God which is a meeer Delusion We are accused to deny the Sabbath The Sabbath of the Saints we own which is not for a Day but Everlasting and who dwells in Christ witnesseth this Sabbath which is the Substance and the Shadow without is vanished for saith Paul let no man condemn you in respect of Meats and Drinks or of an Holy Day or of new Moons or of the Sabbath-Dayes which are but Shadows of things to come And so the World hath the Shadow and the Saints the Substance and you who have the Shadow persecute them who have the Substance as the Scribes and Pharisees and High Priests did who had and upheld the Types and Figures of Christ and persecuted him who was the Substance so they that are alter the Flesh persecuted them that are aftor the Spirit But your Sabbath is a Shadow of Nothing for the Jews Sabbath in the time of the Law was upon the seventh Day which was the last Day of the Week but yours is the first Day of the Week for which you have no Scripture and they were not to do their own Wayes nor their own Pleasure nor speak their own Words upon the Sabbath Day and here you transgress in the Figure and walk in your own Wayes and speak your own Words and do your own Pleasures both of that Day and every Day We are accused that we justifie our selves and condemn all others I answer When we were our selves without the Spirit of God and had a Form and Profession of the Saints Condition which we did not possess we sought to justifie our selves in our Profession and earthly Wisdom and to exalt our selves and be something in the Eyes of others and here we were Pharisee and yet feigned Publicans saying we were sinfull but thought higher of our selves then others though we were in the same Nature and here our Justification was of our selves and not of Christ and here all you Pharisees and feigned Publicans both Priests and Professors who are in your earthly Wisdom feeding upon the Letter but as the Light of Christ arose in us all our earthly Wisdom wherein we were exalted became Foolishness and Self was judged and denyed and all that which was of Self both Wisdom and Righteousness wherewith we covered over our filthy lustful unclean Hearts and so were as painted Sepulchres and here are all Professors at this Day who are feeding upon the Tree of Knowledge and are from under the Cross of Christ but all would not hide from the Light of God but as it arose it searched through all and lay'd open all and all our Covers became rotten and fell from us and so it will be with all Professors as the Light of Christ doth arise and the Book of Conscience is layd open for no Flesh must glory in his Presence But now we have nothing but what we have received of the Father through Death and Christ is made over unto us Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption and though we glory we glory in the Lord for we have nothing in our selves to glory of and the Saints thought it no Presumption to call themselves the Sons of God and said they were of God and all the whole World lie in Wickedness and here the same Spirit would have accused them yet they were no Pharisees and Christ thought it no Robbery to be equal with God yet he was no Pharisee though of the Pharisees he was judged a Blasphemer and as he is so are we say the Saints yet they were no Pharisees and so who are made the Sons of God it is no Self-justification to witness it forth neither those who are made free from Sin to witness it forth as the Apostles did and to witness forth the Life and Power of Truth and deny them that have gotten the Form Notion or Profession And here Christ is the Witness and the Justification for the Way is but one and the Truth is but one and they who dwell in the Truth witness one with another for the Light of God owns its own wheresoever it is for God cannot deny himself but they that are not with us are against us and out of the Truth in the State of Condemnation for all who are out of the Truth are under the Curse in the Fall and this Truth we witness by the Spirit of the living God through Death the same Truth as ever was and there is that in every Conscience shall bear us Witness yea in the Heathen and condemn them that hate it Jer. 3. 19 20. We are accused to be one with the Ranters I answer it is false for we abhor their Principles in our Hearts and deny any Liberty to the Flesh or any light or loose or vain Conversation which they live in or any thing which is impure or unclean for our Principles are pure and clean and are at Enmity with any thing that is impure or unclean for Purity and Impurity cannot agree together and it is our desire to keep our selâ—es unspotted of the World for that which is unclean defiles and from that we are seperated who are the Sons and Daughters of the living God But some of them have tasted of the Love of God and Grace of God and have had Appearances of God but by hearkning to the Voyce of the Serpent and giving way to the Lust have turned with the Dog to the Vomit and the Grace of God into Wantenness casting his pure Law behind their Backs and walking despightfully against the Spirit of Grace and have crucified afresh the Lord of Life and put him to open Shame therefore hath the Lord given them up to their own Hearts-Lusts and vile Affections and their Consciences are seared as with an hot Iron for it is written It is impossible that those who were once enlightned and have tasted of the heavenly Gift and were made Partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted of the good Word of God and the Powers of the World to come if they shall fall away to renew them again to Repentance but they have deceived many with their alluring Speeches and have caused the Truth of God to be evil spoaken of by their pernicious lascivious wayes but Wo Wo be to them for double shall be their Reward But God is our Witness we deny and abhor all things which are filthy or unclean and though all the World condemn it is without For there is no Condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus who walk not aefter the Flesh but after the Spirit And it is my tender desire towards all tender Consciences that they may take heed of giving any Liberty to the Flesh lest they loose the Tenderness of Conscience and harden it by Lust and Uncleanness for nothing but Purity will the Lord receive for he is of purer Eyes then to behold Iniquity We are accused that the Ground of our Religion is Popery The
Persecuting his Messengers as Deceivers and Wanderers wherein their Persecuting Spirits are made manifest and them to be in Cain's Generation and Strangers to the Spirit of Christ which were persecuted and so are none of his And also of the Unjust Dealings of Judge Hill who sate upon Life and Death at the Assizes at Chelmsford 229. A Reply to his Mittimus 250. A Copy of some Queries that were sent to the Justices so called 266. The Copy of a Note that was written against the Idol's Temple 271. Several Queries that were sent to four of the Chief Priests in Essex 274. The Copy of a Letter writ to Judge Hill after the Assize 282. A few Words unto you who call your selves Gathered Churches and go under the Name of Independents in Essex 286. A few Words to Friends in Essex 291. VII Goliah's Head cut off with his own Sword in a Combat betwixt Little David the Young Stripling who stands in the Power and Strength of his God and Great Coliah the Proud Boaster In a Reply to a Book set forth by an unnamed Author under Pretence of an Answer to Thirty Six Queries propounded by J. Parnel And also an Answer to several Counter-Queries propounded by the same Unnamed Author pag. 295. VIII A Warning of all People 426. IX An Epistle to Friends in London 433. X. An Epistle to Friends in Essex 438. XI Another Epistle to Friends 445. XII An Epistle to all Friends 453. XIII Some Queries sent to the Masters of the Colledges in Cambridge 457. XIV To all Judges Justices Rulers and Officers 463. XV. To all Magistrates Rulers and Officers who call Men to Swear and Imprison them if they will not 470. A TRYAL Of