Lord but he that is unsanctified is without holiness and therefore cannot see the Lord And so though Grace hath abounded towards you yet it seems your sins hath much more abounded in so much that sin hath overcome you and eaten out all the Divine sweetness of regenerating and sanctifying Grace but with the church of Christ it was otherwise for though there was a time in which sin had abounded yet Grace had much more abounded in them so that by Grace they were saved from sin and were become dead to sin and alive unto righteousness and had their fruits unto holiness and the end everlasting life And so by all these particulars of which you have confest your selves to be guilty it is evident that you are neither Ministers nor churches of Christ but on the contrary it plainly appears that you very much differ from them And also there are many other particulars exprest in the said Tiverton Epistle of which you confess your selves to be guilty which time would even fail me to insist upon whereby I could further and more fully and largely prove that you are neither Ministers nor churches of Jesus Christ some of which are as followeth That coldness and deadness is upon your selves and upon the churches formality in holy duties indifferencie and a Laodicean spirit is sallen in upon you that you have been drawing iniquitie with cords of vanitie that there is amongst you personal iniquitie congregational iniquitie national iniquitie familie iniquitie closet iniquitie that you are without soundness from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot full of bruises and putrified sores and the crown is fallen from your head by reason of your iniquities that you have but as it were played with God and not trembled in his presence but have been wanton before him and without the terror of his Maiestie and â—â—at you have delighted to confess and to word it out with the Lord and being gone away presentlie forgot what manner of men and women you were thought no more on your prayers and so confess that you have often mocked God that the World doth eat out your time your strength your zeal and that in the lap of this Dalilah whilst asleep your locks have been cut off and you are but as other men that Satan hath shewed you the Kingdoms of the world and this hath bewitched you and alienated your minds from the Lord that you are remiss in meetings and that you neglect the poor Saints Ministers of Christ whose dailie complaints and addresses you say are living monuments of this reigning abomination That you are cruel to servants and children exacting all their labours and takes no time to counsel or instruct them whereby their souls might be the better for you that slavish fear hath stopped your mouths until the mouth of this Iniquitie hath almost devoured your poor churches That these evils are so deeplie rooted in your hearts that it is hard to get them out that they have wrested all weapons out of your hands that have been formed against them so that you have laboured in vain and that which you have brought forth hath been to little purpose Several other such like things as these you confess your selves and your churches to be guilty of in the said Tiverton Epistle To all which I say If you are indeed guiltie of all these reigning abominations and apparent iniquities according to your confession then assuredlie may I conclude That you are neither Ministers nor churches of Christ and that the Ordinances which you practise are not the Ordinances of Christ but the Ordinances of the man of sin which is exalted and bears rule in you for of these abominations and apparent iniquities the church of Christ was never guiltie as hath been proved And if you say you are not guiltie thereof according to your confession then is this confession of yours a most abominable piece of hypocrisie wherein you have even mocked God as you say you have done often which will render you no less culpable of his fierce wrath and heavy indignation then the former And thus are your skirts discovered your deeds brought to light you weighed in an Equal Ballance â—nd true judgment pass'd upon you and therefore although you call your selves churches of Christ Ministers of Christ yet your presumption is hereby discovered who call your selves churches of Christ and are not as their blasphemie was known who said they were Jews and were not and you with them are found lyars And although you boast of the Ordinances of Christ and say it is his Ordinances you follow and plead for according to the Scriptures and would seem to deck your selves with precious Stones and Pearls yet whilst these abominations reign in you and such iniquities so apparentlie written upon you your Name is Mysteris Babylon the Mother of Harlots and Abomination of the Earth a Synagogue of Satan a habitation of Devils a hold of every foul Spirit and a cage of every unclean and hateful Bird And therefore though Joab flie to lay hold on the horns of the Altar yet from thence he must be taken because he is a man of blood and so on his head must the blood of Abner be charged and rest for ever that Davia and his house may be clear before the Lord for ever And thus the Spiritual Man which is Christ the true light with his Ordinances and Administrations which are spiritual are exalted above the man of fin and above his Ordinances which are weak and unprofitable and which doth not make the comers thereunto perfect and above that imagined false Christ which doth not save his people from their sins and above that Justification which justifies people in their sins and above that blood which doth not reach to the purging of the conscience from dead works and above that faith which doth not purifie the heart and give victory over the world and above that baptism which is not by one spirit into one body whereby sin and transgression reigning abominations and apparent iniquities are washed away and above that Church-fellowship which is not with the Father and with the Son and with the Assembly of the first-born and with the spirits of just men made perfect and above that Bread which is not the Body of Christ and above that cup which is not the cup of blessing of consolation and salvation even the Communion of the Blood of Christ the spiritual Rock of which the Israel of God drunk And above those Prayers which are but lip-labour which are so soon forgotten and no more thought upon and wherewith God is so often mocked which comes not from a pure heart and holy hands lifted up without wrath and doubting and above that Worship which stands in the will of man in conformity to a Rule or Law without them not being thereunto led by the Spirit of the living God whose Worship is spiritual and who will be worshipped in the
