufferings have not been only in our persons and estates as the spoyling of our goods and scourgings and cruel mockings and imprisonments many unto death as this Nation to her anguish must be made to know but even all sorts of Babylons Merchants or they that trades in every part of her or within her Subburbs have oft made it their business to write and print against us endeavouring thereby as much as in them lay to render us odious to our own Nation and to Nations about us under pretence that we were Papists and Jesuits and that we propagated Jesuitical Principles c. but they being almost if not altogether weary of that work finding it to be to no purpose for the truth which we profess hath still got ground and flourisheth through all these things now at last the Papists or Jesuits themselves who I perceive have a secret hope of a day once more in this Nation they begin to put out their heads and to print against us and so both Protestants and Papists even every head and horn of the Beast after whom the whole World wonders are found pushing against the Lamb and the Saints Rev. 17.14 For of late a certain Pamphlet accidentally came to my hands written by a perfect Roman Catholick who subscribed his name A. S. in which he seems to shew himself sensible of the great distractions that are throughout the whole Christendom about the true way of worship and concerning the true Church and first states a Question viz. which is this Church c. and afterwards makes it his business to prove the Church of Rome to be this true Church and that by divers Arguments by him stated in a Syllogistical manner And I also finding the Author of the aforesaid Pamphlet therein smiting at the People of God called Quakers and endeavouring to render them odious by affirming they are led by a deluding spirit c. I found my self somewhat concerned to return a brief reply
as J. N. confesseth to the wounding of his own Work And indeed What he hath acknowledged is to be known by the Spirit is even enough for any man to know or enough to give Satisfaction to every Soul who breathes after the Knowledge of Acceptance with God For what can give more satisfaction to a man then to know the holy Will of God by his Spirit and to know his Adoption and to know that God is his Father Certainly there is no cause for him that hath this Knowledge to question his Acceptance with God And this may be known without Scripture even by the holy Spirit of Promise as J.N. confesseth therefore to deny the Scriptures to be the Word of God doth not deny the Knowledge of Acceptance with God and thus out of his own Mouth he is judged Seventhly He saith If the Scriptures be denied to be the Word of God c. then all men are left in the dark c. for no man is able to know that God will save any but by his Word which is contain'd in the Scriptures for this is the Word of Salvation or that which directeth to the Means by which we shall obtain Life c. Answ That none are able to know that God will save any but by this Word that I shall easily acknowledgd because it s the Word only that is able to save but that the Scriptures are this Word or alone able to save that I do not acknowledge but deny and J. N. hath produced no Proof for his Assertion but only his own Affirmation nor indeed can he although he boldly saith They are the Word of Salvation yet they no where say so of themselves but they testifie of the Word of Salvation and That it was sent unto the Children of Abraham and unto all amongst them that feared God Acts 13.26 Mark This was not the Scriptures that were sent amongst them but the Word of Salvation or that Word which is able to save Jam. 1.21 which the Apostle there besought the Children of Abraham to receive with Meekness calling it the Ingrafted Word or as some English Translations have it The Word that is grafted in you so this is the Word that is able to save the Word of Salvation the Word of Faith in the Heart c. which Word was in the Beginning the Author of the Faith of the Fathers by which Jacob knew that God would save even before Scriptures were written which made him say Gen. 49.18 O Lord I have waited for thy Salvation By all which it appears That to deny the Scriptures to be the Word of God doth not leave men so in the dark as J. N. affirmeth but that they are still in a capacity to know that God will save and also to see the Salvation of God which is promised to them that order their Conversation aright And whereas he saith That the Scriptures direct to the Means by which we shall obtain Life I Answer I shall easily acknowledge that for as I have before said they contain many true Testimonies of him who is the alone Leader unto Life and they are profitable for Doctrine for Instruction c. that people may be directed to Christ the Way which they testifie of and that they may be turned from Darkness to the Light which discovers the Darkness and that they may come to receive with Meekness the ingrafted Word or the word which is grafted in them by it to be taught and led unto the Possession of Life for this is the Means by which Life is obtain'd which the Scriptures testifie of and direct unto and for this Work we own the Scriptures to be profitable But this doth not run paralel with the Affirmation of J. N. in the 24th page of his Book where he affirmeth That Life was in the Scriptures for its one thing to say that there is Life therein and another thing to say they direct to the Means by which Life is obtain'd If John Newman asserted no other thing then the latter there had been no Controversie about this Point for so far we own the Scriptures But his Confusion sheweth what his spirit is oft-tmes contradicting and opposing himself as is usual with those that oppose the Unchangeable Truth But I perceive an Objection may arise in the Ignorant concerning this thing That if the Word which is able to save be grafted in people and be nigh unto all even in the Heart and Mouth why then are not all saved or why do not all see the Salvation of God or why did the Apostle Exhort them to receive it with Meekness if it were in them already I Answer though the Word or Spirit which is one was in them yet they being disobedient thereunto did not receive it or had not received it but had alwayes resisted it as the Apostle tells them Acts 7.51 and so were like unto those that Job spoke of saying They are of them that rebel against the Light who know not the Way of it c. Job 24.13 so that although the Word or Light or Spirit be in a people and they rebel against it or resist the reproofs and Instructions thereof or do dispite to the strivings thereof how can such be said to have received it for they only receive the Word and the Spirit that receive the Reproofs and Instructions thereof and in them it is known to be a Spirit or Prince of Peace and a Word of Life and Consolation and such know their Beloved to lye all might betwixt their Brests but although he be nigh even in the hearts of many they cannot be said to receive him while they rebel against him and therefore they are not saved but condemned by him For this is the condemnation that Light is come and men love Darkness rather then Light Joh. 3.19 and though he lighteth every man that comes into the World yet it s only they that receive him the Light that he gives Power unto Joh. 1.12 by which it appears that all that were englightned by him did not receive him so that the Light the Word the Spirit may be in people and yet they that received it but reject it in its Reproofs Counsels and Instructions and therefore they are not saved by it but condemned for which cause it was needful for the Apostle to Labour to turn them from Darkness to the Light wherewith they were enlightned to Exhort them to receive with meekness the engrafted Word or to submit unto the operation of the Word that was in them that by it they might be saved for none experimentally knows its ability to save but they who receive the Reproofs and Instructions of it and are Doers or Obeyers thereof and such are taught thereby as by the Universal Grace which hath appeared unto all men which bringeth salvation to order their Conversation aright through which they come to see the great Salvation of God Eighthly Now I come to the eighth sad Consequence that J. N. saith
the Cause of God in the Prisons of London Hartford c. This is a Salutation of my Love and Life MY dearly beloved Friends who are oft brought into my Remembrance and presented before me by the Spirit of the Lord with whom my Life is and unto whom the Love of my soul doth even flow forth and extend it self in the Vertue of that Life which is Infinite and Eternal and in the Spirit of Supplication my soul is daily pour'd forth unto the Lord before the Throne of his Majesty on your behalfs Beseeching and Desiring That he will so furnish and arm you with the whole Armour of his own Righteousness that you may be entire wanting nothing and that you may be enabled to stand and hold out unto the End in this day of Battel and Tryal and that as Valiant Souldiers of the Lamb you may endure all Hardships as seeing him present in the midst of you who is Invisible in the Faith of the Answer whereof I dearly salute you all And dear Friends in this you may all be enboldned and in this Consideration your Heads may be lifted up above all Sufferings even in the midst of them that the Cause in which you are engag'd and for which you suffer is a Righteous Cause of which we have the Witness or Testimony in our own Consciences and a more certain Witness cannot be and this Witness doth testifie That our Cause is the Cause of God who hath call'd us out of Darkness into his marvelous Light and hath made choice of us to bear Testimony to and stand Witnesses for his Name and Truth in this Day of his Spiritual Appearance and Manifestation or Revelation of the Son of his Love whose quickening Spirit we have receiv'd by which we are seperated from the World and by which we have been and still are constrain'd to bear Testimony against all Oppression and Cruelty and