Patience your Good-will towards all men your Good Exhortations in the Way of Peace with all Long-Suffering and Forbearance But instead thereof do you not bring forth the Fruits of the Flesh viz. Envying Strife Malice Contention Drunkenness Covetousness Whoredoms Uncleanness Persecution rendring Evil for Good instead of rendring Good for Evil and Cursings for Blessings instead of Blessings for Cursings Of such Christ bids us beware of in Matth. 7.15 20 c. Who come in Sheep's Cloathing but inwardly are Ravening Wolves for by their Fruits ye shall know them O! that you would in time think upon the Great Account I speak to you as one who wishes well if not better then your selves to your Immortal Souls that you shall without all controversie render to the Lord at the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord. For if the Death of the Body be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The King of Terrors as it is in Job to the Reprobate O! what will in that day that Death be when Christ shall say unto the Left-Hand Goats Depart ye Cursed into Everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil c. Why What 's the Matter Because they visited not his Imprison'd Ones how much more then in regard they were the Means and Occasion of their Imprisonments weigh well his words in Mat. 25. In that I say he came and found you beating that is Persecuting your Fellow-Servants O! how then will you be able to appear and shew your Faces before the Lord who have made it your great Concern as much as in you lies to provoke and stir up those in Power in this Island as witness your several Petitions to them to War Imprison and Trouble the Innocent Whereas you should endeavour to perswade people To beat their Swords into Plough-Shares and their Spears into Pruning-Hooks so that Nation might not lift up Sword against Nation neither learn War any more Isa 2.4 A Mercy which the Lord long since promised should come to pass and is now beginning to be fulfilled but endeavoured to be obstructed by the Contradictions of such as you but all in Vain But take heed of limitting the Holy One of Israel of with-standing his Accomplishments lest you be found Fighters against God and if so expect that justly with that Apostate Julian that may make you cry out with him in the Anguish of your spirits Vicisti me Galilee For know this That no man ever stood it out against the Lord and Prospered man has stood it out against another and Nation against a Nation and Kingdom against a Kingdom and have Prospered but none ever stood it out against God and Prosper'd O! Where is your Love your Charity so rendred that suffers long and is Kind that Envyeth not that vaunteth not it self that is not Puffed up that behaveth it self not Unseemingly seeketh not her own is not easily Provoked thinketh no Evil Rejoyceth not in Iniquity but Rejoyceth in the Truth Beareth all things Believes all things Hopeth all things Endureth all things Of which I may say with your allowed Poet Terras Astrae reliquit as Justice so Mercy and Compassion are departed from you For where are your Bowels of Compassion Have you not rather stir'd up others to Fight and set at Variance c. that instead of a Concord have set at Discord O! what Rents and Divisions what Animosities and Enmities you and your Fellows have made over all Christendom so called Have you not been only Partners but the chief Fomenters Complotters and Broachers of all the Mischief done Therefore your Coat above all other Coats are like to give an Heavy Account namely You of the Black Robe here in this Island like the Chimrims i. e. Eorum qui nigras induunt vestes as it is rendred in the Margent by Arius Montanus in Zeph. 1.4 and as Junius has it Nomen atratorum who have set all the World at odds and on Fire whereas you should have perswaded them to love one another and to bear one with another you have been I say the Sad Instrumens to learn them Strife and Contention to teach their Hands to War and their Fingers to Fight against the Lamb and his Followers who are clothed in White Linnen which is the Righteousness of the Saints and of Christ so that one Neighbour by your means hath hated another and sought the Destruction one of another and Persecuted and Imprisoned one another for your Lusts sake your Covetousness sake your Prides sake your Envy your Malice sake your Fables sake your Corrupt Doctrines and Divinations sake which are the Fancies and Product of your airy Imaginations and Accurst Birth of your own fiery Brain that have been hatcht there and conceived in the Chamber of your Imagenary Ezek. 8.12 these being part of the Inventions that men have sought out as the Wise Man saith Eccl. 7.29 and as he who was greater then Solomon saith Teaching for Doctrines the Traditions of Men and so make void the Law of God to whom you are like in all things