Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	day_n	heart_n	people_n	10,406	5	4.5799	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A70985	The reign of the whore discovered and her ruine seen her merchants the priests examined, and with the Romish church (their elder sister) compared and found agreeable in many things ... : some queries also for those people that pay tythes, and priests that receive tythes, to consider and answer : and whereas their cry hath been loud against us the people of God called Quakers, that we are Jesuits, and Jesuitical, in tryal they are found false accusers, and of the same stock and generation themselves ... : also the sustance of a dispute which was the 15th day of the 2d month, called April 1659, at the Bridge-house in Southwark, between VVilliam Cooper, VVilliam VVhitaker, Thomas VVoodsworth, VVieles, Watkins, Cradicut, and others who profess themselves ministers of Christ, and some of the people call'd Quakers ... / written in that which gives to see over all the popish train ... W.S.	Smith, William, d. 1673.; Burrough, Edward, 1634-1662. Following letter containing the substance of the dispute.	1659 (1659)	Wing S204A; ESTC R33983	31,593	40

ruled them c. Ezech. ch. 34. There is much in these words and this hath been your work as fully and as truly as ever it was the false shepherds work in the time of the Prophet Ezechiel and now is the Lord manifestly appearing to be against ye shepherds and requiring his flock at your hand and is causing you to cease from feeding his flock and also from feeding your selves of his flock and delivering them from your mouths and gathering them from all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day according to Ezechiels Prophesie and this is the Lords own work in this his mighty day and all the hirelings and wolvish Shepherds in whole Christendome shall not be able to withstand and hinder the accomplishing and fulfilling of this the Lords purpose though Gog and Magog beast and false prophet ioyn together yet the Lamb and the Saints shall have the victorie and the Plagues upon the Seat of the great Whore shall be poured and the tongue of the Egyptian sea shall be dryed up and the waters which hath overflowed the highest Mountain shall abate and be dried up and the ship-masters the Parish-masters trade shall fail And thou O Mount Seir because thou hast had a perpetuall hatred and hast shed the blood of the children of Israel by force of the Sword in the time of their calamity in the time that their iniquity had an end therefore as I live saith the Lord God I will prepare thee unto blood and blood shall pursue thee sith thou hash not-hated blood even blood shall pursue thee c. This is the portion of Cain who was a murtherer from the beginning whose sacrifice is the fruit of that ground which is cursed and which the dew of heaven never descended upon nor the blessing of the most High was ever appointed for And out of this ground out of this earth in which Cain is a Vagabond springeth and ariseth that spirit that can offer a Sacrifice and murther when he hath done and that this spirit is manifest in and among you the Nationall Priests is very evident and sufficiently proved by your own fruits acts and deeds within these few years yea and the cry of innocent blood hath entred the ears of the Lord against you even against you both Priests and people who notwithstanding your pretences of worshipping God have envy the root of murther in your hearts and violence in your hands and while you regard iniquity in your hearts your very prayers are abomination and stinks in the nostrils of the Lord 'T is the Whore and her Merchants that thirsteth after the blood of creatures under the notion of hereticks and that murthers men about matters of Religion the Christians and Christian Ministers never did so neither did they wrestle with flesh and blood but you and the papists are found wrestling with flesh and destroying mens lives and not saving them and you shall have your reward together according to your Work A few Queries for all that own Tythes due to the present Priesthood and for the Priesthood that takes them to consider and answer 1. TO vvhat end do you the people pay tithes and to vvhat end do you the Priests take tithes is your end according to the Lavv of God that gave the tithes to the first Priesthood then people vvhy do you not see them improved to that end and Priests vvhy do you not let them be improved to that end and vvas not the end vvherefore tithes vvas given that the Widovvs Strangers and Fatherlesse might be relieved and maintained by them as vvell as the Priests And had not the Widovvs Strangers and Fatherlesse as much Right to the Tithes as the Leviticall priests had and had they not their maintenance out of them so that there need not be a beggar among them Was not the priests gates to stand open that the Widovvs Strangers and Fatherlesse might be relieved 2. Did not that Lavv of God that gave Tithes to this end ordain a place to put them in a Store-house into vvhich Store-house the people brought them else they robbed God and vvere they not to be taken out of this Store-house as the Widows Strangers Fatherlesse and Priests had need of them and was not this Store-house called Gods House read Mal. 3. 10. How comes it to passe if not by the order of the Pope Bishops and Cardinals and the rest of the popish train that there is no Store-house in whole Christendome so called to put the Tithes of the Land in nor no Widows Strangers and Fatherless relieved according to their necessities out of the Tithes but pope chief Magistrate and priests have and would have them all brought into their own house and how many of their gates stand open that the Widows Strangers and Fatherlesse and poore might passe freely in and take part of the Tithes with them do they not more frequently lye begging at their gates when they are shut and lye about the Streets begging and crying for bread and at the Steeple-houses there is a hideous dolefull noise for bread many times was it so in the time of the Law which commanded Tithes from the people did not the Lord make the Tithes give the poore the Widows the Strangers the Fatherlesse and priests also enough and now people that pay Tithes and priests that receive Tithes whom do you imitate and follow if not the Popish train are not you unlike both Jews and Christians did the true Christians ever pay or receive Tithes 3. Is not this a monstrous Priesthood that hath rose up since the dayes of the Apostles who denied the first