AN EXHORTATION To all them that Profess Themselves CHRISTIANS AND SAY The Scripture is their Rule for their Life Doctrine and Practice By George Fox Christ is become of none effect unto you Whosoever of you are justified by the Law are fallen from Grace Gal. 5.4 How turn you again to the Weak beggarly Elements whereunto you desire again to be in Bondage ye observe Dayes and Moneths and Times and Years I am afraid of you lest I have bestowed upon you Labour in vain Gal. 4.9 10 11. The Bereans were Noble and searched the Scriptures daily to see whether those things were so as the Apostles preached Acts 17.11 Let no man judge you therefore in Meats or Drinks or in Respect of an Holy Day or of New Moons or of the Sabbath-dayes which are a Shadow of things to come but the Body is of Christ Col. 2.16 17. Printed in the Year 1680. Here you may see in this little Book as followeth First THat none of the Holy Men of God in the Old Covenant did call an Outward Tabernacle or Temple or Synagogue after the Name of any Saint 2dly And that also in the New Covenant Christ and the Apostles did not call any of their Meeting-houses or Meeting-places after their Own Names or other Saints Names 3dly That Christ and the Apostles did not set up Holy Dayes and their own Birth-Dayes and other Saints Dayes and set up Courts and compelled people to keep them 4thly And likewise How Christ and his Apostles did not call an Outward House a Church and Congregation 5thly How that neither Christ nor the Apostles nor the Holy Men of God did give the many Names to the Moneths and Dayes as them called Christians do now 6thly And also How that a Curse was pronounced upon them that did not bring their Tythes to the Store-house in the Old Covenant And how the Priests and Teachers that call themselves Christians have exceeded that Curse in the Old Covenant in casting many into Prison and keeping some therein till Death because they could not give them Tythes and Maintenance in the New Covenant knowing that Christ hath changed the Priesthood and the Law and Commandment that gave Tythes and took Tythes and said to his Disciples Freely you have received Freely give 7thly And likewise concerning such as say The Scripture is their Rule to walk by but how contrary to Scripture they have walked An Exhortation to all them that Profess themselves Christians and say The Scripture is their Rule for their Life Doctrine and Practice First WHERE did ever any in the old World before the Flood or from Noah's time to Abraham Isaac and Jacob keep and observe the Dayes of their Birth or the Dayes of the Death of their Progenitors and call them Holy Dayes Or where did any in the dayes of the old Covenant or the old Testament unto the dayes of Christ throughout all the Fathers and Prophets and Holy Men of God keep either the dayes of the Birth or Death of any of the Patriarchs Fathers or Prophets and call them Holy Days or had their Courts or Paritors to trouble People for working upon the dayes of the Birth or dayes of the Death of any of the Patriarchs or Fathers call them Holy dayes But on the contrary is it not said and commanded by the Lord Six Days shalt thou labour and do all thy Work that thou hast to do Ex. 20.9 And in Ex. 23. it is said Six Dayes shalt thou do thy Work And doth not the Scripture say in many other places There are six days wherein men ought to work c And now if you do profess the new Covenant and that you are Christians and though there was no such Practice of Observing the dayes of the Birth or Death of any of the Fathers or Prophets either in the old World before the Flood or after in the days of the old Covenant nor in the dayes of Christ and the Apostles in the new Covenant then how can you that profess the Scriptures to be your Rule for Life and Doctrine prove your Practice for these things by the Scriptures c. For where did ever Christ or the Apostles command that their Followers should observe and keep the days of their Birth or the days of their Death or bid to call them Holy Dayes and set up Courts or Paritors to summon people into their Courts fine them or imprison them for working upon any of the dayes of their Birth or of their Death Or did Christ ever give a Command that any should keep the day of his Birth or Ascension or the day of the Purification of Mary his Mother Or did Christ give a Command that any should observe and keep the day of John Baptist's Birth or Death Or did the Apostles ever give a Command that any should keep the dayes of Steven or James's Birth or Death who were Martyred in their dayes before their decease Or did ever Peter and John and Matthew and Luke and Mark and the rest of the Apostles give a Command that the Christians after their decease should observe their dayes of Birth or Death Or did ever Paul write to Timothy or Titus which were Elders or Bishops and the rest of the Apostles and Elders in all their Councels which gave out their Decrees to the Churches in all their Decrees and Councils did they give forth any such Order Command or Decree in all