they Judge Cast and Condemn me for such a Person as hath been commonly reported but yet never could be proved I dare affirm not by God's Law consider if this be right in the sight of God let those who are my Adversaries be judge and how the Peace of the Church could be hazarded as these men tell the Nation I know not when he that spoke brought no other Doctrine then what they had before received and those few that were at the hearing thereof by their own confession were refreshed by what was delivered that to the truly understanding Christian it doth appear the Peace of the Church was rather inlarged then hazarded That so their pretended Charge is made manifest to be none at all The fifth thing I observe in the second Particular is as they say Especially to bring in such a Person as he contrary to the advice given in Acts 20. where the Elders are exhorted to feed the Church and not to ruine it Ans As to their Tautology I past it by because it cannot be proved that I brought him in to Preach and as touching the Apostles advice We are to feed the Church These Persons themselves do witness for me that I so did namely Feed the Flock of Our Lord Jesus not only in their Letter they did write to me when I was a Prisoner for the same But now also in their fifth Particular of this pretended Charge they say I made it my work to Preach three times a week besides the Church Meetings But as touching their last Term I am altogether a stranger to namely as to ruine the Church for as the Lord spoke by the Prophet to Israel saying Oh Israel thou hast destroyed thy self So do I say If they be destroyed or ruined it is done by themselves It is plainly seen that Lyes Surmisings and Suppositions is their second Particular stuffed with in this their pretended Charge that it plainly appears to such as are plain-hearted to be no Charge but a heap of falshoods 4. Par. We have great cause to suspect him very guilty of pernicious Designs against the Saints Ans This hath its dependance upon the former they do not say they charge me but suspect me and withall they would have us believe they have great cause so to do This is as false as the former for all men will believe this that if they could have shown either great or little cause they would not have spared me but without all doubt have brought it forth They talk of Pernicious Designs that I am guilty of against the Saints but nothing do they prove or can they The Reader may take notice that since this pretended Charge was hatched and patched together it is somewhat above a twelve-month And what is not one Pernitious Design discovered all this time Surely it is apprehended by such as have learned better then to live in the prejudiced mind or surmising Spirit this Babe that hath been so long in the Womb of Conception will prove an abortive at last As touching the Person whom they so much mention again and again whom they call Dangerous and Wicked as to his former Proceedings I justifie not but have rather chosen to reprove them what ever I have been thought on and laboured to make it my business to reclaim him but this I can truly say no person whatsoever in City or Countrey all the time of my society with him which was not of any long standing I do declare and affirm had not any wrong done to them by my knowledge for which I have great peace though my sufferings have been very great as to some other things in this Particular being one thing rehearsed over again I do apprehend it a superfluous thing to make a second reply thereunto Secondly As touching my Calling a Brother by Name who they say was zealous for the work of the day as if he lay in wait on purpose to catch To this I Answer As touching his zeal for the work of the day it did not very much appear forasmuch as he did not appear in the work till the day was near an end The Searcher of Hearts knows my innocency in this thing that I had no intent but what was agreeable unto the Mind of God and by this time one would have thought these persons might have seen great cause to have been deeply humbled for their evil thoughts they had against their Pastor I do now appeal to the most fearful and the most jealous Person amongst them whether to this day they have been harmed in the least by me If not as I am very confident they cannot say they have what Reason is there that S. Bradley should still remain charged upon this account to this day seeing there can be nothing of this nature proved against him but lie under scandal by reason of their unwarrantable groundless fears surmisings and suppositions I say unto these persons Is it not high time that their poor oppressed Pastor should be set free and at liberty from this bondage that he hath been exposed to by their means for a Twelvemonth together and more O when will their Goal-delivery come They will do very well to try their spirits for it may be said unto them by me as it was said by our Lord Jesus to his Disciples You know not what spirit you are of Whereas they say As if he did on purpose lie in wait to catch I answer If we take it in their own sense which will be proved to be the worst it is but as if he did they themselves cannot say He absolutely did lie in wait to catch If they had dealt fairly and honestly by me they had done well to have set down some of the particular things that were acted in a treacherous way and not keep people in the dark and act towards me as if I were conspiring some horrid things against them when there was no such thing by me thought on These kind of proceedings savour not of a good Spirit