Faith VVherein is discover'd the Ground of Faith of the Hypocrites which Perisheth and the FAITH of the SAINTS which is Founded upon the Everlasting Rock So all may see what their FAITH is and what they Trust to COme try your Faith all you Professors of Godliness of God and of Christ who say God is your Father and Christ is your Redeemer and say You Believe in God and you are saved through Faith in Christ Come search the Ground and Bottom of your Faith what it is built upon for the Faith and Hope of the Hypocrite perisheth which stands in words and on any Unstedfast Foundation You say You are Saved by the Blood of Christ and by his Stripes you are Healed and so would make him the Ground of your Faith But what are you saved from and what are you healed of Search and see within Christ came to save and redeem Sinners from their Sin and to heal them of the Wound of Sin to bruise the Serpent's Head and to bind the Strong Man and cast him out of his House to cast out the Buyers and Sellers out of the Temple of God which is made a Den of Thieves and to open the Prison Doors and to set at Liberty the Imprisoned and to lead Captivity Captive to throw Antichrist out of the Temple of God who sits as God there and saith He is God and he is come to rend that Vail of Darkness and to open the Eyes of the Blind and to unstop the Deaf Ears and to make Blind those that can see and to make Deaf those which can hear and give Strength to the Weak and to make Weak those that are Strong and to Feed the Hungry and to Famish that which is Fed and to make a separation betwixt the Precious and the Vile betwixt the Wheat and the Tares the Sheep and the Goats and to purchase to man that which man hath lost and to this end is he come and who can witness this can witness him and may claim an Interest in him and have an Assurance of their Salvation and their Faith will stand against the Beast and overcome for the Lamb shall get the Victory But who cannot witness this cannot witness Christ and so are Reprobates concerning the Faith Now here all you Drunkards are shut out here all you Swearers are shut out here all you Proud and Covetous and Lustful Ones are shut out here all you Scoffers and Scorners and Back-biters and Bevilers and Extortioners and Whoremongers and Envious Ones and Gamers and Sporters all you Self-righteous Professors who live in the Fashions and Customs of the World delighting in the Pleasures and Vanities of the World having Fellowship with the World whose Conversation is amongst the Children of the World all in one Generation cleansing only the Outside of the Cup and the Inside full of Lust and Filthiness Pride and Covetousness and all Uncleanness Whited Walls and Painted Sepulchres who deceive the Carnal Eye and Ear but the Lord searcheth the Heart Here you are all shut out from the true Faith which purifieth the Heart and the Serpent is Head in you and your Strong Man keeps the House and a stronger than he is not yet come and the Buyers and the Sellers are uncast out of the Temple and Antichrist sits in the Kingdom and raigns as an Angel of Light and the Imprisoned lies in Prison and the Wound of Sin is yet fresh and the Vail of Darkness is yet spread over and Death raigns and Christ lies low in the Manger and the Inn is taken up with other Guests and here you can challenge no Interest in the Blood of Christ and have nothing to do to Talk of God and Christ and have no Assurance of your Salvation and all your Faith is vain and Hope vain and the Foundation thereof is Sandy and will not stand in the Day of Tryal but will be as a broken Reed to to lean upon and all your Prayers and Praises and Singings and Graces and Baptism and Sacraments which you build your Faith upon and think to Merit withal are all in vain and the Enflaming Sword is set against it being offered up from an Unclean Heart For how can your Hearts be clean while you live in sin for sin lodgeth in your hearts and while sin is there no purity can dwell and nothing that is pure can come forth of an unclean Vessel and God doth not put his Treasure in an unclean Vessel and he is Pure and receives nothing that is Impure and here all your Faith is vain and here you destroy all your Faith out of your own mouthes who say You believe you shall never overcome your Sins so long as you are here or be made free from Sins And here you shew your Faith is not built upon Christ who came to destroy the Works of the Devil and to cleanse from all sin and those whose Faith was built upon him did witness it and said The Blood of Christ hath cleansed us from all sin and they that are Christ's have Crucified the Flesh with the Lusts and Affections thereof which is the Ground of Sin and he that Believeth is born of God and he that is born of God cannot commit sin and no
the same they were before but the Baptism of Christ makes a New Creature and this I witness for I received Water upon my Face as my Parents told me which they called Baptism but I grew up a Heathen as all other Children do and no New Creature though my Parents were counted Believers among the World and their Priests but now I witness the Baptism of Christ by One Spirit into One Body and now I witness a New Creature old things are past away and all things become New And now I see the other to be formal Imitation and the Invention of Man and so a meer Delusion and all are Heathens and no Christians who cannot witness this Baptism who can witness this denies all other for the Scripture saith The Baptism is but One and who can witness this are Believers but who cannot witness this are no Believers and so it is that Water or no Water availeth nothing but a New Creature for all by Nature are the Children of Wrath and except they be born again they cannot enter and as for the Baptism of Water which the Apostles used it being a Figure for its Time the Power went along with it and the Disciples received the Holy Ghost when they were Baptized but none can witness this who set themselves of acting or imitating the Apostles and so take it up by Imitation and their Ground is the Letter and are not guided to it by the same Spirit which guided the Apostles and so they are the same after Water as before and so now Water or no Water availeth any Thing but a New Creature for Water was but for its time though many in Darkness have now got the Form and are groping in it for Life but want the Life and Power and so from such turn away We are accused to deny the Supper of the Lord. The Supper of the Lord we own which is the Body and Blood of Christ which the Saints feed upon and this is Eternal Food and Life And here they all feed upon one and are of one Heart and Mind and here is pure and Eternal Union and Communion and this is not Carnal but Spiritual for Saints are Spiritual and their Communion is Spiritual and Eternal and this we witness who are of one Heart and one Mind who are in the New Covenant and herein we discern the Lord's Body and here all Drunkards are shut out and all Lyars Adulterers Proud Covetous Lustful and Envious Ones and all Back-biters Revilers Extortioners and all Deceitful and Unrighteous Persons are shut out of the New Covenant and are without feeding upon the Husk and Shadow which is Carnal for the Bread which the World breaks is Carnal and Natural and only feeds the Outward Carnal Body and goeth into the Belly and so passeth out into the Dangil and so likewise the Cup which they drink and so the Communion and Fellowship of the World passeth away but this is no Nourishment to the Soul but still the Soul lyes in Death and here is no Communion but Natural Outward and Carnal of several Minds and Hearts full of Filthiness and Uncleanness which is the Table of Devils eating and drinking their own Damnation not discerning the Lord's Body which is Spiritual which the Natural Man discerns not And here stands the Worlds Communion and Fellowship which is Carnal and cross but their Carnal Wills and it is turned into Envy and for Earthly Trifles they will go to Law and Cozen and Cheat