of whoredomes acted therein All which with much more not being believed nor received but entertained with offence and prejudice What could I doe but shake off the dust of my feet and stand as a Witness against your deceit and so betake my self into the Wilderness as before I had said in which the Lord speaks comfortably And give me leave without offence to tel you that in all this I understood and knew what I spake Yea when I profess'd among you my ignorance of Christ I wel knew what I did for mine eies began to be opened by him that was given for a covenant to open blind eies And therefore do bear testimony that that knowledg also which you had then of Christ shall profit you nothing and that your habitation is in the midst of deceit and through deceit ye refuse to know the Lord but are feeding on ashes not on bread and so are a people robbed and spoiled yea all of you snared in holes and hid in Prison-houses and are for a prey and for a spoil And this shall ye know and witness eternally when happily no place for repentance may be found but the things belonging to your peace be hid from your eyes But who among you will give ear to this who will hearken and hear for the time to come But when I consider both your danger and your confidence and see but little probability of escape How am I wounded at the heart and made as it were to cry out My bowels my bowels I am pained at the heart I have labored in vain and spent my strength for nought for the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously and so you proceed from evil to evil as appeareth this day though the God of this world hath so blinded your eyes that you cannot see it I told you also whiles I was with you that as many desired and seemed to delight in the day of Christs first appearance in flesh could not stand when he appeared but became his Betrayers and Murderers so in his second appearance in Spirit Power and Life many of those that expected him seemed to desire and earnestly pray for that day of Christ would be found the greatest Enemies to him and told you some of you would betray him and how sadly it is already fulfilled in you and made good by you Let all to whom God hath given any measure of true discerning judge and see if in envy wrath and rage some of you exceed not the Heathen yea all your Fathers who in envy wrath and rage persecuted the Prophets and holy men of God that witnessed the truth in their generations But my Friends Against whom do ye sport your selves against whom make ye a wide mouth and draw out the tongue yea and the hand also Are you not children of transgression a seed of falshood Are your actions the actions of Isaac the true seed to whom the promise is made or of Ishmael that scoffed or mocked and must be cast out of righteous Abel or wrathful Cain by your fruits are ye known and the Harvest is come in which the wheat is gathering and the tares and chaff is scattering and burning and your saying Lord Lord will not serve turn Your saying and imagining you have Faith will not save you when your works are contrary and proceed not from above but from beneath Why do ye rage and imagine vain things why do ye set your selves and take counsel together against the anointed one why will ye break all his bonds and cast his cords from you by which he would draw and gather you to himself in this day of his mighty power The Lord hath set his King upon his holy Hill of Sion Who from thence declares the decrees the Law is gone forth of Sion and the word of the Lord from Ierusalem thousands are witnesses thereof although it be your lot to be of that number that despise and wonder and must perish according to the Scripture except ye repent And therefore be wise and kiss the Son lest he be angry c. For truly you may associate your selves and take counsel of the enemies of the Lord you may strike in confederacy with the enemies of our God but you must be broken to pieces for the Lord of Hosts is with us and the shout of a King is among us though we are as signs and wonders in Israel But to be plain from whence comes Wars and Fightings that are among you why do ye beat in your meetings likewise Enemies of Christ in their Synagogues as some of you did the tenth day of the seventh moneth at Richard Moons if you had there met to call on the Father who without respect of persons judgeth righteously why had you not past your time in fear but if you have bitter envyings and strife in your hearts as it is evident you then and at other times had glory not and lie not against the truth for this comes not from above but is carnal sensual and devilish and where strife and envy is there is confusion and every evil work Therefore cleanse your hands ye sinners and purifie your hearts ye double-minded be afflicted and mourn and weep let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into heaviness for God accepts not your sacrifice but his wrath and fury is to be revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness as you do this day And therefore the sinners in Sion are afraid great fear hath surprized the Hypocrites I beseech you read uprightly without prejudice or deceit the 83. Psalm from end to end and see if it contains not both your practice and portion I advise you to stand still if you will see the salvation the Lord of a truth is working for his people But if you will stand on the other side reioycing over the children of Iudah in the day of their calamity and speak proudly in the day of her distress and be like one of her enemies Know that the day of the Lord is near upon all the Heathen her enemies and as you have done it shall be done unto you as the Prophet witnesses Obadiah 11.12 13 14 15. And if you will be one with the enemies of the Lord in sin must ye not be one in plagues And if you although ignorantly will be lifting at the burthen some stone and fighting against Ierusalem must ye not be broken and receive the plague from the Lord God that must be poured out upon all that fight against it Zach. 14.12 Can any pretence whatsoever cover you Consider this all ye that put faraway the evil day and cause the seat of violence to come near who beat and abuse the servants of the living God which in his Name he sends among you for your good so that they bear your marks in their bodies as of old they did from your Fathers and whether it be not an evident token of your perdition
in some measure made freely willing to sell all yea the repute and esteem I had with you and others called Churches that I might possess it and that I have found him whom my soul loveth even him of whom Moses and the Prophets did write and the Apostles and living Saints did and doth witness even Jesus which saves his people from their sins and redeems them from all iniquity who is the light of the World and the life of men the living Way the Resurrection and the Life the faithful and true Witness the First and the Last the Beginning and the End who was dead and is alive and lives for evermore Whom you with me were long seeking among the dead but could not finde because he was not there but was risen and is gone before his people whom he leads with a strong hand from under Pharaoh and all his host his Magicians and wise men the King of Babylon and all his Counsellors to give them freedom and rest in the promised Land to the terror and astonishment of the World and the disquietment of the Inhabitants of Babylon where they shall feed as in days of old and the Lord delight to dwell amongst them and multiply them and set his Sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore Are the pillars and foundation of your building so feeble that a Letter from the hand of a friend that dearly loves you and is become as your enemy onely for telling you the truth and imbracing it makes it tremble and shake so that you durst not suffer it to be read amongst you lest it fall Hath fear indeed surprized the Hypocrite Doth the wicked know that he cannot stand in Judgement but must be destroyed by the brightness and glory of Christs appearing and coming Have ye not read in the Scripture That they that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Sion that cannot be shaken and that the house built upon the rock stands notwithstanding the wind rain and floods beat and dash against it Yea that all the gates and powers of hell cannot prevail against it and that they that serve God acceptably receive a Kingdom that cannot be shaken and that all that may be shaken must be removed Why then are ye afraid Do ye not hereby declare and manifest that ye are children in whom is no faith and that the light of God in your consciences hath manifested to you that your building is on the sands not on the rock and that your foundations is not eternal but in the imaginations onely though to it you attend not And is not he your friend that warns you of it in time and bids you attend to wisdom which cries and utters her voice in your streets and saith Turn ye at my reproof and I will pour out my spirit upon you But why must not my defence be heard if it contains onely truth must it therefore be shut out from among you and not suffered to have an hearing in your Assembly least thereby deceit and Hypocrisie be discovered and the man within you is so strongly armed lose his Palace if it contain other then truth why had you not made it manifest that I might repent since you pretend your love is so great that pou cannot cease praying for my return back to you though I have often denyed those Prayers Isa 1.15 When you make many Prayers I will not hear Are ye not many and I but one and such an one whom you may easily encounter if truth and power were on your side Did not your messengers tell me they saw nothing in it for which it might not be read in your meeting that I had but created more labor and trouble for my self because an answer to it I might be sure to receive To which I replyed An answer to it I would willingly receive from them to whom it was sent and advised that they took care it were to some purpose and not a parcel of weakness and confusion to which end you