to rob their Pastor of his good name and all gathered but from their evil perswasions Would not the Heathen abhor such dealings if they should hear of them I wonder they were not ashamed to set their hands to such things to declare their weakness to the Churches abroad And whereas they say This doth deeply and effectually perswade them he could not be without very great purpose to deal very treacherously with them Answ This amounts to no Charge all this while by their own speech they cannot positively prove it but are perswaded it is so what proof is this to the case in hand by the same Rule if this may carry it I may say that these people that have reproached me causlesly and and groundlesly are turned Robbers in the High Way how so I suppose so or to speak in their own words I am perswaded it is so Surely this kinde of proof which to speak truly is no proof will not carry it here nor in
hand for their heady and rash proceedings against their innocent Pastor lest destruction be their portion notwithstanding all their Profession 14. Par. And so do now bear our Testimony against all his Evil and all his Adherents and set our hands to the truth of it Ans To this I Answer If these Assertors and Concluders did walk like persons indued with true knowledge they should have proved the things they talk of to be evils before they had set their hands thereunto by what they have done they have manifested themselves not to be wise nor right Artists at the work of accusation Again if they could have proved what they have subscribed unto to be Evils the next work had been to have layed them down before me and made some endeavour to have holpen me to a sight thereof as well as themselves and shewn me by way of aggravation the danger of them and if I had been obstinate not to have heard some of them alone to brought two more with them and took some pains with me for to recover me out of that which they are pleased to call an Evil and if I had remained in an obstinate mind then with sorrow of heart and bowels of love told it to the Church the Church to have made some endeavour to recover me and if I would not have seen my Evil then to have set a day a part for Fasting and Prayer and to have mourned bitterly under the consideration of the thoughts of the loss of a chief Pillar of the Church and when all this work was done then in a solemn reverent and godly manner to have gone trembling at the thought of what must of necessity then have been done seeing there was no avoiding of it and consider what was to be done after all this not to reproach Nay For sufficient to such a man was this punishment which was inflicted upon many 2 Cor. 2.6 7. So that contrarywise they ought rather to forgive him and comfort him lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow wherefore I beseech you that you would confirm your love towards him I say to these people Was any of this done Was the first step taken in this work much less the last that was done to the incestuous person How may these people dread the thoughts of their present Proceedings with their former for fear God may charge them with Spiritual murder at the Day of the Lord in putting a stop to conversion-work and cause Souls to stumble I say Oh what comfort can these men have that have set their hand to such a work as this is The Lord give them a sight and true sence and sorrow yea true repentance of the same Sure by this time they may plainly see if they do not harden their hearts that they were out of the way of the Lord and with what comfort can they go to the grave with this Load upon their Consciences or what peace they can have for these their irregular Proceedings I know not and truly it is to be admired they do not yet blush at that they stile their Testimony Sure they understand not what they say for the word Testimony doth signifie amongst other things a good report from others but this which they have done is found to be of no good report therefore falsely termed by them a Testimony Again a Testimony doth also import a witnessing well but they have witnessed unto that which is Lyes Suppositions and Surmisings which is very ill therefore for to speak properly have born no Testimony against Samuel Bradley but rather have made their ignorance further appear and know not what they say in this case nor what a Testimony is and yet these persons will undertake for to pass Sentence of Excommunication upon their Pastor and that as soon as his back was turned from them was it done but never to his face And whereas they seem to reflect upon the rest of their Fellow-Members which bore a better Conscience than themselves which they call Adherents they have little cause so to do for they understand the Rules of Christ better than to run rashly and headily upon things contrary to the right Order but have waited with patience upon the Lord and have proved Fellow-feelers of their Pastors Sorrows and great Afflictions that have befallen him through the means of the persons aforesaid that are turned his Accusers though falsely and they in Conscience could not joyn with them without breach of Covenant I shall say unto these my Accusers had they been as tender of the Glory of God as these they call My Adherents they might have been made partakers of true Peace with them though by their means they are made to stand alone separated from the rest of their Brethren to their great grief and could they violate the peace of their consciences as those have done they might have been their dear Friends still Let these men be careful lest