priesthood that devours and impropriates all the Tithes to themselves and will not allow the Poore the Widows Strangers and Fatherlesse any share with them of the Tithes though they may be ready to starve for vvant of food and Raiment is not this monstrous priesthood in Christendom vvho call themselves Ministers of the Gospel exceedingly stained and laden with the blood of the poor of the Widows of the Strangers and Fatherless And you the people how can you be clear in paying your tithes to such a priesthood that do not let their gates stand open nor have no Store-house nor that do not improve them to that end that they were improved to in the time of the Law are not all your Tithes given and received to a worse end notwithstanding you say you are Christians and live in the glorious day of the Gospel then they were given and received in the time of the Law How many thousands of poore of Widows Strangers of Fatherlesse and beggars are there in thy borders O Christendome which want relief which the Law of God that gave Tithes to the Priesthood which God ordained provided for by the Tithes that were brought into the Store-house Why must a greedy covetous proud priesthood that is not like the priesthood under the Law nor the Ministers of the Gospel swallow down and devour

mother-Church nor in comparing you with the false Prophets idle shepbeards of Israel and the deceivers and false teachers which crept in in the days of the Apostles which since hath overspread the Nations for if ever there were a company of Priests that were like a troop of robbers and that murthered with consent and that preached for hire and divined for money and that sought their gain from their quarter sed themselves with the fat and cloathed themselves with the wool and that cared not naturally for the flock but for the fleece and that taught for filthy lucre and that said Thus saith the Lord when the Lords voice they never heard and that had stolen then Neighbours words and that run before they were sent and that did not profit the people at all I say if ever there was such Priests and Teachers as certainly there was in the Prophets days and Apostles days such assuredly in thee oh England doth exceedingly abouned as by the fruits in every Conntry City Town and Village most evidently appeareth in which wickedness is grown so exceeding high and the envy offering of Cain in priests people is so strong and the Jewish blind zeal ' so fierce and the cry of the rude multitude Away with him Away with him so loud loud and many Pilates through importunity of the priests and cry of the multitude so ready to deliver the innocent into the hands of such who loves Barrabas the murtherer better then he that came to save mens lives and not to destroy them and better then his Ministers whole weapons were never carnal as Tucks Rapiers Staves and Canes which hath been the weapons of thirty English priests already recorded within this seven or eight years who have not onely incensed and stirred up the Magistrates and people to persecute but hath shed blood beat and bruised many themselves one of which number was and is still for ought I know priest Griffin of Bread street in London who st●uck one Robert Ingram sorely over the head with a Kane many blows and by means of such priests the Prophet Isaiah call'd greedy dumb dogs and that prepared war against such as could not put into their mouths hath about two thousand of the the people of God suffered within this seven or eight years twenty six hath been murthered imprisoned till death and some hundreds suffered long imprisonments in filthy unwholsome places and cruel inhumane usage therein by wicked bloody Goalers Thieves Murtherers and Felons among which they have been cast some others hath been robbed and spoiled of their goods for tythes to the value of some thousands of pounds sometimes five six seven or eight times the value of what was demanded by the hi●eling Priest and Impropriator to the ruine and destroying of many families widows and fatherless as to the outward in taking away their wearing cloath's bedding pots dishes and kettles sometimes all was too little seizing sometimes 100 l. worth of goods for one years tythes valued at six pounds and body also imprison●● Oh horrible Minist●y a worse was never in any generation I do believe especially in times wherein the cry of Reformation hath been so loud and liberty of conscience pretended Oh! how is it that people are so blind and sottish as to cou●● greedy Hirelings who are like to leave their Names upon record as a stink and a wand●● to the next generation Christian Ministers Christian Ministers were no sigh●ers nor strikers nor covetous nor greedy of silthy lucre nor demanders of Tythes from the people nor suers at law for the Tythes if they were you priests and people produce the chapter and verse that must prove it you have proved your selves such and we can ●●sily prove and have proved that you are not like the Ministers of Christ for the Ministers of Christ in the primitive church bore their testimony against Tythes which God commanded to be paid to the first priesthood and many Saints Martyrs and Ministers of Christ of later times mentioned in Fox's Histories called The Book of Martyrs have or did faithfully in their measure bear their testimony unto death against the Tythes which the Pope and his Train had invented and set up since the Apostles days which at this day yet stands as a main prop and upholder of a proud high minded self-seeking covetous ignorant Popish Clergy here in England against which and whom we also bear our testimony which hath already been sealed with much blood within these few years And if there be any honest tender hearted men amongst the Priests which really desires and endeavours to have a conscience void of offence towards God and towards 〈◊〉 let such come out from amongst them and bear their testimony against them that hath committed such horrible things in the Land and utterly deny them and disown them else the best of them will be but as a B●yar and the most upright as a Thorn-Hedge and a cons●ne to wickedness will be found in their hearts in the day of the Lord therefore accept the let no people count some Priests better then other Priests for there is little difference between those that murther and those that consent to murther those that rob and those ●hat consent to robbery those that persecute and those that consent to persecution and their reward will be alike at that day which God hath appointed to judge the Secrets of all 〈◊〉 by the Man Christ Jesus W. S. The End * That sign of long Reig * I have seen such