their Epistles and Writings in the Bible that any should observe and keep the dayes of the Birth or Death of any of the Apostles or Disciples or Evangelists or Pastors and Teachers and to call them Holy Days and set up Courts and cite all that should work on those dayes and that they should be called after the Names of the Saints or Prophets and Apostles and that they should be summoned to their Courts and there fined for not observing and keeping the dayes of their Birth or Death Nay is not God and Christ more dishonoured upon those dayes which you call Holy Dayes than any other dayes of the Week by Loosness Drunkenness Vain Sports Playes Pleasures Wantonness and almost all manner of Evil committed upon those dayes which you call Holy Dayes And the Apostle saith to the Galatians But now after that ye have known God or rather are known of God how turn you again to the Weak and Beggarly Elements whereunto ye desire again to be in Bondage ye observe Dayes and Moneths and Times and Years I am afraid lest I have bestowed upon you Labour in vain c. Now is not the Labour of the Apostles bestowed in vain upon you who run into the Observation of Dayes Times Moneths and Years and not only so but set up your Courts and Paritors to cite and summon People to them that do not observe your Holy Dayes as you call them and trouble and fine people about it rather to get Money from them than to â—ring them into Truth And you say and set forth
enough in the time of the Law and old Covenant Now the Priests did not go and take this whole Nation the Eleaven Tribes and cast them into Prison and spoil their Goods and take Treble Damage of them you do not read they did so in the old Testament that any of the Patriarchs or any of the Prophets Kings Magistrates or Priests did cast any into Prison and there keep them until Death because they would not bring in their Tythes in the time of the Law according to the Law into the Store-house which if they did not do it they were cursed with a Curse as Malachy saith And if they did bring their Tythes into the Store house that there might be Meat enough for the Priests and Levites and Widows and Fatherless then the Lord opened the Windows of Heaven and poured out a Blessing upon them And did not this Law serve till the Seed Christ came who hath changed this Priesthood that was made by the Law and had a Commandment to take Tythes according to the Law which Commandment Christ hath disannulled and by the one offering up of himself once for all the Offerings hath put down the Priests that offered and their Offerings and Maintenance and hath taken away the first Covenant and established the second who became a Curse to take away the Curse and made under the Law to redeem us from under the Law of Works And were not Tythes and Offerings under the Law of Works Do this and Live if not they were Robbers and Curst And doth not Christ in his Gospel and new Covenant say Believe and be saved And Christ when he sent forth his Twelve and Seventy Disciples without a Bag or Staff said Freely you have Received Freely Give And therefore Christ putting down the Priesthood with his Offerings and other Ceremonies which the Law commanded and Tythes and Offerings which were his Maintenance or Salary and commanded under the old Covenant by the Law under the Penalty of a Curse where did ever Christ alter his Command or the Apostles go about to alter his Command which was Freely you have Received Freely Give in his new Covenant And where did ever Christ to his Apostles or his Apostles to others command or direct that they should take or demand Tythes or the peoples Tenths for preaching the Gospel as you called Christians have done since the Apostles dayes which say The Seripture is your Rule for your Life Doctrine and Practice Therefore shew us out of the Scripture of the new Testament where ever they did cast any into Prison for not giving them Tythes and Offerings as you have done and hale them into Courts Assizes and Sessions shew one Example in all the Scripture be not Angry at us because we search the Scriptures as those Noble Bereans did to see whether these things be so in the Scriptures of Truth which you preach up for Doctrine and Practice And because we cannot find them in the Scripture and follow you and uphold you in these things which you cannot prove by Scripture for your Doctrine and Practice therefore are you Angry and persecute us because we do not follow you in your Doctrine and Practice which we cannot find in Scripture that you have said is your Rule And why cannot the Curse of the old Covenant serve your turns but you must exceed the old Law to hale people before your Courts and cast them in to Prison and there keep some unto Death and spoil their Goods that cannot give you Tythes according to the old Law such who are the true Christians and Children of the new Covenant and are the faithful Witnesses of Jesus Christ who hath redeemed them from under the Law and hath taken away the Curse of the Law and now do not seek to be justified by the Works