they slay the Upright in Conversation with the Sword of their Mouth namely bitter words as they have not been ashamed to do lest Wrath break forth from the Lord upon them And whereas they say They have set their hands to the Truth I ask them whether their Consciences did not prick them when they were setting their Pen to Paper so as they began with a lye they conclude with a lye also O how can these People with confidence call that a Charge which they themselves confest in the last Particular thereof to be but petty Things or call that a Truth which is stuffed up with so many Lyes Suppositions and surmising Expressions as hath been proved all along O that they would lay these sad proceedings to heart that for this Twelvemonth together they have contrived against their innocent Pastor as they have owned him to be and yet have cried him up for a Trappan at such a high hand They may see if they do not wilfully shut their Eyes that his Innocencie has so shined in this matter that the Lord hath holp him to weather the storms of all sorts they have raised upon him onely from Fears and Jealousies O what will they do when God shall call them to an account How will they be able to stand before him It is not their strong-hold of Church-Fellowship that will shelter them from the wrath of God for if he set the Worm of Conscience a gnawing their Gourd will soon be destroyed and where are they then My Prayer shall be that they may repent and the Lord forgive them for I do and for ever hereafter let them be silent and never more open their mouth to reproach and as Job said of his friends so shall I say of mine Job 16.24 I have heard many such things miserable Comforters are you all And now you may see I have diligently examined this their pretended Charge that hath occasioned such a stir in the Nation and have found it to stand upon the Foundation of Untruths
of Meekness This we may fear that Love is wanting or else the number of the Faithful is but few And may it not be said concerning those unparallel'd Proceedings of these Persons as it was in the beginning concerning the Woman She takes of the Serpent and the man received of the Woman and so it spread over all man-kind so now the Woman takes from the surmising Spirit which is of the Serpent and she delivers to the man he spreads it abroad to the Churches and this was the Original of their proceeding against their Pastor but we have a Proverb in England which is true in this case That Conceit without receit is plain deceit We would leave with you in the Love and Fear of the Lord an Exhortation to Love that great duty that is so little exercised among the People of God Did we live in Love it would unite the hearts of the Faithful together Love would cause God's Ministers to stop the mouth of back-biters reproachers and scandalous persons which take up reports from report without the knowledge of any thing that is reported Oh let it be enough that the Adversary is smiting without let not God's People smite within it s a symptom of the nearness of Christs approach when fellow Servants shall smite one another consider the judgement due to such for it is too grievous to be born for if we bite and devour one another we shall be devoured one of another for God hath said That if he kindle a fire in Gilgal there shall be none found to quench it in the House of Bethel now therefore live in Love then will the divisions of Ruben cease that the Glory promised to the Churches and Members of Christ may be given to them which must not be looked for without a Reformation therefore shake off the Raggs of Reproaching and the Garments of Backbiting and put on the Righteousness of Jesus Christ and come forth in the purity of the Spirit which shall be the Prayers of them which are willing to suffer affliction for the Truth Interest and Kingdom of Jesus Christ and have love to all that love the Lord Jesus in sincerity We whose names are hereunto subscribed are for the most part eye and ear witnesses to what is here exprest and therefore commend them to all wise-hearted people to determine and remain the Assertors of Truth Henry Tabor Nicholas Clark Thomas Rose The first day of the 7th month 1664. A COPY of the Pretended CHARGE against SAMUEL BRADLEY To the Churches and faithful Brethren in Christ Jesus greeting Beloved and longed for VVE have at last as the Result which we hope the Lord hath brought upon our Spirits resolved to acquaint you with our Proceedings with Samuel Bradley and the Reason of our so doing First We do judge he still lieth under the guilt of those great and horrid crimes for which he was dealt with by his People Secondly As if all that were too little he hath added by several late and new Miscarriages 1. A high disorder and therein a manifest breach of Truth as he was an Overseer in the Church of God in bringing a Disorderly Person without the knowledge and against the Principle of the Church and of the Truth it self to preach to them and pray with them and this is a compleate evil especially in him so to run upon the Rule of Christ so to hazard the Churches stability which might have been invaded by dropping some Doctrine as might have shaken the faith of some and so manifestly to hazard the Churches Peace and Communion especially to bring in such a person as he contrary to the Advice given in the 20th of the Acts where the Elders are exhorted to feed the Church and not to ruine it 2. We have great cause to suspect him very guilty of pernicious designs against the Saints forasmuch as he knew this Person he so