more zealous for your Gain and Interest than for excluding Evil and promoting Righteousness in your Church and so like them the Apostle speaks of who minded earthly things whose end he said was destruction Phil. 3. 19. Now such practices are no marks of the Church of Christ but of a false Church where there is want of zeal for Righteousness whereby it is manifest that you are not in the undefiled Christian Religion which keeps from the Spots of the World and leads into Fellowship with the Father and his Son. And therefore there was no such danger as thou insinuates in thy Letter in his leaving of your Church of incurring the Damnation of his Soul or choosing an unsafer way to Heaven in coming to that Religion he hath chosen Next we observe thou seemest to take an advantage at his saying It is the Light of Gods Grace that let him see the evil of his own heart that he lived in and the evil of others also and so wouldst strain these words the evil of others particularly to the seeing of the hidden evils of their hearts in secret as he saw his own whereas it is not to be questioned but that he intended the evil that others brought forth into Words or Actions Though when he speaks of himself he names his heart saying my own heart yet thou unfairly makest a great deal ado about it to bring him under blame as if he assumed Gods Prerogative and plainly contradicted the Apostle Paul in the 14 th chap. of the Romans but that thou hast no just reason for these thy endevours wise men may easily comprehend However it is certain that through the Light of Gods Grace in the heart men may come to see the defects in themselves and also in others without assuming Gods Prerogative And as to thy saying It 's a Term often used by the Quakers but not rightly understood by them thy Charge is false The Quakers understand it and thou canst not make out the contrary though it 's easie for thee and others to accuse but that we leave upon thee to prove and make out But as for his seeing the wickedness of his own heart it is not to be questioned and also to see the vanity and wickedness of others is not difficult For it is apparent enough that men that are in the Society of the people of your Religion may see what is brought forth daily that is not agreeable to Christianity both in words and actions And seeing this and that which Christ lays down being granted that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks and a good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things Matth. 12. 35. Then according to this Rule of Christs by what men bring forth in their Conversations the Heart may be judged and though the Lord search the Heart and try the Reins and to know secrets is his Prerogative yet what is thus manifested according to the rule of Christ is no presumption to believe or give judgment in And as to the Apostles words Rom. 14. thou makest an impertinent application of them in bringing them as a testimony in this concern against him for the case in which they were not to judge one another was in point of Faith or their growth or liberty therein the weakness of the Faith of a weak Brother was to be born with in that straitness that was upon some as in respect to Meats and the observing of Days which others were grown over that were not to be judged but in point of Faith were to be left to their own liberty and in that case saith he Let not him that eateth not judge him that eateth for God hath received him and he that did eat was not to despise him that did not eat So thou maist see that the Apostle had a regard to their growth in the Faith and so would have all walk accordingly in wisdom with care not to hurt one another But what is this to people of a loose life whose words and actions are contrary to the Law of God and so sinful May we bear no Testimony against such was it not the practice of the Prophets Christ and the Apostles to reprove such and give Testimony against them and yet not contradict Paul in this case How ignorant thou shewest thy self to be of the Scriptures But mark thy Judgment and where it will fall Have not these many years your Church and Ministry been cencerned in persecuting such as could not for Conscience sake and in the liberty of their Faith observe days and other things which you required and when they could not conform to you they have not only been judged by you but sorely abused and cast into Prison put in the Stocks and their Goods spoiled Thus have many suffered only for matters of Faith and Conscience towards God And so herein it is evident that your established Church thou speakest of is highly guilty of the Fact thou chargest to be plainly contrary to the Apostle in that forecited Scripture in Rom. and so is judging another mans Servant in that wherein he ought to be left to his own Master and presumest to meddle with Christs Prerogative so you are under thy own Condemnation being guilty of that which thou wouldst condemn in others And this to be your practice can be proved by many Witnesses that have suffered upon this account by your Church both in England and Ireland From what is beforesaid it's evident that for a man to say that he sees the evil of his own heart by the Light and Grace of God and the evil of other men which were conversant with him in his loose Conversation doth not bring him under the Censure of the Apostle as thou ignorantly dost imply therefore thou maist take it home to thy self and thy Brethren as a just Judgment upon you for the reasons aforementioned Thou further sayest that perhaps we will object that Christ in Matth. 