the very Picture of your own Father in John 8.44 O! where will you abide when the Books shall be opened and all these things shall in order be set before you O! that you would be Wise to consider your Latter-Ends ere the Evil Day come if I say you Repent not of the Evil of your Doings when the Lord shall hurl you down and tumble you head-long into the Bottomless-Pit of Perdition there forever seal you up from the Presence of the Lord into the Abiss Isay of Destruction and Eternal Misery such as will never have an End because Time then shall be no more but after Thousands of Millions and Miriads of Years are as far from the End of their Misery as at the first Moment of it from whence I say there shall be no Redemption No no as you have been the Cause of all the Righteous's Sufferings Imprisonments and Persecutions and Deaths you shall be Imprisoned there and bound Hand and Foot and cast in there forever Luke 11.48 49 50. as saith the Lord in the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant just such Servants many of you are Who Treated his Fellow-Servant Cruclly and dealt Hardly with him whereas his Lord had great Compassion on him in forgiving him all that he owed him whereupon his Lord was Wrath and delivered him to the Tormentors till he should pay all that was due unto him And look as certainly as you have or shall fill'd any of us with Sorrows and Grief so shall you drink the Dregs of our Cup as the Apostle saith to this purpose it is a Righteous Thing with God to Recompense Tribulation to them that Trouble you 2 Thes 1.4 5 6. You shall I say drink even of the Wine of the Wrath of God which is poured out without Mixture of the least Pitty or Mercy into the Cup of his Indignation and shall be Tormented with Fire and Brimstone in the Presence of his holy Angels and in the Presence of the
TO THE Ministers Teachers AND PRIESTS So called and so Stileing your Selves IN BARBADOES BY GEORGE FOX Printed in the Year 1672. To the Ministers Teachers and Priests so called and so stiling your selves in BARBADOES COnsider seriously what a Charge you take in hand do you not pretend to watch for and over Peoples Souls and to present them to God Have you presented any to God Nay Can you present any to God unless you be in the same Power and Spirit the Apostles were in which is an Immortal Power Spirit to present the immortal Soul to the immortal God Do you pretend to watch for the spiritual and everlasting Good of the People but do not you watch more whatever your pretences are for their Goods which you call your Revenues then for that O! how is it that there is so much raging which wars against the Soul amongst you yea such abundance of Fleshly Lusts and Fleshly Talk in the Hearts and Mouthes of People Do you not pretend to cure their Souls and to be the Curates of them And if so can you make the Soul Perfect If you present them to God must they not be perfect here For will you present an unperfect Offering to a perfect God Do you not pretend that you Plough in Hope And have you the Spiritual Plough that turns up the Fallow Ground And if so how comes it to pass that there are so much Weeds upon your Ground and that your Land lies fallow in that there 's so little Fruit brought forth to God Look upon your Field every one of you or whether are you idle and do not plough but beat the Air and so do not you pretend that you thresh in Hope Now have you the Spiritual Flayl and if so How chances it that there is so much Chaff And do you not plead for Imperfection and a Body of Sin and Death that people must necessarily have while they live upon Earth Then do you not plead for Chaff and not for the Wheat And look upon your Fields and look upon your Vineyards and see what abundance of Chaff there is Have you not been the Seeds-men of the Flesh who sow to the Flesh and not the Seeds-men of the Spirit who sow to the Spirit For he that sows to the Flesh must of the Flesh reap Corruption and so look what a goodly Crop you have and he that sows to the Spirit he reaps Life Eternal But do you believe that every one hath a measure of the Spirit for you to sow to And do you believe that every one is enlightened by Christ Jesus the Light and their Saviour that you may turn them from Darkness to the Light and from the Power of the Devil to God or rather that you turn them from the Power of God to the Devil and from the Light to Darkness Examine your selves and consider for you must give an Account to God Have you heard Christ's Voice and God's Voice immediately from Heaven Hath he sent you to Preach or have you ran before you were sent And have you not spoken and yet God never spoke to you and say Thus saith the Lord as those did who were reproved in Jer. 23.21 or Have you been called of God as Aaron was or Have you taken that Honour upon your selves having a Call of Men and not as Aaron