brought in to be a very dangerous wicked Person and saying of him he would never come into his company more and now without publick satisfaction given by him or taken from him to bring him into the Church and more then all this to call out one Brother by Name whom he knew zealous for the work of the Day to pray in his presence as if he did on purpose lay in wait to catch what he could to answer him and others this deeply and effectually perswades us he could not be without great purposes to deal very treacherously with us 3. He is guilty of a very sinful confederacy with this Enemie of the Lords whom he hath singled out for his company hugging and embracing of him as a Brother a friend that saw it when he brought him into the Congregation and since is a great frequenter of his House and Company as if it were a small thing to wrap himself up in all his Iniquities and so to draw upon himself the Vengeance due to such vile transgressions contrary expresly to the Lords Commands Say not a confederacy and Have no fellowship saith our Apostle with unfruitful Works nor Workers of Darkness When thou sawest a Thief thou consentest with him Psal 50. and that which is more considerable one of his present Abettors and Adherents told us he did so to save his own self and hath hereby stained the Glory of Christ and reproached the glorious footsteps of this Anoynted King in which he hath eminently triumphed over his Enemies in these latter dayes more than many if not any in this day and in which also he hath given the lye to his own Vows and Protestation in the sight of God That he hated and abhorred the thoughts of looking toward much self with associating with such persons and yet now tell a Brother he was sorry for what of that kinde he had spoken 5. He stands guilty of opening the Nakedness and Dealings in the Secrets of the Church in his publique Preachings and this hath been frequent being desired by two Brethren to forbear such Passages shewing how dishonourable they were to God and grievous to them he solemnly engaged never to do the like again nevertheless at the very next Meeting he had of his own appointing of which he had two or three a week besides the Church-Mettings did publickly declare that his Church stopped his Mouth so that he durst not for displeasing them preach those Truths he would 6. He is guilty of such rash Passion and Spiritual Pride in his carriages towards us in conviction and distinction one to vindicate a scandalous transgressor that was to be dealt with in the Church charged a Sister with a lye in the face of the Church and afterward to cover his evil made it a mistake to justifie the wicked and to condemn the righteous both are in an abomination to the Lord the first is but few weeks but some or other would meet with their woundings and burdenings and sometimes meet with Repulses in their Addresses to him they must not teach their Elder sometimes he
the day of the Lord. I pray observe These People have as it were arraigned their Pastor at the Bar and have writ and produced his Charge against him the Evidence they produce to make good this their Charge is Supposition or Perswasion now if Reason sit Judge do these men think to carry it against their Pastor surely nay Then are not these men much to be blamed and ought they not to mourn greatly for what they have done in taking away the life of their Pastors Reputation and all upon a supposition seeing what they have said against him is not positive Then I must and ought in Conscience to be acquitted and cleared of all those scandalous Reproaches that have been and still dayly are cast upon me by this groundless means These things considered all men of understanding may discern that S. B. is an Innocent person still and altogether clear from any guilt that is cast upon him in this pretended Charge and since it is brought to light we finde they can prove no treacherous dealing against the person aforesaid 5 Par. He is guilty of a very sinful Confederacy with this Enemy of the Lord whom he hath singled out for his Company To this I answer Here they have discovered both their Folly and Ignorance A Confederacy doth imply a League or Agreement between persons as they in Act. 23.21 layed wait by way of confederacy for Paul to do him harm and bound themselves in an oath that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed him here is a Confederacy indeed Is this their meaning that I am a Confederate with that Person to do any of the People of God any harm Had the Lord at any time left me to such wickedness as this I make no question they would not have spared me a jot but the Nation should soon have had the knowledge of it Truly these dark sentences will not much promote their Cause and unwarrantable Design that for some time they have been endeavouring to keep up in the mindes of Good People they have in so doing been building upon the sand and without all doubt their Building will tumble upon their own heads ere long The Eagle-eyed Christian doth behold their sumptuous Fabrick to tumble already and though they have designed to throw down the Innocent yet let them know their surmising suppositions will never carry the day for unless they come forth in down-right positive terms they are not like to cast me in open Court but themselves for God will have Judgement and Justice to be executed speedily and they cannot charge me with any evil that I have acted with the person forementioned to any of the tender Lambs of Christ or any others Thus much may be expressed without the least wrong to