and Defraud one another for Earthly Trifles and like People like Priest but if they lye in wait for Revenge of one another then they will not take their Sacrament as they call it And here the Devil hath as great Hold for he that envies is a Murderer and here is the Difference betwixt the Worlds Communion and the Saints Communion Life and Death For to be Carnally-minded is Death but to be Spiritually-minded is Life And here they are without feeding upon the Husk and Shadow without and would destroy the Life and Substance where it appears both Priest People and Rulers and so have a Form of Godliness and deny the Life and Power from such turn away for it is a meer Delusion to take the Shadow for the Substance We are accused to deny all Prayer The Prayers of the Wicked we deny and God denies for they are abominable for Cain the wicked one who was out of the Commands of God who was the first Birth he offered up a Sacrifice of the Earth but God had no Respect to it but Abel the second Birth who was the Righteous his Sacrifice God had Respect to so the Prayers of the Faithful and Righteous God doth accept and they avail and what comes from his own which is the second Birth his own is pure what comes from it is pure and God who is pure doth receive that which is pure but he receives nothing which is polluted or unclean for he is of purer Eyes then to behold Iniquity for his Sacrifice must be without Spot or Blemish and that which comes from an unclean Heart is spotted and defiled and unclean for nothing that is pure can come forth of an unclean Vessel But who can witness the second Birth and that the Seed of the Woman hath bruised the Serpents Head which is the first Promise and Faith which purifieth the Heart then that which comes out is pure proceeding from a pure single Heart and this Prayer God receives and he hath Respect to it and this we own and witness and this comes from the second Birth which is pure for the first Birth is unclean and out of the Command of God in the Fall in the Wrath in the Peevishness and Perversness and Frowardness Cain-like and the Seed of the Serpent is first in every one and rules the Head but the Promise is The Seed of the Woman shall bruise the Serpents Head So you who are not come to this are still in the Fall and are not come to the first Promise so all your self-acting and imitating thinking to merit with your Prayers and Praises Singings and Duties and Worships and Traditions which are all in vain and you are sacrificing to an unknown God a Sacrifice of the Earth from the first Nature which God hath no Respect to and the flaming Sword is set against that to keep from the Tree of Life for both Drunkards and Swearers Lyars Proud Covetous and all Manner of Unrighteous Persons are offering up Sacrifices and are in their Formal Worships and Duties thinking that is sufficient to pacifie for their Sins and yet do not repent But saith the Lord Bring no more vain oblations away with your New Moons and Sabbaths they are Abomination and my Soul loaths them When you spread forth your Hands I will hide mine Eyes from you yea when you
condemn Sin in the Flesh which is the Word which became Flesh and dwelt amongst the Apostles This Christ we witness no more after the Flesh but after the Spirit and before We knew him after the Spirit we had no Profit by him but were in the State of Reprobation and so are all now who profess him in Words and know nothing of him but by the Letter without them And such deny Christ come in the Flesh who plead for Sin who live in Sin and do not witness him come but those who are crucified with him do live with him and he in them and none are Christians of the Flock of Christ but who are baptized into his Death by one Spirit into one Body and he that can witness this is crucified to the World and the World to him But who talk of Christ to be their Saviour and are still alive in the World's Nature must first witness him a Condemner for his first Appearance is with Sword and breaks the Peace and maketh the War and ends the War and makes the Peace and this Peace endures for ever and so he is a Condemner before he is a Saviour and he is a Peace-braker before he is a Peace-maker But who are at Peace in their Sin the Serpent is Head and the strong man keeps the House and Christ they do not witness come in the Flesh but who endure the War shall enjoy this Peace and he that can witness Christ his Saviour can witness this but Silence all Flesh before the Lord and let him that nameth the Name of God depart from Iniquity for he that saith he knoweth God and keepeth not his Commandements is a Lyar For saith Christ why call ye me Lord and do not the things which I say And none can call Jesus Lord but by the holy Ghost so it is plain you know not God who cannot keep his Commands then how can you believe in him whom you do not know We are accused that we judge People It is written The Saints shall judge the World and for Judgment I am come into the World saith Christ that those which see not might see and that they which see might be made blind and where Christ rules in his Saints he judges the World as Paul witnessed It is no more I but Christ in me and he is come to reprove the World of Sin of Righteousness and of Judgment of Judgment because the Prince of the Air is judged who rules in the Children of this World and they cannot bear the righteous Judgment of Christ but kick against it and call him Devil and so they kick against the Prick which will the more torment them And this is the Spirit of Truth which came into the World which the World cannot receive because he testifies of it that the Deeds thereof are evil and this is the Condemnation of the World Light is come into the World and Men love Darkness rather then Light because their Deeds are evil and every one that doth Evil hateth the Light and will not come into the Light least it should reprove them yet they will say Christ is meek Love and lowly It is so but not to Ungodliness but he is meek to the meek and lowly to the lowly and Love to the Seed of God and his Saints are meek and lowly and bear all both Scandals Reproaches Persecutions and Imprisonments but to the Seed of the Serpent Christ is Judgment and Wo and a Sword to that which is for the Sword and a Condemner to the Wicked and our God is a consuming Fire and terrible to the Wicked to consume the Proud and Haughty in their Imaginations and here Christ is a Lyon and he is a Lamb he is a Condemner and he is a Saviour he that can receive him let him the Hungry Thirsty he feeds with living Food but the Fat he feeds with Judgment and that which would not bear his Judgment must never know his Peace but is for Judgment and cryes out as the Devil did who said he was come to torment them before the time but the Teachers of the World have deceived the People long crying Peace to them because they put into their Mouths and healing them up in their Sin with a feigned formed Faith which works no Reformation so sewing Pillows under their Arme-holes and here the Devil hath reigned in Peace and now Christ is come with the Sword to break his Peace with Plague and Judgment and now he rages and stands up for his Life in all both Priest and People and now the Beast makes War with the Lamb but it is hard for him to kick against the Prick for he must be bound and cast into the Pit and there be tormented quick and the false Prophet and all who bear his Image We are accused to deny the Church I answer The true Church which is in God we own and witness through Death but the Worlds Church we deny for the true Church is the Body of Christ made of tryed Stones elect and precious washed and cleansed by his Blood and Spirit that he might present it a glorious Church not having Spot or Wrinkle but this is not a House of Lime and dead Stones nor the People that meet in it for all manner of Unrighteous Persons meet there which is the Synagogue of Satan and a Cage of unclean Birds and like People like Priest but who comes to be elected into the Church of Christ which is spiritual denies the World's Church which is carnal and the World's Teacher who is carnal selling the carnal for carnal Money and Earth for Christ himself is the Teacher of his Church who feeds it with living eternal Food freely and it needs no other Teacher and this Church we own and witness but all other Churches we deny for the Church is but one and the Temple of God we own which is at new Jerusalem the City of the living God but all other Idols Temples we deny which is the Invention and Imaginations of Man and though God commanded Solomon to build him a Temple nevertheless God that made the World dwels not in Temples made with Hands and when Christ the Substance came he prophesied against it and also Stephen was stoned to Death when he prophesied against it and this we witness whose Bodies are the Temples of the Holy Ghost who are now stoned and persecuted by such as know not the living God but worship Idols because we speak against their Idols Temple which God never commanded to be built but was set up by the imagining Idolizing Papists and upheld by the blind Protestant so called and so they cast out the Papists and uphold their Idols and so the Inchanters Diviners and Sorcerers of England lead silly People in Blindness to worship Idols telling them they are the Houses and Temples of
Deceit of the Priests and their Folly is a manifesting even to all so that none need to be deceived by them but the wilful obstinate and blind who love to have it so who love Darkness rather then Light which is their Condemnation the Light which reproves them for their Evil Deeds and therefore they hate it for every one that doth Evil hates the Light and this is his Condemnation and no Ignorance here is to be pleaded and these are they that uphold the Priests and the Pharisees but all who have Desires to see may see And now here are the Priests or the Ministers so called of England laid open with the Church of England with their Form Profession and outside Worship with their Ground and Original and sandy Foundation and to be within differing from the Heathen but in Name and Form and Profession therefore down it must though the Powers of the Earth have long upheld them more then any other Sect so that they have continued so long as they do not a little boast of and thereby say They are of God but let the Magistrate look to his Office and let the Minister alone with his Office and then you shall see the professed Ministers of England to be the weakest of all Sects and Forms but Anti christ hath had his limited Time to reign over the Earth but now the King of Righteousness is risen with a Sword in his Hand and by his mighty Arm he will overturn overturn all until it come into his Hand whose own it is and he will bind the Kings in Chains and the Nobles in Fetters of Iron and he will break the Powers of the Earth asunder and all who oppose him and the Beast and false Prophet shall be taken and all that receive his Mark and worship his Image into the Lake shall go small great and there to lye for evermore and this is the Stone which the Builders have rejected which now is become the Head of the Corner and whosoever falls upon it shall be broaken but on whomsoever it falls it will grind them to Powder and this is the Stone cut out of the Mountain without Hands which strikes at the Feet of the Image And here is a Blow to the Foundation of the Priests Church of England Therefore now all People who are captivated under the Priests turn your Minds within to the Light of the Lord Jesus which reproves you in secret when you tell a Lye or use any Deceit which shews you your Evil Deeds and that your Hearts are not right towards God for all your Duties and Worship and Profession and that which calls for Uprightness of Heart and an holy Life and Change and Reformation and a Newness of Life hearken unto this it is the free Grace of God unto your Souls and teacheth freely and by this you will come to profit for it teacheth Godliness and Godliness is great Gain so that you will not need to spend your Money for that which is not Bread nor your Labour for that which profiteth not nor to be led Captive by your blind Guides ever learning and never come to the Knowledge of the Truth but still in Blindness and Darkness for you have a Teacher within which is a more sure Word of Prophecy to the which you do well to take heed unto as to a Light shining in a dark Place until the Day dawn and the Day-Star arise in your Hearts this is the Measure of the Grace of God even the free Gift of God which God hath given you to profit withal which will accuse you or excuse you before the Throne of God to which I now leave you having dischargd my Conscience concerning you and so I proceed to the rest of Forms Now within these late Years the Light of Christ beginning to stir in Peoples Hearts so that many come to see themselves in much Darkness and Ignorance of these things which they read of in the Scripture and also the Corruption of the Priests and Teachers and what Reprobates they were concerning the Faith and that they profited not the People at all but they had heard them so long and still blind and ignorant so that many come to see their Folly yet their Minds not being directed to the Light which shewed them this and should have led them out of this Condition upon which they should have waited for Direction to have found the Way of Truth but they run without to the Letter in their own Wills and Wisdom and so would find out a Way by their own Wisdom Imagination and so went out to search the Scripture but with a wrong Eye giving their own Meanings and Interpretations upon the Scripture and one cries This is my opinion and another cryes This is my Opinion and another cryes This is my Judgment and thus they are confounded and divided into their several Judgments and Opinions yet all still in one Life and one Nature but only conâ—ounded and divided in their Judgments of what the Prophets meant and Christ meant and what the Apostles meant but it is as a Book sealed both to the learned and unlearned and none is found worthy but the Lamb to open the Seals who is the Light wherein lyes the Ministry so this is the Cause why they whose Minds are from the Light are so divided and scattered in their Judgments and Opinions and one sets up a Form in his Imagination and another sets up a Form in his Imagination and one runs abroad into the World with his Wisdom and he will go preach up his Form and Judgment to be the Truth and another he will cry down that Form for Delusion and preach up his Form for a Truth and so many Deceivers and false Spirits are entered into the World and one cries Lo here is Christ if you can believe and be baptized you shall be saved So they that can say that is the Way and that they believe Christ dyed for them then they must be dipped in the Water and that they call baptizing of them and then they are of their Church and then they call themselves Saints though they are still in the old Nature and so in the Fall and in their Sins and Corruptions and it is not the washing away the Filth of the Flesh that doth change them but because they are come out from the Priests and turned into another Judgment and Profession they think themselves Saints and they read the Scripture of laying on the Apostles Hands and then the Disciples received the Holy Ghost and so those Formalists and self-Actors lay on their Hands but there wants the Holy Ghost and thus they act and form and imitate and make the Form or Likeness of a Church and they read of washing the Feet in the Figure and so they dote upon the Letter and wash one anothers Feet and they read of delivering up to Satan one for Fornication for the Destruction of
