Praying also for they see that you do them all but for your own ends since you have set your selves against the Truth as you three Priests of Bermuda have done who were like a wild Bull in a Net witness your fretting and chafing in your Praying and Preaching when you could not get the Magistrates of that place to satisfie your envious minds to banish us off that Island who came to visit the remnant of Jacobs Seed that it might be gathered from off the tops of the barren Mountains where it long had been scattered into the Fold of Rest and at the fulfilling of this your rage like mad-men appeared The Priests say That they find to their great comfort that the Doctrine of holy Scriptures received by Faith hath power to purge their hearts from the Corruption of Sin and they say it 's often declared by them that they own no other Light of Christ making to see sin to their salvation but this Doctrine contained in the holy Scripture and planted into their hearts by his holy Spirit through hearing and reading of them Answ By this it appeareth that you are them that preach up another Faith than that which was preached to Abraham before the Scriptures were written Gal. 3.8 when Abraham saw the coming of the Just Ones and rejoyced Ioh. 8.58 And the Prophet saith He should sit as a Refiner and Purifier of Silver Mal. 3.3 And Iohn saith He shall throughly purge his floor Luke 3.17 And the Scriptures cannot contain him for he is ascended for above all heavens that he might fill all things Ephes 4.10 This is He the Scripture declares of who was the Author and Finisher of the Saints Faith in whom they believed and had remission of sins and received Life Everlasting according as the Scriptures say And the Spirit of Truth which led them into all Truth was the Saints Comforter and this led them to the fulfilling of what before was written And so they stumbled not at Christ the chief corner-stone as they did that cryed up the Prophets VVritings but were erred from the Spirit by which the Prophets were led and this is your condition who set your selves to scandalize and reproach the LIGHT which Christ hath enlightned every one withal and yet are crying up the Doctrine contained in the Scripture and say it hath power to purge your hearts from the corruption of sin when as alas you believe no such thing as people can be purged wholly from sin in this life And note that so long as sin remaineth it corrupts and so your deceit is seen who tell of being purged from corruption and not from the sin which doth corrupt And Praises be unto the Lord many are come into the Faith by which Abel offered a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain Heb. 11.4 25. of whose stock all envious men are And the Faith of Abraham is witnessed by which he obeyed the voice of God before the Scriptures were written and faith which Moses was in is witnessed by which he denyed the pleasure of sin which you three Priests are yet found in and though you cry up the Doctrine contained in the Scriptures yet your deceit is seen and your Ignorance discovered who say You know no Light of Christ making to see sin to your salvation but the Doctrine contained in the Scriptures which before I shewed what it was taking a Verse of Scripture and Divining an hour by a Glass from it But all such Doctrine they that spoke forth the Scripture denied and preached Christ the Light and Lamb of God which had been slain from the foundation of the World and preached remission of sins through him who is the Power of God and the Righteousness of God who hath enlightned every one that cometh into the World that through him all might believe And this Light the Saints witnessed to shine in their hearts to give them the Light of the knowledge of the Glory of God And so this Light they preached which in all at first shined in Darkness and reproves for the sin that is brough forth by the Power of Darkness 2 Cor. 6.4 The Priests say That we to wit the Quakers take the Light of Christ for the knowledge of Christ as the Son of God and Saviour of the World Answer He that is the onely begotten Son of God and Saviour of the World hath enlightned every one that cometh into the VVorld and this is he that giveth the knowledge of the Father and this is life eternal to know the Father and him whom he hath sent a Light into the VVorld Joh. 12.36 that they who believed in him should not abide in Darkness Now the Light which cometh from the onely begotten of the Father First sheweth unto people their own darkness to the end that with the Light they may be led out of it that where the Light is believed in and obeyed it manifesteth life which life Redeemeth and Reconcileth unto God as it is known And this is the true and saving knowledge of Christ which we the Quakers bear testimony unto for by his Life the Saints were saved and this Life none know Rom. 5.10 but who come and wait in the Light for the revealing of it that they are the Children which abide in the Darkness who do not believe in the Light which Christ hath enlightned every one that cometh into the World withall and can never come to the knowledge which saveth but are condemned already Iohn 3.18 The Priests say To reason from every one having so much light as leaveth them without excuse therefore they have a Light of Christ or saving Light they say its all alike as if one should prove every sick man hath knowledge to recover himself because he knoweth he is