any of their persons That they are all guilty of many sinful Lyes that they have forged against him who was their spiritual Pastor so that they are guilty of a sinful compliance themselves for I prove them all confederated together to murder my good Name and have cried me up through the Nation for a Trappan when they can prove no such thing so that I may say of them as 't is said in Obadiah vers 7. All you the men that were in League with me in holy Covenant yea who were once at peace with me have deceived me and by your lying falsehoods and surmising pretended Charge you have sent abroad have prevailed against me yea you have eaten Bread with me at the Table of the Lord O that I could write it with Tears of Blood yet ye have laid a wound under me and it is to be feared for these things there is no understanding in you That in the mean time they are charging of me with Confederacy though groundlesly they are proved to their faces to be great Confederates themselves in casting dirt in the face of the Innocent by scandalous Reports and all this is done under pretence of Godliness As to the latter part of this Particular I have answered already and therefore need say no more to it They are guilty of manifold Tautologies in this pretended Charge whether it be from weakness or wilfulness I shall not sit Judge in the case Secondly Whom he has singled out for his Company hugging and embracing him as a Brother A Friend that saw it when he brought him into the Congregation c. Answ And what harm was there in all this that I was in his company which thing I have answered to already Let me ask these forward persons which are so nimble to condemn the person of the Innocent before he had either a fair Hearing or a fair Tryal and what they did must be with all expedition too that is to say Reproached charged judged and condemned and all in less then one days time and what was done was behind my back too fearing to refer their Work till the very next Meeting lest they should not obtain their purpose as one of their Party was heard to say namely Benjamin Minzes which can be proved to his face he expressing himself in these terms If we do it not now we shall not do it at all which plainly demonstrates they had a Design to carry on sure it was not a good one that they should fear to miss of their purpose in the accomplishment of it But to return to the question Was my being in his company as I said before prejudicial to any from that day to this were it convenient to write what I have to say in this case I could easily make it appear I did well in so doing They have now produced one Witness to a thing I deny not however it is very well done to prove what they say and if they had so done in every Particular of their pretended Charge they had saved me the labour of writing an Answer Then I should have cried out Guilty without any more ado and had they so done all along it had redownded much unto their Credit and Reputation But now they have cracked their Credit by urging so many Lyes and are not ashamed to do so again I ask these men Did their Brother a Friend see me bring him into the Meeting whom you say I did so much hug and embrace surely nay he dares not say so Then till you can prove that your Charge still remains false and you false Accusers and how you will clear your selves of this I know not Thirdly And since is a great Frequenter of his House and Company as if it were a small thing to wrap himself in all his iniquities and so draw upon himself the vengeance due unto such vile Transgressions contrary expresly unto the Lords Commands Say not a Confederacy and Have no fellowship with unfruitful Works of Darkness Answ Whether it be for want of more Matter or of more Wisdom I know not what their Reason should be that they should stuff up their Charge with so many Tautologies and spend so much time
wicked was their Sister whom they had communion with at that time a wicked Person how did they dare to have any communion with her then and to condemn the Godly but who it was I condemned they have not named and who it is I should condemn I know not I shall not judge them that do thus falsely accuse me neither would I have them judge me in this matter but leave it to him which judgeth righteously Fourthly It was but few Weeks but some or other would meet with their wounding and burdens Answ If the Word of the Lord did at any time wound them let me tell them Gods wounding tends to healing but as to any thing else I must profess my self altogether a stranger to it for I was if I may speak without offence so far from wounding or burdening them that I did chuse rather to be wounded or burdened my self the Lord is my Witness in this matter I say unto this People Doth it not rather plainly appear that their Pastor was wounded and burdened by them they being so apt to be offended with Gospel-Reproofs Yea sure they have done more than wounded and burdened their Pastor for to deprive him of his good Name under the Notion of a Trappan when there was no such thing what will this amount to if strictly enquired into and rightly judged sure murder in some kind The Lord give them a true sight of their evil and then I shall rejoyce Fifthly We met with Repulses in our Address to him You must not teach your Elder Sometimes he scorned to be taught his Duty by any Member in the Congregation Answ True it is when some of them came as divers times they did back-biting of some of their fellow-Members whereof some made it their common practice so to do which became a heavy burden to me and when they