7. 16. says ye shall know them by their Fruits c. To which thou answerest he does so but tellest us it hath relation to false Prophets and withal wouldst insinuate as if the Teaching Quakers as thou callest them were such but that they are such is a false insinuation which thou canst never be able to prove And by Fruits thou tellest us that both there and in other places is meant the Doctrine of those false Prophets or Teachers that being the proper Fruits of such men and not their particular Actions Answer That Christs words here have a relation to false Prophets we grant it and that they are to be known by their Fruits we also acknowledge but that the Fruits there meant are only their Doctrines and not their particular actions as thou affirmest we do deny And that it is not so as thou saist doth plainly appear from the words of Christ in many parts of the same
THE HOLY TRUTH And Its PROFESSORS DEFENDED IN AN ANSWER to a LETTER writ by Lawrence Potts Priest of Staplestown near Catherlough UNTO Robert Lacky a Parishioner and formerly Hearer of the said Priest Occasioned by his forsaking his Ministry and embracing the blessed Truth herein vindicated By John Burnyeat John Watson Tâ—â—e counsel together and it shall come to nought speak the word and it shall not stand for God is with us For the Lord spake thus to me with a strong hand and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people saying Say ye Not a Confederacy to all them to whom this people shall say A Confederacy neither fear ye their fear nor be afraid Sanctifie the Lord of Hosts himself and let him be your fear and let him be your dread Isa. 8. 10 11 12 13. Printed in the Year 1688. ADVERTISEMENT TO THE READER Christian Reader ANother Letter coming to our hands subcribed J. T. the tendency thereof being to beget a dislike in R. L. to whom it was writ to the Principles of Truth as prosessed by us the truly reformed Christians called Quakers and to prevent the writing of more such occasion'd our making thus publick the following Answer to Priest Potts's Letter and the rather understanding the said J. T. saw it and takes no notice thereof in his although it answers the substance thereof excepting in these following particulars 1. His accounting it an Errour in us not to swear Ans. We in short say we have Christs Command for not Swearing Matt. 5. 3 4. Swear not at all and seconded by the Apostle James 5. 12. which we believe ought to be observed by all Christians 2. He charges us with denying the Trinity as he terms it Ans. We do really own the Three that bear record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these Three are One Joh. 5. 7. and we also own the Three that bear witness in Earth the Spirit the Water and the Blood and these Three agree in One as ver 8. and so we do and always did believe according to the holy Scriptures 3. He charges us with denying the Scriptures to be the Word of God. Ans. We believe the Scriptures to be what they call themselves a Testimony or Declaration as in Luke 1. 1. Joh. 5. 39. but Christ we own and believe to be the Word of God according to Joh. 1. and Rev. 19. 13. so we own the Word of the Lord that came unto the Prophets saying as in Ezek. 7. 1. and in divers othes places and we own and believe the Sayings of the Word as recorded in the holy Scriptures so the Word that came unto the Prophets was the Sayer or that which spoke unto them and the Scriptures are the words or sayings which the Word or Spirit of Christ spoke unto and through the Prophets as is evident from the Testimony of the Apostle 1 Pet. 1. 10 11. Dublin the 12th of the 9th Month. 1688. J. B. J. W. The Holy Truth and its Professors defended c. Lawrence Pots WE having met with a Paper of thine and finding our selves and others of the people called Quakers concerned therein with our Christian Religion and Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ which we are called to bear witness unto and contend for were not willing to let it pass without taking notice of thy false Charges upon us and our Religion together with thy weak Vindication of thy self with the rest of the Clergy of your Church in those things which thou hast yet to prove And we find our selves the more concerned because of thy Challenge in thy Paper where thou saist It does become your Teachers to make this plainly appear to you and me from whom they have drawn you and therefore if they can make it out I again challenge it of them and you By the way we would have thee take notice of this that Robert Lacky in his Letter to thee doth acquaint thee that it was the Light or Grace of God that let him see the Evil or Defects in himself and others and so meerly the Love of God that prevailed in his heart so that it was not Man that drew him from thee and thy Teachings but the Lord Jesus Christ the true Shepherd whom the Father promised that by his Spirit of Light and Grace did draw him and so fulfilled the Promise of the Father in Ezek. 34. 