Lord but he that is unsanctified is without holiness and therefore cannot see the Lord And so though Grace hath abounded towards you yet it seems your sins hath much more abounded in so much that sin hath overcome you and eaten out all the Divine sweetness of regenerating and sanctifying Grace but with the church of Christ it was otherwise for though there was a time in which sin had abounded yet Grace had much more abounded in them so that by Grace they were saved from sin and were become dead to sin and alive unto righteousness and had their fruits unto holiness and the end everlasting life And so by all these particulars of which you have confest your selves to be guilty it is evident that you are neither Ministers nor churches of Christ but on the contrary it plainly appears that you very much differ from them And also there are many other particulars exprest in the said Tiverton Epistle of which you confess your selves to be guilty which time would even fail me to insist upon whereby I could further and more fully and largely prove that you are neither Ministers nor churches of Jesus Christ some of which are as followeth That coldness and deadness is upon your selves and upon the churches formality in holy duties indifferencie and a Laodicean spirit is sallen in upon you that you have been drawing iniquitie with cords of vanitie that there is amongst you personal iniquitie congregational iniquitie national iniquitie familie iniquitie closet iniquitie that you are without soundness from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot full of bruises and putrified sores and the crown is fallen from your head by reason of your iniquities that you have but as it were played with God and not trembled in his presence but have been wanton before him and without the terror of his Maiestie and â—â—at you have delighted to confess and to word it out with the Lord and being gone away presentlie forgot what manner of men and women you were thought no more on your prayers and so confess that you have often mocked God that the World doth eat out your time your strength your zeal and that in the lap of this Dalilah whilst asleep your locks have been cut off and you are but as other men that Satan hath shewed you the Kingdoms of the world and this hath bewitched you and alienated your minds from the Lord that you are remiss in meetings and that you neglect the poor Saints Ministers of Christ whose dailie complaints and addresses you say are living monuments of this reigning abomination That you are cruel to servants and children exacting all their labours and takes no time to counsel or instruct them whereby their souls might be the better for you that slavish fear hath stopped your mouths until the mouth of this Iniquitie hath almost devoured your poor churches That these evils are so deeplie rooted in your hearts that it is hard to get them out that they have wrested all weapons out of your hands that have been formed against them so that you have laboured in vain and that which you have brought forth hath been to little purpose Several other such like things as these you confess your selves and your churches to be guilty of in the said Tiverton Epistle To all which I say If you are indeed guiltie of all these reigning abominations and apparent iniquities according to your confession then assuredlie may I conclude That you are neither Ministers nor churches of Christ and that the Ordinances which you practise are not the Ordinances of Christ but the Ordinances of the man of sin which is exalted and bears rule in you for of these abominations and apparent iniquities the church of Christ was never guiltie as hath been proved And if you say you are not guiltie thereof according to your confession then is this confession of yours a most abominable piece of hypocrisie wherein you have even mocked God as you say you have done often which will render you no less culpable of his fierce wrath and heavy indignation then the former And thus are your skirts discovered your deeds brought to light you weighed in an Equal Ballance â—nd true judgment pass'd upon you and therefore although you call your selves churches of Christ Ministers of Christ yet your presumption is hereby discovered who call your selves churches of Christ and are not as their blasphemie was known who said they were Jews and were not and you with them are found lyars And although you boast of the Ordinances of Christ and say it is his Ordinances you follow and plead for according to the Scriptures and would seem to deck your selves with precious Stones and Pearls yet whilst these abominations reign in you and such iniquities so apparentlie written upon you your Name is Mysteris Babylon the Mother of Harlots and Abomination of the Earth a Synagogue of Satan a habitation of Devils a hold of every foul Spirit and a cage of every unclean and hateful Bird And therefore though Joab flie to lay hold on the horns of the Altar yet from