would do the Works of Abraham and he also said If God were your Father then would you love me for I proceeded forth and came from him but saith he ye are of your Father the Devil and his Works you do and will do And thus are the Pharisaical Professors of these Times marked out to be in the Steps of their Fore-fathers for this is the same Christ that suffered at Jerusalem but they are blind and cannot see neither indeed do believe the Scripture nor walk according to it but are in the old and broad Way of the World wherein their Fore-fathers walked and led many to Destruction but if these did believe the Scripture they would believe on this Light which is come into the World which the Scripture bears Testimony of even the Spirit of Truth which the World cannot receive and some of them scoff and scorn and revile reproach and slander and rail at the Messengers of Truth and some strike them and stone them and buffet them and stock them and whip them and imprison them and despightfully use them yet they are made able through the Power of him that hath sent them for to go on in Boldness but those Persecutors are not found worthy Therefore the Lord will send forth his Armies and destroy these Murderers and burn up their City and these are they that have professed to be his near Kindred Friends and Acquaintance but now are found Strangers who prophesied in his Name and in his Name done many woundrous Works and yet they must depart for Workers of Iniquity he knows them not Now read your selves you Wicked Ones you Murderers you Rude Multitude you Priests you Pharisees and Professors you Formalists Self-Actors and Imitators for now all joyn Hand in Hand and Gog and Magog joyn in Battel against the Lamb and Pilate and Herod are made Friends and you chief Priests and Pharisees who are the Professors of these Times and you Rulers and you rude and brutish ones and you Formalists and Sectaries now at the coming of Christ in the Spirit even the Substance of what you have long talked of all joyned together in one who formerly have been at great Division Wars among your selves but now you are made Friends and muster up all your Strength against the Substance even Jesus Christ whom you as your Fore-fathers did call a Blasphemer a Seducer a Deceiver and a Devil and now the rude Multitude they stand up for their Priests and they fall upon the Messengers of Christ when they come into their Synagogues and they hale them out of their Synagogues and strike them and buffeâ— them and despightfully use them and stone them as their Fore-fathers ever did and the Priests they seek to Rulers and Magistrates and hale them before them and they persecute them and imprison them as their Fore-fathers ever did and the Pharisees and ancient hypocritical rotten Professors they side with the Priests and go about railing and evil speaking of the Truth learning and incensing Peoples Minds against it with their Lyes and Slanders and Reproaches to present it odious to all People and also fawning and crouching and seeking to Magistrates to act in their Wills and persecute as their Fore-Fathers alwayes did against the same Seed and likewise the Formalists and Sectaries do the same and thus they that were after the Flesh alwayes persecuted them that were after the Spirit and yet these are ready to cry out What Hard-hearted Jews wâ—re those that crucified Christ and persecuted his Apostles and if they had been in those dayes they would not have been Partakers with them in the Blood of Christ and his Apostles Whenas they are now found the same Generation of Persecutors persecuting the Righteous Seed and so they fill up the Measure of their Fathers Wrath that upon them might come all the Righteous Blood-shed from Righteous Abel until now And now the Priests and the Baptists can agree and they joyn together and the Priests call them Honest Men and the Baptists call them Gentlemen of Divinity And the Baptists and Independents they joyn together and the Independents and the Presbyterians they joyn together all against the Life and Power which the Lord hath now manifested in his Sons and Daughters and hath sent them to declare and lay open their Hypocrisie and Deceit which they have long covered with a Gospel-like Profession but now all their Coverings are found too Narrow before the Light which is come now into the World to convince and reprove them of their Sin of their Righteousness and of their Judgment and therefore now they have enough to do to joyn together with all their Strength and Wisdom to put out this Light and so they endeavour to sow their Tares in Peoples Hearts and all the Wayes they can invent to destroy the Work which now is begun and as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses so do they withstand the Truth according to the Prophesie of the Apostle Being men of Corrupt Minds and Reprobates concerning the Faith which I have much experienced in several Meetings which I have had with the Teachers of the Baptized People which shall follow in order afterward But the more they strive in their Wills and Wisdoms the more doth the Work of the Lord Prosper and go on and flourish by his Mighty Power and Out-stretched Arm and their Shame and Folly and Down-fal the more appears and when they have done all they can they shall be glad to lay down their Cronws and bow unto this Truth which they now so oppose and every Tongue shall confess it though to their Condemnation who do now oppose and gain-say it Wo unto such they shall perish in the Gain-saying of Core And the Time shall come that when the Master of the House shall have shut the Door they shall knock and shall strive to enter and shall not be able all who now oppose and reject the Counsel of the Lord and will not hearken now they are called And thus the LORD will exalt his SON in his Saints when his ENEMIES shall be his Foot-stool and be made to bow before him And thus do all Sects Judgments and Opinions joyn in one against the Life and Substance they being all sprung from one Root so make up all one Image whose Head is Gold Breast of Silver whose Thighs are Brass and Legs of Iron and Feet Part of Iron and Part of Clay and the Stone cut out of the Mountain without Hands which strikes at the Feet of the Image Now the Head of the Image which is of Gold and those that have had a Light shining into them and have had a Sight of many things and have seen the Emptiness of many Forms and have gotten the Thing in their Comprehension and have a Notion above others of much of that which is now witnessed and possest in Life by the Faithful and there have been exalted and gotten up a Life therein and a False Rest but have lost
the Light which once shined into them by catching the Thing in their Comprehension and so got it in the Notion but did not obey nor suffer the Death of the Cross. And the Breast of the Image which is of Silver and the Thighs of Brass are the rest of the Sects and Opinions and Forms and Likenesses which are more Glorious one then another for as I said before Satan can imitate every Appearance of the true Light in his Forms Shapes and Likenesses and the more Glorious the Light appears in any Creature so doth he refine himself and appear more Glorious to deceive the Simple so that many by the Light of God stâ—rring in them have come to see the Deceit and Emptiness in one Form and how they have been deceived therein then presently the Deceit appears in another more Glorious Shape or Form and calls that the Truth and the Creature still looking without from the Light within it is insnared there again still painted with the Scripture-words and then the Creature thinks its a Saint in that Form whenas it s but a Painted Sepulchre still in the Old Nature and under the Power of the same Deceit but the Cross tryes all for there all Forms and Professions miss and come short so that many a Creature hath passed through many Forms hath thought it self a Saint in every Form but coming yea but to see the Cross which they are to take up before they can be the Disciples of Christ and there have stumbled and cryed out It is Hard and Straight and go away sorrowful I know this is witnessed and answered in many Consciences for here every Man's Faith and Works come to the Tryal and so to some the Preaching of the Cross is Foolishness and to some a Stumbling-block but