against all the Unrighteousness of this sinful World for which Cause these Sufferings come upon us and attend us But blessed be the Lord who hath call'd us with so Honorable a Calling and accounted us worthy to suffer for so Honourable a Cause as Our Testimony for his Blessed Name and Truth the Reward thereof which is great will be certain unto all who are found Faithful unto the End Wherefore my dear Friends towards whom my Bowels of Love even earn and my Life and Soul reacheth as you may feel who are sensible of Life I say unto you all in the Name and Fear of the Lord Lift up your Heads over and above all Sufferings both present and to come I say in the Faith look over them all unto him who is invisible who will out-last them all who alone hath Immortallity and dwells in the Light whose Presence is certainly with you and amongst you and will be so continu'd as you walk and continue with him in his Everlasting Covenant of Light in which he dwells Wherefore let your Life Delight and Habitation be in him for my Friends you whose Hearts are upright unto God know right well that the Lord hath not been at any time wanting unto you in any Exercise of what nature or kind soever in time past the consideration of which is a sufficient Encouragement to every one to cast their Care upon him and to resign up themselves unto him who takes Care for them And if the Enemy be permitted so far to prevail as to execute his Decrees made against us yet in this may we be all satisfied that it shall certainly work for good unto us in the End and shall make for the furtherance of the Glorious Gospel of Peace and for the Exaltation of the Worthy Name of the Lord by which we are call'd wherefore in Contentedness with the Will of the Lord in all states let every one rest resign'd up unto him and in the Gift of his own Spirit wait upon him to receive daily Refreshment from his Presence that you may be Water'd Refreshed and Consolated from day to day that so you may grow in his Grace and be kept fresh and living in his precious Truth to shine forth in the beauty thereof And let it be your great Care above all things to keep in the Enjoyment and Feeling of the Peace and Love of God in your own Hearts and in that you will have Content in all Conditions and live in Love and in Peace one with another and have perfect Charity amongst your selves and whatsoever tends to the contrary let it be condemned by the Light in the rise of it And bear with and for one another and watch over one another in Love and therein exhort one another and build up one another in the most precious Faith which gives you Victory over the World and over all the Persecuting Powers of Darkness and be a Strength and a Refreshing and a Comfort one unto another in your Persecuted Suffering State and Condition And God Almighty keep you all and refresh your hearts daily with his Love and renew your strength with the vertue of his Life that none may be weary nor faint in your Minds but that all may endure with Patience and Valour and Boldness and Courage in the Lamb's Spirit unto the End that in the End you may be Crown'd with the Crown of Immortal Life and Glory which never fades away which is the Daily-Prayer of him who dearly and entirely loves you all who are of an Upright Heart by which Love I was constrain'd to salute you all at this time with these few Lines and so rest in it From my outward Beeing near Bristol this 20th of the 1st Moneth 1665. Your Dear and truly Loving Friend and Brother Josiah Coale A Salutation of Love From the Spirit of Life Unto all Friends of TRUTH Who are in Exilement or Sentenc'd to Exilement for the Exercise of their Pure Consciences in the Service and Worship of God MY beloved Friends Brethren and Sisters who are expos'd to Exilement from the Land of your Nativity for the sake of your Testimony to the blessed Truth of God and who have been and are content to suffer the loss of all that were dear unto you in this present World for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ and rather then to betray that blessed Testimony which God had committed unto you to bear for his Name and who have sufficiently manifested your fidelity unto the Lord and his blessed Truth even in the view of the whole World as a Witness against their False Antichristian and Idolatrous Worships which God by his Power will certainly throw down and bring to nought and who have bore Testimony in Faithfulness in and by your Submissiveness to an Exil'd Estate against that Antichristian spirit of Persecution which Raigns and Rules in the Hearts of all the Apostate False Christians whose Worship standeth in Subjection to the Precepts and Commandments of Men and in Bowing to Stocks and Stones and to the Works of Men's Hands and in other Outward
Burdens and so fulfil the Law of God and in that you are a strength one to another and so in this feel the Salutation of my Love which is to you beyond declaring And to the Keeping and Protection of the Arm of the Lord I do commit you Amen So in the Peace and Life which hath no end I remain London the 2d Day of the 7th Moneth 1667. Your Faithful and True Brother Josiah Coale Let this be sent amongst the Friends in Holland To all People in JAMAICA Unto whom the MESSAGE OF Eternal Life is sent and amongst whom the Gospel is now preached FRIENDS Now the Everlasting Gospel of Peace and Glad-tidings is preached amongst you and the Word of Reconciliation reacheth forth towards you every one with Meekness receive it for it is able to save your Souls and to build you up and give you an Inheritance amongst the sanctified Ones For now is the Message of the Lord to be declar'd unto you and amongst you by True and Faithful Messengers whom he hath sent forth in his Name and endew'd with Power for that Service and hath made them willing for your sakes to give up their Lives that the Way of Life might be made known unto you and you might come to walk therein And their Message you are all to receive as you prize the Salvation of your Souls for they are Messengers of the New Covenant into which the Lord in this Day of his Glorious Appearance is gathering his People that they might be all taught of him and come to the Knowledge of him from the Least to the Greatest And Friends This Covenant of which I speak which they are Messengers of is Light and this Light lighteth every man that cometh into the World which if you give heed unto in your own Consciences you will find it reproving for the Deeds of Darkness and condemning sin in the Flesh and will lead all who are guided by it out of sin and will lead in the Way of Righteousness and in the Path of Peace and Way of True Holiness which is a Way that the World knows not who live in Iniquity Wherefore now all People The Day of your Visitation being upon you and the Lord striving with you by his Good Spirit in your Hearts and being also calling unto you by the Mouthes of his Messengers to Returns Now every one encline your Ears and hear what the Spirit saith in your inward Parts and prize the Day of the Visitation of the Lord's Love who after the long time that you have passed away in Rebellion and Disobedience against his Good Spirit should now be pleased to accept of you and to pass by your Transgressions past and the Sins of your Youth therefore I say Let the Rich Love of the Lord which is now manifested constrain you to Fear before him and to learn Obedience unto his Faithful Witness which he hath placed in your Hearts For Friends it concerns your Eternal Peace and now is the Day wherein you may come to the knowledge thereof before they be hid from your Eyes For truly Friends If you be not attentive unto that which will give unto you the knowledge of those things the time will come that they will be hid from your Eyes and then shall you cry out saying How have we hated Instruction and despised the Day of Healing And so Now the Day is wherein you may come to know and witness your Reconciliation made with the Lord by his Word of Power which is nigh you even in your Hearts and in your Mouthes which Word reconciles to God all who hear and obey it and it will also purge you from all Iniquity if you submit to the Working and Operation of it And this I testifie That no other Way can you come to know a being sanctified and reconcil'd to the Lord but by the Word of his Power and through your Obedience thereunto And this Testimony I send amongst you to the end that you might believe in the Light of the Son of God wherewith you are enlighttened And this Testimony will be further confirmed unto you by the Mouthes of these whom the Lord hath now sent amongst you and their Testimony is true of which I am a Witness for we have been all Baptized by one Spirit into one Body even the Glorious Body of him who is the Head And so we are all Eye-Witnesses of his Majesty and of his Glory and can give in our Testimony together That by the Mouthes of several Witnesses even so many as the Lord shall call the TRUTH may be confirmed to you that so you may no longer follow them who cry Lo here or Lo there For behold the Kingdom of Heaven is within you and comes not with Observations and all that enter into it must become as little Children for of such is the Kingdom of God which is now come with Power and is nigh unto you And Blessed and Happy are all they that come to know an Entrance administred into it for they are Heirs of that Inheritance which shall never fade away Written in Barbadoes this 18th of the 7th Moneth 1661. From one who is a Labourer in the Lords ' Vineyard called Josiah Coale An Epistle to FRIENDS IN New-England The First Epistle DEAR FRIENDS My Love which is sincere and fervent in the Lord's Truth which is as precious as ever in this Day of Tryal is freely and fervently extended to you For oft are you in my Remembrance in much tenderness and truly do I Respect you as such whom the Lord hath accounted worthy to bear his Name and which he hath made choice of to be a Peculiar People to himself and to be Witnesses for him in the mid'st of a Crooked and Perverse Generation And let your Holy Life and Chaste Conversation be such as may preach Righteousness unto all that if they speak Evil of you as of Evil-Doers you may have cause to Rejoyce having the Peace of God in your Hearts And Friends I am not unmindful of you neither are you forgotten by me For oft I am even amongst you in the Spirit of Love and Life in which my Desires and Prayers to God are and oft have been for you that you may grow and encrease and prosper and flourish in the precious living glorious Truth of God of which you are made Partakers and into which you are gather'd through the working of his Divine Power that so the Heavenly Image may be borne by you all that by your Good Example in Holiness and Righteousness many may be made to confess unto the Truth and be convinced of it and that to the Brightness of your rising in it many may be gather'd that so the Borders of the Sanctuary of the Most High may be enlarg'd unto the ends of the Earth For Friends You know full well that in the Power of God yea the Power of an Endless Life We whom the Lord sent unto you labour'd amongst you for the Exaltation