your Idolatry in your lightness pride and high-mindedness How many of you have appeared like a Troop of Robbers in taking and causing to be taken away violently poor peoples Ports and Pans and Kettles and dishes from them sometimes not leaving them things necessary to make ready their food in and Bedding and Clothes and Oxen and Cows and Horses and Harness and Barns of Wheat and Cart-loads of Hey and Corn and their bodies also cast into prison Hath not this been your Work in this Nation Hath not the Lord raised a patient and harmless people to try you which have not striven against you in their Wills that you might manifest what was in your hearts notwithstanding your talk of Christianity Have we not seen the murtherer offer a sacrifice and the prophane person weep for the blessing and the children of the Devil call God Father Hath not our eyes seen this And is it not manifest if the Lord God which is the higher Power unto whom our souls are subject did not over-power chain and fetter and break the horns of the Wicked no less then our lives and blood would satisfie for had not you to wit you especially called Presbyterian Priests rather sit as a Popish Synod or Inquisition then in the spirit of meekness lowlinss and soundness in words in life and conversation and Scripture-example prove your selves Ministers of Christ by your fruits effects Was ever the true Ministers of the Gospel in any age or generation since the days of Christ the Son of the living God manifest at Jerusalem maintained as you are maintained by the ruine of others Did they ever take any thing violently from any man Nay did ever they take or receive any thing at all from those that denied their Doctrine and that would not receive nor own them as Ministers of Christ What are you quite without shame Are you so greedy of filthy lucre that you do not care how much you manifest your shame and uncover your nakedness to all people If you keep a Flock eat the Milk the Flock will give you if you plant a Vinyard eat the fruit the Vinyard will yeild you should you covet your Neighbours goods and take them away because you say he is a Heretick Should you rob your Neighbours vinyard because you cannot have fruit enough to satisfie your covetous desires out of that you have planted Should you go reap your Neighbours field because where you have sown there is little come up but briars and thorns If you do thus may not we yea all people count you greedy of filthy lucre covetous persons and robbers Would you have better come up then you sow They that preach the Gospel lives of the Gospel and they never did nor need petition the powers of the Earth to establish a Livelyhood upon them but you smell much of Popery in this thing and you have no example in the holy Scriptures to justifie you but the Romish black Train is your example and therefore we deny you and cannot but count of you as you are and in so doing we wrong you not But have not you wrong'd us and falsly accused us and charged us to be like or one with those whose example you are found in and whose steps you follow to wit false Prophets false Teachers Popish Priests and Jesuits You shall bear your own Judgement Sixthly Concerning your Doctrine Practices Places and manner of Worship Are you not found and do we nor find you in the popish Doctrine and Jesuitical practices and popish Mass-Houses and in the manner of their Worship in some things and in some other things of later invention which the Scriptures doth not own nor justifie neither did the Ministers of Christ allow of If so may vve not count you such as do not deny the popish vvayes places and manners but lives in them and by them Is it not a popish Doctrine and practice to oppose the light within wherewith Christ hath enlightened every man that is come into the World and to teach some other way to attain the knowledge of God besides the light which shines in the heart notwithstanding the Scripture testifies that the light which shines in the heart must give man the knowledge of God in the face of Jesus Christ And is it not the papists doctrine and practice to deny Revelation and Inspiration and the immediate power of God present now as of old and is not this your Doctrine and practice also Doth not the Scripture say or is it not written That there is none that knows the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son reveals him So do not the papists herein and you with them deny that the knowledge of God is attainable seeing you deny the way wherein the manner how the thing by which he is known seen and revealed to wit the light within and if God be not known onely and alone by the revelation of Christ and you and the papists deny revelation and say it is ceased then by what means do you expect to attain the knowledge of God which is life eternal And how do you that deny Inspiration and immediate power from God believe the Scriptures wherein is promised many glorious things to be enjoyed by the children of the Lord as the pouring forth of his spirit upon his sons daughters and how do you own the New Covenant the fear in the heart and the Spirit of the Lord in the inward parts and you that deny the immediate voice power and presence of the Lord as of old how do you believe Christs words who said to his Disciples Lo I will be with you to the end of the world and is not the presence of Christ the immediate power of God and where two or three are gathered together in his Name is he not in the midst and is not he and his Father one whose abode is with his people But is not this too wonderful for Hirelings without a meaning And why do you talk of the Scriptures for your Rule Is it not for ends to yourselves Doth the Scriptures your pretended Rule justifie you any more then they justifie the Pope Cardinals Bishops Jesuits Fryers Monks and popish priests VVhy do you talk of three persons or Trinity Hath not the Pope learnt you that also Doth the Scripture speake anywhere of three persons And where had you that word Sacrament and the word merit Had you not these from the papists And concerning your places wherein you commonly perform your publike VVorship who founded and named them for you Did not the papists as St. Mary Magdalens Church St. Thomas his Church St. Stephen's Church St. Peter's Church St. Paul's Church Did not the very same spirit that was cast out of Mary Magdalen and that stoned Stephen and that murthered Peter and Paul build and give Names to those Steeple-houses which you have suffered if not taught the people to call Churches and the Houses of God insomuch