10. where he saith He would deliver his Flock from the mouth of such as fed themselves that they might not be meat for them c. In the first place we observe thou blamest him for saying If he or any other through the Light of Gods Grace in the heart do see Defects in themselves or others that profess that Religion where in they were bred he does not understand how he incurs Damnation by forsaking it c. And so in thy Answer blamest him for confounding Religion as thou sayest with the Carriage of its Professors c. Answer It 's true there may be wicked men Professors of a most holy and pure Religion and therefore for some particulars being of an evil carriage to condemn a Religion is not proper But when a man finds and understands that in the Exercise of his Religion he receives not power against Sin and Temptation in himself nor yet sees the effect of such a power in others it may be not in the very Teachers but that is lived in which answers not the Law of God nor the Life of a true Christian and yet here is no dismembring of such or excluding them from their Church-Fellowship This may justly give ground to suspect a Defect in that Religion and therefore it may be warrantable for a man under these Observations both concerning himself and others to enquire and seek after a Religion wherein Power may be enjoyed from Christ to overcome Sin and withstand Temptation and we do believe thou thy self art not ignorant how that not only many of the people of your Church are of a loose Conversation but diverse of your Clergy also and yet they suffered to abide in their Places and Offices without either being excluded or silenced though the Apostle exhorts to withdraw from every Brother that walks disorderly And again 1 Cor. 5. 11. He writes unto the Church not to keep company with any called a Brother that was a Fornicator or Covetous or an Idolater or Railer or a Drunkard or an Extortioner such thou maist see were to be denied Fellowship in the Church But we have often observed how that in your Church there have been and still are both Swearers Liars Drunkards and men given to other profaneness and yet little zeal appearing to excommunicate or exclude them But when any for Conscience sake could not pay the Priest his Wages though it were but some small matter oftentimes such a one should soon be prosecuted and excommunicated so that by your practices whatever you may profess in words you are
had not their Inheritance of Land among their Brethren this the Lord ordered to be their Inheritance to wit Tithes and Offerings which they were to have from the rest of the Tribes as thou maist see in Numb ch 18. And likewise when they had received the Tithes which was all the Inheritance they had among the Children of Israel they were not to have it only to themselves but the Stranger the Fatherless and the Widow were to have a share with them they were to be relieved out of the Tithes by the same Law that there might be no Beggers and the Owner himself was also to partake of them as thou maist see in Deut. ch 14. and ch 26. So it is evident you far exceed them as to self-advantage you have all to your selves your Ministry is far more chargeable than the Priests under the Law neither Poor nor Owner must have a share with you nor the Payers of the Tithes eased from the burthen of the Poor for all that you get Pray thee tell us how your Tithes come to be of Divine Right Thou saist it is not hard to prove when demanded we demand it and also deny it do thou prove it if thou canst we are sure if this Law were in force that gave it to Levi you in the using of it walk far beside the Law and so still are under Condemnation Oh! is it not a shame that men that pretend to be Ministers of Christ and can tell the people as thou dost in thine of forsaking all for Christ and yet in your practices do neither walk answerable to the Freedom and Ease of the Gospel nor Justice and Equity of the Law of the first Covenant And therefore we advise thee to lay down thy Religious Plea for these Wages of thine for we can account them no better than Balaams Wages of unrighteousness which he loved but durst not take spoken of 2 Pet. 2. 15. for it doth appear there were such in the Apostles days that forsook the right way and followed Balaams Errour and certainly we are not without such now in our days But now let us consider what Christ hath ordained who is the Lawgiver under the new Covenant thou saist though Paul does not mention Tithes and Offerings yet he speaks what is equivalent to them We desire to know what thou intends by equivalent dost thou mean of an equal Value and Institution with them we grant what Paul saith to be just and reasonable and according to the Gospel that it was no great thing where they had sown Spirituals to reap of their carnal things and thou seest Paul puts it upon an If and says If we have sown spiritual things he claims no power to it else But this will not serve you you cannot abide within the Gospel Ordination and bounds no more than you do the Law about your Tithes but you will reap Carnals where you sow no Spirituals Thou maist see also the Apostle speaks of feeding a Flock and planting a Vineyard and eating the Milk and Fruit but still it 's the Milk and Fruit of the Flock and Vineyard that they had fed and planted and not other mens But this will not serve you let the Nations bear witness you will reap whether you sow or not you will eat whether you feed and plant or not you will have it by force like Eli's Sons if you cannot get it otherwise And thou bringst the Apostles words Even so hath the Lord ordained that they who preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel and then queriest doth Paul say the Lord has ordained and will you say the Lord has not ordained is not this to give the Apostle a flat lie We answer Nay we will not say nor never did