under the Chains of Death and Darkness in you and for the bringing forth of that Birth which is Heir of all things and must Rule all Nations with a Rod of Iron and unto whom we who have been Labourers amongst you have reached with the Word of Immortal Life and with the Power of the Almighty to the raising of Life and bringing Immortality to Light in you by which you were then quicken'd unto Life who were sometimes dead in Sin and Trespasses And you know right well that by this Word of God and Power of an Endless Life you were more and more enlighten'd as you came into Obedience thereunto and your Understandings were open'd by which you came to see how you had been in times past captivated with Sin and Iniquity and had been led away with the Error of the Wicked into Envy Strife and Maliciousness and indeed into every Evil Work and then true Judgment and Condemnation took hold on that part in you by which you had been led into those things and the Way of Truth Peace Love Sanctification and Salvation open'd unto you by the Light and Spirit of the Lord by which your Understandings were quickned And the Invisible Eye was open'd in you by which you came to see your Teacher and as you enclin'd your Ear unto this Teacher and walked in this Light of God's Salvation O then how was the Appearance of Evil eschewed by you And how contrary to your Desires it was to see or hear of Strife and Debate and Contention amongst Brethren And how Love Peace and Good-will did then abound one towards another and towards all men desiring that all might come to know and be made Partakers with you of the same plentious Redemption And how gloriously and plentifully the Lord did then appear amongst you And how freely he did then shed abroad his Love in your Hearts and issue forth of the Vertue of his Life unto you by which your Hearts were enlarged and your souls refreshed and comforted so that you did run well without Weariness or Fainting Who hath hindred you or any of you that you should not continue in this Race in which Peace Love and Good-will did abound one unto another And what is the cause of the Strife and Divisions and Contentions that of late hath been amongst you Hath not the Evil One stepped in and drawn you into Reasonings and Consultations about Differences which hath been occasion'd by dissenting-Dissenting-spirits and thereby vail'd the Understandings of some of you and so brought Night upon them and in the Night season sown the seed of Sedition amongst them Well My Heart is griev'd within me for your sakes and I am oft-times afflicted in spirit because of these things which have happen'd amongst you for indeed some there be that have made the Hearts of others sad whom God never made sad because of their unsoundness and unstedfastness in the Truth which in much simplicity fear and reverence was made known unto you by us who labour'd amongst you in the Word and Doctrine And truly Friends I cannot but Lament the lost estate of some amongst you which I am fully sensible is great and sad Oh that ever it should be said of such a People for whom the Lord had done such great things and unto whom he had so plentifully manifested himself and appeared that they should not retain their first Love and Integrity and Fervency and Zeal to the Lord and one towards another It s indeed sad to consider For have not I seen the Lilly blossom amongst you and the Vine flourish and the tender Grapes appear yes verily And this I further testifie That while you kept your first Simplicity and your first Faith and Love you were Beautiful and Comely and Lovely in the Eyes of the Lord and he took great Delight in you and exercis'd Judgment Mercy and Loving-kindness amongst you in which many did greatly Rejoyce and your Faith was every where spoken of amongst the Churches of Christ and many did greatly Rejoyce because of you for you were Honourable and lovely in the Hearts of the People of God every where and you were even a Crown of Rejoycing unto us who had laboured amongst you and travell'd for your sakes But alas A contrary spirit hath since entred amongst some of you with which we have not Unity nor Fellowship the Report of which hath brought Sadness upon the Hearts of many But those who have given place to the Envious-One must bear their own Burden for their Judgment and Condemnation slumbreth not but will swiftly come upon them Wherefore my dear Ftiends all Be you retir'd in your minds unto the Light by which you were first convinced of the Truth and which gave you then to see the Error of your Wayes and which led you into Love Peace and Good-will one towards another and towards all men and to eschew the appearance of Evil And as you all in this Light come singly to wait upon the Lord in your first Love Simplicity and Integrity you will plainly and clearly see what it is that hath entred and how it entred that hath been the cause of all those Tumults and Contentions and Divisions which of late hath happen'd and been amongst you and as it s seen with the Light and discover'd thereby unto you or any of you let it by the Life be judged from amongst you and therein wait that you may be purged from all Filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit And be tenderly affectionated one towards another in the Truth not with a feigned Love or a feigned Affection for that God hates But let Love be without Dissimulation abhorring that which is Evil in all and cleaving to that which is Good And be Open-Hearted one towards another not Strange and Staightned and Simply and Honestly confess your Faults to each other and pray for one another and the Lord will have Mercy upon the Transgressors and will heal their Backslidings and blot out their Iniquities and will again love them freely and so you will re-gain the Favour Love and Good-will of God unto you and we shall again be comforted in you after these our Sorrows and Grief of Heart because of the Divisions and Spoilings that have been amongst you for our Joy is in your Prosperity and Well-being and our Rejoying is in your Comfort and Refreshment and Preservation and Safety Wherefore my Friends Keep your Eye alwayes upon that Mark which first you pressed after when you receiv'd the Truth and obey'd the Gospel and in that straight and narrow Way of Holiness which was then made known unto you every one still press towards this Mark and have perfect Charity amongst your selves as in the time of your first Simplicity And then you will feel the Lords wonted Goodness and Loving-kindness shed abroad in your Hearts and he will water you with the Dew of Heaven and will bless you with all Spiritual Blessings from above and he will then own you for his own
Lord and with the Eye of Faith look over all Tribulations unto him that is invisible who will out-last them all and will be with you in them and through them all and also when they shall be no more For certainly Friends God hath determin'd by and through these things to exalt his Kingdom and to get himself a Name in the Earth above every Name that every Knee may bow and every Tongue confess thereunto unto his Praise and Glory And he hath highly Honour'd us in that he hath been pleased to make choice of us and to accept of us to appear on his behalf and by Sufferings to contend for his Cause and to bear Testimony in the Life of his Spirit against all Idolatry and superstitious Inventions which have gotten up in the dark Night of Apostacy for he hath put the spiritual Weapon into our hands by the which the spiritual Wickednesses that are in High Places and the strong Holds of Iniquity must be beat down and in vain do the Inhabitants of the Earth Combine or take Counsel together to stop or limit this Work of God which he hath begun and is carrying on amongst us For he will certainly in the end be too hard for them and they must and shall assuredly fall before him as their Predecessors did in times past who oppos'd his Appearance in our Fore-fathers the Lord hath spoken it And no Weapons that 's form'd by them or that they shall Form shall ever prosper or prevail so as to accomplish their Decree for God hath said it Wherefore my Friends With one Heart with one Mind and with one Spirit serve ye the Lord in newness of Life and continue the Assembling of your selves together in his Fear to wait upon him even as if these did not at all attend you And none be Slack or Backward in your TESTIMONY herein for fear of Sufferings lest hereby you do not only purchase the Displeasure of the LORD against your selves but also weaken the hand of others and thereby obtain'd the greater Condemnation But remember what happen'd to the Fearful and Unbelieving Spies who weaken'd the Hands of Israel of old that they could not enter the promised Land for these things were written for our learning that we should not tempt God as they tempted him and were destroy'd of the Destroyer For certainly Friends this