God who are thus made free whose Sins are remitted and Iniquity covered and the Life rules and reigns and hath overcome Death and Death is swallowed up of Life and this is the Promise of God which must be fulfilled in you that ye may possess the Treasure of God in your Hearts and be Feeling-Witnesses of Immortality your Hands must handle the Word and you must taste and feel and see the Word of Life within you and you must find the Pearl and your own Lamps must have Oyl in them for people have long been running without after men Lo here and Loe there and have been applying the Promises in the wrong nature but now people must turn to the Light of Christ within them for Christ is the true Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the World and this Light must men follow and then they shall not walk in Darkness but shall have the Light of Life and men must walk in the Light and then the Blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin and men must believe in the Light and then they shall be the Children of the Light and then Light shall shine out of Darkness and the Light that shines in their hearts shall give them the Light of the knowledge of the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. So Friends love the Light and walk in the Light for it is the Light within that lets men see whether their Deeds are wrought in God or contrary to him the Light within will let you see of what nature your Works are whether of the corrupt nature or of the Divine Nature for all mens Works are of the one of these and all the Works that spring from the corrupt nature are but Abomination unto God though they appear never so Righteous and that Righteousness which is of Man cannot be justified before the Lord but man must be a Partaker of God's Righteousness of an uncreated Righteousness and that will cover all his Infirmities and in that only can man be presented Righteous unto God So Friends Wait to be Witnesses of this Righteousness that you may be cloathed with it and may be stripped off all your own which is but as filthy Rags and will not hide mans Nakedness but his Righteousness and his Sin must be condemned together and God must be known to work to will and to do in the Creature and this is God's Righteousness for which you must all wait that you may be Heirs of it and Possessors of it unto your Eternal Peace and live in the Fear of the Lord and be not immoderate nor excessive in any thing nor let your hearts be drawn away with the Creatures for then you commit Idolatry and are overcome of this World and you want the Authority of God and are in Bondage unto the Creatures and they defile you and burden you in that state while your Minds are captivated with them So Friends Mind God's Wisdom amongst you that it may lead you in all things and live in Love and Unity one with another and let no Strife be amongst you nor Contention for that will destroy you and eat out true Love and your Hearts will be hardened but bear one with another and be in Patience and Long-suffering one towards another and then the Presence of the Lord will fill your Hearts with Satisfaction and you will be comforted in God and one in another if Love and Unity be amongst you in the Spirit And meet together in the Name and Fear of the Lord and mind the Lord's Presence amongst you mind not words but mind the Presence of the Lord and feel his Power in your hearts and the words that come from the Power will refresh the Seed of God but if any speak words out of the Power the Seed of God will be burdened and will judge such words So every one feed upon the Bread of Life that comes from God and feel the Water of Life springing up in your Hearts that you may grow unto God as Plants of Righteousness and may make your Calling and Election sure So dwell in the Light and take up the daily Cross of Christ and walk not in the Flesh but in the Spirit and so shall the Blessings of the Lord be upon you My dear Love even the same Love wherewith I am loved of my Father doth salute you all and the Seed of God in you that I know and to that am I known who am a Brother and Companion unto all the Faithfull and Upright Edw. Burroughs Let this be coppied over and sent abroad and read in all your Meetings Good Counsel AND ADVICE Rejected by Disobedient Men And the Days of Cromwell's Visitation passed over And also Of Richard Cromwell his Son late Protectors of these Nations And the many Precious Warnings neglected by them and set ãâã nought which from time to time were given unto them as declared in these following Letters whereby all may see the Kindness of the Lord towards them by his Faithful Invitations to them and their own Apostacy and Carelesness who rejected Warning till the Time and Day of their Visitation is shut up with the Vail of Darkness and Reproach which lies over them and their precious Day of Love is spent and cannot be re-called To the READER FRiend Out of the same Love from whence these were written do I put them to publick view and it was not without much Doubtings and Questioning in my own spirit ãâã at last having found perfect Freedom and Strength from the Lord knâ⦠that I am ãâã and frââ altogether of other Ends saving then for the Honoââ of the Truth and that all may see that the Dâânfalls of these âen were not before sufficient Warnings which makes the Lord free ãâã his Servant free from what is coââ to pass upon them and even their Fall lies upon their own heads that dispised the Lords Warnings and would none of his Counsel but suffered the Innocent to be oppressed under their Power and relieved not the Heritage of the Lord from her Cruel Enemies though they had Power to do it but ãâã their own glory and how to be established in greatness in the Earth till that âhe Lord ãâã cast them âut and made them as a Reproach And these things that have come to pass ãâã them may be as Warnings to all other Rulers that do succeed them and they may ãâã that the Lord is ãâã and his Iudgments Righteous and whosoever shall follow their ãâã ãâã be Oppressââs of the Lord's Heritage as they were the Lord shall extend his Iudgments ãâã them also and their Destruction shall come even like as upon thâse before them Therefore let all the Earth be warned I am a Lover of Sion For the hands of the Protector FRIEND MAny Wârnings hast thou had from the Mouth of the Lord his Love hath been towards thee and the glorious Day of his Visitation hath shined over thy head wherein he hath called unto thee to hear
witness praised be the Lord for evermore who hath in his Light led us to himself and hath shewed the deceits of him to us and of all such as he is he is in the generation shutting the Kingdom of Heaven against men neither entring himself nor suffers others to enter that are entring Through the Power of the Lord made manifest am I bold to declare against him who walks not in the Doctrine of Christ and therefore is an Antichrist and doth deceive you professing himself to be sent of God and walking contrary to the Truth of God a Hypocrite saying and not doing Ye my Country men be not deceived by him try him by the Scriptures see how he walks according to the Declaration as they did who were Ministers of Christ not by the will of man but his Ministry is by man and according to man and had his Call from man as it is known to you all but they who were true Ministers witnessed the contrary neither received they their Gospel from man but by the revelation of Jesus The true Ministers of Christ sent sorth by Christ witness now the same thing for Christ is the same that ever he was which is now made manifest in the Saints and his Ministry is the same which is not by man but contrary to man be not deceived God will not be mocked for he is terrible and his day is powerful and dreadful that shall come upon the Heathen and upon the workers of Iniquity and upon all Dissemblers and Hypocrites all your carnal Worship and Ordinances and Observances is but mocking of God and dissembling with him and is but an imitation an imagination of the Mind of fallen man imitated by you and your Minister droven by the imaginations from the true Worship of God which the Saints in former generations was exercised in who were led not by imagination as you are but by the Spirit of God as all the servants of God are Now as ever was true Baptism I own which is by the holy Ghost and with Fire and the Baptism with one Spirit into one Body do we witness but that which your Chief Priest and false Hireling holds up I deny it it is not of God but is an imitation and is abomination in the sight of God and therefore from God do I Declare against it and against your Hireling that upholds it among you True Communion of Saints I own for we have Union and the Bread which we break is the body of Christ and the Cup which we drink is the Blood of Christ by which we are nourished and fed up to Eternal Life for he that eats not Christ's Flesh and drink his Blood he hath no life in him he among you that can receive it let him but your Communion I deny for it is Heathenish and no more but an imitation having proceeded out of the imagination of the Proud Your breaking of Bread and drinking of the Cup is abomination and God never commanded it and this doth your Pharisee uphold sitting in the seat of Christ and of the Saints as the Pharisees did in Mose's seat saying and not doing True singing I own with the Spirit and with Understanding singing in the Spirit making Melody in the heart to the Lord this singing was and is among the Saints in the Church of Christ this is well pleasing to God for it is not an imitation nor by tradition as your singing is but it is true Sacrifice the song of the redeemed ones which none can learn but the redeemed ones of the Lord who is come and coming to Zion with songs and everlasting Joy upon their heads but your singing is Carnal Traditional and Heathenish and is an Imitation and is not with the Spirit of Jesus but with the spirit of the World with the spirit of Drunkards Swearers Lyars Mockers Scorners Coveteous ones with the spirit of Wrath Envy Malice with the spirit of Cain with the spirit of the Scribes and Pharisees and chief Priests who persecuted the Saints which sang in Truth in former Generations and now the deceit is turned into the form of singing and they that live there persecutes them that sings in the Power for thus it was ever they that lived in Profession of the Word outwardly persecuted them that lived in the Power of which was professed and there you and your Hireling is but know that the Lord will take an account of you and give unto every man his reward according to his deeds You and your Priest have got the form of Baptism of the Communion of Singing and of a Church but the Power and Substance of these Ordinances you know not for they are hid from all vulturous eyes and from the generation of the Pharisees and Serpents who are called of men Master and which have the chief place in the Assemblies as your Hireling hath and who is called of men Master as they were which Christ cryed Wo against True preaching of Jesus Christ Crucified we own and do witness for the preaching is out of the will of man out of Form and Custom and is foolishness to the wisdom of the World now as it was ever this is not with the inticing words of mans wisdom but in the demonstration of the Spirit and of Power and the preaching of the Word of Faith which is nigh thee in thy mouth and in thy heart that preaching we do own for Faith comes by the hearing of this Word preached And the Prayer with the Spirit of Truth we do own for that is not in word to be seen of men but led to that not by Custom Form and Tradition but by the Eternal Spirit which proceeds from God which hath free recourse to God which God heareth and doth accept for their iniquity is purged out of the heart and is not regarded for he that regards iniquity in his heart God will not hear his Prayer but the Preaching and Praying of your Hireling I do deny for they are abomination to the Lord for his preaching leads from God stands in his own Will in his own Time in Form Custom and Tradition and your souls are not refreshed by it neither is true Faith known among you for how can he being evil speak good things A corrupt Tree cannot bring forth good fruit said he who cryed Wo unto them that said and did not in which generation he is how can he teach and direct towards true Religion being he denies the Corner Stone the first Principle of Religion which is the Foundation which no other can any lay the Light of God which hath enlightened every one that comes into the World which he denies to have enlightened every one Poor people I do pitty your souls God is my witness to see you lie in darkness in ignorance and blindness and in deadness under your dead Hireling and under his dead traditional Preaching your wisdom reason and dark minds
people and by them being deceived in some particular things naming onely three things the first whereof is That godliness being a Mystery that it did consist of something within and not of something without and that the Saints were to expect life and salvation from a Christ within and not from a Christ without I answer Godliness is a mystery the Image of God which is Godliness is a mystery hidden from the eye of I. Turner and from all vulterous eyes and this mystery is within in life and power consisting of the new man Christ Jesus who is the Image of God made manifest within the Saints in whose Image man is like God godly and this mystery is not in outward things in word or declaration or outward practice though where this mystery is made manifest godly practises will flow from it to without but yet the power life and mystery of godliness is within and cannot be seen with the carnal eye not comprehended with the carnal mind And here I charge I. Turner in the presence of God that she knowes not the mystery of Godliness who blasphemously calls this a corrupt Principle and here it is made manifest that she is in Babylon yet and is deceived and bewitched by the Devill I bear witness to the truth and to this particular and against her who denyes it And the Saints have Life and Salvation from Christ made manifest within which is the same Christ which suffered without and this I affirm that till Christ be revealed within there is no Salvation nor Life partaked of The Scripture saith they were Reprobates in whom Christ was not And the Apostle said Christ in you the hope of glory and Christ lived in him which was his âife and Salvation Where Christ is not made manifest within the Serpent is Head and the Devil is King in the heart and this I witness and do declare it as in the presence of God that till Christ was made manifest within me I was not saved nor had no life as to God though I was high in Profession and Knowledge outwardly And here again I. Turner hath shewed forth her blindness and sottishness to all and may stop her mouth for shame and confess that she is a bondslave in Babylon who calls this a corrupt Principle which is the Way Power and Life of Religion and Salvation which is Christ Jesus within made manifest in the Saints which takes away Sin and destroys the Works of the Devil and she and all others who walks and lives in the flesh following the lusts and desires of it living to their own wills in the broad-way and talks of Salvation by any thing without will be deceived for nothing will present to God but the Righteousness of Jesus Christ revealed which takes away sin and sets free from it And now for the second Principle That Saints were not to do duties by or from a commmand without but from a command within and that the Word command in Scripture was not a command to them till they had a Word within them I answer That is no command from God to me what he commands to another neither did any of the Saints which we read of in Scripture act by the command which was to another not having the command to themselves I challenge to find an example for it they obeyed every one their own command one was sent to Baptism and to Preach the Gospel another was sent not to Baptize but to Preach the Gospel And thou I. Turner or any other who goes to duty as you call it by imitation from the Letter without which was commands to others in your own wills and time your sacrifice is not accepted but is abomination to the Lord for you go without the moving of the Spirit in your own wills and strength which God hates and which his wrath is upon And I charge her here as in the presence of the Lord that she knows not what a command from God in Spirit is but is ignorant and not a daughter of Sion and let her mouth be stopped and let shame strike her in the Face who professes her self to know the Lord and let all be ashamed of her who professes themselves members joyned with her in Church she hath made manifest the ignorance of them all Now for the third particular That as to the time of doing duties they were to wait for the moving of the spirit to carry them forth to it and this they called Wayting for a power and till they had such a power they were to do nothing but sit still and wait and this not onely in private duties but in Church also not owning any Ministery by way of gifts of Office but to come together and there sit still and wait till they had a power and then to speak whether man or woman I answer who dare call this a Principle of deceit none but who are led by deceit and such is I. Turner who puts light for darkeness and darkeness for light all duties as she calls them whatsoever if the moving of the Spirit do not carry forth to act them then the movings of the corrupt will and vain mind carries forth and who act from such Principles are accursed from God And I. Turner and all who denies to wait for the movings of the power of the Spirit to carry forth but goes before the moving of it all their Prayers Preachings Ordinances and Churches I do deny and declare against by the Eternal Spirit of God that they are odious and abomination in the eye of the Lord and is no duty which he accepts whether they be done in private or in the Church And that Ministery which is not carried forth by the moving of the Spirit of God but of man and in the will of man which Ministry is hated of God and she which denies waiting upon God till power be given in from God to act and speak for God hath denied the way of God and the practice of the Saints in former Generations and wo is unto her who makes the simple believe this to be deceit Whereas she saith in these particulars which carried such a face or shew of spirituality she was corruped but did never fully own them in judgement nor practice I answer O blind deceived spirit which calls these but a shew or face of spirituality she calls the substance a shew and the shew or likeness a substance And wo unto her which calls good evil and evil good these particulars by the eternal spirit I own and walk in but that spirit of deceit and Antichrist in her hath denied them and calls them deceiveable and saith by them she was corrupted let her be ashamed and all of her Faction it was the Principle which led her from these things by which she was corrupted and which hindered her to own them and practice them and which now makes her declare against them which Principle is the spirit of the false Prophet which now rules
stand in the Fear of the Lord your Sword will be a terâ⦠and dread to them that fear him not but live contrary to the Light in their own Consciences which Light if you love it is your Command to march by and your Rule to judge by and Weapon to fight withal and your chief Commission for duty And now you have all time take heed to your selves go not on in your course of evil nor take not your pleasure in unrighteousness but to thâ Light in your Consciences take heed it is your Teacher to God if you love it or your Condemnation from God if you hate it And this is yoââ Terms with the Lord prize the acceptance of his Love to your souls and the Day of your visitation lest you perish in your rebellion eternally Written in love to your souls Edw. Burrough Written in Ireland at Caterlough A Warning from the Lord to you the Natives of the Nation of Ireland who are made a Curse and a Prey to be destroyed of your Enemies REpent repent ye that remain from being devoured whose dayes are ãâã stretched forth that you may return to the Lord from whom you are grievously degenerated into filthiness and uncleanness being a cursed Brood and are become unhuman in your impudent shameless practices of ungodliness and are brazened in your filthiness and cannot blush when you have done evil the Plagues of God and his Wrath waits to consume you from off the face of the Earth you are shut up in blindness and covered with darkness which may be felt and you are as deaf Adders void of understanding and past feeling and given up to work all unrighteousness with delight counting it your glory to work wickedness having sold your selves to commit sin you have wholly slain Gods Witness and are become wilde and brutish as the Beasts of the Field and untamed as savage Colts the Indignation of God is against you who are as dead Trees and withered Branches and scorched Heaths not sensible of good nor evil but as wild Asses who neither fear God nor regard man To the Light in your Consciences wherewith Christ hath lightened you do I now speak Gods murdered Witness shall answer me by which you are inexcusable for with the Light you know Lying Swearing Stealing Murder Drunkenness and Whoredom are Sins and Transgressions the Light will let you see these abound among you by which you are reproved and eternally to be condemned if you do not repent of these your grievous abominations And if you love the Light and turn to it it will lead you out of sin and out of your vain foolish Traditions and Immitations and Sorceries and Witchcrafts which deceive your souls And this Light in your Consciences will change you into Soberness and Humanity and will lead you into the Way of Life and Salvation out of the way of Death and Hell wherein you walk to eternal misery Therefore prize your souls and the dreadful God fear and tremble before him ye prophane Wretches and cease from your filthy nasty poluted wayes of Idolatry Lying Swearing Stealing Drunkenness and such like God forbideth with the Light in your Consciences and he that doth these things shall eternally perish in condemnation for ever And this to you is a Warning in pity to your lost souls whose hearts are desperately wicked and set to do mischief the Vengeance of God is against you the Light in your Consciences shall witness me and justifie the Lord in the Day of recompence when every man receives according to his deeds the Righteous unto Life the Wicked unto eternal Wrath. Now you have time prize it the Light is your Teacher loving it and your Condemnation for ever hating it By one who suffers for the Seeds sake waiting for the building of destroyed Sion EDWARD BURRUGH A Trumpet of the Lord Sounded forth of SION Which gives a certain sound in the Ears of all Nations and is a true noise of a fearfull Earthquake at hand which shall shake the whole fabrick of the Earth and the Pillars of its standing shall fall and never more be set up again Or fearfull Voices of terrible Thunders uttered forth from the Throne to the astonishment of the Heathen in all the Quarters of the Earth who are not sealed in the forehead And is an Alarm and preparation for War against all Nations where Gog and Magog resideth And sheweth the wounding Sword of the Mighty God from whose blow the Kings nor the Captains nor the mighty men cannot flee to escape Declared and written by a Son of Thunder as a Warning to all the Inhabitants of the Earth where the great Image is standing or any part of it worshipped speedily to meet the Lord by Repentance that in the day of his fierce Wrath they may be hid With a Salutation to the Seed who are gathered into the Fold and with the Children of the King The Tongue that was dumb sings a joyfull Song of Sion in an unknown Language which none can understand save the Redeemed of the Lord. BY Order and Authority given unto me by the Spirit of the Living God King of Kings and Lord of Lords the One and thirtieth day of the tenth Moneth in the Year of the Worlds account 1655. about the fourth hour in the morning when my Meditations were ãâã my God upon my Bâd in Kilkenny City in the Nation of Ireland at that time the Word of the Lord came unto me from the Righteous Iudge of Heaven and Earth who was ãâã is and is to come who sitteth on the Throne of righteous Iudgement judging Nations and Kindreds and Tongues and Peoples equally saying Write my Controversie with all the Inhabitants of the Earth unto all sorts of People as I will shew thee By this same Authority and Commission declared this I send unto you the Tribes of the Earth and this upon your heads shall stand for ever to be witnessed by the Light of Christ Iesus in all your Consciences in the dreadfull day of Vengeance which upon you O Inhabitants of the Earth is coming Prepare prepare to meet the Lord O Nations Tongues and People unto you all hereby a Warning is come and a Visitation from the Presence of the Living God which you are straitly required to put in practise as at the terrible day of dreadful Vengeance you will answer the contrary Given under my hand and sealed by the Spirit of the Eternal God who livââ for ever Through a Servant of the Lord. E. B. O Earth earth earth hear the word of the Lord and awake awake awake all ye Inhabitants thereof and give ear give ear unto the controversie which the Lord hath with you Noble and Ignoble listen unto the Word of the Lord men of high degree and men of low degree be not stout-hearted nor stop not your Ears for the Lord hath spoken People of all sorts and men of all conditions the Word of the Lord is towards you even from the Princes and Nobles that
more you strive the more you are entangled and the deeper your pit is digged for another the greater is your own fall into it for the purpose of your hearts and the intent of your wicked minds doth the Lord make void and turneth them upon your own head and strongly are you bound in your own snare which you secretly lay for the foot of the Innocent to make the Upright a prey How long ye men of the Earth will ye ãâã counsel together against the Lord How long shall the Righteous be a prey to your teeth to shoot your Arrows of Cruelty and Reproach against When will you give over your Oppression and Violence wherewith you think to spoil the tender Grape of the Lords Vintage and to devour the Seed of Iacob from off the Earth that you may rule in the kingdom in peace When will you be weary ãâã your wickedness and cease from your deceivings seeing the Lord makes you a Curse in whatsoever you take in hand You travel in wrath and bring forth nothing you strive all the day long and gather nothing but stubble and the fire kindles upon it and makes it a heap of Confusion in a moment When will you learn wisdom and refrain your selves from vanity Do you think to persist in the way wherein you walk can you overcome the Lamb or can you bring to nought the purpose of the Most High Will you make your selves equal with him and will ye gainsay the working of his Power Nay you shall fall into everlasting confusion and the remembrance of your destruction shall not suddenly pass away for the purpose of the Lord shall surely stand and his Counsel shall ãâã be made void for you are but suffered for a moment till your measure be âull and your transgression be finished that you may be cut off for ever and ââid waste as the Wilderness Long hath been the night of Darkness over all Nations wherein you have played and sported your selves as though no eye had seen you and your works of cruelty had laid hid in your bosomes but now they do appear and the day hath made you manifest and the Light hath discovered you and now ye are tryed and weighted and searched and the Fire of the Lord is kindled upon all your works and the end oâ them is confusion and misery and in sorrow shall ye lie down and no eye shall comfort you nor no Physitian shall heal your bruise for with a grievous blow will the Hand of the Lord be upon you all you who pervert his Way who have joyned your selves in battel against the Lamb and his Followers some of you smiting the Innocent with your hands and some with your tongues and in your envy deal cruelty with the Lord 's Chosen who are become a Proverb and Prey to the wicked and as a Butt to shoot at against whom you bend your Tongues and speak bitter things even from the head to the tayl the whole body of Darkness is prepared to war and every member of the great Image is stirred up in its strength thinking to prevail through subtilty against the innocency of the Simple and Lyes are become oââ Enemies refuge and their trust is in a broken Reed which fails their confidence and hope and we are preserved under the shaddow of the Almighty and we are delivered out of the snare of our Enemies and through suffering for a moment shall reign for ever and ever over the Beast and his Image And unto thee Giles Firmin I do write a few words in answer to thy Book caled Stablishing against Quaking who hast helped up the measure to fulfil the wickedness of the wicked in adding thy Lyes and Slanders and Reproaches unto thy Brethren and hast cast in thy Mite into the heap of Babylons Confusion and âast set thy seal against the Lord's People and hast put to thy hand in the record of Sions Enemies Whom do you thus strive against And against whom is your âury thus kindled What are you doing in your drunken fits of fury wherein you stagger with the wine of Envy Surely when you are sober you will consider ând when you are come to your selves you will be ashamed and will not open any more your malice and wrath which hath drownded your honesty and civility and ân your knowledge you are as bruit Beasts which are to be destroyed you do but gaâher your selves together that you may be scattered and broken to peices you are âuffered to heap up your confusion in Lyes and Reproaches that the Lord may make you ashamed and judge you out of your own mouths And Friend what hast thou done and who hast thou established the wicked ân his wickedness and the unclean in his filthiness and hast hardened the hearts of the ungodly by thy Lyes and Slanders least they should turn from their ungodâiness and be saved from their sins and so against quaking for transgression hast âhou stablished them herein and this will be laid to thy charge in the Day of âhe Lord who healest up the Wound slightly and criest Peace Peace to the wickâd unto whom the Lord hath not spoken Peace And Friend thou art the man ân whom the Prince of Darkness is discovered which now works in thee and ârom him hast thou sent forth thy pack of Reproaches against the Innocent and âleadest thy own cause and judgest hereof in the sight of men and hast sought âhe praise of men and not the Praise of God and so seek to obtain a good reâort by flattery and not by faith and this sufficiently appears in thy first Eâistle wherein thou hast given flattering Titles unto man and in vain hypocriâie hast fought a proof to the authority of thy Book thinking thereby the more âo make it of force to do the work which thou intendest by it even to âoyson the simplicity of the Upright and to devour the woman which brings âorth the Man-Child by casting floods of evil Speeches and Lyes after her but âhy flatteries are of no worth to thee nor thy subtil words of guile availeth thee âot herein for in the Light thou art seen and by it tried and thy snare which âhou hast laid will fetter thy own foot and the mischief thou intendest is fallen âpon thy own head and whilst thou hast thought to discover the Prince of Darkness in another thou hast covered and cloaked him in thy self under thy feigned words of flattery but through that vail he is seen and unto all men shall be made manifest and the Spirit of the Lord doth judge him and thy Rock of flattery shall not cover thee from the Wrath of him whom thou hast set thy self to oppose And in thy second Epistle thou sayest Thou madest one Sermon to discover this Generation meaning the Quakers and thou sayst thou found good success of it Friend thou hast more fully discovered thy self and that abommation which lodged in thy heart secretly which thou hast not let out into
you filled with confusions and thus it is justly come to pass upon you because of your transgressions Again you say In the sââ neglect and wâât of Activity Resolution and Integrity in Magistrates and others impowered therein for the punishment and suppression of Vice and crying Enormities I answer True it is a sad neglect and want of Activity and Integrity in the Magistrates hath been and is to punish and suppress vice and therefore it abounds in all fulness in the very Streets and it hath been wholly contrary for Vice hath gone at liberty while the Magistrates and such who have been impowered have been active and full of rigour and no neglect found in them to punish or rather to oppress and suppress the Innocent and Meek of the Earth and even they have done violence to the Harmless witness most parts of Prisons this day in England how many have been beat and abused and haled and knocked down with Staves in the sight of some of the Magistrates and how many have been imprisoned for passing on the High-wayes and through their Towns and some for declaring against Vice and crying Enormities which one day must be laid to yours and their charge for a sad neglect hath been for want of Justice and true Judgment and they that have been impowered have turned their power against the Lord and have been active to lay their Sword upon the guiltless while the guilty have gone free witness many who have been beat in your Steeple-houses by violent men and afterwards committed to Prison while the Peace-breakers and Violent have gone free and indeed it is time to lay these things to heart for till you purge your selves from these iniquities you shall never be established nor your Dominions in peace for these things and such like abominations are you filled with distractions and fears compass you about and that justly from the hand of the Lord as the Light in your Consciences shall answer in the dreadfull day of account which cometh suddenly upon you Again you say In the abominable blasphemies vented and spread of late through the Apostacy of and the abuse of liberty by many professing Religion Answ. No doubt but Blasphemy is a crying sin whereof the Land is guilty if you were able to judge thereof but rather indeed this cause is not rightly stated for you call that Blasphemy which is Truth such is the grievous ignorance of some of you And this I am sure is your greater sin condemning the guiltless rather then suffering the guilty in this particular Friends beware lest your judgment be so corrupted that you call evil good and good evil and thereupon approve the evil and reprove the good being given up to hardness of heart and blindness of mind and such were the sins of the Rulers in Israel who persecuted the true Prophets under the account of Blasphemy and such like and approved of the Prophets that prophesied falsly and of the Priests that bore rule by their means for the People loved to have it so Ier. 5. My soul wisheth that you Rulers may be wise and ye Judges may be learned in this particular lest you go in the way of your fore-fathers to destruction persecuting the Innocent without cause through false judgment of the way of Truth which may be called by you Heresie and Blasphemy who in the blindness of your minds cannot discern of the things of God for in that way which the wisdom of the World calls Heresie do we worship the God of our Fathers and verily so much the more I may warn you herein to take heed for the time to come because you have some of you been highly guilty of this transgression of late even in condemning the guiltless concerning this offence so that thus for you I may more truly state the particular In the abominable violence and oppressions acted of late upon the Innocent and them who have worshipped God in the Spirit through the wickedness of some Rulers and the abuse of liberty by them which have professed love to God and his Way through the false judgments and unsavoury opinions of many who have called Truth Error and the Way of God Blasphemy And this is your sin of which if you that are guilty repent not and turn from it and beware of it for time to come your honour shall fall into the dust and your fall shall be more deeper into confusion and destruction then any that have yet gone before you for of late the Lord powerfully hath begun to work and to vent his Truths through the Mouthes of his Servants and to bring out of the Apostacy and Blasphemies which hath reigned since the dayes of the Apostles the true and pure Religion which stands in the exercise of a pure Conscience Again you say In the little love and tenderness which is even amongst Professors themselves towards one another who whilest they contend for things disputeable lose thâ which is certain even charity without which they become as sounding Brass or tinkling Cymbals Answ. This is also your sin and the sin of the Nation want of love and tenderness in Professors towards God and one towards another and that love which appears is but the shew and in the form and likeness of things and not from the true ground of love and peace and these are they that hate the Light and walk not in the Light wherewith Christ Jesus hath lighted every man that comes into the World in which the unity of the Saints doth stand and in which their love is one to another and they that are out of the Light are without charity which is the bond of perfection and these that know not the Light of Christ to guide them in the Wayes of God are in all their profession and words and actions as sounding Brass and as a tinkling Cymbal and these are they that are in the Disputes and Contentions and Strife about the Letter drawing their own Consequences and Deductions from it in their own wisdom and knowledge and sensual understanding and those lose the Substance and know not that which is certain Christ Jesus in them to be Ruler over them but are as dry Trees to be plucked up and all their Profession will wither and all their pretended love will perish and their shew of things in the outward appearance will be confounded who know not the Light of Christ to guide them which Light is the ground of true love and tenderness and brings to the knowledge of things certain out of the contention of things disputable But further you say In allowing difference in Forms more power to divide Christians then Agreements in fundamentals has to unite them one of the dangerousest and fruitfulest seeds that hath been sown by the envious One Answ. Christians are they that follow Christ Jesus who are not so only in name but in practice and they are one and cannot be divided as they walk in the Light which comes from Christ who is
Singings their Baptisms and Breaking of Bread and even all that which you perform as unto God as the Worship of him is not accepted but Abomination unto him and his Soul is burdened with all these things you not being led with the Spirit of Christ And even your practizing of these things which the Saints and Christians once practiced and were accepted of the Lord in so doing while they were led by the Spirit of Christ I say The very practice of those things now by the Christians being degenerated is become Idolatry and Abomination to the Lord. And this I declare in the Fear and Presence of the Lord Even all your Praying and Preachings and Profession all your Sabboth-keeping and Set-dayes of Humiliation and even all your Practices of Religion which you do and perform are Idolatry and a Burden to the Lord's Soul in the state that now you stand not being led by the Spirit of Christ but being from it departed and your works not brought forth by it but by another spirit And now saith the Lord unto you Christians who are degenerated from the Spirit of Christ To what purpose is your Preaching Praying and Singing They are a Vexation and Burden to the Righteous Soul and the Lord hath no delight therein away with it away with it Your Profession and Practices stincks in the Nostrils of the Lord All your Baptisms and your Sacraments which ye perform in a vain Tradition and not by the Spirit of the Lord they are hateful in his sight away with them away with them they shall crumble to the dust and immediate Desolation in one day the Lord will break them down and never build them up again Your Preaching by a Glass for so much a Sermon or so much a Year what you have gathered out of Books and studied for from other mens words town with it down with it it is ãâã Abomination to the Lord. And your Ministry which is made and sent forth at Schools and ãâã natural Learning through the attainment of such Arts and Sciences and being approved of such and such men and sent forth to such and such a Parâ⦠ãâã have so much Money by the Year for preaching what hath been studied foâ⦠and not by the Gift of the Holy Ghost away with this Ministry away with it it s a mocking of God and a deceiving of Souls the Lord will confound it and bring it to Destruction And your singing of the Saints words in Rhyme and Meeter and their Conditions which your selves never knew this is Abomination to the Lord and a Practice which his Soul hater away with it the Lord is risen to confound it Away with all your Worship which is not in the Spirit nor in the Truth but in vain Traditions of ãâã practiced by you in a vain Form and not the Power of God The Lord will being it down to the ground restore and establish his own Worship which ãâã in Spirit and in Truth and he will give and hath given his Ministry again by the Gift of the Holy Ghost which hath been lost for many Ages while this Night of Apostacy hath over-spread the World and the Lord shall ãâã longer be worshipped in vain Traditions of men but his people shall be reââred and renewed to worship him in Spirit and Truth and the Christianâife âife shall again be brought forth and the Spirit of Christ shall be the Leader and Teacher of his People And now the Day of the Lord's Visitation is again revived for togather his People and to restore them again to his perfect Way and Worship Therefore hearken and behold ye Christians this is the Testimony of the Lord ââ¦erning you You have been fallen and degenerated from the Life of Righteousness and from the true Way and Worship of the true God and you have long been slumbring and sleeping in this long Night of Darkness which overshadow'd you and darkned that glorious Appearance of the ãâã of God which once shined upon the Christians and in Blindness and Dâ⦠have ãâã walked for many Ages and your Worship hath been subscribed To the Unknown God and wofully have you been wallowing in unclean Paths and you have erred you have erred from the Life of Christ and from his Spirit and you are gone from your Husband and follow'd other Lovers and you have been ââ¦ed in Iniquity and altogether poluted by Transgtession and the state in which you now stand is a state seperated from God a state of great Ignoraâ⦠and Darkness and a state of hainous Rebellion against God whose Soul and Spirit is greatly oppressed and grieved because of your Degeneration who ãâã become more ignorant of God then the Ox is of his Owner oâ the Ass of his Master's Crib and even the very same Vision is seen concerning you as the Prophet saw concerning Israel Therefore hear oh Heavens and give ear oh Earth for the Lord doth speak unto you Christians I have nourished and brought up Children and they have rebell'd against me and the Ox knows his Owner and the Ass his Master's Crib but the Christians do not know the People do not consider Ah! sinful Nation a people laden with Iniquity a seed of Evil-doers Children that are corrupted that have forsaken the right Way and provoke the Living God to Anger and ye are gone away backward the whole Head is sick the whole Heart is faint and from the sole of the Foot even unto the Head there is no Soundness but your Conditions are Wounds and Bruises and ââ¦fying Sores you are not closed neither bound up neither mollified with Oyââ¦ent and your Country is desolate and your Cities are burnt as with Fire your Land Strangers devour it in your presence and it is desolate and overthrown by Strangers and but that the Lord of Hosts has left us a soul Remnant even a Seed ye Christians would have been as Sodom if any man hath an Ear to hear let him hear This Vision is as true unto you Christians throughout all the World as ever it was unto the seed of the Iews This is your state and this is your condition and thus ye stand in the sight of the Lord though in your beginning in the beginning of Christianity I mean the Lord brought up the Christians and nourished them by his Living Word and with his Word he cherished them and they grew unto a goodly state and were ââ¦pleat in Christ Col. 2. 10. And they were come to the ãâã of ââ¦st Men made perfect and unto Mount Sion the ãâã of the Living God the Hââ¦ly Jerusalem and to an innumerable Company of Angels to the general Assembly and Church of the First-Born which are written in Heaven and to God the Iudge of all Hebrews 12 22 23 24. TO this state were the Christians nourished and brought up in the dayes when they were first brought forth when they were begotten and born again of the immortal Word that abides forever and they were sanctified and purified and
them and how are they led captive at his will What an influence hath the sight of a dead Image upon their dead hearts and carnal minds Was ever the like said I Is there greater Abomination at Rome What Blindness and Sencelesness is over the hearts of this people And after this manner for a good season after my spirit within me aggravated and unfolded this great Abomination tumbling it over and over in my own Breast with a secret pitty for their Souls which were ensnared and captivated through all this Wickedness But further I considered that all this Abomination and sinful Idolatry is about the Funeral of the late Oliver Cromwel then said I What for him Alas for him who was once a great Instrument in the Hand of the Lord to break down many idolatrous Images and grievous Idols and did not the Lord once stir up his heart against all such things And did not once his Children Officers and his brave Souldiers and Army pull down all the Images and Crosses and all such like Popish stuff where ever they met with it And said my spirit What grievous and abominable work is this Have they now made a costly Image of him and are such as were once his Souldiers now guarding it and watching over it and his Children and Officers following it and Multitudes of the Inhabitants of London wondering and gazing after an Image of him This is sad said I and great pitty What a change is this in so short a time Was it but a few years since that he and his Army and his Servants and his Children and Officers were so zealous to throw down Images Pictures and Iââlâ that they could not endure the sight and worshipping of them And have they now made an Image of him which his Officers Children and Kindred are carrying from place to place and following it and Multitudes caused to wonder after it What a change is this said I Oh sad Are people runââ¦g after Images again as in the time of Popery And have they made an ãâã and deckt it with costly array and set it up for People to visit a long time and then haling it from place to place Are they doing this in London as they do at Rome amongst Papists This is Pittiful But how cometh this to pass I began to consider and said I knew the Man when he was living and ãâã the knowledge of his spirit and I was perswaded if it had been asked him in his life time If such work should be acted about him such an Image made like ãâã and laid for so long time in a ãâã place and manner and them carried by his ââ¦ed and Children Kindred and Army and then set up in such a place and he removed from place to place I say I believe he would have denied it and said it shall not âe thus for me when I am dead I suppose he would not have suffered it thus to have been he was more wife I thought he would have said Nay what to maâ⦠Image of me and deck it diversly from one form to another and visit it and then carry it from place to place up and down this will be a shame to ãâã Children and a disgrace to my Kindred and a reproach to my Officers and whole Army and all the Nation will mock and be offended and they may ãâã These are they that were once Enemies to all Images and dead Idols and ãâã them down and broke them down and are these now making an Image ãâã setting it up and wondering after it from place to place Nay might be have said if thus it be done they at Rome may laugh us to scorn and the Paââ¦s may say We have learned of them and put their Persons from among us and baâ⦠and killed them and set up their Practices sure he would have said thus ãâã I am certain the Witness of God in his Conscience might truly have said it because it is Truth But upon another consideration I said this is come to pass after this manner though he was once zealous against all Popery yet he did too much forget that good cause and too much sought the greatness and honour of the World and loved the praise of men and took flattering titles and vain respects of deceitââl men and many great Abominations were upheld through him as Tythes and Old Mass-houses and ordaining of Ministers by mans will and the false ââ¦ips and Sprinkling of Infants and such like Popish stuff first invented at Rome and he suffered the Servants of the Lord to be persecuted and imprisonâ⦠for denying and crying against such things as were Popish and which himself sometime seemed to deny and because of this said I this may justly be come to pass that an Idolatrous Image and Picture should be made of him ââen he is dead and decked and laid in a sumptuous manner and visited and then carried from place to place as was usual in the time of Popery for mulââ¦es of foolish people to gaze upon and wonder after and admire and praiseâ that all men might see the first cause is lost and that zeal which his kindred and Army had once in their hearts against Popery is extinguished and people are turned again ãâã gaze after Images which is Popish for such practises that day between Somersett-âouse and Westminster were first ordained at Rome and practised by the Papists and he that suffered many to be imprisoned for denying and crying against such Worships and Practices as were in themselves Popish and which he himself once fought against it s happened now when he is dead and it s suffer'd now that they should make a Fool of him in a Popish way and manner For such Practices are no other then Foolery and Foolishness tending to the Dishonour of a good Man but in the midst of my Considerations a pitty struck through me for once noble Oliver that is now dead and his place no more found and I was grieved he should be thus abused being dead by such a stir about an Image made of him for many weeks together as hath been and I began to recal my former acquaintance with him and the former dealings of God towards him and what a gallant Instrument for the Lord he once was and how many glorious and noble Victories God once gave him and what good parts and what a gallant spirit there was in him and how once he shewed me and declared what the former dealing of the Lord had been upon his Soul and how he was troubled in conscience formerly my spirit run through many such things with a great deal of sexiousness and pitty And then said I Alas alas Is it ended all in this all his former good service for God and the Nations all his Victories and his good Actions and his beating down Superstition Is this the end of it all the making of an Image and carrying it from place to place is it ended all here what formerly he
hath been and what he hath done how hath this cloud of Folly cast a stink and darkness upon his former brightness and glory and nobleness and is this the end and final farwel of once noble Oliver what only the sight of an Image carried and set up Hath the City of London and the Nations to better Memento of him But oh had he been faithfull to the end to God he would have left a more lively and heavenly Character to have been read for his sake then an Image of him and such Idolatrous practises and my life could have sorrowed upon some considerations passed through me about this business and for some hours my spirit could not rest and in the very time it lay upon me to write this And after all this said my spirit Where are all the old Priests now and his ancient Teachers who once had a great zeal against all these things and against all such practises Where are they now are they blind also said I that they cannot see this abominable Idolatry and cry against it had they any hand in it or were they Consenters to these things What is become of them Is their zeal for the Lord and against Idolatry quite gone thought I they might have prevented this disgrace to their old Master who hath served them well and set them in great places and put them in large Benefices and they might have done something for him when he is dead and have prevented this Folly and Idolatry which is acted upon him this day for certainly all people in the Nation that fear God will be offended and judge in their hearts such work the framing of an Image and sounding Trumpets and beating Drums before it and cloathing Horses in Mourning and Trayling their Pikes and even the very Honourable of the Nation clad in Mourning and following this Image and all this stir and cost and preparation for many Weeks before-hand and such decking in Mourning Attire of great and noble Men and all but to accompany an Image from one place to another whereby people are deceived who might look upon it to be the Burial of Oliver Protector whenas it was but an Image made by hands decked trimed in a vain manner as if it had bin some Poppit Play which if it had been indeed his Bones they had accompanied to the ground in such a manner that had bin less condemnable and I should not had ought against it But for the Wisemen in the Nation to be chief in these things and to exercise themselves in such Folly and Vanity this grieves the Righteous Soul and if I should justifie it the Lord would condemn me but the shame will fall upon themselves that acted it and chiefly upon their Priests and Teachers because they were consenting to such Vanity and piece of Popery as this was And had these old Doctors and Teachers feared God and their Hearts been aright towards him they would have endeavoured the stopping of this Abomination and another way might have been thought upon whereby a more lively and godly Monument of their old Master might have stood to Generations What shall the making and visiting and carrying and setting up of a dead Image for foolish people to gaze upon and run wondring after in their wicked minds Must this be all the Monument And shall we have no other Representation of once noble Cromwel Is his Life and former Glory and Nobleness shaddow'd with the sight of a dead Image Alas This presents nothing at all to such as fear God but Folly and Ignorance Vanity and Idolatry and when they look upon it they shall be grieved in their spirits and vexed when they can find no more Monument of that once noble man but an invented ââ¦ge and Picture and the Priests shall be ashamed and may have the greatest rebuke for they that lead the people have caused them to err And now upon the whole matter from the very beginning to the end thereof I do declare against it and that a fearful Abomination hath been committed in the sight of the Lord in relation to this Image and you have vext the Lord's Soul and his Hand you shall feel upon your Consciences and the weight thereof in the time to come the spending of so much of the Creation and wasting Money and other things the Lord will lay to your charge and the whole City hath been abused with running and wondring after the work of your own hands And now all you that have gone to gaze and wonder after an Image What saw you What beheld you What wondered you after ought except folly and vanity and a dead Image whereby the man and his Nobility was abused in honour to whom they say it was done And when many dayes were spent what were you the better What were you edified were you not convinced of your ãâã Folly And might not your Wickedness reprove you And did not the Liâ⦠in your own Consciences check you and prick you and condemn your vain minds that wondred after Folly Though now you may be hardned yet ãâã day you shall confess when the Witness of God in you doth arise and bring all your deeds to remembrance then shall you say This work was Abomination and ãâã great Sin in them who invented it and caused it to be brought forth and your selves that ãâã wondred after it and the Judgments of the Lord are against all these things E. B. A MESSAGE PROCLAIMED BY Divine Authority From the chosen Assembly of the Redeemed People in England to the Pope chief Bishop of Rome and to his Cardinals Jesuits and Priests and all other the Officers of the Romish Church where it shall meet with them through the World That they may appear and come forth to Tryal and shew if they have the same Faith Power Spirit Authority and Government as had the Apostles and true Churches before the Apostacy And this is a full Invitation and Challenge to the whole Church of Rome and the beginning of Controversie with her for the perfect manifestation of the long hidden Truth betwixt them that are in the Truth it self and such as have the Form but not the Power that all things may be brought to Light and true Judgment WHereas we a poor despised and rejected People among the Nations of the Earth yet Dreadful and Mighty because the Majesty and Presence of the Lord God is with us who hath called us and chosen us and gathered us and redeemed us from among men out of Kindreds and Multitudes and Peoples into one Body and one Spirit out of all the Sects upon the Earth and we are of one Mind and one Soul having Fellowship with the Son and with the Father being come through great Tribulations and many fiery Tryals and are refined and purified and made clean and white in the Blood of the Lamb being fully recover'd out of the great Deluge of Darkness and Apostacy which hath overflown and drowned the whole World and