that it hath been a great crime among poor ignorant people to hear them called otherwise is stil especially in some places of this Nation Were they not the Popes Mass-Houses and places of their Idolatrous Worship And what Rule have you in the holy Scriptures for any to worship the true God in these Idolatrous Dens and Popish Houses and to call them such and such a Saints Church especially without alteration in form in name and esteem Did the children of Israel do so Did the primitive Christians do so VVhere is your example And who made George a Saint and Katherine and Olives Mary Overies and Giles and Gregory c. that your Churches are called by their Names are they not of the Popes making are you not ashamed that people should call those places Churches And then concerning your Manners and Worship in these places Is it not your manner before your Worship begins to ring Bells to call your Hearers your Brethren together and whom do you imitate and who learnt you this but the papists and why do you deny them in words and imitate them in practice And is it not your manner to get an hour-glass to preach and pray by and to sing by and have you not the chief seats in the Assemblies the popish Train hath so and are you not like them Do not they worship and preach and pray and sing by the hour then do you not agree with them Did ever the true Christians and Christian Ministers do so And why must you have a soft Cushion with silken Jobs at the corners to lean on to read your studied devised framed artificial Sermon or speech to the people And by what order was your Pulpit or high place hung with imbroydered Cloath and some other of your stalls lined with cloath when others want it to wear even of your own heap and sect and fold Who are you like in this Have you any such president in the holy Scriptures What and where is your Rule and Example If you must have a Cushion cut off the Jobs and if you must have a Pulpit take off your imbroydered cloaths and cloathe your brethren which are within your own Parish and of your own flesh and do not let them go up and down begging for clothes and food while your Pulpits and Stalls or other chief Seats are clothed imbroydered and laced What manner of Christianity and brotherly love is there among you towards one another And how come you by this manners among you that he that hath a Gold Ring and costly Apparel and is called a rich man must have a sumptuous seat in the principal place and others in vile rayment can scarce have a place to sit on but must stand afar off Where I say did you learn this manners Did you learn it of the Church of Christ or the Pope and his Church And is it not your manner and custom to respect persons places times dayes things Doth not the Heathen so and the Papists so Then who may we compare you with if not with those Did ever any of the primitive Christians do so Was it their manner to respect the person of him or her that had a Gold Ring or costly Apparel Or was it their manner to respect or cry up the Jewish Synagogues or Heathen Idolatrous Temple or any particular place or house whatsoever as the onely place of Worship and call it a Church Or did the Church of God in the dayes of Moses and the Prophets when the Lord had given them victory over the Heathen their Enemies did they I say preserve the Heathenish Idolatrous places of Worship as Altars Groves and Temples and teach the people to call them Churches Was it not as lawful for those places to be called a Church as 't is for these popish Dens builded with observation East and West with a picture of a Cock and a Cross upon it as the Papists devised and appointed to be called a Church Did not the Ministers of Christ gather people out of them and bear their testimony against them and all Temples made with hands Did not the Lord by his Hammer and battel-Ax of War break down burn and utterly destroy those places and Images and Groves set up and consecrated by the Idolaters Did not the Lord begin such a work in this Nation some years since And hath some Instruments proved like Jehu begun in zeal and ended in covetousness which is Idolatry and hath not regarded the Law of God withall their heart And shall that frustrate the work and purpose of the Lord Is he not raising others to accomplish his Work and fulfil his Decree against the Adulterous generation of what name or sect soever and down in esteem if not in form must the Popish Mass-Houses come and which is now the Priests Market place and called a Church and down must your Bells and Pulpit-embroydered cloathes and such like trumpery come which hath been set up in the time of Popery and since the cry was Who is able to make war with the Beast And then is it not your manner to respect times dayes and things Are you not like the Papists in this also And have you not learnt of the Pope Bishops Cardinals Jesuits Priests Fryers and Monks and Heathens how and what to call your times dayes months and quarters c. Have they not all Heathenish and Popish Names The holy Scriptures you are not ashamed to say is your Rule but in what one thing do you walk according to your pretended Rule unless you mean the Popish Heathenish Scriptures or Writings call them your holy Rule if you mean those you shall be believed because you are found walking thereafter but if you mean the Writings which holy men wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit we know you are lyars and cannot believe you for they never learnt you to follow the manners and customs of the Heathen nor Papists as you do in respecting and naming or calling your Times Dayes Months and things the Scripture of Truth teacheth to call Days and Months after this manner First day second day third day fourth day fifth day sixth day seventh day First month second month third month and so to the twelfth month The Heathen and Papists and their Writings teacheth to call the first day of the Week Sunday or dies Solis the day of the Sun the second day Monday or dies Lun● the day of the Moon or the Moons day the third day Tuesday the fourth Wednesday the fifth Thursday sixth Fryday the seventh Saturday according to the Names of the 7. Planets wch the Heathen and Papists talk so much of And the first Month they call March the second April and so on to the eighth Month which is called October which signifieth the eighth Month November the ninth Month December the tenth Month from the Lattin words Octo Novem Decem eight nine and ten and the eleventh Month you call