pretended Line of true Judgement occasioned thee to let it lye for some time by thee c. I say Thou speakest great swelling words of vanity thereby to allure those who live with thee in Error crying out of the hypocrisie falshood of T. S. but is it not strange to hear one in whom abomination reigns to cry out of abomination in others And to hear a Hypocrite cry out of Hyocrisie and a lyar to cry out of falshood But by so doing he that is indeed the notorious lyar and the abominable hypocrite may have hopes to pass undiscovered Thou sayest Yet for Truth's sake and for the sakes of poor souls thou wilt give a very brief touch in a sheet of Paper c. To which I say It is not thy pretences will hide thee the light hath discovered thee and thy unclean spirit and thy fruits doth manifest thee to all who have an eye open to see thee and though thou pretend a care for truth poor souls yet thou art found to be one of Truth's greatest Enemies and one that labours to keep souls in blindness and ignorance and by this Work of wickedness thou haft endeavoured to touch the Lord 's Annointed and to harm his Prophets for which the Lord will reprove thee in the day of account which is near at hand Thou recitest some of T. S. his words in the Title Page of his Book where he saith The exaltation of the Spiritual Man with his Ordinances and Administrations above the Man of Sin with the weak and unprofitable Ordinances that doth not make the comers there unto perfect Which sound wholsome Words of his thou goest about most wickedly to pervert and his plain and honest intention most falsly and hypocritically to interpret saying The Spiritual Man must be the light within their own fancy and imagination which they perswade all to follow and Jesus Christ crucified raised and ascended and made Lord and Christ he must be the man of sin Truly if thou hadst not as it were a brow of Brass thou wouldst blush and even tremble to utter such blasphemous words as these Didst thou never think to give an account for these with other thy hard ungodly speeches which in the pride of thy heart thou hast uttered forth Thou accusest T. S. in thy Paper for Hypocrisie and wretched perverting Now let all sober-minded people judge whether thou be not manifestly guilty of that evil which thou falsly chargest upon him But because there is some words of truth mixed with thy unclean filthy language though it comes out of a polluted Vessel I shall separate it from the rest and when the Jewel is taken out of the Swine's snout the remainder may be bundled up for the fire Thou saist The Spiritual Man must be the light within To which I say The Spiritual Man is light and the light of Christ is spiritual and the Spiritual Man is within even the hidden man of the heart and he that knows not this Spiritual Man living in him is not a Member of the Church of Christ and he in whom the Spiritual Man lives doth thereby mortifie the deeds of the flesh and his mortal body comes to be quickened by the Spirit which dwelleth in him and hereby he is made a member of the Church of Christ and no otherwise and comes to partake of his Ordinances and knows his Administrations and so comes to be exalted above the Man of Sin and stands over all the beggarly rudiments and traditional invented will-Will-Worships set up in the imagination which doth not purifie the heart nor purge the conscience from dead works nor give victory over the World and so makes not the comers thereunto or practisers of them perfect but perisheth with the using and this is not fancy nor imagination but sound and wholesome Doctrine according to the Scripture of truth neither do we at any time perswade any to follow their own fancies imaginations as thou most wickedly and falsly chargest us but it is Christ the true light the Spiritual Man who leads out of darkness all that follow him and from every vain imagination it is him alone that we exhort all men to obey and follow And the reason that thou givest why Jesus Christ crucisied raised and ascended c. must be the Man of Sin is Because thou sayest it is his Ordinances you follow and plead for according to the Scriptures Thou sayest You own Jesus Christ crucified and justification by Faith in his blood which Faith purifies the heart though you confess that abomination reigns in your souls and that iniquity is apparently written on your fore-heads and that you are drawing it with cords of vanity and Baptism with Water after believing and Church-fellowship in breaking of Bread and Prayer c. and this thou sayest T. S. calls the Ordinances of the Man of Sin which is another most abominable falshood charged upon him When Or where did he ever call Justification by Faith in the blood of Christ Baptism breaking of Bread and Prayer c. which are Ordinances of Christ the Ordinances of the Man of Sin Thou hast made a great outcry of the hypocrisie and falshood of T. S. doubling it over to four times in thy title page and yet before thou concludest the same page how manifestly and publikely dost thou play the hypocrite with him in drawing such a damnable Conclusion from his Words and most wickedly and falsly to accuse him saying He calls the Ordinances of Christ the Ordinances of the man of sin when at the utmost it is but the deceit of thy own wicked heart and not his words nor intentions as may evidently appear to any who have but the least measure of honesty to judge But what though you in a hypocritical manner according to the vain and foolish imaginations of your dark hearts have fancied to your selves a Worship in your Wills and practise things in imitation of others which you say you plead for and follow and call Ordinances of Christ because the Scripture declares that such things were practised by those who were thereto led by the Spirit of God though you from that Spirit are erred and saith the Scripture is your Rule must it therefore follow that T S. doth account Jesus Christ crucified c. to be the Man of Sin and his Ordinances the Ordinances of the Man of Sin Oh wicked and damnable Conclusion drawn from such an Argument Thou tells of the Quaker's Logick surely this may truly be call'd the Devil's Logick for greater Wickedness and more horrible iniquity I believe never dropped from the Pen of any one that pretends to plead for and follow Ordinances of Christ but it is not your professing the Name of Christ or professing Justification by Faith in his Blood or practising things by imitation and calling it the Ordinances of Christ that will avail you any thing whilest the Man of Sin bears rule and is exalted in you for notwithstanding your profession