Lamb's Wife and she ââth appeared in much Beauty with a Golden Cup in her hand in which the Wine of her Fornications and the Filthiness thereof hath appeared and which she hath caused the Nations to drink and by her Sorceries and Witchcrafts she hath deceived the World and with her false Miracles and Shews and Images and false Ministers which she hath set up she hath corrupted the Earth and all this she hath done by the Beast's power that hath carried her who received his Authority from the Dragon and from the Devil And thus Antichrist the Beast and the Whore have ruled in the World in great Authority for many Generations and the World hath been as a Wilderness ây them and waste and barren of all good Fruit and Truth and Faith ââth been departed from amongst men and Love and Peace ââth been far away and Murders Thefts Wars Strifes and all Injustice and Wickedness hath abounded in Nations and thus the whole Earth hath been corrupted through the Whore and false church who hath deceived Kings and Rulers and Peoples by her Inchantments and Sorceries which she hath caââed them to receive at her hand and out of her Golden Cup of Abominations out of which they have drunk false doctrines and practices to the deceiving of their Souls and Bodies But now the Day of the Lord is come and coming and the Lamb's Kingdom is to be set up and the kingdoms of this World must be changed and ãâã covered again and will become the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ and the Marriage of the Lamb is come again and the Day of Glad-tidings ãâã to the Poor and to the Distressed and the Lamb's Wife shall be adorned ãâã her Husband she shall be clothed with the Sun and shall be covered with her former Beauty and shall be led out of the Wilderness and the Earth shall be refreshed and deliver'd from the Oppressions and Tyrannies of Antichrist and the Whore for the Hour of her Iudgments are come and the Darkness of the Night of woful Apostacy which hath clouded the World is passing over and the Light of the Lamb is risen and the Day-star hath appeared in the hearts of people and the Man of Sin which hath sate in the Temple and sheweâââmself to be God and falsly exercised the Bodies and Consciences of deceived people in false ways and worships is discovering and destroying by the Spirit of ãâã Mouth and by the Brightness of the coming of Jesus and the Beast and the false Prophet shall be taken alive and cast into the Lake of Fire and the ãâã and false Prophet shall be tormented day and night forever for the Breath of Life from God is entred into the two Witnesses and they shall again Propheây and the Light of the glorious Gospel that that long been hid must again be preached to Kindreds Tongues and Nations and the Kingdom of Christ Iesus ãâ¦ã set up and these things is the Lord God Almighty bringing to pass And he will confound and destroy Antichrist and all that have worshipped him and ãâã that have worshipped the Beast a nd drunk the Cup of Fornication and commited âââlatry with the great Whore they shall be taken and cast into the Bed of Torment and shall Weep and Houl because of the great Destruction of Babylon that great City who hath been the Glory of kingdoms and made rich her Merchants ãâã false Ministers with Deceiveableness whom God will overthrow That great ãâã City of Confusion the false church that great Whore the Mother of ãâã Abominations the âord God is risen against her to enquire for the Blood ãâã Martârs and Prophets and Righteous Men that is found in her and she shall be rewarded according to her wayes and as she hath given others to drink ãâã Cup of Fornication so in like manner shall she drink the Cup of fierce ãâã of the Lord's Wrath from his Saints and she shall no more deceive the Nations by her Sorceries but the Earth shall be deliver'd from her and the Kingdom of the Son of God shall be exalted over all and the Light of the Lamb ãâã be the Light of all Nations and all that are saved shall walk in the Light of ãâã and Truth shall reign and the Fruit of Righteousness shall abound and all people shall glorifie God their Maker and the whole Earth shall be refreshed with the Mercy of him that made her Wherefore all ye Kings Princes Parliaments and Rulers through thâ whole Christendom this is a Request unto you all of a Lover of your Immortââ Souls That you will cease to commit Fornication with the great Whore and that you will not any longer drink her Cup of Iâââatries neither that you will cause Nations to drink it neither that you will carry the great Whore any more nor receive her Sorcâries ãâã Inchantments to deceive your Souls and Bodies And this the Lord God Almighty who ought to be the Fear and Dread of all Nations requireth of you and ãâã is a Charge to you in the Presence of the Lord God That ãâã do not any loâgââ defend the great City Babylon and the false Church with your Weapons ãâ¦ã and Oppression neither that you will ever any more oppress the persons and Consciences of people on her part and on her defence but that ãâ¦ã ãâã ââst off the Whore and not suffer her to sit upon you and ãâã you will not be Servants to her to execute her Cruelties upon the Bodies ãâã Consciences of People For these things have you done and therefore ãâã Lord displeased with you and therefore deliver your selves from the Aâ⦠of the false Church and receive not her Delusions neither imâ⦠ãâã upon the people under you for now the Judgments of the great Whore â⦠and the time that the Lord will reward her according to her wayes ãâ¦ã shall have the Fruit of her doings And if you will yet uphold her ãâã ãâ¦ã Fornication with her and compel the Nations to drink of her ãâã and cause all people to worship the Beast and to receive his Mark as it ãâã ââen Then the Lord shall execute his Vengeance upon you and you shall ãâã ãâã wise âe delivered Wherefore I say again unto you Arise out of Darkness and come to the Brightness of the Light of the Morning even to the Son's Appearance and receive his Kingdom and lay down your Crowns at his Feet for the Lamb is risen whose Crown is Immortal and ye and all your Glory and Greatness and ãâã and Power is but as Dust and Ashes before him and he can break you ãâã and never build you up again And come out of great Babylon and ãâã your City for the Day of the Lord will suddenly come upon you for great Babylon is come into remembrance before the Lord to reward her with great ââdignation Wherefore this is a Call unto you Lay aside your Inquisitions your Goals and Houses of Correction and Prisons and all your Torturing
for the Protector 's Kindred his VVife and Children to be read soberly by them in the Fear of the Lord. FRIENDS âEmember that by the Lord you were raised from a low state and when he will he can abase you and bring you down he gave you the Palace of ââ¦ces and threw out them before you ãâã Remember this every one of you and come to the Witness of God in ãâã and be humble and meek and lowly and let the Lord's Fear be in your ãâã and be of a tender Spirit having your minds exercised in Purity in Holiââââ and in Righteousness and exalt not your selves nor be lifted up in âour ãâã in the Pride and Vain-glories and Honours of this World lest the Lord ãâã you down and make your Name and Posterity a Reproach as he hath done âany before you and if you walk in the same steps and do the same things and ãâã guilty of the same Abominations and suffer the Children and Servants of the Lord to be persecuted as ââny are at this day some until Death shall the Lord spare you nay he will cause you to feel his Hand of Judgment and bring you down with Sorrow and he will vex you in his Wrath and smiâe you with his Rod more and more till you learn his Fear and depart from all your ãâã and the Lord will deface your Glory and pull down your Crown and ãâã will make you know that he iâ Lord that doth whatsoever he will Whereforâ humble your selves under the Hand of God and search your own hearts and cast out the Abominationâ that vex the Spirit of the Lord and sufâââ not the People of the Lord 's precious Flock to be devoured and made a Prey ãâã the Wicked for because of this the Rod of Affliction cometh upon you and âây suddenly break you to pieces but mind the Seed of God in you which is oppressed and wait to know the. Power of the Lord which will redeem you out of Sin and Death and reconcile you to God and bring you into Fellowship wiââ himself to enjoy Peace and Rest for your Souls that you may be made Heirs of the ââheritance of an Endless Life and this would make you truly Honourable ãâã ââll be more Satisfaction to you and Joy and Content and true Rejoycing ãâã all Worldly Crowns and Worldly Glories which will waste and consume away and leave you miserable And remember that you are now warned from the ãâã God by whoâ I am ââved to write this unto you in deaâ and tender Love to you all and one day you shall witness it And as concerning the Quakers so called who are accounted as vile in the Sight of men and are âast out of all Power and Place in the Nation being despised of all and also are reproached persecuted and imprisoned and all manner of Evil and Injustice unrighteously done and spoken against them by wickââ and corrupt men in Authority yet are they the Children and Servants of the Living God and greatly beloved of him and are as dear to him as the Apple of his Eye and his Power and Presence is with them and the time is at hand that the Lord will make their Persecutors fall and their Enemies bow and tremble though now they suffer unjustly and are trodden down as not deserving a Place on the Earth yet it is for Righteousness sake and because they shew forth the Image of the Father and not for Evil-doing and will not their Sufferings lie upon you for many Hundred have suffered cruel and great things and some the loss of Life though not by yet in the name of the Protector and about a Hundred at this present day lie in Holes and Dungeons and Prisons up and down the Nation and some at this time are Sick nigh unto Death whose Sufferings âây for Vengeance and the Lord heareth the Cry Wherefore save your selves and let the Innocent be delivered and the cruel Bonds of Oppression broken and the Exercise of a pure Conscience go free without Persecution and then the Lord will ãâã away his Anger and cease to smite you with his Rod which bath been upon you and he will give you Peace and make you blessed if you come to be leá by his Spirit into all Truth And though these Innocent Lambs of Christ suffer thus under this present Power yet are they not Enemies to you but are Friends to your Persons and Families ãâã pitty you and love you and desire well for you in the Lord that you may ââpent and be healed and even that your Hearts may be opened to receive Refreshments to your Souls and that you may be established in Righteousuess and Trâ⦠over all your Enemies and may not be confounded nor your Posterity brought ãâã reproach which is hastening upon you and though our Love be despised and ãâã accounted hateful in your sight and looked upon with Derision yet we ãâã ãâã things in Patience truly desiring your Returning and Repentance and ãâã yoââ Destruction But if these doleful Suffering of the Lord 's poor Lambs be continued by this present Power it will destroy you and undo you and break you and confound ãâã ãâã the Lord will not cease to smite you with his Rod of sharp Rebukes and he will ãâã ãâã know his People's Cause shall not be unpunished Oh Did you âut know hoâ Hââdreds have and do suffer how the Bodies of some have been tortured by Stocks and cruel Whippings and how some lie Sick in stinking Holes and ãâã on the Ground or a little Straw at best Ten or often more in a Prisoâ together and sometimes their own Friends nâ suffered to come to visit thââ ãâã Necessaries Oh Did but your Eyes behold or your Hearts perceive the greatness of the Cruelty which some of the Lord 's dear Servants and your faithful Friends undergo it would make your hearts ake and your spirits to tremble and all this is done in the Name and under the Authority of Protector therefore how should the Lord but lay it to your charge and afflict him and hââ Family He will make you know there tâât a God tâât can do whatsoever he will and that Life and Death are in his Hands and all Creatures are as Clay in the Hand of the Pâtter and be rules in the Kingdoms of Men and pulleth down one and setteth up another according to his Pleasure but if the Love of God be with-holden from you it is because of Disobedience to him and your Transgression Wherefore be obedient to him and love his Wayes and Judgments that he may make you more happy with a Crown Immortal that never fades away And remember once more the Lord hath warned you by a Friend unto you in the Lord Written the 1st day of the 7th Moneth called September 1658. Edward Burroughs Copies of this were delivered to divers of his Children and Kindred the day before he Dyed To thee Richard Cromwel called Protector of these Nations is this
together wherefore be faithful to perform your duty to God in that particular whatsoever sufferings should be infflicted upon you by the men of this World And as concerning refusing to take any Oath ye know it hath been our Principle and practise so to do since the Lord hath given us knowledge of his wayes and the spirit of the Lord that dwels in us perswadeth our hearts to deny all swearing both as it was practised under the Law according to the command of God and in the Types and Figures and as it is practised among the Christians since the Apostles daies which is as now practised Idolatry and Superstition And I say the Spirit of Christ doth confirm our hearts in this trutâ even to deny all swearing and also we have the express command of Christ and of the Apostle Iames forbdiding all swearing by Heaven and Earth and all other Oaths which bears witness to the truth of our refusing to swear at this day likewise we have the Testimony of many holy Martyrs and Prophets since the Apostles daies who denied to swear on any wise who suffered for such their Testimony All which evidences may justly confirm the hearts of Gods people at this day faithfully to hold out their Testimonies of refusing to swear at all seeing we have a cloud of witnesses that testifie with us the express Command of Christ and the Apostle thâ Testâââââ of ãâ¦ã divers âges who suffered for the same and the present ãâ¦ã Spirit of Christ in our own Hearts All which are sufficiâât to give Courage and Boldness under all Sufferings and Afflictions that we may ãâã withal for refusing to Swear Well Friends Be faithful to God in these and all other things which God hath given you Light and Knowledge in and I do ãâ¦ã Conscience and not to sin against the Light and Knowledge that God hath given you either by denying to profess and practice that Truth which the Lord hath perswaded your Heart of or by conforming to anything which ye know is not of the Truth and this is the Way of Eternal Peace with God But if any shall through the Temptations of the Adversary and for the ãâã ãâã ãâã of this World deny the Lord and renounce good Conscience â⦠such must bear the Burden of the Lord's Anger because ãâ¦ã Revoltings from the Wayes of God True it is This is a Day of great Tryal yet the Lord is strong and gives Strength unto all his People that ãâã upon ãâã And let us be mindful what our Controversie is and â⦠this Day our Controversie is for the Lord and his Truth to Do Faithfully and Suffer Patiently whatsoever the Will of the Lord is unto us and not to renounce and deny the exercise of our pure Consciences in those things that God hath perswaded our Hearts of the Truth of For if any this Day should be Unfaithful either by doing what they should not or leaving undone what they know they should do If any deny the Lord and his Truth and conform to the false Ways and Worships of men such lose the Controversie and give the Cause of God into the hand of your Enemies which is a fearful Abomination and the Controversie is with that spirit which opposeth us in these things which we know are of the Lord. It is with that spirit that we must contend contend I say by the Spirit of the Father in Long-Suffering and Patience and Good-will towards all men and not with the Weapons of this World in envy to any even with that spirit which doth oppose our meeting together to worship God and would impose Oaths and Things upon us contrary to our Consciences And these things are the main Matters of Controversie this day which the Spirit of Christ in us must oppose being imposed on us by the spirit of the World So all Friends are to mind to be Faithful to the Spirit of Christ and its perswasions and against that spirit which is not of him For the Opposition is between the two spirits and none must say the things required to be forborn or to be done are but small matters in themselves and may be done or not done without Offence this kind of Reasoning may be dangerous and may easily divert from the Obedience of Christ for we are not to look so much at the things in themselves which are required to be done or to be forborn as at the spirit which doth impose upon us in such cases against pure Conscience if the spirit be not of God we must not obey it in the least things for this is indeed the matter of Conscience not so much particular things or actions as the spirit that is not of God where it requires things against good Conscience for whatsoever that spirit requireth be it little or much in respect of the Action it must not be obeyed and that for Conscience sake for this is a good Conscience that cannot do nor conform to any thing which the spirit that is not of God enjoyes though therefore suffering be inflicted on the outward man And last of all I do advise and exhort That ye have Love and Unity in the Spirit of the Lord and one with another that oneness of Heart and Soul and Spirit may be amongst us being bound up in the holy Covenant of the Father even willing to do or suffer one for another and in this Spirit of Unity the Lord will bless us and make us strong and able to go through joyfully all our Afflictions but if any Strife or Division be in the Body it weakens the whole if one Member vex another through discord this is not of the Father but contrary to him this is not for the safety of the Body but bruises it and wounds it and maâ⦠ãâã ãâã âfflict the Sâ⦠ãâã the Righteâ⦠ãâã ãâã outââ¦d Enemies ând Stââ¦ââ¦d ãâã ãâã ãâã oâ⦠ãâã ãâã may sooner work ãâã ââ¦throw than ãâã the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã from men Oâ ãâã therefâ⦠ãâã Brother to ãâã and ãâã ãâã ãâã to many and ãâã Servant to all let me entreat and beseech That ãâã ãâã those ãâã ãâã ãâã foâ ãâã thâ⦠ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Chrisââ¦ââ¦ed you and that ãâã ãâã ââ¦minded in all things even one ãâã ãâã ââther ãâã the Son are one and so shall ãâã Blessings oâ ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã frââ yââ ãâã deââ¦r ãâã The Lord haââ ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã alwayes ãâã ãâã ãâã to ââ¦ll ãâã with his Riches and Treasure ând are noâ we Veââ¦s of Honour is not his Name in ouâ ãâã heads ãâã not we the Flock of âis Foâ therefore let us Honour him by the Works of Trââh ãâã Love of Mercy and all the Works of Righteousness ãâã ãâã bring ãâã ãâã uââ¦o the ãâã thereby proving that we are true âââches in Christ the ãâã let ãâã give up to suffer all things Patiently for the Testimony of his Truth ãâã ãâã our Hearts if we Live let it be to him only and if we Dye let
Form and in Forms of Righteousness without the Power and in Immitations without Life and perfect Knowledge so that all the Practices of Religion we beheld without Power and Life though some had a sincerity in them and a zeal and a desire towards the Lord yet all people erred in Judgment and none were guided in Judgment by the Eternal Spirit and because of the error in Judgment that made their zeal blind and their performances of Righteousness not accepted though acted in some sincerity and zeal because they were not guided in Practice and led in Judgment by the Spirit of the Lord which only leads into all Truth and none are in the Truth but who are led thereby so that we behold all Profession but as Coverings with Figg-leaves while the nature of Transgression stood uncondemned and not crucified and then we saw not only the Performance and Practice in Church state and in religious Orders were corrupted but also Government and Magistracy and all things in civil state were not aright in the sight of the Lord nor as the Lord required neither as he had ordained in the beginning for Government we know as ordained of God is to punish and limit and terrifie all Evil-Doers and to preserve and defend all that do well and that mens Consciences are to be left free and to be ruled by the Lord alone and guided by his Spirit and that outward Power and civil Magistrates and Laws so called ought not to be Lord or Ruler in mens Consciences nor over them but we beheld how Unrighteousness and Iniquity and Sin and Wickedness was strengthened and encouraged in the Government and by such as were in Authority and how the Fear of God and the exercise of a good Conscience was abused so that it was turned backward from what it ought to be them that did well were punished and limitted as Trausgressors and the Evil-Doers were set free and not made afraid so that we could truly cry Truth was faln in the Street and Justice and true Judgment turned backward and Equity had no place to enter and the Innocent were devoured through want of true and just Judgment and the Needy were spoiled and made a prey and thus it was framed for no sooner had we opened our Mouthes but the Magistrates began to put us in Prison and execute great injustice upon us and became Oppressors of the Innocent and laid grievous unjust burdens upon us grievous to be born and true justice and judgment was neglected and wrong judgement brought forth and good Government abused and men in Authority not ruled by the Lord neither ruling for the Lord among men and thus it came to pass upon us through the corruption and Degeneration in Goverment and Magistrates which we saw to be as it was fulfilled by them to wit not as the Lord required nor as he in the beginning ordained it but quite the contrary and this we saw in the beginning when the Spirit of the Lord was poured down upon us and power from on high was revealed to declare against all the Abominations of the Earth and to make War against all Corruption in all Orders and Places and Men. Then being prepared of the Lord and having received Power from on high we went forth as commanded of the Lord leaving all Relations and all things of the World behind us that we might fufill the work of the Lord into which he called us and with Flesh and Blood nor any Creature we consulted not nor took counsel of men but of the Lord alone who lifted up our heads above the World and all fears and doubtings and was with us in Power and Domininion over all that which opposed us which was great and mighty and gave us power over it all and to bind Kings in Chains and Nobles in Fetters of Iron and this is the Saints honour and the Word of the Lord we sounded and did not spare and caused the Deaf to hear the Blind to see and the heart that was hardned to be awakened and the Dread of the Lord went before us and behind us and teror took hold upon our Enemies And first of all our Mouthes were opened and our spirit filled with indignation against the Priests and Teachers and with them and against them first we began to war as being the Causers of the people to err and the Blind-leaders that carried the Blind into the Ditch and against them as the Fountain of all wickedness abounding in the Nations and as being the issue of Prophaness for from them hath Prophaness gone forth in all Nations and against them we cryed aloud as being redeemed from their Mouthes who had made a prey upon us as they do upon all that follow their ways and in Steeple-houses we did visit them often and in Markets and other Places as the Lord moved and made way for us shewing unto all them and all their people that they were not Lawful Ministers of Christ sent of him but were Deceivers and Antichrists and such whom the Lord never sent and we spared not publikely and at all seasons to utter forth the Judgments of the Lord against them and their wayes and against their Churches and Worships and Practices as not being of God nor commanded by him by which they deceived the World and this was our first work which we entred upon to thresh down the Deceivers and lay them open that all people might see their shame and come to turn from them and receive the Knowledg of the Truth that they might be saved and this we did with no small Opposition nor danger yea oftentimes we were in danger of our lives through bearing abusing Punishing Haling casting over Walls striking with Staves and Cudgels and Knocking down to the Ground besides Reproaching Scorning Revilings and Houtings at and Scoffings and Slanderings and all abuses that could be thought or acted by evil hands and Tongues and often carried before Magistrates with grievous Threats and sometimes put in the Stocks and Whipped and often Imprisoned and many hard Dealings against us the worst of Tongues or hands could execute sparing Life of this all the North-countries may witness and all these things are sustained and suffered from people and Rulers because of our faithfulness to the Lord and for declaring against the false Deceivers for nothing save onely the Hand of the Lord and his Power could have preserved us and carryed us through all this neither for any reward outward whatsoever or advantage to our selves would we have exposed our selves to that sufferings and violence and dangers which befell us daily but the Lord was our exceeding great reward through all these things and kept us in the Hollow of his Hand and under the Shadow of his Wings and gave us Dominion in Spirit over all our Enemies and subdued them before us and though Rulers and People were combined against us and executed their injustice and violence upon us yet the Lord made us to Prosper and
while many despised thy youth And how have I seen thee with thy Sling and thy Stone despised Weapons as to war with wound the Mighty and that which hath seemed contemptible to the Dragon's Party even as the Jaw-bone of an Ass with it thou hast slain the Philistines Heaps upon Heaps as Sampson Thou hast put thy Hand to the Hammer of the Lord and hast often fastened Nailes in the heads of the Lamb's Enemies as Deborah did to Sisera and many a rough Stone hast thou polished and squared and made it fit for the Building of God and much knotty Wood hast thou hewed in thy day which was not fit for the building of God's House Oh thou Prophet of the Lord and shalt for ever be recorded in the Lamb's Book of Life among the Lord's Worthies who have followed the Lamb through great Tribulations as many can witness for thee from the beginning and at last hath overcome and found worthy to stand with the Lamb upon Mount Sion the Hill of God as I have often seen thee and thy heart well tuned as a Harp to praise the Lord and to sound forth his great Salvation which many a time hath made glad the hearts of them that did believe and strengthened their Faith and Hope Well thou art at rest and bound up in the Bundle of Life and I know Tears were wiped away from thy Eyes because there was no cause of sorrow in thee For I know thou witnessed the old things done away and there was no curse but blessings were poured upon thy head as rain and peace as a mighty shower and trouble was far from thy dwelling though in the outward man trouble on every side and hath had a Greater share in that for the Gospel sake though a Youth in thy time than many besides But now thou are freed from that and hast obtained a name through Faith with the Saints in Light Well hadst thou more to give up then thy Life for the Name of Jesus in this World Nay and to seal thy Testimony committed unto thee with thy blood as thou hast often said in thy day which shall remain as a Crown upon thee for ever and ever And now thou art freed from the temptations of him who had the power of death and art freed from thy outward Enemies who hated thee because of the Life that dwelt in thee and remaineth at the right Hand of God where there is joy and pleasure for evermore in the everlasting Light which thou hast often testified unto according to the Word of Prophesie in thy heart which was given unto thee by the Holy Ghost and art at rest in the perfection thereof in the beauty of Holiness yet thy Life and thy Spirit I feel as present and have unity with it and in it beyond all created and visible things which are subject to mutation and change and thy Life shall enter into others to testifie unto the same truth which is from everlasting to everlasting for God hath raised and will raise up children unto Abraham of them that have been as dead stones whose Power is Almighty great in his people in the midst of their Enemies This same Edward Burroughs was born in the Barrony of Kendal in the County of Westmoreland of honest Parents who had a good report among their Neighbours for upright and honest dealing among men who brought up Edward in his Youth in Learning and good Education as the Countrey doth afford He was a very understanding Boy in his Youth and his knowledge and understanding did far exceed his years He had the Spirit of a man when he was but a child and I may say grey hairs was upon him when he was but a Youth for he was cloathed with Wisdom in his Infancy for I had perfect knowledge of him from a Youth He was inclinable from his Youth upwards to Religion and the best way always minding the best things and the best and nearest way of Worship to the Scriptures of Truth and always did accompany the best men who walked in godliness and honesty insomuch I have often admired his discreet carriage and his great understanding of the things of God He was never known to be addicted to any vice or malignity or bad behaviour neither followed any evil course of life from his childhood but feared the Lord and walked uprightly according to the light and knowledge received in all things In his natural disposition he was bold and manly dexterous and servent and what he took in hand he did it with his might loving kind and courteous merciful and flexible and easie to be entreated His whole delight was always among good people and to be conferring and reading the Scriptures and little to mind any sports or pastimes which there is an insidency unto in Youth but his very strength was bended after God and was separted I may say from his Mother's Womb and fitting for the Work 's sake whereunto he after was called And when it pleased the Lord to raise up unto us the ancient Horn of Salvation among us who were reckoned in the North Part of England even as the Out-casts of Israel and as men destitute of the great Knowledge which some seem'd to enjoy yet there was more Sincerity and true Love amongst us and desires after the living powerful Presence of God then was among many in that day who seem'd to make a great flourish who ran into Heaps and Forms but left the Cross behind them and indeed were Strangers to it God out of his everlasting Love did appear unto us according to the desire of our hearts who longed after him when we had turn'd aside from Hireling-Shepherds Tents we found him whom our Souls loved and God out of his great Love and great Mercy sent one unto us immediately by his Power a Man of God one of Ten Thousand to instruct us in the Way of God more perfectly who laid down the sure Foundation and declared the acceptable Year of the Lord who indeed made the Mourners to rejoyce and the Heavy-hearted glad which yet was terrible to all Hypocrites and all formal Profession which Testimony reached unto all our Consciences and entred into the in-most part of our Hearts which drove us to a narrow search and to a diligent inquisition concerning our state which we came to see through the Light of Christ Jesus which was testified of and found it to be even what it was testified of and the Lord of Heaven and Earth we sound to be near at hand and as we waited upon him in pure Silence our Minds out of all things his Dreadful Power and Glorious Majesty and Heavenly Presence appear'd in our Assemblies when there was no Language Tongue nor Speech from any Creature and the Kingdom of Heaven did gather us and catch us all as in a Net and his Heavenly Power at one time drew many Hundreds to Land that we came to know a place to stand in and what to wait in
Heathen and under the barren dry and empty Ministry of Man which stands in the will of man and have proceeded out of the carnal inventions and imaginations of fallen man and is not according to God nor to the practice of the Saints in former Ages and Generations To you all do I clear my conscience in the presence of God by declaring to you in writing being that I cannot have freedom through the subtilty of the Serpent who doth work alwayes to prevent the living Truth to be declared and the deceits of himself to be discovered and made manifest to declare in word among you I have been sent by the Lord moved of him to come and to declare to you the Word of the Lord to the directing of your minds where to wait to attain the true Knowledge of the Lord and to that one Thing needful the Eternal welfare of your souls and to lay open the deceits of the Serpent who doth work in the cursed deceitful Ministry which is upheld by you whereby your souls are kept in the death and only your dark minds fed and nourished by the painted and Serpent-like expressions and declarations coming out of the carnal wisdom and brain knowledge of your Hireling who walks in the way of the false Prophets of Israel which the true Prophet called greedy dumb Dogs four several times hath the Lord by his Eternal Spirit working in me moved me to come into the Congregation and Assembly he himself is the Witness that I came not of man nor by the will of man but contrary to the will and desires of man wherein stands the true Ministry of God now as it was ever the true Prophets Ieremiah and Ionah witnessed the same and the Apostle Paul and as it is known to you unto whom I speak that I could not have liberty to declare to you the Truth from God who came not to you with entising words neither what I had gathered out of Scripture from without me neither to speak my own imaginations and conceivings as your false Hireling doth but to declare the Word of the Lord to the convincing your dark understandings that you might see the deceits by which you are and have been led that your souls might have been redeemed up to God out of the imagined worships of the World to worship in Spirit and in Truth Hear ye the Word of the Lord ye people all your carnal traditional Ordinances and Observances is abomination to the Lord all your praying and praising is odious in his sight for all your worship is an imitation and an imagination of the dark mind of man and was never commanded by God therefore consider all ye people what you are doing and reject not the Lord nor his Everlasting Truth but prize your time and now seek the Lord while he may be found and call upon his name while he is near Your souls are kept in the death under your dead Minister and under his dead Doctrines dead Reasons Points and Uses which he speakes from the Saints conditions and experiences but is an enemy to the substance and to them in whom the same conditions are made manifest in the power of Truth and he doth make manifest himself to be in the same generation of them who had the form of Godliness but denies the Power having the Letter as the Pharisees had but persecuting the substance as they did All people consider whether he be not in the generation professing God and Truth in Word as the Scribes and Pharisees were but persecuting the Son of God who is the Substance of Truth where he is born and made manifest he is in the generation of them who professed Abraham's freedom and that God was their Father but were of their father the Devil for his workes they did they said and did not as he doth as it is made manifest he is a whited Wall a painted Sepulcher which Christ the Son of God cryed wo against who was and is the Light by which all Deceivers Hirelings and false Teachers are discovered and cryed out against The Light which is Christ do I witness to be made manifest in me from God the Father of Light daily leading me up to him to live in Purity and Uprightness praises be to him for ever in which Light I see your Teacher to be a Hireling a greedy dumb Dog seeking for his gain from his Quarter one that God never sent but hath run and was not sent therefore doth he not profit you at all and from this Light which is Christ do I declare against him as knowing him that he hath not the Word of the Lord but the Letter Freely do I declare against him as knowing him to be a Deceiver and an Antichrist being once I was deceived by him but now through the rich Love of my Father who hath made himself known to me hath shined by his Eternal Light in my heart do I see him and all such to be Antichrist and no Minister of Christ from the mouth of the Lord I do declare it that you are led blindly by him your blind Guide and you are ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the Living Truth by his Ministry He layes heavy burdens upon you He is in the generation of them who had the Law and Prophets but persecuted him who came to fulfil the Law and who hath the substance of the Prophets He hath the Conditions and Experiences of the Saints in the Letter but who are brought to witness the same Conditions and the same strait Way in which they walked He is an enemy to all people to you from God I do declare it he is one that God never sent to speak his Word to you he calls good evil and evil good and puts Light for Darkness and Darkness for Light and therefore wo is his Portion and wo is the Portion of all that upholds him What will ye do in the end thereof He doth bewitch you to observe That calling is an Ordinance of God which he never commanded Poor people your souls lies in the death under the power of darkness and corruption under your dead Minister and under his dead carnal Observances and your dark Minds your Wit and Reason is only fed and so the enemies of the Lord are strengthned by him and you remain in ignorance and in blindness and cannot attain the true Riches for Christ only is the Way to the Father the Light in every man which leads to the Father but this Light he denies as having enlightened every one that comes into the World as several times he hath done to me in Argument Here he makes Christ a Lyar and doth not know the first Principle of Religion nor the Light which leads unto God but is a Heathen and knows not God for this is the Light which all the Servants of God in all Generations witnessed and which Light we do now
is only fed and strengthned by his preaching and you all are but building upon the Sand hearing but not doing and we who have suffered the loss and have witnessed the destruction of that building do now Declare freely against it where it is standing for we know the depth height and breadth of all your profession and of all your carnal Worship and Observances and the Word of God is as a fire which will burn up and as a hammer which will beat down all your imagined Worships and carnal Ordinances And his Praying is abomination to the Lord for it is as theirs was which the Son of God cryed Wo against which stood Praying in the Synagogues and which made long Prayers and the Praying of all such we do Deny for their Prayers is as the Scribes and Pharisees was who were called of men Masters as they are now and who were sayers and not doers as your Hireling is therefore all you people consider and diligently weigh these things If I declare unto you the Truth own it without respect of Persons If I speak a Lye let me be accounted as accursed for ever and all you simple ones who are seeking the living among the dead who are in the simplicity seeking after the Truth and yet are bewitched to observe that which God never commanded and to seek God in that Way which he was never found in for Christ alone is the Way to the Father and he is but one from generation to generation in all generations for your sakes do I lay open the deceits of your Hireling and chief Priest who is in the way of Balaam following the wages of unrighteousness and do advise you as from the Mouth of the Lord to cease from man whose breath is in his nostrils and to cease from all your customary carnal observances which God never commanded but is only an imitation and an imagination your souls are kept in death under the power of Corruption Pride Drunkenness Coveteousness Oppression and Earthly-mindedness Wontonness and the lustful Nature ruling is head in you and among you are that generation that draws neer God with their mouths but your hearts goes after Covetousness and are far from the Lord ye worship an unknown god and are Persecutors of the true God and of his Servants as ever it was in all generations by Priest and People as it is now with you and your Priest they that professed Truth in word persecuted them that witnessed the Power the horrible filthy Thing is committed among you and you love to have it so but what will you do in the end thereof you are in the generation of your fore-fathers who spoke good of the false Prophets but persecuted the true Prophets so it is now among you he that hath the Word of the Lord from the Mouth of the Lord to declare unto you him you revile and mock and scorn and persecute but he that speaks the imaginations of his own heart from the Saints conditions him you own and hear and here you shew your selves to be them which Christ spoke of which would receive them that come in their own name but will not receive him that cometh in the Name of his Father Repent and turn to the Lord lest his Judgments come upon you and destroy you with an utter destruction the Day of the Lord is terrible and dreadful which will come upon the wicked and upon all the Workers of Iniquity Be ashamed ye Heathens you maintainers of the greedy dumb Dogs and upholders of the horrible filthy Thing the persecutors of the righteous Seed the contemners of the just the generation of Serpents who cryes let Barrabas go free ye generation of Hypocrites who professes God but persecutes the Son of God where he is made manifest of this Generation in which you are shall all the Righteous Blood-shed be required even from Abel Repent and cease from all your former wayes and doings from Pride Drunkenness Coveteousness and Oppression from Lying Swearing from Mirth and Wontonness and vain Pleasures for the Day of the Lord cometh that shall burn as an Oven and the Proud and all that do wickedly shall be as stubble fully dry for the Lord will be avenged of his enemies and render vengeance in flames of fire upon all that know not God and that obeys not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ Who can stand when he appears Who can dwell with everlasting burnings even he that doth righteously and that is purged from iniquity But then wo unto you all Hypocrites and Professors and to the wicked and prophane ones ye shall all partake of the righteous Judgment and drink of the Cup of the Lords Fury and Indignation for your iniquities are seen and your transgressions are not covered from the Lord all your Profession will not hide you from the presence of the Lamb for in your Sacrifices are found deceit and in your Offerings lodges iniquity the Mouth of the Lord hath spoken it therefore be ashamed of all your profession and of all your Glorious Carnal Ordinances for the Lord is coming to uncover you and to make you and your profain Hireling manifest for God is Pure and Holy and no iniquity dwells with him nor none that works wickedness therefore stop thy mouth thou Hireling who preacheth for hire and divines for money and leans upon the Lord and useth thy tongue and saith he saith it when the Lord never spoke to thee Thou art in the Generation of the Scribes and Pharisees and be ashamed ye upholders of him for now every Tree that brings not forth good fruit must be hewen down the Lord hath said it his Word is as a Fire which will burn up all the wicked his Word is sharper then a two edged Sword which will cut down and wound the head of the wicked ye Mockers and Scorners ye Swearers and Lyars ye Proud and Coveteous ones ye Merry-hearted and Wonton ones dreadful is the Day that shall come upon you the Lord will make his Power known and Glorifie himself in your destruction except you repent and turn to the Lord Ye hard hearted ones and rebellious ones the Plagues of God is to rest upon you therefore prize your time and repent and fear the Lord God Almighty and lay aside your vain wicked wayes and confess your sins and forsake them for such shall find Mercy All ye People mind the Light of God within you and hearken to that which shews you what is sin and evil which shews you your proud minds your carnal coveteous desires and affections which checks and reproves you for your ungodly deeds this Light shines in Darkness but the Darkness cannot comprehend it This is the Light which hath enlightened every one that cometh into the World which Light is Christ he that follows this Light walks not in darkness but hath the Light of Life he that hates this Light stumbles
and walks in darkness ignorance and blindness as you do turning the Grace of God into wantonness which same Grace is the Saints Teacher this is the free Grace of God which hath appeared to all men which in all Generations taught the Saints to deny ungodiness and worldly lusts and led them into purity and holiness This Grace do we witness praised praised be the Lord to be led by it which ever was the Saints Leader and through the teaching of this Grace do we deny your Hireling and all such Pharisees and Hypocrites who makes a prey upon the poor people and if you stop not into their mouths they even prepare War against you as the false Prophets of Israel did and daily are we taught by it in the Wayes of God to do his service praised be the only Lord of Glory for ever more who hath gathered us up to himself to be taught alone by his Grace out of the mouth of your Hireling who once made a prey upon us but Eternal Praise and Glory to our God who in his Light hath discovered unto us his nakedness and his shame his hypocrisie and deceit in the Eternal Light of God do we see him and all such to be blind Guides and leads the poor blind people in darkness and ignorance and none is able to come to the true Knowledg of the Eternal Truth in his Ministry for he is no Minister of God but an Antichrist denying Christ to be come in the flesh denying the Light to have enlightened every one as several times he hath done to me but my Father who is Light and Glory hath now made him manifest And in that Light Christ Jesus do I see him to be one who hath run whom God hath not sent therefore doth he not profit you at all nor puts no difference between the precious and the vile in you nor leads you to discern the clean from the unclean the pure from the impure in you but speaks the Divination of his own brain feeding your dark minds and from the Eternal Light made manifest in me from God the Father who is over all and above all do I declare against him and against all Hirelings and greedy dumb Dogs that seeks for their gain from their Quarter as he doth fââely do I declare as knowing them to be Deceivers and blind Guids For the simple ones sake among you who are insnared and kept in ignorance by him under his dead dry barren sloathful Ministry Repent ye people who lies in the Captivity of Babylon under your Bahylonish Merchant now is the Lord leading his Sons and Daughters out of Egypt out of bondage and now he that hath led Captive is led into Captivity praised and honoured be the God of Saints for evermore who hath redeemed us out of the mouth of your Idol-shepherd who feeds himself with the fat and who hath enlightened our dead Consciences and hath shined in our hearts in his Eternal Light and of this have I received freely and from this do I let forth freely to the laying open the deceits of your Hireling Now is the Day of your visitation wherein the Saviour of the World stands at the door and knocketh if any open unto him he will come in therefore prize your time and hear the Word of the Lord and lay aside the works of darkness Lying and Swearing Mocking and Scorning and beating of your fellow Servants Wo unto you ye Strikers who hardens your hearts against the Lord and against those who declare to you the wickedness of your wayes the Lord will come when you are not aware and give you your Portion with Hypocrites and Unbeleevers and cast you into utter darkness Repent and turn to the Lord your God with mourning and lamentation and cease from all your former wayes and doings cease from Coveteousness and Opression ye aged people and cease from Lightness Vanity and Pride ye young people and from all your Priests and Steeple-houses for there your Lightness Pride and Vain minds are fed and nourished and the enemies of the Lord are strengthened Dear people there had I once fellowship with you in your Pride Lightness and Vanity and there was once my joy and delight but now am I chosen by the Lord out of all these things praised be him for ever to serve the Lord in declaring against all these abominations in whom they are standing For wo unto the proud and light vain minds who are tripping upon the mountains and whose hearts are not subject to the Lord against all these abominations do I Declare as from the Lord and do advise you as from him to depart out of these abominations for the day is coming when you must be separated from all your lovers a day of darkness and misery therefore prize your time and hearken unto the Light of God within you which reproves you for your filthy and ungodly deeds and words this Light will lead you to God out of all filthiness obeying it this will separate the clean from the unclean in you and will lead you to be taught of God and to have unity with God and with the Saints for it was in the Light that the Saints had unity this Light will lead you out of your hypocritical and deceitful carnal Worships to Worship in Spirit and Truth this Light will lead you to the true Baptism out of your deceitful imitation of a Baptism which your Hireling upholds among you this Light will lead you to the true Church in God out of your formal imagined Church and to the true Communion of Saints and true Singing to God out of your Heathenish Communion and Singing Therefore all ye people mind the Light for the Light hath enlightened every one which is the Saviour and Reedemer of him that loveth it and bringeth his deeds to it but is the Condemnation of him that hateth it and walks not in it therefore all people mind this Light which is of God this will lead you up to God this is the way to the Father and none comes to the Father but by me said he who was and is the Light this Light loving it and walking in it will free you from all the burdens which the Pharisee layes upon you and from all the taxes of Pharaoh's Tax-masters and will lead you into the Mysteries of the Kingdom of God to know him who is invisible and is present every where yet hidden from all dark minds who lives in the imaginations and imitations as you and your Hireling doth If you love this Light and walk in this Light it will bring you to be witnesses of the Scripture and of the Saints Conditions which you are but talkers of this is the Light from which they spoke that spoke the truth of God and from this Light did Isaiah cry who lived in the obedience of it against the greedy dumb dogs that sought for their gain from
their Quarter and so did Ieremiah Ezekiel Micha and Malachy cry against Hirelings and against those that said the Lord saith it and he never spoke to them and against them that preached for hire and that diviâed for money and that taught for the Fleece and yet leaned upon the Lord as your Pharisee doth saying Is not the Lord among us And from this same Light do we declare against all such and seeth them to be abomination to the Lord now as they did then praised praised be the Lord for ever for now the abominations of the Whore is made manifest that sitteth upon many waters that hath made all Nations drunk with the Wine of her fornication and now is the Judgment of the Whore come and the day wherein she must reckon to drink the wine of the Wrath of God and he who was and is this Light cryed Wo against them that said and did not and against them that had the chiefest places in the Assemblies and that were called of men Masters This same Light do I witness to be made manifest from God the Father of Light and am not ashamed to declare it before men for he that denies Christ before men he must be denyed by Christ before the Father and this Light lived the Saints in and spoke from who were called Mad-men and deceivers of them that professed Truth in Word but persecuted them in whom the Son was born and made manifest in which Generation you and your Priest daily makes manifest your selves to be therefore repent and come down ye high minds and lifted up spirits for the Lord is against you and hearken to the Light of God in you and wait in it according to measure and cease from all your formal customary traditional worshipping and from all your dumb Teachers who are Antichrists and denies the Light as having enlightened every one this Light is the only Way to the Father which all must who comes to God follow and walk in for he that walks not in this Light walks in darkness and stumbles and knows not whither he goes and there are all Priests and People in darkness and ignorance who walks not in this Light therefore love the Light and obey it it will separate you from all filthiness and corruption and lead you into purity and holiness without which none shall see God and here is your Teacher alwayes present with you which teaches to deny ungodliness and the wicked wayes of this World he who walked in this Light by this Light saw all the World to lie in wickedness but said they were of God and all that were of God heard them who dwelt in the Light but he who disobeyes this Light follows the blind Guides of the World as you do and sets up Teachers to themselves having iching ears and that ministry is of man and by man called to the ministry by the earthly Powers by earthly Magistrates or at Oxford Cambridge or Newcastle all this ministry who is here called is by man and their gospel is of man which the true Gospel is not and he that hath the Word of God to declare from God his call is not by man neither doth he go to man to be approved for he that preacheth the true Gospel consulted not with flesh and blood and so it is now the same thing do we witness and to be Ministers of the everlasting Gospel called not by man but by God praised be the Lord for ever from Generation to Generation who hath revealed himself unto babes and hath hid himself from the Wise and Prudent of this World stop your mouthes ye Ministers which is by man which Gospel is according to man for now the Lord is arising whose Angel is gone forth preaching the everlasting Gospel Sing praises to the Lord for ever ye Redeemed ones who are brought from under the empty dead deceitful Ministry which is by man to be true witnesses of the true Ministry which is of God Therefore be ashamed ye upholders of the deceitful Ministry which is but the Ministry of witchcraft by which your eyes are darkned and under which your souls doth lie in blindness and ignorance under the power of witchcraft and sorceries Be confounded ye Back-sliders who once heard the Word with joy and received it who were once among us yet not of us who hath chosen the glory of this World rather then the everlasting Truth and hath fold your birth-right of the Everlasting Inheritance for the satisfying of your earthly minds with the earthly treasures Hear the Word of the Lord ye sloathful servants who not abiding to wait upon God eats and drinks with the Drunkards and beats your fellow-servants and are now become Haters Mockers and Revilers suddenly will the Lord come and cut you all assunder and give you your Portion in the Lake that burns with fire except you repent Repent you Back-sliders and consider ye that forget God now while you have time before the Lord âwear in his wrath that ye shall not enter hearken to that which convinceth you of your filthiness the Light of God within you which shall eternally witness us to be true which Light shall be your Condemnation because you love darkness rather than Light ye are returned with the Dog to his vomit and with the Sow to the wallowing in the mire your latter end is worse then your beginning and the Parable is fulfilled upon you for lying against the Truth will the Lord plead with you and wo will be your Portion for ever for the Lyars shall not enter into the Kingdom of God therefore all people fear the living God and prize your time and see where you are his servants you are unto whom you do obey all must give an account to the living God and must receive according to what is done in the body in such an hour will the Master come which you are not aware of and will take account of your stewardship for God hath given unto every one a Talent therefore spend not away your time in wickedness and in a deceitful Profession of God feeding your dark minds with the dead formal Preaching of your dead carnal blind Pharisee but hearken to the Light of God within you and improve every one his Talent the good and faithful servant improves his to the honor and riches of his Master but the sloathful servant hides his in the earth living in the filthiness saying he hath no power now see which servant you are and read your selves within how you stood covered in the presence of the living God for wo unto him that is covered but not with the Spirit of the Lord the servants of God brings forth fruit unto God bears the image of their Father and the servants of the Devil brings forth fruits of darkness and bears the image of the Devil which is glorious to the carnal eye and feeds the carnal mind
