all other people doth not pluck them down from their excellency it is not a wretched wordly spirit but the spirit of God by which they overcome the world and this spirit was in the Saints and Church of Christ of which the Scriptures of truth doth witness and they had received that Grace which taught them to deny ungodliness worldly lusts and had escaped the pollutions which are in the world through lusts they did witness that Faith which overcomes the world and knew him to live in them by whom the world is overcome and were directed and commended to that Grace which was able to build them up and they were built up together and became a habitation of God through the Spirit even a spiritual House an holy Priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices unto God 1 Cor. 2. 12. Gal. 6. 14. Tit 2. 12. 2 Pet 1. 4. 1 Ioh. 5. 4. Acts 20. 32. Eph. 2. 20 21 22. Iude 20. 1 Pet. 2 5. Isa. 28. 5 6. Isa. 61. 3. By all which it appears how much you differ from the Church of Christ insomuch that the absolute contrary marks fruits and effects doth appear in you and amongst you as was in them and amongst them but you are of those who turn again with the dog to the vomit and with the Sow that was washed to the wallowing in the mire who were indeed once more excellent while you were little in your own eyes before you were thus setled on your Lees there was a time when there was breathings in some of you after the Lord and something which did hunger and thirst after righteousness and there was then some tenderness amongst you and a sensibleness of something that was oppressed and held captive as under the power of a strange King and then there was some groanings for deliverance and some desires raised in you after the Lord and after purity and holiness which did render you comely whilst you abode in that state but you have lost that condition and the cry of the oppressed is not regarded by you but you are joyned and become one wiâ—â—â—he oppressor and that which oncâ— breathed to be delivered from the bondage of corruption you have even choaked strangled and so you never knew that born or brought forth which is heir of Gods Kingdom but an untimely birth is brought forth and you are sate down by the way in an empty form wanting the life and power and have taken up a false rest but the true rest you have not known And thus a wretchedworldly spirit hath overcome you accompanied with many other evils of the like nature by your own confession and hath pluckt you from that excellency which you once had and hath defaced that comeliness which was once upon you and hath left blackness and deformity upon you and those desires which once appeared amongst you are forgotten and the tenderness quite lost and hardness of heart got up and nothing remains but deadness and dryness and emptiness amongst you according to your confession and thus the seed even rots under the clods and you dwell in a Land of darkness where the presence of the Lord is not found to refresh you nor the dew of the lasting Hills falls not on you but you remain dry and barren bringing forth no fruit to God but deceit and abomination rules in your hearts and the man of sin is exalted in you above all that is called God and great clusters of the sowre Grapes of Sodom appear amongst you and is plentifully brought forth by you to the dishonor of God So your latter end is worse then your beginning Again you say in your said Epistle You have been as in a great measure without the sence of the work so without the true travel of soul which this work should have pat you into So hereby you utterly exclude your selves from being a Church of Christ and are manifested in a great measure to differ from them for if you are insensible of the work of God amoâ—â—sâ— you and in you and if it be not he that worketh the will and the deed and that works all your works for you and in you then you are doing your own works and your righteousness is your own and not the Lords so your righteousness is the same with that of the Scribes Pharisees who were not the Church of Christ but those who crucified him But the Church of Christ were sensible of the work of God in them and amongst them as the Scriptures of truth doth witness and they gave a particular relation thereof how it wrought in them saying That patience worketh experience and experience hope and hope maketh not ashamed and these were the works of God in them of which they were sensible they said Lord thou wilt ordain peace for us for thou hast wrought all our works in us So they were sensible of the work and of him that worketh and they knew that they were of God and that the Son of God was come who had given them an understanding to know him that was true and they were in him that is true and they testified that this was the true God and eternal life and those were not insensible but had their sences exercised in the knowledge of the Work of God and they had known the terrors of the Lord and therefore did perswade men and so were not insensible of the Work as the Scriptures witnesseth Rom. 5. 4 5. Isa. 26. 12. 1 Ioh. 5. 19 20. 2 Cor. 5. 11. Again the Church of Christ had known the true travel of soul and witnessed the birth which is born of the Spirit which inherits the Kingdom of God of which travel it seems you are ignorant and therefore never came to the birth which is immortal but they had cryed as a Woman in travel and felt the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child and every man was seen with his hands upon his loins as a Woman in travel and they have also known the deliverance and forgotten the anguish and the pain for joy that a Man-child is born and the Minister of Christ said That he travelled in pain until Christ was formed in them And they were born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever as the Scriptures doth witness Ier. 4. 31. Mic. 4. 10. Gal. 4. 19. 1 Pet. 1. 23. But you who are without the sence of the Work and have not known the souls travel are not born of the seed which is incorruptible and so not heirs of Gods promise for the promise is to the Seed in which all the Nations of the earth are blessed and those who are not born of the Seed wch is incorruptible they are under the curse in the transgression alienated from the life of God strangers from the Common-Wealth of Israel out of Gods Covenant with whom the Church of Christ can have
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
