Then thou goest on to ask three Questions First Was the Light in mans Conscience that personal appearance that John bore witness to Second Was the Light in mans Conscience that word of God that was God by which all things were made that were made Third Was the Light in Conscience personally to be seen by the firmental eye to be felt with the outward hand And from these thy own words thou drawest a conclusion that if the Light of Conscience be not to be understood in these capcities our Doctrine is false Though thou hast brought no more reason to prove it then if thou hadst said I would have it so for as to the Apostles words we testifie and have learned in that Spirit which the carnal man could never discern nor the things thereof but the Apostle answers himself and hath declared of whom he testified by whom all things were made and that this was the true Light that enlightneth every man that cometh into the World and it was the Christ of God which he bore Testimony to so instead of proving us 〈◊〉 error that confess Christ the Light in every Conscience thou bringst thy self under the Plagues threatned for adding to the Scriptures For where did ever the Apostle in that place or any other speak of personal and firmental as thou dost and conclude all false that are not of thy mind And to answer thee further the Apostle did preach and testifie of Christ and as he taught him so is he learned in Light or Spirit is not this in the Conscience How wouldst thou have Christ seen felt and handled how is Christ with his people to the end of the World according to his Promise and how is he in them that was with them Is it to be seen firmental as thou callest though no other did the Apostle testifie of then he that became flesh and dwelt amongst us yet no more did they know him after the Flesh but after the Spirit but thou and such as thou who in your carnal minds would comprehend spiritual things bring forth your carnal apprehensions and having no knowledg but what you have sensually know neither Christ's Flesh nor glorious Body but that which could be pierced wounded and crucified all Image-makers are still oppressing for he is still slayn in spiritual Egypt where thou art and though thou knowest we that thou seemest to strike at did and do confess to him and no other that made a good confession before Pilate of whom John bear witness to be the Light of the World and this is true and they are found Liars before God that would set up any thing to be believed in but he that in Spirit is revealed for thousands of those that saw his personal appearance at Jerusalem knew him not to be the Christ nay by Spirit then was he to be learned as thou may read where Peter confesseth him and Christ saith Flesh and Blood hath not revealed this to thee but the Spirit of my Father and against this art thou fighting and those that are lead thereby for by Light and Spirit have we learned Christ and so teach him and this is he which is testified of that is the Eternal Gift of God and he that is sent of God whom to know is Eternal Life but of this are they all ignorant that call the Light in Conscience a formed thing and the Spirit of the humane earthly Soul but their ignorance of the great Power of God is not to be marvelled at that says The Light and Spirit is of the humane earthly soul and so would make all believe that the souls of men and women were no other then the Dogs or Cats and Beasts that must perish for what is of the Farth must to the Earth hast thou not read God breathed into man and he became a living Soul and thou callest this Human or Earthly needs then must they stumble and fall that walk in the dark as thou and all do that would comprehend the Light to dispute againâ—t but over thee and all vain Image-makers it shall rise that with your dark Images and inventions have filled the World with Idolatry Profainness and Athism and what doctrine more then thine doth it that preachest the Soul Human and Creaturely and the Light formed of it so neither Soul nor Light Immortal Eternal but of the Earth a beastly doctrine which hath manifested the Teacher to know nothing but what he knows sensually yet thou goest on repeating what Christ did and suffered when manifest at Jerusalem and then sayest this manifests Christ is Formative and not a Defusive Principle this like thy former stuff which thou hast got in thy dark mind so in dark words expressest it what manner of Christ thou wouldst have people believe in all in the Light see but the Christ of God is he that filleth all things as the Scriptures testifie And then thou goest on to confess that the Light of conscience was in the Apostles and by this Peter confessed Christ to be the Son of God How hath Satan blinded thee that loves darkness better then Light that thou shouldst bring this Scripture that callest the Light the Spirit of the human Soul and Christ saith the Spirit of the Father revealed it in Peter and was not and is not Christ in the Father so whatever thou hast denied thou hast now proved Father Spirit and Son the Light in the Conscience for they were never divided or else thou must hold after thy former dark doctrine the Father and the Spirit are but the Spirit of the human Soul thus shall all they be snared that invent against the Truth which is the same yesterday to day and for ever and let them all be so confounded as thou art that devise against the Light saith my soul for thou sayest Peter by his Light in Conscience bares witness to Christ the Son of God and Christ saith not Flesh and blood but the Spirit of my Father revealed it and knowest thou not that God is one not divided I in the Father and the Father in me saith Christ and none ascends to Heaven but he that comes down from Heaven the Son of man in Heaven but this thou nor any that saith the Light is the spirit of the humane soul could ever see but who in the Light and Spirit learn him know he filleth all things even the same to whom Peter confessed blest for ever as saith the Apostle One God and Father of all who is above all and thorow all and in you all Ephes 4. 6. and this is he we testifie of that dwells in the Light in Conscience where thou confessest the Son of God is revealed and yet sayest the Light in Conscience is not Christ for he saith he is ascended far above all Heavens that he may fill all things and then goest on saying Now O man open thy eyes and see how dangerously thou standest that denies the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ in his Person
have found our souls creaturely from the flames of the Righteous burnings of Gods Wrath in our souls for sin Oh thick Darkness is this thy Argument to prove the Soul creaturely that it can live with everlasting burnings the least child of Light could give thee a clearer knowledg of the Soul then thee or thy Teacher J. B. ever attained to but who hates the Light is and must be bound in Chains of Darkness for evermore and there I leave thee in that matter as concerning the Soul and return to thy opinion of the Light thou sayest in thy fourth page Christ is not the Principle of Light and in the sixth page thou sayest the Light in the Conscience which these new Preachers cry up for Christ is but the Principle of Christ which is his own Habitation This is such Logick as the Framers of Babel use to Build with vain Phylosophy indeed from which all that believe in the Light know redemption how different is thy Way and Doctrine from the Way of the Lord where the wafering man though a fool errs not wherein the simple may walk be safe but what profit is there of thy winding and turning Christ not the principle of Light yet Light the principle of Christ what serves thy opinion and Doctrine for but to lay stumblings in the way of the simple and instead of appearing wiser then others thou hast bewrayed thy ignorance in this thy work and former practises in perverting from the good Way of the Lord not knowing what thou sayest nor whereof thou affirmest hast thou not yet learned what the word Principle is is it not the beginning is not Christ the beginning of all things ‖ Thou in thy Queries sayest all was not made by Christ contrary to Light or to Scripture by him and for him was all made and yet wilt thou deny him to be the beginning or Principle of Light as in thy fourth page and in thy sixth page thou sayest Light is but the Principle of Christ so whilst in thy Dark minde thou wouldst debase the Light in the conscience see how thou hast lifted it up for instead of saying the Light comes from Christ thou holdest out the Light to be the beginning of Christ for doth not every rational Creature know the principle of any thing is before that which comes of it the Principle of Christ sayest thou which is his own Habitation so thou confessest the Light in the Conscience to be the dwelling place of God and yet would cry out against such as preach the Light in the conscience thou dost indeed darken knowledg by words without understanding for never any that despised the Light knew him that is the Light of the World or his Dwelling place thou hast devised against that which is too hard for thee may all the Enemies of the Light be covered with confusion as thou art then thou goest on in the same page 6. again to make a relation of his Death Resurection and Ascension and so saying no more nor so much in that matter then formerly I have taught a Child or Children of 7 years old to say and here sayest thou that Opinion is condemned by the Scriptures that denies the Ascension of the Lords Person who they be that deny the ascension of the Lords Christ I know not for all that have Faith in the Light bare testimony thereto but for the word person is it any where written in Scripture his Person Ascended how darest thou add to the words and thou farther sayest that our Foundation is built upon the ground of Nature if thou hadst said our Foundation is the ground or cause or being of all natural things thou hadst spoke true though thou knowest it not for by him that is our Foundation all things were made and without it was nothing made that was made John 1. 