your fruits it made manifest leaning in the imaginations and not in the counsel of the Lord and in lying swearing drunkenness covetousness and oppression and according to the course of this world these iniquities are ruling among People Priests and Rulers in this Nation from the least of them even to the greatest every one is given too covetousness from the Prophet even to the Priest every one deals falsely All your Hirelings and greedy dumb Dogs I do deny and all who are of God denies all such and are taught of God in the ways of God which ever the world derided All thy Teachers O England is denied of them who are taught of God and whose Teacher is the Anointing needs not any man to teach them And by thy Teachers who are in the way of the Pharisees art thou blindly led in the ways of darkness and ignorance and all thy carnal worship which is in every part of thee upheld which is to Read Sing and Preach upon the Saints Conditions which were witnesses of God All this I do deny and freely declare against as from the mouth of the Lord to be no worship of God but imagination and an imitation of the Worship of God And the living eternal God of Heaven and Earth is but mocked by you in your imagined worship for your reading of anothers condition and singing of that which you live not in and preaching that which is gathered from without by imagination and conceiving upon that which the Prophet Prophesied or which Christ spoke who was and is the Substance and which the Apostles witnessed this is carnal and heathenish and was never commanded by the Lord nor is no worship of the true God and against this worship I do from the Lord declare as in the eternal Light of God seeing it to be deceitful and abomination to the Lord being I am Redeemed up to God by his eternal Spirit and to worship in Spirit and in Truth and not limitted to a day place or time neither at Ierusalem nor in this Mount c. and am freed and redeemed out of this fallen mans invention and tradition which is but Cains sacrifice which God doth not accept but is abomination in his sight praised be the Lord for evermore And O England I do declare against all these thy Teachers and against this all thy Worship as from the mouth of tbe Lord as moved of the Lord to speak this word unto thee Thou hast spent thy money this many Generations for that which is not bread and thy labour for that which doth not satisfie thee all thy imagined formal Worships and carnal Traditions and Ordinances of man is the Lord risen in his Servants to declare against And the same Light which ever made manifest deceitful Worships and the deceitful Hirelings and them that cryed Peace peace to the people when the Lord spake no peace is now risen and speaketh in thy ears O Nation the same everlasting Light which the true Prophets lived in who cryed against them that sought for their gain from their quarter and that cryed against the horrible filthy thing which is upheld in thee O England this same Light is made manifest in the despised People called Quakers in this North part of the Nation O People your Teachers have beguiled you and have taught for the Fleece and fed themselves with the fat but your souls are hungred by them for they are in the Generation of them that said and did not they love the Wages of unrighteousness and follows the error of Balaam for Reward and have devoured souls for dishonest Gain but the only true God is arising to beat the Mountains to dust and to cleave the Rocks assunder In thee O Land will the Lord manifest his Power and will stretch forth his Arm for the deliverance of his Chosen and for the Redemption of his two Witnesses which have layn slain in the great City in this Land which they that dwell upon the Earth have rejoyced over and made merry and triumphed in their slaughter the Lord is arising to require his Flock at the hands of the Idols-shepherds O ye Idol dumb Shepherds the Lord will be avenged upon you for you have scattered the sheep of his pasture and have fed your selves with them the Lord of Hosts is grieved with you and have shaken his hands at your dishonest Gain and ye shall no longer wear Garments to deceive ye have long deceived the simple by your lyes and by your lightness but now you are discovered and made manifest in the eternal Light of God and the mystery of witchcraft is not hid now from the Saints Therefore O England hear the Word of the Lord Thy Prophets are light and treacherous Persons thy Judges judges for Reward and thy Priests preach for Hire and thy Officers imprisons the Just and thy Rulers are evening Wolves which seeks for the Prey and the Lord of Heaven and Earth is grieved with these things therefore O Land tremble at the presence of the Lord God of Iacob for Esau shall become a place for Dragons and shall be dis-inhabited in the day of mourning and lamentation is coming upon thee for that which the Lord hath not planted will he pluck up and every corrupt Tree shall be cast into the fire All thy corrupt Judges and Officers and Rulers will the Lord cut off utterly from the face of the Earth and will restore to his People Judges as at the first and Councellers as at the beginning the Mouth of the Lord hath spoken it Therefore O Land prepare to meet the Lord thy God by true repentance by putting off the works of darkness thy Pride and thy Oppression O Nation is seen by the Lord and the cry of the Oppressed through thy pride and tyranny is heard in the ears of the Lord of Sabbath and he will avenge the cause of the poor and needy that is Oppressed by Priests in their Tythes by Lawyers in their Fees and by Officers in their unrighteous dealing and the Seed of Abraham shall go free and Israel shall no longer be subject to Pharaoh nor to his Tax-masters O England in the North part of thee is the Light of God arisen which shines clearly and which discovers the abomination of thy Teachers and of thy Worship and we are bold to declare against them and against all thy corrupt Officers Judges and Rulers and this Light shall shine through the Nation and shall be spread over Kingdoms and the fire is to be kindled which the Lord hath promised which shall burn as an Oven and the proud and all that do wickedly shall be as stubble This fire shall proceed out of the mouth of the two Witnesses as it did before they were slain and shall devour the enemies of the Lord the Sword of the Lord is drawn in thee O Nation and put into the hands of them which is hated and despised by the Rulers Officers which is scornfully called Quakers but they
now I am but praised praised be the Lord for evermore who hath separated me from the World and worldly glories and hath made me a partaker of his Love in whom my Soul hath fall satisfaction joy and content Thus have I travelled through the World even unto the end and am now come to the beginning of that which never shall have end which the dark mind of man knows not E. B. I Am a Prisoner for the Truth sake and for Declaring to man of his Wickedness and of his Transgression of the spiritual Law of God which is spiritual and for writing of a Letter which was written from God to shew to man of his wicked ways and how he stood in the presence of God as by the spiritual Light of God which shines in the hearts of his servants was discovered and made manifest unto me for who Speaks Writes or Declares from the Light of God which doth discover all the dark paths of fallen man and all his spiritual Wickedness Speaks Writes and Declares not as from man whose light is only natural and carnal which is darkness in the pure Light which is eternal but as from God whose Light is spiritual and doth make manifest the secret Whoredom of fallen man and from this Light did the Prophets and Ministers of God who were sent by him to reprove Sin and Transgression Speak Write and Declare and in this Light did the true Prophets Ieremiah and Hosea discover Israel to be adulterous and in the presence of God to be guilty of Whoredom from whose presence they declared And all now who are sent of God to reprove for Sin and Iniquity declares from the same Light of God and by the same Spirit which Ieremiah and Hosea did For the pure Light of God is but one from generation to generation in all generation which discovers Sin and Iniquity the same Light now as in the time of the Prophets and Apostles and from this Light which is not carnal but eternal did all the holy men of God Write and Declare And all who are sent of God now witnesses the same Light and Speaks from the same Light now as they did then for who cannot witness this Light are no Ministers of God neither ever were sent of God to Declare the Truth from God but are Deceivers and blind Guids and speaââ from the natural and carnal light the imagined and supposed light which hath not seen the living spiritual God for Declaring by Writing to a man that he is guilty of all manner of wickedness naming pride drunkenness and whoredom I am imprisoned I wrote not as from man whose light is only natural and carnal and doth only make manifest carnal Transgressions of a carnal Law but as from the eternal and spiritual light which doth make manifest spiritual Transgressions of a spiritual Law And in this Light is he to whom I wrote guilty of all manner of Wickedness Now this which I declared from God who is spiritual is above the reach and comprehension of the carnal and earthly Law for by the natural light through the earthly Law is no natural man able to judge of that which is spoken or declared from that which is eternal and spiritual for darkness cannot comprehend the light which light all the Servants and Ministers of God are guided by to Act Speak or Write and therefore do I deny to have this Cause put into the Judgement of carnal Lawyers who judges by the natural light through the earthly and carnal Law yet willing I am before any Authority to Answer for my self that whereof I am Accused but to the Judgement of earthly Magistrates I do not stand but to the Judgement of the Living and Eternal Judge who Judges not according to the sight of the eyes and hearing of the ears but who judges with Equity and Righteousness thus rather I chose to suffer imprisonment in the Body yet free as to God in the Truth waiting to be Redeemed not by the earthly Powers through the earthly Law but by him who is Eternal whose Law is Eternal who orders all things by his mighty Power to which Power I give up my self to be kept in it and ordered by it continually Here I have given to all People the ground of my Imprisoment in the particular of it though I might in few words have declared the thing for between the feed of the Woman and the Seed of the Serpent is Enmity put and he in whom the Seed of the Serpent is Ruling seeks the destruction of him in whom the Seed of the Woman is Raised And here is the Ground of all the Saints Imprisonment now as ever was the envy of the Devil working in Fallen man against the living Truth of God where it is made manifest By one who is a Labourer in the Vineyard who is not known to the World though named of the World EDWARD BURROUGH THE Walls of Jericho Razed down to the GROUND OR An Answer to a Lying Book called The Quaking Principles dashed in pieces Wherein one called Henoch Howet which goes under the name of an Anabaptist doth falsely accuse and maliciously belye us his seven Principles which he calls ours I shall lay down and what we own is vindicated and what he hath belyed the Truth in is turned upon his own head NOw is the time wherein the Lord God of Heaven and Earth is setting up a Kingdom and exalting his Name in the Earth and is exalting his own Son upon the holy Hill of Sion and is discovering the Mother of Harlots who hath made all Nations drunk with her Fornication and Iezabel shall be cast into a Bed of Torment and the fire of the Lord God is come down from Heaven and is kindled in the Earth to burn up and destroy and to consume to ashes even all those that have worshipped the Beast and hath his Image and the false Prophets that have deceived the Nations and they both shall be taken alive and cast into the pit for the Lord is grieved and wearied with this adulterous and viperous Generation who are offering up that which stinks in his nostrils and strange fire and are professing him and his Resurrection who crucifie him and put him to open shame and they deny the end of his coming and are offering in Cains nature while they slay the Just and are in the gainsaying of Corah who perished in it and so shall all those that gainsay the Lord in his Way and now the Lord of Heaven and Earth is proclaming War with the Dragon and his Angels and they shall be cast out and whosoever doth resist him in his way shall be broken to pieces as a Potters vessel and thou Henoch Howet who would limit the holy One of Israel and bind him up in thy carnal reason and stint him in his Way and Form up things in thy imagination from the Scripture and walks by Tradition thou art accusing us among the Papist but let it stand for
Life and Power that gave them forth So thou art to be condemned with the Light and with the Life which gave forth the Scripture Let all people read Deut. Chap. 18. from verse 9. to 15. there the Priests and the Levites which were ordained of God were to have no Inheritance among the people but the Lord was their Inheritance and they were to have it of that which was offered up to the Lord and this was a figure of the everlasting Priest-hood which ministreth out of the everlasting Treasure and the Lord God commanded Israel not to do as they did when they came into the Land nor to go after their abominations as you may see but gave Israel their Land to possess that did hearken unto such as the Lord had not sent which was Abomination to him and the Lord said to Israel Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God and in the 15th verse The Lord thy God will raise unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee of thy Brethren like unto me unto him shall ye hearken And so to the end of the Chapter he that hath an eye may see and the Lord is the same that he was and he will not suffer the abominations that are committed in this Land but is discovering the abomination of it A horrible and a filthy thing is committed which Ieremiah cryed against Coveteous Men preach Drunkards preach Swearers preach Lyars preach Strikers preach and Proud Men preach Oh wonderful where are your eyes Try your Priests by the Scriptures see if they be not found in the same Generation that all the false Prophets and the Deceivers were in which the true Prophets of God cryed against and discovered and in the steps of the Scribes and Pharisees that Christ cryed wo against and see if they be not the Antichrists and the Deceivers which are entred into the World which Iohn speaketh of which cannot confess Christ come in the flesh but transgresseth and abideth not in the Doctrine of Christ so hath not God neither knoweth him but preacheth for sin and against Perfection and denyeth the Light which enlighteneth every one that cometh into the World so keeps people in blindness and ignorance and out of the Knowledge of God and never any that follow them shall ever come to the Knowledg of the true and living God therefore all people see where you are and mind the Light in your Consciences which is pure and which testifieth against sin and it will let you see all your Blind-Guides which deceive you to be in sin and ignorant of God for they deny that which should make him manifest therefore beware what you hold up and give over going after them to that in your Consciences I speak which shall witness me eternally to speak the Truth if you obey it and shall condemn you eternally if you disobey it These Blinde-Guides that are in this Land deny the Prophet which Moses wrote of which is the substance of the Priest-hood which was before and here they are found in the same Generation in the Sorcery and in the Witchcraft which the Lord commanded should be put out of the Land where the Children of Israel went to possess Answers to several other subtil Queries put forth by one John Reeve who lives in the City of London who callst himself the Messenger and Witness unto the true God but is found a Lyar and a Perverter of the right Way of God A Certain Writing is come to my hand called An Epistle from the Mighty JEHOVAH or Jesus the only LORD and God of the Eâect Israelites from one whose name is subscribed Iohn Reeve Pilgrim who calls himself the last Messenger and Witness unto the true God unto which for the sake of the Simple I am moved by the Spirit of the Lord of Heaven and Earth to write something in answer that so his folly may be made manifest and his ignorance and blasphemy laid open unto the simple-hearted who have been long deceived by such through their false Voice lo here and lo there Friend to thee who hast subscribed this Writing who calls thy self the last Messenger and Witness unto the true God I Answer the Lord of Hosts and God of the Elect Israelites doth not accept thy Testimony and Witness for thy spirit is made manifest not to be the Spirit which came from God and which dwelleth with God which beareth true Witness unto God but the spirit which is driven out from the Presence of God into the Creation and into the visible World and that is the lying spirit and bears not true witness unto the true God but is a spirit which bears witness to the imaginations of thy own heart which looks upon and declares the living God as if he was carnal and a Creature-like Substance and here the Scripture is fulfilled upon thee thou thinkest he is altogether such a one as thy self and for the true God thou art no Messenger nor hast received any Message from him for thy spirit is known and he never delivered his Message unto it in any Generation but kept his Secret sealed up from it And Friend here I charge thee in the Presence of the true spiritual God that thou belyst the Lord of Hosts who sayest thy Epistle is from him thou uses thy tongue and sayest The Lord saith when saith the Lord I have not spoken unto thee And of that Generation thou art which Ieremiah cryed against and therefore let all flesh be silent before the Lord and call not thy own imaginations his Word but thou who hast a Dream tell thy Dream for a Dream and he that hath the Word of the Lord let him speak it faithfully and though thou callest thy self the last Messenger or Witness unto the true God yet I say unto thee verily the Lord hath a Witness which was before thee which hath been slain in the Streets of the great City which the Lord will bring forth after thee which will bear true witness of the true God and against thee and thou who hast been alive shall be judged by him who hath lain slain and he will eternally condemn thy Testimony and Message Friend in the Light of Christ which hath lightened every one that cometh into the World thou art comprehended and seen thy beginning thy time and thy end and with it thy Testimony and Message is denyed for thy Testimony is such that if thou swearst the Lord lives thou swearest falsly and further thou sayst By inspiration of the holy Spirit thou wast moved to present this Epistle I answer the language of the holy Spirit is like it self Pure and Spiritual but thy language is carnal and sensual and so is thy spirit the Saints which spake by the inspiration and moving of the Spirit cursed not that which God had blessed as thou dost neither did they say the Elect were defiled as thou doest neither did they speak of God as a carnal Substance as thou dost but said that God
which I know will never own nor practice these things She also saith She did oppose those Principles which led to looseness either in conversation or in slighting the Churches or Ordinances of Christ though she believes such Principles naturally follow the others I answer She did and doth oppose the Principle of God which would have led her out of pride and lust into an holy conversation and out of false Churches into the Church which is in God And I charge her here that she believes Lyes and utters what she believes which is Blasphemy who saith she believes that wicked Principles naturally follow the three named by her And whereas she saith As to that Principle of waiting she could yet never come up to it in practice in private duties she could not stay so long from duty till she had such a power but did frequently go to duty when she had it not I answer Here I do believe her she speaks truth with her lying spirit she never yet could wait upon God to act for him but hath run in her own will which is abomination to him which is no acting for God but for self and for the Devil and here hath she shut her self out from the holy men of Gods practice who waited upon him to be led by him by the power of his Spirit and she shews her self openly to all that she went to that which she calls duty in her own power and time and knew not the power of God nor his time to be acted in and all her Duties as she calls them is no more but imagined and imitated from the letter without acted by the Serpents strength and wisedom in her and she hath here plainly discovered that she knows not what waiting upon God is in truth and sincerity She saith She thought sometime she had had it and saith she thought she had had communion with God I answer Her thoughts I do deny who call truth deceit and she did as now she doth live in thoughts and conceivings by which she is beguiled that spirit which rules and speaks in her never had communion with God but is contrary to him nor never was acted in the truth of God but against him She saith She knew no Scripture-ground for the practice of waiting to be acted by the power of the Spirit and led to duty I answer The Saints ground of acting is not the outward letter but the Spirit which gave forth the letter but the Scripture doth declare of such as waited to be acted by the Spirit and Power of the Lord Dare any say the Saints Prayed or Propresied without the movings of the Spirit and Power of the Lord here she hath shut her self among the Heathens who knows not God nor what it is to be acted by his Spirit and Power She speaks of losing her peace and having little or no communion with God nor scarce any thing to speak to or for God I answer True peace in Christ she never knew for there is no peace to the wicked neither have any who denies waiting upon God as she hath done any communion with God nor nothing to say to or for God but through deceit and in deceit is I. Turner That which brought her into trouble and let her see the confusion Which she speaks of which she had lived in before but saw it not till then that Witness I own and it shall witness for the Lord and the Truth of what I say eternally though she have slain the Witness yet it shall arise to her condemnation and her everlasting misery And whereas she saith Some laboured to perswade her it was a dispensation of God and that the Saints after brought out of Egypt must be in the Wilderness before they come to Canaan I answer I bear witness by the eternal Spirit the truth of this particular as having witnessed the same condition and she which hath denied this to be of God hath openly shewed her self to be of the Devil denying the truth of Scriptures She saith this did not at all satisfie her but she continued in a sad condition I answer She here hath shewed what spirit she is of of the viperous Generation which fled the wrath which came upon her and could not abide the judgement and of the spirit of them which would have been back in Aegypt which murmured and therefore with them she entered not but iâ perished with them in the Wilderness Whereas she saith She was never so troubled with temptations as at that time I answer Here she hath shewed her self to be the stony ground which when temptation came withered away She speaks of a particular temptation which was Questioning the Being of God I answer That which was troubled wrought the temptations and not that which troubled and here she shews her ignorance which cannot discern the ground of temptation but layes it upon God which is basphemy for he tempts none to evil Whereas she saith this was the ãâã fruit of her straying from the pure wayes of Truth I answer Here again she shews her blindness who knows not that temptations are for good That which she calls straying from the pure wayes of truth is otherwise for the stronger man came to dispossess the strong man and then began the war and happy had she been if she had patiently endured to the end but not abiding under the judgement but starting aside she is cast out and must not enter for the second Beast whose deadly wound is healed is alive which makes war with the Lamb which exerciseth all the power of the first Beast and here I. Turner is under the dominion of the second Beast She speaks of blessing God that she strayed no further I answer She who hath denied to wait unto Prayer and Praises but prayeth in her own strength and time her Praise is abomination to the Lord and she calls that straying from God which was leading unto God and so hath forsaken the right way and hath cast the way of God behind her back and resisted him who would have led her out of darkness and out of confusion Whereas she speaks of God remembring her To which I answer he will remember her to plague her who hath brought dishonour to his great Name and hath called his way the way of error and of deceit and his real Truth a shew or notion she hath chosen her own way the way of destruction Whereas she speaks being turned from owning these particulars she was restored to those joyes that once she had I answer She is returned with the Dog to the vomit and with the Sow to her wallowing in the mire and there 's her joy and she now joys in the earthly dust in Forms and Traditions and likenesses of things and knows not what it is to joy in God the Substance as by her writings it is made manifest who hath denied Salvation by Christ within and hath denied to wait upon God for the Power of his Spirit and
shake terribly the Earth shall give us our Portion in the Lake that burns I answer Let all the World here take notice of thy confusion and ignorance which utters forth it self through thee thou before wast scorning of trembling and now thou art approving of it and if it be they that tremple which serve the Lord here be a Witness against thy self thou servest him not who art not yet come to tremble but art in thy high nature above the fear of the Lord and here again thou art found a false Accuser for we reject not the Law of the Lord nor the Word which he hath spoken but live in it and rejoyce in it daily for in it is our hearts delight And here again as thou hast measured to us it shall be measured unto thee when the Lord God arises to recompence his Enemies thy Portion will be the same as thou hast said in the Lake which burns with Fire and Brimstone And now a few words in answer to that which thou calls A Caution to all that are called Saints in the Nation which may concern all people I answer They who are Saints who dwell in the Light and walks in the Light do discern thee to be no Saint neither will receive any caution from thee but will testifie against thee for thy Lyes slanders and false accusations which thy Book is filled with and herein it may concern all people that thy Lyes and Slanders be reproved and laid open lest they receive thy Lyes for the Truth and be deceived by thy subtil Speeches who brings the Prophets words and the Apostles words wrest ing them and falsly applying them to make thy Lyes to be received but all people who love the Light wherewith Christ hath enlightened them will see thee and deny thee and turn away from thee as having the Form of Godliness without the Power And whereas thou sayst Ye may rejoyce that you live to sâe not only the mystery of Godliness but also the working of iniquity in the fleshly corrupt and sensual minded men calâd Quakers I answer That name Quakers was cast upon us by the Heathen through their scorn and derision as the name Christians was upon the Disciples though quaking we own for all the Holy Men of God witnessed it and the Holy Scriptures declares of it and here again thou enviously and maliciously castest a Slander upon us Fleshly Corrupt and Sensual-mindedness and the working of the mystery of Iniquity is destroyed in us by the mighty Power of God made manifest in Jesus Christ which takes away sin to the praise of the living God I speak in clearing the Innocent from thy false Slanders and it shall stand for thy own condition fleshly corrupt and sensual-minded and the working of the mystery of iniquity And herein I prove thee to be so by thy Fruits thy Lyes and false Reproaches and envious false Accusations which is the fruits of the flesh and of corrupt sensual-mindedness which fruits do appear in this thy Writing and as for the Mystery of Godliness it is hidden from thee and in that mind and nature thou shalt never know it for thou livest in the sight of thy own Pollution and of thy carnal Ordinances and not in the injoyment of the Mystery of Christ which is Godliness And whereas thou sayest Ye may rejoyce and in nothing be terrified because the Scriptures did foretel of such and is fulfilled in these men And thou bringest many Scriptures where Christ and the Apostles prophesied of the coming in of false Prophets and Teachers I Answer Though ye do now rejoyce yet your joy shall be turned into sorrow and howling and the Lord hath said it and the day of terror will overtake you wherein your hearts shall fail you for fear and your foundation shall be removed and its true that the Scripture doth foretel of us and is witnessed in us That all the Lord's Children should be taught of the Lord And that the Lord would gather his Flock out of the mouths of all dumb Shepherds c. and according to our growth up in the Life of the Scriptures they are fulfilled in us but false Prophets we do deny though all those Scriptures which thou hast set down we own to be prophesies of false Prophets those false prophets which Christ prophesied of came in the Apostles dayes they saw them comming in then 1 Iohn 2. 18. And as all these Scriptures testifies which thou hast cited and since the Apostles dayes hath been a great Apostacy and not a true Church of Christ could be found and ever since hath the same Generation of false Prophets stood under several forms and appearances deceiving the Nations But now the pure Light of Christ shines discovering to them who walk in the Light who they are and daily more and more clearly shall they be seen and thou wilt be found in their number who art a cursed child in whom the son of perdition is exalted which utters forth thy Lyes and Slanders sensually and make it manifest to all that thou hast not the Spirit of God but are separated from it in self-seperation which is abomination unto God and must be scattered by him And whereas thou sayest Seeing it is so let you be filled with boldness and let you contend against those ungodly Ones which are now risen I answer ungodliness we deny and your boldness shall the Lord turn into weakness and faintness and your contendings against us shall not prosper for this is our heritage every Tongue that riseth up in judgment shall be condemned you shall all be scattered and driven away as Chaff before the Wind who sets yourselves to contend against the Truth for that which is now risen shall confound you all And whereas thou bringest many Scriptures which were Exhortations of the Apostle to the Saints with exhorting thy Brethren I answer The Scriptures I do own and that Spirit which spake them forth I witness but thou art an Enemy to the Power of them though thou hast the Form of Truth thy lying and false accusing hath made thee appear to be an Enemy to the Life which the holy Men of God lived in and so hast cleared thy self from those Scriptures which were written to the Saints and must own those which were written to the World The Lyar must be cast into the Lake the Wicked must be turned into Hell and such as these thou must own to belong unto thee and these are thy Scriptures which thou hast right unto And whereas thou sayest We talk of high enjoyments and great revelations without above and beyond the Scripture and that we talk of a Light which is besides the Scripture but its deep and thick darkness and what hath such lights led men unto even contempt of God and of all Righteousness I answer Here again thou art found a Lyar and an Accuser of the Brethren for what we do declare the Scripture witnesseth to the same and we speak of nothing
you that were scattered in the cloudy and dark Day and were a prey for the wild Beasts of the Forrest and were driven away as lost Sheep in the Wilderness hath God gathered into the Fold to lie down by the Springs of Living Water in fat Pastures for evermore Your Bread is sure and your Waters never fails a Feast of fat things is made unto you of Wines well refined the Lord is become the Lot of your Inheritance and the Portion of your Cup forever Your Crowns have you laid down at the Feet of the Lamb and your lives and liberties have not been dear unto you and let this never repent you for now the Lord will exalt you and Crown you with Immortal Glory The Everlasting Day-Star is risen among you which gives Light unto the Nations and the light of the Sun is as the Light of seven dayes and there is no need of a Candle in your Dwelling but the Lamb is the light thereof fair as the Sun clear as the Moon yea it is he which was dead and is alive and behold he lives for evermore Praise him all ye people praise ye him ye holy Host let all that hath breath praise him for ever Who can express his noble Acts And who can declare his wondrous Works Oh my Soul is ravished and my heart is overcome let me speak that I may be refreshed and let me declare his Wonders among all People The Lord is our King our Judge and our Law-giver and our Rock of defence Just is he in his Judgments who hath avenged us of our Enemies Mercy and Judgment meet Righteousness and Peace do imbrace each other Rejoyce for evermore ye Saints of the most High and tell it to your Children that they may tell it to an other Generation what the Lord hath wrought among you and what his Hand hath brought to pass Salvation is come and plentious Redemption and the dead hath heard the Voyce of the Son of God and liveth Let sorrow and mourning flee away and be ye comforted ye that have mourned and be ye refreshed ye that have been weary for God hath opened the Everlasting Fountain and the Streams run pleasantly which refresh the City of our God He is come and his Reward is with him even he for whom we have waited this is he who is our Life our Peace and our exceeding great Reward the Light of the World is our Saviour but the Worlds Condemner our Peace but the Worlds Torment Glad-tidings glad tidings the acceptable year is come praise ye the Lord ye Sons and daughters of Sion beautifull is your dwelling place and aboundeth with pleasant fruit for you are digged and pruned and enclosed a Garden of lovely branches let the wonders of the Lord never be forgotten nor his works never pass out of your remembrance for he hath wounded and healed killed and made alive raised the dead and slain the living brought out of captivity and bound with chains gathered and scattered brought low and exalted saved and condemned all this hath your eye seen and your ear heard and the Heavens and the Earth hath been burned as a scroule and the indignation of the Lord you have born But the Winter is past and the Summer is come and the Turtle dove and the singing of Birds is heard in our Land O magnifie his Name for ever you are made vessels of honour wherein the everlasting Treasure abideth which never waxeth old the voyce of the Bridegroom is heard among you and how can you have any more sorrow instead of weeping rejoycing and instead of heaviness of heart fulness of everlasting joy the Lord hath fulfilled his promise and made good his word and his Law and Covenant is with you and from you doth the Law go forth and the powerfull Word of Life and Death soundeth out of your Dwelling and you are Gods only witnesses to testifie of him in the presence of all Nations some of you by suffering and some by declaring Oh endless love and life and riches an eternal Crown is upon your heads and your suffering which hath not been a little is not worthy to be compared with the glory that is and shall be revealed I speak to you who have an ear to hear my soul and heart is comforted in you in the midst of my burdens and sufferings who is separated from you outwardly yet joyned and united to you by the Spirit which is unlimited which doth comprehend all Nations yea I behold your beauty afar off and my heart is ravished with it and I am sick of love let his works praise him forever which he hath wrought for his Dwelling is with you in the Light unto which no mortaleye can approach The new Ierusalem is come down from Heaven and no unclean can enter but you are made white with the blood of the Lamb and purged as silver and purified as gold in the burning and unto you an entrance is given and the way is prepared and the marriage of the Lamb is come and his wife hath made her self ready and the Way of the Lord is pleasant to you and his Commands are not grievous no unclean thing can pass over nor no Lyons Whelps can tread therein but it is called the way of holiness where only the ransomed of the Lord do walk even your Mountain is established upon the top of all hills and all Nations shall flow unto it Sing praises for ever for the Kingdom of endless peace is come which passeth understanding and of glory which on mortall eye can behold and of life which no flesh can live in Oh my beloved come up hither and I will shew you what God hath done from you he hath rebuked the Sea and driven back the floods of waters which compassed you about and he hath scattered your enemies with a whirlwind and be hath given you to feed upon the flesh of Kings and of Captaines Can you call to mind the doings of your God and his marvellous works brought to pass and not cry out in praises for evermore O drink and be refreshed and eat and be satisfied for ever and let your soul delight it self in fatness the planting of the Lord you are and his own purchased Possession he hath separated you from the womb and hath called you out of kindreds and ye are the Royal Seed of the Off-spring of the Lord Almighty and all Nations shall call you blessed And O thou North of England who art counted as desolate and barren and reckoned the least of the Nations yet out of thee did the Branch spring and the Star arise which gives light unto all the Regions round about in thee the Son of Righteousness appeared with wounding and with healing and out of thee the terror of the Lord proceeded which makes the Earth to tremble and be removed out of thee Kings Princes and Prophets did come forth in the Name and Power of the most High which uttered their voices as thunders and
who saith in your hearts you are the onely people but your lying hearts deceives you and you are found naked and without a covering All ye that desire after the way of the Lord of all sorts of people who are simple and honest hearted whether prophane or professor you have a day of visitation from the Lord yet stretched forth unto you Come ye unto the Lord and forsake all your lovers lay aside your evil hearts which hath led you aside from the way of salvation and now learn the fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom and mind the one thing needful which is of great prize even the salvation of your souls press after and come out of the broad way of perdition wherein the world goes on to destruction and enter into the strait-way where the unclean walks not cease from all the deceitful wayes and worships of the world and love truth and walk in simplicity Cease from all your Idoll Temples for God dwells not in them but his Saints are his Temples wherein he dwells and walks cease from all your Idoll worships and feigned prayers and praises for God is not worshipped in vain traditions as in observing dayes and times and outward things but in Spirit and truth is he worshipped and such he seeks to worship him and a broken spirit and an upright heart is accepted with him Cease from all your Idol Shepherds and Priests of Baal that preaches for hire and divines for money and seeks for their gain from their quarter for they profit not the people at all who are ever learning while they live upon earth and none able to come to the knowledge of the truth therefore cease from man and wait upon the Lord who is now risen to teach his people by his Spirit in his way of truth and righteousness in his peace and purity where his blessing is received from his presence which is with all that fear him Therefore awake awake out of darkness and love not to slumber in the dark night which long hath ruled over you this is the day of your return and of your visitation wherein the Lord would gather you Therefore resist not the love of the Lord wherein he calls you to repentance from dead works to serve him in righteousness but every one turn your minds inward to the Light of Christ Jesus wherewith every one of you is lightned which light is it which convinceth you of sin and lets you see your evil deeds and whom you have served and how you have spent your time the Light shines in darkness and reveals unto you the secret intents of your dark hearts and doth secretly reprove the wicked purposes of your minds with this light in your consciences your sins are written and all that ever you have done is recorded and this light shall be the swift witness and the condemnation of the wicked in the day of the Lord and by it all your works will be brought to remembrance and your sins will be set in order before you to receive judgement by Christ Jesus And here is the free love and gift of God unto you who hath given you a light to guide you in his way if you own it and wait in it it will manifest the judgements of God against sin in you and will condemn sin in your flesh and will reveal the righteousness of God to be your covering if you dwell in the light it is your Teacher and way unto life eternal and if you bring all your deeds to it it will reprove every evil word and work and give you discerning of things that differ it will manifest the secretest deceit of your heart and winding of the Serpent and will be judge thereof till unrighteousness be taken away and a birth brought forth from above and born of another nature and Seed which if you be not born again you cannot enter into the Kingdom of God Therefore in the fear of the Lord all consider and search your selves in tender love to all your souls I write You must be judged in the flesh that you may be justified in the Spirit and you must be made poor and emptied of all your knowledge and wisdom that you may be filled and made truly wise So if you believe in Christ Jesus the Light and life of the world your hearts will be cleansed by the word of God which endures for ever and the Covenant of peace will be established with you where sin is no more remembred being condemned so âow you have all time this is to you all a warning as I was moved of the Lord. Repent the dreadfull day is at hand and meet the Lord by confessing and forsaking your sins and prepare the way of the Lord his coming draweth near lest his Judgments come upon you unawares and his Wrath sweep you away in fury and your Nation become more cursed then the rest all your applying of Christ's Righteousness whilst your selves are Sinners is to no purpose for no Hypocrite can enter into Life nor none that work wickedness have Eternal Life abiding in them but are in the death which hath passed over all men and the curse remaineth upon the Disobedient and all in the first nature are Children of wrath Therefore every one wait in the Light that you may be changed and take up the daily Cross of Christ that your own wills affections lusts and desires may be crucified and you may become dead to the World and may live unto God in his Nature and Likeness that your souls may be satisfied therewith and all that hunger and thirst after Righteousness shall be filled with the true Food Therefore wait all you that fear the Lord and meet together in his Counsel and wait for his Law that you may walk therein and lay aside the works of Darkness which are made manifest by the Light and also condemned in all that come to Sion Spend not your time in the vain deceits of the World nor follow noâ the delights thereof for according to your works must you be judged in the day of the Lord. Depart from Iniquity and all the works of the Flesh Pride and Cotousness Lying Swearing and Double-dealing and all the fruits of unrighteousness let them be judged and let the time past be sufficient that you have wrought evil and now return and work Righteousness in God by the Light which all that love works in God And deceive not your selves with a deceitful covering of self-making and self-righteousness professing Scriptures in your carnal minds which was given forth by the Spirit and is not understood but by the same Spirit Whilst the first nature stands alive in you you cannot please God but are in the emnity against him Humble your selves and come down to the Light and search your hearts thereby Wo unto the Lofty and High-minded who will not be instructed but hatââ reproof Wo is unto all Lyars and Swearers and Whoremongers and Vagabonds and prophane Persons
those things by way of sober Questions which we have to propound to you not for any end to our selves nor to set up a Kingdom of our own God is our Witness but that the Way of our God may be made manifest and all deceit and error discovered and all People may be informed the Way to Salvation and as you are true to your God and will answer for him and are willing to be made manifest in your way of Worship and Doctrine and Ministry you are not to neglect but herein to answer our desire and the desires of many hundreds that you and we may be made manifest in the sight of God to all mens Consciences who are in Truth and who are in Error that Shame and Condemnation may come upon the guilty and Truth may be exalted over all Deceit Given under my hand who am a Prisoner for the Testimony of Iesus whose name in the flesh is Edward Burrough Sent forth the 23d of the 12th moneth from the Sergeant at Arms his house in Dublin You are desired to send your Answer of these Propositions to us and if you consent to meet us let sufficient notice be given abroad that the Inhabitants of the City and Country may know five or six dayes time before This was sent to the Priests of Dublin but no answer to this day have we received from them whereby it is manifest that they are not true to their God nor willing to be tryed and made manifest but love Darkness and hate the Light and back-bite in secret and cannot give a Witness openly but fall before the tryal and Truth reigns over them and is exalted over their Deceit A Discovery of the Idol dumb Shepherds in that Nation and a Lamentation over their Starved and Strayed Flocks THe Day of the Lord is approaching and the Day of account draws near upon you the Inhabitants of the Earth the time of your Covenant is expired made with Death and Hell and the Lord God will plead with you and reckon with you and give unto you a just reward every one according to your deeds even the condition of your Bond. Ye Shepherds and Pastors of the flock and Teachers of the people what account will ye render to the Lord in the Day of his appearing Should you not have gathered the Flock and fed them and taught them in the Way of Righteousness and preserved them from straying abroad but instead thereof you have scattered them upon the barren Mountains and have starved them and have strayed them and led them into by-paths of Idolatry and made a Prey upon them and have fed your selves of them and the Heritage of the Lord hath been wasted by you and the Pastures of the Fold eaten up by Wolves and Devouters and Lyons Whelps which made the Flock affraid driving them into secret corners of Darkness Leanness and Poverty where they are dead for want of Food O ye Shepherds your account will be woful and miserable in the dreadful day which is hastening upon you not one Lamb have you brought forth to Perfection to lie down in Peace in the Fold but have nourisht it into the nature of a Doge and a Wolf and you have fed them with Swines-flesh and with the Husk and Milk they have not received from you thereby to grow up unto God in his Image and not one Fleece hath the Lord gathered from all your Flock You Teachers Shepherds and Pastors your debt of wickedness is a gross sum of great abomination in the Record of account you have taught innocent Children into subtle hypocrisie out of Uprightness into Guile you have taught Lyes instead of Truth and thereby have the People been instructed into Error Sects and false Opinions and not one Child have you taught perfect in the Way of the Lord neither one of your Hearers have you presented perfect in Christ Jesus unto the Father but for Gifts and Rewards have you taken the charge of the Hearers and not one hath come to the Knowledge of the Truth by you under your teaching for you have been a cursed Example in Pride in Coveteousness in Oppression and in Hypocrisie And how could you teach Children in the Way of Purity when your selves have walked in the way of Idolatry The langââge of Babylon have you instructed the People and not one verse have you learned in Sions Record you have nurtured them in the nature of whoredom and their Virginity have they lost What will ye do ye Shepherds and Teachers the Arrest of Judgment from the Court of Equity is come forth against you and sealed never to be changed Whether will you flee to hide you Gods Judgments will pursue you and your Reward will be Indignation and Vengeance and your charge will be the devouring and murdering of souls and the Flock will be required of you and every Lamb which carelesly you have starved the blood thereof will be put upon your account and every Child you have taught in the way of iniquity the iniquity thereof will be laid to your charge O Doleful reckoning when the Lord appears a grievous sum are you guilty which you are never able to pay and just he is that calleth you to an account and the truth of his Bill will be sealed with the Light in your own Consciences which is the Lords Witness which hath been privy to all your abominations one year after another have you been spared and interest upon interest will be put upon your score not one day of faithful service and true watching over the Flock can you give testimony of but idle Shepherds have you been and slumbring Watch-men have you proved and the whole Flock have been devoured and scattered and not one Lamb is found in the Fold nor one strayed sheep brought home from wandring but the Fences of the Fold are laid waste and the door is shut up and bolted against him that would enter and you have removed the Pastures out of the pleasant Valleys into the desolate and wilde and untilled Mountains where every wilde Beast playeth and every desolate Bird inhabiteth What will you plead for your selves Oh ye deceitfull Hirelings who have run and were not sent by whom the People are not profited at all But you Leaders of the People have caused them to err in unknown Paths and you have taken the charge of that you were not able to perform you have wasted the the Masters goods and his Children have not been taught the Way of Holiness you have spent his Portion among Harlots and have given your Lord's Money to abominable uses nothing is gathered of your Vines but wilde Grapes and sower Grapes which the Lords Soul loatheth no Figs of your Thorns have been reaped but your best fruit have been of a loathsom taste the most Innocent among you have been found guilty of Innocent Blood of Souls Wo is me for you ye Flocks of these Shepherds Folds alas alas your souls are starved and your feet are
strayed and into by-Paths of Whoredoms have you been instructed and the door of the true Shepherds Fold hath been shut against you and the Key of true knowledge hath been hid out of your sight and obscurity and darkness hath been cast before you and the Way of the Lord hath been undiscovered to your understandings and into secret and subtil Idolatry and Witchcraft have you been nurtured and your wounds have been healed falsely and will break out into more incurable dangers O how have you been driven away into strange Pastures and into barren Heaths and Desarts scattered lo here and lo there by the voyces of Strangers now when the Lord is come to search you instead of Lambs you are found in the nature of Wolves and Dogs and Lions biting and devouring and scorning and reproaching the Children of the true Seed and instead of Children of Light and Truth are you found strong men of Darkness and Error How is your nature changed since the first creation in the Innocent Image of God strayed have you been and not one brought home by your Shepherds into the Fold of Truth you have been a prey to the Devourers and meat for the wilde Beasts of the desolate Forrests and a strange Language have you learned of the Egyptians Character and your delight have been therein even you have loved to have these things so and like Shepherds like Sheep Strayers and strayed Devourers and being devoured What account will you give in the Day of the Lord For your sins are written with a Pen of Iron sealed in your foreheads children of the womb of wickedness A gross sum of abomination is put upon your account even Lovers of Darkness and Haters of the Light How many times have you been called by the true Shepherds Voice and you neglect and will not be gathered How many good instructions have you heard And what profit have you received Much Teaching and many Sermons have you heard and yet to this day the Way of Truth have you not learned but are groping in the dark in blindness and ignorance and you Blind have been led by the Blind and the mouth of the Ditch is opened to swallow you up together and you have refused Knowledge and cannot endure to be reproved you love to stray rather then to be gathered and you delight in leanness and poverty upon the barren Mountaines rather then to be fed in the fat Pastures of true Food Shall not the Lords Soul be avenged upon you Ye Shepherds and Flocks ye Teachers and People your debt is summed into a large sum of grievous abomination the Indictment of Vengeance is read and sealing against you proved to be just in the Register of Heaven everlasting Prison in the pit of Darkness and everlasting Banishment from the Presence of the Lord is signing against you in the eternal Law and righteous Decree the Light of the Lord Jesus Christ which shines in all your Consciences will arise to be the evidence of this just proceeding God is grieved with you you spiritual Idolaters Repent repent ye Idol Shepherds and deceitful Teachers and ye scattered Flocks and deceitful People This is the day of your visitation and a warning in your ears the Sword of the Lord is drawn against you the Whirle-wind of his Wrath is gone forth your builded wall shall fall and the pillars of your Habitation shall be shaken God will gather his Flock out of your mouths and feed them in his own Fold and your nakedness shall appear and your deceits shall be laid open and your secret whoredoms shall be discovered your beginning was in Darkness and your time is out of the Light and your end will be in destruction now you have all time prize it From him who is a Lover of all your souls but a Witness against all your deceit Edw. Burrough Written in Corke City in Ireland as moved of the Lord concerning the Shepherds and Flock the Teachers and People in that Nation An Invitation to all the poor desolate Souldiers to repent and make their peace with the Lord and their Duty shewed them what the Lord requires of them TO all you poor desolate Souldiers of the lowest rank who are scattered up and down in this desolate Land of Ireland and live a careless and a desolate life without the Fear of the Lord in Lying in Swearing in Drunkenness in Whoredom in Oppression and in the Wickedness of the World and are past feeling and sensless of the Opperation and Power of God careless of your eternal happiness The dreadful Day of the Lord God is coming in Power the Lord is risen and the Wrath of the Lord is gone forth with the strength of indignation and fury will you be besieged and fearfulness shall surprize you Repent of your transgressions and fear and tremble before the Presence of the Living God who is Commander in chief over Heaven and Earth prize your souls this is the day of your visitation and make your Peace with the Lord The righteous Judge the Lord seeth you in your darkness and searcheth you in your desolate obscurity and his soul is pressed under your iniquities and he hath not disrespected any of your persons or desolate places but God is Light and hath lightened every one of you with the true Light of Life Eternal if you love it and be guided by it or of death everlasting if you hate it and disobey it and walk contrary to it that is the Light which convinceth you of Sin of Lying and Swearing and Cursed-speakings and Drunkenness which are the fruits of the cursed Tree which cumbereth the Ground of the Lord which the Axe is now laid to the root of to cut it down and cast it into everlasting burning and while you act against this Light in your Consciences you crucifie the Life of Christ Jesus and are Enemies unto him and Servants of the Devil and love your evil deeds and Upholders of the Devils conquest which is the dominion of sin This Light reproves you in secret of violence and false accusing and all unjust words and actions which are contrary to God ãâã turn your minds to the Light which will lead you to repentance from dead works out of the broad way of destruction which many are in as Christ Jesus saith and it will teach you in your places to serve the Living God and to do violence to no man but to be Terrors and Reprovers and Correctors of all violence and of such who live in it And it will teach you not to strengthen the hands of Evil-doers but to lay your Swords in justice upon every one thâ doth evil And it will teach you not to make War but to preserve peace in the Earth and this is your Place and Duty required of you from the Lord Goâ Commander in chief unto whom you must all give an account and receive ãâã just Reward according to your deeds everlasting punishment to him that doâ⦠evil but if you
