Destroying one another So I rest in the Blessed Peace of my God a Sufferer for his Blessed Truth Blessed for ever be his Name who hath called me and counted me worthy thereunto But it will not be well with such as hate the righteous Man as saith Scripture But my Heart can say Father forgive them for they know not what they do And concerning Kings and all that are in Authority my Heart hath said according to the Holy Doctrine of the Apostle Lord Grant that they may Rule well that it may be well with them in the latter End and that we thy People whom thou hast redeemed to thy self may lead a quiet and peaceable Life in all Honesty and Godliness under them to thy Praise And for this Cause pay we Tribute c. This his own Sincere Account appears truly agreeable to what the Holy Apostle saith in the like case 2 Cor. 1.12 For our Rejoycing is this the Testimony of our Conscience that in Simplicity and Godly Sincerity not with fleshly Wisdom but by the Grace of God we have had our Conversation in the World and more abundantly to you-wards These things are recommended to all Serious and Well-inclined Readers who desire to seek the Lord his Kingdom and the Righteousness thereof to weigh and consider knowing that 't is all our Concerns tenderly to mark and behold the perfect and upright Man for the End of that Man is Peace as was the End of this Innocent and Upright-hearted Man whose Memorial is Blessed Divers Friends have been for some time concerned that the following Collections were not publish'd some Years ago but many Occasions and Exercises intervening have thus long prevented the Persons concerned in Collecting Inspecting and Placing his Writings in Order as they could find them and as might most tend to future Service Admonition or Warning that they might be preserved for Ages to come We have great Cause to Praise the Worthy Name of the Lord our God that he hath raised and sent so many Faithful Witnesses in our Days who have not been as Clouds without Rain but Divinely Replenished and Qualified with Life Wisdom and Sanctity for the Work which the Lord hath called them unto And therefore Wo will be to those Enemies Apostates and Back-sliders who Contemn Reproach or Harm any such who are the Lord 's Anointed ones Prophets or Faithful Servants either while Living or Dead And it highly concerns all the Lord's People who profess his Light and Truth sincerely to approve their Hearts unto him with unblameable Lives and Conversations walking before him in true Love and Christian Charity and truly to prize the Mercy of the present Day and Dispensation of Grace and fervently to pray the Lord of the Harvest to raise up and send forth more Faithful Labourers thereinto that his Gospel-harvest-Day and Work may go on and prosper both in this Age and the Ages to come to his Eternal Praise and Renown and his Church's great Joy and Comfort in him for ever Amen WE being satisfied and having Vnity with the foregoing Preface with Relation to and in behalf of our deceased Friend and Brother Thomas Taylor his Service Labours and Travels in the Gospel of Christ do hereunto Subscribe our Names Theodore Eccleston William Ellis Samuel Waldenfield George Bowles Charles Marshall Thomas Lower John Bowater Joshua Middleton Richard Needham John Field I Am Concerned to give this further Account The said Thomas Taylor after other Imprisonments being Twice Imprisoned at Stafford for his Tender Conscience to Christ In the first Imprisonment there he was near Eleven Years a Prisoner as I Remember and the Second Imprisonment there was for a short time being Threatned Reviled and Falsly Aspersed and called a Jesuite-Rogue by the Deputy's Steward of the Court I was made Instrumental in God's Hand for his Release both times the First in 1672. by Solicitation for him and many others whom thereupon K. Charles the Second Released And the Second by Endeavouring for himself about 1679. Manifesting him to be no Jesuite nor Papist but a Peaceable Harmless Man in his Conversation and a Dissenting Protestant Distinguished under the Name Quaker to clear him from the False Aspersions cast upon him in which my Solicitation and Endeavours for his Liberty I had great Peace and Comfort and the more in obtaining the same for him and others for I truly Loved him for his Innocency Integrity and Love to the Lord and his People G. Whitehead London the 20th of the 3d Month 1697. AN INDEX OF THE CHIEF HEADS Contained in this BOOK I. A Testimony concerning our Dear Friend and Brother Thomas Taylor who was Convinced of the Lord's Everlasting Truth and Received it in the Year 1652. II. Christopher Taylor 's Testimony concerning Thomas Taylor III. Thomas Taylor 's Testimony concerning his Father IV. A short Testimony of Hannah Taylor concerning her Dear Father Thomas Taylor V. Robert Barrow 's Testimony concerning Thomas Taylor VI. William Fallowfield 's Testimony concerning Thomas Taylor VII A short Testiâ—oâ—y concerning that Faithful Servant of the Lord Thomas Taylor whose Memory is Blessed THomas Taylor 's Epistles To Friends Page 2 To Friends at Strickland head Page 4 To Friends in Warwick-shire and Stafford-shire c. Page 7 To Friends Page 10 A Loving and Seasonable Advice to the Children of Light from a Brother Thomas Taylor Page 11 To Friends that abide in the Truth as also to such as are gone from it Page 15 To Friends Page 17 To Israel 's Babes Page 20 Of Prayers Page 22 Concerning Zion Page 23 The Life more than Cloaths and Meat ibid. To the Vnsatiable Devourers of Strong Drink Page 24 To my Dear Friends every where Page 26 To Friends Page 28 To Friends in London Page 30 To Friends of Sadbury side Page 32 To Friends Richard Boothman and Robert Clough Page 34 The Day of the Lord is Dawned Page 35 Some Prison-Meditations in the 7th Month 1657. being a Free-gift Sermon mainly touching the Religious Robbers or Spiritual Murtherers the Sermon and Prayer-sellers of the former latter and present Times even to the whole Company of Mystery Babylon 's Merchants and Members a Warning Page 37 To the Judges Justices Juries Teachers and People of the Nation who Profess themselves to be Christians and the Scriptures to be their Rule and yet account themselves disturbed if any speak unto them and cry against them in their Assemblies or Streets in the Name and Word of the Lord without any Authority from Man a few Queries Page 50 To those of Manchester that are Zealous for their Sabbath Page 53 To a Wandering Apostate Page 55 To George Ward and those that had Fellowship with him Page 56 To a Plundering Priest Page 58 To those that Rejoice in Bells and Bonefires Page 59 To them that plays the Fool upon the Stage Page 60 Against Mass Times Page 61 To the Bear ward Page 62 To the Dancers on the Ropes Page 63 A Warning to all People ibid. For the
who are in their own Wills doing the Will of the Flesh which is Enmity to God And so Wo to the Climbers over the Door who are gotten into a Prosession of Christ without his Cross without the Lord's Law which is Spiritual without the knowledge of that Flaming Sword to cut down the Man of Sin that in the Birth which is Holy one may come to the Tree of Life which is in the midst of the Garden O ye People harken a while who have been feeding upon the Tree of Knowledge and never came through God's Judgments the Flaming Sword to the Tree of Life your Food is Death your Works will burn and your Fig-leaf Covers will fall off and you be left naked and bare to the Shame of your Nakedness as in the day that you were born For what is any Covering worth unless it be that of the Spirit of Christ The Lord God who is of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity will bring your Deeds to the Light of his Judgment and before him will nothing stand but that which is pure your defiled Preachings Prayings Singings Hearings Readings will all be rejected and cast out as Dung from the Presence of the pure holy God that consuming Fire You have multiplied Words without Knowledge you have not been neither yet are ye Doers of God's Will to God's Witness in your Consciences I speak therefore in vain do you say Lord Lord and he will not hold them Guiltless that take his Name in vain Your Garment is not of the pure white Linnen which is the Saints Righteousness but Linnen and Woollen is your Covering the Linsey woolsey Garment a thing forbidden by God's Law Your Field is not sown with the one Heavenly kind of Grain the good Wheat but another Seed have you mingled with it and the Mixture is so great that the Earthly hath almost covered and quite choaked the Heavenly in you If you will work you must into God's Vineyard and be exceeding Diligent and Laborious in plucking up the Weeds by the Roots in you the Light of Christ in the Conscience waiting in it will give the Understanding But Wo will be to them that call Light Darkness and put Darkness for Light and so suffer the Good in them to wither and nourish the bad part which is like the Grave that never hath enough always Learning but never able to come to the Knowledge of the Truth But both Teachers and Hearers all in Sin and laden with divers Lusts all their Lives long And Wo to the Fleshly and Selfish Workers on this Holy Sabbath day of the Lord wherein he hath given his People Rest from all their weary Labours and Burdens The outward day the First day of the Week shall not cover you nor be a Sabbath to you but in the Breach of God's Holy and everlasting Sabbath you being found you must bear his Judgment And you feed upon the airy Words of Man's Wisdom raised up by the Crafty Spirit to please the Itching Ears of Fallen Man and whose Faith stands in the Wisdom of these Words and not in the Power of God a day of Scattering cometh upon you it cometh and a grievous Whirlwind from the Lord and though a Famine of the Word of the Lord is upon you already yet you will not know it nor he humbled for it but the pleasant Breasts of Mystery Babylon which you so much delight in will be dried up that you will get no Suck nor Food for that unsatiable Mind in you that is like the Grave that can never have enough always learning and never able to come to the Knowledge of the Truth which sets free from Sin and the Songs of your Temple shall be Howlings in that Day because of the Vine of Sodom that will bear no more Grapes for all the Earth hath drunk so deep of the Wine of the Fornication of the great Whore that the Nations are Mad against the Appearance of the Lamb who is arisen to set up his Kingdom over all for the Lamb must have the Victory and Reign so be it for Evermore And you that talk so boastingly of your Faith and Suffering Mind you know not what Spirit you are of for the same Mind that you think to suffer in is it which hath formerly caused Sufferings to the Righteous and would do the like at this Day if Power were in your Hands and so if you could give your Bodies to be burnt in this Uncharitable and Persecuting Nature it would profit you nothing at all Thomas Taylor To the Presbyterians O Ye People called Presbyterians you have fully manifested your selves this Day to be of the Spirit of Cain the first Persecutor of God's Righteous Seed and as for your threatning of me and hawling me out of your Synagogue towards the Mayor because in Obedience to God I came to speak in his Name to let you see your Sins and to warn you of the Judgments of the Lord God that will certainly come upon you for them if you speedily Repent not and humble your selves for all your Pride and Hypocrisies and false Accusations and Persecutions of the Righteous Seed of God which he hath raised up this Day in the Earth to witness for him against all the false ways of fain Man that so all may come to the Power Christ Jesus to know him in them to be their Light and Life and alone Teacher to Salvation And this is my Witness for God this Day that except you come hither you will never be Established Thomas Taylor But what are you grown so high already that one must not come amongst you though in never so peaceable a manner to speak a word though in the Name of the Lord This is not only contrary to the Order of the true Church in the Apostles Days but also contrary to the King 's Late Declaration which saith That the Places of Toleration must stand open for all to come into But this Persecuting Spirit is but the same that hath been in you of Old notwithstanding all that hath come upon you in these Late Days To the Blind Teachers WO to the Teachers that have Eyes and see not Ears and hear not and Hearts that will not understand who can put no difference betwixt the Precious and the Vile but give the things they account Holy to the manifest Unholy Wicked and Prophane and so dishonour the Lord and deceive the Souls of the People and so they not discerning the Lord's Body nor the Members thereof which are holy they speak Peace to the Wicked who are Members of the Wicked One for his Servants and Members People are to whom they do Obey so Wo is to this present evil and wicked World who in words profess Christ but in their deeds do grievously dishonour him the Day hastneth wherein the Scripture must be fulfilled upon you who will not that Christ should Reign rests a Mourner in Zion for all the Abominations that are done amongst you Thomas Taylor For
Christopher Taylor 's TESTIMONY Concerning Thomas Taylor MY deceased Brother Tho. Taylor was a Man who in his tender Years had a Sence of Sin upon him and saw a Necessity of coming and attaining to a State of Righteousness and Faithfulness to God that he might please him so that for several Years he was exercised under the Spirit of Bondage and great Fears lest he should miss of Eternal Salvation and so come to be a true Seeker and Inquirer after the best Things and the Lord was Good unto him in a preparative Work as I may say before he came to know the Sabbath of Eternal Rest in Christ Jesus And as Light and Life appeared and sprung up in its Measure in the Land of his Nativity the Lord in Mercy gave him a Share in it and a Fear came upon his Heart to preserve him in a State of Integrity and Simplicity which kept him very Sober in his Conversation and Restrained him from many Evils others fell into so that he was accounted by many in those days who were Honest-minded to be a Religious Consciencious young Man And the Lord gave him Sights and Openings of good Things at hand and opened a Door of Hope unto him that he should see the Lord's Blessed Day of his Heavenly and Powerful Appearance and with Cornelius waited and longed for God's Kingdom and Powerful Appearance unto his Soul And when that blessed Instrument in God's Hand George Fox came into the North to preach and declare the Everlasting Gospel of Glad Tidings to Mankind and to such who were waiting to be delivered from the Bondage of Sin and Unrighteousness this Dear Man was glad and was convinced of the Truth which was demonstrated in the Evidence of God's Spirit and Holy Power unto him and many others So that the Light and Truth broke up in him to the breaking of his Heart before the Living God and the making of his Soul tender in Humility and the Dispensation of the Spirit of true Judgment and Burning seized on his Inward Man and pure Tremblings before the Lord seized upon him and Judgment did so effectually take place in the Operation of the Authority of the Mighty God that his Inward Man rejoyced that now he was come to know one of the Great Days of the Son of Man And the Work of the Lord was begun in his Heart so that his Soul cried mightily to God for Judgment to Judge and Condemn for ever all that was Contrary to the Word of his Pure Power And the Lord heard his true Cries which himself by his own Grace had raised up in him and extended his Mercies to him and fulfilled that Saying A bruised Reed shall be not break and smoaking Flax shall he not quench until he send forth Judgment to Victory So Victory he came to know and Deliverance to his Soul through the Exercise of Faith and Patience in the way of Righteousness and the Lord raised him up to be a living Witness to his Heavenly Power and the breaking forth of its Blessed Day of Light and sent him forth to Preach the Everlasting Gospel and to turn many to Righteousness and he became a Faithful Labourer and Servant of Jesus Christ in his Harvest and Vineyard and many are his Witnesses how Faithfully he served God and how truly he cared for the Flock of Jesus Christ where-ever he came and laboured in the Faith as one wholly given up to Spend and be Spent in that Work the Lord had committed to him Many and Great were his Sufferings from Wicked Men who sometimes lay in wait for him to have taken away his Life and tedious it would be to repeat the Hardships he underwent and great Sufferings he endured by the Malicious instruments of Satan But the Lord delivered him thorow all the Scourgings Buffetings and Evil Treatments of Unreasonable Men. As to Imprisonment he suffered much in several Prisons in this Nation as at Appleby in Westmoreland at York Leicester and Coventry and last of all above ten Years Imprisonment in Stafford and was there Premunired because he could not Swear He was a Faithful Prisoner of Jesus Christ and kept his Blessed Testimony over the Heads of Wicked Brutish Savage and Unreasonable Men he met withall in his Imprisonments It is hard to utter what he passed thorow in those Evil Dens amongst such Savage Beasts but the Lord upheld him blessed him and delivered him out of all and Dear and Near he was unto his God who upheld him Everlasting Honour be unto his Name Deeply am I affected when I read him in the Sence of Life how Safe the Lord kept him so that the Course of his Life was Eminently Exemplary so Grave Tender and Humble he was and Self denying Well it is and will be for all who are so truly preserved to God as he was I am perswaded none can justly tax his Life and Conversation or present a Spot or Stain upon his Garment whilst he lived after he was called to the Lord's Work and Service Oh! have I said in my Heart What Happiness is it to those who are so kept and safely preserved to Honour God and Preach his Gospel as well in Life and Conversation as in Words and Doctrine And as to his Testimonies in Writing which are here given forth to be read they are plain and easie to be understood by every unprejudiced Person that reads them in Simplicity with the Light of Christ there are various things testified against the Sins and Evils of the Times for he laboured much for the Nations and Peoples Good that they might be kept out of Debauchery Wickednesses Games Sportings and Evils of all sorts that if possible such Evils as too much abounded in our Nation might not have that Liberty or Pestilential Disposition as to Leaven and beget People further from God and as a Leprosie to spread over the Nation Also he was tender over the Lord 's Innocent People lest they should fall on the right Hand or on the left and so lose their Habitations in the Truth He was right spirited to discern the Wiles of Satan and to instruct and give Warning to such as might be misled into any Evil Condition under the Pretence of Truth to fight against it I believe he was never known since he preached the Everlasting Gospel committed to him to turn his Back of any Enemy to give way to him of what Size or Sort soever he was or how Subtle soever the Devil could make him the Lord gave him a Sight beyond the Subtlety of Satan and when he was Spent in the Service the Lord had called him unto in a good old Age he departed this Life and finished his Course with Joy and Everlasting Rejoycing to the Praise and Glory of the Everlasting God who for ever is to be admired of all his Saints honoured and magnified for ever and for ever more World without End Amen Christopher Taylor Thomas Taylor 's TESTIMONY Concerning his FATHER A Short
Testimony lives with me to bear for my Dear Father Thomas Taylor that True and Faithful Servant of the Lord who was Born near Skipton in Yorkshire and was brought up a Scholar and sent to the University and in process of time he came to be a National Minister and so continued for some Years but in those Days he had not many Equals for he was a Man of a Tender Spirit seeking after a further Attainment of the Knowledge of God and his Holy Way whom to know is Life Eternal which the Lord in his own due time made known unto him After he had heard the Word of Life declared in the Demonstration of God's Holy Spirit through his Faithful Messenger George Fox he was then evidently Convinced of the Blessed Truth as it is in Jesus he never after turned his Back upon it many Days and Nights of great Sorrow and Anxiety of Spirit he underwent until the Old Leaven was purged out by the Spirit of Judgment and then he became a Vessel of Honour fit for the Lord's Service and left his Benefice which he then had at Richmond in Yorkshire not consulting with Flesh and Blood what he should do for a Livelihood but trusted the Lord that he would provide for him and his Family he having then a Wife and Five small Children whom he afterward through the good Providence of God lived to see brought up to be Men and Women Now this Faithful Servant of the Lord not distrusting of the Mercies of God gave up freely whatsoever was Dear and Near unto him that the Lord required of him that he might win Christ the Lord who had Visited him with his Day-spring from on high and Ruled him by his Grace and gave unto him the Word of Life to declare unto the Sons and Daughters of Men Warning and Admonishing them to turn from their evil ways and to seek the Lord whilst he might be found and great was his Labours and Travels in those Days being moved often to go into Market-places and Steeple houses to declare the Word of the Lord to the People where he often met with great Opposition and Sufferings from the Hands of Unreasonable Men but the Lord by his Mighty Power delivered him wonderfully out of their Hands and many long and tedious Imprisonments this good Man underwent in his Day but with great Patience and Contentedness of Mind knowing it was for his bearing his Testimony to the Lord's Blessed Truth and not for evil-doing And this I have further to say for this Worthy and Honourable Servant of Christ who loved not his Life unto the Death that he might serve the Lord in his Day who was a Faithful and True Minister of the Everlasting Gospel and laboured mightily in Word and Doctrine and many in this Nation were Convinced by that powerful Word of God that run through him and they have great Cause to Bless and Praise the Name of the Lord even as I may say on his behalf for he was a Zealous Man for the Truth in his Day and was one of the Worthies in Israel who went through many Combates both with Professors and Prophane and by the Assistance of God's Holy Spirit oftentimes put them to silence and the Truth prevailed over all Blessed be the Name of the Lord for Ever And now not being willing to be too tedious to the Reader else I could mention many more things concerning my Dear Father who was a Faithful Follower of the Lamb wheresoever he led him through good Report and bad Report for he valued nothing so much in this World as the Propagation of the Truth for his Life was hid with Christ in God at whose Right Hand there is Joy and Rivers of Pleasure and that for Evermore And a little before my Father's Departure out of this World as he lay upon his Sick-bed several Friends that came to Visit him standing by him he being very sensible to the last spoke on this wife I am going to my Father and your Father to my God and your God and so departed like a Lamb and is gone to his Everlasting Rest to receive that weighty Crown of Glory that is laid up in store for all them that loves the Appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ and keeps their Garments unspotted of this World Thomas Taylor Jun. Middlesex the 3d Day of the 3d Month called May 1697. A short TESTIMONY OF Hannah Taylor Concerning her Dear Father Thomas Taylor THis I have to say concerning this dear Servant of the Lord who followed the Lamb through many Tribulations and wash'd his Garmens white in his Blood That he served the Lord with a perfect Heart and that he was endued with the Spirit of Wisdom and of Understanding in the Truth which he did value above all the World and all the Preferments thereof For he counted all as Dross and Dung in Comparison of that Pearl of Price which he Laboured for both Night and Day Yea for Sion's Sake he could not rest and for Jerusalem's Sake he could not hold his Peace Because the Spirit of the Lord was upon him and he had Anointed him to be a Preacher of Glad-Tidings to the House of God's Israel But he was a Reprover of the Vngodly yea his Testimony was against all Wickedness and Evil-doers Yea he was clad with Zeal as with a Cloak and with the Righteousness which God had put upon them as with an Helmet Yea he was a Valiant Soldier indeed he fought a good Fight he kept the Faith and from henceforth for him was laid up a Crown of Life which at the time appointed he did receive with all the Redeemed of the Lord who rest from their Labour and their Works follow them Hannah Taylor Robert Barrow's TESTIMONY Concerning Thomas Taylor HE being a Man with whom I was Acquainted and Conversant for the space of Thirty Years some part of our Acquaintance in the time of our Notion and Outward Profession of Religion in the form thereof but the most of our time was after God in Mercy had opened our Understanding and revealed his Son in us by the Word of Life and Spirit of Truth to know Christ in us the Hope of Glory He was Educated and Bred up at one of the Colledges of Oxford and became a Parish Preacher and had a Place in the County of Westmoreland yet in those Days he was a Seeking Man having Real Desires to understand the Things of God and the Mysteries of his Kingdom and was a Man of an Honest Life and Clean Behaviour and in his Preaching and Judgment was more Refined than the rest of his Neighbouring Priests and many of his Hearers were a People commended of the Common Hireling Priests of the World which Priests Nick-named his Hearers Roundheads and Puritans and many of those so called came frequently from the next Parish and Town of Kendall to hear him amongst whom I was one and he used to let John Audland and Francis Howgill sometimes Preach in his
out of their Synagogue and as I passed in their Hands amongst the Croud through the Grave-yard and into the Streets I Sounded forth the Day of the Lord and the Judgments of our God upon all the Wicked Head and Tail and for that together for what was done in the Steeple-house they further hawled me by Command as they said to the Prison the common Goal where I remained till the next Day and then afterwards was led amongst the Fettered Felons as they call them to their Judgment Seat three several times Thus was I numbred among the Trangsgressors and made contented to bear Christ's Reproach And though the Enemies did not only prepare a Bill of Indictment against me and by their Juries as they call them Judged me guilty as they call it of a Disturbance but also the Judge whom God will Judge did set Five Marks Fine upon me and Imprisonment until I should pay it though indeed the Disturbance and Offence was on their part for they Disturbed me in the Precious Work of the Lord and have kept me hitherto in the Goal for my good Will towards them the Lord forgive them for they do they know not what and so what in them lieth provoke the Wrath of God against themselves But Blessed be the Lord tho' they have and do use me as is said yet the Truth both at the time of my Examination and since hath had Dominion over them and the Friends of Truth in the Country rather encouraged to go on in the Truth than any way daunted the Glorious God of our Life and Peace be Magnified And so let all your Hearts dear Friends in the Living Power and Truth of our God be Comforted and Established even to you I Speak who know the goodness of the Cross of Christ and submit willingly unto it in all things not to be Terrified at all by the Enemies endeavours knowing that through many Tribulations we must daily pass to the Kingdom And this is a Faithful Saying that If we Suffer with Christ we shall Reign with him And truly Friends the Love of God to my Soul hath been so preciously and is daily Manifested in this Prison-Condition that if it could be Expressed you would never be much troubled after it at the Sufferings for the Truths Sake So all in the Light Walk and in the Power of Truth Dwell that you may bring forth Fruits in all things to the Living God that in Peace you may lay down your Heads and with joy give in your Accounts to God continually as Good and Faithful Stewards and Servants in his Vineyard and work whereunto you are called And the Lord God of Fulness supply what may seem wanting unto you or any of you in regard of mine or other Friends in the Ministry our absence in this time knowing that we are not our own but in the disposing of Him who Rules and Orders all according to the good Pleasure of His own Will and that for good in all things to such as Fear Him and in Spirit truly wait For truly Friends I had thoughts of being up amongst you again may be before this time if this or the like had not hindered So Rests your dear Brother in the Faith and Service of the Gospel Thomas Taylor TO FRIENDS Dear Friends MY Tender Love in the Lord Jesus Christ doth dearly salute you all wishing and desiring even from the Bowels of our Tender Father's Love all pure Refreshings and holy powerful Strengthning unto all your Souls that you may be born up and carried on in the way of his pure Fear and heavenly Righteousness which he hath brought you into and blessed you in to do his Will and to glorifie his Name for Ever that our Souls may live together in the sweet Unity of Love Life and Peace with our God out of the reach of the present Evil World to sound forth his holy Praises World without end even in and under our own Vine and Fig-tree Christ Jesus where none can come to make us afraid and where the Troublers of Israel neither do nor ever shall come to disturb our Happy Peace and Rest World without end For Dear Hearts however things seem to be in the outward yet truly God is good to Israel even such as are of a broken contrite pure and clean Heart So God Almighty you all keep and preserve even so in his pure Love for Ever rests yours all Dearly in the Love of our Father Thomas Taylor A Loving and Seasonable Advice TO THE Children of Light From a BROTHER Thomas Taylor YE Children of the Most High Begotten to God by the Word of his Power which liveth and endureth for Ever and who through the Leadings of his Heavenly Hand are brought through the Vail that is the Flesh into the Holiest of all the Banqueting-house of the Father where his Banner over you is Love all Day long and so are come to read your Names written in the Book of Life which is a Mystery hid from all the Wisdom of the World I say unto you O all ye Children of the Heavenly Wisdom keep your Habitation keep in the Wisdom and Strength of the Lord God Almighty your Father and give not your holy Things to Dogs nor cast your Pearls before the Swine for the Dogs will turn again and rent you and the Swine will tread the Pearl under their Feet So be ye wise in the dispensing and dealing out of your Heavenly Father's Treasures which he hath betrusted you withal and made ye Stewards of for his Glory O stand in awe and sin not in this weighty Matter be not too lavish amongst the wicked Contenders of your Master 's Choice Goods to get a Praise to your selves but be content to be as Fools before them rather than to let the Babylonians into your Treasures yea though they make a dissembling shew of Love lest a Judgment follow as it did to Hezekiah of whom you may read Isa 39. Chapter throughout O my Friends the Serpent is Subtle and Herod is Cruel and therefore wait in the dread of the Lord God to feel and savour the Serpent's Voice in all for no more will any that are guided by the Serpent receive Truth in the Love of it though it be never so plainly told them where it is and what it is in it self and what it will be to those that receive it in Love I say no more will they love it than Herod did the young Child whom he only enquired after that he might slay him So we may daily see that the Contenders and vain Enquirers of this present time are of Herod and the Serpent's Race who cannot endure to hear of the Birth of that Seed that is above every other Seed and is King of the true Jews in Spirit and to whom all the Fleshly Births under what Name or Profession soever must be subjected and bow And as the love of the Lord doth indeed constrain us as freely and abundantly to Communicate of
Service-sake where I was kept until the next day and afterward thrice carried with the Felons of the Goal to their Judgment-seat so bearing Christ's Reproach where there was first by one Jury as they said it for what is above-said only a Bill of Indictment found against me and then after that an Oath in the open Court taken against me by one of the Scandalous Priests and then by another Company of Men called the Grand Jury who should have better considered of the Matter who are chosen by the Country as principal Men to do Justice and had bound themselves thereunto also by Oath was I found guilty as they said it of a Disturbance but I am sure the Disturbance was on their part for they pull'd me down from one of the Seats in the Steeple-house as I was speaking and violently hawled me thence and so to Prison as is said and so disturbed me in the Work of the Lord but none could I disturb being bound to Peace by a Law the World knows not And how could I be said by any reasonable Law of Man to disturb them seeing violent Hands on none outwardly did I lay neither did I speak in their Congregation till all was done and they were silent And what was said by me either in Steeple-house or out of it at that time they hawled me to Prison I was there ready as was offered in the face of the open Court and Country to make good by Scripture both for Matter and Manner if liberty had been granted me but they liked better to proceed by their own Law than that And so last of all him called the Judge of Assize instead of punishing Offenders who had wronged me he fined me the Offended five Marks and Imprisonment until I should pay it And so because I cannot give them Money for their unjust Proceedings against me and unchristian Dealings with me I am kept here accordingly in the common Goal a Prisoner yet free and in that everlasting Truth of God which cannot be bound but tramples upon the Neck and Head of all Deceit more than a Conquerour But from hence all that have Eyes may see what little liberty Truth can yet get in the Earth after so much War and words protested for it And therefore whoever thou art that reads these things know that in England also now if thou wilt live godly in Christ Jesus thou must suffer Persecution for the Scripture cannot be broken And this Persecution now in England ariseth mainly from the blind Zeal that many have for keeping up their Ministers as they call them from being spoken unto in the Assembly either in after or before the time of their Preaching especially on the first day of the Week by them called the Lord's day and Sabbath day and this the People are prompted unto by the wicked Spirit in their Teachers which cannot endure the Light that God hath raised up in his People in these Islands in these days And so this is the Condemnation of all such Children of Darkness whether Priest or People that Light shines and they love Darkness more than Light because their Deeds are Evil. And so all may see whether the Teachers and People that act in such Darkness are going for in the days of Queen Mary the Persecutor the Law reached only to a punishing of such as spoke to her Priests in the time of their Service but now the Zeal of some for them is so increased that neither in the time of their Speaking nor in their coming nor going from their Steeple-house especially on the day aforesaid must their Teachers be spoken unto but they will impute it to the Party for an Offence without examining whether there be cause for it yea or nay but the Teacher though he be never so false in Doctrine or vicious in Life yet if he be a Parish-Teacher and receive the World's Hire as Tythes Glebe-lands and Augmentations with the State-allowance or upon other Accompts be allowed for a Publick Teacher by the Nation-Law he is like to be defended and he or she that speaks to them though such a one be never so dear to God and speaks truth in that particular never so clearly is like to be punished as an Evil-doer And if this be not a provoking of the Wrath and hot Displeasure of God against thee Oh England then let him that hath Understanding declare what more can be And therefore thou art now in time warned of these things that thou mayst by Repentance be saved from those things that shall assuredly come upon the Wicked But for the present all Poor People every where who are in the dark Mind unacquainted with the Teachings of God in the Spirit and Light of the Holy Anointing but are following the Blind Guides that indeavour to get their Wickedness established by a Law your Misery is great and much to be lamented and the case of such of you as have any true Breathings after God is to be pittied And who shall deliver you out of your Bondage but he that delivered Israel out of Egypt and hath in all Ages been a present Help unto them in the needful Time of Trouble and will still deliver them that fear him out of all Adversity So wait upon him and the Work is done and be incouraged all that wait upon him for there is no end of his Goodness to us for his Mercy indureth for ever and before him goeth a devouring Fire to consume the Adversaries of his glorious Truth round about and the day is dawned that will leave them neither Root nor Branch And in this Rest I am your dear Brother oh all ye Free People of God! And in the Patience and Sufferings of Christ your Fellow-servant for the Imbondaged Seeds sake Thomas Taylor To the Judges Justices Juries Teachers and People of the Nation who profess themselves to be Christians and the Scriptures to be their Rule and yet account themselves disturbed if any speak unto them and cry against them in their Assemblies or Streets in the Name and Word of the Lord without any Authority from Man a few Queries 1 Query WHether was that a Disturbance in Christ Jesus when he went into the Temple at Jerusalem a Figure of his Body and made a Whip of small Cords and with it without any Authority from Man whip'd out the Buyers and Sellers and overthrew the Tables of the Money-changers and commanded the Merchandize to be taken thence Yea or Nay Matt. 21.12 c. 2 Query Whether was it a Disturbance in the young Prophet of God that was sent to cry against the Altar at Bethel whereon the King Jeroboam Sacrificed even in the time of his Worship or the Disturbance was not on the King 's own part who put out his Hand against God's Servant in God's Work and whether the withering of that Hand was not an evident Sign on whose part the Disturbance was 1 Kings 13.1 c. Yea or Nay 3 Query Whether did Jeremiah the
Prophet disturb the People of Israel when he spoke unto them and cried against them terribly in the Word of the Lord ordinarily in their Assemblies and Gates of their Cities Yea or Nay Or did not they disturb him in putting him in Stocks and Prison for so doing Consider well of it and give Judgment accordingly Jer. 20. and Chap. 26. and Chap. 37 and 38. 4 Query And whether was it wicked 〈◊〉 King of Israel and his House that had sinned against God or Elijah the Prophet of God who cried against their Sins that disturbed Israel's Peace Yea or Nay And whether the wicked King's Judgment or the Holy Prophet's Judgment will you be of in this matter See 1 Kings 18.17 c. 5 Query And whether Amos who prophesied even in the King's Court and Chappel the Sword upon the King's House and Desolations upon all their Sanctuaries was a Disturber in so doing or so accounted then that we read of save only by one wicked Priest as you may read Amos 7.7 c. And whether Jonah preaching Repentance in the open Streets of Nineveh for a whole day together was a Disturber or a Friend to their City Yea or Nay See Jonah 3.4 c. 6 Query And whether the King and People of Nineveh who instead of persecuting him the Lord's Prophet did repent at his Preaching shall not rise up in Judgment with this present Generation and condemn it Yea or Nay 7 Query Whether did Paul the Apostle disturb the Jews and Gentiles in their Synagogues and Markets when he reasoned of the things of God's Kingdom and disputed as it were daily with them there as you may read in the Acts of the Apostles And whether you who account your selves disturbed with the like things doing in these days do not allow of the Jews persecuting of him for his Works sake then Yea or Nay 8 Query And whether the same Paul in the Corinthians when he said In the True Church all that have any thing revealed unto them from God may speak one by one And when he that is speaking hears such an inspired one begin to speak he to wit the first is to hold his Peace that all things may be heard and all edified I say whether Paul in preaching such Doctrine preached disturbing Doctrine Yea or Nay And lastly It is required of those that judge others for Disturbers in such cases as these That they do set down what is the true and infallible Rule of trying Doctrines and Spirits by in these days or for ever hereafter that they let the thing alone These from the Lord's Prisoner Thomas Taylor To those of MANCHESTER THAT ARE Zealous for their Sabbath 1. TO all you in Manchâ—ster who are Zealous for Morning Exercises or Sermons as you call them on the First day of the Week and so seem to over-run others in the way to the Kingdom give me leave in love to your poor Souls to propose a few things to you Do you know really and in Truth by the Teachings of God upon your Spirits what the Evening is and what the patting out of all your own Lights is seeing the Evening must be witnessed before the Morning for the Evening and the Morning make the First day And whether you have known the Voice of the Light shining in the dark place and have taken heed to it as the Scripture speaks and have obeyed the Voice of it which calls you to return and come to the Lord from all your own ways and there in Repentance do now wait in the Inner Man for the Dawning of the Day and the arising of the Day-Star in your Hearts Or are you not yet in the deceivable Doctrines of them that are without who cry Lo here and Lo there as all such do 2. And whether you do believe and expect any such Promise to be fulfilled in you here so that being in the Day and borne up into the eternal unchangeable Light and so coming to know the Teachings of the Father and the Anointing of the Holy One ye shall not need that any Man teach you but as that Anointing teacheth Or do you imagine that you shall always be beholden to borrowed Lights and Man's Teachings as you are now and so be the silly Women that are always learning and never able to come to the Knowledge of the Truth 3. And whether that Ministry you are under and please your selves so much in can truly be said to be the Ministry of Christ seeing it leads not to an end Nor can you or they witness any one hitherto presented thereby perfect to God in Christ without Spot or Wrinkle or any such thing or ever like to be seeing you generally hold That no Man can be free from Sin and so perfect while you are here And whether you are ever likely to come to the Unity of the Faith and of the Knowledge of the Son of God to the Measure and Stature of Christ by that Ministry that stands in the Will of Man and which denies the Light which hath inlightned every one that comes into the World to be the True Spiritual and Saving Light of Christ and so build upon another Foundation and reject the Light of the World Christ as he is in Man the Foundation already laid by God himself and so denies at once the New Covenant Gospel Christ and Scriptures as your Ministers do who deny the Light which is in Man which shews him Sin and Evil to be Spiritual and of Christ and calls it a Natural Light and so putting the Letter which is without you for the Light draw your Minds out to build upon their Meanings Conceivings and Imaginings of it and so to forsake the true Light the Word it self the Teaching of the Holy Anointing within you and to neglect the Promise of the Father which would lead you into all Truth if you did wait upon it and did honestly through Faith givâ— up your selves to be guided by it and whether you have not just cause to forsake these Builders who have rejected Christ the Corner-stone and caused you to build upon the Sandy Foundation which in the arising of the Storm of the Lord's Tryal and Indignation will not bear you up but Iniquity being still found in you you are condemned within your selves and with the Sinners and Hypocrites in Sion you will all e'er long be forced to cry out Holy Priest and People Who among us can abide with devouring Fire or dwell with the everlasting Burning Thomas Taylor TO A Wandering Apostate O The Desolation that giving way to the Enemy thou hast brought upon thy Soul What must not God be Infinite because thou canst not comprehend Infiniteness Thou art that Finite One that stands against His Infiniteness and glories in thy old uncircumcised Heart but His Infinite Light has comprehended thee and doth and will Judge thee for thy Evil Work and Blasphemous Thoughts of Him whom the Heaven and Heaven of Heavens cannot contain but thou would'st limit
we cannot give over to worship God as he hath taught us seeing to God the Judge of Quick and Dead we must give account and if we could give over our Meetings and Holy Exercises and please God we should certainly do it for God's Fear and Love is in our Hearts but seeing it is God's Good Will and Holy Command that we should assemble our selves together as we do to edifie one another in our most Holy Faith and so to hold forth God's Truth as we have received it before all Why should the King or the Parliament or any of his Counsellors think much that we should obey God rather than Man in this matter Wherein we can with Safety of our Conscience to Christ we do obey you but wherein we cannot is it not your Wisdom to bear with us as your selves in the like case would be done by And so fulfil the Royal Law indeed which saith As you would that Men should do unto you even so do unto them And this is a Law worthy a King to meditate in night and day and not to follow the Counsel that is contrary And this is a Foundation which all Parliaments and Councils ought to build upon or otherwise how is it possible their House should continue for from the height of Heaven hath the Lord beheld the Afflictions and Oppressions and heard the Groans and Cries of the Innocent Sufferers in England this day and will certainly deliver those that wait for him But I would not have the King to be an Object of God's Wrath in that day if possible And therefore in the Name of the Lord God am I thus moved to write unto thee and lay these things before thee desiring that thou maist read them and well weigh them for they are of greatest Concernment And that which rightly made use of tends not only to thy Well-being in this World but also to the Eternal Good of thy Soul Rests God's Servant and thy Soul and the Nations Friend Thomas Taylor To Informers LEt all such in these days as are Informers against the People of God for their Holy Worship and Service to God consider if they have not lost all savour of Good and care of their Souls What became of all such Informers in days past whom the Scriptures make mention of And first let Haman one of the great Informers come into your Mind and consider his Work and End a woful Work did he work against his own Soul in his Informing and Incensing the King Ahasuerus against the Jews because honest hearted Mordecai could not bow to his Pride as the Heathen did and see his End and tremble ye when ye read the History of the Matter as at large you may in the Book of Esther And consider ye in the cool of the Day what became of the Princes mentioned in Daniel who not only in their Wickedness got a Law from the King without cause but also Informed against the Holy Man Daniel for breaking the King's Law which the King never intended against Daniel because he pray'd to God as at other times And read in the History of Daniel where at large you may read it and tremble what a miserable End came upon them Informers who themselves were destroyed in that very Den of Lyons in which they had thought to have seen the end and destruction of honest-hearted Daniel but the Lord did deliver him as he will ever do all them that fear him from the Mouths of all the Lyons And let the dreadful End of those miserable Jews in Jeremiah's Time that Informed against him for speaking the Word of the Lord And in after time of those Jews that Informed against Jesus Christ and his Apostles come into your Minds and affright you at Midnight and terrifie you at Noon-Day for assuredly if you go on with them and be still found with them in their Work of Informing against and Persecuting of the Righteous you must partake of their Plagues as saith God's Truth which never failed in his Servant Thomas Taylor Some Serious Considerations concerning the Priests of the High Places called Churches their Sprinkling Infants Marrying People and Burying their Dead c. 1. IN their Sprinkling they abuse and miserably wrest Scripture to prove their Practice For that Scripture Suffer little Children to come unto me c. speaks not a word of Sprinkling them much less of their Doings and Doctrines about it And for that Scripture Except a Man be born of Water and the Spirit c. it is nothing at all for them neither For it is certain the Spirit of God both can and hath and daily doth Regenerate People without outward Water but the Water without the Spirit never did nor never can Regenerate any and how the Spirit cometh to the Insensible Infants that by their own Confession cannot act Faith or whether it come to them at all in or by this doing of theirs I am sure they cannot tell neither have they any reasonable Ground to say or think it doth seeing there is no Command nor Promise at all in all the Scripture for it upon such their Doings upon such Subjects unless they will say with the gross Papists that Grace is conferred upon People ex opere operato viz. by the Priests meer doing about them 2. They commit another great Evil in this Matter in bringing in People to promise that for the little Children which they neither do nor of themselves never can do nay which they have not Faith so much as to believe that ever any can do by any means whilst they are upon the Earth to wit to forsake the Devil and all his Works c. which is manifest by their denial of sinless Perfection since all Sin is the Devil's Work And after the old Popish manner calling them Godfathers and Godmothers so taking God's Name in vain and otherwhile calling them Sureties so taking Christ's Office from him who is the alone Surety Mediator and Advocate between God and Man 3. And Thirdly In their great Blindness and Presumption calling upon the People to give God Thanks with them for that he hath Regenerated as they say the Infant or Infants then under their hands by such doings though as I said they have neither Precept nor Promise for it nor Manifestation from God then upon the Child for their so believing and concluding And so for their manifold taking God's Name thus in vain and causing you their Followers to do so also how shall they be held Guiltless For saith God I will not hold them Guiltless that take my Name in vain And how can these Priests blame the blind Papists for their foolish Doctrine of washing away Original Sin by their Baby Baptism when they by the like doing proclaim Regeneration and Inheritance of the Kingdom of Heaven to such as can neither Exercise Faith nor Repentance in it Tell me whether is greater washing away Original Sin or Regenerating and giving Inheritance of the Kingdom of Heaven O what
the great People of the Earth who love the Pleasures of Sin these TO you that are great in the Earth and in the Glory of the World exalted the Word of the Lord God is to you come down come down to the Light of the Lord Jesus Christ in your Consciences which shows you Sin and Evil and it will let you see how you have spent your time and how your Hearts are taken up with the Love of the World and the Lusts thereof that the one thing necessary is not so minded by you as the worth of your Precious Souls requires but you eat and drink and sport your selves with the Pleasures of Sin and feed your minds with the vain Delights thereof so fat and so full of Self love are you that there is no place empty for Christ in you wherein to lodge or whereon to lay his Head but as a Stranger in you and in your Families is the pure Son of God found and an empty Profession of him that is heavenly in your earthly Minds is all the Food that he can find amongst you Alas Alas For you poor Careless People what will ye do in the Day of the Lord when an Account is required of you of all that ever hath been done in your Body Is not Christ a Stranger amongst you and not taken in Sick and in Prison and ye visit him not Read within Oh how often hath the Lord knocked at your Door and he is not yet in Love entertained in the Heart 's full of other Lovers he cannot Sup there with you and so you Sup not with him but you eat your own Supper and prefers that before his and so discerns not the Lord's Body and so Condemnation is near Do you not to that in your Conscience I speak Do you not I say sit down to eat and drink and rise up to play Is not all Places where you are found Witnesses against you that you serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but your own vain Minds and perishing Lusts rather Doth not your Houses your Diet your Changeable Suits of Apparel and your daily New Fashions with your manner of going abroad whether upon Horse or in Coach and your many unnecessary Attendants and their Attire show you to be so far from Christ's Doctrine and out of his Life that scarce any thing of the true Christianity is to be found amongst you For where is the daily Cross to your Wills and Lusts taken up by you Or where is the Crucifying of the World to you and you to the World witnessed amongst you Or any such thing as the pure Worship of God which stands in Spirit and Truth wherein he only delights But this poor Soul doth mostly satisfie you to wit to get a Carnal Man who loves to be called of Men Master to say over a few devised words or so which he calls Praying and Preaching to please your itching Ears but neither he nor you doing the things which Christ Commands you nor do you live the Life of what in words you profess and so to your other Sins you add that great Sin of Hypocrisie which is in words to profess the Knowledge of God but in deeds to deny it But better it were for you all to mind the Fear of the Lord and to consider what end the Lord made you for and not to pass away your precious time so without the Fear of the Lord God in your Careless Minds as you do for this you should know that the Lord of Glory who respects no Man's Person will not be mocked neither can the respecters of Persons who love the Praise of Men and seek the Worlds Glory live with him for such are Unbelievers as receive Honour one of another and seek not that Honour that comes from God only See John 5. toward the end And now that you have time prize it and lay aside your vain Thoughts a little and in the cool of your Minds consider and let that of God in your Consciences speak if it be not the greatest Folly in the World to Gain the Lusts of the World with the Loss of your Precious Souls And are you not in great danger of being found in this state so long as the true Prophet Christ Jesus whom God hath sent a Light into the World that all through him should come out of Sin is no more regarded by you So now having time prize it and know this Day of your Visitation and what indeed belongs unto your Eternal Peace Rests Thomas Taylor Concerning Bread and Wine THE Lord Jesus never ordained that the unbelieving evil World should eat Bread and drink Wine in remembrance of him when they daily deny him in their Life and Conversation for that were Abomination Carry such an Offering to the Governour and see if he will accept thee will he be pleased with thy words when he sees thy deeds daily contrary to his Mind and Will And how much less then can the pure God accept thee or thine Offering whilst thou only in thy words seems for him but in the whole Course of thy Life art directly contrary to Him and his Holiness O thou that art in the state of Sin and Corruption whose Fruits manifest thy Nature and Inside to be evil how canst thou endure the Trial of this Day of God which is as Fire wherein all that are proud and do wickedly are as Stubble to be burnt up Root and Branch he that hath an Ear let him hear what the Spirit saith Thomas Taylor The Indignation of the Lord upon all Nations THE Indignation of the Lord is upon all Nations and his Fury upon all their Armies he shall greatly distress the Inhabitants of the World he will now plead the Cause of his Covenant against all those that withstand his Glorious Appearance and Work of Restoration in this the Day of his Mighty Power wherein he is Restoring the Kingdom of his Everlasting Peace to Israel's Seed under the whole Heavens who fear his great Name and tremble at his Almighty Word of Life which shakes not only Earth but Heaven also And now is the Lord God Almighty bringing forth his Glory to light and Creating the New Heavens and New Earth wherein dwells Righteousness according to his Promise Isa 65.17 c. wherein the People beat their Swords into Plow-shares and their Spears into Pruning-hooks never to learn War any more but every one now that believes in the Truth Christ Jesus the Light and true King of Righteousness and Peace shall sit under him the true Vine and none to make them afraid Isa 2.2 c And now even now is the Lord God Almighty got up into his High Throne of Majesty and Everlasting Glory to Reign and of this his Peaceable Kingdom which he hath begun to set up in his Trembling People there never shall be end The true Israel of God is now coming up out of the Spiritual Egypt indeed to possess the true Land of Promise the Inheritance and