I have long seen and sometimes declared also that if any to whom the Visitation of God's Love hath reached and who are now call'd to bear Witness to the Name of the Lord by assembling themselves together to wait upon him and to worship him in Spirit and have been perswaded in their Consciences by the Light of his Son that it was their Duty so to do I say if such for fear of Suffering for their Testimony therein shall forsake the Assembling of themselves together as the manner of some hath been they will certainly bring upon themselves greater Sufferings even from the hands of men and more grievous to be borne then those which for the assembling of our selves together seem now to be threatned except they wholy conform to worship the Image that is made unto the Beast that had a Wound and doth live and if so then as I said before the Lord God will assuredly find such out which will be more heavy and grievous to bear then the rest And therefore let all be Unanimous in your Testimony for the Lord in this day of trying and proving and be a Strength and an Encouragement one unto another in that Gift of the Spirit of God which from him you have receiv'd and you will certainly find and feel the Lord present with you assisting and furnishing of you with all heavenly Vertues which are needful or necessary for you in your present and future Exercises and the Light of his Countenance you will know to shine in your Tabernacle and that is very precious and pleasant and comely to behold And indeed it s that alone which causeth us to walk chearfully through all Tryals and Exercises and we experimentally know that he hath not fail'd us hitherto but hath been alwayes present with us to deliver us out of many Distresses yea and assuredly will deliver us out of all in his own time which hasteneth when the measure of the Sufferings of our Lord and Master are fill'd up in us for we must be throughly try'd and prov'd by Sufferings and thereby be made manifest unto the Nations about us to be the peculiar People of God before the measure of our Sufferings be full And my Friends It is not the Purpose of God by these Storms and Tempests that beat upon the Building of God or by the Sufferings that attend us to suffer his Heritage or Building to be laid waste No but thereby to beat down all False Building and Out-side Possessions and to lay waste the Hills and Barren Mountains upon which the Whore sits and to make her desolate for they by clashing one against another shall be broken one by another or by biting and devouring one another will be destroyed one of another But you my Beloved who keep stedfast with the Lord through these things shall thereby be manifested in the view of all Nations to be the Building of God whose standing is upon the Rock of Ages the Mountain of his Holiness which all Storms nor the Gates of Hell cannot prevail against and thereby he will also exalt his own House where Israel 's Fold is above all the Hills and barren Mountains upon which we were sometime scatter'd and from which we are now gather'd by the Arm and Power of God that so thereunto the gathering of the Nations may be according to his Promise for was it not foreshewen by the Angel of the Lord unto his Servant John in times past That the Horns of the Beast that should make War with the Saints and whom the Saints should overcome should hate the Whore also and make her desolate My Friends Consider this and in Patience and Confidence that he is Faithful that hath promised let us all wait upon the Lord and be resign'd up to be dispos'd of according to the Counsel of his Will and let him work and carry on and prosper his own Work as he sees meet For it s he alone that worketh all our Works for us and in us and he knows what is best for us and of what we stand in need and no Good Thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly And we who are in the Faith know that all things shall work for our good who love him above all therefore let us give up our All unto him and cast our Care upon him who takes care for us whose Wayes are unsearchable and his Judgments past finding out And so my Beloved Friends Keep to and watch the weighty Foundation which stands sure through all Storms and Tempests and walk together in Love and therein serve one another and let none give place to that
spirit which would exercise Lordship over another for that is not the serving Spirit that is to be submitted unto which begetteth into Love Meekness and Gentleness but that spirit will rather beget a Root of Bitterness which may defile many and therefore not to be heeded But the Love being dwelt in which vaunteth not it self nor seeketh its own but anothers good that begets its own likeness and in this you will stir up and provoke one another to Love and to good and charitable Works and then by you the Gospel of God will be adorn'd and you will have his Blessing and Peace in your hearts which is of more Value and greater Price with the Upright in Heart then all the Pleasure of sin or Gain of Oppression And so by your Stedfastness Faithfulness Sincerity and Simplicity in the Truth you will even engage and provoke the Lord to appear on your behalfs and to plead your Cause with your Adversaries and to shorten the dayes of the Wicked for your sakes And so the Almighty God of Love and Peace be with you all and multiply the Riches of his Grace Mercy and Peace unto you all that the Poor in Spirit may be enriched the Weak and Feeble strengthen'd and the Sincere in Heart established and confirmed And unto him alone I do commit and commend you all by whose Power and Love unfeigned I was at this time constrain'd to send this Epistle unto you to stir you up to Faithfulness Diligence and Zeal towards God and for his Cause in which my love towards you and my care for you is manifested in which I also kindly salute you in the Bowels of Christ Jesus whose Life is my Life and whose Love hath filled my heart in which I take my Solace and Rest From the Common Goal in Kendal the place of my Confinement for the Testimony of Jesus and for the Word of God this 18th of the 7th Moneth 1665. Your Dear Brother in the Tribulation Kingdom and Patience of Jesus Josiah Coale An EPISTLE To Friends The First general EPISTLE DEar and Everlastingly beloved Friends Brethren and Sisters whom in God s Holy Covenant and Power of an Endless Life my soul dearly loveth and to whom I am firmly joyned and united with the Spirit of the Living God which he hath sent into our hearts and by which we have been separated from the Wayes and Worships and vain Tradition of the World amongst whom in times past we had our Conversation and walked according to the Lust of Ignorance as other Gentiles did But now being separated from these things by the Power of an Endless Life and being redeem'd therefrom by the precious Blood of the Lamb without Spot And being made choice of to be a peculiar People unto God to serve him in our Generation and to be a Praise unto him therefore now my beloved Friends have Valour and Boldness and Courage every one in your Hearts and have the Loins of your minds girt about with Truth that you may be armed to fight the Lord's Battels and be able to stand in the Evil Day when you shall be tryed And be you found watching every one in the Light and Gift of the Spirit of the Lord God so will not that Day come upon any of you at unawares but you will be found fitted and prepared to with-stand or resist the Evil One in all his Wiles and Appearances so that he shall not touch or harm your precious Life for the Lord Almighty in whom you have believed and in whom our Trust and Confidence is he will renew your Strength and will be a Buckler unto you in the Day of Battel and there will be no Faintness of Heart nor Fear in your Way but the Mighty POWER of God you will feel by which you will be able to tread upon the Necks of your Enemies both within and without and tread Satan under Foot And so my Friends These things in short were in my Heart to write unto you in the full enjoyment of that Love with which you know right well we have oft been refreshed together assuring you all that the same Blessed Presence and Power and Love of God in which I have been amongst you and by which I have been called from amongst you to bear Testimony to the Blessed Name of the Lord by which we are called even to the Nations afar off is still continued with me in which Love this is farther in my Heart to say unto you although you may very well know it already yet that none may grow forgetful that God hath many Wayes to try the Faith of his People both inwardly and outwardly and oft-times suffereth the Enemy to work and exercise his power for that End and the Enemy will work very subtilly if possible to deprive you of your Peace with God But my Friends You keeping in the Power of an Endless Life with which God hath certainly visited you thereby your Understandings will be kept clear and your Hearts open towards God and there all the Wiles and Subtilties of the Enemy will be seen and discovered and he defy'd and rejected and trampled upon in the Eternal Power of God And herein you will be Victorious and Conquerers over all Temptations and over all Assaults of the Wicked one And herein you will have free Access to God and Boldness towards God and you will all meet at the Throne of Grace in the Unity of the Faith in which you will have Acceptance with the Lord. And here will be no Rent nor Division nor Striving of Spirits Nay that must not enter which would have the preheminence over others for that will cause Divisions but that must live in all and over all which will be Servant to all and therein are the Blessings of the Lord enjoyed and his Peace witnessed and he will fill your Hearts with his Love and cause his Heritage to flourish and will make you as a watered Garden whose Springs do not fail And now my Friends Consider what the Lord hath done for you Hath he done so for any other People upon the Earth or did he more for his People in any Age or Generation since the beginning then he hath done for us Or Are any able to speak more of the Wonders of the Lord and of the Greatness of his Work and of the Strangeness of his Act at this Day then we are who are accounted by the Uncircumcised but as the Off-scouring of all things Nay verily And therefore may it be said That us hath he known above all the Families of the Earth And this my Friends may engage all and constrain all to walk worthy of this matchless Love that the same with which he hath reached unto you and visited you may be continued unto you and may abound in you all one towards another that you may all know you are the Children of your Father which is in Heaven and in this you will be as Lights unto the World and as a