thence he must be taken because he is a man of blood and so on his head must the blood of Abner be charged and rest for ever that Davia and his house may be clear before the Lord for ever And thus the Spiritual Man which is Christ the true light with his Ordinances and Administrations which are spiritual are exalted above the man of fin and above his Ordinances which are weak and unprofitable and which doth not make the comers thereunto perfect and above that imagined false Christ which doth not save his people from their sins and above that Justification which justifies people in their sins and above that blood which doth not reach to the purging of the conscience from dead works and above that faith which doth not purifie the heart and give victory over the world and above that baptism which is not by one spirit into one body whereby sin and transgression reigning abominations and apparent iniquities are washed away and above that Church-fellowship which is not with the Father and with the Son and with the Assembly of the first-born and with the spirits of just men made perfect and above that Bread which is not the Body of Christ and above that cup which is not the cup of blessing of consolation and salvation even the Communion of the Blood of Christ the spiritual Rock of which the Israel of God drunk And above those Prayers which are but lip-labour which are so soon forgotten and no more thought upon and wherewith God is so often mocked which comes not from a pure heart and holy hands lifted up without wrath and doubting and above that Worship which stands in the will of man in conformity to a Rule or Law without them not being thereunto led by the Spirit of the living God whose Worship is spiritual and who will be worshipped in the
pretended Line of true Judgement occasioned thee to let it lye for some time by thee c. I say Thou speakest great swelling words of vanity thereby to allure those who live with thee in Error crying out of the hypocrisie falshood of T. S. but is it not strange to hear one in whom abomination reigns to cry out of abomination in others And to hear a Hypocrite cry out of Hyocrisie and a lyar to cry out of falshood But by so doing he that is indeed the notorious lyar and the abominable hypocrite may have hopes to pass undiscovered Thou sayest Yet for Truth's sake and for the sakes of poor souls thou wilt give a very brief touch in a sheet of Paper c. To which I say It is not thy pretences will hide thee the light hath discovered thee and thy unclean spirit and thy fruits doth manifest thee to all who have an eye open to see thee and though thou pretend a care for truth poor souls yet thou art found to be one of Truth's greatest Enemies and one that labours to keep souls in blindness and ignorance and by this Work of wickedness thou haft endeavoured to touch the Lord 's Annointed and to harm his Prophets for which the Lord will reprove thee in the day of account which is near at hand Thou recitest some of T. S. his words in the Title Page of his Book where he saith The exaltation of the Spiritual Man with his Ordinances and Administrations above the Man of Sin with the weak and unprofitable Ordinances that doth not make the comers there unto perfect Which sound wholsome Words of his thou goest about most wickedly to pervert and his plain and honest intention most falsly and hypocritically to interpret saying The Spiritual Man must be the light within their own fancy and imagination which they perswade all to follow and Jesus Christ crucified raised and ascended and made Lord and Christ he must be the man of sin Truly if thou hadst not as it were a brow of Brass thou wouldst blush and even tremble to utter such blasphemous words as these Didst thou never think to give an account for these with other thy hard ungodly speeches which in the pride of thy heart thou hast uttered forth Thou accusest T. S. in thy Paper for Hypocrisie and wretched perverting Now let all sober-minded people judge whether thou be not manifestly guilty of that evil which thou falsly chargest upon him But because there is some words of truth mixed with thy unclean filthy language though it comes out of a polluted Vessel I shall separate it from the rest and when the Jewel is taken out of the Swine's snout the remainder may be bundled up for the fire Thou saist The Spiritual Man must be the light within To which I say The Spiritual Man is light and the light of Christ is spiritual and the Spiritual Man is within even the hidden man of the heart and he that knows not this Spiritual Man living in him is not a Member of the Church of Christ and he in whom the Spiritual Man lives doth thereby mortifie the deeds of the flesh and his mortal body comes to be quickened by the Spirit which dwelleth in him and hereby he is made a member of the Church of Christ and no otherwise and comes to partake of his Ordinances and knows his Administrations and so comes to be exalted above the Man of Sin