of Iacob The Lord is your God for ever while you be his People Therefore walk before him in Righteousness and let his own works praise him and give him of his own and glorifie him with it eternally Be low in thy heart and be not exalted because of thy Beauty and Riches and glory not but only in the Lord Be diligent in thy mind and watch against all thy Enemies and be not of a careless heart Eat not of the Vine of Sodom nor drink not of the Cup of Whoredoms give not thy strength to Strange women nor let not thy desirable Beauty be overcome of Harlots but keep thy self undefiled and mingle not thy Seed with Strangers but be fruitful in thy pleasant Land upon thy beautiful Mountain and bring forth aboundantly unto thy God who hath turned thy Wilderness into a fruitful Field and taken away thy reproach of Barrenness in Conversation upright and blameless do thou daily appear in Praises and Honour and Fear do thou abound and let thy God be thy Teacher in his Light and Truth for evermore that thy Enemies may see and be confounded and may behold and be ashamed before thee unto whom thy Rock of defence is a stumbling Stone of Offence wherewith the Kingdoms of the Earth shall be dashed to pieces and broken as a Potters Vessel before thee Come forth in thy Beauty and appear in thy Glory to the Nations Arise arise why shouldst thou sit as alone as in obscurity and darkness undiscovered Let the Princes of the Earth see thy excellency and appear before the Nobles in thy Robes of perfect Honour wherewith thou art decked and trimed as a Bride pleasant unto thy Husband Do thou judge among the Judges and give thy counsel among the Prudent and appear in thy Authority before Kings and Princes All the Dominions of the World are not equal in Treasure and Wisdom unto thee but all the Children of Whoredoms shall see their shame and be laid naked when thou appearest in thy purity The Nations long for thee to be partakers of thy vertue therefore shew thy self and appear that the rest of thy Flock which yet remain upon the barren Mountains may come in unto thy Fold to rest under thy Shepherds Power O Sion thou art prepared of thy God to beat the Mountains to dust thou art fitted for his Service to thresh the Hills Make no tarrying but come away spread thy self into every corner of the Earth for the Upright thirst for thee aboundantly who lie under the oppression in the Land of Darkness which may be felt from whence thou art freed into the everlasting Light And why shouldst thou O Sion lie at Rest while thy own Seed the Children of thy Womb are oppressed groaning in the captivity under the Uncircumcised who have driven away thy Remnant and scattered it from thee Put on strength O Arm of the Lord for thy Heritage hath no other Helper nor none that pitieth her And shine forth thou Seed of Iacob and bring in the Kingdoms of the Gentiles to partake with thee of thy everlasting Substance and lay out thy self to gain in thy holy Seed out of the power of Aegypts King O think upon and remember thy own former Bondage while thou was thy self Captive in a strange Land and let thy Bowels be filled with compassion towards thy own Mothers Children and be not straitned in thy help and deliverance for thy God hath given thee an Instrument with Teeth to beat the Rocks to powder he is not wanting unto thee in Power and Wisdom thou chiefest Son of his Love Give up give up to obey his Voice and love not thy life unto death till the Seed of thy Inheritance and the blood of thy Chosen be avenged upon the head of Iezabel who hath slain thy elect in all Generations and nourished her self with the blood of thy Innocent Call upon thy God and awake him to Vengeance to smite and to slay thy Adversaries and to consume their Habitations from off the Earth who have been too strong for thee Why shouldst thou not come forth in the power of thy Judgments to judge the Earth in Righteousness and to exalt thy name in thy Glory which all men have despised and seen no Excellency in And thou O Sions King hast been as a Stranger and unknown in the Earth and thy Treasure hath been wasted amongst the Harlots and empty to this day hast thou returned from gathering fruit of thy Vineyard for sloathful and aboundantly idle have the Labourers been in the Harvest and it is time for thee to arise and work for thy Law hath been made void and thy Statutes and Judgments have been neglected and all the Princes of the Earth contemn thy Laws and count the Sons of thy chosen Heritage as Slaves and Bond-men and decree unrighteous Decrees and seal them in the pit of their unbelief upon the Mountains of their rebellion against thee How long Lord How long When wilt thou appear to lay their honour in the dust of confusion Is it not the fulness of thy Time which thou hast promised How long shall the Remnant of Sion sit as a Widow bemoaning her Children Thy Host and Chosen wait for commission from thee to do thy Will that thou who art our God and our King our Judge and our Law-giver whom our souls have chosen may forever be exalted in thy Majesty and Throne of Justice and Judgment and thy Camp wait to see the honour of Kings and Princes overthrown by thee and thy Dominion set to rule over their heads that all Nations and Kingdoms may become subject unto thee and the Kingdoms of this World may become the Kingdom of thy Son forever and evermore and saith my Soul Come Lord Iesus come quickly By one whose name is truly known by the Children of the same Birth but unknown to the World though by is called EDWARD BURROUGH A DESCRIPTION OF THE State and Condition Of all Mankind upon the face of the whole Earth And a Discovery unto all shewing what man was in his Creation before Transgression and what he is in Transgression how he is become a degenerate Plant bringing forth cursed fruit to the grieving of the good Husband-man who is thereby provoked continually against the Works of his own hands to destroy that which he hath made because it is defiled through mans Transgression Also the Way of Restoration of Salvation Redemption and of Life Eternal is here declared unto all the Sons and Daughters of Adam in the whole world that all may come to the knowledge of the Creator and to have fellowship with him again from whom all the Children of men are separated in the state of enmity and are ignorant of him and drove from his presence This is to go abroad into all the Earth through the whole world as a Call and Visitation unto all mankind that they may hear and consider their condition and may return from whence they are fallen and may be
of Satan and your voice is known for none is turned from the evil of his way and therefore is wrath coming upon you to the utmost A Lover of your Souls but am a Witness against all your deceit F. H. VVHereas we are accused by the Teachers and People of this Generation That we are false Prophets and Deceivers and that we deny the Christ which dyed at Jerusalem and that we preach another Gospel then the Apostles preached and that we deny the Scriptures and the Ordinances of Iesus Christ and that we hold Free-will and establish Self-righteousness and teach People to act in their own strength to obtain Life and that we deny Churches Ministers and Magistracy To all these false Accusations I Answer It is no new thing nor no strange thing to the Children of Light who are separated from the World and worldly Worships and from the works of Darkness to be accused falsly and to be standered by being called Deceivers and Seducers by the Generation of chief Priests and Pharisees in which Generation are the Teachers and Professors of this Age who have a Form of Godliness but deny the Power Christ was called a Deceiver and a Blasphemer and the Apostles were called Movers of Sedition Hereticks and Turners of the World up-side down by them who professed in word what Christ was in Substance and what the Apostles witnessed and so it is now We who are scornfully called Quakers do live in and declare forth no other thing but the Substance of what the Priests have preached upon and the Pofessors have talked upon in their carnal minds by their imaginations He is a false Propâââ and a Deceiver which hath not the Word from the Mouth of the Lord but takes that which the Lord spoke to Another and calls it his and usâ⦠his Tongue and saith The Lord saith it when the Lord never spake to him And here are the Teachers of the World themselves guilty of that whereof they falâây accuse us for they take the Prophets words Christs and the Apostles words to talk upon but have not received the Word from the Mouth of the Lord and their prophesie and preaching would soon be ended if they had not the Scripture which is other mens words and that which was spoken to others to speââ their imaginations from And these are the false Prophets and Deceivers which run and are not sent which speak to others pretending they be sent of God but walking contrary to all that ever God sent to declare his Name in foâ⦠Generations and so are known to us by their fruits having no example from the Prophets Christ nor his Apostles for their practice but do walk in the example of the false Prophets of Israel of the Scribes and Pharisees and of the false Brethren O foolish People which have eyes and sees not which have heaâ⦠and do not understand Is the Lord changed from what he was Were they falââ Prophets and Deceivers in Isaiah's time which he was sent to cry out against which sought for their Gain from their Quarter And are not your Teachers false Prophets now which act the same things Were they false Prophets and Deceivers in Ezekiel's time which ãâã was sent to cry against that fed themselves wiââ the Fat and clothed themselves with the Wool and made a Prey upon the People And are not your Teachers false Prophets and Deceivers now which ãâã the same thing Were they false Prophets in Micahs time which he was sent ãâã cry out against which preached for Hire and divined for Money and cryââ peace to them that put into their mouthes but prepared war against them that ãâã not And are not your Priests false Priests and Prophets which act the same thingâ Were they Deceivers of the People in Christs time which he cryed wo agaiâ⦠which were called of men-Masters and which had the chief Places in the ââ¦blies and which stood praying in the Synagogues and went in long Robes ãâã which loved greetings in the Markets And are not your Teachers Deceivers of the People now which are found acting the same things Were they false Teachers and false Brethren in the Apostles time which they declared against which through coveteousness with feigned words made merchandise of the People and went in the way of Balaam for Gifts and rewards and preached for filthy Lucre and which Paul saw come and coming in his dayes which were proud men coveteous men self-willed and fierce men heady high-minded men having a Form of Godliness but denying the Power which alwayes taught People bââ none were able to come to the knowledge of the Truth under their teaching Aââ are not your Teachers false Teachers now who walk in the same steps To ââe Light in all Consciences I do speak which will witness the truth A sottish and ignorant People which cannot discern who the false Prophets and Deceivers and false Teachers are the Lord is the same that ever he was and his Spirit ãâã no whit changed Was it once an abomination to the Lord in the false Priests and Prophets of Israel to seek for their Gain from their Quarter and to feed themselves with the Fat and clothe themselves with the Wool and make a Prey upoâ the People and to preach for Hire and to divine for Money and are not these thingâ and they that uphold them abomination to him now Did the Spirit of the Lord in his Servants declare against these things then and against them that upâ⦠them then and must not the same Spirit where it is made manifest declare agaiâââ these things and against them that uphold them now Was it once an abomiââtion in the sight of Christ in them to be called of men Master and to have ãâã chief places in the Assemblies and to stand praying in the Synagogues c. and are not these things an abomination to him now in whom they are upheld Dââ Christ cry wo against such things and against them that upheld them then and must not the Spirit of Christ where it is made manifest cry wo against such things and against them that uphold them now Were these marâs of false Teachers then to make merchandise of the People and to go in the way ãâã ãâã for Gifts and Rewards and for filthy ãâã and to be proud coveâ⦠âeady high-minded self-willed and fierce men And are not they false Teachers now which bear these marks Did the Apostle give warning to beware of such and to turn away from such and must not the same Spirit where it is made manifest give warning to beware of such and to turn away from such now We witness to have received according to measure the Spirit of the Prophets ãâã which they spoke and the Spirit of the Apostles by which they spoke which is Christ made manifest in us and happy are all they that receive our Testimony For by the same Spirit of Christ we do declare against these abominationâ now as the holy men of
which shews you these things to be sin You resist the drawings of the Father which would draw you by the Light to follow the Son Wo and Desolation is to come upon all you who will not be taught by the Light of Christ Jesus which he hath enlightened you withal which Light all the Holy men of God were taught by who gave forth the Scriptures but do set up Teachers without you such as all the holy men of God the Prophets Christ and his Apostles declared against Oh blinded stiff-necked People which are not ashamed to call such Ministers of Christ and of the Gospel and by your corrupt Wills and Laws to defend them which seek for their gain from their quarter and which feed themselves with the Fat and clothe themselves with the Wooll and which preach for Hire and divine for Money and prepare War against them that put not into their mouthes here you justifie such as the Prophets of the Lord were sent to cry against and deny Isaiah Ezekiel and Micah to be true Prophets for if you did believe that they spoke from the Mouth of the Lord the Word of the Lord and understood what they spoke then would you not uphold them which act those things which they declared against for that which was abomination to the Lord then is abomination to him now and that Spirit which declared against these things then cannot uphold them now And here the Teachers and People are tryed not to have the same Spirit which was in the holy Prophets of the Lord but the spirit of the false Prophets acting by it that which they acted which the true Prophets cryed against and thus by upholding that which the Lord sent his Servants to declare against you strive against the Lord ye Magistrates and People And you are not ashamed to call such Ministers of Christ which walk in the same steps and that act those things that they did which Christ cryed wo against are called of men Masters and have the chief Places in the Assemblies and stand praying in the Synagogues and go in long Robes and love greetings in the Markets as they did here you justifie such as Christ cryed wo against and deny that Christ spoke the Truth what was the Mind of his Father or understood it not for if you did believe that he spoke the will of his Father then would ye not uphold these that act the same things which he cryed wo against And he changes not that which he once cryed against the same spirit where it is witnessed cries against the same things And here again the Teachers of the World are tryed not to have the Spirit of Christ but the Spirit of the Scribes and Pharisees who act that which they acted which he cryed wo against And herein Magistrates and People strive against the Lord God by upholding that which Christ cryed wo astainst and such who are Ministers of Christ and walk in his doctrine and in the same steps which he and his Apostles walked in witnessing for that which they witnessed for and against that which they witnessed against them you call Deceivers and false Prophets and accuse them for Vagabonds and wandring Beggars and idle and careless Persons and that they have left their Families and carelesly wander up and down And herein you Magistrates and People strive against the Lord by persecuting and slandering and false accusing and condemning such as the Scripture justifies and the Servants of the Lord which spoke forth the Scripture do witness of to be true What would you have called Christ who had no where to lay his head He was no vagabond nor idle nor careless Person And what would you have called the Apostles and Ministers of Christ who had left their Families and Callings and went up and down and had no certain dweling Place but went from City to City and cared not for the World nor what to eat nor what to drink nor wherewith to be clothed this they did and yet were no Vagabonds nor idle nor careless Persons but abode in the Doctrine of Christ they were hated by your Generation as we are now by you and they were called Pestilent Fellows and Movers of Sedition and Heriticks and men of erronious Iudgments And they said They were Troublers of their Cities as you do now call us false Prophets and Deceivers I do declare this Generation to be the same which persecuted the Prophets Christ and his Apostles as it doth persecute us for by the same Power we stand as they did and by the same Power we are commanded and acted as they were And to the Power by which we stand and are commanded shall all the power of men and of the Earth bow and be subject O all you Magistrates and People consider of your blindness and ignorance who do absolutely justifie and uphold such as the Scripture declares and witnesses against and do condemn and persecute such as the Scripture justifies and witnesses of and do put them out of your Synagogues and Villages Search the Prophets and Christ and the Apostles Writings in them you may read your Example and our Example In Jeremiah 20. You may read how Pashur the chief Governour when he had heard what Jeremiah had said smot him and put him in the Prison and in the stocks and dealt wickedly with him Now Jeremiah is our example who had the Word of the Lord and spake freely sometimes in the streets and in the Gate of the Lords House and feared no mans face but prophesied against the Priests and false Prophets which used their Tongue and had not the Word from the Lord but was given to lightness and covetousness And Pashur who smote him and put him in the Prison is your example whose measure of wickedness you fulfil in doing as he did and by your oppressions is the sufferings and reproaches of Jeremiah fulfilled in us who is made a derision daily and a scorn to the wicked since we spake in the Name of the Lord as Jeremiah was in that Generation of Evil-doers who is your example Also in Amos 7. you may read how Amaziah the Kings Priest sent to the King of Israel and they conspired against him and Amaziah forbad Amos to prophesie any more at Bethel for it is the Kings Chappel and the Kings Court and said he The Land is not able to bear his words Now herein Amaziah the Priest and Jeroboam the King who were both Persecuters is your example who takes Counsel against the Innocent and thrusts out of your Countries and Cities and Towns and makes Laws against the Servants of the Lord and forbids us to speak any more in your Courts or Chappels and beats and persecutes us and do say The Land is not able to bear such things as are spoken and written by us And Amos who was no Prophet nor Prophets Son but a poor labouring man is our example who was innocent and spake the Word of the Lord against the Songs
Leaf and as an ungirded Vessel full of strife and distraction fears and jealousies eveâ among your own selves unsetled in your Wayes and Thoughts in Truth Mercy and Peace but in Gainsayings and Oppositions and Confusions stand tottering like a rotten Hedge and the Proud are exalted and the poor are despised and they that love Sion are set at nought and verily you go not the way to settle the Nations upon the true Foundation but backslides from the Way of Truth Which is the Foundation upholding of iniquity and establishing the false Prophets and Diviners by a Law and such whom the Lords wrath is against who upholds the horrible filthy thing and abominations of the Earth and confusion is upon them till they be overthrown never to deceive the Nations more Therefore hear ye Deaf and look ye Blind and understand ye Hard-hearted love Truth and Mercy and Peace in your own hearts and and depart from Iniquity and cast away your Idols and cease from evil and learn to do well and put away the evil of own doings and turn to the Lord in this the day of your Visitation and to the Light of Christ Jesus wherewith he hath lightened you take heed thereby to be guided every one in particular in fear and tenderness towards God and towards man not ruling in Tyranny and Oppression nor making Laws in your own wills according to your own thoughts as some that went before you have done till they were cut off as you are Witnesses who were made in the Hand of the Lord their Executioners and if you follow in any measure their Example of Wickedness take them for an Example in a cursed end in love to all your Souls this I write and not to shame you in your wickedness but rather that you may repent and that you may know how to exercise your selves in the Law of God towards the Nations and that every Burden may be removed and the Oppressed may go free and the Bands of Iniquity may be broken and this is the Fast accepted of the Lord required of him from you which if you observe with your whole hearts a Blessing will the Lord made you unto the Nations in this present Age and unto your selves for evermore but if you hearden your hearts against the Lord and tread in the steps of your fore-fathers and seek to limit the Holy One or to bind the tender Consciences of the People of God then shall you fall into their perdition and be swallowed up in everlasting confusion and your Memorial shall stink in Generations to come and shall be a hissing among the Heathen Kingdoms and deliverance will God bring another way unto his People to your overthrow if you walk not in the Counsel of the Lord. And whereas upon the considerations and purposes aforesaid you have ordered that a Day be observed and kept for solemn Humiliation and seeking the Face of God through the mediation of Christ in England Scotland and Ireland To which in much tenderness of spirit I desire to say That if you seek his Face in the hardness of your hearts and in the way of your own precepts while the yoke of the great Oppressions in the Nations are not broken from off the neck of the Poor his Face you shall not behold though you seek it but in vain shall you weary your selves and shall travel without issue as to that which you desire and his Countenance shall be hid from you till he shew his Face for evil against you and not for good and to you it shall be said To what purpose are your Oblations and your solemn Meeting Who hath required it at your hands even your own doings and appointed Altars of Inventions which the Lord cannot accept from you Therefore give ear ye Mountains and listen ye tall Cedars if you establish the false Prophets which makes a prey upon the people through covetousness and which acteth the abominations of Israel in preaching for Hire and divining for Money and in crying peace to the wicked by a Law and maintain them through the oppression of the Poor in the crying Oppression of Tythes or otherwise imposing such things upon the tender Consciences by any Act or Statute made or allowed by you God shall not hear your cry nor answer your request nor ever establish you in peace nor the Nations over which you are set likewise if you make a Law or allow such a one to be acted which any way may tye or limit the Spirit of the Lord in any of his Servants from reproving the abominations of the Times in Rulers Teachers or People in your Streets or Temples or places otherwise at any time whatsoever the Lord will not hold you guiltless nay assuredly if you do but hide your face from the Suffering of such who through the wickedness of some under you may be afflicted upon such an account you shall not be altogether Innocent but Gods hand shall be upon you likewise If any for Conscience sake deny to Swear upon any account according to the former vain Customs of the Nations trained up thereto in ignorance and blindness in humane traditions and thereupon suffer Imprisonment or Fining or otherwise howsoever by any Order from you or any subordinate Powers you shall be guilty in the sight of God of that suffering the Innocent in such a cause much more shall you be guilty if by any means in any cause upon any condition men be compelled by any Authority of this Nation to swear likewise if any suffer for not bowing the Hat or Knee to any of you or any of your Judges or under Officers and thereupon be accounted Transgressors the Lord shall account such things Oppression from your hands and Tyranny and Cruelty and you shall not escape unpunished as the Lord lives these and many more Abominations cries for Vengeance against some of you who have had your hands deeply dipped in such Oppression and therefore to you this is a Warning to break off these sins by righteousness and these evils by true repentance lest your Fasts prove only for Strife and to smite with the fist of Wickedness Clear your selves and wash you hands from these Abominations lest the fruit of them be given you to eat for Food and let this oh ye Rulers be acceptable councel unto you that the dayes of Happiness may appear and the long expected and waited for day of Liberty may yet dawn through this dark night of Bondage which overshadows your heads that you cannot behold the glory of the Son and herein shall you be established and we shall have cause to bless the Lord for you and with you otherwise you shall never be renowned but all your counsels and purposes shall fail and be cursed of the Lord and evil shall be upon you and upon the Nation for your sakes And all you that fear God listen and give audience and let the fear of the Lord be before your eyes and keep your selves pure from
them like to the Beast none upon Earth hath bought or sââd or judged or given evidence or been respected in all the World that ãâã not had the Mark of the Beast and the number of the names of Antichrist rich and poor small and great have receive his Mark as a Seal of their subjection to the Beast whose many heads and many horns have subjected all by the force of his arm and he hath blinded the eye lest men should see him and cast darkness over all faces and the false Prophet hath deceived many a Christ hath said and all the Earth hath been wandring in the Wildernâ⦠of Wickedness and the Long-suffering of the Lord hath been wearied and he continually provoked to destroy the Nations who have followed Antichrist who hath shewed himself in the Seat of God to be God and hath sat in the Seat of God in the Seat of Justice Righteousness and of Mercy and the Abomination of desolation hath long stood in the place where it ougââ not for many Ages and length of Times and his many Heads and many Horns hath swayed the World through the terror of the Beast who haâ⦠made all worship him and they that would not he hath killed who hath carried the great Whore who hath made all men without exception and all Nations without respect to any wholly drunk with abomination and all hath staggered and fallen into grievous iniquities and the Dragon hath stood ready continually to devour the Child of Righteousness as soon as it was born and the Woman hath been forced to flee into the Wilderness that hath brought iâ forth and hath fed there for so many dayes and for a long season hath the Lââd been blasphemed even the Name of God and his Tabernacle and them thââ dwell in Heaven But now hath the Lord considered and looked down from his Habitatiân and of a truth he is risen and hath taken to him his great Power that he may reign and put all things under his Feet and subdue the power of the Beast and Antichrist and all their Government and Rule and Laws and Decrees shall be overthrown and confounded all their worship shall be broken for great Babylon is come into remembrance before the Lord to render her according to her works the Lamb is now risen and advanced with his Bow and his Sword and he is going forth Conquering and to Conquer the Beast and all that have worshipped him and they that are with the Lamb are called and chosen and faithful they love not their lives unto death and they shall overcome him by the Blood of the Lamb and by the Word of his Testimony the Dominion of the Lamb is setting up and his Power is made manifest and the Stone cut out of the Mountain without hand is a dashing at the feet of the Image and against the Beast and his Power and against all his Laws and Decrees is he risen and he will change Times and Laws and Powers and the Kingdoms of this World shall become the Kingdom of the Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign for ever and ever for now the Spirit of Life from God is entred into the Witnesses which have been slain and they begin to stand upon their feet and great fear falls upon the great men of the World and the Devil is cast out into the Earth who hath sitten in Heaven in the Temple of God and deceived the whole World and his wrath is great against the Saints and against the Lamb because he knoweth his time is but short and the Man-child shall grow and shall rule the Nations with a Rod of Iron if any man hath an ear to hear let him hear he that leadeth into Captivity shall go into Captivity he that killeth with the Sword must be killed with the Sword the Purpose of the Lord shall stand who is now gathering and bringing back such as have been driven away and deceived by the Generation of false Prophets who have deceived the whole World and all that dwell therein and the Lord will take vengeance upon them upon the Beast and upon the false Prophet and great Babylon shall be thrown down and shall be no more at all but shall be made desolate and the voice of Harpers and Musitians shall no more be heard at all in her but her Glory shall wither and fade away in a moment for he that hath a true Weight and Measure is appeared to divide and to give due weight and measure unto every one and all the wicked who will not come from under the worship of the Beast shall have their part in the Lake that burnes with Fire and he that is unjust let him be unjust still and he that is righteous let him be righteous still here is the dividing of all things as they were in the beginning the Glory of the Lord is risen whose name is called the Word of God and out of his mouth goeth a sharp Sword and with it be smiteth the Nations and he shall rule them with an Iron Rod for his Name is King of Kings and Lord of Lords and he is gathering his Saints together to the Supper of the Great God to eat the flesh of Kings the flesh of Captains and the flesh of Horses and them that sat thereon the Purpose of the Lord shall not be disannulled though the Beast and the Kings of the Earth gather together their Armies to make war against him that sits upon the Horse who is already gone out to conquer and the numberless number of the Saints are gathering together before the Throne of the Lamb and they have no guile found in their mouthes And the day is now dawned and the night is far spent Wo unto the World and to all the Inhabiters of the Earth who have worshipped the Beast the Lord is coming to plead with you and ye that have partaken of the sins of the great Whore shall partake of her Plagues and she shall be rewarded double according to her works for her sins have reached unto Heaven The Day of great tribulation is at hand of Anguish and Destruction men shall seek death and shall not find it but it shall flee from them when the Lord ariseth and the Lamb standeth upon Mount Sion and his Saints with him who shall tread down the Heathen and cast them out even as they have trodden down the holy City and the Worship thereof and the Kingdom of the Beast and his Seat and his great Authority which he hath received from the Dragon shall all be thrown down and the Kingdom of the Son of God with his Government Scepter and Rule shall be established in all the Earth and the utmosts part thereof shall be given him to possess this is the Promise and this shall come to pass and through the whole World Laws and Decrees Ministry and Orders shall be changed and renewed the Law and Decree of the Most High shall rule over all and the
and his Arm shall watch over them to overthrow them all and to make them desolate that the Just may be delivered And all you who suffer any where Imprisonment or Finings or reproaches or any other thing because ye cannot Swear for Conscience sake nor respect Persons according to the vain Customs of the Heathen but are redeemed out of the Customs and Superstitions of men which are of the World and are evil and not of God nor justified by him you suffer for Righteousness sake and for Christs sake and are Witnesses for God herein against the Superstitions and Wickedness and Pride and High-mindedness of men and the Lord is with you if you be ruled in his Wisdom and are faithful to him and he will lift up your heads till his and your Adversaries be confounded And I charge you all in the Presence of the Lord who suffer for Righteousness sake in these things or in any other who are moved of the Lord to bear witness of the Truth and against the deceits of the World be not exalted in the flesh in your sufferings lest you forget God Nor be not cast down into sorrow lest ye be overcome of the Devil but dwell in the measure of the Power and Life of God which is above all and more then all and feel Gods living Arm to stay your hearts to watch to his own in you to refresh you continually And resist the Devil on every hand with the Armour of Light and Truth that your Life may be preserved in Dominion over all things even the Life which is not of this World in you may not be vailed nor overcome for to enjoy the Life of God with you is enough if you pass through the Fire and through the Water it keeps you and carries you above all this I witness and it is more then all outward Freedom or Liberty or Riches or Treasure of this World and walk herein in Boldness and Faithfulness and Patience as you have us for an Example in Christ Jesus who are in Jepardy every hour often in Tryals Sufferings and Dangers and love not our lives unto death for the Testimony of Jesus which we hold and that his Name and Truth may be exalted in the Earth but as the Lord moves are carried through Nations among Lyons and Devourers such as seeks our life for their Prey and yet the Lord is with us our Defence and Arm and Preserver above all Therefore look you at the Lord in all Affliction and Distress and know his Reward with you that your Burden and Yoak may be easie and not hard for his Presence makes all things joyful And know that it is for the Name of the Lord and for his Honour and for his Kingdom which God will set up through suffering for this cause are ye called to suffer and your Life nor liberty nor any other thing is not to be measured nor compared herewith So uâto every one of you I am moved to write and to warn you all in the fear of God be content and long-suffering and patient and finish you Testimony with rejoycing if ye seal it with your Blood and dwell with the Lord in his holy Habitation of Peace out of respect to time or places or things and give up your selves that his will in you may be fulfilled And think it not strange though you have fiery trials neither be moved at any Suffering without you or troubled in spirit neither let it break your peace nor fellowship with God by any impatiency or murmurings or temptations for then will your sufferings be grievous to you and the Enemy within and without will have ground against you to overthrow you and know it is that which ever was in all Ages and no new thing for the Seed of God to suffer by the Seed of Evil-doers for the wicked alwayes strengthened their hands in cruelty against the Righteous and laid heavy burthens upon the Just and caused the Innocent to groan under them for a time till iniquity was fulfilled that they might be broken and the Oppressed delivered and alwayes the Lord exalted his Name by the sufferings of his people as we have a Cloud of Witnesses of our Fore-fathers that went before who did bear witness to the Name of the Lord through faithfull suffering so it is no strange thing hath happened unto you but that which is common to all the Saints who enter the Kingdom through tribulation blessed are you if you be faithfull unto the end that you may reap the reward of your works of your sufferings and patience even the Crown of Life that never fades away so the Lord God of Life preserve you And all Frieds every where I am moved to warn you Dwell in love and unity and fellowship one with another in the Light and in the Spirit of the Father and fulfil the Law of Christ and bear one anothers burden and suffer with one another that none be oppressed among you in any thing whilst others are free but that the burden of all things and the care of all things in relation to the Truth be equal among you according to every ones freedom and as every one is moved of the Lord so to administer to one anothers necessities as Members of one Body to the honouring of the Head and spreading of the Truth that there be no complaining but equallity and justness and the Government of Christ ruling among you and his Wisdom in all things Feed no excess nor the lustfull devouring mind in any neither suffer the Distressed to perish for want but reach one to another in love and like mindedness suffering for one another and all caring for the Truth above all things that God may dwell among you and be known that he is in you of a truth And in this the Wisdom of God guide you all Amen By a Companion in Tribulation to all the Saints every where EDWARD BURROUGH THE Testimony of the Lord CONCERNING LONDON Witnessed in Truth and Faithfulness to the Consciences of all People in it that they may return to the Lord and Repent Also the Great Abominations discovered of this People who draws near God with their Mouthes and professeth Self-Separation when as their Hearts be far from the Lord. VVith a VVarning to all sorts of People in it what the Lord requires of them O LONDON thou art weighed in an even Ballance and found tâ⦠light thou are measured by an equal Line and found to short and tâ⦠narrow and thy People cannot stand in Judgment for abundance of iniquity lodgeth within thee and thou aboundst in all unrighteousness thy sins are grown over thy head and with transgression thou art covered as wiâ⦠a Garment from the Head to the Foot thou art corrupted and there is muâ unsoundness in thee O how doth Pride abound Lightness and Wantonness and the lust of the Eye and all the works of the Flesh are encreased to a large suâ aboundance of Idolatry and Vanity springs out of
thee vain Fashions foolish Customs and all manner of evil hath its abiding in thee yea the very Seat of Satan is established within thy Wall and works of unrighteousness do proceed out of thee into other Nations aboundance of deceitfull Merchandize and of oppressing Merchants who grind the face of the Poor do inhabit thy Borders thy wayes are evil in the sight of the Lord and his Spirit is grieved and his Soââ is vexed from day to day every moment of time Aboundance of Treachery Flattery and Hypocrisie Dissimulation and Double-heartedness possesseth thine Inhabitants from Teachers to People High and Low Rich and Poor you are fulfilling your own wills and seeking your own pleasures and following the counsels of your own hearts and doing that which is right in the sight of your own eyes and your hearts are corrupted before the Lord and the very best of your works are evil and the purest of your wayes are filthy and all your Observations your dayes of Humiliation and Thanksgivings and all your Worships and Sacrifices are abomination in the fight of the Lord for no good fruit can spring forth for your root is not the Vine Christ Jesus who cannot own the Light with which you are enlightened and that makes all your profession vile and not accepted but it is wholly unfruitfull in the Sight of the Lord. Much Profession is in thee of Righteousness and Religion and many Forms and Gatherings of People which are but as so many Images and liknesses of divers sorts which must be overturned and overthrown by the roots You are all measured with the Line of true Judgment and your Buildings cannot stand when the Lord comes to try you and search and try you for your life for though you profess much yet you perform little your knowledg puffs you up and you are not sincere-hearted but loose and unsavory are you in your wayes and words There is much wisdom in thee and many wise men whose wisdom is devillish and it doth not lead to God it must be confounded and trodden down for it profits you not in the Sight of the Lord but in it you are wise to do evil but to do good you have no knowledge and the Lord God is forgotten and his Judgments are not known Vanity vanity hath so stolen away your hearts and after Idols are you run worshipping strange gods and following strange lovers Aboundance of subtilty and craft lodges in thee vain glory excels above measure Pride Idleness and fulness of Bread abounds in thee even as in Sodom unto whom thou art become equal in trangression Whoredom Drunkenness Wrath and Envy Gluttony and Excess spending the Creation upon the lust and all the Works of the flesh which are evââ have their full growth in thee and in evil art thou fully ripe O London Consider and be awakened ye Inhabitants thereof for the Lord is grieved day by day and his Soul is vexed every moment the weight of thy Transgression is upon him thou even makest him to serve with thy sins Hath there been any evil committed by any Nation which is not in thee Hath there been any abomination brought forth which is not in this day to be found in thee Oh what Haughtiness and stretched-out-Necks Oh what Pride and Vain glory appears in thee Even thy Infants are nourished up in vanity and thy old Men are over-grown with craft and deceit thy young Men give their strength to folly and thy Maidens are trimed in wantonness all sorts of People are prophane in their Way Old and Yong Rich and Poor are abounding in evil all seeking their own things and few the things of Gods Kingdom the Way of Truth is even despised and they that depart from iniquity are become a Prey to the mouthes of the Ungodly who are grievously prophane as though the Lord took no notice or as though no day of account was to come so great is the iniquity committed in thee words reacheth not to manifest it What Lying what Swearing what Vain-talking and what Scorning and what Double-dealing appears in thee at every corner What Pride what Wantonness and Wickedness is manifest in all thy Streets Teachers and People are out of the Way given to deceit and to deceiving Oppressors and oppressing one another such is the Devils Power amongst you ruling it cannot easily be overcome so deep is wickedness seated in thee that it cannot easily be plucked up so strong is the lust of the flesh grown in thee that it cannot easily be removed How is the glorious Name of the Lord continually dishonoured and polluted through thy Wickedness which is grown into a numberless sum But the Lord will be avenged on all you his Enemies and will meet you with Judgments Plagues and Vengeance and the Wicked shall not escape And as concerning all thy Profession of God and the Scriptures in a blind Zeal it is but abomination to the Lord and all thy several Sects and Gatherings of People and separate Congregations who are not separated by the Spirit of the Lord they are but like so many molten and carved Images which the Lord will overthrow All thy Offerings and Oblations Preaching Praying and Performances God's Soul hath no pleasure in them but they are a Burden and Weariness to him and though thou washest thy self never so clean and makest thy self never so fair through thy own labour yet cannot thy iniquities be washed away nor thy sin covered for thy iniquities are marked before the Lord and thy sin is written as with a Pen of Iron and as with the point of a Diamond All thy Steeple-House Worship is nought but vanity before the Lord. All thy publique Exercises all thy Saboath keeping all thy set dayes of Humiliation and all thy private Duties and all that ever thou performest unto God are not regarded of him while the hearts of thy People are not aright in his sight and upright before him so the best of thy Sacrifices are but as the cutting off of a Dogs neck and the offering of Swines blood for in thee is found the great Abomination open Prophainness abounds and secret Hypocrisie super-abounds and thou art as abominable in the Eyes of the Lord in thy Hypocritical Profession of Righteousness as thou art in thy open sins In thee is found the Abomination of Israel Mercy and Truth Justice and true Judgment is neglected Do not thy Heads judge for Reward And do not thy Priests preach for Hire And dot not thy Prophets prophesie falsly And do not they divine for money And do not thy People love to have these things so Oh how art thou deceived by thy Teachers led blind by the blind Leaders even they that lead thee cause thee to err and they that should instruct thee teache thee vain things Wo unto them the Lords Wrath is against them How do they make a Prey upon the People How do they feed themselves and cloath themselves each one of them having a Quarter from which
they seek their Gain and through Covetousness make Merchandize of souls âhe false Prophets of Israel were their Example and they follow in the Path of Unrighteousness having run and were never sent of God and therefore the People are not profited at all nor turned to God but from year to year and time to time ever learning but cannot come to the knowledge of the Truth Ignorance abounds in thy old Men and Rudeness and Wildness in thy Youths and thy People are without the knowledge of God and perish for lack of Knowledg Thou art even as a wild untilled Garden which bringeth forth no plesant Fruit thy Vines are as the Vines of Sodom and thy Fruit is loathsome to the Lords Taste wild Grapes and sour Grapes are brought forth in thee which the Lord hath no pleasure in ye bring forth fruit unto your selves and not unto the Lord ye kindle a Fire and warm your selves with your own sparks ye sacrifice to your own Net and ye think to be heard for your much Babling and your many Performances Aboundance of the first mans wisdom is among you it leads you and guides you and not the Spirit of God and through your own wisdom which is devillish you conform to the Saints words and to theiâ practises in outward appearance and make your selves like the Saints and bow unto your own Images and Likenesses which ye make and are grown wise and full of knowledge but it is not the Wisdom of God nor the Knowledge that will endure for ever for you neglect the one thing which is only needful to Eternal Life Your Buildings are high but they are not upon the true Foundation for many of you stumble at the Corner Stone your sprinkling Infants is a vâry Cheat and all that believe therein are deceived and your singing of David's ââperiences in rime and meeter is a very Lye unto you your Worship is but Idolatry and it will not cover you in the Day of the Lord though none be like unto thee O London in Profession nor any City hardly can compare with thee in respect of the Multitude of thy gathered Assemblies and self Separates yet all this will not availe thee when the Lord searcheth thy heart which is found not perfect beforethe Lord but full of vain glory and lust and pleasures of the flesh and dissimulation and guile which the Wrath of God will be revealed against A single and an upright Heart is of greater price with the Lord then all the Performances of Self-righteousness that is done in thee while your hearts are given to vanity and continue therein Wherefore O London this is a Warning to thee Let thy Inhabitants repent the dreadful Day of the Lord is coming I have heard the voice of War against thee and not of Peace the cry of Howling and bitter Lamentation and not of gladness nor joy of heart What wilt thou do in the day of thy Visitation when the Lord stretcheth forth his Hand to smite thee To whom wilt thou flee And where wilt thou be hid when the Lord shews himself thy Enemy and appears to take an account of thee What will become of all thy Treasures How will thy vaine glory become a stink How will the dayes of thy mirth be turned into grâevous sorrow instead of thy pleasures and delicacies and mirth and wantonness shall be Sighing and Mourning and woful Lamentation all thy gods shall not be able to deliver thee nor all thy Profession shall not justifie thee nor all thy self-separating People shall not be able to stand in the gap to stay the hand of the Destroyer none of thy carved Images shall stay his fury nor none of all thy several Sects shal be a mountain to hide thee when the Lord strips thee naked and layes thee bare and gives thee to know what is in thy heart which will come upon thee in a day not looked for Wherefore repnet all sorts of People and turn to the Lord if there may be mercy found Cease your Wickedness ye Wicked and learn to live Righteously Wo unto you Drunkards Wo unto you Whormongers Wo unto you Covetous Wo unto you Lyars Swearers and Scorners Wo unto you Dissemblers and deceitful Dealers Wo unto you Proud and Vain-glorious Wo unto you lustful People The Lord will plead with you all and give unto you the fruit of your doings and reward you according to your works his hand shall not spare nor his Eyes shall not pitty in the day that he comes to Judgment when he takes vengeance upon all the seed of Evil-doers and to pluck up the wild branches and to cast them into the fire Sackcloth shall be put on instead of gay Apparel and all thy Idols shall vanish away as for all thy Profession where is it All thy many Sermons and long Prayers what is become of them And all thy publick and private Duties where are thy shall it be said Ye shall all know that there is a God that will execute judgment and justice and that will plead with all flesh and in his sight shall no flesh be justified And all ye who thirst for the Lord and desire after the knowledge of his Wayes unto whom iniquity is a burden by you desired to be freed from who have long sought the Lord and have not yet found him who have prayed and had no answer and have been weary and heavy laden and found no rest I say unto you Save your selves from this untoward Generation come ye out of these abominations that you may be delivered from the Wrath Fear ye the Lord and do not offend him in any thing stand in awe and transgress not love Righteousness and Truth touch no unclean thing and the Lord will receive you meddle not with their Worships bow not to their Images nor sacrifice not to their Idol gods have no fellowship with them in their prophanness nor yet in their hypocrisie but hearken ye to the Voice of the Lord that ye may know his Judgments in your hearts and his Law and Covenant established with you depart from all iniquity and cast away all your Idols and forsake all your Lovers Give not your selves to the wayes and pleasures of this World but give your selves to Chastity to Soberness and Meekness and above all things be upright in heart towards God and towards man speak the truth one to another and let no Guile dwell in your Lips nor a deceâtful Tongue in your Mouth And cease from all Vain-glory and vain Customs and Fashions of the World which are evil And cease from all Men-teachers which deceive the People by flattering words who cry Peace when the Lord hath not spoken peace daub with untempored Morter such have not profited you at all but your soules are starved under your Ministry and leanness is upon you though you ever learn of them yet you cannot come to the knowledge of the Truth by them Cease from them all and from all your gathered and
all ye young men and Prentises Learn ye the Fear of the Lord and take heed of Temptations lest ye be destroyed both Soul and Body by them learn not to Dissemble nor to Defr and nor take not Instructions how to Cozen and Cheat but first seek the Kingdom of God and its Righteousness and then all outward things shall be added unto you Give not your selves to any Evil beware of WINE and WOMEN which steals away the Hearts of many give not your selves to Vanity nor fulfil not the desire of your own minds in any thing Covet not after Riches neither study how to be Proud and Vain-glorious Give not your selves to Craft and human Policies nor to deceive any People but fear God and keep his Commandments and be subject to your Masters and obey them in all things that are good and be dutiful to them in that which is just and righteous but deny them in whatsoever is evil learn not Craft and Policy from them neither Whoredom nor Vice nor Drunkenness nor Cozening nor any other thing which is evil but rather reprove those things then in the lest to follow them and if you do the Truth and speak the Truth in all things and keep your selves from whatsoever is evil then will the Lord bless you outwardly and inwardly and the Knowledge of God will be your Crown in old Age And cease from all Gaming 's and vain Sportings and from all Wontonness and vain Pleasures and from all the works of the flesh for they that follow such things shall neither prosper in this World nor be blessed in the World to come Wherefore take heed unto your selves all ye that are young in the World be not overcome of evil nor follow not evil Divices but stand in awe continually and offend not God who gives you Life and Health and all good things And all ye Masters and Heads of Families this is a Warning to you Be Examples of all good in your Families unto your Children and Servants rule in Authority in the Fear of God but not in Tyranny nor a Rigorous mind teach and instruct in fear and not in cruelty give no bad example in Pride Vain-glory Drunkenness Whoredom Dissimulation nor any other thing but stand as a Terror over all evil and as Encouragers of all good bind not the Conscience of any under your power curb sin only and reprove not Righteousness seek ye to be taught of God and then may you instruct all under you in his Way be pittiful towards your Children and Servants and pass by offences rather then punish them with cruelty and make not a prey upon your Servants to serve your own ends only seeking your own good only and not theirs for such things are evil in the sight of God and it is to be condemned Let no Excess neither let Want be in your Families but that which is honest and right love that in all things and follow it let not your anger and passion exceed when offence is given you and do not correct in cruelty but in a good understanding and walk in the Truth and fulfil the will of God and not your own and this is of great prize and acceptable in the sight of the Lord. And all ye Tavern-keepers and Inn-keepers fear the Lord God and oppress not your Guests neither feed the lust of any till they be drunk for that is cursed of God both in you and them and that which he will be avenged of Oh great is that abomination among you much of the good Creatures is vainly and wickedly spent and abused in your Dwellings and your advantage stands in the abuse of the Creatures by excess and the Lord is grieved with you because of that And all sorts of People Rich and Poor High and Low Masters and Servants Parents and Children Buyers and Sellers Trades-men and Labourers Hearken to the Counsel of God and seek to know his Will to you in all things that you may do it in following all that which is good and denying all that which is evil that your souls may live Let not the Devil lead you nor his temptations overcome you in any thing but resist him in whatsoever he would lead you into which is against God and contrary to him Repent of all evil that ever you have acted and let the Lord be your Guide that you may not utterly perish and your City be destroyed for your sakes the Lords Love is towards you and he waits to be gratious unto you and desireth your return rather then your Destruction and would heal you if you did wait upon him and would bless your City and make you happy in it if you do his Will and deny your own I am a Friend unto all your souls and a Publisher of Peace and of Glad-tidings to all that thirst for the Lord and he hath given me Power to warn you of all your iniquities and Abominations to deny them and that which is good to warn you to follow and Oh that ye knew in this your day the things which belong to your Peace which now ye may know before they be totally hid from your eyes and there be no place for Repentance nor time of returning and this day will come upon many and they cannot escape it who now harden their hearts against the Way of their own peace and even scorn to be reproved for their Transgression and such my soul pitties who are going in the way of destruction and run hastily into perdition I have many times been made sad by reason of such when I have measured the condion of all People upon my bed I have pondred what abomination was in thee and what would be the end thereof and I have desired nothing so much as that I might faithfully warn thee and free my self and the Lord from the Blood of all men deep thoughts have been upon me concerning what the counsel of the Lord is unto you all that I might manifest the Truth and discover the Abominations and I have not spared to cry Repentance unto Sinners that Sinners might be converted and turn unto the Lord and thus far I am clear of the Blood of all men and the Lord is clear and if the Wicked perish it is because of their unbelief and gainsaying of the Lord and this is the Testimony which I give unto thee and unto all thy people O LONDON hearken and consider this is the only day of your Visitation and there is not another Way to Life nor to escape everlasting death and destruction then that which the Lord hath shewed you Blessed is he that can receive it and they that deny it do utterly perish without Mercy London the 15th of the 6th moneth 1657. I am as a Stranger among you yet well known to the Lord and the Testimony of God concerning you shall stand for ever for it is true and shall'not be confounded though the wicked reject it to their own destruction EDWARD BURROUGH A Just and
Treasure and we have this Treasure in Earthen Vessels even the knowledge of those things which are Eternal which is not our own but the Lords to give forth according to his movings and of those things have we Handled Tasted and Felt. CHAP. XVIII Concerning what VVorks are accepted of God and what VVorks are not accepted brought forth by the Creature WHatsoever work man is moved and led unto by the Spirit of God and guided and ruled in the practice of to speak or act whatsoever by the same Spirit which moveth and leadeth into all the works of righteousness and not into any evil this is acceptable in the sight of the Lord and these works are well pleasing to him where the Lord goes before and is the leader in all things and this man and his works who is led with the Spirit of the Father is justified and accepted of God and not for the Creatures sake who respects not the person of any but for his own Name sake because they are wrought in him through faith and is moved unto and guided in by his own Spirit and they arise from Gods Righteousness revealed in the Creature and not from the righteousness of the Creature for man being changed and replanted into the Living Vine and the Root being good every work which springeth forth from it is good also and accepted of God because the Root is so But whatsoever works are brought forth by any Creature though the same in appearance which are accepted of God from another yet not being moved unto nor guided in by the Spirit of the Father but brought forth in the will and wisdom of the Creature which is from below and acted in imitation from the Saints words these works are not accepted and well pleasing unto God but is offence unto him and sin against him even the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination unto him and if a man come before the Lord with thousands of Rams and ten thousand of Rivers of Oyl and if he give the fruit of his Body for the sin of the Soul and cover the Alter with tears and is not led with a measure of Gods Spirit none of all these works are accepted nor his Preaching Praying Baptism nor Breaking of Bread nor any other Observances towards God whatsoever are not good in his sight but evil and to be contemned and the Root from whence they spring because man is in the Enmity against him and not changed out of the old Root nor in that state is not led with the holy Spirit of the Father and the Root being Bad the Branches are evil and none are accepted of God in any thing which they perform towards him but such as are in Christ Jesus the second Adam and such are new Creatures so that it is not for the Creatures sake that any work is accepted of or offence against God but only for his Name sake and because of being guided or not of being guided with the Measure of Gods Pure Spirit Therefore is man and his works good and accepted or evil and not regarded but condemned of God CHAP. XIX Concerning mans state in the first Adam before Conversion and his state after Conversion and what Conversion is MAns state in the first Adam in transgression is a state of perfect enmity against God and Death rigns in every man and he is possessed with Blindness and Ignorance and unbelief and is wholly imperfect to receive the things of Gods Kingdom or to act any thing for God acceptable to him man in that state is wholly Dead to God and insensible of the Presence and Power and Life of his Creator for he is drove from God and is not led by him he hath no power to perform any good in the sight of God but is possessed with evil and led into all evil continually he is free from righteousness and free to all evil being the servant of the Devil and subject to him and overcome of him every moment and is led by him to transgress against the Lord his heart is unclean and out of it proceeds continually uncleanness in all manner of words thoughts and actions which flow out of the corrupt Fountain which grieve and vex the Lord and his Spirit who is dishonoured daily by man through his abuse of Gods Creatures who is a Devourer and Destroyer of them and not a Preserver as he ought to be who abuseth them upon his Lust and not to the Glory of the Lord he loves the Creature and worships the Creature and is gone a whoring after the Creature and hath forgotten God that made him and all things and hath lost his own dominion wherein he was set in his Creation and his state in his Transgression is cursed of God and without the Peace of God it being in the enmity against him and in all things he is wholly unprofitable to his Maker and onely profitable to himself and to the Devil and this in short is the state of every man in Transgression before Conversion but his state after Conversion is a State more blessed for man is changed and renewed and translated by the Power of the Lord through the working of the eternal Spirit Through Conversion his Mind is changed and his heart is renewed the old is done away and a new Heart is given and all things are become new even every Word and Works and every Intent and Purpose of his Mind is converted into another end and guided by another Spirit than before his Conversion and man is again returned to God into the Sense and Feeling of his Maker and into Covenant with him where he is blessed and all things to him for the Reconciliation is made with God and the evil is judged and condemened and Sin is taken away and blotted out and not remembred For man is become Servant unto God and onely serves him in all things and not himself or any other Creature in any thing for he hath received Power to become Son to God and hath received Power over the Devil and his Temptations and Death is destroyed and the effects of it are ceased and the Sting of it is taken away and Life and Immortallity is brought to Light and man is made capable to act in all things for the Glory of his Maker and God hath made Christ Wisdom to him to rule him and guide him in all things and Righteousness to cover him Justification to him to clear him in his Sight and the new Man is brought forth and the creating in Christ Jesus unto good Works is known and the Birth which is Heir of Gods Kingdom is witnessed and unto this man is the Lord become an everlasting Light and a sure hiding Place for he is not the Servant of Sin but of Righteousness nor an offence to God in any of his Works but for his Names sake is well pleased with him he is his Teacher in all the ways of Peace he is his Helmet and his Shield and his