and fore-warned thy Rulers also oft-times of the evil to come and that they should set free the Oppressed and break the heavy Yoak of Persecution from off the Necks of God's People that with freedom and cheerfulness they might serve him but they have not hearkned thereunto nor regarded at all therefore is thy Plagues come and thy Judgment have not lingered as is seen at this day But well much of this kind have ofttimes been presented to thy view and consideration so that I could even almost despair of hopes that thou wilt hear or lend an Ear unto what I say at this time because I experimentally know that thou art a Rebellious Nation against the Lord yet my Bowels so yearns towards those of thine Inhabitants who have not quite sinn'd out their Day that I cannot but strive with them a little in representing these things to their consideration that such who have any tenderness left in them may Repent with speed and turn to the Lord with all their hearts not feignedly but in sincerity that so they may find a hiding place in him from the Wrath to come and that they may understand the Cause wherefore the Lords Hand is stretched out against thee in Judgment Oh Nation surely all who are prudent in spirit cannot but confess and acknowledge that these things before mentioned is the very cause of the present Visitation that is upon thee and also of the future Judgments which are threatned for these are but the beginning of thy sorrows which it to come upon thee because thou Repented not of thy Evil Deeds Well But some it may be will say what and where hath been the cause that all these Abominations hath thus abounded and been continued in thee seeing thou hast had such a large Profession of a reformed Christian Religion to whom I say Search and examine whether or no the main ground and cause is not found in thy Teachers and Leaders for have they not caused thee to Err and have they not strengthned the hand of the worker of Iniquity so that none can turn from the Evil of his Way by promising of him life and may not I say of thy Teachers Oh England as the Prophet of the Lord said of the false Prophets in his day viz. from the Prophets of Israel is Prophaneness gone forth into all the Earth for hath not they Leaders been evil examples unto thee of prophaneness of drunkenness and whoredoms many of them and universally of covetousness which is Idolatry for most or all must needs see that their hearts are gone after covetous practises and by their Lyes against the people of God and by their lightness they have caused the People to err from the right way and have led them into rebellion against the Light of the Son of God wherewith they are enlightned which would have led them out of the dark pathes of ignorance and works of Iniquity under pretence that it was a dangerous principle to be adhered unto and that it was not sufficient to lead out of sin nor to save from sin when indeed there is none other name given under Heaven whereby Men can be saved from sin but the name of Jesus who preached himself the Light of the World and who lighteth every Man that cometh into the World and whose free grace that bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all men so that all who turn from this Grace of God which teacheth us to live soberly and righteously and godly in this present evil World such turn from the right way and all who rebell against this Light wherewith they are enlightned they know not the way thereof as Job said and so they are strangers to the good and right way which is Christ who lighteth every Man that cometh into the World and is not this Light or Spirit of Grace in the inward parts the very thing that thy Leaders hath long perswaded thee against that thou shouldest not encline or adhere thereunto under pretence as aforesaid and so are like unto them whom Christ said did shut the Kingdom of Heaven against Men who would neither enter in themselves and them that would enter they hindered and although they have in pretence made large Prayers against sin and iniquity and seemed to preach against it likewise yet they have indeed told thee thou couldst not be washed or freed from sin while here on Earth and so have denyed the very work of the Ministry which was for the perfecting of the Saints for the Apostle laboured that he might present every Man perfect in Christ and have they not hereby strengthened the hands of the Workers of iniquity even by begetting a belief in them that they cannot turn from the evil of their wayes so as to be set free from their evil deeds and yet they promise them life hereafter but be not deceived with good words and fair speeches for God will not be mocked with an out-side profession for if you live after the flesh you shall dye for the wages of sin is death but the Gift of the Spirit of God is eternal Life through Christ our Lord unto all them that receive and obey it Again have not thy Leaders been the great Stirrers up of thy Rulers to persecute the harmless People of the Lord whom he hath raised up by his power to trust in his Name and to bear witness for him and to testifie against thy abominations have they not moved thy Rulers and Majestrates to make Laws and to put them in execution as aforesaid against us Consider this Oh Nation what a blood-thirsty Generation of covetous Hirelings thou hast nourished within thy bowels may I not say of them as Hosea said of the Priests in his dayes viz. As Troopes of Robers wait for a Man so the Company of Priests murder in the way by consent for have they not been even unanimous in this work of Persecution how many have they murdered in the way of Cain which they are in by consent in casting of them into Prisons for their filthy lukers sake and how have they provoked and stirred up thy Rulers and people to the same work and even made them their vassals to fulfill their envious wills So that all these things being considered with many more which might be mentioned have we not just cause to attribute the main ground of thy continuing in these so gross abominations unto these covetous Hirelings and filthy Dreamers that defile the flesh I confess I cannot but believe that there are multitudes of thousands within thy Borders Oh England that see their folly and madness and their unstableness and how they toss up and down and are driven about with every tempest that ariseth even as Clouds without rain as their Predecessors were whom the Apostle spoke of and saw come in his day who went in Cain's way of Persecution and Murder and were wandring Stars for whom was reserved the blackness of Darkness for ever For have not the unstabillity of these
was puting himself upon nevertheless the King would not hearken unto Micaiah but commanded that he should be put in Prison and fed with the Bread of affliction and with the Water of affliction c. and hearkned unto the lying spirit that was in the mouthes of his many Prophets who prophesied smooth things unto him and by them this lying spirit prevailed and caused him to fall before the Host of the King of Assyria Well I say I could heartily wish that it may not be so with thy Rulers and Magistrates Oh Nation as it was with Ahab and that they have not so far provoked the Lord by Persecuting and sheding the Blood of the Innocent as to cause him to seal his Decree against them or any of them as he did against Ahab and I could wish that it might not prove so which I have cause to believe it will that he hath given permission to the lying spirit to go in the mouthes of thy Priests and Prophets to perswade thy Rulers to go on in this Antichristian Work of Persecuting the Innocent and harmless People of the Lord thereby to fill up the measure of their Fathers Iniquities that so he may be avenged on them But Oh that thy Rulers had hearkned unto the Counsel of those whom God sent unto them who came not for filthy Lucre nor with flattering Speeches but in the Name of the Lord declaring his Counsel in plainness and faithfulness for thy good but Alas instead of hearing their Counsel they have done unto them as Ahab did unto Micaiah even put them in Prison and fed them with the Bread and Water of affliction and thereby they have provoked the Lord of Hosts So that without all controversie as I said before if thy Rulers persist and go on following the Counsel of those false Prophets into whose mouthes the lying spirit is entred to perswade them that the way to remove or stop the present Visitation of Gods Judgments which is Revealed in the midst of thee is to be severe in Persecuting and Banishing his despised and harmless People out of thy Borders I say if their counsel be hearkned unto and obeyed therein that lying spirit will certainly thereby prevail and will cause them to fall and none shall help them and they shall be broken with a perpetual breath and none shall bind them up Wherefore hearken unto this ye Heads and Rulers of the Nation of England the Land of my Nativity be not Proud nor stout hearted against the Lord but fear and dread the Almighty God of Heaven and Earth for he hath certainly a Controversie with you and he will not at all regard the lofty looks nor your proud Carriage for he will be reverenced wherefore humble your selves in Dust and Ashes in his presence you who have not quite sinn'd out your Day and put on Sack-cloth before him if