and stands over all the beggarly rudiments and traditional invented Will-Worships set up in the imagination which doth not purifie the heart nor purge the conscience from dead works nor give victory over the World and so makes not the comers thereunto or practisers of them perfect but perisheth with the using and this is not fancy nor imagination but sound and wholesome Doctrine according to the Scripture of truth neither do we at any time perswade any to follow their own fancies imaginations as thou most wickedly and falsly chargest us but it is Christ the true light the Spiritual Man who leads out of darkness all that follow him and from every vain imagination it is him alone that we exhort all men to obey and follow And the reason that thou givest why Jesus Christ crucisied raised and ascended c. must be the Man of Sin is Because thou sayest it is his Ordinances you follow and plead for according to the Scriptures Thou sayest You own Jesus Christ crucified and justification by Faith in his blood which Faith purifies the heart though you confess that abomination reigns in your souls and that iniquity is apparently written on your fore-heads and that you are drawing it with cords of vanity and Baptism with Water after believing and Church-fellowship in breaking of Bread and Prayer c. and this thou sayest T. S. calls the Ordinances of the Man of Sin which is another most abominable falshood charged upon him When Or where did he ever call Justification by Faith in the blood of Christ Baptism breaking of Bread and Prayer c. which are Ordinances of Christ the Ordinances of the Man of Sin Thou hast made a great outcry of the hypocrisie and falshood of T. S. doubling it over to four times in thy title page and yet before thou concludest the same page how manifestly and publikely dost thou play the hypocrite with him in drawing such a damnable Conclusion from his Words and most wickedly and falsly to accuse him saying He calls the Ordinances of Christ the Ordinances of the man of sin when at the utmost it is but the deceit of thy own wicked heart and not his words nor intentions as may evidently appear to any who have but the least measure of honesty to judge But what though you in a hypocritical manner according to the vain and foolish imaginations of your dark hearts have fancied to your selves a Worship in your Wills and practise things in imitation of others which you say you plead for and follow and call Ordinances of Christ because the Scripture declares that such things were practised by those who were thereto led by the Spirit of God though you from that Spirit are erred and saith the Scripture is your Rule must it therefore follow that T S. doth account Jesus Christ crucified c. to be the Man of Sin and his Ordinances the Ordinances of the Man of Sin Oh wicked and damnable Conclusion drawn from such an Argument Thou tells of the Quaker's Logick surely this may truly be call'd the Devil's Logick for greater Wickedness and more horrible iniquity I believe never dropped from the Pen of any one that pretends to plead for and follow Ordinances of Christ but it is not your professing the Name of Christ or professing Justification by Faith in his Blood or practising things by imitation and calling it the Ordinances of Christ that will avail you any thing whilest the Man of Sin bears rule and is exalted in you for notwithstanding your profession
distinguished from other people by the name of Quaker did ever either in Bristol or elsewhere either publikely or privately speak utter or declare these or any such like words and therefore be it hereby known unto thee who art our accuser and to all that own thee and to all people wheresoever this shall come that thou art hereby charged and required to bring forth the Author or Authors of this false accusation which thou call'st credible testimony that so the whole sum of this matter may be found out to the end that those who are guilty may be discovered and their wickedness disclosed that to shame they may be brought and from them and their wickedness all that fear God may turn away and of them beware and also that the innocent may be cleared and the truth vindicated and for this cause chiefly it was that publike inquiry was made after thy Name to the end the truth of this matter may be known and therefore if thou shalt refuse thus to do then in the presence of the Lord God upon thy own head shall this false accusation be charged to stand for ever and all that either own thee or believe what thou hast said and shall not endeavour to bring this matter to a just tryal are not onely willing to be deceived by thee but also guilty of thy most abominable wickedness therefore until thou hast done according to what I have said this also shall be numbred amongst the rest of thy lyes and false accusations But it seems though thou hast done with T. S. thou haft not emptyed out all the abominable broth out of thy boiling pot or unclean vessel under which