sick Answer Here would you not make it as though people were left without excuse by some other light than the Light of Christ Oye blind Leaders of the blind who are thus fallen into the Pit of darkness Doth not Christ who is the Light and saveth them that believe in him condemn the Unbelievers And would you have him to judge and condemn them for their sin and transgression and that he never enlightned them to let them see what sin and transgression was Oh how you erre in the things of God and in the judgement which is Eternal which is committed unto the Son who hath enlightned every man that cometh into the World And you that are telling of a Light by which people are left without excuse Iohn 9.22 and not from Christ you are they that are setting up another Judge than he and so would pervert the Truth and true judgment which was ever the work of him that is the father of Lyes who did not abide in the Truth whose waies the true Light now discovereth that though you who are filled with his subtilty go about never so many waies to pervert the Truth and true Judgement yet you are discovered in them
The SPIRIT of ERROR Found and Discovered In the accounted Pastors and Teachers of the Island Bermuda in the VVest-Indies Their Principles and Practice also tryed by the True Spirit and found to be contrary to the Scriptures of Truth and disproved by them though pleaded for by the strongest Arguments the said Teachers could bring forth In an Answer to some Queries that were sent unto them by us called Quakers Which Answer was subscribed with all their Names hereafter mentioned Their deceit unfolded for the Peoples sake of the Island By a Servant of the Truth which searches out all iniquity though it work in a Mystery called RICHARD PINDER The Wicked is snared by the transgression of his Lips but the Just shall come out of trouble Prov. 12.13 THe Day of Glory hath appeared the everlasting Gospel is now Preached unto them that dwel upon the earth to the calling all forth off that great and long night of Darkness which hath lain over every Nation Kinred Tongue and People where the Beast and false Prophet hath Reigned and Mysterie Babylon the Mother of Harlots deceived that they upon whom she hath sitten have been as unstable as the Waters and as changeable as the Windes that a Rock or Place to rest upon they have not known but tossed and hurried to to and fro they have been and deceived on every hand through her Inchantments that have filled the whole Earth with spoil and violence through her changeable Waies and Garments which she hath been decked withall since she began to drink the Saints Blood and since she Mysterie Babylon the false Church made all Nations drunk with the Wine of her Fornications which hath made them Reel and Stagger to and fro that they have all lost the way and turned into the by-paths wherein they are groaping like blind men without any glimmering of Light and run and clash one against another and fall on heaps and then burst out like the Waters thinking to swallow all up and then another Wave meets them and here arises Heat and Rage one against another and here People rend and tear one another about the Scriptures and cry it up to be their Rule and Guide to lead them to knowledge but have all lost the Key which should open the Door of true Knowledge and which should open the Scriptures unto them and this Key they hate which is the Light which Christ hath enlightened every one withall and so it is but just on the Lords behalf to give every one of them up to follow the Imaginations of their own hearts being that they hate his Reproof and cast his Law behind their backs And being that they are grown so proud and haughty that they despise waiting for his Counsel that every one doth the thing which seemeth good in his own eyes and there the Lord and his Reproofs are not regarded but rejected neither is his Law there waited for Where man hath chosen his own way in which man seeks to exalt himself and to get a name in the Earth that what man doth in that state he hath a self-end in it whether it be in matters seemingly to bring something to the glory of God or in others yet he hath his own end in it and this is the estate where man is Cursed and all things unto him for his sake and there man is separated from the true and living God and so turned into his own Inventions invents a way to serve and worship him by whom he was made thinking thereby to please him and procure his love Whenas alas he daily rejects his love by turning into his own waies and here the Lords hand is turned against man because of his iniquity which daily aboundeth and is daily brought forth where man hath chosen his own way and turned from the way of God which is but one Now the waies which man hath invented are many and which he hath sought out for himself since he was turned forth of the acceptance with God by reason of his chusing to walk in his own waies And there standeth the craft and subtilty of man in the degenerate state degenerated through the subtilty and craft of him that hath led from the Truth that he cannot savour the things of God his Judgement and Discerning being taken away and in that he is become leavened up into such a temper and frame as he is altogether an Enemy to Truth and Righteousness In this state man calls Truth Error and Error Truth and calls and accounts his own way the way of Righteousness and so puts the Lords VVay and his