so be there may be hope lest he break you in pieces as a Potters Vessel of Clay and there be none to save you And thus Oh England I have briefly and faithfully declared unto thee thy state and condition according as God shewed it unto me and the cause of thy present Calamities and of the future Judgments that threatens themselves and also the way in which they may in a great measure be prevented and the hot displeasure and indignation of the Lord be appeased in which thy Rulers may likewise see the state and danger they are in But yet I know many will not hear nor regard at all untill their desolation come upon 〈◊〉 yet nevertheless I shall be clear in that I have discharged my Conscience unto them from time to time according as God required me 〈…〉 if they perish in their gain sayings and 〈◊〉 neckedness their blood will be upon themselves and upon them who caused them to err Postscript WHen the good will and loving kindness of God who wills not the death nor destruction of any hath been largely manifested unto a rebellious and stiff-necked Generation of people in striving with them by his good Spirit and when he hath oft reach'd unto them with the visitation of his Love and called unto them by the mouthes of his Servants Prophets and Messengers to repent and turn every one from his evil way that they might be healed and find mercy with the Lord and yet they will have no regard thereunto but refuse to be reformed and continue still in their rebellion against the Light of his good Spirit in their hearts and despise hate persecute and despitefully use the Servants and Messengers of God whom in tender mercy love and good will he sent unto them I say after the long suffering and loving kindness of God hath been so largely and on this wise manifested unto a rebellious and stiff-necked people who so evilly requite his love to them is it not then justice in the Lord to cease striving with them and to give them up to hardness of heart and to seal his Decree against them in his wisdom to find out a way that their eyes may be closed and their hearts hardned least they should see and understand and be converted and healed that so it may come upon them according to that Prophetical saying of Solomon viz. He that oft-times is reproved and stiffneth his neck shall suddenly be cut off and that without remedy Wherefore now consider Oh Nation of England is not this the very state of many of thy Inhabitants at this day hath not the love and good will of God been largely manifested to them in that he hath long strove with them by his good Spirit in their hearts and hath not his immortal Word of Life been plentifully declared amongst them even to the uttermost of thy borders every way hath it not been line upon line and precept upon precept unto them even by the mouthes of his faithful Servants and Prophets whose cry in thy Streets hath oft and long been Turn ye turn ye from your evil wayes why will die c And did they not declare that Gods dreadful Judgments were nigh to be revealed upon them that would not repent and turn from the Abominations against which they testified But alas few at all had regard thereunto but many lookt upon it as an idle Tale or as a whimsical Imagination and refused to hear and fear even as Jerusalem did in the day when Christ would have gathered her and therefore now in the Justice of God is his Decree gone forth and sealed against many of them as it was against Jerusalem and his righteous Judgments which was threatned and prophesied of by his Servants and Hand-maids is begun to be revealed amongst them and in the midst thereof he hath in his wisdom found out a way to blind their Eyes and to stop their Ears and to harden their Hearts least they should see and hear and understand and be converted and healed for as Job said He taketh away the perfect and the wicked and because it is so
therefore she is infallible I answer He hath not at all confirmed that by any proof neither hath he any farther proof than his own affirmation except he would produee that saying of the Mother of Harlots viz. I sit as a Queen and am no Widdow and shall see no sorrow Rev. 18.7 And indeed that would be a very pittiful Argument to prove the Church of Rome infallible but none other can he produce except he could first prove her to be the true Church which he is never able to do his best Argument by which he hath undertaken it being already confuted Therefore we have no more cause to believe his Affirmation than we have to believe the sayings of the forementioned Mother of Harlots for they are both alike to us and though she said she should see no sorrow yet John who was in the Spirit of the Lord said that in one day her Desolation should come Rev. 18.8 And although A. S. saith That the Church of Rome shall alwayes remain to the end of the World yet I say in the Name of the Lord and by the same Spirit that John was in That the one day of which John spake is already dawned in which the Desolation of that Great Whore the Church of Rome shall come and as surely as when Sodom was overthrown the Cities round about it were overthrown also 2 Pet. 2.9 Jude ver 7. so certainly when this great City Babylon is overthrown and made desolate the Suburbs thereof shall be overthrown and made desolate also The Mouth of the Lord hath spoken it and therefore she must fail in her Prophesies and cease in her Beeing which as A. S. saith the true Church cannot Fourthly And farther the Church of Rome is variable in her Judgments as the diversities of Councels that she hath held concerning matters of Faith beareth witness for the following General Counsel hath oft-times excluded that which was concluded on by the former and surely both cannot be infallible they being quite contradictory one to the other Read the 15th chapter of F. H. his Book entituled THE GLORY OF THE TRUE CHURCH DISCOVERED c. wherein the contradictions of the General Counsels which the Church of Rome hath held are sufficiently made manifest so that I need not trouble my self to insert them here and thereby its evident enough that the Church of Rome is not infallible Fifthly Again if A. S. or any other could prove that the Church of Rome had alwayes remained since Christs time yet as aforesaid that is not a sufficient Argument to prove her infallible or that she cannot fail nor cease For consider the Dragon that old Serpent called the Devil who was a Murtherer from the beginning who gave power to the Beast that carries the Whore that drinks the Saints blood that said she should see no sorrow was before the dayes of Christ's appearance in the flesh yet the Dragon is not infallible But the Church of Rome is upheld by the Murtherer or carried by the Dragons power in the Beast as the Murthers acted by her beareth witness therefore she is no more infallible than the Dragon is Seventhly And as to the 7th part of A. S. his Argument wherein he saith The True Church is inerrable and then saith that the Church of Rome is this inerrable True Church for all the Sectaries Schismaticks and Hereticks in the World saith he could never yet shew wherein she erred nor ever shall Therefore she is inerrable Answ 1. I answer although the Hereticks could not prove that the Church of Rome hath erred yet there are many who are members of the true Church of which Christ is Head and supreme Governour alone that can prove wherein she hath erred and doth still grosly err from the Doctrine Practice and Discipline of the true Church as it stood in the Apostles dayes for the Apostle in his dayes said Let every man be fully perswaded in his own Conscience Rom. 14.5 and did not go about to force People to conform to such things that they were not perswaded of in their consciences nor to compel them by outward Laws to conform thereunto but the Church of Rome doth not admit that every one should walk or act according as they are perswaded in their own Consciences but goes about by outward Laws to compel them to conform to that which she calls her holy Ordinances and Institutions which many for conscience sake towards Gods dare not conform to because they know them to be invented Idolatries and they who cannot for Conscience sake submit to her Impositions or drink of her Cup of Abominations then to be sure she will drink their Blood Witness the Blood she hath drunk for above this thousand years past of them that could not for Conscience sake towards God conform to her Ordinances And therefore she hath erred from that Spirit which was in the true Church and from the Apostles Doctrine and is still in the Error Secondly In the true Church in the Apostles dayes every one as he had received the Gift of the Spirit of God so he might Administer 1 Pet. 4.10 and the Prophets might speak two or three and if any thing was revealed to him that stood by he might speak and the first should be silent 1 Cor. 14.29 30 31. But this is not the order of the Church of Rome as is sufficiently manifested to all Christendom therefore she hath erred from the Apostles Spirit and Order and is still in the Error And thus I might produce many more Arguments to shew wherein the Church of Rome hath erred and doth err only my desire is to be as brief as may be so that satisfaction may be given for which I doubt not but this is sufficient as to that particular 8. And as concerning Miracles in the true Church I do confess and bear witness that there are Miracles wrought in her daily but that all Miracles are an Argument sufficient to prove a people to be the true Church that I do not acknowledge but deny For First the Magicians of Egypt could by their Sorceries or Inchantments imitate those things in the sight of the Egyptians that Moses and Aaron did by the Power of God Exod. 8.7 and the false Prophet he wrought lying Miracles before the Beast that carries the Whore insomuch that he caused fire to come down out of Heaven in the sight of men Rev. 13.13 14. and chap. 19. ver 20. And this the Whore might have said was done in confirmation of her faith doctrines as A. S. doth yet nevertheless it was done by the Dragons power who was a Murderer from the beginning For he gave power to the Beast that carries the Whore to do such things Rev. 13.2 and therefore the Miracles in the Church of Rome if now there be any is no infallible evidence to prove her to be the true Church Well 2. But then it may be some will say that this is harsh judgment and how can you tell but