of Kings and Lord of Lords and dreadful over all whose Eye is as a flame of Fire who came not to send Peace on the cursed Earth but a Sword and whose Sword never returns empty from the Battle unto you all I say saith the Holy One the Lord Jesus Christ Do not I see your ways and your doings both what you have done and what you do yea do not I search and see your Hearts and Reins and know what you would do O! consider consider do you know that I am near when you sit in Council and work all your Works even your darkest Works and take notice of them and treasures them up in my remembrance to give to every Man according to his Ways and the fruit of his Doings Do not I know that you all in Words profess me and call me Lord Lord and say I am your Saviour but alas alas you will none of me to Rule in you and over you nay nay you ask not Counsel at my Spirit and so are not for my Honour in what you bring forth Only sometimes when my witness is reached in you a little is done by some of you for my Babes but then your Goodness stays not but passeth away like the early Dew and then your evil Hearts turn back again from me and then you take Counsel one at another how to establish your own Kingdom Wills Glory and Greatness which is of this World and regard not my Honour my Glory my People who fear before me and with Moses and all my Saints do quake and tremble at my Word but suffers them to be a Prey to many and lets mine Enemies go free amongst you What shall Drunkards Sweaters Morrice-Dancers Stage-players Gamesters of all sorts and Hypocrites of all sorts have liberty to meet together to dishonour my Name without danger and fear and my Babes only who meet together to wait upon me to glorifie my Name sand to edifie one another in the most Holy Faith be threatned stocked and haled before the Judgment-Seats and be Imprisoned as though they only were the burden of the Land Shall I not visit for these things saith the Lord and shall not my Soul be avenged on such a Nation and People as this O! how hath the Enemy of the Soul deceived you in making you believe that you are setting up my Kingdom and Gospel when you are fetting up your own Nests on high and going about to establish your own Traditions My Kingdom is not of this World but that which you set up is of this World My Worship stands in Spirit and Truth yours in Form and Shadows and outward Shew which the Hypocrites for self-ends can fast enough run into My way is in a daily cross to all Flesh yours in the Will and Liberty of the Flesh O the burden the burden that I bear of you O the weight that you are unto my Spirit O the cry the cry and deep Groans of my oppressed Seed amongst you because of your Iniquities O! consider consider what is lately come to pass concerning Oliver Cromwel and his House and his Friends and Flatterers and shall not my Hand find out you if you be found in their Ways or worse Did I visit amongst other things for the several Excesses committed about him in the time of his Life and Greatness and especially for that at his Death and shall I not visit for the several Excesses and Wastings of my Creatures about thee O Charles Stuart in these late Months especially about that of thy Proclamation and Coronation saith the Lord God Lay things to Heart ye forgetful and stout-hearted Children What can you say that was Evil and Oppressive in their Days and is not as yet amended in yours I the Lord look for Judgment and Righteousness from you I look that you should make use of my Power for the encouragement and help of them that love me and fear my Name in the Lands and not of their Oppressors I will call you and all Nations quickly to account for all things I will not be always saith the Lord as one that sleepeth or winketh I will arise I will come in mine eternal dreadful Power amongst you O Sinners and Hypocrites in these Islands and in all the Earth I have been long as a gentle Lamb and little oppressed Child amongst you I will now arise I will put on Zeal as a Cloak and will cloth my self with Garments of Vengeance and will roar from my Holy Hill and will be as a Lyon and as a fierce Lyon amongst you to take a Prey And all your false Shepherds and pretended Watchmen with their false Instruments shall not frey me nor in the least dismay me nor deliver the Prey out of my hands Neither will I hear their false Cry and Prayers nor regard their deceitful Fastings to do them good who now in this day of my Visitation will none of my Counsels but at naught set all my Love and evil entreat my dear Servants who mourn amongst them and in much tenderness warn them to Repentance But oh oh ye Muâ—â—â—de of tall Cedars ye strong Oaks I will raise up a strong Wind amongst you and your high tops shall dash against and split one another and with your fall shall the great multitude of Bramble Bushes Briar-Trees and low creeping Shrubs who admire and adore your Height and Greatness and tremble at you but not at me saith the Lord shall be crushed down together with you in your Fall But Israel shall do Valiantly and your Fall shall be as a Resurrection to my dear Seed and I will do Valiantly saith the God of the Spirits of all Flesh for all that wait for me and love mine appearance For Time is mine and Place is mine and I will not be limited saith the Lord and my Servants shall serve me World without End and that which hath not been seen shall be known in the Earth and Iniquity shall stop her Mouth And Israel's Liberty shall be proclaimed over all the Earth And all Holy Praises by the Lord's Redeemed and Ransomed ones shall be founded forth unto his Name for ever as it is by the living in Jerusalem at this day Even so come Lord Jesus come quickly saith my Spirit Thomas Taylor Thus much the Lord God of Heaven and Earth who desireth not nor delighteth not in the Death of Sinners but rather that they might amend their Lives and live was willing to have the King and his Servants to know which might according to its date have come sooner to your hands if it had been so ordered but if it yet be ordered to come I beseech you in the Bowels of Love as a Servant of God not to slight it but weigh it well in the true Love and Light that searcheth all things and it may be yet serviceable to you for truly Wrath from the Lord is gone out against you and how can it be turned back but by a speedy Repentance of those Evils for
which it is gone forth and by calling in all such Acts and Decrees as are gone forth either before or since its Writing whereby the pure Seed of God in these Islands either have been or may be imbondaged and the good Spirit of God limited For it is not fit that the Lord God of Glory should be stinted or limited in his Way For he is a free Spirit and will not be tyed or bound up to any outward Form whatsoever but will have his People Worship him in Spirit and Truth and to be acted forth in the World in such a form â—s he himself by his Holy Spirit pleaseth to order them unto And this is was and ever must be the order of the true Church in God built up of lively Stones Elect and Precious of Abraham's Seed 〈…〉 for ever By a Servant of Jesus Christ and a Well-wisher to th◠〈…〉 and all People upon Earth earnestly desiring the Welfare of all God's Creation that it may be delivered from the Bondage of Corruption and my Weapons are not Carnal but Spiritual For if my Enemy Hunger I am taught to feed him if he Thirst to give him Drink if he seek to do me any Evil to overcome his Evil with Goodness as the Lord hath dealt with me and not to avenge my self because it belongs to the Lord God for ever who is worthy of all pure Obedience for evermore Thomas Taylor This last part dated in the Fourth Month 1662. Against Lotteries IS it not sad O all People to see such wicked and deceitful Inventions as these Lotteries still on Foot and passing too and fro in the Land uncontrouled after all the late Manifestations of God's Anger against the Nation and People thereof O! when will People lay God's Judgments to Heart and cease to Cousen and Deceive one another Is there any so blind that they see not these filthy things called Lotteries to be one of those Abominations that have come out of the bottomless Pit to deceive the People withal and so to defile the Nations to the pulling down God's heavy Judments upon you O all People who are either the Inventers or Upholders of them so cease cease from all such sinful and ungodly Things whose Foundation is Covetousness the very Root of all Evil and mind the fear of the Lord God lest the day of his Patience pass away from you and you be shut up in that woful Darkness and Hell of Misery for all your Sins where is nothing but weeping and wailing and gnashing of Teeth for evermore Rests a Witness for God in his Power against the Sin of all People without respect of Persons and blessed are all who take warning betime for the Lord is arisen out of his Holy Place to ease him of all his Adversities Thomas Taylor To Stafford O Stafford Stafford thy Judgment lingreth not thy Condemnation slumbreth not thine Iniquity aboundeth and thy Transgressions are multiplied daily as the Sand of the Sea yea thou makes haste to fill up the measure of thine Iniquities that the Indignation when it cometh and behold it cometh swiftly and the Wrath of the Almighty whom thou hast grieved may be seen justly to come upon thee in the sight of all O the mighty Patience and Long sufferance of God hath been great towards thee in sparing thee hitherto 〈◊〉 but thou hast not at all answered the Goodness of God towards thee thou art a Stage for all manner of Sin and Sinners to act their Part in thee and thou a Partaker with the Ungodly in all their Ways and so must thou assuredly partake with them of their Plagues as sure as ever thou hast been of one Mind and Heart with them in their Sin O the haâ—d-heartedness of thine Inhabitants that could never Repent nor lay things to Heart for your good unto this Day nor say within your selves What have we done though the Lord hath made me a Warner and a Reprover unto you all this Fifteen Years both by Words and Writing in Love Truth and Faithfulness that your Souls might live and not dye shewing unto you the Evil of your Doings that you might Repent and turn from them but you would not hear nor amend your Lives to this Day but have increased your Sins as the Old World whom God destroyed with Water and Sodom whom the Lord consumed with Fire and like Jerusalem whom God gave into the hands of a cruel Enemy for all their mighty Sins over whom the Prophet Jeremiah lamented because they would not hear and over whom Christ wept because they would not believe And so my Soul hath long and yet shall weep in Secret for your Pride if you will not now at length before it be too late humble your selves and repent of all your unholy Ways and Worships whereby God's Soul is burden'd for you are most manifestly of those that say Lord Lord in a dead form of words out do not at all what he by his Spirit requires of you but the contrary and so you taking his Holy Name so manifoldly in vain he will not hold you guiltless in his Judgment Day so wo wo will unavoidable be your Portion from the Lord God and everlasting Banishment from his Holy Presence of Life except as is said ye speedily Repent in the deepest Humility and Godly Fear as saith his Spirit in his Servant Thomas Taylor To the Mayor of Stafford AND now to the Mayor of Stafford who so busieth and troubleâ—h himself without cause about the Harmless and Peaceable Meetings of the People of God in their own Houses if he would get true Praise with God and good Men and Comfort to his own Soul let him look into the Streets and open places of the Town and use his Authority to the restraining and hindering of that great Wickedness and abominable Debauchery and Heathenish Practices that are committed there at such times as these called Christmas i. e. in the face of the Sun And let him now stand up for God who is grieved and burthened with such things if he would find Mercy to his Soul for an Account to God must all give of their Stewardship For what bad Customs shall one find amongst the Heathens which at such times as these are not practiced by the People of England who in words profess Christ But alas what will such a Profession do where the Life and Power of Godliliness is wanting Rests God's Servant and all your Souls Friend Thomas Taylor For them that Rule in Stafford O Unrighteous People What will ye do in the Day of the Lord when the Just and Holy God who lives for Ever doth call you 20 Account for all your doings Do you judge it an Evil and punishable by the Law for one of us though never so truly moved of God to come amongst you when you are at your Worship to speak a few words in a peaceable manner for your good and yet can see no Evil in your selves to come in great Companies amongst us
and Bears led about your Streets with a Drum and a multitude of People in order to more Vanity and Wickedness and that at such a time as this wherein you pretend to be more Servants of God than ordinary by your Communicating together in your Eating and Drinking the Signs of Christ's Body and Blood But alas for you What will all this avail you so long as Bull and Bear-baitings are tolerated amongst you with such full Allowance as this to the Grief of God's Spirit which abhors all such Cruel Sports and Heathenish Customs Do you not publickly profess in your Church-Service Repentance and Amendment of Life for all that 's contrary to Christ And do you not yet see that to delight in seeing Bulls and Bears and Dogs tearing and tormenting one another without cause is a grievous Sin in the sight of God and therefore not to be tolerated by you Besides the great hurt it doth in the Minds of your young ones who are led away from remembring their Creator in the days of their Youth by these things Surely the Lord is grieved with you will you not see the Evil of such Doings for I know if you would come to the Light of Christ in your Consciences you could not but see them and stand against them with all your might and so discharge a good Conscience towards God and his Creation And how do you know but the general Liberty for these Evils to act upon the Stage of these Nations is one cause of the present Judgment of the Sword amongst them Rests God's Servant who hath been a Mourner in Spirit for ye almost this Ten Years because of the Evil of your Doings but as yet you have not laid things rightly to Heart which shows your Misery to be great Thomas Taylor A Testimony against Sporting and Playing NOne can rightly rejoice in the Birth of Christ but the Spiritual New-born in Christ Those that think to please Christ with Eating and Drinking and Sporting and Playing are Carnally-minded and the Carnal Mind is Enmity to God and those that live in the Fleshly Mind cannot please God Rom. 8.6 7 8. So its manifest that the Service and Kingdom of God stands not in Meats and Drinks and Worldly Delights but in Righteousness and Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost Rom. 14.17 For Meats for the Belly and the Bâ—lly for Meats but God will destroy bâ—th it and them saith the Apostle But God will never destroy such as Serve and Worship him in Spirit and Truth all the days of their new and redeemed Life And so it is manifest the more Spiritual that any one is the more are they dead and separated from that foolish Mind and vain Customs that the Evil World loves and lives in And on the contrary those that make most Provision for the Flesh to satisfie it in the Lusts thereof let the Time be what it may are the greatest Enemies to Christ and their own Souls so let things be well weighed and considered and it will appear to the open Eye that God is not more dishonoured many Twelve Days of the Year than in these that People pretend most to Honour him in which to a Godly Heart cannot but be matter of great Sorrow as saith the Apostle Phil. 3.18 19. Many walk of whom I have told you often and now tell you even Weeping that they are Enemies to the Cross of Christ whose end is Destruction whose God is their Belly and whose Glory is in their Shame who mind Earthly things And this is the miserable and woful Condition of the most part of People that in these Days bear the name of Christians over whom the Spirit mourns Thomas Taylor A Loving Exhortation TO All Kings Princes Potentates Bishops and People in the whole Christendom Wherein is a Distinction betwixt the True and False Teachers To be Read over in Meekness and the Fear of the Lord. OYE Kings Princes Potentates and Rulers of the Earth we desire not your Thrones Honours Places or Dignities neither do we envy you for them for we have enough in God our Father who hath made us Kings and Priests to himself by Jesus Christ Spiritually to reign over the Evil in the World and to offer up our selves in Righteousness to his Glory and this is our Crown and that which we strive after in a pure Conscience for we are not of those that fight with Flesh and Blood and with Carnal Weapons for an Earthly Crown but such as in the Strength of Almighty God are taught with Spiritual Weapons to War only against that Mystery of Iniquity and Power of Darkness that captivates the precious Soul of Man and keeps it short of the Glory of God desiring from the Truth of our Hearts that neither the Soul nor Body of any may perish but that this Wicked one which is the Enemy of both may be destroyed out of the Earth in this day of Christ by the Spirit of his Mouth and Brightness of his appearing that so the whole Creation of God may be delivered from Bondage to stand in its Holy Order to the Glory of the Creator as in the Beginning that so he may take delight in the Children of Men and make his Abode with them as at that time when the Morning Stars sung for Joy and all was full of Beauty and Sweetness and no Death in them And O ye Bishops and high Teachers of the World we desire not your Seats neither do we envy you for your great Promotions but do desire that you may know with us the true Shepherd and Bishop of the Soul Christ Jesus the good and true Shepherd and Bishop who gave himself for the Sheep that he might Redeem them from all Iniquity and deliver their Souls from the hands of all Oppression to serve him in his own free Spirit where none can come to make afraid And as this Saviour you come to know and receive your knowledge of Men and Things according to the Flesh will cease and the Love of the World and the Worlds things will die in you and a Love to the Seed that breaths after Righteousness will arise in you and you will know what God requires of you and how you may do that which will commend you to God in the great Day of his Judgment which is nigh at hand and apply your Hearts thereto Therefore awake awake arise arise for the great Day of the Lord is indeed nigh at hand yea the Sun is already arisen and his bright Glory shineth upon the Sons of the Morning and the true fearching Light from which nothing can be hid is felt and known in the Earth and before it the Workers of Iniquity are as Chaff and before it can no mortal Man stand in Judgment though he glister never so much in outward Glory in the Worlds eye for in the presence of this Light the Judgment proceedeth not according to Person or Worldly Appearance but according to Truth Equity and Righteousness and
is above all and over all who was before the World was and hath brought us to reign with him eternally above the World Now here is the Joy and cause of our Rejoycing who have followed the Lamb through great Tribulation and are brought above the Tribulations to dwell in the Presence of the Living God This is Joy unspeakable and full of Glory which shall never have an end Hallelujah to our King for evermore By a Friend Thomas Taylor Watching for Sin WO to you that wake to Sin and watch for Iniquity that spend their Days in Vanity and so bring themselves with Sorrow to the Graves and their Souls to the Pit of Destruction The Trumpet of the Lord is sounding to awaken you to the Judgment of his great Day which burns as an Oven against all the Workers of Iniquity upon the Face of the whole Earth The Apostle saith Awake to Righteousness and Sin not But you that observe these Popish Wakes and Antichristian Revels you awake to Sin and Unrighteousness with the Strength and Delight of your uncircumcised Hearts like the Heathen that know not God The Papists appointed a Feast at the Dedication of their old dead Mass-houses and you their Children who uphold these Wakes bear witness against your selves that you were never yet in heart truly separated from their Idolatries O the Blindness and Deadness of your Teachers that cannot bark against this dead Idol And therefore doth the Lord warn you all to stand up from the Dead that Christ may be your Light to see such wretched and Soul destroying Vanities as these Wakes are that so through Repentance for them you may find Mercy and not perish with them that perish from the right way Rests God's Servant Thomas Taylor A Warning to the NATIONS To Layaside all Prejudice and Enmity The Ground of Strife and Wars And to come and Embrace the Light of Christ Jesus that they may see themselves and come to be Saved and Healed and United in the Love of God THE Indignation of the Lord is upon all Nations and his Fury upon all their Armies he will greatly distress the Inhabitants of the World he will now plead the Cause of his Covenant of Light against all those that withstand his Glorious Appearance and Work of Restoration in this the day of his Mighty Power wherein he is giving the Kingdom of his Everlasting Peace to Israel's Seed under the whole Heavens who fear his Great Name and tremble at his Almighty Word of Life which shakes not only Earth but Heaven also And now is the Lord God Almighty bringing forth his Glory to light and creating the new Heavens and new Earth wherein dwells Righteousness according to his Promise Isa 65.17 c. wherein the People beat their Swords into Plow-shears and their Spears into Pruning-hooks never to learn War any more but every one now that believes in the Truth Christ Jesus the Light and true King of Righteousness and Peace shall sit under him the true Vine and none to make them afraid Isa 2.2 c. And now even now is the Lord God Almighty arisen and got up into his high Throne of Majesty and everlasting Glory to Reign and of this his Peaceable Kingdom which he hath begun to set up in his Trembling People there never shall be End The true Israel of God is now coming up out of the Spiritual Egypt indeed to possess the true Land of Promise the Inheritance and Free Gift of our God and no Inchantment shall now stand against God's Spiritual Host nor Divination against the Redeemed of the Lord who have known his Wonders in the Deep and known the Out-goings of God's Power against Pharaoh and all his Host in the Red Sea of his Fiery Indignation And now will God be exalted in Judgment and avenged in Righteousness upon all Nations and People under Heaven who hold the Truth in Unrighteousness and will not that God's Holy Son Christ Jesus the Light should reign though he be come to Reign and Judge in the Earth For to him the Light who lighteth every Man that cometh into the World is all Power in Heaven and Earth given And his Light shines freely into all your Hearts O all People of the Earth and shineth in the thickest Darkness to make manifest the Creator's Will to all your Consciences though your Darkness O People comprehends it not but it comprehends you and all your dark Ways and destroying Phoughts and lets you see plainly That for all your great Workings and toilsom Labour in an Out-side Profession in your Earthly Wills you have wrought no Deliverance in the Earth but your Souls Enemies still stand in strength And it lets you see that for all your Striving and Fighting and Killing and Spoiling and Destroying one another about Earthly Things you have done no good at all but brought God's Judgments upon all your Souls and pierced your selves through with many Sorrows And therefore the Heavenly Voice sounds through the Earth and calls aloud in your Ears and knocks at the Door of your Hearts O all People of the World High and Low Professor and Prophane Jews and Gentiles Christians so called and Turks Arise Arise Awake Awake turn in your Minds to the pure Light of Jesus Christ the Judge of Quick and Dead the Son of the eternal God Creator of Heaven and Earth who died for your Sins and rose again to give you a New Holy and Everlasting Life in himself through Faith in his Name And behold he lives for evermore And all see and search diligently in your selves what you know of his Holy Life made manifest in you to destroy the Body of Sin and Death in you which in the days of Darkness hath filled your Vessel and brought your very Soul Mind and Heart into the Thraldom of that Wicked One who is called the Devil and Satan and compassed with Terrors and Fears and Affrightments your very Life and whole Man because of the Wrath of the Almighty which you by your Sinful and Unrighteous and Unholy and Cruel Doings both against God and your Neighbour have stirred up against you And behold the Earth languisheth because of these things and the Children of Light who are redeemed to God out of these sore Evils and grievous Plagues do mourn for you and bewail your Misery Night and Day as well knowing in the Light of the Lord what your woful End will be if these Bryars and Thorns and noisom Weeds the proper Fruits of the Curse be still suffered to grow in you and cumber God's Ground Oh! how nigh unto Cursing is that Field which God's Rain rains upon and yet brings forth no better Fruit than Killing and Slaying and Spoiling and Cousening and Cheating and Defiling and Oppressing one another besides Lying and Swearing and Cursing and Drunkenness and Pride and Persecution of God's Righteous Seed with all other Abominations of the World against the Holy Light c. Checks and Reproofs of the good Spirit of the
a hint of what certainly is and will be And so having cleared my Conscience to God and paid my debt of Love to you in this matter I leave all to him who is the righteous Judge and the true Pleader of the Cause of the Innocent in all Generations and the Avenger of all Wrongs that are done upon the Earth and rests his Servant in whose Love is my Souls Life who am a Sufferer for the Testimony of the Everlasting Truth amongst the Despised People of God whom the World in Scorn call Quakers yet the Reproach of Christ to us is great Riches Thomas Taylor An Exhortation to remember the Judgments of God HOW long O ye People of this present time will ye grieve and burden the Spirit of the Lord with your Works How long shall he suffer your Manners unpunished Is it not high time for the Lord to lay to his Hand seeing you have so covered his Law with your Traditions and vain Customs that the poor People can hardly find any one thing you do savouring of Pure Christian Doctrine or the Apostles Practice But the Hand of the Man of Sin is the Worker in you and by the power of the Earth is your Building upheld But Wo to the Building which the Lord hath not builded and Wo to the Builders of that House wherein all the Wicked of the World inhabit lye down and are at ease and bring forth their Young Is this the Church of God Nay nay this is the Synagogue of Satan and not of the Living God for the House of God is Holy and nothing but Holiness dwells there nothing that defileth can enter this day into God's Temple for Holiness is the Ornament of God's House for ever So Wo to the false Builders and Daubers that cry Peace to People in their Sins the Lord speaks no Peace to any Sinners but Judgments Plagues and Woes to Priests and People who live in their Sins and plead for a Continuance in Sin as long as they live as at this day Wo to the unspiritual Men that bind heavy Burdens upon others and will not touch them with one of their Fingers that bind the poor Men whom they call Wardens of their Church by Oath to do impossible things and punish them that make Conscience of their Ways and dare not Swear nor Forswear but would keep their Hearts clean to Christ in whose Church is neither Swearing nor Forswearing this day but the Yea is Yea and the Nay is Nay in all things in Truth and Righteousness But Wo to the wicked World that takes God's Name in their polluted Lips the Lord is arisen to judge thee in Flames of Fire for the day of the Lord is dawned upon thee and thy building will he thrown down and a visible downfall shall Babylon have upon the Face of all the Earth for the Pastors have not gathered in nor visited with Truth the good Seed but with Force and Violence over it do they Rule and therefore is the Lord arisen to plead the Cause of the Poor and Innocent as the Mouth of the Lord hath said So be it And let all the Earth fear and tremble before the Lord this day fâ—r our God the true God is a consuming Fire and will by no meaâ—s acquit the Guilty Thomas Taylor To the Unclean Communicants YOU that tell of a Communion and say you eat Bread and drink Wine in remembrance of Christ's Death and yet live in your Sins confessing with your own Mouths that you daily leave undone that which you ought to have done and do what you ought not to do and that there is no Health in you Consider of your Ways and see in what your Fellowship and Communion stands Doth it not stand in Sin and Disobedience And examine your selves what you eat Do you not eat Damnation to your selves not discerning the Lord's Body For the Lord's Body is Holy but you are Unholy and live in Unholiness as your selves confess and as is manifest in your Lives and Conversations so you have cut your selves off from being of Christ's Holy Body you that live in your Sins and do your own Wills and leave undone that which he wills now to do for no unholy or unclean thing can be joyned to Christ's holy Body Again Christ's Body is a sound and healthful Body and no Leper in it but you have no Health in you as you confess and so you are of that Body and Number who have not as yet so much as touched the Hem of Christ's Garment with a true Heart but are in the Mud and Filth and Diseasedness of this sinful lost World through which the wholsom Waters of God's Sanctuary have not run to cleanse you So all you do in this your sinful State is unclean in the sight of God and he can take no pleasure in your seeming Services because of your Sins For as the Leperous Bodies under the Law were shut out of the outward typical holy Place so the Spiritually Defiled are altogether unfit in this day to enter into or have Communion with any thing of Christ's Kingdom Thomas Taylor God's Virtue and Goodness Extolled O Thou pure God of all Heavenly Glory Virtue and Goodness how Holy are all thy Ways and Righteous all thy Judgments O how plainly and clearly hast thou manifested thy Mind and Will to Mankind in all Generations and especially since the first publishing of thy Gospel and in this of ours and yet alas with grief of Heart may it be said never was the Earth more burthened with the Evil of her Inhabitants than at this day never was there more provoking of God by evil Customs and bad Doings than now They spend their Days in satisfying the Lusts of the Flesh and of the Mind that is Earthly Sensual and Devilish and say in their Hearts unto God Depart from us for we desire not the Knowledge of thy Ways The strait way of Christ they perfectly hate and the broad way of the World which leads to Destruction they willingly chuse because their Hearts are evil and to Christ's Light they will not bring their Deeds because they be so evil that the Light will utterly condemn them And thus in the Blindness of their uncircumcised Hearts they heap up Wrath against the Day of Wrath and Revelation of God's just Judgments upon them And though the Trumpet of the Lord hath been plentifully sounded amongst them yet they will not hear nor awaken to Judgment but say in their Hearts Yet a little more Sleep yet a little more folding of the Hands to Slumber the Judgment is far off we will not forego our present Pleasures and worldly Delights for Glory to come Where is he that 's come from the Dead to tell us what 's in another World Let 's Eat and Drink and take our Fill of Pleasures for to-morrow we Dye and are not say they O the Wretched O the Atheistical Hearts of the Men of this present evil and adulterous Generation The Lord
the Life and Vertue of what they do profess And praised be God for Ever who through his Grace gives our Souls the Victory but as for this R. B. and his Followers who are so full of that earthly faln Wisdom which receives Honour of Men and judges of things according to the Flesh I say for them to seek God's Honour and glorifie him in such low contemptible things as this is is at present far from them but to put off the Hat in Honour to proud Flesh and to love gâ—eetings in the Markets and to go in long Robes as the Old Pharisees did and to be called of Men Master and the like which gets Praise and Applause of the World though Christ forbid it never so much I say these things they like better the more is the pity see Mat. 23. and so it appears who are in the Selfishness Pride and Hypocrisie and who are not and so is the Scripture fulfilled which saith In that Day it shall be seen who are they that fear God and who not Glory to God for his unspeakable Gift and not unto us but to thy Name be the Praise O Lord. What would this R. B. if he had been in those Days have said of Christ of whom it was said That he taught the Way of God truly and regarded not the Persons of Men then surely he put not off a Hat in Honour to proud Flesh as ye do I say would not this Man have called him some odd Conceited Singular Proud Fellow like as his Predecessors the Pharisees of those Days who received Honour one of another did No question but he would for if he do thus to us his Servants what would he have done to him our Lord and Master But happy are all they in this Day who chuse rather to suffer the Affliction and Reproach with Christ and his People than to enjoy the Pleasures of Sin which are but for a Season So be it Also because this R. B. in Page 27. of his Preface saith That People are far more averse that is contrary or against to Communion or Concord with the Parish Churches than the Conforming Ministers are and yet he seems in his Epistle to Bryan's Book to be unwilling that People should think he hath Conformed though he hath pleaded for it and against Separating from the Parish Assemblies and Worships as now manag'd And also seeing that Bryan as he saith is or was silenced for Nonconformity himself I desire all that reads these Lines to take notice of what a strange uneven and unrighteous Spirit these Men are of in their creeping and twisting and twining to and fro yet the Eye of the Lord and his Blessed Spirit in his Children this Day doth easily spy them out Sometimes they are all for Conformity and against Separation by any means and plead the Common-Prayer-Peoples Cause with all their might as it were and yet presently they are all on a fire against any that shall think they are Conformists Nay says R. B. How can any judge him to be a Conformist who is silenced for Nonconformity But if this Man sometime a Head to those called Presbyterians at and about Kidderminster and Bryan of the same Nature sometimes a Teacher at Coventry be not Conformed or be not yet Conformists as well as others of their Brethren who have long since swallowed down the Old Common Prayer Service as they called it which they rejected in Oliver's time because it hindred them then from devouring the Peoples Labours and seeing they plead so shamelesly for it now and also seeing this R. B. in express words confesseth That they are not so much against Conformity with the Common-Prayer Service as the People are What may be the Reason of this strange thing to wit That they do not in all things conform in Deed and Practice as well as in words save only as is plain to me this because they judge that their Admirers are not yet sufficiently wearied out with keeping off nor sufficiently moulded and fitted in their Minds for coming in and therefore they have lingred and may yet linger a while longer before they do openly and before all appear Conformists desiring if possible to see the People in before them for these Two Chief Presbyterian Priests so called are already in the Parish Stuff in their Judgment and with their Minds and Hearts already or at least would be thought so to be by the wicked World of whom they are Lovers Yet they see not how to vend their flattering Doctrines if their Admirers Conform not and come not in with them or rather be not in the Pit before them so weak and wretched a thing is Man yea the best-seeming of the Sons of Men out of the Truth Oh! how truly fulfilled by these Men are those words of the Apostle where he speaking of the False Hypocritical Ontside Teachers of that Time saith With good Words and fair Speeches they deceive the Hearts of the Simple Therefore ever-praised be Christ who hath opened our Eyes to see and perswaded our Hearts to avoid such Wolves in Sheeps clothing as this R B. and Bryan are for what finer and higher Talk or Skin or Clothing can the Wolf get than to make Sermons of dwelling with God and the like as this Bryan doth When it 's manifest he neither knows God nor his Way nor his Dwelling-place but is inwardly ravened from that Good and Blessed Spirit of Truth and Honesty which should commend him to God The Wolves Nature in R. B. is already in this Writing set down and manifest and now I come in the Light of the Lord to make manifest some of his Brother Bryan's And first shall set down that Blasphemous Passage of his in p. 291 and 292. of his sixth Sermon in that Book of his Intituled Dwelling with God c. where he saith I am not ignorant that many of you whose Habitation I question not but the Lond is who have your Habitation in several Countries of this King dom have drunk a deep Prejudice against all the Parochial Congregations whereof you are Legal Members and where all you were Baptized and thereby were made the Members of Christ the Children of God and Heirs of his Kingdom I fear some of you will startle at these Expressions found in the Common Prayer but if you consult the Holy Scriptures you will find them warranted in a Sacramental Senon and your Prejudice hath so far wrought upon you that you have forsaken the assembling of your selves together with your Neighbours in the publick Meeting-places Thus far this Bryan Answ But ever praised be the Lord who hath delivered us from the Mouths of such manifest Wolves as these are who in times past were hidden but are now fully seen who though his Brother R. B. says his Mouth was stopt or silenced for not Conforming yet here it seems it is wide open still according to his and their Custom to manifest his Folly and wicked in-side against the
the Kingdom of his own Son over all to whom every Knee shall how and every Tongue confess for he is worthy The Springs of Life gush out apace from the Presence of the Lord into the Hearts of the Righteous and Righteousness runs down like a Stream through the Valleys of Israel to bring forth the Heavenly Fruits of Righteousness to the Glory and Praise of the Great and Good Husbandman who is over all God Blessed for Ever of whose Holy Reign Kingdom and Government there never shall be end But of the Kingdom of the Man of Sin and all Antichrists there shall be an utter end and Death and Hell shall be cast into the Lake of Fire and the Judgment of the Living and Everlasting Truth of our Heavenly Father shall go forth more and more for the discovering and consuming the false Hope and lying Refuges of all Hypocrites who have covered themselves and not with the Spirit of the Lord the Zeal of the Lord of Life will perform this that his Name over all may be exalted who is worthy whose Appearance in Glory this Day the Children of the Night have greatly withstood and the Dragon hath made great War against the Lamb but praised be the Lord the Lamb hath got the Victory and the Lamb's Followers are this Day with their Feet upon the Holy Mountain where none can make them afraid rejoicing in this that they have found the Lord whom their Souls loved and do love for Evermore So be it Thomas Taylor To some of T. Hicks's Friends YE Hicks's Hearers of Tixall-hall and elsewhere who Read his Defiled and Defiling Book called A Dialogue between a Christian and a Quaker Fear the Lord God of Heaven and Earth for I do affirm in the Truth of Christ that it is a meer Work and Invention of the Wicked One in that Servant of his called T. Hicks who goes under the Name and Profession of an Anabaptist as they are termed I say this Man was put on by the Wicked One who is called the Devil and Satan who was a Lier and False Accuser of the Brethren of Christ from the beginning to Render us the Servants of the Lord called Quakers Odious to the World For the very first Words and Title of his Book is an absolute Lie for never was there such a Dialogue between a Christian and a Quaker but it is a meer Fiction of his own naughty Heart and Head for Rendring us and the Truth we hold Odious and it is a False and Wicked Representation of us and our Religion to the World for the which God will severely Judge him And indeed by this manner of way that he takes who or what kind of Profession is there that he can miss grosly to abuse Seeing he takes upon him like a Prevaricator or Stage-player both to ask the Question and give the Answer so as may serve most for his own wicked End and Purpose and make his Opposite infamous O the Wickedness of such Actors and their Work but Praised be the Lord we are out of the reach of his Malice for under the Holy Wing of God's Power and Protection are our Souls gathered by the Eternal Power of his Living Word in Christ Jesus our Lord And you that Read this Book whether called Papists or Protestants if this Hicks had a Mind to Render you Odious could he not this way he takes do it as Plausibly as against us and so I would not have you hurt your selves so as to strengthen your selves against us and the Truth which we Live in by such bad Books and Endeavours as this Hicks hath come forth in for if that your Minds stand open to receive them you will never want them for the Enemy of your Souls and ours yea of all Mankind will never be wanting to furnish you with Lies for Strengthening his Kingdom in you and hindering you from entring into the Kingdom of God And if you would know the Reason of his thus rising up against us I say it is because through the Grace of God given us we Preach the Mystery of the Kingdom of God even the Wisdom of God in a Mystery as Scripture speaks And that Striking at his carnal Conceptions of things and his Idolatrous Thoughts of outward Water-Baptism hath stirred up the Venom in him which by this his Book he hath Vented but the Lord is the Pleader of his People's Cause which is our Joy and our Armour against all the fiery Darts of all wicked Ones for the Birth Life Death Resurrection Ascention Glorification of Christ and his Coming again to us according to the Scriptures of Truth and Heavenly Promises through the Power of God to our Souls Eternal Salvation and Comfort we Witness Glory to the Lord for ever whatsoever this Book or any thing of like nature can or may say to the contrary so as Christ said to one of our Brethren in times past The Gates of Hell shall not prevail against us And so in the Peaceable Habitation of the Love of God in Christ Jesus do we lye down together with all Holy Souls and Spirits of Just Men made Perfect Hallelujah for the Lord God Omnipotent Reigneth in Mount Zion and before his Ancients Gloriously And so let the Mouth of all Iniquity be stopped for ever saith my Soul Thomas Taylor Something concerning that called the Common-Prayer AND Now all People that you may see we do not without cause Cry against the Priests and deny to joyn with them in the present Common Service now in use amongst the Parish Teachers of England which you are enjoyned upon several Penalties to submit unto I shall in the strength of Truth unbowel it a little unto you that you may at least in part see the true inside of it and not be deceived with the outward Appearance any longer for the Lord is arisen in his mighty Glorious Power to scatter all those Clouds of Ignorance and Error that have long vailed and covered the Minds of People and to be himself the Teacher of his People how to Worship him For his Spirit is greatly burdened with the Manners of the People who take his Name so continually in vain as such do as are only Confessors of their Sins but never forsake them but all their Lives long doing what they should not do and so instead of lessening their Sins are daily adding Sin to Sin covering with a vain verbal unfeeling Confession of Sin but not with the Spirit of the Lord. And so in the very entrance into their Work their Foundation is seen for they manifest themselves not to be in the New Covenant of the Spirit of the God of Life but in the Old Covenant of the Letter saying The Scripture moves them to confess their manifold Sins and Trespasses But when will it be seen that the Scripture moves them to forsake them for a Confession of Sin in Words we hear amongst them but the time of forsaking them never as yet come to be seen
For what one Sin O ye People Teacher or Hearer that you were guilty of Seven or more Years since is there which you are not actually in at this Day he that was Drunken or Proud or Covetous or Lustful or Pleasurable or Unjust or the like in times past is found so still no Amendment no Washing of Sin away by all your Doings from amongst you for indeed Words and outside Performances could never do away Sin And so in vain is your Worship whilst your Fear is taught by the Traditions of Men and not by the Power of the Spirit of God according to Scripture for the Kingdom of God stands not in Words but in Power And the Redeemed of the Lord Worship in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the Letter Heb. 7. Col. 1. for the Letter-Law made nothing perfect but the bringing in of the better Hope doth which is Christ in Man the hope of Glory And so you wanting the Humble Penitent and Obedient Heart your Confessions are in vain and are rather a Mock-service than any true Sacrifice to God And so for want of a pure Heart you can neither see God nor approach to the Throne of his Heavenly Grace but stand Self-condemned your own words being witness against you And so you go on saying after your blind Guides That you are all your Lives long Miserable Offenders following too much the Devices and Desires of your own Hearts Offending against God's Holy Laws doing what you should not do and leaving undone what you ought to do till you are so full of the Leprosie of Sin from Head to Foot that there is no Health nor Soundness in you And then thus continuing from Year to Year to the end of your Days what Sacrifice can God accept at your Hands for the very Prayers of the Wicked are Abomination to the Lord. And therefore whereas in this State you so often call God Father you lie and do not the Truth For he that doth Righteousness is born of God but he that committeth Sin is of the Devil both Christ and his Apostle John being Witnesses see John 8.44 and 1 Epistle of John Chap. 3. and Verses 6 7 8 c. And so for the Words of that called the Absolution which follows wherewith the deceitful Priest would doub himself and you over I declare for the Lord they are no 〈◊〉 fit to either of you whilst you continue in your Sins as it 's manifest o◠do yea those very Words in that same Absolution where it is said He Pardoneth and Absolveth all such and I may add none but such as do truly repent and unfeignedly believe his holy Gospel shuts you all out from the Benefit of God's Absolution and Pardon For such as truly repent and unfeignedly believe the Gospel are healed of the Sickness of Sin and so have Health and Soundness in them and are not Miserable Offenders as you are but blessed Believers yea a chosen Generation born of God as Scripture saith John 1.13 And he that 's born of God Sinneth not for his Seed remaineth in him and he cannot Sin because he is born of God 1 John 3.9 Then certainly such Holy Ones as these Live not in a Continual Breach of God's Commandments as you do And so for the Lord's Prayer it belongs not to you whilst you continue doing the Deeds of the Wicked One for it was taught the Disciples and Followers of Christ who had God indeed for their Heavenly Father because they were really Born of him even of the Immortal and Incorruptible Seed of his Living Word which abode in them and they in it and so were Disciples indeed But alack for you who instead of forgiving as you would be forgiven are seeking your own Revenges and are learning of the Men of this World who know not God nor his Kingdom no nor so much as the Door nor entrance into it For the Heavenly Kingdom is still uncome to such as believe not in the Light which Christ the Door hath Inlightned them withal but love Darkness more than Light because their Deeds are evil For such as love to be called of Men Master and are Proud and Covetous and live in the daily Breach of God's Commandments could never love the Light nor bring their Deeds to be tryed by it because it is an Everlasting Reprover of all such And therefore saith Christ the true Light Therefore doth the World hate me because I witness against their Deeds that they are Evil. And so your most Hypocritical Proceeding to say O Lord open thou our Lips and our Mouth shall shew forth thy Praise shews plainly you heed not what you do for both the Priest and you have opened your Sinful Lips times without number without God's Spirit of Regeneration opening them for that as yet you never waited for and therefore your Sinful Mouth could not nor cannot shew forth God's Praise for the Dead Praise him not For it 's only such as Live in Christ as the Saints do not in Sin as you do that Praises him Glory to his Name that hath Abolished Death from amongst his People and hath brought Life and Immortality to Light in them in this his Glorious Day wherein he is Judging the great Whore which hath defiled the Earth grievously with her Fornications and the Day of God is Glorious which thus brings forth all the hidden things of Darkness to Light And Blessed are they and they only that walk in the Light of God's Holy City into which no unclean thing can ever enter So all ye People of the Earth who are thus found only in the Confession but not in the Forsaking of Sin shut your Mouths and cease taking God's Name any more in vain For certainly the Lord will not hold such Guiltless as take his Name in vain And take heed of applying those Scriptures to your selves whilst you live in Sin which belong only to such as witness Redemption from Sin as those words in that 95th Psalm following do which say O come let us sing unto the Lord let us heartily rejoyce in the strength of our Salvation for he is the Lord our God and we are the People of his Pasture and Sheep of his hands c. O stand in awe of God O People and do no more so presumptuously for his Sheep you are not who are so Deaf to his Voice and so Rebellious to his Word as you have and do daily every way manifest your selves to be O what Salvation can such witness as are so deep in their Sins for Christ Saves his People from their Sins from their Disobedience from being miserable Offenders and is the Saving Health of his Heavenly Anointed ones he leaves them not in the Darkness where the Sin is committed but brings all his Followers to the Light of Life where the ever Blessed and Holy and perfect and acceptable Will of God is both known and done and then of such it is truly said They are
of the Lord wherein he is so lovingly caâ—â—ing them out of their Darkness into his Marvellous Light And as for the Visitation of their Sick and Churching of their Women as they call it that Mosaical Rite there is such bold calling of every one who can but say a few words by rote the Servants of God and putters of their Trust in God and the like it even burdens the Spirit of the Lord to bear it And to hear a poor wretched Man who hath run and God never sent him to say That by the Authority of God given him he Absolves the Sick Man from all his Sins Such had need take heed lest the Judgments of God fall on them as it did upon those Presumptuous Jews the Priests Sons mentioned Acts 19.13 c. And for their Burials as they do in the rest so do they in this and are most grievous Daubers and Takers of God's Name in vain and they are not afraid to say indifferently of one as well as another that they have a Hope yea a sure and certain Hope of their Resurrection to Life Eternal though they have been never so Notoriously Evil in this Life yea though they have said but a little before in their Commination Cursed are the Vnmerciful Fornicators and Adulterers Covetous Persons Idolaters Slanderers Drunkards and Extortioners and both Prieft and People said Amen to it And though they be found living and dying such yet now at their Burial all must be daubed over with a Resurrection to Life Eternal But here is the Device by which the Hireling lives for what by their Doctrines and Words in their Sprinklings in their Confirmations in their Communions in their Burials yea in all their Doings there is such a Bewitching of the People and strengthning the Hands of Evil-doers that none returns from their Evil Ways but all lyes in Death and Darkness without remorse none smites upon his Thigh and saith What have I done But with Death they make a Covenant and with Hell are they and their Multitude at Agreement but with the Over flowing Scourge of his Wrath will the Lord sweep away all Lying Refuges and the Lord is begun to make a Blessed Separation between the Precious and the Vile Glory to his Name for Ever So be it so be it O! the set Wages and Hire in every Parish seconded with an Outward Law to compel it and the many stinted Forms of Words and Actions in their Services made ready to their Hands and Enjoined upon them upon Pain of being uncapable of the Wage and Hire appointed for those Doings is such a Bait to the Mercenary Minds of the Men of this World that it even draws and drives by heaps into the Ministry such as God never sent nor would never come of themselves but for the sake of that filthy Lucre. But God is shaking his Hand against such Dishonest Gain and the Lord hath and is restoring to us the Ancient Ministry as in the Apostles Days where all was done by the Ability of God's own Spirit in such as had freely received the Gift thereof and therefore could and can freely give Glory to his Name for Evermore Amen and Amen Thomas Taylor A Testimony for the Lord the good Shepherd and true Minister of the Sanctuary and true Tabernacle which God hath pitched and not Man against all the false Shepherds and Hireling Ministers and Teachers of the World under what Name or Notion or Form soever who have run and God never sent them and therefore cannot profit the People at all HEAR the Word of the Lod God that is gone forth against you like a Flame of Fire in this the mighty Day of the arising of the Almighty Power of the Lord God Almighty who is jealous of his Honour and who is tender of the poor Souls whom you have deceived and do daily make a Prey of for filthy Lucre your End is come 2 Pet. 2. 2 Cor. 3.13 Dan. 5.26 27. the Day hath Revealed you and in God's Ballance are you weighed and found altogether wanting and therefore is your Kingdom departed from you and now the Lord God is setting up his own most Heavenly and Everlasting Kingdom in the Hearts of his People Dan. 7. who in the Leadings of his Light are come out from amongst you and who through the Blood of the Lamb and the Word of their Testimony have gotten Victory over the Beast the Whore and false Prophet who have desiled the Earth with their Abominations Lies and Lewdness Dan. 7. and he will yet gather more from amongst you And now the Kingdom under the whole Heavens is and shall be for ever the Portion of the People of the Saints of the most High God whose Kingdom is an Everlasting Kingdom and all Dominions shall serve and obey him who liveth for ever who is arisen in this his Glorious Day not only to reveal but even to destroy to the uttermost the Man of Sin that Son of Perdition in all the Earth 2 Thess 2. which hath sate in the Temple of God as God saying he was God and hath long Exalted himself above all that was called God which alone ought to be Worshipped but the Lord is arisen to dethrone him even that Wicked One who would not suffer the true Seed the true Heir Christ Jesus the true Light to Reign but hath always like an enraged Beast pushed with his Horns against the Lamb in every Appearance whereby the tender Buddings of Truth in many People have been often hurt and the Growth of the good Seed often hindered and some of the feeble Ones even in their comings out of Egypt have been out off by this Spiritual Amaleck the Dragon upon which the Whore the false Priesthood and Ministry Rides whom God will have War with for ever and will destroy him to the End for now is the Ancient of Days upon his Throne and the Thrones of the Wicked are cast down and One like unto the Son of Man Acts 9.10 11. to wit the Lord Christ Jesus in and with his numberless Number is come with the Clouds of Heaven for as sure as he went up so is he certainly come again and broughâ— near to the Ancient of Days Dan. 7.26 27. and is in the actual Possession of that Kingdom Glory and Power given him of the Father that all People Nations and Languages should serve and obey him for his Dominion is an Everlasting Dominion which shall not pass away and his Kingdom that which shall not be destroyed and now the Judgment is set and the Books are opened Glory to the Lord for ever and now is the Revelation of all Things Rev. 16.19 and fulfilling of all Things which hath been spoken of by the true Witness since the World began And now the Tything Hireling Priests and Merchants of Babylon who by their Works deny Christ come in the Flesh run to the Powers of the Earth and Cry out Rev. 18.15 16. and
against you and his Vials of Wrath is he pouring forth upon you and he will not fail nor be discouraged until his Judgments be brought forth to Victory over you And now to you the Magistrates and Powers who Rule in this Nation of England lend not your Power much less give it to this dead Image uphold not this Ministry which cannot profit you nor the People at all lest God plead with you in his Wrath for your Abuse of it for though they may perswade you that Christ is not against them yet such as God hath Redeemed from amongst them know them to be no Ministers of Christ but Hirelings who have run without Christ's sending and so not going Christ's Message they cannot be content with Christ's Maintenance but cry unto you Acts 21.28 O Magistrates help help the People will not Pay us their Tythes and the like lend us your Laws your Prisons c. O Rulers Consider consider what Teachers these are who instead of compelling People to Love and contribute to them by the Power of the Word are glad to run to the Worldly Magistrates Sword is not God against them that are thus against him O leave them Leave them to try and prove themselves to the Peoples Conscience to be true Ministers by a free and powerful Ministry of the Word not of Man but of God unto them or never own them for Christ's ancient and true Ministers had freely received and therefore could freely give and did Plant before they Eat Mat. 10.8 and Fed the Flock before they had the Milk thereof but these Buy their Words and therefore Sell them like Merchants of Babylon Ezok. 34. They eat the Fat and clothe with the Wooll and kill them that are fed as the Prophet speaks but God's Flock they feed not but persecute them calling them Hereticks and all that 's naught as the Old Jews who persecuted Christ and his Followers did Acts 24.14 But after the Way that they call Heresie so worship we the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ believing his Living Word which perfects us to himself and the Scriptures which testifie thereof Glory to his Name for Ever And all ye Peoplâ—y who are Lovers and Followers and Upholders of this false Ministry which keeps you always learning 2 Tim. 3.5 5 and never brings you to the Knowledge of the Truth as it is in Jesus which alone perfects to God cease from it and the Masterly Teachers in it and from them turn to God Jer. 23.28 29. for what are their Dreams to the Living and Eternal Word of God which is as a Hammer and a Fire in the Hearts of all that receive it Ezek. 18.23 Ezek. 32.11 And what are their Inventions to the Ordinances of Christ The Lord loves your Sâ—als he hath no Pleasure in your Death it is not his Will that your Precious Souls should be lost for the pleasing of vain Men and answering their ungodly Lusts Jer. 30.17 What is there no Bulm in Gilead Is there no Christ no Physician in England that the Breach which Sin hath made betwixt God and your Souls can never be made up Hos 4.2 but the Wound must stand open still like a Bloody-Issue running out the very Life of your Souls so that you have no Power no Victory over Sin but Sin stands still in its Strength and perfect Dominion over you O when O when will you come to the Light that your Eyes may be opened to see the dangerous Paths that you are in Rev. 3.18 by following these Blind Guides Mat. 23.13 who having shut up the Kingdom of God against Men will neither enter into it themselves nor suffer others Oh! why will ye Die ye People of England Exod. 10.21 22 23. Isa 11.10 Joh. 3.19 20 Gen. 31 4. Why will ye sit in Egypt's Darkness still and the Land of God's People so full of Light The Lord God hath listed up the Standard of his Truth in the midst of you but you chuse rather to Fight under the Banner of the Power of Darkness because of your Love to the World to your Hurt and so the Old Dragon who beguiled Eve leads you Captive at his Will who will not have Christ the true Light the good Shepherd and Bishop of the Soul to rule in you The Word of the Lord God unto you all both Priests Magistrates and People Awake Awake the great and mighty terrible Day of the Lord God is at Hand 2 Pet. 3.16 2 Thes 5.2 3. Prov. 1.27 Mal. 2.1 Rom. 1.18 is very nigh to come upon you like a Thief in the Night like an Armed Man like a terrible Tempest to scatter you to spoil you of your Glory to leave you neither Root nor Branch For now is the Lord Jesus Christ Mighty in Power arisen to plead with you in his Wrath because you have made void his Law and transgressed the Everlasting Covenant of his Gracious Light and instead thereof have set up a dead Image Rev. 13.14 a liveless Form of Man's devising the Image of Jealousie a Religion and Worship which makes nothing perfect to God your Root is seen and judged by the true Light Christ Jesus the Root and Off-spring of David It is so And if you still continue in your vain Thoughts thinking to please God with such a Life wherein you are daily doing what you ought not to do and leaving undone what God commands you and never come out of that wretched and miserably defiled State but think a customary Confession of Sins without forsaking of them is a Worship worthy the pure God who is of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity I say if these Thoughts and this Heart continue in you Hos 1.6 9. the Lord will cast you off and will utterly forsake you and bring his sore Plagues upon you and you shall know in that Day that God will not be mocked but will be sanctified and exalted in his Judgments over all his Enemies especially over such as you who take his Name daily in your Mouths in vain saying Lord Lord and living in a continual Breach of his most Holy Commandments and who instead of waiting for his Holy Spirit to kindle a pure heavenly Zeal in you towards God and Christ Lev. 10.1 2. do offer the false Fire of your own Blind Zeal as Nadab and Abihu did whom God in his Jealousie consumed with a grievous Destruction And now unto you the two Mothers of these Priests of this Nation of England called Oxford and Cambridge Isa 1.4 fee what you have brought forth and nourished at your Breasts O! a sad Generation it is O! what a Generation of Evil-doers are your Children whom you have given Suck unto become How have you with your Heathenish Arts and Sciences strengthned them against the Simplicity of the Everlasting Gospel which Christ hath restored unto us in this his glorious Day Col. 2.8 Isa 1.26 Rev.