2. and this is the true Light that enlightens every man that comes into the World and the Children of Light never denied his Person that took upon him the Seed of Abraham became flesh and lived amongst us so instead of proving the Children of Light in error thou hast proved thy self an Accuser and the Scripture hath and doth testifie against thee for us that have not nor do not declare of any other Christ but he of whom the Scriptures declare to be the Light of the World and so thou goest on to repeat many good words in the relation of some thing written in the Scriptures and adds thy own words that the everlasting Gospel is his Death Burial and Resurrection as the Scriptures declare sayest thou and notes a Scripture to prove it that is not to be found in all the Bible 1 Cor. 25. 1. is this to attest by Scripture to direct to that which was never there but the Apostle Paul saith the Gospel is the Power of God unto Salvation and that the Word in the heart and in the mouth was the Gospel he preached and the everlasting Gospel proclaimed by an Angel through Heaven was fear God and give Glory to him for the hour of his Righteous Judgments is come these did not say Christ's Death and Burial were the Gospel but who are Witnesses of his Resurrection do know the Gospel but the Opposers of the Light in Conscience see it not But to take farther notice of thy unlearned words the rest of thy 7th page is filled with such words as thou hast either borrow'd or rather stolen because thou namest not the Author from Beamon or it may be some of John Jacksons for he once brought out such a work of Darkness as thine is and thou hast the same words so the answer given him may come over this part of thy work for Truth must forever be over the head of Falshood and thou that sayest thou wouldst attest thy truth according to Scripture thou drawest a conclusion from thy own and thy borrowed words without any Scripture and now sayest thou that it is manifest from hence that this Light that doth condemn the Heathen's is not the Lord Christ that doth justifie but shews neither good reason nor Scripture for it but makes mention of Paul to the Romans which words being taken as they were given forth by the Apostle proves thy affirmation false for the Apostles words are these speaking to the Romans or Heathens Rom. 1. 19. The wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the Truth in unrighteousness because that which may be known of God is manifest in them for God hath shewed it unto them now without R. C. can make any so blind as himself will Pauls words here or any where prove that he which Condemns is not Christ that Justifies and farther would not these words prove against thee that brings the proof that the Truth is held in unrighteousness by the Heathens for is not Christ the Truth but who knows not Christ to be the Light knows him not to be the Truth
‖ Know the Tree by the Fruit they that in measure were redeemed out of it having again imbraced this present World and they are such as deny the Lord that bought them even such as the Apostle Jude speaks of that like the first Angels that kept not their first state and likewise that kept not their Habitations but despises Dominion and speaks evil of Dignities so these speak evil of those things they know not but what they naturally knows as bruit Beasts now is not this R. C. and his Disciples that have risen up against the Dignities that are from above running into the way of Cain and perishing in the gainsaying of Corah has not his envy made it manifest O forget not for as it was spoken it is come to pass the Earth hath swollowed up many of you and none shall escape that divise against the Worship in Truth and Spirit and sets up a formed Light and natural Light to be the dwelling of God and his people that he has given to Jesus Christ So thou art manifested to know nothing but what thou knowest naturally as a bruit Beast and so appointest a natural rest for those that believe thy doctrine and warns thy old Friends not to fall short of it for it seems thou knowest not another then what thou knowest naturally but they who are come to the Law of the Spirit of Grace that sets free from sin and death know there is a Rest prepared for the people of God and an entrance thereinto many have and do witness and are set down in heavenly Places with Christ Jesus and this Rest and Glory was before the World was not a formed but that which Christ testifies of he had with the Father before the World was and this shall abide when all thy imaginations shall cease and thy formed Rest fail thee O how restless then shalt thou be when thy hope shall perish but our hope standing in him that is without beginning of dayes or end of life we shall never be ashamed and all that have this hope purifie themselves as God is pure So to thy imagined Rest thou art left where thy trouble