might call to your assistance the men of your Confederacy the Tabernacles of Edom the Ishmaelites Moab and the Hagarenes c. and instanced some lately invited and entertained by you who opened their mouthes in Blasphemy against God his Tabernacle and them that dwell therein And this I did the rather because I have seen put sorth by Priests and People such parcels of falshood and confusion yet it s like the best they had that is was no ways worth perusing or answering Why had not your messengers delivered it into mine own hands from which it was received that their promise might not be broken or signified some reason or other why it was so returned and why could they not stand to receive a sober and true answer from my mouth when they came the second time with your false and feigned accusations had shame and confusion covered their faces or was there so much guilt in their consciences that they durst not appear to deliver the one least some reason should be demanded of its return and they confounded the refore shufled it into the hand of a servant without so much as asking me in 3 moneths time whether I had it or not that they might be clear of their promise or to receive a short answer to the other least thereby their guilty consciences should so far condemn them that they be forced to acknowledge the truth both of mine innocency and their own and your hypocrisie and wickedness Is fear the pit and the snare fallen upon thee Oh thou inhabitant of the earth hath the Lord who tryeth the righteous rained upon thee snares as the portion of thy cup that thou become every way ensnared in the work of thine own hands Oh! that your eyes were opened by him that is given for a Covenant that you might see it and repent and seek after the living God whose wisdom and strentgh is against you to cut you down except you return How can you say you are wise and the law of the Lord is with you what Judgement is there in your goings do not the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees far exceed yours Read consider and be not deceived for the day of Visitation is come and the Lord waits to be gracious and wisdom cries in your streets though ye regard it not but set at naught her counsels and refuse her reproofs and the redeemer is come to Sion and to all that turn from ungodliness in Iacob the voice of the turtle and singing of birds is heard and witnessed in our land and the cry at mid-night is made Behold the Bridgroom cometh and many are gone forth to meet and have met him And therefore awake awake ye sleepy Virgins arise ye women that are at ease hearken and hear ye careless daughters whose vintage hath long failed and whose gathering doth not come who art wearied in thy way yet sayest not there is no hope who hast wickedly abused thy self to obtain that which
Moses by faith refused Happy would you be if your souls which long have been in captivity under the wisdom and policy of the first Adam might be raised and have dominion and you come to witness your part in the first resurrection where the second death hath no power O my friends what shall I say unto you or how shall I intreat you for I bear you record that some of you have a great zeal of God but not according to knowledge but going about to establish your own wisdom have not submitted your selves to the wisdom of Christ nor his Cross which is foolishness to some and a stumbling block to others but is known and witnessed by those that are saved to be the very wisdom of God Now in the words of Iob I shall conclude to you Iob 13.1 2. Loc mine eye hath seen all this mine ear hath heard and understood it what ye know the same do I know also I am not Inferior to you Surely I would speak to the Almighty and I desire to reason with God but ye are forgers of lies ye are all Physitians of no value O that ye would altogether hold your peace and it should be your wisdom hear now my reasoning and hearken to the pleading of my lips Will ye speak wickedly for God and talk deceitfully for him Will ye accept his person will ye contend for God Is it good that he should search you out or as one man mocketh another do ye so mock him he will surely reprove you If ye secretly accept persons shall not his excellency make you afraid and his dread fall upon you your remembrances are like unto ashes your bodies to bodies of clay Now all the Churches in England and Wales Baptized and Independant so called to whom I have been known in the flesh and the Elders that are among them I exhort who also was accounted and called an Elder that by the Light of Christ with which you are every one enlightned and is the true Light of which Iohn was a witness you search your selves whether ye are indeed that which ye account your selves to be or else but the likeness the picture or the image of the thing without the life or living power of God within you to act order and direct you For the day of the Lord is great upon all the Idols Likenesses and Images which have eyes and do not see and feet and do not walk c. Like unto which are all those that make or trust in them and sad will be your portion if you be found worshipping in the house of your Imagery and Imaginations setting up the Images of Churches in which the true life is not or the likeness of Elders without the power which the living Elders had which is the works of your own hands for the Scripture saith Confounded be all they that serve graven Images that boast themselves of Idols And also I exhort you to be sober Come out of Egypt and stand still that you may see the salvation of the Lord who is now leading his people like a stock out of Egypt and out of Babylon as in the days of old at which Pharaoh with all his Host is angry and the Magicians and Wise-men of Egypt withstand with whom many of you have already been partakers in persecuting and in unwarrantable cruelties exercised upon the true Israel of God by which you have sufficiently declared your selves to be the feed which was born of the Bond-woman after she flesh which persecuted and must be cast out and not the seed which was by promise born of the Free-woman from above after the Spirit which shall be Heir and must reign who in all ages was persecuted under one pretence or other but did never persecute but as then He that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit so it is now And the innocent blood of righteous Iames Parnel who hath suffered to the loss of his life for the testimony of Jesus in the Goal of Colchester will sadly witness it to the Consciences of those pretended Ministers and Members of the Churches in Essex who were his unjust betrayers and persecuters against whom it cries aloud for vengeance let some Members of Churches whom I know in Norfolk and other parts of the Nation also consider this and repent And therefore amend your ways and your doings and execute true Judgement and Justice oppress not the stranger the fatherless and widow and shed not innocent blood nor walk after the abominations of the Heathen whom the Lord hath cut off before you and trust not in lying words that cannot profit saying The Temple of the Lord the Ordinances of God The Churches of Christ c. For will ye lie swear deal unjustly persecute and imprison the righteous slander and abuse and shed innocent blood do worse then your Fathers and come stand in that you call a Church as if you were delivered to do these abominations Is the House that is called by my Name become a Den of Robbers or Persecutors in your eyes Behold I have seen it saith the Lord And although he hath daily sent unto you his Servants and Prophets warning you in his Name and in his Power yet have you not hearkned unto him nor enclined your ears but hardened your necks and many of you done worse then your Fathers and therefore go see what he hath done to your Brethren the Persecuters which he cast out before you And for mine own part I must deal plainly and tell you the beholding and observing the unrighteous actings and deceitful hypocritical dealings of many of your eminent Members and other high pretenders to Religion whilst I sate with them in Parliament and other chief places of Counsel and Trust in the Nation was one of the first things that put me upon consideration what the root of that Profession should be from whence such sowre grapes and fruits of bitterness proceeded where I obtained mercy through the light of Christ that enlightneth every man that cometh into the world to see the root and the fruit to be the same your foundation rotten in the imitation and likeness of the truth not in the truth as it is in Jesus your way too broad to lead to life your Principle and profession weak and powerless not able to carry and lead you out of the World and its crooked and deceitful ways but in the lustful proud vain-glorious envious oppressive nature to dwell equal with the rest of the world from whence it is since broken sorth into the monstrous Viper of plain and open Tyranny Violence and Persecution in which you are observed greatly to exceed the Generations that went before you Vpon consideration of which notwithstanding I have known what it is to be accounted something among those called Churches what the preferment of Pharaohs Court is and the great things of England and have had a nature prone enough to imbrace the same yet for