such imperfect Ministers denyed But John Pitman and Jasper Batt did declare That they had received the gift of God vvhich is perfect and the Apostle said When he ascended up on high he gave gifts unto men for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry And such who ministers from that gift of God which is perfect their Ministry is not an imperfect Ministry Thou saist Thou supposest T. S. will not own two Churches the one perfect and the other imperfect least there should be room for you To which I answer T. S. can truly allow you the title of an imperfect sinful church or Synagogue of Satan who are going on in the broad way to destruction where you have room enough to commit very great abominations and apparent iniquities by your own confession in Tiverton Epistle but in the Church of Christ there is no room for such For the church of Christ is a chaste Virgin without spot and cannot join to any thing that is unclean neither can any person or any thing that is unclean be joyned to it For although the Gates of the holy City New Jerusalem stand alwayes open yet there can in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth or that worketh abomination or maketh a lye but they that are written in the Lambs Book of Life And the church of Christ hath no fellowship with the unfruitful Works of darkness for they vvalk in the light of the Lord and what communion hath light with darkness Or vvhat fellowship hath righteousness vvith unrighteousness Therefore whilst your abominations reigns and you are drawing iniquity and bears the mark thereof on your Fore-heads so apparently according to your own confession there is no room for you in the Church of Christ neither can you have any fellowship vvith them For vvhilst there is no room for Christ in your hearts nor in your affections there is no room for you in his Church And you confess that the World as a canker hath eaten out your affections to the Lord Jesus and your minds are much yea too much alienated from him but it seems by your Tiverton Epistle that you vvill leave no room for your selves in the church of Christ for there you promise to take some effectual course to purge sin or sinners out of the House of God Now to purge out sin vvould be to make such a church as T. C. saith God never had in the World For he saith God never had yet any church in the world free from sin And vvould you go about to make such a church as you have not so much as a pattern or president for You say in your Tiverton Epistle That whosoever beholds you may say What singular thing do ye But now it seems you think to do something that is singular indeed if you make such a church for God as T. C. saith he never had the like before But are not you hypocrites by T. C.'s Words if you should make such a church For he saith None durst say that God had ever a church in the world withous sin but hypocrites And if you purge away sin out of your church then yours vvill be a church vvithout sin which if you should confess then you fall under the notion of hypocrites but if you cannot purge out sin then you fall upon sinners for you promise to purge out sin or sinners Now if you purge out sinners do not you then exclude your selves from having any room there And yet this is not all that you do onely to exclude your selves if T. C. his words be true but you will leave no church for God at all for he saith God never had a Church in the world without Sin and if he never had a Church without sin in the World and now you are promising to purge sin or sinners out of his Church is not this to leave him no church at all neither with sin nor without sin Oh read your confusion and blush thereat you sottish children What a strange piece of Work have you promised to undertake who say that God never had a church in the World without sin and yet now you will undertake to purge sin out of his church And so you who are as vile as the worst of them with whom you intend thus to deal are going about to do that which according to T. C.'s account none of the faithful servants of the Lord or Ministers of Christ could ever do that is to purge sin out of his church and if you cannot do that then to purge out sinners and so exclude your selves amongst the rest who are abominable ones by your own confession and when sinners are purged out os that church which did onely consist of sinners For T. C. saith They that say they are without Sin are none of the church of Christ And if they that are without sin be none of his Church then all that are of his church must be sinners I say When all those are purged out what becomes of that church Or where will the place of any one of you be found Or whereof must the church of God consist Or must he have no church at all Therefore mind what you are going about left whilst you are supposing T. S will leave no room for you in going about to purge out others you leave no room for your selves Thou saist T. S. hath past sentence upon all the churches that ever was in the world to be the churches of the Devil and that he hath likewise sentenced all the Prophets and Apostles in their Doctrine and the Scriptures to be all the Doctrine of Devils and they the Ministers of the Devil c. Because T. S. hath said That for any to perswade men to joyne themselves with and to be members of a Church that is sinful and imperfect is no better then a Doctrine of Devils I answer Thou art sentenced for an impudent lyar and a false accuser and I am sure that lyars are of the devil but neither Prophet nor Apostle Scriptures nor church of Christ are at all concerned in his sentence nor comes not under it For none of them did ever perswade men to joyne with or to be members of a church that is sinful and imperfect which they must have done if T S. had sentenced them for preaching a Doctrine of Devils but on the contrary they did exhort the church of Christ to seperate from such and to have no fellowship with them but to come out from amongst them and not to touch the unclean thing and the Prophet of the Lord did complain against those that did not put a difference between the clean and the unclean between the holy and the prophane between the precious and the vile And those that do perswade people to joyn themselves to a church that is sinful they are the Devils Ministers and not Christ's and they are adding to the Devil s church or to Satan's Synagogue and are not adding