that they which preach the Gospel may not live of the Gospel according to Christs Ordination but then it must be according to his Ordination and not according to mans Will and Invention to answer his own covetous Inclination And we also grant what the Apostle saith Let him that is taught in the Word communicate to him that teacheth in all good things but still he must be a Teacher and it is from them that he teacheth that he must expect it But this will not please you but you will have from them that were never taught by you as thousands in Ireland may bear witness So thou maist see here how impertinently thou wouldst apply the Scriptures to them that have no right to them upon that account thou bringst them but they will not serve thy turn And where is the Wrester of the Scriptures to their own destruction that thou speakest of Thou hast need to see if thou canst clear thy self of it Thou goest on and saist thou canst tell what we will say to these and such like Texts you will I warrant you saist thou say that Tithes are not mentioned c. But thou maist see thou wast under a mistake and it was a vain confidence in thee to say so We have something else to say as before But you will allow sure that they enjoin a Maintenance c. Thou saist we will allow that But then let it be what the Lord has ordained and we are content And now let us observe what that is in Matth. 10. when Christ sent forth his twelve Disciples to preach and heal the sick he said freely you have received freely give and the Allowance he ordained for them when he sent them out without Money or Gold was that they might eat such things as were set before them for saith he the Workman is worthy of his meat And in Luke 10. when he sent out his seventy he gave them the like Command and told them they might slay in that House into which they had entred eating and drinking such things as they did give for saith he the Labourer is worthy of his Hire and in the 8 th vers he saith into whatsoever City ye enter and they receive you eat such things as are set before you So here it was such as did receive them that they were to abide with and it was such things as they did give and set before them that they were to eat so it was the free act of such as did receive them that they were to live upon and be supplied by Here is no liberty to compell but the Power of the Gospel was to open their hearts to minister freely of their Carnals as they received freely of the Spirituals from them and this agrees with what the Apostle says in all those places before mentioned so that it is evident he had regard unto what the Lord had ordained But this will not serve your turn you cannot be content with what Christ ordains and the Apostle approves of 1 Tim. 5. 18. Thou shalt not muzzle the Ox that treadeth out the Corn and the Labourer is worthy of his Reward The question may be by some asked what this Reward is The Apostle clears it up in the
for Pleasure but to get Fish from whence we may groundedly conclude that they used that Imploy for a Livelihood at times when they were not immediately imployed in preaching the Gospel and we challenge thee to prove the contrary if thou canst Concerning thy querying for a Command for keeping the First day of the week or calling it the Lords day We say we meet together on the First day of the week for to meet is our Duty and also upon other days and for this Practice we have both Command and Example the Saints were commanded not to forsake the assembling of themselves together Heb. 10. 25. and we account every day is the Lords and he that regardeth a day ought to regard it to the Lord and he that regardeth not the day to the Lord he doth not regard it Rom. 14. 6. But what Scripture have ye for all such days as you observe which are called such and such Saints days Thou saist thou hast been the longer on this particular because thou findest it galls us most Answ. When thou hast read our Answer which by reason of thine being so long hath caused ours to be so too thou maist consider of it and of thy impertinency in quoting the Scriptures to prove your Practice which being well observed doth witness against you and then we doubt not but it will prove that which will gall thee and thy Brethren who are so found in such covetous practices as the Scriptures plentifully testifie against and for a further Testimony against your Practices read these following Scriptures of which for brevity sake having been so long already we shall forbear to write the words they that can may read them in the Bible Isa. 59. 9 10 11 12. Jer. 5. 30 31. Ezek 13. 19. Ezek. 34. ch Mich. 3. 5 11. Joh. 10. 12. Tit. 1. 10 11. 1 Tim. 3. 1 2 3. 2 Pet. 2. 14 15 16. Jud. 11. 12 13. In the next place thou undertakest to inform him of some Defects in that Religion he had chosen and first thou saist our Teachers have no lawful Call to preach the Gospel and quotest the Apostles saying Rom. 10. 15. How shall they preach except they be sent that is saist thou how can they preach the true Doctrine of Christ unless they be sent by him or by those Apostles of Christ who received immediate Commissions from him c. Answ. We grant what the Apostle saith How can they preach except they be sent c. But that our Teachers are not so sent thou neither undertakest to prove by Argument nor Scripture although thou hast the confidence to affirm that they have no lawful Call or Commission to preach the Gospel which we turn back upon thee as a false Accusation and demand of thee to prove and make it appear to be true if thou canst for we do believe that none can be true Ministers but such as are sent by Christ and have their Call and Commission from him and also receive the Gospel which they preach and their ability from him for the Scripture is plain that the Gospel-Ministers were sent by him and received the Gospel they preached and ability to preach it from him and not from men as in Gal. 1. 