the fire of Envy doth continually burn but John Collins must also have a part of it something to asswage thy malice and allay thy burning heat and although thou canst not touch him concerning any thing which he hath written yet thou wilt assault him with a company of lyes and false accusations which thou hast mustered up against him which should they be severed from the rest of that wch thou hast written there would remain very little to be answered unto But I shal not need to trace thee in all thy crooked waies and by-pathes I having alreadie sufficientlie laid thee open and discovered thy follie and wicked lying spirit to all who have an eie open to see thee therefore I shall speak brieflie to some particulars and so conclude Thou saist He confesseth he was one with you in the form of Truth But where is that confession I am sure he doth not say any such thing in that Book to which this sheet of thine is a pretended Answer nor I think no where else For it is a very easie matter to prove that you are neither in the form nor power of Truth but out of both But this he confesseth That he was owned a Brother by you whilst running into the same excess of riot but since in mercie visited he hath been hated and despitefullie used by some of you which is not the Form of Truth to use any one despitefullie Thou saist A day will come that John Collins and others shall not boast of their gain in leaving you when they shall know it to be the saddest seperation that ever they made And yet thou saist in the same Paper over and besides all the great wickednesses reigning abominations and apparent iniquities whereof you confess your selves to be guiltie in your Tiverton-Epistle Thou knowest that you are bad and that you need purging and more of the sence of the evil of your own hearts and that you need a lamentation c. And wouldst thou perswade J. C. or any other that ever they shall repent their leaving you or repent that the Lord hath seperated them from such a companie Verilie when ever they look back upon you and remember the deliverance that the Lord hath wrought for them in seperating them from amongst you they have as much cause to rejoice if not more then Lot had when he escaped out of Sodom or the Israelites when delivered from Aegyptian darkness and bondage Thou saist They have seperated themsslves from the Law and Word of Truth I say They are seperated from a companie of hypocrites who have cast the Law of Truth behind their backs and have hated instruction and rebelled against the light following their vain imaginations which they call Ordinances of Christ who confess they have delighted to confess and to word it out with the Lord and presently forget what manner of men and women they were and think no more on their prayers and so have mocked God often it is from such they are seperated But to the Word of Truth which is Christ the light of the World are they turned and his Law which is light which is written in the heart have they received and the Word at which you stumble is a lanthorn to their feet and a light unto their pathes who in times past did wander with you in dark and sollitarie places and in the valley of the shadow of death stumbling upon the dark and barren Mountains wandering from Mountain to Hill after those who cryed Lo here and lo there and where you are yet wandering in your vain imaginations who knows not the Law nor Word of Truth Thou saist If you could or dare to lye as fast as they you could quickly be as perfect and as free from sin as they c. I say Witness T. Colliers Writings and this Sheet of thine whether you dare to lie or no I verilie believe more impudent Liars did never appear in Print and you have attained to as great a measure of perfection in that part of your Fathers Work who was a Liar from the beginning and the Father of it as any people that ever I heard of who pretend they plead for and follow Ordinances of Christ But this is not our waie of perfection or freedom from sin it is Christ the Truth and the Light that is our waie of perfection and by him alone it is that we have freedom and remission of sins not through lying though you make use of that waie to cover your selves in your sins but the light hath discovered you your bed is too short and your covering too narrow Your iniquities are apparent and your abominations and transgressions cannot be hid and the day is come wherein your refuge of lyes unto which you have leaned and into which you have fled for shelter from the stroke of truth must be swept away Thou saist Heaven and Earth and our own consciences doth witness that what T. C. hath written concerning our principles is truth To which I say That both Heaven and Earth and the Witness of Truth in our own consciences doth testifie against thee that thou art a most abominable Lyar and a false Accuser and were not thy conscience seared thou wouldst tremble to utter such damnable lyes but know assuredlie that the righteous God will bring thee