had And Christ saith to his Apostles Go and teach all Nations and else-where he saith The Gospel must be preached amongst all Nations Mark 13.10 Now did Christ set his Apostles down in Parishes for so much a Year that the People should be like a Free-hold and that the People should be Tenants for Life or until they could hear of a bigger Benefice Is this your Practice or theirs to wit the Apostles of Christ Now consider Christ I say saith Go teach all Nations Have you obeyed his Commands or have you heard his Voice as was said before or are you of those that have climed up another way and what doth Christ call such And if you be Ministers of Christ are you not Teachers of Blacks and Taunies to wit Indians as well as of the Whites For is not the Gospel to be preached to all Creatures And are not they Creatures And did not Christ taste Death for every man And are not they Men And was not he a Propitiation for the Sins of the whole World as well as for the Saints And so consider if the Gospel was to be preached unto all according as Christ commanded why do you not teach the Blacks and Taunies here You may it may be say There is nothing to be gotten of them What have they not Souls for you to watch over and to cure Are they not part of your Parishioners if not the greatest part And why do you find fault with the Quakers so called for teaching of their Families and instructing them to wit the Blacks and Taunies and Whites Does not the Lord say That Abraham he knew would instruct his Family And were not all his Men-Children to be Circumcised And are not all Men and Women now to be Circumcised with the Spirit of God But it seems your Blacks c. are taught to Swear and to Curse and to say God Dam them and many of them do Swear almost at every word which they have been taught and learned here among you called Christians for they learn no such kind of Speech in their own Country And is not this sad that Christians who profess Christianity should have such things amongst them For Christ saith You must not Swear at all in Mat. 5. and in Jam. 5. who taught them true Christianity And is it not the Duty of every Master of a Family that so these may come to know their Duty to God and to Man Now first Consider your own Lives and the End of your Preaching whether you do not preach your selves and for your selves and seek theirs you preach to and not them Examine your Hearts truly before God for to him you must give an Account Have you not laid aside this Command of Christ namely Freely you have received freely give and to invite the People To come for Wine and Milk without Money and without Price Isa 55.1 Now can you do so without Hypocrisie How can you say so and not blush when you will do nothing without Price nor give any thing without Money but will have so much a Year of every one in your Parish or else No Penny No Pater Noster The Apostle saith He coveted no mans Silver nor Gold nor Apparrel but laboured with his Hands to supply his own Necessities and the Necessities of others and that he might be an Example to all that followed him remember the words of our Lord Jesus how that it is a more Blessed Thing to Give then to Receive Acts 20.33 34 35. Now do you follow the Apostle Paul herein and is he your Example What do you think the People have no Eyes in their Heads to see
Corner-Stone the Foundation of the Prophets Apostles and us as is said in John and we are those who have obeythe Commands of Christ who enlightens every Man that cometh into the World that all through it might believe who said Believe in the Light this is his Command that they may become Children of the Light John 12.36 So we know That as many as receives him to wit Christ the Light that enlighteneth every one that cometh into the World to them gives he Power to become the Sons of God John 1.12 And this we Witness and can say Behold what manner of Love is this that we should be called the Sons of God and Heirs of Christ who makes us sit together in the Heavenly Places in Christ Jesus who formerly were dead in Sins and Trespasses Eph. 2. And we have received the Unction from the Holy One through which we come to know all things The Anointing which we have received of him abides in us and we need not any ones Teaching us but as the same Anointing does teach us all thengs and is true and is no Lye and even as it hath taught you ye shall abide in him 1 John 2.27 It taught the Saints in the Apostles dayes and us in ours therefore we must abide in him as they did to wit in Jesus And the Light of Christ which shines in our Hearts which God hath commanded to shine out of Darkness doth give us the Light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God in the Face of Christ Jesus And this is the Heavenly Treasure we have in our Earthen Vessels that the Excellency of the Power may be of God and not of us 2 Cor. 