unto them that believe and take it up it is witnessed the Power of God unto Salvation and such rejoyce in it with Paul who are crucified to the World and the World to them upon whom the Ends of World are come But it would be an easie thing to the Flesh if that was all to turn out of one Profession into another and out of one Form and Judgment into another but the Way to Life is through Death And the Legs of the Image which are of Iron is the Beast or the Power of the Beast upon which these stand where lies their Strength And the Feet of the Image which is part of Iron and part of Clay are the Priests and Pharisees joyn'd to the Powers of the Earth which upholds them for but for that as I said before they are the weakest of all Forms and so they are the Part of Clay and the Power that upholds them is that part of Iron which is the strongest of the Metals And the Watcher or the Stone cut out of the Mountain without Hands which striketh at the Feet of the Image is the King of Righteousness even he that rides upon the White Horse out of whose Mouth goes a sharp Sword whose Name is called the Word of God who comes to strike at the Powers of the Earth even the Kings of the Earth who have given their Power unto the Beast and joyn in War against the Lamb but the Lamb shall Overcome and he will overturn all until it come into his Hand whose own it is And the Beast and the False Prophet that hath thus deceiv'd the Nations and all that receive the Mark of the Beast and worship his Image shall be taken and cast into the Lake that burneth forever which was of Old prepared for them and he will create new Heavens and new Earth wherein dwelleth Righteousness where there shall not be War any more but he shall reign in Peace with his Saints for evermore Oh! blessed are all they that fight in this Banner and here lay down their Lives they shall take them up again with an Everlasting Crown and reign for evermore singing Hallelujah to their King to whom be all Praise Honour Power Dominion and Thanks for evermore Amen And thus shall this Great Image be broaken to pieces by the Stone cut out of the Mountain without Hands which will become a heavy Mountain even a burden some Stone to all Nations but upon this Mountain shall the True Church stand as a City set on a Hill that cannot be hid And thus I have laid down the Ground and End of all Sects Forms and Professions with a Blow to this Great Image with a Weapon which is not Carnal but Spiritual he that can receive it let him And now concerning the CHURCH which is now gathering and redeeming not by the Will of man nor by the Wisdom of many but by the Will and Power and Spirit of God which according unto his Promise he hath poured down upon his Sons and Daughters now in these latter dayes by which we are carried abroad in the Power of the Almighty now to declare abroad his Powerful Truth which the Lord has decreed shall prevail upon the hearts of the People which is Glad-tidings of great Joy unto them that receive it but unto the Stubborn and Stiff-necked and Rebellious Tidings of Wo and Misery And though the Messengers of the Gospel are by some rejected reviled reproached scoffed and scorned stocked stoned and imprisoned and despightfully used slandered and abused yet nevertheless blessed be the Name of the Lord there are some found worthy do receive with much Joy the Messengers of the Gospel so that they know how Beautiful are the Feet of those that bring Glad-tidings to the reviving the just Witness for God and raising up to Life the Dead and so the Living comes to Know and Praise the Lord and so the Just comes to reign and the Wicked comes to be judged and the Mind comes to be turned from the Darkness to the Light to which we do preach in every Creature and to the same are made manifest and known to them who do like to retain it in their Minds and from whence we come and the Testimony which we do declare but they that do not receive it to them we are not known and therefore are by them esteemed as Deceivers and Deluders Vagabonds and Wanderers and the like yet at all this we do not Wonder for we read The Servant is not greater then his Lord for if they have called the Master of the House Beelzebub how much more those of his Houshold and if they had known him they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory Yet nevertheless we have a Witness in every Conscience both in them that believe and in them that perish unto which we do clear our Consciences and leave all without Excuse by the same which will answer for us in the Mighty Day though to the Condemnation of those that hate it wherein we have our great Joy above all our Sufferings but as many as receive this to them he gives Power to become the Sons of God and those
it and uphold it which Christ hath cryd down and it is well known by them that are not wilfully blind that Master or Doctor are Names that are given taken amongst you Clergy-men as you call your selves as Titles of Honour witness your Degrees in your Nurseries of Deceit which you call Universities as first Bachellor then from Bachellor to Master of Arts from that to Bachellor of Divinity and from that to Doctor of Divinity which highest Title is given to thee and therefore it is no Wonder that thou so pleadest for it but the least Child of Light will judge these Traditions to be upheld by the Pride and Arrogancy of the Flesh that would be idolized but the Old Man must needs plead for his Life neither do these Scriptures in Eph. 4. 11. and 1 Cor. 12. 28. at all advantage thee for neither Doctor nor Master is mentioned in these Scriptures and thus thou art ignorant of the Letter then far unfit to be a Teacher of others which thou dost assume to thy self by the Name of Doctor according to thy own Meaning Pr. Ans. And as for the chief Seats in the Synagogues and uppermost Rooms as Feasts some thou sayest that are Worthy were allowed them by Christ himself which to prove thou quotest Luke 14. 7 8. c. Mâ—rk 5. 22. and by Luke Acts 13. 15. and Chap. 18. 8. 17. And as for Salutations they are allowed thou sayst as well in the Market-Places as any where else Rep. This is the truest Word that thou hast yet spoaken in one Respect though from a false Spirit for your Heathenish Customs and Salutations are allowed of no where by the Scripture neither hast thou brought any Proof to the contrary and it is also easily discerned you rather chuse them in the Markets or in Publick to be seen of Men that you might be accounted Courteous and looked upon for your Breeding witness your Congying and Bowing with your Hats off in Admiration and Idolizing of one anothers Persons wherein you exalt your selves above the Angel who would not suffer John to bow unto him but said he was his Fellow-Servant therefore let this judge you and condemn you in these Practices which by you are used from an ambitious and inordinate Desire of them and therefore are the most unworthy as thou confessest the Scribes and Pharisees were and therefore art out of thy own Mouth judged although thou would'st cast it upon the Quakers as thou callest them but we can justly clear our selves and cast it into thy own Bosom for we use no such Heathenish Customs yet we can justly say with John We are of God and the whole World lyes in Wickedness which thou accountest an exalting of our selves and in that thou belyest Christ and the Scriptures in saying he allowed these Things to any which he cryed down thy Impudency doth the more appear that thou wouldst not stick to bely us whom thou callest Quakers for none of these Scriptures which thou quotest to uphold the chiefest Seats in the Synagogue and uppermost Rooms at Feasts do at all concern the Matter but only Luke 14. 