Judgements afar off and seeketh to do those things which is pleasing in his own eyes and by this perverteth true Judgement and seeketh to be Judge himself over the things which God hath made and there man is not at all willing that God should rule over the work of his own hands but would rule and be Lord and King himself and so goeth on in craft and subtilty as that Power worketh and moveth in him which is at enmity against God for its Kingdom and Exaltation standeth in craft and subtilty and there its strength lyeth by which it is upholden opposing the Lord and his Work and setting its own up in those who are guided by it and so it hath many Instruments which in subtilty and craft under a pretence of Godliness will stand up for it in opposition to the way by which God worketh to manifest his love among the sons of men to reconcile them unto himself again which is onely known through his own Son which in his love he gave a Light into the world that whosoever should believe in him should not abide in Darkness by which people are separated from God but should have the Light of Life And this is He by which God maketh himself known unto the sons of men that through transgression have been destitute of his knowledge and this Word of Reconciliation being now Preached even the Gospel of his onely begotten Son in whom the Father is well pleased and in which man is accepted with him again I say This Gospel being now Preached unto every Nation Kinred Tongue and People over whom the Beast and false Prophet have reigned and Mysterie Babylon and Mother of Harlots bewitched Also now the Power of the enmity standeth up on every Instrument whom it hath fitted to blaspheme reproach the Gospel of Light and glad Tidings which we the despised people commonly called Quakers bear testimony unto though for it we are Hated and Despised and spoken against in every place by them that have pretended to be Preachers of the Gospel of Peace and glad Tidings but are now in this the day of Glory found to be Preachers for the glory of man and for filthy Lucre are now found to be of Mysterie Babylons Merchants which have long deceived the Nations and taken their money for that which is not Bread which now when the day of Glory hath
meanings whom you call Orthodox men which you call Preaching of the VVord that I say you may read your selves and also your Hearers by your Comparison who compare that Light which is infused into people by instruction which you count your work to water that is put into a VVell Now consider Will not water that is put into a Well that hath no Spring in it soon decay and waste away But Praises be unto the Lord who among his that have believed in the Light which enlightneth every one that cometh into the VVorld hath opened the Well-spring of Light and Life and such see your ignorance and laugh at your folly who are speaking of Light being in people two waies you are the men of Darkness whose eyes the god of the World hath blinded lest you should see the Light of the glorious Gospel 2 Cor. 4.4 The Priests say That there is a light within some men discovering their corruptions what it is and where it is by Infusion or Instruction by the VVord of God contained in the Scripture That they say they grant Answer What will the Light which cometh by Instruction which you your selves compare to water put into a VVell which will soon waste and decay will it discover corruption where it is and what it is And will not the Light which is in people which is as water that springeth in a VVell will not this discover corruption and where it is By this you are seen to be they which would set up your selves For we know well enough what it is you call the Word of God contained in the Scriptures 1 Kings 8.17 But the Word of God is Christ which the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain So in this you have shewed forth your ignorance The Priests say in Answer to another Querie which was Whether the Light by which the Children of Light walked was within them or some Light without them To this they say The light whereby the Children of Light walked was within them rooted and grafted in their hearts but it was infused into them by the Doctrine contained in the holy Scriptures Answ The LIGHT which the Children of Light which we read of in Scripture walked in and in which they had fellowship with God and one with another and in which they knew the blood of Jesus which cleansed from all sin God was the Author of this Light John 1.5 and not the Scripture For the Scripture doth but declare of the Light Neither doth the Scriptures say as you do in any place that Light by them is infused into people but saith Christ the Light by which every one is enlightened And several there were which walked in the Light with God before the Scriptures were written as Enoch who was translated from death to life Gen. 5.22 and Abraham knew the voice of God before the Scriptures were written Heb. 11.5 And why do you tell so often of Light being infused into people by the Doctrine contained in the Scriptures and do not also tell what you mean by that Doctrine Now if this be your meaning as I believe it is your taking a Verse of the Scriptures and raise from it so many Doctrines and then lay down so many Tryals and then so many Arguments and then so many Motives and Uses and Applications if this be the Doctrine you so much speak-of as I say again I believe it is through which