THE Reign of the VVhore DISCOVERED And Her RVINE seen THis is a certain Truth revealed in the light and witnessed to by the Scriptures that the Whore the false Church hath long reigned in her fenced City which Cain the Vagabond and Murtherer built and long hath she been guarded and defended with Cain's Weapons carnal Weapons and long hath she sate as a queen seeing no sorrow and long hath her golden Cup passed up and down the Nations which is full of abominations of her Fornication whereby the Nations have been * corrupted and the Inhabitants of the Earth made drunk But now is the hour of her Judgement come and coming now is her skirts lifted up and her secret parts discovered and discovering and the Beast on whom she rode and rides is seen and his colour is known and her secret Chambers of Imagery is found out and her Sorceries and Witchcrafts are made manifest and many people on whom she s ate and over whom she reigned are redeemed from under her and reigns over her in Christ the Power of God which redeems and which preserves in the redemption Oh let the redeemed of the Lord praise his holy Name and walk to the praise and glory of his Grace for ever for the day is dawned wherein hypocrisie cannot stand nor hypocrites hide themselves and wherein fig-leaves cannot hide nor cover from the pure eye of the Lord God which runs to and fro through the Earth though they may be sowed together by such who have eaten of the choicest fruit the tree of knowledge of good and evil yeilds and by such who are called Orthodox men Learned men great Schollars Wise Disputants all is in valn their labour is little worth the Lord is come down to walk in the Garden and his Voice Where art thou is gone forth and now is the Lord come and coming to make inquisition for blood and to bring every man's Work to Judgement and to reward every man according to his Work And now ye Priests and Professors in Southwark especially who are called Presbyterians whose cry is very loud against us who are called Quakers and the noise among you is That we are the deceivers false prophets and wolves in sheeps clothing and that we deny the Scriptures and are Jesuits c. Answ. Must this be true because you say so And must the people believe you before you prove it Nay but you will be counted false accusers and fierce despisers of those that are good till you make it appear by better proofs then you could find to prove your selves Ministers of Christ at the late Dispute then you can find to quit your selves from being guilty of those things you charge us withall for indeed we count you guilty of the same things you accuse us for and ever shall unless you can clear your selves and convince us to the contrary for we see many signs marks and characters upon you and many practices among you which were never found upon nor among the true Ministers of Christ and that are not owned by the Scriptures and this hath been signified to you already at the late Dispute and in Writing also given into William Cooper's hands some Weeks since And also in a printed Paper titled The grounds and reasons why we deny the Teachers of the world Which hath been printed six years since and no Answer hath appeared from you the National Priests who are concerned therein And now seeing William Cooper and some others of your Brethren affirmed publikely that we the people called quakers are Jesuits and Jesuitical and proffered to prove their affirmation in the bitterness of their spirits therefore let us reason a little with you and prove and examine you that the people may see your Clothing or outside if not your inside to be Jesuitical at least and let us and all people know how you can quit your selves from being of that Popish Train and as for us let our integrity and innocency plead for us otherwise we shall say nothing for our selves for the Lord doth plead our cause Are not you like the Jesuits and Popish Priests First In your being made fit for your Call to your Ministry Secondly In your Call Thirdly in your going forth Fourthly In your Work called to Fifthly In your Maintenance in your Work Sixthly In your Doctrines Practices Places of Worship and manners in Worship If you say nay Make it appear not onely in Words but in Fruits not Fruits of Violence I do not mean but Fruits of the Spirit of God if you know it and answer First Are you not like the Jesuits and Popish Priests in preparing your selves and making your selves fit for your Call to your Ministry you profess Are you not prepared and fitted at those Schools and Colledges first ordained by the Pope Doth not learning some natural Languages and Arts as Logick and Rhetorick and such like make you fit for your Call And are not the Popish Priests and Jesuits made fit after this manner in such places and by such means for their Call Then are you nor like them in this thing And was ever any of the Ministers of Christ fitted and prepared after this manner that he sent forth Secondly Are you not called appointed and ordained by men to preach And do you not count that your Call if you have the approbation of some that are counted Orthodox men which have learned the natural Tongues and Arts that are taught in the Popish Schools and Colledges And are not the Popish Priests and Jesuits called and approved after this manner And are you not like them in this also Was ever Christ's Ministers called by man or approved by man Thirdly In your yoing forth to preach are you like the Ministers of Christ Do you go gorth freely and minister freely from City to City and Nation to Nation as the Ministers of Christ did Have you received freely Have not you bought what you have with money And do you not strive to get the best Market place you can to sit down into sell it again even at a deer rate And are not the Popish old Mas-houses your Market-places where you abide many times for term of life Are not you the creepers the Apostle spoke of that should creep into houses and lead silly Women captive laden with sin led aside with divers lusts ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth Are not all your followers such Doth not your fruits make you appear to be such house-creepers as were in the Apostles dayes Is not this the Popish Priests manner Do not they go forth in this way Are not you careless Watchmen and dreaming Prophets and idle Shepherds Do you not say we are Wolves And have we not had meetings several years in many of your Folds called parishes in over which you count your selves good Wattchmen and true Shepherds But when did either of you or any of you parish-Masters who would have others count