11 12. and in 2 Cor. 3. 6. the Apostle saith they were made able Ministers of the New Testament not of the Letter but of the Spirit and in the foâ—egoing verse he saith our sufficiency is of God. And Ephes. 3. 7. he declares that he was made a Minister according to the Gift of the Grace of God given unto him by the effectual working of his Power And Peter saith 1 Pet. 4. 11. If any man speak let him speak as the Oracles of God if any man minister let him do it as of the ability which God giveth that God in all things may be glorified c. And so from him we say we have received our Call by his eternal Spirit and do wait upon him to receive our ability daily that what we do may be by the Gift of the Grace of God given unto us that God in all things may be glorified And if this be not according to the Scripture and the way of God do thou in thy next shew what is and prove your way of being bred up at Schools and learning your Tongues and taking your Degrees there and observing your Ceremonies in your Ordination and coming forth according to your Traditions and then looking for a Benefice the greatest you can get and then settling in a Parish for so much a Year until you can hear of a Place with a greater Benefice and then remove for greater Gain and Preferment and while you stay in a Parish take such Lordship upon you that none of your Church or Hearers may have liberty to speak or preach but such as are so ordained as you are Clear these things in thy next to be according to Scripture if thou canst In the mean while we charge this method and these doings not to be according to the Rule of the Gospel or Example of the primitive Ministers that this is your practice we believe thou canst not deny But in the true Church this Order and Liberty was ordained by the Apostle as in 1 Cor. 14. 30 31 32. If any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by let the first hold his peace for you may all prophesie one by one that all may learn that all may be comforted and the Spirits of the Prophets are subject to the Prophets But this Liberty which the Apostle ordained you do not admit of no more than you do of other things which were the practice of the true Church and Christs Ministers but instead thereof are gone into things which are of Mans ordaining and setting up And therefore Robert Lacky and all in whom God hath opened an understanding to see you aright have reason enough to forsake you and your Church and as for those Scriptures thou quotest to prove a successive Power to send others they make nothing for your method of Ordination at all for Matth. 28. he said he would be with them c doth not say they should send others In Acts 1. the Apostles desired one in the place of Judas to be numbered with them and he was chosen by lot so here was the Lords lot And in Acts 14. 23. it is said they ordained Elders in every Church Now how these Scriptures do prove a true Succession to your Call and Ordination let all that are wise in heart judge Secondly Thou saist we have no Sacraments administred in our Religion neither that of Baptism whereby people are admitted into the Christian Church nor that of the Lords Supper by which they are strengthened and preserved in it Ans. First we demand whence thou hast this Term Sacraments and what is the proper signification of it we are sure thou hast it not from Scripture And secondly We put it upon thee to prove whence you have your Authority for
Protestants in England and Ireland profess Christ in Words but in Works deny him Ans. This is evident from their doings as is before proved so that it is no hard matter to make that Charge good against them Do thou clear them if thou canst When he saith as far as he understands our Principles and Practice are according to Christs Institution which he doubts not but we will make good upon occasion thou in answer saist thou knowest our Practice well enough which if true and if so bad as thou endeavourest to make people believe of us why hast thou brought none of them to make good thy Charges against us And as for our Principles thou saist thou never heardst we had any Then thou must needs be ignorant of our Way and Religion and therefore in thy speaking evil of it thou speakest evil of things thou understandest not and so art of that Generation spoken of 2 Pet. 2. 12. And as for our Faith and Principles they have been published to the world both by Words and Writing they have not been hid in a corner so that any that had a mind to concern themselves against us and yet as wise men would not judge without an understanding lest like thee they should speak evil of the things they did not understand might easily be informed what our Principles are However we are a people that believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and that the Father sent him into the world to lay down his Life a ransom for all men that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have eternal Life that he was crucified without the Gates of Jer. salem and so became a Propitiation for the Sins of the whole world and that after he had suffered and was buried God the Father raised him again by his eternal Spirit after which he shewed himself unto many Witnesses and then ascended into Heaven and is glorified with the Father with that Glory he had with him before the World was made And we further believe that he is the Light of the World and that he ought to be followed according to his own words John 8. 