7 c. which Christ spoak as a Parable to the Pharisees who loved the uppermost Rooms at Feasts which also may fitly be applyed to you now who take the uppermost Room and think Scorn to take the lowest which may easily be discerned by you with an Impartial Eye or else you would not own these Things which Christ declared against to his Ministers and also taught that he that would be the greatest should be the least and the Apostle forbids all Respect of Persons and Christ shewed an Example of Humility to his Ministers when he washed their Feet and condemned the Pharisees who received Honour one of another which thou art here pleading for then if thou beest not in their Steps let the Understanding judge Qu. 17. Whâ—t is the Church and whether it be not a Delusion to the People and a Dishonour to Christ to call a House of Lime and Stone a Church Pr. Ans. And in thine Answer thou pleadest it a Custom in most Ages and by a Trope of Figure but thou confessest the Word Church is first and properly a Congregation of Saints or of such as profess so to be as in 1 Cor. 1. 2. And in the second Place thou say'st This Word is used for a Place where such a Congregation use to assemble which to prove thou quotest Cor. 11. 23. and Ver. 18. and Chap. 14 5. 23. compared with Ver 19. 28. Neither is this any Delusion to the People thou sayest nor more Dishonour to God then to use this Phrase the House of God which to prove thou quotest Isa. 60. 7. and Eph. 42. 4. Therefore here we seek a Knâ—t in a Bulrush thou sayest Rep And thus thou Blasphemer valuest thy Blasphemy covering it with Lyes that thou might'st still keep the People in Blindness who makest such a light small Matter of it to put a House of Lime Stone for the Body of Christ which is the Church And thus you have long fed the People in Blindness with your Vain Customs and Traditions and they put you out of your Customs and you are vexed and troubled as the Heathen was at Paul and Silas and said They came to turn the World up-side down And then to cover your Blasphemy and Lyes you have Tropes and Figures which is the Wisdom of Man to cover Lyes and thus you Learned Ones make use of your Learning to make Lyes in Hypocrisie contrary to the Scripture for the Types and Figures in the Scripture figured forth something to come But your Steeple-houses are no Figures of Christ nor his Body which is the Church And when the Substance is come of what Use is the Figure For the Temple which God commanded Solomon to build him which was called the House of God where them that feared the Lord worshipped him was a Figure of Christ but when Christ the Substance came he prophesied of its Destruction Mat. 24. And Steven after him declared against it and by them that upheld it was stoned to Death Acts 7. 47 48 49 c. And Paul declared against it and by them that upheld it was persecuted Acts 17. 24 25. Acts 19. 26. 2â— as we are by You now that uphold Your Idols Temples that figure forth nothing but the Imaginations of Man neither were ever commanded by God to be built as Solomon's Temple was which for its Time was called The House of God but the Prophet Isaiah saw the End of it when he spoak that in Isa. 66. 1 2. But that you should call your Popish Houses The House of God which were built by the Papists and such like without any Command of God thou hast no Scripture-Proof to maintain it neither are those fit Examples to bring to prove it as the Schollars and the Schools and the Jews and their Synagogues What doth this at all
prove that you should call Your Idols Temples as the Body of Christ which was made of Living Stones Elect and Precious For the Scripture all along witnesseth That the Church is the Body of Christ which is the Saints as this Scripture doth witness which thou hast quoted in 1 Cor. 1. 2. but it doth not at all prove thy Lye that the Church is a Congregation of such as profess to be Saints for it is more then a Profession though with a Profession You have long deluded the People Yet many there are that profess Christ in Words but in Life deny him who are no Saints nor the Church of Christ though thou art Blind and seest no Difference yet according to thy own Meaning You do not call Your Assemblies and the Places where your Assemblies meet all one for you call your Meeting Places Churches and the People a Congregation and so here out of thy own Mouth thou art judged Yet it would be as much Blasphemy to call your People a Church as the Place where they meet a Church For it is well known That all manner of Unrighteous Persons meet there as thou confessest the greatest Part of the Professors are Earthly-minded as in thy Answer to my Eleventh Query and I am sure the Chiefest of them are blind and led by Customs and Traditions as thou here makest it appear who thy self hast been a Teacher so long and now goest about to justifie it lawful to call a House of Lime and Stone a Church which thou goest about to prove by Wresting the Scripture But let any with a Single Eye read these Scriptures which thou hast quoted in thy Answer concerning the Church and see if they do at all mention any House to be a Church but only the Saints whose Bodies are the Temples of the Holy Ghost for They commonly met in Dwelling-houses But You call none Churches but yoâ—â— Steeple-houses which hath been your Custom long and it is well known how the ignorant People that go to them have long Idolized them as the Hâ—uses of God and looked upon them to be far more Holy then any other Place and have Envied and Hated and even Murdered those in their Hearts that should say to the Contrary and You Priests have been their great Agents in it though you have known in your Consciences to the contrary Yet you know That where the People are the most Blind You are the more Idolized and set up and it is Your greatest Grief where the Light appears as is openly manifest by the Chief Priests who now Rage and Rail against the Light where it appears and Persecute them that hold it forth that you might if it were possible put it out and still uphold your Father's kingdom which is in Darkness and then you think you are safe and all will be yours But your Calamity will come on a suddain and your Downfall is nigh at hand 1 Thes. 5. 2 3. Qu. 18. Whether thou and such as thou be not the Creepers into Houses who would confine all to your Steeple-houses yea or nay Pr. Answ. And in thy Answer thou grantest That Paul speaks of Seducers that creep into Houses c. as in 2 Tim. 3. 6 7. But whether this best suits with your manner of Teaching or ours thou saist judge ye for thou saist you do not creep into the Churches who have the DOORS set wide open and have your Congregations or Assemblies publickly called together by a Bell. And then thou ventest forth a deal of frothy Stuff and saist Why must your Houses of Lime and Stone be called Steeple-houses more then the Glazier's Hall or the Bull-and-Mouth near Aldersgate be called a Glass-house a Chimney-house or a Store house or a Stable-house But thou askest Where did Christ or his Apostles reproach the Synagogues with Reproachful Names as we do your Churches Rep. Here thy Malicious and Scornful Spirit is much more made manifest together with thy Folly and Ignorance so that I am able to judge thee and the rest of the Parish-Preachers to be those Creepers into Houses that Paul there speaks of 2 Tim. 3. 6 7. who have led silly Women and People captive these many Years full of Sin and led away with divers Lusts who have learned some Forty Years some Fifty some Sixty yea some Eighty and yet Strangers to the Truth yea as Blind and Carnal as ever they were so that they take a House of Lime and Stone for a Church and a House of God as you have taught And ask them Why they call it so and they will answer It was called so before they were born will be after they were dead Then judge ye whether these Creatures be not blind carnal and led by your own Customs and Traditions and you are their Teachers who would bear Rule in your Steeple-houses so that none should speak but your selves if they do you have a Law to lay upon them contrary to the Order of the True Church as in 1 Cor. 14. 