s true I said the thing called the Body of Divinity by the Wizards of this world was a plague to the Land and doe still affirme it to be so Although I perceive some among you are so blinded by the god of this world that they know not how to put a difference between the spirit of Witchcrafts which acts in the Diana called Divinity and the pure Spirit of Christ by which the Scriptures were given forth And whereas you accuse me for saying the Scriptures were a blinding or a veil I demand where are your eyes Hath the god of this world indeed so blinded it that you cannot read plain words of Scripture but lay that to my charge as sinne which is according to that which came out of the mouth of him whom you pretend to honour Doth not Christ Jesus the Light of the world and the wisedome of God say Mdrk 4.11 12. Vnto you it is given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom but to them that are without all these things are done in Parables that seeing they might see and not perceive and hearing they might hear but not understand c. And the like words in Luke 8.10 Was not Isaiah sent to this purpose to make the peoples hearts fat and their eares heavy and to shut their eyes And to say unto them hear ye indeed but understand not and see ye indeed but perceive not Isa 6. Doe ye not understand that the Letter killeth and the Spirit quickneth besides many other Scriptures manifesting the same thing Oh my Friends were you not wholly given over and become past feeling without any sence of the life and spirit of God how can these things be especially at such a time when the night is so far spent and the day so much appeared and the true Light come and the glory of the Lord risen and the children of the Lord walking in the light of the Lord and calling each other thereinto according to the Scriptures were it not your way to be silent and not manifest your ignorance and folly in accusing others for speaking upon the matter the very words of Scripture when it is your own ignorance even of the very Letter of Scripture that is the cause of it And whereas you accuse me for affirming in the Church that the Scriptures were not the Word of God and Rule of Life when I only propounded it among you to consider whether it was so or not In this you manifest your ignorance as well as in the former And therefore I demand of you where doth the Scripture call it selfe the Word of God and to whom was it the rule of life It is true the Holy Scriptures of Truth declare of the Word and that Word of which it declares was God and took flesh and by that Word was the world made and by the same Word it is reserved to the judgement of the great day And if you can find the Scriptures declaring of any other Word of God let me know it and till then be silent and adde not your imaginations which are onely Evill and that continually to the Scriptures Thus having answered what you sent to me I shall further adde that I take notice that God hath granted me that mercy that in all studied accusations raked up together against me you cannot finde one particular thing to lay to my charge condemned by the spirit of Christ to be contrary to the Scriptures of Truth and that all or most part of what you seem to gather up is of that which was done or spoken whilest I was among you and not then reproved and so your own evill is manifested and not mine But to conclude for my heart is moved after some of you why would you stone or otherwise harm me what evill have I done Why doe ye wait for my Halting and lay snares for him that reproved you in times past by words and now by silence Why are your spirits imbitter'd against him that thought nothing deare to doe you service Have I not served you freely many years together and been a keeper of your Vineyard In which all my reward from you was to beare and be broken under your backbitings murmurings formality and unfruitfulness and other evils not a few then in being and still is among you Is it not time now for me to look to my own Vineyard and to mind my Eternal Habitation Have I ever made a gain of you or any of you Surely I have been servant to you neer as long as Iacob was to Laban for both his wives And may I not now be permitted to mind mine own but you must pursue like Laban after poor Iacob when God bid him return I know and am perswaded that the most embitter'd spirit among you cannot but say I have been more righteous then you more discerning more faithful and diligent then you though I am not thereby justified neither have I whereof to glory And may I not say to you as sometimes the poor Ass abused by the blind Prophet said to his Master what have I done Have I not been your servant these many yeares was I wont to doe as now Surely if ever the Lord take pleasure in you and open your eyes you will soon see the Angel in the way and that the poor Ass hath more discerning then the wilfull angry and passionate Prophet You are my Witnesses that some manifestations of truth was breaking forth in me some yeares past and was sometimes manifested among you at which some of your hearts burn'd some trembled some were offended and contradicted c. My selfe in all was groaning after power spirit and life without which no satisfaction came to my soul from whence I ceased not to warn you from day to day of your danger in the state where you stood short of the life But you not being warned how often hath mine heart lamented in your hearing in these and the like words To whom shall I speak and give warning you will not hear your hearts are uncircumcised and you cannot hearken The word of the Lord is a reproach so you and you have no delight in it O that my head were water and mine eyes a fountain of tears c. Oh that I had in the Wildernesse a lodging-place of Wayfaring men that I might leave my people and goe away from them for they are Adulterers an Assembly of treacherous men and bend their tongues like bowes for lyes but are not valiant for the Truth upon Earth c. But this seemed as idle words yet was I made to proceed and to warne you of the mighty day of the Lord now at the doore in which you could never stand I told you your foundation was on the sand short of the life your profession was in words not in power and that your mountaines must be brought low and your valleys exalted before the Lord come to your Temple and at last that your Church was but an Harlot and the spirit
but to us of salvation and that of God But what shall I advise or counsel you I know from of old many of your hearts are hardned and you will not hear and therefore I shall say no more but with Paul From henceforth let no man among you trouble me for I must bear about in my body the dying of the Lord Iesus that the life also of Iesus may be manifested in my mortal body however you take it this is written in much feeling and love to your souls and therefore in plainness by one that hath been and still is a great lover of your souls though a witness against your deceit Known to you by the name of Dennis Hollisler POSTSCRIPT I Shall spare to make much mention to you of your carriage to a Servant of the Lord who came into your meeting the second day of this ninth moneth and of your threatning her with Whips Stripes and Prison Having written more largely of it to Thâ—mas Ewens your Teacher where you may see how contrary your practice is to the Saints in all ages and the Churches of Christ and one with the Seed of the Serpent the enemies of Christ who was ever found in imprisoning and persecuting the Saints as the Scriptures testifie The Letter to Thomas Ewens Thomas Ewens THy Letter of the second day of the last Moneth I received with the enclosed Papers from Henry Iessey and Iohn Pendarviss as thou saist in answer to some Queries sent to me by them which is not true for I sent none to them in particular that I know but to the People to whom they were directed viz. The Baptists of which as that time a very great number was in Town from whom some reasonable answer might be expected instead of which I reveived a Paper signed Henry Iessey Iohn Pendarvis pretending some Reasons why they answered not and in thy Letter a shew of an answer to them the said Quaeries but indeed a parcel of such dull stuff that it s not worth observing much less replying thereto by those whose time is not their own but his that sent them Enclosed thou maist receive an answer to their Anti-quaeries from those to whom they were directed A reply also to the pretended answer of the Quaeries thou and they might have expected had it been worth the while but instead thereof you viz. the Baptists are desired to review your own Answers and take notice of the confusion and deceit therein contained and how far short it is of an answer to the Queries and amend the same I shall instance in one particular namely your answer to the eight Query in which you speak of two Baptisms under the New Testament besides that of Iohn when the Scripture saith One Faith one Baptism you say Christ in his own Person onely Baptized with the Spirit none other being appointed nor inabled c. When the Scripture saith Some were made able Ministers of the Spirit not the Letter And he that ministred the spirit among the Saints Did he it by the works of the Law saith that able Minister of the Spirit And where was it that Christ in his own person Baptized in Scripture expressions Were not all the Saints Baptized by one Spirit into one Spirit into one Body See â— Cor. 12.13 without wresting sithence the Spirit was not given till that person was ascended And he that spake by the Spirit said Though ye have known Christ after the flesh yet henceforth know ye him so no more And what is that Name of the Lord Iesus in which you say you Baptize I shall say little to your Spiritual ends there mentioned of your water Baptism or my stical holdings out or representtions c. But would rather have the tearms and things proved by the words of Scripture to be so because the shadows do now begin to flie away and the true Light shines and deceit is manifested so that words colours and pretences will not now prevail to blinde and deceive those that live and walk in the true Light And whereas thou saist If there be any thing in either of the Papers that may tend to recover my precious Soul out of the pit and snare into which it is faln as it would be a rejoycing to others that love me so to thy self who would be as ready as ever to serve me in love and in the Lords way To which I reply Were my soul which indeed is precious in the eye of the Lord faln into a pit or snare I see nothing in either of those dull confused liveless and powerless Papers like to recover or lift it out But why dost thou not tell me what the snare and pit is into which it is faln The mistaken blinde generation in all ages accounted the people of God who were escaped their pollution and snares and turned from