his Vials Seven times Seven Upon the Seat of that proud Beast and Whore Who hate his Truth and would his Lambs devour And would set up that Worship which he hates And all that Bow unto it Desolates And will not suffer Light and Life to Reign But Preach and Pray and all for filthy Gain God shakes his Hands against you for such things And He 's the Lord of Lords and King of Kings Who will not be o'er-top'd by Mortal Birth Whose Origin and Root is from the Earth But will be Honour'd as a Heavenly King Or else his Judgments through the Earth shall Ring With Terrors great he will his Foes Confound Who have wrought all their Works as under Ground And in their Hearts have said Tush none doth see But we shall Rule and Reign and only we O turn your Ears and listen then a while Let not the Serpent always you Beguile He that deceiv'd the simple one at first Doth after all your Souls and Spirits thirst He leads you out to love the Perishing things Which swiftly fly away with Eagles Wings Which answer not the Heavenly Minds desire But leaves your Spirits scorch'd as with a Fire You seem to Eat and sumptuously to Fare But when awake you Lean and Hungry are You spend your Money for poor empty Shells And go to Drink at Springless empty Wells And when your Minds with Wind and Air are fill'd And you a little in School-Learning Skill'd Then do you Jude your selves fit Guides to be Unto the poor Unskilful Commonalty Who do not know the difference 'twixt the Wheat And Chaff which to the Soul was never Meat But hark what is it now my Mind doth see Sad Oaths impos'd on Men that should be free That should their Office do as Christians did In former times as great Jehovah bid And not as Worldly Men whose Will 's their Law Who with their Fines and Threats still kept in A we The silly Multitude which knows not God But are more Fearful of the Tyrants Rod And are in Earthly-mindedness so deep That they will lose the Soul before their Sheep And are so Ignorant of things Divine That they will part with Truth before their Swine And what Religion is it that such Men For Worldly Ends will not Profess but when The Tide of Times doth turn and changes Face Then they will leave you all unto Disgrace And that which now seems as an Iron Post Will then forsake you and be gone and lost For it 's their Bodies that by force is gain'd When as their Souls i' th' change of Sin 's detain'd So that a perfect Man you cannot bring Of all your Number unto God to Sing And Sound forth Holy Praises ' mongst the Choire Of Holy Ones who burn in pure Desire Of setting up the Lamb upon his Throne Of Highest Glory and all Sorrows gone Then what 's your Work and where will you appear When you have Slept and Slumb'red Year by Year And in mean while have suffer'd Souls to Pine For want of Heavenly Bread and Spiritual Wine And would them neither Feed nor suffer such As God hath sent to Feed them but do grutch That any but your selves should have a share I' th' Work of Feeding such as to God precious are But this be known unto you all this Day That Israel's Holy One none limit may If Christ an Amos or a Peter will Have in his Vineyard Work his Word 's their skill By which without Book-Learning they do know ' Gainst Satan's Kingdom how to bend their Bow And if proud Scribes and Pharisees Disdain Their mean Appearance and their Language plain Then doth their Master plead their Innocent Cause And soon delivers them from Tyrants Jaws And makes the Earth to know that maugre spight He 's able to secure the Harmless Wight Who trusts unto his Strength and walks the Ways Of Truth and Holiness unto his Praise And that the Earthly Man with all his Power Shall not secure himself from Heaven's sharp Shower Of Hail-stones which upon the Wicked must Be Rained down as thick as any Dust But stay a little to the present Work A Word or two in Love that does no hurt A Visitation's talk'd of in these Towns Wherein the Priests must come with Long Black Gowns To make Appearance but whose Will to do They best can tell who perfectly do know Then I demand in plainness that you may Prove by the Scripture what you do this day Why doth your Bishop Ride in so great State As if to Kings and Princes he were Mate And yet will say to others they must Dye To Worldly Pomp and Earthly Vanity Why are you Teachers now call'd Masters when Christ saith Be ye not Masters call'd of Men And why your Courts which Spiritual are by Name Do Trouble Men for carnal Things O shame That you should Read so long the Scripture Letter And yet your selves and Business do no better Why is your Maint'nance forc'd when th' Gospel's free And God's pure Day is dawn'd that all may see That those that dare not trust the Lord for that Are such as Minister they know not what For such in the Beginning that did Preach The Everlasting Gospel and did Teach Men to observe Christ's Doctrine knew not how At all by outward force to make Men Bow But said Our Weapons are not of the Earth But Spiritual Powerful from that Heavenly Breath That Fans and Winnows and doth not beguile But separates the Precious from the Vile And so into Subjection they did bring By force of Truth unto their Holy King They sought not Earthly Honours nor did crave The Earthly Riches but the Soul to save You have received freely freely give Saith Christ who took the Care how they should Live And be maintain'd and did not bid them take Wages of Heathens who the Truth do hate But now you have a Custom sad to see To force your Wages both from Bond and Free You force your own Disciples yea and those That are as Heathens Judged by your Laws Which if your Spirit were not over-base You would soon reckon it a foul Disgrace Can any Man that 's Noble in his Heart Take Hire of such as from the Lord depart And not Require it only but compel Them to Maintain you Judge is this done well May not such truly say You Love your Pride More than the Gospel and all things beside For sure a little will serve Natures turn But what can satisfie where Lust doth Burn For when in Pride and Fulness Men will Live Then comes the Horse-leach Daughters crying Give Give give yea which is ill yea worst of all We 'll have it or we 'll bring you into Thrall We 'll have your Tythes we 'll have your Easter's Dues We 'll have them all you's neither Will nor Chuse And thus old Eli's Sons are still alive Which in this World nor that to come will thrive What! Preach the Gospel and yet Sue to such For Maintenance as
and no better than Offering Swines Blood or cutting off a Dogs Neck and for the endeavouring to keep up your Custom of Praying and Singing in mixt Congregations from the Example of Jews or them that follow Christ I say your Hypocritical Praying and Singing is good no where but Rejected of God and I see thy Pâ—ide all along that would be computing your Congregations to those that followed Christ Nay nay for though there was One Devil yet there was Eleven Saints but when you are searched scarce One of many Twelves that hath any true Fear of God before their Eyeâ— is to be found amongst you Qu. 20 And whereas in thy last Query thou askest Whether those Persons that have Experienced the Operation of the Spirit of God in the Gospels Preaching and Administrations Convincing their Consciences Melting the Hearts Humbling the Spirits and Turning them from Darkness to Light and have afterwards Tasted much Sweetness and have felt Soul-Ravishing Comforts in the Enjoyment of God in Ordinances have not the Witness in themselves that God doth own these and Bless these Priviledges to them I answer Yea it is thus with all that in Truth have the Witness in themselves that God doth own these and Bless these Priviledges to them But those People that go under the Name Quakers have to the Praise of God's free Love the Witness in themselves of such Fruits as thâ—se amongst them from the Virtue of the Everlasting Gospel and its Administration And therefore we can Witness that John Reynolds and all such as Condemn this Ministry and Work of God amongst us as Heresie or so are Deceivers and that they are Strangers to Spiritual Communion with God whatever in words they may Boast who cannot meet with and enjoy God where we to his Immortal Praise be it in Truth spoken do experience that loving Kindness and Goodness which is better than Life it self And therefore how long may this John Reynolds or any other Seducer or painted Sepulchre talk before ever they can perswade these whom the Lord hath so loved not to believe their own Spiritual Senses and Experiencies But to conclude Whereas this John Reynolds in his high swelling Words of his last Query and the 12th boasts much of his own and his Fellows Experiencies of Spiritual things I refer the Reader to the rest of his Queries and especially the 3 5 8 10 11 14 15 16 and to the answers to them all and to weigh all in the Ballance of Just Judgment and it will appear to him beyond words what may be Judged of them and us Thomas Taylor A Testimony to the True and Spiritual Worship And a Word of Consolation to the Children of Light GOD is a Spirit all Pure Holy Just and True and therefore in Spirit Purely Holy and Truly will he be Worshiped of all that come to him and therefore all that Worship which stands in the Impure Unholy nature of the flesh is of no acceptance with him Cain may Sacrifice and Israel may be Circumcised and Judas do something like an Apostle but so long as the Murderous Scoffing Covetous Trayterous Nature of the Flesh stands all is nothing The Lord God Blessed for ever hath in this day of his Powerful Love made manifest himself amongst the Children of Men on Earth and now Sons and Daughters do Prophesie and Old and Young do Sing of his Praise and Sound forth with Joyful Hearts of the worthy noble Acts of his Right-Hand because his Kingdom is come and his Glory in Sion is appeared and the Tabernacle of God is indeed with Men and he himself not a Shadow or a Figure or ontward Representation of him but he himself who is over all God Blessed for ever dwells in and with his People his dearly beloved Sâ—ed who have believed in Light that true Light that Lighteth every Man that cometh into the World and have not despised the day of Small Things but have waited in the Light in the Faith of his Holy Power for the fulfilling of his Promises and so through Faith and Patience have received the Promises of Everlasting Life and Salvation fulfilled in them whereby the Mountains are thrown down and Vallies lifted up and all made Plain Pure and Perfect for the Holy God and Father of all Mercy and Goodness to dwell in and walk in Glory Glory to his great Name who hath not left himself without a Witness of his Faithfulness this day nor left the Throne of Davids Kingdom without an Heir to sit upon it to Order and Establish it in Righteousness And now even now in this our Day the Day which the Lord hath made is the Blessed Fountain of the great Depth of the Love of God in Christ Jesus truly opened and the Waters of the Heavenly Temple are so deep that a Man may swim in them and it is not now as sometimes in times past here a line and there a line here a little and there a little but now hath the Lord our God according to his excellent Loving-kindness fully opened to Judah and the Children of the Heavenly Mother Jerusalem the Mystery of his Will and Fountain of his Eternal Goodness in Christ Jesus the Light whereby our Souls are satisfied and Sin and Transgression done away and the Everlasting Righteousness which makes Pure and Perfect the very Heart Soul and Conscience to God brought in ever Blessed be his Glorious Name for his unspeakable Gift Amen and Amen And now are all false Religions seen and by the Light which makes them manifest Judged for the false Births which are of the great Whore Mystery Babilon whose Religions are carried on by the will of the Flesh as by the Fleshly Wisdom they were Invented stand all in the Curse where nothing is perfect but their own Misery and Wretchedness Remains and therefore it is that both Priest and People in this Wretched State do all with one consent cry out against the perfect Work of Jesus Christ in his People saying None can be Perfect here And so do in a Word deny the very End for which Christ came and the End for which the Ministry of Christ was given for Christ gave himself for his People That he might wash them in the Word of Life and so present them to himself a Glorious Congregation without Spot or Wrinkle or any such thing Ephes 5.25 c. And thou art all Fair my Love saith Christ to his Spouse And there is no Spot in thee And the Law made nothing Perfect but the bringing in of a better Hope Christ in us the Hope of Glory Col. 1.27 Heb. 7.19 And the very end of the Ministry was for the Edifying and Perfecting the Saints who are Christs Body Eph. 4.12 And we labour to present every Man Perfect to God in Christ Col. 1.28 And John 17.23 I in them and thou in me that they may be made Perfect in one But now the false Ministry which stands in the Flesh in which no good thing
dwels keeps People always learning and never brings any to the Knowledge of perfecting Truth of the Lord Jesus for how should it For they have Run and I never sent them saith God therefore they shall not profit the People at all Jer. 23. And under this woful Condition lieth all the World of unbelieving People who believe not in the Truth Christ Jesus but follow their own dark Spirits which see nothing of the Kingdom of God nor the Holy Worshippers therein A long and dark Night of Apostacy hath passed over the World since the Apostles time wherein the Spirit of Antichrist and Devils hath wrought effectually in the Children of Disobedience as was foretold to the blinding of their Minds and hardning their Hearts against the Everlasting Gospel of Truth the Heavenly Light and Power of God unto Salvation and hath so deluded them that they have thought they were doing God service when they were Persecuting his Truth and Members of his Body as many in the same dark deluded state do at this day but now the Lord is lifting up his Standard against that great Whore Dragon false Prophet and their Armies who Gog and Magog like would devour the Lambs of Christ And now no Weapon formed against Christ his Truth and People shall ever prosper any more at all but the Lamb shall have the Victory and the Kingdom Dominion and Greatness of it shall be given to the Saints of the Most High God whose Kingdom is Everlasting and that Nation Kingdom and People that will not bow to Truth will moulder away and come to nothing as the Lord hath said For now is the effect of every Vision fully to come and no more at all to be prolonged And therefore Wo Wo to the Inhabitants of the Earth and the Sea who are putting the Day of the Lord a far off crying Peace Peace when there is no Peace for there is no Peace to any who will not have Jesus Christ the true Light that Lighteth every Man that cometh into the World to rule in them and over them for his is the Kingdom Glory and Power and he will Reign for Evermore in the midst of his Enemies Glory to his Name without ceasing Amen and Amen saith my Soul whom thou hast Redeemed O Holy One of Israel to set forth thy Praise amongst the Living in Jerusalem thy Holy Hill so be it So now O all ye that love Righteousness and daily wait to see the Heavenly Kingdom thereof set up in you and in all People I T. T. your Brother in the Joys and Sufferings of the Gospel having had through the Mercifulness of our God and Father perfect knowledge of his Good Way from the beginning of this Day of his Love which hath dawned upon his Beloved Seed in these Islands and in all the World do declare and bear my Testimony for God amongst many Brethren that there is no way to God the Father of Light but by the Light Christ Jesus that true Light that Lighteth every Man that cometh into the World with a Light that is Pure Free Spiritual and Sufficient that all Men through it may believe and so be led out of Darkness Sin and Death the ways of Sin into the Marvellous Light and Life of Righteousness and true Holiness and so into Fellowship with the Holy God without which Holiness none can see him nor enjoy him for ever For this Gift of God the Light is Holy and in all that believe and receive it it brings forth it s own Blessed Image which is Holiness And it is Free and works according to its own Blessed Nature in all that joyn to it setting them free from all their Spiritual Enemies whatsoever and so making them Free-born Children of the Heavenly Jerusalem which is free for evermore from all the false and imbondaging Impositions of the Man of Sin whatsoever And so also because this Heavenly Gift of God Christ Jesus the Light who Lighteth every Man John 1.9 is perfect and shines in the Heaâ—t therefore it doth of its own Nature make perfect every Man that wiâ—h their Hearts receive it and so come to God by it It makes perfect to God as pertaining â—o the very Heart and Conscience of all its Lovers for if you Love the Light you Love God from whence it comes for he that Loves him that is sent â—oveth also him that sent him And therefore I say unto all People upon the face of the Earth that all that Faith Hope Worship Religion or whatever it may be called That stands not in and is not carried on in this Power of God the Light which Lighteth every Man is nothing worth Every good and perfect Gift saith James cometh down from the Father of Light who is Unchangeable and it shines in the Heart of every Man though the Darkness which through the Full hath gotten place there comprehends it not yet the Light is there a sure Foundation a tried Corner-Stone Elect and Precious Blessed are all that fall upon it so as to be broken into Godly Sorrow and Tenderness of Heart and Blessed are all that Build upon it they shall be called the Elect of God Precious Sons and Daughters of Zion and their Building shall never fail them nay the Gates of Hell shall never prevail against their FAITH because it standeth in the Power of God Christ Jesus the Light that ever Liveth to keep them in a good and safe Condition that thus come to God by him The Day is dawned which makes all things manifâ—ll Praised be God forever even the Spirit of Truth which leadeth into all Truth is come and the Holy Anâ—iâ—ting is witnessed in all that believe in the Name of the Living Unchangeable God which Teacheth all things and it abideth in the Faithful Hearts and is sufficient And he called the Light Day and so the joyful Day which the Lord hath made being come we will Rejoyce and be Glad in it though the Children of Darkness be never so Angry For the Lord our Strength will maintain our Cause against all his Foes for evermore so be it And now though the Children of the Night be many and Professors of the Letter of Scripture that want the Life of it come forth as so many Armies to plead for and contend for their several formed Ways and invented Worships against the Children of God this day who Worship God in Spirit and in Truth yet Greater is he that is in us then he that is in the World and so though we are forced to Build in this our Holy City New Jerusalem with our Spiritual Sword in our Hand yet we are all well content finding the Lord still with us in this Day of the Restoration of all things And so though Tobiah and Sanballat with all the Heathen Mock and carry false Reports concerning us to the Rulers of the Earth yet through the Help of our God we are enabled to go on in our Holy Spiritual Work in the Lord 's Holy City
be hated of all men whether Professors or Prophane who are out of that Life and Holy Worship even for Christs very Name and Life's sake because it is a Cross and Offence to all the World who are in their own Wills under what Form or Profession soever who are gotten into a Profession of Christ without Christ and the daily Cross which his Followers bear Therefore all who are climed up into the Tree of an outward Profession without the true real seeling and Spiritual acquaintance with the daily Cross and fiery Law of the Lord and flaming Sword which Guards the Tree of Life which is in the Hand of the Angel of the Covenant for the cutting down of the Man of Sin that the Birth Immortal which is Holy may onter in and possess the Inheritance must come down again I say they must come to the beginning from which in their fallen Wisdom they are wandred to learn of him in Silence who speaks from Heaven whose Word is nigh in the Heart before ever they be established for except you become as little Children not in Talk but in Truth ye cannot enter God's Kingdom O ye People hearken awhile whether Teachers or Hearers You who have been feeding upon the Tree of Knowledg and never came through Gods Judgments the Flaming Sword to the Tree of Life Your Food is Death your-Works will Burn and your Fig leaf-Covers will fall off you and you be left Naked and Bare to the shame of your Nakedness as in the day that you were Born For what is any Covering unless it be that of the Spirit of Christ The Lord God who is of Purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity will bring your Deeds to the Light of his Judgments from which you cannot flee and before him will nothing stand but that which is Pure Your defiled Preachings Prayings Singings Hearings Readings will be rejected and cast out as Dung from the Presence of the Pure Holy God that is a consuming Fire You have multiplied words without Knowledge Ye have not been neither yet are ye Doers of Gods Will to the Witness of God in your Consciences I speak therefore in vain do you say Lord Lord and he will not hold them Guiltless that take his name in Vain Your Garment is not of the Pure White Linnen which is the Saints Righteousness but Linnen and Woollen is your Covering a thing forbidden by Gods Law Your Field is not sowen with the one Heavenly kind of Grain the Good Wheat but another Seed have you mingled with it and the mixture is so great that the Bad hath almost choaked and covered the Good in you If you will work you must into Gods Vineyard and be exceeding Diligent and Laborious in Spirit in plucking up the Weeds by the Roots in you the Light of Christ in your Conscience waiting in it will give thee Understanding But Wo will be to them who call the Light Darkness and put Darkness for Light and so suffer the Good in them to wither and nourish the Bad Part in them which is like the Grave that never hath enough but is always learning at Man without and not at Christ within and Ministring from the outward Dead Spirit of the World and not from the measure of the Living Spirit of Christ and so not taking heed to the Word of Faith which is nigh in the Heart the Word of Christ which is Spirit and Life they never get Victory over their Sin as is manifest but go laden Teacher and Hearer all their Life long with divers Sins and Lusts as was said before So Wo to the selfish Workers who speak their own words and think their own thoughts on this the Holy Sabbath Day of the Lord God wherein he hath given his People rest from all their weary Labour and Burdens The outward Day the first Day of the Week shall not Cover you nor be a Sabbath to you but in the breach of Gods Holy and Everlasting Spiritual Sabbath of Rest you being found you must bear his Judgment Behold all ye that kindle a Fire this Day and that compass about your selves with Sparks walk in the Light of your Fire and in the Sparks that ye have kindled yet know that your reward from the Lords Hand is to lie down in Sorrow I say all you who feed upon and whose Faith stands in the wisdom of Vain Mans words raised up in the subtility to please the itching Ear and not in the Power of God which washeth the inside a Day of Scattering cometh upon you it cometh and a grievious Whirl-wind from the Lord and the Pleasant Breasts of Mystery Babylon which you so much delight in shall be dried up for the Lord hath rejected your Confidence because you have rejected his Good Word and Counsel and chosen your own Delusion and evil entreated his Servants whom he sent rising up early and sending them time after time to warn you to come out of all your Dead Forms and Dead Faith into the Living Virtue and Power of his eternal Spirit of Truth to Worship him there and to know it in you but you would not therefore the Lord will yet do that Great Work and Wonder amongst you he will confound the Wisdom of your Wise and bring to nought the understanding of your Prudent Men and they shall be as Women weak and feeble the Mouth of the Lord hath spoken it and the Songs of your Temple shall be Howlings in that Day because of the Vine of Sodom that will bear no more Grapes but so many as have drunk of the Wine of her Fornication must Drink of the Cup of Gods Wrath. And all you who talk of your Faith and suffering Condition and yet Live in your Sin you know not what Spirit you are of for the same mind that you think to suffer in is it which by Transgression grieves the Spirit of God and stands against the setting up of his Kingdom in your selves and the Testimony thereof in his redeemed Ones this Day And so if you could give your Bodies to be burnt in this your Unsaved and Unsanctified Condition it would prosit you nothing at all Wherefore come out from amongst them all you that would be happy and touch no unclean thing but give your Hearts to the Lord to know his Light in you to teach you and he will receive you and hide you from the Wrath that is to come upon all that are not in him as saith his Spirit in his Servant This is a Message of Truth to all you in and about Stafford and those of like Spirit with you elswhere who go under the Name of Presbyterians Teachers and Hearers to Read and Ponder in the cool mind that you may know what the Lords Mind is concerning you in this his day wherein he is manifest with his Fan in his Hand to purge the Floor that he may gather to himself the good Wheat and burn up the Chaff For we knowing the Terrors of the Lord
People of England to Weep Page 64 To the Comers and Goers by the Prison-Window of both Sâ—â—â—s Page 65 To King Charles the Second concerning Persecution c. Page 67 To Informers Page 69 Some Serious Considerations concerning the Priests of the High Places called Churches their Sprinkling Infants Marrying People and Bâ—rying their Dead c. Page 70 To the â—ury-men of Appleby Page 73 To 〈◊〉 and Rulers Page 74 A Testimony of Truth Page 75 To all that are Worshipping in the Outward Court without God in the World in diverse Forms Page 78 To William Thornton called Justice at Hipswell in York-shire Divulged for the Information of other Moderate Enquirers after the Lord Page 81 To the Presbyterians so called Page 88 To the Presbyterians Page 90 To the Blind Teachers Page 91 For the Great People of the Earth who love the Pleasures of Sin these ib. Concerning Bread and Wine Page 93 The Indignation of the Lord upon all Nations Page 94 To Loose and Wicked Professors Page 108 To Protestants Page 109 To the Sons of Vanity Page 110 Who they are that only Rejoice in the Birth of Christ Page 111 A Testimony against Persecution to King Charles the Second and his Magistrates Page 112 Wo to the World because of Iniquity Page 114 An Apology from the Harmless against the Vnjust And to the King and his Magistrates against Plotting ibid. Against May-poles Page 116 To a Dancing-Master Page 117 To the Fruitless Vineyard of England Page 118 To the People of England Page 119 God's Controversie with England declared Or a Warning-word by way of Reproof to the Inhabitants thereof even to such as forget God and are adding one Sin unto another Page 121 A Faithful Warning to Outside Professors and Loose Pretenders to Christianity of all Sorts Page 123 Something as it came to mind of what passed at the Assizes in Stafford betwixt the Judge and the People of God called by the World Quakers But the Reproach of Christ is to us great Riches and the Scorners God will judge Page 131 To the Jury-men of Stafford that brought him in Guilty Page 138 To King Charles the Second Page 139 Against Lotteries Page 142 To Stafford Page 143 To the Mayor of Stafford Page 144 For them that Rule in Stafford ibid. To the Kings and Rulers Page 145 Concerning his being taken Prisoner of Seven Years Continuance Page 147 To the Mayor and Priest of Stafford Page 148 Concerning the Fallâ—n Christians Page 149 To the Vain People of the World Page 150 An Exhortation to all People Page 150 To the Teachers and Magistrates of Tamworth Page 151 To sinful People Page 152 To the Children of Men Page 154 To the Fencers ibid. Concerning Sprinkling Page 156 Concerning Burying and Churching of Women c. Page 157 A Testimony against Bull and Bear-baiting Page 159 A Testimony against Sporting and Playing Page 160 A Loving Exhortation to all Kings Pri ces Potentates Bishops and People in the whole Christendom Wherein is a distinction betwixt the True and False Teachers Page 162 A few Necessary Questions and Conclusions for the Present Parish-Teachers of England c. Deeply to Ponder and Answer in God's Fear for the Good of their own and the Peoples Souls that are under them for the Lord is arisen to call all things into Judgment Page 171 A Strong and Terrible Alarm Sounded out of the Holy Mountain against all the Wicked Inhabitants of the Earth Page 179 Watching for Sin Page 181 A Warning to the Nations to lay aside all Prejudice and Enmity the Ground of Strife and Wars and to come and Embrace the Light of Christ Jesus that they may see themselves and come to be Saved and Healed and Vnited in the Love of God Page 182 To People whose Hearts are turned from the Lord Page 189 To the Magistrates Page 190 To the Generation of Fleshly Fallen Christians not worthy the Name of Christians Page 192 To the King Page 193 An Exhortation to remember the Judgments of God Page 195 To the Vnclean Communicants Page 196 God's Virtue and Goodness Extolled ibid. Richard Baxter 's Book Entituled The Cure of Church-Divisions Answer'd and Confuted Page 201 Some more of these strange Sayings of this Richard Baxter in his Book Page 232 Some Gentle Remarks on a Book Entituled A Discourse concerning the Idolatry Practised in the Church of Rome Page 249 The Day is Dawned that makes all Wickedness manifest Page 255 To some of T. Hicks 's Friends Page 257 Something concerning that called the Common-Prayer Page 258 A Testimony for the Lord the good Shepherd and true Minister of the Sanctuary and true Tabernacle which God hath pitched and not Man against all the False Shepherds and Hireling Ministers and Teachers of the World under what Name or Notion or Form soever who have run and God never sent them and therefore cannot profit the People at all Page 273 The true Fast from the False Page 283 Something in Answer to some Passages in that naughty Book called A Looking-glass for Ladies Page 284 Thomas Taylor who was ten Years and an half in Prison at Stafford writes a Letter to a particular Adversary Page 293 To the People at and about Stafford a Testimony for God and his Truth and against Deceit and Deceivers especially the Hireling Priests as a Warning Information and Instruction in Righteousness to them and all People elsewhere concerned by the Spirit of the Lord in his Suffering Servant Thomas Taylor Page 294 Something in Answer to some Passages in that Wicked Antichristian Book written Catechism-wise by some Popish Stickler for his Master the Pope the Romish Antichrist and his Followers Printed at Douay and subscribed H. T. Page 299 A Warning to the Papists at Stafford Page 314 Something in Answer to a Paper from a Nameless Author directed to be left at Joseph Holt 's in Okeham Page 317 A Copy of Verses writ upon occasion of a Visitation so called Page 326 Certain Queries Propounded to the People called Anabaptists especially to such as believe and hold forth that Water-Baptism is an Ordinance and Command of Christ Jesus the Door of Entrance into the true Church and so of such Absolute Necessity as that there can be no True Gospel Church-Fellowship without it Page 333 Christ Exalted above Moses and the Spirit above the Letter Page 337 A TESTIMONY Concerning our Dear Friend and Brother Thomas Taylor Who was Convinced of the Lord's Everlasting Truth and Received it in the Year 1652. HE had been an Eminent Parish Priest and of Note among the Professors and other Priests and also a Lecturer in several Countries Preaching Sermons on the Week-Days And he coming to Swarthmor in Lancashire with some other Priests I ask'd him and them before Judge Fell Whether he or any of them could say that they ever heard a Voice of God or Christ from Heaven that bid them go to Speak to any People as God and Christ did to the Prophets and Apostles And Thomas
said before them all that he never heard any such Voice or Command And I ask'd him what he Preach'd to the People then and he made Answer and said His Experiences and I told him his Experiences might not reach to every Condition but he that had the Word of the Lord might Preach it whom God sent and that would Reach all Conditions who knows all Conditions And so the Lord's Word and Power struck him that he was Silent But the rest of the Priests were High and Opposed and came to nothing And Judge Fell wondered and was astonished at what he heard Thomas say that he had never heard the Voice of God nor Christ to Command him to Preach to any People and the said Thomas Taylor being look'd upon a High Priest and above the Common Priests and a Sober Man and Beloved among the outward Professors and so I went along with him that Day to a place called Newton in Lancashire where he used to Preach sometimes and he was very much down and sad and groaned that Night And the next Day we went to a Meeting which we had in the Steeple-house-yard but he would have gone into the Steeple-house but the Priest would not let us and I told him it was no matter And there came another Priest from Vnder-Barrow and several others and Thomas sitting still at last a tender Spring of Life Sprang up in him and he Spoke very well in it to the People both of his own Condition and the People's and where they had been and now how they must turn to the Lord Jesus Christ And the Vnder-Barrow-Priest and some other Professors were Offended and Opposed him but the Lord's Power came over them all For he was look'd upon in the time of his Priesthood above them And Thomas Taylor grew in the Grace and Truth of Christ and came to know the Word of the Lord and Preach Christ Freely as then he had Received Freely and forsook his Parish-steeple-house and his old Parish-wages and the rest of the Priests that Preach'd for Hire and he Travelled up and down in many parts of England Preaching the Word of the Lord and his Gospel freely as he was Commanded who had Received it freely And likwise his Brother Christopher Taylor who had been a Publick Preacher to a People was also Convinc'd and Preach'd Christ freely And many Disputes Thomas had with the Priests and Professors and continued still in his Confession to God and his Truth and People and what their Conditions were and had been formerly And so from that time he continued in the Truth and the Grace of God and grew mightily in it and boldly Preached it and saw where the Priests and Professors were and by whom they were made and sent not of God so that the Priests and Professors grew in a Rage against him and Persecuted him And he having been a Lecturer at Richmond in Yorkshire was made to go there and Turn his Back to the Priest and put his Hands to both his Ears and stop them as a Sign how God had stopt his Ears unto their Sacrifice and Service and Offering And then after he was cast into a Prison at Appleby in Westmoreland for the Truth 's Sake under a cruel Goaler and a very bad Prison being a sad smoky place by the Smoke that came out of other Rooms enough to Choke him But he continued Faithful in the Life and Power of the Lord and the Lord delivered him thence And afterwards he Travelled up and down Preaching to Priests and Professors and warning all both Small and Great to Repentance and Amendment of Life turning many to the Lord. He was after a while cast into Prison at York for Truth and after some time the Lord there delivered him And so when he was at Liberty he still continued Labouring in the Work and Service of the Lord Preaching the Everlasting Gospel and Turning People from Darkness to Light and from the Power of Satan to the Power of God And also his Life and Conversation Preached being a Man of a Sober Life and Sound Judgment and a good Understanding in the Truth And after he had Travelled much up and down in several parts of this Nation he coming into Staffordshire was there Imprisoned and Premunired for refusing to Swear in Obedience to the Command of Christ who says Swear not at all and there he was kept Prisoner Ten Years and a half in the Town of Stafford under cruel Goalers and a sore tedious Imprisonment he had and great Sufferings by those Magistrates as his Letters will Testifie and a wearisom Imprisonment he had through the wicked Prisoners which burdened and grieved his Righteous Soul And when he was at Liberty and Travelled up and down in the Power of the Lord in the Lord's Service being a Man of a Tender Spirit and Conscience sometimes he met with Bull-baiting Bear-baiting Plays and Shews and Cock-fightings and Mountebanks and Ringers of Bells c. which burdened and grieved his Righteous Soul that People should spend their pretious Time in Sports and Vanities and such as professed Christianity which were more like the Heathen-Romans than Christians who was made to Admonish such and Reprove them as his Letters Testifie and not to spend their time so Vainly The Lord was with him and did assist him who was an Elder indeed and Partaker of the Glory that is to be Revealed who sought to Establish such as he Convinced and were Convinced in the Truth and Gospel the Power of God who was Beloved of God and all his Faithful People And many bad Prisons or Goals he was cast into for the Lord Jesus Christ and his Truth 's Sake And he had a Dispute with Doctor Owen at Oxford and the very Scholars could say That Thomas was too hard for him for the Lord with his Eternal Arm and Power did Support him And he was a Faithful True Upright Man in the Lord's Truth to the last and turned many to the Lord Jesus Christ that they became Hearers and Followers of him who Speaks from Heaven And he loved the Government of Christ and his Spiritual Heavenly Order among his People And when he had fulfilled his Ministry and finished his Course who was a harmless and blameless Man in his Conversation he laid down his Head in Peace and Died in the Lord and is Blessed and his Works follow him Much might be writ of this Honest and Faithful Servant of God Thomas Taylor 's cruel Hardships and Sufferings that he went through for Christ and his Truth 's Sake He finish'd his Days at Stafford with his Wife in 1681. after he had been an able Preacher of the Gospel from about 1652. And is at Rest with the Lord And Blessed is he that Dies in the Lord yea saith the Spirit his Works follow him Precious 〈◊〉 in the sight of the Lord is the Death of all his Saints Psal 116.15 George Fox Edmonton in Middlesex the 24th of the First Month 1681.
Pulpit in that Profession before either he or they was clearly Convinced of or Come to the Eternal Truth and awakened by the Power of God And in as much as that while he was a Publick Priest he would not Baptize his Children at the Font nor Sign them with the Sign of the Cross so that the other Priests were offended at him and upon some Discourse about it they agreed upon a Dispute to be held at Kendall Parish Steeple-house where was a very great Auditory and Three Priests appeared against him to prove Baptizing of Infants by Scripture which they could not do and he came over them all and some of the Hearers run up Kendall-street crying Mr. Taylor hath got the Day Mr. Taylor hath got the Day which Outcry grieved the Priests This was in the Year 1650. And about Two Years after George Fox came into Westmoreland and Preached the Everlasting Gospel and Power of God in the Demonstration of the Spirit of Eternal Life and many of those called Puritans was Convinced and Broken by the Power of God And the said Thomas Taylor was almost left alone it being a very great Cross to become a Fool to the World and lose his Benefit his Wife being a pretty high Woman having Six young Children and nothing else to live on yet he gave up all laying aside all superfluity of Naughtiness and received with Meekness the Ingrafted Word which is able to save the Soul and sanctifie throughout in Body Soul and Spirit And shortly after Margaret his Wife was Convinced and laid aside all her finery of Apparel and trusted Providence for a Livelihood for her self and small Children and became a very good Friend and kept the Faith and laid down her Head in Peace in the Town of Stafford a Year or more after her Dear Husband Died who Died and was Buried in the same Town of Stafford So Thomas Taylor having received the Truth of God in the Love of it and denied himself in all things for the sake of it in a short time he had his Mouth opened by the Opening and Inspiration of the Word of Life by which his Soul was then quickened and he concerned in the Motion of God and Authority of his Name to describe the Darkness of the Parish Hirelings so that they rose up against him and by the Aid of the then Unbelieving Magistrates got him to Prison in Appleby Goal where he grew in the Knowledge of God and Government of Christ Jesus and after he was released out of Prison Travelled abroad and was a Living Instrument in the Hand of the Lord to the Convincing of many And he being a Man full of Zeal and Integrity and being filled with the Spirit was always in Truth 's Service that when he had been going on the Road he commonly had a Word of Caution to Professor and Prophane and some of his Old Hearers who did not receive Truth I have seen him speak to them on the market-Market-day in Kendall street and sometime go to their Houses to exhort admonish and reprove as the Lord directed or if he had been Travelling on the High-way and seeing Boys playing on the First Day in the Summer-time and their Barents or Old People sitting besides them he would Preach to them so that he was always concerned for God's Glory and Truth 's Praise and Propagating of his Glorious Gospel of Peace He was a Man I loved when he was a Priest and more abundantly when he was a Gospel Preacher He was a Comely Man of Person Fair and Ruddy his Hair Gray before he Died being of a Good Old Age. I was at his Funeral in the Town of Stafford where was divers Hundreds of People and I was concerned in Testimony in the Lord's Power among them And though it had been a dark Persecuting Town â—et divers of the Priest's Hearers being his Neighbours whose Children he had Taught in the Prison they did there give their Testimonies and said He was a good Man and his Words and Counsel they believed should never be forgot and further said They had not such another to Bury in the Town of Stafford And as he Lived Honestly he Died Honourably yea even in the Lord and his good Works follows him the Reward whereof he is in the Possession of a Life that 's Everlasting out of the reach of his Adversaries Robert Barrow London the 9th of the 11th Month 1690 â— William Fallowfield's TESTIMONY Concerning Thomas Taylor THis short Testimony is with me to give concerning Thomas Taylor having good knowledge of him that he was a Man of a harmless Life and Conversation in which he was a good Savour his Conversation confirming his Doctrine God had undoubtedly indued him with Patience and had committed to him a Dispensation of the Gospel which he was both a Preacher of and a great Sufferer for his Patience in his Sufferings manifested his Christianity he never sought his Liberty by any indirect Means but waited patiently till the Lord effected it and when at Liberty he Travelled much abroad and Laboured much for Truth 's Prosperity God that called him did in all things fit him for that Work in which he imployed him and his Labour therein was very Effectual both for the Comforting and Establishing those already Convinced as also for the Convincing of many as many Living Witnesses that he hath left behind can Testifie also the stopping of the Mouths of many Opposers He had a Word of Counsel to the Weak and Feeble and a sharp Reprover of Disobedient Loose-minded ones he was altogether Accomplished for that Work whereunto his Lord called him And what shall I say but that I have Dear Unity with that Spirit that he was acted by and doth see him in that which is Immutable his Bow was always bent and retained its strength his Arrows were sharp and often pierced the Uncircumcised and as one well skilled he mist not his Mark the Churches amongst whom he was Conversant wants him for he was a Faithful Labourer in his Day he sought not his own but others good walking according to the Example of him that called him in which he was fervent and diligent Preaching the Word both in Season and out of Season and though he be taken from us as to Visibility yet his Life and Memory lives with us several sweet Expressions came from him in the time of his Illness and was very sweetly kept in that time of his Weakness he lay ill not long though for a considerable time an Indisposition of Body did attend him yet his Love and Good-will was such to the Truth that as one striving against his Distemper he kept not his Chamber long but went to Meetings and visited Friends but at last it prevailed over him and brought him to his Bed where he Died the 18th of the First Month 1681. in the Sixty-fifth Year of â—is Age I had Dear Unity with him and with those good savoury Expressions that proceeded from him which tended
to Unity and Concord amongst Friends which while he lived he was Careful to preserve he had a great Delight in it and laboured much for it In a word he was a Man of Peace and as he Delighted in it now is a Possessor of it and of that Joy that is Immutable in which he lives with his God a Possessor of that Blessedness and Reward which through the same Faith and Patience we that are yet behind shall assuredly obtain as therein we keep in the Lord's time Many good things he wrote in his Day if thou read this Book thou wilt perceive and meet with good Exhortations in it which will I hope tend to thy Strength and Incouragement William Fallowfield A short TESTIMONY Concerning that Faithful Servant of the Lord Thomas Taylor Whose Memory is Blessed DEAR Tho Taylor he was a Man who loved the Truth with a sincere Mind and sought the Honour thereof and not himself He was ready at all times to speak a word for God as there was occasion to inform the Minds of People to that which would stand them in stead when time here shall be no more He was a very good Instrument amongst us and a blessed Example in his Conversation which did bespeak him to be the Servant of Christ Jesus He loved the Prosperity of Truth more than all other things whatsoever and for that was he given up in Soul Body and Spirit to serve the Lord and his Generation Faithfully Travelling from Place to Place for that end and as he lived in the Truth so he finished his Testimony in the same And though his Body be removed from us and gone to the Earth from whence it came yet his Spirit lives amongst us and his Life shall never die Truly I am not without a living Sence upon my Spirit what a Loss we have of him amongst us who was always ready to serve the Truth and the least in it and Sorrow is ready to seize upon me in the Consideration thereof yet when I consider that it is according to the Will of the Lord I am therein well content knowing that he hath this Advantage of us that are left behind viz. Is freed from Danger of falling into the Snares of this World which we are liable to whilst in this Body except we keep in that which is only able to keep us whilst we remain here And I do believe that the Lord will raise up the same Life in others to Testifie to the same Truth which he lived in and that the Testimony thereof shall never fall This is great Comfort to me and all who love the Lord to whom be living Praises Honour Glory and Obedience given for ever and for ever more from my living Soul which he hath quickned to himself by his Living Power and Heavenly Life to him I say be all the Glory given now and always Amen Mary Comberford The 26th of the First Month 1681. Thomas Taylor 's EPISTLES TO FRIENDS MY Dear Friends and longed after in the Lord whose Minds are turned in by the Light of Jesus Christ from the Worlds Worships and Ways in measure to wait upon God that you may learn by the Teaching of his Spirit in you how to worship him in Spirit and Truth who is the Fountain of all your Soul's Happiness prize his great Love to your Souls every one of you in particular and wait to receive the Law from his own Mouth to the quickning and reviving your Souls out of the Death and for the daily watering and refreshing that which lives of himself in you for if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the Dead dwell in you he shall by that Spirit quicken your Mortal Bodies for all whose Hearts are purisied through the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ are in the Covenant of that Everlasting Love of the Father which gives to all that waith on him a full Possession of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light but Wo and Misery from the Lord to the Unclean in the Earth And therefore mind your Soul's Guide which is pure Light of Jesus Christ and be Faithful unto the Lord in whatever he makes manifest in you to be his Will and let not the Worlds Frowns or Smiles cause you to draw back from the Truth in any thing which the Saints have so great Recompence of Reward in but be simple be pure be harmless be innocent be Lambs and walk as Lights amongst a Generation of crooked and devouring Minds and think not strange concerning any Trial but imbrace the Cross which is the Saints Rejoicing and in Patience wait to see the Fleshly Mind Crucified with it which would have ease below God and do all things in the fear of God and let not the Ear be open to the Enemy but mind that which shows you the strait way continually and learn to love one another more and more for Love is of God but none can love as Brethren of Christ but those that love God and keep the Commandments and as you follow Christ in the way of his Cross and Sufferings you will Delight in one anothers Fellowship but as any depart from the Light and Iniquity abounds in any the Love in that Person waxeth cold So God Almighty Bless you with his Everlasting Mercy to set free your Minds from all your Sins to run the way of his Holy Commandments so rests Thomas Taylor TO FRIENDS AT Stickland-head DEAR and precious Friends of God who into the Fellowship of the everlasting Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God the Light of the World that Lighteth every Man that cometh into the World are called and who have tasted of that Heaventy Gift and upon that true Bread do feed Grace Mercy and Peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be among you and in you all every where in every place multiplied with the Increases of the eternal Power of the Holy Spirit in all your Hearts Amen Thomas Taylor your Brother and Companion in the Patience Sufferings and Kingdom of Christ unto you all sendeth Greeting and by the Spirit of the Lord God doth hereby give you all to understand That it is the true Grace of God and Power of Life into which you are called and which you have received and wherein you stand and whereby you are inlightned and have been given to see the old dead way of Sin and Formality to avoid it and the good and living way of Truth and Righteousness in Spirit to embrace and follow it to the Praise of our Holy Heavenly Father World without end And this Grace of God that hath thus brought Salvation to us and is our Teacher and Guide in the good Way is the same that would teach all and would have all Men to be Saved and to that purpose hath appeared to all Men to leave all without Excuse So Dear Hearts all in the Light and Power of this Pure Truth of our God made manifest in us
may be put under into the Pit of everlasting Woe there to remain for ever So my Dear Friends and Fellow-Citizens of the New and Heavenly Jerusalem ye True and Faithful Seed and Servants of the everliving and true God do you rejoyce and lift up your Heads for from the eternal Fountain of Life and Love is your Salvation come your Portion is upon a Fat and Fruitful Land not as Egypt watered by Mortal Man but as the Promised Land watered from Heaven and made to excel all Lands in Goodness and Fruitfulness yea I know you Faithful ones are able to read in the Mystery where the Fullness of all is enjoyed and all Barrenness and Disappointment done away So my Dear Fellow-Members in the Heavenly Body and Faithful Branches of the living Vine do you rejoyce and lift up your tender Souls in God's Name and in his living Mercies at all times trust trust not in any thing but in the Name and merciful Power of the ever-living God our tender Father and in this Faith will be your Victory in all things by this Faith will your Hearts be kept clean to God alone out of all Defilements and Worldly Intanglements whatsoever yea and by this Faith will you be kept so continually a top of all Powers of Darkness and Spiritual Wickedness whatsoever that in Freedom of Mind and Joy of Heart you may offer your selves to your Maker and Redeemer as a reasonable Service and pure Offering of Obedience to his Praise as is due for ever and ever So my Beloved in God's pure and precious Truth I am your Brother and Fellow-Sufferer for the Elections sake well satisfied in this through the unerring Spirit that as we abide Faithful to God in our Conditions we shall never want the Support Joy and Comfort and daily Supply of his abundant Love and all-sufficient Grace so that we need not fear the Terrors of the Night nor noysom Plagues that destroys at Noon-day nor the Doing of Mortal Men because the Lord is become our sure and safe Hiding-place and Castle of Defence as he was to our Brethren in the Faith in all fore-going Ages And what if they say That we are a Poor Deceived and Contemptible People it matters not seeing we have God's certain Truth in us the Foundation of our Building and God's gracious Acceptance of us in Christ for our Strength and Glory And what if Mens Decrees be against the Liberty of our Holy and Spiritual Worship We must not be dismay'd for such things for so it was in the days of his Flesh who said The Servant is not greater than his Lord and he endured such Contradictions against himself for our sakes and he beheld his Father's Power and in it stood to the overcoming of all Enemies and so hath given a good Example what to do in Times of Trouble and whither to go in Times of Need for he that hath promised is near to all that fly to him for Succour who both hath and daily doth make fully manifest his Kindness and Faithfulness in us and for us that we might be to him a People and he to us a God for evermore So into the Arms of his eternal Power and Bowels of everlasting Love I commend you all to be kept comforted and carried over all that would hurt you or hinder you from walking in his good Way and rests your dear and tender loving Brother in the Patience and Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ as bound yet Free Glory to his Name everlasting So be it even Amen Hallelujah Praise the Lord saith my Spirit in the Unity of your precious Life which we have in his Love Thomas Taylor TO Israel's Babes THis this shall be the Everlasting Song Of Israel 's Babes who Lillie like among The pleasant Meadows grow and as the Rose Send forth their sweetest Smells and do repose Their tender Heads on their dear Mothers Knee The new Jerusalem for ever free Free from all Sin and Sorrow yea from all That doth the Soul Imbondage or Inthral As Fears and Cares and Earthly-mindedness Which as an Heritage Men's Hearts possess But Zion's Birth is free and kept in Peace Abiding in the Fathers House Increase And fitting under his pure shaddowing Love Even all day long whilst he their Faith doth prove They are in safety kept within the Just Not lending any Ear to the earthly Lust They knowing that in Heaven is a surer Rest Reserved for them ay to be possest Hallelujah Praise the Lord give thanks unto his Name say ye O Holy Seed of Israel The Lord God Almighty our Father is Good and his Mercies Everlasting and his Love unto us as Endless as Himself who is the same yesterday to day and for ever over all Blessed for evermore But Howlings Misery Wo will be the cup Of all the Earth who in their minds are up Exalted over that that 's meek i' th' Heart And on it trampling these must ever smart These these are they that Heavens fierce Wrath must feel These must be shivered with a Rod of Steel Will God Almighty ever wink at such That of his Glory due him so much grutch And will not suffer him the Earth to Inherit Which by his Sufferings as his right did Merit And through his Cross and Death became right Heir Of every Substance Jewel Precious Rare Above the Heaven and in the Earth below And in the deeps that in great Measure flow He 's Heir Apparent of all things and Chief Sure holden and possest i' th' Saints Belief Though the Wickâ—d and Vngodly will not yield That he should Rule or his pure Scepter Wield As Lord and King yet sure his Name shall spread From East to West from North to South with dread He shall arise as Lions to the prey He shall proceed in his Might and will not stay Or stop his Work for all the flattering Cries Of Hypocrites his wicked Enemies He will not then regard their feigned Voice Who have not nor yet will make Moses Choice But with the Esaus of the World chuse rather I' th' loss of all that 's Heavenly the Earth to gather And say within themselves Give give these things That we may have our Lusts and reign as Kings In this time present which with Eye we see For we believe not what shall after be We like not such harsh Doctrine as doth tell Of Abrahams Bosom and the Gluttons Hell For Pastimes Pleasures and such Recreations As feed our Sences with Prevarications Of all sorts sizes manner form and fashion That can be found in City Town or Nation Is our vain Minds Desire and Hearts Delight Here here 's the Crown for which we Strive and Fight For which both Night and Day we Ward and Watch And thus at Shadows all the World doth Catch Even all the World Professors and Prophane Who that pure thing Christ Light within Disdain And for the Light put Letters Sounds and Forms And for the Substance Shadows Over-worn In this they all
precious Faith Grace Mercy and Power from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ be abundantly multiplied in you and the Blessed Arm of his Power support you and carry you through all the present and future Tryals for the Gospels sake on Earth for us hath the Lord drawn out of the many Waters and set our Feet upon the sure Rock of Ages the tryed Foundation and brought our Souls into the unmoveable Rest Glory to his Name for ever that we might be to his Praise and Glory and Honour for ever that he might dwell in us and we in him for ever and so be safe for ever under his Wing where the Wicked cannot come because of Unbelief and that great Violence whereby they have stopt the way of all good from their Souls But now Dear Hearts and Beloved in the Lord you who have loved the Light and received the Power which makes all manifest and cleanseth from all Sin you are Blessed even the Blessed of the Lord God of Heaven and Earth who loves your Souls with a perfect Love and fills your Hearts day by day with his Infinite Goodness Therefore as a Recompence for all his Mercies give up your selves to his Holy Will in all things and love the Lord the same our everlasting God and Father with all your Hearts Souls Mind and Strength and he will do abundantly for you and us all even his whole Israel in every place beyond all that we can ask or think Look not out at the World nor their Love nor Hatred for they are Men and not Gods but keep in the Sanctuary of God the Spirit of Christ and there is Safety with him is the Well of Life which refreshes our Souls continually and makes all things easie and possible to us through Faith in his Name and Patience So let Patience have its perfect Work for we have daily need of it that we may continually see and feel the Love of the Lord in the Land of the Living and not be clouded with the Spirit of this World which gendreth to Bondage in any thing For if Lot's Wife look back she is presently turned into a Pillar of Salt and if the Israelite turn back but in his Heart into Egypt he is snared in Unbelief So my Dear Friends look up to the Lord in Spirit and Truth and wait continually to feel his living Presence in you to keep you open and single to him that of the powerful Spirit of his Holiness which slays the Sin and quickens the Soul to God you may be Witnesses and so come to possess the Immortal Kingdom where Righteousness Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost only reigneth So with the Dear Salvation of my Love unto you all I commend you to the Lord to bless keep and water with his Goodness continually to his Glory who only is Holy and gives us freely every good thing to enjoy both for Soul and Body who is near to the Righteous in every Necessity to Help and Save to the uttermost To whom be Glory and Immortal Praise Even so rests with you in the full Assurance of his Tender Mercies in Christ Jesus your Dear Brother Thomas Taylor TO FRIENDS TO the Called and Chosen of God the Dear Vessels of Life and Glory in all the Earth doth the Tender Salutation of me your Dear Brother reach who as a feeling Member in the Holy Body of the Lord Jesus do daily partake with you of the Blessed Joys of Life Eternal and of the present Sufferings for the same who therefore cannot but continually through the pure Love and Lifes Motion breathe out amongst you the Happy state of our Innocent Souls because of Truth upon every Occasion to the stirring up and refreshing of the tender good thing the Heavenly Mind in all to the joint Praising Blessing and Magnifying of the Lord 's great Name for his abundant kindness towards every Particular Faithful Ones for Ever and Ever for he is good to Israel unspeakably unalterably true to them for Ever And now Dear Friends seeing God hath been so gracious to us above all the People of the Earth as to set his Name upon us in Righteousness to the Amazement and Astonishment of many and hath caused our Rod that was dry even as others to flourish and bear Fruits in the midst of the Earth to the Praise of his Living Power as a Token of his Acceptance and Choice And seeing God hath so graciously performed his Promises to us his Seed made to his Israel of Old in bringing up our Souls from Death and our Life from the devouring Sword and hath unloosed our Tongues to speak of his Wonders in the great Congregation why shall we not then speak good of this the Name of our God the true Everliving God in Comparison of whom the whole World with their many Idols Gods and Lords are nothing We may not be hindred by the Adversary from breathing forth our pure Life given us of God for his Glory in a continual mention of his Holiness for if we should be silent the very Stones would do it for now is the Lord Jesus arisen indeed and ascended far above all Heavens Principalities Powers Names and Greatnesses whatsoever and come again to our Spirits according to his Blessed Promise that of his unspeakable Fulness we might all partake in abundance to the causing of our Cup to overflow with all Holy and Heavenly Consolations and Praises for the perfect Salvation of our God to the watering of every tender holy Plant in Israel that waits for the same For as the Dew to the tender Herbs so is thy Blessing O Immanuel to the Garden of thy own planting thy Beloved Plants that waits for thee amongst whom the pourings forth of thy Name is as sweet Ointment And Blessed are all that wait for thee who hast inclosed thy Beloved People in the Arms of thy own Almightiness and filled them with thy own Blessed Kingdom and Righteousness who hungred after thee even so Father of Life be it for Evermore to thy own unspeakable Glory who alone art worthy So now Dear Friends into the Unity of the Holy Life Power and Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ let every Soul of us gather and retire it self to be nourished up thereby and preserved to a daily and perfect Victory over all Temptations and Provocations whatsoever that upon the very Head of the Serpent we may tread and let us not look at the seen things for therein lyes the Wiles and Temptations but let us eye and feel the Blessed Invisible Life and Powerful Heavenly Spirit of our God to carry us through and over all to his Glory who hath said That he will never leave nor forsake his tender breathing Seed that waits on him so Blessed are all that are found in this his Covenant and follow him as Dear Children and Obedient Servants in the sure and safe way of the daily Cross and Self-denial to a perfect mortifying and subduing of the fleshly
evil part and a full Resurrection of the spiritual over it so rests your Dear Brother in the Unity of the same Blessed Living Victorious Faith Thomas Taylor From the Place of my Confinement for the Everliving Testimony of Jesus in the Fifth Month 1664. TO Friends in LONDON OYE my Dear Friends and Beloved of the Lord in the City of London my Love in the Lord Our Life is drawn out at this time to salute you with an Epistle of pure and unfeigned Love because you are Dear and near unto my very Heart in the feeling Life which hath given us the Blessed Victory over all Sin and Works and Words of Death to serve the Will of our Heavenly Father with all Fervency and Perseverance in our Day Age and Generation to the Praise and Glory of his Grace in Jesus Christ our Lord whom our Souls can never cease to love because the Savour of his good Oyntment is ever fresh upon our Souls and his Law of Life it is that we daily seel to have set us free and to keep us free from the Law of Sin and Death Praised be the God of our Salvation for his unspeakable Gift though the Enemy of one hand say we are no Christians and on the other hand call us a Form and bark at our Holy Unity and Blessed Agreement in the ever-living Truth and exercise of it for the good one of another and Service of all Yet over all these unclean and unrighteous Spirits and all others of like nature we are more than Conquerors and like a Rock unmoveable which the Enemy may split himself with dashing against Yet Praised be the Lord our Rock stands sure for it is Holy Pure and Everlasting and the Gates of Hell shall never be able in the least to prevail against it nor us as we upon it continue rooted and grounded in the Love of God and one of another in his Seed where all the Promises of Life and Salvation are Yea and Amen for ever And so you my Dear Friends and much longed after in the Lord when I consider the many Tryals and great Contradiction of Sinners of all sorts which for the Love and Zeal of our Holy Lord God and his unchangeable Truth you have endured from the beginning my Heart is greatly affected with the Glory and cannot but Praise the Lord for you that you are even become as a Bullwark of his Truth in the midst of a crooked degenerate and Back-sliding Nation who though like Sampson's Foxes they look with Faces several ways yet in Heart are one every one with Firebrands and Stings in their Tails like Scorpions to do Mischief by stirring up the bad part in People against the Simplicity of the Gospel of Love and Life of our Lord Jesus Christ which would gather unite and heal all of all their Soul-Maladies for ever if they did not make themselves unworthy of But O how the Truth to you doth still abide in its Lustre and Glory without Alteration knowing that you as we your Brethren in the same every where are set for the Defence of the Gospel The Lord hath set his Love upon us and it is from Everlasting to Everlasting and therefore in his Name and perfect Goodness may we safely trust and Storms will be over and his unspeakable Peace and Joy which is with us and hath so unspeakably refreshed us shall be with us for ever We need not go to the Egyptians for help as the Wicked do for in the God of Israel is our Hope and Help who keeps Mercy and Covenant with his Dear People for ever and ever And when I also consider how the Samballat and Tobias of this Age say on one hand What will these silly returning Captives do And on the other when I see the little Horn with a Countenance more stout than his Fellows in his very Words of Reproach and Work of Scattering tell of your Scattering whom God hath gathered I cannot but say O Lord Bless thy People whom thou hast so powerfully delivered and govern and keep their Hearts in perfect Peace with thee through all and over all even as thou dost this day for ever and ever that many may come to the Brightness of our day and Glory of our Kingdom which is not of this World but of God eternal our Father who is over all Blessed for ever So under the Shadow of his ever-blessed Wing my Dear Brethren and Sisters dwell and here is the true Munition of Rocks where the Living Bread is sure and the Living Waters never fail rests your Dear Brother in the Patience and Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ at present in outward Bonds for the Testimony of his Truth in this place Thomas Taylor Stafford 21st of the 12th Month 1667. And I desire that this may be communicated as the Nature of it requires to the whole Flock of God in and about the City in the precious Wisdom of God with Bowels of Love unto you all So be it TO Friends of SUDBURY Side DEar Friends and Well-beloved in the Lord Brethren and Sisters in the Holy Covenant of his Everlasting Love my very Heart and Soul doth dearly salute you all and often do I remember you in the Dearest Affections of unfeigned Love as is meet knowing your Love and Tenderness to God's Truth and me your Dear Friend and Brother for the Truth 's sake from the beginning and how the Lord of his Infinite Love in Christ Jesus hath separated us from the present evil World for himself to hold forth his Vertues before the Children of Men in a pure Life and so to feed at his Table as the Faithful do in the unspeakable Fellowship of his Eternal Spirit of Life and Peace whereby O how often yea how continually he hath and daily doth refresh feed and strengthen our pure Minds as in the simplicity of our Hearts together or asunder as to the outward we have and do daily wait upon him and in his Light are staid upon his Power in our inward Man to the Praise of his Glory which makes us that we cannot but love him and one another in and for him and so we cannot but remember him and one another and so pray for and rejoice in one another's welfare as living Members of his Heavenly Body who is over all God Blessed for Ever who is the Shepherd and Bishop of our Souls and therefore we shall not want nor miscarry as we abide in his Love and this we know Dear Hearts that as we keep his Commandments we do abide in his Love and are at Rest in his Power Many from the Letter may say God is their Shepherd or so and therefore they shall not want but truly Friends there is none can say this in Truth but who are led by him and subject to him in Heart and Life they are the Sheep of Christ who hear his Voice and follow him in the Regeneration not losing their first Love but growing and continuing in it