January and the twelfth Month February Now do you not prefer the Heathenish and Popish Traditions Rules Customs Manners and Writings before and above what is delivered prescribed and taught in the Writings of the holy men of God so that it is come to pass by your so doing that if people are brought to call daies and months and times and places and persons according as those did who had the spirit of God which the Scriptures teacheth and witnesseth unto I say When people are brought to this they become a hissing and a wonder among you and are counted nice and frivolous and unmannerly and when we speak and write of hours dayes and months as they are recorded in the Scripture people cannot tell what we mean nor how to understand us nor when such a time hour day or month is but will rather mock and jeer at first hour first day first month c. and will have no such reckoning of times in their temporal civil or spiritual Accompts these are your Auditors your Disciples or Schollars as you have learnt you teach as you the Priests are so are the people imitators of the Papists and Heathen in this as well as other things and the Christians life words manners and behaviour you are out of and strangers to and may we not justly with the Heathen and Papists compare you whose example you follow And then concerning the manner of your publike Divine Worship as you call it have you not this manner and custom as the first part of your Worship to sing David's Psalms in rime and meeter divised or turned thereinto by Poets or Musicianers as Thomas Sternhold and John Hopkins and others with apt Notes to sing them withall before your prayer and after your Prayer before your Sermon and after your Sermon of all the people together Is not this your own invention Was there any such manner of singing in the Church of Christ You say Let us sing to the praise and glory of God and you keep an Officer to read the Psalm to people which are some drunkards some covetous some proud some defrauders of their Brethren dissemblers double dealers some Adulterers and unclean persons some jesters and idle talkers some light and vain wild and wanton some scornful high-minded and mockers some disobedient to Parents unthankful and unholy and of rude unchristian behaviour Of such consisteth your Church and are not the Steeplehouse-singers such And can such persons sing to the praise and glory of God Or are they in a state and condition fit to sing at all Doth not weeping and howling mourning sorrow and lamentation and wo from the dreadful Lord God of Heaven and of Earth belong to such singers Singing with Grace in the heart unto the Lord we own but singing with wickedness with pride and covetousness in the heart we utterly deny Singing with the Spirit and with understanding we own but your singing by Letter with Musical Notes and Tunes customarily ignorantly without understanding we wholly disown and bear our testimony against it as abomination in the sight of the Lord and it was never ordained nor appointed in nor by the true Church but it hath been ordained and appointed by the false Church the Whore and her Merchants in the dark night of Apostacy since the dayes of the Apostles and since the true Church fled in to the Wilderness And is not this singing of David's Prayers Mournings Sighings Complainings and Cryes unto the Lord and his Praises Rejoicings and magnifying the Lord and such like conditions as David was in I say Is not your singing of these things like the Papists singing have you any more rule in the Scripture for your singing then the Papists have for their singing And hath it not been one of the Whores later invention and addition to your Worship even about the time of Queen Elizabeths reign in this Nation but the same pure eternal light which appeared in the hearts of some about the beginning of our English Wars and manifested much of the Popish Trumpery which was then in being of which quiristers and singing-boys in white Surplices was one I say the same pure eternal light hath manifested your singing and noise to be as abominable in the ears of the Lord as theirs and to be denyed and witnessed against for you have no more rule in the Scripture for your singing David's Prayers then the quiresters and singers then had to sing the Prayer which Christ taught his Disciples which they called Pater Noster Which of all you Mass-house Singers are or ever were what you sing as when you sing O Lord I am no● puft in mind and that your eys are not scornful Are you not of such a proud and hard heart and puft up mind and scornful eyes many of you that you will scarce look upon nor walk with nor relieve those that are poor though they be of your own Church Then do you not sing a lye in this And is that to the praise and glory of God Surely you dare not say that God is glorified with a noise of lyes not that David's Psalms are lyes but you being not in the same state condition and life that David was in they are lyes in your mouths David said Mine eys gush out with Rivers of water because they keep not thy law I am afflicted ready to dye from my youth up while I suffer thy terrors I am d●stracted I am like a Bottle in the smoak I am like an Owle in the desert I am like a Pellican in the Wilderness I am like a Sparrow alone upon the house top all my friends and acquaintance hath forsaken me This David said and you sing these words ignorantly customarily never witnessing the same state condition so they are lyes in your mouths and God is not glorified but dishonored by you in this part of your Worship and your singing and the Papists and quiristers and Surplice-boys singing is abomination alike in the sight of the Lord and in the sight of his servants who are redeemed from amongst you and from under the great Whore which sits upon the Waters but the Lord our God is taking her seat from under her and into the pit she with her golden Cup full of Sorceries Witchcrafts and Fornications shall fall and none shall be able to deliver her neither can she save her self nor those that hath been and still are made drunk with her Sorceries and deceiveable ways of unrighteousness of which this trick craft and art of singing is one James said Is any merry let him sing Psalms He wrote these words to Saints but hear what he wrote to such as you Cleanse your hands ye sinners and purifie your hearts ye double-minded be afflicted and mourn and weep let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy into heaviness Such as these hath no cause to be merry who are sinners whose hands are uncleansed and whose hearts are unpurified and whose minds are double And