12. and that he lighteth every man that cometh into the world according to John 1. 9. and that this Light wherewith he lighteth every man all ought to believe in that they may be Children of the Light according to Joh. 12. 36. and so we believe in his spiritual Appearance according to his Promise who said He would pray the Father and he should send them another Comforter even the Spirit of Truth according to John 14. 16 17. and this was his own Spirit for he is the Truth and of this the Saints were Witnesses as the Apostle saith Gal. 4. 6. And because ye are Sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Abba Father And thus was Christ in the Saints the Hope of Glory according to Col. 1. 7. And thus believing and witnessing the Truth of the Scripture we wait upon God for his Spirit that we may worship him therein according to the Institution of his Son Christ Jesus as in John 4. 23 24. and that we may pray with the Spirit and sing with it according to 1 Cor. 14. 15. for the Apostle exhorted the Saints to be filled with the Spirit Eph. 5. 18. and the Saints were to pray in the Holy Ghost Jude 20. So our Faith stands in the Power of God which is that the Apostle laboured that the Saints Faith might stand in as thou maist see 1 Corinth 2. 5. believing that there shall be a Resurrection both of the just and unjust they that have done good unto the Resurrection of Life and they that have done evil unto the Resurrection of Damnation according to John 5. 29. Here we have given thee some account in short of our Faith Principles and Practice and proved them to be according to the Scripture whereby thou maist see if Prejudice and Self-Interest do not blind thine eye that Robert Lacky in turning from thy Teaching to Christ the true Light and his Teaching according to Gods Promise under the New Covenant who said they shall be all taught of the Lord which according to our Principle we direct people to wait for is no unsafe way to Heaven nor as thou falsly accusest us a pursuing such ways as are directly contrary to holy Scripture which thou in some measure promisest thou wilt make appear but hast it yet to do Thou saist because thou art fully satisfied we cannot make this out therefore thou wilt shew him how he has incurred not only the Displeasure of God for the present but the Damnation of his Soul hereafter unless he repent and return by this his departure from the Religion he was bred in Ans. Thou maist see thy Satisfaction is without ground as also thy confident presumption in thy passing such a Sentence upon him concerning his present and eternal estate And surely thy Judgment herein is groundless rash and vain as all may see who have any true Christian understanding and discerning and do but observe what is brought forth under your Teaching in your Religion for we understand no reason thou assignest for thy Judgment but his leaving of your Religion which we have before proved he had good reason so to do and therefore neither he nor any other need be afraid of thy threatning upon this account because from what is before written it is clear that there are great defects in the Principles and Exercise of the Religion he was bred in if he was bred in yours and so not according to Christs Institution as may be seen if compared with the Scripture And that there are no such defects in the Religion he now embraceth but proved in the Principles and Exercise of it to be of Christs Institution according to the Scripture and herein thy Challenge we have answered and endeavoured to make it appear both to thee and him according to thy demand but if thou hatest to be informed it shall lie at thy own door and thou shalt answer for it thy self So it is plain he may have changed out of a Principle of Conscience and pure Love to God and his Soul and not out of Interest Humour Passion or Prejudice as thou seemest to accuse him And as for thy assuring him upon thy word that it is not for any temporal advantage that thou seekest to reduce him but only in love to his Soul as thou hast to all mens as thou saist Ans. We think he hath no reason to believe that thou and the rest of your Clergy have such a love to the Souls of all men as to be the only reason of your coming amongst them to be their Teachers for your Practice which is a surer evidence than your words speaks the quite contrary in that you do leave any people where you are to go to another place for an Augmentation and higher Preferment so that it 's evident it is not the good of peoples Souls nor the Glory of God that chiefly moves you in this concern whatever may be pretended to And so to the Consciences and Understandings of wise men we refer these things to be considered of with our hearts desire to God for you all that he would open your Understandings and let you see the errour of your ways and bring you to a Reformation that the people you may lead in Errour no longer We conclude and remain Desirers of the Good of all men Dated the 13th of the 4th Month. 1688. John Burnyeat John Watson THE END