to the end perfecting Holiness in the fear of God and so working out their Salvation with fear and trembling knowing it is God of his own good pleasure that worketh in us to will and to do O Friends how true we find it in God's Light that it is not of him that willeth nor runneth but of the Mercifulness of our God in Christ Jesus to them that believe and in pure Holiness and Simplicity of Heart wait upon him at all times and this puts to silence all Flesh and keeps down all Boasting and fleshly Confidence and Conceitedness to the unspeakable Glory of the Pure Eternal Holy Name of the Living God our Father who siâ—s upon the Throne and is worthy of all Honour Submission and Obedience for Evermore For now is the Lord God suckling the Babes of his Love with the pure Milk of his Living Word and feeding the Men of his House with the strong Meat of his overcoming Truth and giving them the well-refined Wine of his Kingdom to make glad their Hearts over all the Trials and Tribulations of this present Life so that through the Overcoming Love of our God we are more than Conquerors and shall never be ashamed abiding in his Love for the Righteous are bold as a Lion and through the help of our God we shall for ever leap over all the Walls of Opposition that the Enemy makes to hinder us in our way for it 's the Fearful Unbelieving and Disobedient in Heart that cannot enter that cannot come into and sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of God this Day But Praises to the Lord in the height of Heaven for all his unspeakable Goodness who over all gives us the Victory by Jesus Christ our Lord to whom be Glory Everlasting and Kingdom for Evermore And so Dear Friends into the Arms of the Lord 's unspeakable Love committing you all rests your Dearly Loving in the Truth of God a Friend and Brother Thomas Taylor Also Friends you may know that my Wife hath her very Dear and Tender Love remembred unto you all and is dearly affected upon every remembrance of you considering what sweet Refreshment she hath sound amongst you in your Holy Assemblies where the Presence of the Lord hath been abundantly witnessed by many and I hope Ever will be meeting together in his Fear to wait upon him as you do And as for our Condition here praised be the Lord it is well for though my Bonds for the Gospel in this Place be yet continued yet some little Liberty of being with my Wife and Family sometimes at her Hired House in this Town through the Tender Mercy of our God is granted me and so we are made content and all is good in the Good-will of God and so our Souls are at rest in his Love where we pray that yours and all the Holy Ones of God in every place may rest for Ever and be abundantly satisfied Amen and Amen And so we shall be glad to hear of all your Welfare in the Lord as he makes way TO FRIENDS Richard Boothman and Robert Clough DEARLY Beloved in the Lord and his Everlasting Truth which hath redeemed our Souls and doth daily Comfort our Hearts as we abide in it my very Dear Love and tender Affections Salutes you and all the Dear Flock of God about you giving you all to know of my Health in the Fountain of Health where in the midst of all these Bonds Tryals and Afflictions which in Common with all Saints for the Gospels sake on Earth is ordered for us my Soul is more than a Conqueror Praises to our God for ever And we may not let fall our Holy Hope and trust in the least for any thing that Flesh can do against us but by all means let us keep fast in our Hearts the living Faith of the Lord Jesus which in God's blessed Sight is of greatest Esteem for thereby we may effectually in all things overcome yea and be well able also to quench all the fiery Darts of the Devil For upon our Watch must we needs stand in all things clothed with the whole Armour of Light that no Enemy at all may come between us and our God to deprive us of his precious Life or hinder our Fellowship with his Holy Spirit in the least The living powerful Presence of his Glory in the Face of Jesus Christ be with all your Spirits to Sanctifie Bless Keep and Preserve you all my Dear Friends in Body Soul and Spirit Pure Spotless and altogether Blameless before him in Love Rests yours in the Dear Fellowship of God's ever blessed Truth Thomas Taylor Stafford the 20th of the Eighth Month 1668. And thus Dear Friends I could not but thus in a few words breath out of my true and tender Love amongst you desiring also as opportunity is to hear of your State THE Day of the Lord Is DAWNED THE Ever-blessed Day of the Lord God is dawned let all the Children of the Night fear for they are now fully to be made manifest and brought to Judgment and now where will the Workers of Iniquity hide themselves from the Lord's Justice Rocks nor Mountains will not cover them they must come forth this Day to the Righteous Judgment of the Great God the Just Judge of Heaven and Earth of Quick and Dead Rotten Raggs and Fig-leaves of empty and filthy Profession must now be stripped off and the shameful Nakedness of all Hypocrites and unclean outside Professors and Professions must now be laid open to the Glory of that Powerful God who hath long waited upon People to teach them and to do them good but they would not and therefore Desolation upon Desolation Overturning upon Overturning will come upon Thee O thou Corrupted Earth with thy Inhabâ—â—ants who are crying Lord Lord but never come to do the Will of the Holy Lord God in Earth as it is done in Heaven nay nor have so much as a Mind thereunto but are angry with such as do it And therefore because these Inhabitants of the Corrupt Earth rebel against the Light some under the Name of Papists and some under the Name of Protestants and yet say in their Hearts We shall have Peace and be Established in our way the Lord hath said They shall have no Peace nor be Established in their defiled Ways for God's Establishing of People is now manifested to be in Righteousness and in nothing else The Lord Jesus Christ is now to Reign and the Scepter of his Kingdom is a Scepter of Righteousness and the Kingdoms of this World must be the Kingdoms of the Lord and his Christ and he must Reign whose Right it is for Ever and Ever according to Prophesie And now it is of the greatest Concernment for Kings and Princes Priests and Prelates High and Low Rich and Poor to Kiss the Son lest his Anger which they have kindled against themselves by their sinning against his Light and grieving of his good Spirit by their manifest
their own Members them of their own polluted Church who divers of them are left in Prison upon other accounts as well as over thee And so unless thou be provided for otherwise thou mayst remain there in Misery and Want or Perish there as well as they for any Care they will have of thee for thou must not look that they that hate their own Flesh can love thine But the Righteous cannot be forsaken for their Keeper is the Lord God of Truth and Love So O Prophet be content and wait in the Will of God in thy Condition for Blessed are they that Suffer for Righteousness sake and the Scripture must be fulfilled which saith They shall hawl you out of their Synagogues and many other ways evil intreat you yea some of you they shall put to Death and think therein they do God Service And so wait to see the Sins of Gilead full and then in the Judgment shalt thou O Prophet of God and all thy Suffering Brethren rejoyce and all the Workers of Iniquity be Confounded with all that Thirst for Blood and into the Holy City shall none such enter but the pure in Heart who have come through the great Tribulation and have washed their Garments white in the Blood of the Lamb shall only enter and alone inherit to the Glory of the eternal righteous God for evermore to whom all Honour and Glory is due for ever and ever Amen and Amen And now for the Use of these Doctrines oh Priests and People that make a Trade of talking of the Scripture of Truth and Uses from it now and then in your high Places but make none of walking in the Truth in your daily Conversation it is to let you see That there were Wolves in Sheeps Clothing formerly and so to find such now is no new or strange thing And That under a Profession of God People may be found Workers of Iniquity and full of Blood And That a whorish Spirit in a Teacher is a murtherous Spirit and will draw others from God into Wheredoms and Death and so by all means to be taken heed of And it is to let you see oh all People what evil use the Priests and Leaders of you the People in these days as formerly make of the Scripture for whereas as you may see here it was given forth by the Holy Men of God a Witness against the Enemies of God and for the Servants of God such People and Priests as formerly so now abuse and wrest it from its proper Mind Use and End going about what in them lieth to make it speak for Deceit and its Upholders and against Truth and its Followers as is manifest For whereas the Scripture speaks of no Worship now nor Worshippers to be acceptable to God and Christ but that which is in Spirit and Truth they wrest and force the Scripture for carrying on a Worship which stands in outward Ceremonies carnal Ordinances Types and Shadows and a Kingdom to come in outward Observations as Lo here lo there like the Jews which a Man of Flesh a Câ—in or an Ishmael or an Esau or a Haman or a Dives or a Judas may conform unto and be accepted with them just contrary to Scripture and so in effect deny Christ the Substance to be come and as the Scribes and Pharisees which came to Christ and said Why dost thou and thy Disciples break the Traditions of the Elders in eating with unwashen hands To whom Christ said Why do you make void the Law of God by your Traditions mentioning in particular their Corban So when the Priests the Teachers heaped up over the People in this Age say unto us whom God by his mighty Power and out-stretched Arm hath delivered out of Mystery Babylon yea Sodom and Egypt Spiritual where the Witnesses lay flain and where our Lord also was Crucified to worship him in Spirit and in Truth I say When they object and say unto us Why do you not observe but transgress the Tradition of the Elders in not bringing your Infants to Baptism in not frequenting the Meeting at the Steeple-house called the Church And why pay you not the Priest now called Minster his Tythes Easter-Reckonings and other like things called his Dues And why observe you not the Customs of the World in Swearing at Courts and bowing the Hat and Knee and giving flattering Titles to Men Job 32.21 22. and bidding God speed to the Wicked and the like 2 John v. 9 c. Our Answer to all such is Why do you break the Commands of God by your Traditions teaching for Doctrine these and the like things which are meerly your own Commandments and evil Customs and not the Commands of God For we put you all Teachers and People to prove by Scripture where we are commanded these things you put upon us to do and if you do not which we know you cannot then I say your gathering together in Companies and going about to establish such things by a Law for any People to observe which Christ hath not commanded See how you can free your selves from the Charge which the Prophet here lays upon the People of Gilead and the Priests thereof and therefore why may not the words be turned upon you and applied to your Condition with the Names only changed after this manner that is England is a Nation of them that work Iniquity and is polluted with Blood and as Troops of Robbers wait for a Man so the Company of Hireling Teachers called of Men Ministers and Masters murther in the way by consent for they commit Lewdness And therefore high time for you all People who love your Souls and would not be murthered to look about you and in the Light which-Christ hath lighted you with to watch and take heed that you be â—ot robbed and spoiled of the Heavenly Treasure by these Layers in wait as you would be careful to avoid a Troop of Robbers that wait for a Man so all having time prize it and come out from among them and know Christ in you to be your Teacher for he is the true Light that lighteth every Man that cometh into the World that all in him should believe and he is come to teach his People himself and to deliver them by his Power and Spirit from the Hands and Mouths of all such as have made and would still make a Prey upon them according as he promised of old by his Servants who spoke and wrote from his Mouth of these things as you may read in Scripture all abroad and namely in Deut. 18.15 c. Isa 54.13 Ezek. 34. throughout Jer. 31.33 34. Heb. 8. John 6.45 1 John 2.20 27. Rom. 8.14 Rev. 21. throughout And the Scripture cannot be broken For behold the days come saith the Lord that I will perform the good thing which I have promised to the House of Israel and to the House of Judah Jer. 33.14 Now all People know that these are the days of fulfilling these Scriptures
and the Destruction of Antichrist and the setting up of the Kingdom of Christ not by might nor by Power but by the Spirit of the living Lord God believed and witnessed by and amongst us who are reproached by many for the Truth 's sake under the name of Quakers but the Reproach of Christ is to us great Riches and the Scorners God will judge And again all People when you see the Company of Priests the Parish Teachers gather together on heaps upon every occasion at the Foot of the Great Men of the Earth to get their Conclusions and Doctrines Established by a Law for binding under Darkness the dark People who are Ignorant of their Wiles and unacquainted with their Ends and for the Ensnaring of Tender Consciences who are come to the Teachings of Christ and his Spirit and so have found the true Shepherd and Bishop of their Souls and so through Grace have escaped the layers in wait I say when you now see them gathering together by Troops for these evil Purposes and the like Self-ends marvel not at the matter for it is no new thing but one of the old things under the Sun as you see here for the World's Teachers set up in the Will of Man have always been many and evil kept up by the evil Power but the true Prophets not so but rather few and faithful and those preserved by the Power of God yea often found that the Prophets of Baal are Four Hundred and Fifty and the Prophets of the Groves Four Hundred which eat Meat at Jezebel's Table for one Elijah the Prophet of the true God who feeds upon the true Bread and ministers it forth as he hath received it freely to others without Self ends See 1 King 18 Chap. Ezek. 34. Jer. 23. 2 Tim. 4.3 1 John 4.1 And so the false Teachers under Antichrist are set forth bâ— an Army of Locusts the sound of whose Wings was as the sound of Chariots and of many Horses running to Battel Rev. 9. from 1 to 12. Ver. when the true Witnesses are set forth under a small number even two Rev. 11. And so those many Locusts and Frogs the false Teachers are the unclean Spirits of Devils working in his Servants his Ministers going forth unto the Kings of the Earth and of the whole World to gather them to the Battel of that Great Day of God Almighty being thereunto fitted in a Miraculous manner being trained up in the Wisdom of the Serpent and Sorceries of Egypt for that purpose so that none can avoid following them but such as are in the holy Anointing whose Names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life see Rev. 16.13 14 2 Tim. 8.9 1 John 2.20 27. Rev. 20. last And of the truth of this to wit of the great number and swarms of Locusts false Teachers of all Coats Black c. and of all Names and Orders Popes Cardinals Bishops Deans Deans and Chapters Prebendaries Priests Parsons Vicars Curates Rectors Ministers c. let thy many Thousands of Soldiers of this kind fighting daily against the Lamb and his Army under Satan's Banner and in constant known Pay as Hirelings in thee O England Scotland France Ireland Spain Germany Italy and other Lands be witness And therefore O whole Earth and World How art thou Corrupted How great is thy Misery What Lamentation shall be taken up for thee A wonderful and horrible thing is committed all abroad in thee Thy Prophets Prophesie falsly and thy Teachers are Lewd and Treacherous Men bearing Rule by their means over thee fleecing thee in that greedy Mind that seeks the Gain from the Quarter and can never have enough crying Peace Peace to thee when the Lord hath not spoken it and preaching unto thee a Vision of their own Head and Heart and not from the Mouth of the Lord and so strengthning thy Hands in thy Wickedness and stirring thee up to Wrath and Persecutions against the Innocent and thou lovest to have it so and what will ye all do in the end of these things Will not the Lord invade you with his Troop Will he not come upon ye O Princes as Clay And tread you down under his Glorious Power Oh People as Mire is trodden down under Foot in the Streets And who of all the false Spirits and Teachers that you in your Rebellions against God have followed shall deliver you out of his Hand So all be warned and repent and return to Jesus Christ the one Head Shepherd and Bishop of the Soul and as was said before know him in you to be your Teacher that out of the Hands of all Devils you may be delivered And now having time prize it for this is assuredly the Day of your Visitation and after that the Judgment upon you all for Wo Wo Wo both is and will be more upon you all who puts the Day of the Lord afar off and who love Darkness rather than Light because your Deeds are evil and your Head and Leader is not Christ but he that came up out of the Bottomless Pit and shall go into Perdition with all his confounded Followers the Children of Darkness And therefore on the other hand all ye Servants of the Lord my Brethren and Sisters in the Truth of Jesus Christ every where who are Sufferers for his Names sake be encouraged for stronger is he that is in us than he that is in the World and there are more with us than them though we be not known to the World nor our aid 1 John 3.1 2 Kings 6.16 c. for little Children we are of God and the whole World lyes in Wickedness and so one single Elijah and two Witnesses being God's Troop are well able to encounter with all the Troops of the Wicked for Truth shall prevail for ever and ever and all Iniquity shall stop her Mouth and so shall the due Praises be sung from off Mount Zion our Holy Hill unto our God the Holy One of Israel World without end for his Goodness to us even for evermore Amen and Amen For now is the Day of the Lord appearing and Fire goeth out of his Witnesses wouths and who of all the Adversaries can stand before him who is a consuming Fire and to the Wicked everlasting Burning Isa 33.13 14. Given forth for the Good of all People by the Spirit of Truth in a Servant of the Lord who for witnessing forth Truth as he was moved of God in the publick Assembly of all sorts of People at Appleby Steeple-house in Westmoreland in the Assize Week there in the sixth Month 1675 against the Deceit there uttered though not until the Priest had done his Oration or Sermon as they call it yet was hawled out of that Synagogue and so being hurried along into the Streets and declaring the Day of the Lord and warning them all and calling them all to Repentance was sent from thence by command from some it's aike by an Officer to the Common Goal for my good Will and
His limitless Nature to a creatural Form like thy self as the Wicked do who know him not And so of that Beast and mysterious Babylon thou art who this day with their many Heads and Horns and Forms of False Knowledge and Worships and Churches so called do all with one Consent push and fight against the Lamb the Light and Son of the Incomprehensible and Infinite Father and his Faithful Followers but the Lamb both hath and ever shall have the Victory and the Mouth of all Iniquity shall be stopped saith my Soul And so well had it been for thee if thou hadst continued Faithful amongst us but a Wanderer and Unfaithful in Heart hast thou been many a day and so the Whore that watched in the Evening for the unwary young Man hath caught thee in her Net and there thou art a Slave in the Bands of Darkness to the great Wounding of thy poor imprisoned Soul Thomas Taylor TO George Ward And those that had Fellowship with him GEorge Ward to thy self and those in Fellowship with thee whether Speakers or Hearers a few Words from the Movings of God in my Heart You are weighed in the Ballance and are found wanting and the Glory of the Holy Kingdom of God you are fallen short of in your Unbelief and have not a Heart as yet to walk in the strait and narrow Way that leads unto it You have not suffered your Minds and Souls to be guided by the pure Light of Jesus Christ that hath Visited you in great Love in these Days but have rather chosen to follow your own Thoughts and wrong Expositions of Scripture to your great hurt And because you have Preached and Professed that washing the outward Water is the only Gate in the Christian Fellowship you are both to loose your Credit amongst Men by owning the more Excellent and Everlasting Way though it be most plainly declared and by the Spirit demonstrated to you in these Days And so you go about to Establish that which makes nothing perfect in Opposition to the Power of God which only makes Perfect And so you resemble them of old who stuck in the Shadows of the Law in Opposition to him that was the End of the Law and came to fulfil it Christ Jesus over all God Blessed for ever And so if I could have found in you a true Desire after God's Kingdom may be I might have gotten a little Liberty to have Reasoned with you at this time of the things thereof But seeing there hath been so many Endeavours and Desires in us after your Eternal Good and ye will not come to Christ to know him in you that you may have Life for this time I thus rest in Peace with my God the Righteous Judge believing that in his own Way and Time he will Silence every Tongue that moves against his Blessed Truth the Light and those that love it and follow it in the Regeneration in this Day of his Power wherein the willing People are brought up through the Death of the Flesh to serve the Lord in the Land of the Living in new Jerusalem as our Souls do this Day ever Praised be his Name the Arm of his Holiness for it is worthy And now where is the Disputer of this World who pleads for seen things which Quicken not the Souls and will not have the Invisible God who is the Resurrection of the Life to Rule in them but are glad when they can get any thing seemingly that makes for them in their perishing Way But our Work is Praised be God to hold the Faith which was once delivered to the Saints in a pure Conscience and in the Ability that God giveth us to help to bring People to God where is the true Rest for ever And those that will not submit their Minds Hearts and Souls to the Light of the Eternal Word which is nigh in the Heart shall never be Established in Righteousness and Peace but shall weary themselves in the very Fires for Vanity and this we have Learned through many Tribulations Blessed be God for his Unspeakable Gift and so if you be Wise be Wise for your Souls and Learn with us to sit in Silence at Jesus Feet to know what he requires of you and cease your running and doing without him for you have spent too much time in Vain already seeing the Spirit of the World is unfallen in you Rests your Souls Friend and a Lover of the whole Creation of God being become a willing Sufferer for the Holy Seeds Sake And whereas you or some of you seem Offended that Widdow Cock hath left you and come amongst us and say she hath done it and yet given you no sufficient Reason and Satisfaction for her so doing I say that Reason I suppose she hath shown sufficient to some of you but to give Satisfaction to you in it that is hard seeing you Speak Evil of the Good Way of God which she hath tasted of amongst us for of a Truth the Lord and his Power and Presence is with us Blessed be his Name for ever And she stayed too long upon the barren Mountains where your Flocks Feed Thomas Taylor TO A Plundering Priest YOUNG Man all thy Prayers Preachings and Praises are Abomination to God so long as thou keepest the Just in Bondage Thou being but newly as it were come on to the Stage of the World begins thy part very badly if thou hadst been as an old over-grown Tree in Customs of Covetousness less could not be expected from thee than what some in Swaledale have sound But thou being as I hear a young Man under the Notion of a Schollar nay more of a Minister of the Gospel to fall on a Suing People at Law and putting in Prison upon account of Hire quite stains all thy Glory and blasts thy Reputation with the Odium of a Hireling and Fersecutor Thou might consider if the God of this World had not blinded thy Mind what thou daily as it were reads in the Scripture Whatsoever ye would that Men should do unto you even so do unto them for this is the Law and the Prophets And if thou be not come so far as the Law and the Prophets thou art most unfit to take the Gospel into thy Mouth For without all question if thy Condition had been Michael Râ—w's thou would have accounted it hard Measure to have been so dealt withall as thou hast dealt with him A Man with a Wife and ten or eleven Children depending much upon his Labour for their Maintenance and this Man to be put into Prison and there kept from year to year for nothing at all but because for Conscience-sake to God he cannot put into thy Mouth What a Cry this hath and will have in the Ears of God it concerns thee deeply to consider for he is well known not to with-hold Right from any where it is due But though his Sufferings for time be long yet thine if thou repent not will be very
ye gone and there are amongst the Heathen worshipping the Works of your own Hands and falling down to that which your Fingers have framed and you delight in a thing of naught and the Lord the Light that made you you are become Strangers unto and is accounted by you as a weak natural thing that cannot help And his Day Power and Kingdom is put far away from you and instead thereof the Seat of Violence is drawn near to you and in the Seat of the Scorners and Mocker of the Last Times have you placed your selves saying Where is the Promise of his Coming when as him Christ Jesus the Light in whom all the Promises of God are Yea and Amen is rejected by you even by your Builders Thomas Taylor To the Bear-ward UNTO thee O Man who art called the Bear-ward do these words come Fear and tremble before the Lord God who is against all such wicked and ungodly Men as thy self is who contrary to the Law of God and the Nation goest up and down the Country keeping this great Evil of Bear-baiting on foot to the Corrupting of the Country for thy own filthy Lucre and abominable Covetousness which is the Root of all Evil And the Lord's Hand hath been long stretched out against all such Lewd Men but you go on in your Wickedness and repent not and therefore nothing can you expect as a Reward of your evil Work but everlasting Wo and Misery And to all you Foolish and Heathenish-minded People who are the Upholders and Spectators of these Brutish Customs of Bear-baiting yea and can spend your precious Time Strength and Money in the thing the Lord is against you also and his Soul is greatly grieved and burthened with you and will assuredly visit with his Wrath these and all your lewd and wicked Practices So if there be in any of you any Heart left for the Good repent lest you Perish in your Sins with such as hates to be reformed Rests the Lord's Servant who cannot but Sorrow to see you thus from time to time go on in your Sins without Remorse Thomas Taylor To the Dancers on the Ropes WO to the Dancers upon the Ropes and Tempters of God with their wicked Inventions and Wo to the Man that maintains and upholds such for filthy Lucre to draw the Peoples Minds from God O Repent Repent the Day of the Lord is at hand a Day of bitter Howling and Lamentation to all such Workers of Iniquity will it be Did ever any Child of God or any that had any Fear of God in them go up and down the Country with vain Fellows at their heels disfiguring themselves and playing Tricks upon Stages and Ropes like the Heathen that knew not God and all meerly to draw the Minds of the Multitude after them for filthy Lucre. O Cursed Covetousness What hast thou done in all the Earth the Root of all Evil well may it be called and Idolatry which whosoever follows do separate their Souls from the Glory of God and all the Good that is in his Kingdom And then O ye deceitful and vain People What will it profit you to gain the whole World and lose your Souls Rests God's Servant and a Witness in his Power against all vain and wicked Inventions of Faln Man Thomas Taylor A Warning to all People WEEP not for the Dead but Weep for the Living even for those that remain in the Body upon the Earth because of the Miseries Plagues and Judgments that are come and coming upon all the Wicked Sinful and Unholy People in all Lands for the Lord hath a Controversie with all Nations and great will be the Desolations because of Iniquity and Violence that is grown up to so great a height that it hath even as it were filled the whole Earth and the Lord seeth all your Doings O People and your secretest Workings when in your Minds ye Plot against the Lamb's Life which would redeem out of all the many Snares of the Devil whereby the Ungodly are kept fast at his Will But the Men of Nineveh shall rise up in Judgment against the Impenitent in the whole Earth for they repented at the Preaching of Jonah but behold a greater than all is come into the World even Jesus Christ the Righteous and they believe him not neither repent of their evil and violent Doings but harden their Hearts against his Holy Spirit 's Reproof to their own Destruction Thomas Taylor For the People of England to Weep WEEP thou England Howl Howl ye People for the Dreadful Day of the Lord God is at hand it is at the Door as an armed Man coming swiftly upon you to break down and tread under feet thy Pomp Glory Pride and Strength Thou hast exceeded in thy Sins and art grown monstrous in thine Iniquities so the Lord will be exceeding Terrible unto thee Thou hast suffered the Wicked in thee to have liberty and to take their Fill of Sin when the Voice of the Righteous cannot be endured in thee but he that departs from Iniquity and would perswade others so to do also is even made a Prey of by ungodly and unreasonable Men their Bodies imprisoned and banished and Estates spoiled and many sorts of Injuries done them for thy Name and Truths sake O Lord God And therefore will the Lord God arise to take Vengeance for these things yea his Soul will certainly be avenged on such a Nation as this saith his Spirit in his Servant Thomas Taylor And moreover because you have said in your Hearts We have compassed them about with an Act and now none shall worship God but as we please Therefore will the Lord the mighty God compass you about with his Terrors and you shall find no place to hide your selves in from his Wrath because of the Pride of your Heart and Evil of your Doings O all ye People of the Land who are guilty in these things saith the Lord God To the Comers and Goers by the Prison-Window of both Sorts ALL simple-hearted People who have any thing of the true Fear of God moving upon your Hearts and whose Desires are in any measure purely after God and Goodness and are not altogether hardned against the Lord and Good of your Souls Consider and ponder a little and unbethink you well as in the Presence of God what hath been from time to time declared to you and all People out of the Prison-Window Hath not the Witness of God in his Servant declared amongst you the Dreadful Day of the Lord God which will assuredly come upon all the Wicked and such as are covered and not with the Spirit of the Lord whether Priests or People And hath not the same Voice in great Love and Tenderness freely proclaimed Peace and Good Will to the Penitent and the most acceptable Day of the Lord to the Broken-hearted and such as Mourn under the Sense of Sin and Burthen of Unrighteousness without respect of Persons And are not these things to be
laid to Heart and not at all to be slighted And therefore I say unto you O People even you that love your Souls and are not yet come to the true Rest Christ Jesus in Spirit but are wandering from Mountain to Hill after the Hireling-Teachers one day after another and yet are not satisfied with their empty Words but are dead dry and barren in Heart as to the Power of Godliness after all your Money spent and Labour taken I said Is not this an evident Sign that it is not Bread that hath by them been ministred to you but the Chaff of Mens Inventions For saith the Lord Does not my words do good to them that desire after me But alas People the Hireling's Words which he sells you for Money are not the Word of God but only what he hath gathered and conceived from the Letter of another Man's Line and so cannot profit you though you should hear never so much of it no more than Chaff can feed And so do not say the Fault is not in our Teachers but only in us For I say unto you in the Spirit of Truth the Fault is now in you both for the Day of God is dawned and now you are both warned and so are left both without Excuse There was a Time of Darkness and Ignorance which God winked at but now the Life is manifest and the true Light that enlightens being broken forth through the Clouds you are hereby warned and all every where exhorted to Repent So harken to the measure of that Light that shines in your dark Hearts which convinceth you of Sin and Unbelief and would lead you from them this is the Word of the Spirit of God that is nigh you where-ever you are and from whose sight you can hide nothing though never so secret Here is your Guide to God and Life eternal if you love it and here is the Door that shuts you out from God and his Glory if you hate it so prize your time and while you have time learn to know this Light of Christ in your Consciences to be your Teacher and only Guide For why will ye die why cease you not from Man whose breath is in his Nostrils that broken Cistern Time will come when Fools will wish they had been wiser and when God's Witness will be remembred and when such as now Suffer for Righteousness sake will be had in Honour Rests as always your Friend Thomas Taylor And you that go carelesly by this Window and do not regard the Word of the Lord Hear the Word of the Lord ye Careless ones ye go and come from the Steeple-house and in your Minds secretly conclude that you shall have Peace and no Evil shall come upon you when the Lord God hath spoken no Peace to you for there is no Peace to the Wicked and there you are even in the Wickedness under the Wrath of God for the Wrath of God abides upon all the Children of Disobedience And verily the Lord is arising in mighty Power to Judge the World by Jesus Christ whom ye have Crucified and whose Counsels you have set at naught and have chosen rather to follow the Hireling-Teacher and his ways than the way of the Lord God So consider what is here said and run not head-long to your own Destruction for what account can ye give to a pure God in the day of his fierce Wrath who are not yet at all cleansed from your Unrighteousness Will your crying Lord Lord Save ye who are found doing your own Wills and satisfying your own Lushs without Repentance To that in your Conscience I speak which in the day when the Book of your Conscience is opened will justifie the Truth of these things against you all who in the broad way are found at that day to Condemnation and the Day is at hand and the Judge is at the Door and Wo will be to such as put it far off Rests the Lord's Servant still in this Prison but the Truth cannot be bound Thomas Taylor To King Charles the Second concerning Persecution c. IT is in my Heart as from the Lord God of Heaven and Earth to warn thee to stop the Current of that grievous Persecution which is raised up against us the Harmless People of God in Scorn called Quakers for our pure Conscience sake at this day For of a Truth the Lord God hath raised us up in his eternal Love to be his People to bear his Name in Righteousness before the Children of Men and so to exercise our Consciences in a pure Love and true Good Will towards God and all Men as he hath taught us and doth teach all that come to him And therefore weigh things well in thy Heart in the cool of the day and be not a means of injuring us for this the Exercise of our pure Conscience for truly the Lord Jesus Christ is highly displeased already for what is done against us O consider consider Doth not his Holy Eye behold and his Heavenly Heart consider the great Wrongs that are daily done us for his Names sake our Bodies imprisoned our Estates spoiled our Meeting-houses pulled down yea whole Families ruined as to the outward World for no other cause but because we cannot cease to meet together in his Name as he requires us and required his in a most harmless and peaceable manner as his People in former Ages did and as we have always done since we were to God a People And never let it be said that Charles the Second disappointed the Good People of the Land under his Government of their Expectations for behold we looked for the Continuance of Good Things from thee because of some words passed out of thy Mouth but behold great Evil hath ensued O let not the Evil Counsel of thy own Heart or of others cause thee to go on in that which will certainly bring God's Judgments upon thy Soul and Body and the whole Nation if it be persisted in as this present undertaking against us will do We desire not your Ruin no more than our own but this we know certainly and the Scripture of Truth abundantly witnesses it That never did any Prosper who did or suffered to be done so great Injury against a Harmless and Innocent People as we are known to God to be O let not the King believe any longer the vain and false Suggestions of evil Men against us If we had had any Mind against the King's Welfare we should not have had that Boldness that we have in God's sight and thine but now knowing in our Consciences that all our Endeavours have been from the beginning how to gloâ—ifie God and to serve all Men in Love to this day therefore are our Hearts in God's Truth greatly strengthened and emboldened to hold forth our Innocency before thee and all Men For the Righteous are bold as a Lyon praised be God for ever And why should it seem strange to thee or any at this day that
Yea is the Yea and the Nay is the Nay Such I say of you who found the Bill and brought in the Verdict as it is called against me for a Disturber of the Peace because in Obedience to God I witnessed against Deceipt publickly amongst you Consider Do you know what you have done Do you know what Verdict signifies a Verdict sounds in your Language as much as a true Saying or conclusion upon consideration of things in question and is yours brought in against me so to that of God in all your Consciences I speak which if you had taken Counsel at and not your own Wills you would not have called Good Evil nor brought in your own words against the Innocent for by judging this which was done in me to be a Crime do you not condemn the Holy Men of God mentioned in Scripture who were often commanded of God both contrary to their own Wills and the Wills of all the World to declare against the Sins both of Priests Rulers and People in the most publick Places and greatest Meetings yea and most solemn Assemblies as you may read in Scripture and by this your Judgment do you net justifie those in those Days who Persecuted the Prophets and Holy Men of God for their Witness sake and so do what in you lies to bring the Judgments of God upon your own Heads as those in those Days did who took Counsel and not at the Spirit of God So consider what I say and make your Peace with God for it is your own Sins and not the words that were spoken through me which have disturbed it and broken it and do no more so wickedly for the Day of the Lord is upon all the Unrighteous of the World and in him have I Peace who breaks no Peace but that of the Wicked whose Peace God will break for ever and so you having time prize it for this is the Day of your Visitation and a warning to all your Souls rests Thomas Taylor From Appleby Goal And further consider how durst you say or how dare you say that what was done by me was done maliciously and wilfully is there no fear of God abiding in your Hearts Awake awake to Righteousness for herein you have not done according to the knowiedge of God I speak this to your Shame To Judges and Rulers HEar O Judges and Rulers and hearken O all People the Lord hath a Controversie with you your Teachers have deceived you and you that have followed them are destroyed You are full of Strifes and Debates your Iniquities are increased your Assizes are full your Fat overflows your Pride and Vain-glory with your Profession is grown high and in the open Sun are these things manifest and you are grown a heavy Burden so that the pure God will speedily ease himself of you for the Soul of the Righteous is grieved with hearing and seeing what is daily done amongst you Therefore while you have time all prize it for this is the day of your Visitation and in this day shall no Hypocrite nor Worker of Iniquity be able to stand As witnesseth the Spirit of the Lord God in and by his Servant Thomas Taylor A Testimony of Truth MANY are the Enemies of the Glory of Christ in this his day who through their wilful and affected Ignorance would set up a Faith in the People that purifies not their Hearts to God nor presents them Spotless and without Sin in his sight carrying the poor People in hand that they may be Christians and abide in Christ though they Sin and do Evil directly contrary to the plain Doctrine of the Scripture 1 John 3.3 6 7 8 9. which John saith And ye to wit the Brethren know that he to wit Christ was manifested to take away our Sins and in him is no Sin Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not Whosoever sinneth hath not seen him nor known him And amongst these Enemies of Christ's Kingdom and Glory are found even many who highly profess him in words who therefore would be accounted better than others yet upon true Search and Tryal are as Ignorant of the Mystery of God and Christ as any as was yester day manifest by two of their Teachers one whereof affirmed That even the Perfection wrought by or in Christ was not Sinless And the other denying and going about with all his might to prove That this plain Scripture here set down must not be understood literally as it speaks nor that other Verse 9. of this forementioned Chapter which saith Whosoever is born of God doth not commit Sin for his Seed remaineth in him and he cannot Sin because he is born of God But it must saith he be understood some other way than the letter speaks otherwise saith he it would make People go out of their Wits What none born of God that Sins Can People live and not Sin or to this purpose I will bring a Scripture saith he to prove That these words of John have some other meaning and not to be understood literally as they speak Yet H. Osland in one of his Papers says They follow the Lamb in all his ways Which Profession of his though it be most False as is manifest yet from his words I demand Whether such as follows the Lamb in all his ways or whithersoever he goes do Sin Yea or Nay Is not the Lamb's way undefiled And they that walk in that way are undefiled are they not Are not these the Called and Faithful and Chosen And then he turned to the Book of Ecclesiastes Chap. 9.3 which saith Yea also the heart of the Sons of Men is full of Evil and Madness is in their heart while they live and after that they go to the Dead To which was answered This shews only the State of Man by Nature in the Fall and so under the Law and Curse and doth not at all concern the Gospel-Dispensation which Ministers Righteousness and Life to the Soul and gives a new clean and wise Heart according to the Blessed Promise that saith I will give them a new Heart and Circumcise their Hearts that they may sear me saith God According to that blessed Doctrine of the Apostles which saith To such as really believed in-Christ and so were not under the Law but under Grace ye are God's Workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good Works which God hath ordained you shall walk in them What will this Contender go on in his Blindness Blaspheming and saying That Madness is in the Hearts of these while they live and that these new Creatures in Christ Jesus are full of Evil in their Hearts while they live and so go to the Dead O Sad that ever such should take upon them to be Teachers of others and be so Ignorant of the Gospel-Mystery themselves And therefore Woful and Miserable must needs the Condition of all such be that follow them for as Christ said If the Blind lead the Blind they must both fall into the Ditch and in
the Lord must be cast out and have their Portion with the Hypocrites where is weeping and wailing and gnashing of Teeth for Ever And now that Christ Jesus the True Light is arising the Children of the Night Who love Darkness rather than Light because their Deeds are evil are inventing all manner of false Covers and false Arguments to hide their Nakedness and Shame withal but the Judgment of this Light they cannot avoid for it is to give to every Man according to his Deeds And now therefore all ye Teachers of the People awake and arise to Judgment and bring your Deeds to the Light and you Principal of the Flock come forth for the words of the Lord by Jeremy his Prophet Chap. 25. Ver. 34 35 36. are now to have their perfect Accomplishment upon you And these are the words Howl ye Shepherds and cry and wallow your selves in the Ashes ye Principal of the Flock for the Days of your slaughter and your Dispersions are accomplished and ye shall fall like a pleasant Vessel and the Shepherds shall have no way to flee nor the Principal of the Flock to escape A voice of the Cry of the Shepherds and an Howling of the Principal of the Flock shall be heard for the Lord hath spoiled their Pasture Now he that hath an Ear let him hear what the Spirit of the Lord hath here commanded to be left in writing And see and consider all you that are under the Wo of these words even all you who are called of Men Masters with your Elders and Officers and Repent for where will you hide your selves And where will ye leave your Glory For the Lion of the Tribe of Judah is arisen and it is God and not Man Spirit and not Flesh that is pleading with ye and the Powers of the Earth and the Wisdom of the Beast will not shelter you nor secure you from the Wrath of him that sits upon the Throne and of the Lamb. For now though you be changed as to the outward form somewhat from the way of your Forefathers yet in the same Nature and Steps as to the substance of Things are ye found for were they justly cast out for feeding themselves and not the Flock Ezek. 34. And is it not so with you And did not their House become desolate because they stuck to the Shadows and denied yea Crucified the Lord of Life the Substance in his Appearance Luke 13.34 35. And is it not so with you And was not the Spirit of the Lord grieved then to see that filthy and horrible thing committed in the Land to wit to see the Prophets prophesie falsly and to see the Priests bear rule by their means and to see the People love to have it so Jer. 5.30 31. And is it not so found now with you And was it not the Spirit of the Lord that moved to Cry against such then as stood for Watchmen over the People and yet were Blind and Ignorant yea as Dumb Dogs and greedy which could never have enough such Shepherds as could not understand who all of them looked to their own way every one for his Gain from his Quarter Isa 56.10.11 And is it not with you so now And were not the People a prey to the Enemy of the Soul when things were thus with them then as it is now And was it not for the Covetousness and Cruelty of the Teachers of the People that the Lord brought his Judgments upon them so that they had no Answer of God Micah 3.5 6 7. As it is now And what was it that made the Priests contemptible and base in the Eyes of the People but their horrible Breach of God's Covenant Mal. 2.8 9. As it is now And therefore ye Proud Men called Ministers and Teachers of the People in the High Places in England and elsewhere who have made a Covenant with Hell and Death as those of Old did in Jerusalem earthly hearken and give ear for the Lord hath a Controversie with you as he had with your Fathers who were in Covenant with the Powers of Darkness to keep the People in Blindness and Ignorance from the true Light and Life then as is your continued Custom now for saith Hosea in his Day by the Spirit of the Lord As a Troop of Robbers wait for a Man so the Company of Priests Murther in the way by consent for they commit lewdness Hos 6.9 And is it not so with you now See and try and let that of God in all Consciences give Judgment and both your selves and all your Congregations see and consider and fear the Lord and be not Mockers lest your Bands be made strong Is it not so with you now as it was with them of Old which the Lord sent Isaiah his Prophet to declare against Chap. 29. to whom these words were sent Ver. 9 c. Stay your selves and wonder c. Here the words to the 15th Verse were written at large and after them see and consider is not this your Condition And are you not worshipping in the oldness of the Letter and the earthly Spirit and not in the newness of the Spirit of Christ and the Heavenly Wisdom which is pure peaceable and full of the Fruits of Righteousness without Partiality without Hypocrisie And therefore will the Fire of the Lord be hard to endure by you for now the Sinners in Sion are afraid and fearfulness surprizeth the Hypocrites because of the Everlasting Burnings see Isa 33.14 And take warning while time is for this is the Day of the Lord's Visitation and witnessed by his Spirit in his Servant Thomas Taylor To William Thornton called Justice at Hipswell in York-shire Divulged for the Information of other moderate Enquirers after the Lord. FRIEND I have received thy Lines in answer to those I sent thee and thou dost rightly conceive of the ground of my writing them to thee for it was indeed out of pure Love to that which lieth in the Death in thee thy Soul unto which I spoke though in the Death to hearken to the Light of God that shines in thy dark Heart for the Gospel is Preached to the Imprisoned Souls who are dead in Sins and Trespasses that the dead may hear the voice of the Son of God even of Jesus Christ who is the Gospel it self the true Light and Life of Men who shines in Darkness though the Darkness do not comprehend it and so live And if thou hast an Ear within open thou may'st hear what here is spoken and so there will be no contradiction in directing thee to a pure Principle to attend to the pure Light of God within freely given to guide to himself but thou wilt if thou be'st once indeed turned to the Teachings of that Light of God in thee which shows thee thy Sin and Death daily and calls to Repentance and Faith see clearly that the Contradiction lies in the disobedient Nature within in thy self as in all others without Exception of what
in shaking its Foundations and burning it up with the Increase thereof thou wilt find something in thee strongly Gainsaying yea even Fighting and Opposing to Death which yet thou art not acquainted with and secretly wishing that the way were not so narrow but that thy Ishmael might live before him how much more in the swelling of Jordan will it be hard when Isaac is called for also but thou must witness a forsaking of the World and the Religion thereof before thou see thy Isaac Born as did Abraham the forsaking of his own old Country and the rejection of his fleshly Begetting his Bond-Child Ishmael before the promised Seed appeared now if thy Ear be opened thou wilt this also hear And for so many being besotted with the lofty Notions and Expressions of some refined Monks thou speaks of thou had dealt Ingeniously if thou hadst told wherein either I or others with whom I have Fellowship in the Gospel of the dear Son of God are found Guilty for if the Scripture Expressions be such we cannot deny them though a Monk should say the same but I know thou canst not from any sound Ground in thy self believe that we have Intimacy with such as are called Monks but thou art cousened into this Conceit by the false Reports of the envious and blind World who do what they can to hinder the pure Truths progress as they ever did by all means possible together with what thy own misapprehension of us hath suggested to thee But herein is our Joy that Men speak all manner of Evil of us falsly for the Names sake of Jesus Christ whom alone through Grace we own for our Saviour and Guide and not another and therefore it is that the World hates us because we cannot follow them in their Obedience to the Spirit of this World as they do And therefore as I said before so in love I advise thee again not to trust in that vain Religion that thou art yet unseperated from which stands in outward Observations which hath not so much as a promise of Perfection in it where there is yet lo here and lo there is Christ where there is a Temple made with Hands and a mention of Sins untaken away continually as in the time of Moses's Law which was a shadow for a time and could make nothing perfect seeing perfection was to be brought to Light in Jesus Christ the substance of all Shadows Types and Figures And they that were Preachers of the Gospel preached Perfection in him And where Christ the Substance the Lamb of God was manifested in any it was for the taking away of Sin and perfecting in Holiness and so they could direct others And â—rith the Scripture Eph. 4 10 c. He that descended is the same also that ascended far above all Heavens that he might fill all things and he gave some Apostles some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers he himself gave them and not Men for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying the Body of Christ till we all come to the Vnity of the Faith and the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect Man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ And this being so it is something strange thou shouldst so far forget as to say thou knew not of any Text in the whole Book of God which doth promise to the People of God Perfection in this Life For though as in Heb. 7.19 The Law which stood in outward Observations made nothing perfect yet the bringing in of a better hope which hope is Christ in the Saints a hope of Glory did by which they draw nigh unto God Having their Hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience and their Bodies washed with pure Water Heb. 10.22 And therefore there was a necessity of disanulling of the Letter Commandment going before because of the weakness and unprofitableness of it as in the 18. ver of that 7. cap. And so Friend the reason of thine and all the World's Imperfection is unbelief and disobedience to the Spirits teaching within whereby the Soul is kept in the outward Court and Temple and so not coming through the Vail the Flesh which only is rent in the Death of Christ the Holiest of all is not come into where there is Perfection which Perfection indeed is not known in the Life and Glory which is of the first Man which stands in the Law of a carnal Commandment but in the Power of an endless Life without begining or end of Days which also if thou hast an Ear thou may'st hear and the Lord give thee understanding that thy Soul may live and not remain in Death for the Letter Killeth but the Spirit gives Life And for my own Attainments which thou calls Imaginary Transcendent thou knows I said nothing of my self in particular and therefore be advised to beware of that Spirit that pats off wholsome Advice by evil Judgings and Surmisings concerning the Advisers For for my own part I acknowledge my self to have nothing of my own to boast of but to be by the Grace of God what I truly am and that Grace is my Sufficiency and rejoyce in this to see the strength of Christ perfected in my Weakness but Wickedness he Destroys and will not allow of any work of Iniquity in any and so in my Condition am I pressing forward to the Resurrection from the Dead through the daily Death and though I have not fully attained yet I see every Gift of God to be perfect and those that rest in Christ rest from Sin and there are perfect and so whom the Son sets free are free indeed from Sin and that where Christ is received there is Power received to become a Child of God and there the work of the Devil is destroyed which is Sin seeing he that commits Sin is not born of God but is a Servant of Sin and so a Child of the Devil And therefore it is time for all to hast out of the Spiritual Sodom and Egypt of Sin and separation from God lest the Wrath that hangs over fall on and there being no Remedy nor Escape And for that thou entreats me to beware of the confused Notions and great words of Jacob Bewman and such like frothy Scriblers as thou in disdain art pleas'd to term them who thou say'st may hereafter prove broken Reeds to those who now admire them thou may'st know that those who follow the Light of Jesus Christ wherewith he hath enlightned them in Spirit which leads them orderly up out of the fall'n Estate of Sin and Separation from God into the Kingdom of perfect Righteousness and Fellowship with himself and lean not to any Man that can Deceive but have all one Master and Teacher which is Christ in them all the Head and they need not that any Man teach them but as the Anointing leads them they are safe and this the Scripture witnesseth And by the
Free Gift of our God and no Inchantment shall now stand against God's Spiritual Host nor Divination against the Redeemed of the Lord who have known his Wonders in the Deep and known the Out-goings of God's Power against Pharaoh and all his Host in the Red Sea of his Fiery Indignation And now will God be exalted in Judgment and avenged in Righteousness upon all Nations and People under Heaven who hold the Truth in Unrighteousness and will not that God's Holy Son Christ Jesus the Light should Reign though he be come to Reign and Judge in the Earth For to him the Light who lighteth every Man that cometh into the World is all Power in Heaven and Earth given and his Light shines freely into all your Hearts O all People of the Earth and shineth in the thickest Darkness making manifest the Creator's Will to all your Consciences through your Darkness tho' People comprehend it not but it comprehends you and all your dark Ways and destroying Thoughts and lets you see plainly that for all your great Workings and toilsom Labours in an outside Profession in your earthly Wills you have wrought no Deliverance in the Earth but your Soul's Enemies still stand in strength and it lets you see plainly that for all your striving and sighting and killing and spoiling and destroying one another about earthly things you have done no good at all but brought God's Judgments upon all your Souls and pierced your selves through with many Sorrows And therefore the Heavenly Voice sounds through the Earth and calls aloud in your Ears and knocks at the Door of your Hearts O all People of the World High and Low Professor and Prophane Jews and Gentiles Christianâ— and Turks arise arise awake awake turn in your Minds to the pure Light of Jesus Christ the Judge of Quick and Dead the Son of the Eternal God Creator of Heaven and Earth who Died for your Sins and Rose again to give you a New Holy and Everlasting Life in himself through Faith in his Name And behold he lives for Evermore and all see and search diligently in your selves what you know of his Holy Life made manifest in you to destroy the Body of Sin and Death in you which in the Days of Darkness hath filled your Vessel and brought your very Soul Mind and Heart into the Thraldom of that wicked One who is called the Devil and Satan and compassed with Terrours and Fears and Affrightments your very Life and whole Man because of the Wrath of the Almighty which you by your sinful unrighteous and unholy and cruel doings both against God and your Neighbour have stirred up against you And behold the Earth languisheth because of these things and the Children of Light who are Redeemed to God out of these sore Evils and grievous Plagues do mourn for you and bewail your Misery Night and Day as well knowing in the Light of the Lord what your woful End will be if these Briars and Thorns and noisom Weeds the proper Fruit of the Curse be still suffered to grow in you and cumber God's Ground O how nigh unto Cursing is that Field which God's Rain rains upon and yet brings forth no better Fruit than Killing and Slaying and Spoiling and Cousening and Cheating and Defiling and Oppressing one another besides Lving and Swearing and Cursing and Drunkenness and Pride and Persecution of God's Righteous Seed with all other Abominations of the World against the holy Light and Checks and Reproofs of the good Spirit of the Almighty both in their own Consciences and the Mouth of God's Servants and Holy Witness of Truth in the Scriptures which notwithstanding all these their Abominations many of them profess to be their Rule But know O Man whosoever thou art or whatsoever Profession thou art of that that 's thy God and Ruler and Father and Teacher and Way whose Commands thou lovest and whose Works thou doest and whose Will in the inward of thy Mind thou closest with as Christ said to those Liars false Accusers and Murtherers in his Day John 8.44 c. Ye are of your Father the Devil for his Works ye will do he was a Liar and a Murtherer from the beginning so thou that goes from the Light of God in thee which shews thee thy Sin and the evil Lustings and Desires of thy Flesh and Mind thou goes from God and from his Fear and from the Way of Peace and so thou going from this and joining to evil Motions of Sin in thy Flesh or Corrupted Mind thou joins to the Devil and so brings forth Sin which is the Devil's Work and the Wages of every such Work is Death and so in the very Moment of time in which thou dost the evil Work whatsoever it be contrary to God's Light in thee thou diest the Death and so remainest Dead from the Life of God and his Blessed Righteousness until the Day of true Repentance and Amendment of Life and then what will it profit thee to have gained the World or Victory over thy Neighbour or Satisfaction to thy Lusts in the Loss of thy Soul's Life therefore arise arise awake awake O all Nations and People come forth to the Judgment of this great Day of God Almighty for now is the effect of every Vision to be known and felt in the Earth and the high Towers of the City of Confusion the Mystery Babylon the Great Whore the Mother of Harlots shall fall to the Ground and the Mountain of the House of the Lord shall be exalted over all yea the Lord alone and his Righteousness and Truth and Peaceable Kingdom on the top of all shall stand and no Weapon formed against him and his People shall ever prosper And how is it O all Nations Kings and People that ye are not yet willing after so many Years knocking at the Gates of your Cities and Doors of your Hearts that you will not open to the King of Glory Christ Jesus the Light that lightneth every Man that cometh into the World that he may come in and be Judge and Lawgiver and King in the midst of you that the Desire of all Nations may come and be Head in all For what is it that the Soul which God hath made in all Nations doth desire but to see it self unburthened of that grievous Corruption which hath defiled it and to be delivered from that Body of Sin and Death which hath and doth so Embondage it from the beginning until Christ's Power be known within to work the Work of God and to destroy the Work of the Devil and to save the Soul from its Sin and present it spotless to God which is the true Salvation indeed Now this is my Witness for God amongst the Servants and Redeemed of the Lord this Day whom the World in Scorn call Quakers who suffer for Righteousness sake That there is none that can thus know the Day of Christ's Power to Salvation but as they believe and receive that Light of God and
Christ which they be freely inlightned withal which shines in their very Hearts and Consciences which searches their very Hearts and Reins and makes manifest to Man his Thoughts and from which none can hide any thing but all things are naked and bare before him the Light Christ Jesus who lighteth every Man that cometh into the World Jew and Gentile one and other who searcheth the most hidden things of Man and brings them forth to the Judgment of his Righteousness for though the Night may hide the Adulterer and the Thief from Man it hides them not from God there is one nigh in the Heart and Conscience that tells Man and Woman all that ever they have done and do daily do even their secret Thoughts is not this the Christ of God the true Messiah that was to come and is come and dwells amongst us and we look not for another And of his Fulness have all we received and do daily receive who believe in his Light which shines in our Hearts according to the Scriptures of Truth And this the Fulness of our Blessed God and Saviour Jesus Christ the Light is it which filleth all that come to him with all Spiritual Blessings and Heavenly Good Things and without whom all is Darkness Emptiness Death and Desolation as all the poor deceived lost Sons and Daughters of the faln Adam do sooner or later know and are made to confess But Blessed are they that consider of things in time and lay things to Heart before it be too late for there are but Twelve Hours in a Day in which Men may work saith Christ and then the Night cometh in which none can work but the Door will be shut upon all who have slighted and neglected the Day of their Visitation O England England and all Lands far and near that you had known or could yet believe the things that belong to your Everlasting Peace before they be hid from your Eyes therefore turn ye turn ye at the Reproofs of God's Wisdom and Spirit of Light and Truth which sounds through all and lets you see the Vanity and Evil of all your Works and Frailty of all your Lives how soon the Thread of your Life is cut off And then where is the great Emperors and Kings with all their Crowns And where is the great Captains and Commanders with all their Bloody Victories And where is the Wise Achitophel's and Cunning Counsellors of the Earth with all their Admirers And where is the Covetous Oppressors with all their Houses full of the Spoils of the Innocent Yea in that Day where is all the Glory and Lusts of the World with all the Lovers of it Surely in Darkness and Misery shall they lye down together and Death shall have Dominion over them even all who have not believed in the Light Christ Jesus and who have not followed him in the Regeneration that they may be saved but have spent their Days in the Pleasures and Lusts of the present evil World to Destruction Now therefore O all People hearken to the Counsel of the Lord in this your Day and learn of the Lamb the Light who calls you to Repentance from all your grievous Ways How long shall the Spirit of the Lord strive with you When will you cease learning War and Destruction and Oppression and Spoil O when will you beat your Swords into Plow-shares and your Spears into Pruning-hooks O when will you go and say one to another one Neighbour to another and one Nation to another Come let us all be humbled before the Lord God of Heaven and Earth who made us all of one Blood to dwell together upon the Face of the Earth in Truth Goodness and Love to serve one another and so as Branches of one Tree to receive Life and Vertue and Power from our God into our Souls to strengthen us unto his holy Work who came not to destroy Mens Lives but to save them whose Kingdom is not of this World and therefore is not set up or maintained with Carnal Weapons Violence and Spoil but by the Eternal Spirit of our God whose Fruit is in all Goodness and Righteousness and Truth and let not the wicked Devil the Destroyer deceive us any more by his Lies and Delusions but let us all with one Heart and Soul resist his Temptations when he perswades us to seek to be great in the Earth and be avenged on them we count our Enemies let us not hearken to him but let us overcome their Evil with Goodness and not to seek the Destruction of their Persons or Spoil of their Estates as the Heathen do that know not God but let us follow the Example of Jesus Christ God manifested in Flesh who when he was reviled reviled not again but pray'd for such as despitefully used him O come let us follow this meek Lamb in Righteousness and Truth and let us learn of him in our Hearts who is meek and lowly that we may find rest for our Souls who rebuked his Disciples who would have had Fire to come down from Heaven to destroy the Samaritans who would not at that time receive Christ for what knowest thou O Man but the Samaritans may in time come to a better Mind and then thou wilt see it was thy Will and not God's that desired their Destruction in their Sins for Christ would have all to be Saved and to come to the Knowledge of his Truth but many will not come to him that they might have Life and so their Destruction is of themselves and their Condemnation just And who are now therefore those that withstand the Doctrine of the Truth which saith Love your Enemies and seek not the Destruction of their Persons and Estates but seek them by good Doctrine and good Life to bring them out of their Sins And if they will not but rather hate thee for thy Good-will be content thou hast quitted thy own Soul and art clear of their Blood and so thou becomes a Sufferer with Jesus Christ and shalt Reign with him in due time I say who are these now on the Earth that are against the good Self-denying Doctrine of Christ and continue in the hateful destroying ways of the old Jews and Gentiles but such as will not be counselled by the Lamb of God the suffering Seed who said Learn of me for I am meek and lowly of Heart but ye are Men of corrupt Minds and account Gain and worldly Honours and Promotions more than Godliness who cry Peace Peace to themselves in their Sins And that same Spirit in them which creates that false Peace in them is the same that stirs them up to kill destroy oppress and spoil one another for selfish and worldly Ends but the Lord is arisen to Judge all these Evil things and to redeem a Seed to serve him as in the beginning of the Gospel before Antichrist the Murtherer got up amongst them that professed Christ in Words but denied him in Deeds and so had a Name
that they lived but were dead from that true Life that was in Christ Jesus whom in words they Professed And though the passage we feel now to be as hard of coming from amongst the false Christians and Turks as it was for the first true Christians to come from amongst the Jews and Gentiles yet the Almighty Power of our God is able over all and through all to carry us to the End whom he hath called and saved with a mighty Salvation ever praised be his Name and who will yet save his beloved Seed Israel and gather them from the East and West and from the North and South to sit down with Christ in his Kingdom And this is no ill News to any but who are glewed to Deceit and married to Iniquity But it is good News and glad Tidings indeed to all that love their Souls and the Honour and Glory of Truth more than the things of this perishing World And I could desire that all who are apt to reason as the Jews did when they heard the Declaration of the Gospel of Peace and Kingdom of God which stands in Righteousness and Peace saying If we let this go on then the Romans and others will come and take our Place and Nation I say that they would consider that the very course which they to wit the old Jews in the denial of the Truth took for saving of themselves brought utter destruction upon them and their Nation But what shall vain Man in his foolish fall'n Wisdom and Earthly Reasonings think to be wiser than God and to have a greater Care and Love to the Creation than God himself who made it hath What shall Angels at the Birth of Christ sing Glory to God on high and Good-will to Men and yet when the way of God in Christ is published for bringing this great Work of Salvation to pass vain Man must come in with his false Mind and say This is the way to confound all Order and destroy all Good and that this Doctrine turns the World upside down and that the Messengers of Christ are Pestilent Fellows and movers of Sedition O Earth Earth tremble before the Lord for thou shalt never have Peace in ' thy own ways thou shalt never be saved by thy own Strength thou shalt never be established by thy own Counsels thou shalt never have true Peace nor Plenty within thy Borders until thou believe the Gospel which saith Learn of Christ whose Kingdom is not of this World and whose Weapons are not Carnal but Spiritual mighty through God not for the pulling down of outward Walls and Bodies but for razing and pulling down and destroying the strong Holds of Sin and Satan in the Hearts and Lives of the Children of Men. For after that saith the Apostle the World by Wisdom knew not God it pleased God by the Foolishness of Preaching such Doctrine as this which is a Cross and stumbling Block to all Flesh to save them that believe So lay things to Heart ye People of the World and Inhabitants of all the Earth for God's purpose is not to exalt any Man or Men of this World nor to glorifie any Flesh but to exalt his own Son Christ Jesus the Heavenly Man the Lord from Heaven the Truth over all of whose Kingdom and Government there shall be no End And all that Obey his Voice and for Obedience thereto are made willing to Suffer with him shall Reign with him for evermore But all others whether they be called Christians or Turks or whatever else shall be as the Dust or Chaff before the Wind to be scattered as the Lord by his Spirit from the beginning hath said and at this Time speaketh in his Servant Thomas Taylor To Loose and Wicked Professors HOW long O ye People will ye sleep and slumber in a dead Form of Religion without the Life and Power of Godliness How long will ye dote upon the shews and appearances of Things where the Substance is wanting Can the Soul of Man live upon that which perishes and passes away with the using as the things of this present time do How long shall the Trumpet of the Lord be sounded in the Land before the People prepare themselves to serve the Lord and worship him in Spirit and Truth as he requires How long shall the Judgments of the Lord be in the Earth before the Inhabitants thereof learn Righteousness O the hardness of the Hearts of the Children of Men this day upon the Earth how past feeling are the Men of this Generation grown and without Understanding Never was Sodom more secure The Day is dawned and the Sun is up and yet they lye fast locked up in the deepest Sleep of fleshly Ease and carnal Security And because the Lord suffers not his whole Displeasure to arise at once upon them therefore they go on to harden themselves in their Sins as the People of old did whom the Lord overthrew in his Wrath And so because Judgment is not speedily executed upon their Evil Deeds therefore they set their Hearts to go on in their old ways of Sin Vanity and Uncleanness and so cover themselves but not with the Spirit of the Lord nor any of the pure and Holy ways thereof but take Counsel one at another and strengthen themselves in the Arm of Flesh Wo wo unto you O wicked and evil People who harden your Hearts against the Lord who shall sufficiently bewail you or what Lamentation shall be taken up for you With the Mourning of them that mourn for the Dead slain by the Sword cast out into the High-ways to be trodden under Foot shall you be lamented Thomas Taylor To Protestants OYe poor People called Protestants in the sence of the Love of God to my Soul and pity to yours do I write these Lines It is many Years now since it pleased the Lord to deliver you from the bloody Conspiracy of them called Papists in that Powder Plot and you have kept a Yearly Remembrance of it in an outward Day in an outward manner Acclamations Organs and other bodily Exercises but alass your Souls lies still in the Death Ignorant of that Heavenly Deliverance and Resurrection from Sin which the Saints in Light witness to the everlasting Praise and Glory of his Grace daily and hourly to be remembred and at no time to be forgotten And for want of this your Offerings cannot be accepted of the pure God who looks for Spiritual Obedience from the very Heart of all that receive any Blessing Mercy or Deliverance from him either for their Souls or Bodies But truly the Lord God is not pleased with your Organs Ringing of Bells and Singing and shouting on the top of a Steeple or any vain words of Thankfulness for an Offering to him and you still remaining in that nature which grieveth his Holy Spirit And so you dishonour the Holy Lord God the Creator of all things by your base and low thoughts of him judging his Thoughts to be like your