you say Light must be infused into people Now consider you do all this for money and people give you money for doing of it as you three Priests witness your Forty pound Salary and two shares of Land a year yet nevertheless though you do all this for money the gift of God cannot be bought and sold for money Act. 8.20 And they that walked in the LIGHT which is the gift of God they witnessed a cleansing from the sin through it which you who tell of Light being infused into people by such Doctrine as before mentioned plead against that in short we plainly see the more people adhere unto you the further into darkness they are led and the further they are from owning the gift of God in themselves which should lead them unto Life Eternal and from the teaching of all Deceivers Rom. 6.13 The Priests say The Children of Light came to a right understanding of the Scriptures through the Light that shined in the Scriptures themselves and not by any Light that was in them before they were acquainted with the Scriptures As a man in the dark discerneth a Candle by the light which shineth from the Candle and not by any light he had before Answ That which must bring people to receive a right understanding of the Scriptures is the Spirit which leads to the fulfilling of them for many there were that had the Scriptures and could talk of them and yet were in darknesse and could not see into the mystery the Scripture spoke of in that they were enemies to the Spirit by which they were spoken forth and so stumbled at CHRIST 1 Cor. 1.23 Rom. 9.32 the True Light Him of whom the Scriptures did declare But Simeon who was a Just man and waited for the Consolation of Israel it was revealed unto him by the holy Ghost that he should not see death until he had seen the Lords Christ Luk. 2.26 Now he did not say that the Scriptures did reveal this unto him but the holy Ghost For there were many at that time who did expect the Messias to come as Simeon did yet though they had the Scriptures yet could not know him who was the Gentiles Light and Israels Glory Luk. 2.32 And now you three Priests consider your comparison Whether a man by the light of a Candle only discerneth the light of a Candle as you say or he discerneth the Candle and its light by his eye which is the light of the body which he had before for a man that hath not the light of the eye he can neither see the Candle nor its light That you have erred both in the main matter and in your comparison and by your own comparison may be judged to be men Deut. 16.19 whose eye gifts and rewards hath blinded Exod. 13 8. to wit such yearly gifts as your forty pound Salary and two shares of Land The Priests say in their Answer to another Query That they do not promise to bring any light of their own to the Scriptures as they say our words in our Queries would make but they say they only do open the words and seek out the true sence contained in them by an Allegory of Faith Answ We know whatever you profess or promise that you can bring no light to the Scriptures and for your finding out the true sence of them that also we know you can never do so long as you are not guided by the same Spirit as they were that spoke them forth though you have them in several Languages as Latine Greek and Hebrew
as Pilate had who delivered the Innocent up into the hands of blood-thirsty-men such Nathaniel White as thy Brethren in New-England are whom thou so highly extolls and art a Pastor of their false Church which is of Mystery Babylons off-spring witness their drinking the Saints blood And though thou with thy two Brethren Brown and Burre tell of searching out the true sence of the Scripture by an Allegory of Faith yet we know so long as you live in headiness high-mindedness and love Pleasures more than God and accuse falsly as you many times did us who witnessed against your deceit we know so long as you are such that your minds are corrupt and that you are reprobate cancerning the Faith 2 Tim. 3.8 which was orce delivered to the Saints before Mystery Babylon 2 Tim. 3.4 your Churches Mother brought forth such Children as you are who live in Pleasure sporting your selves in the day-time as Nathaniel White 2 Pet 2.13 witness thy playing at Bowls and yet by New-Englands false Church and Gathered Congregations is accounted a Reverend Divine The Priests say That to say their Preaching is nothing else but the telling people of their own meanings of the Scriptures is an untruth and that we are never able to prove it Answ Are not you the very men that get your living by telling the people your meanings of the Scriptures for do you not deny the Light which Christ hath enlightned every one withall which should reveal the Mystery the Scripture speaks of which is God manifest in the flesh Do you not deny this and tell people Revelation is not to be looked for in these dayes And what do you say it is an untruth to say you give your own meanings of the Scriptures If an untruth how comes it to passe then that you three Priests are not all of one judgment for certainly if you were guided by that Spirit by which the Scriptures were given forth it would inform your Judgment and bring you into oneness of mind but you being enemies unto the Spirit by which the Saints were led you cannot agree in your meanings about the Scriptures though you are made friends and agree in this thing to joyn your strength together against the Truth as Pilate and Herod