4.6 7. So as we walk in the Light as he is in the Light we have Fellowship one with another and the Blood of Christ the Son of God which sprinkles our Hearts and Consciences cleanseth us from all Sin 1 Joh. 1.7 And whereas many Lyes and Scandals you have cast upon us to wit our Denying of God Christ and the Scriptures c. They are all False For Christ we know own and believe his Incarnation Passion Death Resurrection Ascension and Glorification And the Scriptures we own to be the Scriptures of Truth And Scriptures signifie Writings and we own the Scriptures to contain the Words of God which we learn of God and given forth by the Holy Men of God and are profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction and Instruction in Righteousness 2 Tim. 3.16 17. And whereas we have been accused for Denying Original Sin and Owning Perfection here in this Life To which we answer That there is an Original of Sin we deny not but your Doctrine of Original Sin we do deny as you state it For doth not Original signifie the Beginning and the beginning of Sin was it not the Devil For we do affirm it was neither God nor Christ And did not Christ come to destroy the Devil and his Works and so destroy the Original So we must tell you we hold Christ and not the Devil who was and is the Original of Sin and Imperfection I say again Christ who was before the Devil was who was glorified with the Father before the World began who bruises the Serpents Head and the Heads of all Deceivers Lyars and Slanderers and False Prophets and Anti-Christs And in him we are to wit Christ Jesus who is our Salvation Mediator and Redeemer And as for your Accusing us for holding Perfection Answ What must we not hold God who is Perfect and must we not hold Christ who is Perfect and his Work and Worship which is Perfect and his Religion which is Perfect that comes from himself and the Gifts of his Spirit and Grace and Faith which are Perfect Are not all his Gifts Perfect and must we not receive them in this Life yea must not our Bodies be the Temple of God and of Christ and of his Holy Ghost And then must we not hold them who are Perfect and own Perfection And is not the Command of Christ to us to be Perfect as our Heavenly Father is Perfect And was it ever the work of the Prophets and Apostles to preach up Imperfection for Term of Life but always both the Prophets Christ and the Apostles pressed and presseth us to Perfection and what do they press us to that which is Impossible to be attain'd unto What will you say that their Words were of no Value What will you liken Christ and his Apostles words unto For were there any that ever denied the Doctrine of Perfection saving only Presbyterians Independants and Baptists and you who have got the Forme of Godliness but deny the Power thereof which brings out of Imperfection to the perfect Head Christ Jesus who is the way to God And therefore you do not only deny the perfect Power but also are short of having the Form of Godliness And will not Christ present his Church Perfect that is without Spot or Wrinkle unto God the Father who is the pure Head of it And how will you present your Church to God What will you present it to God with a Body of Death and a Body of Sin Do not you deny Circumcision in this namely the Circumcision of the Spirit that is made without Hands by putting off the Body of the Sins of the Flesh by the Circumcision of Christ And do not you deny Christ's Baptism who came with his Fan in his Hand to purge his Floor thoroughly whom We see is come and doth increase and do see the decrease of John I say He is come with his Fan in his Hand who will thoroughly purge his Floor and burn up the Chaff with unquenchable Fire and gather his Wheat into his Garner a safe place And this We witness and so must all People before they go to their Graves For this is the Baptism that the Devil would fain have People to deny and his Ministers and Messengers and then he fils them with Chaff For as the Apostle saith to the Church By one Spirit we are all baptised into one Body whether we be Jews or Gentiles Bond or Free He doth not say that by Water we were all baptised into one Body For we see many Bodies baptised with Elementary Water and yet do destroy one another Now mark the Words We are all baptised into one Body that is the Church of the First-born and Christ is the Head of this Body 1 Cor. 12.13 So this is the One Baptism spoken of Ephes 4.4 5. There is one Body and one Spirit even as you are called into one Hope of your Calling one Lord one Faith one Baptism one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all Mark that Through all and in you all Unto every one of us is given Grace according to the measure of the Gift of Christ praised be his Name forever Grace and Truth is come by Jesus Christ yea that Grace which brings Salvation which hath appeared