you have greatly provoked the Lord God against you by these doings And the old Heathens did never more manifest their evil inside in setting up their Idols than you have done in setting up this dead Stick and adorning it with Garlands or so and sometimes Dancing and Rejoycing about it as your Brethren in the Wilderness did about the golden Calf And now upon this particular Stick what may be judged by the Flag that stands on high upon it but that you have bid defiance to all Good O the Pride O the Self-willedness O the Naughtiness of your blind deceived Hearts How long will you strive against God with your Doings How long will you provoke the Eyes of his Jealousie against you A sad day is coming upon you from his provoked Throne O Repent Repent the dreadful and terrible Day of the Lord God is at hand And what will you do in that day Will you cry to the May-pole which you have so long danced about for help O the Blindness and Wretchedness of your deceived Hearts when will you a wake when will you consider and when will you remember your latter End This dead and dry Stick is a true Figure of your dead and barren Hearts to God and Goodness So whilst you have Time prize it for this is the Day of your Visitation from the Spirit of the Lord in his Servant Thomas Taylor To a Dancing-Master TO hear a Dancing-Master plead for his Kingdom because of the evil Gain that he reaps from his evil Work is no strange thing but to see him plead for it from the Example of Holy David's Dancing or Rejoycing before God's Ark in Ravishment of Joy for its return is abominable in thee and the same which the vain Fidlers and Pipers of the Country condemned by the Law do who will plead David's Musick to bolster themselves up in their unholy Work and so there is no more Agreement betwixt David's Dancing and thine than there is betwixt David's Musick and the Fidlers If David's Dancing before God's Ark were seen by your Eyes who plead for your Heathenish Herodian Dancings in these days it would be accounted no less than Madness and Folly to you as it was by Michael in the former days O the Blindness of thine and all such Hearts who are not afraid thus to wrest â—cripture to your Destruction And whereas thou wouldst excuse Hecodias thou shouldst have said Herodias's Daughter her Dancing Heel from being a cause of the Baptist's Death to cover thy Work withal thou maist know this Cloak is too short for though Herod's Heart was evil not only for marrying Herodias but also in Imprisoning John for reproving him for it as many in these days both do Evil and Imprison the Servants of the Lord for telling them of it I say though Herod's Heart was evil and temptable yet her Dancing Heel as thou calls it was as a Devil to tempt him to that rash Vow at that time for it 's manifest by his Unwillingness of answering her Demand for John's Head that he had no desire of his Death at least at that time though he had put him in Prison And so my Exhortation to thee in Truth and not Hypocrisie is to give over thy Dancing work for as I said before so I say again it is not of God and so it cannot prosper nor that Gain or Pleasure that comes to thee or any others from it And hate good Counsel no longer for it will be hard for any to kick against the Pricks of God's Reproof Thomas Taylor To the Fruitless Vineyard of England OH ye Blood-suckers which hunt after Blood which lay Tracks and Snares to slay the Righteous Oh what a Profession is this that you live in that are so full of Fury and Rage some Mocking some Beating some Stocking some Stoneing some Plotting and laying wait to shed the Innocent Blood and yet you do make a Profession of God and Christ which Christ never taught that Doctrine and there you shew your selves to be as Bloody Persecutors as ever the Jews were who Crucified Christ and sought to slay the Apostles Oh England England Is this the Fruit of thy Ministry Is this the Vineyard which thou hast planted Howl ye Vine-dressers Oh how is the Vineyard full of Briars Oh how is the Vineyard full of Thorns Oh how is the Vineyard full of dead Trees which cumber and bring forth no Fruit Oh how are the Springs stopped that should Water it with the Philistines Oh how full is the Vineyard of Serpents Oh how is the Vineyard full of Thistes Oh how is the Vineyard full of Weeds Oh how full is the Vineyard of Nettles Oh how full is the Vineyard of wild Beasts and of Trees that bear wild Grapes and sour Grapes which sets the Childrens Teeth on edge A time hath been and is that the pretended Dressers and Lookers to the Vineyard are blind and do not know one Tree from another and cannot distinguish a Lamb from a Dog a Sheep from a Goat a Dove from a Kite full is the Vineyard of Wolves strong Horses neighing and the Horses of Pharoah and his Chariots whirling up and down And the Vineyard is full of Thieves and Robbers and the pretended Watch-men are blind and cannot discern betwixt a True Man and a Thief but they call the Thief true Man and the true Man Thief they call Light Darkness and Darkness Light They call them who have come in at the strait Gate to Life and so come in at the Door these they call Thieves and Robbers and those who have never received the Word of the Lord from the Mouth of the Lord but are climb'd up another way and live in the broad way Pride and Covetousness and the Lust of the Flesh these they call the Messengers of God Oh how full is the Vineyard of Drunkards Drunk with the Wine of the sour Grape The Land is full of Oaths and mourns because of such that their Flesh is defiled the Land is full of Respecting of Persons which is a Transgression of the Law of God But now the Lord is risen and rising who respects no Man's Person and lays the Axe to the Root of the Tree Every one that brings not forth good Fruit must be hewen down and thrown into the Fire For now is the Lord sending Sons and Daughters and Servants into the Vineyard Spears are broken and turned into Pruning-hooks and Swords into Mattacks and Plow-shares Some are Plowing up and some are Hacking up and some are Pruning and some are dividing the Sheep from the Goats and the Lambs from the Dogs making a distinction and putting a difference and some are bridleing their Horses which have been wild and some are distinguishing the Kites from the Doves and putting a difference betwixt the Precious and the Vile betwixt the Holy and the Unholy Tremble Tremble Tremble ye Mountains and Hills before the Lord for out of Sion doth the Lord utter his Voice Wo Wo unto all
you that doth inhabit the Earth ye will be scattered as the Wind scatters the Chaff you will be consumed as the Fire consumes the Stubble for the mighty day of the Lord is coming which shall burn as an Oven look upon an Oven when it burns and you are afraid to go into it But the Fire of the Lord is coming which will burn you up Root and Branch The Mouth of the Lord hath spoken it who will perform his Word and none of you that are Proud and Wicked can escape it Though you may live a while in Pleasure and Wantonness now you have time prize it this is the day of your Visitation Thomas Taylor To the People of England O Ye People of England whose Iniquities are broken forth like the breaking of the Sea whose Mire and Filth appear in every place O what an evil Savour is come up in every place The Land stinks before the Lord because of the Abominations that makes desolate in every place Oh the filthy May-Poles that Heathenish thing how they stand up in every place some Naked some Painted and deck'd with Flowers Garlands Ribbons and such foolish things after the Custom of the Heathen of old that knew not God And Oh with what Shoutings abominable Drinkings foolish Dancings and Noises have they been brought in and set up in the Towns and Villages Oh poor naked England as if thou hadst lost all Taste and Savour of Christian Religion And what will the Heathens and Papists say when they hear the Report of thee and thy Children Old and young even mad after their Idols and none scarce any Courage left to help in these things the hands of all even as it were fallen down in thee and few but a company of hidden Mourners lay the things to heart that are ready to overwhelm thee Oh! the Cry the Cry of thy Sins O England is grown great and thou hast been often warned by the Lord God but thou hast not repented but even hardned thy Heart and fitted thy self for Destruction And what shall the Lord now do unto thee but even open the Flood-gates of his Vengeance and cause his Wrath to come upon thee Judgment upon Judgment Misery upon Misery till thou be brought low and be made very small and in the Dust it may be thou wilt remember the Lord and cry unto him But Oh! what Lamentation shall be taken up for thee and for thy Teachers in the midst of thee O wretched England For thy Teachers have also manifested themselves to every Eye to be a company of Self-seeking Men striving one with another about the Fleece but none helping or healing the Diseases and Wounds of the poor torn scattered Flock but every one cries Give Give they all look to their own way their Gain from their Quarter and fear not me saith the Lord God the best of them is as a Briar and the most Upright among them as a Thorn-hedge And now is the Lord arising and he that hath overcome is coming in his mighty Power to dash the Pot-sheards of the Earth together and break them one against another and Babylon the Great shall fall and be a place for Dragons and be no more inhabited by any Son of Man as the Lord hath said for ever So howl ye Wildernesses and rejoyce ye Fruitful Fields for the Lord hath visited Sion and comforted his Afflicted and the Kingdom shall be the Lord's and the Haughtiness of the World shall be humbled and the Loftiness of their Looks shall be brought low that the Lord God alone may be exalted for he is worthy And this is our Holy Hope and living Confidence and faithful Witness who are counted worthy of God to bear his Reproach amongst you O People under the name of Quakers So People cease striving against the Lord and his Witness in you and devise not Evil against the Innocent but fear the Lord and in time repent lest his Fury brâ—â—k in upon you and his fiery Judgments be multiplied upon you which none can stop or quench for yet the day of your Visitation is not wholly past Thomas Taylor God's Controversie with England declared Or A Warning-Word by way of Reproof to the Inhabitants thereof even to such as Forget God and are adding one Sin unto another UPon the second Day of the fifth Month 1661. as I Travelled under the Burdens of the People the Lord God of everlasting Power Glory Wisdom and Righteousness said unto me with a strong hand write my Controversie with this Rebellious People of England who are Wise to do evil but to do good will have no Knowledge who proceed from evil to worse and Fear not me at all saith the Lord God whose Iniquities are greatly increased against me and to such a height do the Floods of their Vngodliness make haste to arise that all the Measures will be quickly full And then Woe Woe unto them saith the dreadful and holy One. For thus saith the Lord I will Overturn Overturn until you wicked and profane multitude be no more Even until you O People whose Ears are wholly shut against the good be consumed and brought to nothing For your Iniquities do burden my Righteous Soul saith God and Sodom was not more grievous to me than you are For O what studying and striving is in thy Multitude how they may exceed in their Vanities in their Riotings Drinkings Revelings and Heathenish Abominations Hath not my Soul considered saith God what you have done both the last Year and this under pretence of honouring your King What do you think by dishonouring Me to honour your King You and your King if he allow of your doings will I severely Judge saith the Lord God except ye speedily Repent and all look better to your Ways than hitherto you have done O consider this ye forgetters of God ye filthy hearted People how have ye made the Land to stink before me with your Abominations O I have seen saith God how wickedly and with a high hand as it were in despight of me you set up your May poles that accursed thing the last Year and I warned you of it and called ye to Repentance but as if I had said nothing you have doubled your wickedness in the same thing this Year also to provoke my Soul to arise up against you to your hurt And the Beâ—som on the top of some of them signifies that I will sweep the Land of evil doers And surely it shall come to pass that if ye will not yet repent of your wickedness that I will plague you with the Plagues of Egypt and I will do such things amongst you in my Judgment and fury poured forth that the Nations about that hear thereof shall stand amazed at thee O Revolted and Back-slided Nation whither at thou gone already and whither wilt thou run if thou be suffered to go on Into the Pit that thou art stept already and into the nether most Hell thou wilt fall if I let thee
alone But I will arise saith God I will execute Righteous Judgment in thee with fire and sword will I plead with thee and thy mighty Men shall fall with thee who sing thy Song and take part with thy Lewdness and strengthen thy ungodly hands in thy wicked ways and say in their hearts O this is a good day these are good Subjects this is the time we have long looked for now we reign now we may do what we will and who shall controul us who who shall hinder us from filling our selves with all manner of delights now we are settled in our way now will we Build our decayed Houses and Restore our fallen Worships now will we Repair the broken Fences of our Parks that we may have Game to the full now shall our Horses be well fed for the Race that they may fully please us now let the Cock-Pits be looked to for that cruel Sport and let our Bowling-Alleys be well Dressed for our daily Recreation now shall the Stage-players for our delight have their full Liberty and all the Sons of Vanity have due Encouragement for the Old things we Love and that which is New though never so much the Better our souls Loath We like the Old Ways of our Fathers because when they had Lord-Bishops and their Minister Services with Mattens and Evensongs with Organs and Singing-boys and such like Things then there was Peace and Plenty and when the Neighbourhood could meet together and sit about a Bone-fire or May-pole or under a Bower and drink strong Drink and tell Stories and Sing and Roar then there was Love and Agreement And when Plays and Pastimes and Wakes were duly frequented and observed then was it a Merry Time and a Joyful Land and all went well in all those Days when such Things were on foot And when those that said they scared the Lord and so could not join with us but rather Witnessed against us and Reproved us for such Things were taken a Course withal O then was it a good Day say many And as it was then so would we have it now saith your vain and wicked Hearts O ye fallen Sons and Daughters of Adam And I see you saith the Lord God with both your bands endeavouring these Things and abusing my Power if possible to set up the Devil's Kingdom with it And thus quite contrary to my Ordinance saith the Lord are you become as a Terrour to the Good and â—n Encouragement to them that do Evil and mine Eye seeth you right well and my Heart considereth you thorowly and I cannot Love you for Prophaneness and Hypocrisie is your Covering and you are as the cloaths of a Menstruous Woman in my sight Away with your vain Worships saith God my soul loaths your Sabbaths and Services thereon yea your Sacraments are a burden to me I hate your Prayers Praises Professions and Confessions for you mend not your lives and doings at all I will stir up my Jealousie and it shall kindle like flames of fire upon you and utterly consume the joy of your Hearts and for joy the bitterest of sorrows shall seize upon you and you shall become a burden to your selves except you speedily Repent and turn to the Lord God from whom you are far gone away For I have a long time held my Peace saith the Lord but now I will cry like a Travelling Woman I will destroy and devour at once I will lay waste the Mountains and the Hills because they have not answered my Power with fruits of Righteousness to me And the Multitudes of People who are as Grashoppers in thy Bowels devouring every green thing and spending my Creatures upon their Lusts not regarding my Glory at all shall be as heaps of Fuel for the fire of my Jealousie and it shall kindle upon them and none shall quench it neither shall it cease burning till I have consumed thy Dross and appeased my Wrath in the Consumption of thy Wicked Ones saith the Lord God For Tophet is prepared of old for the Purposes of my Heart according to the Scriptures saith the Holy One through his Servant Thomas Taylor A Faithful Warning to Outside Professors and Loose Pretenders to Christianity of all sorts COme all ye Professors of Scripture upon the Face of the whole Earth under what form soever what have ye learned hitherto of all ye profess Have ye learned to Fear God and keep his Commandments Have ye learned thus to Love God And do you love your Neighbour as your selves Do ye not profess to love God above all things and your Neighbour as your selves Is this done What will a profession of words commend you to God where the Obedience is a wanting O thou that art called Christendom how art thou fallen How art thou become the Plant of a degenerate Vine How are thy Grapes become as those of Sodom who shall bring healing to thee who hast rejected the Balm of Gilead that the Father brought to thee O thou foolish Child how hast thou trifled out thy precious Time about Toys and Trifles and hast not regarded the Voice of thy Maker who hath waited all day long to gather thee and to do thee good but thou wouldst not Thou hast chosen the worse part in that thou hast forsaken the Lord the Fountain of Living Waters and hast hewed and chosen to thy self a Cistern that will hold no Water Thou art gone into the ways of the Old World upon whom the Flood came And which of those Sins for which Sodom burned are a wanting in thee O! the pure River of Life that would quench thy Thirst how is it slighted and neglected by thee and therefore art thou utterly unsatisfied in whatsoever thou dost or attempts to do Thou art never able to satiate thy Soul with husks Thou must come into the Father's House before thou hast Bread enough But thou say'st in thy Heart Thou art a Queen yea That thou art Rich and indued with Goods and hast need of nothing When as alas in the true Light thou art seen to be Miserable Poor Wretched Blind and Naked A long Course hast thou run but the promised end thou hast not reached Thou hast been like a bewildred Sheep running from Mountain to Hill to find a resting place where no rest is Thou camest indeed a little out of Egypt But O! how soon didst thou turn back again thither from whence thou came and loved the Flesh-Pots of Egypt yea the Onions and Garlick better than God's Manna in the Wilderness Thou should'st have followed the Lord perfectly unto the Land of Rest in Patience and silence of Spirit under his voice and teachings But thou grew weary of waiting upon thy God and saw Images of things on Earth and Images of things in Heaven and bowed thy Heart to them and didst not keep thy Heart to the power that broke thro' the Darkness for thee Nor didst thou keep thy Eye to the Light of Life that freely shined out of Darkness for to
have guided thee through the dark howling Wilderness to Sion But thou being careless and felfish thou lent thy Ear to the voice of the Stranger and cryed Lo here and Lo there and so wast thou led out of the Way into By-Paths of Sin and Death where thou hast been lost from the true Life and true Light and Spirit that wrought in thee in the beginning And thou hast not to this day throughly considered thy loss nay very little is thy Nakedness and Wretchedness laid to Heart in thee And now therefore thou that art called Christendom What is the Wood of thy Vine seeing thou hast left off to bear Fruit to the Lord better than the Wood of another Tree nay it is not so good as any For if the Salt that should season other things have lost its Savour wherewith shall it be salted and of what use is it but even to be trodden under Feet of Men. O! that thou wert wise to consider at least in this thy day the things of thy Peace in this great Day wherein the Bridegroom which hath been as one travelled into a far Country is come again and is appeared in his ancient Love Power and Perfection to visit thee and to seek thee out of every place where thou hast been scattered through Sin in the long Night of Apostacy to see if any of the pure Love that was in thee in the day of thy Espousals may be recovered to himself that he may know how to do thee good and how to make manifest his ancient love unto thee which bowed the Hearts of his simple Israel into such love of his goodness as to follow the Lamb wheresoever he went in the beginning But O! thou polluted Woman how art thou wandred away from the true Sheep-fold How art thou gone a whoring from thy God! How art thou covered with the shades of Night And how art thou lost amongst the Countries and mingled with the Heathen yea thou hast chosen thy own ways and worshipped the works of thy own Hands and hast cast the pure Law of God behind thy back Yea the Light of the Glorious Gospel of Christ which hath shined to thee and would have gathered thee up to God thou hast rejected and hast not liked to retain God nor his Light in thy Knowledge And so thou art become vain in thy Mind and thy foolish Heart is become so dark that thou worships thou knows not what like those that know not God and art become a Prey to every Beast of the Field and art bowed in thy Heart to the Creatures more than to the living God the Creator And therefore will he arise in great Majesty and dreadful Power and will yet again bring to pass his Act his strange Act in thee And he will not meet thee as a Man but as a consuming Fire Because thou hast rejected his Goodness Patience and Forbearance And hast heaped to thy self Teachers after thy own Heart who have rocked thee asleep with their false Voices crying Peace Peace when there was no Peace for there is no Peace to any wicked one saith the true God profess what they may For the Lord is come to look for Fruits And now Wo Wo to the Fruitless Trees to the Briars and Thorns for the Fire of the Lord God will consume them And now will the Lord God bring to nothing all thy Might Wisdom Glory and Greatness whereby thou host exalted thy self and dishonoured him and the Meek shall Inherit Heaven and Earth And blessed is he that overcometh that Evil and wicked Spirit that so much reigns and rages in thee for he shall be called God's Son and shall Inherit all things as saith the Scripture For the end cometh And who shall stop the course of the everlasting Sun of Righteousness whose Day is dawned blessed for evermore O thou Corrupted Earth who wallows in the Blood of thine Iniquity who art become Deaf to the Heavenly Voice and art become an Enemy to nothing so much as to that good thing that would unburden thee of thy Corruptions O O how hath Hell inlarged it self for the multitude of those wilful Transgressors in thee that are posting on in their sins this day to the Chambers of Death who are making Provision for the fleshly Lusts which War against the Soul who will not believe what their miserable State shall be though one come from the dead to declare it in true Experience to them But O thou little Remnant of Wheat amongst such a heap of Chaff O thou lovely Seed of God which brings forth Fruit of Righteousness to his Glory and so shines forth as Lights in the fore-said dark World Do thou rejoyce and be thou glad for ever in the Lord thy Saviour who hath loved thee with an everlasting Love and by his Arm of Power hath raised thee up to be his Servant and hath gathered thee into his Bosom of Safety to lie down and rest in Peace with himself for evermore So be it even so be it saith the Spirit and the Bride So do thou O Lovely Holy Seed begotten to God in Righteousness do thou trust â—nd rejoyce in the Lord thy God for ever And be not troubled nor dismay'd at the roarings of the Waters of Babylon but be still be still be at rest and Peace in the Arms of the Lord God Almighty blessed blessed for evermore From a Lover of God's Everlasting Truth Thomas Taylor PEOPLE THIS know that the Entrance into Righteousness is the Only and Alone Entrance into the Kingdom of God and there is not another Christ is God's Righteousness and so the Door He that entereth not in by me saith Christ is a Thief and a Robber So see all People where you are I am the Way the Truth and the Life also saith Christ and no Man cometh to the Father but by me So consider all People Is Christ your Way And is nothing Truth to you like Christ And have you a Life in nothing at all as in Christ Deal honestly with your own Souls and deceive not your selves for God will not be mocked Bring your Deeds to the Light and seek not to hide your Sins from the Lord For there is nothing secret which shall not be made manifest Drunkard bring thy Deeds to the Light Thou knowest by the Light thou shouldst not be Drunk nor spend God's Creatures upon thy Lust Here thou hast learned thy Condemnation and the Wrath of God abides upon thee in this Condition profess what thou may'st And all thy Prayers and Performances are Abomination to the Pure God whilst thou abidest in the Lust of Drunkenness for it defiles And all ye Vnclean-hearted Ones who burn in your Lusts one towards another and are as the Brute Beasts who know neither Guide nor Rule over your Minds but are in the Evil Liberty to follow your own Evil Hearts Bring your Deeds to the Light and it will let you see you should not be so It will tell you That the
Vnclean shall not enter God's Kingdom and without Holiness none can see God Here ye may see your Way to be to the Chambers of Hell and Death and not to Christ And all ye Swearers Vain and Obscene Talkers and Foolish Jesters whose Tongues run through the World And as you know no Limit to your Lusts so you know no Bridle to your Tongue Your Religion is vain Jam. 1.26 Bring your Deeds to the Light there you may read your Condemnation For there is that in your Conscience tells you according to Scripture that for every idle vain unclean or prophane Word â—hat Men shall speak they must give Account thereof to the Pure and Just God in the Day of Judgment How then ye Guilâ—y and be humbled for your Sins lest that Day come suddenly upon you as a Thief in the Night and sweep you all away as it did the Old Woâ—ld who regarded not the Day of their Visitation but went on in their Sins until there was no Remedy Awake awake ye Dead and Careless-hearted who put the Day of the Lord afar off and cry Peace when there is no Peace For what Peace to the Wicked There is no Peace to the Wicked saith the true God but Peace only upon Zion and to such as turn from Iniquity in Jacob. So let not one take the Name of Christ in their Mouth any more until they depart from Iniquity For such as go on in the Custom and daily Practice of Sin and yet think to cover themselves with and Outward Profession of Christ do but deceive themselves and increase their Condemnation adding Sin to Sin This is God's Truth which he that hath an Ear let him hear and he that hath any Desire in him to return to God let him consider of and give Glory to God by Repenting of that which doth any way dishonour God Also this know for truth That your Invented Licentious Gaming for Vain Delights and Pleasures is not of God but an Invention of that Wicked One who is called the Devil and Satan Invented to please the Vain and Empty Minds of his Children and Servants which are out of the Law and Truth of God But the Children and Servants of God are full of Goodness and are exercised in the Law and Truth of God Day and Night and so deny the Devil and his Works So let no Man deceive any of you neither be deceived in your selves for the Judge is at the Door And the True Light is arisen which makes manifest every Work and the Reward of it for Ever And all ye Stage-Players Puppet-Players and the Authors and Inventors of such things with all that love such Heathenish Things yea and give your Money for them that thereby ye may feed the Covetous Lusts in the Players that thirst after Money and the Vain Lust of your own defiled Eyes and Ears which are after Pleasures more than the Lord God that made you Know this That your Works are all weighed in an equal Ballance and by the Light of Christ you are all seen to be out of the Doctrine of Christ in the Heathenish Nature upholding and practising those things which Christ came to destroy Yea and by the Light of Christ in your own Consciences when you are a little sober and still in your Minds you know you should not do such things Here you also have learn'd your Condemnation and cannot in this State stand before the Lord because of your Sins And all ye that can please your selves with beholding one Creature hurt and torment another yea sometimes even to Death as at Bull baitings Bear baitings Cook fightings and the like O! what Minds have ye and how contrary are ye herein to the Tender Nature of Christ and all Christians truly so call'd who could never Rejoice in any such things by reason of their tender pitiful and merciful Nature O ye Children of Cruelty when will your Hearts break your stony Hearts melt into Tears before the Lord for all your mighty Sins And when will you bring your Deeds to the Light that ye may see the Ugliness of your Sins and repent of them lest the Judgments written fall upon you for them as it did upon all such from the beginning of the World and there be no escape O England England How hast thou defiled thy self by thine Iniquities How is the Flood-gate of Sin broken open in thee to the polluting of thy Land O how art thou wholly over-spread with Briars and Thorns and Weeds so that the Lord must arise to purge thee by Fire seeing thou hast refused to wash in that pure Water of Life that sprung up in thee So if thou hast an Ear hear before it be too late and the Door be shut Thomas Taylor YE Feasters ye Gamesters ye Drunkards and Gluttons ye False Christians whose God is your Belly and whose Care is how you may satisfie your Ungodly Lusts you are Enemies to the Cross of Christ Yea you Crucifie Christ afresh to your selves and put him to open Shame by your Lewd Living The Hand of the Lord is against you ye Prophane Esau's who have sold and are selling your Birth-right for a Mess of Pottage When will ye Awake when will ye Arise from off your sinful Bed where you cry Peace to your selves in your Sins When will ye lay to Heart the Apostle's Doctrine ye Common Sinners who proudly boast of your Common Prayers and yet depart not from your Iniquities Is not the Sacrifice of the Wicked an Abomination to God And will God regard your Prayers whilst you so love and regard your Iniquities and walk so contrary to the Doctrine of Christ Doth not the Apostle say Make no provision for the Flesh to satisfie it in the Lusts thereof and ye in a direct Opposition and Hatred to this Doctrine make all provision for the Flesh to fulfil and satisfie it every way in the Lust thereof And so your Table is as the Table of Devils and not of Saints and ye cannot both partake of the Table of Devils and the Table of Christ the Apostle being Witness So howl ye Sinners and Vngodly People and be humbled for all your Lewdnesses and repent of all your Whoredoms whereby ye have gone a Whoring from the Life of Christ and his Saints And let your Feastings be turned into Fastings and your Laughters and Merriments be turn'd into Lamentations and bitter Mournings for the Misery that is to come upon you from the Presence of the Lord in the Day of his Fierce Wrath which is nigh to come and be revealed upon you in Flames of Fire for all your mighty Sins O ye that are so contrary to Christ be humbled before the Lord for all your Hypocrisies who say You are come out of Popery and yet continue in some of their Idolatrous Customs as this Prophane keeping of the time which ye in Imitation call Christmas among other Superstitions whereby ye shew your selves to be too near of Kin to that Whorish Woman
caused me to be first called up and spoken to as being all along accounted the greatest Offender because God had pleased to make use of me in his Service more than of some others Judge He to wit the Judge asked me If I had considered of things Ans Yea and it 's my daily Work in Christ to keep my Conscience pure to God And I perceive what is purposed by you if I yield not to Man's Will contrary to that in my Conscience in this thing even the loss of what is called mine in the outward World c. But that Law was made against Papists c. Judge But not only against them And so caused that Stat. 7 Jac. to be read Ans But I look at the words of the Oath and it appears plainly it was made against them Yet I do not hear that it is executed against any of them now though they be the Parties thereby intended Judge You may be Jesuitical or so Ans Concerning Popery I have truly declared against it before and I have it under their own hand that we called Quakers are accounted by them their worst Adversaries And I have also by me to shew in seventeen main Particulars wherein we are made by the Truth to oppose them in their Way or Religion And so I say what thou dost against me consider and fear the Lord God for if thou be a means of taking that from me which my Wife and Children should outwardly live on and put it into the King's Treasures it will not be a Blessing there but a Curse for I openly declare that if I Suffer now upon this account or so it is for the Truths sake And so do what thou dost in the fear of the Lord. Judge Here he said faintly I hope I do and I am loath to do it Ans Mind that which makes thee loath to do it and it will never suffer thee to do it Yet notwithstanding this he broke through all and gave Sentence against the Innocent and so filled up his measure adjudging me to the loss of outward Estate Liberty or so and all this as is said meerly for Truths sake Then it came through me The Lord gives and the Lord takes away Blessed be the Name of the Lord. Then being spoken unto to go away from the Bar as I was going down it was fresh in me as from the Lord God to exhort them on the Bench c. to Repentance and to take heed of such Doings as these for which and the like a great Cloud of Judgments hang over the Land And so staying amongst the rest of the Prisoners till they were all dismissed and sending away it was further upon me from the Lord in the Peace of my Spirit and pitty to their Souls to look upon the great Multitude of People there present and to speak to them to mind the Fear of the Lord God and the Day of their Visitation and to turn to the Lord whilst they had time or so And for this Work of the Lord the Judge and some other great ones there were all so troubled and so I was commanded and carried away and down out of the Hall into the Street towards the Goal And then the Word of the Lord arose in me in great Majesty Dread and Power and went forth amongst the Multitudes of People there and to all People in the way to the very Goal door to let all Workers of Iniquity know of the dreadful and terrible Day of the Lord that is risen and arising and come and coming upon them to leave all without Excuse And to let those also that fear God know of the Love of God to their Souls And so I was received into Prison where I rest a Free-man of the Lord Jesus Christ Blessed for ever more The other three of my Brethren were Fined two of them Five Pounds a piece and the other Twenty Shillings because they had been together with some other Friends of the Truth at a Meeting to wait upon the Lord to hear his Voice and to Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem according to Scripture Something might be said also of the Nakedness and Wretchedness of their Judges and Prosecutors in their Proceedings against them in this Matter but hoping of their Repentance it may be let alone here The Fine for not putting off our Hats mentioned in the beginning it seems fell and came to nothing for we heard no more of it Thomas Taylor To the Jury men of Stafford that brought him in Guilty YOU that are to be the Jury to bring in that called the Verdict concerning the Servant of the Lord Thomas Taylor I say before you conclude any thing consider in the Fear of the Lord God of Heaven and Earth what you do You have heard things Debated and you may know and that in your Consciences will also tell you that I am not really Guilty of the Breach of that Law concerning that Oath called Allegiance For it was made as you may see expresly against the Papists who hold it seems such wicked things against Kings as is there expressed But you might or should hear that I declared against them yea and my Declaration was from the Truth of the Heart the Searcher of Hearts knows it And I also expressed my real Innocency and good Desires concerning the King and all Men Insomuch that the Judge himself confessed I had as it were confessed to the thing in the Substance And so you may see if I Suffer it is for Formalities and not for Substance For I believe that that Custom of Swearing upon and Kissing a Book was first invented in the Dark Time of Popery when Mens Minds were wholly as it were alienated from the Life and pure Knowledge of God and gone into Idolatry And so be not ye guilty of Sinning against God in this Matter Neither let any of you have a hand in Oppressing a Man and his House a Man and his Family For if you be wise you will see that taking that which God hath lent me in this World for the Service of my Outward Man and Family will not be a Blessing in the King's Treasures For it 's Righteousness upholds the King's Throne and nothing of the contrary So rests in the Will of God Thomas Taylor To King Charles the Second On the Third Day of the Fifth Month One Thousand Six Hundred Sixty and One in the Morning the Movings of God were in me to the effect following to Write AND now O Charles Stuart King in these Islands whose height is grown great and who art in the Heart of a Multitude as if thou wert some Deity unto thee and to thy Nobles thy Councils thy Parliaments thy Judges and Justices and all under Officers of that Nature Thy Bishops and Clergy so called and all Officers and under Officers of that Nature And to thy Captains of Hundreds and Thousands and all under Officers of that Nature unto you all saith the Son of God who is King
the People of God when we are gathered together to worship God in his own free Spirit as he hath taught us and not only speak to us but hawl and pull us hither and thither some one way some another without all Fear of God yea though you find us on our Knees praying to God or other wise preaching the Everlasting Gospel O how is it that you never seriously lay these things to Heart and smite upon your Thigh in Godly Sorrow saying What have we done How have we Transgressed God's Righteous Law How shall we stand before the Judgment-seat of Jesus Christ where all must appear as well the High as the Low Doth not Christ the Judge say Whatsoever ye would that Men should do to you even so do ye to them for this is the Law and the Prophets And therefore never boast of such a Law and Religion as is not one with the Law and Prophets of God to the Witness of God in you all I speak Would ye be done unto your selves as you do by us in the foresaid Business Nay nay we see by Experience the contrary And so you think to carry things on with a high Hand but God is higher than all therefore fear him for if you still go on offending against God who shall plead for you O say not within your selves We have Power and therefore who shall question us and controul us I say there is no true Power but of God and to him you must give Account for it and the true Power is for the praise and protecting of them that do so well as to Worship God in his Good Spirit and Truth as Blessed be the Lord we do and all our Adversaries never could nor never can make it appear to the contrary And so you that are in Power see that your Law be laid upon the Lawless and not upon the Innocent lest their Cry come up into the Ears of the Lord against you and your Power be taken from you for your Abuse of it for the Lord's Heart is for the Righteous and against the Evil-doers in all Generations without respect of Persons Rests your Soul's Friend though for my Good-will to you I be too much hated by you but for you I can say praised be the Lord Father forgive them they do not well know what they do Thomas Taylor So be not Proud for the Lord hath spoken and a Consumption from the Lord will certainly come upon all that will not know God nor be subject to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ To the Kings and Rulers O Ye Kings and Rulers of the Earth who profess the Name of God and Christ ought ye not to Rule for God and Christ to whom ye must give Account of your Stewardship And do you not read in the Scripture of Truth that it is said All Power in Heaven and Earth is given to Christ and he doth what he sees good in Heaven and Earth and all his Ways are Righteousness and Holiness for Ever and that without him ye can do nothing ought ye not therefore to take Counsel at his Spirit in all things and so to be very Careful that you do nothing against him nor his Children for this Lord Jesus Christ the Supream and Great Ruler over all hath a Generation of Just Men and Women upon the Earth who are his Children and as near and dear to him as the Apple of his Eye and he that offends the least of these offends against a Member of Christ's Body and he will Recompence Tribulation to such as Trouble them and every Knee to him shall bow for God respects no Man's Person he is higher than Agag and King Saul himself though he be taller by the Head than any Man in Israel must down if he disobey God's Voice and the Mighty Kingdom from Rehoboam must be rent if he take Counsel of the Wicked to Oppress God's Heritage and Great Nebuchadnezzar into a Beast shall be turned if he grow Proud and Rob God of his Honour and Overturned shall all Kingdoms be who Rule not in Righteousness for the Lord is determined that Truth and Righteousness-shall Rule and have Dominion upon the Earth and nothing else and that Nation and People that will not now submit to Truth 's Scepter shall come to nought And seeing the Apostle saith That such Magistrates as are God's Ordinance are a Terror to evil Doers and a Praise to such as do well Then whose are they that do altogether discourage the Good and encourage the Evil They must needs be of the Number of those for whom the Lord by his Prophet complains of against Israel saying They have set up Kings but not by me and Princes but I knew it not These Kings and Princes were such as set up and carried on Idolatry in those days and were even made glad with the Lyes of the False Priests and Prophets For in that day as Troops of Robbers waited for a Man so the Company of Priests murthered in the way by consent See Hos 6.9 And in the days of those Kings saith Daniel shall the Lord God of Heaven set up a Kingdom and it shall be for ever And ought not all People who profess Christ and hope to have Benefit and Comfort by his Appearance and Kingdom to search and see how they may come into Favour with this King and be Heirs of this Kingdom For behold I shew you a Mystery every Subject of this Kingdom is an Heir of this Kingdom Thomas Taylor Concerning his being taken Prisoner of seven Years Continuance THomas Taylor Prisoner of the Lord who oweth nothing but Love and Good-will to the Creation of God hath been a Sufferer here at Stafford for no Evil at all but because in Conscience to God he could not Swear above seven whole Years being taken as I was on my Journey with my Wife as I was going into Worcestershire to see a Son that we had Apprentice there and so the two Men called Justice Layn and Justice Pierchouse being put on it seems by a wicked Man came upon me as I was standing without the Door of a House at Tipton-Green where a few Friends and I had been for a little Season waiting upon God and so the Meeting being broken up and I with the rest of Friends ready to depart every one to their place and I on my Journey as is said they laid violent hands upon me and caused a Constable to search me as though I had been some dangerous Person when as the Lord knows I bore no Carnal Weapons for this four and twenty Years space neither did I Plot or Contrive an Evil to any Man in the least but have as much as in me laid sought the Good of all Men in Word and Deed. And yet for my Good Will was I thus apprehended as is said by the two Men before-named who since are both dead and by them forthwith committed to the common Goal at Stafford for not Swearing as is said
And so the same Spirit that so committed me could not be satisfied until it had seen me run to a Premunire as they call it for not Swearing though the Man called Judge Tirrel who did it confessed before all the Country I spoke or confessed the Substance of that Oath called the Allegiance yet premunired me for want of kissing the Book or saying I Swear I Swear or so which are but light Matters compared with the Substance For I told him and the rest that Popery I was against but not against the King or good Government of this Nation And therefore as the Lord hath so will he ever judge Righteously betwixt me and my Persecutors and bring the Wheel of his Judgments upon the Wicked his Enemies Thomas Taylor To the Mayor and Priest of Stafford WHAT Is the Mayor and Priest of Stafford both in a dead Sleep that neither Heart Hand nor Tongue is left either to punish or reprove open Wickedness and Prophaneness committed in the open Sun amongst them though both the Law of God and Man forbid the same What! Are not Players Bear-wards and such lewd and wicked Persons going about the Country and practicing their Wickedness as this day not only condemned by the Law of God the Light in all Consciences according to Holy Scripture but also in express words forbidden and punishable as Rogues and Vagabonds by the Laws of England see the Statutes 39 Eliz. 4. 1 Jac. 7. 1 Jac. 25. with 3 Car. 4. And yet for all this no stop put to them but even openly tolerated and cried up by the Multitudes of People in open Streets to the great Dishonour of God and Shame both of the Town and Nation when the Servants of the Lord cannot be suffered so openly to cry Repentance and declare God's Judgments against them and the like Abominations that are in the World And therefore may it not be well said of you as it was by Jeremiah the Prophet of old Chap. 10.21 The Pastors are become Brutish and have not sought the Lord therefore they shall not prosper and all their Flocks shall be scattered And Chap. 11.9 And the Lord said unto me a Conspiracy is found amongst the Men of Judah and among the Inhabitants of Jerusalem they are turned back to the Iniquities of their Fore-fathers which refused to hear my words And Isaiah 59.14 15. Judgment is turned away backward and Justice standeth afar off for Truth is fallen in the Street and Equity cannot enter Yea Truth faileth and he that departs from Evil makes himself a Prey and the Lord saw it and it displeased him that there was no Judgment So awake and arise and consider well of things and repent lest the Lord God come upon you in his fierce Wrath and Judgment for these and all your Sins whereby you have dishonoured him and the King and suffered your Neighbours to be unhelped when it was in the Power of your hand to have done it And what Christian Heart can endure to see one Creature tear and spill the Blood and torment one another and that for no cause but only to satisfie the Lusts of ungodly and lewd vain and cruel Minds of the Multitude Will not God punish for these things and his Soul be avenged on such a Nation as this as have even corrupted the Earth with their Abominations He that hath an Ear let him hear and fear Thomas Taylor Concerning the Fallen Christians BLUSH O Heavens and fear thou Earth for the Lord God will certainly bring forth his Judgments and plead the Cause of his Truth in Vengeance and Righteousness against an Hypocritical People and Wicked Generation scattered upon the Earth in several Countries who call themselves Christians and yet none more contrary to Christ in Heart and Life than they For they strengthen the Hands of the Wicked in all the World with their lewd Practices and cause the Name of Christ to be Blasphemed by their evil Doings They surpass the Deeds of the Wicked and exceed all the Heathen that ever went before them for they Eat and Drink to the highest Excess of Gluttony and Drunkenness and Apparel themselves to the greatest Measure of Pride and Vanity that ever was Their Inventions how to please themselves and satisfie one another's ungodly Lust are innumerable and the Burden of their Covetousness Unreasonableness Oppressions Uncleannesses Prophaneness Superstitions Foolishness Sports Pleasures Pastimes and Unchristian Doings is too heavy for God long to endure yea and that which serveth to fill up yea to make the Measure of their Iniquities to overflow is their Hatred and Persecutions of the Righteous that are amongst them And therefore now again doth the Lord God say the second time Ah! I will ease me of mine Adversaries and be avenged of mine Enemies and will cause the Arm of my Power to rest upon them and the Power of my Jealousie and Wrath to consume them until they know and acknowledge their mighty Sins and be unfeignedly humbled and repent before me for them For their Iniquities are Grievous and I am weary with forbearing saith the Lord of the whole Earth God over all to be dreaded for ever who will shiver in sunder the Hearts of the Stubborn Wicked his Enemies and they shall fall and never rise again So be it O glorious Lord God for the raising up of thy own Dear Seed out of the great Captivity faith my Spirit Thomas Taylor To the Vain People of the World TO all the vain People of the World of what sort soever that go up and down the Country with their Vain Shews Tricks and Foolish Inventions to deceive the People for filthy Lucre by drawing their Minds from God A warning from the Lord unto you all howl howl the day of your Captivity and Scattering and Desolation is at hand the Lord will be terrible to you for you have long grieved his good Spirit burdened his Seed and deceived the People so that you are grown fat full and most careless and forgetful of God and all Goodness but the Lord will thin you and empty you and judge you in his Wrath as a Company of deceived and deceiving Men whose Minds the God of this World hath blinded that you see not the Gospel of God nor the good things thereof which so much concern the good of your Immortal Souls but you have chosen the God of this World that wicked One who Rules in all the Children of Disobedience to be your Guide and Teacher and the Gain of Sin before Goodness you have preferred and chosen to your great hurt and the Lord hath often called you to Repentance but the Custom of Sin and the filthy Lucre coming thereby hath so blinded your Minds and hardned your Hearts that you have not set your Hearts to seek the Lord unto his Day but cries Peace to your selves in your Sins where there is no Peace so if things of you that can hear and believe consider and lay things to Heart before it
be too late for this is the day of the Visitation from a Servant of God and Lover of your Souls Thomas Taylor An Exhortation to all People O People where is your ascending with Christ who are not yet arisen up out of your earthly and vain Conversation What benefit can you have by any thing of Christ whilst you remain Strangers to the Life of Christ in the broad way of the World Are you not in the broad way of the World whilst your Lives are wholly fashioned to the course of the World Your observing of a Day and calling it Holy will do you no good so long as you abide in your old wonted Unholiness and Sins So seeing Christ is not only risen and ascended but also come again by his blessed Spirit as he promised to gather his Saints to himself Arise consider see where you are and fear the Lord and repent of all your false Ways and Worships lest you be eternally shut out of his blessed Kingdom withall Hypocrites who in Words profess Christ but in Deeds deny him rests a Lover of your Souls Thomas Taylor To the Teachers and Magistrates of Tamworth O Ye Magistrates Teachers Fathers and Masters of the People of this Town of Tamworth How is it that in all this long Profession of Christian Religion you are not come to a better sence and feeling in your Hearts than to suffer if not to countenance this vain and foolish Custom of Ringing and Jangling of Bells and especially in your House of Worship to the grief and burdening of the good Spirit of God and the tender Souls of God's People who are redeemed from such Vanities O! consider consider how you will give account to God for your Selves and the People especially the Young-Men who are so greatly Corrupted and kept from God by such Practices for they seeing you that are Rulers over them suffering of them if not delighted with it they go on perswading themselves that they do no Evil in spending their precious Time and Strength upon such Vanities For it 's manifest that all such as are exercised in such Vanities spending several Hours in them and that so often delight in them and are Lovers of Pleasures more than Lovers of God and so no Friends but Enemies to the Gospel of Peace so Repent all and turn to the Lord 's tender Spirit of Light and Life and suffer it to have Place and Rule in in you and it will not suffer you to live in such things as these which not the true God but the Evil Spirit of this wicked World hath set up and keeps up to the Dishonour of God and Blemish of the Profession you make Rests a Lover of your Souls and a Witness for God against all vain Inventions Thomas Taylor To Sinful People AH sinful People who in the blindness of your Hearts and unbelief are scattered upon the face of the whole Earth from God's Way into the ways of Destruction whose Delights is not at all in the Law of the Lord neither are you afraid of the Judgments of our God the pure and holy One who Dwelleth in unspeakable Glory and powerful Majesty whose Voice is uttered amongst you and of whose terrible Judgments for Sin poured forth upon the Generations of the Wicked from whose Loyns you are sprung you cannot be wholly Ignorant you are a corrupt Seed a People in whom the Lord God of Heaven can have no delight for in the ways of God which are Holy you delight not but in your own ways which are altogether Corrupt you daily defile your selves Hear the Word of the Lord God ye Rebellious ones the Day of the Lord 's fierce Wrath is nigh to come upon you his Soul loaths all your Meetings yea your best Works are Abomination to him your Prayers and Praises of your Temple are Sin your Weddings Joy and Mirth is brutish as your Lusts are from which they proceed you Buy and Sell and Marry and Meet together to Worship and all in the Accursed Thing the Nature of the wicked One which Christ came to destroy and yet you are not ashamed to say Did not Christ Institute our Marriages and our Religion Ah foolish People when will you learn Wisdom When shall Folly depart from ye When shall the pure Voice of God and his Wisdom be heard which cries to you for Repentance in the Streets in your Hearts and in all your Meetings What will you make of Christ Was he or is do you judge such a one altogether as your selves are Does his Spirit delight in your Pipings Dancings Drinkings Ramblings Fooleries unbridled Tongues vain Religion Is there any Time now left by him for such Things Nay verily ever since he suffered upon the Cross and ascended into Glory the Times of the World's Mirth he hath put to an end and for ever condemned it and your Glory is no more neither shall ever your sinful Hands find that any more that shall help you but now you are called into the Cross of Christ to deny your selves and forsake the Vanities and Wretchednesses ye delight and live in and ye are exhorted to enter in at the strait Gate and so to follow Christ in the Regeneration and new Life where the Vanities of the World are judged and put off with its false Flattering Religion and double Tongue that would deceive God with the Lord Lord in the words when the Heart is after every evil Lust and the works of the Devil daily brought forth amongst you to his Dishonour Now you are again warned to remember it and now you have time to Repent in prize it lest the Door be shut And unto you O wretched Men the Teachers of this People who have caused them to err by your Lies and by your Lightness and by your destroying wrestings of Scripture who have received here of this vain People and who receive Honour from this wretched Multitude and they call you Masters and you receive it and indeed their Masters you are and lead them Captive at your Will after your blind Doctrines and Practices to where they are even Strangers with you to the Life Food The Piper or Fidler brings you a couple of Carnal People to the Steeple-House and they come in to you to be Wedded and in a few deceitful Words you join them together for filthy Lucre and says Whom God hath joined together let no Man seperate and then you send them forth again with their Train and the vain Man the Fidler or Piper or Waits who brought them to you receives them again and goes with them to the place of Feasting Drunkenness and Sportings where the great God of Heaven and Earth and Jesus Christ his Son is most highly Dishonoured with old and young all the Day and Night after if not longer and thus Lust begins the Match and Lust carries it on and finishes it and you are all but dead Men in God's sight with all your doings and will you call this a joining in the
Lord and the Honourable Marriage O Blasphemous Men how dare ye so Blaspheme the glorious Name of God shall you never be judged for these things yea verily the Lord will require a strict Account for it is now Day time and you Sin in the Day after Warning and so your Sins are the greater and the Judgment will be accordingly And as you begin with the People so you lead them on with their corrupt Seed bringing that also into your cursed Covenant by sprinkling with earthly Water which washes away the Sin but the Lord God is separating ye all to the Sword and you shall be a Prey to his Wrath and his Servants who now Mourns for you and thus Warns you shall rejoice for ever even so Lord Jesus Amen and Amen Thomas Taylor To the Children of Men. O Ye Children of Men doth not the Eye of the Lord God behold all your Doings and doth he not see all your studyings how to satisfie and fulfil the Lusts and Desires of your own evil Hearts Is not all your Gaming 's Sportings and Mispendings of your precious Time known to him And when he beholds your Cock-Pits your Bowling-Allies your Play-Houses and the like places of Vanity doth not his Soul abhor them that spends the Creation in making and setting up such things and that lets forth his Heart in delight after the things there practised O how is the Lord dishonoured by such doings Did Christ come into the World to hold up such things or to pull them down and will you profess Christ and keep up those things which he came to destroy O blush for shame and lay your Hand upon your Mouth and never boast of your Religion more until you leave off your Vanities and Iniquities For because of the Evil of your Doings will the Lord plead with you and all the Children of Vanity And the Wicked shall not be able to stand before him in this day of his Wrath that is come and coming upon all the Earth to consume the Sinners out of it For the Lord hath a Controversie with the whole Earth and by the Fiery Sword of his glorious Mouth will he get himself the Victory And not by the Sword of either Great or Mean Men shall the Earth be purged from her Dross He that hath an Ear let him hear and repent of the Evil of his Doings For he that goeth on in Sin after the Admonition of Truth shall not prosper saith the Spirit Thomas Taylor To the Fencers O Ye Fencers and Sword-Players vain Men How will you Fence off or defend your selves from the Judgments and Wrath of God that is to come upon you for your Sins O what a Company you gathered together Yesterday for your own filthy Lucre sake to the Dishonour of God and wounding of all your poor Souls in the sight of God! O the Wickedness of these Times and Evils of these Evil Days And what O ye People the Lovers and Beholders of these Vanities will you not see the Evil of your Doings one Day gather together into that you call your Church in a presence of Worshipping God and the very next Day found assembled together with Drums into the County House to see the Heathenish Actings of Two vain Men with Naked Swords which amongst Christians should be put up into their Sheath What Abomination is this to see a Town and a Country gathered together and that not of the Meanest of the People to give their Money and spend their Time to see Two vain Men Fight for a Wager as they pretend and yet in Hypocrisie too to get the People's Money and especially in these hard Times when many poor Souls have not a Penny to buy them Bread withal Will not God Judge for these things Will not God's Soul be avenged on such a Nation as this Yea sure he will and plenty in abundance of Drums and Naked Swords may you hear and see to your astonishment And that in earnest to waste and cut down a Proud Wicked Gainsaying and Hypocritical People Howl ye Priests the Head of all this Vileness who have taught the People to be Heathens and to delight their Hearts in things which God's Soul hateth Howl ye Magistrates who have born the Sword in vain and have not withstood the doings of the Wicked but have suffered them to act their Abominations in the chief Places of your Towns even before your Judgment-Seats Howl all ye People high and low who are Upholders of and Delighters in the vain Inventions and Heathenish Works of all sorts of Wicked Men and your Hearts are secretly departed from the Living God so that your delight is not in any of his Ways The Lord's Controversie is with you and he will certainly ease himself of you and all his Adversaries as saith his Spirit in his Servant Thomas Taylor Concerning Sprinkling HEAR O ye Priests and harken O People for the Lord hath a Controversie with you because of the Evil of your Doings your Gatherings together are for the worse and not the better and the Lord can smell no Sweet Savour in your Feasts because of his Name which is Holy which you so much take in vain at such times as these For when you tell of Christning a Child and Regenerating it and making it an Heir of God's Kingdom by such your Doings you deceive your selves and the Infant greatly And so when in words you seem to give Thanks to God for doing that which he neither doth nor never promised to do by such a means Do you not greatly dishonour him and take his Name in vain The Apostle Peter saith It is not the washing away of the filth of the Flesh but the answer of a good Conscience in the Resurrection of Jesus that Savâ—s But what answer can the little Child have at present who is sensible of no such thing And for your selves your own words do daily bear witness against you to be an Unsaved People for you say You do that you should not do and leave undone what God commands and that there is no Health in you And this not only in such Doings as this at this time but also in the whole Course of your Lives you make good For the Lord I say that he never required this at your hands to wit To take a little Water and sprinkle it on a little Infants Face and then to say that thereby it is made a Member of Christ a Child of God and Inheritor of the Kingdom of Heaven And the Scripture no where saith any such thing and so you have no ground in the Truth for such a thing nor for your Godfathers and God-mothers as you in your Blindness call them to promise that for the Child which you never did perform for your selves to this day as is manifest for to that of God in your Conscience I speak When did you forsake the Devil and all his Works Pomps and Vanities of this wicked World and all the sinful Lusts and Desires of
Christ or â—o minister to his in any for to that they are Strangers but to commend themselves to fallen Man's Wisdom for Self-advantage and to gather People into several Forms and out side Professions and Observations where all sorts of Sinners are taught to say Lord Lord but never a one to do the Will of God perfectly from the Heart and so they build up Babel the City of Confusion where there is like Priest like People the Teachers living in Sin and the People that follow them living in their Sins always learning never learned to worship God aright For the Teacher being blind through his Ignorance of God and Christ he must needs lead them that follow him from God into the Ditch And of this sort were they in Christ's time that loved to be called of Men Master fair Sayers but evil Doers who loved the Praise of Men and their Greetings in the Market and their chief and high places in their Feasts and Synagogues and loving for this end to go in long Robes and costly Apparel outwardly appearing beautified to the Worlds eye but inwardly full of Pride Covecousness Vncleanness the Spirit of Persecution and all manner of Vnrighteousness as one may read in the 23d Chapter of Matthew and other places of Scripture where Christ had to do with the false spirited Rabbies in his day whom he compares to Graves painted Tombs Serpents and Vipers who shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against Men and neither entred in themselves nor suffered others but did what they could to hinder those that were entring And of such Christ gave his Disciples warning to take beed in time to come and told them though such Wolves should get the Sheeps cloathing on them to wit the good words yet they should not trust them but should know them by their Fruits And so the Tree that is by Nature a Thorn and a Thistle hath manifested its Fruit and by their Fruit the Children of Light now know them and according to Christ's will avoid them And of this sort are they that not only in the days of Christ withstood him but even the same that in all Ages withstood his Spirit and Work as at this day For with such earthly-spirited Teachers it was that the Prophet Jeremiah's Heart was so broken in his day as one may read all along the 23d Chapter of his Prophesie and of whom in his fifth Chapter he so grievously complains saying A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the Land The Prophets Prophesie falsly and the Priests bear rule by their means and the People love to have it so And therefore Destruction from the Lord came upon them all And these Teachers said still in their lying earthly Spirit that Jerusalem though sinful should have Peace and that no Evil should come upon them People though they walked every Man after the Imagination of his own evil Heart Jer. 23.17 And of this sort were they that the Lord sent his Prophet Micah to cry against saying Thus saith the Lord concerning the Prophets that make my People to err that bite with their Teeth and cry Peace and he that putteth not into their Mouths they even prepare War against him Therefore Night and Darkness came upon them and the Vision ceased from them in the just Judgment of God For a self-end was in all their Work and the dead Fly of Covetousness corrupted all As one may read at large in the third Chapter of his Prophesie Verse 5 c. And of this sort are they that Isaiah the Prophet of God in his time so grievously complains of also as one may read in the 96th Chapter of his Prophesie saying Verse 9 c. All ye Beasts of the Field come to devour yea all ye Beasts of the Forest his Watch-men are blind greedy c. all looking for their own way every one for his Gain from his quarter c. And against this sort of earthly-spirited Teachers it was that God sent his Prophet Ezekiel to cry Wo against saying Wo to the Shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves should not the Shepherds feed the Flock Ye eat the Fat and ye cloath you with the Wool ye kill them that are fed but ye feed not the Flocks And so the God of this World through Pride and Covetousness had so blinded their Eye and corrupted their Hearts that they had neither Will nor Skill to help nor heal the poor diseased sick broken scattered Souls of their Hearers and therefore the Lord was glad to put them aside as Physicians of no value and became the Teacher of his People himself as one may read in the 34th Chapter of his Prophesie throughout Glory to the Lord who hath fulfilled his Promise to his Israel this day and is become the Teacher of his People himself whereby they come to be truly profited as it is written I the Lord thy God teach thee O Israel to profit But the fore-mentioned Teachers who have run in their Wills for Self-ends and the Lord never sent them could never profit People at all And as Christ Jesus the Lord and his true Prophets in former times were trouble and opposed by such Hirelings So also the true Apostles of Christ did not escape the Trials and Oppositions of that deceitful Spirit by which they were acted For such saith Paul are false Apostles deceitful Workers Satan's Ministers transforming themselves into the likeness of the Apostles of Christ 2 Cor. 11. Some of these were already come in his day And I know saith he that after my departure grievous Wolves shall come in among you not sparing the Flock Also of your own selves shall Men arise speaking perverse things to draw away Disciples after them Acts 20.29 c. And as the Kingdom of Antichrist grew these perverse things were established for Doctrine by a Law For the very Name of Antichrist holds forth a Spirit opposing it self to every appearance of Christ and of his Holy Spirit and Anointing in Man The true Apostles and Ministers of Christ drew the Soul from Men and self unto Christ and his Anointing in them to know that to teach them But these and all other False Teachers draw from Christ and his Anointing within to look at Flesh and Form without which perfects not at all to God And of this sort also are they saith the same Paul which creep into Houses understand the great stone Houses called Churches as well as others and lead captive silly Women laden with sins led away with divers Lusts ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the Truth 2 Tim. 3. Of this sort saith Paul as shall come in the last perilous times even Lovers of their own selves Covetous Boasters Proud Blasphemers Vnholy who say they are Christians but are not so in truth Fierce c. having the Form of Godliness but denying the Power thereof and these he exhorted true Believers to turn from and so in Obedience to God those now who