But formerly have you not been at difference among your selves and are you not so still even about that you call Church-Government and about those things you say are Institutions of Christ your sprinkling of Infants and giving people Bread and Wine which you call a Sacrament which indeed both it and your sprinkling of Infants are from the POPE and ware instituted by him but as for your not agreeing among your selves about these things I need say little and also for your joyning together against the Truth These things I may both leave to them of that Island who fear the Lord to judge of for they take notice of your unstableness and the day is now coming wherein it may be you may be further tryed But all will be that the deceit and rottenness of your hearts may appear unto all that desire truly to fear the Lord that they with speed may turn from following you in your pernicious wayes lest they be destroyed with you for the snare is before you The Priests say again They use the help of Faithful and Orthodox mens Labours whom God hath commanded them to remember and to follow their faith against which way they say we nor any other can except any thing justly Answ We can justly except against and have already excepted against both you and them you account Orthodox mens Labours for are not you of the generation of men who by their Opinions and by them they count Orthodox mens Opinions have set people on heaps like one to destroy another because they are not of the same Opinion with them And hath not this been the work since the Opinions of those you call Orthodox men were cryed up and since you the Merchants of Mystery Babylon told people they must follow the Faith of those you call Orthodox men whose faith you say you are commanded to follow But alas do not they differ in their Opinions as much as you that have not people by adhering to their works which you traded withall been driven into divers Opinions Sects and VVayes and then seek to destroy one another about them and by this are not you and your Brethren found to be they that have caused so much Blood to be shed among them that have the name of Christions And why do you three Priests not tell us where you have a Command from God to follow the Faith of them you call Orthodox men seeing you say you have But doth it not plainly appear by this that you are the men who have erred from the Faith which was once delivered to the Saints Acts 15.9 and which the Saints lived in which gave them victory over the world and purified their hearts Eph 2.8 For is not this the Faith which you have received by tradition from those you account Orthodox men That people cannot be free from sin while here upon earth Now if this be the Faith of the Orthodox men which you say you are to follow then we can justly except both against them and you and your Faith for it is not the Faith of Gods Elect for they that were in it witnessed victory over the world through it and were saved from sin by it 1 Ioh 5.4 The Priests say It is a lye to say they do not exhort people to come to the knowledge of the Scriptures as the free gift of God for they say in their Doctrine they declare it as a gift of Grace given to some and not all we exhort them to beg it of God by Prayer and before we preach we pray with them and for them to God that he would bestow the right understanding of his Word upon them and us they say Answ That which gives a true understanding in the Scriptures which you call the Word is the gift of God which is his Grace which hath appeared unto all men Tit. 2.11 And you that deny and would exclude this Grace from having appeared unto all men are setting up your own Doctrines and Commandments received by Tradition and are crying them up and selling them to your hearers for money and though you both preach and pray with them before you preach yet have you not money for your Praying as well as your Preaching And though you exhort people to beg by prayer from God a right understanding of his Word yet have you not money for this Exhortation But Praises be unto the Lord who among His hath manifested his Word of Life to instruct which is nigh them Deut. 30.14 even in their mouths and in their hearts that they may hear it and obey it And such who know the Instructions of the Word which gives Life they deny your Instructions and Exhortations and Preaching and
of the first Founders and Owners of that Colony so that by your Preaching the Inhabitants are not put to one peny more charges by us say you Answ But nevertheless though you have not your Wages from them whom you Preach unto this doth not make it that you are no Hirelings for we believe you make little matter whom you have it on so you have it And who is there that knoweth the state of that Island and doth not know how much the people thereof are oppressed by them whom you say payes you your Salaries that it is still but the money of Oppression For doth not the Inhabitants of the Island whom you preach unto pay unto them of whom you receive your Wages one peny half peny forth of every pound of Tobacco that they send for England except they get it away by stealth which is accounted great Oppression much more then that of Tythes And do not they your Masters who Hire you tell the Inhabitants of the Island that they take that penny half penny out of every Pound of Tobacco in part for paying you your Wages And also for your challenging of us whom you account your