came to me with their stories truly they had but little encouragement and I do perceive this is that they call Repulses for it was my manner first mildly to shew them their evil and then to inform them of their Duty in that concernment but finding still some who made it their business to go from house to house carrying Tales which since have been instrumental to bring their private disorderly walking into a publick disorder also witness the noise their proceedings have made throughout all the Churches I perceiving mild Instruction would not reclaim them I was fain to use sharpness which they ignorantly call rash Passion I not answering the expectation of some in this kinde but reproving them sharply for the same they have been pleased to terme it Spiritual Pride But why should I or any other think this strange for Paul the Noble Apostle of the Gentiles was judged by the Church of Corinth 1 Cor. 4.3 And counts it but a small thing to be so judged 〈◊〉 shall I for what I have â—one in this kind hath been in a faithful discharge of my duty though I have purchased to my self a blot for my labour I trust the Lord will enable me to wear it as my Crown what ever specious pretences they may have to render me odious to the People of God they carrying of it at such a rate to make the Churches believe that they have dealt with me in an orderly way when it is no such thing causing some to say His own Church hath dealt with him and cast him out when they were not in a capacity so to do being under dealing at that time themselves by their Pastor and others of the Church for their rebellion against the Righteous Laws and instituted Orders of Christ's House What they have unrighteously done hath seemed hitherto to carry the day as if they had obtained a victory and cryed it up so before the matter came to tryal But it must pass for truth right or wrong why so there is no good reason can be shewed for it I am sure some say Because the Church hath cast him out To this I shall speak in the Language of the Prophet Isa 66.5 Your Brethren that hated you that cast you out for my Names sake saying Let the Lord be glorified but he shall appear to your joy and they shall be ashamed And for all their bold assertion that I am not willing to hearken to the least Member of the Church to hear what they can say I hope I shall make it appear that I am not only willing to hearken but to learn of them too if I find them in a capacity to teach These people all men may see by their carriage to me were so far from being able to teach me my duty that they had not learnt to practise their own it doth plainly appear they judged me without a cause Sixthly Sometimes he would incompass us with fained flatteries and repentances and yet in the mean time break forth into those foul breaking parts that indeed he was become a burthen to us To this I answer What they mean by feigned flatteries I am yet to learn then very unlikely to compass them about therewith Surely these people Have bent their Tongues like their Bow for lies Jer 9.3 And we may say of them as the Prophet of old did They proceed from evil to evil If by fained flattery they mean my ready condescention to them of low degree in denying my self as often I did in having better thoughts of them than I had of my self I making of it my work to maintain the peace of the Church if this be their meaning I must needs confess my self guilty but as to any thing else I am a stranger to it Therefore that which they call fained flattery is a Paradox to me And the thing they term by the name of Repentances I do as little understand as the former unless it be thus if at any time I had spoken that which through their weakness being petrish Children and soon offended at reproof though they had need enough of it and as they truly confess to me in their Letter they writ when I was a Prisoner in Newgate That they were Children in the Matters and Affairs of the Church and need be taught then I would express my trouble in this case that I was such an Offence to them they being in the high minde when they should come down into the godly fear being apt to be self-conceited and must I be reproached for this my Love and Tenderness to them I trust my God will enable me to bear it though that which makes it the harder is Because it is from the House of my Friends and them that have been and still are as dear to me as my own Life though they have thus dealt by me and I am become to them as a dead man out of mind If these be the things that made them cry out of being burdened let all sober men judge whether they had any just cause for it May it not truely be otherwise applied more safely That these things could not
but prove a burden to their Pastor I shall omit one thing in this Particular it being such nonsense that I understand it not and shall pass to the next thing in their pretended Charge Seventhly Some of those petty things we have also at large for to be brought forth if desired by any Answ Were it not to encourage these people to come under the breach of their solemn Covenant they made when they entered into Church-Communion not to rip up matters in this kinde I should say then By all means bring them forth that the Churches and others may see what a heavy Drudge their Pastor hath been made by them and how they have had no respect to his peace but troubled and burdened him with such matters that by their own confession are counted petty Things The Christian Reader may take notice That their Charge at the best as they have declared is but a petty Charge