which sets the Soul free from all Sin for how should People ever come to the Knowledge of the Truth by following such Teachers as are out of the Truth For if the Blind lead the Blind must they not both fall into the Ditch Also seeing you profess the Scripture and not unwritten Traditions to be your Rule and would have People to believe that what you do is according to Scripture therefore it 's demanded in a few words further 1. What Scripture have you for your Sprinkling of Infants and Signing them with the Sign of the Cross and telling People That thereby they are made Members of Christ Children of God and Inheriters of the Kingdom of Heaven when in your own Catechism in Contradiction to your Practice you teach That Children by reason of their Infancy or tender Years then cannot perform the Requests of Baptism to uit Faith and Repentance 2. And what Scripture have you for your Sureties so called which you most unscripturally call the Childrens God fathers and God-mothers which you pretend to make up the Defect in the Infants by and for putting these Pretended Sureties upon such bold Undertakings and unadvised Promisings of that for the Child which they never yet did for themselves nor indeed have Faith to believe that so great Works can be done in any upon Earth to wit To forsake the Devil and all his Works c. seeing that such generally held That none can live without Sin Is not Sin the Devil's Work Yea yea And is there any Undertaker for Man to God-ward but Christ And was there any Surety betwixt God and Man but Christ only who saith Without me ye can do nothing So then this evil Custom of your undertaking being derogatory to the Honour of Christ Who can say that God hath required it at your Hands But if you will yet plead for it shew us your Scripture for it if you would be esteemed to act as Protestants and not as Papists and to own Scripture above Mens Inventions and Traditions 3. Also what Scripture have you for your Surplice Canonical Coats Typpets c. and for wearing Black rather than other Colours seeing the Apostle blamed such as placed Religion in Days Meats and the like surely he would not agree with such as place their Religion in Garments and Colours Blessed be the Lord whose Day is dawned which makes all things manifest and none will hate the Light of it but Evil-doers 4. And what Scripture have you for your Tithes Easter-Reckonings Mortuaries and the like now under the Gospel and for your Laws which you call Spiritual to compel the People to pay you them seeing Christ is come the End of that Levitical Priesthood under whiâ—h Tithes were payable by Law 5. What Scripture have you who profess your selves to be Christians for your Swearing Swearing in your Courts so called Swearing in your Spiritual Courts 〈◊〉 The poor People called Câ—uâ—eâ—-Wardâ—ns grâ—â—an under the Burden of this evil Custom O this is far from following Christ who said and saith unto his Swear not at all but you are grown to that pass that you cannot trust one another without Swearing no not in your Church-matters Is not this a Fruit of Apostacy and departing from that ancient Faith which was once delivered to the Saints 6. And what Scripture have you for giving David's Prayers Prophecyings Roarings Quakings Tremblings and Confessions in Rhyme and Meeter to the World to sing who are of another Spirit than David was and so utterly unacquainted with David's Conditions and so instead of singing with the Spirit and Understanding as the ancient Christians did you sing in a Form without the Power thereby not honouring but rather dishonouring the Lord who is a Spirit and will be worshipped in Spirit and Truth 7. And what Scripture have you for teaching People to worship one another and for your Ring in Marriage where you teach them to say With this Ring I thee Wed and with my Body I thee worship Is not God alone to be worshipped How then are such to be accounted Christian Ministers who abide not in Doctrine 2 John 9. And lastly seeing you pretend to be Christ's Ministers and so God's Free-men I ask you these few plain Questions further Gal. 1.10 viz. 1. Why do you limit your selves or suffer others to limit you to such and such Forms of Words and Gestures and Apparel as is in Use amongst you in all your Services Is it from any Excellency you see in those Words or Forms more than in any other Or is it because you are so weak of Judgment or brittle of Memory as that you can do little without Book Or is it not rather for filthy Lucre sake you are willing to be soâ—ty'd because you know that without Conformity to the Wills of the great Ones in this Matter you can get no Power to compel Peoples earthly things from them O what will not the Love of Money compel covetous-minded People unto 2 Tim. 6.10 11. 2. What is that makes you go to the Bishop rather than any other Man or Men for Ordination as you you call it Is it because you know or believe that he is more Holy than any other Or hath more Power to confer any Spiritual Gift upon you by Imposition of his Hands more than any other If you say he hath where had he it And wherein doth it appear Or is it not rather that you go now to the Bishop for Ordination as you or your Brethren went formerly to the Classical Presbytery so called in Oliver's time because this is the Way now as the other was formerly to impower you to come into Parishes and be their Teachers and command their earthly things from them by Force whether you do any Spiritual Work for them or no Yea from such as in the Lord's Light see you to be no Ministers of the Spirit and therefore not able to minister Spiritual things and therefore deny you Oh that ever such a thing should be among such as profess to be Gospel Ministers 3. Whether do you believe that all things in the Church ought to be done and spoken in the alone Power and Spirit of the Lord Jesus And if so then how can you expect but that God will overturn overturn all Things until he to wit the Lord Jesus Christ to whom all Power in Heaven and Earth is given comes to rule in all and over all to whom of Right it belongs So be it And what is the Cause that you are so dark in your Minds as concerning the Mystery of Christ's Kingdom and the Spiritual Saving Power thereof if it be not that mentioned in the third Chapter of Micah's Prophecy verse 5 6 7. where it is written Thus saith the Lord concerning the Prophets that make my People err that bite with their Teeth and cry Peace and he that putteth not into their Mouths they even prepare War against him therefore Night shall be unto you that you shall not have
a Vision and it shall be dark unto you that you shall not Divine and the Sun shall go down over the Prophets and the Day shall be dark over them then shall the Seers be ashamed and the Diviners be confounded yea they shall all cover their Lips for there is no Answers of God So be not proud for the Lord hath spoken but see in the Dread and Fear of God how you can acquit your selves from the Charge against False Prophets and Teachers mentioned in this Paper and more abundantly in the Scriptures For if you be found in their Sins how can ye escape their Plagues Rev. 18.4 For Wo will be to them that seek deep to hide their Counsel from the Lord and their Works are in the dark and they say who seeth us and who knoweth us see Isa 29. from ver 10. to ver 16. Read and consider and be wise for your Souls From one who Travails for the Prosperity of Sion Thomas Taylor A Strong and Terrible Alarm Sounded out of the Holy Mountain against all the Wicked Inhabitants of the Earth WO Wo unto you Rulers Priests and People who live without the Fear of God and do hide your Abominations in Hypocrisie and Dissimulations you are got into several Sects and Opinions and there some of you have long made a Profession of God with your Tongues and Lips but your Hearts are removed far from him so that your Profession stinks in the Nostrils of the Almighty and he Ioaths and abhors your Preaching and Praying for you are weighed and are found too light your Covering are too narrow they will no longer hide you for now you are searching with the true Light wich makes you manifest and rips off your Coverings so that your Nakedness appears the Day hath made you manifest and now is the Light risen and with it you are seen to be out of the Life of Truth yea you are found to be the greatest Enemies to the Life that be upon the Earth for you seek to Murther it wheresoever it is brought forth yea and in all its appearances you seek to Suppress and Murther it Remember your Fore-fathers Cryed Not this Man but Barrabas and your Cry and Practice is seen-to be the same in Nature now for in you and by you is the Son of God Cryed against who hath long forborn you and because his Judgments were not speedily executed upon you have strengthened your selves in your Wickedness and Imaginations and have provoked the Almighty to Wrath and have not considered that his Long suffering towards you was to have drawn you to Repentance but the Day of your Visitation you have despised and have hated the Light of his Son in your Consciences which hath often shewed you your Evil Deeds and so have trampled the Blood of the Covenant under your Feet and have done despite unto the Spirit of Grace and have chosen to follow the vain Imaginations of your own Hearts and have contemned the Counsel of the Lord and would not that he should Reign over you For which cause his Judgments linger not against you but are ready to be poured forth upon your Heads even upon you who have sold your selves to work Abomination in the sight of the Lord and are Worshipping in the House of your Imagery and are joyned and become one with the great Whore of Babylon who hath made her self Drunk with the Blood of the Saints and Martyrs of Jesus but now is she come in Remembrance before the Dreadful and Terrible God and now shall both she and her lovers be Plagued and Tormented together Therefore ye Nobles and Rulers Captains and Mighty Men Priests and People High and Low Rich and Poor Bond and Free who have Committed Fornication with her Awake to the Judgment and behold your King the Old Dragon which is the Devil and Sathan for he is come forth and deceives you and he is come to gather you to the Battle of the great Day which is at Hand for the Harvest is ripe and the Winepress is full and your Fat 's overflow and the Measure of your Iniquities is great and now will God be Avenged on you who will bring you all down to the Valley of Descision even there shall the Day of the Lord be upon you which will be a Day of Pain and Anguish a Day of Blackness and Gloominess and of thick Darkness unto you that have slain the Witness of God and have made merry over him Your Mirth is almost at an end and instead thereof shall be Mourning and bitter Lamentation which shall come upon you in one Day and now is the Day of Vengeance Proclaimed now is the Trumpet Sounded forth behold the Lyon Roareth Therefore O all Inhabitants of the Earth Fear and Tremble before the Living Dreadful God and Dread ye his Name For now is he arising in his Majesty and Glory to shake Terribly the Earth the noise of a Trumpet goeth before him which soundeth an Alarm Strong and Mighty is he there goeth a Sword out of his Mouth and a Threshing Instrument is in his Hand wherewith he will cut down the tall Cedars and thresh the Mountains to Dust A Fire proceedeth out of his Mouth also which shall devour and burn before him and none shall be able to quench it and the Breath that cometh forth of his Nostrils shall scatter the Earth as the Whirl-wind scattereth the Dust Yea Terrible and Dreadful will he be unto you wicked who Live in the Earth you shall not be able to behold nor stand in his Presence Therefore Weep and Howl and Lament for the Misery that is coming upon you for Destruction is at hand yea the Lord hath decreed an overthrow of the Wicked of the Earth for now shall his overflowing Scourge pass through the Earth and the Beesom of his Destruction shall sweep you away except you Repent For your Wordomr and Murders and Idolatry and Drunkenness and Swearing and Lying and Wantonness and Prophaness is come in Remembrance before the Dreadful and Terrible God who will be avenged on you at once Rejoice ye Saints who are clad with Zeal and Shout for Joy you Sons of the most High God and Sing ye Heavens and you that dwell therein for the Lord is risen ye are Witnesses thereof Behold he cometh in and with ten thousands of his Saints to judge the Earth in Righteousness and to execute his Judgments upon his and your Enemies The Vials of his Wrath are made ready to be poured out upon them and his Indignation is waxen hot against them which shall burn and slay and consume them unto the end Glory Glory Honour and Dominion and Praise be given unto our King who liveth for ever for he is worthy to reign over all who was dead but now is he alive and liveth for evermore and hath redeemed us from the Earth and hath brought us above the Earth to reign with him upon the Earth eternal Praises to our King for evermore who
Almighty both in their own Consciences and the Mouth of God's Servants and Holy Witness of Truth in the Scriptures which notwithstanding all these their Abominations many of them profess to be their Rule But know O Man whoever thou art or whatsoever Profession thou art of that that 's thy God and Ruler and Father and Teacher and Way whose Commands thou lovest and whose Works thou dost and whose Will in the inward of thy Mind thou clofest with As Christ said to those Lyars false Accusers and Murderers in his Day John 8.44 c. Ye are of your Father the Devil for his Works ye will do he was a Lyar and Murderer from the beginning So thou that goest from the Light of God in thee which shews thee thy Sin and the evil Lustings and Desires of thy Flesh and Mind thou goest from God and from his Fear and from the Way of Peace And so thou going from this and joyning to evil Motions of Sin in thy Flesh and corrupted Mind thou joynest to the Devil and so bringest forth Sin which is the Devil's Work and the Wages of every such Work is Death And so in the very moment of time in which thou dost the evil Work whatsoever it be contrary to God's Light in thee thou dyest the Death and so remainest dead from the Life of God and his blessed Righteousness until the Day of true Repentance and Amendment of Life And then what will it profit thee to have gained the World or Victory over thy Neighbour or Satisfaction to thy Lusts to the Loss of thy Soul's Life Therefore Arise Arise Awake Awake O all Nations and People Come forth to the Judgment of this great Day of God Almighty For now is the effect of every Vision to be known and felt in the Earth and the High Towers of the City of Confusion the Mystery Babylon the Great the Mother of Harlots shall fall to the Ground and the Mountain of the House of the Lord shall be exalted over all yea the Lord alone and his Righteousness and Truth and Peaceable Kingdom on the Top of all shall stand and no Weapon formed against him and his People shall ever prosper any more And how is it O all Nations Kings and People that ye are not yet willing after so long a time knocking at the Gates of your Cities and Doors of your Hearts that ye will not open to the King of Glory Christ Jesus the Light that lighteth every one that cometh into the World that he may come in and be Judge Lawgiver and King in the midst of you that the Desire of all Nations may come and be Head in all For what is it that the Soul that God hath made in all Nations doth desire but to see it self unburthened of that grievous Corruption which hath defiled it and to be delivered from that Body of Sin and Death which hath and doth so imbondage it from the beginning until the Day of Christ's Power be known within to work the Work of God and to destroy the Work of the Devil and to save the Soul from its Sin and to present it spotless to God which is the true Salvation indeed Now this is my Witness for God amongst the Servants and Redeemed of the Lord this Day whom the World in Scorn calls Quakers who am a Sufferer with them for the Kingdom of God's sake That there is none can thus know the Day of Christ's Power to Salvation but as they believe and receive that Light of God and Christ which they be freely enlightened withal which shines in their very Hearts and Consciences which searcheth their very Hearts and Reins and maketh manifest to Man his Thoughts and from which none can hide any thing but all things are naked and bare before him the Light Christ Jesus who lighteth every Man that cometh into the World Jew and Gentile one and other who searcheth the most hidden things of Man and brings them forth to the Judgment of his Righteousness For though the Night may hide the Adulterer and the Thief from Man it hides them not from God there is one nigh in the Heart and Conscience that tells Man and Woman all that ever they have done and do daily do even their secret Thorghts Is not this the Christ of God the true Messiah that was to come and is come and dwells amongst us And we look not for another and of his Fulness have all we received and do daily receive who believe in his Light which shines in our Hearts according to the Scriptures of Truth And this the Fulness of our Blessed God and Saviour Jesus Christ the Light is it which filleth all that come to him with all Spiritual Blessings and Heavenly good Things and without whom all is Darkness Emptiness Death and Desolation as all the poor deceived lost Sons and Daughters of the faln Adam do sooner or later know and are made to confess But blessed are they that consider of things in time and lay things to Heart before it be too late For there are but Twelve Hours in a Day in which Men may work saith Chriff and then the Night cometh in which no Man can work But the Door will be shut upon all who have slighted and neglected the Day of their Visitation Oh England England and all Lands far and near that you had known or could yet believe the things that belong to your Everlasting Peace before they be hid from your Eyes Therefore turn ye turn ye at the Reproofs of God's Wisdom and Spirit of Light and Truth which sounds through all and lets you see the Vanity and Evil of all your Works and Frailty of all your Lives how soon the Thread of your Life is out off and then where are the great Emperors and Kings with all their Crowns And where are the great Captains and Commanders with all their Bloody Victories And where are the Wise Achitophel's and Cunning Counsellors of the Earth with all their Admirers And where are the Covetous Oppressors with all their Houses full of the Spoils of the Innocent Yea in that Day where is all the Glory and Lusts of the World with all the Lovers of it Surely in Darkness and Misery shall they lye down together and Death shall have Dominion over them even all who have not believed in the Light Christ Jesus and who have not followed him in the Regeneration that they might be saved but have spent their Days in the Pleasures and Lusts of the present Evil World to Destruction Now therefore O all People Hearken to the Counsel of the Lord in this your Day and learn of the Lamb the Light who calls you to Repentance from all your grievous Ways How long shall the Spirit of the Lord strive with you When will you cease learning War and Destruction and Oppression and Spoil O when will you beat your Swords into Plow-shares and your Spears into Pruning-hooks O when will you go and say one to another
or whatever else shall be as the Dust or Chaff before the Wind to be scattered as the Lord by his Spirit from the beginning has said and at this time speaketh in his Servant Thomas Taylor To People whose Hearts are turned from the Lord. O All People whose Hearts are gone away from the Lord out of his Pure and Holy Fear and are in the Broad Ways of the World at Liberty in the Flesh satisfying the Lusts and Desires thereof making Merry over God's Witness which lyes at present as dead amongst you in your Hearts and so because Judgment is not speedily and at present executed upon you therefore are your Hearts in you wholly set to do evil and so you grow up like noisom Weeds in your Vanity putting far from you the Evil Day And none layeth to Heart the Afflictions of Joseph nor considereth the Sufferings of the Seed of God that in this present Day and in these Nations are great and many but you Pipe and Dance and Feast and Drink and Revel and Fatten your Hearts as in a Day of Slaughter as if there were no such thing and mind not the time to come nor take notice of the present wherein God would gather you out of your Sins to himself and do you good for Ever but you will not therefore is your House left unto you desolate and your present Mirth will be all turned into Mourning when this thing you come to be made sensible of by the Just Judgments of God and his Hand upon you Yea and all your Temple-Songs will become Howlings also in that Day for what Pleasure O vain People can the Lord take in you or your Services for in that same Mind that all your fore-mentioned Evils are done are your Preachings Prayings and Singing Performed with the same Mouth you Bless or rather seem to Bless God withal with the same Mouth you Curse and Swear and Backbite and Slander and tell Lies and bear False Witness against Men and Sing your filthy Rhimes and all these things are Abomination to the pure God who is calling a People out from amongst you to Worship him in Spirit and in the Truth Because of Swearing Drunkenness Wantonness Pride Covetousness and Persecuting of the Just thou Land of England and of the whole World even Mourneth and Languisheth So rests God's Servant and Witness in outward Bonds Thomas Taylor To the Magistrates TO the Magistrates of the Town of Stafford who are angry with with me for coming amongst you whilst the Money-Sermon was in hand and think you do God Service in Persecuting me for it be it known unto you that I did not Rebuke the Man in mine own Will but the Lord by my Mouth did it for your Souls Sake that you might not always be deceived with such Men whose Mouths not the Lord but filthy Lucres opens for when the Rich Man Dies then comes the Sermon at his Buryal but the Poor Man is put into the Earth with little Noise and are ye so Ignorant as to think that the Lord takes not notice of such things and doth and will Reprove them Will you Punish me as those of old did the Prophets for doing God's Work and be Guiltless What Will you say with such evil Men that the Lord hath forsaken the Earth and is there Knowledge in the most High And will you say you have a Law and therefore I must suffer tho' spoke never so truly because not according to your Wills what think you of the Jews who said concerning Christ We have a Law and by our Law he ought to dye And why consider you not in your selves that it is fit for God by whom he will to call such down as he never set up as is come to pass in this present Business Whether you Prosecute me upon Mary's Act or upon the Oath you will be guilty of Evil in the sight of God in both for in the one you will but Imitate the Papists in Mary's Days who by that Law endeavoured to stop the Mouth of God's Witness against their Superstitious and Idolatrous Doings And by the other you will make your selves like them whom God had taken way before you who Persecuted me because I could not Swear and so break the Command of Christ who saith unto his Swear not at all So consider what you do for it is not me but the Truth of God in me that you have set your selves against for I would not have you destroy your selves by striving against Gods Truth for though I be as nothing and you may trample upon me as a Man yet God's Ever-blessed Truth which dwells in me and is with me and for me in this as in other of his Works you cannot overcome for Truth is stronger than all and hath ever been my help when Men of Evil Minds have risen up against me for Truth 's Sake I praise the Lord And so I have found by manifold Experience That Jerusalem the City of Truth hath been a burdensome Stone to all that have fought against it as saith Scripture Zechariah 12.3 So if you be wise you will Understand and provide for your Souls Peace by letting the Innocent go free and not keep him in Bondage for Pleasing your selves and the Hirelings whom God is against for it is not for their Sakes that the late wicked Popish Plot was discovered but for God's Ever-blessed Truth 's Sake which he is purposed to Exalt in these latter Days and for the sake of all such as love Truth in Sincerity Rests God's Suffering Servant and your Friend who am I praise God no more nor otherwise a disturber of your Peace or the Peoples than the Prophet Elias was in his Days of that Generation though so by them Accounted 1 Kings 18.17 18. And consider well in the cool of the Day what is the reason that things go so oddly on concerning those People called Papists who seek the hurt of all without Respect of Persons or Professions who cannot bow to their Idols Is it not your Sins O People and your keeping amongst you so much of the Popish Leaven yet Unpurged out from you as it was the Sins and Superstitions of Israel of old that gave the Babylonians so much advantage against them So buy of Christ Eye-salve and annoint your Eyes with it that you may see and then all things will be plain to you Thomas Taylor To the Generation of Fleshly Fallen Christians not worthy the Name of Christians CHrist Jesus came into the World to save his People from their Sins and to cleanse their Hearts and Lives from all Unrighteousness and not to keep up the Customs of the Heathen whose Religion stands in Eating and Drinking and Gameing and Sporting and every way serving the Lust of the Flesh and of the Mind which must Perish for Meats for the Belly and the Belly for Meats but God shall destroy both it and them saith the Apostle And so Christs Doctrine is not that People should make
Provision for the Flesh to satisfie it in the Lusts thereof with Meats Drinks Pleasures Pastimes and all manner of foolish Inventions but that People should abstain from Fleshly Lusts because they War against the Soul And did not the Apostle weep for such as made a God of their Belly and Gloried in their Shame and minded Earthly Things and plainly tells them That they were â—nemies to the Cross of Christ and their End was Destruction Phil. 3. And so thou whoever thou art that pretends to Honour Christ by making Provision for thy Fleshly Part to satisfie it in the Lusts thereof thou art no Servant of God and Christ in this but a denyer of his Truth and so instead of following Christ in the Regeneration and daily Cross and Self denlal thou follows Christ's Enemy the great Antichrist and Satan who hath seduced the Minds of People from Christ's Doctrine and Life into the Doctrine and Life of all Unrighteousness and so they that Eat and Drink and Game and Sport after the Custome of the Heathenish World their Professing of Christ in Words will do them no good in the Day of the Lord when God will Reward every Man according to their Deeds for now instead of a Holy Pure Righteous Self-denying Life which God requires thou offers him an unclean Sacrifice of an unholy and corrupt Life which he will not accept And so many shall come in that Day and say Lord Lord Open unto us to whom he will Answer I know ye not depart ye Workers of Iniquity O dreadful Sentence to such as it hits who like Esau sell their Birth-right for a mess of Pottage and chuse rather to follow the Fleshly Sinful World in the broad way to Destruction than the Lambs of Christ in the streight way that leads to Life Eternal So all Awake and Arise from your dead defiled Customs and Practices of Sin to the pure clean Fear and Worship of God for God is a Spirit and Christ is a Spiritual Lord and will be Worshipped and Served in Spirit and Truth and who is this Day seeking such to Worship him who shall bring forth Fruits to him worthy amendment of Life And one thing is needful saith Christ and Mary that sate at his Feet hearing his Word chused that good Part which shall never be taken from her but Martha was cumbred about much in the outward as too many are now and that in a Heart far from that of Mary's Heart to their Souls great disadvantage So he that hath an Ear let him hear for these Words are Faithful and True Thomas Taylor To the King O That the King and all his Councils the Parliament and the Rest would hear and believe these Words for in the Truth of God's Spirit and Uprightness of my Heart are they thus written and sent to them for that purpose Consider of your ways for thus saith the Lord the Holy One Creator of Heaven and Earth Mine Anger is kindled against you because you have not made a Separation betwixt the Precious and the Vile but have numbred my People who tremble at my Word with the Transgressors and will not hear the Voice of my Mouth to let my Israel have their Liberty to meet together in my own free Spirit as I have Taught them to wait upon me and to Edify one another in their most Holy Faith but you will Punish them and Afflict them and evil Intreat them for this and surely if you go on in this Work and think to destroy this my Heritage from being a People upon the Earth and to Root them up from bearing a Testimony to my Name in their Holy Assemblies before the Children of Men I will Work Wonders yea I will Work Wonders and make all the Earth to know that these your Thoughts and your Doings are against the Lord and his People as truly as ever Pharoah and Egypt and the Nations there abouts in that Day of Israel 's Oppressions and Deliverances did know have you no Vnderstanding that you would eat up my People as Bread saith the Lord in whose hand is your Breath Oh! that you could once lay things to Heart what you have done and what you should do and not still take Counsel at a wrong Spirit which hurries you thus on in a way that is not good to the grief of God's Spirit and in the end if continued in your own Destruction have you not Heard and do not you Read what God hath done in former times to great Kings and strong Nations for their Doings against his People and do you not know that the same Evil Spirit which causes you in other things to do what you ought not to do and to leave undone what you ought to do is the putter of you forward in this grievous Work of Persecuting the Seed of God who Fear and Tremble at his Word and work out their Salvation with Fear and Trembling as the Lord Commands and who in their Meetings never had nor at this Day have any other end but to Glorifie their God the true God over all in obeying his Voice with a true good Will in our Hearts towards all Men without the least thought of Evil to any as God's true God over all Men without the least thought of Evil to any as God's true Witness in all Consciences where it is harkened unto doth plainly Testifie at this Day as it hath done ever since we were to God a People For from War Bloodshed Wrong and Spoil hath the Lord called and delivered our Souls into his Holy Habitation of Truth Peace and Love that as Lambs we might in the midst of the Earth stand in Christ's Innocency to hold forth the Virtues of God who hath Blessed us in Christ Jesus with the Knowledge of himself whom to know is Life Eternal And so if you hate us because God loves us what will be the end O Consider consider this matter is of the weightiest Nature And so though at present by reason of the Darkness that is upon your Minds you do not see us as we are but present us to your selves as Evil-doers or so yet seeing you know in your own Consciences as in Words also you often Confess that in other things you are miserable Offenders you ought to be more Moderate Sparing and Careful what you do in this present matter concerning us because where Sin is and remains there must of necessity be a want of Ability as to the right judging and discerning of Men and Matters Spiritual as Christ foretold of some that through the Error of their Minds should think they did God Service when they were Killing his Children This was a sad Mistake Therefore let this be upon your Hearts when you lye down and when you rise up and when you sit in Counsel and walk by the Way to keep you from Sinning this great Sin against God for never did any strive against God and Prosper and thus in God's Spirit having given you in a few Words
is gathering his Lots from amongst them into his happy Fold of Truth and Rest that the Judgments of God may hasten upon the wicked Sodom and Egypt who burden the Just that God's righteous Soul may be eased of them Even so come Lord Jesus for thou art worthy to reign saith my Soul Thomas Taylor Richard Baxter's BOOK ENTITULED The Cure of Church-Divisions ANSWER'D and CONFUTED And he PROV'D to be a Physician of no Value Who hath Manifested his Folly and Weakness in Undertaking a Work which he hath so little Understanding in By THOMAS TAYLOR For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to Covetousness c. They have Heal'd also the Hurt of the Daughter of my People with sweet words saying Peace Peace when there is no Peace Jer. 6.13 14. But ye are Forgers of Lies ye are all Physicians of no Value Job 13.4 London Printed and Sold by T. Sowle next Door to the Meeting-house in White-Hart-Court in Gracious-Street and at the Bible in Leaden-Hall-Street near the Market 1697. Richard Baxter's BOOK ENTITULED The Cure of Church-Divisions ANSWER'D and CONFUTED RICHARD BAXTER a Man who through a shew of Learning and Religion had gotten in Oliver Cromwell's Days a great Esteem in the Minds of the Ignorantly Zealous Professors of Religion in this Nation and especially in the Parts of Worcester-shire about Kidderminster where he then resided hath since the Change of the Times and coming in of the Old Common-Prayer-Book-again much manifested his Nakedness Confusion and Unsoundness to every Eye that in any measure is open to see the difference of Truth and Error in the ground of it as by his Works appear And that it is so amongst other things that Book of his fasly call'd The Cure of Church-Divisions which I have now under-hand to Answer doth plainly manifest For instead of Curing Divisions he hath shew'd himself to be a Physician of no Value and so instead of Curing hath struck at under a Judas Kiss of Unity and Concord the very Life and Foundation of all true Christian Unity and Amity to wit The Free and Perfect Teachings and Gifts and Work of the Spirit of Truth the Spirit of the Father and Son in his Believing Members whereby they cry in a spotless Mind Abba Father and freely and powerfully declare the Glory of his Kingdom to the Children of Men and instead thereof would bring in and establish that Soul-deceiving and Church-dividing Doctrine of Humane Learning and Humane Helps as absolutely necessary to the procuring and engaging as it were the Holy unlimited God to give unto the Creature his Holy Spirit and the Knowledge of the Mysteries of his Eternal Will and Kingdom for the same as in Answer to an Objection in the 6th Page of his Book in his first Direction so call'd is to be seen The Objection against his Carnal Reasonings for Old Men's Knowledge is in Page 5. where he saith I know those that I have to do with will say That Divinity is not learn'd by Labour and Men's teaching as other Sciences and Arts are but by Teaching I add yea and most free Gift of the Spirit of God and therefore the Youngest may have as much of it as the Eldest And to this R. B. there thus Answers Answ There is some Truth saith he and some Falshood and much Confusion in this Objection But let us hear how this R. B. proves that that there is either Falshood or Confusion in the Objection It is true saith he that the Saving Knowledge of Divinity must be taught by the Spirit of God but it is false that Labour and Humane Teaching are not the Means which must be us'd by them who will have the Teaching of the Spirit Reply But O the Darkness yea rather Enmity that is in R. B's Heart against the free Teaching of God's Spirit That he would find any thing against so plain and manifest Truth as is in this Objection But what will not Flesh do that is lifted up with Conceits of his own Wisdom to keep up its Honour before the People rather than the Purâ— Undoubted Truth of the Gospel and Self-abasing Spirit of Truth should Reign and have the Preheminence But to this I say that a Child of Light in the least Measure doth easily see the Falshood of that Spirit by which this R. B. is acted in this his Answer For the Wind of the Spirit bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof thou natural Man but neither knows whence it comes nor whither it goes so is every one that is Born of God And without this Birth all thy Knowledge is Damning not Saving John 3.7 8 c. And Job 32.7.8 I said Days should Speak and multitude of Years should Teach Wisdom But there is a Spirit in Man and the Inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding And saith God It shall come to pass in the last Days that I will pour out my Spirit upon all Flesh and they shall all know me from the least to the gâ—eatest Yea and Young-men shall see Visions and Servants and Hand-maids shall Prophesie And ye have received an Vnction from the Holy One And ye know all things saith the Apostle John and ye need not that any Man teach you This is the Day of the Lord wherein these things are fulfill'd prais'd be God And the New Covenant abundantly witness'd in the Children of Light whom this wicked Book of R. B's strikes at but his Wickedness turns upon his own Pate and his own Iniquities shall slay him For he by his Carnal Wisdom would darken Knowledge and shut the Kingdom of Heaven against Men as his Predecessors of Old the Pharisâ—es mention'd Mat. 23. did But the Lord hath open'd a Door to the Believing Souls this Day which all the Powers of Darkness shall never be able to shut Glory to his Name for Ever But what is that Labour and Humane Means that People must use for getting the Spirit of God or Saving Knowledge of Divinity as he calls it Is it tumbling over a Ruck of Books stuffed with Art and Humane Wisdom or Learning from below as this R. B. hath long done to the darkning of his Heart from the Knowledge of God and Way of his Spirit so that he knows nothing of it after all his long lost Labour but what he knows naturally as a Brute Beast and that 's plain for it sanctifies him not as by his confessing That his best Duties even his Prayers are not without Sin and affirming That no Man prays without Sin As in his Book is to be seen Page 195. and in his Preface And so the Prayer of Faith and Preaching by the Spirit he is ignorant of yea Preaching by the Spirit is become a Mock and a Derision to him and his Brethren at this Day But Paul and all the Ministers of Christ Magnifie the Free Grace and Infinite Gift of the Spirit of God according to that 2 Cor. 3. saying Not
is all and Christ suffered to have no Rule But those mine Enemies saith Christ that would not that I should Rule bring them and slay them before my Face But what sottishness is this in R. B. to ask such a Question as this when himself confessed in the very last words before it That none are so forward to Preach as these same Men that cry down Mens Teaching VVhereby it plainly appears that we do not deny God's Teachings and the Spirit 's Good and Gracious Gifts freely given for the edifying and building up of the Body of Christ till we all come to a perfect Man to the measure and statutre of the fulness of Christ no more than the Apostle did Ephes 4.11 c. but that which we cry down is that Antichristian Spirit in R. B. and all such Men as by setting up Self and Flesh would draw from Christ and his Teachings in Spirit to look at them and their Painted Words and Love-killing Doctrines who are this Day Goliah-like come forth to defie the Armies of the Living God but the Stone cut out of the Mountain without Hands shall dash them and their Images all to pieces Glory to the Lord for Ever And though they with their Humane or Earthly Spirit and Sorceries withstand the Truth and Spirit thereof as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses when he was about to call Israel out of Egypt yet as their Folly was soon seen so are these and they shall not proceed far but Israel out of Egypt shall go and those Faithful Ones that are escaped shall they not with all their Inchantments bring back again into Egypt Glory to the Lord for Ever Amen But wouldst thou indeed know O vain Man R. B. for what the Apostles who had Ability to Preach without Man's help were sent forth Then thou may'st know it was to reprove such as thâ—e that would limit God to vain Man's Help and to call his People from amongst you who lay heavy Burdens on Mens Shoulders but will not touch them with one of your Fingers it is even so But whereas thou addest and said Those are taught of God who are taught by those who are sent of God to be their Teachers it plainly shews the numerous Company thou boasts of who believe thee are not taught of God for thy Doctrine already mentioned shews most plainly that thou wast never sent of God for never did any whom God sent set themselves against the Free and Gracious Teaching and Gifts of God's Spirit to Establish Humane Helps as thou dost But as if that which thou hast said were nothing thou addest Page 8. Advise with the Experience of all the World who was the Man that ever you knew able to Expound one Chapter in the Bible by the inward Teachings of the Spirit alone without any Labour of his own or Help from others by Voice or Writing Where dwelleth the Man who by meer Inspiration can turn one Chapter out of the Hebrew or Greek into the Vulgar Tongue And where is the Man that can solidly unfold any Doctrine of Divinity which he never read or heard of or can Teach that Truth and deny that Religion which he was never taught by Man And afterwards in his Second Direction and Page 16. having led his wretched Disciples into a Labyrinth or Mist of words about their Uncertainties in their Matters of Knowledge and having advised them to Humility as he calls it or not to think too highly of their own Knowledge he there adds and says in that 16th Page especially If you know your Advantages for Knowledge have been less than other Mens that you are young or that it is but a few Years since you entred upon the Study of the Scriptures or that you have not any stronger Natural Parts than other Men that you have not had that Measure of Learning which might further your Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures but that others that differ from you have had much more of all these Helps and Means than you and have Prayed more and Meditated more c. And in Page 17. in his Answer to an Objection which is That the Learnedst Men are not always the Wisest in the Matters of Religion he saith many Men are learned in the Languages and Sciences who are not learned in the Scripture because they applied not their Studies that way and many Men are learned in the Scriptures and Sacred Languages who yet live in Sin though they are able to Teach the Truth for others Here by the way all may take notice what a False Teacher this R. B. is who is not ashamed to say That Man that lives in Sin may Teach the Truth for others for such as live in Sin neither know the Truth which is Christ nor have seen him as John's first Epist Chap 3. expresly saith but this R. B. goeth on and saith But those that well understand the Scriptures without learning the Languages which they are written in and the Customs of those Times and Countries or without much reading and long Study of the Scriptures themselves and the Writings of them that better understand them are so few if any at all that if you will pretend to be one of them you had need of some Miracle or something like a Miracle to make your selves or others believe that you are not deceived I might here add his other false Doctrines immediately following these in that his Book as his Answer to an Objection there set down against Singularity or so the Objection is this The greater Number are not always in the Right therefore why should my Singularity discourage me But because his Answer hath a pretty many words in it I refer it to another place and to what he hath already said do Answer and say in breif thus First That as by his other words so also by these it is most manifest from what Fountain this R. B's knowledge hath proceeded to wit not from the Inspiration of the Eternal Spirit which gave forth Scripture but from his own Earthly or Natural Spirit and Humane Industry and Studies and Trading in Books and Letters without him from which earthly or humane Spirit and Wisdom hath not come nor possible ever can come to any the right Meaning and Understanding of Holy Scripture as such as he would have it For the natural Man as the Apostle saith perceiveth not the things that be of the Spirit of God 1 Cor. 2.14 But all false Visions and lying Divinations have ever come from that earthly Spirit and all the cruel Wrestings of the Holy Scriptures from the beginning to this Day have proceeded from it to the miserable and woful Undoing of the Generality of that People called Christendom as also the Blood-sheds and all the cruel Usage of Spiritual-minded Men for their pure Conscience Sake have issued from that Fountain of the Earthly Spirits and the false Births thereof from the beginning and that great Whore found Guilty of all for in her was found the
Blood of Prophets and of Saints and of all that were Slain upon the Earth Rev. 18.24 For what Spiritual Man did ever ask such a Question or rather affirm for in him his question is an Affirmation to wit That no man is able by the inward Teachings of the Spirit alone to Expound one Chapter in the Bible And that there is none can solidly Vnfold any Doctrine of Divinity which he never Read or Heard of or can teach the Truth or defend that Religion which he was never taught by Man Oh happy therefore are they who are come to the Everlasting Covenant of God and to know the inward Teachings and Leadings of his Holy Spirit in their Heart to lead them into all Truth according to Promise John 16. without being beholding to vain Man's Help for whereof is he to be accounted as is manifest even as a thing of naught is the best of them out of the Truth For O! How Ignorant of the Ministry of God and Christ and the Holy Spirit 's Inspiration sufficient Teaching is this R. B. who is not content to fit among the Parish-Teachers as a Fellow but even takes upon him to be a Teacher of the Teachers Yea so Ignorant and Unbelieving is he concerning the Spirit 's Power and Sufficiency in these Days that without an outward Miracle he will not believe any such thing Nay he would not have People believe for themselves that God teacheth their own Hearts unless it comes in Man's Way and by humane Study Labour and natural Means Therefore the Lord saw good for his own Glory and for the Vindication of his own Honourable and Everlasting Truth which the Hirelings had made void by their Traditions and for the absolute necessity of his own beloved Seed to restore unto us the Ancient Doctrine of the Holy Spirit 's Sufficiency in all the Work of bringing Man out of the Fall to God that the Lord the Spirit might be the first and the last yea all in all in their Salvation without Man's help for he is worthy who as he Created all things by his own alone Power and according to his good Will so he Restores all things according to the Counsel of his own Will and not of Flesh nor of Blood nor of the Will of Man as the Apostle also Speaks John 1.13 But Oh! How unlike is this Doctrine of the Apostles to R. B's for when the Apostle had said To them that received Christ to them he gave Power to become the Sons of God lest any should think as this R. B. doth that it was either by Man's Labour or Study or humane Endeavour or Art or Parts or any Natural Abilities or Helps whatsoever he saith It was not of Flesh nor of Blood nor of the Will of Man but of God And of his own Will begat he us by the Word of Truth saith that other Apostle Jam. 1.17 18. And he bids not Err as this R. B. doth to set up another Fountain or Root and that this Word of Truth is not any outward Writing Voice or any Creature John in his first Chapter tells us That in the beginning was this Word and the Word was with God and is God And his Name is called the Word of God Rev. 19.13 So this Word though it works according to the Witness of the Scripture which it gave forth freely and as it self pleaseth in the Children of Men yet it is not the Scripture For search the Scriptures or ye do search the Scriptures saith Christ that witness of me but you will not come to me that you may have Life and these were they that Paul said He bore them Record that they had a Zeal for God and Scripture but not according to Knowledge for they being Ignorant of God's Righteousness went about to Establish their own Righteousness and submitted not to God's And so even so this R. B. and many such like have a blind Zeal and a great Talk of the Scriptures without and of the Spirits Teaching by the Letter and humane Helps and the like but will not come to Christ to know him in them that they may have Life and Wisdom and Righteousness But would Establish their own which is meer Emptiness and Vanity in the sight of God and all truly Spiritual Men 1 Cor. 13.5 Rom. 10.3 And how far this R. B's Language in those other words where he saith That if any will pretend to a good Vnderstanding of the Scriptures without learning the Languages which they are written in and the Customs of those Times Countries or without much Reading and long Study of the Scriptures themselves and the Writings of them that better understand them had need of some Miracle or something like a Miracle to perswade themselves or others that they are not deceived How far I say is this Doctrine and Language in this R. B. from the Language of the Holy Men of God that writ the Scripture let the Spiritual Man who best understands all things Judge for the Holy Apostles Magnified the free Grace and the free Teachings of the Spirit of Grace and debased Man and all meer humane Helps as is said before and as the Scripture Witnesseth But this R. B. tyeth the weight and main Stress of all upon humane Learning natural Parts knowledge of Custom and Countries much Reading long Study and the like insomuch that without them Man must not look that any should believe him Nay nor he must not own God's Teaching in his own Heart without these unless seconded by some Miracle or the like But Oh the Misery thereof of such poor Souls as follow such wretched Teachers and their unsound Doctrine as I may well say And Oh! for ever Blessed are they who are brought from off such Barren Mountains into the good Fold where all the Lambs of Christ lye down in the good Pasture of the Spirit 's Fulness and walk up and down in the Light of the Lord under the Hand of the good Shepherd Christ Jesus where none can come to make afraid nor deceive for in the Light of our God we see all these false Teachers and their devouring Doctrines and by the Holy Power of God are delivered from them and made able in the overcoming Spirit of Truth to declare against them Glory to God for ever Amen Again let us review and consider in particular a little of those words of his before set down where he saith as an Argument to perswade his young Ones and Dissenters to his falsly called Humility Especially saith he If you know your Advantages for Knowledge have been less than other Men's that you are younger or that it is but a few Years since you entered upon the Study of the Scripture or that you have not any stronger Natural Parts than other Men or that you have not had that Measure of Learning which might further your Knowledge of the Holy Scripture But that others that differ from you have had much more of all these Helps and Means
lurked in him under a Cloak of Zeal for Reformation when the World pretended to such things but now that the World is for a manifest Establishing of their old dark Stuff he turns about and is all for them as it were and against Zeal against Reformation Separation Immediate Revelation or any thing that may manifest People to have a care of their Souls But Oh the Misery the Misery the unspeakable Misery of such as are not yet redeemed from under the Slavery and Egyptian Bondage of such Men But the Lord will break the Rod of the Oppressor as in times of old as in the days of Midian and Egypt where both Jannes and Jambres who withstood the Lord's Servant Moses in his calling Israel out of Egypt were made manifest and their Folly by all clearly seen as this R. B's is by every open Eye Praised be the Lord for his Infinite Love in all things But the Hearts of the Righteous whom God delights to comfort he doth all he can to make Sad by perswading the dark cruel World that the cause of all the Miseries of the late years yea and at present in these Islands is much what if not mostly occasioned by those who in tenderness of Conscience to God could not nor cannot joyn with nor uphold the Popish Customs and Imposition in Matters relating to Religion and the Soul which is more pretious to them that know it than all the World And in the Truth we may say that if we should come amongst the Steeple-house Worshippers or any other Company who are only separated from them in Form and not in Life and Power and their exercise not in the Gift and Heavenly Holy Worship and Service to the Lord Jesus Christ our God we should even Sacrifice the Abomination of the Egyptians before their Eyes and now would you not Stone us or Imprison us or otherwise evilly iâ—treat us even as you do and ever have done Yea yea and as they dealt with the Prophet Isaiah for saying Chap. 66.3 He that killeth an Ox is as if he slew a Man he that sacrificeth a Lamb as if he cut off a Dog's Neck c. and Chap. 1.11 c. To what purpose is the multitude of your Sacrifices unto me saith the Lord I am full of them and who hath required it at your hands to tread my Courts Bring no more vain Oblations c. For which it is said they slew him so they would deal with us And what measure have the dear Servants of God in New-England met withal not long since for the like witness against those Hypocrites but Death and cruel Whippings and Banishment and in old England lately but most Savage and Cruel Usage And would this R. B. yet have us yea and those he counts his Brethren and of his Flock who have any Tenderness in them to communicate with such whose Hands are full of Blood If he were as the Mouth of God he would put a difference between the Clean and Unclean But he being of another Spirit is for leading People back again into Egypt not for bringing them out of Egypt into the Promised Land which Work and Endeavour is rejected of God and of all that know God who are escaped out of Sodom and Egypt and Babylon Spiritual where our Lord was Crucified And to us the Lord hath said Let them return to you ye Saved People but return not you to them For their Pastors are become brutish and have not sought the Lord therefore they shall not prosper and all their Flocks shall be scattered Jer. 10.21 He that hath Ears let him hear and he that readeth let him understand for the time is at hand for the Lord is arisen to plead with all the False Worshippers upon Earth and with him is no respect of Persons And now is the Lord God of ever blessed Power and love appeared in the Earth after the long Night of Apostacy to restore all things and now are the Virgins called upon through the whole World to trim their Lamps for behold the Bridegroom is come and coming and now the foolish Virgins who have been long sleeping and slumbering in a dead Profession of Christ and the Scriptures are found wanting in their Faith Holiness Love and all other Christian Virtues and so in their Unholiness shut out yea and though they run to the Hirelings that set all things to Sale to Buy yet still before they come the Door is shut for whilst the Lord stood waiting upon them with his pure free and full Grace and Spirit they would have none of it but rather chosed to go their own ways of Carnal Endeavours and Man-commanded Religion and so like the Jews of old going about to Establish their own Righteousness have not submitted to the Righteousness of God which is by Faith in Christ Jesus But the wise Virgns who are of an honest Heart to fear God and wait for the Lord Jesus Christ to appear in their Spirits to set up his heavenly and everlasting Kingdom in them they receive daily of his Fullness which filleth all in all where the true Oyl of the Kingdom is found in their Holy Lamps to the Praise of the Glory of the unspeakable Love and free Grace of the Almighty Father So be it Again to that part of this R. B's former Answer where he saith That in all Ages God giveth to some few Men more excellent Natural Parts than others and he engageth some in deeper and more laborious Studies and he blesseth some Mens Studies more than other and therefore there are still some few who know more than the rest of the Country or Mankind and it were well for the rest if they knew these and would learn of them Query But how may one know these hard and laborious Studiers as he calls them Oh saith this R. B. They are such as give proof of their Knowledge they pretend to and they are such as imploy their Knowledge to the preserving of the Peace and Concord of Believers and do not proudly make a stir with it to set up their own Names though thereby they set the World on fire To which I answer and say It is still more and more manifest that this R. B. lays the weight and stress upon Natural Parts and hard Studies as though the Kingdom of God were not at all come nor the Promise of God concerning the Free Gifts and plentiful pouring forth of the Spirit yet fulfilled and so a necessity of learning at the feet of Gamaliel and earthly Doctors still But now that the Spirit of Truth according to God's blessed Promise is come and witnessed amongst us that believe praised be God we cannot go to such as this R. B. with all their Natural Parts and hard Studies for the Spirit of Truth leads us and all that obey it into all Truth but this R. B. and such as he leads are in an Error as is manifest for they are of those that lead about a Company of
Follies and false Doctrines I may here mention as one may read it in that Book of his that I have under hand to wit in Page 114. are these words It may be unlawful saith he in a Ruler to command a thing that will do no good because it is a Vain Command and maketh Men spend that time in vain and yet be the Subject's Duty to do it Answ This is such Doctrine as Paul's Enemies taught who said Men might do evil that good might come of it whose Condemnation was just So to avoid Sufferings from Men he would have us to obey Unlawful Commands which will do no good but rather a great Evil to wit make People spend pretious Time in vain Away with such Ant christ an and Heathenish Stuff for all true Christians abhor it in their Hearts as the Lord the good Shepherd hath Commanded them And now R. B. to that part of thy feigned Prayer Page 252. where in words thou seemest to desire That God would stir up some Faithful Friend to tell thee with convincing Evidence where it is that thou hast Miscarried that Contrition may prepare thee for the Peace of Remission Here the Lord hath contrary to thy will and desire stirred up one in Faithfulness and Love to thy Soul and the Souls of the poor deluded People whom thou hast deceived to tell thee plainly of thy Faults and grievous Miscarriages as by what is convincingly in these Lines set down doth appear and might be more abundantly if all the Miscariages in this Book only to let pass all thy other were answered unto in particular but these in this Answer of mine being as it were least of what the rest are may satisfie at present And Oh that the Righteous Judgments of God may come upon thy Heart and the Hearts of all them who are in the same false fleshly Confidence with thy self whose very Prayers are not without Sin that you may never have Peace Day nor Night until you humble your selves before the Lord and Repent of all your hard Speeches and Evil Deeds that you have spoken and done against him and his Servants for the Truth 's sake that if it be possible you may be saved from the Wrath that will certainly come upon you if you Repent not for that old wicked Paper full of Lies as I made manifest before thee and some of thy Company in thy Study to thy Shame at Kidder minster which thou writ'st in the Pride of thy Heart against us in Oliver's Days when thou wast lifted up Entituled Reasons to Perswade why no Reasonable Man can be a Quaker amongst the rest of that kind which thou art not Humbled for to this Day as I perceive by this Book do all stand upon Record before the Lord the Righteous Judge against thee for in those thy doings and all that kind against the manifest and manifold Appearances of Christ in his People of every degree thou hast plainly declared thy self to be of Rabshekah's Spirit who Railed against the Living God and his despised Israel and of that Spirit that Jannes and Jambres who withstood Moses in his work under God of calling Israel out of Egypt and as the Lord Pleaded the Cause of his People in those Days so will he as he hath for ever plead our Innocent Cause against thee and all his Enemies for of a truth the Lord God Blessed for ever hath raised us up to be his Servanâ— Sons and Daughters to bear his Name in Righteousness before the Children of Men in a pure Holy Witness against all the false Ways and Worships of false Men so be it and so it will be as hard for thee and all to kick against the Pricks as it was in Persecuting Saul Acts 9. Read and consider lest the Day pass over you as it did from the unbelieving Jews who would not receive God come and manifest in the Flesh in those days to whom Christ said Ye will not come to me that ye might have Life but they would seek it in the killing Letter and as it were by the works of the Law until mid-night Darkness and utter Desolation came upon them For Oh how the Earth is filled with Violence because of such Doctrines and Teachings as this R. B. and such Men brings forth for behold how the Field of his Followers and Admirers are all overgrown with Briers and Thorns and noysom Weeds as the proper Fruit of their accursed Doctrines as this R. B. himself sets down in his 48th Direction Page 236. of his Book in these words that is to say Oh Friends how bad are we our selves What Pride is in our Hearts What Ignorance in our Minds So wanting are we even in the lowest Grace Humility that we have scarce enough to make us take patiently as now we are giving out upon others So Selfish as Dishonoureth our Profession with the Brand of Contradictedness and Partiality so weak that our Duties are lyable to greater Censures than we can bear and our inward Graces weaker than our outward Duties This must needs be so in the Duties of the Graceless Minister thou pleads for of such ungoverned Thoughts that Confusion and Tumult instead of Order and Fruitful Improvement are the daily Temper and Imployment of our Imaginations This must needs be so in you that Live in such Opposition to the Life of God manifest in his Children at this Day So Passionate Impatient and Corrupt that we are a trouble to our selves and others This must needs proceed from such a corrupt Fountain and a Dishonour to the Gospel it is so and a hinderance to the Conversion of those whom our holy Exemplary Lives should win to God So strange to Heaven as if we had never well believed it that is so and therefore the Sheep of Christ deny your Voice you who are such Strangers to him And to say all in one so empty of Love to our dear Redeemer and to the God of Love that our Hearts lye vacant to entertain the Love of Worldly Vanities ye Hypocrites what have you to do to name Christ who are thus Unbelieving and Unredeemed and to fly back from the serious Thoughts of God which should be our daily Work and Pleasure and fly from the Face of Death as if we should be the worst when nearest to our God Oh Hypocrites how can you for shame call God yours when you are thus beyond measure bad when Scripture saith He that saith he knows God and keeps not his Commandments is a Lyer and the Truth is not in him see 1 John 2.4 And Repent lest ye all perish together Priests and People for the Lord is arisen to Judgment and none can stand before him which hath unclean and filthy Garments as you are covered with whom R. B. here puts on to be Teachers of others and yet remain your selves with him under such woful Sins and Condemnation as is here spoken of But surely if you did believe and feel inwardly that it were so bad
to Cure your Self-willedness and Humour and to do you good and to preserve the Publick Peace And though you think much you Christians that we Imprison you deny you Civil Liberties and Priviledges and count you unworthy to be suffered in the Land yet all this by R. B's Doctrine is far less than you do to us Jews for you think us so bad that you avoid Communion with us and deny us Church-liberty and Priviledges yea and think us unworthy to be suffered in the Churches Come R. B. Would this have been good and true Reasoning by the Jews against the Christians or by the Papists against the Protestants Then if it would not as no sober Man can say it would then for Ever stop thy Mouth and let shame cover thy Face for Ever speaking any more of things pertaining to Christian or Christ's Religion for an Enemy to Christ and his People thou art herein manifest to be And lest thou should'st want any thing to make thee compleat in Wickedness thou goest on and in answer to an Objection which is to this purpose That the Persecutors separated from are bad and prophane and he that separates saith he charges them truly but he is not Schismatical or Heretical but they accuse him falsly To this I say this R. B. with a Whores Forehead on the behalf of the Persecutors answers and saith You to wit you that separate say so and they to wit the Persecutors say the same of you They say you are Schismatical but they are not Prophane Now how shall a stander-by know which of you are in the right doubtless by the Witnesses and Evidences saith he they try you in some Court or before some Magistrate before they punish you saith he you never try them nor hear them speak for themselves nor examine any Witness publickly against them nor allow them any Church-Justice but avoid their Communion upon Reports or pretence of private Knowledge They judge you Personally one by one you condemn whole Parishes in the lump unheard They condemn you as for a positive Crime but you condemn them without charging any one Crime upon them c. To which I answer for the Lord and his Truth in this Day of Israel's Trouble and Trials and say The Lord rebuke thee thou Lying Spirit in this R. B. Was there ever heard such Notorious Falshoods and Abominations come from one professing the Gospel yea professing himself to be a Minister of the Gospel yea and taking upon him to be a Teacher of the Teachers as is here from this R. B Oh! the Envy Oh! the Malice the deep-rooted Iniquity of this Man against them that depart from Iniquity in these Islands and cannot join with the People of this wicked World in their Bloody Offerings Oh! the Patience and Long-suffering of God towards such though they continue long in their Wickedness but the Lord will certainly plead with thee O R. B. and all his Adversaries for your great Envy to his People and Work in these Days But come let us see again if these Lies of R. B.'s would not have suited as well for the Persecuting Jews against the first Christians or the Persecuting Papists against the Protestants as it doth for the Persecutors in these Days against those that in Obedience to God are separated from them For what if Tertullus or any Jewish Lying Orator had stood up in behalf of the Jews against the Christians and said The Jews try you in some Court or before some Magistrate before they punish you but you Christians never try them nor hear them speak for themselves nor examine any VVitnesses publickly against them nor allow them any Church-Justice but avoid their Communion upon report or pretence of private Knowledge and so condemn them by the lump yea a whole Nation together c. And so if the Papist against the Protestants had used the like reasoning would it have been any thing but gross Untruth and Falshood in either of their Mouths Or were either the first Christians or first Protestants any more to be blamed for their Separation because of such Liars Nay nay neither are the People of God in these Days any worse to be thought of for separating from the Wicked notwithstanding all these gross Lies of R. B. or any of his Spirit I say they are most gross Lies if they be said of us the People of God whom they World in Scorn calls Quakers that we have not Tried them c. For we have Tried them and heard them often what they can say for themselves and we have by the Spirit of the Lord found them wanting of the Life and Power of Godliness like the Heathen who profess not Christ and publick Witnesses there are of it not only their own Works which are daily manifest in the Face of the Sun but also their own Words and Confessions when they meet to Worship for they say they have left undone what God commands and done what he forbids and so have no Spiritual Health in them which signifies plainly they have denied Christ come in the Flesh for whosoever receives him receives God's Saving Health and are a saved People spiritually healthful they have condemned themselves by their Unbelief and evil Deeds from the Common-wealth and Inheritance of Israel And so not only the Spirit of the Lord in us but even the Witness of God in their own Consciences charges not only one but even many great and grievous Crimes upon them And so R. B. with all his Lies and evil Inventions if he Repent not is for the Lake and if ever he be saved it must be through fiery terrible Judgment which will consume the Adversary For Oh! how hath Satan blinded his Eye that he should thus rise up against the People and Work of God in these Days to his hurt And when it is objected that of all Men living no Man think that a Persecutor is godly and fit for Church-Communion he doth not like a Christian confess to the Truth thereof but after his accustomed manner Heathen-like he invents his sorry shifts to avoid the force of the Truth by saying Did all the Ministers and Common People persecute you And then asking a Question concerning the doings of the Souldiers under Oliver and the like which are meer shifts For what is the doings of any Men to make void the Truth by it For whatsoever any in their Ignorance of the Truth have done against the Truth serves nothing to the making void of this to wit That a Persecutor of the Godly is not godly nor fit for Church-Communion but instead of giving Glory to God by Confessing to Truth this R. B. after he hath wearied himself with his words of what was done in Oliver's time he sums up his Devilish Doctrine of pleading for the Persecutors and against those whom God hath separated from them saying to the same wicked purpose as before It is but one and the same Sin in Persecutors and the Separates which causeth
the one to smite their Brethren and the other to Excommunicate them ☜ the one to cast them into Prison as Schismaticks and the other to cast them out of the Church as Prophane c. And so for this thy summing up and concluding God hath concluded thee with the wicked Persecutors whom the Judgment of his great Day will meet But hold O! R. B. thou that art thus hot and without all fear in pleading for the Devil's Kingdom I say when the Lord bids us and we obey him in separating from the Wicked is this all one with the Sin of Persecution Oh thou Unjust Man the Lord will be terrible to thee in the Day of his Wrath which is nigh at hand to come upon thee if thou repent not for all thy Villany against him and for all thy daubing deceitful words in the beginning and end of this Direction the Lord sees thee to be a Fighter against him and thy Reward will be according to thy Works as he hath said and all the Rocks and Mountains of the Wicked World for whom thou pleadest shall not hide thee from his stroke As testifies the good Spirit of the Lord Jesus in his Servant Thomas Taylor Some more of the strange Sayings of this Richard Baxter in his Book Page 219. GODLY Men are much liker to be in the right than Vngodly Men. Answ This shews what a Stranger he is to the certainty of Godliness Page 220. Sometimes the worser sort of Men may hold fast the Truth Answ This is a gross Lie for the bad cannot hold fast the good unless in Prison If any better Persons deny Infant-Baptism the worser Sort of People would be all against them and yet be in the right Answ Thus Sprinkling of Infants for which there is no Scripture must needs be wrong whosoever hold it and the Corruption of it appears so much the more because the worser Sort are so much for it Many do take a Form of Prayer or Liturgy to be unlawful meerly because the most of the worser Sort are for it Answ If thy Hearers be so bâ—dly-taught yet those that are taught of God forbâ—ar such things as they know he requires not of them but what Form or Liturgy is that which the most of the worser Sort of the People are for is it not that which speaks Peace to the Wicked by telling them they were Regenerated by sprinkling a little Water on their Faces or the like when Infants And that they shall be saved though they continue in Sin all their Lives long But the Hour cometh and now is that neither in the invented Forms of the Hypocrite's long Prayers nor in the short invented Forms and Liturgies of the Prophâ—ne but in Spirit and Truth as the Lord Jesus enables them will God be worshipped and served by his People for the Day is dawned and the Shadows fly away and as the Day doth more and more arise in its Glory will all the things of vain Men pass away Page 221. The sum of his 44th Directions by his own setting down runs thus Ye take the Examples of Religious Men to be one of your most Perilous Temptations and therefore labour to discover especially what are the Sins of Professors in the Age that you live in that you may especially watch and fortifie your Souls against them And adds That sometimes the strictest Sort run in a Gang after one Opinion and sometimes after another Answ Here I Appeal to that of God in all that fear his Name and are alive to Truth whether this do not wholly tend to the hardening of Pharaoh's Heart against the People of God in these Days who are in the Truth it self and not in Opinions as the Hypocrites are For though such as are begotten into Forms of Religion without the Truth by the Hirelings do never cease from erring yet the truly Religious who are begotten to God by Christ walk in the Way undefiled which the Fools who are upright in Heart cannot err in But this his telling of running in a Gang is a filthy and reproachful Speech wholly of Ashdod and the Lord will judge thee O Enemy for thy work R. B. and therefore let all that fear God take heed of this Man 's Soul-defiling and Heart-hardning Doctrine for out of the dark and wicked Kingdom wherein he and all such live is the Lord calling his People And to conclude If any would see this Harlot in its fine Dress and the Crooked Serpent in its glittering Colour on the Head which must be bruised and yet with his Sting in his Tail which is full of Venom let them consider that 44th Direction which runs thus Desire the highest Degree of Holiness and to be free from the Corruptions of the Times but â—ffect not to be old and singular from ordinary Christians in lawful things for instance If it were to go in a meaner Garb than others and as the Quakers not to put off the Hat or with the Friars to go barefoot or in a distinguishing Habit that all Men may see and say This is a singular Person in Religion it is easie to see how this gratifieth Pride Answ But now that the Lord is arisen according to his Promise Isa 27.1 which saith In that Day the Lord with his sore and great and strong Sword shall punish Leviathan the piercing Serpent even Leviathan that crocked Serpent and he shall slay the Dragon that is in the Sea Therefore I say it is that the Dragon is so wrathful to pour forth his Floods of Persecution after the Heavenly Woman and her Man child And there fore it is that the Crooked Serpent in such Men as this is is so at work every way seeking with their Cunning and Crafty Deceitful Doctrines to pierce the Heart the Life of Truth by their Darts and so with their fair colourable words as the Apostle speaks to deceive the Hearts of the Simple and Ignorant People but the Lord taketh the Wilely in their own Craftiness and the Pit they dig for others themselves fall into and the Lord 's Spiritual Sword of Truth pierces through all their Lives and Dead in the great Sea and Puddle of their own Iniquities before the Lord and his Saints this Day they lye Glory to his Name the Mighty God over all who is worthy For what more glistering and fair-seeming words can the Serpent give than to say Desire the highest Degree of Holiness and to be free from the Corruptions of the Time But that this R. B. intends no such thing no nor believes that any shall ever attain to any such thing whilst on the Earth is most manifest by the whole current of his Doctrine for not only in his former Books where he hath publickly declared That sinless Perfection is the Doctrine of the Devil hatch'd in Hell c. But even in this very Book it fully appears what an Enemy he is not only to the highest degree but even to Holiness it self where amongst his