the darkness to the Light and from the power of Satan unto God deceived faln and mis-guided and therefore hated reviled and persecuted them as people faln into a snare fit for their prey and spoil and to be whipt and imprisoned c. I do not say in Bridewell but shall leave it to come out of thy mouth as it did the second day of this present month and is that the Lords way in which thou art so willing to serve me I utterly deny that way and the Lerd of it which is the god of the world the Devil and all that by him are led and guided therein it is the devil that casts the Saints into Prison as the Scripture saith It was wretched Pilate that scourged Iesus It was those Masters whose gain came in by Divination joyning with the multitude that carryed Paul and Silas before the Magistrates and caused them to be beaten and many stripes laid upon them and cast into prison It was Iesus that foretold his Disciples they muse be so used by the world the generation of Vipers that must fill up the measure of their Fathers iniquities that upon them may come all the righteous blood that hath been shed upon the earth from the blood of righteous Abel c. It was Paul the able Minister of the Spirit not of the Letter that proved himself the Minister of God in much patience intumults in stripes in imprisonments c. and more a Minister of Christ then the false Ministers that encountred him were by labors more abundant in stripes above measure in Prisons more frequent that five times of the professing Iews received forty stripes save one and was thrice beaten with rods But is is Thomas Ewens a Minister of the Letter not of the Spirit as all the false Apostles and deceitful Workers were who trans form themselves into the Ministers of Christ as Satan doth himself into an Angel of Light that is at least threatning the servants of God and witnesses of Iesus with stripes with whipp ings and with Bridewel O my Friend How great is the wrath and how heavy is the indignation that from the
appointed Pastors and Teachers is answer'd in the query and what he appoints is not needless Quere 7. Whether the Scriptures you bring to oppose the Practice of Gospel-Ordinances doe not serve onely to reprove the practise of Circumcision or the walking after the traditions of men or the carnal formalist practise or Idolizing of the true Gospel-Ordinances all you say making not at all against a spiritual practice of Gospel-Church-Ordinances as of Breaking of Bread and Exhorting one another c. Answer We bring not Scripture to oppose the practice of Gospel-Ordinances but we bear witness against your traditions carnal formalists and Idolizing practises by the same spirit as they did then who said It is neither Circumcision nor Vncircumcision but a new Creature And the spiritual practice we own and press unto it and against the formall and the carnall all we say not making at all against a spiritual practice of Gospel-Church-Ordinances And whether the spiritual be taken practis'd and fulfill'd in the carnall let the Spiritual Judge who compares spiritual things with spiritual and here your queries are in your confusion who before drew a conclusion we cried all down without mercy and now say all we say makes not at all against a spiriruall practice Here the unclean Spirit hath confess'd truth Quere 8. Whether it be better to wait on God in his good old wayes expecting his work to be gradually carried on so running with patience your spirituall race or as the manner of some is to forsake the assembling our selves together in hopes to start up from a low stature suddenly into perfection by embracing a new Doctrine Answer In this query we are not concern'd by your own confession we informe and instruct our selves and others and we assemble our selves together for edifying waiting upon the Lord in patience to runne the spiritual race and for your starting up into perfection your envy is seen and against what you start and such starting we deny your slander returns upon your own head Quere 9. Whether Iesus Christ hath not prayed for those that believe through the word of the Apostles Is so whether they are not in a good and safe way who believe accordingly And whether it be better to credit their testimony so fully confirm'd and owned by the Lord or to forgoe that and embrace and follow the sayings of some of your company Answer Christ hath prayed for those that believe and they are in a good and safe way that believe accordingly and for crediting their testimony so fully confirm'd you have Drunkards Lyars Swearers Covetous proud Hyocrites and deceitful Ones to be of your company to confess the truth of their words but are as far from witnessing the life and power the Believers witnessed as the Hypocrites as the Drunkards swearers yea and many in this day of the Lord are brought to repentance and enter into the Kingdome before ye graves and painted sepulchres And for your secret slandering some of our company where nothing is instanced there needs no answer But all we say as you confess making nothing at all against a spiritual practice we judge it safe to follow that and they that believe and follow otherwise it is not for the better Quere 10. What is that Faith which the Spirit speaketh expresly some should depart from in the latter dayes giving heed to seducing spirits and dostrines of Devils Answer It is the Faith of the Son of God and Faith is a Mystery held in a pure Conscience and you that are ignorant of this Faith are among the seducing spirits and the last and perillous time is fulfilled upon you reprobate concerning the faith having a forme of godliness but denying the power as you confess that you profess no tto have the power the Apostles had by which the foundation was laid yet you say you can build but what your building is worth let the wise in heart judge who have not the power that layd the foundation O ye blind guids are your consciences so seared that you cannot see that you are out of the doctrine of Christ without the power that laid the foundation building among the company beforemention'd In the presence of the Lord are you seen witness'd against to be in the doctrine of devils without the power of God giving heed to seducing spirits seducing Repent repent ye Hyyocrites this is love to your souls and the Witness in your Consciences will answer it in the day of the Lords account Quere 11. Whether that Doctrine which in some is no more but look to the Light Within with a curse upon disobedience and a blessing upon obedience thereunto be that glorious Gospel Preached by Christ and his Apostles or whether it be not a renewing the old Doctrine of Iustification by Works wâ—â—…ein the mystery of iniquity works to darken the grace of God in justifying the Vngodly without works freely by his grace and to make void the sufferings of Christ Answer This query is grounded upon a lye but the true Ministry is to turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God And this is the way to receive forgiveness of sinnes and an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith that is in C. Jesus and that the wrath of God is to be revealed upon the disobedient is found Doctrine and your deceitful coverings will not hide you who obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ And glad tiding and plenteous redemption through his blood doe we witness and the old doctrine is denied by the summ of what we declare and the carnal profession and hypocrisie contrary to the grace of God which teacheth to deny ungodliness and the forme without the same power that laid the foundation there the mysterie of iniquity worketh and from thence came this query which is utterly false as it is applied to us Query 12. Whether the Light that is in every man doth reveale Iesus Christ as crucified for sin and risen again If so how came it to passe that so many strict men and Paul himself walking according to his Conscience before Conversion were ignorant of him Answer Do you not here shew your ignorance Is Christ reveal'd crucified for sin and raised again before Conversion Is this a learned question how it comes to passe that Christ is not known before Conversions seeing the Light reveales him The Light condemnes the Vnbelievers though they make a Profession that Christ is come and crucified for sin and risen Ye are in the darkness it self as neer Egypt as Babylon Did Paul know Christ til he was revealed in him and doth darkness reveale him While Paul walked in the zeal without the true knowledge persecuting he was ignorant and injurious and the Son not reveal'd But in the Light is Christ known and reveal'd and the true Light lighteth every man and he that believeth in the light is a child of light But one question after your manner of counting to you among