this is the resolution of our hearts and the full purpose of our minds to give testimony through the World as we are moved both by writing and declaring of these Truths which to us is known from the Lord that truth and righteousness may come to reign and this may we do ãâã the Lord provideth way for us not fearing the face of any man nor being afraid of the threatning of high looks and that we may finish the testimony given ãâã of God our life nor any other thing is dear unto us and all ye people every where for your sake is this written to come abroad amongst you to give yoâ warning and true information of the work of the Lord and what he is about to do that you may hear and understand and may receive the knowledge ãâã those things which belong to your peace and may be saved with an eternal Salvation or otherwise through this are you wholly left without excuse if yoâ perish And unto this was I pressed in spirit for many days that all the World may be satisfied what we are and what we hold and what the purpose of the Lord is and I whom God hath warned do warn all people upon the face of the Earth that you prepare prepare to meet the Lord for his coming and his day is nigh at hand and his judgements shall be revealed in the Earth all flesh shall tremble before him and all the Inhabitants of the World shall be confounded at his presence The Proud shall be abased and the Poor shall be exalted the High and Lofty shall be brought down and the Meek and Upright shall be set up Truth shall reign as King and Deceit shall utterly be confounded they that now suffer all manner of evil for the Name of Jesus shall possess everlasting Freedom and the Dominion shall be in their hands and they that now cause the Just to suffer shall go into endless captivity the Seed of God shall spring forth and flourish but the seed of Evil-doers shall never be renowned And betwixt these two Seeds is an eâmity put and they can never be reconciled each seed hath his fruit the one iâ cursed and the other is blessed and each Seed is known by its fruit and must receive from the Lord accordingly And this is the Testimony of the Servants of the Lord and the Witness which they give unto all the World of those things which we have handled tasted heard seen and felt blessed are all they that can receive it We are known to God in the Spirit and one to another in his Life and are known in the World by the name of Quakers cast upon us through the derisioâ of the Heathen But Quaking and Trembling at the Word of the Lord by the Servants of the Lord we do own when the power of God reacheth to the Witness of God in the Creature which brings condemnation upon all high looks and upon the lofty nature which causeth the earthly part to tremble we do own and many of us do witness the Quaking and Trembling which is by the operation of the Spirit of God and the several operations by the one Spirit we own which brings down proud flesh whose honour God will lay in the dust and bring it to everlasting contempt and when this comes to pass Quaking shall not be a strange thing nor the Name reproached as it is at this day by the proud spirits of men who knows not the work of the Lord nor the operation of his Spirit Moreover and beside all this let all the World know that our Conversion Life and Practice is one and the same with what we hold forth in words and that we give as large a Testimony of God amongst us by pure Conversation as Doctrine and do deny them who gives Testimony in Words only and answers not in their Conversation for that is Hypocrisie our souls loath it it is abomination in the sight of the Lord where he is profest in words and not walked to in purity and righteousness of life for Righteousness being brought forth in the heart works of righteousness will spring forth in the World and where Righteousness springs not forth in the World and the fruits of the Knowledge of God it shews that righteousness is not in the heart and that God is not known Also concerning our Government it is according to Christ whom we own to be Head amongst us and no other head we have or do bow unto and we are but Members of his Body joyned to him through the Spirit as Head over us all and the greatest of us is but a Member of Christ who is the Head alone and we have not another neither can we be subject to any other Government but his or to obey any Government but what is justly according to his whose Government must be set up in the earth and for it we wait and labour and travel and counts nothing hard but all things are easie to us for this prise which is before us even the Government of Christ to be set up and all Governments of men establisht according to it and this is our Testimony which we give forth in Words and Practice and if it be required can Seal it with our Blood And this is written for no other end but that you may be certainly informed what we are and what we hold and what the Lord hath done and what he is about to do in all the Earth who is risen and hath said Ah! I will ease me of my Adversaries Given forth by a Servant of the Lord EDWARD BURROUGH THE VVofull Cry OF Unjust Persecutions and grievous Oppressions of the People of God in England through the Injustice of some of her Rulers and the Wickedness of Teachers and People who hasten to fulfil the Measure of their Fore-fathers Cruelty With a Lamentation over them all who reward the Lord evil for good and is a Warning to them all for Repentance shewing that the coming of the Lord is nigh And this may serve for an Answer in full to all such who have Persecuted by violence by Word or Writing the innocent people in scorn called Quakers With a Short Addition which shewes unto all the ground of Persecution in its first cause and the enmity which is betwixt the two Seeds is clearly discovered Reader THis is sent abroad into the World that all People may see what is brought forth is this Generation against the Innocent who suffer cruel things for well doing and not for evil and the words of Christ are fullfilled who said As they have done unto me so will they do unto you And the time comes that whosoever kills you he will think that he doth God good service And this is now come to pass according as he hath said to our rejoycing and to the sorrow of all our Enemies And as any is moved herein this is to be given to the hands of the Persecuters and of them
judgment backward from the Poor and equity haâ⦠found no place to enter but Truth hath fallen in the streets and justice aâ⦠mercy have perished from among men and the Poor hath been oppressed aâ⦠they that have departed from iniquity have been made a prey to the mouthes ãâã devouring Lions for some of the Judges have been as ravening Wolves and ãâã greedy devouring Foxes the Lambs of Christ have been chased by the wicked and his power for their lives O how have the oppressed groaned in this Natioâ under false judgment to Ages and Generations for ever may it be recordâ⦠for a witness against this Generation of cruel hearted men whom the Beast aâ⦠false prophet hath raised in his defence and against the Kingdom of Christ Jeâ⦠and them that follow him how full have the most part of the prisons in all thâ⦠Land been with guiltless Sufferers under cruel bondage with unjust dealings aâ⦠false judgments have gone forth from some of your mouthes you that hâ⦠been set to judge over the people who should have been a terror to the wicked but have rather strengthened the hands of Evil-doers and been a terror to righteousness so much as is possible the great Whore which sits upon the Beast ãâã made your Rulers drunk and stagger with envy and hatred and persecution aâ⦠works of wickedness against the upright Wo is me for you what have yoâ⦠brought sorth even iniquity by Decrees and Injustice by Ordinances aâ⦠false Judgment by Laws alas alas your Destruction cometh as an armâ⦠man upon you Was ever the like heard or any persident in any Generatiâ⦠before you for imprisoning Just men for declaring against sin and the abominations of the times as you have done many and for imprisoning men because they cannot put off their Hats to you and Respect your Persons and ãâã transgress the Law of God and because they cannot Swear and so break Chrâ⦠Command For this you have imprisoned many and caused them to suâ⦠because of this may not you fear and tremble before the Lord God aâ⦠your faces gather blackness at this when you consider it Did ever any tâ⦠were set to judge in the Earth among men so abuse their power and subvert ãâã so quite to another End than wherefore it was committed to them May ãâã Shame cover you all to commit men to Prison for the exercise of pure Conscience towards God because they cannot Swear or respect mens Persons or maintain Idol-Shepherds and Idol-temples and Worships which are Abominatioâ to the Lord and for taking peaceable men out of peaceable Meetings and out of their Travel on the High-ways and first Whipping them and sending them to Prison the example of this which you have done never went before in any Age and therefore have you exceeded in Oppression in Injustice in Cruelty and false Judgment all your Fore-fathers the Pope nor Bishops hardly ever brought forth such things but the Lord will reckon with you and plead the Cause of the Oppressed against all you Oppressors yea and will give unto you a Recompence of Reward according to your works ye that have exalted your selves against the innocent shall be brought down to the dust of misery and the Saints shall reign and rejoyce over you when the Kingdom of Christ Jesus the Lamb shall be set up over you all and your Beastly power dashed to peeces as a Potters Vessel when he whom you have persecuted and his Followers shall rule with a Rod of Iron and break you asunder and this shall surely come to pass therefore consider it ye that thus deal in your anger against the Lord and his chosen for the Lamb shall get the victory over the Beast and over you all that seek to defend him and that strive under his power for they that are with the Lamb are Called and Faithful and Chosen O! therefore be awakened be awakened ye Heads and Judges and Rulers of the People remember and repent the Lords Hand is stretched forth against all Oppressors and his Wrath is kindled against the wicked One and his power to overthrow his dominon which long hath reigned in the Nations and now though he seeks to defend himself against the Lamb and his Followers by injust dealing yet the out-stretched Arm of the Lord shall bring deliverance to his Chosen who have been made Havock upon in their Liberties and in their estates some cruelly suffering in Prison and others by spoiling of their Goods and none of these for Evil-doing but upon false Suspitions and envious Jealousies and secret Surmisings without any ground of occosion given but by Wickedness have many of you sought occasion to make Offenders by laying Snares for the Feet of the Harmless and Innocent you have made men Offenders for a word and perverted innocent words and actions that you might make to your self a ground to persecute and have sought a Cloak to cover your Cruelty in the sight of men but naked and bare are your hearts made manifest in the Sight of the Lord who hath looked down from Heaven and considered these things and hath regarded the unjust sufferings of his people whose Liberties and estates and good names have been spoiled through injustice by grievous burthens laid upon some because they could not pay Tythes that hainous oppression to satisfie the unmercifullness of cruel men and many suffers at this day unjustly in the sight of God and illegally also in the sight of men and some suffer the spoiling of their goods rather by way of robbery and theft than by just execution of judgment in proceeding of just Law this can largely be witnessed and this is brought forth by subservant Officers to you that are set to judge and you to them are evil examples and strengtheners of their malicious hands some of them are not ashamed to take six times the value of what is unjustly claimed for the use of a false Teacher and deceitful Hireling who rides upon the Beast and make you their servants to oppress the Poor to uphold them and maintain them in their pride and vanities but the Lord hath considered these things and he hath numbred the oppressions against you wherewith the just have been grieved and oppressed under you he hath counted this cruelty and recorded all your unjust dealing which you have or suffered to be brought forth yea the day of account hastens and the tearm draws near upon you wherein the just and righteous Judge of Heaven and Earth will call you to account who will plead the cause of the Poor and of the unjust sufferer and oppressed against all you Oppressors for the cry of the Innocent against you and the begging of the Poor is heard which calls for vengeance upon you In the Record of justice what account will you give to the Highest-power who rules over Heaven and Earth for imprisoning just men for crying against sin and declaring against the wickedness of this Age this shall be proved against you
coming to take an account Your sins cry for vengeance against you and though your hands and tongues have been strengthened to speak and act ungodliness by the evil example of your Rulers yet your own iniquity shall you bear in the day of the Lord and though your Rulers and Judges have been strengthened in their unjustness and mercilesness by the false lying Teachers and Diviners of false visions which have seen vanity yet their own iniquity shall they bear and every man shall die for his own sin Wo unto your Teachers they have eaten up the sin of Rulers and people and covered iniquity and transgression by flattering and lying words they have daubed with untempered morter and healed up the wound deceitfully and cryed peace peace to the wicked that have walked in the imaginations of their own hearts when unto such the Lord never spake peace And now whereas the Rulers and people have stretched forth their hands to vex the Lords people have through unjust judgment and grievous oppressions and unmercifull dealings troden the Innocent under foot and made them a prey to their mouth and divers ways have persecuted in cruel manner the Followers of the Lamb yet also have the wise men of this World even the Priests and Teachers who have led the people and have caused them to err and have set themselves as in battel array against the Lord and his way and people How have you hardened your hearts and made your fore-head as brass against the Word of the Lord and you have been as the fountain of all this wickedness acted against the Just and strengtheners of the hands of ungodly men the Heads and Rulers you have strengthened in their cruelty of false judgments by your arguments of strife in subtilty you have been as nursers of all this Persecution and Wickedness and have interceded for oppression to cause the Just to groan whom the Lord hath raised to testifie against you the Judges they have given regard unto you and the people they have taken you for examples who have been cursed presidents to the Rulers and people who have followed your cruel steps of malice and envy and from the head to the tail they have drunk in your poysonous Doctrines and made themselves drunk therewith and out of reason in their furious zeal of madness and all have taken council together to slay the harmless from off the face of the Earth some by false judgment and oppression and others by cruel abusings as beatings and stonings unheard of or unequalized in Generations of late O ye Priests and Teachers and Wise-men and Scribes how many of you in this Nation joyned hand in hand to betray the Innocent by your false Doctrines and lying Divinations and have filled and sought to do so the mind of the people with slanders and false reproaches lying imaginations and many conceptions and jealousies against the people of God many of you have made it your study-work to bring forth evil by cunning Arguments to suggest into the hearts of people that they might not enter the Kingdom and even so have you been shutters of the Kingdom of Heaven against men and would not enter your selves nor suffer others that would Wo unto you you have taken away the Key of Knowledge and lost it and multitudes of false Aspersions and lying Assertions have you brought forth without fear by wicked consequence and lying productions that you might take away the key of knowledge thereby and hide it from men and lay stumbling-blocks of Iniquity before the people to stop the way of the Upright and you have travelled to seek occasions of evil against the Just and watched for the halting of the Innocent that you might glory and rejoyce in their fall and without any occasion by words or actious you have taken offence and made offences by evil surmisings to blind the eyes of people that your Idolatry might not be discovered nor the Way of Righteousness shine forth O be ashamed and repent for to account must you Come and the sin of Rulers and people whom you have blindy led will be charged against you who have given them wicked examples of cruelty in your Pulpits you have spent time in Railing and Slandering and Lying to infuse evil into the minds of men against the Truth and many books have you given forth and sent abroad from your lying Pens outof your vain studies of false prophesie and mens hearts have been filled with your damnable Doctrines of Devils wherewith the Simple have been poysoned and the Innocent betrayed even great numbers of Books and lying Scroules have gone through the Nation from some of you filled with false Divination and intents of evil against the Way of the Lord and his people and worse than Balaam and far exceeding him have you been you have sought eâchantments to curse the people whom God hath blessed altogether and some of you have done it to your evil reward of your evil work and you have not known that there is no divination against the holy Seed Oâ what will become of you when the Lord is arisen to plead with you ãâã these things the cruelty and oppression of the Rulers shall be added ãâã your account and the sin of the people which you have swallowed down it shall be laid to your charge for you have strengthened the hands of Evil-doers so that none could turn from his evil way but have by yâ⦠been hardened therein and from you prophaness have gone forth to the ends of the Earth Woe woe is approaching what account will yoâ render in the day of the Lord you will all be speechless in that day whâ⦠the swift Witness doth arise therefore to all you I am moved to write who have set your selves to gain-say the Truth and to write against the people of the Lord whom you call Quakers who walk in the Truth and have received the Truth from the Lord whom you have reproached and slandered in secret and also in open print in the face of the World and have laid many cruel and false Charges and Accusations against them and to all that hath or ever shall hereafter bend your tongues and pens to utter wickedness and falshood by writing or otherwise Repent and cease your wickedness for the wrath of the Lord is kindled against you and take this for an answer in full to all your Books and false reproaches we are of God and he that is of God heareth us and the whole World lies in wickedness and we have the Testimony that we please God and he is our God and we are his People and he hath Chosen us and we have Chosen him and the Name of the Lord is our strength and his Covenant of Life is with us and among us hath he fullfilled his promise and his Spirit is poured forth and sons and daughters do Prophesie and one King reigns upon mount Sion and the night to us is far spent and the day is
him with the tongue said They knew the Law should not perish from the Priest nor Counsel from the Honorable And it was Amaziah the Kings Priests that persecuted Amos and it was they that seemed to be religious that persecuted the Prophets and it was the wise Scribes and Pharisees and the chief Priests that handled the Law and that offered Sacrifice that persecuted Christ and the Apostles How zealous were the Jewes in their Traditions and Observations in their Sabboth-keeping and in the Dayes of their Humiliation in their Temple-worship and in all the Commandments of God They were zealous according to their own thoughts yet were they of the seed of the Serpent and persecuted the Seed of God in Blind-zeal upon false Judgment and the Persecutors had a Name to be Righteous and the Persecuted were accounted Unrighteous and so Darkness was put for Light and Light for Darkness and them that were Well-doers were accounted for Evil-doers and them that were Evil-doers were accounted for Righteous And such was the blindness of Rulers and people such as prophesied falsly and came in their own names were received for the people loved to have it so when the great abomination was committed but they that came in the Fathers Name could not be received but were Persecuted the Prophets Christ nor his Apostles could not be received of the World but were persecuted in it and Laws and Decrees were made against them whereby they suffered unjustly upon false grounds suspitions and jealousies for that Way was called Heresie in which the true God was worshipped Christ was called a Deceiver and the wisdom of the World could not receive the knowledge of the things of God and as it was then so iâ it now in every particular if any man hath an ear to hear he may hear and a heart to understand and he may perceive for now is the Seed of God and the seed of the Serpent at enmity striving one against the other and the one persecutes the other in his Generation as ever it was we are persecuted upon the false account and false judgement of being Evil-doers and Deceivers and our Persecuters accounts themselves Righteous and zealous for Gods Wayes and such as are false Prophets and Deceivers are accounted true Ministers of Christ even them that preach for hire and seek for their gain from their Quarter and through covetousness by feigned words makes merchandise of souls such were and such are Deceivers and were never sent of God and yet such in this Generation are accounted Ministers of Christ and such as are Ministers of Christ who walk in the Doctrine of Christ as they have received freely so do they freely give and seek not advantage to themselves but are preâ⦠cuted and reviled for righteousness sake such are accounted and falâ⦠judged Deceivers and so true Judgment is turned backward Good ãâã called Evil and Evil Good Deceivers are called Ministers of Christ and Ministers of Christ are called Deceivers and thus people in this Generation errs in judgment and persecutes the Righteous who are of the Seed ãâã God And it was ever the Ministers of Christ that were presecuted and never any ãâã them persecuted any nor ever any of the Deceivers were persecuted for righteousness sake but they ever persecuted the Just and sought to the Rulers and to the Elders of the people for violence to be done unto them that feared the Lord and witnessed against their wickedness it was the Chief Priests and them that handled the Law which caused Christ and the Apostles to be persecuted Amaziah sought to Ieroboam to have Amos persecuted and as it was then so it is now How doth the Teachers of this Nation seek to the Magistrates to have the Innocent persecuted and yet these man are zealous for their Performances and Duties in the set-Days of Humiliation and Lectures and even they think they do God good service in imprisoning the Innocent they have great zeal without knowledge as the Jewes had and they are strict in their Sabboth-keeping in their Singing and Praying c. But yet is Violence done to the Just and true Judgment and Justice neglected and therefore all that which they perform to God is abomination in his sight Oh what complaining is there from the Teachers of this Nation to the Magistrates What crying out for defence shewing that they want the spiritual Armour and dare not trust the Lord What plotting and contriving is there against the Seed of God by the Seed of the Serpent who ever was a Persecutor and never was persecuted What Lawes and Decrees are there brought forth against the Lords people as Traps to ensnare their Feet like as it was in the dayes of old even like unto Artaxerxes the King who made a Decree and gave commandment that the City of God should not be builded and this was from the information and complaining of Rhehum the Chancellor and Shimshai the Scribe who brought certain Accusations to the King against the people of God and called the holy City a rebellious and bad City and that it was hurtful unto Kings and in danger to endamage the Revenue of Kings Here was a Conspiracy by the Scribes and such as handled the Law with the King against the people of God and thus is it also now he that hath but an eye to see may see How many Petitions have they put to the Rulers against the people of God What grieveous and false Accusations have they laid to the charge of the Innocent saying they be Popishly affected and disobedient to Government so that the seed of the Serpent ever doth hatch evil against the Seed of God to destroy it from off the face of the Earth and it was the Wise and the Learned and the Rulers whom the Devil made use of to persecute the Righteous it was such as Rhehum the Chancellor and Shimshai the Scribe and Pashur the chief Governor in the House of the Lord and it was such as the chief Priests and Elders of the people and the Wise-men of this World such as these it was that persecuted the Righteous and so it is now Orthodox men so called and Justices of Peace c. whom the Devil makes use of to persecute the Innocent against whom no occasion can be found but concerning the Law of their God as it was with Daniel as you may read in the sixth Chapter of Daniel and the fifth and sixth Verses against him they could find no occasion that they might presecute him but concerning the Law of his God and it was the President and Princes and Counsellors and the Governors which consulted together against Daniel who was the Servant of God And as it was then so it is also now in this our Generation they can find no occasion against us the people of God either by our Doctrine or Conversation but onely concerning the Law and Worship of our God for there is a Law made against the Law of Christ and all
and not reconciled to God upon whose shoulders the Government lies and the execution of the Law in their power who cannot minister true Judgment nor discern of different Causes amongst Men. And therefore all Magistrates are to weigh and be considerate in all these things and so to act and judge among men as they may give a good Account unto God and all men and when a Cause is brought before them to give Judgment of or any accus'd unto them that they should execute the Law upon they should by the Spirit of the Lord first try into the Ground and Nature of such matters to know whether it be a wilful and supposed Wrong or Injury done between man and man or it be of Ignorance or want of better Knowledge or such like or whether it be a Matter of Conscience or about Religion or the Worship of God whereupon the Controversie dependeth and if it be a matter of wilful and purposed Wrong or of Ignorance then good Reason and Iustice will teach a Magistrate to defend the Innocent from Wrong or to restore his Wrong by true Judgment that his Person and Estate be freed and preserv'd from all Wrong and that the Wrong-dealer be restrain'd and punish'd and judg'd justly according to his Offences but if it be a matter of Conscience about Religion or the Worship of God then the Magistrates with their Law ought not to meddle therein or to judge of such Matters for these things concerning the things that are Spiritual are out of their Jurisdiction and not in their power to judge of And if the Controversie between man and man depend about such Causes not having reflection upon Persons or Estates but only about Spiritual Matters then Magistrates with their Laws ought not to judge in these Causes but Spiritual Men ought only to give their Judgments hereof as they have receiv'd from God And though men be in controversie about Religion and the Worship of God yet if they be men of Peace not wronging one another in their Persons and Estates they ought to be both protected in a good Government by the just and righteous Laws And here the Sword of Justice is laid only upon the Evil-doer to be a Terror and a Punishment to him and to limit and restrain him from Wrong-dealing and this is the End wherefore it was ordain'd of God to be among men and not to be laid upon the Conscience to oppress and afflict the tender Consciences of the Upright whose Minds are exercis'd in the Law of God for such should have Praise that do well by the Sword of Justice while it is a Terror to all Evil-doers whatsoever and this is the perfect End wherefore the Law was added and the practice of it herein by faithful and just Executors is Well-pleasing and Acceptable to the Lord. And now as concerning this one thing which is Oppression in the Nation brought forth through the unjust and false Execution of the Laws whereby many tender Consciences are afflicted and not for any Wrong or Evil-doing but for the Exercise of a pure Conscience Whereas many for a pure Conscience sake do deny and cannot pay any thing to maintain a Steeple-House or Place of Worship which the people of the World do worship in and where they commit Idolatry neither can they for Conscience sake pay any thing to uphold such Worship and such a Ministry and Ministers which are not of Christ nor ever were sent of him but of Antichrist and such by which the people are led in Blindness and Error as manifestly doth appear through the whole Land And yet the Magistrates some of them being as blind and ignorant as the people do compel many people by their Writs and Orders and Judgments to maintain a Priest and Steeple-house which for Conscience sake they deny to maintain and yet by Authority from the Magistrates are the innocent Men's Goods spoyl'd by Distress and great Oppression Exercis'd upon many poor People to maintain and uphold the Ministry and Worship of this Generation which is not of God but against him and many hereupon are cast into Prison and others have their Goods taken from them by Violence and great Havock is made in the Countries about this matter Now first it may be consider'd That to deny to uphold and maintain a Steeple-house and Place where ignorant people in Tradition do meet to Worship is not a matter of wilful and purpos'd Wrong-dealing or the breach of any Bargan or Contract between man and man but it is a matter of Conscience to the People of God and for a good Conscience sake they cannot do such a thing as to maintain a place of Worship which Abomination is committed in by ignorant and rude people who are without the Fear of God as daily is manifest and it is not manifest that by denying of this they injure any man's Person or Estate in any thing which belongs unto him by lawful Bargan and Contract or otherwise Neither is there any Reason or Equity in this matter That any should be forc'd and compell'd by Injustice and Oppression to uphold a house of worship which others worship in and not they and they knowing that worship to be Abomination to the Lord also and not the True Worship of the True God and there is no Justice nor Religion in it that any should be caused by force to uphold a House for other people to commit and practice Idolatry in if the house were for any good purpose or honest practice as for poor or impotent people to dwell in or such like who had not Houses of their own because of their poverty then that were a deed of charity to uphold it and the people of God would not deny it but could freely give their money to such a use or end but because it is not to such a use but only a place to commit Idolatry in and to worship God ignorantly in superstitions therefore it is a matter of Conscience unto many and for a good Conscience sake they rather suffer the spoiling of their Goods and affliction upon their Bodies then to pay their Money for such a use or end and herein the Magistrates do great injustice in the sight of God and his Saints and contrary to Reason and a good Conscience in causing innocent mens Goods to be spoiled by cruelty to uphold a place of idolatrous worship contrary to mens tender Consciences for as I have said they do no wrong to any man but only peoples wills are offended and their blind zeal turned into rage and fury against the Just who worship God in Spirit and in the Truth and cannot uphold the Houses of false worship and it is a shame unto the people and Ministers themselves who cannot uphold their own worshipping Houses and it is a reproach upon their God and their Religion who cause others to maintain their worshipping Houses by injustice and great oppression and will not themselves maintain their Houses where they
worship their God but people who fear God are greatly oppressed divers wayes to uphold worshipping Places for others to worship in as in many parts of this Nation is wofull testimony which is a shame to the Magistrates by whose Authority these things are done and a great reproach to the very name of Christianity that people against a pure Conscience and contrary to good Reason should be compelled to uphold and maintain a Worship and Ministry which they do not partake of but their very Enemies that persecute them whose Consciences are defiled and not exercised And their Worship and Ministry which stands not in the Exercise of a pure Conscience but in vain Traditions and superstitious Idolatry are the People of God forc'd to maintain with Maintenance by Oppression contrary to their Consciences And the unjustness of these things cries for Vengeance upon the Ungodly Rulers and People who cause the Just and Upright to groan by Oppression and thus the Law is subverted contrary to that End wherefore it was added and the Government is abused contrary to that purpose wherefore it was ordain'd of God For the Guiltless are condemned and judged and the Guilty are set free the Exercise of pure Consciences are oppressed and the false Abominations and Idol Worships are strengthned and defended and because of these thing is the Wrath of God kindled and shall not be quench'd till it hath consumed the Wicked from off the Face of the Earth that the just God may be feared and his People enjoy their Freedom and liberty in the Practice of the the pure Religion and the Exercise of their pure Consciences and this will the Lord bring forth in his appointed Time according to his Promise that his People may rejoyce in him over all their Oppressors and Cruel Task-Masters which do unjustly oppress the Seed of God And as concerning the maintaining of Ministers it is the same in nature and as Unjust and Unequal as upholding of Worshipping-houses for though many out of a good Conscience do deny to maintain a professed Minister by paying to him so much or such a Sum yet they do not hereby wrong him wilfully contrary to Right in breaking any Contract or Covenant formerly made with him by themselves or Predecessors nor they do not with-hold from him any thing which properly belongs to him as Debt or due for his Labour by any Covenant binding thereunto Only the most that can be said is That such a Sum or Gift was formerly given out of that Estate to a man belonging to such a Parish and therefore now is claim'd as due by Custom of many Generations practice and so ought to be done as the Maintenance to that man because of his Labour in his Ministry Now to this I answer What though it was formerly done such a Sum paid and such a Gift freely given by our Ancestors in the time of Ignorance and Darkness that Practice of theirs then doth not bind any now to do the same seeing no Record can appear That they bound themselves and their Heirs for ever so to do and now hath the clear Light of the Gospel sprung forth and the light of the day hath discovered all the works of Ignorance and though the man that claims such a Gift or Hire as debt to him because of his labour let them pay him for whom he doth labour and who do partake of his Ministry and Labour and let others be free who for Conscience sake cannot do it who know his labour not deserving of wages but to be Deceit and Abomination and deceiving of Souls and sees him to be a proud covetous man and an idle person who maintains himself by the fruit of other mens labours in the vanity of life and without the Fear of the Lord and this makes the thing a matter of Conscience to many that for no better use nor to no other end they should pay their Money which cannot be justly claimed as a just debt but as a gift at most to the upholding of such men and such practises which are not according but contrary to God in labour life and practice and to uphold and maintain a man as a Minister of Christ which is not so but the contrary as by his fruits is made manifest and that in Ministry and Worship which is not the Worship and Ministry of the true God but the contrary as doth appear this many of the people of God cannot do for a good Conscience sake except they should transgress the Light of Christ and the Law of God in their own Hearts and Consciences and so bring themselves into condemnation by the Lord. So let all men take notice hereof that though the People of God do deny to pay any thing to uphold and maintain such a Worship and such Ministers which are not the Ministers of Christ nor the Worship of the true God but rather gives their Goods to the Spoiler and their Bodies to the Prison yet this is onely for the Exercise of a good and pure Conscience and not out of wilfull wrong or injury and their Sufferings are not as they are Evil-Doers but as they are Saints for a good Conscence sake because they cannot be subject to the wills of unjust men in upholding and maintaining such things against their Consciences but are willing rather to suffer then offend the Lord and their own Consciences neither is there good Reason nor Equity in it nor any part of a good Conscience that people by injustice should be compelled to maintain a Minister whom they know is not the Minister of Christ by his fruits and effects and practises and so are forced against their own Conscience to uphold a man in Pride in Idleness in covetousness and in a vain and Evil life by unrighteous Wages Now if their Money was to maintain a man that 's poor or if that man had not of his own sufficiently to preserve his Wife and Children from want then it were a work of Charity to give something if it were every year or oftner to maintain him and his Family and the People of God would not refuse to give something for this end no man should compel them nor have cause to spoil their Goods for it but as he professeth himself a Minister of Christ and a Labourer in the Gospel but is not so but lives in pride and the vanities of this World upon such an account they cannot maintain him nor give him any thing at all with a safe Conscience neither is there any reason in it that they should for they receive not his Ministry neither do hear him neither do own him as a Minister of Christ nor do not partake of his Labours nor do not set him on labouring and this is greatly unjust that any man should pay or be compelled to pay by force and oppression Wages to a man as his Labourer and as his Servant who doth not at all Labour for him or do him any Service neither doth the man
Members of one Head and mind always the Testimony of Truth its self and walk therein and you cannot stumble Have not respect to Persons but to the Truth only for Persons may change but the Truth abides for ever So let not an evil Eye look at Evil when it comes to pass to take occasion thereby against the Truth for then you stumble and fall but I say again have respect only to the pure Testimony of Truth which is sure and cannot err nor alter though man may change and err and that is the Testimony which is held forth for Salvation evon the Testimony of God with whom there is no shaddow of turning Therefore all take heed unto your selves that you give not nor receive any offence against the Lord and against your own souls but know the Seed of God in which stands the Election where the Covenant of God is sure and unalterable and a Birth you must all know to be brought forth in you which must inherit and that is it which is born of the Spirit which doth obtain the Promise it is not that birth which is of the Flesh which works by willing and running and thinking that obtains not the Promise of God neither is Salvation shewed unto it but in Patience and in Long-suffering is the Victory received over all the Powers of Darkness which make war against the Kingdom of God So all Friends dwell in that which lets you see before the World was and that stops and limits all Strife in the mind and gives you victory over it and none must glory in the Flesh for that glory must be confounded but let him that glories glory in the Lord in the Spirit and not in the Flesh And take heed that none of you abuse your liberty which is in Christ Jesus neither turn it into fleshly Bondage and thereby the Just comes to suffer and the fleshly part comes to rule above the Seed of God but dwell in the Cross which suppresseth every high Thought and whatsoever is against God in the first motion and thereby you will be preserved from the Enemy which watcheth for Evil against you and seeks occasion against the Way of the Lord but mind that which keeps you pure for it is the pure in Heart that sees God and it is him that is of clean Hands and of a pure Heart that inherits God's holy Mountain And as concerning all your Afflictions and Sufferings and Tryals and Persecutions and whatsoever is laid upon you by the Lord or by Men I say bear all things patiently and endure all things in Long-suffering these things are but for a moment and they are not worthy to be compared with the Price of God's Inheritance and if you dwell in the Counsel of the Lord all these things will be turned unto your good in all Tryals and Sufferings the Lord's Arm will be revealed and these things must come to pass that Truth may appear in its beauty in Victory over all that which doth oppose it and vengance is the Lord's and he will repay for he doth enquire after our Blood though no man lay it to heart or consider the cause or unjust Sufferings of the Innocent who are become a Prey to the Ungodly and unjust Men till God arise to plead our Cause And all Afflictions and Sufferings are but for to try and prove they are not to confound or destroy the Lord's People and therefore in patience they must be born and the Life of God felt which gives Dominion over all these things And receiving all things as from the Hand of the Lord then in all things your Peace will remain and God's Testimony will witness Peace and acceptance with God And of all Injustice and Abuses and Cruelty acted upon you by any at any time keep account of it and draw it up in short and plain words the occasion and manner of it and at every Quarter Sessions let a true Declaration of all unjust Sufferings be presented in prudency and singleness of heart to the Justices or Grand-Jury by such as are wise and faithful and appeal to the Witness of God in them in such Causes that that of God in all Men may witness for us Let this be done as cause is seen at every Sessions in the Wisdom and Authority of God that in all things Justice and true Judgment may be sought after and in Patience waited for till the Lord alone our King and Judge and Law-giver comes to reign over all his Enemies when all that now suffer for him shall reign with him A Servant to the Churches of Christ E. B. To the Elect and Chosen Seed of God in London TO the Elect and Chosen Seed of God most dear and precious who are redeemed to God and joyned in Covenant with him and have tasted and felt and heard of the Love and Peace of the Father and to all the Faithfull and Called of God who are Partakers of the Power and Presence of an Endless Life in particular unto you the Flock of God in and about London who fear the Lord and wait upon him and over whom he is the chief Shepherd The Salutation in the Father's Love by me a Brother and Companion unto all the Children of Sion and chiefly unto you a Friend in Heart and nothing more desiring for you then your encrease in God and that Grace Peace Love and Fellowship from the infinite Father of Heaven and Earth may be largely encreased and aboundantly multiplied amongst you and in all your hearts that you may shine forth in the Beauty of the Lord and the Garment of Righteousness and Truth may be spread over you all and that the Spirit of Holiness may rest upon you that the fruit thereof may greatly abound in you and spring forth from you whereby the Father who hath begotten you may be glorified through the Nation and among his Saints through the World and my Soul wisheth that the Fear of the Lord be amongst you and his terror upon all your Enemies Amen DEarly Beloved and much desired after in the Lord the Spirit of the Father in upon me to put you in remembrance of these things of the greatest price which belong unto your Peace which have been hid from you in the time of Darkness but now are reveal'd unto you whereof your Eyes have seen your Ears have heard your Hands have handled and your Hearts have perceived and now be not unmindful thereof but take heed unto the precious Treasure of Life Eternal which the Father hath given unto you I mean the Knowledge of himself who is manifest to dwell in you and to walk in you and to lead you and to guide in all his Wayes of Peace and Truth and this is that Treasure more desirable and of greater price then the Glory of the whole Earth yea it is Peace to the soul and Gladness to the heart and Refreshment to the life to feel and witness the Teaching of the Spirit of the Father
shall justifie us and condemn our Enemies Again he queries whether I make the Holy Ghost and the Eternal Spirit two I answer no they are one neither do I seem to make them two it is want of knowledge in him who cannot understand but raiseth Objections where there is no cause Again from my words this is acceptable and well pleasing to God above all words and outward conformity c. from this he questions whether the doing the greater things of the Law is acceptable where the less are neglected I answer no for every tittle of the Law less and greater must be fulfilled by Christ in us in whom we are accepted and thus I have returned a few words to the consideration of people and particularly to the people of Draton and the Country there about to whom I direct my speech thus All ye people who are scattered as Sheep without a Shepherd and know not Christ the Everlasting Shepherd to lead you and to rule you Cease oh cease from all your Teachers without you who are dumb Shepherds which do not gather you to God such are they that preach for Hire and divine for Money and that take Gifts and Rewards for preaching who through Covetousness by feigned words do make Merchandize of Souls Such do keep you alwayes learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the Truth under their Teachings your Souls are starved under them and you perish for want of true Knowledge and Death raigns amongst you and many are in the broad way that leadeth to Destruction but few in the strait Way that leads to Life and Iniquity and Wickedness abounds amongst you and like Teachers like People for from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to Covetousness Jer. 6. 13. Great Ignorance hath blinded your Minds and great Darkness is over your Hearts and your Teachers do deceive you and they cause you to err and you give your Money for that which is not Bread and your Labour for that which doth not profit even as the people of Israel did so do you and in their Transgressions do you walk and your Teachers are in the steps of the Pharisees they are called of men Master as the Pharisees were they stand praying in the Synagogues and Temples as the Pharisees did and they have the chief Seats in the Assemblies as the Pharisees had and they even shut the Kingdom of Heaven against men as the Pharisees did and will not enter in themselves nor suffer them that would Cease from all your outward Priests and hearken to the Voice of the Lord which breaks down that nature which is contrary to God and raiseth up the Seed which is Heir of God's Kingdom and turn your minds to the Light in you which Christ hath lightened you withal which Light shines in your Consciences and convinces you of your evil Deeds it reproves you for Vain words and Ungodly speeches it will let you see what your hearts go after and what your love goes out unto and if you love that it will lead you to Christ and he will be revealed in you to teach you and to give you the Witness of Peace and Reconciliation with God The Light is your Eye by which you may see God it will lead you out of all idolatrous worships and works and from your false worships which are an Abomination to the Lord and you must be converted and changed into a new Nature and you must put off the Old man and his Works before you can worship God aright for he is worshipped in Spirit and in Truth only and such the Lord is now seeking to worship him Therefore cease from your Steeple-house-worship which is in the Traditions of men and not in the Spirit of the Lord and that worship must be confounded for its Root is corrupted and its Branches will wither and the Breath of the Lord is kindled against it If you love the Light of Christ and walk in it there is your Teacher and if you hate it there is your Condemnation The next day after the Dispute this was written and sent in a little time after to Draton and up and down that ways Richard Goodgrom FRiend hath not thy Ignorance Folly and Wickedness towards me now appeared And is it not manifest in the sight of many people And now thou mayest cease to boast and also to backbite for the time to come and no more secretly to surmise behind my back to the raising of unruly spirits against me so much as in thee was possible and hadst thou been more crafty and more subtile more Mischief thou mightest have done but the Innocent is delivered and thou art taken in the Snare thou laidst for another and false doctrine is prov'd to proceed forth of thy mouth And thou and thy Company may be ashamed when you consider the managing of your Work against me who many times appeared immoderate in speaking many at once confusedly and also were unreasonable in not being satisfied with just Answers but it shews your Blindness and Unbelief who cannot understand the Truths of the Gospel of Christ but contend against them though in the end you are forced to confess to them as was sufficiently witnessed that day of the Dispute and thou in particular who reproachedst me behind my back in divers places where I have heard of it by my Friends whom thou judg'dst had not been so yet they have discover'd the naughtiness of thy heart both in the Country and in the City Thou hast given forth that I had preached false doctrine and such like wicked reproachful back-biting language behind my back not like a man faithful to God and thy Neighbour but one that hath surmised Evil against the Harmless And thou mayest remember all these things thou objectest against who wouldst have made a great matter of them against me yet are they sufficiently prov'd to the Understanding of many honest People And if thou and thy Company will be blind it is because you harden your hearts against the Truth and I am clear in the sight of the Lord and all shall know that have an Ear to hear That what I profess preach and practice are the saving Truths of Iesus Christ though they may be branded to be Heresie by such as thee who may call Light Darkness and Darkness Light and put Good for Evil and Evil for Good And at a convenient Opportunity I may take in hand to prove That thou thy self hast held forth that which cannot be justified by the Scripture but are condemned thereby Many things fell from thee in my hearing which I may object against and prove the contrary and I shall not go behind thy back as thou hast done to slander thee but I shall rest contented and wait the opportunity to lay open thy Nakedness and Weakness in the sight of all people And whatsoever thou judgest The Scriptures the Writings and the things written of are two things
by another spirit then once the Christians were and that you follow another Teacher then once they did your Practices do make it manifest which are contrary and not according to what the Practice of the Christians once were Is not my Judgment just upon you Have you not lost that and are departed from it which gave the Name of Christian and so have the Name without the thing a Profession of Christianity but no true Title therein but having lost that which gave the true Title to the Name So that this is your state and this is your Condition generally ye Christians through the World A Name you have of Christianity but to the True Life thereof in every Particular are you dead And now all ye Christians upon Earth Behold behold how you are fallen and degenerated in all these things and many more which might be named I Faln I say from the true Christian Life and Practice wherein the Christians once were shewing fully to all the World that the Spirit of Christ doth not now guide you Christians but another Spirit which brings forth through you other Works and Fruits and of another nature then what the Christians once brought forth and being compared with them you are no whit equal in the very way and means whereby you are made Christians you differ from them and in all your practices and in life and conversation you are contrary to them And in respect of your Worship and Ministry in every part thereof are you altogether contrary unto what the Christians once were yea in your very Apparel you shew a Degeneration from the true Life and Practice in Christianity for the Apostle exhorted the Christians to adorn themselves in modest Apparel with Shamefacedness and Sobriety not with brodered Hair or Gold or Pearls or costly Array 1 Tim. 2. 9. And the Christians were there exorted That ââeir Adorning should not be the outward plaiting of the Hair or of wearing Gold or putting ãâã of Apparel But now amongst ye Christians is a practice found quite contrary What Vanity and Excess is in your Apparel striving to excel one another in Pride and Vain-Glory in your Gold and Silver and costly Array spending the Creation of God to satisfie your lustful Minds shewing another spirit then was amongst the Christians of old whose words and Name ye pââfess but are degenerated from the Life in things of greater and less moment Alas alas Oh wo is me for you How is my spirit often oppressed in the remembrance of your woful Fall What shall I say unto you but this You are revolted and gone away backward from the Way of Life and you have altogether forgotten God and are degenerated from Christ the living Vine and the Anger of the Lord is now greatly kindled against you to consume you and to confound you because you are revolted and turned aside from the pure and perfect Way of God which once was manifest amongst Christians And your Back-sliding and Apostacy is truly compared to that of the Iews who did retain the Name of the People of God after they were turned aside from his Commandments even as you do retain the Name of Christians though you are departed from Christ For the Iews had seen and known much of the Power and Presence and Hand of the Lord in many great Victories and Deliverances and the Lord had chosen them above any other People at that day to place his Name with them and amongst them and yet after all that they forgot his wondrous Works and rebell'd against him and became a Stiff-necked and Hard-hearted people much more then any other besides them and they would not be instructed nor reclaimed by the Voice of the Prophets but smote them and slew them and when Christ their Saviour came they would not receive him nor walk in his Wayes but crucified him saying They would not have tâ⦠Man to reign over them And to this in every particular are the Christians now found equal and agreeing with Back-sliding Israel for much of the Hand and Power of the Lord were the Christians made Partakers of and the Lord wrought great Deliverances for them when they were few in number and under heavy Yoaks and Bondage through Persecution and cruel Dealing yet then the Lord was with them and increased them greatly in number and gave them Victory in a great measure over all their Enemies but now are they revolted even as the Iews and have forgotten God and greatly rebelled against him and have turned his Love to their Lusts abusing his Loving-kindness and are become a stiff-necked and hard-hearted people as ever were the Iews and now you will not be instructed nor reclaimed from the Error of your wayes but abound in all manner of Unrighteousness and will not hearken to the Voice of the Lord nor return to him but are a gainsaying people and will not return unto him from whom you are fallen but hate the Light which Christ has lightened you withal neither will have Christ to reign over you but crucifie the Life as the Iews did And as the Sacrifices and Oblations the Sabboth-keeping of the Iews and all the Works of Righteousness were an Abomination to the Lord after they were departed from him even the very practice of those things which God had once commanded them to perform became a Burden to the Lord and his Soul could not away with them even their New Moons and Sabboths his Soul hated Isa. 1. and all their Sacrifices were as if they cut off a Dogs Neck and their Oblations as if they offer'd Swine's-blood and their burning Incense as if they blessed an Idol Isa. 66. I say The very Practice of the Iews after they were revolted and become disobedient Children in those very things which God had commanded them to do and practice and which once the Lord accepted the doing of by his People yet after they were turned aside from the leading of his Spirit the practice of the very same Works were hateful in the sight of the Lord when they performed Works of Righteousness to him and yet their Hearts went after their Covetousness and their practizing of that which God had once commanded to be done their doing of it was Idolatry and was a Burden to the Lord's Soul and their Righteousness and all their Practices therein were as filthy Rags even loathsom in his Presence when their Fear towards him was taught them by the precepts of men and they had lost that pure Fear which ãâã was taught them of God but they were gone from his Fear which should have kept their Hearts clean and their Hears were defiled and poluted and therefore not any of their Performances to him could be accepted but were altogether become an Abomination And even thus is it at this day as concerning the Sacrifices and Performances of Christians being as I have said and made manifest departed from the Lord and from the Spirt of Christ All their Prayings and Preachings and