Antichrist there shall be Overturnings and Commotions by which the Carnal Church shall be terribly stirred up and moved against the Evangelical Spirit of Christ but that the Whore of Babylon the Carnal Church shall fall in which time the Saints shall preach saying From this time it is no longer the Church of Christ but the Synagogue of Satan and the Habitation of Devils which before said in the Pride of her Heart I sit as a Queen in great Honour and Glory I Rule over my Kingdom I sit at ease I am no Widow i. e. I have Bishops and Kings on my side That the Roman Church is that Great Whore spoken of in the Revelations which hath committed Fornication with this World having departed from the Worship and sincere Love and Delights of Christ her Spouse and embraced the World the Riches and Pleasures of it and the Devil and Kings and Princes and Prelates and all the Lovers of this World Also Page 285. For if we have no other Helps for the understanding of their Prayer of Contemplation than what Mr. Cressy gives in his Preface we may as well hope to understand the Quakers Canting as Mr. Cressy ' s. And this Author Page 289. saith Christ and his Apostles taught Men a plain and intelligible way of serving God and bid them look for Perfection in another World Also Page 295. telling of some Romish Phanaticks says Did not they deliver this for their Doctrine that Men ought to harken to the immediate Impulses of the Spirit of God within them and that now God doth acquaint his own People with his Mind and Will in a way peculiar to themselves And says afterwards That our Enthusiasts do not boast of so many Raptures Visions and Revelations as those of the Church of Rome have done Now to this I say that when any of those that pretend to be Head of the Protestant Church are come to such a pass and measure of Darkness as that they cannot allow that Christians ought to harken to the immediate Impulses of the Spirit of God within them or that now God doth acquaint his own People c. I say it is sad and the Times may well be said to be perilous indeed What! Doth either the Scripture without or the inward Faculty which thou says must be Antecedent to all Divine Revelation Dictate to thee that these Sayings are Phanatical What! Are not the Children of God led by the Spirit of God which is in them And must they not harken to the Doctrine and Movings of their Teacher and Leader And doth not Christ say to you to wit my peculiar People and Disciples it is given to know the Mystery of the Kingdom of God but to others it is not given to wit to those that are without that follow their Wisdom and not Christ's Spirit But both the Carnal Church of Papists and Protestants deny to harken to the inward Movings or Impulses as are here called of God's Spirit that they may Establish their own Traditions some in one way some in another but all in vain for the Lamb shall have the Victory and a little Child shall lead them and the Meek shall increase their Joy in the Lord and he the Lord whom the World despises shall lead them by the Fountain of Living Water But let me ask this Doctor this Serious Question whether he accounts that part of Romish Phanaticism here set down or the Common Tenets of them called the Orthodox among them the better Doctrine Surely of the Two this he calls Phanaticism is the more favoured by Scripture and so consequently the more Orthodox and may I not say the more Protestant too For the first Reformers pretended to take Scripture for their Rule though in many things they missed it sadly And are not we that go amongst them under the Name of Quakers counted Phanaticks at this Day from this very ground because we Preach Scripture Doctrine and Speak Scripture Language at this Day As for instance because we say Christ lighteth every man that cometh into the World according to John 1.9 And because we say this Light or Grace and Truth of God which hath appeared unto all Men is the Saints Teacher and would be a sufficient Teacher and Leader into Life to all Men if they did not resist it and rebel against the Motions of it And because we say that the Saints who are in this Anointing of the Holy One know all things necessary to Salvation according to 1 John 2. And because we say that People ought not to have the Faith of Christ with respect of Persons but such as respect Persons commit Sin according to Lev. 19.15 And because we say the Work of the true Ministry is for perfecting the Body of Christ Eph. 4. And the false Ministry perfects nothing but keeps People always Learning and never brings them to the Knowledge of the Truth And because we say thee and thou to a particular Person according to Scripture I say for these and many the like Doctrines doth the present evil World of Papists and Protestants Professors and Prophane hate us and deride us and persecute us to their own shame who would be accounted Owners of Scripture Thomas Taylor The Day is Dawned that makes all Wickedness manifest FOR now even now the Day is Dawned which makes all things manifest Praises to the Lord God of Heaven and Earth and now no Worker of Iniquity can be hid any more for now the Glory of the Lord fills the Earth and the Knowledge of God covers the Earth as the Waters do the Sea And now the pure Truth of the Ever-living God hath lift up its Head above all the Clouds and Floods of Error and over all the Mists and Fogs of the dark perishing World Glory to the God of Truth our Life and Light this Day who is appeared in the Riches of his Bounty to gather our Souls to himself and to unite our very Hearts and Souls unto him in the Covenant of his Life and Love never to be broken nor forgot And now the Kingdom of God is come indeed to the Believers in the Light according to the Promise of the Lord and the Saints Prayer into which no unclean thing can enter but the unbelieving World stand without wondring despising and perishing in their manifold Opposition to the Truth and Light of this Day of God the true God over all Blessed for Evermore And now all those who will not take Warning by the harms of such Gainsayers of the Light as are gone before them will fall with a double Destruction because they would not apply their Hearts to that pure Wisdom that comes so plentifully from God in the Light of his Son this Day to learn his fear therein but take more pleasure in the Works of their own deceived Hearts and unclean Hands than in the pure Law and Handy-work of the Ever-living Blessed Lord God that gives Life and Breath and all things who is this Day indeed exalting
at the Branches but now Christ's Axe is laid again to the Root of the Evil Tree Glory to his Name to cut it up Root and Branch that the right Heavenly Root and Branch of his own planting may bring forth Fruit to his Glory and Endless Praise who is worthy who is over all God Blessed for Ever So be it The next thing after the Children are grown up to Men and Women at least to Sixteen Years of Age or upwards and have passed the Bishops Hands as is before-mentioned they are invited to the Communion which they call the other Sacrament wherein they eat Bread and drink Wine in remembrance of Christ's Death as they say until he come But here you must understand a great Mystery of Deceit which hath crept in amongst the People called Christians since the Apostles time in the Apostacy and great Darkness of Antichrist to wit that though they tell of remembring Christ's Death till he come yet they do not believe nor would have any others ever to believe that this coming of Christ shall be whilst People are in this Body upon the Earth but they must be eating Bread and drinking Wine as a Sign and never come to see it fulfilled to them in the coming of the Substance to wit Christ in Life and Power to dwell with them and in them as he promised to them that looked for him as Christ said concerning the Fruit of the Vine that he would drink it new with his Disciples in his Father's Kingdom And as Christ taught them amongst other things to pray that the Father's Kingdom might come and is not this to be known in People whilst here Yea yea and so to feel Christ supping with them and they with him and being unto them their daily Bread as he saith in the sixth of John I am the Bread of Life thus I say they remain out of the Faith of Christ and so without Faith it 's impossible to please God Also here is to be noted another grand Deceit of the Enemy in this their Sacrament so called in that he makes them believe the Bread and Wine is not holy enough and sufficient for that Business unless the Man-made Priest have said some words over it which they call Consecration and so Consecrated it as they speak with his unholy Hands unholy I call them and that appears from their own Confession for they daily say they have no Health in them by reason of their grievous Offences but if they had not in words confessed it yet their Lives makes it manifest that they are of unclean Lips and defiled Hands which whilst so are not fit to meddle with Holy Things no more than the Lepers under the Law were fit in their Leprosie to enter into the Temple or meddle with any Holy Thing And for those words they use unto all that Communicate Hand over Head which say The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve thy Body and Soul unto Everlasting Life It is demanded where they had them for I never read any such in Christ's giving that Bread and Wine at his last Supper nor in Paul's words to the Corinthians afterwards speaking of it where then had they them Surely they have either Invented them out of their own Heads or had them out of some Popish Book or the like For it is certain from the Lord Jesus they came not seeing they are such a Burden to the Souls of his Redeemed Ones this Day But again these words Preserve thy Body and Soul signifies the Blind Priest takes it for granted that all that he gives this Bread unto are in a good and safe Condition at present though the Lord knows and they themselves confess they remain Miserable Offenders and have no Health in them O what sad work is here amongst them O what grievous daubing First they tell them that by their sprinkling they were made so and so as is before-mentioned and in their Bishoping confirmed in it and now therefore by this eating and drinking they are preserved though to the Grief of the Spirit of God they live in their Sins and in the broad way of the Old and Evil World where the true sprinkling of the Blood of Christ is not known for saith the Apostle If we walk in the Light as he to wit God is in the Light them have we Fellowship one with another and the Blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin 1 John 1.6 7. Then it must needs be that such as walk in Darkness know not Christ nor the cleansing of his Blood for he is only the Author of Life to all that obey him but the unclean World eat and drink Damnation to themselves whatsoever to the contrary they may Imagine But whence came this Custom of Consecrating Bread and Wine if not from those of Rome who falsly imagine the Real Presence as they call it to be after their Consecration For Christ's giving of Thanks at his last Supper before his giving of Bread and Wine is nothing to your Custom Also seeing you pretend to give all the Vertue to the Thing signified and not to the Signs you spoil your own Doctrine of Consecration But Popery is easilier gotten out of the Profession than out of the Heart It would be long to tell of all the bold and strange Passages they have in this their Communion as in the other of their Observations But this one more only may be mentioned and so pass on and it is this Therefore with Angels and Archangels and with all the Company of Heaven say they we laud and magnifie thy Glorious Name Evermore praising thee and saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Hosts Heaven and Earth are full of thy Glory Now all People whose Minds are tender towards God I Appeal to God's Witness in you whether such words as these do any way suit or agree with the Condition of the Parishes of England who thus use them For what Fellowship have such Miserable Offenders and Unhealed Souls with Angels and Archangels and all the Heavenly Company Nay nay no more than Light and Darkness hath But here the Whore that fits upon many Waters which by Exposition of the Spirit are Multitudes of People hath lifted up their Minds into a Conceit that they are Real Christians and so of the Heavenly Company because of Words when Alas they are for the most part such as the Apostle wrote unto weeping Who so walk as that they are Enemies to the Cross of Christ whose God is their Bellies and glory in their shame minding earthly things Phil. 3. And what shall I say of their Ring and plighting of their Troth and Worshipping one another in their Form of Wedding when they say With this Ring I thee Wed and with my Body I thee Worship but even take up a Lamentation for the People whose Eye is so blinded by the God of this World that they will not see the things that belong unto their Peace in this the Day
in them for by your own Confession you are miserable Offenders all the Days of your Life and have no Health in you and so cannot endure to hear of Perfection or perfect Soundness on this side the Grave Eph. 9.11 12 13. Yea though you read in Scripture That Christ's Ministry perfects to God Epâ— 4. Yet there is not so much Faith amongst you as a Grain of Mustard seed to believe any such thing for if any come to be healed by Christ and so made perfectly found to God and witness forth the same they are not for your Company even you who have no Health in you but are miserable Offenders Oh you that cry out against Separatists and Separation Jude 18.19 what a woful Separation have you made you are of them who have separated your selves from the Lord in Unbelief and are sensual not living in God's Spirit but in the broad Way of the World Oh when will you be weaned from the Breasts of Mystery Babylon and learn to suck at Truth 's Breasts Zach. 13.1 Rev. 22.1 c. and draw Water out of God's Well which in the Light and Life of Jesus Christ is opened to the true Hungerers and Thirsters after Righteousness this day But you have transgressed the Everlasting Covenant and offered Violence to the righteous Law of the Lord Jesus and miserably wrested and perverted the Holy Scriptures 2 Pet. 3.16 which witness of him and his glorious Appearance in these latter days and this you do that you may establish your own Traditions that you may keep your selves up in the Earth in the Glory of this World and esteem of Fallen Man John 5.44 who knows not Christ nor his Kingdom and therefore hath the Lord already discovered your Skirts and will yet daily more and more 2 Thess 2.8 by the bright shining forth of his Light make you so manifest naked and bare that every Eye shall see the Shame of your Nakedness Isa 66.24 And to the Nations of them that are Saved who walked in the Light of the Heavenly Jerusalem shall you be an abhorring for ever and the Redeemed of the Lord shall daily flock to Zion out of your Frozen Land to offer their Spiritual Sacrifices to God upon his Holy Altar and shall see the Smeak of your defiled Sacrifices go downward as Cain 's did Gen. 4.5 which God had no Respect to And the Smoak of your Torment shall go up for ever and ever Rev. 14.11 for strong is the Lord that judges you because you have given his Lambs Gall and Vinegar to drink Rev. 16.19 and have pushed them with Side and Shoulder and therefore a bitter Cup will God give you to drink Oh how hath the Lord borne with you How hath his Voice uttered it self amongst you in your Streets in your Assemblies saying in your Ears O Repent repent Give Glory to God by giving over to deceive your own and the poor Peoples Souls which are precious to God O ye that have exalted your selves into the Place of Teachers and are untaught your selves into the Place of Bishops and Overseers of others and have not looked into your own Hearts and Souls to see what grows there Mich. 3.6 7. O the deep Sleeps and Slumbers that you are seen to be in this day even all you who have ran and God never sent you and therefore you have not nor never can possibly in that State profit the People at all Oh all you that love to be call'd of Men Master and Doctor and Lord Bishops and Arch Deacons and such-like worldly Titles which Christ Mat. 23.10 11. the meek Lamb and lowly in Heart did always forbid and his Spirit is against for ever and ever and saith It shall not be so amongst his but he that is greatest must be least and Servant of all not in feigned Words and deceitful Shews Mat. 20.25 26. Mat. 15.13 but in Deed and in Truth Glory to the Lord who is arisen to root up the false Ministry and to bring in his own as in the Beginning That the Earth may be covered with the Knowledge of God Isa 11.9 Hab. 2.14 and Jesus Christ our Lord as the Waters cover the Sea Amen and Amen O ye Priests and Parish-Teachers When will ye consider of the Entrance of your selves into your Offices and the People into your Church You have laid another Foundation than Christ hath laid Christ said to his Messengers and Ministers John 20.21 22. Heb. 7.16 As my Heavenly Father hath sent me so I send you But Christ was not made a Minister by the Law of a Carnal Commandment but by the Power of an endless Life And so you that are Ministers of the Letter and made Ministers thereof by the Law of a Carnal Commandment and your Fittedness for the Work is gathered not from the Holy Spirit 's Ability 1 Cor. 1.20 21. Rev. 3.18 19 20. but from some Worldly Endowments as Natural Languages Arts and Parts which can only fit a Man for a Heathenish Oratory but could never help in this great and Heavenly Matter of Christ's Kingdom and your Bishops being made by the Humane Powers could never say That by the laying on of their Hands you received either the Holy Ghost or any Gift of it And so you being of the World and impowered by the World how can you claim Audience or Obedience from Christ's Members who know not to follow your Voice which is the Strangers Voice and so you Men of the World are heard 1 John 4.5 upheld and obeyed by the World who are ignorant of Christ's Voice from the Strangers Mat. 15.14 and so being such blind Guides whether can you lead the People but into the Ditch And there you are Isa 55.2 who are always doing what you ought not to do and so have no Health in you and so dangerous to joyn to and are miserable Offenders Isa 56.10 Isa 1.4 5 6. for taking the poor Peoples Money for that which is not Bread and causing them to spend their Labours for your Traditions and empty Sound of Words which are never able to satisfie their Souls John 10.1 And you are very miserable Offenders also in not only coming in by a wrong Door your selves but also in perswading the poor deceived Multitude that you enter them into the Pale of the Church by your Baptizing or Sprinkling of them when Infants for which there is no Scripture Nay more as your common Custom is and as is said before that you regenerate them by it for God never regenerated any by a Means which he never ordained as this Usage of yours is manifest to be So all your Entrances being impure and your Foundations Unspiritual and Unscriptural what Building must needs be builded thereupon the wise in Heart do easily see So you and your Work being Mystery Babylon Mat. 7.26 Rev. 17.15 and 14.11 the Lord God of Heaven is engaged
14.6 7. after the long Night of Apostacy The Lord Jesus Christ never ordained such Ways and Means as you use for the furnishing and enabling of his Servants for the Work of his Ministry But when he ascended up on high he gave Gifts unto Men some Apostles some Prophets some Evangelists some Pastors and Teachers for the edifying of his Heavenly Body and perfecting of his Holy Ones Ephes 4. But what can you edifie or perfect to God Jam. 3.15 16. 1 Cor. 2. from Ver. 1. to the end whose Wisdom is from below and whose Studies and Exercises for the most part run in the Channel of the Heathenish Philosophy and Vain Deceit of the World's Spirit which can neither receive in nor minister forth any Thing of Christ's Kingdom And so we are given by the Lord's Blessed Light and Spirit in this Day of the Lord to see and declare That you are gone from Christ and the Way of the true Ancient Christians into the Way of the Heathens who know not God as the Apostle said The World by Wisdom knew not God And so the People of the Country are greatly deceived by you and their Children extreamly wronged and corrupted by you for many send up their Youth to learn some Good amongst you but Alas how can you that are so evil bring forth good Fruit Nay nay for if any come amongst you and conform not to the filthy and bad Customs of your Universities how are they looked upon as strange Things How are they hooted at as Owls in a Desart You are altogether corrupt Isa 1.4 5 6. from the Crown of the Head to the Sole of the Foot no Soundness in you Oh! What Lewdness and Debauchery hath mine Eyes beheld in you Isa 2.17 Isa 31.4 5. Jer. 6.15 The Lord will ease himself of you your high Looks and high Towers he will pull down your Theatre that you Glory in shall be a Curse and the Lord will deliver his Lambs from your Teeth What a Face have you that you cannot Blush What will you never give over provoking God with your Acts and Degrees What Heathenish Stuff is this to find you at this time a-day telling of and glorying in Your Batchelers of Art and Masters of the same Batchelers of Divinity and Doctors of Divinity and such like but if any come amongst you who through the Grace of God hath attained to that Blessed Degree of a true living Member of Jesus Christ and Man of God to Preach the Mystery of God's Kingdom Isa 56.10 to awaken you out of your deep Slumbers of Sin and Death him you persecute him you disallow as your Fore-fathers the Old Scribes and Pharisees Mat. 27.21 22. rejected Christ Jesus the true Foundation and Corner-Stone of the Heavenly Building with his Blessed Followers And therefore will God's Controversie be with you for Ever until you Repent of your Sorceries and great Abominations wherewith you have burdened his good Spirit Days without Number Rev. 1â— 6 But the Everlasting Gospel of God's Light and Love shall spread and the Branch thereof shall over all your Walls grow up to his Praise who is come in this Day of his Power to Judge the Great Whore's Works in England as well as in other Countries that the Earth may be swept Isa 11.9 and filled with the Knowledge of God as the Waters cover the Sea So be it so be it saith my Spirit Thomas Taylor And now the Heavenly Free Mother Rev. 21.1 2 3 4 5 6 7. Gal. 4.26 with her Happy Children is come and coming down from God out of Heaven to possess inherit and everlastingly to enjoy the Kingdom of his Endless Love Peace Righteousness and Joy where Mystery Babylon with all her false Mothers and sinful Children shall have no Name nor Place at all for at the Downfal of Mystery Babylon doth arise in the Saints the pure unspeakable Joy which none of the Children of the dark World understand any thing of at all It is so See Rev. 2.17 and Rev. 7. from Ver. 9 to the end and Rev. 11. from Ver. 15 to the end and Rev. 12.7 8 9 10 11. and Rev. 14. from Ver. 1 to Ver. 13. and Rev. 15.1 2 3 4. and Rev. 16.17 18 19. and Rev. 17.18 and Rev. 18.24 and Rev. 19. from Ver. 1 to Ver. 10. It is done HALLELUJAH The true Fast from the False Isaiah 58.4 Ye shall not Fast as ye do this Day THE Lord Speaks this to the Ungodly People in those Days who made a Vain and Hypocritical Shew of Fasting but the Lord Regarded them not and the same Lord the Everlasting God who was angry then with that False-hearted People is Angry and fore Displeased with the like Generation of Evil and Ungodly Men at this Day who when any Plague or Calamity comes upon the Nation so that the Hand of God cannot but be seen against them then they will call a Fast for a Day in a Week or a Month or so and so make a Shew of Humbling themselves in the outward but in the mean time the Sin of their Souls and Evil of their Lives is not departed from but in their Words and Deeds they are the same both in the sight of God and Man after their Fast Yea many of them in the very Day of their Fast as they were before Were they Drunkards before they continue so still were they given to Swearing and taking God's Holy Name in Vain they are found the same still for all their Fasting as they were before Were they Proud and Covetous given to Oppress Extort and Over-reach the Poor and Over-reach their Neighbours in their Bargainings and Dealings that they may be Rich and so Live like the Rich Glutton in all manner of Excess of Meat Drink and Cloaths they are found the same alas the very same if not worse after the Fast as they were before Or were they Guilty of laying heavy Burdens upon the Tender-Conscienced People yea and of Imprisoning such as in Conscience to God could not Bow to every thing that Man's Will set up Alas to the Grief of God's Holy Spirit they are found in the same Steps still and therefore saith the Lord from time to time Ye shall not thus Fast as ye do this Day to cause your Voice to be heard on High Is it such a Fast that I have chosen a Day for a Man to Afflict his Soul Is it to bow down his Head like a Bull-rush or so Wilt thou call this a Fast an acceptable Day to the Lord Nay nay this is not the Fast that God hath chosen but this is only that which vain deceived Man in his Ignorance and Blindness chooseth For the true Fast even that which the Holy God in all Ages and from all People Requireth is that every one depart from the Evil of his Way and from the Violence that is in his Heart and Hands and so to loose the Bands of Wickedness and to undo the
void the Covenant of God with his Elect in Christ Jesus the Second Adam the Lord from Heaven for as is the Heavenly so are they that are Heavenly And so whosoever is Born of God and abideth in Christ sinneth not for he that sinneth hath neither seen Christ nor known Christ as the Apostle saith expresly in 1 John 3.6 9. And herein is that saying true 1 John last If we say we have not sinned to wit in the First Adam or Flesh we make God a Liar but now being Translated out of that Kingdom of Darkness into the Kingdom of the Dear Son of God the Light we put on Christ's Nature which is Holiness and Righteousness without which none shall see God Blessed be God for his Unspeakable Rich Gift And so though in the First Man 's faln Nature there is Sin and Death yet in Christ Jesus there is Life Righteousness and Everlasting Peace And if thou wouldst not have Death the Wages of Sin thou must come out of the Flesh into the Spirit of Christ where Life and Everlasting Peace is witnessed This is the Day of the Lord 's Mighty Working wherein he is separating the Sheep from the Goats and making the difference plain and manifest betwixt such as serve God and such as serve Sin And for that other Scripture 1 Kings 8.46 which saith There is no Man that sinneth not it must in like manner be understood as the former to wit of Man in the First Adam or faln Fleshly Nature where all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God and in which state of Sin and Unbelief whosoever abide they do sin daily But this toucheth not at all the sinless and perfect state of the Children of God in Christ Jesus where Sin which is the Devil's Work comes not as was said before for the Prince of this World hath no part in me saith Christ And therefore who art thou that lays Sin to the Charge of God's Elect Thy own words shall be thy Burden but Peace on God's Israel for Evermore And for that third Scripture Prov. 20.9 Who can say I have made my Heart clean I am pure from my Sin I say No Man can say that he hath made himself so though in Christ Jesus he is so for not of our selves but of God's alone Mercy and Free-gift in Christ Jesus it comes to pass that the Elect Vessels are cleansed and made pure in Heart according to that well-known place Eph. 5.25 26 27 Christ gave himself for his Church that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of Water by the Word that he might present it himself a Glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish Is not here a Company made clean indeed yea clean at Heart and pure from Sin in and by Christ Jesus Therefore let all the Enemies of Christ and his perfect Work be silent for ever So be it But above all it seems strange what he sets down in that Defiling Book called The Looking-glass where he saith That Philpot Bradford and Cranmer confessed That they were vile sinful and wretched Hypocrites even at the State when to be burnt for their Religion I say either he or the Printer or Relator of the History or all of them do greatly wrong them Sufferers or else their Condition is greatly to be lamented who had so much Zeal and Boldness as to Suffer for the sake of their Conscience and yet had so little Knowledge and Understanding of the Mystery of God and Christ as not to know the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost no better But we leave this and so proceed to see what there is in those Scriptures which he saith the Quakers make so much use of to prove Sinless Perfection The first is Psal 37.37 Mark the Perfect Man and behold the Vpright for the end of that Man is Peace The second is Heb. 6.1 Therefore leaving the Principles of the Doctrine of Christ let us go on to Perfection The third is 1 Cor. 2.6 Howbeit we speak Wisdom among them that are perfect The fourth is 2 Cor. 13.11 Finally Brethren farewel be perfect To all which I say It 's most plain to every pure Eye that these Scriptures with many more that might be brought to the same purpose prove sufficiently a Sinless Perfection otherwise it is no Perfection at all if not Sinless of God's working for every Work of God is Sinless and Perfect for that Perfection which is in or with Sin is the Work of the Man of Sin and is that Perfection which pleaseth his vile sinful hypocritical Members so well And so whosoever marks and beholds this imperfect and unbelieving Generation shall plainly see their End is Trouble and Misery and therefore it is that our words which we speak this day from the Lord concerning the great things of his Kingdom are accounted no better than Folly and Error amongst these sinful Opposers of God's Work of Sinless Perfection in his Saints and so these Opposers are never going on to God's Perfection but backwards from that of God in them which should lead them to God and so their Back and not their Face turned to God they are ever learning but never able to come to the Knowledge of the Truth as it is in Christ Jesus which perfects to God all that come to it And so how can they for shame exhort their Hearers to Perfection who are themselves the great Opposers of God's perfect Work in his People above all others To conclude That which remains at present to be spoken to that filthy Looking-glass is to wipe off a heap of Lies and Dirt which he hath falsly charged upon the Innocent and Harmless People of God called Quakers as in p. 249. where he saith That we disown the Ordinances of Christ and his Gospel the Word preached by his Ministers Church-order Baptism and Supper of the Lord Prayer Singing of Psalms the Publick Ministry as no Ministry of Jesus Christ Albeit saith he God hath set his Seal thereto in the Conversion of many Souls To all which in a word I answer and say The Lord both hath and yet will rebuke that Lying Spirit by which this Book was written And in particular to the several parts of this false and notorious lying Charge against us I say That the Ordinances of Christ and his everlasting Gospel we dearly love and own and the Word preached by his Ministers but not the Ministers of Antichrist we dearly own and delight in for the Word of God which the Ministers of Christ which he sends preach is Spirit and Life not the dead Letter for the dead Letter which the Hirelings preach for filthy Lucre we know to be no better than Chaff compared with that living Word which the Ministers of Christ preach for the Letter of the Hireling killeth but the Spiritual Word of the Gospel of Christ gives Life the Word of the
Scripture is fulfilled which saith They hated me without a Cause Thomas Taylor To the People at and about Stafford a Testimony for God and his Truth and against Deceit and Deceivers especially the Hireling Priests as a Warning Information and Instruction in Righteousness to them and all People elsewhere concerned by the Spirit of the Lord in his Suffering Servant Thomas Taylor Hear O People and Fear for the LORD hath spoken THE false Teacher the Hireling who hath run and God never sent him but Preaches for Hire and Divines for Money can never profit your Souls O People at all but with their selfe Dreams and lying Divinations and empty Sounds they deceive your poor Souls For what can the dead words of a dâ—â—d Man dead in Sins raise up your dead Souls from Death to Life No they cannot they have no Life in them and such who have no Spiritual Health nor Soundness by their own Confession in them but are Miserable Offenders can they minister any healthful or sound Doctrine to your Souls Nay these cannot for what is their Chaff to the Wheat their frothy Words to the powerful Word of God For sow a Field with Chaff and what a Crop can you expect But as the Prophet saith They sow the Wind and reap the Whirlwind So cease from them you that love God and your own Souls and turn to God for I Testifie for God That the True Ministry the Soul-saving Ministry of Christ Jesus is not with the Parish-Hirelings of these Days for neither their long Black Robes nor long White Surplices nor their Humane Learning nor the Ordination of Man Men of like Nature with themselves doth any more conduce to the making of them able Ministers of the New Covenant the Gospel of Christ the Everlasting Covenant of God than the Grey or Brown Coat of the Plow-man or Artificer or the Skill of the Husbandman in Husbandry or the Cunning of the Cunning Worker in Wood Brass or Iron doth furnish them for Gospel-service for the Vision of God's Kingdom to all the World this Day both Wise and Foolish is like a Book sealed as the Prophet saith which is given to the Worldly-wise to read and he cannot read it because it 's seal'd and to the Foolish and he cannot read it because he is unlearned Isa 29.10 11 12. so though in the World there is a difference betwixt the Wise and Foolish yet as to the Kingdom of God there is none for the Wisdom of this World is foolishness with God 1 Cor. 1.10 c. for that which lyeth hid from all Flesh God reveals to his by his Spirit for the Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God 1 Cor. 2.6 7 8. And People the time of quickning and raising up of many that were dead in Sins is come again after a long Night of Darkness and the Dead this Day hear the Voice of the Son of God not of main Man and they that hear do live John 5.25 So People look to your Souls for though your Parish-Teachers who Preach for Hire and Divine for Money and love to go in their Long and White Robes do boast of their being come out of Popery yet upon the Popish Maintenance of Tythes Glebe-lands Easter-reckonings Mortuaries and Moneys for Preaching over and Burying the Dead and such like things they live and make a Prey upon not willing to come to Christ to this Day as the first Christians did for a thorough Reformation and so not a little but a great deal of the Old Soure Popish Leaven being yet found amongst them both in Doctrine and Practice how should their whole Lump but be very sour As appears by their Fruits and the Fruits of such as follow them And so for witnessing in Christ against them for these evil things 〈◊〉 suffer Imprisonment yet through God's Mercy inabling me thereunto I rejoice and can truly from my Heart praise the Lord that hath deliver'd my Soul from that horrible Pit that these ungodly Men yet remain in and will not be helped out of And ye People of Stafford for your sakes it was that the Lord by my Mouth rebuked the Hireling that you might not always be deceived and kept in Death with such Dreamers but that you might turn to the Lord God from all such to know his Word and Spirit that made you in you to teach you and to lead your Immortal Souls to the Springs of Living Waters for you have too long dwelt in the Wilderness of Sin Ignorance and Vnbelief and now it is high time for you to Repent and come to know the Baptism of the Holy Ghost and Fire which is Christ's proper Baptism Mat. 3.10 11 12. for alas you have but hitherto been carried on by the Pharisees in the outward Shadows and Figures of Things which reach not the Soul to purifie and perfect it unto God and therefore is the Lord come in Mighty Power this Day to break in sunder all the Graven Images of the People whether under the Profession of the Popish or Protestant Religion for the Lord is on his Throne to make all things new again as in the beginning when all the Sons of God in Holiness sung for Joy and rejoiced in the Lord for the Blessed Victory they had got through the Blood of the Lamb over all their Souls Enemies But Wo and Alas for you the Poor People of Stafford and of many other Places who are under the Teachings of Worldly-minded Men Miserable Offenders like your selves always doing what ye should not do and leaving undone what ye should do and so without all Spiritual Health in the Miserable Captivity of Sin my Soul mourns for you and my Sufferings are for you and my Soul prays for you that you may be recover'd out of the Snare of your Soul's Enemy by which ye are led Captive at his Will for many Days and Years hath my Soul mourned for you and been oppressed and the Lord hath called to you early and late to Repent and lay things to Heart but O the hardness of many of your Hearts and the carelesness of the rest O why will ye Die Why will ye linger and remain still in Spiritual Sodom and Egypt where the Witnesses lay slain Rev. 11. So whilst ye have time prize it left the Lord lay you upon a Bed of Sorrows where no Ease is and say unto you in his Wrath I gave them time to Repent and they Repenâ—ed not In the Year 1679. Thomas Taylor HEAR the Word of the Lord all you that fear to offend the Lord and who breathe after Righteousness in any measure and yet in your Ignorance are seeking the Living among the Dead the Living God in Dead Observations which by Tradition you have received one from another and not from the Lord Jesus The Day is come wherein by the Spirit of Jesus it is witnessed in and by his Living Members That he that was dead is now alive and lives for Evermore and is
ascended far above all Heavens and out of all Figures and Shadows that he might fill all things with his Holy Substance And as in former Days he gave some Apostles some Prophets some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers for the Perfecting of the Saints for the Work of the Ministry for the Edifying of the Body of Christ till we all saith the Apostle to wit the Heavenly Body not the Body of Sinful Earthly Flesh come in the Vnity of the Faith and the Knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect Man unto the Measure of the Stature and Fulness of Christ Ephes 4.11 12 13. Even so the Lord is now giving forth of his Spirit to his Children Born of his Spirit for enabling them in this Day of Restoration for the Work of the Ministry for the perfecting of the Saints and fitting them for Glory and this now after a long Night of Darkness and Desolation is to the Praise of his Glory who hath made us in this his Blessed Day as he did his Faithful Followers in the Beginning accepted in the Beloved to shew forth his Praises to Ages to come whom he will also raise up by Christ Jesus together with us to magnifie his Mercies for Evermore But that the Parish Teachers of these Times who Preach for Hire and Divine for Money loving to be called of Men Master and like the Pharisees of old love to go in Long Robes and receive Honour one of another John 5. are such to wit so given of Christ and begifted from Heaven and fitted for so great a Work as to perfect the Saints as those before in Eph. 4. mentioned were I utterly deny and their Fruits as also the Fruits of their Hearers make manifest that they are of another Sort Seed and Generation even such as the Prophet Jeremiah speaks of and declares against who have run and God never sent them For why they waited not for the Word of God to speak in them and by them but stole the Words from their Neighbour and used their Tongues to say The Lord-saith when the Lord never spoke by them Ier. 23.30 and therefore saith the Lord these Teachers shall not profit the People at all Verse 32. For what are their Chaffy Words to the Word of God Verse 28. So the Teachers of the Parishes this day get into the Pulpit with the Words of the Prophets and Apostles in their Hand and Sin in their Hearts as those other did dreaming over them for Filthy Lucre and cry to the People BELOVED yea Beloved because they put into their Mouths Hear the Word of the Lord as you shall find it written in such a Chapter and such a Verse when the Lord never spoke to these Hirelings nor sent them thus to preach but they are Men made Ministers Men of the Evil World and great Lovers and Pleaders for it and therefore the World hears them 1 John 4.5 But â—â—e true Messenger of Christ saith for himself and his Brethren We are of God and the whole World lieth in Wickedness And saith Christ to his Disciples Ye are not of the World as I am not of the World for if you were of the World the World would love you for the World loves its own but now I have chosen you out of the World therefore the World hates you John 15.18 19. So all People fear the Lord God for the Name of Christians without the Nature of Christ will do you no good at all for the Lord is come to search all that called Christendom with Candles and to pull down the lofty Hearts and Looks of all amongst them called Christians first and then of all the World besides for now is the Lord exalting his great Name over all as in the Beginning before the Antichrist Beast False Prophet and Whore got up and who shall stop the Passage of this mighty Jehovah in the great Work of setting up his Kingdom over all the Kingdoms of the Man of Sin that the Kingdoms of this World may become the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ whose Right alone it is to Rule and Reign according to that Saying in the Prophet I will Overturn Overturn Overturn till he come to Rule whose Right it is And now Wo and Misery begins to take hold of all Hypocrites and all the Wicked because of the arising and appearing of the great God from Heaven this day who is on his Throne judging in Righteousness and in Righteousness making War whose Fiery Word his Two-edged Sword goes out of his Mouth not only to discover but also to destroy and consume the Man of Sin in all the Earth And now the Hireling Teachers of all sorts the Merchants of Mystery Babylon shall cry Alas alas that great City People begin to see us and they will not Trade with us nor buy our Merchandize as in former days but declare against it see Rev. 18.10 11. O yea it cannot be otherwise for now the Witnesses that lay slain in the Streets of the great City Sodom and Egypt Spiritually so called are arisen and stand upon their Feet praised be God And now Judgment is given to the Saints of the Most High God Dan. 7.12 25 26 27. So that though the great Antichrist under many Shapes and Appearances hath spoken great words against God his Truth and People and hath oppressed the Saints yet now the Judgment of God being set against him his Dominion shall be consumed and destroyed and the Saints of the Most High God shall have Dominion and Reign with Christ whose Kingdom is an Everlasting Kingdom and all Dominions shall serve and obey him to wit our Lord Jesus Christ for whose Blessed Name and Truth 's sake the Holy Tremblers who Tremble at his Word and follow him in the Regeneration do this day suffer it is so Thomas Taylor In the Year 1679. Something in Answer to some Passages in that Wicked Antichristian Book written Catechism-wise by some Popish Stickler for his Master the Pope the Romish Antichrist and his Followers Printed at Douay and Subscribed H. T. IN his second Chapter he saith Faith is necessary to Salvation and that Faith is firmly to believe Matters of Faith because God hath revealed them Then say I Not the Pope But saith he again It is not enough to believe all that is written in the Bible but we must believe also Apostolical Traditions citing 2 Thess 2.15 Now say I in answer hereto That through wresting and abusing of this Scripture have they made way for bringing in all their Filthy Popish Stuff whereby Thousands and Ten thousands of poor Peoples Souls both have been and are at this day miserably deluded for certainly the Traditions which the Apostle there tells of whether by Word or Epistle where all of one nature and not directly contrary or contradictory one to another But the Popish Traditions though they may falsly call them Apostolical are directly contrary to Holy Scripture But saith he The Apostles Creed is not in the
are approved may be made manifest He doth not say Heresies come for want of a Pope and General Council And I may add another Reason and that a main and universal one and that is Peoples either not living in the Spirit or not walking in the Spirit and so not keeping the Vnity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace And so not keeping the Head to wit Christ in whom if the whole Body be coupled and knit together increase of the whole Body to wit the true Church is made to the Edifying of it self in Love and not otherwise Eph. 4. This is the Cause and continual Cause A Second Reason of those Differences saith that Popish Book is because the very Ground work of Protestancy is That all Men even the whole Church of God are Fallible and subject to Err so that they cannot pretend to Certainty or Infallibility saith he for any one Point of their Belief To which I say if any Protestant say the whole Church of God is Fallible and subject to Err if they understand the Church as Paul doth in Ephes 5.25 26 27. and as he doth in 1 Tim. 3.15 or as Christ doth in Mat. 16.18 where it is said The Gates of Hell shall not provail against it they do not well For though all Men as Men in Adam the Earthly are not only Fallible and subject to Err but also really in Deceit and Error yet in Christ Jesus the Second Adam the Lord from Heaven that quickning preserving Spirit of Truth there is no Fallibility nor Error as the Apostle saith 1 John 3. He that abideth in Christ sinneth not Ver. 6. And he that is Born of God sinneth not nor can sin Ver. 9. But what is all or any of this Glory to the Pope or his Synagogue which he falsly calls the Church of God For they do not attribute the Infallibility to the Eternal Spirit which is in every true Member of Christ's Church which is their Leader into and Preserver of their Souls into all Truth but to the Pope and General Councils as though Infallibility were annexed to the Dream of Peter's Chair and not to Christ's Spirit in the Faithful O the Abomination of Desolation that is in this Popish Doctrine But what is there such Unity amongst these Deluded Disciples of the Pope Surely nay for as we read there was amongst the Jews the several Sorts and Sects of Pharisees Sadducees Libertines Cirenians Alexandrians and the like yet all against Christ So in the Popish Hierarchy there are the several different and divided Sorts and Sects of Franciscans Dominicans Jesuits Cappuchins Carthusians and others all agreed this Day as of long time they have been against the Blessed Crown Kingdom Dignity and Dominion of our Lord Jesus Christ But these with all the rest of Mystery Babylon's Merchants have cause to wail because the Light and Spirit of God in Christ Jesus is broken forth in Power and great Glory this Day to judge them all that the Kingdom not Worldly but Heavenly may be given to the People of the Saints of the Most High God for an Everlasting Inheritance as in Dan. 7.27 Here also I may well take notice of some other words that this Popish Pleader hath in his Book Treating of this Matter viz. Since then saith he to be of one Religion is to be of one setled Perswasion in Points of Faith and seeling cannot be without Infallibility or Necessity it is not well possible that any two Protestants or Sectaries to be of one Religion every Man Expounding the Scripture as he lists and no one having Power to Controul the others Exposition of it I Answer and in the Power of Christ do grapple with this Beast that arose out of the Sea and with his Image also and do say That no Humane Conceit nor Natural Man's Exposition with the help of all the World's Wit and Skill whether Pope or other is infallible or binding or controuling But by the same Spirit that gave forth Scripture whether in a Fisherman Tradesman or other now as well as formerly is the Scripture rightly Understood and Expounded So the true Oneness in Religion stands in the Oneness of that Spirit that gave forth Scripture and gives a right understanding of it and of all things as the Apostle saith The Anointing which ye have of the Holy One teacheth all things and by it you know all things 1 John 2.20 And he that hath not this Spirit is none of Christ's Rom. 8.9 And he that is guided by this Spirit is a Spiritual Man and so not to be judged or controuled in his Spiritual Concernment by any Man of this World neither Pope nor other as saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 2.10 15. It is so But whereas he tells of every Man Expounding the Scripture as he lists I say this is the Pope and all his Priests Fault and of all the wicked World besides who are not in Heart and Life subject to that one Pure and Holy Spirit that is of Jesus that leads Spiritually into all Truth which Truth is one And so though they that are of another Spirit may agree never so much and in never so great numbers in their several Ways of Deceit yet the true Religion of God's Holy Ones in Light they still remain ignorant of And so his Blindness of imagining that Protestants and Sectaries as he calls them cannot be two of them of one Religion doth hereby fully appear For not only they but all the People of the Earth under what Name Notion or Profession soever are either the Children of Light or Children of Darkness and so not only two but all of the same sort may and do agree in the Root in their Religion if it may be called so though we know there is but one true Religion and that is truly and properly the Religion of God's People the Children of his Light even that which in Purity and Holiness binds their Hearts to God And so by this word Controuling which this Remish Agent here useth it is easily seen how the Pope hath set up and maintained his Wicked Kingdom that is to say by a Worldly Controuling Power over Mens Souls and Consciences and not by the Power of Truth For if his Earthly Power with his Worldly Assistants were taken from him his Decretals Expositions Bulls Excommunications and Curses for not obeying his Commands would be of little force this Day in the Earth because of the Light that God hath raised up in the Hearts of People this Day to discover him Glory to his Great Name for Evermore And so the true Judge and Controuler of all Judgments and Controulers is on his Throne this Day judging in Righteousness and on his White of Glorious Power going on Conquering and to Conquer the Man of Sin in all Lands and his Holy Ones in Light His Called Faithful and Chosen follow him with great Joy of Heart Rev. 19.11 12 13. He that hath an Ear let him hear what the Spirit
Body shall be full of Light but if you say Nay but we will do and say and Understand as we have been accustomed then know for certain you are of those that Reject the good Counsel of God given you by his Spirit in his Servant Thomas Taylor Something in Answer to a Paper from a Nameless Author directed to be left at Joseph Holt's in Okeham BUT Before I speak in particular to it I cannot but touch a little upon another Paper to that part of it where it is said Perhaps the Man concealed his Name on purpose to try the Man's Skill who said He had an Vnction from the Holy One and knew all things If so be he knows all things he will easily inform thee who it was that wrote it Now to this I say that all People may here take notice what a Scoffing Prophane Spirit lodges in these Men to wit Those Priests and their Auditors Who but a Julian or some Gross Heathen would have made a Mock of the plain words of the Apostle For the Man did not say so of himself but only brought the Apostles words which say 1 John 2.20 Ye to wit the Saints have received an Vnction from the Holy One and ye know all things To prove that the Saints Teacher is the Anointing of God now in them as then And I may say therefore such as have not this Unction are not of Christ But doth it therefore follow That either the Apostles and Saints then or the Children and Saints of God now do know all Natural or Worldly Things I remember it 's said in Scripture that when the Jews and Gentiles had blindfolded Christ they Smote him and wickedly said unto him Prophesie who it is that Smote thee and was not this from the very same ground that this Scoffer speaks reasoning What if thou be Christ and a Prophet thou canst tell all things and therefore thou canst easily tell who Smote thee Those also did it for the very same end that this Man supposes this to be done for to wit To try his Skill But the Lord will Judge for ever all such his Enemies But what if one had gone to the Saints whom John writ to and said A Paper was sent to me this day and there is no Name at it and I desire to know it but cannot surely you can tell me what the Man's Name was if you know all things Or if a Man had had his Horse or other thing stolen from him Would it have been good Work from any especially from a Tempting Scoffing Spirit to have said you Saints know all things therefore what is the Thief 's Name or so O Impiety To what a height Wickedness is grown up in the Unbelievers and Mockers in this Age. But come ye Teachers of the Parishes tell me Do you indeed believe or you do not that John spoke true when he said The Brethren had received an Vnction from the Holy One and they know all things If you do believe that the Brethren then did and that they now do receive such an Anointing I ask you What are those All things that the Unction taught them were they Heavenly or Earthly things If Heavenly even things pertaining to Salvation and Preservation in a Saved State as without all question the Apostle did intend as is plain there and not such earthly things as this Scoffer speaks of Then I say this Scoffer is either very ignorant of the Scriptures or he is very wicked in his Mind in sinning against Light to make God's Children Odious But the Cause of his Truth God will ever defend and the Scorner he will Judge And for those other words in that little Paper where it is said to Joseph Holt When thou dost know me do not pelt me with Reproaches call me not Vnrighteous Priest nor one of the World as your Phrases are nor yet be so rash as that Old Peevish Man at Sommerby was to tell me I am Damned I answer That I am the Man I suppose thou intends by that Old Peevish Man at Sommerby and therefore whoever thou art that says I said thou art Damned it was not so but a meer Falshood in thee to say so for I never said so to any man that I know of but what I said at that time at Sommerby against your Deceit was not Rashness nor Peevishness but pure Zeal for God which caused me to declare for God against you for wresting the Scripture and abusing the People thereby What you are by your Fruits is very manifest he that runs may read what your in free is by your Words and Works the Day of the Lord hath found you out and therefore if you repent not you cannot miss to perish with all the Wicked that are gone before you though we should hold our Peace And so to call you that are Unrighteous as by your Fruits is manifest and who by your own Service-book are tearmed Priests I say to call you as you are is neither False nor Reproachful when in the fear and feeling of God it is so said to or of you But that you should account your selves either wronged or reproached if one tell you that you are of the World is something strange seeing the Course of your Lives is so in the broad way of the World and your Spirits so Worldly as not only by your earnest Pleading for worldly Elements so necessary to Salvation as outward Water that you can hardly be perswaded that any can be Regenerate or Saved without it but also at your very Scossing at the Holy Anointing of the Spirit of God in his People as is manifest but without this Anointing of God none knows Savingly any thing of the things of God's Kingdom but for all that other Understanding which is not of this Holy Anointing of God's Spirit Man may be Brutish And so I come in the Ability I have from the Lord to refute and make void thy Dark Thoughts Arguments and Reasons for and concerning outward Washing or Sprinkling the little Infants with Elementary Water mentioned in that first Paper And first where from Matt. 19.14 thou drawest these Arguments for Infant-Baptism First sayest thou Those whom Christ would have brought unto him it doth not at all become us to stop from Baptism c. To this I answer That by this manner of wild Arguing thou mayst deceive the Simple and lead the Blind into the Pit but none that in any measure are guided by God's Light can be deceived with it For what if I form thy words into a Syllogism your Diana there will no such thing at all as Infant-Baptism arise from them but only this that those ought not to be hindred from coming to Christ whom he would have come to him Unless you will say That Christ Baptized those Children with outward Water which if you should either say or think it would be most Absurd and to be exploded by all Neither was it in the desire at all of them that
plunged or overwhelmed in Outward Water If yea then tell us upon what Scripture Proof your Faith is grounded seeing there is no Water there mentioned And if some were then Baptized in Water a second time why then may there not be as much Necessity now unto such as have not received the Holy Ghost at their first plunging into Water to be Baptized again in Water a second time And why was the Name of the Lord Jesus there only used and not the Form of words which you use and plead for seeing it was after that Commission Mat. 28.19 Let us know your Faith concerning these things and whether the most Orthodox amongst you be of one and the same Judgment concerning them 6. Why do you call you Dipping or Plunging People into Outward Water Sacred Baptism What Scripture President and Rule have you for that Tearm Did John the Baptist call his Baptism Sacred Or did Paul call it so Acts 19.3 4 Or was it not the Pope of Rome in his Decretal Epistle that called his Baptizing in Water Sacred Baptism and the Water in which he Baptized Holy Water And do not you use the same Tearm for yours But tell us plainly whether it be your Act of Dipping in Water that you call Sacred or the Water in which you Dip or Plunge People Or where you had that Tearm to call your Water-baptism Sacred if not from the Pope of Rome 7. Wherefore are you offended at us for calling your Baptizing in Water Dipping or Plunging seeing that we understand to be the import or signification of the Word in plain English 8. When you Dip or Plunge People into Elementary Water whether do you Dip or Plunge them in reality of Truth in or rather into the Name of Father Son and Holy Spirit yea or nay For if not do you not deceive them in making them believe that you Baptize or Plunge them according as Christ commanded his Disciples into the Name of Father Son and Holy Spirit when in reality you do but only Dip or Plunge them into Outward Water 9. Do you believe that the Name of Father Son and Holy Spirit is Elementary Water seeing I find in that Scripture Mat. 28.19 so often quoted by you to prove your Mission to Baptize in Water that Christ gave his Disciples Commission to Baptize in or rather into as it is in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Name of the Father Son and Holy Spirit but nothing said of Baptizing in Water Or do you believe that the Father the Word and the Spirit are one Is not his Name Spiritual representing his Nature yea Spirit Power and Life If yea why then do you seek to introduce and impose your Baptizing in Water from that Scripture And why do you presume beyond what is there written especially seeing that you your selves Confess that the Scriptures are the Ground and Rule of your Faith Why do you seek to impose a Faith upon us from that Scripture beyond what is there written What Ground and Rule have you for that And what Ground and Rule have you for your Baptizing in Water from that Scripture seeing Water is not in the least mentioned in it Tell us plainly 10. Did not Jesus Christ who gave that Commission Mat. 28.19 Command his Disciples to tarry at Jerusalem until they were Endued with Power from on High Luke 24.49 And whether did they go forth to Baptize all Nations before they had waited at Jerusalem and received that Power Answer plainly 11. Have all you that go forth to Baptize in Water under pretence of that Commission Mat. 28.19 obeyed Christ's Command Recorded Luke 24.49 Acts 1.4 And have you received that Promise and Power If yea what is it A Book or Books or Writings without or the Spirit Power and Life of Christ revealed within But and if you have not obeyed Christ's Command as aforesaid but run before you have received that Power are you not therein manifest Transgressors of the Doctrine and Command of Christ even in that which you pretend to be the Ground and Rule of your Faith and Mission And if so are you not thereby plainly manifested to be Intruders and false Apostles who are not to be owned nor received but to be denied and judged by all that live in the Power of God and true Gospel Fellowship 12. Was the Apostle Paul any whit inferior or behind the very Chief Apostles And was not that Commission Mat. 28.19 as much his as yours And did not he know the Mind of Christ in it as fully as any of you the Counsel of God being revealed to him Notwithstanding which did not he expresly testifie that Christ sent him not to Baptize 1 Cor. 1.17 but to Preach the Gospel Now if you have a Mission or Commission to Baptize in Water which belongs not to him as fully as to any of you tell us plainly who gave it when you received it and your Scripture for it 13. Do you believe that Paul was Called and fully Endued for the Ministry And was his Commission Acts 26.17 18. Evangelical and Full for the Gathering and Planting of Churches according to Gospel-Order seeing we find nothing in it of Christ's sending him to Baptize Or do you think his Commission insufficient for the End aforesaid because he was not sent to Baptize in Water and that yours now is more Full and Evangelical If you do tell us what Scripture have you for the Ground and Rule of your Faith in that Matter 14. Whether do you believe that the One Baptism spoken of Ephes 4.5 be that of John's in Water or that of Christ's in the Holy Ghost seeing both John Christ and his true Apostles did distinguish betwixt them as aforesaid Now if you say that that One Baptism there mentioned is the Baptism in Water then I Query whether you do believe that the Baptism of or in the Spirit is now ceased or not of such Absolute Necessity as that in Water seeing the Apostle speaks but of One Lord even so of One Faith and One Baptism And whether you do believe that any now are or can be really made Members of that One Body and true Church of Christ by Water-baptism or any other way than by being Baptized by that One Spirit into that One Body Answer plainly Thomas Taylor Christ Exalted above Moses and the Spirit above the Letter MANY are and have been in all Ages the Enemies of the Lord Jesus Christ and of the Blessed Truth and Life Immortal which he hath brought to Light by his Appearance in and through his Servants both in the Days of his Flesh and since his Ascention by the pourings out of his Spirit according to his Holy Promise whereby it hath come to pass that many simple Minds have been greatly hindred from receiving the Truth for a time until it pleased the Lord by the Arm of his Mighty Power to Consume the Adversaries of his Glory and so to remove the Stumbling-blocks out of the
And as for the danger the Apostle reasoneth in his Epistle to the Hebrews quite contrary to this T. H. for saith the Apostle Heb. 12.25 See that ye refuse not him to wit Christ that speaketh for if they escaped noâ— that refused him that spake on Earth much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from Heaven Also see Heb. 2.1 c. See what thou hast chosen Tho. Hall How thou hast chosen the Earthly before the Heavenly the Killing Letter before the Heavenly Spirit of the Lord Jesus which giveth Life and the Shadowing Law of the Servant before the Living Law of the Master Jesus Christ who was counted worthy of more Glory than Moses in as much as he that Builded the House is more worthy than the House See Heb. 3.3 But when we say that Moses's Law is a killing Letter and made nothing perfect this T. Hall like a wicked Man is ready to cry out of us as though we broached some new or strange Doctrine when as it is no other than the plain downright Doctrine of the Holy Apostles and Servants of the Lord Jesus set down in Scripture as you may read without our adding or diminishing any thing at all And to this purpose see 2 Cor. 3. where are these words Verse 6 c. Who also hath made us able Ministers of the New Testament not of the Letter but of the Spirit for the Letter killeth but the Spirit giveth Life But if the Ministration of Death written and engraven in Stones was glorious Mark this though he calls the Law glorious in its time yet he calls it the Ministration of Death so that the Children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the Glory of his Countenance which Glory was to be done away How shall not the Ministration of the Spirit be rather Glorious For if the Ministration of Condemnation be Glory much more doth the Ministration of Righteousness exceed in Glory For even that which was made glorious had no Glory in this respect by reason of the Glory that excelleth For 〈◊〉 that which is done away was glorious much more that which remaineth is glorious Seeing then that we have such hope we use great plainness of Speech And not as Moses which put a Vail over his Face that the Children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished But their Minds were blinded For until this day remaineth the same Vail untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament which Vail is done away in Christ But even unto this day when Moses is read the Vail is upon their Heart Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord the Vail shall be taken away Now the Lord is that Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty But we all with open face beholding as in a Glass the Glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Here this T. Hall might as well have condemned Paul as us for I say that here is more spoken for a Jewish Spirit to catch at than in our Writings for I say nothing comparable to this can be brought out of our Writings for a seeming denial and making void of Moses's Law for here he calls it not only a killing Letter but even a Ministration of Death and Condemnation done away and abolished and never able to remove the Vail of the Heart from any in reading of it And so whereas this Hall is used to bring Psal 19 4 7 c. for establishing his Dreams about Moses's Law where it is said The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the Soul He might easily see it was not Moses's Letter Ministration or Law which Paul here says was Kâ—lling and Condemning to all that came under it to get Life by it But David speaks there of the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus which opened the blind Eyes of his Mind and wrought the Holy Fear of God in his Heart and so converted his straying Soul to follow the Lord through Faith in his Name as it is with the Faithful at this day as the Apostle saith Rom. 8.1 c. There is now therefore no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit For the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath set me free from the Law of Sin and Death For that which the Law could not do in that it was weak through the Flesh Christ doth in us and for us And that the Law of Moses made nothing perfect it is the Apostles express words also Heb. 7.18 19. For there is verily a disanulling of the Commandment going before that is as he reasons all along in this Chapter the Law of Moses in the Letter for the Weakness and Vnprofitableness of it suitable to that before mentioned in Rom. 8.3 For the Law made nothing perfect but the bringing in of a better Hope did by which we draw nigh unto God Now if any be ignorant of what this Better Hope is which makes perfect and by which Believers draw nigh to God they may know it is Christ Jesus the Lord of Life and Glory that quickning Spirit also by which the Vail of the Heart is rent away in them that believe which the Old Covenant made with the Jews at their coming out of Egypt could not do because it was weak through the Flesh as is said before And so thou T. Hall and all the Unbelieving World going out from the Spirit into the Letter in your Fleshly Minds and Wills which is Enmity to God and is neither subject to the Law of God nor indeed can be as Paul saith Rom. 8. you bring in nothing but Condemnation to your poor Souls for you are so proud in Heart that you will not come to Christ that meek lowly Lamb to be taught by his Light and Spirit which shineth in your Consciences reproving you daily for your Unbelief But you think by your exercising of your selves in your own Wills and Times in some outward Observations of your own devising called Religion to get Acceptance unto God in them though to his Son you are utter Enemies But truly instead of Life you bring Death for the Wages of these your sinful Doings and defiled Worships is Death And that thou T. Hall art an Enemy to Christ and his Blessed Spirits Teaching thy words in thy Papers will still fully and more abundantiy shew which are these which I shall now set down for thou T. Hall in Page 11. wickedly sayst Be it known unto you Quakers God and Christ had no such an intention to answer the Question of the Man in the Gospel in any such like manner to seek to the true Worshipping of God in Spirit and Truth but Christ instead of directing the Desire of the Man for the good of his Soul and Glory of