and torment will be increased though thou and those deceived by thee and their own evil hearts have rejoyced in iniquity and if any by disobedience to or unbelieving in the Light have been overtaken with evil or run into the pollutions of this World this you Backsliders have gotten to strengthen you in your envy and back-drawing though your own appearance manifests you are one with them that have forsaken the good Way of God and the precious Truth to return to the vanities and customs of this present World denying his blood that hath calld out of the World and the Judgments of him that judgeth in Righteousness you shall not escape but as one shall you all be judged which have dispised the Spirit of Grace or have turned from it into wantonness so your portion shall be one from first to last that have left the good way of God and profained the Name of that Power and Life in which we that believe have and do know the fulfilling of the promise and are become partakers of the Divine Nature and born again thereof and thereby to inherit Life and immortality and an entrance into the Kingdom which all you are shut out of and have no part in And know to the increase of your torment that have writ against the Light thousands in faithfulness thereto are kept out of the pollutions yea and love of this World and witness redemption out of all that which must come to an end and to us are daily added and shall be added all that shall he saved we have not believed a Lye but the Truth and it is stronger then all and shall wear out your Envy and shall overcome all your invented Images and Mischiefs that you have divised against the Lord and his Anointed for the expectations of the Righteous in all generations is come and who through the regeneration have passed are sat down on Thrones and do and shall judge the Tribes of Israel but our reward you cannot see nor pertake of who have been unfaithful to him that called you and so never came to the Election but have betrayed it as faras it lay in you and have grieved many little ones and better had it been for some of you that you had never been born or that a Milstone had been hung about your necks and you thrown into the bottom of the Sea then a wrought the work of evil against the Lord and his Truth which he will more and more raise up and increase against and over all the strength of Hell and they and they only are thy Friends R. C. that in plainness warns thee of the wrath to come which shall overtake thee and all that harden their hearts and stop their ears against that which somtimes pricks them though they kicks against it and some that are stout-hearted shall confess unto when their Joy and Hope shall come to an end but the Lovers and Obeyers of the true Light have Peace and Joy in that which is endless and everlasting therefore the evil purposes and accusations and threats of those that disobey the Gospel cannot disturb nor make us afraid So we would that all men with us that believe in the Light might come to the knowledg of God and be saved but who hate the Light abide in darkness and brings forth confusion as R. C. hath done and there I leave him only Query of him as followeth I. IF the Light and Witness thou sayest the Quakers declares of the worm that will never dies then where is the Rest thou said'st before that God had made or created for his People in the Light in or of the Conscience answer II. Do'st thou imagine the Worm that never dies and the Rest to be both one answer if thou canst III. And I query since thou hast given so many names to the Light in or of the Conscience for it seems thou knowest not which saying It is the Dwelling of God and sometimes a formed Light and sometimes a Rest for the People of God and sometimes Natures Light and the Spirit of a man and the Worm that shall never dye I query if the spirit of a man and natures light be a Dwelling and Rest for God and his People that he hath given to Christ as thou hast said prove if thou canst by Scripture IV. I query of thee what the Conscience is of whose light in or of thou hast brought forth so many strange Images and though thou hast not brought one Scripture for thy many names of the Light in or of the Conscience what is Conscience declare if thou canst V. I query if thou canst bring any Scripture for proving God's Dwelling and his people in the Light of the humane Soul or that the spirit of man is the Rest or that the Rest and the Worm that never dyes