your heap whether it be not the Prince of darkness in you which denies that the Light reveales Jesus Christ that so ye may draw people from the true light which lighteth every man to follow your own inventions building in the credit of others testimony without the power which laid the foundation and so set up a Forme without the power in your gross dark imaginations and call that Light shewing your selves to be false Christs crying loe here and loe there And seeing some may be Witches that Preach up the outward Commands in the Letter without the Spirit Whether are not you Witches that deny the power the Apostles had by which the foundation was laid and whether he that brings the same doctrine the Apostle brought hath not the same power which laid the foundation seeing he hath the Father and the Sonne and whether you that have denied this power can deny but ye are seducing spirits and in the doctrine of Devils Quere 13. Whether you have not among you many who presume to be Masters or masterly Teachers contrary to the word of Christ Mat. 23.10 Doe not they usurp authority over the Consciences and judgements of their followers requiring them to believe and obey what they say without asking their meanings and examining their sayings by the Scriptures whereas Christ expounded his sayings to his Disciples and the Bereans were commended for searching the Scripture Answer Nay we have not many such among us contrary to the Word of Christ neither do they whom we own to be Ministers usurp authority over the Consciences and Judgments of their followers requiring them to believe what is said without tryal this is an absolute lye Ah ye dissembling Hypocrites doth not the light condemne you for this Hypocrisie who are found in this very practice contrary to the word of Christ and would hide your selves by casting it upon the innocent Truly your condemnation slumbers not though your hearts may be hardned Query 14. Whether it be not high presumption and spritual pride for some among you to break Christs commands and teach men so and to judge the secrets of mens hearts and rathly without knowledge of mens conversations to affirme they have not the Spirit may not others know by such things how to judge of you Answer This Query as t is laid down is a lye and by your uttering forth such deceit we know how to judge of you We deny breaking Christs commands and teaching men so bring in those some and let them be made manifest else ye are slanderers manifest But to judge the secrets of mens hearts the Lord doth it by which spirit the Saints are guided and judge the Vnlearned and Vnbelievers the thoughts of their hearts being made manifest and this we witness against spiritual pride which would not be judged Query 15. Whether you doe not esteem the sayings of some among you of equall authority with the sayings of God in Scripture and as readily or more to be believed or obeyed without enquiring whether they agree with Scripture or no even though they plainly contradict the Written Word Is it not an usuall thing with many of you to travell up and down to and fro farre and near in obedience to such voices not warranted by Scripture but contrary thereunto Answer This query is absolute Lyes as t is laid down But that which God speaks now we own to be of the same authority with what he spake formerly and is to be believed and obeyed accordingly though the wicked generation who have the words formerly spoken doe reject the Word of the Lord now as the Hypocrites did who had the Prophets words but owned not them who spake by the same Authority your building the tombs of them your fathers slew wil not serve to hide you in the dreadful day of the Lord you will know that the Lord hath sent his Witnesses among you and for contradicting the Scripture it is not shewed in what let the slander lie upon you As for wandring up and down to and fro farre and neer that is not contrary to Scripture but was the practice of the holy men who spake as they were moved and wandred up and down and to the voice of God were obedient in so doing and some of them to the going naked though you be so blind and ignorant as to oppose the same in them who witness it a sign to such as you Query 16. Whether Satan that old deceiver who often changeth his shape being discovered in many of his old devices may not now be expected to come in his best dresse as an Angel of Light And if so ought not all men to take heed how they believe every spirit as also how they hear and follow every Prophet that comes in sheeps cloathing and are not such in the way to be easily seduced who are taken with a fair covering and outside carriage of persons as to embrace their Principles without a serious spirituall Scripture-triall Answer Satan in his best dresse is discovered by the Light and the children of the Light are not ignorant of his wiles but by the power of the Lord are we preserved from that transforming and see him to become working his lying wonders with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish and though you have got into as high a form as you can even professing the doctrine of the Apostles yet wanting the power the Apostles had which laid the Foundation we see your dress to be the well-favour'd Harlot And seeing it is so we believe not your spirit but try you and find you to be Wolfes and false Prophets and they that receive you and follow you or such are in the way easily to be seduced and here again is confusion in the Queries who speak of spiritual pride in judging secrets and say the outside the carriage and the covering is faire and said all we say makes not against a spiritual practice and yet condemnes us deceivers Ye blinde guides who are expecting that Satan may come and are so blinded by him at present that you are acting his part One of you said his soul was in the pit to whom these Antiqueries were sent was not that judging a secret and whether such deceit lying and confusion from such blinde guides and seducing spirits be more likely to recover souls out of the pit or lead those who follow them into the pit let the impartial spiritual Judges bear Witness And here your queries are answered in particular in clearness and plainness in our own Judgements and Consciences and they whose eyes are opened may see your Errour and give glory to God Answered by them to whom they were directed To England I have this to say OH England England who wast Chief among the Nations and Princely among the Provinces in the midst of which the right hand of the Lord became glorious in power and dasht in pieces his Enemies and in the greatâ—esse of his Excellencie overthrew and brought downe the Oppressour and gave thee opportunity to performe thy Vowes Promises and Declarations which in the day of thy distresse thou madest to God and men against Injustice Oppression Tyranny and Wrong and in the behalfe of Equitie Truth and Right But now the Lord by his power having given thee Victorie and Peace How soone is the just man perished and the upright in thee not found but the wonders of the Lord forgotten and his wrathfull judgements against Oppressors and the Proud accounted happy and they that tempt God and doe wickedly delivered and exalted whom Pride compasseth as a chaine and violence take hold as a garment so that the wicked compasse about the Just and devoure the man that is more righteous then he How wofully is truth fallen in thy streets and equitie cannot enter but he that departs from iniquity is made a Prey Judgment turned away backward Justice standeth afar off Oh how is the Foundations broken up and the Sluces opened whereby injustice oppression and almost all ungodlinesse hath again overspread thy face beyond what it did in the day before thou wast made a field of blood so that by the overspreading of abomination how great is thy desolation and all thy seeming Religion and high Profession which stood in Words and Forms but not in the Life discoverd and manifested to be but scum and deceit in this day when God hath tried thee How is thy Silver become drosse and thy Wine mixt with water and the faithful City become an harlot in which Righteousnesse once seemed to lodge but now murderers and all thy Vowes Promises and Engagements both to God and men forgotten in this day of thy pride and how are the hidden things of Esau sought out and the blood-thirstinesse of Edom in thee manifested and the wise men destroyed out of Edom and understanding out of the mount of Esan whose calamitie commeth upon him from the Lord for his perpetual hatred against his Brother as the Scripture witnesseth which also saith As Troops of Robbers wait for a man so the company of Priests murther in the way by consent and commit lewdnesse as it is seen this day Who would have thought that the wonders of the Lord should be so soon forgotten in thee and the wayes of the Heathen so exactly learned and the deeds of the wicked overpassed whom the Lord cast out as thou hast seen How shall the Lord pardon thee for these things or how shall thy heart endure when he shall visit it upon thee whose controversy is so much increased because truth and mercy is perished in thee FINIS
The skirts of the WHORE DISCOVERED And the mingled People in the midst of Her In a Letter sent by Denys Hollister to the Independent Baptiz'd People who call themselves a Church of Christ in Bristol but are found to be a ' Synagogue of Satan ' in Answer to a Charge brought to him from them by some of their Members and by him for the sake of the Simple-hearted among them from whom it hath been kept and for the manifesting of Deceit and Hypocrisie published Together with another Letter written by him to Thomas Ewens a Teacher among them who before several Witnesses hath often denied himself to be a Minister of the Gospel as his fruits also declare referring to his speaking among his people of having Sarah Latchet a servant of Jesus once a member among the Baptists sent to Bridewell and whipt for testisying to them in the name of the Lord in their meeting the second day of the ninth Moneth 1655. And likewise an Answer to 16 Antiqueries directed to the People called Quakers which Answer was sent to Thomar Ewens from whom the Antiqueries were received though Iohn Pendarviss a long time after published the Antiqueries by the name of Queries without the Answer to them or taking the least notice of it in a Book entituled Arrows against Babylon which hath occasiond the presenting of the one and the other now to the view of those who read and understand to judge of the whole and of their unfaire and deceitfull dealing For the greatnesse of thine iniquities are thy skirts discovered and thine heales made bare In her tkirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents I have not found it upon secret search but upon all these VVere they ashamed when they had committed these abominations nay they wer not at all ashamed neither could they blush I know the Blasphemies of them which say they are Jewes but are not but are the Synagogue of Satan Take away her Battlements for they are not the Lords Forlo I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon an Assembly of great Nations from the North Country and they shall set themselves in array against Her from thence she shall be taken their arrows shal be as of a mighty expert man none shall retuâ—â— in vain all ye that bend the bow shoot at her spare no arrows for she