God Christ dees not send him or bid him go to the Spirit of Truth and wait for it Had Christ done so he might then have sent or directed the Man out of the way to get Life Eternal and so further from God than before for then the Man had not come through the Father to him according to John 6.44 45. And Page 15 further erroniously thou say'st You Quakers cannot find as that Christ the Prophet did give any Command to any People as was in ignorance of the Ways to Salvation or Life Eternal that they should leave off to be taught of Moses or his Law or Precepts and go to learn of the Spirit of Truth and let that teach or lead them God forbid O miserable Blindness and Ignorance That ever any Professing God or Scripture should thus belch out their Enmity against the Spirit of Truth The glorious Promise of the Father without which all Knowledge and all Profession is a meer Nothing but a heap of Darkness and Confusion and without which there had never been any true Prophet nor Scripture of Truth for Holy Men of God spoke not in their own Wills or Times but as they were moved by the Holy Ghost the Spirit of Truth without which never Man did nor never Man can come to any Saving Knowledge of God or Christ or the Mysteries of the Kingdom of God and Christ and therefore saith Paul after many Years zealous Profession of Moses's killing Letter That which the Eye hath not seen nor the Ear heard nor hath entred into Man's Heart to conceive God hath revealed them to us by his Spirit for the Spirit of God that Spirit of Truth searcheth all things even the deep things of God 1 Cor. 2.9 10. And therefore saith the same Paul 2 Cor. 3.6 God hath made us able Ministers of the New Testament not of the Letter but of the Spirit for the Letter killeth but the Spirit giveth Life And therefore saith Christ John 16.7 It is expedient for you that I go away that the Spirit of Truth which leads into all Truth may come who is the Saints Comforter And this is that means by which the Father draws to Christ even the Spirit of Truth and not as thou ignorantly Dreamest the Letter of Moses's Law John 6.44 45. And so T. Hall thou art not far from that unpardonable Sin of Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost who says That if Christ had directed the Man in the Gospel to go to the Spirit of Truth and wait for it he had directed him out of the way of Life O sad that ever such a Monster of Men should appear in these days when the Lord is so graciously arising with his Healing Wing of Light Life and Spirit to save his Israel out of the Hands of their Souls Enemies And thou T. Hall say'st farther God forbid that Christ should send or direct People that were in Ignorance of the ways of Salvation to go and learn of the Holy Spirit of Truth to be taught of it and not at Moses 's Law I say again This proceeds from the same bitter Root of Error and Blasphemy in thee that the former did and so Wo Wo Wo to that Nest that hatches such Venomous Birds and Cockatrice Eggs as thou dost And if that People of whom thou professest thy self a Member should see these things and not deny thee for them they would be as much to blame as thy self who hast plunged thy self so deep into the Pit of Destruction that no less than a Miracle of Mercy can help thee to see and acknowledge the Truth of God whom thou hast Blasphemed For O thou full of all Unrighteousness What must ignorant People come to know the things of God by but only by the Spirit of Truth as Paul says No Man knows the things of God but the Spirit of God 1 Cor. 2.11 And saith Paul Gal. 3.2 to some of like mind with this T. H. concerning Moses's Law This only would I learn of you Received ye the Spirit by the Works of the Law or by the Hearing of Faith And Verse 3. Are ye so foolish having begun in the Spirit are ye now made perfect by the Flesh Thus he shews That the Spirit of God is received into the Believing Soul through the hearing of Faith preach'd and not by any fleshly conforming to Moses's Letter of that Law for saith he in Ver. 10. of that Chapter As many as are of the Works of the Law are under the Curse For it is written Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law to do them See T. Hall what thou hast done for thy self and wouldst do for others by pleading for Moses's Letter of the Law to be over Christian People thou hast brought thy self under the Curse for they that come under that Covenant of Works must not only do all things written in the Book but they must continue therein without Sinning or Offending against it otherwise they are Cursed as the Apostle James in another place saith He that keepeth the whole Law and sinneth in one Point is guilty of all And so as I instanced to thee in that of the Sabbath day for though in thy blind Mind thou wouldst be a Teacher of the Law yet thou neither knowest what thou say'st nor whereof thou affirmest for the Sabbath-day which Moses commanded to the People under that Covenant was the Seventh day of the Week which thou neither keepest thy self nor any of thy Fellows and so you are guilty of breaking the whole Law and so under the Curse And whereas you think to save your Heads by saying You keep the next day being the First day of the Week for a Sabbath that will help you nothing at all for the Law admitted of no change of the day which was the Seventh from the Creation into another day And so the Apostles meeting together on the First day of the Week was so far from establishing the legal Sabbath that it was on purpose done to shew that Christ the end of the Law and everlasting Sabbath of Rest to his People was come And so to thee T. Hall and all of like mind with thee I say as Paul to the Galatians Chap. 4.21 c. Tell me ye that desire to be under the Law Do ye not hear the Law For it is written Abraham had two Sons the one by a Bond-woman the other by a Free But he who was of the Bond-woman was born after the Flesh but he of the Free woman was by promise Which things are an Allegory for these are the two Covenants the one from Mount Sinai which gendereth to Bondage which is Agar For this Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and answereth to Jerusalem which now is and is in Bondage with her Children But Jerusalem which is above is free which is the Mother of us all For it is written Rejoyce thou barren that bearest not break forth and cry thou that
the Law was in its Childhood but when the Fulness of God's time came for the Manifestation of his Christ and the Pourings forth of his Glorious Spirit according to Prophesie and Promise then came the Church to be like the Heir at full Age entering into the Blessed Possession of the Father's Kingdom the Inheritance of Saints in Light And therefore saith Christ the Law and the Prophets were unto John since which time the Kingdom of God is preached and People press into it And amongst them that are Born of Women there hath not a isen a greater Prophet than John Bâ—pâ—â—st but he that is least in the Kingdom of God is greate than he Therefore Wo is unto thee Tho. Hall and all such Jewish Spirits that would shut up this Blessed Kingdom of God from Men and you will neither enter into the Kingdom of God your selves nor suffer others Obj. But what then was the Law for Answ Paul answers The Law was added because of Transgression till the Seed which is Christ came to which the Promise was And so saith he before Faith came we were kept under the Law shut up unto the Faith afterwards to be revealed Gal. 3.23 Then saith he Verse 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Law was our School-master unto Christ but never a word of bringing us to Christ by Moses's Law but a shuting up We were shut up schooled saith he or hard kept to our Task and Whipped But he that reveals Christ to the Soul and draws the Soul to Christ is the Father by the Living Power of his own Eternal Spirit whom the Fleshly World knows not Obj. But must not the Soul be humbled in the sight and sence of its Sin before it can receive Christ for Salvation Answ I say yea but this is the Work of Christ also who by his own Eternal Spirit which ministers his Fiery Law doth Convince the World of all their Sins of Unbelief and mighty Transgressions whereby they have dishonoured him and slighted all his Love and so that which now makes all the Sins of People so Damnable is their Sin of not believing in and receiving Christ the Light of the World into their Heares to dwell guide and rule there and so he that believeth not is Damned already saith Christ and this is the Condemnation that Light is come into the World and Men believed it not And ye search the Scriptures saith Christ to those Jews that boasted of being Moses's Disciples for in them ye think to have Eternal Life and they are they that testifie of me but ye will noâ— come to me that ye may have Life Also consider that Paul for all his Zealous Profession of Moses's Law and Letter-knowledge was never truly sensible of nor truly humbled for his Sins until Christ appeared from Heaven and struck him down See Tho. Hall how Christ here sets forth the Nature of Carnal Professors of the Letter of Scripture and Boasters of Moses's Law they are dead from God because they will not come to Christ in whom only is Life They thought to have had Eternal Life in the Scriptures which test fi d of Christ but they sticking in the Form and dead Profession of the Letter without Christ the Living Power of God to Salvation they could not have Life Eternal Foâ— he only that hath the Son of God hath Life and he that hath not the Son hath not Life but the Wrath of God abides upon him For you being under the Law as is said before are under the Curse and the Law worketh Wrath saith Paul and that is the reason that the Carnal Professors of the Letter are Persec tors of the Life of Christ where-ever it is made manifest in Son or Daughter in all Ages as Paul saith in that forementioned place Gal. 4. He that was Born after the Flesh Persecuted him that was Born after the Spirit even so it is now But the Lamb shall have the Victory and the mouth of all Iniquity shall be stopped Glory to the Lord our God over all for Evermore Another Piece of thy Enmity Tho. Hall against Christ and his Spirit is manifest in thy Paper where thou sayest That there is no Scripture that warrants Peoples going from the Law as Moses taught though it 's a Law written in the Letter to hear and learn at any other either a Christ Called a Law-giver or the Spirit of Truth as you call it Answ So here all may see that thou art so full of Enmity against Christ that thou canst not endure to have him honoured with the Title of Law-giver and thou art so full of Darkness that thou knows not nor wilt believe that God's People have any such thing indeed as the Holy Spirit to guide and teach them but comes forth with thy scornful Words like the Jews that Crowned him with Thorns and Spit in his Face saying A Christ called a Law-giver or the Spirit of Truth as you call it So it 's high time for all People to take heed of falling into the Error of these Men to wit Tho. Hall and his Fellows who have chosen the Killing Letter of Moses's Law and denied the Son of God and his Blessed Spirit and so have Builded the Babel of their Rotten Profession upon a Foundation of Sand to wit their own Righteousness which in the Day of God will utterly fail them for every Man's Works must be tried by Fire And so all such as have not Christ for their Foundation must Perish For other Foundation can no man lay than that which is laid even Christ who is our ALL and will Reign over all his Enemies for Evermore And so let no Man trouble us any more for we bear in our Bodies the Marks of the Lord Jesus And Ever-praised be his Name who hath given us an Understanding to know him the Salvation of God to be in us and we in him and so to be Witnesses for him before Men that the time of the fulfilling of his Scriptures is come which saith Jer. 31.31 c. Heb. 8. Behold the Days come saith the Lord that I will make a New Covenant with the House of Judah and with the House of Israel after those Days not according to the Covenant which I made with their Fathers in the Day when I took them by the Hand to lead them out of the Land of Egypt which my Covenant they broke although I was an Husband to them saith the Lord but this is the Covenant that I will make with them after those Days saith the Lord I will put my Laws into their minds and write them in their hearts and I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a People And they shall not teach every man his Neighbours and every man his Brother saying Know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least to the greatest For I will be merciful to their Vnrighteousness and their Sins and their Iniquities will I remember no more Now in
that he saith A New Covenant he hath made the first Old Now that whichâ—d cayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away This is the Apostle's Conclusion from the former words as is to be seen in the last Verse of that 8th Chapter to the Hebrews Now mind whoever thou art that reads these words that the Covenant which here he calls Old was that which God made with the Fleshly Seed of Abraham at their coming out of Egypt which is mentioned in the Writings of Moses as you may read and part of this Covenant was the Two Tables of Stone which the Lord by his Angel delivered Moses for that People to observe and keep with the rest of what Moses had in Charge for them and set down in the outward Book to be done and which the Children of Israel did Promise and Covenant that they would observe and do but they broke Covenant with God as all Flesh ever did and doth at this Day and so the Lord regarded them not for no Flesh can do what the Pure Spiritual Lord God commands them having no more help thereto but what a Law or Letter without can furnish them withal and therefore the Lord God in love to Man's Soul sent Christ into the World to be his own Arm and Power to and in Man to bring forth that Righteousness and Holiness which he required and therefore saith Paul after he saw his own utter unableness to do the Will of God with all the outward Helps that ever he had he concludes that they that are in the Flesh cannot please God let them turn which way they can for the Enmity against the Law whilst in that Principle and in that thou T. H. art still remains against the Spiritual Law of God as he saith Rom. 8.7 For the Carnal Mind is not subject to the Law of God nor indeed can be And therefore as Paul so must all come to Christ the Lord that Spirit to know him in them to destroy the Enmity out of them that so the Will of God and Law of his Mouth which is Spiritual may be done in them and so come to witness as Paul there in Rom. 8.2 did That the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath made them free from the Law of Sin and Death And the Ground or Reason of the Lord 's gracious Dealing with Man in the next Verse e sets down saying For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the Flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful Flesh and for Sin condemned Sin in the Flesh And the end of all this he shews in the next Verse saying That the Righteousness of God's Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit And thus he stops the Mouths of all the Enemies of Christ who with Tho Hall would object That with Preaching of Christ and his Light and hi Spirit in Man to be all in all they make void the Law Answ Nay nay I say By Preaching Christ we establish the Law to the Glory of God in Christ over all And so thou Tho. Hall hast been he which hath not hitherto either truly heard Moses nor the Prophets nor Christ nor his Apostles or his Spirit in these days and so canst not in that wretched Mind believe though one come from the Dead And so for the Truths sake and to stop the Errors and Blasphemies of this Thomas Hall who ceaseth not to pour forth his Ignorance against the Lord Jesus Christ and his blessed Spirit of Light and Life in Man the only Teacher of God's People in these Gospel days have I writ these Lines that the Truth of the Gospel against his and all such Unbelieving Jewish Persecuting Spirits in these days may stand cear over all their Heads and triumph for ever in the Hearts and Consciences of all tender and honest-minded People whose Desires 〈◊〉 continually after the Kingdom of God and the Righteousness thereof whose Kingdom is everlasting and the Righteousness thereof is Pure Spotless and Undefiled of God and endureth for ever And this is our Righteousness and the Righteousness of all Saints Praised be God for ever and for whose Name and Truths sake and for bearing Testimony thereof in this World do we suffer Reproach and Persecutions from the present evil World not only of the Prophane but even of many such unreasonable professing vain Talkers as this T. Hall who would be Teachers of the Law not knowing what they say nor whereof they affirm as Paul the Apostle of Christ witnessed of such in his days who would never be quiet from opposing the Gospel with their False Interpretations of the Law until God cut them off and cast them away for their Wickedness But we know saith the same Apostle in that place to wit 1 Tim. 1.5 6 7 c. that the Law is good if a Man use it lawfully I nowing this that the Law is not made for a righteous Man but for the Lawless and Disobedient for the Vngodly and for Sinner c. So say we and so the Law of God we love and honour â—s God's Ordinance for good to restrain limit and condemn such ungodly and unreasonable Spirits as this T. Hall is for those that will not believe nor obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ must be ruled and bruised and condemned with the Iron Rod of God's righteous Law which whatsoever it saith it saith to them that are under it that every sinful Mouth may be stopped and all the World of wicked unbelieving Men may be found guilty before God Glory to his Name for ever who giveth us the Victory by Jesus Christ our Lord who is our Light Life Wisdom Righteousness and Salvation for ever whose Grace alone is able to keep us and preserve us and present us and all that believe in his Light and know him in them unto himself without Spot and Wrinkle and unreprovable in everlasting Peace Rests a Lover of the Soul of Man which is in great Captivity until it come to the Liberty of God's Sons and who in a patient quiet Suffering way do wait to do it good as a Servant of God wherein I may be known amongst Men by the Name of Thomas Taylor but in the New Name which is of God and not of this World which the Father hath given me doth my Soul rejoyce And though I be set a-part for Sufferings amongst the reproached despised People of God called Quakers by the World yet we are Happier than our Persecutors in that the Lord is on our sides and justifies us in his way which is Christ while his Holy Spirit testifies against our Adversaries because they are his Adversaries He that hath an Ear to hear let him hear and give Glory to God by believing for these words are Faithful and True Thomas Taylor FINIS A Testimony for the Lord God and His Work in the Earth HEar O EARTH and hearken ye
HEAVENS for the Lord hath spoken even the Lord God mighty in Power and excellent in Wisdom Loving-kindness and Mercies have appeared and are made manifest in the Children of men and the Isles of the Gentiles do feel his Power and partake of his Promise in the Light in the Life in the Eternal Covenant of his Peace and Truth whereby Japhat is perswaded in the Tents of Shem to dwell And this is the Lords own doing and it is marvellous in the pure eyes of all that behold it and the eye that seeth is Blessed and the Soul that heareth and beleiveth is Blessed and shall be Blessed for the Lord the faithful God is Arisen and his appearance is like the Sun when it Ariseth and Shineth in the Brightness of its Glory and therefore are we refreshed and caused to live in his sight and to bring forth the living fruits of Righteousness to his praise and glory Glory glory for ever for the Heaven gives now its dew and the Earth yeilds its encrease and the blessing is upon the People and the Nations of the World shall bow and the Inhabitants of the Earth do tremble at the Glory of the Lord at the Majesty of his Appearance in this his glorious day wherein he hath Visited and his Visiting his Seed and calling his Servants out of Egypt and delivering his Beloved out of the hands of him that was too strong for them and putting a new Song into our Mouths And his Rest is Glorious and his Praise is Holy and his Renown is spread abroad and his Foes become his Foot-stool and the Ransomed of the Lord do unto Zion return and in the Light of the living God do all the day rejoyce and praise him upon the truly Spiritual and well tuned loud Cymbals in the heights of Israel in the Holy Temple in the Promised Land in the Purchased Possession in the Holy Mount even the Mountain of God's everlasting Love in CHRIST JESUS where his eternal Arm of Power and Faithfulness is truly witnessed And this is the Mountain of Gods House and Holiness indeed which is now on the top of all Mountains and here the Lord is fully seen and his living Power daily felt and his everlasting Love continually enjoyed for watering and refreshing the Babes and living Plants of the New Jerusalem glory glory for ever glory to the Righteous for this is comly And now is the day of the Lords gathering and his Angels are gone forth and his Trumpet hath sounded the Alarm out of the holy Mountain Place these Sheets after Page 130. unto all the Inhabitants of the Earth And now if any Old or Young High or Low can come forth and stand before the God of the whole Earth they are warned and called upon to bring their deeds to the LIGHT to the day of the Lamb that true Light that lighteth every man that cometh unto the World John 1.9 For now indeed is the day of the Lord God appeared and the Lamb is come and who may stand before him who can abide this day of his coming for he cometh in the thousands of his Holy Ones to Judge the World even all that are Proud and do Wickedly in his sight and to convince them of all their ungodly deeds and hard speeches which they ungodlily have spoken against him and whereby they have slandred the foot steps of his Anointed Ones and blasphemed his Heavenly Tabernacle which he hath pitched amongst men that he might dwell amongst them and be glorified for evermore So WOE is to the Wicked and much Wrath will be upon the people who now stand out and strive against the Lord even the Lord the habitation of Justice in whose hands is their â—â—eath who are careless Children and do not regard this day of their Visitation So all having time prize it and bow to the Lord God and know this day of your Visitation for the Lord in his Glory is Arisen and his Eye beholds and with his own pure Light is trying the children of men And now even now shall the Mouth of Iniquity be stopped and the Righteous shall rejoiyce and be glad as the Scripture hath said Yea the high praises of God is already heard in their Mouths and the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God is felt going forth Conquering and to Conquer And the Mountains are moved and the lesser Hills are afraid and the hearts of the Hypocrites do melt for fear at the presence of the Lord at the appearance of our God the true God the everlasting Father who is exalting his own Name and seting up the Kingdom of his dear Son and shaking terribly the earth glory glory to him for ever and for ever for he is good and his Mercy endureth for ever and of his faithfulness there is no end All flesh is grass but that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit and shall inherit and sound forth the living Praises of the living God for evermore as it is at this day So be it Given forth in the movings of the Lord as a Witness to his Truth in this his Day by one who bears the Reproach of Christ amonst many Brethren by he evil World under the name of Quaker Thomas Taylor Ignorance and Error REPROVED BEING AN ANSWER TO SOME QUERIES That one JOHN REYNOLDS Wrote to Two of the People called QUAKERS By THOMAS TAYLOR LONDON Printed and Sold by T. Sowle next Door to the Meeting-house in White-Hart-Court in Gracious-street and at the Bible in Leaden-hall-street near the Market 1697. THE EPISTLE TO THE READER WHEN the Lord God of Eternal Power began by his Spirit to move in these Nations in the late times of Trouble and there was an Opening in the times for the Zeal of the Heart to work out it self then every one betook themselves to that Fellowship and People that agreed most with the Working-Principle that was in them and so there came a distinguishing and knowledge of those seeking Souls according to some thing most obvious to the Eye of the World and so they called some by the name of Presbyterians some Independent and the like For as for those called Prelatical they were not of such a pressing Nature as to seek forward much after the Spiritual Kingdom but rather Breathed after their Old Form how they might come to that again without the former Troubles to lye down in that But those called Presbyterian or mixed Independent in answer to whose Queries or one of them the ensuing sheets are they seemed so Zealous while the Worlds Power countenanced them as though they would have taken Heaven as it were by force and not only so but even of late also since the Second Charles came in and they began to be put out of their high Places by some old Incumbent as they call them or upon some other Account as Zealor so yet did some of them keep up their Custom of Preaching amongst People in publick where they could get place
or Testimony at all for the Law is Spiritual and Inward and the Testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophesie as saith Scripture Declaration and by that Spiritual Law Paul came to the knowledge of his Sin to Humiliation but while he was but a Professor of the Law in the Letter he was alive without Law but when the Commandment in Spirit came to be felt nigh in the Heart then Sin Revived and he Died And so will John Reynolds dye when the Law indeed he comes to feel but he is yet alive without Law and from that Ground comes all these Queries of his to stop if possible the Holy Seed from coming out of Egypt but the Lord will break all Bonds for his Elect sake so that in a few words take away from this John Reynolds the Letter and by his own words he is as blind as a Beetle for he Questions how a Man can either know the true Spirit or Sin or the Works or Fruits of either good Spirit or bad but by the Letter so that his Eye is in the outward Book and so no Letter no Preacher For John Reynolds did the Apostles hold forth a Letter without them to be an Eye to the World Nay nay they were to turn the People to the Light of Christ within them that thereby they might see the Light out of all Darkness and false Worships For in thy Light saith David we shall see Light O the Riches of the Grace of God that hath delivereâ— John Fince and John Payton from this Blind Guide John Reynolds whose Eye within is yet shut by the god of the World 2 Cor. 4.3 4. Qu. 4. Thou Queriest whether the Saints in your times are more perfect than Saints in Scripture times And the rest of this Query is to plead for Sin and against sinless Perfection and in the Conclusion of it thou say'st we cannot shew you one Man that ever attained it Answ Yea to this I say Through the Lord's great Love we are able to hold forth to thee and all the World one perfect Man yea such a One in whose Mouth there was and is no Guil who did and doth good and sinned not nor doth sin who was in a sinless Perfection and of such a Man will we glory not of Self nor of Flesh but in him who is made unto us of God Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption who is more perfect than Thousands under the Law were Go to then to stop all Mouths the gospel-Gospel-day is Witnessed Praised be the Lord and in Perfection of Beauty do true Believers now Worship and the Righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in such who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit so John Reynolds to thee and thy Company I say Arise stand up from the Dead come out of your own times where there is none perfect for your times pass away into nothing but for Scripture times that 's large it is not as thou would'st Insinuate ended yet for the Scripture is the Lord daily fulfilling and will do it until time shall be no more which he that hath an Ear to hear â—et him hear and not only they but a Hundred Forty Four Thousand sinless perfect Ones are mentioned Rev. 14.25 with many more see also Chap. 7. Vers 9.14 an Innumerable Number Qu. 5. And for thy fifth Query where thou say'st If those that are called Quakers esteem themselves the only true Christians in the World then would I know where hath been their Church this 1600 Years Answ To this I say here thou manifests thy self again what stumbling is here in thy dark Mind This is like the Papists Arguments to Protestants but to this may be easily answered that if it be manifest to the Conscience of any as Praised be God it is to many that we are of God such a one will never ask such a Question as this But now to you who cannot own the Light in your Consciences we cannot be manifest because the World knows us not and then ask where hath your Church been I say it hath been ever where it is at this day to wit the Church which is in God and Christ which when thou comest to the Light of Christ within thee then thou wilt see but till then we must be content to lye hid from thee and all Dark Minds and so to bear Christ's Reproach but to all my dear Brethren in Christ I say Behold what manner of Love the Father hath bestowed on us that we should be called the Sons of God Fellow-Citizens in the Heavenly Jerusalem with all the Church of God First-born of God whose Names are written in Heaven therefore the World knows us not because it knew not our Head first 1 John 3. Heb. 12. But as for thy telling of Esteeming Self and the name Quaker and the like thou may'st take those words in again from whence they came for Self and Names of Mens giving we deny and Glory in the Cross of Christ where the Name of God is known and as for the rest of thy Queries which tell of our unableness to give a Proof of such People as we before the last twenty Years or so who placed Religion in Thouing and Theeing and refusing to put off their Hats and wear Decent Ornaments in their Apparel and it is such frothy stuff that it Shames thee and thy Profession but thou may'st know that though you may do what you will that are without Law to God yet we are taught to fear the Lord and whatsoever is pure to mind that and so our Religion stands in Christ not in outward Appearances though the outward be all thou canst see and so stumbles at the meanness of it but what are those Decent Ornaments in Apparel thou tell'st on Is needless Points and Laces and Ribonds and such filth Then surely all Saints are one with us here but for that thou say'st we Rail against Priests Tythes Idols Temples and Idols Worship being such as yours I say though Railing we deny yet we can easily prove by Scripture that Holy Men Cried Vehemently against false Worships and Worshâ—ppers who were guided as you are in all Ages but as for that thou say'st We Rail against Baptism and the Lord's Supper and Singing of Psalms thou art found a great and false Slanderer in this for to let pass the word Railing we deny that we so much as speak against Christ's Baptism or Supper or his Singing or that we take upon our selves to condemn any to Hell but this we say That no Vnrighteous One or Hypocrite hath any Inheritance in the Kingdom of God or of Christ and he that is not with us is against us which Words will-be hard and heavy for many to bear and as for Christ's Baptism and Supper and Singing in and with the Spirit we dearly own but the Hypocrite and their Leaven we deny Qu. 6. The next Query is something to the former purpose and so that which is said may serve for
that but thou addest a great and wicked Lie and Slander in saying we condemn the most Eminent Saints and Martyrs for thou say'st they were not of our Minds and thou seemest much Troubled that thy self also whom thou hast so high an esteem of could not pass the Censure of those thou scornfully calls Quakers have any of them called thee Deceiver and the like I say see if it be not true that might be thus spoken unto thee for it is no Derogation to the Honour of Truth to say the Truth it self may call a Deceiver false Accuser and Reproacher by their proper names For in Matt. 23. and John 8. see Christs Language to the Hypocrites of those Days so the Error was not in Christ his calling them so that were so but in those Pharisees there calling Christ a Deceiver and Devil when he was not so nor could be and for the most Holy and Zealous Christians amongst you that thou say'st had the like Names from us I answer if any under the Name Quaker called thee or any of thy Company otherwise than they in the Light saw true or could make good they were to blame but if any in Truth have declared your Inward Condition to you though under such Tearms you ought rather to repent than to kick and spurn at it in your hard Hearts for it will be hard for you to kick against the Pricks and for Spewing you may take that to your selves whose Throat is an open Sepulchre wide opened against all that are Holy and Zealous in Christ to separate from you and witness against your Deceit And so if those thou callest Holy and Zealous Christians amongst you together with thy self be weighed in the Ballance of Truth it will appear you are as far from that State as the East is from the West But I demand how thou knowest the Saints and Martyrs were not of our Perswasion and Practice for thou dost not judge with the Light that is Pure and Spiritual as is manifest nor see with a single Eye but only judgeth with thy Evil Thoughts and False Imaginations for we say in a few words that our Mind and Practice is to believe on the Name of the Son of God that true Light that Lighteth every Man that cometh into the World and to love one another and to labour to keep a Conscience void of offence towards God and all Men And I Read that the Saints and Martyrs were of this Perswasion and Practice with us and so we have a Cloud of Witnesses both Ancient and Modern of the Truth of this our way and so if thou hast Books that tell of other manner of Saints or Martyrs I deny both them and thee in calling them Saints who are not for the Saints of God and Martyrs of Jesus are one Body in all Ages not loving their Lives to death that so they might always keep to God's manifest Truth in them without denying it before Men and this is that which the Lord God hath wrought in us poor Despised People to the Glory of his Grace in this his day that no Flesh might Glory but as it is written Let him that Glorieth Glory in the Lord who alone is worthy Qu. 7. But in thy seventh and next Query thou thinkest thou hast gotten something against us because say'st thou we use to cry against you as Hirelings and that you would Preach no longer than People put into your Mouths but now say'st thou it 's manifest that many of these are ready to lose all for the Testimony of Jesus and to Preach the Gospel freely though it be in danger of Imprisonment Answ To which I answer and say That the Testimony of those thou scornfully callest Quakers against you stands firm and true for all these thy high swelling Words of Vanity for we know none of you Preaching freely as yet and the reason why you talk in the form you do it because you cannot keep your fat Benefices O Hypocrites What Whining and Complaining is there by you in these days for your Belly But for Preaching the Gospel you have manifested your selves to be Ignorant both of Christ and of the Gospel by denying the sufficiency of the Light which Lighteth every Man that cometh into the World John 1.9 and then put the Letter for the Light and so fight and strive with your Brethren about your form and several Imaginations of the Letter one cries up a Bishop another a Presbyter and both of you Ignorant of the true Bishop and Elder But John Reynolds would'st not thou and thy Brethren be at the Gain from your Quarter again if Common-Prayer could be dispensed withal Oh if you be brought into such a suffering Frame How is it that we have no more of your Company in Prison Nay nay your old Heart is in you yet and ye would be sucking Lambs Blood still if you had Power and that the God of Heaven sees and will take Vengeance on you for it and that which you cannot do with your Hands you are doing with your Tongues and Pens as is manifest But I have often said if you could Preach freely that is without a set or forced maintenance in the state where you are that would not at all commend you to God or his People For you have run and God never sent you and therefore you remain so ignorant of him and profit not them that follow you for when did Christ bid you go to the Universities of the World to learn him there And when did he bid you go to such a place and such a place and there sit down and Eat the Fat and Cloath with the Wooll and Preach the Thoughts of your vain Hearts as you have done and would do and be guarded by the Magistrates Power that none should speak to you in your high Places nor going nor coming from thence O call to mind the day of your fulness and of your Pride the same measure you mete to others is God measuring to you you must be broken to pieces because you turn not to the Lord for all this And to the despised thing the Light in your Conscience you must come and bow before it as others have done before you be healed and if it give you a word to speak you may speak it otherwise you must be silent or you perish The Lord is arisen and so if indeed you can kiss his Rod you may find Mercy but if you still go on justifying your selves in his sight you shall certainly moulder to nothing the Lord hath said it who is daily gathering his Lambs out of the Mouths of all Devourers Glory to his Name for ever But what Testimony of Jesus can you either give or suffer for who have so Vilified and Reproached the Spirit of Prophesie in Sons and Daughters in Servants and Handmaids in these Days For the Testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophesie And now all People I shall lay before you a little more the Condition
the Powers of the World as we are at this day But whereas thou speakest of every Man that is not so ordained thy self and your selves who never were ordained by the Holy Ghost as they were for when did the Holy Ghost in your Assemblies say as in Acts 13.2 Separate such and such for the work I have appointed them unto Nay nay you have run and God never sent you for you never heard his Holy Voice at any time and therefore you profit not the People at all but make them more Cunning to Dispute against the Truth than they were before they followed you But what Ordination of Man had Paul at his first going out to Preach See Gal. 1. he received not the Gospel by Man and went not to Man no not to the Apostles themselves for Ordination and Commission to Preach but immediately Preached Christ as many have done and do at this Day who go under the Reproach of the name Quaker And so God is Restoring his Church to its Primitive Purity and Power to the stopping of the Mouth and confounding the Wisdom of all Flesh whether called Pope Cardinals Bishops or Presbyters that the true Eldership and Body of Christ to God's Glory may again appear And what Rules and Orders are and shall be in this true Church is known to God and by him Manifested and to be Manifested to the Body it self and not to the World for the World must neither have the right Understanding nor Management of those things no more than they had in those Days when it was said I stand not to Mans Judgment for the Holy Anointing must be all in the Church of God for ever Qu. 10. Thy Tenth and next Query is a plain discovery of thy Folly and of thy manifest Enmity against the simple Appearance of Truth in any discovery and though thou say the Scripture is thy Rule yet by it thou canst not endure to be Ruled but plain Language it self is thy Burthen and therefore thou askest how it can be said that ever Christ or his Apostles or Patriarchs or Prophets used the words Thou and Thee when they never spake English And how can it be unlawful for us to use the word You to each other since the same words in Hebrew Greek and Latin that signifie Thou signifie You in the Singular Number also and may be Translated You as well as Thou and so it seems thou say'st 2 Sam. 15.27 Answ John Reynolds Didst thou Read this Query twice over Or didst thou at all Consider what thou said'st in it Was either the Fear of God or Care of thy own Credit before thy Eyes when thou writest it Surely neither But thou hast judged in thy self with thy vain Thought that because thou hast used to blind thy poor Hearers and make them believe any thing for Truth thou speakest or writest therefore it will be so with others Nay nay the Day is dawned the Lord hath given his People an Eye whereby all Covers are seen through and to this Light thou hast manifested as much Nakedness and Blindness to be in thee as in the grossest of them that say Mass at Rome or read Common-Prayer in English Nay I do believe many of them would be ashamed to argue thus as thou dost to wit because Christ his Apostles Patriarchs and Prophets did not speak in the English Tongue that therefore they used not the words Thou and Thee How came the Translators to Translate their Words when they speak to a particular Person Thou and Thee and never You as may all over Scripture be easily found thou may'st as well say Christ his Apostles Patriarchs and Prophets said nothing at all that is Recorded in Scripture in the English Tongue because they spoke not English so the Lord hath catched the Wise in his own Craftiness but thou goest on and say'st the same words in Hebrew Greek and Latin that signifie Thou signifie You in the Singular Number also and may be Translated You as well as Thou which I say is altogether false for You is not at all Singular but Plural altogether and so the Translators of the Bible knew and therefore never Translated their Singular Term in the forraign Language to you in English but Thou and Thee as is before mentioned and for that place in 2 Sam. 15.27 thou set'st down and says it seems that You is used to a singular there it shames thee for if envy to the Truth had not Blinded thee thou mightest 〈◊〉 fee that the King speaking to Zadock and saying Your Sons and you speaks not of Zadock and his Son but of Zadock and Abiathar and their Sons as the very words next after and in Verse 29. plainly shew and so here thou hast committed that great Error thy self that thy Generation use to Charge falsly upon us to wit in taking a piece of a Verse that seems to make for thy purpose and leaves out the rest that shews fully the Sense Qu. 11. Thy Eleventh and next Query is for the World where thou undertakest the part of an Advocate for Flesh not only pleading for the Honour that is below but also for the Manner of it Thy Doctrine is very pleasant to the fall'n Man and the World cannot hate such Preachers as thee for ye are not only of the World but chief Master-Builders of the old House of the fall'n Adam who loves the Earthly Honour But now that Christ the second Adam is come the Lord from Heaven above the Earthly Man let all Flesh bow before him and give up his Honour to him otherwise this shall be fitly applied unto you that Christ said unto the Jews How can you believe that not only receive but also seek and plead for Honour one of and from another John 5.44 For Christ received not Honour from Men Verse 41. So that tho' there was a time that Angels were bowed unto which were greater than Flesh Gen. 19.1 yet a time came that Angels denied that Honour Rev. 22.9 For now the Son himself was Glorified of whom it was said And let all the Angels of God Worship him Heb. 16. And at his Name shall every Knee bow Phil. 2.10 And Christ said to the Devil who was like his Children that would now be Worshipped Thou shalt Worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve The Devil and Haman would be bowed unto but the true Jew will bow only to God But thou queriest and say'st Qu. Whether did the Saints in Scripture-times Sin in giving Honour that is say'st thou A Civil or Inferiour Honour unto Men and upon occasion Testifying the same by Honorary Words or Deeds Answ To which I answer and say All that the Saints before the coming of Christ did is not to be an Example to us now but we must all now that would be approved to Christ take him for our Example and to follow no Man for our Example further than they followed or do follow him and when the Apostles speak of
to do to compare your selves with Christ and his Holy Prophets You that deny the Immediate Revelations and Teachings of God's Infallible Spirit in these Days and instead thereof set up Schools of Humane Learning to make Ministers by O Hypocrites When will you give over perverting the right Ways of the Lord and leading the Blind into the Ditch You that love to be called of Men Master Greetings in the Market uppermost Rooms at Feasts chief Places in the Synagogues as the Pharisees did all which Christ dis-allowed What have you to do to compare your selves with Christ and his Prophets They are not Hirelings and Fighters and Pleaders for the Worlds Gain as you are And so tho' all that heard the outward Declaration or Sound of Christ or his Prophets Words were not Converted yet that makes nothing for you who have only a Sound and so Convert none to God But as I said before beget them into your own Images making them more able to Dispute against the Life of Truth than some others and so greater will be your Condemnation But now your Sheeps-Cloathing being pull'd off the Lord will be Glorified in his Power in the Conversion of many to himself without you For he hath rejected your Confidence and laid waste your Mountain and the Mountain of the Lords House is on the top of all your Mountains in this great Day of the Lord wherein in all the Children of the Lord are taught of the Lord and walk only in his Light which comprehends and teaches to avoid all the cunning crafty Ways of the Serpent and now not in your Congregations but in that Holy Assembly is the Swords beaten into Plow-shares and the Spears into Pruning Hooks and no War any more learned but under the Vine and Fig-tree all sit eating their pleasant Fruits and taking the Cup of Salvation and both Praying unto and Praising the Name of the Lord. But thou say'st we have Drunkards Fornicators c. among us as well as you and that they are with us at out Prayers if we have any and that they are not so severely dealt withal as yours are for thou say'st some of yours cast them out which we do not Answ Yea thou false Accuser such are cast out from us and from the Church of God and with us they can neither Eat nor Pray but with such as are Ignorant of Christ and the Sufficiency of his Light and know no Light nor Teacher but a Letter without as thou hast manifested in thy Queries they may both Eat and Preach and Pray and when you cast out Drunkards and Fornicators from amongst you you must cast out your selves for in that Nature you and all Hypocrites are and so some of you are Drunk with Wine and strong Drink and some with the Cup of the great Whore some in the outward Fornications others in the inward and some in both so that your Tables are full of Vomit and every Bed defiled amongst you And for the outward Drunkards and Harlots and such like though we cannot but reprove and cast them out in that State yet this we say of them that they may sooner enter into the Kingdom of God than you that judge your selves free and are not for you are so Painted and Conceited that it is easier for a Camel to go through the eye of Needle than for you to enter in and this makes your Wound more Uncureable for you neither enter in your selves nor suffer others And for those words in thy Parenthesis whereby thou questionest Whether we have any Prayer amongst us shows thee to be a great stranger to us and our Practice for Prayer with the Spirit and with Understanding we allow and are taught to practice and say with the Apostle Pray continually but the wicked Hypocrites the Lord rejects whose Prayers to God are Abomination and so it would have become thee to have said less of us and to have judged more soberly and moderately of us until thou hast known us better than thou hast done for thou hast little knowledge of us it seems by coming into our Assemblies but only judgest by Here-say and false Reports which brings thee under Condemnation and Shame when the Light now searcheâ—h all things but your Ways and Practices are well known to such as are now come from amongst you and so in that they cannot be deceived And now John Reynolds to proceed I see much of the Wisdom of God in bringing thee forth thus to manifest thy self in thy Queries and the next three Queries that follow do with those already mentioned fully manifest thy great Ignorance of the Reformation of things brought to pass in Christ for the Law had but a Shadow of the good things and yet thou stickest not to plead for it and so thou hadst need learn the first Principles of the Christian Religion which thou remainest Ignorant of before thou be a Christian thy self much more seeing thou takest upon thee to be Teacher of others but to set down thy Queries themselves or so much of them as is the substance of the whole Qu. 14. And thy fourteenth Query is Had not the Saints in Scripture-times their set places for publick Worship as well as we Had they not their Temple 1 Chron. 6. which Christ calls his Fathers House of Prayer and whips the Buyers and Sellers out of it c. Answ To which I answer You have indeed an outward Temple or House made with Hands to Worship in of your own devizeing the Old Popish Mass-house and so cannot be called the Fathers House of Prayer so well as the Jews was for the Temple at Jerusalem was made by God's Appointment for the outward Circumcision to Worship in during the Law as a Figure of Christ's Body to be Magnified and therefore he whipt Buyers and Sellers then out of the Figure as he doth now out of the Substance but you have not only the Enemies Nature in you but you have brought forth his Work into open view in your outward Temples also which were never Built by God's Command and so there is Buying and Selling amongst you as was amongst them as every Eye seeth For there you Men made Priests sell Words the Words out of dead Books to the People and they give you their Money Glebe-land and Tythes for them O filthy Merchandize The Lord hath shaken his Hand at your dishonest Gain and is whipping out such Merchants by his Powerful Truth out of his House and your dead Works which you sell at so dear a Rate in your Stone-houses which you call Churches shall no Child of Light ever buy of you For the true Bread of God his free Gift is now witnessed Praises for ever One sort of Merchant Priests sell their Sermons and Mass to the People for Money another sort their Common-Prayer and Sermons and the third their Sermons and Directory And thou John Reynolds pleadest also for Synagogues and Pulpits and when thou hast set down Scriptures that
The Scripture intimates that the Children of Believing Parents are Disciples Acts 15.10 I say to the Children of Light this Scripture intimates no such thing at all but plainly holds forth the contrary for the words there are Why tempt ye God to put a Yoke upon the Disciples Necks which neither our Fathers nor we were able to bear Now these Disciples here spoken of were not Natural Infants but grown Men Christian Believers as the First and the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Verses of that same Fifteenth Chapter do plainly shew and so if thou hadst not beeâ— a Blind follower of the Blind Guide Richard Baxter whose Argument this is thou would'st not it 's like have offered to bring this for this purpose for it shames you all for ever But this Argument being too weak for thee thou endeavourest by another Argument as little to the purpose to prove the Natural Infants Subjects of Water-Baptism because say'st thou they have received the Holy Ghost or else how could the Kingdom of God consist of such To this I answer and say But which of the Natural Infants which you sprinkle hath the Holy Ghost and which not How come ye to see this difference Or you will say that all have it if so then may People have the Holy Ghost ordinarily by Natural Birth without hearing then where is your great Glorying of your Words or Sermons But to proceed thou say'st Can we imagine that God will give them the Kingdom and deny them Water-Baptism I answer God will give the Kingdom of Heaven to whom it belongeth and it consisteth not in outward Observation or Washings as Dipping or Sprinkling or so but in Righteousness Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost And thou that with the Papists attributes so much to Water-Baptism how comes it to pass that after all your Sprinkling the Children as they grow up in Years many grow up in so much Wickedness and Vanity as is every where manifest And as concerning Children of Believing Parents we deny them to be Believers that hate the Light and believe not in it but say it is Insufficient as before is declared But as for that Mat. 28. which thou and thy Brethren usually bring for your Custom of Preaching and Sprinkling of Infants I say it makes nothing for you who sit down in some Fat Benefice or other as times favour you and there Divine from the Letter as is said an Hours Discouse or two in a Week to the People for Mony Why go you not into all Nations as they did and Disciple the Turks and Indians if you will be warranted by this Scripture But whereas you take the Apostles for your Example I query first When did ever the Apostles go to the Schools of the World so many Years to be made Ministers Did ever the Apostles seek to the Magistrates to compel People to pay them Wages as you do or compel People by their Sword to conform to Christian Doctrine Or when did they sprinkle Infants receive Tythes of the People or Sing David's Prayers Quakings in Rhime and Meeter as you do When were they called Master as you are And many the like things wherein you differ as much from the Apostles as Darkness from Light whereby you shew your selves to be Guided by a contrary Spirit to wit the Spirit of Error So for ever be silent and stop your Mouths for you are both out of the Apostles Doctrine and Practice as your Fruits make you manifest Qu. 18. Thy Eighteenth Query is concerning the Supper and thou askest Hath not Christ Jesus given us his own Example for the Celebrating of his Last Supper And hath not the Apostle Paul delivered it to the Church and Commanded the Saints to do it in Remembrance of Christ and thereby to shew forth the Lord's Death till he come again Answ The Lord's Supper we own for Behold I stand at the Door and knock saith Christ and if any Man hear my Voice and open to me I will come in and sup with him and he with me And for the Doctrine of Christ his Eating and Drinking with his Disciples so we own it in its place and for its time but what is that to you who are both out of the Doctrine and Practice of the Apostles as by your Fruits is manifest And so you Eat and Drink unworthily and thereby are guilty of the Body and Blood of Christ and so Eat and Drink Damnation to your selves and do not discern the Lord's Body And so in witnessing against you and your Practices in this State we neither Vilifie Men nor Jesus Christ And thou say'st What a vain pretence is it to say We Eat Christ Spiritually I say it it vain if it be but in Pretence but if it be in Truth it is the greatest thing for it is Eternal Life and he that thus Feeds upon Christ's Body is Alive to God But you in all your other Eatings and Drinkings are Dead whil'st you Live And so of you that would keep People always in the Figures and Signs saying The coming of Christ spoken of 1 Cor. 11.26 is never to be witnessed here I demand Whether that Cup which the Apostle said The Cup of Blessing which we Bless is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ And the Bread which we Break is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ For we being many are one Body and one Bread for we are all Partakers of that one Bread 1 Cor. 10.15 16 17. I say Whether was this outward Bread and Wine yea or nay Qu. 19. And in the next Query thou comest over with these things again saying How can those Persons be Faithful to Christ Jesus and Obedient to his Gospel that refuse to Pray and Sing Psalms and Baptize with Water and reâ—eive the Lord's Supper I answer and say If any disobey God in any thing he commands them unto whether in any of these things or in any other they are not Faithful to Christ and his Gospel but those People thou here secretly shoots at are taught to obey God in all his Requirings ☜ and so to Glorifie him in their Bodies and Spirits which are his and so are we clear before the Lord from this thy Charge and also from that which follows for we Revile none much less those that in Conscience of their Duty to God observe them or any thing else And so the Reviler must lodge in thine own Bed who fears not to Revile and speak Evil of such in these days as in Conscience to their known Duty to God Worship him in Spirit and in Truth But you whose Fear towards God is taught by the Precepts of Men in vain is all your Worship for I Testifie for the Lord that whatever you do though it had the very Form of the Saints Practice of old which yours have not and not led thereinto by the Motion of the Eternal and Infallible Spirit of Life it is nothing but the Precepts of Men and Will-worship
and Temple and the Word of the Lord Prospers in our Hand and in our Hearts And though they say we deny the Ordinances of God because we cannot plead for or put confidence in a Shadow or Figure yet holding the Head Christ Jesus the Light and Life Eternal we are safe enough and have the Witness of God in our Hearts Justifying us and Sealing in our Hearts our Acceptance with his Majesty which is our Peace and Assurance for ever for Praised be the Name of God for ever who hath given us an understanding to know him that is true the Son of God and we are in him that is true who is the Everlasting Ordinance of God and in him are we Baptized with a Baptism made without Hands and our Supper is with the Lord in Spirit and Truth where we are daily given to feed freely at his Table whose Body is Meat indeed who said I am the Living Bread that gives Life for ever John 6. And he that Believeth in me and feedeth on me shall never Dye chap. 6.50 51. God gave the Children of Israel Manna in the Wilderness and they died notwithstanding but my Father giveth you the true Bread For God so loved the World that he gave his Son to be the Light and Life of Man and so to as many as Received him then and do Receive him now to dwell in their Hearts by Faith to them he gave and daily doth give Power to become the Sons of God whose Birth is not of the Mortal Seed of Flesh and Blood nor the Mind or Will or Words thereof but of the Incorruptible Seed of the Word of God Eternal Real and Essential which Lives and Endures for Ever which perishes not with Using as mortal thing do but it Lives and Triumphs in its own Creating saving Sustaining Upholding Comforting and satisfying Virtue and Power for evermore well witnessed in the Hearts of Spiritual Believers this day For in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God and by it wore all things made and it was and is the Light and Life of Man and he Delighted and doth also this day greatly Rejoyce and Delight in the habitable parts of his Creation For I will dwell in them and walk in them who open unto me saith the Lord who by his Servant said Behold I stand at the door and knock and by his Servant also now saith Behold the Lord stands at the door of your Hearts all People and whosoever opens unto him he will come in unto them and the pure in Heart shall see the pure and Holy God supping with them and they with him and they shall drink abundantly of the Heavenly Wine with Jesus Christ in the Fathers Kingdom fresh and Living for now is the Lord rending away the Vail the Covering that hath been upon the hearts of People and making to all People the Feasts of fat things full of Marrow and of Wine upon the Lees well Refined And now is the Lord God Blessed for ever fulfilling the Promises of his Great Love in Christ Jesus which have been since the World began in this day of the pouring forth of his Holy Spirit whereby the Holy City New Jerusalem is felt come down from God out of Heaven and God himself dwelling with Men even the Tabernacle of God with Man as was said before all Holy Praises to his Name Yea he that sits upon the Throne hath made and is daily making all things New and now the Lamb is known to be the Light of his People and they need no other for the Anointing which they have of him Teacheth all things and now is Jerusalem a rejoycing indeed and her People a joy but now the Uncircumcised in Heart and Ear who do always resist the Holy Ghost are greatly troubled and offended by reason of the great Darkness and enmity of their Hearts because they cannot in their unclean mind enter in for into this City no unclean thing nor any that loves or makes a Lie can enter for now the Serpents meat is Dust and his Head is bruised Glory to God for ever See Isa 65.17 c. Rev. 21.1 c. Acts 7.51 52. And now are all the Climers who have not come in by the door but are Climed up another way in their unclean minds whom Christ calls Thieves and Robbers â—seen and by the same that discovers them Judged and Condemned these are they that have taken away the Key of Knowledge and will neither enter into the Kingdom of God themselves nor suffer those that are entring into enter These are they whom Christ-cries wo against who love to be called of Men Master heady and high minded Men with the great Train of their seduced Followers who Plead for them and Fight for them because they cry Peace to them in their Sins and tell them they must never be Perfâ—ct whil'st they are here but must carry about them a Body of Sin without all Hope of ever being free'd from it whil'st on Earth and so in effect deny the end of Christ's coming who came to set free the Soul by destroying the Body of Sin also they deny the very end the very end of Christ's Ministry for when he Ascended up on High he gave gifts to Men for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the Body of Christ and for the Perfecting of the Saints Ephes 4. Come ye Contenders against Truth Is not the Perfecting of the Saints in Holiness by bringing them out of Unholiness and in Faith out of Unbelief and into the Spirit out of the Flesh and all Fleshly and Perishing Observations And doth not the Ministry of Christ which is the true Spiritual Ministry attain its end and do its work to the utmost Yea yea though the Ministers of Antichrist Fret and Foam and Gainsay and Contradict and Blaspheme and spend their strength in Vain and perfect nothing but their Sins yet the Work of the Lord goes on and Prospers and the Body of Christ is Built up and the Songs of Sion Sung in the Holy Land and none can take part therein but the Redeemed of the Lord who are redeemed from the Earth into the Heavenly Society and Church of the First-born whose Names are written in Heaven and who follow the Lamb whither soever he goes these are not Defiled with the Cup of the great Whore for they are Virgins and have Oil in their Lamps and so need not go to the Merchants of Babylen to buy And so all People bow to Truth in the inward parts for obedience to that is the Sacrifice which God requireth and better than all other Sacrifices all your Sabboth out of this are but meer Druggeries and all your Will worship Ceremonies and Traditions being out of this are but meer mock Services yea out of this to wit the Light and Truth in the inward parts your very Faith is vain and your Hope of none effect and your Prayers Sin for unto
perswade you and all People in Love to your Souls to take heed of dallying with God who is a consuming Fire for his Judgments are manifest and who can stand before his Wrath O be not Proud lest your bands be made strong but be Meek and Lowly and Gentle in Heart to Learn of him that is so that you may find rest for your Souls for there is no Peace to the Wicked saith my God the true God that made Heaven and Earth whose Wrath from Heaven is perfect revealed against all Vngodliness and Vnrighteousness of Men without respect of Persons or Professions who hold the Truth in any manner of Vnrighteousness So be it In the 2d Month 1670. Thomas Taylor WEEP thou England Houl Houl ye People for the Dreadful Day of the Lord God is at Hand it is at the Door as an Armed Man coming swiftly upon you to break down and tread under feet thy Pomp Glory and Strength Thou hast exceeded in thy Sins and art grown Monstrous in thine Iniquities so the Lord will be exceeding Terrible unto thee Thou hast suffered the Wicked in thee to have Liberty and to take their fill of Sin when the Voice of the Righteous cannot be endured in thee but he that departs from Iniquity and would perswade others so to do is even made a Prey of by Ungodly and Unreasonable Men their Bodies Imprisoned and Banished and Estates spoiled and many Injuries done them for God's Name and Truth 's Sake And therefore will the Lord God arise to take Vengeance for these things Yea his Soul will certainly be avenged on such a Nation as this saith his Spirit in his Servant if they do not repent and amend AND moreover because you have said in your Hearts We have compassed them about with an Act and none shall Worship God but as we please Therefore will the Lord the mighty God compass you about with his Terrors and you shall find no place to hide your selves in from his Wrath because of the Pride of your Hearts and Evil of your Doings O all ye People of the Land saith the Lord God who are guilty of these things Thomas Taylor THE Lord even the Lord God of infinite endless Glorious Power and Truth plead our Cause our Innocent Cause against you the Rulers of this Nation and of all the World who hate us and Persecute us without a cause The Lord hath raised us up in Righteousness ever Praised be his Name to bear our Testimony for God and his Christ against all the Ways and False Worships of Fallen Man and therefore it is that such as are in the fall through the Ignorance and Evil that is in them number us with the Transgressors and account all manner of Punishments and Grievances too little for us Yea Banishment Imprisonment Spoiling of our Goods and Death it self is Judged not less than we deserve So the Scripture is fulfilled see John 16.2 3. And all this for no manner of Evil at all but meerly because we cannot cease to Worship and Serve the Living and True God our Father as he hath taught us and doth teach all that come to him For our Worship to God is pure in Spirit and Truth And this is the True Standing and established Worship for evermore and God is now Mightily seeking such to Worship him And so the Lord the Ever-blessed and True God Plead our Holy Cause against you who hate us without a Cause We have laid before you the Truth and Righteousness of our Cause and our Good-will to all men and how it is not in our Hearts and Hands in the least to injure you or any but to this Day you will not hear but stop your Ears to our Innocent Cries and therefore to the Lord God of Heaven and Earth do we call and before him who is KING of Kings and LORD of Lords and RULER of Rulers and JUDGE of Judges do we lay our Innocent Cause O that you had known at least in this your Day the things of your Peace but you will not and therefore how can ye expect less than a Forsaking and Casting off by the Lord as the People of Old called Israel found who would not hear the Voice of the Lord and his Servants Crying and Calling unto them in those Days Read the Prophesie of Hosea Hos 1.6 8 9. and see what Lo-ruhamah and Lo-ammi signifie and humble your selves greatly before the Lord for assuredly great Wrath is gone out from the presence of the Eternal Majesty of Heaven and Earth against you and nothing can stay it but your ceasing from Persecuting the Blessed Truth of God which we the People of God in Scorn called Quakers do Love and Live in It is so Thomas Taylor
agree to set at naught The living Virtue by which Saints are taught And so at large the wicked Mind is left In Vnbeliâ—vers to make up by theft And stealth in their out-side and vain Profession What they of Truth do want in true Possession But Babes of Zion feed upon that Bread The real Substance Jesus Christ their Head Which came from Heaven and thither hath them led With him to rest in his Eternal Bâ—d They feed upon him in the Mistery Hid from the Raven and the Vulters Eye For where the Body is the Saints Resort And there are kept secure as in a Fort Of Brass or Iron where the Table 's Ready All day full fraught with Dainties for the Needy Yea for the Needy and the Hungry Soul To take and freely Feed without Controul When false prophane Professors in the double Mind Much seem and dream they Eat but all 's but Air and Wind. Of Prayers WHen as a tuned Instrument my Mind is in the Lord Well set and with his Power Assist O then I can Record The mighty Acts and wonders great of him that Rules on High And of his great Magnificence from whom the Heavens do fly And Earth also when he is pleased to make his Power known In Mercies and in Judgments deep for such as are his own When â—â—e an Arm of Help doth reach unto the needy Soul When he the daring Power of the Enemy doth Controul O then I say what Treasure can before his Presence stand Before his Glorious Face who is the Lord of Sea and Land Where Kings and Princes are as Dust and nothing in his sight Yea all who in their carnal Minds against his Glory fight Yet he doth make his Residence with every humble Heart That loves his Name and from his Truth by no means can depart His presence is their perfect stay and they in him can say He is our Rock that nothing shall our Spirits much dismay Yea though our Troubles for a Night or so upon us lye Yet in the Morning we are Saved as we to him did cry So be it Concerning ZION IF I Jerusalem forget a People sav'd from Pride Then let my Skilful Hand forget the warbling Harp to guide And if Mount Zion in my Joy I do not still set up Then let my Tongue cleave to my Mouth and taste of Sorrows Cup. said David So shall the Seed of David now in Heart and Pen endeavour The Praise of Zion to Record and of her God for ever And Blessed are those Men on Earth that with us now take part In this our Work of Innocence when all the rest must smart For how can Israel 's Kingdom be the Portion of such Wights As will not have God's Truth to Raign but still against it Fights The Life more than Cloaths and Meat O Lord God my Life is in thy Service and my Soul 's Everlasting Peace and Satisfaction in thy Love all the Things of this World are of an empty fading Nature and yield not the least true Content unto the Immortal Soul but only answer a Mortal Necessity as the Apostle saith Meat 's for the Belly and the Belly for Meats but God will destroy both iâ— and them so Cloaths for the Back and the Back for Cloaths but God will destroy both it and them and so for other things of the World they serve but only for Worldly and Temporal Necessities but now Man made in the Image of God breaths after a more Excellent Good than this World hath to give for in the Soul which is Mortal there abides an Immortal Desire and from that an Immortal Cry after that Holy and Heavenly Food of Life which is in the full Hand of God to give and so when that is received and digested in the pure Mind then goes forth Praises and Thanksgivings to the Lord the pure and fall Fountain of all Everlasting and Eternal good Things and so happy they who come through the Obedience of the Truth to have their Hearts seasoned with this Heavenly Salt of the Word of God the Living Word which abides for Ever For in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and that Word was God and is the Lise and Light of Man and all places in Man which is not filled with this Living Light is full of Darkness and the dark places of the Earth are full of the Habitations of Unrighteousness and Cruelty and there is engendred all the Ravenous Birds and Beasts of Prey all the fiery stinging Serpents and every Venemous Thing which annoys hurts and disquiets the Living Plant which God hath planted in the Paradise of his Pleasure and seeks to devour the Man-child as soon as it is Born but into the Arms of the Eternal Power of Life is the Babe taken and by the Choicest Angel is the Plant watered and defended and so the wicked is disappointed of his Prey and therefore doth he retreat into his Den of Darkness gnawing his Tongue because of his Plagues So be it O Lord our Strength and mighty Joy How Glorious is thy Name within our Hearts We cannot cease to Preach thy Truth Though for it at us Satan shoot his Darts Though Hell be broken loose upon the Earth To vent its Malice for a little time And make the Righteous Man his Butt to shoot at Yet God will Plague them for their mighty Crime The greatness of their Evil passeth thought Their Sins in number far exceeds the Sand And therefore will the Lord against them plead With all his Judgments in his Wrathful Hand And though great Trials be to try the Faith Of pure and upright hearted People now Yet that pure holy Power will us defend Who makes the very Devils fear and bow To the Unsatiable Devourers of Strong Drink WHat Hellish Spark is that in your Inflamed Brest Which neither suffer's God nor Man to Rest But doth disorder even the whole Creation Bringing God's Judgments thick on every Nation Ye will not hear nor learn the thing that 's good But eat and drink up Sin your daily Food Be filthy still ye filthy Ones and when Your Measure is full your dreadful Doom comes then Thomas Taylor HE that to Glory would attain And many Happy Days would see His Tongue from Evil must refrain And eke his Heart from Sin keep free He must both watch and ward in Heart And persevere in that good deed Lest Satan wound him with his Dart As he doth all that take not heed Such must not promise to themselves Great things on Earth as Sinners do Who build and plant and root therein As from it they would never go But he that to the Heavens would come To dwell in that which never fades Must not in the World set up his Rest Nor shelter under Mortal shades TO MY Dear Friends every where O My Friends and Faithful to God whose Hearts are Tender and Zealous after the Lord and his Honour in this day of the Tryal of our most