of the Law but by Faith in Christ Jesus I say why is not the Curse in the old Law sufficient for all the Priests and Bishops in Christendom if they will be Priests of the old Law and Teachers of the old Law and do the Works of the old Law of Moses which he that thinks to be justified by the Law is justified by that by which no Flesh shall be saved as the Apostle saith and is fallen from Grace And therefore if ye will have the Law of Commandments that commands Tythes to the Priests and their Offerings I say again Why is not the Curse sufficient for you to pour out your Curses upon the People which do not bring in their Tythes and Offerings not into the Priests Barn but into the Store-house as God commands and not for the Priests only but for the Widows and Fatherless also Surely your Curse should be sufficient and not to spoil their Goods and imprison them to Death too this is more than the Law commands in the old Covenant And is it not contrary to the Law of the old Covenant that the Priests and Levites that were to receive the Tythes for them to have any Lot of the Land And do not they that pay Tythes and Offerings to the Priests come under the Law and so under the Curse and so come from under the Blessing of the Gospel to under the Curse of the Law For is it not written Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that is written in the Book of the Law to do them Gal. 3. But no man is justified by the Works of the Law in the sight of God it is evident For the Just shall live by his Faith And the Law is not of Faith And Christ hath redeemed us from under the Curse of the Law being made a Curse for us that the Blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles through Jesus Christ and that we might receive the Promise of the Spirit through Faith So in these your Practices though you say The Scripture is your Rule for your Life Doctrine and Practice but in this the Scripture of the new Testament is not your Rule for these things Let all the Children of the new Covenant and true Christians search the Scriptures according to the Practice of the noble Bereans and see whether the Scripture hath been your Rule in these your Practices and Doctrine in the new Covenant But if you did not cast any into Prison or spoil the Goods of such as did not pay you Tythes Offerings nor hale them before your Courts but only stood up and poured out your Curses upon such according to the Law that did not bring in your Tythes and Offerings into the Store-house according to the Law and that you had no other Portion in the Land but Tythes and Offerings c We do tell you that Christ hath ended the Law and hath redeemed us from under the Law and became a Curse and hath redeemed us out of the Curse of the Law and has ended that Priesthood with all his Ceremonies And Christ Jesus saith in his new Covenant Bless and Curse not and the
Apostle saith the same So we do preach the free Gospel free Grace to you and turn you from the Darkness to the Light and from the Power of Satan unto God that you may see the new Covenant of Light Life and Grace and practise it And Christ in his new Covenant saith and commandeth his Ministers Freely you have received freely give And the Apostle's Glory was To keep the Gospel without Charge who coveted no man's Silver nor Gold nor Apparel c. And he said He had declared unto the Church the whole Counsel of God And yet he never declared to any in all his Writings Decrees or Epistles or any other of the Apostles That the Ministers of the Gospel should take Tythes and Offerings and hale them into Courts and spoil their Goods and cast them into Prison until Death if they would not give them Tythes and Offerings or Curse them them that did not bring in their Tythes into the Store-house according to the old Law of Moses in the old Covenant for they were redeemed from under the Law and the Curse And likewise he never declared in his whole Counsel of God That they should keep the Dayes of the Birth or Death of any of the Saints and call them Holy Days And he never declar'd in all his Counsel of God That they should name their Meeting-houses after the Saints Names Also he never declared in his whole Counsel of God That Children should have God-fathers and God-mothers and that Priests should sprinkle them with outward Water and sign them with the Sign of the Gross But said There was one Faith and one Baptism and that they were baptised into one Body with one Spirit and so made to drink into one Spiris and they that were baptized into Christ had put him on Likewise the Apostle never declared in his whole Counsel of God That the Saints should observe a Time of Lent and abstain from Flesh and eat Fish or that the Saints should observe the Time of Easter which was the time of the Jews Passover or that they should observe the Time of Whitsuntide called Pentecost or that they should observe and keep Christ's Birth Day and call it Christmass-day c. Now if you say The Apostles in their Decrees or Epistles did command the Church to do and observe such things