hath sinned against the Lord. LONDON Printed for Giles Calvert and are to be sold at his Shop at the siâ—… of the Black-Spread-Eagle at the West-end of Pauls 1656. To the Reader Reader HAving received a charge of several particulars as to sinne by Robert Simpson Robert Purnell and Richard Moone from the baptiz'd Independent-People who call themselves a Church of Christ with whom I have walked in oustward fellowship many years and about the space of 8 or 9 years past at their request taken the care of them as an Elder they having no pastour nor Teacher to which upon my refusall they often Eected me I prepared my defence thereunto in Writing which thou hast in the second following paper which I intended only to themselves and not to be made publick to the rest of the World in answer to what they sene to me and to manifest to their Consciences that deceit and hypocrisie in which of a truth they inhabit so that the dreadfull terrible day of the Lord in which no iniquity or deceit can stand which is now at the door and hasteth greatly is like to be upon them before they are aware and to awaken if it were possible those slumbring Virgins that are yet amongst them after whose soules of a truth my bowels yern that so they might be gathered out of all deceitful paths in which they are led by the sleights of men like an Oxe to the slaughter and a foole to the correction of the stocks up to Christ Iesus the Light and the Life of men yea the Wisedome and Power of God and so come to Witnesse not only a Lamp of profession but Oyle in their own Vessels whereby the true Light is maintained by which alone the Bridegroom can be followed into the Marriage-Chamber But knowing how subtilly the Serpent whose head must be bruis'd works in some Children of disobedience amongst them to keep them in the snares of Satan in security and blindnesse that the true way to everlasting peace they may never know but the things thereunto belonging hid from their eyes not only by crying peace peace to that which of a truth is for destruction and dawbing with untempered Morter that house of which according to my measure I beare testimony shall never stand when the winds blow and the floods beat but also by corrupting opposing and keeping from their hearing whatsoever might tend to their good There appeared to me some disficulty how to get it truly and faithfully read and communicazed among the people to whom it was intended And therefore having sent for Robert Simpson and Robert Purnell two of the Messengers they sent to me and read in their hearing what I had written to their Company I demanded of them whether they were free to take it and read it truly and faithfully to the rest at a full meeting Who replied they saw nothing in it for which it ought not to be so communicated and promis'd to doe it if the people would hear it only desired me to take notice that notwithstanding they could not but acknowledge they were guilty of what I had therein charg'd upon them viz. pride hypocrisic envy slandering backbiting railing lying c. yet it did not reign among them but was their burthen Yet notwithstanding when it was made mention of to be read in the meeting so great was the deceit among them that it could not be suffered and the better to cover the deceit that the simple might be beguil'd and not discern it a fasting day as they call'd it being appointed a clear answer from God to some is pretended that the said Letter must not be opened and read lest the weak be thereby stumbled or to that effect And so after about a moneths space was it return'd and left not with me but with my servant and never permitted to come to the hearing of those to whom it was intended nor any reason or cause signified to me why it was so return'd although I waited patiently above three moneths for it but in stead of receiving any answer to their first lying accusations standers of which I know I am clear in many if not in all their Consciences the aforesaid persons came the second time pretending themselves Messengers of the Church of Christ and in his name to lay the former things with some other as false additions to my charge and admonish me thereof Which when they had done I beginning to reply and to vindicate my self from their accusations and to answer what they had said they hasted away and would not hear and said they were not to stay to receive
any answer which was their manner also in many other places fulfilling the Scripture that the Wicked cannot stand in judgement nor sinners in the Congregation of the Iust but flies when no man pursues Now forasmuch as hereby it plainly appeares that the intent and end of those who sent the aforesaid charge to me was but to slander and accuse as hath been the manner of the Devill and his Instruments from the beginning who is the accuser of the Brethren and for that hereby my just and necessary defence is kept from the simple-hearted amongst them after whom my soule longs and for whose sakes it was principally intended Therefore that they may come to the knowledge thereof and that the exceeding deceit and filthinesse of the rest may be made manifest and the skires of the Whore discovered I am even constrained thus to make it publick that not only themselves but all in whom any spark of honesty and true discerning is may read and judge and so be led to consider their wayes brought to repentance and acknowledgement of the truth that their sonles may be saved im this great and notable day of the Lord Iesus which is the true desive of him that was and is a Lover of their souls known by the nature of D. H. TO THE INDEPENDENT BAPTIZED PEOPLE IN BRISTOLL Friends WHilest I slumbred and slept in security and outward fellowship among you absent from the Bridegroom and the Fathers house and knew not the Bread of Life which came down from Heaven and is the life of men but fed you in wisedom of words and spake unto you smooth things how was I as a prophet well esteemed among you but after that the kindnesse and love of God appeared and by the ministration of the Spirit which excells in glory after which my soule had long travell'd I was made in some measure to see the sandinesse of all Foundations and Professions which stood in the Imagination not in the Life and so the emptinesse of your Forme and the foundation of your Religion to be but in the imaginations which is only evill continually and all your Worships and Services which from thence proceed to be but the Witchcrasts and Sorceries of Babylon by which Nations are deceived and the Priests your Leaders to be one in the same nature with the Magicians and Sorceres of Egypt and Babylon who by the same spirit withstood Moses and Daniel then as they and you doe now the truth and so the same necessity and ground to separate and withdraw from you and your worshipping as formerly from the Parishes and their Whoredomes and began to warn you of it how soon were you offended and some of you greatly enraged Yet so tender was my heart towards you that for your sakes I did bear my burthen among you for a season till he who hath mercy on the ignorant and those that are out of the way pluckd me as a brand out of the fire from amongst you and gave me opportunity by your passionate furious and unchristianlike behaviour in your Assembly when others took their leave and testified against you to acquaint you after I had been witness against that spirit that then acted you that although I was altogether ignorant till then of any others being there to take their leaves yet had I the same thing to propound concerning my selfe and so tender over you I was that I only desired leave till I more sully saw which way the Pillar and Cloud moved to come into your meetings or not and if I came and had not freedome to speak among you as formerly but in silence to wait that offence might not be taken by any assuring you that I made not this motion out of any levity or lightness of spirit but of awfulness sear and dread of the Living God not to satisfie the flesh the affections or lusts thereof by living idly loosely or carelesly in the World but to deny my self and crucisie the flesh by casting off whatsoever might feed and nourish the same Not because I was at all shaken in minde as to sellowship or communion of Saints but because I seared you were not the Spouse of Christ but an Harlot and that your communion and sellowship was not in the light and life of the Spirit of Christ but in the spirit of the world which is the spirit of Whoredomes And how tenderly I behaved my selfe afterwards towards you without doing or speaking ought by which you might be offended or your minds made evill-affected towards the truth is in part known to some of you Nevertheless the wrath and rage of many of you waxed great against the Truth and was made manifest by much railing reviling slandering and false accusing in your Pulpits and other your Meetings those that entertain'd the same in which my selse was a Sharer and matter was sought for whereof to accuse me but when nothing justly could be sound an accusation made up of apparent lyes falsehood and deceit as is manifest in my Reply is prepared and sent me by three of your Members being all the men you have lest of those to whom I was joyned and two of them became Imitators of Water-Baptism a practice disowned and testified by those to whom I joyned but when I had prepared my Defence in answer to your Accusations I sent for two of your aforesaid Messengers to whom I read what I had written to you and manifested my desire to have it publickly read among you at a full meeting and asked their freedome to doe it who answered they were free to doe it and saw no reason why it should not be so done and told me I had created more trouble and paines for my selfe because an Answer to it I might be sure to receive yet when it came so great was the deceit among you that it could not be permitted to have an hearing by you lest thereby as was pretended the weak should be stumbled but the truth was lest deceit and hypocrisie should be thereby manifested to the view of the simple-hearted among you who discerning the same might be drawn out of your snares and Satan lose his dominion over them and that the eyes of their minds might be the more effectually blinded kept it was till a Fasting day was appointed and therein an Answer pretended by some among you from God that it must not be read * Isa 58.4 Behold you fast for strife and debate and to smite with the fist of wickednesse And so after a moneths space or thereabouts was it return'd not into mine but into the hand of one of my servants without signifying in the least to me any reason why it was so return'd And as if your former wickedness had been too little in laying things to my charge which I never knew and refusing to receive or to heare my charge which is just and true you proceed to another wickedness little lesse then the former and send your Messengers again