forementioned Scripture by which it is plain that he condemns himself in the things he is doing 5. Again Fifthly he saith That the Spirit of God saith Hear the Church but the spirit of the Devil contradicts and saith Hear not the Church but Christ alone for of Christ saith he it s written This is my beloved Son him hear ye behold the Devil pleads for Christ of purpose to deceive Christions c. Answ To which I answer That I think I need not say much to convince all that reads but A. S. his own words that he is either grosly ignorant or else abominably wilful and wicked for who can believe that the Devil will plead for Christ or perswade people to hear Christ and disswade them from hearing of the Church certainly if he would perswade people to hear the greater he would not disswade them from hearing the lesser And how can people possibly be deceived that hears Christ and obeys him I cannot believe that its the spirit of the Devil that perswades people to hear Christ but rather that its the drawings of the Spirit of the Father that invites them to come unto the Son and to hear him for Christ said None cometh unto me except my Father who hath sent me draw him Joh. 6.44 But A. S. contrariwise in effect saith That the Devil draws people to come unto Christ and to hear him By which he hath manifestly shewed that he is of a contrary spirit unto Christ Therefore A. S. is an Antichrist and one that puts Light for darkness and darkness for light against whom the woe is pronounced Isa 5.20 And although A. S. so much pleads for the Church whom I know all will hear that hears Christ yet upon serious consideration I find its of purpose to deceive Christians and so he hath shewed himself as bad as the Devil he speaks of being found doing the same work of which he seems to accuse the Devil for in his sixth Chapter I find him as afore declared in effect perswading people Not to adhere to the motions of the Spirit of Christ under pretence that they cannot tell whence from God or the Devil it comes or whither to Heaven or Hell it goeth c. And as above he is again perswading people That its a dangerous thing to hear that Spirit that invites them to hear Christ calling it the Devil because it doth not invite them to hear the Church of Rome also But I never read or heard before that any spirit did invite people to hear Christ but the Spirit of the Father and his Spirit said This is my beloved Son him hear ye Mat. 17.5 Therefore that Spirit that invites people to hear the Son of God is not the Devil but the Spirit of the Father and ought to be heard and obeyed by all Sixtly Again S. A. affirmeth that the Spirit of God saith That Carpenters Smiths Masons and other Tradesmen must not meddle with Ecclesiastical things as to Preach or Teach c. But saith he the evil spirit affirmeth the quite contrary by perswading them they may all prophesie one by one But alas then saith A. S. He deceiveth for that place is understood of the real and True Prophets of whose number all the Devils in Hell cannot prove all Tradesmen to be Answ Here A. S. seems to oppose that which for my part I know none affirms for who is there that saith all Tradesmen have the Spirit of Prophesie I know none Yet although all Tradesmen have it not it doth not therefore follow that no Tradesmen have it neither did I ever read that the Spirit of God did forbid Tradesmen to meddle with those things nor doth that Scripture which A. S. quotes confirm any such thing which he affirmes but rather the contrary And we do read in the Scriptures of Truth that Christ did call some of several Tradesmen to Teach the Way of God and to Preach the everlasting Gospel witness St Peter a Fisher-man St Paul a Tent-maker with divers others that might be mentioned so that though all Tradesmen have not the Spirit of Prophesie yet we see that some had and they were not forbidden but commanded to Preach and Teach and therefore they who have the Testimony of Jesus which is the Spirit of Prophesie although they be Tradesmen they may Preach and Teach according to the Gift thereof received for the Apostle said Every one as he hath received the Gift of the Spirit so let him administer 1 Pet. 4.10 Seventhly And saith A. S. the Apostle said Women must not speak in the Church but the Devil saith they may For the Scripture averreth saith he That your Sons and Daughters shall Prophesie this Devil deceiveth the Women-Quakers But alas that Scripture was fulfilled in the Apostles and in the true Prophetesses in their times as Anna Luke 2.28 and now is in such as have the True Spirit of Prophesie which Quakers Wives and Daughters can never prove themselves to have Answ Here A. S. hath confessed that there was Prophetesses in the Apostles dayes and that there now is at this day also and the Apostle spake of Women that were helpers with him in the Gospel Phil. 4.3 So then its undeniable that Women did speak and Prophesie and now may though the Apostles did not Permit Busie-bodies and Tattlers to be asking Questions in the Church but said they should ask their Husbands at Home So the thing disputable is whether or no Quakers Wives and Daughters have the true Spirit of Prophesie concerning which I say this The Testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophesie and many Wives and Daughters of the people called Quakers have received the Testimony of Jesus and knows the Life of Jesus manifested in them as by their fruits of Love Meekness Gentleness Patience Long-suffering c. which are fruits of the Spirit doth appear unto those who have a knowledg of them Therefore they have the Spirit of Prophesie And further several of the Wives and Daughters amongst the people called Quakers have Prophesied of the desolation of the great Whore the Church of Rome and when that comes to pass it will be thereby proved that they have the true Spirit of Prophesie and then shall every Tongue confess to it and in the mean time let none speak evil of the things they know not lest they be found fighters against God Eightly Again A. S. saith That the good Spirit saith It is a Religious Act to Swear by God in a Just Cause but the evil-Evil-spirit contradicts for it s written saith he Sware not at all Behold the Puritanism of this impure spirit but alas he deludeth for God expresly commands Jer. 4.2 Thou shalt Swear the Lord liveth in Truth in Judgment and in justice c. Answ I answer although in the Law and Prophets people were commanded to Swear in Truth and Righteousness and to perform their Oaths to the Lord yet Christ the new Covnant whom God promised should not be according to the
shall they believe in him whom not of whom as their Bible saith of purpose to excuse themselves See above they have not heard or how shall they hear without a Preacher or how shall they Preach unless they are sent 4. Note this well gentle Reader and consider seriously with your self how deplorable a thing it is to see such Hypocritical Intruders to stand in a Pulpit or Tub with such a brazenfac'd Book as is their unjust corrupt and perverse Bible in their hand lulling the Poor Ignorant people to the sleep of death with these words Thus saith the Lord when the Lord saith no such thing Are not these they of whom the Lord himself saith Jer. 14.14 They prophesie falsly in my Name I sent them not and I did not bid them neither did I speak unto them a lying vision and divination and fraudulence and sedition of their own hearts they prophesie unto you See more Dent. 13.5 Item 18.20 c. And when they have done with their Thus saith the Lord and can say no more then they rowse up their slumbering spirits by singing unto them one of Tho. Sternholds Jack Hopkins or Rob. Wisdoms Psalms suppose From Turk and Pope c. which Sacrilegious Psalm or Diabolical Song passeth with these Deluders and their deluded Auditors and Chorists for holy Scripture and the Word of God as well as Dixit Dominus Domino meo c. Oh times Oh manner Oh God amend them Amen See Erastus senior and jun. who copiously prove this Subject The Last Testimony OF That Faithful Servant of the Lord and Minister of Jesus Christ RICHARD FARNSWORTH Whereunto is prefixed a brief Testimony concerning his Life Death and Travels c. To which is added a few words of Exhortation unto those that believe in the Light of the Lamb. Published for the Consolation of the Houshold of Faith and for the stopping of that Mouth which is open'd in Blasphemy against God his Tabernacle and them that dwell in Heaven FOrasmuch as it hath pleased God Almighty after the long Night of woful gross Darkness Apostacy and Ignorance which hath been over the Nations amongst those who have had a Profession of Christianity again to make known and manifest the true new and living way which leads unto Life Eternal even by and through the Revelation and Operation of his Eternal Power and Word of Life in the hearts of a Remnant whom in this our day he first reached unto and visited and raised up to be Witnesses thereof that by them it might be born Testimony unto amongst those who were strangers to it and that thirsted after it that so thereby they also might receive the manifestation and knowledge thereof for want of which many perish and are strangers to the way of Life having only at best a Form of godlyness without the Power In which dead Forms or outside empty Professions some are at ease and rest as though they were in the true Heaven that should never pass away and some are at rest and at ease without any profession living in all uncleanness unrighteousness and abomination and some cannot find rest in either The faithful and true Witness of God being awakened in their Hearts and Consciences which takes the