whilst sin doth reign in you all that you practise is but the Ordinances of the Man of Sin and those Ordinances are weak and unprofitable and can never make the comers thereunto or the practisers of them perfect and in this state the Spiritual Man which is Christ you know not neither of his Ordinances which are spiritual can you partake for this I affirm That the Ordinances of Christ which are spiritual are onely used and practised in the Church of Christ and amongst the Saints and not elsevvhere and for any other to say that they either follovv them or plead for them I say they are intruders into those things vvhich they have not seen and are talking of those things vvhich belongs not to them neither vvere they ever intended or ordained for such to practise and it vvill be said to all such Who hath required these things at your hands And therefore notvvithstanding your profession and your great boasting of the Ordinances of Christ except it may appear that you are the Church of Christ and that his Spirit leads you to and guides you in the practise of those things they are not the Ordinances of Christ to you but a Worship set up in your wils in imitation of others who were thereunto led by the spirit of God for he that hath not the spirit of Christ to lead him and guide him is none of his and then no member of his Church such cannot partake of his Ordinances And he that hath received that spirit is thereby made a Member of the Church of Christ and by it led and guided into all truth and so into the practise of those Ordinances of Christ that are spiritual and this is agreeable with and according to the Scriptures of truth and therefore I say except it may appear that you are Members of the church of Christ and led and guided by his spirit in the exercise performance of those things which you practise which you call Ordinances of Christ all that you do is but imitation at the most and not withstanding your boasting of the Ordinances of Christ and that it is his Ordinances you plead for and follow yet it will appear to be but will-will-worship and voluntary humility and the foolish inventions and imaginations of your own hearts which wil never make the comers thereunto perfect and so your Faith of which you speak will appear to be vain and as by your own confession it appeats it hath not so it will not purifie your hearts nor give you victory over the world but you will stil remain in your sins and the Law stil have dominion over you if you are not Members of that church whereof Christ is the Head and so Members of his body and that his spirit leads you to and guides you in your Worship and your Practise then you are of the Synagogue of Satan and so the man of sin is exalted in you above all that is called God and his voice you obey and his servants you are and his Ordinances you practise and him you worship and of the true God and his Worship and the true Christ and his Ordinances you are ignorant and therefore you shall be tryed whether you are the church of Christ or not or wherein you differ from them and thereby it will appear what those Ordinances are and whose they are which you say you follow and plead for herein you shall have just measure for you shall be tried by your own confession and the Scriptures of truth shall be witness which said Confession is recorded in a printed Paper directed to all the Churches of Jesus Christ as you call them from a meeting of the Messengers of the Churches in Tiverton the 18. day of the 7. Month 1657. Signed in their Names and by their appointment as the Subscribers say who write themselves Thomas Collier Nathaniel Strange Thomas Glass And so this Author with all the rest of the people called Anabaptists are concerned in it which said Tiverton-Writing or printed Paper was the occasion of T. S. his directing his Epistle to you called An Epistle to the Churches of the Anabaptists so câ—lled Which ought rather to have been received by you in love then for any of you thus to reward him evil for good but his reward is with the Lord and whether you hear or forbear whether you believe or perish in your gain-saying he will be clear of your blood and be a good savour to the Lord And amongst many other particulars contained in your said Epistle you say You have made confession of those reigning abominations in your own souls and in the Churches To wch I say Hereby you appear to be neither Ministers nor Churches of Jesus Christ but very much to differ from them for if abomination reigns in your Churches then abomination is the Head of your Church for that which reigns in the church is the head of the church and if abomination be the head of your church then is not Christ your head but the church of Christ did witness Christ to be their head and not abomination and they were exhorted to grow up into him in all things which is the Head even Christ who is both the Head and the Saviour of his church which is his body according to the Scriptures Eph. 4. 15. Eph. 5. 23. Coll. 1. 18. and thus it 's evident that you are not the church of Christ which is his Body because Christ is not your Head Again that which reigns in your churches hath dominion over your churches and you say abomination reigns in your churches in your souls therefore abomination hath dominion over your churches and over your souls and this proves you to be no Church of Christ because you are subjects to another Prince and other Lords hath the Dominion over you and you are not subjects of Christs Kingdom but the Church of Christ were in subject on to Christ and he did reign over them and had the dominion over them as the Scriptures declares which saith He shall reign over the house of David for ever and of his Kingdome there shall be no end who is set far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named c. to whom they ascribed praise and dominion for ever and ever Luke 1 33. Eph. 1. 21. 1 Pet 4. 11. Again Abo nination is that which God hates and his wrath and displeasure is against such in whom abomination reigns for the fearful and unbelieving and abominable c. must have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone but the Church of Christ are beloved of God and have their part and their inheritance and fellowship with the Father and with the Son and with the Saints in light as the Scriptures doth witness which saith For the Father himself loveth you because ye have loved me and the love of God was shed abroad in their hearts and