be the Light of or in the Conscience as thou affirmest Answer if thou canst VI. Query Was it not the true Christ of which John speaks he was slain in the great Street spiritually called Egypt and Sodom and is he slain in that Person that was visible at Jerusalem or who or where Answer if thou canst VII I query John saith he that is born of God sins not how should he for the Seed of God abides in him is that Seed Christ in his Person Answer for the Apostle Paul saith he speaks not of Seeds many but the one Seed Christ VIII Query And did this promised Seed Christ never break the Serpent's head but in the Person which was made manifest at Jerusalem and if he did where and how answer IX Query Whether it was the Person at Jerusalem that came down from Heaven and was the Son of man in heaven that could only ascend to Heaven or what Answer X. Query And whether that Talent taken from the unprofitable Servant and given to another was the Worm that never dies or a formative Light or the spirit of the earthly humane Soul or the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil as E. A. talks of or what Answer if thou canst XI Query Whether doth the Son of God abide with his to the end of the World is it in Light or in Person Answer XII Query Whether Christ who told his Disciples he that was with them would be in them whether he hath fulfilled his Promise for he cannot lye and if in them is it in Person or by Light Answer plainly XIII Query Whether the Unction or Anointing which the Apostles said should teach them all things was Christ in his Person without or Christ in them answer XIV Query Christ told those that followed him except they eat his Flesh and drink his Blood they had no life in him So I query whether it was that Person they were to eat and drink or what if thou canst answer XV. Christ saith he that eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood hath Eternal Life now I query if they eat that Person or who they are that have Eternal Life answer if thou canst XVI Christ saith he that eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood dwelleth in me and I in him now I query if this dwelling be in Person or in Light answer plainly XVII Query Whether the Accuser of the Brethren that was to be cast down from Heaven was the spirit of a man or the light of nature or the Worm that shall never dye or the Habitation and Dwelling Place for God and his people since in thy writings thou mak'st all these one Answer plainly Several Lyes in R. C 's Second Page 1. THat we say Christ is only an Example These are but a few of thy many false Accusations 2 That we despise his Flesh and trample his Blood under our feet 3. That we set up the creaturely light in Conscience for Christ and his Light 4. That we deny him to be the Christ that in his Person was an Offering for Sin 5. That we deny Christ in Heaven 6. In thy 16th page that our Teachers teach entrance into Rest by Works of obedience to the Light of Nature These things thou never heard'st nor read'st by any of those thou call'st our Preachers So thou publishest to the World that we hold that which thou think'st and so declar'st thy self a false Accuser Postscript THis rose in my heart for your sakes that would know the will of God to do it and are rather waiting to have him work your works in you then labour in your own imaginations to know and comprehend the incomprehensible God in your minds where all Images and idolatrous Worships have been framed and brought forth yea from the same ground all wickedness and blasphemies from the first transgression to this day by all that went out from God and then as Cain would offer of their own and so have his generation all along to this day those born of the Flesh warred against those born of the Spirit who worshipped in the Faith as we do confessing to know nothing of God and his everlasting Truth but as we are taught and led of this Spirit and in this know both Father and Son and receive power thereby to become the Sons and Daughters of God and cannot but declare of his Glory and Good will who hath sent us that according to the measure received of him we may Glorifie him of whose Grace we have received Grace for Grace and know his continued Good will even to all and every one that believes in his Light and Word of which the Scriptures testifie both by Prophets and Apostles as it is written Amos 4. 13. 1 John 1. 1. Heb. 4. 12. and of another Light and Word did we never Write or Declare then of Jesus the First and the Last which they that have erred from are offering despite to us as R. C. in his Practice and Writing doth who having walked some Years amongst us as if he had been one of us yet not bowing to nor believing in the true Light where Power is received grew in Envy against those that were in it by which he and such like have been given up to a Reprobate Minde to change the Invisible God into the likeness of Corruptible Things as R. C. hath in his first and last as may be seen and read in his vain Imaginations of God and Christ uttering his Lyes and Blasphemies against God and his Tabernacle some of which I have in my foregoing lines recited that all may see he is contrary to Scriptures and Truth and to us that no more any may be deceived by him Rebecca Traverse PAge 6. l. 4. for were read was l. 8. for saith thou read say'st thou Pag. 13. l. 4. for thou comest to be read thou comest to see P. 15. l. 14. for and they his read and theirs P. 19. l. 16. blot out too and. P. 23. l. 35. for thy seeming read seem THE END