in the name of the Lord as they said who charged me once more with the same false accusations with some other feigned and false additions who as soon as they had done fled away as men surpriz'd with fear or accused by their own Consciences and said they were not to receive any answer and so hasted away espeially the two Baptists notwithstanding I urged them by several Arguments to hear a little and told them it was the wicked that did flee and could not stand in the judgement but the righteous was bold as a Lyon And afterwards meeting with Robert Simpson who was the mouth of your three messengers my bowels moving towards him I put it to his Conscience what he had done and asked how he durst come to me and in the name of the Lord lay to my charge that I affirm'd the Scriptures of truth were one of the greatest plagues in the Land when as I never spake nor thought any such thing Who answered he spake it not nor laid it to my charge neither did he hear any such thing from me I told him I had it under his hand which he confidently denied before several witnesses I told him I could shew it he replied if I could he would acknowledge himselfe a lyar before those then present I desired him to stay a little and I would fetch his paper who answered he should not stay I desired him to call againe that Evening or the next morning and he should see it who replyed he had other business to doe or to that effect and so passionately departed upon which the next day I writ to him as followeth The Letter to ROBERT SIMPSON Robert Simpson IT came upon me in sobernesse yesterday to manifest to thy Conscience a little of the deceit in which thou inhabitest not knowing of another opportunity by reason of thy sudden departure for London and therefore charged thee with coming to me with lyes in the name of the Lord and demanded of thee how thou durst in the name of the Lord tell me and so lay to my charge that I said or affirmd that the Scriptures were one of the greatest plagues of the Land when I never spake or thought any such thing To which thou replyedst thou never spake it nor laid it to my charge I told thee I had it under thy hand which thou boldly and confidently didst deny again and again and when I told thee I could shew it under thy hand thou replyedst it was not so or to that effect and that if I could produce any such thing thou wouldst acknowledge thy selfe a lyar before those men who were then present Now the lyar is without and for the Lake and a proud look a lying tongue and a heart that deviseth wicked imaginations the Lord hates But thy lips hath spoken lyes and thy tongue hath utterd perversenesse and as the false witnesse shall not be unpunished so he that speaketh lyes cannot escape Now having found thy paper the fifth thing thou layest to my charge is in these words whiâ—h thou mayst see when its convenient viz. Speaking reproachfully of the precious Scriptures of Truth As first affirming it was a blinding to souls and secondly one of the greatest plagues of the Land where thou mayst take notice of a lye invented among you a lye prosecuted a lye denied and the lye proved upon thee Therefore oughtest thou to own thy condemnation which is just and repent before he appear who is a swift witnesse against all lyars And by this also mayst thou with the rest of thy company take notice what the nature of the rest of the Charge is which in the name of the Lord which is dreadfull both thou and they have laid to me Friend I do not insuli over thee nor delight in thy woe and misery but sorely grieved I am to see how the man of sin that wicked one whom the Lord is now risen as a mighty man refreshed after wine to destroy with the glory of his coming it exalted among you who once were so dear unto me and that your eyes are so blinded and that thy heart is so hardened that though your root is become rottennesse and your fruit withers and you become like stubble fully dry yet art thou insensible and canst not see but under a cloak of Profession hide your selves as if you were delivered to commit abomination but all that I desire at this time as to thee is that thou repent and pray God that the thoughts of thy heart may be for given and that thou fear and tremble before the dreadfull God whose name thou hast taken in vain and cannot be hold guiltlesse Which is the groaning of thy friend who is a Lover of thy soul though a Witness against thy deceit who in the world is known by the name of D. H. 25th first moneth 1646. Vpon the reading whereof I shall not now mention his wrath and passion though it much exceeded the bounds of moderation but to the Letter I have received no answer Now therefore upon the whole matter let the unjustness of your proceedings be considered Nicodemus a Pharisee could say Doth our Law judge a man before he be heard And Festus a Heathen Roman Governor was so noble That he heard Pauls defence as to the accusations made against him by his own Country-men And King Agrippa said unto Paul Thou art permitted to speak for thy self But ye have falsly accused judged and condemned me and refused to hear my defence which in writing I sent you and not onely so but sent your Messengers the second time with like false accusations which Messengers would not receive my answer saying They were not to do it and when I met with him who was the mouth of the three and put it to his conscience what he had spoken with his mouth and writ with his hand he denyed it and fled and refused to hear any farther and when I charged him with it he like the man cast into utter darkness became speechless so as not to answer me by word or writing Are these the people of the Lord are these his doings Is this the Church of Christ or the Harlot Ye who are simple-hearted among the people called Churches consider of it take advise and speak your mindes whether such things as these have been done in Israel And whether being thus dealt withal and constrained I could do less then publish this to the view of all men without an apparent suffring of my self and the everlasting Truth of God by me owned which is dearer to me then thousands of gold and silver to lie under such false accusations and slanders as a fore said And now friends having thus given you a particular and true account of proceedings and the manner of them let me ask you what aileth the mountains and the hills Are ye grieved that I having at last sound the Pearl of great price which in the field of this World was and is hid am
the sake of him whom the world knows not and therefore persecute who was ever a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief have I chosen rather to suffer afflictions with the people of God then to enjoy the Pleasures and Treasures of England and can truly say Much rather would I be a Door-keeper in the House of God where the living presence and power of God is manifested known and witnessed then with you to dwell in the Tents of ungodliness where pride oppression violence persecution is owned and practiced These things are found among you if any of you deny the Spirit of persecution let him declare it and any of you are tender hearted and desire after the Lord Come forth from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you and will be a Father unto you and ye shall be my sons and daughters faith the Lord God Almighty The LETTER to the INDEPENDANT-BAPTIZED People Friends ALthough I cannot own any power at all you have over me neither am careful of the judgement of man who must abide the judgement of God before whose seat all must shortly come yet some Messengers from you having some time past been with me and told me they were sent by the Church of Christ and in the name of Christ to warn me of some things they lay to my charge as sin The true love I ever had to your souls constrains me to give you an answer in all simplicity and plainness and by the same spirit by which I often spake among you when many could not bear it but were offended as they still will be which I matter not well knowing from what fountain of darkness and ignorance it comes But before I proceed to answer the Particulars I must in faithfulness to your souls tell you that I am even constrained to bear witness that you are no Church of Christ neither know the name of Christ but a Synagogue of Satan and a Cage of unclean and hateful Spirits in which lodgeth Pride Hypocrisie Envy Slandering Back-biting Railing Lying love to this present World and conformity to the fashions customs and conversation of the same notwithstanding there is that in some among you after which my soul doth greatly groan with much longings that the salvation of God were come out of Sion c. but the Temple of God is holy Christ dwells not with these unclean Spirits And it becomes all who name the name of the Lord to depart from these iniquities his Name is dreadful to it and those that know his Name know it so c. To the Particulars 1. You say my sin lies in leaving the Church which hath these three sad considerations in it as you judge The drawing of many from the Faith and way of the Gospel The offending staggering and grieving many weak souls And the opening the mouths of many to speak evill of the wayes of Truth To which I Reply That all Judgement is