then I pray you tell us where it is written that we like the noble Bereans may search for it And be not Angry nor Offended with us because we do not follow you in these things who say The Scripture is your Rule for Life Doctrine and Practice and yet cannot make these your Practices and Doctrine good by Scripture And now if Christ and the Apostle and Apostles who declar'd the whole Counsel of God to the Church in their dayes if they declared none of these things before-mentioned which you practise to be the Counsel of God then have not you set them up in that spirit that is apostatized from the Power and Spirit the Apostles were in and have compelled others to follow your Practices which you have commanded and taught for Doctrine which Christ and the Apostles did not which Practices you cannot make good by Christ and the Apostles Doctrine in the Scriptures of Truth of the new Testament And therefore how can you expect that we should follow you For the Apostle saith Follow us as we follow Christ So according to the Apostle's teaching we are to follow you no farther than you follow Christ you cannot expect it if you own Christ and the Apostles and their Doctrine for Christ saith Freely you have received freely give and this is his Command which is to be obey'd and it is obeyed by all them that receive their Gifts for the Work of their Ministry which is for the perfecting of the Saints from him that is ascended up on high But they that have received their Natural Gifts below cannot endure to hear of Christ's Doctrine who ascended up on high who gave Gifts unto men for the Work of the Ministry and commanded them Freely they had received freely they should give it again And where did the Apostle who said He had declared unto the Church the whole Counsel of God declare That the Saints and Christians should call the Dayes of the Week by the Names of Munday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Fryday Saturday and Sunday and the like which were the Names of the Heathens Gods after whom the Heathens called the Dayes Or where did the Apostle declare that the Christians should call the Moneths by the Names of January May June July and August c which were Names given by the Heathens and Emperors And where did the Apostle that said He had declared unto the Church the whole Counsel of God declare or direct that they should call any of the days Candlemass Michaelmass-day Martinmass-day Christmass-day and Lammasâ—day and the like You that say The Scripture is your Rule for your Life Doctrine and Practice bring it forth and be not Angry with us who cannot follow you in these things who never yet produced any Scripture for these your Practices From him who loveth the Ancient Primitive Truth and True Christianity that Christ taught and the Apostles and Primitive Church lived in and desires that all may come into it and live and walk in it G. Fox The 18th of the 9th Moneth 1679. Postscript THE Apostle saith in Rom. 16. Greet Priscilla and Aquila my Fellow-Helpers in Christ-Jesus which have for my Life laid down their own Necks unto whom not I only give Thanks but also all the Congregations of the Gentiles Likewise greet the Congregation that is in their House Here the old Translation calls the Church a Congregation that was in their House and not the outward House a Church or Congregation for it is not proper to call an outward House a Congregation And in 1 Cor. 16. The Congregation in their House And Phebe was a Minister of the Congregation at Cenchrea So she was a Minister of a People and not of an outward House which Paul commends and sent his Epistle by Phebe a Minister from Corinth to Rome see Rom. 16. And the Apostle Paul when he writes to Philemon and to the Congregation that was in his House So the outward House was not the Congregation see Philemon And John writes to the Seven Congregations in Asta Now he doth not write to the Seven Houses that were in Asia and call them Churches but he writes to the People that were the Congregations or Churches And John saith seven times over He that hath an Ear let him hear what the Spirit saith to the Congregations that is the Congregations or Churches of People gathered together For outward Houses have no Ears to hear which you call Churches And therefore he doth not write to Houses and call them Congregations or Churches as you may see in Rev. 1 2. 3. Chapters in the Old Tranflation And again the Apostle Paul saith in Ephes 5. For the Husband is the Wife's Head even as Christ is the Head of the Congregation and the same is he that ministreth Salvation unto the Body therefore as the Congregation is in subjection to Christ c. Here the Apostle doth not say an outward House is in Subjection to Christ And Paul saith in Col. 1. He to wit Christ is the Head of the Body even of the Congregation c. So the Apostle doth not say Christ is the Head of an outward House but of the Congregation or Church his People And therefore people read the Scriptures and search and try and blessed is he that reads and understands G. F. THE END