Adversaries to prove that the Inhabitants are put to one penny charge by you for your Preaching We say You need not have made such a great challenge for we can easily prove and bring the Inhabitants to witness for us that you put them every year to many a penny charge by Repairing the Houses you dwell in and if they do it not just when you would have them will you not frown at them So this your cover is ripped open and your challenge returned upon your selves that your nakedness more and more appears for the day hath broken forth which makes all your deceit manifest and Praises be unto the Lord many he hath visited by it who begin to see your folly and weakness concerning the things of God and are declining from you that they may be brought to know the Lord their Teacher by his Law which he hath written in their hearts and this is the Lord fulfilling for his own mercy sake in spite of all envious men who gnawes their Tongues for grief and pain Again the Priests say in their Answer to our 17th Querie which was concerning their Preaching by an Hour-glass That they have the Warrant of the custom of the Churches of God for it which they say is a sufficient Warrant against all contentious spirits and they bring 1 Cor. 11.16 to prove it by Answ That place of Scripture doth not speak any thing of the Apostles preaching by an Hour-glass as you do that we can justly contend for the Truth against your Deceit in this And I charge you three Priests to prove where ever there was such a Custom among the true gathered Churches who was gathered by the Spirit of the Lord and witnessed Praying and Prophesying by it Are you not ashamed to scandalize the Churches of God in saying it was their custom to preach by an Hour-glass But will any that have read the Scripture believe you Certainly none but who are willingly as blind as your selves Again The Priests to prove the sprinkling of Infants lawful they bring the Command of God to Abraham to Circumcise And they say sprinkling of Infants which they call Baptism came in in the room of it For they say Though they be different in the External Sign yet they are one and the same in the Inward and Spiritual Grace signified by the Signs for they say both Baptism and Circumcision signifie a being in Covenant with God and Gods Command to Abraham to Circumcise will warrant Baptising of Infants Answ As for sprinkling of Infants that without controversie was never commanded of God but is an Invention of the Popes who commanded it to be done with the sign of the Cross and though you have left it off and are become disobedient to your father the Pope yet nevertheless he was the first Author of it Though you disobey his Command and will not do it with his sign the Cross but do it after your own Invention and so you are found acting contrary to the Apostles Rule by adding your own Inventions For they never received a Command neither gave a Command to sprinkle Infants and so you are found out of their Rule and your fathers Rule the Pope also and are not faithful to his Church which is your Churches Mother that you as Rebellious Children kick against him yet you may thank him for first Instituting this Ordinance as you call it of sprinkling Infants which you in your ignorance say The Command of God to Abraham to Circumcise will warrant you in But all whose eyes God hath opened out of that great slumber you are in sees that the Command given to Abraham to Circumcise will no more warrant you in sprinkling of Infants your way than it will do the Pope in his way For we know Circumcision was given a Seal unto Abraham of the righteousness of Faith which he had being uncircumcised Rom. 4.11 but as for your sprinkling of Infants we know nothing that it is a Seal of except of your own ignorance And as for your saying that sprinkling of Infants came in the room of Circumcision do you not think that all whose understanding the Lord hath opened by his eternal Spirit will take notice of your ignorance and blindness in this thing For Circumcision as you may read Rom. 2.28 29. is not that of the Outward in the Flesh but is of the Heart in the Spirit c. That all who are not blind may see that Circumcision of the Heart with the Spirit endeth that of the Outward in the Flesh Gal. 5.6 1 Cor. 7.19 Gal. 6.15 That as for your sprinkling of Infants it is but a meer Invention and was never commanded of God as Circumcision in its time was neither ever was it practised among any we read of that in the Apostles daies by the Spirit was gathered into fellowship with the Lord for they spoke of one Faith one Baptism and were Baptised by one Spirit into one Body and so was in oneness of mind and judgement one with another for the Spirit by which they were Baptised into the death and suffering of Christ made them of one mind and soul which you three Priests who plead for the Popish institution sprinkling of Infants are not For do you not differ among your selves about it One crying of it up to be done after his way and to whose Children he will and another another way to whom he will and so are in your ignorance at difference amongst your selves But do you not think people begins to take notice of you and to see your folly though you joyn all your Forces together against the Truth and though you joyn in union with Death and Hell and make lies your Refuge Yet Judgement is laid to the Line Righteousness to the Plummet and Hail shal sweep away the refuge