given to the Son whom you being ignorant of and enemies to in your minds by wicked works by what can you judge or what is your judgement worth The Church I own as the Pillar and ground of truth which are all living stones built upon the living Foundation and groweth up into an holy Temple for God through the eternal Spirit in which the Lord God Almighty dwels and walks and manifests himself which Church I have not left But if by the Church you mean a company of people dead in trespasses without the life and power of godliness or true knowledge of God by the Revelation of the Sonne living in pride in the customes and loves of the world serving diverse lusts and pleasures ever learning but never comes to the knowledge of the Truth walking like other Gentiles in the Vanities of their minds having their understandings darkned and hating the true Light so that they are alienated from the life of God through ignorance feeding on ashes not on bread having a dead Forme without the living power of Godliness From this if I turn away it is not my sin but my duty and from this if any be drawn it is matter of joy in Heaven and of no sadness except to that which is beneath and to be cast out At which that which is offended stagger'd or griev'd may wel be said to be Weak and must perish It is true the mouths of many are now open to speak evill of the waies of Truth and of things they understand not as ever it was of old But as many among your selves are not the least in that transgression so shall you not miss of righteous Judgement except you repent in this approaching day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ Who is to be reveald from Heaven in flames of fire to take Vengeance on them who know not God nor obey the Gospel of our Lord Iesus Christ c. 2. You say my sin lies in neglecting and comtemning some of the Ordinances of Christ To which I Reply The Inventions Traditions and Imaginations of mens carnall wisedome withall that is done in the first nature being bus Cains Sacrifice and nol acceptable to God I am learning to neglect and disesteem Yea all that of which the Lord by the true Prophet Isay complaines Isay 11.10 to the 16. where you may read that in the account of the pure God the multitude of Sacrifices Oblations Incense New Moons Sabbaths solemn Assemblies appointed Feasts spreading forth the hands and making many prayers was to no purpose no delight had the Lord in it he required it not at their hands it was vain abominable and burthensome to him who could not away with it his soule hated it it was a trouble to him it was iniquity coming from impure hearts and bloody hands but the ordinances and appointments of God to his people I own approve and long after in the pure light life and spirit in which the true Saints had communion and fellowship When I asked your Messengers as they call'd themselves what they meant in particular by the ordinances that I neglected They rereplyed Baptism by Water and breaking of Bread To which I answer How can you but blush when you consider that degree of deceit and hypocrifie in which you now speak doth not that of God in all your Consciences reprove you I know it doth if you will observe it and therefore in plainness yet with true love let me ask you how can you say to me pull out the mote that is in thine eye when behold a beam is in your own eyes Can you judge me and not condemne your selves who doe the same things A Member of an Anabaptist Assembly I never was but did bear witness against it as ye know and the people with whom I walked was once neer upon casting out one for entertaining that opinion of Water-Baptism And when did you baptize as you call it your children I have known no
such thing in use among those with whom I walked these many yeares And although many among you are now running from mountain to mountaine building Altars in your own inventions yet can you not from thence Enchant nor ensnare the Israel of God the true Seed whom the Lord hath blessed and with whom the Lord of a truth is And whereas you charge me with neglect of breaking of Bread I answer Have not you your selves neglected it have you medled in any such thing for some yeares past Oh my Friends durst you pretend to come in the name of Christ with such things as these know ye not that his Name is dreadfull to all Hypocrites and his wrath to be reveald against such Hypocrisie and Deceit He loveth truth in the inward parts and those that name his Name must depart from iniquity But Baptism and the Supper of the Lord I own c. 3. You say my sin lies in extreme censoriousnesse and rash judging not only of men abroad but if the Church calling the Church of Christ an Harlot To which I reply the charge is false and from the Father of lyes for I never called the Church of Christ an Harlot but doe own it dearly and in my measure know it to be chast and pure yea an habitation for the Lord who dwells not with impurity I judge it to be so but the Harlot is an Harlot and not the Church of Christ and it is not my sin but my duty to declare it so * And let the Spirit that moved in your Assembly not only that day that proves my parting day Rev. 1. ch 3.9 and when Eliz Marshal was sent of the Lord among you for your good but at many other times since manifest and testifie who dwells there an habitation for whom you are and whether you are an holy habitation for the pure God or a Cage of unclean and hatefull Birds And truly in this my desire is that prejudice passion and fuay may not so blind your eies But that in the pure feare and light of the Lord you may consider and try your selves that so you may not be deceived and prove rebrobate silver in the day when God shall try you for to triall you must come c. 4. You say my sin lies in asserting the Church-Principles contrary to Truth As first that Faith is an eternal thing To which my Reply is That Faith is a Mystery held in a pure Conscience hid and unknown to all ignorant and vulturous eies as well as to yours And when you are guided by the pure light of Chr. to know what it is they speak til which time it will be your wisedom to keep silence For the wise mans eies are in his head but a foole will be medling Yet let me ask you whether that Faith by which the Saints are justified by which they overcame the world by which they saw him that was invisible by which their hearts are purified by which Enoch was translated that he saw not death and is the substance of things hoped for be eternal or carnal or what middle place you have to account it in Oh that you were not wise in your own eies Secondly That Christ and Faith were all one To which I only reply that I never asserted any such thing but enquired after it as you very well know Yet this I say let the difference be manifested by you if you can and how you will divide them Thirdly That Christ Jesus is not the object of Faith To which my Answer is that the word object in this sense is your own not mine nor the Scriptures and therefore is denied with much more of like stuff in use among you But that Christ Jesus is the only foundation laid in Sion and that no other foundation can be laid besides him is it that I have and still doe assert and affirm against all gainsayers and opposers whatsoever And withall that but very few in the world know this foundation but are offended at him and stumble at that stumbling stone as it was in dayes of old But plainly and honestly let me ask you Why floe you question me for these Principles as you call them now iâ— it be for Connscience sake as that which is your duty why had you not done it sooner or while I was among you Why had you not then disapproved me by the Scripture Why would you suffer things which you call Principles contrary to truth to be asserted among you without rebuke I advise you once more to take heed and beware of this Hypocrisie and Deceit for God is not mocked His name is dreadfull and must not be pretended to cloak and cover such deceitful actions Did not many of your hearts burn within you when I spake did you not wait for my words Why then doe you now rake together things in your carnal imaginations to lay to my Charge which I know not and pretend the holy and dreadful name of God to it Am I become your enemy because I told you the truth Truly these hidden things of Esau will be sought out the skirts of the Whore will be discovered and all deceit manifested And then woe from God will be the portion of thousands But if the ground upon which you charge me be your passion your corruption carnal wisedome and pretences to have something whereof to accuse me as doubtless it is and that in your Consciences will witness it then I demand of you whether your Charge as well as your Church is not to be denied and witnessed against by every sonne and daughter of Sion as carnal sensual and devilish and much like unclean persons which whiles together in acts of uncleanness approve each others practises but when separated accuse one another of evil deeds This cannot stand with devouring fire 5. You say my sin lies in speaking reproachfully of the precious Scriptures of Truth affiâ—ming that it is one of the greatest Plagues of the Land a blinding to souls and not the Word of God nor Rule of Life All which is false and from the Father of lyes for I never affirmed any of the three among you though something of query hath been put concerning the two last and therefore my Reply shall be to each and shall say The Scriptures of Truth I ever own'd and still doe as that which was given forth by inspiration of the Spirit and is profitable c. But that ever I said or thought or that it ever entred into mine heart to think that it was one of the greatest Plagues of the Land is so utterly groundless false and proceeds only from the father of lyes and invented by his instruments among your selves that I cannot but wonder what spirit hath possessed you and that you durst mention such filthy Vntruths and pretend it in the name of Christ But surely the righteous Judge in whose presence the lying lip and double tongue can never stand will require it at your hands It