the Reason is The matters contained therein are but petty Things and truly I do not much wonder they were so backward in letting me have a sight thereof it may be they were ashamed of their work it being but a petty Business I must needs acknowledge they have given as true a Title to their Twelvemonths Labours as could be invented and should they sit a Twelvemonth longer onely to study for a Title to send forth their pretended Charge into the World they could not choose one that would be more fitting Now Friends Seeing it hath appeared to be such a petty Business I hope your poor oppressed Pastor will be restored to his Birthright again that is to say His Good Name that hath by your means been taken from him for a Good Name is better than precious Oyntment Eccles 7.1 which you have stained by your scandalous Reports spread by your means up and down the Land of my Nativity but if you will not yet it shall work for my good and your hurt in the Day of Judgement Sure all men that have but the least spark of Grace will say it is but a reasonable thing seeing all this cry and stir about Samuel Bradley doth at last appear to be but a petty Report and could never to this day be made otherwise to appear for the most credible persons that ever had a hand to spread it abroad which have gone under the name of very good Christians neither did nor can speak any thing of their own knowledge then it remains to be but a petty Report still And when these persons have been asked Upon what grounds do you report this of the Person aforesaid their answer has been His Church has cast him out upon this very Account and now that which they have called all this while a Church Act though they had no Reason so to do is found to be at the best but a petty Surmise or Supposition What and no more No truly Then away saith the sober-minded Christian with this petty Charge for in open Court it is condemned and let their Pastor's Good Name be restored Eighthly While we were dealing with him at one time breaking forth into a wicked reviling and contempt as He had brought up a Bird to pick out his Eyes A Brother that then spake called him Black-mouth Foul-mouth he had spit the Devil all Day Answ As touching the Bird they mention of all the things I did speak that I cannot remember however it may be relished yet in one sence it is undeniably true for this man whom they make mention of was he that for two or three hours together did revile me in such a shameful manner that some there present although they were not Members yet conscientious Persons were so much grieved they had much ado to continue in the hearing of him his speaking was in such an unchristian-like manner that some there present said He did act and lock as if he had been the very Picture of Envy and he spake with such rage that to somes perceivance he looked black in the mouth then I pray consider was that to revile him when I spake nothing but the truth concerning him And put case these kinde of proceedings and great oppressions had so much prevailed with me that I had spake worse than all this who was the cause of it were not those persons that would not let me have the same liberty that a Malefactor or a Murderer shall have at the Bar that is to speak what he can for himself before he be sentenced to death but I must have my Sentence before I could be heard Oppression will make a wise man mad And did I revile him to call him Foul-mouth when he had such foul Expressions flowing from him that were not becoming him and whether he did not act the part of the Devil all the day let the wise man judge who accused his Pastor in the face of all there present and yet could not when he was put upon it prove what he said for we all know that the Devil is the Accuser of the Brethren Rev. 12.10 then you may plainly see I did not wrong him in the least to say he spit the Devil all day when he spit forth his venom of malice that he was beyond the bounds of moderation Now if they had any regard to God's Glory and their own Reputation they should not have laid open their weakness abroad thinking to let the nakedness of their Pastor be seen to all men and thereby have made manifest their own shame suppose I had acted all that which B. M. had falsely asserted was there no other course for them to deal with me than to make me odious before all ere they had examined the cause to see whether I had deserved such things at their hands But it doth appear this man with some others had a design to carry on and he thought the way to make sure work of it was to stop his Pastors Mouth for fear he should spoile his design for he with some others were resolved upon the matter to cut him off right or wrong and with all expedition too and had forgot to go to prayer first A Member that was there present which wept bitterly to see their proceedings seeing of them so nimble at the work bad them consider what they did for it was not a business of small concernment to cut off an Elder to which some replied Well then we will go and seek God the Brother that prayed was very ingenious to confess though he was one of them in the cutting-off design John Johnson by name he had no answer at all with that Benjamin Minzes did go to pray to see if he could have an answer as we may so gather by the passage and after he had done he was answered as he did say from Rev. 2.20 I have a few things against thee because thou sufferest that Woman Jezebel which calleth her self a Prophetess to teach and Seduce my Servants to commit Fornication and to eat things Sacrificed unto Idols