whom you her Merchants have built your Ships and set up your Trade by the Authority of the Beast which rose out of the same place the Whore sate on He that hath Wisdom let him understand I say By the Authority of this Beast who hath seven heads ten horns ten Crowns upon his horns upon his heads the name of Blasphemy unto whom the Dragon gave his power have you and all Parish-Masters and others of the Whores choice Merchants in whole Christendom sate and advanced your Trade above and beyond all the Crafts-mens Trade beside in the whole World And this may appear plain to the view of all people if these few particulars following are considered First You have got a Market-place where none must sell any Wares but your selves though it be never so much better then yours neither must any come into your Market-place to give freely to poor people whose souls are ready to starve for want of the Bread of life notwithstanding they buy of your deceitful Wares Secondly You have had and some of your Brethren still have a compulsive Law to compel and constrain all people within such a compass or quarter to come to your Market-place and buy of you and none other Thirdly Whether those people within such a compass or quarter or parish come to your Market or no or receive any of your Merchandize notwithstanding you will make them pay as much as if they did or else you will take or cause to be taken from them violently it may be three four or five times as much as the price was you first set upon your Commodities Fourthly Though your Merchandize be never so deceitful and insufficient yet none must refuse them neither will you bate of your price and if any come to see the deceitfulness and insufficiency of what you sell at a very deer rate and declare against it that people might not be deceived and defrauded always with deceitful words and devillish Doctrines you wil sue such at the Law for slanderers and get one of the Beasts Horns that hath a Crown upon it to grant you 100. l. damage or some other punishment as whip or prison or banishment or life if ye can get it for the Whore loves blood and so doth her Merchants and children Fifthly Another thing that makes your Trade exceed all the Crafts-mens Trade beside in the whole World is That when poor people have bought your Merchandize and paid you or at least are liable to pay you you take them home again in your Pockets or Bibles or Note-Books and lay them up in your Ware-house to wit your Liberary and as you see occasion and opportunity you carry them to Market again and they wil yeild you as much as they did at the first and yet after you have sold your Imagery Work over and over you can trim it and dress it a little and put the title Doctor of Divinity to it or Batchellor of Divinity or Mr. William or Mr. John such a one Ministers of God's Word at such a Church in such a place and find a Chapman some Bookseller or Printer or other to give you money for it Much like this might be mentioned but this is sufficient to let all people which are not quite blind see wherein this whores Merchants trade exceeds all other Arts Crafts and Trades in the whole world And also the reason may here be seen wherefore these Parish-Masters and others of Mystery Babylons Merchants strives and petition that their trade may be upheld even in this Nation under this notion Propagate or hold up the Gospel when if they would speak as they mean it is thus Propagate hold up or maintain our Mothers Authority by which Authority we have had a good trade a great while and our profits hath been great and our incombs sure and let the Romish Churches our elder Sisters her Institutions Ordinations Customs Manners Practices and Places stand else we shal have no certain Trade for if we lose our Elder Sisters Law which gives us Tythes and that compels people to buy our Gospel we shal be undone peoples hearts are so hard they wil give us little freely though they have been and stil are our Auditors and we have taught them some ten some twenty thirty or forty years yet we are afraid if we lose our elder Sisters Law that those that have been our constant customers would hate us much of our price and those that do not like our Doctrine and Church-discipline and our chargeable Gospel will give us nothing at all is not this the very language of your hearts whose cry is Propagate the Gospel let that which searcheth your hearts and discerns the secret intents thereof the light of Christ in your Consciences answer for the Gospel is Christ the power of God which propagates or holds up all things and 't is ignorance and blasphemy to cry and petition to an arm of flesh to propagate this Gospel but 't is another Gospel that they who have brought it are accursed that wants propagating and this shall all your Merchants of Babylon know in the dreadfull day of the Lord our God when all the blood you have drunk and Tortures and Racks Whips and Prisons Stocks and Inquisitions and other carnal weapons you have used to propagate your Gospel shall rise up in Judgement against you then will ye cry to the Rocks and the Mountains to fall upon you to hide you from the Wrath of the Lamb And now is the wondrfull day at hand wherein the Wolves Bears and Lions shall be afraid and seek to hide themselves from the presence of the Lamb Consider this all ye hirelings that rend and tear and make a prey upon the innocent lambs of Christ for to serve your own bellies and covetous unchristian greedy desires how greatly do you dishonour the name of Christ in calling your selves his Ministers have not you and all your Brethren the Popish Christians in whole Christendome sent an ill savour throughout the Nations and Regions round about you yea and many of those you count heathens shal rise up in judgment against you even against you who have the sheeps cloathing the Prophets words Christs vvords the Apostles words but inwardly ravened from the Spirit of God in your selves and so have appeared devouring wolves and destroyers of the sheeps life scatterers of the flock of God hear the Word of the Lord by the mouth of his Prophet Ezekiel against such as you Wo be to the Shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves should not the shepherds feed the flocks ye eat the fat and ye cloth you with the wool ye kill them that are fed but ye feed not the flock the diseased haue ye not strengthened neither have ye healed that which was sick neither have ye bound up that which was broken neither have ye brought again that which was driven away neither have ye sought that which was lost but with force and with cruelty have ye