The Qââkers-Rounds c. ãâã ãâ¦ã Answer called Something of Truth Made Manifest in Opposition to a False ãâã c and then his second Book called Some Principles of Eâw Burrâ⦠ãâã and then this my last let them be all read in order and soââ¦ly by ãâ¦ã not satisfied about the matter and I doubt not but thereby you may ãâã who is in the Truth and who is in the Error and they may fee that ãâ¦ã he hath not faithfully answered but pass'd by many material particulârs ãâ¦ã something hath no way seem'd to clear himself of what I have truly ãâã ãâã on him but he remains under the guilt of my Charge and to the Lighâ ãâã ãâã in every mans Coâscience and to all whose Judgments are thereby ãâã ãâã refer my self to ãâã judged and what I have written I leave to be judgââ And divers other things there are held forth by Philip Tâ⦠ãâã ãâã have said little to but they are recorded as his Principles among a â⦠ber of the Priests and Professors in a Book answered to go abroad called ãâã Priests and Prossââs Principles ãâã the Quaker ' s Answer to them wâ⦠ãâ¦ã desire further to he satisfied may in reading many hundred of particular ãâ¦ã and affirmations of Doctrine held forth by Preaching and Print by the ãâ¦ã which are ansââ¦d ãâã the Error of them shown to which I refer ãâã ãâ¦ã to know more if what I have here written be not enough For the â⦠tion of Truth is my Crown and Life over all the World London the 20th of the 7th Moneth 1658. Edward Burrâ⦠A TESTIMONY Against a Great Idolatry COMMITTED And a True Mourning Of the Lord's Servant ãâã the many Considerations of his Heart upon that Occasion of the great stir about an Image made and carried from ãâ¦ã Place to another happening the 23th day of the 9th Moneth IT came to pass and happened that being at Kingston upon Thames the the 22th day of the ninth Moneth it was ordered the next Morning that I came from thence to London and as I entred in at Charing-Cross I beââld a very great Multitude of People gathering together and thronging and pressing exceedingly and the whole Streets were filled from one side to the other upwards and downwards so far as I could see with abundance gazing forth at every Window and upon the Belconies and House-tops and the Glass was ââ¦d down for people to look out into the Streets and an exceeding number of people there was all the Streets so thronged that I thought it could not be possible that any more could throng in or pass by and there were Guards of Souldiers both of Horse and Foot and they stayed me and stopped my Horse and said I might not pass that way neither indeed could I well by reason of the throng of people and I stay'd a very little but presently passed back another way in a kind of wondering at this great stir I found in my way and I beheld all spirits of people were up in a Wonderment and Admiration and gazing they were and hurrying as if some marvellous and great thing had happened to them or were to be seen by them and I felt the spirits of Men Women and Children were all on Fire and they were in an admiring frame and in a condition not usual And as I passed along I turned in my Mind to see of the Lord what this thing might be and what might be the End of it and why was this gathering and running and thronging of Multitudes in this manner and in this frame and presently upon consideration I perceived that a dead Image and invented Picture would be carry'd that way and that all this pressing and stir and the gathering of this great Multitude was only to see and behold a dead Image without life or breath and then my spirit was grieved and my soul was vexed within me and it run through me Vanity Vanity Folly and Madness What is all this setting of Guards gathering of people in such thronging Multitudes and pulling down the Glass and gazing of Men Women and Children high and low rich and poor people of all sorts that were come together Is all this wondering of people and inflaming of spirits in this admiring mood Is all this said I but to see a dead invented Image of Wood or Wax arrayed and decked with some foolish Inventions Said my spirit Oh Abominable Oh Idolatry Oh Folly and Vanity and my life was grieved What is all this preparation of people in this wondering frame but to behold an Image carried and to see simple foolish people following after it in their Idolatrous Robââ and Gestures such who had invented it and been at cost with it And then my spirit was burdened and the very smell of Idolatry and Abomination entred upon me and the weight of all this Iniquity came into me and vexed the Righteous and the very sence of this Abomination seized upon my Life and I felt the burden of their so great Wickedness the making the Image I felt a burden and all the foolish Circumstances about it for many dayes and the peoples Folly and Madness that so gathered and pressed to behold it and so wondred after it was a burden to me and they that carry'd it in their foolish gestâââ All this is Iniquity and Abomination said my spirit and I was loaden therewith and said Certainly the Judgments of God will meet with this Work and the Lord will be avenged because of it and their Souls should once feel the burden of it with Terror as mine at this present And it came into me It might be some would be wounded or pressed to Death or some Wickedness would come out of this Wickedness that the Anger of the Lord might break forth and smite such as were the Foundation of this sinful Abomination and my spirit had a deep sence of the greatness and sinfulness of this high and mighty Idolatry and it wounded me and made me sad But immediately from that temper on a very sudden my spirit was changed and I was filled with the Indignation of the Lord God against this Image and this stir about it his Plagues and Fury and Fire run through me to cry Plagues Plagues and Vengeance against them because of this Abomination And I found my spirit set on fire with the very Power of God rising in me against this Idolatry that if I had been moved to it and it had been possible to have done it I could have ridden through the Guards and over the Multitude to have sounded the Judgments of God and his Woes amongst them and through them and I could then have engaged the loss of my life that the Lord might have been revenged upon this Image and Image-Makers and Image-Followers and Image-Wonderers after that my Soul might be freed from its present burden through this grleâ⦠Wickedness Said I What silly foolish blind ignorant people are these What a power hath the Devil over
Heart and tries the Reins who is a God Great and Mââ¦ty and giveth unto all Creatures Life and Breath and he will change at ãâã ãâ¦ã all the Children of Men and bring them to an Account before his ãâ¦ã Seat wherefore let all Flesh tremble before him and let all the earth ãâ¦ã ãâ¦ã his Presence who changeth and subdueth and over-turneth at his Pâ⦠and brings men to destruction who have rebell'd against him ââ¦fore thou Pope chief Bishop at Rome this is unto thee from the Mouth of â⦠Come down come down lay down thy Crown subject thy self ãâ¦ã before the Lord God of Vengeance lest ãâ¦ã come upon thee and crush â⦠and thou shalt know that this hath the Lord spoken in the day ââ¦ry flaming Sword which is already drawn enters into thy Bosom ãâ¦ã thy Honour and Renown Behold I have heard the Voice of Houlââ¦er Lamentation I have heard the Voice of War and not of Peace I ãâ¦ã I have seen the Strong become Weak and the Mighty become Miserabââââ¦ud and Honourable brought into Contempt yea I have seen her thâ⦠a Queen and has said She never shall see Sorrow I have seen the losâââ¦n and Widdowhood come upon her even in one day I have seen her Bââ¦ââ¦ed into Bitterness I have seen her Honour brought into Contempt I ãâ¦ã Whore that has made all Nations drunk with her Fornications tâ⦠the Golden Cup in her hand I have seen the Cup of Indignation pâ⦠her to drink I have seen her cast upon the Bed of never-ceasing â⦠I have seen the City that was full of people that was the Glory of I â⦠that made all Nation rich with her Traffick and Merchandize I ãâ¦ã that City laid desolate and dis-inhabited and made the Sorrow of the ãâ¦ã Earth and I have seen the smoak of her burning ascend forever and this is ãâã must shortly come to pass and if thou hast an Ear to hear thou mayst ãâ¦ã and these things are true and faithful and they shall not fail but the Wâ⦠shall know the Majesty Dread and Terror the Vengeance and Indigâ⦠of the Almighty This is assented unto by many and written and subscribed by one that hath a Nâ⦠not seen nor known of the World but known among Men by the name of Edward Burroughs Return your Answer to me or any of the People called Quakers for me in London from whence this is sent being written the 24th of the 8th Mon. 1658. A FAITHFUL TESTIMONY Concerning the True Worship OF GOD VVhat it is in it self and who are the True WORSHIPPERS In Opposition to all the False Worship in this Nation which is Idolatry which is discover'd in its Foundation and in its Manifestation not to be ever commanded of God or practized by his Apostles and Saints but it is declar'd to consist chiefly of such things and practices as had their first Beginning and Ordination in the Church of Rome whereby the Hypocrisie of this Generation doth appear in denying and crying against the Papists Idolatries and yet are found in the practice of the same thing in their Church Ministry and Worship which were first instituted by the Pope's Authority FOrasmuch as there is in the World a great Controversie among people concerning the Worship of God one crying This is the right Worship another That is the right Worship And people in these Nations are divided about the Worship of God and divers one from another in their Performances and Practices of Worship one sort worshipping after this manner another after that and there is great strife through the whole Nation about this matter and a great dis-satisfaction among people which is the right Worship and who are the right Worshippers and Thousands are desiring after the right Worship of God and to become Worshippers of him as he requires Therefore now it is upon me to shew unto all the World what the true Worship of God is in it self and who are his true Worshippers First The Worship of God in it self is this It is a walking with God and a living with him in Converse and Fellowship in Spirit and Truth for he is only worshipped therein and to do the Truth and speak the Truth This is the True Worship of God where the Mind is guided with the Spirit of Truth and the Presence of the Lord felt at all times and his Fear in the Hearts of people and his Councel stood in and his Covenant felt which unites to the Lord in Spirit this is the True Worship of God and it is without respect of times or things And now none upon Earth can thus worship God but who are changed and renewed in heart and mind and born of the Spirit and led thereby where the Body of Sin and Death is put off such as are redeemed out of the World and out of all its wayes and nature such only can worship God in the Spirit and in the Truth and such is the Father seeking to worship him now in this present Age And there is never a one upon Earth that can worship God as he requireth who remain unchanged and are in the Transgression unrenewed and unconverted such cannot worship the True and Living God but that which they perform and practice as the Pretence of his Worship is Idolatry and Abomination and the Lord hath not required it at their hands for none can walk with God nor have unity with him but who are renewed and changed nor none can do the Truth and speak the Truth in all things but such who are led by the Spirit of Truth and such are in the Covenant of God and true Worshippers of him and all that is contrary is not the Worship of God but Idolatry as I have said And now as concerning this Worship practiced in England in these Steeple-Houses Churches so called it is not the Worship of the Living God but Superstition and Idolatry for people have not learned it by the Teachings of the Spirit neither doth the Spirit lead them therein but it standeth in Form without Power and in the Inventions and Traditions of the Fathers and there is not in it the manifest Presence of God neither do you Worshippers meet with the Lord nor enjoy his pure Life and Presence in your Practices and the substance of your Worship as it is now practized is made up of Inventions some part of your own and some part brought along from the church of Rome And is it not great Hypocrisie in you to profess a denyal of the Church of Rome and yet be found practizing some of the same things as your Worship which the Church of Rome first instituted and practized as her Worship Shall we instance unto you some particular things Was it not by the Authority of the Church of Rome that these Houses in which you worship which you call Churches were first set up and made Worshipping-places for them And is it not a little while since that the Mass and old Popish stuff was therein
strange and horrid Opinions which they have audaciously invented c. Answ. It is no strange thing that Truth be called Heresie and Error and that it be branded with a Name of strange and horrid Opinions and such like but we do acknowledge that in that Way which is called Heresie do we worship the True and Living God and wo will be unto them that put Light for Darkness and Darkness for Light But when these particular Things and their Answers are truâly read and weighed then let spiritual Men judge for this Author must not be Judge in his own Cause whose judgement is corrupted and his wayes Abomination And it hath been the Work of that Generation of those called Ministers I mean for these seven years to cry out to the Magistrates and to send one Paper after another of this nature to them but what hath it advantaged them for hath not the Lord turned their Wisdom backward and even the Way which they have thought to destroy the Heritage of the Lord the Lord hereby hath made his Heritage more glorious and so theâ have striven against the Lord and altogether in vain and their doings shall they eat the fruit of and receive the reward of their own Work And whereas the Author further saith Such as have saving work in their Souls and that kââw God and Christ c. cannot but bless God for keeping them from the great Blackââss and Darkness that hath invaded the Souls of these deluded Wretches Answ. They that know the saving Work in their souls and that know God and Christ in Truth and Righteousness and that call upon him with an upright Heart we are all one with them and they with us And they alone that walk in the Light that Christ hath enlightned them withall are kept from the Darkness that doth invade the Deluded and as for thy envious reflection ãâã yââr deluded Wretches and such like these words are to thy self for they have no entrance into our Dwellings the Lord hath saved us by his right Hand and we bear them as his Reproaches for Righteousness sake And whereas thou sayest It is very sad that after so much preaching of the Gospel so many should take those things for new Lights which are but antiquated Errors c. Answ. It is very sad indeed that the Ministers of this Nation should have so fair a Profession upon them and should put the Nation to so much charge by giving them Tythâs and Stipends and Money and have spoiled peoples Goods and cast their Bodies into Prisons even of many hundreds that would not pay them And yet the Nation should be left in Darkness and like an untilled Wilderness notwithstanding all the Profession of preaching the Gospel for the Nation hath been like an untilled Field and like People like Priâââ like Shepherd like Sheep as it is especially amongst them where Shepheââs and the Sheep are risen in Rebellion against the Nation and have joyned with ãâã old Caveliers But this shews that your preaching hath been for Enââ to your selves and for Money and that you have been Ministers of the Letter and not of the Spirit nor of the Power of God for had you been in the Life and Preachers of the true Gospel the Nations had been as a Garden at this day and not like an unploughed Field as we see they are people abounding in Ungodliness and in all Pride and Vanity which is a shame to Christianity Now People and Ministers have made a shew of the Gospel but have been without the Power in the Form of godliness and have had the Form but resisted the Power And indeed the Ignorance of the People will lie upon their Ministers who have been crying Peace to them that have walked after the Imaginations of their own Hearts and have not turned the Wicked from his wicked Way and the Scriptures are fulfilled upon them They have run but God hath not sent them therefore the People have not at all been profited by them But the Light of the Glorious Gospel is risen in mens Hearts aâd your Folly and Vanity is discovered and that makes you rage and swell as a foaming Sea now when your shame is seen you are casting out Slanders and Reproaches thinking thereby to seduâe the Minds of people thinking alwayes to keep the Magistrates on your side and to ride upon them and that they will establish you in Freedom and destroy them that are against you but the Lord is opening their Eyes to behold your Deceit and Madness and you will be left unto your selves and fall into the Pit that you have digged for others And whereas this Author doth further compare this poor People which he in scorn calls Quakers with several pestilent Hereticks as he calls them that have disturbed the Church and saith he They agree with the Adamites and Pharisees and Sadduces and with the Mannâchies with the Jews Turks Servebus and with the Soscinians and many more which he names and saith we agree with them and ãâã is to render us odious and as abominable as he cââ to mân in Authority To all which I do answer What we do profess and practise for Religion we have not been learnt by Man nor been taught it by Men not our Gospel noâ Religion but we have received it from the Lord and of him are we taught and by the Spirit led into all Truth and though thou hast done as the Pharisees did they reckoned Christ with Transgressors and crucified him betwixt two Thieves so though thou hast compared us with such and such whom thou callest Hereticks and it is possible many of them might be so And so thou hast shewed the spirit of the Pharisees and of the Murderers that denyed Christ and we are known unto the Lord what we are though not unto mortal Mans wisdom that perisheth And to whom shall we more truly compare the Ministers of England Are they not like those which Isaiah cryed against That sought for their Gain from their Quarter that were Greedy Dumb Doggs and like them that Ieremiah cryed against that said Thus saith the Lord when the Lord had never spoken to them nor sent them and are not you all like them that Micah cryed against chap. 3. That preached for Hire and divined for Money and that prepared War against those that would not put into their Mouthes as you do at this day and are not you like them that Ezekiel cryed against that made a Prey upon the Flock and made Merchandize of Souls and fed themselves with the Fat and did not feed the Flock but ruled over them with Force and Cruelty and are not you like those that Christ cryed wo against That were called of men Master that went in long Robes and loved Greeting in the Markets and uppermost Râoms at Feasts for you act those things that Christ cryed Wo against the Pharisees who did the same things and are not you like them that Paul spoke of That were
till this time and at this opertunity of going to Dunkirk not having any knowledge outwardly what their Wayes and Practices were not having any knowledge I say by my sight and particular hearing concerning them without me otherwise then what the Spirit of the Lord within me did make manifest Though from a Child the Spirit of the Lord in me hath abhorred Popery and all that which savours of it But now having been an eye and ear Witness in a little measure of their Practices and Doctrines this I have to say to them and all men Blindness and Ignorance covers them as with a Mantle and they are wrapped up in the body of Darkness and gross Darkness they do dwell in and all their Wayes and Worships are but the Works of Darkness which they are led on in by the false feigned spirit of Imagination from one Generation to another being exercised therein And the sense of the Spirit of Life they have not but have wholly lost it and they know nothing at all of the Leading of it nor of its Teaching This they hiss at as a thing of nought when it is spoken of to them They have even sold themselves into the Land of Ignorance and Blindness and they hate to be reformed they are settled upon a false Foundation even the Traditions of men which the Lord will break down and their whole Building will fall And when I consider how thousands and ten thousands lie in the Captivity of Blindness and Darkness under them my Heart is rent for them upon the consideration how they are led in Darkness and Blindness and how they rest in a false confidence which will destroy their Souls and the Blood of many rests upon the heads of them that leadeth them for they that lead them cause them to err and the Blood of Souls will be required at their hands And as for the Poor and common Sort of them there is a pitây in me for them because they are led by the Blind and are out of the Way but as for the Priests and Iesuites and Clergy men they are to be cut off with the edge of the Sword of the Lord God and the Wo is unto them and no Pitty because they cause the People to err and keep the People in Ignorance and Blindness under their false and unrighteous Wayes and Worships And this I know The Word of the Lord is gone forth against the whole Body of the Romish-Church from the Head to the Tail of them will God plead with them the time is at hand and his Eye shall not pitty neither shall his Hand spare to punish them The Decree of the Lord is sealed and he will take Vengeance upon their Unrighteous Laws which binds the Consciences of People and limits the Spirit of the holy One their Unrighteous Ecclesiastical Laws I mean under which is defended all manner of Idolatry and they compel people to be Idolaters by a Law and whereby they drink the Blood of the Saints and of the Martyrs But the Lord will take Vengeance upon them and disanul their Covenants and Decrees and his Spirit shall not be limitted but shall rend them to pieces even their Laws and Cruelties and Inquisitions by which they are defended and their Religion upheld in the World and whereby they kill the Just and murder the Innocent that are better then they for the fulness of time is come and all these shall be tumbled down for their unjust Laws and Inquisitions are the main strength and Pillars of their Church whereby their Church and Worship doth stand and if they had not these cruel Laws and Inquisitions to defend themselves by in their Religion they would be soon prevailed against for they have nothing of the Spirit and Authority of God to stand in nor to fight with against such as do oppose them but their Weapons are Carnal and Devilish and by Murders Oppressions and Tyrannies they do defend themselves and when these things are broken down then their Church cannot stand long And as sure as the Lord lives so shall it come to pass a Generation shall accomplish it and in the Generation of the Righteous Seed it shall be finished their Laws shall be broken down and Murders avenged and their weakness shall then appear and their Whoredoms and Idolatries and all their Abominations shall be made naked and uncovered and judged by the Lamb and them that follow him whom he will gather to fight his Battel And if the People were but sensible hereof as in measure I am through the Zeal of the Lord it would raise up the Spirit of zeal in them all to seek vengeance and the overthrow of all their unrighteous Laws and Inquisitions and Murders which keeps people in Darkness and Ignorance and kills the Just that the Creatures may be saved and Tyranny condemned And when once the Lord doth but reach forth his Arm then shall People be awakened to mind what I now say Who would spare their own lives for the accomplishing of such a Work that the Spirit of the Lord may have liberty and that which limits it may be dashed to pieces and that the Earth may be set at liberty and all Europe made free from the Cruelties and Tyrannies of Antichrist and of the Whore And to all you Papists I say and to all the Body of the Church of Rome prepare prepare for the Lord God is coming up against you in his dreadful Power his Word of eternal Judgemnt is gone forth and his Vials are full of Wrath to be poured forth and he will be avenged upon your Tyrannies and Murders and unequal Laws and subdue them before him And his Dread shall fall upon your Consciences ye that are Idolaters Hypocrites Ignorant wretches wilful Persons and Bond-slaves of Satan the Plagues of God and the Wrath of the Lamb shall reach unto your high Throne Repent repent for the Lord's Wrath is kindled against you and if there be any among you that feareth the Lord let him deliver his own Soul by turning from your Abominations least the Lord come upon you and destroy you altogether Give up your Inquisitions give up your unjust Laws and cease to murther the Innocent and torment the Righteous I demand this of you on the Lord's behalf Vex not the Lord any longer for his Patience is turned into Anger against you and his Long-suffering will become Fury to devour you And no little service we had in Dunkirk among our English Army divers Meetings we had in the Town and declared the Message of Salvation And I must commend the spirit of our English men for moderation more then the men of any other Nation and I did many times clear my Conscience among them both as they were men Sons of Adam and in relation to an eternal State did direct them to the Way of Happiness out of Sin and Wickedness that they might come to God preaching the everlasting Gospel that as they were Sons of Adam in
the Lord's Purpose is concerning you onely this I do know The Lord hath a love to the men of our Nation and there is a spirit in them most fitting for such a work even the Zeal of the Lord hath appeared and is beginning to appear against Babylon and against Rome the Seat of the Whore and the Kingdom of Antichrist shall be thrown down and the Righteous People shall go free and Nations shall worship the Lord but there are many Mountains in the way wherefore hew down the Tops strike at the Branches make way that the Ax may be laid to the Root of the Tree that your Sword and the Sword of the Lord may neither leave Root nor Branch of Idolatry Oppressions and Tyranny which the Nations are held in slavery under and oppressed withal to the grieving of the Righteous Soul and vexing of the Spirit of the Lord. Oh how great is their Idolatries you see a little part thereof amongst you oh what false feigned deceitful and hypocritical Services do they practice their Images their Pictures and their praying before them which is Idolatry their Candles burning and their Organs and Instruments of Musick and feigned singing all this is Idolatry and Superstition and a vexation to the Lord and that Law which imposeth them upon people contrary to a good Conscience and that Law which condemns others as Hereticks that will not worship thus and that Power that kills and destroyes those that act against those Worships Laws and Powers ought ye to make war against and to claim a disanulling of all such Laws and Authorities by which this Idolatry is imposed upon Peoples Consciences and established in the Nations and by which many are destroyed and condemned who cannot bow to their Idolatries such Laws are not to stand before you for these be the Bryars and Thorns which cover the great Mountains whom the Whore sitteth upon which the Lord will judge did you but know all their Unrighteous Laws Murders and all Cruelties which are abounding among them and they have a despensation to commit Unrighteousness those Laws ought to be judged and destroyed and your Sword is to be lifted up against them It is the Lord's Work I know to make men truely religious but yet the Lord may work by you to break down the Bryars and Thorns and Rocks and Hills that have set themselves against the Lord and which keep People under the Chains of Idolatry so that they commit Idolatry and are compelled to it and defended in it even by a Law but the Lord will confound all this either by means or without means for such is their Oppression in their Ecclesiastical State and their Unjust Laws whereby their Church is established and defended that it causeth the very Earth to mourn and the Spirits of the Righteous to faint and their Hearts to fail because of Oppression to Murder and Steal and Rob and to commit Adultery these are counted little Sins amongst them they are even tolerated and pardoned by the Pope for a little Money and if they slay a Man and wilfully murder him they can run to their Altar there they can have a Dispensation of a wicked Pardon and here is a Law that tolerates Murder and the greatest Sins wherewhereby it is hard for any that fears God for to be amongst them and Blood blood lies upon their whole Dominions and the Guilty go free and uncondemned and the Innocent suffer unjustly for if any diminish from about their Mass-houses to the value of a Peny that is death by their Law while Murder is tolerated and here is nought but Tyranny and Oppression abounding even great Mountains which must be thrown down and for which the Sword of the Lord must come upon them and God will make their Riches and their falsely consecrated Vessels and Treasures even a spoil and a prey unto you if you be faithful unto the Lord wherefore all you Officers fear the Lord God and be not ambitious nor vain-glorious nor seek not your selves to gain unto your selves Kingdoms to exalt your own Horn for if you go in this way and if this be your end then your end shall be frustrated and you shall not prosper for the Lord will lay you aside with shame unto you but let it be your work and your aim to require and demand the disânulling of their Inquisitions and cruel Laws both in their Church and civil State and that Christ alone may exercise the Peoples Consciences neither be ye as Lords nor Tyrants over your poor Soldiers but be ye loving and meek towards them I say unto you Officers and to all you that bear rule in the Army Be loving and kind and gentle unto all under your Authority and be not as Tyrants nor Oppressors over your poor Soldiers but be Examples of all goodness unto them and give them no evil Example in your lives and conversations but lead them in the Fear of the Lord and know a measure of his Wisdom in you whereby you may walk before them and they may possess their freedoms in their Conditions and may not be as Slaves to you but as Servants to the Lord in their places and herein shall you be blessed as you fulfill that which the Lord requires And likewise unto all the Soldiers I say That ye may be sober and moderate and faithful to the Lord and not go in the Excess and Superfluity of this Creation but may be all kept low in your Hearts and tender towards God and obey them that have power over you in all things which are just and be not deboist nor given to Vanity but all of you both Officers and Soldiers live in that which keeps your Consciences void of offence and that you may be clear and free in your own spirits from the Abominations of the Nations and then you will be a Terror to the Evil in all People wheresoever you come and being clear and free in the sight of the Lord having no sin lying upon your Consciences then shall you face your Enemies with courage and not fear death but shall be ready to lay down your lives for a Testimony of Jesus in a good Cause and upon good Engagements and if the Lord be your Fear then no man can make you afraid but you will be in that which overcometh the Unrighteous Power within you and without you also and here is the true honour and in this it doth consist in victory over all that which is contrary to God and here is the true Way to Happiness and Prosperity in this Life and in the Life to come by seeking his Glory and not your own and all of you come to the Light of Christ that Christ hath lighted you withall and that will teach you all things what you ought to do and what you ought not to do for that Light of Christ within you ought to be the Guide of all the Children of Men in every State Place and Condition and upon this you
single Eye be watchful that all things in good Order may be kept amongst you that the Name of the Lord may be a Renown and his Truth kept without Blemish and your Authority in the Truth may be known a Terror upon the Wicked My dear Friends whom I judge to be Honest and Faithful this was I moved to write to you as the dear Remembrance of my dear Love and I do from the Lord commit it to you to fulfil the will of God in these things and the Lord bless you all with Wisdom and Counsel and with Power and Strength and the Lord give you Authority that you may reign with all them that come amongst you in the Name of the Lord and over all them that come in their own name The Lord bless you with a perfect Understanding in these things and my Spirit even the Spirit of the Father be upon you all to teach you perfectly in all things My Love and Life is amongst you who desires nothing more then the Prosperity of the Lord's Truth amongst you The Grace of God be with you all Amen This is to be read amongst you when you are met together whom the Lord hath set to order things in his Wisdom and this is to all the Faithful amongst you Kingstone 1659. E. B. To the Churches in New-England Barbadoes and other Islands TO the Seed of God and to all that are called of him and unto all you that are hungering and thirsting after the Lord in Truth and Righteousness in New-England Barbadoes Mevis and the rest of the Islands where the Lord hath a People to gather the Father's Love through me doth slaute you all whose Faces are set towards Sion abundantly desiring for you in the Spirit of the Father that Grace Mercy and Truth from God may richly abound amongst you and in all your Hearts that at his coming who hath given to every one of you a Measure of his Treasure he may receive his own from you with encrease that you also may enter into the Reward which is Eternal Life unto all that are called and are found faithful Wherefore arise and awake all ye that have been scattered and strayed from the Lord and come forth thou oppressed Seed of Israel out of the Darkness and Bondage and Oppression with which thou hast been loaded for many Ages whilst a long Night of Darkness and Blindness hath been over thee I say Awake and come forth for now thy Light is risen and the Glory of the Father shall rest upon thee and thy Bonds shall be broken and thy Oppression shall cease for thy King shall Reign in Righteousness over all his Enemies and they shall become his Foot-stool and his Dominion shall be enlarged to the utmost parts of the Earth Dearly Beloved be assured of this That the Lord God of Heaven and Earth is doing great things his Day-spring from on High hath visited us and his Light hath shined into our Tabernacle and his Arm hath taken hold of Strength to Redeem the Oppressed People and he hath reached forth to us from his holy Habitation out of his Everlasting Loving-kindness and hath caused us to reach forth to others from his own Life revealed in us that they may know what God hath done for his People and may also receive of the same Salvation and may taste handle and feel of the Life which is manifest of which we are Witnesses and the Lord hath spoken who can but declare and he hath lifted up his Standard to gather the Nations that he may search and seek out his Sheep and this I declare unto you and withal am willing to discover and make manifest the Way and Means whereby the Lord doth bring âââvation to his People and love constrains me knowing the Lord hath a Seed amongst you unto which my Testimony will be acceptable wherefore all people turn ye turn ye for the Lord calleth unto you harken unto his Testimony which speaketh in you even the Light of Chriââ Jesus with which every one of ãâã are enlightened and search your Hearts and feel what the Lord witnesseth unto you and what his Testimony in you giveth evidence of for who walks in Pride in Wickedness in Vanity and in the Pleasures of the World and acteth against God's Witness in their Consciences such are in a State to be condemned of the Lord because they act that and speak that which is reproved with the Light shewing that they are in a State unreconciled to God their Works shewing them to be evil Trees that cumber the Ground who are to be hewen down and cast into the Fire and therefore be not deceived in your selves neither let any man deceive you with a Profession or Conceit of a Justification by Christ while yet Iniquity and Transgression and the Evil of the World are lived in and not wholly denyed for to the Wicked there is no Peace from God but the Wicked are condemned by him and the Light in their own Consciences is witness against them Therefore all come to the Light which Christ hath lightened you withal which will manifest unto you your own Condition and whether it be justified or condemned of God and believe not against the Light nor hope not against God's Witness for they that do so their Faith and Hope is vain but what the Light testifies in you that believe And all you that may find your selves sinners loaden with Iniquity and that are the Servants of Sin and have no power over Temptations believe in that Light which gives you to see this and wait till the Power of God be made manifest in you to cleanse your Hearts and to judge out all Unrighteousness for Christ hath not taken away your Sins while you daily bring them forth into the World by Action but whose sins he hath taken away them he hath washed and cleansed from their sins and given them power to resist and overcome all Temptations wherefore wait upon the Lord all ye that are afflicted because of your sins the Day of a great Deliverance is approaching and mind the Light which lets you see Sin that is the Gift of God's Love unto you which will draw you from the love of the World and crucifie your Affections and Desires which go after it and if you mind the Light of Christ in you it will judge and condemn every Motion that ariseth in the Heart towards Evil and the Temptation being judged you will not fall into Sin but will be preserved from Sin and that which doth preserve you from the committing of that Sin unto which you are tempted doth blot out and forgive all the Sins that ever you have acted and that will witnes Reconciliation and Peace with God unto you as you come to be changed and renewed in your Hearts and Minds to be created in the second Adam his Image to bear and to follow his Spirit And Friends search your Hearts and let the Lord search you and judge you for him must
hands are strengthened then any dislike shewed by thee in bearing thy Witness as thou oughtest to do against them For thou knowest of some ãâã this City and else-where whom we know to be just Men who suffer Impriââââânt and the loss of their Liberties because for Conscience sake they canâââ Swear and many others in this Nation suffering cruel things upon the like or same ground even for Well-doing and not for Evil which Oppression might be removed and their unjust Sufferings taken off by thee by a word from thy Mouth or Pen and this makes thee that thou canst not be clear in the sight of God in these things because not helped by thee who hath the Power to help it and this in true Love I give thee to understand in the Day of Recompence shalt thou know the Lord will not clear thee except thou repentest and ââsest the Oppressed Other things thou speakest about the Light of Christ which lighteneth every man that cometh into the World with the Light of Life or with the Light of Condemnation and about the Ministry of this Nation wiââ some other things which I had a desire to have answered if time had been seasonable and thou willing to have heard but thou shouldst not have appeared in such lightness especially when speaking of the Things of God which did grieve the Spirit of the Lord and vex the Righteous Soul which Behaviour with some words which thou utteredst by the Light of Christ is to be condemned and which I do judge with the Life of God and yet doth tender and preserve the measure of Justness and Honesty which is in thee but thou art high above the Principle of God and cannot receive the Teachings of the Father into that mind which is light and unstable for the Counsel of God is manifest to the Meek and the Lowly but there is much in thee to be judged when thou comest to the Witness of God in thee And as concerning the Light of Christ at which thou stumblest by which every man that comes into the World is enlightened in short this I say The Light to thee is given of God and it must thou own to be thy onely Teacher to receive by it from the Father and to be guided by it in all things if ever thou inheritest God's Kingdom of Righteousness and Peace and this is the Word of the Lord to thee And as concerning the Ministry of England for which in part thou seemest to plead thus I say in Plainness Generally it is not of God but of Antichrist and the Lord is against it for it is the Ground of the greatest Oppression of the Poor in its Maintenance as any one particular Abomination which this day is in the Nation and this is the Truth from the Lord and if thou settest thy self to uphold them by any Law made or to make against such whom God hath raised to bear Witness against them their Wayes and Idolatries thou ââalt fall with them into Perdition and be overthrown amongst them in the Just and Righteous Judgments and this is the Word of the Lord to thee For God is risen of a Truth to make War against the Beast which long hath reigned and against the False Prophets which have long deceived the World and I warn thee with-hold thy hand from helping them if thou meanest to be preserved or blessed in thy Person in thy Family and in thy Armies for as I said to thee The Kingdom of Christ is setting up by his own Power and all must âow and become subject thereunto he needeth none of thy Policy nor the strength of thy Arm to advance him yet would he have thee not to prove thy self an open Enemy thereof by doing or suffering to be done Cruelty and Injustice against them whom the Lord is redeeming out of this World into subjection unto that Kingdom lest thou be such a one as wilt not enter thy self nor suffer others to enter and so Destruction come upon thee Wherefore arise as out of Sleep and Slumber not in this World's Glory and Honour come away and appear for the Lord rather then against him be not overcome by the Pleasures of this World nor the Fattering Titles of Men winâ not at the Cruelty and Oppression acted by some who shelter under thee and make thy Name a Cloak for Mischief against the Upright but let the Testimony of God in thee answer for his People this Law is not just by which many suffer because they cannot swear and because they cannot cease to declare against Sin and Iniquity let that of God in thee bear Witness and thou and thy name being chief in the Execution of this Law what will thy account be to the Lord in his Day Consider I say consider and be thou changed in thy mind and heart lest thou having forgotten God and his many Deliverances be shut up and numbred for Destruction and I say and desire the Lord give thee a more perfect Understanding of his Wayes and Judgments and that the Crown Immortal thou mayst strive for by Meekness and Righteousness through relieving the Oppressed and shewing Mercy to the Poor and removing every Burden which lies upon the Innocent and this is the Desire of him who is thy Friend and would not have thee crowned with Dishonour through suffering the People of God to be oppressed in thy Name which will be thy Overthrow absolutely if thou removest it not by turning and easing the Oppressed Edw. Burroughs This was delivered to his hands about the beginning of the Fourth Moneth 1657. For the hands of the Protector FRIEND THou oughtest to stand in the Counsel of God in all things and not to follow the Counsel of thy own heart nor to act things in thine own will neither shouldst thou suffer others to act under thee and in thy name that which is Unjust and Unrighteous Much Unrighteousness and great Oppression is acted in thy name by which the good name PROTECTOR is abused and subverted and instead of Protection by it great Unjustice is acted under it and covered with it and this one thing I am moved to lay before thee which hath been acted by thee or under thee not without thy knowledge in which thou hast done Evil in the Sight of the Lord and one day thou wilt know it Several in these Nations Justices of the Peace and other Officers who have been in trust under thee when they have owned the People of God in scorn called Quakers have been cast out of their Places though they have not denyed to serve thee and the Common-Wealth neither hath Unfaithfulness to their Trust been proved against them and also several Souldiers now of late in Scotland and else-where have been turned out of their Places because of the same thing viz. For owning the People of God and these things are not right in the Sight of the Lord that such who have been for many years Faithful in the Service and in their Trust
that lodgeth in thy own Bowels Though thou hast had Kings over thee and chosen thee Parliaments and set up Protectors and Committees and Councils have been created in thee to have been as a Defence upon thee and to have born the Scepter of thy Government but alas all these have left thee and thou art now as alone and left comfortless even as a Widow unto this day and the Staff of thy hand hath pierced thee and thy strength and confidence hath betrayed thee and them whom thou hast chosen have wrought no deliverance at all in thee even the men that thou thoughtest should have healed thee they have made thy wound more incurable and they in whom thou hast reposed trust they have been deceitfull and treacherous in thee for many have sought themselves and who should be the greatest and they have trisfled away many precious hours in vain contentions about Government what it should be and who should govern while as no good thing hath been effected by them but in the mean time of their delayes and while they have been making themselves rich with the Nations Treasure and loved this worlds perishing honor and vain titles the Nation hath starved for want of mercy and just judgment and the cause of its necessity hath been forgotten and mercy and truth and the freedom of the people neglected and the Cause of the Fatherless Widow and Stranger and the Cause of the afflicted people have they not respected Oh Nation the men that have sitten on thy Throne they have left thee groaning under great Oppressions wounded with the Spirit of Tyranny yet un-cast out and thy people are yet unhealed but the breach hath been made wider even by that Spirit which hath possessed thy Parliaments thy Protectors thy Councils thy Committees who hath proved Physitians of no value but have bin the increasers of thy grief and even because of their iniquities and the sin of their Ambition and Oppression hath the Lord dealt thus with them and suffered them to dash one another in pieces and through Judgment unto themselves and thee Oh Nation are they at present ceased from thee and thou art left alone and without a Deliverer in the Earth full of Troubles and Distractions Oh that thou wouldst now look unto the Lord and seek him in Righteousness that he may heal thee for there is none of all them that do pretend to rule thee that do rightly proceed in the way of thy Deliverance they do not apply healing Balm unto thy Wound they rather add unto the cause of thy Sorrow then remove it from thee their hearts are not aright before the Lord and how then should they prosper in their doings All these things have we viewed and pittied the condition of our Nation and thus we do declare the very cause of these things that are come to pass in thee is in that oh Nation thou hast sinned thou hast sinned and the cry of thy Iniquities is come up before the Lord even the sins of thy Rulers and thy People is the Cause of God's Displeasure against thee and he is provoked through their Transgressions in thee is found the Blood of the Innocent in thee is found the Murder of Souls in thee is found Treachery against God and Hypocrisie Dissimulation with God and men in thee is found Pride Oppression Whoredom and Drunkenness Stealing and Murder in thee is found the very burden of Iniquity the full measure of Transgression even the transgression of God's whole Law deceit is found in thee unsoundness of heart unconstancy in all good things multitude of hypocritical Fastings Prayers and Services in thee is found even destroying Sins of all sorts do abound and thou hast provoked the Lord God by thy Abominations thy Rulers have been Oppressors thy Teachers Deceivers of Souls and thy People are froward and perverse against the Lord in thee is found the men that judge for Rewards and the Priests that preach for Hire and the Prophets that divine for Money thy Sins are like Israel's of old for number and greatness and thou hast lost God's Favour and gained his Fury by thy own doings and thou art the very cause of this Misery and hast brought it upon thy self and because thou art departed from the Living God by thy Transgression therefore hath he confounded thee and turned thy Wisdom into Folly and he is departed from thee and out of thy Councils and men are left to the counsels of their own hearts and as it were ready to destroy one another Ruler against Ruler and Neighbour and Friend full of strife one against another and this is happened unto thee as a Judgment for thy Iniquities who hast also nelected a gloririous Day of Visitation thy Rulers and Inhabitants have been warned and the Cry of Repentance hath been sounded towards them all by a despised people but warning hath not been regarded but the word of the Lord rejected by thy Rulers and People and lo what wisdom is there in them not so much wisdom from God as can preserve them but it may be just with the Lord to suffer them to drink the blood one of another even because they have sinned against God and rejected his counsel therefore is this come to pass in the Nation for hadst thou oâ Nation walked in the Light of the Lord it had been better with thee had every one obeyed the Light in his own Conscience and had every one sought the Lord and not himself had thy Rulers ruled for God and had thy people been ruled of God then this day had not been a day of Trouble but it had been a day of Joy and Sorrow and Anguish had been removed far from thee and blessings had filled thy Habitations And now whereas many wise men have been advising and consulting the peace of this our Nation and they have given in their counsel for removing these Troubles yet Peace and Unity seems to be far away and though they have sought Peace for this Nation yet they have not walked in the perfect way thereof for innocency truth and simplicity have bin wanting which God only will bless and by flatteries and deceits and the pollicy and wisdom of this World have they thought to make up thy breach but it cannot be for in the way of that proceeding will not the Lord be found in a needful time and his presence hath been wanting in their counsels and therefore the fruit of peace is not yet grown up this we have seen and therefore thus we do declare O Nation the inward cause of thy destractions must be removed even thy iniquities must be forsaken and thy transgressions repented of thou must forsake thy former wayes and doings that are not right thou must leave off thy hypocrisies and flatteries with God and men thou must repent thee of thy profaneness and of thy profession also thy sin and thy righteousness must thou put away which are both Abominations unto God thou
bring your fear upon you to your utter confusion though you are making defences all that you can for your selves and your Kingdom and this seems to be ãâ¦ã âây wherein every mans heart is tryed and every man and sort of People is pouring forth the Maliciousness of their Hearts against the poor People in scorn called Quakers What say the Papists and Episcopal men Quakers are ãâã New Sect and Deceivers c. And what say the Presbyterians and the Independanââ of them Oh! they are Seducers they are Witches they are false Prophets they are Vagabonds not worthy of Countenance c. nor any Place of Trust in the Nation c. What say the Anabaptists of them O! they are Blasphemers and Hereticks and Irregular Persons and distructive to Gospel c. This and such like is the Cry of these and all sorts of people against a poor despised People whom the Eternal God hath made dreadful unto them all who shall be a Rod in his Hand to break them and confound them and utterly to destroy their Antichristian kingdom for they are beloved of the Lord though hated of all men and though the whole Body of the Beast and Antichrist and every Horn of his head do set themselves to War against the Lamb and his Followers and though all these sorts of people mentioned and some others do at this day pour out their Fury and Malice against this People yet shall they not be confounded for their Trust is in the Living God and as sure as the Lord lives The Fear that People have of the Prosperity of this People shall come upon them and without Weapon or Arm of Flesh or the Multitude of an Host of Men will their God dash their Enemies to pieces And all ye Sects whatsoever that are risen in Opposition against us what do we regard your Fury and Madness against us What do we fear your Reviling you uncircumcised Philistines We mock at your Terror and we reject your Strength as the Strength of a Straw we despise your Authority which is not of God as the Authority of so many Bryars and Thornes we can glory over you in the Lord What are you and from whence did you come is not Babylon your City and is not the great Whore your Mother and the Mother of Harlots your Nurse and what is your growth but even like the Grass of a Summer's growth that 's soon cut down and withered and like the Leaf of a Summer Tree that utterly perisheth in Winter The Mighty Day of the Lord is at your Door Confusion is begun amongst you and the Sword of one may destroy another and the Strength of one shall tear another and the Remnant that is left shall be destroyed and we must overcome them without Sword or Carnal Weapon and this shall come to pass in a day and the Eye that is yet blind shall see it and the Child that is yet undelivered shall be a Conqueror over the Beast and over his Image and over all your false Sects and over every Horn that is risen up against the Lamb and his Followers the time of the Lamb's Kingdom is at hand Behold behold ye Mountains of the Earth The Sentence of Eternal Vengeance will pass upon you ye Hypocritical Professors ye Pastors Elders Members and Ministers of Churches so called the Decree of the Almighty is coming out against you you have provoked him by your Wickedness towards him and his People even to the Destruction of your own selves wherefore Tremble before the Lord for his Dread and the weight of his Hand shall be upon your Consciences Oh Nation mourn over thy iniquities which have provoked God against thee and if men turn not unto him his sore Judgment will be upon thee we are not for this Party or the other neither do we justifie one side in opposition to another for we see the Earth is corrupted and all sorts of men that are this day striving one sort against another are in a wrong way and in a wrong spirit and we cannot side with any of them but we rather mourn over the Nation who is torn in pieces by the ambitious spirit of her pretended Rulers and we desire the repentance of all and not the destruction of any and we are for Gods part and not for men E. B. AN ANSWER TO THE Great Cry The QUAKERS will soon FALL A Great Cry in the World hath been by many people of all sorts As for the Quakers they will soon fall and come to nothing they will stand but for a while as other Sects have done before them For many Sects that have ââde a great stir for a time they have come to nought and so will these they will fall and âââe to nought in a Year or two or the like and they will forsake this Way And this Noise and Stir about them will come to an end and they will have a Fall And thus and after this manner do the People of the World Cry and say one to another To this I answer O ye Fools and Blind that thus do judge and say ye are ignorant and sottish Children and know not the Way of the Lord nor his Judgments neither do ye know his Secrets nor have entred into his Counsel who told you thus or by what spirit have you received it and do ye not speak as ye would have it and because you would have it so do ye not therefore speak it Ye Fools and Blind whose Hearts are hardened I tell you nay your words shall never come to pass but you and all our Enemies shall be found Lyars and as you say of others so shall it come to pass upon your selves and that which you desire for others it shall fall upon your own heads Again I tell you nay we shall not fall nor be decreased nor come to âââght but the Truth shall stand forever and we shall be encreased through the World and shall be the Renowned People of the whole Earth For we are of them whom the Lord is gathering from off the barren Mountains and out of the Mouthes of all dumb Shepherds whom the Lord will feed and keep as the Sheep of his own Pasture over whom the Seed of David Christ the Heir of Heaven and Earth is chief Shepherd and he is set over us and he rules in Equity and Righteousness And them we are spoken of Ezekiel 34. which are the Sheep of God's Pasture and the Lord hath sought us out even as a Shepherd his Sheep and we shall not fall as ye suppose And we are them spoken of in the Revelations whom the Lord is bringing through great Tribulations and making us white in the Blood of the Lamb and redeeming us through his Sufferings And we are of that Numberless Number spoken of which shall stand with the Lamb upon Mount Sion for we are of the Seed which is coming up out of Egypt and shall replenish the whole Earth And ye Fools and Blind will