30 31 32. That all might speak one by one and if any thing be revealed to him that stands by let the first hold his Peace But this is called Disorder amongst you that call your selves Saints and are not but the Synagâ—gue of Satan and by thy own Confession are led together by a Bell for which you have no Rule in the Scripture and so you lead them by Custom and Tradition And also thy own words here prove what I said in my last Reply That you do not call your Assemblies and the Places where your Assemblies meet both by one for here thou callest the Place a Church and the People the Congregation as I said before And thou Blind Guide where dost thou read in the Scripture of Church-Doors Be ashamed and blush thus to presume in thy Blasphemy And therefore howsoever thou hast taken these Houses to be wherein Deceivers creep as before is proved and have taught the People so to put them out of Jealousie of You to be the Deceivers doth not at all excuse you from it for the Apostle himself taught in Private Houses and Chambers and Private Places and therefore by that Account thou wouldst tax the Apostle to be a Deceiver if he was here as thou dost James Parnel and those whom thou scornfully callest his Gang But where dost thou find such a Word in the Scripture which proceeds out of thy Malicious and Evil Heart but thy Reproaches unto us are Riches and thy Shame And the Reason why those Houses near Aldersgate which thou so spittest thy Venom at because the People of God have used to meet there may not be called as thou in Contempt dost term them as well as your Stone Houses be called Steeple-houses is because they have Names fitting for them already for to distinguish them from other Places so also the word Steeple-house is the sittest Name to distinguish your Meeting Places from others and also to take from
our Lâ—nguâ—ge hath You Answ. Here thou Son of Babylon who art with thy Carnal Reason in thy Languages confused who stumblâ—st at the plain Language Thou what is that in thee that cannot bear the Word Thou which is the single proper Language to a single Person as well as You which thou confessest is a borrowed Language and thus the Hebrews and the Grecians and the Romans and the Dutch will condemn you who are content with their Natural Language Qu. 13. Whether it hath not been ever accounted Rude and Rustical in this Nation for Inferiour Men to speak unto others their Superiours by the Word Thou and not You and also to stand with their Hats on unless Leave were given them so to do Answ. Thou blind Sot thou hast laid thy self naked to the World with thy Rude and Rustical Query it was never accounted so but by Dives's Nature which is swelled with Pride and Arrogancy yea that which would be above God which must come down into the Pit Is not God the Superiour of all then why do you give unto him that Rude and Rustical Language as thou callest it here thou manifests thy self amongst the Heathen who know not God who exercise Lordship and Authority one of another and so you rule in your own Wills and would not suffer your Fellow-Creatures to put their Hats on their Heads but as you give them Leave and so are out of the Doctrine of Christ with your Rude and Rustical Spirits And was not THOU the Language betwixt God and Adam and betwixt God and Moses and so all along the Scripture to one particular Person then whether or nay is thine a Rustical Proud Spirit that canst not receive the Language thou givest unto God And thus thou hast sufficiently foamed out thy Shame and I am sure now thou speakest not by the Motion of the Holy Ghost Qu. 14. Whether ever Christ or his Apostles taught us to alter or violate the Civil Speeches and Customs of the Nation where we live by which our Reverence to others is expressed and accordingly expected if not commanded also And thou quotest 1 Cor. 10. 32. Answ. Christ is not your Teacher for out of his Doctrine ye are found in the Pride of your Hearts contemning his Speech and Language are not contented with your natural Language but borrow of others in which Custom we are not to follow you out of the Language of the Scripture and so here by thy Query you express no Reverence of God because to him you use the Word Thou which you do account an Uucivil Speech Therefore now see what is that which takes Offence at that which God accepts it must needs be of Proud Lucifer and that same took Offence at the Apostle who said Give No Offence yet the Truth is a Stumbling Stone and a Rock of Offence Therefore now see how thou stumblest at the Noon-day Isa. 59. 10. Thy next is concerning Salutations at your Meetings with others or Departings from others Unto which I Answer That your Heathenish Customs Traditions and Salutations I do deny and know them to be contrary to Scripture for saith it Let him that nameth the Name of God depart from Iniquity Therefore you that are in Iniquity do take his Name in Vain and make a Custom and By-word of it amonngst your selves when you meet with or depart from one aâ—other and so your Children learn it at you and by Imitation use his Name before they do know whether there be a God or nay And to that in Ruth 2. 4. and to that in Psalm 129. 8. which thou hast quoted in thy Fifteenth and Sixteenth Query I Answer They that there named the Name of the Lord knew him and that in the Psalm will witness against You that You have nothing to do to name his Name nor to have such words spoaken to you who know him not And read what God saith to the Wicked in Psal. 16. And why call ye me Lord and do not the things which I say But the Salutations of the Saints Iown who are not by Custom lead Luke 6. 46. Qu. 17. And to Mat. 10. 12. and Luke 10. 5. which here thou hast quoted I answer That you are no Ministers nor Messengers of Christ who are found out of his Doctrine therefore Peace is not given you to speak but as False Prophets you speak it to that which is for Death because that puts into your Mouthes and even prepare War against those that do witness the Son of Peace Thy next is concerning Meat Drink and Apparel And to thy first Query of that I Answer All the Creatures of God are Good in their Places and all things for the use of Man who dwells in the Moderation but cursed to you who live under the Curse in the Lust under whom the Creation groans who know not the pure Wisdom that made all things to teach you how to use all things to the Glory of God and therefore are out of the Right And thy 23d and 24th Query is here answered But you are they whose Kingdom stands in Meats and Drinks and Apparel who are taking thought what to eat what to drink and where-withal to be cloathed Matthew 6. 15. Qu. 22. And to this Query Where hath God enjoyned men to drink Water in any Part of his Word I Answer Thou mayst be ashamed to boast of thy Age who askest such a Childish Query I might as well ask thee Where God enjoyned men to drink Beer For Water is the Original of all Drinks for in the Dayes of Old Water was the Common Drink Hast thou not read of Jacob's Well where Christ drank then Who art thou that despisest Water It is a Sign thou servest the Lust. But if any drink Water who know the Goodness of it what is that to thee Who enjoyns thee to drink Water And in thy Twenty Fifth Query thou answerest thy self Qu. 26. And this Query is Whether one may not Satisfie the Flesh even in Over-fasting and Over-watching the Body Which to prove thou quotest Col. 2. 23. Answ. But I perceive thou wilt have a Care of that who hast been pleading so much for the Body which is the most thou mindest thy Zeal is not so hot But they that dwell in the Power of God are free from this and yet know how to keep uâ—der the Body and not satisfying the Lust But you that know not the Creator trust in the Creature Qu. 27. And here thou askest Whether are not the Saints to sanctifie their Meats and Drinks by Prayer and Thanksgiving before and after they eat and drink Which to prove thou quotest 1 Tim. 4. 5. and Rom. 14. 16. Answ. To the Pure all things are pure but thy Prayers are Abomination who art in the Lust. But which of these Scriptures maintains your Custom after Meat But the Saints receive nothing of God but with Thanksgiving and Glory to God but your Blessings are cursed And here is thy