you true Shepherds so much as come to save your sheep from being drawn or taken from or out of your Fold And have you not lost many of the best and soberest of your flock Have you cared naturally for your flock or naturally for the fleece Have you shewed your selves like true shepherds or like hirelings in this thing Do you think you are wronged to be called and counted careless dreaming false idle shepherds and such who want the spiritual Weapons and true Shepherds Crook Put aside Whips and Stocks and Prisons and compulsive Laws and what can you do Where 's your Spiritual Weapons Where 's your Shepherds Crook then If you lose these Weapons what can you do to defend your selves or flock And if you put away the Wisdom which man teacheth and which man hath taught you as natural tongues and arts what can you say Is your armour the whole armour of light and have you the Sword of the Spirit and do you speak as the Spirit gives you utterance as Christ's Ministers did Or do you not gain utterance as the popish priests and Jesuits gains it and have you not bought the art of uttetance and yet are not many of you so dull and sottish that if you should lose your Notes which I have seen some of you craftily hide betwixt the leaves of your Bibles that the people might not see them would you not lose your method matter and utterance and so have little to say Why do you endeavour to hide your notes And do not some of you carry a Bible on purpose up with you into your Pulpits to hide your Notes And are there not some of you that have * Note Books bound and painted in form of a Bible when there is no printed Letter in it Now could you not preach better without your Bible then without your Notes and Note-Book Why do you not leave your Bibles at home Do you bring it onely for a cloak custom fashion and is not this the reason why people cry against us for denyers of the Scriptures because we do not hold a Bible in our hands when we preach to people and because we follow not your fashion and have Notes to tell the people the Chapter and Verse Did Christs Ministers go forth after this manner with Notes in their pockets or in a Book to tell them what to preach and how to preach and did they ever sit down and continue in one place for term of life unless they could hear of a people that would give them more money and greater hire Whose example do you follow in this if not the Popish Priests Come Priests let the people hear your answer Fourthly In your Work called to you say 't is to preach the Gospel and the cry is among poor blind ignorant people you are Ministers of the Gospel But are you not Ministers of the Letter and do you not call Matthew Mark Luke and John's Writings the Gospel and do you not take the Letter for your ground-work which you call your Text and then by your art which you have learn'd at School raise that you call your Doctrines Points Reasons Uses Motives and Trials and such like Now is not your preaching or making an hours speech artificial and is not your Work herein like the Popish Priests and are you not very unlike the Ministers of Christ in this your Work Did any of the latter Prophets take the former Prophets Words to speak from Or did any of the latter Apostles and Ministers of Christ take the former Apostles and Ministers Words for their Ground-Work Did not they all minister according as they had received from God and was not their Work and Ministry for this end To turn people to Gods gift in them from the darkness to the light from the power of Satan to God But is your Work so Do not you turn people's minds to something without them and do not your selves hate the light and so are you like to turn people from darkness and are you not under the power of Satan you selves and do you not teach the poor ignorant people that 't is impossible to be freed from under the power of Satan and that they must never expect to be freed from committing of sin while living in the Body and are not those under the power of the Devil that doth the Works of the Devil and obeys his Will are not those that commit sin the servants of sin and free from righteousness Is not he that commits sin of the Devil Then to what end and purpose is all your labour pains and study and preaching and praying c. if people must always be servants of sin and slaves to the Devil and never be redeemed from fin and iniquity What spiritual things do you sowe to poore people What Gospel do you preach What glad tydings do you bring Is this your glad tydings that people must live in sin and under the power of the Devil Are you not miserable Ministers Have you not brought another Gospel besides that which the Apostles preached Is not the Gospel glad tydings to such as are weary and heavy laden with sin and in bondage to the Devil And is not the Gospel the Power of God And is not Christ the Power of God and is not he appointed to save his people from their sin and not in their sins Have you not one thing still to learn of the Pope and that is to know where the time and place of Cleansing is How come you to miss preaching up a Purgatory or place of Cleansing after this life seeing your Doctrine and Principles admits of no such place and time in this World But are not the Papists and you both deceived in this thing Doth not the Tree lie as it falls And Judgement finde as death leaves And no unclean thing enter the Kingdome Come Priests let us and the people here your answer Fifthly As to your Maintenance in this your Work How can you quit your selves from being like the Papist Priest and Jesuits Are you any thing like the Ministers of Christ in this thing also Have not the Pope Cardinals and Bishops been the Foundation of your setled standing-maintenance by Tithes Gleab-lands Easter-reckonings Midsummer dues Mortnaries and Smoke penys and such like Are you not beholding to the Pope Popish Laws for this your way of maintenance And why do you deny the Pope Is it because he hath no authority in this Nation to give you any more means nor to take from you what you have Is it not a great sign that the root of all evil is in you to wit Covetousness that you have swallowed down so much blood liberty and goods of many of the poor innocent Lambs of Christ within these few years because for conscience sake they could not put into your mouths Have you not prepared war against the innocent people of the Lord who living in his pure fear did not dare to maintain you in