more clear opportunity for I cannot be at Okingâââ the day mentioned by thee because my service is already determined for that day and for some other reasons also in my own breast Let me have a plain answer from thee that I may dispose of my self is the Lord guides me for his service This is all for present I do desire who am a Friend to all that love the Lord. Reading the 19th of the 10th Moneth 1659 E. Burroughs But to this Letter his Answer was he would not meet me at Reading for there was no need of Dispute there and therefore it is my present work at this time for to answer his ten Particulars in writing and to make them publick to âll that all may judge of this matter And indeed but that for these teâ particulrs Charges and that truth may be clear from those Charges in his ten Particulars I believe I had not thus proceeded in this publick manner but because âe ceaseth not to speak evil of the Truth and yet will not come forth fairly to Tryal neither will answer me any Queries in publick but keeps a secret reviling and reproaching therefore do I thus proceed Answer to the first Position Thy Major and thy Minor are both lame and both false and thy so conclusion falls to the Ground for the Quakers do not pernitiously deny the Scriptures to be the Word of God but they in sincerity say that Christ is the Word of God Io. 1. 1. Rev. 19. 13. and the Scriptures are the Words of God and a Declaration and a Treatise and this Testimony is according to the Scriptures Luke 1. 1 Acts 1. And it is not Heresie nor Blasphemy to deny the Scriptures to wit the writings to be the Word of God but the truth written of and those things declared of in the Scriptures ãâã âhe Word of God and not the writings which are Scriptures But this iââââtheâ ãâã to before mâ so I pass it Answer to the second Position Thy Major Position is uââââly ãâã and not grounded upon any part of the Scriptures so that the Niâ⦠and the Concluââââ are both denied and cast out for a man mây sây That Chrisâââe Foundation of Faith and the Spirit of God is the Rule of Life for thus the Scriptures say and a man may lawfull deny the Scriptures to be the Foundation of Faâââ and Rule of Life and neither be Heretick nor Blasphemer was the Apoâââe a Blasphemer and a Heretick who said No other Foundation could be laid but thââ which was laid already which was Christ And was he a Heretick and a Blasphemer that said The Sons of God were led by the Spirit of God and exhorted to walk ây the Rule of the Spirit and are the Quakars Blasphemers and Heretiââs who âold forth that Truth the Apostles held forth and who walk by the Spirit wâ⦠according and not contrary to the Scriptures O thoâ Perverter of the right way of God who hast falsly accused the Innocent in thy illiterate Logick Answer to the third Position In this thou hast falsly accused but yet let us cââsider thy words There was a Nature in that Maâ Iesus Christ that was born of tâe âââgin that was subject to cold heat thirst and hunger and subject to be tempted of the Devil and this nature was not God whose nature is Infinite Eternal Unmeasurable me sâbject to hunger nor thirst nor to heat and cold nor subject to temptations so that a man may say lawfully and be no Blasphemer that there was a Nature in him which was âot God and yet the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in him too and he is the Everlasting Father and the Father is in him and he in the Father and thus by a sound interpretation of the Word God by Nature thy Major and Minor and Conclusion are all made void Answer to the fourth The good works of the Saints are wrought in God and by his Spirit and its God that works in them to will and to do and all such Works are worthy Works glorious Works and blessed Works even unto Eternal Life as the Scripture saith Glory Honour and Peace be unto every man that âorketh good Rom. 2. 7 10. And no man by Faith without Works is justified for Faith without Works is dead and a dead Faith doth not justifie This is our Faith and the Faith which the Apostles were of and we are neither Hereticks nor Papists no more then were the Apostles and thy argument is vain and falls to the ground and hath no weight in it unto sober Minds though Self-righteousness is altogether Abomination to the Lord and justifieth not any man Answer to the fifth Position A man may deny the Sprinkling of Infants and the administration of Bread and Wine as is held forth in your Assemblies and be neither Antichristian nor a Heretick for the Institution of sprinkling Infants and administring of Bread and Wine among unconverted people was never ordained of God nor practised amongst the Apostles if thou sayst it was prove it out of the Scriptures or else stop thy Mouth and to deny such Ordinances and Practices which God never commanded nor the Saints of forâer Ages ever practiced is not Antichristian nor Heresie but thu do the Qakers and tââââfore they are not Antichristian nor Hereticks upon this accompâ and tâââ thy Position is not worth any thing for the end proposed by thee but thy Weakness and Folly is made manifest and thy idolatâous Prâctices so much plâââed for by thee are denied and opposed by the Spirit of the Lord. Answer to the sixth Position As for the sin of Infants we do not say That Infants in general that is to say every particular Infant that is ãâã hath been horn into the World has Sin for some were fillen with the holy Ghost and some were âââctified from their Mother Womb and what Sin had such And the Scriptâre speaks That the Unbelieving Wife is sanctified by the Beliâving Hâ⦠eâse ãâã ãâã Câildrââ unclean but now are they holy And what sin had these So that âây maâ⦠is proved defective and so thy minor and thy conclusion is worth nothing though as to the general part we do believe there is a nature whereby all are Children of Wrath in Degeneration Answer to the seventh This is a false Accusation thy minor Proposition and is a Lye and so thy Conclusion is utterly false Answer to the eighth As for the Christian-Sabbath we do not deny that for Christ is the Saints Rest and the Seventh day of the Week is the Iews Sabboth and not the Christian-Sabbath and so this is but a false Accusation as the rest And as for the first day of the Week which you observe for Sabboth you have neither binding Example nor express Command in Scripture for that practice Answer to the ninth As for the singing of David's Psalms in Rhime and Meeter and in the Custom as practised amongst you we do utterly deny to be any Ordinance of
God or any part of his Worship though you say it is yet we never had other proof of you then Tradition of time and long Custom and by this you would seem to plead the practice to be a Duty But this satisfies not us though we do not quarrel nor deride at your practice in this particular as thou groundst thy Argument but this we do we freely give our Testimony against your practice from time to time in the Fear and Power of the Lord yet not as quarrelling and deriding after the Flesh though we do say they were composed in Rhime and Meeter by Sternhold and Hopkins and others which were Musitioners to the Queen and in this we say true and are neither ignorant foolish nor prophane as thou sayst and we give witness against such your practice to be Antichristian and you Deceivers of the People thereby so hereby is thy Conclusion made void and a place is brought in for another They that act such things and observe such practices in pretence of Honour and Worship to God which is not commanded nor instituted of God nor which his Spirits leads unto They are Idolaters and their Worship and their Practice is Abomination unto the Lord But thus do the Ministers and People of the Church of England and therefore the Ministers and People of the Church of England are Idolaters and their Practices Abomination unto the Lord. Answer to the tenth Thy minor Proposition I do deny for we do not charge the Office and Call of the Ministers of the Church of England with Lies and Calumnies but this we say their Office and their Call is not from the Lord nor by the Authority of his Spirit neither is their Office and Call according to the Scriptures but it is different and contrary both to the Spirit of God and the Scriptures and is not from Heaven but rather from the Whore of Rome And though we do affirm these things concerning the Ministry of England yet we do not charge it with Lyes and Calumnies but we speak the Truth in righteousness And what would C. Fowler and his Brethren have said of the true Prophets that called the Priests and Watchmen of Israel that were made by Divine Institution which the Office and Call of England's Ministry never was that called them blind Watchmen and greedy dumb Dogs and devourers of Souls Might not they have said to the true Prophets you charge the Office and Call of the Priests of the Lord with Lyes and Slanders And this is like the case between us and the Priests of England And did not Christ call the chief Priests Serpents Vipers and Hypocrites and those Priests were in their Office and Call of Gods Institution but might not they have said that he charged the Office and Call of the Priesthood with Calumnies c. and the case is the same with us and it is accounted no sin by the Lord for us to give our witness against the Wayes and Practices of the Priests of England and utterly to deny both its Office and Call for they that do profess their Office and Call to be of God and from him and yet can give no true Testimony thereof by the Spirit of God and according to the Scriptures such are deceived and Deceivers of others but such are the Priests of England and therefore c. And thus I have returned Answer to his Ten Propositions and laid down some others in their place his being confounded and I must leave it to be judged of by the Witness in every mans Conscience whether he hath not shewed his madness and folly in his matter and in the way of his proceedings as for the matter he charges us withal it s wholy invalid as for the end propoâed by hââ and we account of his Work as but the malice of an Antichristian spirit And as for his proceedings they are inconsistent with a Minister of Christ for him and his Brethren to fly from me at his Dispute at East-Hamsted as before mentioned as being not able to defend their Cause this he and they did as many in that Country knows ââd then for him the next morning when I did invite him to meet again upon sober reasons which he also denied and refused to meet me any more and yet afterwards when I was gone out of the Country to go and hatch such mischief in his mind as to invent ten such rain Arguments and cause them to be set up on the Steeple-house-door oâ purpose to villifie and reproach the Innocent People of God this was his Wickedness as all upright men may see And further for him to challenge to dispute these Particulars and leave time and place to our appointing which when time and place was appointed sutable and equitable on all parts and yet for him to refuse to meet at that time and place this was his fâdy and madness as understanding men may discern And further for him yet to rail behind our backs against us in his Pulpit and to charge us as if we refused to meet him this is his hypocrisie and the deceitfulness of his heart whereby he thinks to keep the People in blindness but the Light is now arising in the Hearts of People whereby such Deceits and Deceivers are fully discovered and they cannot now be hid And though for many Ages Deceivers and false Prophets have hid themselves under the Profession of Ministers and fine names yet the Day of the Lord is dawned which hath made them fully manifest and now their Sheeps cloathing will not hide them though they cover themselves therewith and have deceived the World thereby and these Babylons Merchants they have made great gain upon people and traded with the Souls of men and Souls have been murdered even for dishonest gain but the Plagues of God is coming upon the Earth which the Whore the false Church hath corrupted through her Sorceries and Witchcrafts and as she hath done unto others in causing them to drink her Cup of Abominations and false Principles Doctrines and Practices which the Beast and his Power hath imposed upon the Nations and Nations have been made drunk thereby and in particular this C. Fowler with whom I am now dealing is made manifest to be one of these Merchants of Babylon who hath made Merchandize of people for gain to himself and such are his covetous cursed Practices having a heart exercised with Covetousness and Oppression as is well known in the Town of Reading as for instance First It was charged upon him and confessed by him that he sued at Law twelve poor men of Reading for the Tythe of their Turnips and with much malice and greediness did prosecute the twelve poor men and put himself and them to great Charges and Trouble onely he confessed he took but twenty Nobles of them and thought he did favourably with them Now this was acknowledged by his own Mouth which is a clear demonstration of the Coveâousness and Oppression of this man
of Answer for the end that People may be satisfied concerning things doubtfull which are in controversie this day among many for it is well known the Controversie hath been long and is grown very high between us and you concerning Church Ministry and Religion and divers things in your Exhortation are doubtfull unto many and that all doubts may be removed if possible therefore I do return what follows as an answer unto you Whereas you say You are not ignorant of the prejudices and prepositions wherewith the carnal World is leavened concerning you Calling Office and Doctrines and what Clamors and fiery Contentions abound for them every where that pleads Christ's Cause in the Gates c. Answ. As for your Calling Office and Doctrine there is much to be said against them in and by the Spirit of the Lord for your Calling and Office is not according to the Example of Scriptures though the Calling and Office of Ministers of the Gospel hath Example in the Scripture yet as you are called into your Office that is not according but rather contrary to the Scriptures And as for your Doctrine it is in some things unsound also Now as for Seasonable Exhortations of Ministers to People I do acknowledge that it is a Duty which ought to be done but how seasonable and sound your Exhortations are that remains to be tried and it is not onely the carnal World as you speak that are doubtfull concerning your Calling and Office but it the best of the people whose eyes the Lord is opening to see and behold the false immitations of the Calling and Office of Ministers as you have stood for many Generations and it is true them that pleads Christs Cause they are cryed out upon and contended with but this fully belongs not to you though you apply it to your selves but it pertains more to others for the World speaks well of you as it use to do of false Prophets And you say We the Ministers of the Gospel in the City of London do with earââ¦ess exhort the people of this City to awaken as out of Sleep and to lay to heart the great dangers that threatens you which you represent under a threefold consideration 1 The fear of the return of Popery 2 The distracted estate of Religion amongst us 3 Other symptomes of Gods wrath hanging over your Heads Answ. That you are Ministers of the Gospel this is doubtful unto many and many more testimonies might be given to the contrary then can be given for it But this is not the present debate and therefore no more of it And what is the people of your Congregations yet asleep Have not you awakened them in so many years time Have you been preaching over them and taking their Money so long and are they yet to awaken as out of Sleep Will not the blame of this and the condemnation of it fall upon you their Watch-men who hath not yet awakened them And may not they say that you have dealt unjustly by them who are left as asleep under all your preaching and are yet unsensible of the danger that threatens them Oh Friends will you consider and your people with you what you have been preaching and what they have been hearing for so long a time seeing you now acknowledge they are yet asleep and unawakened Now as to the first of your considerations The fear of the return of Popery for which you lay down divers things to make the people believe it First The union of foreign Popish-Powers Secondly The vast numbers say you of Popish Emissaries and Jesuites that swarms amongst you Thirdly The vending and printing of so many Popish Books every year c. Answ. As for Popery I know it is Idolatry and their Church and Worship and every part thereof abomination to the Lord and the spirit that leads them is not the Spirit of Jesus and as for Popery it was never yet truly cleansed out of the Nation but there hath been and are great remainders yet standing which may indeed easily recover its former strength For is not the most part of the worship of the Church of England made up of such things as was first instituted and practised amongst the Papists witness the making Ministers by natural learning at Schools and Colledges and their maintenance by Tythes and yearly Stipends and their way of Parochial settlements are not all these things Papistical and witness sprinkling Infants calling it the Baptism into the Visible Church and witness the singing of Davids Psalms as now they are sung among you these things for the most part are of Popish institution and many other things also pertaining to your Church Religion and Ministry so that Popery was never clean cast out of the Nation though the Lord hath wounded it yet there is the remainder of it yet standing in great force so that while Tythes are pleaded for by you and those things practised by you it may indeed be feared the return of Popery seeing you stick so fast in those Practises which were of Popish institution and the cause of fear lies at your Door and upon your selves principally and if there be vast numbers of Popish Priests and Jesuites swarming amongst you if you be Ministers of Christ why do you not discover Wolves in Sheeps cloathing and fright them away Why do you not lift yp your Spiritual Weapons if you have them as the Apostles did whose Weapons were powerful and mighty through God and who shall bear the blame but you if Wolves in Sheeps cloathing tear your Flocks that is a sign you are lazy idle Shepherds and that your want the Power and Authority of God and when the Powers of the Earth fails you and your carnal Weapons are all broken then you are like to be overcome with the swarming of Popish Priests and Jesuites if there be any such among you look you to it for I know not any and if you know any by name and where they are you ought by your Law to discover them Now you say they are acting under the disguise of Sectaries and subtilly insinuating many of their Doctrines as teaching Iustification by Inherent Righteousness Perfection ãâã lawfulness in joyning in your Ordinances and nullity of your Ministry c. Answ. Now these that you call Sectaries may truly plead against you against your Church Worship Ministry Practises upon good grounds as for Justification by Inherent Righteousness it is a Doctrine of the Church of Christ that the Saints witnessed Christ and his Righteousness within them and that none are justified by any righteousness without them but who witness Christ revealed in them for all are Reprobate that do not witness Christ in them 2 Cor. 13. 5. And as for Perfection that is the Doctrine of the Gospel and of Christ for the Apostles spake wisdom to them that were perfect 1 Cor. 2. 6. and Christ commanded them to be perfect Mat. 5. who never commanded impossibilities You might better have charged
especially in this day wherein there are so many Ways and Professions of Church-Ministry and Worship and yet all professing the Scriptures are their Rule of Faith Worship and Practice and seeing that all Sects do profess Proof from Scripture for what they hold forth what Ground have the people to believe you more than others or others more than you for where people receive Doctrine or Religion by Report from others without the Evidence of the Spirit of God in their own Hearts this is not receiving of the Truth unto Eternal Life wherefore I exhort your Congregations That every one amongst them may wait upon the Lord to have a feeling and discerning in their own hearts and that each one may be led and taught oâ the Spirit of God which leads into all Truth that they may deny all false Ministers and false Worships and may worship God in Spirit and Truth though the ministration of his own Spirit in their Hearts and Consciences and thereby will they discern between Truth and Error and will love the one and hate the other Thirdly You exhort That they keep themselves unspotted from the prevailing Corruptions of these back-sliding Times c. Answ. Concerning the Times many are ignorant but this is certain at the present Time wherein we are is the Lord disquieting of men and its the latter dayes of Antichist's Raign and Government that hath been in full Power and Authority for many Generations and Babylon that great City her Ruin is threatned because of her Abominations that have been many and great for the whole Earth hath been corrupted as it s written and now the Call of the Lord is That every man come out of Babylon and deliver himself that he may not partake of their Plagues and happy are they that are made clean unspotted from their Sins that they may not be found covered with her Garments for the Day of the Lord is come and coming upon Babylon and all Back-sliders from God and his Wayes Now Babylon is that great City which hath ruled over the Kings of the Earth and in her hath the Blood of Souls and of all just Men been found Fourthly You exhort To endeavour a Healing of those sad Breaches and Divisions which have been amongst you c. Answ. Now the sad Breaches and Divisions which are indeed at present in this Nation cannot be healed but as the Cause and Ground thereof be removed which is the Sins of Rulers Teachers and People and this is the Cause wherefore the Lord hath brought Distraction amongst them Oh what Ambition and Self-seeking hath been among the Rulers What judging for Gifts and Rewards What neglect of Mercy and Judgment amongst them And oh how have they oppressed the Poor and trodden down the needy and because hereof is the Righteous God vexed And oh what Covetousness and Greediness of Gain âre the Teachers guilty of How do they Preach for Hire and Divine for Money How have they unreasonably caused men to be imprisoned and their Goods to be spoiled for Wages and Tythes and Hire Oh how hath Covetousness and Idolatry and Superstition abounded amongst the Teachers in this Nation Oh abominable have been their Sins their Oppressions and Self-seekings and because of these things hath the Lord brought Distractions amongst People and the Sins of Rulers and People cry for Vengeance from the Lord and till these Iniquities be removed by Repentance and forsaken the Fruit and Effect thereof shall never cease but Breach upon Breach will the Lord make till the Rulers and Priests repent them of their Iniquities God's Hand will be upon them both in Judgment and for their sakes that divine for Money and preach for Hire and judge for Rewards will the Lord make the Nation as Heaps and as a Ploughed Field Therefore let all people Repent of their Iniquities and return to the Light of Christ in their own Consciences and become Followers of the Lamb and this is the perfect Way of healing of all Breaches inwardly and outwardly Fifthly You exhort To be diligent in the Spiritual and Conscientious Performances of Family-Duties c. Answ. Men must first be awakened and enlivened unto God before they can act for God in Holy Duties and as for Duties performed in pretence unto God traditionally and without the Teachings of the Spirit of God is but Idolatry and the Nation is weary of such a Religion which they have received and held traditionally for thereby the Soul Immortal cannot be nourished unto Eternal Life and while you teach Duties towards God by that Rule while you teach Praying Singing Repeating Catechizing by Tradition and Immitation without the Leadings of the Spirit of Christ in them you do but teach Idolatry as long hath been taught in the Christian Nations the doing and performing such and such things as Christian-Duties and Practices and the Forcing and Compelling of doing such things upon People in the unregenerate state and unconverted nature this Religion and such Performances of Duties have been of Babylon and of Antichrist and a Cheat upon Peoples Souls whereby many have been murdered and slain in that great City and the Form of Godliness without the Power hath been practiced while Duties have been performed unto God without the Teachings of the Spirit of God and such their Consciences are blinded and the Lord abhors their Sacrifices And people must first come to feel the Word of God in their Hearts to regenerate them before they can perform any acceptable thing to God and therefore do not teach People to be Hypocrites do not teach them such and such Performances in the corrupt Nature without the Teachings of the Spirit of God in their own particulars for if you do you make them but two fold more the Children of the Devil and such Duties performed in that nature shall not cover nor hide from the Wrath of the Lord which is coming upon all Hypocrites Sixthly You exhort That they would cause their Children and Servants to submit to Catechizings and train them up in the reverence of Godly Ministry c. Answ. It may be enquired into what you mean by cause them to submit how cause them by Force and Imposition upon their Consciences by outward external personal Punishments or Threats Is this your Meaning Will you set up Religion by Violence And must Children and Servants be compell'd by Restraint and Force This is not the right Way to promote Religion and the Worship of God nor to make Children and Servants truly Religious it was the Beast that received power from the Dragon that caused all to worship both Small and Great Children and Servants and this causing to worship was in the time of the Apostacy when the true Church was fled into the Wilderness and all the time ever since have Nations been caused and compelled to such and such performances and practices of Religion and Worship and such causing I am jealous your Meaning is whereby you would force and compel such manner
worships and Idolatrous Practices and Ordinances and in her false Ministry and false Doctrines and she was set up in Nations by the force of cruel and violent Laws and men and is upheld by Oppression and Injustice at this day and yet all this she doth under the Name of Holy Church and useth the Name of Christ as if she were his Wife and yet hath other Lovers and by such means hath this great Whore deceived the World But now the Day of the Lord is come upon her and the hour of her Judgement is at hand and all that have taken pleaâââe with her shall mourn and bitterly lament because of her Judgements which cometh in a day but we are delivered from her Judgements because the Lord hath called us from her abominations and we can no more drink her Cup of false Doctrines and Practices all which are Idolatry and to be Judged of the Lord though she should drink our Blood as she hath done the Saints before us But I say the Lord hath led us out of this Babylon He hath delivered us from this great City and made us Spiritually free from its abominations and Idolatries though not outwardly free from her oppressions and cruelties And though this great City hath Ruled over the Kings and great men of the earth and subjected many Nations through its wickedness and violence yet certainly its ruin is near to come Else my Hope is lost my Life is smitten and the Lord hath not spoken by me And the Lord will Reward this false woman this false Church that hath deceived the Nations even according to her deeds as she hath done to others so shall others do to her measure for measure and much more might we say concerning her but the Lord hath opened our eyes and we see her abominations and she cannot deceive us And this is the loving kindness of the Lord unto us for which he is worthy to be praised by us for evermore And in that ye have received the Truth and do know the Truth live in it and walk in it in all faithfulness and be not fearful and unbelieving as though the Lord were not with you though ye suffer much for his Names sake for he is not wanting unto that man that doth fear his Name and that walks in his Way but for the deliverance of all such will he appear he will free the oppressed and the afflicted people he will save even by his out-stretched Arm Wherefore let our eye be unto the Lord in all estates and conditions whether of sufferings or otherwise for from him Salvation cometh and not from the Mountains of the Earth and keep your Meatings in your several places and be faithful in all things that your Consciences may be kept void of offences both towards God and men that no disobedience nor load of iniquity may be upon you but that in the sight of God you may feel clearness and freedom of Soul and Spirit from the burden of all transgression that you may know the Remission of all sin and all iniquity may be blotted out and no guilt of transgression may lie upon you but you may enjoy Peace in your Consciences in the Sanctification and Justification of the new man and this is the heavenly Life even upon Earth And when you are met together in the Name and Power of the Lord mind his presence amongst you for that is life and will make your Meetings profitable and full of Vertue to your Souls and the Lord will instruct you in all that which is good and Christ will be your Minister of Peace and Comfort and his Spirit will lââd you into all Truth and by his Word even the speech of God in your hearts you will be quickned in Spirit and your strength and Peace in God will be renewed day by day and walk in all Wisdom and in the fear of the Lord one towards another and towards all people that your Righteous and innocent life and your Holy Wayes and Works of Truth may have Evidence in the hearts of your Enemies that you are of God by the shining forth of your light before them and that the Devil nor all your Enemies may have ought against you saving concerning your God and the Worship of him and the matters pertaining to good Conscience and then if any suffer afflictions and tribulation by wicked men if it be for Righteousness sake and concerning the Law of your God and the matters of his Kingdom in such suffering the Lord will be with you and not forsake you but he will give you Dominion and carry you through it all in Patience and Faith which gives you Victory over all Enemies And nothing shall come to you nor happen on you in the anger of God but all afflictions shall be turned to your Comfort and by Persecutions and Tribulations the Lord will but try you and not destroy you you being delivered from his wrath and from that which is the Cause of it And therefore Friends it being much upon my Spirit I do lay it upon you to be mindful in this very thing that you walk in all Wisdom so that your Enemies have nothing against you to cause you to suffer for but onely for Truth and Righteousness sake and concerning the Law and Worship of your God and then if the wicked one take occasion against you to inflict his wrath upon you by wicked men because of the exercises of your Consciences towards God thereby shall the Lord take occasion against your Enemies to destroy them in his season and he will deliver you and for this Cause doth the Lord plead with the wicked in his wrath even because of the unjust sufferings of his People for that alwayes drew down the wrath of the Lord upon Nations and Rulers and for this Cause hath many been destroyed and in our sufferings must be filled up the measure of the iniquities both of Rulers and people in this Nation that the Lord may over-turn them with his hand when their measure of oppression is finished and the burden of its guilt falls upon them Therefore let us have Patience towards all men in all Conditions and Faith towards God at all times for therein is our Armour of Defence and our Weapons to resist all our Enemies and giving up into the Eternal Will of the Father whether in Life or Death in Tribulations or in Rejoycing and giving our Power wholly to the Lord and nor unto any other knowing That not one Hair of our Head can fall without him whose Power is over all and through âll So that if we Live it may be unto him alone and if we suffer and dye it may be for him and herein Peace shall be with us in whatsoever cometh to pass upon us if we can receive all things as from the hand of the Lord and Live in the feeling of that Power which doth all things or suffereth all things to be done And blessed is he that is not
this shall be manifest in the day of the Lord and in the mean time we are willing to bear and to suffer all things that is put upon us for the Name of the Lords sake Query 1. Whether you or any of you that pretend to Inspiration and Revelation did foresee or was it revealed to you that ever Charles Stuaââ should be proclaimed King ãâã Reign in England ever anymore or whether or no any of you did believe it or could have believed it by your great Faith which you profess if it had been told you long ago Answ. As for the Proclaiming of Charles Stuart King to reign in England it was not improbable unto our Faith neither is it contrary to that which some of us hath seen for we know that God respects neither persons nor names but doth give the Kingdoms of this World to whomsoever he will and thus much was said as may be seen in a Book called Good Counsel and Advice rejected and divers other Papers c. p. 17. In a Letter to Oliver Cromwel it is said concerning you that are commonly called Cavaliers But what and if for and because of thy Wickedââââ in the sight of God he should raise them up and make them Instruments in his Hand to accomplish his wrath upon thee even like as he made thee once his Instrument to overthrow them c. And here the thing was believed to be possible that the Lord might raise you up again for his pleasure to fulfil his Will because of the wickedness of the Army and Nation and it is now come to pass even as it was seen and believed And also it was expressed in a Letter written in the 10th Mon. 1659. concernning them that were your Enemies and that were at first raised against you The very same spirit of Pride and Oppression and Idolatry is entred into them meaning your Enemies and now lives in them in as high a measure as ever it lived amongst you and âââir Iniquities are well nigh finished and the Lord will one way or other correct reprove them and they shall be dealt with in like manner as they have dealt with you for they were no more then a Rod in the Hands of the Lord for a season and they must also be broken and cast into the Fire and whether the Lord may ever may make use of you to reprove them as he did of them to reprove you this I determine not but leave it to him who can do whatsoever he will by what Instrument he pleaseth It is true you have made many Attempts to be revenged upon them but you have not hitherto prospered but could you be humbled and come into the meek Spirit of the Lord then might you prosper but hitherto the Lord hath alwayes defeated you and bowed you down under a People as unworthy as others but their time will come to an end And submit unto the Will of the Lord in what is come to pass and seek not vengeance to your selves and then the Lord will avenge your Cause for the Iniquities of your Adversaries are ripe c. And Charles Stuart must either be converted to God and ruled by him or else he can never rightly rule for God in this Nation though this I believe it is not impossible but that he may be a Rod upon them that once smote him and their Oppressions and Ambitions may receive a check through him c. These things were written in a Letter to all the people of your part long before there was any visible appearance of that which is now come to pass whereby it doth appear that these things in a great measure were foreseen and prophesied of and it was believed as a thing very possible that thus it might be as is already come to pass And as for Visions they are for an appointed time there is a time to see and a time to speak what is seen and revealed things belong to us and when we declare them then you may take notice of it but it was verily believed as a thing possible that such a thing would be and also by the Proceedings and Transactions as they have fallen out for your very Enemies have so acted and proceeded as to destroy themselves and to bring you in over their heads though they little intended the thing yet the effect of their proceedings could hardly prove otherwise then to destroy themselves and make room for you and these things I observed And also thus far we did fore-see and it was revealed to us and believed by mâây of us fully and we did often Prophesie it that the Lord God of Heaven and Earth would destroy and bring down the Government and Authority as they have stood in this Nation for divers years and that he would bring Iudgment upon the Rulers and upon many of the Teachers and People of this Nation because of their oppressions and unfaithfulness and treachery and hypocrisie and wickedness which abounded amongst them which we have felt and seen and been sensible of and we have often given our witness against them because of their guiltiness in their sinful ways Oh it hath been loathsome unto the Lord even the Oppressions and treacheries of the Rulers Oh how hath Cruelty and Injustice abounded in their Government and their hypocrisie hath been evident in our âight in many Particulars and even in that they have cryed against and overthrown King and Kingly Government charging them with oppression and cruelty and pretended to ease the people in a better way of Government when as though Governors and Names and Titles of Government were changed and altered yet oppression ceased not neither was injustice forsaken nor was the heavy yoaks of great bondage removed but the rather these things were increased upon many good people in these Natiââs and herein was the unfaithfulness and treachery of the Rulers very great in the sight of God and their Government unjust and unequal wherefore the Lord hath been provoked against them to confound them and overturn them and we have often told it them and also the hypocrisie and deceits and sinfulness of Teachers we have seen and testified against and our witness to them both is and will be found true and Gods justice will be fulfilled upon them both and these things we have observed even the heinous guilt of sin against God in both Rulers and Teachers and the aboââââtions that have been committed both in Civil and Church Government so called also and many people have lov'd to have these things so and we have been sensible how the Lord hath been provoked to overthrow the Governors of this Nation because hereof and this we have foreseen Prophesied of even that Iudgment and Confusion would come upon the Government the Rulers and the Teachers but particularly when and after what manner judgment and overthrow should come upon them was left to the Lord who hath brought to pass his own will according to Justice and it
and divers practises thereunto pertaining it is not the true Worship of the True and Living God though never so zealously practised because it cannot be believed that the Authors and Composers of it were moved led and guided by the Holy Spirit of God in their very Institution and forming of it and whatsoever is brought forth whether in Faith or any practise in any kind of Profession and practises in any way of Religion and not onely by the Spirit of God is not the true Worship of God which is only in Spirit and Truth and consists onely of such practises moved unto and guided in by the Spirit and the true Worship of God is not otherwise neither for matter nor manner but in what things and after what manner as the Spirit of God leadeth unto and guideth in for the Father seeketh such to Worship him as Worship in Spirit and Truth 4. As for the Method and Form of the matter it is not according to the example of the Holy Scriptures nor agreeing to the practise of Worship held forth by the Apostles but different from and partly contrary to the Spirit that was in the Saints and their example of Worship as in many circumstances pertaining to the orders of Common-Prayer-Book might be instanced but even some of the Practises themselves and the manner of performing them are for the most part Invention and Tradition traduced into the World long since the Apostles days and they are not according to the Scriptures nor example of the Saints Worship in the Church of Christ in their days and therefore the Matter in it self partly and the Method of it are not the true Worship of the Living God which is not after the traditions of men as the manner of performance of Common Prayer-Book is when as the Worship of God is in and by the Spirit of God as before witnessed 5. And as for the Practice of it in this Nation as by Imposition and force upon pains penalties as it was practised for many years together as so held forth it was not the Worship of God but Abomination to him as I have shewed and that Worship which is practised by any people being forced upon them is but Hypocrisie and deceit and outward conformity in such Worshippers and God requires it not of them and such was the Worship in the Common-Prayer so called for there were many who did bow and conform thereunto even because of the terror of men even many in the Ignorance of their Consciences and some against their Consciences and contrary to the Light thereof and some were persecuted because they could not conform all which was Abomination in the sight of the Lord even the consequence of the thing was as evil as any part of either matter or manner also even while many conceited themselves in their Ignorance that they had Worshipped God and done well while they had onely performed such Worship forced upon them and which the Lord never required at their hands and that cannot be the true Worship of the true and Living God which can be performed by a People without the Spirit of God by which alone and without it God cannot be Worshipped and the practise of Worship after the order of Common-Prayer did many thousands if not most perform without the Spirit of God whereby it fully appears that in the practise of the Book of Common-Prayer the Worshippers did not Worship the true and Living God but walked only in a part of the Form of Godliness but had not the Power 6. But as for the Practise of it as now in England without Imposition upon all by force and penalty but by some out of supposition that it is the best way of worship and that willingly and neither forced upon them nor they forcing it upon others as thus practis'd is not so great Idolatry nor of so bad effects as if it were violently forced upon all but if any suppose it to be the best way of worship and be so perswaded such may more equally have their Liberty in the exercise thereof while they allow Liberty to others to follow what worship as they are preswaded and as it is unjust to impose by violence that or any other Form of worship upon people so it is unjust to impose penalty or punishments on the Bodies or Estates of any for their conformity to the Book of Common-Prayer or any other kind of Worship for as it is contrary to God to compel by force to that Practise of Worship so it is unjust to stop by force from that Way of Worship or to inflict Penalties upon the Persons or Estates of any because thereof for though many exceptions may be justly made by sound Arguments against that way of Worship in matter manner and effects as I have said yet none ought to be afflicted in Person or Estate for the error of their minds while their error extends not to destroy the Person and Estate of another for all force by violence that hath been put on the Bodies and Estates of men about Church-Worship Ministry and Religion of any kind hath been Antichristian and not of God even for many Generations 7. And therefore them that read the Book of Common-Prayer and all other sort of Worshippers that are either perswaded by the Spirit of God or suppose in their hearts of the Verity and Truth of their Way let them all have their Liberty in their way of Worship without force or restraint by outward Laws while they impose not one upon another violently for the true Worshippers ought not to be persecuted for their Worship but if they are it will confirm them in the truth of their Way the false Worshippers ought not to suffer affliction of Persecution nor loss of Estate though they do err in their Minds and Judgments about Worship in spiritual things but if they are afflicted because thereof it will harden them in their evil wayes and not convert them nor turn them from the evil of their wayes for men are converted to the right way and out of that which is evil by the Spirit of God and through perswading of the Conscience inwardly and not by force or violence put upon their Bodies or estates outwardly never any were converted to God by such means And this is my Answer to the Objection and my judgment of the case inquired into The Book of Common Prayer so called partly the Matter it self and the Method of it and the Manner of its performance is not the true Worship of the True and Living God no not the free Practise there of without Imposition much less the Practise of it by Imposition and force for that is altogether Abomination and hath with it woful effects upon whatsoever People it hath been or shall hereafter be forced and violently Imposed This is given forth for the Satisfaction of all that desires in this Matter The 5th Moneth 1660. E. B. A Postscript AND some set up the Institution
but that over all you will be preserved in faith and victory I am now according to the Will of the Father in Ireland it is some weeks since I arived at Cork City in much peace and safety with my dear Companions it having been long upon my spirit to visit the Seed of God in this Nation even of love have I felt it in me and not of constraint but of a willing mind and free spirit and not of force and after the time of patience and waiting for many dayes to see my way clear for it the Lord hath ordered it and brought it to pass acceptable unto me and many here and this is the time which this visitation must be effected for till now my way was not clear and but that this Journey hath laid upon me I should have rejoyced to have been present among you either in testimony by suffering or otherwise but this is the will of God and it is in my heart to pass through this Nation and to visit the Seed of God by the Love and Word of the Father as he gives of his Life and Strength and opens the way before me I perceive in this Land Friends are generally well and truth grows in victory and dominion and the Lord is adding to the numberless number of them that must stand on Mount Zion and through the rage of men and above it all the little Flock is preserved in its beauty and the Seed sown in weakness and afflictions is received and quickned in much power which is my joy About Bristol I continued about two moneths in much precious service for the Lord and truth had good authority over all great acceptation in the hearts of many and some convinced and others edified and confirmed as many can witness in the spirit and until after the time of the Fâir I was not clear of that City but imediately after I was free and my way made very convenient and clear to this place and the hand of providence ordered all things very well on that behalf as I do hope in the continuance of the power and presence of the Lord with me through this work and in his power I am committed even to do or suffer all things for his Name sake and that by vertue of his own life that dwells in me And the Lord preserve all the Brethren like-minded that the work of the Lord may be fulfilled and finished by us Amen County of Cork the 21th of the 6th Moneth 1660. E. B. A PRESENTATION of Wholsome Informations unto the King of England c. Being a Defence Pleaded and also appealed unto Him even to the Testimony of the Spirit of God in His own Conscience In Answer to a certain Accusation charged before Him in a Printed Book called The thrice happy Welcome of King Charles the Second by one George Willington of Bristol City against Us whom in derision the Accuser calls Quakers And also herein are laid down divers Considerations in Answer to a Petition directed to the King by the same Author in the Book aforesaid concerning Church-Government and concerning the making and sending forth Ministers and concerning the True Prophets and True Ministers and the False and how they are distinguished in their Call Maintenance and Fractises and that none ought to suffer death of Body or be killed or spoiled in Person or Estate though they may err in their mindes in the knowledge and Judgment of spiritual things All which is soberly presented to the King and His Council for Them to consider The Epistle to the King and his Council KNow ye That it is Righteousness Iustice Mercy and Truth and the fear of the Lord God it is the doing hereof and the walking herein in which you onely may be truly honourable I say if you do these things if you fear the God of Heaven and depart from all Iniquity and if you be doers of Iustice and Mercy and if ye break the yoke of cruel Oppressions and let the oppressed go free then are you worthy to be honoured both in the sight of God and men if so be that you are possessed with the nature I mean with Righteousness Iustice Mercy and Truth then you deserve the name but not otherwise for if Unrighteousness Injustice and Falshood dwell with you and be brought forth by you then are you not honourable to God neither can his servant in feignedness and flattery give the name unto you but and if I should give flattering titles unto you I should provoke the Lord to wrath against me though yet I gained your favour but I have rather chosen to speak the truth from my heart in Righteousness and to be well-pleasing unto the God of Heaven then with flattering Lips and a deceitfull Tongue be a man-pleaser while I grieve the Spirit of the Lord and the chief desire of my heart is to keep my conscience clear in all things though I should gain the displeasure of you and the most eminent accounted of men And if you shall say who art thou I must answer That I am a Servant of the great God of Heaven and Earth him I fear and before his presence I tremble I fear not him that can but kill the Body I flatter not any by feigned words for I regard not the love or hatred of this World I have not learned to practise a flattering tongue nor can I use it towards you or any upon the Earth but words of truth and righteousness are my delight and the dialect of my native Countrey and the characters thereof are not in the eloquency of words of mans wisdom but to demonstrate by the Spirit of the Lord in plainness and soberness with more respect to please the Lord then to please men Thus am I known among my Familiars and thus I desire only to be known unto you not in words only but in substance not in flattery but in an upright heart And this my present occasion thus to write unto you is even in as much as we have been accused even to the King by one George Willington of the City of Bristoll in a Book of his directed to the King even therefore is it that I have taken in hand to answer and publish a defence against his Charge with some sober Considerations chiefly laid down and directed even to the King that he may consider them and my hopes are that he and you of his Council will read and consider the Defence as well as the Charge against us assuredly knowing that it is good reason and equity for you so to do and may prove also of good consequence to you so to do for if the King should receive mis-informations and thereupon proceed in Iudgement Oh what pits and snares of danger did he run himself into even to destroy himself Now to the intent that he and you may be better informed in some particulars concerning us about which we are charged and accused and that you might know the truth and
Islands and all the Kingdoms in the World are altogether at the Lords disposure to give the governmâât thereof to whomsoever he will he giveth and taketh away Power and Dominion according to his pleasure and it is his proper right to rule over all even the God of Heaven and he it is that pulleth down and setteth up according to his own mind and if you please not the Lord but vex him in your proceedings you must know that the Lord can take from you the Dominion and give it to whom he will and there is no injustice in him thus to do but of right he doth it because it is his pleasure so to do with whom there is no Iniquity nor Unrighteoâsness Therefore let it enter into your hearts to Fear the God of Heaven assuredly knowing that it is he alone who hath secretly purposed and effected this your reââââing into the Throne and he hath given you this day and put this season into your hand that ye should do his will But if ye provoke him he alone can cast you down and take your day and season from you and none can hinder and this justly and none can reprove him 4. As concerning the men that were cast out before you whose persons many of them are now under your power be not passionate nor of a spirit of Revenge âââards them neither seek their destruction but be merciful and patient and meek towards them for though it is the pleasure of God to reprove them by you for their iniquities yet it is contrary to his minde that you should take away their lives and cause them to be put to death for there is a seed of God amongst ââat people and when they come to true repentance and to the forsaking of their ââquities the Lord will shew mercy to them and peradventure heal them of all their backslidings and afflictions too Therefore shew Mercy and Moderation âââards them and cut them not off in their sins lest that while you condemn them for being too cruel towards you in times past ye condemn your selves in the sight of the Lord and all people in doing that to them even in the same measure of cruelty for doing of which to you you now condemn them and so thereby bring the same guilt upon your selves which lies upon them but therefore show Moderation and Meekness towards them and leave vengeance to the Lord to whom it belongs if they be worthy of it it shall come upon them It is true they have been active against you and it 's probable they were raised up of God as a judgement and reproof upon you because of your iniquities which were many and great against God and the God of Heaven had a just Cause against you and improved them in it as instruments to reprove you and they had once a just cause against Oppressions and the Lord blessed them in it and gave them many Victories and wrought great Deliverances for them even when they were both fewer in number weaker in strength and less in policy and craft even then oft-times did God appear for them and gave them Victories and defeateâ their Enemies and you your selves must confess to this That the Providence of War was clearly on their side which I call the hand of the Lord and consider what a sad thing it would be on your part and how contrary to God to cause them now to suffer when you have opportunity against them for that which was effected by them when the Lord was with them you ought not to cause them to suffer on that account but if you do you will provoke the Lord against you if that you destroy them and take away their lives because they were once prosperous against you even through the Hand of the Lord do I say and through the Providence and good Fortune of War needs must you acknowledge Now it s acknowledged that they quite forsook the just cause and forgat the Lord and his mercies and deliverances and became corrupted and abominable before him and insulted over their enemies in the spirit of ambition and began to set up the same things which once they had cried against in others and this was their Transgression and abomination and in their corruption and forsaking the Lord they became fully guilty of the same abominations of others before them and the Lord became provok'd against them to reprove them and correct them and afflict them even because of their transgressions who as I have said did forget the Lord and walked in the same Path themselves which they reproved others for and the same abominations were set up by them which they once pulled down in others and this was their Hypocrisie in whom was found a deceitful heart which led them aside into treachery false-heartedness covetousness and vain-glory and because of these their iniquities hath the Lord bowed them down under you and smitten them before you even because they were not faithful to the end and not because they were faithful at all no not because they were active against Oppressions at all but because they became guilty of the same abominations and set up that in themselves which once they moved against in others and because hereof hath the Lord reproved them and that justly that they might learn his righteous Iudgements and be humbled under his hand and that all the Earth may know if Men forsake Him he will give them up to the will of their Enemies though he may bless a man or a people while they fear his Name yet if they sin against him he can turn blessings into a Curse and now they that were once exalted are abased and brought down and you that were once low are now exalted and if you become corrupted and provoke the Lord through wickedness in this day of your Exaltation and if they become humbled and repent of their Transgressions through their afflictions in this day of their sufferings then the God of Heaven can and may suddenly by his secret hand bring you down and âây you low and raise them up and exalt them and bow down your strength and might under others these things can the Lord effect according to his pleasure he exalteth and abaseth whom he will he setteth up and pulleth down according as men reverence him or regard him not They that honour him he honoureth but they that dishonour him by unrighteousness he bringeth such to shame O therefore ye Men consider how dreadful the Lord is and take his counsel lest ye perish 5. Concerning Liberty of Conscience in the faith and worship towards God you ought to be considerate and to take the counsel of God lest you run upon the same Rock upon which many have been broken before you to ãâã limitting the Spirit of the Lord and of such whose Consciences have been tender and binding them to or from by force or violence any such ãâã such way of Worship and Profession of Faith and exercise in Religion