false peace from them and lets them see the emptiness of all outside professions which are without Life and Power and also the Abominations and vanities of the World and makes sin exceeding sinful to them And by this true and faithful Witness are desires and breathings and pantings begotten in their hearts after the Knowledge of God and Christ after fellowship and acquaintance with the Father and the Son which desire cannot be satisfied without the Knowledge and enjoyment of the Presence of the Lord and of the Light of his Countenance And for this cause many run to and fro and wander like Sheep gone astray from the true Shepherds Fold and are wearying themselves upon the barren Mountains in vain looking thereunto for Salvation and seeking the Living amongst the Dead and so spend their labour for that which doth not satisfie And in these several states and conditions aforesaid the whole Christian World lieth who are not turned to the Light and Spirit of Jesus in themselves and true rest and salvation cannot be found by them until they return to the Light and Power of the Spirit of God in their own hearts which is that whereby a dislike of sin is begotten in them and also desires after Life and Salvation and Freedom from sin is thereby begotten and that is it alone which can answer every desire which is begotten by its self Well But when it pleased the Lord to reveal the Son of his Love and to make known his eternal Power in these latter dayes for the rending of the Vail of Darkness that had long been over the heart by which he caused the Light to shine out of Darkness which gives the Knowledge of his own Glory he did not then give the knowledge and manifestation thereof unto all People but he chose certain Witnesses whom he raised up to declare of the manifestation of this Power and to preach the Word of Life nigh in the Heart and in Mouth and he furnished them with Armour of Righteousness and with all spiritual Weapons which were mighty through him to break down the strong holds of Iniquity and the spiritual wickednesses that were in the high places and impowred them as Instruments in his hand to turn many from Darkness to the Light that the Salvation of God they might come to see and the Work of God greatly prospered in their hands and multitudes were brought to the acknowledgment of the Truth to the saving of their Souls and though they met with great opposition and persecutions by the Emissaries of Sathan even in all Quarters where they came yet that was not prevalent to hinder the prosperity of that Work whereunto they were called of God but it still prospered and doth still prosper to the spreading of the unchangeable Truth abroad even as is seen at this day And of this number whom God Almighty at the first raised up by his Power for this Work aforesaid the late deceased Richard Farnsworth was one concerning whom the chief occasion of this my present writing is that so a Testimony concerning him and of what the Lord did by and through him may remain upon Record for Generations to come and that this present Generation of the Just may see and hear his last Testimony which proceeded from his own mouth a little before his departure out of the body and I doubt not but thereby the Consolation and spiritual Comfort of the Houshold of Faith will be added unto And for these Causes I could not well rest satisfied in my spirit without taking in hand to publish these things though I well know that there are many living Witnesses that knew the Life Labours and Travels of the said R. F. who are the Seal of his Ministry And also
Delight is with the Sons of men Again If the Spirit in the Saints be as J. N. to the wounding of his own Cause saith of the same nature tendency and power with the Father and Son then there is a sufficient Saviour in man for the Tendency of the Son is to save as J.N. himself I dare say will acknowledge and his Nature is to save which was the end of his coming and he is of power to save For all Power in Heaven and Earth is given to the Son and the Nature of the Father is to save as I have befor shewed out of the Prophets therefore the Spirit that is given into the hearts of People which reproves them for sin being of the same nature power and tendence with the Father and Son is sufficient to save else it cannot be said to be of the same nature tendency and power so that none need go far or look to the Hills and Mountains for a Saviour but look unto him that is nigh who is of power to save even to the Light or Grace that hath appear'd as a Reprover of the deeds of Darkness and this will lead into all Truth and save out of all Unrighteousness and unto them that walk here in Christ the Light not after the Motions of the Flesh but after the Leadings of the Spirit there will be no Condemnation And although this God who is Light and is a Spirit be a God afar off also as being that Infinite Incomprehensible Fulness that fills all things yet all that can be known of him by any man is manifested within man Rom. 1.19 And thus the Confusions and Contractions of J. N. appears who thereby declares that he hath not the knowledg of Christ nor of God to exercise his Faith in nor yet doth he keep to Scripture neither to exercise his Faith therein but is seen and discovered to have his mind and his Faith exercised in Fancies and Imaginations which is the cause of his thus contradicting himself of his affirming so many Absurdities and Blasphemies without sound reason or Scripture Arguments sometimes dividing Christ and his Spirit and sometimes acknowledging them to be of one and the same beeing and sometimes joyn the Spirit and Scriptures and arguing that they cannot be separated and the reasons he gives is because the Scriptures are the givings forth of the Spirit and yet notwithstanding will say Christ hath a distinct beeing from his Spirit which is of his givings forth and thus as fancy leads him he affirms things as in Page 43. he saith If Scripture be denyed to be the Word of God it maketh void the exercise of Faith for Faith must be exercised in the Scriptures or else upon fancy and imagination and in Page 73. he saith if there be no personal beeing of Christ then there is no Christ to exercise Faith in so by this kind of Arguments of J. N. if Faith be exercised in a personal being of Christ it s exercised upon fancy and imagination which is very true for a personal beeing of Christ is not Scripture and he saith Faith must be exercised in Scripture or else upon fancy and imagination But the truth is he cannot tell what the true Faith is nor what it is exercised in sometimes Scripture is the only thing and another while a personal beeing of Christ and what will it be next but even what his Fancy and Imaginations bring forth which he appears full of like one that knows not Christ the Power of God manifested in him who is the Author of true Faith or the begetter thereof and is also the object thereof in which it is exercised and in whom it stands whom all must hear that receive the true Faith which is the victory that overcometh the World and which giveth access unto God in which Faith there is Peace and Joy unspeakable and full of Glory Again in Page 87. mentioning that Scripture which seems as a Block in his way which I perceive he would fain remove Gal. 4.19 till Christ be formed in you and therefore gives this meaning viz. This forming of Christ in the Saints was but to bring them forth into a Gospel-Purity c. this is his Interpretation of that Scripture and a very favorable one too but whereby should they be brought forth into a Gospel Purity Was it not by the Spirit 's operation that was in them which they received by the hearing of Faith Gal. 3.2 which J. N. acknowledged to be of the same beeing of the Father and the Son If so then was not Christ according to Measure who fills all things really in them who hath diversity of operations who came for judgment and to send Fire on the Earth and were they not to be brought forth into that Gospel Purity that J. N. speaks of by his Spirit of judgment and of burning which they had received who came for judgment and to send Fire seeing God signified by his Prophet that the Filth of the Daughter of Sion should be purged away with the Spirit of judgment and of burning Isa 4.4 and this was that Spirit by which the Saints were washed cleansed sanctified and justified when the Apostle told them they were so in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God 1 Cor. 6.11 and they that were thus washed and brought forth into this Gospel Purity they were made a Habitation for God who as J. N. Confesseth is that Spirit even through the Spirit 's operations which is of the same Being or Substance with Christ so that the filth being purged away there was room for him to dwell there and so was really in them formed and they brought forth in his own Image by his own operation with whom the Apostles were Co-workers and therefore travelled for this forming of Christ in them or for the subjecting them in the Faith wholly unto Christ's Goverment that he might raign in them over all who is God Blessed forever One thing more which I find in the close of his Book which he entitules A Caution to all I cannot well pass by with silence where he saith Seeing God has cast us into a day wherein there is such a spirit running too and fro in this Nation that will seemingly own Truth and yet will draw all into a Mystery within man denying Truth according to Truth 's Intent let us therefore labour with our God for his blessed Spirit to guide us into all Truth Answ Mark Reader Is it contrary to Truth 's intent to own the Truth to be a Mystery within man Doth not God love to have Truth manifested in the inward parts Is not Christ the Truth which the Apostle declared to be the Mystery within saying Christ in you the Hope of Glory How then can it be said That that Spirit that owns Truth to be a Mystery within does not own it according to Truth 's intent Surely J. N. hath besotted his Understanding else he would not thus speak