if you do thus and will not allow clearly and freely Liberty of Conscience but will by force and violence limit the Spirit of the Lord and tender Consciences this shall be a Snare upon you and a Rock oâ offence against you to break you to Pieces for in so doing the God of Heaven will be displeased with you as with others if so be that you take upon you to prescribe the Lord a way how he must be worshipped and will take upon you to rule and judge in the cases of Conscience and in the matters of Christ's spiritual Kingdom which appertains to Christ alone to be Iudge of and Ruler in and not man and to him alone you ought to give the whole Rule and Government in all the matters of his own Kingdom and that he may prescribe and teach Worship and Faith and Duty to himself in all spiritual things and this I claim of you on his behalf even that you give unto him the whole Rule and Authority in all the matters of his own Kingdom and that you allow Liberty of Conscience in the exercise of Faith and Worship to all Christian people in these Nations and that no man be compelled or forced to or from by outward violence any kinde of profession of Faith or practises of worship for it is of Antichrist so to do if that you impose any Sârt of Worship and Religion contrary to mens Consciences upon penalties on mens Persons or Estates if you do thus you exercise not the Power of Christ but of Autichrist and it is ââdepriving of Christ of his Heirship and of the Government of his own Kingdom which will be reckoned against you as a fearful abomination if you ââlk therein And therefore let men believe in Christ and Worship him according as they are perswaded in their own Consciences for a tender Conscience in the Sight of God is a thing greatly regarded of him and if you limit it and do violence upon it the Lord will be provoked against you and these Nations will not bear it but it will beget fiery contentions in the mindes of men if any Religion and Worship contrary to their Consciences be imposed upon them and while some men are gratified others will be displeased and if you allow not free Liberty of Conscience in the exercise of spiritual things the effect of it may prove sad and Miserable to your selves and your Government and this shall you know in time to come even the good effect of Toleration in Liberty of Conscience and of woful effect upon the contrary Therefore be wise and instructed ye Rulers of the Earth and kiss the Son lest ye perish out of the way of Peace and Happiness Now you have your day and time to be made happy or to be left miserable that your Government may be blessed or otherwise deprived of all Blessedness These things have I Written to You in Love and Honour towards You That Ye may know and be informed what the Lord requireth of You if so be You may escape the Wrath that is to come And love nor Wrath to You Your prosperity nor overthrow is determined upon You or prophesied unto You by me but as You walk in Justice Truth and Righteousness or as You walk contrary and bring forth Oppression and Persecution Bristol City the 4th day of the sixth Moneth 1660. Edward Burroughs A PRESENTATION of Wholsome Informations unto the King of England c. THe Servants of the Lord and his People that feared his Name and trembled at his Word never wanted false Accusers in any Age to repute them vile and to reproach them by slanderous words and that even to the Rulers of the World and to the Kings of the Earth have the chosen People of the Lord been falsly accused and reproached by the slanderous Tongues of ungodly Men in all Generations as in many Particulars might be proved out of the Scriptures by the Example of things in the dayes of old For even in those dayes it came to pass that the Elect People were reproached and falsly reputed by the men of the World as in the Case of the Iews in their building of the Temple again when they returned out of the Captivity How were the People of God at that day accused and reproached and that by the wise men of that Kingdom even unto the King Ahasuerus Ezra 4. 15 16. That good City of Ierusalem the Habitation and Dwelling of the Iews and then only named People of God was accused of being a bad rebellious City and hurtful to Kings and that the People moved Sedition therein to the danger of the Revenue of Kings c. And Neh. 4. 2. the People of God were scorned and reproached and called feeble Iews who builded the House of God and it was said in derision of them that a Fox should go up and break down their Wall And also how were the holy Prophets and Servants of God rejected reproached and accused even to the Princes and Rulers of the Earth in Generations past as Daniel to the King how was he accused Dan. 6. 13. and the three Children were accused to the King Dan. 3. 8. and the Apostles were reproached under the slander of being movers of Sedition and such-like Acts. 24. 5. being many times accused and haled before Felix Agrippa and divers others of the Rulers of the Heathen and it was told the Apostles by Christ That all manner of evil should be spoken against them for his Name sake And throughout the whole Scriptures there is very large Testimony how that in Ages past the Servants and People of God were accused and falsly reproached before Rulers and Kings by their Enemies that sought their destruction The truth of this is so clear and full that it needs no further Testimony And as it was in this case in the days of old so is it happened in this day who more now accused and falsly reproached then the Innocent People of God Is not all evil spoken against them and that even to Rulers and Governers and Kings And this is done by their Enemies that seek to destroy them even by such as would not have the Work of the Lord to prosper and his People to be preserved and on this account the cry is great against us every where as if we were Hereticks Blasphemers Seditious and Enemies to Magistracy and Government to Church and Ministry and such like And these with such like have been and are the Accusations against us whereby we are reproached falsly before men and this hath been our portion in this World since we were a People by the Men of this Generation and the very same is come to pass upon us in this case as was upon the People of God in former Generations and as it was done unto them so it is done unto us and therefore we are in Patience under all our Afflictions and Sufferings whether we are persecuted by Actions or Words and for the Name of
ãâã so much Money a Year or claiming so much as a Debt of those which may ãâã do not receive or believe such a Minister is a true Minister of Christ and all ãâã suing people at Law casting them into Prison about Ministers Maintenance ãâã not of God but Antichrist and not after the Example of Christ's true Ministers but after the Example of false Prophets and Deceivers And it is a lawful Maintenance at this day of Christ's Ministers That each Minister be maintained by the free Gift of the people under his Ministry and its just that every Minister be maintained by the people to whom he labours and that every Form of Worship maintain their own Ministers how and as they will and if men preach the Gospel let them live of it and let their Gospel maintain them without begging Maintenance of the King or troubling him with such matters as pertain to another state even to the spiritual Government of Christ who calls his Ministers and gives his Gifts to whom he will and sends them out whither he will and their Gospel hath effect to change and convert people and to beget Love in the hearts of people and such as are begotten to God by the preaching of the Gospel can freely give of their carnal things and a Minister of Christ cannot want any thing And therefore let not the King be careful nor troubled about maintaining Ministers but let him maintain his own how and as he pleaseth and leave all his Kingdoms to the like that every sort of people whether Papists Protestants or any others maintain every one their own Ministers how by how much and as they will and this is the way of Lawful Maintenance to every Ministry and not this way of begging of the King And that not Niggardly but Liberally and Sufficiently saith the Petitioner which shews Covetousness and Impudency in any Beggar that they may be encouraged saith the Petitioner c. 5. Now that Ministry whose Dependancy is on outward things and may be encouraged or discouraged by having or wanting large Maintenance this Ministry Jesus Christ never sent forth but it is of man and by the Earthly Powers and not of God for were the Apostles discouraged in the Work of their Ministry when they were in Wants and Necessities and Sufferings and Afflictions as often they were No but they approved themselves the more to be Christ's Faithful Ministers thereby And it may be a very certain Evidence to the King That such who will not go forth to minister without such or such large Benefices and Maintenance by so much Money Tythes or yearly Stipends are not the Ministers of Christ neither were they ever sent of him to preach his Gospel but have run for Gifts and Rewards like Balaam and have not been truly called by Christ Jesus into his Ministry Now I come to the fifth Branch of the Petition which is in these words I humbly beg your Grace That in order to the establishing a learned Ministry to Posterity your Majesty will be a Fosterer and Patron of the Schools and Nurseries of good Learning especially the two once famous Universities of Oxford and Cambridge In Answer hereunto let the King consider 1. That the true and lawful Ministry of Jesus Christ is the absolute free Gift of God to whomsoever the Lord is pleased to give it and it is not bought nor sold for Money nor received by Education and natural Learning but God gives the Gift of Knowledge and Utterance and every part of his Ministry to whom he will so the Apostles received the Ministry and so it is received at this day by all that have it It is not a Natural Science or Art of Knowledge or Utterance but it is the Gift of God and ever was whether to Plough-men or Fisher-men or to whomsoever as the Lord gives it for As every one had received the Gift so they might administer as say the Scriptures 2. That the Establishing of the Ministry pertains to Jesus Christ alone and that it depends upon the Power and Spirit of God to establish his own Ministry and to overthrow that which is contrary and the Lord alone will do it and not man for it is he that sendeth out Ministers whom he will and he defends them and establishes them against the Devil and all their Opposers Neither did ever any of the Apostles and Ministers of Christ beg to the Kings of the Earth Maintenance and Establishment but they knew the Lord and trusted in him and therefore let not the King trouble himself with care in these matters but leave them to the Lord to whom they do belong and let him rule well in outward Affairs and leave the Government of the Church and Ministry to Christ Jesus to whom only it pertains 3. As for Oxford and Cambridge and sending Ministers from thence and making them there by natural Arts and Sciences according to the Custom there used there was no such thing in the Apostles days as making Ministers at Schools and Colledges by natural Learning but as I have said It was by the Gift of God's ââây Spirit that the Ministers of the Gospel were made and sent forth And this way of making Ministers at Oxford and Cambridge at Schools and Colledges and all that pertains thereunto as the Orders Names and Practices for the most part the very Habits and Degrees of Schools and all that stuff is all come up since the Apostles dayes and that way of creating Ministers and sending them forth was never known not in beeing among the Apostles but much Abomination and Idolatry is brought forth at such places and in such wayes to the Grief and Vexation of the Lord God whose Wrath will break out like Fire to devour Idolatry with the Cause and Ground thereof And happy is that man that partakes not of the Sins of others he shall not partake of the Iudgements And in the last part of the Petition it is craved That the Seminaries of Sin and Satan Wickedness and Vice may be beaten down and suppressed c. Ans. These things are abounding which provoke the Lord to great wrath against the Land Oh! that indeed the King would consider that Iniquity may be stopped and Righteousness brought forth then should the King and Kingdoms and Subjects be made Famous and Dreadful through the World For because of Oppression and Wickedness the Land mourns and the great Judgments of the Lord are at the door except Repentance be made unto God And thus I have in much fear towards God and Honour towards the King laid divers Considerations before him worthy to be minded upon the occasion of the Charge against us by George Willington and it will be Wisdom for the King to consider our Defence as well as of our Enemy's Charge By a Servant of Christ E. B. THE Everlasting Gospel OF REPENTANCE AND REMISSION of SINS Held forth and Declared to the Inhabitants of the Earth that they may Turn and be Converted
to the Living God lest they Perish in the Day of Vengeance which is near at hand And this is a Message of Reconciliation to all People every where in general but more particularly to the Inhabitants of Ireland and to all sorts of People therein even to the Rich and to the Poor to the Professor and to the Prophane that every one may be stir'd up to seek the Lord by Repentance With certain Propositions of FAITH laid down which every one must believe or else they cannot be saved And certain Objections answered relating to the present dayes With the Way of a Happy and Blessed Government Discovered in the Kingdoms of this World c. OH Ireland The Day of God's Visitation of Love and tender Mercy hath been upon thee to try thee and to prove thee and the Lord would have gathered thy People into Covenant and Fellowship with himself to live in Love Unity and Peace and the Lord would have made thy Inhabitants Blessed but they would not but many have refused the Day of his Love and they have neglected his Loving-kidness and have chosen their own wayes of Iniquity and Unrighteousness rather then the Way of Truth and Peace Though the Lord hath often smitten and caused his Judgments to be known in the Land and suffered great Destruction in dayes past even Plague Sword and Famine were sore upon thee have thy Inhabitants forgotten the Dealings of the Lord towards thee Are his Judgments and Mercies clean gone out of Remembrance which the Lord shewed in thee not many years since And because of thy Iniquities and Transgressions which were grown very great against God he was angry with thee and provoked against thee and did give up thy Inhabitants to Hardness of Heart and Cruelty of Mind one against another so that they were given up to destroy and cut off one another and Thousands of them fell through the Malice and Wickedness of each others Hearts and Hands and cruel Murders Robberies Treacheries and a very great Destruction was committed amongst thy People and this was because Iniquity at that day was full Pride and Oppression Drunkenness and Whoredom Double-dealing and Treachery and all manner of Unrighteousness was grown to the height and therefore did the Lord suffer a very great Rebuke in the Land and by Sword Plague and Famine did he plead with thy Inhabitants for some years together even that he might humble thee and correct thee and that thy People might turn unto him and forsake their Iniquities Oh! why hast thou forgotten the Dealings of the Lord running into the same Abominations For since the Lord stayed his Judgments Iniquity is increased even as before Though the Lord hath given thee Rest and Peace for divers years and healed thee of thy Sorrows and Miseries and replenished thee with People and thou hast had Peace and Fulness for a good season but yet thou hast not made a right use of these Mercies as thou oughtest to have done Though the Lord hath shewed Love and Favour towards thee in delivering of thee from thy former Troubles and Miseries yet thou hast turned to thy own huât âis Blessings into a Curse through thy abuse of them And now through Reâ⦠and Peace and Fulness thy Inhabitants are corrupted and become abominably sinful and they have loaden themselves with Transgressions and heâped up Wrath against the Day of Wrath even Wrathful Matter for the Wâath of God and former Judgments and Mercies seem to be both forgotten many having abused them to their hurt though the Lord intended them for their good and thy Inhabitants are as before many of them hardened in Iniquity rather then turned from it and they are turned into their old Paths and drink of the same Cup of Abominations and Pride and Oppression and all Unrighteousness in every part of it is grown as high as ever it was in thee Oh! how doth Wickedness abound Drunkenness Wantonness Vain-Pleasures Envy Wrath Contention Heart-Burning Covetousness and Earthly-mindedness Double-dealing False-heartedness Idolatry and Hypocrisie and all Fruits of the Flesh how do they abound in thee even as high as ever before as though thou hadst never felt Judgement because of thy sins and as though thou hadst never tasted of Mercy that thou shouldst live a better life but both Judgment and Mercy by-past are neglected and the Remembrance of them worn out and thou hast said in thy heart We love this world its Pleasures and Vanities and after our wayes will we go Oh Nation and Kingdom this is thy Condition and thy present State Thou drinkest up Iniquity as an Ox drinketh Water and thou addest sin to sin as if all thou couldst do were too little and like as if thou wert appointed for no other end but to commit sin and thou hatest Reproof and despisest Correction and him that reproveth thee thou countest thy Enemy for the whole Pleasure of many of thy people is in sinning against God and thus thou thinkest to serve him with thy sins and requitest the Lord evil for his good towards thee and his Judgments and Mercies have no place in thy Heart though yet thou hast been warned for these divers years that thy People should turn from their Iniquities and serve the Living God Repentance and Forsaking of Sin hath been preached thorough thee and Warning hath been given of the Judgments of God that are to come but hereof hast thou taken no notice as thou oughtest to have done but thy Inhabitants have despised the Lord's Servants and persecuted them and thou hast held in Derision and under great Afflictions the People of the Lord and persecuted them for good Conscience sake And this is the fulfilling of Wickedness in thee and the heighâ of thy Inhabitants Transgressions in that they have persecuted such who have warn'd them and despised the Lord's Reproof and would not hearken to the Advice of his People but do alwayes reject the Message of God's Light which reproveth people in their own Consciences because of Sin that they should turn from iâ and be saved this Message hath been proclaimed thorough the Land even for some years together wherein the Lord hath visited thee with his Love that he might gather thy People and condemn their Iniquities and save their Souls but thy People have rejected this Message and would not be turned from their Idolatrous Wayes and Worships nor from the Hypocrisie of their wayes that they might be healed But thy people have forsaken the Living God and rebelled against the Light and the Way of Peace they have refused and turned their Backs towards the Lord and not their Faces and after Covetousness and the Love of this World they have gone though there hath been a great Profession of Worship and Religion in thee much Preaching and Praying Sabboth-keeping and professed Church-Fellowship Ministry and Ordinances and a Sect here of one sort and there another that have cryed Lord Lord and have made a shew of Worships and Duties towards him
and Over-reaching your Neighbours your Riches so gotten shall never prosper noâ be blessed to you but shall be a Curse to you and your Children And your Covetousness will God plague Ye that have gotten Goodt and not by Right shall leave them in the midst of your dayes Wo unto you Carnal Minds all the Treasures of them are corruptible your Lands Gold and Silver are fading Treasures The Day of the Lord's Judgments are at hand upon you and the Rod of his Wrath will smite you and ye shall have Poverty and want instead of Fulness and Excess and ye shall have Leanness and Barrenness and God will plead with you in the way you have sinned against him The Time of your Visitation draws near Wo unto you Merchants Traders Buyers and Sellers that have been Double-Dealers and Double-Tongued and dealt deceitfully in your Commodities with your Neighbours Wo unto ye that have got Gain by Double-dealing and by feigned and flattering Speeches have beguiled one another and sought to out-reach in your Bargaining every man his Brother these things have ye done O ye Covetous Men ye have even robbed the Poor by your Craft and Guileful-dealing by your smooth and flattering Tongues and if any amongst you could not use Fraud and Dissemble such have been your Prey and Scorn and it s your Use to discommend a Commodity when you buy it and to praise it when you sell it and ye make a fair out-side to please the Eye and ye use multitude of words and fair speeches and decâive the Simplâ and get Gain by Oppression Craft and Deceit Wo unto you Repent of this your sin Cleause your Hearts you Sinners and purifie your Hearts you Double-minded I charge you by the Lord Give over your Double-dealing and deceitful Merchandize cease to Lye and Defraud cease your Flattery and Feigned words and speak the Truth every one to his Neighbour and come out of your Iniquities use not a bad Conscience any longer for its a fearful Abomination against the Lord But mind the Light of Christ in you which will convince you in your Consciences of your noughty and sinful wayes and that Light will exercise your Consciences to do the Truth and speak the Truth to your Neighbours in all things and this is Blessed and the Gain that is thereby gotten is not a Curse for ye ought in all your wayes to reverence the Lord and respect him that he should lead you and guide you in your exercise of all Earthly things For the Earth is the Lord's and the Fulness thereof and it ought to be exercised to his Glory and there is suffient in this Creation for all People and therefore covet not Earthly things one from another neither oppress nor over-reach one another about them neither treasure up Earthly things while the Poor want for if ye do you hide your selves from your own Flesh laying Field to Field till there is no Place for the Poor and Wo unto such the Day of the Lord will be upon you But learn the Wisdom of God how to be ordered and how to order all things of this Creation and be in Unity and good Agreement amongst your selves and do not fall out nor strive nor contend nor envy one another about Earthly things but if ye have much or if ye have little be contented with what you have and do not grind the Hearts and Consciences one of another to get Earthly things for they will fade and perish away and seek not after that which perisheth but after that which is unto Eternal Life For the Day of the Lord is at hand and his Judgments upon all Oppressors Double-dealers and False-hearted Flatterers that are Covetous of Earthly things Wo unto all ye Drunkards and Swearers Whoremongers and Prophane Persons the Judgments of the Lord are upon you unawares ye that destroy the Creation upon your Lusts that are rnn into the Excess of Wine and Beer and that covet it excessively and that drink till ye inflame your selves and spend your time in it ye are like the Beasts of the Field and like the Swine that wallow in Filthinefs ye pervert the right use and End of the good Creatures of God and spend them upon your Lusts and have not regard unto the Living God and one sin even begets another Drunkenness begets Swearing and prophane Words and Whoredom and beastly Affections and thus ye add sin to sin and heap up one sin upon another conââary to the Light in your own Consciences and thus ye serve ãâã ââ¦il and Satan committing Iniquity with both hands as it were by ãâã ãâã and swearing and taking the Name of the Lord in Vain and ãâã Spââââes and falling out one with another and your Minds are eââed ãâã the Lord and ãâã abuse your selves and your ãâã Bodies which were made fââ the service of God and not ãâã whorâ⦠ãâã and ye slay your own soulâ by your own Iniquities and mames provoke the Lord to destroy both Soul and Body Wo unto you ãâã âlagues of God are your Portion and Misery your ând here and hereafter ãâã of your Iniquities and turn from them left the Lord find you in ãâã Iniquities when he comes to Judgâment ãâã if you continue in them ãâã can never be pardoned but you siâ unto death and the Lord will come âpon you suddenly for ye that followed Drunkenness and Propâââess you live contrary to the Light in your own Consciences and you sin against your knowledge against that Knowledge that God hath given you and this is your greatest sin even because ye do the things which ye know ye shoulâ not do ãâã the Light in your Consciences doth sheâ you that these things are evil before you do them but ye doing the things contrary to the Light in your ãâã Consciences this makes your Crime ãâã and your sin uâpardonable ãâã âe continue in sin and prophaness contrary to the Reproof of God's Spiâââ ãâã your own ânsciences Wherefore ye prophane Persons cease to do evil âest the Lord's Judgements come upon yââ suddenly to your Dâstruction and the Lord smite you and you never be healed Wo unto all ye ââypoâriâiââl and deceitful Profâssors of Religion that hold the Truth in Unrighteousness thââ have a talk and a shew of Religion and that have the Name of Church-members and of Worshippers of God but are ãâã in Sins and Trespasses ye that are Christians by Name but want the Nââure who are Wolves in Sheep's cloathing that have Christ's words the Prophets and Apostââs words but want their Spirit and Life Wo unto you the Dââ of the Lord is at hand upon you ye Hypocrites ye that serve God with your Liââ and with your âouthes profess much love whenas your Hearts are full of ââây Covetousââââ and Earthly-mindedness ye are the Apostate Christians thââ have taken the Form of Godliness upon you but want the Power ye preach and pray and hear sermons and keep Sabbath Dayes and perform Duties ãâã ye
not read that the Iews persecuted them for so doing And will you that have the name of Christians persecute the People of God though they meet together in private houses and their own hired houses and cannot come to your Temples and Steeple-houses And will not you suffer such to meet together out of your Publick Places but you will persecute them and call them Hereticks and such like Is not this worse than ever the Iews did to the Apostles And so you are out of the Example of the true Christians who met together and preached and prayed often and not in a Synagogue or Publick Place but you cry against them that do so and threaten to persecute for it and thus you shew your selves out of the true Christian Example and in this you are worse than the Iews and more cruel if you should persecute People for meeting to wait upon the Lord in their own houses or in what place or time as the Lord should move their hearts but if you proceed in this way and will not permit the People of God to meet together in their own houââ and not in your Idol-Temples then the Power of the Lord will confound you and God will break you to peices and you will feel his heavy Wrath upon your Consciences and God will smite you with his Judgements inwardly and outwardly Now for your restraining of people from one way of Worship and forcing them to another and compelling them about Religion by cruel Laws and Commandments of men this is of Antichrist for you to do and of the Devil for all forcing of People to this kind of Worship and from another ãâã posing upon their Consciences in matters of Gods Kingdom this is also of ââ¦tichrist and contrary to Christ and his Way for he won People by sound Doctrine and by Love and by a good Conversation and so did his Disciples for they never forced any by outward violence to their Worship nor ãâã ãâã Church-Government and Ordinances but it was the practice of the Beast and the Dragon that first forced People and compelled them ãâã âââship since the dayes of the Apostles Rev. 13. It was Antichrist that first ãâã upon People in the Ignorance of their Consciances and contrary to their ââ¦ences by the Commandments of men false Faith false Worship false Ministry false Doctrine and false Religions so that now if you should force any contrary to their Consciences to your Steeple-houses to ãâã and say your Form of Prayers we shall say then you are Antichrist ãâã of the Devil if so be you should endeavour to compel any either against ãâã Consciences or in the Ignorance of their Consciences to your way of Worship or Religion Therefore take heed how you meddle in these things lest God confound you And as for us we are the People of God we fear his Name and worship him and cannot bow to the Devil and we need not be forced to worship the Lord for his Spirit leads us into all Truth and we need none of your outward Prescriptions or Form of Prayers for the Spirit of God teacheth us in all these things when and where and how we should worship the Lord God who is a Spirit and will be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth which is free and not by outward force and all the Worship that is otherwise and not in the free Spirit of Christ is of great Babylon whom the Lord will confound and destroy Another general Objection answered Object 2. Again whereas it is said by some Now there must be no more private Preachers unlearned men and men not ordained must not now preach anymore Lay-Persons must not be Preachers that are not so qualified nor so and so ordained and this is the present talk among some People Answ. To this I also answer and say Wo to them that would stop or quench or limit the Spirit of God in Sons or Daughters for such are Denyers of the Scriptures and the Power of God and such bring guilt upon their own Consciences and work fearful Abomination against God And what must not the Spirit of the Lord speak now where it is in this Age as it did in the dayes of old as you may read in the Scriptures for was not Elisha a Plow-man and was not he called from the Plow 1 King 19. and became a Prophet of the Lord unto the House of Israel and had the spirit of Elijah poured upon him and would not you have said he was a Lay-man a Plow-man unordained not fitting to preach if you had lived in his dayes And was not Aâââ called from following the Flock who had been no Prophet nor no Prophets Son but an Herds-man Amos 7. 14 15. and it was lawful for him to preach the Word of the Lord though he was but an Herds-man and had been no Prophet nor Prophets Son which if he had lived in your dayes you would have called him a Lay-man an unfit Person unlearned and one not ordained for the Ministry and you like Amaziah the wicked Priest of Bethel would now quench the Spirit as he would have done in Amos who was a Trades-man and such a one as you call Lay-men who are not as you say fitting to preach And did not Christ Jesus himself chuse Fisher-men and sent them forth to preach the Gospel and such as were men of Trades and unlearned in Books as it is written Act. 4. 13. When the Ruâââs saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived they were Unlearned they ââvelled and these were Ministers of Christ and preached the everlasting Gospel whom you would have called Lay-men and men unfit to preach ãâã you lived in their dayes And Paul himself by Occupation was a Tent-ââ¦er it is said and he laboured with his Hands and yet was a Preacher of the Gospel and there are multitudes of Witnesses in the Scriptures of these things how that men of Trades and unlearned in Letters and Books and never were brought up at Schools and Colledges but followed the Plough and were keepers of Cattel and some followed Fishing such as these in old ãâã had the Spirit of God given them and they preached the Gospel And what if the Lord at this day give his Spirit to such as these and send them ãâã to preach the Gospel even to such as were brought up and educated ãâã âay be at Handy-craft Trades and are labouring men and are not ãâã at Schools and Colledges will you limit the Lord and quench his ãâã and reproach his Wayes and Servants and now call them Lay-perâ⦠and say they are not fitting to preach for they are not Learned nor ââ¦ed say you and calling them Mechannicks and private Preachers and ãâã they must not now be admitted to preach the Gospel and in this you ãâã the Scriptures and the Example of the Saints in former Ages and so neither ãâã the Scriptures nor the Spirit that gave them forth though you say ãâã own the Scriptures yet
New Birth and âll such are out of the right way in the way of Error if they have the Form of Godliness but want the Power though they may have Mass or say Common-prayer once a week oâ oftner yet all this is but Abomination and Deceit whilst they practise Iniquity Hatred Back-biting Lying Drunkenness and the like they that act these things the Plagues of God will be their portion and Misery their end and their Profession in Religion will not save them The Day of the Lord is at hand ye Hypocrites ye false Christians ye ââat profess God with your Lips and your Hearts are far away Therefore repent ye and treâble before the Lord lest hâ smite you with Vengeance and forsake your false Religions both your Mass and your Iââ¦s of Prayer and be not Idolaters in professing love in your mouthes and honour with your Lips wâilst your hearts are departed from the living ãâã and now come to learn the true Religion Depart from all Iniquity and do not Lye nor Swear nor be Drunk nor Steal nor Murder nor Envy but love the Lord with all your hearts and your Neighbour as your selves And this is the true Religion in which man may be saved and live in Soberness Meekness and âânesttây and speak every man Truth to his Neighbour and live in love ãâã with another and be kind and gentle and bring forth the Fruits of the Spirit of God Cease to do evil and learn to do well and depart form all ââiquity and follow after Righteousness This is true Religion and in it âou may âe saved this is the right way all that walk in it shall have Peace and Blessing from God and all that walk contrary Damnation is their portion Therefore you Papists and Protestants so called turn from your Hypocrisie and learn this way and cease from your false worships that are after the Forms and Traditions of men and not after the Spirit of God and learn to worship God in the Spirit that you may be saved You have a Light from Christ in your Consciences which lets you see what sins ye are guilty of and it reproves you for your sin If you believe in the Light and walk in it that is the right way then you will deny what is evil and follow what is good in your Conversations but if you follow what is evil and act contrary to the Light in your Consciences and repent not Vengeance in flames of fire will be youâ portion This is the day of your Visitation the Army of the Lamb is gone forth and the Sword of the Spirit is drawn amongst them that will wound your Consciences and God will smite you with the words of his mouth ye Rocks and Hills and Bryars and Thorns and fruitless Trees the God of Heaven will hew you to pieces and pluck you up and cast you into the fire to be consumed Repent for the Day of the Lord is at hand By one that seeks the Good of all men E. B. A VINDICATION OF The People of God CALLED QUAKERS Directed Unto Roger Boyle Called Earl of Orrery Charles Coote Called Earl of Mountrath Theophilus Iones Called Sir Theophilus Iones Being an Answer to a Book dedicated to them by one George Pressick of Dublin In which Book many Lyes and Calumnies are presented against the Innocent People of God And this is for the clearing of the Truth that no Lye may rest upon it And for the Satisfaction of all Sober People in Ireland and elsewhere With a Word of Good Advice to the Chief Governours there THere is Irreconcileable Ennity between the two Seeds to wit the Seed of God and the Seed of the Serpent and these two are alwayes opposite and contrary one to the other in Nature Fruits and Effects and the seed of the Serpent is alwayes persecuting the Seed of God in every Age and Generation and they in whom the seed of the Serpent is living and ruling are alwayes projecting and contriving mischief and hatred against the People and âââvants of the Lord in whom the Seed of God liveth and reigneth as it is written He that is born of the Flesh persecutes him that is born after the Spirit Thus it hath been in all Generations and thus it is at this day Great is the ââââsition that is made by many in Lyes and Slanders in Reviling and Reââ¦hing in Imprisoning and Persecuting and in all manner of evil works ãâã words against the innocent People of God called Quakers How have the hands of ungodly men been lifted up to smite that People by many kinds of abuses and how have their Tonges been set on fire to reproach and revile and slander in all kind of evil-speaking and all this for Righteousness-sake and not for any evil doing For who is the man and where is he that can justly charge Evil upon that People either in Doctrine Faith or Practice or in any ââing relating to their Religion to God-wards or in relation to their Conversations and walking towards men It is true we have not wanted Accusers to every Authority but such and such things have been falsly charged against us and that to every Power that hath been since we were a People under whom we have been a suffering People even from all that ever have sitten in the Throne since the Lord raised us up to bear Witness of his glorious Name and Truth in the World Now the present occasion of this my present work is Forasmuch as we now stand accused of great and heinous Crimes in the view of this whole Kingdom of Ireland and more particularly before you three in a Book called A brief Relation of some remarkable Passages of the Anabaptists in Germany c. published by one George Pressick of Dublin and dedicated in a special manner to you that his Work may pass with the greater Credit and his Slanders and Calumnies be received for undoubted Truths Now that the Innocency of the Upright may be cleared and that no Lye may rest upon the Truth nor that you neither any others may receive Falshoods for Verities because of our silence therefore it is that the Lord hath put it into my Heart to defend the Cause of God and his People by returning plain and sober Answer to the principal part of his Book wherein we are concerned and falsly Charged and for the end that the false Accuser may be reproved and his Calumnies returned into his own evil and malicious Heart from whence they came and that you and all men may be truly informed and prevented if possible of being seduced into the belief of Falshoods lest that your Hearts and Hands should be stirred up to act or do in your Authority against the People whom God hath blessed and from the ground and cause of Mis-informations and false Accusations without better Testimony which would be a way to destroy your selves and to bring the unjust Sufferings of the Lord's People upon your own Heads which would draw
only for their Conscience and Religion sake by persecution 5. Consider if ye do impose one way of worship by force and persecute all that are contrary-minded to prison and death then how shall your Names and memorial be left a reproach to Generations after you in dayes to come who shall repute you cruel men and persecutors and such as destroyed your people for difference in Matters of Religion and without just Cause and thus will your Names be a Curse and not a Blessing to your Children and their Children to all Ages if that ye make Laws and execute them to the Persecution and Destruction of People for Conscience sake and for difference in Religion for Persecution was never of God nor ever justified in succeeding Ages but Persecutors alwayes were rendred Tyrants and Cruel in the Ages succeeding them For do not you condemn the Papists as Oppressors and Cruel Persecutors in Queen Mary's dayes for the Persecuting your Fore-Fathers And K. Iames said it was usually the Condition of Christians to be persecuted but never to Persecute c. in his Apology for the Oath of Allegiance page 4. And indeed they are no true Christians that persecute for Matters of Conscience and Difference in Opinion but the False Christians that have a Form of Godliness but are without the Power and out of the Doctrine of the Scriptures who say Love your Enemies and render not Evil for Evil but overcome evil with good 6. Consider If ye do impose upon the Conscience and persecute about Religion ye can never effect your End thereby as to force all into a Conformity and Uniformity to your Church and Religion but though Death and Banishment and the Loss of all be inflicted yet such a thing cannot be effected neither is it the Way of Christ to promote his Church and to convert the Contrary-minded by such means as Force and Violence exercised on mens Persons and Estates as King Iames said in his Speech in Parliament 1609. That it is a sure Rule in Divinity That God never loves to plant his Church with Violence and Blood And if ye do persecute to the heighth in the Case of Religion ye will weaken your selves and cause the Love and good Affection of the People to die towards you and the Persecuted will grow and their Cause be made Honourable and many will be encreased unto it for it is usual in Ages That the Way and Religion which hath been most persecuted hath most grown and thus it must infallibly be at this day and ye can never effect your End-by Persecution nor promote your own Church nor destroy all the Contrary-minded as a Privy-Counsellor to K. Iames the 5th of Scotland advised in Counsel about the year 1539. upon the Occasion of diversities of Opinions then in that Kingdom said he It is an Error of State in a Prince for an Opinion of Piety to condemn to Death the Adherers to new Doctrines for the Constancy and Patience of those who voluntarily suffer all Temporal Miseries for Matters of Faith stir up Numbers who at first and before they had suffered were ignorant of their Faith and Doctrine not only to favour their Cause but to embrace their Opinions Pitty and Commiseration opening the Gates and thus their Faith is spread and their Number daily encreaseth c. 7. Consider If that ye do not allow Liberty of Conscience but do Impose and Persecute as aforesaid though some for your Fear and Terror and Force against their Consciences should deny their Principle and conform to your Church such ye cause to sin For whatsoever is performed by Force and not of Faith is sin as it is written and such their sin will be laid to your Charge and such who cannot deny their Principles and Conform will be destroyed and their Death will be accounted against you in the Day of the Lord And therefore if ye do not allow Liberty of Conscience many grievous Evils will infallibly follow both to your selves and your People And what Advantage of Honour will such be to God and your Church that are against their Consciences and Light forced into a Conformity for Fear and Terror of men it makes them manifold more the Children of the Devil and Time-Servers and Hypocrites and destroyes their Souls and such can be no true Members of the true Church of Christ but are Reprobates and a Dishonour to God and your Church 8. Consider if ye constrain and compel in matters of Religion and do not ââ¦low liberty of Conscience it is unreasonable and unequal and down-right contrary ãâã the Holy and pure Law of God which saith ye shall do into all men as ye would that men should do unto you and thou shalt love they neighbour as thy self and this is the fulfilling of the Law But to be imposed upon and persecuted for the case of Consciences and for the matters of Worship of God your selves would not willingly be against your Light and Knowledge and then it is unequal and unjust and contrary to the Law of God for ye to do the same to others which your selves would not be done unto And do not you to this day cry out against the Papists in Queen Maries dayes and at this day in other Nations and condemn them as Tyrants and Oppressors for Persecuting Killing and Destroying the Protestants for the matters of their Conscience and difference in Opinion and Judgment And will you do the same at this day as they do to others and follow their example of cruelty and Persecution and break the Law of God and walk contrary to it in doing to others what you would not be done unto And seeing you condemn the late fore-going Powers in these Kingdoms for Tyrants and Usurpers and Oppressors for prohibiting your way of Worship and commanding the contrary and disanulling so much as they could your service Book and Ministry how can you justly do the like to others as to force Wayes of RELIGION upon them and prohibit theirs and command the contrary if you do it ye condemn your selves by judging of others in the like case 9. Consider if ye do not allow liberty of Conscience but impose Church Government and Religion by pains and penalties then ye will fill the Land with Hypocrites and force people into time-serving obedience and into formal wayes of worship some against their Consciences and some in the ignorance thereof which is great abomination unto the Lord and such will neither be true and faithfull in Church nor State but will seek advantages against you if they are forced by violence in the cases of their Consciences and it will beget great contentions and hatred in the minds of men and divide theâ into heart-burnings one against another and against you and your Government for if men become Hypocrites for your fear and terror and deny their professed Principles and conform they will be false-hearted and Envious and Malicious and attempt any thing to be freed from Bondage and Impositions
Magistrates so as to punish them for Breach of the Laws for the preventing of these Evils But such Wickedness is too much suffered though there be divers Acts of Parliaments against such Persons and such Actions as well as there is one against our Meetings yet the Act against us is more put in Execution some Places for the breaking of out Meetings which are for the Worship of God than the good Laws for suppressing Wickedness though there is better Law for the one than for the other Divers other Laws and Statutes made for good Ends for the suppressing of Wickedness in the Land there are which are but easily Executed at this day but here is one Act against Peaceable meeting together for the Worship of God which is violently prosecuted and executed upon Innocent Men and let all just Men judge of these things Though there be a Law Enacted against our Meetings so there is against Drunkards and Drunkenness and Unreasonable Tippling in Taverns and Ale-Houses and against Minstrels Fiddlers Pipers and Players Common-Players and Stage-Players that go up and down the Countries and have their Play-Houses in publick Cities which Statutes ought rather to be Executed though they are not But these things we shall leave to all sober People to judge of And seeing that the Law against us is more put in Execution than these other Laws it doth appear That there is more Envy against us and our Peaceable Religious Meetings than there is against Prophaneness and Wickedness Drunkenness and Stage-Playing and such like and such Magistrates wheresoever they are are not excusable in the Sight of God though there is a Law against us while they prosecute it against us and not these other good Laws against Prophane and Ungodly Persons and Practices And therefore seeing we do suffer we must say It is not only because there is a Law against us but it is also or rather Because there is Enmity and Wrath and Wickedness in the Hearts of Men against us which is the main Cause of our Sufferings at this day And let the Magistrates compare this Law made against us with that Saying in Doctor and Student Chap. 2. speaking concerning the Law written in the Heart teaching every man what is to be done and what is to be fled And saith he Because it is written in the heart therefore it may not be put away nor is it ever changable by any diversity of place or time And therefore against this Law Prescription Statute nor Custom may not prevail and if any be brought in against it they be not Prescriptions Statutes nor Customs but things void and against justice and all other Lawes as well the Law of God as the Acts of Men ought to be grounded upon the Law written in the Heart And in cap 4. of the same it s said Every mans Law must be consonant with the Law of God and therefore the Lawes of Princes the Commandements of Prelates the Statutes of Commonalties nor yet the Ordinances of the Church are not Righteous nor Obligatory but as it is consonant to the Law of God And we are sure the Law of God and holy Scriptures do justifie our Meeting together as afore is expressed Also in the Statute 28. Hen. 8. chap 7. it is said in these words That no man of what Estate Degree or Condition soever he be hath Power to dispence with Gods Lawes as all the Clergy of this Realm and the most part of all the Universities of Christendom And we also Affirm and think these things truly compared one with another We leave them to the Judgment of the Law of God Gospel of Christ holy Scriptures and our Neighbours and let Truth determine So be it Edward Burroughs A TABLE OF THE Several Books Contained in this VOLUMN And of the Principal HEADS and Matters contained in the said Books A Warning from the Lord to the Inhabitants of Underbarrow and to all the Inhabitants in England Which containeth 1. A Warning to all who hold up the false Teachers and false Worship page 1. to 11. 2. A true Declaration to all the World of his manner of Life what he had been and what he was at that present p. 15. 16. The Walls of Ierico razed down to the Ground Which containeth an Answer to a Book called The Quarkers Principles dashed in pieces put forth by Enoch Howet called an Anabaptist p. 18 c. An Answer to several Queries Put forth to the People called Quakers by Phillip Bennit a pretended Minister of Christ and John Reeve one who called himself The Last Messenger and Witness p. 29 c. An Answer to a Book called Choice Experiences put forth by J. Turner p. 45. The Copy of a Letter sent to the Assembly of them called Anabaptists in Newcastle p. 51. An Answer to a Book called A Voice from the Word of the Lord put forth by one John Griffith against the People called Quakers p. 54. A Visitation of the Rebellious Nation of Ireland and a Warning from the Lord Proclaimed to all the Inhabitants thereof with a Lamentation over its Unfruitfulness and Rebellion after so many Visitations p. 77. Containing several particular Papers written in that Nation to several sorts of People viz. 1. An Information to the Heads and the Ground of the Law laid down to the Iudges and Iustices c. p. 83. 2. An Exhortation sent to the chief Commander and his Council and the Iust Cause of the Innocent laid before them p. 85. 3. The Unjust Sufferings of the Iust declared and their Appeal to the Iust Witness of God in all their Consciences p. 88. 4. A Challenge to the Priests of Dublin to try their Godd and their Ministry and their Worships p. 90. 5. A Discovery of the Idol Dumb Shepherds in that Nation and a Lamentation ever their starved and strayed Flocks p. 91. 6. An Invitation to all the poor desolate Souldiers to Repent and make their Peace with the Lord and their Duty shewed them what the Lord requires of them p. 93. 7. A Warning from the Lord to the Natives of that Nation of Ireland p. 94. A Trumpet of the Lord sounded forth of Zion Which containeth a Testimony from the Word of the Lord 1. To Oliver Cromwell and his Counsel p. 97. 2. To all the Iudges and Lawyers p. 98. 3. To all Astrologers Magitians South-sayers and Wise-Men p. 99. 4. To all the Generals Collonels Commanders Officers and Souldiers in England Scotland and Ireland p. 99. 5. To all the Priests and Prophets and Teachers of the People p. 100. 6. To all them called Papists and to their whole Body and Head at Rome p. 102. 7. To all them called Protestants of the eldest sort p. 103. 8. To all them called Presbyterians and Independants p. 103. 9. To all them called Anabaptists p. 105. 10. To all them called Free-willers who say Christ dyed for all p. 107. 11. To all them that say They wait and believe for the coming of Christ to
must cease to do evil and learn to do well and thou must be uncovered of thy sheeps cloathing thy large profession of Religion and the multitude of thy Prayers and Sermons and the number of thy oblations and offerings these things have not been pleasant unto the Lord from thee but because hereof is he the rather provoked against thee and thou must be stripped of thy filthy garments and set as in the day that thou wast born before thou canst be cloathed with divine righteousness and O Nation thou must be changed not in name onely but in nature thou must be converted that the wrath of the Lord may be turned back from thee every inhabitant in thee must become a fighter against the evil in his own heart and the plague thereof must be sought out and removed the sin must be forsaken that judgement may cease and every one must cease to provoke the Lord and no longer vex his Spirit within them and every one must love the Light of Christ in his own conscience and become a follower of it that will lead him out of all sin and every man must put off his Transgressions and forsake himself and lay down the enmity and cast it out of his heart that he hath against persons and he must war against the Enemies of his own Soul and the Enemies of his ãâã House must be ââain even his own Lusts and even the evil Affections of his own heart must he become an Enemy unto and every man must deny the false Teachers and Deceivers and must come to be taught of the Lord every one must turn to him and come into his Covenant and hear his Word and obey his Voice and become humble and meek and must tremble at the Word of the Lord aad must become upright and innocent And O Nation If it were thus with thee then shouldst thou be a happy People if thou dost these things then shall all thy Breaches be healed and thy Sorrows be turned into Joy and the Lord shall cease to smite thee and his Anger shall be turned clean away This is our Counsel unto thee Remove thy Iniquities by Repentance be converted to the Lord and he shall heal thee and his Love shall be shed abroad Peace Plenty and Satisfactionâ Unity and Concord shall be unto all thy Inhabitants and the Lord himself shall be thy King thy Judge and thy Law-giver he will judge thee with equity and not with Oppression he will teach thee in the perfect way and thou shalt not err he will defend thee from all thy Enemies Oh Nation if thou do these things even turn to the Lord with all thy heart that he may walk in thee and dwell in thee then should thy light break out of obscurity and the dew of Mercies shall fall upon thee and it should be unto thee as a Morning without Clouds and thou shouldest be refreshed after all thy sorrow the Nation should be happy and the people blessed and the Government of Peace and Truth should be established never to be confounded any more And thus thy Iniquities being removed the Plague should cease and the cause of destruction being taken away no fruit thereof should appear wherefore let men cease to hatch Mischief one against another and to seek vengeance one of another and let them seek with all speed and sincerity to get victory over their own sins and vengeance may be taken upon their own transgressions and this is our Councel for the healing of our Nations breach and for turning away the Anger of the Lord. But and if O Nation thou continuest in thy perversness and in transgressions which the Lord hates and if thou wilt not turn to him that smites thee and love his Rod that corrects thee but wilt always grieve the Spirit of the Lord and be obstinate stout-hearted against the Lord and his reproofs and if thou wilt continue in thy accustomed sins then shall the reward thereof be upon thee even breach upon breach and one Judgment upon another and Mercy shall be with-holden from thee and the Dew shall not fall upon thee but thou shalt be as a barren Heath and thou shalt be given up to consume thy self in mischief and in thy heart-burnings one towards another if thou wilt set up Rulers of thy own proud and ambitious men and will not chuse the Lord to Rule over thee but reject him and his People then shall thy Breach never be healed by the Men whom thou chusest but through them shall thy Breach be more desperate and thy Wound be made more incurable and if thou wilt set up Teachers that teach for filthy Lucre and Prophets that divine for Money and Priests that preach for Hire and will not receive the Covenant of the Lord and him to be thy Teacher by his Spirit then shalt thou err in thy ways and stumble and fall and never know perfect Peace with God nor one with another but as thou lovest Oppression and Deceit and walkest in Transgression so shall it be unto thee and thou must eat the Fruit of thy own doings Misery upon Miseries shall be upon thee and thus shalt not see the Face of the Almighty to refresh thee Wherefore O Nation consider before the Night comes upon thee when no way will be found by thee to be dilivered for in the middst of thy Confusions God is a working he hath a Work to bring forth which shall be a Work of great Mercy and Deliverance or of Sorrow and of great Judgment even to the whole Land And as for us we hereby declare unto thee We are not thy Enemies we seek not thy hurt nor do we desire Vengeance upon our Enemies we seek not thy Destruction but we desire thy Repentance that thou mayst be healed we have not the spirit of Mischief and Rebellion in our hearts towards thee neither are we for one Party or another nor do we side with one sort against another neither do we joyn our selves to this sort or the other nor do we war against any by carnal Weapons neither shall we ever provoke the Nation against us otherwise then by our Righteous and Holy Walking and we do declare that we are not for Men nor Names nor shall we joyn with this or that sort of men but as they act Righteousness alone nor any thing that yet appears can we fully embrace or rejoyce in for they are all corrupted in their ways and that cursed spirit of Self-seeking seems to be the Rule of and to leaven their principal Actions and we rather yet chuse to suffer by all as for a long time we have done alreapy then to lose our Integrity and Innocency by joyning to any in their unjust ways for we reject all Places of corrupted Honour and we are yet kept free It is true we are a People gathered of the Lord into one Spirit and though a People little in Account and very low in Reputation and greatly reproached and ãâã suffering